#Click OK to Terminate

[astrariums]

ahh man i'm not a hater but boyyy do i hate windows

[stellophiliac]

how to build a digital music collection and stuff

spotify sucks aaaass. so start downloading shit!!

file format glossary

.wav is highest quality and biggest

.mp3 is very small, but uses lossy compression which means it's lower quality

.flac is smaller than .wav, but uses lossless compression so it's high quality

.m4a is an audio file format that apple uses. that's all i really know

downloading the music

doubledouble.top is a life saver. you can download from a variety of services including but not limited to apple music, spotify, soundcloud, tidal, deezer, etc.

i'd recommend ripping your music from tidal or apple music since they're the best quality (i think apple music gives you lossless audio anyway. .m4a can be both lossy and lossless, but from the text on doubledouble i assume they're ripping HQ files off apple music)

i also love love love cobalt.tools for ripping audio/video from youtube (they support a lot of other platforms too!)

of course, many artists have their music on bandcamp — purchase or download directly from them if you can. bandcamp offers a variety of file formats for download

file conversion

if you're downloading from apple music with doubledouble, it spits out an .m4a file.

.m4a is ok for some people but if you prefer .flac, you may wanna convert it. ffmpeg is a CLI (terminal) tool to help with media conversion

if you're on linux or macOS, you can use parameter expansion to batch convert all files in a folder. put the files in one place first, then with your terminal, cd into the directory and run:

for i in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$i" "${i%.*}.flac"; done

this converts from .m4a to .flac — change the file extensions if needed.

soulseek

another way to get music is through soulseek. soulseek is a peer-to-peer file sharing network which is mainly used for music. nicotine+ is a pretty intuitive (and open-source) client if you don't like the official one.

you can probably find a better tutorial on soulseek somewhere else. just wanted to make this option known

it's bad etiquette to download from people without sharing files of your own, so make sure you've got something shared. also try to avoid queuing up more than 1-2 albums from one person in a row

tagging & organizing your music

tagging: adding metadata to a music file (eg. song name, artist name, album) that music players can recognize and display

if you've ripped music from a streaming platform, chances are it's already tagged. i've gotten files with slightly incorrect tags from doubledouble though, so if you care about that then you might wanna look into it

i use musicbrainz picard for my tagging. they've got pretty extensive documentation, which will probably be more useful than me

basically, you can look up album data from an online database into the program, and then match each track with its file. the program will tag each file correctly for you (there's also options for renaming the file according to a certain structure if you're into that!)

there's also beets, which is a CLI tool for... a lot of music collection management stuff. i haven't really used it myself, but if you feel up to it then they've got extensive documentation too. for most people, though, it's not really a necessity

how you wanna organize your music is completely up to you. my preferred filestructure is:

artist > album > track # track

using a music player

the options for this are pretty expansive. commonly used players i see include VLC, foobar2000, clementine (or a fork of it called strawberry), and cmus (for the terminal)

you can also totally use iTunes or something. i don't know what audio players other systems come with

i personally use dopamine. it's a little bit slow, but it's got a nice UI and is themeable plus has last.fm support (!!!)

don't let the github page fool you, you don't have to build from source. you can find the releases here

click the "assets" dropdown on the most recent release, and download whichever one is compatible with your OS

syncing

if you're fine with your files just being on one device (perhaps your computer, but perhaps also an USB drive or an mp3 player), you don't have to do this

you can sync with something like google drive, but i hate google more than i hate spotify

you can get a free nextcloud account from one of their providers with 2GB of free storage. you can use webDAV to access your files from an app on your phone or other device (documents by readdle has webDAV support, which is what i use)

disroot and blahaj.land are a couple providers i know that offer other services as well as nextcloud (so you get more with your account), but accounts are manually approved. do give them a look though!!

if you're tech-savvy and have an unused machine lying around, look into self-hosting your own nextcloud, or better yet, your own media server. i've heard that navidrome is a pretty good audio server. i unfortunately don't have experience with self-hosting at the moment so i have like zero advice to give here. yunohost seems to be a really easy way to manage a server

afterword

i don't know if any of this is helpful, but i just wanted to consolidate my personal advice in one place. fuck big tech. own your media, they could take it away from you at any moment

[cherrycranes]

The Perfect Gift (Chris x Fem!Reader) [+18]

Pairing: Chris O´Doyle x Fem!Reader Summary: It´s christmas eve and you´re stuck at the airport because of the snow. Thankfully, a handsome stranger will make sure that you don´t spend your christmas alone.... Word count: 3,548 Contents: (Minors DNI). Drinking/tipsy sex, tit play, unprotected sex, cream pie, semi public sex. Author's notes: A new collab with @fuckiingloser. The draft of this fic has been in the backburner for over a month now. Also, I´m 90% sure that O´Doyle is a fan-given last name but it´s ok, it´s canon to me. Mandatory "english is not my first language" disclaimer. Pinterest moodboard and a playlist at the end so you can visualize!

The heels of your white tall boots clicked loudly over the near emptiness of the Boston Logan Airport. Luck was seemingly not on your side that night. It was christmas eve of 1977 and the snow storm outside had intended to hold you back for long. Your flight to Chicago had been canceled and no taxis were running this late with the weather. Against your will, you would have to spend your christmas eve and christmas morning on one of those uncomfortable terminal seats until another flight became available. 

Resigned, you walked towards a more secluded part of the dead airport. A small handful of people were asleep in chairs, smoking or reading a book. What at your arrival had been a chaotic, bustling center was now a still image of patience.

You set down your bags, thankfully a few vending machines were nearby. The packaged snacks were a far cry from a christmas dinner, but enough to keep you at ease. Quietly, you settled down on an empty chair and opened a book, the words your only company as you ate from a crinkly little bag.

The story was interesting, you had barely had time to read more than a few pages during your stay in Boston, so your curiosity aided your distraction. Time started to flow as fast as the snow outside fell. The howling wind and sometimes a few distant coughs or murmurs were imperceptible to your rolling imagination. It wasn’t until a masculine irish voice spoke to you, that you got pulled out of your trance.

“Excuse me, miss…” You looked up from the page to see a rather handsome man standing next to you. “Just wondering if this seat is taken?” He asked with a small smirk. You looked around, and confirmed that in your time distracted nothing had changed. The sea of empty seats still surrounded you. Yet, this handsome stranger wanted to sit right next to you…

You smirked back, taking in the sight of him: the shaggy brown hair, the perfect blue eyes, the sexy moustache. He was wearing a dark brown leather jacket, a button up shirt and dark pants. The preview of what you assumed to be a catholic golden medal peeked out from the confines of his shirt. He stood there with a confidence that was difficult to ignore.

“It's not taken…” You spoke with a smile, trying to not blush.

Your eyes discreetly roamed over his frame as he set down his bag and sat right next to you. The man was confident, he didn’t hesitate to face you right away and look over you, his pale blue eyes fixated on your mini skirt and the exposed softness of your legs that ended with your tall boots. Then, when his gaze went back up, he followed the curve of your black turtleneck and your chest, your lack of bra so noticeable it was almost endearing. In the end, he finally admired your beautiful face in all its glory.

“Couldn’t have a pretty thing like you all by yourself on christmas eve... So I figured I'd keep you company for the night…” The handsome stranger said with a cocky smile. 

“How sweet of you…” You replied with a soft little laugh. Any other man who would have tried that on you wouldn’t have seen such cuteness from you, but he was just so good looking and so sincere. The airport atmosphere, while quiet, was not completely empty. And he was right, you could use the company on this lonely christmas eve…

His name was Chris O’Doyle, and your ears hadn’t fooled you, he was as Irish as whiskey. Dublin born and raised and very proud of it. His deep, confident voice made you forget all about your book as you caught all his flirty hints and returned the sentiment. What a shame this was temporary, the snow canceled his flight as well, and just like you, he would wait until the morning for things to get better. The only difference was that you would get on a plane to your home in Chicago and Chris to his home in Dublin. 

“What brought you to Boston?” You asked, prompting a smile out of him.

“Just some business.” Chris said ominously, not giving any more details and no hints present in his body language. “What about you, love?” 

“I was here to see a friend for the week.” You answered simply with a little smile.

“A boyfriend?” He questioned with an eyebrow raised, curiosity and a faint mixture of caution and the foundations of healthy envy breaking a simmer in him.

“No boyfriend…” You laughed a little with a  headshake. “I was visiting a friend who just had a baby, actually.” Chris grinned at your answer, the simmer cooling off.

“Gotta say… I’m shocked that a pretty girl like you isn’t spoken for… But I guess it’s my lucky day…” It was hard to not feel the heat making your cheeks burn and the space between your legs tingle when he said that. Damn him for being so charming, and damn him for having those beautiful attentive pale blue eyes that made you understand why there was a whole song named like that. You crossed your legs in an attempt to snuff out the burning desire you had for this handsome stranger.

“I guess so…” You flirted back, and his smile grew. Goodbye to your attempt to keep your desires in check. 

Chris leaned in a bit closer to you, engulfed in the conversation and anchored to your gaze. In between words, he decided to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear very gently, the warmth brewing between you making you forget about the freezing hell outside. 

The passage of time was imperceptible in his company, the silence of the airport felt even comforting in a way, nobody to interrupt his flirty jokes, his talks about life in Ireland and his full undivided attention towards you. Not hard to believe you had grown infatuated with this handsome Irishman in the course of an hour.

“I was saving this for the plane ride...” Chris murmured, a little secret between the two of you. He reached down into his bag and pulled out a silver flask. “But I figure if we’ve gotta spend the night shacked up in the airport… We could have a little fun, hm? Whaddaya say?” 

His deep voice made everything inside you scream “yes”, but your actions just made you nod calmly with an accepting smirk. You took the flask and took a swig that made your throat burn. You coughed, whatever alcohol that was, it had nothing to do with the fun martinis and beer you were used to. Chris chuckled heartily at the face you made.

“That's real irish whiskey love. Strong stuff.” He announced really late, a laugh still echoing in his words. He took the flask from your hands and downed some of it for himself like it was water. 

Even if it had almost set your throat on fire, you sucked it up, taking turns sharing the flask with him until only one sip remained. Chris, being a gentleman, gave it to you, the last act of chivalry that survived since the whiskey made him progressively more touchy with you. His calloused fingertips brushed against your knee, then his hand gradually rested on it. Soon enough his entire palm laid comfortably over the soft flesh of your thigh, strategically positioned so it covered all your exposed skin and not the fabric of your skirt. But even tipsy and handsy, Chris still listened to you. 

“God, you’re just gorgeous…” he said somewhat out of the blue, making you smile, your face already warm thanks to the whiskey. “Pretty face… Even prettier body…” he added, his voice husky and heavily accented, caressing your ears like velvet and like his hand caressed your thigh. Your pussy immediately clenched at the touch of his rough palm. 

Chris’ attention, for the first time in a while, diverted from your face and found the clock upon the wall. It read 2 minutes after midnight.

“Well, would ya look at that? it’s christmas…” He announced, turning back to look into your eyes. “A pretty girl like you should always get a gift on christmas day…” 

His thumb rubbed slow circles over your thigh. His eyes gleamed, locked on yours.

“...and I think I have just the idea for the perfect present…” He whispered, and with that, his smile turned into a devious smirk. He stood up firmly and held his hand out to you, tempting the devils out of you.

“C'mon.. follow me, love.” Chris smiled just so charmingly, you didn’t think twice. Whiskey and charm were such a powerful tool for you. Happily, you obliged and took his hand, leaving the emptiness of the dead airport until a sign appeared in front of your eyes: Maintenance Closet. 

Chris took a chance and discovered the door was unlocked, a rush of cocky triumph running in his veins. 

“After you, love.” He practically purred to you and you made your way into the small room. Shelves of cleaning products, mops, brooms and a small desk tucked in the corner welcomed you two in between the dim light.

With the door locked behind you, Chris slowly started to back you against the wall, keeping you well placed between his chest and a safety poster hanging there.

“I-I’ve never done anything like this before… Always been a good girl...” You spoke so softly, playing the innocent angel when you knew very well your panties were getting wetter by the second. He smiled as if he could tell, one hand coming up to touch your hip and the other stroking your cheek in delight.

“Well… Being naughty gets you on my nice list...” His whisper was magnetic, imperceptibly so, you didn’t know when you leaned so close to him, to his whiskey lips. “Now let me give you that present I promised you…” 

Without another word his lips crashed against yours, his tongue slipped into your warm mouth like it belonged there and tangled with yours. Your soft hands buried in his curls for some needed leverage, desperation soaking the kiss. You groaned softly when his body pressed harder against you, sandwiching you between his torso and the wall and making you feel his hard cock through his jeans. 

You both knew just how risky this was, whoever worked in this closet would definitely come back at some unknown time, the possibility of it happening while Chris fucked you was just as slim as it was huge. But, in the very end, with your cunt clenching around nothing and his tongue swirling hotly in your mouth, you did not care at all if anyone found you. 

Chris shared the sentiment, his teeth gently nipped at your lower lip and pulled it deliciously before releasing it to whisper in your ear.

“I’m gonna fuck your pretty pussy till you come all over my cock…” He purred, his words going straight to your already aching cunt and making you moan a little. Pleased by your reaction, Chris’ hand pushed up your skirt over your hips and exposed the black lace panties underneath. 

“Mmm, you like that idea, huh?” He asked, moving to look into your eyes with a smirk. The pride of making a beautiful woman like you feel like this with mere words made his chest swell. His thumb found its way right to your clothed clit and gave it an experienced rub. The texture of the lace and the size of his fingertip sent a jolt of electricity to you, and more slick to your needy cunt.

“Fuck- you’re already soaked..” He said with a smirk. “All that because of me?” You nodded eagerly, it was the whole and only truth.

 “All for you…” You whispered back, another roll of his thumb on your clit making you moan. Chris smiled, more than satisfied with your submission. 

“You won’t be needing these anymore.” He whispered, pushing your panties down until they were a puddle on the well cleaned floor. Instinctively, you stepped out of them, and Chris couldn’t resist the temptation of picking them up and shoving them in his pocket like a thief. 

“Now as for your gift to me…” He started. “I need to see these perfect tits I've been trying not to drool over in this tight sweater of yours…” 

His bluntness made you giggle, and your inner christmas spirit made you comply with his request. Slowly, you pulled your black turtleneck up your chest, revealing that his early suspicions were very real: you had no bra on. Pale blue eyes fell from your face to your tits.

“Christ-“ He said breathlessly, his eyes wide. Your pretty tits bounced free for your sweater that now laid on the floor. “No bra… good girl.” He cooed, his large hand coming up to cup one in reverent greed, then his rough fingers grabbed your hard nipple and rolled it, earning a moan from you.

“They’re sensitive…” You whined softly.

“Mmm, I can tell love…” He whispered and did exactly what you imagined he would do: lean down and capture your nipple into his mouth, his tongue swirling over it mercilessly. You gasped and buried your hands in his dark hair, his hand squeezing your other breast softly to balance things out for your sensitive tits. Quite the difficult task, as his moustache tickled the soft skin on your breasts and sent shivers down your spine and into your cunt.

You tugged on his hair, getting a groan from him and an increase in the intensity of his mouth. He sucked your nipple hungrily, letting it go with a loud pop before switching to the other side.

“These tits… Fuckin’ perfect...” He mumbled as his tongue flicked over the sensitive bud. 

“Chris..” You whispered, followed by an exquisite series of moans. He hummed happily hearing you moan his name. 

Swiftly, he catched your nipple between his teeth gently, your eyes fluttering open to meet his in a silent conversation. He bit down ever so gently, the same care as if he bit his own hand. All you could do was moan loudly at the delicious junction of pain and pleasure.

“Chris, please… Need you…” You managed to beg so prettily that he released your nipple from his gentle bite. He stood up again and smirked. 

“I need you too, pretty girl…” He admitted, looking between you two at his painfully hard erection in his pants. “You’ve got me so fuckin hard…  Need to bury my cock in your wet cunt..” He growled at you, his hands yanked down his zipper and he pulled his briefs and pants off in one go. His thick uncut cock sprung free immediately, and you bit your lip at the sight.

“Big…” You whispered mindlessly, your eyes fixated on a drop of precum leaking from the head. 

“We'll make it fit baby… Don’t worry.” He groaned out, using a finger to tilt your face up. Then, he placed a hot searing kiss on your lips, you wrapped your arms around him and pulled him close in response. 

Chris showed off his strength to you when he picked you up effortlessly in one motion, putting your back against the wall and wrapping your legs around his hips. His hands gripped the underside of your thighs and held you up. Breaking the kiss with a wet sound, he looks between you, his eyes devouring your wet pussy before looking back up at your face.

“Are you ready for me?” He purred with a smirk. You bit your lip and nodded so obediently, it was cute.

“Good girl…” He growled, gently pushing you forward and guiding himself into your tight, hot entrance that had been ready for him ever since he said ‘hello’ hours ago… 

As his tip slid into you both moaned in unison, his thick cock stretching you deliciously. Your inner walls throb around him, slowly but surely getting used to his girth. You whimpered, letting your head fall back against the wall. 

“Fuuuuuuck…” Chris groaned loudly. “This cunt’s squeezing me so good… So tight n’ wet for me…” the lust in his voice fanned your neck and sent ripples through you, a few open mouthed kisses and nibbles following suit. He gave you the chance to adjust, more than aware of the sheer size of his cock. You felt him everywhere, almost splitting you apart, only moans came from your lips as a form of coherent sound. All your energies were focused on making his thick cock fit. At this rate, you were convinced that neither of you was going to last long.

Clinging to him, you felt him starting to move his hips, fucking you against the wall with your thighs held up. He had no time to waste, the faint rattle of the safety poster on the wall that your back hit with every thrust served as a reminder of the riskiness of it all. He pistoned his hips harder, desperate for release just like you.

“Fuck-oh-oh my god...” You babbled, he pounded relentlessly. Your cunt throbbed in racing desire against every vein and curve of his cock.

“You fuckin like it, baby?” He purred to you, his hot breath caressing your ear. His hips kept up their rhythm well. “This pussy is like heaven… It’s beggin’ me to come inside...” 

You moaned loudly at the thought, and he groaned when his cock got a tight squeeze from you. 

“Yes.. yes please…” You whimpered so desperately, pathetically but beautifully begging for a perfect stranger’s cum.

“‘Please’ what, love…? You gotta say it… Tell me what you need.” Your handsome stranger commanded between heavy breaths, fucking you hard into the closet wall. In between your blanking brain, you found the correct words in you to beg for the tight pressure in your lower stomach to turn into a needed orgasm.

“Please... Please, come deep.” You moaned, his hips pistoning in you and interrupting your speech. Chris felt his own brain short circuit at that moment, his fingers dug into the flesh of your thighs.

“Fucking hell…  I’m not gonna last long…” He warned, keeping up his rhythm and leaning into your ear. “But this pretty pussy is gonna come first baby…” He then promised, nibbling on your earlobe like it was edible.

This man was pure magic, your pussy knew it. You moaned loudly at his words, not knowing what words were anymore. Your legs wrapped greedily around him and pulled him much closer, squishing your bouncing tits against his chest. A low growl of desire took over his huffs of hot air and he moved his hips harder and faster, going impossibly deep and hitting places barely explored. 

 “Oh my God…” You cried loudly, not even caring who could hear anymore. Chris was hitting all the right spots over and over again, making you melt in his strong arms. “Please…” You whimpered, clinging to him.

“Come for me… Come on my fuckin’ cock, baby…” He urged you desperately, mirroring the way he fucked you. Your eyes fluttered close, feeling overwhelmed with pleasure and finding yourself seconds away from an orgasm. His lips crashed into yours in a hot and messy kiss that just did it for your throbbing cunt.

You felt it. The pressure boiled over and your orgasm hit you hard, nearly senseless. 

“Oh fuck... Chris… I-I’m coming!” You whimpered as best as you could, letting out a series of moans against his lips. Your pussy clenched around him repeatedly, almost possessively, soaking his thick cock in your juices. Your legs around him trembled out of control, only the grip of his strong hands kept you nice and steady against the wall.

“Fuck.. me too.” He groaned loudly, his rhythm slowing down. “This pussy feels so good milking my cock..” 

Like clockwork, you felt him pulse inside you and heard his rough groan of pleasure. His hips finally stopped and he held you there, pinned against the wall, his hot cum dripping down inside you and down his softening cock. 

He rested his forehead against yours so gently, finishing. You panted heavily, reeling from the intensity and danger of what you just did and where you did it… 

“Holy shit..” He whispered after a minute, pulling out of your cunt. Carefully, he set you down on your feet and wobbling legs, the structure of your high boots keeping you steady.

Chris didn’t speak much as he pulled his jeans up and covered his well spent cock. He helped you adjust your miniskirt like a gentleman then put his hand on the wall next to your head like a flirt. The other hand was on your cheek, stroking your soft skin before leaning in to kiss you softly and sweetly. Butterflies in your chest and stomach at the gentleness.

When he pulled back, he looked into your eyes like he was trying to memorize the color of your iris, his thumbs gently brushing over your bottom lip leaving tingles on their wake. With a cheeky smile and a glint of mischief in his pale blue eyes, he spoke:

“How's that for a christmas gift, pretty girl?”

Pinterest moodboard by my dear @fuckiingloser.

Chris playlist made by me with mostly time accurate songs!

[violet-fluff]

Levi x Pregnant! Reader AU

An Unexpected Gift (pt.1)

Part two

Masterlist

You stared at the endless amount of medical posters plastered on the walls.

One provided a hotline for mental crisis.

One demonstrated a diagram of a human’s nervous system.

And another was reminding everyone to get their flu shot for the upcoming season.

You weren’t here for any of that. You were here because…cancer.

At least that’s what Google determined your sudden nausea was, because…why wouldn’t Google continuously tell people they have cancer?

“Miss L/N?” A nurse’s sweet voice snapped you out of your thoughts.

The nurse escorts you to the back where she has you step on a scale to get your weight.

You’ve lost three pounds.

Yup. Cancer. Definitely cancer.

After taking other precautions like your height, blood pressure and temperature, the nurse leaves you in a room to wait for the doctor.

The crinkling of the bed’s paper cover annoys you as it crinkles every time you move.

You sit up straight as you hear a knock on the door and your doctor walks in.

“Miss L/N. Nice to see you again.”

“Dr. Reed,” You sigh, “I have cancer don’t I?”

Dr. Reed chuckles as he sits in his chair, reading over his clipboard. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop reading Google?”

“Every time…”

He looks over the rim of his glasses and smiles as he clicks his pen closed. “Well fortunately for you, Miss L/N, you don’t have cancer. Your blood tests and urine samples came back showing that you’re pregnant.”

Time stood still. You feel all the color wash from your face as you feel light headed. “P-pregnant?”

“Mhmm,” Dr. Reed hums and crosses his arms. “It explains your sudden nausea, weight loss and fatigue. I’m shocked Google told you cancer and not pregnancy. Although, your iron levels are low so I’m going to prescribe you iron pills as well as prenatals.”

You cover your eyes as you laugh in disbelief. “I didn’t figure I was pregnant because my husband is snipped. He’s not supposed to be able to get me pregnant!”

Dr. Reed hums in thought. “I see. Well unfortunately in some rare instances, vasectomies can fail. I would advise your husband to go to his doctor to get that looked at. You both decided to not have children or he already had the vasectomy before he married you?”

You sigh. “We both decided to not have children.”

“Alright,” Dr. Reed uses his professionalism to analyze the situation, “How do you feel about this? The pregnancy I mean.”

“Shocked. In disbelief.” You twiddle your thumbs anxiously. “I mean, this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“I have an important question to ask. This may be one you want to speak with your husband about first, only if you’re comfortable with that. Do you want to terminate the pregnancy or keep it?” The doctor asks sternly, but softly.

You try to think of an answer, but so much is going on in your head that you can’t come up with one on the spot. “Um, I have to think about this first. I would also like to let my husband know. It would be wrong of me not to tell him.”

Dr. Reed nods and helps you up. “Alright. If you want to keep the pregnancy or terminate it, I want you to call the office right away after you make the decision so I can know what direction to take you.”

Tears fill your eyes as you nod. “Thanks, Dr. Reed.”

He smiles and helps you back out to the office.

Once you get home, Levi is waiting for you on the couch. Your eyes widen.

“You’re home early?”

Levi nods as he watches the TV. “Yeah. The building is getting electrical maintenance so Erwin sent us all home.”

“Ok.” You quickly walk to the bathroom and sit on the floor for a few minutes, trying to figure out how you will tell Levi.

You jump when there’s a knock on the door. “You alright? Did you have to take a shit?”

With a small laugh, you took a deep breath and decided it was now or never.

You walk out of the bathroom and come face to face with Levi. He raises a brow as you grab his arm and sit you both on the edge of your bed.

“I went to the doctors today….”

Levi groaned. “Shit. You’re dying aren’t you?”

You give a small smile. “I thought I was. But…I’m pregnant…”

Levi’s eyes widen and he jumps up. “What?! How?!”

“The doctor said sometimes a vasectomy can fail and-“

“No no no!” Levi cuts you off as he starts pacing back and forth. “Not mine. My wouldn’t fail. I went to the best doctor in the city.”

At a loss for words, all you can do is start tearing up and stuttering. “W-well, that’s what my doctor said. He confirmed-“

Levi stopped right in front of you and looked down towards you. “You cheated didn’t you?”

“What?! No!” You yell. “I literally told you what my doctor said. He said you should get rechecked by yours.”

Levi covers his face with his hands. “Do you want to keep it? Because remember we both decided we liked to be by ourselves and not have a little shit to deal with.”

A sense of motherly instinct washed over you on that last part and caused you to stand up in irritation. “I do want to keep it.”

That causes Levi to freeze in place and then suddenly throw his hands up in frustration. “Shit! I can’t deal with this right now!”

He storms out of the bedroom and you can hear the jingle of his car keys as he stomps out the front door, giving it a nice slam on his way out.

You are emotionless for a good minute before you start sobbing into your hands.

‘I guess I’m a single mom now.’

[fuck-customers]

Kind of a fuck customers but also a satisfying story at the same time.

My role in the call center I work in involves taking specifically corporate calls, which means I spend all day talking to “business professionals” (and I use that term loosely) including CEOs. As you can imagine, over 90% of these CEOs are the scum of the earth and the most entitled assfaces on the planet.

A week or so ago, I took a call and went through my usual routine of greeting the cardholder and then began going over verification questions. Since we’re A.) a bank and B.) a bank that handles corporate and government credit cards, we take security seriously and require a caller to be able to verify 3 pieces of information based on what the person responsible for their credit cards put on the account. If they don’t pass, we refer them to their company to get the right details.

So as I’m doing this, the guy on the phone is getting increasingly irritated as he keeps getting the security questions wrong. I’m calm and professional the entire time but firm. Eventually I run out of things to verify with him and tell him that we won’t be able to assist and that he needs to contact his administrator. This is apparently where I went wrong.

“LADY I AM THE ADMINISTRATOR!!” He screeches. Ok, great. I look him up and that’s true but there’s a second admin listed, so I ask him to check in with him. He then yells “THERE IS NO OTHER ADMIN! I’M THE CEO OF THIS COMPANY FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!!”

I apologize and tell him while that may be true, he still got his security questions wrong and needs to reach out to his account coordinator then. This man then proceeds to scream at me for the next minute or so saying how we’re an awful bank, how he’s had problems with us for years, blah blah and how we have the worst customer service ever. Keep in mind, I’ve been nice and empathetic this entire time but also I’m not gonna lose my fucking job just because a guy in a suit doesn’t know his shit. I give him the email to his account coordinator and stress again that he needs to talk to them. Then this exchange happens:

Him: “So let me get this straight. You are saying you are REFUSING and UNWILLING to help me, right?

Me: “No, actually I’d love to help you, however we have these security procedures in place for yours and your company’s protection and cannot make exceptions for anyone.”

Him: “This is fucking UNBELIEVABLE! I’ve HAD IT with this bank!!”

Me: “Ok, I’m sorry to hear that. Anything else I can do for you before we disconnect?”

Him: “WHAT IS YOUR NAME? I NEED YOUR NAME. NOW.”

Me: *gives my first name and spells it for him even though it’s a very basic 4 letter name because I’m a bitch*

Him: YOUR LAST NAME.

Me: “We don’t give out anything but our first name for the safety of our employees.”

Him: *insert that condescending, pissed off chuckle middle aged men do when they’re mad here* “Well I’ll tell you what (My Name), when I close this account and pull my MILLIONS OF DOLLARS out of (bank name) and they ask me why, I’ll make sure to tell them that it’s (My Name)’s fault. And I will see to it that you won’t be able to get another job outside of the minimum wage fast food job or whatever you had before this. How does that sound?”

Me: “Sounds great. Now seeing as how this conversation is no longer productive or professional and threats are being made, I’ll be terminating the call, have a nice day.”

Him: “DO NOT HANG UP O-“

Me: *click*

And that’s how making rich, powerful men rage-cry became my new favorite hobby. Thankfully, I haven’t gotten any feedback on that call; not that I would, seeing as how I did my job exactly how I was supposed to. Anyways I hope I’m his 13th reason. ❤️

Posted by admin Rodney.

[piedinthepiper]

Disease ˖ ⊹

Doctor!Jimin x fem!reader

Summary: You’ve had a sore throat for months now, good thing Doctor Jimin has a cure.

Warnings: dark content, dubcon ish, corruption, smut, mention of bullying, yandere?

Wc: 2.3 k

A/n: wrote a little something based on this request! Reader is innocent in the beginning, but throughout you will discover that she’s not innocent at all, but not in a sexual way… This is a great concept, but this is just so unserious. But I had to! It was right in front of me and I had to!

Another A/n: This is also written based on my firm belief that all doctors were pretentious nerds in high school. Because no one gets grades like that from actually having a life.

This can be read as both a pt. 1 or a pt. 2 to before: disease. They can also be read separately, you decide!

Disclaimer: This is 100% fiction. I am in no way saying that this is how any member of bts would act. Nor do I condone the actions detailed in the story. This is purely for entertainment purposes only. If any of the warnings trigger you, or you’re under 18 ¡do not read! I’m not your mother, and I don’t take any accountability for what you decide to read online!

Another disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, everything is off Google! Some technical terms might me wrong, don’t sue me! Also it’s a really stupid story, it’s pure fiction! If any doctor or medical personnel ever does this to you it’s not ok! Ok?

“Y/n y/l/n.”

Your name was heard throughout the waiting room. You smiled at the woman in scrubs, getting up from your seat to follow her. You clutched your bag to your side. Anxiously walking down the hallway.

“Dr. Park will be with you in a minute.”

She smiled as she stopped, holding the door open for you. You walked into the empty doctor’s office. She closed the door behind you, leaving you alone. You sat down in the chair, placing your purse carefully in your lap. You let out a deep breath. Being in a doctor’s office was just scary. You knew it was safe and all that. It was just something about giving a random person information about yourself that made you nervous. The sterile room that so many people had received bad news in. You were dreading the thought of you also receiving such news in that room. The possibility of not knowing if you’re terminally ill or if you just have a flu. Well, that was why you were there in the first place. The door opened, and your face turned in its direction.

“Good morning, ms. y/l/n, right?”

A sweet calming voice erupted from the man. You nodded and stood up to shake his hand. He sat down opposite of you, starting to click and type on his computer. You nervously looked down at your hands, waiting for him to talk again.

“I see you’ve had a sore throat for quite some time now. Is that the reason you’re here today?”

You looked back up at him again. He was leaning forwards on the desk on his elbows. His hands neatly put together.

“Yes, it’s like I’ve had a cold for months now. It just won’t go away.”

He nodded and typed something on his computer.

“Have you noticed any swelling in your lymph nodes?”

He asked still focused on the computer screen. You thought for a second.

“I don’t know, I haven’t checked.”

He nodded at your answer.

“Any peculiar or ugly coughs? Like slime coughs or even blood?”

“There was this one time where there were a little blood.”

He looked back at you, clearly concerned about what you told him.

“How much?”

You shook your head.

“Very little, it was more the taste of blood. Nothing visible.”

He went back to typing.

“And it was only once.”

You added, trying to make the whole situation sound a little better. It wasn’t even that bad, it was probably just because you had been coughing so much that day, your throat was so sore that a little cut appeared. But it was the reason you decided to go to the doctor in the first place.

“Ok, are you ok with me examining you a little?”

He asked calmly, his full attention back to you. You sighed but nodded. He got up from his chair and pointed to the bed looking thing with a long sheet of paper on it. You got up as well and followed him, jumping slightly to get up on it. You wiped your clammy hands on your jeans, trying your best to calm down. He put on white latex gloves and came over to you, positioning himself between your legs. You straightened your back a little.

“Look up for me.”

You did as asked and looked up at the ceiling. His gloved hands immediately went to your neck. Slightly pushing on the sides of it.

“Does this hurt?”

He asked and you nodded slightly.

“Your lymph nodes are quite swollen actually. It’s weird that you haven’t noticed.”

He said as he quickly moved to your stomach. Your back quickly straightened even more at the sudden contact.

“Just relax for me, I don’t bite.”

He jokingly said. You let out a small laugh and tried your best to relax. He put pressure on your waist.

“Does this hurt?”

He asked and looked you directly in your eyes while his hands roamed your waist. You shook your head, not trusting your voice. He stopped.

“Do you mind taking your sweater off?”

He asked calmly, looking down at where his hands were seconds ago. You panicked for a second, not knowing what to answer.

“Your sweater is quite thick, it’s purely so I can examine you correctly, ms. y/l/n.”

You nodded and started taking off your sweater.

“Of course.”

You mumbled as you pulled it over your head, leaving you in just a black bra. Goosebumps littered your skin at the sudden contact with the cold air. For a second you saw him looking at you, mouth slightly open. It made you uncomfortable, the look was not a professional one.

“Amazing.”

He said and licked his lip slightly before finding your waist again. You tried your best not to freak out at how close he was now. You felt so much more vulnerable now that you were half naked.

“Does it hurt now?”

He asked and did the same motion he did earlier. You shook your head again.

“Can you turn to the side for me?”

He almost whispered. You turned to the side, placing one leg at the floor for stability. You felt his hands slide up your back, pushing at some spots and asking if they hurt. You suddenly felt the cold touch of a stethoscope on your back.

“Breathe slowly in for me.”

You took a deep breath.

“Keep going, keep going for me, y/n.”

You breathed out once those words escaped his mouth. He didn’t say it like a doctor would. There was something behind it you couldn’t put your finger on.

“Try again.”

He uttered and you did. You managed to hold your breath.

“Good girl.”

He said as you breathed out again, making you cough.

“That cough doesn’t sound very good.”

He said as he stepped back into your view. You positioned yourself fully back on the bed.

“I’ll examine your mouth now, ok? Tell me if anything feels too uncomfortable.”

You nodded.

“Open up.”

You did as he commanded. He put two of his gloved fingers flat on your tongue.

“Wider, please.”

You opened your mouth as far as you could. He pointed a flashlight down your throat. Tears started forming in your eyes as his fingers almost choked you.

“Looks like you got some tonsils down there.”

His fingers slowly slid out of your mouth and you closed it and swallowed whatever spit had occurred during the examination. He started removing his gloves, throwing them in the nearest bin. He came back to you and placed himself close to you again. So close that it would be awkward to reach for your sweater that had fell to the floor.

“They’re not big enough to remove just yet. They might shrink if you do the right things.”

You crossed your arms over your chest, trying to get a little bit of modesty.

“What do you recommend?”

You asked him.

“Take cough syrup and cough drops, drink as much warm beverages as possible.”

You sighed.

“But I’ve been doing that for months now, and it hasn’t helped as far as I’m concerned.”

You said and looked down, finding it hard to maintain eye contact with him that close. He hummed in understanding, stepping slightly away. You took the chance to reach for your sweater again. But his arm stopped you. You sat back up, looking at him confused.

“There is another solution. It’s a bit- well. Unorthodox.”

“What?”

You asked, willing to do whatever he told you. You didn’t want to walk around with a constant sore throat for the rest of your life.

“Do you have a partner?”

He asked. You shook your head, still confused about where he was going with this.

“That’s a shame. You see, recent research has found out that fresh and warm semen can do wonders for a sore throat.”

You swallowed feeling the saliva sting your sore throat. You knew what he was aiming at, you weren’t dumb. Or at least you didn’t think so.

“Really?”

You asked, not convinced that he was actually asking you to blow him.

“Yeah, I’m a doctor, you can trust me.”

You nodded and stepped off the bed, hearing the thin sheet of paper slightly rip. You looked him in the eyes as you sunk down to the floor. Letting your hands drag down his body.

“Woah ok. Didn’t know you were that desperate.”

His hand went to your face as you positioned yourself on you knees.

“I’m just doing this to get better, alright?”

“It’s ok, baby. I’ll help you.”

He was quick to answer, almost eager. You started working on his belt, trying to get it done as quick as possible. Maybe you were dumb, maybe he tricked you to give him a blow job. The thought definitely crossed your mind. But like he said, he was a doctor, he knew this better than you. And after months of trying everything to cure your throat, you were willing to try just one more thing.

You pulled his half hard dick out, giving it a few pumps. It was a good size, even at its half hard stage. You were about to put your lips to it, but his hand reaches your forehead.

“Haven’t you forgotten something?”

He asked with a sly grin. You looked confused at him. He clicked his tongue, hissing slightly.

“Well, I don’t offer this to every patient that comes in with a sore throat. Maybe a thank you, a little begging for my help would work?”

You mentally cursed yourself, but you were too far in to back out now. You let one of your bra straps fall down your shoulder as you looked up at him with doe like eyes. Your hand started jerking him slowly.

“Please, Dr. Park. Please let me suck your cock. You’re the only one that can help my sore throat.”

His eyes changed from slyness to horniness at your words.

“Good girl, you deserve a cure for that throat.”

You kissed his tip.

“Thank you so much, Dr. Park.”

You said before your mouth covered his tip. You started sucking on it watching his face twist in pleasure.

“That’s it.”

He whispered as you swallowed his cock. His head turned to the ceiling, as a moan escaped his lips. You started bobbing your head up and down, not wasting any time and keeping a steady rhythm. His hands reached your hair, grabbing a fistful. He didn’t force you to go deeper, he just held your hair as some sort of stability for himself.

“I always knew you were a little slut. Sucking me dry in my office with other patients waiting outside.”

He started talking dirty once the initial pleasure wave was over. Swearing in between his words.

“I’ve waited for this for so long. Fuck- Ever since I first saw you I’ve wondered what those lips looked like around my cock.”

You choked at his sudden comment, his hand in your hair stopping you from removing yourself of said cock. You started going faster instead, wanting this to stop so you didn’t have to listen to his creepy speech.

“You remember me from high school right?”

You now realised you were very very dumb, as your mind raced through your memories from high school. Park Jimin, the nerdy weirdo in science class. You would always catch him stare at you, but you couldn’t remember ever speaking to him. Well, except for when you and your friends would call him names and break his glasses. He pushed his hips forward, making you choke again.

“Of course you don’t. You were too popular. But- shit. Look at me now.”

You looked up at him with teary eyes. His hand went from your hair to your cheek, and caressed it carefully.

“I made a shit load of money to have you sucking my dick today. Shit- I have the most gorgeous girl from high school blowing me right now. Finally.”

He started moving his hips, you knew he was close.

“Fuck- you’re so fucking gorgeous.”

He moaned as you felt the warmth of his seed fill your mouth. You waited for it all, not wanting to have any of it actually hit your skin. You swallowed, before you got up again. You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, giving him a deadly look.

“I remember you, you little freak. You were disgusting back then and you still are to this day.”

You erupted adjusting your bra strap back over your shoulder.

“There you are, that’s the y/n I remember. Always something mean to say.”

He said as he tucked himself back, that sly look creeping back onto his face.

“Who’s the bully now, y/n?”

You snarled at him and turned around to get your sweater from the floor. You were ready to leave and change doctors immediately. But before you could get up again you felt his body crash into yours, pushing you up against that bed thing. He bent you over it, whispering in your ear.

“You were always the meanest. And I loved it. I loved you so much. I practically worshipped you.”

His groin was pushed up against your butt. You felt his bulge growing by the second as he took a deep sniff of your hair.

“Please, let me go. I’m sorry, I’m sorry ok?!”

You practically screamed, now afraid of the boy you never thought would be able to overpower you. But that was in high school. He was a man now.

“I will let you go, y/n. I’m not like you.”

But before he did as promised he got a good grip of your tits. Letting out a satisfied moan.

“Even better than I thought they would feel.”

He whispered before stepping away from you slowly. You immediately got away from him, quickly throwing the sweater back on your body.

“Remember that I had the power today, y/n.”

You rolled your eyes and walked towards the door. You stopped, and didn’t speak before your hand was placed firmly on the handle.

“Whatever you fucking weirdo.”

You said and opened the door, not looking back. You regretted being this fucking dumb. Falling for his trick, thinking that he had good intentions. The worst part was that it didn’t even get any better.

——————————————————————————

Thank you for reading! Do you want to read more?

Masterlist

[falling-star-cygnus]

mmmm ok but what if i sobbed? openly and violently? what then

Dead Link : a link that no longer leads to its desired target webpage; this can occur when the domain been terminated, changed, or renamed

A Link Click Noragami AU pt.1 | In Which, Cheng Xiaoshi Has Many Names

“Have you ever used any regalia?”

Lu Guang pauses.

He looks down at the camera in his palms, one that was rough around the edges with daisy, bellis, and ginkgo embellishments and scuffs. It felt… a little like holding his shinki’s hand, to be honest.

Though, privately, he wondered if so many reincarnations had an effect on a spirit’s brain cells.

“Besides me, I mean,” Shi Ái clarifies, his voice sheepish in the god’s head.

Ah- well… that was a bit harder to answer. To [hopefully] buy himself a little more time, Lu Guang returns to looking through the scope. It was another busy day, where the streets and sidewalks were clogged with mortals, so the two found themselves atop a rooftop- test running Shi Ái’s shinki form. 

“Why do you ask?” he deflects, taking care to keep his tone curious and light.

“Just wonderin’, I guess. The other gods we’ve seen, most of ‘em have tons.” 

“So, your actual question is why I only use you.” It’s not the first time Lu Guang has had this conversation, so he doesn’t bother masking his accusation, “Or is my company not enough for you anymore?”

He can tease though. The sound of Shi Ái’s sputtering is delightfully familiar, even if it reduces everyone under the camera lens into indistinguishable blobs of color. 

“Focus, Shi Ái,” Lu Guang gently reminds, a pleased smile twitching on his lips when the world zeroes back in- as clear as a wind chime’s bell. He was learning faster and faster each… 

His mirth fades as he weighs the question on his mind. The disappointment radiating from Ch- Shi Ái was palpable, enough that it made the god’s chest clench up like he’d been shot. But the shinki didn’t answer. Hm.

Was Shi Ái lonely..? Was that something Lu Guang could afford to fix? 

The lens focuses in on a girl with mousy brown hair, and professional looking clothes- Wu Lihua, is her name, though she wears a badge that reads Emma- biking somewhere in stiff heels. 

She looks harried. And tired of existing.

Lu Guang can relate.

“You’re an asshole,” his regalia huffs, effectively bringing the god back to the conversation at hand,  “I just meant- like… why? You know? Why just me?” 

Because Lu Guang never wanted anybody else.

“It’s dangerous to not have one at all, even for those who do fight.”

Lu Guang never wanted to be a god at all.

Shi Ái perks up, his curiosity thrumming through their bond. His worry.

As much as Lu Guang hates to admit it, the feeling warms his chest a little bit- almost smothers the previous sting like a thick blanket. He pushes himself to keep explaining.

“Without a shinki, gods are unable to purify or defend against ayakashi. If one were to attack, my best course of action would be to run away or risk getting blighted. As you can imagine, as a god, that’s…” 

“Embarrassing?”

Ugh..

 Sometimes he hated his pale complexion, especially when it made the blush tainting his cheeks and ears that much more obvious... 

Even as a human, Lu Guang had never had.. the best stamina. You’d think that’d improve with immortality, and countless lifetimes to improve it, but apparently no. Lu Guang was doomed to get winded standing for all eternity. 

“...quite.” 

Shi Ái’s amused laughter rings through his head, bright and pleased and alive. 

The wind picks up, tousling the god’s hair and kicking up wayward leaves.

“The regalia I used before you was named Lu Xiao,” he offers, hoping beyond hope that it’ll be enough to sate his shinki’s curiosity, that he wouldn’t ask the obvious, “and the one before that was named Charles.”

Confusion, more curiosity. The lens loses some of its clarity and then resharpens.

“Those seem.. like drastically different naming groups. Don’t most gods stick to ‘clans’ or something?” Shi Ái asks, ever annoyingly and endearingly observant about the wrong things, “Ah-! That one god, Yu Xia, she called them families!”

Lu Guang cringes.

Of course that was the detail that would stick with Shi Ái. Even subconsciously, existing without any of his memories, he was longing for something he hadn’t been allowed. Was.. Lu Guang being cruel by not taking on more shinki..? Could he take on more shinki, with everything he’s done? Could- should he take the risk of exposing what he’s been doing? 

Deep down.. Lu Guang knows that he doesn’t have any other choice. That the burden he carried would be lighter if he did. And he knows that he shouldn’t be greedy and hoard Cheng- Xiao- Lu- Charl- urgh.. 

He takes a breath. 

Lets it out silently through his teeth. 

He shouldn’t deprive Shi Ái of something he deserved.

“I’m not most gods.” 

But he was so goddamn selfish.

“I don’t stick to name groups because I don’t usually have more than one shinki,” he explains further, loading on more information to hopefully steer his dark haired regalia away from the topic entirely, “If I were to name another… they’d probably be ‘Shi’ too.”

They wouldn’t. Lu Guang would never name a stranger something so close to his name. Not in a million years- not when the sky fell and not if he was cast out of Heaven. 

Cheng Xiaoshi’s name was his.

It’s quiet for a few seconds as Shi Ái digests the information- his lens focused on a stark white cat napping in a sunbeam. 

“Eh… I can’t really see you enjoying the company of so many people, though. You’re not very social..”

Lu Guang lowers Shi Ái, carefully cradling the ornate would in his palms.

And holds him out further from the edge of the rooftop. 

“HEY, HEY, HEY- IT’S NOT A BAD THING!” he immediately, predictably starts screeching, the camera strap twisting around the god’s arm like one might a hand, “LU GUANG-! LU GUANG, PLEEASE- I’M SORRY! GUANGGUANGGG!”

The fair-haired god allows himself a smile. 

“Idiot.”

“You’re an asshole. A handsome, evil asshole.” Shi Ái whines, back when he’s safely back in human form- his feet on solid ground and his hands wrapped around his god's bicep.

As if he would ever let him go.

[mariacallous]

YouTube’s Content ID system—which automatically detects content registered by rights holders—is “completely fucking broken,” a YouTuber called “Albino” declared in a rant on the social media site X that has been viewed more than 950,000 times.

Albino, who is also a popular Twitch streamer, complained that his YouTube video playing through Fallout was demonetized because a Samsung washing machine randomly chimed to signal a laundry cycle had finished while he was streaming.

Apparently, YouTube had automatically scanned Albino's video and detected the washing machine chime as a song called “Done”—which Albino quickly saw was uploaded to YouTube by a musician known as Audego nine years ago.

But when Albino hit Play on Audego's song, the only thing that he heard was a 30-second clip of the washing machine chime. To Albino it was obvious that Audego didn't have any rights to the jingle, which Dexerto reported actually comes from the song "Die Forelle" (“The Trout”) from Austrian composer Franz Schubert.

The song was composed in 1817 and is in the public domain. Samsung has used it to signal the end of a wash cycle for years, sparking debate over whether it's the catchiest washing machine song and inspiring at least one violinist to perform a duet with her machine. It's been a source of delight for many Samsung customers, but for Albino, hearing the jingle appropriated on YouTube only inspired ire.

"A guy recorded his fucking washing machine and uploaded it to YouTube with Content ID," Albino said in a video on X. "And now I'm getting copyright claims" while "my money" is "going into the toilet and being given to this fucking slime."

Albino suggested that YouTube had potentially allowed Audego to make invalid copyright claims for years without detecting the seemingly obvious abuse.

"How is this still here?" Albino asked. "It took me one Google search to figure this out," and "now I'm sharing revenue with this? That's insane."

At first, Team YouTube gave Albino a boilerplate response on X, writing, "We understand how important it is for you. From your vid, it looks like you've recently submitted a dispute. When you dispute a Content ID claim, the person who claimed your video (the claimant) is notified and they have 30 days to respond."

Albino expressed deep frustration at YouTube's response, given how "egregious" he considered the copyright abuse to be.

"Just wait for the person blatantly stealing copyrighted material to respond," Albino responded to YouTube. "Ah, OK, yes, I'm sure they did this in good faith and will make the correct call, though it would be a shame if they simply clicked ‘reject dispute,’ took all the ad revenue money and forced me to risk having my channel terminated to appeal it!! XDxXDdxD!! Thanks Team YouTube!"

Soon after, YouTube confirmed on X that Audego's copyright claim was indeed invalid. The social platform ultimately released the claim and told Albino to expect the changes to be reflected on his channel within two business days.

Ars could not immediately reach YouTube or Albino for comment.

Widespread Abuse of Content ID Continues

YouTubers have complained about abuse of Content ID for years. Techdirt's Timothy Geigner agreed with Albino's assessment that the YouTube system is "hopelessly broken," noting that sometimes content is flagged by mistake. But just as easily, bad actors can abuse the system to claim "content that simply isn’t theirs" and seize sometimes as much as millions in ad revenue.

In 2021, YouTube announced that it had invested "hundreds of millions of dollars" to create content management tools, of which Content ID quickly emerged as the platform's go-to solution to detect and remove copyrighted materials.

At that time, YouTube claimed that Content ID was created as a "solution for those with the most complex rights management needs," like movie studios and record labels whose movie clips and songs are most commonly uploaded by YouTube users. YouTube warned that without Content ID, "rights holders could have their rights impaired and lawful expression could be inappropriately impacted."

Since its rollout, more than 99 percent of copyright actions on YouTube have consistently been triggered automatically through Content ID.

And just as consistently, YouTube has seen widespread abuse of Content ID, terminating "tens of thousands of accounts each year that attempt to abuse our copyright tools," YouTube said. YouTube also acknowledged in 2021 that "just one invalid reference file in Content ID can impact thousands of videos and users, stripping them of monetization or blocking them altogether."

To help rights holders and creators track how much copyrighted content is removed from the platform, YouTube started releasing biannual transparency reports in 2021. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group, applauded YouTube's "move towards transparency" while criticizing YouTube's "claim that YouTube is adequately protecting its creators."

"That rings hollow," the EFF reported in 2021, noting that "huge conglomerates have consistently pushed for more and more restrictions on the use of copyrighted material, at the expense of fair use and, as a result, free expression." As the EFF saw it then, YouTube's Content ID system mainly served to appease record labels and movie studios, while creators felt "pressured" not to dispute Content ID claims out of "fear" that their channel might be removed if YouTube consistently sided with rights holders.

According to YouTube, "it’s impossible for matching technology to take into account complex legal considerations like fair use or fair dealing," and that impossibility seemingly ensures that creators bear the brunt of automated actions even when it's fair to use copyrighted materials.

At that time, YouTube described Content ID as "an entirely new revenue stream from ad-supported, user generated content" for rights holders, who made more than $5.5 billion from Content ID matches by December 2020. More recently, YouTube reported that figure climbed above $9 billion, as of December 2022. With so much money at play, it's easy to see how the system could be seen as disproportionately favoring rights holders, while creators continue to suffer from income diverted by the automated system.

Despite YouTubers' ongoing frustrations, not much has changed with YouTube's Content ID system over the years. The language used in YouTube's most recent transparency report is largely a direct copy of the original report from 2021.

And while YouTube claims that the Content ID match technology should be "continually" adapted to sustain a "balanced ecosystem," the few most recent updates YouTube announced in 2022 didn't seem to do much to help creators dispute invalid claims.

"We’ve heard the Content ID Dispute process is top of mind for many of you," YouTube wrote in 2022. "You've shared that the process can take too long and can have long-term impact on your channel, specifically when claims result in viewing restrictions or monetization impact."

To address this, YouTube did not expedite the dispute process, which still allows up to 30 days for rights holders to respond. Instead, it expedited the appeals process, which happens after a rights holder rejects a disputed claim and arguably is the moment when the YouTuber's account is most in danger of being terminated.

"Now, the claimant will have 7 days instead of 30 to review the appeal before deciding whether to request a takedown of the video, release the claim, or let it expire," YouTube wrote in 2022. "We hope shortening the timespan of the appeals process helps you get claims resolved much faster!"

This update would only help YouTubers intent on disputing claims, like Albino was, but not the majority of YouTubers, whom the EFF reported were seemingly so intimidated by disputing Content ID claims that they more commonly just accepted "whatever punishment the system has levied against them." The EFF summarized the predicament that many YouTubers remain stuck in today:

There is a terrible, circular logic that traps creators on YouTube. They cannot afford to dispute Content ID matches because that could lead to DMCA notices. They cannot afford DMCA notices because those lead to copyright strikes. They cannot afford copyright strikes because that could lead to a loss of their account. They cannot afford to lose their account because they cannot afford to lose access to YouTube’s giant audience. And they cannot afford to lose access to that audience because they cannot count on making money from YouTube’s ads alone, partially because Content ID often diverts advertising money to rights holders when there is Content ID match. Which they cannot afford to dispute.

For Albino, who said he has fought back against many Content ID claims, the Samsung washing machine chime triggering demonetization seemed to be the final straw, breaking his patience with YouTube's dispute process.

"It's completely out of hand," Albino wrote on X.

Katharine Trendacosta, a YouTube researcher and the EFF's director of policy and advocacy, agreed with Albino, telling Ars that YouTube's Content ID system has not gotten any better over the years: “It's worse, and it's intentionally opaque and made to be incredibly difficult to navigate" for creators.

"I don't know any YouTube creator who's happy with the way Content ID works," Trendacosta told Ars.

But while many people think that YouTube's system isn't great, Trendacosta also said that she "can't think of a way to build the match technology" to improve it, because "machines cannot tell context." Perhaps if YouTube's matching technology triggered a human review each time, "that might be tenable," but "they would have to hire so many more people to do it."

What YouTube could be doing is updating its policies to make the dispute process less intimidating to content creators, though, Trendacosta told Ars. Right now, the bigger problem for creators, Trendacosta said her research has shown, is not how long it takes for YouTube to work out the dispute process but "the way YouTube phrases the dispute process to discourage you from disputing."

"The system is so discouraging," Trendacosta told Ars, with YouTube warning YouTubers that initiating a dispute could result in a copyright strike that terminates their accounts. "What it ends up doing is making them go, 'You know what, I'll eat it, whatever.'"

YouTube, which has previously dismissed complaints about the Content ID tool by saying "no system is perfect," did not respond to Ars' request for comment on whether any updates to the tool might be coming that might benefit creators. Instead, YouTube's plan seems to be to commiserate with users who likely can't afford to leave the platform over their concerns.

"Totally understand your frustration," Team YouTube told Albino on X.

[cuprohastes]

Don't do this:

OK so do not go to Github and search for yt-dlp and don't either isntall it using brew, or download the binary.

Do not, I repeat do not then launch a command line...

MacOS: Command+Space type Terminal Windows, Right-click the Start Menu and open a command line

... then type something like

yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=WL" -S "ext" --embed-chapters --embed-subs --mark-watched --cookies-from-browser firefox

Because that will download the best quality audio and video format (mp4) at the best size, using your YouTube Watch Later playlist, mark all the videos as read, and give you MP4 files with subtitles and chapters, but no adverts. You can switch firefox for your browser if it's supported. Shit, I mean, don't do that.

Currently supported browsers are: brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari, vivaldi, whale.

Especially do not replace the URL with a BBC iPlayer page in case it accidentally downloads an entire series, or individual video. Or try non-DRM'd web pages, or you may find it's also downloaded those individual videos for later use too.

And whatever you do, don't spend a few hours on the GitHub page learning to use it. For example to rip just the audio files from YouTube videos for use as a personal musical playlist, or Twitch streams to play back when it's quiet.

And also beware if you slip and use the right flag it may even mark the YouTube video's sponsored ad reads so they can be auto-deleted or skipped.

This has been a public announcement to prevent you from accidentally downloading video or audio for your own personal use.

[souryogurt64]

Ok I'm scripting for my SWMRS video and last night I was reading about The Replacements because they were Joey's favorite band and I ended up seeing in my peripheral vision that Guns N Roses have a song called Catcher In The Rye off Chinese Democracy and the Terminator activation went off in my brain. Because Pete Wentz brings Chinese Democracy up constantly, it came out during the period when Pete Wentz was doing that awful TV show with his ghostwriter, and also Catcher In The Rye is a huge thing in Pete's book

And anyway I ended up reading an incomprehensible interview with Axl Rose that was mostly about the song and how he believes Catcher In The Rye is like dangerous and should be removed from high school curriculums and his like mindset while writing it. And it was like reading about the themes and narrative style of Pete's book and it's main message about what is real and what is not real

And then I was on the fence about this being connected but later in the interview he got asked about women he writes about and said THIS

And then when I was confirming that Pete Wentz does talk about Chinese Democracy all the time I saw him arguing with people online and defending the terrible TV show that he hosted with his co-author that got terrible ratings and I was like "Oh boy that's probably related" so I clicked on it and his like justification for this terrible show is that the video for You Could Be Mine by Guns N Roses was like so unbelievably iconic they had to like make their terrible show about music videos so I looked that up too

And this song is like an exact mirror for the scene that starts/ends the book

And I was on the fence about this being connected too because it's like very generic but then I saw it's the theme song for TERMINATOR TWO and Pete Wentz is also obsessed with Terminator and brings it up constantly and anyway I read all the Genius annotations and it's about how Axl Rose is persecuted by several bitches who like call his lawyer claiming they've been abused and also was the first man in America brave enough to call fashion models bitches which is all very Pete Wentz

Anyway this post has no point except the Pete's Stupid Fucking Book Lore never stops . Why is it like this

[cyberdragoninfinity]

SaiouSartorius for the ask game if it's still ok~?

HELL YEAHHH always love a chance to talk about a bit of a terminally underrated gx guy

Why I like them/why I don’t: sartorius is up there with yubel in the "didnt really click with them when i first watched gx but then over time i grew to really like them" category.. he is just a certified weirdass dude who is remarkably quite kind and sweet despite the Horrifying Space Light Forcing Him Out of His Own Body and also i love that hes some 6-foot-a-million tarot girlie and his best friend since forever is a teeny tiny jock gamer. AND he cares so much about his little sister 🥺

What I like about their appearance: IT'S FUCKING BONKERSSSS the Light of Destruction doing god knows what to this poor guy's bones and body. The claws...the fangs the YELLOWING EYES??! HIS HAIR CUT IS BUCKWILD. HE HAS FOREHEAD PIERCINGS. i love it. he's pretty but watch the fuck out

Do I prefer their dub names or original names? ive grown fond of saiou a lot especially since thats how pals mostly refer to him but i do have to respect what a fucking wildcard name 'sartorius' is. transgender things are happening back there.

OTP: dont really have one! once again i am an aro truther here... i do really like qpr/platonic life partner type antics with him and aster though ;_;

NOTP: every time i see sartorius/chazz the vibes are fucking rancid, sorry.

OT3: not romantic but sartorius and sarina and aster friendship/family trio is sooo so sweet 🥺

Favourite card they use: i really respect the absolute cosmic horror abominations his entire deck is full of... i think i like Arcana Force EX Light Ruler the most. i didnt know it shares a little bit of trivia with My Dear Friend Wisel :3

Favourite moment they were in: it's gotta be when he rolls back up in season 4 and it's like 'yay the reformed bad guy's here to be a supportive part of the plot!" and then he immediately threatens to blow up a building to protect his sister. god bless

Least favourite moment: not really his fault since he was possessed by the Light but all that brainwashing alexis shit -__- cmonnnnn

Something I associate with them: metaphysical/crystal healing/fortune telling/spiritual shops that look like this

[tearfallpixie]

Trust and Love - Side Chapter: Accidents and Acceptance

Tags: @nerdraging4point0 @thesazzb @synthetic-wasp-570 @circle-with-me @beaker1636 @itsjustemily @witchyweeb34 @agravemisstake @cookiesupplier @cncohshit @faceless-mirror @nonamessblog @yournecessaryevil @black-damask1999

@lyschko666 @vinyardmauro @skulliecadaver-blog @some-daniela @latenightmusiclover @rye14-blog1 @somewhere-diamond @Shilohrosechicken @abiomens @awkwardalex @rumoured-whispers @miss570

“I’m sorry that we have to leave you mama.” Vinny murmured. “You’ll be joining us in a few days though when tour starts. It wont be long.” I hugged Vin tight as a few tears slipped my eyes.

“I just hate being parted from you two.” I sniffled.

“I know. Just a couple of days and you’ll see us again.” I nodded as his thumbs brushed my cheeks to wipe the tears away. “No tears mama. You know I hate it when you cry.” The announcement for Vinny’s flight to board sounded and I started to pull away. “Come on, one kiss.” He teased. “I can’t leave without a proper goodbye.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down to kiss me soundly.

“Fly safe. I love you.”

“I love you too mama.” He picked up his bag and kissed the back of my hand before heading to the terminal and disappearing down the hall. I waited until the plane took off before heading back to the car and going back to our empty house. I sighed and hung my keys up as my phone rang. I looked at it to see Ricky was calling me.

“Hi baby, how are you? Vinny’s on the plane.” I greeted him.

“I figured as much. Have you been on twitter?” He said in a stiff voice.

“No, what happened?” I asked slowly.

“I sent you a post. Go look at it.” I pulled the phone away from my head and clicked on the twitter icon. I went to my messages and clicked on the one Ricky sent me only to gasp. It was a tweet tagging Ricky and attached to the tweet was a very clear pic of Vinny and I kissing.

“Fuck. We were out of the way. I thought no one could see us!” I exclaimed. “Ricky, I’m so sorry.”

“Baby girl, its ok.” He chuckled. “I figured something like this was going to happen sooner or later. None of us have been very careful. Now the question is how do we proceed? We should probably tell the fans because judging by the 9 thousand likes and counting on the photo, we can’t just cover this up and ask the person to remove it.” Ricky suggested.

“Can you and Vinny skype me tonight? We can all discuss it together.” Ricky nodded and looked at the time. “Tell him when he lands. He should be with you in two hours. He’s going to feel horrible.”

“I’ll take care of him and we’ll talk tonight. I love you baby girl.” Ricky said.

“I love you too baby.”

~

Vinny did not handle the news well and apologized to Ricky a thousand times when the guitarist picked him up. Ricky grabbed his arm and had to haul him to the car to get him to leave the airport.

“Vin, it’s ok.” Ricky repeated again. “You deserve to say goodbye to her too when you leave. We’re going to skype her tonight and discuss what we are going to do. It’s not going to be that big of a deal.” They got to the hotel in record time and headed up to their room for the next few days. Ricky picked up his laptop from the bed and set it on the desk, opening skype immediately as Vinny put his stuff away. “Hey, baby girl. Vin’s in the bathroom.” He said when I answered. The drummer popped his head out and waved to the camera.

“Looks like we caused a little bit of drama while I was flying mama.” Vinny snickered.

“Looking at the 21 thousand likes I would say so.” I giggled. “So what do you want to do? I agree with Ricky that we need to be honest with the fans. I’m just worried how they will take it. I’ve already seen hundreds of tweets calling me a whore and a cheater.” I grumbled.

“Baby girl, stop reading them. They will only make things worse.” I sighed and nodded.

“Why don’t you grab my streaming gear and fly out here and we can do an impromptu stream tomorrow to explain everything.” Vinny suggested.

“Everything? Even you two?” I asked in shock.

“It might make things a little easier to swallow knowing that it isn’t just Vinny with you and you with me.” Ricky pondered.

“But the band doesn’t even know about you two.” The only person that had given any indication that they new about Ricky and Vinny’s relationship was Finnick, Vinny’s old roommate.

“Well they are about to find out.” Vinny snickered.

“Are you two prepared for the backlash we are going to get because its inevitable.” Ricky asked. “Between people going to be pissed that she gets both of us and calling her a whore or calling us greedy its going to be bad for a while.”

“As far as I’m concerned, our decisions are all I care about. I married both of you knowing this might be a possibility down the line so I am willing to put up with anything.” I told them.

“Same here. I’m not ever letting some stupid fans get between us.” Vinny confirmed.

“Good. Vinny and I will lay low for a while and we will have Logan pick you up from the airport. Don’t go making out with him too. We have enough chaos to deal with here.” Ricky teased.

“I make no promises. His blond hair is so pretty.” I giggled.

“Good night baby girl.” Ricky rumbled.

“Night you two. I love you.”

“We love you too Mama.” I closed my laptop and went to pack up the necessities for Vinny to stream in my bag. I crawled in my big empty bed and tossed and turned for an hour before I was able to get somewhat comfortable. I wasn’t use to sleeping alone anymore because usually I had at least one of my boys with me.

~

“Logan.” I walked over to him, and he pulled me into a hug.

“Hey little miss. I thought you weren’t supposed to come out for a few days and then Ricky said there was drama and you needed to come out now. Is everything ok?” He asked. I pulled out my phone and showed him the tweet as I pulled my bag off the baggage claim. “Got it.”

“I thought we were out of sight of people but apparently, I was wrong. We’re doing a big stream announcement this afternoon to explain it to the fans. They currently hate me for hurting their precious Ricky.” I giggled. We started walking out to the parking lot shoulder to shoulder.

“Like they know the ins and outs of his feelings.” He scoffed. “They are lucky you are willing to explain this to them.” I rolled my eyes and agreed with him.

“It will also paint Vin in a bad light if we don’t confront the rumors because he is stealing his best friends wife.” I offered.

“That’s fair. Lets get you back to your boys so you can deal with this.” We loaded up and headed to the hotel where Ricky and Vinny were waiting for me in the lobby. They immediately pulled me into their arms and held me tightly.

“I’ve missed you baby girl.” Ricky murmured. He had been gone for a week before Vinny left so he could visit his family before the tour so I hadn’t seen him for a bit. He pulled me into a kiss and I noticed a flash from the side. We pulled away to see a couple of fans outside the hotel taking pics. “Let them think what they want. It will be cleared up soon.”

“I missed you too Ricky. I don’t like being parted.” I mumbled.

“Next time you two are going to come with me to Washington and I will explain everything to my parents in detail.” They had come to the wedding and they had met me on several occasions but they didn’t know the nature of our relationship with Vinny. They just thought he was our roommate for the time being. We all entered the room and I handed my carry on to Vinny.

“I brought the streaming stuff on the plane with me because I didn’t want it to get damaged under the other luggage.” I explained. He pulled me into a deep kiss.

“You are a fucking angel. Let me set up.” He started setting up and leveling the equipment, so it was balanced and an hour later we were all set up. “Ok Ricky. Attach your computer and pull up twitch. I’ll log in and we can start.” Vinny went to put on some actual clothes seeing as he was still in his sleep shirt and sweats. When he came back he was in his signature cargo pants and baggy shirt. He logged into his account and waved us off to the side so we were out of camera. He kicked on the stream and sat there as he posted it to his social media accounts, allowing people to get on. Ricky clicked the link on his phone and shared it to his as well.

@Rickyolsonx: Hey guys, Vin has a huge announcement in this stream. You should check it out. [link attached]

“Hey guys, I know surprise stream and I’m obviously not in my house right now. It will all be explained here in a bit. I won’t be answering any questions until more people are here.” He said to the growing crowd. Ricky and I watched his phone with a frown as people were saying mean things to him about hurting Ricky and kissing me. I could tell it was bothering him.

“Ricky is advertising my stream? There is a reason for that.” It was a few minutes later when there were easily a thousand people in the stream. “Ok, I think I can start explaining. Look, the photo is not faked. It was real and I did kiss Olive. However, it isn’t what you think.” He looked around at us and jerked his head. We moved into the camera and waved awkwardly. Ricky knelt next to the desk as Vinny pulled me into his lap. I watched as the chat went crazy with hello’s and questions.

“Guys, to clarify, I am very aware of their relationship.” Ricky started out. I noticed Chris in the chat and pointed it out to Vinny and Rick who grinned. “Well it looks like he’ll find out then.”

“I bet the band is watching with him.” Vinny grinned.

ChrisCMotionless: Should I get them?

“Probably. We’re about to drop a bombshell that even you guys don’t know about.” Ricky answered him.

ChrisCMotionless: I’m worried now. Let me get the other boys.

“This just got a whole lot more interesting.” Vinny mumbled. Ricky pulled out his phone and pulled up the camera.

"Update, I'm here in Vinny's stream, we're gonna talk about what's been going on." He turned to show the stream before he ended the video and posted it to his social media.

ChrisCMotionless: Ok they are here.

“Ok, let us explain. Yes I kissed Olive yesterday in the airport. That is because she and I are in a relationship.” Vinny started.

ChrisCMotionless: Oh, big shock.

“Watch it Cerulli or we’ll mute you, asshole.” Ricky snapped playfully.

BeeforV: So you two are dating but shes married to Ricky?

“BeeforV, yes exactly. We are in a poly relationship. Ricky and her have been together for almost two years. I’ve been with her for about a year and few months. But the part that the band doesn’t know about is that-“ Vinny trailed off and part of me thought he was getting cold feet. I looked at him to see him frowning.

“Vin, you ok?” Ricky asked, touching his arm.

“Listen here Brady, you little shit.” Vinny snarled to chat. “I don’t care what your opinion is of our relationship. The only opinion that matters is Ricky’s, Olivia’s and mine. But I will not have you calling her a whore just because you don’t like how we handle our lives. Mods get rid of him and anyone that says anything disrespectful about her, Ricky or me.” He clung to me a little tighter and buried his nose into my neck to help him calm down.

NicholeMotionless: Vinny being protective and all cuddly of Olive is adorable.

Willinmotionless: So what was the other thing you were going to share.

Vin let out a little growl making Ricky chuckle. He stood up and pulled the extra chair up next to us.

“Are you ok to keep going Vin?” Ricky asked softly. Vin shrugged and didn’t make a move to pull away from me. “The other bomb shell we were going to drop was that-“ Ricky took a deep breath, “Vinny and I are also together.” The chat went insane and for a minute none of us could read a single message. I could tell Vinny was peaking at the chat from my neck but otherwise we all stayed quiet. I tried to see if there were any messages from Chris but I couldn’t catch his name.

“Guys, I love Olivia and Vinny with everything in me. If it weren’t for a fan catching their kiss yesterday, you would not know about this. However, I won’t have her or him attacked because of our relationship.” Ricky told the chat.

ChrisCMotionless: You and Vin? That shouldn’t surprise me at all. The entire crew is happy for you three.

I let out a sigh of relief and pointed out the message. I could tell that Vinny relaxed after seeing it too because he started to sit up.

“Thank you, Chris. It means a lot. We’ll come talk to you after the stream.” Vinny said.

“I don’t know what more there is to say. I love you both and that’s what this was about. To just explain the kiss yesterday. No one is cheating on anyone, and we are all happy together. If you can’t support us and our relationship then forget the band. Because I guarantee you, Chris, Justin and Ryan will support these boys to the end of their careers.” I finally spoke.

ChrisCMotionless: Got that fucking right. Their happiness is more important to us than anything.

“We love you guys. And we hope you support us.” Ricky said to the camera.

KitKatCathy: Can we see you kiss before you leave?

“I’m pretty sure you have definitely seen me and Olive kiss before.” Ricky teased before pulling me into a sweet kiss. Vinny shifted until he was sitting a little straighter and pulled me into a kiss too. The chat was spammed with ‘awes’ and people calling us cute.

“I think they’ll get mad if you two don’t amuse them too.” I giggled. Both Ricky and Vinny looked at each other with wide eyes.

“No, I’m sure they don’t-“ The chat spammed with confirmation, halting Vinnys words in his throat.

“The fans want what they want.” Ricky shrugged. I bounced off of the drummer’s lap and moved back to the bed. I could tell they were hesitant, and it made me giggle a little.

“Ricky just kiss your boyfriend already.” I laughed. He glanced back at me before rolling his eyes and grabbing Vinnys neck and pulling them together. The kiss was sweet at first until Vinny’s hands grabbed Rickys shirt and pulled him closer. I glanced down at Rickys phone that we had abandoned on the bed to see the chat losing their shit until it froze and the stream crashed. “Hey you two? You broke stream. Literally.” Vinny and Ricky pulled away from each other and looked at the computer. They both slumped into their seats in shock and stared at it for a few minutes.

“Wow.” Vinny finally uttered. I snuck up behind them.

“By the way, that kiss was hot.” Both of them jumped and looked back at me. I giggled and dashed away as they both tried to leap out of their chairs and grab me. We chased each other around the room for a few minutes until the door opened and Chris walked in. I dashed behind him and grabbed his jacket. “Chris protect me!” I begged.

“Chris.” Ricky said dangerously. “Give us the instigator.”

“Who?” Chris smirked. Justin had gotten up behind me and went to grab my waist, but Chris swung us around and faced him, looping an arm around me to keep me behind him. “Don’t.” He said sharply.

“Right. You don’t like to be touched. I’m so sorry Olive!” Justin freaked out.

“It’s ok. Thank you for stopping him, Chris. Justin, I don’t blame you. It’s easy to forget.” Familiar hands grabbed my waist and pulled me back into a firm chest.

“Think you are funny?” Vinny asked quietly in my ear. He pulled me into a kiss before we all moved to sit around the room. I found myself sitting in-between Ricky and Vinny on the bed as Chris sat on the end of the bed and Justin and Ryan took the chairs.

“So why didn’t you tell us that you two were together? I mean we are pretty accepting.” Chris questioned. Vinny and Ricky looked at each other before looking back at the band.

“We don’t know. We didn’t really think about it. Before we were both dating Liv it was more of just us fooling around and using each other as stress relief.” Vinny explained.

“Then all that shit happened with her ex, we made the decision to move in together and when she wasn’t with us, we still gravitated to each other at night.” Ricky continued. “Our relationship has always been more about Olive than each other. We only started dating each other about a month before we proposed actually.”

“I’m sorry you guys had to come out like this.” Ryan said honestly.

“We talked about it last night. We had a feeling something like this would happen so we aren’t too torn up about it. We just hope the fans are understanding.” Ricky brushed it off.

“The response seemed pretty positive on chat.” Justin offered.

“I guess time will tell. This is going to affect the band though. Our fans might turn, our monthly listeners might drop. We will get hounded from all sides.” Ricky pointed out.

“It doesn’t matter. Do we support them?” Chris asked Ryan and Justin who immediately said yes. “Then whatever happens we handle it together. You three are our family and that’s more important than any fans we will ever have.” Ricky moved to the end of the bed and wrapped Chris in a hug, quickly joined by Justin, Ryan and Vinny. Vinny looked at me and held out his hand.

“They are safe.” He murmured. I grinned and took his hand to be pulled into the hug. These were my family and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. In that moment I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to call mine.

[garfieldareyouslashsrsorslashj]

how do i... boopbeam.......

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED

HOW TO BOOPBEAM UNDER THE CUT

STRAP IN BOYS THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG ONE

ok so.

you need Bun. It's a JavaScript runtime for the server (your computer). It's what runs the little script I made that automates the booping. Copy-paste the little one-liner into your terminal of choice and hit enter.

2. download this file here. THIS IS THE BOOPINATOR!

3. You'll need a couple pieces of information. What you want to do is go to tumblr.com on a computer, then open up the developer tools. Usually Ctrl (or Cmd) + Shift + I (that's an eye). Head to the tab labelled Network.

4. With the network tab open, boop somebody! However you do it. Either by the boop button next to their name, or the paw icon on their profile. Boop somebody!

5. You should see a new entry in the Network tab labeled "boop". Click on it.

6. You should see a bunch of new tabs to the side. One of them will be named "Headers". Click on that if it isn't already selected.

7. Scroll down to where it says "Request Headers" (NOT RESPONSE HEADERS!) and copy THREE values into the boopinator.ts file you downloaded: • Your "Cookie". Copy that whole value into line 39; replace the bit where it says "YOUR COOKIE HERE" (and keep the quotes!) • Your "Authorization". Copy that whole value (including the "Bearer") into line 38; replace the bit that says "YOUR TOKEN HERE (starts with Bearer)" (and keep the quotes!) • Your "X-Csrf". Copy that value into line 85; replace the bit where it says "FIRST CSRF TOKEN" (and keep the quotes!).

I cannot stress this enough these three values are extremely sensitive and should not be shared ever.

8. In a terminal, navigate to the directory you downloaded boopinator.ts (usually with the cd command) Run: bun boopinator.ts and it *should* start going! Optional 9. You can replace the URLs at the top of the file with the URLs of the people you wanna boop. The script will choose between them at random every time it boops somebody, which is about once per second.

🎉 CONGRATULATIONS you have started the boopbeam! It should now run forever, assuming Tumblr doesn't cut you off. They will eventually, your cookie will expire, but that should be good for about 1000 boops. Occasionally you'll get hit with a 429 error; the script will recover from that automatically, but any other error will cause it to stop in its tracks and wait for you to restart it. An authorization error, for example, means you need to grab those three values again (see step 7).

If you have any questions, my DMs should be open? Or just reblog this post with your question and I'll clarify as much as I can.

[slifarianhawk]

Chapter 25: Two Matriarchs (NORMAL P.O.V.)

Sitting at my desk, I clicked off and deactivated my connection to the B.S.A.A. terminals. Chris was clearly not in a good place and needed some comfort. I hope Barry, Claire, or the copy of my plans against Spencer would soothe him.

As I waited for Albert to arrive with that harpy Excella , I decided it would be best to have Agent Nighthawk in the office as backup. Did I think Albert would allow me to get hurt? No, no, I did not. I just think a little intimidation would be helpful.

I pressed the button on my comm choker, activating it.

"Agent Nighthawk respond." I ordered.

"Yes, commander?" His voice responded quickly.

"Come to my office. I have a feeling the new visitor will be trouble, and I would like your assistance in the matter as my backup." I said, standing up from my chair and walking over the marbled ebony cabinets in the corner of my office.

"YES, MAM!" He said loudly.

"No need to shout hun. See you soon." I ended the comm link.

Opening up the cabinet, I pulled out a tray with a vintage light blue decanter with gold angel fish with six matching glasses. Inside the decanter was Pheonix Corps. special strawberry brandy. I also had an unopened imported bottle of Kunohs orange osmanthus wine as well as an unopened bottle Disaronno and Johnnie Walker blue label, which I knew was Albert's favorite. Pulling them out of their hidey hole, I placed them on the tray as well.

Carefully, I brought the drinking set out and placed it on my desk. Tucking away my keyboard, laptop, as well as the monitors. I placed the cups along the desk. With utmost care, I covered the desk and drinking set with a black silk sheet. The proper meet and greet was more important, and if it went well, drinks would be served.

"I am here, m'lady." Nighthawk said, entering my office holding a five gallon bucket of ice,"White Queen said you would need ice, so I grabbed you a big bucket full from the kitchen before I came to your office."

The kid smiled. His unruly neck lenght blonde hair was slicked back almost how Wesk normally had his. He was wearing a charcoal grey jacket with an aquamarine tee shirt, black jeans, and his standard issued combat boots.

"Wow! kid, you're looking sharp today. This is perfect. I want to see your files from project a.c.r.o.h. you look so much like my husband it's shocking." I said, taking the bucket of ice from him," please take a seat. Archer will be here soon with Albert and that bitch Excella. However, my plan is simple, and you'll see that soon enough. Now, if you'll turn around so I can get changed."

Agent Nighthawk turns and faces the wall. I quickly changed into my battle suit that was crafted from carbon nanotubes and spider silk. Perfectly bulletproof and stylish to boot. I placed my corrective purple shades on as well as my black leather duster coat embroidered with blue silk flames. I pulled my long deep brown hair up into a ponytail. Lastly, I stepped into black snake skin three inch wedge heel boots.

"OK... Hawk, you can turn around now. I'm ready for this meet and greet with Ms. Gionne, " I said, walking over to him.

"That's good, m'lady, and it seems they are almost here." He said, pointing at the window, revealing Albert and Arjuna walking up the stairs being followed by Excella and Steve.

I quickly zipped over to my big office chair and sat down. Turning away from the door, I gazed over set agent Nighthawk and motioned for him to come stand next to me. He followed the order I silently provided in just the nick of time.

White Queen appeared as the door opened. Archer walked in first, followed by Wesker and Steve. Excella walked in last.

"Albert, where is this asset you keep bringing up? I must admit the Pheonix Corps. is an amazing organization, but would they help us with oroboros. They seemed to be aligned with the UN." She stated.

White Queen spoke up, "All of your questions will be answered here in a moment. Arjuna, please introduce our lady to Ms. Gionne."

Archer smiled and bowed, "Yes, White Queen, welcome to the final room of our tour. The heart of Pheonix Corps, this is the office of our mistress. The former vice captain of the Raccoon City special tactics and rescue services Alpha team, Umbrellas former top researcher in vaccines and anti viral procedures, UBSC Agent number seven hundred forty-eight, goddess of the new world and wife to commander Albert Wesker, our matron and leader, the Pheonix herself, Lady Tabitha Ellise Redfield Wesker."

I turned in my chair and stood up. Brushing my bangs away from my eyes. My wicked smirk plastered across my face as I stared deep into Excella's horrified eyes.

"So.... so... you were?"shuddered out Excella.

"NOT so much of a filthy mutt now am I deary. Hahaha.... worry not, dear heart. I hold nothing against you. I could have killed you the moment I laid my eyes on you, but I didn't. After all, that's not what my daughter Alistar would want. I understand you found her corpse. I want to thank you for being her home to me and Albert." I took off my shades, revealing the deep blue sapphire like eyes.

Albert walked forward and stood next to me, "Excella, my dearheart here has a deal for you."

"What is this deal? What what can she give me that I don't already have? I have Albert and our research. I don't need anything more. So tell me what you can offer me?" She huffed, turning around, starting to walk out.

"Well, how about me not exposing Tricells' recent transgressions against the UNs anti bioterrist regulations." She turned around, horrified as the realization just hit her.

"You wouldn't dare! do you know who i am. No one would turn in trecell over

petty reason, like not building a work relationship." She said, walking towards me.

I laughed, amused, "If you think I'm not that petty, just ask Wesk. However, I have damn near infinite resources and connections as well from the B.S.A.A., the connections, even Nato and the UN. I have decades of research from umbrella and access to files that Wesker doesn't. I'm currently have an army of around two thousand soldiers, all with B.O.W. training. To think you would think I studied up on you when I found out about irving was connected to Tricell. Born to the Gionne family, Excella was a child prodigy. Graduating from high school at the ripe age of sixteen and college at twenty. She gained a bachelor of science degree majoring in genetic engineering. Valedictorian at that. Now you are an assistant to my power-hungry sadist of a husband. I love him dearly, but I can tell you, and I share that fact in common. Now I'll cut you a deal, one that will be hard to refuse."

I saw Albert smirk.

"Gentlemen, let's give my dear lotus and Excella some privacy." Wesker said, motioning for the men to leave.

"No need, Albert. I want to make sure you hear what is said. That way, I know she'll stay loyal to this contract. You did tell me she's loyal to you to a fault. Let me hear this deal you've concocted. " Excella smirked, sitting in one of the chairs.

"Simple and straight to the point, I like that. This is a four part deal, and I'll have the legal team draw up the contract for three parts. The last piece will be between me and you, Excella." I said, sitting back down in my office chair.

"But of course, I'm not an idiot. Now, let's hear these terms." She said in a very business manner.

"First of we don't rat each other out to the UN, B.S.A.A or any other authority." I said.

"That's very much agreeable." She said seething, "What else would you like out of this?".

"We share resources between Tricell and Phoenix Corps. This will include but not be limited to research, viral stabilizers, soldiers, the works, whatever you need that we can provide, and the same co yndition is applied to you at tricell." I stated, grabbing a dark blue fountain pen and paper writing out the conditions and signing by each one.

"I promise you the resourses of my branch of Tricell,and I'll contact my family and have the other branches reach out as well." She said, signing next to each of my signatures.

"Lastly of the main terms, we stay out of others' way and try to rule side by side the new world uroboros will usher in for us." I said, standing up and extending my hand out.

She stood up and took my hand in hers, "Then it's settled."

"Not quite. All but Archer leave this room now that's an order. Albert, I'll discuss this with you later, but for now, this is my base. You will listen to me. " I said, pointing to the door, "Do you have any objections, Ms. Gionne?"

"Yes, I'd rather have Albert in here rather than one of your flunkies. It's only fair since you are his wife, after all." She smirked.

"Excella, I will stay, but first let me talk to my dearest lotus in the hall." He said, pulling me out the door.

When we were in the hall, Albert backed me into a wall and pressed his lips against my neck. Pinning my shoulders, he stared into my eyes. He flashed his signature smirk with his eyes glowing. His cologne rolled into my nostrils.

"Since when did you become such a devilish negotiator, my dear lotus flower." Albert murmured into my neck, planting a kiss on my lips mere seconds after speaking.

"Being Sergei's lapdog for all those years did have some advantages. Like learning how to manipulate the situation. However, you my love, are still leagues better than I. Now I'm going to offer her a deal she can't refuse for her to possibly be our third. Then, when we are ready to cut her lose, we test uroboros on her. The final test of her worthiness." I let out a dark chuckle,"but we both know what we will find there."

"My lotus's petals have really darkened. Let's go finish this negotiation, I have a treat for you when this is over." He said, lifting me into a gentle kiss searing with ferocity.

I could tell he was holding back. The sadist I know he was was loving the fact I had to play nice with his chosen subordinate. I had to be his delicate  little flower, who obeyed his every command. He had a lot to learn about the new me.

I followed Wesk back into the room. A smirk wide on my face. Excella seemed interested in what I had under the black silk sheet.  I swiftly took my seat, ripping off the black cloth revealing the beverages.

I poured Excella and I a drink from the strawberry brandy and Albert a drink from the  Johnnie Walker, " Arjuna, Steve, agent Nighthawk, please leave us. I'll call ya'll back over my comm link." I said as the young men left the room.

"Now, what is the last part of this deal that you are proposing?" She asked as Albert slinks up behind her and strokes her face,"Albert!?"

"Isn't it obvious? Excella, my wife is being kind enough to share me with you, but only if you prove your loyalty to us."

"Does that mean? I'll be able to be with you, Albert?" She asked with a shocked expression.

"Only if you truly prove to be a partner to us." I said, handing her a glass of brandy, "Not just him but to me as well."

She gulped fear dripping from her brow as she took the glass i started to offer. "And let me guess, this is the only chance I have of getting with you, isn't it?" She looked up at Wesk.

He simply smirked and stood behind me. Placing a hand on my shoulder, he spoke,"This is all up to my dear lotus, Excella. Prove yourself to her, and your dreams may become a reality." He pulled my hair back, giving me a deep, passion filled kiss, "and from what I've seen,  you have a long way to go."

"Unless you'd rather always be alone except those boy toy interns you keep around." I said, sipping my brandy smuggly.

She gulped once again and raised her glass," I accept these conditions."

"To us, the Matriarchs of the Pheonix Corps. and Tricell." I said raising my glass while handing Albert his  scotch,"and the hierarchy of the new world."

Hey everyone sliva here quite the twist no? Relax this is not an Excella x reader or Excella x wesker fic. I have plans that run deep for this story. I am giving an advanced warning the next chapter will be dark. There will be  two separate cases of torturing. There will be manipulation. There will be gore blood and not good situations. You have been warned for now. I'll also have proper trigger warnings before each part.

My name is Silfarianhawk, and I'm not so far away.

[celestiall0tus]

Miraculous AU - Chapter 46 - Changes

Beginning || Previous || Next

            Lila sat at her desk with her phone hooked to her laptop. She finished sorting through her photos for the day before she scrolled through her social media. She paused when she saw an image of Adrien Agreste with his hair dyed, wearing grungy rock clothes, while standing next to a boy with dyed hair and the same grungy clothes.

            Lila squealed in delight. “Trixx, look!”

            Trixx floated from the bowl of grapes he was in. “What am I looking at?”

            “A delicious opportunity to cause mischief.”

            “How so?”

            “Well, according to the little research I’ve done, Adrien Agreste is some teen celebrity. Boy’s a model for his father’s dull, tasteless brand. The best part, the boy is a shut in, a perfectly well-behaved child. And he’s hitting rebellion!”

            “Who’s the other boy?”

            “I don’t know. Maybe his boyfriend?”

            “Are you sure?”

            “You know I never am, but that’s what I’m calling him. I mean, come on, they look like boyfriends. Adrien’s wearing that boy’s clothes and even has his hair dyed like the boy’s. They have to be dating.”

            Trixx shrugged and grabbed a couple of grapes. He placed one in Lila’s hand. “Another all-nighter?”

            “For me. You can get some sleep.”

            “And miss the fun? Not a chance.”

            Lila smiled and nuzzled Trixx, then returned to her work.

~~

            Nathalie rolled out of bed and went about her morning routine. She dreaded what the day would bring after the madness of yesterday. She needed something to pacify Felix and keep him from agitating Adrien. With Adrien, she needed to keep an extra close eye on. Gabriel threatened to terminate her if he continued to step out of line. She doubted Gabriel would go that far, but she’d rather not test that. She finished her routine as she heard the click of claws on the floor. She stepped out of the bathroom and saw Duusu running around the room like a madman.

            “What’s gotten into you?”

            Duusu jumped on the bed and ran circles around Mayura’s phone. Nathalie grabbed it as Duusu perched on her shoulder. She looked at an article of Adrien with dyed hair and grungy rock clothes next to Luka. The article spun a story of Adrien hitting teen rebellion and potential coming out. She closed out of the article and searched up Adrien. She found countless articles and posts regarding the image.

            Duusu transformed into his kwami form. “So, what do we think?”

            “I think we need to start packing.”

            “You really think Gabriel will fire you?”

            “He did once. What’s to stop him from doing it again?”

            “Alright. I’ll start packing. Oh! This means I can look for apartments again! I’m going to find a nice one this time now that we have good money.”

            “Don’t blow the bank. We will need to make the money last if he’s going to fire me.”

            “Fine. Can I at least look for a bigger apartment? You know in case your children want to move in with you.”

            Nathalie sighed and rubbed her forehead. “That’s fine.”

            Duusu gasped and smiled. “You’re not going to fight me on that? I’m so proud of you!”

            “No, because I can see it clearly. Adrien and Alix see me as something of a mother figure. I was thinking of offering Alix a room if it ever came to this, but Adrien would have to stay here.”

            “Of course, of course.”

            Nathalie grabbed her normal phone and headed to Adrien’s room. She knocked once but heard no answer. She knocked again, then entered the room. She turned the corner and saw the bed was empty. Fear gripped her as she looked into the bathroom but didn’t see him.

            “Oh, shit.”

            Nathalie returned to her room and shut the door behind her. Duusu turned and tilted his head.

            “Everything ok?”

            “He’s not here.”

            Duusu’s tail twitched. “What? Like, he’s still out?”

            “I think so. I think he’s still with Luka.”

            “Well, I don’t know what to say, except, we’re screwed.”

            Nathalie sat on her bed. She hadn’t heard anything from Gabriel, so she had time. She could go retrieve Adrien, have him back before Gabriel was up, but what then? The gossip spread like wildfire through the night. Once Gabriel saw that, she’d be fired if seeing Adrien wouldn’t do it. Even if he didn’t fire her, everything would change. Adrien finally took his steps to stand against Gabriel. She was proud of him, but terrified for herself. Where would she go? What would she do?

            Duusu flew over and sat on Nathalie’s shoulder. “Hey, may I?”

            Nathalie nodded.

            “I know you wanted to change. You wanted to make a step towards your future and maybe this is a chance. You’ve been caged here for so long, that even when you were free, you weren’t truly. But now, the lock has been cast away and the door is open. This is your chance to escape this gilded cage. Mayura would. What about Nathalie?”

            “What about Adrien? He needs me.”

            “Just because you aren’t here, doesn’t mean you won’t be around for him. You’re both holders and will see each other. He also has the phone you got him, and you have your own as well. You’ll always be in touch no matter the distance. You won’t be abandoning him.”

            “He may not see it that way. I’ve only just… and now I might be leaving.”

            “I think of everyone, he’d be the one to understand why. Especially if the choice is yours. And I think it’s time to truly live for yourself, Precious. You’ve lived for others long enough. Live as Mayura even as Nathalie. You have that chance. The door is open. Fly and be free, Precious.”

            Nathalie took several deep breaths, then nodded. “Start getting the stuff I’ve bought and only what I’ve bought. I’m going to get the book.”

            Nathalie hurried to her office and retrieved the book on kwamis. She rushed back to her room. She pulled a travel bag from under her bed. Duusu filled it with the beauty care products while she factory reset the laptop and phone Gabriel gave her. She pulled her personal cards out, then set the wallet on the desk with the laptop. She grabbed her phone and dialed Anarka Couffaine. It rang a few times before Anarka answered.

            “Who’s bloody calling me this early? Explain yer self!”

            “Miss Couffaine, I apologize for the early morning wake-up. This is Mayura.”

            “Oh! It’s you, lass. Ignore that earlier statement. What can I do for ye?”

            “I have a big favor to ask. I hate to ask it since you don’t really know me.”

            “Nonsense, lass! You’ve been helping me kids become heroes. How can I help ye?”

            “I need a place to stay while I search for an apartment. I have the money to compensate you.”

            “Is everything alright?”

            “I’m afraid not. I will likely be fired today. And even if I’m not, I don’t think I can stay here much longer.”

            “Well, this is the least I can do. You fine with the couch, lass?”

            “Couch is perfectly fine.”

            Duusu paused and recoiled at the declaration.

            “It’s settled then. I’ll call my girls.”

            “Thank you. See you soon.”

            Nathalie hung up and called Alix. The phone rang to voicemail. She tried a few more times before Alix answered.

            “Mayura? What’s up? Is everything ok?”

            “Alix, I need a small favor. Can you come teleport me to the Couffaine residence? I had just spoken with Anarka and made arrangements to live with them while I search for an apartment.”

            “Hold on.”

            Nathalie waited while she heard Alix’s voice in the background with a few other girls. Alix screamed at them to wake up, followed by more screaming. Nathalie pinched her brow as she moved to her closet. She pulled out a box she kept in the corner. Inside were the only clothes she actually owned that Duusu pushed her to buy. She shifted through the colorful garments when she heard Alix’s voice.

            “Hey, Mayura? Are you still there?”

            “I am.”

            “We’re on our way. We just need to grab our bags and breakfast from Marinette’s dad. Where are you?”

            “I’ll text it to you. I’ll be outside as soon as I change.”

            “Sounds good. See you soon!” Alix hung up the line.

            Nathalie texted Alix the location. She put the phone down and stripped out of her suit. She hung the clothes up in the closet before she pulled her own clothes out. She settled on a light blue ruffle shirt, jeans, and high-heeled boots. She let her hair out of its bun and fall around her. She removed the glasses Gabriel paid for and put in her old contacts.

            “Are you finished, Duusu?”

            “Yup! All my supplies are packed away.”

            Nathalie nodded. She placed the brooch on her shoulder under her hair. She slipped her cards into her phone case, then put her phone in her back pocket. She slipped the bag around her shoulder and scooped the box. Duusu phased into the box as she headed for the front door.

            “Nathalie? Where are you going?” Felix asked.

            Nathalie stopped and looked back at him. “I’m leaving, Felix.”

            “Why?”

            “If I’m going to lose my job again, I’ll be leaving on my own terms.”

            “Why would you lose your job?”

            Nathalie laughed. “I hate to ruin the surprise. Have fun with Gabriel later.”

            Felix called out to her, but Nathalie left. She headed out the gate as Liberte appeared with Juleka and Rose. They stared at each other until Duusu popped his head out.

            “Greetings, ladies. I am Duusu. Pleasure to meet you.”

            “Good to see you again, Duusu,” Fluff said atop Rose’s head.

            Mullo squeaked and peaked out from Juleka’s hair.

            “Is everything alright-?” Liberte started

            “Nathalie. And I will be. Eventually.”

            “Do you want to talk?” Liberte asked.

            “There will be time to talk once we get to the Couffaine residence. First, I need some coffee. Do you ladies drink coffee?”

            Juleka and Rose nodded.

            “Can I choose the place?” Liberte asked.

            “You’re the taxi,” Juleka remarked.

            Liberte snorted and teleported them to a café. The people jumped back as the group approached the counter.

            “Alright, let’s see. Two black coffees,” Juleka started.

            “Three,” Liberte interrupted.

            “Alright, three black coffees, one regular, a mocha, and Nathalie?”

            “Another mocha and a triple espresso.”

            Nathalie paid for the drinks and Liberte teleported them to the Couffaine residence. They put the drinks and breakfast on the countertop. Nathalie put her stuff next to the coffee table.

            “So, what’s going on?” Liberte asked.

            “I’ll show you. Juleka, which room is Luka’s?”

            Juleka showed them to Luka’s room. She opened the door, and they stepped inside. Luka and Adrien sat on the bed, shoulder-to-shoulder, fast asleep. Adrien had his head on Luka’s shoulder while Luka rested his head on Adrien’s. Sheets of music lay scattered around them on the bed and floor.

            “When did Luka have a boyfriend?” Liberte asked.

            “He doesn’t,” Juleka said.

            “Then what do you call that?”

            Juleka and Rose shrugged.

            Nathalie sighed and approached the boys. She reached out and hesitated for a moment, then shook Adrien’s shoulder. It took a few shakes before Adrien cracked his eyes open. He stretched and shifted. He blinked as he saw Nathalie.

            “Nathalie? Is that you? You look different.”

            “Who else would it be?”

            Adrien sighed and closed his eyes. “Five more minutes, please.”

            “I think Luka needs to get up too.”

            Adrien opened his eyes and looked around. He panicked when he realized he passed out hanging out with Luka.

            “Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no! I’m sorry, Nathalie. I-.”

            “It’s ok, but we need to talk. Come on. Let’s grab some breakfast and sit outside.”

            Adrien nodded. He followed her and grabbed their coffee cups and a pastry, then headed up to the deck.

            “Nathalie, did Father… fire you?”

            “No, but I believe he will. So, I left on my own terms, before he could.”

            “I’m sorry, for what I did. I didn’t want to cause you your job. Plagg reassured me-.”

            “Easy. I’m not upset with you, I’m proud of you.”

            “Why? I cost you your job.”

            “It’s just a job. There’s no need to fret over that. Especially since what you did was a major accomplishment.”

            “How?”

            “You’re finally becoming your own person and it’s a better look that whatever Gabriel had. I didn’t say this, but I think all his taste died with Emilie.”

            Adrien’s eyes widened, then he giggled. “That’s a little mean.”

            “Maybe so, but your old man has put me through hell and I’m finally free of him. Well, I will be once I drop you off.”

            “I wish I could stay with you.”

            “I’m sorry you have to go back there. I don’t want to leave you alone in that house, but Duusu is right. It’s time to let go, to move on. And it’s the hardest thing I’ve had to do.”

            “Are you ok?”

            “I’m terrified. I don’t know what will happen. What the future has in store for me, nothing. It reminds me so much of last time, but this time, I’m not alone. This time, I won’t be hoping Gabriel will take me back. This time, I will finally let go of the chains I clung to and head forward. After all, I should lead by example with so many eyes on me.”

            “Can I still come see you? Will you stay in touch?”

            “Of course. I may not be there, but I won’t leave your life. I’m always a phone call or text away. And once I have an apartment, you’re free to stay should you need to get away from Gabriel. You’ll just have to put up with Alix. I do plan on extending an invitation to her.”

            They paused when they heard Luka screech. “Alix! What the hell?”

            “What’s the problem, Luka? I’ve got something on. I’m sure you’ve seen this all before!” Alix yelled.

            “I have not.”

            “How? You live with three girls, soon to be four.”

            “Oh, don’t be mean, Alix. Luka’s just a really modest guy,” Rose said.

            “Aye. Poor lad can’t even look in the mirror with a shirt off,” Anarka added.

            “Mom!” Luka yelled.

            “Hey, Luka! Wanna wrestle?” Alix asked.

            “Don’t even, Alix. Alix? No. Stop. Get away!”

            They heard a loud crash followed by sounds of a struggle. The rest of the girls cheered on. Duusu materialized and perched on Nathalie’s shoulder. Plagg walked up in cat form and sat on Adrien’s lap.

            “They’re like animals in there, Precious. Animals.”

            Nathalie sighed and rubbed her forehead.

            Adrien smiled and hugged Nathalie. “Thank you.”

            Nathalie hugged him back. “You’re welcome.”

            They finished their breakfast, then Nathalie stood. She held out her hand to Adrien.

            “Alright, time to take you home. Let’s show Gabriel that he can’t control us.”

            Adrien nodded and took it. Plagg vanished as she helped him up.

            “Alix? We’re ready,” Nathalie called out.

            Liberte rushed up with Juleka, Luka, and Rose.

            “Alright, let’s go!” Rose cheered.

            “We’re going to be there for him,” Luka said.

            “So, we’re coming too.”

            Nathalie nodded. Liberte teleported them outside the Agreste manor. Gabriel was outside with the Roger when they turned to see the group appear. Adrien shrank back when Gabriel’s eyes fell on him. Luka and Juleka placed a hand on Adrien’s shoulder, then stepped past Adrien.

            Gabriel locked eyes with Luka. “You. Explain yourself. What have you done to my son?”

            “I gave him a makeover. Something fresh for your dying brand,” Luka said.

            Gabriel sneered and started towards Luka but was stopped by Roger.

            “Let me handle this, Gabriel. It’s my job after all. Alright, care to explain what happened and how you came in contact with Adrien? Gabriel says Adrien doesn’t have any friends and was likely kidnapped.”

            “On the contrary, he does. He met us the one day he went to school. And I was the one that found him last night in the streets. He snuck out and when I tried to take him home, he refused. So, I took him to my place where he met my brother here,” Juleka explained.

            “And what were you doing out late, young lady?”

            Juleka smiled. “Mullo, get squeaky.”

            Mullo vanished into the pendant and transformed Juleka.

            “Alright. Adrien, please step forward.”

            Adrien joined Luka and Souris. Rose stepped up beside Juleka and Liberte beside Luka. Nathalie trailed behind and stood in the back.

            “Is what Souris claimed true?”

            “Yes.”

            “How did you get out?” Gabriel demanded.

            “The front door. It was easier than I expected.”

            Alix snickered. “Even my parents wouldn’t let me slip out the front door.”

            Roger gave Liberte a stern look. She snorted and flipped him off.

            “Well, looks like this was nothing more than a rebellious teen. Good luck, Gabriel. Alix, we’re watching you.”

            “It’s Liberte now, pigs.”

            “What about Nathalie? She’s missing too.”

            Nathalie cleared her throat.

            Gabriel looked at Nathalie. “Who are you?”

            “Father, it’s Nathalie.”

            “What? No, it isn’t.”

            “Yes, Gabriel, it’s me.”

            “What the hell are you wearing? Why aren’t you in uniform?”

            “Because I quit, Gabriel.”

            “What? You can’t do this to me, Nathalie!”

            “Yes, I can and am. Now you can raise the son you’ve been too busy to raise his whole life. You can’t give that responsibility to anyone else now, Gabriel. Liberte, let’s go.”

            Liberte nodded. They each hugged Adrien, then teleported them back to Juleka and Luka’s place. Adrien took a deep breath as he waited for Gabriel to speak.

            “Go to your room. Now. I’ll deal with you later.”

            Adrien blinked, then headed inside.

            “Well, if that’s all, we’ll be heading out.”

            “Hold a moment, chief.”

            “Is something wrong, Mister Agreste?”

            “A loose end has been undone. Take care of it.”

            “To what end?”

   ��        “Whatever gets the job done.”

~~

            Liberte and the group arrived back at the Couffaine residence. Luka sighed and retreated to his room. Souris de-transformed and sat on the couch with Rose. Liberte lingered behind with Nathalie. She looked up at Nathalie and tilted her head. Nathalie had a thousand-yard stare and her skin pale. Duusu materialized before Nathalie.

            “Precious? Are you ok?”

            Nathalie shook her head as she hugged herself. Anarka peered out from the kitchen and moved over to Nathalie.

            “Lass? What’s wrong? Ye look ill.”

            “Duusu, spread my feathers.”

            Juleka and Rose turned as Nathalie became Mayura. She fell to the ground as she hyperventilated. She buried her face in her hands as tears fell.

            “What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?”

            Anarka rushed to Mayura’s side. “Easy, lass. Breathe.”

            “I can’t believe what I just did. How could I do that? How could I think he’d fire me? Why did I say those things? He’ll never take me back after that. What have I done?”

            Liberte knelt beside Mayura. “Fuck him! You shouldn’t have to be stuck in a place like that. Not where you’re trapped by a man like that asshole.”

            Juleka and Rose joined them.

            “Yeah. Even if we don’t know the full extent of your employment with the Agrestes, it was painfully obvious that Gabriel didn’t value you,” Juleka added.

            “What happened?”

            “Gabriel didn’t recognize Nathalie. He scolded her for not being in uniform, and when she said she quit, Gabriel said that she couldn’t do that.” Rose answered.

            “Which, she said she is, and he’d have to actually raise his son now,” Juleka added.

            “Oh, lass, you did the right thing.”

            “But I didn’t have to leave. He wouldn’t have fired me. I should have realized he was bluffing, that I was needed. Now Adrien and Felix-.” Mayura stopped when Liberte hugged her.

            “They’ll be ok, but you needed to get out of there. Look at you. Look what he’s done to you! No one should ever make you feel this way. No one. I’m glad you did and said those things. Cause now you’re free.”

            Anarka hugged Mayura. “Aye, lass. Freedom is a valuable thing. No one deserves to be in a cage. And you broke free. I know you’ll worry for the boys, but they’ll be alright. If they need you, they’ll come to you. And I feel we’ll see them again before long. You’ll see.”

            Mayura lowered her hands and nodded. Tears fell from her eyes as she stared at the ground. Rose hugged her, then Juleka. The girls sat on the floor as they all embraced and comforted Mayura.

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[andydrysdalerogers]

Undercover ~ Chapter Thirteen ~ The Line of Succession

Pairings: Jake Jensen and OFC Samantha Matthews

The Losers have made it back to their families and are out. Well, almost. A threat against the British crown needs to be handled and the CIA has tapped the Losers for one final mission. And they are sending in Jensen.

Jake Jensen hasn't been a civilian in years but now he's undercover to find out why his target is where he is and who he's after.

Enter Sam, someone who Jake doesn't expect and well, he didn't know he was looking for.

Can Jake handle his mission and falling in love? Especially when the truth leads to a bigger mission than expected?

*~* A Jake Jensen Story *~*

Author's note: this story continues after the events of the Losers. I may weave other characters into it but they are all minor. THE TAGLIST IS OPEN.

The playlist is available on Spotify.

cover photo by me! Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Warnings: angst, death, smut, and a bunch of stuff a can’t say because it gives away the plot!

Previous: Chapter Twelve - Her Royal Highness

Story Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Please note that I do not give permission for my work to be translated, reposted, or published anywhere other than my Tumblr. Reblogs are most welcome though!

The call comes unexpectantly. The team was already in the air, after having debriefed Director Fowler and Inspector Hart.  Hart gave them the green light to head into his office and they were wheels up four hours later.  Jake tried calling Sam but she didn’t pick up.  Clay answered the phone.  “Clay?... Yes, sir.” He tapped the screen. “You’re on speaker.”  

“There was an attack on Parliament about 45 minutes ago.  Their Majesties are alright but... I’m sorry, they have taken Her Royal Highness.”  

“Sam?” Jake’s brain was not computing. “They took Samantha?” 

“Yes. The lights went out and several flash bangs were fired, causing a run and when the lights came up, she was gone.”  

“What about Edward?” 

“He is missing as well.”  

“We told you this was his plan!” Jake exploded. “We told you he was the one who hired Fitzgerald. He wants to take over the monarchy! And you didn’t listen! Now look what happened! She is with him and whoever else he hired and … FUCK!”  Jake grabbed his head.  

“We touch down in an hour,” Clay told the Inspector. “Is there video, cameras, anything?”  

“We’ll have it ready for you. The Royal Protection Service is deferring to you, Colonel, since this was their failure.”  

“Copy that. See you soon.” Clay hung up and kneeled in front of Jensen. “Jake, we’ll find her.”  

“She has to be so scared.” Jake’s eyes were red. “She’s strong but she’ll be scared.”  

“I know, Jake but we’ll find her and bring her home, ok?” Jake nodded rubbing his eyes. “Can you do this? Everything will be ready for us on the ground. I need you to focus and get to work.” 

“Yeah, alright. I could use Aisha help.” 

“Of course, Jake”.  

“Alight, Jensen and Aisha have the tech. Pooch, Cougar, I want you in the room, checking for anything that can tip us off on who Prince Edward is working with.  It was coordinated and tactical. Fitzgerald was only on the US side. Someone else had to have been working this here. I’ll work with the Inspector and the RPS.”  

The plane landed and headed inside of a hanger, where Inspector Hart was waiting for them. “Captain...” 

“Don’t,” Jake said.  “Where are the camera feeds?” 

“Right here.” Hart pointed at the terminal.  Jake jumped on the computer.  

“Aisha, I need you to work through traffic cameras with this,” he pulled out a chip. “It's facial recognition software. Find a picture of Edward and run it. Let’s see where that slimeball went.  I’ll study this footage and see if I can find who was helping inside of Parliament.”  

Only the sound of clicking and low voices filled the hanger. Jake’s eyes scanned the video on one screen as code ran on another.  After a few minutes the code screen stopped and pulled up whatever Jake was looking for.  He smiled and then looked at the video. He was up to the part where Sam would walk into the chamber.  He frowned when he saw her hand in the crook of some guy’s arm but then he noticed Edward.  

“What are you doing, old man?” Jake rewound the tape and watched again. He saw Sam recoil away from him and then walk away but instead of focusing on her, no matter how beautiful she looked, he focused on Edward.  The man pulled out his phone and typed a message. Jake couldn’t see the screen but then he noticed the reflection behind him.  

“Son of a bitch! Clay! I’ve got it. Edward sent a message five minutes before Sam was presented. All it was one word: GO. But you can see the number. I traced it, and it goes back to a Major August Walker, Royal Protection Service.”  

“What?” Inspector Hart was dumbfounded. “Major Walker is the head of the protection for Her Royal Highness.  He was in her father’s security team for ten years and his Majesty had selected him for her team. This doesn’t make sense.”  

Jake kept typing. “Well, Major Walker has some beef with the crown. Harold had ordered a team into Bosnia including Walker and half of the team was killed by friendly fire. Walker was discharged from the Army and for his service, given a position in the RPS.”  

“Shit, Edward is for pulling all troops from around the world, essentially leaving our allies vulnerable.” Hart started to pace. His reasoning is ‘England before all.’ But there is no way to implement that with Anthony on the throne. The Prime Minister is a sensible man but if the crown is on its knees, then maybe he can be swayed.”  

“That doesn’t explain why he took Sam,” Clay said. “The reasoning is sound, but they had the chance to take Anthony.”  

Aisha mused, “Because if you control the heir, you control the crown. If they said they would kill Samantha unless Anthony stepped down...” 

“That would leave Edward or his son Lewis to take over,” Clay finished.  He looked at Jake. “We need to find her.”  

Sam’s head was pounding. Trying to open her eyes, she also struggled to take a deep breath. Her eyes were covered but her ribs protested slightly. She gasped when she moved her head, the pain blinding behind her eyes. 

“Easy their Princess.”  A hand touched her, rough and callous.  She jumped as her eyes continued to try and open. “Whoa, its ok.” 

“Who- who are you?” 

“Don’t answer her.” Dread filled Sam. She knew that voice and she feared it.  Someone grasped her chin and pulled off the blindfold.” Open your eyes child.”  Sam blinked and the world was still unfocused, however, she knew who had taken her.  

“Uncle?” 

“You were always sharp, even as a child.”  Edward stepped back with a laugh.  

“Why? Why did you...” 

“Take you? Because, my dear, he who controls the heir, controls the world. Imagine my surprise when my brother announced to me that the little girl who belonged to his girlfriend was actually his daughter. The heir to the throne after his son.” Sam kept blinking as the world began to focus. “It was supposed to be me! I was supposed to take the throne! Not that wannabe king Anthony. I’ve lost my chance at it but my son, your cousin Lewis is primed to be my puppet on the throne.”  

“It’s the line of succession.  You knew being a younger son there was no guarantee that you would succeed.”  

“Thank you for the history lesson.” Edward backhanded her and she cried out as the chair tipped and hit the ground.  “Watch her,” she told the soldier and left the room.  

The soldier nodded and then moved to help Sam back up. “Are you alright, Your Royal Highness?”  

“Why do you care?” Sam could finally focus and saw who the soldier was. “Major Walker?” 

“I’m sorry Princess. But it is what must be done. Do you need anything?” 

“Some water, please. And maybe untie my arms. It's starting to hurt.”  

“I’ll get you some.” He left the room and Sam took in where she was at. No windows, and a bathroom.  From where she could turn her head, she saw a bed and a table.  She took a few calming breaths. What would JJ do? She said to herself. She thought back.  

She and Jake were in bed, Sam was lying across the foot on her belly, just the blanket covering her body. “Babe, if you are ever in a position where your captor is bigger than you, just remember these four points: noise, stomach, groin and foot.”   “Why?” She kicked her legs in the air as she stared up to Jake sitting against the headboard.   “Those are the soft spots. Maximum amount of pain which can usually incapacitate a man. Stomp on his foot, elbow him in the stomach, just under the ribs, kick him in the balls and smash his nose with the heel of your palm. It gives you time to get away.”  “Can we practice?” She sat up, the blanket falling around her middle, but now her breasts were exposed.   “No, we cannot because you’re distracting me.” He launched himself at her, tackling her as she giggled and pinning her as he kissed her hard. “I love you.”   “I love you.”  “We’ll practice tomorrow.  Maybe Pooch or Cougar can help?” 

Sam snapped back as Walker came back into the room with a bottle of water. He opened it and gave her a sip. “Better?” 

She nodded. “Can you untie me?” 

“No.” Walker looked away from her. She saw he had keys and a gun. She just needed to get loose and then she could escape.  Where? Who knows, but she knew Jake was looking for her. He would once he realized she wasn’t calling him back on the phone.  

Jake will find me. I know he will.  

Jake and the rest of the team met up with the RPS at the Parliament building.  “Did you find anything?” he asked Pooch and Cougar.  

“No, but that’s the interesting part.”  

“Why is that interesting?” Clay asked.  

“Because there isn’t any evidence that they left. All of the outside surveillance was active. They never showed up and they never left,” Pooch explained  

“That’s because of the underground tunnels.” A new voice joined in.  Jake looked over and saw an older man. He looked familiar. And it dawned on Jake. This was Samantha’s father.  Another man joined who looked like him but 30 years young. “The undergrounds were made so royals could come in and negotiate without setting off the press,” Harold explained. “Every royal raised here knows about them.”  

“And you are?” Clay asked.  

Harold dropped the formalities. “Harold Davenport. This is my son, Anthony.”  

“Your highness, Majesty, sorry,” Jake said.  

Harold studied him.  “You must be Jake.” He offered his hand. “My Samantha has spoken very highly of you.” 

“Thanks, I think. You’re pawning her off to a duke or earl or something right?” 

Harold looked abashed. “That is a family decision but given the circumstances, best we wait until we get her back.”  

“Right,” Jake huffed.  

“Sirs, we have a video message.”  They gathered around the screen.  It was of a hooded man, Samantha unconscious, eyes covered and still in the beautiful blue gown.  

“We have the Princess Samantha.  For her release, we need televised confirmation of our troops being withdrawn from around the world and the abdication of His Majesty, Anthony of England.  We will also require that the she sign away her rights as heir to the throne of England. You have 48 hours to comply with our demands, otherwise, the consequences will be dire.”  

The video cut out.  Jake was vibrating with anger. “Can I see that?” He pointed to the computer. The soldier at the controls moved and Jake began typing.  The screen moved with measurements and code over the video.  “The signal was bounced around a lot so getting a lock on the origin will be tough.  However,” he typed some more. “This is man is Walker.”  Jake scanned some more. “This is a room with nothing reflective in it except for Walker’s goggles.  I can see the camera.”  

“How in the bloody hell does he know it’s Walker?” Anthony whispered to his father.  

“Based on the height in the room and how small Sam is sitting I have his height at 6’ 1”. His mass also suggests he’s about 100 kilos or 220 pounds. Both measurements fit Walker’s profile. And the fact that he is also missing.”  Jake kept his eyes on the screen as he spoke.  “I got it.” He enlarged the picture to show the man behind the camera.  

“Fuck, that is my brother,” Harold said.  

“Yep. We knew that already,” Clay said. “We tried to reach the RPS while we were in the air, but the attack already occurred.”  

Harold rubbed his temple.  “If he is leading this, then we have to head down to the tunnels.”  

“No, we will find her,” Jake said. “You said she would be safe here. You said it was for the best. This was nothing more than leading a lamb to be slaughtered. I am getting my girl back and taking her home.”  

“This is her home,” Anthony argued.  

“This was her prison.” Jake stood toe to toe with Sam’s brother. “Do you even know your sister? How amazing she is? How resilient she is? She was left with her mother in the U.S., met a man who promised to love her and then screwed her over and left her broken. But she fixed herself in a beautiful, caring, loving person who ensnared me in her love. She is the love of my life and when I say I’m taking her home, it means I’m going to marry her and build her a home where she doesn’t have to worry about her asshole brother who doesn’t love her.”  

Jake’s chest heaved as Clay grasped his shoulder. “Its ok Jake. C'mon, let’s get ready to rescue the princess.”  

“I do care about my sister.” Anthony looked at Jake. “I...” 

Jake cut him off. “If you love your sister, let me do my job.” He took off the brace from his arm.  

“You need three more weeks with that,” Aisha said softly.  

“And I need to save my girl.” Jake pulled a rifle.  

Clay smiled. “You heard the man. Losers! Round up.” 

NEXT

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