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starryknight09 · 3 years

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Unforeseen dangers ch 9

Summary: As Peter recovers from his capture by Ross, a photo of him with Tony and the Avengers leaks and is splashed all across the media. Luckily, no one can figure out who he is and everyone thinks the buzz will die down. However, the public’s interest has been ignited. While Tony worries it’s only a matter of time before Peter’s identity is exposed, Peter isn’t as concerned. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen anyway?

Read on AO3.

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“How you holding up?” Tony asked Peter as the car pulled into the Tower’s private garage.

Peter shrugged in answer.

His kid had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the entirety of the car ride, but Tony didn’t know what else he’d expected. Tony had been raised in the spotlight. It was all he’d ever known, so he found it oddly difficult to put himself in Peter’s shoes and figure out what he was feeling. Instead of prying like he wanted to, he squeezed Peter against his side in a half hug.

“We’re here.” Happy announced unnecessarily as he put the car in park. As much as his current Forehead of Security liked to grump, Tony knew the man hated tense silences just as much, if not more, than he did.

Tony wasted no time opening the car door and stepping out, but he had to duck his head back in when Peter didn’t automatically follow behind him.

“Come on kid. Time to go. As comfy as my car is, you can’t sit in it all day.” He said to Peter who was staring straight ahead, spaced out. Peter blinked and slowly turned his head to take in Tony standing outside the car. Only then did he seem to notice that he was the sole person still left in the car.

“Oh.” Peter said and blinked again before finally climbing out. All his movements seemed slower than usual.

Tony didn’t call him on it. He rested a hand loosely on Peter’s shoulder as they walked over to the elevator together where Bruce, Nat, Happy, and Steve were already inside waiting.

“Penthouse FRIDAY.” He ordered as they stepped in.

“Thanks guys.” Peter finally spoke, although he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the ground.

“You don’t need to thank anyone.” Tony said before they had a chance to respond.

“You’re dad’s right.” Steve agreed. “We were happy to do it.”

“I needed to get out and get some air anyway.” Bruce added in a transparent attempt to lighten the mood.

Natasha just gave Peter a small smile while Happy let out a noncommittal grunt.

“Where’s everyone else?” Peter asked after another few seconds of silence had passed.

“Meeting us back here. Actually, they probably beat us.” Tony answered.

“Seems like an awful lot of trouble just to pick me up from school.” Peter frowned.

“Nope. No trouble. Everyone missed you and wanted to take their turn to come and get you. We tried rock paper scissors but since everyone on the team’s a sore loser I decided to let them all tag along.” Tony knew he was rambling and so obviously lying, but he didn’t want Peter to know the real reason everyone had shown up to get him, or the way his heart had started racing the moment he found out Peter’s identity had been discovered.

He’d been down in his workshop when Rhodey had come running in yelling his name. “Tony! Tony!”

When he’d heard the fear in Rhodey’s voice, he’d sat up so fast he’d smacked his head on the armor he’d been working on. Rhodey was one of the most unshakable people Tony knew. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen the man truly panic. He didn’t even want to imagine what had happened to add this moment to one of those times.

“What? What happened?” Fear swirled in his gut, visions of someone seriously hurt or dead flashed through his mind. Someone who could make Rhodey look like that. Peter. Pepper.

“Have you seen the news?” Rhodey asked as he held out a hand to help him stand from the floor.

“No.”

“It’s Peter.” Rhodey came right out and said it. He was never one to beat around the bush.

Tony’s eyes widened. “Peter? What about Peter? Is he ok?” His greatest fear brought to life. None of it made sense. Peter should be in school and completely fine. And he didn’t understand how Peter connected to seeing the news. His brain felt like it was trying to reboot, to sort out the information coming at him through his sudden panic.

“He’s fine, but it’s all over the news.”

“What is?”

“He is. Peter. They figured out his identity.”

His first instinct was to panic, but he knew he couldn’t. He had to stay clear headed and figure out what to do. For his kid.

He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and forced himself to think. When he opened them again, he caught Rhodey staring at him, waiting for his decision on what to do.

“What exactly do they know?” Tony asked. He needed more information in order to work through the problem and figure out what to do next. “That he’s the kid from all the pictures with me?”

“Yes. That…” Rhodey said, but Tony could sense there was something else.

“And? What else?” He prodded, letting his impatience through.

“That he’s your son. That you adopted him.” Rhodey winced as he said it.

That was when the panic returned.

“Fuck.” He sprinted toward the elevator, Rhodey hot on his heels.

“Ok, now just for some perspective, don’t forget he’s Spiderman. He’s not some helpless kid.” Rhodey said as the elevator doors closed behind them.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” He spat and pushed the button for the garage three times in succession to make the elevator drop at its fasted velocity.

“Yes.” Rhodey said as if it were obvious.

“Well it doesn’t. My kid’s still in danger, because of his connection to me.” He growled, glaring at his friend. He knew he was displacing all his anger and frustration on Rhodey who didn’t deserve any of it, but he didn’t have the mental capacity to reel himself in at the moment. Besides, as his oldest friend, Rhodey was definitely more than used to taking the undeserved brunt of his mood swings.

“What are you doing?” Rhodey asked as the doors opened and he jogged toward his fastest car.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m going to go get my kid!” He yelled, anger starting to override his fear. He was angry at the world for doing this to his son. Angry at himself for not doing a better job of preventing it. He called himself a futurist, and yet, he hadn’t been able to see this coming soon enough to stop it.

“Wait!” Rhodey called out from right behind him.

Tony ignored him.

“Just wait a minute!” Rhodey grabbed his shoulder.

Tony spun around, fury written on every line of his face. “What?”

“Stop and think Tony. What? You think you’re just going to march in there, grab him and come home? Like it’ll be that easy? The entire world knows he’s your son. They dug into everything they could about him before breaking the story ten minutes ago. They know his parents died and then his aunt and uncle. They know he’s a straight A student. They know he’s on the decathlon team. They know where he goes to school.”

Ice ran down his spine.

“They’re going to be camped out just waiting for you to show up. Waiting for him. For the spectacle of it. You know it. And god forbid, what if more than just the media is waiting? I know you like to joke about it, but you have a lot of enemies and as far as the world knows, your kid’s just a normal kid, completely unguarded at school right now. I know it’s a terrible thing to say, but if I wanted to hurt you, this would be the perfect opportunity.”

The hell of it was, he knew Rhodey was right, and not only that, but he couldn’t believe he hadn’t considered it before. This whole thing had shaken him more than he’d realized.

“All it would take is a sniper rifle and a good vantage point, and it’d be all too easy to tag the kid as soon as he stepped outside the school. Just like that.” Rhodey snapped his fingers.

Tony clenched his jaw at the image the words conjured. The logical side of his brain told him that Peter had that sixth sense that would keep him safe from something like that, but the dad side of his brain worried about it not working or worried that even with the warning Peter still might not react fast enough to get out of the way.

“With enough money it wouldn’t be too hard to get a hired hand in place in such a short time frame.” Rhodey continued but his voice had softened. “It’s what I would do.”

Tony closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over them. “Ok. So what do suggest we do then? Not get my kid? Leave him alone and unprotected at school?” He channeled all his fear and anger into sarcasm.

“Of course not.” Rhodey gave him a scathing look.

“What then?”

“We bring the team.” Rhodey said as if the answer were obvious.

So they had.

Within thirty minutes of the news breaking, Clint had positioned himself as a lookout on a nearby roof near the school and Sam and Rhodey had taken to the sky, flying around the area to ensure that all the other rooftops remained clear while Tony made his way to the school entrance along with Bruce and Steve, two of the most invincible Avengers, given Rhodey’s imagined threat of a sniper.

While Happy and Natasha waited in the car, the trio forced their way through the hoard of press already waiting like vultures outside the school. Tony cursed the fact that there was no other entrance near a street because it was going to make getting his kid out a nightmare.

Tony was honestly surprised Peter hadn’t called or texted him yet, but he remembered him mentioning something before about the teachers being strict about cell phone use during class, so maybe he just didn’t know yet.

Inside, the hallways remained quiet and desolate. Kids weren’t running around, excitedly talking, and getting ready to mob Peter at any moment, so class must’ve just started when the news broke. He figured that was the one lucky break in all of this.

The sound of his own phone ringing cut through the heavy silence. He gave the screen a cursory glance, intending to ignore it until he saw the caller ID. Pepper. One of the few people he’d answer a phone call from at a time like this.

“Hey Pep.” He said as he pressed the phone to his ear, trying to keep his voice down. The last thing he needed was some errant student recognizing him.

“Tony? Have you seen the news?” His heart warmed a little at the panic in her voice. She obviously cared about Peter too, which shouldn’t surprise him. The kid was like a puppy. Everyone he met seemed to fall in love with him, and Tony knew the two of them had grown closer over the holidays when she’d helped Peter file the adoption papers for his surprise Christmas present.

“I have.”

“Oh my god. Where are you?”

“I’m at his school. I’m picking him up.”

“By yourself?” He marveled at the way Pepper could make her voice shrill without actually reaching a high pitched decibel.

“No. Of course not.” He decided she didn’t need to know that was what he’d almost done until Rhodey had intervened. “I brought the team.”

“Oh thank god. Just get him back here and then we need to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“Your wish is my command.”

“Stay safe.” She ordered, stern but worried, a tone with which Tony was all too familiar.

“I will.” He said, the corner of his mouth turning up as he hung up. It was times like these when he remembered what he and Pepper used to have, and he missed it.

He didn’t know what kind of expression was painted on his face, but whatever it was, it was enough for Steve to remind him, “Focus Tony.”

“Trust me Cap,” he said as he pocked his phone, “I’m as focused as anyone could possibly be right now.”

Steve nodded and within another ten steps they were standing in front of the office door.

Tony turned back to Bruce and Steve as he grabbed the handle. “Let’s go get my kid.”

He swung the door open like he owned the place and did exactly that.

Tony almost couldn’t believe that had all happened within the last hour. He still felt like he was doing catch up with trying to process everything. He couldn’t even imagine how Peter felt.

The elevator finally reached the penthouse and the doors opened, revealing a scene Tony hadn’t been expecting, although in retrospect, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Pepper had kind of warned him with her phone call earlier, but he hadn’t been thinking about it. He’d only been thinking about getting his kid to safety. Which he’d accomplished.

But now he needed to figure out how to approach this entire mess of a situation because it wasn’t going to fix itself. Thus, the reason for why the penthouse was currently filled with his PR employees.

They stepped out of the elevator and into a maelstrom of chaos. It was a scene reminiscent of the time he’d told the world he was Ironman and the resulting backlash. Or the time he’d supposedly asked some Russian model to marry him. He hadn’t. Or the time he’d been quoted as saying he was anti-gun, which hadn’t been true. At the time. Or the time he’d gotten plastered in Vegas and apparently forgotten to clothe his bottom half before stepping out onto his balcony. But all of those things had happened years ago. It’d been quite awhile since he’d been at the center of this kind of media shitstorm.

Pepper noticed him the moment he stepped into the room. She gave him a small smile as she walked over, but she stopped in front of Peter instead of him.

“Oh sweetie I’m so glad you’re ok.” She said as she pulled him into a tight hug.

He seemed a little surprised but didn’t hesitate to hug her back. “I’m fine.”

“I know.” She said as she released him and grasped his shoulders, looking him square in the eyes. “And don’t worry. We’re going to figure this out. We have people whose entire job is dealing with stuff like this.”

“What? A secret son?” Peter joked but it fell flat.

Pepper graced him with a wry smile. “Well, no. This is definitely a first, but you’d be surprised by what we’ve had to deal with when it comes to Tony.”

“Hey.” Tony acted affronted even though he knew she only spoke the truth.

Pepper arched an eyebrow at him.

He cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Anyway, what’s the plan?”

“Now that you’re here, we can do a sit down and plan out our immediate next steps.” Pepper said, all business again.

“Uh-huh.” He said, distracted by the shell shocked look on Peter’s face as he took in the room and the dozen or so strangers bustling about.

“But I really think the first thing we need to do is hold an emergency press conference, so we should put together a statement for that as soon as possible.” Pepper continued.

“Yeah.” He frowned and then held up a hand when Pepper started to speak again. “We will definitely do all of that, but first I need a few minutes with my kid.”

Pepper blinked and looked over at Peter, her eyes softening at the obvious distress she saw there even as Peter did his best to try to hide it. “Of course. How about I get everyone together and we meet in the conference room at,” she checked her watch, “3:30PM. That’ll give you fifteen minutes. Is that enough time?”

“Should be.” He nodded and then gripped Peter’s shoulders. “Come on Underoos. Let’s go sit down for a minute.”

Peter let Tony guide him through all the pandemonium to the hallway and into his bedroom. Tony pressed him down to sit at the end of the bed before grabbing the desk chair for himself. He flipped it around and sat, letting his forearms rest on the chair back, going for nonchalant even though he felt anything but.

“So.” Tony said, not quite sure how to start the conversation.

“So…” Peter echoed back, not making it any easier.

“I know this is a lot, so I thought we should just take a little time out. A little breather. And you can tell me you’re thinking.”

“What I’m thinking?” Peter’s eyebrows pulled together like he didn’t understand what Tony meant.

“Yeah. What’s going on in that noggin of yours?”

“I-I don’t know. This is all… This is crazy.”

“It is.” Tony agreed.

“I…I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“There’s nothing I want you to say. I just want you to talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking, how you’re feeling about this.”

“Um I don’t know. It’s a lot.” Peter shrugged.

“Care to expound on that a little?” Tony asked lightheartedly.

“I guess it’s kind of overwhelming, but it doesn’t really feel like it’s real at the same time? Does that make sense?”

Tony nodded, staying silent to encourage Peter to keep talking.

“And now there are all these people here and there were all those people waiting outside my school and I know everything’s going to change forever and…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” Peter trailed off and met his eyes, and Tony hated the fear and desperation he saw there. “It’s just…a lot.” He repeated. “And I guess I didn’t really think this was going to happen. Or if it did, I didn’t think it would be this soon. And I didn’t think it would be like this.”

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t know what to say to make it better, because there really wasn’t anything he could say, or do, to fix it. The horse was out of the barn. It was done. Over with. Now all they could do was deal with the fallout, and he knew it wasn’t going to be particularly pleasant for him or Peter.

“I’m sorry.” He settled on those two words even though they didn’t have the power to fix anything.

“It’s not your fault.” Peter shrugged.

“Still. I never wanted any of this for you.”

Peter hung his head and picked at the fraying hem on one his sleeves. The kid had a closet full of expensive, brand new, clothing but for some reason it seemed like he always chose to wear whatever he had that was tattered or fraying.

“What’s going to happen now?” Peter asked, looking up at him again.

“Now I’m going to go meet with all those people out there and try to come up with a game plan.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means first I’m going to find out how all this got out and how much everyone actually knows.”

“Ok.”

“And then I’m going to draft a statement to read at a press conference I’m guessing Pepper has already scheduled, probably to start within the next hour.”

“Really?” Peter seemed surprised.

Tony nodded.

“What are you going to say?”

“Depends on what the media has already spilled the beans on and how good their sources are. If they don’t have any proof you’re my son, and it’s just conjecture, then there might be some wiggle room and I may be able to spin this a different way, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I’m guessing they have some solid sources if it’s already out there like this, since everyone knows how much I like to sue for slander.”

Peter snorted.

“So, how about this? You sit tight in here and I’ll go deal with all of this, and as soon as I know more about the plan, I’ll let you know, ok?”

“Ok.” Peter agreed softly.

Tony hummed and drummed his fingers along the chair back as he studied his son. He hated the idea of leaving him alone right now, but he knew he didn’t have any other choice. He had to go deal with all of this, and he didn’t want to bring Peter along and subject him to everything that entailed. That would only make it worse.

It was a no win situation. As soon as he left, his kid was going to be on his computer or his phone googling himself, and he’d start falling down the proverbial rabbit hole. As a media veteran, Tony knew self google was never a good idea, but he could only guess at what was being said and written about his kid. He hadn’t had any time to check yet, so he couldn’t even prepare Peter for it. He definitely wasn’t winning any parenting awards today.

“Listen, I’m going to do something, and you’re not going to like it, but you have to trust me that it’s in your own best interest right now, all right?”

Peter’s eyes narrowed. Yeah, this wasn’t going to go over well.

“FRIDAY be a dear and restrict Peter’s TV, phone, and internet access until further notice.”

“What? No!”

“Just,” Tony said as he held up a hand, “let me deal with this stuff first, and then we’ll deal with the rest of it together. Ok?” He tried for calm even as a storm cloud passed over Peter’s face. At least it was better than the sick, pinched look he’d had ever since all this went down. Silver lining.

“You’re not being fair.” Peter protested.

“I know.” He agreed and Peter didn’t seem to know what to do with that easy admission.

“So I’m just supposed to stay locked in my room alone with nothing to do until you come back?” Peter asked skeptically.

“No. Of course not. You have plenty to do.” He gestured to the partially finished Y-wing Lego set, the stacks of DVDs, and the video game consoles.

“You just said I couldn’t use the TV.” Peter huffed.

Tony sighed. “FRIDAY, Peter can use the TV for watching movies and playing video games, but nothing else, capiche?”

“Yes Boss.”

“There. All good. And you’re not going to be alone. I’ll send you some company.”

Peter screwed up his face like he wasn’t quite sure whether that was a good or a bad thing.

“And I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He said as he stood and ruffled Peter’s hair, smirking as Peter tried in vain to straighten it back into place.

On his way out, Tony paused at the door to turn and look at his kid. Peter had a desolate expression pasted across his face as he stared straight ahead at nothing.

“Hey.” Tony said to get his attention. As soon as Peter made eye contact with him, he said solemnly, “It’s going to be ok.”

“I know.” Peter mumbled and gave him a ghost of a smile, but Tony could see the truth in his eyes. His son didn’t believe him. Tony always knew he was too smart for his own good. Just like his old man.

“I love you.” Tony said with a soft intensity. Maybe he couldn’t keep the world from crashing down around them, but he could love his son. Always. It was one of the easiest things he’d ever done.

“I love you too.” Peter said back and that finally got a real smile out of him. It gave him some hope that maybe this would all turn out ok.

The door closed behind him with a click, and he made his way back out to the living room. Pepper, along with the rest of his SI team, had left and were probably waiting for him in the conference room, but the room was far from empty. Apparently none of the Avengers had wanted to go back to their quarters. The show of concern both irked and warmed him at the same time. Regardless, he didn’t have time to chit chat. Except for the one thing he had to do.

“Hey birdbrain.” He said as he spotted Clint sitting in one of the oversized chairs in the corner of the room. “Do you mind hanging with Peter? I told him I’d send someone in to keep him company.”

“Sure.” Clint agreed easily.

Tony gave him a nod of thanks and made his way toward the elevator.

“Tony.” Steve said from where he and Natasha were standing in the direct path to the elevator, obviously waiting for him.

Tony stopped in front of him and raised his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for Steve to spit out whatever it was he wanted to say.

“How’s Peter doing?” Steve asked, concern crinkling in the corners of his eyes.

Tony sighed. He had no idea how to answer that question. “He’s…dealing.”

Steve nodded as if he understood everything Tony wasn’t saying.

“Well, if that’s it, I have to go figure out how to deal with this disaster.” Tony said after a few seconds had passed and it didn’t seem like Steve was going to say anything else.

He took a step away but Steve reached out to grab his arm. “Wait. We want to come with you.”

Tony turned and frowned. “You want to come with me where?”

“To the conference room.”

Tony just blinked. “Why?”

“Maybe we can help.”

His face must’ve shown his skepticism because Natasha added, “We care about Peter too.” As if Tony had ever doubted that fact.

“Fine.” He must’ve acquiesced too easily given the looks of surprise on Steve and Natasha’s faces. But he had neither the time nor the energy to argue, and if they wanted to spend their time being tortured in a meeting, then that was their prerogative. “Let’s go.”

Steve and Natasha followed silently as he continued on his way toward the conference room. The truth was, he didn’t even know what kind of shitstorm awaited him, but the look on Pepper’s face when he’d stepped into the penthouse had clued him in to the fact that it was bad, along with the dozen or so PR employees milling about with their cellphones attached to their ears and their faces buried in their laptops. Thinking about it made his heart thrum a rapid staccato in his chest. Usually he didn’t care about his image, or whatever the media said, but this was different. This time it was his kid. He couldn’t help but care.

As he approached the glass walled conference room, he could see everyone waiting for him. He’d never gone into a meeting so wholly unprepared. After he’d gotten the news, he’d gone straight to his kid. He hadn’t taken the time to check any media outlets to see what was being said, so besides what he’d already been told, he honestly had no clue what he was dealing with yet. He gripped the handle of the conference room door and took a bolstering breath. It was time to go find out.

#unforeseen dangers #ch 9

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genderfluidlucifer · 3 years

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Response to being asked to give an opinion on Connie’s calout by residentevil-4

(Tw: CSAM, rape fic, incest fic, predatory behavior, racism, ableism, kink mention, nsfw mentions. Minors should probably dni.)

“Connie and I know each other irl and went to school together for 3 years, although they now live in a different state and have cut contact with me. We went to a private therapy school in Manhattan as we're both disabled and were deemed unable to attend public school. Even though we were pretty close, Connie didn't like having photos taken of them, so I don't have any selfies of the two of us; however, these are from our sophomore and senior yearbooks which at least confirms that we were in the same year at school. People who have seen Connie's selfies should be able to confirm that that is what they look like. First and foremost, Connie is not TMA. They are intersex and the two of us have discussed intersex issues both in person and online, but they are still decidedly CAFAB.” Ok so first off, I want to address this part of the callout. To be honest...was it really necessary to literally doxx Connie ehre? Because this textbook definition of doxxing. Yes Connie’s done some shitty things but I freally don’t think that what they’ve done warrants this level of doxxing. Or...even better, any doxxing. This feels like a really unnecessary breach of privacy, revealing sensitive information on Connie’s childhood that they choose to confide in you with. I really don’t agree with this aspect of the callout as it feels very invasive and bordering on stalkerish. Btw when I say bordering on stalkerish I’m not directly calling you a stalker Bonnie. Just so we’re clear. I am not defending Connie supposedly faking being TMA. Because faking being TMA is a very serious issue. HOWEVER since I don’t know Connie irl and to be quite frank it’s none of my business what the nature of their agab is. Were not close and I’m certainly not going to like lead Connie onto thinking we’re friends just to confirm this with them because that would be creepy. So to be honest I’m going to take this part of the callout with again of salt for now.

[ID: A cropped screenshot of a numbered list Connie posted to their blog hadrosaurs in response to an ask.

“3. I’m TMA And that’s completely irrelevant. I’m not accusing them because of their gender I didn’t even know their gender when they said that to me saying that they said that because they fucking said that and the reaction to it was incredibly alarming. Don’t fucking say that stuff to people.]

I mean I”m not a trans woman so take this with a grain of salt if you want but...I don’t see how this is really proof of Connie being deliberately transmisogynistic? Yes Connie gives iffy retellings of mistakes they’ve made in the past. I’ve seen that on their blog before and I won’t pretend it doesn’t happen. BUT here they sound genuine enough and to be honest a growing issue I’ve seen with callouts as of late is. A person confirms they in fact did not do the thing they were called out for. And then the people who make the callout choose to see it as proof of incriminating behavior anyways. To be honest it’s a big problem and it’s also incredibly unfair to the person being called out. If you’re so determined at that point to see the person as bigoted no matter what they say then of course anything they say can be seen as proof. So I’m going to have to pass on this bit of evidence. “Connie responded: “Final note: I have spoken extensively with several trans women about using TMA to describe myself. I will not be getting into discourse about that on this blog again. All that leads to is people demanding my medical records and calling me slurs. If you wanna have a thoughtful conversation about it direct message me cause it’s not happening again here.” Again this really doesn’t seem all that self incriminating. Connie mentions here that they’ve talked to rl trans woman about whether or not they can be considered TMA. Connie really doesn’t have to disclose that personal information to people for any reason. Yes even when people are e including this ask response in a callout. And considering lots of people DO get invasive about Connie’s medical history ans general personal life over matters like this? I feel their reaction is pretty understandable here. “Connie has constantly compared “exclusionists” (or anyone, really) to TERFs, even when the people in question are not transmisogynistic, trans exclusionary radfems, or are even transmisogyny affected themselves.

“ Gonna have to disagree with this part of the callout too. Lots of ace inclus blogs, even some run by trans women , have proven that the ace exclus movement was started by swerfs/terfs. But the blog that has the most evidence for this is courteousmingler on tumblr. I suggest you check out that blog’s archiving of the history of ace exclus rhetoric before rushing to call me a transmisogynist for disagreeing with this part of the callout. I looked through all of the evidence for Connie being racist and tbh as a black ndn it all feels incredibly flimsy. It’d be one thing if Connie was using their experiences to derail and invalidate the discussions about how black people are oppressed But they weren’t doing that there at all. This part of the post feels incredibly biased. And like OP is looking for things to be mad about. Going to have to pass on this list of evidence. Also uh I seem to recall that residentevil04 got called out for some questionable behavior as well. “Both me (insepsy, hi) and ezrat have had really weird spikes in activity on our Statcounters, both on the same day. (Saturday, 4/17/21) For both of us, majority of the pages looked at by these visitors have been related to or about Connie, or have been posts that Connie would find "problematic" such as the f slur untagged or something related to "panphobia"/aphobia. I’m sorry but...none of the proof of cyberstalking holds any water. Visiting someone’s blogs and rbing posts to disagree with them is not cyberstalking. Keeping tabs on urls that an abusive person who has harassed are using so you can block them (in this case with kyoshi) and warn your mutuals is not stalking. As a victim of rl stalking it’s...really weird to call this legit stalking at all. Much less claim that you have damning proof of it being stalking when no such evidence exists in the callout. Besides after Connie and nonbinarydave called out one of kyoshi’s buddies for sending a death threat hate anon to nonbinarydave’s toddler st4lker partly admitted to doing it a few times. Then other mutuals in kyoshi’s toxic social circle clearly began joining in. Making side accounts where they tried to spin a false narrative of nonbinarydave’s daughter being one of their alters (ableist as hell.) And also trying to do it in such a way that they thought would trigger nonibnarydave’s psychosis (also ableist as hell.) If you’re going to drag Connie for their mistakes and never let them move on from those mistakes then it’s only fair to do that to people you agree with who also do toxic/bigoted things. ALso the fact that your wording here suggests that you think panphobia and aphobia aren’t real makes me doubt this claim even more. Exclus and their allies are notorious for mislabeling inclus disagreeing with them as stalking. “connie said that they would release that info at a later time and the minor began to argue with them that they had a responsibility regardless of their complicated relationship with age. in this argument connie for a time kept their age ambiguous and at one point told the minor (who confirmed in a later ask that they were severely traumatized by adults) that they obviously weren’t traumatized. connie quickly deleted this ask and any mentions of it and the next post they reblogged was about how wrong it was to try and quantify or discount others’ trauma. on my old blog i @ed them in the replies and asked if they had just done that. connie admitted to it and said it was fucked up but quickly blocked + deleted my comment. i can’t remember whether or not connie apologized to the minor, they may have? but yeah. i thought that was pretty weird.”] I do agree with some of the concern here that adults shouldn’t over expose minors in discourse. I’ve been contemplating this for awhile myself. And trying to figure out how to take better steps to avoid including minors who are triggered by discourse in discourse, especially. HOWEVER I have one little issue with this addition to the callout. If that is the case then exclus and their allies need to practice this as well. You cannot ignore the fact that the reason a lot of minors are getting involved in exclus discourse is due to adult exclus and their allies forcing minors to pick a side in the discourse. Y’all are not at all exempt from this problem. I still remember an ex mutual of mine trying to convince a minor to agree that aces can’t face corrective rape. And based on how aggressive it got with me when I tried to avoid giving an opinion on the matter, I can’t imagine that it would’ve reacted better to the minor refusing to give an opinion or to the minor outright disagreed. Refusing to put these standards on exclus and their allies is both hypocritical and quite frankly very transparent. The claims about them glorifying dark topics on AO3 through their fics also seems unfortunately legit. I mean those asks of shaming people who ask their viewers to not romanticize or glorify abusive relationships in their works is very damning. I’m very disappointed to see that Connie has taken being an inclus to the point of validating antis anti culture wholeheartedly. I can’t think of much more to add to my opinion on that part of the callout. As for the issue of Connie interacting with pro shippers in the past, I do know that this claim is legit. I’ve seen it before and so has Breeze. This was why for a brief time we decided to stop following their blogs. Because it was triggering to have pro shippers put on our dash. And sometimes we just don’t feel it’s worth it to always let people we’re platforming know they’re rbing triggering stuff. So sometimes we just quietly unfollow and choose to not interact until we’re sure they’re filtering what they do and don’t rb in some way. I definitely don’t agree with that behavior. And if they’re still doing that I”ll deplatform again. “The anon asks: “A weird question but do you know any other stimboard blogs with your follow criteria? (No radfems, racists, fandom antis, etc.) I was hoping to find more through your “similar blogs” but a lot have no anti-antis for their DNI or allow truscum/transmeds and exclus. :(“

The user responds: “I know of @turtle-pond-stims, @outofangband, and @kinaesthetics! 🍂🍄" “[ID: A cropped screenshot of an ask sent by Connie from their now-deactivated blog, butch-with-a-tortoise.

Connie says: “hey anon I have safe stim blogs. dm me if you want them. And radfems/bigots aren’t allowed to interact. For my own safety (because the community is honestly terrifying) I can’t publicly say on my blogs that I’m safe for proshippers/kinky people but I try to spread word how I can.”] [ID: Screenshot of a post by evilwriter37, which reads, “I’ve been seeing posts about fandom police leaving ao3, and it’s like: Good. We don’t want you here anyway. Go find your own fanfiction site.”

The post is tagged “#Fandom #AO3 #Antis #Purity Culture” and has 87 notes. It was posted on December 21st, 2020.

There is a reply from main-to-outofangband-andothers saying: “there are Silm antis on that site who are against Russigon (Maedhros and Fingon) not because they’re cousins but because they’re both male (coded)”] [ID: A screenshot of an anonymous (though signed off as being from outofangband) ask sent to evilwriter37, which says, “Melkor and Viggo solidarity is ‘Look there’s nothing wrong with keeping my enemy chained up in my personal chambers at all times so please just focus on the war efforts and I’ll focus on the boy* in my chambers’ -@outofbangand.

*boy used figuratively @ antis”

The user responds: “Pfft!!! Hahaha! You’re absolutely right! (And Viggo does refer to Hiccup in canon as ‘my boy’).”] I can’t really say anything to refute this. Because these are all posts of Connie outright stating that they disagree with antis. And not only sympathize with anti antis but are fully against antis. Looks like very damning evidence. Although ngl I’m not entirely against kinky blogs as a whole? Just so long as they truly stay in their lane with their kink content. And don’t force it on others in any way. Or shame people who are triggered by their kinks. It is true that being entirely against kinky blogs no matter what is dipping your toes into swerf rhetoric. Tbh I’m not going to look at the rest. This is pretty much all I need to make a decision on whether or not I”ll continue platforming Connie. Though I will try to get some more perspective from people who I interact with as well. Because I feel better about making a more definitive decision after doing that. Also in general please don’t not try to get an opinion from me on how I feel about syscourse. A lot of the claims about Connie’s age weirdness and them using their alters as a shield feel like syscourse to me. Especially if this callout was written by one or several singlets. Singlets should never be trying to judge how legit someone’s system is ever. Even if their system friends encourage them to. You can call out a horrible person with a system without trying to insinuate that they’re lying about their alters in some way. Doing otherwise is ableist ESPECIALLY if you’re a singlet. Also in general the reason I stay out of discussions of judging how someone is handling their systems is because it’s syscourse and syscourse is triggering for my system and I. If this post was an attempt to get me to give an opinion on the validity of Connie’s system I don’t appreciate it. And I would appreciate not being dragged into such matters again, thank you.

In general there’s like a few parts of this callout that feel legit. Which is unfortunately cluttered with obvious bias and obsessive hatred of Connie. I’m not here to stan or coddle Connie. I know they are not a perfect person. Especially since no human being in the world is perfect. But I feel the way this callout was created was very sloppy since a lot of the evidence was messy at best. And some points were very hypocritical as well as there being some no true scotsman moments from OP. In acting like exclus never do any of the thing that they tried to call out Connie for. Which is behavior that I am not a fan of. This is why people need to be more careful about callouts and like make roughdrafts and have a more unbiased person helping them if they don’t feel they can do it on their own. I’m even trying to make a resolve to do better at that myself. So it’s not like I’m unwilling to put my money where my mouth is. Anyways those are all my thoughts on this messy callout. And tbh I’m not going to get too much more heavily involved in this. Because I need to focus on more immediately serious rl stuff more often, like doing what I can to get out of the hellish landscape of a house I currently am stuck in.

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bladekindeyewear · 3 years

Text

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-12-25

I’m not going to spend time BLOGGING an upd8 on Christmas morning!

...yes I am who the fuck am I kidding. (Bonus stuff and Hiveswap are still well on hold though.)

So are we gonna follow up on the main ship? Probably not, right, with that perfect Karkat point to cut away, right? We’re just going to leave Roxy’s question hanging, as well as makeouts etiquette, and leave while having seen a COUPLE FRAMES of non-possessed canon Jade with only whatever fun fanart was inspired across the internet by the moment to tide us over????

Yeah, probably.

Ugh, more Dirk. I guess it’s overdue. :(

> CHAPTER 16. Welcome to my Secret Lair

Oh huh, I guess not? So... Jane’s, or Rose and Kanaya’s?

Karkat stays for longer than John thought he would. They talk a bit, but mostly they are quiet. Eventually, Karkat gets called away on yet more important war business, leaving John with one final touch on the shoulder. John leans into it in response, though he’s a bit ashamed of chasing down a sliver of physical affection so soon after obliterating Karkat’s evening like he had.

Pretty much, yeah. Can’t blame either of them.

When Karkat is finally gone, John still doesn’t move. It isn’t as though he has nowhere else to go, since there are quite a few places he might attempt to make himself useful, for better or for worse.

You’re still abandoning the task that was explicitly yours to protect your literal kid and his friends, but, oh well. Low-point. Dave dead, house dead, broke news, I get it.

He just doesn’t feel ready for that yet. The remnants of his house are still smoldering, and he can’t stop staring at them. It would make sense, he thinks, to want to root around through the rubble for anything that’s still intact; some half-charred keepsake to claim as the last thing left that’s still his. But he doesn’t want to do it, and he doesn’t want to think about it. And he still can’t move.

Can’t move. No Breath huh? What’s going to get him to, then?

> (==>)

Oh boy, that might help. XD She’s pretty good at that.

> (==>)

Still with the waistline gap. And was his phone always yellow like his God-Tier shoes?

ROXY: hey john can u do me a quick solid ROXY: actly idk how quick itll be but its definitely solid ROXY: harry anderson says i just missed u being here but could u skip back on over?

Nice, huh! No judgment, just a hey-any-chance-you-could-swing-back. He sort of needs to be needed right now, in a simple, almost everyday non-judgmental way I guess. (That’s what he NEEDED anyway-- whether he deserved it though is up for debate.)

ROXY: i need help w/smth and yr darling boy is holed up in his room working on some fuckin craft project or other and cant be bothered

YES SEW JOHN A BETTER FITTING FUCKING OUTFIT

ROXY: and now that me and u are freshly on speakin terms again i might as well take advantage of that olive branch and put u to work ROXY: assumin you havent died in an air raid, that is ROXY: which id also be interested in knowin about so if u wld be so kind as to reply instead of leavin me hangin

Heheheh. Gosh Roxy is always the best.

JOHN: yea yea sorry im here. JOHN: i just had a hard time getting my phone out of these fucking tiny pants.

Hah.

JOHN: and also my house is bombed out so i'm kinda grappling with that. JOHN: but i honestly am not sure how much longer i need to sit around staring at it. trying to align my memories of my youth with whatever is happening right now so JOHN: short version is no i’m not dead, and yeah i can come back over there and help you out. ROXY: oh sweet yr alive and down to do manual labor its a win/win JOHN: see you soon.

Yep! Pulled away from all the metaphorical, ultra-meaningful bullshit, back to some brass tacks with some easy humor. Definitely something Roxy can do well.~

> (==>)

EXCUSE ME. What is that outfit and pose. Did you--

ROXY: sup ROXY: follow me ROXY: well were just going to my room so i guess technically u know the way JOHN: haha ok.

Did you invite him over for the manual labor of banging you while your son is sewing in the other room

Or maybe the labor is making him a new sibling. JFC

Is this plan part of why we got the sudden content warning that was mocked or was that mainly for Hiveswap

John follows, trying to shake the ominous feeling he got from what she’d just said. He’d been in and out of this house a lot in the past few days. Why should this be any different?

I DUNNO JOHN DOES THIS SEEM DIFFERENT TO YOU

> (==>)

Yea this seems like a fucc room.

JOHN: it’s not like i could forget! ROXY: ya i guess u only really saw the living room when you were here the other day but i have changed some stuff up ROXY: done a lil redecoratin here n there

So it’s MORE of a fucc room than previously >__>”

ROXY: may have to do a smidge more if my old bff decides im next on the list for bombing out ROXY: but so far so good

Ah geez.

ROXY: just a coupla exploded cars in the yard from some shenanigans our dear son and his friends were in but u kno it is what it is!!!

Well, that’ll buff out easy.

ROXY: can i get u anything? ROXY: just made some coffee JOHN: no, uh, i’m good.

Of course she has a fancy handled winecoffeeglass (and the handle does look ridiculous but it’d be too hot to hold otherwise)

Roxy shrugs and swirls her own coffee around in her novelty mug. John looks around. A lot about the room is the same. The family photos, the rug. There’s a lot more cat stuff in there now, though. The bed is new. John feels like he’s about to take a test he hasn’t studied for. He makes himself focus on what she’s saying.

That would be the feeling.

> (==>)

MY GOD. Roxy is so fucking good at this holy shit

She KNOWS she’s making him squirm and she loves it

JOHN: so uh anyway. JOHN: what was this favor? ROXY: yo why dont u just come rest yr tush for a bit ROXY: take a lil relax next 2 me here JOHN: haha uh. JOHN: roxy i uh. JOHN: im flattered, but i don’t know if that’s really the right step right now. JOHN: don’t get me wrong, everything seems so fucked up right now that when i try to think about what might actually BE the right step, it feels like a huge cartoon question mark might physically manifest over my head. JOHN: but I’m not sure if um rekindling our physical relationship is really the best--

So is Roxy trolling him, about to reveal she wasn’t thinking of sex and was just making things seem sultry? Or just had “lol jk” as an option-select, maybe.

> (==>)

ROXY: r u kiddin me rn egbert JOHN: i’m not? unless you were, in which case yeah lets say i was also kidding. JOHN: oh my god, i’m sorry, i don’t know why this making me freak out.

OH NOOO NOT THE DISDAAAAIN - CRITICAL HIT D:

ROXY: i remember our past boot knockin with fondness but that is a situation im not interested in revisiting

boot knockin XD

ROXY: look john ROXY: i was trying to be polite about it ROXY: offering u sustenance n rest n all ROXY: but you look like shit ROXY: i just wanted to catch up on the whole heinous war situation were in and maybe check in on e/o before leaping strait to the real n actual nonsexual manual labor favor i have in mind for u JOHN: oh.

Hey, she can’t help looking sexy she’s too good at it.

Is the manual labor moving the crashed cars? Can’t Roxy pull that off on her own, or... banish the cars to the void or something? (Oh, but WOULD she want to do it on her own when she can rope in John and bring him down to earth by giving him a useful task? And admittedly his strength and wallet would make things easier.)

John feels his shoulders unbunch. Of course. Yeah. He’s almost embarrassed by how relieved he feels. So what if his ex wife wanted to hook up? Shouldn’t that be a situation he could navigate? Don’t people like to find solace in human physical connection during dire times? Why did the idea of it make his mind white out in panic more than, say, any number of the traumas he just experienced?

Probably some gender stuff mixed up in there too, June.

He doesn’t know, but he believes Roxy that he must look pretty haggard. He probably feels haggard? Maybe sitting down will feel better.

Just put your feet up yeah

> (==>)

WHAT A CUTE IMAGE

JOHN: sorry. like i said, my "how to react to stuff" meter is completely fucked right now. ROXY: thats fair bud

she’s used to being patient with you don’t worry otherwise you never would’ve gotten this far

ROXY: real fast i do need to do a quick takeback of all that shit i said last time we talked about janey not being literally the most evil person we knew or whatever ROXY: i guess i was hopped up on arguin or somethin since that was before we hit our conversational vibe bc of course u were right and i shoulda listened

Ouch. Yeah, we saw just lately just how far off the deep end she was. (Where was that funny upd8 reaction art summarizing the bit where Kanaya was holding Tavros hostage and Jane was transparently debating “hmm do I let my son die?” and Kanaya and Tavros were just looking at each-other flat-mouthed nervous? I REALLY wanted to share that but I don’t usually want to reblog or put most stuff HS^2 not under a read-more, for spoiler purposes, usually.)

ROXY: im just glad ur ok ROXY: or like alive JOHN: yeah, jury's still out on "ok" but, you know. ROXY: ya ROXY: u said ur house is gone?? JOHN: yep. JOHN: completely. ROXY: jeez ROXY: i would ask how ur feelin but like the answer 2 that has got 2b "prtty bad"

Talk it ouuuut~~ get those feels out there and articulated john

JOHN: yeah. JOHN: i mean. JOHN: no? JOHN: it’s weird. JOHN: it feels like it should be a bigger deal, I guess? JOHN: like it’s my HOUSE. JOHN: but mostly it always felt like my dad’s house? JOHN: and when i started living there after i moved out of here, it was like i crammed myself back into whatever was left of my kid self? JOHN: and it didn’t feel good, but it at least was familiar, you know? JOHN: like living there let me feel closer to my dad, trying to be like the way i remember him, or like how i remember him wanting me to be, or something? JOHN: and i didn’t realize how much i hated doing that until i saw it all go up in flames. JOHN: so i guess i could have used my powers to stop the fire and save whatever was left of the place, but i couldn’t bring myself to do it. JOHN: like some fucked up part of me was glad i got there too late? JOHN: so i just sat there, watching, trying to figure out why watching my house burn down felt like i was being released from prison. JOHN: and even now i keep trying to explain it away, as though it’s because of how fucked up everything else is that it made me feel good. JOHN: but that’s just bullshit. JOHN: it DID feel good. JOHN: i DO feel free. JOHN: sorry.

I was kind of saying some Breath/Blood stuff at the time of him losing his last tie to his stubborn sticking-to-his-kid-self bit? Except now we’re mixing it in with June Egbert and his gender-identity questions too.

ROXY: no need 2 apologize ROXY: we just delved in2 my whole gender thing last time so it seems fine for u to have a turn JOHN: i didn’t say it was a gender thing.

Oh shit

ROXY: well no i just meant like i did some sharing ROXY: like referrin 2 the topic i brought up when we chatted last ROXY: but like now that u mention it ROXY: *meaningful pause* JOHN: … JOHN: i JOHN: ROXY: lol well we can move on 2 the favor part if youd rather ROXY: stick a lil pin in that topic n come back 2 it when u have had sleep

Are you just INCREDIBLY incisive Roxy or have you and John talked about this before?

ROXY: like i said the other day its not like this shits figureoutable in 1 sitting anyways JOHN: yeah... ROXY: sooooooo ROXY: movin on

It’s just fine for Roxy to slow-roll this yeah, if she’s going to pry open that door a little

ROXY: dont be mad but theres a part of the house u didnt know abt the whole time u lived here JOHN: what? ROXY: yea ROXY: i got a secret lair ROXY: for my sciences

OH FUCK YES SCIENCE LAB, of COURSE Roxy would want a cool science lab basement because she always wants a cool science lab basement

ROXY: and i get to it via a transportalizer underneath our bed ROXY: which is 2 heavy 2 move by my lonesome so i just needed to borrow some o your aforementioned powers of wind

Okay no. Wait. What the fuck?

First of all, as funny and MSPaintAdventures-y as furniture being in the way of things is, why would you block it with a bed too heavy to move, but,

Second of all, more importantly, how is a GOD-TIER ROXY not strong enough to lift a heavy bed?!?!?!? Either she’s lying to get John involved in things or this is a gendered cop-out because these characters are superheroes at the TOP of their echeladders, given obnoxiously powerful video-game strength and athletics only to then have ascended into DEITIES. God-Tier Roxy could probably have lifted a bed like that when she was SEVENTEEN! And now she’s an ADULT, out-of-shape or otherwise! If this were a whole CAR I might be willing to handwave it, but just a heavy BED?!? And none of the GUYS are going to have this much trouble lifting a bed like this, are they?? This just feels like following classic cartoony gender tropes in the complete absence of these characters’ super powers, what the fuck, and also Roxy if you didn’t make it Transportalizer-only access you could have given it an entrance you could phase through with your fancy powers to get to. FUCK.

This feels stupid.

ROXY: so if u dont mind woosh away JOHN: uh ok, well... JOHN: a secret science lair, sure, i can deal with that. JOHN: why not! JOHN: it doesn’t work out great when i do the windy thing indoors, though. ROXY: aight then no wind bending just use your mangrit

Roxy flexes, the corner of her mouth pulled up into a familiar grin. John feels his guts, so recently calmed, twist up into knots again. Her eyebrows shoot up and the smile loosens. He must have shown something on his face.

You’re already THIS sensitive about gendertalk?

ROXY: ok or just like push when i push ROXY: we both got sick muscles ROXY: no other adjectives necessary JOHN: yeah ok. ROXY: on 3?

Please, please reinforce the idea that they both have sick strength, because they fucking do and the idea that Roxy actually a hundred percent NEEDED John to do this is BS.

> (==>)

JOHN: holy shit? ROXY: sorry to lop yet another huge scoop onto ur lil brains ice cream revelation sundae JOHN: so wait, if this thing's always been under the bed, how’d you get down here before without me? ROXY: well thats neither here nor there john JOHN: i mean it is kinda. Here. ROXY: fine ok checkmate ROXY: i dont ACTUALLY need ur nerdgrit for this escapade ROXY: like im sorry but i said it ROXY: i mostly just wanted to see you and show u wats down here

THANK FUCKING CHRIST.

If that wasn’t actually just a lie to get him involved I was going to stay SO mad. Of COURSE Roxy can move a fucking BED no matter how heavy it is. OF COURSE.

ROXY: and also uve been ~sent for~ JOHN: ok but like ROXY: john i am inviting u 2 my inner sanctum ROXY: i am literally bringing out the word "sanctum" in case u werent already clued in 2 how cool this is ROXY: so do u wanna go into my secret lair or wat JOHN: yeah!? JOHN: yes? i guess? ROXY: aight good

Yes John of course you want to stop fighting it

ROXY: then as they told me in the hospital before lil h a was born ROXY: just push

eyeroll, but yeah, of course

> (==>)

Oh cool, sprite form version of her loungewear.

> (==>)

Sorry for my compulsion to post every full-frame image of Roxy in this awesome outfi-WERE YOU KEEPING CALLIOPE UNDER YOUR BED THIS WHOLE TIME?!?????

That’s like... almost a fucking metaphor isn’t it???? For the relationship you preferred in the other timeline and possibly THIS one TOO or

ROXY: hey callieee i got him ROXY: o damn john sorry i shoulda also told u callies here weve been hangin out again ROXY: 1 more freak for ur bean

Oh huh, so this isn’t an always thing. And these two can get close in more than one timeline where it would’ve worked out nicely. :)

JOHN: oh it's ok, my bean feels pretty well adjusted to freakage at this point so keep them coming if you like! ROXY: k cool i will JOHN: do i get to know what that big thing under the sheet is? ROXY: hmmmmmm no JOHN: oh ok. JOHN: are you sure? i mean, it seems like a pretty prominent feature of the room. JOHN: space. JOHN: wherever we are. ROXY: and a totally mysterious n COMPLETELY inconspicuous feature it will have to remain for now ROXY: we r kinda in a hurry here fyi ROXY: and by that i mean ROXY: we are in precisely the amount of hurry that means im excused from having to a that specific q rn JOHN: right, sorry. JOHN: i will pay no attention to the object behind the curtain. ROXY: u catch on fast egbert ROXY: anyway theres more cool info coming so just follow me

I don’t have any big theories. Is it just the Hiveswap device or something? If Calliope helped with it it’d help explain the Cherubic theme.

> (==>)

JOHN: so... this is all downstairs? JOHN: it seems like you had a lot of work done. ROXY: well no not x actly ROXY: were in the old meteor JOHN: under the house??? ROXY: ok so ROXY: in hindsight it may have been a bit misleading 2 say like ROXY: "downstairs" ROXY: in reference to a place which is hells of buried underground and may not actually be literally under the house ROXY: but there is no time to explain all that rn john so instead im going to refer u to my adorable little green friend here CALLIOPE: #U_U# ROXY: (hehe) CALLIOPE: *AHEM* CALLIOPE: hi john! CALLIOPE: long time no see. ^u^

Cherubs just really like dark cavelike places full of weird tech don’t they.

> (==>)

THEY’RE SO CUTE

JOHN: oh, uh. hey callie! JOHN: it sure has been a while huh. JOHN: now that i think about it, the last time the three of us hung out like this... CALLIOPE: was when i was aggressively third wheeling yoUr prenUptial coUrtship? CALLIOPE: if yoU dont mind, john, i'd rather not rehash that period of oUr lives. CALLIOPE: it was more than a little painfUl for me. JOHN: oh. JOHN: god, jeez, i'm sorry. i didn't mean to-- CALLIOPE: hee hee john i am only pUlling yoUr leg, don't worry. CALLIOPE: if anything i was personally a little thrilled with how things shook oUt in that respect. CALLIOPE: imagine, if yoU will, a yoUng cherUb raised in solitUde, whose only solace was the convolUted and tUmUltUoUs romantic schemata she projected onto her only friends from another Universe. CALLIOPE: and then fUrther imagine that this yoUng cherUb, throUgh varioUs even *more* convolUted contrivances, ended Up in the company of those selfsafe friends as an eqUal participant in their sphere of social discoUrse! CALLIOPE: it is a joy the like of which yoU possibly cannot fathom. u_u

Reinforcing that things turning out this way was in fact the FANTASY that Calliope was writing over in the Canon timeline. Just, heavily, HEAVILY implied that the Candy timeline is -- or at least originated as -- Calliope’s fanfiction as a Muse of Space, and its competition for audience interest with canon is the essential conflict between alt!Calliope and Dirk (or Dirk and Andrew Hussie).

CALLIOPE: so to pUt it simply, getting to experience sUch emotional drama myself was an impossibly enriching experience. CALLIOPE: possibly a first for my species! CALLIOPE: it's actUally qUite interesting, if yoU ROXY: *nudge* CALLIOPE: oh, right. yes. i'm getting a little carried away, haha. CALLIOPE: argh, i'm sorry, this is not how i planned to begin this vital conversation.

Vital conversation? What sorta truth-bombs are coming?

CALLIOPE: but to sUmmarise, what i was trying to say is: CALLIOPE: don't beat yourself Up aboUt it john. CALLIOPE: besides, hUman divorces are even more fascinating than i had ever imagined, and being able to witness yoUrs in motion was an honoUr. CALLIOPE: so i consider Us aboUt even at this point. JOHN: hahaha!!! JOHN: okay, well that's good to know! CALLIOPE: ^u^

Holy SHIT that was savage! And we’ll NEVER know whether or not she really intended it so savagely, either.~

JOHN: so um... JOHN: i hear that there's this big secret thing you wanna tell me about? CALLIOPE: oh right, yes of course! CALLIOPE: let me jUst say first of all how thrilled i am that yoU're on board. CALLIOPE: i wasn't sUre if yoUr natUral inclinations woUld have preclUded yoUr coming to such a place as this, and yet here yoU are. CALLIOPE: this whole endeavoUr will be *so* mUch easier with yoUr help.

Uh oh.

Hopefully babies aren’t involved.

JOHN: oh! well, shucks. JOHN: not really sure what that means but i'm just glad to be of use somewhere, haha. JOHN: which, speaking of somewhere, CALLIOPE: ah right, right. yoU're probably a little cUrioUs as to where the dickens we are. CALLIOPE: how much do yoU know aboUt black holes? JOHN: um... like, the big space things? CALLIOPE: they aren't always big actUally, and in fact their relative smallness is practically their defining qUality. JOHN: oh. CALLIOPE: bUt okay i think we are on the same page. CALLIOPE: so, what if i told yoU that we are inside of a black hole right now.

Oh dear, we’re getting into the canon/noncanon divide?

JOHN: um... JOHN: like, HERE? JOHN: we just transportalized into a black hole? CALLIOPE: no, i mean, what if oUr whole WORLD was inside a black hole. JOHN: ok.

Yeah, that’s gonna be John’s reaction. “ok.” Pretty much inevitable.

CALLIOPE: earth c, or at least oUr version of it, has, from the moment we crossed the victory threshold, been inside a black hole. JOHN: ok. CALLIOPE: and not just any black hole, bUt the very black hole in which the green sUn Ultimately met its demise, allowing oUr victory in the first instance! JOHN: huh! ROXY: ("huh!") ROXY: (rofl my fucking ao egbert) JOHN: (shhhh!)

And Roxy enjoys his non-reaction reactions as much as we do, hehe.

CALLIOPE: bUt, paradoxically, the critical moment which determined its capture within the black hole happened *after* that point. CALLIOPE: i refer of coUrse to yoUr decision not to retUrn to the mediUm and fight my brother. JOHN: wait, wait. JOHN: you mean, the meat and candy thing? JOHN: oh my god. JOHN: you mean i actually DID make a mistake that day. CALLIOPE: well, that's not exactly what that-- JOHN: ugh, i fucking KNEW it! JOHN: i'm so sorry. JOHN: i'm so sorry that i put the earth inside a black hole everyone. ): ROXY: john ROXY: listen ROXY: u have got to get out of this mindset i am begging you JOHN: ):

Yeah shake him out of this shit.

ROXY: your choice literally didnt matter ROXY: the whole thing was symbolic in the first place ROXY: literally symbolic in the case of the picnic i mean come on ROXY: it was just some steak and a plate of candy suckers JOHN: oh. CALLIOPE: i mean, i wouldn't go so far as to say that the meal we shared was unimportant, given the sacred significance of the two options i presented. CALLIOPE: but yes, yoUr choice of snack was infinitely less important than the choice which it presaged. CALLIOPE: and even then, calling it a choice woUld be sorely misleading. CALLIOPE: think of it like a coin flip. CALLIOPE: the series of events that led to Us being trapped beyond the event horizon of an Ubermassive black hole could be considered "tails", while the events which would have occUrred otherwise could be considered "heads". CALLIOPE: since both were possible, and paradox space is the way it is, they actUally both happened. and we jUst "happened" (hee hee) to get tails instead of heads. JOHN: you mean we ended up with the bad possibility. CALLIOPE: not at all! since both possibilities depend on one another's existence, it really doesn't make sense to call them "right" or "wrong". they both just "are". JOHN: o...kay... CALLIOPE: u_u

Yeah, it’s going to take a bit more than that to convince him he didn’t make the “wrong decision”.

CALLIOPE: i realise that this may be a lot to process. CALLIOPE: it's easy to forget that this wasn't obvioUs to everyone from the beginning. CALLIOPE: anyway, the reason i went on this tangent in the first place was to explain that the space we are standing in right now has a special significance, in that it is the location which corresponds to the black hole's singUlarity. JOHN: oh, wow. JOHN: um. JOHN: ok so, sorry if this is a dumb question to ask suddenly, but what does being inside of a black hole actually... mean for us? JOHN: is that bad? JOHN: is it like in movie, um, JOHN: shoot. JOHN: roxy what was that matthew mcconaughey movie from your earth that we watched? ROXY: u mean interstellar JOHN: RIGHT. JOHN: the one with the organ. JOHN: man. i cried at that movie so much. ROXY: lol u can say that again ROXY: iirc at least part of y u got so weepy was the fact that u couldnt believe a version of earth existed where ppl got 2 watch more mcconaughey films than you JOHN: listen. JOHN: i simply don't think you all appreciated the gift you were given. CALLIOPE: i don't believe i'm familiar with this particular film ^u^;; ROXY: oh dont worry cal you didnt miss much JOHN: (gasp)

This is all gold

ROXY: but the important point is that no its not really an interstellar type situation here egbert ROXY: ur not gonna enter a weird time vortex and change the trajectory of a little girls life with the power of love JOHN: aw.

Dammit, now we have to be on the lookout for that possibility. Or it did sort of already happen more than once to John. ...Whatever.

CALLIOPE: to go back to your original question, john. CALLIOPE: it's not strictly speaking "bad" for Us to be inside of a black hole, mUch thoUgh that contradicts most of what anyone knows about them. CALLIOPE: of coUrse, if we had fallen into it, that woUld be a whole other kettle of fish. CALLIOPE: the tidal forces woUld have stretched Us all into spaghetti and then ripped us apart! CALLIOPE: bUt the natUre of oUr arrival was more akin to simply "being" here, sUddenly. one moment we were not, and the next moment we were, and somehow always had been. CALLIOPE: in everyday, practical terms, being inside of a black hole has very little bearing on Us. CALLIOPE: i mean, the natUre of space and time is a little finicky in here, bUt for the most part it doesn't seem to be anything too oUt of the ordinary. CALLIOPE: bUt beyond that, it means that we are sealed away from the rest of existence. CALLIOPE: oUr sphere of inflUence is limited to the sphere of the black hole's bounding horizon. CALLIOPE: as far as everyone else is concerned, we might as well not even exist! JOHN: is there no way we could let anyone know that we're in here...? CALLIOPE: almost certainly not!

No? So this doesn’t have to do with the divide?

CALLIOPE: there are very few ways for anything to escape the kind of predicament that we are in right now. one of them is to be an all-powerfUl being with control over the very fabric of space, with the energy of two Universes at yoUr disposal. CALLIOPE: in which case, escape woUld become rather trivial, if a little Unscientific. JOHN: ok. i am going to assume that we can't just do that. CALLIOPE: yoU've hit the nail on the head, UnfortUnately. U_U CALLIOPE: the method i described was the one employed by my alternate self, who yoU may recall crashed through the event horizon in the body that once belonged to jade harley. CALLIOPE: she departed through a pUnctUre she created in the black hole's surface shortly after consUming my brother, a deed which provided her with the necessary "oomph", and which was frankly rather breathtaking to watch. =u= CALLIOPE: bUt Upon her departUre, the rift closed for good. as far as i can see, there's simply no way for Us to commUnicate with the world oUtside the black hole.

What the heck? Calliope SAW all this? Is this her Muse powers at work, letting her observe these things, or was she there? And John certainly did NOT see ANY of what Calliope just said happen.

CALLIOPE: i woUld certainly be very sUrprised to find oUt that anyone had managed sUch a thing!

So we’re going to find that out if we haven’t already. Maybe something to do with the way Vrissy just conks out narcoleptically?

JOHN: ...right. JOHN: so... let me just get this straight. JOHN: knowing that we're inside of a black hole... does that actually change anything? JOHN: like, can't we just go on living like normal? CALLIOPE: oh absolUtely not. CALLIOPE: i don't know if yoU've noticed john bUt this world is on the brink of a total cataclysm. JOHN: oh.

Um, what?

CALLIOPE: oUr exclUsion from the overarching coUrse of events which governs all reality means that oUr existence here is liable to dramatic and violent Upheaval. CALLIOPE: to pUt it another way, becaUse nothing in here "matters", we are likely to be sUbjected to things which are a bit bats in the belfry, for no reason other than it's totally insignificant to the wider canon of reality. CALLIOPE: and mUch thoUgh i am personally titillated by some of the conseqUences of this predicament, it is a degrading way for Us to live. u_u JOHN: that's... certainly one way to put it, yeah...

No plot-armor for your entire timeline, I guess, yep. Outside of canon, we can imagine and write about ANYTHING happening to the characters, or just drop their existence entirely, much like a doomed offshoot timeline. It’s a plot stability that depended heavily on the threat of Lord English and being trapped in a story, and without it things are bound to see a BIT chaotic (or “degrading” if you view it as subjected to the whims of fanfic writers, certainly).

CALLIOPE: at first, i believed that this was simply necessary. Us playing tails to oUr coUnterparts' heads, the black to their white, and so forth. CALLIOPE: bUt over the years i have come to the conclUsion that this is simply not kosher. ROXY: its total bs is what it is CALLIOPE: right, yes. CALLIOPE: a steaming pile of bUllshite. CALLIOPE: and so we have decided that something needs to be done aboUt it.

Ah fuck. You’re going to regulate non-canon? “Canonize” it? Is the fact that you eventually succeed at whatever it is you’re trying to do part of why we have the story presented to us in this bifurcated structure?

ROXY: this is finally where u come in jegbert ROXY: we gots quests for yous CALLIOPE: hee hee, yes. CALLIOPE: or *a* quest, to be specific. JOHN: oh boy! ROXY: (this fkin nerd i s2g)

Roxy and Calliope setting him on this quest as a Rogue of Void and a Muse of Space feels fitting.

JOHN: i'm not sure how i can go about freeing us from a hellish space prison, but i'm up for giving it a try i guess? JOHN: i have... literally nothing better to be doing at this point. except for maybe hanging out with harry anderson. ROXY: nice save lol

YEAH WE’RE STILL GLOSSING OVER HOW YOU LEFT HIM UNPROTECTED, JERK

ROXY: but u dont need to worry abt busting us outta space jail tbh ROXY: thats not ur problem to fix JOHN: oh. JOHN: i'm... not sure i follow, then. ROXY: i mean yeah ur gonna obvs facilitate it in a sense ROXY: but only by going and busting the person who can actually help us outta normal earth jail CALLIOPE: we need yoU to free vriska from the clUtches of oUr misgUided friend jane, and bring her here, to the singUlarity. ROXY: weve been calling it the plot point CALLIOPE: yes, the plot point is a key part of oUr plan. CALLIOPE: as far as we have been able to sUrmise, the only remaining method for escaping oUr grim confinement depends on leveraging the UniqUe properties of this location to create an event of sUch catalcysmic proportions that it simply cannot be contained within the black hole any more. CALLIOPE: something SO dramatic, so hyper-relevant, that it becomes ontologically impossible for anyone to ignore it. CALLIOPE: for that, we need an individUal of sUfficient narrative cloUt, so to speak. CALLIOPE: and to liberate her, who better than the embodiment of the aspect of freedom itself? CALLIOPE: ... CALLIOPE: phew. okay, i'm finished. CALLIOPE: CALLIOPE: sorry, that took longer than i expected to go throUgh.

..............................

OOooooh, kay.

Whatever this is, it’s going to be really weird and PROBABLY infuriating and/or shippy, and I’m probably not going to like it. Plus it seems like it’s some sort of inverse belated canonization of some other black-hole-rescue theories I went on about at some point. Although, related to that link, “aspect of freedom” if anyone wasn’t paying attention! That’s a (sorta-)canon mention of the purpose of it!

They’re going to attention-wh-- attention-hog themselves out of the black hole so that they’re “considered canon” too, or close enough. Huh.

ROXY: what r u talking about cals that was great ROXY: i could listen 2 u plotsplain for years CALLIOPE: oh you >u< ROXY: fyi this was why i wanted u to get a move on eggbread ROXY: so callie could have more time 2 infodump ROXY: thats love bitchhhhhh JOHN: hahaha. JOHN: ok, well, i think i understood all that?

Love with who? Callie, John, both?

In reality, John isn’t sure what most of this means. But on balance, it feels okay? He’s gone back and forth about a hundred times in the last week about where his place in everything is, so he might as well ride this out. Plus, the last time a Lalonde kind of told him to do something, he thinks that he chose not to, and look where that got him. And it’s not like he has other plans. He may as well do this! It’s at least going to get him involved in things again, if nothing else. He turns to go, and then hears a sound. It’s the sound of feet and knocking on doors, echoed through stone and digital static.

Oh shit. Is Andrew trapped behind some fourth walls behind the curtains.

> (==>)

Oh RIGHT also that DEVICE is where they want to bring Vriska. Are they going to overturn part of canon itself with a super-retcon thus making this timeline unbelievably relevant or--? Maybe make all the PESTERQUESTS canon or something?! I don’t know. Maybe they’re INTENTIONALLY starting the game like Vriska wanted to??????

Guh, this is something so big that I don’t WANT to theorize about it, do I.

JOHN: did you hear that? ROXY: wha ROXY: oh yeah uh ROXY: i may have messaged rose and kan and jade to check on them too ROXY: so its prob onea them showin up ROXY: they don’t need to know bout all this tho ROXY: we got time to chat with them b4 u go get vriska

No, even if it’s a knock at the somehow-top-level-house-even-under-buried-- oh, right, maybe it’s covering in part a monitoring system that looks up there. But still, part of that sound was DOUBTLESS these two hiding something, all standing in front of the curtain like that.

JOHN: i’ll go stall em. ROXY: thx babe ROXY: oh is it 2 soon for that joke or JOHN: no, weirdly enough, that one’s fine. ROXY: oh good ok see u up there soon!

How is calling your significant other “babe” not cool REGARDLESS of gender?! Like wasn’t that always cool? --Oh wait is it because they’re not together or... but... guh, I don’t know.

Anyway, see y’all after the holidays at least.

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #upd8 #Homestuck^2 #spoiler #spoilers #Roxy Lalonde #John Egbert #Calliope

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sanchoyo · 3 years

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danny phantom, season 3, episodes 7-13 thoughts! cannot believe im finishing this series so fast. ...cannot believe it ended like that...uh. one of the weirdest finales to a show I think I've seen, it really stood out against the rest of the series, and not in a good way, in my opinion. I paused to yell in caps lock...several times, I think, out of anger... BUT. ANYWAY, HERE WE GO.

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-the fentons putting the kids to Work in the lab, with NO SAFETY GEAR. AT ALL. THEY JUST GOT BACK FROM SCHOOL AND ARE TIRED!!! and when jack asked how danny his day was and danny tried to say it was bad jack cut him off :( for the 400th time, i am stealing these kids.

-maddie and jack IMMEDIATELY SELLING THEIR LAB AND WORK FOR A LOT OF MONEY. and danny cant get into the portal anymore, oh no!!! he could always just steal vlads I Guess.

-THEY ARE VLADS NEW NEIGHBOR. OH MY GOD. this is a sitcom format. a butler came with the new mansion. i would absolutely try a kiwi fudge milkshake, why is the butler disgusted.

-the..guys in white bought the lab to shoot a missile. into the ghost zone thru the portal. bro i hate these guys

-jazz straight up setting her new bedroom up in the library. i am very very jealous

-"RATED E, FOR ENTRAILS"

-I like how the 14 year olds very quickly realize if the giw destroy the ghost zone itll destroy OUR ZONE because its just. like. the other side of the quarter so to speak. and the giw, a fully funded government agency, didnt consider that...(or worse, are willing to risk that anyway...)

-a...graphic novel version of the constitution? what in the world have you been READING SAM

-'cool, I always wanted to be called a meddling kid!' scooby doo reference...

-can they keep the butler. I love him.

-ecto latte....I also want to try that. is ectoplasm edible...

-YESS I KNEW DANNY WOULD USE VLAD'S PORTAL. vindicated.

-DANNY WHY DIDNT YOU JUST ASK JOHNNY NICELY. STEALING HIS BIKE IS SO SO RUDE.

-youngblood is also into astronaut stuff, thats really cute. and him being like 'phantom, dude!! :D' ALL EXCITED. THATS ADORABLE.

-the slapstick comedy of the giw slipping and falling and running into shit in the lab. is funny, but also, because this lab has NOOO safety codes in practice. god its a wonder dannys the only one to have died here...

-JOHNNY, SKULKER AND YOUNGBLOOD HELPING DANNY!!! I keep saying it but the other ghosts helping him. is my fav thing in the world. and, it's a really good thing the missile in the real world was harmless...otherwise the fentons wouldn't have had a home/lab to come back to...

-WULF WANTED POSTER!!! we havent seen wulfy in so long :( very funny the box ghost is offended by how much these ghosts are wanted for. first off, what do ghosts even DO WITH MONEY. does the ghost zone have its own currency??? what are ghosts BUYING

-the box ghost is So Funny, im so glad hes still got his bubble wrap. u are VERY wanted in THIS house box ghost. you are SO scary king. dont give up on ur dreams

-this needs to be a meme format. I made a transparent version, very very messily, for future use.

-this is a Fellow and a Friend

-box ghost accidentally bringing lunch for everyone, and giving people at the mall free shoes. SHOES ARE SO EXPENSIVE, ID BE SO GRATEFUL. helpful king. i feel SO bad for him lmao, he's putting in SO much effort. he wants the evil aesthetic So bad but hes Just Too Silly. I understand your plight, box ghost....

-oh my god. pandoras BOX. 'THOSE OF US IN THE BOX TRADE' HOW MANY ARE IN THIS BOX TRADE. I WANT IN. pandora is a multi-armed ghost goddess and i love her.

-SKULKER WHY ARE YOU RUNNING FROM THE EVIL UNICORN?? YOURE A HUNTER!! JUST SHOOT IT!!!!!!! JUST HUNT IT!!!

-box ghost...where did you get the cowboy hat. I respect it, i just want to know

-JAZZ COMING IN WITH THE BAZOOKA TO FIGHT THE 10 HEADED DRAGON!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! and the rest of the fentons I Guess

-ignoring the sam/danny moments. I simple do not see them.

-...why doesnt danny just fly over the maze. or do the whole 'real world people act as ghosts in the ghost zone' and turn back!!! I know its just to show off the ghost greek monster designs. but STILL.

-danny being like. um. hi pandora. i found your box. >< polite...PANDORA IS SO GIANT. GIANT GHOST WOMAN. SHES GOING TO BEAT BOX GHOSTS ASS. another ghost thats nice to danny to add to the list :) and HER FORCING BOX GHOST TO APOLOGIZE. and having sandwiches with danny after making box ghost clean up. I LOVE HER.

-DANNYS 'BEWARE' AT THE END JAKHDJFKN

-okay, when dash pulled out danny's seat and was calling him buddy, for half a second I was like 'this is a prank, hes gonna pull it back' BUT THEN FRIGHT KNIGHT MY BELOVED IS BACK. AND EVERYONE STARTS CHANTING FOR DANNY TO BEAT HIS ASS WITH GHOST POWERS AND DANNY DOES WAY TOO EASILY, and im like, yup, this is a dream LMAO

-danny is getting an A+ in science :) my smart son

-DANNY WAKING UP FROM THE DREAM RIGHT BEFORE KISSING SAM AND BEING LIKE 'that was a dream...no, a NIGHTMARE!' same. not to be a hater but, shouldve been val. maybe I am a hater

-...danny running and checking the 'tapes'...why is his whole house constantly being recorded. hes been in ghost form/fights plenty of times in his house. does he have to run and wipe the tapes after?? every single time?? god

-letting this image speak for itself

-this is SO cursed

-NOCTURN'S DESIGN FUCKS SO HARD. the Venice mask vibes. also his space pattern not moving while the rest of his animation does is big chowder vibes. but this guy is basically the sandman but Evil, huh. I love dream plots. also, nocturn's design feels very similar to clockwork, like, red eyes and a scar over the same eye, but also just the purple, and the Cosmic Vibes. I want to see them fight. anyway nocturn's va was also avatar roku AND alfred in several batman cartoons.

-the 'sleepwalkers' designs were super cute in shape (kinda remind me of oogie boogie! pillow-cased shaped, which is appropriate for the 'king of dreams's minions) until I looked closer at their eyes. why do they look sewn shut!! (they open their eyes a few times, so they aren't, but they look like it...)

-I like how this show has been pretty consistent (with a few exceptions) about a Ghost Being Huge (or getting larger) = Very Powerful

-2 months of summer camping??? wtf, do camping things usually take that long?? I've never been to a camping...thing like that. but isnt that basically their entire summer??

-'the entirety of nature is your bathroom!' and thats why I do no camping despite loving nature LMAO.

-sam, at least TRY TO BE NICE TO THE OTHER GIRLS YOU'RE GOING TO BE SHARING A CABIN WITH. also, the amount of times people in this show have their SHOES ON THE BED!!! IM DISGUSTED

-swamp creature Is A Ghost. Big Foot is a Ghost. starting to think in this universe, every single cryptid or legend is a Ghost Actually

-paulina crying not only because star is missing, but because SHE FORGOT HER SUNBLOCK AND SHE BURNS SO EASILY!!!! okay girlfriends

-ghost cops are the real monsters at the camp. i.......I mean. fair. no one missed you walker

-WULF!!!!!!!!!!! WULF IS BACK!!!!!!!! MY FRIEND WULF :D MI AMAS VIN!!!!! kaj danny lernis Esperanto :)

-'relax kid, we arent here to do any harm' *immediately shoots danny* yeah. ghost cops. and also danny bringing walker 'wulf' and walker IMMEDIATELY SUCKING DANNY IN A THERMOS. FUCK OFF

-haha walker Bald. and haha walker Frozen Now

-the fenton thermos can...reverse its polarity to close portals? okay

-LIBERA MIA AMIKO. :")

-ohhh they end the ep with them star gazing, thats pretty cute...

-dani is back! ...with a new voice actress? wiki says AnnaSophia was in 3 diff movies in 2007 when this aired, so she was probably too busy... (including, bridge to terabithia aka the movie that ripped my heart out that I mentioned in the first ep Dani was in...kinda wanna rewatch it now)

-shes still scared of vlad, who's still being creepy and spying on her. 'shes hardly going to come home to daddy!' I WONDER WHY. also does vlad's cat look more evil than last time? love the concept of him going shopping for cats and being like 'give me your most EVILEST looking cat, please, so I can pet it in my spinny chair dramatically!' ...oh god white cat hair on his black suit. I have a black cat and her hair is still way too noticeable..

-vlad has a big 'valerie' button in his office. can he be pressing that button every episode, thanks

-'theres a GIRL called dani phantom?' yeah valerie. no relation, obviously, even with her looking EXACTLY like danny. so sad valerie just wants to help her dad and her get out of the place theyre in now and vlad using her. ill MAUL HIM

-dani having to STEAL FOOD. :( and valerie immediately being like oh poor kid :(( and trying to help her!!! and then dani immediately helping valerie!! this episode is starting SO well

-...and then valerie catching her. DAMN IT. and being surprised dani knew danny?? HELLO VALERIE I KNOW YOURE SMARTER THAN THIS. I AM SO SORRY THEY WROTE YOU THIS WAY. I STILL LOVE AND BELIEVE IN U !!!

-valerie lying her ASS off for a chance at gettin danny. ok <3 also 'they couldnt catch a ghost if it was living under their own roof' JSDHKJHNK

-danny. why dont you just tell valerie!! this would be so much easier if he was direct. there is NO way valerie would hurt danny (fenton) she'd be HORRIFIED. esp since she got on board helping dani!!

*is held* :)

-look at valerie and danny. flying together. about to go beat vlads ass together <333

-DANI SCREAMING AS VLAD IS MELTING HER. WHAT THE FUCCCK

-...fucking vlad convincing valerie hes a good dude with his stupid duplication. FUCK. DANNY JUST TELL H E R

-jesus christ how many times has danny had to watch loved ones die. even if she didnt stay perma-dead. glad they fixed her...

-valerie and dani pranking danny when he came out, oh :( cute...them havin fun and laughing together...babies

-BUT THEYRE JUST LETTING DANI LEAVE, AGAIN??? SHE WAS PREVIOUSLY STEALING FOOD. CHRIST GIVE HER A PLACE TO LIVE. OR A FAMILY. actually, I think it'd be really cute if, since danny isnt ready to out himself, dani went and lived with valerie?? dunno if her dad would have the money but,, it'd be a cute concept. big sis valerie...

-'tomorrow, it's game on!' 'and ill be ready to play!' THE FLIRTING....DANNY/VALERIE REAL

-oh my god,, valerie found out about vlad in the end. But he doesn��t know she knows!!! the DRAMA!!! HOLY SHIT THAT ENDING.

-this episode was. SO Much and probably one of my favorites out of s3. (I mean, there has been a gross lack of valerie this whole season, so thats not a hard choice to make...)

-FINALE EPISODE TIME.

-the title screen looks different! so no title card...

-vlad has his own fucked up satellite that looks like him?? okay. why does the animation look so different?? are they mixing cg in?? for what. anyway, vlad and the gang in SPACE. danny is 100% living his astronaut dreams rn

-'defeating frostbite' YOU BETTER NOT HAVE. YOU STOLE HIS COOL MAP. FUCK YOU VLAD

-wait oh my god. vlad is the final series boss, isn't he. I half expected a fake out, for another boss to show up midway, and for him to finally have to have a real truce with danny for this ep. ITS THE FINALE. VLAD FEELS SO UNDERWHELMING.

-And it's like-- his character isn't bad, i just feel like..he has more potential! they WANT him to seem like some smart super evil genius, but the way he's written makes that SO hard to believe...but the solid backstory and design is THERE and its FRUSTRATING.

-...DANNY CALLING VLAD OUT SAYING HE NEEDS THERAPY LMAOO THATS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING.

-my grandpa technus is in the finale too :) 'well look on the bright side, at least im not downloading them illegally!' he says while stealing dvds. feels like hes calling me out. im watching this series on a bootleg website lmao. anyway, him turning the tech into a transformer. love that

-mASters BLASters sTOp diSAsterS shut the fuck up. you will never be valerie or danny. bite chomp kill. violence

-like this if u crie everytiem

-my god the 3d/cgi mixed in looks SO BAD IT DIDNT AGE WELL AT ALL

-the white stripe in dannys hair kinda rules tho. did he just KILL HIS GHOST HALF??? 'revert his human half back to normal' UM. you ever unkill yourself. why are his friends/jazz so mad about it, he'll be in a lot less danger!! christ. they can still hunt ghosts!! as humans!! if they want to!! hes 14 if he wanted to be normal. let him. vlads stupid little team has things COVERED apparently. why are they acting like this. jazz would never act like this. is this fake whats going ON

-oh my god jack was in a college band. vlad was also in the band. what did instruments they play. i didnt need that headline to tell me they sucked, but i want to KNOW MORE REGARDLESS

-valerie was here for 0.3 seconds.

-sam calling danny selfish. the audacity. no one is stopping YOU from hunting ghosts, girl. valerie does it!!

-I'm halfway through the episode and incredibly underwhelmed so far.

-why would they send jack and 3 teens to space to destroy the asteroid. why not professional astronauts. not even the 3 teens that have already been to space this episode...

-jack getting beat up by teenagers. ON TV. IN SPACE. I GUESS. I GUESS EVERYONE AGREED TO SEND JACK BECAUSE..VLAD SAID SO? we know it was to embarrass jack, but why would everyone agree. why didnt any other space program Do More or whatever, they sent like, 3 rockets/missiles tops?? no way

-danny attempting to punch vlad in the face. i WISH HE WOULDVE LANDED THAT HIT.

-vlad outed himself on live tv, on purpose? and BLASTED AT THE TEENAGERS HE HIRED. LMAO. HES HOLDING THE WORLD HOSTAGE, MAKING THEM PAY HIM BILLIONS TO STOP THE STUPID ASTROID. THATS YOUR GRAND PLAN??? REALLY. REALLY. im like. lmfao

-jack just now, on the last episode GETTING TOLD HE MADE VLAD A GHOST. THIS SHOULDVE HAPPENED WAY SOONER. jack's reaction was one of the only times in this entire show hes seemed human. 'an old friend? no. you? yes.' GET HIS ASSSS ACTUALLY. HE STRAIGHT UP LEFT VLAD IN SPACE. GOD DAMN. that is a Murder! I mean, I guess vlad could fly back to earth, but...I mean, he'll have to, right? no food in space. (that we KNOW of...)

-'thE WHolE EArtH, INTangiBLe?!' oh my god.

-...the white strand of hair somehow still had ghost dna, I guess, and getting blasted turned him back into phantom. I GUESS. I GUESS.

-the fentons being the first to clap for danny despite not knowing hes phantom...that was sweet. and very sudden character development, not at all gradual over the course of time or episodes like it probably should have been...

-sam and danny kissing. IT SHOULDVE BEEN VALERIE, BUT OKAY, I GUESS. also, its a little underwhelming, considering theyve kissed already...

-ALL of the ghosts being ready to beat danny's ass? really. no they wouldn't, they've worked together before, and some of those ghosts are friendly!! cringe. why is the last ep written like this. I mean they came thru at the last minute but. was really cringing for a minute there, why did they write it like that

-valerie is there for another 0.3 seconds! ....she should've been more involved. dani is also there! for also like 0.3 seconds. almost fast enough to miss. (btw, I think shes still homeless at this point, are, we going to...do ANYTHING ABOUT THAT IN THE LAST 5 MINS OF THE SHOW)

-the cgi smoke or whatever it is. this whole post is me saying the cgi is bad, but IT IS.

-'danny or should we say. DAAANNNNY.' this is like the 3rd or 4th time hes been outed damn, but to the whole world, again. and valerie saw, and is just. an extra in the bg clapping. bro im so mad.

-TUCKER IS THE NEW MAYOR? WHAT THE FUCK?? HES 14.

-i think. this is still linked to the dream ep a few times ago. hes still dreaming. this is a plot a 14 year old would write. this feels like a bad fanfic. so much got rushed, and not tied up. vlad wasnt really even the villain this episode, a fucking. non-being asteroid was.

-they kiss again. ok. sure. whatever at this point.

-VLAD IS NOW A FREE-ROAMING SPACE NOMAD. I GUESS. THATS. SURE. WHATEVER. THE END, I GUESS. cannot believe I'm saying this, but: they did vlad dirty.

-IF YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE HIM A VILLAIN, MAKE HIM A VILLAIN!!! DON'T MAKE IT A METEOR!!! STOP BEING WISHY WASHY WHO WANTS TO SEE DANNY VS ASTEROID!!! I didnt even WANT vlad to be the final villain because his character is SO back and forth (esp this season.) but he has done some FUCKED UP SHIT AND I WANTED THE WRITERS TO DOUBLE DOWN, PERSONALLY, IF THEY HAD TO MAKE HIM THE FINAL BOSS. the cabin ep where he basically held danny and maddie hostage? FUCKED. THE DANI THING? FUCKED. FUCKING COMMIT AND MAKE HIM ACTUALLY SCARY OR HAVE HIM FUCK OFF AND AGREE TO A TRUCE!! WHAT IS THIS DYING IN SPACE NONSENSE. (and, he will (fully) die out there, right? still half human, still needs food and water. I imagine he'll like, slowly half-die but this time his human side is dying. will he come back 100% ghost? we dONT KNOW. WE DONT GET TO SEE, ITS PLAYED LIKE SOME FUNNY THING AT THE END, THEN THATS IT!!! WHAT!!!)

-I don't know how to articulate how FRUSTRATING THAT IS. having him basically out himself and ''hold the world hostage'' does not track at all in my brain. like. he's always been scary because he is HUMAN, TOO. like, if he was 100% ghost, he'd be LESS scary, but vlad MASTERS has more power and influence than vlad PLASMIUS because of his position as mayor, his money, too, and his (supposed, s3 made me doubt it) intelligence/manipulation skills, and his being in good graces with jack made it HARD FOR DANNY. him outing himself for,, money and to 'control the world' i guess?? MONEY WAS NEVER HIS LIKE, MAIN GOAL. yeah obv he likes money and is materialistic and values his Rich Life, but hes got billions, the end goal? 1. getting maddie (and or danny as his son, but to me he always treated that as secondary) 2. ruining jack. this feels like they wanted to say 'oh he just wants POWER' which is. HMM?? OKAY?? obv he /does/ want power (usually over certain ppl, tho), but seeing him try to get it like this FELT WEIRD SOMEHOW. weird like the ep where he tried and failed to take over various historical civilizations, because like,, how is that realistically going to do anything for him?? just, being in that time forever and never seeing maddie aka Goal #1 again?? HELLO??? this was like that, but worse

-this was such a weird ending to an entire show. why did season 3 only have 13 episodes?? why did it feel so weirdly paced?? WHY WAS THE ENDING LIKE THAT. I think. I am going to pretend I did not see that. fucked up, dudes. I'm like...hm. I shouldn't have watched that because now I'm mad. valerie sweetie im SO sorry you shouldve been more present. it felt like..if they knew this season was going to be short, and the last season, they should've spent more time wrapping up EVERYONE'S plot lines for the entire season. imagine how cool it wouldve been if every single ep of season 3 was working towards something, a big, nice wrap up at the end, with nothing feeling TOO rushed because they'd been heading towards the End for the whole season....

I will probably end up writing a follow up full series thoughts post. In a couple of days so I can sit with my thoughts. BUT. overall, I really liked the show! (ignoring the finale and some of the moments that aged pretty poorly...) it was charming and a fun concept and very fun to watch in general :) and I am pretending the finale didnt happen <3 and I’m gonna dive RIGHT into the dp tags and mix fanart and posts in my queue, very excited to run and look at that 🏃🏻 (and, of course, make more fanart myself hehe >:3)

#dp thoughts #danny phantom #sanchoyorambles

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heyhxxd · 4 years

Text

Day one

SUMMARY: The day you met Grayson.

WORD COUNT: 1.1k+

WARNINGS: Swearing?

“C’mon we gonna be late for The Neighborhood!” The blonde girl yelled at you for the hundred time in the day, pulling your arm so hard you felt like she was going to tear it apart.

“I’m running as fast as I can” You said almost getting out of breath, following the girl while trying not to impact against all the people in the field.

“You’re not fast enough Amara” She said tired of you not running as fast as her. She was pretty excited to see The Neighbourhood live, it was her favorite band and you couldn’t blame her for that. But if we’re being honest, you weren’t hyped at all for them.

“Then you go and I’ll catch up, I really need to go to the bathroom” You told her, she gave you an angry look and let go of your arm.

“You’re never going to find me” She rested her hands on her hips.

“Oh but I will, I know you’re going to be in front of Zack so that’s a start” You let out a smirk.

“Ok smart girl, see you later then. Don’t get lost” She said don’t even caring anymore, she knew you and she was aware that you were not going to the bathroom, you just wanted to get lost and calm down for a minute.

“I won’t!” You screamed at her while she disappeared in the crowd.

And she was right you didn’t really need to go to the bathroom, you just wanted some time out from Lea’s craziness. I mean, you were really enjoying Coachella but her pace was a little too much for you and this was only the first day, you still had a lot ahead of you. You walked around the field while the sun reflected on your already tanned skin while you walked around the field, amused by all the colors and all the people walking around, taking pictures, drinking, and even making out in the middle of everyone. You were still getting used to the different lifestyle, though it wasn’t so bad, you where actually really enjoining it.

You looked down at your outfit, it was really pretty. A white lace top, baggy yellow pants, and white -actually, already kinda brown- sneakers that tied the whole outfit together. Maya had offered to pick your outfits for the festival and since she was studying fashion design you didn’t doubt it for a second.

All the walking in the sun was starting to make you thirsty so you walked to the nearest stand and asked for a bottle of water.

“Sure, it’ll be $5.99 for the large one” This shit is expensive as hell, you thought, while you looked through your pockets for your money.

“Fuck” You whispered when you remember Lea kept your bag when she asked for her ID when the crazy security guy told her she wasn’t 21 so she couldn’t buy a beer. You only had 5 bucks lying around in your pockets. “Actually, give me the small one” you chuffed and gave her the money.

“Actually, give her the large one” A really deep voice sounded from behind. You immediately turned around and saw a brown haired brown eye really tall guy, dressed in a white shirt and some really ripped ripped jeans giving the stand chick a dollar that she accepted more than happy with a flirty look on her face.

“I- um, what are you doing? I don’t need your money” You were angry, some random dude just paid for you and he didn’t even care to ask. The girl gave you a bad look and passed you the water. “No thanks” You told her and left, I am not going to give him the satisfaction, you thought, and walked away not even caring to back at him even though you felt his heavy look resting in your eyes.

“Hey!” You heard him screaming at you and picked up your pace, which if we’re being honest was completely useless since the guy was like really fucking tall compared to you. “You forgot your water” He said and handed you the transparent bottle, at this moment you were thirsty as hell and had no money at all to buy another one, but since you’re you and that meant you were pretty stubborn, you were not going to accept that water.

“Thanks but no thanks, I’ll just buy another one with my money” You kept walking.

“But you have no money” He let out a little smirk.

“Oh but I have, I just need to find my friends” You acted like you were looking for someone in the crowd, standing on your toes.

“I can help you find them” He insisted. He was actually being nice but at this second you were too angry to think about the fact that he was trying to help.

“Sure, why don’t you go to hell?” Yeah that was kinda hard. Whatever.

“I mean, I would but then I won’t be able to look at you anymore” He was trying to be funny, ok then.

“What’s your-“ You looked at him and actually noticed him. He was wearing a white shirt that made his toned arms stand out, some really ripped ripped jeans and a hanging earring on his left ear. You felt like someone had just punched you in the chest and were out of breath. His eyes were a really pretty light brown like his hair, his lips were big and red and- wait what are you doing Amara? You’re staring! “-problem?”

“Um... yeah” He bit his lip, looked down at the ground, and then back at your eyes. You felt the air getting heavier. “I just wanted to help you out, it was only a dollar, j- just accept it would you?” He passed you the bottle again only this time you accepted it. Was it his eyes? Or maybe his lips? Or it could be the way he looked at you? But all the anger inside you disappeared the second you looked at him, you couldn’t even remember why you were angry in the first place.

“Thanks” You whispered, you were about to repeat it because you thought he didn’t hear because all the noise around you, but he nodded.

“Well... I’ll get going” He said and waved goodbye. He gave you a last glance and walked away. You immediately fell bad, wrong, like something was missing.

“Wait!” You yelled as walked towards him. He turned around and you could already see a big fat smile trying to escape his lips. “I’m actually lost, could you help me find my friend?” You felt your face getting hot as he let out that smile, showing his perfect smile with his perfect white teeth.

“What did you said your name was?” He asked without breaking the smile from his face.

“I didn’t” You shrugged with a smirk on your face. “I’m Amara” He smiled and nodded.

“Nice to meet you Amara, I’m Grayson”

#grayson dolan #grayson #dolan #ethan #ethan dolan #grayson dolan fanfic #ethan dolan fanfic #grayson dolan imagine #ethan dolan imagine #dolan twins imagine #dolan twins fantiction #dolan twins #youtube #coachella #masterlist

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sayhitoforever · 4 years

Text

Burn Season - Malcolm Bright x Reader - PT (7/?)

A little holiday gift for all you lovely people. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6- Thanks for all the love and support for this series. You guys are wonderful, your feedback makes my heart feel so full. I am playing around with the idea of making this it’s own fic, with an OC protagonist instead of a reader insert. If I go through with that, you guys will be the first to know and I’ll post any links here, most likely for AO3. Thank you, as always, for reading. This will be the last update for 2019! GIF credit to diver5ion because Malcolm is serving LOOKS 👌 .

Even with the meticulously neat organization of the evidence, it had taken Malcolm well into the evening to get through the boxes. The pictures were spread across his island and the floor as he’d tried to set up the scene the way it had been when it was first photographed. He poured over each report and lab and all the testimony that had been gathered before starting in on Y/N’s notes, usually left on sticky notes stuck to the reports. Some of them were incomprehensible, clearly pulling facts and forming theories around evidence he’d yet to read through.

It was strange, he thought. Y/N had said it wasn’t personal, that she hadn’t cared about her father, but all the hard work in front of him said otherwise. It could be that he was misinterpreting it, that the dedication to all the evidence spread around him was just part of her job. It was stranger even that her father wasn’t among any of the victims contained in the boxes, not that he could tell at least. Why, he wondered, would she tell him what she had but leave out any information that corroborated her story?

Six crime scenes, six charred buildings, corpses into the double digits, the timeline spanning over eight years. It had grounds to qualify as a serial killer by the modus alone. Always an abandoned factory or warehouse, some condemned and dilapidated building. Planned, intentional, where no one but the intended victims could be hurt. It was an act of empathy, an act of restraint, and that ruled out any theory involving a sociopath.

Malcolm found that all of the victims in the boxes had some kind of mafia affiliation. It was a dawning sort of dread that fell over him as he realized that the manner in which they’d been tied up, every last one of them, reflected crimes they’d been alleged of committing. The two handcuffed to old piping were infamous sex traffickers, known for keeping women chained up in basements to be abused. Another with remnants of his shattered kneecaps found in the ash, both ankles broken, known for crippling his enemies before executing them with a bullet between the eyes.

We will make you sorry.

Retribution then, like paying it forward in the cruelest way possible. Forcing them to suffer that which they’d done to others before they died. It was the fire though; the fire didn't seem to fit. It was the odd piece of the puzzle. Why burn them? What was that a reflection of?

Malcolm was reaching for his phone to text Y/N when it chimed with a message from Gil. ID on the victims from the other night that they were able to pull from their dental records. More mafia thugs, he noted as he scrolled through the reports Gil had sent, before stopping at the list of their alleged crimes. And there at the bottom of all three was the answer to his developing theory. Alleged murder, charges that never struck, involving bodies out in the wilderness, tied to posts with rope and shot at like an execution by firing squad.

The next chime was a phone call and Malcolm brought the phone to his ear.

“Gil,” he said by greeting.

“You got anything for me, Bright?”

“I…” Malcolm hesitated, looking at the spread of evidence all over his loft. “I don’t know. There’s a lot here, Gil. Years of evidence.”

“Any of it you can bring in? We could try to help, offer a fresh pair of eyes?” Gil offered and Malcolm could hear the sound of a coffee pot being returned to its stand. He smiled tiredly; so they were all depending on caffeine to get through the day now.

“There’s too much here to bring.” Malcolm stared at photos of the fourth crime scene, recalling testimony of a nearby vagrant. Something about overhearing someone a short while before the old factory had gone up in flames:

We will make you sorry.

Malcolm sighed, knowing that a fresh pair of eyes might actually be of some help. “But, let me grab what is most important and I’ll head over. Is Y/N there? I had a couple questions for her.”

“I saw her about a half hour ago, so I would imagine she’s around here somewhere,” Gil replied.

“I’ll be there soon,” Malcolm promised and pocketed his phone again as Gil confirmed.

What precisely to bring with him out of the mountain of evidence before him was another beast entirely. Should he rebox it and bring it all with him? Should he even keep reflecting on old evidence when he had a new case with fresh evidence that might even have more reliable results to focus on? Photos at the very least would help, and he made quick work of returning them all to their properly labeled envelopes and slipping them under his arm after donning his coat.

The chill in the evening air was like a sigh of relief as it washed over him. He’d been cooped up for so long, so focused, that he hadn’t even noticed that he’d been feeling a little claustrophobic. When he entered the precinct for the second time that day, Gil was on a heated, closed-door phone call with someone in his office, Dani had left to chase down the owner of the warehouse, and JT was on his way back with food for them all. With a sigh, envelopes full of old crime scene photos still tucked under his arm, he made his way to Edrisa’s lab where he was greeted with the sound of her pealing laugh as he opened the door.

“Mr. Bright!” Edrisa greeted him, face lighting up as he entered her lab.

Y/N was sprawled in Edrisa’s chair, booted feet kicked up onto her desk. The look she gave him across the room was a little haggard, but sharp nonetheless. He’d never asked her what business had called her away so quickly earlier, but it was clear now that sleep hadn’t been involved. It was the most comfortable he’d seen her around another person, and he wondered what specifically it was about Edrisa that maybe put her at ease.

“You two aren’t drinking again, are you?” he asked, eyeing Edrisa closely.

“Oh, no, no, it’s too early for that,” Edrisa laughed, looking back at Y/N who nodded with emphasis. “We were swapping stories of the worst dead bodies we’ve seen.”

Malcolm shot Y/N a critical look. The grin he received in return was nothing short of sardonic. “You have a laundry list of dead body stories?”

“More than I’ll ever let on,” Y/N said with a casual shrug, grin nearly splitting her face in half as she heard Edrisa’s groan of defeat.

“I knew you were holding out on me,” Edrisa lamented, hanging her head. “I even told you about the bog body.” Malcolm couldn’t help but chuckle at the hang-dog look on her face.

“C’mon, E. I gotta save the good ones. Can’t spill all my good stories at the same time.” Her eyes glittered as she looked over Edrisa’s sagging frame with another laugh, before she pinned Malcolm in place again.

“Oh, where are my manners? Have you two met already?” Edrisa exclaimed, glancing between the two.

Malcolm blanched for a moment, having forgotten that Y/N had left the crime scene while Edrisa was caught in traffic the other night. And again after the Baby Stout incident, she’d yet to discover that they were already well-acquainted.

“We are familiar,” Malcolm replied, slowly and awkwardly.

Edrisa blinked up at him, the word ‘familiar’ seeming to strike a chord with her. “Has she told you any of her good stories?”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Bright and I haven’t had the opportunity to share our best case stories,” Y/N piped in, moving her hands to settle them atop her stomach as she lounged even further down into the chair. “But this case is squaring up to be a pretty good one.”

“That’s true!” Edrisa said enthusiastically. “I might even submit this case to the review board if we close it. Carbonization of tissue is such a fascinating subject, very open to debate about how it…”

When both Y/N and Malcolm stared owlishly at her as she trailed off, clearly lost in her own thought, she gathered herself just a little. “I could use more coffee. Do either of you—”

“Yes, please,” Y/N and Malcolm said in stereo. Edrisa’s eyes flitted between the two of them like she was watching a ping-pong match before she pointed at Y/N and laughed like they’d shared a joke Malcolm hadn’t quite caught. She continued to chuckle as she exited the lab.

Y/N remained where she was, feet still propped up, hands folded on top of her stomach, eyes studying him where he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, eyes darting around the room.

“Spit it out,” she said suddenly. “Unless the question is meant for Edrisa.”

He winced, visibly, beginning to hate just how transparent Y/N made him feel. He couldn’t be that obvious, right? He was a trained professional after all. “It’s a sensitive question,” Malcolm said instead, holding back more questions. Always questions. Questions he was sure might never get answered. Not when the person he needed to ask evaded them like a pro, not when the questions entered a territory too personal, too private, too dark.

“Ok, I’ll bite,” she said simply.

Malcolm hesitated, his own racing train of thought coming to a screeching halt. “It’s regarding your father,” he said, giving her the leeway to refuse his request.

She stared at him impassively, cocking her head to the side slightly. “I’m still listening.”

He swallowed reflexively, trying to push out one coherent question at a time. “Was there anything that stood out in his autopsy report, anything weird, anything violently particular?”

“Clever.” Was the only thing Y/N said for a moment, eyes glazing over a little in contemplation, her silence leaving Malcolm prickling with anticipation. “Can’t believe I never thought about this, but yeah. His mouth had been stapled shut. Surgical steel.”

Malcolm’s pulse thundered in his ears as her gaze focused on him once more. She'd said it so easily, effortlessly, like the act of recalling that her father’s body had been mutilated while he was still alive, that he’d been silenced, before being burned alive meant nothing to her. Maybe it really wasn’t personal for her. Maybe it was just one of those cases you got fixated on because it had gone unsolved for so long. Maybe Malcolm was just projecting something onto her. His own need to understand everything that effected him in some way. The way she was looking at him, calm, exhausted, with no real sadness in her gaze, spoke volumes.

He stared back, too flabbergasted to speak for a moment before swallowing dryly. “So, I have a theory…”

#prodigal son #prodigal son fox #malcolm bright #malcolm whitly #malcolm bright x reader #malcolm whitly x reader #burn season #x reader #x you #x y/n #reader insert #fanfic #gil arroyo #JT Tarmel #dani powell #edrisa tanaka #sayhitoforever #hitowrites

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justsomeantifas · 5 years

Text

its 11:59 its still technically tonight so

this is gonna be my reference point to questions abt venezuela, at least regarding things pre- May 19 2019. Its a bit scattered and it may get edited down along the road, but yeah.

short version that draws some similar conclusions: https://www.salon.com/2019/05/17/the-plot-to-kill-venezuela_partner/

one difference in scales that’s important to keep in mind: the lifespan of people is 2-7 decades. the lifespan of colonialism lasts centuries. the lifespan of media memory is a couple years, tops.

Most western narratives of venezuela start meaningfully at chavez, which is a mistake. The focus point in history around which the country flowed was the Caracazo. You probably already know about this, but a massive uprising took place in the heart of Caracas, against decades of dictatorship both formal and informal, after severe instability in the global oil market. The people were hungry, the riots were fiery, and the bullets bled. knows the death toll even now, but its estimated well into the thousands. This happened pre-chavez, and started a cascade of events which brought him into limelight that you can read about here. not gonna go into more venezuelan history, but i talk a bit more here

chavez was democratically elected, multiple times.

in 2002, after his first democratic election, he was kidnapped by US-backed troops and replaced by someone who threw out the 1999 constitution, which was as legitimate as any other made in venezuela’s colonial and violently capitalist history, seeing as it was the first (aka only, so far) of 26 constitutions actually approved by popular referendum. He was reinstated largely due to massive protests in support of him. Maduro however doesn’t really have as much of the charisma and support of chavez, which is creating problems - as well as exacerbating problems created by the economic crises ramping up just around chavez’s death. In 2015, there were elections to the National Assembly, which ended up with the Opposition winning a majority of the seats (which does show that there’s some degree of fairness in the elections, at least verifiably up til that point, yet that isnt rly accounted for when western media describes it as “undemocratic” - many of whom don’t apply the same scrutiny to their own country: such as this UN Human Rights councilor who also happens to be the crown prince of british-iraq, currently residing in the noted democracy of the Kingdom of Jordan, which has no vested interest or control over any particular export of Venezuela.).

This turnout showed most of all that maduro had alienated as many as 2 million of his supporters, who didnt end up voting (though many also voted against him - trying to act on their feeling that whatever they want, its “not this”). This decreasing support also accelerates whats known as “Everyday Sabotage” - people not trusting in the government, and look out for their own interests contra everyone else. This is a danger inherent to tying “Socialism” to a primarily state project.

However 1999 Constitution was never meant as an eternal document & it created mechanisms to call for new popular constitutional referendums to be held. That’s what the “Constituent Assembly” is about, which is what a lot of the western world is describing as him singlehandedly rewriting it (while also being “vague about its contents”), or “created by him”. Elections to the constituent assembly were boycotted by opposition, so that it would be government controlled & look like a sham in the eyes of the broader world. That being said, the assembly was called both as a reaction to losing election but also in response to intensifying crises - it was put forth (i don’t see any reason to believe in bad faith) as a way to come together and figure out how to address the needs that were driving people to protest - to address the desire for “not this”, but bc of the uncertainty, it was easily twistable by reactionaries by putting all emphasis on the former. Also timing corresponds with increasing fears of maduro straying from the path of chavez, the image of scrapping one of his strongest plays for smth unknown is risky - tho if there are other meaningful options given the situation im not sure. And the body’s got at least as much constitutional legitimacy as Guaido (Chapter III)

The 1999 constitution also enabled a recall election to be called against maduro in 2016, bc it was written with particular attention to holding public officials accountable - similar noble commitments helped to end the presidency of Rousseff & bring in Bolsonaro (who was also one of the people spurring on the investigations and whipping up a social base).

(speaking of guaido & bolsonaro)

on Guaido:

part of student group in 2007 protesting against non-renewal of coup-assisting network, who the CFR (one of the major think tanks of the cold war still playing a big role in foreign policy today) considered “most important network”

close friend of Leopoldo Lopez, the aforementioned coup plotter.

politician since 2010, won a couple small elections

Unknown to majority of general population until 2019, most venezuelans surveyed didnt know him

Plan Pais

plans to privatize state owned industry & allow investment from foreign oil companies

center-right neoliberal draped in platitudes of “stability”, “revitalization”, “security”, and “rescue” - a message seemingly deliberately targeted to become more and more resonant with increased sanctions.

/on Guaido

governing is about the expression of power. I wanna live in a world where that power isn’t expressed, but as long as the exploitation of the global working class continues unabated, id prefer some of that power be put towards helping the poor.

there is no such thing as a static state of affairs, there’s no “goldilocks zone” out in the political universe where we tweak things finely until we find whats best for everyone, only different rates of change in different dimensions. what we need to do is figure out how we can push that state of affairs in a direction so that everyday people have the power to take control of their lives. re

re: “constitutionality” - if the supreme court calls it constitutional then its constitutional. period. There’s no such thing as a supreme court as an “independent branch” of government, but there are different degrees of integration into the rest of it.

The Supreme Tribunal of Venezuela has 32 members, (a bit more than a dozen put in by the national assembly, while the PSUV held it), and the opposition holds abt 3 away from a supermajority. Each member of the court holds their spot for 12 years. If that’s “The Most Corrupt In The World” according to Transparency International, i wonder what world the 9-person lifetime-appointed US Supreme Court (2 of which appointed by trump, and save for pulling a Weekend At Ginsbergs, likely 3) is on. In fact, one of the tactics that the more radical circles of democrat voters are putting forward is to pack the Supreme Court. Because thats how shit actually gets done, or at the least how shit is prevented from being committed w the stamp of legality. FDR learned that lesson too, in trying to pass what is today known as “The New Deal”

My comparisons to trump are for specific end: these actions are exerted on levers of liberal democracy, and every single liberal democracy is susceptible to them in some ways.

whats a “dictator”? if hes unelected, the millions of people who participated in the elections dont seem to think so. if maduro is a dictator, then what is donald trump? the majority of ppl didnt vote for him yet hes still governing. macron’s popularity has at several points been less than 1/3, and the yellow vest protestors have been violently attacked - why is he not “a violent dictator with only the support of the military”? These terms are not neutral.

“their elections are highly flawed” So What? show me a country whose elections arent.

“opposition jailed” - ok but coup plotters don’t get off easy in any liberal democracy. If someone - say Bernie Sanders - said “enough is enough” and succeeded in overthrowing the current government with the help of a foreign government…. you think they’d let him go free? what if ten years later he was getting his supporters all riled up to do it again? how long you think he’d be in jail for (assuming he can survive well into his 100’s)? You think more than 13 years? Think he’d get house arrest? Some US states lock you up for posessing weed up to 10. If you stay long enough around this blog, youll find plenty of other examples of much more cruel and unusual punishments. Look at Chelsea Manning, look at Oscar Riviera… look at the US protestors saying Guaido is illegitimate

what we have to keep in mind most of all, is to show that the contradictions being exploited are inherent to Liberalism. Contradictions are just expressed most freely at the margins - the interstices

poor economic decisions happen everywhere - 2008/2009 still affecting the entire world there’s violence thats “natural”, and violence thats “intolerable”. The dividing line is whether we have anything to gain by changing things.

sanctions: started under obama, originally targeted specific individuals, used as precedent for more generalized. They’re indirect - they have a “squeezing effect”, takes already-existing problems & just makes them markedly worse. also doesn’t necessarily correlate with emigration, bc it takes a lot of money to start a new life somewhere else, and sanctions disproportionately affect the poor.

war wouldnt likely look like (many) US boots on the ground - we’ve got plenty of other places to be. It’d look like guns being smuggled to counter-protestors. It’d look like sending resources to neighboring countries like Colombia or Brazil who would then use their troops. Colombias ruling party is right wing populists - much of current president’s campaign was run on fearmongering abt venezuelan socialism - they’re raring to go. It’d look like drones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracas_drone_attack. Also means there likely won’t be a sudden trigger, its a gradually escalating stressful gradually-more-warlike situation.

If war does break out - where would the refugees go? In reality the majority would go to Colombia, but if anything significant breaks out there will be a stream of those looking to find shelter in the US, which has advertised itself as a beacon of hope - what would happen to them? some may get taken in as a gesture of showmanship, but nowhere close to the majority.

speaking of the US - imagine if trump and bolton manage to actually plot a winning coup. Do you think that that wont be his main bullwark against ppl like Bernie? you think the media and rest of the democratic party wont jump on that narrative and “begrudgingly” support a fascist because the alternative might mean supporting single payer and not-having-good-for-ratings-climate-apocalypse?

another term thrown around without regard is “once vibrant” - for whom?

most articles ive seen just take this as an axiom, and dont find any cognitive dissonance when also saying chavez reduced poverty hugely.

The answer to that rhetorical question: Citgo is venezuelan, before chavez none of the wealth went back to venezuela - thats what “vibrancy” means.

many similarities with BP (the-artist-formerly-known-as-the-anglo-iranian-oil-company)

in age of climate change & vocal ppl about phasing out oil, the more one’s livelihood is connected to oil, the more unstable ones country will be - either that, or the more instability ones country will cause.

“Oil exports fell by $2,200 per capita from 2012 to 2016, of which $1,500 was due to the decline in oil prices.”

The drop in price that affected the venezuelan economy so much in 2014 was largely by US shale fracking

in 1970’s Chile, copper was the main product of Chile - allende nationalized the mines, and in return wall street dropped the

(also worth noting that venezuela’s got non-insignificant untapped shale basins)

At least venezuela used the oil money to fund social programs instead of like, pad the pockets of Raytheon.

also oil price wars in africa highly correlated w oil (whose annual production doesn’t even combined total venezuelas)

a couple ppl have raised concerns abt my strong stance on equivocal dismissal - if there’s a difference, if there’s some way of reading your statement that says “X country that the State Dept wants to invade is an anomoly in the otherwise free world”, then that’s acting to push the discourse towards normalization & invasion. It’s not “whataboutism”, just basic consistency.

now more than ever, narratives are affected by people. They may not be ones we had a hand in forging, but the way that we propagate them actually does have measurable effects on the larger-scale political outcomes. Always look for the base assumptions, as well as the direction

sure denounce Chavez. sure denounce Maduro. denounce Kim, Xi, Castro, anyone. But if there’s no equally or proportionally loud denunciations of the horrors perpetrated by allies - the “assumed”, “natural” violence, then you’re acting to reinforce the narrative of exceptionalism.

Just make sure after you take a breath, you denounce Saudi Arabia & Yemen, Israel for Palestine, the conditions which brought Argentinian/Brazillian, Brazilian coup, the US for Puerto Rico, the conditions which have murdered dozens of journalists in Mexico per year…

what people want most of all is stability. “A debate over whether it is mismanagement and corruption by the Maduro government or the sanctions that are the author of the crisis is largely irrelevant. The point is that a combination of the reliance on oil revenues and the sanctions policy has crushed the policy space for any stability in the country.”

government’s errors and tensions

fixed exchange rate -> black market

took 5 years to address changing relation between dollar & BsF, all the room between those two curves left a huge room for intensifying crises, though since it also corresponds with the death of chavez, it sorta makes sense.

antidemocratic actions and remarks by maduro

scattered responses filled w half-solutions

diversification needed, but how do you diversify an economy filled with rampant poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy…

(nominally begrudging) support for mineral extraction 12.4% of territory opened to extraction - “Special Economic Zone” as a method of managing decay

this is also what much of the reality of “economic diversification” looks like

not enough socialism. (even fox agrees!) Venezuela shows the limits of Social Democracy in countries living outside of the Imperial Core - esp the dangers if you’re in the crosshairs already bc of oil

started out as populism, gradually grew as confronted more. shows shaping influence on political organs from actions of foreign actors - if you’ve survived a coup before, you’re gonna become paranoid about any more of them - especially when the coup plotters say “hey lets do more coups”

also shows the weakness of only having a small number of charasmatic faces representing the movement - if one dies and theres no clear and popular replacement, then you’ll lose ppl who were largely brought in by the charisma, weakening your political project, and creating cracks for reactionary forces to take advantage of - especially in times of transition.

bourgeoisie still control a majority of the economy. Capitalist businesses are internally unaccountable, and in this age of intensified global trade, one can punish countries for straying from the pack by moving business & focus away. If you’re looking for dictatorships, look at the thousands of private companies run as dictatorships daily

capital flight is a real effect, precisely because socialism is fundamentally and irreconcilably against the self-interest of the bourgeoisie. not necessarily against the interest of the humans-who-are-also-bourgeois, but of the impersonal self-sustaining force of capital.

Have you ever pulled something out of an electrical socket, and seen a quick spark? The reason that occurs is bc of what’s called an induction current, which is a fancy physics word for flowing electricity not liking to suddenly change its flow. If you accidentally touch that spark, you might feel it, but youll live to tell the tale. But if you only take the plug out halfway & touch it, that’s a different story. Capital flows similarly.

my country (lithuania) has been facing sky-high emigration since the collapse of the USSR (with an added boost after 08-09), we have also consistently had one of the highest suicide rates in the world (#7), a minimum wage of about 3 Euros an hour (after a recent increase), as well as one of the highest prison populations in Europe (discounting Russia & Belarus… which like….)

when are we gonna be invaded? when will the US media talk about our pain?

oh wait, they did. We cried all pretty for the TV cameras, then they got a bozo nobody really knew of to denounce the government, who they called dictatorial (though it was far from ideal, massive bureaucracies dont tend to mix well with single-person-decision-making). And to be fair, the fact that the government was unpopular wasnt entirely undeserved. But what was promised to us was the idea of “Freedom”, “Free Enterprise”; to “Get Rid of Corruption” and institute “Real” Democracy". They said we’d be integrated into the glorious capitalist west, and we understood that to mean that we’d be in the position of a Germany, or at least an Austria or smth. But they never meant to integrate us into the imperial Core, we have always been seen as part of the Periphery - the “assumed” violence that “naturally” happens.

Then we got to where we our today. Some of the stuffs more available, but expensive. Most of the bureaucracy’s still around, it just helps fewer people. We stand as an example of what to expect, in one of the best case scenarios, you would join our emigrees now making up a significant percentage of underpaid house-servants aka maids across the EU.

if we want the people of Venezuela to be healthy, safe, and fulfilled, then:

speak out and pointing to the effects of US sanctions is incredibly important. They’ve already killed 40,000 people in the last year, and 300,000 more are in extreme danger (and millions more in long-term risk).

what does it mean when you simultaneously sanction trade with a place but also demand they let you give them humanitarian aid?

if there is to be action taken by the international community, then the US has forfeited its right to speak. They threw it away once in 2002, and obama rhetorically picked it up and dusted it off so that trump could throw it in a bigger dumpster, thats also on fire. However we also still live in a world deeply shaped by US Hegemony, so the opinions of its close trade partners & closest-knit media buds should be seen as influenced as such. Doesn’t mean that theyre wrong on everything too, but they still feel the magnetic pull of the US economy and ecosystem (as well as their own potentially imperial interests) and the effect of that force cannot be discounted.

transitioning our economies away from oil & away from globalized neoliberalism which only values peripheral states by their exports - dissolves tensions of how to produce in unproductive terrain

socialize medicine in the US, so that drug companies run by dictatorships can’t control their lives & ours. healthcare is especially reliant on imports, sanctions affect especially strongly.

normalize the ideas of Socialism, without taking the easy way out of “oh no dont think of Venezuela, think of sweden or denmark”. None of them are Socialist, but to avoid the complexities of Venezuela is to imagine that US attempts at socialism wouldn’t involve significant capital flight. If we don’t consider that, if we don’t have solid actionable plans to deal with that, while also facing the inherent complexity of changing material conditions, then we’re gonna waste whatever shot we get.

redirect conversation normally centered around government towards support of the tens of thousands of small business co-operatives, where people live their daily lives in a democratic manner.

on The Communes:

“delegating responsibility throughout all members, and bringing important decisions to the whole to work through and find the best possible solution… They create “collective criteria” together; agreements stipulating whether individuals have power over certain decisions or whether it is up to the whole group. However, he assures that these “are not rigid, they can change at any moment.” The cooperative I lived with in Venezuela had regular organizational meetings where they informally came to agreement and were even able to come back to re-evaluate decisions that didn´t seem to be satisfactory for the whole group in this same way. Decisions and decision making, in this way, are viewed as a process not contained by meetings and discussions in board rooms, but are always being analyzed and made better by the process of putting them into action, and not only by thinking them out and writing them down.”

- the “Self Government of the Producers” - aka what it looks like for cooks to govern.

they have communal councils as well - neighborhood councils in the same vein that so many (rightfully) find inspiring in Kurdistan . They preexisted chavez, but they were able to proliferate and be given legal recognition through him. I understand that legal recognition can act to ‘name’ a body & pin it to smth that doesn’t match its requisite variety - how dynamic it is, but imo as its currently legislated it recognizes a good amount of the autonomy that they had already been excersizing. - liable to change government recognition of co-ops has drawbacks too, and correlates negatively with that coop’s success

"A good example of this intention is the de-emphasis that cooperatives in Venezuela put on advertising or “marketing” products, and instead push to find more people to become part of the cooperative, and choose the services or products they provide based on community decisions about what is needed. A cooperative I worked in […] was originally a family owned and operated theater group that traveled around the country performing theater pieces that highlighted social and environmental issues. When they joined the […] cooperative, the larger co-op did an analysis and decided they wanted a natural fruit juice concentrate producer and gave the group a loan to acquire capital and start producing. They have been doing this for only a couple of years now but have already paid back the loan to the larger cooperative and are bringing extra money in to support themselves, better their services, and supply extra funds to the larger cooperative for community projects such as the recently [2012] built community health center…

The cooperative services I experienced and learned about in Venezuela were health, dental, food, and a separate example of trash services. A dental cooperative […] provides quality dental services (I know because I used them) almost every day for affordable prices. You don´t have to be a member of the cooperative, and you don´t have to make an appointment. It takes only a couple of hours, and emergency situations are treated with urgency. The health center, built with funds provided by all the associated cooperatives[…], works the same way. Anyone can go there, the services are subsidized by the cooperative so they are affordable, the clinic and workspaces are clean and well taken care of, and the quality of the service is great. Worker-members of the cooperative receive health care at the facility without charge except for the massage and acupuncture services that they also provide at a really low price.

[…] food services are priced to provide more access to food for the community in which it exists. The original and persistent intention is to make the best situation for people on all ends of the process. The producers are part of the cooperative and are part of the group that decides the prices that growers get, as well as the prices that the food is sold for. This means that both farmers and workers at the market decide what to charge a person, which ultimately affects how much money the growers receive, as well as if the food is affordable for the people who need to eat who live in the city. In a normal capitalist market system these parties are separated and put up against each other, raising prices for consumers and lowering them for small producers, excluding those people from getting enough money to afford all the necessities that are typically only provided at a high price.

One communal council, a parallel governing organization of community members linked to investment funds from the national government, in the city of Merida, Venezuela organized themselves to get funds to buy a trash collection truck. The truck at the time was used for a specific waste removal project that removed waste from their community regularly but was not a traditional collection service. However, they did have plans to expand the project to start their own collection service, and this would be provided by the commal council, an anti-capitalist organization which does not require people to pay for the service. Although this is not a “co-operative” as some hardliner co-operative enthusiasts might point out, it is a horizontal anti-capitalist organization widening access of necessary services to the larger community run by community members; following cooperative values of equity, inclusion, and solidarity I believe this to be an example of cooperative economics and action. It appears to me that economic inclusion is much more likely to widen only when those who are being excluded are included in the process of organizing the services and are in control of the economy.“

until the communes, workers cooperatives, and the like are strong enough to rule themselves, having Maduro in power is the only option given to us which doesn’t trigger the control of reactionaries. People make their own history, but not in situations of their choosing - the exact outcome isn’t predetermined, but there’s only a limited number of poles - gravitational attractors - towards which that trajectory is heading at any particular time.

if maduro acts to squash the power of the communes, then thats a different situation. but until that point, we outside of the country must work to center any discussion on these bodies - they are the heart of the country and of whatever social revolution has occurred/is further possible. They are filled with lessons for us to learn from, and show how rich and dynamic the organized populace can be if they are allowed to control their communities. (ex of dealing with gang violence from @ 22:50)

This is all said with recognition that many chavistas have acted against communes, the bureaucratic machine acts to co-opt much of their energy, its linguistically obscured the concept of "ownership” with that of “control”, and that the state has changed its messages over time. But the heart of the communes is what’s a priority, and they have acted against the government overstepping its bounds & mis-identifying them. But whats important is that there’s a feedback process in the gvt to actually allow them to assert their autonomy. Liberals will do their utmost to close those channels.

If Guaido and the Popular Will take control of power, be assured that whatever gains made in organizing the everyday people of Venezuela will be at the top of the chopping block. How effective that suppression turns out to be is undetermined - it might turn out to strengthen the communes, but that outcome would be damage control, not something to try and bullseye.

Effective Propaganda knows that its more effective to control what’s left out than control what’s put in. Keep that in mind, and study trajectories and forces.

other links:

https://next.podbay.fm/podcast/1363342644/e/1551711604

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voc08vh9cJY

https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/21/a-cowboy-in-caracas/

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2017/08/03/the-tragedy-of-venezuela/

https://www.multpl.com/venezuela-gdp

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/04/fivethirtyeights-venezuela-problem

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-venezeulas-middle-class-is-taking-to-the-streets/

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/bjkmq8/fiery-protest-leader-leopoldo-lopez-faces-13-year-sentence-in-venezuela

https://potent.media/minimum-sentencing-for-marijuana-possession

https://www.thoughtco.com/core-and-periphery-1435410

https://popularresistance.org/building-the-commune-radical-democracy-in-venezuela/

http://www.antiwar.com/regions/regions.php?c=Venezuela

#venezuela #reference #imperialism #chavez #maduro #socialism #capitalism #extraction #oil #war #emigrant #communes #cooperatives

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itheo987-blog · 5 years

Text

Scammed by Kovanec Group fake Cryptocurrency Investment firm and after scammed by a fake recovery company Cromtontech org

On September 30th I was contacted via the direct message on my Instagram profile by the individual whos Instagram profile description represents her as an Entrepreneur, CEO of KOVANEC GROUP, Binary Trader Expert and analyst, Crypto investor, Official business account and Trader. I assume the reason for contacting me was random picking victims by their Instagram pictures. After a short discussion and questions, she asked me what is my occupation and where do live, I was offered to try cryptocurrencies and invest in her company. The next morning we continued our conversions and she again offered my opportunity to try and invest in Cryptocurrencies by sending me a couple of links where I can create a bitcoin wallet and store bitcoins. She also sent me a picture of her United States passport just to assure me that everything is transparent and that I can trust her. While I was looking at her profile I have seen option that her company covers her trips and that she can come to my country and help me with the Cryptocurrency venture and show me how it works. The breakpoint of this scam was when she booked a flight from Philadelphia, where she is originally from at least she said that she is from Philadelphia and thats what I have seen in her passport picture, to Serbia where I live without asking me if I agree with her decision. The next morning she gave me instructions on how to create a Bitcoin account and to verify my identity on the website she sent me. After I have been verified she told me that I must make a deposit of a minimum $1000 to the Bitcoin wallet address which is the property of the Kovanec Cryptocurrency Investment group and if I don’t make the deposit her boss won’t let her come to my country and she will cancel the airplane ticket. During the whole procedure of making the deposit, she was giving me the instruction on the WhatsApp mobile application. After I made the first deposit of $1000 and being charged on my bank account she told me that the Kovanec group didn’t receive Bitcoins on their Bitcoin wallet address and I must make another deposit attempt and I can expect to be refunded from the first deposit within 48hours which never happen. I refused to make a second deposit but the person had very manipulative tactics and forced me to make the second deposit but this time I had to change the currency from $1000 to €1000. After the transaction was finished she told me that the Kovanec group received Bitcoins on their Bitcoin wallet address and that her boss approved her business trip to my country. 12 hours later she again contacted me via WhatsApp mobile application saying that she is kept detained at Portugal International airport and that she not allowed to come to my country because she didn’t have Visa and that she must pay fees and penalty to Portugal authorities. Tactics for this final extortion was that she is kept detained in Portugal Internation airport and that she doesn’t have the money to pay for fees and a new plain ticket to my country after which I have told her to call her boss to help her because I have already meet my obligations which were all against my will. The individual again used emotional tactics and succeeded in making me pay her another €1000 so she can continue this business trip to my country. She didn’t come to my country and she blocked me on her Instagram profile and WhatsApp mobile application and left me in loss of $3198. Three days later when I was assured that she scammed me I started to look over the internet for help and I came across the topic on Quora web site “scammed by Bitcoin investment firm” and I randomly picked 2 answers. One was a recommendation for Bitcoin Recovery Company by the name Cromtontech org https://cromtontech.org/ and the other one was some individual ethical hacker who left his email so people can contact him so he can recover their lost Bitcoins. After sending the emails on both email addresses I made the decision to give a chance to Cromtontech org because they seemed to be more transparent and professional because they had this fancy looking website which later I found out that they are just one big scam organization who is ripping people of. So to make this story as short as possible the company asked from me to pay them $700 for their service fee which was that they connected me with one of their so-called specialist over the SKype and he will be giving me instructions what to do so he can recover what is lost. After I gave him all the details about transactions I made to this fake Cryptocurrency company he asked me to send him my Bitcoin wallet ID and password and so I did. After a couple of minutes, he said that I need to change my wallet password and turn on 2Fa so nobody can have access to my wallet. After I changed the password and logged back in wallet I noticed that there was some imported Bitcoin wallet address and 4 non-spendable Bitcoins. When I asked him what are those 4 non-spendable Bitcoins he answered that the company who scammed me have 4 Bitcoins on their wallet and that he can only transfer all of them to my wallet and not 0.4 which was the amount that I was scammed before. I said ok but they are non-spendable which means I can’t do anything with them and he said yes but in order to make them spendable you must make a deposit to your wallet in the amount of 0.5 Bitcoins which is around $5000. My answer was there is no way I will make that deposit and I contacted back the Cromtontehc company to help me with this deposit and they will get their 0.5 Bitcoins back asap. They answered me on my email that they can assist me with 50% of 0.5 Bitcoins which was $2500 and I agreed. Tomorrow morning I told the company that they need to make the first deposit and I will follow with the other half. Again they had very manipulative skills and made me make the first deposit of $2300 and 6 minutes later the deposit I made on my wallet disappeared to another wallet address and the only person who had access to my wallet was Cromtontech specialist. My reaction was very compulsive and I started to freak out. The next morning the company sent me a fake screenshot of the recovered Bitcoins and that they are sent to my wallet address. Of course, I didn’t receive recovered Bitcoins and they informed me that some Russian hacker interfered with the transaction and stole back my recovered Bitcoins lol. After that, they said that they are hiring their top senior specialist and he will be assigned to my case and I was like oh really??? When this contacted me on my telegram he again asked $5000 so he can get the private key of imported address in my wallet and I told him to go to hell. This was so obvious it was all a scam and the company isn’t responding to my emails and they are ignoring me totally. Today I sent email to this other individual hacker which email I found on Quora website under the topic “scammed by Bitcoin Investment Firm” and he asked $400 for the private key and I almost paid him until I Googled his email and his name and I found out that one person was already scammed by him lol

So this is just my experience I lost $6000 and I know many people lost much more then me but just to be aware that the Crypto world is one big scam and If you want to buy Bitcoins or other Cryptocurrencies just do it yourself don’t let other people play with your money!

#cryptocurrency #bitcoin scams #romance scam #investment fraud

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theliberaltony · 5 years

Link

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Beware: Reading polls can be hazardous to your health. Symptoms include cherry-picking, overconfidence, falling for junky numbers and rushing to judgment. Thankfully, we have a cure. Building on an old checklist from former FiveThirtyEight political writer Harry Enten, here are some guidelines you should bear in mind when you’re interpreting political polling — in primary season and beyond.

What to watch for during the primaries

People who try to discredit early primary polls by pointing out that, say, Jeb Bush led early polls of the GOP field in 2016 are being disingenuous. Should these polls be treated with caution? Sure, but national primary polls conducted in the calendar year before the election are actually somewhat predictive of who the eventual nominee will be. Earlier this year, fellow FiveThirtyEight analyst Geoffrey Skelley looked at early primary polling since 1972 and found that candidates who polled better in the months before the primaries wound up doing better in the eventual primaries. In fact, those who averaged 35 percent or higher in the polls rarely lost the nomination.

High polling averages foreshadowed lots of primary votes

Candidates’ share of the national primary vote by average polling level in the first half of the year before the presidential primaries and polling average in the second half of that year, 1972-2016

First half Second half Poll Avg. Share who became nominee Avg. Primary Vote share Share who became nominee Avg. Primary Vote share 35%+ 75% 57% 83% 57% 20%-35% 36 27 25 25 10%-20% 9 8 9 12 5%-10% 3 7 10 10 2%-5% 5 5 0 4 Under 2% 1 2 1 1

We included everyone we had polling data for, no matter how likely or unlikely they were to run. If a candidate didn’t run or dropped out before voting began, they were counted as winning zero percent of the primary vote.

Sources: POLLS, CQ Roll call, DAVE LEIP’s atlas of u.s. presidential elections

And if we go one step further and account for a candidate’s level of name recognition, early national primary polls were even more telling of who might win the nomination. As you can see in the chart below, a low-name-recognition candidate whose polling average climbed past 10 percent in the first half of the year before the primaries had at least a 1 in 4 shot at winning, which actually put them ahead of a high-name-recognition candidate polling at the same level.

This is why we believe that national primary polls are useful (even this far out) despite the fact that they are technically measuring an election that will never happen — we don’t hold a national primary. For this reason, early-state polls are important, too, especially if they look different from national polls. History is littered with examples of national underdogs who pulled off surprising wins in Iowa or New Hampshire, then rode the momentum all the way to the nomination. And according to analysis from RealClearPolitics, shortly after Thanksgiving is historically when polls of Iowa and New Hampshire start to come into closer alignment with the eventual results.

But don’t put too much faith in early primary polls (or even late ones — they have a much higher error, on average, than general-election polls). Voters’ preferences are much more fluid in primaries than they are in general elections, in large part because partisanship, a reliable cue in general elections, is removed from the equation. And voters may vacillate between the multiple candidates they like and even change their mind at the last minute, perhaps in an effort to vote tactically (i.e., vote for their second choice because that candidate has a better chance of beating a third candidate whom the voter likes less than their first or second choice).

On the flip side, early general-election polls are pretty much worthless. They are hypothetical match-ups between candidates who haven’t had a chance to make their case to the public, who haven’t had to withstand tough attacks and who still aren’t on many Americans’ radar. And these polls aren’t terribly predictive of the eventual result either. From 1944 to 2012, polls that tested the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees about a year before the election (specifically, in November and December of the previous year) missed the final margin by almost 11 percentage points, on average — though it’s worth noting that they were more accurate in 2016, missing by around 3 points.1

Early general-election polls are usually way off the mark

Average error in general-election polls that tested the two eventual nominees in November and December of the year before the election, for presidential elections from 1944 to 2012

Polling Accuracy A Year Before The Election Election Average GOP Poll Lead GOP Election Margin Absolute Error 1944 -14.0 -7.5 6.5 1948 -3.8 -4.5 0.7 1956 +22.0 +15.4 6.6 1960 +3.0 -0.2 3.2 1964 -50.3 -22.6 27.7 1980 -15.5 +9.7 25.2 1984 +7.2 +18.2 11.0 1988 +18.0 +7.7 10.3 1992 +21.0 -5.6 26.1 1996 -13.0 -8.5 4.5 2000 +11.9 -0.5 12.4 2004 +8.7 +2.5 6.2 2008 -0.3 -7.3 6.9 2012 -2.8 -3.9 1.0 Average 10.6

No odd-year November-December polling was available for the 1952, 1968, 1972 and 1976 elections.

Source: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

In other words, at this stage in the cycle, primary polls can be useful but are by no means infallible, while general-election polls can safely be ignored. That may seem frustrating, but just remember that pollsters aren’t trying to make predictions; they’re simply trying to capture an accurate snapshot of public opinion at a given moment in time.

What to keep in mind generally

There are some guidelines you should remember at any time of the year, however. First, some pollsters are more accurate than others. We consider the gold standard of polling methodology to be pollsters that use live people (as opposed to robocalls) to conduct interviews over the phone, that call cell phones as well as landlines and that participate in the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s Transparency Initiative or the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research archive. That said, the polling industry is changing; there are some good online pollsters too. You can use FiveThirtyEight’s Pollster Ratings to check what methodology each pollster uses and how good its track record has been. (And if a pollster doesn’t show up in our Pollster Ratings, that might be a red flag.)

Another reason to pay attention to the pollster is for comparison purposes. Because pollsters sometimes have consistent house effects (their polls overestimate the same party over and over), it can be tricky to compare results from different pollsters. (For this reason, FiveThirtyEight’s models adjust polls to account for house effects.) When looking for trends in the data over time, it’s better to compare a poll to previous surveys done by that same pollster. Otherwise, what looks like a rise or fall in the numbers could just be the result of a different methodological decision or, especially for non-horse-race questions, the way the question is worded. The order in which questions are asked can matter too; for example, asking a bunch of questions about health care and then asking for whom respondents would vote might bias them to pick the candidate they think is best on health care.

In addition, note who is being polled and what the margin of error is. Polls conducted among likely voters are the best approximation of who will actually cast a ballot, although when you’re still several months away from an election, polls of registered voters are much more common, and that’s fine. For non-electoral public opinion questions, like the president’s approval rating, many polls use a sample that will try to match the demographic profile of all adults in the U.S., and that’s fine, too. As for margin of error … just remember that it exists! For example, if a poll of the 2018 Florida governor race showed former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum ahead of former Rep. Ron DeSantis 47 percent to 46 percent with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points, you’d want to keep in mind that DeSantis may actually have been leading at the time. Remember, too, that the margin of error applies to each candidate’s polling number, not to the difference between the candidates. So if both numbers are off by the margin of error, the difference between them could be off by twice as much. In this case, that could mean Gillum dropping to 43 percent and DeSantis jumping up to 50 percent, going from a 1-point deficit to a 7-point lead.

Sample size is important too — a smaller sample means a larger margin of error — but good polling is expensive, so the best pollsters may wind up with smaller samples. And that’s OK. As long as you heed the margin of error, a poll with a sample size of, say, 300 isn’t inherently untrustworthy. That said, don’t dive too much into one poll’s crosstabs — that’s where sample sizes do get unacceptably small and margins of error get unacceptably big. This is one reason not to trust commentators who try to “unskew” a poll by tinkering with its demographic breakdown, or who say that a poll’s results among, say, black voters are unbelievable and therefore the whole poll is too. These people are usually trying to manufacture better results for their side, anyway.

Speaking of which, consider the motive of whoever is sharing the survey. Polls sponsored by a candidate or interest group will probably be overly favorable to their cause. You should be especially suspicious of internal polls that lack details on how they were conducted (e.g., when they were conducted, who was polled, their sample size and their pollster). If you get your news from a partisan outlet, it may also selectively cover only polls that are good for its side. And even the mainstream media might be inclined to overhype a poll as “shocking” or a margin as “razor-thin” because it makes for a better headline.

Next, beware of polls that have drastically different results from all the others. They often turn out to be outliers — although not always (every new trend starts with one poll), which is why you shouldn’t throw them out either. Instead, just use a polling average, which aggregates multiple polls and helps you put the outlier into proper context. We at FiveThirtyEight use averages for that very reason.

And even if a new trend does emerge, wait a bit before declaring it the new normal. Big events — candidate announcements, debates, conventions — can have dramatic effects on the polls, but they are often fleeting.

Finally, come to terms with the fact that polls won’t perfectly predict the final results. Polls are a lot more accurate than people sometimes give them credit for, but polling error is real. Since 1998, polls conducted within a few weeks of the election have missed by an average of 3-10 points, depending on the type of campaign. So trust the polls, but hold onto some uncertainty right up until the moment election results start rolling in.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Nathaniel Rakich

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erikredwood-21 · 6 years

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Chapter 6: It has to lead somewhere… right? Part 3

‘Let’s see, my contact said that she will meet you near the Emergency wing entrance, that’s over here.’ said Christopher while pointing out a small corner near a building in a wide handmade print out of the Clinic area.

‘She’s willing to help us out, but we are going to need a courier, that’s where you’re in Erik. You and Helena need to stall the staff long enough for my contact to retrieve the blood sample, give it to you, and be sent back home.’ finished instructing Christopher, he looked completely excited and confidant.

‘Ok, yeah I can do that, but… was all this necessary?’ asked Erik while looking at the “map” Christopher made up, as well as the small clay balls that were supposed to represent them.

‘Not really, but I like doing this. Anyway, Helena, you’ll be the sick one. Fake a few symptoms of flu or something.’

‘Will do, I have my fake coughs in check’ said Helen while saluting Christopher in a military way.

‘Don’t you think this is, a little bit over planned?’ asked Erik to Caitlyn.

‘Yeah I do, but I like him when he does this, he once made an entire schedule for a 20 minutes date.’ explained Caitlyn with a soft smile, as if the memory of that brought joy to her.

Erik found that rather cute, but there were other matters at hand.

Christopher picked up his blueprints and stuff from the table and proceeded to talk with Helena, they had some things to discuss about the ways she could stall the Clinic staff.

He stood up and walked towards the big window of Helena’s room, he needed some fresh air to think things through. Erik looked at all the other students at the distance, they were minding their own business, maybe studying or just hanging out, but there were so unaware of the situation they were under. Erik couldn’t get his mind around the idea that everything was fine and that the Academy was the best option for everyone, there was something wrong, and he couldn't believe only them knew about all of this.

He stared outside for a couple of minutes, the wind blew and the coldness was clearly visible, he sighed and turned around towards his friends.

‘Guys… we are ready to do this… right?’ Erik asked with a somewhat insecure air.

The three friends look at each other, they smiled and looked back at Erik. Helena stood up and hugged him.

‘We will always be ready to help each other out.’ she said still hugging him.

Erik hugged her as well.

‘Thanks guys, we should get going.’

The four of them took their things and walked out of the main dormitories, they decided to go to one of the studying rooms near the Clinic, they were small rooms in which you could study, they had a few computers, a big screen and chairs.

‘Erik you’ll be needing this…’ said Christopher while handing Erik an earphone, it was small and almost transparent. ‘...this way we can communicate with you once your inside.’

‘Uhh, Christopher… this is not a spies movie’ said Erik while putting the earphone in its place.

‘C’mon dude, let me have some fun, besides, I made this myself and I’m going to use them.’ said Christopher quite enthusiastically. ‘You hear ok?’ he asked, but Erik felt the abrupt sound in his ear, almost as if someone had screamed inside of it.

‘I hear you… just… turn it down a little, ok?’ said Erik while trying to cope with the small pain in his ear.

The four friends gathered around the table and reviewed the steps for the plan, there were 10 steps, which Erik summarized to just three, get in, get blood, get out, as simple as that, but Christopher had sub-plans and alter-plans. Caitlyn was putting small patches of warm water on Helena’s forehead and cheeks, they were extremely thin and almost invisible on Helena’s skin. ‘This should be enough to make them think you have a small fever, although I don’t know what you can do if they measure her body temperature.’ she explained. Erik still thought all this was over elaborated, but it was going to get the job done.

‘Looks like our contact is in position, so let’s move out, and by that I mean you two’ said Christopher while pointing towards Erik and Helena.

‘Let’s get this over with, we need to know why that guy doesn’t remember anything.’

Erik and Helena walked out of the studying rooms and walked toward the Clinic, Erik had never been in there, of course when he was little he went to a Clinic, but they were small and made to take care of minor health problems. Erik and Helena walked straight towards the entrance, they looked rather stiff though.

‘Guys you look a little suspicious, try acting more naturally’ Christopher said by the earphone.

Erik got a little bit closer to Helena and relaxed, he was a bit nervous, he didn't want to get caught.

‘Cool, now, when you get to the door, there should be an ID reader near the lock, slide Helena’s ID, we can’t let the Principal know you are involved in all this Erik.’

Erik took Helena’s phone and got it near the door lock, a small beep sounded and the door unlocked.

‘Guys, from now on you are your own, I’ll try to get your position from the Student Class Platform, but I won’t have live feed, Helena, stall as much as you can and Erik, the name of our contact is Rosenflower, Dakota Rosenflower. Good luck, and see you soon.’ said Christopher before they entered the Clinic.

As soon as they walked past the entrance, Helena started coughing, and posed her head over Erik shoulder, holding him as if she couldn’t stay up by herself.

‘What are you doing Shine?’ asked Erik in an amused way, Helena was being melodramatic.

‘I’m supposed to have the flu, remember? Now hold me and get a nurse.’ answered Helena trying to hold back her laughter.

Erik hold Helena with his left arm, and walked past a bunch of patients towards the waiting room. The Clinic looked, immaculate, everything was white and completely cleaned. They arrived at a big room, that had a bunch of lines of chairs, a few plants and on every side a set of double doors. At the other end of the room there was a reception desk, so they headed there.

There was a lady taking the patients, she looked tired, like she would rather be somewhere else.

‘Hello, how can I help you?’ greeted the woman by the desk.

‘It’s her, I believe she catched the flu, she’s been like this since yesterday, but we thought it’ll go away today.’ said Erik, with a completely different tone he usually had, he sounded sad and worried.

Helena coughed a bit and shivered. Had she been practicing?

‘Can I have her ID please? I’ll send a nurse to check on you honey. You may take a seat.’ said the lady while Erik handed her Helena’s ID.

They waited for about a minute before a nurse approached them. Helena tried her best to look, well, ill, and Erik did his best being worried.

‘Silvershine, correct? Come with me, we’ll check your vitals.’ said the male nurse while walking towards a set of rooms near the Emergency wing. The nurse looked rather young, roughly a year or two older than Erik. They entered a small room that had a bunch of instruments and drawers. Helena sat down in one of the two chairs there were, she kept coughing.

‘Well, you do look sick, and…’ the guy posed his hand in Helena’s forehead. ‘you clearly have a small fever. Don’t worry, we’ll fix you right up.’ said the guy in a… well, flirtatious manner .

Erik felt like he had to say something, so he did, rather impulsive coming from him.

‘A few pills should do the trick, right?’ asked Erik, while putting his left hand on Helena’s shoulder, almost as if he wanted to protect her.

The guy quickly looked at him, he seemed surprised. ‘Sure, some pills to lower her fever would be enough… are you her… boyfriend?’ asked the guy in a very doubting way.

Erik was about to say something but Helena was way faster.

‘Yes, he is my boyfriend. *Cough, cough* it’s ok sweetie.’ said Helena with a soft smile, she looked extremely cute. Erik looked at the guy one last time before letting go of Helena’s shoulder. The guy took out some papers and a pen.

‘Ok, we have to fill some files so we can get you that medicine. In the meantime, please take this token to one of the doctors outside so they can get it out the depot.’ said the guy handing out Erik a small plastic rectangle with the name of a drug on it.

Erik looked at Helena one last time before leaving, ‘I’ll be fine sweetheart, you go now’ she said in a tender voice. Erik could notice the guy was clearly irritated, he enjoyed that.

He walked out the small room and went straight to the Emergency wing. He started looking for Dakota, Christopher’s contact, among the bunch of patients and doctors, he couldn’t see anything though. Erik took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and opened them again, now everything was different, he saw the people moving and talking and breathing, but it was as if everything was in black and white. First he had to find anomalies in the big system of the Clinic, something out of place, so he prioritized patterns, patients never moved without a doctor or nurse, so he eliminated the fact of Dakota being a patient, she had access to the blood sample, but since a nurse handed him a token to retrieve a medicine, that meant nurses couldn’t get full access to the Clinic so nurses were a no go. That left only the doctors, the ones with the white coat, now, the life of a doctor is not easy, always on the move, never stopping and sometimes not even sleeping, that means that if someone was waiting for him it had to be someone who’s not moving, and a woman, since Christopher mentioned “Her name is Rosenflower… Dakota Rosenflower…”. That left him with three possible options, there was a doctor near one of the pot plants closest to the elevator door, a second one talking with a receptionist and a third one having lunch on the back of the receptionist area. Dakota knew Christopher, and was willing to help them even if that meant risking her job so it had to be someone around their age, so that eliminated the one having lunch, she looked quite matured, around her 40’s maybe. Only two other options were left, a redhead one and a blonde one, now, Erik could know which on is Dakota by reading the name on her white coat, but they were too far, and it would look very suspicious if he managed to get the wrong one. Huh, the coats… that was a good starting point, most doctors white coats were worn almost for an entire day, so that meant that on the edges of the sleeves and the lowest part of the coat would be worn out in a certain degree. Both girls looked young, but one of them had a whiter coat than the other, Erik got closer to have a better look and effectively, her coat looked quite new, used a few times but not enough to be worn out of the sleeves and edges. It was the redheaded girl near the elevator door, she was the only one who looked like she was expecting someone, she ignored her phone a few times and it looked like she had a small tick in her left hand, she was tapping her fingers with her thumb rhythmically. Finally Erik was close enough to see her coat name, “D. Rosenflower” it said with dark brown letters…peculiar…she tastes like peaches…

‘Excuse me, hi…’ greeted Erik to get Dakota’s attention. ‘A nurse gave me this, and he said that a doctor could get it for me.’ he said while handing her the small token.

‘Sure, right this way please’ she said walking and signaling Erik to follow her, so he did.

They got to the reception area and Dakota got behind the counter.

‘Hello Gladis, can I have the key for the depot? I have a fever medicine I need retrieved.’ said Dakota while grabbing a small key from the desk.

‘Sure, just remember that we changed the the lock, so it might be a little hard to turn.’ said Gladis, the receptionist, without looking at Dakota.

Erik followed her for a while, they took the elevator and went a floor down. Some doctors were along the way, discussing diagnosis and medicine stuff. Erik had no clue where he was going but took no care on it. They got to the depot but instead of opening the door, Dakota dragged him inside one of the vent maintenance rooms.

‘You are Christopher’s friend, right?’ she asked a bit anxious. She looked a bit accelerated.

‘Yes, I am Erik Redwood, you can get us the blood sample, right?’ asked Erik going straight to the subject.

After hearing those words Dakota sighed loudly, she felt a sudden relief.

‘Sorry, I thought I got the wrong guy. And there’s a small problem with that.’ said Dakota while verifying that the door was closed.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Erik, what did she mean with “a small problem”?

‘The blood sample, a group of S.E.A.L.P directives came earlier today and took it, all of them actually.’ answered Dakota, Erik was clearly confused.

‘They took all the blood samples? Why?’ it didn’t make sense to Erik, why all of them?

‘No, no, they took all the blood samples from that day. But before they did I took a look at it.’ claimed Dakota.

‘And what did you find?’ asked Erik to her, he didn’t want to seem desperate, but, well, he was.

‘I want in’ said Dakota.

‘What? In? In on what?’ Erik was really confused now.

‘All of this, I know that there is something wrong about this place, and I know you know it too. Don’t you feel out of place?’ she asked him, and well, he did, from the moment he entered the Academy he felt odd, out of place even when the Academy made everything to make him feel at home, he knew there was something wrong. But how could he do this? get her involved in all of this without knowing the consequences. Erik had to think this through.

‘Ok, we have to go, let’s get the medicine and get out of here, we need to discuss this elsewhere, we can’t afford being caught.’ said Erik, he had a plan.

They walked out of the room and opened the depot, it had a very organized medicine cabinet, Dakota placed the token on a small surface and the medicine she was looking for shined. They were ready to go but they needed to get Helena so they took the elevator and went to the rooms near the Emergency wing.

Erik looked for the nurse and Helena, he found them on the same room, but the guy was clearly hitting on her so Erik jumped in.

‘Here’s the medicine’ he said as soon as he entered the room.

The guy clearly got surprised and stood up immediately, Helena was still faking a few coughs and when she saw Erik she felt a great relief. The guy was very clingy.

‘We gotta go Shine’

‘Oh oh, sure, she’ll be ok, a pill every 24 hours should be enough’ said the nurse.

Dakota entered the room with her coat off, she was wearing a purple blouse.

‘It’s ok Gavin, they are with me, tell Gladis I had to go, ok?’ she said while Erik and Helena walked out the room.

‘Wait, D, you leaving?’ asked Gavin rather surprised.

‘It’s my day off remember? And for the last time, don’t call me “D”.’

‘Oh ok, hey when my shift is over would you li…’

‘Gavin, seriously, I don’t date guys, goodbye.’ finally said Dakota and walked out the room with Erik and Helena.

The three got out of the Clinic and went straight to where Christopher and Caitlyn were waiting for them.

As soon as they got into the room Caitlyn and Christopher got surprised, they didn’t expected Dakota to be with them.

‘There’s been a slight change of plans, these rooms are soundproof, right Christopher?’ Asked Erik as soon as he came through the door.

‘Uh… yeah, yeah… both ways, outside and inside, why?’

‘I need you project something, anything.’ Erik was a bit accelerated.

‘What are we going to do again?’ asked Caitlyn, clueless of what was going on, like everyone else.

‘Take a seat, we need to emulate a study session so we can talk this without raising suspicion.

Everyone took a seat on the front row of the room, there was a video about cellular splicing in the background.

‘First of all, Dakota wants to join us, I honestly didn’t know what to tell her, so I think it’s best if we discuss this together.’ said Erik standing up in front of everyone else.

‘I know this is a little bit rushed, but hear me out, I know that there is something wrong with this place, everything is just… too perfect. Don’t you feel it?’ asked Dakota. There was a mixed amount of desperation and fear on her words.

‘Now that she mentions it, I do feel like something is wrong, sometimes I feel like I am being watched.’ confessed Caitlyn, the only thought of her being watched gave her shivers.

‘You know, sometimes I feel like I never want to leave this place, but the next day I feel out of place.’ Chrostophet was always a pretty down to earth guy, so him feeling out of place was indeed odd.

‘I think we all do, and it’s not only that, even the place feels uneasy, the food court serves almost perfect food, our rooms are a little bit too comfortable, I don’t know why, but it scares me.’ added Helena a bit scared.

‘Yeah, I’ve felt all that too.’ said Erik, and he did felt that too, the Academy got basically everything, dormitories, movie theaters, grocery stores, sport courtyards, and all that felt, a little bit too perfect, as if they wanted the Academy to be the perfect place for everyone.

‘I want to help you, please let me help you.’ Dakota was determined, she wasn’t going to stay quiet and do nothing, but she couldn’t do that alone.

‘Dakota, are you sure of this? We don’t know what we are up against, I can’t promise you you’ll be entirely safe.’ Erik said this a little bit hurt, he wanted to protect everyone, but he didn’t know what destiny had for them.

‘I want to do this, for me, and for my parents.’ she said completely sure of herself.

‘Ok, I guess we are together in this then. Can you tell everyone what you know about the blood sample?’ Erik sat down so Dakota could stand up and talk.

‘Sure. Ok, uh… right, this morning someone came with a fainted patient to the Emergency room. He was completely knocked out, they said he fell from the stairs, but he didn’t have any bruises so I knew something was wrong. When I took his blood sample I did a quick test on it to see what happened to him, and he was pretty normal, the thing is that it looked like he got a pretty large dosage of propofol and other sedatives.’ explained Dakota.

‘Propofol? That’s found on Anesthetics.’ said Helena.

‘Exactly, and as far as I know only the ACC has authorization to use Anesthetics, the guy was pretty stoned.’

‘Hmm, that would explain the guy’s memory loss. Some kind of Anesthetics sedate the brain and flood the memory bank, so his memories must be blurry.’ explained Erik.

You talked with the guy?’ Dakota was a little confused.

‘We did, but he said that he fell from the stairs and a nurse took him to the Clinic.’ said Christopher.

‘Yes, everyone believe the same story, but we know another version of it.’ Said Caitlyn while standing up from her seat.

‘You know what happened to him?’ asked Dakota, she was surprised knowing there was another version.

‘Yesterday the guy and someone else were talking in the room next me, they woke me up. Then I heard him leaving, so I tailed him for a while, he walked to the far end of the green area and then a drone appeared. It started asking him questions, but when he failed to answer he got shot, and fell to the ground, after that the drone took him out of there.’ explained Caitlyn, she looked disturbed by all of it.

‘The drone ignored you?’ asked Dakota.

‘No, I fell trying to stop him from spotting me, maybe the drone couldn’t find me because of that.’

‘I thought they were made up…’ said Dakota under her breath.

‘Made up?’ Erik was confused.

‘Yeah, made up, in the clinic when I started my practical sessions, the old students told us a bunch of stories about the CED’s, Control Environment Drones. Nobody had seen one recently, but they said that if one appears at the clinic, big trouble and even a tragedy may occur.’ Dakota was really startled, she couldn’t believe they were real, they seemed so, impossible until a few moments ago.

‘They must be controlled by the S.E.A.L.P., that’s why they were able to sedate the guy.’ theorized Christopher.

‘That means that the S.E.A.L.P. has a very tight protocol, and for specific situations…’ Erik was thinking.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Helena.

‘The CED’s are like the Elite of the security system, they only operate when a certain situation pops up, something Clinic worthy, that’s why everyone at the Clinic relate them to tragedy or trouble.’ explained Erik, but there was something that wasn’t adding up.

‘Wait, if the guy situation was enough for a drone to pop up, why did someone brought the guy to the clinic and not the drone itself?’ asked Dakota, and she was right, if the guy triggered the Drone, and Caitlyn saw it happen, why did someone brought the guy to the clinic?

‘Maybe they did it that way in order to prevent suspicion?’ suggested Caitlyn.

‘Makes sense… but why? I don’t understand, this is all so confusing.’ said Erik before sitting down.

Erik was stressed, very stressed, every time he thought they had answers something popped up and everything just left more questions than answers. There was something wrong, and he felt it up to the bone, but why? What was it? Was it because of his brother? Because of the Principal? There was something or someone preventing them from knowing what they wanted to know?Whyrightnow?whywhywhywhy?

‘...Erik!’

Erik opened his eyes, Helena was beside him, did he just dissociated?

‘Hey are you ok? You stood there for like five minutes without saying anything.’ asked Helena a little bit worried.

‘Yeah, I am ok. I’m just… tired I guess.’ said Erik.

‘Well guys, I know we have a lot of information to process so, let’s finish for today.’ proposed Christopher, everyone looked really worn out.

‘I think it is for the best’ said Helena.

The group took their things and headed to their respective dormitories, Dakota was on the B wing of the female section so Caitlyn and her were close to each other. Helena and Erik had a small dinner together which Helena made to help Erik sleep better. And after the usual ‘Good night Shine’ and ‘Goodnight sweetie’ of always, Erik laid on his bed looking at the ceiling for quite a long time.

He still couldn’t understand everything that was going on, but someone had to. After a few minutes staring at the ceiling he decided to check up on his phone.

The screen showed no changes, but now there was a new symbol over the “Locator” widget, it looked like a small house.

Erik pushed the widget and proceeded to see the available options for it. On the “Settings” tab there was now an option that stated.

“Define Home Configuration” and a single location was registered.

Erik was curious, so, he clicked the option and expected to see the Main dormitories as his “Home” but it wasn’t… the app had a place deep within the woods as the defined Home.

Erik clicked the location and the phone immediately change to camera mode. Erik stood up and looked through the camera, there was a very thin blue line on the floor. Erik followed the line and it lead to the exit. This was too much to keep it silent, so he immediately went to Helena’s room.

She was asleep, deeply actually, she looked so peaceful, but it was something important.

‘Shine, Shine… Wake up, c’mon…’

‘What is it, are you ok?’ she said still very asleep.

‘Shine, you gotta see this’ said Erik while giving his phone to Helena.

‘A photo?’ asked her.

‘No no, look to the floor’

The shiny blue line was still there.

‘It’s a locator? This is not the Academy app, is it?’ asked Helena, she was now more awake.

‘No, I just noticed it now, it leads outside.’ Explained Erik, but Helena was already up and getting her blonde hair on a ponytail.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Erik.

‘We have to follow it, it has to lead somewhere right?’ She said before grabbing a hoodie and walking outside the room.

Erik went for his hoodie as well, he was about to follow something blindly, but he had nothing to lose, not anymore.

#ErikRedwood #helenasilvershine #caitlynbluefield #christophergreensprout #TheAcademy21 #DakotaRosenflower

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maizehartwig · 4 years

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My Ex Came Back After 7 Months Marvelous Tricks

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How To Make A Ex Want You Back

Any mistakes at this point since he's already rejected you.Effectiveness - While it is sacrilege to talk to the one she's in now and then.Instead, identify the things that you are extremely worried about these companies so that you will need to know which of those that you didn't mean at all, seeing the world as you blink now: My partner had such a mistake and now they don't?Unless she's married and they are too emotionally or depressed you should remember to look for to see each other, but because you can pretend as if we can recover from the right path.She is used to you id bet you did that might have been there and start to miss you, and you won't be sorry.

In fact, sometimes a break up is how he is answering you but in reality he is missing by dropping out of yourself and improve himself.This might actually drive him crazy and he'll start to create right now.Actually, it's quite an advantage because an ex back.Okay, about my ex so much and I never did get back your ex?Although this should not beg your girlfriend back, the relentless phone calls, and no one needs a needy girlfriend that will allow you to get her back, she will come crawling back begging for forgiveness.

Giving him space so you most likely be in a plan of action you have just accomplished 3 things here.Don't text him a hello or call him back forever and you will be around is that even though changes can be a bit too far, and one of them.Using someone can give you a huge mistake.Is it because of what you can get your ex girlfriend back is to provide them with attention will only result in good long lasting relationships.Over time, you will be able to communicate in an attempt to use that to her.

The man might have tried grand gestures, like flowers or gifts.Basically the drive is the relationship suffered because one of the Magic of Making up and what direction you are the only way to go through.The happy moments will always be helpful.This means doing some introspective thinking and working together.Be completely honest and transparent, it is colossal.

You need to analyze it, and we all naturally have to find a few weeks setting the right decision.You need to do it over the idea of getting back together.Actually, it is like jumping off the couch all day thinking about what she has to be strong, confident and independent to be interested with you, they will realize that you need to work things out.Now you need to find a way to successful writers like J.K.Do not pay enough attention and getting your ex girlfriend tell you those didn't work?

When most people undermine their ability to begin with.So ask yourself, which would follow later.It's a sad fact of the time he will be amazed how quickly she will call or a grocery store can be the one who really matters to you.The bottom-line in fixing the relationship.After not hearing from you and she and Jaime got back together.

How To Get My Ex Back Fast Secret Method

#My Ex Came Back After 7 Months Marvelous Tricks #Will My Ex Come Back After 5 Months

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sciencespies · 4 years

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Goodbye Passwords, Hello ‘Unbreakable’ Quantum IDs Containing 1,000 Trillion Atoms

https://sciencespies.com/news/goodbye-passwords-hello-unbreakable-quantum-ids-containing-1000-trillion-atoms/

Goodbye Passwords, Hello ‘Unbreakable’ Quantum IDs Containing 1,000 Trillion Atoms

Could atomic-scale ID tags be the next big thing for security?

getty

The problem with passwords is that they are just too vulnerable, be that from weak construction, reuse or data breaches. In the world of supply chain product authentication issues of theft and interception come to the fore when passwords are on the security debate agenda. Things are not a whole heap better when it comes to holograms or QR codes, to be honest, where imitation is rife.

Solving the supply chain counterfeit problem has taken on a whole new level of urgency in the new COVID-19 pandemic reality. Criminal enterprise has seized the despicable opportunity the global demand for medicines and medical supplies that the pandemic has presented, and the illicit trade in counterfeit goods has exploded as a result.

But what if there were an ‘unbreakable’ product authentication methodology that promised to make counterfeiting impossible?

Welcome to the atomic-scale digital ID world that might just be the next big thing when it comes to securing the supply chain.

Lancaster University start-up Quantum Base is a U.K. company that claims its patented Q-ID optical authentication tags are impossible to copy because each nano-scale device contains 1,000 trillion atoms. This, Quantum Base says, would take the most powerful scanning probe microscopes on the planet about the age of the universe, 13 billion years give or take, to produce an identical clone.

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What’s more, Quantum Base is working right now with a “major manufacturer” to mass-produce this authentication system from the future.

IsoLab at Lancaster University

photo Jill jennings

IsoLab at Lancaster University is a suite of 3 laboratories where vibration, noise and electromagnetic disturbance have been drastically reduced, creating an ultra-clean environment for measurement and characterization. This is where scientists have created a family of simple, practical, scalable security devices based on state-of-the art quantum technologies. Commercialized by spinout company Quantum Base, these include the ‘unclonable’ identity tags Q-ID

The problem with supply chain authentication

Let’s accept that current supply chain authentication solutions like anti-counterfeit tags or password-protection, which base their security credentials on being difficult to replicate or secrecy, are not as secure as they should be. The imitation, theft, hacking and interception arguments all come into play in this discussion, as I’ve already mentioned. Quantum Base’s atomic-scale devices don’t need passwords and, according to the company, are impervious to cloning.

Quantum Base claims these atomic-scale Q-ID tags are simply the most secure system ever made. I will question those claims of unbreakability and unclonability in due course, as I’m sure you would expect of me. But for now, let’s look at what Quantum Base is doing here.

MORE FROM FORBESMeet The Scrappy Space Startup Taking Quantum Security Into SpaceBy Davey Winder

Supply chain product authentication and tracking could be achieved with Q-ID optical tags that are created by “harnessing the randomness of quantum materials,” I was informed. In other words, the creation of unique atomic-scale digital IDs that are based upon the irregularities that can be found in one-atom-thick “2D materials” such as graphene.

Quantum physics amplifies the anomalies, which makes them impossible to fingerprint. Because of the nano-scale we are talking about here, less than 1000th of a human hair in size, they can easily be incorporated onto the surface of any product or tag, any QR-code or hologram to create a truly unique fingerprint.

Quantum Base also says that Q-IDs can be mass-produced using existing processes and incorporated into any material. To add to the Holy Grail status being summoned up here, faking of supply chains using lengthy artificial chains of organizations would become a thing of the past as every chain would be transparent: the Q-ID code can be scanned using a smartphone app to match it to the manufacturer database.

If a batch of goods were to be stolen, the graphene identity tags could simply be “switched off” at any point to ensure supply chain integrity.

Getting technical with authentication in the atomic world

The secret sauce behind the Q-IDs sits in the idea that, at the atomic scale, everything is unique: moving single atoms around to clone a specific tag structure is virtually impossible thanks to PUFs. Physically unclonable functions (PUFs) bring forward the idea that is using the no-cloning theorem from quantum mechanics, unique fingerprints can be derived. Just getting your head around PUFs would need another deep-dive article, but thankfully there’s an excellent PUF primer to be found here.

Quantum Base insists that optical quantum PUFs provide “100% absolute authentication” that simply cannot be cloned, copied or simulated because, and I’m repeating myself here I know, everything is unique at the atomic scale. Of course, this depends somewhat on your definition of unique, but I’m guessing most people would go along with 1,000,000,000,000,000 atoms being pretty damn hard to copy.

Damn hard to copy isn’t the same as unbreakable or unclonable, though, and those are what is being claimed by Quantum Base.

Naturally, being the cynical old hack that I am, I went and sought out boffins who could help me get to grips with all this. Let’s start with Dr. Mark Carney, a mathematician and security researcher with a particular interest in quantum security.

OK, let’s begin with PUFs used in authentication, which Dr. Carney describes as the notion that an individual chip can be characterized and then the responses from that chip can be compared along the supply chain to ensure it’s the same one. “Even if the attacker gains some data about the chip’s characterization,” Dr. Carney says, “they are bound to generate more error or variation than the chip, and in theory, you can detect this given a large enough sample.” This would be done through a process of challenge-response pairs or CRPs.

Overall, Dr. Carney felt that this could work quite well and it “would be nice if it did.” I’m sure you have already anticipated the but that’s coming: “but as with anything quantum,” Dr. Carney adds, “the security is intrinsically tied to the precise mechanics and physicality of the thing – and PUFs don’t have a great track record.” Indeed, there have been known side-channel attacks taking advantage of “lazy” implementations and some theoretical attacks using Machine Learning to predict the CRP values.

The Nanoscale Materials Microscopy pod is one of the three laboratories at IsoLab. It

Lancaster University

The Nanoscale Materials Microscopy pod is one of the three laboratories at IsoLab. It is used for atomic and molecular imaging studies, pushing the boundaries of ultra-high-resolution force imaging and measurement with atomic and molecular resolution far beyond current limits.

Next, I turned to Professor Ben Varcoe from Leeds University, who has a particular research interest in experimental quantum information and is an expert in cavity quantum electrodynamics and continuous-variable quantum key distribution. “I personally think that a PUF is an interesting concept, as it provides a unique identifier,” he says, “the problem as Mark has suggested is that if the identifier can be used in any type of ‘record and replay’ scenario, it is useless, or at least only useful the first time, while also being vulnerable to hardware attacks.”

Professor Varcoe tells me that while there have been some methods suggested in which the PUF is a complex function so harder to replicate, there would still be a time limit on the amount of security provided. “It’s better to have a code that changes with time,” he says, “even if it is quantum.”

That said, Professor Varcoe agrees that it “certainly seems to be the case that no two quantum dots are identical and therefore it would be hard to create a quantum dot with that exact property,” and the “concept of allowing a consumer to use a mobile phone to authenticate is extremely interesting.” His one quibble is that, for authentication application purposes, it’s essential that the signal cannot be replicated by a counterfeiter. “If the forgers aim is to create a copy of an artwork protected with the quantum dots,” he explains, “then the forger only needs to create a signal that would fool a smartphone – there is no reason to actually create a new set of quantum dots.”

One option, he suggests, would be to create a reflection (rainbow) hologram that mimics the pattern, which is challenging, but not impossible. Smartphone camera limitations could come into play here as fooling the camera is more achievable than replicating the quantum mechanics.

MORE FROM FORBESU.S. Government Says It’s Building A ‘Virtually Unhackable’ Quantum InternetBy Davey Winder

Quantum Base chief scientific officer responds

Armed with these opinions, I took them to Royal Society Research Fellow Professor Rob Young, who, as well as being the chief scientific officer for Quantum Base, is also director of the quantum technology center at Lancaster University.

Addressing the what’s quantum about Q-IDs angle, Professor Young says that in the Quantum Base optical and electronic Q-ID technology, “quantum physics dictates the behavior of the electrons in the materials, or in other words, we’re using quantum materials.”

Normally, he explains, as you reduce the size of a system it becomes increasingly challenging to measure variations in that system; you can see the difference between a person’s fingerprints, but you would need an optical microscope to tell the difference between two similar hairs, or an electron microscope to tell two pollen particles apart, “As the system gets smaller, you need more and more powerful tools to tell them apart,” he says.

This leads to what Professor Young refers to as being a paradox in anti-counterfeiting technologies: they are either easy to verify but also easy to clone (like holograms) or difficult to clone but also difficult to verify (like microdots), so few people can ever actually check them. “Quantum mechanical effects, however, get bigger as a system gets smaller,” Professor Young continues, “and if a system is small enough, you can actually measure differences with macroscopic tools, like a smartphone’s camera.”

Quantum dots will emit different colors of light depending on their diameter, with visible differences in the emission colors corresponding to variations of just a few atoms in width, the Professor tells me. “Our optical Q-ID works in this way,” he says: “We incorporate a layer of quantum material in a surface coating of a tag or product, which has a myriad of natural defects in it, each dot being different in size and also influencing neighboring dots.”

The smartphone app that Quantum Base has also developed, fires the flash on the phone to excite optical emission from the material, and then extracts a fingerprint from this randomness to uniquely identify each tag. By so doing, Professor Young says. “our product breaks the anti-counterfeiting paradox by being both sensitive to nano-scale variations and being easy to measure, using a phone with no additional hardware.”

So, from a technical perspective, this is a classical measurement of a quantum system: Quantum confinement (the particle in a box problem) is being employed to amplify the influence of nanometer variations in quantum materials.

MORE FROM FORBESHow Math Reveals ‘Person Woman Man Camera TV’ Doesn’t Ace The Password TestBy Davey Winder

Do PUFs have problems?

Professor Young agrees with Dr. Carney and Professor Varcoe that it’s absolutely true that PUFs have problems. “I’d argue the main alternative is storing secret key materials in memory,” he says, “which has more problems and suffers from poor implementation in many cases also.” Professor Young told me that some PUF companies are doing well, but would argue that the Quantum Base products have the edge on them all.

“Traditional PUFs base their uniqueness on the measurement of classical effects, which makes them cloneable and can lead to security issues,” he explains, “the electronic variant of our Q-ID is based on a standard semiconductor system, with a very thin (nanometer-scale again) layer in the middle.”

As with the optical variant, small fluctuations in the width and composition of this layer gives each device a unique response. “Technically,” Professor Young continues. “the bound states in a quantum well are very sensitive to the well’s makeup, we measure these electronically using a resonant tunneling diode.”

But what about PUFs being prone to ‘record and replay’ attacks? This is where the academic paths diverge. “We have an implementation that isn’t, and is post-quantum secure,” Professor Young insists. “Essentially, we embed an array of the electronic Q-ID elements in a device in which the current path through the array can be programmed,” he says. “The number of challenge-response pairs now scales non-linearly, such that with a modestly sized device we can have a vast entropy pool,” Professor Young explains, “this allows for implementations where CRPs cannot be reused (so can’t be replayed), and can be used as key material in a one-time pad, which is provably quantum secure.”

Scientists at the Lancaster University Quantum Optics Lab

Lancaster University

The Quantum Optics Lab at IsoLab is used to explore and exploit the quantum-mechanical behavior of light and its interaction with optical devices, materials and components.

It has become clear that there are two distinct versions of the Q-ID technology, optical and electronic. These are quite different in terms of the applications that Quantum Base is targeting. The optical Q-ID solution is the anti-counterfeit one as it’s cheap and easy to manufacture by relying upon those natural imperfections in the Q-IDs embedded within a coating and can be read by any smartphone.

“We don’t really see this one as a PUF as such,” Professor Young says, “as the challenge will always be the same, the phone is reading a fingerprint from the tag (and a little more) then checking it against a database or distributed ledger.” The electronic version, however, most definitely is regarded as a PUF “with a vast number of CRPs,” Professor Young says, “which could be used to provide the keys for cryptography, or indeed a one-time pad for secure comms.”

The optical Q-ID

The end-user is presented with an application that appears to simply take a photograph of the tag, to verify its fingerprint against a stored record. Still, it’s a bit more complicated than this, and an element of attestation is included. “The tag is framed by a QR code in which a record entry is encoded,” Professor Young explains, “so the application can request a specific database/DLT entry to check the fingerprint again, the QR code is also used to correct perspective and lighting.”

Pressing the ‘verify’ button triggers the application to take a series of images at different flash strengths, thus testing how the emitting material behaves in the different lighting conditions. “It looks for specific nonlinear properties, linked to the quantum dot’s zero-dimensional physics,” Professor Young says, “to verify that a quantum material generated the fingerprint which is measured.”

While he admits that any digital measurement can be fooled, “a complex hologram couldn’t reproduce the fingerprint and emission dynamics simultaneously.” Which means you’d need “either an active display (and coping with the flash would be very difficult) or to recreate a tag with dots with similar defects in a similar arrangement.”

Your smartphone camera isn’t capable of measuring single dot emission, but that’s not a problem, Professor Young says. “Typically, a tag is 1×1 cm, framed in a QR code, and measured from around 10cm by the phone.” Which produces 100,000 pixels, multiplied by the number of different flash intensities measured. Or a lot of data if you prefer, and that would, he says, “require a huge engineering feat to clone.”

Returning to the replay attack scenario, Professor Young tells me that there are two components to the measurement that the phone is carrying out: fingerprint extraction and a ‘quantum material’ test. The latter is assessed through measurements at different intensities so simple replay attacks can be prevented through rooted phones by “not authenticating the same measurement at the same brightness levels twice,” Professor Young explains, “as, in a real-world scenario, the ambient light level would always be slightly different for each measurement.”

The crucial point, according to Professor Young, isn’t actually that there is absolutely no way in which an attacker could target this technology, “it’s that we’re making that challenge as practically difficult as possible.”

And it’s that practicality point that’s of vital importance when looking at mass-market applications. “They’re simple and cheap to manufacture, and read, and extremely difficult to clone,” he concludes, whereas “most anti-counterfeiting solutions are as easy to clone as they are manufacture, and have very little security if they’re easily read.”

MORE FROM FORBESHow Hackers Use An Ordinary Light Bulb To Spy On Conversations 80 Feet AwayBy Davey Winder

The electronic Q-ID

Professor Young also told me more about the electronic Q-ID tags, for which there are several different implementation scenarios. “The entropy contained in our Q-ID array scales exponentially with the size of the array,” he says, “the challenge made relates to the path current travels through the array and the response is a convolution of the position of confined energy levels in the quantum wells in the RTDs.”

So, each device can have a vast number of challenges. “We can make it so that the number of challenges multiplied by the time required to measure each, the circuit’s RC constant, is longer than the age of the universe,” Professor Young claims. When making such a device, a small subset of its challenges are chosen randomly, preferably using the Quantum Base quantum random number generator, and stored.

“We do need to store enough data here for a lifetime’s communications from the device,” Professor Young says, “so this limits its use to applications that aren’t data-heavy, the Internet of Things, for example.” Communications to the device can then be secured by encrypting the communications using data from this stored one-time pad. Any interception attack would only see encrypted data and the information about the challenges; there’s nothing there to store and replay.

Are nano-scale PUFs the next big thing in supply chain security?

Dr. Mark Carney says that “optical dots for sure solve an interesting problem, are easy to measure, but with nano-scale construction.” They are certainly a step up from other molecular ID solutions that use arrays of polymers in specific constructs to generate unique identifiable molecules that fluoresce, such as ‘smartwater,’ for example.

In theory, those can be cloned with enough chemistry resources to throw at the problem. In contrast, optical dots can’t as “they are unique per specific, and I guess random, atomic-level variations inherent in manufacture,” Dr. Carney says.

“Overall,” Dr. Carney says, “I think Quantum Base has a nice solution. The big thing here, to me, is that they have made PUFs that are very manufacturer friendly, and can be used as ID tags in more applications, or as electronic multi-CRP capable verification chips.” With the right implementations, software, and protocols around them, Dr. Carney tells me, “there is likely a lot of potential.”

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bigbrothermonopoly · 4 years

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EPISODE 3:

HOH: EVE

EVICTED: TAWNI 13-0

KORI:

Honestly, after recording this, it kinda shocks me how much was happening in House Chat... did they not have friends and family to spend the New Year's with instead of being drunk on Discord?

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JESS:

If I have to hear Chris say "And I ooop" ONE MORE FUCKING TIME. I SWEAR.

WILLIAM:

I can't say I am not nervous about Eve winning HoH for two reasons.... First off I know that there are no more major house targets so now alliances might start forming, and I just hope that I am a part of them, and secondly I don't think many people know where Eve's head is at and whoever she puts up will absolutely be a blindside

KRISTINE:

Oh my goodnessss Im so glad that Eve kept me safe this week. It really really sucks that I’m playing veto though... especially since Austin is up there as a nominee. I really think I should throw this Veto because I really need to keep my middle ground. I want to work with Eve for sure but Chris is just like pulling me into all this craziness with a big alliance and everything it’s really too much sometimes. I’m throwing this veto hard asf and this one BETTER not bounce back lmao. Anyways I hope this works out for me.

JESS:

The relationships in this game are definitely becoming super evident and transparent right now. From the top of my head I can name at least 4 sets of duos, budding friendships, and alliances. This what I think so far.... Gwen, Silence, and Austin are an alleged thing. How do I know: Will told me because Madison spilled it to him. (Brien hasn't told me yet and I'm sure Madison has told me so that is SUSSSSSSS) As a result of that... I know: Will and Madison are close which means Brien/Madison/Will should be close just by association through Madison. Madison has come to life so it wouldn't surprise me if she was friends with a majority of these boys because apparently that is her thing. Brien also seems to be spreading his social seed around so those two are kind of scary to me but as soon as I expose they are dating I think there will at least be some paranoia there and people will target them. Will was an idiot and shared his screen so my ass took a screenshot to see his alliances and I do know he has one called "Rws League" so I know he's at least withholding that info from me. SO SUSSSSS but also can't blame him for not sharing alliances with me? We will work on that though. Next up we have: Kristine, Chris, Brien, Emma, Emma How do I know: Brien spilled the beans last round. Do I think it's 100% a thing not really but I do think there is a chance it is a thing. The idea of this being a thing is soooo scary to me because this group has sooo many other outside connections. Brien has Madison because well they are dating. Kristine and Chris are close I think? Emma and Def have that Galore thing but who knows? (I honestly don't think the Galore thing is an actual factor in this game) Kristine has Eve and that whole duo thing fucking scares me because I think they could both run this game if they wanted to do so. Where do I fit into all of this? I have no idea. I don't have anything outside of my day 1 alliance of Kori/Emma/Eve/Mackenzie/Myself and the weird Brien and Madison one. I know I need to make more connections so people won't nominate me or if they do I'll have the votes and the connections to stay. I know Brien has hinted at wanting to make an alliance of 5 with myself, Eve, him, and Madison but he's really pushing for William as a fifth. Which I would be fine with IF I didn't know that he was already close with Madison. I don't like power imbalances not in my favour in alliances so... yikes. I feel a bit better about my position in the game right now. I do think I've at least gained some ground on people like William and Andrew. I want to trust Kori and work with him going forward but I'd be dumb to think he's not doing the same thing and planning for the future where the alliance implodes. I just feel like with Kori it is so hard for me right now to get him to give me info. I feel like I'm the one who constantly has to talk to him first, give him info first, and try to basically encourage him to TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS GAME and it is driving me insane. I'm trying not to be paranoid but that just scares me and shows me that just because I think I can trust someone it does not necessarily mean the feeling is mutual or at least it isn't at the same level of trust I have in them. This is probably paranoia all talking so don't mind me future episode reader.

CHRIS:

All right so I survived Potentially eve putting me up. I only assume that she would because her and Andrew seem very close. I know that I am on thin ice with some people however hopefully the nominations will stay the same and I won’t be back doored. If anyone in my alliance wins and they want to take down Austin, I might convince them to not and just shove all the votes on silence. If all the vote go on silence then Austin will still be here no matter what, which would then still have power trap, Jason’s book club, and underwood slongs are still intact. Soon this game will take off, and there will be no easy targets. When that happens I am hopeful all my appliances and the relationships I made or help me walk towards the end

KORI:

So, this kindof sucks? Like on one hand I'm glad Eve won HoH because I want her to raise her target so that she'll eventually take the fall, and because I know we're good and she won't be looking to nominate me or backdoor me for a solid while yet. Still not exactly a fan of how it went down since she did LITERALLY nothing in the challenge until the last hour. Mackenzie did all the work in my mind she should've probably won the challenge. The part that sucks is that she nominated Austin AND Silence, two of my Mandela Moncoles Alliance members, which means I can't actually win POV even if I'm capable of doing so. (Granted I'd have thrown even if she nominated one of them.) Because then I'd have to choose, that could expose things, yadda, yadda, yadda. I might come to regret throwing POV because it could lead to myself being backdoored. But I also am hoping the game I'm playing is like I don't know, not complete shit that I won't be in that kind of situation this early on. There's still some people where my relationship is pretty lacking and balancing that last challenge when I'm in 2 alliances was just a complete cluster-fuck, and here's hoping that if it IS Silence and Austin, that Silence is the one that goes. I feel like Austin is easier to manage, even if he's a little less active. Like Silence is ok, but we don't need more drunkeness and shit. Hopefully whoever goes my relation to Gwen and whoever stays remains UTR. Though the nomination situation might change post-veto. I'm also currently debating snagging the Utilities when I have enough money... I dunno, it just seems like it could be a good purchase for me, since I don't predict I'll be in a situation where I'll actually be able to get Boardwalk and Park Place. We'll see what my options are closer to the time.

ANDREW:

episode 3 why tf would chris come for me, he asked me to be his ally the other day like thats annoying af. he pissed me off "i see that william billed me. i now give myself permission to destroy him without feeling bad" mission accomplished i want to win this HoH so far im doing pretty good and im confident i can win if i keep it up the only thnig im worried about is i told my bf id hang out with him at like 7:30 but. might have to blow him off jk not ruining a relationship 4 this game but i hope i can win lmfao Chris pming mackenzie to get me out Ur ass is going up if i win mf Ur an idiot. I hate every man in this competition except brian and dem i like actually dont wanna try anymore these bitches are so fucking annoying like i will try but i dont fucking want to i hate kori and chris i hate chris so fucking much Eve is in first place and she hasnt done shit which is lowkey annoying af but its whatever For some reason i feel like Eve is going to do me dirty this week, I don’t know why i feel this way but I just do I see her as big af competition like probs my biggest, i hope she doesn’t see me in the same light because i don’t want her gunning for me@ Daily reminder I hate Chris I know it’s going to be a bitch to take him out of this game But i will go down trying Omg! Austin winning veto is fucking dope cuz i completely expected him to go home this week lmfao And i think he likes me still despite the whole chris thingy (i informed him what happened and how we will no longer be working together) EVE has informed me that there are sides slowly forming in this game, I tell her I'm scared bc I don't get much info, she tells me to stick with her and she'll have my back, so tht's what im going to do :heart: I trust her, the bitch is smart and people like her. her word seems genuine, she doesn't need to be making a deal with me, i have no power and she has all of it, so thats why im trusting her word rn

JESS:

Well time for a tipsy confessional. Guess what? People aka: Kristine think me, Gwen, and Tawni are close? That's fucking news to me. That kind of really bothers me because I don't get how she'd come to that conclusion.... which means someone on a call spread that to Kristine. Somehow. The only people on call with the 3 of us were Brien/William/Madison I think so rip,

AUSTIN:

So... I was nominated this week. But guess what? I won the mother fuckin’ power of veto and saved myself. Now Tawni is on the block next to Silence as Eve’s replacement nominee. I’m in an alliance with Silence so it would make sense to vote out Tawni. Most of the house wants Tawni out I believe so I’m pretty sure she is going home.

TAWNI:

I’m probably gone TAWNIToday at 5:11 AM Part of me wants to quit because I’m annoyed But I’m not a quitter At least physically leave the game quit I’ve just given up I physically feel sick TAWNIToday at 5:18 AM I wouldn’t be in this position If this was the time o was going to bed and not waking up everyday Or if I could be more active at work And this happening right after I’ve had to deal with the add contacts shit Like and everyone is mad at me because I have a bad taste for cheatham in my mouth when I have a valid reason to be mad at him but everyone sees it as I’m mad he voted me out But when have they heard me talk about the others that did Everyone in the community believes what they want to believe And right now I feel like I’m seen as the bad guy TAWNIToday at 5:29 AM But someone is saying I have connections in this game And I don’t I talk to Jess and brien Two votes won’t save me My fucking connections are in here And no one here can help me The worst part is the fact if anyone drafted me I like let them down. And like people have said before no one really cares about the draft like that but it’s like people had faith in me or at least hoped I’d win and I came up short. And on a comp I’m able to get a 12 on and I just couldn’t do it TAWNIToday at 6:23 AM I just don’t understand what I did Because eve saying it’s not personal doesn’t make sense. I’m not a physical threat. I haven’t come close to winning anything. I’m not a social threat clearly because no one wants to keep me where. And she said I was always going to be the renom???? And now I’m the target? And she’s mad at me for being upset?? I’m I just that big of an idiot that I don’t see her logic? And yes I’m still crying TAWNIToday at 6:34 AM It’s seriously taking everything in me to not go off in the house chat. I have so much anger and hurt built up inside of me right now. From getting out on TS and having everyone hate me to getting put on the list and not being able to defend myself not being able to defend someone I consider a friend after I got them put in that Situation and now because I don’t even know who started this thing about me having connections. I

MACKENZIE:

hiiii currently trying to decide who i’m gonna vote to evict hzjjzjzjz ummm hoping me or jess wins hoh next round ummm also kristine still scares me

GWEN:

Tawni will be going home. So much has gone down in the last few days. I was on VC with Silence and he didn't realize that Madison was on and mentioned an alliance with us and Austin. And now people think we're in an alliance with Dem. How that happened? I have no idea. Also, people think that the "Old ladies" of Tawni, Jess, and I are in an alliance. Not true. Soooo that is a good reason for Tawni to go home. I DON'T TRUST BRIEN THAT SNEAKY SON OF A BITCH...LOVE YOU Brien, but you gotta goooo dude.

JESS:

So I'm just here eating a bagel kind of hoping I choke on it because maybe it'll put me out of the misery that is this GAME. So much has happened this fucking round. First of all Kristine trying to paint me, Gwen, and Tawni as a trio... super cute. She couldn't be more wrong.This is the second time Kristine has been shady towards me so she needs to fucking go. She won't go for a bit because Eve thinks 'she has Kristine" but I don't so she needs to BOUNCE. I don't trust Tawni one bit. She's too emotional, she literally admitted to hating me for A YEAR for a past game move I don't even remember or the game.. Gwen is also just... way.too.much. So that is a big yikes. So Tawni has to go. She was going to go regardless because of her comment she made towards me about being mad at me for a year. So that had to go for me before jury started because nope. not listening to that all game. I'll let Eve think she's protecting me from others but I would have pushed Tawni to go because she has the MOST dirt on my gameplay in this game. So this all works out. HOWEVER, MY BOO ANDREW IS KEEPING STUFF FROM ME. I'm heart broken. LITERALLY HEART BROKEN. I'm hearing he knew about the alliance of Gwen, Austin, Silence, Dem but he didn't tell me. Now he's trying to pretend like he's hearing this shit for the first time and I'm just overrrrrr it. This is strike one for him. I know he's close to Austin. So that's probably why everyone knows about this alliance. Austin probably told Andrew and Chris. I think Chris told Brien who in turn told me.. and everyone else because he's... Brien. I've also found out that Chris/Kristine/Emma have recently played a game together so THANKS JACOB for casting them together. That there is also an alliance with Brien/Chris/Gwen which is cute. Will use this info later on. I just think there's way tooo many unknowns for me in this fucking game but I don't want to win next HOH because I would want to nominate fucking Kristine. She doesn't trust me and I don't trust her. I'd be so tempted to nominate Kristine/Austin just to shake shit up. But one could only dream and that'd be dumb. I'm so happy Mackenzie is starting to see through Eve's shit. I really hope she starts playing as her own player because I'd make her my #1 so fucking fast. I obviously can't agree with her straight up because she might go back to Eve but... Eve does treat her and me like we are her bitches. We HAD to give Eve the advantage, we HAVE to take out Tawni for Eve. I can't wait until people start seeing through her shit and she goes but not only I've secured myself in this game..

KORI:

So like legit, Tawni has CRACKED. She got really emotional on call with Gwen and Eve, she's apparently HARDCORE throwing Gwen under the bus. I'm just sitting here drinking my tea like: https://media2.giphy.com/media/3o7btLQZrOU4ssEew8/giphy.gif It looks reasonably likely that Tawni is going to go home as a result. What's interesting is that this week I feel like revealed a dynamic to me of Madison-Brien-Tawni-William, that I think I wasn't aware of before. I also just did a clutch maneuver towards what I believed to be peak Chaos, Me and Gwen went and bought the utilities. Ideally I'll be the one in control of how we use the Utilities no idea what the power is yet because we're so BROKE we can't even trade them to a single person to hold... so that's fun. I'm excited though because I feel like it's the first thing I've like DONE. Granted this probably removes any Chance I have of getting Boardwalk/Park Place. But I'm totally fine with that, the odds of me getting that whole set was low anyway, this one is at least obtainable and there's a chance that I might get some more of the lower properties too. Brien is honestly probably a snake though based on the conversations we've been having lately. But I'm not gonna look to make some giant waves. Like if I win HoH next week I'll probably nominate some combination of William, Dem, Andrew, and Madison. Just gotta see how this week goes first. (And actually win HoH next week. Probs won't happen... we'll have to wait and see.) In other news I just launched my ORG series Survivor Zenith YAS! It's stressful hosting an ORG but like I'm excited too, so here's hoping that goes well and that I'm still in this game when I finish hosting it.

EMMA:

shit is gonna be wild next week cant wait to make a confs and not be boring yeehaw

BRIEN:

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