#how to learn hacking

[kamrulislamsakib]

The Evolution of Hacking: From Cyberpunk Fantasy to Real-World Reality

Hacking has been a part of internet culture for as long as there’s been an internet to hack. For some, it’s a rebellious act—tearing down the walls built by corporations or governments. For others, it’s an artform, a way of playing with systems, seeing how far you can push boundaries. But what does hacking really mean today? And why does it still capture our imagination?

Historically, hacking has been portrayed as a dark art. Think back to movies like The Matrix or Hackers—hackers as antiheroes, taking down the system from the inside. But while these portrayals are often exaggerated, they did reflect a truth: hacking represents a desire to reclaim power and control. In a world where tech companies and governments collect personal data and monitor our every move, hacking is one way to level the playing field.

In the real world, hacking has taken on many forms. There’s ethical hacking, where people are hired to test systems for vulnerabilities, and there’s black-hat hacking, which involves illegal activities. But even those who engage in illegal hacking often see themselves as part of a larger rebellion against control and surveillance.

It’s easy to romanticize hacking, to see it as this cool, underground world of rebellious acts and revolutionary potential. But the reality is more complex. Hacking today isn’t just about taking down the man; it’s about finding flaws, building something new, or even just learning how things work beneath the surface. It’s about pushing boundaries, challenging authority, and questioning the systems that run our world.

And perhaps that’s the real reason hacking still resonates with so many people. It’s not just a skill or a rebellion—it’s a form of empowerment. It’s the ability to break free from the constraints placed on us, even if only for a moment.

In a world where everything feels so rigid, so controlled, hacking is the ultimate act of freedom. It’s a reminder that the digital world is malleable, that we can create our own paths through it, and that the rules are often made to be broken.

[devonhale]

actually one of the most beautiful things about hacks is that we can be changed by anyone and at any period in our lives. deborah was in her forties when ava was born. she’d lived a life longer than ava’s before ava even existed yet they both have had a profound effect upon each other. it’s never too late. you haven’t met all of the people who are going to change you yet.

[redclown19]

cass and babs doodle.

[s0fter-sin]

one of my favourite aspects of supernatural that you very rarely see in paranormal shows is that sam and dean are already versed in the world they live in. there’s no sudden discovery of ghosts and demons and now they have to learn about them along with the audience; they are born into it and already know all about it. it allows the audience to follow their personal story instead of also trying to figure out this new world and its rules

the first season is full of knowledge we never see them learn; “w*ndigoes are in the minnesota woods or- or northern michigan. i’ve never even heard of one this far west.” […] “great. well then this [his gun] is useless.” (1x02), “you don’t break a curse. you get the hell out of its way.” (1x08), d: “it’s a god. a pagan god, anyway.” […] “the annual cycle of its killings? and the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. like some kind of fertility right.” […] s: “the last meal. given to sacrificial victims. d: “yeah, i’m thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some pagan god.” (1x11)

almost every episode in the first season is a monster they’ve faced before that they then explain to the audience in a way that should feel patronising; like it’s the same speech given over and over again but instead, the audience almost feels included in the knowledge. it’s stated with such an innate confidence and comfort in said knowledge that it feels like we already knew it too; “spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. if they want inside, they just go through the walls.” […] “the claws, the speed that it moves; could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog.” (1x02), “it's biblical numerology. you know noah's ark, it rained for forty days. the number means death.” (1x04), “no no no, not the reaper, a reaper. there's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names.” […] “you said it yourself that the clock stopped, right? reapers stop time. and you can only see 'em when they're coming at you which is why i could see it and you couldn't.” (1x12)

they already know and, at least in the first season, already have what they need to kill whatever they’re hunting; already know to salt and burn bones for spirits, fire for a w*ndigo, exorcisms for demons, a silver bullet to the heart for shapeshifters. there’s only three times in the entire first season that they run into something new to them; 1x14 when sam gets his first vision that leads him to another psychic, 1x16 when dean calls caleb for help on the sigil he put together and he tells him about daevas, and 1x20 when they find out vampires are real- and they only don’t know that bc john thought they were hunted to extinction and not worth mentioning

(there’s also technically two half instances if you count one of them knowing something the other doesn’t - sam figuring out the tulpa in 1x17 and dean already knowing about the shtriga in 1x18 - but those still rely on sam and dean having prior knowledge)

even when they’re uncertain about facing something, it’s not bc they don’t know what it is; it’s precisely bc they know what it is and acknowledge that it’ll be a difficult hunt (“i don't know, man. this isn't our normal gig. i mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. this is big. and i wish dad was here.” 1x04)

so much of the tension in paranormal shows typically comes from the main character(s) not knowing what is happening to them/the people around them and having to find out how to resolve it. supernatural is unique in that it operates more like a police procedural. the tension comes from solving the clues and identifying patterns to figure out who (what) the killer is and intercepting before they can take another victim

it’s such a different tone to go for when compared to other shows that came both before, during, and after its run. it sets sam and dean on even footing with each other since they both have the same knowledge going in, and it puts them in a place of authority usually reserved for an outside character

the shows i compare spn to most is charmed, buffy and teen wolf; every main character in those shows are brought into the paranormal world knowing nothing, putting them on the same level as the audience, and they have their mc interact with others already knowledgeable about that world in order to overcome their problem/monster of the week. the audience organically learns about this new world as the characters learn about it. it’s a sound writing strategy that prevents “as we already know”-style exposition but something that complicates it is if your world building isn’t unique or intriguing enough, this slow introduction can become boring

we’ve seen shows like these before; sitting through the same tropes of characters learning to use their powers, struggling with no longer feeling normal/relating to the regular world around them, and not knowing how much they can trust the people already involved in this new world gets repetitive. all three shows eventually reach the same level of comfort with their new world that spn starts with but if the characters aren’t enough to draw you in, you can end up dropping it before they reach that point (and often, before the overarching plot can really kick in and evolve the show beyond the villain of the week format)

it’s the superhero origin movie in tv format; dragged out and overplayed. dropping the audience into an established world of course comes with its own problems but you also have the benefit of pre-existing established character dynamics that let the audience slot in like they’ve always been there instead of just getting to know all the characters while the characters also get to know each other

sam and dean already knowing about the supernatural lets the audience immediately get to the core of the story; the conflict between sam and dean, the search for their father, and the mystery of what killed their mother

[bisexualbellamyblake]

I want there to be some will they/won't they. So yeah, absolutely. I think that is a key element in forming a new relationship from a TV show perspective. I want there to be some uncertainty for the audience. As the characters are experiencing that kind of longing for each other, I want the audience to be longing for it as well. So absolutely. I think that's an important element. - Oliver Stark

[hatsunemiku-official]

( hi just a quick heads up - im not really adding people to the vocaloid-official masterpost anymore. its gotten really overwhelming to keep up with so. if you’ve asked me to add you and I haven’t done it it’s not personal it’s just kind of become A Lot so im gonna stop doing it I think. the current masterlist will stay up though!

also sorry for no funny posts in a while. ive been really busy with school and also not really in a good headspace to be cooking up Funney Jokes. im still alive and cool just busy with other stuff )

[fifteenth-entity]

So like... gaster is at least a titan if not the angel, right? (THEORY)

[Note that this post needs major cleaning up, and I will be back to fix it up later, since i have not slept whatsoever, thank you for understanding c: For this reason, if anything is unclear, please don't hesitate to ask me to clarify/elaborate.]

Before I start explaining my thought process, I want to explain why I’m saying titan or angel, and not definitively just one of the two: I’m fairly certain that Gaster is at least a titan. However, due to how present he is in the narrative, and how subservient the titans seem to be, contrasting how vocal the Gaster character seems to be and how active he is, I’m inclined to believe that Gaster is the next possible thing in the hierarchy. (I don’t believe he’s the knight, I think it’s pretty damn certain at this point that the knight is Dess, and while the knight has hints of Gaster-like qualities, most everything that’s roaring related has Gaster-like qualities.)

(Some small credits: I got most of my screenshots from https://www.youtube.com/@mistysparkles and https://www.youtube.com/@ShayyTV , and one screenshot was provided by @sajdd on tumblr, who got it from @/pipislover1997 and @/playcentermd on twitter.)

Another thing I need to note: Some of these things are going to be really far-fetched arguments. This is mostly so that I can get this brainworm out of my head otherwise I will never find peace, and I’m not saying it’s the end-all-be-all answer that will solve the mystery of Deltarune: It’s just a theory after all. Anyway, with those two disclaimers, onto the stuff I have to say.

Please direct your attention to these elements of the titan:

On the right, we have the dark fountain coalescing into a new being that will later become the titan. On the left, we have the grey stone casing that the titan will later watch out of. The grey encasing will be important later, but first, I’d like to point out that the stuff that coalesces into the titan has the same texture as the background in the first cutscene of chapter 1, where someone, commonly assumed to be Gaster, directs us on how to create a vessel.

After that, once the titan starts hatching, we have the following:

First, the hand of the titan, that has a hole with an eye in the middle. Then, once Kris starts climbing on the titan, black and white eyes are revealed to be hiding within the grey cast, eyes that ooze some sort of droopy black liquid. Note how all of the elements of the true titan are black and white (aside from the magic they use.)

The knight can also use their eye as a mouth to laugh. Eyes in general appear in a lot of places in Deltarune; while they don’t appear in the dark worlds themselves, they appear in the in between places, like the area leading up to the pure dark fountain and Tenna’s dark world.

That is a place where I would argue another true darkness is, aside from Ralsei’s kingdom’s fountain. I mean there’s no toy equivalent to them, they seem to just… exist in the dark world.

Now. Where have I seen all that before?

Oh, and by the way, when I say that, I do mean all of that. Gaster is hidden within a grey room, and he is primarily black and white, he is droopy and formless, and his eye and mouth are the same slit, that is only sometimes seeing. (Unrelated by also related, he seems to disappear when Frisk touches him; the only thing that banished the titan was someone with a human soul disturbing its appearance. Gaster and the titan seem to react the same way to light, drawing yet another connection). And given that every single major character that we’ve seen thus far in undertale has in some way been referenced in Deltarune (even down to Muffet), and this is the last ‘major mystery’ of the game that remains, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that this mystery man doesn’t correspond to a general concept, but is an actual representation of a character that does/will appear in Deltarune at some point.

However, you will note that during this entire analysis, I’ve been taking the mystery man sprite as to be the definitive appearance of Gaster, and I think I have some evidence that at least strongly connects the mystery man, the titans, and Gaster all together.

Please remember how the casing hiding inside it the true titans’ form was cast in grey. Note also how before the cast formed completely, we have the same texture as the background in the create your character segment as the game, a vessel which in the files is dubbed “goner body”. Obviously, the goners, who talk about Dr. Gaster, are also cast in grey and disappear very similarly to the mystery man. Note however that when you create this grey body, it is called the “vessel”, and Kris is referenced as being a cage in the prophecy. The one responsible for creating the human vessel, in the same circumstances and processes as the titan was created, is Gaster. This possibly suggests that the gaster followers and the goner kid are a vessel for something, and here I would say that they are a vessel for knowledge, and the way they’re drawn and positioned in the game makes them look and feel very stone-like in disposition.

With all the above, I think it’s difficult to disprove that Gaster is, at least, a titan, but now you might also begin to understand why I’m going so far as to suggest he might be the angel.

First of all, he created the vessel in the first chapter, and the stuff used to create the titan has the same texture. It seems a little unlikely to me that a simple titan that needs this much help to collapse a fraction of the world would be capable of creating a stable vessel from scratch, so I’m inclined to believe that Gaster, in this aspect, is at least some sort of higher power than a titan. Another direct reference to Gaster and the angel stem from the him.png file that was uploaded to deltarune . com all those years ago: 

It’s notable to me how this phrase was specifically written in wingdings, since not only is that font usually immediately correlated to Gaster, but this phrase, without Deltarune as context, is already cryptic as it is - there’s no need to encrypt it further with a font like this, unless you want to hint at a deeper connection between the two concepts.

Gaster is also as far as I remember (please correct me if I’m wrong) the only character so far to directly correlate the dark worlds and the roaring to the angel, information that no one else seems keen on sharing or knows. The last thing I have to prove as a connection comes from the bunker.

Now, there’s three symbols on the lock on the bunker: A pine tree (Noelle, Dess, or Carol), a police badge (Undyne or Asgore), and the delta rune. The delta rune is an emblem comprised of three triangles (one darkner, two lightners), and a sphere with wings above them (the angel). Now, a lot of people attribute the symbol as belonging to Toriel, but I think this connection is tentative at best. The only connection Toriel has to the delta rune is the uniform she wears and the fact that she manages the choir of the school, but the delta rune is generally a symbol of worship everywhere. There are so many characters that are directly tied to the delta rune, like Gerson and Alvin, and so many characters that are only loosely connected to the delta rune. The symbol is absolutely everywhere, and Toriel is not the only one to wear a garment like that.

However, there’s only one character that notes that they have a direct connection to the delta rune. At the very end of the credits of chapter 4, the person speaking to us in chapter 1, aka Gaster, starts talking to us about our progress with the story, before dropping this bombshell of a phrase:

Firstly, to get it out of the way, I think Gaster is one of the potential people being alluded to with the third symbol on the lock (there are more candidates, one of which could be Asriel, but this isn’t about him). However, I will say that it’s a little intense to say that the emblem of an entire religion belongs to you. Unless, of course, you are the reason why the religion exists, and you are the one people worship, and you are depicted on said emblem.

With this in mind, I do have some strong inclinations that Gaster is the angel. Is this a definitive theory? Absolutely not, but I do think it has some really strong foundations. With this in mind, I think if I am to take this theory as “canon’ then I can make a pretty strong case about Kris being something of a Darkner instead of a lightner, but that’s another theory for another day. I never make theories. I am never this passionate about my own theories. Deltarune what have you done to me. Toby Fox I am outside your house, come outside.

[flying-cat]

i'm gonna get tomodachi life again and mii till and miivan are gonna get together and live their stupid little mii lives on an island happily ever after the end

[fly-the-pattern]

[abirddogmoment]

Rory pointed a grouse so good this morning, it was so awesome to see the conviction in her point and her steadiness until I moved closer to her and sent her to flush it !!!!!!!

[brekitten]

The Therapist

There's a new therapist at school.

Normally this wouldn't really bother Peter at all, since he's never gone to see a shrink in his life and doesn't ever plan on it, but there's something... off about this woman.

She seems unassuming enough at first glance. Red hair, green eyes, bright red lipstick. But there is something in her eyes, something that Peter can only describe as a predator looking at its next prey, when she looks around the school at all of the teenagers milling about. Heck, even the way she walks makes her seem as if she is a predator stalking her prey.

It could always be some kind of power move, Peter reasons. He's met people like that before, who try to intimidate everyone around them into thinking that they are superior, that they are the apex predator and anyone who dares to cross them would pay for it dearly.

But his Spidey Sense went crazy around her.

He tries to brush it off as paranoia. He'd pulled an all-nighter last night in the lab with Tony because neither of them had been able to sleep, and he hadn't been sleeping well even before that. (Funny, how it had all started the night after he first bumped into the new therapist in the halls.) So his Spidey Sense is probably out of wack because he's tired. Simple as that.

But it seems like everyone in the school is depressed. Even Ned, who can't even muster up the energy and enthusiasm to talk about Legos or Star Wars or even the weather. It worries Peter.

Because it all started when that therapist came to the school.

He can't ignore it forever, he knows that. There is only so long his Spidey Sense can tell him that she is danger danger danger before he finally listens. He has to do something to help everyone.

So he researches.

And he falls into the rabbit hole of ghosts and ectoplasm and secret government organizations and the little, unassuming town of Amity Park, Illinois.

He doesn't sleep that night.

When he comes to school the next morning, Dr. Penelope Spectra looks him dead in the eyes, and smiles.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

🔪🔪🔪🔪

[caimdrakengard]

I’m seeing the internet freaking out over 80 to 90$ for one switch game which is valid, yet for us Canadians it will cost 120$… seriously fuck these prices

[chromaji]

i barely know anything abt langrisser but looking at the cast's classic designs vs their remake designs is saddening BRO THEIR SAUCE!!!! THEIR SAUCE IS GONEEEEE

YOU'RE NOT THE SAME PERSON. DEAR GOD.

[cheswirls]

set of drabbles i did for @februairy's cute badminton au :)

-

"what do you mean you have us in different rooms?!"

"exactly what i said." shanks raises his hands to rest on his hips as he puts his metaphorical foot down. "this is an important competition, and i need you both to be all-in, one hundred percent. that means no needless distractions."

he raises his index finger when sabo opens his mouth to argue. "none of that. i've given you my reason and your only choice. unless you'd rather find somewhere else to stay on your own dime?"

sabo's mouth snaps shut. this time, when shanks offers him the room key, sabo wordlessly swipes it from his hand. he picks his training bag back up off the floor and storms away further inside the gym, muttering over his shoulder about getting in more reps while everyone else goes out to eat.

it's to blow off steam, so shanks doesn't say anything against it. hopefully the extra exertion will clear sabo's head.

-

when sanji opens the door to his hotel room, he finds his doubles partner on the other side instead of his assigned roommate. he can't help the surprise that pulls across his face. "what about sabo?"

"he kicked me out!" usopp exclaims, going from looking bashful to suddenly being very indignant – literally kicking the air. "then he made me switch him room keys!" his hand falls away from his suitcase handle so it teeters on its own to stay upright on the plush hallway carpet. "do you see what the problem is with that? it wasn't even his room to dictate what happens in!"

his other hand slides away from the strap to his overnight bag, essentially leaving both arms free to cross over his chest. "but if anyone asks, ace told me to say it was actually him that did all this. like anyone would believe that, hm? ace wasn't the one who stormed off earlier when we all got room assignments."

no, but he did stay behind to deal with his petty princess, sanji drily thinks as he finally holds the door open wider. usopp slouches where he stands and moves inside with all his luggage.

"well, look on the bright side, hm? neither of us has to deal with having a roommate that wants to be with someone else."

usopp nods wordlessly, still feeling prickly and dejected both at once. "really i'm just glad there's no cover story i have to keep up with. at least we won't have to deal with the fallout."

neither of them mention that it probably won't be an issue at all, because when shanks is personally traveling and organizing his athletes, his oversight is notably lax most of the time. it's not like he'll come upstairs to personally check everyone is where they're supposed to be for the night. aside from the grief given at the beginning, it's over now, for all intents and purposes.

besides, he'd meant what he said. he'd much rather room with usopp than have to deal with the world's most pouty prima-donna for the next four days.

-

sabo puts his arms in the sleeves of his pullover and then stretches them above his head in a last attempt to pop his spine. he's not given a chance to lower them and shrug the rest of the pullover on because ace comes up behind him and sags into his still-arched back.

sabo carefully resists a forming shudder when he feels ace's arms worm around his middle, fingers immediately roving along his sides. "ace, we really should go down to eat breakfast," he tries.

"gimme one more minute," ace mumbles into the back of sabo's jersey. "i need more sabo time to myself before we have to go out in public."

sabo snorts, because it's not like they'll be coming right back up or anything. he's not stuffing his feet into anything but slide-ons before 10AM if he can help himself. and he doesn't want to deal with bringing any of their practice stuff downstairs if they're not immediately going to leave.

his attempt at thinking of a snappy reply fails when ace's lips start working up the back of his neck. sabo does shudder this time, back finally relaxing from the unnatural position, and his arms come down from overhead to land lightly on ace's own. "ace, c'mon. let's go get food."

ace releases him to finish getting dressed himself, leaving sabo alone to resume putting his light jacket on. his commentary still filters over to sabo, though, both unnecessary and unwarranted.

"we could just go out to eat. there's that bakery down the road along the way to the training facility, and the woman who owns it likes watching us compete."

"we're trying to save money," sabo reminds him lightly, then smirks as he recalls exactly what they're saving money for. "hotel breakfast is free. if you want something specific later, we can nag shanks into taking everyone to eat again."

he opens the door for ace and doesn't attempt to decipher ace's mumbling after being met with a dull look. it was probably about how they could've gone to eat last night (or at least ace could have, if he hadn't offered to stay late with sabo) and sabo's better off leaving the exact wording of such a mystery.

but he does tune back in once they're in the elevator, ace speaking a bit louder and from a bit closer when he wonders aloud if they'd get something for free from the bakery if they let it slip that they're engaged now.

sabo puts an elbow in his side before the elevator doors can slide shut.

-

"you're late" are the first words koala says to sabo that morning when he sets his food tray down in front of the modest table she's claimed. she's said it for the sole purpose of riling him up and it works. she looks on in amusement when he pulls his chair out more harshly than intended.

"there's no set meal schedule, dearest, but thanks for grinding my gears. i can always count on you for that."

koala puts a hand over her heart. "what are friends for?"

sabo sits down heavily and leans into the backrest of the chair with a long-drawn sigh. "yeah, well, if you want someone to blame, then it's totally ace's fault for not getting up."

koala raises a brow at the wording. come to think of it, she had watched the two of them walk into the dining hall together. "you stayed with him? how'd you manage that? didn't you send me a whole long angry text last night about shanks being a literal demon from hell?"

"i switched rooms," sabo bites, throwing his head back to say this as snootily as possible. (ugh. it's too early for her to deal with this attitude from him.) "it's fine. shanks obviously doesn't understand the needs of teammates who are together romantically, so i just corrected his mistake on my own."

"and does he know about this correction?"

sabo purses his lips and ducks into his small bowl of porridge. "no," he mumbles.

"your 'needs' huh?" koala prods, smirking when sabo glances back up at her. she raises a brow instead of verbally asking the question.

sabo rolls his eyes and stabs his spoon back into the pile of mush. "we didn't do anything like that."

"like what?" ace pipes up, finally within hearing distance. when sabo only shrugs his shoulders, he wordlessly looks past his head to koala, but she only seals her lips. "well, glad you two are having fun with your secrets," he mildly snarks.

he pulls out a chair next to sabo and slides into it. "i still think we should've hit the bakery instead, by the way. the sesame cookies are already out, and when i asked, a server told me they were done making them for the day!"

"could've woken up earlier," sabo mutters. then, louder, "and we're still trying to save money."

"hah!" ace leans back precariously in his seat, ignoring his plate of cannoli to be petulant. "so when you want something, it's suddenly a necessary expense, but when i do the same it's a waste of money to even consider?"

"yes, that's right!" sabo proclaims haughtily, stabbing his spoon back into his breakfast. across from them, koala can't help but laugh at their comedy performance.

"aren't you used to him being this way by now?" she asks ace when ace glares at her. she also reaches into her bag at the same time to pull out a collection of thumb-sized cookies she has wrapped in a napkin. "you're lucky i'm so thoughtful," she says to him before he can get out a retort, offering him the small handful of the same sweets he'd been complaining about not getting to eat. "and that i thought of you earlier when i saw these and realized how quickly they were going."

"you're right, i completely forgive you and love you," ace rushes to say as he accepts the gift. at his side, sabo purses his lips and huffs at the wording, but ace ignores him completely in favor of tossing a small cookie into his mouth. "you're literally the best."

koala inclines her chin, leering over at sabo when he happens to look up at her. "i'm the best," she gloats.

she should have expected sabo to snap at some point, yet the heel suddenly digging into her shin makes her realize she'd thought of this a tad too late.

-

"oh, that? i can tell you about that," robin says to sanji and usopp during lunch. she'd heard an abridged version from koala earlier of the conversation she'd had with sabo that morning. "shanks found out those two got engaged recently and thought rooming them together would be a needless distraction."

that's the short of it, but it sure does paint matching looks of surprise on both of the athletes sitting across from her. they've both paused with food halfway to their mouths. she chuckles at the sight, hiding her open lips behind one hand.

"oh," both of them say simultaneously. then, from just sanji, "ok, yeah, i'd be pissed too. what a dick move. that's a valid reason."

"how long have they been engaged?" usopp asks around a bite of his sandwich. "was that supposed to stay a secret?"

"i don't think so, it just hasn't been too long," robin assures him. "i actually don't know the specifics. you'll have to direct your inquiries to either of them."

"yeah, no thanks," usopp mutters. "if shanks nearly had his head bitten off, i'd hate to see what happens to me."

"well, he did incite them," sanji reminds him. "i'm sure ace wouldn't mind telling us."

he specifically says ace because they both know he's the more easy-going of the pair, and also when sabo is confronted with something he doesn't want to share, he immediately becomes the world's most frigid ice queen.

"sabo might be happy to spill details, if you catch him at the right time," robin mentions. "it's his engagement too. i wouldn't be surprised to learn he's more excited than ace."

alright, yeah, that's a good counter-point to consider. both sanji and usopp think that over.

"after dinner?" usopp suggests.

"no, neither of them drink during a competition." sanji shakes his head. "maybe after the plane ride back home? if he's too tired, he might reveal something without thinking on it."

"if he's too tired, he just won't give us the time of day," usopp counters.

"what about after they win this week?" robin suggests.

which. is a good idea, in theory. but they would have to win, which is not a one-hundred percent guarantee.

but it is something to think over.

-

koala bites on her lip and sags into sabo's side again to bemoan her fate. below them, the current women's singles match-up is their own teammate reiju versus an athlete from sweden. "how can someone look so hot while sweating so much?" she says, completely aghast.

she makes the mistake of glancing up at him after saying this, bearing witness to the large smirk taking up his face. he opens his big mouth and already she knows she wants no part in this. "well–"

"yeah, i don't need unnecessary commentary from the man with a boyfriend," she gripes, leaning off of him. thankfully, sabo shuts his mouth and only shrugs, still looking smug but at least remaining silent about it. "speaking of which, where did ace go? wasn't he just here?"

sabo looks to his other side to confirm ace has indeed disappear. he looks miffed at this but keeps his answer perfectly indifferent. "how should i know? i'm not his keeper."

"you're right, he's just yours," koala says before she can help himself. sabo gasps, completely and justly indignant, and the look on his face is the perfect reward for ruffling his feathers again.

-

koby notices ace and sabo from the distance, but it takes him getting closer and a moment of observation to realize they're monitoring their competition and not merely engaged in conversation.

because from further back, it does look like something different. he stops short to watch ace wrapping an arm around sabo's back, tugging him closer with a hold around his middle. from the angle koby is to them, he can see ace gesturing down to the court with his other hand. they're both talking quietly with their heads huddled close together.

casual intimacy between doubles partners is nothing new, but koby can't help but add another mental notch to the running total he has in his head telling him this is another moment between this specific pair that qualifies more as pda.

he's kept this count going since the olympics ended, when he'd first begun to notice the change in the pair's affection for each other. it's not relative or important, really, but sometimes he can't turn off his observant eye. not for the first time, he thinks about asking after it in an unofficial capacity. maybe if it's off-the-record, they'd tell him if something had changed.

before he can think more on this, someone is calling out to him. specifically, someone says "hey four-eyes!" and from experience and the cadence, koby knows it's luffy before he turns around to acknowledge the athlete.

"hi," he greets luffy a bit lamely, still caught up in his thoughts. "you have another match?"

"no, i'm done for the day," luffy reveals. "i'm just sticking around to watch ace and sabo." he pointedly looks over koby's shoulder to see the duo not far away, realizing koby had been facing that direction. "do i need to get them for you?"

"oh, no, that's fine," koby insists, raising both hands to wave luffy's suggestion off. he peers over his shoulder as well, noting that the pair are even closer together than they were before, and quickly turns back to face luffy. "they, uh, look preoccupied as-is. i'd hate to ruin their concentration."

luffy looks at the pair again and takes koby's words into account. "oh, they're always like that now."

now implies that something has changed recently, though koby's not hell-bent on knowing anymore. the distance between the four of them isn't large, and he'd hate to be overheard, even if he is still curious.

luffy steamrolls along, though, not realizing the gravity of the situation. "probably because they're getting married soon? they've been a lot more touchy-feely since getting engaged."

sirens blare in koby's head, and he has to resist the temptation to look back behind him again. "oh, ok," he says, suddenly overwhelmed. that does make sense. it is a good explanation. it's also probably something he should not be privy to, especially if it's a recent development.

luffy must realize this too, because he perks up and grabs koby by both his shoulders. "i'm saying this to you as my friend, koby, not as a journalist."

"yeah, i got it," koby wheezes. "you can trust me. i won't say a word."

-

"maybe we should come back to korea," ace says at the end of their stay. they're both outside on the veranda, some light alcohol still in either of their glasses though neither are keen on finishing it off. it had been a celebratory move that both are regretting, especially with the summer heat bearing down on them. even in the dark of night, the blush on sabo's fair-skinned cheeks is still evident.

"after the season is over," ace says aloud, though they both know the implication. after we get married, he means. "we can book a room at the shilla and sight-see for a few days. or just chill in there. not like there's a lack of things to do."

sabo had been about to reply, but at the mention of the luxury resort hotel, he chokes. gasping for breath, he swallows the rest of his champagne in an attempt to quickly recover. "isn't that just a tad too expensive??"

"eh, we can splurge a bit." ace shrugs, then grins over at sabo. "it'll be another thing to save up for. if you want to."

"well i don't not want to," sabo admits, which is progress. as long as he's considering the possibility, that's good enough for ace.

"they even have their own bakery inside," ace adds, which only makes sabo groan.

"will you let that go already?"

[dawns-beauty]

i feel like actual artists would sideeye the dumb stuff i do to make mod assets.

like, i'm sure i'm past the point where learning how to use modelling software would be easier (and probably look better.)

alas. naught to be done about it.