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blindingdutchy · 4 years ago

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lamentation | TWO

{peter parker x fem!reader AU}

based on All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

SERIES MASTERLIST

word count: 3,495

warnings: depression, anxiety, mental illness! angst, fluff if you squint really hard

18+!!! minors stay away

Peter Parker was relentless, insufferable, and extremely annoying. It all started the morning after what you'd decided to call The Encounter, and it had been unending ever since. Nearly a week had passed since that fateful night, and you'd yet to see a day at school where Peter didn't try his hardest to get under your skin.

On Monday he sat next to you in Calculus, and no matter how blatantly you ignored him for the entire class, he continued to whisper facts about himself and stupid little jokes to you. You wished you could say you hadn't listened, but ever since that morning you'd been unable to forget that his favorite color was red, his Aunt packed him a lunch every day that he threw away because she couldn't cook, and his middle name was Benjamin. Why he thought you needed or even wanted to know such things you weren't sure, but even more befuddling was the fact that you couldn't un-learn them.

When Tuesday rolled around he stepped it up a notch, much to your dismay. He sat with you during Calculus and insisted on jogging with you during gym class, feigning that he was out of breath despite your slow pace and the fact that you were certain he could run for miles without getting winded. He told you more jokes then, too. One of which you begrudgingly found yourself exhaling a little harder over whenever it popped into your head; what did one stranger say to the other? Nothing. They didn't know each other.

Wednesday was the worst, because Peter made a scene. You came into calculus late and the teacher scolded you in front of the class, at which point you got flustered and tripped over your untied shoe laces. Your books spilled to the floor and you tumbled to your knees in front of everyone, and the whole class laughed. But Peter? Peter just had to be the hero, and your blood boiled at his actions.

He'd dramatically swept all his books off of his desk, feigning surprise at the loud clatter as if he hadn't done it intentionally. When the teacher scolded him, too, he just apologized and made a show of picking up each of his things one by one. "Why did you do that?" you'd hissed as you sat down, scowling at the brown-eyed boy who just blinked at you innocently.

"Do what?"

He'd ran with you in gym class again, and he'd even followed you to your locker afterwards. In all the years you'd known of Peter, you had never known him to be much of a talker. In fact, he seemed like a rather shy boy who didn't like to branch out much. With you, though, that was far from the case. Silence was a pipe dream with him around.

On Thursday he sat next to you in Calculus, ran with you in gym, walked you to your locker, and went so far as to sit with you at lunch. You'd put your earbuds in and blasted music as loud as you could without hurting yourself too much, but every time you looked up you could see he was still talking. Part of you wondered why he was being so relentless, but you didn't want to ask. If you asked he would think you cared, and you didn't. You didn't care at all, and the sooner he figured that out, the sooner he would leave you alone.

Or, at least you hoped so. As you walked into school on Friday morning, you groaned at the sight of Peter waiting patiently beside your locker. "What do you want, Parker?" you gritted out, glaring at him as you twisted the dial to enter your combination.

He grinned in spite of your glare, "I'm walking you to Calculus today, obviously. How was your night, (Y/N)? Do anything fun?"

"What part of I don't need friends did you not understand?" you demanded, giving him a stale look as you swung the metal door open with a clang. Peter blinked at you, clearly not used to you actually speaking back to him, and further uncomfortable with your hostility. What did he expect? Did he expect for you to suddenly be happy? To not be completely fucked up anymore just because he started talking to you?

He replaced his lazy smile and shrugged, retorting, "You know my secret and I know yours. That makes us friends."

You wanted to scream at him. You wanted to shout, yell, stomp your feet, and throw a tantrum fit for a child. Friends were not something you wanted or needed, and you certainly didn't want to be friends with Peter Parker. You didn't want to be friends with someone just because they were worried you'd spill their dirty little secret, or because they pitied the girl who wanted to die.

The black hole in your chest was worse than ever that day, and it sucked away all the fight you had in you. So, with a roll of your eyes, you stuffed your earbuds in your ears and tuned him out once more. Just like he had at lunch, Peter continued to ramble even though he knew you weren't listening, and you pretended you didn't see his lips moving at the speed of light.

For once, at the very least, he at least shut up in class. You were thankful for the break from his incessant chatter, the endless monologue you couldn't escape from when you were stuck in a desk while Mr. Tinley droned on and on. Calculus was far from interesting, but you found yourself beyond relieved to finally be able to pay any sort of attention to the lesson.

Friday was steadily continuing along the same path every other day had since The Encounter. Peter thankfully parted ways with you after Calculus, but quickly rejoined you two classes later in Gym. From Gym he was glued to your side through lunch until you escaped to your Spanish class, which you thankfully didn't share with him, but the solitude was short lived. Your last class of the day was one you also shared with Peter, and prior to that day he had remained seated with his friends.

That day, though, he plopped down in the seat beside you with a cheerful smile. "Ready for our new project?" he asked, skipping the greeting he knew you wouldn't return.

"Huh?" you asked, blinking at him in bewilderment. New project? Our? What was he talking about?

Peter beamed back at you, clearly pleased that you hadn't snapped at him for once. "Our new project! Didn't you see the list on the door? We're partners." he explained, and you stiffened.

It was too big of a coincidence to truly be happenstance. All week Peter had been pestering you, perpetually following you around and talking your ear off, and now he just happened to be assigned as your partner for the final Speech project? He did something. That was the only logical conclusion.

Your eyes narrowed as you stared at him with as much intensity as you could muster. "Peter, what did you do?" you growled.

Peter's eyes widened at your tone, and he shifted in his seat nervously with a sheepish smile. "What do you mean?" he questioned coyly, and you scowled at him fiercely. "I didn't do anything, (Y/N)."

"Bullshit." you snapped, "I find it hard to believe that we just happened to be assigned partners after how obsessively you've been harassing me all week."

He gaped at you, "Harassed? What?" he stammered, "(Y/N), let's calm down--I haven't... I haven't been harassing you. I just want you to know I really do want to be your friend."

You scoffed at his excuse, "Shut up, Peter. Just leave me alone! I don't want to be your friend, okay? My lips are sealed. I won't tell anyone your secret, just leave me alone!"

With one finally glare, you lurched out of your seat and stomped to one far away from the still aghast boy. As you settled into your new seat, ignoring the strange looks from your classmates who witnessed your outburst, you wrinkled your nose and picked at your nails angrily. As much as you were angry with Peter, you were also angry with yourself.

You were angry that he'd stopped you, and you'd let him. You were angry at the world for letting your sister die. You were angry at your sister for saving you when she should have saved herself. Most of all, though, you were angry with yourself for how you were acting. Even though she wasn't there, you could almost hear your sister scolding you for how you'd treated Peter.

She always was the levelheaded, rational sister. The good sister. The better sister. She would have been ashamed of how you'd been ignoring Peter, ranting to you, "He's just trying to be there for you, idiot. Stop being such a jerk and let him help you. You need to stop being so stubborn..."

You listened eagerly to Ms. Lovell's lesson and instruction for the new project. It wasn't because you were genuinely interested, because you weren't, but it was something to distract you. It was something to drown out the voice of your sister that was echoing through your skull, rattling you to your core as you tried to keep your emotions at bay.

This was the hardest part of losing your sister. She'd been so close to you, so important to you, it was impossible to not think of her in every moment of every day. It was impossible not to think of what she'd have done, instead of what you had done. It was impossible not to think of what she'd have thought of your actions, what she'd have said to you, of what she'd have wanted you to do.

She had been your voice of reason, your confidant, your role model. She'd always been so much better than you, someone you aspired to be like, and now that she was gone the comparisons were so much heavier on your head. Why couldn't it have been you instead of her? She would never have had such a hard time like you were.

For instance, she wouldn't have been so bitter. She wouldn't have been so filled with rage, hatred, or despair. She wouldn't have blamed anyone, not even herself, and she wouldn't have hated the people who had killed you. She always did love a good superhero, and even if you'd have died at the hands of the Avengers like she had, she would have found a reason to still have faith in them. She would have forgiven them.

This project was going to be a tough one, and not just because you were going to have to work with Peter Parker. "This is going to be a persuasive speech, guys, so you're able to pick your stance freely so long as it pertains to the Avengers. For example, you could persuade us that they're bad, if that's how you feel." Ms. Lovell explained, "Just be prepared to face debate from the class. Each group has to face five full minutes of argument from the class and be able to firmly debate their stance."

A project in which you'd have to argue your stance pertaining to the superheroes that had killed your sister, and you were working with Peter-Spiderman-Parker. Great, you thought to yourself, this was going to be a nightmare. There was no way the two of you would agree on what stance to persuade; you hated superheroes, and he was one, for God's sake.

You glanced over at Peter, only to catch him already staring at you. The pair of you quickly looked away from each other, but you noticed the way his cheeks flared red in embarrassment. How long had he been watching you? Was he dreading the project now as much as you were?

He probably didn't know how you felt about the Avengers. Not many people really cared enough to read about what had happened to your sister, and you weren't exactly in the right state of mind to be out protesting the many shortcomings of the superheroes. You wondered, though, how he would react when he found out.

Lying was an option, but there was no way you'd be able to debate in favor of the Avengers without breaking. Could you debate against them without losing it either, though? You weren't entirely sure. It was a sore subject and you were certainly not looking forward to having to dedicate your time to speaking about them.

Peter lingered by his seat after class was dismissed, staring at you awkwardly as he told his friends he would catch up with them later. You could see the strange, weary looks they shot you, but you chose to ignore them. Everyone looked at you a little funny ever since the incident, and you'd long ago grown accustomed to it. This time, though, you couldn't help but think they were looking at you strangely for a reason other than your sister.

You had two options. You could suck it up and talk to Peter right then, or you could continue to ignore him until you were forced to do the project. Catching his warm brown eyes as he timidly watched you, you sighed. It was now or never; maybe if you were nicer he'd back off a little with the obsessive tendencies.

"So," you drawled, approaching him shyly, "how are we gonna do this?"

This was what she would have wanted you to do; that's what you chanted in your head as you forced yourself to at least seem somewhat approachable. "Uh, we could--we could meet up tomorrow? You could come to my apartment." he stuttered, scratching his neck awkwardly and fiddling with his backpack.

He radiated nervous energy, and the black hole inside of you consumed it greedily. You twiddled your thumbs just as nervously as you replied, "Do you, um, do you mind coming to my house instead? My parents are--they're a little weird about me going out because of... yeah."

God, his stutter was rubbing off on you, and you cringed at the way you stumbled over your words like a fool. It had been such a long time since you'd invited anyone to your house, let alone talked to anyone besides your parents and your therapist, and it was stressing you out. The exhaustion of the day was wearing you down rapidly, and having to socialize was making it worse.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course!" he spluttered, "Uh, could I get your number? So I can, like, text you when I'm coming?"

You hoped he didn't notice how much your fingers were shaking as you took his phone, struggling to type in your number as you mistyped multiple times. Once you'd saved your contact into his phone, you sent yourself a text so that you'd have his number too. You didn't exactly answer unknown numbers anymore, though if you were honest, you often didn't answer people you knew either. That was what drove your friends away.

Peter shot you a shy smile as you handed his phone back, and he asked, "Do you want to get started tonight, maybe? I could call you."

Biting your cheek, you paled. Tonight? You were exhausted, and the thought of having to talk for any longer made you nauseous. "No offense, Peter, but I... I really just need a break. This week has been a lot." you mumbled, avoiding his eyes as you stared at your feet.

"Oh, yeah, totally." he acquiesced, "I'll, uh, I'll see you tomorrow."

You didn't reply, only giving him a tight lipped smile that probably looked more like a grimace as you quickly walked away. Once you were out of his sight, your entire body drooped and the numbness steadily washed over you. It had been the longest day, and you were once again grateful for the escape from the overwhelming emotions.

Ever since she died, it was as if all your emotions were on overdrive. There were the many constant ones, like the guilt, shame, and anguish over her death. Along with those were more fleeting ones, like anger, disgust, and fear. Peter, though, he brought about a whole slew of new and equally as intense feelings that drained you.

He made you feel things like anxiety, apprehension, and hope. There was anxiety both due to his wild behavior in regards to you, but also because you feared he might tell people what he'd seen. The apprehension was due to your suspicion he was only so interested because you knew his secret, and was just as fearful that you would tell. But the hope, the stupid anticipation, was the worst.

It was the worst because a stupid part of you hoped he was genuine. You wanted him to really want to be your friend with no ulterior motives because, no matter how much you denied it, you really did need a friend. You wanted a friend. You wanted to let someone in.

You weren't buying it, though, because you were certain you couldn't handle the heartbreak of being wrong about his intentions and discovering he really did only care about his secret. You weren't going to let him hurt you, and if you had to shut yourself off from the world and hurt yourself to prevent it, then so be it. It was easier that way.

Peter Parker: hey i know you said you didn't want to start tonight but that doesn't mean we can't get to know each other

Peter Parker: so if you want, lets play 20 questions! i'll start. what's your favorite movie?

The typing cursor blinked at you tauntingly as you laid on your bed, huddled under the blankets with your thumbs hovering over the keys. That stupid part of you that wanted to make your sister proud begged you to go along with it, to let him be a friend, but you were terrified. You were terrified of the way you actually opened the text and went to reply without hesitation, something you hadn't done since before the incident. You were terrified of the way you wanted to reply, but the only thing that gave you pause was the fact that you didn't have an answer.

Movies weren't something you'd given much thought to in awhile. You knew all of your sister's favorite movies by heart, but your favorite movie? It was as if your brain opened an empty drawer. You didn't know what your favorite movie was.

You: i don't know

Peter Parker: what do you mean you don't know

Peter Parker: do you not like movies?!

You: i just don't know okay

You: i can't remember the last time i watched a movie.

That was a lie. You very well could remember the last time you'd watched a movie, and that was because it was with her. The weekend before she'd died, your sister had dragged you to the theater to watch some cheesy romance film she'd been gushing about for weeks. It was awful, but it was so utterly her that you'd weirdly enjoyed it. You enjoyed it because it made her happy.

Peter Parker: that's crazy wow

Peter Parker: no offense sorry

Peter Parker: it's your turn to ask

You: what's your favorite movie

Peter Parker: star wars but you can't ask the same question!! try again

You: fine

You: what's your favorite food?

Was talking to boys always this hard? You couldn't remember the last time you'd had to get to know someone, but you didn't think it had ever been so nerve wracking. Was something wrong with you? Was everything destined to be this hard now that she was gone?

Peter Parker: anything from Delmar's

Peter Parker: best sandwiches in Queens

Peter Parker: since you got a double and you technically didn't answer my first question, i'm asking you the same but also what's your happiest memory

Everything was always going to be hard. Reading his response, your lungs deflated in your chest and the numbness gave way to the all too familiar sensation of despair. She'd always loved Delmar's, insisting on getting the same sandwich from there every single Friday after school, and it had been your thing.

Would there ever be anything that didn't remind you of her? Remind you of the hole punched in your life where she used to be? It was hard enough dealing with the empty space in your room where her bed used to be, the empty chair at the dinner table where she'd used to sit, all the empty spaces she'd used to fill up. But the little things--the little memories of things she'd used to love--those hurt so much more.

You: i have to go

You: i forgot i'm busy tomorrow so we can't start the project

You: i'm sorry

SERIES TAG-LIST {ask to be added}:

@msmimimerton

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turingtestr · 4 years ago

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mobile post of all my information for the anon who wanted a mobile rules / bio. i could make a google docs but i’m burnt out. please also note, i haven’t even GLANCED at my bio i wrote for elijah since 2018, so uh... i should probably do that. sorry if it’s bad.

ONE. due to the nature of my roleplaying style, there will absolutely be mature themes here and there on this blog. all and any mature themes that involve sexual topics of the nsfw variety will only be written with muses that are 18+. as for those people that are 18+ that follow me, i fully understand if you do not want to write any nsfw content, and if any threads lead to that we can fade to black. just ask me, i’m fairly easy going and more than happy to make people feel welcome. it is not a requirement to rp nsfw content with me and i will never force anyone to do that. !

TWO. this is a selective/private blog. i really only roleplay with mutuals, however you’re more than welcome to reply to any of my open starters if i specify that you can but just know i might not reply because i (1) don’t know your muse, (2) have zero muse for the reply and will get to it later, (3) have no interest in the thread, or (4) am uncomfortable with something on your blog. roleplaying is also a HOBBY for me. i work full time and sometimes i genuinely cannot reply fast. if you hassle me to reply to things, i will not want to roleplay with you and it will turn me off from roleplaying with you completely. in fact, if you harrass me to reply to threads, i will automatically unfollow you because i’m not about that life of being pushed to reply to things. if you spam my follow button to try and get my attention, that will result in a soft block on your behalf. please don’t test my patience. if you do not have your ooc name on your page i will not follow you, due to me thinking hiding your ooc alias is shady and sketchy af.

THREE. i love shipping and i love roleplaying so much. this is not a single ship blog and none of the ships i portray are at the same time (unless further discussed with muns, of course).MY PRIMARY CHLOE SHIPPING PARTNER IS @TURINGTESTEE, which means that if kamski mentions chloe in a verse, he's most likely talking about this chloe. if there are any verses that kamski is going to have one single ship, i will make sure to let people know that in the verse description section once i make it. otherwise, my muse is a free for all. if i do have mains, which will be listed, they are just the people i will reply to the most, however, i won't actually limit myself to only roleplaying with them and i hope my mains respect and are comfortable with that.

FOUR. tagging triggers is something that means a lot to me as i am not comfortable with NEEDLES OR PUPPETS on my dashboard so i blacklist needles tw and puppets tw. i know it’s weird but hey, we all have our things. please let me know if you need anything tagged- even if i don’t personally follow you. you deserve a clean and safe dashboard to roleplay in. WARNING.

FIVE.anon hate will be deleted on the spot. no exceptions. i don’t care about your petty feelings and i won’t tolerate them in the slightest. i’m not here to entertain horrible people’s opinions of myself. constructive criticisms are allowed, but at the respect of myself reblogging a meme asking for it specifically.

SIX. mutuals are allowed to ask for my wire or discord, since i use both and would love to rp on both. i also play dead by daylight on ps4, so if you’d be down to game as well, feel free to hit me up there too! overwatch on ps4 is ITSGEOFFREY so you can add me there too.

SEVEN. i very rarely will send in passwords, as i do not require it and i should not have to be tested on your blog to be allowed to roleplay with someone. usually if you have a password, i genuinely just didn’t think to look for it and i apologize if this upsets you but you probably won’t see any from me.

EIGHT. please take into consideration while dealing with kamski that he has high signs of NPD & a huge god complex.

-----

BIOGRAPHY

NAME: Elijah Dean Kamski ALIASES: Eli, Lij, Boss, Kamski GENDER: Male AFFILIATION: Cyberlife Technologies, currently retired AGE: 36

THE START

there's many days where the kamski family would have a bit of struggles, as elijah grew up. he never knew much about his father, seeing as his father passed when he was a very young boy — no more than six. he'd never grown to know too much about him, and his mother didn't overly want to share about him, so it was safe to say the woman had a reason for not telling elijah and that was that.

growing up with a single mother who had severe epilepsy, elijah tried his very hardest to make his mother's life as easy as possible. school days would be very short considering he'd go straight home from school in order to watch after his mother. some days with his mother, depending on the medication the doctors had recommended her, would be better than others. she always appreciated her son's committment to being with her and he was determined to make life easy on the two of them. using the money she got from the state, she'd try to urge her son go into extra cirricular activiies he wanted to do, however he only dismissed the ideas, claiming that he'd rather be home. he'd use the money to spend on textbooks, wanting to develop his own version of a Vagus nerve stimulation device. one that would make sure to surge with electrical pulses before his mother even remotely had to move herself to activate the device. computer engineering was his goal, and he'd stop at nothing to get through that.

as life continued on, elijah continued to shove his head into books and continuously study. he pushed through high school faster than anyone had expected, at age ELEVEN he had shown his studies to multipile colleges, showing his theories on how to better create medical devices.

THE CHANGE

the university of colbridge had been a struggle for elijah, being the youngest student there. studying medical engineering was easy, and he had decided to double major in computer engineering as well, to perhaps attempt to integrate the two. though school was difficult, the hardest part was being away from his mother. the school had refused to let him travel back and forth, saying that freshmen had to stay on campus as apart of regulations and requirements from the state. when he started college, his mother had decidded upon asking the state for a caregiver- on the off chance that something did happen. with the VNS that was already implanted in her, she was able to have a job during the day, but the caretaker was supposed to just oversee her during the nights. it settled eli's anxiety about his mother a little bit. four months into his freshman year, eli had woken up to a call from the san antonio police, letting him know that his mother had been rushed to the hospital after having a grand mal seizure and hitting her head on their marble counters. apparently the caretaker assigned to look after his mother hadn't even shown up that night. he quickly rushed home, terrified what had happened.

something, however that night had turned elijah into a bitter person. into someone against humanity. though his mother had survived the seizure, things weren't the same for either of them. after knowing his mother's caretaker had ABANDONED her, elijah had fully decided to go more into engineering to create a way for humans to be more reliable. what was more reliable than humanity? MACHINES. something that would always obey. obedient machines that had a purpose and a task and would see it through. dropping fully out of medical engineering, elijah settled for computer science and engeineering instead. the utter drive to create a better human than humans themselves was so strong that by the age sixteen, elijah had worked together with a team of classmates to create the first medical assistant androids. REVOLUTIONARY KICKSTARTER model 100, or RK for short. RK100 was born and tested on his mother, who seeemed quite uneasy, but only wanted to support her son.

ENTER CYBERLIFE

though it wasn't perfect, the ark series took off. mainly piquing interest in san diego, california. the backbones of the mega-billion dollar company that would be founded by elijah kamski and his cohorts suddenly had at least three hundred backers trying to support the small business after seeing what a success the RK100 was at being not only a companion for his mother, but also how helpful the RK was at it's job. the medical caretakers were able to do so much, and suddenly with the money that was being thrown at the group, elijah became more than enthused with power. hungry for it, almost.

making more medical related androids were being highly requested, and the team set out to create diffrent functions for androids, trying to perfect everything.

taking into consideration his mother — his finest mentor and most trusted support, and what she thought of the androids, he sought out to consult with his old AI professor, Amanda Stern, on how to make the androids a bit more lifelike. It was hard, at least for what his mother admitted, for a human to trust a machine that looked like a machine to help themselves out through life. upon her advice, eli threw himself into work, the team of cyberlife growing into a business, and then a wide scale company alongside elijah's work. no matter what, the man was the front of the company, having done the majority of the coding and research in what brought the androids to life. the company sought after targeting the cheapest land developments in the united states in order to make their headquarters and warehouses, bringing CYBERLIFE to DETROIT, MICHIGAN where it currently resides.

it takes kamski four years after founding cyberlife to come out with a brand new appearance for his androids. something human like after struggling and struggling to engineer the perfect components to theorize biological functions. this equiptment created became biocompotenents, but it still wasn't enough to make thes he was creating look HUMAN. but after all the struggles and finally figuring out a way to regulate something akin to blood into the android's system, elijah kamski in the year 2022 releases the RT REVOLUTIONARY TURING model; a personal assistant to elijah kamski that uses the alias ' CHLOE '. Cyberlife has been thurst into the spotlight and once again Elijah Kamski realizes that these advancements in the world have honestly made people envious. the public demands the rights to these androids and while he still is bitter over humanity and the lack of reliabilty that humans provide for the world, he obliges. Cyberlife goes public with their androids and the public are now able to put a price tag on androids.

THE REVOLUTION

the world that assumes elijah kamski is nothing but a greedy, power-hungry boss of a CEO for cyberlife overlooks one important fact: he still wants revenge on the world. his mother passes on at the age 43, a few years before his greatest mentor amanda stern passes. the loss of both role models awakens a vengeful force in elijah kamski. one that wants to remind the world that mortality is relevant for all. cyberlife has created over thousands of models, all for different functions and he looks upon his kingdom with hopeful eyes as well as bitterness. humanity has become less reliant. they've become lazier. androids have become the working force, for the most part, and while elijah sees that as a positive note because it is moving forward away from the laziness and unreliability of humanity — the CEO is fully aware that his androids are becoming more and more human like the more and more they develop. the deviant base code is never once touched. always overlooked by cyberlife developers who dare not touch the work of the first working android made by elijah kamski himself. while he's aware he, himself, is mortal just like the rest of humanity, seeing his creations become sentient, to rise up against the laziness and unreliable humanity that he lives among has been his goal. he just awaits the REVOLUTIONARY KICKSTARTER 200 to actually get pushed to the brink of going through his code.

now it's just a game of waiting to see who pushes who, and who comes up on top. it's always a delight to play god.

THE SIBLING ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

i'm not going to be writing a brand new biography for the gavin / elijah brothers universe, but i need to work out how they can be related with my current bio, or i might just go off of a gavin's biography. shrug emote.

#〉 your save file has become corrupted. / OUT OF CHARACTER

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polygarnstars · 5 years ago

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part 1: 4, 12, 15, 18, and 19

If you think I’m going to have common sense and not answer all of these in a single post, I have Bad News lmao

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you? Smart, mostly. “Gifted”. This very much Did Not Last lmaoooo

12. name of your favorite playlist? I literally never make playlists I’m a stupid fuck who uses their spotify premium to skip freely through all my thousands of liked songs on shuffle until I find something I want to listen to lmaooooo (Having said that: Rey and I put together a playlist for some characters we were entering a contest to win last fall which I titled Story and Song after the TAZ arc and also because we wrote Way Too Much for it and I’m Very Proud Of That)

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? Okay upon reading this I initially genuinely couldn’t remember any of the books I read in school because for the last several years of my schooling I just fuckin Sparknotes and TV Tropes-ed everything lmao... having said that, I do remember enjoying Maus! It was neat having a graphic novel assigned amongst all the “literary classics” that I couldn’t sit through a sitting of without falling asleep, and it may be the furry in me but the depiction of the characters/people as animals was Good :0c See, if all history was depicted with methods like this, I’d maybe actually be able to remember it ghfdjhgjfkdl

18. ideal weather? Depends on the day, but generally: Between like 65-80°F, not humid, not a lot of wind, and either sunny, partly cloudy, or drizzly but not outright storming. Basically decent temperatures without feeling like I’m walking through soup because of the humidity and weather that’s not completely gray and boring. Aka what Maine basically never is lmaoooo

19. sleeping position? I change positions every five minutes I swear to god (don’t take that out of context gfhdjbhvjd). Usually with at least one arm draped over a pillow that is Definitely Not Being Mentally Portrayed As A Character I Like To Supplement The Fact That I Did Not Get Enough Affection To Be A Functional Adult As A Child ghfdjknbhgfjdk

21. obsession from childhood? bold of you to assume i don’t still obsess over nintendo games (and just video games in general tbh)

23. strange habits? OKAY I COULDN’T THINK OF ANYTHING FOR THIS AT FIRST BUT I HAVE ONE NOW: MIDNIGHT FRIES

28. five songs to describe you? Speeding - LightsDaydreaming - ParamoreMusic - Mystery SkullsNo Lullaby - SIAMÉSLonely Dance - Set If Off+Bonus because it came up on Spotify while I was shuffling for songs for this and it’s a Mood: Pineapples Do Not Belong on a Pizza - Vargskelethor

29. best way to bond with you? I don’t know I usually just scream about ocs or video games with people and suddenly it’s been a year??? @riskreyes how has it been a year since we started talking but also how has it only been a year??? Wild bvhfdjkbhvgfjdk

30. places that you find sacred? Lmao I’ve never had anywhere like that really. Need a goddamn lock on my door :p I guess... the woods by my house? As a little kid before things got shitty my neighbor’s cousin or niece or something would go out there wandering around catching frogs and stuff in the spring or almost falling into the frozen streams during winter. When things started to go to shit in my life as a teenager I would hide out there to get away and nobody would find me. I haven’t been recently but the last time I did my friend and I walked along the train tracks and dove off into the woods by the side to avoid the amtrak coming by, it was great lmao. Uhh, other than that... I dunno, Boston and New York and New London all make me feel good to visit. Probably mostly because during those trips I don’t feel trapped in a dying land like Maine feels like bgvhfdjkhvgfjd

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? ......my entire wardrobe is my work outfit, excessive graphic tees, and jeans. So uhh... I dunno. I guess my NWTB shirts are pretty rad, I’d kick a dude’s ass wearing Nate’s merch

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? if i have to see another ad for some fuckin branch of the us military while i’m just out here trying to watch people play video games i swear to god-

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school? Oh boy I don’t know how weird these are but do you want a list??? I can give you a list hang on- In 4th grade we had a day of class where we all just had a party and ate chips and salsa and stuff because the pats won the super bowl and our teacher was Obsessed- In middle school my math class started working out of college textbooks, which is a bit much when you’re 11, advanced classes or no. Yet somehow none of the other students had any problems with this- Also in middle school, the school counselor really wasn’t very Good at his job so I usually just ended up playing Rock Band in his office instead of talking out any of my Many, Many Problems. I played the drums, for the record- Also in middle school, one time I straight up fell down a flight of stairs? Like, a full flight of stairs. Fuckin somersaulting down the stairs. The binder I was carrying broke open, papers went everywhere, my arm got cut open somewhere along the way and started bleeding. I get to the bottom, the other students are staring at me in horror, aforementioned counselor fuckin steps out of his office which is, of course, right at the bottom of the stairs, all concerned because what the fuck a kid just fell down the stairs, right? And so I, laying on the floor disoriented and laughing, declare, and I quote: “That was fun, let’s do it again!”- THE MOTHERFUCKING MAC AND CHEESE MUFFINS IN HIGH SCHOOL. Macaroni and cheese baked into the sweet batter of a muffin. I refused to touch the stuff but a friend of my did and it was bad enough he had to go to the trash can and fucking empty his stomach in it.- SAID FRIEND ALSO MANAGED TO GET A CARTON OF MILK THAT EXPIRED A MONTH BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED AT THE START OF ONE OF OUR YEARS IN HIGH SCHOOL and if I didn’t trust cafeteria food before that sealed the deal on me Never Trusting It Again- OH BUT SPEAKING OF CAFETERIA FOOD one time in the old school before the renovation, in like freshman year I think? I laughed so hard a piece of spicy chicken strip flew up my windpipe and got stuck in my nose and it was too big for me to snort out so I had to suck it back down and for the rest of the day all I could smell was burning- ON ANOTHER FOOD RELATED TOPIC down in the library I was on my iPad and 3DS because I had Long Since Given Up On School and some asshole dudes threw a rotting orange at me and it splattered all over the screens of both? So I picked up the remains and chucked it back at them and yelled “Do you wanna fucking NOT?” and they all ran off. The librarian heard me yell and saw me throw the orange back at them and she just didn’t give a fuck lmao- The librarians at my school were cool as shit really during one of our years we had to do x hours of volunteer work so I did some adjustments to the library catalogue for mine but the thing is I was fast enough at it that there really wasn’t enough to fill up my required hours so instead of giving me more to do they just sort of let me and my friends hang out playing Yu-Gi-Oh and called that good lmao. (For the record I only had one starter deck so I let my friend pick half of the cards and I would use the half she didn’t want. I managed to fuckin WRECK her with throwaways it was Iconicque)- OKAY ONE LAST LIBRARY STORY on the last day of finals I was hanging out in one of the smart tv rooms in the library right? My last finals weren’t for a few hours and lord knows I wasn’t gonna study, ADHD ass couldn’t do that and I’d already given up on school lmao. So I fucking... I brought my Wii U to school, hooked it up to the smart tv, and just started playing Splatoon there in the library. One of the librarians walked past to check on everyone, stopped at my room, watched me play for a minute (I noticed her and just sort of nodded and waved like ‘Sup’ so she Knew what was going on), and then just LEFT. Like, she didn’t give a fuck. Shoutout to the librarians, the Chillest- ALRIGHT LAST STORY LAST STORY I straight up never got all the credits I needed to graduate lmao. I was missing half a credit but they let me go anyway and to this day I cite the reason as being my high scores on the SAT/PSAT? I was the first student at the school in like, a decade, to have gotten an award from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for my performance on them, and I guess they must have thought that me failing to graduate on time would look bad on them because, uh, yeah, it would, if people found out their teachers couldn’t handle a ~smart kid~ to the point that they did poorly enough to not even graduate with the rest of their class nobody would be willing to send their kids there lmao. And that’s the story of how I graduated when I wasn’t technically supposed to!!!

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? That’s a good fuckin question hey shit memory what was that thing that made us laugh so hard we couldn’t breathe again?...Don’t remember? Yeah I thought so lmaoI dunno, probably a joke in some let’s play? Or... god. Now that I think about it was probably the Slicer of T’pire Weir Isles moment actually. Holy shit, that was good.

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried? That I’ve ever tried? Jesus, I dunno, I have issues with texture more than flavor. I Refuse to eat my mother’s stuffing because it’s literally just soggy ass bread. In terms of pure flavor alone? Her shepherds pie. It’s just... there is no flavor. It’s like eating cardboard. I’m begging you, De, use seasoning. If I ever have to eat shepherds pie that just tastes like tin from canned peas and vague hints of unseasoned beef again I’m going to go on a murderous rampage.That said? F in the chat to Cameron for that mac and cheese muffin. Rest in pieces

73. favorite weird flavor combo? GVFHDJBVDN JUST GONNA MAKE ME SHARE THE DILL PICKLE/CHOCOLATE PUDDING PACK COMBO FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE HUH

93. nicknames? Gar, Garn, Lane, Bill, Master, Pants, Shortpants. The first three are self-explanatory, first two are shortenings of my name and then my masc/surname. The latter four come from usernames of mine - Bill from Bill Ciforce (If you stack a Bill Cipher on top of two other Bill Ciphers, you get the Ciforce), Master, Pants, and Shortpants from MasterShortpants in reference to one of Link’s nicknames in Skyward Sword

95. favorite app on your phone? Does the internet app count? No? Lmao. Spotify I guess :p Need me some Tunes

#if you're on a version of the site that readmores don't work on i'm sorry #long post #ask game thyme

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haydenstudiesblog-blog · 7 years ago

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Writer Ask-Meme

“This isn’t studyblr-related shocker right? but I’m a writer so I wanted to do something fun that will also allow my followers to get to know me a little better!

01: When did you first start writing?

I started writing when I was 10 (around 10, I don’t remember for sure. It was before I started middle school)

02: What was your favorite book growing up?

While I wish I could say it was Harry Potter, I didn’t read that until a little over a year ago (in college). I’d have to say The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, I actually want to get a tattoo about it :)

03: Are you an avid reader?

YES! Reading is my all-time favorite activity. I have too many books in my TBR pile (my theoretical one, they’re all on a shelf). I’ve reread some books more times than I can count because I love them so much, but recently I’ve been “broadening my horizons” that sound so lame and reading new authors and genres.

04: Have you ever thrown a book across the room?

Not that I can recall. I don’t think I could even if I wanted to, I try to take care of my books for as long as I can (until they start to get old, then I just embrace them being broken-in except my HP books those are kept somewhere safe)

05: Did you take writing courses in school/college?

WELL. At my current university I decided to enroll in an Elements of Creative Writing course this fall, which I’m excited about. I’m also going to be taking Intro to Professional Writing. If all goes well, I’m hoping to transfer to a different university to finish up school and major in English and Creative Writing (one whole major, not 2), so I’ll be taking more literature and writing courses.

06: Have you read any writing-advice books?

I’m reading an old textbook that I had when I took a creative writing course in high school through our local community college (back when I had health problems and couldn’t finish the course but already had the book so I kept it and didn’t read it, so I don’t count this course as a creative writing course I’ve taken). So I decided to read it now. I also have a list of books on writing that I’m looking to buy!

07: Have you ever been part of a critique group?

When I was in 5th grade we had an assignment to write a short story. I did, and my teacher said it was amazing and took me to a writer’s workshop where shy-little-me was forced to sit at a table with strangers my age and take turns reading our stories aloud. I hated it, but we got to go to McDonalds after. Also since then I’ve looked back at the story I wrote and it super sucks but maybe I’ll try to rewrite it because the idea is decent at least.

08: What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?

Honestly, I don’t even remember. What a boring answer.

09: What’s the worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?

It’s not really feedback, but in high school I wrote a research paper and my best friend at the time peer reviewed it and she tried to cross out a bunch of my commas. I was so annoyed because she was horrible at grammar. I ended up leaving all the commas and I did great on the paper haha!

10: What’s your biggest writer pet-peeve?

Bad grammar. Hands-down. I’ll be reading someone else’s writing (I look over my boyfriend’s and sister’s papers for them) and I genuinely get baffled by how bad their spelling is or how they don’t know when to use a semi-colon. In my head it’s all just second nature (not that I don’t make mistakes, especially because I hate editing my own work so sometimes I just don’t, but still!).

11: What’s your favorite book cover?

I have two, and they’re for the same books. The new HP covers!!! I LOVE the ones where you line up the books and the spines create Hogwarts. I also love the ones that have the horcruxes in them. I want to buy those sets, but I literally just got my own hard cover set from my mom for Christmas (they came in a box that looks like a trunk) so I’d feel bad for buying new books. They just look SO COOL though.

12: Who is your favorite author?

I currently love Michael Crichton (I said I’m broadening my horizons, these are the books I’m using to do that). I’ve loved Sarah Dessen for a very long time; I own all of her books, and I preorder her new ones. But of course I have to mention J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. Not everyone is a HP fan and not everyone loves the Twilight series, but I’m die-hard HP and I’ve read the Twilight series twice.

13: What’s your favorite writing quote?

“We could have been killed- or worse, expelled.” -Hermione Granger, HP

14: What’s your favorite writing blog?

I don’t have one because I can’t find any!

15: What would you say has inspired you the most?

Emma Watson and J.K. Rowling. I feel like it’s so easy for characters from the HP series to just be identified as their characters, but Emma went to college and she does amazing things and she’s just made a great name for herself and I’ve always loved her. J.K. Rowling is obvious, if you don’t know her back story you should look it up (I’m not going to talk about it, it’ll make this post even longer).

16: How do you feel about movies based on books?

They’re never good enough. My preference is (if I can help it) to watch the movie before I read the book, so I’m not disappointed. If I read the book and then watch the movie, I’ll be upset with how much they changed or left out. If I watch the movie first and then go and read the book, I can’t be as disappointed with bad casting (because they’re already planted in my head and I didn’t have an opportunity to create my own characters) and the storyline is always just better because you get MORE information instead of them leaving things out!

17: Would you like your books to be turned into TV shows, movies, video games, or none?

Movies, definitely. Any time I begin a story I imagine what it would be like if it were a movie. Actually, my process is that I usually hear a song and I think of a storyline for it (I prefer to listen to songs that tell stories in my free time, rap and stuff is for clubbing haha) and then I write a story with that song in mind. I love letting music inspire me. But yes, from the very beginning I usually picture my books as movies.

18: How do you feel about love triangles?

I guess I don’t have much of an opinion. Wait JK I do, I’m currently writing about one. Sort of. They can be good if they’re done correctly, sometimes they can just be too predictable. IMO, if you use a love triangle you should incorporate some elements of surprise into your story, things to keep the reader on their toes, especially if the love triangle itself becomes predictable.

19: Do you prefer writing on a computer or longhand?

I love the idea of writing longhand, but I write kind of weird and my hand cramps up fast, I hate my handwriting (I write too big), and typing works better for me because I can get my thoughts out much faster.

20: What’s your favorite writing program?

I’m going to assume this is in regards to Microsoft Word, Pages, etc? I personally use Scrivener. I paid, like, $45 for it but it’s just a one-time payment. I saw that a lot of writers use it because it has tools for plotting, characters, it’s just really organized. I watched tutorials on it and then I did a 30-day free trial (I don’t think it strictly goes by days, I think it counts the days you open the program and use it) and I fell in love, so I bought it and I haven’t used Word since (except for homework and notes, but I’m going to try to switch to OneNote for that).

21: Do you outline?

No, but I really should. I’ve been trying to. Like, I’ll at least put into Scrivener in a separate folder the idea of my story and maybe a storyline, how I know I want it to end and what could happen in the middle. But it’s by no means an outline, and I really do need to work on that. I think it would help me a lot.

22: Do you start with characters or plot?

I definitely start with plot. Like I said before, I hear a song and I think of a story and then I just go from there.

23: What’s your favorite and least favorite part of making characters?

My favorite part is definitely coming up with their personalities, and my least favorite has to be deciding their names and how they look. It takes me forever to decide on names, and I change them a lot.

24: What’s your favorite and least favorite part of plotting?

I don’t know if this is considered plotting, but it’s SO hard for me to figure out where and when my story should begin. I also hate trying to put in fillers in-between all the scenes that I know I want to happen. I’ve read about a process where people who write the way I do write out the scenes they already have in their head, and then they just go from there. They don’t write in order. So maybe I should try that, just write as it comes.

25: What advice would you give to young writers?

Oh god, I’m only 20, I still consider myself a young writer! I don’t think I’m in any position to give advice. BUT, if you’re in high school and you have a passion for reading and writing, start considering your options and make sure you get into a good school that has a good program. I didn’t do that because I was stupid, and I should have because I’m at a university that I don’t enjoy and I’m trying to transfer.

26: Which do you enjoy reading the most: physical, ebook, or both?

Physical, 100%.

27: Which is your favorite genre to write?

It’s been Young Adult for a while (before I even knew what YA was, or that what I was writing was YA), but as I’m getting older I’m noticing that my writing is maturing a bit more.

28: Which do you find hardest: the beginning, the middle, or the end?

The beginning

29: Which do you find easiest: writing or editing?

Writing. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to edit, my work or anyone else’s.

30: Have you ever written fan-fiction?

Nope!

31: Have you ever been published?

HA. I wish.

32: How do you feel about friends and close relatives reading your work?

I’m really shy and self-conscious so I don’t let anyone read my writing. They have, though, because they’re stinkers and they did it secretly. I recently found out that my mom printed out all of my old stories from our old computer and kept them in a binder and would show people.

33: Are you interested in having your work published?

Yes, even though I just said I’m shy and won’t let people I know read it. I think things are easier when people I don’t know read my stuff. So weird.

34: Describe your writing space.

My writing space isn’t one space yet. I’m going to be moving into an apartment out at my school with some roommates, and I plan on making my room really calming and relaxing. Just a bunch of pastel colors, because I’ve found that those calm me. I want twinkle lights in my room, a fuzzy rug, candles, all of it. Recently I’ve been going to our student union/common area and library to write at school, though. The hustle and bustle keeps my mind working. I can’t work in silence, I’ve found that out the hard way.

35: What’s your favorite time of day for writing?

I usually write in the afternoon and whenever I have free time because I’m a full-time student. I do good writing at night, though. I’ve read that you should lay down and write at night, because that’s where you do your best thinking. It’s worked for me so far!

36: Do you listen to music when you write?

While I write and while I do homework I’ll look up the piano instrumentals to Disney songs and I turn them down so I just barely hear them.

37: What’s your oldest WIP?

If this means Work In Progress (God I hope it does or I’ll feel so stupid!), I couldn’t even tell you honestly. All of my writings are WIPs.

38: What’s your current WIP?

It’s about two women who are best friends. One gets engaged and the other is either in love with the guy, having an affair with him, or both. I haven’t decided yet. There’s more to it, but that’s the gist.

39: What’s the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had?

I don’t think I’ve ever had any weird ones. If I have they’re from middle school and I’ve forgotten about them (thank god).

40: Which is your favorite original character, and why?

SUCH a boring answer, but I don’t have one! UGH UGH UGH.

41: What do you do when characters don’t follow the outline?

Considering I don’t use much of an outline, I just follow them where they try to go. It’s usually better than what I had in mind, anyway.

42: Do you enjoy making your characters suffer?

.... No.... Of course not, what an awful question............... No writer EVER enjoys that, nope, never.....

43: Have you ever killed a main character?

Not yet... :)

44: What’s the weirdest character concept you’ve ever come up with?

I haven’t really come up with any weird ones.

45: What’s your favorite character name?

Cora

46: Describe your perfect writing space.

See #34, that’s my dream space. Hopefully I can make it happen. Also, a giant, beautiful old library surrounded by books but also in a nook by myself would be amazing.

47: If you could steal one character from another author and make them yours, who would it be and why?

Hermione Granger. I could only dream of creating someone so iconic as her character. She’s my dream character, and just reminds me so much of myself. In case you haven’t guessed yet she’s my favorite character ever haha

48: If you could write the next book of any series, which one would it be, and what would you make the book about?

I WOULD MAKE ANOTHER HARRY POTTER BOOK. I so badly just want to do this on my own (basically fan-fiction I guess?) but never try to publish it or anything. I would make it about everyone where they are now, where they work and their kids. Not ABOUT their kids, but still just about them. Actually I don’t think I’ll ever attempt that because I wouldn’t execute each character correctly and I’d never be happy with it, but yeah.

49: If you could write a collaboration with another author, who would it be an what would you write about?

Okay. Sarah Dessen, a YA novel, not sure what it’d be about. Maybe she could help me with one of my own ideas. J. K. Rowling, we could collaborate on a new HP book (lol in my dreams). Stephen King, we can write whatever the hell he wants to write about because he’s amazing and I love his writing and it’d be a huge honor to even meet him.

50. If you could live in any fictional world, which would it be?

You can probably guess this. Obviously the world of Harry Potter. I literally got a fake Hogwarts acceptance letter, a student ID, and potions bottles for Christmas when I was little. I played Harry Potter every day with my sister (surprise, I was Hermione).

If you read this, thank you love you’re so sweet! I super appreciate it! This was super fun to do, I honestly love answering random questions. My boyfriend and I ask each other random questions that we look up online all the time because it’s just fun to think of answers and stuff. :)

xx Hayden

#haydenstudiesblog #writers tag #writer #studyblr #tag #writers askmeme #writers ask

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alittlecstaticxilophone · 8 years ago

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Stories

This one is for @maryranstadler1 who requested number 14 gerita, I hope it desn’t bother you that I made italy a girl and I hope you like it :). And I’m sorry it took this long life caught me and didn’t gave me any free time.

Just like any seven years old kid Ludwig never liked going to school, for him it was boring and the fact that he only had two friends when his entire class seemed to get along pretty well wasn’t of any help. He turned his head at the feeling of someone staring at him, only to find Alice, the Italian girl and one of his only friends staring at him with a huge smile in her face. In the moment she discovered she got caught she waved at the German boy who turned to the other side with a small blush on his face.

The classroom was a mess, nearly no one was in their chair because the teacher had gone out because the principal had called her, and franckly, the poor woman needed a break from the hyperactive bunch of kids. Kiku had told him once that he heard that the teacher putted something weird on her coffee every morning so she could endure the rest of the day.

It was then when a paper ball landed on his face, based on the shocked faces of his classmates the most likely to be responsible was Alfred Jones, anooyed the blond boy stood up from his chair and headed to the front of the classroom, now the entire class’ eyes were on him looking forward to see what he would do. Once Ludwig was on the front of the class he took a deep breath

-Listen to me!- he screamed at the top of his lungs startling the kids -Every single one of you are going to seat in silence! I don’t care if you talk between each other but you have to be as quiet as possible! If any of you misbehave I’ll make sure you get punished! Am I clear?!- The German boy finished making his classmates nod quickly from their seats engaging in small conversations.

-Ve~ That was really cool Luddy!- Alice said -You even scared me!- She confessed with a soft smile in his face, Ludwig didn’t know what to respond unsure of the fact that he didn’t know if he should take the last one as an insult or as a compliment considering that the Italian girl got scared quite easily.

When the teacher got inside the classroom she was highly surprised of the fact that all of the kids were on their seats talking amongst each other instead of screaming and fighting like they usually were. She took one look at the coffee in her hand wondering if she was dreaming.

-Alright class!- She yelled when she got inside the classroom to attract the kids attention, when all of the children turned their heads almost immediately she almost felt like she could shed a tear. -For today I want you to draw someone special for you, any of you know why we are having this assignment?- The woman asked; as soon as she finished the question Alice raised her hand eagerly

-Ve~-she muttered -Is it because Valentine’s day is coming?- Alice asked anxious with a smile on her face -My nonno said it was ve~-The Italian claimed

-That is correct Alice, very good- The teacher congratulated. -So get working kids, each one of you have to give this pictured to the person you drew, you can even make multiple draws for every single person you think is special- The teacher said while she sat in her chair, her coffee still in hand.

Ludwig regretted the assignment almost instantly, he was really bad at drawing like most of his class and besides thanks to getting most of his genetic traits from his grandpa he was bad at expressing feelings and even worst at showing them. His grandpa had always told him that if he was in front of something difficult he should divide it by steps, so Ludwig compelled.

The first step was the hardest, he had to figure out who he was going to draw, it was difficult because he never really classified the people around him, They just were there with him; he figured out he should draw his grandpa, the man had raised him and always pulled up with Ludwig’s older brother who the little boy was going to draw as well. He passed his eyes around the classroom looking at his classmates, most of them had already started, when his eyes posed on Alice he decided to draw her too, the little girl always was there for him.

He stared at the three pages in front of him they had drawings yes, but they were awful, Alice always managed to make pretty drawings even at her short age, his were messy to say the least and most of the time they didn’t looked like what they were supposed to be

-Very good Kids!- the woman called taking Ludwig out from his thoughts to pay attention to the woman -Now, who wants to be the first one to show their drawings to the entire class?- The teacher asked and Alice raised her hand entusiastic, when the teacher nodded the girl took the drawings with one hand and headed to the front of the class.

-This is my nonno- she said holding a draw with what appeared to be an old man. -This is my fratello, he is kinda grumpy but he is good deep down he is a good person-She explained a smile in her face, Ludwig had dealed with Lovino already,he never knew someone could mutter all those curses in one breath -And this is my friend Ludwig- She said catching his attention, his cheeks turned red from the mention of his name, the entire class let out a small choir of uhhs

-Alright Alice you may sit now- The teacher indicated

The rest of the time Ludwig’s classmates started to pass and tell some of their stories, he was grateful when the bell that indicated recess sounded so he didn’t have to pass to the front.

As soon as he was out with his lunch in hand he searched for a place to sit founding it next to the Italian girl who seemed to be waiting for him, she was eating a lasagna, he would be taked aback if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Alice and it was something she would bring to school.

He made his way to her sitting in the bench by her side, both of them started to eat and he was unsure of how to let out the question that had haunted him with the curiosity denying his capacity to let it out

-Why do you think I’m special?- Ludwig asked nervous after a few seconds, she stared at him, food still on her mouth.

-Because you are cool- she talked wih her mouth full making impossible for him to understand her

-What?- he asked in confussion, she smiled and swallowed everything

-Beacause you are cool- she repeated,

-I’m not- he said confused, he never described himself as cool, and none of his classmates described him as cool

-Yes you are!- the little seven years old said excited waving her hands in the air- You are always calmed, you can put the entire class in order, not even the teacher can do that! Ve~ and also you resolve the math problems really quickly, and you always help me when I can’t solve them!- she was using her stained fingers to count every single one of the things she was saying baffling him -And finally you always have extra pencils and you always let me grab one when I forget mines- She exclaimed with her hands in the air careful to not drop her and his food

-Oh I see- he said unsure of what to respond -Thank you- he smiled softly

-Your welcome-She answered -You never got a turn to talk- she realized -Who did you draw?- she asked in genuine concern and his cheeks turned pink

-Oh, well, I drew my brother and my Grandpa- he admitted a little embarrased, her smile grew wider

-How are they?- she asked excited, so Ludwig exped most of the recess sharing some of his grandpa’s and brother’s stories while Alice told him as many as she could taking the most part of the conversation.

He promised himself he would never tell her he drew her as well.

Here’s the list of prompts and feel free to request

#Gerita #Italy x germany #germany x italy #Fem italy #chibitalia #Alice Vargas x Ludwig Beilschdmit #ludwig beilschmidt #alice vargas #feliciano vargas #hetalia #germany x fem italy #germany x nyo italy

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oldguardaudio · 7 years ago

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Remember to check the Media Bias for today -> Bipartisan initiative to thwart election hacking gains steam

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Bipartisan initiative to thwart election hacking gains steam

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri during a meeting yesterday in Sochi. (Michael Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images)

BY JAMES HOHMANN with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve

THE BIG IDEA: West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner’s son was wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan and suffered traumatic brain injury.

When he finally made it home, the Republican asked his boy to tell him about his toughest day in combat.

“He had been wounded. There was a girl who had a leg blown off. They had to call in F-16s to secure their positions,” Warner recalled in an interview. “I was expecting those kinds of war stories out of him. But he said, ‘Dad, the hardest day for me, without a doubt, was election day in Afghanistan.’ It was 110 degrees. Before they went out, they put tourniquets on each of their arms and legs so, if they got hit, they could still turn the tourniquets. They found five IEDs around the one polling place that his platoon was assigned to defend.” But Afghans came out to vote any way, even at great personal risk to themselves.

Warner tells his son’s story to stress how essential it is for Americans not to take our electoral process for granted and for leaders in both parties to do everything possible to block foreign governments like Russia from meddling in our elections.

He was one of four secretaries of state in Washington yesterday for an election security conference that was organized by the Belfer Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School. These election officials, accompanied by their deputies, huddled with cybersecurity experts from Google and Facebook, as well as officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

“This is a new issue for us. We’re having to respond to stuff we’re still learning about,” said Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill (D). “The first question we all have is: What are we going to do for 2018 and 2020? We all know we have to do things differently.”

She identified an inherent “culture clash” between cybersecurity experts, who are all about confidentiality and secrecy, and elections officers, who prize transparency and openness. “Bringing those two cultures together has been extremely interesting,” said Merrill, who chairs a cybersecurity task force for the National Association of Secretaries of State. “We’re trying to figure out how best to communicate. We’re having to learn a whole new language. We’re establishing relationships.”

Henry and Lenora Elsesser go over a ballot before voting in Milwaukee, Wis., last November. (Tom Lynn for The Washington Post)

Yesterday’s event took place at Facebook’s D.C. office. There were breakout sessions about protecting voter registration lists, recording election results and helping counties administer elections. A crisis communications expert gave a talk about the P.R. aspects of responding to a breach.

Elections are remarkably decentralized in the United States, which is both a strength and weakness of our system. Processes can vary dramatically from county to county.

The former director of information assurance at the National Security Agency, Debora Plunkett, is helping identify potential vectors of attack as elections officials teach her about the contact points in their systems. “These are seasoned professionals who know how to operate in the chaos of election day,” said Plunkett, now a senior fellow at the Belfer Center.

The highlight of yesterday was a tabletop exercise that simulated a foreign attack on the integrity of an election. An Army major who is enrolled in a master’s program at the Kennedy School took point in designing the scenario, with help from eight other students at Harvard and MIT. The six months of planning before an election were compressed into one hour. Then election day was compressed into a second hour.

Participants were forced to make hard choices, such as whether to switch from an electronic system to paper ballots. At one point, someone representing a county brought in an email that supposedly had come from the secretary of state. But the secretary hadn’t sent the email. It was a test to see whether the group would recognize that their email system had been hacked. Then what do you do next? Call the other counties who might have received the same erroneous email and assumed it was genuine? Stop using email altogether?

Psychological operations were also integrated into the activity. The fictitious enemy disseminated false information, using bots to publicize long lines and sow confusion on social media. Participants needed to decide how to respond to that, as well as protests that grew out of decisions they had made earlier in the exercise.

The conference was closed to the press, but organizers invited me exclusively to attend the opening session and interview participants afterward about lessons they learned.

Then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his chief of staff Eric Rosenbach (right) leave Jordan for Iraq in 2015. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)

Eric Rosenbach, the co-director of the Belfer Center, was chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter from 2015 to 2017. The retired Army intelligence officer spent the Obama years at the Pentagon, including as the assistant secretary who oversaw cyber strategy. “The thing that bothered me more than all the things I saw in the seven years I was there was this past year was when the bad guys were going after our democracy and our election infrastructure,” he said. “It really just bothered me to my core. … I’m not sure we responded as forcefully as we probably should have in retrospect, but you learn a lot when you’re going through these things. … I wanted to do something about this from the outside.”

Rosenbach said efforts like this are crucial to deter America’s enemies. “I’m very worried about the perception that all the other bad guys around the world have after watching what the Russians did to this election that they can do something similar,” he explained. “I can just see Kim Jong Un rubbing his grubby little hands and thinking, ‘Well, you know what, we should go after the Americans too.’”

During a welcome reception Tuesday evening at the WeWork office space on Capitol Hill, Rosenbach briefed the 50 or so conference participants in broad strokes about the capabilities and objectives of the Russians, Chinese, Iranians and North Koreans.

Finally, he warned about “the wild card” risk of “some crazy domestic group” trying to mess with an election. “It could be on either fringe of the spectrum,” Rosenbach said. “In some ways, I worry more about that because they know the American system. They could go into a polling place, pose as someone who is a voter but meanwhile they’re slipping in a thumb drive (and) they’re getting in WiFi networks.”

One big focus right now for everyone involved in the effort is getting security clearances for secretaries of state so that the people who administer elections can be more “read in” about the precise nature of foreign plots. Warner from West Virginia, who took office at the start of this year, expects that people are going to start getting full clearances in the next couple of weeks. A DHS undersecretary assured them that their applications are being expedited.

“Cybersecurity is now part of the job description,” said Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea (D). “We need to do it in a way that people trust by being as transparent as we can. …. This is more than a one-time thing.”

Robby Mook speaks to the traveling press corp aboard Hillary Clinton’s campaign plane above Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last October. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

The co-chairs of the Belfer Center’s “Defending Digital Democracy” initiative are Robby Mook, who was Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager in 2016, and Matt Rhoades, who managed Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012. Both participated in the tabletop exercise.

There is, of course, consensus among intelligence professionals that Russia went after Clinton and the Democratic National Committee last year as part of an extensive effort to interfere in the election, but the Chinese also hacked Romney’s campaign in the fall of 2011. That forced Rhoades to spend precious dollars to harden security systems that he couldn’t devote to winning the primaries.

“We were concerned about how partisan this issue had become,” said Mook, explaining how they decided to collaborate.

“There’s tons of things we disagree on,” added Rhoades, “but we 100 percent agree that American voters should decide our elections. No one else.”

Both guys are now working on a “playbook” to share with campaigns at all levels about best practices for protecting data and training staff.

The Belfer Center is also working to produce a set of best practices for what local governments should do when a breach occurs. They’re thinking about packaging yesterday’s tabletop exercise in a way that could be disseminated to elections officials around the country, so that individual states can do it on their own.

“We’re never going to get the threat of an attack on the election system down to zero percent, but you can mitigate the risk and think about how to react to it,” said Rosenbach. “You have to rehearse these things over and over again.”

Eugene Kaspersky, Russian programmer and CEO of Russia’s Kaspersky Lab, poses at his company’s headquarters in Moscow. (Pavel Golovkin/Associated Press)

RUSSIAN CYBER-ESPIONAGE IS NO LAUGHING MATTER:

— The U.S. government banned the use of Kaspersky security software in federal agencies on Wednesday. Officials said that at least half a dozen federal agencies run Kaspersky on their networks. Ellen Nakashima and Jack Gillum report: “Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke … ordered the scrub on the grounds that the company has connections to the Russian government and its software poses a security risk. ‘The risk that the Russian government, whether acting on its own or in collaboration with Kaspersky, could capitalize on access provided by Kaspersky products to compromise federal information and information systems directly implicates U.S. national security,’ [the department said in a statement].”

— A shuttered “Heart of Texas” Facebook group that had over 225,000 followers and organized anti-Clinton, anti-immigrant rallies across the state last year was found to have links to Russia. Business Insider’s Natasha Bertrand reports: “In late October … the group transformed from a nativist, anti-Clinton meme machine to an organizing force when it created a Facebook event for a ‘Texit statewide rally’ titled ‘Get ready to secede!’ … The event called on Texans to protest ‘establishment robbers’ and ‘higher taxes to feed undocumented aliens’ in major [Texas] cities. It further claimed that a ‘Killary Rotten Clinton’ victory would lead to an influx of ‘refugees, mosques, and terrorist attacks.’ It is unclear how many people showed up to the protests. The group’s efforts came on the heels of a similar Russian effort [reported this week]: an anti-Muslim protest in Twin Falls, Idaho, titled ‘Citizens before refugees.’”

— A salesman in Brazil said his family photos were stolen and used to concoct a fake Facebook profile that helped spread Russian propaganda during the U.S. election. He was made aware of the fake page only after a New York Times story featured it last week as an example of fake social media accounts that were used during the campaign, and he recounted being particularly disturbed by the theft “because he used the privacy settings on Facebook to limit access to his profile.” (New York Times)

— Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has a “red hot” focus on the Kremlin’s effort to influence U.S. voters through Facebook and other social media sites. Bloomberg’s Chris Strohm reports: “Mueller’s team of prosecutors and FBI agents is zeroing in on how Russia spread fake and damaging information through social media and is seeking additional evidence from companies like Facebook and Twitter about what happened on their networks[.] … The ability of foreign nations to use social media to manipulate and influence elections and policy is increasingly seen as the soft underbelly of international espionage, another official said, because it doesn’t involve the theft of state secrets and the U.S. doesn’t have a ready defense to prevent such attacks.”

House and Senate investigators are also likely to make social media sites a focus of their probes: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said Tuesday that it’s “probably more of a question when” than if his panel will hold a hearing with Facebook officials. And Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said they have also “been in discussions with the technology companies,” including Facebook.

— Another front: “RT, Sputnik and Russia’s New Theory of War,” by Jim Rutenberg in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine: “How the Kremlin built one of the most powerful information weapons of the 21st century — and why it may be impossible to stop.”

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Stop the looming health insurance tax Congress is running out of time to protect families, seniors, and small businesses

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

Donald Trump and Chuck Schumer participate in a meeting with other congressional leaders in the Oval Office. (Evan Vucci/AP)

— Trump apparently made a deal with Dems on DACA: Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) dined at the White House (Chinese food, which may have been intentional since Trump and Schumer agree on trade with China, says the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman). “Chuck and Nancy” say they came away with a deal to immediately begin work on a legislative fix allowing the nearly 700,000 “dreamers” — those who came to the country with their parents as children — to stay in the United States, while increasing border security. That does not include the border wall, they said in a joint statement following the dinner.

Trump tweeted conflicting statements this morning:

Ed O’Keefe and David Nakamura report: “Congressional aides familiar with the exchange said that Trump and the party leaders agreed to move quickly on legislation to protect dreamers, though aides did not disclose whether they agreed that the goal should be for dreamers to eventually be offered a path to citizenship. … In a letter to her Democratic colleagues in the House, [Nancy] Pelosi said she hoped the deal could be done ‘in a matter of weeks.’ White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that DACA and border security were discussed, but she said excluding border wall funding from a package deal was ‘certainly not agreed to.’”

— The announcement came hours after Trump and Paul Ryan expressed contradictory timelines on when DACA would be resolved. While Trump said that he expects Congress to act on protecting dreamers “real soon,” Ryan reported that it could take “weeks” to resolve the issue. (Ed O’Keefe and Kelsey Snell)

— The deal is the latest example of Trump compromising with Democrats following his pact with “Chuck and Nancy” to raise the debt ceiling, provide hurricane relief and keeping the government open (see my write up on the president’s new triangulation tactis). Ashley Parker and Robert Costa write: “After eight months of pursuing a mostly hard-right, pro-Republican agenda with limited success, Trump is flirting with fulfilling his campaign promises to govern as a bipartisan dealmaker — including the possibility of legalizing thousands of undocumented immigrants after running stridently against the idea as a candidate. Trump could also be signaling the return of a recently bygone era when lawmakers of both parties dining — and working — with the president was hardly abnormal. … Trump’s reasons for engaging with lawmakers beyond the Republican leadership is deeply shaped by his experience on health-care legislation[.] … Trump remains unhappy with GOP leaders for promising success earlier in the year, only to see the effort fall apart[.]”

BOTTOM LINE: “Trump now believes that Republicans — who control both the House and the Senate — cannot be trusted to carry bills to passage by themselves and views it as his burden to create a better environment for his legislative agenda to garner support. What matters to him, one Republican lawmaker said, is ‘putting wins on the board — not the specifics.’”

–Trump’s base is not happy. Overnight, Steve Bannon’s Breitbart’s homepage banner read “‘Amnesty Don’ – Report: Dems Declare Victory as Trump Caves on DACA … White House Pushes Back — Softly.” But the headline links to an article on Trump’s earlier meeting with the Problem Solvers Caucus, where he reportedly said, “Oh, DACA, we want to move on this quick, we don’t want to wait six months.”

–Costa has more on the outcry from Trump’s voters: “As midnight neared, thousands of social media accounts came alive as elected officials and activists on the right dashed off tweets and posts to share their shock … ‘The reality is sinking in that Trump administration is on the precipice of turning into an establishment presidency,’ Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign adviser, said in an interview .”

From a big Trump supporter and hardline immigration opponent:

More from the base:

FEMA surveys Florida Keys after Hurricane Irma destruction

IRMA’S AFTERMATH:

— Authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the deaths of at least eight nursing home residents in Hollywood, Fla., after their facility was reportedly left without air conditioning amid widespread power outages from Irma. Officials said three people died at the nursing home, and three others were pronounced dead after being hospitalized. (Mark Berman and Katie Zezima)

— Trump’s FEMA nominee withdrew from consideration for the No. 2 slot at the agency on Wednesday, after NBC reporters raised questions about a federal investigation claiming he falsified government travel and timekeeping records while serving in the Bush administration. NBC News’s Suzy Khimm reports: “The investigation … concluded there was insufficient evidence that Craig had violated conflict-of-interest laws in the awarding of huge FEMA contracts after Hurricane Katrina …But the investigation revealed conduct by Craig that could have been an impediment to his confirmation by the Senate had he not withdrawn.”

Martin Shkreli goes to court. (Peter Foley/Bloomberg)

GET SMART FAST:

Infamous hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli was arrested after he told his Facebook followers he would pay them $5,000 to grab a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair. A federal judge ruled that his post constitutes a solicitation of assault, and revoked his $5 million bail. (Renae Merle)

North Korea’s nuclear test earlier this month may have been twice as strong as officials originally thought. According to a U.S. monitoring group and think tank, the test may have been equivalent to roughly 17 times the size of a bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. (Michelle Ye Hee Lee)

The massive Equifax breach this summer has left roughly two-thirds of U.S. consumers’ personal data at risk – but experts say the most vulnerable are home buyers and mortgage applicants, who tend to have the most significant information on file. (Kenneth R. Harney has more on what to do if you believe you’ve been affected.)

The International Olympic Committee officially awarded the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games to Paris and Los Angeles – calling it a “win-win” situation after the L.A. Olympic bid committee had agreed to wait to host the Games until 2028. (Marissa Payne)

The Cleveland Indians won their 21st straight game, giving them the longest winning streak in American League history and the longest in baseball in 82 years. (Dave Sheinin)

San Diego has begun power-washing its streets and sidewalks as part of an effort to fight a deadly outbreak of hepatitis A, which has spread rapidly among the city’s homeless population and was recently declared a public health emergency. So far, health officials said it has led to 16 deaths and nearly 300 hospitalizations. (Lindsey Bever)

Sean Spicer and Chelsea Manning will both be joining the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics as visiting fellows this fall, bolstering a roster that also includes Corey Lewandowski, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Harvard says they will come to campus for a “limited” number of events meant to spark discussion. (AP)

A 26-year-old aspiring singer in Nashville was charged with attempted murder this week after an altercation with a homeless man who asked her to move her Porsche so he could sleep.Instead, she allegedly stepped out of her vehicle and shot him twice in the stomach. (Samantha Schmidt)

The bloodstained ice ax used to kill Leon Trotsky in 1940 has resurfaced for the first time in more than six decades. It will be put on display next year at Washington’s International Spy Museum. (The Guardian)

Former Republican Sen. Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico died at age 85. Over six terms in the Senate, Domenici became a guiding voice on the budget and energy policy. (Elaine S. Povich)

Trump says ‘the rich will not be gaining at all with’ his tax plan

THE TRUMP AGENDA:

— The White House and Republican leadership are now saying that their tax cut plan will be ready in two weeks. Kelsey Snell, Damian Paletta and Mike DeBonis report: “The announcement is part of a GOP leadership effort to create momentum and excitement for an eventual tax overhaul and assuage skeptical conservatives who have grown frustrated that details of the plan remain closely guarded by leaders.”

Flashback to this evergreen piece from early June: “In Trump’s White House, Everything’s Coming in ‘Two Weeks,’” by Bloomberg’s Toluse Olorunnipa: “Trump’s habit of self-imposing – then missing – two-week deadlines for major announcements has become a staple of his administration as it’s struggled to amass policy wins.”

But the uncertainty around what specifically the tax plan will include is causing even more headaches for the GOP. Our colleagues write: “Earlier in the morning, [Paul Ryan] left open the possibility that the tax plan would cut government revenue — adding to the government’s budget deficit but potentially averting the need to make tough choices that could leave the legislation tangled in a political thicket. …Ryan, who had spent years blasting Washington policymakers for not doing enough to tackle the deficit and the debt, had earlier pledged a ‘revenue-neutral’ tax bill — one that did not change the amount of anticipated federal income. But the failure of the GOP health-care legislation, which included a nearly $1 trillion revenue cut, has scrambled party leaders’ plans.”

— Trump further muddied the waters by claiming the plan may raise taxes on the wealthy, contradicting his own Treasury secretary. Damian Paletta reports: “‘I think the wealthy will be pretty much where they are,’ Trump said … ‘Pretty much where they are … If they have to go higher, they’ll go higher.’ Trump offered no specifics or evidence for how why the taxes would go up.” [Steve] Mnuchin had said that many wealthy Americans would enjoy a tax cut if the administration’s plan were implemented. “But both Trump’s characterization of the tax plan and Mnuchin’s are at odds with the projections of budget experts, who say the current ideas would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.”

— Amid the mixed messaging, House GOP leadership is still trying to convince its more conservative members to agree on a 2018 budget. The House and Senate need to pass matching budget resolutions in order to use reconciliation for the Republican tax plan and pass it with a simple majority.

Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

–Speaking of Mnuchin, this will not go over well: “Mnuchin eclipses past travel backlash with pricey request: European honeymoon by military jet,” from Alex Horton and Damian Paletta: “U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested a military jet to fly him and his wife, Louise Linton, to their European honeymoon this summer, raising questions again about the wealthy couple’s use of government aircraft. A Treasury Department spokesman said in a statement Wednesday that the request was made so that Mnuchin, who is a member of the National Security Council, would have access to secure communications as he traveled abroad. … The department withdrew its request ‘after a secure communications option was identified during the Secretary’s extended travel.’”

Donald Trump meets with Hill leadership, including Mitch McConnell, to discuss tax reform. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

— This is a big deal: Mitch McConnell is advocating a rollback of the “blue slip” policy, which allows senators to block judicial nominees from their home states. The New York Times’s Carl Hulse reports: “‘My personal view is that the blue slip, with regard to circuit court appointments, ought to simply be a notification of how you’re going to vote, not the opportunity to blackball,’ Mr. McConnell said[.] … He said he favored retaining the blue slip authority for lower-level district court judges. … [Schumer] has requested a meeting with Mr. McConnell and the top Republican and Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee to dissuade Republicans from weakening the blue slip.” Democrats’ observance of the rule during the Obama years contributed to the large number of current judicial openings that Trump seeks to fill. The decision will ultimately be up to Senate Judiciary panel Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), but McConnell has obvious sway over it.

— John McCain’s promise that he will allow senators to offer any amendments to the defense bill will likely create direct challenges to some of Trump’s national security policies. Karoun Demirjian reports: “But the promise of votes is far from a guarantee that the senators’ effort to force a reckoning on the war in Afghanistan, sanctions against North Korea, the ban on transgender troops serving in the military and other controversial policies will be successful.” For example, Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) amendment to force a vote on a new authorization for use of military force within six months was defeated 61 to 36 yesterday.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster speaks during a press briefing at the White House. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

— The Trump administration is launching a broad new anti-leak program. Buzzfeed News’s Chris Geidner reports: “In the memo about leaks … [National Security Adviser] H.R. McMaster details a request that ‘every Federal Government department and agency’ hold a one-hour training next week on ‘unauthorized disclosures’ — of classified and certain unclassified information. The Trump administration has already promised an aggressive crackdown on anyone who leaks classified information. The latest move is a dramatic step that could greatly expand what type of leaks are under scrutiny and who will be scrutinized[.]”

— Jared Kushner is convening a roundtable today on improving mentorship and job opportunities in federal prisons, an initiative that is at odds with the tough-on-crime approach taken by other Trump officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Beth Reinhard reports: “A bipartisan group of about two dozen elected officials, religious leaders and business leaders were invited to the first major criminal justice-related event held by the Kushner-led Office of American Innovation[.] … Kushner’s private discussions in recent months with members of Congress and outside groups have included sentencing reform, according to participants, but Thursday’s meeting is more narrowly focused on preparing inmates to reenter society. Neither Sessions nor his newly appointed Bureau of Prisons director, retired Army Gen. Mark S. Inch, will attend, although some Justice Department officials are expected to participate.”

— A key portion of Trump’s travel ban is set to expire in less than two weeks, and the Department of Homeland Security is writing a report with recommendations for the future. Matt Zapotosky reports: “The report is critical because it is being prepared in response to Trump’s order that the homeland security secretary present him with a list of countries for inclusion in what effectively amounts to a more permanent ban. And because of impending deadlines, the White House will probably have to take action even before the Supreme Court hears arguments next month on whether the entry ban is at its core legal. The White House has several options — including extending the current ban, modifying it or letting it lapse”

Mike Flynn listens to Trump during a meeting cyber security experts. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

THERE’S A BEAR IN THE WOODS:

— Michael G. Flynn, the son of Trump’s former national security adviser, is a subject of Mueller’s investigation. Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett report: “The inquiry into the younger Flynn … follows other indications this week that investigators are increasing pressure on his [father]. Mueller is looking at the younger Flynn because of his role as chief of staff to his father at the Flynn Intel Group, a lobbying and consulting firm that worked for international and domestic clients[.] …Two senior House Democrats this week requested information from the elder Flynn and some of his business partners about a joint U.S.-Russia proposal to sell nuclear power plants in the Middle East.”

— The elder Flynn promoted that controversial nuclear power plan — which had involved a Russian state-owned company currently under U.S. sanctions – while serving as Trump’s national security adviser. Wall Street Journal’s Christopher S. Stewart, Rob Barry and Shane Harris report: “White House disclosure forms indicate that Mr. Flynn’s year-and-a-half work on the project ended in December 2016, but Mr. Flynn in fact remained involved in the project once he joined the Trump administration in January, discussing the plan and directing his National Security Council staff to meet with the companies involved[.] … The former NSC staffers said Mr. Flynn’s contacts with the former military officers were unusual—happening ‘outside normal channels’—and raised questions among NSC staff about potential conflicts of interest. His actions were ‘highly abnormal,’ and ‘not the way things were supposed to go,’ said one former NSC staff member. The activity continued even after NSC ethics advisers directed Mr. Flynn to remove himself from the project, former and current officials said. …

“The [project] envisions building and operating dozens of nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia and across the [Middle East]. The sprawling construction project was valued at hundreds of billions of dollars and described as a Marshall Plan for the region …”

NPR reports: “The business partners with whom Flynn worked told the members of Congress they believe the nuclear power plan remains ‘an ongoing, viable project’ that is ‘now part of the Trump administration’s “toolkit” for the Middle East.'”

— Russia has withdrawn parking privileges for U.S. diplomats, removing parking signs at U.S. consulates to reduce available space, and painting over former spaces to turn them into pedestrian crossings. (AP)

Susan Rice participates in a briefing at the White House in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci, File)

— Susan Rice privately told House investigators she unmasked the identities of senior Trump officials to understand why the crown prince of the UAE was in New York last December during Trump’s White House transition. CNN’s Manu Raju reports: “The New York meeting preceded a separate effort by the UAE to facilitate a back-channel communication between Russia and the incoming Trump White House. The crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, arrived in New York … for a meeting with several top Trump officials, including [Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon]. The Obama administration felt misled by the [UAE], which had failed to mention that Zayed was coming to the United States even though it’s customary for foreign dignitaries to notify the US government about their travels[.] … [Rice’s] explanation appears to have satisfied some influential Republicans on the committee … raising new questions about whether any Trump associates tried to arrange back-channel discussions with the Russians.”

— The Justice Department is preventing Senate investigators from interviewing FBI officials over the firing of James Comey — the latest sign that Mueller could be investigating the circumstances of his ousting, including whether Trump acted improperly. CNN’s Manu Raju reports: “The leaders of the [Senate Judiciary Committee] have repeatedly asked two senior FBI officials — Carl Ghattas and James Rybicki — to sit down for a transcribed interview to discuss the Comey firing as part of its inquiry[.] … But the Justice Department has declined, citing ‘the appointment of [Mueller] to serve’ as special counsel about Russian interference in the 2016 elections and ‘related matters.’”

“The previously undisclosed turf war comes as the Senate [panel] has not yet given assurances to the special counsel’s office that it could have unfettered access to the transcript of the interview it conducted last week with [Donald Trump Jr.], saying that the full Senate must first authorize the release of the information to Mueller’s team.”

The building owned by the family Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, at 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. (Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty)

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:

— Jared Kushner’s role at the White House “crushed” efforts to woo investors for his family company’s aging, money-losing Manhattan tower. Michael Kranish and Jonathan O’Connell report: “[In 2016], a team led by Kushner and his father, Charles, courted global investors and prospective tenants. Then [Trump] became president and Kushner became his father-in-law’s senior White House adviser. Problems ensued. Kushner met in December with a Russian banker, leading to questions about whether he was mixing his role in the coming Trump administration with his business. A Chinese insurance fund and a former Qatari foreign minister backed away from a potential $900 million investment in the skyscraper. Another foreign funding stream was disrupted when Kushner Cos. came under federal scrutiny for its use of a controversial federal visas-for-investment program at another project. Today, 666 Fifth Avenueappears to be the most troubled of the projects Kushner left behind for his family to manage. With one-fourth of its offices empty, lease revenue does not cover monthly interest payments, [and] a $1.2 billion mortgage … comes due in 18 months. A ratings agency has classified a $115 million portion of the loan as ‘troubled,’ and company officials decline to say whether it will be fully repaid.”

“’They were crushed by this,’ said Thomas Barrack, a friend of Trump and [Kushner] … Kushner’s move to the White House ‘just about completely chilled the market, and [potential investors] just said, “No way — can’t be associated with any appearances of conflict of interest,” even though there was none.’”

— The Office of Government Ethics is now allowing anonymous donations from lobbyists to White House staffers’ legal defense funds, reversing an earlier internal policy. Politico’s Darren Samuelsohn reports: “The little-noticed change could help President Donald Trump’s aides raise the money they need to pay attorneys as the Russia probe expands — but raises the potential for hidden conflicts of interest or other ethics trouble. … While it remains unclear just how many White House aides will need legal defense funds, several Trump staffers still working in the Republican administration are turning to their own private counsel for help navigating the Mueller probe and separate investigations from Congress.”

DIVIDED AMERICA:

— Trump met yesterday with Sen. Tim Scott, the Senate’s only African-American Republican, who criticized the president for his response to Charlottesville. But the two offered contradictory accounts of their meeting. Sean Sullivan reports: “Scott (R-S.C.) said that he reaffirmed his belief that Trump’s comments after the deadly white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville last month [were] not satisfactory. … Trump’s top spokeswoman offered a different account. ‘Did Senator Scott express his displeasure, at all, with the president’s initial reaction to Charlottesville?’ a reporter asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a news briefing. ‘Not at all,’ Sanders responded. ‘They talked about it pretty in depth, but the focus was primarily on solutions moving forward.’” (and there was a kerfuffle over the White House’s original labeling of the senator as “Tom Scott” in a picture — see the above tweet by a Times reporter).

— But the White House added that Trump would sign Congress’s joint resolution condemning the violence in Charlottesville and encouraging the president to speak out against hate groups. (Anne Gearan)

Jemele Hill attending ESPN: The Party 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP, File)

— Huckabee Sanders also said Wednesday that ESPN host Jemele Hill should be fired for calling Trump a “white supremacist” in a series of tweets earlier this week. David Nakamura reports: “Asked about Hill’s [tweets], in which the sportscaster also said Trump’s rise was ‘the direct result of white supremacy,’ Sanders responded: ‘That’s one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN.’ ESPN scolded Hill, who is African American, in a public statement distancing the network from her remarks, but it has not suspended her[.]” The network called Hill’s tweet “inappropriate,” and noted her comments do not “represent the position of ESPN.”

— Steve Bannon has agreed to speak at UC Berkeley’s “Free Speech Week” later this month, joining a lineup of conservative flamethrowers such as Milo Yiannopoulos in appearing at the four-day event. (Susan Svrluga)

— Some 100 students and community members gathered at the University of Virginia Tuesday night, shrouding a statue of Thomas Jefferson in black and criticizing the university’s response to recent white nationalist demonstrations on campus. Debbie Truong reports:“[Demonstrators] covered the statue of the university’s founder, and signs reading ‘racist’ and ‘rapist’ were placed on it. Speakers at the rally pressed the university to comply with demands made by the Black Student Alliance last month that included removing Confederate plaques from the university’s rotunda and banning white supremacist groups from campus[.]”

— Students at the University of North Carolina are demanding the removal of a Confederate soldier statue on campus, with their lawyers arguing that its presence violates anti-discrimination laws. Susan Svrluga reports: “The statue honoring University of North Carolina alumni who died for the Confederacy has been controversial for years and a focal point for student protests. In 2015 someone painted ‘KKK’ and ‘MURDERER’ on it. … But the university has argued that it does not have the legal authority to remove the statue. In 2015, the state legislature acted to prohibit state agencies from permanently removing any ‘object of remembrance.’”

— Felony hate crime charges have been filed against a man who was caught on video unleashing a racist tirade and turning violent outside a Chicago Starbucks. The 24-year-old became “irate” after a drink was spilled on him, and can be heard loudly yelling at two black men: “Shut up, slave! Do not talk to me! Your children are disposable vermin!” As one of the men tried to walk away, he yelled, “Get on all fours! Do not walk off on two legs!” He also spit on people and punched a 59-year-old homeless man, unprovoked. (Amy B Wang)

Breaking down single-payer health care

HEALTH-CARE EFFORTS:

— The Senate’s Democrats and Republicans advanced two separate ideas on health care yesterday, and they couldn’t be farther apart ideologically.

GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy suggested giving states block grants in place of much of the ACA’s funds. David Weigel and Amy Goldstein report: “[The bill] would leave in place most of the financial props that support the ACA, eliminating only a tax on medical devices. At the same time, it does not attempt to replace the current law’s policies with more conservative federal approaches, instead allowing each state to define its own rules for health plans that may be sold to residents and the help consumers should receive to afford that insurance. … It would allow states to waive most of the law’s insurance regulation but continue its ban on insurers refusing to cover people with preexisting medical conditions. … But the block grant could be spent on a variety of health-care purposes, not just to help lower-income people gain coverage.” Remember: In order for Republicans to pass anything on health care without Democratic support, they must do so before Sept. 30 when special budget rules expire.

— Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) released a white paper on taxes yesterday after critics pointed out his “Medicare-for-all” legislation doesn’t cover how the government would pay for such a system. David Weigel reports: “The six-page document assumes that ‘our federal government could save up to $500 billion per year’ if most insurance was replaced by universal Medicare, waving away more than a third of the yearly cost expected by Republicans. The taxes themselves would fall on both employers and employees. Sanders floats the idea of a 7.5 percent tax on employers[.] … Another tax, of 4 percent, would hit individuals, on the theory that they would end up saving money relative to the cost of premiums. … The next big slice of funding: higher tax rates on the very wealthy. … How much of this do backers of the Sanders bill support? A few ideas have gained their attention before[.] … But since the 1980s, Democrats have hesitated to run on tax increases for anyone but the very wealthy.”

Nancy Pelosi appears at a news conference at Union Station in Los Angeles. (Richard Vogel/AP)

DEMOCRATS IN THE WILDERNESS:

— Shut out of power, Democrats are refocusing their energies on state-level races, but they’re getting in their own way. Amber Phillips reports: “Republicans effectively control 68 of 99 state legislative chambers, and Democrats have just four elections to wrest back some of those before looking ahead to possibly even harder challenges for Congress. They put a dent in three seats on Tuesday night, by knocking off Republicans in New Hampshire and Oklahoma, and making it to a runoff in Mississippi[.] … But time is running out to pick up more seats. New 2020 census data means state lawmakers elected by then will get to set up the battlefields for state and congressional races for another decade in more than 40 states. … And instead of crafting a comprehensive strategy to win back dozens of seats before it’s too late, Democrats are struggling with how to balance the rush of attention from national groups that want to play in this field.”

— BUT, BUT BUT: Another poll suggests that Trump is tarnishing the Republican Party’s reputation. Aaron Blake writes: “The Pew Research Center released a poll Wednesday showing a sharp drop in Republican-leaning independents who say the GOP label describes them well. While 49 percent said it described them at least ‘fairly well’ back in 2016, just 33 percent say that today. About two-thirds of these nominal Republican voters now say the term describes them ‘not too well’ or ‘not well at all.’ Among Democratic-leaning voters who subscribe to the ‘Democrat’ label, it has remained basically steady at 42 percent. … [F]or a Republican Party that has long worried about Trump’s impact on it, these polls — along with polls showing GOP voters turning on their leaders — suggest there is some restlessness with the party that nominated him and that the GOP is ripe for Trump slamming a wedge right through the middle of it.”

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis listens on Capitol Hill while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP, file)

NEW WORLD ORDER:

— North Korea issued another drastic threat following its latest sanctions from the U.N. One of the country’s state agencies said that it would “sink” Japan and reduce the U.S. to “ashes and darkness” using nuclear weapons. (Reuters)

— Remember the “nuclear triad?” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said yesterday he is “convinced” the U.S. needs to maintain three means of launching nuclear weapons. Dan Lamothe reports: “The comments came amid an ongoing review of the U.S. nuclear weapons program, and as tensions with North Korea remain high as that regime works toward developing a nuclear missile of its own. For decades, the U.S. military has been able to deliver nuclear weapons by Navy submarine, Air Force bombers and Air Force intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), a system known as the triad and due for hundreds of billions of dollars in upgrades in coming years. ‘If I want to send the most compelling message, I have been persuaded that is the triad, and its framework is the right way to go,’ Mattis said[.] … Mattis said that within each leg of the nuclear triad, there are types of weapons that he is reviewing.”

— Trump must decide by today whether to waive economic sanctions on Iran. Carol Morello reports: “Trump is expected to waive sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors for the second time since taking office. … Even if Trump waives sanctions, as he must by law reassess every 120 days, it comes as Iran and the agreement it negotiated with six world powers are coming under increasing attack. In a series of public critiques of the [nuclear] deal and Iran’s behavior, administration officials appear to be laying the groundwork to kill the existing agreement, possibly by finding a way to reopen it for modifications. The next and most consequential decision on the horizon is Oct. 15, when Trump must decide whether Iran is fully complying with its commitments under the deal[.]”

— The U.S. imposed visa sanctions on Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea, and Sierra Leone for refusing to accept deported nationals. Politico’s Ted Hesson reports: “An executive order signed in January by [Trump] directed the Secretary of State to enter negotiations with ‘recalcitrant countries’ that wouldn’t accept deported nationals from the U.S. If the countries failed to comply, the executive order said, DHS and State must impose sanctions. … Sanctions have been used sparingly in the past, but have emerged as a weapon in the president’s immigration crackdown.”

— ISIS is on the run in Iraq, but, even if the extremists can be defeated, Iraq still faces major challenges to rebuild. Liz Sly and Aaso Ameen Schwan report: “Old disputes between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds over territory, resources and power already are resurfacing as the victors of the battles compete to control liberated areas or jostle for political advantage in the post-Islamic State landscape. These rivalries now are compounded by the mammoth task of rebuilding the towns and cities destroyed by the fighting[.] … A failure to manage the post-conflict situation risks a repeat of the cycle of grievance and revolt that fueled the original Iraqi insurgency in 2003, and its reincarnation in the form of the Islamic State after 2011[.] … But the countries that enthusiastically prosecuted the war are proving less willing to pay to fix the resulting damage, U.N. and aid agency officials say.”

— Rex Tillerson sent an email yesterday previewing his overhaul of the State Department, which may include an outright merger with USAID. (Politico’s Nahal Toosi)

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

Trump was up late last night:

He went after Hillary Clinton and her new book on the election:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz) slammed Bernie Sanders’s single-payer plan:

The Obama adviser who ran Medicare and Medicaid lambasted the Graham-Cassidy health-care bill:

A longtime correspondent for the Atlantic weighed in on Huckabee Sanders’s criticism of ESPN’s Jemele Hill:

From a CNN anchor:

From the executive editor of the Washington Free Beacon:

From a former Democratic congresswoman:

There’s a Trump tweet for everything, this time from 2012:

From the New York Times’s television critic:

A New York Times reporter on Huckabee Sanders:

One day after Sanders suggested that the DOJ consider prosecuting James Comey, Jay Sekulow seconded the idea:

From the former U.S. attorney that Trump fired:

Paul Ryan offered this memorable line to Capitol Hill reporters:

The president came through on his promise of his personal donations to Harvey victims:

The president’s son spoke in favor of Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) proposal to ban flag-burning:

Trump recognized prisoners of war. From New York magazine’s Washington correspondent:

A view from the White House briefing room:

A familiar face visited Capitol Hill:

Sen. Orrin Hatch had some blunt fun with the introduction of his medical marijuana bill:

A curious citizen posed this question:

And Hatch responded in kind:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa bangs the gavel to start day two of the Democratic National Convention.

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

— LA Times, “Antonio Villaraigosa banks on historic Latino groundswell in run for governor, but concedes his time might be over,” by Michael Finnegan: “A few dozen migrants from Mexico looked up from the Salinas Valley field where they were picking strawberries and watched Antonio Villaraigosa’s convoy rumble toward them in a cloud of dust. Moments later, the former Los Angeles mayor, wearing shiny black dress shoes, stepped out of a sedan. The harvest was the highlight of a Monterey Bay campaign swing for Villaraigosa, a Democrat running for governor, [and] came almost 50 years after he broke into politics as an East L.A. teenager[.] … But now, four years after his mayoralty came to an end, Villaraigosa, 64, is no longer the scrappy upstart whose rise to power symbolized Latinos’ growing clout in California. Instead, he stands out as the oldest of the top contenders for governor … [and] is painfully aware that Californians might deny him what he craves: one more act in public life. ‘Maybe it passed me up,’ he conceded … ‘Maybe I’m yesterday’s news. Maybe I’m just a guy who was starting out 20-some-odd years ago, broke glass ceilings — but maybe my time is over.’”

— The Atlantic, “America’s ‘Racial Generation Gap’ Is Starting to Shrink,” by Ronald Brownstein: “[D]emographic trends offer some guarded reasons for hope that the United States is living through peak years of discord over its growing racial and ethnic diversity—even if the temperature isn’t likely to lower very quickly.”

— Politico Magazine, “How Man-made Earthquakes Could Cripple the U.S. Economy,” by Kathryn Miles: “Cushing is the nexus of 14 major pipelines, including Keystone, which alone has the potential to transport as much as 600,000 barrels of oil a day. … This concentration of oil, about 15 percent of U.S. demand, is one reason the Department of Homeland Security has designated Cushing ‘critical infrastructure,’ which it defines as assets that, ‘whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.’ … When most of the Cushing tanks there were constructed, the most logical cause of any such disaster seemed like a catastrophic tornado. No one anticipated swarms of earthquakes. But that’s what began occurring about five years ago, when wastewater injection and other fracking-related activities changed the seismic face of Oklahoma in dramatic fashion.”

HOT ON THE LEFT

“Superman Protects Undocumented Workers From Armed White Supremacist in Latest Comic,” from the Hollywood Reporter: “In the recent issue of Action Comics #987, ‘The Oz Effect,’ released Wednesday, Superman arrives in the nick of time to protect a group of undocumented immigrants from a white man sporting an American flag bandanna, wielding a machine gun, who is going to shoot them for taking his job. Superman blocks the bullets before they hit the terrified people. ‘Stop this!’ Superman orders the gunman. ‘Why?!’ he responds. ‘They ruined me! Stole from me!’ Grabbing the gunman by the collar and pulling him in close, Superman says, ‘The only person responsible for the blackness smothering your soul — is you!’”

HOT ON THE RIGHT

“Fans drape ‘Racism is as American as baseball’ sign over Green Monster,” fromthe Boston Globe: “In the middle of the fourth inning of the Red Sox-Athletics game on Wednesday night, a sign was unfurled from the front row of Section 6 of Fenway Park’s Monster Seats. ‘Racism is as American as baseball,’ it read. The sign remained visible for approximately two minutes before security personnel removed both the sign and four people — two men and two women, all roughly between the ages of 25 and 30, according to a source with knowledge of the situation – from Fenway Park. … Boston Antifa, via its Twitter page, claimed credit for the sign.”

DAYBOOK:

Trump and Pence will travel to Florida today to receive a briefing on Hurricane Irma and visit with people impacted by the storm. Trump will later host a reception for the White House Historical Association back in D.C.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Sen. Ted Cruz explained to CNN’s Dana Bash that his Twitter account “liking” an explicit adult video was a staffer’s “honest mistake” andadded this: “Consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want in their bedrooms.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

— D.C. will get Irma’s mild remnants today. The Capital Weather Gang forecasts: “Early morning showers are more likely a heavy drizzle, typical of dying tropical systems. Shower chances are likely to dwindle by midday but can never be ruled out. There is an outside chance for a bolt of lightning or two with any late afternoon showers.”

— The Nationals lost to the Braves 8-2. (Chelsea Janes)

— George Washington University settled a legal dispute with former basketball coach Mike Lonergan, after he was fired nearly a year ago amid allegations that he verbally abused players. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Lonergan’s attorney said in a statement that he is pleased the conflict “could be resolved amicably.” (John Feinstein)

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Sean Spicer appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s show last night:

4 takeaways from Sean Spicer’s interview with Jimmy Kimmel

A new video reveals the devastation that Hurricane Irma wrought on the Caribbean island of Barbuda:

New video shows total devastation on Barbuda after Irma

A shooting at a Washington state school left one student dead:

One student dead in Washington state school shooting

The Post compiled five moments in the wake of Irma that will make you smile:

5 moments after Irma that will make you smile

And these two baby orangutans were rescued from smugglers and brought to a wildlife center in Thailand:

Two endangered baby orangutans rescued from smugglers

Remember to check the Media Bias for today -> Bipartisan initiative to thwart election hacking gains steam Remember to check the Media Bias for today -> Bipartisan initiative to thwart election hacking gains steam…

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