#mihailov | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sepicriting · 1 year ago

Text

yandere twins introduction

―wherever you go, whatever you do, they'll always trail behind.

directory: part two here. contents: yandere male x gender-neutral reader. yandere female x gender-neutral reader. only reference to reader/darling is 'you'. implied murders.

notes: finally finished their introduction! they've been sitting in the back of my mind for a long while now.

You might've been a little scared. Your recent transfer to another university left you feeling lost, especially since you didn't know anyone. At the very least, you were well-off enough to afford a dormitory on campus.

And your first week went by great! You were able to somehow befriend numerous friend groups and floated between each. It wasn't long before your name was passed around and people were vaguely familiar with you. By the end of the first month, everyone knew you. You were being greeted in the hallways, given free things for your acquaintanceship, invited to any and every event... People were so comfortable with you that even gossip presented itself freely.

Of the idle chatter, one topic caught your curiosity: A pair of twins had just begun attending a month into the semester. You were curious, though you didn't have faces to tie to the names people gave you. The Mihailovs twins.

The circumstances around them seemed somewhat intriguing as you heard offhand comments here and there. Something about their origins, their sense of style, and the hyperbolic rumors of a murder caused by one of the twins.

So you decided when you could try to at least figure them out. The opportunity to meet other classmates was also something you kept at the forefront of your mind with academics, though it wasn't very difficult to keep track of as long as you kept your priorities straight.

You first meet the older twin of the two, Vitalina, after participating in a debate in one of your classes. While you were trying your best to give your contributions, Vitalina was on the opposing end keeping her head cool and hung low. It was kind of weird, but that wasn't the only odd thing she did during class. She spent half of the lecture playing mostly cards, always alone. Sometimes, she was joined by other people who wanted to connect, but she seemed reluctant to spend time with anyone.

It wasn't until later that day in the library that you found her doing homework all by herself. She didn't seem to realize that you'd approached her at first, as it took her a minute to finally look at you. She stilled upon noting your presence. Surely, you didn't see her gazing at her homework like some of the words were written in an alien language and she couldn't read them, right?

Her eyes narrowed as you offered to help, slowly nodding before she looked back down. "...Yeah." Her tone was soft. She slid her paper towards you, her gaze remaining distant. With her consent in mind, you took a seat beside her.

You didn't realize it then, but you sealed your fate.

With your help, Vitalina was steadily able to keep up with her classes, and in the process, you were able to learn a lot more about her. You discovered that she had the tendency to be bored and detached from the things she became interested in, thus explaining a lot of her weird behaviors during lectures. However, the funny thing is that... She started to take an interest in you.

The changes were subtle at first, increasing inch by inch, enough for you to be unable to register them until someone else pointed it out while you were doing pair work for a class.

Over weeks, Vitalina had begun to act strangely — or, normally, which was why it was unusual. Her hair, previously always unruly, was combed and taken care of. She dressed differently, more feminine and neat, posh. It wasn't the same as before, but she seemed to be in a better state now compared to when you first met her. She talked more. She was smiling a lot, making small talk, and laughing along with you whenever you shared jokes with her during your only shared class and your time together in the library. She insisted that only you called her Lina, her nickname.

There was one thing, however, that seemed to remain consistent since the day you met her; She never showed interest in anyone other than you. Sure, it was obvious that you and others began seeing her as a popular girl after the changes, but she never seemed to care. She was completely indifferent to it, only keen on keeping you close for as much as she could help it.

You wouldn't have any idea of the disdain she felt towards your other friends. She seemed to start thinking that you wouldn't come back to her once you realized how much fun you would be having if you kept hanging out with them. She didn't like how your attention wasn't on her alone.

She couldn't have that— No, she really can't stand the idea of that!

It was why she suddenly started to chat people up. To you and everyone else, it was an overnight change. But to her, it was a necessary step in the long run that she made sure she took the social reputations of others in her control. That way, if anyone were to do anything unsavory to threaten her current relationship with you, she would be able to simply pull a string to ensure they'd never think of approaching you ever again.

She never stopped going to the library with you throughout all this, making up excuses as to why she still wanted to keep your quality time together. She even convinced you to go shopping together from time to time, as she just never bothered to hang with anyone outside of school and the events you both were invited to. It was just too hard for her to make conversation with new people.

And thankfully for Lina, you understood where she was coming from, so it was often you two together. It was peaceful that way, her neediness appeased knowing that you had time for her and you stuck to it.

Then her brother ruined it.

Try as Lina might to hide it from him, he wasn't blind to the hours she spent prettying herself up for you. At night, he could always see light shining from underneath her door. If she forgot to close it, sometimes he could make out her soft curses whenever she messed up during eyeliner practice.

She wouldn't do this for herself, no. Varis knew better than that. If it were the case she'd have done it ages ago, so there had to have been a reason for her dedication. It wasn't long for him to figure out the cause of that dedication was you. And from what he observed during his time sifting through the pictures Lina took with you after he hacked her phone, you didn't seem to be aware of it. It wasn't enough for him to watch you through a digital screen though, he felt as though he hadn't discovered all he needed to know about you before deciding if you were a good or bad influence on his twin.

He wanted to observe you from up close.

It was a bold move on his part to sit directly beside you while his sister was on the other, he was sure he could feel Lina glaring hatefully his way when she realized it. You, on the contrary, were struck by the physical similarities between the two.

Lina was pretty, yes, but Varis could be a model. It was strange to you that he somehow succeeded in being more alluring.

And as much as Lina wanted nothing more than to strangle someone of her blood, she didn't want you to think negatively of her so all she could do was sit tensely as Varis proceeded to make small talk after introductions came out of the way. Much to her chagrin, he never left after, opting to study in the library for a change with the excuse that the apartment was starting to feel stuffy. He didn't expect himself to like spending that study time with you though, considering he was never interested in socializing with anyone.

When the time came for you to bow out, the two had offered to walk with you to your dorm before they left for their apartment. The walk home was silent, one-sided tension could be felt. And the minute they entered their home, Lina's first instinct was to grab the nearest object and throw it to her brother.

After living with someone for so long, you'd grow to predict their actions, as Varis displayed when he caught her hand before she could let go of the flower vase. When her strength was unmatched, her verbal yells came next. How could he?! How did he know about you?! Was he trying to take you away too?! Does she have to destroy her brother?!

"Lina," Her shoulders tensed. Eyes glinting with near-murderous intent, glaring and mentally cursing him. "I'm not taking anyone." She didn't realize his other hand had gone to take something from behind him until the object taken had glinted in the dim light of their living space, a knife finding itself being pushed into her grasp. The implications were present, she could kill him right now.

It's so hard for her to outright kill someone, unlike him.

Sucking in her breath, Lina pushed Varis and pointed the edge his way. "Try anything funny and I won't forgive you." His eyes narrowed, holding up his arms in a lackluster manner, expression blank. She was trying so desperately to keep you away from him.

Why? What was it about you that had her so wrapped around your finger?

You and your effects on Lina were the only thing that occupied his mind when he retired to bed that evening.

The day after, he sought you out. He wanted to know you without Lina's presence, see what about you made her want to stick to you like glue. Why did she want you as her partner? What would happen if he involved himself further? He wanted to make sense of everything; he had a feeling this wasn't going to be the last time he found himself face-to-face with you.

The more time he spent around you, the more he began to be aware of this one growing feeling. A selfish desire to keep you all to himself, creeping up with no way to stop it. He couldn't explain it. He continued to pursue your time and attention, trying to pinpoint an explanation.

Somewhere along the way, the need for knowledge slipped away, and what replaced it was the rush of being with you. And fuck, now he knows. Now he knows why Lina had been acting strange, why she's changed, why she's so desperate to mold herself into someone you could desire. He understood, now all that was left was this feeling of yearning.

If Lina was doing her best to keep others away from you, he was making sure to erase those who he deemed a threat.

Slowly, people around you trickled less and less. Sudden decisions to relocate, disappear into another city with some friends in tow, and a few students turned up missing. It might've started to feel worrisome to you, but Lina was always there to chat you up and take the occurrences off of your mind.

It was because she knew who was behind all of it that she was able to keep calm. Had it been anyone else or an unknown party, she would've swept you along to a much safer place.

When Lina finally confronted her brother, ready to fight; Varis could only keep seated, relaxed. During the time she spent unable to face him, he had been contemplating. He didn't want to kill his sister if it ever came to that, his parents would know and people might catch on. While he was able to outrank her in strength, she would still be able to leave evidence on him. And if she succeeded in killing him instead, she would have difficulty disposing of the body privately.

You would inevitably find out, either way. You would come to hate them both if you did. That's why he an another idea in mind. "I know a way to get what we both want." His words struck his sister dumbfounded yet guarded, he took her inaction cue for him to continue and explain.

The next time you saw either of them, they were together. It was a surprise, given that both often spent time with you separately. When they noticed you, they'd glued themselves to your side in a matter of seconds. Lina had wrapped her arms around one of yours with a sweet smile, while Varis blankly towered comfortably over you with a hand around your shoulders.

Everything went by smoothly during the next few times you hung out with them, not a single ounce of hostility shared between either. You weren't incredibly dense enough to pick up on the fact that the twins had their disagreements, so you were simply glad they'd set aside whatever was driving a wedge between them.

In turn, they were both teaming up to spoil you little by little. Lina's always inviting you over to places to try new things together, while Varis always somehow keeps himself physically close and acts as a source of comfort. You'd receive gifts of things you needed or were running out of, and it essentially came to the point where the three of you were always together even on campus.

It was only a matter of time before they would decide it was time to whisk you away.

And they'd make sure you would have no reason to refuse.

315 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 4 months ago

Text

Today, Sunday Oct. 20, Moldovans are heading to the polls to pick their next president and to decide whether they want to introduce the objective of European integration in the country’s Constitution. The stakes are high for the country’s future.

The Kremlin’s writing checks

Russia’s fear of Moldova, a nation of 3 million people, making a free decision is so pronounced that it does not spare any resources to undermine and influence both voting campaigns. According to the estimates of Moldovan authorities, more than 100 million EUR are spent to interfere in the process only this year. The European Parliament condemned Russia’s escalating malicious activities in Moldova, recently passing a resolution with overwhelming majority.

The EU is not alone in calling out Russian malign influence campaigns in Moldova. The United States, too, have stated on Oct. 15 that Russia is working actively to undermine Moldova’s election and its European integration. According to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby “in the last several months, Moscow has dedicated millions of dollars to influencing Moldova’s presidential election. We assess that this money has gone toward financing its preferred parties and spreading disinformation on social media”.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary insists that Russia is not interfering in Moldova’s internal affairs and regrets that Russia’s supporters in Moldova are not allowed to have their parties and Russian outlets are not allowed to cover the electoral process.

A journalistic investigation revealed that the EU accession referendum is the main target for the pro-Kremlin forces in Moldova. Ziarul de Garda’s undercover reporter, infiltrated in a voters’ buying network, was told that if the referendum fails, the pro-European president would lose grounds.

Pro-Kremlin forces still manage to flood the information space with anti-EU narratives. Some of them target the EU itself, some focus on the referendum, and others question whether the Government is truly European. In an earlier article, we outlined how the Kremlin and its associates in Moldova were seeking to discredit the referendum.

Now, after months of their disinformation experiments, pro-Kremlin mouthpieces honed in on fewer topics in order to scare voters away from EU.

All hands on deck

A music video three Russian superstars, Filip Kirkorov, Nikolay Baskov and Stas Mihailov, singing in Romanian about Moldova was released just a week before elections and referendum. The video starts with images depicting war, LGBT marches and immigrants’ riots, suggesting that these are from the EU. It then continues with nice panoramic views of Moldovan landscapes and concludes that Moldova does not need “their” problems, therefore people should say “No” to EU and vote “No” in the referendum.

These narratives – Moldova would be dragged into war, EU means LGBT and Brussels wants to send illegal immigrants to candidate countries are among the most used as the referendum gets closer.

Migrants and wealthy Europeans are coming

For example, pro-Kremlin propagandists claimed that 100 men went out of a plane flying from Alger to Ukraine that landed on a small airport in North of Moldova. Fact-checkers proved that the plane landed for maintenance and brought no people to Moldova. Nevertheless, the initial video gained almost 30 000 reactions on TikTok.

An article published by The Sunday Times, about discussions in Brussels on so-called deportation camps for migrants, which mentioned Moldova, became another hot topic for disinformation channels. Malign actors used this to scare readers that the country would be flooded with illegal immigrants deported from the EU. Chisinau stated that it is not discussing anything like this and would not accept such an idea.

On the other hand, pro-Kremlin mouthpieces, including Russian MFA, used an interview by EU Ambassador to Moldova to create a wave of discontent related to selling of land to foreigners after EU accession. Moldovan President and Prime-Minister reacted by stating that this is subject to negotiations, as it was the case of all the countries which joined the EU in the recent years. Still, there were 700 publications on the topic with more than 1.5 million views across different platforms in just several days.

Pick your poison

Pro-Kremlin actors are trying to serve different audiences and accommodate the topics accordingly. For Russian speakers, an important part of the disinformation toolkit in Moldova focuses on exacerbating sensitivities about Transnistrian and Găgăuzian regions. One article claimed that the Sandu government might help Ukraine attack Transnistria region. A second asserted that Moldova might join the EU and Ukraine in attacking the region.

Other Kremlin-linked outlets have built on this fearmongering by noting Russia’s readiness to serve as a diplomatic facilitator (opens in a new tab) between the Moldovan government and Transnistrian de facto authorities.

Similarly, Găgăuzia has also been weaponized by pro-Kremlin disinformation actors seeking to further polarize Moldovan society, including by claims that Moldovan government is suppressing free speech by fining a pro-Kremlin, Găgăuzian television company for spreading disinformation.

Moreover, stories related to Moldova allegedly preparing to host F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine kept appearing for months. In September, Russian MFA repeated this “concern,” although Chisinau stated denied such possibility.

Romanian language speakers are relatively more exposed to stoking fears about EU liberal policies, detrimental Western influence and Western values which are being “imposed” on Moldovans. An example of this was a false claim about an alleged decision to ban the Russian Orthodox Church in Moldova, which was published and promoted by Russian state-affiliated outlets and pro-Kremlin actors on Telegram.

Maria Zakharova , the spokesperson of the Russian MFA scared Moldovans that someone “will come to change their boys to girls and girls to boys” in the first week of the electoral campaign. Zakharova was standing next to prominent representatives of Ilan Shor. The sanctioned pro-Russian oligarch and politician Shor himself criticized the organization of the “Coming Out day” by a local NGO in Chisinau, stating that “Moldovans were not born for LGBT prides” and called supporters to comment on the topic.

Priests, Money and Deception

Spreading disinformation represents only a small part of the wide range of hybrid arsenal targeting the EU candidate country. Some outlets wrote that in the past month, up to 500 priests from Moldova went on pilgrimages to Russia. In the same time, at least 20 priests are under investigation (opens in a new tab) for receiving money from Ilan Shor, through a Russian bank, sanctioned by the US and EU.

Independent media have reported about priests campaigning against the EU in the churches. One of the invoked reasons is that “because of the EU values, there are already toilettes for both boys and girls in some Chisinau schools.” Another priest explained that «democracy» comes from «demonic» and, that while Europe is lacking values, the Government imports only the bad things from the EU.

Moldovan police and Anticorruption Prosecutor’s office stated on 3 October that they discovered a large scheme of corrupting voters. It included around 130,000 people and 15 million dollars transferred from Russia to Moldova. Several thousand coordinators received up to 2500 dollars a month to set up a network of people who would receive money to vote against EU integration in the referendum and for a presidential candidate. The name of the candidate would have been communicated via Telegram on the eve of the elections. Ziarul de Garda’s investigation largely confirmed the scheme.

Moldovan public servants have received false letters bearing the signs of the European Commission and of the EU Partnership Mission to Moldova. They were “informed” of the need to learn English and display LGBT flags on their institutions. Employees of the Ministry of Agriculture learned that farmers were “refused” requested help and the forged letter from EUPM called Moldovans to fight in Ukraine.

These letters were not distributed by the pro-Kremlin media and only reached the state officials. The public learned about them mainly from the Government’s statements that pointed out that the letters are false.

Responding to FIMI

Meta announced in May, August and October that it deleted at least 50 accounts, 108 pages, one group and 20 Instagram accounts involved in “coordinated inauthentic behaviour.” These were part of a network targeting Russian-speaking audiences in Moldova. They were promoting Russian-language news brands posing as independent entities with presence on several platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Odnoklassniki (Russian social media platform), and TikTok. The last announcement was made on 11 October, just 9 days before elections and referendum in Moldova.

On 10 October, Telegram closed 15 channels and 95 chat-bots, including those of Ilan Shor and people from his close circle in an unprecedented move. When accessed from Moldova, the channels read that they violated local legislation. TikTok and Google stated publicly that they have dedicated teams to fight disinformation during Moldovan elections.

On 14 October, European Union adopted restrictive measures against five individuals and one entity responsible for actions destabilizing the Republic of Moldova. These are actors linked to Ilan Shor and “Evrazia,” a Russian based NGO proposing to promote the Eurasian Economic Union in Moldova.

Fog of information war

Disinformation bends the perception of reality as was illustrated by the recent Watchdog.md survey which asked about upcoming referendum votes. A clear majority of 63% declared to vote Yes against 32% who opposed the mentioning EU integration in the constitution. Yet only 53% of people believed that the YES vote has a majority support in population even though every single poll taken this year indicated a clear majority (up to 2:1) for the pro-EU decision. Only 75% of those who support EU accession believe that the majority of Moldovans support it. In contrast, 65% of those who are against the EU believe that they are the majority.

Indeed, the week before elections and EU accession referendum there is constant pressure and a kind of numbing disinformation noise in ones ears. One scandal follows another, tens of social media pages share scaring ”facts” about the EU and hundreds of trolls comment to any post with electoral promises of some politicians.

Civil society, media, government and social media platforms however became much more efficient in discovering and fighting hybrid threats, including FIMI. Law enforcement institutions are making progress in tracing illegal money transfers. Fact-checkers react to disinformation by publishing accurate data and social networks are slowly paying attention to inauthentic online behavior. The reaction, and most importantly, preventing mechanisms are still to be adjusted, but clearly the right way of fighting disinformation is by uniting the efforts.

Reprinted from EUvsDisinfo. See the original here.

EUvsDisinfo is the flagship project of the European External Action Service’s East StratCom Task Force. Its core objective is to increase public awareness and understanding of the Kremlin’s disinformation operations, and to help citizens in Europe and beyond develop resistance to digital information and media manipulation.

7 notes · View notes