#CH Web Media

[crosshatchcomic]

#132 - whirlwind (misc. chaos part 6)

[lostaff]

Ch-ch-changes

🌟 Novità

Abbiamo ridotto il limite di quante comunità gratuite a cui una persona può unirsi, fissandolo a un massimo di 10 al giorno e 3 per ora. Se non vedi l’ora di unirti a più di 10 comunità gratuite al giorno, per favore controlla il tuo entusiasmo per 24 ore. Inoltre, questo limite non viene conteggiato quando vieni invitato a una Community o quando fai richiesta di adesione a una Community.

Quando filtri i post per tag in una Community, ora evidenziamo il tag nella lista dei tag in ogni post.

I moderatori ora possono espellere e bannare i membri dalle Community, non solo gli amministratori.

Abbiamo apportato alcuni miglioramenti su come i commenti (e le risposte) vengono visualizzati sul web per sfruttare meglio lo spazio disponibile.

Le pagine dei tag ora hanno una scheda " Community" per aiutarti a trovare Community correlate a quel tag.

Gli amministratori delle Community riceveranno ora una notifica quando qualcuno richiede di unirsi alla loro Community.

🛠 Correzioni

I post pubblicati nelle prime 24 ore del 2025 non venivano indicizzati nei risultati di ricerca, ma abbiamo risolto il problema.

Quando segnali un post, un blog o una Community nelle app mobili, ora c'è un pulsante "Fatto" dopo aver inviato la segnalazione, per assicurarti di poter tornare al punto in cui eri.

Abbiamo corretto un paio di bug che causavano conteggi errati delle attività non lette a causa dell'accettazione o del rifiuto della tua richiesta di unirti a una Community.

Se hai abilitato Fast Queue (Coda rapida) in Labs, abbiamo corretto un bug che causava il pulsante della coda veloce sul web ad avere il colore sbagliato sui post con Blaze.

Il filtraggio per tag ora funziona correttamente sui post ripubblicati nelle Community.

Abbiamo risolto i crash casuali nell'app iOS qualche tempo fa. Non è necessario aggiornare l'app per ricevere questa correzione, ma ti consigliamo comunque di mantenere sempre l'app aggiornata!

🚧 In corso

Siamo consapevoli che le Community gratuite più popolari stanno affrontando una quantità sfortunata di spam. Stiamo lavorando per aggiungere strumenti che aiutino i moderatori e gli amministratori a combattere lo spam. Resta sintonizzato per ulteriori informazioni qui e nel  feedback della Community!

Siamo consapevoli che i media nelle Community non rispettano le impostazioni di autoplay del tuo dispositivo nelle app e stiamo lavorando a una soluzione.

🌱 In arrivo

Stiamo lavorando per implementare una "coda di moderazione" per le Community, che sarà un luogo dove amministratori e moderatori potranno vedere i contenuti segnalati dai membri e agire rapidamente e facilmente in un unico posto. Potremmo anche utilizzare questo spazio per spostare automaticamente i post sospetti da nuovi membri, in modo che amministratori e moderatori possano esaminarli prima che vengano pubblicati nella Community.

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[deliciousangelfestival]

Every Time You Lie - Ch 7 || Lloyd Hansen

Character: dark!Lloyd Hansen x female!reader, dark!Husband Lloyd Hansen x Wife!reader.

Synopsis: Any woman is jealous of you, especially with the status of being the wife of Lloyd Hansen—the CEO of the biggest pharmacy company in the country. From the outside, everyone sees you as a perfect family, a successful husband, two kids, and living in a big house. 

But the truth is different. You are trapped in this marriage because of the mistake you made. You are willing to give everything you have to get your freedom. Free from him. Free from your vicious mother-in-law. Free from your snobby son.

Both of them shouldn’t be together.

Warning: Betrayal, suicidal thought, harsh language, tragedy. Minors do not read. 18+

Author Note: I do not consent to copying or translating my work.

Any reblog, comment, and feedback are appreciated. I want to know what you guys think.

Series Masterlist || Chapter 1, Chapter 2 , Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6 , Chapter 7 , -

Main Masterlist || buy me Ko-fi 🥹💓

In that moment of revelation, you found yourself frozen, your hands instinctively reaching for Ransom's face as if the touch could erase the weight of his words. 

Once filled with a mischievous spark, his eyes now held a haunted depth that mirrored your heart's turmoil.

"Tell me what happened," you pleaded, the words escaping your lips almost in a whisper, a fragile plea for the truth you feared.

The weight of Ransom's words hung in the air, sinking into your consciousness like a heavy anchor. "Because of drugs," he confessed, and the reality of the situation crashed over you like a tidal wave.

In the recesses of your memories, you recalled when Ransom's choice of friends had raised concerns. You, along with Linda and Harlan, had implored him to distance himself from the dangerous circle, a plea that fell on deaf ears. Ransom had always reassured everyone that he wasn't addicted, that he could handle it.

But the past had a way of resurfacing, revealing the cracks in the carefully crafted facade.

Ransom continued, his gaze fixed on a distant point, "One day, after our argument, the police stopped my car. They found drugs in it." 

His voice quivered, a mixture of regret and bitterness coloring the words. "I hired a lawyer, fought the charges, but I still lost. And I knew it was because of your husband."

The revelation struck you like a lightning bolt. The intricate web of events, woven by choices and consequences, tightened its grip around you. 

The realization that Lloyd may have played a role in Ransom's downfall stunned you, a mosaic of emotions playing across your features.

Ransom's eyes bore into yours, “Do you remember?”

"I don't. What happened after that?" you questioned, your voice edging with curiosity and apprehension.

"To be free from jail, my lawyer suggested I go into rehabilitation," Ransom admitted, the bitterness of the past still lingering in his words. "And then my old man, infuriated by the scandal plastered all over the media, decided to ship me off to Europe."

He recounted the harsh reality of his journey—an odyssey of rehabilitation that felt no different from a prison sentence. The inability to return for a year compounded his sense of confinement. 

Yet, amidst the struggles, he found a silver lining—a connection that proved to be surprisingly valuable.

You listened to his story; for you, the time passed quickly, but for him, it had been years. The fear of losing a memory loomed, casting a shadow over the revelation.

Seizing the moment, you asked Ransom, "Do you know the truth about my dad, his company, and my siblings?”

Ransom's nod carried a sense of solemnity, "But, it's for me to tell you."

He turned around, and you instinctively followed his lead. As you both faced the room, a palpable tension hung in the air. 

Your breath caught when a surprise guest entered—the last person you expected. It was your brother, Theo.

******

At Crystal Pharmaceutical L.A Branch 

Lloyd sat restlessly in the dimly lit boardroom, surrounded by his legal team. Tension hung thick in the air as they delved into the intricate details of the pharmacy company's myriad issues.

Lloyd's face contorted with a mix of frustration and disbelief. He clenched his jaw as the weight of the accusations sank in. "Opium and human experiments?" he bellowed, his voice echoing through the tense meeting room.

The lawyers exchanged nervous glances, realizing the gravity of the situation. "Sir, the media is running wild with these claims. We need a strategic approach to address these allegations and mitigate the damage to the company's reputation," one of them stammered.

Lloyd leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his hair. The room fell into a heavy silence, broken only by the distant hum of city traffic. "Find out who's behind this. 

I want names, connections, and every detail about that so-called whistleblower," he commanded, his eyes piercing through the legal team.

As the meeting continued, Lloyd's mind raced, contemplating the potential fallout from these damning revelations. 

He knew that salvaging the company's image would require more than just legal maneuvering; it would demand a meticulous investigation to unveil the truth and clear the company's tarnished name.

The stakes were high, and Lloyd couldn't afford to let the allegations spiral out of control. The challenge ahead seemed daunting, and the fate of the company hung in the balance.

Lloyd leaned forward, his eyes locking onto the intensity in the room. "If one of you works well, I will reward that person with $2 million," he declared, the gravity of his words punctuating the already charged atmosphere. 

A collective gasp filled the room as the legal team absorbed the staggering number.

"Now do your work, before I change my mind," Lloyd asserted with a firm resolve, his voice cutting through the stillness. 

The weight of his announcement settled over the team, prompting a flurry of activity as they refocused on their tasks, driven by the prospect of both professional success and a substantial financial reward. All of them ran to leave the meeting room. 

Alone in the now-empty meeting room, Lloyd's expression hardened. He swiftly reached for his phone and dialed a number, his voice low and decisive. "Burn everything," he commanded. 

Author Note :

Hey friends,

If you've been enjoying the content, I've set up a Ko-fi account. Your support through tips would mean the world and help me keep creating. Only if you feel like it!

Here's the link: Ko-fi

Thanks a bunch for being fabulous followers!

Join the taglist:

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Any reblog, comment, and feedback are appreciated. I want to know what you guys think.

@pattiemac1

@umadirectioner

Series Masterlist || Chapter 1, Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6 , Chapter 7 , -

Main Masterlist || support me: Ko-fi 🥹💓

[babyhatesreality]

The Sinner and the Saint Ch 8

Pairings: Slow Burn Mob!Boss Bucky x f!reader

Warnings: NS/FW, f!reader, language, reader is initially terrified, talk of weapons (but none actually appear in this chapter), talk of death, reader is referred to by her stage name of Angel, everybody has secrets, reader is insecure, Bucky is a lovable menace, reader is an ex*tic dancer, conversation about int!mate details, D/$ dynamic and talk, reader has panic attack/meltdown/rage moments, slow burn relationship. 

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN MEDIA CONSUMPTION. MINORS DNI. THIS IS AN 18+ STORY ONLY AND IS NS/FW. I DO NOT CONSENT FOR ANY OF MY WORKS TO BE COPIED, REPRINTED, OR TRANSLATED ONTO ANY PLATFORM EXCEPT MY OWN. Likes, comments and reblogs deeply appreciated.

Previous- Chapter 7

Chapter 8

“You’re Bucky Barnes,” you whispered in terror. 

Bucky Barnes. One of, if not the most, notorious and elusive mafia dons on the planet was sitting across the table from you. A man so secretive and so cunning, yet so ruthless, that the only people who dared to speak of him were on back alley message boards in the unsavory corners of the web. A man who no one knew what he looked like outside of the metal arm, although the wild rumors of that were so insane and far-flung that no one thought they were real. Bucky Fucking Barnes. The stories of what he had gone through with his arm- and what he had done to the person responsible in retaliation- were beyond horrific. No one could catch Barnes. No one really knew how much of the city he controlled, but it was pretty safe to assume he had his metal hand in everything. One man that no one ever dared to cross. Or if they did, they never lived long enough to confirm what he actually looked like. 

Bucky. Mother. Fucking. Barnes. 

Your first immediate and irrational thought was that you were dead. Mafia Dons killed- that was all they did, right? This was it, this was the end. It was all over and you were as good as dead. An icy chill spread through your body as you sat, frozen in horror, awaiting what was surely your sudden and immediate demise.  You expected him to reach into his jacket pocket, withdraw a gun, and point it between your eyebrows. Or that you would suddenly start foaming at the mouth from the poison that was surely in the food, or maybe the wine? Or some other grizzly form of a horrific death that you’d probably not even heard of before.

So when, instead of instantly killing you, Bucky sat back with a sigh...and fucking POUTED, the tiny part of your brain that wasn’t in terrified shock perked up like a confused puppy ...what...he’s...pouting?!

“Dammit,” Bucky grumbled, still...well, there was no other word for it....POUTING. “Guess I owe the punk fifty bucks.” He pinched his lips like a child who’d just run out of cupcakes, then shrugged and looked back at you with that damn mischievous twinkle in his eye, like whatever had been bothering him, he was already over it. “Yeah,” he said casually. “I’m Bucky Barnes.” His blue eyes scanned your face carefully. When you didn’t move- you bloody couldn’t move, you had literally forgotten how to make your body do the things- he chuckled one low, smarmy laugh. He reached under the table and pushed something. 

Your primal fight-or-flight response was triggered. You shrieked and grabbed onto the table for dear life, your panicking brain convinced that the floor was going to open up underneath you and you’d plunge to your death. Bucky’s eyebrows shot up at your “defense”, and....wait...was he...trying not to laugh at you?!

The door opened behind you and you were too terrified to turn around, squeezing your eyes shut and saying every prayer that you’d ever heard. So you completely missed Bucky holding up three silver fingers to his lips and tapping, then opening both hands to the side and pulling them closed quickly to his body. Makkari nodded at him and exited, giving you a concerned look that you didn’t see. 

“Breathe, Angel,” Bucky said in a soft, sweet voice. That was startling enough to wrench your eyes open, staring at him in disbelief, then you shrieked and jumped another mile at the person suddenly standing right next to you. When you realized it was just Makkari holding a glass of water, all you could do was look at her in sheer, unmitigated terror. She gently took your hand and wrapped it around the water glass. Then she quickly took your other hand and carefully placed a piece of paper into it, and gave you a friendly squeeze. You looked down at the paper. It only had two words on it. 

You’re safe. 

Your eyes shot to hers, utter disbelief on your face. Did she not realize this was Bucky Holy Mother of God Barnes?! She smiled warmly again, and patted your shoulder in a consolingly way. She pointed to the paper again, nodded reassuringly, and gave you another little friendly squeeze before walking away. As the door shut, you honestly didn’t know what to think or do. You were sitting with one of the world’s most deadly people looking you in the eye...but you were safe? Your overwhelmed brain could not make it make sense, and so you just sat there, stupefied. 

“Drink your water,” Bucky ordered in a soft voice. Before you were even fully aware that you were doing it, you brought the glass to your mouth and drank. It was like you were programmed to follow his directions. But even after your body and your brain got in sync, you continued to drink. Partially out of desperation for something to do, because you literally had no fucking clue what your next move would be. You drained the glass, set it down on the table with a thunk, and took a deep breath. You dared to look at the gangster across the table. 

He was smiling that damn mischievous and challenging smile that drove you insane. “Feel better?” he asked, but that undercurrent of a smug smirk ignited a firework in your brain. A firework that you were, unfortunately, unable to control, due to that fucking smirk that had been tormenting you all week.

“NO, I DON’T FEEL BETTER!” you shrieked, almost banshee-like in your tone and tenor. “HOW THE FUCK IS A GLASS OF WATER SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU’RE A GODDAMN MOB BOSS?!?”

Bucky, to your intense fury, just laughed in response. “Okay, you got a point,” he said jovially. “Would a second glass of water help?” he asked, tilting his head at you, his blue eyes wide- the picture of pious innocence. Oh fuck him to the moon and back. It was like he knew exactly which buttons to push to activate Mount Vesuvius again, and was getting a hell of a thrill off it. 

You shot up out of your chair like you’d been electrocuted. “I am going to KILL you!!” you shrieked, out of pure unadulterated rage. 

Bucky tilted his head to the side, like he was thinking. “That might not end well for you,” he said plainly. But the meaning behind it made your knees buckle, and you collapsed back onto your chair weakly, terrified. 

“Oh fuck,” you whispered in horror, fear once again taking the wheel. “Jesus, I didn’t mean...I-”

“It’s okay, Angel, I’m just messing with you,” Bucky said, his challenging smirk morphing quickly to his legitimately kind one. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I don’t often get this reaction anymore, and I gotta say- it was kind of flattering.” He picked up his wine glass, toasting you. “People normally try so hard to keep a straight face when they realize who I am, that I couldn’t help myself. I had to mess with you, just a little. I know, I know, I’m a dick.” He didn’t seem too terribly bothered by his self-own as he took a large sip of wine, the smirk reappearing. 

At the sight of the actual man that you thought you’d come to know and feel for this last week, everything that was screaming inside of you started to tone down a bit. “You’re....you’re really...THE Bucky Barnes?” you asked in a fearful whisper. 

“Yes, I am really THE Bucky Barnes. Mafia Don. To the Stars.”

Choosing to skip over his teasing, you continued. “But...but you’re...secretive and...no one knows what you look like....and why did you tell me?”

“I told you because you asked me to. If we’re going to try this thing out, I need to be able to be honest with you.”

“But...but...now that I know....I’m....I’m....”

“Now that you know,” Bucky interrupted, sitting up and folding his hands together. A sudden tremor shot through you as he suddenly looked a lot more like the terrifying gangster he actually was, his silver hand catching the light. “Now that you know...you’re no different than any of the other girls at the club. Well, not in that way, anyways.” 

“Wait- what? The...the other girls...all know?”

“Yup. Everyone who works for me knows the truth.”

“Wait wait wait...I WORK for you??”

“Yup.”

“You own the club?!”

“Yup.”

“But Natasha said...she said that you weren’t involved in the club financially.”

Bucky’s lips twisted up into that secretive smile. “What did she actually say?” he said, almost patronizingly. You thought hard about that conversation...

“Is he an investor in the club or something?”

“He’s here enough, he ought to be.”

Not a confirmation, but not a denial either. Basically a non-committal nothing that threw you off the track. Bucky grinned when your eyes shot back to his face as the penny dropped. He raised his wine glass again. “Natasha’s one of the best when it comes to dancing around the truth,” he grinned. 

“So...she’s in the mafia too?”

“We prefer to call it the family, but yes.”

“But...but she’s there every night at the club...”

“Did you imagine she was supposed to be patrolling the streets, causing chaos and shooting anyone who looked at her sideways?” Bucky teased, leaning in towards you. Your face turned Hooker Lipstick Red again, and a delighted grin cracked across his. “That’s exactly what you thought, wasn’t it?” he chortled. 

“Shut up,” you mumbled, desperately wishing Makkari would reenter with more alcohol. 

Bucky grinned gleefully. “Ah, there she is, there’s my girl,” he said, joy in his voice again. “Telling a big ol’ mob boss to ‘shut up’.”

“Thought you said you preferred the term ‘family’?” you sneered back in sheer defiance due to your embarrassment. “So if you’re the head, should I be calling you ‘Daddy’ then?”

“Not right now, but definitely later.”

“Oh my GOD.”

“You’re probably be saying that too.”

“BUCKY!”

“Babe, you are nailing all your future lines.” When you slumped forward in utter defeat, he finally took pity on you. “Okay, okay, I’m done, I swear” he said, not quite able to keep the grin out of his voice. He leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and exchanged the smug smirk for a genuine smile. That gave you the courage to continue. 

“So...everyone knows but me, huh?” you muttered, then gave a mirthless laugh. “Okay, Nebula’s comment makes more sense now.”

Bucky’s eyes immediately narrowed at that. “What did Nebula say to you?” he said in a low, firm tone. Normally, you would have turned the tables and started teasing him right back, but you were still way too worked up to even consider that right now. 

“Natasha shut her down quickly,” you immediately responded, not wanting to get your mob boss in trouble. “But Nebula was taunting me about not figuring out who you were and she said that...”

“What?”

“Well...she kinda hinted that she slept with you too.”

Bucky rolled his eyes so hard you half expected them to get stuck in his head. “Angel, listen up, because I’m only going to say this once,” he said low, his voice full of anger as he stared at the table top. He took a deep breath, raised his eyes to you, and his gaze immediately softened, but his tone stayed firm. “Nebula and I have never slept together. She tried to turn our Champagne Room encounter into something that it wasn’t, and she got bitter when I rejected her advances. She’s a nasty piece of work, and I wouldn’t touch her with a ten foot pole.”

“Then why does she still work there?”

Bucky leaned back, a mask of calm slipping over his face so subtly you almost missed the transition. “I have my reasons,” he said vaguely. “But trust me. You’ll never have to worry about her. You’re the only one I’ve got eyes for.”

The sweet statement knocked the air out of your lungs, but brought up a whole new set of questions. “I...thank you...I mean, you....okay,” you finally spat, frustrated at yourself. “You obviously know that I have feelings for you too, especially with all the dom/sub talk before this,” you said, willing your face not to turn bright red again. “But you have to understand that this is...a LOT.”

“I do,” he said gently. “And I meant every word of everything that I said earlier, especially about tonight being about honesty. Ask me anything you want. Right now. And I’ll answer it honestly. That’s not something that I will always be able to do, and I need you to understand that. But right now, in this moment, you can ask whatever you want and I will not lie to you.”

“You better not lie to me, EVER,” you hissed almost automatically, a sudden rage that normally lay dormant taking a hold of you. “I understand that you’ll need to keep...secrets and shit, but just tell me that you can’t tell me. Don’t make up something just to keep me “appeased”. Promise me that you won’t ever lie to me.” You leaned back, the fire blazing in your own eyes. “And that’s the first thing I’m going to ask tonight.”

For the first time this evening, Bucky looked startled. He’d seen this fire in you before, but wasn’t expecting it this evening, with everything he was dropping on you. Then his face broke into a slow, dawning smile. THIS. This was what he had to know about. You clearly had this secret passion and fire blazing inside of you, and it was fascinating to watch it when it made its appearance. He needed to know everything about your passions and this fire. Not to mention, you looked hot as hell when you were all fired up, but you didn’t know that. The fact that it was making an appearance right now let him know that this secret, hidden world inside you was not ever going to be tamed- nor did he want it to be. He wanted to explore it. 

Bucky reached across the table, his soft palm open to you in supplication. You looked at it for a moment, but then looked into his eyes. You placed your hand in his immediately. He closed his fingers, holding tight to yours, and squeezed reassuringly.

“I promise I will never lie to you,” he said, his clear blue eyes connecting to your very essence. “I can see this is something that means a lot to you, so...I will do it if it means that I can have you,” he said softly, his cool metal hand coming up and covering yours protectively. 

“Really?” you said back, caught off guard. You’d just asked one of the most powerful men in the world, a man who dealt in secrets and lies, to never lie to you. You’d only known this man for a week. You had just learned his name. But  he still said yes. 

“Really,” he said back gravely. He swallowed and looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment, but then looked you right back in the eye. “This is not going to be easy for me, but...will you...okay, I will do it, I WILL, but it’s going to be fucking hard sometimes. Can you just....I don’t know, work with me on it if I fuck up or if I don’t know what to do? Don’t just bail on me, okay?” he asked back. You saw the tiniest sliver of vulnerability and hurt in his eyes, and it made your heart twist. 

“I promise I won’t bail. And we can work through it, whatever it is,” you responded honestly. Anything to take away that pain you saw in him. “I’m made of tougher stuff than that, Barnes,” you said, daring to tease the mafia don back for the first time tonight. 

The relief and subsequent smile on his face made you feel like you’d just won the lottery. “Yes, you are, aren’t you?” he said, biting his lower lip. That made you giggle and blush a bit, ducking your head. He suddenly gasped and said with a huge grin, “You also realize that you just gave me an answer to being with me without actually saying the words, right?”

Your head shot up so fast it hurt your neck. You....had. You totally had. You wouldn’t have said something like that if you didn’t mean it. And there was no denying it. But you wanted...no, you needed your story to start a different way- a way that wasn’t a kind of accident. You mustered your brave persona, and she came through like a champ. 

“Truth or dare?” you asked teasingly. 

“Truth,” he replied immediately, the grin threatening to split his face. 

“Do you still want to be with me, even though I have a million questions and I’m fucking scared to death and will probably....” you began, but stopped yourself when you saw his cocked eyebrow. Oh that’s right, he didn’t like you taking pot shots at yourself. “...And will probably be very, very happy with you?” you finished. It wasn’t where you’d been going, but it was still the truth. 

His smile said it all. It was a thousand yes’s, it was shouting from the rooftops. It was a whispered affirmation meant for one and a coliseum of hundreds of thousands screaming yes together. It brought tears of joy to your eyes. 

But that damn mischievous streak of his....

“Dare,” he replied with that sassy smirk. So you returned it full force. 

“I dare you to be with me,” you said simply, leaning back and giving him that secretive smile of yours. 

“Oh, that I can do,” he murmured, in a low soothing voice that went straight to your core. “That I can do.”

“So...yes?”

“Yes. And...?”

“Yes.”

The mafia don swelled with pride as he reverently kissed the back of your hand, almost making you giggle in your glee. You were still terrified, you still had no idea what you’d just signed up for, but to have that kind of reaction from someone wanting to be with you? It had to be the right choice. 

He smiled smugly again, clearly so proud of how the evening was turning out. He pushed the button under the table again. Within two seconds, the door opened and Makkari came back in. You realized (without the haze of terror this time) that it must be a signal to communicate with her while she was outside the room. You felt a little stupid as you came to that realization, but hey, you’d just gotten the biggest shock of what you had feared was going to be your suddenly short life earlier- you deserved a little grace.

Makkari sped up next to the table, eying you to make sure you were okay. You smiled at her, and she grinned that beautiful grin of hers, then grinned cheekily at Bucky as well. You realized that she was happy for her boss, and that made your heart feel warm. He couldn’t be ALL “mob bossy” if his employees wanted his happiness, right? 

Bucky leaned back in his chair, letting go of your hand in the process. “Would you like something to drink while we talk?” he asked you. 

“How do I sign ‘alcohol’?”

He laughed outright and showed you the sign, which made both you and Makkari giggle. She came back quickly with a newly opened bottle, poured you both glasses, then set it on the table and left. 

“So,” he said, reaching for his glass. “You said you have a million questions.” He smiled challengingly at you. “Where do you want to begin?”

Chapter 9

[aurerue3]

Hi! I'd like to request for a romantic genshin matchup please. ^^

Male or female character: Both is good!

MBTI: INFP Enneagram: 4w5 sp/sx Zodiac big 6: Cancer sun and moon, Pisces rising, Cancer mercury, Gemini venus, Leo mars

Personality: Introspective and rational, terrified of conflict. I daydream a lot and tend to space out when I’m not talking to someone. I’m a true introvert, but I love to talk to certain people and about things I find interesting, like my fixations or a fun hypothetical situation. I observe people more than I want to interact with them. I'm also good at reading people (to the point where my brother thinks I can read people's minds). Purple represents me best as a colour.

I value my authenticity, creativity and emotional intelligence (I can’t say I’m really empathetic, but I listen to people when they need me to and I try to be there for them). But I am quite sensitive and emotional. I tend to remember events in which I was hurt easily. My friend would describe me as a jaded Disney princess because I daydream a lot and used to be idealistic as a kid but now I'm more of a realist/pessimist. They also say that I can be blunt most of the time.

I was raised by parents who are both thinkers, so I find that I tend to think quite logically (when I'm not stressed) compared to my feeler friends. When interacting with my feeler friends, I can feel a stark difference in the way we think, haha. Not easily influenced by what's considered the norm (I don't like conformity much) and by extension social media. Fun fact: I wasn't going to download Instagram ever but the college I'm at forced me to.

Also, according to this personality classification system, I am a mint (I agree, even the sadistic part). https://2-lines-and-a-circle.tumblr.com/post/692988945418633216/in-depth-description-on-flavors-mint

Likes: POETRY (I follow the web weave tag here and my favourite poet might just be Richard Siken), tofu (my favourite food), chocolate, books (the genres I tend to read are thrillers, fantasy or sci-fi), anime (mostly shounen, but I've watched some movies as well), manga, analyzing characters with many layers to them, personality typology (the closest thing I've had to a hyperfixation. my all-time favourite is enneagram, but I’ve had astrology and MBTI phases), action or comedy movies, visiting cafes, looking at sunrises and sunsets, watching storms (LIGHTNING), crochet flowers and plushies (I don’t crochet, I just buy them), phone charms, the colour purple, window shopping, video essays (marketing - celebrities, not companies, somewhat deep topics like love and philosophy, literature and film analysis - especially themes of horror movies, despite me being too chicken to actually watch the moves)

Dislikes: Exercising, studying for subjects I'm not interested in, being forced to interact with people, having a sudden change in plans that I don't like, many foods like anything spicy or really bitter (I am a very picky eater), bugs (beetles, bees, spiders. I don’t kill them and are fine with them as long as they’re a distance away from me. I get scared when they move about tho), noisy environments, construction noises, small talk (I actually don’t mind talking to people, I just need them to talk about something interesting or at least something they’re passionate about)

Hobbies: Reading, looking for fanfiction with amazing writing styles (descriptions, vibes, the closer it reads like poetry, the better), writing (fanfiction for now, but I plan to become a professional writer in the future e.g. movies, tv shows, manga), listening to music, psychoanalyzing people, analyzing fictional characters, watching horror movie summaries and anime/movie reaction videos

Traits I like in someone: Intelligence, common sense, the ability to listen, someone passionate about their interests. I've noticed that my two closest friends are passive and non-confrontational, try not to get upset easily, and sometimes indecisive (ex: choosing what drink to get, I make decisions for them when they can't). So I would say I tend to get along with people who are enneagram 9s, though I wouldn't say I would necessarily like their traits in other people.

Traits I dislike in someone: Recklessness, lack of common sense, lack of maturity (when they're old enough to be a teenager/adult), self-deprecation/too pessimistic that it starts to drain me.

Thank you for your hard work!

Helloo sorry for taking so long! I hope you like it 🫶 thank you for the ask 🌼

I match you with…

Zhongli 🔶

⭐️ You and Zhongli have something in common and it's your ability to think rationally and creatively. Zhongli is good at observing your emotional thoughts and because he has an emotionally mature mindset he can help you especially when it comes to conflict. He will slowly guide you through the process, keeping you at ease as much as he can. Since he’s been an archon for a long time, he is very experienced in reading people so he will be able to understand you especially when it comes to your difficulties. Both of you together will help diffuse a lot of situations in a peaceful manner. Zhongli experienced a lot throughout his life so he has the tendency to be deep in thought over his past memories. He wouldn’t mind you being spaced out and loves your company whether you talk to him or not. Having a conversation with Zhongli will take a long while to end and once he starts talking he will be fixed into whatever topic one of you had in mind. (He also loves long talks with you because he gets to know about your interests while sharing his-)

⭐️ Zhongli will always be genuine and sincere with you and he isn’t the type to be pretentious so when he wants to spend time or share his feelings with you he genuinely means it. He loves having someone who is blunt about their thoughts because he knows that you care for him as much as he does to you. Being the Geo archon, he has a rich mind so he knows how to use his creativity to make his experiences as original ideas for different kinds of art (and to creatively make excuses to why he doesn’t carry mora like the other folk-). He has matured more and more throughout his life and because of that he can recognize different emotions. He is great at giving advice and will find ways to help others through their problems. Zhongli appreciates you having ideals and has a habit of being deep in thought or daydreaming about his past memories with his old friends and the future of Liyue. He understands having a realistic and/or pessimistic perspective especially with the future and he is willing to listen to you and offer advice. 

⭐️ Zhongli is curious about the way you think (it makes a great conversation for him-). He likes hearing your thoughts especially when they aren’t based on norms. He finds it refreshing to hear different opinions rather than the same one over and over again. He loves spending time with you so if he’s not busy he’d love to spend spare time drinking tea or taking a stroll in the harbor. Whenever you playfully banter with him he will tease you back nonchalantly (but sometimes it's hard to tell whether he’s joking or not-)

⭐️ Zhongli appreciates different forms of art. He'd love to hear about what you're writing and know about your favorite genre for books and music (so he can find some as gifts-). He’d love to walk around and buy trinkets while you two chat about what’s been going on in your lives. He’d let you try Liyue’s cuisine (and hope he brought mora-) especially the tofu dishes like almond tofu, chicken tofu pudding, and crab roe tofu. Zhongli would love to hear your thoughts about character analysis, personality typology, and video essays (like before, it makes a great conversation topic). Since Zhongli loves to spend his time drinking tea and listening to stories he’d love to visit cafes and try different dishes with you and check out different shops afterwards. (Bonus if you two are outside with a beautiful view of the sunset or if you’re indoors the ambience from the rain makes a relaxing mood while the two of you read the books he bought) 

⭐️ He puts a lot of thought into your quality time with him by making plans beforehand and having interesting conversation topics. If you prefer not to walk he wouldn’t mind sitting down with you while having a chat. He prefers quiet and peaceful places most of the time to help him clear his thoughts (and so he doesn’t have to struggle with construction noises whenever he wants to chat-). If ever you two end up eating at a restaurant or Wangshu Inn he’ll suggest you dishes that aren’t spicy and/or bitter. 

⭐️ Zhongli is an emotionally mature person, who’s been through a lot in his lifetime and because of his rich mind he has a wide variety of topics you two can be immersed in. Zhongli is a great listener and is able to diffuse conflicts (like Xianyun vs. that one NPC in her character quest-) while also giving you great advice whenever you need it. He is considerate to put a lot of thought into your preferences and will always remember them. To him, you will be one of his most precious memories he will treasure like how he cherishes his friends. 

Honorable mentions: Gaming, Thoma

I also match you with… 

Lisa 🌹

⭐️ Lisa is good at analyzing situations when it comes to her work and she makes a conscious choice to use her time wisely (so she can have more break time-). She totally makes excuses to take more breaks so she can spend time with you (or you would walk around with her while she’s handling work outside the office-). Lisa knows how to handle conflict especially with people (or other abyss mages-) who forgot or refuse to return their books to the library so you’ll be fine (but the people who are causing a ruckus wouldn’t-). Being a people observer, she’ll likely ask you about her patrons especially when it comes to how they handled being confronted about the books they borrowed. She likes it when you doze off during your breaks because she knows you’re probably as tired as she is but she will bring something up if it's important or if she wants small talk. She’s interested to hear more about yourself and loves hearing your fixations because she gets to relax while listening to you chat, one of her best ways to spend her leisure time. 

⭐️ Lisa knows how to be creative in terms of work and using her time (definitely looking for reasons to excuse herself for a cup of tea-). While Lisa tends to tease she will always be genuine when it comes to her feelings about you and she takes her relationship with you seriously. Because she’s been studying in the Akademiya she has sufficient skill in creative thinking (especially with the work she has-) so if you’re caught in an argument she finds ways to help you get out of it (good thing she's on your side anyone trying to pick on you is probably getting an earful and then some-). 

⭐️ Like Zhongli, Lisa likes a chat while having her tea and she’d be open to hear about your thoughts especially with what bothers you. She likes learning about your perspective and she finds it refreshing to hear your honest opinions on topics you two could be talking about. Lisa loves to tease you and call you cute pet names to see your reaction and she loves to banter with you (she makes sure not to go too far-). Lisa knows that you’re teasing her but in case things get out of hand she’ll tone it down a little and make it up to you (a dinner date or spending the day off with you-). 

⭐️ Considering Lisa came from the Akademiya, she’s been used to dealing with paperworks and reading a lot of materials. She’d be interested to read something not related to her work and finds your writing entertaining for her to read when she has spare time. Since she works as a librarian she’d be entertained to read what you write and she’d also give you book recommendations if you’re looking for a specific genre. If asked she’d love to give you feedback and suggestions on what you write. She’d be interested in analyzing videos and essays with you because she gets a chance to hear your thoughts about them and sharing her own afterwards. If you’re in a mood to go outside you two would have a lot of cafe dates, trying out different dishes and visiting shops to buy each other gifts (like her quest in the game-). 

⭐️ After seeing scholars and sages grow obsessive over knowledge she knew that she needed to leave Sumeru, preferring to live a life in Mondstadt. She has lots of intelligence especially after the work she went through before she became the librarian and the Captain of the 8th Company. She can manage her own emotions while also helping with yours especially when you’re frazzled over anything. The last thing she wants is you slowly growing mad over your work and she will urge you to make time for leisure. It's one of her ways of looking out for you. She is willing to make time to listen to your concerns and helps you feel better. 

⭐️ Lisa is a mature and intelligent person, who’s witnessed a lot throughout her life. She has intelligence not only from what the Akademiya taught her but also knows how to keep herself composed. She loves the quality time you two share during her leisure and she loves having long talks with you while having a cup of tea. Lisa loves to show her affection in different ways by teasing you, giving you cute nicknames, and helping you through your problems. Lisa wants to spend time with you as much as possible until the end of time.  

Honorable mentions: Navia, Kokomi 

[thelongestway]

What can I say? It feels very, very good to have finally gotten into the part you've been imagining (in many different variations) for months, and making it real.

Do not mess with friendly AI unless you want them to show you their favorite movies. (That is a threat.)

Edit: I fixed the culmination! So this is the second (but not final) draft of Ch. 37 (which is now ch. 39).

Chapter 39: Ghost

Yeah, no, we weren’t going to be doing that, not after all the “I won’t even hack them” crap. And I knew exactly what I needed to say to snap them out of it. I tapped at them sharply and fed them my logs and data.

We need to get Hostiles Six and Seven off Iceblink before they take her hostage. And we need a tech down here who can reconnect the pod. I'm going to run out of power, and when I go down, so does Tal.

I felt their terror intensify as they took in my power cell charge percentage, and I sent them another estimate. We had less than five minutes if we wanted me to be able to take down the hostiles. And a little less than ten until emergency shutdown.

Even with much less processing power than normal, Aspen ran their assessments faster than I could follow, discarding option after option. Most of their initial ideas needed both more processing power and more control than they had right now. Finally, they picked one. Twisting and shaking, they extended a connection somewhere and said, Archive MAG 122 in priority, please. I'll need that one.

Data came pouring in, and they choked on it, trying to get through it all as quickly as they were used to. I reached for them like they did for me when I nearly fell into their web, and lent them my processing (well, the processing that ART was lending me, plus the extra it spared to fit Aspen's quickly unrolling processes). They latched on to me gratefully and offloaded some of their work onto me and ART.

The data they gave us was actually very easy to process. Because it was media.

Horrible media.

I mean. I understood the priorities here. But also I didn't.

Aspen. What the fuck?

We can’t fight them like we are now, they answered tersely, pulling little bits and pieces out of their archive on the fly and incorporating them into visual filters. But the Courageous has always been such a fucking horror show. So let’s give them one.

They dumped a plan into our workspace, which I acknowledged with a few minor corrections. Then I tapped Iceblink's feed to tell her she had to remain absolutely quiet no matter what she heard, and also to be ready to move into CR3 as fast as she humanly could on my command. At the same time, I tapped Hiram to brief him and ask to prepare an amush at a specified point.

The hostiles came closer.

Aspen gave me a routing map and I followed it, quietly breaking into the hostiles' targeting augments and then getting the hell out of Aspen's way. Their opening secured, they extended one little vine into Laboratory Ring 2.

…And their human self stumbled out of the next door on Target Six and Seven's itinerary, hands raised and looking--wow.

Yeah, okay, Aspen's human imitation code was still really good, even with very limited traffic channels and processing space. Their human avatar looked absolutely terrified. But it was probably good they were looking down and avoiding eye contact with the hostiles. I wouldn't have wanted to see their eyes either.

"Wait! Please! Don't shoot!" Aspen broadcast through the feed, making their human form looking even smaller than it had normally.

(Iceblink raised her head, and I told her again, Not a sound. She complied.)

Of course, Aspen immediately got a projectile weapon pointed at them, and pressed themselves into the wall, while the hostiles kept a good distance away from them, keeping their avatar sighted. They pleaded again, "I—I'll come! Please! Just don't kill me!"

"Marten one, we've got a resident," Target Seven said, sounding bored.

"Good work," Hostile Leader said. "Bring them with you, continue sweep."

I felt Aspen’s threat assessment spike (so did mine), and they rifled through their library of samples to find something to distract them from Iceblink.

The one they found sucked. I caught it before they could deploy and erased it.

Don't fucking ever tell them what to do. Especially not like "please, sir/maam/ker/ser, I'm all alone here, you don't need to look for anyone else," that's so fucking suspicious.

Fuck, they said angrily. That was a stupid idea, you're right. I really wish I had my search back. Or maybe these assholes in chronostasis pods, so I could eat their fucking brains. That would be even better.

I tapped them to let me take over, and they receded, giving me space in the narrow feeds of the old Courageous. I hacked a pressure sensor and blew a pipe right in front of the targets, giving one of them a helmetful of hot steam to the face. The target recoiled, swearing, and the backup team stopped, two doors short of Iceblink’s hideout.

By then, Aspen had a plan. I approved the next sequence they drafted and they gave a quiet feed-laugh, sounding a little unhinged as they focused back into their avatar.

Target Six looked around for the nearest camera and said, "Hey you, hacker fuckwits. Do that again, and your friend here… What's your name?"

"Aspen," Aspen said in a very small voice.

"What, like the AI?" Target Seven said, wiping his helmet.

"Y-yeah. Kind of."

"Irrelevant," Target Six said. "So like I said, fuckwits. Do that again, and we shoot your fucking friend Aspen here before we move on to you. That clear?"

The speakers were silent. Target Six turned to Aspen and said, "You wanna say anything to your friends, resident? Before they do something stupid and you die?"

"Uh. Um. I'm—I'm afraid there's been a little. There's been. There's been a misunderstanding, okay?"

Target Six's eyes grew cold and she gave a little pointed shake of her gun, making Aspen shrink their avatar even more.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Um. The people you're thinking of? Those people who were talking to you? They don't exist."

"The fuck?" Target Seven repeated. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm. I'm really good at voices. I… Can I show you?"

Target Six nodded, and Aspen said, synthesizing my voice: "I lied about this being a honeypot, you—." They cut off, as if they were scared to insult the Targets, and continued talking in Iceblink's voice: "I was just home, and then I heard explosions. That's all. I swear!"

"You're from the Courageous keepers?" Target Seven asked, and Aspen nodded.

"I… I don't like crowds. So I wasn't up in the gardens tonight," they said in their normal voice. "I, uh. I panicked. Tried to scare you off. Wrecked a lot more than I planned. Honestly, the Courageous is a pile of old junk, and without an AI it's even more broken, and after I busted some things it's just… kind of… continuing… to fall apart." they trailed off, and then added in a small voice, "Please don't kill me." Target Six and Target Seven exchanged completely confounded looks. Then they stayed quiet for about ten seconds, listening.

Without us attacking, the Courageous was still and silent, only existing breakages making noise.

Target Six lowered her weapon and said into her communicator, "Marten one? I think we've got a bonafide Friend situation here."

(I felt a spike of amusement from Aspen as they saved the recording to their permanent storage. Probably to amuse and horrify Dandelion in equal measure later.)

Out loud, they said, "Yes! Of course! I'm friendly! I promise!"

"Shut it, Aspen Courageous," Target Seven growled. "Keep walking."

"Um. Just Aspen?"

"I said, shut it!"

Aspen shut up and turned away, walking lamely two meters before the Targets, head pulled into their shoulders and staring at the floor, biting into their lip hard enough to draw fake blood.

Once all three of them rounded the corner and were far enough away, I tapped Iceblink, instructing her to bring an emergency generator up to Tal's pod. She didn't need to be told twice.

(According to Aspen, there were several in the nearby storage areas. Which weren't marked in the feed, because why would the sunbleached Arboreans mark their fauna-infested critical infrastructure redundancies in the rootrotting feed! If I knew, then I wouldn't have been stuck here while Iceblink nearly died!)

But I could be angry at all of rootrotting Arborea Cosmica later. For now, as soon as Iceblink replaced me with an actual generator, I ran some quick diagnostics. And the results were not looking good. With how much power Tal ate from me, I’d need several minutes of sitting still just to recharge enough to be able to walk, and I wouldn’t be back anywhere close to useful performance reliability for at least thirty minutes. I could still help Aspen hack, but I couldn’t take down the hostiles. We’d have to stall them until help could get here.

And they have a hostage, Aspen said flatly. Zheni’s not one of mine, but I’m not letting them have her, either.

Hostile Manager’s chances really weren’t looking good. My threat assessment gave her a 74,3 chance of being shot by her own team, and even if she somehow wasn’t, another 55,7 percent chance of being taken down by Hiram’s team during the resulting confrontation. (63,9 if Hostile Leader used her as a human shield. Which she probably would.)

Then we have to get her out before the assault, and I can't get there in time, I said. Can you scare them into leaving her behind somehow?

Maybe, Aspen said as their terrified-looking avatar neared the hostile’s meeting point, mouth set in a short angry line. But I’ll need your help to do it.

[open-hearth-rpg]

Hearts of Wulin Now at Age of Ravens

Hearts of Wulin, a PbtA game of wuxia romance and melodrama is now at Age of Ravens Games. Written by Joyce Ch*ng and Lowell Francis (me). This game and its expansion, Hearts of Wulin Worlds, offers a range of playstyles by focusing on the powerful heroes trapped by a web of obligations and personal desires. 

It’s pretty awesome IMHO. It draws on the literature of writers like Jin Yong and Gu Long, in particular adaptations of those stories in dozens and dozens of TV series (Laughing in the Wind, The Proud Twins). It also works to include things like more recent web novels and their adaptations, with rules for xianxia and the fantastic. The core book includes ideas for various genres, narrating fight scenes, building entanglements, and handling historical/courtly games. 

Hearts of Wulin: Worlds includes several settings: 

Shadow of Joseon, set during the Korean Joseon Dynasty. (Yeonsoo Julian Kim)

1905: San Francisco, presents a Chinatown just emerging from the shadow of the Chinese Exclusion Act. (Banana Chan)

Cour de l'Eppee transports Hearts of Wulin to swashbuckling France. (Cat Evans)

Academy of the Blade offers a dueling academy inspired by Revolutionary Girl Utena. (Alison Tam)

Fight Me IRL is a unique take on cyberpunk. (James Mendez Hodes) 

Silk & Steam gives you a wondrous silkpunk setting. (Kienna Shaw)

It also includes two major rules add-ons:

The Villain, a new playbook. Not all wulin "Heroes" are heroes with a capital H. Some start in a darker place... 

Numberless Secrets, a new set of rules for telling mystery/investigation stories in Hearts of Wulin. 

These can be found on Drivethrurpg– both are part of the ongoing GMs Day sale happening right now. 

Personally I’m really excited about the future for Hearts of Wulin. Though I never learned the print run, I do know that the last of the physical copies recently sold out at Indie Press Revolution. I have a short list of things I’m hoping to accomplish. 

Get it up on itch.io. I know some folks prefer to get their ttrpg pdfs via that site. 

Figure out how to get Print-on-Demand versions up on Drivethru. I’ve been told this is a challenging process to get right, so I’m hoping to talk to some folks who have done it before. 

Publish the Names & Entanglements deck. This was a self-print add-on for Hearts of Wulin. It's a useful resource for character creation and I’m hoping to have physical copy available for sale. 

I’ve always said folks should feel free to hack and rework Hearts of Wulin as they wish. But I’d like to get a clear Creative Commons license out there for everyone and encourage folks to play around with the system.

Eventually I might do a 1.5 version bringing some of the HoW: Worlds material over into the main book, as well as a couple of rules updates.

I want to publish a collection of Numberless Secrets mysteries along with guidance for running detective wuxia games. I love the series Ancient Detective and this is the best way I get to play out those kinds of stories. 

Get an online keeper which has easy to use set ups for all of the expansion worlds. We have a solid one– newly automated thanks to Agatha– but it doesn’t have all the expansions. 

Some folks have done from amazing things with HoW so far (inspired by media like Scott Pilgrim, Cobra Kai, Star Wars and beyond). It would be great if I could assemble a collection of new hacks and settings, maybe with some additional play options.

Finalize the one translation agreement I’ve been offered. 

I want to thank everyone who has read and/or played Hearts of Wulin. It remains a game I love to run and it would be amazing to have more people try it out.

[thatfeelinwhenyou]

oh my god, I did not expect a response so soon. WHY ARE U SPOILING ME LIKE THIS?!

abt the chinese web novel.. it has 4928 chapters.. the author was possessed by some ancient evil entities because 😦😜☹️🤬🥹 you absolutely do not need to put urself thru that unless you're freaky like me and like the angst and torture. (link) I rarely ever say a work is epic but this was peak for me! during covid times. dare I say one of the best novels in existence. (ofc there's a few translation errors here and there but I would kms if I had to translate just 15 chapters from one language to another- not to even think of damn near 5 thousand) on the bright sides, the chs are relatively short! I used to burn thru like 150 ish chapters a night 😭

abt s&s!mc's dilemma related stuff. I now realize that not everything does apply to her. so I went and ss'ed the ones that I feel fits </3 I would not be me if I did not at least attempt to hyper analyze the living daylight out of every media I consume.. (and your works have helped turn the cogs in my head <3 I am both inspired and equally amazed everytime I read from you)

the full essay, titled 'no good alone' is posted on substack by essayist rayne fisher- quann! the link seems to work for me but issokie you DONTTT have to check it out 😭 I just be yapping abt anything because I read a lot and every time I consume any content, im like "oh, that reminds me ofㅡ!"

also, human resources omg!! I have much to learn from you.

"KMSSS" take me out too, damn.

and it's okay, YOU ARE DOING MORE THAN ENOUGH. i promise 🤍 we live and we learn. from the world and from each other.

literally sobbed when u said u wrote between ur lunch break- so ur telling me if u pavlov me to sit like a dog I would. my response is even messier 🥲 but oh well! dhakjddjkajs

MUCH LOVE, always

- yveria

Yve! Finally, I am here to give you a response to your response to my response to your response…wow it keeps going.

Damn 4928 chapters… that’s actually crazy. I can barely hold my attention enough to write 200 words… In that sense, I’d like to commend both the author and you for actually sitting through it.

Moving to the essays by Rayne. I read through the screenshots, and I must say it’s a wonderful piece of literature. I’m starstruck and astounded by the description, and like you said, it made me go, “Oh! That reminds me of—!” So here are some lines that really stuck with me and reminded me of Safe & Sound.

It is tempting, in this world of alarm-bells and flashing warning signs, to want to trap yourself in a room where there’s nothing to bounce off of but myself.

You may hate yourself, but you’re also a hero, bravely forgoing love and connection and community to protect the world from the car-bomb of your own instability.

Isolationists have one very strong argument on their side—when you’re alone, there’s no one there to hurt you, even accidentally. There’s no one there to throw your own flaws into stark relief. There’s no one who you might hurt with bursts of uncontrollable emotion or human carelessness.

It’s driven me to isolate myself, convinced that ritualistic self-punishment and pathetic martyrdom were the only ways I could ever make myself worthy of other people.

I realised, though, that I was being a coward. Beling alone is hard, to be sure, but it’s also deceptively easy—it requires nothing of us.

To grow beside a friend or lover, knowing that you will poke and prod at each other as you take shape but unafraid of the resulting scar tissue—this is the good stuff.

If we agree that our well-being is inexorably linked to the well-being of our communities, it becomes clear that nothing generative—nothing truly healing—can come from destroying yourself trying to save someone else.

You do not have to treat your flaws like action items that must be systematically targeted and eliminated in order to receive a return on investment.

Your job, really, is to find people who love you for reason you barely understand, and to love them back, and to try as hard as you can to make it all easier for each other.

We all exist to save each other. There is barely anything else worth living for.

It’s hard, certainly—it’s painful and exhausting and fundamentally terrifying to rip yourself open and leave the guts at the mercy of the people you choose to love. But if I know anything. I know this: It’s better than being alone.

This last one hits super hard knowing what I know is going down in the last two parts... Thank you for sharing this wonderful piece of literature; it truly inspired me too! Might have to go read the whole essay now.

And ISTG Yve, your asks and reviews make me go 🥺😫😭😳😂 by the amount of seriousness and unseriousness in it. So, thank you again for this!

Love you with all my heart 🤍

- Nat

[jekkarox]

Thursday Ch-ch-check-In

As I was trying to really understand the new data driven key concept of frequency, I was trying to relate it to something I currently understand. The idea of billboards came to mind. I encounter the information on billboards frequently when I drive on the highway. If I commute it is designed for me to see them daily. That is the selling point of the medium. Is that similar to how data is received by the audience online, regarding frequency. For example, I listen to a weekly podcast. Advertisers do not know exactly when in the week, but they know I will listen. @npfannen In data driven world is frequency of engagement the goal of most web writing? Is frequency of engagement measured by likes, shares or clicks? Do each of the different social media platforms have different measures of success in that regard?

[margraviate-of-headcanonburg]

terrible sorry about the anon op. i personally adore your “arthur aldwin” and “alfred fitzgerald jones” thing because it’s so in character, hetalia or not. regardless nobody can deny hetalia and the other country fandoms have a lot of overlap at times, especially when hetalia headcanons could also perfectly apply to something else. as both a ch fan and a hetalia fan myself, so so so many of my headcanons end up overlapping. i don’t post about ch at all but many of my hetalia headcanons have in part been from varying degrees from almost identical to barely a smidge inspired by my original ch headcanons.

also i would like to make it clear to previous anon that A) headcanons don’t have to inherently follow canon, you can do whatever you want and B) ch doesn’t have a canon at all so theoretically you could basically call ch america “alfred f jones” and it wouldn’t be incorrect in the slightest. also lastly it was so entitled of them to try and force how others choose to play with canon.

but yeah anyways i fucking love your work and it fits so well with both ch and hetalia. it’s not just about adding on to canon but also giving it your own unique fanon twist that isn’t conventional but oh my god fits so so so well. your work is like a statement piece of jewellery where it may be a bit unconventional at times as it doesn’t always follow what you expect but it’s so eye catching and fits the rest of the outfit well with its uniqueness.

-marianne

OH MY GOD ANON MAY I PLEASE KISS YOU PLATONICALLY

this is so sweet omfgg

While I obsess over that analogy, uh, fun fact: this blog wasn’t even originally created in order to talk about my ocs. It was started after a mutual gave me the confidence to not cringe at what I love, and I built this to be an archive of things from other people that reminded me of my guys or that I just love in general. I’ve been collecting joy from my hetalia cousins for way longer than this. Now that I hear some of y’all like the concept of my own universe then perhaps I’ll make more posts about it (I uh, may have an entire au I made in that friend’s dms which then just became straight up pieces of my-arthur’s lore)

And, fun fact numero dos: the entirety of everything I know about hetalia canon is second hand. I’ve watched as many clips as I can get my hands on but…I’ve never watched a single episode and don’t have the ability too (yeah yeah fifteen men on a dead man’s chest but my mom raised me to have a panic attack any time I get near downloading something off the web) so literally I’m not even making my own fanon for it, I just receive joy via the hetalia fandom because we overlap so much. Like I’ve said before, this universe is like…the child of 1 third origins in the CH sphere, 1 third ruminating in my mind for years as I obsessed over geography/political history, and 1 third recent hetalia-fanon influence. Oh and there’s one glaring difference via character design but I’m not a fan artist anyway so *shrug*

I also find the dissonance so funny of this blog getting into a skirmish over canonicity when on my other blog + my favorite discord we routinely hunt canon (of another media) for sport and are actively rewriting the entire series ourselves a dozen times over pftt

​by the way if the OG anon is reading this. I forgot to mention I changed the brits’ last name purely because I (tried and yet) could not associate the name Kirkland with anything other than the costco grocery brand of my childhood

[wandering-wolf23]

5). To Be a Queen (Middle Grade Lion fiction)?

To Be a Queen is basically my love letter to early 2010s Lion King fanfic. Especially all the fan prides made and RP sites that ended in ".webs.com". I don't think that Webs is really a thing anymore - IIRC, it's basically been deleted. There's a lot of lost media from those that would make for interesting reading if anyone ever finds it. TBaQ is my take on Simba's story, but Simba is a girl (Jasiri) and her pride has been invaded by an outside force. Baya, who is basically an older, slightly healthier Nuka, winds up finding her and helps her get her pride back. Along the way, they fall in love.

The snippet (actually half of Ch 4):

Jasiri dragged herself into another crevice, grimacing as she did so. She hadn’t realized she was so hurt until a few days after the fact. Aches and pains stabbed all over her body, from the tip of her tail to the cuts on her paw pads. Even her mouth tasted like copper. Jasiri coughed and wiped her muzzle on her fur. Then she lay down again, her golden gaze focused on the sky. Unease rippled across her. It buried itself deep in her fur and bit her skin like a wood ant.

She didn’t like being alone. A lioness in a pride was never left to herself. There was always at least one other with her. Sometimes they might be an aunt, a sister, a friend, or even a low-ranking male assigned to guard them. At the time, Jasiri hated it. Even now, the thought of that suffocating closeness made her growl. Jasiri swallowed it back. She forced a neutral look on her face as she watched the grasslands. Baya and Dani had to get back soon, right? They wouldn’t just leave her here, not after all the trouble they took to get her over here.

“Baya?” a new voice called. “Baya!”

Jasiri tensed. She pressed her belly to the stone and slowly extended her claws.

Footsteps came closer to her. She could barely see a cat, prowling on the other side of the rock. It was too small to be a lion (maybe it was a marozi? Jasiri thought they were all dead, though) and the flashes of fur she saw were cream and red rather than brown.

“Oh, confound it all!” the intruder said. They sighed. “Where is that lion? I’ll even settle for Dani at this point!”

Jasiri kept quiet. She dragged herself up so she sat on her haunches and waited. Seconds dragged by like hours. A few flies buzzed around her, their annoying sound nearly drowning out anything else. Jasiri stayed quiet. She waited, her ears trembling, for the intruder to come near her. If it was a marozi, Jasiri intended to pounce first and ask questions never. She bared her teeth in anticipation, even as her heart pounded. Exhaustion threatened to drag her back to the ground. Jasiri fought it off and steeled herself for the coming fight.

The intruder walked around the rock, saw her, and froze. Jasiri stared back. The red leopard’s mouth dropped open and his tail fell straight down.

“Baya has a girlfriend?” he asked. “I thought he and Dani were a thing.”

“Who are you?” Jasiri asked.

“Touko.” Touko sat down and licked his chest. “I, uh, was looking for my friend.”

“Yeah, I heard.” Jasiri didn’t sit and bared her fangs. “Now what do you want?”

“Uh, I want to know where Baya is?” Touko asked. His tail gestured wildly as he spoke. “We were supposed to go fishing. But he’s nowhere to be found and I really don’t want to go swimming without a backup, you know?”

“No, I don’t know,” Jasiri hissed. “Next time, be careful. I thought you were a marozi.”

Touko stared at her, confusion in his golden eyes. “A what now?”

“Marozi.” Jasiri grimaced. “They’re not very nice. It’s like a nasty lion had a baby with a nastier leopardess.”

Touko nodded like he understood. “Right… I’ll just wait up here, I guess. I am not walking back to the river. Not in this heat.”

[siennalilypurvis]

CHS Briefing!

CHS are a Bournemouth based creative advertising agency. They asked us to create the identity of a brand that offers ‘digital detox’ retreats. The aim was to speak to parents of tech obsessed households annd sell them these holidays. 

I am excited for this project as it is an opportunity to develop my marketing and branding skills which is something I am interested in pursuing in my career. The challenge of creating a cohesive brand identity with multiple social media and web assets in a short space of time sounded daunting, good way as it would prepare me for what I could potentially be doing in the future with clients where there would be a quick turn around.

[yangmediavn]

Cập nhật giá thiết kế website trọn gói mới 2024

Giá thiết kế website bao gồm nhiều yếu tố như chi phí cho tên miền, chi phí thuê hosting, chi phí thiết kế web, cài đặt các tính năng, và chi phí bảo trì. Bài viết dưới đây Yang Media sẽ cung cấp chi tiết về các khoản chi phí trong quá trình thiết kế website để bạn có thêm thông tin tham khảo.

[eshasunrise]

Please contact Senate Leaders over this. My personal concerns with STOP CSAM under the cut.

MAIN CONCERNS

Violations of individual privacy via stripping of Section 230 of Title 47 and encouragement of counter-encryption

Potential encouragement of prejudice via the removal of Sec 2258A subsec (f)

No introductions of powers, restrictions, or freedoms that would prevent or punish the sexual exploitation of children

Potential mitigation of ability to prevent and punish sexual exploitation of children through aforementioned prejudice and violations of privacy encouraging use of smaller, less regulated and harder to find web sites.

The removal of Article (f) under Sec. 2258A from Ch. 110 of 18 USC, which holds liable of powers who monitor individuals online, sets a dangerous precedent towards the violation of online privacy, especially in the new STOP CSAM bill's addition of Article (3) of SEC.4: "(3) PERMITTED ACTIONS BASED ON REASONABLE BELIEF" which would allow individuals or corporations to accuse others without evidence and encourage prejudice, which in conjunction with precedent set by Supreme Court's Decision on LLC c Elenis (6/30/2023), would allow for the accusal and prosecution of racial and sexual minorities without evidence, a direct violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.

In addition,

Subsection (g) of STOP CSAM SEC 5 are untenable for the vast majority of social media sites, and are again violations of the fourth amendment. They would require social media sites to violate the privacy of their own userbase, or allow them to do so under full prejudice as described under Article (3) of SEC.4.

Subsection (e) of Section 230 of Title 47 already makes exception for the search and prosecution of sexual exploitation of children, via chapter 110 of Title 18. In turn, the only reason for the addition of section subsection (e) of Sec 5 of STOP CSAM is for the added allowances of violations of privacy. This, again, is a violation of the fourth amendment.

Section (6) Subsection (e) raises concerns by circumventing the local and supreme courts duties, and ignoring the existence of domains and individuals hosted and/or living outside the United States. Its existence being chosen by the head of the FTC also circumvents the peoples' right to choose representatives, increasing the number of non-elected officials in the federal government over an area of theoretical law not just weakening Section 230 of Title 47, but in violation of the Fourth Amendment as well, which also encourages the violation of the 14th Amendment.

Finally, the bill itself does little to address the shortcomings of current laws in regards to the identification of individuals producing and distributing child pornography and encouraging or running child trafficking, due to three points: One: the aforementioned acquiescence to prejudice, and Two: the stigmatization of pornography and sex work as a whole, and Three: lack of meaningful ways of locating and prosecuting child sex crimes as a whole.

These issues muddle the figurative waters of the search, painting a target on large swaths of online communities while closing channels of obvious search through discouraging online users, and potential reporters, from accessing web-sites they would use pornographic material for, and encourage the reporting of non-pedophilic content based on individual prejudice and suspicion, wasting the time of the courts, and finally encouraging pedophiles, child traffickers, and distributors of child pornography to use uncommon and harder to regulate web-domains.

Effectively, not only does STOP CSAM make it easier to violate the privacy of individuals through the use of social media, and actively encourage it based on prejudice, it also does so while reducing the effectiveness of means to track down and take down actual violators of child protection laws, all while setting up an institution which would weaken the power of both the federal courts, and voters as a whole.

🚨🚨CONGRESS SECRETLY TRYING TO SNEAK IN EARN IT ACT COPYCAT INTO MUST PASS SPENDING BILL (PLEASE READ EXTREMELY IMPORTANT)

July 20, 2023 Congress is right now determining what is included in a must pass spending bill the NDAA. Often congress will sneakily add as amendments their bills that they can't pass in a normal setting.

If you remember, I made a previous post about EARN IT being reintroduced here.

The EARN IT Act and it's copycats are bipartisan bills that will greatly censor if not completely eliminate encryption and anything sexual and LGBTQ+ from the internet, globally. Anything the far-right doesn't like will be completely gone. The best way to stop them is to use https://www.badinternetbills.com/ to call your senators.

Following it's initial introduction earlier this year was massive opposition from human rights, LGBT, tech, political groups, and grassroots groups. Bc of this, the senators decided to remake the bill but give it a new name, so they can still pass Earn It without actually passing Earn It. Those bills are the Stop CSAM Act (yes really, they actually named it that), and the Cooper-Davis act.

The entire point of these bills is to mass surveil and censor everyone and I don't know why more people or senators speak out against it. There is a direct timeline from when the Attorney General Barr (under Trump) said he wanted to do this to it's initial introduction in 2019, and how the senators explicitly knew they couldn't actually say that so they lied and said it was about "stopping CSAM" or "stopping drugs" for Cooper-Davis Act.

These bills essentially do the following:

they gut encryption, the one thing actually protects you from having your data seen by anyone. Do you want republicans to know you're trans? that someone had an abortion? that they spoke out against the govt? to see your private photos you have uploaded to the cloud? to see what porn you watch? if youre a journalist, or an abuse survivor, any hacker or abuser can see your stuff and track you.

they gut parts of Section 230, the one thing that allows anyone to post online and birthed social media. Previous gutting into 230 gave us the tumblr nsfw ban and killed that site.

they create an unelected commission with some already established govt body (DOJ, FTC, etc) that will include law enforcement and people from NCOSE or other Christian conservative groups who will decide what is and isn't lawful to say. no citizen can vote who's on this commission, and the president gets to pick. it's like the supreme court, but for the internet.

lead to mass censorship and surveillance because of the above

We have until the end of the month to stop this, but this can be added literally any moment until then. It's literally code red. If this is added it goes into effect immediately. The BEST way to stop this is to drive calls and emails to the senate. https://www.badinternetbills.com/ connects you directly to your members of congress & gives you a call script.

It is ESSENTIAL to call the Senate leaders who can stop this. Here's a more precise call script you can use: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1huD5Ldd1lPTECYTEb9Gg2ZzrqW6Y9tryHT-MdjOl8kY/edit

All these people expressed concern over Earn It, so we need to press them hard to not allow it's copycats Cooper-Davis or Stop CSAM into the NDAA. This is URGENT and needs all hands on deck. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (202) 224-6542 Maria Cantwell (D-WA) (202) 224-3441 Jon Ossof (D-GA) (202)-224-3521 Alex Padilla (D-CA) (202) 224-3553 Cory Booker (D-NJ) (202) 224-3224 Mike Lee (R-UT) (202) 224-5444

Please please please spread this message and blow up their phones.

TLDR; The Senate is trying to quietly push the Earn It Act's copycat bills into the must pass NDAA, which will lead to mass censorship and surveillance online by gutting Section 230 which is the entire reason you can even be on tumblr and why the internet exists, killing encryption which put everyone's lives in danger, and appointing far-right people to a supreme court-esque commission that the president has direct control over. They could be added in ANY DAY and we need to push hard to stop it before it gets to that point. CALL YOUR SENATORS **NOW** BY USING https://www.badinternetbills.com/ AND CALL THE SENATE LEADERSHIP AND SPREAD THE WORD!!!!

[propelld]

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