#cms architecture | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ssa-dado · 2 months ago

Text

5 - Antithesis

Aaron Hotchner x bau!fem!reader

Genre: angst, slowest burn in history

Summary: The BAU tackles a complex case involving international victims and cryptic messages. Hotch’s growing insecurity intensifies as an agent returns from an undercover operation, revealing his close past with you. At the hotel, you and Hotch have a heated argument, exposing hidden vulnerabilities and unspoken boundaries between you two. Hotch struggles with his feelings of being just a replacement and questions his connection with you. Rossi confronts Hotch, encouraging him to be the partner you truly need.

Warnings: Usual CM case stuff, grooming (it feels to me, at least. To someone wouldn’t but idc), angst

Word Count: 6.1k

Dado's Corner: the dreaded chapter, I've been working on it for a week and still I'm not completely satisfied yet. I had to use another OC character, I'm sorry if you're bothered with that, but even if I hate him with all my heart he will be helpful in the future to narrate Y/N's backstory. If this broke your heart, synthesis might even more

previous part ; masterlist

Hotch’s gaze dropped, the weight of your accusations settling on him. “I thought that’s what was best,” he murmured, the admission almost painful. “I thought… I thought it was enough.”

●

It was yet another early morning at the BAU, and as usual, you walked into the office to find Hotch already at his desk, a cup of black coffee in hand, looking as composed and sharp as ever. No matter how early you tried to get in, Hotch always seemed to be one step ahead and especially today, you couldn’t help but comment on it.

“You know, Hotch, that’s 76 coffees you owe me now,” you said, dropping your bag on your chair and crossing your arms, pretending to be stern. “Maybe it’s time to rethink your strategy. You could try showing up late, just once. Shake things up.”

Hotch glanced up, an amused smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I could, but where’s the fun in that? Besides, I have to keep beating you just to remind you of your constant failure.”

You rolled your eyes, leaning against the side of his desk. “Wow, Hotch, who knew you were this petty? I bet you’d stay up all night just to make sure you’d beat me here.”

He chuckled softly, not denying it. “Well, someone has to keep you grounded. Can’t have you thinking you’re invincible, partner.”

In the past couple of months, the term “Partner” had become a running joke between you two. Whether by design or coincidence, Gideon and Rossi kept pairing you together on cases, and even when they didn’t, you’d find yourselves seeking each other’s opinions anyway – you were desk mates after all, it was impossible not to rely on each other’s expertise. Yet the nickname stuck, a testimony that had made working together more natural than either of you could have ever predicted.

Your familiarity with Hotch’s desk arrangement had grown, too. You knew his precise system of organizing case files, the way he stacked them according to urgency, but today, something was different. As you glanced at his desk, your brows furrowed in confusion: the stack of case files was unusually tall, casting an odd shadow that didn’t quite match its usual shape. It looked as if something bulky was hiding underneath.

“Hotch, what’s with the fortress of case files?” you asked, pointing at the strange shadow. “Are you hiding something under there?”

Hotch hesitated for a moment, as if he didn’t expect to be caught in the act. With a slight, amused shrug, he grabbed the files and lifted them off the hidden unknown object – or the unob - revealing a thick book on architecture history.

You raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. “A World History of Architecture?! Didn’t take you for the type, I’m surprised.”

Hotch looked down at the book, his expression a mix of embarrassment and pride. “I picked it up after the Frank Lloyd Wright case,” he admitted, almost shyly. “That night we spent going over his designs at the library, I don’t know why but something about it stuck. I guess I wanted to know more. So I’ve been reading this during my ‘waiting for you to show up’ time.”

You smirked, leaning in to examine the book. “SSA Aaron Hotchner, secretly an architecture buff. Who would’ve thought? Next thing I know, you’ll leave the Bureau and go to architecture school, you would still owe me 76 coffees though.”

He scoffed playfully, closing the book and setting it aside. “I don’t think I’m quite ready to go that far. But it’s been... nice. You know - learning something just because I want to, not because I have to.”

You gave him a teasing nudge. “Hey, don’t underestimate yourself, partner - maybe one day you’ll be the next Frank Lloyd Wright of the FBI. Designing prisons, interrogation rooms, you name it.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “I think I’ll stick to profiling, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Just as you were about to tell him your kitchen needed some renovation – so he could start with something easy – an unexpected way-too-familiar voice interrupted from behind.

“Y/N!”

You turned around, and there was SSA Peter Rogers - one of your closest friends you ever had since you were fifteen - standing in the bullpen with his easy smile and that overly confident stance of his, just as you remembered him.

“Pete!” you exclaimed, a genuine smile spreading across your face as you rushed to hug him, the familiar warmth on your body you missed so much made you hold on to him a little longer. “What are you doing back so soon? I thought you were still overseas.”

Peter shrugged with a modest grin. “Operation wrapped up early. Figured I’d come back and see what kind of trouble you’ve been causing around here.”. That smile of his had the ability not to change one bit since the first time you saw each other, causing you to travel six years back in time.

▪︎

It was the first day of your mother’s Italian Literature class at the university. You were just fifteen, juggling between high school and university courses, your hunger for knowledge insatiable as a shield from what was daily happening between the walls of your own house. You always sat in the front row, scribbling notes furiously, letting your brain disconnect from reality in order to lose yourself in the lyrical beauty of Leopardi’s poetry.

Peter had been sitting a few rows back, finishing his degree in linguistics. He’d noticed you immediately, you were quite easy to spot as you were visibly way too young to sit in that room – and if it wasn’t enough, you made sure to ask at least a question to the professor, at least once in the lesson, always being deeply engaged with the material. Hence why after that particular class, he approached you with curiosity.

“Hey, you’re not the typical student, are you?” Peter asked, leaning against the desk beside you. “You’re taking university classes while still in high school? That’s quite impressive.”

You looked up, a little taken aback by his easy confidence but not put off. “Yeah, I’m kind of…double-booked,” you replied with a shy smile. “I just really love literature. My mom’s a professor here, so she lets me sit in when I can.”

Peter nodded, intrigued. “I’m Peter, by the way. Linguistics major. So you must be some kind of prodigy, huh?”

You laughed. “No, not a prodigy. Just…curious. I love philosophy, languages, psychology, all of it.”

The two of you clicked instantly, and since that encounter both of you would always exchange notes, in order to make sure none of you ever lost a word said in the class. Peter became a sort of unofficial mentor, “Have you ever thought about profiling? It’s all about understanding people, their languages, their motives. With your skills, you’d be amazing at it.” He asked one day after class.

That was the very day you learnt what a profiler was.

▪︎

Peter greeted Hotch with the same familiarity. “Hotch! Good to see you again, man. I missed having my desk buddy around.”

Hotch stood up, shaking Peter’s hand with a polite but reserved smile. “Welcome back, Peter. I heard about the undercover operation. You handled it exceptionally well, no one expected for you to come back so soon.”

Peter shrugged, his usual modesty in place. “Thanks, Hotch. It was a tough one, but we got the job done.” He immediately turned his gaze towards you “Y/N, who knew you would have stolen my desk too”

Hotch raised an eyebrow, glancing at the two of you briefly. That “too” echoed in his mind, the sudden realization just hit that there was more history between you and Peter than he’d previously understood, founding himself feeling like an outsider.

Peter, ever observant, caught the flicker of something in Hotch’s expression. “So you know Y/N? She’s one hell of a smart cookie,” he said, looking between you and Hotch with a teasing smile.

You rolled your eyes playfully, brushing off the compliment. “Oh, please Pete let’s not start with this just yet”

Peter laughed, leaning closer to Hotch as if about to reveal a secret. “Did she ever tell you she can sing? Like, really sing. She’s incredible. I’ve heard her at a few college events back in the day.”

Hotch looked at you, surprised, taking in this new piece of your past. “No, she never mentioned that.

You felt your cheeks heat up, flustered by Peter’s unexpected praise – especially because you were both standing in your workplace. “That’s because it’s not important,” you said, trying to steer the conversation back to safer territory. “Besides, Peter’s just exaggerating. I’ve only been in the field twice with Hotch anyway, so there’s not that much to tell, most of my work has been here at the office.”

▪︎

A year ago, you attended a conference at the FBI Academy, and Peter was there as a speaker, discussing linguistic analysis in criminal profiling. It was the first time you’d seen each other in years, and the connection was immediate, even stronger than your days together at the university.

‘’Y/N is that really you?! You’ve grown so much you’re making me feel kind of old” Little did you knew that you would spend the entire evening catching up, sharing stories of your separate journeys still having in common your mutual love for the complexities of language and behavior.

“You’re exactly where you’re meant to be,” Peter told you as the two of you sat at a table, away from the noise of the main event. “I knew it from the moment I met you. You’ve got the mind for this work.”

You’d been touched by his confidence in you, feeling like the teenage girl he’d mentored all over again. “Thanks, Pete. But you’ve always been the one pushing me forward, I don’t know if I’d have chosen this path without your nudging.”

Peter’s smile was genuine, warm. “You would’ve found your way, Y/N. You always do.”

▪︎

The more Hotch listened to the two of you catching up, the more he felt that gap, as if Peter was pulling you back into a shared history that he hadn’t been part of.

Peter grinned, nudging you playfully. “Always aiming for perfection, huh?

You tried to brush it off, cheeks warming under their combined scrutiny. “Oh, please. That was a long time ago.”

Peter shrugged, turning back to Hotch. “But she hasn’t changed. I can see it in your eyes, you know?! Same drive, same brilliance. So, how’s she been doing? What cases has she solved?”

Hotch took a moment, his expression unreadable as he considered Peter’s question. “She’s been doing great,” Hotch said finally, his voice measured. “We’ve worked on a few tough cases together, a few high-profile cases. She’s brilliant, as you know, we’ve had our hands full. But it’s good to have you back - we can always use the extra help”

Peter nodded, his enthusiasm palpable. “Looking forward to jumping back in”

Before anyone could say more, Rossi approached, cutting through the atmosphere with his usual flair. “Well, looks like we’ve got our team for the day. Gideon’s out, so Peter, you’re coming with us. We’ve got a complicated case ahead, and I’d rather have all hands-on deck, we might be in desperate be of two linguists on this one”

Peter’s eyes flicked to you, then to Hotch, his smile never wavering. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The team’s arrival at the police station was met with a wave of unease that hung heavy in the air. The case they were stepping into was far from simple. Multiple international tourists had been brutally murdered, each crime scene marked by cryptic messages in different languages. This was a killer who thrived on complexity, and with every new clue, the puzzle seemed to grow more intricate.

Rossi led the team inside with his usual calm authority, his eyes scanning the room with the practiced ease of someone who had seen too many crime scenes in his career. Peter and Hotch moved in tandem, flanking him on either side as they entered the station. The moment they stepped inside, the chaos enveloped them like a wave crashing on the shore.

The police station was a flurry of frantic movement and tension. Officers darted between desks, paperwork scattered in their wake, and phones rang incessantly, demanding attention that no one seemed able to fully give. The space, clearly not designed to handle the intensity of a high-profile investigation, felt claustrophobic and stifling, the walls closing in under the pressure of a case spiraling beyond control.

The air was thick, not just with the stress that permeated the station but with the unmistakable grit of dust being churned by the old, neglected air conditioning unit overhead, blowing more dirt than relief, only adding to the oppressive atmosphere. Everyone was on edge, their nerves stretched thin by the weight of a situation they were ill-equipped to handle. Rossi could almost taste the desperation in the room, a palpable sense of urgency that clung to every officer as they hustled to keep up with demands they were never trained to meet.

Rossi exchanged a knowing look with Hotch, both of them wordlessly acknowledging the uphill battle they were about to face - not just against the unsub but against the limitations of a team clearly overwhelmed.

The lead detective, a grizzled man with a permanent scowl, approached Rossi, barely acknowledging the rest of the team. “Agent Rossi, we appreciate the Bureau’s help, but I hope you realize this is a time-sensitive situation. We’ve got international press breathing down our necks, and the mayor’s about ready to pull his hair out.”

Rossi nodded calmly, his authoritative presence immediately establishing control. “We’re here to provide a profile and assist in any way we can. What can you tell us about the latest victim?”

The detective began briefing but his eyes kept darting towards you, flickering with something between doubt and annoyance. Finally, he couldn’t hold back any longer. “I’m sorry, but are you sure you brought the right team? She looks like she should be at a college lecture, not a crime scene.”

The comment hit like a slap, and you felt the familiar burn of frustration flare up. You’d been here before, countless times, actually. You were used to your youthful appearance and academic background drawing skepticism, but that still didn’t make it any easier to swallow, especially in that particular case. Before you could respond, Peter jumped in, his voice carrying a mix of defense and pride.

“Detective, she’s not just some college student. Y/N’s one of the best linguists you’ll ever meet, and she’s cracked more complex cases than most agents twice her age. I’d trust her instincts over anyone else’s, any day.”

There was a quiet confidence in Peter’s words that seemed to force the detective to take a second look, though his skepticism remained stubbornly in place. Hotch, noticing the tension, stepped forward, his expression firm. “Agent Y/L/N’s skills are exactly what we need for this case. If anyone can figure out what the unsub is communicating, it’s her.”

The detective hesitated, then gave a reluctant nod. “Fine, but we don’t have time for trial and error. Every minute we waste is another chance for him to strike again.”

“We’re all already aware of this, Detective. I’m sure you know that making my work any more difficult than it already is isn’t going to benefit any of us.” You finally had the courage to bite back.

As you settled into the briefing room, you felt Peter’s hand gently squeeze your shoulder, a silent but reassuring gesture as he said, “Don’t let it get to you.” You glanced at him, grateful for his unwavering support, and gave a small, determined smile in return. You were here to do a job, and you weren’t going to let some old-school cop’s doubts throw you off your game.

Once inside, the team gathered around the evidence board, covered in photos, maps, and printed copies of the unsub’s cryptic messages. Hotch and Rossi started dissecting the behavioral aspects, but your eyes were immediately drawn to the linguistic patterns.

Peter set up next to you, and the two of you fell into an easy rhythm, just like old times. “This one’s in German,” Peter pointed out, highlighting one of the messages. “It’s a proverb that loosely translates to ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,’ but it’s the context that’s strange. He’s placing blame close to home.”

You nodded, your mind already racing through the implications. “And this one in French, ‘Nul n’est prophète en son pays’ - ‘No one is a prophet in their own land.’ He’s building a narrative where he’s the misunderstood hero, vilifying his victims in the process.”

Hotch watched from the corner of his eye, noting the seamless back-and-forth between you and Peter. It was clear that you two shared a deep understanding of each other’s thought processes, effortlessly piecing together the unsub’s motives and the cultural implications behind each message.

Rossi leaned over to Hotch, his voice low. “They’ve got something, don’t they?”

Hotch nodded, keeping his expression neutral even as a flicker of something uncomfortably familiar passed through him. “Yeah. They do.”

As you and Peter continued to dissect the messages, the detective returned with another dose of skepticism. “So, what’s the point of all this? We know he’s targeting tourists, but what’s the endgame?”

You hesitated, feeling the weight of his judgment holding yourself to punch him in the face, but Peter jumped in, his confidence never wavering. “The messages aren’t just random: they’re statements about identity, belonging, and betrayal. He’s targeting people who represent something he feels threatened by, probably linked to his own experiences.”

The detective was confused by the complexity of the message Peter was trying to communicate but at least he seemed less doubtful. Hotch and Rossi exchanged another look, Peter’s ability to not only support but elevate you was undeniable, and it left a lingering question in Hotch’s mind that he couldn’t quite shake, an unresolved history between you and Peter that was palpable to everyone in the room, even if no one dared to say it aloud. As the team continued to piece together the unsub’s twisted narrative, it became increasingly clear that the linguistic clues were the key to unlocking his motive.

“Here’s the first message,” Peter said, pointing at a wall covered in scrawled Italian text. “‘Chi semina vento, raccoglie tempesta.’ He’s quoting an old Italian proverb. It translates to ‘He who sows the wind shall reap the storm.’ Classic justification tactic. He’s blaming his victims for their own deaths.”

You nodded, running your fingers along the paper. “He’s using cultural proverbs to deflect responsibility. It’s not just about justifying his actions; he’s making a statement that he’s in the right, that the victims somehow deserved this.”

Peter smirked, recalling your sharpness from years ago. “You know, you’ve always had this annoying habit of being right. Remember that time back in your mom’s class? You corrected Professor Ricci about Dante’s theological influences.”

You laughed, half-embarrassed. “Oh, God, don’t remind me. I just couldn’t let it go.”

Peter turned to the others, Rossi didn't throw away his shot. "Remind us, Peter. I'm not going to let an opportunity like this slip from my fingers"

Peter jokingly cleared his throat. “Y/N stopped the guest professor right in the middle of the lecture and said,”

He made sure to pitch his tone up in order to mimic yours “While Dante’s work is often linked to the influence of Saint Augustine, we also need to remember that his beliefs were also shaped by the dominant philosophy of his time: Platonism, especially the Neoplatonists and Plotinus.’ The whole room was stunned, and Professor Ricci just stood there.”

Hotch couldn’t help but smile, picturing a younger version of you challenging a university professor with such confidence. Yet there was something more bubbling up in his blood, this was another glimpse into a part of your life he hadn’t seen, hadn’t known. It made him feel strangely out of the loop, like an outsider looking in.

Peter continued, still caught up in the memory. “You finished him when you also provided proof to support your thesis”

“Of course, how else was I supposed to-“

He immediately cut you off. “Early Christian thinkers adapted Greek philosophical ideas, particularly Plato’s concept of eternal forms from which the material world originated. This was quite convenient for the Christian theologians of that time, indeed this philosophical influence is evident in the biblical phrase - and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.' You had everyone in the room, including the professor, rethinking what they knew about Dante.”

You shrugged modestly, glancing at Hotch, who seemed both amused and thoughtful. “I wasn’t trying to show off. It just… bothered me that no one pointed it out – and because of that my mom forbid me to attend her class for two weeks straight. Pete, I’m still thankful for your notes.”

Hotch chuckled softly, meeting your eyes. “Some things never change.”

The team continued working for hours straight, but the frustration began to mount. Despite your and Peter’s best efforts, the linguistic puzzles refused to crack completely. The police officers were growing visibly impatient, and you could feel their skeptical glances as they hovered around the room.

One officer, who had been particularly dismissive, sneered as he walked by. “So, this is the genius team the FBI sent us? Still no answers?”

The comment hit harder than it should have, and for a moment, you felt the sting of self-doubt. Peter, noticing your silence, shot the officer a glare. “We’re not here to waste time, Detective. We’re here to solve this.”

Peter leaned closer to you, his hands grabbing your shoulders, speaking softly so only you could hear. “Don’t listen to them. We’ll get it, like we always do.”

You nodded, trying to focus on his words rather than the creeping sense of inadequacy. Hotch watched the exchange, noting the way Peter seemed to know exactly how to lift you up when you needed it most. He wanted to say something reassuring himself, but the moment passed, leaving him feeling strangely sidelined.

The hours dragged on, and eventually, the team left the station to get some rest. At the hotel, Rossi and Hotch were assigned to share a room, while you and Peter were given the one next door. As you walked down the hallway, Rossi turned to Hotch with a pointed look.

“You know, Aaron,” Rossi said with a grin, “if I catch you working tonight, we’re gonna have words. You need sleep just as much as the rest of us. I’m serious when I say I’m a light sleeper, so I swear, if you keep me up with that damned desk light, you’re a dead man.”

Hotch gave a tight-lipped smile, appreciating Rossi’s concern – even if he expressed it in his own unique way - although he knew he’d never be able to turn his mind off. “Don’t worry, Dave. I’ll try my best.”

On the other hand, in your room, you and Peter settled in, and immediately surrounded yourselves by case files and coffee cups. You tried to solely focus on the work, but as the night wore on, the conversation drifted, after all it had been over six months since you’d seen each other, and there was a lot to catch up on. Peter leaned back, studying you with an easy smile.

“You’ve changed, Y/N,” he said, his tone light but sincere. “You’re still that perfectionist who can’t let a puzzle go unsolved, but… there’s something different.”

You glanced at him, surprised. “I don’t know about that. I’m just… trying to keep up, I guess.”

Peter reached out, brushing a loose strand of hair behind your ear in a gesture that was both familiar and affectionate. “You’ve always been better than just keeping up. Don’t forget that.”

You found yourself caught between the comfort of Peter’s presence and the tug of unresolved emotions that you hadn’t quite figured out.

“Let’s go to sleep, shall we? I think we’ve done enough work for today” He winked at you as he placed his hand on the small of your back guiding you towards the bed.

“Oh don’t worry, you should sleep though. I think I might go down the lobby to clear my head for a bit.” You lied to him, but you couldn’t ignore your gut feeling telling you that there was something else you hadn’t considered yet.

Similarly, just across the corridor, the case weighed heavily on Hotch’s mind, and despite Rossi’s threat, he knew he wouldn’t rest until he’d figured out what was missing. Hours passed with Hotch lying in the dark, the puzzle pieces of the case refusing to align, finally, at nearly two in the morning, he couldn’t take it any longer. Careful not to wake Rossi, he grabbed his files and slipped quietly out of the room, making his way to the lobby to continue working.

To his surprise, he found you there too, hunched over a table with notes sprawled out, lost in concentration. You looked up when you heard him approach, unable to hide your surprise.

“Partner,” you said with a grin, noting his rare appearance in his white t-shirt, checkered blue pants pajamas, with the slippers provided by the hotel at his feet. “I’ve got to admit, this is new. Did Rossi finally threaten you into losing the suit?”

Hotch smirked, taking the seat across from you. “He did, actually. But desperate times, right? I didn’t think anyone else would be up.”

You chuckled, enjoying the casualness of the moment despite the late hour. Hotch spread out his files, his brow furrowing as he glanced over them. “I think there’s something we’ve been missing, there’s a pattern in the language choices. It’s not random. He’s escalating with each message.”

You leaned closer, your fingers tracing the messages. “You’re right. It’s chronological. He’s building something: a timeline, like each phrase is a step toward his endgame. It’s not just blame; it’s justification.”

Hotch nodded, grateful for the way your mind seemed to work so fluidly alongside his, especially in the late hours of the night. But as you continued to dissect the sequence, Hotch’s thoughts drifted back to earlier, watching you and Peter work so seamlessly together. The old familiarity, the easy way you bounced ideas off each other, it had been hard to ignore. And now, in the quiet of the night every sensation was amplified, especially the ones he’s been trying to brush off for the entire day, they stung a little more than he wanted to admit.

The ease of the moment was shattered when Hotch suddenly broke the flow of your thoughts with a wry comment. “You know, I’m surprised you’re even here working. I figured you’d be busy... catching up with Peter. He’s been flirting with you nonstop since he came back.”

You froze, your jaw tightening as his words sank in. The casual, almost careless tone hit a nerve, and you could feel a flicker of anger flare up inside you. “What’s that supposed to mean, Hotch?”

Hotch leaned back, crossing his arms, trying to mask the hint of frustration that was seeping through. “Nothing. Just an observation. It’s not like you haven’t been a little distracted since he got back.”

You stared at him, incredulous. The casual arrogance in his words struck a nerve, and before you could stop yourself, the frustration that had been building all day came spilling out. “You really think you know everything about me, don’t you? Just because we work together, you think you’ve got me all figured out.”

Hotch’s expression tightened, caught off guard by the sudden burst of anger. “That’s not—”

“No, let me finish,” you said sharply, your voice steady but laced with a quiet intensity. “You don’t know me, Hotch. You have no idea what I’ve been through or what I’m dealing with. You’ve worked beside me for months, calling me partner, acting like you’ve got me all figured out, but you don’t. You don’t know the first thing about who I am or what’s going on beneath the surface.”

Hotch opened his mouth to respond, but the sting of your words left him speechless. You were relentless, every word cutting through his composure. “You think just because we’ve been working together constantly, you’re entitled to know me? To judge me? But you know what, Hotch? You’re wrong. You don’t know a damn thing.”

Hotch’s jaw clenched, the carefully maintained façade he wore slipping for just a moment. “I’m not judging you,” he said, his voice low but strained. “I’m just trying to figure this out, okay?”

“Figure what out?” you shot back, your frustration boiling over. “The fact that you’ve been constantly analyzing everyone around you while keeping yourself locked away? You think that you’re the only one capable of reading people like an open book? You act like you’re open and honest, but you’re not. You insist on wanting to be called ‘Hotch’ on the job by everyone, and you think I wouldn’t catch onto that? You do that because ‘Aaron’ is too personal and ‘Hotchner’ is too formal. You straddle the line because you’re scared to be either. You’re terrified of being too close to anyone, yet you don’t want to seem too distant. It’s like you don’t even know who you are.”

Hotch stared at you, your words hitting deeper than you knew. You had seen right through him, through the carefully constructed barriers he put up to keep everyone at a manageable distance. He didn’t know how to respond because, for once, someone had called him out on the one thing he feared the most: his own inability to truly connect.

“I keep things professional because it’s easier,” Hotch admitted, his voice tinged with frustration and a hint of vulnerability. “Because it’s safe.”

You scoffed, shaking your head in disbelief. “Safe? You call this safe? You’re so busy keeping people out that you don’t even realize how much you’re missing. We’ve been partners at work, sure, but that’s all it’s ever been, right? Professional, compartmentalized, no mess, no feelings. That’s how you want it.”

Hotch’s gaze dropped, the weight of your accusations settling on him. “I thought that’s what was best,” he murmured, the admission almost painful. “I thought… I thought it was enough.”

You sighed, your anger waning but the hurt still fresh. “You don’t have to figure out anything, you said that yourself – I thought - It’s not enough for you Hotch, and not even for me.”

There was a long, heavy silence between you, both of you staring at the scattered papers on the table, as if the answers you sought could be found in the scrawled handwriting and cryptic messages. But this wasn’t something that could be solved with profiling or deduction. It was messier, more personal, and neither of you were sure how to navigate it.

“I’m sorry,” Hotch said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. “For making you feel like you’re just another piece of the job.”

You nodded, the tension easing but not entirely gone. “I appreciate your apologies but if you really want to change things up all you have to do is to agree to be vulnerable with me, that’s all.”

You turned your attention back to the case, pushing through the lingering discomfort to focus on what you could control. You worked in silence, each of you lost in thought, both aware that this argument had pulled something to the surface that couldn’t be ignored.

By the time you finally cracked the pattern in the unsub’s messages, the sun was beginning to rise.

As Hotch made his way back to the room at nearly 4 a.m., he was trying to be as quiet as possible, mindful not to wake Rossi. But as he slipped inside, he was met with the sight of Rossi already awake, leaning against the edge of his bed, arms crossed, his expression a mixture of amusement and disapproval.

“Couldn’t resist, could you?” Rossi’s voice was low but carried a playful edge, tinged with the knowing tone of someone who had seen this behavior from Hotch too many times before.

Hotch tried to hide his fatigue, rubbing a hand over his face as he set the files down on the desk. “It was important. I found something we missed. Had to double-check.”

Rossi’s smirk didn’t waver. “You found something, huh? Or did you just need an excuse to get out of this room and clear your head?”

Hotch stiffened, but he knew there was no point in denying it. “We figured out the sequence, the messages weren’t just random. They were chronological, like a timeline leading to his next target. We were close, but we couldn’t afford to miss it.”

Rossi nodded, his expression softening just a little. He knew Hotch was right; they were on a tight timeline with no room for errors. Still, he couldn’t resist teasing his friend. “You could have figured that out in the morning, Aaron. You can’t solve every problem by burning the candle at both ends.”

Hotch sat down on his bed, glancing at the clock, Rossi’s words lingered, cutting through the tension Hotch had been carrying all day. “I know. But you said it yourself—we can’t miss anything.

Rossi studied Hotch for a moment, his voice dropping to a softer, more serious tone. “You’ve been different since Peter came back,” Rossi said, watching Hotch’s reaction closely. “It’s like you’re working twice as hard, pushing yourself even more than usual. What’s going on?”

Hotch’s expression tightened, his usual stoic demeanor wavering under Rossi’s probing gaze. He knew exactly Rossi could read from his face what had just happened between the two of you. “I just… wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” he repeated, his tone defensive.

Rossi wasn’t buying it. He moved closer, sitting on the edge of his own bed, facing Hotch directly. “You’re not fooling me, Aaron. I’ve seen this before. You’re not just worried about the case. This is about Y/N, isn’t it?”

Hotch looked away, pretending to be preoccupied with the files on his lap. But Rossi’s words hit too close to home, and he couldn’t ignore the knot of emotions that had been building inside him since Peter’s return. “It’s not what you think,” Hotch said quietly, though even to him, it sounded unconvincing.

Rossi leaned back, giving Hotch a knowing look. “Look, it’s natural. You and Y/N have been working closely, you’ve got this rhythm. Peter comes back, and suddenly you’re reminded that you’re not the only one who clicks with her. But it’s not a competition, Aaron. You’re more to this team, and I’m sure you are to her as well, than a stand-in.”

Hotch’s jaw tightened. He had spent the last few months building a partnership with you, appreciating your insights and the way you challenged him. But Peter’s return had stirred up insecurities he hadn’t even realized he had.

“It’s not that,” Hotch said finally, though the weight in his voice suggested otherwise. “I just want to make sure we get this right. Peter’s good at what he does. It’s just… different.”

Rossi gave him a pointed look. “Different isn’t bad, Hotch. And you’re still you. You don’t have to prove anything: to her, to Peter, or to anyone else.”

Hotch nodded, though Rossi’s words did little to ease the knot in his chest. “Thanks, Dave. I know.”

Rossi watched him for another moment before standing up, his tone lightening as he made his way back to his bed. “Just remember, she was never looking for a replacement for him while he was gone. She’s looking for a partner. And you’ve already proven you can be that.”

Hotch lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Rossi’s words echoed in his mind, he knew he needed to get some sleep, but his thoughts were restless. It wasn’t just about the case anymore, it was about finding his place, about understanding what you truly meant to him beyond the walls of the BAU. As he finally drifted off, he promised himself that whatever happened next, he wouldn’t let his insecurities cloud his judgment. He’d be the partner you needed, and maybe, just maybe, he’d find a way to fit into your life outside of work, too. If you ever let him after today.

#aaron hotchner #criminal minds #hotch #hotch x reader #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x reader #criminal minds x reader

158 notes · View notes

lionofchaeronea · 23 hours ago

Text

Title: Architectural Fantasy Artist: circle of Karl Friedrich Schinkel (German [Prussian], 1781-1841) Date: unknown Genre: architectural painting; capriccio Movement: Romanticism Medium: oil on canvas mounted on cardboard Dimensions: 42.5 cm (16.7 in) high x 56 cm (22 in) wide Location: private collection

#art #art history #Karl Friedrich Schinkel #architectural painting #capriccio #Romanticism #Romantic art #German Romanticism #German art #19th century art #oil on canvas #private collection

79 notes · View notes

terminusantequem · 1 year ago

Photo

Ross Bleckner (American, b. 1949), Study for Architecture of Sky, 1987. Oil on canvas, 66 x 66 cm

#ross bleckner

849 notes · View notes

dmsinfosystem · 1 year ago

Text

Building a Headless CMS Architecture: A Comprehensive Guide

In the ever-evolving world of web development, the Headless CMS architecture has emerged as a popular solution for building websites and applications. In this article, we'll explore what a Headless CMS is, why it's gaining popularity, and how you can build a Headless CMS architecture with a Hook to enhance its functionality.

What is a Headless CMS?

A headless CMS is a content management system that doesn't control the front-end presentation layer but offers a content repository, API, and backend system for managing content. Unlike traditional CMS systems, a Headless CMS separates content management from content delivery, allowing developers to build custom front-end experiences using the API and tools of their choice.

Why is Headless CMS gaining popularity?

Headless CMS is gaining popularity for several reasons, including:

Flexibility:

With a Headless CMS, developers have complete control over the presentation layer and can use any technology they prefer to build custom front-end experiences. This flexibility allows developers to create unique user experiences and enables faster development times.

Scalability:

Headless CMS is highly scalable and can handle large amounts of content and traffic without affecting performance. The API-driven approach also allows developers to build applications easily scaled horizontally.

Security:

Headless CMS architecture is more secure than traditional CMS systems as it doesn't expose the back-end system to the internet, reducing the risk of attacks and data breaches.

Cost-Effectiveness:

Headless CMS systems can be more cost-effective than traditional CMS systems as they require fewer resources and can be hosted on scalable cloud platforms.

How to Build a Headless CMS Architecture?

Building a Headless CMS architecture can seem daunting, but it can be broken down into several key steps:

Step 1: Choose the Right CMS Platform

The first step in building a Headless CMS architecture is to choose the right CMS platform. There are several popular Headless CMS platforms available, including Strapi, Contentful, and Sanity. Every platform has different benefits and drawbacks, therefore it's important to assess each choice in light of your particular needs.

Step 2: Define Your Content Model

Determining your content model comes after selecting your CMS platform. The types of content you'll be managing, the attributes that make up each content type, and the connections between various content categories are all defined by a content model.

Step 3: Create Your Content

The next thing to do after establishing your content model is to start producing content. This can include text, images, videos, and any other media types you'll be managing in your Headless CMS.

Step 4: Set Up Your API

The API is the backbone of a Headless CMS architecture and allows developers to access and manipulate content from the CMS. Setting up your API involves configuring your CMS platform to expose your content through a REST or GraphQL API.

Step 5: Build Your Front-End Application

The final step is to create your front-end application after your API is established. This involves using the API to fetch content from the CMS and display it on your website or application. Your front-end application's technology selection is up to you, allowing you to create a unique user experience that suits your unique demands.

Using a Hook to Enhance Your Headless CMS Architecture

While building a Headless CMS architecture is relatively straightforward, you can enhance its functionality using a Hook. A Hook is a piece of code that allows you to modify or extend the behaviour of a CMS platform. Hooks can be used to perform a variety of tasks, including:

Integrating with third-party services:

Hooks can be used to integrate your Headless CMS with third-party services, such as analytics.

Modifying content:

Before the content is transmitted to the front-end application or saved to the CMS, hooks can be used to change it.

Extending functionality:

Hooks can be used to extend the functionality of your Headless CMS by adding custom features or integrations.

To use a Hook, you'll need to identify the appropriate Hook point in your CMS platform and write custom code to execute. Hooks can be written in various programming languages, depending on your CMS platform.

Conclusion

Ultimately, creating a headless content management system design offers more flexibility, reliability, safety, and cost-effectiveness than conventional CMS systems. You need to choose the best CMS platform, establish your content model, produce your content, configure your API, and develop your front-end application before you can design a Headless CMS architecture. Using a Hook can also enhance the functionality of your Headless CMS architecture by allowing you to modify content, integrate with third-party services, and extend functionality. You can create a Headless CMS design that satisfies your particular requirements and offers a distinctive user experience by following these directions and using the power of Hooks.

#content management system #headless cms architecture #cms architecture #content management system architecture

0 notes

emberfrostlovesloki · 1 month ago

Text

Rossi + Poetry

All photo credits at the end

Criminal Minds Characters + Virtues - Rossi and Temperance

“It is a queer thing. In a time of great need, when powerful leadership is demanded, the people—confused and excited—hear only the strident voices of the audacious, and refuse to listen to the voice of wisdom which, being wise, is temperate.” - Llyod C. Douglas

I think in modern times we think of temperance as teetotaling, but it's a quality not always about being sober. It is, to me, about moderation. Careful condiseration for oneself and one's friends. Rosse grows in his temperance exponentially in the show. His first episode shows him to be arrogant and reckless with others, but with time, the team becomes his family, he learns to moderate his behavior. I know some people clown on Rossi, but he is one of my favs.

Other Virtue Mood Boards: Aaron + Poetry, Penelope + Poetry, Emily + Poetry, Spencer + Poetry, Derek + Poetry, JJ + Poetry

Text Break Banner @cafekitsune

Top: Left (@kahvedebiyat) Center (@lukwata) Right (@piratecode)

Middle: Left (@sproutandroid) Center (@criminalmindsverse) Right (@aesthetic-otd)

Bottom: Left (@nighttime-moodlight) Center (@neonin3d) Right (@mcpirata)

#david rossi #rossi #criminal minds #cm #cm poetry #rossi + poetry #temperance #mood board #moodboard #green moodboard #eco brutalism #architecture #architecture moodboard #i'd feel safe with rossi #levi rambles

7 notes · View notes

octuscle · 11 months ago

Note

If a nerd in highschool suddenly gained muscular body, without an effect on his brains or mental state

How quickly would he actually, naturally change? Maybe the attention gives him an ego?

Or maybe the jocks want to be his friend

How much of a jock could the nerd become?

Project diary, entry 1 (Friday)

My name is Salomon Miller. I live in Providence, Connecticut and am a senior in high school. I wouldn't say I have any real hobbies, but I am interested in art history, architecture, astronomy and geology. And many other things. I read a lot and actually everything I can get my hands on. But my passion is sociology and political science. That's also one of the reasons why I'm writing this diary. Starting next semester, I will be studying at Stanford and have a full scholarship, which is linked to my participation in a project. The Department of Sociology will use my person to investigate the effects of serious physical changes on the psyche and behavior. I won't find out in advance what the physical changes are, but the changes were set in motion with the help of an injection that I received today.

My parents support me in the project. My father is a lawyer specializing in environmental law, my mother is a neurologist and psychiatrist. Neither of them understand why I chose to study sociology, but as they both studied at Stanford, they accept my plans. They don't have many options either, they are both in Europe for a long time. My mother has a research semester at the University Hospital of Heidelberg and my father is currently representing a client in a lengthy case at the European Court of Justice. I've known this situation since I was a child. I'm used to having our gardener or Consuela, our housekeeper, as my social contact. That's not meant in a negative way, I love my parents, even if our contact is often less intensive. This has taught me a certain independence, which I really appreciate.

Today is the Friday evening before the last weekend of the summer vacation. The date was chosen deliberately for the injection. This gives me until Monday morning to get used to the upcoming transformation. At the moment, I feel nothing more than a certain tiredness. Normally I would go for a long walk or read something. But I'm just exhausted and will go to bed early.

Project diary, entry 2 (Saturday)

I woke up at around 03:00 in the morning. I was scared to death. I was almost strangled by my pyjamas. I tried to rip the top off my body. I tore it completely to shreds. I was no longer wearing my pyjama bottoms, which were already lying in tatters in my bed. It was clear to me that the transformation had begun. And a look in the bathroom mirror gave me certainty. My whole body was twitching, just like I'd seen in a Hulk movie. Except I didn't turn green. But my muscles literally grew. In fact, little else has changed. I am still clearly me. Even though my neck was already wider than my head, which is why I almost suffocated in my pyjamas, this was still my face. My hairstyle unchanged. My eyesight was also the same. Fortunately, the head can't get any more muscular, the glasses still fit. My thoughts were running amok in my head, I can't describe the feeling, especially as the cramps didn't stop and the muscles continued to grow. I lay down on my bed and tried to relax. At around 04:30 the cramps subsided and I fell asleep again from exhaustion.

When I woke up at around 09:45, I was lying sticky and sweaty in a dried up puddle of semen. Obviously I had ejaculated once or several times. After getting up, I went to the bathroom to assess the change. According to the scales, I now weigh 120 kilograms (I assume that documentation in metric units is more scientific), my height is unchanged at 182 cm. What has actually changed is the length of my penis, which is now 18 cm when flaccid. I have not yet been able to measure the length when erect. In fact, I would have thought that the sight of a muscular man would somehow excite me. But my head has been working like crazy since I got up, I suppose my blood is needed in my brain and is not available for an erection. The shower was still an incredible experience. My body feels great. I had no idea what muscles felt like. However, I realized while showering that I had a problem: None of my clothes would fit me anymore. And my father is smaller than me and, like I was until yesterday, is also more of an ectomorph. My only hope was that José, our gardener, who is probably almost as muscular as me and about my height, had some of his clothes in the dirty laundry. He and Consuela both don't work at the weekend and I didn't want to invade his room.

I was actually lucky and managed to find a pair of jeans, a jockstrap, a T-shirt and a pair of tennis socks in the laundry. Everything smelled very unpleasant and at first I thought about washing it first and then putting it on, but then decided against it. Instead, I went to the mall as I was to buy something new to wear. There is an expense account from the project, which is presumably intended for exactly these cases. Shopping really was an ordeal. As usual, I went to Macy's at Providence Place Mall first, but I realized pretty quickly that I wasn't going to find anything in my size there besides clothes for gym class. Then I went to Abercrombie & Fitch for the first time. The sales assistants literally pounced on me. The XXL T-shirts fitted reasonably well, my thighs were too big for the jeans, but shorts were fine. Fortunately, the weather forecast for the next few days is still very good.

Even though I was extremely focused on quickly working through my shopping list and getting back home, I didn't miss the effect I had on my body. Not only did the sales clerks pay much more attention to me, people turned to me, nodded appreciatively at me and greeted me. It all made me extremely uncomfortable. I was glad when I got home again.

Project diary, entry 3 (Sunday)

I'm not really a religious person, but I value the institution of the church as a culturally integrating entity. So I probably would have actually gone to church, but I would have been very uncomfortable in shorts and low-cut t-shirts that exposed my chest. So I spent the day making up my bed, doing the laundry and getting ready for the first day of school after the vacations. My story for teachers and classmates will be that I spent the summer in Europe with my parents and discovered my enthusiasm for the gym out of boredom. I have no idea whether this story will be accepted. As much as possible, I completed the course enrollment online. Because I really have no idea what I can do with this body, I signed up for boxing and wrestling. The alternative would have been football, but I have no experience at all with team and ball sports. Swimming used to be the sport I hated the least, but a few laps in our pool today have shown me that my body has become less streamlined. Although I have a lot more strength, my times are worse than usual.

I have signed up again for the astronomy and chess clubs. Apart from that, I thought it made sense to leave myself enough time to be able to react to unexpected events.

My first real test was my Sunday video conference with my parents. As I can't hide anything, I decided to take the offensive and had the conversation in nothing but my swimming trunks by the pool. Even though I had no real idea of my parents' reaction, I was actually taken aback. My mother scientifically dissected the situation and said that my body was probably more efficient now and therefore I would have a benefit gain. My father disagreed, as he assumed that a bulkier body had a worse ecological balance. In the beginning, I tried to approach this project as objectively as possible. But then I couldn't help but start crying. I was afraid of tomorrow. And my parents actually showed something like emotion and compassion.

Project diary, entry 4 (Monday)

I was expecting something like running the gauntlet. But the first day at school was actually relatively unproblematic. Most of my friends at least pretended to believe my story about my stay in Europe. The teachers were not surprised either and largely went straight back to business as usual. The only noticeable reaction came from the musclemen and jocks. I have the feeling that they never took their eyes off me. When there was eye contact, I received a respectful nod. Otherwise, I felt a bit like a foreign lion approaching a pride of lions. Every muscle of the alpha animals and their water carriers was tense and ready to strike if I got too close to their watering hole. I'm looking forward to my first PE lesson tomorrow.

Project diary, entry 6 (Tuesday)

While the morning was more of a triumph, the afternoon was a debacle. The subject matter in chemistry and physics suits me very well, everything is very interesting. There shouldn't be any significant challenges in Spanish lessons either. But the new Spanish teacher is also an advantage here. Based on her first impression, she probably thought I was a hollow nut. She didn't expect me to have already read Don Quixote in the original and in the contemporary Spanish transcription during the vacations.

I embarrassed myself to the bone in gym class. Of course, after my contrived lie, everyone assumed that I knew my way around the gym like the back of my hand. And I don't even know how to hold a barbell properly. Interestingly, no one laughed at me or anything. On the contrary, they all assumed that I'm extremely underchallenged and told me that I should just train for myself and that I should join them next week after I've learned the basics. But maybe that was just polite contempt.

In any case, I spent the whole afternoon and evening at home watching all the gym tutorials I could get hold of and reading everything I could find about bodybuilding, nutrition and supplements. That's why I skipped the first session of the chess club. But I had to prioritize.

Project diary, entry 7 (Wednesday)

Theory is good, practice is better. That's why I went straight to the gym this morning at 06:00. The school janitor who opened the door for me said appreciatively that my discipline was paying off. The big boys are always the first to arrive in the morning. If only he knew. But in fact I was lucky, I was alone on the training area until 07:00 and by then I had familiarized myself with most of the machines I had learned how they worked in theory and had also developed a feeling for the weights I was able to lift.

The second visitor to the gym after me was the quarterback of the football team. Stephen and I have been at the same school since first grade. Of course I know him. But of course he has no idea who I am. We've never had classes together and someone like me is of course a nobody to him. Or was a nobody to him. Now I was his biggest rival, the only classmate who had bigger biceps and a broader chest than him. And being the alpha male that he was, he sought conflict directly. As far as I know, the jocks and Himbo's call it "cock comparison". Wherever I trained, he did the same afterwards with more weight. After training, he waited for me in front of the shower and said that he had already heard about me. I was the Spanish exchange student. I looked at him questioningly. "Well, the one who had that book with the windmills and the crazy knight at school. The linebacker goes to your Spanish course. Clever to take Spanish as a Spaniard," he said. I shook his hand, introduced myself as Salomon and told him we were in the same kindergarten. He returned the offered hand with a fist bump and said that I must have mistaken him. He had never been to Spain. But I spoke very good English for a Spaniard.

I always prefer to spend my lunch break alone. I like to read or just relax. This time, however, Stephen waved me straight over to him and his boys. He introduced me as Sal and said I should tell him how I liked it in the USA. At first, I wanted to start comparing European democracies with the US, especially in light of the rise of populist tendencies. But then I didn't think that was a good idea and just said that I thought the USA was the greatest country in the world. Stephen gave me a fistbump and all his buddies followed suit. Before English class after lunch, my friend Frederick passed me and said somewhat reproachfully whether I would always eat with the football team now. I laughed and gave him a fist bump and said that I would only eat as long as my primate research project lasted.

Project diary, entry 8 (Friday)

Yesterday was a wild day! I went to wrestling practice. Everyone but me has taken wrestling as a sport since they were in high school. I'm the only one who had no experience at all. Sure, I looked at and read through everything I could find to prepare. But without any practical experience, I really made a fool of myself. Thank God the coach really understood me. He said that he was sorry that bodybuilding wasn't a school subject. And then he gave me tips on how to pose properly. Damn, when I stood in front of the mirror in just my underpants and he touched my muscles to get them in the right position, I got a boner. And he obviously noticed. He then hugged me from behind and massaged my nipples. It was a feeling I'd never experienced before. I started to moan. He pulled me close to him. I felt his hard-on against my ass. And then I had my first orgasm outside of my bathroom. I was so embarrassed. And it was so great! Since then, I've really just wanted to make my coach proud. I've spent every spare minute at the gym, signed up to the sports club to do more wrestling and spent a small fortune on sportswear. I'm afraid I have a real crush for the first time in my life.

Today I got a telling off from my friends from the astronomy club. I missed the meeting and no longer see them during school breaks. I admit it, I'm neglecting my old social environment. But I have to find my way in my new role. Or rather, I have to find this new role first. Tonight I have a date with a couple of guys from the sports club. We're going to the gym first and then want to watch football in the sports bar. I'm a bit excited because I've tended to spend my weekend evenings alone in front of the computer so far. Now I have to think about what I'm going to wear.

Project diary, entry 9 (Sunday)

Dude, I might be drunk. For the second night in a row. The weekend is one big party. Last night at the sports bar was great. It was a little hard at first to pretend I knew anything about football. But after one beer I didn't give a shit. At some point, someone bought me some booze. Because his team had won or something. I was completely out of it and had to puke at some point. I can't really remember, but I'm afraid I didn't hit the toilet bowl. One of the boys then took me home with him. I really wasn't able to find my way home. Apparently, at some point I invited the boys over for a pool party on Saturday. And it escalated a little bit. Fuck, I probably have to spend the rest of the day tidying and cleaning. But for now I'm going to bed. After I've thrown up.

Project diary, entry 10 (Monday)

I'm a bit embarrassed about my behavior at the weekend. When I woke up on Sunday, a few of the boys were still snoring by the pool. And a few of them were making breakfast on the barbecue. I didn't really get around to cleaning. And then I overslept today too. Consuela suddenly came into my room and asked if my parents knew what had happened here. I gave her 100 dollars from my emergency expense fund and asked her not to reveal anything. She and Raoul actually did a great job. When I got home from astronomy club late at night, everything was pretty tidy again. The two of them are real treasures!

Mondays are not sports days. History, English, math. I admit that math has never been my hobbyhorse. And my teacher has made no secret of the fact that he thinks I'm an overprivileged white boy. When I couldn't answer a question to his satisfaction today, he said something along the lines of "Muscleheads are just all airheads". The whole back row started throwing paper balls at the teacher and hooting in protest. I have never received such expressions of sympathy.

Between school and the astronomy club, I went to the optician and got some contact lenses. Glasses are just so annoying when you're doing sport. And then I went to the hairdresser. I like my haircut. My hair is longer at the nape of my neck than at the sides. I had a photo of Coach with me and said that I wanted to look like this. Hehehe, the hairdresser said that he couldn't take away my muscles. In fact, I'm bigger than Coach. The hairdresser also shaved my beard. I haven't even written that yet, I have the feeling that my beard and body hair are growing faster and thicker. A bush is growing under my armpits and in my pubic area...

The astronomy club was terribly exhausting. I wanted to concentrate on the Jupiter-Venus conjunction. We had the best conditions to observe it today. But the nerds were all just asking questions about what exactly it was like on vacation, how I trained, how I changed my diet. I prepared myself for these kinds of questions. But every one of my answers was scientifically dissected. If it goes on like this, I'd rather look at the stars alone.

Project diary, entry 11 (Thursday)

The last few days have been pretty exciting, which is why I didn't get around to writing the diary. After training on Tuesday I went to the showers. Not all the guys on the team do this, but I just don't feel comfortable in the sweat with a bit of Axe under my arms. I also urgently needed to clear my balls and cock of the hair that was growing and shave my chest. I still can't get used to how hairy I get. In any case, it all took longer than with the other boys and then I was alone with Chuck in the shower. And suddenly Chuck knelt in front of me and sucked my cock. Without warning. I had prepared myself for intercourse in theory and in practice.

In any case, I've been a bit confused ever since. I mean, I have a crush on Coach. And Coach also got a boner when he helped me pose. I mean, he must think I'm hot too. But Chuck says he's had a crush on me ever since he and I spent Friday night together. The night I don't remember. But I'm writing all mixed up...

The blowjob in the shower was definitely sooooo hot. Even though it didn't last long. Boy, I shot my load into Chuck's mouth like that. My cum was leaking out of both corners of his mouth. He French kissed me with my cum in his mouth. Dude, I'm getting hard just thinking about it. And then he grinned and said that edging wasn't really my thing. I had no idea what he meant. In any case, I kissed him again and started wanking his cock. I was far too excited to suck him off myself. Chuck moaned and started twitching. Then he pulled me against him and wedged his cock between our stomach muscles. And then blew his load. Bloody hell! I don't know how long we showered together and soaped each other up.

In any case, I then started to gain practical experience with sexual intercourse. Chuck spent the night with me the day before yesterday and yesterday. The first time we fucked was really awkward. Chuck also asked if I was still a virgin. I said no, of course. But I'm sure he realized that it was the first time I'd fucked someone. And also that I was being fucked. In bed and in the hot tub. The first time I blew him was Wednesday in the school bathroom. We both just had a lot of pressure on our balls before civics. Shit, I'd never thought about sex before, now I can't get sex out of my head.

Practice is coming up. I just jerked off to the idea of forming a sandwich with Coach and Chuck in the shower. That would be so hot!

Project diary, entry 12 (Sunday)

Shit, I love my life. The parties this weekend were so hot. I mean, sure I love Chuck, but my dick has too much energy for one man. And Chuck gets off on me fucking other men too. As long as he's the only one who gets to fuck me. It's a point of honor, of course!

Before I go to bed now, I went to the gym again. To burn off the alcohol. And prepare my muscles for a tough week. I have my first wrestling tournament next Friday. And I've promised Steph-bruh, the quarterback, that I'll drop by football training. The hollow nut still calls me wetback, but has now understood that I'm not Spanish or Latino. And then I have to chat with my mentor from Stanford again. I don't know if sociology is really my subject. Chuck wants to study business administration. He's hoping for an athletic scholarship. Maybe I'm up for that too.

Inspiration found @redneckmusclehead

#male tf #muscle tf #jock tf #nerd to jock #nerd to hunk

290 notes · View notes

jcmarchi · 8 months ago

Text

AnimateLCM: Accelerating the Animation of Personalized Diffusion Models

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/animatelcm-accelerating-the-animation-of-personalized-diffusion-models/

AnimateLCM: Accelerating the Animation of Personalized Diffusion Models

Over the past few years, diffusion models have achieved massive success and recognition for image and video generation tasks. Video diffusion models, in particular, have been gaining significant attention due to their ability to produce videos with high coherence as well as fidelity. These models generate high-quality videos by employing an iterative denoising process in their architecture that gradually transforms high-dimensional Gaussian noise into real data.

Stable Diffusion is one of the most representative models for image generative tasks, relying on a Variational AutoEncoder (VAE) to map between the real image and the down-sampled latent features. This allows the model to reduce generative costs, while the cross-attention mechanism in its architecture facilitates text-conditioned image generation. More recently, the Stable Diffusion framework has built the foundation for several plug-and-play adapters to achieve more innovative and effective image or video generation. However, the iterative generative process employed by a majority of video diffusion models makes the image generation process time-consuming and comparatively costly, limiting its applications.

In this article, we will talk about AnimateLCM, a personalized diffusion model with adapters aimed at generating high-fidelity videos with minimal steps and computational costs. The AnimateLCM framework is inspired by the Consistency Model, which accelerates sampling with minimal steps by distilling pre-trained image diffusion models. Furthermore, the successful extension of the Consistency Model, the Latent Consistency Model (LCM), facilitates conditional image generation. Instead of conducting consistency learning directly on the raw video dataset, the AnimateLCM framework proposes using a decoupled consistency learning strategy. This strategy decouples the distillation of motion generation priors and image generation priors, allowing the model to enhance the visual quality of the generated content and improve training efficiency simultaneously. Additionally, the AnimateLCM model proposes training adapters from scratch or adapting existing adapters to its distilled video consistency model. This facilitates the combination of plug-and-play adapters in the family of stable diffusion models to achieve different functions without harming the sample speed.

This article aims to cover the AnimateLCM framework in depth. We explore the mechanism, the methodology, and the architecture of the framework, along with its comparison with state-of-the-art image and video generation frameworks. So, let’s get started.

Diffusion models have been the go to framework for image generation and video generation tasks owing to their efficiency and capabilities on generative tasks. A majority of diffusion models rely on an iterative denoising process for image generation that transforms a high dimensional Gaussian noise into real data gradually. Although the method delivers somewhat satisfactory results, the iterative process and the number of iterating samples slows the generation process and also adds to the computational requirements of diffusion models that are much slower than other generative frameworks like GAN or Generative Adversarial Networks. In the past few years, Consistency Models or CMs have been proposed as an alternative to iterative diffusion models to speed up the generation process while keeping the computational requirements constant.

The highlight of consistency models is that they learn consistency mappings that maintain self-consistency of trajectories introduced by the pre-trained diffusion models. The learning process of Consistency Models allows it to generate high-quality images with minimal steps, and also eliminates the need for computation-intensive iterations. Furthermore, the Latent Consistency Model or LCM built on top of the stable diffusion framework can be integrated into the web user interface with the existing adapters to achieve a host of additional functionalities like real time image to image translation. In comparison, although the existing video diffusion models deliver acceptable results, progress is still to be made in the video sample acceleration field, and is of great significance owing to the high video generation computational costs.

That leads us to AnimateLCM, a high fidelity video generation framework that needs a minimal number of steps for the video generation tasks. Following the Latent Consistency Model, AnimateLCM framework treats the reverse diffusion process as solving CFG or Classifier Free Guidance augmented probability flow, and trains the model to predict the solution of such probability flows directly in the latent space. However, instead of conducting consistency learning on raw video data directly that requires high training and computational resources, and often leads to poor quality, the AnimateLCM framework proposes a decoupled consistent learning strategy that decouples the consistency distillation of motion generation and image generation priors.

The AnimateLCM framework first conducts the consistency distillation to adapt the image base diffusion model into the image consistency model, and then conducts 3D inflation to both the image consistency and image diffusion models to accommodate 3D features. Eventually, the AnimateLCM framework obtains the video consistency model by conducting consistency distillation on video data. Furthermore, to alleviate potential feature corruption as a result of the diffusion process, the AnimateLCM framework also proposes to use an initialization strategy. Since the AnimateLCM framework is built on top of the Stable Diffusion framework, it can replace the spatial weights of its trained video consistency model with the publicly available personalized image diffusion weights to achieve innovative generation results.

Additionally, to train specific adapters from scratch or to suit publicly available adapters better, the AnimateLCM framework proposes an effective acceleration strategy for the adapters that do not require training the specific teacher models.

The contributions of the AnimateLCM framework can be very well summarized as: The proposed AnimateLCM framework aims to achieve high quality, fast, and high fidelity video generation, and to achieve this, the AnimateLCM framework proposes a decoupled distillation strategy the decouples the motion and image generation priors resulting in better generation quality, and enhanced training efficiency.

InstantID : Methodology and Architecture

At its core, the InstantID framework draws heavy inspiration from diffusion models and sampling speed strategies. Diffusion models, also known as score-based generative models have demonstrated remarkable image generative capabilities. Under the guidance of score direction, the iterative sampling strategy implemented by diffusion models denoise the noise-corrupted data gradually. The efficiency of diffusion models is one of the major reasons why they are employed by a majority of video diffusion models by training on added temporal layers. On the other hand, sampling speed and sampling acceleration strategies help tackle the slow generation speeds in diffusion models. Distillation based acceleration method tunes the original diffusion weights with a refined architecture or scheduler to enhance the generation speed.

Moving along, the InstantID framework is built on top of the stable diffusion model that allows InstantID to apply relevant notions. The model treats the discrete forward diffusion process as continuous-time Variance Preserving SDE. Furthermore, the stable diffusion model is an extension of DDPM or Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model, in which the training data point is perturbed gradually by the discrete Markov chain with a perturbation kennel allowing the distribution of noisy data at different time step to follow the distribution.

To achieve high-fidelity video generation with a minimal number of steps, the AnimateLCM framework tames the stable diffusion-based video models to follow the self-consistency property. The overall training structure of the AnimateLCM framework consists of a decoupled consistency learning strategy for teacher free adaptation and effective consistency learning.

Transition from Diffusion Models to Consistency Models

The AnimateLCM framework introduces its own adaptation of the Stable Diffusion Model or DM to the Consistency Model or CM following the design of the Latent Consistency Model or LCM. It is worth noting that although the stable diffusion models typically predict the noise added to the samples, they are essential sigma-diffusion models. It is in contrast with consistency models that aim to predict the solution to the PF-ODE trajectory directly. Furthermore, in stable diffusion models with certain parameters, it is essential for the model to employ a classifier-free guidance strategy to generate high quality images. The AnimateLCM framework however, employs a classifier-free guidance augmented ODE solver to sample the adjacent pairs in the same trajectories, resulting in better efficiency and enhanced quality. Furthermore, existing models have indicated that the generation quality and training efficiency is influenced heavily by the number of discrete points in the trajectory. Smaller number of discrete points accelerates the training process whereas a higher number of discrete points results in less bias during training.

Decoupled Consistency Learning

For the process of consistency distillation, developers have observed that the data used for training heavily influences the quality of the final generation of the consistency models. However, the major issue with publicly available datasets currently is that often consist of watermark data, or its of low quality, and might contain overly brief or ambiguous captions. Furthermore, training the model directly on large-resolution videos is computationally expensive, and time consuming, making it a non-feasible option for a majority of researchers.

Given the availability of filtered high quality datasets, the AnimateLCM framework proposes to decouple the distillation of the motion priors and image generation priors. To be more specific, the AnimateLCM framework first distills the stable diffusion models into image consistency models with filtered high-quality image text datasets with better resolution. The framework then trains the light LoRA weights at the layers of the stable diffusion model, thus freezing the weights of the stable diffusion model. Once the model tunes the LoRA weights, it works as a versatile acceleration module, and it has demonstrated its compatibility with other personalized models in the stable diffusion communities. For inference, the AnimateLCM framework merges the weights of the LoRA with the original weights without corrupting the inference speed. After the AnimateLCM framework gains the consistency model at the level of image generation, it freezes the weights of the stable diffusion model and LoRA weights on it. Furthermore, the model inflates the 2D convolution kernels to the pseudo-3D kernels to train the consistency models for video generation. The model also adds temporal layers with zero initialization and a block level residual connection. The overall setup helps in assuring that the output of the model will not be influenced when it is trained for the first time. The AnimateLCM framework under the guidance of open sourced video diffusion models trains the temporal layers extended from the stable diffusion models.

It’s important to recognize that while spatial LoRA weights are designed to expedite the sampling process without taking temporal modeling into account, and temporal modules are developed through standard diffusion techniques, their direct integration tends to corrupt the representation at the onset of training. This presents significant challenges in effectively and efficiently merging them with minimal conflict. Through empirical research, the AnimateLCM framework has identified a successful initialization approach that not only utilizes the consistency priors from spatial LoRA weights but also mitigates the adverse effects of their direct combination.

At the onset of consistency training, pre-trained spatial LoRA weights are integrated exclusively into the online consistency model, sparing the target consistency model from insertion. This strategy ensures that the target model, serving as the educational guide for the online model, does not generate faulty predictions that could detrimentally affect the online model’s learning process. Throughout the training period, the LoRA weights are progressively incorporated into the target consistency model via an exponential moving average (EMA) process, achieving the optimal weight balance after several iterations.

Teacher Free Adaptation

Stable Diffusion models and plug and play adapters often go hand in hand. However, it has been observed that even though the plug and play adapters work to some extent, they tend to lose control in details even when a majority of these adapters are trained with image diffusion models. To counter this issue, the AnimateLCM framework opts for teacher free adaptation, a simple yet effective strategy that either accommodates the existing adapters for better compatibility or trains the adapters from the ground up or. The approach allows the AnimateLCM framework to achieve the controllable video generation and image-to-video generation with a minimal number of steps without requiring teacher models.

AnimateLCM: Experiments and Results

The AnimateLCM framework employs a Stable Diffusion v1-5 as the base model, and implements the DDIM ODE solver for training purposes. The framework also applies the Stable Diffusion v1-5 with open sourced motion weights as the teacher video diffusion model with the experiments being conducted on the WebVid2M dataset without any additional or augmented data. Furthermore, the framework employs the TikTok dataset with BLIP-captioned brief textual prompts for controllable video generation.

Qualitative Results

The following figure demonstrates results of the four-step generation method implemented by the AnimateLCM framework in text-to-video generation, image-to-video generation, and controllable video generation.

As it can be observed, the results delivered by each of them are satisfactory with the generated results demonstrating the ability of the AnimateLCM framework to follow the consistency property even with varying inference steps, maintaining similar motion and style.

Quantitative Results

The following figure illustrates the quantitative results and comparison of the AnimateLCM framework with state of the art DDIM and DPM++ methods.

As it can be observed, the AnimateLCM framework outperforms the existing methods by a significant margin especially in the low step regime ranging from 1 to 4 steps. Furthermore, the AnimateLCM metrics displayed in this comparison are evaluated without using the CFG or classifier free guidance that allows the framework to save nearly 50% of the inference time and inference peak memory cost. Furthermore, to further validate its performance, the spatial weights within the AnimateLCM framework are replaced with a publicly available personalized realistic model that strikes a good balance between fidelity and diversity, that helps in boosting the performance further.

Final Thoughts

In this article, we have talked about AnimateLCM, a personalized diffusion model with adapters that aims to generate high-fidelity videos with minimal steps and computational costs. The AnimateLCM framework is inspired by the Consistency Model that accelerates the sampling with minimal steps by distilling pre-trained image diffusion models, and the successful extension of the Consistency Model, the Latent Consistency Model or LCM that facilitates conditional image generation. Instead of conducting consistency learning on the raw video dataset directly, the AnimateLCM framework proposes to use a decoupled consistency learning strategy that decouples the distillation of motion generation priors and image generation priors, allowing the model to enhance the visual quality of the generated content, and improve the training efficiency simultaneously.

0 notes

demonicnarwhale · 3 months ago

Text

Carapaces!!!!

RC / Raptorial Clerk: RC is one of the archivist on Prospit who deals with mainly Prospit's history and keeping things neat and tidy (just in case if it's needed then carapaces can go to him and retrieve that information) there's other archivists for different sections of society like political, economical, etc. When Midnight City happens / fall of the kingdoms he ends up being a librarian teehee

his origins: and due to his specialties being historical archiving, he's in the same department or area as HK and the two are actually hatch friends!!! YAYYYYY!!!! (they are both smiling)

HN / Harbinger Newel: Newel is just the sort of look the outpost tower he's situated at looks like as seen in the small doodle. He just blows his clarinet looking instrument (i giggle since he choses to play the actual clarinet in CMS) when there's some arrival. There's a certain tune he plays depending on what it is. Enemies/Derse army or Prospit army / workers.

WN / Willowy Notary: She's basically some note taker for court records and such. The cloth covering her eyes is a form of "judgement solely based on the case itself" rather than having any bias (that and I wanna continue her lil "no eyes can be seen" thing going on :D. So like she sits in the court room (grinning so wide when i get to share their architecture and infrastructure) and notates what happens and is being said so that if the case needs to be continued/looked at later to come up with the "right" decision they have a reference. Or if there's important documents being signed and such, she's a witness. (like whatever actual notaries do)

MG / Monoceros Goliath: I thought I was gonna be so smart with the first word, tried searching up for a word to describe a horned animal or synonyms for rhinos (cuz haha helmet rhino beetle) but i got no answer(s) and the ones I did related mainly to constellations. Monoceros mainly just being some Greek word for a legendary animal with a horn so like a unicorn. Weeps guys I'm not cut out for elaborate names.

Also she's (so far) a pawn mainly or somewhere near being a rook but not quite there hence being goliath as she's pretty strong/big for a pawn yay. oh yes and she's well aware of innocent lives (aka farmers or pawns that aren't in either army) and so she'll send out a warning or make it known so said carapaces can evacuate/gtfo (both for Prospit and Derse). Like she wants to make it fair and also avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Or something like that cuz overthinking on it makes me think it sounds silly and odd.

Her armor does have some little pearl-like beads cuz why not :) and- and- and it's supposed to be like constellations with the metal engravings (that im too simple minded to give detail to)

Tallest soldier i have and the shortest (also! I had realized that Dynastinae is, THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR RHINO BEETLES OAUGRHAUGHRA clawing at my under eyelids (ive realized this while typing this all out <3) so it's either she's MG or DG

SH / Splendorous Headhunter: Basically she goes out and recruits or finds Dersites (who don't already have a job) some role in society that benefits both the community and themselves. Like she's not just going to randomly assign them jobs but try to understand the individual and go suggest jobs. Cuz like, there's of course other Dersites in this similar role (as her) that don't care. But to SH she thinks of it like "why would I make someone miserable, it makes no sense to force someone to do a job they dislike cuz work won't get done at an efficient rate" that and so there's no strikes-

CC / Canorous Clergyman: just listen to this: (and Powerwolf in general please guys oaughh I fucking love this band so so so so so so much)

Midnight Madona teehe i love Powerwolf so much oaugh my goodness (so much so i would've done gone gatekeep em but then i realized. that's corny. and this sorta genre??? is corny on its own in the best way possible, to me :)). but yes im just adding this here because i kept listening to it when drawing this mf

Midnight Madona (Orchestral Version) also the orchestral version fucking ROCKS (and all the other songs they do orchestral versions of) and is what I like to imagine Derse's choir would sound like (the tone or feeling more than the words teehee and of course not with a big ass orchestra track behind ok you know what I MEAN) like do to around the same time stamp as the version above gehehee

I also already kinda explained his whole deal in a previous post. here be CC. But basically, he's more of a figure for individuals to look to either for help or a sense of "oh so this is what we should be doing for our society". So yeah, he's like, the royal family lol, no real political power as he's a lower status bishop. Like, he's a Bishop for the individuals, to ensure they fall in line and yadda yadda support the community and all. Kinda like, a pastor lol

KH / Kinetoscopic Hallucinator: Due to Derse being, ya know, Derse, connections with these fuckassers (horrorterrors) is prone to happen. As we've seen with players and even Feferi having gigglybob and yay yadda Derse Void dreamers yadda. Basically he gets to listen to all the wonderful stories of the past these eldritch beings share with him. Whereas Prospit gets those lil clouds from Skaia to hint at the future. So, he takes the words and stories from horrorterrors as signs of "precautions" or warnings of what may happen in the future. A sort of doomsday gig going on.

Teehe. He still gets to deal with trying to predict Derse's future but that's a bit hard on him so he turns to memorializing Derse's past, and the Horrorterrors give him information that can precede Derse or even what was missed from its history. But it's mainly just them messing with him going "oooh Derse is doomed in the foreseen future! OoooOoooh" and he goes "aight bet" then boom red miles upon ye. Oh and the kinetoscopic thing is just the fact he has his own lil kinetoscope where he enjoys (the process not the actual fact he needs to listen to them) trying to figure out what the Horrorterrors tell him and depicts it as short stories and then draws frames for a lil animation. He just replays them only to get a sense of dread lol. Later on just outcasts himself in his tower to deal with the horrorbobs instead of looking like a loon in front of everyone, possibly to Derse's moon because ahA obvious motifs! of like, the horrorbobs keeping him chained down and yeahhh

It's basically the medium or locations for Sburb/Sgrub but at the moment I'm more focused on Carapace + etc instead of trolls and humans. I ain't no physic astronomer or something so I'll go back and change things up if it's needed but like, I can bs some stuff right??? yeaaahhhhh.

The idea is like I know it's made for the game but what if no game??? It still very much takes after the set up for the medium with Sgrub but woe upon yet.

The locations of Prospit and Derse is why HK (Historiographic Knitter) and KH (Kinetoscopic Hallucinator) are able to look into the future/past. Due to the locations of their respected planets

HK being on Prospit can receive snippets of the future but it's all randomized so it's like she needs to put it all together, or just write down what she sees. She uses these to make stories or piece them together then create textiles for them along with the stories recorded of the past

KH being on Derse, yeah you read his gig.

Skaia: Trying to deal with what the point of Skaia is for both sides. I think I'll go with it's just been so embedded in both societies to either protect or destroy it that carapaces at this point just need to continue what their ancestors had fought for. Honestly, I'm just going to go with Jack Noir doing his red miles thing and destroying Prospit and Derse then killing (almost) all soldiers and the Kings on the battlefield leaving Skaia dormant. (But then whYYyy would he do that in this context)

Midlay: Basically this version's planet of where exiles go and where Midnight City will soon be made.

The Veil: just asteroids to make traveling to and from Prospit and Derse to be dangerous-ish so it's not like carapaces can just go to the opposing planet and cause chaos. If it's really needed then there's only a handful of carapaces suited for that job.

Dream Bubbles: I know it's thanks to Feferi that they're a thing, so they're not a part of this actual universe, BUT I thought they were just cool to include where I think they'd go.

Green Sun: hi Doc Scratch

In terms of like biology/features of carapaces:

I'm going with Carapaces either being like RC where they got them bug-wuggy/crusty marine life features or like HK with a more chess-come-to-life sort of look, thinking it might just be from the cloning? or however these freaks are made getting fucked over with the system or something, just cuz it could be like "oh it derives from chess pieces but also some bug-crustaceans-alien thing" and sometimes the bug-crustacean just wins. It's totally not so I can shit and giggle with other designs and stuff, what??? no. And then of course carapces can have spawn of their own, but lay eggs yadda yadda and so some of these features can get passed down and such. It's just cloning is used in both kingdoms to ensure there's a steady flow of carapaces to work on the planets or get thrown into battle and yeah.

NOTE AS OF NOW: I just copied and pasted information i had saved on them all and so I will most likely go back and fix things up, or make a new post if it's anything major like "Oh I'm changing this character up" but yeAH

#my art #carapaces #RC #Whole Note #Half Note #Eighth Note #MG #SH #CC #KH #commons midnight swing

42 notes · View notes