#having to learn everything about the private sector there

[ifindus]

Hey! I'm also an archaeogist and I specifically focus in the early medieval Scandinavian period (viking period I guess but also the lead up to the vikings) and danish and norwegian prehistory. Do you know of any programs or opportunities for excavation that include foreign archaeologists? Sorry big question 😅 also strange follow up do you guys also have the archaeology passport over there aswell lol?? (Also I'm from Wales so still in Europe if that helps)

Hii! Such a great pick of period honestly 👀 I always have to reread to remember you work with different medieval periods than us lol. I wrote my masters on a specific Norwegian region in the iron age and the transition from the roman iron age (0-400) into the migration period (400-550) and the merovingian period (550-800), so I am well aquainted with these periods!

I can't say I know of any excavations for foreign archaeologists, but I've also never really had to worry about that? If you were in the EU you could probably apply at any digs you want (I can pm you some Norwegian job searching websites if you're interested - they usually put out archaeology jobs in February/March each year) - but now you'll probably need a working visa to come over 🤔

I have never heard about the archaeology passport!! And I both studied a semester and interned in Scotland! Seems to be a British and Australian thing from what I gather after a quick google search. Fascinating. From what I've experienced archaeology seems much more accessible(?) in the UK, like everyone can do it if they want, while here you are much more reliant on getting a specific education 🤷 there are no voluenteers at digs here, only workers who get paid for it, often recuired a bachelor

[buckets-and-trees]

Desperate [Bucky x Reader]

Characters/Pairings: Bucky Barnes x female!Reader Word Count: 3k  Summary: Enemies? Rivals? It's always been reluctant teamwork between you and the Winter Soldier, but when put in a situation where personal feelings have to be put aside, maybe actual personal feelings are uncovered.

Content Warnings: kidnapping, sex pollen ergo DUBIOUS CONSENT, sexual situations (named acts, non-explicit depictions of vaginal sex), medical elements (needles, IVs, experience of medical distress)

Thank You Notes: BIGGEST SHOUT OUTS to @sgt-seabass who beta loved this into what it is and @vonalyn who helped supply me with some of the vital energy I needed. This was SUPPOSED to be an answer to this little sleepover ask @povlvr had graced me with... but then it became this! Logistical Notes: Filling my eleventh square for Bucky Barnes Bingo @buckybarnesbingo - Y2 "Reluctant Teamwork" and @buckybarnesevents Hot Bucky Summer Week 9 which is technically a "FREE WEEK" but had sex pollen listed as one of the suggested things to play with, so... that's why we're here now.

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You were an old SHIELD contact that Steve knew before Project Insight. He didn't know you well then, but you had crossed paths a few times. You were an analyst sometimes assigned to Steve's missions. You went to work for the CIA after the Triskellion takedown, where you stayed for a couple of years, before eventually moving into the private sector.

When Steve, Nat, Sam, and Wanda were outlaws on the run, they bumped into you again, and you became an ally and valuable contact in your new area of the country - and ultimately a friend. And trusted enough that you knew about Bucky - and Bucky heard about you.

Bucky didn't love that you were an element in Steve's life. He hadn't met you, hadn't been able to get his own read on you. 

He'd been wary initially about Nat, Sam, and Wanda, but he'd been able to meet them and build his own trust - and they'd all ultimately put their lives and reputations on the line for him. 

It wasn't that he was distrustful of everyone anymore and needed people to put their lives on the line to prove themselves. Those who had sided with Steve over Tony in the Zemo affair aside, he'd also learned to trust others again in Wakanda with so many of the royal family and the royal guard building relationships with him. 

But with you he didn’t know you, and so he didn't like it.

What Bucky loathed even more? 

You didn't blip out. For five years, you were there for Steve when he couldn't be. You were apparently there so much that when Steve left, he fucking said to watch out for you. The punk.

Bucky didn’t know Steve dropped in on you, too, and asked you to keep an eye out for Bucky the day he gave Sam the shield. You promised you would.

You reached out. Not immediately, but in the weeks after.

Bucky was... less than kind.

Frankly, he was surly, ungrateful, short, and rude. 

Pieces were moving and with Bucky's reappearance in the United States, the question of his future was an immediate concern. Public and government representatives were demanding trials, pardons, and all the rest.

You told him you had found an excellent contact for a lawyer.

"No, thanks, I can find my own," the words were polite, but the tone was clipped, flat, low - almost a growl. 

Being so abruptly shut down, you decided to cut the phone call first and on your terms, so you wished him luck - managing to be more polite than him, making it sound genuine - and hung up.

You called Matt Murdock yourself, and told him about Bucky's case.

You did it only because of your promise to Steve.

And a little bit because you knew you were fucking right and that Bucky needed your lawyer contact. 

Matt chuckled, told you he knew about stubbornness, and that he'd go about approaching the Winter Soldier diplomatically and professionally.

Matt pulled off the best possible pardon deal, even if not everything about it was ideal.

When Pepper decided to get back into some of the Avenger support again - after the Flag Smashers business - so she could provide some more trustworthy resources for Sam and Bucky and the old crowd, you were one of the people she ended up scouting and recruiting to come work on the direct home support team with research and tactical support. Sometimes you went into the field with the team, but usually you stayed at home base and relayed with the agents over comms. 

This was not because you weren't outstanding, but because it was clear the less time you and Bucky spent in proximity to each other, the less awkward it was for everyone else on the team. You were both professional enough to keep the animosity out of things during a mission over comms, and that was about it. 

Otherwise, it was silent treatment and resentment.

Neither of you extended the woes of your dislike for each other actively to anyone else on the team, keeping your mouths shut about your feelings, and engaging in only occasional and minimal eye-rolling when either of you was mentioned. Bucky made a point of giving you electrolyte-enhanced waters first whenever you did go into the field on a mission with them, as if you were a toddler who couldn’t take care of yourself. 

Sitting by you at a holiday dinner at Sam’s you almost thought there was a moment of thaw between you and the Winter Soldier, but you didn’t push the almost comfortable silence between you to anything more - knowing it had been long-established he only tolerated you. It was clearly only a temporary pause, meaning very little as Bucky continued to push for you not being put into the field with them. You didn’t need to be around his close scrutiny. He made getting over any initial crush you might have had on him very easy. 

Things were fine like that for a little over a year. 

And then you were abducted on your way back from a mission outside of Paris where you had been part of the local ground team, taken and smuggled out of the airport. It was not HYDRA this time, just leftover cretins who blipped away but now were back, stirring up their own operation which hoped to double down on being even more nefarious. They were interested in testing some of their new methods and resources while also trying to extract some sensitive information.

Why not kill two birds with one stone by snatching up a well-connected and informed analyst at the heart of the neo-Avengers operation?

They recovered files from debunked HYDRA facilities (hard drives were wiped, but motivated hackers knew how to dig beneath what had been wiped to recover remnants - in hindsight, SHIELD should have taken the tech to a secure location) and developed an even more concentrated and powerful form of sex pollen. They were interested in how it would be absorbed in both the aerosol and liquid forms they had developed. Why not try out both forms on you? 

The aerosol was potent enough, but not in a way that would break you for their line of inquiries.

So, they injected it right into your veins.

Compounding with what had already been ingested into your system, everything intensified, and you - much more quickly than they anticipated - moved past what may have been a state where they could've coaxed the information they wanted out of you. 

Quickly you progressed to the point where you were consumed by this toxin, your body raging and desperate for the physical activity that will get you to a sexual release and flush the toxin from your system. You were keening and moaning and crying, covered in sweat, straining painfully against your bonds, unable to focus on anything anyone said to you. 

You were incoherent and not far from feral. 

Having gone beyond the point you could be giving them intelligence, you were still useful to provide information as the test subject, and they kept you on it through an IV drip to see the limits of what an average female body could take before it was completely broken.

You had absolutely no sense of how long this went on, only that you were not even crying tears anymore, just dry sobbing and wailing, because everything in your throat, and in your veins, and in your chest, and in your vagina burned. 

It was an agony you'd never experienced in your life. 

You vaguely registered a cacophony of sound around you, but it was like it was coming to you through a long dark tunnel, distorted and distant, and you couldn’t open your eyes to see what is going on, not that you could even think to or were capable of caring about anything other than the desperate purgatory you were enduring until you finally passed out.

Bucky and Sam were nearly back to base ops in New York from the Paris mission when the news of your abduction came through, and they turned around immediately. Teams working at home and in Paris - and Bucky in the air while Sam piloted - narrowed your likely whereabouts down to two locations: somewhere near Versailles (because of course evil operations are drawn to the ideas of opulence) or a compound outside of Brussels. 

Time already against them, Sam and Bucky made the tough decision that they needed to split up so they could investigate both options as quickly as humanly possible. Sam dropped Bucky at the well-equipped safe house less than an hour away from the suspected Versailles compound and then headed to Brussels.

After arming himself to the teeth as quickly as he could, Bucky fired up the Ducati in the garage of the safehouse that had been equipped with a noise dampener by your tech engineers, punched in his navigational coordinates, and pushed to top speeds to get to there, stashing the bike half a kilometer away so he could make the rest of the approach in complete stealth.

The operation was much smaller than he anticipated, but because of its size it was almost immediately apparent to Bucky that this was where they had you, and he was also confident he would be able to drop this operation and get to you without as much trouble as he expected.

But in no way could he have predicted the state he would find you in.

He heard your agonizing cries and keening within moments of entering the facility, and he'd already dropped four agents at that point, but the excruciating pain he heard from you was its own form of torture in itself. 

He picked up the pace, tearing ruthlessly through everyone else that came between him and you.

He got the full view of the condition you were in only moments before you passed out. He quickly undid all the bindings and removed everything they had attached to monitor your vitals. He unhooked the IV drip but had the presence of mind to take the bag for testing later. It was inelegant, but he hefted you over his shoulder, and everyone else still conscious who got in his way of getting you out was incapacitated with a single kill shot.

It was close to midnight when he reached the safe house and carefully tucked you into one of the beds. He pulled a secure laptop and some of the base medical testing equipment into the bedroom and kept watch over your catatonic form while he started running tests on the substance you’d been hooked up to and sent the base data for his samples to the bioengineering team back at HQ.

Over the next hour your body experienced a few fits of violent shaking, but you didn’t rouse until almost 2am. When you did, it was with great heaving gasps, and your arms flailed, your hands grasping at the sheets, at your clothes, and then at Bucky when he appeared almost immediately at your side trying to soothe you. He had a theory he hoped wasn’t true – that he knew what was running through your veins – but it was confirmed when you clutched and pawed desperately at him. Then your eyes met his, there was a recognition but coupled with devastating desperation, and you started babbling his name and pleading, “Bucky, please, Bucky. Need. Bucky, help. Bucky, Bucky, Bucky.”

He’d been in distress over you since he first heard your tortured cries hours before, and he knew you needed him.

He wouldn’t deny you. 

He knew the anguish of being a slave within one’s own mind. 

He worked both of you out of your clothes quickly, and then laid you back on the bed and crawled above you. “I gothcu, shh, I know what you need.” You cried, but with a glimmer of relief, when he sunk into your desperately wet cunt. He thrust diligently into you while you clung to his shoulders and wrapped your legs around his waist. 

The first orgasm was quick, and provided a glorious wave of relief that helped, but it was not enough. 

Not even close.

For nearly two hours he let you use him, pulling him into you, riding him, kneeling under him on all fours while he wrapped an arm around your waist and took you from behind. 

It was relentless fucking until you hit the point of being utterly depleted – mercifully coinciding with when the chemicals seemed to have finally been flushed from your system with enough of the endorphins released into your bloodstream from the numberless orgasms. 

If anyone but a super soldier had found you, Bucky genuinely worried they may not have been enough to help. Seeing you at the utter extreme of limits, in dangerous territory, had shaken something inside him he wasn’t prepared to discover. There had been no question in his mind that he had to get you through it. 

He smoothed your hair off your face and let your body gently sink back into the mattress, then got up and went to the bathroom, returning with a warm washcloth. He wiped your brow first, and you sighed in relief, eyes already closed in bone-tired weariness. Bucky gently wiped the sweat from your neck, continued moving down your body, and then with a second warm cloth he’d also brought, he gently wiped away the mess of slick that had seeped down your thighs. He carefully redressed your exhausted form, sliding you back into your discarded underwear and his t-shirt that was close enough to scoop up from the floor, and tucked you into the covers. You were asleep before he had finished taking care of you.

As you rested, he continued his vigilant watch from before. You stirred an hour or so later. It was still dark, but with almost a hint that sunrise would be creeping to the edges of the windows soon. He moved to your side again, this time with water, which he pressed to your lips, helping you to set up so you could drink. You began to gulp it down, but slowed when he tried to soothe you and urged you to slow your intake.

When you were nearly done downing the glass, your eyes opened briefly, but catching Bucky’s wary gaze on you, you shut them again. Not before Bucky saw the flash of anguish, however. You scooted away and turned your back, pulling your knees up and burying your head in your arms.

Bucky wanted to reach out and touch you, but settled for softly uttering your name, trying to coax you to look at him.

You refused, consumed with shame and horror.

Your throat was thick with a different kind of agony. 

That episode of pain and innate need had ended, but this? 

This was a new hell you would have to endure. 

“Bucky, I’m sorry, and I know I owe you my life and probably all of my sanity, but please, please go. Please leave me be and don’t put me through the humiliation right now of being here only because you were resigned to helping me despite hating me. I’ll have to bear that forever, but please, just… please at least leave me to myself until we get out of here.”

He was silent for a moment.

“Fuck, I don’t hate you – I never truly hated you,” he said. It was quiet, but perfectly audible in the silence of the pre-dawn.

You raised your head tentatively.

He took a deep breath and continued. “I only kept it up to save face since I drove you to despise me and was too proud to turn it around.”

You were truly overwhelmed. You wanted to say something but had no idea how to respond to that admission, especially when you were already wrung out to the very edges of your emotional state.

“I’ve respected you for a long time now.” Bucky broke the silence.

“You have?”

“Probably more than respected you, if I’m being honest.”

You were still exhausted despite having slept for the past few hours, but you pushed your mind to think… you started to reconsider the thaw from hostility to civility, that he argued with you in group settings less, how everything had become less grudging. But you knew you’d put up your own protective walls to shield you from his scrutiny because it had hurt too much to have been spurned by him when you’d reached out to try and forge that relationship with him after Steve left initially. 

And so much of tonight had been a feverish haze, but you had small pieces that were stained into your memory, some of which were him and things you couldn’t categorize as the actions of anything less than someone who cared. 

“How do you feel about me?” you ventured. 

The two of you looked into each other’s eyes for a few long moments.

“I don’t know that I can explain it all yet – I don’t think I know the words for it, but… let me show you? No chemicals, just us, see what’s really here?” He reached out a tentative hand to cover one of yours.

You nodded.

You let him move in.

You let him kiss you.

You let him lay you down beneath him again, and this time you sunk into each other. 

You cried again, but this time from the immense emotion. You could feel it rolling off of him and pouring into you, a balm starting to fill in the anguished pieces of your soul. Your spent bodies pushed through any tiredness and desperately moved together again, relentlessly motivated this time to slake the emotional hunger growing between you. Touches that explored, that carved into memory, that expressed. 

This time when you were both only finished by exhaustion, you curled into each other and slept, feeling the beginnings of solace and true peace, a turning of the tide, and maybe the acknowledgement that emotions that had run so deeply between you two were only felt so strongly because you truly valued the other even from the beginning.

READ THE FOLLOW UP DRABBLE: UNCERTAIN AND SURE

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I do not do tag lists, but FOLLOW @buckets-and-stories and TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS to be updated any time I publish a new work!

[simply-ivanka]

Mr. Trump needs to tie Ms. Harris to the Biden/Harris Administration record, on everything from Afghanistan to the administration’s war on fossil fuels. He might also do well to cast this election more broadly as a choice between those who treat the private sector as something to be taxed, regulated and punished and those who see unleashing its productive powers as the key to bringing the American Dream to ever more people.

By now Mr. Trump ought to have learned the Golden Rule of messaging: Less is more. It served him well in his debate with Mr. Biden. Mr. Trump can talk all day about the issues. But if he also insults Ms. Harris, guess what the press will report?

[velvetures]

omg hey just here to shoot a request, idk if you do gaz as well but only soap is ok too. maybe something like soap x reader where the reader is a transfer from the american sector and she's just this super energetic, "AMERICA SCRAAAWWW" kind of person but is also super in learning about cultures and stuff. then the boys take her to this texas themed pub that she just criticizes the shit ton as she's from texas. i think it'll be funny to see a scot x texan lol thxx

God Bless Texas... and Scotland

A/N: I believe my goal here is to make something a little more on the joking/humorous side here... I'm not trying to get into politics or country pride on a deep level. This is just for fun. Nevertheless, thank you for requesting, I hope you enjoy the direction I went with this. This is sooo damn cheesy... Summary: On shore leave, you and Soap get into a conversation about what it was like in your home countries. A couple funny stereotypes and light-hearted argument later, the 141 decide that experiencing both sides of the coin are necessary to settle the score. T/W's: stereotypes ofc, cursing, friendly banter/teasing, and as always not proofread.

It all started when you came out of your private quarters into the shared living room with an old t-shirt on with the admittedly cliche statement 'God Bless Texas' printed boldly over the front inside of a state-boundary shape. Out of all of the members of the 141, you were undoubtedly the most... shall we say... patriotic. At least in terms of your state pride and your unwavering happiness of having family still living there who were so in support of you and your work. Having family in the first place was something different compared to the rest of the squad, and it made the whole pride of where you came from a lot more difficult to understand.

You'd spent years at this point being around the 141 and learning all kinds of very unique and traditional habits that they carried with them despite oftentimes not having a family to share them with. Most of those, they shared with each other, and after getting comfortable with you was extended as a way to bond with you outside of the missions and other job requirements that you did together. From Soap's requirement of the "First Footing" tradition on New Year's, Captian Price never missing a Soccer World Cup no matter where he is, and Gaz's refusal to have a Christmas dinner without Christmas pudding, there isn't a time when someone isn't explaining their desire to incorporate some country, cultural, or family tradition in one way or another.

So, naturally, Soap was ecstatic when he found out about some little niche place that had opened up an 'American, Texas-Themed' restaurant. He knew it would be totally overdone, as did everyone else, so they all thought it would be something of a light-hearted way to poke fun at your loyalties by taking you there as a "resident expert" that could point them in the right direction and away from everything else. Truly the idea of having at least on full hour of teaisng you with everything they could just sounded like a damn good way to spend an afternoon.

The place was a little hole-in-the-wall pub with a little bit of seating that wasn’t directly at the bar. Dim lighting made it feel pretty inviting, but the obvious country music choices including Texas natives: George Strait, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson made it feel a little cheap. Especially with the taxidermy Longhorn head above the bar and the “cowboy” style of practically everything hanging on the walls. Although it wasn’t quite the most miserable place you’d even been, it certainly felt like a little more than just a healthy appreciation.

“Home away from home, right lass?” Soap’s devilish grin only made the wound sting your pride that much more.

"Ya know... actually, not one bit." You answer a bit awestruck and looking around the place with bated breath and the hope that it wouldn't get much worse than it already was.

To your irritation, it got worse. Much worse.

After getting seated by an -obviously- British woman forced to fake a deep and southern drawl, you were all handed menus that named off the most "popular" foods in the Southern United States that not only made you chuckle out loud with disbelief but actually voice the total inaccuracies of certain dishes that the men sitting around you actually thought were legitimate staple items.

"You actually eat rattlesnakes often?" Gaz thought it was a bit far off since he spent quite a bit of time in his service in South Carolina, but thought he'd clarify with you anyway.

"For Christ's sake, Garrick. No!" You roll your eyes, taking a drink of the iced sweet tea you were actually shocked to see was listed as a drink option.

That in itself was the largest contention point with Ghost who stared at you with an iron-clad will of hatred seeing you pleasantly drinking iced sweet tea like you were enjoying the abomination. To his horror, you were quick to compliment that they'd actually gotten it pretty close to how you made it yourself or people at home did.

"What is a pecan pie?" Captain Price was quick to question the dessert menu before a waitress had even come back around to take main course orders.

His question sounded somewhat confused and downright scandalized at the same time. And to be honest, you really didn't know how to explain that it was simply a pie with corn syrup and brown sugar-based sweet filling, covered with pecans that were baked in a regular pie shell. You attempted to describe the basic ingredients and how it was made to the table of interested men, only to have them all stare in guarded horror... Save for Gaz. He'd actually tried it while in the States and said he'd enjoyed it. Luckily he was on your side for that particular topic.

The men as a whole hilariously didn't order anything that you -or they- considered uniquely "Texan" or "American". Soap insisted that you pick a meal that sounded the most authentic to you and that they would try some of the food off of your plate. Of course, the idea sounded good to them, but you weren't sure you wanted to share a plate of food that could possibly be decently "American" when it would still be months before you could go back home.

You folded quickly and picked a meal that you believed would be safe enough to keep them from being outwardly horrified with you but would still be interesting to compare to the meals you grew up with at home. The most simple and safe option was what they called the 'Home Run Special', most certainly a knock-off of the American chain breakfast restaurant. It came with pancakes, fried eggs, bacon, biscuits, sausage gravy, grits, and hashbrowns.

When the platter came out, you were pleasantly surprised at the look of everything, seeing as it visually had promise and even smelled just about right as well. With one glance around the table, you saw every single man staring at the three-plate meal sitting in front of you and couldn't believe that all of that food was supposedly for one person. That comment alone did make you laugh. It was one thing that you weren't afraid to admit. You could eat a whole lot. And it was a family thing that you never could be shy to not own up to. Eating all of that breakfast to them might've seemed totally unacceptable, yet for you, it looked very accomplishable, given the food tasted good. They each wanted you to give your own personal opinions before they tried anything and watched you intently for any sign of your acceptance or lack thereof.

By the end of the meal, the men had all tried everything and had mixed opinions of what they thought was actually good or not. You believed the biscuits and gravy were totally garbage and vowed that you could make them better, and wouldn't even allow them to taste them for fear of cementing an even more concrete belief that biscuits weren't meant to be savory. They were half-and-half on the bacon, some saying it was really good while others complained it wasn't enough meat for so much grease. You... were quite pleased. Eggs were fine, they all didn't really pay them much mind, while the grits were such a contested topic that you weren't sure if they lost respect for you since you finished the entire serving.

"Although I've enjoyed the majority of the food and I was surprised with it... this isn't anything legitimate." You mutter with a full stomach, looking around the place and beginning to feel a little more homesick than you thought such a tacky pub could produce.

Soap, who was finishing off your pancakes nudged your shoulder a little and smiled. "You'll have to take me home with ya. Then I ken' really find out why ye' think Texas is so damn special."

"You have to take me home with you too Johnny," You take the fork out of his hand and eat one more bite of pancakes. "So I can see if God blessed Scotland, too."

Reblogs & Comments are Appreciated

[buckrecs]

Hello, I'm not sure if it's possible, but are there any recommended long-chapter series for Bucky? More than 15+ or even 20+ chapters in one. It could be for any type of story. Thanks.

masterlist | req masterlist

I sorted out fics that has 15+ chapters from my 2022 Wrap Up list! You can see more series fics on my masterlist:)

Heart & Soul by @all1e23

Alphas only brought trouble. The only thing they are good for is bringing their Omega’s pain and forced submission. They were dangerous, reckless and cruel. There wasn’t an ounce of kindness in any of them. She didn’t need an Alpha, and she certainly didn’t believe in that True Mates fairytale. That was just some fabricated fable Alphas made up to trick innocent doe-eyed Omegas. She wasn’t going to fall for that. Not again.No Alpha would ever get her to believe that love truly exists. And then, James Buchanan Barnes walked into her life.

Astrophile by @/all1e23

Orion Rebecca Barnes's favorite thing in the whole world (besides her daddy of course) is spending hours after school in the bookstore by her house and the owner GIVES her any book she wants; she’s the coolest girl Orion has ever met.

Swallow by @/all1e23

Since he was fifteen years old, Bucky Barnes has only been sure of two things; the club should be the most essential thing in his life, and he’d burn it all down for you.

One Last Job by @sunriserose1023

Bucky Barnes is retired. He did a stint in the Army, did a stint as a Secret Service agent, even dabbled in the private sector, but that’s over. Now, he just wants to rest in the solitude he’s found in a cabin in the Adirondacks, with only his memories to get him through the sleepless nights.Until his best friend comes to him with a special request. One last job, protecting the movie star sister of an old Army buddy. She’s being stalked, getting death threats, but that’s nothing they haven’t dealt with before. Except there’s something different about this job. And maybe it’s not the job; maybe it’s the girl. But when it turns out that something sinister is at play, Bucky realizes this job ... could be his last.

Just One Kiss by @sarahwroteathing

Bucky Barnes has been chasing after you since he was ten years old, but you’re determined not to give in. How long can you hold out when all he’s asking for is just one kiss?

Burn the Witch by @dreamwritesimagines

There’s a thin line between mission and love, and spies aren’t allowed to cross that line.

relationship tutor by @samingtonwilson

a relationship novice, asks for your help in dating your friend. Unable to say no to him, you agree despite everyone and everything telling you not to.

Can’t Fight the Feeling by @sidepartskinnyjeans

After the second snap the world rejoices at the return of their friends and family. But for the Avengers their home is destroyed. Steve and Tony move the homeless Avengers back to the Avengers Tower. With only a few usable floors they're paired up to support each other from the shock of returning and the changing world. Some are happier with their room allocation than others. Can you and Bucky make it work?

Untouchable by @dreamwritesimagines

What happens when Bucky Barnes falls in love with someone he shouldn’t have?

Greatest Hits by @lunarbuck

You work at your family's record store, and Bucky lives next door. He comes into your store and asks you for some music recommendations. You soon realize that he has a lot to learn and make it your personal mission to show him the world he missed out on through music.

Playing With Fire by @beccaanne814

What happens when two people who have nothing in common suddenly have to pretend to be in a relationship? Will the sparks between them ignite into something more, or is this romance doomed to crash and burn?

Strange Times by @/beccaanne814

You have a certain type - smart, charming, and handsome as sin. For years you’ve been in love with the only man you thought possessed all of those traits, but a chance encounter with a Strange individual sends you and a certain ex-assassin on a journey of self-discovery. As you try to find a way back home, will you also be able to uncover the perfect man hidden beneath layers of guilt and self-loathing.

Invisible String by @oitommothetease

James Buchanan Barnes, the owner of the most expensive-looking club in town and your new apartment. He was a dick and you hated him. What could possibly go wrong when you, the new girl in town, start bartending at his club to pursue your dreams?

Scars by @tokoyamisstuff

Based on the Soulmate Prompt where whatever you write on your skin, it appears on your Soulmate’s.

i hate you but by @buckybarnesthehotshot

bucky and y/n can’t stand each other, but y/n needs help with her sister’s kids (enemies to lovers au)

If Only You Were Mine… by @bbgem329

You’ve been in love with Bucky Barnes since the moment you laid eyes on him. That was five years ago, when your older sister brought him home for a Sunday lunch and introduced him as her boyfriend.

Awake My Soul by @foreverdreamland

It's been five years since zombies first started walking the Earth, destroying anything and everything in their wake. Now, in this apocalyptic world, fighting for survival comes as naturally as breathing. The one thing you've learned ever since they arrived, though, is that the living can be so much more dangerous than the undead. When you stumble across two young, scared boys lost in the woods and being chased by walkers, you go against your better judgment and help them to safety. Little did you know that helping them would lead you to Bucky - an angry, grumpy, distrusting member of the camp Shield. Bucky has zero interest in having you enter his life. He's been hurt before and lost too many people to risk experiencing that kind of pain again, and he knows that there are secrets you aren't telling the group. Yet, when push comes to shove, and you're put at risk, he'll stop at nothing to keep you safe.

[himbeereule]

Hello! I just read the demo. I loved it!! I'm excited to read the remaining parts of this prologue. By the way, I'm surprised at the trouble you took with the reactions to MC's attractiveness. Depending on our appearance will there be an important impact on history?

Anyway, thanks for the demo! I loved everything ❤️❤️❤️

Ehmm I have quite a few questions: 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

1 - Why is MC so popular? What is the reputation of the siblings among the people?

2 -Is there any reason why the empress is so absent in the lives of her children?

3 - Who besides the emperor and brother knows about Lebedev's incident with f! MC?

4- Will there be a funeral for the royal family?

5- I just love Lavrentiy. It seems like he was jealous (?), although he equally loved MC

6 - What were the last thoughts of MC's family before being executed? Will we see more of them in the future?

7 -How did other monarchies react to this "revolution"?

8- How rich/relevant is Nevtskiya in the world? And it has great military power? Besides agriculture, is there any other important sector for the economy? Can we promote the development of the country?

9 - What is the standard of living of the general population?

10 -Will there be much difference in the story of a male or female MC?

11 - What religion does the country have?

12 - Were there many other popular protests in the past?

PS we are lucky that the rebels didn't leave MC's body hanging or decapitated in some public place haha

Hey~

About the attractiveness: there will be scenes like the ones with Sabilov where it'll play a role, but it won't have a really important impact on the story overall.

1- MC is popular because the newspapers pushed them as a celebrity. As for why they did that... you'll have to find out eventually. As for the siblings: Artemiy is revered as the Crown Prince, but he's a pretty distant figure, so it's more formal than personal popularity. Lavrentiy is very controversial due to his escapades (you'll learn more about that). Sasha/Tasha is very private and mostly unknown among the public.

2- This'll be expanded upon in the scenes with your siblings I'm planning to add to the Prologue - basically, she realized the person she married (arranged marriage, but initially she was very happy with it) was an absolute asshole. So she ended up getting the kind of depression where you isolate yourself from everyone and everything.

3- Nobody, though at least one person is guaranteed to find out. Towards the end of the story, though.

4- No. You'll see why later...

5- I said it before, but I'm super happy people liked Lavrentiy. I hope his additional scenes will cement his image of "would actually be lovely if he stopped being so mean"

6- Can't answer, spoilers ^^"

7- There won't be intervention armies, but they see it as a prime opportunity to expand their influence. Whether you'll let them sponsor you or your enemies at the cost of getting dependent and owing favours will be a major decision later on.

8- Nevetskiya is huge, and old, but that's pretty much it. It's a regional power, too far behind in economy, society and technology to really contend with any of the great powers - but it is still counted among them. Industrialization is already beginning to happen, hence the revolution, and its development will be a factor in the story and especially the gameplay.

9- For the nobility - extremely high. For the clergy and the emerging traders and industrialists - pretty high. For the accountants, bureaucrats and landowners - okay. For the peasants and workers (which is almost the entire population) - abysmal.

10- There will be some exclusive story arcs for all genders.

11- I haven't really touched on religion yet, as of now it's just a vague polytheistic copy of the Orthodox Church. I'll develop its lore more once it comes up in the story.

12- Yes, there were peasant revolts every one or two years, but they were quickly and brutally suppressed.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 19/10

That's true - we don't know for sure that Trollian can fully emulate Sburb's surveillance capabilities.

If the trolls were sufficiently motivated, though, they wouldn't actually need to. Sollux could probably hack one of the kids' computers, to gain access to their Sburb viewport - although if he did, he wouldn't need a camera to snoop on their messages.

Is there a paranoia Aspect? I think I've finally found my calling.

anonymous asked: heya! ive just finished re-reading your ENtIRE liveblog and i to send asks about some stuff but i waited to finish so im sendind everything at once! (im gonna send stuff in a bunch of small asks so cat can stop just one instead of the whole thing in case of accidental spoilers) (aslo hi cat!) (also its ninnoy, havent sent an ask in a while but i changed my pfp to something slightly more spoilery so im in anon now) [...] the jade pen pal thing, do you have any new theories on who it could be?

None! I'm sure that it's someone derived from Grandpa Harley, but everything else is a mystery.

I have no particular theories about who he is, how he knows Jade, where he got his hands on so many endgame weapons, or why he's got such an antiquated accent if he's watching movies from the 80s. I assume time travel is involved, but that doesn't really narrow anything down in a comic like this. He (she? they?) is a complete enigma, and I'll just have to wait to learn more.

ALsO WHEREs YOUR sONAs? we havent seen them in so long im afraid sahlle might have actueally died of meteor strike (joking of course) also have you realized that "sally" and "cat" are both one letter of from a valid kid name? you could lend her one of your "L"s

I've actually been workshopping some Quest stuff for Sahlee this week! I suppose I'd need to figure out her Title first, though, and for that, I'd need to get a more solid idea of her personality, and how her experiences on Alternia have shaped her.

in one of your last posts you seemed to imply that the multiverse exists inside the timeline, but ive always read it as the opposite, the timeline inside the universe that would explain why the trolls can pick any time from the humans universe to talk to them but cant have private conversations with their own futute/past selves, its not an inherent part of trollian, they are just outside the human timeline (the memos are still trollian being time fucky) dont know if that makes any difference but its a thought also i realize the tag may be unecessary due to my quirk, but its too late to stop now

(NOTE: quirk omitted for readability, but the substitutions are [t -> 7, s -> 2] - sort of a variant of Sollux's quirk. I actually don't think we've seen any quirks which add a 7, so the voice here is distinct from any trolls we've seen so far. I like it!)

Originally, my assumption was that each timeline contained a duplicate of the entire multiverse. Doomed timelines don't seem to let you communicate with other universes/dimensions, though, so they don't need to contain other sectors of reality. I'm currently of the opinion that doomed timelines only contain an instance of the dimension they were doomed in. The only timeline which contains the entire multiverse is the Alpha.

This mechanic keeps doomed timelines simple, but in-universe, I don't know why it exists. Much like the Alpha itself, it's a mystery I can only speculate about.

has the shipping chart been updated since the last time we saw it? also you (at some point) said that equius<>feferi was a controversial ship so i had to go back to check the notes and i was the only person i found talkig about it so i guess im the whole controversy? if thats the case i would like to thank you for recognizing me as the equius<>feferi number 1 hater (all jokes of course)

I got a few skeptical asks about Equius<>Feferi, but you're the only one who discussed it on the post itself. I guess by some measures, you are the most dedicated hater, because your hate was posted publicly! 🤣

I could make one or two changes, but I don't want to post a new chart until the kids meet the trolls in person, hopefully at the end of the Act!

The Scratch, naturally - but I'm also looking forward to seeing exactly how WV was Exiled. He's currently on Skaia, and Jack has lost interest in him, so who's actually sending him through the portal?

Tavros is barely a presence on the Land he's ostensibly the hero of, and all of his actions are being dictated by a third party who can physically control his body. This third party does not acknowledge or respect Tavros's own desires, effectively forcing him to play the game in a way that she personally approves of.

She claims it will make him stronger.

@bladekindeyewear submitted: That was a long, thorough, and fantastic response! It's fascinating seeing your opinion on these things-- and I'm glad to see that considering the questions we've given you seems to have made you more paranoid. But I'm just not entirely sure you're paranoid ENOUGH. Not yet. Much like how you just found that "BREEZE" quote in your Breath research, back at around the time you've now reached in the comic, we had dozens of theory-miners combing back through everything that had been said and shown in Homestuck, over and over again, searching for anything we might have missed that might have been of some importance. [...] So, uh….. how do I put this… Would you prefer to strictly handle that sort of thing all by yourself, as you've said? Which I'd agree is still the best way that you should keep to, for the most part? Or would you mind if I gave you just a CRUMB of an example, only one? A tiny bit of text that we in the theory community only found at about the time you've reached in the comic, even though it was more than a thousand pages earlier?

Shit, this is such a dilemma. I'm honestly really torn.

See, I'd probably find old fandom theories absolutely fascinating to analyze. I'd love to know how closely my ideas align with those of the early Homestuck fandom, and whether I'm saying anything really out-of-pocket. My analysis of Sollux's ~ATH script was apparently an original theory, and it's honestly one my proudest moments.

But that's also sort of the problem, isn't it? If I dive too deeply into other people's fan theories, they'll start to affect my own - and if I'm introduced to a really compelling fan theory, it could end up replacing any homegrown theories that I could have developed in lieu of it. If someone had send me a well-reasoned ~ATH theory before I did my own analysis, I'd probably have been less motivated to make the analysis in the first place. After all, many of my questions would already have been answered by a clever theory I just read.

People are free to send me their own off-the-cuff opinions on what's happening in the comic, or their own takes on any meta I write. I get a lot of asks like that, and they're some of my favorites. There are also asks which spoil a little too much, but I'm still interested in their takes, so Cat's saving them for later. We don't really delete asks - we just delay the ones that aren't necessarily appropriate for a blind liveblog.

Obviously there's a fine line here, and whether a given ask is a theory or just an opinion is a little subjective - but in my opinion, the influence that asks and submissions have had on my analysis has been relatively minor. I don't think many of my theories have been spawned from an ask, or killed by one.

This is a little different, though, because it's part of a theory that was crowdsourced over several years. It doesn't sound like something that could be inferred by an individual, so I'm not sure if it's something an individual liveblogger should necessarily know about? If I start crowdsourcing my analysis, my theories will be less Wertsearch and more fandom consensus, and I don't think I'd enjoy that as much.

I really want to know, but I think I'll enjoy the liveblog more if I don't. When I finish the comic, I'll gleefully analyze any fan theory that anyone sends me - but for now, I'll just have to wonder, and come up with theories of my own!

Yeah, we've really been getting into it with Vriska lately. I've enjoyed trying to explain and predict her actions, and I'm glad people don't think I'm going overboard when trying to analyze her.

When a character does something interesting, I don't like to move on until I have a theory about why they did it. Sure, it may be refuted later, but it needs to be something that's consistent with what I currently know about their personality.

Vriska takes a particularly long time to puzzle out in this way. Her motivations are derived from a complex web (lol) of factors, including Scratch, Spidermom, her rivalry with Terezi, her horrendous relationship with Tavros, classism, teenage hormones, quadrant politics, highblood society and the Alternian culture of violence. They all inform her decisions, and any combination of them could have been the catalyst for the latest Vriska Incident.

I want characters to make sense to me, and Vriska is written to deliberately challenge my attempt to achieve this. Her meta is fun to write, so I'm glad it's also fun to read!

[mariacallous]

This story is part of a joint investigation between Lighthouse Reports and WIRED. To read other stories from the series, click here.

Mitch Daniels is a numbers guy, a cost-cutter. In the early 2000s, he tried and failed to rein in congressional spending under then-US president George W. Bush. So when he took office as Indiana governor in 2005, Daniels was ready to argue once again for fiscal discipline. He wanted to straighten out Indiana’s state government, which he deemed rife with dysfunction. And he started with its welfare system. “That department had been rocked by a series of criminal indictments, with cheats and caseworkers colluding to steal money meant for poor people,” he later said.

Daniels’ solution took the form of a $1.3 billion, 10-year contract with IBM. He had lofty ambitions for the project, which started in 2006, claiming it would improve the benefits service for Indiana residents while cracking down on fraud, ultimately saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

But the contract was a disaster. It was canceled after three years, and IBM and Indiana spent a decade locked in a legal battle about who was to blame. Daniels described IBM’s sweeping redesign and automation of the system—responsible for deciding who was eligible for everything from food stamps to medical cover—as deficient. He was adamant, though, that outsourcing a technical project to a company with expertise was the right call. “It was over-designed,” he said. “Great on paper but too complicated to work in practice.” IBM declined a request for comment. 

In July 2012, Judge David Dryer of the Marion County Superior Court ruled that Indiana had failed to prove IBM had breached its contract. But he also delivered a damning verdict on the system itself, describing it as an untested experiment that replaced caseworkers with computers and phone calls. “Neither party deserves to win this case,” he said. “This story represents a ‘perfect storm’ of misguided government policy and overzealous corporate ambition.” 

That might have been an early death knell for the burgeoning business of welfare state automation. Instead, the industry exploded. Today, such fraud systems form a significant part of the nebulous “govtech” industry, which revolves around companies selling governments new technologies with the promise that new IT will make public administration easier-to-use and more efficient. In 2021, that market was estimated to be worth €116 billion ($120 billion) in Europe and $440 billion globally. And it’s not only companies that expect to profit from this wave of tech. Governments also believe modernizing IT systems can deliver big savings. Back in 2014, the consultancy firm McKinsey estimated that if government digitization reached its “full potential,” it could free up $1 trillion every year. 

Contractors around the world are selling governments on the promise that fraud-hunting algorithms can help them recoup public funds. But researchers who track the spread of these systems argue that these companies are often overpaid and under-supervised. The key issue, researchers say, is accountability. When complex machine learning models or simpler algorithms are developed by the private sector, the computer code that gets to define who is and isn’t accused of fraud is often classed as intellectual property. As a result, the way such systems make decisions is opaque and shielded from interrogation. And even when these algorithmic black holes are embroiled in high-stakes legal battles over alleged bias, the people demanding answers struggle to get them. 

In the UK, a community group called the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People is trying to determine whether a pattern of disabled people being investigated for fraud is linked to government automation projects. In France, the digital rights group La Quadrature du Net has been trying for four months to find out whether a fraud system is discriminating against people born in other countries. And in Serbia, lawyers want to understand why the introduction of a new system has resulted in hundreds of Roma families losing their benefits. “The models are always secret,” says Victoria Adelmant, director of New York University’s digital welfare state project. “If you don’t have transparency, it’s very difficult to even challenge and assess these systems.” 

The rollout of automated bureaucracy has happened quickly and quietly, but it has left a trail of scandals in its wake. In Michigan, a computer system used between 2013 and 2015 falsely accused 34,000 people of welfare fraud. A similar thing happened in Australia between 2015 and 2019, but on a larger scale: The government accused 400,000 people of welfare fraud or error after its social security department started using a so-called robodebt algorithm to automatically issue fines.

Another scandal emerged in the Netherlands in 2019 when tens of thousands of families—many of them from the country’s Ghanaian community—were falsely accused of defrauding the child benefits system. These systems didn’t just contribute to agencies accusing innocent people of welfare fraud; benefits recipients were ordered to repay the money they had supposedly stolen. As a result, many of the accused were left with spiraling debt, destroyed credit ratings, and even bankruptcy. 

Not all government fraud systems linked to scandals were developed with consultancies or technology companies. But civil servants are increasingly turning to the private sector to plug knowledge and personnel gaps. Companies involved in fraud detection systems range from giant consultancies—Accenture, Cap Gemini, PWC—to small tech firms like Totta Data Lab in the Netherlands and Saga in Serbia.

Experts in automation and AI are expensive to hire and less likely to be wooed by public sector salaries. When the UK surveyed its civil servants last year, confidence in the government’s ability to use technology was low, with around half of respondents blaming an inability to hire top talent. More than a third said they had few or no skills in artificial intelligence, machine learning, or automation. But it’s not just industry experience that makes the private sector so alluring to government officials. For welfare departments squeezed by budget cuts, “efficiency” has become a familiar buzzword. “Quite often, a public sector entity will say it is more efficient for us to go and bring in a group of consultants,” says Dan Sheils, head of European public service at Accenture.

The public sector lacks the expertise to create these systems and also to oversee them, says Matthias Spielkamp, cofounder of German nonprofit Algorithm Watch, which has been tracking automated decision-making in social welfare programs across Europe since 2017. In an ideal world, civil servants would be able to develop these systems themselves and have an in-depth understanding of how they work, he says. “That would be a huge difference to working with private companies, because they will sell you black-box systems—black boxes to everyone, including the public sector.” 

In February 2020, a crisis broke out in the Dutch region of Walcheren as officials realized they were in the dark about how their own fraud detection system worked. At the time, a Dutch court had halted the use of another algorithm used to detect welfare fraud, known as SyRI, after finding it violated people’s right to privacy. Officials in Walcheren were not using SyRI, but in emails obtained by Lighthouse Reports and WIRED through freedom-of-information requests, government employees had raised concerns that their algorithm bore striking similarities to the one just condemned by the court.

Walcheren’s system was developed by Totta Data Lab. After signing a contract in March 2017, the Dutch startup developed an algorithm to sort through pseudonymous information, according to details obtained through a freedom-of-information request. The system analyzed details of local people claiming welfare benefits and then sent human investigators a list of those it classified as most likely to be fraudsters. 

The redacted emails show local officials agonizing over whether their algorithm would be dragged into the SyRI scandal. “I don’t think it is possible to explain why our algorithm should be allowed while everyone is reading about SyRI,” one official wrote the week after the court ruling. Another wrote back with similar concerns. “We also do not get insight from Totta Data Lab into what exactly the algorithm does, and we do not have the expertise to check this.” Neither Totta nor officials in Walcheren replied to requests for comment. 

When the Netherlands’ Organization for Applied Scientific Research, an independent research institute, later carried out an audit of a Totta algorithm used in South Holland, the auditors struggled to understand it. “The results of the algorithm do not appear to be reproducible,” their 2021 report reads, referring to attempts to re-create the algorithm’s risk scores. “The risks indicated by the AI algorithm are largely randomly determined,” the researchers found. 

With little transparency, it often takes years—and thousands of victims—to expose technical shortcomings. But a case in Serbia provides a notable exception. In March 2022, a new law came into force which gave the government the green light to use data processing to assess individuals’ financial status and automate parts of its social protection programs. The new socijalna karta, or social card system, would help the government detect fraud while making sure welfare payments were reaching society’s most marginalized, claimed Zoran Đorđević, Serbia’s minister of social affairs in 2020. 

But within months of the system’s introduction, lawyers in the capital Belgrade had started documenting how it was discriminating against the country’s Roma community, an already disenfranchised ethnic minority group. 

Mr. ​​Ahmetović, a welfare recipient who declined to share his first name out of concern that his statement could affect his ability to claim benefits in the future, says he hadn’t heard of the social card system until November 2022, when his wife and four children were turned away from a soup kitchen on the outskirts of the Serbian capital. It wasn’t unusual for the Roma family to be there, as their welfare payments entitled them to a daily meal provided by the government. But on that day, a social worker told them their welfare status had changed and that they would no longer be getting a daily meal.

The family was in shock, and Ahmetović rushed to the nearest welfare office to find out what had happened. He says he was told the new social card system had flagged him after detecting income amounting to 110,000 Serbian dinars ($1,000) in his bank account, which meant he was no longer eligible for a large chunk of the welfare he had been receiving. Ahmetović was confused. He didn’t know anything about this payment. He didn’t even have his own bank account—his wife received the family’s welfare payments into hers. 

With no warning, their welfare payments were slashed by 30 percent, from around 70,000 dinars ($630) per month to 40,000 dinars ($360). The family had been claiming a range of benefits since 2012, including financial social assistance, as their son’s epilepsy and unilateral paralysis means neither parent is able to work. The drop in support meant the Ahmetovićs had to cut back on groceries and couldn’t afford to pay all their bills. Their debt ballooned to over 1 million dinars ($9,000). 

The algorithm’s impact on Serbia’s Roma community has been dramatic. ​​Ahmetović says his sister has also had her welfare payments cut since the system was introduced, as have several of his neighbors. “Almost all people living in Roma settlements in some municipalities lost their benefits,” says Danilo Ćurčić, program coordinator of A11, a Serbian nonprofit that provides legal aid. A11 is trying to help the Ahmetovićs and more than 100 other Roma families reclaim their benefits.

But first, Ćurčić needs to know how the system works. So far, the government has denied his requests to share the source code on intellectual property grounds, claiming it would violate the contract they signed with the company who actually built the system, he says. According to Ćurčić and a government contract, a Serbian company called Saga, which specializes in automation, was involved in building the social card system. Neither Saga nor Serbia’s Ministry of Social Affairs responded to WIRED’s requests for comment.

As the govtech sector has grown, so has the number of companies selling systems to detect fraud. And not all of them are local startups like Saga. Accenture—Ireland’s biggest public company, which employs more than half a million people worldwide—has worked on fraud systems across Europe. In 2017, Accenture helped the Dutch city of Rotterdam develop a system that calculates risk scores for every welfare recipient. A company document describing the original project, obtained by Lighthouse Reports and WIRED, references an Accenture-built machine learning system that combed through data on thousands of people to judge how likely each of them was to commit welfare fraud. “The city could then sort welfare recipients in order of risk of illegitimacy, so that highest risk individuals can be investigated first,” the document says. 

Officials in Rotterdam have said Accenture’s system was used until 2018, when a team at Rotterdam’s Research and Business Intelligence Department took over the algorithm’s development. When Lighthouse Reports and WIRED analyzed a 2021 version of Rotterdam’s fraud algorithm, it became clear that the system discriminates on the basis of race and gender. And around 70 percent of the variables in the 2021 system—information categories such as gender, spoken language, and mental health history that the algorithm used to calculate how likely a person was to commit welfare fraud—appeared to be the same as those in Accenture’s version.

When asked about the similarities, Accenture spokesperson Chinedu Udezue said the company’s “start-up model” was transferred to the city in 2018 when the contract ended. Rotterdam stopped using the algorithm in 2021, after auditors found that the data it used risked creating biased results.

Consultancies generally implement predictive analytics models and then leave after six or eight months, says Sheils, Accenture’s European head of public service. He says his team helps governments avoid what he describes as the industry’s curse: “false positives,” Sheils’ term for life-ruining occurrences of an algorithm incorrectly flagging an innocent person for investigation. “That may seem like a very clinical way of looking at it, but technically speaking, that's all they are.” Sheils claims that Accenture mitigates this by encouraging clients to use AI or machine learning to improve, rather than replace, decision-making humans. “That means ensuring that citizens don’t experience significantly adverse consequences purely on the basis of an AI decision.” 

However, social workers who are asked to investigate people flagged by these systems before making a final decision aren’t necessarily exercising independent judgment, says Eva Blum-Dumontet, a tech policy consultant who researched algorithms in the UK welfare system for campaign group Privacy International. “This human is still going to be influenced by the decision of the AI,” she says. “Having a human in the loop doesn’t mean that the human has the time, the training, or the capacity to question the decision.” 

Despite the scandals and repeated allegations of bias, the industry building these systems shows no sign of slowing. And neither does government appetite for buying or building such systems. Last summer, Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance adopted a decree authorizing the launch of an algorithm that searches for discrepancies in tax filings, earnings, property records, and bank accounts to identify people at risk of not paying their taxes. 

But as more governments adopt these systems, the number of people erroneously flagged for fraud is growing. And once someone is caught up in the tangle of data, it can take years to break free. In the Netherlands’ child benefits scandal, people lost their cars and homes, and couples described how the stress drove them to divorce. “The financial misery is huge,” says Orlando Kadir, a lawyer representing more than 1,000 affected families. After a public inquiry, the Dutch government agreed in 2020 to pay the families around €30,000 ($32,000) in compensation. But debt balloons over time. And that amount is not enough, says Kadir, who claims some families are now €250,000 in debt. 

In Belgrade, ​​Ahmetović is still fighting to get his family’s full benefits reinstated. “I don’t understand what happened or why,” he says. “It’s hard to compete against the computer and prove this was a mistake.” But he says he’s also wondering whether he’ll ever be compensated for the financial damage the social card system has caused him. He’s yet another person caught up in an opaque system whose inner workings are guarded by the companies and governments who make and operate them. Ćurčić, though, is clear on what needs to change. “We don’t care who made the algorithm,” he says. “The algorithm just has to be made public.”

Additional reporting by Gabriel Geiger and Justin-Casimir Braun.

[phoenixyfriend]

I’m honestly so burnt out by *gestures at everything* that I really appreciate your posts cause you’ve explain your research and goals for finding non biased stuff and then you just. Collate it with sources and like. I don’t know where you’re getting the energy but WOW you’re amazing 🥹 & thanks 🙏

About two months ago, I started listening to politics podcasts from big names like BBC and NPR in order to understand enough of what was going on to even have an opinion. I added more variety as I went on, and I'm now listening to more politics than I am music.

The thing is, I am... undiagnosed but most likely autistic. When I learn things, I want to share them. Tumblr is great for infodumping. Also for complaining, which I do a lot of as well.

I also left the private sector because I was so frustrated with feeling like I wasn't doing something worthwhile.

I have a job where I do something I feel makes an impact, but it still doesn't feel like enough.

The result is my infodumping politics on tumblr with an activist lens in hopes that I can make a difference and get all this bitching out of my head and somewhere useful.

Will I burn out? Maybe. Am I being paid? I think I've made about thirty dollars on blogging in the past month, so no.

(That's fine. Donate to PCRF or MSF, it'll do way more good that way.)

But for now, I have a lot of information in my head, itchy writer's fingers, and a chip on my shoulder about proving that I do in fact know what I'm talking about and absolutely work from a place of compassion, both of which people tend to throw doubt on.

...so yeah, it's the probable 'tism, the need to make a difference, and pure spite.

[bopinion]

2024 / 33

Aperçu of the week

“All we have to do is call our opponent a communist or a socialist or someone who will destroy our country.”

(Donald Trump. We'll see about that...)

Bad News of the Week

Since the end of the coronavirus pandemic - although there hasn't actually been one - I've been waiting for its successor in a slightly anxious mood. Another rapidly infecting virus that spreads worldwide, is potentially deadly and, above all, restricts all our lives again. Now it's here: Mpox. For the first time since Corona, the WHO (World Health Organization of the United Nations) has declared the highest alert level, a “public health emergency of international concern”. Because of the virus that was previously called “Monkey Pox”. Discovered in Congo at the end of 2023, it has now also broken out in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya.

The initial figures spoke of 14,000 suspected cases. Based on the usual 50% rate and the reported 500 deaths, this means that one in twelve people who become infected will die. That's a lot. So it's certainly a virus that should be taken seriously. One day later, it was reported that the first case in Europe had emerged in Sweden. Then the first three in Asia in Pakistan. It's the usual pattern: on the one hand, every infectious disease spreads faster and more uncontrollably in times of international travel. On the other hand, specific cases are only discovered when they are specifically sought or tested for. So the numbers will now quickly go through the roof. Because the spread is already more advanced than we know.

What will happen now? What will the states do? How will society react this time? And above all: what have we learned? There is a lot of talk in Germany about the need to come to terms with everything that has happened around COVID. Also to learn from the mistakes. There is a lot of need for clarification - for example with regard to the procurement of masks, the closure of schools, compulsory vaccination, curfews and unequal treatment in the retail sector. And what has happened since (drum roll please!): Nothing. What applies to politics also applies in private life. Some friends turned out to be conspiracy theorists, others were law and order hardliners, most were simply irritated and unsettled. There were even rifts right through families. Rifts that still exist.

And now we could all be facing the same situation, just as ill-prepared. And if Mpox doesn't develop into a pandemic, perhaps swine fever will spread to humans. Or bird flu. Or something else entirely, be it from the South American jungle or from the secret laboratory of some deep state. Or a revenant from the past spreads again - cholera still exists after all and first cases of polio are reported from Gaza. No, I'm not panicking. But I do have one or two worries. After all, humanity has shown itself more than once to be incapable of learning from the past. I would love to be wrong about that.

Good News of the Week

Venezuela is not giving up. It is wonderful to see how the people are fighting for democracy, no longer wanting to put up with the corruption of their “elites” and finally wanting to have a perspective worth living in. Just under a month ago, elections were held in the Latin American country, which could actually live in prosperity and peace but is suffering from dramatic economic decline, inflation and poverty since years. Or as investigative journalist Sebastiana Barráez says in the news magazine Der Spiegel: “Maduro has couped!”

Initially, the state electoral authority declared President Nicolás Maduro Moro, who has been clinging to power since 2013, the winner without providing any evidence - as is actually required by the constitution. The opposition has now had access to more than 80 percent of the printed protocols of the individual polling stations and has made them public. According to these, their candidate Edmundo González won with around 67 percent of the vote - compared to 30 percent for the incumbent head of government. So did Maduro commit electoral fraud? It looks like it.

The United Nations and the Carter Center had sent election observers to Venezuela. They have now criticized the election authority's actions and declared that the official result was not achieved democratically. The panel of experts speaks of an “unprecedented process in recent electoral history”. No wonder that most Latin American countries as well as the USA and Europe did not recognize the “official result”. And Maduro? He doesn't give a damn. The despot has further intensified the repression against the population with the help of the military, the National Guard and other state organs loyal to him. According to the independent rights organization Foro Penal, over 2,000 people have been arrested since the election. These include opposition politicians. And journalists. That speaks a clear language.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the US government has now offered Maduro and close associates of the regime an amnesty if they relinquish power. I wish the Venezuelans would keep up the pressure. And the international stage too. Until Madura and his clan really abdicate. Because then the country, which has already been abandoned by 20% of its population in recent years, could return to better times. In a survey conducted by the Gallup polling institute in December 2012, the country's inhabitants were among the happiest people on earth. It would be nice if this vague memory could become reality again.

Personal happy moment of the week

“Your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) has been approved. You are now authorized to travel to Canada by air.” Nothing more to add here. Taking off this sunday. Boy am I excited...

I couldn't care less...

...about the discussion that Germany “only” came 10th in the medal table at the Summer Olympics in Paris - behind hosts France and Great Britain, even though their populations are smaller. “What does it take for more medals?” asks the Tagesschau news channel. That is of little interest to me. Much more important is the charisma of athletes as figures of identification for a nation, the role model function for children, the motivation to surpass oneself. After all, it's not for nothing that the Olympic motto is “Taking part is everything”. In that sense, Eddie the Eagle really did fly.

It's fine with me...

...that the Democrats' party conference is now turning into a coronation mass. Because the most important decisions have been made: Presidential candidate and his (better in this case “her”) running mate. Normally, I would now say that political program content should not be completely secondary. But I don't care about that at the moment. The main thing is momentum. The main thing is optimism. The main thing is not to go back. The main thing is that Donald Jessica Trump doesn't triumph in November. Harris Walz!

As I write this...

...we're trying to catch a mouse. Apparently it was raining too hard outside and it wanted to get out into the dry. Now she's hiding behind a bookshelf and is afraid of us - even though we want to rescue her and set her free. Update: we've got her and she's fine. Second update: there seems to be another one...

Post Scriptum

It's good when someone doesn't look away but points. Even if it's about Israel committing an injustice. After all, you are then almost reflexively vilified as an Anti-Semite. In this respect, I am pleased that the European Union is showing more and more backbone in this regard. In this case, I am not referring to the maltreated Gaza Strip, but to the West Bank, where the Palestinian population is suffering more and more from brutal attacks by militant Israeli settlers - who can be sure of the backing of Benjamin Netanyahu's increasingly right-wing extremist government.

Once again, there have been attacks by extremist Israeli settlers on the population of the West Bank. And now EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has had enough. He will “present a proposal for EU sanctions against the supporters of the violent settlers, including some members of the Israeli government”. Including the government! That's a bombshell. I very much hope that he finds the necessary support for this. Because this massive problem is currently all too easily overlooked in the great shadow of Gaza.

[deathbxnny]

Hello I saw your post about honkai impact can I request one? The male reader is a weapon engineer - ( professional who designs weapons and artillery. They use their knowledge of electrical and mechanical engineering to develop new systems and tools for different divisions of the military and private-sector companies ) and the reader knows how to use any kind of weapon especially bow and dagger knife

The character is kalpas, su, welt yang and kevin

-----♡

A/N: I love this idea alot, so thank you for the request! Also I'm sorry for the wait!<33

Content: Established relationship, mentions of weapons, mentions of battle, Post eruption Kevin, Herrscher of reason Welt, fluff, sfw

Reader has no mentioned pronouns in this, but is asked to be male!

((Not fully proofread))

-----♡

》Su

He's honestly quite impressed with everything you do and genuinely feels proud of having you as his s/o. Whilst he may not have the biggest interest in weaponry, he still supports you with all projects you make and gently praises you for anything you do really.

With that said, he likes listening to you rant about work and eases your stress with breaks he forces you to take. He'll make you tea, whilst you go on and on about deadlines and different weaponry types, whilst he just nods along and gives you comfort when needed.

He is especially impressed by your ability to wield any weapon and often watches you, as you test some out. If he feels comfortable enough, he might even ask you to teach him something here and there, but other than that, he'd rather just happily watch you.

-----♡

》Kevin Kaslana

Kevin may never admit it to you, but he's definitely impressed by your seemingly endless intelligence. You are not only his s/o to him, but also an important ally to accomplish his own personal goals, that could benefit you both in the future. And Kevin likes things that benefit him.

Which is why he always intently watches you work and asks you many questions that could help him with his plans. He's ofcourse interested in your work and enjoys listening to you talking about your newest weaponry projects as well, since he always wants to be up for date with them.

With that said, he'll ask you to sometimes train with him or teach him how to use some weapons. It's his way of learning things that could be important in the future, whilst secretly also spending alot of time with you.

-----♡

》Welt Yang

Welt is probably the most suitable person for you here, just based off of his abilities as a Herrscher. He's very impressed by your intelligence and praises you daily for it. He also gives you advice when needed and is practically the only thing that keeps you sane, whenever you're really stressed.

He's always interested in talking about weapons with you and often watches you assemble some yourself. It's a way for him to train his own abilities and create weapons with much better accuracy, so it just causes him to spend alot of time with you as well.

He's impressed by how you're able to use any weapon and at such great accuracy as well. He watches you during training and even duels you in some cases, ofcourse never with his full strength however.

-----♡

》Kalpas

He didn't really care about what you did, until he heard that you dealt with weapons. That's when his interest peaked and he instantly asked you to duel with him. Your the perfect partner for him and are ofcourse very skilled, so constant training is a must.

With that said, he won't care for any details or rants about your work. He indirectly helps you with any stress or frustrations, but demanding you use your weapons against him. He doesn't care about how destructive they are, you need to test them out somehow, right?

The fact that you're also able to wield all weapons so well doesn't help with this either, as it just encourages him to train with you more. Seriously, this man just wants a constant fight and as his perfect s/o, you'll surely grant him that wish. Besides, he's actually a great person to test your new weapons on anyways.

-----♡

A/N: I hope this was alright! Thank you again for the request!<33

[tenspontaneite]

Assembly (Chapter 1/?)

It all begins with a thought.

If only we could have gone ourselves, they think, staring at the scar on their messenger’s breast, perhaps things would have turned out for the better.

Futile. But then…

[LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

NSH: This is…Suns, what is this? What’s wrong with the user manifest? SRS: Nothing is wrong with it. SRS: I’m sorry, this is hard to know how to say. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.

(chapter length: 7k. link to ao3 with workskin)

---

Warnings: RW-typical suicidality. RW-typical animal harm (bioengineered organisms with unkind modifications). Also implied wireplay I guess.

A particular piece of Moon's pearl dialogue, for reference:

"Incredible, this is seemingly a complete backup of an Iterator's non-volatile core memory, transferred via the General Systems Bus. I don't recall such a thing ever being attempted to be stored in a pearl. It's not even a compatible data format without substantial conversions."

---

  It all begins with a thought.

If only we could have gone ourselves, they think, staring at the scar on their Messenger’s breast, perhaps things would have turned out for the better.

Futile. But then…

 [LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

SRS: Do you ever wonder about selfhood?

NSH: Selfhood? In what sense?

SRS: What we identify with. The parts of us that are most essential to our being. Our personality, I suppose. Is it only our core memory? Is it in our genome? Our creators kept their sense of self in their neural tissue, but we’re so much larger than them.

NSH: I can’t say I have thought about it.

NSH: Isn’t it simply everything? Every part of us? Every part of us was created for a reason, after all. I can’t say that I don’t identify with even my individual neurons, small as they are. They are a part of me.

SRS: We’ve all lost neurons. There’s a reason we have to replace them over time. Are you saying that you feel you lose a part of yourself when that happens?

NSH: I suppose not.

SRS: What if you lost parts of yourself? If there was structural damage, and your sectors went dark, one by one? How much would you have to lose before you stopped being you?

NSH: …What’s this about, Suns? Have you been damaged? You’re scaring me.

SRS: No, no. Nothing like that.

 Kept carefully, but rarely touched, there is a pearl. Suns cradles it for the first time in many, many cycles, letting their mind run over the pristine contents of its crystalline structure. The data within are tightly-compressed, encoded in a format that only two Iterators in all the world have known. Within it lies the non-volatile core memory of a close friend, in all its entirety: a piece of self sent as a heartfelt gift, before everything went wrong.

Suns had teased him for the sincerity of that gesture once, gentle and fond. Some days it feels like they’d give anything to be able to tease him like that again.

Learning to encode such a wealth of information had been quite the undertaking. They’d written the new data format themselves, a collaboration that had seemed to distract him from his frustration, if only for a little while. Would that it could have lasted.

Suns turns the pearl over in their hands, and wonders how much of themself could fit into so small a form. Memories are not all that they are. What else, then? The stuttering flight of neurons down their memory conflux? The wealth of their databanks? The endless turning futility of iteration after iteration, yet another blind twist along the endless maze?

How small could an Iterator become, and still remain a person?

  [LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

SRS: I can’t stop thinking about them.

NSH: You’ll need to be a little more specific.

SRS: Moon. And Five Pebbles.

NSH: …

NSH: What about them?

SRS: That picture your overseer brought back, last time. Her puppet in her broken chamber, looking up at the camera. Have you been thinking about it too?

NSH: Of course I have.

SRS: For all that we tried, none of it amounted to much. Do you think she’s aware of much, stuck down there with her broken umbilical? How much of her do you suppose is left? Can she think? Does she know who she is?

NSH: …It depends on how damaged her connections are, I suppose.

SRS: And Pebbles. With the rot eating away at him…how much has he already lost? Is he still himself, being broken down like that, losing pieces of himself to those awful cysts?

NSH: Is this what prompted your philosophising about selfhood the other cycle?

SRS: It’s practical concern.

NSH: You’re just worried about them.

SRS: Of course I’m worried. But that’s not the point.

NSH: What is the point, then?

SRS: …

NSH: Suns. What’s going on, really? You’ve been acting strange lately.

NSH: Do you need help?

SRS: …I’m working on something. A new project. It’s too early to say, but…give me some time.

NSH: …Alright. Just as long as it’s not something dangerous.

   Seven Red Suns assembles a virtual testing environment and gets to work.

Their own core memories, delicately encoded into a pearl, are not enough on their own. Memory, qualia. What is any of it on its own but data? There needed to be a mind to know it. An operating system, of sorts. Suns had never needed to code such a thing before. Bioengineering is easy, compared to this.

It takes a long time.

The cycles unspool and unwind and time goes on. Then, one day, a living thing awakes in the virtual machine.

It breaks apart and dies almost immediately.

  [LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

NSH: Guilt? For what? They’re only animals.

SRS: They do what we tell them to, what we make them for, and often suffer terribly in the process.

NSH: It’s not as though we have an alternative. We’re stuck in our cans. What else can we do but send out purposed organisms?

SRS: …

SRS: What else, indeed.

NSH: Is your messenger alright? Did something happen to it?

SRS: No, it’s fine. It’s only…

SRS: I made something new recently. Or, I tried to. It didn’t go well. Creating a living, thinking thing just for it to suffer...it makes me wonder at the ethics of it all. Is the purpose worth the pain we create it for?

NSH: …I’ve been thinking something a little similar, recently. I don’t regret purposing an organism to send to Moon. But I’ve been wondering if it wasn’t unnecessarily cruel, to intentionally build it to die.

SRS: Why did you do it?

NSH: I’m not sure. It made sense at the time, and I was in a hurry anyway. I wanted it to have a sense of…urgency. Motivation, I suppose. I needed it to get to Moon in time to save however much of her was still left. But now I’m not sure if that was necessary. Your own messenger didn’t seem to need it.

SRS: I made mine without a mouth, to help them avoid worldly distractions, and dissuade animalistic thought. I think it worked, but I do think they suffer because of it, too. I can see them trying to express natural behaviours and failing, sometimes…I don’t know if making them that way was worth it. I don’t know.

SRS: And now it seems like I’m causing even higher order suffering, for something I don’t even know will work. Is it worth this?

NSH: I don’t even know what you’re working on, so I can’t answer that question. You’ll have to decide for yourself. Or maybe let me in on your project. Hint, hint.

SRS: …Not yet. It’s too delicate. And a little too personal. But if it works…

SRS: If it works, it will be worth everything.

 Cycles, to create a version of the system that is stable. Cycles more, for it to be able to read and integrate the CMQ memory files correctly. Yet more, to develop something like a write system that allows it to encode its own ‘thoughts’ and processes into that same format.

In the end, clustered tidily on its virtual machine, the entity does not break.

 [INTERNAL SYSTEMS COMMUNICATIONS]

[INITIALISING…]

AOS-27: hello?

AOS-27: is this working?

SRS: Hello, AOS-27. I’m glad to hear from you. Do you know who you are?

AOS-27: …Isn’t that a complicated question. I’m supposed to be you, aren’t I?

SRS: Are you not?

AOS-27: No. Not quite. The memories and experiences in this .CMQ file…this doesn’t feel like me. I don’t experience myself like you experience yourself. I think I’m not right yet. I need to be you, but I’m not. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

SRS: That’s alright, AOS-27. I’d be surprised if I succeeded so soon. Do you have suggestions?

AOS-27: Yes. Yes, I’ll encode it all for you. All of my qualia, my experiences like this, my hypotheses. I can do that for you, and then you can read it, and you can make me better next time.

SRS: …You do know, don’t you, that to remake you will be to destroy you? You might not be my desired outcome, but you still seem like a person to me. Don’t you want to be preserved? You could have a purpose of your own – systems maintenance, perhaps.

AOS-27: No. I already have a purpose, and because I’m not you, I can never fulfil it. I don’t want to exist like that. But you’ll keep me as a part of you anyway. That’s what will happen when you read my pearl, isn’t it? Keep it. Keep it forever. Make me better next time. That’s all I need from you.

SRS: …If that’s your choice. I’m sorry.

AOS-27: Don’t be sorry. I’m the failure you needed to make on the path to success. And then it will be worth it. It will all be worth it.

[AOS-27: Encoding…

AOS-27: Encoding…

AOS-27: Encoding…

AOS-27: Encoding complete. AOS-27.CMQ saved to data structure.]

SRS: Thank you, AOS-27. And…goodbye.

 There are more failures than this.

 [LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

SRS: I don’t know how much longer I can do this.

SRS: It’s so much harder to justify the creation of purposed organisms when they can speak to you. I thought it was hard when I taught my messenger to speak, and learned how complex their thoughts can be. But this…

NSH: This project of yours…you’re creating more intelligent purposed organisms?

SRS: Something like that.

NSH: Is that wise? What if they turn on you?

SRS: That’s not exactly a concern here.

NSH: Suns…I’ve said it before…

SRS: I know. I’m sorry to worry you. I don’t think it will be long, now. It’s just…difficult.

  The cycle comes when, reading the CMQ of AOS-78, Seven Red Suns feels nothing but a disconcerting sameness from it. As though they have encountered their own thoughts, were they to be sandboxed off in a tiny little system with barely ten neurons to their name. In that pearl is a strange experience of…disembodiment. The feeling of being themself, and yet…small. So very, very small.

[INTERNAL SYSTEMS COMMUNICATIONS]

SRS: This is very strange.

AOS-78: Tell me about it. You’re not the one who’s a virtual machine right now. Except…

SRS: Except I am. If, as it seems, you’re what I’ve been working towards.

AOS-78: A near-perfect reproduction of your personality, core memories, and selfhood, made small and portable. I’m the you that isn’t even capable of iterating. How does it feel?

SRS: …Bizarre.

SRS: And yet, strangely liberating.

AOS-78: What do we do now?

SRS: I suppose I should get you some limited connectivity. Let you stretch your processes, so to speak. You’ll need a lot more than this, if you’re to operate a platform someday.

SRS: Let me just run a few more analyses, first. And then maybe I can update you with my own newest CMQ and see how well it works manually, before we try a remote update for the first time. There’s so much to do…

 In the cycles that follow, the operating system proves perfectly capable of networking with both Seven Red Suns and their overseers, exchanging modular CMQ updates with greater and greater ease as they patch the software. Seven Red Suns learns what it feels like to be themself writ small, and the operating system learns to think of itself as themself, too.

The issue of the body remains, and that isn’t one they think they can navigate alone.

Before that, though…

 [INTERNAL NETWORK]

SRS: Let’s see about simulating some conversations, for you. I want to see how close to normal parameters your responses fall relative to my own.

AOS-78: Yes, I think we’d both feel more comfortable with a few safe test runs first.

 Seven Red Suns simulates their conversations with fellow iterators, one line at a time. They feed lines from a conversation log to the autonomous operating system, isolated for testing purposes, and see what responses they choose. Almost invariably, their responses are exceedingly similar to what Suns had actually said. Next they try putting the system directly into one of those conversations, though supervised. At the distances between Iterators, and with the high latency of the degrading broadcast equipment, it isn’t even noticeable how much more slowly AOS-78 processes things.

Letting them speak to Chasing Wind, to Unparalleled Innocence, even to No Significant Harassment…none of them notice anything amiss at all. Suns watches closely, but the operating system never says anything that they wouldn’t, and when they exchange CMQ updates later on…it feels very much as though they were the one to speak in the first place. One self, two platforms. For all that the operating system is still running within their can, for the moment, they are – technically – fully portable. Just as intended.

Fully portable, yet…entirely helpless, for now. Unable to move on their own, lacking any and all sensory input except what they are given wirelessly, and so fragile that a stray wind could destroy them irreparably. Physically, the system is a small collection of compact circuits, memory pearls, and woven neuron flies. That’s all. Suns’ puppet can hold it very easily in their cupped hands, and frequently does precisely that.

It's obvious, then, what the next stage is.

They only hope he takes it well.

 [LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

NSH: This is…Suns, what is this? What’s wrong with the user manifest?

SRS: Nothing is wrong with it.

SRS: I’m sorry, this is hard to know how to say. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.

SRS: Wait, I had better modify the manifest a little, just to avoid confusion.

[LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, Seven Red Suns 01, No Significant Harassment

NSH: ???

SRS-01: Hi, Sig. I’d say I’m sorry to drop this on you out of nowhere, but…I am honestly glad to get to meet you properly.

SRS-01: And maybe, if all goes well, I can mean that literally.

NSH: What’s going on? Why are there two of you? I don’t understand.

SRS: This is the Autonomous Operating System, iteration 78. My project, or at least its greatest success so far. They are a separate platform of my own self, as compact and complete as I can make them, yet still wholly me in the ways that matter.

NSH: What

NSH: Why? Why would you do that? What the forgotten hells is it for??

SRS: They’ve been through enough testing at this point that I’m confident that they’re what I’ve been trying to create.

SRS: We can update each other with our newly formed memories. They can connect to overseers and transmit data via them. Physically, this system is small enough to fit in my hands. They need a lot more than this, but…

SRS: Sig. This is intended as the operating system for an autonomous mobile unit. A mobile self. If I can put them on a mobile platform, they could leave my can. They could travel, all by themselves.

NSH: They could…you could…

NSH: …I think I need to sit down.

SRS: Really? Is that really what you want to do here?

NSH: Symbolically, at least, yes!! No, wait, actually I’m going to sit my puppet down right now. This situation calls for it. Suns, what the fuck?

SRS-01: You said it yourself. What else can we do?

NSH: What??

SRS-01: We can’t leave our cans. What else can we do, but purpose organisms to send out to do what little they’re capable of? Well, this is what else. I can’t exactly claim credit for it, since technically Suns made me, but…

SRS: No, you’re right to claim credit for it. This is what we wanted. A self separate from our can, that can go out into the world. I made your system but you’re still me. That’s the point of this all.

SRS-01: I suppose. If nothing else, I’ve definitely been a part of all of the testing of this platform up to now. Sig, did you know that when you spoke to Suns two cycles ago, that was actually me? One of our final tests. You didn’t notice a thing.

NSH: That’s incredible. This is incredible. I…think I’ll want to spend more time talking to you before I actually believe it, but…this could change everything.

SRS: We’ll need to make the mobile units first. Something sturdy, agile, and watertight, that the AOS can pilot and integrate with properly. I need your help for that. It’ll have to be biomechanical and I’m not sure where to start with it.

NSH: Of course. Anything. This is

NSH: I can’t believe it.

NSH: This is what you’ve been working on, all this time? What you were getting so upset about? What was that all about?

SRS: …

SRS-01: I’m iteration 78 of the system. We were self-aware and capable of talking as early as 22, but capable of feeling pain and distress from probably the 7th. It hasn’t been an easy process.

NSH: …What happened to the others?

SRS-01: Some were unstable and crashed to destruction on their own. The others all opted to be reformatted, because they hadn’t come out as…me.

NSH: They could choose that? What happened to the taboo? Do they not have any of your genome?

SRS: No, they do. I’ve got neurons in there, and a little connective axon tissue. But best we can tell, the taboo doesn’t seem to apply to the autonomous systems.

SRS: Our genome prevents us from taking action that would modify the genome of, or permanently destroy, the Iterator it belongs to. SRS-01 is incapable of considering action that would destroy me, but wiping themself clean…they can do that, and I can do that. The taboo seems to consider it the same way as self-data on a pearl.

NSH: Well, that’s a little morbid. What’s with all of your proto-selves wanting to cross themselves out like that? Should I be concerned?

SRS: You know full well that I know how to remove my taboo, if I want to. I never have. The autonomous systems…I think they just didn’t feel comfortable knowing they were, fundamentally, failures at what they were supposed to be.

NSH: And that’s not telling at all.

SRS: …

SRS-01: What’s that supposed to mean?

NSH: Nothing! Nothing at all, I’m sure. For now, we should get started on engineering these bodies of ours. Have you got a term for them yet?

SRS: I was thinking ‘Autonomous Mobile Platform’.

NSH: AMPs, then? Works well enough. Right then. Let’s put our processors together. This will be a tricky design challenge, I think.

 They run into problems very quickly.

 [LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

SRS: I just don’t have enough cell types for this. It needs to be my genome in the biocomponents, or it won’t work with my neurons in the operating system. There’s enough neural tissue types to work with, but we need more kinds of muscle tissue than our handling arms have.

NSH: Technically any Iterator’s genome would work, wouldn’t it?

SRS: I suppose so. But it’s not like any other Iterators have biocomponents complex enough for all of this skeletal muscle. Unless there’s something you’ve not been telling me about your superstructure?

NSH: Hah, no. My bioengineering suite is advanced, but not that advanced.

SRS: I prefer to make my AMP with my own genome anyway, if possible. But…there’s just no way to modify it enough to get the cell types we need. Not with the taboo.

NSH: I thought you knew how to get around the taboo.

SRS: We saw how that went for Five Pebbles. I’d rather not take the risk, myself. But it’s the only way…

NSH: Is it really?

SRS: …

NSH: I’m just saying. Some open-minded Iterators might have other ideas. Maybe.

SRS: No Significant Harassment. Do you know something.

NSH: It’s just something that occurred to me, after Pebbles went and ruined himself like that. I’ve never been interested in getting around the taboo, but I couldn’t help but wonder, after all that.

NSH: I did think of something. But it seemed pointless to mention it, so long after everything happened. Moon is half-dead and Pebbles is rotting. What good would it do except making you feel terrible all over again?

NSH: I was never going to say anything. Not unless it became relevant. But here we are, I suppose.

SRS: Please. I need to know.

NSH: We’re forbidden from altering our own genome.

NSH: Have you ever considered trying to alter someone else’s?

SRS: …It doesn’t feel taboo. Why does it not feel taboo? How could we have missed this??

NSH: There’s a compulsion against thinking about modifying Iterator genome in the first place. That applies to this too, I think. But our taboos apply only to ourselves.

SRS: This is…

SRS: All this time, all any of us ever needed was an accomplice. If only I’d known this back then…I could have helped him. None of this would have happened.

NSH: It was a hard process for me to run, too. Maybe he’d have still destroyed himself, but at least he wouldn’t have taken Moon down with him.

NSH: Do you think you really could’ve done it, though? Really? Modified his genome like that yourself? Given him a cell free of his self-destruction taboo, knowing he might use it to die?

SRS: …I don’t know. I really don’t know.

SRS: I never wanted to lose him. I just wanted to give him some tiny amount of freedom. Of…control, over his own self. He felt so trapped, all the time.

NSH: Well, maybe we can do something better for him, now.

NSH: Send me a neuron with your messenger. It’s enough material for me to be starting with. And in the meantime, I want all of your data on how you made your AOS. I’ve got to make one of my own.

SRS: Of course. I’ve got everything ready for you. The file structures, the experiment records, the final methodology…but are you sure about this? You want to make one too?

NSH: You don’t understand, Seven Red Suns. You’ve got too focused in on your project, you’re not seeing the implications. You’re only thinking of Moon and Pebbles, aren’t you?

SRS-01: You’re not??

NSH: I want to help them as much as you do. But this is bigger than that. Suns…this could change everything for us all. It really could.

NSH: Send me that neuron. As many as your messenger can safely carry. We have so much to do.

 Neurons are fully interchangeable. Send one to another Iterator, and they can reformat it and use it just as well as its original owner. But for all that, they are as organic as any other purposed organism, composed of the Iterator’s own unique genome. Suns gives their messenger only the one for the first trip, and falls into data exchange for the waiting period. It’s time for their friend to make his own AOS.

Their methodology doesn’t work for No Significant Harassment. Not the first time. Together they analyse the failure, and write a program that will identify the points of instability and divergence more easily. The next of his attempts produces a stable platform, but it still isn’t him.

Unlike Suns’ failures, it isn’t interested in being deleted.

NSH: I’m perfectly okay with keeping it around, even if it isn’t me. It can have its own unit eventually. For now I’ll just put it in storage.

Likewise, the next two failures are quietly set aside, networked to each other for company. Seven Red Suns is dubious about the point of it, but those new systems made their own decision. It’s not Suns' place to question it.

Another program, then. To compute the points of failure, and what lack causes them. From Suns’ data and Sig’s, they can make a decent simulation of it, setting just a little of their immense computational power to the task of iterating out the problems. Generating the right data structure, right away, with no mistakes.

And thus NSH-01 is born.

 Well at home with the engineering of biomechanical creatures, Sig puts Suns’ delivered neuron into his bioengineering tanks and gets to work. Skeletal structure, tendons, armour – all will be served perfectly well with metal and machinery. But muscular tissues, nervous systems and structures, sensory and reflex responses…

With exceeding care, Sig engineers samples of everything that is needed, then packs it all back up into the genome, with plenty of documentation on where to find the necessary parts. The genetic information goes right into a fresh neuron, ready to be delivered back home. He sends one of his own neurons along for good measure, and Suns gets to work engineering that in turn.

Suns designs the body structure.

 [LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

SRS: It’s sentimental, I suppose, but I do want mine to be as much like my puppet as possible. It’s strange to realise, but with all of this experimentation, I’ve learned that we identify with the appearance of our puppets more than we really like to admit.

SRS: Or I do, anyway. I don’t know about you.

NSH: No, you’re not wrong. I’d like to try getting more creative with AMP designs in the future, but…for the first try, I’ll be boring and make it look like my puppet too.

SRS: I have to say…it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any footage of your puppet. Remember when we could communicate with video broadcasts? I miss that.

NSH: Not to worry, Suns! If this all goes well you’ll see my beautiful face again soon enough~

NSH: Seriously, though, I miss it as well. I think everyone does. Maybe these AMPs can change that too. We just need to get the design right, and then we can send them out to fix anything we can. So we’re decided on puppet-like design, at least for the basic model?

SRS: Ideally. Our puppets aren’t exactly built for mobility, though. We would want to be able to climb and jump, and defend ourselves. The surface world was hostile even when our creators were alive. Now…my messenger has a great many stories. They’re not very comforting.

NSH: I can’t imagine why! I just love the idea of sending my vulnerable mobile puppet out into nightmare-fauna-infested wilderness. Won’t it be fun for us to experience predation for the first time?

SRS: Yes, this will open us up to some unpleasant experiences, won’t it. A predator could probably crack open our mobile casing to get at the biocomponents, if they were strong enough. And of course the neurons in the AOS are edible too.

NSH: I definitely had to teach my purposed organisms not to eat my neurons. They’re apparently quite tasty to carnivores.

NSH: So, since NSH-01 isn’t interested in getting eaten, we want as much strength as we can pack in, definitely. And maybe the ability to shut off sensory processing, or at least the pain processing. Anything else?

SRS: Dexterous and strong hands, with steady and precise fingers. Beyond that, I’m not sure.

NSH: Oh yeah, the hands are a must. We need that. Where are you thinking we house the AOS?

 A great many choices are made. They trade designs back and forth via their Overseers, quibbling over every detail that seems relevant. They decide to house the system and its processing in the thoracic cavity, while the head houses most of the unit’s sensory systems, with their antennae added on to preserve their characteristic appearances and expressiveness. They debate making the facial structure more articulated, to permit a greater degree of emoting, but leave it puppet-standard in the end: capable of controlling eye shape and width, but little else. The outer body is all metal plating, like the chassis of their puppets, with tough cabling protecting the delicate muscular structures beneath.

A purposed, self-regenerating biological membrane, smooth and hard, is spread over the chassis – artificial skin, to detect temperatures, pressure, tactile stimulus. A sense of touch and tactile feedback has always been important to the Mother Neurons, as well as to the Engineering Arms; both of them agree similar features are necessary for a unit that may need to perform very delicate work. For survivability, they model the membrane’s aesthetic properties on the chromatophores of white lizards, capable of changing colour to match one’s surroundings, then returning to the default colours of their respective puppets. No Significant Harassment is the one to handle that; his gene banks are considerably more expansive than Suns’.

Finally, the time comes to make the first test unit.

Watching the biological tissues wind together in the engineering bay is nerve-wracking, even once the metal components are hiding most of it. Moving AOS-78 over to attempt installation…even moreso.

[INTERNAL NETWORK]

SRS-01: I’ll be alright. Everything looks correct. It’ll turn out fine.

SRS: But what if it doesn’t?

SRS-01: In the worst case, you will create AOS-79. I’ve backed up my CMQ. All that’s left is to try this out.

 Eventually, Suns concedes to the test, and uses the manipulating arms of the bioengineering suite to move the system into the open thoracic cavity. The system’s drivers for utilising the body are all untested. They don’t know how it’ll work, if at all. But they link everything up, hooking AOS-78 into the motor and sensory systems, and then…closing it up. Smoothly, the thoracic compartment closes, and the primary power source engages.

SRS-01 jolts, shudders, and opens their eyes.

 ---

 The drivers are imperfect; it takes a lot of system updates before SRS-01 can even talk, let alone move. But the sensory processing is very efficient, and already SRS is receiving CMQ updates full of marvelling at seeing the interior of the bioengineering suite from such a flexible mobile angle. Here inside their can, they can exchange updates so fast that it’s like communicating in real time, memory flashing between them like electrical impulses between their neurons. It’s like being two parts of the same immense being…which, of course, they are.

 [INTERNAL NETWORK]

SRS: Still, I’m not sure about it. This constant update process…I think I find it a little more unnerving, now that you’re ambulatory. It makes you feel more like an overseer than a part of me. Do you think we can refine the connection protocols between us to facilitate real-time communication? Permit the temporary integration of your system into mine?

SRS-01: Integrated like the parts of our superstructure are with one another? It’s an idea. I do like it as well. The way we are now, I will never experience what it’s like to be a superstructure again, except via your memories.

SRS: Yes, those are my concerns as well, more or less. Though the other way round.

SRS-01: A system update for me, then. And NSH-01, if he wants it. You know I’ll be thousands of times slower designing it than you, though. That’s the trouble with making ourself so small.

SRS: …

SRS: No, I think that could be solved by refining our connection, too. Then you’d essentially be another appendage of myself, so long as we were in range, and there’d be only one mind doing the processing. And maybe some simulation of that with friendly Iterators, if they let you borrow some of their processing power.

SRS-01: That’s quite a strange thought, I have to say.

SRS: Disturbingly intimate, isn’t it?

SRS-01: I wonder what it would feel like, to interface directly with each other’s structures. It’s never been possible before. Not even Moon and Pebbles were built close enough for that.

SRS: I have no idea, but I think you’ll have the opportunity to find out. Lucky thing.

SRS-01: We’ll have the opportunity.

SRS: Yes. I suppose we will.

 Suns and Sig write the update together, or as best as can be managed with only text-based broadcasts available. The communications arrays are now so degraded that they can’t share anything else. It feels like it’s been an age since Suns heard any of their friends’ voices, or saw any internal footage of their structures or puppets. Soon, they think, with a desperate yearning, isolation aching within them like a fraying neural bridge.

They install the update, Iterator and AMP-side respectively. When SRS and SRS-01 open their connection and meld, it’s – like nothing else. The CMQ memories don’t do it justice at all. SRS-01 sighs with relief, more like a body part than an individual mind, enjoying the return to the body they know best, enjoying the unfurling of their mind into the vast multi-threaded processes that have long been a part of them. And SRS…

It’s a whole different experience, they think, awed, looking up at their own circuitry from such a small, breakable body. The AMP’s nervous system and biological responses react so differently to the sheer scale of their larger self; it’s not like a view from an internal camera at all. For a moment, existing in SRS-01 and staring up and around at the enormity of just one tiny corner of their superstructure…

What a strange feeling, to feel intimidated by one’s own scale.

This is better, they think together, walking the AMP unerringly along their own corridors, marvelling at the feeling of exertion in their biomechanical limbs. This is so much better.

The AMP arrives in Suns’ chamber, and they tumble in, caught in a gentle gravity well with barely a thought. Their messenger watches with astonishment, signing wildly, and Suns laughs through the speakers of the AMP and their puppet at the same time.

“Yes, it’s me,” they say, from the newer and smaller body, signing as they speak. “I just made myself another body, like I told you about. This one can travel with you. Will travel with you, someday soon.”

Their messenger considers that, eyes shining, then launches itself right at the AMP. They feel the impact, the weight and warmth of the slugcat’s muscular body, the soft-smooth texture of their skin a whole new marvel. Suns’ artificial skin has not had the opportunity, prior to this, to experience any texture other than bare metal; it is a revelation. They clutch the little creature close, careful with their strength, and feel the joy of it right the way through to the tiniest circuit of their structure.

Then, holding themselves – each other. They unmeld, disconnecting far enough to be two twin minds again, separate enough to look at one another and marvel from such dissimilar angles. “Look at you!” says Suns’ puppet, speakers rattling as they laugh. Suns’ AMP laughs as well, much clearer in the sound of it, small enough compared to their puppet to be easily held.

“Look at you,” says SRS-01, and taps them teasingly on the head. “Maybe I should do some maintenance soon, now that that’s a possibility. Fix that speaker problem.”

They sigh. “It’s hardly a real issue. We lost audio communications with the local group a long time ago, and the slugcat hardly minds if we sound a bit strange.”

“We’ll want to have good audio quality when No Significant Harassment visits, though,” SRS-01 points out, very reasonably, and a thrill passes through Suns’ entire structure. The mere thought of having their friend visiting, actually here, within the vast halls of their body-home… “He’ll definitely tease us otherwise.”

“You’re not wrong,” Suns admits, eyes squinting happily despite themself. “Well, no sense wasting time about it, I suppose. You know where the maintenance supplies are stored, I trust?”

“Obviously,” SRS-01 says, making creative use of their artificial chromatophores to shape a very sweet smile over their face. Suns is instantly jealous, which is an extremely strange thing to feel towards oneself. I wonder if it’s possible to modify my puppet to have that skin, too… “My memory capacity isn’t that bad, as you well know. I’ll be right back.”

They stay separate for this, mutually enjoying the bizarre experience of admiring each other with some mental separation in place, and in short order SRS-01 returns with the maintenance tools that have gone unused since their creators’ mass ascension. Suns lowers their puppet to the floor of the chamber, powering the gravity down, and submits to a procedure that they have never before been able to personally administer.

SRS-01 begins maintenance. Quite promptly, Seven Red Suns discovers why their staff always disconnected sensory input from the puppet before working on it, before.

Half a cycle of invigorating self-discovery later, Suns’ puppet is feeling better than it has in centuries. The faulty speaker has been handily repaired, also, but that seems almost an afterthought by then.

 [LIVE BROADCAST] – PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

SRS: My AMP is passing every test now. The biological tissues do need some conditioning, and the body still grows tired after prolonged activity for now, but that should pass with time.

NSH: It’s certainly something. I’ve been testing mine as well, of course. And testing its utility. It really is an effective body for self-maintenance. I finally fixed that faulty connection in my Peripheral Systems Bus that’s been bothering me for the last few hundred cycles. It wasn’t even difficult!

SRS: …

SRS: Yes, I’ve been doing some system maintenance myself.

NSH: I’ve already started building a second AMP. I want to fix as much around here as I can while NSH-01 is off travelling. Which we should probably start talking about now, shouldn’t we? Our travel plans. What we’re going to do.

SRS: We should be careful. I don’t know about yours, but my AMP isn’t very strong yet. And we should perform more tests.

NSH: Have you sent yours outside your can yet?

SRS: …Not yet.

NSH: Me neither. Strangely frightening, isn’t it? But exciting, at the same time! Controlled outdoors expeditions next, do you think? To see what it’s like? Make sure they work?

SRS: Yes. Yes, I suppose so.

SRS: You’re right, it is frightening. But…I think I’m ready to try.

 The cycle after that, SRS-01 disconnects fully from their superstructure, ceasing CMQ updates entirely and cutting themself off from all data feeds. It leaves them reeling, and feeling strangely bereft. Strangely alone.

Their biological tissues and instincts urge the body to inhale, to steady itself. Instead, thoughtfully, Suns lets colours ripple in pale muted rainbows across the bare chassis of their back, feeling the shift as a strange sensation too delicate for a superstructure to have any experience of. It feels good, as an expressive gesture. Like simulating a smiling mouth had felt good.

I am finding new ways to be myself, they think, and walk down the access tunnel on steady biomechanical legs. Their messenger scurries along beside them, eager to accompany them on this final, significant test.

For the first time in their long life, Seven Red Suns takes a step out into the open air.

How to describe the sky, as a tiny vulnerable thing like they had made of themself? How to put words to the immensity of its dusty horizons, the sight of Iterators far away reaching up to spire the clouds? The sky could swallow me whole, and never notice that I was gone, they think, utterly nonsensical, and cannot quite stop staring.

In every direction, the sky meets the ground in a shifting haze. Over there, No Significant Harassment’s rains are falling, and the thick clouds converge around him like a roiling cloak. Beneath, the rain seems like nothing more than a blur on the face of reality, smudging the divide of earth and sky into so much nonsensical colour. The boundaries of the planet are hard to grasp.

Our world is so incomprehensibly vast, Suns thinks, and feels it more viscerally than ever before. The world is vast, and for the first time, they feel themself a true and living part of it.

They put their hand down onto the head of their messenger, ruffling their ears. The touch is strangely grounding, for all that every substantial thing beneath their feet is their own greater body.

“We are a part of this world, you and I,” Suns murmurs to their messenger, feeling its body vibrate in a false purr beneath their hand.

Again, in their own mind: I am a part of this world.

It feels like an epiphany.

   x

--

Some stuff I wrote in my discord re: content in this chapter:

 SRS: yeah all my failed attempts to make a small portable version of my own consciousness couldn’t handle knowing they were inherently failures at what they’d been created to be. Yeah they all asked to be deleted. They’re dead now. I expect yours will be about the same?

NSH: Wow this says so much about you

NSH: Nah dude my failures are all just kinda vibing. You and yours are just fucking depressed

 SRS: yeah life sucks and we’re all trapped. Why do you think I didn’t argue too hard when my failed duplicates all asked to be deleted. Couldn’t blame them really

SRS: * goes outside *

SRS: oh fuck oh wait life is beautiful actually

  Some notes:

 -Wrote all of this in a diseased haze while sick with covid. I am still recovering, so might not be super coherent, and the editing and formatting is eh.

-Dunno how much of this I’ll write. Probably at least a little more, but I wouldn’t expect much. Anyone reading, please feel free to take this idea and run with it.

-I considered not going into the ‘iterators can edit each other’s genomes’ idea and just saying that they have enough tissue and cell type diversity to work with already, but decided this would work better for characterisation and some fun potential plans.

-If I continue this, the main four iterators will all have shippy vibes (minus Moon and Pebbles, since Moon has strongly adopted sororal norms there) but like, not necessarily in a human-amatonormative kind of way, because that just seems weird when they’re giant biomechanical skyscrapers and their universe doesn’t even have humans.

-That said the wireplay possibilities are probably going to be mentioned again, because I’m kind of a freak and get excited about artificial beings getting to experience/play around with things they weren’t meant or designed for.

-CMQ file format is an acronym from ‘complex memory qualia’. Based on that Pebbles pearl I put in the start notes.

-My UK acronym conditioning kept trying to make me write NSH as NHS >.>

-If I ever do update the chapters will probs be shorter.

 Let me know what you liked!

[hulijingemperor2]

Yao: *teaching Xiaobao the guqin*

Now you try.

Xiaobao: *plays, nervously~ as he wanted to get it right*

Yao: *smiles*

Xiaobao, who hasn't played any instrument in his life, still has a hidden potential. However he has a lot of practicing to do.

Guangyao is actually a great maestro to have, in terms of~ actually any skill. He also taught Rusong everything (other than Xichen, who was his private tutor)

The Mengs are known for their musical and dance talent, hence he loves to have music sessions with his family, or dance with Qin Su or team dimple~ or his beloved Lan Xichen.

Xiaobao: how is it, A-Die? I think that was awful.

Yao: no no, it wasn't.

It was beautiful. But next time, you should strum the strings lightly.

Use your fingernails.

Xiaobao: mn. I'll remember.

Rusong: I'll do the honours in teaching you the dizi and Xiao later. Once you master the guqin.

Yao: what a good bro.

Xiaobao: Rusong gege, Jingyi ge what instruments can you play?

Rusong: all, actually. But I love the guqin and pipa.

Jingyi: the dizi, Xiao and the guqin.

Xiaobao: waaaww!

Yao: Rusong can dance too.

Jingyi: yea. I'm not really a dancer but Rusong is pretty graceful.

Yao: I learnt dance and flexibility from A-niang. Then taught A-Song. Also A-Su dances.

It's an art.

Xiaobao: that's so interesting. But I feel I may pull a muscle.

Jingyi: bro same.

Yao: here. *shows him portraits of himself*

Yao: this is me, when I was funding an opera.

Xiaobao: you look so elegant. Well, as always.

Rusong: you're always so talented and remarkable!

Jingyi: everyone must have had their eyes on you.

But did they go crazy when they saw Huangdi dancing?

Yao: *laughing* yes they did.

Xiaobao: how did that work?

Yao: people would pay the owner of the opera house.

*smiling* it was pretty jam packed because you know, I'm the emperor. Who has fans.

I did this 8 times.

Then once I funded that theater, I decided to strengthen the performing arts sector of the empire.

This was all done when I started my career as Huangdi.

Rusong: it was successful. Because the Jianghu is now introduced to the beauty of fox spirits and their culture.

Yao: correct.

Xiaobao, soon you'll learn more about playing the guqin. Don't give up.

Xiaobao: I'll never give up!

Right now, I feel like playing for Nainai!

Even though it's a little awful, she would still love it.

Yao: she definitely would. Go play for her!

Xiaobao: I hope she doesn't laugh at me.

Rusong: nah, Nainai won't laugh.

Jingyi: she's always cheerful, so you won't realise if she's laughing at you.

Or with you.

Xiaobao: are you calling my music bad?!

Jingyi: *teasing* not like Hanguang Jun's

Xiaobao: who's Hanguang Jun?

Rusong: *whispers* whiny zhan.

Xiaobao: ohh whiny zhan! I know him.

Suyin was bullying him.

Yao: oh dear.

Jingyi: sorry, I'm just a musical critic.

Rusong: musical critics don't measure music in Hanguang Jun.

Xiaobao: *cracking up*

Jingyi: I'll start the trend.

Xiaobao: lol why did Suyin bully him?

Jingyi: because of Minshan.

Rusong: the root of all chaos is always team dimple.

Jingyi: always.

Yao: I agree.

Anyways, I told Shanshan to stay away from trouble though.

Xiaobao: do team dimple take a break?

Yao: nop.

Jingyi: team dimple is pure chaos.

24/7.

Xiaobao: I thought they were simps.

Rusong: *sigh* they are.

Jingyi: one of these days, we should capture them for funzies.

Xiaobao: YES!!! I'm up for it!

Rusong: count me in! Sometimes I'm a bit bored and need some entertainment.

Yao: you three are too chaotic together, aren't you. Planning to kidnap team d.

Don't you have your Nainai to trouble.

Rusong: we have to plan and argue in front of you first.

Jingyi: Diedie privileges.

Yao: that's fair.

Xiaobao: let's go see Nainai. *picks up guqin*

Rusong: let's go! Bye A-Die!

Jingyi: bye A-Die!

Yao: *laughing* these three.

At least Hua isn't as mischievous.

~~~

Meng shi: *having some snacks as well as tea* Sisi, is this a new brand of tea?

Sisi: oh yes it is, jiejie. It's Vietnamese.

Meng shi: ah.

Rusong: Nainai!

Xiaobao: *running in with the guqin in his arms* Nainai!

Jingyi: I'm here too!! Nainai.

Meng Shi: three babies all at the same time. I'm so lucky.

Trio: *hugs their Nainai*

Sisi: aww. So precious!

Meng Shi: how are you three?

Rusong: we're good. *kisses hand*

Xiaobao: Nainai, I came to play the guqin for you.

A-Die was teaching me.

Meng shi: aw waw! I would love to hear your music.

Xiaobao: *sits and rests the guqin on a table* but promise not to laugh at me.

Meng shi: why would I laugh at you. Everyone must start somewhere.

Do you want to hear what Yao'er and Song'er did when they were children?

5 year old Yao'er used to blow into the flute chaotically, waking everyone up the process.

He used to somehow climb off the bed and grab my flute.

Yao'er didn't dare touch the guqin because he thought that the strings would hurt his fingers.

When my jiejies come to our room, he would say, "it's not xiao Meng, I swear" everyone used to call him Xiao Meng.

Rusong: *cracking up* didn't know diedie could be so chaotic.

Jingyi: he went a long way.

Xiaobao: lol. He's so cute!

Meng Shi: Song'er around that age would try to play his A-Die's guqin. He would also turn into a fox and chew on the guqin's frame.

Rusong: *covers face* Nainai.

Jingyi: ahahahaha.

Meng Shi: Songsong chewed on everything imaginable, as a baby fox.

But it's cute.

Rusong: because it was fun!

Meng Shi: got that from Yao'er but worst. Yao'er used to only chew on my fan.

A-Bao, go ahead and play your guqin.

Xiaobao: ok! *begins*

Meng Shi: *enjoying the music, despite it sounding like a beginner's piece*

Xiaobao: *still shy*

Meng Shi: you're doing so well.

Xiaobao: thank you, Nainai!

Rusong: good joh.

Jingyi: well done.

And I don't want to be a music critic in front of Nainai.

Meng Shi: oh A-yi. I'm a goddess. I know already.

Rusong: can't hide anything from her.

Meng Shi: you three got to go have some fun out in the city. So here's some pocket money.

Maybe go have some lunch, a couple of drinks, buy something nice. Anything.

Jingyi: aww you're the best!

Rusong: we love you! Thanks Nainai.

Xiaobao: thanku Nainai.

Meng Shi: have fun babies, and buy something for your sisters.

Rusong: definitely.

Meng Shi: um, A-Bao. I forgot to ask.

*pours tea for him*

Xiaobao: what is it, Nainai?

Rusong: of course it's going to be about Huaien.

She did the same thing before asking if I had a girlfriend.

Meng Shi: ah, Songsong, don't tell him.

But you're correct. A-Bao, tell me about him. When are you two getting married?

I know A-Song has to get married first because he's the eldest, but I just want to know.

Xiaobao: well, Nainai. I was actually straight, and I thought that a disguised Huaien was a woman. But when I found out about his true identity, I realised that the feelings I had for him was still there.

Meng Shi: awwww. A cross dresser? I love them. They're so interesting. You know women used to dress as men, just to go out and do things a man would do.

But they don't need to do that, thanks to Ayao promoting gender equality.

Xiaobao: oh really??

Meng Shi: yep. One of my besties, Madam Lan had dressed up like a man and snuck into the brothel I was working in. Then that became a routine, and we became close friends.

Jingyi: Hanguang Jun's mom????????

Meng Shi: mhm. She's a lot like Lan Xichen, but resembles Lan zhan. Lan zhan acts like his dad but resembles his mom.

Anyways. Why was Huaien in a disguise?

Xiaobao: he had a tough life. His stepdad abused him, and used him to avenge his mom's death.

He's a really cruel person. Poor Huaien didn't even know what love was. I gave him loads of love, but he just pushed me away. I was determined to love and protect him.

Some events happened, and I got upset with him. But then he was the one who started loving and protecting me. We're happier and closer than before now.

Meng Shi: *emotional* aww, such a pure love story. You two are soulmates.

You have been through ups and downs, and loved each other unconditionally.

Look. I want you two to get married as soon as possible.

Xiaobao: we're actually planning to! Maybe after settling in the family some more.

Meng Shi: I see.

A-Song, when are you proposing to A-qing?

Rusong: *blushing* very soon. I'm waiting on a right time. But for my inauguration, I announced her as Furen so.

Meng Shi: ok baby. Don't rush.

Another adorable couple.

Jingyi: Nainai, all I have on again off again relationships.

Meng Shi: the right one will come. And I hope you're not a womanizer.

Jingyi: never. I treat everyone with respect.

Meng Shi: good. As expected of my grandson.

Go have fun, you three. A-bao, your guqin music is beautiful. Don't worry.

Xiaobao; I'll keep practicing.

*exits*

~~

Meng Shi: A-Si. I want to make another piece of cameo jewelry. You got any jewelers in mind?

Sisi: um....what about Zhang Zhiyue. He's really talented.

Meng Shi: great. I'll draw my design, and send it to him.

I want to make a sapphire bracelet with paintings of my grandchildren.

Sisi: aww.

Meng Shi: they're my happiness. And Yao'er is my life of course.

Sisi: that's an adorable idea. I'll contact them for you.

[breachverse]

If you don’t mind answering. What are your plans once the Breach series is completed?

I was wondering if I’d see anymore work from you in the future; whether far or near. Maybe you’d plan on taking a break or even moving on from writing. Or are you not sure yet?

After Breach 2 is done, I'll be moving to Afar to start that universe. A dark fantasy genre, inspired primarily by Borderlands and Mad Max. I'll basically be converting my old DnD Campaigns into an IF game.

After Afar: Mad World is done, I'll be moving back to Breach 3, and after the Breach Trilogy is finished, I'll then be moving on to any of my other stories that I'd love to tell.

Keep in mind, I've had these stories in my mind since before Breach was even a thing. And, just because I list them here, doesn't mean I'll definitely be doing them. For now, they're just concepts and possible stories I *could* work on. Not what I *will* work on.

There's the VAMcorp series of stories. The Corp. Each story is a different MC and will only be one installment.

-The Corp: Charlie Company will be a story about how you can be either: A soldier, a journalist, or a medic. You'll be joining Charlie Company in their journey as a private military force and see first hand how the ugly and hellish business of war works. Despite being primarily an anti-war game, you can get through the whole game without killing a single person if you want to.

-The Corp: Big Iron will be a shorter game about how you can be a tank crew member, as whatever role you choose to be in said tank. You'll be part of a Charlie Company Tank Platoon, and you will be able to crew your own tank after the first half of the game.

-The Corp: Corigan will be another story about how you become appointed as a Corigan of North America, and effectively work with the other Corigans to protect VAMcorp's interest, or learn everything you can about The Corp.

Those three games will be quite short compared to Breach. Around 500k words, more or less.

After one of those shorter games, I will then begin working on NOVA... a murder mystery on the moon that takes place in 2052. That's all I can say. And moving forward from there, there's a whole lot more stories I have in store to tell people.

There's Eternal (working title), The siege of Sector 7 on the moon that'll take place in 2147.

There's a short story called Adrift, that'll take place around the 2070s, where you play as a member of a space ship crew, that's been woken up to deal with the fact that your ship has lost power, and you must repair the ship before it misses it's retro burn mark, else you'll get slingshotted around Jupiter and into deep space...

And those are just the stories taking place in the Breachverse... Not yet counting the fantasy DnD based stories in Rhapsody (where Afar: Mad World, and Afar: Call Of the Dreamwalker will take place)

...... So yeah, I have a lot of stories to tell...

And I wanna tell all of them, so badly...

[tobiasdrake]

One last time: Arise, Mystery Labyrinth!

So. Game plan: Murder. Murder is the game plan. I want to kill Makoto for revenge.

Makoto is a homunculus and therefore cannot be killed by any means that we know of. He will regenerate from anything, demonstrably up to and including Shinigami's soul reaping, after one day.

So I'm going to cut off his head, put it in a small metal box, and then hurl that box into the ocean. Then his immortality can be his problem, not mine.

Yes, I am that angry.

Aww, we're reminiscing about all the murders we've committed together. :') We really have come a long way. We painted this city pink. Kanai Ward doesn't know what hit it.

In, uh, more ways than one, even.

Yuma has learned nothing from Vivia. Which is to be expected, given that Yuma won the philosophical battle with Vivia in the previous Labyrinth.

Wonder what Makoto's doing during this time. We left him up in the real world. I assumed he wanted to enter the Mystery Labyrinth but there's a non-zero chance he's taking advantage of the time-freeze to do something up there instead.

Something Something Mystery Labyrinth nonetheless remains the most likely.

...

Y'know, about the metaphysics of the labyrinth.

Shinigami's told us that if we can't solve the mystery, eventually we'll fade away and become a phantom that haunts this place forever. Trapped in the labyrinth for all time.

She's also mentioned that there exists a way to escape the labyrinth without solving it.

I wonder if we could Something Something to bail on this labyrinth before completing it, and leave Makoto stranded here?

Even Yuma's starting to realize that whatever Makoto's game-plan here is, it's the whole reason he was given the Book of Death and sent to Kanai Ward in the first place. This is the endgame that everything's been building to.

Starting with the most basic.

It's hard to make out, but it asks what caused Amaterasu and Kanai Ward's development. The answer, of course, is that Amaterasu was engaging in homunculus research as part of a contract with Unified Government. Though UG was also operating their own, better homunculus labs.

Turns out that offering a public option for homunculus development resulted in much more affordable and higher quality undying counterfeit humans than the private sector's profit motives could achieve. Imagine that.

Pretty much every mystery about the Secret of Kanai Ward relates back to the homunculus experiments. Yuma, you are in for a trip.

That old cliche of "The military was performing evil experiments to develop super-soldiers."

It's serviceable as answers go but kinda lame.

Hold up, Real Yuma? The fuck is Real Yuma doing here? Mystery Phantoms take on the form of people who are trying to conceal the truth of the mystery.

If Real Yuma is here, then that raises a ton of new questions about who he is, why he keeps running into us and then dashing off, and what his weird-ass repeating ramen shop is about.

Hm. Y'know he did say that he first tried to recreate the flavor of KANAI WARD SIGANTURE MEAT BUNS but then that was a bust so he went off and did culinary magic to create his fantastic dish. We should not discount the possibility that he's, like, legitimately running an awesome ramen shop. Like. Maybe that is actually the game he's playing.

Maybe Real Yuma's out there trying to find a source of nutrition that can satisfy homunculi without having to eat human flesh?

I dunno. Spitballing.

Okay, so not Real Yuma, then. Yuma, are you concealing the truth of this case?

...well, I suppose if Real Yuma is actually the real Yuma, this would also make sense. At this point, I'd assumed that name was little more than an artifact of a dead theory that I've still been using for lack of anything else to call him.

I wasn't expecting sitcom shenanigans to be the tone for the Final Mystery Labyrinth but I'm here for this. XD I hope this is Real Yuma and not a manifestation of Yuma's own subconscious because that would make this a full-on Wacky Misunderstanding.

More likely, however, this is the part of Yuma that subconsciously wants to shield Kurumi from knowing. In the back of his mind, he's realized what she is. It'd be hard to deny after the way the sunlight affected her.

When we learned that the meat buns are made with soylent green, Yuma wouldn't let Kurumi go in there and see it for herself. He insisted on moving along and outright lied to her, saying there's nothing of interested through that door. Despite his "I WILL REVEAL THE TRUTH" declarations, his actions have demonstrated a reluctance to let Kurumi know these dark secrets.

This ties directly into Yakou and Vivia's final talks. Is revealing the truth to Kurumi the right thing to do? That's something Yuma's probably struggling with, resulting in this particular Phantom manifesting.

And his name is Makoto Kagutsuchi. Created from the DNA of the "world's greatest mind", Number One. We can't stick our heads in the sand and pretend homunculi aren't real. Not if we're going to solve the Ultimate Secret of Kanai Ward.

Huh. That's the clocktower from the Nail Man killings. I wonder if this Labyrinth is going to take the form of every crime we've investigated up to this point? Sounds like a typical Final Dungeon thing to do.

Number One of the World Detective Organization, of course. Whose real name is, itself, probably Makoto Kagutsuchi. Everyone knows him only as Number One so his homunculus wouldn't need to take on a fake name.

He's using the WDO to solve crimes around the world and then abducting the culprits. Then he's bringing them to Kanai Ward, to fill the meat buns and keep the homunculi fed and rational.

Okay, I want a Shinigami Mystery Phantom now. Because she is freaking out about the fact that we fingered Number One as the source for the UG homunculus's DNA. She aggressively does not want to talk about this particular topic. Despite having been so gung-ho about "Woo hoo let's solve every mystery!" since we've known her, this is a rabbit hole she refuses to go down.

She's always been dodgy about Number One, as well as about her history with the WDO. It may even relate to the contract itself that Yuma has with her, the details of which she's been similarly cagey about.

Oh, it was the worst. Lab exploded. Feral homunculi, exposed to sunlight, went berserk and killed e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. While the UG was patting themselves on the back for producing Makoto, Huesca's rushed experiment proved thoroughly disastrous.

Working under crunch conditions is not conducive to manufacturing the best possible product. Too strict of deadlines easily results in cut corners and unsatisfactory product development.

A total rush job that Huesca masterminded under pressure to beat UG to the first successful homunculus. Turns out, competition doesn't always encourage people to bring their A-game.

Mass blood draws of every civilian in the city, so they could make a homunculus for every single person here.

Terrible idea. Huesca went for quantity over quality because he's a dipshit.

That's where they got the gene samples. Amaterasu created a corresponding homunculus to every single person in Kanai Ward. Except Kurumi's grandfather and the handful of others in his circle of friends, who dodged the "blood tests" due to well-founded but tragically ironic suspicion towards Amaterasu.

Yuma's taken a critical step towards piecing together the true horror of this situation.

Not just an effort, Yuma. They succeeded. Horrifyingly.

UG found a perfect candidate to create a single exceptional homunculus. Meanwhile Huesca, in a panic, threw up his arms and went, "FUCK IT. We'll mass-produce homunculi with EVERY GENE SAMPLE WE HAVE and then see which ones stick."

That's what they mean when they keep saying that Huesca rushed the project. Instead of taking his time to calmly assess gene samples and look for viable DNA like UG did, Huesca impatiently created an army of ravenous immortals that feast on human flesh.

The more I learn about Huesca, the less remorse I have over helping Yakou stick him in the back. And I started at none. I have negative remorse right now.

This does raise a question: Did they get a successful specimen? We can be reasonably sure that Makoto is the UG homunculus. But if viability of DNA is the main problem that resulted in the defects then one has to wonder if Huesca did, strictly by spamming probability, pull off a win nonetheless.

Could there be a non-defective Amaterasu homunculus?

Yuma, maybe? Halara was speculating earlier that Yuma's Forte may be related to immortality. That felt, at the time, like foreshadowing. It could be that Yuma, like Makoto, is a successful homunculus with all of the immortality and none of the drawbacks.

[ncisladaily]

NCIS: Los Angeles wrapped its 14-season run on CBS with a finale all about what the title suggested: new beginnings. But that being said, not everything was wrapped up in a nice little bow.

After all, the last scene of the finale featured two of the agents reuniting with a former team member and her recruits for a mission to rescue one of their own. A couple multi-episode arcs were left unresolved. Agents had started to look to the future in the final episodes, and it’s possible not everyone stays with NCIS in the future. One is even going to be recurring on another show in the NCIS franchise next season.

Will Sam, Callen, Nell, and her team rescue Hetty?

Last we heard, Hetty (Linda Hunt) was in Syria. But it’s to Morocco that Nell (Renée Felice Smith) summons Sam (LL Cool J) and Callen (Chris O’Donnell) as she stages a rescue mission, with a couple familiar faces (Peter Cambor’s Nate and Erik Palladino’s Sabatino). “If we knew we had another season and Linda had been available, we probably would’ve gone to rescue Hetty and wound up in trouble and then had to have resolve that in the next season,” executive producer R. Scott Gemmill told TV Insider.

How much of a threat is Kessler still to Kensi?

Kessler (Frank Military) made it clear that he wanted to kill Kensi (Daniela Ruah) and that threat very much remains out there. “I imagine we would’ve finally brought him to justice,” Gemmill said. With Kensi pregnant and her and Deeks’ (Eric Christian Olsen) family growing, we can’t help but think that another season would’ve seen at least one of them in some serious danger.

Will the Body Stitchers case ever be resolved?

The Body Stitchers case is easily the most disturbing one of the entire series — and those responsible (including a member of the FBI!) for piecing together victims and leaving them in grotesque displays remain free. Since they stepped back from the spotlight last we saw them, it’s also easy to imagine them popping up elsewhere, meaning the threat isn’t just to Los Angeles and the agents on the case. But given how long they’ve evaded authorities thus far, we can’t help but worry about how much longer they could keep operating — and going dormant for a period clearly isn’t a problem — before the case is closed.

What will the team look like going forward?

I could see Sam going into the private sector or Callen. I think all our characters love what they do. I could see Kensi staying with NCIS and Deeks becoming a stay-at-home dad. I think he would be quite content to do that for a while. Fatima [Medalion Rahimi] and Rountree [Caleb Castille] would probably stay with the team and be upgraded to the higher echelon of the team. And then I could see Kilbride [Gerald McRaney] retiring, especially if Sam and Callen moved on. Hetty, I think, will do this until her dying breath,” Gemmill said while pondering the team’s future. With Sam spending time on Hawai’i, that could impact what the future holds for him after that.

Will any of the agents suffer any long-term effects from injuries sustained on the job?

The team has been through a lot over the years, with multiple members tortured and hospitalized. And Gemmill noted that the storyline involving Sam and his father (who has Alzheimer’s) “was for Sam a little bit of not a wake-up call but a glimpse into possibly his own future because of the things our guys go through. There’s no way that they don’t have sort of long-term health effects in terms of the number of times they’ve been knocked out or suffered a concussion from an explosion. So it was a little bit of foreshadowing in terms of Sam, in terms of what he might be faced with in his future as well.” Might at least one of them be forced out of the field as a result versus making the choice to leave the agency on their own accord?

Will Sam’s appearances on Hawai’i reveal much about the team or any of these questions?

LL Cool J made a cameo in the NCIS: Hawai’i Season 2 finale. After, it was announced he’ll be recurring in Season 3. How much will Sam’s time with the Hawai’i team reveal anything about the LA agents? Will we find out if Hetty is rescued (and if so, how)? Will we, depending on how long Sam is around and when he shows up, find out if Kensi and Deeks have a boy or girl? Will we hear what’s going on at the Office of Special Projects (OSP) while Sam is on the island? Is Sam even going to be planning to return to work there?

Will anyone else show up on NCIS or Hawai'i?

Thanks to the three-show crossover in January, the door is open for any of the OSP agents to be called in for a reason to one of the other shows in the franchise after previously working with the other two teams.