#obviously given cipher tag

[sacredwarrior88]

I Don't Wanna Fight (Spencer Reid x OC)

Summary: Zafina and Spencer have been married for a few years now and even have twin boys together. But their marriage is put to the ultimate test when Spencer is sent to prison and when he is released. Eventually the tension and fighting becomes too much to handle and they separate for some time. But they eventually find their way back to each other and decide to work on their marriage. This is Part 3 in a trilogy and here is Part 1 and Part 2!

Warnings: Mention of sex (18+ only), arguing, sexting (one-sided), harassment, cheating accusations

Tagging: @reidsbtch @reiderwriter @uchihasanctuary @bleach-your-panties @dabis-azure-songbird @erikandersonsspouse

There’s a pale moon in the sky The kind you make your wishes on Oh, like the light in your eyes The one I built my dreams upon

It had been many years since Zafina married Spencer. 6 years to be exact. The wedding was a Halloween wedding with an open bar and buffet and although Spencer wanted something small, he had to compromise due to Zafina having a large family. A lot of the more distant relatives weren’t able to attend the wedding for various reasons but they did send lots of gifts. The relatives that were able to attend were pretty surprised when they met Spencer during the wedding planning because they didn’t think he was the kind of guy Zafina would go for. Her parents and siblings had already welcomed Spencer with open arms which made him pretty happy. Although Spencer was pretty awkward and nervous around Zafina’s family, his anxiety and fears were eased thanks to her and he slowly started to open up to them. Zafina wanted Spencer’s mom Diana to attend the wedding as well and met her in person for the first time when he brought her to their home the week before.

Diana and Zafina hit it off much better than Spencer expected and her children also loved being around Diana which was a major bonus. The team also attended the wedding as expected and of course they had a huge blast too! The wedding was amazing with many hilarious moments as well as romantic ones! But the true romance and surprise came during Zafina and Spencer’s honeymoon to Bora Bora. During a romantic dinner, Zafina had given Spencer a cipher to crack that she had created herself. He cracked it instantly and he was completely gobsmacked by the meaning. Zafina was 3 months pregnant! With twin boys at that! Spencer was overjoyed and very excited throughout the entire pregnancy, treating Zafina like a queen and watching her like a hawk to make sure everything was alright.

On February 25th, Zafina delivered Dante and Dalton Reid via C-section and it was the happiest day of her life. Spencer was in tears as he held his sons, vowing to protect them and always be there for them. Their lives changed forever from that point on but there was a storm coming that would put their marriage to the ultimate test!

It’s not there any longer Something happened somewhere and we both know why But me, I’m getting stronger We must stop pretending I can’t live this life

6 years later, Zafina didn’t even know who Spencer was at this point. Being framed and going to prison was extremely hard on him and although he tried to push Zafina away, she wouldn’t allow it and was by his side the entire time. She wrote him letters, called him, and even visited him whenever she could! Zafina was gonna stand by her man no matter what and she didn’t care how long it took for Spencer to see that! 

Zafina obviously expected Spencer to change and he definitely did. He was more aggressive and outspoken for starters. She was worried that he might be suffering from PTSD which she instantly recognized the signs of thanks to her military experience. In the bedroom, Spencer was rougher, more dominant, and seemed to be insatiable even! 

Zafina tried to get Spencer to open up about his time in prison but it would always result in an argument or him distracting her with rough sex. Sometimes he would even lash out at her which led to even bigger arguments because Zafina didn’t play that shit at all! She was starting to get tired of all this fighting and although she definitely enjoyed the sex with Spencer, it wasn’t enough for her to want to keep this marriage going! Zafina knew that the breaking point was coming and she was starting to brace herself for impact.

It came when Zafina was in the shower one day and her phone was buzzing. She was in a group chat with fellow professors at her college and there was one professor in particular who always had the hots for her but she kept rejecting him and turning him down. Professor George Love. He was a black man who was a bit older than Zafina and he didn’t like the fact that she was married to a white man 10 years her junior. While Spencer was locked up, George kept putting the moves on Zafina and trying to get with her which she ignored. Eventually she got tired of it all and told George off before blocking him.

Zafina and Spencer had an open phone policy and although they never went through each other’s phones because they trusted each other, they still had each other’s passwords and such. Apparently George must’ve gotten a new number because he was texting Zafina various sexual messages and even sent her a dick pic or two. To make matters worse, George was talking shit about Spencer and dared to say that his dick was bigger when that couldn’t be further from the truth!

Spencer noticed that Zafina’s phone kept buzzing with text notifications and his curiosity got the better of him. As he read the text messages George was sending Zafina, his anger started to rise and rise. Although logically he knew that Zafina would never cheat on him, he still felt insecure and isolated about his time in prison and he didn’t think he was good enough for Zafina or their sons. 

When Zafina came out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around her body and hair, she noticed Spencer staring at her phone and raised an eyebrow. “Something wrong Spence?”

“Who the fuck is this guy sending you text messages and nudes? And why is he talking about me?” Spencer snarled while throwing Zafina’s phone at her which she caught with ease. Her eyes widened as she read George’s messages and she made a disgusted noise when she saw the dick pics. Zafina immediately blocked the number and sighed.

“It’s not what you think Spencer. That guy’s name is George Love and he’s a professor at the college I work at. He’s been trying to get with me ever since before you went to prison. He’s one of those black people who hates interracial relationships and the fact that you’re 10 years my junior doesn’t help either. I’ve never given him the time of day nor does he know a single detail about our relationship. I blocked his number years ago and told him off but apparently he doesn’t know when to quit. I’m gonna deal with this in the morning.”

Spencer gave Zafina a blank stare as she explained herself. Was she really telling the truth? Normally he would be able to tell but for some reason, he couldn’t and that scared him to death. Spencer didn’t respond to fear very well and Zafina could tell that he was about to break down. 

“Spencer? I’m telling the truth, I swear. I would never cheat on you ever. I love you too much to hurt you that way. Please just talk to me. I’m tired of you shutting me out like this. We used to talk about anything and everything but now it’s like you only notice me when you’re fucking me.”

“Zafina, I keep telling you over and over again that I don’t want to talk about this. Why do you keep bringing this up? I’m not shutting you out! But it definitely seems like you are! You actually expect me to believe that you were faithful to me while I was in prison? You’re not one to go without sex Zafina. You’re far more insatiable than I am!”

It was at this point that Zafina had enough. She wasn’t putting up with this anymore. Fuck this! How dare Spencer talk to her that way?! Was he implying that she was some kind of sex-crazed whore with no self-control? Little did Spencer know, his comments reminded him of how Zafina had been berated and slandered when she reported her gang rape decades ago and it pissed her off!

“I’m done, Spencer. I’m tired of this shit. We’re separating. Get the fuck out! You fucking cruel bastard!” Zafina took the towel off her head and threw it at Spencer, hitting him in the face. It was taking every ounce of her self-control to not punch him or do something even worse to him. Spencer was no stranger to Zafina’s temper but despite this, he refused to budge. Not without a fight.

“What about the boys?”

“What about them? You haven’t exactly been yourself around them either. Dante asked me the other day if you still loved him. No child should ever have to ask that about their parents. We need time apart Spencer and you need to get some fucking help or else this marriage will come to an end. I’m not going to say it again. Get the fuck out now or I’ll force you out. I don’t give a rat’s ass where you go as long as I don’t have to see your insufferable face again!”

Zafina’s words shattered Spencer’s heart but deep down, he knew she was right and their marriage was barely hanging on by a thread. There was a time to fight for their marriage but this wasn’t it. Without saying another word, Spencer packed his bags and walked downstairs towards the front door. 

“Daddy? Where are you going?”

Dante and Dalton were in the living room playing video games as Spencer walked by. How was he supposed to answer them? Should he answer them?

“Daddy’s going away for a while for work.”

Zafina had come downstairs wearing sexy silk pajamas that Spencer was never able to resist. Damn her and her impeccable timing! One of the many things he loved about her!

“Yeah your mom’s right. I have to go away for a while because of my job. I love you two and I will come back. I’m not walking out on you or your mother.”

Spencer gave Zafina a look of determination before he walked out of their family home, beginning their separation. Would it become permanent or was it temporary? Only time will tell.

I don’t care who’s wrong or right I don’t really want to fight no more (Too much talking babe) Let’s sleep on it tonight I don’t really want to fight no more This is time for letting go

Five months had passed since Spencer and Zafina separated and some progress happened during those five months. Zafina had reported George to the dean for sexual harassment, using all of the text messages and photos from her phone as proof. Turns out that she wasn’t the only victim of his and Zafina’s report was the final nail in the coffin. George was swiftly fired and he even had the audacity to try and go after Zafina physically as revenge. This led to her beating his ass in the college parking lot and gaining a lot of respect and admiration from the female staff and students.

Spencer decided to use his time off to his advantage and actually get help because he was getting to the point where he was considering using dilaudid again and if that happened, he could kiss his marriage goodbye! Zafina knew about his previous drug use and how it came to be but Spencer wasn’t going to test whether or not she would stay with him if he relapsed! He was already on thin ice as it was!

Spencer called Dante and Dalton every night and this led to him talking to Zafina as well. They would have deep conversations like they used to and kept each other up to date on anything important. Spencer was pretty happy to hear that George got fired for his actions and he was ecstatic to hear that Zafina kicked his ass. He didn’t say it out loud but the thought of her beating that pompous asshole really turned him on!

It was now October 31st. Halloween and their 7th wedding anniversary. Spencer had called Zafina early that morning and told her that he was picking her up later that night to take her to a restaurant that he had made reservations for. Zafina was nervous about how this anniversary would go. She knew that they would have to talk about the future of their marriage at some point and Spencer was most likely using their anniversary to do so. It was the moment of truth for them and damn was Zafina scared!

As nightfall started to roll around, Zafina began to get ready for her date with Spencer. Dante and Dalton were at JJ and Will’s place for the night so she wasn’t worried about their wellbeing. When Spencer arrived at the house, he let himself in since he still had the key and Zafina hadn’t changed the locks. Zafina was still in their bedroom, putting the final touches on her makeup and brushing her hair all the while wearing a gorgeous red dress that showed her curves and exposed some skin even. She was going all out on this anniversary!

Spencer walked into the bedroom and smiled when he saw Zafina all dressed up. It was rare that she dressed to the nines like that and that’s what made it all the more special to him. Even though it was obvious that Zafina had aged over the years, Spencer still found her sexy and gorgeous which he wasn’t afraid to let her know.

“You’re early Spencer. Why am I not surprised?”

“Did you expect anything less? Are you ready yet?”

“You can’t rush perfection Spence!”

“You’re perfect to me no matter what Zafina.”

That flustered Zafina and she stood up, grabbing her handbag. Even after all these years, she still didn’t have a response to Spencer’s comebacks sometimes! He still knew how to fluster her and make her shut up!

The drive to the restaurant was filled with silence but it was comfortable silence and Spencer had one hand on Zafina’s thigh as he drove. It was small moments like these that Zafina always treasured during their relationship. Just being around each other in complete silence letting their actions speak for themselves. 

Upon their arrival at the restaurant, Spencer and Zafina were immediately led to their reserved table which was by a large window with a gorgeous view of the city. She gasped when she saw how fancy and beautiful everything looked and her heart even skipped a few beats. How in the hell was Spencer able to pull off something like this?!

As they ordered their drinks and appetizers, Spencer decided to rip the band-aid off and get straight to the point just like Zafina preferred it.

“I want to come home. I miss being with you and the boys every night. I miss waking up next to you every morning. Zafina I want to work on this marriage and I don’t want a divorce.”

Their drinks and appetizers arrived and Zafina immediately began to dig in since she hadn’t eaten a single thing all day! She didn’t want to spoil this amazing dinner and Spencer found it pretty adorable when Zafina started stuffing her face like a competitive eater.

“I don’t want a divorce either Spencer but I’m not going to tolerate this kind of behavior from you. You can’t shut me out like this and you can’t lash out at me like you did, making snide comments. I know you’ve been through something terrible and I know a thing or two about how trauma affects people. I may not be able to understand your trauma but I do know what it’s like to be affected by it. I’ve had some very traumatic experiences myself after all.”

Zafina never told Spencer about her gang rape during her time in the military and although she didn’t really wish to, she was willing to for the sake of the conversation. After all, she knew Spencer would never judge her nor blame her! Just like she would never do the same to him!

“I know and I’m very sorry Zafina. The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you in any kind of way. I was just scared and I don’t handle fear very well. You’re such a beautiful, amazing woman and when I went to prison, I didn’t expect you to actually be there for me and continue staying by my side. Why would someone as amazing as you be faithful to a screw-up like me? I didn’t think I was good enough for you or the boys and I guess distancing myself was my way of proving it. I’ve always been a bit insecure about our relationship and going to prison just made it worse.”

Zafina nodded as she took in Spencer’s words. It was pretty funny that he always felt insecure about their relationship because she had her own insecurities as well! But Spencer always comforted her about them and eventually the insecurities weren’t much of an issue anymore. The irony was not lost on her!

The waiter came by and took their orders for the main course. Spencer and Zafina ironically ordered the same thing which made them chuckle in unison. 

“Great minds think alike huh Spence? You have nothing to be afraid of. I will never leave you for another man. There isn’t a single man on this Earth who can compare to you or do what you do for me. It’s ok to be scared, baby. I was too, especially when we started dating. Failure, fear. In the lives that we live, these things are inevitable. How we deal with them is the true test of our character.” 

“Well I definitely failed that test then.”

“No you didn’t Spencer. If you did, we would be in divorce court right now instead of sitting here at a restaurant on our anniversary. You just stumbled and fell. Now you have to get back up and keep going. You won’t be going through this alone. I’ll be right by your side as long as you don’t push me away.”

Zafina always knew what to say and how to uplift people! Even though she wasn’t a profiler, she was quite good at reading people and had a lot of charm in spite of her ice queen persona that she often put on in front of others. Spencer fought back tears as he thought about what Zafina said and took it to heart. She always knew how to render him speechless.

“Beloved? Are you still with me? Don’t punk out on me now,” Zafina chuckled as she gently held Spencer’s hand and rubbed the back of it with her thumb. Her words made him smile smugly as he lifted up her hand and kissed it.

“The only one who’s gonna punk out tonight is you. I hope you don’t plan on going to work tomorrow because you won’t have the energy for it. We have to make up for lost time after all.”

The look that Spencer gave Zafina made chills run down her spine as she rubbed her thighs together. The rough sex that they had been having since he got out of prison was quite a shock to her because years ago, she would have to beg him to be rougher or more dominant. Spencer had trouble fully expressing himself in the bedroom which Zafina related to heavily. It was something they worked on together which made the sex all the more meaningful and special to her.

“Not that I’m complaining Spencer but what exactly made you get so rough all of a sudden? You would’ve been scared out of your mind to even spank me years ago but now it’s like you’re a complete beast. Is it because of you being incarcerated?”

“Yes. I was afraid that I’d never see you again and when you’re in prison, you have nothing but time. I was thinking about all of the things we never got to do in bed and the things that you wanted from me. Life is too short to take things for granted and now that I have my freedom back, I don’t want to have any regrets.”

Zafina and Spencer’s main courses came and they immediately started to dig in. The food was absolutely delicious and although Spencer preferred Zafina’s cooking any day, he had to admit that he was very impressed with how good the meal was! He made a great choice in picking this restaurant!

“This is amazing Spencer. I never thought that I would eat at a restaurant like this! How are you able to afford all of this? Did Rossi help you?”

“No but he did recommend this place to me. I have more money than you think Zafina and you deserve to be spoiled like this. A queen only deserves the best after all. Sit back, relax, and let me take care of everything. I got this darling.”

Zafina wasn’t used to a man taking care of her and spoiling her without expecting something in return and acting like an entitled brat. Even though she had been with Spencer for a long time, she still wasn’t used to how well he treated her and often had to fight feelings of guilt and uncertainty. Zafina gave Spencer a gentle smile and licked her lips seductively.

“Make me scream your name Spencer.”

“Oh I plan to. But try to take it easy on your vocal chords. You don’t want to blow out your vocal chords again do you?”

“That wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t hit my cervix Spence! It hurts like hell when a guy does that to a woman! You’re lucky I didn’t have to go to the ER!”

“That will never happen again, Zafina. I can promise you that. I’m sorry I caused you so much pain.”

“Spencer, you've apologized a thousand times since then. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. You just got carried away. It happens sometimes. Especially when the sex is as amazing as it is with you.”

Spencer choked on his drink and coughed a bit. Was he actually blushing? Zafina chuckled as he tried to gather himself. He looked so adorable when he was flustered like that out in public! The waiter came by with the bill and Spencer immediately took out his wallet, giving the waiter his card and leaving a large tip. Zafina was going to offer to pay the tip at least but the look Spencer gave her changed her mind real fast! It also nearly unleashed a waterfall in between her legs!

A waterfall that was now replaced by a hot, relaxing shower as Spencer bathed Zafina and massaged her sore muscles. She was also quite exhausted after the rough, passionate sex they just had so he picked her up bridal style and carried her back to the bedroom after drying her off, laying her down on the bed and picking out something for her to wear to bed while putting on a pair of boxers. 

“Spence? Get me one of my Cowboys jerseys. It’s only fitting considering what we just did.”

The joke wasn’t lost on Spencer and he chuckled as he grabbed an oversized Dallas Cowboys jersey from their closet and threw it at Zafina along with a pair of clean panties. Spencer wasn’t one for football but Zafina’s enjoyment of it sparked his interest and he always watched the Super Bowl with her every year since they got married thanks to her family always having Super Bowl parties.

After Zafina got dressed, Spencer climbed into bed next to her and began to kiss her slowly and gently while wrapping his arms around her. It was moments like these that made Zafina realize that the nerdy, awkward, and sweet Spencer that she fell in love with still existed somewhere inside of him which made her very happy. 

“I love you Spencer. Welcome home.”

“I love you too Zafina. I’m glad to be home. I’m sorry for everything and I promise to be a better man for you and the boys.”

Zafina desperately wanted to say something back but her body had other ideas and she was fast asleep within seconds, snoring softly. Spencer smiled and kissed her forehead, watching her sleep. He was far from a religious man but if there was a God out there, he was definitely thanking him for blessing him with an amazing wife like Zafina! Most women would’ve walked out on him with everything that’s happened but not her. She still stayed with him despite everything and in spite of their separation periods, she was still willing to work on their marriage.

As Spencer drifted off to sleep himself, he smiled a genuine smile for the first time since he got out of prison as he thought about his long relationship with Zafina and the many ups and downs they’ve had over the years, leading up to this blissful moment.  She was his soulmate and he was hers. Always and forever. Till death separates them.

Oh, baby, don’t you know That I don’t want to hurt no more (It’s time, I’m walking babe) Don’t care now who’s to blame I don’t really want to fight no more This is time for letting go

[knivesofgravity]

ry nzlgs: yac lpj syiwj fnp ttrylq

up: wjs

yg mpfiz: mcet yac lpj nab ljqoimo rt tmsp su sbinc, jxuaegsg mb ljq cdmlrjs mv flseomdqfrk jfpiez wy caedgzlj yac syae qdpp nnfmcyhtql hgyh nmnyzsq bscd mgae bjax etrm yac

xc: moxl zl

ry nzlgs: azl ptjrkbsgsg ua dmretwh wtud nlsqt. Un jmz dav'e isoi esyy yac ogi wdwye yhmb'd hzsf iymyhqz efnns gzs'we mb qyzlf nzp geoifqj cxmlpqy kwf'pj axelwx daqye jvqzjrmizo hptns iyb frq jlb quos tlhadvlrj

mq: bsgx sqmxq znritp

ry nzlgs: yac lpj 10 yac oms't sme rt cavecxt fptq.

ry nzlgs: Ehmcwyhuvr gx taw mgl, yac lpj taw mgl, ehmy yx syiwj fs kwf ywe kwf rfkq ca rto ycnf xpmkp

kj: cmv T qyob ncmstuvr ygogb tr?

ry nzlgs: na

jcynn ua gcwy dcoc fnp q qcjl xqvc nf u ix qt lubejj i acrfy b mtwmbep bz ltt rzzly. tmspq zp xmdq xpmkp. kfynm aywt an hfd i mu drnlx ncmstuvr rmo. pwyr bazvl bnsmxacfr. ua hfd ttqd ffs fw mc f cuxscw ttw. wcxs exlaj, lqad swgqvnw. qeea tlyrgatms oz wefjre

[cyborg-franky]

Hi Franky! Could I have Crocodile with Dialog 2 or Crocodile or Zoro with Scenario 11 please? Ty and hope you have a nice February!

Thank you my love <3

Zoro x GN Reader SFW Word Count: 425

Zoro eyed you up, you seemed so awkward stood there with your hands behind your back, you couldn’t even maintain eye contact with him. You fidgeted in place as his gaze seemed to scrutinize you as you continued staring at the floor.

“What?” He asked at last, obviously tired of the shy mumbles and stumbled words.

“I got you something.” You said and finally revealed what you had been hiding from him, you held up the long rectangle box and gestured for Zoro to take it.

He quirked his eyebrows, looking over the nicely decorated box, he unfolded his arms to take the gift from you, feeling the nice weight that the object had, he narrowed his functioning eye in your direction still unsure why you had gone out of your way to get him something.

“What’s the occasion?” Zoro asked as he lightly shook the package, looking at the lid, flipping it open, such caution like you were playing a trick on him.

“You know? For Valentine’s Day?” You laughed a little, your nerves starting to come back and haunt you, wondering if this had been a good idea, his reactions weren’t what you’d expected.

You hadn’t expected him to be jumping up and down or showering you with a thousand ‘thank you’s, it was still Zoro. You just expected something other then bewilderment from him. The way he looked at you, watching your awkward display, your insecurities in your decision clawing to the surface, visible distress.

“I’ve never been given anything for it.” He shrugged his shoulders and it suddenly all made sense.

“Oh, really?” you asked. A nod from Zoro as he put his hand down into the box, grabbing the neck of the bottle, pulling it out, he made a happy sound, his lips turning up at the corners in a wide smile. He nodded to himself as he turned the bottle over in his hands and read the label, enjoying the high percentage it offered him.

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I didn’t get you anything though.” Zoro confessed and uncorked the bottle there and then, taking a swig, letting out an ‘ahhh’ of enjoyment, the alcohol pleasing to his pallet.

“I didn’t give you a gift just to get one back.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes! That’s the point of a gift, I just wanted to make you happy.” You explained, rubbing your arm, smiling hesitantly before Zoro grabbed you, an arm around your shoulder and pulling you closer to him.

“You already make happy, but the booze is a nice touch.”

TAG LIST:

@chocolate-n-cheese @rivvd-art @santoru @mimi-ya @dxvilmanlev @cipher-p0 @gonuclear @undercoverweeeb @slut4animedilfs @acesmarigold @sanjithesimp @sugxrslushy @kaizokuwritings @iloveportgasdace @thatsprettycoolbro

[iliyad]

""Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly." – Mary Howitt, The Spider and the Fly

guess who’s back, back again. @fieriframes is back, tell a friend! just over a year after the guy fieri-inspired ARG took over my life, tumblr have brought us back to where it all began with a brand-new puzzle to solve.

our first puzzle was tagged with “et in arcadia ego”, which translates literally to “even in arcadia, there am i” and is mostly associated with the 1630s painting by nicolas poussin. our new tag, “i tego arcana dei” means “begone! i conceal the secrets of god” and just so happens to be an anagram of our beloved former tag. both phrases also were used initially in the maranatha puzzles, hence why i’ve taken to calling the ARG a “puzzle.”

last time, we took just over a month. we decoded, analysed, googled. we had to play a game to work out a key, we had to unlock different blogs with different passwords and we learned to recognise voynich manuscript text by sight. @significantfoliage, @puwumats and myself all created conspiracy theory boards. (it was a Choice)

and now, here we are again.

mars (@prettyokayray) was the first one of us to notice that a new gif, inscribed with voynich, had been posted yesterday. going back, we realised that the blog had been posting several other gifsets with the tag “i tego arcana dei” over the past week or so, each one containing a hidden tarot card illustrated by leonora carrington, who was an important person in last year’s puzzle. each post was also given a caption from a poem written by leonora titled “The Cave.” In order, earlier to latest, these were:

the lovers (VI) - "albino raven"

the high priestess (II) - "drink all darkness from heaven"

the lovers (VI) - "dark, dark buzzards"

the high priestess (II) - "sign to the mask that once belonged to life"

the emperor (IV) - "albino raven"

the chariot (VII) - "you are the antidote"

the empress (III) - "the hanged one"

the hierophant (V) - "pours images"

the magician (I) - "into saturated eyes"

the fool (X) - "two ink spies"

after checking through the cards and making sure all of our ducks were in order, mars and gabriel (@ijustwannabeavampire) worked out that what we had was a phone number.

so we called it.

at first, all we had was some spooky and atmospheric piano music. we knew it had to be something important, but we were stumped because we couldn’t identify it. signi eventually worked out that it was a piece called “Who Is The Dreamer?” by ‘Midnight Caller’, both of which sounded connected to the first ARG where we spent time talking to someone called the “Midnight Caller” while we tried to work out who the “dreamer” was (@amithedreamer​). obviously this was promising.

the song was from an album released 17 february 2022 called, get this, arcana, an album which also features bangers like “hořčický”, which just so happens to be the name of 17th century bohemian man who was rumoured to be connected with the voynich manuscript, the script from which being the cluemaster’s favourite cipher for us to decode. further, the composer for the songs as they were published to YouTube was listed as “oneiro grant alcorn”, and oneiro had once upon a time been a password we’d deciphered towards the end of the original flavortown ARG.

yes, you’ve heard that correct. tumblr created and published a fake music album. you’ve got to admire the dedication.

anyway, while we were trying to work out what to do with all of this information, signi realised that there was a portion of the album artwork (commissioned by an artist on behance) above the head of the left figure which looked like some form of code.

it clearly wasn’t morse (the dashes were just too long), and after ester cleaned up the code we were still confused, only this time because it looked familiar–almost like a QR code, except those usually have squares in the corners...

right?

yes, of course, we decided to put squares in the corners and see if that led us anywhere. and it did! reed got there quickest, and scanning the code led us to a blog with the url i tego arcana dei – clearly we’re getting somewhere now.

except the blog is password protected, and we’re still working on cracking it based on what little we have and what guesses we’re able to make. the background image for the blog appears to be from the voynich manuscript, but all of the voynich has been removed and so have the page numbers.

shortly after we worked out the album clue (sorta), we thought to check one of last time’s connected blogs, and worked out that the voynich previously on the page had changed. it now reads “the world has shifted.”

both myself and mars messaged the blog with the translation, but for now we’ve had no response. and thus, with most of us either needing to sleep (ignore the fact it’s currently around 3.30am for me) or fulfill real-world obligations, the curtains have fallen on what has arguably become day 1 of the flavortown ARG 2: electric boogaloo.

if you made it this far, congratulations! this post (and the subsequent ones) will mostly be for me to keep track of how we’re doing, but if it’s interested you in wanting to help us solve our latest puzzle, feel free to message me for a link to our Discord server, courtesy of ester!

[gradianmax]

Date Night || Malliot

Tagging: Max, @elliejamesrose

When: Tuesday, August 16th - evening

Where: Elliot’s Home, Silverstone Cinema

Warnings: nsfw - sexual conduct and strong language

Notes: Max is bolded, Elliot is italic

Max was on cloud nine when he woke up in Elliot's bed. They had a short but lovely morning together and kissed goodbye as they both started their days. He spent his work day in a daze. He paid barely any attention at all to his work as all he could think about was the previous night with Elliot and meeting up with him later that day. It went by rather quickly and he was able to duck out a little early to give himself enough time to finish up the night's preparations. He'd taken Marley's advice and she's secured the theater for him. He'd spent the last three days coming up with the little puzzle that would lead them to their destination. He wasn't that smart of a guy when it came to that type of thing so he hoped it was entertaining for Elliot. 

 Once he was sure everything was properly aligned he went to work on making himself presentable. He scrubbed himself clean of any trace of his shop and dressed to impress. Armed with his math equation and cipher he soon found himself at Elliot's door once more, knocking at 6:30 sharp.

Elliot thought for sure he was going to call out of work that day feeling still tired from the night before but knew the office would be busy. So after a few kisses and saying bye to Max he went to work. Not that he could really concentrate on the job, he just kept thinking about Max and blushing as the night replayed in his head.

He was excited for the date, perhaps a bit nervous still but excited nonetheless. He rushed through the days work and got home right into the shower to get ready for his date. He made sure to brush his teeth 3 times, not feeling clean enough and he put on his best pants and cashmere sweater. He couldn’t deny he really liked the way he looked.

He heard the knock right on time and he smiled at the man’s punctuality. He took one last look in the mirror and sprayed a bit of cologne before getting the door. “Hey handsome.”

Max's smiled brightened as the door opened to reveal his date. "That's my line. You look amazing," he said before stepping forward to steal a quick kiss. He looked the man up and down and smirked playfully. "First thing's first." He pulled a chocolate flower from behind his back and presented it to Elliot. "A rose, for my Rose. It's not real, obviously. Wasn't sure how you'd feel about having to keep a live one."

Elliot laughed at Max’s complaint and the cute kiss that followed after. He could feel the heat rise on his face with how cheesy Max was being. “Oh my god, you goofball.” He chuckled, giddy with excitement as he took the chocolate rose. “Thank you, love.” He smiled and leaned in himself to give the man a kiss. It was a fair assumption given Elliot didn’t have any plants in his home.

Max took Elliot's laughter as a win and beamed proudly. He pressed himself into the second kiss, wrapping his arm around Elliot's back and cupping his cheek. He smirked against his lips, separated for a moment, and then gave him another quick little peck. "AIright then, handsome. We've got a whole evening planned. Best not be late." He took hold of Elliot's hand and gave it a squeeze. 

The first thing he hoped his date would notice is that he was not driving his baby. He'd managed to convince the one guy at the shop with an automatic transmission to let him borrow it for the evening. He opened Elliot's door with a dramatic little bow as before and once he'd gotten into his own seat he immediately held out his hand with a grin. "I can hold it properly this time," he said smugly.

Elliot raised a brow to the man. “A whole event you say?” He pursed his lips into a smile. “Best not be late then.” He repeated as he let himself be led. The first thing he noticed was that he was being led to a different car, had the boy really bought another car just for him? He chuckled at the bow and got into the car. He was very impressed and had been the entire time of knowing Max at his attention to detail. “You are so impressive, you know that?” He complimented the boy with a smile and took his hand.

Max interlocked their fingers once Elliot gave him his hand. He brought it up to his mouth and gave him a playful kiss. "Oh, I know," he said smugly. "But, now it's your turn to be impressive." He was really excited to unveil is little plan, but also just a touch nervous that Elliot would either think it was lame or too much and not want to go along with it. He kept up his excitement despite those thoughts on nodded towards the glove compartment. "Open it up. You're going to tell me where to go." He'd cracked open a new little notebook for the occasion and it lay in the compartment with a pen just waiting for Elliot to take a look.

Elliot furrowed his brow not sure what Max was going on about but he sure did look excited. It was very cute how excited he was to reveal what he was talking about. Elliot looked down into the glove box and grabbed the notebook and pen. "What's this?" He asked with a small laugh. He looked at the pages puzzled for a moment before things began to click. "Be patient with me." He undersold himself. 

 It took him less than a few moments to start the equation as he scribbled down the page, getting the answer in under a minute. "42?" He hummed and continued on to the next part. He was uber focused on what the scrambled letters meant. His tongue prodded out if his lips as he concentrated on getting the answer. He was never really good at word problems. When it finally clicked he smiled to himself and counted down the alphabet, getting the answer to the cipher. "42 Silverstone way? The theatre?" He asked the man, looking up at him.

The look of concentration on Elliot's face as he quickly worked out the little puzzle was beyond endearing to Max. He finished it even faster than anticipated and he huffed out a laugh. "Theatre it is. I'm making the next one much harder," he warned. With the destination revealed Max took hold of Elliot's hand again and started them on their way. He was glad that phase one of the date had gone well and it just made him that much more excited for the rest of it. He'd have to send Marley some sort of gift for helping him to plan everything. She'd been a complete godsend.

Before long Max once again found himself holding the car door open for his date. He escorted him inside with a giddy smile on his face. They were met with a cinema employee who recognized him on sight and led them past the ticket booth. He eyed Elliot a few times wanting to gauge his reactions to everything as it unfolded. They were left at the door to one of the rooms with a quick, "Enjoy your evening," and Max said his thanks before they headed inside. He hadn't seen the set up in person and was thrilled by how it turned out. There, in the aisle usually reserved for breaking up the seating between front and back of the theater, was a table set up with drinks and two plates with silver covers.

Elliot grinned ear to ear, finally math was something that made him happy. He would do math all day if it meant being with Max. Maybe max was the one to make him fall back in love with his career. Make him not want music so much. He thought it was bizarre that they were going to the movies for a fancy first date but he would go anywhere with Max. He followed Max up to the theatre a little confused when they were escorted directly to an empty room. “Max, what is this?” He asked with a smile as he saw the table set up in the center. “Babe, you did all this?” He asked as he pulled on his arm with excitement.

Max grinned in triumph. He could hear the excitement in Elliot's voice and it was like music to his ears. "I had a lot of help," he admitted. "But yes. All for you." He held a chair for his date and pushed him in before taking his own seat. "I heard from a very reliable source that you are a fan of Italian food." He unveiled the plates which had been provided by a very nice restaurant a town over. "Not only that but," he nodded to the big screen as it slowly faded into the beginning of Moulin Rouge. He'd arranged to have the volume lower than the typical movie showing so they could better enjoy each other's company.

Elliot kissed Max’s cheek as he took he took a seat. It was all so much. No one had ever gone this far to prove that they wanted him. He was always the one doing the most for others and it was exhausting. He could feel tears well up in his eyes but thankfully he was keeping them at bay. He didn’t need to cry every time he saw Max. He took everything in and just when he thought it couldn’t get better, Nature Boy from Moulin Rouge began to play. He used his hand to cover the gasp that came to his mouth as he watched the huge screen light up with his favorite more. “Max!” He exclaimed softly and of course he couldn’t help the small tears now. He felt so embarrassed as he wiped them from his eyes.

Max gave Elliot a soft little smile and raised a hand to wipe gently at his tears with his thumb. "I'm going to take these as a compliment," he teased softly. He could tell the tears were more about being emotionally overwhelmed and not because he was upset over anything. He was glad he'd mustered up the balls to actually go through with over the top idea and made yet another mental note to make sure Marley was properly thanked for her help.

"I'm sorry." He said bashfully as he felt the other man help him wipe his tears, "It's just... No one has ever done anything like this for me before. They usually run when i deny them, you know, and I've never had anything like this." He spoke softly, opening up to the man. "I love this all. Thank you, Max."

"Nothing to be sorry about, Handsome." He pulled his hand back and took a bit of a deep breath, preparing himself for a serious moment. "You already know I've never done this. Truth is, I've never felt like this. You're... I don't know," he cut himself off with a small laugh. "There's just something about you, Elliot Rose. I want to get to know you better. So, here we are."

"It's hard to believe. You've been so amazing." He replied to the young man. "I don't really get what you see in me, Max. I'm not nearly as interesting or fun like Elton or half the people in this town. I work too much and I like order, and i can be difficult..." He didn't mean to talk down on himself but he was never the most secure person and he really didn't think he was special at all. He didn't feel like he deserved this. He took a sip of water, trying to ease his anxiety just a bit. "You don't need to wow me to get to know me better. I know I like the luxury and nice things and I get so caught up in all the materialistic shit but I just want you for you and I need you to know that."

Max understood what he was saying. Not seeing the good qualities in one's self was a pretty universal experience. He gave Elliot a shrug. "I get that," he admitted. "I don't know what you see in me either. The only thing I'm good for is sex and clearly that's not why you're here. But you are here, giving me a chance." He sat back in his seat with a smile. "Everyone's difficult in some way. Maybe my difficult and your difficult will work well together."

"Or perhaps we end up hating each other." He said realistically and gave a small shrug. He felt bad for giving Max such a hard time at first, felt bad for feeding into what Max thought badly for himself. "I've given you a chance because you're not what you think you are. You're kind and supportive. You care for your family, it seems like we share the same value's, no? You are very good at sex but I don't see that as a negative..." He paused with small blush. "I mean you put all this together for someone you barely know... It's so much effort that almost no one would waste their time on. You're consistent and you remember the details. I love that about you." He smiles, he just wanted Max to know how truly special he was.

Max smirked, "Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet, baby." The flirting came instinctively and he shook his head after saying it. "Sorry, habit." He genuinely appreciated the compliments and he was soon wearing a matching blush. "I actually have a really shit memory," he admitted after a moment. "I always have." It was an embarrassing fact that, quite literally, no one but Natasha was aware of. "I keep notebooks. Started when I was younger because I'd loose track of shit I was supposed to do, places I was supposed to be, things people told me. So, uh..." He blushed even deeper and turned his head. "Every time you tell me something about yourself I write it down so I don't forget."

"Well, that certainly takes a lot of effort, Max." He nodded. "And effort means a lot to me." he asserted. He reached across the table to take his hand and squeeze it. "You're more and an more interesting to me everyday." He smiled and looked down at the food which looked delicious. "Shall we eat?" He asked with a small laugh. He felt like they could compliment each other all night so best to save some stuff for later.

To be entirely honest, Max had been worried that Elliot would react worse to his admission; that'd he'd think it was strange or something. He gave a little sigh of relief and squeezed his hand in return. "Right back at you," he replied. He brought their hands up to give Elliot a little kiss. "We shall. I hope you like it." He looked up at the screen between bites. "You know, I've never actually seen this movie all the way through."

Elliot took back his hand after the kiss and began to eat with a smile. "God, this is delicious... You have to tell me where you go this from because i need to have them on speed-dial." He moaned as he took another mouthful. 

 "You've got to be joking me." He gave Max a disappointed look, it was playful but still pretty disappointing. "Moulin Rouge is one of the most important pieces and influential of art of our time. I mean Elephant Love Medley and Come What May are just... There are simply no words, Max."

Max chuckled at Elliot's enthusiasm for the food. He was definitely adding the restaurant to his list of go to places. "Maybe I'll take you there on the next date," he teased. 

 "Hey, clearly this was meant to be. Now I can experience it for the first time with its number one fan." He shook his head fondly. "I'm going to assume both of those are songs, by the way. But so far I'm more impressed by how hot Ewan McGregor used to be. Not that he's bad looking now, but still."

Elliot gave a small embarrassed shrug. "I'm not the number one fan... I just really like it, okay?" Elliot took another bite of food as he listened to the man. "Correct. Yeah Ewan is top tier in this movie. His voice was so perfect for this film. You can just hear the passion in vocals when he does Your Song. I've never head anything better." 

 Elliot finished his dinner and wiped his mouth, the distance between them was way to far for comfort. He got up and went over to Max and took his hand, pulling on it to follow him to the theater seats above them. He pushed the arm rests up to make room for the two of them. He then gently pushed Max down so he could sit, while Elliot made himself comfortable beside him and rested his head on his shoulder.

Max loved hearing the passion in Elliot's voice on the rare occasions that he spoke about music. But even in the short time he'd been getting to know him he'd already learned not to pursue the subject so he just nodded.

When they were finally sat next to each other Max put his free arm around Elliot's shoulder and held him close. They continued to hold hands and he pressed a kiss on the top of his date's head. Things were going perfectly and it was even more amazing than he'd imagined it to be. "You better not be smug if I end up really liking this by the end," he teased.

"I don't need to wait to be smug. I know you're going to like it... How could you not? it's my favorite." He said with big puppy dog eyes. His free hand ran up and down the mans chest over his shirt as he watched the screen, waiting for his favorite parts as there wasn't one he could choose. 

 The entire time they were watching the movie, Elliot couldn't keep his hands off the man, giving him small kisses on the cheek and his neck as well as just touching him to feel him close. They were finally at the finale and Elliot could help the tears rolling down his face. He'd be embarrassed if he wasn't expecting it but he knew he cried every time he watched the movie.

It was strange to think that sitting there watching a movie with Elliot was the most casual affection he'd ever received from someone outside of his family. He'd never thought of himself as a particularly affectionate or needy person,  but as it turns out he'd simply been deprived of it. He craved every single touch as they came and pressed back into every one of them. 

 He'd known the movie was going to have a sad ending so thankfully it didn't catch him by surprise. He did find himself tearing up just a tad despite that however. He kissed Elliot's temple softly and then leaned over to grab the box of Kleenex Marley had warned him to bring. "I came prepared," he said while handing him one.

Elliot looked over at Max who barely had any tears "How are you not a blubbering mess like i am?" He asked with a chuckle between tears and grabbing the kleenex from the man. He wiped his tears and then gently wipe the couple small one at the edge of Max's eyes. "God, you probably think I'm ridiculous." He sniffled.

"I think you're fucking adorable," he countered. "I just don't look nearly as cute after crying as you do. I've got to keep it locked down so my eyes don't puff up." He was mostly joking, but he did hate the way he looked after crying. Plus he'd put on just a touch of eyeliner for the occasion and he didn't want to ruin it.

He moved in close and cupped Elliot's cheek. "I like when you wipe my tears away though," he admitted. "Like you're taking care of me. Feels good." He still wasn't sure what he was doing as far as dating went and it compelled him to be as honest as possible. He didn't want to mess anything up with miscommunications.

"You could have fooled me." He said referring to last night when they were both a blubbering mess. He stroked his cheek with his thumb before leaning in to kiss him deeply. "I want to take care of you." he muttered softly not wanting to pull his lips from the others. He never imagined making out in a theater past his teen years but they did have the room all to themselves it would be a shame to not make most of it. 

 He continued to kiss the man, pushing himself off the seat to get a better angle. He reached for one of Max's hand and placed it on his waist. "Hold me like you mean it." He grinned into the kiss.

That was the first time he'd ever been told that. It brought up a well of longing inside him. He imagined he was going to experience a lot of firsts with Elliot. "I want to take care of you, too. But being taken care of feels nice." 

 He laughed at Elliot's teasing. Instead of simply touching him as directed he smirked and grabbed then man with both hands by the waist. He pulled him over and up onto his lap. "Careful what you wish for."

Elliot squealed into Max chest as he was pulled onto the man. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around the man’s neck. “Careful? Careful is my middle name.” He teased with a kiss as he rocked his hips lightly. Gosh he felt like he wanted to devour the man.

His hands found themselves running through the others hair as their lips met. “You look so gorgeous tonight, babe. You did so well.” He praised with a smile, pulling away to meet his eyes. Yeah he could definitely fall hard for this man.

Max was prepared to make a joke about threatening him with a good time, but the moment he heard the praise falling from Elliot's lips he couldn't contain his reaction. He moaned deeply into his mouth and when they separated he was left with an enormous blush. 'You did so well,' echoed in his head along side the noise he'd let out and he covered his eyes with his hand. "Oh my god."

Elliot loved heard the other moan but was a bit concerned when he pulled away covering his face. Elliot sat up in his lap and pouted. “Honey, are you alright?” He asked with furrowed brows as he brushed the others hair back with his hands and used the other to pry the man’s hand off his face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Max was not a shy guy. He'd done all manner of sexual activities with more people than he could count, but apparently having the cute guy he was really starting to care about tell him he did well was too much for him. He shook his head trying to backtrack his embarrassment. "No, no, nothing wrong, sorry." He rubbed his hands up and down Elliot's thighs gently. "Think you just got a bullseye on my new biggest turn on," he said with a laugh. "Probably not a good idea to explore it further while we're still in public is all."

Elliot raised a brow, not sure what Max was going on about, not exactly sure what the turn on was that had Max so flustered all of a sudden. But it did make him feel good that something he had done was affecting him in that way. “What is it?” He asked curiously with a laugh. 

 “Shall we go back to your place then? Maybe you can tell me more about this kink you have?” He bit his lip as he used his hands to rub his chest up to his shoulders.

Max loved feeling Elliot's hands on him. That combined with the news that his date wanted a happy ending to the evening had him smiling up at him. "I didn't not clean my place enough to have you over," he said with a chuckled. "But I'd love to go back to yours. You could take me into your bed and tell me what a good boy I've been for you today." It was a dangerous game to tease since just saying the words had Max hard and ready to go.

Elliot frowned a little bit at not getting to see Max’s place but he understood not being show ready. Maybe next time. “Back to mine it is.” He raised a brow and chuckled, of course it would be a praise kink. He honestly hadn’t meant it to rile him up, he really did think he was doing really well for it being his first date. “Alright, my good boy.” He smiled and pressed a kiss to his lips before standing from his lap.

Max groaned before standing beside him. "We may need to implement a 'no calling me that in public' rule," he joked. "I like it way too much."

He took hold of his date's hand again and gave the back of it a kiss. It was quickly becoming one of his favorite little shows of affection. He swung their hands between them as they walked back to the car, feeling giddy about how well the night had gone.

“Really, it’s that bad?” He chuckled as he took his hand and followed him to the car. He took hand again in the car as they drove back to his house. “Maybe we can set up the hot tub when we get to my place. It’s been a while since I’ve used it.” He suggested.

Max gasped dramatically. "Elliot Rose, are you trying to get me shirtless? On the first date?" He laughed, "A hot tub does actually sound really nice though." They eventually found themselves back at Elliot's front door. "Alright, before we go in I need the cliché end of date kiss," he said before arranging them in front of the door. They stood face to face and he held both of Elliot's hands in his. "I had a really nice time with you tonight."

Elliot rolled his eyes “Do you not remember last night?” He smiled contentedly as they arrived at his house and he was stopped before arriving at the door. “I also had a really great night. Just know you don’t need to go all out like that each time, okay? You’re great just as you are, baby.”

"Oh, I'll remember last night until the day I die, handsome," he teased. He shrugged at Elliot with a little smile. "I know. I just wanted to make our first date really special. I don't want you to think I'm just going through the motions to get into your pants. I'm in this. Like, all in."

Elliot nodded and pulled him in close. “I know honey. And you made it so special for me. It was the best first date I’d ever been on.” He took another step towards Max. “You’re so good to me. I’ve never had someone be so good for me, baby.”

Max let the words of praise wash over him. They brought forth conflicting feelings. Part of him wanted cuddle up to Elliot and beg the man to hold him and say nice things to him all night long. The other part of him wanted to drop to his knees where they stood and beg the man to fuck him hard. Either way he was turned on and barely controlling himself. "Fuck, I want to be good for you," he finally replied while letting his eyes fall shut.

Elliot let go of one of his hands to to run his thumb along his jaw. Seeing Max so vulnerable and so wrecked because of him was extremely attractive, Max was gorgeous. He leaned up and pressed his lips to the others softly. “Let’s go inside.” He murmured.

Max followed Elliot inside like a puppy, his head buzzing with desire. He took his shoes off quickly and had barely turned back towards his date before blurting out his desires. "Baby, can I go down on you?" He hadn't mean to say it so unromantically but it was suddenly the only thought in his mind. He licked his lips and took a deep breath to try to calm himself. "Totally fine if you don't want me to, obviously. But if you did, I'd be into it. Really into it."

Elliot fixed the shoes rapidly and gave the room a glance to make sure everything was in place before returning his attention to the man. He was a bit stunned at how forward Max was being but it didn’t bother him in any way, he was just curious. “You want to… really?” He asked, Elliot was never really a fan of going down on anyone, call him a bad partner but it just always gave him anxiety, he never thought he was doing it right and he’d never really been on the receiving end of someone who was great at it too.  But he did trust Max, he trusted him a lot. And just like Max was good for him he wanted to be good for Max. “You don’t want to hit the Hot tub first?”

Max nodded his head eagerly. "Fuck yeah, I want to," he told him enthusiastically. "But, yeah, obviously it doesn't have to be this second. We have the whole night. And the tub really does sound amazing. I just needed to get that off my chest, see if it's something you'd be into."

Elliot nodded “Okay, yeah that sounds nice, baby.” He assured him with a nervous smile. Max had done so much for him already, it was the least he could do for the man, if it’s really something he wanted. He took his hand and led him to the back of the house, another part Max had yet to see. In the back yard he had the pool, his hot tub and a gate that led straight to the beach. The tide was fairly high already and you could hear the waves crashing.

Max smiled at his date and followed him outside, happy that they were seemingly on the same page. His jaw dropped a bit as he took in the view. "Damn, Ellie. Fucking beautiful out here. Next date we should just sit out here and drink some wine, take in the sunset."

Elliot beamed, proud of his space and that Max seemed to like it. “I really like that idea.” He went over to start up the tub, letting it run as they got ready. He walked over to the small shower shed he had where he stored towels and his bathing suits. He began to undress tossing his dirty close into the hamper there, except for Max’s jacket which he hung on one of the hooks and without another thought dropped his drawers to replace them with the swim trunks he hand. Once he finished he tossed the other pair to Max.

Max decided to be a gentleman and did not at all stare at his date as he got changed. Instead he stood a respectful distance and only glanced every few seconds. "I'm going to start getting conditioned to be turned on by showers," he joked as he followed suit in rinsing off and getting into the trunks.

"Fuck, I can't even remember the last time I relaxed in a hot tub. You're going to spoil me."

Elliot didn’t mind the glances from Max, he knew they would happen anyway and he laughed at his comment, it was true, water seemed to always rile them up.

He walked up to the man and placed a hand on his chest. “I can’t wait to spoil you. You deserve it so much.” He kissed him before leading him to the water, going down the steps into the hot bubbling water. It felt so incredible he let out a soft moan.

Max hummed into the kiss and was left with a smile once they separated. He stepped into the tub after Elliot and echoed his moan. "Damn, that's nice." He took a seat and practically melted into it. "How do you not just fall asleep out here? So fucking relaxing."

Elliot chuckled “It’s hard not to, I’ve dozed off a couple times but not for too long.” He moved to sit next to the man and closed his eyes with him, feeling the bubbles and heat around him. It felt incredible. “This is exactly what you need after working on cars all day. Here scoot forward and find a jet.” He told the man as he actual got up to sit on the edge of the tub behind Max once he’d followed instructions. He then pulled him back gently so the jet was pulsating at his back while his hand went to his shoulders, starting a a nice deep massage. “How’s that, baby?”

Max closed his eyes and let his head fall back. The pulsing of the jet felt amazing on his lower back and Elliot's hands might as well be magical. He hummed in appreciation. "So good," he confirmed. "I knew you were going to spoil me. Fuck, I could sit here all night."

“That’s right, baby. Just relax. Let me make you feel good.” He whispered softly, leaning down to kiss his forehead. He knew he wasn’t the best at sex but he did give great massages. He worked his shoulders and neck a bit more, making sure to hit certain pressure points that he knew felt good. He was a good study from his own masseuse. He worked from his shoulders down his arms to what he could reach, then over his shoulders to his chest. He peppered the man’s face with kisses as he did.

Max was feeling conflicted again. He was so used to physical stimulus leading to sex that he almost couldn't help but be turned on by the massage. However, the combination of the words of praise and the little kisses he was being littered with made him feel fuzzy and soft more than horny. The one thing he wasn't confused on was that it was good. He moaned softly and sank back deeper into Elliot's hands. "Christ, never stop touching me."

Elliot shook his head with a laugh. Touching him would never be a problem, he loved having his hands on Max, he loved feeling the firmness and curves and just warmth, and he loved the way he smelled. It was addicting on all levels. “I actually need to get a better angle here…” he spoke experimentally as he stood from behind Max to get back into the water and straddle his lap. His hand went up to rub his temples immediately, watching the satisfaction of the gorgeous man in front of him. “There we go. How’s that feeling, sweet boy?”

There was a brief moment while Elliot was changing positions that his hands were disconnected from his skin and Max wined pathetically at the loss. The moment the man was on top of him Max wrapped his arms around his back and rolled his hips up to find some friction. He moaned loudly as he felt it. "Ah, fuck. Sorry, I'll behave." He settled himself down again, hips still, and tried to simply enjoy the tub and his wonderful date's skilled hands.

“It’s okay, baby.” Elliot bit his lip and proceeds to give Max a scalp massage as he rolls his hips, giving Max what he wanted. “I want to be good for you just like you’re good to me. So, so good for me, sweetheart.” He pressed his lips against the boys neck, leaving soft open mouth kisses along it and up his jaw, nipping lightly ever so often.

"You are good," he answered instantly. "So good for me too. So fucking perfect." His fingers dug into Elliot's hips and he whimpered at the triple threat of stimulation he was receiving. He'd never had so much emotional attachment to a sexual encounter before and it was driving him to the edge faster than anything had since he was a teen. "Ellie, baby," he moaned desperately, already sounding wrecked as he instinctively tilted his head to give the other man more access to his neck. "I'm sorry, I'm already so close. I'm about to make a mess of your hot tub."

He understood it, he understood why people had kinks. The whole good boy talk was getting to Elliot too and suddenly he didn’t mind that Max was about to come undone in the clean water. Elliot held onto Max and rolled his hips even harder, one hand leaving his hair and traced down his chest to his nipples, while the other tugged on his hair as his lips stayed attached to his skin, bruising it lightly as he nipped harder. “It’s okay, honey. I love it when you call me Ellie. Fuck.”

It didn't take much more after that. Seemingly the permission was all he'd needed. Max clung to Elliot desperately while savoring every single touch between them and chanting his name. "Ellie, Ellie, Ellie- fuck. Oh, fuck!" He bucked up against him and shuttered as his orgasm ripped through him. The combination of the pleasure and the heat had his head feeling fuzzy and amazing. He fell backwards against the wall of the tub and practically panted, trying to catch his breath. "I want to suck you," he muttered, not wasting any time. He wanted to feel Elliot heavy in his mouth. "I'll be good if you let me. Promise."

Watching Max enjoy what Elliot was giving him was the biggest turn on yet and he was achingly hard in his swim trunks. “That’s right. Such a good boy for me, baby.” He whispered as the man let go under him. He rocked his hips gently as the man came down and back to him. He didn’t waste a moment letting him know his continued desires. He couldn’t say not to him. “Where do you want me?”

Max blinked up at Elliot and then turned his head to look behind them. "Back, where you were." Even with his orgasm clouded brain he figured the most comfortable place in their current location would be to have Elliot sitting on the edge as he had been moments before. He picked him up and set him in place. He turned around and kneeled in his seat between Elliot's legs. He stretched his arms out to the floor on either side of him and lowered his head to start kissing along the waistband of his date's trunks. "Can I?"

Elliot felt paralyzed by lust and nerves as the man picked him up and sat him on the edge. He had so many thoughts rushing through his head that it suddenly felt blank and now Max was touching him and kissing his skin. It made him shutter lightly and his dick twitch in his shorts. Of course he wanted this. Who wouldn’t want this? He nodded at Max and shut his eyes, letting it happen.

Max couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. He'd been given the go ahead but when he looked up at Elliot's closed eyes he wondered. He stopped and reached a hand up to cup his cheek. "Ellie, baby. You alright? You sure you want this? It's okay if you don't." He may have been misreading things but he just wanted to be sure before they went any further. There was nothing wrong with checking in every once in a while.

Elliot shook his head as he cupped Max’s  face with his hands. “No, I-… I trust you, Max.” He chewed on his lip, feeling more and more anxious. He normally didn’t like the attention the focus on him. It was very overwhelming to him. He also didn’t feel like he deserved it and He was scared he wouldn’t like it to be quite honest. He pouted at the boy. “I’m sorry, I’m just…” he raise a hand to hide his face, slumped over on the edge. “I just want to be good for you.” He whispered.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Ellie." His head had come back to him and he was thinking more clearly. "You've been absolutely perfect." He grabbed Elliot's hands and started kissing his knuckles. "Not to be a dramatic bitch, but this might be the best night of my life. I've never had so much fun spending time with someone before. Plus you just made me cum harder than I think I ever have. So, not getting to suck you off in no way ruins the night. I promise." He didn't want Elliot to feel like he had to do things or compromise himself for him. 

 "We can get you off another way if you want," he offered with another kiss to his hand. "Or if you're not in the mood we can just keep soaking. Or head to bed? You can be big spoon this time," he teased.

If he was honest, Elliot was already getting soft from the extreme overwhelm and anxiety he was feeling. He felt relief that Max didn’t want to push him into anything, only because Elliot was certain he would do anything for the man at this point. “I think I just want to go to bed.” He let out a soft shaky sigh of relief.

Max smiled up at him and leaned forward to give Elliot a chaste kiss to the lips. "Then bed it is, baby." He was beyond glad he'd trusted his instincts and checked in with Elliot instead of pushing ahead.

He stood up from the tub and pulled Elliot along with him back to the shower to quickly rinse off. "Can I borrow those sweatpants again, Ellie?" Now that he knew Elliot enjoyed the nickname he was sure to start overusing it.

Once Elliot’s anxiety was triggered, it was hard for him to let go of it. It has always been that way, ever since he was a little boy. Worse part was sometimes he didn’t understand why he was so anxious but it was overwhelming.

He turned off the hot tub before heading over to the showers, turning around halfway to make sure he had actually turned it off. He counted the towels in the shower room, trying to make count of how many should be in there before grabbing two and making a mental note. He nodded at the boy as they went up stairs to his bedroom. Elliot made a bee line to where the pants usually were but he didn’t see them. This frustrated Elliot immensely. “They’re supposed to be here.” He whispered to himself not remembering that laundry wasn’t done until Wednesday, in his state of overwhelm, and it would still be in the hamper from this morning. He rummaged through more of his clothes, upset that he couldn’t find the one piece of clothing that Max liked.

Max tried to stay out of Elliot's way for the most part as he watched the man rustle around. He could tell he was becoming upset but he didn't have much experience interacting with this type of anxiety. He figured staying calm and trying to be supportive was the best course of action available to him.

"Are they still dirty? I can just wear anything, baby. Hell, I'll go nude if it doesn't bother you."

Max’s voice seemed to snap Elliot out of his downward spiral and shove through some common sense in his brain. Elliot took a few deep breaths and rubbed his face with his hand, embarrassed. “They should be the first item on top in the hamper.” He huffed quietly, he was extremely embarrassed by his behavior. He grabbed his own sleeping pants from the closet where he always had them and put them on before returning to the bedroom.

Max nodded and quickly changed into the sweats after grabbing them from the hamper. He was fine going without a shirt so long as Elliot didn't mind. He looked down at his chest and grinned at the faint marks he saw developing there. He was happy to keep them exposed.

He flopped down on the bed before Elliot and tried to think of something to distract the man from his troubles. "Want to hear something crazy?"

Elliot found the man already sitting in bed and he raised a brow. “What’s that?” He asked. He was a bit curious as he wrapped his arms around himself.

"Last night was the first time I've ever spent a full night sleeping with someone next to me. And it was probably one of the best sleeps I've ever had." He grinned and patted the spot beside him. "I'll say it again, you're gonna spoil me, Ellie."

Elliot found it a little hard to believe since he himself had many adult or even drunken sleepovers with his hookups in the past. But he had to remember, not all people were the same or had the experiences.  Elliot sighed softly and joined the man on the bed, crawling up behind him. He liked having the man feel taken care of.

He wrapped his arms around Max and kissed the top of his head as he gently played with his curls. “I think you’re one of the best things to ever happen to me in a very long time.”

Max stilled at the words, taken by surprise. He buried his head against Elliot's neck to ensure that his face was out of view. He wasn't sure he could handle any eye contact with how emotional he was suddenly feeling. His fingers curled against Elliot's skin. "You mean that?"

Elliot had always been very emotional, he was constantly getting himself hurt because of how deeply he felt things and how truly he expressed himself. For Elliot and relationships it was always all or nothing, either he wasn’t that into you or he was all in, and having sex really solidified that. He’d been hurt many times in the past that he really thought he would never find someone to accept him as he was. People always ran away whenever he said something that was really deep and followed through because he actually meant it.

Max, he was different and Elliot couldn’t quite put his finger on why but he trusted him. He could feel how pure his energy was, even if maybe his body wasn’t the purest. He had a feeling Max wouldn’t run, still he held back a bit. “I mean it very much.” He looked down at the man, seeing the light of the moon touch his cheek. He wish he could see his eyes, see what he was thinking. “I know it sounds crazy because I can’t even believe it myself but I can’t picture myself with anyone else.”

Max closed his eyes and held onto Elliot. He raised his leg to drape over the man's hip and squeezed tighter. "Good," he said simply with just a touch of sated jealousy in his tone. "Anyone else wants you they'll have to fucking fight me, because I'm not letting you go, Ellie."

It was crazy to think that he hadn’t really started paying attention to Max until last week, when they had grown up in the same town their whole life. He was glad they could fix that and now he couldn’t imagine his life without Max in it. “You’re gonna fight people for me, baby?” He chuckled sweetly. “I adore you.”

"Hell yeah, I will," he exclaimed. He pulled away from the cuddle just far enough to turn and show off his flexed abdominal. He gave them a pat and smirked. "You see these? And these?" He raised his arm and flexed his biceps as well. "I'll scare anyone who tries away." He laughed and laid back down to continue their cuddling. "You know, in a respectful, non controlling way. Like... defending your honor and shit, but not being the creep that says you can't talk to other  people."

Elliot rolled his eyes playfully as the man flexed in front of him. “Okay, mister tough guy.” He chuckled. He kissed him before he laid back down and let out a soft yawn. “Let’s get some sleep, yeah?”

Max echoed the yawn immediately and shifted to press his back up against Elliot's chest. He grabbed his arm and pulled it around his waist. After a moment or two he broke the silence with a smile. "Hey, you remember when you said you adore me? That's was pretty chill. You could like, text that shit to me sometimes. Make me smile at my phone like an idiot in front of the guys at work."

Elliot raised a brow with a smile, his eyes shutting closed as he held Max in his arms. He couldn’t be happier. “Oh yeah? I’ll try to remember that.” He kissed the back of his head.

[thorraborinn]

Asking as a brand new Norse pagan who is still very much in the "read about everything" phase. Given that rune divination is a iffy thing at best, where would one fit runes into Norse pagan practice? Is there a place for them as protection/blessing symbols? As a writing system? Can one use them to spell out words that would have had no equivalent back then (just as a goofy example-"yeet") or the like? I can hardly turn a corner without seeing runes on any and everything, so I'm curious.

Oh yeah, there’s loads of stuff you can do with runes. In fact, I was already pushing people to trash modern heathen rune culture before I knew how rooted it is in Nazi mysticism, just because of how boring it is.

I know most books about rune magic somehow manage to avoid mentioning this but, like, you can go and look at them. Scandinavia, especially Sweden, is covered in things that were written by people hundreds of years ago that you can go and read with your eyes and sometimes touch with your hands. Sure, it requires some language training to be able to make sense out of it on your own but like, rune divination being invented in 1924 doesn’t blink thousands of massive stone slabs covered in the written memory of those who came before us out of existence. Obviously most people can’t just up and go to Sweden and do this in person but fortunately arild-hauge.com exists.

When it comes to writing, you can do basically whatever you want. People are snobs about it but they’re usually wrong about whatever they’re being snobbish about. Whether you spell it ᛃᛁᛏ or ᛃᛖᛖᛏ that’s up to you and the person you’re imagining is gonna read it. Writing stuff in runes, sometimes including goofy weird modern stuff crammed awkwardly into pseudo-Norse is like, the main reason I have a following on Tumblr.

Just yesterday, my new 2021 runic calendar arrived in the mail from Nordic Animism. Granted, this works with or without runes as long as you have a set of seven and nineteen tokens, but aside from demonstrating that a genuine medieval system of time-reckoning is still functional today it also includes a real form of runic divination, a sort of prognostication about the year based on which rune indicates the new moon -- bad news for 2021, new moons start on nauð, ‘northern winter coldest, i.e. hard times.’ (note: if you bought this last year, and found it awkward trying to read the small print on the giant-ass calendar, it comes with a book this year so you don’t have to do that. You can also buy just the calendar or just the book).

While rune magic might not have worked the way authors of heathen books have led us to believe, there really was rune magic. Here’s a collected and commentated edition of magical inscriptions: http://dro.dur.ac.uk/1053/ (book, with free chapter preview). It’s... not very exciting. But that’s because we’re dealing with raw data, not a living tradition; making a living tradition is up to the living. There’s also loads of stuff in the archaeological record that we haven’t figured out yet.

Personally I use runic ciphers in my everyday life to function as an external-but-still-private supplement to my limited memory, but, no, I'm not telling you how. When I die and someone has to clean out my living space maybe someone will find my notes and then they have permission to share it but hopefully that will take some time. But think along the lines of weird shit like this: https://thorraborinn.tumblr.com/post/183628030863/rune-request-obligate-rebel

Thanks to a number of antifascist heathens there is an abundance of explicitly antifascist runic merchandise out there, some of which is actually fundraising for good causes: https://onepeoplesproject.com/merch/good-night-white-pride-t-shirt-available-for-preorder-will-ship-before-july-31/

A careful read of my posts on runic divination (check my #runes tag) will show that I don’t actually believe it’s impossible to reinvent it from the ground up. Nazis weren’t the ones to come up with the idea of it, they’re just the ones that set the standards that modern rune culture is an inheritor of. The first to think of it were German Catholic monks in the middle ages, so the idea is actually genuinely old, and has been reinvented with no connection to Naziism by, for example, Marijane Osborn (and also by me, though I won’t guarantee the usability of my thing).

Anyway basically there’s no limit, and you’re new so you definitely get a pass on this, but to everyone else: if it seems like you’ve had something taken away instead of been offered an infinity of possibilities it’s probably because we’ve been conditioned to expect to be able to buy an initiation into ancient mystical wisdom for fifteen bucks from Barnes and Noble’s “spirituality” section.

[u-iona]

One Piece is weird. In many, many ways. What I am going to be ranting (that’s the only thing to plausibly call it) about here is something that seems to be a standard for many characters in One Piece, but that’s actually quite contradictory to itself.

Being someone’s child means that you are exactly like them. Now, I cannot logicaly say if this is the exact train of thought that the One Piece characters have, but it seemed close enough, so I’ll go with it.

Most people, or at least most of what we’ve seen, seem to believe that you’re destined to be just like your parents, or at least one parent. This idea seems to be the biggest motivator for the Paramount War, since the war started because of Ace’s execution, which was reasoned to be happening because Ace was the biological offspring of Gol D. Roger. If Ace wasn’t Roger’s child, or if blood wasn’t so important, Ace might not have been executed. Or he might have, but his parentage was the only officially given reason.

Even if that’s not the case, the execution wasn’t the only thing that stemed from Ace’s capture, Blackbeard becoming a Shichibukai was another. Now a slight leap of logic that I’ll try to explain. Fact is that Blackbeard hadn’t originally planned to capture Ace, but rather to capture Luffy. If his final goal was a war, in which he could take Whitebeard’s Gura Gura no Mi, he’d have to be sure that who he captured would be important enough to start a war over. With Ace loving Luffy so strongly and the general great importance of familial bonds within Whitebeard’s crew, it is likely that Whitebeard pirates might have gone to war over Luffy. The problem are the marines. In order for there to be war, there would need to be a place and time for it. That would not happen in case Luffy was simply taken to Impel Down and left there, or executed secretly. But Luffy with his meager official achivements and frankly unofficial as well would be unlikely to be executed in the way Ace was.

Discounting parentage: Ace, as the Second Division Comander of Whitebeard pirates, is worth that effort; Luffy, 100 million bounty and biggest achievement being the defeat of a Shichibukai (kind of a big deal, but Crocodile only seemed to have the logia thing going for him and even if we take him as a starting villain, let’s just be honest and say that so long as it’s not Mihawk or Kuma, who I see as the two strongest Shichibukai, that defeat is not all that big of a deal), is not worth the effort.

Even if we take Teach’s goal to be becoming the Shichibukai, there is no guarantee that Luffy would be enough to force the World Governments’ hand, especially since Teach may be a former Whitebeard pirate, but had no bounty prior to that moment. Plus it’s illogical for that to have been his only goal. The only thing that Teach did as a Shichibukai was go into Impel Down in order to get himself some crew members. After that he joined the Paramount War, gave Whitebeard the killing blow and took his spot as a Yonko. No war means no death of Whitebeard, since it was obviously the joint effort that did him in, rather than Teach himself. No death means everything becoming useless.

Since the extraction of the Gura Gura no Mi was hidden and since we know that other members od Blackbeard pirates also stole Devil Fruits (eg: Shilew), it is likely that Blackbeard planned to take the fruit ahead of time, since even finding the method would require tonnes of research. Knowing that Luffy’s journey was roughly two months long, from setting off to the two year time skip, finding out how the extraction of Devil Fruits works in that amount of time is not feasible, so it was almost certainly planned long-term.

Which leads us back to parentage. Be it Ace being the Pirate King’s son, or Luffy being the son of The Most Wanted Man in the World, they would not be such great targers without those relations. Sadly I must say, that in a way the people of One Piece are correct. Both Ace and Luffy were always meant to be out-laws because of their parentage.

In no universe is it possible for either of them to be marines or civilians and live long fulfilling lives. Since being the son of a criminal is something that is apparently punishable by death in the One Piece universe, the moment the marines found out about who their fathers were, both Ace and Luffy would be destined to die, whether they be pirates, revolutionaries, marines, civilians or anything else. The World Government clearly does not care for their actions, since the parentage is the main thing that both of them were hunted for. Clear example being Batterilla. So, for them to increase their survival chances they need to be very well trained, highly unlikely as civilians and basically impossible in East Blue. Then they need to be as far away from any government agencies, bye bye marines and Cipher Pol. What does that leave the two with? Pirates or revolutionaries.

And now that I have ranted and most likely lost the thread roughly three times, let’s get back to the main point: the inconsistency. Think about the family that the protagonist presents. There is Luffy himself, then there are his brothers Ace and Sabo. Sabo’s family are nobles, but nobody seems to know that so let’s discount them. From Ace we have the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, and Portgas D. Rouge (maybe a civilian, but that’s a discussion for tomorrow at 4am). Then there’s Luffy himself with The Revolutionary Dragon as his father, mother currently unknown, and The Marine Hero, Garp, as his grandfather. And Garp is where this whole seems to fall apart.

Garp, as stated above, is the Hero of the Marines. If we go by the logic that you’re destined to be like your parents then that would mean that Dragon, the leader of revolutionaries that actively defy the World Government, HAS to be a good, just man, rather than a villain that the World Government portrays him to be. On the other hand, if Garp being a Marine Hero, a hero of justice, does not make Dragon just, then does Roger and Dragon being outlaws necessarily make Ace and Luffy so bad, that the need to be killed simply for being born?

Thank You for reading! Apologies for all the inevitable grammar and spelling mistakes found in this text, as well as inevetably forgeting to close some holes in this chunk of text. Brain works faster than fingers all the time. Please comment! Also please let me know if I should add some tags, I have no idea how to properly tag.

（╹◡╹）♡

[gamerwoo]

EXO: X.O. (Alt Ending 1)

Characters: EXO x reader (gender neutral)

Genre/warnings: dating sim au, interactive au, horror, angst

Tag list: @fullsun-donghyuck @hyungjunjpg @chanxyeollie @baekwell–tart@mntax @baek-byunies @withoutanyconfidence @exo-chan-kai @squishy-yamdumplings @linophobia @changbinasmr @bartiertae

a/n: lines in italics are what’s in the game! this is also the alternate ‘good’ ending which obviously isn’t what the readers got who voted, but I didn’t want to not add this ending in.

Previous | Next | X.O. Masterlist

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

You refused to just give up, so you opened the game files anyway. The game was still up behind it, and you could read the text box underneath the window with the files.

Sehun: You know what? I’ll humor you. It’s cute that you think you’ll escape me, so go ahead and try to guess the password, sweetheart.

You remembered the strange and random letters that would appear in character files or text boxes or in the background. You tried to put all of those letters into the password box, only to be told that password was wrong. You tried writing down the letters and switching them around to make a word, only to find that you couldn’t make a word out of all of the letters. But still, you tried random words or phrases you thought that it could be.

But then it suddenly hit you.

Caesar's cipher was something you had thrown into the game to give it a little more realism when it came to classes because it was what you were learning in history. Offhandedly, you decided to have Sehun always brag about being good at it because he was the youngest. And while you knew it might’ve been a long shot, you had to try every option.

But how many letters did you have to shift the alphabet? Nine? Ten? Twelve? Thirteen? Those were the only numbers you could think of.

Although, when the game glitched, the number twelve came up often. Twelve save slots, twelve times that “load game” appeared, twelve times that “yes” appeared on the screen. Maybe nine was too obvious for them because of the nine characters, so they or whoever locked the files picked twelve because of the three “secret” characters.

Using your pen and paper, you wrote down the alphabet before writing the alphabet below it but shifted over twelve letters. A became M, B became N, and so on. And using that, you tried to match up the letters you were given throughout the game.

Password: artificial love

And after pressing enter, you were in the game files.

You could see the text below the window change, but you didn’t pay any attention to it. You didn’t know if Sehun could get rid of the window or lock it again with a new password, so you simply highlighted every file and deleted it without hesitation.

You watched as file after file disappeared.

Sehun: No!

Sehun: _____, you weren’t supposed to do this!

Sehun: You were supposed to be mine forever!

Sehun: Please, I love you!

Then the text box was gone.

Then the background was gone.

Then Sehun was gone.

Then the game itself was gone.

You were left staring at the window with the files, and the background of your desktop. You let out a breath you didn’t think you were holding as you realized that it was over. This odd game that you’d endured for however many hours -- or maybe it had been days by now, you weren’t sure -- was gone and you wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.

However, you noticed a file remaining. It was one at the bottom of the files that you had missed when trying to highlight them all. The character files.

Despite what happened, you understood that it was technically because of you. These characters just wanted to love somebody and wanted somebody to love them. That drove them to do what they did. And while what they did was something you still weren’t necessarily forgiving or forgetting anytime soon, you still liked the characters you had originally made, and you felt kind of bad if you deleted them. Maybe you could rework them and fit them in a different game.

But you’d had enough of technology for a while, so today was not that day. And you promptly shut off your computer, deciding that just to be safe, maybe you should buy a new one.

[johndoe-lesbo]

Tagged by: @rkoradiopictures

Rules:

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions, don’t cheat. Tag 10 (or however many) people.

Gravity Falls

The Haunting of Hill House

You (Netflix)

Killing Eve

The Good Place

Who is your favorite character in 2?

I originally fell in love with Theo the first time (and the second time I rewatched it) but I rewatched it a couple of times later on and ended up being more invested and attached to Nell. She’s so amazing and fascinating. (And I think I had a bias for loving Theo bc she was a lesbian and I’m a lesbian sooo)

Who is your least favorite character in 1?

Oh gosh... that’s a hard one. I wanted to hate Gideon bc he was a lil’ creep, but I don’t hate him that much. And then I thought I was gonna hate Pacifica, but she ended up growing on me and she’s a victim of abuse so, I can’t hate that. Robbie tho. I HATE ROBBIE.

What is your fave episode of 4?

Season 2 Episode 5: Smell Ya Later

I loved Villanelle’s and Eve’s “date”. So romantic! 💕💗💞

What is your favorite season of 5?

Season 4, I have never felt more emotionally invested in a season finale conclusion in my life! I break down and start sobbing if I think of the finale, and I’m not lying about that!

Who is your favorite couple in 3?

Jesus, you can’t really have a favorite relationship in this show. I want to say Forty and Candace, but (SPOILER) Candace was just using Forty to get to Joe (which is shitty and gross). And any relationship w/ Joe is just bad news all around. So Joe and Love can just be serial killer parents bc they are perfect for each other in that aspect (even tho I hate that Joe is only in this relationship bc Love is pregnant and he feels entitled to that child it’s BLEH). So I guessssss Ellie and Delilah. We love sisters who kill sexual predators in this house!

Who is your favorite couple in 2?

All of their relationships are rocky, but I do love the progression of Theo and Trish’s relationship. So the lesbian one, obviously! (If I could choose a 2nd fave, it would be Nell’s and Luke’s. Their sibling/twin psychic connection thing is heartwarming 😊)

What is your favorite episode of 1?

The first Weirdmageddon! (I was (and still kind of am) a Bill Cipher slut... lol)

What is your favorite episode of 5?

The season finale. Hands down. No competition.

What is your favorite season of 2?

It’s just the one season thus far, but Bly Manor is coming soon, so that may or may not change.

How long have you watched 1?

I started watching it after season 1 just concluded, and I watched all the new episodes after that maybe 2-3 years ago?? I started late, but caught up up to the brother discovery/Stanford Pines episode (I forgot the name of it lol).

How did you become interested in 3?

I heard about the book from a bunch of BookTubers a while back, but it didn’t really fascinate me as much knowing it was from the perspective of a stalker. But I saw that it was on Netflix and I was intrigued to see the tv-adaptation, and I LOVED IT. Joe is such a wild ride of a character and I can’t wait for season 3!

Who is your favorite actor in 4?

Villanelle. I love a lady serial killer! And Jodie Comer is like a hardcore crush of mine...

Which do you prefer 1, 2, or 5?

Because The Haunting series is still kind of on-going, I don’t have an answer for that. But I’m gonna have to go with 5 (The Good Place) bc I’m satisfied with the ending of TGB over GF. I’m not satisfied with GF’s ending bc I’m selfish and wanted Bill to win.

Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?

1. Gravity falls has more episodes by default.

If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

I hear that Villanelle is supposed to marry a woman in season 3. So I wanna be her.

Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

FUCK YEAH IT WOULD. Both shows have a very common theme of obsession and warped views of what love and romance is, so yeah. Also, I think Villainelle would absolutely hate (or at least be completely bored) with Joe, but Eve would fall for Love (in a similar way to her love for Villanelle). So, yeah. Sign me the fuck up!

Pair two characters from 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

Stanley Pines aaaaaanddddd... Bill Cipher??? They both have a lot of similarities and have a knack for deception and conning.

Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

I feel bc they both have extremely different plots, it’s hard to say. I love the perspective of being in the stalker’s POV a lot more as opposed to it being another cop drama, so YOU has that going for it. But I love the cleverness of mixing morality and comedy in The Good Place, but I feel like TGP is an easy “I’m a good person” answer bc “it’s not the show about the stalker serial killer lol”. And I enjoy both equally, but I’m going with YOU bc TGP is over and done and I enjoyed the storyline I was given, but bc YOU is still going, I could still end up loving it even more that TGP. (I’m just trying to remain unbiased!)

Which has better theme music, 2 or 4?

I like 2’s more. Killing Eve’s music can be a little too cheesy for me sometimes, but THOHH’s music just pulls me in and makes me feel things. I love the opening for Haunting so much!

TAGGING:

@universefemme @halethehomosexual @drumcore @blackreaders-assemble @thebookcookies @vampirozi @chaotic-bi-hours @kiranatrix @imusicfreak @ghoulish-cowboy

HAVE FUN Y’ALL!

[azuldemontana]

SecSoc 2019 T2 CTF - My first try

So today I competed in my first ever Capture the Flag competition, it was a lot of fun, very hard and a great learning experience. 

Position: 24/36

Score: 400

Avg. Score: ~1100

1st Place: 2000

So, were we the best team there? Uh, no. But personally that wasn’t what this tournament was all about for me. I came along today to see how these events worked, what kind of skills are needed for them so that I can participate better in them in the future. I’ll defiantly be going to the walk through coming this Thursday to see how some of the other challenges get solved and continue this rabbit hole of a journey to become a better CTF team member. 

Bufff

This one was the first one we attempted and was pretty fun and was a chance to practice our buffer overflow skills. Heres now we solved it:

Use binary ninja to look for vulnerabilities

Find the size of the buffer and calculate no. of needed characters

Locate memory address

Overflow with no. of characters and the address

Binary ninja was a super neat tool that I hadn’t heard of before today, it’s essentially a graphical interface used to reverse engineer a program by displaying its program flow. 

We noticed pretty quickly that there was function call to gets(), a notoriously bad function (or good, in our case) for memory issues. After this we saw that the string it was being passed (or the pointer to that string I should say) was stored in var_56, converting hex->decimal and we have 86 characters needed to overflow this buffer. We then just had to find our desired return address, which was (quite obviously) the function ohShit(). We noticed that if this function was called we would be given a shell, see the call system 6 up from the bottom, passing “/bin/sh”:

So, after this we used a little bit of python:

python -c "print('A'*86 + \x56\x85\x04\x08)" | nc ctf.unswsecurity.com 7002

Which passed our 86 chars and the address (in little endian), overflowing the buffer and then the return address of main with the address of ohShit(), this gave us a shell that we could then use to find the file containing the flag.

Pikachu~

TIL there is a Pikachu language that is based of the Brainf*ck programing language...

yeah this challenge was pretty easy.

Rotation

This was a pretty simple cipher text, so no hurdles here. Easy little 50 points

Riddles in the Dark

Unfortunately we weren’t able to get this one out. But we did make some progress. It was most certainly an SQL injection, which I successfully found out after playing around with some of the tricks I’ve learnt from looking into injection flaws. Simply inserting a single quotation marker crashed the page, I’m not well served in SQL, and actually have never used it in my life so I wasn’t able to get further than that. But now that I know that there are many points to be picked up form web challenges I’ll definitely be coming prepared for an SQL injection next CTF.

Executive Briefing Center

At 150 points, we thought this one would be hard. But turns out the flag was just sitting in the .py downloadable. Trivial

Executive Briefing Center II

This one was not Trivial, at least for me. I spent some time going over the python, and was able to make sense of the code. I could even see exactly where we needed to get the program flow to go. Unfortunately, my high school python skills just weren’t up to the challenge and I wasn’t able to get passed the cryptographic aspect of this challenge.

It looks to me that first you have to correctly tag on 4ad1n to the end of your message to activate the else statement, then it looks as if the flag is placed at the end of the message, however the function passes this message into another function encrypt(message). At this point my understanding of python and the methods of decryption met a brick wall. So I’m really curious to see how this one is solved. 

Expect an update on this post on Thursday after I found out how these challenges are all done. The first of many CTFs is finished, time to put our sights to the next one!

[cantrcturn]

Rules~

1. Themes will vary with this blog. Chances are, there’ll be dark themes, swearing, and violence. This is Bill Cipher - if you’re unsettled by the sort of content he might dish out, I wouldn’t recommend following.

I will try my best to tag everything. These will be under the format of swearing tw. If you’d like me to tag anything specific, don’t hesitate to ask through anon / inbox / im!

I don’t have any triggers but I do ask you tag all of your NSFW (sexual) content.

Mun is of age, and as such I won’t be writing anything of the sexual nature with minors. Not that I would be writing it anyway.

2. I’m private, which means I only write with mutuals (this is for my own sanity / comfort; everyone’s cool!). I’ll write with canon, oc, and crossover characters. I tend to follow most people though.

Although I’m private, when it comes to following people, I’m selective. We don’t have to have known each other prior to write!

As for following back, I usually take a week tops to do so - but if you’ve hit up my promo, I go through that eventually.

If it’s a crossover, I have to know the fandom and be at least a little bit confident with it. This is so I’m able to work with you, our thread and have muse for it.

I follow the tag #cantrcturn. If there’s anything you want me to see, like dash commentary, just tag that and x-kit will alert me of your post! I may respond to ic stuff ic stuff if I’m feeling it.

In that sense, I’m chill with dash shenanigans with most folk, not just mutuals!

Absolutely no godmodding. It ain’t fun, fam. If you’re not sure what this term means, do look it up. This includes powerplaying, metagaming, and other things of that nature. This applies especially in fights if they happen (I’m chance-based and hope that you are too). 

Given Bill’s canonical powers and presence in Gravity Falls, I know he’s kind of. OP. I am, however, open to discussing this sort of thing with you and how much he might know about your muse.

I can be picky with OCs. But rest assured, if you’ve followed me/interacted with my promo, I’ll always give your pages a read.

Please don’t be offended if I don’t want to interact with you (and please don’t try to guilt me into doing so!).

I DON’T CARE ABOUT AESTHETICS. I just think they’re pretty. If you don’t use formatting or anything like that, or heck - even wanna’ just do iconless rp - I have no problem with it whatsoever! It’s you, your writing and your muse I care about!

3. Please don’t rush me for starters or responses.

PLEASE understand that I have blogs galore and my muse tends to fluctuate; this can mean I’m everywhere at once and can end up neglecting a blog or two. It’s nothing personal; you know how muses are!

I have a full-time job (and I’m trying to get into screenwriting in my off-time) so sometimes I’m scrapped for time or exhausted. I’m also an introvert who deals with anxiety and depression, thus that may affect how much / how often I roleplay. If I don’t get chance to respond to anything ic or ooc, it’s nothing personal! Promise!

Chances are, I’ve probably has seen that bit of interactivity and just haven’t gotten around to responding yet.

My roleplaying style being para/multi-para, I may take a while to respond. I hoard drafts like a dragon - it’s really just the motivation to write and ship those out.

I hoard asks, but sometimes can’t find muse or interest for all of them. If it’s been a month or two, generally assume I’m not interested / can’t find muse for it. You’re free to send another though!

I answer asks from anyone - personals, rp blogs and anons. I’ll answer non-mutual asks occaisonally but I won’t be making threads out of them

4. Shippings? Not really looking for romantic ships, tbh. Anything else is gucci though.

If I don’t happen to be interested, don��t force anything on my character.

I do not ship incestuous ships. Do NOT follow/interact if you do.

The ship has to have chemistry; I’m generally shipping trash, but if they don’t click, they don’t click, sorry.

This is a multi-ship blog, meaning there will be more than one ship without them conflicting with eachother.

If you want to ship and I already have a ship of your choosing going with a duplicate, please don’t hesitate to hmu! My ships aren’t exclusive and each character/relationship portrayal is unique to me!

Relationships are eternal until you deem otherwise. If you’re not interested in a ship anymore, just let me know!

5. Whilst I am of age, I’m not aiming for sexual content on this blog (and will not be dealing with fetishes). The occasional joke is fine, but anything beyond that makes me uncomfortable, and I typically don’t recommend pulling it with my character if you’re interacting with me.

6. About reblogs…

I am not a meme source, and reblogs clog up my activity. Please reblog any memes you find on this blog from their SOURCE. The exception to this rule is if there is no source; go ahead.

I don’t feel comfortable with Personals reblogging my IC or OOC posts, so please don’t do that. If I put something in the fandom tags for whatever reason (bar promos), you’re free to, though.

This goes for my art too unless it has the tag ok to rb, but otherwise only the person I drew it for can reblog it. If you wanna’ reblog something, I DO put it on my art blog eventually!

A few times is fine, as it happens, but repeatedly breaking these rules will result in me soft blocking you.

I try to participate in reblog karma as much as I can, but always reblog from the source/a meme source.

If a post or ask is for you, you’re free to reblog it to save it though - but only if you’re an rp blog!

7. I’m a para / multi-para blog, novella if I’m adventurous and have time. Whilst I may roleplay crack threads with shorter responses, this does not apply to all threads I write. This means:

I write my replies as detailed as I can muster, and length can range from 1 paragraph to 6.

Short responses (such as one-liners) in more serious threads where I’ve written a decent deal can instantly kill my muse for that thread.

Whilst I’d prefer for partners to at least somewhat match my length, it’s entirely up to you - just try your best and make sure you give me enough to work with. ♡

If my muse happen to go nuts out of nowhere - like, overboard - don’t stress too much about matching him.

8. Threads! You can yeet asks, memes, and even starters at me if I’ve liked a call! I’ll obviously have my own you can like.

You’re free to like starter calls even if we’re not mutuals; I can check out your blog that way. I still only write starters for mutuals though.

Starter memes are the BEST way to interact me because they just yeet a prompt at my face and really help me write starters. If you see me reblog one, send one!

If you want a certain verse, lemme’ know! Otherwise, I’ll probably default to a post-canon verse.

If you want to turn an ask into a thread, go ahead!

I don’t recommend writing starters for me unless we’ve discussed something. I don’t like to leave anyone hanging.

Please don’t assume things about my muse. If you’re uncertain about things, ASK.

IMs are open to mutuals, if you want to do any in-depth plotting. I also have Discord if that’s more convenient for you!

9. Guidelines on mains and relationships:

If we’re mutuals and we interact a lot, you’re welcome to ask me if I’d like to be your main! You can check Bill’s about page for who’s available.

Please don’t be offended if I deny, though; I typically want to pick those I trust to be my mains as well as people I can comfortably write with.

Not limited to them! I roleplay with duplicates galore so don’t be afraid to hit me up if you want to interact!

Pre-established relationships are a-okay in my book; if you have an idea for a relationship between our muses we can work towards, hit me up! I reblog those pre-established relationship memes every so often too. Romantic relationships link back to the shipping guidelines.

Also, friendship/family/rivalry relationships are EXTREMELY valid to me - so don’t feel scared about asking for them!

10. If you have any issues, please let me know and hopefully we can resolve it!

Mun is actually super nice, so don’t be afraid to hit her up!

I am absolutely terrible with IMs and Discord. I either respond quickly or days later, depends on my mood. Social anxiety tends to interfere with this (and more recently exhaustion from work) - but honestly, if you’ve sent something, I’ve likely read it and just haven’t gotten around to it yet! It’s nothing personal; trust me!

Please leave me out of drama; I’m here to have a good time, as is everyone else, and it pains me to see people arguing.

This is a little different with callouts - if I see anything on dash pertaining to any problematic users, I will take it into consideration and rb it if I believe them to be harmful.

11. To retierate, I tend to follow those that:

Write para and whom I feel my muse would click with.

Seem chill? Tone can really intimidate me honestly.

Have rules and about pages! Knowing the boudaries of my rp partners is super important as well as their lovely muses! Sometimes rules are enough, though, if you’re going to write the about eventually.

Tag their nsfw.

Don’t have massive icons - ie, have rp icons that take up an entire text post like 500x500 or something. I don’t want to clog the dash and it’s tiring to resize them.

…also, if I follow your hub blog (provided it doesn’t double as a personal), it generally means I’m cool with any blogs that are attached to it.

12. On threads…

If you’re not interested in a thread anymore, and would like to drop it, please let me know! I’d feel terrible if we’re both not having fun with it or if partners feel overwhelmed with the amount of threads we have.

Honestly, unless I let you know, our threads have no expiry date - so no need to worry about me dropping them without telling you. I can just be quite slow sometimes.

11. Mun does not equal muse! Anything my character might say does not reflect on how I think unless I explicitly say so.

12. Know that if I follow you, I WANT to interact with you.

I literally couldn’t care less about follower counts. I care about YOU guys and our interactions.

13. These rules may be subject to change.

Please like this post if you’ve read the rules! You don’t have to, but it’s of personal reassurance to me if you have.

[tinymixtapes]

Feature: Why We Hate James Hurley

“It really is awful when someone rattles off a poem without any proper feeling.” – Sei Shonagon We do hate James, don’t we? Any cursory internet search will bring you to tweets and tags and posts about why, and how, we hate James Hurley. The reasons are as broad as one interdimensional television world would allow. The reasons are as narrow as his “boring, stupid face,” to quote my wife. The reasons span the un/critical, endlessly meme-able distance between. But the point is clear: we hate James. Maybe you do not, but, culturally speaking, we do. We dread his complete disregard for presence, his fake guitar playing, his ridiculous crush-hopping, and his boring subplots. While there are certainly more unlikable characters on Twin Peaks, they commit neither the sin of having too much screen time nor the sin of squandering what time they have. At each moment, a world of trauma and mourning swirls around James, but his dumb gaze stares through it all: to women, to his bike, to the world beyond the lodges. Riding away, his back remains turned to the deepest depths he could ever face — in himself, and in Twin Peaks. All the while, we’re stuck listening to him pick and strum indecisively. We’re stuck watching him ride into the sunset while all hell breaks loose. Outlined below are four interrelated reasons why I believe we hate James Hurley. You may ask, “We who?” But if you’re reading this, “we” includes “you.” You may wonder, after the fact, “but this isn’t all about you.” That’s an interesting thought. Please leave disagreements and countertheories in the comments thread after the postlude. I’m eager to engage. --- 01. James is Boring “I’m only quiet on the outside.” Philosophers are often bored, so it’s unsurprising that Heidegger (a bore above most) would dedicate a long lecture to the question of boredom. At the train station, about the empty passage of time, Heidegger asks: “What are we really passing here?” In short, boredom is that fundamental experience that draws us toward our finitude in relation to Time. We wait for the train and, in waiting, discover ourselves; our selves, of course, do not outlast our boredom. Perhaps Heidegger’s greatest cultural critique was his understanding of our need to make ourselves disappear into a language that, by virtue of its apparent stability (and abundance), consoles. So long as we don’t press the foundations of the language any further, we’re good. We pass time, and time passes us for the time being. Still, we wait, and die. In front of screens, we wait, and die. We watch and wait. If we’re lucky, we become enraptured in the midst of the passage of time. However, with television, we are rarely that lucky. Following the early climax of Twin Peaks’s second season, we especially find that we’ve run out of such luck as new, yet hackneyed, narratives are thrown into the mix. The greatest offender, if perhaps because it’s the longest, concerns James and his new quasi-lover Evelyn. In this narrative, we wait at the end of the station, paradoxically, for the train wreck to pass. This is where we begin and end our theory of why James is such a bore. James is boring not only because we wait with him while he is waiting to make a move (or not), endlessly. We wait for it all to end, endlessly. This dual waiting could, with great sophistication, become a means of understanding James as one who waits. It could even become a means of understanding ourselves in relation to boring television. But it becomes, through the actual narrative, a diversion from our encounter with the deeper mystery of the series and a largely artless distraction. It is an amalgamation of wasted time, in which our least favorite character fails to act, and we fail to skip forward (believing, stupidly, in some notion of foundational coherency). In the end, of course, we find that James was being used: to wait, while something more important was happening all along. It’s difficult not to feel similarly. Resentment, sadly, will sit at the station, and pass the time. --- 02. James is a Reminder “I changed my mind. I’m not sorry.” Reminders are invitations. Throughout Twin Peaks, David Lynch is calling us to the background. Inadvertently, it’s there that we first found BOB. It’s through backgrounds that we learn who or what know what or who. Owls, logs, lights. Even more obviously, however, it’s in the background where the televisions are running, and we’re given an Invitation to Love. In life, it’s believed that people experience varying degrees of freedom. On television, however, characters are developed (and on soap operas, almost never un-developed). It’s increasingly important to make this distinction, as people have a tendency to see themselves as characters and not as people. In life, people are groomed to become characters who act within their lives. People are fated by forces outside of themselves, forces that have the sole purpose of developing certain characteristics. These are, in the end, what we call “reality,” much in the same way in which reality television is understood as “reality.” Coincidentally, we are let down by appearances, our roles, the accidents of our materiality. The logic of television is quite different: characters let us down because we realize things could’ve been otherwise, even with something as simple as a director’s cut. Soaps are notoriously uncut. But it is cuts that bring us to the core of Twin Peaks. With cuts, Laura’s body washed to shore. At dawn, the town of Twin Peaks came to us: first, a meadowlark, then an interstate, then the downtown, then artifacts of a town asleep, the diner, the Great Northern, the sawmill, a kitchen at breakfast. Cut to a woman’s body “face down, lying on the log raft, cut, bruised, broken and lifeless.” The small town is subsumed within her death, and her body becomes the locus of mourning for the small town. It’s a story that we’ve known for 25 years and from time immemorial. It is an originary cut from which we’ve been in mourning ever since. (Who killed Laura Palmer? We anticipate the answer and suspect everyone in the meantime.) We hate James, in the midst of this, because he is a reminder of what else is happening: that is, what is happening on television. If the cut is an opening, the continuity of the closure is that which tries to hide reality — even reality, as in the case of Twin Peaks, at its most metaphysical. It almost goes without saying that James is a character lifted from a soap, as though occupying the empty space of a television’s glow. Insidiously, like a character, he is a reminder of our need to escape from reality, to “aberrate” mourning rather than inaugurate it, in the words of Gillian Rose. He is the barrier we must cross in order for ourselves to descend into the Black Lodge. His melodrama, meanwhile, scuttles in the foreground, cutting us off at every meaningful step for which he is present. --- 03. James is a Cipher “Laura said a lot of nutty stuff.” (Animation: Korey Daunhauer) What does a doppelgänger see when they look through their mirror? The mythology is wont to tell us, and unsurprisingly unconcerned. (It’s a scarier question, a scarier answer. David Lynch is, no doubt, the filmic master of repression.) But everyone, even a double, has their story to tell. Twin Peaks is, above all, a show about dual identities showing themselves in mirrors. Every significant character has its double, and each confrontation becomes a locus, eye to eye, of one terrible revelation: you are not who you think you are. (You are, in fact, who we are… or were.) Who does James see when he looks through his mirror? Like Narcissus, I can’t imagine he even saw that far. He certainly wasn’t written, as a character, to see that deeply. It’s questionable as to whether or not he saw himself. James’s identity is put into play from the beginning, having neither home nor parents nor girlfriend nor personality. He carries his last name like a curse. He’s a void, a mirror, all unto himself. The mirror-play becomes a theater of refraction for Lynch’s ideal teenage masculinity. It becomes a theater for how to play the role as a man, without having the foundations necessary to actually be one. When you can’t be who you are, you dress the part instead — and hope to God no one catches on. In television, as in life, we hate frauds. More profound than our hatred of frauds is the hatred of the de-frauded, themselves, when they know we’ve caught on. They pick up the shattered pieces and hope the bits of reflections will still fool someone — and take quick swipes at those for whom it doesn’t. But how does a mirror hold itself, broken? This is the cipher theory: we hate James because he can’t mirror what, or who, he is supposed to mirror. James Dean can flaunt his pointless rebellion with a glint of sincerity, but in pieces, mourning his mutilated crush while flirting with the next (and the next), all we can see is Hurley’s eyes roaming the room in search of a sight of himself. All the while, his Echoes lie in wait, ready to follow and flee. --- 04. James Left Image: Séamus Gallagher In our lives, we have far too few moments in which to make sense of our most profound losses. In our lives, we rarely have the opportunity to truly descend into the depths of truth. In our lives, we have as many opportunities to run as to stay, and yet. James was keen to crush and quick to leave. Worse yet, James, who connected, if tangentially, deeply with his place, who knew the ins and outs, who knew the superficial secrets, chose to “see the world,” instead. He chose to get on his bike and ride. But what in the world can you see if you don’t even look into the dark corners of your home? Cooper went in. James rode away. He rode beyond the episodes, beyond the finale. Does the ocean have the same appeal when you’re headed nowhere? Cooper came out transmogrified. James disappeared into the station, the glow, the mirror itself. James is a bore, a projection, a vessel. As with everything, or everyone, else that we hate, James is a dumpster into which we can dump our own emptiness. Worse still, James is the emptiness that we’re left with after the fact. We hate James because we can’t bear it, either. --- A Musical Postlude (Without Comment) http://j.mp/2rjm12D