#silicon valley spoilers

[natjennie]

some thoughts on. all of that. now that I can breathe. I loved it. I thought it was all exactly what it needed to be and executed itself wonderfully. was it perfect? maybe not. but I think some people are doing the same things some wwdits fans do, where they think things are magically going to get more deep and dark and dramatic than they have been the whole show. and, a thing wwdits people do too, they think that people that have been dead for hundreds of years are going to change in the blink of an eye. the subtle shifts alison has brought to their.. lives. is the whole point.

people want x y and z to wrap up, but if they all perfectly came together, you'd complain about it happening too fast and inorganically. part of the great part of ghosts is its utter sincerity, its complete and total commitment to being REAL, despite its absurd premise. so if kitty and thomas had suddenly confessed feelings and kissed it would seem rushed. thomas has been making leaps and bounds to not fawn over alison. he's complimentary, but respectful, and has made real progress after seeing obi's breakdown. if he was completely neutral to her out of nowhere it would have felt forced. cap's backstory has been the whole show in the making and still went by too fast.

the length of the episodes and the seasons as a whole are meant for quick peaks into domestic moments of some silly little guys, not succession level drama. the finale didn't feel final because it wasn't supposed to. their stories haven't ended, we just stopped getting to witness them.

[cartierdreamx]

𝕯𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖉 𝕿𝖔 𝕱𝖆𝖑𝖑 *1*

OMG HI MY SWEET LOVES <3, I hope you’re doing well, and your week was great! I am so so so excited to share with you the first chapter of my new Mafia AU series, and I am even more excited to write it (the love you showed to FAD and my drabbles warm my heart so so much), I don’t want to reveal but because I want you to read that, but I will say both you and Jenna are 25 in this story, something about 25 just seems like the right age for this. Anyways, I hope you enjoy and if you do, please consider reblogging, following and commenting! Thank you all for your constant love and support! J <33 

If you would like to be apart of a taglist so you know when the next chapter comes out, comment down below or let me know thru asks!! 

Pairings: jenna ortega x fem! Reader 

Warnings: slight angst, slight dark themes, swearing, mentions of weapons and violence. 

This fic is STRICTLY 18+, as it involves adult themes, minors DNI, you are responsible for your own social media intake, which includes reading entertainment which this fic falls under, so one last warning- this fic is 18+. Thank you!

FYI: JENNA IS G!P IN THIS FIC!! 

~~

Words flow through you with ease, you inhaled words the same way oxygen seeps into your body, and like carbon dioxide leaving, what left instead, was art. Your art. So, journalism was destined for you, it was your calling, you would have gone into publishing but there was something about people that drew you in, and there was the fact that you lived in the Bay area, your home, well developed into your home, you moved a few years back because something in you sparked and said to move, you knew the opportunities would be great, and you proved yourself right. You found yourself working for an independent, yet big journalism company right in the heart of Silicon Valley, the tech city, right where the hearts of Google and Apple reside. They pay good money, having saved enough to rent out a loft close to work and have your own car, a black Toyota 86 with a custom spoiler and a lip kit wrapped around the body and the colour so deep and rich, Batman would be jealous. But there was one thing that was missing, rumination would fill your mind, if journalism was destined for you, why couldn’t the heart of someone be too. Love. You were missing love, what’s yours will come to you and everything happens for a reason would be a constant mantra of yours, but patience was a draining one, and love is a losing game. Not to worry, your words would keep you company and that would be enough, right?

“Y/N!” Solana calls out for you, your boss, manager, bff, mother, every occupation under the blazing sun, she’s that to you.

The corner of your mouth connects to your ears and your eyes widens as the auditory sounds hit your ear drums. You loved her with your whole heart,

“How’s my sweet girl doing?” She rushes towards you with such sass, it makes you giggle.

“Better now that you’re here.”

“Awww, I love youuuu.”

“Huh?” You giggle, extending your hand out to grab the drink she clearly bought for you, then giving her a mocking wink.

“Oh, you dickhead.” Solana exclaims as she realises your sweet confession was directed towards the ice latte.

A soft tsk leaves her mouth as she rolls her eyes at you, as she leans over your shoulders, she reads over what you’re writing. You were a talented writer, everyone wanted you and not just journalism, anything that included writing, they wanted you. But for some reason Solana’s company ‘Bayseyes’ reeled you in, it felt like second nature to you, it felt like home, electricity rooted in your fingers when your touch met with the keyboard during your trial shifts when you were a rookie, no other branch made you feel this way. And plus, you really loved how ‘Bayseyes’ wasn’t toxic, the information was fished out and you and your colleagues had high rating articles, but no negative connotation was linked to you guys unlike other journalism and tabloid companies.

“This is good y/n.”

“Aw, thank you.”

“If you worked at TMZ.”

“OKAY OUCH, if you hated it just say that smh.”

“Y/N, it’s good, but I know you to be amazing, scrap this and write a new one.”

“Okay, be honest, are you trying to murder me? I feel like a 10-inch knife has just been plunged deep into my heart, I’ll write a new one but you’re giving this story to a rookie, this is too beautiful to be deleted off this sweet universe of ours.”

“You are so dramatic you know that? Fine.” She was right, you are dramatic, but in a fun, ironic way, it’s what made people laugh and what this world needed was more laughter, as sad as it sounds, you used that same dramatics and turned it into a play when foster parents would meet you, whilst at the same time, flaunting that big heart of yours. However, fostering is easier said than done, every change of parents and every house you had to learn the layout of, was never your fault, you were so loved, but you can’t help but blame the change on you each time, if you were so loved, why didn’t you have a home. You were close once, almost about to have your forever home but problems with the system always won. Almost is never enough.

A bright, mocking smile paints you face as Solana scoffs at you, she always gave into your needs and want, but you always provided her with what she needed, in every form, so she can’t help but have a soft spot for you, giving in to your commands.

“So, what is my little rising star going to write about?”

“Hmmm royal family? The coronation, OH! There’s talk that there was a paparazzi high speed chase with Meghan and Harry.”

“Like every other journalism branch? We’re not TMZ babes, we’re better.”

Folding your arms and leaning back into your chair, suffocating Solana’s fingers, you scoff out of disappointment. Feeling Solana’s fingers squirm out from the space between your back and your chair, you swivel around to face her.

“Well, I don’t know what you want, everything has been milked.” As the words leave your tongue, you see her mouth form a smirk paired with a smug look. “Sol, what did you do?”

“Yes, everything has been milked, but not this.” You see an emerald, green paper with hints of gold flash into your eyes, the glossy material reflecting off the lights. Your lips purse inwards and your eyebrows scrunch down, if confusion ever knew your name, now was when it screamed it.

“What is that?”

“Well Ms. L/N, this, this is rarer than any diamond, pearl or ruby out there, you’ve been invited to Jenna Ortega’s annual masquerade ball.” Her smirk now turning into a cheese, a cheese so wide it was starting to creep you out.

“As in, mafia leader Jenna Ortega?”

“Yup!” She says ever so positively.

“As in, most feared women in San Francisco, HELL, maybe in America?”

“Oh well, that’s subjective.”

“NOOO, it’s fact.” An obvious annoyance paints your face as you bite the right side of your lip, knowing there was no fighting this, as much as you didn’t want to attend, you couldn’t say no to her, and plus, this invitation is so exclusive, more exclusive than the MET, which you, not to sound snobby, you’ve been to, not as a guest though, but obviously as a journalist.

“You’re going Y/N, that’s final, I’m speaking as your boss, we need this, YOU need this. No one has ever been close enough to her to get an exclusive, it’s always been assistants on top of assistants on top of body guards, I need you to work your charm.”

A big sigh escapes your mouth, your sign of submission and defeat, looks like you’re going to attend. You can’t help but feel a small strike of lightning hit your aortas though, but your pride was too big for you to ever admit that to Sol, to be fair, you can’t remember the last time you went out and enjoyed yourself, though you can’t promise you’d enjoy this ball, you can’t remember the last time you got dressed up, baddie up, just in general felt pretty about yourself. So that, and only that had you excited, oh and maybe the little fact this story could make you, Sol, and anyone under the name of the company MILLIONS.

“Okay fine, but only for work.”

“Oh sweetie, I want you to get laid too.” The same cheesey smile back plastered on her face as wide as the curve of a banana was really starting to get to you now.

“If I say fine, will you stop leering at me with that monstrous smile of yours.”

“Yes.”

“Fine.”

“Okay my smile is back to normal now, but I’m serious, thought I want you to write a global hit, I also want you to have fun, you’re 25, Jenna is 25, I want some grandbabies.”

“WOAHHHH SLOW YOUR ROLL, first of all you’re 33, no grandbabies, second of all, no! I’m not hooking up with the head of the Ortega mafia family, and definitely not getting pregnant.”

“But she’s hot.”

You throw your hands up in the air and swiftly placed your face in them once you brought your arms down.

“Just because she’s hot does not mean I’m getting pregnant.”

“AH HAH, so you agree she’s hot!”

“Okay that’s it.” You stand up and start grabbing your things, trying to shake off what Sol just insisted.

“Waitttt, where are you going?”

“Lunch, away from you.”

“NOOOO, I was kidding, okay fine, at least have lunch with me, you can try on your dress.”

“You have my dress already? Wait- when is it?” Sounding hesitant, thinking you had more time until the ball.

“Heh, tonight.”

You freeze and stop in your tracks, a million thoughts illuminating your mind, what’re you going to wear, make up, shoes, hair, hookups??? And maybe the fact that you’re going to be in a room highlighted with the word danger. Not saying that weapons would be blazing all over the room, but you felt a sense of caution attending, Jenna had enemies, it’s the mafia, without enemies are you really in the mafia. Her main enemy though was the other mafia family, the hierarchy goes Ortega and then Marcello, they were also feared but Ortega was more liked. You never liked that life, the whole mafia thing, sure it was family oriented, and they never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it, no women, no children, well Ortega anyways, Marcello ran on different values, they were ruthless, but they knew better than to cross Ortega’s lines, it was the one thing they feared, and they could never find a way to make Jenna vulnerable, Jenna would loves herself and the family too much to let herself be vulnerable. She is Bay city’s most feared and most eligible bachelorette.

“ARE YOU INSANE? THERE’S NO TIME.”

Sol cups your face and blows on you “there is plenty of time, you’re leaving early, we’re going to get lunch, then you’re going to try on your dress, you get ready, and I will do your hair and makeup, make Jenna fiend for you.”

“You have got to calm it with Jenna.”

“Yeah, whatever come on.”

~~

Back at your green infested loft, adorned with all the books, warmth, and plant babies you could ever imagine, you get Sol to place a blindfold on you so the first time you’d see the dress is when she takes off your blindfold in front of your mirror.

“Are you ready?”

“Very.”

As she takes off the blindfold, your eyes take a second to focus on your figure in the mirror, a floor length, ruby red dress drapes and cherishes every beautiful curve of yours, the high slit showcasing your leg accentuates your ass, every cinch of the corset top pushing up your ample bosom, with just enough fabric draping over your shoulders, but not enough to call them sleeves.

“Wow.” Was all you could muster up to say, shocked at how glistening your beauty was, you can’t remember the last time you felt this way about yourself.

“Wow, indeed, but honestly, you deserve more than a wow, you’ll capture everyone’s eyes, and especially Jenna’s eyes.”

You let out a soft giggle, opening your arms and taking her in, “thank you so much for this.” She was taller than you so one hand rests on your head and the other around your back and waist whilst your arms bear hugged her entire waist.

“You deserve it, love, now come on, we have to do your hair and makeup.”

~~

Stepping into Ortega towers was every bit of excitement and nervousness all at once, like you were going to throw up but instead of germs and digested food, it’d be confetti. A red carpet was rolled out for guests and paparazzi hugged both sides of walk behind golden ropes, you were a nobody, so you wanted to swift your way into the building. You couldn’t help but take in the city views even if you were at ground level, and the towering building in front of you captured every breath in your lungs, it was an architectural dream, heights reaching mountains but curves and twists and openings everywhere you looked. There were two main towers, the roots of the building curving towards each other and then straightening up with a long adjoining room, connecting one tower to the next, assuming that is where the ball is being held. And as if that wasn’t enough to impress you, there was one more adjoining room at the very top, like a princess keep at a castle, but instead of being the size of a small bathroom, it was the width of both towers and the gaps in between, you could only assume that is Jenna’s penthouse. Sources online stated that the towers was home to the Ortega family, where Jenna spent the most time, where missions and meetings were officialised, an office space for hundreds of workers, and a tactical space for hundreds more body guards and loyal subjects, and a small rumour suggests that there is an unground vault filled all the riches you could imagine, and of-course, every weapon they needed.

The blinding lights stung your eyes, but luckily it took a matter of seconds for you to get in. Though your gold mask with intricate designs hugging your face didn’t help as the lights just reflected gold flashes into your eyes, part of that mask covered the top left side of your face and your entire forehead, leaving the right side naked but the mask hid your identity enough. You were met with security looking at every guest’s invitation, handing them yours, you were given the okay, batches of people swarm the elevators trying to get to the ball. Luckily you didn’t have to try that hard as, despite the hundreds of guests attending, everyone was calm, collected and all listening to security, though it might’ve been the fear that coerced them to submit to their instructions.

Once the elevator doors open the lively music entered your ears which made you laugh a bit, despite this ‘party’ being a masquerade ball, there was youth in the air, no boring classical music, but you were sure that they’d be some of that later in the night. Your first instinct was to dash for the bar, free drinks, free food, and you planned to make Jenna’s pockets hurt even just the tiniest bit, but then that motivation was short lived when your slow ass finally realised that this ball would have thousands of sponsors and donations.

“Hey! What can I get you?” A bartender greets you with a warm smile.

“Pornstar martini, please.” Keeping it on the sweet side, and plus you didn’t want to make a face every time you took a sip out of your drink because the alcohol taste was too strong.

“I like your style, ma’am, coming right up.”

You take mental notes of your surroundings and what your vision is telling you, you would’ve brought along a small note pad or pulled out your phone, but now was not the time, and you’d be caught dead before someone thought of you as that cliché quirky girl trying to be different so you could catch someone’s attention. Noting your surroundings, you see a bunch of masks, no shit, but you realise all the workers and body guards had matching suits, uniforms and masks, workers and body guards having different looks but under those subcategories, they were all matching, it was cute but a bit cliché you admit. Not wanting to expose yourself as a journalist straight away, you make small talk with the bartender, asking questions that wouldn’t compromise you.

“Soooo, I’m kinda new to this scene, who do you think is worth my time?”

“Well ma’am, look around and try to scan people’s faces and mannerisms, I’m sure you’ll be able to spot out some celebrities, find the ones you love and charm them, they’ll make great company for tonight.”

“And the host?”

“Heh, Ms. Ortega likes to keep it on the downlow, if you catch her attention, she’ll come to you, but her groupies always get to her first, and because their hearts are filled with greed and lust, they’ll never give her back to the party.”

“Lust rearranged is slut, KIDDING, KIDDING, I’m sure they have their reasons of wanting her.”

“No, you’re right, cus all they want is money, never genuine, always just sex.”

“But Ms. Ortega is a playgirl, she enjoys it too much to let them go?”

“Right on the nose ma’am.”

You give gratitude to the bartender for keeping you company and allowing yourself to get comfortable and adapt to the scene, but you had to let them go and do their job or I’m sure someone would’ve complained or worse, someone might’ve thought you were hitting on them or vice versa. Making small talk with strangers always pained you but you were good at it, one of the many perks about journalism, the information you want, you’d get it one way or another. But alas the open bar finally catches up to you when a tall, with a heavy dusk scent interrupts a rather pleasant conversation with the superiors of a pharmaceutical company.

“Heyyy, baby.” He slurs, trying to inch closer to you grabbing your waist but you wiggle out of his grasp, standing your ground behind your company.

“Sir, you have no business disturbing this young woman.”

“Well, you have no business disturbing the party in my pants, this young woman was going to attend.”

His comments made you sick, your shoulders tense up as you try to shake the feeling of his touch away. You had the tendency to shut down during situations like these, you want to scream, want to stand your ground, but your body wouldn’t let you, instead you hold your fort and protect yourself, shielding your cage from any comments that came towards you.

“Aw, now you’re silent, come here and I could have you screaming all night.” He reaches out for your wrist but luckily security got to him first, and they were anything but gentle, you were glad though, he got what was coming to him. It did surprise you that security apologised for his behaviour, giving you a gentle smile all at the same time inducing a fear into the man who disturbed your evening.

“Oh my, Ms, are you okay?” A man from your company asks you, sounding genuinely concerned.

“Yes, thank you, I’m okay, I’ve been through worse.”

“We’re glad to hear that you’re okay, would you like anything? Water?”

“Nooo, thank you for the offer though, but I’m really fine, thanks for calling security though.”

A look of confusion clicks on their face, almost simultaneously too.

“Uh, as much as we wanted to, we didn’t call them, we couldn’t find one in time.”

“Oh, weird, but luckily they saw, anyways, it was really lovely chatting to you guys, but I’m going to head out for some fresh air.”

“No worries at all Ms. L/N, you were a pleasure, please, you’re more than welcome to come up and chat again when you come back.”

Their comments warmed your heart, you shook all their hands, giving them a smile and moved towards the nearest door to a balcony. Once you stepped outside the cold yet refreshing breeze wrapped around your skin, making you shiver a little, but your body warmth and adrenaline was enough to calm the goosebumps down. To keep time going, you admire the city lights, you were so in love with San Francisco, and you were convinced it was in love with you too the way it welcomed you into its economic heart. Out in the distance you could see the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, blinkering and flaunting its lights to the entire city whilst providing guidance to the cars and vehicles passing through. You were in a trance, but there were no complaints coming out of you, just serenity. Too hyper focused on the view you didn’t hear the door open behind you and you certainly did not feel the presence of another body walking towards you.

“Enjoying the view?” Anonymous asks, after the whole fiasco with that grotty man, you were sure to be careful of random people coming up to you but something in you told you not to worry, the city spoke to you, and you listened.

“Very much, I’m so in love.” To your obliviousness, you don’t realise the other body with you is her. Jenna Ortega. The head and heir to the Ortega mafia family.

“Any right-minded person would be jealous of the love you have for the city.”

You giggle, and realise you feel your blood raise to your skin and your heart rhythm picks up a pace but wanting to keep their anonymity and for your own mysterious fun, you don’t turn around.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means any person would be jealous a city is getting your love rather than them.”

“Who says my love is worthy?”

“A beautiful woman like you? I can only imagine a small amount of the love you hold.”

“Beautiful? You don’t know what I look like.”

“Oh, please Ms L/N, you’ve been grabbing my attention all night, everywhere I looked, there you were, the light reflecting your beauty. But then an ugly man stood in your way, so I had to send security to escort him out, well throw him out, as you saw.”

Your heart fastens, you were sure it was going to jump out in a second, oh how badly you want to look, but you can’t. This was too much fun. However, this was the way to grab your attention, definitely not like how that man was doing earlier.

“You know how to charm a lady.”

“I try, might I ask, what do you think about the host.”

You let out a small huff of air, ironically this was your line, but now you’re the one being asked, you were at a standstill.

“Jenna? I don’t know, she’s a hard book to read.”

“And you’re good at reading people?”

“The best, but I don’t know, people are scared of her, the most feared women in America.”

Jenna giggles.

“You’re not scared?”

“Hmm, no, mind over matter always, she can have all these weapons and power, but I don’t know her mind, her true mind, so I have nothing to fear.” There was a slight bluff in that line, of-course you were slightly scared of her, who wouldn’t be? But that fear was surface level, just guns and weapons and power.

Though you couldn’t see who you were talking to, you could feel a smile form on their lips, but more of a proud smirk.

“Do you think she’s hot though?”

Okay, now that, that definitely grounded you to reality, that question hit you like a brick, it was so out of place, so unexpected, curious as ever, you finally turn around to greet the other soul aligning with yours.

Jenna. Fuck, y/n you’re so stupid, should’ve turned around earlier, just stay calm.

“Cats got your tongue? Or were you lying about not being scared?”

Both.

She’s wearing an emerald green suit that hugged her curves and angles, leaving the top few buttons undone, with an undone bow tie around her neck.

“No,” letting it out accompanied by a breath out, “I’m just surprised that you would come up to me.”

“There’s a pretty lady at my party, I want to talk to her, I go talk to her.”

“There are other pretty ladies here, and you can’t see half my face, I can’t say the same for you though, the host of a masquerade doesn’t wear a mask? That’s a Pandora’s box.”

Her eyebrows raise, a slight smirk forms before her mouth forms an O, clearly showcasing her tongue poking the side of her cheek.

“A mask means I have secrets, and I, have no secrets, an open book.”

“That’s ironic” you mumble.

“What’s that?”

“You say you have no secrets, but it’s a mission and a half to get an exclusive with you.”

“Journalist?”

“Rising star journalist.” Her eyes squint at your attempt to boost your ego.

“I could give you an exclusive upstairs.” You may be oblivious but you’re not naïve, you play along though, you were exclusive hungry, but you definitely weren’t going to open your legs for her.

“Lead the way.” She offers her hand, and you accept, now with each other’s arms linked, she leads you to an elevator, only accessible by her and her most trusted companions.

“Holy shit that’s Steph and Ayesha Curry!”

“Oh, hahaha yes, they’re close friends of mine, now do you want the Curry’s or the exclusive?”

“Both?”

“Don’t be greedy.”

“You’re the one whisking me away, so you can have me all to yourself.”

“Maybe, but you were the one who asked for something.”

“Touché.

Though there were two of you, the negative space in the elevator was filled with tension, making sure not to make eye contact with the mafia leader.

“You never answered the question, do you think Jenna is hot?”

You lean in, making sure to work her up in all the right places, even placing your hand on her waist.

“Hmm, nope. Desperate? Maybe. But hot? That’s a different story.”

“You’re playing hard to get.”

“Awe, poor baby, it’s tough not getting everything you want.” You flaunt a comedic pout at her but all she does is rolls her eyes.

As the elevators open, your mouth drops in sync with the slides, her penthouse was breath taking, though it was night time, the city lights lit up the room giving it a dark, twilight feel.

“Wow.”

“It’s okay.” She shakes it off.

“Way to be humble.”

“I am rich, sexy, kind, loving and humble.”

You scoff and roll your eyes, your subconscious taking a hold of you as it drags your physical body in.

Jenna starts pouring two glasses of Dom Pérignon for you two to enjoy. Making you laugh because no one had access to this downstairs, yes, downstairs had top shelf drinks, but not Dom, they didn’t have Dom.

A simultaneous “cheers” escapes your mouths as your glasses clink in unison.

“Before I start rambling on about me, tell me about yourself, I want to know you, the true you.”

“That seems fair, well since you already know my name, let’s skip that.” Jenna winks at you. “I never knew what a home was growing up, I was in foster care my entire childhood and teenage years, in many houses, but never homes only leaving the system because I turned 18, I never knew who my birth parents were, nor do I care, I’ve made it through life without them, made something out of myself, made my own name, and that’s when I learnt I could build a home for myself. And I did, I moved here, landed an amazing job at Bayseyes, and the CEO of the company? She’s my lifeline, my saving grace, she is my home. Oh, and uh, my favourite colour is red, evidently.” You smile, looking down at your dress. Making Jenna smile too as she analyses each body part of yours and skin that shows.

“You are one interesting book Ms. L/N.” Jenna darts her eyes to yours, soul to soul, down at your lips and back to your eyes, you know what she wants, she wants you. But doubts ran your mind asking if you want her.

You gasp and take a step back.

“Do you hate me?”

“What?”

“You have a chance with America’s most lusted woman, and you’re turning me down.”

“Okay first of all, that ego of yours, too big, second of all, who says I want this.”

“Who doesn’t?”

“Watch it.”

“Watch yourself, like you said everyone fears me, don’t forget how powerful I am.” Her tone sounds awry, evidently you pissed her off, but maybe she deserved it.

No words could leave your mouth after that, maybe then you truly knew her mind, her true mind, and that made answering no to her earlier question even easier, no, you didn’t find her hot, you found her revolting. You mouth a wowww, your eyes widening and your lips purse in, and you swear for a slight second you see Jenna vulnerable; you see her weak.  

“I should go, thanks for the drinks though.”

As you turn to leave the elevator doors open, a woman dressed, definitely not for the ball struts in, her scent reeking of desperation.

“Jenna, sugar bear, where have you been. I miss you! What, who’s this slut?”

As if you thought your eyes couldn’t widen anymore, you were wrong. As if Jenna couldn’t get more pissed, you were wrong, the fury in her pupils, your rejection already knocked her off course, she didn’t need a groupie barging in without announcement.

“This slut is about to leave.”

“Good.” Both exclaim.

But before you could turn and leave the doors open again, this time, a very aesthetically pretty lady, 5’5, brunette hair, adorned with layers and tan skin rushes in.

“JENNA, oh my, I’m so sorry, I tried to stop her.”

“No, it’s fine, Viv, she can stay, she, however, was just leaving, please show her the way out.”

She nods and you follow, but before turning your head, you see Jenna land a kiss on the other girl’s cheek, whispering in her ear, you guess it was something along the lines of meeting her in the bedroom, since the pattering legs ran to the bedroom. You don’t care though, it made you sick, that’s all you know.

Before the doors close, Jenna tries one more time, determined not to give up, rejection was something she never knew.

“Leave me with a kiss?”

You let out a slight laugh, almost mocking her, she was everything you were against, how could you open your soul to someone like her.

“No.”

“No?”

“Not when you’re everything I’m against.”

“How so?”

“Well, there’s a glock attached to your lumbar underneath your blazer.”

“Protection.”

You smile.

“Goodbye, Ms. Ortega.”

~~

Viv was there to witness every interaction she could have seen, and wow, she was shocked, she had never seen someone with such fire blow off Jenna like that, she liked you.

“I’m Viv, by the way.” She smiles, offering to shake your hand, you accept.

“Vivian?”

“Vivica!”

“Oh, how pretty, I’m-.”

“Y/N, uh yes, sorry ahah, I know, you’re the talk of the towers.”

“WHAT?”

“Just the staff and guards and the subjects, so uh, maybe the whole Ortega family.”

“Fuck.”

“No, no, we all like you, we find you interesting, we’ve never seen Jenna fiend for someone like that, it was refreshing, but you know, she’s not always like that, the way you saw her, in her penthouse.”

“Forgive me if I find that hard to believe. So, are you like her right-hand man? Woman?”

“Yeah, something like that, I handle mainly the business side, but I could whoop ass if I wanted to, her other right-hand man, the physical, more mafia side is Bruce, he was the guard that threw the guy out, the one who was harassing you.”

“OH! He was sweet, he smiled at me.”

“Lucky you, that means he likes you.”

As you step out the elevators into the main lobby, you can’t help but feel a sense of the unknown, there was lingering fire in you that you couldn’t pinpoint the origin, was it desire? Hatred? Lust? Regret? Hell, maybe even hunger.

“Thank you, Viv.”

“It’s no problem, Y/N, it was very nice to meet you, I hope our paths cross again!”

You hug her and she reciprocates it, just before hopping into your uber to take you home.

~~

As you got home, you had a sense of urgency to write, that electricity was back, you didn’t care about changing or freshening up, the words were flowing out of you and you needed to let it out, you are so sure this is your best work, you want this article published tonight so you type away. You have no control over your fingers, they were doing all the work, you just had to trust them.

… whether it be by her heart, her touch, or her gun, anyone that knows the elusive Ms. Ortega is destined to fall.

~~

Thank you for your support <3 I hope you enjoyed! 🦦

[letrune]

I hate "the AI future"

My main training is in IT, and I was told often that they don't need me - they got "AI". So I worked a bit with art to make ends meet. "Oh, why should we commission you? We got AI". So now I do some work that I am not qualified for and only can do it because it is not heavy work. I am able to do it, but it is not even at minimum wage.

And I am lucky that I have that. I went to manual labour places, where the foreman looked at me, and went "sorry, no. Please look elsewhere". I was told I am overqualified to be a janitor or a server. I was told I need even more stuff I can't afford to do shelf stacking or delivering pizza.

So... "AI" will take our jobs, so when we can't do things - where will we get money? WHO will be able to buy any of the slop being tossed out? It is a monopoly, because these "AI" companies all made their internet scraping machines. We can't really fix this any more, I fear, but...

People won't care. They don't want to care. It's not something you can fix if we install a fully automated gay space communism tomorrow - because this is using human apathy for the way it can spread. The future generations will "enjoy" the mass produced slop, and wonder why they feel empty.

You know, I think the major fault to it is because people were enamoured by the "free" stuff, even as the real costs came out - artists being fired, insane power costs, water and electricity bills well beyond a smaller developed country, the whole market being slowly overtaken by megacorps and silicon valley techbros, and so on - and it is understandable. It was a fun toy and a strange little tool, but now that this was found to "work", the same people who want you to get used to not own the items you buy and hold them hostage behind service costs want you to get used to it.

This is just going to collapse on itself. Like buttcoins and eneftees, the market got disrupted for a moment by people who don't understand the systems they want to replace, but it went from "monopoly money useful only for drugs" to "nobody will have a job that can not be automated, so everyone has to fight to become a factory worker or server"; and thus, here, nobody will be able to buy anything. It's like they figured out how to become the global industrial version of the Ottoman Empire or Tsarist Russia.

Spoiler alert: it will collapse on itself when nobody can buy anything the factories and the slop machines produce, and it will collapse hard. Question is, when and how will we get back from it? Will that future be any better, or we will get another loop from incompetent techbros trying to get their stupid Torment Nexus, and then wonder why it hurts?

Anyway, I am somewhat optimistic, but it requires people to realise what the costs are for "cheap" and "easy". It never is cheap and easy.

Until that, anyone who loves their "ai" slot machines should enjoy the slop being served for the enormous costs, and happily dig in, this will be all you get if you don't stop.

[chemicallywrit]

Happy Audio Drama Sunday! Last one of the year! There are so many amazing shows I listened to this year--Gastronaut, Kakos Industries, Madame Magenta, Dungeons & Daddies, Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later, Bronzeville, Deviser, Ghosts in the Burbs, The Silt Verses, Fall of the House of Sunshine, The Ballad of Anne and Mary, Eliza: A Robot Story, Eeler's Choice, Hemophobia--this list isn't even comprehensive! But here is what stood out to me this week. (As always, some spoilers follow.)

🦸‍♂️ I've had Superhuman Public Radio on my radar for a while, but I finally got a chance to listen to it this week. For lack of a better way of putting it, the structural integrity of this show is flawless. It sounds exactly like listening to NPR, and it's funny and clever with some really incredible worldbuilding. It's everything I like about listening to local news without the stress of it being local news that affects me. I love it.

✨ I'm also new to Breathing Space, but the Firefly vibes are off the charts. I love any story that is basically just Anticapitalists in Space, but the western vibes of this really make the stories hit home. I especially liked S1E2, "A Rat Among Falcons," because who doesn't love a scruffy nobody being incorporated into a found family? S1E5, "The Salvage of the Valentina Tereshkova" was also a really excellent space horror story. I can't wait to see what they do next. And that theme song tho, right??

❤️‍🩹 @thefringespod has been making incredible use of their new full cast, and I love the twist that this season is driving home--it's not a story presented to you, the listener, it's a tragedy that the mute second character is helping to undo. The softness of the family that Pine Gonzalez spent the whole first season describing comes through beautifully in the work of the actors.

🌊 Modes of Thought In Anterran Literature is always a little bit unnerving, but this week our professor faced the horrors of...rich people. Like, REALLY rich people. "You're already paying for private security?" Absolutely chilling conversations. There was a headline this week about a bunch of Silicon Valley millionaires trying to start a utopia in the desert, which works great all the time of course, and I thought of Anterra, tearing itself apart, and about the professor, who doesn't exactly make great choices, tearing himself apart too.

🐺 Things are getting very scary on Palimpsest! Is this a werewolf season?? It is VERY gothic, which is fun in a Jazz Age setting. It feels incongruous, which just adds to the horror. The quiet build of Palimpsest never disappoints me.

📦 Bless those children on @storiesfromylelmore, they're so darn good. ItMe has always been excellent at writing along the span of human nature, and seeing them do it with the three kids in Stories from Ylelmore is wonderful. Of course, a lot of the credit has to go to ItMe's flawless line delivery too. The kids feel very real, even while they're delivering magical packages from a bookstore to the head of the local witch coven.

🐦 The Amelia Project's Twelve Days of Christmas thing has been so funny. I half hope we never find out who's tormenting Alvina. The only downside is that now I have the song stuck in my head constantly, and seeing that it's like, the second-worse Christmas song, this is a problem. The show's worth it, though.

🕯️ What should appear in my podcatcher this morning but the second episode of Flickers! I was intrigued by that first episode, and this second one is really bringing home the isolationist horror. I can't wait for the next installment.

👽 Among the Stars and Bones is coming back! It's coming back this month! This is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi shows, everyone, if you're not on board yet then GET WITH IT, because this next season is guaranteed to blow your mind.

That's what I've been listening to! Here's what's going on with me:

🧟‍♀️ The Dead has been posting episodes from its second series, Ephemeris, which I wish we could have spent more time on, because the premise is so good. Zombies. In. Space. My gosh. David Ault and Kayla Temshiv in particular are killing it on this story. It'll be a few weeks before our next story premiers, but I'm REALLY excited about that one. Tune in!

Finally, the most important news...

💚Inn Between Returns on Wednesday!🏹

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

I am THRILLED about season five. The cast is killer, the story is fantastic, everyone's bringing their A-game, and I can't wait for you to hear it.

That's all for me! Happy New Year everyone!

(If you like what I do, I'd love it if you could send me a ko-fi! Especially since my car just frikkin. Died. So rude of it. Thanks!)

[albiorixsims]

Ok @madfeary, only because you tagged me, usually I skip personal stuff on this blog...

Ships: I have too many and faves depend on the mood. The most recent one (like over a year recent ha-ha) Hua Cheng/Xie Lian, and if I name the current ts4 ship it will be a spoiler, so let's say it's Pi/Evan for now.

Last song: I don't listen music. But yesterday morning, when I opened a window, I heard Пыяла (a Tatar song, OST for a popular TV series) echoing throughout the street.

Last film: a documentary "The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicone Valley" (and before it I watched "The Dropout" TV series based on that mind blowing story).

Currently reading: Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (it's the second time I'm reading this monster of a novel, seriouly, it's huuuge💜)

Currently craving: some 💤 time))

Fave color: white and beige

Relationship status: in love with Severus Snape 🤫 ("After all this time?" "Always")

Last thing googled: some grammar stuff. I'm becoming illiterate as I get older i literally had to google "illiterate" just now

Current obsession: chinese donghuas and TS4 obviously 😜

[fansplaining]

Episode 201: Artificial Fandom Intelligence 2: Rise of the Grifters

Following closely on the heels of last December’s “Artificial Fandom Intelligence” episode, Elizabeth and Flourish bring you the extremely depressing sequel, “Artificial Fandom Intelligence 2: Rise of the Grifters.” Spurred by recent comments from a Silicon Valley VC about the potential “market” for AI-fueled chatbots amongst fanfiction fans, they take a deep dive into the state of fandom and AI in recent months. Spoiler: it’s bleak. They also read to a trio of letters responding to the “Reflecting Reality?” episode, on placelessness in fic, and the centering of U.S. experiences in stories written by and for people in other parts of the world.

Click through to our site to listen or read a full transcript!

[b3aches]

Red Team Blues

A very novel novel, reviewed

tl;dr - it's a good book and if detective stories or thrillers are of interest to you, I would recommend checking it out.

Warning: possible minor spoilers below. If you want to go in blind, stop reading.

A mixture of a noir detective story and a cyber dystopian alternate reality nearly indistinguishable from our own, Red Team Blues is a roller coaster ride. The story follows our hero, Martin "Marty" Hench, a 67-year-old bachelor forensic accountant for hire on his last job before retirement. A prodigious sleuth at finding assets that some people would rather stay hidden, he has had a long and storied career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. When Marty's old friend Danny Lazer calls in a favor to discreetly retrieve some stolen cryptographic keys that allow for control over Danny's revolutionary new blockchain system, Marty diligently works to find the keys. Fortunately, Marty is good at his job. He returns the keys and receives his payment for finding the assets: a cool 300 million dollars. Unfortunately, he also happens to find some dead bodies along with said assets. Consequently, he finds himself in a race against time to solve the mystery of what really happened and to clear his name before either the family of the dead or the people they double-crossed take him out.

The story is not just a gumshoe thriller taken on the road, but also a commentary about Silicon Valley, the impacts that technology has on our world and the people in it, and the differences between the haves and have-nots. It touches on the difficulties of playing defense (the blue team), the ease of playing the offense (the red team), and the benefits of playing to your strengths. 

The characters are well written and feel like real, actualized people. They have their own lives, their own experiences, and their own voices. And Marty has to rely on them. He can't keep himself safe without the help of friends and strangers, and he does what he can to help keep them safe in return.

Ultimately, it's a masterfully written book (and well narrated by Wil Wheaton) that is hard to put down. I listened to the audiobook nearly non-stop. When it was done, I had to fight the urge from starting it back from the beginning. I'm truly excited that this is the beginning of a series, and especially one that has the interesting twist where it is, chronologically, the end of the story.  As stated previously, Red Team Blues is a good book and if detective stories or thrillers are of interest to you, I would highly recommend checking it out.

You can get a copy of the ebook or audiobook directly from the author here. You can also buy the audiobook from libro.fm or get a physical copy from bookshop.org

[dieu-mange-dieu]

Specific Character Headcanons: Donald "Jared" Dunn

His backstory is horrifying and complex so some of this may actually be canon I don't remember TW death

Real birthday is 16 December

Born in New York

Was over six feet tall by the time he was fourteen years old

Used birds as a beacon of hope during his time in foster care. He envied the freedom of such beautiful, fragile creatures and vowed to someday feel as free as they looked in flight

Was under the care of one genuinely kind foster family. A lovely elderly couple, Etta and John Hirsch, whose only son had died years before. He filled the hole in their hearts and they filled the hole in his

They both died in a car accident on an icy night in December

Got a partial scholarship to Vassar, worked as a prostitute to pay for the rest of his college tuition

Doesn't know his real middle name, so he changes his middle name to honour his elderly friends who have passed

Favourite bird is the Luzon Bleeding-Heart Pigeon

Favourite colours are yellow and light blue

Has gotten in many fights, but only lost two

Likes herbal scents, favourites are rosemary, lavender, and patchouli (he thinks patchouli is the closest you can get to the smell of petrichor)

Vegetarian

Is such a Mitski fan like you don't even know

Enjoys walks in the cold

Cries about EVERYTHING. Once cried in a supermarket because he was overwhelmed by the "beauty of all the fruits in the aisle"

Pan and demi

Has canonically fallen in love only twice:

The first time was a fellow prostitute he met in New York.

They looked out for each other, made sure each was getting enough to eat, and would have "picnics" on fire escapes, pressed together for warmth, legs dangling off of the side, talking about their days.

One day they disappeared without warning. Jared searched for them for a year and a half, often feeling like the only one who cared. Why did nobody else care?

He later found out that they had been murdered. They were not given a gravestone but Jared visits the park where they last saw each other every year.

The second time was Richard.

He never said anything, of course. How could he?

He tried to distract himself in any way he could, but he was a mere rock of space junk being pulled full speed into Richard's orbit

Favourite tea is Lemon Ginger

Thinks skirts are super comfortable and wishes they were more widely accepted at work

Doesn't like the show Friends but puts it on while at home to feel cozy

Cooking (or making things in general) is one of his love languages

Loves bubble baths

Writes poetry and short stories in his free time, used to write songs

Can sing pretty decently (was canonically in choir at Vassar)

Is a sucker for candles

Smell is his strongest sense

Runs the Pied Piper company Tiktok, makes really cringy but wholesome videos (think along the lines of Nursetok and Teacher/Office-staff tiktok)

A playlist for him

Spoilers (?) Ahead!

After Silicon Valley:

He kisses Richard on the roof of Pied Piper after it all, as the billboard is being torn down.

Richard kisses back, but they don't talk about it again

Goes travelling across Europe "with Richard," Richard doesn't quite know that they're travelling together

Quarantines with Richard

Both he and Richard volunteered at a nursing home on weekends before Jared applied for the job

Richard was grossed out by the bedpans and the general "like, elderly vibe"

They don't stay in close contact over the next few years but they stay in each other's circles

After ten years of unrealised pining and four dismally failed relationships, Richard asks him out at the hacker hostel after the filming of the documentary wraps

Jared cries.

They go birdwatching.

[thatcheeseycandle]

//YOU LOT KNOW WHTA TIME IT IS ITS REACTION TIME

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF IPOS CHP. 34 BTW!!

(THIS IS A FULL READING OF THE CHAOTER, BUT I DONT EXACTLY WRITE DOWN EVERY SINGLE REACTION I HAVE TO STUFF UNFORTUNATELY)

Okay OKAY AIGHT LOVE THE TITLE CARD AND TITLE ITSELF

Wait WAIT OLIVIA TECIEVES WHAT NOW???????

Sigh well- CLUN CASTLES GONNA BE A REAL PAIN IN THE [REDACTED] TONIGHT FOLKS

Oh OH TRURO- THE HUSBANDS ARE HUSBANDING TOGETHER RN THE FLUFF IS STARTING

"As he should, this stupidity between the both of you has gone on long enough" LMAOAOAODJDHDHDH NAH NAH THAYS SO REAL OF TRURO NGL

Oh???? OH???? SORRY I GOT CAUGHT OFF GUARD BY THE SUDDEN CUT IN FROM GADWALL

"I don't think I could handle losing her and North." NO STOP- NEARLY FORGOT THAT FOR A MOMENT.

WELL ISNT THIS CHAPTER GONNA STING HUH

"I thought I could help Mallard get better." NO GADWALL YOU DID OKAY YOU GOT HIM A LITTLE BETTER AND AT LEAST YOU TRIED. GOOD GOSH-

WHY DID THAT HIT HARD

Yeah YEAHAHAHHH THERE IS A CHANCE YES THERES SO MANYYYYY CHANCES LEFT LET DGOOOOODHJSJD

Wait wait GO BACK WITH PROTEUS???? THE SPIRIT REALM OR??????? NOTING THIS DOWN. NOTING IT.

Wait WIAIFHHAHAHAHAHSH

"Tell me, Cousin, is Bittern still afraid of birds?" OOOHOHJHAHSHZHX BOY OKAY IM LOOKING. IM LOOKING

HAGDGSHGFDH GIVE EME A SEC TO BREATHE

Oh Truro I couldnt of had said it better knowing it too HGSHAHAHAHAHFHXHFKGNVLRKDMG

Oh. OH GOD. CLUN CASTLE. HERE WE GO. HERE WE GO. IS CLUN CASTLE TIME. OKAY. PREPARING MENTALLY

"Trying to figure out a way to get out of her predicament." oh OH REALLY? YOU SNEAKY LITTLW [REDACTED] YOU THOIGHT YOU CLUTCHED ON THIS HUH? NAH NAH YOU AINT. YOU AINT CLUTCHING THIS BUCKET CLUTCH CLUN CASTLE

LMSODHDH TROJAN AND CLUN CASTLE, YOU SHOULDVE LET TROJAN FINISH-

AND HERE WE ARE THE PERSON OF THE HOUR CAERPHILLY CASTLE

Im sorry. CLUN CAATLE. DO NOT. NO NO DO NOT DEAD NAME NO. WORSE THAN USING TRUE NAMES WITHOUT PERMISSION THAT IS.

"You have lost the privilege to address any and all Great Western Engines!" YEAH YOU TELL HER! SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK RQ RQ

Ay AY AY AY SOUTHERN SIBLINGS????? SOUTHERN SIBLINGS

Yo YOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOOYOYOYOYOYISIHSHAHHFUDHCHFJJD TAW VALLEY AND BRAUNTON

THOSE TWO- YKNOW I WONDERED WHERE THEY WERE IN THE STORY BUT FINALLY THEYRE PULLED INTO THE MAIN ONES WOOOOOOOOO

Im sorry WHAT YOU CALLING DOTTI OVER HERE?????? CLUN CASTLE DO NOT-

insert me rambling irl to a relative whos in the same room as me about yeah the current situation

.

ABLITTLE DRAMA? A LITTLE? YOUR BEING A LITTLE ITTY BITTY BRAIN-CELLED BITCH RIGHT NOW YKNOW THAT?

Yeah YEAHAAHHHH TELL HER CAERPHILLY CASTLE. TELL HER.

Yeah SWEET TALK AINT GONNA WORK UNFORTUNATELY CLUN CASYLE.

Oh there she is THERE SHE IS THE LITTLE BITCH TOO FAR UP HER OWN TENDER

Oh gosh OKAY UH STRAPPING IN FOR SOME YEAH ANGER

HERE WE GO

EXACTLYYYYYYY

SAY IT LOUDER AND PROUDER CAERPHILLY CASTLE

BECAUSE IT IS CORRECTTT

I.

YOU LIYYLE ITUTY BITTY

YEAH UH. BAHALA KA NA CLUN CASTLE KASE JUSKO PO YOUR HOPELESS NA

MORE HOPELESS THAN THE POOR ON THE STREET.

You are just digging your stinger into silicone you itty bitty BRAIN-CELLED BUZZY LITTLE BITCH

SHES JUST GONNA GOSSIP AND GOSSIP MORE AND MORE NOT SPARING A DETAIL ABOUT HOW HORRID YOU ARE YKNOW THAT CLUN CASTLE?

Yeah yes YESSS YOU TELL HER OFF DOTTI YOU GO ALL OUT

GO ALL OUT

HGAHSGSHGDDH BRAUNTON YOU SHOULDVE LET GO OF HER AND LET HER DO IT HAGDHFBFKF IT WOULDVE BEEN REFRESHING JDHFJDJD

Oh gosh OH GOSH. HERE COMES THE BIG DING OF THE BELL

Ayyy AYYYYYYYYYYYYY LET SGOGOHOOOOOOOOOOO

OH DAMN.

OH MY GOSH?????? THATS

THATS EITHER SATISFYING OR SHOCKING

YEAHAHAHDHDHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

LETS GOGOOGOOOOOOO

YOU GOT YOUR CHANCES YOU LITTLE SHIT YOU REALLY WASTED THEM ALL YOU REALLY MESSED UP THIS HARD MORE HARD THAN DISNEY'S WISH YOU REALLY SLIPPED AND FALL

YUP LEFT ALL YOUR CHANCES AT THE WRONG STOP

DROPPED EHM AAAALLLLLLLL

YEHAHAHAHAHHHHHH MAKE SURE ITLL BE ROCKY ROADS FOR HER HENRY

"Nobody's gonna miss ya!" EXAAAAAAAAACCTTTLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

God my thumb HSGDHGAHDHXHD

OUGH GOSH THAT BIT WAS SATISFYING AS HECK

BYE BYE BITCH HASGDHHFHF

Ay AY OLIVIA

OLVIOAIAVOSHDJDHD SHES AWAKE

Ay AY AY AY WDYM WISH

Wish. WAIT THIS CONFIRMS- THIS MIGHT CONFIRM ONE OF MY THEORIES BEING THIS ONE

Thank GOSH I know how to pin messages on discord

Repaired RPEUAJAHAVSBZBSVhhshshagsgdvhHSGSVSKJSJSHSHSHAJhhvajzhxjAHSHHFB

POLYYYD YH AHSHSHSHJAJSJD

Ay ay AY AY POLLYYYYSHSVJSHSHAHAHHDJDJDHDHD

SHES CALEDONIAN VLUE NO WAYAYHSHDHDHDHDH OHFMAHAHHAHX

I VERY MUCH AGREE WITH YOU OLIVIA, IT WILL LOOK STUNNING

AWWERUFHFHFH I LOVE THESE TWO

YAYYYYSYHFHSHAHAHHSDHDHSJDHJS THEYRE BAVK THEYRE ALIVE LETS GOGOGOIAJAHSGWHHSHD

WE ALL GETTING A SLICE OF THE CAKES WE LOVE

"I see, like what has happened to you and Olivia" THE [REDACTED] YOU MEAN???????

Wait. THIS WHOLE TIME- WAIT WIAT WAIT

SO OLIVIA ISNT A HYBRID, HER BODY JUST GOT

OHHHSBSHDV ITS LIKE MEDICINE

I

Oh she wasnt human pala

This confirms- WAIT ITS BASICALLY THIS:

Obviously now building up to, what it says, an entirely new plot. But now while having bits of past plots mixed from wjat I can guess

Im sorry HIGHLANDER???? NONONONONO- IM SORRY?????

A GOLD DUST

IM GONNA DIE WJAT

Oh [REDACTED] here comes it all

Preparinh myself okay Im strapoing in Im gettibg my backside comfy on my pillows yeah Im just

IM DCARED

I was right to be scared

Nono no Olivia no NO. OLIVIA.

"Why can't I do anything right!!"

insert current me typing out this cause past me had a long pause of silence staring at that line

Tearing up counter: 1

OKAY RIGHT MOVING ON-

(Im not moving on)

Ay AY AY AY AY THE BIT

THE DUCK AND ARROW BIT

"I was almost turned into ab exhibit piece because of him."

"Yet he was the reason Olivia sold you to Sodor."

COR RECT. CORRECT DING DING DING CORREEEEEEEECCTTTT

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

Ay AY PERCYCYCYYYY

Cheshire CTAAHHAHSHDHFJ

WE LOVE A HAPPY PERCY

heleyhahaha HS GE SGSHDH ARROW- ARROW CALM HDHFJFHF

Why was that bit from Arrow so relatable though like HEKDHSJSHDH

Anyways IM BACK RIHHT SORRY I JUST HEADED DOWNSTAIRS TO JUST EAT SOME BREAD WHILE READING THIS

"I apologise, I get excited when I want to learn new things" REALEST. THING. SAID. EVER

Keeping that quote with me on a sticky note irl rq sec-

WE GIVING LYELL SOME LOVE OVER HERE WOOOO

Oh Tydfil TYDFIL

“I can’t stand being alone with my thoughts. They go around in circles and drive me insane.” SAME HERE. SAME HERE TYDFIL DW.

Can we get some appreciation for all the characters we all relate to rq? LIKE GOOD GOSH- Im sorry its just Tydfil either has dialogue that hits me hard so much like deep DEEP deeper than ever or just is brutally honest HSGDHGSSHHSHD

I still love her though, still one of ny top five favs in YIAU

Speaking of honesty ARROW IS BEING VERY HONEST. ALL OF THAT WAS REAAALLL FACTS

“Chin up, she’ll be out soon. Same can’t be said for Clun Castle.” Oh Arrow are you gonna love what Dotti has to say HAGHAHASHGD

LMAOAOOAOSHFHD DUCKS REACTION I SWESR

“It’s not often that you piss off everyone on the mainland and believe me, I would know, I’m an expert at it.”

"There was an awkward pause."

HGGAHGAHAHAGXHXHF NAH NAH WHY DID I WHEEZE SO HARD AT THAT LIKE LNAODHDHSHSG

AYYYYY I LOVE THESE LOT

New fav found family/squad ever

"Oh but they just started interacting now in this bit you can immediately like the-" OI. I LOVE THESE LOT, I ALREADY LIKED MOST OF THEM ON THEIR OWN AND NOW THEYRE INTERACTING MAKES ME LOVE THEM MORE

“You’re very welcome, Young Iron.” AY AY I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE HAHSGDHHXXJ

Alrughty ALRIGHRY WE GETTING DRAGGED BACK INTO THIS PLOT NOW LETS GO

I just read that bit and to say Im bamboozled is an understatement.

I. IM SHOOK- OKAY. YEAH SOMEONE CALL IN LIKE IDK KESTREL TO COMFORT TJIS 6 FOOT WOMAN RIGHT NOW. IM YEAH. IM SCARED EITHER FOR HER OR OF HER.

NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE INTERESTING FOR SURE

But of course, ending off this reaction. I HAD MINI HEART ATTACKS LIKE HAGSHDGSH WOO OKAY THAT WAS A WAKE UP CALL REALKY GOT MY BRAIN GOING HAGSJAHSHD

THANKS TO THE LOVELY BAKUNAWA AKA REDWRYVERNWRITES (I finally FINALLY SPELT IT RIGHT) FOR CREATING SUCH A MAGNIFICENT CHAPTER YET AGAIN, I'LL BE EXCITED FOR THE NEXT ONE!! ^^

[sirensorisons]

"He tells of the history of Panem, the country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America."

(THG chapter 1)

"In school, they tell us the Capitol was built in a place once called the Rockies. District 12 was in a region known as Appalachia."

(THG chapter 3)

Where do you think location of Capitol and Panem's districts exactly?

The Appalachian’s span multiple states. Where do you picture District 12?

How long between this time and Panem rise? 200 hundred years? More?

Thank you so much

@curiousnonny

the capitol - i subscribe to it being in salt lake city, utah.

district 1 - i've always imagined it as being in southern california, just because that's where hollywood and beverly hills are. luxury district, land of celebrity... los angeles makes sense to me. i could also see it encompassing las vegas, to bring it closer to where the capitol is located.

district 2 - it's a mountainous area near the capitol, so i've always pictured it in denver, colorado.

district 3 - it only makes sense to me for it to be in san jose, california, the home of silicon valley.

district 4 - i picture it as being in northern california. in thg, katniss sees the lights of another district and wonders if it's 7 or 4, so they might be near each other. katniss also suggests in catching fire that part of the reason she has trouble understanding mags is because of her accent making words indistinct, which seems consistent with norcal. then in mockingjay, finnick tells a story about a sea turtle, so district 4 must be somewhere warm. cali checks out.

district 5 - i imagine it being a very urban district (explained more thoroughly in my foxface meta), so i think it might be somewhere that was already very urban in the beforetimes. possibly chicago?

district 6 - i could either see it being in detroit, michigan, where the automotive industry lived and died, or more centrally located at the intersection of various railways, like st louis, missouri.

district 7 - in as long as i'm burning (shameless self-promo), i've placed it in eugene, oregon.

district 8 - i imagine it being close to district 12, since bonnie and twill were able to make it there in catching fire. since they pass through there on their way north to district 13, i think it's somewhere in the midwest. maybe ohio.

district 9 - it's the grain district, and most of the usa's wheat comes from kansas, so it's probably right in there.

district 10 - as the livestock district, it's probably in texas and oklahoma.

district 11 - probably takes up a broad swath of the south so they can work the land, but i've always pictured the largest settlement as being in georgia.

district 12 - i always pictured it in west virginia, but the first movie was filmed in north carolina, and based on the accent suzanne collins used for lucy gray here (contains tbosas spoilers), i think it could go either way. west virginia works better imo because it's closer to where i think district 8 is.

district 13 - since the cover story for their industry was graphite, i could see it being in upstate new york. there used to be some graphite mines up there.

as for the time period... the original script for thg says that the series takes place 300 years from the present day, but personally i think it's more like 300 to 400 years. i could see the technological advances described in the series could probably happen on a timeline of only 100-200 years, and the natural disasters described in chapter 1 could happen even sooner than that.

but based on the changes in dialect and naming conventions between now and the time of panem, i think 300-400 years makes sense. that's analogous to the time between now and 1600 - so their english would be intelligible to us, but still markedly different. (of course, given that amount of time, accents could be very different to what we recognize, rendering my points about mags and lucy gray obsolete... but since the books are written in present-day english and not some projected future dialect, i think we can assume those accents are tied to what we would recognize.)

[technotalksnimien]

Tech Revolution: Reflection on the Pirates of the Silicon Valley

Hi, it’s me again. I decided to drop double or triple updates on my blog today. I just feel like it. I wrote this blog on a rainy evening. I hope you are all doing fine.

Just like the three Idiots, I was also wondering why this movie is called, “Pirates of the Silicon Valley”. Did you wonder too? Spoiler alert! Honestly, at first I thought this movie is like the famous Pirates of the Caribbean or typical Pirate story, hunting for treasures. It is actually way more than that. Waaaaaaay more. I wondered why this movie weren’t introduced to me back in my elementary or high school days. Man, this talks about how the world changed. So great, so worth it.

The film is titled as it is because it is about fraud and piracy in computer technology. In which the term Silicon Valley is actually a region in the state of California that is known for its prominence in the computer industry. The term pirate is actually the typical word we can associate it with, piracy.

So, what did I learn? I don’t know where to start because I honestly learned so much from this. The film is actually about the men behind the birth of two famous technology company we have today, Apple and Microsoft. You see, I’m using Microsoft right now, I also use it in doing my paper works, and everything. And I’m looking forward to have an Apple someday. XD

1. “Good artists copy; great artists steal” – Steve Jobs

This line means so much. I suddenly remembered, my techno professor told us something like, even if you’re not the first one to create or invent it, only the first one to implement it matters. Like people won’t even care if it’s not your idea, they care about who made it happen for real, not the one who only imagined it to be. Put yourself in a situation wherein you stole something, could be an idea or whatsoever. But then you did something to improve that idea and made it even better. When you become great for something that is not originally from you, you will be seen as great and people will assume that it’s from you.

What does this tells us? As a future IT professional, we are already taught about the ten commandments of computer ethics. Though shall not appropriate other people’s intellectual output, though shall not use a computer to steal. Yes, I know how much glory we can gain by merely copying the works of other people. But what about the conscience? What about the things that we learned in our school? What about morality? Is fame and glory more worth it than your morality as a person? If you are reading this, I want you to think thoroughly about the decisions you make in your life. As future IT professional, let us be the beacon of integrity and principles. Being evil is easy, but choosing to do the right thing requires courage. I’m not saying that do not do what Steve Jobs or Bill Gates did. I’m saying that do the thing you think is right, do the thing that you think the world needs.

2. Information is power

This is one of the lines in the movie that really caught my attention. Information is power, as long as you can transform it into action. Just like what Steve and Bill did, they used their expertise well which eventually led them to success. Knowledge is very powerful. It has the ability to change and conquer the world. However, knowledge itself can’t bring you to success, you have to make an action, use it efficiently to help the society. Knowledge also have the ability to influence and empower people.

3. “When I was still in Berkeley, I kept making some weird electronic gadgets that were basically just jokes, but hey, you know jokes are important” - Woz

I think Woz was the one who said this in the movie, it showed an old man trying to fix his television because Woz at the back is trying to interrupt the signal. Hence, the line is so true. We may think sometimes that an idea is too absurd or ridiculous to be even given a thought. But great things come off from silly ideas. Don’t worry if it doesn’t sound as good as others, think of what could be the impact of this tiny idea to the world.

4. Sometimes, not knowing how crazy something is, is a good thing

I think we can all relate. Because based on my experience, the more I worry about something, the more situation gets worse. Like I realized that I’m worrying too much over a thing that doesn’t need my worry. Sometimes, we just have to put the trust in the things that we do, and surely, something good will follow. Thinking of something that is like, “Can I really do this?” soon enough, it’ll be “I’m so glad I did it, it turned out pretty cool”. In the movie, we can recall that during the computer faire, Woz asked Steve if people will show up. I feel like he has doubts if people will come to their booth. Then Steve replied like “How would I know?” or something like that and he added, “Of course, they’re going to show up” which pretty much sounded like a joke but with confidence. Then it just happened, they didn’t know. Hoardes of people running towards their booth just to see the amazing little machine with 63 chips that makes all these colors. And then boom.

5. Good things won’t chase you, it needs to be chased

Knowing how Steve Jobs and his friends started, in his parent’s garage. And Bill too. They kept on looking for possible investors or persons who can provide them the fund that they need in order to turn their ideas into reality. The movie showed that Steve tried to get a loan from the bank, bringing with him is invention. Unfortunately, the bank according to Steve, “doesn’t like beards”. The bank declined his loan request, just because he has beard, or he didn’t wear business attire or maybe because the bank don’t trust his idea enough. But did Steve stop? No. And now we have Apple. What brought Steve and his team success is their perseverance, intelligence. And Bill Gates? One of the richest man in the world. Remember, life doesn’t stop when one opportunity closes.

6. Respect your coworkers, your employees, respect everyone.

 A culture of respect in the workplace encourages innovation and idea sharing, as well as staff wellbeing, satisfaction, performance, and productivity. When employees know they are valued by their managers and team members, they are less stressed and more committed to their work. In the movie, we can see how Steve disrespected some of his employees at work, shouting and insulting them and even putting his feet on the table. Even we become the boss, we must not forget where we came from and always be humble.

I think that is all guys, that you so much. Next update will be very soon

[denimbex1986]

'It struck me watching Christopher Nolan’s masterful three-hour epic telling of the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, long labeled the Father of the Atomic Bomb, that this is a period piece with an exclamation point for audiences today.

In the 1940s, Oppenheimer and a team of brilliant scientists traveled into the unknown to create the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, the A-bomb, but with the noble reason that its use could be an end to war, its explosive and wide-ranging ability to tear apart vast areas of the planet would be used ultimately as a deterrent, not an endgame. It would be used against Nazi Germany in World War II, an answer to Hitler’s own demented vision of world dominance and annihilation. But anytime you are doing something never done in the whole history of humanity, there is risk, moral questions, unintended consequences and the possibility of building a monster even Dr. Frankenstein could not have imagined — or stopped.

So I was thinking about the current discussions of AI — its potential for good and life-changing breakthroughs but also, as scientists and its Silicon Valley creators have been warning recently, a new gadget (as the A-bomb initially was nicknamed) whose use could careen out of control and destroy us all. This is no mere science fiction, and neither was getting “the bomb,” which did the thing for which it was built and had the effect of ending World War II (but after Germany surrendered) when it was dropped twice on Japan in August 1945, first Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. The result for humanity there was devastating, but it turned out it was just the beginning.

Nolan is simply an exceptional filmmaker whose cinematic sensibility is steeped in the classics but merged with modern sensibilities and tools to make one-of-a-kind visual experiences with real ideas about the world around us. With Oppenheimer, his interest is in the complex mind of J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy in his sixth collaboration with Nolan but first as the lead), a complicated but brilliant physicist tasked with leading the Manhattan Project, the secret effort to create the nuclear bomb, a weapon so powerful it could be used to end war forever — in the right hands. Oppenheimer, a man with leftist politics even accused of being a communist, knew he could bring all the elements together but also — as we see his story played out in an unusual first-person approach in Nolan’s stunning screenplay based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin — a moral conundrum gathering in his head as he begins to envision the dangers beyond a short-term use of a weapon that could — and did — spark an arms race and a new world order that changed us forever.

Nolan’s movie is set right at the start but serves as a fascinating glimpse into those who had it in them to pull off this remarkable feat but also had to live with its consequences, something we all have to live with today in a shaky time where the nuclear threat has sadly not gone away but only brought the doomsday clock closer to midnight than ever. How many times lately have we heard Putin try to make its use in Ukraine a possibility, even pointing out the Americans have been the only ones to ever use it — so far?

It is not a spoiler to reveal that Nolan ultimately chose not to show the horrific results of what happened the first time the Americans dropped that A-bomb over Japan. Instead we see it played out through Oppenheimer’s haunted eyes, a far more effective and chilling approach, achieved with some superior special effects married to music (Ludwig Goransson did the pulsating score) and superb, ear-rattling sound design. This ultimately is not an action spectacle or bomb-dropping war movie but a very human one in which its title character faces a moral dilemma shared by few in history, if anyone.

Oppenheimer’s story is told in non-linear style, shuffling back and forth to different periods in time, his own tale shot in color and told in first person, the later trials explaining how it all happened from various points of view shot in striking 65MM black-and-white film — particularly Robert Downey Jr.’s cagey Lewis Strauss, who was the founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and later a Cabinet appointee as Secretary of Commerce in the Eisenhower administration.

Although they are two key players here, Nolan has made a very dense film with a very large and starry cast — three recent Best Actor Oscar winners have small supporting roles, if that gives you an idea — the kind we used to see in ambitious Hollywood films by great directors but not so much lately, at least on this intellectual scale. Matt Damon is excellent as Leslie Groves, the Army officer who was director of the Manhattan Project and brought Oppenheimer into it; Emily Blunt is riveting as Kitty Oppenheimer, his wife (on her fourth marriage) but the one who clearly was his match; Florence Pugh plays Jean Tatlock, with whom he had a sizzling but tragic affair; Josh Hartnett is full of his own energy as the lively friend and nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence; Kenneth Branagh is Niels Bohr, a Nobel Prize winner in physics who serves as sort of a mentor; Benny Safdie is great as Edward Teller, the theoretical physicist who pushed further into development the terrifying H-bomb, something Oppenheimer vehemently opposed; and on and on.

Those three recent Best Actor winners have memorable, if brief, moments as well. Casey Affleck is Boris Pash, the Presidio’s Chief Army Counter Intelligence Officer; Rami Malek is an associate physicist who makes his mark in a Senate hearing later in the film; and an unrecognizable Gary Oldman is highly amusing as President Harry Truman in one of the film’s most memorable scenes as he invites Oppenheimer into the Oval Office to congratulate him on the A-bomb, only to hear Oppenheimer’s new misgivings about its use going forward and that the Russians are on the path to getting it. He shuts him down, dismissing that idea and reminding him, in pure Trumpian-style bravado, that it will be he who will be remembered as the one who actually used it and won the war.

Shout-outs as well to David Dastmalchian as William Borden, a zealous nuclear advocate; Jason Clarke as Roger Robb, who was Special Counsel at the 1954 hearing to deny Oppenheimer’s security clearance; Tony Goldwyn as Atomic Energy Chairman Gordon Gray; and Jefferson Hall as Haakon Chevalier, a key early friend of Oppenheimer’s. Veteran actor Tom Conti also is simply terrific in his few scenes as Albert Einstein, a famous confidant of Oppenheimer’s. Casting director John Papsidera should get plaudits for helping to put together this far ranging cast of fine actors, way too many to mention here.

At three hours, there is a lot of story to tell here, and Nolan condenses it nicely and really moves this along with the pace of the best thrillers. The scene where the big first Trinity test of the bomb occurs in the New Mexico desert is pulse-pounding suspense (no one knew when the button was pushed what its effect on the Earth’s atmosphere would be), aided significantly by the razor-sharp editing of Jennifer Lame and ace cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema, working for the fourth time with Nolan. But this is a movie where you never look at your watch no matter what the running time. Murphy gets the deserved role of a lifetime and really captures all the contradictions of this brilliant, tortured, complicated man. Downey gets his best role in years, a real standout as well.

From a man who has taken us into places movies rarely go with such films as Interstellar, Inception, Tenet, Memento,the Dark Knight Trilogy, and a very different but equally effective look at World War II in Dunkirk, I think it would be fair to say Oppenheimer could be Christopher Nolan’s most impressive achievement to date. I have heard it described by one person as a lot of scenes with men sitting around talking. Indeed, in another iteration Nolan could have turned this into a play, but this is a movie, and if there is a lot of “talking,” well he has invested in it such a signature cinematic and breathtaking sense of visual imagery that you just may be on the edge of your seat the entire time.

Hopefully people will see it in a theater, a place of worship for people like Nolan and me. It was made on the biggest film stock possible and meant for the largest screens, but it isn’t mere summertime escapist entertainment like most of the movies in large formats these days. At the very least, it is a necessary reminder that we are still sitting on the powder keg Oppenheimer and his team created, and we still need to heed his warnings, maybe now more than ever.

Oppenheimer is the most important motion picture of 2023, and maybe far beyond.'

[haltandcatchfiretothemax]

FEMSLASH FEBRUARY 2024 #11: In which Cameron invites Donna to visit

[CN: food/meal mentions] [CN: major character death reference/spoilers for s4 of Halt and Catch Fire] . .

Their new normal, through some miracle, had come to include Donna and Haley coming over to have dinner with Cameron and J0e on a regular basis. Cameron looked forward to it, and she also thought often about how it literally took Gordon dying for her and Donna to become friends again. She felt terribly guilty about this, and wished that she could apologize to Gordon for having taken them all for granted for so long. She also worried that it wouldn’t last, that these dinners would eventually taper off and then stop completely, and that Donna would drift out of her life. She didn’t know how to express this fear, or who to talk to about it.

In early August, J0e threw himself into learning how to use a grill, and then invited Haley and Donna over for grilled vegetables and steaks. They arrived at 7pm on the dot, as always, and Cameron went down to the front door to let them in. When she opened the door, there they both stood, drinks and dessert in hand. Haley was wearing her usual men’s section pants, undershirt, and patterned button down, and Donna, who seemed to be glowing, was wearing a dressy-looking wool knit tank top and linen shorts.

During their regular awkward-but-sincere greeting hug, Cameron felt Donna’s bicep. “Jesus, you look great,” she blurted out. “Did a new Jane Fonda aerobics tape come out or something?”

Donna chuckled, and Haley wryly said, “It’s probably all the swimming.”

“Oh,” Cameron said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

They all had their usual surreal-but-genuine dinner conversation as they ate. Updates on Comet, recent pop culture happenings, current events, the occasional Silicon Valley rumor, all spoken about as if things were normal, as if they didn’t all still feel Gordon’s absence keenly. They joked and they laughed and they didn’t say how strange it felt, they just kept at it as best they could. And after they finished the entree, Cameron, as always, got up to clear their plates, and said, ‘No, no, sit, I’ve got it’ when J0e offered to help, and then waited for Donna to come and join her in the kitchen while she pretended to wash the dishes.

Their kitchen conversations had been awkward at first, but had become more comfortable surprisingly quickly. Donna came into the kitchen that night and said, “So…how you doing?”

Cameron smiled reflexively as she pulled a bottle of seltzer out of the refrigerator. Closing the door behind her and turning back to Donna, she said, “Hanging in there….” She saw that Donna had her glass in her hand, and asked, “Refill?”

Donna handed the glass over. “If you would be so kind.”

Cameron took the cap off the seltzer, put it on the counter and then took Donna’s glass. “You look like you’re doing a lot better than just hanging in there.”

As Cameron poured the seltzer, Donna beamed. “Well, thank you. I try.”

Cameron offered the glass back to Donna. She opened her mouth to say something, then hesitated, and then after Donna took the glass back, she said, “You definitely, you know. You seem better than you did that day that you came out to my trailer.”

Donna had just sat down at the kitchen table. She sat up straight, suddenly, but didn’t say anything.

“I mean, I was worried,” Cameron added. She refilled her own glass, and then she screwed the cap back onto the seltzer bottle, and went back to the refrigerator, grateful for a reason to not look directly at Donna. “I wanted to make sure you were okay back then, but, I don’t know. I didn’t know if I should bother you.”

She lingered by the refrigerator, and then she said, “I’m sorry, really, about, you know, Rover. God, all of that seems like a different life, but also, it doesn’t, and either way, I shouldn’t have gotten involved —“

“It’s okay,” Donna smiled glumly.

“Really?” Cameron asked. She took a step toward the table.

“It was almost nice. I saw your code, and it was like working with you again.” She paused, and then admitted, “I never stopped missing that. I never stopped missing you.” She looked away, and then said, “I guess, I just didn’t realize how much I missed you until that day I had to go see you.”

Cameron frowned. It felt like there was something Donna wasn’t saying, was hiding. “It’s usually like that, right? It doesn’t really hit you, until it does.”

Donna’s shoulders sagged sadly. “I didn’t want that to be over. But, it is over,” she said. “And that’s okay.”

It didn’t look like it was okay with Donna. Cameron felt, oddly, as if she had had this conversation before, but didn’t know why, or how to articulate how it felt.

Donna picked up her glass and held it up. “Mutiny was here.”

Cameron raised her glass, and said it back, “Mutiny was here.”

Without breaking eye contact, they both drank. Afterwards, Donna gave her another one of those sad, resigned smiles.

It occurred to Cameron that she’d had a version of this conversation with J0e. Cameron wondered if this was mere coincidence.

She put her glass down on the kitchen table, and sat across from Donna. Desperate to change the subject, said, “I haven’t been out there in a while. At my trailer I mean. I would, but, J0e hates being out there, and, I don’t really feel like I can leave him.” She stopped short of asking, ‘What does it mean when you want to be with someone, but being with them feels like being in a trap?’

As if she could hear Cameron’s thoughts, Donna said, “Well, that’s what being in a relationship is like, sometimes. It won’t always be like that, though.”

Cameron felt like this general wisdom didn’t apply to her situation. “Yeah. I hope you’re right.”

Encouragingly, Donna said, “It will pass.” She took a sip of her seltzer, and then she said, “You’ll be able to go back out to your property and live as a recluse most of the time before you know it.”

Cameron leaned back in her chair, and relaxed slightly. “I am kind of a recluse, huh?”

“There are worse things,” Donna said.

Abruptly, without thinking it through, Cameron asked, “You wanna come visit me out there? When I’m able to live out at my property again?” Donna looked surprised. “No paperwork,” Cameron added quickly, “no work stuff at all. Just a social visit. We can sit out by my fire pit.”

Donna thought about it for a second, and then smiled. “Yeah, sure. Count me in.”

[silly-centipede]

Okay so I think everyone is awere of the orange thumb drive thing in silicon valley (last episode spoilers ig?)

But what about what happened with it? Who stole it? Why did they steal it?

More importantly what are the effects of having Pied Piper software on their site? Pied Piper nearly caused the end of the fucking world after all

Did Gilfoyle attempt to fix the software? Was this a version of Pied Piper before son of anton? Does it not matter because it wouldn't be client side anyways?

My personal favorite theory is that Dinesh and Gilfoyle genuinely just cause the end of the world. Like straight up the world ends because of them.

[creatorofarcadia]

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter Review

Very mild spoilers maybe? - mostly just the synopsis and character names

Ripe introduces us to Cassie, a depressed, deeply disillusioned woman, working at a competitive Silicon Valley start-up. Trapped in an environment that encourages productivity to the point of self-destruction, Cassie struggles to cope with the long hours, unethical practices and exacting standards of her once dream job. Although isolated from her 'Believer' peers, who seem to swallow the company dogma easily, Cassie is never alone, as she is haunted by a black hole that no one else can see.

I adored this. Just to be clear, I don't think Ripe is going to be for everyone and I completely understand any dissenting opinions. This book is slow, meandering, heavy on the atmosphere and without any startling plot twists to keep you engaged if that's something you enjoy. Furthermore, our narrator Cassie is in a bad place here, her sardonic and frankly depressing musings reflect that. If that sounds unappealing, this probably isn't for you.

For me it was perfect. Etter manages to capture the cynical tone of someone disillusioned with life and late-stage capitalism in a way that is heartbreakingly relatable. It truly felt like she had read my most world-weary thoughts and put them on display for the world to see, making Ripe an incredibly cathartic read. Etter's descriptions are rich and visceral, with plenty of re-occurring themes to sink your teeth into. In particular, Cassie's narrative voice was reminiscent of Fight Club's Narrator, due to her cynicism and borderline violent imaginings when describing the Silicon Valley culture. As a fan of Palahniuk's most infamous novel, it was a joy to see.

I also have nothing but praise for the side characters that Etter presents us with. Some, like the CEO are delightfully satirical and two-dimensional (not even having names), which works wonderfully to emphasis Cassie's intense isolation as she navigates a world of zombie-like husks. Other characters like Cassie's Father, provide some really tender moments, granting much needed relief from the harsh world Cassie occupies. There are also characters such as Sasha, who occupy a sort of liminal space between caricature and real person. Initially appearing completely heartless, Etter lays enough groundwork to imply that Cassie's viewpoint of Sasha is unreliable - Sasha may have a vulnerable underbelly after all.

On the topic of Cassie's unreliability, the moments Etter reminds us that Cassie's perspective is fallible are among some of the strongest in the novel, inviting you to question how much Cassie's bleak outlook contributes to her poor mental state. Her material problems are undeniable and her disillusionment understandable. However, Cassie's skewed perspective often simply hinders her further and I appreciated the skill with which Etter revealed Cassie's biases while remaining tied to her point-of-view.

The unique structure of Ripe was lovely to absorb, keeping things fresh and entertaining from the first page to the last. In particular, the use of the definitions to start each chapter helped to keep the reader grounded as they traversed through a multitude of vignettes.

Finally, I thought the art included was lovely, particularly the recurring image of the black hole, which grows bigger with each recurrence. Overall, a fantastic read with excellent musings on capitalism, feminism and mental health.

[mio-nika]

Heyo fellow Knifepoint horror enjoyer, what are your favourite episodes and why???

Sly dog, you got me monologuing about things I like! Here's a five random ones I think daily about. Just as a head up mild and severe spoilers.

In random order:

Let No One Walk Beside Her - I think of this one as a classic. Even tho it's breaks all the laws of classic KH storytelling. First because it's an apocalyptic fantasy, second it's an audio-drama where story is told by a third person narrative.

It reads listens almost as a scary fairy tale. The nun of a far away church is trying to run from a horrifying monsters that kill everything in their way. The Singers of Songs. I mean. It's a grimdark fantasy story. Very unusual for KH, but very simple as the all books goes.

But this is not the thing that I get stuck on. The thing that destroys me is the epigraph and it's continuation after the main text. It's a quote from a diary of a farmer, who was lived in the same universe as the characters. And this lines, where he tells about this unimaginable despair really stuck with me.

School - also "the one that I recommend for everyone". A big number of KF stories are using the same literary device. The narrator(s) tells us the series of loosely connected events that happened around specific place, specific people (or person) or specific happening. "Transit", "digs", "vacancy". And I don't think it's a bad thing, because it gives the story this weird almost "scary dream" flavour.

And in "School" it works beautifully with its main theme. "School" is a story about school shooting. It starts from it and ends with it. The main character is one of the victims of this shooting and in the main bulk of the story he talks about other "paranormal" stuff that were happening around this specific school. Almost like he trying to connect them to the shooting itself. But the thing is. They are not connected.

I told you that school is about school shooting. But thematically this story about people's fascination with the true crime and paranormal mysteries. And how this interest affects the victims. In the finale you learn that the main character was pressured by the media to tell his story. Journalists were still asking the victims to repeat and repeat and repeat they memories even tho its does actual damage to their mental and physical health. So, no. The morale. Is that you can't treat this random "paranormal" events like they as important as shooting, or like shooter was not influenced by scary building. You can't rationalize it. The fact is. The people DIED.

And the last line gives me chills.

Attic - this one is such a classic horror story. Two brothers. The one is certain that their old home has an attic, and the second one is telling him that there's no attic.

And lo and behold. This home. Does not have an attic. And why main character (first brother) has such a severe phobia of cotton candy... (Again, last lines. SO FUCKING GOOD).

The Crack (and by extend - excursion) - usually KH doesn't have horror monster villains. I mean, even Singers of Songs are treated more like a force of nature. But. We have. One. THE BAKER. The Crack is a story about the group of people who are started hiking on a long stretch of desolate road as a meditation practise. In total silence. This is story of their decent to madness. Excursion is the second story that includes THE BAKER. In this it's a bittersweet story about that will make a history of a small town. The tragedy, or the beautiful artwork of a small girl.

Vacancy - I was choosing between it and digs. But I choose this, because immidiatly after listening it for the first time. I listened it again. Because well, it's starts from the place it ends?

This is a story about a large abandoned "town of the future". The giant company tried to created something close to Silicon Valley, but went bankrupt and it was never finished. And then the things started happening.

I always treated it like the Echotown is a metaphor or an actual place for dead people to live. Not a hell, not a heaven, not a haunted ground. But and actual, otherworld inside of our world. I mean, the main character kinda says straight away.

And not only it's a place for ghosts to live. He, himself, is also. A ghost.