#This is in case we feel like using the proxies on Discord. We usually just send msgs on SP or chat there.

[sepiasys]

I set us up tupper for our personal discord server 👍

Probably should get rid of pk for the account we usually use, made us an alt for the system as well so it can be connected to that instead if we bother. Or if *I* bother, since I'm the one doing this shit ig.

Kinda dumb but kinda reasonable but not that there's a max of 500 tuppers. I don't imagine using that many but it's dumb. But reasonable.

I need a pfp eventually for myself, and I have a faceclaim so just need to get that made and set up eventually.

Even ☕️ doesn't really have a proper pfp rn, but atleast they have a better representation of itself than me.

Whatever.

[god-of-identity]

i’ve been listening to way too many creepypastas.

@irrelevant-proxy-bitch as promised, my creepypasta sona/oc origin story. hopefully it meets the standards, heh

Genesis Caveat Origin

or, How I Became a Proxy

That thing is watching me again.

I first noticed it after a particularly boring day of school. I hadn’t paid attention in most of my classes, instead opting to scroll through Tumblr, mess around on Discord, and listen to Creepypasta readings on Youtube. I’m probably failing most of my classes at this point. I can’t bring myself to care. I can’t bring myself to care about much of anything these days. Fiction is the only thing that piques my interest, those made-up worlds are so much more entertaining than the boring one I’m stuck living in. That’s probably why I like writing so much, I can create and destroy whole worlds with no consequence to me, I can control everything and nothing, and it can be as entertaining as I want it to be.

I’m getting off-track. Sorry.

I’d been ignored all day, as per usual, so when I was walking home and felt someone watching me, I was confused and more than a little curious. I normally walk at a fairly quick pace, but I slowed my steps a little when I felt I was being watched. I turned to look behind me, but no one was there. The sidewalk was empty. Actually, the whole street was empty, which is what caused my anxiety to spike. There were no people, no cars, even the storefronts looked empty. I turned back forward and picked up my pace again, walking quickly all the way home. It wasn’t until I’d reached my front door that I realized the feeling of that stare had vanished the instant I’d turned around.

Since then, I’ve felt that stare every time I walk home from school.

After the first day, I didn’t bother looking back. Something told me I wouldn’t be able to see anyone if I did. I was more than a bit creeped out by the whole thing. Why was someone spying on me? How long had they been watching me before I noticed? I was half-convinced I’d been singled out because I’m a textbook wallflower- no one at school would know if I went missing, and they definitely wouldn’t care. If someone snatched me while I was on my way to school, my parents wouldn’t find out until I was late getting home, and by then their frantic calls to the school and police wouldn’t do a thing- I’d probably be long gone.

I guess I was right about that part, heh. Just not for the reasons I thought.

. . .

I’m getting ahead of myself. Where were we? Ah, right.

It’s the seventh day of me being stared at as I’m walking home from school. For the past week, caution won out over curiosity, and instead of trying to spot whoever’s stalking me, I’ve just gotten home as fast as I can. I also made a habit of texting my parents when I leave school- they know how long it’s supposed to take me to get home, so if I get kidnapped they’ll know sooner. Same as when I head to school in the mornings, because I’ve been feeling the gaze on me then too.

I think part of me always knew it wasn’t human.

Shit, sorry. Focus.

Anyway, walking home. Seventh day in a row. Blah blah blah. Only this time, my curiosity outweighed my caution. Maybe I was just so damn bored of the life I had, that I’d do anything to mix things up. Actually, I’m sure that’s what it was. Suffice to say, as I walked down the eerily empty street, this time I slowed my steps instead of speeding them up. Then I slowly turned my head to look behind me. And saw it. The thing that was stalking me. I only caught half a second’s glance before it vanished, but that was enough. The details flashed in my mind. Tall, freakishly so. Black suit, torn sleeves. Something like tentacles raised up behind it. And the face- no face. At least not that my mind allowed me to see.

Then it vanished.

I spun back forwards and sprinted the rest of the way home.

The minute I got home I locked myself in my bedroom, drawing the curtains closed and booting up my laptop. A barely comprehensible entry in the Google search bar was autocorrected in seconds, and with a shaking hand, I moved the mouse to click on the images tab. Photoshopped pictures, fanart, and blurry photos stared back at me.

“I knew it.”

Like I mentioned at the start of this narration, I listen to a lot of creepypasta readings on Youtube. So I’m familiar with some of the stories. Laughing Jack. Jeff the Killer. Lost Silver. So many others. And of course, the one that started it all.

Slenderman.

“Holy fuck.”

I was being stalked by Slenderman. Why? And why hadn’t he killed me? I needed answers. Luckily, the internet is a magnificent place. I curled up in my swivel chair and started typing away, searching up everything I could about Slenderman and his proxies. Even the stuff I already knew, I read or listened to again. I took in as much information as possible. It’s said that knowledge is power, and for some things, the more you know, the more danger you’re in. But in this case, well. I’d seen him. He knew I’d seen him. What did I have to lose?

The next time I look at my clock, it’s nearly five in the morning. I’d done about all the research my brain could handle, even with my hyperfixations running at full throttle. More info probably wouldn’t matter anyway.

I’d made my decision, my plan.

Now, to execute it.

I empty my backpack of school supplies and pulled out a Sharpie. Lowering the felt tip to the fabric on the inside of the backpack, I let out a slow breath. With things like this, power always came from belief, at least that’s what the stories told me. I’d seen him, I knew it was real, it was all real. Now that I knew that, anything was possible. The line between fiction and reality is blurring.

As an author, it’s my job to break it.

I scribble a phrase on the inside of the backpack and capped the sharpie. Then I reach over to one of the books I’d stacked in the ‘bring with’ pile and drop it in.

The book hit the bottom of the bag and vanished.

I grin and reach in, hand passing through a cool sort of veil. I feel around, grabbing the book, and pull it out. It worked. It worked! I giggle, flapping my free hand in excitement. Pocket dimension backpack, success!! I start piling the books into it, all the stories I will carry with me. Then my sketchbooks and drawing supplies. My laptop, chargers, wallet, phone, anything I think I might potentially need. Even some of the food and drinks I’d snuck into my room. My blankets and pillow. Some clothes I’d grown attached too. Hell, let’s bring my stuffed animals and collection of keepsakes too, why not? It can all fit! I empty my shelf of little knick-knacks into the backpack. Nearly everything that I can lift in my room has gone into that pack.

Now… to wait.

7am. I make my move.

I stand in front of the mirror in my room, looking myself over. I’m wearing an outfit I wear almost every day. Grey jacket with a red upside-down heart on the chest, grey shorts with red on the edges, boots, a long red scarf, and a pair of fingerless gloves. The only difference is that now, all my clothes have been altered by my newly discovered ability. I’m calling it “author powers” because that’s the closest I can get to properly explaining it. Now, my entire ensemble is fireproof, waterproof, and much harder to cut through that ordinary cloth. My boots are much more comfortable and molded to my feet. Everything fits just right.

Oh, one more thing. I pick up the blue-light glasses I’d left on my desk. I don’t even have to write on them to alter them, but it’s a fun little gimmick so I might just keep doing it. A couple lines on the glasses, and they’re suddenly much more useful. They’ll function as sunglasses now too, as well as a night vision and heat-seeking mode. And they’ll stay on my face without falling off. I push the glasses up my nose and look back into the mirror.

I guess the function wasn’t the only thing I altered. My ability has a lot to do with intentions.

Instead of glasses, I’m wearing a black mask with turquoise lenses. The mask only covers the upper half of my face. But that’s not the only thing that’s changed. Instead of my hair being the usual dirty-blonde and down to my shoulders, it’s pink, shorter and sorta spiked up- at least that’s the best way to describe it. Not spiked, that’s too sharp. But I can’t find another word right now, so we’ll stick with it. It was a transformation I hadn’t anticipated, but one that I’m sure to keep. I grin, showing teeth sharper than normal.

“This is gonna be fun.”

I hear someone in the kitchen. My dad, getting ready for the day. It’s Saturday, so he doesn’t have work. We don’t have a foster kid at the moment, so mom will be sleeping in. And my sister is still asleep in her bedroom. Perfect.

I raise a hand, seeing the black claws that now extend from the ends of my gloves. I’d been wondering how I’d get to a knife, but I guess now I won’t need one. I tighten the straps of my backpack and step out of my bedroom.

“Heh. Time to raise hell.”

~

Six days later. Thirteen days since this all started.

It took me for-fucking-ever to find the mansion. Even longer to get there with the burden I’m dragging along. But here I am. It looms over me, giving off the same creepy vibe I got from my stalker. I know he’s there, and he knows I’m here. Someone will answer the door soon, I don’t even have to knock.

The smell of blood isn’t as bad as I thought. I’m glad I made my clothes stain-proof, I’d hate to have to throw away my gloves. As I’m waiting, I tap my foot idly and inspect my fingers. I have a nasty habit of biting the skin around my fingernails, which shows even with my claws. Oh, there’s blood on my claws. Not quite dry, so I just lick it off. Huh, doesn’t taste that bad either.

Someone’s moving inside. I straighten up slightly, hand dropping to my side. I nudge one of the bodies next to me with a foot, then take a half-step away when an arm flops to the ground. I look back to the door, arms crossed (carefully, to avoid cutting myself) as I wait. The door finally creaks open, revealing someone I don’t recognize. I assume it’s one of the proxies, but it’s not one that I’ve read anything about. Only one way to find out.

“You’re one of his proxies, I assume?” Even my voice is different, with the mask. I like it.

The proxy laughs. “Fuck yeah, I’m the number one proxy bitch. But you can call me Irre.” She pronounced it like ‘eerie’, which I thought was fitting.

I snort with amusement and take a moment to look the proxy up and down. She has pale blue skin, long hair that faded from black into red, and silver eyes. She’s about my height, maybe an inch shorter, with a healthier-looking build than the almost-too-skinny twig stature I see every time I look in the mirror. She even looks to be about my age too, give or take a year. She gives off a chaotic sort of presence, but in a way that’s almost difficult to perceive. I’m reminded of my school days, blending into the background. After a few people told me my stare was creepy, even though I’d just been looking at them, I didn’t meet anyone’s gaze. Apparently I had an intensity others found unsettling, but only if they noticed me. I’m reminded of that with this proxy, only with chaotic energy instead. I smile slightly. We might just get along.

“Well, nice to meet you, number one proxy bitch,” I respond with a chuckle. “Speaking of proxies. Where do I sign up? I brought a peace offering.” An idle hand gesture draws her attention to the bodies sprawled next to me. Two bodies, carved up with precise markings, and very much dead. What remains of my parents. My claws had marked them, turned their corpses into a work of art. I’d saved the blood, bagged it and put it in my backpack. I might need it later.

Irre looks the bodies over and grins. “I think you’ll fit in just fine here. Course, that’s not my decision.” She glances back at the house. “The others will get curious soon. Last chance to turn back.”

“I’m not going back. Besides, he sought me out first,” I admit. “Took me awhile to figure it out. But I’m here now.”

She nod in understanding. “In that case… what’s your name?”

I grin, showing sharp teeth. “I am Genesis Caveat.”

[monstertronexchange]

Rules & FAQ

Rules

1. This exchange is a multiship event. Please do not express any hate towards your fellow participants or members of the Discord server.

2. All prompts and offers must revolve around the theme of monsters including but not limited to one or more main characters depicted as monsters (e.g., siren Lance, yuki-onna Allura), situations revolving around monsters (e.g., zombie apocalypse, vampire hunters), or other supernatural elements that make up the foundation of your story. Aliens do not count. If you have any questions about what qualifies as “monster-themed”, please do not hesitate to contact the blog or a moderator. Mod can be found on tumblr here: Mod Han.

3. Do not share the specifics of your gift with your recipient as this will spoil the whole point of the exchange! If you have questions for your recipient, contact a mod and they will act as a proxy to get you the information you need.

4. If you are a minor (17-) please do not request/create NSFW works. If you are not a minor (18+), AT LEAST ONE OF YOUR MINIMUM 2 PROMPTS MUST BE SFW IN THE CASE THAT A MINOR/SOMEONE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH NSFW IS ASSIGNED TO YOU.

5. Have fun! Join us on our Discord server if you want. We encourage all participants to interact with their fellow fans and make some friends! Please don’t hesitate to join as we would love to get to know you during your time in this event!

FAQ

What is the Monstertron Gift Exchange? This is a fandom event where you will submit 2 to 5 monster-themed request prompts, and someone will be matched to you to make one or more of your requests as they see fit.

What is a request prompt? A prompt can be as vague as “Keith/Lance, zombie apocalypse, minimal blood, SFW or NSFW” thus leaving it open to your gifter’s interpretation, or as specific as “NSFW, Keith/Shiro, Keith is a dragon that Shiro finds wounded in the woods behind his house and nursed back to health. Anything to do with Keith as a dragon will do, but I enjoy some tender loving dragon care!”

What is the schedule? Sign ups open - June 1st at 12:00 AM EDT Sign ups close - June 30th at 12:00 AM EDT Assignments sent out - July 14th Check in #1 - July 31st - August 5th Check in #2 - August 28th - September 1st Gifts due - September 13th - September 19th

What are the minimum requirements for my work? The minimum requirements are as follows: Artists - Must be at least a colored sketch on a 600 x 400 pixel size canvas. Writers - Must be at least 1,500 words in length, betas are strongly suggested.

You are welcome (and encouraged) to go beyond the minimum requirements for your preferred medium, but we want you to be as stress-free as possible when completing your piece, so if you feel that you cannot meet these requirements we strongly suggest either speaking to a mod or reconsidering the event as a whole. We want all participants to give what they get because this is a gift exchange.

What are expected from Check-Ins 1 and 2? Check-ins are just a way for us to make sure you haven’t forgotten your assignment, and that you’re at least a little on task! Check-in 1 will just be letting us know you’ve got at least some kind of idea of what you’re going to do. Check in 2 will be us making sure you’ve started and are ideally almost done with your gift. All check-ins will be completed via a Google Form that we will email out to participants.

Everyone works at different speeds, so don’t sweat too much about the check ins, there’s no pressure to be done immediately!

Where do I sign up? You can sign up here starting June 1st at 12:00 AM CDT and ending at the same time June 30th.

Can I edit my sign-up? Yes, but only until sign-ups close!

Where should I post my gift? Please post your gift to Tumblr and either tag us @monstertronexchange or use the hashtag #monstertronexchange so we can reblog it here! Writers are welcome to post their fics to our collection on AO3, but please post a link tagging us on Tumblr!

Am I allowed to write a “Dear Gifter” letter? Yes, please! You can link it to your request once you fill out the sign-up form. These are usually posted on your preferred social media platform and are used to give your gifter more information about your likes/dislikes, dos and don’ts, and any other information you want them to know.

Can I specify what medium I want certain requests to be fulfilled in? Yes, but try not to do this for all your requests in case you are paired with an artist and all of your prompts are for fanfiction, for example.

What about treats? A treat is a work by anyone whether they are a participant in the exchange or not. You can make these at any time based on the available prompts and there is no work minimum, we’ll post a link to a Google Doc filled with the requests we received in the form along with the announcement that assignments have been sent out. Participants should only submit treats after their original request has been fulfilled.

[fortnitecode7799-blog]

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[phooll123]

This is what it's like using only open-

source software on Android

Technically speaking, Android is open-source. This means anyone can look at the operating system's code, or change it - this is how OEMs like HTC and Samsung add their own tweaks. That openness has often been a rallying cry for hardcore Android enthusiasts. Why use a closed platform like iOS, when you can have a free and open-source platform? But even from the beginning, there were components of Android that were closed-source. The Gmail app, Maps, Google Talk, and the Play Store were some of the earliest examples. To combat the always-present fragmentation of Android, Google offers many APIs through the Play Services Framework. As more and more apps switch to these proprietary APIs, they become less functional (or break entirely) on devices without the Play Store. Four years ago, Ars Technica wrote a detailed analysis of using Android without all the proprietary Google software. It wasn't a great experience, as you can probably guess. But plenty can change in four years, so is the situation any better in 2018? That's what I wanted to find out.

Why open-source?

Free and open source software (FOSS) has a number of advantages, but to users, the main benefit is privacy. All the code is out in the open, so anyone with programming knowledge can go through it and see exactly what an app is doing. Proprietary apps can sometimes feel like black boxes, where you don't really know what's going on behind the scenes. That's almost never the case with FOSS.

Proprietary apps can sometimes feel like black boxes.

I say 'almost,' because there's technically nothing stopping open-source apps from spying on you, but that behavior is extremely rare. If you're doing something you're not supposed to be (like spying on users or bundling malware), you probably wouldn't announce it to the world.

Another popular talking point for FOSS software is freedom of choice. For example, if you don't like one Android ROM, you can switch to another. There are plenty of other advantages, but you get the idea.

Choosing a ROM

Unlike with full-blown computers, it's essentially impossible to go 100% open-source with smartphones. When it comes to Android, the drivers for many of your phone's components are closed-source, since they come from either the OEM (Samsung, HTC, etc) or the silicon manufacturer (Qualcomm, MediaTek, etc). These closed-source components are called 'binary blobs,' and are required to make the phone operate properly. For example, the Pixel 2 XL uses binary blobs to operate the GPS, camera, fingerprint gestures, DRM, display, and various sensors. There is an Android ROM called Replicant, which aims to replace binary blobs with open-source implementations. Unfortunately, the project doesn't have a large community, so development is extremely slow. There are only 13 phones and tablets currently supported, with the newest one being the Samsung Galaxy S3. I don't own any devices that Replicant supports, so I opted to use LineageOS... sorta.

LineageOS with microG

As mentioned above, Google Play Services is completely proprietary, so I couldn't use it for this experiment. However, there is an alternative - the microG project. MicroG is an open-source re-implementation of Play Services, designed to replicate as much functionality as possible. At the moment, microG includes its own versions of GmsCore, the Services Framework Proxy, Unified Network Location Provider, and v1 of the Google Maps API. There are plans to develop a Play Store client as well, but that isn't available yet. Even though the project is still very far from complete, it sounded interesting enough to try out. Unfortunately, there's a catch - microG only works with custom ROMs that support signature spoofing. The LineageOS project is against adding support for that feature, citing security concerns, so microG offers its own ROM called 'LineageOS for microG.' It's available for all devices with official LineageOS support, and comes with microG and the F-Droid app store pre-installed. There are no other changes, as far as I'm aware.

The experience

I decided to use my Xiaomi Mi 4c for this experiment, since it's the only functional phone I have that I don't frequently use. It has a Snapdragon 808 processor with 3GB of RAM, so it's fairly fast (albeit a bit toasty). I wiped it, flashed the microG LineageOS ROM through TWRP, and went through the setup process. Once that was done, my (mostly) open-source phone was ready to be used.     If you've never tried LineageOS, it's somewhat similar to stock Android, but with some custom applications and minor UI tweaks. There's a lightweight WebView browser (nicknamed 'Jelly'), an improved Email client, an audio equalizer, a music player, and so on. Some of these are part of AOSP, but have been improved by LineageOS.     As mentioned above, microG's fork comes with the F-Droid store already installed. F-Droid is a catalog of FOSS apps for Android, where proprietary apps are not allowed. You have Firefox instead of Chrome, Nextcloud instead of Google Drive, and so on. As I expected, finding alternatives for all the apps I use was the most difficult part of this experiment.

Communication

My first task was to set up my usual communication methods. For email, I ended up using the included Email application, which worked just fine once I set up an app passwordfor my Gmail (because I have 2FA enabled on my Google account). SMS obviously worked with the built-in Messaging app. The 'Conversations' XMPP client allowed me to use Hangouts in a limited capacity (no group messages or video/audio calls), since Google never shut down the old Google Talk XMPP servers.    'Communication' is a pretty great XMPP client, but functionality with Hangouts is limited. Then I started running into roadblocks. Android Police uses Slack for internal communication, but there is no open-source client available. That ended up being the one closed-source app I installed, since that's a necessity for my job. I occasionally use Discord, but that's proprietary. I already talk with most of my friends over Hangouts and SMS, so the requirement of using open-source software wasn't a major problem. If I was a heavy Skype or Facebook Messenger user, this would have been far more irritating.

Browsing

I use Chrome on all my devices, so I planned on using Chromium as my web browser. If you're not familiar with it, Chromium is Chrome without all the closed-source bits. There is no H.264 video support, no automatic updates (only applies to the desktop version), no MP3 playback, and no Flash plugin (again, only for the desktop). Chromium itself is not available on F-Droid, but there is 'getChromium,' which downloads the latest build from Google's servers. Even though it's open-source, Chromium for Android does still rely on Play Services to sync bookmarks/history/tabs. This is where microG comes in... or so I hoped. When Chromium asked me to log into Google, I entered my credentials, and then... nothing. I went to the browser's settings, and it said I hadn't logged in. I tried logging in again, and microG told me I had already logged in. This happened with every app that tried to sync with my Google account, including the Contacts and Calendar apps. The disappointment kept coming. I tried to set up the Twitter Lite web app, but notifications didn't work at all. Chrome and Chromium use Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) to deliver web app notifications, but microG doesn't offer that functionality. I installed Firefox hoping it would work, but it also uses GCM.    Jelly tabs appear in the system app switcher, like Chrome in the Lollipop days. Since I couldn't sync data on Chrome, and Firefox on Android still isn't a great experience, I ended up just using the included 'Jelly' browser. It relies on the system WebView to render pages, and performance is great.

Entertainment

Here's where things get rough. I use a few different media services, including YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, and Plex. The only decent open-source YouTube client is NewPipe, but you can't log in, so I mostly just used the YouTube mobile site. There are no FOSS clients for Plex, Netflix, Hulu, or Spotify. In other words, I couldn't listen to any of my music, unless I copied the MP3 files from my Plex server to the phone's internal storage. I couldn't stream any TV shows or movies, either. I don't play many mobile games, but all of the ones I occasionally open (Lux Deluxe, RCT Classic, Bloons Tower Defense 5, and Crossy Road) are all closed-source. There are a few games on F-Droid, but they're pretty basic. If you're just looking for a way to kill time, there are some okay options.

Social media

There is no shortage of great third-party Twitter apps, but there aren't very many open-source ones (at least on Android). The best one seems to be Twidere, which we covered last year in our Best Twitter clients roundup. It hasn't changed much since then, but the F-Droid version doesn't have any of the in-app purchases (like scheduling tweets and Giphy integration).    Twidere is pretty good, and even supports other Twitter-like social networks. The only other social network I frequently use is Mastodon, and my favorite client is Tusky. Thankfully, not only is Tusky open-source, but notifications work without Play Services.

Productivity

The experiment continued to become frustrating as I moved to productivity apps. I use Google Drive to store most of my important files and documents, but there's no FOSS client I can use. My notes are in Google Keep, so I had to use the mobile site. I basically never edit documents from my phone, but since they are all in Google Docs format, I wouldn't have been able to edit them without the official apps.

Conclusion

I started this experiment with one question in mind: could you realistically use an Android phone in 2018 using only open-source software? I think for most people, the answer is no. Just about every service or app used by the general public is closed-source, and unless you're willing to switch away from Google's ecosystem and go without most apps, it's just not practical. Some of you may already be heavily invested in open-source software. Maybe you run a Nextcloud installation instead of using Google's cloud products. You might heavily use Telegram or Signal, instead of proprietary services like Allo, Hangouts, and Facebook Messenger. There are some that wouldn't feel a great deal of impact from going without closed-source products, but I think that is an incredibly small amount of people.

There are some great FOSS alternatives to popular apps and services.

I'm not trying to criticize FOSS developers. Many of the apps listed on F-Droid are maintained by a small group of people (or single developers), usually in their free time. The quality of some of these apps is very impressive, especially given the limited resources and time these people have.

If there's one lesson to be learned, it's this: there are some great FOSS alternatives to popular apps and services. Going all open-source isn't feasible, but moving some of your friends to Telegram or switching to Firefox might be. With recent events, I think everyone can agree that the fewer Silicon Valley companies collecting detailed analytics about you, the better.

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