#excel file unlocker

[sheaelsher]

Microsoft Excel Password Unlocker Software

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[szarina]

❝ FORMAL GREETINGS. ❞

✞ FEATURING. BULLY! GOJO SATORU AND GETO SUGURU

▶ SERIES MASTERLIST

CONTENT WARNINGS. flashbacks of being degraded and being called names (pig+whore+slut) + panic attacks.

NOTES. this was rushed. hoping it will be finally decent in the next chap. you can also comment/dm me to be untagged.

SYNOPSIS. after three years you're once facing again your tormentors. will you still be the same after that years or would it open new found feelings?

the light illuminating from your screen burns brightly that it almost affects your eyesight. your fingers almost turning into frigid from the lack of blood flow. you curl your fingers to stimulate before returning to punch the keys in your keyboard. drowning the sound of your coworkers chattering underneath their breath and the numerous phone ringing in your floor. deadline's approaching and you must finish this before your boss would chew you out. you can't break the streak yet, you're the employee whose in good terms with her boss and you won't allow a deadline to jeopardize it.

and then, click! you were finally done and you can finally sigh out of relief. turning in circles on your swivel chair before saving the finished report you were doing and then making a extra copy. you will never know what accident will happen and you don't want to redo all of your hard work. printing the documents, you clipped all of them. rechecking before putting it a folder and bringing it to your supervisor for them to check tomorrow.

you went back to your desk. cleaning the scraps in your desk and arranging the scattered files. you pressed the button of your monitor turning it off before placing your chair in its designated place and then you clocked out.

stepping outside, you take a look at building behind you. the younger you wouldn't dream of being here but fate played on you. part of you enjoyed it, part of you hated it. you guess you can't love something fully and it always made a reason to hate it.

the sun was setting in the horizon and it told you that you must need to be home soon and then you went to a nearest grocery store to pick the things you needed before going home.

unlocking the doors of your small apartment you rented, you placed your phone and keys at the countertop of your kitchen. storing the goods you have brought and you changed into something more of comfy. you opened your laptop, checking emails for tomorrow and finishing what's left of your workload.

yawning, you closed your laptop. it's time for bed and with that you drift into a dreamless sleep.

after dealing with the morning rush of your mode of transportation. you made your way inside the building. greeting your fellow employees with good mornings and catch up on the elevator and you were seated in your cubicle. doing your tasks for the day.

“(y/n).” your supervisor calls you. ushering you to their office and you left your cubicle to follow them. they handed you the report you had done yesterday. “your report is excellent as always and although it's my job to give it to the superiors, i need you to deliver it. the ceo will be needing it for today.” they said exasperated. their sight glued to their monitor and you nodded. top floor it is and then you walked away and climbed up to the highest floor where the ceo's office is located.

the elevator dings before opening to your desired floor number and you were in awe from his spacious the hallway is unlike the lower floors including yours. you heard that it is only the ceo who resides here. walking, you clutch the folder in your hands as you slowly move to get to your destination. you sighed in relief in what you presume the ceo's secretary is stationed here. a desk and drawer and a swivel chair in which she furiously taps on her computer. the sound of the acrylic in her nails evident.

“uhm, hello. where should i leave this?” you asked her. showing her the folder compiled with the reports you had done yesterday. she hums, glancing at you before giving you her full attention. she gave a sickly sweet smile. showing her pearly white teeth and her blood red stained lips is giving you the impression that she works in a club rather than a corporate one. her blonde curls gave you the impression it was bouncing from the way it moves.

“i should take it but strict orders. you can place it on his desk. just go straight right there and you'll find a door. just open it and leave the folder in his desk and you're good.” her voice cheery as she instructs you. extending her arm to show you the way. you nod and you thank her before leaving.

it wasn't that hard to find but when you were holding the bars of the door. you suddenly felt sick. it was like you were back at the days you desperately wanted to forget and holding the handle of the door feels like you were holding the lid of pandora's box and opening it will wreck havoc.

you are delivering papers and then you'll leave after you put it. you said to yourself. gathering the courage to open the glass doors and you take a few deep breaths before opening it. you look at the room, finding it to be deserted without the ceo inside.

the office is vast. it was like half of the size of the whole floor in the building. there's a desk made of a high quality wood along with a expensive swivel chair. a private room in the corner and is littered with a huge book shelf containing various variations of book. there's a few frames mounted in the wall, probably the past CEOs. there's also a hint of personal touches. a aquarium in the corner as is that a cookie jar? and there's also a container full of different sweets. that's new. you think nothing of it before you approach the desk to put the file. there's no need to marvel at this place. you have no business here except for this and you're done. before you can turn around to leave. a familiar voice calls for you.

“(y/n)?”

swallowing, you turned around to meet him.

“the only redeeming quality you have is this pussy of yours. without it you're nothing.”

“it's been bugging me for a long time. can you snort like a pig? of course, you can. come on, (y/n)-chan. oink. oink.....”

“you're a huge slut. acting out after not being given attention. you attention whore.”

“(y/n)?” there is it again.

you flinched. a involuntarily movement and then you shaked your head. blinking rapidly and offering him a sweet smile. you didn't realize he was calling your name before you answered to his call.

“sir? i'm just here to drop it off. i'm on my way now.” you told him before making your way out but before you can fully leave, he grabs you by the arm.

“i know but (y/n) —”

“...excuse me, sir. i really need to leave.” you cut him off and pulling your arm away from him. you alternate between half-walking/half-running making sure it was under the guise that you're running late and needed to make a run. not enough to raise suspicion you were avoiding him.

how many years was it? three? it's been long since he have last seen you and it didn't end in good terms. certainly, he didn't expect that he would see you here. in his office. looking so good and professional in that corporate attire of yours.

he can't believe it. he stares at your retreating figure until you disappeared from his sight. he needed to tell suguru all of this but before that he calls his assistant. wanting a full portfolio of yours. a background check of what happened to you after that night.

it was given to him. a file of yours containing all the details of your hundrum life. average and you were like all the regular daughter of regular parents. the before of your college life before you met them years ago and one point he searched for you after that night but there was nothing only a dead end. your parents are clueless of what happened to you and they treated you like you were dead. gone in a moment of where you're in the middle of reaching your dreams. he kept in contact at them. hoping or maybe miraculously that you would show again at their doorstep. he knows you also have a soft spot for your younger sibling. a brother whom you dearly loved. he also hoped that you will appear with fondness you have for your brother but you didn't.

the after is what he needed and all he got is the documents he have in his hand. he sat in his chair. making sure all his afternoon meetings are moved for him to know all of what happened to you in the last years after your disappearance that night and only finding of what briefly happened to your from shoko.

he found out you transferred to a another university. far from the reaches of him and suguru. continued your degree and been jumping from jobs after jobs trying to support yourself and it landed you here in his company. you were now an employee of his. working under him and satoru doesn't know what he'll do after finding this out.

he grabs his glasses before spinning it with his fingers. glancing at your picture pinned in your resumé. he traces it with his fingers. you didn't change. a small gentle smile in your face. how can he forget this face of yours when you're still the one who haunts his dreams.

he remembers your reaction earlier. you were so scared of him. masking it with a smile for your own good to avoid disappointing him. it was like a muscle memory for you. meeting you earlier and you looking so scared of him brings him back of memories of how both he and suguru were awful to you. he's much worse and it's new form him to feel this way. he didn't really care about the feelings of the people that surrounds him including you.

he needed a break and then he dials suguru's number.

the cafe where they usually frequents is where they decided to meet up and suguru takes the offer when satoru said he wanted to talk about something urgent. now he sit here with his friend. sulking and is rather stressed.

“she's back, suguru.”

the tea he was swirling with spoon creates a vortex the moment he stops his mixing. putting his cup, he raises a brow at satoru. “what do you mean she's back, satoru?” a little bit confused of what his friend is saying. a crazy-ex, a fling or someone he had done a one night stand comes back? he doesn't know.

satoru pouts at him. “(y/n).” the name rings in his ear like bells. the now ceo of the gojo company greedily shoves the souffle pancakes to his mouth. he knows his friend was a glutton but he looks rather bothered from it.

he had not heard of your name since that talk with shoko. he sips on his tea before asking gojo. “what of her, satoru?”

“she's working for my company. meaning she's my employee.”

“what of it?”

“i kind of talked to her but she left.”

gojo continues to ramble about what happened to you but he drowned it out. it's been years and you came back. he was close to giving up trying to find you and then like you always do came waltzing again in their lives once again. just like satoru he gathered all the information he can get his hands on but to no avail he didn't get your whereabouts despite the influence he have.

“i wanted to talk to her, ask what happened to her, suguru.” the man in front of him laments.

“you can't force (y/n) about that satoru. she maybe starting fresh on her life and doesn't need us to remind her of what happened.” he reasons to him but deep inside he wanted your answers too. shed a light to what really happened to you that night and how you ended up in a hospital and later to disappear from them.

“suguru, should i approach (y/n)-chan?” gojo asks him but he does not approve of the idea. “definitely not you idiot. you're going to scare her and don't exclude me you selfish prick.”

“for now, let's plan something about it.” he suggested and satoru begrudgingly accepted it.

the white hair, the now square shaped glasses and that face sends you in a mini panic attack. you don't know what'll happen to you if caught a glimpse of that blue eyes of his. your heart beating rapidly as you went to lock yourself in the comfort room. bile rising down your throat before throwing up the contents of your stomach in the sink. tears swelling in the corner of your eyes as you heave before throwing up another batch of what kind of mix like your breakfast, spit and bile.

you thought it was gone that you were a new person and the mere presence of him won't affect but how wrong you were. it was like spiders crawling up to your skin and digging to your flesh to make a home from the feeling of him touching you.

turning the faucet on, you cupped your hands to catch the water before splashing it to your face was like a wake up call that you cannot be affected by such touch or look at him and it won't be long before they're standing in front of you. you're not the hopeless version of yourself. you told yourself that but it's not that easy.

you wipe the fog sticking in the mirror and you stared at your reflection. you were still a remnant of your past self. you were you. a girl that was given a new chance of life to start a new and yet, you're here. won't be too late to leave this and start again? you're here now. there's no chance of running back. you can't think straight. your hands trembling and you can't help but to pity yourself. you were still a slave to your past and, and, and.....

it's neverending.

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[mostlysignssomeportents]

An adversarial iMessage client for Android

Adversarial interoperability is one of the most reliable ways to protect tech users from predatory corporations: that's when a technologist reverse-engineers an existing product to reconfigure or mod it (interoperability) in ways its users like, but which its manufacturer objects to (adversarial):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

"Adversarial interop" is a mouthful, so at EFF, we coined the term "competitive compatibility," or comcom, which is a lot easier to say and to spell.

Scratch any tech success and you'll find a comcom story. After all, when a company turns its screws on its users, it's good business to offer an aftermarket mod that loosens them again. HP's $10,000/gallon inkjet ink is like a bat-signal for third-party ink companies. When Mercedes announces that it's going to sell you access to your car's accelerator pedal as a subscription service, that's like an engraved invitation to clever independent mechanics who'll charge you a single fee to permanently unlock that "feature":

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/12/05/carmakers-push-forward-with-plans-to-make-basic-features-subscription-services-despite-widespread-backlash/

Comcom saved giant tech companies like Apple. Microsoft tried to kill the Mac by rolling out a truly cursèd version of MS Office for MacOS. Mac users (5% of the market) who tried to send Word, Excel or Powerpoint files to Windows users (95% of the market) were stymied: their files wouldn't open, or they'd go corrupt. Tech managers like me started throwing the graphic designer's Mac and replacing it with a Windows box with a big graphics card and Windows versions of Adobe's tools.

Comcom saved Apple's bacon. Apple reverse-engineered MS's flagship software suite and made a comcom version, iWork, whose Pages, Numbers and Keynote could flawlessly read and write MS's Word, Excel and Powerpoint files:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slay

It's tempting to think of iWork as benefiting Apple users, and certainly the people who installed and used it benefited from it. But Windows users also benefited from iWork. The existence of iWork meant that Windows users could seamlessly collaborate on and share files with their Mac colleagues. IWork didn't just add a new feature to the Mac ("read and write files that originated with Windows users") – it also added a feature to Windows: "collaborate with Mac users."

Every pirate wants to be an admiral. Though comcom rescued Apple from a monopolist's sneaky attempt to drive it out of business, Apple – now a three trillion dollar company – has repeatedly attacked comcom when it was applied to Apple's products. When Apple did comcom, that was progress. When someone does comcom to Apple, that's piracy.

Apple has many tools at its disposal that Microsoft lacked in the early 2000s. Radical new interpretations of existing copyright, contract, patent and trademark law allows Apple – and other tech giants – to threaten rivals who engage in comcom with both criminal and civil penalties. That's right, you can go to prison for comcom these days. No wonder Jay Freeman calls this "felony contempt of business model":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

Take iMessage, Apple's end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) instant messaging tool. Apple customers can use iMessage to send each other private messages that can't be read or altered by third parties – not cops, not crooks, not even Apple. That's important, because when private messaging systems get hacked, bad things happen:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_celebrity_nude_photo_leak

But Apple has steadfastly refused to offer an iMessage app for non-Apple systems. If you're an Apple customer holding a sensitive discussion with an Android user, Apple refuses to offer you a tool to maintain your privacy. Those messages are sent "in the clear," over the 38-year-old SMS protocol, which is trivial to spy on and disrupt.

Apple sacrifices its users' security and integrity in the hopes that they will put pressure on their friends to move into Apple's walled garden. As CEO Tim Cook told a reporter: if you want to have secure communications with your mother, buy her an iPhone:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tim-cook-says-buy-mom-210347694.html

Last September, a 16-year old high school student calling himself JJTech published a technical teardown of iMessage, showing how any device could send and receive encrypted messages with iMessage users, even without an Apple ID:

https://jjtech.dev/reverse-engineering/imessage-explained/

JJTech even published code to do this, in an open source library called Pypush:

https://github.com/JJTech0130/pypush

In the weeks since, Beeper has been working to productize JJTech's code, and this week, they announced Beeper Mini, an Android-based iMessage client that is end-to-end encrypted:

https://beeper.notion.site/How-Beeper-Mini-Works-966cb11019f8444f90baa314d2f43a54

Beeper is known for a multiprotocol chat client built on Matrix, allowing you to manage several kinds of chat from a single app. These multiprotocol chats have been around forever. Indeed, iMessage started out as one – when it was called "iChat," it supported Google Talk and Jabber, another multiprotocol tool. Other tools like Pidgin have kept the flame alive for decades, and have millions of devoted users:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/07/tower-babel-how-public-interest-internet-trying-save-messaging-and-banish-big

But iMessage support has remained elusive. Last month, Nothing launched Sunchoice, a disastrous attempt to bring iMessage to Android, which used Macs in a data-center to intercept and forward messages to Android users, breaking E2EE and introducing massive surveillance risks:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/21/23970740/sunbird-imessage-app-shut-down-privacy-nothing-chats-phone-2

Beeper Mini does not have these defects. The system encrypts and decrypts messages on the Android device itself, and directly communicates with Apple's servers. It gathers some telemetry for debugging, and this can be turned off in preferences. It sends a single SMS to Apple's servers during setup, which changes your device's bubble from green to blue, so that Apple users now correctly see your device as a secure endpoint for iMessage communications.

Beeper Mini is now available in Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beeper.ima&hl=en_US

Now, this is a high-stakes business. Apple has a long history of threatening companies like Beeper over conduct like this. And Google has a long history deferring to those threats – as it did with OG App, a superior third-party Instagram app that it summarily yanked after Meta complained:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained

But while iMessage for Android is good for Android users, it's also very good for Apple customers, who can now get the privacy and security guarantees of iMessage for all their contacts, not just the ones who bought the same kind of phone as they did. The stakes for communications breaches have never been higher, and antitrust scrutiny on Big Tech companies has never been so intense.

Apple recently announced that it would add RCS support to iOS devices (RCS is a secure successor to SMS):

https://9to5mac.com/2023/11/16/apple-rcs-coming-to-iphone/

Early word from developers suggests that this support will have all kinds of boobytraps. That's par for the course with Apple, who love to announce splashy reversals of their worst policies – like their opposition to right to repair – while finding sneaky ways to go on abusing its customers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

The ball is in Apple's court, and, to a lesser extent, in Google's. As part of the mobile duopoly, Google has joined with Apple in facilitating the removal of comcom tools from its app store. But Google has also spent millions on an ad campaign shaming Apple for exposing its users to privacy risks when talking to Android users:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/21/23883609/google-rcs-message-apple-iphone-ipager-ad

While we all wait for the other shoe to drop, Android users can get set up on Beeper Mini, and technologists can kick the tires on its code libraries and privacy guarantees.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/07/blue-bubbles-for-all/#never-underestimate-the-determination-of-a-kid-who-is-time-rich-and-cash-poor

[htchnr]

omg, hi!

can you write dale cooper with a reader that they are kinda like partners in fbi and they are sent together to twin peaks?

thank you!! youre the first person that i see writing about him🙏🙏

ミ★ on the chin ᰔ DALE COOPER.

𖦹 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𖦹 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐤𝐨-𝐟𝐢!

「 authors note,, oh i absolutely love that idea! i wasn't sure if you meant romantic or platonic— so i threw in some 'secret-yearning' & 'idiots in slight denial', cause i feel that's just perfect for Dale 🫠. the title's from On The Chin by Kings of Leon! 」

「 ꜜcontent,, pining ⋆ Harry's keen eye and Dale's poor ability to hide how he feels ⋆ maybe slight OOC Dale idk ⋆ i'm treating this show like a romcom in my head ⋆ Lucy and Harry (my loves) are there briefly ⋆ Dale's silly love for the Douglas Firs and Snowshoe Rabbits. ꜜwc,, 2,6k. 」

© 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐇𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐍𝐑. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫!

" gosh, i haven't seen a forest this dense and barely touched in a long while. " you sigh, leaning against your palm that's resting against the car door.

Cooper hums beside you, " i know right? 'Douglas Firs' Sheriff Truman called them, " he takes a deep breath through his nose, " just the fresh woodsy-smell of these trees, i can't get enough of them. "

you laugh, your eyes remaining trained on the scenic view outside. " mm, tell me about it. " from your peripheral you could tell he's itching to fulfil that faint request.

you sigh, more so a pleasant one. " well, " you say returning your attention back to the case file in your lap. " run me through everything we've got on this case again and your observations so far. "

Dale nods dutifully, eyes still on the road. " well, the case first landed on my desk the moment... "

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

" you are simply going to love this place. " Cooper tells you eagerly as he parks the car in the parking lot before the Great Northern. " the room i'm in has an excellent view of the waterfall we passed earlier. " you smile as he spitfires various other things 'he knows you'll love'— such as the coffee and the food. as well as the peculiar company of the owner's daughter.

you nod along, pulling the trunk open and pulling your suitcase out. Cooper rounds the car, pushing your hands aside as he takes your suitcase. " the forest surrounding this place is truly unlike anything i've ever seen. " you almost chuckle when he takes a breath before speaking again. " and! i've observed what Harry— Sheriff Truman— has explained are Snowshoe Rabbits! very adorable critters. "

you push through the front door to the Great Northern and your eyes widen in awe. it truly is a stunning place. you only briefly pause your walking as you both pass the front desk. " shouldn't i check in and get a room? " you test the waters a little.

Dale waves it off, " nonsense— we both know we function better when we share a room. it's easier to bounce ideas back and forth. "

you nod, you know he's right. you shrug off your coat and fold it over your arm as you two step into the elevator. he pushes the button to his floor and it jolts into motion. " you know, " you elbow his arm. " this view better be as good as you say it is. " you tease lightly. " else i might still get my own room in search of a better view. "

the elevator stops, both of you getting out as soon as the doors open. Cooper scoffs, " you know i wouldn't lie to you about a good view. " he grins, walking down the hall and stopping before a room. he grabs his key, unlocking the door and pushing it open. he gestures in teasingly.

you laugh, grabbing your suitcase and heading inside. the room was as you had imagined, it fit the rest of the building perfectly and was fairly spacious. you set your suitcase down by the foot of the queen size bed as you move over to the window.

your lips part in awe at the view, he really wasn't exaggerating. he laughs at your stillness, closing the door and sliding the lock on. he moves around you, wrapping an arm around your waist as he joins you in admiring the view. he grins, glancing towards you. " told you so? " that shit-eating grin on his lips.

you try to suppress the smile trying to make it's way onto your face. " oh can it, Coop. " you gently swat him as you step away from him and towards your suitcase. " we'll see if that food downstairs holds up or not as well. " you lightly jab as you unpack a few things, namely case files.

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

you take a deep breath through your nose as you step out of the car in the parking lot of the Station. Dale smiles at you, " those trees, huh? "

you wave it off, " let's get to work, shall we? " you start towards the building, equally as charming and lovely as the Great Northern. Cooper nods, close in tail.

you push through the first set of doors, making sure they're closed as well as taking off your coats and hanging them up. Cooper looks at you for confirmation first, only pushing open the second set of doors once you nod.

" goodmorning Lucy! this here is agent L/N who i've spoken about. " he introduces you to the sweet looking woman at the reception.

" hi! i've heard such good things from agent Cooper about you! " she shakes your hand over the reception desk.

you laugh, equally happily returning the handshake. " i've heard a bunch about you all here too, Coop can't seem to stop gushing about everyone. " the man in question looks away quickly, glancing around the building.

" Lucy, is Harry in his office? " he quickly intercepts the conversation.

Lucy nods, " he just received a phone call from your superior, Gordon about the additional agent. " she explains.

Cooper nods, sending her a small wave as he nods for you to come along. he guides you to what you only assume is the Sheriff's office, all while praising the man.

he knocks, before stepping through the already open door. " goodmorning Harry! not intruding am i? "

the man, Harry, you presume, stands up from his desk with a smile. " not at all, Cooper. just got off the phone with your, rather interesting figure of a superior, Gordon. "

both you and Dale chuckle. 'rather interesting figure' has to be the nicest way someone has described the man. " Lucy said so! i've come to introduce special agent L/N, who i've told you about. "

Harry nods and smiles, rounding the desk as he stops before you with an outstretched hand. you return the smile as you shake his hand, " pleasure to meet you, Sheriff Truman. i've heard nothing but good things from Cooper. "

he grins, " call me Harry, please. happy to have you here to help, the more we uncover the more pleasant extra hands and minds are. " he nods as he releases your hand.

a speaker crackles somewhere, Lucy's sweet voice coming through. " agent L/N? would you mind helping me get some of your information right at the reception? "

you nod at the men, " guess i'm needed elsewhere. " you smile, glancing at Cooper for a split second before nodding to Harry. " it was a pleasure meeting you, Harry. "

" all mine. " he nods as you step through the doorway and out towards Lucy. Harry rests against the edge of his desk. " so, how long's that been going on? " he chuckles, motioning between Cooper and beyond the door.

Cooper's eyes widen, an almost childlike wonder in them as his smile grows. " well played Harry, well played. " he breathes, grinning now. Dale glances out the door, he can just barely spot you at the reception. he turns back to Harry, " what gave it away? " he eagerly asks.

Harry laughs, taking a sip from his cooling coffee. " your eyes, Coop. you got that look that in 'em as if she's hung the stars for you. "

Dale glances at the mug of coffee, wishing for his own. he grins wide, stepping half outside the office. " well, i better fuel up for today and then continue that raffle through Laura's diary. " he nods at Harry's mug of coffee, before disappearing through the doorway.

Harry laughs to himself, Cooper may have magically pointed out all the couples in town, but Harry finds a small and silly victory and pointing his own out that you two seemed so sure was secret.

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

" Diane, agent L/N has safely arrived in Twin Peaks and integrated into the hotel room. i also received the earplugs you've sent me, picked them up from the reception this afternoon. once more, i am very.. " Cooper speaks into his recorder, logging his day as well as any findings relating to the case to Diane.

you lay on your stomach on the bed as you pour over a few pictures of a few pages of Laura's diary. you had taken pictures as you couldn't take the whole thing with you. you absentmindedly listen to Cooper as you scan the pictures for any differences. maybe it's getting too late at night for you to find any.

" ..with that said, i'm signing off for the night, Diane. " Cooper ends his recording, clicking the device off as he sets it on the beside table. he nudges your raised feet gently, " let's put that aside for now shall we? it is getting rather late. "

you nod without taking your eyes off the photos. " uh huh. " you answer vaguely, and Dale can tell you're not paying attention to him.

he sighs with a small smile, he is glad to have you thinking along side with him on this case. " c'mon, we'll work better rested— "

" —Coop i found the connection! " you gasp, pointing at a spot in the picture. Dale quickly sits down beside you, one arm over your back with his hand resting beside your waist against the bed as he leans in to look.

" see right here? " you tap your finger's position again. " i just knew it had to mean something, you know? until i read over this here, " you point at a spot on the second picture, " and it finally clicked! " you explain your thoughts and the connection hurriedly, trying to get the words out before you forget any or get distracted.

Dale grins, his hand smoothing up and down your waist. " that's it! i'll call Harry about it first thing in the morning. "

you look beside you and up at Cooper with a tired smile. " now, " he squeezes your waist. " let's put these aside and get some sleep. that was an excellent catch with that connection. "

you yawn, nodding. " gosh, i don't think i really even noticed how tired i was until this second. " when you sit up right and turn around, you find Cooper handing you your folded pyjamas. you smile as you take them from him, standing up as you set them down on the bed.

both of you are quick to undress and pull on your sleepwear, then brushing your teeth together in the small ensuite bathroom.

you're quick to jump into bed, both laying apart on your own sides as you start to fall asleep. Cooper looks over at your half asleep form, he never knows why you two start apart at night— knowing that through the night you two'll end up snuggled close together anyway.

「 authors note,, this was so fun to write, i just love Dale so much 🥹🫠. please feel free to send in anymore ideas! i'd love to see what y'all would like me to write next 😄 」

[mistysfundungeon]

Exciting news about a new Wenclair fanfiction (trilogy) + excerpt

Hi guys, so I have some fun news - basically, I’ve been working on (with the help of some friends for brainstorming) a new idea which will actually be a trilogy (3 fanfictions). Sounds super ambitious I KNOW - but writing a trilogy has always been a random goal of mine AND I really wanted something to help give me variety in terms of writing so that I’m not over relying on UTMR!

Essentially, this fanfiction is wenclair but I was inspired by SweetCC - so I essentially took aspects of Cairo Sweet & CC Walker and adapted them to fit Wednesday & Enid.

It’s an elite private school AU (non-supernatural) where Enid is the schools golden girl & soccer captain, but secretly writes as an outlet. Wednesday is a new transfer student who works for the literary journal, and when she discovers one of Enid’s works (which was misfiled) she becomes obsessed with it & Enid and forms an experiment on what limits she can push for Enid to invoke changes in her writing.

A really bad explanation so here’s the “official” premise (for the first fic at least):

When Wednesday Addams transfers to Lenore Institute, she isn’t searching for friendship - only psychological material. A misfiled, anonymous story full of controlled rage catches her attention, and its author - Enid Sinclair - seems an impossible match: adored, upbeat, nothing but smiles. Wednesday begins a quiet experiment in emotional sabotage, believing that unlocking aggression will sharpen the prose. But eventually, when one of her manipulations backfires, Wednesday finds herself drawn in - not as an investigator, but as something far more vulnerable. What began as a study becomes the source of her undoing.

So, below is an excerpt of the opening because why not - it’s not final-level polished and is around 900 words so be warned !

///

Truth lived in ink. It lived in places overlooked - underlined, crossed out, scrawled in margins. Truth didn’t perform. It muttered. It revealed itself when others were distracted. Not in essays, but in their revisions. Not in confessions, but in the words left smudged. Wednesday had always known this. It was not romanticism; it was taxonomy.

She approached writing like she did forensics: the focus was not what had been said, but on what had been meant. What seeped through pages when the author let their guard down.

At Lenore, this task proved more challenging than expected. The submissions to the New Rhetoric literary journal were technically competent, but conceptually empty - filled with curated ache and safe metaphor. Even the misanthropic pieces appeared to be aimed at impressing a ghost. And yet, she read them all. Not out of desire for publication, but to claim the back office, to shield the first drafts from contamination.

The room had no windows, no clocks, and a faint scent of oxidized coffee grounds mingled with toner ink. Filing cabinets lined the walls; one bore the dent from what she suspected was a petty argument or a faculty mishap. She didn’t feel inclined to ask. Because the space felt cramped architecturally, not psychologically. That distinction mattered.

Neither did she mind the proximity; only interruption bothered her. So far, no one had entered. She doubted anyone knew of the office’s existence, except the self-appointed chief editor. Bianca Barclay feigned disinterest, but frequently hovered by the doorway. Wednesday found this efficient, as long as it spared her the effort of pretending to be detached. Everyone at Lenore wore indifference like a badge of social capital, but for Wednesday, it was simply her nature.

Friday nights were when Wednesday excelled. She was methodical, not from haste, but to impose order. Most submissions were paper-clipped, while some arrived in perfumed envelopes (which she flagged for rejection based on scent alone). However, a single piece under “Personal Essays” had been misfiled - and no student at Lenore would misfile something unless they wanted it to be read.

Her fingers hesitated. The tab was scribbled over multiple times before settling on: For Physics: Do Not Read. Ink bled through cheap manila. It was a natural contradiction. Labeling it as unreadable clearly suggested the opposite. At best, it served as a decoy; at worst, it was bait.

Regardless, she opened it.

Not with anticipation - she didn’t permit that. Curiosity, as others defined it, implied a willingness to be surprised. Wednesday preferred hypotheses. This file, with its misplaced classification and urgent prohibition, had already failed to hide. She expected a confessional, possibly romantic, probably overwrought.

Instead, she found disorder without collapse. Paragraphs without structure. Syntax fluctuated - sometimes fluid, sometimes rigid. There was no header or authorship claim. Just entries that resembled unrefined memory: granular, immediate, and stripped of any narrative arc.

It took two pages for her to realize the author wasn’t merely performing trauma. They were dissecting it, which was rare. Most student essays at Lenore arrived pre-triaged for aesthetics. This one resisted elegance.

That alone made it worth continuing.

The first notable segment portrayed a girl who mastered joy like others might master baton twirling: repetitive gestures for an audience. The phrasing felt crude, yet the premise intrigued Wednesday - joy, not as emotion, but as demonstration. She paused on a particular line: “She wins the smile faster if she jumps during the laugh - timing matters. They notice when it looks real.” Here, performance wasn’t a metaphor. It was calculus; rehearsed reactions were quantified and deployed with strategy. This kind of framing suggested someone who had either researched it or had lived it.

Another page brought a shift in register. It remained anonymous, remained abstract, yet the referents had narrowed: a mother narrating her child’s personality through compliments. “Mother says she is her joy. Mother says it when she cries quietly and stops quickly. Mother says it like it’s true.” What followed were phrases dissected mid-sentence - resilient like gum that doesn’t tear, resilient like plexiglass, resilient like an animal that stays silent when cornered. The writer annotated the word with a footnote: “resilient = get over it fast enough to make everyone else comfortable.”

That was the moment Wednesday leaned in - not physically, but intellectually. Someone so fluent in passive indictment was a rare treasure.

Then, scattered toward the end, the construction began to ache. Pain overrode argument. Tactics overrode emotions. The tone suggested a failing experiment. The narrative disintegrated into nested fragments - each trying to correct the previous one.

What struck her most was the compulsive redrafting mid-sentence, as if the writer didn’t trust the truth to survive unedited. Wednesday didn’t care for the vulnerability. What truly mattered was the reflex for control, like watching someone erase themselves in real time. Line by line.

She respected that.

Then, abruptly, a different ink appeared in the margin. Small but no less jarring. Red pen hastily added: Goldie.

Not circled. Not highlighted. Not even mentioned in the main text. Just an outburst. A slip. And the final sentence: “Goldie doesn’t get to be angry. Goldie is the prize. Goldie wins.”

Wednesday stared at the line - not because it meant anything, but because of its disruption to the initial purpose. It felt out of place in a work meant to deconstruct such logic. Yet, that fact alone meant it truly did belong.

She drew the paper an inch closer, enough to examine the ink bleed. Ballpoint. Rushed. A note not intended for editorial scrutiny. Not even intended for the writer’s future self. It was a boundary shed. A moment of textual trespass.

And that, she thought, was the real submission.

///

And there she is yay!!!

So just wanted to let you all know - it might make me slow down with constant posting of UTMR which is probably a good thing LOL.

Let me know if you want to see this fic interests you :P

Okay later my lovey friends <3

[bookie-bookdust]

Helpful (but Aggressive) Guide to the new Hogwarts Legacy PC Mod Update✨

I have been seeing NOTHING BUT COMPLAINING about this damn update and no one actually trying to help each other. So I'm going to do my damn best here to give you a little intro into this new update. Because instead of leaning into the standard toxic consumerism bullshit of fandom, why don't we actually try to be nice to each other?? And the fucking modders who put all this time and effort into making this for us?!?!!?!?!? Special thanks to @anomalyaly because we were up last night trying to figure this out LOL. These screenshots are hers and mine!

PART ONE: Why is my game crashing?

You need to delete your old Nexus ~mod folder from the game files. Throw it in the trash, cut and past it somewhere in your documents, idc. Just get it out of there. The pathway to find it is:

2. Steam senses your bad attitude and don't like it idk. I'm not IT. Turn it off and back on again.

NOTE: Once you start up the game and get it working, you can bring back compatible mods from Nexus. You just need to create a new folder to put them in. It can't be the original one. If your game crashes after that, then you have an incompatible mod in there. You'll have to go down the list until you narrow down which one it is - typically will be a face mod, hair mod, jewelry, or a mod that already exists in the new mod store thing. Yeet it.

PART TWO: I'm not going to teach you how to add the new in-game mods and start the game. I'm not your mom. It's pretty intuitive honestly.

PART THREE: Where the fuck are the clothing mods I just added????

An excellent question, my new charge. You need to go to GladRags to get them. You're going to have to long rest at least three days for them to show up in his store. For me, it took five times lol. This is kind of annoying, but it needs to be immersive to the game I guess so oh well. I don't think we'll die from it.

See all those red exclamation points? That was my fault. I loaded a wizard clothing mod into a witch save. So if you see that, you loaded something you shouldn't have.

PART FOUR: HOW DO I CHANGE MY UGLY ASS HAIR?

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. You're going to go to that hairstyle lady in Hogsmeade I'm too lazy to look up the name of. That bitch charges you for the new hairstyles but you can download unlimited money cheats so whatever.

Don't mind my face lol. I was having a BP makeup glitch LOL

PART THIRTY-SEVEN: How do I change my makeup?

This part sucks. RIGHT NOW as of 1/31/2025, you have to be in the main character design screen at the beginning of the damn game. BUT BUT BUT - if you mod back in the BP character editor, you can do it anywhere. My hope is a new mod will replace this so the game works more smoothly.

Those white spaces? They're the new in-game mods for hair and makeup. Well, most of them. I think some are just random blank spaces lol.

Part Six: Where are my unlocked spells and unlimited plants and shit?

Two reasons they're not showing up:

If you just added this mod and you load your game in the middle of the mission, you need to finish the mission first.

You probably have something incompatible (a nexus mod) that isn't playing nice. Yeet it.

After getting everything squared away, I look fucking great. You are not doomed to a potato face🥔. I FUCKING PROMISE YOU ON SOLOMON'S LIFE.

Truly guys, once you work out the kinks in this update, it's really. fucking. nice.

Before I reinstalled the nexus mods, the game was running so smoothly and the graphics were beautiful. I loaded in 20 mods all at once, and the game handled them just fine. After reloading the nexus mods it was a bit clunky, but of course it would be.

I know change is scary. Also for those who spent time creating/commissioning mods that are no longer compatible, they have the biggest right to be freaking out. BUT BUT BUT we all fucking know the old mods AND SO MANY MORE will be back soon. People are working their asses off in the background converting things right now.

I want to put some things into perspective for you:

We have not had a real update in two years (no, photo mode doesn't count). This is literally the best kind of update we could ever ask for. We are not dependent on the devs for updates with this. In the launch event they were speaking as if you can create your own quests; there are audio mods....think about it guys. Endless protentional. (The only things that aren't going to make it are if you have weird ass like engorgio penis mods because there's no way they're approving those for public use hahahaha)

The devs reached out to people in the community to ask for feedback and to collaborate. THEY CARE ABOUT THE FANDOM. Consider what that may mean for the sequel??? We might not be forced to stomach Hogwarts Legacy 2: Dumbledore's Jorts. They're listening (but they're not going to listen if you're fucking rude and stupid).

You guys shitting on this update very vocally here, on twitter, and on tiktok are forgetting that people in your community helped create it and can SEE YOU. STOP IT. Whine in private!!!!!! Also because I knowww I have to specify because someone is going to take everything personally, I don't mean posts making funny jokes about the updates and just being like ahhhh wtf is going on I'm so lost and whatnot. Like please guys, read the room. I'm referring to nasty comments.

So yes, I'm here with a positive review of the update, and an insanely aggressive reminder to calm the fuck down and go touch some grass. The old mods will be back soon. This update makes using them so much easier. Also, THE POOR CONSOLE PLAYERS DON'T EVEN HAVE ANYTHING YET SOOOOOOOO

I WILL NOT BE TAKING ANY QUESTIONS OR CRITICISM SO STFU. THANKS FOR READING THIS LONG ASS POST IF YOU'RE STILL HERE. OKAAAY BYEEeeEE.

[maplebellsmods]

Here are the two new updates for the Senior trip and Expanded Storytelling Rel Bits mod.

Senior Trip

Mod's official post page for more info

The senior trip experience is now more detailed. Instead of your Sim voting and immediately going to the senior location, they will have to go through a few additional steps.

Sim World Names

Furthermore, I have added the option to go on the trip with Sims from existing worlds in the game, rather than worlds that do not "exist" in the game. You can choose which file you want to download.

Pre-Senior Trip Meeting

The new features that I have added, Pre-Senior Trip Meetings, are meant to enhance the immersive experience. Your sim will be more actively involved in making the Senior Trip happen.

Before going on the trip, your sim will need to attend three senior trip meetings. I designed this to be flexible, allowing players with shorter lifespans to time the meetings as they prefer. For example, if someone has Seasons installed, they could attend meetings weekly, corresponding to the seasons (summer, fall, winter), and then go on the trip in spring. This is just one example of how you can use the mod.

After the first senior trip meeting, your sim will need to vote on a location. If you've used this mod before, you're familiar with the process. You will vote, and a few hours later, you will receive a notification about the chosen location.

After the first meeting, you will be able to attend your second one. During the second meeting, you will vote on the fundraiser that your sim and their peers will be organizing. Your sim will leave the meeting, and a few hours later, they will receive a notification.

Wait until you receive a call from the student. You will notice that there will still be the option to go to the 2nd meeting, ignore it though. Once you receive the you will immediately be able to attend the fundraiser, but be careful, it may flop.

Fundraisers

Once you receive a call about the fundraiser, you have a few options. For Movie Night and Game Night, you can purchase games, which will greatly contribute to the success of the fundraiser.

Additionally, you can make a post about the fundraiser. If you have enough followers or a high enough charisma level, your post may go viral, significantly boosting the fundraiser's success.

If your class chose the bake sale, you can even bake goods and bring them to the event. It will bring joy to everyone, and if your baked goods are excellent, the chances of a successful bake sale will be much higher.

(After you finish baking the food all you have to do is put it in your inventory before going to the fundraiser)

Final Step

After the fundraiser, your sim will be able to go on their final pre-senior trip meeting. This meeting is just a debrief of how the fundraiser went. After the meeting, you will be able to go on the senior trip.

The next steps are covered in my official senior trip post, but it's pretty straightforward.

Milestone

Finally, if you have Growing Together your teen sim will now get a milestone after they come back from the trip

Expanded Storytelling Rel Bits

Mod's official post page for more info

I have made updates that will make this mod feel a bit more immersive. I have also fixed the llama icon that would show up instead of the actual photos.

Milestones (Optional, Growing Together Required)

If you have Growing Together you should keep the optional milestone package files. Once you set relationship bits a milestone will be unlocked in relation to the relationship bit.

👇

Break-Up Removes Some Relationship Bits

Now if your sims break up some of the relationship bits will now be removed.

Here are the ones that will be removed if your sims do have these relationship bits:

Long Distance Relationship

Star Crossed Lovers

Flirty Friends

Romantic Wanderers

Puppy Love

Contextual buffs after certain interactions

Depending on certain interaction and relationship bit status your sims may get contextual buffs.

For example here a some buffs that your sims may get after getting into a relationship:

Relationships bit context buffs showed in the photo above left to right (High School Sweethearts, Flirty Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, Puppy Love)

Buffs that your sim may receive after getting engaged:

Note: The "(From New Relationship)" text is a placeholder. I kept it there solely for the purpose of the buff photos, but each text in-game will correspond to the appropriate situation

Relationships bit context buffs showed in the photo above left to right (Childhood Sweethearts, Adventure Partners, Romantic Wanders, Long-Distance Relationship, Star-Crossed Lovers, Summer Romance)

Buffs that your sim may receive after woohooing:

Note: The "(From New Relationship)" text is a placeholder. I kept it there solely for the purpose of the buff photos, but each text in-game will correspond to the appropriate situation

Relationships bit context buffs showed in the photo above left to right (Flirty Friends, Love-Hate Relationship, Flirty Friends x2, Love-Hate Relationship, Long-Distance Relationship, x2)

Buffs that your sim may receive after breaking up:

Note: The "(From New Relationship)" text is a placeholder. I kept it there solely for the purpose of the buff photos, but each text in-game will correspond to the appropriate situation

Relationships bit context buffs showed in the photo above left to right (Puppy Love, Long-Distance Relationship, Star-Crossed Lovers, Love-Hate Relationship)

Set Relationship Bits using the Relationship Panel

You can now set the relationship bits using the relationship panel. It will still be in the same location, but now the sim does not have to be present for you to be able to set the bits.

Public August 5th

Download Here

[pixelplayground]

PXL'S Anatomy of Screenshots

So you want to take better screenshots? There are multiple factors to consider, and if you don't enjoy tweaking reshade settings for every image, my ultimate method may not be for you. That being said, there are tips and resources in this guide that are applicable to everyone and you can select to explore those that are useful to your specific situation.

Disclaimer: I am not claiming to be an expert, nor am I offering to provide troubleshooting on an individual basis. This is a general guide and if you are unfamiliar with any of the concepts, please use the mighty power of the internet to find tutorials. I promise everything that I have learned over the years has been published and documented a thousand times better than I ever could.

There are five factors to address:

Your computer's inherent capabilities

The game's limitations

The mods you're using

Reshade

Post Processing

Graphics Card Settings & Drivers:

Become familiar with your graphic options. If you don't have a dedicated graphics card (i.e. a desktop or gaming laptop, these features may be unavailable and you should skip.)

I have an AMD Radeon Pro card which is designed for workstation level systems. It's overkill for sims, but useful for 3D rendering and modelling work. I have changed the following settings for DirectX 9 applications:

anti-aliasing - enhance application settings

anisotropic filtering - enabled

anisotropic filtering level - 16x

texture filtering quality - high

surface format optimization - high

Consider overclocking your graphics card to unlock it's full potential. DO NOT pursue this venture unless you are ok with the risk of burning out your card prematurely. I use at present, overclocked Bootcamp Drivers from BootcampDrivers.com obviously, if you're not playing on an intel based mac through Bootcamp, this is irrelevant to you.

None of these settings are useful until you address the default games limitations, which leads nicely into the next factor.

Addressing The Sims 4's Graphic Limitations:

Everyone should be familiar at this point with lighting mods, 4k, textures, disabling ssao, etc. but, I'm still going to spell it out. None of this is new information and has been covered many a time by various players ad nauseum.

remove ugly blue toned lighting in the world by choosing a lighting mod from @softerhaze here

overhaul your graphics.cfg file (i use a custom blend with features specific to me), however @simp4sims has done a ridiculous amount of work in providing a simple to install file that can be found here - read through their tutorials!! they have provided an excellent oversight of exactly what this does and why it matters

improve the indoor lighting for your sims - previously i used @luumia's no blu, no glo - recently i switched to @northernsiberiawinds better in game lighting mod here, though i have tweaked some of the settings to suit my own personal preferences

i don't use the HQ mod, i don't find that it makes enough difference for the amount of effort it requires to convert CAS CC

It should go without saying, but tweaking your graphics config file is absolutely useless if you can't play TS4 at it's maximum in game graphic settings!

The Mods You're Using:

Now that you've put in all this work into getting the game ready to make use of quality mods where do you start? Well, the CC you install matters. Whatever your preference, whether it be maxis-match, alpha or somewhere in between, priority should be given to using items textured in 2k or 4k resolutions, and specific attention should be paid to using wall and flooring textures with bump maps, and or high quality resolutions (this is important later for reshade if you intend to learn about ray tracing).

I will separately post a guide to creators with crispy textures because that is it's own novel.

Reshade:

Phew. Still with me?

There are many many many reshade presets out there, most are alike, but none employ ray tracing, and that is because a) it needs to be manually adjusted for every screenshot, b) they are paid shaders, and c) this requires advanced knowledge of reshade and a decent enough graphics set up that won't overheat - games running native ray tracing recommend a minimum VRAM of 8GB (please note RAM and VRAM are not the same) - i therefore do not recommend pursuing this option if your system does not meet those minimum requirements.

Start here to understand what ray tracing for reshade is. In my opinion, the shaders are well worth the price of $5 for the amount of work that has gone into creating them by the talented Pascal Gilcher. That link is a comprehensive starting point into expanding your knowledge of reshade and it's capabilities.

I have always created my own reshade presets from scratch, and while the core colorization settings I utilize remain largely the same, using ray tracing and re-light means every screenshot needs to be manually adjusted (lights repositioned, bounce and AO factors adjusted, etc) before being captured. @pictureamoebae just published a very timely post discussing the re-light shader and you can read it here.

Post Processing

Reshade does 99.99% of the work that traditionally would be accomplished in a photo editing software like photoshop. Occasionally, I need to adjust exposure manually, add depth of field manually, or color correct. Beyond that I use it to scale images to fit the resolution and file size limits of various platforms. Conceptually this reduces the amount of uncontrolled loss encountered when platforms like tumblr auto compress files that are too large. In reality, tumblr still makes images crappy compared to how they appear in my file folder.

optimize your images for various social media platforms using this guide

fix exposure or colorization issues using a software like photoshop

I hope that this gives you a starting point into expanding your methodologies. My process is continuously evolving and I find this aspect of the game most entertaining. For others who don't enjoy this process, it's probably not worth it!

Thanks for reading ❤ PXL

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Same as it ever was 2

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as neglect, bullying, manipulation, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: Between your home life and work, you just can’t catch a break. Especially after you draw the ire of your boss.

Characters: Lloyd Hansen ft. Pete Brenner

Note: Sorry to those who expected a team-up or simps!

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!)

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

Your eyes burn as you rub them with the heels of your hand. It's late, very late, and Pete's not home. He missed bath time and bedtime. You're only fortunate that the sitter fed the kids.

You continue your tedious Excel mission, yawning at the sharepoint file as you sweep your fingers over the touchpad. You sit against the pillows propped against the bed frame and struggle not to doze. You're almost there, you can do it. Yeah, keep telling yourself that and it might even be true.

You hear an engine. You're not much of an automotive enthusiast but you recognise it. It's Pete unnecessary Corvette. The vehicle he convinced you would be the perfect company car. You sigh and hunker down, blocking out the ruckus of his return.

Still, you hear it all. Him unlocking the door, pausing to take off his jacket and shoes, climbing the stairs, at least considerate of the hour as he keeps his steps light. He enters, seemingly shocked to find you awake as his eyes round in your direction. He stretches, pushing his neck side to side in an exaggerated gesture of fatigue.

"Ugh, long day," he rubs his shoulders with a groan.

You don't acknowledge him as you keep your fingers fluttering over the keyboard. It's too late and you're too drained to be any more angry than you already are. You narrow in on the laptop as he hovers at the edge of your vision, undressing piece by piece.

"Big meeting today. Might've found another investor," he talks above the bellowing elephant in the room. "I think we're almost there."

You curl your lip but say nothing. One word and it's over. It will all come spewing out. Between him and your asshole boss, you have a thread of patience left.

He tosses his pants at the hamper and they catch on the edge before falling on the outside. He doesn't pick them up. You wonder why he insists on spending label name money when he doesn't take care of his clothes. Why he wears big names as you're digging through thrift store bins. You blow out a breath, a sigh that fills the room.

"So," he rolls down his underwear, shamelessly naked but for his black socks, "you just going to give me the silent treatment when I worked all day--"

"I'm still working," you snap and still your hands, glaring up at him, "I'd be done by now if you had picked up the kids from Emma's."

"I... you weren't serious about that, were you?"

"Don't," you warn him and lower your gaze back to the laptop, "I have a big meeting in the morning and I'm gonna spend enough time getting this done. I don't need an argument--"

"Relax," he snips, "I'm gonna shower and sleep. You don't gotta worry." He lumbers over to the bathroom door and you roll your eyes, "we both know nothing else is going on in that bed."

You swallow as your eyes sting again. He slams the door and you hiss. If he wakes up the kids... 

You wait and listen for any stirring beyond your bedroom walls. Thankfully, the house is silent but for the sudden scour of the showerhead. You bat away the layer of tears threatening to spill and shake your head. It's not like you didn't try; you put on some old lingerie two weeks ago and he rolled over and went to sleep. Still, you're the problem. It's always you.

You hit save to make sure the sharepoint updates and you take a final look over each sheet. You're done, you think. You hope. You're too tired to care. You shut the laptop and put it on the night table.

You slide down onto your side and flip off the lamp. You lay with your back to the bathroom door and squeeze your eyes shut. Sleep should be easy but your anxiety further jabs the migraine into your skull. You hate this, all of it. How did it come to this? Where did you go wrong?

🗄️

A couple hours of sleep is hardly enough to recover from the hectic day behind you, or the one awaiting you. You get the kids up, packed, and off to school knowing Pete is probably not even awake. You didn't even try to rouse him as he would only add to your list of worries.

You head to the office, your hope of getting in early crushed as you hurry in at your usual time. You fall into the chair, coat still half-on as you jab the button on the monitor. The PC is asleep but not off. You hit the space bar to wake it up.

You finish stripping off your outer layer and hang it over the back of your chair. You swivel in and gape at the sight before you. Every cell is empty. You click through the sheets as your heart plummets. You close and try reopening the file, hoping it merely timed out.

Nothing. It's all gone but how? You can't believe it. You go into the recovery settings and search through revision history. It's all be locked, you can't see any past edits.

You clutch your head as despair and panic and grief swallow you up. Luck has never been your friend but this is a new low. You roll back slightly and fold over in your chair. You have a choice; accept defeat and tender your resignation or hope for mercy and pretend in the meeting that the file was corrupted without your knowledge. 

"You know," your chair jolts as someone kicks a wheel, "there's a very strict security policy around here. All work devices should be locked and shut down before they are left unattended."

You sit up and spin, dizzy from grief and utter dread as you face Mr. Hansen. He smirks down at you, a black button-up under a sleek evergreen jacket. His wardrobe is even more ostantatious than your husband's; probably because he can afford it. You lift your face and deflate.

"Mr. Hansen," you murmur.

"Anyone could just see the budget… they could tamper with it," he watches you smugly, "or even…delete it."

Your ribs rack and your ears tingle. He did this. Is he crazy? You stand up and he stays as he is. The closeness between you is suffocating.

"Mr. Hansen," you repeat, "I had the numbers done–"

"Oh, you do?" He chuckles, "that's great."

"What did you do? Why?" You accuse.

"I told you, honey bun, you owe me," he pishes his shoulders back, "so…" he lifts his arm and checks his watch, gold and expensive. Probably worth as much as your mortgage, "how exactly are you gonna pay me back? First I let you off early," he holds up a finger  "then… I work a miracle and help you recover that pesky budget."

"Sir," you choke out, mortified, "I'll… I'll stay overtime all week. I swear, I'll–"

"Hmph, nah, I got enough soldiers running the ant hill," he tweaks a brow, "overtime… boring. You got kids, they need mommy home to kiss them goodnight."

You clamp your lips together and watch him desperately. He just wants to torture you. You can feel it all slipping away; your job, your husband, and yourself.

"What do you want?" You exhale weakly.

He tilts his head and lets the tip of his tongue poke out, "you know," he wags his index in front of you, "I know this trick on Excel, why don't I show you?" He pauses for effect, basking in his victory, "in my office?"

A stitch dimples between your eyebrows. His office. Why? You don’t let the trickle of suspicion overflow. You’re not his type. Definitely not Kendra. No, this will be worse than whatever disgusting thoughts he has in her direction.

You set your chin and turn your hands out, “alright, fine. Show me.”

You wait, and he hesitates, as if waiting for you to flinch first. Finally, he pivots on the heel of his ridiculous loafers and struts towards his office. You leave your chair facing the rest of the office and follow, pressing your sweaty palms to the pilled wool that strains across your thighs.

He opens the door of his office and you enter behind him. He lingers by the door and closes it as you stop just inside. For all your years there, you’d never actually been inside his office. There was never any reason for it. Thankfully.

He doesn’t say a word as he rounds his desk and sits casually in his tall-backed chair. It’s much better than those out in the bullpen with the worn cushion and squeaky wheels. You wait, patiently impatient, for him to begin. You feel him plotting, measuring his next move.

He rolls closer to his desk and takes the nearly flat apple mouse, moving it atop the leather pad and clicking with a single finger. His eyes reflect the large screen of his iMac and the corner of his mouth curves upward.

He looks at you and beckons with his other hand, “come here. I’ll show you.”

You reluctantly round his desk. There’s something about his nonchalance that both irks and unsettles you. You near and look at his screen. You see the slobbery lips of a teary-eyed woman right before he minimises the window. You pretend not to notice as he clicks onto the excel file.

It’s there. All your work. You squint and see the title in the bar of the window; Copy of… He kept a copy but he destroyed yours. It’s all a trick. You can’t be surprised by that.

“There it is,” he clicks his tongue, “all your hard work. Wow, I gotta say, that’s impressive.”

“You…” you put your hands on your hips and glance between him and the screen, “what do you want?”

“Nothing much,” he snickers, “and I’d say it’s not too different than what you want. What you really want.”

You blink at his vague statement. You bring an arm up across your stomach and stare at him nervously. Men like him just want their ego inflated. You just have to remember how to kiss ass.

“So,” he leans back and reaches for his belt, “we don’t got much time. Meeting’s in a smooth fifteen so–”

“What are you doing?” You hiss.

He stops, keeping his hands over his lap. You see his velvet pants twitch.

“We can play pretend. I don’t mind. You like the whole hard to get thing, I get it, you got class,” he says, “but we both know the old man isn’t giving you what you need. I can tell by the way you keep your ass clenched–”

“Mr. Hansen,” you snarl.

“I’m not asking for much. A quick handy,” he unbuckles his belt, “I just want a little more than you give the husband. I don’t want it to be a chore, alright? You’re not washing dishes–”

“You’re gross-”

“And you’re going to do it,” he opens his fly. Again, your shock is lacking. No underwear, nasty. “Because you’ve been here, what…” he reaches into his pants and pulls his dick out as he talks, “twelve years?” He strokes himself without shame, “and you walk out of here without a single reference and you’ll be lucky to get a job at the McDonald’s drive-thru.”

You focus on his face, horrified. Like most women, it’s not the first time you’ve been in this position. Propositioned in such a revolting way. Put in a winless situation. Yet, you somehow believed those days were over for you. You’d found safety in age.

“You can’t be serious…” you mutter.

“I’m fucking serious and I’m horny. Since you wanna cockblock me, you can deal with the consequences, honey,” he turns the chair towards you, “you do remember how these things work, right?”

You stare at him, almost glaring. You don’t let your revulsion seep through fully because as repugnant as he is, he’s right. You need this job. You’re not young, you can’t just walk away and crash on a friend’s couch until you find something better. You’re a mother and a wife. A wife.

“Is it really cheating if you can’t stand it?” He chortles as if reading your mind.

You take a breath and step forward. He winces at your suddenness. He braces the armrest of the chair as you reach for his rigid length. You grip him, biting down to keep from ripping your touch away. You look past him to the wall as he grunt and lets out a quivery breath.

You pump him and he hisses, “honey, it’s not a stick shift. Be fucking nice. Get some fucking lube on it.”

You tamp down your disgust and pull your hand back. You hold it up and spit onto it, hiding the action as best you can. You’d rather spit in his face.

You grab him again and run your hand from base to tip and back. He chokes and clings to the chair tighter as it shifts beneath him. He groans as you fixate on the framed Harvard Business School degree. Just when you thought life couldn’t slap you in the face again.

He pushes his head back and rumbles as you feel him tensing. He’s like any man. Simple, through and through. 

You feel him trembling and sense the change in his tone. He’s close. You taste bile, sickened by yourself and him. You stop and keep your hand around him.

“Send it,” you demand.

“Huh?” He puffs.

“Send the file or I don’t finish. And neither do you–”

“Honey, that’s not–”

You squeeze, “send the file.”

“Fine, fine,” he reaches over, straining as he taps a few buttons. You watch the screen and he hits share, you wave him away from the keyboard. You type in your email with your free hand and press enter.

“Great,” you pump your hand again, hips aching at the awkward way you have to bend.  

You grasp the chair above his shoulder as you speed up. He growls and plants his feet, rasping through his rising pleasure, “don’t fuck up my suit–”

You angle his dick and cup your hand under the tip. You have to look then. You watch as he explodes, catching the gushing flow in your palm as he quakes and moans out his delight. Your stomach churns as you stroke him until he’s empty and squirming.

You retract your hand and turn to grab a tissue to wipe away the mess. You’re certain to take a healthy dollop from the sanitizer bottle as well, clearing your throat as you try to shake off what you just did. You look at your watch and roll your shoulders.

“I’ll see you in the meeting,” you retreat to the door as his breath peters out.

“Honey…” he sighs.

“Mr. Hansen,” you reach for the door, leaving him with his limpening dick hanging out.

You march out, not looking one way or the other, as you head for your desk. You’re shaking by the time you reach it, nearly collapsing into the chair. What have you done? You are just as disgusting as he is. You’re pathetic, you’re a loser, you’re… a cheater.

[auckie]

I want a desk job. I want a stable desk job, with the discouraged option to work from home, and benefits— not amazing ones, just something that will make me feel like I won’t be homeless or shipped off to a low rent home when I’m 80 because I’m trans and can’t afford to adopt kids who might take pity on my old ass. I want to be able to afford a modest living, the kind I’m currently surviving, preferably alone and without a man child stoner who tracks mud everywhere and doesn’t know what headphones are and leaves my back door open and front door unlocked no matter how many times I yell at him. Ideally, I would like to exist without monthly bill anxiety. dread sure. You can’t avoid that, but I would like to have the ability to squirrel away a small bump of padding cash to withstand my car dying, which it is, my leg breaking, which it has not, top surgery, which I need, the occasional visit to my Mexican family or sister across the country, a nice meal here and there, a little wine and sun and salt. I don’t want to love my job, but I don’t want to dread going in because I fear losing my shit on my boss. I don’t need to love my coworkers even. I just want more energy after work, and maybe less risk of contracting pneumonia or my arm going numb because I was careless while working with live animals. I want the welts to stop. I want to be paid more and feel like I have the option and opportunity for upward mobility if I chose to doggedly pursue it. I would like a desk job, maybe a government or city job if those weren’t currently being gutted. It would be nice to work some sort of idyllic defunct job or a really niche one that nobody goes into because it’s hyper competitive or doesn’t pay well, like being some sort of WiFi connected lighthouse keeper or firewatch or park ranger or mortician or marine biologist or fisherman or Rosie the riveter welder restoring steam engines or fucking whatever. But that can’t and won’t be so I really would just like a desk job that has me at my own somewhat private, somewhat quiet little station, where I do repetitive tasks that at most, require the amount of brain power needed to sort files or answer emails, maybe organize a schedule or draft a handful of easily categorizable contracts. I can skim paper work and highlight the good stuff, I can compose excel spreadsheets that simplify the information, I can track inventory and regurgitate sales into some sort of chart for easier optics. I have synergy. I majored in new media visual technology and folklore. I love circling back. I have a handful of published poems. I’m a team player with managerial potential. I’ve bred roaches and wrangled 8 inch venomous centipedes into shipping tubes an inch thicker than their circumference. I used to be a realtor! My abuelita owned a nganga with a human femur inside. I want a desk job, with a cubicle and dress code and calander and sorting bin and stapler and paper clips and rolly chair with lower lumbar support and a water cooler.

[thelazyhermits]

Wanted to make another post related to Yuu's future family since there were two separate scenes that I came up with that I wanted to talk about. They'll be underneath the cut.

Okay so the first scene is focused on Theo who has a fear of thunderstorms cause the landslide that killed his family was the result of a huge storm, and he can never forget hearing the thunder when he got caught in the landslide that he miraculously managed to survive after getting rescued by a search and rescue team who only managed to get to him in time.

For a while, Theo had been stuck, unable to move, and he could clearly hear the ongoing storm, so as a result, whenever it storms, his mind always takes him back to that traumatic moment from his past.

The scene focuses on the first time a storm hits the area where Yuu and her family live, about two or so weeks after Theo joins the family.

The storm abruptly hits in the middle of the night, and it instantly wakes up poor Theo who panics.

At first, Theo tries to handle things on his own, like he did at the orphanage, since he hated the idea of bothering others with what he thought was a silly fear, and he just didn't have anyone at the orphanage whom he felt he could rely on in moments like this.

However, Theo eventually changes his mind when he remembers that Yuu told him that he can always come to her about anything no matter the time of day, and he thinks that maybe she really wouldn't be upset if he sought her out for comfort - if he asked her for help.

After a particularly loud boom of thunder, Theo runs out of his room and hurries to Yuu's room, which she always leaves unlocked, so her kids can always get to her whenever they need her.

At the same time Theo nervously opens the door to her room, Yuu wakes up, having sensed something's wrong, so she sits up at the same time the door opens.

Upon seeing a terrified Theo in her doorway, Yuu quickly opens her arms to him and tells him that he can stay with her.

Without hesitation, Theo rushes to the bed and jumps into her arms, so he can tightly cling onto her.

Quickly, Yuu deduces just from seeing how scared Theo is that he's afraid of storms, and she correctly assumes it's related to the accident that killed his biological family since landslides are often caused by severe storms.

It makes Yuu want to smack herself for not thinking to ask Theo if he had any phobias early on, so she could've been better prepared for this. She also wants to smack someone from his orphanage since his file never mentioned him having a phobia, making her assume that no one ever took notice since everyone always gave the poor kid a wide berth.

That's why she hugs him tightly and quickly covers them both with her comforter in hopes that it'll somewhat help muffle the sound of thunder, even though she knows she unfortunately can't do much to impede Theo's excellent hearing.

Knowing he needs something else to focus on, Yuu has Theo rest his head on her chest, so he can listen to her heartbeat. She also starts whispering reassurances and humming soothing songs. She does everything she can to make enough sounds that can distract Theo from the ongoing storm.

As this is happening, Jack, who's in his own room, wakes up cause of the storm, and just as he's about to go back to sleep, he remembers how his younger siblings used to get nervous during storms when they were really little and always come to him for comfort.

Feeling worried about Theo, Jack decides to go check on him to make sure he's alright, considering how difficult it is for wolf Beastmen with enhanced hearing like them to sleep through such a loud storm.

Jack also wants to check on Sora and Liam since they both also have enhanced hearing, although Theo's hearing is the best of the bunch.

Thankfully, both Sora and Liam are fast asleep when Jack checks on them since they're both sound sleepers. Once he finishes checking on them, Jack heads for Theo's room.

Upon finding Theo's room empty, Jack, who's now even more worried, goes looking for Theo and tries to sniff out where the kid headed.

That brings him to Yuu's room where he finds Theo being comforted by her.

Relieved that Theo isn't on his own, Jack briefly wonders if he should get involved or if his interference would be unneeded/unwanted, but when he hears Theo's pitiful whimpers, Jack's protective instincts kick into high gear.

Jack quickly approaches the bed and tries to make enough noise so he won't startle Yuu and Theo. That's why Yuu peaks her head out from under the comforter to see what's up.

When she sees how obviously concerned Jack is, Yuu motions for him to join her and Theo since she's sure Theo would appreciate the extra company, and she's confident that Theo would take a lot of comfort from Jack's presence, like she does.

And she was exactly right. Theo noticeably calms down when Jack joins them in the bed, resulting in Theo being protectively sandwiched in between Yuu and Jack.

The three remain in that position for the rest of night and fall asleep like that, with Theo being the first to drift off since Yuu and Jack wouldn't sleep until they were sure that Theo was alright.

This is the first of many moments when Theo sees Jack as a fatherly figure - moments that lead to him eventually calling Jack his dad.

After that night, arrangements were made to make Theo's room soundproof, so he'd never have to worry about a storm scaring him during the middle of the night again.

Yuu and Jack also had a talk with Theo to let him know that he could always confide in them, no matter what, and assured him that his fear wasn't silly - nothing that upsets him like that could ever be considered silly by them.

They tell Theo to always rely on them like he did that night, because they're his family and that's what family's for.

Regarding the other scene I came up with, it's related to Orion but is actually more focused on Idia since Orion is still a baby at the time.

Anyway, this scene happens about a week or so after Orion comes into the Shroud family's care and Yuu agrees to be Orion's adoptive mother.

Yuu has come by to pay Orion a visit and is keeping him company in his room while Idia and Ortho are busy with work-related matters.

During Yuu's visit, one of the phantom tests from canon happens where all the rooms are on lock down cause Styx releases some phantoms to gather data on them, etc.

Because Yuu is familiar with them by this point, she's unaffected by this turn of events and is able to remain calm.

Idia, however, is a completely different story. At first, he's unaffected cause this is per the norm for him, but then, when Ortho casually brings up that he hopes Yuu and Orion won't be too bored being stuck in a room for multiple hours/that they'll have everything they'll need during that time, etc., Idia begins to panic since this is his first time going through this test since adopting Orion. He wasn't even thinking of Yuu/Orion until Ortho brought them up.

Because of the incident that killed OG Ortho, I feel like Idia as a parent would be wholly uncomfortable with the idea of his kid being out of his sight while a phantom test is ongoing despite how irrational is its, considering Yuu is there and Orion is just a baby. There's no way those two could get out of the room and end up in danger.

Yet, despite this, Idia can't stop feeling uneasy/worried. It doesn't help matters when he hacks into the security feeds and sees that Yuu is comforting a crying Orion, who had started crying cause the alarms for the phantom test scared the poor baby.

The fact that Yuu is such a danger magnet just makes things worse for Idia cause he knows what horrible luck she has cause of everything she has been through since coming to TW. That's why he's just as worried about her as he is about Orion.

Despite the danger of the phantom, Idia seriously considers finding a way to break out of the room he's in so he can get to Yuu and Orion despite how reckless that is, but in the end, his rational side thankfully wins out, so he remains where he is.

However, that doesn't stop Idia from booking it to Orion's room the second the test is over and the doors all unlock, and Orion is right on his heels.

Fortunately, Yuu and Orion are perfectly fine when the Shroud brothers show up, and the latter has also stopped crying thanks to the former's efforts.

Catching Yuu by surprise, Idia throws his arms around her and Orion, who's being held in her arms, as soon as they're within reach and just hugs them tightly, trembling all the while.

Fully understanding his brother's feelings, Ortho doesn't say anything and instead just joins the group hug.

Since she's familiar with Idia's past, it doesn't take long for Yuu to realize why Idia is acting like this, so she does what she can to gently reassure him that she and Orion are alright and give Idia the comfort that he needs.

Despite knowing that, Idia doesn't let go for a while; he doesn't leave the room for a while despite still having work to do, because what's in this room is far more important to him.

And they always will be.

[moonsglare]

TELL ME MORE ABOUT SEVCHINO LORE PLEASE🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

hello alba !!! i admit i haven't thought about canon-compliant sevchino in a long time...... but modern!au sevchino has been ping-ponging in my brain instead. this is about to be so delusional so bear with me ,,,,,,,,

i used to brainrot ceo!arle but then i was given the vision by apollo himself of pediatrics!arle and that has been how she appears to me ever since. i most definitely would not be working with her in the hospital because i was simply not built for the medical grind, though in an ideal world by the point arle becomes the head of pediatrics, i'd be at best an associate prof or at least an assistant prof of ecology, though on tenure track regardless. going into academia and teaching at a university level specifically has always appealed to me so i'm going to indulge a little hsdljfhslf

in modern!au i think arle and i would meet a lot later than in canon. i'd probably find her when we're both in uni, out under a tree somewhere near the campus and just staring at a particularly interesting spider. we would have a nerd to nerd moment and talk some shop about spiders or bugs in general until it becomes kind of a routine. the rest of the relationship would be a pretty linear and typical progression. we don't really go on regular dates because premed is ridiculously demanding, so most of the time it's good ol' study dates. i offer my arm or leg for her to draw all the various veins and arteries on when studying anatomy because her own limbs have that black tinge and she can't really see her own veins. despite that, i feel like arle's hands tend to run a little hot, like a noticeable kind of hot, which makes for excellent massages whenever i'm dying over a 3k word report.

anyway the university i would teach at would have an affiliated hospital, which is also the hospital arle works at. my schedule would definitely be more relaxed than hers, so i'd probably be the one crossing campus to meet up with her for lunch in her office if she's free. from my own experience, if you turn up at the hospital often enough people start to remember you and then you unlock the honorary staff member pass and can head in through the staff walkways. arle's office is professional most of the time, though i can tell if she's had a patient come through recently by the miscellaneous children's toys scattered on a section of the carpeted floor that she didn't clean up in time. she keeps a family picture on her desk, and in her drawer, tucked away in a large, meticulous file are nearly a hundred thank-you cards written by her patients that she's kept over the years.

arle definitely draws a few stares on the rare occasion she meets me at my office instead. funnily enough, i think it draws a bit of controversy with the students. arle doesn't wear her ring on the job (there's a risk of damaging it or accidentally hurting her patient, and the fact that wearing any sort of jewellery is generally discouraged when scrubbing up) while i do, so the students put 2 and 2 together and it's not a pretty picture. but things clear up when a student comes in for a thesis discussion and sees the wedding picture on my desk. it still makes for a funny story in hindsight though. in any case, arle is most certainly a local dilf, and if any of the sevchino kids are in university at this point they do NOT hear the end of it. arle always showing up in the labcoat-over-scrubs fit and somehow eating it up does not help.

we have a place close to campus, though with arle's salary as a department head we definitely also have a beach house. we'd go there on weekends when arle's not on call, and it's her time to unwind. she'll wake up early just to spend the dawn on the deck and watch the sunrise over the ocean before crawling back into bed. i am still in charge of breakfast though because arle would make toast and steak tartare, and while it is certainly tasty it is also generally not a breakfast food. anyway, long walks on the beach in the morning, evening or night are definitely a must. it's nothing special, just walking and talking. sometimes it's just quiet, but it works for both of us. OH and arle 100% does her fuckass hand fishing nonsense...... i could tell her i plan to cook fish tonight and she'll look up from her newspaper, nod, change into a pair of swim shorts, leave, then come back with like. a whole ass flounder. do i grill her a little for going out and just grabbing fish? yes. do i still give her a thank you kiss? also yes.

ok it's. 0100 and i need sleep for the gym grind tmrw so i will end it here but this brainrot goes DEEP i fear........................ my chronic inability to stfu is rattling around in my skull like a terrible creature and i fear it will return 😔😔😔 tqsm for the question though, i really enjoyed answering it !!

[kara-knuckles]

Arknights Timeline

Finished my complete main story+events re-read! I wanted my experience this time to be more immersive, so I decided to keep a spreadsheet where I take notes of dates, both important and completely inconsequential, to give myself a better feel of time progression within the story. And there it is:

(I keep it as a separate Excel file, so there might be issues with formatting after conversion. Feel free to tell me if there are any)

How is it different from the wiki? The point of this document is not to write a history book, but rather to help me better visualize when stuff happens as I read. To do so, I make a note every time something is mentioned to happen on a certain date, no matter if it is a big historical event or a personal anecdote. I do skip some minor dates, but most make it in, so if you just want a list of important events that happened in backstory, it's probably better to check a wiki. In addition, when events have clear division by days, rather than summarizing the event in one line, I take short notes of what happens on each day, so such entries quickly turn into walls of text that may or may not make sense to someone who isn't already familiar with the event.

What sources do I use? This document is mostly based on in-game info and other official sources available in English, and it doesn't include any of the unreleased chapters/events. It has information from every main story chapter and event, profiles/modules/OpRecs I have unlocked, the comics available on the official site, some of the official videos and fantranslations of Terra: A Journey.

How reliable is it? As mentioned above, dates outside of main story/events might be missing. There are a lot of approximations, unless the date is directly stated in the text, I make a comment next to it to explain my reasonings. You can read more about my calculations in the document itself.

How to use it? There are plenty of events where exact year isn't given, but you can tell they have happened before or after a certain date. I use "<" to mean "before or during", ">" - "during or after", and "~" - "maybe a little before or a little after". For example, we know that SilverAsh was born in 1068, which means that Pramanix was born at least one year later, but it could have been two or more, so I list her birth year as >1069 (1069 or after). I use the last known year as a base, so, even if something is known to happen several years after n, I still write it as >n and put the "several years" part in the comment.

This document is colour-coded, I assigned a colour to each nation vaguely based on the Annihilation plaques (you can check them in the "Legend" tab). Some colour combinations are kinda hard to read, so I bolded such entries to make them a little more visible.

I plan to update it after every new event, so feel free to bookmark and check it later!

[lazulian-devil]

Ive been playing Stardew Valley since launch but I never actively thought about that until I started a new file for 1.6 and just kinda... did my thing. Frolicking around, throwing flowers and vegetables at people. Fishing a lot. Mining a lot. Being bad at combat. I thought Im just doing a normal run, right? No expectations. No stress.

The Community Center was done by Spring 13th, Year 2. Ginger island has been unlocked on Fall 7th, Year 2. I have 200K in the bank. My eight dinosaurs are useless but pretty. My army of wizard pigs find endless amounts of truffles. I have an entire greenhouse filled with a fruit that went extinct centuries ago. For some reason, all my fruit trees bear fruit all year long. Almost everyone in the valley has at least 5 hearts. Half of them are maxed out because I shoved sunflowers down their greedy maws.

I did not realise this until my partner went "Wow, Im never that fast."

I have become the cryptid.

Im over here, listening to audio dramas and spending like 30 minutes ever evening in Stardew, then my Episode is over and then I go to bed. Its not my fault every Bachelor in town loves me.

Also, Concerned Ape did an excellent job with the 1.6 and its rekindled my love for the game. It feels very complete. I loved all the new festivals, all the new Events. Ive always loved this game, but this really is a masterpiece now. It always was but somehow, its even more of a masterpiece than it was before.

Anyways, Imma marry Sebastian for once. I never did but he likes Tabletops and frogs and has anxiety. Thats the ideal partner.

I would prefer to marry the wizard, but alas.

[pocima]

2024 albums I recommend catching up on ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆° 📹

In other words, a shamefully long overdue list of my top 10+2 albums of 2024

Welcome to my long overdue list of albums I’ve been adoring last year! It’s the second rendition of my yearly project reviews, and I’m so grateful to be in a circle of bloggers who are as passionate for music and musical projects as I am for over 2 years now. The competition in this list is truly tough because 2024 has been a year where incredible full-length projects were dropping left and right from countless names in the music industry, and I still feel bad about ranking some names lower in the list. A good amount of artists were breaking their years-long hiatuses as well as if they were all given a deadline until 2025, and that felt surreal to witness. Considering the abundance of good full albums specifically, as you noticed, the list will cover my personal top 12 rather than last year’s 10! Additionally, I chose to separate them from my favorite EPs this time around, and an EP ranking will be dropping soon! 💋 Side note: two of the entries are accompanies with audio files instead of the usual videos because of Tumblr’s 10 video per post limit, soz.

⑫ Heráldica - Saramalacara

I wanna start this off by shouting out my sweet tasteful mutual @a-moth-to-the-light, because my Heráldica and Saramalacara discoveries all started with this HUMO audio post. When I first pressed play, I was surely hearing something, but I didn’t exactly predict it would all lead to Saramalacara playing a huge part in defining my summer and fall, and being my top artist on my YouTube Music recap. I was introduced to a very trance and hardstyle influenced headbopper right off the bat, and soon I would be transported to Sara’s very own Heráldica world. The surreal drum & bass INTRO_ greets us, and we stroll through Más Feliz’s breakbeats, .tumblr and 10percs’ electropop dancefloors, Sola’s dramatic cries, XQSI, Tokio Hotel and Diamantes&Kalashnikov’s thumping trap highways and the emo rock anthem tu droga at the departure. I kept the album on repeat, not even intentionally, partly because the tracklist was all pure earworms, but more so because Sara excels at the craft of worldbuilding with music and sound. Her EPs prior and now her debut album feel exactly like portals, straight out of a video game. The visuals support the gloomy, hazy vibe the album gives on its own, and the end result is a distinctive era much needed in the current emo/digicore pop-rap scene.

Favorite tracks: HUMO, Tokio Hotel and .tumblr.

⑪ Access All Areas - FLO

Moving on to another debut album, one that I’ve been so eagerly anticipating since discovering FLO when they dropped their first single Cardboard Box in 2022. For years I’d been hoping for them to flourish as artists and get all the love and success they deserve because they’re such talents, especially vocally, and their EPs and singles had been just wonderful, and there was just no way their big and mighty first LP would be a letdown. FLO’s contemporary R&B princesses status, their consistency and versatility are fully set in stone with Access All Areas. Harmonies and runs top-notch off the bat with the intro and smooth, sax driven title track AAA. In My Bag, How Does It Feel?, IWH2BMX and Nocturnal are instant confidence boosters all in their different ways and sounds. (The Bree Runway feature on Nocturnal in AAA: Unlocked? Now THAT’S what I’m talking about.) Soft and On & On reveal their more sultry sides with gentle, serenading vocals, while they stand on business and let go of the untrustworthy on Caught Up and Shoulda Woulda Coulda, which is my personal favorite genre of FLO songs. They dabble in some Miami bass with Check, Detroit drill with Get It Till I’m Gone and surprisingly nice pop-rock (I typically find it ear-grating so REALLY surprisingly) with the empowering final track, I’m Just A Girl. The production quality, again, the VOCALS, the arrangements, the group chemistry, the charisma, the energy, everything sets the bar higher for pop and R&B stars, but truthfully it’s unsurprising since that’s exactly what you’d expect from the FLO girls.

Favorite tracks: Shoulda Woulda Coulda (track review here), Caught Up, Get It Till I’m Gone and Nocturnal.

⑩ DOGMA - LSDXOXO

2024 was THE year of underground club bangers and electronic music with a gritty twist, as seen with many projects gaining plenty of attention and artists following suit, and it would only make sense to get to the top 10 of my list with the iconic producer and DJ LSDXOXO’s debut album. LSDXOXO is primarily known for his upbeat, sharp sound, notably on his Dedicated 2 Disrespect and Delusions of Grandeur EPs, however, Dogma takes a bold turn, with the pulsating club beats making way for the guitar topped reggaeton of 4LUVN, the alternative R&B worlds of Blinded and Bloodlust, the dark electropop thrill of Black Light, the synth-focused trap instrumentals of Girls Girls Girls and Ghost, the breakbeats of Witching Hour and Superstar and softer vocals and raps observed on all of the tracks. I knew this direction would be smoothly, beautifully executed since Bloodlust’s single release, and with the continuation of the rollout, I knew the album’s sound would be what I needed in September. The production remains incredibly in-depth and the atmosphere of the project is irresistibly alluring. Overall, this was definitely one of the top projects that defined fall 2024 for me and surely one that proved LSDXOXO’s versatility and successful experimentation. Special shoutout to Kelela for elevating Girls Girls Girls and Ghost with her background vocals, you know I love small but impactful details.

Favorite tracks: Black Light (track review here), Bloodlust and Girls Girls Girls.

⑨ Chupetones - Meth Math

Another solid debut album that has stayed heavily on rotation multiple times throughout 2024, this time by the alternative neoperreo collective Meth Math, previously having captured my attention with their feature on Isabella Lovestory’s Tacon, and later with their Pompi and m♡rtal EPs. Prior to the announcement of the album, I’m gonna be honest and say that its lead single (and later album opener) Mantis did not pull me in like the rest of their discography did, but despite a slightly rough start, the dramatic, hypnotizing second single Myspace brought me back immediately, and forget being seated, I was glued onto my chair with Cyberia (still the catchiest song on the album in my opinion) and later with Axila. Meth Math introduce new genre influences that fit the band’s style like a glove to their catalogue, such as happy hardcore with Cyberia, trip-hop with Capullo and witch house with Axila and Pócima (yup, the source of my username). On occasions they mix said genres, like they did with the familiar reggaeton and the less familiar witch house in Abducida. Every aspect about the project is impressionable, from the echoing sound design to the visual direction of both the music videos and perfectly eccentric cybercore album photography. I can confirm I will be paying attention to Meth Math’s future work moving on forward as I constantly need some electronic, gloomy reggaeton in my life.

Favorite tracks: Pócima (duh) and Cyberia (track review here).

⑧ Tidal Memory Exo - Iglooghost

You guys witness me frequently posting about music I fall in love with instantly, giving immediate reactions right upon discovery, but I’ve also mentioned that most of the time, my all-time favorites end up being bodies of work that creep up on me slowly. This was the exact case with electronic musician Iglooghost’s Tidal Memory Exo and his discography in general. I knew of his remixes and a couple songs here and there previously, I saved Nemat0de right on the first listen, and just casually kept coming back to the rest of the album, and realized I fell in love with it more and more, and not so unexpectedly. Ever since his come-up, he’s been delivering some of the sickest, glitchiest, most maximalist sound design and absolutely otherworldly mixing. That’s not the only proof he’s an electronic music mogul either, he proves it by the flawless incorporations of breakcore (Alloy Flea), 2-step/garage (flux•Cocoon), drill (Pulse Angel and Dewdrop Signal), along with gothic influences akin to Gesaffelstein’s Gamma (Coral Mimic) and orchestral moments giving that “calm after the storm” feel (Dewdrop Signal). Another element that makes the album this cohesive and put together is the storytelling, present in all of his past projects but especially prominent in this one sonically and visually. The inspiration for the Tidal Memory Exo-verse comes from his time squatting in a garage of a UK seaside town, and the concept is based on apocalyptic, sci-fi themes, and here are some articles that can frankly give a lot more insight on the lore than I can. Tidal Memory Exo is a universe I’d recommend to all IDM fans, or anyone who’s looking for intricate sounds and top-notch quality dopamine.

Favorite tracks: Nemat0de, flux•Cocoon and Coral Mimic.

⑦ G-SPOT - STARKIDS

Speaking of dopamine, I’ve also mentioned that there’s arguably nobody that induces it in the music game like the Japanese hyperpop band STARKIDS do. It’s been forever since I full-on geeked out over a group like this. I’m very often in need of some loud underground EDM in my life, and they’ve played a huge part in me falling further in love with the J-hyperpop scene. They’re the ultimate masters of unapologetic, maxed out, extremely well-produced fun music. Even when it comes in the form of singles (okay so for the 1000th time I will emphasize that Pop is the 2020s’ Like a G6), their music is mind-blowingly captivating and entertaining, but an entire album of pure unadulterated bangers 3 years after the last one? I’ve gotten scared and then pissed at their diabolical disbandment prank rollout (near decade long K-popper moment) but how could you not forgive them when the music is really THIS good? Unlike the previous projects mentioned in the list, they don't take entirely new directions, but instead effortlessly show how good they are at what they do, from their throbbing as always takes on happy hardcore and Eurobeat to the usual yet exciting hip-hop and trap roads, with hints of 2-step (BACK2BACK) and hardstyle (title track). The members’ flows never fail to hit like a sip of freezing soda, and while Espeon and Benxni are my MVPs in this aspect, all of them have their moments with their own addictive verses and choruses. Thematically, the album offers STARKIDS' constant preachings on embracing authenticity and living your life free of any judgement. Honestly, there's something people of all backgrounds and lifestyles can get out of these preachings. Whether you're the type to spend days and nights partying or choose to navigate stably through work or education, all you have to do is listen up, mentally hop on the band's wavelength and have fun to the fullest just like they do.

Favorite tracks: BACK2BACK (track review here), G-SPOT, Stay Back, TYOSTAR and Thailand BKK.

⑥ Where The Butterflies Go In The Rain - Raveena

After the intense, high tempo, electronic projects I've talked about in the list so far, it's time to make room for some therapeutic, lush R&B with another gorgeous project from Raveena. With her third studio album, she once again takes on roles she absolutely owns: a narrator, a fairy, a healer, an ethereal being. Let me start simply with how I felt while first listening to it on its release day: I remember taking a half-hour walk home, DMing the #1 Raveena fan @timetravellingkitty my thoughts as they formed, feeling just like a main character in a coming of age movie. You can easily observe that music puts me through countless emotions, that’s why I talk about it so much and in such detail, but again, the art of building entire worlds through albums is something that particularly earns my appreciation. You can guess the beauty of the production and sound straight from the title. From the Brandy inspired string-heavy Pluto and Lose My Focus; to her blending Western and South Asian influences on Every Color; the simple but moving soul tunes Lucky and Rise; the catchy dream pop bops Baby Mama, 16 Candles and Smile For Me; the guitar-only Kid and piano-only Little Bird and We Should Move Somewhere Beautiful; and the soothing, cinematic finale Water (and she KNOWS how to do a good key change). Not to forget the wholesome Afternoon Tea with the Auroras interlude, which begins with her grandmother reciting the Sikh mantra Ik Onkar and includes a conversation between the two, and that alone represents the rawness and emotion put into the album. The sweet vocals and harmonies, lullaby-like at times, are a key in maintaining this otherworldly-ness. Moving onto what the project means to Raveena herself: in her own words, she needed to return to comfort and stop weathering storms, just like how butterflies go into hiding in the rain due to their fragility. If you’re new to her, her spirituality, connection with herself and eloquence seep through every word, every melody she puts out. Whether the topics are sweet such as romance or personal growth and realizations, or rather painful such as grief, genocide or the opposition to women’s rights and humanity, it’s all tackled deeply, but with genuine hope. Genuineness is a quality I highlight consistently when discussing art, though it seems and feels like a bare minimum, and it’s what Raveena directly exudes. That’s something to find true comfort and consolation in.

Favorite tracks: Junebug (track review here) and Lose My Focus.

⑤ Still - Erika de Casier

Erika de Casier is still a wonderful player in the contemporary R&B game, with her added pinches of breakbeats, 2-step and synths straight out the 2000s all throughout her discography. While her debut album Essentials was pretty down-tempo and trip-hop focused, and sophomore Sensational introduced heavy garage influences, her third album amps up the 2000s aspect of her sound. Right after intro Right This Way, where Erika welcomes you to her very own party as a VIP comes first single Lucky, the adorable liquid drum and bass jam and a production highlight. (Peep two albums back to back having cute songs called Lucky!) Home Alone and ooh possess the epitome of that Y2K era cheekiness and sensuality, as well as the Timbaland-coded beats and samples. The Princess is debatably the most vulnerable Erika has gotten with her with her inner disagreements in relation to her life and future, accompanied by a guitar and soft chest singing. On ice, she brings out Tampa rap duo They Hate Change for their takes on verses about relationship bantering, and the chemistry of the three combined with the melodic high “ah, ah”s and chill instrumentation makes the track unbelievably smooth and itch scratching. Test It, Believe It and Anxious have simpler production that relies on the top-tier synths. Ex-Girlfriend with Shygirl is a collaboration I’ve been anticipating as a big fan of both, and it was surely executed even better than I could’ve imagined. It has that moody, confident flare that both pull off perfectly. Toxic seems like a slower, more soul-leaning ice, and lyrically it’s a drift from the romance of the first half of the album. My Day Off comes in with the pop/EDM hybrid era hip-hop vibe. You can even sing “shawty had them apple bottom jeans, boots with the furrrrr” to its tune, but you honestly won’t need to when its actual lyrics come in handy for classily flipping someone off with words. Toxic featuring Blood Orange, the post-breakup duet with a monologue and low-key harmonies, signals that we’re getting closer to the departure, and with the self-reflective, brink of tears-sounding Someone, we close off the party. To round up the album description, it combines R&B smoothness with electronic elements, both of which are perfect for my tastes. Moreover, it’s an album stripped of previous alter egos (such as Sensational’s Bianka) and is purely a reflection of Erika’s world and observations. Unsurprisingly, Still is a solid new member of Erika de Casier’s pristine, timeless, charming catalogue.

Favorite tracks: Ex-Girlfriend (track review here), ice, ooh and My Day Off.

④ GAMMA - Gesaffelstein

Techno father Gesaffelstein is a relatively secretive figure. His releases are typically long-anticipated, and come as surprises especially if you rely heavily on social media for your favorite artists’ updates. He uses YouTube and streaming services as announcement-only platforms, with the comments turned off, where the average viewers are all obliged to stay silent like an uninterrupted theater show. I only found out about his exclusive community website (to which you can just sign up for free), where you can actually access announcements and comment your thoughts when I was in the middle of writing this review. The Gamma teaser drop appeared on my YouTube suddenly, and I was blown away by the quality and excellence of the visuals alone. (Director Jordan Hemingway, you are so loved.) We were getting into an era of grandeur, the dark digital bleeding into the plasticized flesh, something I can’t even fully describe. Hard Dreams was released as the first single (in fact, I can’t exactly remember whether I saw the teaser or heard the song first), it’s an accurate introduction to what the era has to offer, similarly to and differently from Gesaffelstein’s previous albums. It has the classic cold, hard synths and dry kicks, but brings in gothic vocals from Yan Wagner and somewhat more vulnerability. The gothic influences especially show through with Digital Slaves and The Urge (yes, we had a little foreshadowing moment in the Tidal Memory Exo section), and 80s electronica á la Depeche Mode or Nine Inch Nails’ earlier music is heavily dabbled in with Your Share Of The Night and Hysteria. The Perfect feels like a reincarnated Aleph, louder and with vocals. Mania, Psycho and Tyranny are chaotic and fiery in their own ways, the first being fast and repetitive and almost hardstyle-like, the second abrasively maxing out the kick drums and the third relying on acids for a majestic, grim catwalk soundtrack. The serenading Lost Love and the minimal, reverse synth based outro Emet balances them out. Another difference between Gamma and its predecessors is the format, as in the track lengths; only Hard Dreams has a duration of longer than 3 minutes, but it adds up with how diverse the project is, though considerably more cohesive and story-based than Hyperion (with that being said no Hyperion slander allowed). What’s the most certain in my eyes, though, is that this album has the best visual direction of the year. The album trailer, especially, sets the standard insanely high for all other musicians and their concepts. The scenes are abstract and mystical, but so polished and precise, just like the album it backs. Gesaffelstein is rightfully known worldwide as a legendary producer, however, that doesn’t stop his art from consistently being elevated and exclusive.

Favorite track: Hard dreams.

⊛ Bonus review: RAVE:N, The Remixes

Raven was my favorite R&B album of 2023 with its quality in all areas, surreal feel, metaphors and depth; and it turned out to be a gift that kept on giving. I can’t name a remix album off the top of my head that I love more than this treasure box right here. This is a perfect example of how you reimagine and transform music, in particular a dance music inspired project. On this remix album we play around with ambient, trap, jungle, reggaeton, Eurodance, drill and more with a star-studded feature list. The whole thing is vastly different from what the original album gives, but in the best, most complementary way possible. The visuals were simple but very on point as well: the vignettes were filmed in Tokyo, from a capsule hotel to its nighttime streets to a bright green garden. Everything about this era was flawless and a beautiful sequel to the original Raven era.

Favorite tracks: Sorbet (LSDXOXO Remix) [track review here], Holier (JD. REID Remix feat. Shygirl) and Closure (Flexulant x BAMBII Remix feat. Rahrah Gabor & Brazy).

Honorable mentions:

Inferno - Moistbreezy (favorite track: La Dolce Vita): Feel genuinely bad for only placing this in the honorable mentions because it’s pure trance heaven, as well as the storyline and concept being so well-crafted. Bangers only in this house, Moistbreezy always outdoes herself.

Hunter - Rhea Raj (favorite track: Hush): Hopped onto this train fairly late, probably sometime in December, but if Rhea isn’t at least a cult favorite pop girl this year I’m giving up on pop music point blank. Such a fun debut project, just wish the tracks were a little longer, but aren’t Hush and Pray On It (which reminds me of my SOTY 🤭 keep reading to find out) the biggest jams ever?

epistolares - Akriila (favorite track: Popper): Akriila is certainly another one of my favorite artist discoveries of 2024. Great genre concoction of neoperreo, dream pop and liquid drum & bass going on in this album. The project’s defined, soft sound makes it looping material.

MEGAN: ACT II - Megan Thee Stallion (favorite track: Bourbon): Megan, you will always be famous. Act I was on rotation the entire summer but Act II came through even harder with the upgraded production, increased cohesion and new, fresh flows. Easily my favorite project from her. (Bourbon is the closest we’ve gotten so far to hearing her on a trip-hop beat, which I desperately need.)

Miniseries 2 - Sumin & Slom (favorite tracks: Why Why Why and I Think…): Another long-awaited by many album and the acclaimed duo’s return, this time taking a more acoustic, slow approach. Love how Sumin’s voice shines even more, and the way the album feels like a game main menu soundtrack but also very earthly.

And now, drumroll for the top 3!

③ For Your Consideration - Empress Of

Welcome to the story of falling love with my most played album of the year, and how it’s my favorite pop album of the year! I was first made familiar with Empress Of through her collaboration with Rina Sawayama, titled Kiss Me, in 2023. I REALLY started to pay attention to her when I saw a reel of her announcing the release of Preciosa with a snippet, and from that snippet alone nobody could convince me we weren’t heading towards the pop emergency of the entire year. I had no choice but to tune in immediately upon seeing Isabella Lovestory and Erika de Casier collaborator Nick León and experimental electronic producers Umru and Casey MQ were on the production team as well. And yeah, pop emergency at its finest. For Your Consideration is primarily an alternative pop and dance album, with strong house and vogue influences. Its core themes include immortalization, being a prize you have to reach for, being the centerpiece in a relationship and gaining dominance after long years of timidity. Numerous pop microtrends came and went in the 2020s and especially in 2024: While some pop stars are truthers of maximalism, whether it be EDM or theatrics, many (especially in K-pop and on the Internet) choose to move away from saturation, and lean into instantly recognizable drum patterns, gently mixed synths, less sharp choruses, overall more monotony (such as in UK garage, drum & bass, Jersey club) and less in-your-face. This “blur” can either create jams that you can’t get overwhelmed with or tired of, or a boring, predictable skip where you can tell what the producers were miserably going for. Empress Of’s record isn’t exactly a banging, loud, overly melodic one like what we left in the 2010s, but she delivers multi-layered work that really takes up space with elegance, confidence and assertiveness. She sings about different aspects of romance, her feelings and experiences over casual beatboxing and breathing and beats that make you put a pep in your step.

The record starts with its title track: the heavenly, passionate intro that lays down the concept of the album. Lorelei is a fan favorite to this day and for good reason: the angsty lyrics, the house beat backed by the vocal bits serving as synths, the harmonies make this song a good representative of the whole project. Preciosa’s chorus is what pulled me into the track and into the whole album before anything else, but the whole track is very memorable, danceable and embellished. Femenine, What Type Of Girl Am I? and Cura strongly lean towards house and vogue with whispery vocals, while Fácil and Sucia is where Umru’s trademark thumping bass and snares come in. Baby Boy and What’s Love are the finisher ballads, vocally pleasing and leaving a sweet aftertaste. My favorite characteristic of this pop masterpiece is probably how detail-oriented and satisfying the whole thing is, how Empress Of utilizes her vocals and transforms them into all sorts of instruments (I’ll elaborate on this further a bit later), the little Timbaland inspired “hah”s and the “tch”s, the harmonies, my brain processing how all of it comes together. In an era of music where so much is stripped down, and all the nostalgic elements being brought back are some of the easiest ones to replicate, it fills me up with joy to see maximalism of this kind being understood and slowly making a comeback in practice. “Satisfying” is truly the way to put it about For Your Consideration. Nothing unnecessarily over the top or unfitting, but no missing keys or details. So grateful that this album got me through the whole first half of the year, nothing could’ve set the tone better for me.

Favorite track: Fácil (track review here).

② Quantum Baby - Tinashe

Quantum Baby earning the silver medal didn’t come as a surprise to you if you’ve been hanging around this blog for a while, I’ve been an avid fan of Tinashe for years, and prequel BB/ANG3L took the #5 spot on my 2023 album awards. You already know by now that I’ve been WAITING for that sequel ever since Tinashe announced that BB/ANG3L was part of a trilogy, so rather than a personal timeline, it would make sense to skip over to witnessing the virality of lead single Nasty. It’s first teased on an Instagram livestream, us SweeTees start humming “is somebody gonna match my freak?”, the song is released, SweeTees keep humming, but we turn around and the whole World Wide Web is humming “is somebody gonna match my freak?” too? Brilliant freestyle-turned-sound bite aside, I’ve seen Nasty being described as combining the best of Tinashe’s older music and newer music, and that couldn’t be more true. The dark-leaning, relatively minimal production of her mixtapes, Nightride and Joyride eras meets the danceability and infectious bars of her 333 bops and BB/ANG3L track Needs. The rollout got followed up with the 2-step Getting No Sleep, possibly less plausible to the mainstream but something that real music enjoyers like me (:3) appreciated. It has that hypnotizing quality, drums and synths/pads wise, that I always immediately cling onto as you can clearly sense, and the topline wasn’t any less catchy either, so it didn’t take long for me to already fully indulge in the music the era had to bring us. When the album dropped and I got to listen to it, what I really appreciated is how experimental it was, how much was dabbled in without hesitation, without losing the plot or that Tinashe essence. No Simulation is the drum-free opener with a fire bass line right off the bat, with the heavenly harmonies more in the spotlight than ever, almost as if it belongs on Miniseries 2. Thirsty… Thirsty… save me crunchy trap song with beautiful, beautiful vocal moments… Red Flags doesn’t fall short on the beauty, it has that distorted synth line that strongly reminds me of Oklou’s work on Galore, which is a vibe I’ve wished I came across more frequently. Next up is the Jersey drill Cross That Line that kicks off with choir vocals and continues subtly too, and When I Get You Alone is an R&B/trap masterclass at the Tinashe School of Two Songs In One with both parts making you move like Homer Simpson in that one GIF. No Broke Boys is the Needs of this season, with its lyrics serving as daily affirmations, and the track later rightfully being pushed as a single. As I mentioned, the songs went in such different directions, in ways you can feel if you listen to the album and fully comprehend if you listen to Tinashe’s previous projects, and that alone felt so fresh and invigorating Quantum Baby instantly became one of my favorite projects from Tinashe and 2024.

With that being said, the aspect that made me more interested in and attached to this project is what it means to Tinashe herself. In BB/ANG3L, she consistently used water as a metaphor for reaching your own essence and getting purified, free from self-doubt, bind to the past and fakeness; and reflected said themes in her lyrics. Thematically, Tinashe follows similar themes in Quantum Baby as you may guess from the title, as in getting to your own core and coming across contradictions and intermediate states between strength and vulnerability in the process, akin to the Schrödinger’s quantum paradox, for example. Not only can we go on and on about how thought out album trilogies are so back and how important it is to map out your themes, concepts and creative direction well (which she evidently never fails to do), but I also wanna touch on how her self-discovery as an artist and person really shows in her craft. For decades, Tinashe has been a polymath from singing and dancing to producing in engineering, pioneering musical trends and influencing many, yet somehow the only repetitive thing about her music is her commitment to excellence. Whenever she drops an album or EP, it never entirely consists of sounds or visuals she’s done previously, everything new from her is refreshing and either causing a buzz (like Nasty or 2 On) or worthy of causing one, and it’s especially noticeable with Quantum Baby. 2024 treated Tinashe like the queen she is, she deserves her success and more, and I will be anticipating all the more to come.

Favorite track: Thirsty (track review here).

① Dennis - Sega Bodega

Finally, what the readers of this series have probably been anticipating: the review of my favorite album of 2024. To my mutuals, the top spot has been obvious long before I even knew the album was even in the works, simply because it was gonna be a Sega Bodega album, his third album. I’ve mentioned numerous times that Sega is my favorite producer of all time, though I don’t remember if I’ve ever elaborated on it. If I were to put it simply and with a pinch of humor, his brain fascinates me. The way his whole sound design speaks to me from the distorted keys to the reverberating drum patterns, his seamless incorporations of samples from the most random clips and sounds, his surreally gorgeous album and concept building, his artistry and loyalty to the distinctive and unseen before… all so entrancing to me. I’ve played the life of Romeo, Salvador, self*care EP, hell, even the in-between singles such as Arena! with Safety Trance and mimi (no, that’s not where my nickname comes from) or the classics such as Ess B EP and Nivea, his entire discography basically, so I was seated since, like, 2022. I’ve said this about countless projects, but I mean it with each and every single one of my neurons when I say this about Dennis, my already high expectations were blown. I’d like to share this excerpt from Sega’s PAPER Magazine interview (which I highly, highly suggest reading as well as these three articles) that precisely describes his three albums and his evolution:

Dennis continues his artistic development which has steadily moved skyward. Bodega's first album, the darkly intimate 2020 Salvador, was a brooding haunt through a dimly lit bedroom. On it, his deep voice beckoned the listener towards the heathenish. His follow-up, Romeo, seemed to fly out of the bedroom and perch itself on the top of a nearby building. The floaty, angelic project circled the sacred and profane as songs like Only Seeing God When I Come and Angel On My Shoulder merged the physical body with the transcendent. Dennis, though, seems to forgo the world as we know it for the one we experience in our dreams. A floaty, at times euphoric, at times nightmarish journey through the subconscious, Dennis is an exploration of surprising association, the kind of expansive logic that only makes sense in your dreams.

Yup, before we get into my rambles about the songs themselves, let’s discuss the collective consciousness theory and “sleep” as a literary theme, because looking into Sega Bodega discussing this and doing research on the topic alone is something that staggered me entirely and pushed me to think and process a lot of my outlooks and feelings on life. Dennis was titled partially in the sake of two unrelated comic debuts titled Dennis the Menace in the US and UK. This ties into “collective consciousness”, which claims all of our brains are pumped the same information while we sleep, causing uncanny “coincidences”, if we can even call them such. Dissociation and the sleep cycle are core components of the album’s world, which is reflected in hypnosis inducing intro Coma Dennis, its alarm-like follow up Adulter8 and somniloquy samples by Rick Farin in Dirt and Humiliation Doesn’t Leave a Mark.

Now onto the sonics, as mentioned, Adulter8 hits you like an alarm with its distorted 8-bit melody, possibly even causing a headache for some, but as the song progresses, you can’t help but get lost in the echo-y background chords. Next is Elk Skin, third (technically fourth) single from the album rollout, which starts off with a trap beat and transitions into a combo of reggaeton and acoustic guitar, is the most pop-like the album gets, but remains incredibly distorted and modified especially on the vocals provided by Cecile Believe. Kepko was released in 2022 and remains one of Sega’s personal favorites and “most fun he’s ever had making music” to this day, comprised of reversed and chopped up vocals and fast, repeated drum loops, and the atmospheric, warped feel deems it perfectly fitting for the album. Dirt is calming post the chaos of the predecessor two tracks, leaning towards hazy progressive trance and 2-step. I reviewed Deer Teeth instead of Set Me Free, I’m an Animal in my winter 2024 favorite singles review, and I still feel like I did it injustice, because it came to me at a time in my life when I needed something comforting and freeing in its darkness, and the track didn’t fall short, maybe because of its minimal echoing guitar-heavy production, maybe because of its lyricism. True, the final single, is a stunning maze of various sounds with three key changes and a beautiful chorus by KUKII fka Lafawndah. With every key changes, the song steps into a higher ground, becoming more and more celestial and incorporating choir vocals. Tears & Sighs is a rather cold and unwelcoming goodbye, with the abrupt guitar intro flowing into softer but bleak chords and Sega’s voice pitched deeper than ever singing “Heaven stays on burning but that’s none of your concern / You reduced my wings to bone ‘cause they were never yours to earn” and later “Said our goodbyes, these tears and sighs, who even are you anyway? / Don’t talk to me, don’t even look at me, I want to”. Humiliation Doesn’t Leave a Mark is a journey, it’s heavy on the violins and vocals, it has an astonishing beat drop and chorus, its vocals (featuring Kiss Facility bandmate Mayah Alkhateri) are whispery and minimal, and its instrumental interludes are mesmerizing. Coma Salv is the instrumental final, reminiscent to me of deep sleep and the music box loop I’d hear past 11 PM on the kids’ cartoon channel when I was a kid, tying the unconsciousness/subconscious theme together.

In this review, I’ve been reciting “world-building, world-building, world-building” like I’m trying to cast a spell to levitate an alien’s couch, but in my defense, I’ve been emphasizing it relentlessly because it’s been lacking in the music world overall, in an industry where musicians are plastering unrelated singles together, pushing barely-mixtapes as “albums” and putting no thought into what meaning and beauty the barely-mixtapes carry as a whole. Projects like the ones mentioned in this post give me hope for artists creating portals with their projects again. Sega Bodega and all of the ingenious artists I’ve praised here give me hope for the future of music. For the return of proper utilization of song lengths instead of cropping them all to 2 minutes out of convenience, for the collective courage to try the uncommon and lead instead of follow, for complex emotions and situations to be expanded on and shown not told. For albums, for art, for thought and for distinction. I don’t think I can grasp some musicians’ craftsmanship entirely due to my lack of technical knowledge on music theory, so I guess it’s natural for me to continue to be impressed, but on occasions you can be certain when someone is universally outstanding. Sega Bodega is a mastermind.

Favorite track: Adulter8 (track review here). Song of the year. Song of forever.

I wanna apologize to all potential readers for keeping you waiting this long, the post took me a lot of energy and mental capacity to make, and I always tell myself I’ll do a better job juggling it with my personal schedules, so I appreciate anyone that could be on the lookout for my writing. Thank you so much for reading and possibly enjoying the music I show love to, I see it as the way my mutuals here and I share our love and joy. May 2025 continue to be a year where full bodies are work are appreciated and put effort into creating and understanding.

[writings-of-a-demigod]

Opportunity of a lifetime (Mission Impossible)

plot: you being a thief crossing roads with Ethan Hunt and leaving an impression on him so he recruits you to IMF.

characters: Ethan Hunt x reader + Benji Dunn x reader + Luther x reader

a/n: first one shot to post. sorry if there are any mistakes point them out to me so I can fix them.

*gif doesn't belong to me*

Growing up as an orphan was hard but you were tough. Since you’re an orphan you played and stayed outside most of the time and did pick up a skill or two. And you kept practicing picking locks and pockets, you were getting pretty good, the things any money you got from people were a great price.

Until one day you pick pocket the wrong person, it was just wrong person wrong time. Well, that’s what you thought but that man saw your potentials, so he took you under his wing trained and shaped you to be the perfect thief. And that training included incredible gymnastics skills, hand to hand combat due to excellent upper body strength and acrobatics. After that he sat you out in the world his thief, his legacy. You did so wonderful on your own and even gained a name for yourself in this game.

That tracks up to now: There you were in the middle of a job planning to retrieve an item for a buyer from Brij Nath’s private gallery and the party was your way in. You’ve done jobs like that a thousand of times, so it was an easy one; go in disable the system making it think it’s a glitch then replace the painting with a fake one and get out so easy so boring but the pay was worth it. What you didn’t plan was to get caught.

“Who’s that?” asked Benji using the comms.

“I don’t know but I intend to find out.” Ethan glance at you when you first entered the party. Didn’t really think much of you just a regular person but he was proved wrong when he saw you sneaking into one of the rooms that were off-limits. He got curious and followed you while still checking with Jane she can handle herself for now.

That lead to this moment Ethan had a tight grip on your arm staring at you with an intense gaze “Who are you?” he asked.

“You think I’m going tell you that?” you raised your eyebrow.

He sighed “I guess not.”

Before he could get another word out you managed to grab his wrist then turn your body to get his hand off you, delivering a strong kick to his ribs then went for a punch but he managed to block your punch. You tried to shake this man off you by fighting so you can make a run for it but he was good at fighting ‘Who is this guy?” until you saw your opening when you got to handcuff him to the door handler. He didn’t realize until he heard it and looked down to see the handcuff. He then looked at you with raised eyebrow “Seriously?” you just shrugged “It’s working just fine right now.” You turned around got the painting, made it to your exit at the widow then faced him again seeing how he’s trying to unlock to handcuff “Hope to never see you again” winking at him then jumped.

~~~~~~ skipping time to a couple of months after ~~~~~

Benji made an id after searching for too long with the help of Ethan then finally found out who you are, he was busy with other things not his fault though. There they were at Benji’s desk, Benji’s eyes glued to the screen Luther standing behind him leaning on his chair while Ethan was pacing the floor.

“Oh my!” Benji’s voice broke the silence, Ethan turns around to face the two of them reading everything they can find about you.

“Ethan are you sure you want this person to join the IMF? Because wow!” Benji spoke first.

“Let’s me see” Ethan went to stand next to Luther to get a look at the screen.

“Yep, that’s them” Ethan looked at the picture of you on the screen then read the files. You defiantly made a name for yourself. As a thief you stole all kind of things and it was impressive how good you are but never killed anyone not a killer.

“That’s a long list.” Spoke Luther after reading the files they have on you. “Looks like they really left an impression on you if you’re thinking of recruiting them.”

“But are you seriously still thinking about it?” Benji took his eyes off the screen to stare at Ethan.

“Yes Benji. I want them on this team.”

“And how are you supposed to get them to meet with you? And how are you going to trust them or then trusting us?” Benji was seriously questioning his friend decision on this. And he had all the rights to do that, you being on the team when you’ve been working solo for almost all your life is going to be hard and having people to trust you when you met in the most unconvincing  situation was completely something else. How are you going to have their backs in the future should you actually work with them on missions?

“And how are you planning to do that?” Luther straightens up and turn to get a better look at Ethan.

He smiled at him “Easy one of you is going to pretend to be a client that needs a job to be done.”

Benji rolled his eyes “Of course it’s that easy. Like they’re not going to check the background of the client.”

“So which one of us do you want to be the client?” Luther asked Ethan.

There you were checking your watch to meet with the new client. You did everything checking background, activities across everything. Even though you did shady business you don’t want to be caught dealing with shady people or being set up to take the fall for something that might or did happen. You were taught way better to fall for that. Your mentor wouldn’t forgive you for it. The client sat up the place for the meeting and to make sure you had access to all cameras close by to alarm you if you see a bogie on your tail. And just on time the client showed up as promised. You enter the tunnel knowing full well that if this thing goes south you got a way out.

“Good evening are you Y/n?” he asked.

You looked him over, a man with a nice navy Armani suit, tie and cuffs. Expensive cuffs always a good sign to good payout for when the job is done. Ginger hair slicked back with think black frame glasses.

“You got that right. What can I do for you mister Smith?” you showed him a smile to ease him. He looked a little nervous.

“Well I’ve contacted you for a job and apparently you’re the one to go to for that.” He nodded at you.

“I take full price before the job is done and an extra after especially if it coasted me trouble.” You told him.

“I bet you do.” He chuckled a little “But I’m not the one who wants to hire you.” He waved his hand.

With your confuse expression someone walked out of the shadow and stood next to mister Smith. He looked directly at you and you recognized him, it was that man the same man you left handcuffed in Nath’s party. You sensed someone walking behind you, turning your head you saw this big man standing in your way out of the tunnel. Turning your attention to the men standing before you.

“So you found me? Want me to congratulate you? Who are you anyway? And did you hire me to do a job or you wanted to arrest me?” You asked.

“Not really. I’m not here to arrest you.” He took small steps towards you with his hands raised “And I’m not a cop or a fed either. My name is Ethan Hunt and I want to offer you an opportunity of a lifetime.”

You raised your eyebrow at him ‘so he’s not a cop. What does he want anyway?’ you nodded at him “Well go on.”

“I read your files, consider me impressed and you are exactly what I need on my team.” He told you.

“You’re kidding right?”

The man behind you spoke “No he’s not.” You turned your head to look at him “He’s really impressed with you and what you do.” He smiled at you.

After listening to Ethan’s offer you took a moment to process what he’s saying to you. It was a lot to take it but you would be lying if that didn’t excited you. This opportunity was gold, so what if you’re doing it to save the world and you could die a horrible death and no one would know what you did. That wasn’t any different from what you are doing now beside you did think this what you were doing got boring with time. So you had no other choice but to accept.

“I accept.” You said it while looking at him “But I got to warn you I’m not very good at teamwork.”

“Don’t worry about that.” He smiled and offered his hand to shake yours. After you shook on it, he said “Welcome to the team.”

“I’m Luther.” He shook your hand after Ethan while smiling at you, so you smiled back.

The last one was mister Smith, he was hesitant but you shook his hand “Benji” he said.

“Why do you look sad dude? I’m joining the team.” You smiled at him while walking with him.

Ethan and Luther were walking in front of you two “He had second thoughts about you joining us.” They laughed.

You turned to Benji “Don’t worry I’m not going to rob you while you’re sleeping.”

He turned his head so fast to look at you “You’re thinking about doing that?” he said in a panicked voice.

But you just laughed.