#Alexa play motions by glass beach

[gracebethartacc]

the first image is older but I never posted it bc of spoilers but then I remembered “wait they are literally my ocs WHAT am I talking about” so yeah woe 3nvy from my oc series doodles be upon ye (and Alex is there too ig 🙄/j)

(3nvy uses they/it, Alex uses they/them)

[starships-barships]

Unseen| Chapter Two

(Josh x Fem!Reader/Plus size reader)

<-chapter one

Word Count: 5665

**Warnings-Minors DNI- Alcohol, mentions of insecurities and anxiety, negative self talk, & language, brief mentions of self harm, & slight sexual implications. If I am missing any please let me know.**

Authors note: I do not know Josh, Jake, Sam, or Danny personally. This is purely a work of fiction. Reader is considered plus size and is going through the motions, and if that's not your thing..oh well. It's a sloooowww start. This is my first time writing anything other than normal journaling, so bear with me.

You groan as the sound of your alarm blares loudly through the room. 

“Alexa, volume 3!” you say seemingly unnoticed by your device. “ALEXA, VOLUME 3!” you yell as loudly as your sleep riddled voice will allow. Jesus. The music quiets to a tolerable volume as Stardust Chords comes to its climax. You stretch and pry your eyes open, immediately regretting your decision as the morning sun blinds you through the only crack in your curtain. Ugh. You blink a few times adjusting your eyes to the light. Grabbing your glasses from the nightstand, you take note of the time. 9:15am. Shit. Luckily, you work from home, so you have just enough time to knock the sleep off your vocal cords before your shift begins in 15 minutes. You begrudgingly hoist yourself from the bed as the blankets and pillows beckon you back. As tempting as they are, you make your way to the bathroom. You brush your teeth and wash your face as per your routine. As you pat your right cheek dry you flash back to your dream. Oh. 

You audibly whine as you come back to the reality that none of it was real, but you can’t shake the feeling of Josh’s curls pressed against your cheek. Stupid alarm. Grabbing your phone to text the two instigators of your dream, you tell them all about it and the emojis they fired back let you know they enjoyed it almost as much as you did. You continue your morning routine of starting a pot of coffee and clocking in for your shift. You decide to leave Alexa playing your favorite songs throughout the morning.  Your workday goes by fairly uneventfully for a Friday. Meetings are canceled to your delight. Michelle and Kati check with you throughout the day to make sure tonight’s plans are still a go. You three decided on going to your usual spot. They had the best drinks after all, and the bartender never skimped on the alcohol. Afterwards you planned to go to the beach. Living on the coast has its perks, sometimes.

As noon approaches your phone reminds you that your eye exam is just a few hours away. You’d been anxious over it because you’ve decided to make the switch from glasses to contacts. You’ve worn glasses for years, but you’re finally at a point in life where you no longer feel the need to hide behind them. Plus, your glued-back-together glasses made it an easier choice. You send a quick text to your boss to remind her that you’ll be clocking out early. You finish your remaining work and get ready to leave in a hurry. You opted to just throw on a high waisted skirt with your sleep shirt, tucking it in and leaving the “You are my Sunshine” multi-color block letters visible over the belt line. 1:30pm came and went and you were out the door. As you get in the car “Mountain of the Sun” comes on via shuffle, you can’t help but giggle to yourself over the irony in the lyrics and your outfit of choice. 

The exam went as expected. There hasn’t been much change to your eyesight. Thank God. You were, however, saddled with some news you weren't expecting although it wasn't bad. Your response to that was one you’d heard many times growing up. “You get what you get, and you don’t pitch a fit!”. The older woman finishing up your transaction seemed amused at your optimism. 

Once you arrive home it’s close to 5:30pm. You excitedly head to the bathroom to start getting ready for tonight. Your phone dings. 

Instagram: 2 notifications

You click on the alert. It was nothing of importance, but before you know it, you’re aimlessly scrolling. You nearly gasp when you see it. 

josh_gvf you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit…. Or whatever they say…

The irony, again, not lost on you. Nice play, universe. You immediately screenshot it and send it to your group chat with Michelle and Kati. Explaining how clearly the universe is just fucking with you at this point, and joke that you're cosmically connected to the curly haired man. 

You shake your head and laugh in the mirror, adjusting to the new face looking back at you unobstructed by your glasses. After washing your face and brushing your teeth, again, you move on to your makeup routine.  You want the focal point to be your eyes. They’ve always been your favorite feature, and tonight they wouldn’t be hidden. You decide on going with a black smokey eye, black winged liner, and gold meeting the black in the inner corner of your eye. You weren’t sure what you were going to wear, but as you walked back into your room it became obvious. The black lace dress was practically mocking you. You slid it on over your head to avoid the zipper in the back. The underlay of the dress hugged your hips in all the right places, and the lace cascaded perfectly on top. Once you adjust the belled sleeves, you glance over to your shoe rack. The black sandals. You grab them and slide them on effortlessly, ignoring the sirens going off in your mind. Am I going crazy? You walk to your floor length mirror and smile at yourself. The only thing left “undone” was your hair. You preferred your hair in its natural state. Wavy, mixed with a few tighter curls only needing to be tousled with your fingers. 

You grab your keys and walk out the door as the clock reads 7:30pm. You let the girls know you’re on your way. At the last redlight before the restaurant you take a quick video of you singing along to “I’m a Lady '' by Santigold, mainly to showcase your missing glasses. As you pull into the parking space you notice the lack of response from either person that should’ve beaten you here. Seems about right. You’re dialing Kati’s number as you walk in. She answers on the second ring letting you know they’re just a few minutes out and that Michelle is riding with her. This only meant one thing... you’d all be leaving in Kati’s car tonight. 

The wait isn’t long, only one other person in front of you. The hostess asks how many people will be joining you, and then walks you to a nearby booth. Normally, you’d protest, but not tonight. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t scanning the room. You make a mental note to look into therapy as soon as you recover from whatever hangover you’re sure to have in the morning. The server approaches and you order three margaritas and an appetizer. Michelle and Kati show up right as the server returns, both delighted that you’ve ordered ahead. The night ensues accordingly. Food and more drinks are shared. You’re on your third and about to make your way to the restroom when you notice a group of people approaching the front entrance. 

No fucking way. Maybe contacts weren’t such a good idea..

Michelle and Kati turn in unison to see what you’re fixated on. When they turn back towards you, they’re wearing matching devilish grins, confirming your fear. Please kill me. You wish like hell you could rewind time and not draw their attention to the four men. Before they can say anything, you make a B-line for the restroom. The walk to the back of the restaurant felt like an eternity. Your feet would not and could not gracefully move any faster.

Why are they here? No one comes here. There are larger cities all up and down the coast. Why here? Am I psychic? What’re Michelle and Kati doing out there? Now I have to go back out there. What if I just stay here? They can’t stay all night, right? 

You’re standing in the restroom clearly experiencing a mental break, because there is absolutely no way this is happening right now. You brace yourself on the sink and face yourself in the mirror. Deep breaths. Four men? It’s just four men. Four men from Michigan. Why are you panicking? You can’t help the manic laugh that escapes your lips as the realization hits you. You just went through this last night. It’s a dream. It has to be a dream. You begin calming yourself down. Physically shaking the nerves from your fingertips. You look back at yourself in the mirror, check your teeth and practice your smile. Your confidence waivers slightly as your eyes slide down your body. Your glare lingering on your midsection. Nope. Don’t do it. Just walk out. You grab the door handle and take one last deep breath before making your way back out into the open space. 

It was no surprise to you that your friends were already making conversation with the four men who had sent you into hiding. You loved their confidence and caught yourself feeling slightly envious. It’s not too late to ru..NO.  You shudder one last time, before silencing the negative thoughts. 

You pick your head up and walk as confidently as you can manage towards your table. Catching your server along the way and requesting a tequila shot. Once you’re back at your table you shoot a smile and a half wave to the group that now includes your two friends, Josh, Jake, Sam, Danny and a few others who were with them. Michelle and Kati share a confused look, but soon return to their conversation with Sam and Danny. With your attention now on the freshly arrived tequila shot you hadn’t noticed that Josh’s eyes followed your friends' confused looks in your direction. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched you lick the salt from your hand, tilt the glass back, and bite into the lime in a hurried fashion. Your nose scrunched up at the bitterness of the alcohol mixed with the lime.

You’d just caught your breath when you noticed someone approaching. 

“Mind if I join you” 

You almost didn’t notice he said anything at all. You can wake up now. His brown eyes are even more beautiful up close versus all the photos you’ve seen, and you’re pretty sure he asked to sit with you. 

Josh notices your slightly distracted stare, and chuckles breathily to himself, looking towards the floor and shaking his head. He looks back up at you patiently. 

“Oh, y-yeah, of course” you manage to let out.  Oh God. Get it together. You can feel the sweat threatening to make its appearance as Josh takes the seat across from you in the booth. You’re not sure how to start a conversation, especially not with him. 

“I’m Y/N, by the way.” You decide as you’re reaching your hand across the table. A handshake? Really?

“Josh” he says with a wide grin, taking your hand in his. 

“I’m aware” you say sarcastically, topping it with a giggle in hopes that it came off as flirty and not rude. 

His face seems as though he’s trying to read you when you loosen your grip on his hand prompting him to let you go. 

“So, what brings you here, of all places?",  You ask, narrowing your eyes awaiting his response, biting your bottom lip slightly out of uncertainty. You’ve never been good at small talk. 

“There’s just something so personable about places like this. The people. The community. The atmosphere. It’s different in smaller towns. Things move slower. Even the air feels different. Here we have the time to take it all in. There’s so much beauty to be seen in the world, but it’s often overlooked because no one takes the time to see it” 

You took note of how he spoke expressively with his hands. You’d seen him do this in interviews, but in person... you couldn’t stop the smile that spread across your lips. 

Just as you're about to respond, the others make their way over. Before anyone else has a chance to sit down Josh shoots out of his side of the booth and slides back into yours. You look down at your lap, wishing you could shrink into yourself. As his leg presses against yours, it reminds you that once again, you are just too much. 

He notices your shift in mood while everyone else takes their place in the booth, and Sam pulls up a chair to sit at the head of the table. 

“I’m sorry. Is this okay?” He says in a voice only meant for you to hear. 

You force a smile, looking back up at him. “Very much so.”  You kept your eyes on him a little longer than necessary. What is wrong with you? You’ve said barely two sentences to each other.

The server returns to the table, and everyone orders their drink of choice. You briefly debate with yourself if you need another considering your current state. You quickly conclude that one more can’t hurt. 

The conversations around you continued after the server left. Your friends and Sam continued their back and forth, Kati briefly spoke up in defense of today’s “distasteful pop music” as Sam had put it with his lips curled into a look of disgust.  Michelle was more in agreement with Sam, but backed her friend 100%, because girl code, and she’d be lying if she said her playlist didn’t have a few questionable additions. They each pulled out their phones to review one another’s playlist. The girls quickly poke fun at the first song on Sam’s being a Justin Bieber song that was a few years outdated. He scoffed in return. Jake rolled his eyes in their direction and made the comment that “Music is music, as long as you enjoy it”. You’re sure Danny was in on the conversation too, but you were teetering on the edge of dissociation. Until someone directed the conversation at you. 

“Y/N, tell him!” Kati proclaimed as if you were her attorney about to shut down the opposing side.  

“Oh, uhm, yeah. I listen to anything that makes me feel something. I even wrote..my..” your sentence trailed off when you noticed they’d turned their attention back to each other, essentially letting you know you’d said enough. The look on Sam’s face said your response favored his viewpoint. 

You roll your eyes and chuckle to yourself, your train of thought derailed by the man sitting next to you.

“What’d you write?” Josh looked at you with interest.

“Just a silly paper back in college, no biggie. Music has always been a huge part of my life though. Thanks Dad” you say, raising your glass before taking a sip. Greeat. Bring up your Dad..Everyone loves a good pity party. 

”They say the power of music transcends sound itself” he says cheekily, which brings a smile to your lips, remembering the specific intro. 

“For those of us who can not hear it, feel it” you finish the line for him, winking. He chuckles in return. 

“So, you do like us! I wasn’t convinced when you first walked out.” 

“Oh.. no..I don’t like you at all! Was it that obvious?” Your words drip with sarcasm.

Josh feigns hurt, placing his hand on his chest. 

“I mean, I’m a fan of your profession, but you? I'm not so sure about you” You lie.  He continues his dramatics which elicits a giggle and butterflies on your end. 

“I need a shot!” You hear Sam proclaim. Followed by a round of “me too”’s making its way through the group.  

“I’ll have another!” You mimic Thor with your actions, slamming your shot glass from earlier onto the table, making your friends laugh in the process. Almost every night of drinking included this scene. Okay, reel it in. 

“A Marvel girl, huh” Josh inquired.

You shrug, feeling the embarrassment creeping in. 

“I just watch a lot of movies” You finish with a half hearted grin. 

His response is delayed and you quickly try to recover. 

“ This must be hard for you. I mean, the world knows you. Not you..you, but with the information out there I just don’t want you thinking that I..” you’re rambling. you stop yourself when you notice his coy smile. “W-what?” 

“You’re flustered.” His smile deepens. 

You look beyond his shoulder briefly to see Sam and Kati walking back towards the table with hands full of glasses. Thank god. You hadn’t noticed they had  left.

“I just don’t know how to do this.” You admit. 

“Do what?” 

“The people thing..” you motion with your hands and huff out a small laugh. 

“ Who told you we are people?!” his eyebrows raised. 

The tension in your shoulders falters at his teasing. 

“Government experiment, called it!” Snapping and pointing your finger towards him in one motion. Both of you are laughing as the tequila shots are passed around. 

“Bajabule!” Glasses clink together as everyone cheers and readies themselves. 

You had intended to take yours at the same time as everyone else, but that was derailed the moment Josh quickly took your wrist and guided your hand to his mouth. His tongue slowly picked up the salt, as his lips left a small kiss in its place. The feel of his lips on your skin sending chills through your body. Is this really happening? Your mouth hangs ajar. 

Your eyes remain glued to him as he smirks, your wrist still in his hand. You pull it back quickly, faster than you meant to. Josh's expression changes at the motion. 

“I- I should’ve asked.. I didn’t mean to make you uncom..” he starts, but you cut him off by taking his hand and running your tongue over the salt slowly, replaying his actions. His lips part as you make a show out of taking your shot, and biting the lime seemingly unphased this time. 

Your eyes only part from his when you hear your friends and his brothers cooing at your display. Your cheeks flush red, casting your eyes back down to your lap. Did I really just? Please wake up. You pinch the exposed skin on your thigh.

You instantly regret your recent decisions when your eyes meet where your fingers are. Your dress has ridden up slightly, and you’re aware of what’s just out of view. The decade old scars that litter your skin there only sting in moments like these, when you're reminded of the parts of yourself you’d give anything to change. You quickly pull the hem of your dress back down and take a deep breath. 

“Was that one a little strong?” Josh jokingly bumps his shoulder to yours. 

“ Just a little” you fake a small laugh. “That wasn’t too much was it?” 

Michelle overhears your question and butts in “ Stop overthinking it! See?!” She grabs Jake's hand and licks the back of it in the same manner you did. Jake looks thoroughly amused as he flips her hand and does the same. 

“Are we just licking people now, or?” Danny chimes in. 

“I mean,  I’m down..” Sam winks in Kati’s direction eliciting a blush from her. 

Turning to you Josh says “If you must know.. it wasn’t”. His smile is sincere as he shakes his head slightly. “You’re in your head a lot, aren’t you?” 

“Are we ready?” Jake asks the group before you can respond. Bullet dodged. 

“Where are we going?” You ask. 

“The pier!” Michelle and Kati exclaim together, laughing at your forgetfulness. “Let's gooo!” 

Your nervous smile returns. Kati is the first to stand, taking Sam's arm in hers. Michelle, Danny, and Jake walk away to cover the check, despite your protests to handle your own. They appear to be discussing something they didn’t want the rest of you to overhear. You make a mental note to ask her about it later. Josh moves out of the booth, and extends his hand out to you to help you to your feet. You nervously take it, and keep the other on your knee making sure your dress doesn’t slide up. 

Once you’re to your feet you can feel the amount of alcohol you’ve consumed. You also can’t help but take in the man standing next to you. He’s not tall, only an inch or so taller than you. He’s slender, whereas you most definitely are not. His loosely fitting white shirt and tan jacket are hiding his toned arms, but you know they’re there. His hair is a mess of curls, but tamed well enough. His brown eyes are framed by his long lashes, and the way they’re looking at you right now makes your knees weak. 

He’s perfect, and you’re just you. The voice in your head returns. It’s yours, but it doesn’t talk like you, and it’s always there to pull you back to reality. 

“Shall we?” Josh motions towards the door where the rest of the group are heading. 

You straighten your dress and give him a small nod in agreement. He makes it to the door and holds it open until you’ve made it out. The night air is warm and feels nice on your skin, despite the humidity. The wind blows just enough to give a slight chill, but it’s welcomed in the summer heat. The others are ahead of you and Josh, making their way into the candy store that’s notorious for its rum soaked cherries. 

“ It’s this. They don’t have this everywhere.” Josh says in response to your question earlier in the night. 

“Candy stores?” You ask sarcastically. 

He shakes his head with a grin, coming to a stop on the boardwalk. “Just close your eyes and take a breath. What do you smell? What do you hear?” 

You stop and close your eyes. “Hmmm, the bar we just left, the buzz of the light behind me, and..” you take an exaggerated breath “and I think that's your cologne.” You feel a hand on your arm. You open your eyes to see him in front of you, and you nearly melt at the way his brown eyes are looking into yours. 

“Close your eyes.” He says placing himself in front of you. 

You nearly choke. “Trying to kiss me?” you huff a laugh trying to hide your nerves. 

He chuckles in response “Nope.. not yet”. The last part is so quiet you’re sure you made it up. He’d never kiss someone like me. 

You close your eyes, while his hand remains on your arm, his thumb rubbing lightly over the thin skin in the center. You’re sure he can feel your pulse quicken. 

“Take a deep breath.” He instructs, and you listen. “What do you hear?”

“The laughter of my favorite people, a mother teaching her child how to find the little dipper, the cicadas in the dunes, and the waves kissing the sand goodnight.” you respond, a smile finding your lips. 

“And what do you smell?” 

Taking another breath, you take your time to respond “Salt from the water, caramel from the candy store, flowers from the floral shop on the corner, and the tequila on our breaths.” You crack an eye open to see if you passed. 

“And what do you feel?” His eyes are fixated on you. 

You open your eyes fully meeting his gaze. “Seen.” 

He smiles at your answer, and removes his hand from your arm. You instantly miss his touch. 

Turning to resume the walk to meet your friends, he places his hands in his pockets sheepishly “So, what’s this I heard about rum and cherries?”

You start walking to match his pace “They're the best. I don’t know how they do it, but you can barely taste the rum, and you only need 5 to catch a buzz.” 

“I’ll get 10 then” he says cheekily. 

“Sir, I’m already there.” You tease. Yeah, I’ve definitely had enough. 

“Sir?” He raises an eyebrow. His look can only be described as devilish. God, why is he so beautiful.

“Shut up.” you say, pushing his arm playfully. You hide your face in your hands to cover the brightest shade of red you’ve worn all night. Once you look back up, you’re at the door of the candy shop and Josh is once again holding the door open for you. Such a gentleman.  

Your senses are overtaken as you walk in. The walls are lined with dispensers that are filled to the brim with every candy you can imagine, and the bar in front of you is host to an array of chocolates. Underneath holds tubs of ice cream and freshly made cones are stacked in containers that have made a home on the prepping board. The largest gummy bear you’ve ever seen is on a table of its own right in the center. The only person who appears more enthralled than you is Josh. 

“Allll of this, and we’re only told about the cherries?!” He says, motioning around the room. 

You giggle at his reaction, and turn towards the man behind the counter. “10 spiked cherries, please.”

The man hands you the bag of tasty sins, then you and Josh make your way through the store to find the others. Kati and Sam have made their way to the wall containing many different flavored Jelly Beans. Michelle, Jake, and Danny are enjoying the aforementioned cherries. Michelle held one between her lips, as Jake leaned forward and took it between his own. Your jaw dropped when she repeated the action, but with Danny this time. We have really got to talk later. You turned to gauge Josh’s reaction to what you’ve both just  witnessed. To your surprise he seems unphased, and just smiles a closed grin in response. You snort, and shake your head, resuming your journey through the store. 

You come to a stop when you spot black licorice. “I have to get these, they’re my mom's favorite.” You announce your actions to Josh, as you grab a bag and raise the lid of the container. 

“Who in their right mind likes black licorice?” He furrows his brow. 

“You’ll understand when you meet her.” You chuckle. 

“Oh, taking me home to mom already?” he teases. 

Your breath catches in your throat and you almost lose the bag of licorice in your hand. 

“IF.. you meet her” you force out. 

“So, there’s a chance?” He sounds amused. 

Your cheeks have taken on a shade similar to the red licorice next to you. Without looking up you turn to head towards the front of the store, mumbling “Not for someone like me”. The intrusive thought escapes your lips, and you hope like hell he didn’t hear it. 

Josh follows suit behind you, before dodging around one of the racks in a hurry and taking position in front of you. He stops you in your tracks. 

You put your hands behind your back and put on a cheeky smile. “How can I help you?” 

He puts both hands on your upper arms while standing incredibly close. “What’d you mean by that?” 

“Which part?” you furrow your brow in mock confusion, turning your body back and forth in innocence. 

Kati and Sam walk up behind you causing Josh's attention to shift above your shoulder. 

“Tried a cherry yet?” Josh asks his brother, as he releases your arms. You turn to see who’s behind you. 

“Not yet” Sam responds looking at Kati insinuating his intentions. 

You scoff at him and hold the cherries up and shake the bag. 

“Oh, yeah we got some of those too.” He laughs. 

“Before I forget I grabbed these for mom.” Kati says handing out a bag of licorice that matches your own. 

You hold up your other hand showing her its contents.  “She’s spoiled.” You both laugh in agreement as you take the bag from her. 

Before you can stop him Josh takes the items from your hands. You look at him quizzically. 

“So I don’t show up empty handed!” He winks and grins widely, spinning on his heel to make it to the register before you can stop him. 

You’re blushing, again, but you can’t stop the gnawing voice in the back of your mind. Why me? He could have anyone, anywhere, but he’s here with me? He must’ve lost a bet or this is a cruel joke. 

Kati recognizes your expression and grabs your hand. “Hey, don’t do that…”

You look up to meet her eyes. She can see what’s happening. “It’s just that I’m no..” you start, but  she cuts you off. 

“You are everything and you are crazy to think you’re ever less.” She grips your hand tighter. 

You give her a half smile and nod. She pulls you in for a hug. “I just wish I was… less.” You say in a voice only she can hear. Tears threaten your eyes until she smacks the back of your head gently. 

“That’s what we’re not gonna do. Not tonight. Tonight we’re the main characters.” She proclaims. 

Sam wraps his long arms around you both. “Yeah we are!” His goofy demeanor breaks up the seriousness of the conversation. 

“Just try for me, okay?” Kati asks as she pulls away. 

“And me!” Sam adds with a grin. 

“Us too!” Danny chimes in. He, Michelle and Jake make their entrance together. 

“You don’t even know what you’re signing up for.” You point out to them. 

“I know that look.” Michelle looks at you with one eyebrow raised. “And we’re not doing that tonight. Hear me? You’re a badass.” 

You can’t help the smile that makes its way back to you. Kati is always the softer one. She is always there to gently talk you back from the ledge. Michelle is too, but she commands you back, never letting you live in your own thoughts for too long.  In times like these you need them both. To be completely honest, you don’t know how you could ever get by without them. 

The voice in your head has calmed down by the time Josh makes his way back, and together with your friends you walk back to the front of the store so they can finish paying and head towards the pier. 

“Cherry?” You offer to Josh after walking in silence for much longer than you were comfortable with. He opens his mouth to accept the treat. You oblige and place one on his tongue which is meeting his bottom lip. You decided on having one too. 

“Exquisite.” He says after a moment. 

“I told you they’re pretty good.” You reply.

“I wasn’t talking about them.” He takes your arm in his. 

“Oh..” you look at him trying to find the words. 

“We’re going down!” Michelle announces, motioning towards the stairs that lead to the sand below. The bookbag she’s carried all night now makes sense. Once you all met at the bottom she opened the bag and handed out three throw blankets. 

Kati and Sam nearly run away once they’ve gotten theirs, and you can’t help but chuckle at the sight. Sam has the corners of the blanket pulled around his neck as he runs like a superhero. Kati is trailing behind him, lost in a drunken fit of giggles. You and Josh take yours and make your way down the shoreline, leaving Michelle, Jake, and Danny behind. 

You’re painfully quiet while walking, and coming to a stop when Josh finally asks “What’s going on up there?” He motions to his head. 

“Nothing, just.. I don’t know.” you respond. 

“You can tell me anything..” He says while laying out the blanket. 

You take a seat and huff out “I don’t get it.” 

“Get what exactly?” He questions. 

“Why me? Why are you here with me?” you glance up at him from your seated position. 

“Why not you?” His expression is sincere. 

“Look at me..” you move your hands over your stomach and thighs, pulling the hem of your dress slightly. “I’m me, and you’re you.. and this just doesn’t make sense.” 

He takes a seat next to you, but doesn’t respond. He looks almost hurt by your words. 

“You could be sitting here with anyone, Josh…” 

Again, he doesn’t say anything. His lips part slightly as if he might, but instead he chooses to lay back on the blanket. 

You grow frustrated with yourself and try to wipe the tears away before they fall. Fuck. me. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just I..” You are interrupted by his hand on your arm convincing you to lay back with him. You keep your hands covering your face, not wanting him to see you. 

He gently takes your hand and pulls it from your reddened cheeks, and laces his fingers through yours. “Look up..” He says. “If you couldn’t see the stars or the moon would you still find it beautiful?” 

Your eyes are fixated on the night sky, trying to envision a world without its wonder. 

He raises your hands together and traces Orion's belt as he continues “The universe cannot see itself. It’s not aware of how many people spend their entire lives trying to get a better view, and with each new star we discover, our fascination grows.” He lowers your hands, and places a soft kiss just below your knuckles. He turns his head to face you. “You can’t see your stars, Y/N..” 

You release his hand and turn your body to face him, and without a word you lay your head on his chest. He wraps his arm around you, pulling you tighter to him, his fingertips rubbing small circles on your upper back. 

You relax into him, fighting the heaviness in your eyes that the alcohol is siding with. You look up at him with a small smile, which he returns with the reassurance of his lips on your forehead. You give into the feeling, the sound of the waves and his heartbeat lulling you to sleep. 

You are safe here.

chapter three ->

[dreamlover31]

Love Will Find a Way: Chapter 16

In the days that followed, Rafael and Alexa spent most of their time laid across the living room couch, their bodies pressed closely together while their fingers playfully touch, on other occasions, they enjoyed romantic walks on the beach whether the sunlight was shining or the moonlight shone; there came a time during one of their walks where Rafael picked her up over his shoulder and spun her as Alexa squealed with joy.

Their time together was of the utmost bliss, even if it was for a short while, they could forget about the danger that still lingered; svu had yet to find out who was threatening Rafael. On the last day of their getaway, they spent the better part of the day in bed; Alexa quietly laid on her side as he came up behind her with an arm snaked around her waist. His free hand slid the strap of her black top, he then began to pepper the back of her shoulder with small gentle kisses, which caused her to stir.

Alexa moaned softly all the while his fingers played with the hem of her top, his hand slid across her stomach to which it lightly bucked underneath his touch. Her eyelids started to flutter open, she turned her head towards him and gave him a small smirk, as their eyes met; she kissed him sweetly and brought her hand up to his cheek where she caressed it lovingly.

“Good morning mi amor”

“Morning”

“I can’t believe it’s our last day here…wish we could stay here a little longer”

“Yeah, me too”

“So…what should we do today…drive around town, stay here and watch a movie, what do you feel like doing?”

“How about we just stay in bed and then tonight I’ll cook us a meal fit for royalty”

“Hmmm, I like the sound of that”

Alexa shifted her body so that it faced him, her small hands pressed up against his chest then pushed him over on his back; her bright smile lit up her face as her legs sat on opposite sides of his thighs, at the same time, a small giggle left her lips. She pulled her top over her head and threw it to the side, Rafael hummed as he gazed upon her bare chest, he followed her lead and took his grey V-neck shirt off then once again they locked lips in a gentle and tender motion.

Alexa trailed her lips from his cheek to his neck and finally made it to his chest, all the while, Rafael moaned and whimpered in satisfaction; his hands traced a line along her back while simultaneously, Alexa hooked her fingers into the waistband of his black sweats.

Slowly, she pulled them down and from under the sheets tossed them aside, she was about to remove his boxers when he beat her to the punch by slipping out of them. After she discarded her matching shorts, she reached between their bodies and held his throbbing manhood in her hand, with a few tugs he was primed and ready; he tilted his head back on to the pillow while he groaned.

Alexa positioned herself to where she aligned with his hardened member, the two of them gasped as she eased himself inside of her, his hands gripped her hips as she began to ride him while using the headboard as leverage. In a slow circular motion, she thrusted into him causing him to shudder and groan with pleasure, a symphony of moans, pants and grunts filled the room; both of their orgasms building up to an intensity in which neither of them knew when the other would come first.

A few more thrusts and Rafael’s hips bucked up against hers and his desire spilled over inside her inner walls, he roared until he cried as his release overcame him then Alexa came just as hard; with the last bit of energy drained from her, Alexa collapsed on top of Rafael. Both of their chests heaved as they were in each other’s arms, a few seconds passed and in those moments, Alexa and Rafael fell soundly asleep.

Later that evening, Alexa was in the kitchen preparing their last meal, a crock pot filled with linguini boiled on the stove along with a smaller side pot that contained oregano sauce, also, in a medium sized frying pan; two large cut pieces of fish cooked. As she gathered the wine glasses and utensils, she looked at the corner of her eye out the window to find Rafael setting the wooden park bench style table, he placed plates and folded up napkins as he waited for Alexa to give him the ETA on dinner.

She stepped bare footed out the rear door with the glasses and utensils in hand, she wore the ivory white sundress she bought from the little boutique in town with her hair tied up in a ponytail.

He gazed upon the petite young woman and smiled at her, his mind full of wonder and amazement at how beautiful she appeared before him, he was in total disbelief that he had found a woman who could put up with his stubbornness but also love him unconditionally. His eyes continued to stare at her and in that instant, a shade of crimson red swept across her face, after a few minutes, Alexa finally spoke up.

“Why are you looking at me like that”

“I’m sorry…it’s just that…you look amazing”

Alexa lowered her head abashedly and replied, “Thank you, the linguini is almost ready and so is the sauce…the fish needs a few more minutes”

“Ok”

Rafael took the wine glasses and utensils from her and planted them next to the plates then she went back through the rear door to the kitchen to check on the food, another five minutes passed before Alexa turned off the stove and used the oven mitts that were set on the counter to lift the pot and brought it back to the table.

As she trekked back and forth through the door, Rafael used the tongs to spread out the linguini then as soon as the small pot of sauce was set on the table, he used a spoon to spread the red liquid on to the stringy pasta on each plate. Finally, Alexa put the final dish on the table, she cut out portions of meat and put them on their plates, once everything was in order; they were seated. Suddenly, Alexa’s face contorted in a way that made her appear that something was missing, just then, a lightbulb went off in her head.

“Oh shoot, I forgot the wine”

“Don’t worry I’ll get it”

It took less than a second for Rafael to return with the bottle of red wine, while he poured the liquid into each individual glass, Alexa’s eyes drifted up into the night sky. The fairy lights that were stretched out along the poles on top of the patio seemed dismal compared to the vast flickers of light that scattered across the sky, when Rafael sat back down, they proceeded to dine on their meal.

During this time, a cool breeze flew across the area while the sound of waves crashing provided a soundtrack to go with the romantic meal, with nothing but crumbs left; Alexa and Rafael cleared the table. In the course of Alexa washing the dishes, Rafael came upon the counter with his Ipod and mini speaker, as she continued with her task unaware of his presence; he scrolled through the list of songs on his playlist until he found one to mark this special occasion.

At that moment, Alexa paused as she heard music coming from behind her, a small smile appeared on her face as she turned around to see Rafael standing across the counter with the Ipod and speaker beside him, he walked around towards her where he placed his hands on her hips and began to sway her body. Alexa wrapped her arms around his neck while they swayed to the song Heaven, their eyes didn’t leave one another’s, even when Rafael pressed his forehead against hers. Meanwhile, the song made its way to the most notable chorus, and it was at that point that Rafael began to sing along.

“Baby you’re all that I want, when you’re lying here in my arms, I’m finding it hard to believe we’re in heaven”

“You are such a dork,” Alexa laughed.

He showed a smirk then their lips pressed firmly against each other, when the song reached its end, they stood in their embrace for a better part of 10 minutes. Afterwards, they unwound their arms then Rafael looked over to the clock that hung above the wall and saw that it was almost 10:00.

“Come on, we should get to bed, we’ve got a long drive ahead of us tomorrow”

“Alright”

Alexa looked at herself in the mirror in the bathroom, as she stared at her reflection, she could not shake the overwhelming sense of dread at the thought of going back to the city. She felt that being here was a safe haven for all their troubles, at least here no one knew where Rafael was, a sullen expression reared its ugly head on her face. I don’t want to go back, it’s so much better out here…I don’t have to worry about someone walking up to Rafi and shooting him in the chest or shooting up the courthouse…but I can’t ask him to just drop everything and move out here. During that time, lost in her own head, Rafael was lying in bed dressed in his navy-blue sweats and a black t-shirt; he expressed puzzlement when he noticed that it was taking longer than normal for Alexa to be in the bathroom.

“Carino, is everything alright”

“Yeah, I’m coming out now”

After she turned off the light, she made it to the edge of the bed where she climbed up and straddled Rafael, his hands were on her hips while she stroked his cheek. Her lips grazed the top of his head then landed on top of his lips in a slow and sensuous manner, he groaned in appreciation as his hand glided along her back. Alexa stopped for a moment and let out a sigh of disappointment, Rafael looked at her with concern and said:

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing…it’s just that…do we really have to go back?”

“Unfortunately we do…why?”

“We had such a good time here and I just don’t want to leave”

Rafael cupped the side of her face, she leaned into his touch as small whimpers escaped her lips.

“Mija what is it…why are you getting upset?”

“I’m scared Rafi”

“Scared of what?”

Alexa gently lowered herself on top of him and slinked her arms around his waist, streams of tears rolled from her face then onto his shirt, he held her close and covered the top of her head with sweet kisses.

“I love you Rafi…I don’t want to lose you…you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me”

“I love you too…I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere, that’s a promise”

“How can you promise me that when there’s someone out there gunning for you?”

“Listen to me, I have a top-notch security detail at my side 24/7 plus I’ve got Liv and the squad backing me up as well…believe me when I tell you that nothing is going to happen to me”

She lifted herself up for a moment to wipe her tears, she sniffled a bit before she laid on top of him again, her grip tightened when she re-wrapped her arms around him.

He soothingly rubbed her back and kissed her forehead again.

“Close your eyes, get some sleep”

She sighed as her eyelids became heavy, Rafael reached over and switched off the lamp on the nightstand, after a few seconds Rafael’s eyes followed her lead and drifted off to sleep. By dawn the next morning, they tidied up the house before packing up the car with their luggage, during the drive back; Rafael and Alexa held hands. Even though they face a world of uncertainty, as long as they had each other, they could overcome any obstacle life through at them; especially those who threaten to take away her happiness.

Tagging: @madpanda75 @laceybellerain @southern-magnolia @tropes-and-tales @madamsnape921 @teamsladsandgents @karens-imagined-world @beccabarba @glimmerglittergirl @thatesqcrush @youreverycolor

[agustdef]

Here & Now - Chapter 5

Pairing: Yoongi x OC

Genre: Fluff; Chill romance

Word Count: 3,273

Warning: None. It’s a little longer than the others. 

Banner Marker: @dee-ehn​

Off days were something I tried to take once every two weeks. Off days with a strict, no contact rule in place was a once a month thing, but the last month was so much that I needed a second one.

I wasn't allowed to do work, be asked about work or think about work. Either I sat home and did nothing or ventured out into the world to do something. The first day I slept, ate and caught up on some TV shows. It was so good I'd planned to do it again, but of course, that wasn't going down.

The moment my closest friends found out I was free they all had ideas on what to do, but I'd managed to dodge all of them. Sadly, Marcus liked to work against me. He was one of the few with a key to my home and he'd passed it on to Halsey. She broke into my house around noon with Yoongi.

I'd been standing in the middle of the kitchen singing along with Tiffany Evans' Promise Ring and drying off dishes when they appeared. As I was reaching to put the last plate in the cabinet the reflection in the glass showed them standing behind me. I nearly had a heart attack.

"Alexa, pause," I said, my voice shaky.

Turning around I became acutely aware of me being in a long shirt I'd had forever and pajama shorts that disappeared under it, but it was less important.

"What in the actual fuck people?"

At first, they just stared at me, Yoongi's poker face stronger than Hals. She broke first, laughing obnoxiously and then he followed suit. Almost making me piss myself something they found amusing.

My eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms over my chest. "Haha. Why are you here?"

After a few seconds, they collected themselves, wearing twin smiles. Hals had mischief in her eyes.

"You're off today, so we're doing something," she said.

Before I could open my mouth to protest she held up a hand and shook her head. "Nope. You told me you stayed in most of yesterday, so I know you're rested. Going out can be relaxing and good for you."

Again I wanted to shut her down, but she started pouting.

"Nothing crazy, I promise."

Sighing, I leaned against the counter and stared into her eyes. Nothing felt like I was being plotted against, but a lot of me didn't feel like venturing out into the world. My gaze shifted to Yoongi who'd taken a seat at the island. He just sat there and smiled.

"How did she rope you into this?"

He shrugged and Hals scoffed. "It was partly his idea."

My brow rose in shock and all my attention shifted back to him. His expression didn't change, he just shrugged again and continued smiling.

I had several questions, but I'd keep them to myself.

"Fine. You're right. Give me fifteen minutes."

With that I left them alone, dragging my feet to the bedroom. The situation didn't call for me to put in effort to look cute so I wouldn't. Though I'd say that I looked adorable most of the time without effort so whatever I wore would be fine. I snatched up some shorts, a Sailor Mercury top, and a flannel and threw them on.

Since I'd left the apartment only once the day before and that was to get my done I didn't have to do much. I always got it straightened to get it trimmed, so I whipped off my bonnet and carefully brushed it down from it's wrapped state. It fell the way I wanted so I left it be and wrapped a headband around my wrist just in case.

After going through my skincare routine and ensuring unchapped lips I ventured back out with my shoes in hand. Both of them had moved to the living room, playing on their phones.

"Ready."

They both glanced up at me, Halsey rising from the couch and messing with my hair. "It grew a lot in six months."

"Less split ends too. Lana actually sounded proud of me when she was explaining how much healthier it felt and looked."

"So switching braiders helped?" she asked.

"Yup."

All while we had our little conversation Yoongi stood there was a brow raised. He did that when we'd disappear into our own little world. As if he was intrigued with the way we interacted. It was honestly either very calm or very chaotic when it came to us. One could never be too sure what would go on.

"So, where are we going?" I asked, walking towards the door to slip on my shoes.

"Since someone here has people stalking him twenty-four seven," she paused and glared at Yoongi who just shrugged. "We're going a little far out to eat and walk a more isolated beach area. Hopefully, no one sees us, but if so it'll be fine."

"Statements ready in case," Yoongi added.

After grabbing my bag and phone from the table I swung the door open and motioned them out. As I locked the door something dawned on me.

"Wait, am I driving?"

They both paused and looked at each other than me. Hals smiled sweetly and Yoongi bit his lip, looking as he was fighting off laughter.

I groaned, tossing my head back. After a second I glared at her, but she maintained her "sweet" look. Yoongi finally let go of that chuckle and I could see on his face how prepared for this he'd been.

"One, I hate you." I then turned my attention to him. "Two, stop helping her. I thought we were closer than this Yoon."

With some fake sniffles on my part, I turned on my heel and stormed down the hall. My dramatics consistent until we'd reached the parking garage and my car.

Yoongi hopped into the front seat, all but shoving Hals out of the way to get it. Her sound of protest was so gentle I barely heard it, but it was still hilarious.

Once inside and with the car turned over I realized how warm it would be and was glad for air conditioning. There was no way I could put the windows down since the tint was the only thing stopping people from quickly spotting Yoongi.

With everyone buckled in, I pulled out of the spot and out of the parking garage. The car was silent for a while and then when we reached a stoplight Halsey was flinging herself between the seats to grab my phone. I slapped her hand and she reached again, but I moved it out of reach.

"What do you want?" I asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

"It's too quiet, we need music," she said.

She wasn't wrong, if I went too long in silence I'd be driven mad. Grabbing the phone I unlocked it, ensured it was paired with the car and went to my Spotify. Extending my arm I bypassed her hand and gave it to Yoongi. She grunted and sat back, probably rolling her eyes.

I'd only been able to catch a second of Yoongi's reaction before I had to pull off again. He appeared confused and then amused, taking the phone without question.

A minute or so passed before any sound filled the space and when it did my eyes went wide and I shook my head.

"Nope. Not that, change it." I tried to grab the phone, but he kept it out of reach.

"What? Don't like Thong Song? It's on your phone." He teased, like the butt he was.

In no way was I embarrassed by having the song, it had grown on me over the years; but my face did not agree. I could feel the burning of my cheeks and the mild discomfort in my stomach, but I pushed it down.

Clearing my throat I turned to him, eyes narrowed. "Different song or Hals gets control."

For a moment his thumb hovered over the phone as if he wasn't going to change it, but then he tapped the screen and a new song started. J. Cole's Cole World fills the space and my body relaxes.

It takes me getting to the freeway before I realize I had no clue where the heck we were going. Hals shrugs and Yoongi takes over, tapping an address into the GPS; his manager had researched some places that would lessen visibility.

On the way there we all talk on and off, avoiding work subjects. The moment I even slightly mention anything that will lead to work Hals shuts it down and eventually, Yoongi started to as well, leveling me with disapproving glances.

By the time we reach the small beach town, Hals is pouting in the back, upset that Yoongi and I started focusing our teasing purely on her. I all but dragged her from the car because of it, with her muttering under her breath about getting back at us.

The town was indeed not that packed. Of course, most people migrated towards the beach, but even then it wasn't a lot going on and they were all on the older side. Yoongi still kept on his beanie and mask on though, because fans came in all ages and you never knew when one could pop out.

Hals took the lead once she'd finished her fake sad girl act and we followed behind her. The beach farther down the road was less packed, so we spent a great deal of time loitering around there. We kicked off our shoes and walked partly in the water, we walked in silence or just talking about anything.

Something I'd learned and loved about being friends with Hals is we could have those random talks. With Yoongi it was the same way and it felt so natural even after a short time. Being able to talk and the other know if it was just you venting or needing some sort of response.

At some point, I waded father in, glad to be wearing shorts. Hals had stopped to take a picture of something and Yoongi was just staring out into the water. What I hadn't realized is that he snuck up on me, until I was being pushed forward.

"No," I squeaked.

A deep laugh came from behind me just as I was pulled back.

Once my feet were firmly planted I whipped around to see a smiling Yoongi. My eyes narrowed and I shoved him lightly, only displacing him a little.

"Don't do that, ya butt."

All my remark did was make him laugh, but when he saw me go to move past him he stopped.

"I would never. I know it would have effect on..." he trailed off and gestured to my straightened, and slightly poofy hair.

There was the smallest temptation to continue down my pouty path because I was annoyed, but something about it made me stop.

He understood what would come of my hair getting wet, but the fact that he felt comfortable enough to joke with me like that felt nice. Not like he'd been uncomfortable with me after a week or so, but there were levels to comfort and friendship.

A smile formed on my lips and before I could say anything Hals caught my attention. She was on her phone and was frowning deeply. Wading out of the water I stopped a few feet short of her.

"Mhm. Okay." With that she hung up and stared at us, frown deepening.

"What's wrong?" Yoongi asked.

She rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. "Something came up at the studio. They thought it would be fine last night and this morning, but they lost half a song. I need to go back and re-record."

The urge to ask a million questions about how they fumbled that without any backups presented itself, but she didn't need that.

"Okay. We can grab our shoes and drive back."

"No, no, no, no, no," she said, pushing me back as I tried to walk further onto the beach.

"What?" I asked.

She shook her head and took careful steps back.

"You two enjoy yourselves. I gave my manager a heads up on where I'd be, so a car was sent already because it looked bad like an hour ago. They're minutes out. I'll leave and you guys do whatever."

For a moment I wondered if it was some cliche set up, but nothing about the situation screamed that. And even with her facial control, she wasn't that good.

"You good with that?" I asked, turning to Yoongi.

He nodded.

"Okay then."

We walked her back to where I'd parked and were met with the car in a minute or so. After seeing her off we kind of just stared at each other, not really sure what to do next.

"So..." I trailed off.

A second or two of silence and he spoke. "Food?"

Without another word we got into my car and after a few seconds of him playing on his phone he tapped something into my GPS. The address was in Chinatown, which had me pausing because of the number of people that would be there.

"It's fine. Manager cleared it," he said without even looking at me.

I believed he wouldn't do anything to get himself mobbed or me, so I went along with it. We rode in silence and it was comfortable. How he always made the quiet feel calm and not awkward was beyond me.

"Favorite song?" he asked in Korean, drawing my attention.

"Um..." I hummed, chewing on my lip as I thought. "Can't think of an overall fave."

"Of the moment?"

"Hm..." Nothing was coming to me, my mind blanked completely.

Before I could get it together and respond I was being told by the GPS that we'd arrived at our destination. Yoongi directed me towards a different direction and I parked in an alleyway parking lot of the place. It was thankfully pretty empty.

Once out of the car, he led the way, knocking on the back door. In seconds we were met by his manager and led inside the place. Inside was much like the outside, which I chalked up to them ensuring there would be no random photo ops and swarms of people.

While we were seated closer to the back of the place his manager sat up front with someone I wasn't familiar with. I didn't care to know or figure it out though, seeing as it was none of my business.

A woman around my age came out to hand us menus and drinks, smiling politely.

"Take your time," she said as she left.

Yoongi skimmed his and I glanced down once before pulling out my phone to check for any messages. I had a few emails and an apology text from Hals. After responding to her I slipped onto my "professional" twitter to see what was going on.

I don't know how much time had passed before my phone was snatched from my hands and I noticed Yoongi's glare.

"I called your name."

"My bad."

I reached to reclaim my phone, but he slipped it off the table into his pocket. With a raised brow I stared him down, but he just shrugged and pointed to the patient waitress.

"I'll just have whatever he got."

"It was seafood."

"Then I will not have whatever he got. Instead, I will have..." I looked at the menu and pointed to something in the beef section. "...that."

She left us and he stared me down, expression blank. I stared back because what the hell else was I supposed to be. When that morphed into a competition I wasn't sure, but eventually, a throat was being cleared and my tea was being sat down.

My cheeks burned from being caught in our weirdness, while Yoongi tried to hide his smile. The dork.

I busied myself drinking tea as I regained composure. Mid-sip a thought came to mind. "Oh, it's Promise Ring by Tiffany Evans by the way."

"What?"

"My current favorite song. It isn't new, but it's what I listen to at least five times a day," I said.

His brows furrowed and then he nodded his head. For a second he pulled out his phone and tapped the screen, and I protested vigorously. He just swatted my hand away until he was done and pocketed it.

The smirk he wore when I glared at him made me want to thump him, but I refrained and refused to speak until the food came.

We spent our eating time in silence or just talking about things we enjoyed. We'd spent enough time together that it wasn't some ice breaking get to know you stuff, but a deeper dive into our hobbies.

He'd grown more interested in my writing and though I'd begged him not to read anything I'd published he kept asking too specific questions. I tried to trip him up or get him to admit it, but he was a steel trap.

Just as we were finishing up his manager appeared and whispered something to him. Yoongi nodded and turned his attention to me as he walked away.

"I have a schedule later. So I have to leave soon." A small frown formed on his lips.

I waved him off. "It's fine. I too have a schedule... with my bed."

His frown vanished and he laughed at my lame answer.

Since I finished first I waited for him to be done and then we both stood from the table. When I turned to the front of the restaurant I noticed his manager with a credit card in his hand and a confused expression. The hostess was pointing in my direction and motioning for him to put it away.

A smile fought its way onto my lips, but I still tried to hide it with my hand. Yoongi handed me my phone and looked at me with confusion. Suddenly, his manager walked by and told him he'd wait out back. Before he left he thanked me for paying.

"How?" Yoongi asked, voice almost a whisper. The confusion from earlier only increasing in his expression. I guessed he was trying to figure out when I'd slipped away or called ahead.

"Oh sweetie, this is one of my favorite restaurants. They know me well and they knew that if I'm here then I pay. Regardless of how hard everyone else fights to."

He looked awestruck. I just laughed, patted his shoulder and headed towards the exit. "Maybe next time."

When we got out back his manager was already there in a car. We said our see you laters and then parted ways.

That evening as I was curled up on the couch half-watching The Office and scrolling through my stan account's feed something felt off. I refreshed the screen and saw a barrage of posts about Yoongi and it clicked.

Yoongi texted me just as my feed refreshed again to a post of pictures of the three of us and another of just him and me laughing. Sighing, I rolled my eyes and opened his message.

"Sorry, we tried to get it handled but couldn't. Statement already released. I'm really, really sorry."

I hoped he wasn't being too hard on myself, it wasn't his fault. The risks were known the moment I agreed to go out with them. Besides I wasn't bothered at all, especially since it was a good day.

But goodness, the shit show would not be fun to sift through later.

[simplyrali]

Hope Chapter 3 (Jameron fanfiction)

Warning: After the horizontal line the fic becomes Rated M, so you can skip that if you want...

Chapter 3

Cameron and Joe spent the entire afternoon talking, catching up. Years had come and gone but they were still the people who understood each other the best. All decisions they’ve made, some right, some wrong, had their prices and had cost them pain. But there was no judgement in the other’s eyes, just love and forgiveness.

Both have matured enough to know that they were just humans. And no human being is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes and small acts at the time, may have bigger impact later. What was important back then felt insignificant now.

What was the point of always chasing perfection and the future, if they couldn’t enjoy what they had at the moment and couldn’t actually see how beautiful it was? They wanted everything immediately, always rushing things. In just a few months they made big jumps in their relationship, jumps that they weren’t ready for. That’s what destroyed them. At the end fear from growing old alone and reevaluation of what’s important in life helped them find their way back to each other.

They went for a walk on one of the Bay Area beaches. It was early autumn and the waters were chill, but the place was beautiful, just perfect for sunbathing and picnicking. The waves were huge and no one was in the water, but the beach was full of families playing with their kids, children flying kites, people walking their dogs, everyone just enjoying the last sun rays of the summer. The couple sat on the sand and enjoyed the view. It felt so natural. It felt just right.

They shared a lot that day. Joe explained why he chose to leave town, how his new carrier had given him the confidence and the love he needed and after a long time he finally felt content with where he was. And although it wasn’t something he wanted to do for the rest of his life, he looked at it like a way to redeem his sins by helping and guiding others.

Cameron told him about her trip to her mom and how she tried to mend the relationship with the only family member that she got. How she spent two weeks there and found out they had a lot in common and  maybe they deserved a second chance. After her journey she came back here to start business with Donna, because the thing with Alexa turned out to be complete bullshit, but that didn’t quite work out either. So now she had a company developing AI games that she managed alone.

When it started to get dark, they went to his hotel room to get his luggage and drove off to her house. Her land was just as magical as he remembered. So green and peaceful. But now in the middle of the field there was a big house with wooden deck. The building was in soft cream color with multiple windows that let sunshine in. There were a couple of chairs and a table outside, she probably read books there or worked on her laptop... In front of the house a small garden with flowers caught his eye, he never imagined Cam as the gardening type but she always found new ways to amaze him. It was actually sweet that she let her feminine side show in such subtle way. She always had a great attention to detail.

He noticed her Airstream parked nearby and looking through its window he could tell everything inside was a mess, just like her any other workplace has ever been.      

“Welcome to your new home. I’m sorry for the mess, but I wasn’t expecting visitors.”  Cam said, while opening the front door.

He stepped inside. The rooms were all pale green, which didn’t surprise him since she always loved that color. It made her eyes even more captivating. The walls were covered with photos of her and her important people – her dad, her mom, Him, Bos, Gordon, Donna and the girls. He saw himself too which made him smile tenderly, this amazing woman who turned his world upside down still loved him.

Cam had a library in her living room, long shelves full of books, some he recognized and remembered giving to her, others she found on her own, developing her own taste in literature. When he met her after Japan she seemed so lost, she lived like a chameleon, becoming what circumstances needed her to be, simply adapting to the lifestyle of her partner. Now she was a complete person, with her own likes and dislikes, with opinion and habits.

“It’s really nice.” It really was, it felt like home.

Their home.

“Well, I’m glad you like it.  No stripper pole though, I know you wanted one… Building it took 9 months but it was worth it.” Cam opened one of the kitchen cabinets above the sink and pulled two glasses. “Wine? I have beer too, but you always preferred wine, so…”

“Sure.” Joe sat on her couch and watched her as she moved.

Cameron came with the glasses and sat next to him with body completely turned towards him. Her full attention on Joe.

“You know, it’s so good to talk with you again.” Joe said and watched how her eyes got misty. Long lashes not allowing the tears to fall.

“I’ve missed it too.” She lowered her eyes and stared thoughtfully in the red liquid.

“Shall we celebrate?” Joe picked his glass from the table.

“Celebrate what exactly? Dumb decisions? ” Cam laughed.

“No, for those we need whiskey.” Joe said. “I meant us. Cheers to new beginnings!”

“Cheers!” She liked that, she really liked that toast.

After a bottle of wine and a few packets of chips that Cam found in one of the cabinets, they sat on the floor, table pushed aside and backs against the couch, talking about everything and nothing for hours. It reminded Cam of their long phone call back when she was in San Jose.

The distance between them slowly grew smaller and smaller until right after some stupid joke about Billy Joel Joe kissed her. Just a gentle peck on the lips. He drew back to watch her reaction, wanting permission. She never spoke a word but what he saw in her eyes was enough. Then he came back for another kiss, this one more lingering. Lips moved slowly and tenderly against each other, tongues intertwined. When they drew apart for air, both were breathing fast. Cam touched her forehead to his and stared into his eyes.

“Bedroom?” she asked with rosy cheeks. Although the blush wasn’t because she was shy around him, that phase was long gone, no, just the mixture of wine and desire.

“Yes, lead the way.” He had a note of desperation in his voice. He kissed her on the neck and made the little noise at the back of his throat, that she loved so much, it was almost like a growl. It always made her wet and brought out the animal in her. She took his hand and guided him.

Joe looked into Cameron’s eyes, illuminated by the moonlight. They sat on her bed with her straddling him. He pulled her closer to him, letting her feel his growing erection. She gasped in shaky breaths as she came into contact with him. God, how she missed this, missed him. His scent surrounded her, his hands embracing her, their bodies touching, he was everywhere.

He buried his hands in her shoulder length hair and pulled her for another deep kiss. She melted against him and let out a shuddering breath.

He moved them so that she was beneath him. Joe started moving down leaving a path of wet kisses, starting from her neck, between her breasts, her belly and stopping between her thighs.

Cam gasped as he pressed his fingers against her. Joe gently slid two fingers into her tight entrance before closing his mouth around her clit. His tongue circling her.

“Shit! Oh m-my God!” She stuttered as he repeated the motion.

She arched her back of the bed as he kept going. He loved her taste, always had. She was sweet and addicting. He could spend hours pleasuring her, watching her tremble beneath him and moaning his name. But they both knew that Cam won’t stay down for long. She liked giving pleasure just as much as receiving it. To be honest she was probably the most eager and giving lover he ever had.

Cameron was close.

“Macmillan. Up. Now.”

Joe ignored her. No, he would give her this one. Her legs started shacking, her belly quivered. Close, so close.

“Joe!” She buried her hands in his hair and held him there while she rode her orgasm.

He slowly pulled out his fingers and gently kissed her there like he would her mouth. He loved every part of her and couldn’t believe how stupid he was to walk away from her.

He came face to face with her, their noses touching. Joe aligned his throbbing cock with her pussy. Just teasing not entering, not yet.

“Oh God, Joe, I need you. Stop fucking around!” She was losing her patience.

“Actually, you know what, I think I’m going to return the favor.” She smiled like the Cheshire Cat. She pushed him on his back and took his length in her mouth.

Joe’s eyes rolled to the back of his head. Pleasure blinding all his senses.

He felt smooth on her tongue. She loved giving him this, she loved feeling powerful and having this beautiful strong man at her mercy, trashing his head and begging for more.

“Cam, stop! Believe me, we both don’t want this to be over so soon.” There was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

“Oh, so NOW we’re on the same page?” Cam said, smiled and licked her lips.

She straddled him again thinking she was controlling the situation, but he spun her around and she was beneath him once more. Joe couldn’t deny their power play turned him on even more. He liked when she was on top, he got the most beautiful view then, but tonight she would be the one to surrender.

“Tell me what you want, Cam.” He was trailing kisses down her neck.

“You.”

“Tell me you love me.” He lifted his head and looked into her mesmerizing eyes.

“I love you, Joe. I always have.”

She was his.

She felt the heat of his cock right before he entered her. They both held their breath at that moment. Time froze for a second. How it was possible for something to feel so right? It was like they were made for each other.

Two halves of a whole.

Thrust after thrust they connected their souls again, drank life from each other. As their tempo grew faster their kisses grew more bruising. Both franticly chasing the wanted climax. He let out a growl and quickened even more their lovemaking. He thrusted  harder and faster making her moan and jerk against him. The sound of skin slapping against skin began to numb their senses as they became desperate to feel each other. 

Soon she was shuddering against him, legs closed around his waist holding him close.

“Joe, don’t stop! I’m coming!”

She came with a scream, his name on her lips.

After a few more thrusts, he buried his head in her neck, growled and bit there as he emptied himself in her.

He rolled on his side afraid he might be crushing her with his weight. Joe stretched out one arm, an invitation for her. Cam took it and laid her head on his chest. With one arm she started tracing his scars, loving the imperfect skin. It showed her that he was only human, the great Joe Macmillan wasn’t invincible after all, but it also showed how strong he was – he survived and moved on.

“Just so you know, the rent here is not paid monthly. Maybe we can figure out something - a few times a week… or daily.”

He laughed at that remembering their earlier arrangement and kissed the top of her head.

He loved that woman.

“Do you accept payments in advance?”

Chapter 4 ---> https://simplyrali.tumblr.com/post/167732216645/hope-chapter-4-jameron-fanfiction

[sheminecrafts]

Banuba raises $7M to supercharge any app or device with the ability to really see you

Walking into the office of Viktor Prokopenya – which overlooks a central London park – you would perhaps be forgiven for missing the significance of this unassuming location, just south of Victoria Station in London. While giant firms battle globally to make Augmented Reality a ‘real industry’, this jovial businessman form Belrarus is poised to launch a revolutionary new technology for just this space. This is the kind of technology some of the biggest companies in the world are snapping up right now, and yet, scuttling off to make me a coffee in the kitchen is someone who could be sitting on just such a company.

Regardless of whether it’s immediate future is obvious or not, AR has a future if the amount of investment pouring into the space is anything to go by.

In 2016 AR and VR attracted $2.3 billion worth of investments (a 300% jump from 2015) and is expected to reach $108 billion by 2021 – 25% of which will be aimed at the AR sector. But, according to numerous forecasts, AR will overtake VR in 5-10 years.

Apple is clearly making headway in its AR developments, having recently acquired AR lens company Akonia Holographics and in releasing iOS 12 this month, it enables developers to fully utilize ARKit 2, no doubt prompting the release of a new wave of camera-centric apps. This year Sequoia Capital China, SoftBank invested $50M in AR camera app Snow. Samsung recently introduced its version of the AR cloud and a partnership with Wacom that turns Samsung’s S-Pen into an augmented reality magic wand.

The IBM/Unity partnership allows developers to integrate Watson cloud services such as visual recognition, speech to text, and more into their Unity applications.

So there is no question that AR is becoming increasingly important, given the sheer amount of funding and M&A activity.

Joining the field is Prokopenya’s “Banuba” project. For although you can download a Snapchat-like app called ‘Banuba’ from the App Store right now, underlying this is a suite of tools of which Prokopenya is the founding investor, and who is working closely to realize a very big vision with the founding team of AI/AR experts behind it.

The key to Banuba’s pitch is the idea that its technology could equip not only apps but even hardware devices with “vision”. This is a perfect marriage of both AI and AR. What if, for instance, Amazon’s Alexa couldn’t just hear you? What if it could see you and interpret your facial expressions or perhaps even your mood? That’s the tantalizing strategy at the heart of this growing company.

Better known for its consumer apps, which have been effectively testing their concepts in the consumer field for the last year, Banuba is about to move heavily into the world of developer tools with the release of its new Banuba 3.0 mobile SDK. (Available to download now in the App Store for iOS devices and Google Play Store for Android). It’s also now secured a further $7m in funding from Larnabel Ventures, the fund of Russian entrepreneur Said Gutseriev, and Prokopenya’s VP Capital.

This move will take its total funding to $12m. In the world of AR, this is like a Romulan warbird de-cloaking in a scene from Star Trek.

Banuba hopes that its SDK will enable brands and apps to utilise 3D Face AR inside their own apps, meaning users can benefit from cutting-edge face motion tracking, facial analysis, skin smoothing and tone adjustment. Banuba’s SDK also enables app developers to utilise background subtraction, which is similar to ‘green screen’ technology regularly used in movies and TV shows, enabling end-users to create a range of AR scenarios. Thus, like magic, you can remove that unsightly office surrounding and place yourself on a beach in the Bahamas…

Because Banuba’s technology equips devices with ‘vision’, meaning they can ‘see’ human faces in 3D and extract meaningful subject analysis based on neural networks, including age, gender, it can do things that other apps just cannot do. It can even monitor your heart rate via spectral analysis of the time-varying color tones in your face.

It has already been incorporated into an app called Facemetrix, which can track a child’s eyes to ascertain whether they are reading something on a phone or tablet or not. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to not just to “track” a person’s gaze, but also to control a smartphone’s function with a gaze. To that end, the SDF can detect micro-movements of the eye with subpixel accuracy in real-time, and also detects certain points of the eye. The idea behind this is to “Gamify education”, rewarding a child with games and entertainment apps if the Facemetrix app has duly checked that they really did read the e-book they told their parents they’d read.

If that makes you think of a parallel with a certain Black Mirror episode where a young girl is prevented from seeing certain things via a brain implant, then you wouldn’t be a million miles away. At least this is a more benign version…

Banuba’s SDK also includes ‘Avatar AR’, empowering developers to get creative with digital communication by giving users the ability to interact with – and create personalized – avatars using any iOS or Android device.

Prokopenya says: “We are in the midst of a critical transformation between our existing smartphones and future of AR devices, such as advanced glasses and lenses. Camera-centric apps have never been more important because of this.” He says that while developers using ARKit and ARCore are able to build experiences primarily for top-of-the-range smartphones, Banuba’s SDK can work on even low-range smartphones.

The SDK will also feature Avatar AR, which allows users to interact with fun avatars or create personalised ones for all iOS and Android devices. Why should users of Apple’s iPhone X be the only people to enjoy Animoji?

Banbua is also likely to take advantage of the news that Facebook recently announced it was testing AR ads in its newsfeed, following trials for businesses to show off products within Messenger.

Banuna’s technology won’t simply be for fun apps however. Inside 2 years, the company has filed 25 patent applications with the the US patent office and of six of those were processed in record time compared with the average. Its R&D center, staffed by 50 people and based in Minsk, is focused on developing a portfolio of technologies.

Interestingly, Belarus has become famous for AI and facial recognition technologies.

For instance, cast your mind back to early 2016, when Facebook bought Masquerade, a Minsk-based developer of a video filter app, MSQRD, which at one point was one of the most popular apps in the App Store. And in 2017, another Belarusian company, AIMatter, was acquired by Google, only months after raising $2M. It too took an SDK approach, releasing a platform for real-time photo and video editing on mobile, dubbed Fabby. This was built upon a neural network-based AI platform. But Prokopenya has much bolder plans for Banuba.

In early 2017, he and Banuba launched a “technology-for-equity” program to enroll app developers and publishers across the world. This signed up Inventain, another startup from Belarus, to develop AR-based mobile games.

Prokopenya says the technologies associated with AR will be “leveraged by virtually every kind of app. Any app can recognize its user through the camera: male or female, age, ethnicity, level of stress, etc.” He says the app could then respond to the user in any number of ways. Literally, your apps could be watching you.

So for instance, a fitness app could see how much weight you’d lost just by using the Banuba SDF to look at your face. Games apps could personalize the game based on what it knows about your face, such as reading your facial cues.

Back in his London office, overlooking a small park, Prokopenya waxes lyrical about the “incredible concentration of diversity, energy and opportunity” of London. “Living in London is fantastic,” he says. “The only thing I am upset about, however, is the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and what it might mean for business in the UK in the future.”

London may be great (and will always be), but sitting on his desk though is a laptop with direct links back to Minsk, a place where the facial recognition technologies of the future are only now just emerging.

from iraidajzsmmwtv https://ift.tt/2zrYAqv via IFTTT

[theinvinciblenoob]

Walking into the office of Viktor Prokopenya – which overlooks a central London park – you would perhaps be forgiven for missing the significance of this unassuming location, just south of Victoria Station in London. While giant firms battle globally to make Augmented Reality a ‘real industry’, this jovial businessman form Belrarus is poised to launch a revolutionary new technology for just this space. This is the kind of technology some of the biggest companies in the world are snapping up right now, and yet, scuttling off to make me a coffee in the kitchen is someone who could be sitting on just such a company.

Regardless of whether it’s immediate future is obvious or not, AR has a future if the amount of investment pouring into the space is anything to go by.

In 2016 AR and VR attracted $2.3 billion worth of investments (a 300% jump from 2015) and is expected to reach $108 billion by 2021 – 25% of which will be aimed at the AR sector. But, according to numerous forecasts, AR will overtake VR in 5-10 years.

Apple is clearly making headway in its AR developments, having recently acquired AR lens company Akonia Holographics and in releasing iOS 12 this month, it enables developers to fully utilize ARKit 2, no doubt prompting the release of a new wave of camera-centric apps. This year Sequoia Capital China, SoftBank invested $50M in AR camera app Snow. Samsung recently introduced its version of the AR cloud and a partnership with Wacom that turns Samsung’s S-Pen into an augmented reality magic wand.

The IBM/Unity partnership allows developers to integrate Watson cloud services such as visual recognition, speech to text, and more into their Unity applications.

So there is no question that AR is becoming increasingly important, given the sheer amount of funding and M&A activity.

Joining the field is Prokopenya’s “Banuba” project. For although you can download a Snapchat-like app called ‘Banuba’ from the App Store right now, underlying this is a suite of tools of which Prokopenya is the founding investor, and who is working closely to realize a very big vision with the founding team of AI/AR experts behind it.

The key to Banuba’s pitch is the idea that its technology could equip not only apps but even hardware devices with “vision”. This is a perfect marriage of both AI and AR. What if, for instance, Amazon’s Alexa couldn’t just hear you? What if it could see you and interpret your facial expressions or perhaps even your mood? That’s the tantalizing strategy at the heart of this growing company.

Better known for its consumer apps, which have been effectively testing their concepts in the consumer field for the last year, Banuba is about to move heavily into the world of developer tools with the release of its new Banuba 3.0 mobile SDK. (Available to download now in the App Store for iOS devices and Google Play Store for Android). It’s also now secured a further $7m in funding from Larnabel Ventures, the fund of Russian entrepreneur Said Gutseriev, and Prokopenya’s VP Capital.

This move will take its total funding to $12m. In the world of AR, this is like a Romulan warbird de-cloaking in a scene from Star Trek.

Banuba hopes that its SDK will enable brands and apps to utilise 3D Face AR inside their own apps, meaning users can benefit from cutting-edge face motion tracking, facial analysis, skin smoothing and tone adjustment. Banuba’s SDK also enables app developers to utilise background subtraction, which is similar to ‘green screen’ technology regularly used in movies and TV shows, enabling end-users to create a range of AR scenarios. Thus, like magic, you can remove that unsightly office surrounding and place yourself on a beach in the Bahamas…

Because Banuba’s technology equips devices with ‘vision’, meaning they can ‘see’ human faces in 3D and extract meaningful subject analysis based on neural networks, including age, gender, it can do things that other apps just cannot do. It can even monitor your heart rate via spectral analysis of the time-varying color tones in your face.

It has already been incorporated into an app called Facemetrix, which can track a child’s eyes to ascertain whether they are reading something on a phone or tablet or not. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to not just to “track” a person’s gaze, but also to control a smartphone’s function with a gaze. To that end, the SDF can detect micro-movements of the eye with subpixel accuracy in real-time, and also detects certain points of the eye. The idea behind this is to “Gamify education”, rewarding a child with games and entertainment apps if the Facemetrix app has duly checked that they really did read the e-book they told their parents they’d read.

If that makes you think of a parallel with a certain Black Mirror episode where a young girl is prevented from seeing certain things via a brain implant, then you wouldn’t be a million miles away. At least this is a more benign version…

Banuba’s SDK also includes ‘Avatar AR’, empowering developers to get creative with digital communication by giving users the ability to interact with – and create personalized – avatars using any iOS or Android device.

Prokopenya says: “We are in the midst of a critical transformation between our existing smartphones and future of AR devices, such as advanced glasses and lenses. Camera-centric apps have never been more important because of this.” He says that while developers using ARKit and ARCore are able to build experiences primarily for top-of-the-range smartphones, Banuba’s SDK can work on even low-range smartphones.

The SDK will also feature Avatar AR, which allows users to interact with fun avatars or create personalised ones for all iOS and Android devices. Why should users of Apple’s iPhone X be the only people to enjoy Animoji?

Banbua is also likely to take advantage of the news that Facebook recently announced it was testing AR ads in its newsfeed, following trials for businesses to show off products within Messenger.

Banuna’s technology won’t simply be for fun apps however. Inside 2 years, the company has filed 25 patent applications with the the US patent office and of six of those were processed in record time compared with the average. Its R&D center, staffed by 50 people and based in Minsk, is focused on developing a portfolio of technologies.

Interestingly, Belarus has become famous for AI and facial recognition technologies.

For instance, cast your mind back to early 2016, when Facebook bought Masquerade, a Minsk-based developer of a video filter app, MSQRD, which at one point was one of the most popular apps in the App Store. And in 2017, another Belarusian company, AIMatter, was acquired by Google, only months after raising $2M. It too took an SDK approach, releasing a platform for real-time photo and video editing on mobile, dubbed Fabby. This was built upon a neural network-based AI platform. But Prokopenya has much bolder plans for Banuba.

In early 2017, he and Banuba launched a “technology-for-equity” program to enroll app developers and publishers across the world. This signed up Inventain, another startup from Belarus, to develop AR-based mobile games.

Prokopenya says the technologies associated with AR will be “leveraged by virtually every kind of app. Any app can recognize its user through the camera: male or female, age, ethnicity, level of stress, etc.” He says the app could then respond to the user in any number of ways. Literally, your apps could be watching you.

So for instance, a fitness app could see how much weight you’d lost just by using the Banuba SDF to look at your face. Games apps could personalize the game based on what it knows about your face, such as reading your facial cues.

Back in his London office, overlooking a small park, Prokopenya waxes lyrical about the “incredible concentration of diversity, energy and opportunity” of London. “Living in London is fantastic,” he says. “The only thing I am upset about, however, is the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and what it might mean for business in the UK in the future.”

London may be great (and will always be), but sitting on his desk though is a laptop with direct links back to Minsk, a place where the facial recognition technologies of the future are only now just emerging.

via TechCrunch

[fmservers]

Banuba raises $7M to supercharge any app or device with the ability to really see you

Walking into the office of Viktor Prokopenya – which overlooks a central London park – you would perhaps be forgiven for missing the significance of this unassuming location, just south of Victoria Station in London. While giant firms battle globally to make Augmented Reality a ‘real industry’, this jovial businessman form Belrarus is poised to launch a revolutionary new technology for just this space. This is the kind of technology some of the biggest companies in the world are snapping up right now, and yet, scuttling off to make me a coffee in the kitchen is someone who could be sitting on just such a company.

Regardless of whether it’s immediate future is obvious or not, AR has a future if the amount of investment pouring into the space is anything to go by.

In 2016 AR and VR attracted $2.3 billion worth of investments (a 300% jump from 2015) and is expected to reach $108 billion by 2021 – 25% of which will be aimed at the AR sector. But, according to numerous forecasts, AR will overtake VR in 5-10 years.

Apple is clearly making headway in its AR developments, having recently acquired AR lens company Akonia Holographics and in releasing iOS 12 this month, it enables developers to fully utilize ARKit 2, no doubt prompting the release of a new wave of camera-centric apps. This year Sequoia Capital China, SoftBank invested $50M in AR camera app Snow. Samsung recently introduced its version of the AR cloud and a partnership with Wacom that turns Samsung’s S-Pen into an augmented reality magic wand.

The IBM/Unity partnership allows developers to integrate Watson cloud services such as visual recognition, speech to text, and more into their Unity applications.

So there is no question that AR is becoming increasingly important, given the sheer amount of funding and M&A activity.

Joining the field is Prokopenya’s “Banuba” project. For although you can download a Snapchat-like app called ‘Banuba’ from the App Store right now, underlying this is a suite of tools of which Prokopenya is the founding investor, and who is working closely to realize a very big vision with the founding team of AI/AR experts behind it.

The key to Banuba’s pitch is the idea that its technology could equip not only apps but even hardware devices with “vision”. This is a perfect marriage of both AI and AR. What if, for instance, Amazon’s Alexa couldn’t just hear you? What if it could see you and interpret your facial expressions or perhaps even your mood? That’s the tantalizing strategy at the heart of this growing company.

Better known for its consumer apps, which have been effectively testing their concepts in the consumer field for the last year, Banuba is about to move heavily into the world of developer tools with the release of its new Banuba 3.0 mobile SDK. (Available to download now in the App Store for iOS devices and Google Play Store for Android). It’s also now secured a further $7m in funding from Larnabel Ventures, the fund of Russian entrepreneur Said Gutseriev, and Prokopenya’s VP Capital.

This move will take its total funding to $12m. In the world of AR, this is like a Romulan warbird de-cloaking in a scene from Star Trek.

Banuba hopes that its SDK will enable brands and apps to utilise 3D Face AR inside their own apps, meaning users can benefit from cutting-edge face motion tracking, facial analysis, skin smoothing and tone adjustment. Banuba’s SDK also enables app developers to utilise background subtraction, which is similar to ‘green screen’ technology regularly used in movies and TV shows, enabling end-users to create a range of AR scenarios. Thus, like magic, you can remove that unsightly office surrounding and place yourself on a beach in the Bahamas…

Because Banuba’s technology equips devices with ‘vision’, meaning they can ‘see’ human faces in 3D and extract meaningful subject analysis based on neural networks, including age, gender, it can do things that other apps just cannot do. It can even monitor your heart rate via spectral analysis of the time-varying color tones in your face.

It has already been incorporated into an app called Facemetrix, which can track a child’s eyes to ascertain whether they are reading something on a phone or tablet or not. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to not just to “track” a person’s gaze, but also to control a smartphone’s function with a gaze. To that end, the SDF can detect micro-movements of the eye with subpixel accuracy in real-time, and also detects certain points of the eye. The idea behind this is to “Gamify education”, rewarding a child with games and entertainment apps if the Facemetrix app has duly checked that they really did read the e-book they told their parents they’d read.

If that makes you think of a parallel with a certain Black Mirror episode where a young girl is prevented from seeing certain things via a brain implant, then you wouldn’t be a million miles away. At least this is a more benign version…

Banuba’s SDK also includes ‘Avatar AR’, empowering developers to get creative with digital communication by giving users the ability to interact with – and create personalized – avatars using any iOS or Android device.

Prokopenya says: “We are in the midst of a critical transformation between our existing smartphones and future of AR devices, such as advanced glasses and lenses. Camera-centric apps have never been more important because of this.” He says that while developers using ARKit and ARCore are able to build experiences primarily for top-of-the-range smartphones, Banuba’s SDK can work on even low-range smartphones.

The SDK will also feature Avatar AR, which allows users to interact with fun avatars or create personalised ones for all iOS and Android devices. Why should users of Apple’s iPhone X be the only people to enjoy Animoji?

Banbua is also likely to take advantage of the news that Facebook recently announced it was testing AR ads in its newsfeed, following trials for businesses to show off products within Messenger.

Banuna’s technology won’t simply be for fun apps however. Inside 2 years, the company has filed 25 patent applications with the the US patent office and of six of those were processed in record time compared with the average. Its R&D center, staffed by 50 people and based in Minsk, is focused on developing a portfolio of technologies.

Interestingly, Belarus has become famous for AI and facial recognition technologies.

For instance, cast your mind back to early 2016, when Facebook bought Masquerade, a Minsk-based developer of a video filter app, MSQRD, which at one point was one of the most popular apps in the App Store. And in 2017, another Belarusian company, AIMatter, was acquired by Google, only months after raising $2M. It too took an SDK approach, releasing a platform for real-time photo and video editing on mobile, dubbed Fabby. This was built upon a neural network-based AI platform. But Prokopenya has much bolder plans for Banuba.

In early 2017, he and Banuba launched a “technology-for-equity” program to enroll app developers and publishers across the world. This signed up Inventain, another startup from Belarus, to develop AR-based mobile games.

Prokopenya says the technologies associated with AR will be “leveraged by virtually every kind of app. Any app can recognize its user through the camera: male or female, age, ethnicity, level of stress, etc.” He says the app could then respond to the user in any number of ways. Literally, your apps could be watching you.

So for instance, a fitness app could see how much weight you’d lost just by using the Banuba SDF to look at your face. Games apps could personalize the game based on what it knows about your face, such as reading your facial cues.

Back in his London office, overlooking a small park, Prokopenya waxes lyrical about the “incredible concentration of diversity, energy and opportunity” of London. “Living in London is fantastic,” he says. “The only thing I am upset about, however, is the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and what it might mean for business in the UK in the future.”

London may be great (and will always be), but sitting on his desk though is a laptop with direct links back to Minsk, a place where the facial recognition technologies of the future are only now just emerging.

Via Mike Butcher https://techcrunch.com

[kayawagner]

What’s the Difference Between VR, AR and MR?

Get up. Brush your teeth. Put on your pants. Go to the office. That’s reality.

Now, imagine you can play Tony Stark in Iron Man or the Joker in Batman. That’s virtual reality.

Advances in VR have enabled people to create, play, work, collaborate and explore in computer-generated environments like never before.

VR has been in development for decades, but only recently has it emerged as a fast-growing market opportunity for entertainment and business.

Now, picture a hero, and set that image in the room you’re in right now. That’s augmented reality.

AR is another overnight sensation decades in the making. The mania for Pokemon Go — which brought the popular Japanese trading card game for kids to city streets — has led to a score of games that blend pixie dust and real worlds. There’s another sign of its rise: Apple’s 2017 introduction of ARKit, a set of tools for developers to create mobile AR content, is encouraging companies to build AR for iOS 11.

Microsoft’s Hololens and Magic Leap’s Lightwear — both enabling people to engage with holographic content — are two major developments in pioneering head-mounted displays.

Magic Leap Lightwear

It’s not just fun and games either — it’s big business. Researchers at IDC predict worldwide spending on AR and VR products and services will rocket from $11.4 billion in 2017 to nearly $215 billion by 2021.

Yet just as VR and AR take flight, mixed reality, or MR, is evolving fast. Developers working with MR are quite literally mixing the qualities of VR and AR with the real world to offer hybrid experiences.

Imagine another VR setting: You’re instantly teleported onto a beach chair in Hawaii, sand at feet, mai tai in hand, transported to the islands while skipping economy-class airline seating. But are you really there?

In mixed reality, you could experience that scenario while actually sitting on a flight to Hawaii in a coach seat that emulates a creaky beach chair when you move, receiving the mai tai from a real flight attendant and touching sand on the floor to create a beach-like experience. A flight to Hawaii that feels like Hawaii is an example of MR.

VR Explained

The Sensorama

The notion of VR dates back to 1930s literature. In the 1950s, filmmaker Morton Hellig wrote of an “experience theater” and then later built an immersive video game-like machine he called the Sensorama for people to peer into. A pioneering moment came in 1968, when Ivan Sutherland is credited for developing the first head-mounted display.

Much has changed since. Consumer-grade VR headsets have made leaps of progress. Their advances have been propelled by technology breakthroughs in optics, tracking and GPU performance.

Consumer interest in VR has soared in the past several years as new headsets from Facebook’s Oculus, HTC, Samsung, Sony and a host of others offer substantial improvements to the experience. Yet producing 3D, computer-generated, immersive environments for people is about more than sleek VR goggles.

Obstacles that have been mostly overcome, so far, include delivering enough frames per second and reducing latency — the delays created when users move their head — to create experiences that aren’t herky jerky and potentially motion-sickness inducing.

VR taxes graphics processing requirements to the max — it’s about 7x more demanding than PC gaming. Today’s VR experiences wouldn’t be possible without blazing fast GPUs to help quickly deliver graphics.

Software plays a key role, too. The NVIDIA VRWorks software development kit, for example, helps headset and application developers access the best performance, lowest latency and plug-and-play compatibility available for VR. VRWorks is integrated into game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine 4.

To be sure, VR still has a long way to go to reach its potential. Right now, the human eye is still able to detect imperfections in rendering for VR.

Vergence accommodation conflict, Journal of Vision

Some experts say VR technology will be able to perform at a level exceeding human perception when it can make a 200x leap in performance, roughly within a decade. In the meantime, NVIDIA researchers are working on ways to improve the experience.

One approach, known as foveated rendering, reduces the quality of images delivered to the edge of our retinas — where they’re less sensitive — while boosting the quality of the images delivered to the center of our retinas. This technology is powerful when combined with eye tracking that can inform processors where the viewing area needs to be sharpest.

VR’s Technical Hurdles

Frames per second: Virtual reality requires processing of 90 frames per second. That’s because lower frame rates reveal lags in movement detectable to the human eye. That can make some people nauseous. NVIDIA GPUs make VR possible by enabling rendering that’s faster than the human eye can perceive.

Latency: VR latency is the time span between initiating a movement and a computer-represented visual response. Experts say latency rates should be 20 milliseconds or less for VR. NVIDIA VRWorks, the SDK for VR headsets and game developers, helps address latency.

Field of view: In VR, it’s essential to create a sense of presence. Field of view is the angle of view available from a particular VR headset. For example, the Oculus Rift headset offers a 110-degree viewing angle.

Positional tracking: To enable a sense of presence and to deliver a good VR experience,  headsets need to be tracked in space within under 1 millimeter of  accuracy. This minimum is required in order to present images at any point in time and space.

Vergence accommodation conflict: This is a viewing problem for VR headsets today. Here’s the problem: Your pupils move with “vergence,” meaning looking toward or away from one another when focusing. But at the same time the lenses of the eyes focus on an object, or accommodation. The display of 3D images in VR goggles creates conflicts between vergence and accommodation that are unnatural to the eye, which can cause visual fatigue and discomfort.

Eye-tracking tech: VR head-mounted displays to date haven’t been adequate at tracking the user’s eyes for computing systems to react relative to where a person’s eyes are focused in a session. Increasing resolution where the eyes are moving to will help deliver better visuals.

Despite a decades-long crawl to market, VR has made a splash in Hollywood films such as the recently released Ready Player One and is winning fans across games, TV content, real estate, architecture, automotive design and other industries.

VR’s continued consumer momentum, however, is expected by analysts to be outpaced in the years ahead by enterprise customers.

AR Explained

AR development spans decades. Much of the early work dates to universities such as MIT’s Media Lab and pioneers the likes of Thad Starner — now the technical lead for Alphabet’s Google Glass smart glasses — who used to wear heavy belt packs of batteries attached to AR goggles in its infancy.

Google Glass (2.0)

Google Glass, the ill-fated consumer fashion faux pas, has since been rebirthed as a less conspicuous, behind the scenes technology for use in warehouses and manufacturing. Today Glass is being used by workers for access to training videos and hands-on help from colleagues.

And AR technology has been squeezed down into low-cost cameras and screen technology for use in inexpensive welding helmets that automatically dim, enabling people to melt steel without burning their retinas.

For now, AR is making inroads with businesses. It’s easy to see why when you think about overlaying useful information in AR that offers hands-free help for industrial applications.

Smart glasses for augmenting intelligence certainly support that image. Sporting microdisplays, AR glasses can behave like having that indispensable co-worker who can help out in a pinch. AR eyewear can make the difference between getting a job done or not.

Consider a junior-level heavy duty equipment mechanic assigned to make emergency repairs to a massive tractor on a construction site. The boss hands the newbie AR glasses providing service manuals with schematics for hands-free guidance while troubleshooting repairs.

Some of these smart glasses even pack Amazon’s Alexa service to enable voice queries for access to information without having to fumble for a smartphone or tap one’s temple.

Jensen Huang on VR at GTC

Business examples for consumers today include IKEA’s Place app, which allows people to use a smartphone to view images of furniture and other products overlayed into their actual home seen through the phone.

Today there is a wide variety of smart glasses from the likes of Sony, Epson, Vuzix, ODG and startups such as Magic Leap.

NVIDIA research is continuing to improve AR and VR experiences. Many of these can be experienced at our GPU Technology Conference VR demonstrations.

MR Explained

MR holds big promise for businesses. Because it can offer nearly unlimited variations in virtual experiences, MR can inform people on-the-fly, enable collaboration and solve real problems.

Now, imagine the junior-level heavy duty mechanic waist deep in a massive tractor and completely baffled by its mechanical problem. Crews sit idle unable to work. Site managers become anxious.

Thankfully, the mechanic’s smart glasses can start a virtual help session. This enables the mechanic to call in a senior mechanic by VR around the actual tractor model to walk through troubleshooting together while working on the real machine, tapping into access to online repair manual documents for torque specs and other maintenance details via AR.

That’s mixed reality.

To visualize a consumer version of this, consider the IKEA Place app for placing and viewing furniture in your house. You have your eye on a bright red couch, but want to hear the opinions of its appearance in your living room from friends and family before you buy it.

So you pipe in a VR session within the smart glasses. Let’s imagine this session is in an IKEA Place app for VR and you can invite these closest confidants. But first they must sit down on any couch they can find. Now, however, when everyone sits down it’s in a virtual setting of your house and the couch is red and just like the IKEA one.

Voila, in mixed reality, the group virtual showroom session yields a decision: your friends and family unanimously love the couch, so you buy it.

The possibilities are endless for businesses.

Mixed reality, while in its infancy, might be the holy grail for all the major developers of VR and AR. There are unlimited options for the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Sony, Netflix and Amazon. That’s because MR can blend the here and now reality with virtual reality and augmented reality for many entertainment and business situations.

Take this one: automotive designers can sit down on an actual car seat, with armrests, shifters and steering wheel, and pipe into VR sessions delivering the dashboard and interior. Many can assess designs together remotely this way. NVIDIA Holodeck actually enables this type of collaborative work.

Buckle up for the ride.

The post What’s the Difference Between VR, AR and MR? appeared first on The Official NVIDIA Blog.

What’s the Difference Between VR, AR and MR? published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[kayawagner]

What’s the Difference Between VR, AR and MR?

Get up. Brush your teeth. Put on your pants. Go to the office. That’s reality.

Now, imagine you can play Tony Stark in Iron Man or the Joker in Batman. That’s virtual reality.

Advances in VR have enabled people to create, play, work, collaborate and explore in computer-generated environments like never before.

VR has been in development for decades, but only recently has it emerged as a fast-growing market opportunity for entertainment and business.

Now, picture a hero, and set that image in the room you’re in right now. That’s augmented reality.

AR is another overnight sensation decades in the making. The mania for Pokemon Go — which brought the popular Japanese trading card game for kids to city streets — has led to a score of games that blend pixie dust and real worlds. There’s another sign of its rise: Apple’s 2017 introduction of ARKit, a set of tools for developers to create mobile AR content, is encouraging companies to build AR for iOS 11.

Microsoft’s Hololens and Magic Leap’s Lightwear — both enabling people to engage with holographic content — are two major developments in pioneering head-mounted displays.

Magic Leap Lightwear

It’s not just fun and games either — it’s big business. Researchers at IDC predict worldwide spending on AR and VR products and services will rocket from $11.4 billion in 2017 to nearly $215 billion by 2021.

Yet just as VR and AR take flight, mixed reality, or MR, is evolving fast. Developers working with MR are quite literally mixing the qualities of VR and AR with the real world to offer hybrid experiences.

Imagine another VR setting: You’re instantly teleported onto a beach chair in Hawaii, sand at feet, mai tai in hand, transported to the islands while skipping economy-class airline seating. But are you really there?

In mixed reality, you could experience that scenario while actually sitting on a flight to Hawaii in a coach seat that emulates a creaky beach chair when you move, receiving the mai tai from a real flight attendant and touching sand on the floor to create a beach-like experience. A flight to Hawaii that feels like Hawaii is an example of MR.

VR Explained

The Sensorama

The notion of VR dates back to 1930s literature. In the 1950s, filmmaker Morton Hellig wrote of an “experience theater” and then later built an immersive video game-like machine he called the Sensorama for people to peer into. A pioneering moment came in 1968, when Ivan Sutherland is credited for developing the first head-mounted display.

Much has changed since. Consumer-grade VR headsets have made leaps of progress. Their advances have been propelled by technology breakthroughs in optics, tracking and GPU performance.

Consumer interest in VR has soared in the past several years as new headsets from Facebook’s Oculus, HTC, Samsung, Sony and a host of others offer substantial improvements to the experience. Yet producing 3D, computer-generated, immersive environments for people is about more than sleek VR goggles.

Obstacles that have been mostly overcome, so far, include delivering enough frames per second and reducing latency — the delays created when users move their head — to create experiences that aren’t herky jerky and potentially motion-sickness inducing.

VR taxes graphics processing requirements to the max — it’s about 7x more demanding than PC gaming. Today’s VR experiences wouldn’t be possible without blazing fast GPUs to help quickly deliver graphics.

Software plays a key role, too. The NVIDIA VRWorks software development kit, for example, helps headset and application developers access the best performance, lowest latency and plug-and-play compatibility available for VR. VRWorks is integrated into game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine 4.

To be sure, VR still has a long way to go to reach its potential. Right now, the human eye is still able to detect imperfections in rendering for VR.

Vergence accommodation conflict, Journal of Vision

Some experts say VR technology will be able to perform at a level exceeding human perception when it can make a 200x leap in performance, roughly within a decade. In the meantime, NVIDIA researchers are working on ways to improve the experience.

One approach, known as foveated rendering, reduces the quality of images delivered to the edge of our retinas — where they’re less sensitive — while boosting the quality of the images delivered to the center of our retinas. This technology is powerful when combined with eye tracking that can inform processors where the viewing area needs to be sharpest.

VR’s Technical Hurdles

Frames per second: Virtual reality requires processing of 90 frames per second. That’s because lower frame rates reveal lags in movement detectable to the human eye. That can make some people nauseous. NVIDIA GPUs make VR possible by enabling rendering that’s faster than the human eye can perceive.

Latency: VR latency is the time span between initiating a movement and a computer-represented visual response. Experts say latency rates should be 20 milliseconds or less for VR. NVIDIA VRWorks, the SDK for VR headsets and game developers, helps address latency.

Field of view: In VR, it’s essential to create a sense of presence. Field of view is the angle of view available from a particular VR headset. For example, the Oculus Rift headset offers a 110-degree viewing angle.

Positional tracking: To enable a sense of presence and to deliver a good VR experience,  headsets need to be tracked in space within under 1 millimeter of  accuracy. This minimum is required in order to present images at any point in time and space.

Vergence accommodation conflict: This is a viewing problem for VR headsets today. Here’s the problem: Your pupils move with “vergence,” meaning looking toward or away from one another when focusing. But at the same time the lenses of the eyes focus on an object, or accommodation. The display of 3D images in VR goggles creates conflicts between vergence and accommodation that are unnatural to the eye, which can cause visual fatigue and discomfort.

Eye-tracking tech: VR head-mounted displays to date haven’t been adequate at tracking the user’s eyes for computing systems to react relative to where a person’s eyes are focused in a session. Increasing resolution where the eyes are moving to will help deliver better visuals.

Despite a decades-long crawl to market, VR has made a splash in Hollywood films such as the recently released Ready Player One and is winning fans across games, TV content, real estate, architecture, automotive design and other industries.

VR’s continued consumer momentum, however, is expected by analysts to be outpaced in the years ahead by enterprise customers.

AR Explained

AR development spans decades. Much of the early work dates to universities such as MIT’s Media Lab and pioneers the likes of Thad Starner — now the technical lead for Alphabet’s Google Glass smart glasses — who used to wear heavy belt packs of batteries attached to AR goggles in its infancy.

Google Glass (2.0)

Google Glass, the ill-fated consumer fashion faux pas, has since been rebirthed as a less conspicuous, behind the scenes technology for use in warehouses and manufacturing. Today Glass is being used by workers for access to training videos and hands-on help from colleagues.

And AR technology has been squeezed down into low-cost cameras and screen technology for use in inexpensive welding helmets that automatically dim, enabling people to melt steel without burning their retinas.

For now, AR is making inroads with businesses. It’s easy to see why when you think about overlaying useful information in AR that offers hands-free help for industrial applications.

Smart glasses for augmenting intelligence certainly support that image. Sporting microdisplays, AR glasses can behave like having that indispensable co-worker who can help out in a pinch. AR eyewear can make the difference between getting a job done or not.

Consider a junior-level heavy duty equipment mechanic assigned to make emergency repairs to a massive tractor on a construction site. The boss hands the newbie AR glasses providing service manuals with schematics for hands-free guidance while troubleshooting repairs.

Some of these smart glasses even pack Amazon’s Alexa service to enable voice queries for access to information without having to fumble for a smartphone or tap one’s temple.

Jensen Huang on VR at GTC

Business examples for consumers today include IKEA’s Place app, which allows people to use a smartphone to view images of furniture and other products overlayed into their actual home seen through the phone.

Today there is a wide variety of smart glasses from the likes of Sony, Epson, Vuzix, ODG and startups such as Magic Leap.

NVIDIA research is continuing to improve AR and VR experiences. Many of these can be experienced at our GPU Technology Conference VR demonstrations.

MR Explained

MR holds big promise for businesses. Because it can offer nearly unlimited variations in virtual experiences, MR can inform people on-the-fly, enable collaboration and solve real problems.

Now, imagine the junior-level heavy duty mechanic waist deep in a massive tractor and completely baffled by its mechanical problem. Crews sit idle unable to work. Site managers become anxious.

Thankfully, the mechanic’s smart glasses can start a virtual help session. This enables the mechanic to call in a senior mechanic by VR around the actual tractor model to walk through troubleshooting together while working on the real machine, tapping into access to online repair manual documents for torque specs and other maintenance details via AR.

That’s mixed reality.

To visualize a consumer version of this, consider the IKEA Place app for placing and viewing furniture in your house. You have your eye on a bright red couch, but want to hear the opinions of its appearance in your living room from friends and family before you buy it.

So you pipe in a VR session within the smart glasses. Let’s imagine this session is in an IKEA Place app for VR and you can invite these closest confidants. But first they must sit down on any couch they can find. Now, however, when everyone sits down it’s in a virtual setting of your house and the couch is red and just like the IKEA one.

Voila, in mixed reality, the group virtual showroom session yields a decision: your friends and family unanimously love the couch, so you buy it.

The possibilities are endless for businesses.

Mixed reality, while in its infancy, might be the holy grail for all the major developers of VR and AR. There are unlimited options for the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Sony, Netflix and Amazon. That’s because MR can blend the here and now reality with virtual reality and augmented reality for many entertainment and business situations.

Take this one: automotive designers can sit down on an actual car seat, with armrests, shifters and steering wheel, and pipe into VR sessions delivering the dashboard and interior. Many can assess designs together remotely this way. NVIDIA Holodeck actually enables this type of collaborative work.

Buckle up for the ride.

The post What’s the Difference Between VR, AR and MR? appeared first on The Official NVIDIA Blog.

What’s the Difference Between VR, AR and MR? published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com