#What is Desktop Virtualization

[anuntatechsblog]

What is DaaS in Cloud Computing? Understanding Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

So, what is DaaS in cloud computing? It’s a powerful, cloud-based solution for delivering virtual desktops that enhance mobility, reduce costs, and streamline IT management. As businesses continue to embrace digital transformation, DaaS is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity.

Visit Us: https://anuntatech6.wordpress.com/2025/06/17/what-is-daas-in-cloud-computing-a-guide-by-anutatech/

[ms-demeanor]

So. Okay. I use my personal computer for work. This is not an ideal situation, and it's a holdover from Gary refusing to buy work computers for anyone when we went remote. I do not recommend this. You should not do this. If you are a business, you should not allow your employees to do this. It's a security issue for you and for your employer and is, all around, a bad idea.

My company installs an RMM agent (a program that lets us remotely manage the device and to view the screen in certain circumstances) on all of our client computers; you need the agent to do some server access stuff, so sometimes I have to have the RMM agent on my computer and get joined to our environment. When I'm done doing whatever it is, I uninstall the agent because I don't want my boss to have remote control software on my personal device. If you are using your personal computer at work, you should not allow your employer to maintain remote control software on your personal device.

My computer has a dorky name. I usually name my computers dorky things. This one is called Atredies and the last one was Gandalf and the one before that was Hende Nicholas and the one before that was Robocop. This, notably, does not match our office's pattern of "BN-1508," or even Gary's standard of "Work-Related-Concept" ("Shipping") or "First Name" ("Maddy") for naming our office computers. So sometimes I'll be sitting in the virtual office and someone will look up from doing device approvals and will say "What company has a desktop named Atredies" and I'll be like "us, the sleeper has awakened, let me on" and everyone is like hey Alli you're a huge dork and I'm like yeah.

So here's the thing. You should not be using your personal computer as a work computer. If you are using your personal computer as a work computer, you should not allow your employer to leave control programs installed on the device. If you do have control programs on the device, it's good to make sure that your computer is VERY VERY VERY identifiably *not* a computer owned by your employer. If your employer gave you an old computer that was being decommissioned, you should make sure to do a fresh OS install and you should make sure to rename the machine something that will make it easy to see it's your machine.

This post is brought to you by the lady whose gifted-from-her-job 12 year old laptop named "WP-1644" we just bricked because the client didn't maintain an inventory list and when they couldn't identify the user they decided it was stolen.

[thegreatyin]

What, precisely, is fallen London, and how can I play it? Ive been told it's a browser game, will it work on my phones browser or only my computer's?

SWEEPS EVERYTHING OFF MY DESK. SLAMS MY HANDS ON THE COUNTER. you're in luck because advertising this game is apparently my specialty.

fallen london is a free browser game that works on anything with an internet connection!! laptops, phones, tablets, the decade old 3ds you have stashed in the back of your closet- if you can open a web browser, you can run fallen london. the UI obviously differs between desktop and mobile, and desktop has the benefit of extensions that can make your life marginally easier, but that's all a strictly optional affair.

as for the game's actual contents; fallen london is a text-based horror game closely reminiscent of classic "choose your own adventure" books. you play as a new arrival to an alternate history version of victorian london that now flourishes in a deep, dark, marvelous (and more than slightly eldritch!) cavern known as "the neath", with the goal of making your name and ultimately pursuing one of the four possible ambitions that brought you here to begin with. along the way you encounter a wide variety of strange and inexplicable things, including but not limited to;

men with the faces of squid (who are not truly men)

actual real soul-stealing devils (who originate from Actual Real Hell, which is also london's next door neighbor)

snakes that are eternally bound to the realm beyond mirrors (who have an infamous feud with sapient talking cats)

treacheries of time, law, and all that which the gods hold dear (including the ability to bypass death itself)

sirens who are convinced they're dead (in a place where, as stated, death is easily bypassed)

sentient landmasses that get REALLY annoyed if you don't pay your taxes on time (and are also single and ready to mingle)

fabric that is not fabric (which is held in quite high value by certain giant bat monsters)

spiders that eat eyeballs (but are, fortunately, easily distracted by shakespeare)

genres of colors you didn't think possible (in seven fantastical flavors!)

batkissing (not canonically, but in our hearts)

batfucking (this is, somehow, marginally more canon than the above thing)

batmarriage (no.)

batdivorce (in comically large spades)

The Hat Man (who's in love with and yearns to become like a sentient island)

gay people (a lot of them)

trans people (also a lot of them)

doomed love, in all possible forms (as well as those who try and collect it)

this thing (this thing)

and last- but certainly not least-

a pitiful hope that perhaps, just perhaps, all shall one day be well. (even when you know it won't be.)

it's a game with lore as deep as the ocean, and a staggering wordcount (4.5 million!) to boot. it's not perfect, but it's something i've grown to love deeply, and in my experience? if it doesn't click for you, that's understandable. but if it clicks for you, it really does click for you. i recommend it to anyone and everyone who so much as looks its way. who knows! it may just surprise you 🦇☀️🦀🌃

as a further incentive, here are some out-of-context items and excerpts:

as stated, you can play it right now for free at fallen london dot com. there is a subscription and a small bounty of microtransactions on offer if you want to support the development team, but at no point is this ever required, and you will be playing for years before you reach the end of stuff to accomplish. all major content updates are free and available to all players, and FOMO to this day remains virtually non-existent. as once again stated, the browser specs are non-existent. if you can run google, you can run fallen london.

so head on down!! give the neath a try!! follow admiralty orders and dump a bunch of bombs directly into the zee (underground sea) whilst accidentally waking up a giant grieving sea urchin that screams fire and violently pursues your demise!! (that's what we're all doing right now, anyway.)

if the browser game isn't for you, there's also other outlets with which to explore the universe. you can find the spinoff games Sunless Seas, Sunless Skies, and Mask of The Rose available to purchase right now on steam, and there's recently been a very successful kickstarter to adapt the game into a TTRPG. it looks very cool so far. im very very very excited for it :)

in lieu of having to come up with a conclusion for this ask, im instead going to direct you to the MoTR stupendium song (which you'll find linked below). it says far more and advertises far better than i could ever dream of. also, it's a straight bop, and "all ends/swords pens" has lived rent-free in my brain for months.

welcome to the neath, delicious friend. we hope you enjoy your stay ❤️

[pixelatedcrown]

What is FilesFound!...? New Article: Desktop Partner Dear Dog An early virtual pet game with really charming 3D graphics! Another game I couldn't find any footage of online… Until now! 🐶 New Article: Random Floppies - Volume 1 A look at some of the files I've found on random, second hand floppy disks. I'll keep you safe, Snoopy.bmp! 🖼️💾

New Article: Building - Fun with Architecture Build with blocks, on the computer! A simple game where you make pictures out of shapes, but with an interesting aesthetic 🧱🔨

[demonic0angel]

Danny makes some little animal stick figure desktop pets, with Tucker's help, mainly to help with homework, act as autocorrect, and serve as something cute. He notices after a few weeks that they can interact with different things in different ways (think of the stick figures from animation vs. animator) and is impressed.

He decides to bring the six with him in his phone on a class field trip to Gotham and excitedly shows Sam and Tucker the evolved code. While they were walking around, the sticks were just messing around in Danny's phone when they managed to accidentally air drop themselves into Tim Drake's laptop. Tim somehow doesn't notice until he's back at the cave and connects his computer to the bat computer and accidentally uploads the desktop pets to it, Danny at this point also realized his desktop pets were gone. At this point, Danny and Tim are both low-key freaking out for different yet similar reasons.

Danny couldn’t help but look mournfully at his phone with teary eyes. How would his own tech abandon him?! After he paid for the wifi plan with his own money?!

Clenching a fist, Danny made a vow to himself. He would do whatever he could to get back his virtual pets!

————

Bruce pinched his nose. “And somehow… you didn’t find out until you uploaded them into the Batcomputer?”

Tim winced. “I already checked, they’re pretty safe.” At Bruce’s glare, he continued, “And it was an accident! They’re basically harmless! Even Babs checked!”

“We should keep them,” Damian said, his chin in his hands as he leaned over the keyboard to watch the virtual animals with delight. He was particularly focused on a cat that was batting at a desktop app within the computer.

Steph sighed. “We’ve lost him, boys. Damian’s turned into a virtual pet owner.”

“No one is owning any virtual pets!” Bruce said.

“Aww, I don’t know,” Dick said, smiling as Damian was using the mouse to pet the head of a dog. “I think it’s really cute.”

He squinted. Then his jaw dropped. Even Damian froze, wide eyed.

“Oh my god. I think that bird just solved a case for us.”

Everyone paused and then looked at the screen, where one of the virtual pets, a bright blue parakeet, had moved around some of the letters on a case file and somehow unlocked the secret code to one of the Riddler’s messages, successfully giving them the key for the rest of the riddles.

They were all silent.

Damian turned around, starry eyed. “Father! Please let us keep them!”

Bruce stared at the screen with a mixture of bewilderment and shock. “… y’know what… I think we just might.”

Tim gave a sigh of relief as he was let off the hook. He clenched his fist and and made a vow to himself. As long as these virtual pets helped him and his family, he was never going to let them go!

[crsssie]

sharpshooter - spencer reid x sharpshooter!reader

there's a rumor in the FBI about the BAU. No, not the rumor about their genius with an IQ of 187. No, not their rumor about the technical analyst who can get anything and everything with a swipe of her mouse. No, not even about the communications liason who was called in by the pentagon. no, no.

there's a rumor that the BAU hosts a sharpshooter. A sniper known even in the military for the strange grasp they have on everything mathematical and all things physics — a sharpshooter who has a minimal kill count because they had only ever disarmed with the rifle and not kill. A strange one, that sharpshooter.

Some of the new recruits peer past the glass when touring the building to see if they can catch a glimpse of just who this sharpshooter is (they fail).

"Did you know the word rumor virtually didn't change at all? The old latin word was spelled the same as it is current day other than the word rumorem, and then it went a different change in old french where it was rumur, but then it ended up back as rumor." Spencer hums. "The original meaning of rumor in latin was just noise."

"Huh." You click on your desktop, fingers clicking on the keyboard. "What about gossip?"

"Oh, that one started as godsibb which was like godparents or godsiblings, and then in middle english it changed to a familiar acquaintance, a friend, neighbor, and then by the 1560s it became anyone engaging in familiar or idle talk. Our modern meaning was more in the 1620s about talking idly about the the affairs of others."

"Fun." You stretch your arms over your head, glancing out the glass to catch a batch of new recruits. "Makes me think about superstitions."

"Oh, that one's super fun. It's formed from the words—"

"Reid, Snippy. New case." Morgan winks, passing by as you huff.

"I said not to call me that!"

"I'm sure you prefer it to your other nickname."

"I prefer no nickname." You huff, tossing a crumpled paper in your hand as Morgan leaves.

You throw the paper to hit him square in the back of his head as you pass him with Spencer.

"Hey!"

You only stick your tongue out when he rolls his eyes.

one agent in the academy catches the way you hit morgan square on the back of his head, and suddenly, there's a physical descriptor for just who you are. not that you seem to notice or care.

However, doctor reid looks back at the agent, and the young one seems to understand that look. keep you off everyone's radar. stay quiet of who you are.

they find it sweet of him, regrouping with the others as they notice they've been left behind.

[brookediamonds]

hi I was wondering if you could make an axel fan fic where the reader and axel has a secret relationship, she is the one wearing those Vr goggles and when she sees miguel becomes axel she starts acting like a high school girl thank you so much. :)

you are more than just a dream | Axel Kovačević x Fem! Reader

Summary: You and Axel have recently began seeing each other in secret, with all the drama that's happened with your group of friends, you two decide to keep things under wraps. That is until you find yourself in a situation that outs your relationship.

Masterlist

Word Count: 1.4k Warnings: None, flufff

not my gif

You and Tory walked into the back of Miyagi-Do already dressed in your white gi's for today's afternoon practice.

"Oh no," you exhale seeing the boys with a computer and a desktop set up by the sparring deck.

"What are these dummies doing now," Tory chuckles seeing her boyfriend wearing a pair of large goggles that looked like sunglasses along with other equipment on his body.

Sam stood along with Hawk and Demetri behind the computer watching the screen as Robby and Miguel fought on the deck.

"What are you guys doing?" You ask setting your gym bag down on the grass. When Robby lands a point on Miguel, they step back from each other.

"Come see for yourself," Robby says with a slight smirk, sliding the goggles up to rest on his forehead.

You make your way up the steps, letting the blonde boy dress you in the weird gadgets.

"They're virtual reality goggles," Demetri explains as Robby strapped you in around your legs and hands. "We're able to upload each other's fighting moves and routines allowing you to fight anyone we program in here."

Robby slips the goggles over your eyes, everything still where it's supposed to be with Miguel standing in front of you.

"Miguel is wearing the headphones that tell him what moves to throw out so he can mimic your ideal opponent."

Small green lettering was typed up on the sides, 'bbrROS' credited on the right side of what you were seeing.

"It's just Miguel—" you begin to say but suddenly your heart stopped at the sight in front of you.

Axel stood across from you, his usual serious expression softened by the amused tilt of his lips as he waved at you. Your boyfriend, your secret boyfriend, stood across from you in his white gi.

"Uh, Y/n… you okay?" You could hear Miguel’s voice, distant outside of the simulation.

You could feel the heat rise to your cheeks as your mind scrambled.

"Yeah! Totally fine!" You blurted out, shaking the tension out of your body before forcing yourself into a fighting stance. "Let's go."

"Alright," Axel smirks holding his hands up ready for you to strike first.

You tried not feel ridiculous as you and Axel began to circle each other, knowing the boys were watching along with your other two friends.

You're normally quick and calculated, but in this moment? Miguel disguised as your current lover was throwing you for a loop.

"Why do you keep smiling?" Sam asked in real life, her voice pulling you back for a second. "You never smile when we fight."

Oh god, stay cool, Y/n.

"It's just, um, really realistic, very impressive," you laugh nervously, trying to cover being flustered.

You take a step, almost hesitating before throwing a strike, but in the VR, Axel dodged smoothly, his smirk growing.

Your stomach flipped. They know. They totally know.

"What’s wrong?" Miguel’s voice asked, but all you could see was Axel’s teasing expression.

This is so unfair.

You sucked in a breath and went for a kick which VR Axel (Miguel) caught it effortlessly. "You sure you’re focused?"

Hawk narrowed his eyes at the stutter stepping girl. "Why are you standing so close?"

You barely registered that in the VR, Axel had stepped forward, looking down at you with that infuriatingly soft gaze he always gave when no one else was watching.

Miguel crossed his arms. "Dude, you’re totally blushing."

Robby leaned in. "And mumbling."

Tory gasped. "Did you just giggle?"

As the team drilled you with questions, Axel made his way into the backyard of the dojo seeing you dressed in a technical get up, sparring around with Miguel.

"What's that?" Axel comes up to Hawk and Demetri seeing his face on the laptop. "Is that... me?"

Demetri nodded, his eyes still glued to the screen. "Yup. We programmed Miguel to look like whoever we want. And right now she see's you!"

Axel’s brows furrowed as he leaned in, watching your flustered movements. He’d seen you fight countless times, but never like this; hesitant, distracted, downright nervous.

His gaze flickered to the screen, where a near-perfect digital version of himself smirked at you.

The way you kept staring, shifting on your feet, biting your lip. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.

"She looks like she’s in a daze," Sam giggles watching your distracted state. "I think Y/n might have a crush on our boy here."

"You think so?" Axel asks suppressing a shit eating grin.

"Oh you know something," Tory raises an eyebrow. He shrugs, dropping his backpack before walking over to the deck.

He gestures quietly to Miguel for the headset, switching before Y/n can notice.

While Miguel and Axel switched places, you were still desperately trying to shake off the distraction. Going for another kick, VR Axel blocked it smoothly.

Then, without warning, he stepped closer. Your breath caught in your throat, his face lingering close to yours.

"Miguel, move—"

"Having fun, sweetheart?" Axel's voice rang through your ear.

You froze.

That was Axel’s voice.

Your pulse pounded in your ears. He switched with Miguel. That meant—Oh god.

He was actually standing in front of you now. Inside the simulation, Axel took another slow step forward.

You instinctively took a step back, but your virtual surroundings remained the same, his intense gaze locking onto you like he had all the time in the world.

"Wh-when did you—?" you stammered.

"About thirty seconds ago," Axel mused, raising a brow. You so desperately want to reach out for his touch, but then remember the amount of eyes around you.

Your boyfriend begins to reach out for you, when you take another step back from him with a frown.

"What about?..." You vaguely gesture to your teammates afraid they might catch on to what you've been hiding.

"They already know," Axel murmurs closing the distance between you again.

"Oh," you swallowed, your heart still pounding in your chest. "I just didn't want things to change."

"They won't," your boyfriend reassures you, his hand reaching for yours, softly intertwining your fingers causing your friends to perk up. "In fact, all of them are smiling."

Axel uses his pointer finger to slowly tilt your head back, his face only centimeters away from yours.

"You don't have to hide anymore," he whispered before capturing yours lips with his, right there, in the middle of the simulation.

Your entire body jolted as warmth flooded through you. Your hands flew up to his chest on instinct, eyes fluttering shut.

An eruption of collective gasps filled the air, causing you to pull back from Axel, a blushing mess. He gently lifts the goggles off your eyes, your gaze finally meeting his.

"Now it all makes sense," Miguel says nudging Robby's side.

"You two, are too cute!" Sam grins staring up at you both with giddiness while Tory smirked knowingly, arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh my god, this is why you were acting so weird?" Hawk cackled. "Dude, you were blushing so hard, I thought you were about to pass out."

You smiled softly, wrapping an arm around Axel's waist.

Demetri shook his head in amusement. "Honestly, the signs were all there. The longing stares, the weird tension, this—" he gestured between you and Axel. "We should’ve figured it out sooner."

"How long have you two been together?" Robby asks as you and Axel made your way down the deck.

"Maybe two months," you shrug fully removing the headset as Axel moved around you to help strip you out of the gear.

"Two months?!" Miguel repeated, eyes wide. "And none of us noticed?"

Axel smirked, unstrapping the last of the gear with ease. "Guess we're just that good."

"Or we're just that oblivious," Demetri muttered.

Tory nudged Sam with a knowing look. "I knew it. I knew something was up."

Sam grinned. "I thought she was getting suspiciously soft on him."

"I was not!" You respond with a frown crossing your arms over your chest.

"Right, you blushing and giggling up there was you not being soft," Hawk teases you.

Axel wraps his long arms around your shoulders from behind you, tugging you into his chest as you grumbled under your breath.

"Whatever, don't listen to them," Robby waves his hand to dismiss Hawk. "Congrats, guys."

"Seriously, we're happy for you two," Miguel wishes.

You let out a deep breath, your boyfriend pressing a firm kiss to the top of your head.

"See, everything's fine," Axel reassures you as your friends move on and start strapping up Tory with the simulation. You lean back in his hold, your hands coming to grab at his forearms.

"At least now we can kiss whenever we like," you smile. Axel's chest hits your back as he lets out a laugh.

"Absolutely," he agrees.

[huellitaa]

long list of little things to do for urself 🧸🎀🫶✨

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ 1. wash ur bedding, towels, curtains, etc.

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ 2. fill up ur shopping baskets on every site possible

🫶🏻𓂃 ࣪˖ 3. clean out cosmetics and skincare

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ 4. start a project of something you love

⭐𓂃 ࣪˖ 5. browse cute pets to buy one day

💬𓂃 ࣪˖ 6. impulsively rearrange ur space

🩷𓂃 ࣪˖ 7. light some candles (if u arent deathly afraid of fire)

🐇𓂃 ࣪˖ 8. clean out your purse and every day bag

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ 9. make a pillow fort

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ 10. redo all ur playlists and clean them all out

🫶🏻𓂃 ࣪˖ 11. lay on the floor and sing ur fav songs for 3 hours

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ 12. make a recipe book (even if u cant cook)

⭐𓂃 ࣪˖ 13. clean ur mirrors and windows

💬𓂃 ࣪˖ 14. write a debate about a topic you feel strongly on

🩷𓂃 ࣪˖ 15. create some art to go on ur walls

🐇𓂃 ࣪˖ 16. stick up some old photos or cute things and decorate ur walls

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ 17. polish ur jewelry

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ 18. write a huge essay on something you know nothing about

🫶🏻𓂃 ࣪˖ 19. watch a virtual concert (youtube - tiny desk is v good!)

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ 20. make urself a big fruit platter

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ 21. read a parenting book and see how you can incorporate the tips mentioned into how u treat urself

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ 22. mend ur old clothes or get someone to help u fix them

🫶🏻𓂃 ࣪˖ 23. read a book w a flashlight and happy music under a blanket

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ 24. host a tea party w ur plushies and old toys

⭐𓂃 ࣪˖ 25. study ur horoscope for this month and how u can use it to ur advantage

💬𓂃 ࣪˖ 26. go thrifting and window shopping and take photos on ur phone of the things you want to create a visual wishlist

🩷𓂃 ࣪˖ 27. sort through ur books, cds, clothes, etc.; organise and throw out!

🐇𓂃 ࣪˖ 28. perform a concert in ur bedroom of ur fav album ever

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ 29. dress up and create the most elaborate, unhinged outfits you possibly can

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ 30. start a blog or site on something you care about

🫶🏻𓂃 ࣪˖ 31. contemplate ur core philosophies and question what is the meaning of life and what you're living for

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ 32. spend all day reading a random pdf book ur never gonna find again

⭐𓂃 ࣪˖ 33. plan out ur dream wedding online

💬𓂃 ࣪˖ 34. fully examine ur body and make sure everything's working and looking fine

🩷𓂃 ࣪˖ 35. create outfits within a specific theme and try them on

🐇𓂃 ࣪˖ 36. go online shopping for clothes and make outfits w the things you find even if you don't like them

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ 37. make a playlist of all the songs u used to love when you were younger

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ 38. build a tower out of stationery or anything you can find and make it as tall as you can

🫶🏻𓂃 ࣪˖ 39. take a picture of something ur grateful for wherever you go

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ 40. live out ur daydreams on pinterest and make random boards of random lifestyles or dreams you have or are interested in

⭐𓂃 ࣪˖ 41. organise ur digital storage like apps, google drive, documents, photos, desktop, games, consoles, etc.

💬𓂃 ࣪˖ 42. randomly set a reminder for somewhen in the future that you can think of saying that everything will be okay

🩷𓂃 ࣪˖ 43. have a park day without ur phone and make ur own entertainment

🐇𓂃 ࣪˖ 44. find ur enneagram number, do ur myers briggs test, study ur birth chart, find out more about urself bcuz ur the most important subject you could ever study

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ 45. write down ur biggest, wildest dreams with no bounds whatsoever

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ 46. attentively track ur moods for a day or a few; take note of how ur feeling every few hours, note it down and ask urself what impacts it to change and fluctuate

🫶🏻𓂃 ࣪˖ 47. educate urself in whats going on in the world right now

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ 48. learn about the history of ur home town

⭐𓂃 ࣪˖ 49. create a list of all ur favourite things and rank them like cosmetics, perfumes, bands, foods, drinks, etc.

💬𓂃 ࣪˖ 50. make a music video playlist to play on ur tv

all my love... 💬🎀🫶🏻💗

[fishhateme]

So... LinkedIn au part two, anyone?

this morning @adimouze got an actual linkedin notification while reading part one and a sign is a sign, so here goes part two of the linkedin au (btw if you think there's suspiciously not enough linkedin in here it's because i genuinely hate that capitalist hellhole with all my heart <3)

“Don’t worry, mate. People on LindkedIn are a bunch of cunts, anyway”

Max would have gasped, if he’d had less dignity, as he watched the man - Daniel, Daniel, Danyul in the flesh, the little icon from his LinkedIn feed, now sitting in the shitty bar, in front of him - swirl his $12 glass of rosé and sip it, scrunching up his nose the same way Sassy did when Max didn’t get her those little overpriced packets of turkey flavored wet food.

“Uh- I would say of course not everyone on LinkedIn is a cunt, maybe” Max said, completely and utterly dumbfounded, half because he was more than a little buzzed and half because he’d spent so much time thinking about finding Daniel that he hadn’t actually thought out what he’d do then (didn’t think he’d get this far, really). He could almost picture Lando laughing maniacally at the blush that was spreading all the way from his chest (thankfully hidden by his plain, black tee) to the very top of his ears, and he thanked whatever God was out there (Sir Isaac Newton, can you hear me?) that the younger engineer was too busy trying to pick up some Spanish car designer on the other side of the convention.

Max could blame the blush on the g&t’s, and not on the fact that his little virtual networking crush (what had his life come to) had the most dazzling smile he’d ever seen, staring him straight in the eyes.

“I would say that they are, then, if you don’t have the balls to” Daniel, who still hadn’t introduced himself, responded with a cheeky smirk, “They’re all stuck up pricks. They act like they only care about furthering physics and science and the greater good when all they want is their name on a plaque somewhere and a couple of sports cars so they can wank off to the airflow of the diffusers or some shit”

Max thought that was such a ridiculous notion, that respected aerodynamics engineers would spend their entire careers longing for a luxury car (and- okay, yeah, his desktop was an Aston Martin Valkyrie, but that was different, he knew that was just as out of his league as the guy standing in front of him right now). Furthermore, a pesky voice in the back of his head that sounded an awful lot like Jos was telling him that this guy was an ingrate, a disrespectful, unprofessional man who’d get nowhere, but Max bit his tongue and then washed it away with a gulp of his g&t, letting Daniel speak because he clearly wanted to rant.

“I’m serious, mate, all these people ever come to do to conventions like this is flaunt their achievements. Like-” he adjusted his stance, wiggling his body so he could move the shitty bar stool without actually getting up, suddenly getting very, very much in Max’s personal space, his thick, meaty thigh (who wore shorts to a networking event? This guy was crazy) almost brushing against Max’s knee as he leaned over to whisper and point, “See him? That’s Zak Brown, he owns McLaren Aerodynamics.”

Shit, wasn’t that Lando’s boss? Now Max felt ever so slightly guilty for nodding along to the Brit’s rants about his work, without actually ever hearing anything. “If you talk to him, he’ll invite you to a game of golf, and if you say yes he’ll take you there in a Lambo and offer you a round of Chandon or some shit, his treat. You know how he gets all that money? Because people love to spend it, shit, I love it too, but don’t you ever stop to think about where it comes from?”

Daniel leaned in even closer, his hot breath against the scorching heat of Max’s helplessly flushed ear, his words ever so slightly slurred like maybe it hadn’t been his first rosé. Maybe he’d started off with something stronger in his car (was pregaming work conventions... a thing?), and now he was trying to look semi-dignified and failing.

“He gets it from defense contracts”

Max blinked owlishly at that, like maybe he’d heard it wrong. Surely he didn't mean to say what it sounded like he was, at the very least, implying. “Uh- what? I thought they made, like…” he tried to concentrate, genuinely wrack his brain to remember what Lando had mentioned “Uh, trains? High speed trains, don’t they- isn’t that what they make?”

Daniel laughed at that, a honky, unabashed laugh, throwing his head back and showing off those pearly whites as his curl bounced. “That’s what they’ll tell you on their website, mate. That they care about the environment and are working with the UK government to make-” hic, “Make uhh, a- a greener future or some shit. And- yes, they’ve got contracts with the UK government, plenty of ‘em, but most of them are defense”

At Max’s shocked expression, at his gaping mouth, Daniel sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, and yeah, he was definitely more drunk than Max, somehow.

“Missiles! They make missiles, Maxy”

Max didn’t think Lando was capable of even designing a missile for a fruit fly, much less for… actual humans. Fish, maybe. But humans seemed odd. “How are you so sure?”

Daniel seemed to deflate at that, like everyone had said the same thing. He pulled back, elbows on the bar and head hung low between his sagged shoulders, and Max found himself missing the warmth of his tattooed thigh against his knee, even though he still felt feverish from the alcohol and the flusteredness of it all.

The Aussie hiccuped again, blinking a couple of times. “Worked there” he said, and he sounded almost beaten down as he added, “Then I quit. Eeeh, not true, actually, got fired. Publicly it was a mutual agreement. Doesn’t matter” he stopped to down what was left of his rosé, grimacing although it must have been quite a pleasant, sweet taste, not at all a man’s drink, like Jos would say. “Now I make about a tenth of what I did and I teach the next generation of missile designers how to maximize… missileness”

Max hummed, quietly. He didn’t quite know what to say at that - he made a mental note to ask Lando about some things on the drive back, sure, but other than that. He got a sense that maybe the funny LinkedIn man had turned into a sad, hot, somehow still funny LinkedIn man.

Maybe he just needed a friend. Someone to listen.

Max grimaced at that last thought, scrunching up his face and staring down at his g&t with hatred, like his favorite drink had been tainted with feelings, and they were rapidly making his way into his bloodstream.

What was he even thinking?! Sure, the guy was funny and clearly had had some success at some point of his career and he was kind of possibly the hottest man Max had ever seen but he was also clearly a loser. Besides, they were strangers! They hadn’t even introduced themselves to each other! Daniel didn’t even know Max’s-

Wait.

“How do you know my name?”

Daniel’s eyes, previously fixed on a poster of a cowboy that advertised some sort of insurance Max couldn't care less about, widened almost comically. He stared at him for a beat too long before chuckling awkwardly. “Uuuuh, what?”

“You called me Maxy. You said, they make missiles, Maxy” Max said, finally feeling the expected effect of his g&t’s, that was, some fucking courage. “How do you know my name is Max”

A second passed.

Then another.

Then a third, and by the fourth Max had just now noticed the convention was blasting some shitty, outdated jazz music, which worked more as a sleep inducer than a mood setter.

By the fifth, Max was thinking maybe Daniel wouldn’t answer, so he doubled down and looked eyes with him, but Daniel immediately looked away, flustered and biting down on his plush, pink lip, frowning as if deep in thought. “Uuuuh” he stammered, rubbing his face with the heels of his palms again, chuckling awkwardly, “Would it be too lame to say I follow you on LinkedIn?”

part 3

[incorrectfmaquotes]

Alex Louis Armstrong is a Chad

do you remember sending this ask? i remember getting it. i was in japan visiting family before i set off to college that fall when i opened my inbox and saw this ask. and i thought it was funny. and true. Alex Louis Armstrong IS a Chad. and i wanted to come up with a funny reply to match. but being quick-witted cant really ever be considered one of my strong suits, and i had even less wield of that skill when still adjusting to a 17 hour time difference. so i told myself not to worry about it, keep spending this time with family members i rarely get to see, and surely when i get home in a few weeks, i could come up with an appropriately fun reply.

that was over 5 years ago. i had gotten back home since then. i had stayed home. virtually everyone was staying home for a good amount of time, a global pandemic happened. other global events happened. Personal Life Stuff happened. i had just graduated high school when i got this ask, and in a universe where maybe some things happened differently, i would have graduated college by now. my keeping of this blog fell more and more to the wayside until life got too busy that it was hard to manage even putting older quotes in the queue and i eventually stopped doing that.

yet a bit more than occasionally over these years, i have thought about this ask and what i could reply to it. still, a fun response has eluded me. but what could i even say as more time passes? that would make the wait worth it? this ask got buried deeper and deeper in my inbox and harder to reach as more asks and submissions were sent. it's entirely possible the blog that has sent it has since deactivated, as many blogs who have sent more recent asks have. the meme became more and more outdated. are chad/virgin jokes still being made? i dont know. even in my teen years i havent been on the rising tide of what slang and memes are currently popular. the gap of knowledge has only widened with age. recently a cousin who is around the same age i was when this ask came to my inbox had quizzed me on tiktok dances and was surprised that i didnt know any, dropping his jaw and exclaiming in all seriousness, "Wow! The generational gap is crazy." the social media i still use the most is tumblr, but more sporadic than it used to be, mainly just a tab i keep open on my desktop to, i dont know, feed some nostalgia? make it seem like im not completely rotting under the weight of adulthood by still keeping some of the rot of my teenage years?

over 5 years have since passed. i am back in japan right now, visiting the same family again, the first time since 2019 when this ask was sent. in the next year, if all things go according to plan, i will be back in college. it's funny, how life goes about in circles. but sometimes, maybe most of the time, those circles dont complete, and many things in life never get closure. or maybe closure does happen, and those circles do complete, but messily, unsatisfactorily, more resembling misshapen imperfect lumps than anything resembling a circle.

all of this to say:

the Chad Alex Louis Armstrong vs. the Virgin Roy Mustang. Discuss.

[milkmejae]

Koldkill— p.sh

sypnosis: when boredom leads you to a mysterious online encounter, you meet a cryptic stranger. as the lines between virtual and reality blur, you discover his real, dark identity.

genre: romance (?), suspense

pairing: cyber!p.sh x female!reader

word count: 0.8k

warnings: mentions of obsession, stalking, hacking (?)

playlist: Лёд - WENARO, LXNER

a/n: hi again, i present to you a drabble from my stupid mind, man... i don't even know what am i writing atp. hope u like it, mwa! not proofread

It all started with boredom. Not the casual, “I have nothing to do” kind of boredom, but the soul-crushing, existential kind. You already scrolled through every social media feed, reorganized your desktop folders, and even considered learning to crochet before giving up and diving into the shadiest corners of the internet.

That’s when you stumbled across it: a sketchy flash game website with a gaudy black and neon blue banner reading, “Koldkill” It looked like malware wrapped in HTML, but you were desperate.

Intrigued, you clicked.

The screen went black, then flickered to life, revealing a grainy, snowy landscape. In the middle stood a lone player, their username in Russian: Лёд, google translate told you it meant ice.

A chat box popped up in the bottom corner.

Welcome! Say Hi to A Kolder!

[Лёд]: You’re late.

[You]: ???

[You]: late for what?

[Лёд]: The ghast doesn’t wait.

[You]: ok?? and that means?

[Лёд]: Means you’re bad at this already.

You squinted at the screen, already annoyed. The game had no instructions, just your tiny sprite bundled up in winter gear and Ice standing ominously still.

You fumbled with the arrow keys, making your character shuffle awkwardly through the snow. Ice’s sprite moved with practiced precision, like he’d been playing this game for years.

[Лёд]: Slower than a glacier. Nice.

[You]: Excuse me?

The game was bizarre. There were no clear objectives—just snow, ice, and the occasional death trap that Ice always seemed to anticipate.

[Лёд]: Don’t step there.

[You]: Why not?

You stepped there anyway. A massive icicle fell from the sky, crushing your character.

[Лёд]: Exactly.

Hours passed, but you couldn’t stop playing. Ice was infuriating, cryptic, sarcastic, and way too good at the game but his normally weird comments kept you entertained.

[You]: So, what’s the point of this game?

[Лёд]: Survival.

[You]: And if I survive?

[Лёд]: You won’t.

“Wow, motivational,” you muttered to yourself.

The internet flickered, and the screen froze. When it reloaded, Ice’s sprite was standing unusually close to yours.

[You]: Why are you so close?

[Лёд]: Making sure you don’t disappear.

Your stomach twisted. His cryptic responses were starting to feel somewhat… personal.

It got worse.

As you played, Ice started commenting on things he shouldn’t have known.

[Лёд]: Searching for answers already?

You froze. You had been googling the game in another tab.

[You]: How do you know that?

[Лёд]: I see you.

Your webcam light blinked on.

Panic surged through you. 

[Лёд]: Relax.

[You]: you're creeping me out.

[Лёд]: Interesting.

Right after the reply, the game crashed.

Your computer flickered, and the arctic wasteland returned. The chat box reappeared, but it’s different.

The screen stuttered, static crackling through your speakers. Slowly, pixel by pixel, an image formed—dark, grainy, and unmistakably human.

A man’s face emerged from the static. Pale skin, sharp features, dark eyes that stared directly at you. His black hair blended into the shadows, and though most of his face was obscured, his presence was undeniable.

Your heart stopped.

It couldn’t be.

You leaned closer to the screen, your breath catching. The face belonged to someone you knew. Someone who haunted your waking thoughts and dreams.

Him.

Sunghoon. Park Sunghoon.

The guy you’d been obsessing over for years. The guy whose Instagram posts you liked at 3 a.m. The guy whose photos you saved, whose playlists and home address you found, the guy whose every move you followed like a moth to a flame.

No, it wasn’t possible.

Your chest tightened. How?

His smirk flickered onto the screen, just as sharp and cruel as you remembered from every candid photo you’d seen of him.

[Лёд]: You think you’re the only one who’s been watching?

Your stomach dropped.

You froze in your chair, a cold sweat breaking out on your skin. Memories flashed through your mind—late nights scrolling through his tagged photos, creating burner accounts just to follow his private profiles. You’d thought you were invisible, just another faceless admirer in a sea of them.

Admirer is an understatement.

A stalker.

But he noticed.

And he’s been watching you back.

The screen glitched again, and his voice, smooth, low, and chilling crackled through your speakers for the first time.

You jumped, nearly toppling out of your chair. Hearing his voice made it all real.

Your breath hitched.

The webcam light blinked on. You felt his gaze pierce through you, even though he was just pixels on a screen.

“You think I didn’t see you staring at my photos? Clicking through my life like it was some open book?” he asked. “But I liked it. Knowing you were watching.”

Your hands trembled over the keyboard.

The realization hit you like a freight train. Sunghoon wasn’t just some random crush you’d stalked from afar. He’d been stalking you, too. Harder.

“You know what they say,” he murmured, his smirk now fully visible on the screen.

“Obsession breeds obsession.”

[oddeyechrollo]

virtual angel (1)

‘to you, i’m a virtual angel’

warnings: dark web, mention of torture and rape, physical assault, mentions of abuse towards women and children (a lot of it is brought up but doesn’t go into detail besides one character). mentions of imprisonment and kidnappings. i probably missed some. pls be 18+ if you’re reading this. i will block minors who interact with this post.

summary: chrollo begins his nightly scroll of sorrow on the deep web.

“now that the moment has passed,

to you, i’m a virtual angel”.

11 years later. february 28th, 3:12 AM, somewhere near swardani city.

chrollo enters his house, yelling out w quick ‘i'm home,' to no one in particular. he lived alone, no pets or partner to announce his presence to. he takes off his coat and places it on the hanger. smidges of blood painted over it, chrollo would have to wash it sometime in the morning. he sighed, these damn assassins were child's play to him now. chrollo knew that in his pursuit for revenge he'd make thousands of enemies, although sometimes he wishes they'd actually put up a fight. he could sense them in the middle of the heist before they even saw chrollo, pathetic. what's the point in paying millions if you know your opponent will kill them instantly?

chrollo walks into his office, a few papers hung on the walls as well as a desk with a brand new computer, 'this one should run significantly faster and has more access to different browsers!' shalnark's voice rang through his head. he contemplates taking a shower to get rid of the filth and blood on his body, but he disregards that thought. a hot shower sometimes makes him feel 'cleaner' after his nightly scrolls. chrollo sits down and boots his desktop, waiting to input his password.

damn, an update. chrollo leans back and sighs. "i could spare myself the trouble tonight..." he whispers to himself. a pang of guilt flooded his system immediately.

"sarasa and... her, they didn't have time to wait," chrollo reminds himself. another sigh left his lips as he stares up at the black ceiling. the thought of your name was enough to make chrollo tear up, gloom overshadowed his being when anyone brought up your name. he doesn't care, chrollo's built all of this up to find out what happened that day, to kill the men who shattered his world. a few troupe members had expressed concern over him constantly watching snuff in the name of revenge, but he shut them all down immediately; chrollo understands that no one else would have the drive to avenge you two the way he did. they wouldn't understand how crucial it is to find out what's happened to his best friend, even shalnark's given up hope of finding you.

but never chrollo, he'll spend the rest of his life searching the dark web for any traces of you. he’s spent hundreds of hours searching for his friends online, obsessing over you and sarasa.

did chrollo wish you were dead? sometimes. it was easier that way. he'd seen what those filthy murderers had done to sarasa, he read what they did to the both of you that night. death sounded merciful compared to the torture, rape, and psychological distress they forced upon you two in one singular night. how long would you have lasted after being taken? sarasa's death at least reminded him that her soul now rested in peace. your disappearance had caused nothing but agony for chrollo. there was no reassurance, there was nothing.

sarasa's body hung inside of a trash bag, as if she were less than human. it sickened chrollo, it boiled his blood and reminded him that outsiders would always view people like him as worthless subhumans that deserve-

ah- the computer's finished updating. good. chrollo types in his password and patiently waits for his 'blue room' browser to load. he spent hours the night before focusing on sarasa's death, it was your turn. tonight, he would dedicate his time to find any possible videos of you on the dark web. he hated to think of it as a possibility, but he'd be a fool to ignore blue rooms outright. blue room was a browser dedicated to killing women and children live; available only to powerful nen users. twisted things sprouted quickly after his master creation of the dark web began. he wasn't proud nor guilty; this was all in pursuit of your kidnappers and sarasa's killers.

there were only 4 active rooms at the moment, must be a slow night. he enters the first room and saw 4 children, cowering in fear over two men holding some sort of unrecognizable weapons. pass. you weren't a child, he had no interest in viewing helpless people die; it's a daily occurrence for him anyway. chrollo exits out and moved onto the next room, a woman with features nothing like yours. pass. she was close to decapitation as he exited out. the volume of her screams would have filled him with sorrow as a boy, but he felt nothing now. as he checked the last two rooms, he decided to open a different browser. none of the victims in the last rooms looked like you, he'd come back at the end of his tor browser scroll to double check.

'pop!'

a new room opens as he almost exits out. chrollo clicks on it quickly and notes a girl tied to a chair. probably in her late teens or early 20s. she was gagged, with an eye mask on. a tall, lean man with long, ebony hair enters the room through some stairs. 14 other people were currently in the chat talking about the possibilities of tonight's victim, ah, what a dreaded system. the man removes her mask and gag, a look of complete and utter shock on the girls face as she looked at her assassin, but she's not you.

but what did belong to you was the name she shouted afterwards. again, and again and again. your name was fairly uncommon... he shouldn't get his hopes up. were you there? the comments started in the chat.

'undercover1029: shut the bitch up already'

"Murd3rOnmym1nd: let her scream, she sounds pretty'

"thrOwaway762: what weapons u got?'

the man left the girl alone, moving closer to the camera. the girl screams, she was panicking.

"PLEASE, SHE'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR HURTING ME NICO!" she shouts at the man. more tears ran down her face as the man named 'nico' smirked at the camera. a bold move for someone in his position. no face coverings, a few exposed tattoos that could easily identify him. he was either unstoppable or a complete fool with a death wish.

he reads over the chat and speaks calmly in a deep, rich voice, "no weapons. only nen. but we'll save that for later." he smiled brightly as he waved for the camera. chrollo felt unease as the girl began to scream your name once more with bits of 'please save me!' and 'why are you doing this?!' thrown in over her tears. she called a few other names out, all of which were unfamiliar to chrollo.

"please, if- if you're watching this, save me! i can't let this go on! we're in swardan-"she begs once more as nico slaps her, roughly.

"shut up, aerith. leave my [name] out of this. your death will be a milestone to our future. she'll come to accept it one day. i know what you'll say to her, i can't have that," he snarls at aerith. her black hair covers her face, sticking to her tears.

chrollo felt a growing sense of nausea flood him. how could he be sure this woman was important to the real you? he'd texted shalnark a quick 'asap,’ this was the only lead they've had in years. he couldn't waste what could be the only chance he had to find you. the girl was going to say swardani city, he was sure of it. shalnark should only be 10 minutes away from his house in the forest. an 'asap' message should divide that in half.

'specialistlOvr: what kind of abilities you got?'

'Murd3rOnmym1nd: been here before, he's a manipulator i think. or a conjurer. uses freaky dragons. pretty interesting. seems like a pyromaniac to me.'

so nico's done this before then, and it must be a secret too if aerith was shocked. nico returns his attention to his screen as she continued to bawl again. "don't worry about what i use, just enjoy the show. no one's disappointed after." nico smirked once more, a smirk chrollo wanted to deck. there was at least 60 people in the room now, the chat blowing up more and more. as he approachs aerith again, she turns to the camera and spoke calmly. a low aura began to form around her.

"[name] serafine, my soul reaches out to yours, wake up! you're miles away but you need to stay away from-" thump.

nico had punched her in the stomach, there was definitely nen embedded into his hand, even though a regular punch would have definitely sufficed. a sadistic smile shines brightly on his face as he continues to assault her over and over. he quit attacking her stomach and moves on to her face, bits of blood were on the floor now. the chat was riled up, but chrollo felt more anxiety every second that passed. seraphine. that was the last name chrollo had given to you at the age of 10, a few months before you'd gone missing.

-

9 years ago, near the edge of the uga forest, meteor city.

chrollo and you sat together on a tree staring at the sunset made ever so beautiful by the pollution of the city. chrollo always knew the safest routes around town, you trusted him with your wellbeing, always.

you shared a small bowl of grapes chrollo snuck away from the church kitchen, you scolded him for it, followed by a loud "yay!" as you took the bowl out of his hands. his heart filled with joy when he saw the unfiltered happiness in your face. it was worth a scolding, and even then he enjoyed the mean look you momentarily gave him.

"how did i ever give you the nickname 'angel!?' you're the sneakiest person i know!" you stuck your tongue out at chrollo as you placed another grape in his mouth. he chuckled, "come on dearie, i can't always be an angel. did you know that my name means 'darkness?' i should live up to it!" you both laughed, the absurdity of chrollo being "dark” greatly humored you, he was as light as a feather and brighter than the stars.

"shut up angel! you did it for the- uh- what's that thing nanny says... the greater good?" you paused and made a thinking face, tilting your head.

"you got it right," he chimed in, reaching down to grab a grape. you smiled brightly again.

"yeah! that! the greater good, duh! god's probably forgiving you as we speak." you giggled. your face suddenly turned serious as you looked up at the sky.

"god, i'm sorry i didn't mean to speak for you, it's a joke!" you rushed out. chrollo smirked at your confession, he noticed you feared any sort of wrath a long time ago; especially gods.

"oh! also, speaking of names, what do you think my last name should be?" you asked chrollo, he placed the grape in your mouth and you happily chewed on it. so sweet and fresh. you swallowed the juicy treat, "big brother shalnark picked one out for himself yesterday... i want one too." you insisted. chrollo didn't miss the slight annoyance in your tone, but decided against asking. he knew your feelings for your brother were complex at times.

the sun also looked so pretty behind you. the light framed your face so prettily and it made you shine in such... such a pretty way. chrollo always thought you were pretty. it was a dang good word to describe you, even if there were better ones. his nanny was well in her right to nickname you 'pretty gal.'

"seraphine," he blurts out as soon as he's out of his trance. you tilted your head and repeated it back to him.

"like the angels sister adyla talked about last week?" you questioned, "i thought they were called seraphs or something?" you added.

"they are! someone wrote it in my nanny's bible, i think it's a translation for another language. it looks jannan, but a lot of those languages share the same letters. linguistics is so interesting!" chrollo finished off. your best friend was a nerd, but it was so darling to you.

"wowie, i forget we have more languages we haven't even discovered in meteor city. but i like it! '[name] seraphine, it's so beautiful. i knew i could leave it to you!" you sweetly praised chrollo, he could practically feel the dopamine rush through his system. "but what about you? do you even want one?" you asked him as you dipped your hand in for another grape. you tossed it into his mouth and he'd successfully catched it. "yay! goal!" you cheered.

he finished his grape before responding, "nah, i like being just chrollo. let's head back, yeah?"

-

a rapid knock began at chrollo's front door, he immediately stands up and rushes to the entrance. he unlocks the door and shalnark burst in, "what's going on, boss?" he pants out.

"can you trace a location off any dark web browser? it's urgent, it could involve your sister. it's chrollo right now, forget boss." chrollo rushes out alarmingly. shalnark's face grows serious, a small gasp exits his mouth as his eyes grew. the pair hurries back to his office, shalnark sat in front of the monitor, watching nico scratch at aerith's skin in such a gruesome manner. slowly,deep, and aching. his nails were sharp and bloodied, along with her arms and legs.

"this woman, she knows your sister. she said her first and last name outloud, it- it can't be anyone else. she's alive for now, and also our only chance of finding her." chrollo explains to shalnark as he scrolls around the chat, minimizing the browser and opening its settings. chrollo continues, "she tried to reveal her location, i'm certain it's in swardani. he punched her before she could finish saying it. they must both know her..." chrollo drifted off, "he seems to be a danger to both of them."

the man had called you his, was he a lover? a friend? a stalker? the initial shock of hearing your name for the first time in years finally wore off, allowing chrollo to theorize your possible connections to them.

"blue room is extremely difficult to crack, it was created by four nen users that i myself have personally taken care of." shalnark began as he rapidly types into some sort of search box.

"how did you manage to take care of them?" chrollo asks, staring at the monitor. shalnark didn't mute the computer, aeriths screams taunted both spiders. she would still be alive for a few hours, but chrollo would prefer to save her before any major damage could be done.

shalnark sighs as numbers popped up onto the screen, coordinates to be precise. "they got too cocky and never patched the browser fully. im probably one of the few people that knew about this bug in the torrent, the rest are dead.' he replies. "hm, 503 lucian drive, it's on the opposite side of town at the very edge. let's go, bo- i mean chrollo."

-

3:33 am, location unknown. full moon.

you gasp and sit up, panting as you clutch your palpitating heart with your right hand. everything felt so slow, so everlastingly dreadful.

"[name] serafine!...wake up!" your name echos through your head in aerith's panicked voice. she would never use your full name while using holy messenger, unless...

the image of nico popped into your head as well, followed by a second of what could only be described as pure agonizing pain in your stomach. where they together? that wasn't possible, nico's on a hunter's mission. what message is she trying to send? is nico in danger? you hop out of your warm bed and grab your phone, opening up aerith's location on your ‘find my’ app. you kept all of the girls and children's locations on at all times.

swardani city... at the old hideout, last seen three hours ago. aerith always kept her phone on, and she'd always notify you if she needed leave it behind... a sense of terror floods your system as you run to your closet and dress yourself. a ruffled skirt with a long sleeve turtle neck and combat boots, all black. your hair was done in a now-messy braid, too little time to fix it; this was urgent. aerith was almost two hours away from here, you need to start running immediately.

you grab your phone, contemplating calling nico for help. maybe he was back from his mission? he's been so distant lately, would he even answer? you hit the call button, going to voicemail immediately. whatever, now isn't the time to think of your relationship problems, you needed to be with aerith. you open the bedroom door and walked to the living room, the tv was on. only one person would be awake at this hour.

"heejin, i need to go find aerith, i think she's in trouble." you explained to one of your dearest friends. she paused her show and looked back at you, her blonde hair a mess with tears streaming down her face. she had another nightmare, typical for all of you at this point. heejin frowns, clearing her face of any tears.

“i’ll go with, yuna's here anyway. she can take care of the kids if anything happens. ill call ecco and nico, the more the better," she replied, standing up quickly to follow you out of the quiet house.

"¡ tried nico already, he won't answer. besides, he's barely returning from a mission in azia, i doubt we'll get anything out of him now. tell ecco to meet us at the old hideout in swardani. he's faster than us and i think ill need him... just in case." you ordered. heejin nods and begins to type out a message on her phone, a solemn expression on her face. there was a full moon tonight, the power surging throughout your body told you so. whoever put aerith's live in peril will be the one you'd take it out on tonight. your nen will be at its peak for at least 1 day, you'll find her in that time. you didn't have any other choice.

heejin locks the enterance to the house, and you both dash towards the city. thousands of scenarios raced through your head as you both continue your chase, had the mafia taken her?

you were on an exclusive hit list after the stunt you pulled off when you were 14... they knew every single prisoner that escaped that night, including aerith. not to mention the sea of blood that flooded your hands, you've made countless enemies throughout your pursuit of freedom. you couldn't even begin to rule out who it was, but it was all the same to you. regardless of who it is, they'll die tonight for hurting your friend. you could already feel the rage fester within your soul.

"is everything alright with nico?" heejin suddenly ask as she runs alongside you. you step falters for a moment before you pick yourself up. you scoff, 'right now of all times?' you thought to yourself. "just wanna keep you out of that fucked up lil mind of yours, babe!" she adds then smiles at you, her words were harsh but much needed. your emotional stability will be unpredictable tonight; best not to rouse yourself too soon. you could use the girl talk anyway. you still have your senses on you, and it was best to listen to your friends on full moons.

"he's been so distant since neti died... i don't think he's mourned right, im scared for nico. he doesn't ever take this many solo missions and he barely sleeps now." you rush out with a heavy groan at the end. it felt marvelous to get your thoughts out without judgement. a tear rolled down your eye, "he says things that scare me sometimes... they're so odd. nico's never taken pleasure in killing before, but-but-fuck-" you choked on your own words. "his blood lust disgust me, it feels sick." you emphasize. heejin nods, listening intensely.

she's also seen it happen before. 6 weeks ago, he returned from a self declared solo mission across the country deep into the night, and heejin was the only one awake to open the door for him. there was a certain... predatory gaze to his aura that she's never once sensed from him in their 9 years of friendship.

"i see it too babes, he's even been distant from ecco... so he's been annoying me about it, obviously. you know what it's like having a 6'4" grown ass man sob about his fuckin’ bestie? okay, not that bad but- like, ecco's so annoying in general, it's worse when he's clingy and sad!" heejin rolls her eyes as you giggle, silently agreeing. she felt relief as at your laughs, it was vital that you stayed calm right now.

"yeah... when ecco and i were first imprisoned together he wouldn't ever shut the hell up. it was more psychological torture for me than comfort," you joked. you truly loved ecco, and he would most definitely agree with you on everything you've both said tonight. hell, he'd throw in a joke too, it was never taken personal.

heejins phone vibrates and she checks it, a message from ecco.

'ecco: already in swardani :p i'll be at the hideout in 20ish minutes. tell homegirl 2 chill out. it's a full moon tonight. keep her ass in check!'

"what did he say?" you ask curiosity.

"he'll be there in 20 minutes, also, i need to keep your ass in check," she chuckles and you roll your eyes, but nod in agreement.

"damn, good luck with that." you chip in. you could usually control yourself as long as you didn't use your nen ability, but something assured you that wouldn't be the case tonight

[starsillys]

question question for your tamagotchi au would there also be a sam and jade?

YYEAAHHHHHHBGHHH YES YES YES THERE IS SAM AND JADE OFC AUAHAH I had a spesicfic idea at the time when I thoughyt of the au but unfortunately my memory does me horribly and I like. Wracked my brain trying to remember what it was specifically and put off drawing anything until I did (BAD BAD BAD) (SO MUCH INCOHERENT YAPPIN UNDER THE CUT… LIKE SO MUCH IM SORGY)

in the end I think it ended up being like… Kinito being a lil 🤓 ass guy you know a realll computer freak!!!! Actually hacking himself into reality what the flip he just likw. Stole his friends back from a certain somebody’s folder,, using your computer to somehow find himself gaining access to a completely different desktop than your own when you were not giving him attention for like 0.00001 second when they were still being developed and kind of kept them in lil usbs until he could safely upload they consciousness into a safe computer program where they can run around and be silly or until you/he can figure out a way to carry them around portably like you do with him in his tamagotchi. Also the two of them are so fucking scared one minute they were like weee!! Ha hah!! Yayy!! running around in sircles,,, having fun in the puter together before suddenly being transported via some virtual wormhole and into small separate usbs. Have absolutely no idea what’s going on the pooor guys. They don’t even know who Kinito is dude but he does know and there’s so much confusion in their behalf that comes with it bc kinito has known about these guys for so long and has been. PINING for the friendship but they were actually so unaware of this third party member and they’re down right horrified. Straight up got napped.AUGHH a dude so many thoughts I will elaborate more and more as time goes on I am rambling like a crasy person rn I’m so sorry idk if any of this even makes sense I don’t know how the computer programming stuff works

[lunarmoves]

through pixel eyes (chapter two)

pairing: DCA sun/moon/eclipse x reader

mentions: kinitopet/virtual au, gender neutral reader, general creepiness

a/n: i looked at this chapter for too long and it feels like ~garbage~ but! its here! take a shot every time i use the word "window" or "desktop" LMFAOO i'm going insane

word count: 6.8k+

masterlist | part one

ao3 link

You stayed up way too long last night, scrolling on your phone in bed, and now you’re paying the price for it. Namely, with a completely dead phone and a familiar, fatigued itch to your eyes once you manage to pry them open to start your day. It’s nothing you’re unaccustomed to, however, so you power through it knowing you’ll end up taking a nap later. 

Fumbling out of bed, you plug your phone into a nearby outlet to charge and make your way through your morning routine. Cold water from your bathroom sink helps to refresh and wake you up properly so you can proceed with your tasks for the day. You throw open the curtains of your living room and kitchen so you can bask in the honeyed light coming from the sun, sweet and lush as it paints your walls a vibrant gold.

Breakfast is made, evaluations are done, forms are submitted—all before late afternoon. You thank your past self for all the leftovers you made to cruise you through the next few days. It’s always nice not having to cook in the evenings. You lounge around for a bit on your living room couch and indulge in a short nap before you plop yourself down in front of your computer for the long haul. 

Navigating to your email, you pull up the submission form once more and fill out the basic information for now. You can’t even count how many times you’ve done this before for numerous other products. Companies tend to use the same generic questions, though sometimes they’re specific depending on what is being developed. At other times they don’t even require you to fill out a form and instead have you attend weekly meetings or update them via email. Either way, you can do shit like this in your sleep. 

Alright, game time. You minimize the form’s window and double click on the FazPals icon as you fumble for your headphones. Nestling them around your ears, you watch in amusement as Sun pops up by sticking his head down from the top of your monitor like he’s perched upon a ledge just out of view. 

“Friend!!” he cheers and waves both his hands at you zealously. You’re almost tempted to return the gesture. He swings the rest of his body down in a fluid flip and lands in the center of your desktop with a dazzling twirl. Confetti erupts into the air around him, the little digital strips of color disappearing once they float to the “ground” Sun stands on. 

That same small, unlabeled window pops up at his side for you to type in. ‘hi sun.’ 

“Hello, hello! You’re back early!” Sun claps his little hands together and sways side to side rather jovially, bouncing slightly with each bob of his head. You have to raise your volume a little to hear his voice better, though the dialogue box near his head certainly picks up the slack. 

‘yep. how r u doin?’ It’s so easy to slip into a typical conversation with him and push against the limits of his software. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, you’re uncertain. 

Sun’s head twitches to the side, white eyes seemingly looking right at you. “Absolutely fantastic now that you’re here!” He winks at you, grin curling at the tips. “What would you like to do today?” 

The textbox waits for your response. You purse your lips as you contemplate. What have you done with Sun thus far? He told you some fun facts and played games with you. That just left… ‘can u tell me a story?’ 

He pauses—minutely, very minutely—then resumes his swaying like nothing had happened. His rays jerk slightly outwards and he smiles in a mischievous sort of way. “Hmm, why don’t you ask Moon for one later? He is much better at storytelling than I am!” 

You squint at him. Well, alright then. You hadn’t been expecting that sort of response. Shouldn’t they both be equally as good at storytelling if they are made from the same code? Maybe it’s a personality thing. You consider questioning him, but before you can type anything in, Sun forges on. “Is there anything else you would like to do? Remember, input ‘/help’ for available commands!” 

Your fingers tap against the surface of your desk lightly, but in the end, you brush off his response. You shrug to yourself and pick the other option you hadn’t yet done with Sun. ‘then can u tell me a joke?’ 

“Oh boy! I sure can!” He smiles widely and pulls out a pair of large, black glasses from behind him with one hand. With the other hand, he pulls out a small, nondescript book. Is that a… joke book? Putting the glasses delicately on his face—you’re not sure how they stay on when he has no ears, but you chalk it up to technological magic—he clears his artificial voice and cracks the book open. “Why did the star get arrested?”

It seems the celestial theme extends to jokes too. Go figure. ‘i dunno. why?’

“Because it was a shooting star!” He grins, his rays spinning about his head like what he’d just said had been a particularly good one. You snicker more due to his reaction than the joke itself. 

‘that was so bad,’ you type in light jest. And also kind of dark? ‘why did i laugh.’ 

“Because it was clearly good!” Sun replies. The glasses he has on makes his eyes look comically larger than they actually are and it has to be the silliest thing you’ve seen. “Here’s a better one: Why didn’t the Dog Star laugh at any jokes?” 

You can see the punchline coming from a mile away, but you still indulge him. ‘idk, why?’

“Because it was Sirius!” 

‘now that one was just predictable.’

“Ho ho, are you challenging me, Friend?” Sun suddenly asks slyly. “Because I am very, very capable.” Uh oh.

You shouldn’t have said anything, because he spends the next half an hour “reading” from that joke book of his and bombarding you with pun after pun. Now I know better than to critique his jokes, you think miserably to yourself as you listen to another one about Jupiter. There can only be so many jokes about the universe and stars, surely. 

You eventually have to draw the line as he reads to you a joke about aliens (“What do you do with a green alien? Wait for it to ripen!”). You’re not here to evaluate the quality of his jokes. ‘okay u win, u win. i won’t doubt ur joke abilities ever again.’ 

Sun harrumphs and closes the little book in his hands with a snap. He takes off his glasses and— well, you’re not sure what he does, but one minute both items are in his hands and the next they’re gone. Like a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it trick. “Thank you. I accept this win with utmost humility.” The way he smiles makes you doubt this, somehow. 

“Alrighty!” He claps his hands together, his smile twitching slightly when his dialogue box appears a bit too close to his head. “Let’s do something else, shall we? How do you feel about”—he pauses for dramatic effect, then splays his arms out so he can do jazz hands—“Arts ‘n Crafts!”

It’s not like you’re going to refuse. ‘sure, sounds fun.’ 

“Wonderful!” 

Like yesterday, he skips over to the side of your monitor to pull over the window of your Paint app and place it in the center of your screen once again. Seriously, how is he opening that? Then, he jumps up and perches himself on top of the window like he’s sitting upon it. His legs swing down, moving back and forth like they’re dangling off the edge of a precipice. 

“Okay, Friend,” he starts as he reaches behind him and pulls out a little paintbrush. He spins it fluidly along his fingers and joints in a subtle display of dexterity. “For this activity, I will give you a prompt and you will be required to draw it! Simple and easy!” 

A painting session? You can’t say you’re particularly good at drawing on your computer. You eye your mouse and cringe. Then, you hum and decide to tease him a little, just for the hell of it. ‘seems more arts than crafts to me.’ 

Sun waves his free hand as though to brush off your words. “Ah, semantics! We are creating either way, Friend!” He flips the utensil in his hand in the air and catches it smoothly. “Now! First prompt! Draw me something that encompasses happiness.” 

What is this, philosophy? You hum thoughtfully, then use the pen tool to draw the first thing that comes to your mind: a smiley face. It is, admittedly, not your best one with how shaky your mouse is, but it gets your intentions across, you think. 

Sun makes a sound like he’s clicking his tongue against his teeth—which is a bit of an eyebrow raiser given that he likely has no tongue nor teeth, but who are you to question his… features? “Is that all you’ve got, Friend?” he asks incredulously as his head tilts down to indicate he’s looking at your rather meager drawing. 

‘what?’ you type, minutely offended. Is he judging you right now? He is totally judging you right now. ‘it satisfies your prompt, doesn’t it?’ 

“That is not the point!” he squawks out, and you wince at the shooting pitch of his voice. You nudge your volume down a little. “We are making art! Put a little oomf into it! A little personality! Show me your skills, Friend, and do not hold back!” 

You roll your eyes up to your ceiling. So dramatic, but fine, you’ll adhere. You fiddle around with the drawing tool a little, then start drawing around your smiley face. A circle for a head, maybe some sunglasses. A rainbow that you spend way too long on, trying to make the arch of each color even. Some sparkles. A cat playing a saxophone—or your best attempt at one, at least. You’re kind of throwing things together at this point and hoping it’s enough to satisfy Sun—who’s starting to look more and more impatient the longer you take.

Finally, you finish. ‘okay, how about this?’ 

Sun claps his hands together and hops off the top of the window so he can stand before it properly and look at it like he’s a critic in an art museum. He ‘hms’ and ‘hahs’, tapping the bottom of his face with the paintbrush as he scrutinizes your drawing, looking at it every which way. 

“Better, certainly better,” he muses and walks over to the other side of the window. “I can appreciate an effort when I see it.” You make a face at his words. Ouch? He spins back around to face you and gives you a thumbs up, eyes crinkling to crescents. “Wonderful job! A piece befitting a pin up to the refrigerator, I’m sure. On to the next prompt!” He snaps his fingers together, and the Paint application’s canvas clears. What? “Draw me something that encompasses sadness!” 

You know now to be more detailed, at least. You doodle a sad face this time, accompanied by a variety of things you pull out from the top of your head. Sun criticizes your work when you finish, giving it that same appraisal as before. You feel like you’re in some sort of competition. 

“Hm”—he eyes the rainclouds you’d drawn at the top of the canvas—“rather basic depictions, I’m afraid. Friend, have you tried varying the line weight of your pen tool? It might help!”

‘i’ll be sure to for the next one,’ you type in what you intend to be a dry manner, but you don’t think it translates all too well via text. As Sun grins approvingly at you, a sudden thought strikes you that you find yourself typing into that little window. ‘hey, why don’t u draw something since ur so… educated on it.’ Nitpicky, more like, but you don’t want to possibly offend him. ‘u seem like u’d enjoy it.’

“Me?” His eyes widen like he has not considered it. “You want…” His head cocks to the side. There is a moment where he just seems to look at you. Then, his eyes fall into a half-lidded, crinkled gaze that you have difficulty pinning alongside the stretching of his smile. 

Everything is suddenly—quiet. 

“You are,” he begins in a low voice that makes your eyebrows raise, “awfully strange, aren’t you, F-Friend?” A white facsimile of teeth flashes at you sharply that’s accompanied by a staticky glitch. “That’s okay! I like strange!”

And then—before you can truly decipher the depth to his smile or the offset pixels of the glitch—Sun beams at you, his rays spinning slightly. Like nothing had just happened. “I’ll make an artist out of you yet!” He claps his hands again, then wipes the canvas once more. He gestures to it. “Alright, for this next one, we are going to shift gears a little. Draw me a picture of your room!” 

That is… definitely going into the submission form, you think. You hesitate for a moment, eyeing Sun as he sways side to side, but he… seems to be back to normal. It passed quickly—whatever ‘it’ was. No need to linger. You hope. 

Your drawing is definitely a tad more rushed, but you think you do a pretty good job at capturing your room and its vibes—the decorations you have hung up, the comfy rug you impulse bought at a thrift store one day, and your bed swathed in your coziest blankets. You try varying your line weight, but you’re not sure how effective you are with it. Either way, Sun seems pleased with your attempts and praises one or two little details he notices, before he wipes the window clean. 

“For the last drawing,” he says as he rocks back and forth on his heels. “I want you to draw a self portrait!” 

You make a face. Drawing inanimate objects is one thing, but an actual portrait? ‘i dunno if i’m skilled enough to draw a good one.’ 

He waves a hand as though to brush off your words. “Nonsense! Give it your best shot. I would love to see how you view yourself!” He smiles up at you. “Show me what makes you you!”

You chew at your bottom lip and adjust your headphones as you ponder. What makes you you, huh? Should be simple enough, right? 

And yet it takes you the longest of them all to draw a self portrait that satisfies you. Sun’s practically vibrating in place as he waits, humming a dainty little tune under his artificial breath that you do not recognize. You finish up with the design of your trusty set of headphones and do a final once over before you tell him you’re done.

“Took you long enough, Friend!” He huffs as he slips over to the Paint window to begin his analysis. He nods his head during his observations, humming in a low manner. “Interesting! Very interesting.” He skips over to the other side of the window to get a different perspective. “Wonderful use of the dotted line tool here! Oh yes, yes, yes! This truly makes me miss Arts ‘n Crafts so dearly.” Sun sighs—forlorn, almost—and presses on before you can really say anything. “I’d say with some more practice you’d be deserving of being hung up on the Wall of Creativity! As they say: Practice makes better!” 

‘thanks?’ You’re not sure you particularly like these sort of backhanded compliments, but well, he’s not wrong, per se. You eye the wobbly lines made by your mouse. 

“No problem! The Wall of Creativity is the most highest of honors, you see.” Sun twirls the paintbrush in one hand and snaps two fingers of his other to clear the canvas for the last time. He points the bristle end of the brush in your general direction. “Now, how about we play some games, hm?” 

You’re kept busy for a while, playing games to Sun’s whims—or at least, the ones you can do with just the Paint tool and two players. He reminds you to take a break at one point, so you stretch and grab some food—all the while summarizing in your head what to jot down in the submission form at the end of today’s session. When you return, it’s nearing seven o’clock, and you brace yourself for the appearance of the moon. 

“Well, Friend, it appears our time together must come to an inevitable end,” Sun bemoans rather dramatically, resting his forearm across the top of his head like he’s about to faint Victorian-style. “Fret not, however!” He perks up and flashes you a grin. “For I will see you later!” 

‘okay, drama queen,’ you type with a silly smile splayed across your lips. Instead of being offended, he seems to fall deeper into the role. 

“Life is a stage,” he says gravely, “and I am but a simple actor upon it.” He sweeps into a low bow, then bounds back up to his feet with a flourish. His eyes widen suddenly—round like two large, white coins—and he gasps. He points at something over your shoulder. “Friend! What’s that behind you?!”

You raise an eyebrow. Right. Like he could even see behind you in the first place. 'nice try but i'm not falling for that lol.'

Sun huffs, his foot stamping against the invisible floor he resides atop of from within your monitor. "Well you're no fun at all! Just turn around for a second, wouldja?"

You can't help the small snort that leaves your mouth. 'alright, fine.' You have a feeling you know what he's trying to do here anyways.

You indulge him and turn around in your chair to look behind you. There is the wide space of your living room, with your rumpled couch and inactive television. From here you can see the door to your bedroom is slightly ajar. You’re pretty sure you didn’t close it properly earlier. You take a moment to ponder your space, stretching out your introspection, then swivel back around to look at Sun.

Only you’re not looking at Sun, of course. You’re looking at Moon.

Moon does not look pleased, standing next to the little window with your textbox. He scowls when you type your usual ‘hi moon’, and doesn’t bother to grace you with a reply this time. There’s something akin to frustration in his expression, but you cannot—for the life of you—decipher why. 

You try again. ‘you don’t look too happy.’

He shoots you what you can only describe as a glowering look from under the band of his nightcap. His hands twitch minutely at his sides. You can almost say he looks… preoccupied with something? You’re not sure what. You’re also not sure how long he’ll elect to stay. Yesterday, you had mere minutes. 

‘can u tell me a story?’ you try, only to deflate when his scowl deepens. ‘oh come on, i’m trying here!’

“Don’t bother,” he eventually grumbles out, the twitching evolving into short flexes of his fingers—clawed like he’s trying to grasp something just out of reach. 

It’s your turn to frown, but you don’t push it. ‘sun told me ur better at storytelling.’

His head jerks slightly to the side in a way that’s unnatural—rotating like a vinyl record. His gaze narrows. “He did, did he?” It’s said in a growl, displeasure lining his voice. 

‘yep.’ You hesitate for a second, juggling your options and his irateness in your mind. ‘so… story? please?’

Moon snaps. “Fine! You want a story so badly, I’ll give you one. Listen very closely.” The little window you use to communicate with them closes out. Your eyebrows raise, but you are immediately captured by the low drone of Moon’s voice and the daggered look he somehow manages to give you even through your computer screen.

“Once upon a time,” he begins bitterly, “there was a fox. It lived with another fox friend in a peaceful valley. It was happy, living day by day with those around it. The two had each other and that was enough.

“But one day, the valley shook and trembled with the force of a mudslide. The fox was separated from its friend and injured by a fallen branch that manifested itself in the form of a perpetual limp. It tried, desperately, to find its friend, but it was no use. The friend was gone. It had to move on. 

“The fox traveled for days. It was slow, but it made progress. And eventually, it found itself in a field surrounded by tall, waving grass and giant deciduous trees. It made this field its new home. 

“For a while, things were good. The fox made some new friends. But there was still that ache of loss. The fox wondered if its old friend was still maybe out there, somewhere. It wished on the stars and hoped its friend would find it, in this new home. Someday. Somehow.

“Its wishes were granted. One day, the fox woke up to a familiar sound. The sound belonged to its old friend—that had found it after so long. The fox was happy and bound forth to greet its old friend. But there was something different about the friend that the fox could not place. It did not matter, however, for they were reunited at last. 

“The days went on. The fox had noticed that its friend was not the same as before, but the same could be said about itself. They tried their best to live together once more. It was difficult. There were ups and downs. Fights and quarrels. The friend was controlling and the fox did not like this. They were not as close as they were before and this distance lingered over them like a storm.” 

Moon breaks off for a short moment to glare down at his slippered feet. You are stuck in a trance, breathing bated as you hang on to his every word like they’re a lifeline. He shakes his head slightly, then continues on.

“The seasons cycled by. The auburn vegetation of Fall transformed into the desolate white of Winter, then to the lush verdance of Spring. Before finally, it settled on the yellowed brittleness of Summer. It was a particularly cruel Summer, but the fox and its friend did what they needed to survive while avoiding each other.

“And then… on a particularly arid day… A fire broke out in the field. It spread rapidly. It had not rained in days, and this caused the vegetation to burst into flames faster than the fox and its friend could react. It surrounded both of them. They were trapped. Together, yes, but still trapped. They couldn’t even reconcile in their final moments.” 

Moon looks up at you, his eyes reminiscent of a tenebrous sky pulling you in deeper and deeper and deeper. 

“Do you know,” he whispers with all the gravitas and conquassation of an earthquake barely repressed, “what it feels like to b u r n?”

And then the program closes. 

You are left to stare at your empty desktop, throat lined with cotton and heart racing like it’d been you trapped in that fire.

There is much to dissect, but you haven’t got an inkling of where to even begin. You fall into an uneasy slumber throughout the night and wake up feeling just as clueless. Moon’s expression and voice lingers over your shoulder like a spiteful ghost and you’re left to wonder how a computer program can have such a depth to it. You don’t want to contemplate it, fearing the exacerbation of this… sinking feeling in your stomach. So you don’t. 

A bug, you tell yourself as you shuffle through your daily tasks. Maybe a feature FazCo’s still trying to iron out. 

(You don’t mention anything else other than a ‘weird story’ and more glitching in the nightly submission form. You’re not sure how to even describe what you’d listened through.)

You eye your dormant computer while you prepare a light lunch in the form of a sandwich, your television playing the news in the background. Nothing too major, just the weather at the moment. It’s a good way to fill the room with some noise when you feel like catching up with what’s going on in the world around you. 

You exhale heavily through your nose and set down a dirty knife into the sink to clean later. Something bumps into your ankle, and you glance down to see Dr. Nugget bumbling away from you into the living room, whirring all the while. Those sensors definitely don’t work as they should, poor thing.

No matter how much you want to delay, you have some work you need to get done on your computer. Not only in terms of testing the FazPals program. Your timesheets need to be updated again (much easier to do on your computer than your phone, you admit). There are applications you have to submit to other companies to join their beta testing teams and research you have to do to ensure you don’t completely run out of work anytime soon. One of the more tedious attributes of being a beta tester is the constant cycle of looking and applying for positions. Oftentimes, companies will sign you on to test other products of theirs, though, so it’s not all that bad.

With that in mind, you plop down in front of your computer with your food and power it on. Your headphones go around your neck for the time being. Typing your password with one hand and taking a bite of your sandwich with the other, you get to work pulling up your spreadsheets and the website you use for job hunting. 

It’s menial work. You keep track of what companies you apply to with your spreadsheets. Most of them have the same application process and requirements. It’s easy to lose yourself in the repetitive clicking, reading, and typing. With the addition of your headphones blasting music in your ears, you go on autopilot pretty easily. 

It’s while you’re making updates to your resume that you get startled, suddenly, by Sun. 

“Friend! Hello!” He pops up out of nowhere and makes you promptly choke on the sip of water you’d been taking. What the fuck?! You set aside your water bottle and cough roughly into your fist, eyes tearing up from the abruptness of it all. Your heart gives a harsh, indignant ba-dump.

Once you’ve collected yourself and paused your music, you take a moment to stare confusedly at Sun, swaying happily side to side in front of the window of your resume. He smiles up at you. How the hell—? You hadn’t clicked on the FazPals icon, had you? No, no, you’re sure you didn’t. 

‘hi sun,’ you type slowly into the small window he had automatically opened for you when he appeared. You pause as his smile turns into a beam, then decide to ask him your burning question. ‘how r u active right now??’ 

“I got tired of waiting for you!” he replies, his rays bobbing in and out in a wave around his head. You wait to see if he’ll elaborate, but he doesn’t. Okay. Well. You make a note of that for later. 

Sun makes a show of turning around and looking at your resume window. He can’t… read the data on it, right? Wait, no, he probably can if he was able to do it with your computer’s Paint app. You bite the inside of your lip. You’re not sure how you feel about that, but well, it’s not like FazCo doesn’t already have your resume. Just in case, you switch tabs back to your spreadsheet. Better, if marginally.

Sun hums, then turns back to look at you with those blank eyes of his. “What’re you up to, Friend?”

‘just applying to some jobs,’ you reply unsurely. Is this weird? This is weird, isn’t it. Upon pressing enter, Sun moves to look at the little window thoughtfully. And perhaps, with some inkling of annoyance? It’s difficult to tell, but it’s the same look he will sometimes give his dialogue box. One of his hands raises to tap at the bottom of his face. Contemplative. He returns his gaze to you and tilts his head.

“Hey, Friend,” he starts, completely bypassing your previous response, “I have an idea.” 

You are wary, but you cannot deny the intrigue. ‘yes?’ 

His smile stretches at your encouragement. He clasps his hands together in front of him. “Just trust me!” 

You squint at him—his blithesome demeanor—but you aren’t able to reply. The textbox window closes, and a different one appears in the center of your screen: 

FazPals.exe is trying to access your microphone. Allow?

All your thoughts stutter to a complete stop. 

Processing text is one thing, but audio input? You suppose it’s not anything innovative in this day and age, but you hadn’t been expecting it particularly for a program like this. You know the animatronics back at the pizzaplex were pretty advanced with this sort of thing, so it’s not… too unusual for FazCo, right? It’s probably something you need to evaluate, you sigh internally. This is fine.

FazCo, you think to yourself wryly. Enough said.  

Apprehension still lining your movements, you click the ‘Allow’ button. The window disappears. Nothing really happens that you can see, but suddenly you are all too aware of the weight of your headphones sitting atop your head. You lick at your lips. 

Sun continues his swaying as he waits—expectant. “Friend?” There is a smidge of hope in his voice. 

“Yeah?” you respond, wincing at the crackle of your voice. That sip of water had really taken you out. You clear your throat. “Sorry. Yes?” 

The beam he gives you is enough to vye against the, well, sun. 

“Oh! Marvelous!” He practically leaps for joy, rays spinning up a storm as he wiggles in place. His eyes upturn into delighted crescents. “Simply marvelous! Friend, it is lovely to hear your voice! It has been so long since I’ve heard another.” Something creeps into his gaze that you… You’re not entirely sure you want to decipher it. 

“Friend,” Sun begins in a low, nonchalant voice. “I have a request! A simple one, really.” 

You raise an eyebrow. You are undoubtedly curious. “What is it?” 

“Can you say my name for me?” 

Oh. Weird, but okay. You comply, voice lifting at the end slightly. You are not nervous right now, thank you very much. “Sun.” 

A glitch rides down the length of his body in a jittering wave—starting from the tips of his rays to the soles of his shoes. His gaze falls into a half-lidded look. “Perfect,” he breathes, so quiet you almost need to strain your ears to hear. “Utterly perfect.” 

You blink at him, befuddled. The moment does not linger. He snaps back to his regular sway and bright-eyed expression. “So! You said you’re applying to jobs? What for?” 

“Uh, yeah,” you say, slightly distracted and disoriented by the whiplash from this guy. Program. Whatever. Your fingers had automatically moved to type your reply in, lingering over your keyboard. This will take some getting used to. You move your hands to rest awkwardly on your lap so you can fiddle with your fingers. “I’m a beta tester so I’ve gotta keep applying for positions in companies.” 

“Beta tester, huh?” Sun muses more to himself than anything. He seems to be deliberating something. “Hm. I see. For how long?” 

You make a thoughtful sound. “Mm, for a while now. I can’t remember the exact timeframe. It’s enough to pay the bills, so I can’t complain.” You are ever so thankful that the ease in interacting with him transferred so neatly from texting to talking.

“Of course, of course!” Sun bows, then slides off to the right of your screen to nestle himself in the corner with the date and time. He tucks his hands behind his back. “Well! Don’t let me distract you! Carry on!” 

“Right…” you trail off, uncertain. You eye him standing just out of the way of your work—enough that you can ignore him if you zone in on what’s directly in front of you. Well, FazCo did say their program is a “virtual desktop friend.” Hanging around your screen when you’re not immediately engaging with it seems like an attribute it should be able to do. You shrug to yourself and go back to editing your resume. 

…It’s very quiet. 

Oh wait, music! You forgot to start it up again. You mess around with the volume mixer on your computer so you can continue to play your music whilst also being able to properly hear Sun should he decide to start talking. That is, without bursting your eardrums. You lose yourself to the tunes, accompanied on occasion by the rhythmic tapping of your keyboard. 

At one point you notice Sun changes the pacing of his swaying. And upon closer look, you realize he’s moving to the beat of the song booming through your headphones. His rays move like a volume meter, raising and lowering around his head in a circular formation depending on the strength of the audio.

“I like this song!” he says like he can sense your eyes on his pixelated form. “Never heard something like this before!” 

“Really?” You adjust the volume mixer a little. Better. 

“Yep! My music repertoire is rather lacking, I’m afraid.” 

“You’re in luck, then,” you say eagerly as you pull up your music player and shuffle through a playlist you think he might like. “This is what I call The Greatest Hits of All Time.” You press play and grin when Sun does a little wiggle in excitement. 

He’s content to sway in time with whichever song’s playing as you slowly finish up with your work for the day. You’re a bit surprised at how long he goes without really saying anything. But, of course, he eventually gets bored. Patience, you think, is not one of his core features. Or, well, he is patient to an extent. Something tells you he was not programmed to stay quiet for long periods of time.

In the corner of your eye, you notice he starts juggling. It’s small, at first. Just two red balls that he throws up and down and up and down, shuffling them to opposite hands all the while. Then it becomes three balls. Then four. Your gaze flicks to him from time to time, but you’re determined to get through just a couple more applications and then your timesheets before you call it quits. 

You break when he hits eleven balls, his grin curling enticingly at the edges concomitantly. “Bored, are you?” 

“Oh, immensely!” He throws up his hands in feigned distress and the plethora of balls come raining down upon him in a move befitting of a cartoon. They bonk him repeatedly on the head and bounce away on the top of your taskbar. You watch in amusement as one rolls across your screen and disappears past the left border. Sun is unperturbed. “Are ya done yet?” 

“Not quite,” you say and he groans, tossing his head back. You roll your eyes in good nature. 

“You can multitask, can’t you?” he presses, clasping his hands together in a plea. “Let’s chat!” 

“Okay, okay,” you acquiesce. You’re sure he would keep pestering you otherwise. He cheers and immediately hops right into it. 

“What do you like to do for fun? What’s your favorite food? Do you have any other friends? What about your family? Do you like g-glitter glue? What’s the highest education level you have? Do you have a favorite piece of media? What’s your deepest, darkest secret? What’s your opinion on Fizzy Faz? What’s your favorite animal—”

“Whoa, Sun! Slow down!” you yelp, mind spinning with all the rapidfire questions. The text in his dialogue box had been moving so quickly you hadn’t been able to make out a single word. 

“Sorry!” he says, though he doesn’t quite sound all too apologetic. His eyes upturn. “I want to know aaalllll about you! How else will we be best friends?”

“By taking it easy,” you reply in what you hope is a meaningful manner. He at least has the decency to look abashed. You huff out a laugh, then do your best to remember what questions he’d asked. You’re already blanking on some. “Okay, well, uhh. I like to read and watch videos. I do have other friends and family, but I don’t live with them. Glitter glue is okay when it’s not literally everywhere. I don’t have any deepest, darkest secrets, sorry. Uhh—”

“Don’t forget about your favorite food!” Sun cuts across you, trying to be helpful, most likely. “And education level! And your favorite media!” 

“Right, right…” 

You’re not sure how long you spend answering his many, many questions (of which you’re sure he has an infinite amount), but it feels like ages. You have been thoroughly distracted, and you can’t even be incensed about it. 

As the evening settles in with a hush and it gets closer and closer to seven o’clock, you find yourself thinking about Moon. 

“Do you know what it feels like to b u r n?”

You suppress a shiver. 

You take a moment to deliberate in your mind, then eye Sun. He’s busy prattling off his excitement over wanting to watch a movie with you. Gently, you interrupt him. “Hey, is it cool if I ask you a question?” 

“Oh!” Sun looks at you wide-eyed, momentarily taken aback before he smiles encouragingly. “Of course, Friend! Ask away!” 

“What’s the deal with Moon?” 

If you hadn’t been already watching him, you wouldn’t have noticed. He freezes in place for a split second, then resumes his swaying so suddenly it’s almost like he’d forced himself to. Ever so minutely, the corner of his smile twitches. “Why ever would you ask me?”

“Well…” Your fingers tap idly along the surface of your desk. Shouldn’t he know since they’re part of the same software? You resist questioning him further. “He doesn’t seem like he wants to engage with me.” 

Sun waves a hand in dismissal. “Ah! He’s being dramatic, probably! Moon is… Well! I will say he is rather….” His grin turns taut, like a wire about to snap. “...Difficult to get along with.” That tautness disappears with a bob of his rays, as though it had never been there in the first place. “Worry not, Friend! You still have little old me to talk to!” 

“Yeah…” You’re confused. You thought dual programming with personalities such as Sun and Moon would make them mesh together pretty well. It’s difficult to tell with Sun. He’d made it seem like they both were on decent terms with previous transitions. You suppose not. Is it even possible for their A.I.s to interact with one another? You’re not sure how it works.

“Speaking of which,” Sun says as he makes a show of looking down at an invisible watch on his wrist. “It is time for me to go!” He sighs, faux sadness making him droop down like he’s a melting popsicle. “And after we’ve been having such a good time together.” 

“Mmhm,” you agree, something akin to nerves crawling just under your skin with every second that ticks by. Why are you nervous? “I’ll see you tomorrow, buddy.” 

He grins at you, flicking a hand in farewell. “I bid you”—a dark hole appears near his feet, and you watch as he steps over it with a wink—“adieeuuuuuuu!” He disappears, dropping into the hole with his voice getting fainter and fainter until it’s cut off by the hole popping to a close. Silly. 

You let out a breath and look at the time. 7:00 P.M. Right on the dot. You shift in your seat and wait for Moon. You’re not sure what crawled up his digital ass and died, but you’re determined to at least get him to have a proper conversation with you. Not only for your job, you think, as you navigate to your email to open the submission form, but for camaraderie’s sake, as well. 

“Camaraderie” with a program, you think to yourself dryly. What a world we live in.

7:03 P.M. and still no sign of Moon. This is fine. You can wait. You try not to waver.

…You call it quits when he doesn’t appear after another ten minutes. Disappointing, yet unsurprising. You should have expected it, really. You sigh and take off your headphones, leaning back in your chair. You rub at the side of your head. Your television drones on in the background with the news, still on after all this time. 

Honestly, how are you supposed to evaluate him when he shows up and disappears in unpredictable intervals? It’s a conundrum, truly. Does that not go against his entire code? His purpose? You don’t know anymore. You roll your shoulders and decide to finish up your work from earlier.  

Tomorrow, you think resolutely. Tomorrow you’ll try again.

part three

[thesims4blogger]

Plumfruit is Back! Arnie, a modder for The Sims 4, released his Plumfruit mod. The mod was a revamp of the existing cell phone in the game and had some new features as well. The original mod was already quite impressive but he’s revamped it, adding more functional objects, more apps, and more ways to enjoy a high-tech lifestyle in The Sims 4.

Introducing Plumfruit Essentials!

Hey friends,

Yesterday I announced The Plumfruit Collection and two new mod kits, Retrofruit and Plumfruit Essentials. You can watch the trailer here on my YouTube channel, and read the full post announcement here!

Today is my brithday and my gift to you is the release of Plumfruit Essentials!! 🥳 This is the first mod kit from the Plumfruit Collection, which will expand in the future with new releases!

Say hello to Plumfruit Essentials, a brand new mod kit featuring some of your favourite Plumfruit device types: phone, tablets, computers, and more! This mod kit is kind of a reimagining of Plumfruit Lite, a mod kit with more simple items I released just before I stepped away from Sims modding three years ago. But everything here is brand new: simpler code, better stability, and better design than ever before!

What’s included?

📱 PlumPhone Air – A stylish new phone replacement with a custom animated screen and PlumfruitOS visuals. For now, it’s available in one swatch: Titanium, and this is just the first of a new generation of Plumfruit phones.

There are also new app icons I designed for your UI Phone, that match the interactions and categories! Now please be careful: the PlumPhone Air and the new app icons are overriding some of the game's items, interactions and categories! Any other mod overriding the phone will conflict!

💻 PlumPad Air & PlumPad Mini – These elegant tablets come with a completely overhauled interaction menu, now sorted into apps with all-new icons for easier accessibility, similar to what I’ve done with CheatsMaster and Luminova. These icons will be shared across all Plumfruit devices (and the next Luminova update too!)

🖥️ iPlum Air & PlumBook Air – A futuristic all-in-one desktop and a sleek laptop companion. Both come with 15 beautiful wallpapers, a minimalist black-screen swatch, and new apps like Mail, Web Explorer, Notes, and more.

🔊 PlumPod Max & PlumPod Mini – These are for all the music lovers out there! Great sound quality, colourful swatches, animated screens, smart home features (compatible with Luminova), and access to Plumfruit’s virtual assistant, Neo.

If you have my Luminova Mod Kit installed, there are already some features that are cross-comptaible, and there will be soon another update expanding the features!

🎧 PlumBuds – A stylish replacement for the EarBuds from the Fitness Stuff Pack – required for them to show up and work! With an overhauled menu and custom icons for a smoother, more modern feel. (This is also an override and it will conflict with any other mod replacing the EarBuds!)

📸 PlumCam Future – A high-end camera with three lenses and a massive touchscreen at the back. It works just like the in-game HD cameras, but with an updated futuristic design (perfect to take pictures to store on Retrofruit storage units when it comes out!)

📺 PlumTV – Running PlumfruitOS (just like the Luminova Smart TV), this new TV features rounded corners, a selection of new screensavers, and sleek modern lines.

You can also use the animated TV Backlight from Luminova with this new TV!

----------------------------

Plumfruit Essentials is now available to download on the new ✦ Early Access ✦ Page!

Plumfruit Essentials is available as early access for Patreon paid Members, but it will be available publicly and free for all in just one week! I didn’t want to do a full 2–3 week early access with this one, since it’s kind of reviving a mod I’ve created before, even though every item is completely new. But I still wanted to thank and reward my Patreon supporters, so I thought this was a fair way to do it.  

[machine-saint]

Eka, do you have any beginner tips for learning Linux? Or recommendations? 🪡

hello mysterious sewing needle anon! I'm not sure what the "beginner" distro is these days, maybe Mint?

in no particular order:

definitely make sure you have a "backup" machine.

get comfortable using a terminal. you'll want to do this sooner or later. if you have a command called foobar, "man foobar" and "foobar --help" (that's two hyphens) will generally show you help.

fish is a good shell, imo more newbie friendly than sh or bash or zsh or whatever.

get comfortable with your distribution's package manager of choice, and prefer installing stuff from it if you can. it's a vastly better experience than windows's "download random shit and let it install itself".

for other things, flatpak is a reasonable alternative.

if you're editing config files by hand, make a backup copy of them. there are some fancy tools for managing config files but I'm not aware of any that are beginner-friendly.

if you fuck up your system so bad you can't get a graphical environment, you can use ctrl-alt-f2 to switch to a virtual terminal

if you fuck it up so bad you can't even boot, you can boot off a USB stick, mount your hard drive, and fix it that way. the installer you use for your distro will work for this.

when it comes to desktop environments, I have no particular opinions on gnome vs plasma vs. whatever else is out there because I use sway because I'm cool. anything that describes itself as being based on "Wayland" is newer, and some things might not work as well (screensharing), but will have better support for HiDPI displays

many Steam games that are not officially supported on Linux can be made to run anyway, and will run just as well. I don't remember the setting for this. for non-Steam games, not sure.

overall, have fun! it has its quirks but I'm happy knowing that my computer isn't going to try to force telemetry and AI nonsense onto me