#Risk Based Audit

[danielstephanus]

Pengauditan 1: Mengomunikasikan Kelemahan SPI & Menyelesaikan Penilian Risiko Audit Akhir....

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Demon-haunted computers are back, baby

Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables on Jan 22 at 8PM.

As a science fiction writer, I am professionally irritated by a lot of sf movies. Not only do those writers get paid a lot more than I do, they insist on including things like "self-destruct" buttons on the bridges of their starships.

Look, I get it. When the evil empire is closing in on your flagship with its secret transdimensional technology, it's important that you keep those secrets out of the emperor's hand. An irrevocable self-destruct switch there on the bridge gets the job done! (It has to be irrevocable, otherwise the baddies'll just swarm the bridge and toggle it off).

But c'mon. If there's a facility built into your spaceship that causes it to explode no matter what the people on the bridge do, that is also a pretty big security risk! What if the bad guy figures out how to hijack the measure that – by design – the people who depend on the spaceship as a matter of life and death can't detect or override?

I mean, sure, you can try to simplify that self-destruct system to make it easier to audit and assure yourself that it doesn't have any bugs in it, but remember Schneier's Law: anyone can design a security system that works so well that they themselves can't think of a flaw in it. That doesn't mean you've made a security system that works – only that you've made a security system that works on people stupider than you.

I know it's weird to be worried about realism in movies that pretend we will ever find a practical means to visit other star systems and shuttle back and forth between them (which we are very, very unlikely to do):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/09/astrobezzle/#send-robots-instead

But this kind of foolishness galls me. It galls me even more when it happens in the real world of technology design, which is why I've spent the past quarter-century being very cross about Digital Rights Management in general, and trusted computing in particular.

It all starts in 2002, when a team from Microsoft visited our offices at EFF to tell us about this new thing they'd dreamed up called "trusted computing":

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/05/trusting-trust/#thompsons-devil

The big idea was to stick a second computer inside your computer, a very secure little co-processor, that you couldn't access directly, let alone reprogram or interfere with. As far as this "trusted platform module" was concerned, you were the enemy. The "trust" in trusted computing was about other people being able to trust your computer, even if they didn't trust you.

So that little TPM would do all kinds of cute tricks. It could observe and produce a cryptographically signed manifest of the entire boot-chain of your computer, which was meant to be an unforgeable certificate attesting to which kind of computer you were running and what software you were running on it. That meant that programs on other computers could decide whether to talk to your computer based on whether they agreed with your choices about which code to run.

This process, called "remote attestation," is generally billed as a way to identify and block computers that have been compromised by malware, or to identify gamers who are running cheats and refuse to play with them. But inevitably it turns into a way to refuse service to computers that have privacy blockers turned on, or are running stream-ripping software, or whose owners are blocking ads:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/02/self-incrimination/#wei-bai-bai

After all, a system that treats the device's owner as an adversary is a natural ally for the owner's other, human adversaries. The rubric for treating the owner as an adversary focuses on the way that users can be fooled by bad people with bad programs. If your computer gets taken over by malicious software, that malware might intercept queries from your antivirus program and send it false data that lulls it into thinking your computer is fine, even as your private data is being plundered and your system is being used to launch malware attacks on others.

These separate, non-user-accessible, non-updateable secure systems serve a nubs of certainty, a remote fortress that observes and faithfully reports on the interior workings of your computer. This separate system can't be user-modifiable or field-updateable, because then malicious software could impersonate the user and disable the security chip.

It's true that compromised computers are a real and terrifying problem. Your computer is privy to your most intimate secrets and an attacker who can turn it against you can harm you in untold ways. But the widespread redesign of out computers to treat us as their enemies gives rise to a range of completely predictable and – I would argue – even worse harms. Building computers that treat their owners as untrusted parties is a system that works well, but fails badly.

First of all, there are the ways that trusted computing is designed to hurt you. The most reliable way to enshittify something is to supply it over a computer that runs programs you can't alter, and that rats you out to third parties if you run counter-programs that disenshittify the service you're using. That's how we get inkjet printers that refuse to use perfectly good third-party ink and cars that refuse to accept perfectly good engine repairs if they are performed by third-party mechanics:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

It's how we get cursed devices and appliances, from the juicer that won't squeeze third-party juice to the insulin pump that won't connect to a third-party continuous glucose monitor:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

But trusted computing doesn't just create an opaque veil between your computer and the programs you use to inspect and control it. Trusted computing creates a no-go zone where programs can change their behavior based on whether they think they're being observed.

The most prominent example of this is Dieselgate, where auto manufacturers murdered hundreds of people by gimmicking their cars to emit illegal amount of NOX. Key to Dieselgate was a program that sought to determine whether it was being observed by regulators (it checked for the telltale signs of the standard test-suite) and changed its behavior to color within the lines.

Software that is seeking to harm the owner of the device that's running it must be able to detect when it is being run inside a simulation, a test-suite, a virtual machine, or any other hallucinatory virtual world. Just as Descartes couldn't know whether anything was real until he assured himself that he could trust his senses, malware is always questing to discover whether it is running in the real universe, or in a simulation created by a wicked god:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/28/descartes-was-an-optimist/#uh-oh

That's why mobile malware uses clever gambits like periodically checking for readings from your device's accelerometer, on the theory that a virtual mobile phone running on a security researcher's test bench won't have the fidelity to generate plausible jiggles to match the real data that comes from a phone in your pocket:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/01/google-play-malware-used-phones-motion-sensors-to-conceal-itself/

Sometimes this backfires in absolutely delightful ways. When the Wannacry ransomware was holding the world hostage, the security researcher Marcus Hutchins noticed that its code made reference to a very weird website: iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com. Hutchins stood up a website at that address and every Wannacry-infection in the world went instantly dormant:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#the-matrix

It turns out that Wannacry's authors were using that ferkakte URL the same way that mobile malware authors were using accelerometer readings – to fulfill Descartes' imperative to distinguish the Matrix from reality. The malware authors knew that security researchers often ran malicious code inside sandboxes that answered every network query with fake data in hopes of eliciting responses that could be analyzed for weaknesses. So the Wannacry worm would periodically poll this nonexistent website and, if it got an answer, it would assume that it was being monitored by a security researcher and it would retreat to an encrypted blob, ceasing to operate lest it give intelligence to the enemy. When Hutchins put a webserver up at iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com, every Wannacry instance in the world was instantly convinced that it was running on an enemy's simulator and withdrew into sulky hibernation.

The arms race to distinguish simulation from reality is critical and the stakes only get higher by the day. Malware abounds, even as our devices grow more intimately woven through our lives. We put our bodies into computers – cars, buildings – and computers inside our bodies. We absolutely want our computers to be able to faithfully convey what's going on inside them.

But we keep running as hard as we can in the opposite direction, leaning harder into secure computing models built on subsystems in our computers that treat us as the threat. Take UEFI, the ubiquitous security system that observes your computer's boot process, halting it if it sees something it doesn't approve of. On the one hand, this has made installing GNU/Linux and other alternative OSes vastly harder across a wide variety of devices. This means that when a vendor end-of-lifes a gadget, no one can make an alternative OS for it, so off the landfill it goes.

It doesn't help that UEFI – and other trusted computing modules – are covered by Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes it a felony to publish information that can bypass or weaken the system. The threat of a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine means that UEFI and other trusted computing systems are understudied, leaving them festering with longstanding bugs:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/09/free-sample/#que-viva

Here's where it gets really bad. If an attacker can get inside UEFI, they can run malicious software that – by design – no program running on our computers can detect or block. That badware is running in "Ring -1" – a zone of privilege that overrides the operating system itself.

Here's the bad news: UEFI malware has already been detected in the wild:

https://securelist.com/cosmicstrand-uefi-firmware-rootkit/106973/

And here's the worst news: researchers have just identified another exploitable UEFI bug, dubbed Pixiefail:

https://blog.quarkslab.com/pixiefail-nine-vulnerabilities-in-tianocores-edk-ii-ipv6-network-stack.html

Writing in Ars Technica, Dan Goodin breaks down Pixiefail, describing how anyone on the same LAN as a vulnerable computer can infect its firmware:

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/01/new-uefi-vulnerabilities-send-firmware-devs-across-an-entire-ecosystem-scrambling/

That vulnerability extends to computers in a data-center where the attacker has a cloud computing instance. PXE – the system that Pixiefail attacks – isn't widely used in home or office environments, but it's very common in data-centers.

Again, once a computer is exploited with Pixiefail, software running on that computer can't detect or delete the Pixiefail code. When the compromised computer is queried by the operating system, Pixiefail undetectably lies to the OS. "Hey, OS, does this drive have a file called 'pixiefail?'" "Nope." "Hey, OS, are you running a process called 'pixiefail?'" "Nope."

This is a self-destruct switch that's been compromised by the enemy, and which no one on the bridge can de-activate – by design. It's not the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last.

There are models for helping your computer bust out of the Matrix. Back in 2016, Edward Snowden and bunnie Huang prototyped and published source code and schematics for an "introspection engine":

https://assets.pubpub.org/aacpjrja/AgainstTheLaw-CounteringLawfulAbusesofDigitalSurveillance.pdf

This is a single-board computer that lives in an ultraslim shim that you slide between your iPhone's mainboard and its case, leaving a ribbon cable poking out of the SIM slot. This connects to a case that has its own OLED display. The board has leads that physically contact each of the network interfaces on the phone, conveying any data they transit to the screen so that you can observe the data your phone is sending without having to trust your phone.

(I liked this gadget so much that I included it as a major plot point in my 2020 novel Attack Surface, the third book in the Little Brother series):

https://craphound.com/attacksurface/

We don't have to cede control over our devices in order to secure them. Indeed, we can't ever secure them unless we can control them. Self-destruct switches don't belong on the bridge of your spaceship, and trusted computing modules don't belong in your devices.

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/17/descartes-delenda-est/#self-destruct-sequence-initiated

Image: Mike (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/stillwellmike/15676883261/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[slut4celebs]

Angel Baby

Olivia Rodrigo x Reader, Jenna Ortega x BestFriend!Reader

Word Count: 1,702 words

Trigger Warnings: a lot of fluff

Synopsis: A songfic based on Angel Baby by Troye Sivan in which Olivia and the Reader see each other after their decision to never date anyone ever again.

“I just think… Putting yourself out there wouldn’t be the worst idea.” Jenna said, glancing up at her best friend, who was currently examining her ice latte as if it were the worst thing to ever exist. Though, Jenna had come to realize (Y/n)’s face wasn’t towards the latte, but rather a way to pretend she wasn’t horrified by her suggestion. “(Y/n), come on. You’re amazing and talented. You deserve love. I have this friend… I would really like to introduce you to her. And, I heard you call her pretty before when we were flipping through a magazine.”

(Y/n) chose to refrain from rolling her eyes. “Another girl in the industry… great.” (Y/n) said sarcastically, wincing a bit when the disappointed frown that graced Jenna’s face appeared. She hated when Jenna pulled out the frown, an involuntary expression that only showed around people who knew her well enough to notice it. “Look, I just don’t think dating is good for me. All it ever led to was me locking myself in my apartment, missing three auditions that would’ve been amazing and totally mine if I would have attended, and me almost drowning in my cereal bowl.” She reminded, getting a little snicker from Jenna at the mention of when (Y/n) cried in her Fruit Loops, and Jenna had to lift her head from the bowl. She had milk all over her face, and Jenna had to take five minutes to keep from laughing.

Jenna grew serious though as she tapped the table. (Y/n) could almost groan, knowing what her best friend had up her sleeve. Undeniably, it was the best friend pact. Jenna was calling in a favor. (Y/n) could read it so clearly on her freckled face as Jenna tried to pick her words carefully. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to deny a favor of this caliber since Jenna very rarely pulled out the Best Friend Pact Favor. This was something they created on set of a movie they starred in together at the age of twelve. Since the creation of this sacred pact, they have stuck to it, using it to call dibs on being each other’s dates to events, help them avoid awkward questions asked by paparazzi, fans, and interviewers, and more.

“I hate to do this but… I’m invoking the pact.” Jenna said, leaning back in her chair. (Y/n) sighed deeply but waited, wanting to hear Jenna out. This was obviously something that had brewing in her mind for awhile. “Honestly, I’m worried about you and her. I think you two would be good for each other. I just want you to give it a chance. A real chance, (Y/n).”

(Y/n) ran a hand down her face, risking her makeup’s safety when she did. “Fine, fine. Just tell me who it is. That way I can plan something.” She agreed, taking a sip of her coffee, debating chugging it to get out of the coffee shop faster. But instead, she remained calm and just panicked on the inside. She knew that Jenna was genuinely worried about her and the fact that she complained a little too frequently about being lonely. Plus, it had been a year since her breakup to the girl who always put down her dreams for her own. Maybe it was time to put herself out there. Besides, Jenna knew her taste quite well, saying as they were going on almost ten years strong in their friendship.

“Ha, as if I would tell you upfront and risk you leaving as soon as you saw her.” Jenna rose a brow. She tended to know her a little too well. Admittedly, she probably would run. But who’s to say that’s still not a possibility given that she could go to wherever Jenna would drop her off at… She could also just sneak off. “You’re also not allowed to sneak out as soon as I drop you off. This date is going to be on Saturday at six, I’ve decided. Dress nice but not overly nice. Basically, a pretty blouse and jeans. Oh! And that leather jacket that you look super fucking hot in.”

A snort escaped her at Jenna’s words and she allowed her gaze to meet Jenna’s deep brown ones. “I’m beginning to think you’re setting me up with you.” She teased, earning a playful shove. (Y/n) found herself to be grateful that the shove was officially the end to the conversation. Now, they’ve moved onto better topics like filming and dessert they’ve had recently. She finally felt the tension caused by the conversation leave her shoulders as she listen to Jenna talk about a special dessert Emma, her Wednesday co-star, had her try.

On Saturday, Jenna dropped (Y/n) at a pretty popular celebrity hangout, that way she wouldn’t know who she was setting her up with. (Y/n) drummed her fingers on the table, fist against her cheek as she waited for some kind of clue for who it might be when someone unexpected caught her eye at the bar. Olivia Rodrigo. A guilty pit fell in her stomach as she looked around, completely abandoning whoever Jenna might be dropping off soon now that she was settled. Instead, she approached the brunette who was ordering a glass of wine.

“Good choice. I’ll have the same.” She settled by the girl, who looked over and smiled a bit. “It’s been awhile, Liv,” (Y/n) greeted her friend. She has always had sort of a thing for Olivia, not that she would say it out loud. Only Jenna knew. “How has the music scene been going? Please tell me your third album is coming out soon. I’ve been craving a new vinyl with your name on it.” (Y/n), being a big supporter of her friends’ works, bought their movies and vinyl's. This included Olivia. She had her Sour album, her Guts album, and even her Guts Deluxe album.

A small smile fell on Olivia lips as she sipped her wine. “I didn’t expect to see you here, (Y/n).” She leaned in, closer to the girl. “The third album might come sooner than you think.” She said with a teasing smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. “What about you? What have you been working on as of late? Any movie I should be keeping my eyes out for?” Olivia winked, causing (Y/n)’s cheeks to heat up. She reminded herself, in that moment, that she swore off dating. She couldn’t flirt with Olivia. But Olivia seemed to be flirting, a little bit, with her. Was she being delusional?

Their conversation continued, and (Y/n) forgot about the fact that she was there for Jenna and whoever she would be bringing. She didn't know if there was anyone waiting for her, looking out for her. Her attention was just on Olivia. "Honestly, I wasn't excited to come out here tonight." (Y/n) swirled the wine around in her glass as more was poured. Their conversation had turned into something less of small talk. Now, they were going into deeper conversations, both agreeing that the dating scene has sucked. But there was an ease to their conversation that made them feel comfortable. That's how all of their conversations seemed to go.

Olivia frowned a bit, eyes searching (Y/n)'s for a moment. "Oh? Why is that?" She questioned the girl. (Y/n) found herself at a loss, not knowing how to explain that she had abandoned a potential date to join Olivia. Mostly because she knew that leaving whoever it was behind like that was wrong. However, she couldn't help herself to be so drawn in to the girl in front of her. She just had this way about her that always drew (Y/n) in. From their first conversation, Olivia had become someone (Y/n) deeply appreciated and welcome into her life. And that wasn't something she did often.

"Well, I don't want you to think I'm a bad person. It's just… Jenna was trying to set me up with someone, but I've just sworn off dating. Though, I'm starting to think that… you know, I shouldn't do that." She cleared her throat, cheeks burning at the insinuation that she would give up dating for Olivia. But she would. She would love to take Olivia on a date and not just sit in front of a bar, talking over a couple glasses of wine. "I just totally abandoned whoever she was trying to set me up with because I saw you. I couldn't help myself."

A smile fell on Olivia's lips. For a moment, she had turned away from (Y/n) before she let her brown eyes meet (Y/n)'s eyes again. "You didn't abandon your date. Jenna had me come meet you here because I swore it, dating, off, too. I'm also thinking that was a dumb idea, now, though. I just needed some wine before I walked over to you because… You make me nervous. Jenna asked me about you, and I said you were stunning and like the perfect person. That's how this whole thing got set up. I just was too nervous to tell you 'hi' when walking in." She admitted softly. The admission cause (Y/n) to lose that guilty feeling that was heavy on her chest before she leaned in. Olivia followed in the motion, their lips connecting gently.

They were both lost in the feeling before the bar tender told them they couldn't make-out there. So, (Y/n) pulled away, paid for both of their drinks, and left a big tip before leading Olivia out of the building. Olivia had taken her to her car, dropping (Y/n)'s assumptions that Jenna had dropped her off as well. This was a good thing because now, as two celebrities who were followed constantly by paparazzi, they had a sense of privacy. (Y/n) drew Olivia back in and the two kissed for long moments until they couldn't breath anymore.

"Just so you know… I'm going to take you out now. This time, without Jenna finding her way into the relationship." She joked, causing Olivia to grin widely. Their lips were reconnected, and the two knew that they about to be so lost in each other for what very well might be forever, with any luck.

[purpurussy]

hi. once you mentioned your thoughts on the take that phil stayed in the closet for dan. could you share it again with the class again. sorry

⚠️ Dan and Phil DNI⚠️

dsfhjjkl I fear I'm not well-educated enough on the lore to have an accurate take. and it's really the notion that he "went back in the closet" for dan that bothers me. but I'll try to explain how I see it and people can feel free to link me to the vitally important receipts that I'm missing here which change the whole narrative lmao

the thing is I don't think it was 100% because of dan. i do think phil would have come out sooner if dan had been in a better headspace with everything, but imo it's not entirely accurate to say that phil would have been out and proud on youtube the entire time otherwise because as far as I can tell, he wasn't ever in that position 😭 would an out and proud man have made snokoplasm.

I think phil was referring to himself as bi on myspace but so was dan back in the day. and I think id'ing as bi in a setting where you don't expect that many people to see it beyond your personal network is a very different kettle of fish from being completely vulnerable and honest about your identity as a full-on celebrity. Phil has also told anecdotes that make me feel like he had 1 foot in the closet and 1 foot out in some ways (eg auditioning for big brother and then being terrified that they'd post his audition tape bc he said he was gay and then instantly regretted it, getting outed to his family by a friend when he was in college and having an awful time with that whole situation) and I certainly haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe he was ever really out as gay (and proud) on youtube at any point before 2019. Phil has also alluded to experiencing internalized homophobia/feeling like there was something wrong with him for being gay, and I feel like people gloss over that since it wasn't as severe as Dan's experiences.

so I don't think it's entirely accurate to say phil "went back in the closet" for dan firstly because I don't think he was ever fully out of the closet until 2019. he was certainly not out and proud with 0 caveats. like he never said it with his whole chest until coty.

then there's the fact that there can be real-world consequences to coming out which can be hard to predict or manage. things are a little different now but I can imagine it would have been tough trying to do a risk-benefit analysis of coming out when they were working with the BBC, trying to get things like world tours and book deals off the ground, and also I think they were probably not hugely financially secure back then (especially very early on/around the time they moved to London). like this is pure conjecture, but I can imagine it could have been tough to come out as gay, not knowing if you'd be inadvertently tanking a career opportunity because oh never mind we already have an openly gay radio presenter on this show and we don't need 2 more, or oh no don't do that because then we'll have to cancel the shows in Russia and Malaysia or whatever ykwim? (I assumed this was also part of the reason why dan had a breakdown about wanting to come out before II started but again that's based on nothing lmao)

now that I'm thinking about nick grimshaw coming out as gay in 2012 and co-hosting the radio show with them I feel like I'm connecting some dots but again this is just me yapping. I remember finding out he was gay back then and I vaguely remember people posting about feeling "betrayed" or being otherwise homophobic towards him but I can't remember whether the general reaction was positive or negative at the time. I also feel like there's something to be said for the fact that a lot of actors/people in situations like this feel like they're competing against other members of their marginalized community, because they can't both be hired for 2 different important roles because there can only be 1 token gay/poc or whatever. anyway food for thought I guess

I also think it's easy to assume Phil was just chilling the entire time since he plays his cards a lot closer to his chest than Dan. he doesn't like to talk about stuff like this as openly as dan and i think that results in us focusing a lot more on Dan's experiences (which makes sense since that's the information we have to work with, but still). he's hinted that it was rough for him to deal with the speculation about them and their relationship back in the day as well, and while I'm the last person to encourage people to start self-flagellating for the demon era, I do think it's worth considering that it can't have been easy for Phil either (I mean it was his face and words in the v-day video. I would have probably been institutionalized if that happened to me I'm just saying. the factors that led to dans no homo era can't have been easy for Phil to deal with either)

point is I think there were a lot of factors that kept them both in the closet. I do agree of course that Phil would've come out sooner if it weren't for dan needing to work through his issues before he was ready to come out (Phil has certainly said as much) but I don't think it's the only reason. I think it was certainly a show of the trust and respect he has for dan that he waited for Dan to be ready in the end, but I also think it's inaccurate when people talk as though dan singlehandedly kept Phil in no homo jail for 10 years and he would've been out and proud the entire time if Dan hadn't had a mountain of trauma and internalized homophobia to work through before he was ready to come out (which as dan himself has said, may have been a lot sooner than 2019, but there were other factors that kept him from being able to do that first)

[victoriously-wicked]

LIST OF SOME JORI/VICTORiOUS FANFIC FOR YOU!

Fanfiction.net links: blue Wattpad links: orange Ao3 links: red

Just a Stage Kiss: There's a fine line between love and hate. What happens when Jade and Tori are partnered together for another class at Hollywood Arts, only this time it's not stage fighting, it's stage kissing. Will that line be crossed, or redrawn thicker than before? Ao3 Wattpad Fanfic

I Have No Sister: Oneshot. Trina had done the worst thing on the day of her sister's wedding. Disgraced, she starts a new life in NYC. But a blast from the past has a bone to pick with Trina Vega. Fanfic

They Say a Bad Girl Will Shatter Your World, Drive You Insane: Tori needs to seem more mature for an audition and decides it's time to take a real risk. And what is more dangerous than dating the girl who used to hate your guts? Based on the episode 'The Gorilla Club'. Fanfic Ao3

Let’s Show the World That Science is On Our Side: Sequel to "they say a bad girl". Their relationship is the best and the strangest thing that's ever happened to Tori. You can't really blame her if she's still trying to figure it out. Fanfic Ao3

I Think You Know Me: Oneshot. Beck plots to get Jade and Tori back together. Andre just wants to stay in one piece. Twist from 'Tori Fixes Beck and Jade.' Fanfic

Shock Value: In one of Sikowitz's classroom exercises, Tori needs to Shock the class. Jade doesn't think Tori's capable of shocking anyone. What does Tori do? Fanfic

Start from Scratch: It's been 3 years since Hollywood Arts and Jade's life hasn't worked out like she wanted it too. Fleeing her past, she must start over from stratch and finds her only refuge is with a person with her own personal demons, Tori Vega. Can the pair rebuild their lives and perhaps even find love along the way. Fanfic Wattpad

Our Story: Jade's deadly secret caused Beck to leave her, but Tori came into her life and made everything better. Now, Jade's life is done hanging in the balance, right? She's been told she's safe, so why does it feel like everything is about to come crashing on her and her friends? Fanfic

Behind Enemy Lines: How Yerba changed everything. Wattpad Fanfic

You Don’t Know Me: Jade and Tori are forced to work together on a group project for school. And when Tori visits Jade's house one day and her father is drunk, Tori realizes that Jade may not be the person she always thought she was. Fanfic

Replay: I never thought I'd be where I am now when I took my sister's place in that showcase. It definitely brought changes I didn't expect. But now that I'm here, I wouldn't change it for the world. Ao3 Fanfic

You’re Worth It: Tori's determined to get Jade to become friends with her no matter how many times Jade's threatened her and screamed at her. What happens when Jade starts to hang out with Tori more and realises that she doesn't seem to be feeling as much of a strong connection with Beck as she used to. Will Jade tell Tori her deepest secrets? Will Tori confess her love? They must endure a long, bumpy road together, but will it be worth it? Wattpad

A Dangerous Friend: Everyone needs at least one crazy friend, and it looks like Tori's found hers. Ao3 Wattpad

My Best Friend’s Girlfriend: Hello there...my name is Tori. Tori Vega. I'm a little nervous at the moment...so bear with me? Well I have a confession to make...it's a hard one at that. I um...well I moved here to Hollywood just a little while back and am now going to school with my childhood best friend. Then something happened... I never planned it to happen. I just... well... I accidentally fell absolutely and uncontrollably in love, with his girlfriend. Wattpad

Violated: Tori Vega, good girl, straight A student, musical master. No one would have expected her to be forced with a life changing trauma. But she did. She had many to turn to but who was her choice? Jade West, bad girl, possible straight A student, Musical, acting and producing master. She hates Tori with a passion, yet no one knows why, Jade herself doesn't know. But what happens when her enemy appears at her doorstep crying and in need of someone to help her? Fanfic Wattpad

Where’s Tori: 9 years ago, Jade's life was shattered, when her girlfriend Tori, vanished. After many years, Jade has long since given up hope of seeing Tori again.  But what happens when the Impossible happens? Fanfic Wattpad

Twist of Fate: Tori is paralysed and Jade is blind. Two lives drastically affected by fate. Two people who don't realize, how much each needs the other. But fate can be kind as well as cruel, which they soon come to realize. Slight AU. Wattpad Fanfic

The Lock-In: Locked in a building for 48 hours with 238 other high schoolers isn't exactly the greatest weekend. And nobody knows that more than André Harris, Beck Oliver, Cat Valentine, Trina Vega, Robbie Shapiro, Tori Vega, and Jade West . . . especially Tori Vega and Jade West. The lock-in begins. 48 hours to go. (Jori friendship.) Wattpad Fanfic

The Last Resort: Jade has become completely catatonic since the death of her fiancé in a tragic accident. Not responding to any treatment or words from family and friends, they turn to the one person who hasn't tried, to try and bring her back. A person who once broke Jade's heart. Her ex girlfriend, Tori Vega. Wattpad Fanfic

The Impossible: A certain student at Hollywood Arts that no one’s noticed before is suddenly involved with the gang for her Kickback performance. But she has also revealed that she is a 'great fan' of Jade West and Tori Vega and decides to let the two girls approach to help her. Who is this girl? Will she reveal who she is when Victoria Vega and Jadelyn West, one of the most talented [and hottest] students at Hollywood Arts, approach her based on curiosity and interest? Ao3 Wattpad

#GrandFinale: Caterina Valentine is just weeks away from graduation. She understands things are about to change for her and her closest friends at Hollywood Arts. But her feelings for her best friend and roommate, Sam, have already been changing...and Cat realizes it might be time to be honest about them. Sam Puckett doesn't like people or connections. People always leave. Connections always hurt. Then she met Cat and her entire world changed. But with graduation weeks away, Sam fears she's going to get left behind again. Maybe it would be better if this time, she did the leaving. Past and present collide as Sam and Cat face the uncertainty of the future. But will they face it together, or alone? It's been a long time coming. Welcome to the #GrandFinale! Ao3 Fanfic Wattpad

The Untold Jori: Sequel to “#GrandFinale”. With graduation in her rearview mirror, Jade West finds herself on the cusp of a fantastic opportunity: the chance to direct a short film. It's not her style or genre, but a successful film will lead to funding for her own feature film, a story so important to her she might be willing to take the deal. Much to Jade's frustration, the best person for the lead role to ensure its success is none other than Victoria Vega. But Tori is long gone, and Jade resents the idea of asking her to be in the film. It's the reunion neither of them wanted, with a result neither of them expected. Ao3 Fanfic Wattpad

One Last Song: Sequel to “The Untold Jori”. Victoria Vega: successful actress, prominent scream woman, married to the love of her life for nearly a decade...and, as she approaches age thirty, a woman wondering what happened to the dreams of her youth. A mysterious call from an old flame may just awaken those dreams once more, but at what cost? Jade West: one of the most celebrated masters of horror and thrillers in Hollywood. But when the social media mob descends on Jade for an innocent remark, her future in the industry is suddenly on shaky ground...and the one she depends on the most, her rock, Tori, seems to be more distant than ever. Jade fears her dream may be coming to an end...and what she will wake up to when it's over. After a string of successful broadway shows, Cat Valentine has spent years at the top of the pop charts as the sensational "Caterina". She and her longtime love, Samantha Puckett, have settled down in Sam's hometown of Seattle, where Cat records her music. But one morning, Cat wakes up to find Sam gone without a trace; not even her beloved motorcycle remains. In a panic, Cat hunts down her best friends, Tori and Jade, to help her find out where Sam went, and why? All three women stand at the brink of their most difficult challenges. Can the girls and their friends endure, or will all three be torn apart forever? Join Tori, Jade, Cat, Sam, Carly, and more for one last adventure...and one last song. Ao3 Fanfic Wattpad

One Last Time: Jade and Tori had always felt some unspoken thing between them, but never acted on it. On Tori's last night in LA, a certain song by their friend brings Jade to do just that, but is it already too late for them to be anything more than friends? Ao3 Wattpad Fanfic

Postgrad Partners: Sequel to “One Last Time”. As Tori is about to leave LA for a record deal in Miami, she and Jade hastily decide to move in together and explore their relationship and postgraduate lives. What challenges await to test this newfound couple? Ao3 Wattpad Fanfic

HAVE FUN READING!

[daydreaming-en-pointe]

the swan and her princess (part 1)

summary: Swan Lake isn’t all beauty and grace, contrary to popular belief. And you experience firsthand that as you wage a one-sided war with your “rival” for the role of the Swan Princess, Odette.

pairing: Gwen Stacy (Spider-Woman) x fem!Ballerina!Reader

word count: 842

warnings: uses of Y/N, lots of ballet terms and references, the teacher displaying blatant favouritism ig?, mildly petty reader 💀

a/n: I finally got around to doing it! yay :D academic rivals to lovers ftw honestly

gearing up for my first official chapter-based fanfic WHOOOOOOOOO

dividers by me btw! it’s my first time doing dividers so any feedback would be appreciated <3

part 1 // part 2 (pending)

glossary:

Swan Lake: Swan Lake, Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. It is now one of the most popular ballets of all time. The ballet is based on a German fairy tale, and tells the story of a prince named Siegfried who falls in love with Odette, a princess who has been turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer

Odette: Odette is the main female protagonist in the ballet "Swan Lake," which is composed by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. She is the White Swan, also known as the Swan Princess/Swan Queen.

Anna Pavlova: Anna Pavlovna Pavlova was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. (basically, every ballerina’s idol)

first position: In the first position, the heels are together, with toes turned out until the feet are in a large, open V or a straight line.

relevé: Relevé is a French term meaning "raised up." It is one of the basic ballet moves. The dancer starts in a demi-plié (a move where the dancer bends their knees halfway while keeping their feet on the ground) and then rises up into demi-pointe (on the balls of the feet) or en pointe (on the toes), either on one foot or both feet.

“Let’s take it from the top, Y/N. More turned out this time. And your ‘wings’ aren’t flowy enough. You are the very Swan Princess, not a struggling cygnet. You die gracefully.”

You blew air threw your nose a little more forcefully than you usually would, trying your best to follow your ballet teacher’s instructions.

“Ah, Gwendolyn! So nice of you to join us.”

That statement was usually used sarcastically in most settings. So why did your teacher’s voice take on a note of adoration? You resisted the urge to roll your eyes, not even looking at the new arrival. All she ever did was drop into class half an hour late - without even doing her hair in a proper bun - and get showered with praises for everything she did. Always Gwen this, Gwen that. You were so sick of it.

“Gwen, if you decide to try out, you would be a perfect fit for the White Swan,” Your teacher eagerly told her, and your ‘flowy feathers’ tightened into fists. Just brilliant. In her eyes, you had no chance at Odette, did you? Once again, Gwendolyn Stacy would swoop in and snatch up something you had worked so hard for, spending hours upon hours on late nights at the studio practising alone, all because the teacher thought she was the next Anna Pavlova. But every time, you bit your tongue and kept your head down. One day, you would show them. You would show them all how good you were. And little Gwendolyn Stacy, the number one teacher’s pet, would watch and weep.

You cleared your throat to jolt your teacher out of her rambling. “Miss? My audition?”

She blinked as if she were just noticing you. “Ah, right. Yes, you may continue.”

You were ready to hurl your pointe shoes at both of their annoying faces, but you focused on making yourself extra turned out and extra graceful. Oh, how the tables would turn when you got this role.

You risked a glance out of the corner of your eye and noticed with a smug satisfaction that Gwen was staring at you, eyes wide. Completely enthralled.

Ha-ha, Gwendolyn Stacy. Look upon actual, hard-earned talent and despair.

You finished the Dying Swan - the Swan Lake piece you were doing for your audition - and bowed, standing in first position with your head held high.

“Thank you, Y/N. That was very nice. Everyone, let’s get started. Get your shoes on and get into your positions at the barre, please.”

Ugh, the barre positions. Your arch-nemesis, apart from a certain Gwen Stacy. Well, maybe not apart from her, since your barre position was right in front of her.

“One, two, three, four - hold, two, three four…”

You tuned out the voice of your ballet teacher; the exercise was purely muscle memory to you by now, and her voice was only distracting you at the moment.

“Hey, Y/N.”

You were pulled out of your intense focus by the voice behind you. Once you realised who it was, you had to resist the urge to scoff. “What is it?”

“I, uh… I just wanted to say that you did amazing. It was very graceful. You’ll make a good White Swan.” That almost made you lose your balance in a relevé and twist your ankle, because what?

Gwen Stacy thought that you’d get the role?

Oh. That was new.

Or maybe it wasn’t, and you were just imagining the whole ‘undeserving slacker’ thing and painting her as the bad guy…?

You almost giggled at that. Nah. This was definitely some ploy to get you to relax a little, to stop practising almost obsessively. Yeah, she was just trying to ensure you weren’t a threat. The moment you let down your guard, she would snatch up the role of Odette. You just knew it. Well, she could try all she wanted; you would not make it easy for her.

“Oh, I know,” You replied coolly, ending the exercise with everyone else and turning to offer her a politely bored smile. “But thank you.”

Gwen’s smile dropped a little and her eyebrows scrunched together slightly, her piercings glinting in the studio’s warm light. “Okay, well… I’ll see you around, I guess.”

She reached down and grabbed her duffel bag, unceremoniously dropping her teal pointe shoes into the mess of clothes and who knows what else she kept in it.

You kept your eyes on her until she disappeared out the studio’s door after a quick goodbye to the teacher. She was like a ghost, always appearing and flickering out just as quickly as one. And somehow always getting away with it, every single time. Not to mention… she was also somehow really good. Despite missing classes and coming late.

“Remember, class. Now that I’ve seen all your auditions, the roles will be up next week. Don’t be late,” your teacher called as you all left the building.

You kissed your teeth in annoyance. Yeah, don’t be late. Unless you’re Gwen Stacy.

Good grief, that girl would be the death of you.

Taglist: (reply to be added!)

@hobiebrownismygod @l0starl @therealloopylupin2099

[fortheb0ys]

BOTTOM KYLE 'GAZ' GARRICK × TOP MALE READER

☆TRUE LOVE ISN'T MEANT FOR SOLIDERS ☆

Just some short angst for you, pookies😘 Gaz Nation rise!

CW: angst, talking about death, sex (i wasn't too descriptive with it), not proofread and I wrote this very quickly tehehe

FEM ALIGNED+MINORS DNI

Being friends with benefits was supposed to be a fun little thing. Just sex, no strings or feelings attached. Something to help relieve stress. But to Gaz your relationship with quite the opposite. He loved you when he should have never had.

Even though he promised himself that he'd walk away the moment he felt that feelings were there, he would end it before they grew. He could never keep that promise.

It was never a one time thing. He'd see you in the showers after a mission and be on his knees with you in his mouth within minutes. Or late nights talks under the stars would turn into outdoors sex.

The moonlight shining dimly on two sinful bodies. Gaz arching his back to look at the moon instead of your handsome face. He'd imagine your face if you woke up in bed on a lazy morning. War doesn't ring loudly in your ears. Just you and him. No fear. No guilt.

But what if sex wasn't enough to dull the gnawing emotions. It was always there at the back of Gaz's mind, slowly creeping to the forefront. It's presence became more and more as time progress. Showcasing itself outside of your private time.

Like when he saw how you've became close with Soap. He'd invite you to do things off base, drink or to watch football. Without him. Did you fuck Soap like him? Did you call him 'baby' like you would him?

Questions filled his mind. Knowing he'd never get answers, Gaz pushed his feelings away. You weren't his and never will be, he'd tell himself. To you, he'd be just a stress reliever. If Gaz were to die, you'd never bring flowers to his grave or cry over missing him.

Your gentle thrust ground him to the present moment. He rocks back to meet you halfway. Tears are threatening to leave his eyes. Not from pleasure but simply from the pain the wrecked through his heart.

You'd kiss all over his his face. Fingers tracing over his lips. The loving pecks felt real but they shouldn't be. You look into his eyes and smile. It was so caring and beautiful. Everything about you was. Gaz wished that if he were to die, that you would be the last thing he ever saw.

"What's the matter, baby?"

The nickname coming from your mouth was true heaven.

I love you. Please, I need you to love me.

His heart screamed out. But the words never left his mouths.

"Nothing."

Gaz knew it was so wrong but it felt so right. He keeps his promise for a few weeks than comes right back.

Your bodies fit too perfectly for it not to be fate. Gaz just feels like it's too much of a risk to be together and serve. Servicemen with benefits was better, right? Just sex and no feelings. Pleasure in the midst of war.

Missions were hell. He constantly worried for you. Nearly gotten himself killed multiple times trying to keep you safe. It became such a problem Price seriously debated on separating the two of you.

Gaz should step away. Step away before it's too late. Before sees his beloved dead on the battle. Stomp out the feelings of love before it consumes him.

Gaz always wonder if you felt the same. Did you feel the constant fear that he would no longer be with you eat away at your bones? Did you love him as much as he loved you? Did the way you fuck mean love? You were so tender and gentle, love had truly been there to some extent.

The time to ask never came, though. It would never. Gaz was too afraid if he did that, you'd say, 'Yes'. That his feelings would grow. He was more afraid of that outcome more than if you said 'No'.

Deployment. Fuck. Repeat.

Every night together, Gaz would wake up before to a heart full of regret. Dirty from sex. The smell of it hung heavy over him. The shame faded as you held him close. Your soft snores were the only thing auditable. Just one more time. Tomorrow morning, Gaz would be gone this time. He dosed off thinking of a universe where you could be together without the fear of losing you.

[andmaybegayer]

can you actually talk about bitwarden / password managers, or direct me to a post about them? Idk my (completely uneducated) instinct says that trusting one application with all your passwords is about as bad as having the same password for everything, but clearly that isn’t the case.

So it is true that online password managers present a big juicy target, and if you have very stringent security requirements you'd be better off with an offline password manager that is not exposed to attack.

However, for most people the alternative is "reusing the same password/closely related password patterns for everything", the risk that one random site gets compromised is much higher than the risk that a highly security focussed password provider gets compromised.

Which is not to say it can't happen, LastPass gets hacked alarmingly often, but most online password managers do their due diligence. I am more willing to stash my passwords with 1Password or Bitwarden or Dashlane than I am to go through the rigamarole of self-managing an array of unique passwords across multiple devices.

Bitwarden and other password managers try to store only an encrypted copy of your password vault, and they take steps to ensure you never ever send them your decryption key. When you want a password, you ask them for your vault, you decrypt it with your key, and now you have a local decrypted copy without ever sending your key to anyone. If you make changes, you make them locally and send back an encrypted updated vault.

As a result, someone who hacks Bitwarden should in the absolute worst case get a pile of encrypted vaults, but without each individuals' decryption key those vaults are useless. They'd still have to go around decrypting each vault one by one. Combining a good encryption algorithm, robust salting, and a decent key, you can easily get a vault to "taking the full lifetime of the universe" levels on security against modern cryptographic attacks.

Now there can be issues with this. Auto-fill can be attacked if you go onto a malicious website, poorly coded managers can leak information or accidentally include logging of passwords when they shouldn't, and obviously you don't know that 1Password isn't backdoored by the CIA/Mossad/Vatican. If these are concerns then you shouldn't trust online password managers, and you should use something where you remain in control of your vault and only ever manually handle your password.

Bitwarden is open source and fairly regularly audited, so you can be somewhat assured that they're not compromised. If you are worried about that, you can use something like KeePassXC/GNU Pass/Himitsu/ (which all hand you the vault file and it's your job to keep track of it and keep it safe) or use clever cryptographic methods (like instead of storing a password you use a secret key to encrypt and hash a reproducible code and use that as your password, e.g. my netflix password could be hash(crypt("netflixkalium", MySecretKey)), I know a few people who use that method.

Now with any luck because Apple is pushing for passkeys (which is just a nice name for a family of cryptographic verification systems that includes FIDO2/Webauthn) we can slowly move away from the nightmare that is passwords altogether with some kind of user friendly public key based verification, but it'll be a few years before that takes off. Seriously the real issue with a password is that with normal implementations every time you want to use it you have to send your ultra secret password over the internet to the verifying party.

[rvp32]

"Will we only ever be friends?"

Another random fluff fic, I wrote this out of boredom but also because I love this outfit for her, she looks perfect here. Not proofread at all, and may contain a lot of grammatical errors and maybe even plot holes. As always please let me know what you guys think and any feedback is appreciated.

You and Chaewon have been best friends since kindergarten. You grew up together in the same neighborhood, went to the same school, and did everything together. You played video games, did homework, and had sleepovers. You always thought of Chaewon as just your friend, but as you got older, you started to see her differently.

Chaewon had a passion for singing that you admired. She spent hours practicing and writing her own songs. She performed at local talent shows and even won a few. When she auditioned for the famous music company, HYBE, you were so proud of her for being accepted.

You knew that being a trainee at HYBE would be tough. Chaewon had to wake up early every morning to attend classes and rehearsals. She had to follow a strict diet and exercise regime, and she barely had any free time. But even with all of that, Chaewon remained determined and never complained.

As Chaewon got more and more successful, you started to feel a different kind of emotion towards her. You realized that you were in love with her. But you knew that telling her would only complicate things. You didn't want to hinder her career or make things awkward between you. So, you kept your feelings to yourself and continued to support her from the sidelines.

It wasn't always easy to hide your feelings, especially when Chaewon would tell you about the guys she was interested in. But you smiled and nodded, never letting on that it hurt to hear her talk about someone else.

Despite your inner turmoil, you were always there for her. You would attend all of her performances, cheering her on from the audience. You would listen to her new songs, offering feedback and encouragement. You were her rock, her confidante, her best friend.

Over the years, Chaewon had become a rising star in the music industry. She had released several albums, won multiple awards, and had a huge fan base. You were amazed by her talent and success, but you couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy whenever you saw her with someone else.

Chaewon never seemed to notice your true feelings, and you were content to keep it that way. You didn't want to risk losing her friendship or damaging her career. So, you continued to hide your love for her, burying it deep inside and hoping that it would eventually fade away.

But as time went on, your feelings for Chaewon only grew stronger. You found yourself thinking about her all the time, wondering what it would be like to be more than just friends. You knew that you couldn't keep pretending forever, but you didn't know how to tell her the truth.

And so, you remained in limbo, stuck between your love for Chaewon and your desire to see her succeed. You knew that eventually, you would have to make a choice. But for now, you simply held onto the hope that someday, somehow, things would work out in your favor.

Despite your best efforts to hide your true feelings, Chaewon had started to notice something was different about you. You were more hesitant around her, and sometimes you seemed lost in thought. But she had no idea that you were in love with her.

One day, Chaewon invited you over to her apartment to listen to some of her new songs. As you sat on her couch, listening to her sing, you couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion. You wanted to tell her how you felt, but you were too scared.

Finally, Chaewon turned to you and said, "Why are you so dense? Can't you see that I've been dropping hints for years?"

You looked at her, shocked. "What hints?"

Chaewon rolled her eyes. "I've been flirting with you, idiot. I've been waiting for you to make a move, but you never did. I thought you weren't interested."

You felt a wave of regret wash over you. You had missed all of Chaewon's signals because you were too focused on hiding your own feelings. Now, it seemed like it was too late.

"I'm sorry," you said, your voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't realize."

Chaewon sighed. "Look, it's okay. I just wish you had been honest with me. I could have saved us both a lot of time."

You nodded, feeling ashamed. You knew that you had let your fear hold you back, and now you were paying the price.

Chaewon looked at you, her expression softening. "But that doesn't mean we can't be together. I've always had feelings for you, too. I was just too scared to admit it."

Your heart leapt at her words. "Really?"

Chaewon nodded, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Really. So, what do you say? Are you ready to take a chance on us?"

You grinned, feeling a weight lifted off your shoulders. "Yes, I am."

As Chaewon's lips met yours, you felt a surge of passion that had been building up inside of you for years. You kissed her back fiercely, your arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her closer to you.

The kiss was intense, filled with all of the pent-up desire and longing that had been building between you for so long. You could feel Chaewon's hands tangle in your hair, pulling you closer to her as she deepened the kiss.

In that moment, nothing else mattered but the two of you. You were lost in each other, caught up in a whirlwind of emotion that had been brewing beneath the surface for years.

When you finally broke the kiss, you were both breathless and flushed. Chaewon looked at you, her eyes shining with a newfound intensity.

"I've waited so long for this," she said, her voice low and husky.

You smiled, feeling a sense of possessiveness wash over you. You knew that Chaewon was yours now, and you would do anything to keep her by your side.

"I won't ever let you go," you said, your voice firm.

Chaewon's eyes widened, a look of surprise crossing her face. But then she smiled, leaning in to kiss you once again.

"I don't want you to," she murmured against your lips.

And so, you and Chaewon began a passionate, intense love affair that consumed your every thought and action. You were both possessive of each other, never wanting to be apart for even a moment.

********

It wasn't always easy, navigating the challenges that came with being in such a public and high-pressure industry. But you and Chaewon were in it together, supporting each other every step of the way.

As the months turned into years, your love for each other only grew stronger. You knew that Chaewon was the only person who could ever truly understand you, the only one who could calm your fears and make you feel complete.

And as you looked into her eyes, you knew that you would do anything to protect her and keep her by your side. Because in a world that was often chaotic and uncertain, Chaewon was the one constant that you could always count on.

Despite the intense love and passion that you shared with Chaewon, your relationship was not without its challenges. As your careers continued to thrive, the pressure and scrutiny from the public and media only increased.

You found yourselves constantly hounded by paparazzi, and rumors about your relationship were rampant. There were times when you felt like you couldn't even go out in public without being harassed or scrutinized.

As the pressure mounted, cracks began to appear in your relationship. You started to argue more frequently, and there were times when Chaewon seemed distant and unresponsive.

You tried to talk to her about it, but she always seemed to brush it off. "It's just the stress getting to me," she would say. "Don't worry about it."

But you couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. And then, one day, Chaewon dropped a bombshell on you.

"I think we need to take a break," she said, her voice soft.

You felt like the wind had been knocked out of you. "What? Why?"

Chaewon sighed, looking away. "I just need some space, okay? I can't handle all of this pressure and stress. It's too much."

You felt your heart breaking in your chest. You knew that Chaewon was struggling, but you didn't want to lose her. You loved her too much.

"We can work through this together," you said, your voice pleading.

Chaewon shook her head. "I don't know, I just need some time to figure things out."

And with that, she left, leaving you alone and heartbroken.

For weeks, you tried to give Chaewon space, but it felt like an eternity. You missed her every moment of every day, and you couldn't bear the thought of losing her.

Finally, you decided to take matters into your own hands. You showed up at her apartment, determined to talk things out.

But when you arrived, you found Chaewon with another man. They were laughing and talking, and Chaewon seemed completely at ease.

You felt a surge of anger and jealousy that you couldn't control. How could she move on so quickly?

"Who is this?" you demanded, your voice tight.

Chaewon looked up, surprised to see you there. "Y/N, what are you doing here?"

You ignored her question, instead turning to the man. "Who are you?"

The man looked uncomfortable. "I'm just a friend. Chaewon and I were hanging out."

You didn't believe him. You could feel the possessive urge rising inside of you, the need to protect what was yours.

"I think it's time for you to leave," you said, your voice cold.

The man hesitated, but Chaewon spoke up. "It's okay, he's leaving. Y/N, can we talk?"

You nodded, but the anger inside of you was still simmering. How could she do this to you?

As you sat down to talk with Chaewon, the tension between you was palpable. You tried to keep your emotions in check, but it was hard. You felt like your heart had been ripped out of your chest.

Finally, Chaewon spoke. "I'm sorry, Y/N. I didn't mean for things to end up like this. But I can't keep living like this. The pressure, the stress, it's too much. I need to take a step back and figure out what I want."

You felt tears prickling at the corners of your eyes. "What do you want?"

Chaewon looked away. "I don't know. But I do know that I can't keep pretending like everything is okay. 

You felt a deep sadness and pain settle in your chest. You had never imagined that things would end up like this. You had always thought that you and Chaewon were meant to be together forever.

But now, it seemed like everything was falling apart. The love and passion that had once burned so brightly between you had faded, replaced by uncertainty and doubt.

"I just wish things could go back to the way they were," you said, your voice cracking with emotion.

Chaewon reached out and took your hand. "I know, Y/N. But we can't force things to be the way they used to be. Sometimes, we have to let go and trust that things will work out in the end."

You didn't want to let go. You couldn't imagine your life without Chaewon in it. But you knew that she was right. You couldn't force her to stay with you if she didn't want to.

The days and weeks that followed were some of the hardest of your life. You tried to keep busy, throwing yourself into your work and your hobbies. But no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.

You missed Chaewon more than anything. You missed the way she laughed, the way she looked at you with those big brown eyes, the way she made you feel like you were the only person in the world that mattered.

But as time went on, you started to come to terms with the fact that things might never be the same between you and Chaewon. You knew that you had to move on, even if it felt like an impossible task.

And so, you started to go out and meet new people. You went on dates, but none of them felt right. None of them made you feel the way that Chaewon had made you feel.

As the months passed, you slowly started to heal. The pain and sadness that had once consumed you began to fade, replaced by a sense of acceptance and understanding.

But even though you had moved on, there was always a part of you that would love Chaewon. A part of you that would always wonder what could have been, if things had turned out differently.

And so, you went on with your life, never forgetting the love and passion that you had shared with Chaewon. Even though you knew that it was over, you couldn't help but wonder if, somewhere out there, Chaewon was thinking of you too.

Despite the time that had passed, Chaewon still thought about Y/N constantly. She tried to move on, going on dates and even starting a new relationship, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.

It wasn't until one day, when she ran into Y/N unexpectedly, that she realized what that missing piece was. Seeing him again brought back a flood of memories and emotions that she had tried so hard to forget.

"Y/N, wait!" she called out, running after him.

He turned around, surprised to see her. "Chaewon? What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you," she said, her voice urgent.

Y/N hesitated, but eventually agreed to sit down and talk with her.

"I know that I hurt you when I left," Chaewon began, her eyes filling with tears. "But I've been so miserable without you. I thought that I could move on and find someone else, but no one compares to you. I miss you so much, Y/N."

Y/N listened, his heart breaking at the sight of Chaewon's tears. He had never stopped loving her, but he had tried to move on, thinking that it was what was best for both of them.

"I can't just go back to the way things were," he said, his voice filled with sadness. "I don't want to risk hurting you again."

"But I need you, Y/N," Chaewon pleaded. "I can't live without you. I know that I made a mistake, but please, can't we try again?"

Y/N hesitated, unsure of what to do. He still loved Chaewon, but he couldn't forget the pain and sadness that he had felt when she had left him.

"I need some time to think," he said finally, standing up from the bench. "I'm sorry, Chaewon."

Chaewon watched as Y/N walked away, her heart aching with sadness and regret. She knew that she had hurt him deeply, and she didn't know if she could ever make it right.

But she was willing to try. She was willing to do whatever it took to win back Y/N's love and trust, even if it meant facing the pain and sadness that she had caused him.

And so, she waited, hoping and praying that Y/N would give her another chance.

Days turned into weeks, and Chaewon heard nothing from Y/N. She tried calling and texting him, but he didn't answer. She started to feel like she had lost him forever, and the thought of that made her heart ache.

One day, she was sitting in a coffee shop, lost in thought, when she saw Y/N walk in. Her heart leapt in her chest, and she stood up, hoping to talk to him.

But as he approached her, she could see the anger and hurt in his eyes. "How could you do this to me, Chaewon?" he said, his voice laced with anger.

Chaewon felt her own tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Y/N. I never meant to hurt you."

"You left me without a word," Y/N said, his voice shaking with emotion. "You didn't even give me a chance to understand. And now you expect me to just forgive you?"

"I know that I messed up," Chaewon said, tears streaming down her face. "But please, Y/N, I need you. I love you so much, and I can't live without you."

Y/N looked at her, his anger slowly dissipating. He still loved her, but he couldn't forget the pain that she had caused him. "I need time," he said, his voice softer now. "I can't just forget everything that's happened."

Chaewon nodded, tears still streaming down her face. "I understand," she said. "I'll wait for you, Y/N. I'll do whatever it takes to make things right between us."

And so, Chaewon waited, hoping and praying that Y/N would find it in his heart to forgive her. She knew that it wouldn't be easy, but she was willing to do whatever it took to make things right.

Days turned into weeks, and Chaewon heard nothing from Y/N. She started to feel like he would never forgive her, and the thought of that made her heart ache even more.

One day, she received a letter in the mail from Y/N. As she read it, tears streamed down her face. In the letter, Y/N told her that he still loved her, but that he needed time to heal. He said that he was willing to give their relationship another chance, but that they needed to start over and rebuild the trust that had been broken.

Chaewon cried tears of joy as she read the letter. She knew that it wouldn't be easy, but she was willing to do whatever it took to make things right between them.

And so, they began the long and difficult journey of rebuilding their relationship. There were times when it was painful and sad, but they never gave up. They talked and listened to each other, and slowly but surely, they started to trust each other again.

Years went by, and Y/N had become a successful businessman. He had worked tirelessly to build his company, and now it was one of the most respected businesses in the country.

One day, Y/N went to visit Chaewon. She was surprised to see how successful he had become, but also proud of him. As they talked, Y/N took her hand and looked into her eyes.

"Chaewon, I know I've been distant lately," he said. "But there's something I need to ask you."

Chaewon's heart started to race. She had been waiting for this moment for years. "What is it, Y/N?" she asked.

Y/N took a deep breath. "Chaewon, I love you. I've always loved you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

Chaewon's eyes widened in surprise and joy. She couldn't believe that Y/N was asking her to marry him after all these years. "Yes, Y/N, I will," she said, tears streaming down her face.

Y/N pulled her into his arms, and they hugged each other tightly. Chaewon could feel his love and passion for her, and it filled her with happiness.

But as they broke the hug, Chaewon couldn't help but ask him, "Why did you wait so long, Y/N?"

Y/N looked at her with a determined expression. "I needed to become someone who can protect you," he said. "I needed to be successful, so that I could give you the life you deserve. And now, I can finally do that."

Chaewon looked at him with love and admiration. She knew that Y/N had always been the one for her, and she was grateful that he had never given up on her.

As they started to plan their wedding, Chaewon couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness and regret. She knew that she had caused Y/N so much pain and hurt over the years, and she wished that she had realized her feelings for him sooner.

But as they stood together, holding each other tightly, Chaewon knew that she had finally found her true love. And she was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that they would never be apart again.

As the day of their wedding arrived, Chaewon could hardly contain her excitement. She stood at the altar, wearing a beautiful white gown, and waited for Y/N to arrive.

As he entered the church, Chaewon's heart skipped a beat. Y/N looked handsome and confident in his suit, and he was beaming with happiness.

As they exchanged their vows, Chaewon felt overwhelmed with emotion. She looked into Y/N's eyes and saw nothing but love and devotion. She knew that she had made the right choice in waiting for him.

As they exchanged their rings and kissed, the whole church erupted in applause. Chaewon felt like she was on top of the world, and she knew that Y/N felt the same.

As they left the church and drove away in their car, Chaewon couldn't stop smiling. She felt like the luckiest woman in the world, and she knew that Y/N felt the same way.

Years went by, and Chaewon and Y/N continued to build their life together. They faced challenges and difficulties, but they never gave up on each other. They had a love that was strong and true, and it carried them through even the toughest times.

And as they grew old together, they knew that they had made the right choice in waiting for each other. They had found their soulmate, and they were grateful every day for the love and passion that they shared.

[fanfic-obsessed]

Not quite a fall

Here is an idea that takes the horrifying absurdity of the Clone Wars and magnifies it.  Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times…unless you wish to become part of the ride itself. Then grab onto these characters and you too can try to wrangle them. 

I do want to make it clear from the start that the Jedi Council and Dooku are making the best of some fairly shitty options, at this point and in the future. The Jedi do not know/cannot prove Palpatine is Sidious and the reality is that without absolute proof they risk being wrong and if they are then the real Sith master will go to ground and they will be left with nothing.  In addition Palpatine has contingencies for every aspect of his plan (and likely did in canon as well, if he had a contingency clones for himself), including if clones were found early, the chips did not work as intended, and the Jedi found out too early. It may not be obvious, or seem counterintuitive for the Jedi to keep walking forward, even knowing of the trap, knowing that so many would likely die in this fabricated war. But this is not meant to be criticizing the Jedi for the shitty options they had. 

Now we start with Yan Dooku, prior to his Fall. This is also before the Naboo crisis , in fact this is in the beginning when Palpatine is still manipulating him. 

*-As a side note, have you ever tried to look into the timeline for the clones and try to fit it into the greater timeline. That shit is wild. Jango Fett is recruited for Operation Knightfall-Order 66 and the clone project- in 32 BBY. This is the same year of the Naboo crisis and, according to Wookiepeidia, it is also the year that Cody was born. Based on what we know of the Kaminoan numbering system for the clones, there were at least 2 batches before Cody’s-The Nulls and the Alphas. Jango Fett was recruited by Dooku after his Fall, and he is said to have fallen after Qui Gonn’s death. I get that Palpatine had already been building towards this but man for this timeline to work Dooku had a quicker Fall time than Anakin-who went from ‘stop him’ to ‘time to murder children’ in a distressingly short period of time-  All this adds up to 32 BBY being, like, 2020 COVID  levels of crazy. Because we had Qui Gon’s death, Dooku’s fall, the recruitment of Jango Fett-I understand there was a bounty hunt as an audition-, and all of this happened in enough time for at least 3 batches of clones- possibly more- to be born in 32BBY. How long is the gestation period for the clones? How is gestation and decanting set up so this timeline works. The Galactic Standard year is a 12 month/368 day model. Even if we presume that the double aging is also present in gestation, thus instead of 9 months it takes 4.5 months, that is still 13.5 months for 3 batches. Even with a staggered start cycles-batch 1 is the start point, batch 2 starts a week later, batch 3 starts a week after that and we can get everything down to a minimum 5 months, there still so much shit that has to happen in 7 months-*

In this Dooku, as a Jedi Master, does recognize that he is being manipulated and goes to the Jedi Council. He has just enough proof to prove that the Sith were back but does now know who (He knows that Palptine is involved but does not know if he is a Sith, a willing collaborator, or a patsy). The council decides that Dooku would go undercover as it were, to pretend that he is falling for Palpatine’s manipulation and to let it go to its natural conclusion, which they all presume will end with Dooku pretending to fall.  Outside of the Council, there are only three other Jedi that are told of this assignment. Shadows Tholme and Quinlan Vos (though a senior Padawan at the time) were his contacts. The only other person told was Senior Padawan Obi Wan Kenobi, at the insistence of Mace Windu (Now this was not through some belief in Obi Wan as a person, or his value to such a mission. It was purely so that he could keep Qui Gon Jinn from flipping his lid when and if Dooku needed to pretend to be a Sith. Jinn was not told because no one thought that he could keep from endangering everyone through some ‘Will of the Force’ reasoning or trying to be ‘helpful’).  Neither Obi Wan or the Shadows are told who else knows (though Vos and Thome do know the other is aware), and Obi Wan still has no contact with Dooku, so this knowledge does not change much at first. To be exceedingly clear, Obi Wan is only told that Master Yan Dooku is taking a long term mission where he might have to appear to Fall, in which case Obi Wan is going to need to keep Qui Gon from interfering; he is given no other information about to mission or what is being found.  As it turns out Qui Gon dies just before Dooku ‘falls’. 

The clones are still commissioned, but they are not chipped; save for a single clone whose name later becomes Chip, this is the clone that Dooku shows to Palpatine as proof the plan was going as it should. This Dooku is more involved with the Clones. Though the trainers do not know it (having entirely bought into project Knightfall), Dooku carefully teaches the clones th truth of their existence (that the war they are being commissioned for is BS, purely a trap for the Jedi and that they would have been designed to both love and be forced kill the Jedi). In essence he trains them to be spies in the guise of soldiers.  He has reported the existence of the clones to the council, but like Dooku they are stuck by what they can visibly do with the information. There is some limited secret contact between the leaders of the clones (The Alpha’s as the Nulls had been adopted by Kal Skirata) and the Jedi Council, in which the Jedi Council apologizes for what is being asked of the clones and plans are made to help those that need an escape wherever they are able (Dooku ‘claims’ as many clones that were due to be decommissioned for his own ‘experiments’ as he is able, most of the time that meant that clones who were to be decommissioned were sent to live on a small, unpopulated moon in Serrano’s system-the exceptions to this were clones born with fatal, untreatable congenital defects, for example being without enough of their major organs that there would be no way to grow more before the child died in agony-those few who were truly not viable were given a painless death. It becomes a practice amongst the clones that anyone who truly did not want to fight would drop their scores into Decommission range). 

To this end the Coruscant Guard were specifically chosen because they were the best at that kind of subterfuge, the clone equivalent of the Jedi Shadows and the ones who could keep themselves hidden/shielded against mind control 24/7. Fox is the only non Force sensitive, near human in the galaxy who is entirely impervious to Jedi mind tricks and Sith Mind control, the reason he was given the command that would have given him the most contact with Palpatine. They find out, much later, that some strange mutation makes him entirely impervious to any Force based power that will cause him harm.

When the time comes to enact the plans to start the war, Dooku still sends Jango Fett to lure Obi Wan to Geonosis.  But Obi Wan goes to Kamino knowing that he was going to find the Clones (having been briefed by the Council, who had been informed by Dooku). Anakin is not aware of the second layer to their mission to protect Padme, having never been brought into the loop regarding Dooku.  Obi Wan and Dooku have a pleasant conversation about both Qui Gon (and how he was likely watching from the Force), and there is a plan in place for Obi Wan to escape before the gladiatorial arena in a way that still would spark the war, but not cost lives.  That plan had to be abruptly scrapped when Anakin and Padem showed up on Geonosis to ‘rescue’ Obi Wan, after they sent a message to the council.  One of the major changes to Geonosis is how Anakin lost his hand; it was not chopped off by Dooku but lost in an explosion caused by the droids. 

Here is where we start to get into the horror and the humor. Because this war is fabricated, a thing of smoke and mirrors whose sole purpose is to collect power for a few individuals. More importantly this is a Bullshit created war for the purpose of trapping the Jedi. The upper command on both sides (Jedi High council, Dooku and later Ventress, Palpatine, Grievous) know that the entire war is bullshit, though Palpatine does not know that the JHC are aware. The troopers, from the youngest to the oldest clones, are all utterly aware that the war is bullshit. They grew knowing they would be fighting in a war that was utter bullshit.  The reason that the Droids could not be programmed for critical thinking was that it took them a maximum one battle to realize the war was bullshit, and they were not pleased about being cannon fodder. 

In fact there were only two groups who were actually affected by the war that were not aware that the entire thing was contrived bullshit. 

Every office not part of the high command (non clone officers, Jedi Generals, the entire command structure between fielded droids and CIS Generals on Grievous's level-I have no idea how the command structure of the CIS army works and barely any more about the GAR structure but work with me here), which I tend to think of as the middle management is the first group. 

The other is the innocents being attacked by CIS forces.  To them the war is very real.

Until they know for sure who the Sith Master is Dooku, the Jedi High Command(now including a fully read-in Obi Wan), or the Clones cannot let on that they know the war is ultimately bullshit. And there are too many innocents at stake to completely blow off or fake fighting. Yes when Dooku, and Ventress after she is brought into the fold, are in command they tend to try and take worlds with resources but little to no populations and they disengage as soon as they possibly can,  but there are too many who buy into ‘The War’ or the power that they are getting to fake battles and in battles someone is bound to die. 

Imagine being one of the Jedi Councilors and high generals, knowing (instead of just suspecting) that every battle they go into is unnecessary bullshit to trap the Jedi. Knowing that their troopers know that they are being sent into battle for unnecessary bullshit, but everyone having to pretend that they buy into the bullshit, that they have to pretend ignorance of things so gallingly obvious.

-In this world the Jedi council has created a secret process for allowing the defection of troopers that do not want to fight. Pong Krell (who never got to the point of Falling, as he never got used to thinking the clones were non sentient) and a handful of other Jedi spread throughout the system's armies, maintained a deliberately high ‘casualty’ rate to go with their high success rate. Clones that wanted to defect were transferred to these specific battalions where they were ‘killed in action’ and transported to a way point that relays them to the planet the decommissioned clones went to. None of these Jedi know that Dooku is actually on their side, or that the whole war is bullshit, but they are able to hang onto their sanity a bit better for this process. -

Picture Dooku, and later Ventress, staring across the battlefield as horrified at the lives being taken as the Jedi. Still having to pretend to buy in, saying all the right things (Ventress does still take Wolffe’s eye, but it is Wolffe’s idea to help sell that Ventress is not ‘too soft’ on the clones she is fighting). Imagine having to calculate the exact point they can withdraw, when they have to press their victory for appearances. Knowing that they (as Ventress was completing her Jedi training under Dooku, who does not want her to be lost to the darkside) have to reconcile killing for the sake of appearances.  Having to bury their own horror when they work with other CIS high command, who very much know that the entire war is bullshit but don’t care, or are actively enjoying, the lives lost. 

It changes some details, both major and minor, on who dies when, but in the grand scheme of things this knowledge does not change the overall trajectory of the war (though Dooku is not killed). It is still three years in that Palpatine tells Anakin (who, at no point, is brought into the loop about Dooku, the defection of clones, or any of it-mostly because no one not in a very strict ‘need to know’ was told and partly because the Jedi Council allowed the clones themselves to decide who would know about the defection battalions; they could not quite convince themselves that he would not share that information where he should not) that he is the Sith Master. Anakin runs to tell Windu. 

But in this, instead of gathering the council to fight Sidious, Windu’s first action is to comm Fox. All he says to the head of the CG is, ‘Palpatine has just confirmed that he is the Sith Master’. 

Fox responds with, ‘I will comm you when it is done’.

Anakin is standing there, breathing heavily from running all the way from the Senate, very unsure what was going on but certain the announcement that Palpatine was a Sith should be taken with some more urgency than Windu was showing. 

Ponds enters and when he is told who the Sith is he sighs, deeply. “I was so sure it was that odious aide of Palpatine’s” (Whom Pond refers to only by the name of Bastard, if at all).

Just as Anakin is starting to become antsy (very much in the mindset of ‘shouldn’t we do something about the professed Sith in the same building as my secret wife?) Fox comms back. His hair is sticking straight away from his head (he found out that Palpatine’s Lighting did not hurt him the old fashioned way) and reports that Palpatine is very dead (each Guard wanted to make sure…and shooting is a good way to make sure), the Senate is in lockdown, to tell Skywalker that his wife is on a medical transport for the Temple’s Healing Halls (using those exact words),and that Fox will be filing a formal complaint against the Naboo education system for poor sex ed.  

After the call is done, the next call Windu puts in is to Dooku. Windu tells Dooku that it is time to come home.  Anakin watches horrified fascination as Dooku visibly sags with relief, saying that he and Ventress just need to tie up some loose ends here and to have a therapist ready. 

[danielstephanus]

OPINI AUDITOR INDEPENDEN (AKUNTAN PUBLIK)

ANANDA PUTRI A. & DANIEL SUGAMA STEPHANUS MAKALAH PENGAUDITAN  PROGRAM STUDI AKUNTANSI – FAKULTAS EKONOMI DAN BISNIS UNIVERSITAS MA CHUNG – KABUPATEM MALANG 2014 PENDAHULUAN 1.1 Latar Belakang Audit merupakan suatu proses seperti pencarian data, penilaian ataupun pengevaluasian yang dilakukan untuk menilai sesuatu apakah telah sesuai dengan kriteria yang mendasarinya. Sebuah Proses audit…

[roodles03]

I normally don't post things like this, but here is a summarized bullet list of all the things I found interesting about Amir Talai's interview with Collider's Ladies Night. Link to interview here.

Note: I am going based off memory shortly after watching the interview, so if I got any sort of information wrong please let me know so I can correct myself.

Amir talked about being the only one on Hazbin Hotel who isn't a broadway singer and that made him feel isolated in a way. He worried his singing proformaces weren't good enough compared to the other actors.

Amir said the hardest song to record was Hell's Greatest Dad.

Amir admitted he worried that Stayed Gone was too slow and wouldn't be received by the public well, and he had no idea about Vox's lines in the song being so fast. When we saw the final version he realized how it worked.

Amir when singing and acting played it very safe with Alastor. After seeing how the other actors did their lines in season 1, he decided to take more risks with his acting in season 2. When asked when we'd be able to tell, he replied, "You'll know."

Viv actually reached out and specifically requested for Amir to audition for Alastor and Amir was actually hesitant about the premise of the show during said audition. When he asked what the show was releasing on, Viv just said A24. Comfirming the show did not have a platform to release on until later in production. This both confused and worried Amir. Especially after they told him it was popular on youtube. Amir was very pleasantly surprised when both he got the role and saw what the show was actually about.

Amir said he was already told about Alastor's backstory during the production of season 1. But he did say there was one thing he didn't know that changed his perspective of Alastor. He basically implied this by saying something like "Except one thing. This one thing I went oooooohhh."

When asked if Alastor could be redeemed, Amir gave a pretty vauge anwser saying the worse a person is the more they have to try and work to improve and get redeemed. And they also have to choose that path. Many don't want to.

When asked if there was any person Alastor would put first before anyone else, Amir's response was simply, "I can't answer that."

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Insurance companies are making climate risk worse

Tomorrow (November 29), I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

Conservatives may deride the "reality-based community" as a drag on progress and commercial expansion, but even the most noxious pump-and-dump capitalism is supposed to remain tethered to reality by two unbreakable fetters: auditing and insurance:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

No matter how much you value profit over ethics or human thriving, you still need honest books – even if you never show those books to the taxman or the marks. Even an outright scammer needs to know what's coming in and what's going out so they don't get caught in a liquidity trap (that is, "broke"), or overleveraged ("broke," again) exposed to market changes (you guessed it: "broke").

Unfortunately for capitalism, auditing is on its deathbed. The market is sewn up by the wildly corrupt and conflicted Big Four accounting firms that are the very definition of too big to fail/too big to jail. They keep cooking books on behalf of management to the detriment of investors. These double-entry fabrications conceal rot in giant, structurally important firms until they implode spectacularly and suddenly, leaving workers, suppliers, customers and investors in a state of utter higgeldy-piggeldy:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/29/great-andersens-ghost/#mene-mene-bezzle

In helping corporations defraud institutional investors, auditors are facilitating mass scale millionaire-on-billionaire violence, and while that may seem like the kind of fight where you're happy to see either party lose, there are inevitably a lot of noncombatants in the blast radius. Since the Enron collapse, the entire accounting sector has turned to quicksand, which is a big deal, given that it's what industrial capitalism's foundations are anchored to. There's a reason my last novel was a thriller about forensic accounting and Big Tech:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/red-team-blues

But accounting isn't the only bedrock that's been reduced to slurry here in capitalism's end-times. The insurance sector is meant to be an unshakably rational enterprise, imposing discipline on the rest of the economy. Sure, your company can do something stupid and reckless, but the insurance bill will be stonking, sufficient to consume the expected additional profits.

But the crash of 2008 made it clear that the largest insurance companies in the world were capable of the same wishful thinking, motivated reasoning, and short-termism that they were supposed to prevent in every other business. Without AIG – one of the largest insurers in the world – there would have been no Great Financial Crisis. The company knowingly underwrote hundreds of billions of dollars in junk bonds dressed up as AAA debt, and required a $180b bailout.

Still, many of us have nursed an ember of hope that the insurance sector would spur Big Finance and its pocket governments into taking the climate emergency seriously. When rising seas and wildfires and zoonotic plagues and famines and rolling refugee crises make cities, businesses, and homes uninsurable risks, then insurers will stop writing policies and the doom will become undeniable. Money talks, bullshit walks.

But while insurers have begun to withdraw from the most climate-endangered places (or crank up premiums), the net effect is to decrease climate resilience and increase risk, creating a "climate risk doom loop" that Advait Arun lays out brilliantly for Phenomenal World:

https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-doom-loop/

Part of the problem is political: as people move into high-risk areas (flood-prone coastal cities, fire-threatened urban-wildlife interfaces), politicians are pulling out all the stops to keep insurers from disinvesting in these high-risk zones. They're loosening insurance regs, subsidizing policies, and imposing "disaster risk fees" on everyone in the region.

But the insurance companies themselves are simply not responding aggressively enough to the rising risk. Climate risk is correlated, after all: when everyone in a region is at flood risk, then everyone will be making a claim on the insurance company when the waters come. The insurance trick of spreading risk only works if the risks to everyone in that spread aren't correlated.

Perversely, insurance companies are heavily invested in fossil fuel companies, these being reliable money-spinners where an insurer can park and grow your premiums, on the assumption that most of the people in the risk pool won't file claims at the same time. But those same fossil-fuel assets produce the very correlated risk that could bring down the whole system.

The system is in trouble. US claims from "natural disasters" are topping $100b/year – up from $4.6b in 2000. Home insurance premiums are up (21%!), but it's not enough, especially in drowning Florida and Texas (which is also both roasting and freezing):

https://grist.org/economics/as-climate-risks-mount-the-insurance-safety-net-is-collapsing/

Insurers who put premiums up to cover this new risk run into a paradox: the higher premiums get, the more risk-tolerant customers get. When flood insurance is cheap, lots of homeowners will stump up for it and create a big, uncorrelated risk-pool. When premiums skyrocket, the only people who buy flood policies are homeowners who are dead certain their house is gonna get flooded out and soon. Now you have a risk pool consisting solely of highly correlated, high risk homes. The technical term for this in the insurance trade is: "bad."

But it gets worse: people who decide not to buy policies as prices go up may be doing their own "motivated reasoning" and "mispricing their risk." That is, they may decide, "If I can't afford to move, and I can't afford to sell my house because it's in a flood-zone, and I can't afford insurance, I guess that means I'm going to live here and be uninsured and hope for the best."

This is also bad. The amount of uninsured losses from US climate disaster "dwarfs" insured losses:

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/hurricanes-floods-bring-120-billion-insurance-losses-2022-2023-01-09/

Here's the doom-loop in a nutshell:

As carbon emissions continue to accumulate, more people are put at risk of climate disaster, while the damages from those disasters intensifies. Vulnerability will drive disinvestment, which in turn exacerbates vulnerability.

Also: the browner and poorer you are, the worse you have it: you are impacted "first and worst":

https://www.climaterealityproject.org/frontline-fenceline-communities

As Arun writes, "Tinkering with insurance markets will not solve their real issues—we must patch the gaping holes in the financial system itself." We have to end the loop that sees the poorest places least insured, and the loss of insurance leading to abandonment by people with money and agency, which zeroes out the budget for climate remediation and resiliency where it is most needed.

The insurance sector is part of the finance industry, and it is disinvesting in climate-endagered places and instead doubling down on its bets on fossil fuels. We can't rely on the insurance sector to discipline other industries by generating "price signals" about the true underlying climate risk. And insurance doesn't just invest in fossil fuels – they're also a major buyer of municipal and state bonds, which means they're part of the "bond vigilante" investors whose decisions constrain the ability of cities to raise and spend money for climate remediation.

When American cities, territories and regions can't float bonds, they historically get taken over and handed to an unelected "control board" who represents distant creditors, not citizens. This is especially true when the people who live in those places are Black or brown – think Puerto Rico or Detroit or Flint. These control board administrators make creditors whole by tearing the people apart.

This is the real doom loop: insurers pull out of poor places threatened by climate disasters. They invest in the fossil fuels that worsen those disasters. They join with bond vigilantes to force disinvestment from infrastructure maintenance and resiliency in those places. Then, the next climate disaster creates more uninsured losses. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Finance and insurance are betting heavily on climate risk modeling – not to avert this crisis, but to ensure that their finances remain intact though it. What's more, it won't work. As climate effects get bigger, they get less predictable – and harder to avoid. The point of insurance is spreading risk, not reducing it. We shouldn't and can't rely on insurance creating price-signals to reduce our climate risk.

But the climate doom-loop can be put in reverse – not by market spending, but by public spending. As Arun writes, we need to create "a global investment architecture that is safe for spending":

https://tanjasail.wordpress.com/2023/10/06/a-world-safe-for-spending/

Public investment in emissions reduction and resiliency can offset climate risk, by reducing future global warming and by making places better prepared to endure the weather and other events that are locked in by past emissions. A just transition will "loosen liquidity constraints on investment in communities made vulnerable by the financial system."

Austerity is a bad investment strategy. Failure to maintain and improve infrastructure doesn't just shift costs into the future, it increases those costs far in excess of any rational discount based on the time value of money. Public institutions should discipline markets, not the other way around. Don't give Wall Street a veto over our climate spending. A National Investment Authority could subordinate markets to human thriving:

https://democracyjournal.org/arguments/industrial-policy-requires-public-not-just-private-equity/

Insurance need not be pitted against human survival. Saving the cities and regions whose bonds are held by insurance companies is good for those companies: "Breaking the climate risk doom loop is the best disaster insurance policy money can buy."

I found Arun's work to be especially bracing because of the book I'm touring now, The Lost Cause, a solarpunk novel set in a world in which vast public investment is being made to address the climate emergency that is everywhere and all at once:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

There is something profoundly hopeful about the belief that we can do something about these foreseeable disasters – rather than remaining frozen in place until the disaster is upon us and it's too late. As Rebecca Solnit says, inhabiting this place in your imagination is "Completely delightful. Neither utopian nor dystopian, it portrays life in SoCal in a future woven from our successes (Green New Deal!), failures (climate chaos anyway), and unresolved conflicts (old MAGA dudes). I loved it."

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/28/re-re-reinsurance/#useless-price-signals

[wordywarriorwrites]

Clearly

Title: Clearly | A03 | Rating: T+

Pairing: Joel Miller x F! Reader

Summary: Joel’s spent a year trying to get a read on you. One night, you finally let him.

Warnings: Brief mentions of violence. Hints of spice. Language.

Joel can’t remember the last time he really wanted a woman.

Being a single father had made dating a challenge. Then, the world ended. And as for Tess? Well, they never managed to be on the same page – her always needing something more and him being unable to give it.

Now, things are different. And there’s you. Sitting across from him, feeding Tommy’s son, and looking like a confusing combination of a bad idea and something that might be good for him.

This isn’t the first meeting. Or the first shared dinner. Still, Joel’s so damn nervous just being near you that his palms are actually sweating where they rest on his knees beneath the table. There’s an edge and an air about you – something that makes the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

It beckons him – tempts him to take a risk and get a closer look.

You’re a mutual friend of Tommy and Maria. Joel’s known you for about a year now and has seen you around town enough to know people respect and trust you. In addition to teaching the kids of Jackson their ABCs and 1-2-3s, he’s watched you plant flowers, sew busted buttons, and calm unruly horses. You’re damn good with a rifle and decent at darts.

Hell, even Ellie likes you – in fact, she’s practically monopolizing you, peppering you with questions while Maria and Tommy set the table, and you answer everything while simultaneously (and successfully) scooping mashed peas into the gummy mouth of a gurgling, wriggling baby who seems to adore you.

Joel used to be so good at knowing what people were thinking, what made them tick, but consistent food, safety, and shelter have made him softer and more complacent than he ought to be. He thinks he gets glimpses – brief flashes of bridled wildness that appear when you’ve had a few too many, or when the townsfolk get a little rowdy, or when the odd fight breaks out. It’s rare, but he swears he’s seen it. Then again, perhaps he’s misreading you entirely.

Maybe he just sees in you the edge he used to have.

If he recalls correctly, you’re around his age – maybe a handful of years younger. Save for a vicious scar of unknown origins at the base of your throat, you seemed to have fared better than he did, all things considered. You sure as hell aged better – becoming laugh lines, no grays, and zero complaints about your back and knees. You’re a damn fine-looking woman, but he’s met beautiful women before, and he’s never been this affected.

In fact, it’s been more than twenty years since he’s felt the type of pull that makes him want to do something other than run or just ignore it. You’ve piqued his curiosity. Made something misfire in his brain. He doesn’t know whether to be wary, turned on, or scared.

“You alright, Miller?” you prompt.

Joel stares dumbly at you. You waggle the bowl of potatoes at him. He offers an awkward head bob and a mumbled thanks before overserving himself and clumsily passing the dish off to his brother.

Aside from his blunder, the rest of dinner is uneventful, with the evening being mostly comprised of small talk centered around work rotations, wall maintenance, and supply audits. Joel doesn’t really have much to contribute and save for the occasional yes or no response to a direct question, he’s silent. The baby gets passed around a few times before the night’s over, and by the end of it, he’s exhausted and can’t exactly pinpoint why.

Maria and Tommy see everyone out, sending you and Ellie home with baskets brimming with leftovers. Joel heads off with a wave and a yawn, following the two of you down the stairs and onto the street. He’s not paying much attention, just moseying along until the place he and Ellie call home comes into view.

“You head inside,” you murmur to Ellie. “I wanna talk to Joel for a minute.”

Ellie looks back and forth between the two of you, “Everything cool?”

You laugh, “Yeah. Just boring, adult stuff. Nothing that would interest you.”

The quirk of the kid’s brow suggests she knows better, and she doesn’t budge until Joel waves her off. When Ellie slows and looks back, he shoos her again. As soon as she disappears into the house and closes the front door, you set your basket at your feet and let out a sigh.

“Well, I’m sure she’s looking out the window, so, let’s get to it,” you declare.

One moment, he’s standing across from you, watching the moonlight highlight the apples of your cheeks. The next, you’ve got the lapels of his flannel balled up in your fists, and you’re yanking him forward. You kiss him hard – almost like you’ve got something to prove – but you don’t fumble it. You hit him with a heady, one-two-punch combination of teeth and tongue that sends something scorching zipping up his spine, turning him from a passive spectator to an aggressive participant.  

In his haste to reciprocate, he kicks over your basket of leftovers, but you don’t protest. And when he palms your ass, bringing your bodies flush and pressing against you tight, you don’t stop him. In fact, you make a little sound in the back of your throat that shakes the hell out of him – like this is what you were after and what you wanted all along. Joel knows he’s in danger because he’s already flying high with just a kiss, and your fingertips grazing his patchy beard before finding their way into his messy hair makes his belly swoop and his breath catch.

You pull away first, and he chases your mouth, eagerly and greedily brushing his lips against yours a few more times before clearing his throat and standing to his full height.

“Dunno about you,” you sigh, tone warmer than a banked fire. “But I feel better.”

He laughs, and your answering smile cranks up the odd, giddy feeling that’s floating somewhere in the region of his chest. Joel stares at you for a time. You stare right back. No awkwardness, no apprehension. The shared moment comfortably dissipates, and the two of you work together to repack the basket.

“Can I walk you home?” he offers.

“Better not,” you banter, tone all flirtatious as you secure the basket’s handle in the crook of your elbow “If I get you alone or near a bed… Could be dangerous.” 

Joel grins and rubs the back of his neck, “Well, if you change your mind.”

You don’t have to say it because he knows. Joel knows he’ll see you again. Kiss you again. That you’ll claim him as your own and that you’ll belong to him. He knows it because when he looks into your eyes, he’s finally – and perhaps with only your blessing – able to see you clearly.

[winchesterdreamgirl88]

Famous In Love

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Reader

Warnings: So much freaking fluff!! Bf/n= Best friends name

Summary: This takes place in an AU where Jensen isn't with Danneel and is just a normal actor in Hollywood, and Y/n hears about an open casting call for a movie and goes to read for the part meets Jensen and things go from there:)

Word count:1.7k

A/n: I loved this show when it first came out so I figured I would try writing a story based on the pilot of this show. The pilot for this show gets all the credit!

"Come on Y/n this would be so fun to try. You never take any risks why not try this one." Bf/n was saying as you were walking down the street passing a billboard for an open call audition for some movie.

"No Bf/n you know that's just a publicity stunt. They're never gonna take some ordinary person like me. Besides I'm not pretty enough or good enough to ever be in a movie." You said as you stopped to think about how unlucky your life has been.

First your parents kicked you out at the age of 16 and you lived in your car while you worked a full time and part time job to afford rent. Then when you finally got settled in your new apartment it flooded and you had lost everything. You were 21 now and life was not looking to get any better. Luckily you had met Bf/n at work and she let you move in with her and you guys became inseparable.

"Please just do this one thing for me and if it turns out to be a disaster I'll do your laundry for a whole month. We'll go buy new clothes and go in there and nail this audition."

"Okay I guess we can give it a shot." You said finally giving in and letting her drag you to stores to pick out outfits.

Two days later you and Bf/n were sitting in a casting room waiting to audition. You were nervous but you didn't have high hopes. Expect disappointment and you'll never be disappointed. It was your friends turn to go audition and you wished her good luck as she disappeared down the hall. After about 10 minutes she came back with a smile on her face.

"So how'd it go?" You said interested to know what was gonna happen.

"It went alright, I definitely don't think I'll get the part but there was the most handsome man in the room watching me audition. I swear I forgot every single line because he was just so distracting."

Bf/n has always been super boy crazy so you didn't think anything of her mentioning another random guy she found cute. After about 10 minutes your name was called and you start to walk down the hall towards the audition room. Expect disappointment and you won't be disappointed you kept saying to yourself as you walked down the hall. You took a deep breathe before entering the room. When you entered the room you lock eyes with the most gorgeous pair of green eyes with a hint of brown you have ever seen.

Jensen's POV

I had been at auditions for only a few hours and I was already over everyone who had come and seemed to think it was a game or didn't really seem to try and care about what was happening. I started zoning out through most of the auditions because no one had that special spark that made me feel anything. Suddenly I hear the door open again and it's the last audition of the day, I lift my head up and look over at the door and see the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.

Reader POV

Your breathe got caught in your throat as you made eye contact with a man who looked to be about 25 years old. He had a very faint beard that you could only see in the light. You took a moment to breathe and then cleared your throat.

"Hi, my name is Y/n and I'm here to read for the role of Paige." You said walking up in front of the table that had the directors and producers behind it. You tried not to make eye contact with the guy who hadn't seemed to take his eyes off you since you came in the door.

"You may begin whenever you're ready."

You take a deep breathe before starting to read the script. "But what about me? What about what I feel. You don't just get to decide how I feel or how I control my life. I love you and nothing is going to change that." You said with your voice cracking as you finish up the scene. You notice everyone has a shocked look on their face, it seems like forever until the director speaks up.

"Thank you very much for coming today. We'll be in touch." You took one last look at the man and then exited the hallway to go find your friend.

Jensen POV

She captivated my attention from the moment she walked into the room. I could tell she was very nervous and shy because she kept her head down and wouldn't look at anybody. But as soon as she started the scene I couldn't help but just stare at her with astonishment. She's been the first person today that has captured my attention and actually made me feel something about the character. I realize she has to be the one for this part.

"She's the best we've seen all day. She knew the script, she was emotional, she was believable, and really cared about what she was saying." I said looking at everyone else in the room suddenly defending some girl I hadn't even said anything to.

"She's just a nobody though. It just doesn't seem right to give her the part." I was completely taken aback by this. "What if we bring her back in, and she reads a scene with me. If we have chemistry and it's believable then she gets the part." Everyone seemed to think that was fair so the assistant producer went to go find her while I tried to prepare myself.

Reader POV

You and bf/n were getting ready to leave the building when a slightly shorter woman ran up to you and stopped you. "Excuse me miss but they want you to come back and read another scene with your love interest and see if you can handle it." You were very shocked because you didn't think that you did that good. You looked back at your friend who had a big smile on her face telling you to go for it. You decide to follow the lady back into the room. When you open the door suddenly everything makes sense, the guy from earlier was playing your love interest.

Your heart started to speed up when you realized you would not only have to keep eye contact with this man but also try and remember words and talk to him.

"Hi, I'm Jensen I'll be playing Blake your love interest." He said while holding out his hand for you to shake. You smiled and shook his hand. "I'm Y/n."

"Okay so let's just read from the top of the page down and then we'll stop." Jensen said letting you know to start. "And action!" the director had called out.

"But what about me? What about what I feel. You don't just get to decide how I feel or how I control my life. I love you and nothing is going to change that."

"You can't love me. I can't stay here, I can't allow myself to fall deeper in love with you. You will only get hurt in the end and I can't let that happen."

"The only one hurting me right now is you. You aren't even considering my feelings. You're just doing what's best for you."

"What's best for me? What's best for me is being with you. But I just can't, I won't." He then turns away from you and you walk up behind him and place your hand on his shoulder.

"Yes you can, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, you're stuck with me. I know you may think you don't deserve to be happy. But you do, you deserve everything in the world that would make you happy. Starting with me." You said and looked away because that was the end of the scene. Suddenly you feel an arm grab your wrist and pull you back and then you feel lips on yours. You were surprised at first because you thought you were done with the scene, but it looked like he wanted to go further. It takes a second but then your brain catches up and starts kissing back. Suddenly he pulls away "Okay, lets do this together." "And cut!" the director said as Jensen slowly backs away from you. You were so distracted by what just happened instead of seeing anything you just walked out the door and ran down the hall. You couldn't believe he had just kissed you like that. It had been the best kiss you had in years and it was from this random guy.

Jenson POV

She was such a phenomenal actress I forgot we were even acting for a minute. When she said her last line of dialogue I didn't want the scene to be over so I pulled her in and kissed her keeping the scene going. I expected her to pull back but instead she gives herself into the kiss and it's the best kiss I've had in forever. Right after she ran out the door looking very nervous. I just knew I had to get to know more about this amazing girl.

"So?" I asked looking at the director. "We like her she's got the part." I get a big smile on my face and go to run out the door to catch her before she leaves.

Reader POV

Suddenly you hear noises behind you and see Jensen running up to you. "You got the part Y/n, you'll be playing me love interest." You were so excited you just decided to give him a hug, Shocked at what you just did you start to pull away but then feel him hug you back. "Congratulations." "Thank you," you say with the biggest smile on your face.

"Would you like to go out sometime. Maybe just do something casual like get a beer and dinner and just talk." He says suddenly being really shy like he's nervous to talk to you. But why would he be nervous, he's him and you weren't anything special. You decided to take a leap of faith, "Yeah I would really like that." He gave you that signature smile and you knew you were hooked.