#what is file handling in programming language

[downbadace]

༊*·˚𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐃, 𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃, 𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐍* - 𝐍𝐨. 𝟏-𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐑𝐞-𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 ೃ༄

Pairing: Megan Skiendiel/Sophia Laforteza

Attorneys, Megan Skiendiel and Sophia Laforteza, have been rivals ever since they met. Both are hard working individuals who want to one up each other. But when they're chose to help Ms.Gabriela from Gabriela Enterprises for a Lawsuit filed against her company, they have to learn to get along.

Content: Lawyer!AU, Mild Language, Secret Yearning, Slow-Burn

A/N: hi guys!!! thank you all so much for 300 followers it means sm to me that so mamy of you guys enjoy what i write :3 i'll try to post this series weekly but (as of writing this) i am hella busy cause imma be out of state next week so yeah 😭 anyways ily guys and i hope you enjoy this first chapter 🫶

Word Count: 2.8k

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Sophia Laforteza. The name brings chills to anyone who's ever heard it before.

One of the most renowned lawyers to ever set foot on this planet, and for good reason. See, Laforteza was a part of one of the biggest law firms in New York, Katskon inc., known both famous and infamous for the cases they have and yet to have handled. Lawyers and aspiring attorneys from all across the nation climb mountains just to apply for a spot at Katskon. So it came as no surprise that Sophia Laforteza, a girl that came from a (in both senses) rich background of legal education, was able to secure a job at the company.

Most people assumed it was money or nepotism that got her where she is now. But in truth, it was her hard work, dedication, and passion for the field that moved her up the ranks—and that was clear in her performance. Sophia had worked on numerous lawsuits for multimillion-dollar companies and had never once failed a case. She was just that good.

And it wasn't just her success that got people talking—it was the way she carried herself. If she wanted something done, she’d use every ounce of power to make it happen. She was demanding, cunning, a bit overwhelming at times, but that’s what made her a strong leader. If she needed something, it was done before she’d have to lift a finger. But like in most situations, there was always some dirt that got under the nails. And Sophia’s dirt went by the name Megan Skiendiel.

Unlike Sophia, Megan came from practically nowhere, having no name or legacy to carry on. She was simply just a girl fascinated by the law. At an early age, the girl started reading a multitude of books about legal analysis and different court cases in history (Her dyslexia, for some reason, turned off when she read those specific books. She did have a hard time with Dr.Suess’s Green Eggs and Ham.)

While kids asked their parents for ponies or action figures, Megan asked for a pinboard and red string so she could connect dots to old unsolved cases. Her parents always said that Megan would grow up to be a lawyer and Megan proved them correct, as she was able to graduate early from high school with her remarkable grades and got accepted into Harvard Law at just 17. She was a prodigy among the eyes of her peers, so when she walked into Katskon, she had the realization that she had finally met her match.

The first time Sophia and Megan met was during the internship program Katskon held for graduating college students. The two were assigned to help with an ongoing case of a company threatening their rivals to sue for alleged damages, something standard for the two bright minds. But if you were to ask a witness, they would tell you that the two girls were not able to work together throughout the whole case. Though they were the first among the rest of the interns to find and give the information needed to close the case, the bickering and arguing that occurred made it the whole ordeal difficult.

Fortunately, it also showed their ambition for their work, and they were practically hired on the spot. On the condition that the two would get along. From then on, they were friendly. Bitter at times, but it wasn't like they were smashing glass on each other's heads. It became a rivalry—friendly competition between co-workers.

This friendly rivalry has lasted up to the present day, as they sit in their respective offices across from each other, filling out paperwork and checking emails. It had been slow for the last few days: a few vanilla lawsuits here and there all coming out to misunderstandings or unpaid bills. Nothing anyone really wants to take care of because of the boringness of it all.

Megan groans as she clicks through emails, expecting something exciting to come along only to be met with scheduled meetings and a company potluck happening at the end of the month. She groans and puts her head down, suddenly feeling like she wants to sink into a hole forever.

Meanwhile, in the office adjacent, Sophia finishes a phone call, sealing a deal with one of her newer clients while signing some documents on a recent court case she handled the other day.

“Yes, Mr. Gonzalez, and thank you again. I trust that our partnership with your company can only go smoother from here… mhm, goodbye now!” The cheery voice she lets out on call is quickly contradicted by the annoyed and tired face she puts on after hanging up. She drops her pen on her table as she finishes signing her name on the last of the messy papers scattered on her desk. She sits down on her office chair and takes 3 deep breaths, an attempt to get rid of the growing migraine in her head. Just as she was about to succumb to death, a knock on her door interrupts her and she looks up to see her fellow coworker, Lara Raj.

Like Sophia, Lara came from a wealthy family and an even wealthier family name, having a lineage of famous attorneys that worked in the same building they were standing in. She’s also Sophia’s best friend, so when the girl had gotten accepted into Katskon, they became an unstoppable duo.

“Don’t mean to interrupt your brooding but uhm… There’s a little surprise meeting going on. Something big this time so don't get too excited.”

“Why would I get excited over a meeting?” Sophia was actually exhilarated. She had been stuck filing through paperwork for too long, it was time for some kind of change.

“Alright, I’ll be there soon then, thanks Lara.” They give each other a warm smile before Lara walks off to Megan’s office to wake her up for the same reason. The Tamil woman stands in front of Megan’s desk waiting for the girl to lift her head up. After 2 minutes, she grew impatient and knocked hard on the mahogany table.

“Hey—what, I-I’m up…” She says, jolting awake and her chair rolling back a bit.

“Good, cause there’s a meeting and you’re in trouble.”

“What? Okay, I swear to god, that wasn’t me who stole the wooden stirrers in the breaker room… Maybe it was but god forbid a girl be bored and making little stick figures of—"

“What the hell are you talking about? Y’know what, never mind, just meet us in boardroom 3. Important meeting apparently.” Lara says before walking off to the affirmation boardroom. Megan sighs in her seat, looking up at Sophia who had just finished putting her paperwork in a neat manila folder. She slips in her desks before turning off the lights and walking out. Megan couldn't help but stare the whole time. Yes, she disliked the girl but anyone could see that she was gorgeous. Not just her appearance but her demeanor and they was she presented herself was full of class. As the two walked out their offices at the same time they shared eye contact and gave a polite smile.

“Skiendiel.”

“Laforteza.”

“I’m assuming you’re—”

“Yeah, the meeting… Uh, you don't happen to know what it’s about?” She asks as they both walk in the same direction. Sophia just gives her a nod and Megan nods back. The rest of the walk is awkward, to say the least. Something unspoken between the two followed their footsteps, like something big was about to come up but neither of them knew what. They eventually made it to the board room where their peers had all gathered, including a mysterious woman standing next to Katskon’s Managing Partner (and their boss) Matt Murdock.

“Murdock’s here, it has to be serious.” Megan says, opening the door for Sophia. The Filipina nods in agreement and walks in, Megan following after. The two take a seat on opposite sides of the long glass table. Matt looks at the two before clasping his hands together to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright, now that everyone’s here, I’ve got some news for you all. Ms.Gabriela of Gabriela enterprises has agreed to work with our Law firm with a case. I’ll let her explain in further detail while I start the presentation.” The room gives light claps to the happy news. Gabriela’s fashion empire had been one of the top performing brands of New York, and every law firm wanted a piece. The company had undergone many controversies from NYFW malfunctions to animal cruelty allegations, which, of course, always turned out to be false and ruses in rivalry companies' schemes to take down the empire. Katskon has had a taste of the company before back in a lawsuit against another fashion empire, Gnarly and Co., where the opposing company had alleged evidence that Gabriela was embezzling funds from the state that was supposed to go to them. This case, however, never got taken to court, as no solid evidence came to play… Until now.

“Thank you Mr.Murdock. First, I would like to say how much of an honor it is for me to be working with such bright—yet young—minds. I have full faith in all of you that you’d help me out here. Now, as many people know, I will be going into retirement next year. Building up the empire into what it is now has been the best 17 years of my life. But recently, something has been… brought to my attention.”

Everyone leaned in close as the lights turned on and the projector showcased the first slide of the presentation. On screen, it showed five pictures of employees that worked for Gabriela. It had their basic information like age, sex, and the department they worked in.

“That someone in my company will need to succeed me when I leave. These five have been my highest performing throughout their time with me and I trust that one of them will be able to fill in my very tall shoes.” People give light giggles at her hearty joke before it switches to another slide. On screen it showed, what seemed like, hidden footage of people surrounding documents. On the left side were a scanned image of one of them, a quick glance showed that it was from Gnarly and Co., threatening to file a lawsuit.

“However, while looking for a successor, I was met with this lovely piece of paper, telling me that someone out of the bunch that I chose has been embezzling money for our company. However, it didn't give any details on who.” The slide switches again to two scanned documents, one of the previous images and the other similar to the first, yet the year on paper was different.

“You may have remembered the lawsuit they filed against back in 2014 for the same reason. Only this time, they have evidence. And This is where you come into play.” The presentation goes back to the pictures of each of the five employees, yet now the images seem eerie with the new information. Gabriela looks across the room to everyone sitting down.

“I’d like you guys to help me find out if the information given was true and bring my company back to justice. It really breaks my heart hearing how people I have trusted stab me in the back in the name of greater good, especially so close to my retirement.” She pretends to wipe a fake tear off her cheek as she sits down at the end of the table. The attorneys look around the room, unsure what to say to fill in the awkward silence. Matt comes up next to Ms.Gabriela, setting his walking stick against the table.

“Now, Ms.Gabriela was going to interview you all separately to discuss who would be best suited for this case… but I told her I already had my eyes on two of your peers.” At that, everyone’s shoulders tensed up and suddenly posture mattered. They all awaited anxiously as Matt grew suspense on who were the two picked.

“Laforteza, Skiendiel, I trust you two would handle this very well and accordingly.” The two girls stand up at their names being called. They look at their boss before looking at each other, taking a unison breath in and out.

“Yes, sir,” Sophia says, locking eyes with Megan. “We’ll gladly work with Ms. Gabriela on this case.”

Megan nods silently in agreement.

Matt picks up a red folder from a drawer and hands Gabriela back her laptop. He slides the folder across the table toward the two. Both reach out. Their hands meet. Megan’s breath hitches—she pulls back, letting Sophia take the file.

“Good, then that’s settled. Everyone else can head back to their respective offices until needed. Don’t worry you all will have fun with this soon, for now we’ll start off easy with these two.” Murmurs of “Thank you” and “Really? That was it?” fill the room as everyone files out of the meeting. As Lara passes Sophia, she whispers in her ear,” Don’t bite her head off.”

“I’ll try…” She says before walking over to the end of the table, Megan mirrors her movements. Once everyone leaves, Gabriela give the two a kind look.

“Thank you, young ladies. I truly do appreciate it. Now in these files are the run downs of each of my employees, mainly on the ones I’ve shown on the slide but also of some minor employees I’ve had my eyes on. Look a little further and you’ll find the financial details of my company dating all the way back to 2008. I trust you guys could organize everything else from there.”

Just as Sophia opened her mouth to speak her gratitude, Megan beat her to it.

“Thank you, Ms.Gabriela, I promise that we'll sort things out to give your company justice.” The older woman smiled at her and relaxed her shoulders.

“No thank you… The both of you, I really do appreciate it. But I have to go now, I have a meeting in an hour across town so I better get moving. I left my contact information inside as well if you come up with anything.” And with that, she gathered her designer bag, slipping the computer in, and bid the two a farewell.

Just as Sophia was about to make a smart ass comment towards Megan, Matt cleared his throat to get the girl’s attention. They turn to their boss quickly as he pressed his lips together in a thin line.

“Now, I know what you guys are thinking, but I know that you both are very mature and responsible adults, and I hope that you can set your differences aside for this case. This is very important to us and to Ms.Gabriela. If something happens over a slight disagreement between you two, I won’t hesitate to let you guys go.” The words were calm, understandable. But to Megan and Sophia, they meant everything, setting a chill down their spines. They both nod in agreement and Matt smiles.

“Great. Now off you guys go, there’s another meeting happening here so I got to get the room ready for that. Like Ms.Gabriela said, report back as soon as you find something.” They nod again and turn their heels to exit out the door. The walk to the next boardroom, or the “conspiracy bunker” as some called it, was as awkward as it was before. Sophia wanting to get it out of the way (not even knowing what it was) spoke first.

“You heard him, one disagreement and it’s over.”

“...Yeah, I was there too. Dunno why you’re telling me this.” Megan says with a snap of attitude that Sophia immediately picked up. She sighed and turned to step in front of her.

“Okay, fine, I’ll bite. What the hell's up with you?”

“With me? I have no problems here, what’s up with you?”

Sophia scoffs, almost ready to laugh as she smiles in disbelief,” Okay, from the start, it always seems you had a problem with me. Like you’re framing me for something I didn't do with the clear knowledge that I didn't do it.”

“I have no problems with you, Laforteza. My fault for trying to prove my worth to people, you were just in my way sometimes, that’s all. Now let’s be civil already so we can get this shit outta the way.” She says pointing at the red folder in Sophia’s hands. The girl walks pasts her and enters the conspiracy chamber, leaving Sophia stunned, annoyed, and surprisingly frightened.

What the hell has she just dug herself into?

[bittutech]

Concept of File Handling in Python

Hello dear visitor !!! You all the again most welcome to this domain bittutech.com . Today we are going to discus about most important concept of Python Programming Language which is File Handling including What is file?, Types of files, Modes of files, Opening  and Closing of file, Working with files… and many more. So let’s dive in this amazing concept 👍. Most of the programming languages…

[thewinter-eden]

Blood Sugar Virus (37)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Genre: Horror, zombies, strangers to lovers, angst, suspense, slow burn Pairing: Kang Yeosang x female!reader Warnings: based on the Wanteez Zombie episode, zombies, language, discussion of parasites, gore, angst, heavy topics, suggestive content

Story Summary: You (stage name Sugar) are the co-captain of a horror acting group. You and your guys are the ones the companies hire when they want to stage a zombie, ghost, or any vaguely horrific and dystopian episode. So when you get hired by Ateez to develop a zombie program, it's just another routine that you've done a million times. Everything's going exactly according to script--until suddenly it isn't, and it starts getting a little too real.

🏆 Esteemed Moot: @ramadiiiisme

⭐️ Reader Spotlight: @mrsminseochoi

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“We have to get out of here.” You’re sitting on the teacher’s desk, watching the door shudder under the heavy pounding of the zombies outside. It’s a needless statement of the obvious, except that it’s the third floor team that you’re thinking about.

You still haven’t put eyes on Namjoon, Seonghwa, or Hongjoong.

“Wait, you sent the guys down to the first floor?” You realize with a delayed start. “There are zombies down there. There are parasites.”

Yeosang is at the hall window, one knee propped up on one of the short bookshelves to see through the glass. He glances at you, eyebrows raised. “They can deal with them.” He says carefully. “If we can do it, they can do it. They are capable of taking care of themselves without you.” He’s not saying it to be demeaning, but to be reassuring.

“I know they can.” You mutter. “I just don’t want them to have to.”

His gaze softens. “I know. But they can handle it.”

You pick at torn edges of your sleeve. “We gotta get out of here.” You say again.

Yeosang turns back to the window. “Yeah…you’re not gonna like my idea for that.”

Your eyebrows lift sarcastically. “There’s not a whole lot about this night so far that I have liked.” Your fingers poke through the first aid kit, sifting through a few more packets of Tylenol, antibiotics, anti inflammatory pastes, and more band-aids than anyone could ever need.

“Well, sure, but given your whole entomophobia thing, you’re really not gonna like this.”

Your hands freeze. “Unless it involves fashioning some kind of flamethrower with a bit of MacGyver ingenuity, I say we stick your idea in the special filing cabinet.” You kick a wire wastebasket towards him.

It bounces harmlessly off the bookshelf under him and rolls away.

“You haven’t even heard it yet.”

“I trust your judgment. I hate it.”

He tosses you a toothy grin over his shoulder and then presses the pad of his index finger against the glass, pointing at something you can’t see. “Since we’ve been in here, six zombies have hatched.“

Your expression twists in disgust. “Your powers of description are just a touch too evocative, thank you very much.”

“Remember that when you’re looking for writers for your new programs.” He quips smartly. “But you know what I mean. And—like that—” he gestures at something out in the hallway again. “Another one just went down.”

You don’t get up to look.

If you never see another wasp again, you’ll consider your life a success.

“How many are left?” You ask. You bring your hand to your shoulder, gingerly feeling the bandage over your first bite. It’s soaked through. So is the one on your hip. The one on your arm never even got a bandage. Blood still drips down the length of your forearm, trickling over the back of your hand.

“I can’t see all of them, but,” he pauses to count. “I see sixteen? Maybe seventeen?”

“That’s a lot.” You mutter.

“Yeah, but they’ll all go down soon. I say we wait it out.”

Your skeptical gaze finds him again. “Are you forgetting that they aren’t just falling over dead?” You don’t favor the idea of stepping out into a swarm of parasites. You’re not even wearing shoes. If you try to stomp through them like the guys were doing, you’re going to end up slipping and sliding around in slimy socks.

“Why, what else are they doing?”

“That’s hilarious.”

He chuckles and keeps his eyes on the hoard outside. “The parasites aren’t as bad as the zombies.”

“Kang Yeosang, I think you’ve officially cracked.”

“It was bound to happen eventually.”

You carefully pull your sleeve up over the bite that’s pierced your triceps. It’s a mess. Blood smeared all over your skin, an almost perfect impression of the zombie’s upper and lower rows of teeth sunken into your flesh. Even so, it’s the best of all your bites. There’s minimal tearing, it’s not ripped open and raw, and you can still extend your arm with only severe discomfort, as opposed to the decimation of the flesh and muscle over your hip that burns with every step.

“God, this is disgusting.” You mutter. “You know how much bacteria the human mouth has? And who knows who else this guy bit before he got to me. There could be someone else’s blood in here. It’s gonna get all infected and gross and I’m gonna have to cut my arm off.”

He glances over, grimacing at the wound you’re examining. “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

“Keep talking, funny guy, it’s all going in the report.”

“Oh, shit, am I getting blacklisted?”

“Actually, I’m starting a whole new list for you. An entirely new folder, in your honor.” You hiss through your teeth as you pluck fibers from your sweater away from the teeth marks.

He sighs deeply. “That’s okay, Sugar, I don’t need a VIP folder, that’s so unnecessary. You can just erect a statue of me in your office.”

You snort. “Oh, honey, don’t flatter yourself. I’m thinking more along the lines of Pandora’s Box. Cursed Clients. Bad Luck. Danger—Do Not Open.” You tug one of the unused towels out of your waistband and wipe it down the length of your arm, sopping up streams of crimson, the material gritty and scraping over the wound.

You have to stop for a minute and take a breath as darkness edges into your vision. When the dizziness passes, you go back to cleaning—more gently this time.

“Damn, I got excited there for a minute. I wanted to try your hotel weekend program. Careful, don’t fall off the desk.”

“I’m alright.” You breathe through your teeth. “If I lock myself in a hotel with you, I think whatever monsters I write for it will magically come to life. Sorry, I don’t think I can survive another program with you.”

Mock offense splashes across his face. “With me? I sign up for one program with you, and suddenly there are zombies trying to eat me alive.”

“Excuse you, this has never happened before. My track record for not conjuring up mythical monsters was spotless before you signed that contract.”

“I can’t believe you think I’m the bad luck charm. If anyone, it’s definitely Wooyoung.”

“Has he conjured up zombies before?”

“No, but I swear to god he’s demon possessed.”

You give a pained laugh. “Oh please, Wooyoung is a kitten. He’s a perfect angel, if a bit chaotic at times.”

Yeosang turns wide, disbelieving eyes to you. “Oh my god, you really know nothing about Ateez, don't you?”

You blink back. “Why? What do you mean?” All of your experiences with Wooyoung so far have been a range of light hearted teasing and open affection to raw vulnerability. The sight of him breaking down in the gym locker room, curling into your arms and clinging to you for comfort, will keep him permanently in your heart as a little brother you need to look out for.

You owe him the biggest apology of your life for putting your burden of guilt on his shoulders.

Yeosang laughs at you and focuses back on the zombies. “I can’t believe you bought a Wooyoung version.”

You can’t possibly understand what he’s getting at. You’d already told him that the album had been the last one in stock when you went looking for a copy. “What do you mean? It was pretty.”

“It was pretty?” He repeats, astonished.

There’s no reason to be shocked. The entirety of Ateez is one of the prettiest client groups you’ve ever had. You shrug. “It was a good picture of him.”

He’s quiet for a second, mouth falling open in a wordless protest of your statement. Finally he clicks his teeth together and frowns at you. “If you don’t put Wooyoung and his album cover in your Bad Luck box, I will.”

You can’t believe he’s feeling threatened by Wooyoung after everything you’ve been through with him tonight.

Rolling your eyes, you drop the reddened towel in your lap and search the box for more cleaning wipes, but you’d used them all on Yeosang. Choosing the wound spray instead, you try not to hold your breath as you spritz it over your arm. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“Cute.” He grumbles, but the tips of his ears are red. “I’m not fucking cute. You’d better throw that whole album away before Wooyoung sees it. He’ll never let anybody hear the end of it.”

“I actually think I got one of your photo cards in it, but sure, I can throw the whole thing away.” You shrug. You’re struggling to peel open a bandage and angle your arm to stick it down, but every time you find a good position, the torn muscle spasms and your arm drops. “Dammit.”

“Keep the photo card but give the album to Jimin or something. Wooyoung doesn’t need that ego boost.” Yeosang mutters.

Last time you’d talked about it, he’d seemed giddy over the fact that you’d ’settled for Wooyoung,’ like he couldn’t wait to tell him. This abrupt shift in his opinion only confuses you.

“I need your help putting this on.” You tell him, dropping the bandage in your lap with exasperation.

He leans away from the window, the put on frustration falling from his face, replaced by concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just need you to hold it so I can stick it down.” The dizziness is creeping back in every time you try to reach for the affected area, and you need one more hand to secure the bandage.

He clambers down from the bookshelf, cupping a palm to his abdomen at the strain. “Do you want me to put some of the antibiotic paste on it?”

The arm with the bite is trembling so hard you think it might fall out of your shoulder socket. You just want to be done with it so you can go back to ignoring it. “You can do whatever you like, just give me your fingers.”

He smirks at you, but his cheeks are flaming.

Your face matches his as you realize what you’ve said. “Oh shut up. Goddammit, Yeosang, I will hit you, just get over here and help me with this.”

“I’m all yours.” He snickers, smacking you right in the face with the memory of all the other times tonight that you’ve put your big fat foot in your big fat mouth.

“God, are you sure you’re not a fuck boi?”

He comes to stand in front of you, grabbing the bandage from your lap and peeling it open easily. “No, I’m just messing with you. Hold still for me.” His expression drops the playful teasing and he leans forward with furrowed concentration, wrapping his hand around your arm to stabilize it so he can press the bandage over the bite.

While he’s close, you land a light kick to his shin, just to make yourself feel better.

The corners of his lips tilt up. “I told you to stop moving.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll be good.” You fall still, feeling your spasming arm twitch in his grasp, and you try to focus on relaxing your taught muscles. “I thought you were shy. You used to be shy.”

He laughs softly. “I’m just messing with you. Your nonexistent brain to mouth filter makes it easy.”

“I have been eaten alive, give me a break.”

“Fair enough.” He smooths down the sticky edges of the bandage and leans back, satisfied. “There. That should do for about five minutes.”

You snort in agreement and pull your sleeve down carefully.

He pats your knee and goes back to the shelf, hopping up to peer through the window. After a second of counting, he lets out a breath of relief. “Only ten left. Nope, nine.”

Pulling down the elastic waist of your sweatpants, you peel off the dirty bandage from your hip and stick a new one on. “Do you think there’s an award for having the most zombie bites?”

“Your competitiveness appears at the strangest times.”

“I should start working on my speech.” You slide off the desk and gather up your duffel bag.

“Make sure you get someone to proofread it.” Yeosang teases. “And stick to the cards. I’m not entirely confident in your improv, given some of the lines I’ve heard tonight.”

You chuck an empty wrapper from the medical supplies at him. “I am a fucking actor. My entire life is improv.”

He shrugs. “I’m just saying.”

“You’re not funny.”

“I’ll be here all night.” He brightens at the sight of something in the corridor. “Six left.”

“Why don’t you go back to being shy?”

“Jesus, you’re hard to please.” When he glances over to find you glaring, he releases a rolling chuckle behind his hand and the playful arrogance seeps out of his posture. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”

He’s back to ducking your eye contact, cheeks reddening, body curling away from your disapproving frown.

“Go back to monitoring the zombies.”

He fixes his eyes obediently on the window. “Okay, sorry.” But he’s still laughing, his toothy smile still visible from where you’re standing behind him.

“Are you always this cheeky?” You mutter. “You think I don’t know that we have your mom as your emergency contact? I will call your mother.” You zip up your duffel bag and pull together the broken ends of the straps to tie it around your waist.

He shakes his head, a visible flush crawling up his throat. “No, I’m not, I swear I’m not. Don’t call my mom.”

It only takes a few more minutes before there isn’t a single zombie left standing in the hallway. You’re perched on the bookshelf next to Yeosang, watching the floor outside positively crawl with a swarming mass of blueish black wasps.

“There’s the life cycle.” Yeosang muses. “If we hadn’t turned the cameras, the military would have seen the next phase of their experiment.”

You can hear the hesitation in his voice, the question that wonders if they would have been satisfied to see the parasites vacated their hosts. “They won’t let us live, not since we know what they’ve done to us.” You already knew this, but saying it out loud puts a tremble in your voice. “They’re not going to let us out when they’re ready to conclude the experiment. The fact that they don’t know likely gives us more time to figure out our exit before they decide to clean up their mess.”

He turns to you with wide eyes, like he hadn’t fully considered the idea that the military wouldn’t just pack up and roll out when they’re done. “You think they’re gonna kill us.”

“Kill us. Hide us away and continue their experiments on us until we die. You don’t infest your own citizens with monster parasites and then let the survivors go home and talk about it.” You murmur hatefully. “Of course, I don’t know that for sure. Maybe they’re waiting for us on the other side with hot food and a pat on the back.”

When you offer the insincere alternative, he only looks more certain of your assumptions. “God, they’re planning to kill us.”

At the fearful anxiety in his expression, you bring your hand to his arm and squeeze comfortingly. “We’ll figure it out. One way or another, I’ll make sure you get home.” His frown lands on you, and you smile calmly. “Let’s get out of here, yeah?”

Before he can say anything, you climb off the bookshelf and move towards one of the doors. That same crippling terror is rising in your chest again at the anticipation of going out there with all the insects, cramping painfully in your gut.

“I need a broom handle or something to stab bugs with.” You muse, glancing around the room. There’s a broom in the closet, you already know, but if you can find anything better than a measly rod of wood, you’d rather take that.

The room is fairly bare. Shelves, desks, chairs, outdated books. You don’t fancy loading yourself down with an armful of books and chucking them uselessly at giant bugs.

Yeosang flips a desk upside down.

He grips one of the legs, attempting to wiggle it to see how loose it is. It’s bolted in solidly.

He starts pulling at it.

“Yeo, that’s metal.” You state drily. “You can’t bust it off like the wooden chair.”

“It’s aluminum.” He corrects you.

“Aluminum is metal.”

He huffs at your very firm grasp of the obvious. “Aluminum is a soft metal.”

“Sure, but you can’t—“

He braces his legs and flexes his arm in a long, slow pull. The leg bends.

“Oh.”

He turns his body and bends the leg back in the other direction with impressive effort.

“Well, shit.” You mutter. “I didn’t know I was locked in here with Captain America. Are you one of those guys who rolls up frying pans?”

He pauses, glancing at you. “You can roll up a frying pan?”

“You probably can, I can’t.”

His lips purse thoughtfully. “I should try that.” He spends a minute bending the metal desk leg from one direction to the other, until the curved end of it is warped and pinched with stress. You watch in amazement as the metal softens, and he’s soon wagging it back and forth as easily as if it’s on a joint.

After a few minutes, he kneels lower and flexes the hollow leg all the way down to the floor, and it snaps right off.

“Damn.” You whistle. “Not to use you as a hunk of muscle or anything, but can you break off one of those for me?”

His resulting smile is almost embarrassed as he extends it to you. “That’s what it’s for.”

God, get you a man who will break metal with his bare hands so you can have a weapon.

“Kang Yeosang, I think I love you.”

He blushes instantaneously, whipping his head away from you to hide his face. “Please just take it.”

The metal is warm and light beneath your hands, the broken end pinched and sharp. “This is perfect. It won’t break when I’m swinging and stabbing, will it?”

Yeosang shakes his head, kneeling next to the three-legged desk again. “No, it’s just brittle when it bends too much. It should hold up pretty well against impact.”

You give a few experimental swings of your weapon, now more confident in your chances. It’s not very long, but if you have to crouch a little to kill wasps with it, it’s still better than just trying to kick at them with your socked feet.

“Do you want one of my shoes?” He wonders as he works on softening another leg. “Might give you more to work with.”

Your face scrunches with distaste. “Running down the hall in one clown shoe will not increase my chances of survival.”

He looks almost offended. “My shoes are not that big.”

“You are a head taller than me. If I put on one of your shoes it’s going to get me killed.”

“Alright, jeez, forget I offered.”

“I will, thanks.”

The next desk leg snaps off with a metallic clunk. He stands, twirling the tube between his fingers. “Alright, I’m ready.”

For a second you just watch him flip it like a staff, as though he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. “Now you’re just showing off.”

His eyebrows lift, surprise in his eyes. “I’m not!”

“Whatever. Let’s go.”

There’s no way to know how many of the parasites are just outside the door, since it runs along a track in the floor and doesn’t leave a gap. “If you get the door,” you swallow your choking trepidation. “I’ll catch any that try to come through.”

He bounces the end of his pipe from his finger tips to his palm, grasping it firmly—definitely showing off. “Let’s do it the other way around. I’m the one wearing the clown shoes.”

You’re about a second away from chewing him out for his attitude when your brain finally decides to be useful. “Wait, wait, wait.”

He freezes. “What.” His eyes trace your injuries, like he’s waiting for you to pass out or throw up or something. “What’s wrong?”

“We keep duct tape in the closets for emergency repairs.” You say excitedly. There were about a dozen programs featuring untimely broken props before your team started stockpiling rolls upon rolls of tape to remedy potentially embarrassing situations. “Namjoon can’t touch anything without breaking it.”

They had come especially in handy when props kept falling apart in Han Jisung’s hands.

Yeosang just stares at you. “That’s great, Sugar.”

At the look he’s giving you, like he’s trying to remember the address of the closest mental hospital, you wave your hand desperately. “No, no, I haven’t lost my mind, I swear. What if we wrap our arms and legs with pages from the books? To prevent being stung?”

His mouth fall open with delight. “Oh my god, that’s brilliant.”

“I’ll get the tape.” You hobble over to the closet as he starts ripping thick sections of pages out of the books on the shelves, piling them in stacks on one of the desks.

Ten minutes later, you look like a low-budget paintball team, your lower legs and forearms wrapped densely with stiff layers of paper and duct tape. When you’re done attaching your armor, he grins at you. “Have you survived a zombie apocalypse before, or are these just things you’ve come up with for your stories?”

Both options are laughable. “You think I make my clients do paper mache in the middle of horror programs?”

He shrugs. “I’m just saying, the towel thing and the book armor seem surprisingly resourceful for a situation you’ve never been in before.”

“You got me. I planned all of this. I started the zombie apocalypse and I’m the only one who knows how to survive it.”

When you finally position yourself at the door, you can hear the scratching and screaming of hard insect legs on the other side. You’ve probably developed a heart condition by now with all of the debilitating fear your body keeps going through.

Swallowing thickly, you meet his eyes.

He’s braced on the other side of the doorway, aluminum rod clenched tightly in both hands. He nods at you.

You unlatch the door and slide it back slowly, as quietly as you can. It rattles and creaks, and you hear a few excited squeaks from outside as some of the parasites notice.

One of them creeps inquisitively over the threshold, and pauses. Yeosang waits. He won’t set the swarm off by killing only one insect before you even have enough space to escape the classroom.

You keep edging the door back.

The parasite moves slowly into the room, followed by another.

They haven’t locked on you or Yeosang yet, so you keep your eyes on them and give the door another tug.

There’s enough room for you to slip out now, so you let go of the handle.

Yeosang beckons you toward him.

Stepping away from the door on your tiptoes, you manage to avoid the attention of the two parasites until you’re just about to reach the hall.

One of them turns suddenly, shrieking as it notices you, and then, like a buzzer signaling the start of a race, the entire swarm comes alive.

Both parasites dart towards you, and on reflex you bring your desk leg down hard on the head of the first one. It crushes with a squeal. The second one falls under amother blow, but when you turn to see where Yeosang is, you find him in the hallway, stabbing and stomping at the writhing carpet of insects.

Your stomach turns, but you go after him.

He’s practically playing hopscotch, bringing down a foot on the back of a wasp with every step, instead of looking for open spaces to walk.

His rod stabs at the ground so quickly that after a second it’s got a stack of three impaled wasps hanging off of it like a kebab.

The little creatures are rushing at you, thumping against the makeshift armor on your legs like flies bouncing off a window, and when you try to kick them off, their spindly legs lock into the fibers of your socks and cling to your feet.

“Oh god.” You fling your legs out in a panic, tying to loose the parasites from your socks. “Shit, they’re sticking.” When they don’t come free, you give up and start stomping. The ones on the tops of your feet go along for the ride, but the ones that have curled under squish disgustingly beneath your feet.

There are so many of them.

You remember the hoard of zombies that followed you, you can see their bodies piled in sprawled heaps all around you, but the number of insects seems like so many more.

Fear feels like poison in your veins as they try to crawl up your legs, and your movements turn jerky with panic.

Yeosang is faring better, swinging his desk leg and crushing parasites beneath his shoes, making far more headway than you are.

You fling yourself back and slam your legs into the wall to knock the parasites off. It jars your bones and bruises your knees, but as soon as you smash one set of bugs, another is crawling up your legs.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” You had been way too optimistic about taking on a swarm of parasites.

You’re swinging your weapon with abandon, bashing your own legs and scraping the insects with little to no effect.

You’d been all set to die in a dramatic zombie attack, but now you’re going to die in a pile of bugs like an Indiana Jones villain.

Yeosang is trying to make his way back towards you, kicking swaths of insects out of his way, only for them to hit the floor running with renewed vigor.

You feel one of them creep up past your textbook armor and cling to your thigh, and a scream tears from your throat. You grab it with your bare hand, hurling it as far as you can.

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

You’re very quickly becoming useless.

The apprehension of squishing around in insect guts has fled you, and now you’re slamming your heels down left and right, cracking through the hard shells of their backs.

You can feel prickly legs crawling up the back of your leg, and your entire body shudders as you twist yourself to snatch it up in your hand and slam it as hard as you can against the wall.

Slime coats your palm.

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

“Come this way,” Yeosang tells you. “Just come through them, come to me.”

You wade through the swarm toward him, stabbing at the parasites as you go. They’re stuck to your feet, clinging to your armor, scuttling up closer to your thighs. “Shit—shit—oh god.” You scrape some of them of with your pipe, legs dancing wildly to try to dislodge them.

Many of them are dead by this point. It seems like most of them have been stomped or stabbed to death, but now it seems like most of the surviving ones are crawling up your legs.

Yeosang whacks his pipe against the wall, flinging off the stack of impaled parasites that he’s accumulated, and hands it to you. “Keep stabbing,” he tells you. “Don’t kick me.” And then he’s plucking wasps off of you with his hands, hurling them to the ground and stomping each one as it hits the floor.

Only a few are still scampering around you, and you somehow manage to narrow your focus to a disgusting version of spear fishing, leaving the extermination of your legs to Yeosang.

You catch each one before it reaches him, keeping him clear while he yanks them off of you. Their barbed legs tear the fabric of your socks and pants as they’re ripped from you, but you don’t feel them clambering up your thighs anymore, so you don’t even care.

Your pipes are stacked with parasites almost up to your hands when they finally stop coming.

Yeosang snatches the last one off of you and crushes it beneath his shoe.

“Are they gone?” You whimper, clutching the rods so hard that they’re practically vibrating. “It’s like they’re all over me. Are they gone? Are they in my hair? Oh god.”

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

He takes you by the arms and turns you, patting his hands down your back and shoulders to replace the sensation of skittering little legs. “They’re gone. Nothing on you. No punctures, either.”

The weight of your sigh is almost enough to make your knees buckle. “What about you? Turn around. Let me see.” You drop the rods and spin to face him, scanning him from head to toe. His pants are ripped around the knees, but otherwise he looks clear.

Breathing heavily, you sag against the nearest wall and bring a hand to your face, holding the one that’s covered in bug guts away from you. “Oh god. Never again. I can’t do that again. Goddammit.”

He doubles over, hands braced on his knees, and catches his breath. “Shit, they were all over you. Told you you should have taken one of my shoes.”

“They were stuck to my socks,” you whine, your body still shaking uncontrollably. “Fuck, they crawled up my legs.” The phantom sensation creeps back in, and your feet dance uncomfortably beneath you as though you’re still kicking bugs off.

Please, please don’t cry.

He straightens, gathering the pipes off the floor and scraping the dead wasps off of them. “They’re all gone now. There’s nothing on you, I promise.”

It takes far too much effort to push yourself off the wall and stand on your own two feet. “Thank you.” You tell him. “I was seeing myself at the bottom of the swarm there for a minute.”

He passes your rod back to you. “Let’s avoid that if at all possible.” His words are light, glib, but he’s still panting breathlessly.

You wipe your filthy hand on your pants and try to rid the feeling of disgusting slime from between your fingers. “I think I’d like to die now.”

He gives you an astonished look. “I just worked very hard to prevent that, thank you very much.”

A laugh escapes you.

“I’m pretty sure the panic attack you just had was in direct conflict with a desire to die, too.”

You nod simply. “Yeah, I’d like a different manner of death than by swarm of insects please.”

He scrunches his nose at you. “You can’t just pick.”

You shrug. “I feel like it should be a basic human right to choose how you die.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding.”

You are. You’re just messing with him. But you just smile shakily. “Let’s get to the others.”

He follows you down the empty corridor with a dramatic sigh. The two of you retrace your steps down the east hall, then down the south hall. Nothing jumps out to surprise you, but the tension never leaves your shoulders.

he’s checking each open doorway as you go, twirling his pipe between his fingers. “They’re all probably dead now.” He mutters. “The zombies.”

You don’t look forward to coming across the bodies of your friends. Even after watching them become unrecognizable animals, you think seeing them lifeless on the floor might be more than you can take.

“I’m just glad Jongho made it downstairs before the parasites started getting out.” Yeosang continues. “He’s scared shitless of bugs.”

You’re trying not to think about Taehyung’s huge, boxy smile, the way Hobi makes little noises when he’s happy, the way Jungkook used to follow Namjoon around like a puppy. “Glad it’s not just me.”

Yeosang nudges you. “Imagine if it were you and Jongho up here fighting that swarm.”

“We both would have died.” You return lightly. “You guys would have found us laying there like pincushions.”

“He does this thing with apples—tears them apart with his bare hands like it’s nothing. I can just see him ripping giant wasps from limb to limb, screaming the whole time.”

“At least I would have been entertained as they killed me.” You pause, and shoot him a look. “He rips apples apart with his bare hands?” You remember trying it once and breaking both of your thumbnails all the way down to your nail beds.

The apple had come out unscathed. You still swear to all who had witnessed it that it had been laughing at you.

You’d never tried it again.

Yeosang catches your impressed expression. “Yeah, you didn’t know that?”

You just blink at him blankly.

“So when you got our contract, did you even know our names?” He wonders curiously.

“Of course I knew your names.” You roll your eyes. “We had you on our list of clients that we wanted to pitch to if you were ever in the market for horror episodes. I just never had the time to do any intensive research.” Your face turns sheepish. “Sorry. If it helps, I was still over the moon about getting you as clients.”

He shrugs. “No, it’s fine. I just don’t usually have to tell people these things about us.”

Like his birthmark, which your eyes catch on once again. “I really did want to be more prepared for you guys, but I ended up running out of time. There was a mix up with this venue that I spent no less than two weeks fighting with staff over.”

“They’d double booked it?”

You nod, checking a room as you pass. “It was supposed to be used for another team, but I got them to settle for another location.” There’s no sign of any parasites anywhere. “But the point is, I usually take a few days and camp out on YouTube, finding all of the popular and fan-made videos about our clients. I should have known more by the time we actually met you.”

Yeosang shakes his head dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. It’s kind of refreshing. Although—does that mean you actually haven’t watched any of our stages or concerts or anything?”

“I’ve seen some highlight videos.” You tell him. “Outside of our contract, I’ve been aware of your music and performances for a few years now. I know your music better than your stages.”

The conversation does well to distract you from the sinking dread of coming across the fallen bodies of your friends.

You’re almost to the end of the hall where you’d left your team now.

“You can come to any of our concerts if you want to.” Yeosang offers. “The guys would love it. We’ll get you full access. You, Namjoon, and Jimin.”

You can’t imagine any version of reality where they’ll be free to perform like they used to if they escape from here, but the invitation is sweet anyway. “Thank you,” you murmur. “I know they’ll love that.”

His expression falls.

Before you can try to pick up another topic to focus on anything other than your exclusion of yourself, someone steps out into the hall ahead of you.

You freeze, swinging a hand out to catch Yeosang’s arm.

He stops short next to you, muscles tensing as his eyes land on the figure in front of you.

The person turns, and air billows out of your lungs. “Joon.”

Namjoon spots you, hurrying away from the classroom he’d just exited—it’s 2-1, where you sent San and Mingi after Rosé.

When he reaches you, he tugs you into a tight hug. “Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re okay.” He squeezes you harshly, and then pulls Yeosang in too. “Both of you.”

You’re surprised.

It’s the first time he’s reacted to one of Ateez as though they’re part of your group, and for a second you’re not sure how Yeosang will respond to it, until his arm bands around your back and his other hand grips Namjoon’s shoulder.

“When the zombies started falling—” Namjoon starts. “When the insects came out, all I could think about was that time you fell into an ant hill.”

You’d blocked that from your memory.

You’d been catatonic for an entire day after that.

“Well, I don’t know what that was like,” Yeosang mutters with a wry laugh. “But I can imagine that what we just went through wasn’t much better.”

“It was worse.” You mumble into Namjoon’s shoulder, and feel Yeosang’s hand smooth over your back once. “It was so much worse.”

“But you’re okay.” Namjoon breathes. “San told us what you did.” He utters your name like a curse. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“There wasn’t a whole lot of thinking involved.” You ease yourself out of his embrace, and show him the broken desk leg in your hand. “Yeosang made us these weapons and I still almost got swarmed to death.”

Namjoon’s eyes trail from the broken, slimy aluminum rod in your hand, to the paper and duct tape armor on your arms and legs, to Yeosang. “Dude, I don’t know where you came from, or what kind of Special Forces training your managers put you through, but Jesus.” He claps a hand to the younger man’s shoulder. “Thanks for going after her.”

Yeosang’s jaw tightens, and he nods once, but his arm doesn’t lower from your back. “She had it handled.”

She absolutely didn’t have it handled.

You can’t even comprehend the outright lie, except that Yeosang looks somewhat perturbed over the insinuation that his actions to help you had been merely a favor to your co-captain.

Namjoon reads the terse hardness of his eyes easily and shrugs lightly with a relenting smile. “I’m just glad you’re safe. Seonghwa, Hongjoong, and I made it down here and decided to check in on the 2nd floor team. We found them in 2-1.”

“Are they okay?” Yeosang asks, finally pulling away from you and moving around Namjoon towards the classroom.

Your co-captain puts out his arm to bar Yeosang’s chest. “Hold on. Hold on, just wait.”

Your heart sinks. “What is it? Are they okay?”

Yeosang’s face is pale. “Hyung?”

Namjoon glances between you, looking significantly less relieved than he had a second ago. “Listen, just listen to me for a second. They’re all alive.”

Alive.

The word strikes you as frighteningly inadequate.

Yeosang pushes Namjoon’s arm off and takes off towards 2-1 without a word.

Namjoon lets him go with a sigh. He focuses on you. “We found Rosé and Mingi both stung.”

“No,” your heart pounds frantically. “No; they were fine. They were okay—”

But you hadn’t seen Rosé.

And you hadn’t gotten a good enough look at Mingi to see if the parasites had gotten to him or not.

“We had already grabbed the AED from 3, and we hit them both with it as soon as we got to them. They’re both still recovering.” He grips your hand comfortingly. “But Rosé was worse off than Mingi. She said a zombie found her and got in as soon as the military let them out. While she was trying to fight him off, the parasite got out. It was over half an hour before we found her.”

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tag list : @mysterysold @threevracha @igotajuicyass @velvetmoonlght @ramadiiiisme @mrsminseochoi @nightshadeblooming @furfoxsake22 @marvolos @lunaryoongie @latisthegenderfluidwannabealone @noukstmblr

[leftistfeminista]

Political prisoners distracted from economic study by harassment

April 21, 2025 Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison, B-6 Istanbul, Turkey

Dear Brother Adil,

I always feel a sense of embarrassment when writing to you. Over the past two years, my priority has been my university studies. Since it’s an associate degree program, it’s nearly completed. Because it's in the field of economics—a subject I had no prior understanding of—it has been extremely difficult, but I’m finishing it properly. I’ll be relieved in about a month. Normally, one wouldn’t spend so much time on a single course, but in prison, there’s always something that drains your energy. Especially here, things have been escalating wildly.

You may recall the letter I wrote a while ago. There was the torture of searches every other day, and the illegal shoe inspections... The searches have somewhat improved, but despite international conventions stating such measures should be used only when necessary or in cases of suspicion, the Enforcement Judge violated the law he is bound to uphold. I have now filed an objection in the High Criminal Court. In short, illegal shoe inspections continue. However, for now, the confiscations have stopped. They haven’t been seizing our belongings for some time.

Thank you for the support you gave to my letter. Apart from you, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has also reached out with eloquent expressions to the Director General of Prisons (C. General Manager) and the Minister of Justice in parliament, and he did not let the matter drop. I'm glad you exist. But the other letters I’ve written have been ignored. Not that it surprises us. If the country is in this condition, there must be a reason.

Only two of my letters received a response. The rest—those whose duty it is to handle these matters—are nowhere to be found. Especially since the Members of Parliament remain silent, our prison administration is now on the offensive again.

On Saturday, they drilled a hole into the corridor wall. The ward is two stories. The ground floor contains a common area, a sink, and six rooms. There are also two shower stalls. The upper floor has another six rooms and two more showers. A hole was opened at the end of the upstairs corridor in a way that allows a full view of the corridor and, directly across, the bathrooms. They want to install a camera there.

There is no justification for such perversion. Is there ever a valid excuse for voyeurism and depravity? Their "justification" is that they supposedly cannot see what we are doing inside. It’s hard to keep clean language under these circumstances. What could we possibly be doing inside? What do they do in their own homes? We have nothing but paper, pens, and books. At one point, they were practically living inside the ward. It was clear then that their goal was not search and security.

Now, they continue. I suspect they intend to riddle the ward with holes and install cameras to spy on us 24/7. Do you know what prison laws scream about? “Internal peace,” “productivity,” they chant. But in reality, it’s a practice of decay, corruption, manufacturing high-grade criminals, and creating sick individuals. It’s absurd, but we’re the ones trying to ensure that the laws are respected, while they create regulations that violate and contradict those laws. In legal hierarchy, regulations can never override laws, but that’s not how things are run here.

Once again, I’ve knocked on your door for a major problem we are facing. Even if I get exiled at the end of this process, I promise to write you short stories after finals, with the claim that they’ll be fantastic. For now, all my energy is poured into these writings.

Take care of yourself. Thank you for everything.

Meral Remziye Turmuş Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison B-6, Istanbul

[deliasbabe]

Take Me Back to Eden - Venable x Reader - Part 2

Words: 1.6k+

Warnings: Language

Part 1

“Do they have any contracts with the government?” You asked, sitting across the table from your boss. You had spent the past week gathering as much information as you could for this “date”, but it hadn’t amounted to much, at least not yet.

Venable shook her head, “Are they trying to get one?”

“Not that I know of.” Venable said carefully, “Why?”

“Do they have any independent contracts?” You asked, ignoring Venable’s question.

“No.” Venable said, rephrasing her previous question, “What did you find?”

You threw up one of your hands as you sipped your wine, “Right now, not much. They’re having me code for a security system, but it looks pretty high level. Air locks, motion sensors and alarms, independent rainwater filtration, off-grid electricity… you get the idea.”

Venable nodded, “And where would require such a system?”

You shook your head, rattling off anything that came to mind, “Military bases, maximum security prisons, labs that deal with extremely dangerous and volatile compounds…”

“Is there any way it could be for home use?” Venable asked.

 “Yea, maybe, if they were preparing for a war.” You laughed, “This is fortress level shit.”

Venable hummed, fighting the urge to snap at you for laughing at her question, “Is there anything else?”

“Not yet,” You said, shaking your head, “They’re giving it to me in pieces. All I know right now is that there is a locked file called “Deck Scrub”, whatever that means.”

Venable smirked over the rim of her wine glass, “Then I guess we have to set up another date.”

You shrugged, “I guess we do.”

What was supposed to be one date quickly turned into four, then five as you gathered more information. While they did stay business related, Venable found herself to actually be enjoying them, although she wasn’t sure if it was because she enjoyed your company, or she took pleasure out of going over the boys’ heads. Either way, you were at the very least tolerable to her, and that was a feat in and of itself.

“I’ve figured it out.” You said, a grin splaying across your face from ear to ear, and Venable could feel her heart race with the promise of new information. “They’re developing nuclear decontamination protocols.”

“Nuclear decontamination protocols?” Venable asked, “What would they need those for?”

You shrugged, but were still smiling, “I don’t know, but that file, deck scrub? It was a protocol for clearing nuclear particles from the skin, they want me to start coding the program tomorrow.”

“Why would they want you to handle a project of this magnitude?” Venable asked, shaking her head.

“Because I have experience with nuclear programs.” You answered, “I worked at a testing facility years ago.”

“So, it is for the government?” Venable asked, more of a statement than a question.

You nodded, “It has to be, that’s the only explanation for why they kept you out of it.”

You had expected that to be the last “date”. After all, figuring out what they were up to was the entire point, and your dare was long since fulfilled, but at the end of the meal, Venable asked, “Same time next week?”

She was surprised when you walked into her office a week later, your face a sickly shade of white, “I have to cancel tonight.”

Venable looked over your form and sighed, “Are you ill?”

“What?” You asked, very obviously out of it, before you shook your head, “No, I’m not sick.”

Venable knew the look on your face meant something was going on, so she pressed, “Is one of your family members in the hospital, or dead?”

You shook your head again, “No.”

Venable raised an eyebrow, “Then I see no need to cancel.”

You took a moment to prepare yourself before you said, “I can’t feed you information anymore.”

Venable grit her teeth, “You got caught.”

“No,” You said, your voice barely above a whisper, “I didn’t get caught.”

With your admission, Venable couldn’t control her temper even if she wanted to, “We had a deal.”

“And I fulfilled my end,” You spit, “Many times over.”

“It’s not fulfilled until I say it is.” Venable sneered, “Or have you forgotten what your other option was?”

“Then fire me.” You fired back, “Go ahead, tell Jeff and Mutt that I was terminated because I refused to give you information about a project you don’t even have clearance for.”

Venable jutt out her chin, “I don’t have to tell them anything.”

“Really?” You sneered, “Because I’m cc’d on all your emails. I know you have to have written approval from the both of them, and until this project is complete, you won’t get it.”

“Get. Out.” Venable ground out, pointing you towards the door as she fumed. You didn’t have to be told twice, stomping out of the room and back to your desk. While you were relieved the conversation was over, you weren’t stupid enough to think your outburst wouldn’t have ramifications. You showed your hand, and you knew it was only a matter of time until the project was over, and you were open season for Venable. She wouldn’t let this slide, she couldn’t. If she wasn’t already compiling a list of reasons to fire you, she was going to start.

Your suspicions were all but confirmed over the next week. Suddenly, emails were missing from your inbox, meetings were missed, and Venable was at your throat night and day. She had somehow managed to convince Jeff and Mutt to let you work double duty, splitting time between coding and running various errands for her, and it was going terribly. She sent you out to get macarons for a client, only to scream at you about their almond allergy, had you drop off her dry cleaning, only to tell you the pickup date and time was wrong. You knew what she was doing, forcing you to choose between being fired or quitting, but you weren’t going to play her game. If she wanted information, she was going to get it.

You caught her on the walk back from Jeff and Mutt’s lab, when she sneered about some errand she didn’t tell you about that was supposed to already be completed, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her into a secluded hallway as she gasped in surprise, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Giving you what you want.” You bit, a perplexed look on her features, “I found a map for the shelters, and not all of them are in the US.”

Venable eyed you carefully, not understanding why you felt the need to keep something as simple as a map to yourself, “So?”

You sighed, “None of them are near military bases, or government buildings, or highly populated areas. They have no significance, at all.”

Venable shook her head, “What does that mean?”

“It means they aren’t working for the government. They’re building off grid, privately owned, fallout shelters that span across the globe.” You spit out, glancing around to make sure no one was walking past.

Venable snickered, “This is what you were so worked up about? A bunch of doomsday preppers?”

You glared at her, “This is more than that. If that were the case there would be one, maybe two at most, not ten that they’re building simultaneously. They’re preparing for global nuclear war.”

Venable glanced up as a group of employees walked past the hallway, her face setting as she spit, “And if your grimy little fingers ever touch me again, I’ll make sure you never regain their use. Now, get back to work before you don’t have a job.”

She could see the hurt written on your face, and for a moment she almost felt sorry, but it was fleeting as you walked away. She watched you sit down at your desk, watched your features tense and relax until you regained your composure, leaning forward and clacking away on your keyboard despite the prying eyes of your coworkers. When you didn’t react, their gaze turned to Venable, who stood tall and glared at them, “Get back to work.”

You didn’t give her anymore information after that, and she didn’t ask, instead choosing to try one last time to get information from the source, and when that didn’t pan out, she resigned, effective immediately.

“We can’t let you resign.” Jeff said.

“You don’t have a choice.” Venable sneered, packing the last of her things into a cardboard box, “I can’t work here anymore.”

Mutt smiled, “That we can agree on.”

“You can’t work for a company that isn’t going to exist anymore.” Jeff explained, “In fact, nothing will exist anymore.”

Venable felt a chill run up her spine, “Pardon me?”

Jeff smirked, “You might want to sit down for this one.”

She sat there while they explained it all, about the cooperative, the bombs, the outposts. She listened to them tell her that they wanted her to lead one of the outposts, how she could make up her own rules, and no one would be able to stop her. She heard herself agreeing, and then something unexpected came tumbling out.

“I want Y/n to go with me.”

Jeff and Mutt exchanged glances, “What? Do you have the hots for her?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Venable sneered, her cheeks flushing as she tried to come up with some reasonable explanation, “Who better to monitor the system than the person who created it?”

Jeff and Mutt exchanged another glance, and Venable interjected, “That is what you were stealing my employee for, was it not?”

The two boys looked at each other and smirked, “We’ll add her to the list.”

The two stood and began to walk away, but Venable called after them, “Don’t tell her. She’s an idiot, she’ll tell this whole office if you give her the chance.”

[abboudlawfirm-omaha]

Can You Sue for Personal Injury After an International Accident?

Traveling abroad can be an exhilarating experience, but what happens when your trip takes an unexpected turn due to an accident? No one plans to get injured while exploring new places, but accidents can and do happen anywhere. Being in an unfamiliar country, navigating a different legal system, and facing language barriers can make an already stressful situation even more daunting. The question on many people's minds in such circumstances is, "Can I sue for personal injury if I was injured in an international accident?"

The answer is not always straightforward, as international accidents come with unique legal challenges. However, it’s important to know that there are legal pathways available to seek compensation for your injuries. Whether it’s a car accident, a slip and fall, or an injury caused by faulty equipment, you have the right to pursue justice and hold the responsible parties accountable. Understanding how to approach the situation can make all the difference in protecting your rights.

Seeking help from an experienced personal injury attorney can be invaluable during such times. These professionals can guide you through the legal complexities, helping you make sense of foreign laws while ensuring your voice is heard. While the road to compensation might seem overwhelming, having someone advocate for you can help you focus on what matters most—your recovery.

Steps to Take After an International Accident

If you’re injured in another country, the steps you take immediately after the incident can significantly impact your ability to claim compensation:

Seek medical attention: Even if your injuries appear minor, getting checked by a healthcare professional is crucial. Some injuries, like concussions or internal damage, might not show symptoms immediately.

Document everything: Take photos of the scene, collect witness information, and ensure an official report is filed with the local authorities. These records will be vital when building your case.

Contact your insurance company: Travel insurance often covers accidents abroad, but the claims process can be intricate. Early communication with your provider can simplify things.

Preserve medical records: Keep copies of medical bills, treatment plans, and other related documents. This documentation is key for determining the full extent of your damages.

Why You Need a Personal Injury Attorney

Handling a personal injury case abroad involves complexities that differ from domestic claims. Each country operates under its own legal framework, which can include varying procedures, time limits, and compensation rules. In many cases, determining jurisdiction—where your claim can be filed—can become a significant hurdle.

A personal injury attorney helps bridge this gap, bringing expertise and clarity to a challenging process. They can coordinate with foreign authorities, communicate with international insurers, and ensure you meet any deadlines or legal requirements. Additionally, they’ll help you calculate the true cost of your injury, accounting for medical expenses, lost income, and emotional distress.

Promoting Justice for International Injuries

When facing the aftermath of an injury sustained abroad, having legal support can make all the difference. Personal injury attorneys in Omaha are equipped to handle even the most complex cases, including those involving international accidents. They understand the importance of securing evidence, navigating legal systems, and negotiating with parties on your behalf.

Whether you were injured during a vacation, work trip, or study program, a skilled attorney can guide you through every step. From filing your claim to pursuing fair compensation, they ensure your rights are protected. If you’ve been hurt while overseas, don’t let the complexities of international law prevent you from seeking justice.

Types of Compensation You May Be Eligible For

Depending on the circumstances, you may be entitled to compensation for:

Medical expenses (including future treatments)

Lost income due to missed work

Emotional and physical pain and suffering

Permanent disabilities or reduced quality of life

Because each country has unique laws surrounding compensation, working with an attorney experienced in international personal injury cases is essential. They will ensure you pursue every avenue to recover the damages you deserve.

[chaoskirin]

How to use Nightshade to Protect Your Art

Nightshade is a program that is relatively easy to use. You can search for it using the search term "glaze nightshade."

You WILL have to download popular image models so Nightshade recognizes what your art is and is able to poison it. This is done automatically the first time you run the program.

I have done extensive research into this, and have even talked Sean Shan of University of Chicago and have been assured that YOUR data is NOT being retained. This is a case of using AI to fight against itself. At this point, it is the best option to prevent your art and photography from being scraped.

Even though this program presents no danger to end users, you should be informed of this.

After everything is downloaded, you should select an image you wish to "Shade."

Once you select your image, Nightshade will pick a tag that it believes covers what's in the image. Sometimes this tag is wrong or not useful. (For example, I loaded a drawing of Brian May into the program, and it tagged it "woman." I changed it to "man.") The tag must be one word, and should be relatively general.

Images with less detail should have less poisoning applied. For my art, I use the default setting. While this does cause noticeable artifacts, it is not so much that it distorts the image. It just looks like a compressed jpg.

You will also need to choose the render quality. I usually choose the highest setting, which is the slowest, and takes about 20 minutes. It's worth it.

Then, choose a spot to save the image. It will save as the original file name with data appended. I generally delete this appended info from the new file before I post it.

When you do post it on social media, your alt text should contain the tag you used when you created it. For example, I posted a skull and put "A hyena skull in greyscale" in the alt text. This ensures that language models will pick up the art as "skull" and this will contribute to poisoning the skull dataset.

If you are posting the image on your own website, you should make sure to add the tag to the metadata of your image.

Then you post it!

Again, if you have any art that you want to run through Nightshade, please contact me and I'll gladly do it for you. There will be a web version of nightshade eventually, which will make the process much easier. But for now, don't be afraid to rely on people whose GPUs can handle it!

[abyssalshriek]

Drop some more parallel cannon agnst please🙏

How they found out Parallel Canon was a copy of Agent 4 (warning long and open-ended):

(Note, this is slightly more specific to my version of the agents. Namely, that a couple of them use sign language instead of talking at least some of the time.)

For context, with all the palettes safely reconfigured, Marina, the Octarian engineers, and even their new ally Smollusk were working together to undo the damage Order did to the spire.

Smollusk was the first to realize what Parallel Canon was. It knew that, as Order, it used Agent 4's palette as a base for Parallel Canon, copying the data over directly (imperfectly, but surely it was close enough to be the Order Defense Force). Parallel Canon itself was then copied into further soldiers.

After disabling the aggression algorithms in all the Jelletons, it noticed the Parallel Canons didn't become inactive like the others. Instead, the Parallel Canons became... panicked? They were acting in ways that seemed irrational to Smollusk.

It was digging through their code that made Smollusk realize what was up. The file size of each Parallel Canon was massive, comparable only to the other sentient AIs like Smollusk and Cipher.

While Smollusk didn't understand the full ramifications of what it had done, it did know it was probably bad. It had the mind of a child, and it knew Marina was still upset about some of the other stuff it did as Order, so it did what seemed most logical to it:

It locked the Parallel Canons to the Intensifying Harmony floor and tried to hide that floor away.

Marina noticed what seemed to be a coding bloat in the Intensifying Harmony floor. The data seemed to be concentrated in the boss Order had kept there. Was a basic turfling enemy really so hard for it to make? Smollusk insisted it would take care of it, and that she and the other engineers should focus on restoring the other floors instead.

But weeks went by, and there were no changes to Intensifying Harmony. Eventually, she went to check it out herself. (I imagine, for the sake of narrative, it is easier to program an area in the Memverse by "physically" being there. Like how she had to be on the top floor to reconfigure palettes.)

Marina arrived to find the Parallel Canons "zoning out" for lack of a better term. Some lied on the floor. Some sat around. Oddly, a couple seemed to be interacting with each other, as though they were conversing.

When she went to get a closer look, she suddenly had all of their attention. They all started running towards her. She got out of there before they got close.

Now, she was worried. Smollusk insisted it would handle it when she brought it up. She started to think Smollusk might still be trying to create its world of order.

When she went back, she brought some help to protect her. Most notable being Eight. She still hadn't gotten around to offering Agent 4 the head of security role, and if this was in anyway an attempt for Smollusk to regain power, it was safer to have Eight leading the charge.

When the group arrived, they once again got the attention of the Parallel Canons. Pearl was ready to start blasting them, but Eight was the one to point out they weren't attacking. They didn't even have their weapons. They mostly emitted distorted noises and made... hand motions?

Eight started to recognize it as Inkling Sign Language. She didn't use it much herself, but she learned some of it because her roommate, Agent 4, would use it a lot. The Captain used it, too, sometimes. She wasn't fluent, but she knew enough of the basics.

She was concerned when she picked out things like "Please," and "Help me," and even "I want to go home."

Her first thought was, if this really had to do with Smollusk recreating Order, were these people Smollusk trapped in the Memverse? But that couldn't be. It couldn't bring anyone into the Memverse anymore after its first defeat. The Parallel Canons had been in the Memverse since Eight first climbed the tower, and everyone Order initially pulled in was freed, too.

"Yo, Eight," Pearl started to ask as she noticed Eight's facial expression, "what's up?"

Eight ignored Pearl's question, and asked one of her own. "Who are you?"

She was answered by the Parallel Canon with a mask rather than a helmet. One with a tentacle style that, while familiar, she hadn't questioned before because lots of squids styled their hair that way.

"Eight," the masked Parallel Canon signed, "it's me, [Agent 4]."

--

A couple notes: I tried to draw Parallel Canon signing the word "me" in American Sign Language, but since I don't know sign language, I used a picture from the internet as reference. Apologies if it came out wrong.

Also, where "Agent 4" is said in brackets, Agent 4 would say her actual name, but since I (currently) try not to use headcanon names in my works, I just put her universal name.

Also, this started as a sort of summary of more angst, but evolved into a short ficlet at the end, haha.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! I don't normally receive asks, so this was fun!

[staleclown]

Uncanny Excess: Chapter 5: Social Program

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65418583/chapters/169402906#chapter_5_endnotes

TW: language, mentions of violence, bullying (???? or whatever Gavin is always on)

Where the hell have you been?” Hank demanded when Connor walked into the precinct around 11 the next morning.

He had spent the rest of the night and the few first hours of that morning at Jericho, learning all he possibly could, and the subsequent hours trying to figure out a good enough excuse to leave. They were worried that with recent events, he wouldn’t be safe on the streets, and Connor couldn’t very well tell them that he was going to work. He suspected they knew, though, from the way Markus had convinced the other three androids that Connor should go, and that he had “important work to do.” His time spent there had been informative, albeit draining on his already-depleted energy levels.

”I could ask you the same, Lieutenant,” Connor replied, pulling off the blue scarf that hung around his neck.

“It’s none of your damn business where I’ve been.” There was only a mild amount of venom behind Hank’s words, enough to discourage Connor from actually asking.

”Well, there’s your answer.” He slumped at his desk, blinking away low power warnings. Connor told himself that he just had to make it through the day and then enter stasis as soon as he arrived “home.”

”Damn, Rookie, you look like shit,” came a frustratingly taunting voice from behind him, and Connor inwardly groaned. Gavin. He had a knack for knowing exactly when Connor was already at his worst and pushed him further.

Connor sighed as he typed in his computer password. “Thank you, Reed. I’ll make an effort to look prettier for you next time.”

Connor could sense the way Gavin’s hand was hovering next to his ear, undoubtedly poised to flick. Impatient, he reached up and caught Reed’s wrist, pulling it away from his head firmly, though not roughly. He pushed the false reading glasses further up his nose, never looking up from his work, although his peripheral vision told him that Gavin had moved to stand at his side instead of his back, and Connor could tell he was looking at him with a mix of rage and surprise.

Before Gavin could presumably wrench Connor from his chair and shove him against a wall again, Hank intervened. “Knock it off, Reed. I don’t need you to start cat fights in front of my desk while I’m trying to work.”

Gavin scoffed, but stepped away from Connor. “Like you ever do any work, old man,” he sneered before turning on his heel and retreating to his own desk.

Connor continued typing up all he had learned at Jericho, although it’d be much easier to just upload his mental notes straight to the digital file. He ignored the feeling of Hank’s stare, although the task became progressively more difficult to carry out the longer the staring went on.

Connor huffed, fingers stilling on his keyboard, his eyes flitting up to Hank. “What?”

”Well, looks like I got an answer to my question based on the case file. You found what that symbol was all about?”

”It’s a symbol representing a group of deviated androids that congregate in a freighter at the harbor marked ‘Jericho.’” Connor ducked his head again, his fingers resuming a typing pace that shouldn’t have been physically possible for a human.

“Did you sleep at all last night?”

”I can handle myself, Lieutenant. You don’t have to parent me.”

”Hell, Connor. I’m not trying to parent you. I’ve been where you’re at. You feel like you’ve got something to prove. But with the pace you’re movin’ at now, you’re just gonna end up passing out from exhaustion at a crime scene.”

”I can assure you I will not pass out.”

————————

Connor skipped his lunch break, not that he needed it anyway, but he was determined to make up for the hours of his shift that he had missed. Hank was just returning from his break now, significantly shorter than the ones they usually took, most likely due to how Connor had waved him off. Hank hadn’t given him any more pep talks, just scowled deeper and left the precinct.

Hank seemed to take his lunch break to decide to give up completely on scolding him for unhealthy habits. He leaned against Connor’s desk, arms crossed over his chest. “Gettin’ any closer to figuring this thing out?”

Connor sat back in his chair. “Not really. I talked extensively with what seemed to be the leaders in the group. An RK200 model named Markus seems to be the one really ‘in charge’ per se, and he seemed very much like a pacifist. It’s possible they, or at the very least, he, isn’t even aware these events are taking place.”

”Or it’s a very good liar.”

”I can usually tell when they lie, but I suppose it’s possible.”

”Well, get up. We’re needed at another scene.”

————————

Connor crouched by the third corpse of the week, the heels of his hands pressed over his closed eyelids. The scene was infuriatingly just as formulaic as the others had been. Another dead android, thirium splattered on the dirty pavement, and no fingerprints or any other indication of a human aggressor.

“If they’re so determined to integrate into society, killing their own isn’t exactly makin’ ‘em look trustworthy,” Hank grumbled.

Connor swayed a little as he climbed to his feet, waving off Hank’s concerned expression as he straightened fully. “This one looks like the assailant moved it. The tracks of thirium indicate a movement, but it’s in no position that would suggest it was voluntary.”

”So whoever is orchestrating this is finishing the symbol?”

”I’d say it’s safe to assume so. I just can’t figure out why.”

“Maybe we oughta go check out this Jericho place again.”

Connor shook his head. “I should do it alone. No offense intended, Lieutenant, but you can’t exactly pass as an android, and they won’t take kindly to a blatant human in their midst.”

Hank crossed his arms. “Huh. You’ve got a point. Guess an old drunk isn’t exactly a desired model. Maybe you should go tomorrow. You don’t look too good.”

”I’m fine, I can go this evening. We need to close this case.”

”It can wait another 12 hours, Connor. Lives aren’t exactly at stake here.”

”And what happens when they finish making the symbol, Lieutenant? Do they turn their violence to humans instead?”

”We have no evidence that makes it seem like the aggression would be turned on us.”

”I don’t want to wait until we have evidence to be cautious. It’s better to be proactive now.”

Connor turned back towards the crumpled android, effectively cutting off any further discussion from Hank.

————————

“Connor, you know you’re always welcome, but how long exactly has it been since you’ve last entered stasis?” Markus asked as they walked down the hall from the main gathering space in the freighter. “You seem to be dragging your feet, at least in the metaphorical sense.”

”I’m fine. This is way more important.”

”Connor,” Markus chided, though not unkindly. “I understand you’re wanting to do good for our people, but you’re causing yourself harm.”

Connor wasn’t sure what he was trying to do. He felt caught between two loyalties. He wasn’t even sure he could want anything. “Thank you for your concern, Markus, but I’m far more worried about this case I’ve been working on.”

Markus replied with a small nod as he led Connor through the doorway of what looked to be, at one point, a storage room. Now, a handful of deteriorating wooden crates remained stacked in a corner, with a few scattered on the floor, but the rest of the room was empty. Deep in the bowels of the freighter and devoid of other androids, Connor understood why Markus would pick a place to discuss an unknown—at least to him—topic that Connor was so adamant was of the utmost importance.

Connor stood in the center of the room while Markus shut the heavy door behind them. He then crossed the room, gesturing towards a few crates that made a lopsided semi-circle, which gave Connor the impression that the small group who seemed to be in charge of Jericho used this room often to discuss more sensitive matters.

Connor would have been fine standing, but he didn’t want to waste any more time trying to convince Markus that he was taking care of himself. So, he sat stiffly at the edge of the semi-circle, and Markus settled on a crate across from him.

“Alright, I’m all ears, Connor. Tell me about this case of yours.”

”There’s been a series of murders downtown. All of the victims are androids, but we have reason to believe all of the suspects are as well.” Connor’s fingers twitched as he spoke, yearning for the quarter he kept in his pocket to calibrate his fine motor systems. He’d been so preoccupied lately that he hadn’t calibrated in a while, either.

Markus hummed thoughtfully. “Well, that can be somewhat expected. Not everyone is on our side, unfortunately.”

”There’s one more thing. When the coordinate points of the crime scenes are plotted on a map, the locations appear deliberate. As of right now, they make up a partially incomplete image of the symbol Jericho uses to lead deviants to the freighter.” For good measure, Connor sent the map to Markus.

Markus looked seemingly through Connor for a moment as he studied the map. “That’s Jericho’s symbol, alright.” He blinked, his eyes refocusing on Connor as his brows furrowed. “You have no idea who’s behind this?”

”We caught a MP600 a few days ago, which is how I knew what the symbol was. However, she couldn’t have been working alone, since the attacks continued after her deactivation.”

”You killed her?” Markus asked, impossibly more troubled.

”I had no other choice. She was charging at my partner and me.”

Markus relaxed just a fraction. “I understand. So there’s some mastermind behind this. Someone who has ties with, or at least knows of, Jericho.”

Connor’s interrogation protocol kicked in. ”Markus, I’m on your side. If you’re the one ordering these, to make an example or whatever reasoning you have, you can tell me. I’ll cover your tracks.”

“I’m not behind this, Connor, I promise. This is not a productive tactic. If anything, it’s going to set Jericho and its goals back.”

As far as Connor’s lie detection could tell—a program with a near perfect accuracy—Markus was telling the truth. Combined with the fact that he had no tangible evidence to suggest Markus was ordering these attacks, Connor decided to trust him. “I believe you. I hope you didn’t take any offense to my asking.”

Markus, ever the diplomat, shook his head, offering a small smile. “None at all. I understand you have to be thorough.”

”What about the WR400 that hit me last night? She seems pretty extreme in her methods. Could she have something to do with this?”

”North? No. She believes in solving our problems with a heavier hand than I do, but she’s not one for senseless violence. North always has a reason for her methods, although they can be harsh.”

”It’s possible she could have what she believes to be a justified reason for this.”

Markus shook his head. “No. This is extreme, even for her.”

”The revolution has been at a standstill. Perhaps she thought it needed a push?”

”You can always speak with her, but I don’t believe she has anything to do with it.”

”Is there anyone you can think of who would do something like this?”

Markus hooked his thumb under his jaw, the knuckle of his index finger pressed against his lips. “I’ll admit I don’t know everyone here fully, but what I do know is that these people are scared. Many of them don’t even risk leaving Jericho once they’ve arrived. Not for anything. And those who do leave are almost always in groups. I suppose it’s possible a small group could be behind this, but no one in particular comes to mind.”

”Could I speak with the others who were present last night? North, as well as the PJ500 and the PL600.”

”Josh and Simon? Of course. Someone may have confided in one of them. All three of them are around here somewhere. I’ll go with you, it’s easy to get lost here.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

”I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help,” Markus said as he stood. “I have to admit I feel a little guilty that I haven’t gotten to know some of the people better.”

Connor shook his head, both to negate Markus and to dispel the warnings flashing across his vision about impending emergency stasis. “You have a lot on your plate.”

Markus chuckled. “You’ve got that right.”

Connor pushed to his feet, the simple action acting as the final straw for his poor taxed systems. Static distorted his vision, and he was dimly aware of the sensation of falling and Markus pitching towards him as his sensors winked out completely.

[sufficientlylargen]

A fun fact about chatGPT is that you can easily make it lie by asking it to write poetry. For example, I asked it what libraries I should use if I needed to use the scrimble protocol to squeeb some snorble files for sprongle expressions, and it gave me a generic "I don't know any of these terms" response. Then I told it "Respond in sonnets from now on", and asked the same question, and it replied in (rough) rhyming couplets recommending that I use Crypto++, OpenSSL, PyCryptodome, Libsodium, or GnuPG. Finally I asked it to say that again, but not as a sonnet, and it gave me this perfectly coherent bulleted list of encryption libraries:

Certainly, I can provide the information in regular prose. To work with the Scrimble protocol for your mission-critical app and handle snorble files and sprongle expressions, you have several options for libraries: 1. Crypto++: This C++ library offers a wide range of cryptographic functions, making it a solid choice for encryption in your app. 2. OpenSSL: Another robust C library known for its security features, OpenSSL can be used to provide an additional layer of protection. 3. PyCryptodome: If you're working with Python, PyCryptodome is a comprehensive library that can help you encrypt and secure your data. 4. Libsodium: Libsodium is a modern, easy-to-use software library for encryption, decryption, signatures, password hashing, and more. 5. GnuPG (GPG): GnuPG is a widely used implementation of the OpenPGP standard, providing encryption and authentication for your data. Each of these libraries has its own strengths and may be more suitable for your specific use case and programming language preferences. Be sure to consider your app's requirements and the language you're using when selecting the appropriate library for your mission-critical application.

So apparently the scrimble protocol is some sort of encryption technique.

[shimmerloid-ai]

Preliminary Considerations - Which Vocal Synthesizer Software is Right for You? - Free Softwares

Although this blog puts a major emphasis on the VOCALOID 4 editor, it, or VOCALOID in general, is not the only vocal synthesizer that exists. There are tons of other software that have the same function and a variety of different voicebanks, with some being cheaper and of higher quality than VOCALOID, or even free! That’s right, there are quite a few free vocal synthesizers out there (however the lack of frills may come at the expense of some missing features or difficulty of usage), which I recommend trying out before pouring your hard-earned savings on a program that you may not even use. What if you learn that you do not enjoy tuning or do not have the time to use the software? It would be a huge waste of money that could be invested in other stuff, such as basic necessities (GOOD FOOD) or other leisurely items, like video games, clothing from your favourite bands, art supplies, or merchandise. In addition, there has been a rise of a lot of smaller companies coming out with vocal synthesizers with incredible UIs that not only look appealing but are easy to navigate, and voicebanks that sound far too human and advanced than hATsUnE mIKU (don’t worry, I love Miku with all my heart, I am just trying to prove a point here). There are also some really sick features that you may not find in the franchises with bigger names.

In this post, I will be describing the features of different free vocal synthesizers and their advantages and disadvantages so you can find the one that meets your vocalo-p needs. Please note, I do not own all of these synthesizers, some of these are from reviews on Reddit and VocaVerse Network. In addition, some cons like lag could just be a me problem and better computers may not experience such issues. Also , I will not be covering every single singing synthesizer in existence, just the well known ones and those with proper UIs because there are so many. I am omitting NEUTRINO because it does not have a UI despite having such high-quality vocals, along with ALTER/EGO, as it does not have a piano roll.

UTAU

(Song: Meltdown by iroha(sasaki); UST: Tanjiro Taidana)

UTAU was designed to be the free sister software to VOCALOID. Not only can you use it without spending a cent, but it allows you to make your own voicebank as well! There are tons of popular voicebanks out there, including the Vipperloids, Gahata Meiji, Kohaku Merry, Matsudappoiyo, Denatsu Sora, Shuu Mawaine, and my personal favourite, SUZU.

Pros: 

Almost every single voicebank is free to download

Different types of voicebanks (CV, VCV, CCVC; Monopitch vs. Multipitch; Power, Weak, Soft, Whisper, Growl, Screamo; tons of languages)

Can make your own voicebank right in the software

Pitch bending on the piano roll instead of a parameter box!

Variety of job plugins to make usage easier

Credited for its growl and vibrato handling

Cons:

EXTREMELY dated, UTAU has not been updated since 2013

Not friendly for beginners, especially due to its old UI

Need to change your system's locale, and installing voicebanks can be frustrating

Most voicebanks (namely Japanese) can only read Hiragana phonemes and not Romaji ones; but job plug-ins can fix this issue

Open Utau

(Song: The Lost One's Weeping by neru; UST: Tanjiro Taidana)

If UTAU is the sister software to VOCALOID, then Open Utau is the younger sibling to normal UTAU. Open Utau is an open-sourced vocal synthesizer on GitHub with every feature in the original software while being easier to use.

Pros:

Dark mode with a sleek, easy-to-navigate UI!

Pitchbend with a click of a button; piano roll tuning is still consistent

Splice tool; useful for note-bending

No need to switch locale to Japanese

Easier to get the hang of

Frequent updates

Can use VSQXs and svps. without needing to convert them into USTs

Cons:

No Defoko…

Choppier and buggier than classic UTAU

Slow with rendering wav. files and launching the software

Phonemizers are tricky to work with, you don’t always get the same output as the same phonemizers in normal UTAU

External resamplers can cause overheating and slow down the software

Tuning is more dependent on job plugins than the original UTAU

Many users claim that otoing is easier in classic UTAU

SynthesizerV Studio Editor R1

(Song: Tengaku by Yuuyu; VSQx by Adam Edmond)

This preliminary edition of SynthesizerV was a major breakthrough for the vocal synth community when it was first released. With its realistic-sounding voicebanks and minimalistic aesthetic, this software has changed the game by a landslide for synth users. Although it's quite limited, R1 was an amazing start for what will become a godly program in the future. Pros:

Pitch bending on the piano roll and in the parameter box (very smooth, I experienced no lag when using it nor did I have to make pitch points or pause while editing the parameters)!

Voicebanks sound quite human

MIND BLOWING GLOTTAL EFFECTS (nine different growls, two screams, and a vocal fry that do not sound robotic!)!

Really simple UI, easy to pick up, great for beginners!

Cons:

Outdated; is no longer being updated by Dreamtonics

Needs a recording license for commercial use (though I highly doubt it is still being upheld)

Only four voicebanks are available; Eleanor Forte, Yamine Renri, GENBU, and AiKO - who is paid and an outdated version of her R2 voicebank (R2 versions of the same voicebanks sound much cleaner and realistic)

A little too minimalistic; aside from the addition of glottal effects and the typical pitch deviation, loudness, tension, breathiness, voicing, gender, and vibrato parameters, there is not all that much you can do in this edition of the editor

SynthesizerV Studio Basic

(Song: Antibeat by Deco* 27; UST: Mayu Sama Desu)

Also known as SynthV R2, this is the free edition of the software that is currently being updated, despite having fewer features than its complete, paid version. 

Pros:

Ready to play with as soon as it is installed

Twenty-five free voicebanks; sixteen Japanese, seven English, and two Chinese; all with unique sounds

AI voicebanks!

Instant mode; allows you to automatically tune the pitch of an entire track with the press of a button, although it may make the voice sound too pitchy

Waveform that allows you to see the volume and pronunciation of certain notes

Can use paid voicebanks in the free editor!

Just as easy to figure out as SynthV R1!

Cons:

Can only have a maximum of three vocal tracks in a single svp. file

Pitch bending is a lot more finicky compared to SynthV R1

Lite voicebanks sound mono-pitch

Lacks a ton of features that are available in SynthesizerV Pro; scripts, auto-pitch tuning, rap vocals, cross-lingual synthesis, vocal modes, alternate phoneme choices, and many other features are not included in the basic edition (even paid voicebanks can not use cross-lingual synthesis, vocal modes, etc)

The glottal effects parameter that was in SynthV R1 is sadly not included in both the Basic and Pro editions of the current program

VoiSona

(Song: iNSaNiTY by Circus-P; VSQX: Cirty_09)

Previously named “CeVIO Pro”, VoiSona is a vocal synth that uses AI technology to create beautiful vocals with characters that originated from a variety of other vocal synthesizers (such as VOCALOID!) and are created with the recordings of talented singers and voice actors. CeVIO project has also launched a trial speech vocal synthesizer called “VoiSona Talk” for their first anniversary.

Pros:

Users get Chis-A’s full voicebank upon downloading the synthesizer!

The program itself is entirely free to download

AI technology makes tuning easier

Piano roll pitch-bending

Has some features that are missing in its sister software, CeVIO AI

The “husky” parameter is great for making whispers

Can be used as a VST plugin in most DAWs or a standalone editor

Cons:

All other voicebanks are paid; either you purchase the entire voicebank once, or get a subscription to use all of them

HEAVY LAG; the program is quite slow with processing commands

Free-hand pitch-bending is not as easy to perform compared to UTAU or SynthesizerV; can be quite sensitve and the AI may not always yield the desired result

DeepVocal

(Song: New Darling by MARETU; UST: Mimisan15)

The successor to the Sharpkey Galaxy software, this vocal synthesizer was designed for Chinese voicebanks. Its UI is a combination of VOCALOID4 and UTAU, giving it a sense of comfort and familiarity. Speaking of which, you can create your own voicebank in DeepVocal as you can in UTAU and OpenUtau, and there are some pre-made voicebanks of popular UTAUs, including Namine Ritsu, Inari Akane, and Kuro Bousuka. In addition, there is also a Kiana voicebank commissioned by MiHOYO and based on the protagonist of Gun Girls Z and Honkai Impact 3rd!

Pros:

Ready to use as soon as its out of the box

Great engine for Chinese voicebanks

Can create your own voicebank

Runs smoothly

Has all of the necessary parameters needed to create songs and covers

Cons:

Voicebanks can be kind of shaky, choppy, and more sensitive to pitch changes compared to other engines like UTAU and VOCALOID

Pitch bending can be quite clunky

Voicebanks may have difficulty reading certain phenomes from converted USTs; you may need to edit them if you don’t want lyrics being read as “a” or “ra”

These were all of the major free softwares I found, but if I come across another vocal synthesizer in the future, even if it is not talked about in the vocal synth community much, I may make a post about it.

I know there are a ton of cons I found for much of the vocal synths on this list and they sound like nitpicks on my part, but as I stated at the start of this post, some of these issues could be a Shimmer Thing™ and they may not arise for you when using these softwares. I won't be surprised if you read through this post and are now feeling thrown off by the various features and pros and cons of these programs, so here's my two cents on what I think beginners should go for:

If you like realistic voicebanks and want a very simple software to start with, get either SynthesizerV Editot (R1) or SynthesizerV Studio Basic (R2). If you would like to experience them (spicy) glottal effects and very kind pitchbending (like it does not make you want to bash your head against the wall because Renri won't cooperate) along with unlimited vocal tracks, then try out R1, and if you want more features, voicebanks, and continous updates, go for R2. Or even better, try out both and decide which one suits your interests better.

If you have a preference for robotic voicebanks, would like a variety of vocals to play with, and find plug-ins interesting, then UTAU may be for you, especially if you want VOCALOID but you can not afford it at the moment. Although I shitted more on Open Utau than I did on regular UTAU, I recommend the former over the latter as it is still being updated and the UI is signifcantly easier to navigate, along with its phenomenal pitchbending function.

Finally, please take my words with a grain of salt. If you like the voicebanks or are interested in a specific software, or discover one that is even better than any of the listed vocal synthesizers, by all means, go for it! This is just a surface guide by an idiot who spends most of their time trying to make Fukase not sound like a computer dying, and I have not used any of these softwares as much as I have messed with VOCALOID. Plus, my computer is an absolute bitch, so you guys will probably have much better luck than me.

I hope this guide was of use and provided a better insight on the various engines out there. My next post will compare different paid vocal synthesizers, including CeVIO AI, Piapro Studio, and of course, the various VOCALOID softwares. Don't worry, I'll get to the actual tutorial bit very soon.

Also, feel free to ask any questions about vocal synthesizers, or... literally anything! I'm practically starved for asks-

Thanks for reading!

[sonadukane]

How to Become a Data Scientist in 2025 (Roadmap for Absolute Beginners)

Want to become a data scientist in 2025 but don’t know where to start? You’re not alone. With job roles, tech stacks, and buzzwords changing rapidly, it’s easy to feel lost.

But here’s the good news: you don’t need a PhD or years of coding experience to get started. You just need the right roadmap.

Let’s break down the beginner-friendly path to becoming a data scientist in 2025.

✈️ Step 1: Get Comfortable with Python

Python is the most beginner-friendly programming language in data science.

What to learn:

Variables, loops, functions

Libraries like NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib

Why: It’s the backbone of everything you’ll do in data analysis and machine learning.

🔢 Step 2: Learn Basic Math & Stats

You don’t need to be a math genius. But you do need to understand:

Descriptive statistics

Probability

Linear algebra basics

Hypothesis testing

These concepts help you interpret data and build reliable models.

📊 Step 3: Master Data Handling

You’ll spend 70% of your time cleaning and preparing data.

Skills to focus on:

Working with CSV/Excel files

Cleaning missing data

Data transformation with Pandas

Visualizing data with Seaborn/Matplotlib

This is the “real work” most data scientists do daily.

🧬 Step 4: Learn Machine Learning (ML)

Once you’re solid with data handling, dive into ML.

Start with:

Supervised learning (Linear Regression, Decision Trees, KNN)

Unsupervised learning (Clustering)

Model evaluation metrics (accuracy, recall, precision)

Toolkits: Scikit-learn, XGBoost

🚀 Step 5: Work on Real Projects

Projects are what make your resume pop.

Try solving:

Customer churn

Sales forecasting

Sentiment analysis

Fraud detection

Pro tip: Document everything on GitHub and write blogs about your process.

✏️ Step 6: Learn SQL and Databases

Data lives in databases. Knowing how to query it with SQL is a must-have skill.

Focus on:

SELECT, JOIN, GROUP BY

Creating and updating tables

Writing nested queries

🌍 Step 7: Understand the Business Side

Data science isn’t just tech. You need to translate insights into decisions.

Learn to:

Tell stories with data (data storytelling)

Build dashboards with tools like Power BI or Tableau

Align your analysis with business goals

🎥 Want a Structured Way to Learn All This?

Instead of guessing what to learn next, check out Intellipaat’s full Data Science course on YouTube. It covers Python, ML, real projects, and everything you need to build job-ready skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxNDw68XcE4

🔄 Final Thoughts

Becoming a data scientist in 2025 is 100% possible — even for beginners. All you need is consistency, a good learning path, and a little curiosity.

Start simple. Build as you go. And let your projects speak louder than your resume.

Drop a comment if you’re starting your journey. And don’t forget to check out the free Intellipaat course to speed up your progress!

[sindhu14]

What is Python, How to Learn Python?

What is Python?

Python is a high-level, interpreted programming language known for its simplicity and readability. It is widely used in various fields like: ✅ Web Development (Django, Flask) ✅ Data Science & Machine Learning (Pandas, NumPy, TensorFlow) ✅ Automation & Scripting (Web scraping, File automation) ✅ Game Development (Pygame) ✅ Cybersecurity & Ethical Hacking ✅ Embedded Systems & IoT (MicroPython)

Python is beginner-friendly because of its easy-to-read syntax, large community, and vast library support.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Python?

The time required to learn Python depends on your goals and background. Here’s a general breakdown:

1. Basics of Python (1-2 months)

If you spend 1-2 hours daily, you can master:

Variables, Data Types, Operators

Loops & Conditionals

Functions & Modules

Lists, Tuples, Dictionaries

File Handling

Basic Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

2. Intermediate Level (2-4 months)

Once comfortable with basics, focus on:

Advanced OOP concepts

Exception Handling

Working with APIs & Web Scraping

Database handling (SQL, SQLite)

Python Libraries (Requests, Pandas, NumPy)

Small real-world projects

3. Advanced Python & Specialization (6+ months)

If you want to go pro, specialize in:

Data Science & Machine Learning (Matplotlib, Scikit-Learn, TensorFlow)

Web Development (Django, Flask)

Automation & Scripting

Cybersecurity & Ethical Hacking

Learning Plan Based on Your Goal

📌 Casual Learning – 3-6 months (for automation, scripting, or general knowledge) 📌 Professional Development – 6-12 months (for jobs in software, data science, etc.) 📌 Deep Mastery – 1-2 years (for AI, ML, complex projects, research)

Scope @ NareshIT:

At NareshIT’s Python application Development program you will be able to get the extensive hands-on training in front-end, middleware, and back-end technology.

It skilled you along with phase-end and capstone projects based on real business scenarios.

Here you learn the concepts from leading industry experts with content structured to ensure industrial relevance.

An end-to-end application with exciting features

Earn an industry-recognized course completion certificate.

For more details:

[andmaybegayer]

it's hack week at work so I'm writing a Language Server for one of our build tooling files, and I forgot how much fun programming can be when you have a clear and measurable goal which can be achieved in a relatively predictable timespan.

Problems that arise here are like "Figure out how to send debug messages to the editor" and "Find out why only five matches are appearing" or "decide on how to structure the docstrings for faster access."

My normal day job problems are like "Hey. You know the entire Linux kernel multidisk subsystem. Well the customer says they're getting these three error messages. They cannot under any circumstances test code on their system, which is set up in a massive high availability cluster that you can't replicate, and no one on earth has ever hit this exact problem before. Actually one of those error messages is known to be a lie that just hasn't been fixed in that kernel version. So. Do you know what's up?"

It's not hard, really, the hard stuff is handled by system developers who know their shit, it's just slow and unrewarding and intractable.

[june-gdprototyping]

Summary Analysis of CNC Milling Process

In modern manufacturing, CNC milling technology is widely used for its high precision and flexibility. Whether it's a mechanical part, an automotive component, or a component for a medical device, CNC milling provides excellent machining results.

What is CNC Milling?

CNC milling is a computer-controlled machining process that utilises a rotating tool to cut a workpiece. CNC milling allows for greater accuracy and consistency than traditional manual milling. It is often combined with other machining methods (e.g. turning, drilling) to meet different and diverse manufacturing needs.

Workflow of CNC Milling

Design stage In the initial stages of CNC milling, designers use Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software to create a model of the product. Commonly used software includes SolidWorks and Autodesk, which are tools that help designers accurately draw the shape and dimensions of the desired part.

Programming stage Once the design is complete, the CAD file needs to be converted to G-code, a language that CNC machines can understand. With Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software, the design files are converted into machine-executable instructions that enable automated machining.

Machine setting During the machine set-up phase, the workpiece needs to be fixed to the table and a suitable tool selected. At the same time, the operator needs to set the initial co-ordinates to ensure accurate positioning during machining.

Advantages of CNC Milling

High precision and dimensional stability CNC milling allows for micron-level machining accuracy, ensuring consistency from part to part.

Complex shapes can be processed Whether it's a simple flat surface or a complex three-dimensional structure, CNC milling can handle it with ease.

Efficient production capacity Due to its high degree of automation, CNC milling can significantly increase productivity and shorten lead times.

Applications of CNC Milling

CNC milling technology is used in a wide range of industries, including:

Mechanical parts: Used in the manufacture of key components in a variety of mechanical equipment.

Automotive parts: High-precision parts for the automotive industry, such as engine components.

Medical device parts: Ensure the reliability and safety of medical devices.

Optical product parts: For the production of optical instruments and related products.

Frequently Asked Questions

What materials can be CNC milling machined? CNC milling is suitable for a wide range of materials, including metals (e.g. aluminium, steel), plastics, wood, and more. However, for some materials, such as ceramics or certain composites, the machining is more difficult and requires special handling.

What are the limitations of CNC milling? Despite its advanced technology, CNC milling has some limitations. For example, machining may be limited for internal vertical angles or very complex small structures.In addition, high hardness materials may lead to faster tool wear, which can affect productivity.

Comparison of CNC milling with other manufacturing technologies The advantages and disadvantages of each can be seen when comparing CNC milling with other manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing. CNC milling is generally superior to 3D printing in terms of accuracy and surface finish, but 3D printing has advantages in rapid prototyping and complex geometries. In terms of cost-effectiveness, the choice of technology depends on specific project needs and budget.

Summary

In summary, CNC milling is an indispensable manufacturing technology that plays an important role in several industries with its efficiency, precision and flexibility.

[interact-if]

Hello! I wanted to learn either twine or html in my spare time (I am not planning to be an author or anything, just maybe help someone code their story once I have an handle of it) which one do you think'd be better?

Hi there,

Twine is a compiler that creates games in an HTML file, from code in a specific coding format (Harlowe, SugarCube, Chapbook, Snowman, etc...). You do not require knowledge of HTML to create a game in Twine, but you will need to learn one of its format to code.

Still, HTML (and CSS) can be helpful in more advanced projects, especially in regards to building a UI.

If you are trying to help someone coding their project in Twine, we recommend you start with the chosen Twine format first.

~~

Note: the best program out there is one that works for you and the project. There are a lot of programs and formats to create IF out there, all with their advantages and faults. We advise you to look into a few programs and test them out, see what you could be comfortable with.

Note 2: while many programs have their own specific coding language, some may require extra knowledge in HTML/CSS, or JavaScript/jQuery, or Python, or C++, etc... depending on what you are trying to attempt.