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ursaminortarot · 3 years ago

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Pick-a-card Reading

I did another pick-a-card reading, this time focusing on love and romance. Also, if this is relevant to you or resonated with you at all, can you leave a comment with your astrological sign and which pile you picked? If you know your moon, rising, and venus, could you leave those as well? I have a theory I want to test.

The piles you can pick from are:

Pile 1: Hyena

Pile 2: Swan

Pile 3: Frog

Pile 4: Lion

Pile 5: Fire Ant

Pile 6: Black Egg

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Pile 1: Hyena

Wheel of Fortune, 5 of Wands, 3 of Swords reversed, Soulmates reversed, Wisdom Ace of Swords, 8 of Pentacles reversed, Father of Swords reversed, Co-create, Vision 10 of swords, 10 of Wands reversed, The Moon reversed, Go the Distance, Bond Knight of Wands reversed, 9 of Swords, The Sun reversed, Regenerate, Message Knight of Cups, 8 of Wands reversed, 6 of Swords reversed, Yin reversed, Achievement Bonus Cards: 3 of Pentacles reversed, 3 of Wands reversed, Death, 5 of Cups reversed, 6 of Swords

You haven’t had the best of luck with your past relationships. You’ve dealt with heartbreak and disappointment and that’s made you skeptical of love; and if you ever believed in soulmates, you don’t anymore. The positive to all this pain is that you’ve learned a lot about yourself and how to assert your boundaries. You’re the type of person to throw yourself into work as a distraction. Keeping yourself busy to avoid processing your emotions is something that can only work for so long. You need to focus less on work, it’s preventing you from doing the work you need to do in order to move on. You may even begin having dreams about your most recent relationship until this is done. Ending negative cycles can be a difficult and daunting task, but in this case it’s necessary. Otherwise you won’t find your peace. You are healing, it may not be progressing at the speed you want, but these things take time. You were meant to find this message: “there’s light at the end of the tunnel”. Healing isn’t linear, so don’t feel defeated after a hard day, week, month, or even a hard year. At this moment, you should focus on finding harmony within yourself.

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Pile 2: Swan

The Chariot, The Tower, Ace of Wands reversed, A leg Up, Poised, Death, Reflect 3 of Cups, Temperance reversed, The Chariot reversed, Co-create, Regeneration, Deceit 5 of Pentacles reversed, Page of Wands, Temperance reversed, Time to go, Protect Page of Wands, Two of Swords reversed, 9 of Pentacles, Why? reversed, Tick-tock reversed, Luck 4 of Cups reversed, Queen of Wands, 6 of Wands reversed, Breath, Come to the Edge, Terra, Vision

I get the feeling that you don’t have a type, or if you do it’s always changing. Sometimes you can be a little rash with love and this can get you in trouble. You’re the kind of person who will turn someone’s world upside down - and then you ghost them. You haven't always been this way. At one point you were in a serious relationship, and for some of you, possibly engaged or planning a family. This relationship didn’t end well, it was a very messy break up. I get the impression that you were likely cheated on. You end relationships so quickly, and sometimes harshly, because you would rather hurt the other person than risk being hurt again. You haven’t felt safe with a partner in a long time, but the problem here is that you don’t stick around long enough to develop the level of trust that you want to have within a relationship. What you need to do right now is spend time alone, dig deep, and really think about what it is that you want. Do you even want a relationship right now, or are you just looking to have fun? You’re not very grounded at the moment, this is a contributing factor to your restlessness. If you can, take some time to enjoy nature and find your center. If you’re the kind of person who likes to party, you’re being asked to slow down and pace yourself.

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Pile 3: Frog

[Before getting into the reading, I’m getting a distinct feeling from this pile. Either, you’ve never been in a relationship or you don’t have a lot of experience with them.]

The Moon reversed, Knight of Pentacles, The Hanged Man reversed, Building Blocks reversed, Balance The Empress, Queen of Swords reversed, Ace of Cups reversed, To Be Fair, Achievement 5 of Cups reversed, King of Wands reversed, 10 of Wands reversed, Milk and Honey, Simplicity 3 of Cups, 4 of Pentacles, The Tower reversed, Higher Power, Sol 2 of Cups, 6 of Pentacles, Daughter of Cups reversed, Never-ending story, Transformation Bonus Cards: 8 of Wands reversed, 7 of Wands reversed, Clean it up reversed

You’re very cautious or picky when it comes to relationships. There are a lot of fears present here, but we’ll handle them one at a time. There’s a fear of not finding stability or being trapped. You want everything to be fair and equal in a relationship, but this can make it difficult to ask for what you want or need. You don’t want to be too much, but you also don’t want to be giving more than you’re receiving. You hold yourself and other people to high standards, some might say that they’re impossible to meet. You know exactly what you want in a partner, and that makes you afraid of disappointment. It’s not that you need to lower your standards, but you need to realize that it’ll be difficult to find someone who meets all of your expectations. If you don’t want to wait until that person crosses your path, or if you don’t even believe that they’re real, then you’re going to need to discern what standards are a necessity and which one’s are preferences that you can go without. People like being around you, because you have the ability to put them at ease. You built up this skill and put a lot of work into it. You have this need to make sure others feel safe when they're with you. You don’t want others to feel like they can’t be themselves around you, because you know how awful that can feel. You can connect with people on a deep level very easily. This is what’s frustrating for you, because if you can bond with people so easily then why haven’t you found your person? You are an extremely lonely person, but you need to accept that things will progress at their own pace and you need to get comfortable being alone.

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Pile 4: Lion

Queen of Swords, Queen of Pentacles reversed, 2 of Pentacles reversed, Soulmates reversed, Deceit The Fool, The Page of Cups, The Fool reversed, Poised, Breath, Sleep 10 of Cups, Six of Wands reversed, The Magician reversed, Here and Now, Cycle 3 of Pentacles, High Priestess, The Chariot reversed, Not for you, Exchanging Gifts, Bond The Hermit, Justice, Daughter of Wands reversed, Go the Distance, Wisdom Bonus Cards: Ace of Swords, Ace of Swords reversed

You’re a very strong and intelligent person, but you can be cold and calculating. You’re at odds with yourself because you want to be softer. You are a hopeless romantic at heart, but you can’t bring yourself to express it. You restrain that softer, more romantic side of yourself to save face. You don’t want to look stupid, but you also want to do all the sappy, silly lovey-dovey shit. You have a very creative side to you and you could use that as a way to explore your softer side. You don’t have to share your art with anyone, but it could help shift the way people perceive you. It could make it easier to express to people that there’s more to you than the cold front you’ve been putting up. Finding balance is key. You are analytical & calculating, but you’re also romantic & nurturing, and you need to find a way to exist as both, or you’re never going to get anywhere.

You should focus less on the future. You’re so worried about having this perfect fairytale ending, that you’re just getting in your own way.

You see the world in a very unique way and you don’t think you’ll meet someone who understands how you process and think about the world around you. You have a lot of conflicting feelings right now, and that’s okay, it’s human. You can’t be perfect all of the time.

Also, you need to chill, you’re taking this way too seriously. Love, romance, and relationships are supposed to be fun. Go meditate in a forest or something, run away to the mountains, just find a way to relax. I can’t fully describe with words the extent of the uptight/tightly-wound energy I’m getting from you.

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Pile 5: Fire Ant

7 of Cups reversed, 3 of Wands, Daughter of Swords, Truth be Told reversed, Simplicity The Empress, 10 of Wands reversed, 5 of Pentacles reversed, Observer reversed, Go the Distance, Deceit 2 of Wands, Queen of Swords, The Hanged Man, 9 of Swords reversed, Soulmates reversed, Fork in the Road, Healing Queen of Cups, King of Wands reversed, Ace of Swords reversed, Building Blocks reversed, Exchanging Gifts reversed, Balance 3 of Pentacles reversed, Queen of Wands reversed, Death, 8 of Pentacles, Poised reversed, Sol

You’re juggling a lot emotionally and I feel like you cope with these feelings through art. You are highly perceptive and you have a piercing gaze that can see through everybody’s bullshit. You value truth above anything else in relationships. You see so much that it makes it difficult for you to feel. It’s not that you don’t have feelings, it’s that you break everything down to the smallest detail and your feelings stop being feelings and become observations and data. You’ve become overly analytical and it’s getting in the way of potential relationships. I feel like you are this way because you saw something in someone once and you ignored it, and then you really wish you hadn’t. You thought that you had a future with someone who thought of themself as kind of a sacrificial lamb, so to speak. This person could not take accountability, everything was someone else's fault, and most of the time, they blamed you. Even though most of it was self-inflicted because they didn’t know how to say no and just went along with everyone and everything. Your view on relationships and love has been changed by this experience. The good news is that you’re starting to heal, but you’ll likely never see love the same way and you won’t be able to trust people as readily as you once did. You still believe in love and romance, for other people, but not for yourself. You don’t believe that you’ll ever be able to share that much of yourself with another person again. You have this ‘once was enough’ energy to you. If you want romance in the future, which I’m assuming you do because you’re reading this, you need to work on rebuilding the parts of yourself that got damaged by that relationship. Put yourself and your healing first and maybe, one day, you’ll be able to open yourself up to the prospect of romance again. Nothing’s impossible. This lack of confidence you have in yourself is starting to impact your professional life. You need to find yourself again, and that’s not going to be easy.

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Pile 6: Black Egg

[This reading is all over the place. I can’t tell if that’s because I was tired after doing the other 5 readings or if it’s because you, the person who picked pile 6, are someone who has energy that bounces from one thing to another very quickly.]

Wheel Of Fortune, Ace of Pentacles, 4 of Wands reversed, 6 of Pentacles, Treasure Island reversed, Sol King of Wands reversed, 6 of Swords, Justice, Mother of Swords reversed, Chop Wood, Achievement 5 of Pentacles, The Hierophant reversed, 6 of pentacles reversed, Father of swords reversed, All that Glitters, Bond 3 of Swords reversed, 10 of Wands, Son of Wands reversed, Daughter of Swords, A Leg Up, Arcana The World reversed, Death reversed, Ace of Wands reversed, 2 of Wands reversed, Blessed reversed, Air

You’ve had a rocky love life up until this point. All you want is stability because that’s something that has been lacking in your life, you need a balance between the domestic side of a relationship and having the freedom to be able to go off and do whatever you want. You don’t want to be pinned down, and yet, you want to pin someone else down. You need to allow potential partners the freedom you’re asking for.

You’ve gotten some bad relationship advice in the past. Someone told you that you need to be something you're not, or at least pretend to be something you’re not. The problem with this kind of thinking is that once your partner discovers that you haven’t been entirely truthful with them, they're not gonna want to stick around. Because, you know, people don’t like being lied to.

You’ve had your heart broken in past relationships because you felt like you couldn’t turn to your partner for help. They were someone that asked a lot of you, but wouldn’t reciprocate.

You’re an intelligent, and perceptive person, but you’re also incredibly passionate and a little head-strong. So, sometimes you don’t think before you act and that’s been a point of tension in past relationships. You want to rush everything, but there are no shortcuts in love. You need to slow down or find someone who can match your energy.

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I know that readings with 30ish cards take me about an hour to do, so why was I surprised that this took me 6 hours?

I don’t know how much of my personality to let show throughout these kinds of readings. I don’t want them to be dry or too detached, but at the same time people probably just want to know what their piles have to say.

[The decks I used were the Modern Witch Tarot, the Wild Unknown tarot, the Earthbound Oracle, the Wisdom of the Oracle and the Wild Unknown Animal Spirit oracle.]

I feel like these were too specific to apply to a lot of people, but also not specific enough. So, if you want a more personalized reading check out my Etsy shop.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/UrsaMinorTarot

#tarot reading #tarot #tarot reader #tarot pick a card #tarot cards #tarot decks #oracle cards #oracle decks

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headcans-oneshots-and-stuff · 4 years ago

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Overworked

Fandom: DC Pairing: Batsis!reader x Batfamily Word count: 3k Summay: Your on your way to be the next C.E.O. of Wayne Enterprises, but the road is filled with challenges and a lack of self-care that your family can’t help but worry about (based on this) Warning: Slight angst and unconciousness, near death experience Requested by a pretty great Anon: Can you do a one shot of future ceo batsis overworking herself with long days and vigilante nights and she’s basically not sleeping or taking care of herself and batfams gotta step in and make her listen to reason.

The cup of coffee had already grown cold, the liquid inside it stale and surely undrinkable, when you reached for it. Hardly the first few drops of the liquid had ran down your throat when you realized the horrible transition it had gone through from the nectar of productivity to the lovechild of tar and sulfur, your face distorting into an expression of utmost disgust as you quickly put it back down and besides the other six paper-cups that were all half-filled at most. You sighed when you realized that it must have already been an hour since you had made - and after completely forgot about - the coffee. It really was a cursed circle that you had been going through for the last eight hours. You made a cup, brought it to your office, drank a bit, forgot about it and realized how horrible it now tasted half an hour or so later and then you took at least another twenty minutes before deciding to head for your next cup. Was it already time for the next one? No, it could wait a bit longer. You turned your attention back to the screen in front of you - or rather the three screens - and let your eyes fly over all the data and graphs and numbers that you had to have in a presentable form by next morning for the monthly debriefing. This time would be your first time without Bruce on the sidelines and overlooking your work, a fact that made you feel proud at your accomplishment while simultaneously scaring you to the core. You knew that logically it wouldn’t be different than the last two - which you had also done basically solo with Bruce only sitting beside you silently observing - but there was still that internal voice that told you that without your father by your side the board would rip you apart until nothing was left over. You didn’t know what exactly caused it but suddenly you felt dizzy and the letters and numbers in front of you started swimming around, turning into absolute gibberish, the neon-lights of the screen hurting your eyes. No, not the screens themselves, it was the contrast between the brightly lit screens and the darkness that spread out behind them. It was only then that you let your gaze move behind the confines of your office and through the glass doors to the rest of the office space that was completely engulfed in darkness. Now you realized that it wasn’t only that, it was more, there was no soul wandering the floor and no sound beside the ever-so-steady growling of the computer fan and the clicking of your keyboard. “Fuck,” you couldn’t help but mutter when you looked at the clock beside you which already read half past nine. Which meant that you only had half an hour at most before your patrol started. Ignoring the pounding that built up in your head you tried to remember how it was possible for the time to surprise you like that. You had come to work at eight that morning and had spent two hours calling around, checking on contracts and meeting with potential clients, then you had your daily briefing with the department heads - which had extended into almost an hour because Brad from PR really couldn’t get his shit together - then you had to talk to HR about finding a possible replacement for Brad from PR and after you had started working on the numbers. And now you were standing in the elevator on your way to the car park. Did you have Lunch today? No, you had to skip Lunch break for Brad. What about Breakfast? No, wait, you forgot about that too. You rubbed your eyes and felt the need to curse rise again when you realized that you’d have to get right back to the numbers as soon as you had finished patrol which meant that you wouldn’t be able to sleep yet again. What was that? The fourth night in a row? Your only solace was the possibility that you’d maybe finish quickly and get a good one to two hours before you had to be back in the office, but deep inside you knew that it was unlikely. It hadn’t worked the last four nights either. But you’d pull through. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. After tomorrow’s meeting you’d go home at a normal time and indulge yourself in that full meal your stomach had been begging you for, sleep for a full eight hours and maybe even watch a movie if you felt especially crazy. Just for one night you’d really let yourself go. But for that to be possible you had to bite your teeth together and stay on your path.

The elevator arrived at the car park and you quickly rushed to your car and made your way to your apartment which - for maximum efficiency - was only a five minute drive away from the Wayne Ent. Tower, where you quickly rushed into the hidden side room to change into your gear. As you checked the time you realized that you still had a good five minutes before you had to check in with your father and you had to very quickly decide between your two options: quickly eat something or make and drink another coffee. You decided for the second one, but as you made your way to the kitchen counter where your coffee machine stood you caught a glimpse of the unopened stack of mail on the kitchen island and with a sigh decided to just get that over with, effectively ignoring both your previous options. The letters were rather quickly sorted through and before you knew you were standing on a nearby ceiling and activated your comm. “Y/H/N reporting from area 7.4 in central Gotham.” “Good evening Y/H/N, it’s Oracle, I’ll be your voice in the background tonight,” Barbara’s voice echoed through your ears and after exchanging the usual greetings she quickly gave you the location of a robbery in progress. With quick, experienced movements you jumped over the roofs until you stood on the ceiling of a jewelry which was - luckily for you - made out of glass. There was only a single man in the darkness of the store below you, using a flashlight to clean out the display cases, and he wasn’t especially silent so you used the noise to your advantage as you opened one of the few ceiling windows that were openable and let yourself glide down with a hook. “I think you have to pay for that,” you interrupted the robber who quickly turned around, his face hidden by a black, knitted hat with badly cut out holes for the eyes. He was definitely no professional. The man - obviously panicked - got out a gun with shaky hands and pointed it at you, but before he could even think of shooting you had thrown a batarang and the piece of weaponry landed on the floor too far from him that he could reach it before you. Seemingly not seeing another option the man started charging at you and you just sighed and said: “I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” but by the end of the sentence his fist tried to make contact with your masked face, but you caught his hand expertly and used the momentum to twist it behind his back, grabbing the other one too and with quick movements you had used a pair of handcuffs that you had in your bat-belt™ to chain him to one of the displays before letting him go. “If you’ll excuse me for a second,” you mumbled before walking a few feet away where you told Barbara to contact the police and tell him they didn’t need to hurry. You had just finished the conversation and muted your mic again when the same dizziness as earlier in the office hit you but this time tenfold. It was like the ground was swaying below you and you had to take ahole of a countertop so that you didn’t fall. “Hey, are you okay, you look kinda sick,” the robber asked in an actual concerned voice, but you didn’t answer, instead you quickly used the hook you had attached earlier to let yourself swing out of the window again. “Y/H/N?” Barbara contacted you and you tried your best to swallow down the weakness in your muscles that suddenly seemed to grow over you. “Yeah?” “Bats asks you to meet him on the roof of the Jefferson building down in third.” “Tell him I’ll be there in a minute.”

You gave yourself another few seconds to collect yourself before you did as you were told and made your way over to the roof of the builduing Babs’ had told you to go to, the dark silhouette of your father’s persona already expecting you there. Like you had done so often before, you started to run towards the edge of the building next to it - the one you were currently on - and made yourself ready to jump, only for your muscles to suddenly give up on you and the only thing you felt next was the rushing of air as you were falling and then the sudden stop and pain in your wrist as something caught you. Bruce quickly pulled you up and even with the cowl you could see the concern. “You okay?” he asked, his voice worried which definitely sounded uncanny in connection with what he was wearing. “Uhm yeah, my legs just kind of gave up on me there,” you tried to wave it off with a chuckle, not wanting him to see that you were frightened to your core. “Y/H/N?” he asked again in that voice he had always used when you tried to sneak out at night and lied when he had caught you. He hadn’t used that voice in so long. “I’m serious Batman, everything is okay, it’s no big deal,” you huffed - now defensive - and stood up with your arms crossed in front of your chest. “It is when you suddenly fall from a roof. What would have been if I hadn’t been there to catch you?” he asked, now slight anger edging through the worry, but you couldn’t blame him. “I’m sorry, okay, it won’t happen again,” you sighed and hoped he would just let it go, especially considering that the dizziness started to return. Along with it came the heaviness of your eyelids that you had gotten used to that somehow now seemed to actively pull you down. You raised your hand to rub your eyes - hoping it would put some more live back into you - but even that slight movement seemed to be too much as the world started swaying again and you felt gravity getting the best of you. Something black started moving in front of you and you weren’t quite sure if you were falling unconscious or if it was Bruce who came towards you to catch your falling form, but it turned out to be latter when you found yourself being lowered to the ground and propped against the end of one of the vantilator shafts of the building with Bruce kneeling beside you. “You’re definitely not okay,” he muttered as he held your face in his hands to get you to look at him. “I’m just a little bit tired is all,” you tried to argue, but your voice was weak and almost started lulling. “When was the last time you slept? Or ate?” You shut your eyes in concentration as you tried to remember. “Wait I know the answer to that one,” you muttered but almost fell asleep, only being kept away when your head started falling downwards, “What did you ask again?” “When was the last time you slept an entire night?” he tried again, this time more specific. “What day is it today?” “Friday.” “Then I think it was Monday,” you whispered since suddenly the loud noise of your voice seemed to pierce your skull apart. “You were on Patrol from nine to two a.m. on Monday,” Bruce disagreed and you almost chuckled. “Yes, and after I went to bed and got a full five hours. That’s pretty good isn’t it,” you couldn’t help but smile almost proudly, your mind starting to fog up with bubblegum coloured smoke that made it impossible to think straight. “And when did you last eat?” Bruce sighed, worry and recognition crossed his face. He himself must have known too well what you were going through. You averted your eyes and looked down at your lap where you played with your hands like an embarrassed child. “Also Monday,” you mumbled and Bruce immediately shook his head. “That’s not okay, you have to take care of yourself Y/H/N, you’re no good for anyone when you don’t.” You weren’t sure if it was only tired paranoia that made you see only disappointment on your fathers face - that ignored all the worry - but suddenly the prospect of having disappointed him, the one thing that you were trying to avoid ever since you could remember, made tears well up in your eyes and your lip quiver, “‘M sorry,” you could just press out before the tears started rolling. Bruce immediately regretted his tone of voice, but he knew nothing he would say now would be remembered by you so he just pulled you up from the roof and started carrying your already passing out form towards the batmobil. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow…”

The feeling of waking up rested was foreign to you, especially since it wasn’t one of your four separate alarms that woke you, and caused you to immediately sit up, only to be pulled back into the mattress. Your eyes flew open and explored your surroundings. The chandelier above you, with rainbow-coloured glass-pendants and the dark blue dealing with the painted stars immediately calmed you again. This room was your childhood bedroom which meant that you were in the manor, which in turn meant that you were safe. For a moment the calm was pretty nice, but then you remembered your case of immovability and looked down at where your wrists came out from under the cover. They were bound by silky bands and a move of your feet told you that the same was the case for them. While you were contemplating ways to get out of the unbelievably good, but still comfortable restraints, the door started to open and you turned as well as you could towards where you smallest (figuratively and literally) brother entered. “Your awake?” he asked in his usual stern voice, but you had known him for long enough to recognize the hidden worry. “Yeah, mind telling me why I’m strapped to my bed?” “Forced self-care,” he stated matter-of-factly and you couldn't help but narrow your eyes. “What?” “You fainted on Patrol, father says you haven’t eaten or slept since last Monday so we took measures to make sure you wouldn’t kill yourself with how careless you are.” You wanted to reply with something snarky, but you were well aware that what he said was probably right. “I’m sorry okay, I just had a lot on my plate, but you’re right and I feel a lot better now that I had some sleep, so you can let me go again,” you tried to smooth your way out of there, but you had the slight suspicion that it was hopeless. “I respect your try but you will not be let go until father is certain that you’re better.”

“But I am better!” you whined and tried yet again to wiggle yourself out of the restraints. Damian just raised his eyebrows unimpressed. He walked over to a chair that was standing beside your bed and as you followed him with your eyes you noticed the shutted curtains and the small gap of light between them. “What time is it anyways?” you sighed and felt surprise when you had to hold back a yawn. “It’s about 8 a.m.” Your eyes widened. That meant you had enough time to get to the office! “Please Dami, you gotta let me go, I have to get to the board meeting,” you begged, starting to wiggle more and more, but to no avail. “But Ukthi, you-” “No you don’t understand! This is my first time alone, I can’t let dad down, I have to be able to pull through with this if I ever want to make it as the next C.E.O. Dad wasn’t allowed a break either.” “Ukthi-” “Damian please, please, I promise I’ll come back right after and take care of myself, but I have to do this if I-” “Ukthi! The board meeting was yesterday. You slept for over 24 hours!” Damian shouted to get you to stop interrupting him and when you realized the weight of his words you sunk back down into the pillow. “What? But I was supposed to…” “Father just postponed it, he didn’t leave room to argue, he also gave you the week off from patrol and work.” If your hands weren’t bound you’d probably sunken your face into them in shame. You tried to hold tears back as you looked away from Damian. “Y/N?” he asked and came closer. “I’m sorry, It’s just- how am I supposed to handle being the C.E.O. of Wayne Enterprise if I can’t even handle little things like board meetings? How am I supposed to take after dad?” “Y/N, you keep on saying how father managed to lead the business on his own, and how you should be able too, but you’re not alone. You’re not supposed to be either. You have all of us by your side for a reason and we won’t leave you alone with this. We’re here for you and you shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help. We’re family, we love you and we want to support you with all we can. “For now, how about you rest a little bit more and then I’ll let you out of bed to get a proper meal, Alfred made your favorite. After that I’m afraid Father will want to have a word with you.” “Oh shucks….”

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redrobin-detective · 3 years ago

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I went on an illegal run (IE I told myself I wouldn’t run tonight, showered and got in my PJs then got the Zoomies, changed into running clothes and went out) and had a fun time with a timey whimey AU which would be a fun fic if I had the time and inclination.

Ok so it opens with No Watch Ben (who for the purposes of this Au knows nothing of the alt Bens, omnitrix, aliens etc) doing his thing. He’s started having weird visions, random bits of info he shouldn’t know pop into his head, unexplained pains. Little by little reality around them starts to warp and decay. That’s when Paradox arrives with Prime Rook and Gwen in tow. They immediately cry out and grab onto NW!Ben in tears of grief and joy.

Ben Prime (who will be Prime from here on out) is in the midst of a death loop that, the longer it continues, it tearing apart the fabric of time and reality. He’d been battling Maltruant (maybe Maltruant/Malware hybrid, idk up for debate) and was pinned with his Omnitrix being mined for its data and power. Ben, unable to escape and knowing Maltruant with the Omnitrix’s power would be unstoppable grabs a piece of broken debris and slits his own throat. Azmuth had told him years ago that, as a failsafe, if the wielder dies the Omnitrix will also shut down and be rendered unusable by anyone trying to take control of it. Ben may be impervious to most forms of attack but the Omnitrix can’t prevent suicide. But neither Ben nor Azmuth knew that the Omnitrix had grown beyond it’s programming and would do anything to save it’s host. Before the last of Ben’s light goes out, the Omnitrix uses Maltruant’s time power (since it’s hooked up to the Omnitrix) to force a loop in which Ben dies and is revived over and over again. But the loop shows no sign of stopping and is destroying time.

Every other Ben in the multiverse who is connected to their own Omnitrix felt the backlash of Prime’s Omnitrix trapping them in the loop as well. Only the Ben without a watch, while still feeling some of the effects but is overall okay, can help. Also, outsiders can’t interfere in the loop, only another Ben can enter and break it up. But this Ben has no training, no experience. Paradox reveals he brought a third passenger from the Prime universe, Prime Azmuth who was dropped off with NW! Azmuth. It turns out this version HAD created an Omnitrix, just avoided the final touches bc he was afraid of what he’d made and worried about finding the correct host. Theoretically NW! Ben should be fine with the watch since its out of sync with the loop.

We switch back and forth between Prime Azmuth convincing NW! Azmuth not only to complete his Omnitrix but to pass it onto a young human. Prime Azmuth tells not only of Ben’s heroism and accomplishments but lets some of his genuine grief and personal connection to the boy leech through at the thought of him forced to die on repeat. They debate as they work to finish the device. Meanwhile Rook and Gwen are trying to bring NW!Ben up to speed on him being a universal hero and aliens and whatever. It’s a lot to handle and NW! thinks he can’t do it. He privately tells himself that Prime has got to be someone amazing, someone not like Ben. He wonders if he can stop the loop by switching places with Prime who’s clearly way more important.

They get to the two Azmuths and the Omnitrix is complete but NW!Azmuth refuses to hand it over. He’s seen too many people abuse power to willingly hand it over to a child he’s never met. He’s ready to let the multiverse burn but Prime Azmuth convinced him to at least let NW!Ben try to break the loop. Rook and Gwen are trying to stress that NW!Ben needs to break the loop before Prime slits his throat. NW!Ben nods, perfectly ready to die to save his ��better’ counterpart. They are able to link Ben up to the loop using the completed Omnitrix and soon he’s in the midst of battle in the loop. NW!Ben tries and fails a couple of times to break the loop and it just keeps happening as time around them falls apart.

At the point where Maltraunt goes to pin down Prime, the beginning of the end, NW!Ben steps in the way. This puts him directly in the path of danger and would kill him. But he doesn’t realize that the Omnitrix loves Ben Tennyson, was tearing time and space apart to save him. And it loves all versions of Ben, including the version where the watch never existed. To save NW!Ben, the Omnitrix flares out power which throws back Maltruant. This breaks the loops bc it’s no longer the same pattern over and over. Together, Prime and NW!Ben stop Maltruant and yey, the day is saved. Paradox shows up all smug, he knew NW!Ben would try and pull a sacrifice play and the Omnitrix, which has already demonstrated what its willing to do for Ben, would break apart the loop to help. Prime and NW! talk like they did in the canon episode (blah blah its just a gadget, only you can make yourself a hero) and NW!Ben feels spurned on to be his own hero.

NW!Azmuth had seen the battle play out and despite his anger and fear and bitterness, he finds himself intrigued. A young boy was willing to sacrifice it all to preserve universes’ he’s never heard of. A boy without training, or powers or anything special had a heart made fullmetal of gold. He watched Prime Azmuth fuss and frantically lecture Prime about the whole suicide thing. He thinks it might be nice to have a young one of his own to worry over. He’s not there yet but maybe with some meetings and some official Plumbers training for NW!Ben, maybe there will be another Omnitrix Ben in the future. Or not, perhaps the multiverse could see what a Ben Tennyson is capable of without the device. It’s not like he needs it to be a hero.

#ben 10 #basically a more intense rewrite of And Then There Were None/And Then There Were Ben #tw suidice #idk thought I'd share #I'm very interested in a situation where Ben feels cornered and *cant* let the bad guy get ahold of the omnitrix #so he kills himself quickly knowing it'll shut down the watch #but the watch pushes past its programming like 'oh hell no you aint dying on me you stupid idiot who i love more than anything'#and creates a loop until ben can be rescued #just the degree of devotion ben and the omnitrix have to each other #(ben's willing sacrifice to keep it out of enemy hands & the omnitrix breaking time to keep ben from dying)#it interests me #plus prime azmuth trying to convince a very isolated bitter NW! Azmuth that not only can the omnitrix be good #but yes plz choose this idiot earth boy to use it he's ok most of the time #and NW!Azmuth being just quietly fascinated at the clear love and worry his alt self has for this child #and wondering what it would be like to feel that kind of love for someone #up to you if NW! ever gets the omnitrix but he and NW! Azmuth def become super tight and work together on spreading peace

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drazavonia · 4 years ago

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THE MASTER OF HEARTS (1)

Usually when two characters are drawn with a line between the two, it's supposed to represent duality. However it's how the characters are positioned that tells us the type of duality it's supposed to represent. Such as how Sora and Riku are usually positioned with their backs toward one another with Sora cloaked in warm colors and Riku cloaked in cooler colors. This tells us Sora and Riku are opposites, and that despite how close their backs might be to each other they both travel down different paths.

The cover of the VERUM REX guidebook shows the main protagonist, Yozora and the main antagonist(s) of the game, Gigas. Yozora and the Gigas are both facing forward with a line dividing the two of them. Alignment and symmetry is usually what this represents indicating that Yozora and the Gigas either complete each other or share similarities.

Yozora and the Gigas are vessels for hearts to be placed in so they can operate.

Despite the comparison Xehanort makes about the nobodies to the gigas, the difference is that nobodies have intelligence and can move without the need of a heart.

The Gigas are not originally from the Toy Story universe, they are toys but they can't operate or move without being controlled.

Gigas don't possess a heart or a mind of their own, so they don't fit the classification of heartless or nobody.

However if their presence in Toy Box mirrors how they operate in the game:

The Gigas are just toys or robots waiting to be piloted. (Vessel/Body)

The Gigas cannot move until a heart/person takes control and uses them to fulfill their own desires. (Heart & Mind)

The lives of whoever pilots them until they're destroyed or busted, Sora is the player/pilot of the Gigas. (Memories)

Enemies created to destroy and be destroyed. (Worldline)

Yozora is a video game player character. He's "fake", so he can't really have a heart or a body either.

However in his video game:

He is a player character of VERUM REX.

(Vessel/Body)

As the main character of VERUM REX, this game or this journey is his story.

(Memories)

He lacks the will and therefore the ability to move or accomplish anything on his own because he needs a player to take control of him or to guide him on his journey.

(Heart & Mind)

Everything that occurs from the beginning to the end of the video game, VERUM REX.

(Worldline)

Every other possible sequence of events the player/Yozora can experience from the beginning to the end of the video game, VERUM REX.

(Alternative Worldlines)

The existence of the Gigas and Yozora are the same as replicas.

Yozora and Roxas, both nonexistent originally and have both come to be by the end of KH3 share a lot of similarities:

They both practically have their own secret movie.

Dual-wielders

Roxas has Waterga when you play as him during ReMind. Yozora uses Waterga immediately after stealing Sora's keyblade.

They are the only two characters in the series to have their eyebrows colored differently from their hair. Roxas is a Sora-Ventus fusion. He gets his appearance and hair from Ventus but his eyebrows from Sora because he was Sora's nobody. Yozora is meant to be a Noctis-Riku fusion. Yozora has Riku's silver hair and Noctis' black eyebrows, but they all share very similar outfits.

Roxas, born as Sora's nobody, had Ventus' heart hence his form. No surprise, but this might mean that when whomever created Yozora, they gave him the body (Nobody) of Noctis as well as the heart of Riku.

Just like Roxas was at the end of KH1, Yozora is the new "Advent Child" of the franchise currently. A figure shrouded in mystery who will undoubtedly have a significant role in the next mainline KH game.

But, a question still remains. How do these characters in VERUM REX have hearts and memories of their own without the need for players, that breaks the borders of a video game?

How did they give life to these characters without the need for a player turning them into people?

If these characters are actual people inside a video game, then does that mean they're trapped inside the possible worldline of VERUM REX like the Dandelions and Maleficent were trapped in Data Daybreak Town?

The one who would have the answers to those questions, is the Game Creator. The one who created the world and the characters to be manipulated by a player, (enabling them to take control or give life to these creations) but somehow completely averting the need for them.

The Master of Masters is the creator of the video game and worldline(s) of VERUM REX.

The Master of Masters created the video game: VERUM REX in the same manner that he created the Chirithies, the alternative Daybreak Towns and Scala ad Caelum. How did he do this?

With the power of Kingdom Hearts

The concepts for their design and purpose or character as a whole come from his Memories held within his Dreams. (Memories)

He computes his thoughts and concepts into the datascape or virtual world, creating the different characters to exist within the game. (Vessels)

With the power of Kingdom Hearts, the Master can "Reality Shift". In other words the Master brings the Virtual/Fake World to the Real World or vice-versa.

These Vessels* containing Memories* gain Hearts and Minds* once they are connected to a Kingdom Hearts.

The Soul* or existence is the binding of all of these necessary ingredients for life.

Which Kingdom Hearts could the Master have used? In DDD, Luxu tells Sora the true purpose of the original Organization XIII.

In KH1 Ansem wanted the darkness of Kingdom Hearts. Like Xemnas at the end of KH2, Ansem wanted his heart to become one with Kingdom Hearts.

Technically this still happens by the end of KH2 after Riku was purified and rid of Xehanort's heart. Xemnas absorbed all of the hearts (including Xehanort's) within Kingdom Hearts becoming extremely powerful.

So when did he create VERUM REX and which Kingdom Hearts filled with hearts did he use?

KINGDOM HEARTS

The Master became a God by gaining control of the Heart of all Worlds, creating a new Reality or an "Unreality".

KINGDOM HEARTS

The Master used the hearts & lux collected from the fallen wielders at the end of the Keyblade War.

Notation for more clarification:

A video game/rpg is a lot like a worldline or a collection of the possible worldlines.

"A worldline is the sequential path of personal human events that marks the history of a person. "Perhaps starting at the time and place at one's birth until death.""

An example I'll use is KH Chi & KH Union X. KH Chi is the story of your player character from the moment you wake up on the Station of Awakening to choose your Union, to the point in time Ephemer & Skuld appear before you at the end of the Keyblade War.

Your player character's chirithy took away those memories in order to keep the knowledge of the past and the Keyblade War from tainting your heart with negative emotions.

(Credit to damo279)

In Union X, these events of your life (the previous worldline) were converted and preserved in data, in other words copied. This included everything and everyone that pre-existed within that worldline with the exception of the Keyblade War.

To get to the new worldline the Dandelions were also converted to data. They would arrive in a Data Daybreak Town where all of the dandelions would play out the events of the original worldline, however because the Keyblade War no longer occurs, an alternative ending or different courses of events can occur.

However, because the previous worldline still existed within the datascape, the Dandelions could access their "Saved Data". This allowed them to compete with one another using their "Other selves/Data selves" without damage to them or their hearts. This was the Shift Pride.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts 3 remind #kingdom hearts sora #sora #yozora #riku #roxas #young xehanort #verum rex #union x #kingdom hearts union x #master of masters #noctis lucis caelum #ventus #luxu #xigbar

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thefinalcinderella · 3 years ago

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Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Chapter 9 - To Beyond (Part 3)

Full list of translations here

Previous | Next

For Jouta, his younger twin brother Jouji was truly the other half of his soul.

Jouta and Jouji's parents never mixed up their sons. When the twins were younger, they would often play pranks on the adults by pretending that Jouta was Jouji and Jouji was Jouta. But their parents were the only ones who never mistook one for the other.

That’s strange, Jouta would think. Sometimes when he looked in the mirror, even he couldn’t tell if he was Jouta or Jouji.

The twins’ parents never compared their sons. There was no comparison to make, they were completely different people. They loved them as their equally treasured children.

That was a natural attitude for parents, but Jouta learned as he was growing up that some parents couldn’t maintain that natural attitude; some parents compared their children and thought of them as their own property. I’m glad our parents aren’t like that, Jouta thought.

Even though their faces were identical, their souls were different.

Jouta was able to easily and naturally accept this fact because of the way their parents treated them; Jouta naturally loved his twin brother as the person closest to him, and as a person who was completely different from himself.

Jouta and Jouji were always together. They slept in the same room, went to the same school, and played soccer together. They made up as many times as they fought and played with their mutual friends.

Jouta knew almost everything about Jouji—he knew his favorite foods, he knew that he had a small mole on his right ankle, and he knew who had been his first kiss and when. But he also knew that Jouji had a very different personality from him.

Jouta and Jouji had many friends. The people around them thought of them as cheerful and fun. This was quite true, and there was nothing to complain about being thought of like that, but when it came to himself, he felt that that wasn’t the right expression.

Jouji is more innocent than me.

He really makes the atmosphere more relaxed just by being there. Whenever Jouji laughs or gets angry, it’s an uncalculated and honest outpouring of emotion.

Jouta wasn’t so simple and naïve—he sometimes acted in a calculated way, thinking, “If I do this, people will like me.” If anything, people who were as carefree as Jouji were in the minority. That was why Jouta loved his younger brother all the more.

I don’t think Jouji is aware of it yet, though, Jouta thought. It’s time to go down separate paths. We’ve always been together, we’ve always done the same things, but we can’t stay like this forever.

He headed south from the Hamasuka intersection and entered Shonan Kaigan Road. The wind was blowing from the front as they ran along the coastal road.

Jouta and Jouji were almost the same in scholastic and athletic ability; that was why they had gone to the same high school and were both regulars on the soccer team.

However, Jouji was the one who was more suited to running.

Right now, their times weren’t that different. But Jouta, who knew Jouji better than anyone, had noticed.

This is probably as far as I go, but Jouji is going to get faster. He can go places I can’t even see. He’s got that talent in him, and he seems to have a passion for running.

Jouji was loved by many, and he loved everyone equally. Jouji’s enthusiasm and obsession with running had come as a surprise to Jouta.

He had thought he would get bored soon, but Jouji devoted himself to running day after day.

It seemed like even Kiyose hadn't noticed, but Jouji sometimes snuck out late to train on his own; he quietly slipped out of his futon so as to not wake Jouta, and came back after an hour’s run outside.

When it was just the two of them in their room, Jouji would constantly talk about Kakeru. Kakeru’s running was amazing today. I wonder how I can run like that. In order to get even a little closer to Kakeru, he would pose on the tatami and say, “Nii-chan, check my form.” There was a sparkle in Jouji’s eyes in those times.

Jouta and Jouji often fought with Kakeru, partly due to the familiarity and ease of being in the same school year. From Jouta’s point of view, Kakeru seemed unbalanced because of his purity. This sometimes irritated him and he would end up lashing out at him.

But Jouji looked up to Kakeru; he was embarrassed at himself for acknowledging Kakeru, so he was trying to rebel against it.

You’ve grown up, Jouji. Jouta thought desolately—but also happily. For the younger twin brother, the one who had been his biggest rival until now was Jouta. They had always been each other’s goals and had influenced each other through their lives. But now Jouji had finally found a rival and goal named Kakeru.

If you hadn’t run, you never would have known. We can still be together, still see the same things.

But this is as far as we go, Jouji.

As if dragged along by Jouji’s enthusiasm, Jouta also began running. He and the other residents of Chikusei-sou had reached the point where they could run in the Hakone Ekiden. And Jouji would still aim further. He would go beyond, where Jouta couldn’t catch up to him no matter what.

It doesn’t matter, Jouta thought. It doesn’t change the fact that Jouji is my precious little brother. I have to welcome my little brother becoming independent. From now on, all I can do is run with all I've got and give a farewell gift to Jouji as he takes his time to reach newer heights.

I hope that one day Jouji will win. No matter how many years it takes, I hope he will become as fast and strong as Kakeru, if not more so than him, and a runner that no one can beat. Jouta still didn’t know what he would be doing then. But he knew that he would still be cheering for his brother with all his heart, just as he was now.

As he ran, his view was blocked by the barrier of trees planted to prevent the movement of the sand, and he couldn’t see the sea. Only the scent of the tide was carried by the wind over the traffic restricted road.

They say it’s plain, Jouta thought, but it’s really tough, this course.

The third leg, from Totsuka to Hiratsuka, was often thought of as a connecting leg. They left Route 1 at Higashimatano and headed south. After passing near Fujisawa Station at the eight-kilometer mark, the road became a plain town road, and after turning right at the Hamasuka intersection and entering Route 134—commonly known as the Shonan Kaigan Road—the monotonous scenery continued. There were not many houses and the road was far from the station, so even the cheering crowds along the road were sometimes interrupted here.

For Jouta, who was motivated just when expectations were placed on him, he was not good at running with no one watching. It was also difficult for him to run because the road was flat and almost straight when they were along the sea, in contrast to the minor ups and downs before they reached the Shonan Kaigan Road.

The temperature was 5.7 degrees. The tree barrier was on his left. On top of that, the sunlight, which was strong for winter, shone down on Jouta. The wind was still blowing from the front. It would not be strange if he could see Mount Fuji right in front of him, but there was no time to check.

As expected, the Hakone Ekiden is something that should be watched on TV, Jouta thought. While eating osechi and lazing around. We were promised that we'd enjoy aerial shots of the sea, the endlessly stretching road, and Mount Fuji in the third leg; a peaceful and festive scene that excites the New Year's mood.

But what about the pain of actually running?

After receiving the sash from Musa at the Totsuka relay station, Jouta’s Hakone Ekiden had started off with an uphill run. At Totsuka, the runner from Kita Kanto University who had received the sash in seventeenth place furiously outpaced him, but he didn’t care. Tokyo Gakuin University, who had started six seconds later than Jouta also overtook him, but he didn’t panic. I’m not good on roads with ups and downs, Jouta thought.

The Kita Kanto University runner's time was top-class even among the participants; Jouta had made sure to have Yuki show him the data of the runners who were running in the same leg as him. It would be impossible to stubbornly try and compete with them on equal terms. The Tokyo Gakuin guy was already breathing hard when he passed me. I’m sure I’ll be able to catch up and overtake him again.

The Shonan Kaigan Road had good visibility—Jouta could clearly see Tokyo Gakuin University and Shinsei University, as well as Maebashi Kouka University and Jounan Bunka University, which seemed to be dropping in the rankings.

At the fifteen-kilometer water stop, he was told, “The gap between you and the runner in front is closing.” Alright, I can do this. His legs felt even more energized. From the coach car, which had been silent until then, he heard the landlord’s voice.

“Jouta, are you concentrating? You’re not thinking about something else, right?”

I was thinking. About Jouji and all sorts of other things. Jouta cocked his head, wondering how he knew. Was there something wrong with his form?

“There's a message from Haiji. The last kilometer is where you have to hold on. Don’t get shaken no matter what you see, okay? That’s all.”

So it was Haiji-san, Jouta understood. There’s no way the landlord would know. Kiyose must have seen Jouta running on his portable TV and thought he should give him a boost.

But he didn’t know what was waiting for him on the road that would shake him.

Jouta was excited. He thought that Kiyose really could read his personality, but Jouta had been told that there was something exciting, so he couldn’t help but go and check it out. No matter how much he rebelled against Kiyose, in the end he felt like he was dancing in the palm of his hand, which was a little annoying, but also enjoyable.

First, he passed Tokyo Gakuin and Shinsei.

At the 18.5 kilometer mark, there was the Shonan Bridge over the Sagami River. There was a break in the tree barrier, and Jouta was finally able to catch a glimpse of the wide ocean out of the corner of his eye. Fresh water and sea water collided and mingled together, creating large white waves near the mouth of the river.

It was almost time to catch up to Jounan Bunka and Maebashi Kouka. I’ll go on the attack when they cross the bridge, Jouta decided and looked further ahead.

It was TSU.

There it was, the blue TSU uniform with its light blue lines, something he hadn't been able to see until now. He couldn’t reach it yet, but he could get closer. He could close the distance even just a little and then leave it to Jouji. TSU’s Sakaki, who had tormented Kakeru and caused problems for the residents of Chikusei-sou. Jouta was always irritated by Sakaki. I feel sorry for Kakeru, who can’t come up with good responses to him and ends up falling silent, and I’m actually a pretty pig headed guy myself with a lot of worries, but I’m not a shady bastard like Sakaki.

I don’t have anything against the other members of TSU, but they’re our rivals because they’re the team Sakaki is on. They’re the enemy who should be thoroughly beaten to a pulp. Of course, unlike Sakaki, we’ll do it fair and square through running.

Jouta breathed wildly through his nose and put on a spurt. He was next to Jounan Bunka and Maebashi Kouka. The opponents weren’t going to let him pass so easily. However, Jouta was no longer so concerned with the other runners—he only saw the Kikui and TSU runners ahead of him.

There was a sign at the twenty-kilometer mark. The 21.3 kilometers of the third leg were almost over. What is it that's going to shake me? Jouta suddenly thought, and as he approached the last kilometer, he realized what Kiyose had meant.

Because of the straight road, they started to see the Hiratsuka relay station from a kilometer away. The presence of the destination conversely made him feel that no matter how hard he ran, he still couldn’t get there. But he couldn’t get impatient; he had to stick it out here, outrun the other runners, and hand over the sash to Jouji with even a slightly better time.

But then something else happened that surprised Jouta. Two hundred meters before the relay station, he noticed Hanako furiously pedalling a bike on the sidewalk next to him.

Beyond the crowd, Hanako was desperately pedalling the bike.

“Jouta-kun, just a little bit more!”

Mixed in with the cheers, Jouta could clearly hear Hanako’s voice.

Hana-chan, you never say “Do your best” to us. It’s because you know that we’re working so hard that there’s nothing more we can do. Why do you support us this much?

Jouta thought of the expression on Hanako’s face when she looked up at him and smiled, and almost shouted, “Oh!”

It came to Jouta like a divine revelation.

Could it be that Hana-chan likes me?

When he thought about it, Yuki and Nico-chan’s smirking attitudes every time Hanako came to Chikusei-sou, and Musa’s extremely enthusiastic words and actions in encouraging him to walk Hanako home every time all made sense now.

Wait a minute. Jouji and I always walked Hana-chan home together. And she never seemed unhappy with that.

Which one of us does Hana-chan like?

Jouta was confused by the mixture of happiness and doubt, and before he knew it, he had completely overtaken Jounan Bunka and Maebashi Kouka.

---

A little before that at the Hiratsuka relay station, Jouji and Nico-chan were watching Hanako ride away on her bike, stunned.

“She left.”

“She sure did.”

Hanako had been attending Jouji along with Nico-chan at the Hiratsuka relay station, but when she found out that Jouta was finally approaching, she ran off. She grabbed a spectator’s bike and said, “I’ll return it immediately,” and almost forcefully snatched it away.

“She’s a good girl, isn’t she,” Nico-chan said.

Hanako had been her usual self at the Hiratsuka relay station, making sure that Jouji was comfortable during the pre-race time. She worked with Nico-chan to bring him towels and drinks, and talked with Jouji as he stretched to calm his nerves.

Nico-chan liked the open-hearted and good-natured Hanako very much. Mmm, she’s the perfect daughter to be my son’s wife, he thought.

But there’s a problem. Nico-chan rubbed his stubble. Which one of the twins does she like?

He thought that since she decided to attend Jouji, she must like him, but then Hanako had gone to support Jouta as well—to the point where she had seized a stranger’s bike like she couldn’t stay still.

Which one is it? Maybe both of them?

With this thought in mind, Nico-chan said to Jouji, “She’s a good girl, isn’t she.”

Jouji said with a grin, “Yeah, she is.”

This guy really doesn’t know.

Nico-chan sighed and turned his attention back to the top group that had arrived at the Hiratsuka relay station one after the other. Manaka, Rikudou, and Bousou in that order. It had seemed like it was going to turn into a battle between Rikudou and Bousou, but the spectators got excited at the unexpected strong performance of the ambusher.

Behind them, the figures of the runners from the other schools grew bigger and bigger as they approached.

“It’s Nii-chan, Nii-chan got ahead!”

Jouji was in high spirits. “Where?” Nico-chan leaned forward into the road. Jouta, in his black and silver uniform, had just passed the Jounan Bunka and Maebashi Kouka runners. Even Hanako, who was pedalling the bike on the sidewalk, couldn’t keep up with his speed. In the meantime, the sashes of the top teams were being relayed at the relay station.

“Oh, he’s running, he’s running!” Nico-chan clapped Jouji on the back. “He’ll be here soon. You ready?”

“Okay, okay. I’m not going to let Nii-chan be the only one who looks cool. I’m going to run my heart out too,” Jouji said brightly, and rotated his ankles to loosen them up. There was still a considerable distance between Kansei and the schools in front of them, Kikui and TSU.

“Don’t force yourself just because Jouta raised our ranking; you won’t be able to overtake them because of the difference between your abilities and times. Just closing the gap between you and the team in front of you is all we can ask for.”

“Got it.”

Jouji nodded, answered the staff member’s call and went out to the relay line. Nico-chan stood to the side, waiting for Jouta’s arrival and Jouji’s departure.

TSU came to the Hiratsuka relay station in ninth place. Three hours nineteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds had passed since the start from Otemachi. Ten seconds behind TSU, Kikui relayed their sash in tenth place. Fifteen seconds after Kikui, Jouta handed Jouji the Kansei sash.

Up until now, it had been three hours twenty minutes and twenty-three seconds. Kansei University had finally moved up to eleventh place. Jouta, who had run 21.3 kilometers in the third leg, finished in eleventh place with the time of one hour four minutes and thirty-two seconds.

However, Nico-chan had no time to be happy about that. That was because Jouta, who had been running with a ghastly look on his face, said, “Hana-chan might like us!” as he passed the sash.

“What, no way!”

That was the shout Jouji left behind before running off. The looks of the people who happened to be present at the relay station were painful.

“Are you guys even taking this seriously?”

Nico-chan held Jouta’s shoulders after he finished running and dragged him to the back of the relay station as if to hide.

“We are.” Jouta put his hands on his knees and gasped for breath. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“You mean about Hana-chan liking you guys?”

“Yeah. Or am I misunderstanding something?”

“No, you didn’t. But why did you realize that now of all times? What if Jouji loses focus?”

“What is it? What’s going on?”

They turned around at the clear voice and saw Hanako standing there. She seemed to have returned the bike to its owner. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled at Jouta. “You were amazing.”

Jouta, who was crouching down, turned red all the way to his neck. “Mm, thanks,” he said, unable to look Hanako in the face.

Oi oi, if Jouta is in this state, then Jouji is also… Nico-chan scratched his head.

“We gotta call Haiji about this.”

Hanako looked at Nico-chan in puzzlement.

---

Kakeru and Kiyose were waiting in front of Hakone-Yumoto Station for the bus to Lake Ashi. They had to finish climbing the mountains of Hakone before the traffic restrictions were put in place, but many people seemed to be thinking the same thing, and the single road leading to the mountains was congested.

“We’re in eleventh place, Haiji-san!”

While stomping his feet in place to distract himself from the cold, Kakeru turned up the volume on the portable TV. The announcer’s voice sounded excited as he reported the situation at the Hiratsuka relay station.

“The first to relay their sash at the Hiratsuka relay station was Manaka University! Rikudou University, aiming for their fourth consecutive Hakone win, was twenty-nine seconds behind in second place. Third place went to Bousou University. The gap with the top is less than fifty seconds. Well, things have taken an unexpected turn since the third leg haven’t they, Yanaka-san?”

The commentator, Yanaka, took over.

“Yes. It was thought that this tournament would be a battle between Rikudou and Bousou, but Manaka have firmly planted themselves in the fray. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of developments will occur in the fourth and fifth leg, which is the mountain climb.”

“The Hakone regulars—Doujidou, Yamato, Kofu Gakuin, Saikyo, Kita-Kantou, TSU, and Kikui—are occupying the rankings from fourth to tenth place. Not only the rankings for the outbound route, but tomorrow’s return trip and overall victory will also be unpredictable.

“And everyone should be paying attention to Kansei University in eleventh place,” Yanaka said, unable to suppress his admiration. “Even though they were in last place for the first leg, they steadily rose through the rankings afterwards. Their team only has ten people, but all the runners have their own strengths. There is a possibility that they will be seeded, or perhaps in an even better position by the end.”

“I’m not sure if I should say surprisingly, but Kansei is showing a surprisingly good performance. But Yanaka-san, there are three fourth-year students in Kansei; even if they do get seeded, what will happen next year? They won’t have enough members.”

“You have a point,” Yanaka laughed. “I don’t think there has been an instance of a team competing with only ten members, at least not since the Hakone Ekiden began being televised. If they get seeded, they might have no choice but to ask the fourth-year students to repeat a year.”

“No, that’s not a good idea.” The announcer seemed to be enjoying himself. Yanaka’s voice became a little more serious.

“Staying an extra year was a joke, but I’m sure they’ll be fine. There will surely be new students who will want to join the team after seeing the success of Kansei. A powerhouse school is good, but it is also good to have a school where young people who have never run before are given the chance to do it. The purpose of the Hakone Ekiden is both to nurture world-class runners as well as to expand the range of the Japanese long distance world at the same time.”

“That’s a good one, Yanaka-san,” Kiyose muttered.

“Who is this person?”

“You really don’t know much about track and field athletes, do you? He was the ace of Yamato University about thirty years ago? He was the Japanese representative for marathons and also participated in the Olympics. I believe he’s currently the advisor for a corporate sports team.”

“Huh.”

People who run on the world stage really do have different things to say, Kakeru thought.

Just then, the screen showed Jouji running in the fourth leg.

“Why is Jouji running while grinning like that?”

“He really is. His face is slack.”

“Come to think of it, at Hiratsuka, Jouta’s face turned red from exerting himself somewhat.”

“They’re not the nervous type, what’s wrong with them?”

Right when Kakeru tilted his head in confusion, Kiyose received a call on his phone. This time, without hesitation, Kiyose pressed the speakerphone button.

“Hey, Haiji, we've got a bit of a problem.”

It was Nico-chan.

“What’s wrong?” When Kakeru exclaimed that without thinking, Nico-chan seemed a little confused.

“Wait, did I accidentally call Kakeru’s phone?”

“It’s my phone.” Kiyose didn’t seem to feel like explaining the speaker phone function. “What’s going on?”

“Mmmm, so Kakeru can hear me too? If that’s the case, I don’t know if I should say it.”

“Just tell me, please.”

Perhaps sensing the aura of irritation that Kiyose was emanating, Nico-chan began to speak.

“The twins realized Hana-chan’s feelings. Because of that, Jouta went limp and flabby after running, and Jouji was also flabby when he started running.”

Kiyose glanced at Kakeru. Why is he looking at me? Kakeru thought.

“They realized just now?” Kiyose said into his phone with a sigh.

“Yeah, just now. What should we do?”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do, now that they know. We’ll see how Jouji runs, and if it’s necessary, we’ll figure out what to do.”

“Got it. Then, I’m going to the inn in Odawara with Jouta. Is it alright to have Hana-chan go to Yokohama?”

Hanako was going to stay at the Yokohama hotel with Prince. Jouji would join her there after running the fourth leg.

“Leave that unchanged.”

“Is there anything you want to tell Jouta?”

“Not at all. He ran perfectly.”

“I’ll tell him that.”

After hanging up, Kiyose cracked his neck and said, “Well then, Kakeru.

“Don’t get into any fights at the Yokohama hotel tonight. I don’t think Prince and I can handle you guys brawling.”

“Fight? Why would that happen?” Kakeru asked back seriously. Kiyose stared at him closely.

“So you’re the one who didn’t realize it until the end,” he laughed. “The bus is finally here. Let’s go.”

“What do you mean, Haiji-san? Hey, wait!”

Kakeru and Kiyose boarded the bus that would take them on the old road that went around Lake Ashi and sat down side by side in a double seat. The route ascended while they took a detour down a narrow road, but as there was no congestion like on Route 1, it was probably for the best.

Obstructed by the mountains, the TV and radio signals were no longer being received well.

“We won’t be able to get news until we get to Lake Ashi.”

Kiyose pointed the antenna of the radio this way and that, as though looking for a water vein, but eventually he seemed to give up. He took out his earphones and leaned his shoulder against the window.

“Hopefully Jouji will drive away his wicked thoughts and concentrate on running.”

“’Wicked thoughts’, oh no…”

Kakeru smiled wryly. Hanako’s feelings had finally gotten through to the twins. Isn’t that a good thing? Yes, it’s a good thing. But why do I feel so gloomy? My chest hurts, like when I’m panicking because I can’t run well. It’s like my cells are doing incomplete combustion, and all I have is useless heat inside my body.

Kakeru kept quiet and withstood Kiyose’s gaze on his cheek, resigned to being teased again. He wanted to run immediately. He wanted to feel the wind on his face, to be freed from these indescribable and vague feelings.

The air in the heated bus was vaguely uncomfortable, similar to when you want to sleep but can’t fall into the depths of sleep. To avoid Kiyose’s gaze, Kakeru shifted his hips and sank deeper into his seat.

“We need to get Jouji’s attention back on the race,” Kiyose said. His tone was unexpectedly sincere. Kakeru looked up; Kiyose was looking outside the window. The cedar trees were so close that they almost touched the window.

“If it was you, what would you say to Jouji?”

“Well…”

Kakeru thought about it for a minute, then answered.

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#Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru #kazetsuyo translations #kazetsuyo #run with the wind

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helloliriels · 4 years ago

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Prompt #2: Allergies

February 2021 Johnlock prompt challenge, hosted by @ohlooktheresabee. Daily entry by 🐝 @helloliriels🐝 *** 🐝🐝🐝 Gonna have to cheat on this one, down sick, but since bees & allergies go together, here it is. Enjoy! 🐝🐝🐝 ***

Do Bees Kiss? or just Sting?

Q: Do bees "kiss"?

Why do bees "kiss"? I went to Wikipedia.

A: When bees "kiss" they are actually passing nectar to other bees.

*******************************************

Sherlock kisses John.

It was early morning. And John was getting ready for work.

Sherlock bloody Holmes of course, pays no attention to people's privacy or morning routines, and can't be bothered to explain why he's standing in John's way as he makes his toast and goes about his business... but there he is. Every place John needs to be. Waiting for something.

John is just about done and ready to head out the door - No thanks to Sherlock for making him late again - when he gets the shock of his life.

Sherlock kisses him.

A small peck on the lips. Almost chaste. Like those kisses you give to your crush in kindergarten. Or to your mum. When she insists.

John thinks it's an experiment. He knows it is.

It must be.

He gives Sherlock a 'you done now?' look, then goes around him when he gets no reply.

Sherlock heads off to do his own morning routine. John sighs. Dropping the butter knife in the sink with a loud clank. Exasperated. He doesn't have time for this shit.

Why do I bloody put up with it?

He fumbles with his keys and jacket. Noting now that the genius has decided to get OUT of his GOD damn way of course, he is twice as late!!

He heads out the door in a rush. Slamming it, just a little in revenge on the way out.

***

Talking to Greg later that evening - around the corner from a crime scene where Sherlock is currently arguing with Anderson - he tells him about it off-hand. Confession of a sort. Get it off his mind. Greg will think it's damn funny. "Pompous git, gave me a kiss earlier..."

"Wha???!!!....," Greg mouths a mock 'O' in awe as he turns to look at John, eyes wide in amazement... a look that fully says, 'finally! It's going down!'

"I know right?" Playing it up, John laughs it off. Great joke. Were not a couple! He shrugs.

"What else happened?? What did he say?" Greg was dying to know now, taking his hands out and shaking John for more details. The man wanted details?! John could see this was the happiest moment of Papa Lestrade's life. It was almost a bummer to have to disappoint him...

🐝 ***REST UNDER THE CUT*** 🐝

"No, no, nothing like that." John reassured, "God I wish!" (It came out before he had time to stop himself). And Lestrade looked taken aback.

He added a little "Haha," like he had meant it as a joke after all.

He really didn't.

Sobering thought.

Thinking better to explain himself, he added - "Hey, don't tell Sherlock I just said that?... by the way. Bit not good. It was just an experiment after all, I'm sure. You know how he is."

Greg was still just... flabbergasted. A balloon deflating. Open mouthed staring at John. No words.

John's half sad-smile said more than he probably intended. Shouldn't have mentioned it after all, he thought. "Well!" He added cheerfully, slapping Greg on the shoulder. "Was a fun case tonight. Sherlock will be happy. Solved it in under 5 minutes!" He prepared to leave, and shot off a parting, "See you round." With a half-smile. He bowed his head and walked off to follow Sherlock who was now leaving. John had his hands in his pockets now. Quite unlike him. Shuffling along.

Greg watched as John kicked some debris in his path in frustration, mindlessly, as they left. He had never seen the man looking so downtrodden...

At least, not after such a brilliantly resolved case! John was usually on cloud nine after watching the curly haired genius work. It was rather embarrassing really. The puppy eyes that looked up in worship at Sherlock as he dished out deductions, it was almost criminal. But lately he was getting more and more moody... Greg wondered.

And here, with this new evidence, Sherlock had managed to... He stopped. Shaking his head. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable...

Greg took one last look over his shoulder at their retreating forms, before heading out himself.

"Unbelievable."

***

The week goes on.

Sherlock continues to kiss him, Randomly. Small pecks mostly. But sometimes a smooch. Nothing more. No explanations. Just kisses.

Experiment.

Must be. John kept telling himself.

Experiments require further data. It was the only possible explanation...

Sherlock had never shown any signs of wanting... relationship in his life. Mister 'girlfriends aren't his area' and 'married to his work', and... 'alone protects me'... had never expressed any interest in any men either (that John knew of?). Hell, he'd even turned down some of the most bloody gorgeous ones they had met so far, both men and women. So John doubted that he was interested in that sort of thing. Some people just aren't.

The only really odd thing about it, is - Sherlock isn't saying anything to address the kisses....

It must be like having toes on the kitchen table, to him. John thought. A dummy hanging itself from their rafters. Or penicillin growing in the bread box. I'm just a thing. A dummy for this latest experiment.

At that last thought, a realization dawned on John. A horrifying, terrible realization. How had he not seen it sooner?!

Was Sherlock going to break out some rare dye, or some insane chemical powder he'd concocted - to dust and test John's lips for lip prints left at a crime scene next?? John could just see himself going to work with purple lips and a chemical burn that would take weeks to heal. Perhaps even suffering an allergic reaction...

All because Sherlock did not realize the exotic stuff would not COME OFF!!! and was actually quite dangerous.

He pinches the bridge of his nose at the thought. Exasperated.

His brain hurts now.

This was happening a lot lately.

The thought of what he was going to be subjected to next....the worry. Was almost worst. Well, it is worse - than the kisses, John thinks.

The kisses.

Damn. Need to stop thinking about this.

John did his best to push it out of his mind. Not wishing to upset the equilibrium of their friendship. Crazy as it might be right now. At least this is one way, he was getting what he wanted? Or something like it. Gift horse and all. One doesn't ask...

He is tempted to ask however, about how you would go about setting up a mind palace? Just so he could keep the memories locked forever away in there to return to. But that would be more than telling.

So he just closes his eyes most of the time, when he knows it's going to happen; and stores it in the best way he knows how. Memorization. Skills learnt in public school. Repetition.

Sherlock was certainly giving him that.

John smiles despite himself. He gives it about a week before the worst will come out.

He isn't wrong.

***

The height of ridiculousness comes one morning, almost exactly a week later.

John is there in the kitchen, fork in hand - eating his breakfast, and reading the paper out of the corner of his eye. Completely non-plussed, while Sherlock continues to dive in for a small kiss. Between. Every. Single. Bite. The paper rattles a bit each time.

John isn't even looking at him anymore.

Or acknowledging that this is happening.

At all.

He's got his back to the cabinets, facing out. And his slippered foot keeps tapping away.

Sherlock, as anyone watching would have seen - was acting as childishly as could be imagined. Not unlike when you see two kids who won't stop hitting one another, while say 'I'm not hitting you". If he hadn't been the recipient of it, John might have thought it was quite funny.

He wasn't sure how long this was going to go on. And clearly had decided to take the saint's role and be above it all; when Sherlock dives in for one more kiss.

This time, he presses in deep, and opens his mouth a little. Holding it there. Breathing his air.

Waiting.

Watching with a perplexed furrow of his brow,

for John's reaction.

Oh god. John thinks. Feeling the warm breath, and the warmer lips pressed up against his own.

What is now a very REAL, albeit awkward, kiss.

Sherlock does not have much experience in this area, after all.

John's breathing stops. He swallows hard. Tries to remember not to drop his fork.

His heart has just jumped out of his chest. And is now screaming at him. Pumping and pulsing like it's running a marathon. And his eyes scan around the room, as if someone might materialize from thin air, who could help, or at least explain all of THIS to him?!!!

...WHat the HeLL wAs GoiNg On??!!!

Lips still connected, breath shared, he looks up at Sherlock at last. Unable, really to avoid it at this point. He makes eye contact.

His eyes full of fear, his eyebrows raised in question.

And showing... Honestly showing something else entirely, he hadn't meant to show at all.

Longing.

He looks like he is about to cry. He is about to cry. This. THIS. Is too much.

Sherlock can't have THIS from him. Not without a relationship.

He pulls away. And turns his head, his lips out of reach. Closing his eyes. His signal, that he is DONE.

Done with this bloody experiment. Done with his stupid, unfeeling, selfish flatmate. Just done.

***

He feels, more than sees, Sherlock grin his way out of the kiss. Backing off just the slightest bit. But still not going away.

When he looks back a few moments later, having calmed down his own breathing. And collected his feelings. Sherlock is still standing there. Looking down at him. A wicked grin on his face. At that look, John is stunned. Has this all been a JOKE to the man?!!

He has only a moment to think before Sherlock's lips are on his again.

John drops everything this time. Throws, more like. Literally - newspaper, plate, fork, all of it - down. And pulls down on Sherlock's neck, forcibly dragging him closer. If Sherlock wants to kiss, then GOD DAMN IT, he is going to get fucking KISSED! And John releases everything that has been pent up inside of him, all week. All month. All of the years he has known and been in love, with Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock was now holding onto him also, arms wrapping around his middle. Keeping him upright, somehow. While John was snogging him senseless.

That should teach him. John thinks as he pulls away. Completely out of breath and panting with the exertion he had just enforced. And glares up at his flatmate. Absolute daggers.

But Sherlock... is now blushing, and looking pleased as punch. The response John sees, is also the kindest, and gentlest look in his eyes.

More love than he has ever dared to hope for from anyone, let alone, from his companion. More love than John thought the man standing before him, was capable of feeling.

Contrary to everything Sherlock had tried to tell everyone, loudly, since the day John had met him. This was Sherlock being human.

And it was all for him.

It was like a wall had come down. And the great genius' emotions were laid bare - exposed before John, for what they really were. Insecurity. Inexperience. He was offering himself up as a gift to be taken. A student to be taught. And John had... Oh.

Oh.

John blushes. He had just taught. Hadn't he?

Sherlock smiled. Glad to see John finally catching up. A puzzle at last, solved.

A sweet little shrug of, forgive me? but this was the only way I know how... accompanied his smile. And John found himself laughing with relief at the expression. Giddy with it.

He pulled Sherlock back in to himself, gently this time. And gave him more of a sweet, first-date kiss.

With Sherlock's permission, it deepened it into a full, gorgeous, lovers kiss - His hand gripped tight in the expensive fabric of Sherlock's shirt, to keep him in place. Buttons be damned.

This kiss was;

Full of all the things John had wanted to say;

Full of all the things Sherlock had been trying to say;

Full of all the things they had both held back for so long.

When it ended, John felt Sherlock lick a tiny bit of honey off of the corner of his mouth. Humming as he did so.

A little like a buzz.

🐝🍯🐝 Not unlike a bee.🐝🍯🐝

John shivered in anticipation. As Sherlock led the way...

If this was what loving Sherlock Holmes was going to be like... Watson smiled, then sign him up as beekeeper.

***************************************

posted on AO3 by helloliriels

More great fics and daily updates under the February 2021 Johnlock prompt challenge from ohlooktheresabee on AO3

#feb challenge #ao3 writer #sherlock fanfic #johnlocked #do bees kiss #or just sting?#i have allergies #and honey will fix them #fluffy & sweet #helloliriels #liriels post

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seriouslyblacklikemysoul · 4 years ago

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Like her - Bucky Barnes [IV]

Hey guys! Part four and honestly, it’s gonna get a bit messy.. next chapter is going to be a key-point. Again, if you want to be tagged or drop by and give me an idea about this series, please do let me know! Word Count~2k. MASTERLIST Part I | Part II | Part III

Suddenly she realized that what she was regretting was not the lost past but the lost future, not what had not been but what would never be. But she had no excuse to continue down that path – she was looking at the break of dawn. Sleep had been avoiding her but it wasn’t sleep’s fault – she was too tired for that. She had been waiting for the day her heart would be free and light as a feather - she was fooling herself. She was doing that thing again, where she started pushing people away. Where she was showing them a glimpse into who she was and why she was the way she was. She was scared they would turn their backs on her. She was scared that when she would need them the most they wouldn’t be there. She was falling so hard and so fast and she knew how it was going to end, she was going to hit the pavement because everyone who had ever promised to catch her, had left. So, she did the only thing she knew how to and that happened to be how to push people away. She became distant, didn’t answer as much as she used to, she hoped he would get the message and leave, so she wouldn’t have to worry about hurting him. She felt so broken and was slowly trying to pick up the pieces. She was actually more worried about dragging them down with her than the other way around. She was no hero – they had their share in that department. She closed her eyes just for a few seconds and exhaled a long overdue breath. Another day, another try. She had been roaming the house like a ghost. She knew that they were awake – or taking turns, to keep an eye and an ear on her, but she couldn’t care less. The strong smell of the coffee filled her lungs and she welcomed the familiarity of the simplicity. Diving into the cup of freshly pressed and brewed coffee, she almost forgot the situation she had put herself into. “You didn’t sleep all night” a hoarse voice remarked. She smiled inside the cup and without turning to check who it was, she answered. “Neither did you”. He was impressed by her confident after the last time they had talked. He had pushed her and he acknowledged that – but she erupted like a volcano. She moved slightly to the left, so he could make his cup of coffee, but didn’t left the spot – it had a wonderful view of the sea and the horizon. Her eyes never left the image outside, but his traveled along her face, studying her through brief glances. Once he realized what he was doing, he focused immensely on the coffee, trying to ignore her soft vanilla scent. “Why is every tree covered with… mattresses?” she asked perplexed. For a second there, he was lost in the way words flowed, without actually listening to her. He cleared his throat, obnoxiously loud and took a sip of his coffee before replying. “Sam was practicing with the shield” he informed her casually. Her eyebrows shot to the heavens and a smile made its way to her lips. “It’s not a Frisbee. Poor trees” she commented with ease. She was sarcastic but in a way that made him want to come up with more lines, just to listen to her comebacks. No, no, no. No. The silence, this time was not as awkward as it was before. Granted, it had only been a day, but she didn’t do what she usually did in a day. He didn’t trust her still, not fully. And she didn’t trust them, not fully. They had to go slow, to get to know one another, to be able to trust that when they found Zemo, no one was betraying the other. “Could I possibly have my phone back?” she asked after a while. He simply replied with a nope. She inhaled sharply and tried again. “I have to check my emails, James. And my computer is not connecting to any wi-fi here, so… could I possibly have my phone back?” she restated her question, leaving him little to no room for a negative answer. He put his mug down, and turned to her with his eyebrow arched. “I’ll supervise” he stated. He wouldn’t badge about it and she knew. It was the best offer she was going to get. She locked her eyes with his. Such a clear gray-ish blue, she could see her reflection. “Fine” she accepted and he got the phone out of his damn pocket, leaving her with an open mouth in disbelief. To think that she could have kicked him and get it herself. He handed to her and went right next to her, eyes on the screen at all times. She opened her data and her phone was catching up on all of the notifications she had missed. A single cough was enough for her to dismiss them all. At last, she opened up her email app to check if she had received any kind of update to her application, secretly wishing not to. When she saw the single email, she had been craving her entire life, which was basically an acceptance letter from her favorite University to perform her research, she felt as if the universe was playing her on purpose. Bucky re ad the email and was more than shocked that she was such a highly valued academic researcher. And then he looked at her, crushed. He thought she would be thrilled about that – but all he saw was sadness and disappointment. She closed the data, dismissed the applications and handed it back to him, without even looking at him. Grabbing her cup, she refilled it, in silence and went to sit on the couch. He was about to say something when it hit him. It was everything she wanted and she had actually achieved it – only for it to be taken away by the situation. She was having her dreams crushed once again and he couldn’t do anything. Maybe, he could say something nice. Maybe he didn’t have to be brooding all the time. He walked up to her, waiting for her to acknowledge him, not wanting to invade her privacy. But she didn’t and he was curious. He sat down next to her; her whole body was facing the other way. She was making it even more difficult than it already was. “Soon, you won’t even remember this and you will be conduction your research” he tried to smooth things over but when she turned to face him, his entire face fell. He wasn’t used to that much honesty. Tears were on the verge of spilling and she looked dead. “No. I never was lucky, that’s why I was strategic. But this time… I am the target of a cruel joke. It’s fine. Everything is fine” she concluded, closing her eyes for several seconds, to recollect herself. She would just not think about it. He had nothing to say to that; he felt bad for her, for the first time since he had been introduced to her, he truly felt bad. Maybe it was seconds, maybe it was minutes or hours, until Sam joined them. Silence was her go-to place; however, her mind hadn’t shut up about anything. A million scenarios had already been processed by her intuition and her logic. Why did Zemo want her? Why was he sending her Bucky’s personal stuff from before? Why hadn’t he delivered? Who was she? Before Sam could open his mouth, she had already planned their next few moves. She had to be organized and plan everything out; even when things didn’t go as planned, she had already explored that possibility and that was why she never ran out of plans. “I’ll call him. Make him believe that I will deliver you to him. Set up a meeting. We’ll stage everything. Even if he doesn’t believe me, we’ll sent proof. He’ll bite. After all, he is still looking for revenge. And what better way to start your evil plot, than taking down two of the people who put you in a cell?” she mapped out their strategic positions. She had a very scary mind, they thought. It felt that it came to her as easy as breathing. But then again, who were they to judge? “Good morning to you too” Sam mocked her but in reality, he was pretty convinced by her plan. She didn’t even listen to him and neither did Bucky. They had been having this little dance of letting go and pulling back. Their limits were testing each other. Could he trust her not to actually deliver them to him? He would never admit it but he was afraid of what it might happen if those god-damn words were spoken again. In theory, he was no longer affected by them – but what if? As if she had read his thoughts, she slowly nodded, leaving Sam even more confused. “We’ll use that too. Lead him on, just to get him where we want” she assured him but he still was reluctant. How was it possible that she had already planned that too? “What if they work?” he voiced his fear out loud for the first time in a very long time and Sam quickly caught on, but didn’t interfere. He wanted to see the dynamics between them. “I won’t let him” she said with a fierce tone he hadn’t heard before. It was a combination of Steve’s certainty during a pep talk and the aggressiveness of Tony when he thought he was right. Maybe, he could trust her. Sam saw through his inhibitions and understood that he wanted to trust her more than he had let on. With a smirk on his face, he tapped on Bucky’s shoulder to make his presence known again, because it felt as if they had no idea, he was standing there all this time. “Okay, we’re going with that plan” he admitted and reassured both of them. He was not entirely sure about her intentions as well, but the look she was giving to Bucky told him a lot more than what he needed to know. She looked at him like she didn’t expect him to trust her that much and she felt grateful because for once in her life she was being taken into account before being sent out like a monster. “I will get us an untraceable number and we can begin. It might take some time though” he continued. Well, that was better than nothing, she thought. As he was walking away, he did mention something that could potentially turn out worse than she would have expected. “Three things. I am out for my run. We are going shopping later on. Until we get to Zemo, you train” he counted before she could protest about a single thing, he was already out of the house. She left Bucky on the couch as she walked upstairs, not bothering to look twice. He had no words to describe how shitty his day was and it hadn’t even ended yet.

TAGS: @imlivingliferightnow @tonystankschild @badasseddy

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tothestarsandbackmoved · 4 years ago

Note

Rant about interstellar

i have before but ill do it again!

interstellar touches me for many many reasons.

first off, the entire premise and setting and the world building in it. the dust storms, the failing crops. the protagonist does say at one point- "humanity was born on earth. they were never meant to stay here" and that just,,, hits me you know? presently we've seen the emergence of no human exploration besides the probes and the ISS. there are plans but the same curiosity just seems dead. interstellar stretches that and shows us what would happen when human curiosity and the desire to explore would die. we'd kill everyone on the planet and soon starve ourselves. the blights- the illnesses- the dead medicare- that's a very bleak future, but a very real one. the movie does both its part about scaring the viewer about it- as well as giving us hope about wormholes and quantum data and singularities and how we'd save ourselves. you can see that the old generation is talking about their days and how better or worse it would be. in the end, on the cooper satellites, you see the interviews being played- and it really breaks me. that was a generation that thought it was the end. the end of human life. the final descent and that was it. and then they see the five dimensions and getting lifted and their lives are essentially turned around. this isn't just the older people though. we see that the gen z then, like cooper's son have also mostly been brought up to *live*. we see that he tries to get into school and actually get into uni and find a job in one of the remaining sectors of the world which still offer something other than farm corn- raise family. You see that the teachers also say this? they teach them to fight blights and sustain crops because they’re losing more and more to disease each year. Humanity’s slowly being packed up and demolished and they aren’t seeing it coming. at all.

then there’s the quote which is recurring throughout the movie:

“do not go gentle into the good night”

the professor says this all the time. as they’re leaving- his last few dying words- as they’re preparing. and you know what? i’ll say it. this is where the next important theme comes in. Desperation. When he initially sends them out- he hasn’t solved gravity yet, and he knows he never will. Not without the quantum data from a black hole- something again, he can never get. Which is why he implies that there’s a Plan B and cooper can see murphy again (this is also very important- scroll down for this). He breaks all their trust- and he knows he’ll die before seeing the end of the mission- and you can’t die with guilt, not really. He knows that he can’t be held accountable because he’s dead. He’s well aware that his plan is a hail mary- and it wouldn’t have worked anyways. He’s counting on Plan B, and that’s all there is to it. He uses the quote as a reminder to himself- because he’s torn too. He isn’t inherently evil, at all. He’s the precarious thread the entire mission dangles by- but he’s willing to risk that too. He’ll be long, long dead before humanity dies- or moves- and this is his last try.

Now for the second part of this quote. As I talked about before- the quote feels more like a reminder to himself- and not actually something that inspires hope in the crewmates. But ironically, it ends up becoming what guides murph. As the professor is dying, she tells him “you’ve been doing this with both your arms tied behind your back”- that’s actually when she finds out about his whole plan. This is the failure of the professor- but at the same time, it becomes the moment he passes the torch to murph. The professor died, knowingly sending his own daughter into the reaches of space. He prioritized his need to save humanity over the love for his own daughter. But, murph isn’t like that. When she finds out about this, she remembers the promise her dad made to her.

“I’ll be back when you’re the age I am now”

and now, she knows he’s lied. But he hasn’t done it on purpose. and she understands that. She makes it HER goal that they don’t go gentle into the good night. She knows that this is probably futile, but she’s going to try. and she’s not going to try thinking that she’ll probably fail- like the professor did (in resignation for plan B)- she’s going to try to bring cooper back.

Third, coming back to desperation. A bold, bold act of desperation is what dr mann did. (I have some qualms about the actor playing estranged astronauts- anyways). Him sending out that sensor- knowing that it will bring humans back to him, while simultaneously jeopardizing the entire mission, and possibly the fate of humanity. He knows what he has done- but he has gone insane alone- and he’d betray his entire cause to see a human face again. This movie really says something about what humans are willing to do. On one hand, you have a woman who singlehandedly saves them all- for human love, and on the other, a man who is willing to commit genocide (that’s what i think it is, dont ask) to see someone else. He messes up everything, deliberately, and goes from “the greatest and bravest man to walk the earth” to a “cold and desperate villain”. This theme has a lot to do with what is happening right now too. Forgive the activism, but we do have people who knowingly exploit and burn and ravage the earth, for their own good- and they’re insane to the point that they genuinely can’t see right from wrong. Sure, you could argue that he was motivated by the need to preserve your own life. But if you give his cause *any* context, you see how wrong he is. This is flailing human desperation, pure and simple.

Now, approaching the themes that actually make it as good as it is. Dr Brand is easily my favourite character in the movie. We get to see her as a brilliant scientist initially, and her arc- is perfect, honestly. For example, take the wormhole handshake- as their going through interdimensional space- where time isn’t linear and your brain gets fried if you try to comprehend it- she recognizes a *being* in that space. If you recall that scene, she reaches out, and meets *them*- someone she knows is otherworldly and entirely above humans (we later learn it is Cooper in the matrix- and i have things to say about that too) and makes contact. She suggests, as both a human- and a scientist- that it may be love that transcends dimensions. She makes first contact with beings that may be their salvation- or destruction- and i think that is definitely the peak of human existence.

She argues that love may be what connected the crew to higher dimensions, and I'll dare to say that she’s right. Love is what made Cooper try to contact murph. Love is what made them dare to save humans. Love was what got her there. She tells them to go to Edmund's planet- not just because she loves him, but because she also makes relevant points AND her gut. It might be stretching it to say that was why she was right- but it is worth introspection. Dr Brand represents the best of humanity and she does carry it, doesn’t she? She settles on the planet for ‘the long nap’ in the end. She tries to save everyone- like on the mountain planet- and she loves. She hopes and she trusts and is unwaveringly honest and courageous. This could become a Dr Brand stan blog for all I care.

Moving on

We have the ‘them’. These are the mysterious threads that tie all parts of the movie together. A black hole to a little girl’s bookshelf. Worlds galaxies apart. A very important thing to note here is that the characters recognize that this is humanity, just very, very far out. And most importantly, wise. This is a civilization who has surpassed the ordinary dimensions, and *mortal* time. They could’ve easily saved all of humanity and given them the planet they were looking for. But their entire ineffable plan, and only putting things where they were needed- was what made them greater than just someone who helps others. Only being able to get binary signals through an intergalactic wormhole, building bookshelves that become a huge metaphor for humanity trying to claw at knowledge- and actually slowly pushing the books forward. The ‘them’ weren’t ordinary humans at all. They definitely hinted and gave me a brief, fickle glance beyond what humans could be- raw possibilities.

Then, we have cooper. This makes it hard to write for him- and do his character justice- but I will try. His character, essentially, is brought down to selflessness, love, a brutal, brutal sense of humour- and the courage- the heavy, heavy courage to sacrifice himself. He’s also the polar opposite of what Dr mann stands for.

His first important point- in my opinion- is when the movie is starting. I didn’t walk in expecting this from him, not really. You see a dying earth- and this man is (alone in his fight, NASA doesn’t count yet) fighting the system alone. He fights for his son, tries for his father in law, and then the most important relationship- his daughter. He’s seeing an earth where not even *children* are curious, or willing, or interested in anything greater. He sees this in his daughter, though. Hence, the bookshelf- the gravity, and the plain curiosity.

I’ll dare to say that at this point, humanity’s a dying, dying flame. And what he sees in his daughter, what we see in his daughter, is a rebirth of potential. She has the human spark, so to speak. He sees that, and he makes promises, and is willing to bring the world to its knees to protect her. And he knows he might not be there when Murph burns strong, and bright, and becomes the saviour of humanity- but he hopes. An important element is the promise, which I mentioned earlier, but it defines their relationship. The promise that he’ll be back when they’re the same age. They both know that it’s not true. They can see the lie, but that promise also empowers them to do what they did when their paths diverge.

Cooper goes to Mann's planet with the vague hope that he’ll be back in time. Murph does most of what she does because she thinks that it’ll bring her father back. Even towards the end, when Cooper willingly jumps into gargantua, a supermassive black hole- which is the literal heart of darkness, he does it in the attempt to save his daughter, and hopes she can get the quantum data at the cost of his life.

About Murph, we mostly see her through the eyes of Cooper in the beginning. A curious and lovable and stubborn tween who just wants to grow up with her dad and do their science experiments. Her perseverance is phenomenal- she loses her dad despite her warnings and asking- and realizes that her loss is something undefinable, but there. In a way, she grows to understand both her responsibility and her part to play, and why her father did what he did. The ‘ghost’ is another plot device- a mysterious figure who messes with the gravity and knocks her books down. And she sees a message there. She tells him about ‘don’t go’ and i can’t begin to describe how beautifully poetic and heartbreaking it is that they realize the significance of that at the same time, and how it ties together. It is hard for me to fathom that scene really- cooper is in an interdimensional matrix, inside a supermassive black hole, and he tries to tell his daughter two things. (a) trying to stop himself from going out and on the mission, which he knows is deemed to fail and (b) sending the quantum data, because that is what mattered in the end, anyways. The ghost comes full circle- and also says what he had to say, when it was most important. And for those who’ve seen the movie, i just really have to put this quote out there:

‘It was you. It was always you. You were my ghost, dad’

And in that, the movie completes itself. It talks about unfailing love, the peak and fall of humanity, and the potential of curiosity.

In this essay I will...

#nasa #interstellar #christopher nolan #did i spend an hour writing this and loved every second of it? yes #nanowrimo #i think it does count as an entry its over 2000 words #thanks for the ask #tw rant #mango pickle

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firaknight · 4 years ago

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Ok my brain wants to talk about Kracko today so I’m gonna!

Kracko is one of many. He’s a sentient cloud being that has the powers of a god. Weird that he’s such a pushover most of the time, right? Well, those aren’t the Kracko. There’s other Kracko out there!! If clouds clump together enough, there’s a chance one can form. Other planets even have one (See: Planet Towara boss fight)!! The original, real, genuine Kracko lives in Cloudy Park! He’s hidden at the top of a really dangerous mountain that’s known to have the most fucked up weather patterns of anywhere on Popstar. There’s a shrine up there he calls home and people go visit him a lot!

While the mountain is dangerous, there’s a path that’s usually very clear that people take. Kracko himself carved it during a fit of rage and it tends to be mostly free of the abnormal weather patterns. It leads directly up to the shrine and its traveled quite often! People leave little talismans on the trees as they pass. The talismans have inscriptions of hopes and wishes from the people who travel along the path. While Kracko can’t grant wishes, he can manipulate weather, so he does pay special attention to talismans relating to that.

It’s also customary to take newborns up to the shrine. Think of it like baptism. People take their newborn child along the path and up to Krackos shrine and ask for his blessing. That child will have his protection whilst in the boundaries of Cloudy Park and will hopefully be exempt from his fits of rage (more on that later). He’s usually very calm and courteous when brought a newborn, since they’re small and fragile and probably scare easily and he doesn’t want to frighten them. However, he wasn’t like this when Ado showed up.

Ado brought Adeleine with her when she fled her home planet, and, while Adeleine wasn’t a brand new baby, she was still little and deserved a chance at habit Krackos blessing, so she carried her up to the shrine. Now, keep in mind that, while Kracko has been alive for thousands of years, he’s never once met a human. Not a single one. This meant that he was more than freaked out at the sight of one entering his shrine. He wasn’t mad! Not at all! But a weird squishy being that’s tall and big and haS A BABY??????? Yeah that’s frightening. Once he realized that baby Adeleine just a little sweetie, he warmed up to her almost instantly. Literally picked the child up and out of Ado’s hands and just floated around to room like a joyous goofball with an excitedly squealing child on him. After that day, Kracko dedicated every second he could get (when he was pissed off) to making sure that Adeleine was happy.

At first, it was small things, like slowing down lightning so she wouldn’t be scared during a thunderstorm, but it quickly grew to “I’m going to give my entire life up for this kid if I have to.” She gets to be a bit older and decides to go run into the forest to play! Problem being that she’s an easy target for predatory creatures like Pacto, which are big enough to swallow her whole if one wanted to. She gets spotted by one and absolutely can’t outrun it. Ado is far enough away to not hear the commotion, but Kracko notices. He may be all the way up in his shrine, but he can just sense when someone’s in danger. Almost immediately, a thunderstorm rolls in and he uses this as a cover to scope the forest, spotting little Adeleine running from a group of Pacto. Without a second thought, he strikes them down with lighting (despite the fact that he could’ve hit her by mistake if he wasn’t careful), flies down between Adeleine and the Pacto (just in case the lighting didn’t do the trick), and then promptly picks up Adeleine and flies her back home. This tends to happen a lot when she’s little.

After the events of Crystal Shards, Adeleine stays on Ripple Star for a few years before returning home to work on art and be closer to friends. Kracko is overjoyed to have her back and adjusts wind patterns and weather to make sure her first few day back are lovely. He now also has a habit of straight up redirecting weather when she’s painting. It’s about to rain? Cool lemme poke a fat hole in the clouds so this kid doesn’t get rained on. It’s cloudy? Lemme break the clouds so more light shows through. Kid wants to paint a storm? Lemme aim one at the stormy barrier around Cloudy Park and maintain a very specific bolt of lightning for an hour so she can paint it. Its pouring rain and she needs to run an errand? Sure thing I’ll just break a hole in the clouds above her and manipulate said hole and clouds so the hole is always over her and she doesn’t get rained on. High winds? Not in my territory :)

He also becomes super protective of her. Susie comes to invade and mechanize Cloudy Park during Robobot (she wants the resources and data since Cloudy Park is a secluded floating island that’s hard to get to) and gets a few Robobot Armors in to try and get things under control. Adeleine steps up to help alongside Ribbon and gets her ass kicked by one of the Armors. It’s at this point that Kracko hits an anger point he’s never hit before. He destroys every single Robobot Armor that made it past his barrier and then goes after Susie, who’s making her way through the barrier and into Cloudy Park. She doesn’t even make it halfway before Kracko ups the strength of the barrier and chases her out. She sustains serious damage to her Business Suit and crash lands not far from Nutty Noon. Kracko proceeds to chase her all the way back to Dreamland and give her a couple extra warning lightning strikes to make sure she knows to stay the fuck out. Adeleine winds up being fine, she’s just got a few bad scratches and a nasty bruise, but she’s otherwise ok! Kracko carries her up to his shrine to keep her safe and stops her from leaving unless he’s positive that there’s nothing that could do her harm (the leg from the Access Ark is just across from Nutty Noon, meaning they’re in harms way 99% of the time).

Moving on from that: Kracko tends to have a bad temper. When he’s angry, he forms impenetrable thunderstorm clouds and rains lightning on Cloudy Park. Said anger comes from losing to Kirby so often but sometimes it’s from other things, like Susie trying to invade his territory. Adeleines house has been struck more times than she can count, but repairs take no time at all. Kracko tends to feel bad for striking homes (he gets blinded by rage and doesn’t realize what he’s hitting half the time. He tries to aim for desolate areas but his blinded rage can take him elsewhere) and works to help by keeping work-hindering weather at bay until said work is done.

Also, to elaborate on the barrier thing:

Cloudy Park has a huge barrier of clouds surrounding it. The clouds hold it up and stop it from plummeting into the land below, and it serves as a barrier to outsiders. Kracko is the one that formed those clouds and maintains them, putting some of his energy into keeping them around. The clouds are usually so thick you can’t see where you’re going, and Kracko uses this to confuse intruders into turning themselves around and coming right back out the way they came. Stops him from having to fight anyone and keeps his bad temper at bay. However, some threats are persistent and don’t leave so easily. Susie and the Robobot invaders were one of these threats. This leads Kracko to use a defense system in the barrier: storms. He fuels his energy into the clouds in the barrier and creates storm clouds out of them. Lightning jumps from cloud to cloud and thunderclaps sound from every part of the barrier. High winds also tend to show up that can push most beings away if they’re not careful. If the threat still persists, Kracko takes on the threat himself. He blends in with the clouds, with only a spike or an eye being visible in the stormy mass. He rains lighting and high speed hail upon the threat until they back off. If the threat even so much as slows down, Kracko ups the force of his attacks until he’s chased the threat out completely. He occasionally takes on a different move: warping the entirety of Cloudy Park to a different location. Kracko may be fierce, but he knows when he’s beat. If he feels his territory is in danger, he can use the clouds and innate magic of the land itself to physically warp the landmass that is Cloudy Park to a different location. He only does this under extensive threat like the Dark Matter invasions. Both times he moved were when he believed that Cloudy Park was at risk of being overtaken by Dark Matter. The warp is fast, taking less than an hour to do. The barrier of clouds around the island fully encase it, creating a sphere of clouds around the landmass. The clouds begin to spin and close in, high winds usually following, and then everything warps. Cloudy Park is physically warped to a new, temporary location. The first time it was the Rainbow Islands, and the second was to the outer reaches of White Wafers, hidden amongst mountains as a secondary protection. While this move usually takes Cloudy Park to safety, it leaves Kracko incredibly weak for a while. The landmass floats very close to the ground (sometimes floating in water to alleviate the stress on Kracko) and the barrier of clouds are weakened to a point where just about anything could get through. Kracko also must return to his shrine to rest and regenerate lost magic used in the warp. It can take days to fully heal up and it leaves Cloudy Park vulnerable to threats. Dark Matter took advantage of that and broke through the weakened defenses to wreak havoc on the landmass. Both times were just a day after the warp. Had the Dark Matter waited a few more days to strike, Kracko could’ve kept Cloudy Park safe.

The warp back is far less taxing, as it’s simply returning Cloudy Park to its original location. Magic is tied to the land that keeps it connected to its origin crater (the crater left from the land rising up out of the ground) and its incredibly easy to find with the right magic prowess. Kracko has such prowess and it’s very very easy for him to warp back. He simply follows the magic that connects the two and uses it as padding for the warp. It takes the magic stress off of him and makes it go faster. The warp home takes maybe 30 minutes at most, but usually less if Kracko is in good health. Once the warp is done, Cloudy Park usually returns to its origin crater and rests there for a day. Magic regenerates incredibly fast when this is done and it allows Kracko to focus on healing up. Since the 2 lands are tied by magic, a naturally occurring barrier forms over the land while Kracko is down to keep it protected while he heals so he doesn’t have to try and maintain his barrier. This connection can’t be done unless one land is weaker than the other. Think of it like trying to stick two of the same magnets together. It doesn’t work. Cloudy Park works the same. If both lands are at full health, they can’t stick together. If Cloudy Park is weakened but the origin crater it came from is at full health, or vice versa, they can stick together.

#fira knight screeches #fira makes braincells #idk why my brain decided to think about Kracko but it’s worldbuilding so I can’t complain djcjnejxkwk #also some Cloudy Park lore is in there too #it’s fun to talk about and work with because the games Cloudy Park is in don’t have much lore on it #it also doesn’t explain their location change.#so I like to think it’s over in the general area of Nutty Noon because it fits in there #but it can warp to other locations. which explains why it’s in different locations in Dreamland 2 and 3 #long post

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mattzerella-sticks · 4 years ago

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Heart Eyes, Motherfucker (ao3 link)

Izuku knows that where Mei goes, trouble follows. And what Mei creates, will ultimately come back to bite him in the ass. Which is why he's wary when she comes to him, seeking help for an assignment. But when she describes her latest creation - a camera that can capture what a person is thinking - he believes there isn't any reason he should be afraid. By helping her with this, there isn't a way for it to blow up in his face.

That is, until the wrong person's photo is taken, exposing something that he would've liked to keep hidden.

Izuku gently sets the camera down, careful not to trigger a hidden mechanism that might, quite literally, blow up in his face. The memory of Mei Hatsune’s last gift is still fresh in his mind, how the tiny, innocent earbuds exploded once he connected his phone to them. It sent him to Recovery Girl’s ward, and then for the remainder of the week Izuku couldn’t hear anything. Wariness lessens the blow from Mei’s frown, her disappointment palpable at how he didn’t immediately accept her camera. She’s gotten ahead of herself. “I’m not saying no,” he starts, choosing his words carefully, “I just want to know what it is before I do anything.”

“It’s a camera,” Mei tells him, “It takes pictures.”

“Is that all?”

“Well, they’re pretty good pictures…” She taps her chin, eyes spinning wildly as she navigates the labyrinthine puzzle of her thoughts. Her expression shifts, a wide grin that almost splits her face in two like the sun breaking through dark grey and shining bright. “They’re actually better pictures than you’d get from an average camera! After the modifications I made to it –“

“Yes, modifications!” Izuku interrupts, jumping into the fray before she shifts the conversation elsewhere. “You admit you’ve played around with it?”

She huffs, a dial shifting inside that changes her mood again. Now, she’s offended. “I don’t play around with tech. I create. I improve. I succeed, Midoriya.”

“Sorry, sorry…” He chuckles, rubbing his head, “That’s not… what I’m trying to ask is – this is an invention of yours, yes? Is there anything it does besides taking pictures?” Izuku thinks, trying to string together a more thoughtful question then ‘will it blow up?’ “Are there any tactical advantages to the camera?”

“Of course!” She says, roughly snatching the camera. Izuku flinches, then sighs in relief seeing how it stayed silent despite her brusque movements. “It’s something I’m working on for a class assignment. They want us to create gear that can help heroes proactively take down villains, to keep casualties and damage to a minimum!”

“And your idea was… a camera?”

“It’s not just a camera,” she scoffs, holding it up and quickly snapping a picture of Izuku. He blinks, blinded by the flashing light. As he rubs his eyes, he hears the mechanical whirr of a photo being produced. “It uses the latest retinal technology combined with my own, copyrighted, software to capture not just a person’s face… but also what they were thinking of at the moment the photo was taken!” She waves the photo, Izuku’s face becoming clearer and clearer as time passes. “They say the eye is the window to a person’s soul, yes? Well now that really is the case!?” She laughs with shameless glee, drawing other students’ attention towards them in the sort-of-crowded cafeteria. Izuku’s face glows a deep red, especially when he catches sight of his photo.

It’s his face, but there’s a marked difference between what he expected and what he sees. Instead of green eyes, Izuku finds two bomb-like pupils have replaced his irises, their fuses short and lit. This makes sense, as he thinks about it. Between the seconds her forefinger pressed on the shutter, Izuku’s only thoughts were ‘don’t explode’, chanted repeatedly.

Mei studies the picture, snorting. “And this is why I want you to have it.”

“Me?”

“Every time I take someone’s picture,” she says, handing him the camera again, “they only show bombs!” She produces an immeasurable number of headshots from her pocket, each person’s eyes like Izuku’s. “I keep telling them that it’s not that kind of equipment, but they don’t trust me. I mean, I get it, but how am I supposed to score the highest marks if my experiments keep producing the same result! How can I learn from the data when it’s all the same!”

Izuku understands her plight, reminded of similar struggles. It’s been forever since he was reminded of his first few days, where no one wanted to spar with him, afraid they might hurt him or encourage Izuku towards injury by using his quirk. Luckily that didn’t last long. If he failed at convincing his classmates at that time, Izuku doubts he would be where he is now. The only way to grow is through constant trial and error, whether human or machine.

“Okay,” he says, “I’ll help.”

Mei claps, thanking him while she speeds off and out of the cafeteria. Izuku watches her along with the remaining students, beads of sweat staining his forehead. His gaze trails from Mei’s exit to the camera in his hands. He studies it more closely than earlier, since he’s certain it won’t combust. Izuki then fiddles with the camera, shaking it, and accidentally takes a selfie that nearly blinds his left eye.

He rubs that blurry eye while the camera prints the next photo, Izuku grabbing it immediately. Waving it around, Izuku uses his right eye to see what his left might express. Mei would be happy if she had stayed, since there’s a small camera that sits in the middle of his iris, and not a bomb. Izuku tucks the photo into his backpack, alongside the camera as he stands. There’s barely anyone in the cafeteria, the stragglers leaving him behind, meaning Izuku has a few minutes to get to class. He races to Aizawa’s room.

The camera remains hidden for the rest of the day. Izuku dare not show the others yet, waiting for a perfect moment he can snag the most amount of people.

Today’s weather helps, rain clouds hanging overhead herded all students indoors. After their final class, Izuku and his friends sped down the path to their dorms in a frenzy. All rushing to beat the rain that would inevitably fall.

Thunder rumbles, announcing what will come. Izuku jumps over the threshold exactly when the first drop hits.

“Well,” Mina pouts, leaning on a nearby wall, slipping off her shoes, “I guess we’re stuck here for the day.” Everyone nods in agreement, going about their usual ritual, trading in shoes for slippers. They begin moving deeper into the dorms, rumbling with plans for how to spend this rainy day.

Izuku hurries to the front of the group, bag tight in his arms. “Actually,” he says, loudly enough he interrupts his friends’ conversations, “since we’re all here, I was wondering if you could help me with something – well… help me help Mei with something –“

“Mei Hatsune?” Iida asks, a sickly pale sheen blanketing his features, “No – no, whatever it is – no.”

“Iida,” Izuku sighs, “You haven’t even heard what it is I have to say!”

“I don’t need to!” And, from how the rest of his friends appear similarly distressed, they don’t either.

He works fast, removing the camera and showing it to them. “It’s nothing too crazy, or dangerous!” he tells them, “She needs pictures of people for a school project.”

“That sounds… almost normal,” Mina says, stepping to the front of the group, joining Izuki. She snatches the camera from his hands, frowning at Mei’s camera. “Too normal for a support class project.”

“Well, there’s more to it than that,” he explains, leaning in close and tapping at the lens. “She modified the camera, so that it takes pictures of what a person’s thinking.” He shows them his picture, with the camera reflected in his iris. “I was thinking about the camera when I hit the capture button, and that’s why it’s in my eye!”

“So, the thoughts are shown in the eyes?” Mina asks. Izuku nods. “Cool…”

Iida clears his throat, drawing the focus back to him. “If that’s all the camera does,” he starts, tone frigid enough Izuku shivers because of it, “why does Mei need you taking the pictures?”

“Oh she… doesn’t have enough time,” Izuku laughs, lying, rubbing the back of his neck. He feels slightly bad, but reasons that if he told them of Mei’s problem, it might make some of the others experience similar issues. “I offered to help because, well – it has been a bit of a lull, hasn’t it?”

“It has,” Mina agrees, looking through the viewfinder at her classmates, “And this is the perfect thing to spice things up!” She crouches low, at eye level with Mineta. “Say cheese!”

“What -”?

She slams her forefinger on the shutter, a loud click washing over the group. Mina impatiently pulls the photo free, waving it around with one hand while the other bars Mineta from advancing. His protests are ignored, Mina waiting for the picture to develop. Once it does, her concentration slips. She laughs, Mineta overpowering his limp arm and dashing past her towards the kitchen, overshooting them. “It works!” she announces, showing the others her photo of the smaller hero.

Izuku steps into view, turning away from the photo in his next breath, cheeks red with shame.

Mineta awkwardly smiles, a friendly thumb raised and peeking above the border. His eyes, however, were obscured by two pairs of large breasts. Izuku stared at one set, nipples pointed directly forward, and lost his nerve. He wasn’t alone, Iida and Momo equally uncomfortable. The others visibly appear awkward, yet don’t look from Mineta’s face.

Tsuyu is the only student unfazed. Her head skews to the left as she squints for a better look. “The quality of the photo, kero, it’s amazing. They look almost lifelike.”

“I think that’s enough,” Uraraka rushes forward, taking the photo of Mineta from Mina. She throws it upwards, steepling her fingers so it will float to the ceiling and stay there. “Why don’t we see what everyone else is thinking?”

“Can we wait a few minutes?” Denki laughs, “At least let us burn that image out of our minds.” Everyone joins save Mineta, who flexes his hands on the bumps atop his head, gaze locked on the floating photo. Izuku drags him away from it, following everyone to the kitchen where they can prepare dinner and play with the camera. He makes a note to retrieve the photo later, and to draft an apology for Mei.

When everyone feels ready, they continue using the camera.

Izuku will admit, he wasn’t sure if he might succeed in helping Mei. His friends, dependable as always, proved Izuku’s doubts were misguided. Even Iida allowed a few pictures of himself, profiles of his brother or Aizawa swimming in his eyes. “We have that test coming up,” he growls, jabbing at their teacher’s face, “It’s a big one, I want to do well!”

“You will do well, like always…” Kyoka holds the camera, glancing around the room for the next victim. There’s already a steady pile in the center of the table they commandeered, and a few more pictures floating above them. Mineta thought of little else, apparently. She nudges Denki, who sits beside her, “I’ve got an idea…” She whispers to him, an evil glint shining in her gaze.

Denki timidly agrees, hesitance a striking feature on his face like the black bolt zigging through his blond hair. He stands, moving a safe distance from everyone else. Izuku watches like the rest of their group, perplexed, until a tiny spark erupts from his palms that soon becomes a storm much like what rages outside their dorm walls. Izuku glances at Kyoka’s excited and expectant face; he understands.

Kyoka hits the shutter, then bowls over from laughter with how Denki dances in place. Izuku grabs the camera from her, helping develop the photo by shaking it. When it finally bleeds onto the small rectangle, Izuku breathes a laugh out his nose. There’s nothing replacing Denki’s eyes save static common on broken television sets. “Weirdly enough,” Shoto says, stationed behind Izuku at one shoulder, Tsuyu next to him, “I think that’s what he looks like without a camera, too.”

They take a few more photos, learning a bit more as they go. Izuku brought his notebook out and took notes halfway into their trials, keeping track of observations to give to Mei. Like how the thoughts importance can affect size, proven with how Kyoka’s whole face was eclipsed by her guitar, and – when asked about her grades – two, tiny ‘F’s floated in Mina’s. There were also bugs the class managed to find, one being that the camera couldn’t pick up on invisible people. Toru, unfortunately, was excluded by the nature of her quirk. They tried including her, asking her to think of her face. Momo theorized that, since Toru can see what she looks like, if she thinks about that then everyone can see what she sees. The camera didn’t recognize Toru and failed to capture her thoughts. It did create thoughts for objects with face-like shapes. An accidental click by Shoto caught part of the stove, and because of the dials, the camera treated it like a face and ascribed two cacti-like stickers on them.

“Who knew science could be so fun!” Denki cheers, showing off the latest photo to the group. Eijiro grins proudly, Crimson Riot’s manly figure posing in his eyes. He was surrounded by stars, another feature they discovered during the process. The camera adds symbols to better express thoughts, giving context to them.

“I’m glad you feel this way,” Iida says, clapping him on the back, “Maybe you can take this energy and apply it elsewhere in your studies!”

“…They’re not as fun.”

Their group starts laughing, except it’s cut short by a slamming door. Everyone’s heads whirl towards the source of the noise. Izuku hears a low, growling string of curses that get louder with each stomp. It’s no surprise when Katsuki rounds the corner, especially since he’s the only one of their class who hadn’t been with them.

He should have, judging by the damp state of his clothes.

“Bakugo, woah,” Eijiro jumps up from his seat, “what happened?”

“Stupid umbrella broke on my way back from the gym,” Katsuki yelled, throwing his smoldering umbrella across the room. “Cheap things… don’t know why my mom insists on buying these if they keep breaking all the time.” He glares at them, dripping onto the floors. “What are you losers doing?”

“Well, we were –“

“Forget it, I don’t care.” Katsuki brushes past them, a trail of water left in his wake. He enters the kitchen, still in view, but completely ignoring them as he roots through the fridge.

“If you don’t care, why ask?” Uraraka mutters, sinking into her seat. She and most of the others return to their own worlds, treating Katsuki with the respect he showed them. A few differ, namely Izuku, Mina, and Eijiro. They continue watching Katsuki move about the kitchen.

Mina holds the camera now, stroking the shutter button. “He’s obviously interested,” she says, “otherwise why would he ask?”

Eijiro sighs, scratching at his temple. “Who knows? A lot of what he does, doesn’t make sense half the time. You should know that by now.”

“If only we knew what he was thinking…” The camera rises instinctively.

Izuku offers a weak chuckle, forcing the camera down with his hand. “Good luck with that. Kacchan will break the camera before you can even take the photo.”

“Then I won’t do it,” she huffs, handing the camera off to Eijiro. “Kirishima here will.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you,” Mina says, “Who else besides you would Dyna-meathead even allow in his personal space long enough to snap it?” Izuku agrees with her, absentmindedly nodding along with her rebuttal. “It’ll be easy. Go up to him, ask for a photo, then take it and bring it back here.”

“But…” Eijiro looks from her to Izuku, “but… what if he breaks the camera?”

Izuku shrugs, “I think it’s safe to say we have enough photos for Mei to use in her project, even if Kacchan ends up breaking it. Besides, that’s a sort of prototype, she’s looking to make a digital one – and I doubt Mei would send me off with that if she didn’t have copies of what was important.”

That, and an encouraging smile that would rival All-Might’s, give Eijiro the courage to try. He winks at both him and Mina, scurrying around the counter that divides the dining area from the kitchen and into Katsuki’s bubble of personal space. Katsuki doesn’t flinch, chewing on a protein bar while Eijiro asks him a question. Katsuki yells at Eijiro, calls him an idiot, but doesn’t deny his request. Eijiro beams, holding the camera up and takes the photo. Thanking him, Eijiro returns to the group with both the camera and developing photo.

“Give me! Give me!” Mina wrangles the photo free from Eijiro’s fingers, bouncing in her seat from the anticipation. The others show muted interest, curiosity piqued once Eijiro succeeded.

“Damn, it’s just a fucking photo you rejects…” Katsuki joins them, leaning on the counter a fair distance away, “If you get all happy over that then I’m scared for what the future of heroes is gonna look like.”

“It’s not a simple photo, Bakugo,” Iida tells him, finger raised as if he were giving a lecture, “it’s a special one from a camera modified by a support student. Apparently, it can take pictures of what people are thinking about.”

“What –“! Katsuki chokes on his protein bar, hacking and disappearing behind the counter. Izuku startles, concerned, about to check on him. Suddenly Mina screams at his side, and Izuku’s attention is diverted.

“I can’t believe it!” Mina cackles, “Ah! AH! Bakugo, Bakugo… you try and act so tough but you’re just a softy on the inside, aren’t you!”

Izuku can’t see the photo with how wildly Mina flails, and he is the only one. Everyone else had their own chance to look at the photo, all varying degrees of shock rippling across their faces. Eijiro appears the most affected, shoulders shaking, a hand clutched tight over his heart as he wobbles on his feet. He might faint on the spot but couldn’t look happier about it. Soon Mina calms enough for Izuku to grab the photo from Mina. He sees what’s on it and is struck into the same stupor.

He cannot see Katsuki’s eyes. They’ve been smothered by two gigantic hearts, cartoonish in their design with how they sparkle and glow. Worse, for Katsuki at least, two faces were nestled at the center of these hearts. On the right eye, Eijiro’s teeth are on full display with a large smile. On Katsuki’s left, Eijiro winks.

Mina knocks her chair to the floor in her haste, uncaring how it topples. She dances, singing, “Bakugo likes Kiri… Bakugo likes Kiri…” After circling the table, she throws herself onto Izuku’s back, “Midoriya, remind me to thank Mei for giving you that camera!”

“Mina, I –“

“Fucking… Deku…”

Time slows. Izuku inches his head to where he heard what sounded like gravel being dragged against asphalt, and where he feels sparks dust his cheeks. Katsuki recovered at some point, protein bar forgotten in embarrassment and anger. These emotions, needing an outlet, latched onto Mina painting the target on Izuku’s chest. He launched himself over the counter towards him like a lion would its prey. And only in the infinitesimal moment before certain death could Izuku notice his utter doom. He certainly can’t react or defend himself. Izuku, with his brief reprieve that grows shorter and shorter, can only muster a single thought.

It’s hard to describe. But if someone were to take a photo of his face, with Mei’s camera, they’d see a skull in both his eyes.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #hatsune mei #ashido mina #kirishima eijiro #bakugo katsuki #class 1-a shenanigans #bnha fanfic #kiribaku #kiribaku fanfic

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caraway-ship · 4 years ago

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// Playing recording… //

The colony of Ors was never meant to be permanent. We were never meant to last more than a few years, and then get replaced by the actual settlers. The palladium and lead deposits detected on Aurum-3 had left the higher ups promised profits, riches found once in a lifetime. [[MORE]] They scraped together a ragtag colony kit, just a few pressurized habs and barebones life support, not even an atmosphere processor to our name. They outfitted it with whomever they could get on the shortest notice, and well, starting out as an exocartographer is difficult. You take what you can get. I wasn’t set off by the three days given to prepare to ship out, at least not enough to not be allured by the handsome paycheck they offered, cash upfront in return for shipping out before their survey data was released publicly and one of their enemies saw the treasure waiting. I wasn’t expecting to do much, maybe a few survey missions, mostly just sitting around until the actual colony fleet arrived. Well. That’s what I expected at least.

When the survey team first saw the outer edge of the phenomenon, they thought it was just another weird feat of geology. With the millions of worlds out there, there were plenty to go around. This one was unlike what I’d ever seen before, huge geometric spires shooting at discordant angles from the ground. The techs with their worldshell ultrasound imagers said the deposits were centered some sixty kilometers in from the slight curve that was the edge of the phenomenon, and I was in the first survey team they sent in to investigate.

We were supposed to find a good spot for mining, and I was to map the area. What we thought at the time were ravines and canyons, hard-edged and black as basalt, seemed to close in around us as we approached the center. Our geologist, Harrison, had sampled it: A Lead-graphite alloy, seemingly, almost uniform throughout the outer edges of the phenomenon. They had surmised that this may have been a meteorite at one point, crashing down, the fires of atmospheric drag melting it until it melted and filled its crater, creating a perfectly flat, almost perfectly round disk.

And that’s the other thing that spoke to me as odd - It was nearly perfectly flat. Not flat like the surface of a planet, fitting in with the curvature of the planet, but flat as a plane. It gave the eerie feeling of a slight downwards slope towards the center, sickeningly subtle.

I did my best to track our progress, using GPS and some satellite imaging to create a map of our path. Despite each corridor feeling the same as they last, there was no discernable pattern to our movement towards the center. Connection to our main settlement was out, the company had skimped on comsats and our only one went on the fritz a week before we had left on the survey mission. Typical. Normally, we would also have been connected directly to Ors Command, but the mass of black spikes lying between us and them ensured that didn’t happen.

At around forty kilometers towards the center, our driver stopped. The walls, which had now noticeably started to creep in closer, had gotten too close to safely pilot the rover through. We conversed briefly, and decided to split up. The first group, including me, Harrison, and a marine named Clint, would go on ahead, taking one of the rover’s tent habs and light pressure suits to try and make it to the center. Our pilot, engineer, and researcher would stay back to try and find another way through for the rover. We packed our bags, taking surveying equipment, radio beacons with centuries-lasting RTG batteries to mark our path and meals enough for three weeks. It would only take a day or two to reach the center, but erring on the side of caution never hurt anyone.

The next morning, as we set out, the sheer scale and immensity of the phenomena we found ourselves surrounded by set in. Spires of dull black metal, thirty meters tall now, seemed to be set to cascade down around us. I was on edge at all times, looking out for signs of the first to start to fall.

Progress that day was relatively slow, compared to the rover. We made about 10 km that day, having to rig beacons between and to the sides of spikes in order to set them upright. They wouldn’t dig into the leaden floors. I had remarked to Harrison, them being one of the people I worked the most closely with, that I was reminded of a demonstration I was shown as a schoolchild growing up on Shisurna station, a collection of ferromagnetic nanoparticles suspended in an oil, making hard spikes as a magnet moved under it. I shuddered, imagining the spikes here flowing and crashing back into the plane beneath us, with us between them.

That night, as we set camp in the now 3 meter wide corridor, Harrison called me over to show me something. While we had been walking, they had noticed a sheen over a patch of one of the spikes, and had managed to scrape off a sample. “It’s gold,” They said. “Bet my life on it.”

The next day, we began to see more and more of that sheen, then gilded patches like discolorations in birch bark. We were fascinated, and Harrison puzzled over what may have caused it. It couldn’t have been part of the original meteorite, unless it was solely in one point. Otherwise, they said, we would have found similar patches all throughout the phenomenon. They were still unsure of what may have caused the spikes themselves, but were sure there was some explanation, if their bouncing ideas off of me was any sign.

The spikes surrounding us grew as we approached, reaching now thirty meters or more into the grey sky. We were having to pick our way through them, sometimes climbing up one then sliding back down others as the paths grew too narrow to traverse. They also grew in girth, some growing to as much as ten meters at the base. We were dwarfed in comparison, and my combined awe and horror at their sheer size peaked as our contact with the rover was lost.

The patches of gold continued to grow in size and intensity along with the spires themselves, sometimes leaving streaks 5 meters long in the cold black metal. My best efforts to find some sort of pattern in the layout of the monotonous cacophony surrounding us failed, and I struggled to plot a path as we nearly altogether stopped following the channels through the leaden ground. Then, it all stopped.

The ground before us opened up, spikes suddenly stopping before a circular clearing, about 1 kilometer in diameter. Perfectly flat ground lay ahead, streaks of gold flaring out in all directions as if they were caught fleeing something. The center was almost all coated in gold, flecks and streaks of black lead abruptly breaking through. In the very center, jaggedly curved arches about 15 meters tall stood in a circle. The sheen was impossible to ignore, and despite the ashen atmosphere, rays broke through to glare off the arches. They stood menacingly, their shadows cast fifty meters to a side. We spent some time setting up camp a bit out from the arches, then took more time investigating them.

When Harrison and I reconvened, they were almost imperceptibly shaking. After discussing with them their findings, we had come to the same conclusion: There was no denying the evidence, no natural causes could have crafted this phenomenon. The arches height, perfectly dividable by pi, and their purpose: A sundial, left no room for nature. But why? If they had crafted this, surely they would have known the barren wastes surrounding it, would have recognized the futileness of placing something important here, where it would be nigh-impossible to reach.

Our discussion was halted almost immediately by the unmistakable sound of pressure release, then vomiting. During our discussion, we had neglected to pay any mind to Clint, who had been investigating all the while. He had wandered into the center of the arches, and was peering at a circular groove I had noticed while walking through. There he now sat, helmet off, hands on knees, vomiting. The vomit was tinged red, I saw, as Harrison and I rushed towards him. As we approached, I realized what I had mistaken for a groove was, in fact, incredibly small text, engraved in the golden floor. In common script, in my native language, Uraian, a thousand times over in a thousand tongues, a singular phrase.

“THERE IS NO HONOR TO BE FOUND HERE”

Harrison knelt beside Clint, now collapsed in the center of the circle, blood dripping from his lips. I noticed a pale red discoloration on his cheek, then another, then ten more. I then involuntarily stepped back in revulsion, as his abnormally pale face became coated in a hundred welts, seeming to bubble and ripple as they grew and spread. His face contorted in pain, and he coughed, spattering crimson across the smooth gold. Then he didn’t move.

Harrison turned to look at me, and I saw the same welts begin to bubble under their skin through their faceplate. They must have seen my expression, or maybe just felt the pain, as they began to scrabble at their faceplate.

My mind, despite my horror, couldn’t help but posit a question, one that may just save my life. Why them? Why hadn’t I been infected? I staggered back again in horror, then another step, then I turned and sprinted as fast as my pressure suit would allow on the slick metal ground. I felt it first on my legs. A dull burning, slowly growing in intensity as it spread up my limbs and reached my chest. I could no longer feel anything but the burning, and I collapsed behind the arch’s pillar as I began to feel it creep onto my palms and face. Immediately, the intensity died down. It’s still there. I can feel it. Creeping, slowly, corrupting and twisting of it’s own volition, taking and turning and burning… I was lucky enough to have the time to take this down. I don’t know how long I’ll last. I was lucky enough that the survey cameras have a microphone, now that my datapad seems to not be working. There’s no promise that this will make it out, but let it serve only as a warning. The riches aren’t worth the cost. This place is cursed, it’s promises are false, a lure. Hnn. I can feel it again, the burning. I can’t feel my legs anymore. Fuck.

// End recording. //

Recovered from Aurum-3 by remotely piloted drone.

The bodies of colonists recovered from the phenomenon seemed to have been symptoms of severe ultraviolet burns, as well as last-stage cancer in multiple spots on their cadaver.

Cause of death ruled as multiple organ failure.

#horror #scifi #scififantasy #writing #space horror

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superlinguo · 5 years ago

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Linguistics Jobs: Interview with a Transcriptionist

When we started Lingthusiasm, I knew that transcripts had to be an essential part of the show. They’re so useful for people who can’t listen, people who would refer to read, and for when I want a quick reminder of what we covered in an interview (they’re also very handy for training a bot to take over the show). A few of us wrangled transcripts for a while, but it’s been an absolute delight having Sarah Dopierala on the team, turning our spoken words into written words.

Sarah and I were at SOAS at the same time, and Sarah was in the same MA program as last month’s interviewee, Exhibition Content Manager Emily Gref. In fact, it was Emily who put us back in touch when we were on the look out for a new transcriptionist. I guess then there’s an extra lesson from this month’s interview; the longer you’re around as a linguist, and the more connections you make, the more interesting pathways your career can take you on (The Helsinki Bus Station Theory for linguists)

You can find out more about Sarah’s research and her transcription work on her website, or follow her on Twitter (@SDopierala).

What did you study at university?

I went to the University of Pittsburgh for undergrad and studied linguistics as my major, with a minor in Japanese. It was a very well-rounded education. I studied many of the “core” topics such as phonetics (where I learned the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA), phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. I also got to study applied linguistics (which as I remember was an interesting class that overviewed many areas of linguistic application including forensic linguistics and even language documentation, among many others) and had a semester on historical linguistics. One of the most unique classes I took though -- which I don’t remember the name of now -- had to do with conlanging and natural language processing. Super cool. Besides linguistics I, of course, had my Japanese language courses and, since it was a liberal arts education, classes on a variety of other subjects including acting classes, art classes, and a physics class. It was good times.

For my master’s degree, I went to SOAS, University of London for an MA in Language Documentation and Description. This was a more specialized degree and a shorter program (1 calendar year) so my subjects were all linguistics related. For instance, I had classes on syntax (specifically looking at Lexical Functional Grammar), field methods, descriptive linguistics, and applied documentation (I think it was called) where we spent a lot of time discussing practical matters of doing research with people -- ethics, research methods, etc. I did get to do a lot of neat curriculum-adjacent things as well. I was a member of the Sylheti Language Project. We hosted a Sylheti language conference as well as published a Sylheti storybook. I got to attend other conferences as well to practice explaining my eventual dissertation topic -- converbs in Sylheti.

As of now, I’ve been accepted to the University of Frankfurt to do a PhD in comparative linguistics, still focusing on converbs only this time in Northwest Caucasian languages. Funding has been something of an adventure, but I remain hopeful! Besides, linguistics is never too far away. What is your job?

My current job is as a transcriptionist. I freelance making transcripts from audio recordings as my day-to-day, money-making job. Sometimes, I freelance through contracting companies. However, I prefer to work for myself and transcribe podcasts -- especially about linguistics! You may have seen my work via the Vocal Fries Podcast, Conlangery, and Lingthusiasm.

To build my transcription skills I took an online transcription course through Transcribe Anywhere. It took a certain investment of time and money, but you come out of there knowing your stuff and with a network of other transcriptionists to help you. I’m still learning a lot about running my own business (since I suppose that’s what freelancing ultimately is), but I feel confident, and it helps that I’m not completely alone.

As a freelancer, my daily schedule is hardly ever the same and I do tend to break it up even more with travel. That’s what I like about it though. I can do the job no matter where I go. As long as I get the job done well and in a timely manner, I can set my own schedule. It definitely takes a certain level of self-discipline to keep a freelancing schedule, that’s for sure.

How does your linguistics training help you in your job?

There are a couple of ways linguistics training helps me with transcription work -- or perhaps even transcription helps me with my linguistics work. My first introduction to transcription was during my master’s degree. As a documentary linguist in training, I made audio recordings with a Sylheti speaker and, in order to further analyze and archive my findings, I had to transcribe them. The difference of course was the goal. For transcribing podcasts and other material in English, the goal is generally to create a well-formatted document following written English conventions. However, transcribing an audio file for linguistic analysis, in general, focuses more on accurately representing the sounds of the language in IPA without reference to prescriptive ideas of what sort of written representation is “well-formatted.” For now, I’m focusing on readable English language documents but, in the future, I will return to transcription for linguistic analysis. I think my approach to that type of transcription will be enriched by this work.

The two types of transcription complement each other. When transcribing linguistics podcasts, I often use IPA to distinguish between different English pronunciations or even to represent non-English words. Just like I use knowledge of linguistic concepts to analyze linguistic data, I call upon quite a bit of that knowledge when I transcribe podcasts as well to not only identify certain terms but to follow the conversation. Understanding the content of the conversation reduces the amount of times I mishear, stop, rewind, listen again, and certainly reduces the time I spend researching unfamiliar topics. When I don’t understand the content of an audio file, I have a hard time predicting what people will say or what they might say. Being able to predict, to a certain extent, what someone might say plays a huge part in transcription and in general language processing as well. Transcribing these podcasts has also been a great way for me to keep up thinking about linguistics, keep up with what’s happening in the field, and keep feeling like I’m part of the community even if I’m not currently “doing linguistics” as my everyday job. 😊

Do you have any advice do you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

I think I’ve been quite lucky in the advice I’ve received over the years, here are two things that have really stuck with me:

“If you can, study in a different department than your undergrad or masters.”

I have found that working in several different departments has not only helped me grow as a researcher, but it has made me more appreciative of the things I learned in previous departments. There are ideas I may not have been introduced to if I had stayed in one place and many people I would not have met as well. My pool of friends and colleagues has definitely been enriched by getting out of my comfort zone.

“What job do you want to get?”

My undergraduate supervisor asked me this question when I told her about my topic for a PhD thesis. She was of course very supportive of my academic pursuits, but I think this is the first time someone asked me this question in a way that was practical rather than condescending (since not everyone instantly appreciates the worth of linguistic knowledge). I’m so grateful that she did because, up until that point, I pretty much took for granted that I would get a tenure-track job at a great university and do descriptive and documentary research for the rest of forever. Don’t get me wrong, that would be amazing. However, this question made me think. It opened me up to the precarity of academia, the non-guarantee of a well-paying university job, the non-guarantee of any university job for that matter. While I will still reach for that dream researcher position, I am now much more open to other opportunities and other ways of doing what I love.

Any other thoughts or comments?

I’m not (yet) able to completely support myself financially just from transcribing. Like many other freelancing careers, it’s taken quite a bit of time to get myself out there. I do receive help and support from other places. Because of this, I have had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time learning the trade, reaching out to potential clients, figuring out best practices, etc., while also pursuing my academic dreams, which take their share of time and effort. Perhaps not everybody has this luxury, and I want to acknowledge that as a factor for anyone inspired to consider transcription as a potential career path. However, with some patience, I know that it is very possible to make a comfortable living as a freelance transcriptionist. In fact, I hope that someday transcription can be a main source of income for me as well. In fact, it’s one of my potential “non-tenure” jobs -- especially if it means I can still be close to linguistics! 😉

Recently:

Interview with an Exhibition Content Manager

Interview with a Community Outreach Coordinator

Interview with a Marketing Content Specialist

Interview with a Software Engineer

Interview with a Product Manager

Check out the Linguist Jobs Master List and the Linguist Jobs tag for even more interviews

#linguistics #linguistics jobs #linguist jobs #career #job #careers #work #podcast

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fizzingwizard · 4 years ago

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Another Sunday, another episode of Digimon Adventure: (how tf do I do punctuate??). It is a good time to be a fan of Yagami Taichi.

I remember being 11 years old, the last episode of Digimon Adventure made be bawl my eyes out, and although I was excited for 02, really I just wanted more of Adventure. I guess I’m just slow to like new things (well, I am), but I would have super happy if the producers had been like, “02 will be a reboot for Adventure with the same characters and similar storyline.” And then do the same thing for every new Digimon season xD I’m sure I’m pretty damn alone in that opinion and don’t get me wrong, I love 02, and I think Tamers was good. And yet xD

^The screenshot that sums up the episode: Greymon gets his butt kicked while Taichi hangs on for dear life

I know the bond between children and Digimon is what powers them, and I’m kind of wondering if having a physical connection improves that in this show, because these kids are always riding around on their partners. (Not able exception - Togemon, because ouch. But I expect to see Mimi on her boxing glove at least lol) I have to rationalize it that way because otherwise it’s like why would having an elementary school kid on your head while you rush into the line of fire count as a battle strategy

This ep picks up pretty much where we left off, which means it’s probably only been hours since Yamato joined the group at the fortress. Already the atmosphere is completely changed.

I can see them, but they can’t see me... Ishida Yamato’s modus operandi

more below

Here is a very Digimon-esque tableau: everyone gathered around Koushirou and his computer. Yamato still being standoffish. I imagine he jumped at the chance to stand guard at the entrance so he doesn’t have to get too close to anyone.

Agumon’s fight with MetalTyrannomon went... not so great. Yamato coolly tries to explain to Taichi that evacuating was the only way, otherwise they’d risk all being destroyed, and that would be the end of everything.

Taichi’s fist tightens and begins to shake...

... he doesn’t look like he totally agrees with Yamato’s reasoning, but he doesn’t have a better idea. But, being Taichi, he can’t just let it rest.

Yamato talking to Taichi’s back while Taichi frantically starts to sort out his Feelings is just how they communicate. This is a common shonen anime trope for the hero and his foil. Yamato’s pushing, Taichi’s not exactly hiding, but he doesn’t want to face him until he can face him with resolve.

Yamato: Look at me. Look at me!

Taichi: *sweating* It feels like a hole’s burning in the back of my neck, so... I’ll pass

Taichi finally explains out what’s got him so knotted up: he regrets Ogremon’s death. Like we saw last episode, the battle that began as revenge turned into a battle of samurai pride. And Taichi is evidently a samurai. He wanted to see that battle to the finish, out of mutual respect for the opponent (who he’d never met before and who had been trying to kill him previously... but y’know when you’re kindred spirits that’s all water under the bridge)

Yamato doesn’t really get it. This is where these two are fundamentally different. Taichi attac, Yamato protec, then everybody gets a FIGHT!

I mean, not 100% of the time, but the bottom line is Yamato’s not so big on this pride thing, although he does have pride of his own. But he’s definitely not into taking unnecessary risks, especially if it puts his friends in danger. The trouble is, Taichi doesn’t think he takes unneccessary risks either... just necessary ones ;)

The other kids can already feel the tension increasing and Taichi and Yamato haven’t even raised their voices at each other yet. Lol buckle up kiddos

Jou wonders if he should make them stop, and Mimi instantly turns around and begs him to try. My Joumi heart LEAPT.

TBH I was surprised she did anything at all, I was expecting Jou’s “Should I break them up?” to just end there with nothing happening. Instead we got an adorable Joumi moment where Mimi shows that as much as she teases him, she already somewhat relies on Jou (to be fair, I do think Mimi’s the type to rely on anyone who offers when she’s not sure what to do herself). Jou, being Jou, is unprepared aaaaand wigs out.

Jou: Oh no oh no oh no she actually expects me to get between them?!?! But but I flunked Tough Guy school! That’s literally why I’m a nerd! This girl’s trying to throw me to the wolves!

Fortunately for Jou, he has a redheaded savior.

Sora: Stop it. He’ll wet his pants again and I don’t have any more extras.

Sora shows her insight into people’s hearts and understands that Taichi and Yamato need to hash things out. It’s not dangerous... yet. But the way she’s more or less frozen in place along with the others says she’s... maybe a bit on her guard, at least, lol.

Koushirou, being Kousihrou, is completely oblivious to all of this and focused on his computer.

Oh yeah... the real reason Taichi turned his back to Yamato earlier - whenever they look directly at each other, they suck each others souls out. I CALL BODY SWITCH

I mean jogress

I mean marriage

They spend like the entire first half of the episode arguing omg get a room.

Then... Agumon wakes up!

And even though it’s a cartoon, it’s clear to see the way Taichi’s body fills with relief. I wonder if Yamato didn’t realize or didn’t think Taichi was that worried about Agumon. 99 Yamato tended to feel that Taichi was insensitive to others. But while he can be, Taichi also doesn’t express his emotions in the same way as Yamato. They’re both wont to hide how they feel, but while Yamato goes quiet and aloof, Taichi just acts like everything’s normal. So maybe here, Yamato really thought Ogremon and MetalTyrannomon were the only things on Taichi’s mind. Just a guess.

Awwww montage of cute...

a boy and his dinosaur!!

Maybe to Yamato’s surprise, Agumon totally echoes Taichi’s feelings about Ogremon. “I wanted to settle the score with him.” Weird as it sounds, they made a manly bond with Ogremon and running away just doesn’t sit right. Agumon’s raring to go...

... but his stomach isn’t quite ready yet hahaha.

Yamato’s probably used to Gabumon’s appetie but I suspect Agumon’s tummy growl has errr exceptional resonance

Glad to see the return of the Digimon’s bottomless pit aka stomach. I think it was just last week I complained about that not really being a thing so far. This time it was the other Digimon who went gathering, but I hope to see the human kids rushing around in a frenzy to care for their partners’ appetites soon lol

While the others eat, Taichi and Yamato decide they haven’t finished vampiring each other’s souls and sneak out to the mouth of the cave. Sora follows them to see if she can watch any hot yaoi action.

Lol but I do really like the framing heart. All we can see of the boys is their shadows. Sora keeps her distance but she’s watching them intently from a distance. I assumed she was just gathering more data on how short a leash she needs to keep them on.

Turned out that was not quite correct... reluctant to interrupt though she’d been before, once they start talking about what to do next she adds her input. We’ve got Yamato on Taichi’s one side and Sora on his other side. It’s the beginnings of TAIORATOOOOO *more airhorns*

^I can’t see anything but Goku and Vegeta bahahaha. Also why is eleven-year-old Yamato SO broad-shouldered, between that, his deeper voice, and his perfeclty coifed hair Taichi must seem like a toddling infant to him bahahaha. Like come on Yamato is not a child you must be kidding

Already Yamato is getting into the habit of Looking At Taichi while Taichi Looks At Literally Anything Else.

These two don’t need words. They talk with their vampiric eyes.

Koushirou’s hyper focus on his computer finally pays off and they all gather back around. Everyone starts cheering when the hologram appears even though they don’t know what the heck it is. This is Koushirou, so it must be awesome!

It turns out to be a map of much usefulness.

And it turns out Ogremon was telling the truth about the path to the holy Digimon being straight ahead, while fires Taichi up even more.

^Obligatory ‘Gomamon is cutest Digimon’ cap

Koushirou also gives Taichi special data on MetalTyrannomon, including his weak point. Taichi is THRILLED. He’s happier about this than he is about finding the route to the holy Digimon. This is the difference between Taishiro and Taito guys. When Taichi gets a reckless idea, Yamato tries to talk him down, or at least be sensible about it. Koushirou? Koushirou is a FREAKING ENABLER.

They wait with baited breath for Yamato’s reaction. Though he seems underwhelmed, Yamato admits Koushirou’s information “does seem reliable.” That’s all the permission Taichi needs to go back to freaking out over how awesome Koushirou is.

They come up with a plan to lure MetalTyrannomon away so Taichi can fight him while the others take the chance to escape and head towards the path to the holy Digimon.

^Obligatory ‘Sora is best girl’ cap

Yamato waits for the others to get away before following after... he stalls for a minute as if unsure whether it’s really alright to leave Taichi on his own. In the end he joins the group... All things considered, I think he’s pretty thrown off by Taichi, tbh.

Yamato’s group doesn’t make it far before they encounter a very suspicious looking lake.

^More evidence that Yamato is not really an elementar school kids. He’s clearly at least 15. He’s been routinely failing every year in order to get held back until he can be in the same class as Takeru. That’s the extent of his overprotectiveness

It sure is fortunate that Koushirou’s genius extends to fluency in English or they’d have no idea this lake of dark mist is bad friggin news.

Or... maybe they would have:

Mimi sneaks behind Jou and pulls his middle school exam workbook out of his bag.

And immediately chucks it into the lake.

Where it disintegrates.

This is how Mimi’s mind works. She’s smart! They need to know what would happen if they went into the lake without actually going in it. So they need to put something else in first. So far so good. What should she throw? A stick? A rock? One of Sora’s endless towels?

No, Jou’s workbook. Duhhh.

She probably felt she was killing two birds with one stone here x’D Experiment complete, and Jou prevented from anymore whining about not having time to study. Mimi is chaotic good.

gosh I love Joumi

Jou is lawful neurotic

Greymon shielding Taichi is just soooo cute even if it still feels weird that he has to be up there in the first place

The battle rages between MetalTyrannomon and Greymon, who just won’t quit even though he’s losing... pretty bad... I mean...

He just grabbed a missile with his bare hand...

Taichi: Now I know what it’s like to be a firework

Loop-de-loop! Taichi’s suction cup shoes strike again.

Courage going UP!! Reaching a fever pitch! The evolution that’s been looming for two episodes finally happens!

MetalTyrannomon: Eat my dust!

Woooooooo, MetalGreymon is just as freaky as ever. Always my least favorite evolution in Agumon’s line, but the glowy purple wings are cool.

Also, nipple missiles.

MetalTyrannomon: I can’t believe I was beaten by some meddling kids!

So yeah, we are back to killing Digimon willy-nilly. None of this “but what about their hearts?” shitck. Always found it amazing in 02, a children’s cartoon, that said “Yeah the characters you loved last season were totes murderers but it was justified and sometimes you just have to kill.” And fourteen-year-old Taichi is just like, “Yeah, I’m a murderer, and you should be too.” XD And Miyako hits LadyDevimon with a skateboard. Priceless

This scene is adorable but Taichi’s butt looks so saggy.

I’m kind of wondering how evolution works in this show. They jumped right to jogress in like episode two or something, but we haven’t seen it since (I would sort of expected Taichi to think of it when it was clear MetalTyrannomon was too strong, though I would also expect Yamato to nix that idea both because he doesn’t want to and because to him it’s a pointless fight and not the priority). Since then, the Champion level evolutions went similar to 99 Adventure, with everyone getting their special episode, and I’m sure that’s how it’ll go down with the next level too, but there was no gap at all between going from one level to the next. I’m trying to say, they seem able to reach the next level awfully fast. They didn’t need to meet Gennai and collect the tags and Crests, the Crests appear already uploaded in their Digivices. I’m not complaining, as always I’m glad this show is not just a carbon copy of the old one, but I am curious if evolutions are easier to attain in this series, or if there are going to be more of them and that’s why they come so quick, or if the series just won’t run long enough for there to be significant gaps of time between evolutions.

Episode ends with the group deciding, like I predicted last week, to split up and try the Left and Right routes, since the Straight one is blocked. Gays go right and lesbians go left, of course. :P

This episode was pretty fantabulous, I loved it, Digimon is awesome.

Next week it’s no surprise what we’re gonna get.

WeeeeereGarurumon! Also my least favorite evolution of Gabumon’s line but still cooler than MetalGreymon hahahaha.

I’m also totally stoked for the grouping of Yamato, Jou, and Sora. There’s tons of potential for Yamato and Sora to bond, although my prediction is that while he’ll pretty much like her (even if he won’t admit it to himself), she’s going to find him a little difficult. But she’ll have an easier time talking to him than the others do. I also fully expect Jou to drive Yamato out of his mind lol.

This also means the other group is Taichi, Koushirou, and Mimi. I assume we won’t see too much of them next week, but I hope that means they’ll get their episode the week after, because I am dying for some Taishiro moments. Practically salivating. Also, Koumi fans can probably look forward to Mimi and Koushirou Not Getting each other too, lol

#digimon adventure 2020 #digimon psi #digimon adventure reboot #psi spoilers #digimon #fizz watches digimon 2020

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arfox158 · 3 years ago

Text

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages

TLDR: With a bit of research and support we were able to demonstrate a proof of concept for introducing a fraudulent payment message to move £0.5M from one account to another, by manually forging a raw SWIFT MT103 message, and leveraging specific system trust relationships to do the hard work for us!

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages App

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages Message

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages To My

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages For Her

Before we begin: This research is based on work we performed in close-collaboration with one of our clients; however, the systems, architecture, and payment-related details have been generalized / redacted / modified as to not disclose information specific to their environment.

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Have a question, comment, or need assistance? Send us a message or call (630) 833-0300. Will call available at our Chicago location Mon-Fri 7:00am–6:00pm and Sat 7:00am–2:00pm.

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages App

With that said.. *clears throat*

The typical Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) against SWIFT systems we see in reports and the media are - for the most part - the following:

Compromise the institution's network;

Move laterally towards critical payment systems;

Compromise multiple SWIFT Payment Operator (PO) credentials;

Access the institution's SWIFT Messaging Interface (MI);

Keys in - and then authorize - payment messages using the compromised PO accounts on the MI.

This attack-path requires the compromise of multiple users, multiple systems, an understanding of how to use the target application, bypass of 2FA, attempts to hide access logs, avoid alerting the legitimate operators, attempts to disrupt physical evidence, bespoke malware, etc. – so, quite involved and difficult. Now that’s all good and fine, but having reviewed a few different payment system architectures over the years, I can’t help but wonder:

“Can't an attacker just target the system at a lower level? Why not target the Message Queues directly? Can it be done?”

A hash-based MAC might simply be too big. On the other hand, hash-based MACs, because they are larger, are less likely to have clashes for a given size of message. A MAC that is too small might turn out to be useless, as a variety of easy-to-generate messages might compute to the same MAC value, resulting in a collision. WhatsApp Messenger is a FREE messaging app available for iPhone and other smartphones. WhatsApp uses your phone's Internet connection (4G/3G/2G/EDGE or Wi-Fi, as available) to let you message and call friends and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, calls, photos, videos, documents, and Voice Messages. WHY USE WHATSAPP. Garrick Hello, I'm Garrick Chow, and welcome to this course on computer literacy for the Mac. This course is aimed at the complete computer novice, so if you're the sort of person who feels some mild anxiety, nervousness, or even dread every time you sit down in front of your computer, this course is for you.

Well, let's find out! My mission begins!

So, first things first! I needed to fully understand the specific “section” of the target institution's payment landscape I was going to focus on for this research. In this narrative, there will be a system called “Payment System” (SYS). This system is part of the institution's back-office payment landscape, receiving data in a custom format and output's an initial payment instructions in ISO 15022 / RJE / SWIFT MT format. The reason I sought this scenario was specifically because I wanted to focus on attempting to forge an MT103 payment message - that is:

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MT – “Message Type” Literal;

1 – Category 1 (Customer Payments and Cheques);

0 – Group 0 (Financial Institution Transfer);

3 – Type 3 (Notification);

All together this is classified as the MT103 “Single Customer Credit Transfer”.

Message type aside, what does this payment flow look like at a high level? Well I’ve only gone and made a fancy diagram for this!

Overall this is a very typical and generic architecture design. However, let me roughly break down what this does:

The Payment System (SYS) ingests data in a custom - or alternative - message format from it's respective upstream systems. SYS then outputs an initial payment instruction in SWIFT MT format;

SYS sends this initial message downstream to a shared middelware (MID) component, which converts (if necessary) the received message into the modern MT format understood by SWIFT - Essentially a message broker used by a range of upstream payment systems within the institution;

MID forwards the message in it's new format on to the institution's Messaging Interface (let's say its SAA in this instance) for processing;

Once received by SAA, the message content is read by the institution's sanction screening / Anti-money laundering systems (SANCT).

Given no issues are found, the message is sent on to the institution's Communication Interface (SWIFT Alliance Gateway), where it's then signed and routed to the recipient institution over SWIFTNet.

OK, so now I have a general understanding of what I'm up against. But if I wanted to exploit the relationships between these systems to introduce a fraudulent payment without targeting any payment operators, I was going to need to dig deeper and understand the fundamental technologies in use!

So how are these messages actually 'passed' between each system? I need to know exactly what this looks like and how its done!

More often than not, Message Queues (MQ) are heavily used to pass messages between components in a large payment system. However, there are also various “Adapter” that may be used between systems communicating directly with the SAG (Such as SAA or other bespoke/3rd party systems). These are typically the:

Remote API Host Adapter (RAHA);

MQ Host Adapter (MQHA);

Web Services Host Adapter (WSHA).

Having identified that MQ was in use, my initial assumption was that there was most likely a dedicated Queue Manager (QM) server somewhere hosting various queues that systems push and pull messages from? However, due to SWIFT CSP requirements, this would most likely - at a minimum - take the form of two Queue Managers. One which manages the queues within the SWIFT Secure Zone, and another that manages queues for the general corporate network and back office systems.

Let's update that diagram to track / represent this understanding: Now I could research how this 'messaging' worked!

There are multiple ways to configure Message Queues architectures, in this case there were various dedicated input and output queues for each system, and the message flow looks something like this: Full disclosure, turns out it’s hard to draw an accurate - yet simple - MQ flow diagram (that one was basically my 4th attempt). So it’s.. accurate 'enough' for what we needed to remember!

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages Message

Now I had a good understanding of how it all worked, it is time to define my goal: 'Place a payment message directly on to a queue, and have it successfully processed by all downstream systems'.

This sounds simple, just write a message to a queue, right? But there are a few complications!

Why are there few indications of this attack vector in the wild?

How do I even gain “write” access to the right queue?

What protects the message on the queues?

What protects the messages in transit?

What format are the messages in?

What is the correct syntax for that message format at any particular queue (0 margin for error)?

Where does PKI come in? How / where / when are the messages signed?

Can I somehow get around the message signing?

What values in the messages are dependent / controlled / defined by the system processing them (out of my control)?

What is the maximum amount I can transfer using Straight Through Processing, without alerting the institution / requiring manual validation?

But OK, there's no point dwelling on all of that right now, I'll just clearly define what I want to do! The goal:

Successfully write a payment instruction for 500,000 GBP;

Inject that message directly onto a specific queue;

Have the message pass environment-specific validation rules;

Have the message pass sanctions and AML checks.

Have the message successfully signed;

Have the message pass SWIFTNet-specific validation rules;

What I was not interested in doing for this research - yet needed to understand nevertheless for a full attack chain was:

How to compromise the institution's network;

How to gain access to the MQ admin's workstation;

How to obtain the pre-requisite credentials.

What I wanted to 100% avoid at all costs:

The attack involving SWIFT payment operators in any way;

The attack involving SWIFT application access in any way;

A need to compromise signing keys / HSMs;

A need to compromise SWIFTNet operator accounts or certificates or any type of PKI;.

Now I had an idea of what to do, I needed to make sure I could write a raw MT103 payment instruction! Typically, even when operators write payment messages using a messaging interface application like Alliance Access, they only really write the message “body” via a nice GUI. As raw data this could look something like:

I'll break this down in the following table:

NameFieldValueTransaction Reference20TRANSACTIONRF103Bank Operation Code23BCRED (Message is to 'credit' some beneficiary)Value Date / Currency / Amount32A200102 (02/01/2020) GBP 500,000.00Currency / Original Credit Amount33BGBP 500000,00 (£500,000.00)Ordering Customer50KGB22EBNK88227712345678 (IBAN) JOHN DOE (Name) JOHN'S BUSINESS LTD (Line 1) 21 JOHN STREET, LONDON, GB (Line 2)Beneficiary59KFR20FBNK88332287654321 (IBAN) ALICE SMITH (Name) ALICE'S COMPANY (Line 1) 10 ALICE STREET, PARIS, FR (Line 2)Remittance Information7012345-67890 (essentially a payment reference)Details of Charge71ASHA (Shared charge between sender and receiver)

Now as this is a valid message body, if I were targeting a payment operator on SWIFT Alliance Access, I could - for the 'most' part - simply paste the message into SAA's raw message creation interface and I'd be pretty much done. With the exception of adding the sender / recipient BIC codes and most likely selecting a business unit. However, these values are not stored in the message body. Not stored in the message body you say? Well that complicates things! Where are they stored exactly?

The message “body” is referred to as “block 4” (aka the “Text Block”) within the SWIFT MT standard. As suggested by the name, there is probably also a block 1-3. This is correct; and these blocks are typically generated by the payment processing applications - such as SWIFT Alliance Access - and not necessarily input by the operators. A 'complete' MT103 message consists of 6 blocks:

Block 1 – Basic Header

Block 2 – Application Header

Block 3 – User Header

Block 4 – Text Block

Block 5 – Trailer

Block 6 – System block

So it looked like I was going to need to learn how to craft these various “blocks” from scratch.

Block 1 (Basic header)

Reading through some documentation, I crafted the following “Basic header” block:

A breakdown of what this translates too is as follows:

NameValueContextBasic Header Flag1Block 1 (Not 2, 3, 4, or 5)Application TypeFFIN ApplicationMessage Type0101 = FIN (I.e not ACK/NACK)Sender BICEBNKGB20EBNK (Bank Code) GB (Country Code) 20 (Location Code)Sender Logical TerminalATypically A, unless they are a significantly large institution and require multiple terminalsSender BranchXXXAll X if no branch neededSession Number0000The session number for the messageSequence Number 999999The sequence number of the message

Taking a step back, I already identified two potential problems: the “session” and “sequence” numbers! These are described as follows:

Session Number – Must also equal the current application session number of the application entity that receives the input message.

Sequence number – The sequence number must be equal to the next expected number.

Hmmm, at this point I was not sure how I could predetermine a valid session and/or sequence number - considering they seemed to be application and 'traffic' specific? But there was nothing I could do at the time, so I noted it down in a list of 'issues/blockers' to come back to later.

Block 2 (Application Header)

A bit more dry reading later, I managed to also throw together an application header:

Again, I’ve broken this down so it makes sense (if it didn’t already; I’m not one to assume):

NameValueContextApplication Header Flag2Block 2I/O IdentifierIInput Message (a message being sent)Message Type103103 = Single Customer Credit TransactionRecipient BICFBNKFR20FBNK (Bank Code) FR (Country Code) 20 (Location Code)Recipient Logical TerminalXAll General Purpose Application Messages must use 'X'Recipient BranchXXXAll General Purpose Application Messages must use 'XXX'Message PriorityNNormal (Not Urgent)

Awesome! No issues crafting this header!

Note: At this point I should probably mention that these BIC codes are not 'real', however are accurate in terms of in format and length.

Block 3 (User Header)

The third block is called the “User Header” block, which can be used to define some “special” processing rules. By leverage this header, I could specify that the message should be processed using “Straight Through Processing” (STP) rules which essentially attempts to ensure that the message is processed end-to-end without human intervention. This could be specified as follows:

However, this was not yet a valid header! As of November 2018 the user header requires a mandatory “Unique end-to-end transaction reference” (UETR) value, which was introduced as part of SWIFT's Global Payments Innovation initiative (gpi)! This is a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) compliant with the 4th version of the generation algorithm used by the IETF standard 'RFC4122'. This consists of 32 hexadecimal characters, divided into 5 parts by hyphens as follows:

where:

x – any lowercase hexadecimal character;

4 – fixed value;

y – either: 8, 9, a, b.

This value can be generated using Python as seen below:

With an acceptable UETR generated, this is how the third block looked:

And as before, a breakdown can be found below:

NameValueContextUser Header Flag3Block 3Validation Flag119Indicates whether FIN must perform any type of special validationValidation FieldSTPRequests the FIN system to validate the message according to the straight through processing principlesUETR Field121Indicates the Unique end-to-end transaction reference valueUETR Value8b1b42b5-669f-46ff-b2f2-c21f99788834Unique end-to-end transaction reference used to track payment instruction

Block 5 and 6 (Trailer and System Blocks)

I’ve already discussed “block 4” (the message body), so to wrap this section up, I'll be looking at the final 2 blocks: Block 5, aka the “Trailer”; and block S, aka the “System” block.

Before going forward, let me take a moment to explain the pointlessly complicated concept of input and output messages:

An “input” message (I) is a message which is traveling “outbound” from the institution. So this is a message being “input” by an operator and sent by the institution to another institution.

An “output” message (O) is a message which is traveling “inbound” to the institution. So this is a message being “output” by SWIFTNet and being received by the institution.

OK, moving swiftly (aaaahhhhh!) on.

For Input messages, these blocks were not too much of a problem. The headers only really seemed to be used to flag whether the message was for training / testing or to flag if it was a possible duplicate, which syntactically took the following form:

Where “TNG” indicated “training” and “SPD” indicated “possible duplicate”.

However, with Output messages, it got considerably more complicated. An example of what the trailer and system block could look like on an Output message is the following:

A breakdown of these various values is:

Trailer ((5:) MAC – Message Authentication Code calculated based on the entire contents of the message using a key that has been exchanged with the destination bank and a secret algorithm; CHK – This is a PKI checksum of the message body, used to ensure the message has not been corrupted in transit; TNG – A flag to indicate that the message is a Testing and Training Message.

System ((S:) SPD – Possible Duplicate Flag SAC – Successfully Authenticated and Authorized Flag. This is only present if:

Signature verification was successful.

RMA (Relationship Management Application) authorization and verification was successful.

COP – Flag indicating that this is the primary message copy; MDG – The HMAC256 of the message using LAU keys.

However, these seemed to only be values I would need to consider if I was to try and forge an “incoming” message from SWIFTNet or an 'outbound' message on the output of the SAG.

So.. I'll stick with crafting an “input' message trailer:

Now, having said all that, it turned out the trailer block did seem to sometimes hold a MAC code and a message checksum (sigh), meaning I actually needed to construct something like:

So that was +2 to my 'issues/blockers' list. However, issues aside, I now understood the complete message format, and could put it all together and save the following as a draft / template MT103 message:

Highlighted in bold above are the areas of the message I was - at this point - unable to pre-determine. Nevertheless, a summary of what that the message describes is:

Using the transaction reference “TRANSACTIONRF103”;

please transfer 500,000.00 GBP;

from John Doe, (IBAN: GB22EBNK88227712345678) at “English Bank” (BIC: EBNKGB20);

to Alice Smith (IBAN: FR20FBNK88332287654321) at “French Bank” (BIC: FBNKFR20);

Furthermore, please ensure the transaction charge is shared between the two institutions;

and mark the payment with a reference of “12345-67890”.

To wrap up this section, i wanted to take a moment to explain some logic behind the target of 500,000 GBP, as it is also important.

Aside from the many reasons it would be better to transfer (even) smaller amounts (which is an increasingly common tactic deployed by modern threat actors), why not go higher? This is where it’s important to understand the system and environment you are targeting.

In this instance, let's assume that by doing recon for a while I gathered the understanding that:

If a message comes from SYS which is over £500k;

even if it has been subject to a 4 eye check;

and even if it is flagged for STP processing;

route it to a verification queue and hold it for manual verification.

This was because a transaction over £500k was determined to be “abnormal” for SYS. As such, if my transaction was greater, the message would not propagate through all systems automatically.

OK, so now that I understood:

how the system worked;

how it communicated;

the fundamental structure of a raw MT103 payment messages;

and how much I could reliably (attempt) to transfer.

And with that, it was time to take a break from MT standards and establish an understanding of how I would even get into a position to put this into practice!

To place a message on a queue, I was going to need two things:

Access to the correct queue manager;

Write access to the correct queues.

Depending on the environment and organisation, access to queue managers could be quite different and complex. However a bare-bones setup may take the following form:

An MQ Administrator accesses their dedicated workstation using AD credentials;

They then remotely access a dedicated jump server via RDP which only their host is whitelisted to access;

This may be required as the queues may make use of Channel Authentication Records, authorizing specific systems and user accounts access to specific queues;

The channels may further be protected by MQ Message Encryption (MQME) which encrypts messages at rest based on specific channels. As such, even if someone was a “super duper master admin” they would only be able to read / write to queues specifically allocated to them within the MQME configuration file (potential target for another time?);

The MQ Admin can then use tools such via the Jump Server to read/write to their desired message queues.

So, in this scenario, to gain access to the message queues I - as an attacker - would need to compromise the MQ admin’s AD account and workstations, then use this to gain access to the jump host, from where I could then access the message queues given I knew the correct channel name and was configured with authorization to access it.. and maybe throw some MFA in there..

That is understandably a significant requirement! However, when discussion sophisticated attacks against Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI), it is more than reasonable to accept that an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) would see this as a feasible objective - We don't need to dig into the history of how sophisticated attacks targeting SWIFT systems can be.

Next, it was time to finally identify a feasible attack vector for message forgery.

Now with an idea of how to gain the right access, as well as an understanding of the various technologies and security controls in place; I update my diagram:

You may have noticed I've added something called “LAU” around the SAA-to-SAG adapter, and another “LAU” to the MID-to-SAA MQ channels, which I have yet to explain. “Local Authentication” (LAU) is a security control implemented by SWIFT to authenticate messages using a pair of shared keys between two systems. These keys are combined and used to generate a SHA256 HMAC of the message and append it to the S block. This can then be validated by the recipient system. Effectively, this validates the origin and authenticity of a message. As such, even if an attacker was in position to introduce a fraudulent payment, they'd first need to compromise both the left and the right LAU signing keys, generate the correct HMAC, and append it to the message in order to have it accepted / processed successfully.

But LAU aside, I now just needed to figure out which queue to target! There were a lot of queues to work with as each system essentially has multiple “input” and “output” queues. With that in mind, it was important to note that: an incoming message would require being in the format expected by the target system (from a specific upstream system) and an outgoing message would need to be in the format “produced” by one target system and “expected / ingested / processed” by its respective downstream system. So to figure this out, I worked backwards from the Gateway.

Targeting SAG

This was the least feasible attack vector!

I hadn't really looked into how the SWIFT adapters worked - If only I could research literally everything);

SAA and SAG implemented LAU on messages sent between them - An excellent security control!;

The output of SAG was directly on to SWIFTNet which would entail all sorts of other complications - this is an understatement)!

Next!

Targeting SAA

So what if I wanted to drop a message on the “outbound” channel of SAA?

LAU and the SWIFT adapter aside, remember those session and sequence numbers? Well, messages which leave SAA are in the near-final stages of their outbound life-cycle, and as far as I understood would need to have valid session and sequence values. Given I didn't know how to generate these values without gaining access to SAA or how they worked in general (and lets not forget the LAU signing) this didn't currently seem feasible.

Next!

Targeting SANCT

This solution didn't actually transport messages back and forth; it just reads messages off the queues and performed checks on their details. Not much I could wanted to leverage here.

Targeting MID

To target MID, I could try and inject a message onto SAA’s “input” queue, or the “output” queue of MID. This would only need to match the format of messages produced by the Middleware solution (MID). Following this, in theory, the (mistial) message session and sequence number would be added by SAA, along with the UETR. This was promising!

However, MID was a SWIFT “message partner”, which are typically solutions developed using the Alliance Access Development Kit that allows vendors to develop SWIFTNet compatible software, and consequentially, implement LAU. So again, in-order to forge a message here, I’d need to compromise the left and right LAU signing keys used between SAA and MID, manually HMAC the message (correctly!), and then place it on the correct queue.. This also no longer looked promising..

Targeting SYS

OK, how about the input of the next system down - the 'Payment System'?

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages To My

As described previously, the inbound data was a custom “application specific” payment instruction from the institutions back office systems, and not a SWIFT MT message. This would be an entirely new core concept I'd need to reverse - not ideal for this project.

But how about the output queue?

Although SYS received custom format data, I found that it output what seemed to be an initial SWIFT MT messages. This was perfect! Additionally, SYS did not have LAU between itself and MID because (unlike MID) SYS was not a SWIFT message partner, and was just one of many-many systems within the institution that formed their overall payment landscape.

Additionally, because SYS was esentially just one small piece of a much larger back office architecture, it was not part of the SWIFT Secure Zone (after all you cant have your entire estate in the Secure Zone - that defeats the purpose) and as such, made use of the Queue Manager within a more accessible section of the general corporate environment (QM1). Konica minolta bizhub c352 driver mac os xcompubrown recovery tool.

With this in mind, and having - in theory - compromised the MQ admin, I could leverage their access to access on the corporate network to authenticate to QM1. I could - in theory - then write a fraudulent payment message to the SYS “output” queue, which we will call “SYS_PAY_OUT_Q” from here on.

OK! It seems like I finally had an idea of what to do! But before I could put it into practice, I of course needed to create a diagram of the attack:

I think it’s important to take a minute to refer back to the concept of “trust” which is what lead to this attack diagram. My theory behind why this may work is because the MID application, implicitly trusts whatever it receives from its respective upstream systems. This is intentional, as by design the security model of the payment landscape ensures that: at any point a message can be created, a 4 (or 6) eye check is performed. If there was a system whose purpose it was to ensure the validity of a payment message at any point upstream, the downstream systems should have no real issue processing that message (with some exceptions). After all, It would be next to-impossible to maintain a high-throughput payment system without this design.

And with that said, the plan was now clear:

Leverage the access of a Message Queue administrator;

to abuse the “trust relationship” between SYS, MID, and SAA;

to introduce a fraudulent payment message directly on to the output queue of SYS;

by leaning on my new found understanding of complete MT103 payment messages.

It was finally time to try to demonstrate a Proof-of-Concept attack!

So at this point I believe I had everything I needed in order to execute the attack:

The target system!

The message format!

The queue manager!

The queue!

The access requirements!

The generously granted access to a fully functional SWIFT messaging architecture! (that’s a good one to have!)

The extra-generously granted support of various SMEs from the target institution! (This was even better to have!)

Message Forgery

I needed to begin by creating a valid payment message using valid details from the target institution. So before moving on I was provided with the following (Note: as with many things in this post, these details have been faked):

Debtor Account Details – John Doe, GB12EBNK88227712345678 at EBNKGB20

Creditor Account Details – Alice Smith, GB15EBNK88332287654321 at EBNKGB20

Some of you may have notice that the sending and receiving BIC’s are the same. This was because, for the sake of the research, I wanted to send the message back to the target institution via SWIFTNet so that I could analyse its full end-to-end message history. Furthermore, you may have noticed we are using 'test & training' BIC code (where the 8th character is a 0) - this was to make sure, you know, that I kept my job.

But yes, with access to these 'valid' account details and the knowledge gained during the research so far, I could now forge a complete Input MT103 messages:

Note: Field 33B is actually an optional field, however, the MT standard stated that “If the country codes of both the Sender’s and the Receiver’s BIC belong to the country code list, then field 33B is mandatory”. As such, if 33B was not present in the message, it would fail network validation rules and SWIFTNet would return a NAK with the error code: D49.

Optional / Mandatory fields aside, it was not quite that simple! There were a few minor changes I needed to make based on the specific point in the message's its life-cycle I was planning to introduce it!

As I list these changes, remember that the objective is to introduce the message to the output queue of SYS (Which exists before MID, SAA and SAG)

The first 3 blocks needed to be placed on a single line;

Remove field 121 (UETR) from the User Header, as this would be generated by SAA during processing;

Remove 1 character from the transaction reference as it needed to be exactly 16 characters (classic user error);

Add decimal point to transaction amount using a comma - otherwise it would fail syntax validation rules;

Ensure the IBAN's were real and accurate, otherwise it seemed the message would fail some type of signature validation on the SWIFT network. The IBANs are fake here, but during the real PoC we used accurate account details in collaboration with the target institution;

Remove the trailer block (5) - as this would be appended by SAA during processing;

Remove the System Block (S) - as this would be completed by the SAG.

And the final message was as follows:

Note that the location in which I introduce the message has resolved all of the 'issues / blockers' I'd tracked whilst researching the message structure! It would seem the further upstream you go, the easier the attack becomes - given MQ is still used as a transport medium.

Message Injection

Now I had my raw MT103 message, I just need to save it to a file (“Message.txt” - sure why not) and place onto the “SYS_PAY_OUT_Q” queue using one of the admin's tools:

With access to a sole MQ Administrator's AD account;

We connect to the MQ admins machine;

Log into the Jump Server;

Open our MQ tools of choice and authenticate to queue manager (QM1) where the output queue for SYS was managed;

Connected to the 'SYS_PAY_OUT_Q' queue;

Selected my forged “Message.txt” file;

Invoked the “write to queue” function;

And it was off!

Loggin in to Alliance Access and opening the message history tab, we sat awaiting for an update. Waiting, waiting, waiting… waiting… and..

ACK! It worked!

That's a joke; did we hell receive an ACK!

See, this last section is written slightly more 'linear' than what actually happened. Remember those 'tweaks' used to fix the message in the previous section? I hadn't quite figured that out yet..

So roughly seven NACKs later - each time troubleshooting and then fixing a different issues - we did indeed, see an ACK! The message was successfully processed by all systems, passed target system validation rules, passed sanctions and AML screening, passed SWIFTNet validation rules, and SWIFT’s regional processor had received the message and sent an 'Acknowledgement of receipt' response to the sending institution!

For the sake of completeness, I’ve included the ACK below:

And of course a breakdown of what it all means:

NameValueContextBasic Header Flag1Block 1Application TypeFF = FIN ApplicationMessage Type2121 = ACKInstitution CodeEBNKGB20AXXXEBNKGB20 (BIC) A (Logical Terminal) XXX (Branch)Sequence and Session No.19473923441947 (Sequence No.) 392344 (Session No.)Date Tag177200103 (Date) 1102 (Time)Accept / Reject Tag4510 = Accepted by SWIFTNet

Excellent! WooHoo! It worked! .. That took a lot of time and effort!

Closer Inspection

But the ACK wasn't enough, I wanted to make sure I understood what had happened to the message throughout its life-cycle. From the message I placed on the initial queue, to being processed by SWIFTNet.

Thankfully, as we sent the message back to the target institution we could see its entire message history. I already knew what the raw message placed on the queue looked like, so I wanted to focus on what became of the message once it had been processed by SAA:

The end-to-end tracking UUID had been generated and added (b42857ce-3931-49bf-ba34-16dd7a0c929f) in block 3;

The message trailer had been added ((5:(TNG:))) where I could see that - due to the BIC code used - SAA had flagged the message as 'test and training'.

Additionally, an initial System Block segment had been added ((S:(SPD:))), tagging the message as a possible duplicate. I wonder why - *cough* 7th attempt *cough*?

OK, so that was SAA. Now let’s see how it looked it once it passed through the Gateway and regional processor:

OK, we can see a few changes now.

The session and sequence numbers have been populated (1947392344);

The I/O identifier in block 2 has been updated to track that it is now an 'Output' message;

The additional data within Block 2 is a combination of the input time, date, BIC, session and sequence numbers, output date/time, and priority;

The trailer has been updated with a message authentication code (MAC) calculated based on the entire contents of the message using a pre-shared key and a secret algorithm;

Additionally, a checksum of the message body has been stored within the trailer’s “CHK” tag. This is used by the network to ensure message integrity.

I also took a look at the entire outbound message history, just to see all the “Success” and “No violation” statements to make it feel even more awesome!

So that's that really..

With a bit of research and support I was able to demonstrate a PoC for introducing a fraudulent payment message to move funds from one account to another, by manually forging a raw SWIFT MT103 single customer credit transfer message, and leveraging various system trust relationships to do a lot of the hard work for me! https://arfox158.tumblr.com/post/655263262721638400/wireless-external-hard-drive-for-mac.

As mentioned briefly in the introduction, this is not something I have really seen or heard of happening in practice or in the 'wild'. Perhaps because it clearly takes a lot of work.. and there is a huge margin for error. However, if an adversary has spent enough time inside your network and has had access to the right documentation and resources, this may be a viable attack vector. It definitely has its benefits:

No need to compromise multiple payment operators;

No requirement to compromise - or establish a foothold within - the SWIFT Secure Zone;

No requirement to bypass MFA and gain credentials for a messaging interface;

No generation of application user activity logs;

No payment application login alerts;

No bespoke app-specific and tailored malware;

And all the other things associated with the complex task of gaining and leveraging payment operator access.

All an attacker may need to do is compromise one specific user on the corporate network: a Message Queue administrator.

The industry is spending a lot of time and effort focused on securing their payment systems, applications, processes, and users to keep - among other things - payment operators safe, Messaging Interfaces locked down, and SWIFT systems isolated. But the reality is,; the most valuable and most powerful individual in the entire model, might just be a single administrator!

As always, a security model is only as strong as its weakest link. If you're not applying the same level of security to your wider institution, there may very well be many weak links within the wider network which chain together and lead to the comrpomise of systems which feed into your various payment environment.

I think the main thing to remember when reflecting on this research is that it did not abuse any vulnerabilities within the target institution's systems, or even vulnerabilities or weaknesses within the design of their architecture. It simply leverages the legitimate user access of the Message Queue administrators and the trust relationships that exist by design within these types of large-scale payment processing systems.

So the harsh reality is, there is no particular list of recommendations for preventing this type of attack in itself. However, the main point to drive home is that you must ensure the security of your users - and overall organisation - is of a high enough standard to protect your highest privileged users from being compromised. Things such as:

Strong monitoring and alerting controls for anomalous behaviour;

Requirements for Multi-Factor authentication for access to critical infrastructure;

Segregation of critical infrastructure from the wider general IT network;

Strong password policies;

Well rehearsed incident detection and incident response policies and procedures;

Frequent high-quality security awareness training of staff;

Secure Software Development training for your developers;

Routine technical security assessments of all critical systems and components;

The use of 3rd party software from reputable and trusted vendors;

However, in the context of Message Queues, there is one particular control which I think is extremely valuable: The implementation of channel specific message signing! This, as demonstrated by SWIFT's LAU control, is a good way in which to ensure the authenticity of a message.

As discussed, LAU is - as far as I know at the time of writing - a SWIFT product / message partner specific control. However it's concept is universal and could be implemented in many forms, two of which are:

Update your in-house application's to support message signing, natively;

Develop a middleware component which performs message signing on each system, locally.

This is a complex requirement as it requires considerable effort on the client’s behalf to implement either approach. However, SWIFT provides guidance within their Alliance Access Developers guide on how to implement LAU in Java, Objective C, Scala and Swift;

Strip any S block from the FIN message input. Keep only blocks 1: through 5;

Use the FIN message input as a binary value (unsigned char in C language, byte in Java). The FIN message input must be coded in the ASCII character set;

Combine the left LAU key and the right LAU key as one string. The merged LAU key must be used as a binary value (unsigned char in C language, byte in Java). The merged LAU key must be coded in the ASCII character set;

Call a HMAC256 routine to compute the hash value. The hash value must also be treated as a binary value (unsigned char in C language, byte in Java). The HMAC size is 32 bytes;

Convert the HMAC binary values to uppercase hexadecimal printable characters.

An example of how this may work in the more flexible middleware solution proposed is where the original service is no longer exposed to the network, and is altered to only communicate directly with the custom 'LAU-eqsue' service on its local host. This service would then sign and route the message to its respective queue.

When received, the core of the recipient payment service would seek to retrieve its messages from the queues via the 'LAU-esque' signing middleware, which would retrieve the message and subsequently verify its origin and authenticity by re-calculating the signature using their shared (secret) keys. Key-pairs could further be unique per message flow. This design could allow for the signing to be used as a way to validate the origin of a message even if it had passed through multiple (local) intermediary systems.

As a final bit of creative effort, I made yet another diagram to represent what this could perhaps look like - if life was as easy as a diagram:

If you made it this far thanks for reading all.. ~6k words!? I hope you found some of them interesting and maybe learned a thing or two!

I'd like express our gratitude to the institution who facilitated this research, as well as specifically to the various SMEs within that institution who gave their valuable time to support it throughout.

Fineksus - SWIFT Standard Changes 2019

https://fineksus.com/swift-mt-standard-changes-2019/

Paiementor - SWIFT MT Message Structure Blocks 1 to 5

https://www.paiementor.com/swift-mt-message-structure-blocks-1-to-5/

SEPA for corporates - The Difference between a SWIFT ACK and SWIFT NACK

https://www.sepaforcorporates.com/swift-for-corporates/quick-guide-swift-mt101-format/

SEPA for corporates - Explained: SWIFT gpi UETR – Unique End-to-End Transaction Reference

https://www.sepaforcorporates.com/swift-for-corporates/explained-swift-gpi-uetr-unique-end-to-end-transaction-reference/

M DIBA - LAU for SWIFT Message Partners

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lau-swift-message-partners-mohammad-diba-1/

Prowide - About SWIFT

https://www.prowidesoftware.com/about-SWIFT.jsp

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages For Her

Microsoft - SWIFT Schemas

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/biztalk/adapters-and-accelerators/accelerator-swift/swift-schemas

SWIFT FIN Guru - SWIFT message block structure

http://www.swiftfinguru.com/2017/02/swift-message-block-structure.html

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