#create file with python

[struggling-sketches]

God I HATE coding why tf am I required to do this if I wont even end up using THE PROGRAM THEY ARE USING TO TEACH US

[yonassk]

Mastering File Uploads: A Comprehensive Guide for Efficient Sharing and Collaboration

In the digital era, sharing files has become an integral part of both personal and professional endeavors. Whether you're collaborating on a project, submitting assignments, or simply sharing memories with friends and family, knowing how to upload files efficiently can save time and streamline your workflow. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore various methods and tools for uploading files, along with best practices to ensure smooth sharing and collaboration.

Understanding the Importance of Efficient File Uploads Before diving into the technical aspects of file uploads, it's crucial to understand why mastering this skill is essential. Efficient file uploads facilitate seamless communication, collaboration, and data management. Whether you're working remotely, collaborating with team members globally, or simply sharing files with friends, the ability to upload files quickly and securely can significantly enhance productivity and convenience.

Exploring Different Methods for File Uploads Cloud Storage Platforms: Platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive offer intuitive interfaces and seamless file uploading capabilities. These platforms allow you to upload files of various formats and sizes, organize them into folders, and share them with specific individuals or groups.

Email Attachments: While email attachments remain a popular method for sharing files, they are often limited by file size restrictions. However, many email providers now offer integration with cloud storage services, allowing you to upload files to the cloud and share them via email without worrying about attachment limits.

File Transfer Protocols: For more advanced users, protocols like FTP, SFTP, and SCP provide a secure means of uploading files to a remote server. These protocols are commonly used in web development, server administration, and other technical fields.

Online Collaboration Tools: Platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Trello offer built-in file uploading features, allowing team members to share documents, images, and other files within the context of their workflow. This streamlines collaboration and ensures that everyone has access to the latest version of shared files.

Best Practices for Efficient File Uploads Organize Your Files: Maintain a well-organized folder structure to make it easy to find and manage your files. Use Descriptive Filenames: Choose descriptive filenames that accurately reflect the content of the file, making it easier for others to understand and identify. Check File Size Limits: Be aware of any file size limits imposed by your chosen upload method or platform, and compress files if necessary. Secure Your Uploads: When uploading sensitive or confidential files, ensure that you're using secure protocols and encryption to protect your data from unauthorized access. Conclusion Mastering the art of file uploads is essential for anyone who regularly collaborates, communicates, or shares files online. By understanding the different methods and tools available, as well as following best practices for efficient file management, you can streamline your workflow, enhance productivity, and ensure seamless collaboration with others. Whether you're sharing files for work, school, or personal use, efficient file uploads are the key to success in the digital age.

[mydigitalcreations]

Automating GitHub Operations

How to automate GitHub pushes and files creations with python programming language.

[handonthemouse]

Sims 2 Skintone Editor Program

Since Sims 2 is an old game, it only has a limited amount of skintones, even the cc ones. And, if you want to create new skintones, you know that it's no easy task, with all the BMP files and such for just one skintone alone. Well, now, with this program, you don't have to manually adjust all of them, this program does that for you.

So, this program has two key features, 1. is to blend two skintones (if you want to make a middle shade from two skins, or blend two different skins from different cc creators and make a hybrid of that), and 2. adjust a skintone (brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation).

Video demonstration of me using the program (on Youtube):

Download the Program here (Mediafire)

Zip file contains two files, the python file (for transparency) and the actual exe program file.

If there's any errors, and/or if the program works on your computer please let me know so I can fix it. Constructive and positive feedback are absolutely welcomed! Happy Simming!

Note: I was able to make this image editor program because i have both a background in arts and in computer science, and mix that with a love for the Sims 2, and that's why I made this.

Update: Tried it on a separate machine it works y'all!

[bare1ythere]

How to back up your tumblr blog with Tumblr-Utils FOR MAC USERS

I've seen a few guides floating around on how to use some more complex options for backing up your tumblr blog, but most are extremely PC focused. Here is a guide for fellow (unfortunate) mac users!

Note: I am not a tech savvy person at all. My brother walked me through this, and I'm just sharing what he told me. Unfortunately I won't be able to help much if you need trouble shooting or advice ;; sorry! This is also based off of this guide (link) by @/magz.

- - - - GUIDE - - - -

First, open terminal. You can command+space to search through your applications, and search for "terminal". It should look like this.

You should see something like this within the window:

[COMPUTER NAME]:~ [USER NAME]$ []

First, create a virtual environment for tumblr back up. This will limit any conflicts with other python programs. Type and enter this into terminal:

python3 -m venv .tumblr_backup

Then, Activate the virtual environment by entering this:

source .tumblr_backup/bin/activate

The next line should now show something like this:

(.tumblr_backup) [COMPUTER NAME]:~ [USER NAME]$ []

As a side note, you can exit this virtual environment by typing and entering "deactivate". You can re-enter it through the previous line we used to activate it to begin with.

Next, install the base package with this line:

python3 -m pip install tumblr-backup

The linked guide details various options for tumblr back up packages that you can install. Copied from the guide for convenience:

"tumblr-backup : default tumblr-backup[video] : adds option to download videos tumblr-backup[exif] : adds option to download EXIF information of fotos (photography metadata information) tumblr-backup[notes] : adds option to download notes of posts (huge) tumblr-backup[jq] : adds option to filter which posts to backup  tumblr-backup[all] : adds all options (personally doesn't work for us at the moment of writing this)"

I chose the video option, but you can pick which you'd like. Download that specific package with this line. Note that unlike the previous lines Ive shown, the square brackets here are actually part of it and must be used:

python3 -m pip install tumblr-backup[OPTION]

Next, you need to create an app linked to your tumblr account to get an OAuth consumer key (aka API key). Go to this link: [https://www.tumblr.com/oauth/apps] and click the [+Register application] button. Here, you will have to input a bunch of info. What you put doesn't really matter. This is how the original guide filled it out, and I did pretty much the exact same thing:

(The github link for your convenience: https://github.com/Cebtenzzre/tumblr-utils)

For the next step, You'll take the OAuth consumer key (NOT the secret key) and set it as the API key in tumblr-utils to give it the ability to download your blog. Input this line. Note that in this case, the square brackets are NOT to be included- just copy and paste the key:

tumblr-backup --set-api-key [YOUR OAUTH CONSUMER KEY]

This will set you up to start your back up! Type this to see all the different customization options you can pick from for your backup:

tumblr-backup --help

To begin your back up, pick which options you want to choose from and select which of your blogs you want to back up. It should look like this:

tumblr-backup [OPTIONS] [BLOG NAME]

For example, I am currently backing up this blog and I wanted to save videos as well as reversing the post order in the monthly archives. This is what my command looked like:

tumblr-backup -r --save-video bare1ythere

And there you have it! Your backup will be saved into a file titled after your blog. You can search through finder for it from there. There is also an option to specify where you want to save your blog, but I'm not sure how it works. I hope this was useful!!

[pforestsims]

🔊 The Sims 2 sound effects - instances list (WIP)

Download txt file (BOX)

Below you'll find a list of The Sims 2 Base game sound resources that I've identified so far, along their instance number - this is for people who'd like to export particular sound, or replace it with something else.

My first attempt at replacing game sound resource with MP3 failed (older sound defaults: less dog barking in hood view and no bed woohoo music were made with resources found in the game files).

I used wrong export settings back then, now I tried MP3 32000 Hz /48kbs and it seems to work fine.

Worth noting - sound duration has to be the same as cutscene (or longer). If it's too short, it gets stretched and becomes too slow.

-----------------------

ALL sound resources extracted with SimPe get .MP3 extension, even if it's in fact an .xa file. Most audio players can't open .xa files and will throw an error.

XA format files can be converted to .WAV with Xantippe app. You need to change .mp3 extension to .xa before you open it - if xantippe throws an error that means the file is actually an mp3 or spx.

'Voice' files are almost exclusively spx format, more about that here, post by lingeringwillx @ MTS2 - they created python script to decode it, post includes instructions on how to tell if a resource is .xa or something else.

Lazyduchess has shared a re-encoded version of TS2 spx voice resources, these are mostly mp3 and can be played in any app. (Patreon DL link).

--------------------------

How to search for the sound in the game files:

Open TSData folder [The Sims 2 / base game Folder]/TSData/Res/Sound

Open one of these three sound packages in SimPe: Sfx1, Sfx2, Misc. Browse "mp3 or xa Sound File"

open "filter resources" tab on the right, paste Instance number (the last one in a row) and click 'set'

if nothing shows up, drop another sound package into SimPe (Sfx1, Sfx2, Misc) until you see the sound on the resource list.

Instance number is the LAST in a row

[ ? ] - [Instance(high)] - [Group] - [Instance]

example: 2026960B-7F75E59D-0B8AB3CD-FF05C5C6

instance = FF05C5C6

----------------------------------------------------------------

Cinematics / Events

(I've only specified if a file is MP3 in a few cases, but there could be more of those. Some sounds have a few versions so I can't guarantee these are actually used in the game)

0C6E3A70-0B8AB3CD-FF45ABBA lost Weight

2026960B-91CC2AC3-0B8AB3CD-FF081A6A giving birth

2026960B-8BB1E2CE-0B8AB3CD-FF2B96EE UFO abduction (an MP3 file)

2026960B-7F75E59D-0B8AB3CD-FF05C5C6 UFO - Sim returns (an MP3 file)

2026960B-8A0F83A5-0B8AB3CD-FFFA7AB9 alien birth

56A9AC78-6B8AB3D7-FFD763E1 plumbing malfunction

A60A0E48-AB8AB3D2-FF660BBF burglar theme

05EA3037-AB8AB3D2-FF838B86 developed a crush

00EC7172-AB8AB3D2-FFB15612 feLL IN LOVE

2026960B-ECDE4BA5-0B8AB3CD-FFF34D2B failed engagement

6F564CA3-AB8AB3D2-FF9F10A7 caught Cheating

2026960B-A1842B83-0B8AB3CD-FF509848 bed woohoo (an MP3 file) this one is used in the game

2026960B-2AA91173-0B8AB3CD-FF0C1673 hottub woohoo (an MP3 file)

2026960B-673DF43D-0B8AB3CD-FFCDA5F8 hottub woohoo, same as above, but louder (an MP3 file) Possibly used in the game but I'm not sure

E3017DDD-0B8AB3CD-FFDE90FB fireworks 1

1D29A473-0B8AB3CD-FF4A709D fireworks 2

4E7A4676-AB8AB3D2-FFDF28E2 Got promoted

2935C11F-AB8AB3D2-FF6777E4 social workers arrive

412D2401-AB8AB3D2-FF9EFAEC death

2026960B-5DE2C0D0-0B8AB3CD-FFABCEC1 ghosts? (creepy ambient)

C49567B9-ADA1F468-FFC79BDF quiet bells, mysterious ambient

9B817E4F-AB8AB3D2-FFC7516B bling !

50C4F377-0B8AB3CD-FFFA3E65 doorbell

5D87D5AE-0B8AB3CD-FFF6A793 nice Doorbell

Nature

2026960B-8E6F500E-0B8AB3CD-FFE90CD9 big fire

2026960B-B91CBC2E-0B8AB3CD-FFC106A2 thunder

2026960B-75C4A7CB-0B8AB3CD-FF441EAE Flies

2026960B-1DDBF5CB-0B8AB3CD-FF69A5A0 slow cicadas

2026960B-1098D312-0B8AB3CD-FF653C56 cicadas

2026960B-3E358AB1-0B8AB3CD-FFD3391C crickets less loud

2026960B-3376AC68-0B8AB3CD-FFDFA0EA crickets / jungle

660B32B0-4CC9E945-FF001DF3 single Cricket

A4890932-4C3E66EE-FFBFF835 single Loud Cricket

14E06D63-4CC9E945-FFAB8C2B very quiet Bird

05E7CF3B-2C3E53D9-FFDD6645 quiet bird 1

36DF6C79-4CC9E945-FF5558D6 quiet bird 2

4C7EC562-2C3E53D9-FFF0046A birds 1

4E1730EB-2C3F70D5-FFF352E8 birds 2

64ADEDB6-2C3E53D9-FF06AFCE single Bird 1

860EE7CD-AC4C568B-FF7A9383 single bird 2

A5961275-6E0A5058-FFDADC9C weird owl or something

C45E6713-2C3F70D8-FF6E98CC Owl hooting

ABC18F4D-4C3F70DE-FF223DA3 single Bird 3

ACA90A53-2C3F70D5-FF11F737 single chirpy Bird

DE814E15-6E0A5058-FFBBEC05 Crow

5A0AAD22-AC4C5684-FFCC9AC5 frogs

electronics /water / machines

49F28038-0B8AB3CD-FF5B3156 blender

E2B508B7-0B8AB3CD-FFC67282 jazuzzi hum

2026960B-7BDA5F0B-0B8AB3CD-FF6CC7D9 jacuzzi Hum 2

2026960B-FA6CA340-0B8AB3CD-FF2B2732 machine 1

2026960B-79FDA8C9-0B8AB3CD-FF39184F quiet car engine

2026960B-A5CCBC84-0B8AB3CD-FF67AFB1 hum

2026960B-51F6E7DF-0B8AB3CD-FFC77487 quiet hum

2026960B-0ACED28F-0B8AB3CD-FF21A07D tub water splash

2026960B-078DF456-0B8AB3CD-FF2D398B tub splash 2

2026960B-EF594603-0B8AB3CD-FF7BF68C machine 2

2026960B-6056339D-0B8AB3CD-FF8DED15 machine 3

2026960B-8FD1A3D8-0B8AB3CD-FFF6B07A water 2

2026960B-F8828DBC-0B8AB3CD-FF4BC580 machine 4

2026960B-53751DDD-0B8AB3CD-FFDDF748 water gurgle

2026960B-F5732187-0B8AB3CD-FF4FF045 jet

2026960B-42A7FD9F-0B8AB3CD-FFF6A592 quiet car engine

2026960B-62B6A707-0B8AB3CD-FF3592EC car 1

2026960B-78C55345-0B8AB3CD-FF205208 car fade off

2026960B-DAFBA3F9-0B8AB3CD-FFEA9191 jet fade off

2026960B-82F59CEF-0B8AB3CD-FF184230 light trafic

2026960B-BE0D9651-0B8AB3CD-FF62BECD shower or rain

2026960B-8FB6BA36-0B8AB3CD-FF14DBC6 light Traffic

2026960B-D4473A8C-0B8AB3CD-FF240C5E car 2

2026960B-D231F6E9-0B8AB3CD-FFF5F774 car 3

2026960B-A49FFBC2-0B8AB3CD-FF434DCC another car

2026960B-0164A643-0B8AB3CD-FF74F7C7 noise or shower

2026960B-193EDDA2-0B8AB3CD-FF010DB5 car 4

2026960B-8B2844F8-0B8AB3CD-FFE3B6EB car/ bus

2026960B-D7D2EA5F-0B8AB3CD-FF02932F cheap car or something

[valeriehalla]

mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah I just found your VN and it's so cute and arresting and so full of nonbinary longing I'm absolutely in love already and it's kinda inspiring me to do the scary job of opening up a word doc and try writing some of my own stuff for the first time ever

also wrt aster i love love love love love the idea of being freed from agab. just... can't remember. who cares. no longer having to measure up to a gender metric or constantly minimizing your male shoulders or female hips and worrying about your ratios or presentation - and just relax and enjoy it instead of treating it like a constant chore of maintaining a dozen spinning plates to avoid being "found out". freed from presentation pressure. mwah.

also also as a fellow web developer I'd love to hear more about your stack for ssg - gatsby? svelte? vite? 93 nested imported html docs? one really really big div? I ask because while I don't know if I'll ever have the chops for music production, reading and discovering that inline music player absolutely tickled me, both narratively and as a developer, what a delight, so so so good

My “stack” ... hmmm. “Stack” .................

So, for the main website I just used “Lektor”, which I picked out of a hat on the basis that it was python-based and could do the one thing I cared about (HTML templating). But the CURSE/KISS/CUTE reader is coded from scratch. It is a single-page app, and it loads and displays story content by grabbing the HTML from a JSON file I call the “story file”. The JSON in turn is created by a parser that I wrote in python that parses a specially-formatted markdown file which I also confusingly call the “story file”. The script format for this latter file is slightly custom but is mostly just “normal markdown but I repurposed code ticks as a macro format”:

The music player is pretty rudimentary and just offloads all the complicated business to howler.js.

It’s a funny patchworked leaning tower of python but it gets it done and gets it done entirely client-side and that means I don’t have to dip even one of my toes into the haunted pool of server-side web development =w=

[naomikozura]

Playing With Fire: Chapter 6

Jason Todd (Red Hood) x Fem!Reader (Criminal)

Trope: Enemies to Lovers, Forbidden Romance

Warnings: strong language, mentions of guns, drinking (all overage), tiny tiny tiny angst (if you squint), stealing/heist, illegal coding (meh barely a warning), not too many this chapter but lmk if I missed any!

WC: 10K

Summary: In the heart-pounding midst of a daring heist, you encounter him for the first time behind the mask. As partners in crime, the stakes are high—this job could reshape your future. But amidst the adrenaline and danger, a connection sparks, complicating everything. Will you emerge unscathed by consequences, or will you find yourself entangled in a precarious dance where risk and intimacy intertwine, forcing you to confront the true meaning of loyalty?

Series Masterlist

Chapter 5 || Chapter 7

The night was filled with people from all backgrounds, business owners, CFOs, CEOs, COOs, jewelry heiresses, stock brokers, even those who dabbled in international trade and shipments of luxury goods were in the room. Every person with any sense of power on the money side of Gotham was present tonight. You were wearing a gorgeous golden dress with fabric that hung around your chest and drooped over your shoulder, covering the gunshot wound that you’d received a week ago. The dress complimented your skin and hugged your figure perfectly. Every curve of your body hugged by the fabric, showing off your form in a delicate yet seductive and classy way. You had your necklace under the wrap around neckline, but wore the matching green earrings adorning and balancing the outfit. It was simple and perfect for the occasion. You had your hair up in a slick back ponytail, the length hanging perfectly, giving you a soft glowy look versus your dark seductive alter ego. You wanted to be seen as the charming, beautiful, supportive partner that worked with Calvi himself. 

Your heart was beating in your chest, pounding like a wild animal trying to escape from its cage. After weeks of preparations, the night was finally here. Ambushing and infiltrating Sionis’s business to make him crumble from the inside out. You hadn’t spoken to Red in a few days, his plan perfectly laid and seemed fool proof. One of the calls was ceased communication. It was the only way to ensure the plan would work in the end. You couldn’t be in ties with him since he had his own role to play which he had started before asking for your help. Befriend and gain the trust of Calvi’s business partner, Marcos. A powerhouse in Gotham’s elite. Working in foreign exchange, luxury goods, and security, he was almost as devastating as Calvi himself. Only he was more egotistical and cocky than Calvi was. He didn’t have the same charm or the same sense of formality. He was new money rich, everything spiraling and taking off after he created his security platform, Python. 

You finished applying your lipstick, fixing your hair and grabbing your designer clutch off the sink. You needed to play the part of being the daughter of a wealthy businessman, trying to cover your tracks so no one could wonder how easily you had access to Calvi and ended up on his arm this night of the Gala honoring him. Calvi already knew your background as you were able to create a false one that lined up perfectly with the daughter of a businessman who’d disappeared and gone off grid. The family kept it a secret so as to not be caught in a scandal, so you stepped in as the replacement and since you were a beautiful, young woman with interest in luxury goods, everything checked out. No loopholes, no openings. 

~~~

It was all selfish. It was personal. It was for your freedom. That’s what you kept telling yourself when you paced in the outskirts of the city, waiting for Red at the secluded location he’d embedded into the file for future meetings. 

Could you actually manage to pull something like this off? Was it all a ploy or did he truly believe this could work? 

“Y/n”, you turned at the sound of his voice. 

“Red”, you breathed, your shoulders tense. 

“You came.”, his voice had a hint of humor in it, but serious quickly took over as his body stopped only a foot away from you, his proximity sending you over the edge. He had a deep musk to him, a woodsy scent that filled your nostrils and made your veins flood with a sensation you couldn’t quite place. 

“How serious are you?” your voice was a whisper, but the intent was loud. You weren’t here to play games. You needed answers. 

“I’m dead serious about this, sweetheart.”, he replied. “I take you overlooked everything.”

“What interest do you have in the Blue Moon of Josephine that you need to steal it from the museum that Black Mask has under his protection?”

“It’s a hefty hit and a hefty payout. I thought you’d be the first to jump all over this.”

“It’s a suicide mission!”, you raised your voice slightly, your eyes slightly widening as you held back your confused frustration. 

“It’s your ticket out of here. It’s my ticket to a direct hit at that son of a bitch and getting closer to completing my work.”

Your eyebrows furrowed as you looked at him, your eyes glossy with emotion you couldn’t quite place. Was it anger, frustration, false hope, or a sense of trust that you knew you shouldn’t be placing in him in the first place? 

“You always seem focused on escaping this shit city, and now I’m giving you the chance and you’re doubting it.”

“I don’t want false hope.”, you clenched your teeth. 

“The evidence was all in that drive. You can see for yourself it isn’t false anything.”, he replied as stared at you intently, his focus on you as he waited for your answer. His silence made the air around the both of you fill with tension, there was more to it than he led on. You took a step back, not noticing how his close proximity had affected you. You needed to focus. 

“If you’re serious, if you truly believe we can pull this off…” Red noticed how you were overthinking the situation, his voice ringing out again. 

“I won’t force you to do something you’re not confident in doing.” 

You let yourself sit in the silence, his body still radiating heat and his hand on your chin to meet his eyes. You basked in his presence for a moment, snapping yourself out of the trance and looking at him intently. 

“No.”, you breathed. “I’m in.”

~~~

“Ready, my dear?”, Calvi stretched an arm towards you as you wrapped your hands around him and walked elegantly next to him. He was tall, around 6’5, even taller than Red. You were wearing heels so your height would be closer to meet his eye line, but you were still far shorter than the both of them. 

“Are we meeting any of your partners tonight?”, you asked softly, your eyes examining his face, his demeanor very relaxed and laid back. 

“A few, but only one catches my attention tonight. He has a new development and I want to be the first to have it.”, he mentioned nonchalantly.

“You look stunning tonight. I don’t know how you get more beautiful every time I see you, Vivian”, his breath smelled like mint, his natural scent overwhelming with overpriced cologne. It was almost too much for your senses, giving you a slight headache. 

“You clean up nice yourself, Cal. You sure you’re not holding back on me?”, you smiled as your words left in a flirty tone.

The two of you walked through the halls, taking in the cases full of jewelry spanning from rings, necklaces, crowns, bracelets, everything worth tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Everything here was priceless. But you weren’t here for scraps. 

You moved around, looking at the well dressed statues that were clothed in beautiful custom gowns that were hand crafted by the best designers in the city. You admired them deeply and loved the complex colors and the reflection of the light making the diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls, all the jewels illuminate beautifully. 

Calvi followed behind but remained close at your side, allowing you to take your time as you moved through the entrance halls and into the main room, the music and the chatter of people filled the atmosphere. There wasn’t a single inch of the room that didn’t have a person standing in it. Servers, musicians, security, attendees, everyone was here. 

It was almost as impressive as the Wayne Galas. 

Almost. 

It was a grand hall full of beautiful, timeless decorations, the curtains reaching the roof and the chandeliers hanging around the room as the music played in a lively tune that allowed people to have drinks and mingle with one another. The attendance list was full of the rich, powerful people of Gotham, all having their own born right to be here. Many of the names on Red’s drive were old money, generations of wealth passed down through each new member. Others were self-made businessmen and women, they had gone from middle class citizens to the highest ranking in the city, making them more respected by those who kept a watchful eye on them. 

Calvi motioned towards the small bar area, walking over with you in hand as he ordered a glass of his favorite whiskey while you ordered your wine. You leaned into Calvi, reeling him in as he placed a hand on your waist, turning towards him as you smiled and lifted a hand to your face, brushing a small piece of hair back. How easy it was to have men wrapped around your finger and at your command. 

“Is that Calvi Calbera?”, you turned to be met with the very man you were anticipating the whole night. Marcos Maroni. The unknown son of Sal Maroni. Except here, no one knew he was a Maroni. He did well hiding his background from everyone in this scene. Only you and Red knew who he was, who he really was. 

“Marcos Morona”, Calvi walked up to him, shaking his hand and patting him on the back, laughing as they greeted each other. 

“Excuse me, forgive my rudeness, but who is this lovely lady?”, Marcos turned to you, his charming smile hiding the intrigue in his eyes not missing the way they darkened as they skimmed your body quickly. You would’ve missed it if you weren’t so good at reading men and their mannerisms. You stood from your seat, stretching your hand out towards him as he took your delicate hand in his broad, rough one. “Vivian Lancaster”, you said softly, batting your eyelashes at him, letting him notice your obvious observation of his movements. It would inflate his ego, just like every other man in Gotham who took a liking to you. You knew you were beautiful, you knew men gravitated towards you. It made your line of work easy, especially when it came to getting intel you needed from these men. Just like Calvi. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”, he smirked at you before he kissed your hand and turned back to Calvi. “I heard you were looking for me. Wanting to take a look at my new software?”

Calvi let out a chuckle, taking a sip of his whiskey before setting it back on the bar. “I heard it’s better than Python. I want to see it and be the first to bid on getting the system for my trades.”

“You flatter me, Calvi. It is a good system, I worked with a programmer who is beyond my time and my years. I didn’t realize Bludhaven produced such intelligent people who worked in system informatics and security programming.”

“You can never underestimate people. Especially when you came from the same background”, Calvi mentioned calmly. The false life Marcos had made for himself was filled with the lie that he was completely self-made. A nobody that came from a small town in New Jersey and grew his skills and his company from the ground up. Yeah, right. 

“That’s why we have to take risks when it comes to new minds.”, Marcos rambled for a few more moments, a part of you anxious of when your partner would show up. He hadn’t made his appearance yet, you wondered if he was actually planning on coming or if all of this was just to get you away from him for another night. He had been cutting communication off for the past week so it would make sense if that was his reasoning.

“There you are.”, you looked up from your glass, you had zoned out and didn’t realize until Marcos snapped you back to their conversation. “Calvi, Vivian. I want to introduce you to one of my partners. His intelligence and deduction skills are far beyond anything I could ever imagine trying to find outside of Gotham.”

You looked behind Marcos, your heart stopped in your chest. Out of everything you expected tonight, from the risk of getting caught to the possibility of leaving empty handed, you could have never expected this. 

“Calvi, Vivian. This is Jason Todd. My partner in building my new security software and convincing me to take a risk on my programmer from Bludhaven. Not to mention the son of our beloved Bruce Wayne.”

Your lips parted from the shock. You were left speechless. He had dark hair that was slicked back neatly, exposing his face and making his jaw appear more sharp and defined than it already was. He was wearing a dark suit and a dark burgundy tie that made it obvious who he was to you. Only to you. His eyes were a deep, dark green that pulled you into a trance. His lips pulled into a charming smile, his eyes focused on your appearance as you noticed that same emotion in his eyes that you knew was in your own. Your face remained neutral, but you knew your eyes gave you away the second he looked at you. He was devastating, handsome, his eyes gentle and full of emotion as they took you in, your heart pounding in your chest while trying to remain calm. 

You felt time stop, everything around you had disappeared and the two of you stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. His eyes bore into yours, holding an unwavering amount of attention, skimming down your frame and drinking in every inch of your body. He dressed in a suit that fit him perfectly, made him look muscular, toned, and perfect. You’d wondered what he’d look like under it all, what it would feel like against yours, the heat rising in your body as the darkness in his eyes swirled into something more. Something you couldn’t quite place. You noticed the way his hand flexed slightly but quickly relaxed. You held his gaze for what seemed like forever until his smooth, clear voice pulled you out of your trance.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jason Todd”, he stretched out his hand, letting him take yours and kissing the back of it. “What a lovely woman you have with you tonight Calvi.” Jason spoke, never taking his gaze off of you. You hadn’t broken eye contact since he waltzed in. 

“Vivian Lancaster. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”, you said, taking your hand back after noticing how he rubbed the back of your hand with his thumb. 

You felt your skin ignite on fire, his green eyes holding you gaze as a small smile tugged at his lips.

“She is beautiful. We’ve been working together for some time. Who knows what the future holds for us, right my dear?”, Calvi spoke as he looked at you, your eyes still under siege by Jason’s green ones. How did you go this long, never seeing his face, his eyes… he..

“Right.”, you snapped out of Jason’s stare when Calvi wrapped an arm around your waist, almost like staking his claim. You looked at his face, no emotion showing in his eyes and his jaw was relaxed. So why was he being weird?

“Calvi, let’s catch up in the meeting room before they start the auction. I’m sure Jason can keep Vivian company for a short while.”, Marcos said as he and Calvi said another snide joke under their breath and walked away.

You watched as they left before meeting Jason’s gaze again, your heart absolutely betraying you in your chest. He looked at the ground, his smile spreading across his face as he met your gaze again. He cocked his head, pointing towards the balcony that was on the other side of the room and you followed him outside, stepping into the fresh, cool air leaving your skin feeling relaxed as the soft breeze hit your warm skin.

“You clean up nice”, you said, trying to keep yourself from stuttering. You needed to focus on why you were here, not on how devastating the man in front of you looked. 

“I’d say the same to you. This dress really suits you.”, his voice was deep, suave, flirtatious, and it drove you absolutely insane. This was the first time you were seeing him like this, the first time you were on mutual grounds and he had this hold over you that you couldn’t shake. 

“So, Jason Todd.”, you said as you looked at him, that charming smirk playing at his lips again. “Son of Bruce Wayne, I thought this was supposed to keep a low profile.”, 

“It’s my real name.”, your eyebrows raised slightly, your head turning to look at him as he looked down at the garden, one hand on the railing. 

“Your real name? Seems believable enough.”

“It is. Jason Peter Todd.”, he looked at you, meeting your gaze again. 

“Do you really want me to take that seriously? Do you really think I am that gullible?”

“I know you’re not.”, he spoke again. “And, I really am the son of Bruce Wayne.”

You stared at him. The silence growing and the tension slowly getting thicker. You couldn’t believe him. He was pulling a prank on you. There’s no way he’s… 

“Why do I feel like you’re lying to me?” “When have I ever lied to you?”, he was right. Over the course of the past few months, he never lied about anything he was doing. He wouldn’t tell you complete thoughts, sometimes keep small tidbits of information from you, but lying? He never did that. 

“You’re Bruce Wayne’s son?”, you asked again, almost as if asking for confirmation of the truth once again. 

“Yes.”, at this point, he was full on facing you, his hands in his pockets as he stood tall over you. His eyes bore into your soul, almost like he was breaking apart every one of your walls and getting under your skin, making you burn in your dress.

“Does he know… that you..”

“No. He doesn’t even know I’m back in Gotham.”, he answered. 

Back in Gotham? Does that mean he left at one point? Where did he go? How long was he gone? Why did he leave?

“I see.”, you were at a loss for words. You felt like there was something about his background that just… left you wrecked. Why did you feel betrayed? Because he was a rich kid with a father who had all to Gotham in the palm of his hand? Did you feel deceived, did you believe he was just another vigilante fighting to make ends meet and he had no other choice but to enter this life like you had? Or was he just rebelling against his father?

You felt an ember of anger growing in your chest. You couldn’t look at him, couldn’t stand next to him. You just felt like you received the worst confession in your life. Jason Todd, son of Bruce Wayne, was the one trying to take out Black Mask’s business to take a shot at his money and make him miserable. A rich pretty boy was trying to take out one of Gotham’s most ruthless mob bosses in the city. He could get away with killing all those people because Bruce Wayne would convince the world it wasn’t his son, there was no proof either. He wasn’t known as Jason Todd, no one knew it was him. He was just Red Hood. The annoyance grew in your chest as you remained silent and lost in thought. 

Did you even have the right to get mad at him? He’d helped you so many times, could’ve killed you throughout the past few months. He hadn’t shown anyone else within the city any form of sympathy or second guessed killing them, so why you? More importantly, why were you so bothered by the truth of who he was? 

He owed you nothing. 

You forced yourself back to the reality of the situation: get the job done.

“We can head back to my apartment once we’re done, just to get out of sight from the guards around here.”, you murmured, your eyes scanning the room in practiced scrutiny. Your focus on examining each attendee before arriving was paying off, but there were still internal updates that could have happened in the span of the past three days leading up to the Gala. Your eyes turned back towards Jason, his eyes looked at you in a soft glance, his focus on your words and actions as you scanned the room. He hummed lightly before creating distance between the two of you, your slicked hair showing off your features in a delicate manner that left him soaking in the sight for a second longer before turning away. 

“If the blueprints are accurate and they didn’t move any of the jewels around, they should be located by the main entrance where the guests came in and every one can see them.”, his response was practical, focusing perfectly on the very reason both of you were here tonight. 

Your mind raced through all the details, recalling every base of your plan down to the nitty gritty. You had calculated everything, trying to remember the blueprints exactly. Your memory was borderline photographic when it came to jobs like these. “We can leave at different times before the speeches and auction. We hack into the security system and set the cameras on loop, reprogram the sensors on the cases but we’ll only have around 10 or 15 minutes to get what we need and get out before the sensors turn back on.”

“What if we move the cameras into a blind spot that's only a few inches to the left of the main hallway?"

Your surprise was evident. "How do you know there’s a blind spot?"

"Hacking into the camera system a week ago helped a lot. I took it upon myself to cover the bases for a plan B in case we needed it."

You couldn't deny his resourcefulness, but the revelation of his background left you on edge. His clear, confident voice contrasted with the dissonance you felt in your bones. Your perception of him shifted, your judgment clouded by this deal with him and the payout at the end of this suicide mission. 

“Let’s finish what we came here for.”, his deep voice rang out. Deep, smooth, not hidden behind distortion. He was clear, articulate, and it irritated you knowing his background. It’s like your entire opinion of him just… shifted. You moved around him, slipping back into the main room and finding your way through the hallways, leaving him alone while you carried out your part of the plan. 

Back in the main room, Jason felt a tug in his gut, watching you with his deep green eyes, never leaving your form as you walked through the crowded room. He swirled his drink before throwing back the amber liquid, the burn offering him a momentary distraction from the irritation growing in the pit of his stomach. He watched as a group of men swept their gazes towards you, his hand tightening around the glass as he buried the annoyance under focus. If there was one thing he despised more than Galas, it was the people. He hated the social scene more than anything, everyone in this room included with the exception of you. 

He’d noticed how quickly your body language changed at the mention of who he was, it left him with a strange sensation wondering if you’d really gotten upset at his identity. Your sudden change in attitude made him question if his true self would change your perception of him, if it would change your alliance and the results of the job. His jaw clenched as he snapped back to focus. Regardless of how much he wanted to contemplate his actions or breakdown your reaction, he had a job to do.

He slowly moved through the room, his body tall in confidence as he noticed some of the women staring at him, blushing as they whispered between one another. He couldn’t help but feel strange, he’d always been hidden in his brother's shadow, women never particularly liked him but now that he’s older he can’t help but notice how the attention has changed. It was a complete contrast to his past, used to be overlooked and now everyone noticed him. He couldn't care less about it though, he didn’t care about anything here except for a particular woman who just walked out on him. 

He exited into the hall, walking past several people and groups of businessmen, giving them a slight nod in greeting before continuing through the corridors. He had turned down a particular hall, one he remembered from his intel and the blueprints he’d downloaded for this very night. It was the main server room, he could get to any of the cameras and completely shut them down to make the night easier on both of you. He couldn’t plant the chips there yet, he needed to touch base with you first. 

He turned into the main hall, scanning through different bodies of people until he saw you in front of a painting in all your glory. He hadn’t admitted it out loud but the pang in his chest at how you were dressed tonight left him on edge. 

“Van Gogh.”, he spoke out as he walked up beside you.

“Yeah..”, you replied softly, your attention briefly on the painting before looking down in contemplation. 

After you’d left the main room, you walked through the halls with other groups and couples, seemingly talking harmlessly but then you took in every piece of information and camera angle to the best of your ability. You stopped to admire one piece in particular, a kick to the gut but when Jason placed a hand on the small of your back, you looked at him. To anyone else the gesture would have been discreet and simple, but between the two of you it carried weight - a silent form of comfort. All you couldn’t place if it was due to his reveal, or just the stress of tonight, but you knew he’d intended the subtle gesture as a comforting touch. 

He turned to look at you, his eyes softening before flicking down to your parted lips, your lipstick beautifully painted as he took into account every detail of your presence. His jaw clenched before he removed his hand, turning back to the wall and you turned your head, not letting the heat show on your face due to his touch. 

“It’s a beautiful painting.”, you looked up at him, turning and continuing down the hall. Jason had lingered behind a moment longer, his chest filling with a rush of emotion before following behind you. Now wasn’t the time to dig up hidden meanings and make sense of them.

Not now. 

There was only half an hour before the auction started off, even less time than that before speeches and dinner started. You and Jason needed to be quick, needed to plant the chips, hack into the security system, and return before anyone caught on to your antics. You nodded at him, silently giving him an unspoken confirmation to complete your individual tasks before rendezvousing back to the main hall.

You had carefully taken in every inch of the building, watching and taking note of everything that came into proximity. You had to get to the server room and set up the security system to a no detectable loop, ensuring the system couldn’t be traced back to anyone just long enough to get what you needed and leave. You navigated the halls in focus, quickly scanning through while keeping complete composure and even nodding at a few people who walked past you to lighten suspicion. 

You quickly hurried through the hallways until you backtracked, heading down a hallway that was more dim than the rest and noticing the nameplate next to the door. You stood a few feet away to stay out of sight of the camera, trying to have as little mess to clean up as possible as you examined the door silently. You played through every possibility in your head within seconds, trying to find the best route of action to move forward with. 

You were able to find an opening just a few inches from a camera, a minute blind spot but it was all you needed to succeed. You had been keeping tabs on the security system long enough to see the actual entrance to the security room was blocked off. It gave you the perfect in to pick the lock, place the chip, set pre recorded footage, and delete any footage that showed your and Jason's entrance into the event and anything that could put you as suspects. You needed 10 minutes to pull the whole thing off. 

You knelt down to the handle, inserting the pin you can tucked into your hair, and began to work on the lock. It was a simple thing even for being placed in an event like this. After a few seconds, the subtle clicks gave away the opening of the lock, turning the handle and pushing the door open.

It was empty.

That eliminated one concern you had. If someone was in here you’d have to get your hands dirty. 

You closed the door, walked over to the desk and pulled the chair back to sit in it. You overlooked everything quickly, taking in every angle of the event being monitored in high definition. You could see the main room, the hallways, the club rooms, the library, the fountain where the art and jewels were displayed, even see the entrance to the gala as well as the outside cameras. Everything was here all in 30 tiny screens. You smirked at yourself. 

They really knew how to cover bases when they needed to. No doubt they did an in depth review of every inch of the location to ensure tighter security. 

You quickly typed in a virus code, connecting your chip to the server and watching the file download. You glanced at the camera that pointed into the hall next to the room you were in. Still empty. A good sign but it also left you on edge. You needed to hurry. 

You watched the file download, turning green in completion as you quickly added it to the server and set the programming to start with the looped footage in 15 minutes. You needed to hurry and program your chip to delete footage from the past hour, coding it into the system as fast as possible. 

You froze at the sound of the handle of the door turning, your heart pounding in your chest as you quickly finished the code. At least if you were caught they wouldn’t be able to trace this back to you. You removed your chip and shoved it into the inside of your dress, replacing the pin into your hair as you moved away from the computers. 

The turning of the handle made you freeze, not wanting to take out the gun you had strapped to your thigh. You pressed your back against the wall, holding your breath as the door opened with a soft creaking before watching someone walk inside. A tall muscular figure walked into the room, probably a guard, you quickly rushed him from behind, feeling the turn of his body as the both of you slammed on the ground. 

“If you wanted to get on top of me, all you had to do was ask, sweetheart.”, your eyes snapped up to him, your body completely flush with his as his hands laid perfectly on your curves. You felt a heat rise into your face, the flexing of his fingers on your waist making you burn hotter. 

You pushed yourself off of him, fixing your dress and glaring at him. “You’re insufferable.”, you muttered as he smirked at you. 

“I planted my chips. We have 15 minutes.”, he rolled his eyes, ignoring your momentary frustration. “We need to move.”

He gestured for you to follow as both of you slipped into the hall and navigated through the ornate corridors of the building, blending seamlessly among the guests. You couldn't deny the rush of adrenaline coursing through your veins; working with Jason was like walking on a knife's edge—exciting, unpredictable, and dangerous.

You both moved through the corridor, trying to make your way back to the main room in time to make your rounds before moving into the final stages of your plan. You’d haven't thought about Marcos and Calvi, knowing they’d probably be preoccupied in the sitting room doing their usual sketchy business. You didn’t see them on the cameras during your search earlier, but yet again, the probability of a secret room with no surveillance wasn’t too far off from what would be considered a possibility. Besides, it was better if Calvi stayed out of the way, especially when it would make things far more exhausting having to manage him and this operation. 

You tried to focus, your head swirling with a hundred different thoughts but if you lost even a minute detail, the whole operation would go to shit. Jason seemed a lot more focused, maybe the years of practice or just being gifted with that skill. Either way, it made him a good partner in all things criminal, even if you wouldn’t admit it out loud. 

Slipping back to the main room, everyone seemed to be within the grand walls of the ballroom, either socializing or in the middle of the open floor. You and Jason both slipped through the crowd, trying to make it back where Calvi and Marcos had left you before the harmonizing of orchestra instruments caused you to come to a sudden halt. 

Shit.

You could not get caught in this right now, it would set your entire plan back. You grit your teeth before turning to find confirmation in Jason to get out of this situation but your irritation grew when you looked over at him. You watched him extend a hand towards you, your eyes widened slightly in shock as you hesitated to touch his palm.

He could not be serious right now.

His eyes urged you forward, showing the seriousness in reminding you of the role you had to play tonight despite the reminders it gave you of your past. You couldn’t raise suspicion. 

You slowly grabbed his hand, letting him lead you onto the dance floor as the orchestra played a simple waltz. You felt him get into perfect position, your body moving in sync with his. It felt like he was almost trained to attend events like these, he truly did commit to the part but then again he was the son of Bruce Wayne. You were sure he had more experience with Galas than you did.

You recalled the moments you spent living with The Family, forced into a position of learning how to waltz and dance in order to better fit into the mold of their image. You didn’t mind it too much but you found it redundant, tiresome, tedious. 

Jason’s body moved in sync with the orchestra music, his movement smooth and in pace. You could barely keep up with him as he twirled you around before bringing you back in, your chests meeting each other as you sucked in a silent breath. You felt his breath slightly on your lips, your eyes meeting his as your faces hovered only inches from each other. You held his gaze as you saw an underlying burning in his eyes, they were dark and hazy almost like he was a man starved. You breathed, your lips parting as your eyes flickered down, focused on everything that had to do with him and nothing with the reason why you were here. 

You felt paused in time, like only you and him existed in this moment. Everything faded into nothing as the orchestra continued to play the waltz as it blurred into the background. You watched as his head tilted a millimeter, barely but enough to notice at the proximity you were at. His eyes flicked to your lips for a split second only to meet your eyes again. His body heat burned your skin, your pulse skyrocketing into a pounding sensation and slightly praying he couldn’t feel or hear it. His face was too close, his lips just a breath away from touching yours, everything in him burning at the proximity. 

The clapping from tonight's attendees broke you out of your trance, forcing you out of the moment you shared with Jason and snapping you into reality. You blinked, stepping back as he removed his body from yours only to give the traditional bow and walk away. You watched as he headed to the bar, your eyes looking around at everyone going back to their conversations and ignoring the people on the dance floor. 

What was that?

You felt a pang of emotion in your chest, your irritation brewing as you walked over to the bar where you watched him order another drink and down it in one go. You stood next to him, your heels helping you meet his eyeline as you tugged his arm back and forcing the green eyed man to look at you. 

“What was that?”, you whispered in a sharp tone, only loud enough for him to hear you. 

His hooded eyes looked at yours, he looked exhausted or maybe just drunk but you couldn’t bring yourself to care at that moment. Whatever was going on with him internally he needed to figure out outside of this mission before he ruined everything. Your eyes narrowed at him as a half-assed smirk appeared on his lips. 

“I’m keeping appearances, wasn’t that the plan?”, he said lazily, his demeanor completely changing. This wasn’t his usual act, so why was he putting it on?

“You’re going to blow our cover.”, your spit through clenched teeth. “You’re going to ruin everything.”

“I think we both know that’s not the reason you’re upset, sweetheart.”, he retaliated. 

“That wasn’t keeping appearances, Red!”, you whisper yelled at him, the burning in your eyes growing stronger as he stood upright. 

“Maybe not.”, he shrugged, his voice carrying a hint of something you couldn’t quite place. His eyes flickered with an unreadable emotion. 

You took a step closer, your voice a low murmur laden with urgency and frustration. "We have a job to do. This isn't about personal feelings or playing games."

“Yes, Ma’am”, he did a mocking salute before looking over your shoulder. “Let’s just get this over with.” 

Why did he become an asshole all of a sudden? You were about to spit something back at him before you felt a hand on your waist. 

“Vivian, Jason. Apologies for being gone so long, I hope the two of you were able to keep each other company?”, Calvi looked at you with deep eyes, his smile forced but he didn’t need to know you could tell. 

“Everything has been pretty calm here. I think they may start the dinner soon.”, you smiled at him as you felt the dark stare coming from Jason. 

“Then, let’s get to our tables shall we? Jason, I believe you and Marcos are with us tonight.”

“Let’s find our seats then.”, he pulled out a fake charming smile as he followed behind the both of you. The atmosphere crackled with unspoken tension, the weight of your shared moment just a few minutes ago hung between the two of you. You couldn’t deny whatever pull Jason had on you, but you needed to shove the thoughts away. Outside of this job, he was still a name on your list of targets. 

Calvi pulled out your seat once you’d reached the other room where the dinner would proceed. Several other guests were already sitting at their tables as they surrounded the main stage, waiting for the speaker to come up for the night and proceed into the auction. Your heart pounded in your chest as you looked at the clock on the wall. You had less than five minutes to find an opening or you would lose your only advantage. 

“Calvi, I need to step out for a moment. I'm just going to head to the washroom”, you asked trying to sound as calm as possible. 

“I'll accompany you, I have a call I need to make.”, Jason’s voice rang out, Calvi nodding slightly as he looked towards Jason. “I can walk with you."

“Thank you, Jason.”, you forced. “I’ll be back before they even start with the first round of appetizers and the opening speech.”, you placed a soft kiss on Calvi’s cheek, trying to keep up the appearance of his adorned partner. 

You followed behind Jason closely, his shoulders tense as he parted in the opposite direction once you exited the dining hall, leaving as you went into the women's restroom. You pushed the door open, opening the final stall and locking it behind you. You quickly removed the hidden compartment behind the wall. To anyone else it looked like the normal wall in the restroom, but you had managed to sneak your undercover clothing into the empty space behind it. You quickly removed your dress, pulling it off gently as you changed into the simple kitchen staff clothing. Black pants, black button up, non slip shoes and tying your hair into a bun. You had opted for makeup that was easy to put on and take off, quickly taking off parts of the eye shadow before letting yourself look more natural. The same with your hair as it only remained in a slicked back ponytail, making it easy to twist into a bun. You quickly put on the tie and the hat you had that the kitchen staff wore in order to hide your face. 

You quickly zipped your dress into a seal proof bag and shoved it into the wall along with your heels, fixing it before looking down at your watch. You had less than 2 minutes before you needed to look for the diamond, 8 minutes to find the case and retrieve it, all while keeping a low profile. 

You pushed through the door of the restroom and walked confidently through the halls, your eyes taking in the different cases being showcased around you with all the different jewels. Some of them remained in cases, but according to your plan book, it would be on display tonight for the auction. 

You paced through the halls, seeing dressed in all black Jason walk up next to you, his attire matching the security guards uniform as his words dropped into your ears. “We need to move quickly.”, he breathed as his eyes glanced over at the other servers moving through the halls carrying trays. 

You hummed in agreement, your focus sharp as you fell into step with him before breaking apart once again. He went towards the east wing and you to the west, both wings holding different jewels but only one holding the one you needed. 

45 seconds until the outage. 

You moved through the halls quickly. Your eyes skimming every jewel showcased on the mannequins that were also dressed in beautiful gowns and wore other expensive jewels. 

30 seconds. 

Jason paced the east wing, his eyes taking in every case, keeping a close watch on the cameras and making himself look as normal as possible. Being dressed in security clothing and observing the rooms would cease suspicion. It was the perfect cover. 

15 seconds. 

You felt your heart pound as you looked at the last of the people head into the dining hall. 

10 seconds. 

Jason felt a tug in his gut as he heard the announcer start speaking in the other room, signaling his opening in a few seconds. 

5 seconds.

You could hear the announcer in the other room, then complete silence before you heard the scream of one of the guests. The power had gone completely out and you watched the camera intently as the red light signaling its recording flickered off. You felt yourself go into overdrive, your body quickly searching through the mannequins as your watch gave you the alarm that you only had 8 minutes before the cameras and the security locks on the cases turned back on. 

Adrenaline surged through you as the darkness acted as your cover, the loss of power would only give you so much time. You knew each second counted, quickly moving as you scanned each mannequin with precision, your senses heightened due to the lack of light. The echo of distant voices carried down the hall, the subtle sound of rushed footsteps heightening your awareness. Your heart pounded in your chest every time there was a noise down the hall, but you couldn’t let your anxiety get to you if you were going to pull this off. You needed to focus on this and only this. You only hoped that if you couldn’t find the diamond here, Jason had it already. 

Time blurred as you felt the pressure slowly start to build as you felt the reality sink in. Where was it?! 

You looked at your watch, only having 4 minutes to retrieve what you needed, get back to the restroom and change, find Jason, and return to the dining hall before security inevitably took everyone to evacuate the building. The adrenaline and pounding of your heart only increased as you watched the time go down, Jason still not having sent the signal to your receiver that he had found it on his end. 

In the east wing, Jason felt himself struggling to keep his composure. He knew you only had mere minutes before the both of you would have to return empty handed or with the diamond in hand. He contemplated just taking a different diamond out of its place, but none of them would hold the same weight as Josephine would towards making a direct hit at Black Mask. Jason looked at his watch, not having received a signal from you yet. Would all of this have been for nothing?

His watch told him he only had 2 minutes left. His jaw clenched, the plan was to be back in the main room by the time 1 minute hit, he had to leave and get changed now if he was going to erase suspicion. 

Dammit.

He turned, rushing back to the restroom and quickly changing, shoving the clothes back into the hidden compartment behind the wall as he fixed his suit and swept his hair back in his neat, yet messy style he had when he had arrived at the event for the night. He walked out of the restroom, fixing his cuffs and trying to wipe the sweat from his forehead as he navigated carefully back into the main room, the sound of chatter and mild chaos breaking out as the announcer called for everyone to follow the guards leading them to exit the building. 

The hum of electricity signaled the return of power, followed by the faint buzz of security systems coming back online. Jason’s eyes moved through the crowd as he blended in, trying to find any sign of you within the sea of bodies. Everyone walked around him, the security yelling before Jason felt a hand grab him. 

“Jason!”, Marcos’ voice rang out. “C’mon. We have to go.”

“What happened?”, his voice deep in confusion although he wasn’t naïve to the situation. 

“Security breach. They’re evacuating everyone.”, Marcos said, annoyed as Jason followed next to him, his eyes still skimming through the crowd. 

Where were you?

“They don’t want to be at risk for a possible hit. Apparently there have been too many raids around the city targeting the luxury businesses in Upper Gotham.”, Marcos continued. 

Jason really couldn’t care at the moment, but he followed behind everyone as they made their way down the stairs and through the security checkpoint. The security were patting down each person, ensuring they didn’t carry anything from the inside out. It made Jason’s heart pump as he watched Marcos get patted down, him following closely behind as he continued to skim through the attendees getting checked by the line of guards. 

The guard rushed him forward after being checked, fixing his cuffs Jason looked over at Marcos as he called for his car. “Do you need a ride?”, Marcos asked silently. 

“No. I have my own car, thanks though.”, Why was he on edge? He was sure you’d gotten out, maybe you were already back at the rendezvous point. You both agreed to meet there in case anything fell through. His jaw tightened as he grew deeper in thought, waving mindlessly as Marcos left in his car and he walked through the streets until he reached his hidden motorcycle in the back alleys of the city. 

He placed the black helmet over his head, kicking up the motorcycle stand as he revved the engine to life, the screeching of tires sounding out as he drove through the city pushing his top speed. His unease gnawed at him as his mind raced through each second he spent on the road. He forced himself to remember you were smart, resourceful, and were probably the best to get out of a tough situation. Yet, the weight of uncertainty hung around him like a 500 pound weight.

His anticipation made him tighten his grip on the handles as he sped through the city streets, weaving through traffic with his timely precision he’d honed throughout the years. The wind enveloped him in a blanket, doing little to ease the anxiety growing in his bones. Every turn, every stoplight, it all heightened his sense of urgency. He needed to be sure you made it back safe, that you were in your apartment and didn’t get caught. 

As he pulled into the neighborhood, his focus intensified. He chose the familiar route he’d taken hundreds of times before, trying to find the fastest way to your apartment. He kicked down the stand on his bike as he left it in the alley, rushing up the stairs to your top floor apartment, his heart pumping faster no thanks to the stairs and the rush making him not even think about using the elevator. Each step, each floor, each second made his heart beat inside of him, he felt his anxiety creeping into his veins. 

He jumped the last few steps, using his long legs to hurry up the stairs two steps at a time as he finally reached the floor you lived on. He knocked with a rush, the seconds elongating into excruciating seconds as he paced. He knocked again, the sound echoing through the night, his pulse pounding in his ears as he waited. 

Did Calvi take her back to his estate?

Did she get caught looking for the diamond? 

Did she get lost?

Just as he was about to turn and knock again, the door swung open, there you stood in your golden dress, your hair done as perfectly as it was when you arrived for the event tonight and your makeup still flawless. Your eyes were wide as you stared at him, the silence hanging in the air as he stared at you with shock in his eyes, 

Relief flooded through him, overwhelming any lingering anxiety. "Y/n," he breathed, his voice rough with emotion.

“Jason.”, you breathed as you watched his eyes flicker into a calmness, almost like relief. “You didn’t use the window.” you said amused. 

Jason ran a hand through his hair as he let out an airy laugh. “Figured this was more suitable for the occasion.”

You moved to the side, letting him enter the apartment as you closed the door behind you and locking it silently. You felt your heart calm from the anxiety you felt at not being able to find him during the final moments of the Gala. You had gotten lost and when Calvi found you, he rushed you out the exit and brought you home in his private car. When you arrived the only thing you worried about was if Jason was able to remember your plan to meet back at your apartment if anything had gone wrong, hoping he’d eventually show. 

“I couldn’t find you after the power came back on.”, he muttered as he leaned on the kitchen table. “I didn’t find it.”

You met his gaze, letting the silence hover between the both of you as you let out a small laugh. Jason looked at you with confused eyes, his lips twitching as you laughed even harder. Were you laughing because the entire mission was a failure? Did you also fail in retrieving the diamond?

He watched you intently as you lifted the fabric to your dress, his hand twitching as it gripped the table. You showed off the part of your leg that held your gun, a small pouch attached to it. You carefully detached the small bag, your leg still on full display as Jason’s eyes lingered on your body, a flicker of lust burning inside of him as he forced himself to focus. 

He watched as you opened the small velvet bag slowly, placing the 12 carat diamond ring on a silk cloth on the counter. The deep blue color radiating a kind of beauty you couldn’t recreate in a lab, it was definitely one of a kind. You walked over to the small cabinet you had against the wall, taking out a kit used by high end jewelers to decipher the worth and validity of diamonds like this one. He watched you intently, wondering why you could pull out a diamond loupe unless you suspected it was fake. 

Though, he knew it was a good idea to do so. 

He watched as you held the diamond carefully, examining it in the light and under the loupe to look at every detail and intricate curve within the jewel. You tried to work carefully, using your knowledge to properly decipher the validity of the diamond or if everything tonight had been for nothing. Your hands moved gently as you used the different tools in your kit to check every aspect of the diamond to leave no doubt that it was real. 

The air between the two of you crackled with anticipation, the weight of your accomplishment hanging heavy in the room. Jason’s gaze flickered to you briefly, a smile hanging on his lips as he stood impressed by your resourcefulness and grace under pressure. 

It was a 50/50 chance that the diamond was actually real, especially since it wasn’t uncommon for high profile events to use fakes in order to not take the risk of something getting stolen, the insurance would surely cost them a fortune.

$48.6 million was a lot of money.

You left him on edge, wondering why your silence had prolonged as he watched you.

It had been 15 minutes. 

Was it a fake?

You pulled back, your shoulders slumping as you placed the diamond gently on the silk rag, a shuddered breath leaving your lips. He stood upright, his heart pounding at your body language. You slowly turned your head, meeting his gaze. 

"Congratulations, Jason," you praised softly, your words carrying a mix of admiration and pride. "You're officially a millionaire.”. You pushed your baby hairs back, trying to let yourself calm down from the high as you turned towards him. “Oh my god, Jas-”

Jason's response was immediate and primal. In one swift motion, he closed the distance between you, pressing your back against the kitchen counter. His hand slid possessively around the back of your neck, fingers tangling in your hair as he slammed his lips on yours in a passionate kiss. His other arm wrapped firmly around your waist, pulling you flush against him, your body freezing at the sudden contact. Your heart pounded in your chest, your head spinning as he moved his lips against yours in a powerful and hungry way. His hold tightened as you moved your lips against his, breathing in his natural musk. 

His hold on you became desperate, possessive, his muscular arms wrapping around you to make your frame push against his even more. His lips moved in a dominant manner, biting your bottom lip as he let himself lose all form of self control. Your hands found their way to Jason's shoulders, fingers tangling in his tuxedo jacket as you responded to his kiss with equal fervor. His toned body flexing under your fingers almost like it burned him but it left him wanting more of you. 

The world outside faded away as you stood locked in a dance of desire and danger, your hearts beating in sync with the rush of adrenaline that still coursed through you. The kiss deepened, a testament to the electric connection that had sparked between the two of you amidst the chaos and danger of your mission. He couldn’t get enough of you, his mouth finally pulling away so the two of you could catch your breath. You opened your eyes slightly, looking at his hooded ones as his eyes flickered to your swollen lips. 

Was it the adrenaline? 

Was it the high? 

Was it him? 

Was it everything around you that led you to this moment?

“Jason…”, you whispered against his mouth as you tried to catch your breath. 

You couldn’t even catch your breath before his mouth devoured yours again, pressing his body against yours and pushing you against the wall behind you. His body hunched over slightly due to the height difference but his dominance was overwhelming, pushing you into overdrive. Your hands tangled in his hair, his lips leaving your mouth and kissing down the side of your neck. Your body shook from the pleasure, your nails digging into his arm as his hand reached your lower back and pulled you against him again. His teeth bit the curve of your neck slightly, licking the sensitive area as a soft moan released from your lips. 

In that stolen moment, as you kissed amidst the quiet of your apartment, everything else melted away—the heist, the risks, the uncertainty of your future. There was only the heat of the connection, the electricity that crackled between you, and the undeniable truth that you both had crossed a line you couldn't un-cross.

As you finally pulled apart, breathless and flushed, You looked up at Jason with wide eyes, your heart racing in sync with his. Jason rested his forehead against yours, your eyes locked in a silent exchange that spoke volumes of unspoken promises and newfound intimacy.

“Jay…”, his name slipped from your lips in a desperate tone, your body betraying you by reacting to the final swipe he did on your skin, nipping on your neck before pulling back. 

“Y/n….”

Jason rested his forehead against yours, his voice husky as he murmured, "We did it."

You smiled, your fingers tracing lightly along Jason's suit. "Yeah, we did," you whispered, your lips swollen and missing his as you spoke.

In that moment, as you stayed in his hold and met his gaze in silence, you felt in your bones the truth of your relationship with him. Despite the anger, the hatred, the stupid hits at one another, Jason wasn’t the threat you believed him to be. The tension that had grown between the two of you, the moments of uncertainty where doubt had threatened to cloud your judgment, the anger that had been placed inside of you by Sionis, it all disappeared when you met his gaze.

You felt a familiarity in him, despite your denial, you couldn’t push it away. Not when there had been so many times he had helped you, taken you out of harm's way, and refused to make any hits that would result in serious harm. 

You’d believed for months that he was irritating, a nuisance, the bane of your existence and yet… here you were completely wrapped up in him.

The cold realization sank into your bones…

What have you done?

AN:

Hey guys!

I want to thank you guys for being so patient with me and the release of this chapter. Uni has been picking up and being between summer classes and fulltime at work, sometimes my posting has to get delayed! So i really appreciate the grace in this!

This series is hitting its mid way point, so there will be more picking up of everything pretty soon!

Also I have a few drafts of a JJK fanfic that I made, one with SukunaxReader and one with GetoxReader that I will be posting either while I write this series or after. I still haven’t decided yet!

Please continue to leave feedback and comments! I love reading them esp the personal messages i’ve received from many of you!

See you next week! xx.

[musical-posts]

Ok first off I want to say that this is like the coolest gimmick blog I've seen! Like, it seems like it was tailor made for me. I looooove music theory and notes and midi files and algorithms and python scrips so much like those are for realsies my favorite things. you're cool as fuck.

But anyway i immediately started thinking about what you could do to make the songs a little more song-y and unique from each other, and the first thing I thought of was rhythm. I started trying to think of a way to generate rhythms as well as melodies from the posts and low key i think I figured out a good way?

Basically, if each word in the post is 1 beat, the amount of note-letters in that word is how you divide up that beat. So if a word has one note-letter, then it would be a quarter note, but in a word with 2 note-letters, they would be a pair of eighth notes. And so on with triplets and sixteenth notes etc. I also came up with a few procedural variations to this that allow for some more interesting rhythms, which are all shown on my drawing :)

I also tested this system out on this post! I did it by hand which. took a long time. And I just used musescore bc that's what I have and bc my brain is suuuper wired for seeing things as sheet music. Here's the music for that post and i think tumblr will let me put an audio file in an ask so here's what it sounds like too!

low key it kind of fucks!!! or at least sounds better than i expected LMAO

Anyway all that being said, I've never done any python that deals with creating midi files and I have no clue how it works, so this might be a Huge Pain In The Ass jfdkfjslk. And of course there's no pressure to use or care about any of this for the blog!! if you are interested in doing something like this for a future version of the script, I'm happy to try and help figure it out/poke around in code etc, and if not, then I thought it'd be cool to show you anyway!

Hope you're having just an awesome day!

here's that other approach i mentioned earlier! i honestly might lean towards this one just because it could lean towards some really interesting rhythms. also i'm a sucker for triplets lol

[awingedllama]

so i've got stuck on something simple and it's driving me insane

i'm creating a calendar to slot to the sides of the fridge in my kitchen set. and i really wanted it to be useful, not just random clutter, so i decided i was going to make it functional and have it bring up the real in-game calendar. cute lil idea, should be easy, yeah?

my god it is not easy

i can bring up the notebook and phone ui... every icon but the one i want. i have no idea what the command to bring up the calendar could be, and i've tried SO many

i was so determined to get it working i even ventured into python for the first time to look through the game files. for hours on end i've searched 'calendar' and 'event' and 'ui' and 'holiday' and 'dialog' and everything else i could think of, but none of the commands i try do anything

like who was i even kidding installing PyCharm 😭 over here breaking out in a sweat watching 'absolute beginner!! a baby could code this!!!' tutorials

anyway, i never get any responses posting in the Sims 4 Studio forum, but if any modders see this post 1) i apologize for being a novice on main and 2) i would be eternally grateful for your help, or even just a nudge in the right direction. the file is here and right now the interaction opens the phone

it grinds my gears to give up on an idea, but i've wasted an embarrassing amount of time messing with this. so for now, defeated, i'm going back to my microwave 😔

[r3dcam3llias]

How do you make mods?

To answer in short terms: Ren’py!

In longer terms, I use a program called Ren’py, which is basically a visual novel game making software, and the software used to create OLBA, along with VS code (you don’t need this though, it was just downloaded on my computer already LOL) to be able to actually view the code itself.

There’s plenty of information about Ren’py itself in forums and their docs, and learning the Ren’py language itself isn’t that difficult if you go through a tutorial or two or already have some preexisting knowledge of the Python coding language.

If you’re looking to make a OLBA mod yourself, this is the way I would do it, not a means to an end, feel free to adapt if you find a way that works easier for you:

Download Ren’py, specifically THIS version, as other versions will not be compatible with OLBA. (You can use 7zip to unzip it)

Crack open Ren’py, and just create a new project, name it whatever you want, just make sure it’s 1080 by 1920, everything else doesn’t matter.

Locate your legitimate game files and feel free to just copy and paste everything from the legitimate OLBA folder into your new project (you can find its folder in documents by default iirc, but if not there, try searching for it by name), don't worry about keeping any of the old files in there, just overwrite all of it.

legitimate game files ↑ new project files ↓

Before you can begin editing the scripts or DLCs however, you need to actually be able to see them. You can't because they are in .rpa files, which are basically secured ren'py folders. To crack them open, do these steps:

Find these files in the "game" folder of your new Ren'py project. The archive.rpa file contains everything in the main game. Depending on what DLCs, if any, you have, you may see additional .rpa files with the titles of the DLC you own.

2. Move these files out into a new folder on your desktop. Download this extractor and place it in the same new folder on your desktop. EX:

2. One by one, drop the files onto the rpaExtract.exe Icon. Afterward, you should get some folders with the names corresponding to the .rpa files and potentially an image folder. (NOTE: the archive.rpa file is not contained in one folder, meaning ALL the files will just appear freely, I recommend moving all the other finished folders back into the "game" folder before you do this one so you don't end up confused/overwhelmed!) (my files, excluding the archive.rpa files)

3. You can just delete the .rpa files now, you won't need them, and put the all new folders/files you got back into the "game" folder.

Now you will be free to go into Ren'py and click "open project" to edit the scripts to your heart's content! At this point, if you're experienced with Ren'py things should be looking a bit more familiar, if not, I recommend watching some ren'py tutorials to learn the ropes or just shoot me a message and I'd be happy to help you out in any way I can.

Lastly, when you finish your mod, if you want to be able to use it in a legitimate game, it depends on whether it's an edit of an existing script or adds a completely new one: If it's an edit, just get whatever files you edited and follow my instructions here in this "how to download OLBA mods tutorial". As for a mod that adds completely new scripts, you will still have files that are just edited from the original game, so for those scripts follow the tutorial above. As for original scripts/images/sounds etc you should be able to just paste them into your legitimate game folder and shouldn't have to bother with converting them to a .rpa file at all. I hope this helped answer anyone's questions! Can't wait to see what you guys make :) If you ever need help or have questions, my messages are always open!

[packetpixie]

pro tip for programmers - how to alias

hey, so you know that annoying thing that happens when you're coding, and you need to run/test the same program 100 times in a row, so you end up typing "python3 testScriptWithASuperLongName.py" into the terminal about 80,000 times?

well, there's a better way! it's called aliasing :D

in your bash shell (or zsh, or whatever shell you use, but bash is the default on VSCode and most people on tumblr use VSCode, so I'm using bash as the default to explain this concept) you can set an alias, essentially a shortcut command, that runs longer commands.

(yes you can just use the up arrow key to re-run the same command, but sometimes you're typing other things into the terminal too and you don't feel like hitting the up arrow key four times in a row, and also this is just a cool and useful tip to get comfortable with aliasing so shhhh)

so, in your terminal shell, just type this:

alias run="python3 testScriptWithASuperLongName.py"

now, you can run that entire super long command, just by typing the word "run" into your terminal. Here's a screenshot of an example on my computer to make it make more sense:

in this example, i just created a simple python file that contains one line of code: print("it works!")

then, as you can see, by setting the alias to run, i can now run that file, runningatestscript.py, simply with the command 'run'.

the best part is, this alias is temporary - it only lasts as long as your shell session is open. so once you close the terminal, the run alias is cleared and you can set it again next time to any file or task you're currently working on, to save yourself a lot of typing, typos, and time.

so if you want to, you can get in the habit of always setting a run alias in the VSCode terminal for whichever file you're working with as soon as you get everything open. that way, when you need to run the same file 50 million times, you have a super easy way of doing it! you can even set it to a single letter if you want to go for maximum speed, but i prefer to use whole short words, because they're easy for me to remember.

note: if you do want to set an alias to work for all sessions, you can simply add it to your ./bashrc file. this is a common way to automate repeatable tasks, and simply to set easier-to-remember commands for terminal commands that are really complicated/confusing/hard to remember.

for example, i saved the alias checkboot="[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo 'UEFI mode' || 'BIOS mode'" into my zshrc file (zsh equivalent of bashrc file). this way, no matter how many times i rebooted my machine, i would always be able to quickly check which boot mode was running by simply typing 'checkboot'.

yesterday i was updating my boot mode from BIOS to UEFI on my very old machine that is technically compatible with UEFI, but not configured for it by default. So it was extremely helpful and saved me the time and headache of having to remember and type that long-ass command a thousand times in between many different reboots and new shells.

if you have any tasks like that, or terminal commands that you know would be useful to you, but you can never remember them when you need them, i highly recommend getting comfortable with aliasing! it can be super useful to simply set custom aliases for all the commands you don't want to remember, so that you can automate things away and not have to worry about so much linux syntax all the time when you're tring to focus on programming.

i know this may seem like a simple tip to some, but i only learned about it recently and it's been extremely helpful to integrate into my workflow and customize my OS with! so i thought it might be worthwhile to some people if i share :) hope it helps!

[ipso-faculty]

A review of intersex/intergender flag mashup techniques

I really like it when I can figure out what a new pride flag means just from my knowledge of other flags, and I know I'm not alone on this. For example, here are some flags other people have made that I could immediately figure out were <thing> plus intersex:

So, I've been thinking about how we as intersex flag creators can create hybrid flags in consistent way. I'm most motivated to figure out a recipe for intergender flags: genders that are connected to being intersex.

I assembled a spreadsheet of 66 gender flags, and wrote a Python script to take my csv file, parse it, and use the drawsvg library to draw the different flags in different ways. And then I stared at the results, showed them to friends, and discussed what would be both reliable in terms of producing clear, decent-looking results. (A subset of the results are under the keep reading cut.)

In this post I'm gonna review five mashup techniques that I automated and talk about advantages/disadvantages to each. But first a TLDR: adding yellow border stripes is a simple and reliable way to make an intersex-hybrid flag that is now my favourite (and recommended) way to make a new intergender flag.

For example, here's the interfluid flag (genderfluid in a way that is specifically intersex):

***

Method 1: put a ring on it - advantages: simple to do, simple to understand - disadvantages: incredibly dependent on how well the ring colour works with background stripes, and the number of stripes. Would very roughly estimate only ~20% look decent.

Here's a subset of the results. Some, like genderfaun, look nice, but most look awkward:

A yellow ring is even worse:

I think the purple ring has a bit of potential, but I think it's not really viable for being used as a consistent, procedural way to make intergenders. ***

Method 2: stick a belt on it - advantages: already used for some existing mashups - disadvantages: some other genders are doing similar things, like voidpunk, and a white belt has been used by tons of groups for their mashups (e.g. neurogender).

It looks better than the ring alone, but I was still kinda underwhelmed because of how much it depends on the background stripes to not clash. Very roughly I'd say about 40% of the total results look good. Again, here's genderfae through paragender for comparison:

Using a purple belt helps in some cases but makes for some visually busy results:

The purple ones make me think of pokéballs. Again, there are some nice looking ones, but the effect over the whole group was underwhelming. ***

Method 3: inset into the ring - advantages: it's the most clearly "intersex plus X" - disadvantages: hard to read flags where the stripes are similar to each other; might clash with ring colour

When zoomed out like this the results aren't always super easy to read, but overall I'd say this is a reasonably reliably method - very roughly 60% of the results look good to me.

Playing with lightness and contrast on the inset flag likely would improve that number, but my goal here is to compare methods without tweaks.

Insetting into the intergender flag has similar results:

Method 4: add intersex-coloured stripe to the middle - advantage: seems like it would be simple - disadvantage: yellow middle stripe used for pansexual mashups; purple stripe is used in a bunch of of existing mashups - also disadvantage: turns out to actually be complicated in how to do it. Many flags have an odd number of stripes, not all flags have equal-length stripes, etc. I got buggy results on a whole bunch of flags like hijra and hypergirl and honestly if it takes dedicated debugging to fix it's probably too complicated.

When the original flag has an odd number of stripes, I doubled the original middle stripe up and this only works if there's a symmetry to the flag and all the stripes are of equal size.

The results are kinda busy. It looks good to my eyes very roughly 1/8 of the time (~12%) (I did an alternate version where I doubled the purple stripe around the original middle stripe and it's way worse.)

Purple stripe:

Yellow stripe looks less busy but more confusing:

Method 5: add border stripes with intersex colours - advantages: simple - disadvantages: maybe not as obviously intersex

I honestly didn't expect to like this one, but it has turned out to be my favourite. It works really reliably, like ~90% of the time, and it's distinctive.

Surprisingly, using purple gives a really different vibe. It kinda makes me feel claustraphobic:

Method 6: change the colours

This one I don't have automated results to share (at least not yet). Right now there are flags like how ultergender recolours the trans flag, that could serve as a template for recolouring.

This is much more complex computationally - I spent a bunch of time playing around with different colourspaces (HSV, LCH, oklab, okLCH) to try to do this automatically and have concluded that this actually a difficult computational problem and not feasible as a widescale recipe.

Part of why the ultergender recolouring works is there are just two colours to recolour. How should one recolour the genderfluid flag? The demigender flag? It's possible to create a convention but not something I'm up to this moment.

I think recolouring is better suited to creating entirely new identities (like ultergender) rather than intergenders that are "<gender> but in an intergender way". ***

Discussion

My goal in all of this has been to try and identify some reliable recipes for creating hybrid flags particularly for intergenders.

My entirely subjective and imprecise estimates of how reliably each method yielded a decent-looking result were: 1. Add yellow border: ~90%-ish 2. Inset: ~60% 3. Belt: ~40% 4. Ring: ~20% 5. Add middle stripe: ~1/8-ish

I was honestly surprised at how much I liked the yellow border method and the friends I've shown it to so far have liked it as well!

I'd like to propose adding yellow border stripes as a recipe for creating intergender flags. This is already in use for interfluid (genderfluid in a specifically/uniquely intersex way):

Indeed, it's the only one of the mashup functions I wrote that yields something for genderfluid that I actually like:

Extrapolating, here are examples of some gender coinings that I think would work: Interdemigender: demigender in a specifically/uniquely intersex way and/or demigender in a way linked to being intersex/intergender

Intervaguegender: vaguegender in a way that is specifically intersex, such as in a way that is connected to being intersex (i.e. one's gender is vague not just for being neurodivergent but also intersex)

I think it works well! I hope you like it! Let me know if you have any feedback. If there are other mashup techniques I didn't think of, let me know. :)

[cyberstudious]

Tools of the Trade for Learning Cybersecurity

I created this post for the Studyblr Masterpost Jam, check out the tag for more cool masterposts from folks in the studyblr community!

Cybersecurity professionals use a lot of different tools to get the job done. There are plenty of fancy and expensive tools that enterprise security teams use, but luckily there are also lots of brilliant people writing free and open-source software. In this post, I'm going to list some popular free tools that you can download right now to practice and learn with.

In my opinion, one of the most important tools you can learn how to use is a virtual machine. If you're not already familiar with Linux, this is a great way to learn. VMs are helpful for separating all your security tools from your everyday OS, isolating potentially malicious files, and just generally experimenting. You'll need to use something like VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation (Workstation Pro is now free for personal use, but they make you jump through hoops to download it).

Below is a list of some popular cybersecurity-focused Linux distributions that come with lots of tools pre-installed:

Kali is a popular distro that comes loaded with tools for penetration testing

REMnux is a distro built for malware analysis

honorable mention for FLARE-VM, which is not a VM on its own, but a set of scripts for setting up a malware analysis workstation & installing tools on a Windows VM.

SANS maintains several different distros that are used in their courses. You'll need to create an account to download them, but they're all free:

Slingshot is built for penetration testing

SIFT Workstation is a distro that comes with lots of tools for digital forensics

These distros can be kind of overwhelming if you don't know how to use most of the pre-installed software yet, so just starting with a regular Linux distribution and installing tools as you want to learn them is another good choice for learning.

Free Software

Wireshark: sniff packets and explore network protocols

Ghidra and the free version of IDA Pro are the top picks for reverse engineering

for digital forensics, check out Eric Zimmerman's tools - there are many different ones for exploring & analyzing different forensic artifacts

pwntools is a super useful Python library for solving binary exploitation CTF challenges

CyberChef is a tool that makes it easy to manipulate data - encryption & decryption, encoding & decoding, formatting, conversions… CyberChef gives you a lot to work with (and there's a web version - no installation required!).

Burp Suite is a handy tool for web security testing that has a free community edition

Metasploit is a popular penetration testing framework, check out Metasploitable if you want a target to practice with

SANS also has a list of free tools that's worth checking out.

Programming Languages

Knowing how to write code isn't a hard requirement for learning cybersecurity, but it's incredibly useful. Any programming language will do, especially since learning one will make it easy to pick up others, but these are some common ones that security folks use:

Python is quick to write, easy to learn, and since it's so popular, there are lots of helpful libraries out there.

PowerShell is useful for automating things in the Windows world. It's built on .NET, so you can practically dip into writing C# if you need a bit more power.

Go is a relatively new language, but it's popular and there are some security tools written in it.

Rust is another new-ish language that's designed for memory safety and it has a wonderful community. There's a bit of a steep learning curve, but learning Rust makes you understand how memory bugs work and I think that's neat.

If you want to get into reverse engineering or malware analysis, you'll want to have a good grasp of C and C++.

Other Tools for Cybersecurity

There are lots of things you'll need that aren't specific to cybersecurity, like:

a good system for taking notes, whether that's pen & paper or software-based. I recommend using something that lets you work in plain text or close to it.

general command line familiarity + basic knowledge of CLI text editors (nano is great, but what if you have to work with a system that only has vi?)

familiarity with git and docker will be helpful

There are countless scripts and programs out there, but the most important thing is understanding what your tools do and how they work. There is no magic "hack this system" or "solve this forensics case" button. Tools are great for speeding up the process, but you have to know what the process is. Definitely take some time to learn how to use them, but don't base your entire understanding of security on code that someone else wrote. That's how you end up as a "script kiddie", and your skills and knowledge will be limited.

Feel free to send me an ask if you have questions about any specific tool or something you found that I haven't listed. I have approximate knowledge of many things, and if I don't have an answer I can at least help point you in the right direction.

[archiveyourblog]

How to back up your Tumblr blog

Not sure if all of you heard the news, but Wordpress laid off 16% of its staff, which happened to include senior tumblr staff like cyle. According to 3liza, the amount of staff running tumblr is about 25.

Welp. Will Tumblr finally die? I don't know. It's pretty likely, since this site costs millions to run and to host all this content, but I'll stay till the end. But I backed up my blog, with the help of a post that can't be reblogged rn.

you can reblog this one though.

Quoth butchlinkle: "In your blog settings you have the ability to initiate a blog export, and this will generate a backup for your blog.

Fair warning though, if you’ve been on the platform for a long time this archive is likely to be quite hefty in file size. This blog I have had for 5 years with 22k posts, and the export from tumblr came to be 48GB. My previous blog I made in 2011 and has 95k posts, so needless to say I did not use tumblr’s built in export to back that one up.

If you want more control over exactly what you back up from your blog, I recommend that you use tumblr-utils instead. It allows you to backup specific tags, post types, and to ignore posts that you did not create (reblogs where you’ve added a comment count unfortunately do not count unless you use the older version of the script made with python 2.7).

To use it:

download and install python

create an application on tumblr to get an api key

create a folder where you would like to save your backups and right click to open it in the terminal/command prompt, or type cmd.exe in the address bar from inside that folder

Backing up just my original posts from this blog with this command came to 632MB rather than 48GB, and also gave me the option to save my posts in JSON format which will be useful for converting my posts to a new format for self hosting.

On that note I’m currently looking into figuring out a simple (and ideally free) way of self hosting a static site blog that utilises activitypub, and also converting my old posts to re-host on said blog.

This post series by maho.dev on implementing activitypub with any static site is my primary source of guidance atm if you also want to try figure that out yourself, as well as having an explanation for why you’d even want to do this if you don’t already know

but if tumblr goes down before I get things sorted and write up a post about it then i���ll be reporting back on it via my bsky, mastodon, and toyhouse accounts

if you dont have an account on any of these I’ll also be sharing an update via my personal site’s RSS feed, link of which includes an explanation of what RSS is and some feed readers you can use, I highly recommend checking it out as getting a feed reader is going to be the best way you can stay connected with people if they scatter across the internet!

tldr: download tumblr-utils to backup your blog more efficiently, introduce yourself to RSS and get a feed reader to stay connected with people, consider saving mine so you can find out how to self host your blog later if tumblr goes down."

here's a guide from the notes: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1yBWlk-yEgpSoEh3c9oLhz_kbLtUGqbqzOpCtJsvQgjI/mobilebasic?pli=1#h.u9vj7pezwpcy

Back up those blogs. This was way faster than trying to use Webarchive, and webarchive seems to be only good for saving text, audio, and video, because it saved none of the images. And remember: I did not write this guide, and I do not know a thing about coding or fixing bugs.

[limeleviathan]

Pixel Cat's End Bean Calculator

As a few of you may be aware (also I have pinged those who expressed interest in the first post btw) I have created a calculator that takes the genetic strings of two not-cats, along with some filters, and returns EVERY. POSSIBLE. BEAN. along with its corresponding probability! It also displays the total probability of matching all input traits.

The link to the file is here. (Current version: 1.0)

In order to use it, you will need a python interpreter (there are plenty of guides for that online, it shouldn't be hard to do) along with a program to run it in. I chose and recommend Visual Studio Code. Again, there are plenty of guides for python and VS Code.

At the top of the file, there are some settings that you can change, including fonts and colours, with the formats needed for those settings next to them. You can change those whenever, but be warned that changing font size may result in the window being weirdly sized.

Basically, to use it, you just run the code, input the full genetic strings (if growth or accent are unknown, put [??] in its place) of a North/Trade cat and a South/Trade cat in their respective fields, select the traits you want to see, and click the Big Red Button™. From there, you can see every possible bean, its chance, and at the bottom will be the chance of a bean matching your selected traits.

Note that for recessives (for example longhair), carrying the trait and not carrying it are two separate fields (short and short (carries long)). If you want the overall chance for shorthair, you would add the chances for short and short (carries long).

There is a button at the bottom for if there are any bugs that you have found, along with some troubleshooting steps to fix them.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

Those who expressed interest earlier: @fr-thrice @tvthetv