#create windows to go with Rufus

[river-taxbird]

Have YOU got an old Windows PC Microsoft has told you can't run Windows 11? It's time to give it a new life!

How to install Windows 11 on unsupported PC Hardware using Rufus. You can also disable some other Windows 11 bullshit like data harvesting and needing a Microsoft account.

It has been in the news a lot lately that Windows 11 isn't allowed to be installed on PCs without certain requirements, including the TPM 2.0, a chip that was only included in PCs made in 2018 or later. This means that once Windows 10 stops receiving security updates, those PCs will not be able to (officially) run a safe, updated version of Windows anymore. This has led to an estimated 240 million PCs bound for the landfill. Thanks Microsoft! I get you don't want to be seen as the insecure one, but creating this much waste can't be the solution.

(I know nerds, Linux is a thing. I love you but we are not having that conversation. If you want to use Linux on an old PC you are already doing it and you don't need to tell me about it. People need Windows for all sorts of reasons that Linux won't cut.)

So lately I have been helping some under privileged teens get set up with PCs. Their school was giving away their old lab computers, and these kids would usually have no chance to afford even a basic computer. They had their hard drives pulled so I have been setting them up with SSDs, but the question was, what to do about the operating system? So I looked into it and I found out there IS actually a way to bypass Microsoft's system requirement and put Windows 11 on PCs as old as 2010.

You will need: Rufus: An open source ISO burning tool.

A Windows 11 ISO: Available from Microsoft.

A USB Flash Drive, at least 16GB.

A working PC to make the ISO, and a PC from 2018 or older you want to install Windows 11 on.

Here is the guide I used, but I will put it in my own words as well.

Download your Windows 11 ISO, and plug in your USB drive. It will be erased, so don't have anything valuable on it. Run Rufus, select your USB drive in the Device window, and select your Windows 11 ISO with the Select button. (There is supposed to be a feature in Rufus to download your ISO but I couldn't get it to work.?

Choose standard windows installation, and follow the screenshot for your settings. Once you are done that, press Start, and then the magic happens. Another window pops up allowing you to remove the system requirements, the need for a microsoft account, and turn off data collecting. Just click the options you want, and press ok to write your iso to a drive.

From there you just need to use the USB drive to install windows. I won't go into details here, but here are some resources if you don't know how to do it.

Boot your PC from a USB Drive

Install Windows 11 from USB Drive

If you had a licensed copy of Windows 10, Windows 11 will already be licensed. If you don't, then perhaps you can use some kind of... Activation Scripts for Microsoft software, that will allow you to activate them. Of course I cannot link such tools here. So there you go, now you can save a PC made from before 2018 from the landfill, and maybe give it to a deserving teen in the process. The more we can extend the lives of technology and keep it out of the trash, the better.

Additional note: This removes the requirement for having 4GB Minimum of RAM, but I think that requirement should honestly be higher. Windows 11 will be unusable slow on any system with below 8GB of RAM. 8GB is the minimum I think you should have before trying this but it still really not enough for modern use outside of light web and office work. I wouldn't recommend trying this on anything with 4GB or less. I am honestly shocked they are still selling brand new Windows 11 PCs with 4GB of ram. If you're not sure how much RAM you have, you can find out in the performance tab of Task Manager in Windows, if you click the More Details icon on the bottom right. If you don't have enough, RAM for old systems is super cheap and widely available so it would definitely be worth upgrading if you have a ram starved machine you'd like to give a new life.

[follows-the-bees]

Weekend at Bobby's aka How Bobby Got His Soul Back is such a pinnacle episode for both S6's plot and characters.

It is one of the rare episodes that doesn't revolve around Sam and Dean. Part of this is because it was the first episode Jensen directed & less screentime helps.

Characters

Many characters are brought front and center this episode.

Jody is brought back and is shown to already be an ally to Bobby and the Winchesters. She tried to help with the FBI agent and also risks her career to save Rufus from jail. Her and their loyalty will just grow stronger as the show goes on.

Rufus is also brought back here and we get to see Bobby with his oldest friend. Their chemistry is unmatched and they should have had more episodes!

Garth is mentioned for the first time.

And of course Crowley. We learn about his past, his name, son, where he's from, as well as that he has been promoted as the King of Hell.

Sam and Dean get their asses handed to them by Bobby because he is right. Sam and Dean can be selfish, I would argue that that is a small theme of the season that leads to the ultimate conflict with Cas at the end.

But mainly we get to see Bobby in his every day element. How many other hunters he helps, always answering the phone, staying up late into the night to help, even breaking into the library. I love this character deep dive of him we get.

Foreshadowing

- Burning of bones. We learn that you can burn a demon's bones. Later used as the reason why Bobby & Sam suspect Cas of betrayal.

- Crowley becoming King of Hell, making him a big bad for further in the season/series

- When Bobby is yelling at Sam and Dean about their selfishness, he mentions how he does everything for them. He is always there to help them when they need it. This same sentiment and words will come out of Cas' mouth later that season when he talks to Dean.

- Did I mention Garth?

Comedy

The amount of dry and dirty jokes in this episode is high. Crowley is just dripping with semi dirty jokes, from the I hope this is paint, to the reason he sells his soul, he is at peak evil villainy. I love it.

WAB offers so much as an episode and it deserves to be in the top episodes of the season.

Camerawork is used to create visual gags, there is even physical comedy with Bobby going through the window.

Sam and Dean are brought into the plot and only really shown through phone calls.

Overall, the style of this episode is different than others and makes it standout.

[psycheterminal]

HOW TO SWITCH TO LINUX

So, we're going to go through this step by step.

Before we begin, let's keep a few things clear:

Linux is not Windows, it is its own system, with its own culture, history and way of doing things.

There are many "distributions", "distros" or "flavors" of Linux. What works for you may be different from what people recommend.

You'll want to read up on how to use the terminal; the basics an absolute beginner needs is short, but important. It's not hard to learn, just takes a bit of time and effort.

ADOBE DOES NOT WORK ON LINUX.

WINE is not a Windows Emulator, it should not be treated as such.

Proton is a compatibility tool built on WINE by Valve, which has its own compatibility database, called ProtonDB. It still isn't an emulator and can have quirks.

Not everything will work on Linux. Dead by Daylight actively blocks Linux players from joining a game, as an example. The Windows Edition of Minecraft is another. (But the Java Edition does!)

There are many FOSS alternatives to popular programs, but they may lack maturity and features compared to their commercial counterparts.

You might want to invest in an external drive. It'll keep your files safe and you'll be able to move all your files to a

Step 1: why do you want to switch? Are you concerned about privacy? Are you wanting to boycott Windows? Is 11 not an option for your hardware? Want to try something new? Be honest with yourself on what you want to do. Write down your hardware specs. You'll want to know what kind of processor, RAM, video card and memory you're working on.

Step 2: Make three lists: Programs you need for work, programs you use at home (that aren't games) and games you like to play. Check each of these for if they already have a Linux port. For games, you can check if it's Steamdeck compatible! For those where you can't find one or it's not clear, you can check for the program on WINE HQ and ProtonDB (for games.) Not all of them might be compatible!

There might be Linux-based alternatives for several things, but keep in mind that Adobe does NOT support Linux and does NOT work on WINE! Sea of Thieves and LibreOffice works, Dead by Daylight and Scrivener do not.

Step 3: Get a GOOD QUALITY USB drive stick! I recommend one that's at least 30 GB. That sounds like a lot, but operating systems these days are huge-but there's some fun stuff you can get. It's really important that you get a good quality one, not just a random stick off a reseller like Wish.

Step 4: Remember when I asked you why you were switching? Time to pick a Linux version. There is no "one, true Linux" version-the operating system is open, groups make their own versions and put it out into the world. If you're confused, check out Distrowatch. Read a list here. Download an option-if you have a few sticks around, try multiple ones.

Step 5: Plug in your USB and use either UNetbootin or Rufus to create your boot device. Rufus might be easier if you're not super computer savvy. When looking over the options, make sure there's some storage, set it to most of what's left. Take out your boot stick for now.

Step 6: Find out how to boot to your BIOS. Every computer has a BIOS. Check out your model of laptop/motherboard to figure out what it is. Arrange boot order so that your USB gets checked first.

Step 7: If you have an external drive, move all your personal stuff, game saves, etc to it or purchase cloud drive storage for it. Always back up your files, and with multiple methods.

Step 8: You aren't going to be installing Linux quite yet; instead, boot it up from USB. Note, it'll be a bit slow on USB 2.0, though a USB-3 device and slot should make matters easier. Test each version you're considering for a week. It is super important that you test! Sometimes problems crop up or you turn out to not like it!

Step 9: Once you find a distro you like and have tested, consider if you want to dual boot or completely wipe Windows. Some programs for work might require Windows or you might have a few games that ONLY work on Windows and that's perfectly fine! Just keep in mind, as of Windows 11, this option is not recommended. If you want to use dualboot, you want to keep Windows 10 and NOT update. There's great tutorials on how to make it happen, search engines should be able to point you to one.

Step 10: Fully install Linux and immediately update. Even the latest installers will not have the current security patches. Just let it update and install whatever programs you want to use.

Step 11: Enable compatibility tools in Steam if you're a gamer. File, options, compatibility. Also, check the Software Store in your OS for open source re-implementations for your favorite older games!

You're now a Penguin!

[byz-was-here]

HOW TO BACK UP YOUR SHIT ON A FUBAR PC

So, I have a lil linux know how. Someone I know's Windows Boot SSD died on em. I helped unfuck it, but it still got me thinkin. "Do people know how to back up stuff after their PC commits seppuku?"

So What you'll need is:

-A friend's PC to create the usb tool -A USB drive (preferably USB 3.0) with 16 GB or more of storage -An external hard drive to store the backup image -An internet connection.

FIRST

Borrow your friend's pc or laptop.

Download balena-etcher or Rufus

Download a copy of ubuntu linux. Get a coffee, eat a sandwich. This'll take a while.

Once it's done, use Etcher or Rufus to install Ubuntu on the flash drive. Eject the usb, thank your friend, and go back to your malfunctioning compy and plug the usb in.

NOTE: THIS PRESUMES THAT THERE IS A SOFTWARE ERROR PREVENTING YOUR MACHINE FROM BOOTING. IF THE HARDWARE ITSELF IS BROKEN, THIS WONT WORK.

Ok, you're going to boot your PC into BIOS. How? Depends on who made the computer. Google "How to open bios on a [Blank] pc", and you should be able to find the answer pretty quick. Its usually by either spamming the delete key or f10 while your computer turns on.

Once you're in the BIOS, there should be a menu with boot options. Select the usb. It will boot your computer into ubuntu linux, running off that lil usb stick. Neat, huh? You'll get the option to try or install ubuntu as an operating system. You want to click "try".

Plug in the external drive you're putting the backup image of your drive on.

Hit the windows key and it should pull up a search bar. type "Disks" or "Gparted". it's the same program either way so, open it.

You should see something like this.

Depending on the size of your Boot SSD in windows, you may need to shrink the partition a bit. like If you have a 500gb drive handy, but the drive you need to back up is 1TB. So click on the bit that says "basic data partition"

click the gear icon

Click "Resize..."

Resize. if the external drive you're backing up to is BIGGER than the boot drive you're trying to back up, you can skip this.

Now there's two things you can do. The first is to simply create an image of the basic data partition where all your files are. The second is to back up the whole disk.

To back up the partition,

Select the basic data partition, click the gear icon, and select "create partition image"

Name it whatever you want, save it on the external drive. Go get another coffee and a sandwich, this may take awhile as well.

To make a backup of the whole disk, click on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner, and select "create disk image"

Same as before. name it what you want, save it to the external drive.

There you go.

To access the data, you need to restore that image to a new SSD or hard drive. You can do this using the same program. I recommend doing this AFTER you've done whatever was needed to fix windows.

if you're just restoring a partition image, not the whole disk, here's what you do.

If you have FREE SPACE on a drive, or new drive, you can click on the "+" button, create a new empty partition

and click "restore partition image" to make it readable. Then you can mount it as a new drive in windows and copy your stuff over. WARNING: THE PARTITION YOU'RE RESTORING TO MUST BE AS BIG OR BIGGER THAN THE PARTITION IMAGE

For a disk image, similar steps.

Three vertical dots on the upper right, select "restore disk image".

Select the full disk image from wherever you saved it and restore.

WARNING: Restoring a disk image will nuke anything already on the drive you're restoring it TO. So don't restore the disk image to your fixed boot drive, or to the drive you saved the disk image on.

Anywhomst. I hope this helps someone save their stuff or avoid being charged out the nose by a computer repair shop.

[gcldfanged]

032 , post-nibelheim era

032. — Force my muse’s arm behind their back.

Blood had seeped into the carpet, gumming up the fabric with thick viscera so dark it almost appeared black. President Shinra lay face first across his mahogany executive desk, as though he'd simply passed out in a drunken stupor. The zanbato embedded between his paunchy shoulder blades gleamed in the diffused glare of various spotlights surrounding headquarters, giving the legendary weapon an almost haunting glow.

It was a familiar, almost... comforting scene. If only the ostentatious interior design had been that of tacky crushed velvet and strobe lighting, the heavy reverberation of several bass stereos and the Masamune reduced to the size and make of a folding knife- Verdot's silhouette looming titanesque over him like one of Yama's celestial dogs swallowing the sun between his ivory fangs.

"Have you decided what you want to do?" I want to... be you. "You want to end up like me? You want me to turn you into a killer? You've already taken your first life, you don't need me-" I don't want to just be a killer, I want to be you. If you train me I'll do whatever you say, whenever and however many times you order me to. I won't complain, I won't quit, I won't hesitate. I'll take on more missions than anyone else so I can be you: perfect, the strongest, the best killer there is-

Did something die inside him that night or was something new birthed, he wondered- Gripping onto the elder man's fingers like an anchor, hands that only knew how to take away life- Not to protect, save, nor create.

"Yeah, he's been here. No sign of the target aside from the sword," he reported back into the mouthpiece of his PHS, slowly approaching the automated double doors leading to the helipad. It was strange, there was blood, sure.

No footprints, however.

Tseng and Rude were probably busy escorting Rufus through the building, it was his job to ensure that the coast was clear. He wasn't sure what to expect. Jae-hyo had figured once the fugitive acquired what he wanted, that he'd simply leave. Killing the President just read like an unexpected, but necessary detour from his original reason for being there.

"I'll keep an eye out, contact me when you're ready to go."

The agent folds up his phone and slips it back into his trouser pocket, before reaching for his sidearm. Yoon taps the barrel of his pistol against the side of his knee idly, hearing nothing save for the gentle strings of Brahms' Piano Quartet in G Minor.

A steely grip doesn't crush around his wrist so much as it pulls just so, twisting his ligaments and joints painfully. He's quickly and suddenly leveraged against the wall, pinioned like a half-trussed chicken, even his trigger finger seems to be locked in place due to the unnatural angle.

From the corner of his eye he can vaguely make out the trademark black greatcoat, little else. Sephiroth was considerably taller and had the additional advantage of being only the single greatest SOLDIER in the history of the entire program, so... Well, it was hard to feel sore about the whole being disarmed and reduced to the offensive capabilities of a turtle rolled onto the back of it's shell thing.

"Ah, I was wondering where you'd gone running off to," he managed to quip, quite the feat considering most of the side of his face was being smushed into the bulletproof glass that made up the floor to ceiling windows of the President's suite.

[leam1983]

Tech - FAQ 2

I'm scared of PCs; I'm just an end-user! I want to learn, though!

If you're curious and want a safe and zero-consequence environment to poke around with, consider turning to tools like VirtualBox. This is what we call a VM Manager or a Virtual Machine manager that enables you to emulate computer hardware on, well, actual hardware. It's a great way to create a Windows install you can poke around without damaging your own system, or of trying out other operating systems to familiarize yourself with them.

In fact, I'll always recommend that anyone who's sitting on the fence in regards to Linux try out a distro in a VM, first. There's no pressure involved, you get the same feel as a bare-metal install, and can rest easy in knowing that if none of this works out for you, you can just mash Delete on your VM folder, delete VirtualBox and forget this ever happened.

What tools do you recommend?

I can point you to several. First comes not so much a software tool as a piece of hardware most of us have, which is a USB drive. If you want to store diagnostics tools on it as well as a few OS image files, I'd advise investing in a nice and chonky one, going above 16 GBs in size. See Amazon for help, or any computer or hardware store you can think of. If you go Amazon's route, avoid no-name vendors and buy directly from reputed hardware manufacturers, like Lexar, Seagate or others. They'll be more expensive, yes, but you won't get scammed.

Then comes Balena Etcher and Rufus. Both do the same thing, which is burn an ISO image file to a USB stick, so said stick becomes a bootable drive containing everything you need to install an OS to your main drive. Etcher is more straightforward, while Rufus offers a few customization options, especially if you're trying to burn or flash a Windows image file.

What about Ventoy?

Ventoy is the Big Kahuna in bootable ISO file management, but it's a bit too involved for first-timers. Effectively, it turns your USB thumb drive into its own multiboot system, complete with a GRUB file that allows your PC to boot off it, while letting you choose which operating system you actually want to start. So instead of having one stick for your tools, one for a Windows install and one for a Linux distro, you'd have everything in one place. I'd recommend familiarizing yourself with simpler tools, first.

I don't want to switch to Linux, but I want more ownership of my Windows install. What can I do?

You can refer to tools like NTLite but again, that one is a lot for first-timers. In the interim, I'd recommend starting with a vanilla Windows 11 install and then referring to Chris Titus' Ultimate Windows Tool, to tweak and debloat your OS to your heart's content. Of particular note is the included MicroWin tool, which can strip down a normal Windows 11 ISO and create an unattended, offline install that boots directly into your User account. No giving Microsoft further credentials, no connection required - nothing. Several of the tweaks involved result in a Windows install that phones home a lot less often and that only concerns itself with proved, tested and necessary Windows Update cycles.

What's an Unattended install?

That refers to a software install that requires no input from the user. You start it, off it goes - and the reins of the PC are handed over to you only once the whole process is completed. No more screwing-about with Microsoft Game Pass offers or trying to say no to Microsoft's thirty thousand instances of telemetry. One click, and you're off to the races.

I tried it, and noticed it didn't remove everything from the base install. I still want to remove more stuff.

Then check out Bulk Crap Uninstaller, which allows you to force the removal of components Windows considers as vital, but that aren't, necessarily. If BCI's interface underlines something in green, it's safe to remove. If it's listed in red, you can still remove it. At your own risk. Some things are provably safe to remove, like the Xbox Game Bar if you've never used the Windows Store to buy a game before. Others shouldn't be touched if you know what's good for you, like Windows Explorer...

I've heard bad things about VirtualBox. What else can you recommend?

Microsoft supplies its own Hyper-V virtualization platform as part of Windows' basic tools, although it's not installed by default and is typically a bit more finicky to handle. Please note, Hyper-V isn't included in Windows Home Edition. You may have to upgrade, or go with a software-based solution like VirtualBox. Check your BIOS; your motherboard needs to support virtualization tech, too.

To get it, search for Turn Windows features on or off in the Start Menu's Search bar and tick the box next to Hyper-V. It'll tell you to prep for a reboot, let it do its thing. Once you've rebooted, you'll be able to search for Hyper-V in the Start menu. Follow the first-time tutorial that pops up to get a sense of the process - which requires you to have an ISO on hand.

What's a BIOS?

The Basic Input-Output System, or BIOS, is what initially controls your PC, before handing off most important aspects of it to your actual operating system. The BIOS performs hardware checks, allows you to define boot priority and can allow you to enable more advanced aspects of your motherboard of choice.

So, I figured out this Virtualization thing. What OS do I try out now?

The obvious first answer is Windows. Running Windows within another instance of Windows has the merit of giving you the most compact and secure home lab you could possibly want. You can try out the stupid shit I mentioned in the previous post - such as deleting System32 - in full confidence that you won't torch your actual rig. You can also test out debloaters, aesthetic patches, anything you'd want - with no fear of leaving scars on your actual system.

What about Linux?

Start with Linux Mint. It'll get you everything you need - just don't forget to install its hardware codecs, when it asks you. Get used to the Terminal - and do that in the knowledge that you're just barely touching the surface of the tech that runs most of the Web. Even Microsoft itself runs its business partly on Mint's parent distro, Ubuntu.

When you're ready, check out Arco Linux as a transition point between Mint and Arch Linux. Get used to its own package manager and syntax, while keeping the benefits of an out-of-box GUI experience.

At the end of your journey, hopefully a few years down the line, try out Arch Linux proper. Stick to VM installs, and get used to the command line-based install process. It isn't that complicated, but the absence of anything graphical and the need to grasp certain commands from the get-go can be daunting for some. Be aware that even if your Arch install boots and reaches a desktop, you'll have to provide literally everything else - or at least point it to the right resources. Expect some Terminal editing, a good long while spent poring through config files - and the fact that Arch pays for its modularity with stability. One errant package update can break anything and everything - and that's a small price to pay in the face of total user control - at least, according to some diehards.

So, when do I get to Mister Robot shit?

That's after years of work and several certifications. You can check your local Community College for courses, or just learn as you go online, provided you do sit down to take the CompTIA certifications, eventually. Fair warning - they're gruelling. Comparatively, Microsoft's own database of certs is easier to work through, but are more specific to Windows itself, as you'd expect. Outright hackers, however, tend not to make gains strictly using legitimate training platforms. Hacker or not, your best tool for learning is going to be a home lab.

What's a home lab?

Just your eternally willing victim, to be simplistic. It's a PC you set up as an attack target, or a PC you use as a test bench for new hardware, new tools or distros. Before any stress test I submit to the business' infrastructure, I always test my scripts and practice myself on hardware set aside specifically for that. You don't need anything expensive; mine is still just a refurbished Dell OptiPlex mid-tower PC bought used on eBay. It's currently connected to the office's netwok via VPN so I can attack it realistically. It's packed with dummy files and is designed to sort of feel like the workstation of a modestly-careful member of our Accounting team, and my colleagues in the IT department are instructed to treat any non-standard access to it as seriously as any other potential breach.

It's actually fairly simple: if I can hack into it and copy or steal something, then someone else can. If someone else can, then our entire infrastructure is at risk. This is why even though I work from home, there's days where audits need to happen, and I need to ensure that everyone who's onboard with us has decent security practices. That means going to our small office, going over logs manually and making sure nobody's been using workarounds or unsecure software.

Which tools can I expect to use?

Mostly Kali Linux' set of tools, just packaged into something a little less meme-worthy - like Parrot Security. Metasploit is eventually going to be your bread-and-butter, as once properly configured, it's a one-stop shop for pen-testing everything from computers to smartphones of both the Apple and Android persuasions.

I've done research and people keep telling me not to do bare-metal installs of Kali or Parrot. Why is that?

Because a hacker, ethical or otherwise, leaves no trace. You haven't finished pen-testing something until you've managed to exfil without being fingered as an unexpected connection. You're not there to leave calling cards; that's distinctly unprofessional. If you do choose to leave one, then it means you're after something - usually money, or the approval of some sponsor body or State. And that, well, defeats the purpose of being a hacker. Curiosity should be its own reward. Considering, working off of a dedicated "hacking rig" is the stupidest and easiest way for your pen-testing efforts to lose all relevancy - or for your sponsored hacks to be easily traceable.

Keep a mainline OS that handles Normie stuff - word-processing, normal Sysadmin tasks, writing emails, gaming after hours - and then use a USB stick to create a bootable drive image that contains everything you need for the rest.

Have you hacked anything before?

Only approved company resources - including keypads, IR receivers on TVs mounted in the Old Place's conference room - everything I could conceivably reach within the limits of my mandate. Now, with Walt and Sarah, I maintain the same ethical constraints. If I'm not asked to test something, I don't touch it.

But have you ever... hacked anything?

Illegally? No. I'm a staunch White Hat - with a few tinges of gray here and there. I've trolled particularly noxious Sales Reps using script-based UI barks in Windows, but I wouldn't go further.

[techaipost]

How to Get Windows 10 and Windows 11 ISO images Direct from Microsoft server 

Looking to download the latest Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO image? Here is how to get it direct from the Microsoft server, and create installation media using third-party utility refuse. Well Downloading Windows ISO files directly from Microsoft's servers ensures that you are getting a genuine, unmodified version of the operating system.

Windows 10 ISO download link: https://www.techaipost.com/download-windows-10-iso/ 

Windows 11 ISO download link https://www.techaipost.com/download-windows-11-iso-free/

What is an ISO image file?

Whether you’re planning to upgrade your current operating system, perform a clean install, or create a recovery disk, you need a Windows 11/10 ISO image.

An ISO file is a digital replica of a physical disc, and with it, you can install or reinstall Windows on your PC without needing a physical disc.

Downloading Windows 11 ISO

Open your browser and go to the Windows 11 download page.

Under the "Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)" section, click on the "Select Download" drop-down menu.

Select "Windows 11" from the drop-down menu and click "Download."

Choose your preferred language from the drop-down menu and click "Confirm."

Click on the "64-bit Download" button. This will start downloading the Windows 11 ISO file to your computer.

Downloading Windows 10 ISO

Open Chrome browser and  Head to Microsoft’s Windows 10 download centre

Press F12 to open Chrome developer tools. You must select a mobile device as your user agent because Microsoft offers the media files only when the website is accessed on a non-Windows 10 device.

Now select Windows 10 from the select edition drop-down menu and click confirm.

Select the language for your ISO, then confirm,

Now click on either 32-bit or 64-bit to download the ISO image.

Note: This makes a big difference, so you must be careful before downloading the files. You can verify the config from Settings > System > About.

Creating a Bootable USB Drive

Go to the Rufus website and download the latest version.

Plug in a USB drive (at least 8GB) and run Rufus.

In Rufus, select your USB drive from the "Device" drop-down menu.

Click the "SELECT" button and choose the ISO file you downloaded.

Click "START" to begin creating the bootable USB drive.

Rufus will format the USB drive and copy the necessary files. This might take a few minutes.

[mikalwrites]

The Hidden Tribe: The Kids are Not Alright

How do I tell a well-structured story when my life is in absolute chaos? 

That might sound a tad on the dramatic side but let’s be honest being a 17-year-old werewolf with hormones that fluctuate more than the moon phases, I have every right to be as dramatic. How rude of me not to introduce myself though, I am Jacobi Holt, a werewolf with a passion for getting into trouble that I shouldn’t be in. I live with 15 other foster kids, and yes we are all supernatural creatures and we are constantly on the run from many things, hunters looking for a quick kill, other supernatural creatures, bullies from the schools, and worst of all, CPS. Yes sometimes we do change our names and be homeschooled until we are laid low enough however it's hard to just live off in some remote area when constantly running. As much as books tell you how they do it, we aren't camp half-bloods and we aren’t Professor Xavier, home of the mutants. You may be wondering who the hell takes care of all these kids, two all-powerful creatures, Winston and Padora. Ignore their names sounding like they belong in a Tim Burton film; however, they are all powerful creatures who created supernatural creatures and a separation between us and the mortal realm. Let me not drown in so much information and get back to the main subject here, Me. 

As I mentioned before, we move constantly and sometimes we do end up at actual schools, not all of us but the majority of us actually like going to school and interacting. Not me, I try my best to always be at home being homeschooled. However, Winston and Padora believe for me to become a regular civilian and not just a part man part dog creature that I am, they want me to attend high school for my senior year. They believe this school will be the school where I’ll actually make friends and be a well-rounded student. Now here we are driving to Northern California to a town called Maldetto with my two foster siblings arguing back and forth and a wet dog that smells like well you guessed it, wet dog, my foster father playing country music, and my iPod has died so I can’t drown anything out for the next 45 minutes. Can you tell I am excited? 

“Winston, can you please change this godforsaken music?” Byron hollers from the back of the car. “Please change it, if I could I would hang myself right here right now.” 

“My car does not have anywhere you can put your imaginary noose, Byron. So please just sit back and relax, we are almost there, you can bear it for a little longer.” 

“How about us switching into another car Winston, cause every time Byron opens his mouth it smells like something died in his mouth.” Jessamine on the other side of Byron is rolling her eyes whilst petting the dog, Rufus. She starts fake gagging once Byron begins to retort back. 

“The thing that died wasn't my mouth, it was my soul. Due to seeing your ugly ass for the last 10 hours.” Byron rolls his eyes and then the argument that I thought died back in Idaho ensues once again. 

Winston looks over at me probably noticing that my iPod has finally died and smiles, “Are you excited for senior year?” 

“As excited as I’ll ever be Winston.” I conjured up a smile, as real as I tried to make it, I can tell he could tell I was faking that smile. Before we can enter more into the conversation a shriek from the back shocks me back into reality.

“I’m going to kill Lana when I see her.” Jessamine puts her hands to her face and pulls them dramatically across her face. “I can’t believe we are watching her dog!” 

“You said you’d watch it for her,” Winston states as he eyes Jessamine in the rearview mirror. “You know he gets airsick whenever she takes her flying carpet.” 

“She didn’t have to bathe him before she got here though.” Byron sighs and pinches his nose, he dramatically rolls down the window. 

“Now you found the source of the smell you mentioned earlier JJ.” I try my best to say it with a straight face and Byron goes and laughs directly in her face. She scoffs and pulls out her middle finger. 

“I hate that nickname, and It’s still Byron’s nasty ass that smells.” She rolls her eyes and looks back to the window. 

“Anyways ignoring you.” Byron puts his hand up to Jessamine who wasn’t going to entertain him anymore. “But speaking to you though.” He points to me and continues saying, “You aren’t a little excited for senior year. I mean let’s be really honest, new babes, me and you going to school together we haven’t done that since Maine. My fault about that I didn’t know you could make a Molotov cocktail in school.” He laughs uneasily when he realizes Winston looking at him sharply. 

“I mean I am excited, but it’s just I don’t know. I haven’t been really well-liked.” I shrug my shoulders. “I always get into fights with people and I don’t even initiate or anything. It’s like I have a target on my back.” 

��Well maybe don’t be so awkward. You have this attachment to that damn iPod of yours, you don’t even realize when you bump into people.” Jessamine breaks her two-second silence to give me her two cents. 

“She does make a point. Don’t look at me like she does.” Jessamine doesn’t even try to retort back to Byron’s remark which I found more shocking. “You walked into two fights because of that thing, it’s not even an iPod touch it’s a regular iPod. Because Winston doesn’t believe in phones.” Byron leans in really close to Winston. Winston steps on the break sending Byron back into his seat. 

“I’ve told you, phones and social media and that whole loud noise will get you caught up. With the Mystical High Courts, with people from the past, and worst of all Child Protective Services. Your mother put me in charge of you, Byron, this is the best way for her to see you.” 

One thing I forgot to mention, most of us have parents who openly put us into Winston and Padora’s care. Unlike me, I was in the system until I blew up one of the group homes I was staying in. So he took me in without a second thought, I was only 7 at the time. Jessamine’s mother had given her up when she was 1 to Winston’s care and never came back again is what she says and Byron’s mother was reluctant to give Byron away but honestly it was hard for her to explain to babysitters not to let him be touched by water or his legs will turn into a mermaids tail. What Winston does exactly is make sure we go to school and get an education and stay out of trouble, just like any old parent. However, with his supernatural knowledge, he knows how to take care of us in ways most parents don’t, with his supernatural powers the government never really takes notice of the parents letting their kids go. 

“Winston we get it but dang can we make a burner account and look at funny memes.” Byron puts his hands up in defense. 

“No, I don't care who the memes are or how funny they are.” Winston's eyes were glued to the road now and I can see the words, Maldetto, glazed on a sign signaling us we have finally made it. The town was literally surrounded by tons of trees, and it looked like it was about to rain with all the rain clouds surrounding it. 

“I’ll join basketball.” I finally say. “Maybe I’ll finally get a date with a girl.” 

“Woah their big dawg, you're going to become a varsity player and a ladies' man overnight.” Jessamine is laughing, no she is cackling at the thought of this. Most of the other times when we lived in other towns I never really tried to date or do anything, just cruise through life under the radar. 

“Maybe you should let Lana and Ava give you a makeover, they’d love that.” Byron shakes his head at this, “Like you need any fixing, you are pretty athletic and you aren’t bad looking, to be honest. Maybe they can help with your social skills.” 

“What’s wrong with my social skills?” I believe I can talk to anybody really, I mean I can talk to anyone but it depends if I have anything cool or intriguing to say. 

“That you severely don’t have any.” Jessamine flails her hands up in the air signaling that this was common knowledge. 

“I have social skills.” I sink into the passenger seat a little bit more, I can feel Jessamines, Byrons, Winstons, and even Rufus's doggy eyes on me. “Okay, they aren’t the best but I think I’ll try. I mean what's the worst that can happen.” 

“Attaboy! I think we finally reached the town and look I think there is the academy, it's the only school K-12.” Winston points and there were three buildings all right next to each other. You can see the football field with the stands so high you wonder how many people even went to those games. “We will be heading over there tomorrow, so you kids get a good night's sleep.” 

“Who exactly is going to in-person school this time around Winston?” Byron shifted in his seat and perked up when Winston mentioned ‘we’. Winston and Padora have a system, they never let all of us enter a school at once, it’ll cause too many problems with each other and other students. So he switches up who enters the in-person school and who stays home and homeschools with Padora. Padora homeschooling was not your typical homeschooling, yes she follows all the things you have to get for regular students however she adds her own razzle dazzle to it. Lana prefers to have homeschooling only because she likes that Padora teaches them supernatural things, like the laurallilies, a magical lily flower that sings for you, or how to fly a dragon. Those things are fun and all however Padora being the teacher can be draining, even if she was one of the first-ever beings on this planet, she still acts like she is in her teens with her outbursts and her constant cycling of men that she dates who upset her and then she’ll make you read sad literature all day. 

“Well from what Padora and I decided, Jacobi and Byron shall enter, and let’s hope it’s your last school for senior year, while Jessamine will be the only junior. Cassius is a sophomore and Lottie is a freshman.” Jessamine groans after hearing about Lottie joining us in high school. Lottie doesn’t seem to practically trouble me, however from Byrone’s and Jessamine’s words she is the literal embodiment of annoying. “Be nice Jessamine, she’s your sister. The LaRoux twins shall be 8th graders alongside Luis. Harper Luna will be in 2nd grade. I think that was what we agreed on. Oh don’t frown back there, I sense that this will be a different school year. It has been a while since we let so many of you attend together. It works out well due to the school being all in one building so you can all walk each other to school.” The last time we all attended a school was back when we lived in Georgia and when I tell you we barely lasted a month we barely lasted. 

“Did the others volunteer that they aren’t going?” I finally asked. I turn my head to the window and realize the town isn’t so small after all, we pass by more schools and the police station. Which caused some anxiety to shiver down my back, a couple cops were sitting outside looking at us. I mean driving down in an old beat-up Cadillac, 2 Uhaul trucks, and a tiny yellow buggie car, you can only think, ‘Is the circus in town?’

“Don’t pay mind to them, they won’t do anything unless we cause trouble, which we won’t. To answer your question, Lana has finished her schooling so she won’t be attending Jasper as well, you know Ava hasn’t attended since Nebraska, and Renee has agreed to just stay home alongside Alden. Marcel and Agnes are not old enough yet. Casimir sadly lost the rock, paper, and scissors on who will go against Cassius.” Winston finally starts taking us down some houses and finally stops at the last house basically by the other end of the woods. 

“Welcome home children.” It was early morning as I forgot to mention so we were the only ones out in the neighborhood. There stood the house, it looked different from all the other houses almost untouched and vacated. I mean yes that's how you wanted your house before you moved in but it looked so soulless and empty. However, it was beautiful and big, at around two stories, and looked like the backyard was connected with the woods. The front had the regular two-car garage and a small piece of lawn in front of the door. 

We pulled up in front of the garage, and alongside us was the yellow buggie who was driven by my older scratch oldest sister Ava. She had on black shades and long black sleeves with grey yoga pants and some slippers. Her long midnight black hair was tied back in a low ponytail and she got out of the car and glanced over at me and gave me a small smile. Ava looked as modern as girls come, however, I do forget she is 150 years old. As you guessed it, Ava is a vampire and you may be wondering why she still lives with you. She is so… mature. Well, Ava is a special case, she keeps a lot of her past a secret from us, only thing she mentioned was that she owed Winston a favor and that she was just like our nanny. She seemed to age still just very very slowly, her appearance now is as a girl in her late teens. 

“Hey, stinky.” I didn’t realize that the other hand already exited the vehicle and I was face to face with Renee. Renee, one of my little sisters, is part of the fae, she has pointed ears and her eyes always seem to play a trick on you, are they brown or are they green or hey did they just change to pink? Renee came a couple months after me when she was only 3 and I remember how she always made me play tea parties with her. Like me, she grew up in foster care, she mentioned that she found Winston when her other foster siblings tried to pickpocket him. Winston doesn’t always pick the brightest of children, to say the least. Her hair was in a bob cut and was just a normal shade of brown, shocking she usually has it a bright pink or has highlights of blue all around. 

“Hey buttface, no crazy colors for your hair? Who are you and what have you done to my Renee?” I grab her quickly and put her under my armpit while I viciously mess with her hair. She is shouting trying to claw at me, I follow behind Byron who is leaning on the doorway with Jessamine on the other side. 

“Will you two be quiet? You are going to wake up the neighborhood. I want them to have their breakfast first before they start bringing their pitchforks and trying to burn us at the stake.” Jessamine narrows her eyes at both of us. 

“California is in the middle of a drought JJ, they’ll hang us before they burn us.” A voice behind us said. Walking up the steps right next to me was Lana. “Don’t stress so much, I’ve scooped the neighborhood out, we mainly live next to an older couple on the left of us, a nurse and her son right in front of us, and oh how can I forget, a vicious supernatural hunter who targets kids with mommy and daddy issues.” Lana breaks into laughter and Jessamine rolls her eyes trying to hide a giggle. Byron lets out a snort as well as Renee and I. Ava jabs Lana on her side, shaking her head while smiling.

Lana is one of my closest siblings here, it could be that we used to have to share a bed when I first got here or the fact that she was the only one who would talk to me when the others thought I was psycho cause I burned down the group home, which I didn’t. We were basically super close in age, just two months apart. She swore up and down that she was 5’5 but she stood at 5 feet flat. She had super curly hair that reached to her back, her hair color seemed brown but in the sun it looked like a shade of purple. Her eyes were two different colors, one being a soft green and the other being purple. Lana was not a fae and actually was supposedly a hybrid, her mother is a werewolf however she doesn’t exactly know who her father was and has no werewolf abilities at all. What she does have is a spellbook that was given to her before she came here, Lana’s father has to be some kind of witch, she does spells and makes things appear and all that jazz. Unlike most of us, Lana has other siblings however her mother couldn’t deal with Lana having powers that she hasn’t dealt with and just gave her away. I always wonder if that upsets her knowing her siblings are being taken care of with her mother and she was shipped off here with us, a troublesome bunch to say less. 

  While Winston was trying to figure the door open, the younger kids were coming by the door looking absolutely wrecked. Most of the kids never sleep on the drive over, and we never stop at a motel, Winston and Padora always want to make the drives as short as possible. I felt a tug at my leg and there was my baby sister Agnes at my legs reaching her hands to be picked up. I grab her up and hold her as she sets her head down on my shoulder. I realize she falls asleep almost instantly. Agnes is 3 and doesn’t talk at all, I remember the day she came, it was raining so hard in Florida that we thought a hurricane was making its way over. A knock at the door and then a baby crying, Lana and I were the only ones awake. We were trying to cast a spell to cook a frozen pizza since the electricity went out. Lana, deep in concentration didn’t hear the door, I stepped away to see what it was and Agnes was with a note and no one else there. The note was written in an ancient language, that's what Lana says when trying to read it, and when we finally had to wake Winston he immediately is stunned and while waking Padora he finally tells us that she is our new sister and to call her Agnes. 

“It’s always you that she falls asleep instantly but the whole trip she was being so grumpy. I guess you have the magic touch huh little bro.” Jasper is holding our youngest brother Marcel in his arms. Other than me Jasper is the oldest boy here. Jasper is the total opposite of me in every way possible, he’s social, extremely athletic, always has the right things to say, and is just all-around cool as a cucumber. He’s also a werewolf like me, however, has everything under control and never once struggles on full moons. He came right before he mentions, he said he ran away from his father he mentions his father was a very powerful alpha werewolf but his father was having power struggles and was trying to kill Jasper’s mother, which she left Jasper to deal with it. He jolts me back into reality with a question, “You ready for senior year, little bro? I know you are going to have a good time. I feel it.” He shoots me a smile. Before I could even reply we were squashed some more on the porch due to all the other kids now exiting the car and joining. 

A shout from the back alarms us all, Padora looked annoyed that Winston still hasn’t managed to open the door and that we weren’t really helping. “Winston not to alarm you my dear brother but.” She waves her hand and the door unlocks magically and slowly a key evolves from her hand and she tosses it to him. He catches it and smiles, the double doors of the home spread wide open and we all rush in to not cause a scene outside and wake up our neighbors. 

To say the home looked large was an understatement, it was built inside like a mansion. The outside made the home look like any average home but the inside was pure magic. As if he knew what we were wall thinking Winston clears his throat and says, “I know I know, we did tweak up this place a bit to fit you, children. However, not everyone has their own room. Let’s discuss roommates. I did take in any consideration and switched and compared it to past behaviors and saw that I made a perfect list.” He whips out a piece of paper and it reads. 

1st Floor

Jacobi & Byron 

Jasper & Luis 

Ava & Lana (basement) 

Agnes, Marcel, and Padora

2nd Floor

Harper Luna & Jessamine

Lottie & Renee

Cassius, Cassimir, & Alden

Garfleld and Chester

“I’m not with Jacobi this time?” I perk up hearing my name and realize it's Luis looking devastated that we weren't rooming together. “But who's going to check under the bed for monsters?” He said the last part in a whisper not wanting the twins to scorn him for a week about his fear of the dark. Luis and I’ve roomed together for almost 3 years, Byron and I caused so much trouble that we simply could not share the same room. So while Byron usually got to share a room with Alden, his social skills made me seem like an extrovert. I’ve always liked Luis though, from all the younger kids he annoyed me the least even if I did not want to admit it. He came to live with us at 4, I remember because it was around Christmas time and Winston said in addition to our gifts we had an even bigger one and then Luis came walking in between Winston's legs scared to even look at us. He only spoke Spanish until one day he came home speaking English fluently, I always knew he spoke English, I used to hear him talk to his stuffed animals. 

I catch Luis’s eyes when it finally lands on me and I say in a low whisper, “I promise I’ll still check them, scout's honor.” The smallest smile spreads on his lips and he turns away continuing to listen to Winston's speech on our chores. Winston brushes the chores we had to do, I got to do laundry on the weekends which is probably the worst of everything we had for chores, only because the weekdays were when everyone had to take care of their own clothes by why take care of them than when you can wait on the weekend where someone else can do it. We finally dispersed into our rooms, Byron and I’s room was the last one at the end of the hall. The room was spacious with two twin beds, each on its respective side, and a window at the opposite end of the door. 

  “Dibs on the right side.” Byron throws his backpack and slams his whole body on the bed. “Man, my back was killing me in that car. I’m going to sleep. Wake me up when school starts, actually don't I can’t stand public school.” He groans having the thought of it. I chuckled at his frustration but I could only imagine how school will be going for us. I usually go through without a problem, I always have a low profile and try not to make any friends, there was never a point in making friends if we just left in the middle of the night and could never keep contact. Before I could make a remark, Agnes is making noises to tell Byron he was being too loud. I try to remember what room she's in but before I even can do anything. Padora is standing in the doorway with her hands outstretched for Agnes.

I attempt to peel her off me and she starts crying which makes Padora roll her eyes, “You always want Jacobi, what am I chopped liver?” Agnes finally gives in and lies on Padora's shoulder. “Boys, late breakfast will be ready. Hopefully, I have Lottie and Jessamine in the kitchen so be patient.” 

“You setting them up Padora, might as well get the fire hydrant ready.” Byron rolled onto his back and shook his head at her. “I’d rather starve if that food doesn’t burn, why switch Lana from the kitchen, we had it so good.” He fakes cries into his hands. Padora doesn’t even answer him and walks off with Agnes rubbing her back and going into their room which was two doors to the left of us. I slowly closed the door and slid myself into the bed, the sheets smelled like lavender, and before I could even comprehend I was out like a light. 

I didn’t realize I had been so tired until the twins were shaking me awake, alongside Harper Luna jumping on the bed shouting my name “Jacobi, Jacobiiiiiiii, Ja co biiiii.”

“I’m up, I’m up.” I extend my hands to stop Harper’s incessant jumping. She collapses into my arms and wraps me in a hug. 

“Come on, we are waiting for you!” Chester shakes the embrace which makes Harper shout in my ear. I try to scramble out of the bed and just like Agnes, Harper won’t let go of me. I swing my legs over the bed and the boys make their way and head out the door with me slowly following behind. Alden was in the hallway standing waiting for us to come to eat. 

“Hey, Al how are you?” He walks alongside me and doesn’t make eye contact. He pushes up his glasses and then starts counting from 1 to 10. 

“I’m g-g-g-ood. How are you, J-j-jay?” He looks up to me and gives me the briefest smile and then goes back to looking down. Alden always needed a little more time to talk, I always found it nice whenever he made time to talk back to me. 

“I’m good thanks for asking.” We reached the dining room which is to the left of the entrance of the house. It had a long brown table with exactly 17 seats. Everyone but the 5 of us was not sitting, the table was lined with food. Take out food to be specific and before I could even ask how cooking went Lana cuts in and tells me exactly what I was going to ask. 

“Lottie and Jessa got into a fight about how long to cook the pasta and little did either of them know, they had placed the pasta in the pot without water. It caught on fire, and Jasper put it out before it could get bigger. Then while Jasper is putting out the fire, Lottie swings at Jessa because Jessa called her a dumbass and then they were fighting and knocked over the marinara all over Marcel, which Cassius thinks it's blood, and throws up and faints. Renee and I cleaned it all up and then Ava ordered to-go from the only ethnic restaurant around here. Now that I caught Jacobi up, can we eat Winston?” Lana was trying her best not to laugh, however, I can see her smirk. Winston, who didn’t seem so happy about what happened, raised his arms for me to proceed to my seat. I was between Lana and Byron, across from Luis, Lottie, and Renee. 

“Yes, of course. But before we dig in Charlotte is assigned to yard work from now on and is grounded for a week. Jessamine is assigned to bathrooms from now on and is grounded for a week. Lana you are back on kitchen duty, shall I ever make that mistake again do not burn down the house again.” With that he gives us older children a glare which we know that he isn’t being sarcastic. “Lana, please delegate the food.” 

With a snap of her fingers, the to go boxes start to disperse to each one of us. Everyone got two chicken tacos, a side of rice, and a side of refried beans. Soda bottle glasses appeared out of thin air. I got a coca cola and Byrone had gotten a sprite, what I really wanted was the pineapple Fanta Lana had.

“Let me get a sip.” I eye her drink, hoping I acquire magic powers and steal that drink. 

“No, you snooze, you lose.” She begins to eat her food without looking at me and then I realize my Coke had become a Fanta. 

“Thank you.” I quietly say to her while I start to eat the food. 1 word to describe the food was amazing, I mean Lana could cook everything and it would taste delicious but this food just tasted so nostalgic like I had eaten this before. I’m going to have to go to this take out place again and find out what they put in this recipe.  

“So does this mean everyone in this town is white?” Renee shoves a mouthful of rice after asking the question. It looked like she was asking Lana the question but the way everyone's head turned in Renee’s direction seemed like the question was towards anybody. 

“Majority of the town is white people, yes. However it is mentioned to be a growing city and multiple cultural epicenters on the next towns over and it seems to be looking like Maldetto is soon to be adding more flavor to it.” Padora smiles and she was cleaning up Marcel spitting up his beans. Majority of us took a glance at one another knowing that this is going to be a rough school year. For the most part we all had a semi decent idea on what race we were, given that most of us were not brought up with much information on who we were. Jessa, Jasper, Luis, Agnes, and I were all some part hispanic from what we could remember and with information that Winston has told us. While Harper Luna, Ava, and Renee had East Asian heritage. Byron’s mother was white but his father is of Pacific Island descent. Lana and Marcel were black. Cassius and Casimir were orphans however their parents were black and white making them mixed race. Alden is middle eastern with tan skin and eyes that looked like it had been coaled. Lottie was the only white person here with the exception of Padora. 

“Gosh if school wasn’t already hard enough, we gotta deal with racism. Splendid.” Jessa sighs from the other end of the table. She was in between Ava and Jasper, she stuck her head out at Lottie and stuck her tongue out. Lottie just rolled her eyes and continued to pick at her beans. 

“You kids will be fine, the school has a zero tolerance on bullying.” Winston puts his fork up like he was stating that that was going to protect us. “I’m more worried for the school about you than the other way around.” He chuckles like he was telling a joke but I knew in my gut he was serious. 

We didn’t say much after that, we all ate our food and turned back into our rooms and started to unpack. Winston had this whole spiel on how we shouldnt keep a lot of useless things, he said materialism is a thing of simpletons and we are clearly not simpletons. I don’t believe in that, I mean why limit the items we can have however I never had many relics to keep and never had much time to keep many things since we would never know when we were on the run next. I mean having multiple children with supernatural abilities, time is not something you have when avoiding torture. 

I had only a box and a bag of things. The bag was filled with clothes, not much since Lana had the ability to give us an ever changing wardrobe whenever you needed it. The clothes were like my relics, gym shirts, or items friends had given to me but never had a chance to give back to them. I had a cowboy hat that I had been given by a friend back when we lived in Texas. As I was unpacking every item I had sat and stared. 

“Seeing you do this gives me a pang in my heart.” Byrone sat on his bed looking at me in distress. 

“It’s having empathy and what you are feeling my friend,” I pause to put the cowboy hat on. “What you’re feeling is darn tootin sadness.” I tried my best to sound as dramatic southern as they did in the movies. 

“I hope the people of Texas feel that disrespect and come here and kick your ass.” He chuckles and continues to open his bag up. He takes out a picture frame, I had almost forgotten about since we hadn’t roomed together in a while. In the frame it was a picture of his mother, holding a baby Byron, and a man who Byron never likes to admit was his father. He was staring at the photo, he wiped his face, I knew that it was my que to turn and rummage through my stuff. Before I could ask how his mother was, a knock came at the door. I sprang up to answer the door. 

“What y'all doing?” Lana says she walks past me and is taking in every inch of our room. “Don’t answer that, I don't care. A little birdie told me someone was looking to get a makeover.” She plopped herself onto Byron's bed next to him. He scurried quickly to put his frame away.

“No thank you Lana, I’ve been handcrafted by the gods but Jacobi here might need a little help in the looks department.” Byron snickers and winks at Lana. 

“Oh please Byron honey, you don't need a makeover, you need a miracle and a lot of toothpaste.” She plugs her nose and wafts at him. He rolls his eyes and checks his own breath, he makes a face and shakes his head. 

“It was just a thought. I like how I look.” I put my hands up and sit down looking at the both of them who were both biting back a laugh. 

“No you are good looking, nothing points to you being ugly. But a little help can go a long way.” Lana convincingly was getting to me until, “First we are piercing those ears of yours.” 

“No. No. Hell no actually.” 

“Why not? Ear piercings on guys are like totally in.” Lana is getting up from the bed and heading over to me. 

“Yeah Jacobi its like totally in right now.” Byron mimics Lana. She turns around and hits his arm. 

“No I will not pierce them. Are you crazy?” 

“You are so dramatic.” Lana grabs a hold of my shoulder and gives me a good shake. “Please, it's your senior year and I want you to have a movie type of school year. Let me do this please please please.” She pouted her lip and interlocked hands begging in a sense. 

“Alright alright. You can. But if I don’t like it I’m taking it off.” I crossed my arms together trying to show dominance but I knew she won. 

“Okay well gentlemen, lets go to my dungeon of a room and get this makeover started before dinner.”  

We all obviously got up and walked towards Lana’s room. Her room was on the other side of the first floor by the laundry room. Her room was adjacent to it and once she opened the doors it was pitch black. 

“Watch your step.” Lana turns to us before stepping into the darkness. Byron soon follows after her and I as well. Werewolves are known for their keen senses but right now it felt like I was 100% human. The door closes behind me, as if linked with the lights lanterns across the wall lit up with blue fire. Illuminating the staircase ahead of us. 

“Nice touch.” Byron mentions looking over the edge. 

“Thank you, Winston made me and the dragons stay downstairs due to them getting so big. Kinda sucks when I have to sneak them in for sunlight, still trying to find a spell to make them tiny for a small amount of time. I’ll get back to you when I finally figure that out.” 

When we finally reached the bottom it was a nice set up, Lana’s bed was against the left side of the room and right across was her desk filled with papers, spell books, and dog treats. 

“Where is Rufus?” Her absurdly large dog was nowhere to be found. I looked diagonally from where I stood and saw a cage with two yellow large eyes staring back at me. Lana had two dragons, she acquired them on her 13th birthday from her aunt who she has never seen and never spoken to. Her dragons were relatively calm for the most part, they could fly, breathe fire, and do what most dragon tales imply of them. 

“He’s with Lottie, she wanted to play with him.” Lana had gone to pet her dragon, I assume it was Mizuko, a blue dragon with yellow eyes, it purred at Lana’s touch. Lana for the most part took care of her mystical beasts quite well, as for Rufus he’s a family dog that everyone loves but Lana usually takes care of. Her mother gifted her the dog one Christmas and has never given anything since. “Jacobi come here to my desk and relax.” Lana tapped the small purple computer chair. 

Byron had wandered around the room and finally plopped onto Lana’s bed. “Mizuko & Lucius let’s bow our heads for our brother Jacobi as he might end up looking like he did back in the 7th grade.” The dragons growled at Byron saying their names being called by Byron as if they could understand him they both turned to me. 

“Oh shut up, don’t scare him and also i don’t know who told you shaving your eyebrow was cool.” Lana had gone to another part of her room and was digging through a box she had. I touched over my left eyebrow that had a small scar of where I was trying to shave a piece of my eyebrow like Jasper had it. It did not go so well however it was the only time that I ever got scarred so I thought it looked cool after a while. “Okay I got it!” She has an ear piercing gun in her hand and some clippers in her other one. 

“Lana I do not want my ears pierced.” I put my arms up to keep her away from me. 

“Cmon, you mentioned you wanted one back in Maine.” 

“That was two years ago, I’ve grown.” I was putting thought into it that maybe I did want to pierce them for a new look. 

“Look we will fix your hair, that overgrown mess isn’t serving anyone any good.” Lana pointed at my hair like a disgusting beast. 

“Yeah please do.” Byron was up again looking at Lana’s bookshelf. “He’s trying to be me so bad, sorry Cobi you can’t achieve my luscious length.” Byron's hair was actually really nice, he had cut it recently but it seemed to be growing again. It was wavy black and for the most part in a bun. 

“Shut up before I give you a buzz cut.” Lana grabbed my head gently and started to cut. Lana had usually cut hair, she used to practice on the twins for the most part since they would get it so dirty and long. Soon enough she started cutting everyones hair. “So you excited? I heard Winston was trying his best to give you a decent senior year.” 

“Why me though? I mean Jasper and you homeschooled it, I wouldn’t have minded it.” She turned my head to the side. 

“I hated public school to be honest, I hated how it was so long and how they don’t really care about teaching you what’s important and I hate asking to go to the bathroom.” She sighed at that last part and I sighed too just thinking about it. “Jasper was a bad ass kid and he picked homeschool, after the last time he went he almost got us found out.” I remembered that had occurred. 

It was back almost 2 years ago when Jasper had lost it on a full moon. He had been out with some friends on a bonfire and one of the friends' father was a supernatural hunter that had a hunch about Jasper. Jasper sensed something was off with the whole get together, he had taken Byron, Cassius, Cassimir, and I to the thing just in case. At home where most of the others had been, had gotten surrounded by other supernatural hunters. Lana had them attacked with an illusion of ghost soldiers and had everyone evacuated. Us on the other hand had been attacked by the kids' dad, most of us can usually keep our cool with the moon but once something else comes into the equation it’s tough to keep the beast inside. Winston had picked us up and was so mad that he didn’t speak to us till we were out of town and into the next. None of us were hurt but the damage had been done and had to go under the radar. It wasn’t so bad, however the air had felt different ever since.

“Okay done!” She hands me a pink hand mirror. My long hair turned into a nice little crew cut. It had been nice not to have hair on my face. “Look, a nice set of earrings would be nice?” 

“Maybe you are right, I will take them right out if I don’t like them.” I gritted my teeth once I heard Lana squeal with excitement. 

“Oh okay Cobi wants to switch up foreal this year.” Byron was now messing with the dragons and playing peek-a-boo with them. “About to call you panty dropper because the ladies finna love this.” 

“Keep your talking to a minimum please. I need pure concentration.” Lana’s heart so loud beating right out of her chest, for someone who never seems to get nervous she was a bit too scared with the ear piercing gun. 

“Just breathe.” I gave her a thumbs up. Byron came around my side and tried to hold my hand and I swatted it away. 

“Bro you acting you don’t need no moral support.” Byron grabbed my hand and was gripping me harder than I was. 

Lana’s heart rate slowed down and finally a really nasty pinch on my ear lobe. It didn’t hurt that bad and then she turned me and did my other ear. 

“All done, now look.” She handed me the mirror and I looked at myself. Nothing really phased me except that I thought that she didn’t have to pick the biggest diamonds ever to hang on my ears. “What’d you think?” 

“Why’d you give me earrings that need to be in a 2000’s rapper's ears?” I finally say handing back the mirror. Byron busted out laughing once he took a look at the earrings. Lana rolled her eyes and sat on her bed. 

“What do the kids say nowadays? You look swagalicious.” He busted out laughing again before he could even finish uttering that word. 

“I’m going to take that as a “Thank you, Lana. I appreciate you, Lana.’” She had a stank face and rolled her eyes at Byron's absurd laughter. 

“Thank you, Lana. I appreciate you, Lana.” I stand up from the chair and dust off my cut off hair and give her a high five. “The earrings will grow on me. But I don’t know if the kids will let me live when they see this.” 

“Oh who cares what they think. To them you’re cool Cobi. It’s Renee, JJ, and Lottie who’ll eat you alive.” Lana smacks her teeth when she says this. “Teenage girls know exactly how to rip you to shreds.” 

“Especially JJ. She’s been meaner lately and I really can’t pinpoint where it all went wrong.” Byron jumps right next to Lana on her bed and shakes his head in dismay thinking of JJ. 

“Well I’ll be fine with everyone in this house, it’s just this new school that I’m dreading. Spinning back onto Winston wanting me to have a good year, why again? You two didn’t answer my question.” I decided to plop myself on the floor twisting my earrings that had healed now. 

“Well you literally have had the shit end of the stick multiple times. I mean remember back in Minneapolis we were like in the 6th grade you had your first crush and then when you finally mustered up the courage to speak to her we had to move that night because Padora had a vision something was going to happen to us if we stayed any longer there.” Byron cleared his throat before he was to continue. But I had almost forgotten about that, I do remember my crush was a Somalian girl named Jamila. I had sat next to her for two months and I remember one week I just couldn’t keep a pencil for the life of me so I kept asking her for one to borrow. She would always give me one and would tell me good morning even though the other kids didn’t talk to me and I remember she had given me a valentine for valentine's day and I didn’t give her anything but I promised I’ll bring her one. So after a long discussion with Jasper on how to tell her I liked her we had to leave that very night and I never got the chance to give her one back. 

“Or that one time in Texas, where you were in the soccer team and you were doing so well and your team was about to play in the playoffs but you had to leave because the twins had blown our cover and Lana had to basically brainwash the entire town to completely forget we existed.” Byron clapped his hands giving the face ‘might I go on.’ 

“Yes I remember I remember, I mean Jamila and the Central Centaurs don’t even remember a Jacobi so whatever it’s fine. We went by other names and Padora had wiped the memories of most, so it’s tragic for my aliases but not for me.” I try to sound as genuine as I can but I did feel a little sad at times of all those lives I’ve lived but had to hide my identity. 

“Well maybe it’s a favor he feels like he wants to pay for you. Don’t think about that though, aren’t you excited to be a California boy?” Lana seemed extra giddy about the infamous west coast city. 

“It’s not like we are even in the bay or even in Socal, we are literally in Northern Cali. Not even that close to Sacramento.” Byron was always the reason we never went to cities with anything water related due to a request his mother made. 

“You know why we can’t go that close so don’t act that annoyed.” I start to stand on my feet now. “I’m excited to go to an actual high school, hopefully it ain’t like the movies where they shove me in the locker or in a toilet. Well, we do need to head upstairs and set up our room, I assume you already filled the wardrobe with decent clothes. I am thankful for you giving me a makeover.” 

“Oh we are not done with the makeover, we still need to do a face mask, eyebrow threading, trim those nose hairs, and floss those teeth, head back to my chair and Byron get comfy.” Lana quickly pushed me to the chair, I tried to fight back but she was awfully stronger than I remembered. Byron obediently shook his head and grabbed a snack from I don’t know where and sat back on the bed and watched us. 

“Alright, let's get this over with. Hold still Jacobi.” Lana was coming with a strip of wax and I closed my eyes once she placed it on my bro. “On the count of three.” 

“Man, I feel like Lana peeled my whole face off.” I was talking to Cassimir in the bathroom, I was washing my face and he was brushing his teeth. It was already 9pm, we had a later dinner which was just pasta that Renee had cooked up while Lana had finished ripping all my skin off. Everyone was bustling on getting ready for bed. 

“Let me touch that shit.” Cassimir smoothly placed his hand on my face. I looked at him and he simply said, “Don’t make this weird bro we literally are siblings and she lowkey did rip all your dead skin off, okay esthetician Lana. Man, this sucks. I literally won’t even see you because you are going to be at school. I’m stuck here, homeschooled by Padora.” Cassimir was always my favorite from him and his brother. He’s more chatty and never really cared about anyone’s perception of him. “At least I got Renee and Al though, oh and Lana’s here too. Man maybe it aint so bad.” 

“You lowkey do have it better, Lottie and Jessa are at each other’s necks at this point so going to and from school might add fuel to the fire. The twins are out of the house, so you already won.” I laugh and so does he knowing the twins are actually equal to 7 kids with the energy levels they are on. “I’ll keep Cassius out of trouble. Don’t you worry.” 

“Nah put that motherfucker in trouble, he won the rock, paper, scissors to go to school might as well live it up. He is always so scared.” Cassimir and I headed out the bathroom and bidded each other a goodnight and headed to our rooms. Once I reached my room, Byron was already knocked out, so I turned off the lights and prayed to the highest power that we can finally have a regular year.

[chthontoya]

Sephizack, Angesis, Strifentine or OT4 and Strifentine +past OT5

One usual check on an anomaly turks find the three infamous FIRSTS alive and intact but unconscious in the middle of nowhere, soaked in mako. Right after securing them, which meant transporting them to one of the chambers built to conceal (at least for a bit) Cloud Strife himself, ShinRa contacted all members of legendary Avalanche immediately. As expected, Strife and Valentine were there in a day, no matter how far the place was from their original location.

Cloud and Vincent entered an observation room right after Reno, that was showing the way through the building. While Vincent stayed in the farthest corner of the room, Cloud took place near the only window. Now he had a good sight on a big gray chamber with a small Nibelheim styled cabin in the middle. "No direct observation?" - Cloud stared at the little house nearly 12 meters below.

"You can do with them whatever you want as soon as you make a decision, yo!" - Reno took a candy from a bowl on a plastic long coffee table, - "We built this for you, ynow, no medical rooms, no constraints - they push your buttons, switch your switches - do things we try to avoid." Turk made himself comfortable on a sofa. On the right wall from him, same where the door were, were monitores with the live translation from cabin.

"No safe place for observation then." Cloud himself have agreed to have a place where he could be kept in case something would go wrong, - "Is it OK for me to know that?"

"Not a big deal." Reno shrugged. There were little chance to stop Cloud if he would go mad.

Following silence wasn't surprising. Everyone was stressed, but it couldn't be otherwise with Sephiroth alive, again. "We've spotted commander Genesis Rhapsodos, deflated SOLDIER first, not long ago. It's hard to follow him, but we're able for now." Turk took another candy.

Cloud squirmed, trying to remember who mentioned person was.

"One responsible for Deepground," - it was never easy to get if Vincent was asking or telling.

"Yep. He also was ex-general's and commander Hawley's friend. Not sure which side he'll choose, if he'll find this place."

"Why?"

Reno shrugged. "There was big rivalry between him and ex-general. And after deflation their interactions were especially tense."

"But after Deepground Rhapsodos could come to his senses, have felt guilt, and now he can decide to join his old friends to repay for his sins."

"That's exactly what Tseng thought of! You're one of us after all."

"Were," - Cloud cut before Vincent could say anything.

"Yeah. Right. Ex-SOLDIER and ex-Turk - such a soulmates." This time Cloud didn't correct Reno, despite obvious "mistake".

They aranged some more trivial details and Reno left alone two of Avalanche-07. They were called this way by WRO in desperate try to stop press using name "Legendary Avalanche". Even if older Avalanche, that had been connected to Wutai and Rufus, wasn't that popular, there were new group was created by Tifa, and name "Legendary Avalanche" threatened to stick forever.

[nourhost]

تحميل وندوز 11 Windows 11 23H2 (22631.2361) | Genuine Microsoft Multi Edition ISO مفعل - https://www.animeiatlight.com/%d8%aa%d8%ad%d9%85%d9%8a%d9%84-%d9%88%d9%86%d8%af%d9%88%d8%b2-11-windows-11-23h2-22631-2361-genuine-microsoft-multi-edition-iso-%d9%85%d9%81%d8%b9%d9%84/ - #AnimeiatLight #Windows #Windows11 #Windows1123H2(22631.2361)|GenuineMicrosoftMultiEditionISO #Windows11GenuineMicrosoftMultiEdition #Windows11GenuineMicrosoftMultiEditionISO #انظمةتشغيل #انظمةوندوز #برامج #برامجوندوز #تحميلوندوز11 #تحميلوندوز11Windows1123H2(22631.2361)|GenuineMicrosoftMultiEditionISOمفعل #عالمالتقنية #عالمالتقنيةوالالعاب #مجلةنورالأنيميات #منتدياتنورالأنيميات #نورالأنيميات #نورالأنيمياتAnimeiatLight #وندوز #وندوز11 - #عالمالتقنيةوالالعاب - مجلة نورالأنيميات - تحميل وندوز 11 Windows 11 23H2 (22631.2361) | Genuine Microsoft Multi Edition ISO مفعل Windows 11 23H2 (22631.2361) Genuine Microsoft ISO (Multi Edition) ​ ➡️ 100% Original, Untouched, Genuine Windows 11 23H2 ISO. ➡️ Downloaded Directly from Microsoft’s Servers.​ ➡️ ISO Notes: There are no changes to this ISO. It is original and genuine, the way Microsoft Intended.​ Default language is En-US. All additional languages are supported after installation.​ This Genuine ISO includes 11 editions – Home, Home N, Home Single Language, Education, Education N, Pro, Pro N, Pro Education, Pro Education N, Pro for Workstations, and Pro N for Workstations.​ ➡️ Installation Instructions: Unzip downloaded files to extract ISO from archive. Use your preferred method to write the ISO to a USB Drive. Boot from the USB Drive, and Install Windows 11 23H2 to your desired partition. Also supports in place upgrade on PC’s that meet Microsoft’s minimum requirements. Requires 2GB RAM and 12 GB Storage Space (if using bypass method given below). Alternately, when using the latest versions of Rufus to write the ISO to a bootable USB, you can select options to bypass Microsoft’s minimum requirements. Spoiler: How to install this Genuine 23H2 ISO on ANY PC! If your PC doesn’t meet the minimum requirements Microsoft has in place for you to install Windows 11, follow the steps below to bypass those requirements, and also learn how to bypass having to be connected to the internet, or having to create an online account to finish Setup. When you get to this screen, before clicking on ‘I don’t have a product key’ to proceed, hit SHIFT+F10 to open cmd prompt. then type ‘regedit’ in cmd prompt, and hit enter. In regedit, go to ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMSetup’ and right click ‘Setup’ followed by ‘New’ then ‘Key’ then input ‘LabConfig’ and hit enter. In the LabConfig Key, right click the right hand pane, and select ‘New’ ‘DWORD (32-bit Value)’ and create the following 6 New DWORD Values: BypassCPUCheck BypassDiskCheck BypassRAMCheck BypassSecureBootCheck BypassStorageCheck BypassTPMCheck Followed by changing the value for each entry to ‘1’ You can now close regedit, and click on ‘I don’t have a product key’ to proceed with installation. When you get to this screen, if you don’t have an internet connection, or just want to bypass being forced to create or sign in to an Microsoft Account to finish setting up Windows, hit SHIFT+F10 to open cmd and then in the cmd window, type ‘oobebypassnro’ and hit enter. Your PC will restart, and go through the setup steps again. But this time allowing you to select ‘I don’t have internet’ and proceeding to finish Setting up by creating an offline local account. Spoiler: Or do it the easy way! (With Rufus) Another method you can use to bypass the minimum requirements required for Windows 11 Installation, and also bypass forced MS account creation during Setup, is by using Rufus to write the ISO to USB, and checking the boxes for whatever bypasses / modifications you would like in place when writing the ISO to USB ➡️RUFUS 4.2p DOWNLOAD LINK Spoiler: MD5 Checksum Hashes PART 1: 6386f27873b2a906bb4a45c9257c2250 PART 2: 08fc91c1c756302f01db767c20bcc136 PART 3: a86264d9086bf72f0f07ba62467aa813 PART 4: 04ef6e85a68ea0c497ce6d552fd18ced ISO: 15452e1dcde9ccf285aa1fe68d13fe39 Spoiler: Screenshots DOWNLOAD LINKS: ➡️PART 1 (USERSDRIVE) ➡️PART 2 (USERSDRIVE) ➡️PART 3 (USERSDRIVE) ➡️PART 4 (USERSDRIVE) ALTERNATE INTERCHANGEABLE DOWNLOAD LINKS: ➡️PART 1 (UPLOADRAR) ➡️PART 2 (UPLOADRAR) ➡️PART 3 (UPLOADRAR) ➡️PART 4 (UPLOADRAR)​

[countenanceblog]

Chapter 61

Chapter 61

A manhole somewhere on the outskirts of Monolith popped open from the inside. It glided to the side an inch above the ground. From inside emerged Rufus, Karen, Jack, Nook and Corey. The five of them looked around.

Jack nodded to himself. "I know this neighborhood."

"You really had us guessing, Corey," said Rufus. Corey couldn't help but crack a sinister smile. Karen scoffed.

"You killed a hundred people, or so you say. Are you proud of yourself, Corey?," she intoned. Nook nodded.

Corey shrugged. "If you inflict enough losses, you win by default. You think these men will keep fighting?"

Jack perked up. "We should get out of the road. If we walk fast, we could get to my friend's house before anyone notices we're out in the open. It's possible, anyway."

Rufus chuckled. "And what? Get them killed, too? Anywhere we go, people are going to die. You saw the Most Wanted list. We're right up there with Aleister."

Karen surveyed the empty yards and windows in the neighborhood. "Jack's right, we can't stay in the open. You're sure they haven't killed this friend of yours?"

Jack smiled. "They can't have gotten all my exes. C'mon, I'll lead the way." With that, the five of them got onto the sidewalk. Soon enough they arrived at a white matchstick house. "This is it."

Jack, seemingly taking a moment to collect himself, walked up to the door and rang the bell. A woman with a very unusually curvy body, and tall figure answered the door. She was dressed in a black bralette, black skirt, and thigh-high black boots. Her roots needed to be dyed. "Jack!," she cried, a bit too loud. "Come in."

"Emilya," said Jack merrily. "Thank you so much."

Inside Emilya's house, the white furnishings created a serene and calming atmosphere. As they settled in, Emilya's gullible nature came to the forefront while she looked at the group with wide-eyed excitement. "Oh my gosh, you guys! You won't believe this! I saw you all on television! People are saying you're part of the Resistance and that you're gods in human form! Is it true?"

Rufus rolled his eyes playfully. "Oh, you got us! There's nothing godly about us, right, guys?"

Karen held up a finger dramatically. "Well, not entirely true, Rufus. We do have our...special qualities."

Nook blushed at the attention. "I-I think Emilya is referring to our alter egos, the ones with abilities beyond normal human capabilities."

Corey sighed and clarified, "Yes, it's true. We're more than just ordinary people. Each of us has unique gifts and responsibilities. For instance I just killed a hundred guys."

Jack, the brainy maverick, chimed in, "But we're not the only ones with powers. There's another one in town, Raj Dubey, people think he's the god Helion. And more still, in Spain City there's Grindall with his lightning."

Emilya's eyes widened even more. "Whoa, really?"

Karen nodded with a mysterious smile. "Indeed. But we try to keep a low profile to protect our loved ones."

Jack added, "Yeah, it's not all fun and games. Being part of the Resistance comes with its challenges."

Rufus glanced around the room, taking in the quirky decor. "You know, Emilya, you should probably keep this on the down-low too. We don't need everyone knocking on your door, thinking you're friends with the Gods."

Emilya giggled, oblivious to the gravity of the situation. "Oh, don't worry! My friends know I'm a bit spacey. They won't believe me anyway."

Jack, failing to respect any boundaries, looked Emilya up and down rather hungrily. "Are you still single?," he blurted. "Sorry, it's just. You're so good-looking."

"What's your power, Jack?," a candid Emilya asked.

Jack pouted. "Threatening people with a gun."

Emilya smiled and nodded. "That's really cool Jack. I'm not single, actually, but my girlfriend was looking for a guy we could have a threesome with, and I think – "

Jack's eyes widened. "Girlfriend?," he cut in. "Three way?! Are you fucking kidding me right now?!" He pounded his fist on the chair and stood up. "God, you just made me so horny I can't believe it. Sorry, guys."

Rufus nodded. "Yeah, me too. You're going to have to come back here later if any of us survive, Jack."

Emilya piped up. "What do you mean, if you survive? You guys will be okay, right? All you have to do is kill the vampires." She smiled and nodded reassuringly.

"Oh right," said Jack. "You believe in vampires, huh? You always did. Damn it, what a gal you are, Emilya. Thank you for letting us inside."

"Anytime," said Emilya. "You guys wanna watch the news? We can figure out what's going on by not believing whatever they say, all the time."

"Yeah," said Jack. "Turn on the TV." Emilya walked over to the aged television set and turned the dial away from the 'off' setting. The set flickered to life.

Redheaded Amanda Cairn was at it again. "Griffith, who blew up his own headquarters killing over a hundred brave Elite Tactical members, was caught in a shootout with Elite Tactical near the intersection of Diamond and – excuse me, here is our President, Robert Mayflower."

"Damn," said Jack. The others shushed him. An older man with a turkey neck flashed onto the screen. He wore a dark blue suit and tie. Everyone leaned in their seats.

"Good afternoon, my fellow Agarthans. With the death of David Griffith, we invite a new dawn for our country. Though our sacrifices have been great – "

Jack snarled. "Fuck me. They got to Mayflower too. I thought he was from Brownsville, what a sellout."

Karen nodded. "It seems we have few friends left in this world. For that reason, I have to thank you, Emilya. You let us into your home in a time when many would have turned us away. You have my eternal gratitude."

Emilya beamed. "It's not just me. A lot of people have heard about the man who escaped the earthquake in Cortez. Everyone saw it live, and then they heard Apollo talk about it live, and then, well. They've been killing too many people. They made themselves look bad."

Jack put his tongue in his cheek. "Maybe not. After all, they did get David Griffith. What a mess. That means they probably got everyone else, too." He put his face in his hands. "I can't believe they got him," he muttered.

Nook, sensing Jack's distress, spoke softly. "Jack, I know how much you idolized David. He was a complex man, and a hero. Losing him is a tremendous blow."

Corey interjected, "We can't afford to lose hope. David's death doesn't mean the end of the Resistance. We carry on his legacy, and we keep fighting."

Karen, channeling Nyx, added, "Death is an inevitable part of our journey. But it also fuels our determination to protect this realm and its people. They need us."

Rufus, being sarcastic as always, tried to lighten the mood. "Well, if we're gonna get all philosophical, I suppose it's our destiny to be the dysfunctional superhero team of Agartha. Except for me and Jack, of course."

Jack, still grappling with his emotions, nodded solemnly. "Yeah, sure. I can't help but feel responsible for not being there to help him. I should've been there."

Emilya, ever the optimist, put a comforting hand on Jack's shoulder. "You're doing your best, Jack. You can't save everyone, but you're doing more than most people would. I believe in you. I'm really glad you're here."

Karen chimed in, "We all do. We're a team, and we have each other's backs. We don't have to give up."

Nook, speaking with her quiet strength, added, "And we'll honor David's memory by continuing to fight for what's right. We'll take down The Monolith."

[shapesdefined]

Go With These Lighting Tips to Make Perfect Food Products Photography

Food products photography is an art form that requires skill, patience, and a whole lot of finesse. When done right, it can make even the simplest dishes look mouth-watering. But to achieve perfect results in food products photography, you need more than just an eye for composition—you also need the right lighting setup.

Lighting tips for taking photos of food

Whether you’re shooting indoors or outdoors, mastering light is key to capturing beautiful shots of your culinary creations. Hiring professional product photographers to do the job for you is the best option, of course, but if you’d like to try your hand at food photography yourself, here are some tips on how to get the lighting right:

1. Natural lighting is your friend.

Using natural light is one of the best ways to bring out the most vibrant colours in food photos. Position your camera near a window to get the best natural light whenever possible. If you’re shooting outdoors, find a spot in the shade so that your food doesn’t become overexposed by direct sunlight.

2. Align your light with the camera.

It’s important to ensure that your camera is properly positioned in relation to the light source. This will ensure that the light hits the food at the most flattering angle, resulting in a crisp and clear photo.

3. Use soft, gentle lighting.

Soft, natural lighting is the best type of lighting for food photography. You can use artificial light or a combination of both, but make sure it’s diffused so that your photos don’t end up looking flat and washed out.

4. Use additional reflectors.

To add more depth to your shots, consider using reflectors. By positioning a white sheet of paper, fabric, or foam board near your food, you’ll be able to bounce light back onto the food and create more dimension in your photos.

5. Watch out for shadows.

Finally, pay close attention to any shadows that may be present in your photos. The last thing you want is your food to look flat and dull due to excessive shadows, so make sure you adjust the lighting accordingly.

By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to capturing beautifulfood product photography that will have everyone drooling. Remember, your business’s success depends on how well you present your products, so make sure to give food photography the attention it deserves. Good luck!

About the Author:

This article is written by Allan Rufus, Marketing Manager at Shapes Defined, a fully automated studio in Dubai, which specializes in offering high quality ecommerce product photography services. Their photo solutions and services include from HD photography to 360° rotations and 3D interactive animations to business from fashion and apparel, food, sports, electronics, and more.

[sm-writes-chaos]

woah woah okay okay I saw someone else writing it out so I decided to do that too 😋

(now I am emotional over something that never happened)

—

“You’re- you’re here??!”

She shifted her stance and looked at me strangely, not that I blame her, this was strange. The character I created and loved for so long had suddenly appeared in my room, not exactly the everyday scenario for both of us.

“Uh yeah..who are you?” I knew her better than anyone, which sounds weird now that she was a real being in front of me. I knew behind that glare that she was actually scared, so I tried to come off as non-threatening as I could. 

I gestured to my chair that was right next to her, “have a seat, there’s a lot to explain.”

She stayed standing, not surprising. 

“Explain? Did you send me here?” She demanded, stepping closer to get a good look at me. She was intimidating, oh my Ezerk why did I make her intimidating?

“No..” I started slowly. “But you may have because of a..certain connection.”

I looked at her but she didn’t say anything, waiting for me to continue. 

“This is a bit hard to explain haha but..I kinda created you.”

“What on Alias are you talking about?”

“Ah I created that too actually..” I smiled nervously. 

Over the course of ten intimidating moments I tried to explain how I’d been writing a story, and she was a part of that. I got the sense she didn’t believe me. She did eventually take a seat though.

“Let me guess, you ate a piece of chocolate and ended up here?” I said.

“That’s right.” She chose her words carefully. She definitely thought I was crazy, maybe ate too many mushrooms, but she seemed more relaxed. Or at least, the most relaxed she can be. Which is instead of a deathly glare just an annoyed expression, not sure which one is worse. 

“So what do I have to eat more chocolate to go back?” She said impatiently. 

“Well the thing about that is…”

“24 hours?!” She stood up and looked around the room, maybe for more chocolate or an exit that would suddenly appear. 

I felt a little dumb, here I had a golden opportunity with someone I knew better than myself, and I was all scared. I felt some confidence swell in me, some excitement. 

“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” I suggested. “You can’t be too different from me, I did create you after all.”

“I’m gonna put aside any religious beliefs that you’ve been contradicting…”

“..sorry..”

 She sighed, “I guess one day couldn’t be too bad. They won’t miss me.”

I perked up, “oh Alphair and Rufus?”

She groaned a little, “ugh that’s right that means you must have created them too. Did you really have to give me such annoying friends?”

I laughed, if she wasn’t going to kill me before she definitely was going to now. 

“Oh, you called them your friends.” I smiled knowingly.

“What are you smiling at??”

“It’s just so hard to get you to confess that.”

She frowned deeper but I knew she wasn’t that annoyed, “you could wave your pen or whatever and make me say that.”

I thought for a moment, “it’s a little more complicated than that.” I tried to explain how the characters feel alive, and this case really were, so controlling them to your will wasn’t easy or the best way to do things. 

“I don’t really get it but at least you don’t make me say sappy stuff.”

“Hah your welcome.”

Things weren’t so bad after that, she seemed reluctant to talk but I knew how to get her comfortable and willing to talk to me. Sort of, it wasn’t easy but I felt like I got to know her better than I ever did writing her. I learned she spends a lot of time looking out of windows, her face quite soft and sadder than she usually let it get. Turns out she hates hot drinks, cold ones are the way to go. She also really likes roller skates. She would not let me have them back once she put them on.

And then the 24 hours were up.

It felt like saying goodbye to my best friend, sister, and twin all at the same time. I knew I’d still see her, but not in the same way I’d gotten to in these last 24 hours.

I felt like crying, which I almost did.

She looked around nervously, waiting to be whisked back home. She noticed my welled up eyes and shaking hands.

“Hey..it’s okay. You’ll still see me right? You’ll write about me for a long time right?” 

It was sweet, if it didn’t sound so much like a threat. But I got where she was coming from x

“I promise, I won’t stop for a long time.”

She looked like she wanted to say more but smiled a little instead, “and make those two idiots less annoying will you?”

“No promises there!” I laughed and felt better. 

One second she was there, and another she wasn’t. 

This was going to be a weird rest of my life. 

Magic Advent Calendar

Day 4 and 5 - The Teleport and Compliment Chocolates

Image description: there is an advent calendar with five slots open. The first one has a rectangular chocolate with a pink filling, the second one a star shaped chocolate with a green filling, the third one a Christmas tree shaped chocolate with a pink filling, the fourth one a bear shaped chocolate with a pink filling, and the fifth one a boat shaped chocolate with a blue filling

Today's chocolates are two, to make up for yesterday (btw y'all were so sweet worrying if I was well!)

They are the TELEPORT CHOCOLATE, which as a wonderful pink filling, and the COMPLIMENT CHOCOLATE with a delicious blue filling

As the calendary revealed

💖 Pink filling = something fun will happen to your OC's

💚 Green filling = this chocolate is for the writer. It will give them a nice boost to complete a little challenge

💙 Blue filling = this chocolate wants you to have fun with a mutual! Something nice is in store for you

Today's challenge/question/game is as usual under the cut

Both you and your OC receive a chocolate this time! Your poor OC of choice by now should know better than eat whatever they find around. Yet, today too their curiosity prevailed. They ate a chocolate that teleported them into your room! They are stuck here with you for 24 hours. How will you manage? Will you get along? Where will they sleep? How will the day pass by?

As for you, you couldn't resist eating a nice chocolate shaped like a little boat. Now you feel the urge to give compliments away! Quick, go to the askbox of your mutual(s) to satiate your need!

Taglist: @dyrewrites @unclear-contributions @sm-writes-chaos @frostedlemonwriter @fyoliars @bluberimufim @cheeto-flavoured-pasta @aalinaaaaaa @thegodsaredead @excessive-vampires ask to be +/-

[ticklish-touch]

Trapped in the Backrooms: Ch 5 - Raising the Stakes

(Ragaeli x lee!Y/N

Tickling, group tickling) You and Ragaeli aren’t making enough headway in your quest, so the Nightmare proposes a different way of exploring. In your attempts at playing Backroom Roulette, you eventually come across a group of survivors, trying to brainstorm a game plan.

(Chapter Themes: “Worlds In-Between” - Rufus Rex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3NcdWyGUgQ “Centuries” - Fall Out Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPA0z4W-kcU )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        You began to lose track of how long you'd been travelling this bizarre world. You'd adventured through four different Levels for what felt like hours. But at the very least, you didn't feel that tired. The abundance of haunting liminal spaces, and the constant threat of being pounced at any moment by the Nightmare or other entities, kept making your adrenaline go haywire. Which is exactly what Ragman needed. You knew that you more or less had to be a constant source of fear-fuel for him; a constant source of laughter and excitement. He'd told you in the past that a single mortal was enough to power him up for hours - and compounding that with him also getting his greedy hands on the other creatures here undoubtedly boosted his strength even more.        Still, it concerned you a bit that he was noticeably getting pissy. He couldn't read anyone else's mind, couldn't detect dangers in some Levels, couldn't find rifts, couldn't stop entities from turning on you at any given moment. You were both still making the best of it, though; He was having fun making it the best adventure you'd ever been on.          But he was starting to get impatient. He knew you both had a time limit. So, he proposed a different way of doing things.

        The next Level you reached was a quiet apartment with long hallways. Instead of spending a little while exploring the Level ahead of time, and instead of using the first opportunity to chase you or send an entity after you, Rags appeared to walk alongside you, back to wearing his Hot Topic outfit. He put a hand on his hip and pulled up a magic 'window,' scrolling through it like he was swiping through photos on a tablet.

        You peered over at him. "Whatcha doing?"         "Trying to find shortcuts. Getting a sneak-peek at other Levels, maybe find signs of Facelings, humans, psychics, Fae, aliens, demons... anything that could give us answers. Or more beasties that I can force answers out of, heheh."         "You sure that'll work? You said the Backrooms seem like they're trying to keep you from finding clues."         He shrugged. "I can still see most entities. Seems like anywhere that has 'em, also has some kinda higher intelligence just around the corner. Like a hidden Boss battle. And I could just start teleporting us around the world, instead of sticking to one path."         "...Are you sure we should do that? It seems like there's certain paths that we're supposed to follow."

        He shrugged. "There's not much I remember about this world, but I do know that it ain't linear, not by a long shot." He gave a wave of his hand to create an image of what looked like many, many rivers diverging into different paths. Some of them intersected and led to various different seas. Others were a dead-end. "It's more like a choose-your-own-adventure with multiple endings. And fuck knows how many levels and boring-ass oceans we'd hafta keep going through to finally reach some kind of ending that isn't, y'know, death." He summoned up a smoky-looking skull and hurled it at his map of rivers, making it burst into flame and disappear.

        "We could keep playing this damn game forever at this rate, and clearly we don't have that kinda time. We've gotta find more answers. And you, mi amigo, seem to have a knack for runnin' into people that have those answers," he gave you a pat on the back... Followed by a quick tickle to the back of your ribs.         "EEE-HEHE!" You jumped forward. “Thanks, jerk,” you shoved him playfully.        You thought over what he said, an idea coming to mind. Back at Level Zero, there was writing on the walls. 'Seek the Key', and 'Level 3999'. What if-

        "Already tried that," He answered your thoughts before you could ask. "Really only works if I actually have a visual in mind for where I'm trynna go, for one thing." He flicked his window forward, stretching into a portal. "Level 3999," he commanded. But the portal barely reacted with more than a shudder, displaying a faded, hazy image of static and computer coding. Rags put his hand up against it, only to be repelled back like someone had smacked his hand away. "See? No-go," he shrugged.         "Damn. Guess that would be too easy, huh?"

        "Yeeeup. Which is why we're gonna do things my way now~" he clapped his hands together. "SO, here's the game plan. We jump into a Level, look around a bit for someone. I'd give it ten, fifteen minutes tops. If there's zilch in that time, we poof outta here into the next Level I can find. If there happen to be some beasties along the way that I can toy with, then I will~ Hell, if there's other humans like Calamari said, I might even be able to read their minds."         He swiped backwards on his 'screen', to a place that looked like a homey little tavern with a bar. "Let's get ya some grub first. You're probably starving after all that swimming, huh?"         Your stomach answered for you, growling loudly. You clasped a hand around it. "Yeahh, sounds good to me, heh."

        The tavern was, to no surprise, very quiet, save for one Faceling bartender, and presumably also the waitress. She was very tall, and had a good amount of muscle. She could easily tussle with any miscreants or entities trying to stir trouble. Rags hopped up onto one of the barstools, planting his feet on the rungs, his gangly legs jutting out. "Just a couple passersby, my Earthling here needs some good eats." You joined him on the next barstool, and she came up to you first, firmly placing her hand on the counter.         "What're we in the mood for?"         "Uh... anything that a Wanderer could eat?” You assumed there was food here that could replicate Earth food, given what you saw in the warehouse.

           She nodded, reaching in the refrigerator next to the bar cabinets, pulling out a plate of food. A freshly-cooked plate, still piping hot. Must’ve been a hot-fridge. Either way, it looked delicious. Kind of strange, like a mish-mash of different types of food you've had on Earth. But the moment you took a bite, your mouth was very happy. "Mmmm..." You savored the first bite, but quickly dug into the rest, occasionally burning your mouth. It was probably because you were starving, but it tasted straight out of a five-star restaurant.           "Glad you like it." She turned to Rags. "And for you?"           He shrugged. "I could go for strawberry daiquiri if ya got any."

          She tapped her chin, thinking for a moment before nodding and preparing a drink.          As you ate, you noticed a few paintings decorating the walls. They depicted different figures and entities: A man in a red suit of armor, a black demonic figure with an onyx crown and bright white eyes, a court jester adorned in red and gold, a nymph woman sprouting vines on her head and body. And lastly, a figure of a tall man in a high-collared tailcoat. For some reason, this painting was totally out-of-focus; backlit and obscured so heavily that he was little more than a silhouette. He held something that looked like a large key ring.

        "Who are they?"         "Keepers of the Order," the bartender answered casually. "Deities, lesser gods, or just powerful warriors acting on their own whims. You'd be lucky to even encounter them. Some people don't even believe they exist." Her attention turned to Rags. "You, on the other hand... They might not like you being here."         Rags gulped down his daiquiri, raising an eyebrow at her comment. "Oh?" He smirked slyly.         She nodded. "The ones who fall into this world are typically always mortal. Easy prey. But I can tell just looking at you that you're a Hellraiser. You teleported in here like it was nothing."         You smiled. "Yeah, he's a Hellraiser alright. Should've seen him rallying an army in a warehouse and taking on a 1000-mile sea serpent."

        The Nightmare's smug grin slowly stretched further across his face, his eyelids drooping a little, some shorter stray strands of hair standing on end. You could tell that look meant he was getting some shitty ideas. "Sooo, there's a chance to stir the pot with some Big Boys... That oughta get us some intel for sure." He hopped off the barstool, walking over to the most roomy section of the tavern. "You wanna see me really raise Hell? Then watch this!"          He focused his energy, holding his hands out, glowing vivid red. In an intense burst of magic, his portal windows started to fill the room. Not just one, but many of them. They cycled through Level after Level at random. As they shifted, Rags gave a flick of his wrist and summoned a megaphone, pointing it in the direction of the portals and taking a huge breath...

           "HEEEYY BACKROOM BITCHES!!" His voice boomed through the megaphone, causing the portal windows to flicker and shudder. The bartender jolted, nearly dropping the glass she was cleaning, forced to cover her ears. You quickly covered yours too.

        "YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN KEEP US HERE?? LOCKED UP AND FORCED TO PERFORM YOUR USELESS STUNTS LIKE SOME CIRCUS TIGER??" He paced around, his hair acting up even more, writhing like Medusa's snakes. "WELL THIS RABID CAT HAS A HELL OF A BITE, BABY!! I'M CLAWIN' MY WAY TO THE TOP, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!" He cackled. "I'M COMING FOR YOU!! I'M GONNA MAKE A LAUGHING FOOL OUTTA EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!! HAHAHAAAHAHAHA-" He trailed off into wild, maniacal laughter even after he made the portals and megaphone disappear, his body crackling with arcs of magic.        You swallowed. That was... Kind of hot. But it also made you tense. Just what kind of Eldrich horror would he end up summoning from a calling card like that?       "Got that out of your system?" The bartender asked dryly.         Rags took a heavy breath and nodded, his hair and aura settling back down.         "Good. Now get out. You're disturbing the peace."          "Heheh; Yeahh yeah, we're leaving!" He patted you on the back and led you to a new portal. "Thanks for the grub! Put it on my tab~!"

        Afterwards, he started opening portals left and right. He often came across Levels that would've been impossible for you to navigate even with his help: Below-freezing tundras with harsh blizzards. Landscapes that were literally glitching in and out of existence and making your eyes ache. A dark, rainy marsh that tricked the Nightmare and suddenly cleared up to searing bright sunlit fields as if someone had flipped a light switch, scalding him and forcing him to poof you both away while he shrieked in pain. An extremely unsettling, unending 'tunnel' of Japanese spirit gates that emanated malevolent energy and nearly sent you into a panic attack just looking at it. He had to take a few minutes to calm you down from that one.          Finally, the Russian Roulette style of searching led to something helpful: A human outpost.        You stepped into a massive underground bunker, spotting tunnels, encampments, furniture, weapon supplies and crates all over the place. It looked like a shelter one would see in a zombie apocalypse. Even moreso when you saw some people in the far distance of the building walking around in Hazmat suits. But you felt a spark of hope to see that the rest of them had faces. Other humans!!          "Hey, we got another one!!" A man's voice shouted nearby, jogging up to you. He was middle-aged, Hispanic with light facial hair, looking a little rough around the edges. But he still offered you a slight smile. "Welcome to Paradise," he said sarcastically, giving you a handshake. "Glad you're in one piece. Name’s Ramon.”

        A group of five people soon followed. One had pointed ears; an elf or demon, maybe? And a lady with patches of scales lining her neck. You said your hellos and gave them your name, being guided over to some outdoor seating by a campfire, underneath a large half-pitched outdoor canopy. You went around the circle, learning their names and positions: A tough-looking, part-reptilian mercenary with a red ponytail and a pistol on her belt named Jay, Ramon the group leader with walkie-talkies and a machete on his utility belt, Cian their nonbinary African-American tech guru, Laurence with a visible trans pin on her Hazmat suit, Venali the turquoise-haired elf geared up like he was in Jumanji, and Fern, their blonde journalist and Venali’s boyfriend. They started to show you the various notes and journals they were writing about the Backrooms, and began explaining where all the supplies and housing were.           Though, before you all could get too comfortable, Ragaeli appeared in a flash of smoke right in front of everyone.          The group gasped and jumped back to their feet. Laurence yanked you back away from the monster. Fern stood in front of Venali protectively. Ramon readied his machete, and the elf started shuffling in his bag for weapons of his own.        "¡Cristo arriba, ¿qué es eso?!"         "That's not like any entity I’ve seen."

        "Whoa whoa whoa!!" You jumped in front of them and waved your arms. "Wait!! He's with me! He's not dangerous."

        They shifted from friendly to apprehensive. Ramon squinted suspiciously at you. "You sure about that? It could be mind-controlling you for all we know."         "Or you're in cahoots with the monsters out there trying to kill us."         "Or one of them in disguise."

        Ragdoll just smirked and giggled in smug amusement, hands on his hips; a contrast to your growing worry. But Jay quickly stood by your side and spoke up, raising her voice. "Guys, calm down. Remember the pact we made? We never would've made it as far as we have if we became this paranoid about every person we came across." She patted you on the shoulder. "We stick up for each other, got it? If there's signs that they're untrustworthy, we know how to defend ourselves." She gave you a smile.

        Rags poofed out of sight and re-appeared on one of the nearby benches, causing some of the group to jump in surprise. "Well in that case, I accept your warm welcome~" He snapped his fingers and summoned up a deck of cards out of one of their supply bags.         Cian hesitantly approached, putting their hands on their hips. “Okay, so... What are you?”

        “The best Nightmare you’ll ever have,” he winked, starting to play a game of Blackjack with himself, the cards floating in the air in front of him. "You've all been through the ringer, haven't ya? Nearly melting alive in a tunnel of pipes, spelunking in spider-filled caves, trudging through swamps fulla Death Rats..." He went around the circle pointing fingers at each person as he recited their memories back to them. "Damn, and a city of zombies too? Woof. Well, good on ya for sticking it out!"           All of them stared at him, dumbfounded. "...How do you know all of this?"           He tapped a finger to his temple. "Your thoughts aren't safe from me~ It's about fuckin' time, too. I can't read any minds that are native to this batshit universe."

          Fern was hurriedly scribbling down notes in his journal.           "And you guys-" Rags pointed to Laurence’s Hazmat suit. "You know an entry point to the Backrooms, it's the entire reason you're here. But it's one-way only, huh? Just like sending a Rover to another planet... One-way communication network so they can get the info they need outta you.”

          She sighed, brow furrowing, looking like Rags’ words stung to her core. She was the first of them to sit back down. "Yeah... Word of advice, don't get roped into top-secret Government research." She chuckled bitterly. "We're all told the same thing: That we're blessed to be part of a revolutionary breakthrough in interdimensional travel. That we'll be able to take care of our families for the rest of our lives with how filthy rich we'd be. That they’ll perfect their groundbreaking wormhole transportation to ensure that everyone can come and go here as they please. That they... They’ll give us easy access to hormone therapy and surgery.” Her brow furrowed. “But they don't give a rat's ass about us. They know damn well we can't go back once we cross the rift. We aren’t meant to be breaching into this dimension. It takes who it wants to take."            The others looked at her sympathetically, following suit in sitting down around their campfire. Venali scooted close to Fern, Cian and Jay sat on the floor close to the fire. Ramon patted Laurence’s shoulder.

           She cast her gaze down. "...I'm one of the lucky ones. I didn't have much going for me back at home. Wasn't remembered by a lot of folks. Figured that if I don't get rich enough to lead a campaign for equal medical treatment all over the country, then... hey, at least my last adventure would be a hell of an interesting one." She looked back up to her companions. "Then I had to go and find these guys, and they had to go and start caring about me. Guess I'm stuck with them now," she gave Ramon a playful nudge, and they laughed together.

          “Damn... Well, I’m glad you’re all okay,” you tried to offer a reassuring smile. “Though if you don’t mind me asking, why keep the Hazmat suit?”            She shrugged. “They make good protection when we go off to find resources. Cian hot-wired our radios to only be able to communicate with each other. We don’t need any no-good government lackeys spying on us anymore.”

         “Hm...” You nodded. “Well... I really think there is a way out of here. Ragman and I are doing our best to find it."           "Level 3999?" Jay responded.           Your eyes lit up in surprise. "Yeah!"            She nodded. "The 'True Ending'. It's a Level that's damn near impossible to get to, though. We don’t even know how to start looking for it.”

           “Seek the Key...” Fern scanned through his journal, with Venali resting his head on his shoulder to peek at his notes. “A Faceling told us that’s the answer. What key, though? A physical key? Metaphorical? It’s like no-one in this world can give us direct answers. Like they’re not allowed to.”          The Nightmare squinted, staring hard at the group, 'scanning' between them. "Hrrmm... So you know about that Level... That could mean we can hop around to other outposts and interrogate any humans we see 'til we get more answers," he chuckled. "But there's still something... Off." He got up to start pacing, rubbing his chin. "I can see all these different places you've been. I can see all the baddies you thwarted and skewered. I can memorize every piece of writing you’ve got about this world,” He held out a hand, summoning Fern’s journal to him, skimming through the pages in less than two seconds before snapping it shut. “But there's gaps. Blank spots, or like, skipping in a DVD." He sneered in annoyance, tossing Fern’s journal back at him. "That settles it then, this world has it out for me!!" He threw his arms up dramatically.

              Ramon snorted. "It's not just you. The Backrooms fuck with people's minds all the time."                You thought for a moment. “Maybe I could take a look?” When Fern agreed and gave you his journal, you saw just what Rags was talking about: There were odd blank spots in the middle of notes or sketches. Not like erased text, or unfinished sentences...But more like looking at something through your eyes’ blind-spots. A blur, or a blockage that made you not want to look at it for too long. “That’s so weird...”            Venali scratched behind his head as he also thought things over. "Well, maybe we could just tell you what those gaps are?"

           Rags stopped his pacing, a sly grin crossing his face. "Yeahhh, maybe you could..." He cracked his knuckles. "A good dose of adrenaline might jog your memories~"          You felt yourself starting to smile just as mischievously. Before a couple of them could ask what he meant, he snapped his fingers to lift everyone’s arms above their heads with magic bindings, lifting up their ankles arranging them in a circle, suspended above the floor. They all exclaimed.

           “Mierda, I fuckin’ KNEW it!!” Ramon shouted at you, having seen your cheeky smile appear when Rags grabbed him. “You set us up!!”            “H-Hey, come on, let’s talk about this!!” Cian looked at him nervously.

             “Relaaaax already,” the Nightmare gave deliberate pokes to Cian and Ramon’s sides, instantly getting exclaimed yelps. His smile grew wider. “I ain’t in the business of skewering folks that don’t deserve it. But I’ll show you exactly how I’ve been dealing with all the bloodthirsty critters since getting here~” He put his large hands on both of their sides...and gave off a ticklish magic burst that shot through the two of them, and clear across everyone else’s torsos like an EMP blast. The group shrieked and bucked in place, bursting into laughter, some of them nearly stumbling.              Rags visibly shivered at the sound of their laughter. “Oooohh that was nice~”            “SHIHIHIT THAT TIHIHICKLES!!” Laurence barked. Fern blushed brightly and tried to hide his face against his arm. Ramon and Jay both tried yanking away.            “Th-that’s your power?!” Jay hissed.            “Yeeees indeedy~” the Nightmare winked.            “That’s ridiculous!” Ramon scoffed. “No way in hell a little tickling is gonna keep a bunch of bloodthirsty abominations at baaAAAYY-HEHEHE!!” He was cut off by another ticklish burst. The others yelped and exclaimed with more laughter, some of their faces becoming more flushed.            “Ohh, it’s not just a little,” Rags grinned deviously. “You’ll find that I’m a very greedy bastard~ I could do this aaalll day, but I don’t have that kind of time. So lemme just interrogate you all for a little bit...” He then grasped his hand around your invisible magic tether, yanking you over to join the circle, trapping you in place as well.            "Wha- HEY!" You glared at him.            He just giggled. "Let's get started, shall we~?"

           He ignored everyone's flustered protests. His hair tendrils extended into the air and weaved their way between the group; and then, he attacked.            He knew exactly where everyone's weak spots were. Jay's scaly back, Venali's pointy ears, Cian's underarms, Fern's palms and neck, Ramon’s armpits and pudgy belly, Laurence’s neck and feet. And of course, he showed no mercy on your weaknesses. All of you answered with loud shrieks, belly laughter, whines and curses. Ramon cussed him out in Spanish, Venali devolved into his unknown native language. Some of their laughter was so goofy and contagious it made you laugh even more.

              Rags shuddered hard at the cacophony of laughter, and licked his lips. His eyes lit up with excitement, his slitted pupils dilating a little, his hair frizzing and shuddering and his aura glowing a little brighter. "Oohhh now that’s tasty~" You knew from what he'd told you that getting a group of people laughing was the equivalent of getting a whiff of cocaine. Heaven forbid he ever got a whole room of people laughing.

             He’d almost forgotten the reason he started the group attack in the first place. “SO, those memories, cough ‘em up!!” he summoned Fern’s journal over to himself. When he found a subject of interest, he flipped open the page, and used his magic to project the image in the air, large enough for everyone to see. “What about this critter?” He projected a sketch of what looked like regular Death-head moths from Earth, but with notes about how they could paralyze humans with neurotoxins.

             “I-I dohohohon’t knohohow!!” Fern whined. “I-I’ve just heheheard talk of thehehem from other people in our outpohohost!!”                “Liar,” Rags stuck out his tongue. “Arright, how about this one?” he pointed out a silhouetted figure of a man with inhumanly long limbs, a top hat, and nothing on his face but a wide, pure white smile with sharp teeth, not unlike the Nightmare’s.              “I-Ive seeheeheen him in a reflehehection befohohore!!” Laurence barely managed to speak up over her laughter. “I-I don’t remember whehehere!!”              “Hmmm, alright, that’s acceptable enough,” he giggled. “OH, what’s this place??” His interest was piqued by a large empty library, with a huge sign overhead reading ‘The End.’               “WeeEEE-HEHEHEH f-found a computer screen wihihith that imahahage!!” Jay replied, growling between her laughter, face flushed almost as bright red as her hair.          

               He continued this ‘strategy’ for a good ten minutes. Sitting cross-legged in the air, flipping through the journal, projecting Fern’s sketches of everything from strange objects, dangerous-looking entities, and bizarre Levels. Every time, it seemed as if they just couldn’t remember full details. A couple times, they even said they didn’t remember taking the notes at all.              He also knew exactly how much to dial it back with them, taking breaks when they were out of breath, never tickling in a spot for too long that would cause them panic or discomfort. They pleaded, protested, cussed him out. But never made more of an effort to break free.                Before long, you decided to be a brat. “I-I dohohohon’t knohohow, Rahahags, I th-thihihink they’re holdihihing out on us!!”                 “Y-YOU SON OF A-!!” Jay glared.                 “W-We’re nahahahat lyiiihihing!” Venali protested. “W-Wehehehe’re telling you everythiihihing we remehehember!!”

            Eventually, the Nightmare was swaying in the air and giggling, lips stretched in a dopey grin, eyelids drooping. He was literally getting laughter-drunk. Sparks leaked out from his writhing hair, his red aura glowed brighter than ever. When he finally decided everyone had enough, he lowered all of you to the floor and seats around the campfire, releasing your bonds. Everyone collapsed back onto the seats and against their bags and crates.

              Rags staggered to his feet, stomping over to the group, slouched over and walking in his janky tweeker fashion that earned him the name Ragdoll. "Mmmhehehehh, shiiiit I want mooore..." He growled and licked his lips. Everyone shivering and tensing up in a small bout of anxiousness just made him bend over more, like he was about to pounce. But then he quickly shook his head like a dog shaking off water, smacking the sides of his face. "Nooonono, time to focus!!"            "O-Okay, okay, I see now why you've been able to survive," Ramon spoke up. "Cause you're fuckin insane," he flipped the Nightmare off.            Rags giggled wildly and threw his arms up in an exaggerated shrug. "Sure I am, what's your point?"            Cian and Venali snickered to themselves. "A total horror movie monster. But, y'know, a fun one.”            Jay huffed, sitting upright. "Yeah, and you’re not much better," she glared over at you. "Egging him on like that..."            "Well, that was... Uh.. Kinda fun, in any case.." Fern cleared his throat, face still red as a beet, not making eye contact with Rags.            Laurence nodded quickly. "Quite the group therapy session, don't you think?"              Venali smiled cheekily at Fern. “Someone liiiiked it~” he playfully tickled the blonde’s sides, resulting in a squeak and batting his hands away.

             The monster giggled again. “Well, glad you enjoyed yourselves, even if I didn’t get any real answers,” he stuck his tongue out. “All that laughter just stirred up a bunch of your sappy memories, laughing it up together.” He made a mock-gagging motion.                After you caught your breath, you looked over to the powered-up nightmare, then the group, then back again... You smiled mischievously. "Hey, guys.. How d'you feel about a little revenge?"

           But Rags slowly turned his head to you. "You reeeally think ganging up on me when I have this much laughter-fuel in the tanks is a good idea~?" He held out a hand, giving off sparks so intense it was like his arm was a Tesla coil. The magic let off a cacophony of echoing high-pitched laughter. It made everyone gasp and jump back.            You swallowed. "M-maybe not, but I know you're gonna hang onto most of that energy. You need it."            He giggled and rolled his eyes. "Fiiine, you got me there." The crackling stopped and he re-absorbed the magic into his body. He stood back upright, throwing his arms open and puffing his chest out in a ‘come at me bro’ stance. “Go ahead then, if you all think you can take me on~”

             Jay and Laurence were the first ones to jump to their feet and charge him, and you followed closely behind. Jay used her strong arms to grasp one of his arms and hold it in place while she buried her other hand into one of his pits. Laurence went for the opposite side, dancing her fingers up and down his sides and ribs like a piano. And you made a beeline for his exposed midriff.              The cocky Nightmare shrieked with excited laughter, flailing in place like a wiggling fish, tail thrashing behind him. “YEEE-HEEHEHEHEHE!!”

             Once they saw how ticklish the laughter-hungry maniac was, and that he wasn’t retaliating, the others’ uncertainty made way for sly smirks. They stood to their feet and hurried over to join their friends. They held the tall Nightmare in place, attacking every inch of them they could cover. His laughter just grew louder and more wild, his huge smile showing off his bear-trap teeth and striped tongue. “GYAAA-HAHAHAHEEEHEHEHEHE!! IS TH-THAHAHAT THE BEHEHEHEST YOU ALL GOT?!” He taunted.            “We gotta go for the feet!” You hinted to the others. They nodded, and made swift work of pulling Rags down to the floor, pinning his arms and legs in place. Venali and Fern took the lead, each targeting his massive stompers. The elf scribbled skillfully under and along his toes, and Fern experimentally scritched at his soles and balls of his foot. “Tickletickletickle,” the elf cooed, giving a shy, but cheeky grin. “Man, for someone so strong, you sure can’t handle a taste of your own medicine, can ya?”

           “I mean, he’s taking it like a champ,” Jay snickered, joining you in burying her pointed nails against his trembling belly.              “if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re really enjoying this,” Laurence smiled, swirling her knuckles against his hips.            “WHAHAHAHAT WAS YOUR FIHIHIHIRST CLUHUHUHUE?!” Rags retorted, shrieking and bucking all the more, his tail smacking the ground behind him.               The tail caught Cian’s interest. Out of curiosity, they grabbed it and started tickling along its length, succeeding in letting loose another cacophony of excited laughter from their target. Ramon followed suit in the experimenting, tickling the peach-fuzz stripes on his shins, making him almost yank his legs right out of Fern and Venali’s grip.

             Once again, you found yourself staring and eyeing over your monster friend’s thrashing body and handsome smiling, laughing face. Each of his hysterical belly-laughs made your stomach do somersaults of joy. Although you enjoyed succumbing to his ruthless tactics, it was cathartic seeing him get a taste of his own medicine - and reassuring to know he loved receiving the tickles just as much as inflicting them. The group looked happy, too, with genuine playful smiles on their faces; even Ramon, their grouchy jaded leader.

               After a few more minutes, he started slamming the floor with his hand, like a wrestler tapping out. Ramon recognized the gesture and waved a hand in the air. “Alright alright, let’s back off,” the others nodded and brought their tickle-attack to a stop.               “WHOO, talk about a team effort, hehehe~” Rags gave a dopey giggle. “I can take wayyy more than that, but I’m kinda on the clock,” he staggered to his feet.                Ramon rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh, sure you can.”              “No, it’s true,” you spoke up, also standing up. “He has almost limitless stamina.”              “Well, either way, that was fun~” Laurence giggled. “But I guess you two are planning on moving on ahead, huh?”              “Sure, if ya know where we should go next,” Rags ruffled her hair.             “I... think I know where you might be able to find clues,” Cian spoke up.             Jay’s brow furrowed and she quickly shook her head. “Don’t. That place is a death trap. A deliberate dead end. Ramon barely escaped in time, remember??”            “I know, but what if it’s possible?” Cian went up to both of you to explain. “If anyone has a chance of getting past the science labs, it’s you. Both of you. His powers, and your wits and bravery... You may be able to get past the gauntlet.”           "Gauntlet?" You questioned.           "Yeah. Like I said, a death trap,” Jay repeated in irritation. “A stampede of just about any entity you'd imagine."

          This piqued the nightmare's interest. "Ya don't say...?"           There he goes again, getting some sneaky ideas. "Sooo, what happens when we reach the end?"           "If you get to the end," Fern corrected. "We dunno. Probably just another Level to another hellscape."            You shrugged. "I mean, hey, I've seen my fair share of those. I can handle this too.” Your eyes lit up, and you were struck with motivation. “Hey! If we all go together, I'm sure we could get past it! You guys seem like you really know what you're doing.”

          Ramon shook his head. "Look, amigo... There isn't really any use in exploring a place that dangerous. We've got a good thing going right where we're at. Food, supplies, defenses, and each other.”           "You could do the same," Fern commented. "You and your crazy bodyguard can live here with us."           "No can do," Rags threw an arm around your shoulder. "I'm gettin' this one home one way or another."            "Why don't you come with us?" You tried to press them again. "Like I said, we're finding ways out of each Level. Rags can help out! He can neutralize threats and even persuade them to our side!"

           But all of them looked very hesitant.

          "Not sure that's a good idea." The Nightmare spoke up.           "What??" You spun to look at him. It wasn't like him to deny the chance to help people out. But you felt your stomach sink at how serious his expression had become.

           He gave a big shrug. "Look, I dunno where we're gonna end up. We're barely making it out of each Level as it is!! Sure I can keep the baddies at bay, but I'm still playing a careful balancing act of upkeeping my magic." He turned his attention back to the group. "Even if I could bring you all with me, and get a boosted energy fix from ya, there's a good chance that this world is gonna fling you every which way at any given moment. And an even bigger chance that not all of you are gonna make it out of here alive." He huffed and folded his arms, tapping a finger on his bicep. "I'm not about to risk splittin' you up or watching your buddies get killed in front of you. That'd be even more fucked up than letting you stay here."              The group nodded and sighed amongst themselves, mumbling in agreement.

          "Well, there you have it. Your magic friend says it's not safe." Ramon patted you on the shoulder. “I appreciate you wanting to help. I really do. Maybe someday we’ll get more intel, find safer Levels. But when we started settling in here, we all barely made it by the skin of our teeth. These guys... they’ve seen some shit that no-one ought to see. I can’t ask them to go back into the fray if they’re not ready for it.”                Fern nodded. “I... I can’t go back out there.” Venali took his hand and hugged him close, giving him a gentle kiss on his cheek.                You frowned, feeling a little guilty. You knew they were right... You couldn’t in good conscience push them to venture to places that triggered traumatic memories.                Cian folded their arms behind their head. “I wouldn’t mind taking up that offer, if I was on my own. But these guys need me. I’m their only means of communicating to home base when they go out to find resources.”        

                 Rags scratched under his chin. “Y’knoww...it might be possible to get you outta here if I could relay some answers to ya. At least, if the Big Bosses come running to my call. And if snitching on ‘em isn’t going to make them go after you guys. I know how it goes with most gods. Snuffing out lives like birthday candles just cause they can’t fathom a mortal outsmarting them,” he scoffed.

            “Big Bosses?” Jay raised an eyebrow.              Fern’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean...?”             “Are you... talking about the Grand Order?” Cian looked at the Nightmare in disbelief. “You called to them?? What do you mean?!”               “Well, I gotta find our way out of here somehow. If you don’t get answers after standin at your boss’s door for an hour, just throw a rock in their window, right??” Rags snickered.            “How, though?” Fern quickly started thumbing through his journal. “How did you contact them?? There’s a next to zero possibility of a Wanderer encountering one, but maybe with the help of an entity like you, it’s possible...?”

              “Weelll I didn’t directly contact them.” Rags stood out away from the encampment, holding his arms out and giving his hands a dramatic wave. A good dozen magic windows opened up in the air, shifting through imagery, just as they had done at the tavern. “I can open up a spyglass on the world and set sail towards any Level I decide on,” he summoned up a fancy brimmed hat and a spyglass, doing mock-charades of a pirate standing at the edge of a ship. “I can take a peek at just about any Level here and take a gamble on whether I wanna jump the plank or not. Could be some plain ol fish, could strike some buried gold! Or, we be swimmin’ right into the jaws of death. And that’s why I ain’t be gamblin with any of yer lives!!” He jammed a finger against your chest. “I’m already regrettin’ having to gamble with yers.” Despite his hammy pirate act, for a brief moment, you glimpsed a crease in his brow; a shift in expression from playful to apologetic.

              “Point is!!” He spun around, making the props disappear and pointing at the portals. “I kiiiinda maybe dared ‘em to come running to me,” he flashed a smug grin. “The safest way for us to have a chance of jailbreaking you all is for me to get the answers from the Top Dogs. They tell me the answer, I open up a window to as many Wanderer outposts as my magic will allow, bada-bam, now we ALL know how to bust out.” He narrowed his gaze. “...IF that works.” He pointed to Fern. “Not a damn page I skimmed in there mentioned a thing about these Upper-Fuckers. Not a thought in his mind is tellin’ me anything.”               “Wha... Really??” He skimmed his journal quickly, looking dumbfounded. “There’s... it’s not here!” He looked over to Cian. “But you know about them, don’t you??”             Cian shrugged. “I mean, kinda? I don’t remember where I heard about them, though. I think it was a tavern or something?”

                Rags rolled his eyes. “Case in point. If they’re tryin’ this hard to keep the answer from some troublemaking interloper, I’d imagine they’ll try just as hard to cover it up from their main prey. When - not if, WHEN -” he snarled for emphasis - “I get one of them to cough up what we need, they might try to go for your throats as damage control. I send that message out to many outposts and they could lead a mass slaughter. If there’s even a sliver of a chance of that happening, then forget it.”                “Hmm...” Jay folded her arms. “Well... Thanks for wanting to help, in any case. Don’t worry too much about us. You sound like you both have enough on your plate as it is.”

               Laurence could tell you were feeling crestfallen, coming up to you to take your hand. “You’ve got a real good friend at your side, you know that? Don’t ever give that up. And don’t think that moving on is giving up on us, either.” She smiled. “Just keep us in your thoughts, that’s all I can ask. And if you find another one of us guinea pigs with a working radio, give those fuckers back home Hell for me.”              You chuckled, nodding. “Damn right I will.”               Ragdoll gave a clap of his hands. “Well in that case, I’ve got one request for you lot. Don’t any of you fuckin’ dare give up. And don’t ever stop laughing~”

              After you said your goodbyes, Venali led you into one of the alleyways outside of the building, opening an industrial metal door in the adjacent wall. “The portal to the laboratory is at the end of this hallway.” He frowned. “You’re certain you’re ready to go through with this?”             You nodded. “We have to try.”            "We'll take our chances," Rags plopped an elbow down on your shoulder again. "A science lab sounds pretty interesting... And if it's true that there's that many entities, my announcement might've reached them too,” he grinned at you knowingly. “We could even rally a little army~"

               Rags walked next to you down the hall. You glanced up at him with a knowing grin. “You let everyone go after you you to show them they could trust you, didn’t you?” you gave him a nudge. “I know how you work.”                He glared and let out a huff, grabbing at your stomach to squeeze repeatedly. “Shaddup, I just wanted ‘em to have fun too,” he stuck out his tongue.              “AAH-HAHAHA!!” You jumped. “Yeah right!!” you grabbed at his side in response, releasing a hyena yelp from him. “You’re totally not a secret softie.”

         You half expected Ragman to race you or chase you down the hallway in retaliation for calling him out. But he still walked alongside you, arms folded behind his head, acting strangely calm. It became apparent after a couple minutes of walking that it was because he could sense your stewing thoughts. You felt sorry for all those people... How many other people from Earth - or even other worlds - were trapped here? Forced to live in shelters straight out of Fallout? You were lucky you had a god on your side. At least there was some chance of indirectly helping them, if the Nightmare’s idea worked. Even if he couldn't save all of them, maybe both of you could help make a difference to at least one of them...

             Ragdoll patted you on the head. "Believe me... If I could, I would. I'd lead a mass exodus outta here." For once, he became very contemplative. "But you can't save everyone. Not on Earth, not in Limbo, not on other planets or dimensions. Sure, you gotta stick up for your buddies, and most people don't wanna look at some sad sack on the side of the road and just leave them there. But other times, you just need to focus on you, y'know?"             "Yeah..." You sighed. You knew he had a point; that it would probably be a pretty big gamble to take them along. But still... You wish they would've taken up your offer to help. It was times like this that you were reminded the Nightmare wasn't just a laughter-hungry nutcase.

           Though it wouldn’t be long before the madness continued.            Opening the door at the end of the hall, you saw that there was indeed a huge laboratory on the inside.                "Alley-oop!" Rags gave you a shove into the doorway before poofing out of view.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five (current) Chapter Six

Footnotes:

Bunker floor BG: 

So, this is the first chapter that isn’t directly based off of specific Backrooms levels or entities. It kind of just vaguely mentions the aesthetic of some of the Levels I came across while reading the Wiki.

This chapter also wasn’t even one that I’d originally planned. It was going to go from Rags and Y/N doing random level-hopping directly into the Research lab where the next chapter takes place, but in the process, the realization hit me “What if they come across other humans? There’s human outposts everywhere in the backrooms”. So it only made sense to have them encounter a group of survivors. I had fun coming up with some other human(oid) characters and fleshing them out. I will say right now that I do not plan on having a complete character/story arc for them. There won’t be any tragic deaths, there won’t be any tie-ins to the final conflict. However, this may not be the last we see of them!

[boldlyvoid]

Amoreena | Chapter Five

Chapter Five

main summary: Heaven is a real place and it's located exactly 14.6 miles away from the FBI, Quantico Headquarters. Off behind a small park, under a fantastical willow tree surrounded by wildflowers, in every colour young minds can imagine.

Don't forget, heaven also comes with angels.

Chapter Summary: (fluff only) weekly Saturday reading only they are joined by an extra 15 lost boys, not just Spencer

Warnings (adding as they happen): fluff, hurt/comfort, depressed spencer, reader has a daughter, falling in love, strangers to lovers, library smut, oral (female receiving) lots and lots of fluff

word count: 3K

from the beginning <3

He woke up Saturday morning to the sound of a bunch of voices coming from beyond the walls of his room. Only it wasn’t his room, it was the room he slept in when he stayed with Y/N and Amoreena, he hasn’t left since he arrived on Thursday and he had no plan to either.

They still hadn’t told her about their relationship, not wanting her to come crawling into bed with her mom in the morning to find Spencer there too. She wasn’t ready to explain to Amoreena what it meant for Spencer to be in her bed, how they were in love and that she might need to learn how to knock before entering.

So he slept in the spare room, completely contently because he knew she was only on the other side of the wall, instead of 30 minutes away like she would be when he slept at his own apartment.

It had been a week since he saw them reading in the park, and now they were his family. It was incredibly fast, anyone who heard the news would say so. But that’s how his life worked, he blew through everything incredibly fast, it only made sense for him to skip every step in the book and become a stepdad overnight.

He woke up then, missing Y/N and Amoreena as he thought about the last week. Finally getting dressed and peaking outside, through the crack in the blinds, to see what was going on on the farm.

There were a bunch of men in the field with the cows dropping new cattle off in a big truck as a bunch of children ran around the yard. Y/N wasn’t kidding when she said her 7 siblings had produced 15 cousins for Amoreena to play with. Children all between the ages of toddler and 7-years-old, screaming while they ran after Rufus and the cats, it was a pure dopamine rush to witness.

He found Y/N in the living room, a book in one hand and a coffee in the other, “good morning cutie, all the ruckus on the farm wake you up?” She did her best fake southern accent as she smiled at him. Beautiful as ever in the early morning sunshine.

He nodded with a yawn, sitting beside her and snuggling into her shoulder. She placed her mug in his hands so she could wrap an arm around him and pull him in closer, letting him take a sip of coffee and become a real person again.

He noticed she was reading a book he had never seen before, reading the pages and not know the words. It was a first for him.

“What’s that one about?”

Y/N closed it to let him look at the cover. It was a hand-bound book, wrapped in green fabric that was at least 30 years old and in well-loved condition. The gold lettering reading Amoreena, along with a pressed gold rose and the author's name. He had never heard of it before.

“My grandma was an aspiring writer and the reason I love books so much, her name was Peggy and she had a dream once about a wonderful little girl named Amoreena and the magical life she created for herself. She wrote it all down and my grandpa had it typed and bound for her, she was so proud of this book,” Y/N gushed, smiling as she held it to her chest softly, thinking of all the memories Spencer didn’t know yet.

“Really?” Spencer couldn’t help but smile at her.

She nodded softly, “she loved Elton John, so much so that when my sister Ashley came out she threw her a party. Almost all those kids out there are Ashley's, by the way, she went down the adoption and foster root after I did IVF.”

She pointed out the front window at all the people gathered on her land, “Ben and Dylan dropped their kids off too while they help dad and Evan with the farm. Those are my brothers in case you didn’t know their names yet, there’s also Carver and Francis but they don’t live as close.”

Her little life was just so perfect, “did they want to come with us to read this afternoon? We need some lost boys.”

“They’d love that, are you sure you can handle 16 kids between the two of us?” she smiled, pure love spreading through her body as she held him.

“They’re not so different from psychopaths right?” He teased, watching her settle against him even more as they enjoyed their Saturday together.

“What else can you tell me about your grandma?” He snuggled into her more as he asked, wanting to know as much about her happiness as possible.

“She was always listening to music, she loved Elton's song Amoreena the most. It was the song she played for the majority of my childhood. It only made sense for me to name my little miracle Amoreena too, cause I wouldn’t have her unless nanny suggested I have a baby.”

“I would have loved to meet her.”

Y/N’s smile changed then, “she would have loved you and your big mind.”

“My mom wants to meet you and Amoreena,” he announces softly, he hasn’t really told her anything about his family yet.

“What’s she like?”

“She has schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s and she lives in a care home in DC right now, I try and see her when I can but she has her own schedule so I have to fit around when she’s having a good day,” it was hard to explain it to most people, but not to her. He didn’t feel any shame or fear in introducing them. Y/N was the most loving human, and Amoreena was just the same.

“When is she free next?” A simple question that made him feel incredibly giddy.

“Tuesday from 3-5,” he snuggled in closer to her as she wraps her arm around him.

“We’ll pick Amoreena up from school after work and take her over,” Y/N agreed, their lives intertwining like they were always meant to.

Like she was the ivy on his old cottage, she took him in and made him her own, wrapping herself all around him and never letting him go again.

He basically finishes her coffee while she holds him on the couch. The sound of the kids outside making them laugh every once in a while, dogs barking and cows mooing, the farm was alive and roaring while they enjoyed each other's company.

“Did you bring your costume for the reading today?”

He sat right up then, looking at her like she lost her mind, “of course I did, I wouldn’t have Penelope spend a week tracking down a Captain Hook costume just to forget it.”

Y/N’s jaw dropped, “you didn’t?!”

He simply nodded with a cheeky grin, “come on Tinker Bell, everyone knows she had a thing for Hook.”

“Who didn’t? He was the first and last bad boy I was interested in, I typically go more for Milo’s and Ariel’s; full of adventure and always learning something new,” Y/N teased him.

“Mhm, I always had a thing for Aladdin and Belle in search of far off lands and happy endings,” he mused, making her smile just as much as he was, “but for real it was between Hook and Wendy for my costume,” he made her laugh again, wanting to hear it for the rest of time.

“You still can, I have a blue nightgown you can borrow,” it was so easy for them to flirt, it fit into their conversation so simply it felt like they had been together forever.

He couldn’t help leaning in to kiss her, resting her back against the couch softly as she held onto him. He loved kissing her, she tasted like coffee and happiness every single time. She made the cutest sounds when they would make out like she was surprised by it or she wasn’t used to it at all.

She made him feel like he was young again like he was 21 and in love for the first time. All his trauma disappeared and that Spencer who used to stare back at him in the mirror was gone now. That guy packed his bags and left the farm to never be seen again.

Good fucking riddance is all he had to say.

He was happy, he enjoyed being happy and he was going to stay happy. It was the only goal he had going forward, and as long as he was in her embrace, surround by the laugher of her child and family, he knew it would be possible.

Amoreena came running inside then, finding the two of them making out on the couch before they could part from each other.

“Ewww!” She cried, jumping on top of the two of them and knocking the wind out of Spencer.

“Get off,” Y/N tried to speak as she was crushed by the two of them. “Mom down!”

Spencer picks Amoreena up then, taking her away from the couch and spinning her around like she’s an airplane. She cheers and cheers and doesn’t want him to put her down because it’s so fun. The next thing he knows he’s being dragged outside to twirl all the kids around like they’re Peter Pan, flying through the air on their way to Neverland.

He’s surrounded by giggles and tickles fights, he’s tackled down against the dirt as a herd of tiny children dog pilled him. Laughing until he cried, feeling more joy than humanly possible and then Y/N’s telling them all to get ready to he’d to the park.

Coming down the stairs in a pirate costume to a bunch of screaming kids was an experience and a half. Spencer couldn’t believe how happy it made them all to imagine Captain Hook had broken into the house and Amoreena, or Peter Pan as she corrected him, chased him outside with all the lost boys.

He took a moment to learn all their names, all 15 of them, however, unlike the cats, they had relatively normal people names.

Kate, Cade, Jet, Lauren, Cassie, Sara, Evan, Benny, Olivia, Jessie, Owen, Maddie, Gwen, August, and Parker, were the cutest little family of cousins. some looked like Amoreena, some looked like their own mothers, a handful of them were adopted out of the country, they were the most perfect cast of lost boys.

He's never had any cousins, no pets, no siblings. His life never felt lonely until he realized what he missed out on.

“Dad,” Amoreena whispered as she tugged on his shirt lightly, “look!”

She pointed towards the house where Y/N was standing. When she said she was going as Tinker Bell he really didn’t think she meant looking exactly like Julia Roberts at the end of Hook.

She looked magical in her beautiful white dress, curly hair with the most perfectly placed flowers and flawless wings wrapped around her shoulders. She was a vision standing on the porch, waiting for him to pick his jaw up off the floor and compliment her.

“Tink,” the words are more like air, soft and barely there.

“Is Captain Hook being nice? Or should we take him to the pond and let the Alligators deal with him?” Y/N teased, marching down the stairs and poking Spencer's chest.

“Ouch,” he teased her, holding his hand over his heart to make her feel bad.

But she didn’t, “some Pirate you are,” she teased, sticking her tongue out at him before taking Amoreena’s hand and running off down the trail towards the main house, everyone following her lead.

Nanny packed enough snacks for all 16 kids, and a little extra just in case. Spencer slipped the lunch box over his shoulder and they made their way towards the adventure. Y/N pulling a wagon just in case the littlest ones didn’t want to walk anymore. It was spectacular.

Y/N stopped then, pretending to stand like an army man turning around abruptly to look at the troop. “Lost boys, are we ready?”

“Yes, Tinker Bell!” They cheered back.

“On my lead, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4,” she marched, bringing her knees up high as they all followed her down the path. “We’re following the leader, the leader, the leader,” she began to sing.

Spencer was in awe, his heart felt like it was going to explode as he watched everyone follow her. Singing along as they marched their tiny little butts down to the park.

“We’re following the leader wherever she may go!” Amoreena yelled the lyrics back, leading the pack as Peter Pan should.

“Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee day Tee dum, tee dee, it's part of the game we play Tee dum, tee dee, the words are easy to say Just a teedle ee dum, a teedle ee do tee day

Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee dum We're one for all, and all of us out for fun We march in line and follow the other one With a teedle ee do, a teedle ee do tee dum”

It was like magic, they all knew the words and they sang the whole way down the path. Every verse and then repeating it. Not a single kid strayed from the path, no one complained about sore feet or hot backs, they loved their Aunty Y/N and so did Spencer.

“We’re off on an adventure, adventure, adventure,” Y/N changed the words, making him smile as she brought happiness into the world. “We’re off on an adventure to read out in the sun! Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee day…”

Every single time he thought she had given him the best day of his life, she manages to outdo herself.

—

They barely listened to the story, it was a disaster of epic proportions but they tried. 15 kids is a lot to handle as an ex FBI agent and a librarian, they had lunch and instead ran around the field playing lost boys instead. It was still an amazing afternoon.

He was going to be covered in bruises the next morning. He had been kicked, poked, trampled, jumped on, the whole 9 yards. They were the most energetic bunch in the whole world, and then they came home to ice cream.

“Y/N,” Spencer finally pulled her aside when all the kids were preoccupied with their cold snack after a hot day.

“Yes, cutie?” It was a nickname that was sticking, much like pretty boy, and he didn’t mind it at all.

“We’re going to need more than 2 songs tonight to get her to go to bed,” he teased, stepping into that step-dad role with ease.

She couldn’t stop smiling at him, wrapping him up in her arms gently so he didn’t crush her fairy wings. “We’ll take her swimming, that’ll tire her out instead. Are you lookin’ for some alone time?”

“I love her dearly, but I can’t kiss you as much when she’s around,” he whispered before pecking her quickly and hearing the group of lost boys pretend to be sick.

“Just because he’s my dad doesn’t mean you have to be gross like your mom and dad, mom,” Amoreena’s smart mouth making them both shake their heads and laugh.

“What would you do if I did this?” Y/N teased before dipping Spencer back like a princess and kissing him, he stuck his foot out in shock as she held him there.

“Ewww!!” All the kids yelled as she returned him to his feet.

“Or this?” Y/N pulled him into another kiss, her leg popping like Princess Mia’s in the princess diaries.

Amoreena and her cousins were all screaming then, laughing at how gross their aunt and her new boyfriend were being. Used to it clearly, their grandparents were just as in love and watching from the porch as they held each other on the swing.

“I love you,” Spencer announced, loud enough for all to hear without a care in the world.

“You better,” she smiled. “I love you too, cutie,” she added before kissing him one last time.

His life felt perfectly complete.

Y/N’s brothers were incredibly kind just like her. He learned that Ashley was the oldest with 5 kids and her wife Susie, then Ben who was 46 and his wife Shannon, they had 3 kids. Dylan and Laurie had 4 and Even, her twin brother had 3.

Turns out her mom had 2 sets of twins back to back, 7 children and only 5 pregnancies. It felt crazy for him to think about having that many people in his life for his whole life, he wouldn’t have known what to do with anyone more than just his mother growing up.

Spencer helped Bob with the barbecue, they made burgers and hotdogs for all 16 of the children while they continued to run through the fields. They had enough energy to last them 5 straight days of chaos. It was amazing.

Y/N and Spencer managed to wander off while all the kids ate, sitting under a tree with their dinner so they could finally have some time alone together.

She was beautiful, sitting in the afternoon amber glow as she tried to keep her hair from blowing in her face. Tucking the strands behind her ears so she could eat her dinner in peace before spencer handed her the hair tie on his wrist. Then she got ketchup on her cheek, seemingly on purpose as she smiled at him and laughing as Spencer wiped it off with his thumb. He was so in love he felt stupid, smiling at her like he’s never seen another person before, absolutely enamoured.

“Derek and his wife wanted to come over tomorrow and have his son meet Amoreena if that’s okay?”

Her face lit up, “his son is the one named after you right? Not your godson?”

He nodded with yet another smile, his lips were going to fall off at this point. “Yeah, he’s the sweetest little guy, Hank’s never been to a farm before.”

“You tell them our gates are always own to new minds and pure hearts,” she smiled. “That’s what nanny used to say.”

He leans in and kisses her then, resting his forehead against hers as she held his cheek in her free hand, smiling ever so softly as she stared into his eyes, they didn’t need words, he knew she loved him too. A week of pure bliss had passed within the blink of an eye, and they still had forever to go.

Taglist: @shemarmooresfedora @spookyspence @spencers-dria @manuosorioh @reidsfish @mochionly (send me an ask if you want to be added to the tag list, I don't always see every reply! i love you guys thank you so much for reading)

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #916: Resolutions (King of Fighters)

8:45 p.m. at K and Kula's Apartment.......

Shingo: (Sighs While Sitting Down on the Sofa with the Gang) Ah man.....I can't believe the year is almost over.

Rock: I know. Time flew a lot more quicker than usual this time around.

K': (Lazily Slouches on the Sofa) If the year wants to end that quickly, then so be it. All we can do now is keep moving forward.

Rock: That is true.

Shingo: Yeah....You guys got any resolutions for the New Year coming up?

Kula: (Excitedly Raises her Hands) Ooh! I got one!~

K': (Starts Smirking a Bit Teasingly at the Blue Haired Girl) Does it involves eating more ice cream?

Kula: (Immediately Pouts at K') No! It has nothing to do with Ice Cream, K'. (Smiles Softly) It's about living my life to the very fullest. No matter who hard and annoying it can be at times.

Shingo: (Smiles Brightly) That's a great resolution, Kula. Mines' kinda similar to yours in a way.

Kula: Really? Yay!~

Rock: Now that you mentioned it...(Turns to Shingo) Whatever happened to that dream of you wanting to create your flames? You never really talked about it as much recently.

Shingo: Oh, I'm still hoping to create it one day. I just don't want it to be the main focus in my life, you know? Especially when there's so much to look forward to. And besides, if the dream never comes to tuition, I could always my use lighter for defense.

Rock: (Raised an Eyebrow in a Bit of Confusion) You used a lighter in fights?

Shingo: On some occasions. I figured it could help my punches have a little more to them than just causing regular damage. (Starts Pouting a Little) Kyo would always tell me how dishonorable I look whenever I use it....

K': ('Tch') Man, don't listen to a slacker. If you wanna use a lighter in a fight, then more power to you.

Rock: Yeah. Plus, I'm pretty sure there's a few fighters in tournaments who use weapons in combat.

Shingo: That's what I've been trying to tell him! But he never listens to me.....

Kula: I told you he's a jerk.

Shingo: Yeah....But it is what it is I guess. (Turns to Rock) Do you have a resolution of your own, Rock?

Rock: (Place his Hand on his Chin) I'm not sure.... Haven't really thought about it as much. But I guess mines would be to spend more time with my new dad and mom.

Shingo/Kula: Awwwwww~

K': Already taking a liking to the new family life, Bogard?

Rock: (Smiles Sheepishly) I wouldn't exactly call it new or anything like that. Terry and the others have been looking after me ever since I was a kid. Still, having him and Mary officially adopt me......It's too great of a feeling to even believe.... H-Hey, do you think I should tell them I love them in a text?

K': I-

Rock: Nevermind. (Already Has His Phone Out While Texting) I'm already texting them as we speak. Annnnnd.....sent.

Meanwhile at Pao Café .....

Blue Mary felt her phone vibrating on table before picking it up and checking the recent message that was sent to her. It wasn't long before her heart begins to melt in Pure happiness as she starts hugging the phone close to her.

Meanwhile at Smash Town's Big Bang Burgers......

Ken: So then I told the guy "If you wanna fight me that much, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" And then he starts going on and on about how he hates me...........(Continues Talking About Some Guy Nmaed Rufus)

'Phone Vibrating'

Terry: (Picks his Phone Up From the Table and Starts Reading the New Message That was sent to Him Before Turning Back to Ryu and Ken) Hey guys, you mind if step out for a minute or two?

Ken: (Stops Talking Before Turning to Terry) Oh. Uh...sure, man.

Ryu: Take as much time as you need.

Terry: (Happily Gives the Duo a Thumbs Up) Thanks. Be right back! (Makes his Way Out of th Door)

Ken: I wonder why Terry wants to step outside for......

Ryu: Perhaps he's not feeling well- Wait. (Noticed Something Outside of the Window) Is...Is he crying out there?

Ken: Huh? (Turns Arouns to see Terry Crying Ousode of the Restaurant) Ah. I see that type of crying before. Those are Pride Tears.

Ryu: (Raised an Eyebrow in Confusion) Pride Tears?

Ken: Is where a father have so much pride over their offsprings that eventually burst into tears. ('Sighs Relaxingly') Yep. I remember the day when I was crying like that once. Best day of my life.....Remind me to Video Chat Mel & Sean later when we get back to the Mansion, will ya bud?

Ryu: (Simple Nodded) Will do, Ken.

Back at K' and Kula's Apartment

Kula: (Turns to K') Alright, Mr. Lazy Pants, tell is what's your resolution is gonna be. And it better not have anything to do with you sleeping around all day.

K': Well, that's part of it actually.

Kula: (Starts Groaning While Pouting at K Once More)

K': Okay, but in all seriousness, mines is kind of like a combination of all yours. Living life to the fullest, not letting any bullshit come my way, and hanging out with you idiots. Because.....(Starts Blushing a Little) Well....You guys sorta mean the world to me. Even if you do get in my nerv- ACK! (Immediately Gets Pulled Into a Group Hug by Kula and Shingo) Hey! Who the hell you gave you two permission to hug me!?

Shingo: (Smiles Sheepishly) No one. We kinda did it on our own terms

Kula: (Smiles Brightly While Snuggling onto K') We wanna show you how much we love you too!~

K': Dammit, I know how much you idiots love me! We don't need a damn hug to prove that! (Comically Glares at Rock) And the hell are you doing with that phone of yours, Bogard!?

Rock: (Holds his Phone Up in a Camera like Fashion With a Teasing Smirk on his Face) Oh nothing too crazy. Just thinking about taking a picture of you guys and probably sending it to Maxima.....or Whip....or even the Ikari Warriors if either of the them have their numbers.

K': Do it and I'll burn your ass to a crisp!

Rock: You do know I can fight back, right?

K': ('Tch') Please. Just because you beaten me once, that doesn't make you any stronger than I am. I can easily mop the floors with you with little to no effort, so don't test me!

Rock: ('Sigh') Alright, fine. (Puts the Phone Down) I won't take a picture of you. Happy?

K': I will be once you tell these two idiots to stop hugging me!

Kula: (Pulls Away From K Before Smacking him in the Arm) Hey! We're not stupid!

Shingo: (Pulls Away as Well) Yeah! We're just as smart as you guys are! And at least I'm not a shameless High School Dropoutlike Kyo!......Please don't tell him I said any of that.

Rock/Kula: (Starts Bursting Out Laughing)

K': (Starts Rolling his Eyes) Relax. I won't say anything. (Points at Shingo) But ONLY if you promise me never to hug me like that again.

Shingo: Deal.

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