#and it wasnt easy to transcribe. at all.

[diwatyara]

UNHEARD TRANSCRIPT CASE 1: TWINS

Contains spoilers for Unheard: Voices of Crime Case #1.

A transcript of every line.

Who hid the drugs?

Tyler

JENNIFER

Welcome, detective. Please, make yourself comfortable…

You open your eyes and see a woman sitting across a table from you. On the table is a tablet and an ash tray. The woman wear a grey coat with medium length straigiht black hair, her face is obscured in shadows cast by the hanging light directly overhead her. To your left, there is a metal door with grates blocking a window. There a vents and a CCTV camera, with a small red light. There is also what seems to be an emergency lights system to your right. There are lights where the walls and floor meet.

JENNIFER

I appreciate your coming in today and I’m sure you’re wondering what this is all about.

As you know, technology is changing how conduct investigations, so we’re looking for “exceptional candidates” to test a new human-computer interface system.

We think you might have what it takes. So, let’s get started.

First of all, we’d like you to put on these headphones, but the room is equipped with speakers if you’d prefer.

There is a rustling-like noise, almost as if you’re putting on a headset.

JENNIFER

Next, we’re going to show you a series of pictures.

We want you to tell us what you see… or more importantly, what you hear.

Go head and pick up the tablet in front of you.

She taps the tablet as it lights up, showing a floor plan.

JENNIFER

Try to relax. Think of this as a sort of a… Game. Or a puzzle.

Something to assess your interpretive and deductive skills.

You hear echoes of voices and yelling as you are sucked into the illusion.

(HEY! WHAT DRUGS, YO? WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON?)

INT. POLICE STATION - JAN. 1ST 21:18:18

INTERROGATION ROOM

AMBER

State your name, please.

CAMERON

Already told you. Tyler.

AMBER

Hmm? But your car is registered under the name ‘Cameron’.

CAMERON (coughing)

My brother lets me borrow his luxury vehicles sometimes.

AMBER

You two look a lot alike.

CAMERON

You’re not the first person to mistake us for each other. We’re twins. Except he’s a big shot CEO. Was on a magazine cover recently.

Amber chuckles.

AMBER

I pulled your sheet. A repeat offender. DUI. Assault.

CAMERON (sighing)

It’s the people I hang out with, honest. I told the guys I shoudn’t’ve been drinking but they insisted — I swear. Never again.

AMBER

Do you have anything else you’d like to come clean on besides the DUI?

CAMERON

Uh… Nothin’ I could think of. Why?

AMBER

Drugs, perhaps? Does that jog your memory?

CAMERON

Wait, what? I dont know anything about any drugs!

AMBER

Okay, we’re done for now. Wait here.

Amber stands up and starts walking out of the interrogation room.

Cameron stands up and approaches a few steps.

CAMERON

Hey! What drugs, yo! What the hell’s going on here?

CONT’D. INTERROGATION ROOM - 21:19:19

CAMERON

Come back here! Wha’did you mean when you said — Ugh — Damn it!

CAMERON (exhaling)

Kay — think, think. I paid my bar tab… Went to the car… Definitely had too much to drink but I don’t remember there being anything wrong when I got there. Ugh… I may have passed out for a couple minutes. Could somebody be trying to set me up? Maybe, but who? And why like this? Ugh… Just - stick to the story. As if I had another one.

CONT’D. INTERROGATION ROOM - 21:20:00

Marty and Amber enter the room.

CAMERON

Officer, you said something about drugs earlier. What was that all about?

MARTY

What’s your name, son?

CAMERON

Tyler.

MARTY

Same old story, I see. If you’re Tyler, then who’s the Tyler in the room next door?

CAMERON

He’s here too?

MARTY

Let me ask you again. Who. Are. You?

CAMERON

Alright. Alright… Cameron.

MARTY

This isn’t your first time impersonating Tyler, is it?

CAMERON

No…

MARTY

If it was only a DUI this time, you might have been able to pull of your little stunt again. But seriously, drugs? You really wanna pin that on your brother, too?

CAMERON

What drugs?

MARTY

We found a whole kilo in your trunk.

CAMERON

That’s impossible! Okay, I drank too much but I’ve never taken anything stronger than aspirin! (panting) … I wanna see my lawyer.

MARTY

Finally. There’s the magic word. Amber, let’s go.

AMBER

You wanna question him again once his lawyer gets here?

MARTY

He’s done nothing but lie straight from the start. We already read him his rights but he didn’t ask for a lawyer until now. The statement we got will hold up in court. Lawyer or no lawyer, we’ve got him.

INT. POLICE STATION - JAN. 1ST 21:18:18

QUIET ROOM

MARTY

Take a seat.

TYLER

Thanks.

MARTY

The tips you provided us have all been checked out. We’ve got the guy and the drugs. There’s just one thing I don’t get. Why would you report your own brother?

TYLER

Because he’s gotta learn to take responsibility for his own mistakes.

MARTY

What do you mean by that?

TYLER

We’re twins, right? Identical. He’s been pinning his fuck-ups on me ever since we were kids. But now he’s rich and famous. And me? I’m trying hard just to get by!

MARTY

Then why do you always take the fall for him? Until now, I mean.

TYLER

Because he’s older. By a couple minutes! But as the second son, I was considered the ‘spoiled brat’. So it was my duty to protect the rep of the ‘rightful heir to our father’s business’. I guess I always thought “What’s the harm of adding a few misdemeanours to my rap sheet?”

MARTY

Pretty generous for a ‘spoiled brat’.

TYLER

Don’t believe me? Ask him. Fucker’s probably still pretending to be me.

MARTY

Alright. What changed this time, then?

TYLER

He racks up a couple moving violations? Fine! Whatever. But I ain’t taking the fall for no drugs. That’s some felony level shit!

There’s a knock at the door.

MARTY

Be right back.

The door opens and Amber steps inside. Marty walks over to her.

AMBER

All done, Marty.

MARTY

Ah, Amber. How’d it go?

AMBER

Asked him the basics. He said he didn’t know anything.

MARTY

Figured as much. Follow me, I’ll talk to him. (to Tyler) Wait here. We’ll need your signature for that affidavit.

TYLER

Of course, officer. I need to make a phone call, anyway.

Marty and Amber leave.

CONT’D. QUIET ROOM - 21:19:50

Tyler dials someone.

TYLER (to someone on the phone)

Yo. I’m at the police station. Can’t talk much. Just wanna make sure you get everything tied up…

Yeah, shut that guy up for good… When? Now, obviously!…

Cops ain’t that stupid. We’re talking about a whole ki here, ‘course they’re gonna trace the source. And the dealer can ID me, so hurry up…

My brother? Pulling the same old stunt as we speak. Heh. Yeah. I knew he’d try to blame me, but it’s gonna backfire on him this time…

Don’t worry, he was already wasted when I popped open the car. Didn’t notice a thing. The police are gonna nail him for possession and purgery. And when you finish this little errand, he won’t even be able to offer up the dealer as part of a plea.

He’s going to jail and I’m getting the business. My old man can’t and won’t help him this time. Not after Cameron got caught with what he did…

You’ll get your cut after I take over as heir. Anyway, no celebratin’ yet. Go do what you gotta do. And call me back when it’s done.

[avocado-writing]

Could I request headcanons for Astarion, Gale, Wyll, Halsin, Dammon, Rolan, and Zevlor react to his gn crush confessing to him while obviously waiting for rejection?

absolutely my love, here you go!

Astarion

Is not surprised you’re confessing (he knew how you felt it wasnt subtle lol), but is surprised that you seem so defeated about it

sort of annoys him? Upsets him? Of course he’s going to feel the same way, how can you think so little of yourself? He’s of the opinion that you’re wonderful. it’s so easy to fall for you.

but then he hesitates: he knows how easy it is to think poorly of oneself. He can’t judge you too harshly.

takes your hand, tells you that you’re lovely, and invites you out for coffee the next day. just the two of you. his heart skips a beat when you light up.

Gale

admires how courageous you are. can see you’re shaking as you admit your feelings.

”why do you think I wouldn’t feel the same way? you are one of the most spectacular people I’ve ever met. Anyone would be lucky to have you. I’d be lucky to have you.”

smiles when he sees how you start to grin, puts his hands on your waist and brings you in for a kiss.

if you’re a magic user dancing lights erupt from you because you’re so overwhelmed ✨

Wyll

Oh, sweet Wyll. Gobsmacked that you think he’d turn you down.

takes your hand and guides you somewhere where the two of you can be alone.

when you have your privacy he asks if he can kiss you.

you feel heat rise in your cheeks but nod, and he gives you the most astounding first kiss you’ve ever had lol

then he takes you out for dinner and holds your hand across the table the whole meal

(when you’re together properly he makes jokes the whole camp was asking “wyll they won’t they” about the two of you and you groan lmfao)

Halsin

another one who takes you to a private place to talk.

brushes your hair out of face and then cups your cheek in the same gesture, begins to wax poetic about how perfect the oak father made you and how you are without fault.

has echoed your feelings for a long time now and is glad you made the first move which takes a lot of the weight off your chest

he scoops you up in his big arms and swings you around until all the worry is gone and you’re laughing 💕

Dammon

his heart hammers in his chest when you tell him. he’s only a blacksmith!!!! he doesn’t know how to handle this!!

I imagine you confess to him while he’s working at his forge so that not all of his attention is on you, it’s better to soften the blow when he says he doesn’t feel the same.

puts his tools down, takes off his gloves, and holds your hands. tells you he’s admired you for a long while and is glad you feel the same.

you squeak when he kisses you but his soft touch keeps your grounded ❤️

Rolan

is offended how nervous you are (you don’t find him THAT intimidating do you?! He’s been trying to be nice because he likes you!) - and also a bit annoyed because he’s been working up the courage to confess for ages but you got there first

”Good, I like you too >:(“ “you do?” “Yes >:(“ “then why do you seem so grumpy about it?” “I’m not grumpy! >:( >:( >:(“

you kiss him on the cheek and he’s so flustered he loses control of the spell he was transcribing and magic missiles his office window to pieces lol

Zevlor

this is a battle of the least self-confident lol. you’re like “I don’t think you like me” and he replies “my dear you have so many better options than me”

so it turns 180, with you convincing him that you do like him and listing all his merits!

eventually youre at a stalemate. and then you just kiss each other, trepidatious at first and then getting more passionate as you relax 💕

[gamestop-compendium]

Cat Frenzy (FUN UNIT, 2012)

:3

ah, cat frenzy. takes me back, this one does. originally sold on the dsi shop for 200 Nintendo Points (roughly 2 USD), Cat Frenzy is a match puzzle game where you slide rows or columns of cats to match 3 of them and clear them from the board. easy! you can only slide them left, right, or down, and you can push the cats out of the playboard. the stock button adds more cats to the board to work with, and once you run out of cats the game ends. there are also bonus cats! cats in cans that add 10 to the stock, cats with 2x multipliers that double the points you get from that match/chain, and cats with fish that clear every cat of that type on the board. nice way to make the game more interesting ...or at least, that's how it is in quick play. in mission mode you have to clear all the cats it tells you to, increasing in difficulty over time. most of the missions consist of "get a chain of [x] with [y] amount of moves" with different twists, such as rocks on the board or certain patterns of cats you have to work with

i played SO MUCH cat frenzy when i was a tadpole. like SOOOOO MUCH. it still holds up fairly well, but i will admit that it gets kinda boring after a while. its largely just the same type of thing over and over again. quick play is a fun diversion especially for car rides with nothing else to do, but not really for big road trips of the same nature. good tool for getting a baby frog addicted to puzzle games though! plus it has a save/load feature in quick play, which i think is pretty cool

the mission mode is pretty solid. i feel like id be better at the missions if it wasnt currently 2:25 AM as im writing this line. the first 8 serve as a tutorial for the game as a whole, and the other 40 are actual missions. unfortunately it is 2 in the morning. i cant get past mission 13 as of writing this, but honestly i sorta stopped trying. still a good mode! my brain is just drifting in and out of focus. whoops

the music is an odd beast. cat frenzy has a total of 2 songs -- one for the title screen and one for the gameplay -- and while theyre good, they can very easily get a little grating. theyre real catchy though! ive had the title screen song especially inscribed into my neurons for about a decade ...this is normally where id link to the ost or something, but from what ive seen nobodys ripped the music for this game yet. go figure. ill see what i can do about grabbing the 2 songs from this thing, but i havent done it before, so it might take a little while. stay tuned! (or dont, we advocate for free will and autonomy on this page)

the overall sound design, however, is somewhat lacking and bizarre. there are sounds for things -- moving cats, hitting buttons, etc. -- but i cant say that they make much sense. each type of cat meows differently when you tap it to move it! theres a drum hit when you match cats!! you get cute fanfare when you hit a new level in quick play/clear a mission!!! those are fun!!!!! but the buttons make weird and baffling sounds, most notably:

the stock button is a spring sound

the hint and retry buttons are squeaky toy sounds (same for the menu button in mission mode)

hitting the "to the main menu" button in mission select just makes a cartoon bonk-honk sound (zonk? whonk? idk what it would count as. very likely youve heard it before at some point in your life though)

the menu button in quick play makes a sound thats a mix between paper shuffling and cicada wings (paper cicada?)

the main menu buttons make a weird kinda cork squeak-esque sound i cant describe and, most importantly,

hitting all the other buttons makes a sound i can only possibly transcribe as a swift and soft (squeedle-eek!) noise its confusing. some of these are only tangentially cat related, but most are just completely unrelated to anything in the game. whats the deal here????? did they just buy a buncha stock sounds for this game? so strange to me. regardless, the sound design just isnt all that good. these sounds are funny at first but eventually even the meows become incessant and droning. the best way to get the idea of the kind of experience it is would be to play it yourself. there's very little gameplay of this game online, and what we do have is either mostly silenced in lieu of an admittedly pretty cool song that nonetheless appears nowhere in the game or has about the same video quality as a stick of celery

i will note -- i dont fucking know WHAT that image from the dsi shop page is. i completely wiped it from my memory over the years, but looking back that pink cat is probably why i even bought it. the official page and trailer also claimed these cats are "stuck in a well" and need rescuing, but the board is very clearly a house and these cats are clearly not in any sort of distress. what gives? the cats in-game are more than cute enough to be marketable to 2012 audiences! tell me why you did this, fun unit! i need to know!

overall rating: 5.3 - It's Alright. cat frenzy is a cute little diversion. not the best, mind you, but it's good. it's serviceable. with some kinda-repetitive music and gameplay that starts getting stale in the same timeframe as an apple oxidizing once its cut, youre still better off playing it for the more boring stretches of time you encounter in your life. unless you have a kid who likes cats! it's damn good fun for anyone under 12, but slowly loses its luster every year afterwards. Do Play.

[cleaduvalls]

i watched all 20 episodes of "spy kids: mission critical" twice in about a week and here are my thoughts (pt 1/5)

these will be divided into 4 episodes per post so they stay about the same length as one spy kids movie

1.1

no theme song. :/

wow specific location

wow. we love lying to our spouses

greg actually kind of sounds like greg??? like ingrids not right in the slightest but greg sounds like greg

oh yeah i call him greg instead of gregorio bc thats Too Many Syllables

i dunno id rather go on an adventure

oh!!!!! ingrids hair!!!!! cute

they look like friggin iron knuckles from cadence of hyrule

how do you..... classify a move

also why would they teach agents to counter a move that they also taught the agents

dont you mean SWAT

is that tom kenny?????

thats not carmen. i dont care WHAT you say. thats not carmen

shes 14???

since when can he build???

since when do they LIVE at the oss?????

thats a ball. not a blob

oh mood

juni your voice is so squeaky

Every Villain Is Lemons

is this a separate universe????? we already know about the third brain program. and you cant claim that people havent seen the movies cuz theyre ALSO on netflix

the experiment wasnt FUTILE it actually went really well. yall are just cowards

you can destroy gold???? like its not DIAMOND

ew

did golden brain go through childhood??? or did he just.... spawn as an adult????

alliteration

take a wild guess carmen

why are you wearing jeans in the DESERT????

"sis"??? who says that

oh boy fart jokes already

little brothers, cuz youre younger, were related, and youre boys

did you mutate the agents too?????

oh i feel you juni

oh boy butt jokes

carmen youre 14. where im from you COULD have a job at certain places

is he... gonna kill them?????

oh!!!! the mimicking is back!!!

theres no way you had taco butte in the last 5 minutes

teenagers?????? the franchise is spy KIDS get it right

there SHOULD be, yall are licensed spy kids

roll credits

juni stop trying to be a lone wolf it never works youve seen all 4 spy kids

i want to be her

are you.... knighted?????? or are you just british

hes like 11 what do you expect from him

ahavschaj acemate

carmens FACE she looks HIGH

finger guns???? hes bi

THUMB THUMB!!!!!!!

TOM thumb thumb!!!!!!

F L O O P!!!!!!!!!

nvm i want to be HER

im sorry how the H*CK did you just say fegan???????????

piercings!!!!!

and i OOP-

aztec???? bc the aztec death spiral??? nice

maybe im a little biased bc floop but shes my favorite

why are the parents here

who calls it a cuddle bear?????? its a teddy bear what are yall on

oh i love carmens socks

i gotta say im living for goldies aesthetic

haha coward

to be fair hes from the outback, they have friggin emus. those things are creepy

:0 sneaky

nice timing

1.2

wow ig there really is no theme song :(

how can he sleep with a TEACUP

i think at some point youd just... fall asleep????

wow big flex

and i OOP-

scorpions so mean i love her

for like 3 seconds that animation looked like a friggin barbie movie

i thought thumb thumbs couldnt hold things???? like thats their whole point

did she hang up on them?????

when your mom said she wouldnt get mad if you tell the truth so you tell the truth and she still gets mad

K A N Y E?????????

oh no they all have died

drowning a chainsaw????????

PLENTY OF PEOPLE

my parents whenever im tired

did you not hear her name shes clearly immortal

me

stop yelling

at that point he shoudknt have even been able to drink the milk

why are the spotlights on carmen

*2 hours later*

dont put the phone on the desk????? have you not have a teacher give you detention for that????? i have

i think its pretty obvious what he was dreaming about

in the subtitles the u has the dots but hes not pronouncing it right. it should be more "keurp-ka-kay", not just "coop-ka-kay"

everyone has weird dreams????? step off ace

class lasted for 5 minutes wtf

do the three of them share a phone???? thats what it says in her contacts

ok visage thats a little too far

i hate this dude so much

visage shes allowed to be on her phone shes not in class

psi???? like earthbound????

😔

theyre not wrong

STOP YELLING

thats?? not possible?????? youre just weak

why are you saying that out loud

dude stop im dying of second hand embarrassment

wait the sign with the transcribed words doesnt have the ü. so how he pronounced it WAS right they just messed up the subtitles

i thought there was only ONE of its kind why do they EACH have one?????

why did so many people lose????? it seems pretty straightforward

also i love her ringtone

is that tom kenny again??????

thats.... not how it works

he should not have made that

so the big reveal is that it was his mom, but how does he know shes a cortez now?????? she was avellan at that point

take a wild guess

spurious??????? why are you using his first name

i dont???? think you can????????

1.3

the beats pretty good, im tapping my feet

i love his voice

thats not disco thats TECHNO

actually discos probably right. hes german and in germany clubs are called diskos. the music hes playing is pretty clubby, therefore it would be disco

she has spotify premium???? nice

ooooh scorpion has bed curtains!!!!

why do both cortezes have the floor bed???

how can juni hear aces music???? did his headphones get unplugged????? is it just super loud?????

sounds more like kids music than folk music

HOLY CRAP HES LISTENING TO THE WIGGLES (no offense to the wiggles)

yes hes a heavy sleeper we discussed this last time

he has a bazooka you might wanna run

"carmen is not here" me too carmen, me too

glitch chill

oh yay piss jokes

how does so much stuff come out on the floss

she was asleep???????? take it easy glitch

creative name

also the music sounds like it came right out of cadence of hyrule??????? which could be possible bc the girl who voices glitch also voiced link

glitch its clearly a virus

carmen you can go, psi can handle this

hes so protective of his records im dying

BAHAHA she said "worm?" and ofc my dumb ass thought she meant worm as in "oh worm?"

1.4

i had a whole bunch but tumbr decided to delete it and i dont wanna rewrite it so we missed the last 4 minutes of 1.3 and the first 8 of 1.4, sorryyy

it doesnt matter anyway no ones gonna read this

this whole point system was in the fourth movie, get some new plot points

is that really a good idea carmen???

throwback to when i was a kid and wanted to learn australian

oh no they died

JUNI NO YOU SAID IN THE THIRD MOVIE TO N E V E R SPLIT UP

sheilas a great name shut up

listen i see mirages all the time in the summer but how do you see a fake building???? its always a puddle of water

yeah the outback STEAKHOUSE

you sound like youre on crack

oh no he died

one time i ate a bug bc i thought it was some leftover dorito i had stuck in my teeth

hes pretty good at shelters, did you not see the second spy kids???

hey he calles him juni!!!

s n e a k y

what even is heat rash?????

STOP YELLING

nice STEALTH you tell him he has nice STEALTH

[scarletrebel]

oh god okay alright

so this is an au ive been thinking about for A While Now, cause im a dramatic fuck who cant finish anything and is living in wip city right now. 

rook (@mrpinstripesuit‘s boy because of course) somewhat reluctantly and through ~plot~ that i do have in mind actually turning into the next dredgen yor because in a small twist of events killing just one guardian in crucible wasnt enough for him.

cue avia being sent to hunt him down and getting marked down as scared and horny when she meets him for the first time

i do have a whole story planned for this and ive been thinking about this au a lot, i bashed this out in about three hours so there might be little errors here and there and critically i think it moves way too fast but hey i havent uploaded in so long so shrug emoji i hope its at least readable aha

When Ikora calls her to the Vanguard chambers, Avia is expecting Cayde’s presence too. Her Hunter Vanguard will do all he can to remind her of her class, even butting into mission briefings with Ikora.

So it comes as a shock to see him not present at the table when she walks in. Ikora turns to greet her, and Avia casts a glance over her shoulder at Zavala.

“Don’t tell me you finally let Cayde out of the Tower?”

Zavala throws her a grim look, mouth set into a line and Avia meets it with a morbid confusion.

“What’s his problem?” She asks Ikora, whose face is set in an equally grim measure.

“Cayde left for a brief scouting mission, it was only supposed to take him a few hours,” Ikora reaches down to her holopad, and from its screen rises a map of an area of Earth Avia has never heard before. “This is the European Dead Zone. It’s highly off limits to Guardians due to the fluxuating levels of both Darkness and Light.”

“Why’s that?”

“A shard of the Traveler exists in that region, cast off from the Collapse.”

Avia watches the images cycle in front of her. A giant cascading shard towers over a forest, buildings rusted and decaying sit in its shadow. Lightning bounces off of the shard, storm clouds gathering around it.

“Looks suitably ominous,” Avia mutters, quickly realising that now is not the time.

Ikora simmers. Avia’s come to notice this in the Warlock Vanguard, when something is wrong and pressing up against her mind but she must remain calm and composed in the face of it all. Avia recognises it well, a quiet storm betrayed by only the smallest of movements.

Ikora places a hand down on the table, her fingers trembling.

“Cayde left two days ago. He hasn’t returned.”

Avia allows her mind to wander as Ikora’s words hit her. Cayde, bold and brass finding his way through this forest as easy as walking through the Tower. Enemies of the Light crowding him, surrounding him, and whilst he doesn’t go down without a fight it’s that one mistake that could cost him.

“You want me to find him.”

Ikora thins her lips into a line, looking from the holo pad and down to Zavala. Avia misses the minute way they communicate to each other, and when Ikora turns to her she can tell the Warlock is somehow sadder.

“Bring him home, however that may be.”

She has to receive the highest clearance from Zavala, Ikora, and the Speaker in order to fly into the Dead Zone. She was advised by Zavala to touch down on the outside of the forest and make her way in. His monotone suggestion didn’t exactly inspire confidence, and it left her riddled with annoyance that she couldn’t shake.

“Levi?” She calls for her Ghost, and they materialise with a whirl.

“Are you afraid?” They ask, and Avia scoffs.

“No. I just… Feel like I’m not getting the full picture.”

“How do you mean?” They ask as Avia looks down the scope of her sniper rifle. She spots the forest a breath away, the trees thick and coarse. No hostiles as she scans the horizon, and answers her Ghost.

“There’s something Ikora wasn’t telling me.”

“You always think that,” Levi floats in front of her scope, making her lower it with a sigh. “She has no reason to lie to you.”

“Lying by omission is still lying.” Avia says.

“You’re not in the Reef anymore.” Levi’s voice is soft, a comfort.

“I’m not sure sometimes.”

She starts to walk, making her way down a cliff face and landing as quietly as she can on the ground. She walks towards a gathering of buildings, the same rusted ones Ikora showed her. The air is still and quiet. As she climbs the structure, the echo of her movements starts to set her on edge.

“What was Cayde scouting?” She wonders out loud. Levi hesitates next to her. Then he whirls his shell once, twice, and answers.

“I think… ‘Scouting’ might have been a loose term for whatever he was actually looking for out here.”

Avia smiles under her helmet. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“With the language in his recent reports, if you could even call them that, I think he was looking for something.”

“Like what?” Avia asks, moving through an empty room and shimmying through a grated wall. She jumps down and out of the building on the other side, trees at her left and right. She pushes in.

“Something he lost, I think.”

Avia hums, sticking close to the trees, trying to watch and be careful of the way her feet brush against the dead leaves and twigs on the ground. It’s not an environment she’s used to for stealth, but the same rules apply – stay close to the ground and keep your eyes open.

“Let me know when you detect anything.” She tells Levi.

“Aside from the insurmountable Darkness surrounding us alongside a general feeling of dread?” Levi asks, to which Avia laughs. “Can do.”

He was dangerously close to growing bored.

He sits with his back to the wall, flicking a knife up and down. In the cave system, dingy orange lights bounced off the walls. The Dredgen’s chattered around him, keeping to themselves mostly. He still didn’t understand what they wanted from him, what they expected from an exiled Guardian.

He’d told them as much, but still, they followed.

Some of their Ghost’s pitter around their heads, cowardly, having conversations they don’t want him to hear. He catches a glowing orb with his eyes more than once and it dissipates, causing the Hunter with his legs crossed to cast a glance over his shoulder. The Human stills the hand in her book, the scattered pieces of the scout rifle she’s trying to infuse into darkness around his feet.

“What?” He spits. The Guardian doesn’t cower, just tries to hide her smile as she begins to draw something in the soil between them.

“My Ghost thinks you’re dangerous.”

“Your Ghost is right,” he replies. He watches the gloved hand trace a pattern, and it takes him longer than he’d like to admit to recognise it as something Hive.

The Guardian places the main skeleton of her gun over the rune, speaking as she draws an intricate circle around it. “I think she doesn’t get it. I think the Light makes us blind, but I don’t think it’s our enemy either.”

“Aint that poetic.”

“You don’t want to lead us,” the Guardian starts. He stills his motions with the knife, catching it blade side, the metal biting into his skin. “But you could be the start.”

“The start of what, kid?”

The Guardian mutters something under her breath, and they both watch the runes on the floor glow a sickly green, a plume of smoke rising to intwine itself in the metal above it. The others around them stop to stare. When the spell finishes, the exo skeleton breathes with that same sickly energy, something black like ichor peeling off of it.

“I guess that’s up to you.”

A Warlock peels around the corner, harried, breathing hard.

“He’s gone.”

“What?” He asks, a quiet intensity in the way he tenses but doesn’t move.

The Warlock stutters, tries to find his voice. “He overpowered us. His Ghost did something, got herself out of her cage and then freed him. He subdued everyone so he could--”

He flings the knife between the Warlocks feet, a centimetre away from his foot. He stands and takes the hand canon off his hip, once laced in gold and now dark and peeling at the edges. With his fury it starts to feel warm in his hands, putting the scout rifle on the floor to shame. The young Guardian looks at it in awe, seeing the same runes she carved transcribed on the sides.

“Tell me which way he went and then get the hell out of here. Everyone.”

The Hunter pipes up from the floor as he walks towards the mouth of the cave system; “And then what? How will we find you?”

“I guess that’s up to you.”

“I don’t like this.”

“You’ve said that five times already, Levi.” Avia says, though her voice betrays her own unease.

They’ve been walking for what feels like hours. As they traversed deeper, the forest became darker, blocking out all sunlight. Levi told her a ways back that the influence of the shard was heaviest here, but what Avia didn’t mention was the solar flames beneath her skin, an ache to act. Something was coming, her gut felt out of sorts.

“Any sign of him?” Avia asks. Levi extends his shell and scans as far as he can.

“No, I – wait!” Avia perks up as her Ghost scans once more, pulling their shell back to themselves with an excited whir. “Cayde’s Ghost, she’s near!”

“Lead the way,” Avia says, following her marker and picking up the pace.

She breaks into a run as she gets closer, nearing a large tree trunk on its side.

“Wait!” Levi yells into her comm. She slides to take cover by the tree, her mouth opening to ask what’s wrong.

She hears two shots, the way they ring through the air all too familiar. Cayde yells, goes down, and the person wielding Thorn catches up to him.

She pops her head up and over the tree, looking into a circular clearing. Her Vanguard lies on his side, his Ghost fussing over him tirelessly. She watches another man move closer, black armour from head to toe, and she sees that his gun isn’t the hand canon she wields. No, it’s similar in nature, but corrupted in a completely different way.

“Is that a Guardian?” She whispers, as the man in question walks lazily over to where Cayde rights himself onto his back. Her Vanguard is hurt, his Exo plating damaged beyond recognition.

“No,” Levi answers. “At least, I don’t think so.”

“Aint this a little too – ahh, god – easy for you?” Cayde asks, pulling his Ghost to his chest. She gets the message and dissipates as the man stands over him.

“You made it hard enough when you ran the first time,” he says, pulling his helmet off. Ebony hair falls out around his shoulders, dark brown eyes boring holes into the Exo below him. Avia holds a breath. He’s human. But there’s something about him that isn’t. “I’m starting to think you just enjoy this.”

“I’m not the sicko running around like the next Dredgen Yor,” Cayde spits back. There’s a venom that Avia can’t place.

“Then why did you even try to find me?” The man asks, kneeling down, regarding Cayde like he’s playing with his food. “Trying to save my sorry soul?”

“Well, that’s real dramatic Rook, maybe those Dredgens have finally – ahh!”

The man, whose name is apparently Rook, fires a round into Cayde’s chest.

“He’s running on auxiliary power already Avia, we have to get in there.” Levi’s voice is small and strained.

“Wait,” she finds herself saying.

Cayde coughs and splutters, the machines where his lungs would be whirring in protest. “I’m sorry, Rook. But I know you -- you don’t -- you don’t want to be this.”

Rook stands, aiming his gun down and Avia sees the sightline – right between Cayde’s eyes.

“It’s too late to give me that choice.”

Avia hops over the tree and summons her Golden Gun, using the first blast to knock the gun from Rook’s hand. The Darkness around it absorbs the blast but knocks it off centre, and his eyes find her immediately. She aims the second for his chest, which causes him to stutter back, and she takes the opening to run forward and place herself over Cayde.

The man in black rights himself and they aim their guns at each other, Avia still engulfed in solar flame as something darker roils off of Rook’s body. When her Light runs its course, the solar light makes way for the Thorn in her hands to make itself known.

Rook looks her in the eyes, down to the gun in her hands, and then laughs.

“Oh you are a bunch of hypocrites, aren’t you Cayde?”

“Get out of here,” Avia warns. Levi scans Cayde’s body, coaxing his own Ghost forward so they can make enough repairs to keep Cayde stable for now. “Last chance.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you have no idea what this is, do you?” A wicked smile curls up Rook’s face as he lowers his own gun, taking a few steps forward.

“Shut up.” Avia spits back.

“Nah, I’d rather tell you all about how you’ve got a Guardian killer in your hands there. One that your Vanguard keep around for god knows what reason.” He inches closer, and Avia steps forward to meet him. His hands come up in mock surrender, and she ignores how her stomach curls at his easy smile. It’s infuriating, to some degree.

“The only Guardian killer I see is you,” she starts. “Go. Now.”

“Or else what?” He asks. He moves forward once again, and Avia misses the time in between him feeling like he was a mile away and being pressed up against the Thorn. She can practically feel his heartbeat through the gun.

Thank the Traveler she’s wearing her helmet.

“Avia,” Cayde rasps below her. He sounds better, and she hears the soft dissipation of a Ghost that must be his. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“That is rich coming from you.” She mutters, and the man in front of her has the audacity to laugh as if they’ve known each other for years.

“Avia,” he says, his eyes raking down her body. “Pretty name.”

“I am seconds away from putting you down for good.” She bites back. He smiles at her reaction and it sends a wave of embarrassment through her.

“But you won’t. Killing Guardians is bad, remember?”

“You’re not a Guardian.”

Rook’s face falls, impassive and unreadable as the darkness rolls off him, still steady.

In a flash he grabs Avia’s wrist, and places the Thorn underneath his chin, his other hand on her waist as he looks at her and says; “I’m the same kinda Guardian that you are, sweetheart.”

She’s caught off guard, a steady and aggravating heat pooling in her chest. She doesn’t realise when his finger curls around hers on the trigger, squeezing it.

She pulls back as quick as she can, the bullet sounding off between them. She makes to reach for a knife, throw it at his chest and make some space but then she’s back on her ship, Cayde still on the floor below her.

Levi whirls in front of her; “Are you alright?”

“I…” She starts, shaking herself and taking her helmet off. Cayde groans behind her, and she turns and kneels at his side.

“Nice one, hot shot.” He splutters. Avia rolls her eyes, hooking an arm around his back and moving him into the co-pilot chair.

“Who was he?” She asks once he’s sat down, still clutching his chest as though some parts will fall out of him.

“That’s a long story.”

Avia set’s a course for the Tower, plotting the longest route she can find without raising suspicion.

“You’ve got time.”

[sleeplesssecrets]

oh my god i don’t even know how to start writing any more i am so unbelievably out of practice. im going to try to be loose like i know i used to be when i wrote on here originally. i had a haircut yesterday, i spent all day at the salon in the store i used to work at. my old manager asked me when im going to be coming back and i would like to i think. i like having a full time job and i like being paid for my full time job and i like buying things with my money on a whim and being able to pay off credit cards and buying things for my daughter and buying things i never could buy for her as a baby but can now buy for my son. my son. my baby boy that i gave literal birth to. wild. i hold him and he’s my baby and he’s a boy. it’s so weird and great. before i went back to work after having him i spent collective hours crying over not wanting to work ever at all. holding him is everything, clothing him and feeding him is everything, cleaning up for him and folding laundry for him is everything. my daughter is my everything too i hope that goes without saying. i feel like i have to say it with him, that hes my everything, because it doesn’t feel as obvious. im clocked in forty hours a week now, forty little hours with long generous breaks to nurse him throughout the day at my work from home job where i wear pajamas and no bra and make a living wage, answering phones to people with real problems i get to help them solve or understand. i like my job technically, i like it a lot, i feel important and helpful. i dont get up early and get ready or even dressed and have to go out in the cold to an office. i am very lucky to be a mom of a two month old whose desk and bassinet are in the same room. but i dont want to clock in. i do not want to. i want to cuddle my baby boy, only cuddle him. i want to wash him in the tub and put lotion on him. i want to play with him and teach him how to reach and grab toys. i have been experiencing this thing where when my milk lets down, it causes a drop in dopamine and it makes me feel actually depressed for about a minute while im feeding him or while he’s napping and my milk comes down randomly. i had no idea what depression was before. and i still dont because the feeling is very fleeting. i had no idea you could feel depressed. like feel it physically. i feel it in my hands. i feel it in my eyes. i feel it in my gut. it doesnt wash over me like anti depressant commercials portray, it is me. when i experienced it and noticed it for the first time it absolutely threw me. i am not exaggerating when i say it stopped me in my tracks. i stopped walking and i had to stare off and everything was not ok. not a single thing felt right. i was grabbing something for my husband and it didnt feel right. i was walking to the other side of the room and it didnt feel right. the time of day didn’t feel right. when it happens, whatever im thinking about will be suddenly very very sad. and im usually thinking about anything at all lmao. if you dont know, milk let down reflex happens at specific times in between feedings if you’ve started to feed your baby at regular intervals, but it can also happen when you think about your baby or hear a baby. so sometimes im thinking about him, my baby boy, and my milk will let down, and then i get depressed about thinking about him. and it hits so much harder than anything ive ever been hit with in my life. it knocks the wind out of me worse than falling down wooden stairs. it stings worse than having a door shut on my fingers. i am aware of it, so i know its happening when it happens, which does help. i can swipe the thoughts away if im quick enough to notice. but the worst has been when ive been feeling depressed like this when my milk didnt let down. when im literally just sad and irritable and dont want to be looked at. i feel like i can feel people thinking about me and it bothers me when im feeling this way. i want to be left alone and i only ever see a handful of people any more. i was holding him today and feeling this way and i cried on his clothes. he recognizes faces and will smile when you smile at him. today he saw me crying over him and he frowned a little. i apologized and and cuddled him and we smiled together. i put him over my shoulder and i started crying again. it hurts so much, it hurts so so much, its the worst feeling i have ever felt. i had no idea what depression was like at all. and if this is only a little fleeting feeling i get every now and again and it is this crushing, i can not imagine what people who have depression more often must feel like. when i think back on how my mom spent all day in bed when she wasnt working, i can kind of understand it now. i used to hate that she would wake up, work, and sleep again. she used to do all sorts of things, like read, play card games online, highlight her bible, print recipes and organize them in a binder. then slowly she stopped doing those things and worked and slept. she would work occasionally from home, transcribing her boss’s voice-recorded notes into word documents. it took her a couple hours every night to do and i thought it was so cool she got paid for working at home at a computer, i used to think it would be so fun and cute and easy. i didnt know why she was so quick to snap, why she wouldnt want to cook dinner, why she didn’t change out of her clothes before bed. i now sort of kind of get it. i literally dont ever cry. my mom will tell you that she knows im hurting if im crying. i might cry emotionally a few times a year, and i will cry if im in a lot of physical pain. now i cry most days out of the week. it does not get easier. every morning after i feed him and put him down for a nap before clocking in, it’s no easier than the day before. its the worst good bye every time. the first day back to work was rough, i cried as i placed him in his newborn boppy and tucked a blanket around him. my husband gave me a wholesome ‘we got this babe’. when he asked me how my day was after clocking out, i was not lying when i said it was the worst ever. i know i pretty much have the dream job as a working mom. i knoooooow. but i hate it. 

[shirlleycoyle]

Hobbyist Cryptographers Seemingly Solve Infamous Zodiac Killer Cipher

After 51 years, a group of three hobbyist cryptographers is claiming to have cracked one of the most infamous ciphers created by the infamous Zodiac killer. In a video posted to YouTube, David Oranchak explains the processes he and two others went through to crack "The 340" cipher, which is made up of 340 symbols—some of which are English characters and others of which are cryptic marks:

"Oh my god, so this is a big one. We have a solution for the 340, and it's real," Oranchak says in the video. Well-known cryptographers who analyzed the video and accompanying blog posts for Motherboard said that the group's solution at least seems plausible. Oranchak told Motherboard he has been working on solving the 340 for more than a decade.

The FBI told the website ZodiacKillerFacts.com, run by a writer named Michael Butterfield who has been studying the serial killer since the 1990s, that "On December 5, 2020, the FBI received the solution to a cipher popularly known as Z340 from a cryptologic researcher and independently verified the decryption." The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Motherboard.

This, the group says, is the solution to the cipher:

"I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME 

THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW 

WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME 

I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER 

BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER 

BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME 

WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE 

SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH 

I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS

LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH"

The team’s crucial breakthrough came when applied mathematician, Sam Blake, came up with about 650,000 different cipher manipulations (or order in which to read them). From here, using code-breaking software designed by Jarl Van Eycke, the team’s third member, came up with three valuable clues they say helped solve the puzzle. 

The team was working off of three short phrases: “HOPE YOU ARE,” “TRYING TO CATCH ME,” and “OR THE GAS CHAMBER.” 

On October 22, 1969 an individual called into a show hosted by Jum Dunbar going by the name zodiac. In the call, as the video shows, the caller says, “I need help. I’m sick … I don’t want to go to the gas chamber,” followed by “I’m going to kill those kids.” they immediately then hang up the phone. 

“It was a needle in a haystack,” Blake told ZodiacKillerFacts.com. “Even finding the right haystack to search in was lucky.”

To simplify what is ultimately quite complex cryptography (the solution is best explained in the video embedded above), the team ran those phrases through Van Eyke’s decoding software, and the machine instantly came back with a relatively coherent message. After some more transcribing, the team uncovered the message. 

"The crypto community has been chasing this cipher for decades so I hope they see and verify the solution. The construction of the cipher may tell us a bit more about the Zodiac's profile," Oranchak told Motherboard. "He clearly had enough understanding of ciphers to make an interesting one with enough twists to defeat codebreakers for 51 years. I hope the solution helps law enforcement make some positive movement in this cold case."

Motherboard ran the solution past well-known cryptographer, Matthew D. Green, an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, and Steven Bellovin, a computer security researcher at Columbia University. Neither could say for sure whether Oranchak's team's solution was definitely correct, but both said the principles the team used were generally sound.

"This is tough. On the one hand, if you pick enough arbitrary manipulations to a cipher, eventually you’ll pop up something that looks like real text. There are literally millions of things you can do to transform a ciphertext, and if you iterate through enough arbitrary ones you’ll eventually pop out what looks like real text," Green said. "Here we’re given a first technique—reading the letters diagonally like a knight hopping through a chessboard—that might be the 10th technique the codebreakers tried, or it might be the 10,000th attempt. It produces garbled text that mostly seems like real words. Using the same key on the next section doesn’t quite work, so the codebreakers need to tweak their technique even further to get useful text. The third section doesn’t follow the same structure at all, so a different technique is used there. So you can see there’s a lot of 'room' here for the codebreakers to try millions of random tweaks, until they get something that obviously decodes. With all that said: this still looks really convincing, in the form of a YouTube video. None of the transformations are that outlandish, and the tricks they use in the middle section seem to involve shifting and ignoring two small sections that could reasonably be characterized as encoding mistakes."

Bellovin said he's not a cryptanalyst, but that "Some parts of the video seem very plausible, including the assumption of encoding errors—that’s a well-attested phenomenon in the real world. In addition, this appears to have been a one-time use cipher, so difficulties for the recipient wouldn’t actually matter. And the techniques described—multiple ciphertext letters for a given plaintext letter, transpositions, splitting a message into sections for encrypting—are well known. What gives me pause is that a number of the transformations seemed ad hoc: read diagonally here, delete letters there, move those others to the end. If you play around enough, you can get something sensible-seeming out of almost anything." 

Oranchak says this has, obviously, been a highlight for him. "I started around 2006 or 2007. My goal was mainly to solve the 340," he said.  “We got VERY lucky … The chase for the solution led to improvements in codebreaking tools and technology.  It also tells us about a transposition scheme that current tools are not yet totally great at solving.  So there is room for improvements that may help solve similar ciphers in the future."

Hobbyist Cryptographers Seemingly Solve Infamous Zodiac Killer Cipher syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/