#Command and control server

[recordworkzstudios]

How to Spot Instagram Social Engineering Scams

[digitalcreationsllc]

Researchers Sinkhole PlugX Malware Server With 2.5 Million Unique IPs

Researchers have sinkholed a command and control server for a variant of the PlugX malware and observed in six months more than 2.5 million connections from unique IP addresses.

[buckysleftbicep]

for better or for worse (5) 𐙚 b.b

pairing: new avenger!bucky barnes x fem!reader (fake marriage au)

warnings: nsfw, 18+, minors, dni, heavy angst, mentions of torture

summary: you and bucky are forced to play newlyweds at a luxury honeymoon resort. he’s controlling, you’re reckless, and now you’re sharing a bed. the problem? it’s getting harder to play pretend. and you’re not sure either of you will survive what comes next.

word count: 3.5k

author's note: hi sweethearts! we are at chapter of this series and oh my gosh, i am so excited to get the last 2 chapters out because i am debating between the type of ending i would like this series to have! your feedback is always welcomed 💌 love ya guys and stay safe out there! 💕

series masterlist

The penthouse was excessive.

It was the kind of wealth that laughed at subtlety—the kind that didn’t whisper its power, but screamed it. It assaulted the senses in every direction, a crystalline fortress carved into the sky, perched at the top of Monaco’s most elite tower. 

Glittering chandeliers hung like jagged ice sculptures from mirrored ceilings, casting fractured rainbows across floors of polished ivory marble. The air smelled faintly of jasmine and money.

A wall-to-wall aquarium stretched across one entire side of the room, aglow with bioluminescent fish imported from some private reef halfway across the world.

Even the water shimmered like it had been distilled from diamonds. Every inch of the space screamed exclusivity, opulence, danger. 

You could feel it in your skin—like silk suffocating you.

Beyond the towering glass windows, the Monaco skyline glittered against the velvet night. Yachts drifted below like ghosts, their lights blinking lazily on the dark sea.

And at the center of it all was Raskovic.

He was built like a war—not a man, but a monument. Thick-necked, wide-shouldered, a towering frame that made the tailored lines of his suit look stretched and choked. 

He radiated the kind of threat that didn’t need to be spoken. Every guard in the room flinched just slightly when he turned his head—a glance carrying the weight of a command.

You’d seen powerful men before. But this… this was different. Raskovic didn’t just own power. He embodied it.

His face was carved in hard lines, his mouth twisted into something that wasn’t quite a smile. It didn’t soften him. It made him look sharper. Hungrier. Like a lion watching dinner stumble straight into the den.

“Mr. and Mrs. Barnes,” he said, voice smooth like old leather and too much vodka. He didn’t stand, just gestured lazily for you to join him at the long glass table set in the center of the room.

Bucky was close behind you. His hand slid to the small of your back—part of the act, of course. But his fingers pressed in slightly harder than they needed to. Like a warning, like reassurance. You didn’t know which one you needed more.

“We’re honoured,” you said smoothly, your voice polished and poised, as if the glittering tension didn’t make your skin itch. Bucky gave a nod beside you, his eyes tracking every guard, every movement.

The table had been laid out like an art piece, foie gras resting atop toasted brioche with violet fig compote, lobster bisque in impossibly thin porcelain bowls, and Duck à l’orange carved so precisely it looked painted. 

Surrounding the spread were polished silver utensils and deep-red wine glinting in faceted crystal flutes, poured with care by servers in floor-length black gowns.

You sat, and the moment your body touched the chair, something in your gut twisted hard.

It wasn’t anything obvious. 

No flashing lights, no sudden danger. Just instinct—a whisper at the base of your skull that grew louder with every breath you took. The way the servers didn’t meet your eyes. The way Andrei leaned in the shadows of the far wall, watching, waiting.

You knew. Something was wrong.

Raskovic took his wine in hand and swirled it lazily. “So. I heard from Andrei…” He turned those cold eyes to you. “You know me?”

Bucky didn’t even blink. “Who wouldn’t?”

A smile crept across Raskovic’s face. “A good answer.”

He chuckled and sipped his wine, exuding the confidence of a man surrounded by his kingdom. You let the conversation glide around you like smoke, lips curved just enough, playing your part. 

Andrei hadn’t moved from the wall, but you could feel him, gaze heavy, predatory. You didn’t trust the shadows here—they belonged to him.

“And what do you specialise in?” Raskovic asked, breaking off a piece of bread with delicate fingers. “Explosives? Biochemical toys? Or are you more... traditional?”

Bucky leaned back in his chair, casual on the surface but coiled beneath. “Mostly smart-range pulse rifles. Electromagnetic scatter rounds. Some Stark-modified EMPs, the kind that make your eyes bleed if you’re standing too close.”

Raskovic laughed, low and genuine. “Ah, Stark. Yes. He did have flair.” He lifted his glass. “To creative destruction.”

You raised yours to match. Glasses clinked. The wine shimmered.

You hesitated. Then drank.

And regretted it instantly.

You blinked. Swallowed. Your hand tightened around your glass as you turned slightly in your chair.

“I—I don’t… feel so—”

Your words fell apart, slurred and sticky. Your throat closed. The room twisted violently beneath your feet. Bucky was on his feet before your head even dipped forward.

“What the hell did you do?” he snarled, voice tight.

Raskovic didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

Andrei moved like a shadow—fast, precise, and cruel. You barely saw him before his arm wrapped around your body, dragging you upright as your legs gave out beneath you.

One thick arm locked around your chest, yanking you back against him, while the cold edge of a knife pressed into the delicate line of your throat.

You whimpered—not from the pain, but from how far Bucky suddenly seemed.

He surged forward. “LET. HER. GO!”

But the guards were faster than he was.

Two lunged first, catching him at the arms. Then another. Then two more. They tried to hold him down, to pin the fury inside the soldier’s body—but he was already gone. 

Not Bucky. Not James.

The Winter Soldier raged, and the man underneath him broke.

His scream tore through the air—raw, unfiltered. “DON’T TOUCH HER!”

He fought like a beast, like he was tearing out his own soul to get to you. Every muscle locked and screamed with effort as he dragged the men across the polished floor. His eyes were wide, burning blue, locked on yours like they were the last thing tethering him to sanity.

You could see it—the pain in him. The terror.

“Get off me!” he shouted, slamming his elbow into someone’s face with a sickening crack. “You touch her again, I’ll kill you—I’ll kill you all!”

“Try something, Barnes,” Andrei hissed into your ear, his knife pressing harder into your skin. A thin line of blood slipped down your neck. “Give me a reason.”

“STOP,” Bucky roared, his voice shredded and frantic, “PLEASE—please, take me instead—just let her go—”

But Raskovic only leaned back in his chair, amused. “Look at you,” he said, voice like rot. “The infamous Winter Soldier. Look what they turned you into.”

Bucky thrashed harder, dragging three men with him as he reached toward you, fingertips almost brushing yours before another slammed into his gut. He coughed, staggered, and still tried to crawl.

“Let her go!” he screamed again. His voice cracked this time—a break in the steel.

You could barely keep your eyes open, your limbs like water. But you turned your head—just slightly—enough to meet his gaze.

And even through the fog choking your mind, you knew what you saw in him.

Rage. Fear.

“I’m sorry,” you mouthed.

“No—no, don’t—” His eyes widened, frantic. “Please—don’t—don’t leave me.”

“Go. Please.” you managed to choke out.

And then you fell. Andrei’s arm caught you, yanking your limp body back as you slipped into unconsciousness.

The last thing you saw—or maybe only imagined—was Bucky’s face as he screamed your name like a prayer no god ever answered.

You came to with the sharp sting of blood in your mouth and the icy ache of metal biting into your wrists.

At first, it was hard to tell what was real—the room swam at the edges, spinning in slow, nauseating waves. 

Your head throbbed. Your lips were cracked and dry. And your shoulders screamed from the strain of your arms wrenched behind your back, cuffed so tight that you could already feel the skin splitting beneath the metal. 

Cold concrete bit into your ankles where they were tied to the chair legs. Your knees burned and your spine howled with every twitch of movement.

The drug was still in your system—not fully, but enough to slow your thoughts, to fog the corners of your brain like frost on glass. You blinked, trying to force focus into your vision.

The room was dim, windowless. Cement walls scarred with water stains and age. 

It smelled like damp stone and blood and the metallic tang of old air. A single bulb dangled from the ceiling on a rusted chain, swaying with each low hum that vibrated through the floors—generators, maybe. Or worse.

You were underground. You were alone.

And then you realised—you weren’t.

A figure sat in front of you, legs spread, hands resting loosely on his knees. Like this was casual. Like he was waiting to chat over coffee.

Andrei.

But he wasn’t smiling this time. Not exactly. The amusement from the dinner—the smug, showman’s flair—was gone now. What was left behind was leaner. Sharper. Hungrier. 

He looked at you like prey.

“Tough girl,” he said after a long silence, his voice low and smooth. Too calm. “Didn’t even scream when I hit you.”

He stood slowly, circling the chair. His footsteps were soft, deliberate. You followed him with your eyes but didn’t move your head—your neck was too stiff, and you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

“Trained well,” he murmured, coming to stand behind you. You could feel his breath at your ear, warm and intimate and rotten. “Let me guess. Romanov?”

Still, you said nothing.

Silence was all you had left. Silence and the rhythm of your heart, pounding slow and hard in your chest. 

One beat for every second Bucky wasn’t here. One beat closer to whatever came next.

Andrei exhaled, circling around again. He crouched low in front of you, arms braced on his thighs, and looked up at you like you were something he’d found crawling under a rock.

“Almost believed your little act,” he said. “Almost. You were very good. And he—he was damn near convincing. Protective. Devoted. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Barnes might actually care about you.”

The corners of your mouth curled in a humorless smile. “He doesn’t fake things well.”

Andrei raised an eyebrow, amused. “You’re not wrong.”

He stood again, restless energy leaking into his movements now. Pacing. Turning. Talking more to himself than you. “But Layna—sweet girl, fucking dumb, but she has good memory. Told me she saw you before. You were blonde, standing behind a Swedish diplomat during a black-tie in Prague.”

You stiffened.

That op had been burned. Buried. There should’ve been no trace left.

Andrei’s grin returned, sharp and self-satisfied. “Told you. Almost.”

He drifted to the side of the room, plucking something off the metal tray on the workbench behind him. You couldn’t see what it was at first—until the low light caught the blade. Polished. Thin. Surgical.

Your blood ran colder.

“You know,” he said casually, running his thumb down the flat of the blade, “I’ve dealt with a lot of spies. A lot of agents. They’re all the same when you strip them down—arrogant, mouthy, trained to suffer but everyone breaks eventually.”

He turned toward you again. His boots scraped slightly across the floor as he came closer, blade gleaming.

“But you,” he said, voice lower now, almost admiring, “you’re different, so impressive. So decorated. Partner to Steve Rogers, mentored by the Black Widow."

He crouched again, placing the knife under your chin—just enough pressure to tilt your head up, to meet his eyes.

“But look at you now,” he murmured. “All alone.”

You glared at him, breathing hard. Your ribs ached with each inhale.

“You’re still not gonna get out of this,” you rasped.

Andrei gave a soft, mocking sound—almost a laugh. “Still fighting,” he said. “I love that.”

He pulled the knife back. Then his hand—the same one holding the blade—cracked across your face.

Your head snapped to the side. Fire bloomed in your cheek. Your vision spun again, and for a moment, you tasted nothing but copper and heat.

You forced your head back up. Stared at him. And then spat blood on his shoes.

His expression twitched—not anger, not quite. But it changed. Shifted. Amused and annoyed all at once.

“So dramatic,” he muttered, straightening up. “Barnes really married a firecracker.”

You smiled, lips cracked and bloodied. “Yeah. He has excellent taste.”

He turned his back to you. You didn’t trust what that meant.

“You know,” he said, picking up something else—a cloth, maybe. “When I first saw the two of you, I thought it was a clever front. Pretty couple, good chemistry and such an easy cover.”

He turned.

“But then I saw his face when we took you.”

Your heart lurched.

“I saw the way he screamed for you. Like he’d rather die right there than let you go. And that,” Andrei said, walking back toward you, “told me everything I needed to know.”

You went still.

“And now,” he said, crouching once more, “we find out just how long it takes to make you scream.”

You didn’t flinch.

But somewhere, deep in your chest, you whispered a prayer.

Not to be saved. But that Andrei would get out alive.

Because you knew Bucky was coming.

And if he didn’t find you soon— He’d tear this whole place apart.

Yelena slammed a fresh mag into her pistol with a sharp click that echoed through the hangar.

“I’m done,” she snapped. “I’m done waiting around like a fucking headless chicken."

Her vest hit the open duffel with a thud, followed by two extra mags, a smoke grenade, and a roll of wire.

Her hands moved fast, efficiently, but her face—her face was all fire, controlled only in the loosest sense of the word.

“Val said to hold,” Ava said from across the room, but even her voice sounded unsure. Her fingers were curled too tightly around the hilt of her blade. “It’s too risky for an extraction.”

Yelena’s jaw clenched as she zipped the duffel shut with a savage pull.

“Bullshit,” she cursed. 

“She said their cover was still good!” John yelled suddenly, pacing across the cracked concrete like a caged animal. His voice cracked from frustration, boots striking hard with each step.

“Cover’s blown, Ava. Raskovic’s got them. We saw that footage from the drone feed. You think Bucky screams like that when things are fine?”

No one answered. The silence that followed was deafening.

They had all heard it— the live feed that cut out halfway through, but not before they heard your slurred voice, the scrape of a chair, and—

Bucky’s scream.

It wasn’t just your name.

It was a sound torn from the center of him, ripped out like something primal—like grief, rage, and helplessness all wrapped into one brutal, broken cry. A roar that echoed through the comms with so much pain it made Ava flinch and John go deadly silent.

It didn’t even sound like a name by the end. It sounded like a man being ripped in half.

“Val’s still trying to assess options,” Ava said finally, quieter. “Wants to keep it clean. Low profile. Wait for the opportune moment.”

Yelena turned sharply. “She wants to wait until there’s nothing left to save.”

“(Y/n)'s not dead,” she added, voice lower now, shaking. “Not yet.”

Across the room, Alexei tightened the last strap of his tac vest and let out a heavy grunt from the loading ramp of the jet.

“Then we go,” he said simply. “Fast. Before is too late.”

It was Ava who moved next. She didn’t say anything.

Just unsheathed her blade, slid it into the thigh holster, and grabbed her gear. 

Bob passed her the radio jammer without a word.

John pulled a second glock off the weapons table, racked it with a sharp motion, and tossed a rifle to Alexei.

“You’re flying.”

Alexei caught it mid-air. “Da. And if Val calls mid-flight?” he added, raising an eyebrow.

“Ignore it,” Yelena muttered, strapping her vest down tight. “Unless you want to hear more bureaucratic bullshit while someone guts her open.”

“Val have our asses for this,” Ava said flatly, though she didn’t slow her pace as she climbed into the jet. “You know that, right?”

John snorted. “What’s new?”

The engines roared to life behind them—a deafening hum of rebellion.

Back in the jungle of halls and locked doors, Bucky was losing his mind.

He had already taken down four men—maybe more. He couldn’t keep count anymore, it was all a blur of fists and fury, of red-soaked sleeves and splintered bone. His knuckles were split wide open, blood running down his fingers like oil, blood that he didn’t even know was his own. 

The once-pristine black suit he’d worn to dinner, tailored, pressed, immaculate was in ruins. The white shirt beneath was streaked with blood. Buttons missing, collar torn, cufflinks long gone.

He looked like a ghost dressed for a funeral.

Yours.

Somewhere behind him, alarms blared in a shrill, endless loop. He had triggered them when he shattered the keypad on the security gate with his bare hand. 

Somewhere ahead—locked doors, concrete walls, goddamn silence.

He didn’t know where they’d taken you.

And that not knowing—that not knowing—was what was killing him.

“Fuck,” he muttered, voice rasping, barely human. “Fuck, fuck—”

He stumbled sideways, shoulder crashing into the wall. The cold bite of cement anchored him for a second, but not enough. 

He was unraveling. Frantic. Adrenaline wearing thin.

He reached for the comms, blood-slick fingers fumbling with the dial, all he heard was static, it was dead, no signal.

His breath hitched in his throat.

“No—no—come on—” He hit it harder this time, palm slamming into the casing with a sickening smack. Blood smeared the plastic. His hands were shaking.

“Come on, come on—please—”

A crackle. Static. Then—

“—arnes?”

Yelena’s voice.

His knees almost gave out.

He pressed himself back against the wall, clutching the comms like it might vanish if he let go.

“I got out,” he breathed. “I got out, I’m—I can’t find her.”

His voice broke. Shattered.

“I can’t—I don’t know where they took her. They drugged her. He had a knife at her throat—I couldn’t fucking stop it—”

He swallowed a sob. Tried to breathe, and failed.

“I should’ve seen it. I should’ve known. She knew. She felt it in her gut. And I just let her get taken.” He pushed off the wall, stumbling forward down the corridor, every door a dead end, every hallway too quiet. 

The sound of his shoes—black dress leather, scuffed now, stained red—echoed down the sterile concrete like a countdown.

And he was running out of time.

John’s voice came through next. 

“We’re in the air. Twenty minutes out. Hold tight, Bucky. We’ve got you.”

But the brunette wasn’t listening anymore.

He stopped in the middle of the hall, chest heaving like he’d just sprinted through fire. He leaned forward, bracing his hands on his knees, blood dripping to the floor beneath him.

“She was scared,” he whispered. “She told me to go. Begged me.”

The words tasted like glass in his mouth.

“She looked me in the eye like it was the last thing she would ever say to me. And I fucking left her. I left her there.”

His voice cracked again. Barely a sound.

“I can’t lose her.”

His hands curled into fists — raw, trembling. “I can’t.”

He slammed his fist into the wall—vibranium meeting concrete in a sickening crunch—and staggered forward. He was pacing now, wild and cornered and coming undone.

“I know I screw things up. I know I push people too hard. Say the wrong thing or nothing at all. I don’t... I don’t let myself feel shit unless it’s already too late.”

He pressed a shaking hand to his mouth, dragged it down his face.

“But (y/n), I—”

A pause. A beat of silence.

“Every time she disobeys me on a mission, I yell. I chew her out like she’s reckless. Like she’s careless.”

He swallowed hard. Blinked. Focused on the darkness ahead.

“It’s not control. It’s not protocol. I just—fuck, I’m scared she won’t come back.”

He stopped, spine against the wall again. Voice low, almost fagile.

“That I’ll lose her. And it’ll be my fault. Because I never told her what she really means to me.”

Yelena’s voice crackled through the line again. “Then don’t stop.”

A pause.

“You find her.”

His jaw tightened.

“I will,” Bucky said.

The tone in his voice changed—gone was the shaking, the hesitation.

“I swear to god, I’ll find her.”

His steps quickened. He pushed through the next door like it owed him something, storming into a stairwell, eyes wild, movements sharp. He didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop.

“Even if I have to burn this whole fucking place down.”

And he meant it.

He’d burn the compound, the mission, the goddamn world to the ground.

He was coming for you.

a/n: and that's chapter 5!! i hope you enjoyed, and please drop a comment or a reblog, it genuinely gives me so much motivation to give you guys my best! love y'all!

taglist: @hughjackmanadict @vxllys @f1padfoot @mortallydistinguishedwolf @midnightvitality @starglory @benbarnesprettygurl @biggestfangirl @lexavalon52 @harrietandcats @cjand10 @loganficsonly @kqliie @kitkatyap @buckyslefttooth @its-in-the-woods @yessebastianstanus @buckysgirl27 @lokisgirlie @furiousprincesskingdom @keira-kaz2y5 @amatiswayland @emilyswortwellen @samanthaw16 @bobscucumber @rrosiitas @alicetesser @morphoportis @polkadot-567 @w-h0re @c3iiaaaaa @mouseratface @biaswreckedbybuckybarnes @that-daughter-of-hephaestus

[reality-detective]

BREAKING: Navy Intercepts Deep State Submarines Carrying Kids, Gold & Bioweapons — Military Locks Down Oceans Under Trump’s Orders

As of April 14, 2025, the U.S. Navy has locked down the Atlantic and Pacific in a massive military sting targeting elite-run trafficking, bioweapon transport, and deep-sea blackmail ops. This isn’t routine patrol — this is war.

Trafficking victims. Mobile CIA servers. Gold bars. Bioweapons.

All being extracted from vessels linked to billionaires, ex-agency operatives, and foreign “diplomats.”

These aren’t pirates. These are floating Deep State hideouts — and they’re being wiped off the map.

Trump is back. This operation is under direct military command — not civilian leadership.

GITMO is active. EBS is locked and loaded. Tribunals are not coming — they’ve begun.

On the East Coast, naval strike teams seized ships disguised as luxury liners. Below deck: surgical rooms, soundproof chambers, biometric systems, and unregistered children with no records. DNA matches tie them to CPS abductions across U.S. states.

One server retrieved mapped over 600 trafficking routes since 2012 — running through Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, and U.K. ports. Funded by “charities” tied to Clinton donors. The Epstein network didn’t die — it went mobile. Now it’s caught.

On the West Coast, it's even darker.

A submersible tied to a “research foundation” was captured leaving San Diego — carrying precursor agents for aerosolized behavioral control, encrypted tablets, and night-vision tech meant for offshore “medical” camps.

Crew included former CIA, UN peacekeepers, and a WEF consultant — all under fake identities.

Some vessels carried gold stamped with central bank seals, believed stolen during the 2008 collapse and laundered through IMF fronts. Others had sealed crates of bio-compounds traced back to DARPA and WHO partners.

Nine vessels silenced in 48 hours.

No GPS. No distress calls. Just vanished.

Naval divers are pulling up deep-sea data vaults dumped overboard — containing:

Blackmail dossiers on European leaders

Human trafficking-finance links with Big Pharma

Files on Antarctic underground cities marked for “climate relocation” by elite surnames

This is military justice, not courtroom theater.

No arrests. No media coverage. Just elimination.

No escape. No more oceans to hide behind.

If you're tied to child trafficking, gold laundering, stolen intel, or elite escape ops — you will be hunted. You will be erased.

There are no more safe harbors. The storm is here.

- Julian Assange

[mister0ctopus]

Server Room (1)

series - jeon jungkook

Pairings: IT!JK x Reader

Summary:  Your new IT guy is quiet and shy. But when you accidentally caught him doing something in the server room, while moaning your name, you just had to pretend you didn’t see that, right?

Ratings: 18+ ONLY! MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!

Warnings: Explicit language, Mature Contents

Au/Genre: Smut (X), Office au, Mini Series

Word Count: 1.5K

Note: I wanted to write more, seems like this is my hyperfocus rn, but I’m sick, you guys. I skipped our company’s year-end party tn, so here I am typing with snot, lol. Hope you enjoy this, please let me know what you think! More to come. 😊

🐙 Masterlist / AskMeeeeee!!!

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

The office floor buzzes with the noise of chatter and the clicking of keyboards. Four more hours to go, and you’re free from this torture. Work has been exhausting lately, with everyone scrambling to finish everything before year-end.

You’ve been typing furiously, finishing a report you need to present tomorrow, but when you hit the Enter key, nothing happens…

And as if the world is playing tricks on you, your screen turns blue…

Enter. Esc. asoyjebcvbcjkv.

No! No no no!

You stare at it in disbelief. You worked so hard on this report—there’s no way it didn’t save, right???

You suddenly stand up and rush to one of your friends at work, and your go-to guy in IT, Yoongi.

You open the door to the IT department and let out an exaggerated sigh before plopping down next to Yoongi’s desk. He’s wearing huge headphones and tinkering with a motherboard.

“I need your magical powers right now. You can retrieve my report after this thing died on me, right?” you say, shoving your laptop toward him.

Yoongi looks up at you, eyes wide in surprise.

“Oh… you’re not Yoongi.”

“Oh—uhm…” not-Yoongi stammers, quickly pulling off his headphones, clearly startled by your sudden appearance.

Big, round eyes stare at you for a moment, like a deer in headlights.

After a few seconds, you stand up, gently pulling your laptop away from his face.

“I’m sorry. I thought you were Yoongi. Is he—”

“He’s not here. He’s on PTO for a week. The rest of the team went to check the new equipment coming in. Uh— I’m new here,” he says, almost too quickly, before gulping nervously. “I started last week…” His words trail off abruptly, as if realizing he’s said too much.

“Oh! Right. I forgot about his PTO. Vacation. Yeah. Uhm…” You laugh at yourself, realizing you completely forgot about Yoongi’s vacation. He’s going fishing and camping with Jin, his brother, and wow, that actually sounds amazing. You really need a vacation too, but goddamn it, the report, YN! You really need that report!

“Yes. Report. I really really need your help. I’m YN btw, and you’re…?”

“Jungkook,” he says in a breathy voice.

“Right. Hi, Jungkook. I didn’t realize there was a new guy in IT. So, listen... my laptop just died, and I really need your help retrieving a report I’ve been working on for days. I’d be so grateful... please?” you smiled sweetly as you subtly leaned in, because lord, you’re desperate and running out of time.

He nods quietly and places your laptop on his desk. He inspects the device and types a few keys. After a few seconds, still without looking at you, he says, “I need to run some tests. It may take a while…”

“How long exactly?” You nervously bite your lip. There’s no way this report can’t be retrieved. You have no backup, obviously relying on the laptop to save everything.

“Maybe... tomorrow? I—I’ll try to fix it,” Jungkook stammers, his cheeks slightly pink as he types a few commands.

“No!” You cut him off a little too quickly, then softened your tone to control the panic rising in your chest. “I have a presentation first thing tomorrow, and I need it today. Tonight, at the latest.”

He still doesn’t look at you, focusing on the device.

“I’ll try my best. You can come back later before you go home.” That’s all he says before turning his chair away from you.

You were about to further insist on the urgency of this matter, but you don’t want to push him more. You’re at the mercy of this guy, and he’s the only one who can help you right now.

You nod, trying to keep your frustration in check. "Okay, I’ll be back before 5 pm." you say, giving him a small, grateful smile. “Thanks, Jungkook. I appreciate it.”

He simply nods back, still not making eye contact as he focuses on the device.

You leave the IT department, your mind racing as you think about how to explain to your boss if the report can’t be recovered.

4:07pm

You glanced at the clock for the eleventh time since leaving the IT room, your anxiety growing with each passing minute. You couldn’t wait any longer to find out if the laptop was fixed, so you decided to head back to the IT room, only to find it empty.

“Jungkook?” you call softly.

The room is small, with only four desks, so it’s easy to tell that no one is there—no one except for you.

You turn to leave when your eyes catch another door with a sign that reads “Server Room.”

Jungkook must be in there, so you approach the door and push it open. But just as soon as you step inside, you hear angry grunts and heavy breathing, as if someone is straining.

A sense of panic rushes over you, as though you’re not supposed to be here—should you be here?

You freeze, unsure of what to do next, but then you notice movement behind one of the racks directly in front of you. Colorful inked hand moves erratically, tugging at something angrily.

Up, down, forward, backward...

You hear the grunts shift into groans, and the heavy breathing turns into soft whines.

You hear slick, wet sounds and the pounding of your own heart. You know you’re not supposed to be looking, yet you can’t tear your eyes away.

Your eyes shift from his busy hands to his strained face, where you notice Jungkook biting his lip to stifle more sound from eliciting, his lip ring catching the light on his every movement, and you feel wetness soil you in your center, so you press your thighs together to try and soothe it.

You close your eyes because god why is this so wrong, and so fucking hot?

And you clench your cunt around nothing as you hear him call your name in the most strained voice, almost sounding like a plea.

“Fuck… YN, oh god of god oh goddd!” he whined, movements quicker now.

Your face goes numb with shock from the vulgarity, and you struggle to steady your breath as you quietly storm out of the server room, praying he didn’t notice you at all.

You hurriedly walk back to your desk, a wave of shame washing over you for what you saw and what you're feeling, your cheeks flushed with embarrassment and need.

You fix your already neat hair, hoping no one notices the chaos you're feeling, but what you don’t realize is that Jungkook saw you leave the room, and that made him cum harder as he imagined his firm hands being your soft and wet hole instead.  

Still shaken from the incident, you finally gather yourself at exactly 5 PM and make your way back to the IT room. Desperation fuels your steps—there’s no way you can let what you saw, and the way it made you feel, stop you from retrieving your laptop.

As you step inside the room, expecting a dismissive Jungkook to greet you, you instead collide with something solid—a chest.

Jungkook’s chest.

Visuals of him from a few minutes ago flash through your mind, and you let out a small gasp. He is smirking, but his expression remains unreadable—a stark contrast to the shy and aloof Jungkook you had initially met.

"I fixed it. Your data is all there. I also made sure you're logged into the reporting CRM, so your presentation pulls real-time data via API. Basically—you have a backup," he said matter-of-factly, his tone professional—but his eyes are anything but.

He handed you the device, and you hesitantly took it, still processing everything.

With a sigh of relief, you offered him a sweet smile, your voice soft as you thanked him. "Thank you, Jungkook. You saved my life. I owe you," you murmured, though your mind was still racing, unable to shake the earlier scene.

 He nodded and remained quiet, simply watching you with a sly grin on his lips, his expression still unreadable.

The tension was unbearable. Unable to take it any longer, you quickly mumbled another "thanks" and made your exit.

When you finally reached home, exhaustion settled in, but relief quickly followed. You’d been running on adrenaline all day, but now that it was done, you could finally breathe. The changes Jungkook made were a game-changer—it fed you real-time data seamlessly, saving you hours of work.

After adding the final touches to your presentation for tomorrow, you got ready for bed. You couldn’t help but feel a mix of gratitude and awe as you closed your laptop for the night.

But your mind betrayed you—thoughts of Jungkook still lingered in your brain, refusing to let you rest.

His tattooed arm around his hardness…

The way his chest heaves…

The way he was beating his dick for you…

The way he sounded, his groans, his moans…

How the slick and wet noise filled the air…

How he looked so angry biting his lips, brows furrowed in frustration…

His dark hair stuck to his damp forehead…

The lip piercing that you were sure would feel cold against your warm folds…

You touch yourself with desperate need, pumping two fingers inside as your other hand circles your clit.

You yell his name over and over, as you buck your hips, feeling your release drench you further. Then you drift into slumber in soiled underwear and a sweet sweet smile, knowing you’ll see him again tomorrow.

[nina-ya]

Synopsis: You are wrapped up for Law and he can't help himself. Pairing: Law x afab reader CW: SMUT MINORS DNI, use of 'good girl' twice, bondage, vision loss, overstimulation, Law is a cocky bastard, fingering, p in v sex, creampie • ficmas masterlist • ko-fi • discord server •

The world was reduced to darkness, your vision swallowed by the silken ribbon tied snugly over your eyes. Robbed of sight, every other sense seemed to come alive, leaving you hyper-aware of the faintest shift in the air and the quietest of sounds that punctuate the room. That same material that stole your sight crisscrossed against your chest, wrapped once, twice, thrice around your abdomen, and looped around your wrists, locking them behind you in a snug bind that left you helplessly exposed.

Your breaths came unsteady, each inhale shallow and tremulous as you strained to decipher his movements in the silence. The air itself was thick with a suffocating tension, and even without seeing, you could feel his presence nearby just barely out of reach, waiting and waiting.

“Relax,” Law’s voice finally cut through the stillness. The sound of it hit you like a physical force, rippling from head to toe before settling in your lower belly. 

Your lips parted to respond, but the words tangled on your tongue, dissolving into a shaky exhale. He didn’t touch you right away, oh no, he made you wait, letting you marinate in your own breathless vulnerability.

When his fingers finally skimmed the bare skin of your shoulder, you jerked, a soft gasp falling from your lips. The touch was so light it might’ve been a figment of your imagination if not for the trail of warmth left in its wake. 

“So sensitive like this,” he murmured, a hint of amusement curling in his words. His fingertips danced over your skin, trailing up the side of your neck until two fingers pressed against your carotid, feeling the rapid thump thump thump under your skin. “Good. That’s exactly what I want.”

Your throat bobbed as you swallowed, unconsciously tilting your head towards his touch, chasing the heat of him. But before you could indulge, he moved again. The soft creak of the floorboards was the only clue to his whereabouts. He circled you like a predator savoring the moment before the pounce, his commanding presence palpable even in the emptiness. 

When his hands returned to your shoulders, you jumped again, a startled gasp escaping you once more. His palms pressed firmly into the tense muscles there, kneading as he leaned in close. 

“You’re holding your breath,” he noted softly, his voice dropping into a husky whisper. “Don't. Breathe for me.”

A trembling sigh slipped past your lips as your body obeyed his command, though it was difficult when every nerve in your body was on high alert. His hands slid down, tracing the curve of your arms until they reached your bound wrists. He tugged the ribbon there to remind you of its presence, and you swear you could see the smug smirk plastered on his face despite the lack of sight.

“Law,” you finally whispered, your voice cracking slightly. The sound of your own voice startled you in the quiet room. You weren’t sure what you were asking for– clarity, reassurance, mercy, or simply for his touch again. 

The silk ribbon bit into your skin as Law hauled you up from the chair. Each subtle pulse of your heartbeat throbbed against the bindings, a constant reminder of your helplessness. You stumbled slightly as he led you forward until the edge of the bed pressed against the front of your thighs. The surface was soft and inviting, but his hands on your hips were the opposite- rough and controlling, coaxing you forward until your body was bent over the surface.

When he touched you again, it was maddeningly slow, the faintest of graze of his fingertips gliding down your spine, leaving a trail of goosebumps. The teasing path sent a shiver straight through you, his touch tracing down the curve of your back until it reached the swell of your ass. He kneaded the plush flesh, his movements languid and unhurried as he savored the sight in front of him.

But then his hand slid lower, trailing to the place you craved him most. The first press of his fingers was light, barely pressing the slick heat of your core, and the restraint of his touch was devastating. Your thighs trembled, a sharp whine escaping your lips as you strained against the silken binds, desperate for more.

“You’re soaked already,” he murmured, the words dark and drenched in skin. He dragged his fingers through the wetness with an almost mocking gentleness, fanning the flames of the growing ache within you.

A gasp tore from you as you bucked your hips back, chasing his touch. He chuckled at your feeble attempt. “Impatient,” he said, the word dripping with amusement. But he obliged, whether out of cruelty or kindness, you couldn’t be sure. 

Two fingers slipped into you without warning, the sudden stretch stealing your breath. Your walls fluttered around him as he withdrew only to thrust back in as he worked you open. He curled then inside you, angling until he had you shattering under his touch, stars bursting behind your eyes as you arched into his touch.

Your bound wrists trembled against the small of your back, useless in their constraints. A litany of gasps and shuddering breaths spilling from your lips. Maybe you subconsciously held back so you could hear the world beyond the ribbon that stole your sight. Or maybe you just weren’t in a vocal mood at the moment. Whatever the reason was, Law wasn’t pleased with it.

“You’re holding back,” Law chided, voice sharp enough to cut through the haze of your pleasure. “That won’t do.”

The ribbon at your wrists was pulled taut as he yanked you upright, your legs giving out beneath you as he hauled you flush against his chest. His breath was hot against your ear as you felt his hand reach around your front, using his arm to hold you up as his hand found your chin, gripping your jaw firmly. “Let me hear you,” he ordered, his voice low. 

The fingers that were knuckle deep inside of you continued to coax you closer and closer to the edge. Your resolve shattered as a low, needy moan spilled from your lips, followed by a wail as he curled his fingers just so, hitting that one spot inside of you with devastating accuracy. 

“That’s better,” he growled against your ear, his voice rough with satisfaction. “I want to hear every little sound.”

His fingers continued to hit that spot over and over and over again, your body tensing and the pleasure in your core coiling tighter and tighter by the second. And then you broke, a cry ripping from your throat as that coil finally snapped, your release washing over you as your walls fluttered around his fingers. A string of pleads, curses, and cries of his name fell from your lips, each sound dripping with raw, unrestrained desire. The high left you trembling, your limbs slack and useless as your chest heaved with shallow breaths. And before the intensity had fully faded, he withdrew, leaving a sudden emptiness that only he could fulfill.

The hand wrapped around your front released your chin and slid down to your chest as it continued to hold you upright against the bed's edge. You barely had a moment to recover before the fingers that were once inside of you pressed against your parted lips, slipping easily between them. 

“Go on,” he murmured, his voice molten, “Taste yourself.”

Obedience came naturally and your tongue swirled around his inked digits, savoring the slick digits. The wet, intimate taste of yourself had a strange, intoxicating effect on you, and it only deepened the ache pooling low in your stomach. 

“Good girl,” Law rasped, his voice rough with satisfaction. Slowly, he slid his fingers free, the spit-covered digits gleaming as he held them up briefly before wiping them on your inner thigh.

Before you could catch your breath, you felt the shift of his body, his chest brushing against yours as he adjusted himself between your trembling legs. His hand released your chest in favor of holding your hip, causing you to fall forward and meet the bed once again. The blunt, swollen head of his cock pressed against your entrance, and you let out a broken whimper. You squirmed as he barely nudged into your spent hole, a maddening pressure that made your body tighten in response. He barely entered, just the tip, yet it was enough to make you burn. 

The chuckle Law let out was almost taunting as he watched you writhe beneath him. “Sensitive, are we?” he purred, one hand gripping you in place while the other snaked around your front, finding your swollen clit with infuriating accuracy. The teasing circles sent a violent shudder through you, ripping a cry from you as you lunged forward, your overstimulated nerves screaming for mercy.

“Please,” you choked out, your voice a trembling whisper as you squirmed beneath him, desperate and undone. 

But Law wasn’t having it. In one swift motion, he flipped you onto your back, his hand moving to hold you down against the mattress. You yelped at the sudden shift, your heart racing and your body entirely exposed to him. 

You heard Law fumble around for a moment, grumbling something you couldn't quite make out. Then, you felt the ribbon around your head loosen, the blindfold slipping away. Light flooded your vision, and you blinked, adjusting to the sudden clarity. 

And there he was. Law’s bare form hovered over you, his tattooed body a masterpiece of sharp lines and ink. His cock stood proud, the flushed tip glistening, the sight alone enough to leave you breathless.

He held the ribbon in his hands and without a word, he brought it to his mouth, his teeth tearing through the fabric with ease. The action was primal and it made your clit throb with a renewed want.

The torn ribbon was repurposed with cruel efficiency, binding your ankles to the bedposts. He wrapped the silk tight enough to keep you spread wide, and by the time he was done, you were fully exposed and utterly at his mercy, your wrists trapped beneath you and your legs held firmly apart.

Law sat back back for a moment, his eyes roaming over your bound form. His gaze was heavy, dark with amusement and possessive hunger, and when his lips quirked into a smirk, it was laced with pure sin. 

“Perfect,” he murmured, the single word both a promise and an assessment. 

He shifted closer, hovering over you, his breath mingling with yours as he positioned himself between your trembling legs. You could feel his cock resting against your slick folds, teasing and gliding and sending jolts of electricity through your hypersensitive body. 

The first nudge of his tip had you squirming, lips parting to cry out, but his lips met yours, swallowing any noises that threatened to come out with a deep, consuming kiss. And slowly, he pushed in, the stretch an intoxicating burn that stole the air from your lungs. 

Your muffled cry mixed with a groan of his as he buried himself inside of you. The pressure was overwhelming, but it only fueled your desire, the pleasure teetering on the edge of pain in the most exquisite way.

Law’s hand hooked under your thigh, lifting it slightly to deepen the angle. And then he began to move. His pace was merciless, each thrust hard as he drove his cock into you with brutal precision. The sound of skin against skin filled the air, mixing with your shared sounds of pleasure and the wet, obscene noises of your body taking him. 

“Please… can’t…” you whimpered, your voice trembling as your fingers clawed helplessly at the sheets beneath you. 

Law leaned his head down to the side of your face, lips grazing the shell of your ear as he growled, “You can take it, I know you can.” The heat of his words settled deep inside of you as he continued, “Be a good girl and take it for me, will you?”

You didn’t quite hear his words through the chaos that is your mind, but a warbled sound resembling a response spilled past your lips. His other hand slid around your waist, pulling you against him as he drove deeper, harder, his cock hitting spots that made stars burst in your eyes, quickly hurtling towards the edge for the second time that night. 

Your body became a live wire, every muscle wound impossibly tight as the tension spiraled to an unbearable peak. Your thighs quivered in Law’s grip, toes curling as the pleasure spread outward, consuming your entire being. 

Your breath came in ragged gasps, each exhale trembling with the sensations threatening to take over. His cock hit that devastatingly perfect spot over and over as he unraveled you. You felt your walls clench tightly around him, the twitches and spasms of your body pulling him deeper, holding him in place as though you could keep him tethered to you. 

The pressure finally exploded, and you shattered. Every muscle in your body seized as your stomach tightened, your back arching off the bed as you were completely overtaken by the intensity of your orgasm. 

Your fingers clawed at the sheets, knuckles white as your body trembled beneath him. Your thighs pressed futilely against his hips in a desperate attempt to steady yourself against the overwhelming pleasure. 

“Fuck,” Law groaned, his voice thick and strained as you clenched around him, somehow pulling him deeper. He held you in place as he worked you through it, his thrusts steady but slower now as he prolonged the euphoric aftershocks that racked your body.

You gasped his name, your voice shaking as tears pricked at the corners of your eyes from the sheer feelings of everything. And as the peaks began to subside, your muscles were left weak and your body pliant beneath him. 

Law followed soon after, his movements growing uncoordinated as his thrusts turned into a desperate rhythm as he chased his own release. You whimpered with every thrust as your spent hole was fucked into for moments longer. The tension in his body was visible, the flexing of his muscles as he held you tightly in place a beautiful sight above you.

His breath hitched and he sharply inhaled as his hips snapped forward one final time, burying himself to the hilt. His body stilled, a low moan escaping his lips as his climax overtook him. His voice was raw with pleasure as his cock pulsed, releasing ropes of his spend with each throb. His fingers dug into you, holding you against him as his chest heaved, his body trembling from the aftermath. 

For a moment, the room was filled with nothing but the sounds of your shared heavy, uneven breaths as you both came down from the high. Then slowly, his grip softened, his hands now moving with a gentleness as they roamed over your skin. 

Law eased himself from you with painstaking care, pausing to press a kiss to your forehead, his lips warm. “Are you okay?” he murmured against your skin, pulling back to stare at your flushed features. 

You whined out something incoherent, pairing it with a nod, and Law chuckled in response, pressing a chaste kiss to your lips as he moved to untie you. He removed the ribbon from your ankles first, the silk falling away under his careful touch. He rubbed soothing circles into the tender spots where the fabric pressed into your skin, his thumbs working over each mark with tenderness. “Does this hurt?” he asked, his eyes scanning you for any signs of discomfort. 

When you shook your head, he smiled. He kissed each of the spots where the ribbons had left faint impressions, murmuring quiet apologies for any marks they might have left behind. 

Next, he turned his attention to your wrists and your chest, carefully unbinding the silk that had once held you as he proceeded to the muscles to soothe any lingering tension. “You did so good for me,” he praised, voice filled with admiration.

He shifted, laying next to you and pulling your sweat-slicked body into his. Neither of you moved much, save for the delicate caresses against your sides paired with kisses on every exposed surface his lips could reach. 

You both knew the next step would be to grab a towel or shower, making some sort of effort to clean up, but you silently agreed that this moment was one that you wanted to prolong. Sweet nothings and murmured praises filled the air, melting into a lazy conversation. 

“This was such an amazing gift,” Law said, looking at you with a pleased expression. “I wonder how I could possibly ever top that.”

And you giggled, your voice light and airy as you gazed up at him with a playful grin. “I might have some ideas…”

[angel-writes-skz-here]

Soju Smash

Dom! Felix x Sub! Reader Synopsis: Teasing at the bar causes Felix to take out his pent up energy on you. Warnings: SMUT, oral (f. rec), fingering, unprotected p in v, semi public sex, spit, degradation. A/N: Here's your drink order sweetpea! I hope it's up to standard. Check out the menu below & place an order with @breakmeoff Larie's Libations - Soju Smash [Soju] - Felix [Soda] - Bar [Citrus Rind] - Kinks (Spit, Degradation) Please don't forget to tip your server and don't hesitate to let us know if we can get you anything else!🍹

The bar is dimly lit, smokey, and busy. Drinks flow; celebrations are in order and your boyfriend has earned it. Finishing this latest album while on a world tour is no small feat.

Under the table your hand has been on Felix’s thigh slowly inching upward. He’d been shooting you warning glares the whole night, and yet in your defiance, paid no mind to it at all. Truth be told you wanted to go home as soon as possible. Months without your boyfriend were hard, and those first few days when he got home were like heaven. As much as you loved the boys, you could see them in a week, but Chan was determined to have everyone together tonight. So here you sit with your boyfriend and many sexually frustrating urges.

As everyone orders another round, you excuse yourself to the bathroom for a moment. You open the door to the restroom, the aesthetic of class and elegance flows fluidly.

You touch up your make up, the sound of the door opening catching your attention and you notice Felix is the one walking in. You quirk your brow at him, curious as to what he’s doing.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” You say as he locks the door behind him and you apply your lip gloss.

He simply leans against the wall, his eyes undressing you right then and there.

“I didn’t even wanna come tonight,” he states casually.

“I wanted to go home, cuddle you,” he smirks as he stalks over to you, “Kiss you,” he says as he wraps his arms around your waist, staring at you in the mirror.

“Feel you,” he breathes in your ear.

“And then, I’m asked to come out to get drinks, and you insist on being such a bad girl,” he says, eye contact direct in the mirror, his eyes darker than normal, body somehow appearing larger in stature and you feel small under his gaze. You draw your freshly glossed lip between your teeth.

“Such a naughty little girl,” he says lowly, tongue flicking out over the shell of your ear as his hand comes up around your throat possessively.

You whimper in response, make up abandoned on the sink in front of you.

Felix spins your around, gripping your jaw with his hand, a smirk on his lips as he stares down at you, cocky and in complete control.

“Open,” he says simply and you immediately obey. Felix shakes his head with amusement.

“So desperate for me.” He taunts. Your mouth waters as he spits directly into it.

“Swallow,” he commands and you instantly do. You feel a damp spot between your thighs, his dominance causing a dull ache. He notices your thighs squeeze together in your instinct to get some sort of friction.

“Not to mention this dress.” He tuts, hand roughly separating your thighs. He moves his hand to your panties, chuckling lowly as he feels them.

“God you’re such a mess for me, been thinking about having me fuck you all day, hmm?” Your cheeks dust pink as you look to the side.

“Hungry for my cock?” he mumbles in your ear as his fingers start to rub your over your underwear. You brace against him, between his body and the sink, trying to stay steady.

“Oh, fuck,” you whimper as his fingers quickly move your panties aside and start rubbing tight little circles on your clit. Your hips grind as Felix inserts his middle finger, languid, lazy strokes in and out of you, curling slightly hitting your sweet spot painfully slow and your head rests against his shoulder.

“Aww, poor baby, can’t even keep it together while my fingers are shoved deep inside you? How pathetic,” he taunts and bites the lobe of your ear.

Your walls squeeze him at his words, earning a groan from him.

“Felix, please.” You breathlessly ask as he picks up the pace.

“Oh, what was that? Let me hear you.” He drawls as your hips grind harder against him.

“That’s it, fuck yourself on my fingers like the filthy brat you are.” He grunts as the bottom of his palm brushes your clit. Your hips quickly start to loose their rhythm. And just as the coil in your stomach tightens, Felix pulls his hand away.

“Felix, what the fuck.” You snap your head up. He lifts you up onto the counter, dropping to his knees, and slips your underwear off.

“You won’t need these.” He smirks as he hands them you. He spreads your folds with his fingers. Licking a stripe up your dripping cunt, he groans at your taste.

“Months without you,” he shutters as his cock twitches in his pants, before spitting on your clit directly, watching it coat the area slick. His mouth devours you, your hips jerking, back against he mirror, left hand in his hair as your right helps you brace to hold yourself up right.

Your eyes screw tight, gasping as you feel your orgasm quickly approach again.

“Harder, Lix, please,” you beg in-between gasps; mouth falling open. Felix moves his tongue along your clit, hitting the most sensitive part feeling pleasure and slightly painful sensitivity mix and your orgasm explodes out of you. Your body shakes as you cum on his tongue. He quickly swallows it with a satisfied hum.

Felix smirks, watching your chest heave up and down as your eyes are half lidded, unsure of if the rest of the bar could hear you or not. Felix stands up, chin and lips shiny. He smiles, kissing you as he undoes the belt on his pants and slips them down, revealing his achingly hard cock.

He lines him self up, bring your pelvis to the edge of the sink. You feel the tip press at your entrance, but Felix restrains himself, smirking.

“Beg,” he smirks confidently as he grips your throat, forcing your eyes to meet his.

“Lixie,” you whine, face turning red.

“Come on, angel, show me how desperate you are for my cock. Beg.” The embarrassment floods your veins as you take a deep breath. Felix’s face expectant and cocky.

“Please,” you whimper, and he smiles.

“Please what?”

“Please fuck me, Felix. I need you, I need your cock fucking me stupid,” you announce as your hips desperately try to move towards him, but to no avail.

Felix chuckles victoriously, thrusting his hips up, bottoming out in you in one fluid motion. Your mouth goes to his shoulder, muffling your noises.

“No, no, no,” he tuts, “I wanna hear every little sound that comes from that pretty little mouth of yours. I want everyone,” he says as he pulls out and slams back in causing you to cry out, “in this bar to know my name, and know I’m the one making you feel so,” he repeats his actions, earning another loud, pornographic moan from you, “damn good,” he says as he begins to find a rhythm.

His tip kisses your cervix and Felix moves your body closer to him, burying himself impossibly deeper.

Your head falls back, catching sight of your reflection.

“See the way you tremble because of me?” he smirks.

“How you fucking shake, because of my cock,” he grunts. Hips snapping against yours.

Your body jolts up on the counter, eyes are screwing shut.

“Don’t you fucking cum yet,” he pants.

“Lix,” you gasp, head snapping back up, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Fuck, please,” you whimper in his ear.

“Hold it,” he says brows furrowed. Your nails delve into the jacket on his shoulders.

“Fuck, baby on three, ok? Look at me,” he grips the base of your hair and pulls your head back to look at him.

“one,” he grunts, hips trying to lose their rhythm.

“two- fuck,” he says as your walls suck him in.

“Three, Cum for me baby, make a mess all over my cock.” He breathes as his hips snap harshly and both of you let out sinful sounding noises as your mutual release is achieved.

He pulls out of you slowly, watching the way his cum leaks out of you for a moment. He grabs a paper towel dampens it and carefully cleans you up.

He tosses it in the trashcan and cups your face, peering into your eyes, his own soft and concerned.

“You ok, baby?” he cradles your face gently, voice soft and sweet like syrup.

“I’m ok,” you breathe, a lazy, satisfied smile and hooded lids gracing your face. You kiss his lips passionately before sliding your panties on and hopping off the counter, legs slightly wobbly.

Felix helps you steady yourself, kissing your cheek once you nod your head that you’re ok.

“Are we staying for more drinks?” you ask innocently.

“Hell no. I’m taking you home.” He smirks as the two of you walk out of the bathroom, hand in hand and take a straight shot outside to the car.

Tags:@idkimobsessed @queenofdumbfuckery @mfcherry @downingmorphine @pixie-felix @d3kstar @lveegsoi @ebnabi @nebugalaxy @babystay724 @mmarusa @imagine-all-the-imagines @erisuna @beabidoobee @hanniesbubuwife @bbykaixx @riri53 @jinniesgirl @alx-wyjsr @skzswife @hwangjoanna @stephanieeeyang @minnysproutgriffinteddy @jqtsblyth @magicshuhua @loveesiren @szonyix6277 @seungttttop @moontabi @thelovelybireader @crystal005 @velvetmoonlght

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[donjuaninhell]

How I ditched streaming services and learned to love Linux: A step-by-step guide to building your very own personal media streaming server (V2.0: REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION)

This is a revised, corrected and expanded version of my tutorial on setting up a personal media server that previously appeared on my old blog (donjuan-auxenfers). I expect that that post is still making the rounds (hopefully with my addendum on modifying group share permissions in Ubuntu to circumvent 0x8007003B "Unexpected Network Error" messages in Windows 10/11 when transferring files) but I have no way of checking. Anyway this new revised version of the tutorial corrects one or two small errors I discovered when rereading what I wrote, adds links to all products mentioned and is just more polished generally. I also expanded it a bit, pointing more adventurous users toward programs such as Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr and Overseerr which can be used for automating user requests and media collection.

So then, what is this tutorial? This is a tutorial on how to build and set up your own personal media server using Ubuntu as an operating system and Plex (or Jellyfin) to not only manage your media, but to also stream that media to your devices both at home and abroad anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection. Its intent is to show you how building a personal media server and stuffing it full of films, TV, and music that you acquired through indiscriminate and voracious media piracy various legal methods will free you to completely ditch paid streaming services. No more will you have to pay for Disney+, Netflix, HBOMAX, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Peacock, CBS All Access, Paramount+, Crave or any other streaming service that is not named Criterion Channel. Instead whenever you want to watch your favourite films and television shows, you’ll have your own personal service that only features things that you want to see, with files that you have control over. And for music fans out there, both Jellyfin and Plex support music streaming, meaning you can even ditch music streaming services. Goodbye Spotify, Youtube Music, Tidal and Apple Music, welcome back unreasonably large MP3 (or FLAC) collections.

On the hardware front, I’m going to offer a few options catered towards different budgets and media library sizes. The cost of getting a media server up and running using this guide will cost you anywhere from $450 CAD/$325 USD at the low end to $1500 CAD/$1100 USD at the high end (it could go higher). My server was priced closer to the higher figure, but I went and got a lot more storage than most people need. If that seems like a little much, consider for a moment, do you have a roommate, a close friend, or a family member who would be willing to chip in a few bucks towards your little project provided they get access? Well that's how I funded my server. It might also be worth thinking about the cost over time, i.e. how much you spend yearly on subscriptions vs. a one time cost of setting up a server. Additionally there's just the joy of being able to scream "fuck you" at all those show cancelling, library deleting, hedge fund vampire CEOs who run the studios through denying them your money. Drive a stake through David Zaslav's heart.

On the software side I will walk you step-by-step through installing Ubuntu as your server's operating system, configuring your storage as a RAIDz array with ZFS, sharing your zpool to Windows with Samba, running a remote connection between your server and your Windows PC, and then a little about started with Plex/Jellyfin. Every terminal command you will need to input will be provided, and I even share a custom #bash script that will make used vs. available drive space on your server display correctly in Windows.

If you have a different preferred flavour of Linux (Arch, Manjaro, Redhat, Fedora, Mint, OpenSUSE, CentOS, Slackware etc. et. al.) and are aching to tell me off for being basic and using Ubuntu, this tutorial is not for you. The sort of person with a preferred Linux distro is the sort of person who can do this sort of thing in their sleep. Also I don't care. This tutorial is intended for the average home computer user. This is also why we’re not using a more exotic home server solution like running everything through Docker Containers and managing it through a dashboard like Homarr or Heimdall. While such solutions are fantastic and can be very easy to maintain once you have it all set up, wrapping your brain around Docker is a whole thing in and of itself. If you do follow this tutorial and had fun putting everything together, then I would encourage you to return in a year’s time, do your research and set up everything with Docker Containers.

Lastly, this is a tutorial aimed at Windows users. Although I was a daily user of OS X for many years (roughly 2008-2023) and I've dabbled quite a bit with various Linux distributions (mostly Ubuntu and Manjaro), my primary OS these days is Windows 11. Many things in this tutorial will still be applicable to Mac users, but others (e.g. setting up shares) you will have to look up for yourself. I doubt it would be difficult to do so.

Nothing in this tutorial will require feats of computing expertise. All you will need is a basic computer literacy (i.e. an understanding of what a filesystem and directory are, and a degree of comfort in the settings menu) and a willingness to learn a thing or two. While this guide may look overwhelming at first glance, it is only because I want to be as thorough as possible. I want you to understand exactly what it is you're doing, I don't want you to just blindly follow steps. If you half-way know what you’re doing, you will be much better prepared if you ever need to troubleshoot.

Honestly, once you have all the hardware ready it shouldn't take more than an afternoon or two to get everything up and running.

(This tutorial is just shy of seven thousand words long so the rest is under the cut.)

Step One: Choosing Your Hardware

Linux is a light weight operating system, depending on the distribution there's close to no bloat. There are recent distributions available at this very moment that will run perfectly fine on a fourteen year old i3 with 4GB of RAM. Moreover, running Plex or Jellyfin isn’t resource intensive in 90% of use cases. All this is to say, we don’t require an expensive or powerful computer. This means that there are several options available: 1) use an old computer you already have sitting around but aren't using 2) buy a used workstation from eBay, or what I believe to be the best option, 3) order an N100 Mini-PC from AliExpress or Amazon.

Note: If you already have an old PC sitting around that you’ve decided to use, fantastic, move on to the next step.

When weighing your options, keep a few things in mind: the number of people you expect to be streaming simultaneously at any one time, the resolution and bitrate of your media library (4k video takes a lot more processing power than 1080p) and most importantly, how many of those clients are going to be transcoding at any one time. Transcoding is what happens when the playback device does not natively support direct playback of the source file. This can happen for a number of reasons, such as the playback device's native resolution being lower than the file's internal resolution, or because the source file was encoded in a video codec unsupported by the playback device.

Ideally we want any transcoding to be performed by hardware. This means we should be looking for a computer with an Intel processor with Quick Sync. Quick Sync is a dedicated core on the CPU die designed specifically for video encoding and decoding. This specialized hardware makes for highly efficient transcoding both in terms of processing overhead and power draw. Without these Quick Sync cores, transcoding must be brute forced through software. This takes up much more of a CPU’s processing power and requires much more energy. But not all Quick Sync cores are created equal and you need to keep this in mind if you've decided either to use an old computer or to shop for a used workstation on eBay

Any Intel processor from second generation Core (Sandy Bridge circa 2011) onward has Quick Sync cores. It's not until 6th gen (Skylake), however, that the cores support the H.265 HEVC codec. Intel’s 10th gen (Comet Lake) processors introduce support for 10bit HEVC and HDR tone mapping. And the recent 12th gen (Alder Lake) processors brought with them hardware AV1 decoding. As an example, while an 8th gen (Kaby Lake) i5-8500 will be able to hardware transcode a H.265 encoded file, it will fall back to software transcoding if given a 10bit H.265 file. If you’ve decided to use that old PC or to look on eBay for an old Dell Optiplex keep this in mind.

Note 1: The price of old workstations varies wildly and fluctuates frequently. If you get lucky and go shopping shortly after a workplace has liquidated a large number of their workstations you can find deals for as low as $100 on a barebones system, but generally an i5-8500 workstation with 16gb RAM will cost you somewhere in the area of $260 CAD/$200 USD.

Note 2: The AMD equivalent to Quick Sync is called Video Core Next, and while it's fine, it's not as efficient and not as mature a technology. It was only introduced with the first generation Ryzen CPUs and it only got decent with their newest CPUs, we want something cheap.

Alternatively you could forgo having to keep track of what generation of CPU is equipped with Quick Sync cores that feature support for which codecs, and just buy an N100 mini-PC. For around the same price or less of a used workstation you can pick up a mini-PC with an Intel N100 processor. The N100 is a four-core processor based on the 12th gen Alder Lake architecture and comes equipped with the latest revision of the Quick Sync cores. These little processors offer astounding hardware transcoding capabilities for their size and power draw. Otherwise they perform equivalent to an i5-6500, which isn't a terrible CPU. A friend of mine uses an N100 machine as a dedicated retro emulation gaming system and it does everything up to 6th generation consoles just fine. The N100 is also a remarkably efficient chip, it sips power. In fact, the difference between running one of these and an old workstation could work out to hundreds of dollars a year in energy bills depending on where you live.

You can find these Mini-PCs all over Amazon or for a little cheaper on AliExpress. They range in price from $170 CAD/$125 USD for a no name N100 with 8GB RAM to $280 CAD/$200 USD for a Beelink S12 Pro with 16GB RAM. The brand doesn't really matter, they're all coming from the same three factories in Shenzen, go for whichever one fits your budget or has features you want. 8GB RAM should be enough, Linux is lightweight and Plex only calls for 2GB RAM. 16GB RAM might result in a slightly snappier experience, especially with ZFS. A 256GB SSD is more than enough for what we need as a boot drive, but going for a bigger drive might allow you to get away with things like creating preview thumbnails for Plex, but it’s up to you and your budget.

The Mini-PC I wound up buying was a Firebat AK2 Plus with 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. It looks like this:

Note: Be forewarned that if you decide to order a Mini-PC from AliExpress, note the type of power adapter it ships with. The mini-PC I bought came with an EU power adapter and I had to supply my own North American power supply. Thankfully this is a minor issue as barrel plug 30W/12V/2.5A power adapters are easy to find and can be had for $10.

Step Two: Choosing Your Storage

Storage is the most important part of our build. It is also the most expensive. Thankfully it’s also the most easily upgrade-able down the line.

For people with a smaller media collection (4TB to 8TB), a more limited budget, or who will only ever have two simultaneous streams running, I would say that the most economical course of action would be to buy a USB 3.0 8TB external HDD. Something like this one from Western Digital or this one from Seagate. One of these external drives will cost you in the area of $200 CAD/$140 USD. Down the line you could add a second external drive or replace it with a multi-drive RAIDz set up such as detailed below.

If a single external drive the path for you, move on to step three.

For people with larger media libraries (12TB+), who prefer media in 4k, or care who about data redundancy, the answer is a RAID array featuring multiple HDDs in an enclosure.

Note: If you are using an old PC or used workstatiom as your server and have the room for at least three 3.5" drives, and as many open SATA ports on your mother board you won't need an enclosure, just install the drives into the case. If your old computer is a laptop or doesn’t have room for more internal drives, then I would suggest an enclosure.

The minimum number of drives needed to run a RAIDz array is three, and seeing as RAIDz is what we will be using, you should be looking for an enclosure with three to five bays. I think that four disks makes for a good compromise for a home server. Regardless of whether you go for a three, four, or five bay enclosure, do be aware that in a RAIDz array the space equivalent of one of the drives will be dedicated to parity at a ratio expressed by the equation 1 − 1/n i.e. in a four bay enclosure equipped with four 12TB drives, if we configured our drives in a RAIDz1 array we would be left with a total of 36TB of usable space (48TB raw size). The reason for why we might sacrifice storage space in such a manner will be explained in the next section.

A four bay enclosure will cost somewhere in the area of $200 CDN/$140 USD. You don't need anything fancy, we don't need anything with hardware RAID controls (RAIDz is done entirely in software) or even USB-C. An enclosure with USB 3.0 will perform perfectly fine. Don’t worry too much about USB speed bottlenecks. A mechanical HDD will be limited by the speed of its mechanism long before before it will be limited by the speed of a USB connection. I've seen decent looking enclosures from TerraMaster, Yottamaster, Mediasonic and Sabrent.

When it comes to selecting the drives, as of this writing, the best value (dollar per gigabyte) are those in the range of 12TB to 20TB. I settled on 12TB drives myself. If 12TB to 20TB drives are out of your budget, go with what you can afford, or look into refurbished drives. I'm not sold on the idea of refurbished drives but many people swear by them.

When shopping for harddrives, search for drives designed specifically for NAS use. Drives designed for NAS use typically have better vibration dampening and are designed to be active 24/7. They will also often make use of CMR (conventional magnetic recording) as opposed to SMR (shingled magnetic recording). This nets them a sizable read/write performance bump over typical desktop drives. Seagate Ironwolf and Toshiba NAS are both well regarded brands when it comes to NAS drives. I would avoid Western Digital Red drives at this time. WD Reds were a go to recommendation up until earlier this year when it was revealed that they feature firmware that will throw up false SMART warnings telling you to replace the drive at the three year mark quite often when there is nothing at all wrong with that drive. It will likely even be good for another six, seven, or more years.

Step Three: Installing Linux

For this step you will need a USB thumbdrive of at least 6GB in capacity, an .ISO of Ubuntu, and a way to make that thumbdrive bootable media.

First download a copy of Ubuntu desktop (for best performance we could download the Server release, but for new Linux users I would recommend against the server release. The server release is strictly command line interface only, and having a GUI is very helpful for most people. Not many people are wholly comfortable doing everything through the command line, I'm certainly not one of them, and I grew up with DOS 6.0. 22.04.3 Jammy Jellyfish is the current Long Term Service release, this is the one to get.

Download the .ISO and then download and install balenaEtcher on your Windows PC. BalenaEtcher is an easy to use program for creating bootable media, you simply insert your thumbdrive, select the .ISO you just downloaded, and it will create a bootable installation media for you.

Once you've made a bootable media and you've got your Mini-PC (or you old PC/used workstation) in front of you, hook it directly into your router with an ethernet cable, and then plug in the HDD enclosure, a monitor, a mouse and a keyboard. Now turn that sucker on and hit whatever key gets you into the BIOS (typically ESC, DEL or F2). If you’re using a Mini-PC check to make sure that the P1 and P2 power limits are set correctly, my N100's P1 limit was set at 10W, a full 20W under the chip's power limit. Also make sure that the RAM is running at the advertised speed. My Mini-PC’s RAM was set at 2333Mhz out of the box when it should have been 3200Mhz. Once you’ve done that, key over to the boot order and place the USB drive first in the boot order. Then save the BIOS settings and restart.

After you restart you’ll be greeted by Ubuntu's installation screen. Installing Ubuntu is really straight forward, select the "minimal" installation option, as we won't need anything on this computer except for a browser (Ubuntu comes preinstalled with Firefox) and Plex Media Server/Jellyfin Media Server. Also remember to delete and reformat that Windows partition! We don't need it.

Step Four: Installing ZFS and Setting Up the RAIDz Array

Note: If you opted for just a single external HDD skip this step and move onto setting up a Samba share.

Once Ubuntu is installed it's time to configure our storage by installing ZFS to build our RAIDz array. ZFS is a "next-gen" file system that is both massively flexible and massively complex. It's capable of snapshot backup, self healing error correction, ZFS pools can be configured with drives operating in a supplemental manner alongside the storage vdev (e.g. fast cache, dedicated secondary intent log, hot swap spares etc.). It's also a file system very amenable to fine tuning. Block and sector size are adjustable to use case and you're afforded the option of different methods of inline compression. If you'd like a very detailed overview and explanation of its various features and tips on tuning a ZFS array check out these articles from Ars Technica. For now we're going to ignore all these features and keep it simple, we're going to pull our drives together into a single vdev running in RAIDz which will be the entirety of our zpool, no fancy cache drive or SLOG.

Open up the terminal and type the following commands:

sudo apt update

then

sudo apt install zfsutils-linux

This will install the ZFS utility. Verify that it's installed with the following command:

zfs --version

Now, it's time to check that the HDDs we have in the enclosure are healthy, running, and recognized. We also want to find out their device IDs and take note of them:

sudo fdisk -1

Note: You might be wondering why some of these commands require "sudo" in front of them while others don't. "Sudo" is short for "super user do”. When and where "sudo" is used has to do with the way permissions are set up in Linux. Only the "root" user has the access level to perform certain tasks in Linux. As a matter of security and safety regular user accounts are kept separate from the "root" user. It's not advised (or even possible) to boot into Linux as "root" with most modern distributions. Instead by using "sudo" our regular user account is temporarily given the power to do otherwise forbidden things. Don't worry about it too much at this stage, but if you want to know more check out this introduction.

If everything is working you should get a list of the various drives detected along with their device IDs which will look like this: /dev/sdc. You can also check the device IDs of the drives by opening the disk utility app. Jot these IDs down as we'll need them for our next step, creating our RAIDz array.

RAIDz is similar to RAID-5 in that instead of striping your data over multiple disks, exchanging redundancy for speed and available space (RAID-0), or mirroring your data writing by two copies of every piece (RAID-1), it instead writes parity blocks across the disks in addition to striping, this provides a balance of speed, redundancy and available space. If a single drive fails, the parity blocks on the working drives can be used to reconstruct the entire array as soon as a replacement drive is added.

Additionally, RAIDz improves over some of the common RAID-5 flaws. It's more resilient and capable of self healing, as it is capable of automatically checking for errors against a checksum. It's more forgiving in this way, and it's likely that you'll be able to detect when a drive is dying well before it fails. A RAIDz array can survive the loss of any one drive.

Note: While RAIDz is indeed resilient, if a second drive fails during the rebuild, you're fucked. Always keep backups of things you can't afford to lose. This tutorial, however, is not about proper data safety.

To create the pool, use the following command:

sudo zpool create "zpoolnamehere" raidz "device IDs of drives we're putting in the pool"

For example, let's creatively name our zpool "mypool". This poil will consist of four drives which have the device IDs: sdb, sdc, sdd, and sde. The resulting command will look like this:

sudo zpool create mypool raidz /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd /dev/sde

If as an example you bought five HDDs and decided you wanted more redundancy dedicating two drive to this purpose, we would modify the command to "raidz2" and the command would look something like the following:

sudo zpool create mypool raidz2 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd /dev/sde /dev/sdf

An array configured like this is known as RAIDz2 and is able to survive two disk failures.

Once the zpool has been created, we can check its status with the command:

zpool status

Or more concisely with:

zpool list

The nice thing about ZFS as a file system is that a pool is ready to go immediately after creation. If we were to set up a traditional RAID-5 array using mbam, we'd have to sit through a potentially hours long process of reformatting and partitioning the drives. Instead we're ready to go right out the gates.

The zpool should be automatically mounted to the filesystem after creation, check on that with the following:

df -hT | grep zfs

Note: If your computer ever loses power suddenly, say in event of a power outage, you may have to re-import your pool. In most cases, ZFS will automatically import and mount your pool, but if it doesn’t and you can't see your array, simply open the terminal and type sudo zpool import -a.

By default a zpool is mounted at /"zpoolname". The pool should be under our ownership but let's make sure with the following command:

sudo chown -R "yourlinuxusername" /"zpoolname"

Note: Changing file and folder ownership with "chown" and file and folder permissions with "chmod" are essential commands for much of the admin work in Linux, but we won't be dealing with them extensively in this guide. If you'd like a deeper tutorial and explanation you can check out these two guides: chown and chmod.

You can access the zpool file system through the GUI by opening the file manager (the Ubuntu default file manager is called Nautilus) and clicking on "Other Locations" on the sidebar, then entering the Ubuntu file system and looking for a folder with your pool's name. Bookmark the folder on the sidebar for easy access.

Your storage pool is now ready to go. Assuming that we already have some files on our Windows PC we want to copy to over, we're going to need to install and configure Samba to make the pool accessible in Windows.

Step Five: Setting Up Samba/Sharing

Samba is what's going to let us share the zpool with Windows and allow us to write to it from our Windows machine. First let's install Samba with the following commands:

sudo apt-get update

then

sudo apt-get install samba

Next create a password for Samba.

sudo smbpswd -a "yourlinuxusername"

It will then prompt you to create a password. Just reuse your Ubuntu user password for simplicity's sake.

Note: if you're using just a single external drive replace the zpool location in the following commands with wherever it is your external drive is mounted, for more information see this guide on mounting an external drive in Ubuntu.

After you've created a password we're going to create a shareable folder in our pool with this command

mkdir /"zpoolname"/"foldername"

Now we're going to open the smb.conf file and make that folder shareable. Enter the following command.

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

This will open the .conf file in nano, the terminal text editor program. Now at the end of smb.conf add the following entry:

["foldername"]

path = /"zpoolname"/"foldername"

available = yes

valid users = "yourlinuxusername"

read only = no

writable = yes

browseable = yes

guest ok = no

Ensure that there are no line breaks between the lines and that there's a space on both sides of the equals sign. Our next step is to allow Samba traffic through the firewall:

sudo ufw allow samba

Finally restart the Samba service:

sudo systemctl restart smbd

At this point we'll be able to access to the pool, browse its contents, and read and write to it from Windows. But there's one more thing left to do, Windows doesn't natively support the ZFS file systems and will read the used/available/total space in the pool incorrectly. Windows will read available space as total drive space, and all used space as null. This leads to Windows only displaying a dwindling amount of "available" space as the drives are filled. We can fix this! Functionally this doesn't actually matter, we can still write and read to and from the disk, it just makes it difficult to tell at a glance the proportion of used/available space, so this is an optional step but one I recommend (this step is also unnecessary if you're just using a single external drive). What we're going to do is write a little shell script in #bash. Open nano with the terminal with the command:

nano

Now insert the following code:

#!/bin/bash CUR_PATH=`pwd` ZFS_CHECK_OUTPUT=$(zfs get type $CUR_PATH 2>&1 > /dev/null) > /dev/null if [[ $ZFS_CHECK_OUTPUT == *not\ a\ ZFS* ]] then IS_ZFS=false else IS_ZFS=true fi if [[ $IS_ZFS = false ]] then df $CUR_PATH | tail -1 | awk '{print $2" "$4}' else USED=$((`zfs get -o value -Hp used $CUR_PATH` / 1024)) > /dev/null AVAIL=$((`zfs get -o value -Hp available $CUR_PATH` / 1024)) > /dev/null TOTAL=$(($USED+$AVAIL)) > /dev/null echo $TOTAL $AVAIL fi

Save the script as "dfree.sh" to /home/"yourlinuxusername" then change the ownership of the file to make it executable with this command:

sudo chmod 774 dfree.sh

Now open smb.conf with sudo again:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Now add this entry to the top of the configuration file to direct Samba to use the results of our script when Windows asks for a reading on the pool's used/available/total drive space:

[global]

dfree command = /home/"yourlinuxusername"/dfree.sh

Save the changes to smb.conf and then restart Samba again with the terminal:

sudo systemctl restart smbd

Now there’s one more thing we need to do to fully set up the Samba share, and that’s to modify a hidden group permission. In the terminal window type the following command:

usermod -a -G sambashare “yourlinuxusername”

Then restart samba again:

sudo systemctl restart smbd

If we don’t do this last step, everything will appear to work fine, and you will even be able to see and map the drive from Windows and even begin transferring files, but you'd soon run into a lot of frustration. As every ten minutes or so a file would fail to transfer and you would get a window announcing “0x8007003B Unexpected Network Error”. This window would require your manual input to continue the transfer with the file next in the queue. And at the end it would reattempt to transfer whichever files failed the first time around. 99% of the time they’ll go through that second try, but this is still all a major pain in the ass. Especially if you’ve got a lot of data to transfer or you want to step away from the computer for a while.

It turns out samba can act a little weirdly with the higher read/write speeds of RAIDz arrays and transfers from Windows, and will intermittently crash and restart itself if this group option isn’t changed. Inputting the above command will prevent you from ever seeing that window.

The last thing we're going to do before switching over to our Windows PC is grab the IP address of our Linux machine. Enter the following command:

hostname -I

This will spit out this computer's IP address on the local network (it will look something like 192.168.0.x), write it down. It might be a good idea once you're done here to go into your router settings and reserving that IP for your Linux system in the DHCP settings. Check the manual for your specific model router on how to access its settings, typically it can be accessed by opening a browser and typing http:\\192.168.0.1 in the address bar, but your router may be different.

Okay we’re done with our Linux computer for now. Get on over to your Windows PC, open File Explorer, right click on Network and click "Map network drive". Select Z: as the drive letter (you don't want to map the network drive to a letter you could conceivably be using for other purposes) and enter the IP of your Linux machine and location of the share like so: \\"LINUXCOMPUTERLOCALIPADDRESSGOESHERE"\"zpoolnamegoeshere"\. Windows will then ask you for your username and password, enter the ones you set earlier in Samba and you're good. If you've done everything right it should look something like this:

You can now start moving media over from Windows to the share folder. It's a good idea to have a hard line running to all machines. Moving files over Wi-Fi is going to be tortuously slow, the only thing that’s going to make the transfer time tolerable (hours instead of days) is a solid wired connection between both machines and your router.

Step Six: Setting Up Remote Desktop Access to Your Server

After the server is up and going, you’ll want to be able to access it remotely from Windows. Barring serious maintenance/updates, this is how you'll access it most of the time. On your Linux system open the terminal and enter:

sudo apt install xrdp

Then:

sudo systemctl enable xrdp

Once it's finished installing, open “Settings” on the sidebar and turn off "automatic login" in the User category. Then log out of your account. Attempting to remotely connect to your Linux computer while you’re logged in will result in a black screen!

Now get back on your Windows PC, open search and look for "RDP". A program called "Remote Desktop Connection" should pop up, open this program as an administrator by right-clicking and selecting “run as an administrator”. You’ll be greeted with a window. In the field marked “Computer” type in the IP address of your Linux computer. Press connect and you'll be greeted with a new window and prompt asking for your username and password. Enter your Ubuntu username and password here.

If everything went right, you’ll be logged into your Linux computer. If the performance is sluggish, adjust the display options. Lowering the resolution and colour depth do a lot to make the interface feel snappier.

Remote access is how we're going to be using our Linux system from now, barring edge cases like needing to get into the BIOS or upgrading to a new version of Ubuntu. Everything else from performing maintenance like a monthly zpool scrub to checking zpool status and updating software can all be done remotely.

This is how my server lives its life now, happily humming and chirping away on the floor next to the couch in a corner of the living room.

Step Seven: Plex Media Server/Jellyfin

Okay we’ve got all the ground work finished and our server is almost up and running. We’ve got Ubuntu up and running, our storage array is primed, we’ve set up remote connections and sharing, and maybe we’ve moved over some of favourite movies and TV shows.

Now we need to decide on the media server software to use which will stream our media to us and organize our library. For most people I’d recommend Plex. It just works 99% of the time. That said, Jellyfin has a lot to recommend it by too, even if it is rougher around the edges. Some people run both simultaneously, it’s not that big of an extra strain. I do recommend doing a little bit of your own research into the features each platform offers, but as a quick run down, consider some of the following points:

Plex is closed source and is funded through PlexPass purchases while Jellyfin is open source and entirely user driven. This means a number of things: for one, Plex requires you to purchase a “PlexPass” (purchased as a one time lifetime fee $159.99 CDN/$120 USD or paid for on a monthly or yearly subscription basis) in order to access to certain features, like hardware transcoding (and we want hardware transcoding) or automated intro/credits detection and skipping, Jellyfin offers some of these features for free through plugins. Plex supports a lot more devices than Jellyfin and updates more frequently. That said, Jellyfin's Android and iOS apps are completely free, while the Plex Android and iOS apps must be activated for a one time cost of $6 CDN/$5 USD. But that $6 fee gets you a mobile app that is much more functional and features a unified UI across platforms, the Plex mobile apps are simply a more polished experience. The Jellyfin apps are a bit of a mess and the iOS and Android versions are very different from each other.

Jellyfin’s actual media player is more fully featured than Plex's, but on the other hand Jellyfin's UI, library customization and automatic media tagging really pale in comparison to Plex. Streaming your music library is free through both Jellyfin and Plex, but Plex offers the PlexAmp app for dedicated music streaming which boasts a number of fantastic features, unfortunately some of those fantastic features require a PlexPass. If your internet is down, Jellyfin can still do local streaming, while Plex can fail to play files unless you've got it set up a certain way. Jellyfin has a slew of neat niche features like support for Comic Book libraries with the .cbz/.cbt file types, but then Plex offers some free ad-supported TV and films, they even have a free channel that plays nothing but Classic Doctor Who.

Ultimately it's up to you, I settled on Plex because although some features are pay-walled, it just works. It's more reliable and easier to use, and a one-time fee is much easier to swallow than a subscription. I had a pretty easy time getting my boomer parents and tech illiterate brother introduced to and using Plex and I don't know if I would've had as easy a time doing that with Jellyfin. I do also need to mention that Jellyfin does take a little extra bit of tinkering to get going in Ubuntu, you’ll have to set up process permissions, so if you're more tolerant to tinkering, Jellyfin might be up your alley and I’ll trust that you can follow their installation and configuration guide. For everyone else, I recommend Plex.

So pick your poison: Plex or Jellyfin.

Note: The easiest way to download and install either of these packages in Ubuntu is through Snap Store.

After you've installed one (or both), opening either app will launch a browser window into the browser version of the app allowing you to set all the options server side.

The process of adding creating media libraries is essentially the same in both Plex and Jellyfin. You create a separate libraries for Television, Movies, and Music and add the folders which contain the respective types of media to their respective libraries. The only difficult or time consuming aspect is ensuring that your files and folders follow the appropriate naming conventions:

Plex naming guide for Movies

Plex naming guide for Television

Jellyfin follows the same naming rules but I find their media scanner to be a lot less accurate and forgiving than Plex. Once you've selected the folders to be scanned the service will scan your files, tagging everything and adding metadata. Although I find do find Plex more accurate, it can still erroneously tag some things and you might have to manually clean up some tags in a large library. (When I initially created my library it tagged the 1963-1989 Doctor Who as some Korean soap opera and I needed to manually select the correct match after which everything was tagged normally.) It can also be a bit testy with anime (especially OVAs) be sure to check TVDB to ensure that you have your files and folders structured and named correctly. If something is not showing up at all, double check the name.

Once that's done, organizing and customizing your library is easy. You can set up collections, grouping items together to fit a theme or collect together all the entries in a franchise. You can make playlists, and add custom artwork to entries. It's fun setting up collections with posters to match, there are even several websites dedicated to help you do this like PosterDB. As an example, below are two collections in my library, one collecting all the entries in a franchise, the other follows a theme.

My Star Trek collection, featuring all eleven television series, and thirteen films.

My Best of the Worst collection, featuring sixty-nine films previously showcased on RedLetterMedia’s Best of the Worst. They’re all absolutely terrible and I love them.

As for settings, ensure you've got Remote Access going, it should work automatically and be sure to set your upload speed after running a speed test. In the library settings set the database cache to 2000MB to ensure a snappier and more responsive browsing experience, and then check that playback quality is set to original/maximum. If you’re severely bandwidth limited on your upload and have remote users, you might want to limit the remote stream bitrate to something more reasonable, just as a note of comparison Netflix’s 1080p bitrate is approximately 5Mbps, although almost anyone watching through a chromium based browser is streaming at 720p and 3mbps. Other than that you should be good to go. For actually playing your files, there's a Plex app for just about every platform imaginable. I mostly watch television and films on my laptop using the Windows Plex app, but I also use the Android app which can broadcast to the chromecast connected to the TV in the office and the Android TV app for our smart TV. Both are fully functional and easy to navigate, and I can also attest to the OS X version being equally functional.

Part Eight: Finding Media

Now, this is not really a piracy tutorial, there are plenty of those out there. But if you’re unaware, BitTorrent is free and pretty easy to use, just pick a client (qBittorrent is the best) and go find some public trackers to peruse. Just know now that all the best trackers are private and invite only, and that they can be exceptionally difficult to get into. I’m already on a few, and even then, some of the best ones are wholly out of my reach.

If you decide to take the left hand path and turn to Usenet you’ll have to pay. First you’ll need to sign up with a provider like Newshosting or EasyNews for access to Usenet itself, and then to actually find anything you’re going to need to sign up with an indexer like NZBGeek or NZBFinder. There are dozens of indexers, and many people cross post between them, but for more obscure media it’s worth checking multiple. You’ll also need a binary downloader like SABnzbd. That caveat aside, Usenet is faster, bigger, older, less traceable than BitTorrent, and altogether slicker. I honestly prefer it, and I'm kicking myself for taking this long to start using it because I was scared off by the price. I’ve found so many things on Usenet that I had sought in vain elsewhere for years, like a 2010 Italian film about a massacre perpetrated by the SS that played the festival circuit but never received a home media release; some absolute hero uploaded a rip of a festival screener DVD to Usenet. Anyway, figure out the rest of this shit on your own and remember to use protection, get yourself behind a VPN, use a SOCKS5 proxy with your BitTorrent client, etc.

On the legal side of things, if you’re around my age, you (or your family) probably have a big pile of DVDs and Blu-Rays sitting around unwatched and half forgotten. Why not do a bit of amateur media preservation, rip them and upload them to your server for easier access? (Your tools for this are going to be Handbrake to do the ripping and AnyDVD to break any encryption.) I went to the trouble of ripping all my SCTV DVDs (five box sets worth) because none of it is on streaming nor could it be found on any pirate source I tried. I’m glad I did, forty years on it’s still one of the funniest shows to ever be on TV.

Part Nine/Epilogue: Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr and Overseerr

There are a lot of ways to automate your server for better functionality or to add features you and other users might find useful. Sonarr, Radarr, and Lidarr are a part of a suite of “Servarr” services (there’s also Readarr for books and Whisparr for adult content) that allow you to automate the collection of new episodes of TV shows (Sonarr), new movie releases (Radarr) and music releases (Lidarr). They hook in to your BitTorrent client or Usenet binary newsgroup downloader and crawl your preferred Torrent trackers and Usenet indexers, alerting you to new releases and automatically grabbing them. You can also use these services to manually search for new media, and even replace/upgrade your existing media with better quality uploads. They’re really a little tricky to set up on a bare metal Ubuntu install (ideally you should be running them in Docker Containers), and I won’t be providing a step by step on installing and running them, I’m simply making you aware of their existence.

The other bit of kit I want to make you aware of is Overseerr which is a program that scans your Plex media library and will serve recommendations based on what you like. It also allows you and your users to request specific media. It can even be integrated with Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr so that fulfilling those requests is fully automated.

And you're done. It really wasn't all that hard. Enjoy your media. Enjoy the control you have over that media. And be safe in the knowledge that no hedgefund CEO motherfucker who hates the movies but who is somehow in control of a major studio will be able to disappear anything in your library as a tax write-off.

[theartofwoompwoomps]

Oh scrap

Soundwave x human reader

Summary: the decepticons start talking about who’s the hottest one, and agree that an alien could break the tie (aka reader) and without a hesitation they say soundwave, not knowing this guy can hear everything lol

Pt.1. Pt.2. ———————————————————————

It had been just a regular day on the nemesis. Cleaning Shockwaves and Knockouts tools, updating some data pads, reporting to Megatron, and hanging out with the minicons.

You started this routine since the day they brought you here. 

Apparently Megatron had heard that the autobots had more moral thanks to the human habitants. Thus he decided to do the same.

And that’s basically how you ended up there. 

Thankfully, you got along with a lot of decepticons, especially those in the higher ranks. Mainly since you were a great escape from gruesome responsibilities of the war. that’s why it’s not surprising that you’ve experienced many interesting conversations with your giant comrades.

Especially after explaining common human entertainment would often lead to a lot of chaos. 

Like today, some cons had started discussing about human attraction standards. 

They found it strange how inconsistent the standards were all over the world. 

Yet somehow this conversation shifted into who was the most attractive decepticon. 

It went from being a simple small conversation to a whole blow out debate. You hadn’t even realized how out of control the whole thing had gotten.

At some point knockout had joined claiming that he was the most eye captivating cybertronian even to the humans. But of course, the lanky drama queen known as Starscream was not letting him have all the glory.

All their squabbling was really starting to get on your nerves. Especially since all the commotion kept shaking the platform you were currently resting on.

And clearly you weren’t the only one annoyed with their antics, since Megatron decided to see what all the ruckus was about. 

Though he clearly wasn’t expecting to have his second in command and the medic start stating the reasons why they were more attractive than the other, then forgetting he was even their in the first place and currently occupy themselves in a fully out cat fight. 

He was honestly tired of this whole situation. The way it had escalated was too far out of control and he needed to end this at once. 

Without hesitation he vented a bit before speaking to make sure to convey his anger.

“enough with this nonsense.” 

Oh scarp, they forgot he was there.

“If you truly want to know who’s the most attractive, why don’t you just ask the human in question?” 

Now all attention was on you.

Before you could even plan an escape Megatron was quick to reach his servers towards you. And Lifted you up to where everyone could see and hear you.

“So tell us, as the only human aboard our ship,” he pulls you closer, “who is the most attractive decepticon?”

Honestly it felt like he was taunting you. Maybe the whole thing was a trap. Did he want you to say his name, somebody else, or no one at all? 

I mean, you clearly couldn’t choose any without causing a ruckus.

But before you could stop your mouth and think your answer through, your default brain was let loose.

“Well there’s only one correct answer to that,”

All of them quietly waiting in anticipation for your response.

“It’s obviously Soundwave, have you even seen the guy? He definitely the hottest.”

What?— the whole place blew up with different reactions. 

Megatron was partially amused but also partially uncomfortable with your response towards his most loyal companion.

Knockout feels completely cheated off and starts claiming the whole thing was rigged. And you don’t even have to look at Starscream to hear his complaints and tantrum saying how soundwave doesn’t even have a sexy voice.

And at that you started defending why you had chosen your crush without letting on that he was your crush and still admiring all his qualities.

But unbeknownst to you, the calm alien was having a hard time keeping his composure. 

He could hear everyone’s thoughts and emotions about the whole ordeal. And even though he couldn’t feel your emotions the same way with cybertronians. 

Your emotions were very clear to him. Big enough for him to understand how you felt about him.

Honestly he was flattered at how he could feel you defending your choice and the whole things was starting to fluster him when you started praising his physique and voice.

Even his own cassettes were starting to wonder what was making their boss aka dad so stiff. 

———————————————————————

Masterlist

Next>>>>

[ms-demeanor]

for college i frequently have to use "lockout" anti-cheat software like respondus lockdown that totally seizes control of my computer (which is bullshit, but i digress) and i've adopted the three word password method to deal with it with the relevant accounts i have to use with that type of software. i struggle with adhd so this has been the most efficient method for me because i can remember "blast fish motorcycle" with some numbers or characters tossed in versus a long 20+ jumbled string of characters i would NEED a post-it note or a password manager for.

one of my professors suggested the three word method WRT linux command line work with expediently logging in and managing a server while having a modicum of security that isn't just "name1234", with the idea that if we're setting up a machine or can't access the internet while we're working, it's not an inaccessible disaster.

in the event of situations like this what's your recommendation? if this is an annoying ask i'm sorry btw, i'm trying not to throw a curveball at you.

There are good reasons sometimes to use a passphrase rather than a complex password and you've given a couple good examples, though I would say for the server example especially you shouldn't be doing "correct horse battery staple" or "blast fish motorcycle", you should be doing "fulminate igneous dodecahedron" (words that are not in any lists of those most commonly used in the English language) AND you should be having a randomizer select the words - aaaand even then I'm more likely to do something like the " Atss"twotpawotsw64 " lyric initialism example. I've got one of those for my password manager for work and it's really automatic to type now while still being long and complex.

[acatwithstockings]

Controversial Good Omens Takes and HC bc I like to see the world burn. (The last one will make you question my sanity)

I prefer Bond obsessed Crowley over queen fan Crowley. Don't get me wrong, it's cute and the fanarts with him and Freddy are always a treat HOWEVER it just doesn't line up with my reading of the text and Bond obsessed Crowley is right there. I mean he literally got petrol ONCE to get the promotional bullet hole transfers that he put on his Bentley.

Personally I hc Crowley as tech illiterate. Hear me out. So in the book he basically gets tech gadgets (his watch, his computer, his stereo) bc they are stylish, not bc they are practical. Literally his stereo is missing something critical yet still works bc he believes it should. So I think he is just great at pretending to know how tech works and things just seem like he does bc he believes that's how things should be. Actually he doesn't even know where to set his lockscreen. His phone just never dared to not have the correct one. And yes I know he hacked a few computers for the M25 well jokes on you, in that one deleted scene he does all those theatrics to bring down the phone network only to ultimately dump coffee over the server. He literally could have achieved the same thing from home. His hacking back in the day probably involved braking and entering and switching out the storage mediums manually. Not very tech literate if you ask me.

Aziraphale on the other hand is surprisingly tech literate, he is just a few decades behind. This one needs another explanation. So basically Aziraphale knows how things work, could probably explain to you in excruciating detail the program structure of any given application. He just struggles with graphical user interfaces and doesn't like non tactical inputs. He prefers to start his programs via console commands and probably finds it silly that people stopped memorizing where their files went. He'd probably run circles around any expert once given woefully outdated tech. So basically he understands how the fundamentals work and what's under the hood, so to speak, but he just really doesn't see the point in making it all work via pretty pictures and without clicky keys. I mean he still files his very accurate taxes on an Amstrad (was it an Amstrad ? Idk old computer, currently too lazy to look up which one he has)

(this one is probably not quite as controversial) No human in modern times will recognize what they are and remember it. So basically even tho Madam Tracy literally got possessed by Aziraphale, and had things explained to her, she probably forgot about the incident right after or if she remembers she believes Aziraphale to be a ghost and would not recognize him if she ran into him again. Simply bc that would fit her interanized world view better. Something, something about the human mind finding 'rational' explanations for the things they have been through. So basically Aziraphale and Crowley are real dumbasses when it comes to pretending to be human but they don't realize it, bc they just assume they are good at it and reality makes sure nobody proves them otherwise.

This here concludes the HC portion of this post. Turn around now, beyond this point only literary and fandom takes can be found pfff

The novel has the better ending. Don't get me wrong I love the show and the body swap. But you win some you lose some. Personally I think having their headquarters even attempt to execute our two idiots takes away from the overarching theme of the story. The whole point of having angels and demons be involved and having hell and heaven be dead set on the apocalypse is to basically frame humanity as the driving force. Aziraphale and Crowley are useless and so are their headquarters. They are detached pencil pushers obsessed with the illusion of control without actually having any. They follow their plan bc that's what they think they have to do, without ever considering the thing they have been entrusted with. They have as much of an idea what's going on as everybody else but make a point about pretending they the answers. They are all powerful but in the grand scheme of things barely move the needle. Them just pretending everything was fine and not punishing Aziraphale and Crowley to keep up face bc it's easier to pretend that THIS was the great plan after all, is hilarious and fits their role in the story better in my opinion. Then again they got more involved in the show so their role shifted slightly anyway soooo ehhhh.

While we all (hopefully) have disavowed Neil Geiman at this point, there is a conversation to be had (and a bit of unpacking to be done) on how much that person influenced and shaped the Good Omens fandom as it is today by positioning himself as the defacto authority over the story for DECADES. It actually insane how far back this goes. Just look at the Terry Gilliam adaptation that never happened. NG posted more about it than official sources despite also being on record stating that he doesn't want to be involved with another adaptation attempt at the time. Going as far as mentioning it in a completely unrelated context on occasion. That dude literally reshaped the narrative around the whole of Good Omens whenever it seemed to give him browney points. He even had a habit of dropping in other Terry Prattchet properties in a very strange way (in retrospective) and sure we know the two of them were friends and we can't judge their relationship bc we were not there BUT it's just very funny to see how Sir Terry had a consistent narrative the times he mentioned Good Omens on record, while NG not only talked a whole lot more about it, constantly, but also seems to reshape the narrative continuously in small ways.

(This point will make you question my sanity) There are influences from the 1992 movie script that made their way into the TV adaptation we finally got and possibly shaped the discussion about the sequel. Examples of that are Crowley's habit of snapping/him having anger issues , the concept of them being punished, Adam's dialogue with Satan, the starting point of the sequel/S3 aka Crowley being no longer affiliated with hell while Aziraphale is still affiliated with heaven. There are a few other things that are not in the novel but make a first appearance (as far as we know of bc I don't think we will ever get to read the script that was written in collaboration before the shit!script) in that version of the story. Sooo yhea you can say there are at least some subconscious influences.

[digitalcreationsllc]

New Proxy Malware Targets Mac Users Through Pirated Software

The proxy trojan connects to a command and control server via DNS-over-HTTPS and supports creating TCP or UDP connections, indicating a sophisticated and wide-ranging campaign targeting multiple systems.

[yoiisa]

BABY, KISS IT BETTER ⋆˙⟡ HIORI YO

"But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss, I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs, The smell of smoke would hang around this long, 'Cause I knew everything when I was young." - "Cardigan" by Taylor Swift Tags: Slight angst, hurt/comfort, mentions of Hiori's toxic ass parents! Fluff as well though, reader's really smart

a/n: This is part of a little series I doing where I’m writing BLLK fics for each of my fav songs on all the T Swift albums.

Folklore gave me so much shit! I love this album to death, and all the songs on it slap, but omg I couldn't for the life of me find a character to write a song for off of any of them! Finally, after listening to "Cardigan" for the nth time, I landed on Hiori, which I'm so excited about. My sweet angel, I love him so much. Again, mind the CW, and let's get on with it! ♡⸜(ˆᗜˆ˵ )⸝♡

Every child grows up thinking their mom and dad are soulmates, and the concept of transactional marriages is foreign. Well, at least most do. Hiori gained a type of awareness of the world at an age very few other kids do, or even should for that matter. His parents' arguments had most certainly shifted his perspective on everything, especially love.

It was an unhealthy connection that Hiori developed with video games. He devoted every second that wasn't for soccer to his controller. The code couldn't betray him the same way his folks did. They were his to command and he was powerful in a world where everything was the other way around.

Get up, go to school, go to soccer practice, come home and play video games until 2 AM, go to bed for four hours, and then rinse and repeat every day. Truly, he had everything figured out.

Then a girl hopped onto the VC one day.

It was a new person he'd never played with before. A friend from his gamer server invited you though, and within the first game, you proved well enough that you were a valuable asset. It was a first person shooter, akin to COD, with bunkers and abandoned buildings. You'd completely annihilated the other team within the first ten minutes of the round.

Your microphone was perpetually muted throughout the entire game, but Hiori could tell you were still listening in to everything him and the team were saying. Over the next week or so, he never asked for you, but he appreciated your presence nonetheless. His win stats were significantly improving thanks to your assists.

When you finally spoke for the first time, Hiori felt something stir in him that was foreign to anything he'd ever experienced.

"I might not be able to play for the next few days," you explain as the crew wraps up another two hour long session. "My soccer team is traveling for our championships, and I can't bring the PC, obviously."

You play soccer. He swears, he can feel his heart rot at the realization. Of course you do. That stupid sport has poisoned everything in his life, and is now infecting his games as well.

Probably against his better judgement, he grits out, "Ain't noo one's beggin' you to stay. Go."

Everyone on the call falls silent, before a soft and breathy laugh comes from you. Your icon lights up as the sound reverberates through Hiori's headset. The giggle alights something inside of him and he almost takes off the headphones entirely.

"A typical gamer," you giggle. "You've probably never played a sport in your life, hm Hiori?" When Hiori's silent, you press on, "Country boy? Hello?"

"You don't know nothin' ," he mutters, his voice flat and emotionless.

"Yeah, I guess not. You must know everything huh? About sports and video games. A total package," you scoff.

"Hiori's been playing soccer since he was young," another boy offers up. "He is actually really good!"

"Yeah?" you ask, "I'd like to see you play. Got any clips Hiori? Send them in the group chat."

Hiori remains quiet. He thinks he'd actually rather die than show anyone a video or photo of him kicking around a round checkerboard.

"I'm good," he says at last. "Y'all don't need to see that."

"Are you that bad? You gonna make Ken out to be a liar right now?" you tease.

"That's not it!" he sighs, rubbing a hand across his face. "I just . . . I'm here to play games, not talk about soccer. My parents already do that enough and I . . . I'm sick of it. I'm sick of soccer."

Everyone falls silent again, and Hiori mentally facepalms. He desperately hopes his parents weren't eavesdropping through the door and heard him say that. The ensuing argument would make his head hurt for a month straight.

"Then quit," you say.

Hiori balks. "What?"

"If it's that much of a bore, then give up and quit. Be a video game otaku for the rest of your life," you sigh and grunt as if you're stretching. "You boys, you think you know everything about the world and how it works. Y'all don't know anything clearly. Why torture yourself-"

"You don't know my parents, or me."

"I garnered plenty from the games we play though," you say, and Hiori can practically hear the smirk on your mouth. "You're assertive in the way you play, but I didn't know what to make of it at first but now I do. You probably mostly assist in actual games, and never want to shine too much in front of others. You're compensating for that in games, right?"

Hiori stutters and you laugh again. "Cute. In any case, I gotta go, but lemme give you some advice Hiori, soccer girlie to soccer guy.

"Find a balance in both. Don't try to keep games and soccer so separate. You'll probably find that combining them is more rewarding. In chasing both world, you'll lose one, and based off of how you've been talking right now, it won't be soccer. Anyways, gotta go! Bye y'all!"

As you log off, another one of the guys says, "She's kinda weird, huh?"

Hiori just stares at his monitor as if all the world switched to Greek.

A week later, he gets the letter for Blue Lock in the mail. He messages you a photo and you send a thumbs back.

you: rooting for you!

Maybe he didn't know everything about love after all.

a/n: me and the five hiori stans cheered!

[numberonetrashwitch]

Some observations about Baldurs Gate 3 that hit too close to home.

After another few runs i will probably just make an in-Depth Character Analysis for every character simply because they are good reflections of actual trauma-manifestations and how abuse can manifest in people. They are also so well written that it serves a narrative purpose to explore all the material that is out there about them. I am also personally cursed with actual medically-relevant levels of Empathy and Hyperfixation; so writing this helps me put a pin in it and move on.

But so far here are my highlights

(SPOILERS and obviously content warning bc these are deep)

before you ask; i have almost 300h in this game.

You have to convince Shadowheart to eat the Noblestalk. She actually stells you she rather get her memories back from Shar but when you hit the persuasion or intimidation (what the fuck) check to get her to eat it she'll tell you about her childhood friend. Not her name, not her parents but her best firend. Possibly because she has had a closer bond to that person after being abducted and indoctrinated. With her believing herself to be an orphan, she would've looked elsewhere for comfort and sought out her own family, this is why she falls hard and heavy for Shar and builds the backbone of her indoctrination. She is literally ripped out of her home & given a new identity to server her from all she has known. Religious indoctrination, Gaslighting, Abduction, being forced to let go of your personality are her main themes.

There is a scene out there floating around in which you see Astarions pespective of the night when he bites Tav for the first time, in his meditations he is confronted with the rules Cazador put on him, including that he can't eat intelligent creatures, can't be away from Cazador unless allowed to, has to obey every command and that they are should know that they are property. Which in turn means that Astarion literally didn't just have any autonomy, he was objectified (and not just through seductive/sexual measures) and that is really the crux to understanding why he doesn't believe in kindness, but rather shows self-serving behavior in most cases. Since we know that Astarion was extremely young for an elf before he died and became immortal (literally stopping the aging /maturing process) it is also very telling that Cazador constantly calls him brat, boy or other very juvanile names, refering to them as a family... well it is also the story of a very controlling parent. Themes of (Bodily) autonomy, infantilization ( & puer aeternus, forever-child), slavery, depersonalisation, corruption of life and torture to break someone.

Gale isn't just a guy hung up on his Ex, but also a victim of abuse. In this case a power imbalance none of us can fathom; She is described as being a jealous goddess and rules over the domain of mysteries and magic. So with Gale being a Wizard, she is literally his boss. He admits that he was foolish enough to aspire to be an equal to her, but she is so jealous that she tells him he can't really be worthy as long as he takes breath. She could just take his powers away and be done with it, that would be more than enough punishment for a guy who literally made Mystra and her domain his life's purpose, but she rather makes him do it himself. Add to that, that she literally only tells him this after years of self-isolation (after he put down so many wards that he could've blown up a whole army as he says if you click the right dialogue) to really fuck him up well. He also talks about death pretty much constantly, not surprising giving your situation, but he will tell you that he will kill himself at several points in the game, for instance after he comes clear about his nethrese orb. Themes of romantic abuse, power-imbalance, toxic work enviorment, self-isolating behavior, suicidal ideation

Wyll ... well from the looks of it he is the most well adjusted of all the companions (my opinion) but he has something that i'd describe as the "eldest daughter"-syndrome, more commonly known as parentification. This pattern usually occurs within single-household parents and is commonly described as a parent looking to their child for emotional or practical support, rather than providing it to their kid. We meet Ulder and see that he talks over Wyll a lot, not listening but expecting him to follow the standard he sets for him. That is also why Wyll repeats his fathers words like gospel (because this is what, in his mind, fullfills the expectations bestowed upon him) and why he loves fairytales / bard tales so much (because they are an ecapist view of the job he set out to do) Ulder literally exiled his teenage son because Wyll did the only thing he could to save an entire city, by sacrificing himself. Thats a lot to expect from a 17 year old - even more so, he doesn't stop with the heroics. He expects himself, as a human who hasn't even reached the age of 30 to hold up to mystical creatures such as Astarion or Karlach, or even Gale who is a accomplished Wizard. Themes of parentification, escapism, self-harming through putting himself in danger, chronic-self-sacrifice

In plain words; Gortash, Karlach's Idol sold her to a Devil. But add to that that she must have been pretty young when she was sold (late teens to early twenties possibly) and being that if you play as a Tiefling, you face a lot of predjudice she was likely forced into that position as well. Starstruck she was, with a juvenile naitivy that Gortash used. Appropriately, as he is the chosen of Bane the god of "tyrannical oppression, terror, and hate, known across Faerûn as the face of pure evil through malevolent despotism" (Source: Forgotten-Realms Wiki / Bane) So she pretty much was raised in a toxic enviorment, which forced her to become a killing-machine, first figuretively, then with the extraction of her heart, literally. Themes of slavery, oppression, misuse of trust, being taken advantage by a more powerful/older(?) person, being drafted.

Jaheira - to be honest, you need to know the lore of the previous baldurs gate games or just listen to her dialouge, ask her all the questions. She is a war-veteran against Bhaal, the good of ritual murder, and has a long history of fighting to achieve some sort of balance of power. She lost her husband and several close people all to this, or any other war, but due to her wisdom and strength people look to her for guidance. Themes of: Survivors Guilt.

Halsin - he is really closed off at first but then just casually hits you with "i was captured in the underdark and spent 3 years chained to a bedroom wall by a pair of drows who used me as they pleased". He is reprimanded by some of his druids for leaving the grove as soon as opportunity struck, just to get back and leave the next day, and if you talk to him about his position in the grove he is actually very forthcomming. He actively holds himself back; indulging in simple hobbies because he knows what lies within his heart. He is afraid of himself and his potential (canonnically he can't control his wildshape, which is very weird for an ARCH-druid) Themes of: impostor syndrome, avoidant-based self-harm, sexual opression, loss of control, emotional regulation.

Lae'zel is a very tragic case, and one that closely resembles the stories of Shadowheart and Karlach. Her entire existence is based upon a matriachial war society allowing her to live if she proves she can be of use and that in a culture which only values brutality, dominance & service. All of that culimating in her finding out that her oh-so-beloved Queen is actually just an imposter, and that everything she has lived for up to that point is merely political propaganda created to make her, and the rest of her entire species, willing pawns in a war that has no longer bearing on their survival alone, but is fought to justify Vlaakith's (the reigning monarchs) personal ambitions. Not only is she forced to reconcile that she is turned into the thing that controlled her kind for hundreds of years, that the only cure she knows of would kill her and then on top of that, that her hopes and dreams were lies and that she is now the Nr 1 enemy of the person she has served with all her being. themes of: oppression, propaganda, casual violence, objectification, child-warfare, eternal warfare

Minthara in short, her story is about being shamed for growing up in the same scenario that Lae'zel grew up in. Lolth, the god of the Lolth-sworn drows is a crazy queen who values scheming & backstabbing so much and is so volatile that you can't know what to expect of your deeds (and i mean it; there were people who were appraised by her for scheming against her, but also those who were killed. It's almost random.) She considers Lolth to be cruel and abandoned her for the Absolute, only to then be used and abused the same way Lae'zel has. Not with promises, but erasing her memory and exposing her perceived weakness. Themes of: casual violence, violent culture, her own ambition colliding with her desire to be safe, being a pawn in a larger game.

[jetra4ivor]

I maintain my belief that the reason the various stories/seasons of Minecraft Story Mode are so good is because they aren’t trying to explain Minecraft “lore” but instead using the player base’s concepts as a jumping off point for telling their stories.

Every failed piece of Minecraft media tries to explain why Minecraft is the way it is, or explain what things in Minecraft are and why they exist. They use Minecraft concepts, yes, but they also try to explain Minecraft lore or expand upon the lore and focus their narratives around these things.

Meanwhile, every story/season of Story Mode focuses on player built concepts like using a command block to cheat, building a mob farm, skyblock, redstone computers, hunger game competitions, admin controls, prison break games, adding mods, jumping to different servers, and meeting YouTubers.

These are all player created concepts the the MCSM team use as a starting point to tell their stories.

Minecraft if you wanna do better, stop trying to explain why Piglins are bad or where the Warden comes from and just focus on the things players create and treat them as if they’re real things in Minecraft.

[olderthannetfic]

I was briefly in a discord server shortly after it was made for a specific pairing I was into. While in the car one day, my phone began to blow up because some drama was going down between one person and the mods of that server and after seeing how poorly everyone was handling it, and how rather than muting or booting the person stirring up trouble, the mods were actively arguing with them across multiple channels, I was like "Ah no thanks." and left. I run servers myself and it just seemed massively mishandled. If a moderating team can't command control of a situation because they're not willing to use the tools at their disposal then it's not a space I want to be part of. I've been involved in too many Mods Let People Get Away With Shitty Behavior Because They Don't Wanna Be Seen As Fannish Dictators situations over the years. Hard pass. My gut instinct turned out to be right, every few months some new drama pours out of that server, and it's always the same thing of One Loud and Annoying Group being Big Mad about Unserious Nonsense another Group is doing or not doing. Calling out BNFs. Being whiny. A nostalgic brand of fandom wankery, to be sure. In the past week, yet again, something new has arisen-- Because someone dared to leave the toxic environment of that server and focus on making things that make them happy with their friends. And... it's like watching an on fire cruise liner pass me by in my little fishing dingy every time. Why do you keep setting your own boat on fire, folx? Come on now. I have to wonder how people have the free time to make all these callout posts and be so angry about stuff that genuinely does not matter. But at the same time, there's something almost comical about that fact that when it comes to fandom, some things genuinely never change.

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