#secure cloud setup

[olivergisttv]

How to Set Up a Personal Cloud Storage System

In a world dominated by online services and ever-growing data needs, setting up your personal cloud storage system is a game changer. Whether you’re tired of relying on third-party services or simply want more control over your data, a personal cloud storage setup offers the flexibility, security, and scalability you need. Here’s how to set up your own cloud storage system, step by step.   1.…

[theblogs2024]

Microsoft GCC Substantial Expert Services: Secure Answers for presidency and Protection

Within an era the place cybersecurity threats are going up, businesses dealing with sensitive government data will need strong alternatives to be certain compliance and security. Microsoft GCC (Government Group Cloud) Substantial offers specialised providers personalized to meet the rigorous prerequisites of U.S. authorities businesses, protection contractors, along with other organizations handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). In this post, we delve into your key functions, benefits, and very best tactics of Microsoft GCC Significant Products and services.

What on earth is Microsoft GCC Higher?

Microsoft GCC Significant is actually a protected, compliant cloud platform created to help the exclusive requirements of organizations working with delicate details governed by federal regulations. It offers a protected environment for storing, processing, and transmitting info, adhering to expectations like:

FedRAMP Significant: Federal Hazard and Authorization Management Method certification for high-affect facts.

ITAR Compliance: Assures compliance with the Intercontinental Visitors in Arms Rules.

DFARS/NIST 800-171: Supports compliance With all the Protection Federal Acquisition Regulation Health supplement as well as the National Institute of Expectations and Know-how benchmarks.

Important Functions of Microsoft GCC Substantial Providers

Improved Security

Multi-aspect authentication (MFA)

Highly developed Menace Defense (ATP)

Encrypted facts storage and transmission

Compliance Resources

Constructed-in tools for monitoring and keeping compliance with federal standards.

Audit logging and security event monitoring.

Isolated Natural environment

Focused infrastructure divided from business environments.

Restricted use of licensed personnel only.

Collaboration and Conversation

Safe variations of Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Trade On line tailored for CUI and sensitive information.

Great things about Microsoft GCC Significant

Regulatory Compliance: Will help organizations fulfill stringent govt and defense knowledge requirements.

Sturdy Protection: Delivers assurance with Innovative cybersecurity steps.

Productivity Equipment: Enables seamless collaboration even though maintaining compliance.

Scalability: Delivers adaptability to scale services as organizational wants improve.

Who Need to Use Microsoft GCC Large?

Microsoft GCC Substantial is perfect for:

U.S. federal organizations

Protection contractors

Aerospace organizations

Organizations dealing with CUI beneath DFARS or ITAR laws

Ideal Techniques for Employing GCC High

Understand Your Compliance Desires

Conduct an intensive evaluation of one's Corporation's compliance prerequisites.

Lover with Licensed Professionals

Perform with Microsoft associates expert in GCC Substantial deployment to be sure easy implementation.

Practice Your Team

Teach personnel on the correct usage of GCC Substantial resources and compliance protocols.

Monitor and Update

Routinely review protection options and compliance configurations to adapt to evolving threats and needs.

Summary Microsoft GCC High Companies offer a dependable Answer for companies managing sensitive governing administration info. By making sure strong security, regulatory compliance, and productive collaboration, GCC Significant empowers corporations to fulfill their distinctive issues confidently. For more info or to start your GCC Significant journey, connect with a certified Microsoft partner right now.

Get more info. here: GCC High Compliance Consulting

[techdriveplay]

What Is the Best Approach to Setting Up a Smart Garage?

As homes become more interconnected and smart devices permeate every corner of daily life, the garage is often overlooked. However, integrating smart technology into your garage can significantly enhance convenience, security, and efficiency. So, what is the best approach to setting up a smart garage? Whether you’re looking to streamline your morning routine or boost the security of your home, a…

[jatinbansalblog]

🔥Want to access 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 on cloud Anytime & Anywhere? Hurry up and connect with us🔥

.

Quickest Setup, go live in 15 minutes

Zero Maintenance Cost

🔴Why choose us

Own Data Center infrastructure

23 years of experience

10000+ Happy Clients Pan India

 High Data Security

 24/7 Support

.

 ☎️ +91-8800198868

visit now : https://kisitservices.in

#tallyoncloud #cloudcomputing #cloud #tally #AWS #krishna #cloudservices #tallycloud #busy #margoncloud #busyoncloud #dataprotection #privacy #security #krishnacloudservices #krishnacloud #kisitservices #kisit

[virtualizationhowto]

Best Self-hosted Apps in 2023

Best Self-hosted Apps in 2023 #homelab #selfhosting #BestSelfHostedApps2023 #ComprehensiveGuideToSelfHosting #TopMediaServersForPersonalUse #SecurePasswordManagersForSelfHost #EssentialToolsForSelfHostedSetup #RaspberryPiCompatibleHostingApps

You can run many great self-hosted apps in your home lab or on your media server with only a small amount of tinkering. Let’s look at the best self-hosted apps in 2023 and a list of apps you should check out. Table of contentsWhy Self-hosting?Plex: The Media Server KingJellyfin: Open Source Media FreedomEmby: A Balanced Media ContenderNextcloud: Your Personal Cloud ServiceHome Assistant:…

[darkmatilda]

𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 | 𝐬.𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐝

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: while working on the case and watching a certain profiler with pretty eyes and a well-tailored coat, you overhear some local cops badmouthing him — and before you know it, you decide to put them in their place.

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬/𝐭𝐰: spencer reid x diva!chemist reader, unpleasant comments about spencer’s looks and behavior, diva is so diva he should marry her right now fr and hold my hand while i say this and don’t panic joke about morgan's baldness...

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬: 1.8k

𝐚/𝐧: request | i was too much of a lazy bitch to make a header sorry i hope his pretty face makes up for it xx

“How are you feeling out in the field?”

Morgan addressed you with his arms loosely crossed over his chest and a slightly teasing expression on his face. You slowly shifted your gaze to him.

“Absolutely fantastic,” you replied flatly, adjusting your grip on the handle of the umbrella resting against your side. Through the tree canopies spreading above your heads, patches of gray clouds broke through, now and then releasing a few drops as a warning of the real downpour to come. “I love nature.”

He nodded ironically, clearly unconvinced.

“Of course,” he said. “Do you love the mud on your boots too?”

Almost exactly as those words left his mouth, several large raindrops tapped against his FBI jacket, followed immediately by more, falling with even greater intensity. Your friend raised his eyes to the sky, pressing his lips together in displeasure. Rainy weather always made working at a crime scene harder—securing the body and protecting biological and chemical evidence. And collecting the latter was already challenging given the location: a truly remote, densely overgrown spot in the forest, impossible to access by police vehicles. Those had been left at the end of the forest path, as far in as they could get, and you’d been led to the exact place where the latest victim of the serial killer had been found by local officers.

“I’m about to have mud on my boots,” you remarked, already imagining what would happen to the already damp ground after even just a few minutes of such heavy rain. The conditions you encountered had been predictable, so you had chosen footwear suited to them—stylish boots that also perfectly complemented the rest of your outfit. But then again, that was nothing unusual. Even if you had to evacuate during a volcanic eruption, you’d grab something you wouldn’t be ashamed to have melted into your skin by lava.

You opened the umbrella, which had until then been resting with its tip on the ground. Derek took a step toward you, premature gratitude written all over his face—so you stepped back instead, the corners of your mouth curling up mischievously.

“What? Worried about your hair?”

Morgan shook his bald head from side to side, sighing.

“You little witch—”

“Morgan!”

Hotch’s voice called out to you from a not particularly great distance. Even he—who normally never parted with his suit—was now wearing a brown fleece with a high collar and was currently overseeing the setup of a police tent over the recovered body to protect it from the rain.

Derek gave you a nod in farewell, ending the brief chat, but you didn’t even follow him with your eyes. Your gaze remained fixed in Hotch’s direction—or more precisely, on the member of his team who had just approached him. What immediately caught your attention was that Reid was wearing a very well-tailored coat (a detail that made you purse your lower lip in approval, because well tailored coats did have something about them), and he had just begun explaining something, as usual gesturing animatedly with his hands—now covered in blue rubber gloves, lightly dusted with dark soil.

Focused on whatever fascinating theory or analysis he was sharing, he seemed completely unaware of at least half of his gestures, absentmindedly rubbing his chin with the dirty glove in concentration—naturally leaving a mark on his skin.

You rolled your eyes at the sight, but there was something surprisingly gentle in that gesture. You turned the handle of the umbrella in your hand, which also rested on your shoulder—and then the corner of your ear caught a scrap of conversation happening behind your back. Even without turning your head, just by slightly focusing your hearing, you could tell it was coming from two of the local officers also present at the scene.

“Where do you think they even dug him up from?” asked the first male voice mockingly.

“Which one?” the second sounded confused, but a moment later let out a derisive snort. “Alright, don’t even tell me. I already know who you mean.”

Laughter. Real kings of comedy, truly.

“I wonder what he’s even doing in the FBI. I mean, they’ve got to have some kind of fitness tests, right? What’s a beanpole like that even good for?”

“I’ll tell you what he’s good for—pissing everyone off with his babbling. Just look at the other guy’s face.”

Following the suggestion, you looked at the other guy’s face. That, of course, meant Hotch’s face—there was no doubt who the first part of that pathetic, taxpayer-funded conversation had been about. You studied the BAU chief’s expression more closely and didn’t detect a hint of irritation or weariness at whatever Spencer was explaining to him. Hotch simply looked like Hotch.

Your observation was interrupted by the approach of one of your team members, the hood of her raincoat pulled tightly around her head and her glasses nearly completely covered in rain.

“We’re going to have to go back to the car for the equipment,” she informed you, adjusting her glasses on her nose with a sigh the moment she looked toward the path you had come from earlier. That meant quite a bit of walking through muddy terrain, carrying rather heavy items—always packed in sturdy cases for safety reasons.

A certain thought popped into your head, and with a smile creeping onto your lips, you calmed Olivia with a wave of your hand.

“Don’t worry about it,” you said. The woman frowned suspiciously as you turned over your shoulder toward the two men behind you. “Gentlemen, could I ask you for a favor?”

They stared at you for a beat too long, then at each other—and then eagerly stepped forward to fulfill the favor, whatever it was.

“Of course...”

“Anything you wish...”

You cleared your throat.

“You’ll go and bring back the case with number two on it,” you instructed.

Olivia furrowed her brows and parted her lips to protest, but you silenced her with just a look.

“But you need to be extremely careful,” you continued smoothly, “so, very slowly. Ideally, carry it together—for stability.”

The men listened with rapt attention and visible determination to follow your directions. Which, of course, were nonsense—one person could easily carry it alone. But trying to do it as a pair would stretch the trip out nicely in all that rain and mud. Then, well, they were gone, like children you’d promised candy to.

It was so very typical of the kind of men you made use of—just as typical as their pitiful little sense of being useful, irreplaceable.

You watched them vanish between the trees, and when your gaze met Olivia's again, her face showed both surprise and a certain intrigue.

“But we need case number three,” she pointed out, correctly.

You opened your mouth in exaggerated disbelief.

“Really…? Oh, Olivia, why didn’t you say so earlier,” you sighed, making it clear that the whole thing had been a game from the start.

The woman stayed silent for a moment, genuinely trying to figure out your intentions. She gave up shortly after, shaking her head with a sigh.

“And what kind of sadist are you playing today?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” you assured her.

The officers returned, lugging the wrong case and looking like wet dogs, their hair plastered to their foreheads from the rain, which had only intensified since they’d left. They set it down in front of you and Olivia, both sheltered under the umbrella you were holding, visibly relieved they hadn’t dropped it.

You waited a few seconds, during which they stood silently, clearly expecting some kind of eternal gratitude, before raising an eyebrow.

“I said case number three.”

They exchanged a look.

“Um, I’m pretty sure you said the one with number two on it.”

“Um, sounds like you’ve got a hearing problem,” you snapped, sharper than you’d intended, the words slipping out before you could stop them

It wasn’t something you’d planned from the start, and for a second, you were secretly surprised at yourself. But since sharpness and spite had apparently chosen you today, you decided to stick with that version of events and made sure your face reflected the proper level of displeasure.

Olivia glanced sideways at you for a long moment, then nodded with faux certainty.

“Yeah, she definitely said case number three. You must’ve misheard. Not your fault, maybe it was the rain,” she offered in a more sympathetic tone, though still fully backing your story.

The men exchanged confused looks, now with a flicker of doubt that maybe it had been their mistake. So, off they went again—to return the wrong case and fetch the correct one. When they finally disappeared, you gave Olivia a small, grateful smile.

Only to immediately wipe it off your face as the dumbasses reappeared, and declare:

“And what about my handbag? I told you to bring that too.”

And what amused you the most was that the two of them only started showing any suspicion or doubt after their third trek through the rain and mud. Frustration flashed in one of their eyes as he handed you your handbag.

“Was this really necessary for working the case?” he asked through clenched teeth.

Unbothered, and with their eyes still on you, you calmly reached into the bag for your compact mirror and lipstick, touching up your makeup with the faintest swipe.

“No,” you replied, snapping the mirror shut. “But at least you were useful for something. There’s no intellectual work here for two such empty heads, so you might as well make use of those muscles.” You gave them a critical once-over with that last word—because honesty, their physiques weren’t all that impressive either.

They stared at you in complete stupefaction before walking off, muttering something under their breath about a crazy bitch. Well, you had no intention of wasting another word on them. Another thing you had no intention of doing was explaining the entire ordeal to the clearly intrigued Olivia. And the main reason for that was the fact that you hadn’t fully rationalized it to yourself. Maybe you were just running on a higher than usual dose of spite that day.

Maybe there was another reason entirely.

Shortly afterward, Reid approached you, preoccupied with peeling off his latex gloves, only glancing at you with brows furrowed in curiosity.

“Is it just me, or did you send these guys to the cars three times?” he asked.

You merely gave a slight shrug.

“That’s what happens when you have trouble following instructions,” you remarked simply.

And before walking off to rejoin your team, you reached up and wiped that smudge of dirt from his chin with your thumb—the one you'd spotted earlier—leaving him, to put it mildly, completely stunned.

[amalgamasreal]

On Personal InfoSec

Been awhile since I've had one of these posts but I figure with all that's going on in the world it's time to make another one of these posts and get some stuff out there for people. A lot of the information I'm going to go over you can find here:

So if you'd like to just click the link and ignore the rest of the post that's fine, I strongly recommend checking out the Privacy Guides.

Browsers:

There's a number to go with but for this post going forward I'm going to recommend Firefox. I know that the Privacy Guides lists Brave and Safari as possible options but Brave is Chrome based now and Safari has ties to Apple. Mullvad is also an option but that's for your more experienced users so I'll leave that up to them to work out.

Browser Extensions:

uBlock Origin: content blocker that blocks ads, trackers, and fingerprinting scripts. Notable for being the only ad blocker that still works on Youtube.

Privacy Badger: Content blocker that specifically blocks trackers and fingerprinting scripts. This one will catch things that uBlock doesn't catch but does not work for ads.

Facebook Container: "but I don't have facebook" you might say. Doesn't matter, Meta/Facebook still has trackers out there in EVERYTHING and this containerizes them off away from everything else.

Bitwarden: Password vaulting software, don't trust the password saving features of your browsers, this has multiple layers of security to prevent your passwords from being stolen.

ClearURLs: Allows you to copy and paste URL's without any trackers attached to them.

VPN:

Note: VPN software doesn't make you anonymous, no matter what your favorite youtuber tells you, but it does make it harder for your data to be tracked and it makes it less open for whatever network you're presently connected to.

Mozilla VPN: If you get the annual subscription it's ~$60/year and it comes with an extension that you can install into Firefox.

Proton VPN: Has easily the most amount of countries serviced, can take cash payments, and does offer port forwarding.

Email Provider:

Note: By now you've probably realized that Gmail, Outlook, and basically all of the major "free" e-mail service providers are scraping your e-mail data to use for ad data. There are more secure services that can get you away from that but if you'd like the same storage levels you have on Gmail/Outlook.com you'll need to pay.

Proton Mail: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and fairly easy to setup and use. Offers a free option up to 1gb

Tuta: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, been around a very long time, and offers a free option up to 1gb.

Email Client:

Thunderbird if you're on Windows or Linux

Apple Mail if you're on macOS

Cloud Storage:

Proton Drive: Encrypted cloud storage from the same people as Proton Mail.

Tresorit: Encrypted cloud storage owned by the national postal service of Switzerland. Received MULTIPLE awards for their security stats.

Peergos: decentralized and open-source, allows for you to set up your own cloud storage, but will require a certain level of expertise.

Microsoft Office Replacements:

LibreOffice: free and open-source, updates regularly, and has the majority of the same functions as base level Microsoft Office.

OnlyOffice: cloud-based, free, and open source.

Chat Clients:

Note: As you've heard SMS and even WhatsApp and some other popular chat clients are basically open season right now. These are a couple of options to replace those.

Signal: Provides IM and calling securely and encrypted, has multiple layers of data hardening to prevent intrusion and exfil of data.

Molly (Android OS only): Alternative client to Signal. Routes communications through the TOR Network.

Briar: Encrypted IM client that connects to other clients through the TOR Network, can also chat via wifi or bluetooth.

Now for the last bit, I know that the majority of people are on Windows or macOS, but if you can get on Linux I would strongly recommend it. pop_OS, Ubuntu, and Mint are super easy distros to use and install. They all have very easy to follow instructions on how to install them on your PC and if you'd like to just test them out all you need is a thumb drive to boot off of to run in demo mode.

If you game through Steam their Proton emulator in compatibility mode works wonders, I'm presently playing a major studio game that released in 2024 with no Linux support on it and once I got my drivers installed it's looked great. There are some learning curves to get around, but the benefit of the Linux community is that there's always people out there willing to help.

I hope some of this information helps you and look out for yourself, it's starting to look scarier than normal out there.

[rainforestakiie]

ahhhh, something i write while being in a three hour long coach drive. a five nights at Freddie’s AU! hope you enjoy!

five nights at Hazbin Hotel!

Adam stood frozen before the building, his breath catching in his throat. It loomed above him, an ominous silhouette against the darkening sky, mocking the very concept of normality. He blinked rapidly and checked the address one last time, a knot tightening in his stomach. His green eyes, usually so sharp, now clouded with confusion and unease. He absently scratched at his head, muttering to himself, "This can’t be right. This can’t be the place."

He swallowed hard, his throat dry, as he reluctantly stepped toward the cracked stone steps leading up to what could only be described as a hotel conjured straight from the depths of hell. His gaze darted nervously around, trying to make sense of the warped, grotesque surroundings. How could anyone call this place an attraction? The eerie silence was broken only by the soft shuffling of his own feet on the uneven ground.

Desperation had pushed him here. Ever since he lost his security gig at the pizza place across town—a job that, despite its drudgery, had at least paid the bills—he’d been scrambling for something, anything to keep him afloat. Eve, with her charming smile and cryptic words, had mentioned an "exciting opportunity," a new attraction that needed a night guard. It seemed like a gift at the time, a godsend. But now, standing before this twisted, unsettling structure, he was starting to feel like he’d just walked into a trap.

With a frustrated grunt, Adam pulled the swipe card from his back pocket, the thin plastic slick against his sweaty palm. He hesitated, eyeing the door, before finally pressing the card against the reader. A chorus of six unsettling beeps echoed from the device, each tone more jarring than the last, until the door creaked open with a low, guttural moan.

The interior of the Hazbin Hotel was everything he had dreaded. Barely finished, yet disturbingly close to completion, it seemed almost alive, as though it had been waiting for him. The dim lighting cast long shadows that danced across the floor, and an oppressive silence filled the air, thick and suffocating. The lobby was sparse, save for a bizarre, round booth-like counter and two massive archways—one labeled “Heaven” and the other “Hell.” The irony wasn’t lost on him.

Adam snorted, though the sound lacked any real humor. His eyes fell on a grotesque statue in the center of the room—some demonic creature frozen mid-dance with its complete opposite, a fluffy, angelic figure of pink and white. The demon’s red goat-like features, horns spiraling out of its head, twisted in an unsettling way. Its partner, soft and serene, seemed equally unnatural. The two were locked in a macabre waltz, a stark symbol of the hotel’s theme. He rolled his eyes, muttering, "Really leaning into the whole Heaven and Hell thing, huh?" He patted the belt on his waist as though checking for reassurance.

Shrugging off the unnerving vibe, Adam made his way to the booth, swipe card in hand. Inside, he found a simple setup: a bank of camera screens on one side, a control panel with an array of buttons and a microphone on the other. Behind him, a pegboard stood waiting for coats, and a mini-fridge hummed quietly beside a plain white stool. He tossed himself onto the stool, the metal legs screeching against the floor, and kicked off the ground, spinning lazily.

For a brief moment, as he twirled in the dimly lit room, his thoughts drifted. The strange unease gnawing at him softened, replaced by a fleeting sense of calm. But it wasn’t long before the unsettling nature of his surroundings clawed its way back into his mind. The air felt heavy, charged with something unseen, something dark. He stopped spinning, his hands gripping the edge of the counter as his pulse quickened. Something about this place… it wasn’t right. It wasn’t right at all.

“Hello? Hello, hello?”

A sudden voice crackled through the speakers, nearly sending Adam flying off the stool in shock. Heart pounding in his chest, he scrambled to his feet, eyes darting around the eerie, dimly lit room, searching for the source of the voice. But there was no one—just the empty, unsettling quiet of the hotel. Realizing it was a pre-recorded message, Adam let out a shaky breath, cursing under his breath. He leaned closer to the counter, squinting at the microphone as the voice continued.

“Uh, I wanted to record a message for you... to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I’m... finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact, so... I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I’m here to tell you: there’s nothing to worry about. Uh, you’ll do fine! So... let’s just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?”

Adam frowned, a deep, unsettling feeling creeping up his spine. Something about the man’s tone didn’t sit right with him. The voice was too fast, too nervous, like the guy was hiding something. And for a split second, Adam could’ve sworn he heard something strange—faint, ghostly giggles in the background. His eyes darted around again, unease gnawing at his nerves.

"Why does this guy sound so jittery?" Adam muttered under his breath, his pulse quickening.

“Uh, let’s see. First, there’s an introductory greeting from the company that I’m supposed to read. Eh, it’s kind of a legal thing, you know…”

Adam clicked his tongue, annoyed. Legal thing? he thought, raising an eyebrow. They think I’m gonna steal or something?

The voice continued, “Um, ‘Welcome to The Hazbin Hotel: a magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Hazbin Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person. Upon discovery of damage or if death has occurred, a missing person’s report will be filed within ninety days or as soon as property and premises have been thoroughly cleaned and bleached and the carpets have been replaced.' Blah, blah, blah...”

Adam’s heart skipped a beat. “Whoa, whoa there, buddy...” he whispered, his mouth suddenly dry. What the hell was that? Did they just casually slip in a death clause? His head spun with confusion. What exactly are they expecting to happen in this place?

The message pressed on, oblivious to Adam’s growing alarm. “Now, that might sound bad, I know. But there’s really nothing to worry about.”

“Bullshit,” Adam huffed, running a hand through his hair, his fingers trembling slightly. The terrible, sinking feeling in his gut grew stronger with each passing second. This place was wrong. Every instinct screamed at him to turn around, walk out, never look back. But he needed this job. He needed the money. So he stayed rooted to the spot, despite every fiber of his being telling him otherwise.

“Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night... but do I blame them?” The voice faltered, and there it was again—those eerie giggles, only louder this time. Adam’s eyes widened. The guy’s voice cracked as if speaking to someone else, someone Adam couldn’t see. “No! If I were forced to sing... those same stupid songs for 20 years, and I never got a bath? I’d probably be a bit irritable at night too…”

Adam froze. “Animatronic characters?” he whispered, his heart thudding against his ribs. What characters? Quirky? He’d have to check them out later, he supposed, but nothing about this felt right.

The voice wavered, growing more frantic, “But remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of the fans, and you need to show them a little respect. Right? Okay.”

Adam rubbed his chin, baffled. “What the hell kind of place is this?”

Hazbin Hotel wasn’t just an ordinary attraction—there was something far more sinister lurking beneath the surface. Was this a game? A horror show? How popular could this freakshow be?

“So just be aware: the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uhh, they’re left in some kind of ‘free-roaming mode’ at night. Uhh... something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long. Uhh... they used to be allowed to walk around during the day too, but then there was The Bite of ’87...”

Adam felt the blood drain from his face. The Bite of ’87? His brain raced to catch up, trying to make sense of the madness unfolding before him. Is this place a rebrand? A reboot? And what the hell does that have to do with these wandering... robots?

The message continued, voice lowering in a hushed, almost conspiratorial tone, “Now concerning your safety: the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uhh, if they happen to see you after hours, probably won’t recognize you as a person. Th-They’ll most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now, since that’s against the rules here at Hazbin Hotel, they’ll probably try to... forcefully stuff you inside a Winner or Sinner suit.”

Adam’s stomach churned. Stuff me into a suit? The voice carried on, describing the horrifying details of what that entailed—crossbeams, wires, animatronic devices—and how his head would be crushed inside the metal shell. His mouth went dry as the message casually mentioned his teeth and eyes likely popping out of the mask.

He felt sick.

The voice chuckled nervously, “...Y-Yeah, they don’t tell you these things when you sign up...”

Adam slumped onto the stool, his head spinning. What the fuck have I gotten myself into? His skin crawled, every instinct screaming at him to get out, to leave before the nightmare became real. The message clicked off, leaving him in suffocating silence.

For a moment, Adam sat frozen, paralyzed by the dawning horror of his situation. He wasn’t just stepping into a creepy attraction—he was stepping into something far, far darker.

For a long, tense moment, Adam did nothing. The weight of his hesitation pressed down on him as seconds slipped away, each one a reminder that he was wasting time. He should be securing the hotel. That was his job. But the oppressive stillness in the air held him captive, the ticking of the distant clock growing louder in his ears. With a sharp, irritated sigh, he forced himself to move, standing up so quickly that his joints popped with the sudden stretch. His skin felt unnaturally cold, the chill seeping into his bones as he stepped out of the booth, leaving the false sense of safety behind.

His gaze flickered between the two looming doorways, one labeled “Heaven” and the other “Hell.” Both beckoned him, each promising something different, but equally unnerving. He had to check both before he could settle in for the night. But which one should he start with? His pulse quickened as he bit his bottom lip, eyes lingering on the entrance to Hell. There was something... sinister about it, the shadows seemed darker there, like they were alive. Goosebumps prickled across his skin as a deep unease settled in the pit of his stomach.

Surely Heaven would be the easier of the two, right? A lighter, more welcoming exhibit. Hell could wait. Hell shouldwait. Groaning, Adam rubbed his face with both hands, trying to shake off the creeping dread. With one final glance at the Hell entrance, he turned toward Heaven and stepped through.

He regretted it the moment he crossed the threshold.

The brightness hit him like a physical force, harsh and almost painful, as though he had stepped into a world entirely made of blinding light. The air was suffused with a shimmering glow that made his head throb. Adam cursed under his breath, squinting hard and raising a hand to shield his eyes. He wished he’d brought sunglasses or anything to dull the intensity. Everything about this place felt artificial, forced. Too perfect. Too clean. Too... wrong.

Sighing heavily, he continued deeper into the so-called Heaven, his footsteps barely audible on the soft, cloud-like floor. It was built to reflect the traditional ideas of paradise—cotton candy pink and white clouds floated lazily overhead, a glowing golden sun hung in the sky like a permanent fixture, and shimmering blue stars blinked in and out, as if winking at him. Soft, lullaby-like music drifted through the air, but rather than soothing, it felt suffocating, a trap disguised as sweetness.

As he walked further, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. His eyes darted around, falling on a series of cherub statues scattered throughout the exhibit. Their large, unblinking blue eyes seemed to follow him, glittering in the overly bright light. Their frozen smiles, once innocent, now appeared sinister in the back of his mind. He swore he saw one twitch in his peripheral vision but when he turned his head, it was still. His heart hammered in his chest.

Finally, he reached the heart of the exhibit.

There, standing like silent sentinels, were three towering figures—animatronics, but so lifelike it made his skin crawl. Adam’s breath hitched in his throat as he stared up at them. Two of the figures were female, or at least modeled after female forms. They had long purple hair and massive, pristine white wings—six of them, lined up in perfect rows on their backs. Their faces were oddly bird-like, angular and adorned with glowing patterns of blue and white, their eyes piercing and cold. Even standing still, they radiated an unsettling presence, as though they were waiting for something... or someone.

Adam craned his neck, his eyes traveling up their massive forms. They were huge, easily towering over him, and at six feet tall, Adam wasn’t used to feeling dwarfed. The tallest of the trio was even more imposing, and his stomach churned as he took a step back, feeling small and insignificant beneath their gaze.

Between the two female-like figures stood a third—a male, or so Adam assumed. This one had golden hair and piercing blue eyes, but his face was oddly cherubic, almost doll-like, with an eerie smile that sent a shiver down Adam’s spine. His wings were even larger than the others, fanning out behind him like some grotesque imitation of an archangel.

Adam’s eyes fell to the plaque beneath them, his pulse quickening as he read the names inscribed there: Archangel Michael and the Seraphim, Sera and Emily.

He took another step back, his mind racing. Something was deeply, horribly wrong with this place, and it wasn’t just the unnerving, too-bright light or the mechanical figures looming over him. It was something darker, something alive behind those dead eyes.

Swallowing hard, Adam tore his gaze away from the towering figures, their cold, lifeless eyes still lingering in his mind as he turned and continued his path through the Heaven exhibit. His footsteps were heavy, dragging along the too-soft floor as the haunting lullaby trailed after him. The unsettling brightness clung to his skin, but at least it was behind him now. By the time he reached the end and found himself back at the entrance, his breath was shallow, his nerves strung tight.

And there it was—the Hell doorway, waiting for him like an open mouth ready to swallow him whole.

He groaned under his breath, staring at the darkened archway with a mix of dread and grim anticipation. What kind of horrors had they concocted for this side of the attraction? His imagination ran wild, picturing grotesque, demonic figures lurking in the shadows. But it couldn’t be that bad... right? This place had an 18+ rating, after all, so they had to be pushing some boundaries. Still, how far would they go?

Adam forced himself to take a deep breath, letting the cold, stale air fill his lungs as he tried to gather what little courage he had left. His heart pounded, each beat an unwelcome reminder of the unknown waiting beyond that threshold. He shouldn’t be afraid. It was just an attraction, a haunted house on steroids. But the unease that coiled in his gut wouldn’t let go.

With a final, shaky breath, he stepped forward, crossing into the dark maw of Hell.

The air seemed to change immediately—heavier, darker, like the weight of the world had suddenly descended upon his shoulders. He could feel it pressing against his skin, making his pulse quicken. It shouldn't be so bad. It shouldn't be so... embarrassing. Just a job, just another room to check. He repeated the words in his head, a mantra to keep the fear at bay, but deep down, something cold and primal gripped his spine.

"I can do this," Adam whispered to himself, though the words sounded hollow in the thickening air. He kept walking, his pulse thrumming louder in his ears as the shadows swallowed him whole.

Stepping into the Hell side of the attraction felt like walking into another world entirely. The air was thick, oppressive, as if it clung to Adam’s skin, while the red glow of the room swallowed him whole. Hell was draped in darkness, lit by the sinister flicker of fake flames in hues of black and white. They danced along the walls, casting warped shadows that seemed to move on their own. The ground beneath him was slick and waxy, a strange texture that made every step feel uncertain. As Adam ventured deeper, he followed what was unmistakably a high road to Hell, leading up to what was an eerie replica of a hotel lobby. Only, this was the kind of hotel that lived in nightmares.

The grand hall of this twisted hotel came into view, and Adam immediately spotted two androids standing motionless in the center, their presence impossible to ignore. They were towering, even more imposing than the angelic figures from Heaven. The first had golden, puffed-up hair tied back in a sleek ponytail, dressed in a sharp, blood-red staff uniform—blazer and pants to match. The second, slightly shorter, had long grey and purple hair that cascaded over her shoulders, almost like moth wings. Her outfit was simple but unnerving: a red ribbon tied in her hair, a crimson shirt, and a black skirt. Their enormous eyes—gold and red—glowed with an unsettling intensity, locked on him in a way that made his skin crawl.

Unlike the angel statues, there was no plaque or sign beneath these two—just a red button on the floor between them. Adam hesitated for a moment, but with a shrug, he reached out and pressed it.

Instantly, a pre-recorded female voice crackled to life, echoing in the hollow hall. "Hello! Welcome to my hotel, the Hazbin Hotel! My name is Charlotte Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer Morningstar and Princess of Hell!"

The voice was sickeningly sweet, yet carried a high-pitched, eerie quality that set his teeth on edge. Adam’s eyes shifted toward the blonde android—Charlotte, no doubt.

"But you can call me Charlie for short! And this," the voice giggled, "is my girlfriend Vaggie! Say hi, Vaggie!"

There was a pause, followed by a deeper, more serious tone.

"Just behave and don’t touch anything. Some of us inside aren’t very..." The voice trailed off ominously. “Nice.”

"Vaggie! Don’t tell them that!" Charlie's voice chimed in with a scolding laugh. "Anyway, I hope you enjoy your stay, despite the... less-than-ideal location!"

The recording fizzled out, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

Adam frowned, his brow furrowing in confusion. He reached out and pressed the button again, hoping for something more, but the same recording played, word for word. He sighed, frustration mixing with the growing unease in his chest.

“Charlie and Vaggie, huh?” he muttered under his breath, glancing back and forth between the two androids.

Their glassy eyes seemed to follow him, though they remained still as statues. A cold chill slithered down his spine, making the hair on the back of his neck rise. Something about them, something in the way they stood, too lifelike and too unnatural all at once, made him feel... watched.

He shuffled awkwardly past them, moving toward the door that would lead to the next room. Compared to the Heaven exhibit, Hell had so much more—more darkness, more tension, more wrongness. It felt alive in ways that shouldn’t be possible.

Before he could stop himself, he glanced back at Charlie and Vaggie one last time. Their hollow gazes seemed to pierce right through him, and he swallowed hard, his throat dry.

"Wish me luck, then, Charlie and Vaggie," he called over his shoulder, half-joking, half-terrified.

The moment he stepped through the door and out of earshot, the air behind him shifted, and the same voices whispered once more, this time low, almost conspiratorial.

"Good luck, Adam."

“You’re gonna need it."

His heart skipped a beat.

The next room was even more bizarre, unsettling in ways Adam couldn’t quite put into words. It seemed to be a dining room, or at least what was left of one—half of the space looked like it had been violently torn apart and then haphazardly stitched back together, leaving an eerie, disjointed mess of furniture and walls. Against the main wall stood a bar, completely out of sync with the rest of the room. The panels glowed a sickly green and blue, casting strange shadows that danced along the floor. Lining the top of the bar were animal skulls, their hollow eye sockets staring down at him, while bones jutted out in awkward, unnatural angles, as though the room itself was trying to claw its way out of reality.

Adam’s eyes swept over the grotesque details, absorbing the disturbing design. It was like a twisted version of Disney, warped by some nightmarish force. The attention to detail was unnerving, almost too perfect in its imperfection. He approached the bar, noticing two more animatronics frozen in place. One was cat-like, positioned behind the counter with massive red and black wings folded behind its back. The thick brown fur gleamed under the dim lighting, and it wore a top hat tipped jauntily to the side. Its sharp, metallic claws were posed mid-motion, as if it had been cleaning glasses before time had stopped.

The second figure was seated on a stool, tall and lanky with a disturbingly sleek, spider-like form covered in soft pink and white fur. As Adam moved closer, he realized just how unsettlingly human its features were—until you noticed the extra limbs.

Curiosity tingling in his chest, Adam pressed the red button with his foot this time, wary of what might come next.

The speakers crackled to life, glitching before two voices filled the air. The first was rough and grouchy, dripping with irritation as if every word was a burden.

"The name’s Husk," the voice rasped, and Adam immediately connected it to the cat-like animatronic behind the bar. There was no way that tone belonged to the fluffy spider.

"Why do you think I’m here? You think I like cleaning bottles and listening to you idiots whine all night? Nah, I’m only here ‘cause he is forcing me."

Adam’s gaze flickered toward the spider, his brow furrowing in disbelief. That thing was forcing the cat to work? No way.

Then, the second voice chimed in, dripping with sultry arrogance. "Oh, please, baby. This body was made to be exploited. I got the arms, I got the stamina, I got the legs. I got the lung capacity. Oh, and did I mention the legs?"

The voice purred. "The gag reflex, the holes, the chest fluff everyone thinks are tits. You better remember my name—Angel Dust, because you’re gonna be moaning it all night long."

Adam blinked, completely caught off guard. He stepped back instinctively, eyes wide as the words sunk in.

“Oh… okay then," he muttered to himself, trying to process what he just heard. He glanced back and forth between the two animatronics, a strange mix of fascination and discomfort crawling up his spine. "Husk and... Angel Dust."

He could feel the weight of their hollow, unmoving gazes on him as he took a step back, the room growing colder with every passing second. The odd blend of horror and absurdity left him reeling, but he couldn't shake the strange allure of it all.

“Good to know. A porn star and a…bar tender…” Adam muttered. “God. This really is a set up to a movie.”

Adam hesitated, casting one last glance back into the hall before pressing forward into the next area. The shift in atmosphere was immediate—the room ahead was draped in shadow, an eerie darkness swallowing everything in sight. It opened into a vast, foreboding foyer, its space dominated by two grand, spiraling staircases on either side. At the top of the stairs, standing motionless behind a wooden railing, were two more animatronics.

The first was a towering figure cloaked in crimson and black. His shoulder-length hair hung like soft waves of shadow, and from his head sprouted large, deer-like ears that looked far too real for comfort. His long red coat was tattered at the edges, as if time itself had chewed away at it. Next to him, perched casually on one of the wooden rail posts, was a much smaller animatronic, the tiniest one Adam had seen so far. Her ringlets of red hair framed her face in tight, almost unsettling curls, and she wore a frilly pink dress that gave her a doll-like appearance. Yet, her needle-thin arms and legs and sharp grin hinted at something far more sinister.

Both animatronics grinned down at him, their unnervingly wide smiles gleaming in the low light. A strange, oppressive weight settled over Adam as he stared up at them, a feeling of being utterly insignificant worming its way into his bones. He hunched his shoulders, trying to shake it off, but it clung to him like a shadow. They weren’t even switched on, he reminded himself, but the smaller one—Nifty, he assumed—was particularly unsettling. Her single, oversized eye seemed to follow him as he moved across the foyer, always watching, always waiting.

Adam searched the room for a red button to learn more about these two, but found none. His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard, feeling the weight of their eyes as he moved cautiously toward the next doorway. Strange, he thought, but before he could step through, a crackling sound filled the air—a radio-like voice glitching to life from somewhere unseen. The static-laden voice made his skin crawl.

"My name is Alastor, the Radio Demon, and this little thing is named Nifty. Completely harmless... most of the time."

Adam froze. His blood turned to ice as he snapped his head back toward the animatronics. Both of their heads had turned in his direction, their gleaming eyes fixed on him. His heart thudded in his chest, the chill in the air thickening, seeping into his skin, making it clammy. He felt the sweat bead along his forehead as he stood there, every instinct screaming at him to leave.

"And remember, dear," the voice continued with a dark cheerfulness, "you are never fully dressed without a smile! See you soon."

Adam backed toward the doorway, his eyes locked on the two figures as he slipped through, his heart pounding in his throat. His hands shook as he wiped them against his pants, unable to shake the feeling that something was watching him—something more than just those animatronics. He dared a glance back, and for a fleeting moment, he thought he saw something—a shadow, growing and stretching behind the deer-like figure.

Alastor, he reminded himself. He hurried through the door, his pulse quickening, eyes darting as if any second, they would spring to life.

The next room opened into what could only be described as a throne room, vast and glittering like a hall made of shattered glass. The air seemed heavier here, laced with the scent of something dark and sweet, like roses past their bloom. Thick curtains of black and crimson draped the walls, framing the space with an oppressive elegance. A long stretch of red carpet, so rich in color it looked like spilled blood, led to the throne at the far end—a crystalline seat that gleamed under the low, flickering lights.

There, seated in eerie solitude, was another animatronic. Adam felt a strange pang of pity for her, though that pity quickly withered when he caught sight of her face. Her expression was unnerving, almost regal, but with a coldness that made his skin crawl. This figure was a woman, her impossibly long blonde hair cascading down her shoulders in silky waves, pooling around her like a waterfall of gold. Her narrowed, violet eyes, slit like a predator’s, glittered dangerously, reflecting the dim light like shards of diamond. Dark pink shadow highlighted those striking eyes, giving her a haunting, almost seductive allure.

Two enormous red horns jutted from the top of her head, twisting upward in an elegant, devilish arc. Black roses coiled around them, weaving through the horns like a crown of thorns, a cruel mockery of beauty. Her body, slender and statuesque, was wrapped in a flowing black silk dress that clung to her in a way that was both regal and sinister. Adam found himself staring, his feet rooted to the floor, a strange compulsion tugging at him.

He shuffled awkwardly, feeling the urge to bow under her icy gaze. And without thinking, he did—a small dip of the head, a gesture he quickly realized was pointless, yet something in her presence demanded it.

Below her throne was a sign, etched in black and gold: Lilith, Queen of Hell. Adam squinted at the name, his curiosity piqued.

“Lilith?" he murmured under his breath, the pieces starting to come together. "Does that make you Charlie’s mother?"

His voice was barely a whisper as he glanced around, searching for the familiar red button that would trigger the animatronic's pre-recorded lines.

But there was nothing. No button. No sound. Just the cold, suffocating silence that filled the room like a heavy fog. Adam's heart skipped a beat—was she unfinished? A work in progress, perhaps? The thought offered little comfort as he stood there, the eerie stillness pressing in on him. The air in the room seemed to thicken, and for a moment, he wondered if she was watching him, waiting for something—waiting for him to make the wrong move.

He quickly looked away, feeling his pulse quicken. The silence was unbearable, and yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that, even without a voice, she already knew more than he wanted her to.

Adam was desperate to escape Lilith’s throne room, his heart pounding in his chest as he practically leapt through the next doorway. His nerves were frayed, his breath shaky as he tried to steady himself. He had to be close to the end of Hell’s exhibition now, right? Heaven had been a breeze compared to this, which was strange. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn't Heaven be grander, with countless angels instead of just the three he'd seen? The imbalance gnawed at him. It all felt so... wrong.

As he slipped through the final set of purple curtains, a wave of relief washed over him. He emerged at the start of the exhibit once more, his lungs finally releasing a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. A sigh of pure relief escaped him, and he wiped the sweat from his brow. Glancing back at the path he’d taken, Adam shook his head. Hell had been far more unsettling than he ever could have expected. Every step had felt like he was walking deeper into something he couldn’t quite explain, something that gnawed at the edges of his mind.

Groaning, he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the tension there as he trudged back toward the booth where he was supposed to be stationed. But just as he was about to settle back in, something caught his eye. A glint of fabric, hidden in the shadows of Hell’s entrance. His brow furrowed in confusion. How had he missed that? Another set of purple curtains, blending seamlessly into the wall. He swore it hadn’t been there before.

Curiosity, or maybe something more insidious, pulled him toward it. Slowly, cautiously, he approached the hidden curtain. His fingers brushed the soft fabric, and with a gentle push, he parted them, revealing a room he hadn’t seen before.

Adam blinked, his mind struggling to process what he was seeing. Rubber ducks. Thousands of them. They were stacked like mountains, spilling across the room in chaotic piles. The space was surreal, almost bedroom-like, with a large four-poster bed at its center. The bed itself was overflowing with more ducks, the small plastic toys dominating every inch of the room. Unlike the fiery reds and blacks of Hell, this room was painted in deep purples and inky blacks, the atmosphere strangely eerie in its oddity.

He stepped inside, careful not to crush any of the ducks beneath his feet. The quiet squeak of rubber under his shoes was the only sound in the room, amplifying the strange tension that hung in the air. His eyes darted around, scanning the peculiar space as an unsettling chill crawled up his spine.

What was this room? And why did it feel like it was waiting for him?

As Adam carefully tiptoed through the strange room, his steps deliberate and measured, he noticed more doors scattered along the walls. But they were all locked, each one adorned with a small sign that read "Work in Progress," teasing at unfinished secrets behind them. His eyes trailed upward, catching sight of several whimsical paintings—images of a younger Charlie, drawn in a more playful, cartoonish style. The sight made him smile, despite the eerie stillness of the room.

Suddenly, his foot caught on something soft beneath him, and he jerked back just in time to avoid crushing it. A startled gasp escaped his lips as he looked down to see... a hat? Not just any hat, but a finely crafted top hat, adorned with a purple ribbon, a golden snake coiled delicately around an apple, and a small crown perched on top. Adam's brow furrowed in curiosity as he bent down to gingerly pick it up. The fabric was soft between his fingers, almost too luxurious for an animatronic. He glanced around the room, searching for its rightful owner, feeling the slight tickle of nervous energy flutter through him.

As he stepped backward, still clutching the hat, his body collided with something solid. A startled yelp escaped his throat, and he nearly dropped the top hat as he spun around. His heart raced, thudding hard in his chest as he came face to face with one of the animatronics. It stood just behind him, its impish grin frozen in place, wide red and gold eyes staring blankly ahead.

Adam gasped sharply, pressing a hand to his chest as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Holy shit! You scared the life out of me!" he stammered, leaning over to steady himself.

"Fuck me kindly." He chuckled nervously, wiping the sweat from his brow as he studied the android more closely.

This one was small—probably the second shortest in the entire Hell exhibit. Dressed in white and red, like a circus ringmaster from some twisted carnival, its face was shaped like a mischievous imp, with cheeks painted a bright cherry red. It had a sharp, yet almost playful look, with its eyes gleaming, though its grin felt a little too wide for comfort. And then Adam realized—the animatronic was missing something. Its hat.

"Guess this is yours," Adam murmured softly, lifting the top hat and carefully placing it atop the android’s head. His fingers brushed the soft brim as he adjusted it just so, his lips quirking into a smirk.

"There. You're dashing!" He added, tilting his head to admire his handiwork, a teasing warmth in his voice.

He snorted at his own joke, the brief moment of levity a balm to his nerves in the otherwise unsettling room. Yet, beneath the humor, there was an undeniable sweetness to the gesture. It felt as if, in this strange, eerie place, he'd made a small connection—however brief—with something that was never meant to be alive.

Adam hummed a low, absent-minded tune as his gaze lingered on the strange, lifeless animatronic before him. Its gleaming, artificial skin seemed almost too perfect, a little too human, yet not quite alive. He couldn’t find any trace of the telltale red button that usually accompanied these machines, but that made sense. This area was still under construction—a “work in progress,” as they called it. Maybe they hadn’t finished wiring the animatronic’s features yet, he reasoned, but something about the stillness unsettled him.

“Well then,” Adam muttered, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I guess I’ll just have to call you Cutie-pie, huh?”

His fingers brushed the cool, synthetic surface of the animatronic’s cheek, rosy and smooth beneath his touch. “Because, really… you are cute.”

Of course, the android remained motionless, its blank, glassy eyes staring forward. Adam stifled a laugh, feeling a little ridiculous for talking to it in the first place. What was he doing? Here he was, having a one-sided conversation with a bunch of silent, soulless robots. He really needed to get out more. Maybe meet some actual people for once.

With a sigh, Adam ran a hand through his tousled hair, streaks of deep brown and red catching the dim light. He sent a mockingly flirtatious wink toward the nearest animatronic, a blonde one positioned eerily close.

“I’ll see you around, handsome,” he crooned in a singsong voice, leaning closer. “Don’t go wandering off~”

The joke fell flat, hanging in the thick, stagnant air. Chuckling under his breath, Adam turned on his heel and made his way back toward the entrance, completely unaware of the subtle shift behind him. He didn’t notice the way the animatronic’s eyes flickered, darkening ever so slightly, or the faint creak as its head tilted at an unnatural angle, as though watching him leave.

“Don’t go far…” The voice was a whisper—soft, melodic, barely audible as it escaped the machine’s motionless lips. “You’re very… cute too, Adam…”

But Adam had already crossed the threshold, oblivious to the eerie murmur that drifted behind him. Settling back into his booth, he dropped onto the cold stool with a tired sigh, his eyes scanning the grainy black-and-white feed from the security cameras. Each animatronic appeared on the screen, their mechanical forms rigid in the shadows. Except for one.

His heart skipped a beat. Cutie-pie was missing.

Adam’s pulse quickened, his eyes darting toward the curtains leading into the duck room. The empty space seemed to beckon, a dark void beyond the heavy drapery.

“Right…” he whispered, the word barely audible over the sudden pounding of his heart.

[pjisskullourful]

𝑴𝒚 𝑫𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚

🗝️Måneskin × reader

NSFW🔥 absolutely filthy, 5 horny bastards in a bed

° Thomas Raggi/Ethan Torchio/Victoria De Angelis/Damiano David/female reader insert

° long-distance relationships are hard, but your partners are back in town & whisking you away for a secluded reunion [based october 2022]

wordcount:: 10,583

° commissioned by my sister beth(@bethanysnow)💋 merry christmas queeeeeeeeen [commissions get priority-there are 3 fics in cue, secure your own spot right here]

° lyrics stolen from björk

° [ITA:] amore: love - cazzo: fuck - caffè: coffee

It was a long overdue reunion. You should have been bursting with excitement - that was how it typically went when you got to see your partners after any length of time apart.

But you weren’t feeling very good, just as it had been for the majority of the time that they had been out of the country. While the four of them were busy with touring and working in recording studios, you had been facing down one essay after another. College had been feeling like a hard slog, neverending assignments with very intimidating minimum word counts. Your job ate into most of your downtime, keeping you from getting to plan anything fun.

Your life was seemingly only about your responsibilities and commitments. You were always either in the middle of some important task, or hyping yourself up to start a new one. There was no time for self-care or other things that could help bring the stress down.

With every day passing in a busy blur, it was easy for rotten moods to rise up. The kind of bad mood that couldn’t be alleviated by a Facetime call with any of your partners when they had a spare minute in their schedules. You were left feeling far from your best, a lingering dark cloud that affected so much of your current experience.

It wasn’t that you weren’t happy to be in the same city as Victoria, Ethan, Thomas and Damiano again, but it had potentially been too long. The distance had been felt even more this time around, making you feel separated by more than just miles, you were so out of sync with them. It had been too long of you stewing in negativity, no backup to help you cut through all the bullshit in your own head.

You felt a sense of pressure at having to be in a great mood for them, even though you knew there was no magical switch for improvement inside of yourself. You had to make the most of your time with them, it was only going to be a brief visit, feeling down wasn’t going to help you enjoy every second.

You had been pleased when a call with Damiano had given you the insight that their plan was just for a private couple of days in a nice hotel. You didn’t have to stress about finding the perfect thing to wear to a restaurant in case your partners were recognised, opening you up to the criticisms of strangers as had happened in the past. It would just be the five of you and that felt like the ideal fit to you right now.

Ethan drove to your apartment to pick you up. Because you weren’t allowed to drive yourself, or even organise an Uber. All four of them loved surprising you, from small gestures to larger experiences. And so it had been decided that your destination would be kept a secret. You were to just get in the car and trust Ethan.

And you did trust him, you had always trusted him. That was how your relationship had evolved from just the two of you, to include his three friends with benefits. You didn’t imagine it working as well with anyone else - certainly none of the relationships that had preceded him. The trust that had naturally developed between the two of you had made you comfortable enough to admit you felt more than a sexual attraction to the other members of Måneskin. For the past six months you had all been exploring your connections and the incredible potential of this unconventional setup. Ethan trusted your honesty and you trusted he would tell you if he stopped enjoying it, wanting to be an exclusive pair, as you had been in the beginning.

After a while, you stopped trying to guess at where he was whisking you off to - you just let the familiar sights of Rome fall behind you. You got especially distracted from the road when he asked you how work had been. It felt like a wave, far more powerful than you had expected, so many words coming out. You didn’t have to pause and consider your sentences, seemingly they had been ready to be shared.

The concerned furrow in his brow had grown more pronounced the longer that you talked. When he spoke, it was a very sober tone. “I had no idea it was this bad.”

“It sounds way worse when I say it all at once like that. But in reality, it’s just a lot of little things.” You said, instantly regretting the worry you had prompted in him - this wasn’t how your time together was supposed to go.

“But they add up- all those little things.” He said.

You paused, taking note of the subtle changes in his expression, you knew how to read him. You began smiling. “Did you just quote One Direction at me?”

His cheeks gave a slight twitch, he was amused with himself. “I sure did.”

You began laughing, as you did so you felt yourself releasing some of the tension that had been built up. It was like you were unclenching your fists for the first time. He laughed too, it was a sight that you savoured, he was cute enough that you could forget about your issues.

But he didn’t. And he was back to pensive very quickly - it was a switch Victoria would label as ‘typical Ethan’, she had seen it so many times that it no longer surprised her.

“I wish you had told me sooner.” He said, all the way back to serious.

“It’s not like I was purposefully trying to keep it secret from you, amore.” You said, reaching your hand out to rest on his thigh as you studied the side of his face. “But when you call, I don’t want to spend the whole time just complaining, that’s not very fun for you. And I know you’ve got great things you wanna tell me about and I want to hear about your adventures.

“It’s not fair of me to unload so much garbage on you when you’re too far away to give me tangible help. You’re my solutions guy, I know how you take stuff on like it’s all your responsibility and you beat yourself up when you can’t fix everything for everyone. I don’t want you to do that here.

“It’s just a little rough patch at work, it will be over and seemingly insignificant soon.” You said, trying to convince him as much as yourself.

“I want you to tell me all your stuff.” His tone made it an earnest request, nothing like the commands he could make your heart race with.

“You’re right, and I would feel the same if the roles were reversed.” You said.

But you didn’t add anymore venting - you didn’t want to launch into a tangent about the way college was a consistent time and energy thief. He wanted to be kept in the loop about what was going on in your life, but how much could he truly listen to? Realistically, everyone had a limit and when would he get sick of hearing it? You didn’t want to find out, so you went quiet and let Björk’s singing fill this uneasy silence.

‘Calm, calm down, you’re exhausted- come lie down…’ The serene music floated through the cab of the car, offering some comfort.

He brought the car to a stop at the next red light, taking one of his hands off the wheel. He picked up your hand from resting on his leg, looking at you with those eyes that seemed to see more than anyone else. He lifted your hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it and you gave his fingers a squeeze.

‘You know that I adore you, you know that I love you…’

You didn’t recognise anything beyond the windows. You were completely out of the city, seeing more trees and less tall buildings.

He drove along a quaint main road, pulling into the parking lot next to a modest hotel. Not recognising the name on the sign, you assumed this was an independent hotel. It was nothing like those hotels that the touring company could afford to put the four of them in. It wasn’t a skyscraper that bore the logo of any franchise. It was low-key, another invitation for you to stop stressing.

He took your hand in his as you walked for the lobby entrance. “Everyone can’t wait to see you.”

You couldn’t think of anything to say, you just hoped that you wouldn’t let them down.

Victoria didn’t wait until you were across the threshold of the suite to grab you. Her greeting was as enthusiastic as what you had come to expect from her. If you were a lighter woman, her full-force collision into you could have knocked you off your feet. But your centre of gravity wasn’t disrupted and you just wrapped your arms around your chipper girlfriend.

You saw the delight lighting up her eyes for only a second. Then she was too close, claiming your lips with a kiss. The scent of her perfume filled your nostrils and she cupped your face in her hands, taking full advantage of this reclaimed proximity.

That sense of pressure and worry went away, because you knew how to kiss her. You let your lips part, deepening the kiss as you concentrated on this moment.

“Alright, let’s actually get her in the room before you get too carried away in the hall, you fuckin’ freak.” Thomas said and you felt extra hands on you, gently guiding you forward.

She sucked on your lower lip before letting the kiss end. “What, did you really expect me to wait? I’ve been wanting to do that for weeks.”

“What makes you think you’re the only one?” Thomas asked and his hand slid into yours as you walked further into the room. He turned to stand in front of you, his eyes taking in the features of your face. “Hi, amore…”

“Hey.” You said, easing in to meet him in the middle.

He kissed you softly, then paused so he could look at you. Another kiss came, lingering a little longer, allowing you to feel the moisture on his mouth. Then a silent break passed and you felt so disarmed by those hazel eyes. He took his time to recommit your face to memory in between his unhurried kisses, not wanting to miss a single detail, like always. You blushed under his thorough gaze and the look on his face made you want to kiss him more.

“Okay, let’s all line up for our turn to kiss her.” Damiano joked.

Thomas took the hint, wrapping up one last tender kiss before beginning to move aside. You licked your lips and kept your fingers curled around his for a moment longer as Damiano stepped into the available space in front of you.

He wrapped an arm around your waist, bringing you in closer. His hand went beneath your chin, easing your head back so you would look at him. “I missed you, sweetheart.”

You didn’t have time to respond, his lips crashed against yours so fast. You put your hands on his shoulders as you kissed him back, feeling the beginnings of that intensity he could tap into at the drop of a hat. His tongue teased against the seam of your lips.

Then he moved his focus to just your bottom lip, kissing you here - a spot that would certainly see some swelling before this visit was through. His lips moved lower, giving you a chance to somewhat catch your breath as he kissed across your chin.

“Missed you too.” You said as his trail of kisses led him onto your neck. “I missed all of you.”

“I missed all of you.” He said with his own emphasis. He paused, pretending as if he had only just realised his error. “Oh, you meant the four of us. Well, I meant that I missed every bit of my beautiful girlfriend.” His compliments had more impact when he was directly in front of you. “I missed the feel of these arms. And your hands.” He linked his fingers with yours before applying a quick kiss to your lips. “It should be obvious beyond words that I missed these lips.

“But do you know where I really missed?” He asked, his arms still very tight around you. He extended his index finger, touching it to the side of your throat. Your smile grew as he stroked his fingertip up-and-down. “This spot right here.” He furthered his point by kissing you here, an enthusiastic appreciation that soon had you giggling, sensitivities rising up after being partially-forgotten in their absence. “Yep, here.

“I’m gonna-” His words were stalled as he prioritised kissing your neck. “-live right-” His lips moved all over his small area of focus. “-here. So that I can always be kissing you and hearing that gorgeous giggling.”

You felt yourself melting into his embrace as his mouth continued getting reacquainted with your neck. How many days had you dressed yourself in turtleneck sweaters in his absence? When in video calls, you were always careful of how you held your phone - vigilant to keep your neck from looking any wider than it already was. But he had all the time and dedication to enjoy all of it, bringing giddiness from a source of insecurities.

“If you’re gonna live there, I will have to charge you rent, sweetie.” You said.

He barely broke contact with your skin to respond. “Don’t care, it’s worth it.”

Victoria had approached where the two of you stood, arms wrapped around one another. The way she looked you up-and-down didn’t bring self-consciousness as it typically did with others, because you could see the hungry look in her eyes. She wasn’t about to disrupt the wonderful safety you felt in this relationship.

He continued to lavish kisses upon the side of your throat, not noticing how close she was, starting to play with your hair. You licked your lips as you looked at her, your heart racing just as the thought of what she might do next. The potential was enough to have you feeling a greater heat in your cheeks, and in your cunt.

“Have I complimented your outfit yet? ‘Cause you look stunning. I love you in leopard print.” She said - you had picked the linen overcoat for her, putting more thought into this ensemble in the hopes of bringing confidence with it. “But you’ve gotta know- our smart girl, you probably knew all along that you won’t be keeping it on for very long.

“Is that okay?” She asked.

“Totally.” You responded without hesitation.

She smiled as she moved in to secure more kisses from you, with Damiano still concentrating on the side of your throat. You removed your arms from around him when you felt her pushing the fabric off of your shoulders.

The intentions of your partners were clear and you realised that any talking, catching up with one another, would happen later. And this was okay with you.

You pulled your arms out of the coat. Her lips left yours so that she could see what she was doing. You could see Thomas getting a drink from the mini-fridge while Ethan watched the three of you, casually leaning against an armchair.

She pushed Damiano a little out of the way. But his kissing went on as her hands went to the front of your black top, pulling the material out of where you had tucked it into your high-waisted jeans. She started to take the shirt off of you, prompting him to move back slightly and you lifted your arms above your head.

You felt something like a present being unwrapped when his fingers went to the fly of your jeans. Her hands moved to your newly-exposed bra and you were feeling the warmth of her touch through the lacy fabric. You began to kiss her, putting one hand to the back of her head because you were craving so much more than a peck. Your other hand moved under her top, feeling her smooth skin as he worked the pants down.

“Again?” Ethan asked. “Did you forget that you would need her shoes off to remove her pants, again? I swear, you clowns make that same mistake every time.”

“How do you guys expect to get anywhere in life if you don’t learn from your mistakes?” Thomas teased.

Ethan secured your attention by saying your name, then he gestured to the sapphire-coloured chair. “Why don’t you come and sit down, baby? We can eliminate the risk of you tripping entirely.”

Victoria and Damiano released you. You walked in Ethan’s direction as he stood beside the tall-backed chair.

“So, who’s gonna tell her?” Thomas asked.

You pushed your jeans down off of your ass, making them easier for your partners to remove, before sitting on the chair. “Tell me what?”

“That chair is from the lobby.” Victoria said. “We noticed how regal it looked. And, well, you deserve a throne to sit on.”

“Wait, what are you saying? Did you steal this chair?” You asked, looking at where Damiano had begun to loosen the laces of your boots. “Because that’s a very sweet gesture, but I’m not worth getting into trouble like-...”

“No, no, we didn’t commit any crimes. We just used our charms.” He said.

“And cash.” Ethan said. “Probably one of the most generous tips they’ve ever gotten. So they brought it up for us and everything.”

“And we took a couple of photos with the staff. We played the celebrity card to get what we wanted.” She said. “We’ve truly changed.”

You were amazed, looking at each of them in awed silence. This was their vacation, the relaxing time away from the spotlight. You knew how tiring they all found it to be constantly curating the perfect public persona, Damiano had phrased it to you that he wished fame came with a switch off option. But they had sacrificed a bit of their anonymity just so you could have the best chair to sit in? It filled your heart, and warmth blossomed into your belly.

You lifted your ass from the cushioned seat, allowing Damiano to pull your underwear off of your body. You could see that Thomas had an arm around Victoria’s shoulders, both of them looking you all over and probably planning wicked things. Ethan was the closest to you, so you grabbed him for a kiss, which quickly developed into a series of passionate kisses.

As you were caressing his cheeks, his hands moved around to your back. He made quick work of unclasping your bra, drawing the lingerie away from your chest and discarding it. Your entire body exposed, you felt your skin responding to the touch of the air, and electric anticipation filled the suite.

You wrapped an arm around his shoulders, angling your body a little more towards him. As you were plunging your tongue into his mouth, you felt Victoria coming at you from the other side, going for your neck. This sensitive area was just as reactive to her mouth, tingles sweeping through your body with slightly more power than what Damiano had prompted because everything was feeling more serious now, the intensity inescapable, and only growing.

The serial-hickey-creator of the group, you were unsurprised when you felt her sucking on your skin. She was always the first one to bite. The others teased her, and sometimes complained about it. But you were flattered that she cared enough to leave such marks on you. You loved carrying a mark of her lust on your body.

Her mouth moved across your skin, finding different spots to secure her lips around as her hand discovered your bare chest. She held your breast in her hand, her fingers stroking the soft skin. Your erect nipple awaited her attention, firmly pressed against the palm of her hand. But she made you wait for that teasing, at the moment your focus went to the way her teeth grazed against your neck, brief but so tantalising.

Ethan was concentrating on your neck too, holding a hand at the nape of your neck. As you worked your tongue against the roof of his mouth, he reciprocated with his fingertips tenderly massaging your skin. It gave you the feeling of being on the verge of melting, your whole body heating up.

Your thighs were already parted before Thomas put his hands to them, but you pushed them further apart for him. He kneeled down on the floor before your chair, seeking to fill this space and you couldn’t help squirming a little in your anticipation.

He didn’t immediately dive for your pussy, finding other parts of your body to appreciate. You felt his first kiss on your belly, his lips tenderly caressing the area just below your navel. At the same time, she applied her fingers to your nipple and transferred her mouth to your earlobe. You moaned lightly into Ethan’s mouth, enjoying this group effort to get you worked up.

As she lazily played with your nipple, Thomas’ hands gradually moved lower. He massaged down, his fingers moving across the part of your body you always strived to hide. Slowly he kissed a trail down, his lips savouring what his hands had been appreciating. His attention was so dedicated, every movement so luxurious.

When she lightly nibbled on your earlobe, you parted from Ethan’s lips with a whimper. Your pussy was throbbing, and when your eyes met his, you felt certain that he knew this without saying. His eyes stared into yours and all of your neediness was on display for him.

“Are you ready to find out just how much we all missed you? ‘Cause we’ve got plans for you, our special girl.” She said directly into your ear. “That time apart- well, that was just ample opportunity for fantasising.” Your hand gripped to Ethan’s as the way she squeezed your nipple affected you more-and-more. “And there’s no distractions, there’s nothing more important than you being worshipped.”

You let out a surprised whine when she suddenly nipped at your ear. This was instantly followed by Thomas’ hand going lower, his fingers pressing into the squishy skin of your pubic mound. He applied more pressure, his touch sinking beneath the surface and your cravings grew more insistent, more noticeable tingles filling your pussy.

She returned her lips to your throat, with as much vigour as before. Your eyes moved to him, finding his eyes open and on you as he continued to drag his lips across your round belly. From your body, he was drawing more inspiration, pressing harder with the slow circles on your mound.

Your breath got stuck in your throat when his thorough fingers explored lower, taking his tender touch onto your labia. You didn’t have the words to match your desires as you stared into his light eyes, frozen on this peak he had eased you up to.

His lips caught up to his hands - he eased your folds back and, in the same second, kissed your already moist clit. Watching for your reactions, he continued to explore your clit. Sweet but firm kisses were applied to the hood and your eyes started to flutter shut as you leaned into her for some more support.

Ethan’s hand slipped out of yours as he left your side. He walked around, standing behind where Thomas was positioned, gaining a greater view. Your pleasure was being showcased for the entire room to enjoy.

She readjusted, placing her mouth to yours again. You let her take the lead as you kissed her back. The way he started to work his tongue up-and-down soon had you moaning into her mouth.

As you started to reach your hand out for his hair, he pulled away. Before you could raise any complaints, he was swiftly replaced by Ethan.

He used a different tactic, starting with your entrance. The tip of his tongue moved in a swirl, gathering the moisture that had accumulated during this wonderful teasing. Her tongue slid into your mouth, inviting you deeper into this sensual rhythm. They worked their tongues slowly, with a great amount of control as they continued to enjoy building you up. You had the time to enjoy and marvel in every sensation as it arose.

He dove his tongue into you, tasting your excitement directly from the source. At the same time, she was dragging her tongue out of your mouth, so that she could recalibrate, bringing her attention to just your lower lip. Her kisses quickly developed into sucking as you were enjoying how he wiggled his tongue between your pussy walls. The moans that this brought from you were hardly muffled, but you were too close to ecstasy to feel any kind of shame over your reactions.

Her teeth grazed your lip a couple of times before she pulled back, making a noise similar to a purr. “Fuck, it’s my turn. I’ve gotta find out if you taste as good as you sound.”

“She does.” You heard Thomas comment.

Ethan wasn’t greedy, moving aside to let her get at your pussy. But he remained close, his hand massaging your thigh as he maintained his view from the front row. Thomas was slightly further back, sitting on the ground to the side of you. He watched the unfolding events with his mouth hanging open a bit.

She got in close to your cunt, pressing one hand to the top of your thigh to ensure you kept it where she wanted it. Despite what she had said, she didn’t instantly go in with her mouth. At first you were just feeling two of her fingers, running up-and-down your swollen labia minora. She slowly stroked you here as she moved her lips to your thigh, kissing and beginning the work of creating a hickey. 

You ran your fingers lovingly through her hair, your other hand grasping the armrest as you tried to prepare for what was to come next. You let your eyes wander and when you looked Ethan over, you noticed how pronounced the bulge at the front of his pants had become. Looking at Thomas next, you could see that his cock was also clearly seeking freedom from his jeans. What did they plan to do to you with those dicks?

As she kept sucking and lightly nibbling your wide thigh, you looked in Damiano’s direction. He was the furthest from you, but that wasn’t due to any disinterest, with him watching as carefully as the others. Sitting on the edge of one of the beds, his hand was positioned at his dick. Over the material of his pants, he was intermittently giving his cock some tame squeezes.

When he noticed you watching, he just smiled and kept going. “Don’t mind me sweetheart, I’m just being a pervert back here.”

She broke contact with your leg so that she could respond. “What else is new?”

You laughed at this, but the sound was quickly mangled when she attached her mouth to your clitoris. You gave an incoherent stutter as she applied zealous kisses to the hood. She set her lips into place, perfectly cradling the tight bundle of nerves. Her fingers were still working your labia up-and-down, getting coated with wetness as you spent every second being dazzled by spectacular tingles.

She sucked your clitoris between her lips, to where she could get at it with her tongue. This left you reeling, so much of your body tensing as you moaned louder than before. You tightly wrapped your fingers around Ethan’s as your writhing grew more intense because your control was greatly weakening. Your cunt was aching, so sensitive despite not receiving the touches it craved. It was thrilling to just anticipate, knowing that you were gradually getting closer to the destruction you wanted.

“Come on amore, it must be your turn to take this Holy Communion.” Thomas said to Damiano.

This set you off laughing, it was potentially the most blasphemous thing you had ever heard. But it fit. The way they were all taking turns to consume at this special seat, which could certainly fill the role of an altar - it wasn’t unlike the Eucharist. You weren’t the only one to laugh.

As you pondered this, it made the set up feel even more dirty - in the most wonderful way possible. You were worthy of a truly depraved scene. The blush marking your cheeks grew darker and you began to place your hands over your face.

“No, no, no.” Thomas gently said as he got to his feet and started to approach. “Don’t you dare cover your face.” You could feel the heat from your face before your hands were actually touching the skin. He stood beside the seat and you looked up at him. “You can’t deprive me of seeing you when you’re like this, ‘cause you are so sexy when you’re overwhelmed and needy.”

“‘m so needy.” You said, your composure being thoroughly disrupted by her treatment of your clit.

He leaned in closer and you could smell your arousal on his breath as he caressed his fingers over your forehead. “I know, but we’re gonna take care of you, we’re gonna take care of every need you’ve got.”

You nodded, showing your consent, but also your understanding that this was a guarantee. He wasn’t just saying this to be sexy and contribute to the dirty talk, you knew that he meant it.

He moved his hand to your cheek and you tilted your head back so that your mouths could meet. You didn’t let her moving away from your cunt distract you, you were too caught up in his kisses. He stroked the side of your throat and you put an arm around his shoulders, remaining so turned on as you gave this intimacy the spotlight.

You felt some movement between your legs, but you weren’t even slightly ready for Damiano and all of the fire he instantly brought with him. He pushed his hands in under your legs so that he could grab a handful each of your generous butt straight away. Then he was using this to change the angle of your hips, getting you to lift your cunt.

His tongue sought out what Victoria had so thoroughly warmed up, powering between your walls. You gasped, your lips momentarily leaving Thomas’ as you couldn’t control the way your hips thrusted up. Your inner-walls clenched on Damiano’s tongue as you arched your back.

Thomas’ eyes swept all over your face, savouring every response, and they were only getting bigger. He kissed you slowly, giving you the opportunity to catch your breath. But you never took it, remaining in this elevated, unpredictable state.

Your eyes shut and you let your head rest against the chair as you began to get lost in all of this. As Damiano tirelessly wiggled his tongue all around inside of you, Thomas continued to treat you with sweet kisses. You pushed one of your hands in under his shirt, your fingers experiencing his warm skin as this feast for your senses raged on.

It took a moment for you to notice that Damiano had withdrawn, the pumping of blood through your sensitive pussy keeping you feeling stimulated in the absence of a touch.

But you weren’t left waiting long (not granted the time to calm yourself down and away from that edge). Ethan took up another turn at devouring your pussy. The tender explorations of his tongue created a stark contrast to Damiano’s zealous efforts. You returned your butt to the seat as more strength left your body.

Gradually, you identified a third noise source in the room, existing beyond what you could feel. Damiano and Victoria were kissing, exchanging words that you couldn’t quite hear. You didn’t try to eavesdrop, letting your attention stay on Thomas’ lips and Ethan’s tongue.

Soon enough, they were bringing their conversation to you. Damiano stroked your arm and said your name, a quiet request. “Sorry to interrupt…”

You drew back from Thomas, finding Damiano and Victoria standing at your other side. While you hadn’t been looking, he had taken off his shirt and, similarly, she was no longer wearing her pants.

“He’s dying to tell you about something we saw on OnlyFans.” She said, smirking.

“Me? It was your idea to come over here and tell her right this second.” He said.

“You guys and your designated OnlyFans time, is there really no other way for you to bond?” Thomas asked.

“Sure there is, it’s called me handing his ass to him in Smash Brothers, like, every day.” She said over the occasional noises of Ethan’s slurping, trying to keep all of the moisture in his mouth.

“Anyway, we saw this thing that I’ve never seen before, I don’t even know if there’s an official term for it. But as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to try it the next time I got the two of you together again.” Damiano said, indicating to you and her. You nodded, hoping that he didn’t expect any of your usual wit - your word choices currently limited as Ethan did nothing to help you focus. “I lay on my back and, facing each other, you both sit on my face.

“So you two can be making out and playing with each other while I’m eating up- back-and-forth, just multitasking like my whole life depends on it.” He said. “But only if you’re into it. Do you think you would wanna try that with us, sweetheart?”

Ethan pulled back from your cunt and you let out a shaky sigh as he answered first. “That sounds really hot, you should do it, baby.”

“Yeah. Not to add to any kind of peer pressure- but I would love to watch something like that.” Thomas said.

“But there’s plenty of other things we can do if you don’t feel like trying that.” Ethan said, with the other three immediately voicing their agreement.

You smiled, looking up at Victoria and Damiano. “It does sound hot, let’s see if we can pull it off.”

Everyone moved over to one of the king beds. You were keeping your wariness to yourself. You wanted to trust the process and go along with your most adventurous partners. But this wasn’t the first time you had worried about the unrealistic ideas that OnlyFans could spread - there wasn’t a lot of media that you truly trusted.

As he placed his head on a pillow, you and she determined your positions. It was decided that you would be closest to the headboard, facing out to the rest of the room, while her back would be to the others. She started to take the last of her clothes off and Ethan got to work getting Damiano out of his jeans.

Thomas offered you his hands, seeking to help you maintain your balance as you considered the best way to get into position. You watched your movements, determined to not knee Damiano’s face in the process. You placed one knee on either side of his head, your pussy hovering a few inches above his nose.

As Thomas moved away (giving you a parting kiss first), your naked girlfriend joined you. You grinned, reaching a hand out for her as you admired her perfect body. She placed herself close to you, her cunt ready to meet Damiano’s mouth as she put her knees in line with yours.

She cradled your round face in her hands, guiding you to look up and meet her gaze. She was wearing an excited smile and you were pleased to be part of bringing a fantasy into reality.

The fact that you should feature in any level of fantasy for the four of them was still hard for you to believe, even after months of assurances. If you thought about it for too long it might just blow your mind.

You tilted your head as she leaned in closer, lips coming together in a flawless moment. The longer that you kissed her, the more of her new taste that you experienced. A snapshot of this encounter, this taste was unique and curated just for you. You were happy to indulge and you wrapped some of her golden hair around your fingers.

The tempo that the two of you had been moving into was interrupted when the first swipe of Damiano’s tongue drew a surprised sputter from you. Without any warning, he had begun - the tip of his tongue at your entrance, before pushing down. As he went in the direction of your clitoral hood, he pressed the flat of his tongue to your cunt, seeking to stimulate more than just one spot.

You were breathless when she drew your attention back to kissing. He had begun to use his talented tongue in circles all around your swollen clit. As you kissed her back, you couldn’t help wiggling your hips a little, adding to the wonderful treatment you were receiving from his tongue.

When his tongue bumped against the face of your clitoral hood, it sent thrilling shockwaves through the core of your being. Your hands went to her arms, holding on for support as the pleasure shot up again. He grabbed your ass and the way that he squeezed made you feel so desired as you started to rock with a little more consistency.

He flicked his tongue against your clitoris before relocating and getting to work on her. A whimper accompanied her tongue sliding in between your lips. She put her hand to the back of your head, keeping you here so that she could explore more of this closeness. You wrapped your arms around her, feeling each skipped breath and twitch of her body.

The two of you had never shared cunnilingus in this style before. There had been successful experiments with various positions. But there was something about this setup that allowed you to feel so very connected to your girlfriend and you loved it. You were glad to have given it a chance.

From beneath you, you heard him take in a gasp of air. Then you were feeling his mouth, covering your clit in quick kisses. He parted his lips so that he could get at you with his tongue again. He was done teasing around your clitoris, now he let you feel his tongue on the tight bundle of nerves straight away. He played his tongue up-and-down on it, stroking your sensitivities to the next level.

As he settled into a thorough tempo, you tightened your arms around her. Neediness rose up as your dominant emotion as their tongues each appreciated you in their own way. You tapped into his momentum, moving your hips in time to ride his tongue. It was all feeling so promising, you started getting invested in the prospect of getting off like this - it seemed to be within your grasp.

But before you could get too carried away with it, he broke away so that he could gasp. “Cazzo, keep your mouth just like that please, baby.”

Too curious to help yourselves, you and she drew apart. You found that his words had been directed to Ethan, who had made room for himself between Damiano’s legs. While the other man was occupied, Ethan had started sucking his dick.

“Good boy.” She praised before turning back to you.

“How long has he been waiting to do that?” Thomas asked, he was taking in the whole scene from his spot lying beside Damiano.

Damiano’s hand was gripping your ass even tighter, surely he would leave indents. You could clearly feel each of his fingers, impossible to forget or not notice, even when he sought to return attention to your clit. Despite how shaky his breathing had become, the way that he licked your clitoris didn’t suffer from inconsistency.

He lapped his tongue up-and-down, inviting you deeper into the desires. She resumed kissing you and you got to feel like the centre of the universe again.

Even when he took his mouth away, your nerves continued to dance. You heard him rapidly moving his tongue on her cunt as you enjoyed the quivers in your aftermath. You placed your hands to her tits, enjoying what you had only been able to look at for so many months. Your fingers caressed the supple skin while your thumbs toyed with her very firm nipples. This earned you a suck on your bottom lip from her. Hearing her ragged breaths, you were pleased to get to play a part in her arousal.

“This position straight-up rocks.” Thomas admired.

You pulled back from her kisses to respond. “There isn’t much straight about it right now.”

“True.” He said as she giggled. “There must be a name for it. But if I wanted to Google it- I would have to look away. And that’s just not something I’m willing to do.”

“Imagine it from my perspective, sweetie.” Damiano said, and a second later you were feeling his mouth.

“Oh, I am.” Thomas said.

“We’ve just been calling it tandem, ‘cause like with a tandem bike, we’re riding the same thing at the same time.” She said and if you weren’t so preoccupied by the swirling of Damiano’s tongue, you would have laughed.

“That’s actually genius.” Thomas said.

“Yeah, I’ve got a way with words when it comes to fucking.” She said.

The way Damiano had secured his lips around your clit made your elbows continuously tremor through your efforts to grope her chest. As your eyes fluttered shut, you lost track of everything else, getting overwhelmed by the pleasure. All of these stimulations were going directly to your core, where your climax could be unlocked - it was even closer now.

He started to bob his head, moving into a pacing that had you feeling the impacts in different spots. The stimulation was shared through your entire clitoris, the receptors sending the excitement far and wide. Until it was feeling like every nerve in your body was responding to his sucking.

Moving your hips opened you up to even more intensity. Strangled noises accompanied your pumps as you harnessed the friction. You were in a high greater than anything you could capture on your own.

“Please.” You whimpered - you didn’t know if this would be loud enough to be heard over the other activity, but you felt incapable of getting your voice any louder. “Please don’t stop, please.”

Grinding on his mouth was set to make you complete. As your body was overtaken by powerful shivers, you felt yourself arriving at the threshold of how much you could take. More pleas fell from your lips, but you had no idea if they made sense.

It didn’t matter because you were ascending. You threw your head back and let the wave of pleasure overtake you.

There was a smile on your face as you climbed off of him, his fingers finally releasing from your butt. You were feeling a little dazed, letting Thomas guide you to a spot to sit on the bed. You were trying to regain your breath as you sat down next to him. He applied kisses to your cheek as he loosely wrapped his arms around you.

“You looked really amazing.” He said, nuzzling against your skin. “Like, I thought I was hard before you climbed up on his face…”

Aside from this mention, he wasn’t rushing you into the next thing. There was time allowed before you could start to think about feeding his desires. He just held you as you gradually came back down to reality. No one was going to show you any pushiness in this moment, you knew that for sure and it felt good.

As you steadily regained your bearings, you checked the progress of your partners. Both of Damiano’s hands were occupied - one on the back of Ethan’s head to keep him bobbing, the other on Victoria’s chest, showing her nipple rougher treatment than what she had received by your hand.

You leaned into Thomas more-and-more, savouring this embrace as more of your limbs overlapped with his. He held you firmer and slightly increased the frequency of the kisses he gave you. You didn’t meet every one of his kisses, but you didn’t need to, it was enough to simply feel grounded with him. You stroked his thigh as you both gave the majority of your attention to the other three.

You recognised the look on her face, from the deep furrow in her brow to the way she incessantly nibbled on her lower lip. It all told you that she was close, concentrating on getting her release. Another sign of this came from how quiet she was being, it was often joked about how the only way to shut her up was to make her come.

Most of the sounds were coming from Damiano, his little ecstatic cries muffled as he kept his tongue buried deep inside of her. Ethan worked his mouth up-and-down the other man’s shaft and occasionally took his mouth off of it altogether, allowing him to thoroughly lick Damiano all over. It was quite clear that he was in favour of everything Ethan was doing.

It would have been impossible to not feel turned on when you were this close to so much passion. The next time Thomas kissed you, you found yourself craving more than before, you wanted to experience more of those lips. You wrapped your arm around his shoulder, turning to face him as you pursued less distance between your bodies, your hands exploring everything within reach.

“Babe…” You whispered against his lips. “Why are you still wearing so damn much?”

He allowed you to push the shirt up his chest. “I have no idea. But we can fix that.” He helped you get the item off before hurriedly swooping in for more kisses. “We can fix that right now.” As you shared kisses, he undid the fly of his jeans and began to work the pants down.

All too soon this took him out of your grasp as he stood up to remove them. But you admired from afar, your eyes greedily sweeping up-and-down his body, lingering at certain spots.

Meanwhile, he was nodding in the direction of Ethan. “You could ask him the same thing.”

“Hey, Ethan…” You said, crawling a little further down the bed to gain a clearer view of him. “What’s the deal- are you about to head out to a ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ kind of place?”

He drew his mouth away from Damiano and pushed his hair back so he could look at you. “Huh?”

Thomas cupped his hands to either side of his mouth as he directed his voice at Ethan. “Take your fucking clothes off.”

“Oh, right. Sorry Dami- to be continued…” He said, leaving his position between the other man’s legs.

You were distracted from watching Ethan undress by Thomas coming in for more kisses. You happily went along with this, wrapping your arms around him and bringing him closer than before. The combination of fast kisses and skin-on-skin had your thoughts jumping to new conclusions.

And it seemed that you weren’t the only one, with her voicing a desire for a new position. “-you to fuck me.”

“Okay, yeah, I mean, yeah for sure…” Damiano’s response was a little stilted.

“Okay?” She repeated. “I ask you to fuck me and you say okay?”

“Jesus, give me a second to catch my breath. Maybe my mouth is a little tired after eating two pussies at the same time.” He said. “Of course my answer is Hell yeah, and please, and thank you. Let me get a condom, baby.”

You pulled yourself away from Thomas, as the moment dictated. “Could you actually get three condoms?”

“I’m only gonna need one- you know how they work, right?” Damiano asked, pausing on his way over to the corner all of the luggage had been sent to.

Thomas secured your attention, kissing you on the cheek. “Have you got something planned?”

“Maybe.” You said. “I’ve gotta keep the two of you busy while they’re taking care of each other, don’t I?”

Ethan’s fingertips ghosted over your shoulders, making you smile. “Busy, how?”

“How about you lie down and I’ll show you what I mean- answer your questions that way, hm?” You offered.

He showed his approval by lying down immediately. Victoria was also lying down, flat on her back. They greeted each other with a ‘fancy seeing you here’, before sharing more tongue-in-cheek banter.

You asked Thomas to remain where he was standing for the moment, then you progressed to placing yourself on top of Ethan. You trapped him down to the mattress, straddling him at the waist.

Thomas followed your instruction, climbing atop Ethan’s legs to fill the space behind you. He didn’t hesitate to put his arms around your middle.

“Any further questions?” You asked of your boyfriends.

“Nope, you’ve answered everything for me.” Ethan said.

Damiano joined the rest of you on the mattress, handing out the condoms. She didn’t have any further complaints about his word choice as he climbed on top of her.

After applying his condom, Thomas began covering his shaft and your hole with lubricant. As he did this, you leaned down, kissing Ethan. His hands lovingly stroked up-and-down your sides, appreciating across every curve, like he always did.

Thomas’ capable fingers gently exploring and massaging between your cheeks was building the anticipation inside of you. So much so that you couldn’t simply hold still as you kissed Ethan. You readjusted (doing your best to not disturb Thomas’ important process) until you could line your cunt up with his hard dick. You didn’t take him in just yet. Working your hips, you rubbed your slit on the side of his cock. His hands stopped caressing you, now holding you with a set grip, encouraging you to continue without taking his lips off of yours.

This process of warming you up (the prelude to penetration) was dreamy, the lack of rush giving you time to notice all of your body’s reactions. Your inner-walls were ready to clench. Your asshole was getting more sensitive with each passover of Thomas’ fingers.

“Please…” Ethan moaned, grinding back against you as his own cravings evidently grew.

Maybe under different circumstances, you would have possessed the strength necessary to make him wait and put him through more teasing. But Ethan could make you needy like no one else. And seeing all of the effort they had gone through for you, you knew that he deserved to feel good (and then some).

You gave him a parting kiss (it was difficult to not linger) and began sitting up, shifting your body weight back in the process. Your back met Thomas’ chest as you got yourself into the right position on top of Ethan. His eyes were fixed on you, not distracted by Victoria and Damiano directly beside him, as he admired each of your movements.

Tensing your thighs, you got yourself to the spot where his head could start spreading you open. His fingers clamped down on your ample hips and you saw his nostrils flare as his sensitive head gradually moved deeper into you.

As you were easing yourself down, Thomas moved in closer, beginning to kiss you on the cheek. More of his body was lining up with yours - the perfect embrace almost complete.

“Are you ready for me, love?” He asked.

You grinned, positively buzzing in your eagerness. “Absolutely.”

His slicked dick travelled toward your prepped hole, carefully sinking into you. Your breath momentarily halted, the beginning of being filled already felt so good. You let your eyes shut, taking in all of the sensations as you knew you were safe to surrender your body to them.

Beside you, you could hear the consistent collisions of her body with Damiano’s. They had found the ideal momentum to serve their desires, getting caught up in one another with all of the excitement as if it were the very first time.

Thomas didn’t try to replicate what they were doing. When he started to move, it was in a way that hinted at more to come - but that wasn’t where the three of you were up to just yet.

He held you to him with one arm around your middle while his other hand gripped the top of your thigh - it wasn’t just his dick in your asshole that was making you feel claimed in the most wonderful way possible. Ethan’s hands were on you too, holding onto you like his life depended on it. One of his hands fondled your chest, beneath your breast, where the rib cage would be visible on a thinner woman, like Victoria. His other hand held lower, on your hip, where stretch marks (both old and new) decorated the skin.

It made your heart flutter, the way they sought out the parts of you that you tirelessly worked to keep hidden on a daily basis.

Before they were going to set about ruining it, they celebrated your body. It was the appreciation you had never learnt how to show yourself.

Thomas moved his hips into you, getting you to slide down a little further on Ethan’s shaft. His body responded with a gentle rock, sending you back towards Thomas. Trapped between them, you went with the tempo he was establishing, feeling the tension rising in the process.

You reached behind you, stroking one of your hands up and into his hair. You opened your eyes, discovering that he was close as he watched your reactions. You kissed him, your fingers twisting around his blonde hair as he kissed you back. You felt more power coming into his pumps and your heart started racing accordingly.

Your body stretched to accommodate both of their cocks, your clitoris quivering as you continued to feel the after-effects of earlier treatment. You were going back up, electricity running through more of your body with each determined swing of your hips. Through the mounting pressure, you slipped into a consistent tempo. You didn’t know how long you would be able to maintain it, but for the moment you gave it your all.

On the next pump forward, your pussy claimed the last inches of Ethan’s cock. This was a sharp increase in intensity that you had been pitifully unprepared for. You broke away from Thomas with a whine and you heard Ethan panting in response to bottoming out. Feeling him at this deepest point had you spellbound, your walls fluttering as you did your best to adjust.

You let Thomas keep you in the promising momentum, even as you struggled to catch your breath. He took his mouth down to your neck, dancing kisses across the skin until there was a smile growing on your face. Your hand in his hair gripped into a fist as your greediness took over the threats of being overwhelmed, demanding more.

When your eyes steadily opened, it was to find Damiano mostly blocking your view of Ethan. The singer had leaned down, capturing Ethan’s lips in a series of passionate kisses. Over one of Damiano’s shoulders, you could see her watching the two men making out. There was a satisfied smile on her lips, with her seemingly taking this as inspiration for how she kept at snapping her hips into him.

You stuck with Thomas as he picked up a little speed, chasing greater friction as he lessened the pause between thrusts. Ethan writhed beneath you. Thomas was pushing you closer to that magnificent edge, his hand gripping the curve of your belly as it bounced with every single collision.

“Unf…” Ethan moaned and he threw an arm around Damiano’s shoulders, clinging to him for support.

You felt the quaking of Ethan’s body as more noises came from him. He arched his back, his head massaging you as the clamping of your walls began to spell his end. His fingers gripped you as he gave you as much as he could. Desperation marked his movements, keeping him going.

Until he was overcome by the dawning of his climax. He fell apart with gasps and whines, all from the safety of Damiano’s arms.

“Good boy.” She cooed.

Ethan fell back onto the bed, swearing through his efforts to regain his breath. As he slid out of your cunt, the activity in the room resumed.

You leaned forward, grabbing the mattress with one hand and Ethan with the other in an attempt to keep yourself steady against Thomas’ quick jolting. As your hole clamped around the inches of his dick, you felt the tension inside of you hitting its peak. You choked back sobs as you surrendered into the sensations caused by each monumental-feeling impact.

Beside you, she had gotten quiet in the face of escalating pleasure. Ethan had reached out, playing with her clitoris as she and Damiano continued to move together. She had one leg raised, draped over his shoulder, providing him with an efficient and deep angle. He didn’t need to watch her to keep in time with her bucking, the synergy remained even though his eyes were glued to you and Thomas.

You had lost all track of time, and even your own thoughts. You were floating away on the stimulations as your world was rocked again-and-again on a continuous loop.

With your whole body given over to his incredible pacing, spasms began to occur at your very core. It was too much to resist and the tension was bursting (along with everything else) inside of you.

Thomas crossed the line at almost the same second as you. He jolted forward to finish inside of you. His incoherent, strangled noises accompanied your uncontrolled moaning. This release brought your loudest sounds out, basking in all of the triumph of this moment.

You slumped forward, while trying to not collapse all of your weight onto Ethan. He wrapped you up in his arms as Thomas pulled away from you.

You laid down with Ethan and, for the moment, you were daunted by how widespread the after-effects of your climax were. After so long of being worked up, everything had reached its conclusion.

Even as you enjoyed the sight of it, watching Damiano and Victoria fucking didn’t feel entirely real. It was almost like there was a screen between you and them, putting you in the role of passive viewer.

“Fuck yes.” He rejoiced as she threw her head back, almost levitating off of the bed in her efforts to grind against him. “Yea-ah-ah, fuck yes, yes… ah…”

It appeared that he captured his climax first. But mere seconds later, you were seeing seemingly every muscle in her body clench. Then she began to twitch and convulse in an unfakeable display of overload, promptly followed by her panting into her release.

She wasn’t very responsive to his kisses and soon he was leaving her alone altogether - as was her preferred way to come down. He climbed over to the closeby bed and Thomas joined him on the other king-sized bed. He took up the position of little spoon, both of them facing the bed you occupied.

“Do you get it now- how much we missed you, was that point made clear?” She asked.

You reached out, taking her hand that was lying on the mattress. “Inescapably clear, absolutely nobody needs to try and make that point again.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that being on the menu any time soon.” Ethan said, dragging his fingers slowly up-and-down your back.

“Menu.” Damiano repeated, perking up from an inexplicable boost of energy. “Has she seen the menu yet?”

“You left it on the coffee table.” Thomas told him.

He was soon getting up in pursuit of this item. “Thanks, babe.”

“Prepare to never hear the end of how perfect this menu is.” She warned.

“He picked this hotel out of all of the other low-key options we had, specifically due to the room service menu.” Ethan said. “He got one look at that and instantly started picking out the things he knew you would love. After that, it was pretty obvious that none of the other hotels stood a chance.”

You sat up, excited to go over the menu with Damiano. You were more than flattered that this had been the driving factor in choosing this hotel to stay in. They were so concerned with giving you the perfect experience that they had curated it down to the last detail. You knew that you were incredibly lucky to get this. They were showing you the appreciation that you had been failing to show yourself.

The way they were treating you made you forget about the time apart. When they were on the road, all of the effort in your relationship went to finding time for each other. But today, the effort had gone to reaffirming your bond as a fivesome.

And maybe there was still some work to do (catching up with words, getting more thorough with details). But you were definitely back on the right track. You were feeling much better than you had been coming into this, you had been brought to a place where the fact that you belonged with them was beyond doubt.

“Sweetheart, come look at this- they have three different styles of garlic bread.” Damiano said.

You joined him sitting at the end of the bed. “No way.”

After you and he had poured over all of the dishes listed, the menu was passed to the other three. They made their selections and, as usual, the responsibility of calling to place the order fell to Ethan.

As everyone waited for the food to arrive, you looked around at your partners. You could have taken a nap after all of that exertion. But you were feeling energised at being in the same room as them, knowing no one was on the verge of dragging them out to fulfil an important commitment.

You turned to who was closest to you, Damiano. “Okay, catch me up on all the inside jokes I’ve missed.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but Thomas beat him to the punch. “Why would you ask him? He’s the least funny of all of us, it’s literally been documented.”

“Splash.” Victoria contributed, quoting Damiano back to him.

“Fuckin’ splash.” Thomas said.

They were referring back to a word-play joke Damiano had attempted to make when they were featured on one of YouTube’s most watched beauty channels. ‘A guy steps into a caffé… splash’, he had delivered, to a polite but lukewarm response. These days it was used when the others wanted to laugh at him.

His mouth dropped open in exaggerated hurt before he jumped to defend himself. “I was put on the spot, it was the best I could do. I’m funnier in Italian anyway.”

“Are you sure about that?” Thomas asked.

“You’re about to be sure of the back of my hand upside your head.” Damiano play-threatened, getting to his feet.

A new energy came into the suite and you savoured every second of getting to participate with them.

»»————-　♡　————-««  

🍑taglist: @bethanysnow - @gr8rainbowpunk - @idyllicbutterfly - @maneskindiva - @maneslut - @saschenkaaa - @slavicgoddess13 - @elvirabelle - @maneskintifoso - @thegeminisgirl - @ha-la-ansia - @butkutee - @ursulalurks - @itsmaneskinbitch - @icarodamiano - @floral-recs - @crwnnjules - @paralianeyes - @fand0mskullfa1ry - @chocolatepizzatyrant - @lizzylynch1 - @kammerstx - @myleftsock - @tellmesomething01 - @adoredamianos - @vittoriaisfuckingpathetic - @gay-for-victoria-de-angelis - @shinshans - @lonnybunnys - @lyricalliz - @lifeofa-fangirl [join here!]

[tossawary]

The AVALANCHE group in "Final Fantasy 7: Remake" keeps cracking me up. They're not wearing any face masks to hide their identities when busting into secure SHINRA facilities full of surveillance cameras??? They don't even change outfits when they're not running missions??? It's killing me.

Assuming that they are not outright killing every SHINRA trooper they encounter (maybe they are, idk), even if they weren't being caught on a bunch of surveillance cameras (the opening mission shows this happening), there's like dozens of people who should be able to give relatively detailed descriptions of them??? (Also, I laugh every time the screen says that Cloud has "defeated" a SHINRA trooper. If he's a super soldier swinging that much sharp metal around at high speeds, he should (realistically) be cutting people in half. It is amusing to me to see the people enemies just fall over and the machine enemies get trashed. I find it very cartoony.)

(I am still failing to properly watch my way through this series during work. I personally don't super love the hyperrealistic dolls design style and I don't think it jives all that well with the incredibly cartoony world building, clumsy "as you know" exposition, and wacky gameplay execution so far. It's just not my thing. Yet I found "Ace Attorney" utterly intolerable to watch but very fun to actually play through the wackiness, so I'll give FF7 the benefit of the doubt there and say, "Sure, I assume this is still really fun to actually play and that the world is immersive enough that way.")

This game is a "AAA" remake of a super popular game in a super popular franchise, but they apparently couldn't be bothered to make secondary "civilian" models for Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge? What is this? A cheaply made cartoon series? These characters are waltzing around the slums in their matching bright red bandanas and Jessie, who is apparently a former performer and therefore especially recognizable, is always wearing her silly tit-sculpted armor. AVALANCHE took a crowded passenger train home from their opening terrorist mission when they should rightfully all smell and look awfully beat-up and suspicious after fleeing a massive reactor explosion???

Like, I don't really care if the characters think they're hacking the camera systems here or if the game wants pretty character faces to be visible at all times. I also don't really care about faithfulness to the original setup. They could yank facemasks down during specific cutscenes? Cloud could lose his facemask at a dramatic moment during a cutscene? And Jessie could exclaim over how cute Cloud is at the end of the mission or whatever; you can frame all of their faces as a rewarding reveal at the end of the opener. I know that character models removing clothing is super hard in 3D animation, especially games, but there are storyboarding and model swap tricks for that. You can fake ripping off a facemask relatively easily.

If the point is for SHINRA to know it's them all along and to set them up to take the fall for something later, then AVALANCHE taking greater precautions and the Turks catching them out anyway could be used to make both AVALANCHE and the Turks look more competent / dangerous. Maybe you could generously interpret SHINRA's apparent failure to catch our protagonists out as the corporation being a bloated wreck of greed and incompetent, overly reliant on their technology and wealth, but that still doesn't really excuse for me making the AVALANCHE characters look this reckless. Jessie later visits her SHINRA employees PARENTS' HOUSE in her TERRORIST UNIFORM??? JESSIE, NO!!! That's so dangerous.

There's so much detail in the backgrounds here already! If it's a matter of resources, surely some random mob NPC models could be cut so that I could see Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge in cute civilian wear outside of their missions! I am already suspending so much disbelief for so much of FF7's wacky worldbuilding, but these little details are what's really tripping me up for some reason, like, come on. SHOW ME that these characters are good at what they do by having them take some basic precautions.

I laughingly shared these thoughts with someone and they said (jokingly critical of the game as well) that Barret probably doesn't bother with secrecy because he's already apparently the only big black guy around and almost certainly the only big black guy with a gun for an arm. Which is a point! But also, BARRET!!! YOU'RE A FATHER!!! SUNGLASSES ARE NOT SUFFICIENT ANONYMITY HERE!!! THINK OF MARLENE, MAN!!!

[salternateunreality2]

AGSZC ND AU: Finances

Disclaimer: not an expert

AU setup: all the boys are neuro-spicy except Angeal, who has depression/anxiety. I HC that GZ are more ADHD-leaning and SC are more Autism (ASD)-leaning

From: the archives of my convos with @strayheartless

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

Zack struggles to save. Angeal and Genesis have to sit him down and talk him into setting up a retirement fund that automatically draws from his paycheck before he can touch it.

They also help him set up a savings account and encourage him to use cash to- Zack did you just give half your paycheck in cash to that beggar child? SURE, BUT NOT HALF YOUR PAYCHECK!!! YOU HAVE TO PAY RENT!!! ...and now they're setting up direct deposit on his bills.

There's at least 20 Zack Fair ID cards in circulation around Midgar. It's gotten so bad that he is the only SOLDIER who has to scan his ID AND put in a pin (Cloud's name, but with a 0 instead of an o! Super secure!). So you can imagine how many Zack Fair credit and debit cards have had to be canceled.

-

Angeal is frugal to the point of it being unhealthy. He washes plastic bags (ok, sure, but maybe once they're not water tight, let them go), wears clothes until they literally fall off his body (ok for some things, but Angeal, that shirt is more hole than shirt), reuses the coffee grounds as many times as he can before the other SOLDIERs start a riot (unhealthy in that they're asking for his head on a pike in Lazard's office)...

He's religious about not skipping meals; he considers it a sign that he's "made it" in life, and giving up on the ritual and right to eat upsets him.

-

Genesis got swept up in finance as a hyperfixation/special interest, so he's in the healthiest financial situation, and helps his boyfriends up their games. He set up automatic deposits, has diverse investments, and has controls set in place to help him avoid over-spending if he starts getting impulsive.

-

Cloud is broke and it's not his fault. He fully supports all of Angeal's endeavors to the point of obsession as well. Whatever part of his paycheck doesn't immediately get vaporized for housing, he sends as much as he can to his mom (much like Angeal), and since she refuses to take more, the rest goes into savings.

Unlike Angeal, he will skip meals if money is tight or he thinks he can get away with it. It helps that he forgets sometimes, and he also tries to sleep for meals as a two-for-one on shutting down his senses and saving money. None of his boyfriends are happy about this.

-

Sephiroth has a complicated relationship with money. It's very hard for him to consider it as a tangible thing, since his basic physical needs are met by the company. It took Genesis looking over his finances to realize Shinra was severely underpaying him, even embezzling from him. After a tirade involving Lazard, Genesis, and Angeal vs. the board, all that was straightened out. They couldn't get much back pay, but Hojo got scolded mildly and Sephiroth considered that a win. The others are still unhappy about it.

He doesn't like touching his finances. Genesis encouraged and guided him as he set things up one miserable April, and now it takes care of itself, and he's happy as long as he has enough to treat his boyfriends and buy pasta.

[mariacallous]

The end-to-end encrypted communication app WhatsApp, used by roughly 3 billion people around the world, will roll out cloud-based AI capabilities in the coming weeks that are designed to preserve WhatsApp’s defining security and privacy guarantees while offering users access to message summarization and composition tools.

Meta has been incorporating generative AI features across its services that are built on its open source large language model, Llama. And WhatsApp already incorporates a light blue circle that gives users access to the Meta AI assistant. But many users have balked at this addition, given that interactions with the AI assistant aren’t shielded from Meta the way end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp chats are. The new feature, dubbed Private Processing, is meant to address these concerns with what the company says is a carefully architected and purpose-built platform devoted to processing data for AI tasks without the information being accessible to Meta, WhatsApp, or any other party. While initial reviews by researchers of the scheme’s integrity have been positive, some note that the move toward AI features could ultimately put WhatsApp on a slippery slope.

“WhatsApp is targeted and looked at by lots of different researchers and threat actors. That means internally it has a well understood threat model,” says Meta security engineering director Chris Rohlf. “There's also an existing set of privacy expectations from users, so this wasn’t just about managing the expansion of that threat model and making sure the expectations for privacy and security were met—it was about careful consideration of the user experience and making this opt-in.”

End-to-end encrypted communications are only accessible to the sender and receiver, or the people in a group chat. The service provider, in this case WhatsApp and its parent company Meta, is boxed out by design and can’t access users’ messages or calls. This setup is incompatible with typical generative AI platforms that run large language models on cloud servers and need access to users’ requests and data for processing. The goal of Private Processing is to create an alternate framework through which the privacy and security guarantees of end-to-end encrypted communication can be upheld while incorporating AI.

Users opt into using WhatsApp’s AI features, and they can also prevent people they’re chatting with from using the AI features in shared communications by turning on a new WhatsApp control known as “Advanced Chat Privacy.”

“When the setting is on, you can block others from exporting chats, auto-downloading media to their phone, and using messages for AI features,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post last week. Like disappearing messages, anyone in a chat can turn Advanced Chat Privacy on and off—which is recorded for all to see—so participants just need to be mindful of any adjustments.

Private Processing is built with special hardware that isolates sensitive data in a “Trusted Execution Environment,” a siloed, locked-down region of a processor. The system is built to process and retain data for the minimum amount of time possible and is designed grind to a halt and send alerts if it detects any tampering or adjustments. WhatsApp is already inviting third-party audits of different components of the system and will make it part of the Meta bug bounty program to encourage the security community to submit information about flaws and potential vulnerabilities. Meta also says that, ultimately, it plans to make the components of Private Processing open source, both for expanded verification of its security and privacy guarantees and to make it easier for others to build similar services.

Last year, Apple debuted a similar scheme, known as Private Cloud Compute, for its Apple Intelligence AI platform. And users can turn the service on in Apple’s end-to-end encrypted communication app, Messages, to generate message summaries and compose “Smart Reply” messages on both iPhones and Macs.

Looking at Private Cloud Compute and Private Processing side by side is like comparing, well, Apple(s) and oranges, though. Apple’s Private Cloud Compute underpins all of Apple Intelligence everywhere it can be applied. Private Processing, on the other hand, was purpose-built for WhatsApp and doesn’t underpin Meta’s AI features more broadly. Apple Intelligence is also designed to do as much AI processing as possible on-device and only send requests to the Private Cloud Compute infrastructure when necessary. Since such “on device” or “local” processing requires powerful hardware, Apple only designed Apple Intelligence to run at all on its recent generations of mobile hardware. Old iPhones and iPads will never support Apple Intelligence.

Apple is a manufacturer of high-end smartphones and other hardware, while Meta is a software company, and has about 3 billion users who have all types of smartphones, including old and low-end devices. Rohlf and Colin Clemmons, one of the Private Processing lead engineers, say that it wasn’t feasible to design AI features for WhatsApp that could run locally on the spectrum of devices WhatsApp serves. Instead, WhatsApp focused on designing Private Processing to be as unhelpful as possible to attackers if it were to be breached.

“The design is one of risk minimization,” Clemmons says. “We want to minimize the value of compromising the system.”

The whole effort raises a more basic question, though, about why a secure communication platform like WhatsApp needs to offer AI features at all. Meta is adamant, though, that users expect the features at this point and will go wherever they have to to get them.

“Many people want to use AI tools to help them when they are messaging,” WhatsApp head Will Cathcart told WIRED in an email. “We think building a private way to do that is important, because people shouldn’t have to switch to a less-private platform to have the functionality they need.”

“Any end-to-end encrypted system that uses off-device AI inference is going to be riskier than a pure end to end system. You’re sending data to a computer in a data center, and that machine sees your private texts,” says Matt Green, a Johns Hopkins cryptographer who previewed some of the privacy guarantees of Private Processing, but hasn’t audited the complete system. “I believe WhatsApp when they say that they’ve designed this to be as secure as possible, and I believe them when they say that they can’t read your texts. But I also think there are risks here. More private data will go off device, and the machines that process this data will be a target for hackers and nation state adversaries.”

WhatsApp says, too, that beyond basic AI features like text summarization and writing suggestions, Private Processing will hopefully create a foundation for expanding into more complicated and involved AI features in the future that involve processing, and potentially storing, more data.

As Green puts it, “Given all the crazy things people use secure messengers for, any and all of this will make the Private Processing computers into a very big target.”

[techdriveplay]

How to Install and Use a Smart Doorbell Camera

As our homes become more connected, the need for effective security measures has never been greater. A smart doorbell camera offers a simple yet powerful solution for monitoring your home, allowing you to see who’s at your door, even when you’re not there. In this guide, we’ll explore how to install and use a smart doorbell camera, transforming your front door into a digital guardpost. Why Smart…

[jatinbansalblog]

🔥Want to access 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 on cloud Anytime & Anywhere? Hurry up and connect with us🔥

.

Quickest Setup, go live in 15 minutes

Zero Maintenance Cost

🔴Why choose us

Own Data Center infrastructure

23 years of experience

10000+ Happy Clients Pan India

 High Data Security

 24/7 Support

.

 ☎️ +91-8800198868

visit now : https://kisitservices.in/

#tallyoncloud #cloudcomputing #cloud #tally #AWS #krishna #cloudservices #tallycloud #busy #margoncloud #busyoncloud #dataprotection #privacy #security #krishnacloudservices #krishnacloud #kisitservices #kisit

[thosefuzzywordfeelings]

La Seduction Vengeance // Part Two.

CW: mentions of violence, manipulation

The rope was tight. Enough. Coarse, tied securely around the trunk of a blossom tree outside the house, I observed my setup. If my amateur calculations were correct, the breezeblock suspended from the tree should fall directly onto the bonnet of Mr Thompson's car. It was midnight, people on my street known for getting early nights. That was the lucky thing in my situation, the residents of Blossom Close either over the age of 80 or so inundated with money that they'd be visiting their multiple holiday homes as soon as the sun burned the streets warmer. My dad and I were the youngest on the street, keeping everyone feeling youthful and hopeful with the sitcom-like happiness that used to radiate from our home.

Now, Mr Thompson wasn't a terribly behaved man, he just had some what he called 'old-fashioned' ideals about the way the world was changing. And it was those outlandish opinions shared a little too loudly to those on our street that made me choose him for this particular mission. I needed to get that SUV down this road, and I needed to speak to that officer. Double checking that none of the houses lights had switched on - elderly folk up using the bathroom at witching hour - and when I was sure it was clear I pulled out the shiny engraved switchblade my dad had bought me for my 18th. "Every young woman should have one of these. In case of emergencies, you know?"

I'd consider this an emergency, Dad. Slicing the thick rope in one swift cut, the breezeblock came tumbling down onto the grey metal, the alarm instantly blaring to alert the street. I ran away to my house, three doors down - thankfully - and ran through my screen door. Sweat formed on my brow as I peered through my living room curtains, making sure to keep all my lights off. As I heard commotion and angry yells from Mr Thompson; I knew that was my cue. Wrapping a large hoodie around my frame and pulling it over my head, I pulled an eye mask over my head too, letting it nestle on the rim of my forehead as I slipped on some slippers. Heading out into the cold, dark night once again, I found Darcy coming out to our side of the road.

"Looks like Jerry's in a bit of trouble there." Darcy spoke with a slight giggle. She didn't like him either, not many of the residents of this street did. Looking down the pavement at Mr Thompsons arms flailing about angrily as residents began to gather at the chaos, the all too familiar silhouette of the black SUV came swinging around the corner of the street. Bingo. Clunky black DM's hit the concrete as the young man stepped out of the car, sucking back a disgusting cloud of flavoured smoke from a vape I could see was electric green from down the street. He came towards Mr Thompson and his beautifully wrecked car (you're welcome) before looking around at the other residents. His eyes landed on mine for a moment before drifting back to Mr Thompson.

"He might just be the dishiest officer we've had around here, you know. Your age too." Darcy mumbled as she folded her arms, trying to hug herself away from the chill of the night. I knew what she was trying to do, trying to hook me up with the not entirely unattractive sheriff, but she had no idea of my ulterior motive. I chuckled lightly in her direction, keeping my eyes on the officer. Shit. He was walking towards me. If I end up in a jail cell I'm screw-

"Good evening ladies, or should I say mornin'?" The young man spoke with a sideways smile. Darcy and I smiled in response, her bony elbow nudging mine subtly. I nudged her back. "You lovely ladies see what happened to Gerry's car?"

"No, sir. I was sleeping. Woke up to the alarm blaring." I replied innocently, pointing to the eye mask atop my head. His eyes flickered up to it, studying it for a moment.

"Sleep is for the week?" He read the lettering on it aloud, chuckling to himself as he turned towards Darcy. "What about you, Ms Brook? Know you ain't too fond of the man. Got some weightlifting trophies we don't know about?"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his ridiculous attempt at humour, my eyes looking over his uniform and his features. He had beauty marks dotted over his skin, ironic considering his cocky personality was so ugly. But the way his kevlar hugged his frame, his cap rested almost over two big chocolate eyes was getting a little intense. He didn't seem that attractive when he was perring out of the SUV window, but I suppose that's a distance away. Doubt flooded my mind that this young man could have possibly killed my father, but I needed to get answers nonetheless.

"Well here's a card with my details on. You know, incase something comes to ya." He said, shoving a little piece of cardboard into just my hand, Darcy peering over my shoulder at the writing. Gator Tillman. Tillman sounded familiar, but i couldn't think where from. I nodded up at Gator, tucking the card into my dressing gown pocket. He walked away, taking one more quick glance over my shoulder at me before patting Mr Thompson on the shoulder; seeming to have made amends with the old crony about fixing his car. Hm. I needed to speak to him more, I thought to myself, as I bid goodnight to Darcy and headed back into my house to sleep. And plan.

Like some kind of crazed, grieving magician I'd been working on my next trick for just a few days. The middle of the night worked best, as it seemed Gator was on call a lot more nightly as of late. I'd decided to make this one a little personal, meticulously planning out a break in. Of my own home. I'd wait until the street was silent, all the elderly folks resting peacefully in their beds - bar Gerry Thompson who I could practically still hear grumbling about his car even still - and I'd smash my front door window in. My dad had left some money in piggybanks in the basement and it was a little window, easy to fix. In he'd come, like a knight in shining camouflage and then I'd out him. Or whatever, I hadn't actually thought of the crux of the trap yet. The onyx sky rolled around quickly, as I bound multiple tea-towels around my fist and headed through my back door and around the porch towards the front. Punching straight through the glass, I unlocked the door and snuck in; making sure to use a pair of my dad's old shoes to tread in the glass. I did the same to my back door, punching out the glass towards the patio so the 'attacker' could escape.

Unwrapping the tea-towels and putting them back in the kitchen drawer, I was relieved that my fist was unharmed. The next part was to wreck my beautiful kitchen, making sure the drawers were emptied and the knife block was menacingly strewn onto the floor as it looked like someone had ransacked the place. Grabbing duct tape from the drawer, I wrapped it around my wrists, pulling it and securing it tightly with my teeth. Some feat. I threw the duct tape underneath the sink. Holding two strips in between the fingers of one hand and my mobile phone in the other, I headed upstairs to my dad's bedroom, sitting in the corner opposite the dresser and tying one of the duct tape strips haphazardly around my ankles. Calling 911, I took some quick breaths in succession before they picked up. Just as an unfamiliar male voice answered, my tied feet kicked the dresser and let everything crash from its top. I screamed for help as the person the phone confirmed someone was on their way. As I covered my own mouth with the final strip of duct tape, I muffled some fake screams through it as the call handler tried to reassure me. Rolling my eyes I took the final step, adrenaline running through my veins at my intricate plan; drawing my head back hard against the wall and slumping down with my eyes.

I came round to a deep voice and a firm hand pinching my shoulder. "Ma'am? Can you hear me?" Groaning and mumbling, I blinked my eyes open to see two officers knelt beside me, holding pieces of duct tape from my body and bottled water. "Is he gone?" I mumbled, mentally noting that I should absolutely write a speech for my upcoming Oscar. "Is who gone? We found signs of forced entry, you're looking at getting two new doors replaced. No perp though." One of the young officers spoke softly. Neither of them were Gator. My entire plan had been to get Gator into a corner, like a little rat. A rat who, no matter how intelligent he may have seemed, had no idea that the person holding the cheese had backed him up into that corner on purpose.

With an inspection of my head and more numbers to call if I was 'alarmed', the officers headed back to their station as I packed a bag to stay at Darcy's for the rest of the night. The officers warned that the 'perp' may come back with my broken doors, so they'd asked my sweet, oblivious neighbour if I could crash at her place. She was kind, as always. Opening the door in her fluffy robe and matching slippers, her smile as warm as the heating that rushed out of the door of her home. "Come on dear, tea is ready for you. Lord knows you must be shaking like a willow in a storm." Her soft voice carried me into her home, as I settled on her floral-patterned couch. We drank tea, as I allowed my mouth to ramble about the horrors of what - I had orchestrated - had happened that evening. I felt awful lying to Darcy's face but the rigid ache in form of flashbacks and memories of my father pushed the lies right out of my mouth.

She gave me a kiss on the head as I stood in the doorway of her spare room. I felt my eyelids tingle with a sadness I hadn't allowed myself to process yet. "You'll be alright darlin'." Darcy's words were gentle, but her actions bore a heavy weight that I think she knew I needed. Then they came, what felt like gallons of tears washing over my cheeks as Darcy wrapped her arms around my shoulders, pulling me against her chest. "Double squeeze." She whispered softly, her arms tensing around my shoulders twice. I pulled away instantly with a worried look on my face between sobs. "How do you know - about - about double squeeze?" I said weakly, my voice wavering with sadness. Darcy's face broke into a sympathetic smile. "I've known you since you were this big, darlin' -" She whispered, holding her index and thumb finger paralell to each other, "Saw you grow up. Saw how your father loved you. Saw how you loved him. He always told me how clever you were, how you were going to take on the world. I still see it. In your eyes, you're still that clever little girl, that clever big man raised you to be. He said to me one day," Darcy spoke with such passion, her elderly voice hinting with her own grief for my father as she grasped my hands tightly, "He said, if I'm ever not here, remind her. Remind her of her bravery and dont forget the double squeeze." I let out a sad chuckle as I kept the flow of sadness streaming down my face as her words clung to my skin like the double squeeze. My father would always hug me, tightly, sometimes so tight that my lungs felt like they could burst. He'd let go with a chuckle, kissing the top of my head as he'd wrap his arms around me tighter, squeezing twice as he mumbled 'double squeeze' into the top of my head. What I'd give to feel that from him again. Darcy's arms were thick, soft and plush and the squeeze felt too kind. I needed the air knocked out of me. With a sad smile, I hugged her and thanked her for her kindness tonight as I shut the door behind me and settled into the squeaky metal bed frame. I hugged one of her downy cushions tightly, letting a few more tears hit the pillow. "Take on the world." "Clever little girl." Darcy's words echoed around my head as I tossed and turned, staring up at the mottled ceiling. I needed to get to that smarmy officer. Pretty boy. Dangerous for an active murderer to wear such a sweet smile. I needed to come up with something better.

[glassboxdiaries]

From Bettas to Guppies: My Honest Take on 'Easy Beginner Fish' for Your Tank!

Today, I'm sharing my experiences with some fish that often come up when you Google search "aquarium fish for beginners." Let's dive in! 🐠👇

Betta fish are one of the most popular in the hobby. 🧡 I’ve kept four of these beauties, each with their own unique personality. Bettas are ideal for solo tanks as small as 5 gallons. But keep an eye out: extensive breeding can lead to health issues in some.

Neon tetras are another beginner favorite! 🌈 Social fish, they love groups of 6-10 and do best in softer water. They’re easygoing but can face issues from mass-breeding. Despite the risks, six of my ten are still thriving after 18 months.

Corydoras are my go-to bottom dwellers. 🐟 I keep Corydoras aeneus, a common variety. They're social, so aim for groups of at least six. For bottom feeders, they’re surprisingly easy to breed—I often find eggs around the tank!

Guppies are colorful and active but can be challenging in soft water. I tried raising pH levels but ultimately had to give mine to a friend in a hard-water area. For beginners, try all-male setups to avoid overpopulation!

Harlequin rasboras are hardy and spawn frequently in my tank! 🌿 They’re social and do well in 15-gallon+ tanks. In my experience, they’re peaceful fish that are beginner-friendly and relatively easy to care for.

White cloud mountain minnows (gold variant) are small but lively! 🐟 They’re great for unheated tanks and need plant cover to feel secure. A social species, I keep eight in a 12-gallon tank, and they’re always active.

Finally, my favorite: Honey Gourami! 🐠 Known for their deep yellow hues, they’re peaceful, beginner-friendly, and great for community tanks. Mine coexist happily with baby cherry shrimp in a 40-gallon planted tank.

Check out my full video for more in-depth breakdowns of each beginner-friendly fish!