#Typically not big fires but whew...there was a big one once | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

xpeachesncream · 3 years

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light the fire | one shot

> part of the acquainted series <

summary: namjoon isn't the type to go looking for love. after all, he doesn't have the most exciting track record with women. but when he meets ryujin, something within him comes alive and he's eager to know all about her.

pairing: namjoon x ryujin

genre: slight fluff, smut

words: 4.2k

warnings: [please read after you finish chapter 12 of acquainted] cussing, mature language, implied sexual content, club/bar scene, alcohol consumption, tipsy-slightly rough-unprotected sex, big dick kink, straddling, breast play, oral (m. & f. receiving), after care cuddles

note: my lovely anon - this goes out to you. i hope you enjoy! 💗

Namjoon wasn't necessarily lucky with the ladies. Hence, his stupid little jokes about how Seokjin couldn't even send a lady friend his way even though his ass was engaged. Selfish as hell! But also, he can't really say that he's bothered by it. His story isn't too exciting; he's had the girlfriend that cheated, he's had the girlfriend that wasn't entirely into the relationship as much as he was, he's been rejected by someone who really fell deep for. Same old cliché shit. But just because of all that, doesn't mean he looks for love. He doesn't really care for it much. He figures it'll happen naturally. He's tired of chasing, you know? He's tired of putting himself out there. So for once, he'll just sit back and let it fall right onto his lap.

Literally and figuratively.

The club wasn't really his scene either [I guess when you get older this is the shit you say all the time], but he loved Jungkookie as his little brother that he would do anything for that guy. Plus, it had been awhile since the guys had gotten together like this. He was gonna go and look good, but he wasn't expecting much out of it. He figured he'd grab drinks and get drunk with the boys, sit around or press himself awkwardly against the wall like a true wallflower. Maybe grab a dance with one chick and then call it a night.

He didn't really have plans, honestly.

But that's before he sees Ryujin being all cute, chopping it up with the group and buying shots in her itty bitty dress. It fuels something inside of him, almost pushing him to feel more alive than he has felt in awhile and do something about it. He's really trying to check her out, see what she's about, but Seokjin is in his face with this stupid ass look because he can't stand Jungkook being all up on his girl.

"Whew, a shot for you!" Ryujin yells and beams a bright big smile as she hands him the shot glass. "Ryujin, by the way."

"Namjoon." He takes the shot glass and lightly tips it up in the air. "Thanks for the shot."

"No problem." She smirks at him, quickly looking at him up and down.

"It's his 23rd birthday today!"Namjoon hears Hoseok yell, grabbing Jungkook's shoulders and playfully massaging it.

"Yeah, it's his birthday Y/N! Give the boy some love!" Ryujin turned to wink from where she was at. Namjoon edges himself a little closer to the bar to be near her, watching as she begins to lightly flirt around with Yoongi. Ryujin feels his arm lightly brush up against hers, causing her to turn her attention back on him.

"Isn't it weird to run into your professor and his friends here?" Namjoon breaks the ice, causing her to chuckle.

"Not at all. We're not in a classroom or anything sooo technically, he's not my professor right now."

"Touché. I'll give you that." Namjoon smiles before taking his shot to the neck while Ryujin watched. He caught her eyes eyeing his neck, back up to his lips, then his eyes. The confidence in him was slowly growing, and the alcohol was for sure going to make him a little bolder tonight with her presence. "Wanna save me a dance later?" He goes for it.

"Yeah, of course." She does her little smirk before she skidaddles off. Namjoon watches her pretty closely all night, even if it doesn't look like it. But he is. He catches her looking over and he can tell that she's raving to you about him. But he also catches her being a flirt with one of your friends. Taehyung, is what he assumes? He grabs his name by the way she almost whines it repeatedly. Then he catches her throwing it back onto Yoongi and how Yoongi is also really enjoying it. It'll be his turn soon though, and now he went from having zero plans, to plans that involved getting her number and making something out of this, whatever that was.

"You alright?" Joon checks on Jin since Jungkook is nowhere to be found near the group. He could at least do that before he's off, leaving him to sit here alone at the table.

"Yeah, I'm good." Is all Jin says. Namjoon doesn't pry any more and instead, makes his way over to Ryujin, who is standing around with Jimin.

"Ready for that dance?" She smiles at him, gladly taking his hand to the dance floor and immediately starts to grind up on him. Namjoon holds her close, his hands pressed against her hips as he follows her rhythm. He's pretty tipsy, but he can tell Ryujin is drunk - maybe even a little past that stage. She's getting touchy, her hands are roaming against his body and his neck, her touch sending goosebumps down his body. He lets it happen though, his body slightly feeling a little too happy with her touch. They've danced to almost two or so songs now, Namjoon can't remember. He's too focused on her.

"Wow, have you always been such a good dancer?" She turns to face him, his hands still wrapped around her waist.

"I wouldn't say I'm good." He chuckles.

"I would think again." She cocks her head to the side and cutely looks at him. He smiles back, his dimples piercing his cheeks. Out of all guys tonight, Ryujin finds him the most enticing. Usually, she's not one to feel intimidated and tends to take the ropes when it comes to men. She doesn't like to be handled and she'll gladly let you know. But Namjoon?

She was intimidated. His piercing eyes, his slicked back hair, his build. He could gladly take control entirely and she'd let him.

Not that he purposely came off intimidating. But whatever he was doing, she liked it.

"So." He breaks the silence. "May I grab your number?" He asks politely, afraid to come off too forceful, or like a cocky asshole. That was not the look he was trying to go for.

"Of course." She grabs his phone and puts in her number before making her way back to the group.

"Wait, you're not gonna give me one last dance?" He playfully jokes, gently grabbing her wrist.

"Can't let you have me all to yourself, right?" She smirks before making her way towards Jimin and Taehyung. He watches as her hips sway back and forth, her short hair bouncing with every move she makes. Taehyung playfully pulls her close and brushes the hair out of her face, only for her to smack his hand away.

Damn.

That fire in her, Namjoon liked. Normally, this isn't how he'll pick up girls he's truly interested in, but she was different. Different from what he's used to handling. Different from his past. Different from the girls he typically goes for.

And he liked that shit.

[Namjoon] 8:39pm: When are we gonna hang out? I wanna kick it with you. :)

[Ryujin] 8:40pm: You're gonna make time for me? Lol

[Namjoon] 8:45pm: Who said I was busy? If anything, you're the busy bee here.

[Ryujin] 8:47pm: Lol. I just get caught up with my friends, to be honest.

[Namjoon] 8:48pm: I get that.

[Ryujin] 8:50pm: Come up with something, then let me know time and place, Namjoon.

[Namjoon] 8:55pm: I like a challenge!

[Ryujin] 9:03pm: Good, then I'll be waiting. :)

Except, no he fucking doesn't like challenges cause now he doesn't know what else to do? He's not the most creative with dates, and he's always stuck by the cliché let's grab dinner or let's get coffee type of shit. Not cause he didn't wanna put in effort - he simply just didn't know how to be creative enough.

That was last night.

It's about to be lunch time on a Saturday morning, Namjoon mainly worried about getting some coffee before he sits and just brainstorms all day. It sounds dumb, but he really wanted to hang out with her. He was gonna try, but there were no promises he'd stray completely away from cliché hangout spots.

Namjoon makes his way to his favorite coffee shop down the street, greeting the usual baristas with his 100 watt smile and deep dimples. He comes here so often he doesn't need to say anything. The baristas already know him well enough to have his order ready on the register just so he can pay and pick it up on the other end.

"Nice day out today, Namjoon! Any plans today?" One of the cute baristas asks as she places the lid on his drink.

"Sure is. Uh, I don't know yet, we'll see. Definitely don't want this day to go to waste." He tips his cup as another thank you before heading towards the entrance. Hopefully he'd get it together and find a way to meet up with Ryujin. He really wanted it to be different but at this point, he didn't think—

"Wohhh, sorry!" A female says as she lightly brushes his shoulder.

"Ryujin?" Namjoon furrows his brows as he lightly turns to face her.

"Oh my god, hey! In that case, sorry not sorry." She laughed, making him chuckle at the corny shit that just came out of her mouth.

"Do you come here often, or something?" Which is a dumb question cause he would have definitely known if she did.

"No, I was just in the area, thrifting." She shrugged. "What happened to the challenge, sir? I've been waiting for you." She smirked.

"Ah, yeah." He scratches his head nervously. "To be honest, I'm pretty bad at being creative and planning something unique. I really wanna do something different for you and I was planning to sit my ass down all day to figure it out."

"That's cute, seriously."

"But, since we're here and I really do apologize for how cliché this is, do you wanna sit and have coffee? I can grab you some." He nods towards the entrance.

"I'd love that." He nods as he smiles toothlessly and places his cup down on an outside table.

"Anything specific?"

"Anything sweet, please. I can't do bitter shit." He laughs and nods.

"Got you. Sit tight." He runs back in to grab her their specialty red velvet latte and a fruit danish to snack on. He didn't really believe in that whole things happen for a reason or this is a sign type of shit. He was more so of a take it as it comes kind of guy - go with the flow kind of guy.

But was this a fucking sign?!

How was he just thinking about her before she literally ran into him?

He looked down at himself and checked out his outfit. Grey sweats. Grey hoodie. Jean jacket. Beanie.

Great.

She must be so woo'd right now.

"Looks like you have plans after all." The barista giggles.

"Uh, yeah. Can't waste the day, right?" He does a light jog back outside to Ryujin, who is sitting there looking at the busy street. "Here you go, madam." He pulls out the chair and sits in front of her.

"Thanks." He watches as she takes a sip, her eyes lighting up as she nods happily. "Oh my gosh, yum! Red velvet?"

"Sure is."

"I'm impressed. Good pick." She smiled as she held the cup close to her lips.

"Thank you." He pretends to bow and wave to a fake audience, causing her to chuckle. "Were you just thrifting today? Any other plans?"

"Yeah, randomly got in the mood. Other than that, no. I-uh, Y/N isn't around this weekend so to be honest, I'm kind of bored and lost without her."

"Stuck at the hip, huh?"

"Pretty much. My older sister has her own family now so she's always busy. We don't get to hang out much just the two of us anymore."

"Why don't you make plans in advance?"

"True, but you know, mom life." Ryujin shrugs as Namjoon nods.

"Where's Y/N at?" He knew the answer, he just wanted to know if Ryujin knew. Which, at this point, seems like a no brainer.

"Uh, away."

"Seokjin?" Namjoon flatly says.

"Um, yeah. I guess."

"I do know about them."

"So you already knew she was in LA with him?"

"Yeah, just wanted to see if you knew." She laughed.

"Obviously. That girl can't get anything past me."

"Same." He pauses. "I mean with Seokjin."

"So, what else do you have planned today?" Ryujin flips the switch.

"Nothing. Besides brainstorming." She laughed.

"You don't have to brainstorm, this is perfect."

"Mmm, but cliché right?" She shook her head.

"Just perfect." She looked up. "Look, the day is perfect. Sun is out, no cold wind. We're enjoying coffee. What's wrong about that?"

"I wanted to impress you." He shyly says.

"So far, I am." He wasn't expecting that, but he was glad to hear it. The conversation carried on about their families and friends, their likes and dislikes. Namjoon found that they had more in common than he thought. She liked similar things and knew a lot about the things he talked about. He was genuinely impressed by her and was curious as to where things could go.

Close to an hour and a half has passed since the two sat and talked, both really having no plans for the rest of the day. Ryujin enjoyed talking to Namjoon and felt comfortable with him. It was hard to stay away from his energy and she only craved more of it.

"Since you don't have any other plans today, do you wanna kick it at my apartment? We can fire up the PS4 and go at it on Mortal Kombat or something." She laughs.

"Cute. Yeah, let's do it. Just know I'll destroy your ass though." She cutely shrugs as she picks up her things and tosses her trash.

"Mmmkay, we'll see about that." He nods confidently. He sends her the address, which isn't far from where they're at and Ryujin gets there almost simultaneously as he does. She follows him up to his apartment, the building quiet and on a hill amongst other apartment buildings and homes.

His apartment is pristine, clean from inch to inch and smelled like a combination of woody, floral scents. He throws his keys onto the kitchen counter before removing his denim jacket and hanging it against his couch. The apartment is warm and welcoming, and Ryujin instantly makes herself comfortable by throwing off her shoes and hanging her jacket next to his on the couch. She tosses her bag on the side of the couch as she plops next to him. He actually turns on the PS4 and hands her a controller, her excitement already peeking through the roof.

They pick up quite a few rounds, both Ryujin and Namjoon screaming at the top of their lungs when rounds intensify. By the time it's evening, Namjoon and Ryujin had gone through two bottles of wine and demolished pasta takeout. She was still pretty drunk, sitting prettily on his couch while his arm draped over her shoulders as Friends with Benefits continued to play on his TV screen.

"Are you actually watching this movie?" She giggled as her head fell onto his shoulder playfully.

"Maybe. Or maybe not."

"Hey, pick an answer!"

"You'll never know, I guess."

"Namjoon!" She playfully hits him.

"Ow." He whines, massaging his buff ass chest. "I am but you're distracting me."

"What? How am I distracting you?!" She sits up to face him, her hair slightly messy from how she had been laying on his shoulder.

"You're just too cute." He chuckled.

"I'm not even doing anything." She pouts.

"Yeah, see. Like that. That's the distraction." He points at her pouty face. "You're too fucking cute for me and it's getting really hard to contain myself." He says boldly.

"Hm, is that so?" Ryujin teased. "Then why contain yourself?"

"Because I don't wanna mess up here & do the wrong thing."

"I promise you won't."

"Really now?" He turns to look at her. It's silent for a minute before Ryujin lets the alcohol and tipsyness take complete control of her body. She edges her face closer to his, gently laying a kiss on his lips. He returns the kiss, deepening it as his hand grips onto the back of her head. Her hand is resting against his neck, but she pushes herself forward in order to straddle his lap. The kiss is intense, their tongues aggressively fighting for dominance as if they both had been waiting for this moment the entire time. Namjoon's hands begin to roam down her back, down to her ass, lightly gripping as she edges her hips into his. She lets out a small moan, feeling how quick he's hardening under his sweats.

"Fuck." She whispers in between kisses. "Please just take me." I mean honestly, he's fine as fuck, and she's tipsy. Why wouldn't she take this opportunity? Taehyung wasn't going to and she was over it. She was gonna do her and go after a real ass man. We see you, Namjoon.

"Gladly." Namjoon responds, holding onto her tightly as she wraps her legs around his torso while he makes his way to the bedroom. He gently places her onto his bed, his body climbing on top of hers as she pulls him in for another kiss. Clothes are being torn off and tossed across his room, and it isn't long before Namjoon's hands are caressing her naked body, gently gripping her breasts and giving them a good squeeze. Ryujin lets out a hiss as her back slightly arches at his warm touch. He begins to place kisses in a straight line, down her neck, in between her breasts, her stomach, her abdomen and on top of her pussy. He teases her and makes his way back up to play with her breasts, her eyes shutting tightly from the sensation of his tongue toying with her nipples, one by one. He lets go with a pop, lightly blowing a breath of air onto her wet nipples, sending goosebumps down her entire body.

Namjoon makes his way back down, biting his bottom lip as his fingers start to gently massage her clit and her folds, swiping them up and down just to get a little taste of how wet she is.

"Oh shit." He says, turned on by how wet she is.

"Do something about it." She moans, her teeth piercing her bottom lip. He smirks before he lowers his mouth to latch onto her clit, sucking gently as he inserts two digits into her core. He begins with a steady pace, pumping his fingers in and out, the sounds of her wetness bouncing off of his room walls. "Naaaamjoon." She mewls, touching a breast as her other hand grips his sheets. He adds his tongue, intensifying the moment as he picks up his pace with his fingers, stretching her out as much as he can. It's a beautiful sight from his view, and he's loving every fucking moment of it.

It's not long before she's gripping his hair, her body squirming on the bed, but Namjoon is trying his hardest to keep her steady by placing his arm on top of her stomach.

"Oh my fucking god!" She yells. "I'm gonna fucking cum." She says, almost groaning as her back continues to arch even with his arm steady on her stomach. He nods into her clit, sucking and shaking his head left to right in hopes to send her over the edge. She screams louder, her moan definitely heard outside with the way his windows are slightly open. But, he doesn't give a fuck. He wipes his mouth as he wastes no time tapping his tip onto her throbbing pussy, her body still trembling from the aftershocks radiating throughout her body. "Yes, give it to me. Want you to fill me up." She looks at him, lust filled in her eyes as she grabs his hardened member and begins to stroke him. She gets on her knees quickly, her ass slightly up as she bends forward to give his tip a little kiss. She wraps her mouth on his length, moving her tongue up and down before she releases by the tip with a pop. She begins to suck him quickly, her head bobbing up and down as his eyes are rolling back. He grips her hair, pulling her head away before he cums all over her mouth, not ready to blow his load yet.

"Fuck, you're so fucking hot." He groans as his head tilts back in pleasure. "I'll give it to you real good."

"Please." She begs, as she lays back, almost inserting his member inside herself. God, was he fucking big. She was so turned on, she couldn't wait for him to stretch her the fuck out and destroy her. He takes his cock into his own hands, inserting it gently, just to make sure he didn't hurt her in any way. In which, she obviously doesn't get hurt and is instead moaning loudly for Namjoon to keep going. As soon as he bottoms out, he begins to pull back slowly before thrusting into her aggressively. His hands grip her thighs as her heels are planted on the bed, leaving red marks on her skin every time he accidentally loosens his grip. "Just like that!" She yells. "Ugh, Namjoon."

"Shit, I'm not gonna last if you keep moaning my name like that. You're so tight around my dick."

"Namjoon, please. Keep fucking me." She begs. "Wanna feel you." He groans as he picks up his pace, the sound of skin against skin now filling his room loudly. "Close." She mumbles before she begins to moan incoherently.

"Ohhhhhh fuck." He moans, his fingers now digging into her thighs as he holds her legs closely to him while thrusting. She screams his name at the same time her walls are constricting around his member, causing him to reach his climax and allow it to completely take over his body. He grips tightly, groaning as his head falls, releasing every last bit of cum he has to give. He slowly lets out a few more thrusts as he rides out his high, her hips moving in tandem with his.

"Shit, Namjoon. That was so good." He chuckles, grabbing some tissue to help clean her up before himself. He throwns on his shirt and sweats, throwing her one of his shirts to wear to make her a little more comfortable. She happily takes it and puts it on, his scent on his shirt filling her nostrils.

"Yeah? Tell me more." She throws one of his pillows at him as he lets out a loud laugh in typical Namjoon fashion.

"Fuck, my legs."

"I'll gladly take responsibility for you not being able to walk tomorrow." He winks.

"Oh, please." She playfully shoves him aside as he plops next to her on the bed.

"Wanna watch a movie in here?"

"Sure." She says, watching Namjoon get up to shut everything down in his living room. How they went from coffee to fucking each other's brains out? They didn't know, but they can also agree they didn't regret a thing. But honestly, she wasn't expecting to stay over, and she was mentally prepared to get up and leave around 2am or whatever. She was just used to that kind of treatment, with the way she used to fuck around. It's been awhile since she's done this, even though she jokes around a lot about plotting and getting dick. She had been wrapped up in her feelings, questioning whether or not she actually had it for Taehyung.

But tonight kind of just proves that she doesn't, because she isn't looking for him nor is she worried for him. It's not like he was ready for anything serious any time soon, either. Boy didn't have a problem showing that.

Even though she expects nothing, she doesn't realize she falls asleep in his arms during the middle of Spiderman: Homecoming and only reality only hits her when she's awoken by the sound of her phone blaring her ringtone on the nightstand next to her. She grabs it, checking the caller ID before quickly rolling up in his bed.

"Everything okay?" He asks, his voice super husky as he's barely even awake. His arms flops to the side when she gently removes it as she stands, eyeing the room for her clothes.

"Yeah. I hope. It's Y/N. I need to pick her up." She says quickly throwing on her clothes. She's rushing because she can tell you were crying heavily over the phone and she's afraid of what might have happened to you. Nothing worries her more than her bestfriend being in trouble or distress. "I had fun, really. Call you later when things settle?"

"Hope she's good." He nods as he watches her fly out of his room and to the front door.

Fuck.

Was it bad to feel addicted already?

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lovewriting-5 · 4 years

Text

Wastelands:

*gif credit goes to @witchesallofthem*

Rules:

11. Breaking Free

Wastelands:

2. Redwood Curtain

Side note: I combined “Rise and Shine” & “Daggers Drawn”

1. Daggers Drawn:

On the train in Beaver Creek, Oregon, we met up with the drifters from the Christmas market. They led us to where they have work. We managed to find a separate tent for me. We reached a clearing not far from the farm and began setting up our gear. Everyone set up their tents in a circle and put a fire pit right in the middle. Some weeks went by, we all got used to how things would work.

It was a typical morning in our new location of Humboldt County, California. The sun was creeping through the trees overhead and filtering in through the mesh window of my tent. I sat up in my sleeping bag and stretched. I folded the top layer of the sleeping bag and put on pants. I unzipped the tent and put my shoes on.

I could smell the aroma of the lake and coffee in the light breeze. It looked like maybe not many people were up or they were off somewhere else. I walked past the fire pit and quickly petted the dog. I walked to the kitchen and could see Hannah, Penny and Ingrid were enjoying cups of coffee. I grabbed a cup and joined them at the folding table.

A few minutes later, Daniel joined us. He said “Good morning” to everyone. Finn joined us a couple minutes later. Before he could take a sip, Daniel asks “Finn, can we do some more knife throwing?” He says “Why not.” Daniel turns to me, “(Y/N), you okay if I go with Finn?” I said “Sure, just be careful.” Reassuringly, Finn says “Hey, no worries. The kid knows what he’s doing.” Daniel asks “Do you want to come with?”

I thought about it for a couple seconds. “Sure.” I tell them. We got up from the table. I placed my cup in the makeshift sink then followed them to the spot where Finn created a bullseye. Finn started off with a few throws to show how easy it was. I roll my eyes with a smirk. He then hands the knife to Daniel. I’ve heard how good Daniel has been getting but I tensed up a little.

Daniel threw the knife and got really close to the bullseye. Finn went to retrieve it while giving him some pointers. It took a couple of tries but he was getting the hang of it. By the fourth throw, he reached a spot on the bullseye. Excitedly, Finn says “How can you be so good at this?” Laughing, he says “I think I got this now!”

Finn says “I’d say you, yeah. Remember, look straight, sharp throw. Boom!” Daniel says “Let me try again!” Finn hands him the knife. He takes it, aims and hits the bullseye. I say “Whoa, way to go Daniel! I remember you said you were getting the hang of it but I didn’t expect that.” Finn says “There you go, sweetheart!”

I ask Finn “How long have you been throwing knives?” He says “My old man taught me when I was about Daniel’s age.” I say “Wow!” Daniel says “So cool!” Finn tells him “Fuck! I’ve never been so good, trust me. You’re killing it!”

Daniel takes the knife and throws it again. It hits the bullseye. I clap, “Woohoo, nice!” Finn says “What the fuck, man! You’re awesome! Come on, once again!” He goes to pull the knife out of the tree. Daniel says “YES! I’m the man!” He takes the knife and hits the bullseye again. Finn says “Holy shit, that was dope!”

I heard the sound of rocks crunching under shoes coming up behind us. I turn around a little and saw that it was Sean. I give him a small smile. He gave me a small smile back. Sean says “What’s up, guys? Morning target practice?” Finn tells him “Six bullseyes. In a row. Kid is a fucking ninja.” He walks over, gives Sean a handshake and a hug. He continues “Hey, we didn’t want to wake your sleepy ass up...” Sean says “Yeah...Thank you for that. You okay Daniel?” Daniel finally noticing, says “Hey.” I tell Sean, “He is getting really good.” Finn adds “Seriously, I’ve never seen anyone throw like that.”

Sarcastically, Sean says “Wow, Finn trained you well. Six...bullseyes, dude?” Daniel tells him “Yeah, I got better...Lucky.” He says “You can’t throw a baseball without hitting me in the nuts.” I cover my mouth with my hand to hide my chuckle. He asks “How did you learn to aim so good?” Proudly, Daniel says “Practice!” Sean says “Yeaaah...right.”

Being the mediator, Finn says “Hey, wow...” as he places a hand on both of their shoulders. Specifically to Sean, he says “What’s up with you two? I shoulda let you know, but - but I’m watching him a like a hawk. Seriously, much respect. He’s like my own blood. Not that I’m as hot or cool as his big bro.”

Finn walks over to the tree and pulls out the knife. He says “Yo Sean! Idea! I wanna see if Daniel inherited the family blade skills...from you.” He holds the knife in front of Sean, “How about a little demo?” Sarcastically, Daniel says “He can’t do it!” I tell him “Come on, let’s give him a chance.” I give Sean a quick wink. Confidently while taking the knife, Sean says “Okay, yeah. I’ll take a shot.”

Sean flips the knife in his hand a couple times. He throws it and hits the target in the arm. Finn gives him some pointers, “Oooh, Sean, hold your right arm more like this...Better alignment, better aim.” Daniel says “Won’t really help...” “Dude, what’s wrong with you?” Sean says, annoyed.

Finn retrieves the knife and hands it to him. He says “Come on sweetie, one more time! I know you can do it.” Sean takes the knife and hits it again. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that Daniel has a small smirk. I roll my eyes.

Finn retrieves the knife and hands it to him. Sean gets ready. He throws it. The knife all of a sudden flies past the tree into the bushes. Sean whips around to face Daniel. I gently grab his arm. He says “Oh fuck that!” Mockingly, Daniel says “Ha, missed! See, I rule!”

Finn walks over by the tree and begins searching for the knife, “Sorry, Sean, you’re not a ninja. But you’re still cool. Just ask your brother for help next time.” He finds it and picks it up. While I still have a hand on Sean’s arm, he says “Yeah, what would I do without him.” Daniel says “Hey, don’t look at me, it’s not my fault you can’t throw!”

I remove my hand from his arm. He seems like he calmed down a little. Finn says while wiping the knife off, “Whew, after that workout, I need some more fucking java.” Daniel says while trying to go with him, “Wait, don’t go yet!” Sean stops him.

As he is walking away, Finn does a quarter turn and says “It’s all good, Daniel. We can practice later. Yeah, if it’s cool with...(Y/N) and Big Brother. Love ya, man...” Once Finn was out of view, Daniel asks “What now?”

“Daniel...I can’t believe you cheated.” Sean tells him. He says “What? What do you mean?” Sean says “Come on, don’t play dumb...You’re showing off in front of Finn. You want him to find out?” He says “Finn is cool, he wouldn’t tell anybody!” Before either of them could say anymore, I felt like this was between them. I tell them “This is between the two of you. I’m going to take Finn’s advice and go get ‘some more fucking java.’”

I leave the scene and make my way back to camp. I get back and make a beeline for the kitchen area. I grab a cup and pour myself another cup of coffee. Finn asks me “What was all that about?” I tell him “Oh, you know brother stuff.” The conversation moves to joining the others.

There was all of a sudden a truck horn in the distance. I look over my shoulder and notice Sean and Daniel haven’t come back yet. We make our way to the truck.

Everyone climbs on. A few minutes later, I see the two of them make their way to the truck. I give both of them a small smile. Daniel stops and looks for a place to sit. “Sit here, my man.” Finn says. He climbs up and gives Finn a high five. Finn tells him “I need a bodyguard like you.” Daniel says “Cool, tell Sean to get me a knife.” I think Now what?

Sean steps onto the truck. He pauses then sits on the right side of me. I ask “Everything cool with you two?” He shrugs and says “I’m not sure.”

I see Cassidy jog to the truck. She climbs on and directly to Sean, asks “Mind if I sit here?” He says “Sure!” He scoots a little closer to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cassidy place her arm on his shoulder. She asks “Why so serious?” He says “Uh, nothing! Just, thinking...” She says “Cool...I’m alway worried about my city boy!” I ignore what’s going on and not let it bother me. Big Joe says “Everyone here?! This isn’t a fucking school bus! We’re late!”

#Sean Diaz x reader #Sean Diaz imagines #Life is Strange 2 fanfiction #Sean Diaz #Life is Strange 2 #LiS2 #Life is Strange #LiS #Life is Strange fanfiction #Life is Strange x reader #Life is Strange 2 x reader

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osmw1 · 5 years

Text

Crowbar Nurse Chapter 6 — What Gives an Engineer Superhuman Strength?

—Why did my body feel so nimble?

Just exactly how did my body change…?

As I ran at the group of zombies, I questioned how impossibly agile I was, considering I had just finished working overtime.

It’s almost like I’m actually Sera Harvey.

I wasn’t able to leap over buildings or anything crazy like that, but it’s not like Sera was able to do so in the game either. Plus, the controls in DMC games are typical of most horror games in that the characters walk quite sluggishly. I suppose it’s more frightening this way. Being able to run like this is more than good enough for me. I prepared myself for the worst as I headed straight at the enemies. I knew this was already an uphill battle.

There’s only one way out… we’re going to do it and do it well! First, I’ve got to get the Tank to fire…!

The Tank fired a high-explosive shell as soon as I got within range. The shell traveled many times over the speed of sound and was heading directly at me. … however, the projectile impacted and detonated quite a distance away from where I was.

Perfect… it’s just like how it works in game!

With the Tank being a zombie, its slow lumbering movement did not help it track its target. The Tank is almost guaranteed to never accurately land its first shot. And muck like a real Tank, it would be unpleasant for anything standing immediately next to the gun, to say the least. The muzzle blast went straight into the surrounding zombies and they were all destroyed… the Minotaur took a huge hit as well. Everything is going just as I planned, save for one thing.

Augh! Don’t tell me I got caught too…!

A sharp pain shot through my body. I collapsed on the spot as the pain torn through me from the inside out. Before I had collapsed, the tank zombie fired another few shots… but I wouldn’t still be here if I had been hit by it. The situation was taking a turn for the worse.

“Gah… ugh…!”

Breathing was a lot harder than I remembered. … something must have happened to my lungs. My diaphragm and other muscles were functioning as they should, but I couldn’t breathe very well. The shockwave must have punctured my lungs.

I-I can’t move… crap. I can’t fight like this!

I thought the only tactic was to get the enemies to kill themselves, and honestly, that part worked alright… but I didn’t expect to receive this much damage either.

In the game, the blast radius is about 10 meters, but I’ve heard it’s much smaller compared to real life. Maybe I had misjudged my distance. I sure hope I didn’t receive a real Tank’s gun blast…

“Sera!”

Kiryū rushed over in fear. The Tank is still alive. It was dangerous for him to come over here… but I’m sure he knew that already. Just as I realized he had tossed me some recovery items, he turned to face the Tank with his crowbar.

Oh, that’s not a good idea. You can’t take down a Tank with a crowbar…

The pain seared through me again, leaving me unable to speak. I writhed in pain as the blood-soaked Kiryū came back with his blood-stained crowbar.

“Good thing it was pretty weak already… hey, use the healing items already! What, are you feeling too weak to use it yourself? Jeez… you okay? Do you recognize me?”

I faintly nodded at his question.

“Aw, jeez… I haven’t used any healing items in this game before, so I don’t quite know how to use ‘em… how about this bottle? Should I just sprinkle it over your body?”

I shook my head. That bottle… or rather, that vial in his hand has a rubber cap over the end of it. It’s so that you can’t open it by hand. You need a syringe to utilize it. For some reason, the protagonist spawns with a syringe—I did not. There’s a hospital section afterwards, so maybe I’ve gotta get one there.

“Hmm, how about these herbs then? What do I do with them? Can I just cram it in your mouth?” “…”

…

… hmm?

Umm, maybe?

I’ve never seen it being used in game before. In the game, you open the menu, select Items, select Medicinal Herbs, then select Yes when it asks Do you want to use this item?. Since it’s never shown how the protagonist uses the herb… I don’t have the slightest idea what to do with it. I’m not sure what Kiryū thought when he saw my expression, but he stuffed the whole plant in my mouth.

“Mm… ugh…”

A handsome youth ramming a handful of lawn clippings into a sweet, young girl’s mouth… this must’ve looked much worse than it actually was. Would this really heal my internal trauma?! Almost as if answering the question… a miracle occurred.

“Ugh…?!”

A refreshing tingling sensation rushed through my body as if I had been immersed in menthol. All the pain and breathing problems affecting me had disappeared instantaneously.

“… how does this world work…”

I spat the ball of herb out from my mouth.

“Those medicinal herbs worked as quickly as sublingual tablets…” “Let me know once you figure this world out…”

He heaved a sigh as I sat up from the ground. Kiryū, still sitting there, was dripping with blood… but none of it seemed to be his own—all of it was just splattered from the enemies.

“You took down the Minotaur and Tank without so much a scratch… that’s incredible, Kiryū.” “All I did was hit and run. You had weakened the Tank already and the Minotaur smoked itself with the gas turbine exhaust.”

He says it had gone so smoothly only because I charged in with all my courage.

“No, but still, you’re way too strong even with all things considered. … you’re probably the real one-man army here. Really, thank you so much for saving me… but I can’t help but feel like I’ve lost all my confidence.”

I forced a smile. Kiryū—a total beginner—had to save me. And I even boasted about how “I know this game like the back of my hand”.

“That was just a fluke. Don’t even get me started on how scary it was fighting enemies that could kill me in one hit…”

He urges us to hurry to a safe zone, to which I nodded with all my might. I was in absolute, 100% agreement. Since we’ve just taken down some special zombies, there shouldn’t be a mob for the next little while. Nevertheless, another Tank or Minotaur might show up if we were to take our sweet time. Drastic times call for drastic measures.

Drastic measures.

“… looks like we will have to grind for those levels after all.” “Hey, now. Did you forget you were at the brink of death, Sera? If we kill too many zombies and get too powerful, more of those special ones are going to spawn, right?” “I haven’t forgotten. That was… humiliating. If we were to avoid every single fight, there will be too many of them before we can react.” “I mean, I guess…” “Trust me.”

I’ve played this game so much, I can literally beat it with a plastic bottle as my only weapon. I’m a beast. Yet, I just showed Kiryū just how unreliable I was. It was absolutely shameful.

“We’ll make sure to be ready for next time. I’ll build us an unstoppable army from hell…”

I slowly stood up from the ground.

“… what’s that about an army?”

He seemed confused as he stood up with me.

“That’s right, an unstoppable army from hell. Even if I can’t level up in this game, there’s many other ways we can win. Don’t worry… I’ll turn these streets of downtown into a safe zone, like a garden that you can stroll through without a so much a care…” “I couldn’t care less about a garden. Let’s just calm down and plan our next moves.”

Kiryū, with a wry smile on his face, rolled his neck.

“That’s our destination, right?” “Ah, yes. We have almost reached the beginning of the stage. It’s my first time backtracking like this. It feels a little odd…”

As we twist and turn through the narrow alleyways, another new enemy creeped across our path.

—It was a Heart.

That wasn’t a metaphor for anything. The zombie was about four times the size of a yoga ball. Tentacles scrawl from the monster in the shape of a literal heart. I don’t remember what its actual name is. That’s how unimportant they are.

“Shit. We’ve used up all the herbs earlier…!” “We’ll be fine. That thing may look gross, but it is only ‘slightly stronger’ than the average zombie. We’ve got more than enough firepower to take it down…”

I walked in front of Kiryū. He looked anxious, but he seemed to calm down when we made eye contact.

“Could you please lend me your crowbar?” “It’s all sticky from the blood. You okay with that?” “I’ll be fine after wiping it with my skirt. This will be an easy fight… I used to kill a whole bunch of these things before my anatomy tests… so watch closely, okay?”

I took a few big swings with the crowbar.

“—Let do it. We��ve got to!”

“Whew. That was a good workout! The heart is a complicated organ with lots of specific parts to remember. I couldn’t have passed my exams without the help of these guys!”

I listed out each artery by name as I bashed away with the crowbar before returning the crowbar to the blood-soaked Kiryū. I could imagine him thinking I’m some sort of psychopath giving a lecture on the human heart.

“Are all nurses like this…?”

I ignored his flabbergasted comment at me. Then, crossed the now navigable street and hurried to the Vital Watch.

“… let me just correct you that no, not all nurses are ‘like this’.”

“I don’t think you’ll find many female nurses who love blasting hellish monsters to giblets with a BFG.” “A BFG… don’t tell me you mean the Big Fucking Gun, the most powerful weapon from Doom…? I don’t think many people in Japan know what a BFG is… man, you’re hardcore.”

We finally reached the beginning of the game, even with us chatting. There were small two-story shops and the glass from their display windows lining the street. The alleys around here were a little wider, but many of them were blocked off by fallen utility poles and crumbled walls. Here was also where the army (though I don’t know which nation’s army, so it’s hard to make a joke here) faced off with the zombies.

“Oh, look, there are herbs over there. I’mma go grab ‘em.”

Kiryū walked from planter to planter to pluck the herbs from them.

There’s dirt falling out of his pockets…

The absolute beauty of a man contrasted his overflowing pockets like a bad joke. But those herbs saved my life earlier. I’m can’t exactly tell him to “cut it out because you look super lame” either.

Speaking of which, I’d like pockets of my own too. I’d like to have herbs readily accessible. Or at least a pocket big enough to fit my phone… too many dresses nowadays forgo pockets to focus on “showing off your perfect lines”. It’s honestly really inconvenient.

“… or maybe a drink would be nice too.”

Nothing beats a good drink after work.

“Hmm? A drink?”

Kiryū stood up as he looked at me. He must have heard my mumbling.

“Yes, I would love one. Ugh. You just need a frosty can of beer after working overtime. But instead, I was sent over here with no beer at all. Just my luck.” “That’s… unfortunate. I don’t think you’ll find any here. Once you we get back to our world, you can get your fill of booze.”

Scratching his cheek, he tepidly tried to console me, but I wasn’t about to give up so easily.

“No, I might get the chance. One of the healing items in this game is an alcoholic drink.” “Huh. If we find them, then yeah, that could happen.” “That’s exactly right. I wonder if there are any lying around… whoa, hey! Look!” “… that’s way too convenient…”

I ignored Kiryū as I filled my hands with alcohol and my heart with joy. I popped off the top and took a swig.

“Ahh, that hits the spot!” “You nurses sure love your drink… and are you sure about drinking something you picked up off the ground?”

He doubted me with a tilt of the neck, but I laughed in response.

“I’m sure. Absolutely sure. We picked up those herbs lying on the side of the street too, right? Same difference. And plus, I haven’t even finished working overtime and I was dragged into this adventure. I deserve this.” “… well, I guess so.” “Right?”

Down the gullet the liquor goes.

“There’s a real interesting part in this game too. You get a lot of health back from booze, but if you drink too much…” “What happens?” “… you puke it back out. Bleeeghhh!” “Oh, you’ve gotta be shitting me.”

■The back blast of gas turbine engines

Just a quick tidbit from the author. After weapons like rocket launchers and tanks guns fire, there will be a blast of extremely hot gas. Being within 30 meters of the back blast will guarantee injury if not death. The heat will roast you to a delicious crisp. So, if you ever see one in real life, try to keep distance. Now that’s a top tip that will ensure your chance of survival. (Not that you would normally have the chance to get up close to an operating tank in Japan anyway.)

contents: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /next/

(leave me a tip on Patreon?)

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mspaleoart · 6 years

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Lystrosaurus – Late Permian-Early Triassic (255-250 Ma)

I’m back! I was sort of at a loss of what animal to talk about when I came back from my hiatus in earnest, but during the spotty downtime I had last week, I read When Life Nearly Died by Michael Benton, and that pointed me in the direction of this chubby little gentleman, whose name is Lystrosaurus. Lystrosaurus is one of the (very very VERY) few animals to survive the Permian-Triassic Extinction event, and we’re gonna take a look at why exactly that is.

Lystrosaurus is yet another synapsid, or proto-mammal. This guy was a member of the second wave of Paleozoic synapsid radiation, a member of the order Therapsida, which were characterized by being more similar to true mammals than the first group, the pelycosaurs. Edaphosaurus and Cotylorhynchus were both pelycosaurs, and were a bit more basal. Lystrosaurus shows a few of those therapsid traits, most importantly the shape of its skull and its semi-sprawling gait. On the less mammalian side of things, it probably had a beak made of horn for shearing vegetation. It had the characteristic deep body cavity for digesting all the tough plants it ate. It also had no teeth except for a pair of enlarged canines, which it probably used to uproot its food. The most common species was about the size of a schnauzer, although a much rarer species grew a bit larger. All-in-all, it wasn’t really anything special compared to its contemporaries.

Despite being tiny and rather typical of an animal from its time period, Lystrosaurus is an important animal for a few reasons. Even though plate tectonics are common knowledge and accepted as fact now, it took a long time for it to gain any serious traction. Alfred Wegener was pretty much laughed off when he first suggested the continents move in 1915. As a part of this theory, Wegener also suggested the continents had been united at some point into a supercontinent he called Pangea. His contemporaries heard the idea and basically said, “Okay but continents don’t move, obviously. Have you ever seen a continent move?” To their credit, the evidence at the time was, more or less, Africa and South America fitting together and other such things. Which, yeah, we know were right now, but back then it wasn’t so obvious. The next several decades were a slow march to acceptance of the theory of continental drift. Lystrosaurus figures into this by having been found in Asia, Africa, Europe, and even Antarctica by the 70s. At that point, even the most hardened skeptics shrugged and said, “Okay, yeah, fine.”

Lystrosaurus is known from an absolutely stupid number of fossils. The Great Karoo Basin in South Africa has an unreasonable amount of Lystrosaurus remains. They make up 95% of the animals found there, and they’re so abundant that paleontologists pull their hair out trying to find literally anything else. The most studied parts of the Karoo Basin span the late Permian and Early Triassic, and once you get into the Triassic rocks, it’s pretty much Lystrosaurus all the way down. Why is that?

Because nothing else survived the Permian Extinction.

There are five major mass extinctions in the Phanerozoic Eon. I’ve talked about two of them on this blog so far. I talked about the End-Ordovician extinction event when I covered Endoceras, and the End-Triassic extinction with Effigia. And I’m here to say that those events were fucking peanuts compared to this one. This was the single greatest crisis for life on earth, to the point that it’s often called The Great Dying. This was the destruction of about 90% of all species on earth at the time, and for a while we weren’t even really sure what was causing everything to fucking die. The most accepted theory nowadays is the series of eruptions of the Siberian Traps at the end of the Permian period. Basically, most of what we now call Siberia turned into a volcanic wasteland and exploded every so often, anywhere from every few thousand years to every few months.

These were more than volcanic eruptions. This was fire and brimstone, magma punching massive holes in the earth and launching toxic gasses and solid ejecta into the atmosphere. Anything remotely nearby suffocated or was struck by fiery debris. This wasn’t the most severe killing agent, though, not at all. The Great Dying earned its name because of the secondary effects. The gasses spewing into the atmosphere blocked out the sun and caused flash-freezing, followed by periods of global warming. Glaciers melted and released even more toxic gasses trapped beneath them, poisoning the seas and killing anything unadapted to anoxic conditions. It’s pretty telling that the majority of the marine animals that survived into the early Triassic were clearly adapted to life without plentiful oxygen. Plants on land were suffocated or frozen to death, and the ecosystems collapsed from there. The earth was a frigid, barren landscape. The seas and land alike would be littered with corpses of animals and plants. The earth has mechanisms to balance these influxes of toxic chemicals, but the problem was that by the time those mechanisms could get started, Siberia would erupt again and start the process all over again. If you were to walk around Pangea during the peak of this crisis, 1) It would fucking suck, and 2) You’d probably come across a very distressed Lystrosaurus before finding any other animal.

Why in the goddamn hell did Lystrosaurus survive when so many other animals didn’t? It’s a complicated question, because it’s important to ask another question first: What animals are vulnerable to extinction events? There are a couple of broad categories of vulnerable animals during mass extinctions:

Large animals: Large animals are especially vulnerable because they need more energy to keep themselves going, and almost always have small populations and slow reproductive cycles. This goes for predator and prey alike. When plants start dying, herbivores can’t feed themselves, and the large carnivores that prey on them don’t have anything substantial to eat. This is the reason animals like elephants and rhinos have such a hard time bouncing back after we nearly hunted them all to extinction.

Specialized animals: Specialized animals are almost always doomed in big extinctions. If an animal is really, really good at functioning in a specific environment, it’s going to bite it as soon as that environment gets thrown off-kilter. Animals that specialize in eating a specific plant or hunting in a specific environment don’t usually survive when everything gets hit.

So, the animals who are most likely to survive a mass extinction are the small generalists, who can thrive pretty much anywhere. Lystrosaurus fits this description, but forget all of that for the purpose of this conversation, because the Great Dying decimated life of all sorts. Generalists were more or less just as likely to die off as the specialized animals or the big guys. So, we ask again, why did Lystrosaurus survive when so many other animals, even those similar to it, didn’t?

There isn’t really an answer to that question. Scientists have puzzled over the remains of Lystrosaurus and asked over and over again, “Why this little bastard?” and they’ve come up with nothing substantial. It was luck that a little beaked herbivore was one of the lucky few. There’s no adaptation that made it particularly hardy in the face of total metazoan annihilation. There’s no reason it survived the act break between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. It just did because it happened to survive. This isn’t a parable of survival as much as it is one of dumb luck. One of the characteristics of a mass extinction is that it is essentially indiscriminate. Lystrosaurus had every reason to perish like its relatives, but it just didn’t. Being the generalist that it was, it wasn’t hard for it to recover when the Siberian Traps died down and life finally gained a foothold. It multiplied at an absurd rate and covered the earth. The early Triassic was unequivocally dominated by waddling herds of Lystrosaurus. An argument could be made that it’s the single most successful genus of synapsid in history, although Mus and Rattus would probably argue that point.

Whew. That was a lot. I hope it serves as a fitting return! Lystrosaurus was an animal I’d been meaning to cover for a long time, but only now felt like I was able to do it any justice. There’s so much to say about Lystrosaurus, to the point I could write a book about it. The cover would probably look something like this:

I’ll see you next time!

******************************************************************************

Buy me a Coffee, if you’d like!

#lystrosaurus #therapsids #synapsids #proto-mammals #permian #triassic #paleozoic #palaeozoic #mesozoic #paleoart #palaeoart #paleoblr #palaeoblr #paleontology #palaeontology #prehistoric

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snaggerleo · 6 years

Text

"Do you like the Pokémon trading card game?"

Leo looked up from his squatting position, brows furrowed while he tried to determine if the question was some kind of trick. Then again, he had been squatting in front of a modest display of trading cards in a Poké Mart. It was a normal supply stock-up when a couple of cards, Espeon and Umbreon inside a blister pack, had caught his eye. The guy bothering him looked somewhere in his late teens, in a long-sleeved red shirt, sleeves rolled up. Fingerless gloves and a red bandana. The long-sleeve was open to show off a short-sleeved shirt underneath it. Typical trainer fashion, comfortable layers for walking around in.

“I don’t play.” Leo dismissed his comments and turned back to the cards briefly, before leaning on his knees to stand up straight again. “Doesn’t seem like there’s much point when you could just be training Pokémon.”

The stranger laughed and shrugged that off. “That’s like asking why play chess when you could just become a knight and corner a queen.”

“Not the worst career path I’ve heard.”

That earned a chuckle. “Step outside, let’s have a friendly. If you lose, I’ll buy you those cards and teach you the basics of the game.”

That got a suspicious eye from Leo, who didn’t trust free things, but still liked them. And he wasn’t one to turn a battle down anyway. Even if he wasn’t one for card games, there were worse ways to waste time. “If I win, you can buy me a hot dog instead.” It was cheaper than the cards and would benefit him more, so it felt like a fair exchange.

The stranger laughed again. “Name’s Mark. Let’s make it a good one!”

The parking lot was spacious enough for a battle, as long as they didn’t get too over the top. Signs posted around warned against the use of Fire-type attacks, and any Pokemon with external flames were similarly banned from the premises. Mark took a well-worn, downright old-fashioned looking Pokéball from his pocket and let it loose - a Hitmonchan breaking out of the ray of light and jabbing the air a few times before beginning to bounce on his toes. Leo had to admit he was right; the relatively tight quarters were ideal for close attackers. He tossed a Great Ball, and a Hariyama touched down with a heavy thud. Palm on the ground, eyes forward, greeting its opponent properly.

Hotel brought himself to a standing position, hands out defensively, and there was a few seconds of tension while the two Pokémon both waited for their opponent to make the first move. “Comet Punch!” Hitmonchan broke the tension by rushing in, quick boxer’s feet closing the distance while his arms kept up a guard. Once close enough, his fits jabbed out, again and again, slamming into Hariyama’s palms while trying to feel out an opening. Hotel’s defense was solid, but the Hitmonchan’s attacks hurt, and he couldn’t keep guarding with his hands if he wanted to hit anything with them. Or touch things for the next several hours.

Blam. Blam. Blam. Blam. The punches rang out, leather on tough skin, and Hotel was actually forced back from the raw strength. “Push ‘em back!” Leo shouted, and Hotel went on an offensive of his own - those heavy hands slamming forward, cutting the momentum of Hitmonchan’s fists short before slamming into his body. Two, three times, before Hitmonchan was willing to give up ground to avoid the attacks.

“Out of his range, out of his range!” Mark shouted, throwing his arms to his right side to guide Hitmonchan into strafing. Hotel had short arms, his attacks could only reach as far as his hands could. Dodging quickly, Hitmonchan was able to land a heavy blow against Hotel’s side, but his body was strong. The benefit of sumo. Hitmonchan kept piling on hard hooks, and Hotel seemed barely fazed, able to wrap hands around him and straight up lift Hitmonchan off the ground and deliver a good toss against a nearby chain link fence.

Hotel didn’t need to be told to follow up. He leaned down and rushed forward, slamming the ball of his palm against Hitmonchan’s body, threatening to force him through the metal fence - bending it backwards, a hair’s breadth from tearing. Desperate, the Hitmonchan threw its head forward, connecting a headbutt against his opponent and leaving him dizzy so he had the room to counter.

Headbutts were technically illegal in boxing, but his opponent wasn’t a boxer, so you did what you could.

Hotel stepped backward, flinching while the world spun around him. Hitmonchan got his feet under him, slid forward, and pounded a hook against the side of Hariyama’s ear. Sound went away after that, just a loud ringing that became the soundtrack to a dizzy world. One more hard straight into Hotel’s forehead sent him reeling backward, a heavy blow to the top of a bottom-heavy Pokémon sending him reeling backward like a bop clown. Hotel hit the ground with another impressive thud, falling onto his back and needing a minute to recover.

This forced an appreciative whistle out of Leo. “Not bad, not bad one bit. You don’t see a lot of high power Hitmonchan.”

“I only have a few Pokémon that I’ve been training hard for a long time now! Their cards were big time in the card game back in the day!”

Leo pursed his lips. That was probably a good clue to the rest of his team make-up, but he didn’t know dick diddly about card games. Time to go for what worked in normal battles. A flash of light, and Leo’s Espeon touched down, looking poised, watching Hitmonchan like a hawk - spry limbs ready to jump out of the way if his opponent made a move.

Mark wasn’t biting though. Hitmonchan returned to its ball, and a Scyther came out. Echo didn’t waste the opportunity to get in a free hit, a cannonball of kinetic energy, almost invisible if not for the warped light, slammed against the Scyther. It reeled backward, body not strong enough for heavy Psychic attacks, but wasn’t down yet. A problem. Scyther’s wings kicked up dust, filling the air with noise almost like a chopper. The distance between it and Echo was closed almost instantly, with sharp blades spinning and whirling around or thrusting forward to try and control the Espeon’s positioning. Faster than even that Hitmonchan. Leo’s eyes narrowed while he watched, commanding Echo through a defense. Were all of his Pokemon trained like boxers? Interesting technique. Most people would assume Scyther would benefit from sword training, but it can’t hold a sword like something with wrists. Haymakers were the way to go.

If Echo could get in just one more hit, this Scyther would be toast, but he needed space to form up his attacks, and the pressure wasn’t stopping. Leo thought about a pun involving its special Swarm ability being utilized well as a boxer, and immediately wanted to die for having thought it. Echo had to get out. This rushdown style was his exact weakness, and part of why he relied on a teammate in doubles.

The Espeon vanished mid-attack, and his Hitmontop spun into place, kicking the Scyther’s blades away before landing more rapid kicks into his chest. Scyther was actually forced out, but Hitmontop didn’t lose momentum, spinning right into him to keep forcing his attacks out - a powerful defense and offense all in one. Scyther resisted the attacks well, but his stamina couldn’t beat the fresh Hitmontop’s. Hitmontop handsprung off the ground, slamming his entire body into Scyther’s chest once he was open enough, sending the insect to the ground.

Scyther vanished into light and was immediately replaced. There was very suddenly an electrified fist slamming against Hitmontop’s body, not caring at all about either his offense or defense, just one powerful blow that sent Hitmontop reeling across the ground. Electricity crackled around his body while Hitmontop slowed in his spin. “Damn, damn damn...” Leo muttered under his breath. Hitmontop was an outboxer. Scyther was a swarmer. That made this Electabuzz a slugger, who didn’t care at all about balanced fighters. Your defense had to be impeccable or you were going to hurt.

“Get in there!” Hitmontop had to keep up the pressure. He raced forward again, picking up more spinning momentum to add force to his attacks, hard kicks hammering the Electabuzz one after another. Being that close was to Electabuzz’ favor, though. The side of his electric fist powered into Hitmontop’s body - kicks nailing his forearm to bruise it, but not enough to stop the attack, another thunderous haymaker sending him hurdling away. More crackling electricity. The static wasn’t letting Hitmontop perform at his best.

And then Electabuzz did something he’d forgotten Mark’s Pokemon would even be capable of; he gathered electricity in his palm and threw it, a thunderbolt slamming into Hitmontop at range, just one more tool to punish his opponents for not getting in where he needed them to be. Hitmontop was fried. Leo returned him; all he had left was this Espeon.

But Echo had an advantage now. “Set up the offense!” Echo’s eyes flashed, and Electabuzz fired off another Thunderbolt. Not a big deal. Echo had more training than Hitmontop, and could take ranged hits better. He was built to. “Fire!” Another Psychic cannonball slammed into the Electabuzz while he tried closing the gap himself, and he went down.

Scyther immediately tagged in, and went on the usual rush, not wanting to give Espeon time to fire off an attack. But Electabuzz already had. Before Scyther could get close enough to swing, more kinetic energy appeared from nowhere, slamming Scyther into the ground, enough damage to finish the battle. Future Sight saves the day again.

“Whew!” Mark sighed out while wiping his forehead. “Can’t be mad about a battle like that! You beat our tactics! Boxing has its flaws, but it’s worked for us alright so far. You’re a great trainer. No wonder somebody like you doesn’t need outside hobbies.”

“You’re talking too much.” Leo cut him off while kneeling down beside Espeon, treating his partner’s wounds with some fresh berries from a pouch in his coat. Echo slowly ate, getting enough stamina back for proper treatment later. “You’re a good trainer too. Focusing on fewer Pokemon doesn’t make you less talented. Recognizing your limits is an important skill.”

“Guess I owe you lunch, huh?” Mark returned his Scyther and stepped over to offer Leo a handshake.

“Looks like it. But I think I’ll get those cards anyway, and you can teach me how they work while we eat.” He put on a playful smirk and accept that handshake, before they walked back into the convenience store together.

And were promptly kicked out for battling in the parking lot and wrecking the owner’s fence.

#drabble #I wanted to write a Haymaker inspired battle

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man-i-dont-know · 7 years

Text

BNHA Chapter 160: Thoughts and Spoilers

Holy crap, a chapter with just villains is just as horrifying as it sounds. So lets get right into it.

Compress is really starting to seem like a humble dude, complimenting Toga and calling himself and old man. I am genuinely curious as to what made him turn towards villainy. And while I was just saying that Compress was being humble, the fact that Twice brought Toga back to her senses and the fact that Toga was able to deduce how the police would move Overhaul and his crew is really incredible. It shows an in depth knowledge of how the police system works, and I am not sure if Toga has that knowledge because she is super smart, has a ton of experience already, or if she somehow started with knowledge of how police officers work (this option is scariest to me, cause the only way I can imagine this is if she is related to a police authority, which might explain why her face is under wraps).

So we found out their goal now, The Villain Alliance wanted the serum, which is damn horrifying. Since Shigaraki is the main antagonist in this series, he will inevitably use the serum much more effectively than Overhaul managed to. So... logically... that means someone much more prominent to the story will lose their quirk. Unfortunately, that means a repeat of Mirio, but probably even worse. Jeez, I’m scaring myself. Moving on.

Spinner seems to have cold feet, which is an incredibly good sign for the protagonists. Spinner was inspired by Stain’s words like Dabi and Toga, but he was affected much more purely than either of them. Spinner genuinely seems to want to improve the Hero society while Shigaraki wants to destroy, Toga wants to do whatever pleases her, and Dabi... I am still unsure about his motivation, he seems only loosely inspired by Stain. Maybe Dabi liked the fact that someone was able to stand up to society’s norms, fight for his beliefs, and is willing to die for them. That guess is based on Dabi’s first encounter with Shigaraki, “I don’t know, do these guys really stand for anything?” Or something like that. But back to the point, if Spinner is not on Shigaraki’s side, it is possible that he will change sides or become a mole. He has already saved Deku once, so I think it is likely.

Then the sand hero shows up, honestly, it was not reassuring. it seemed like most of the Alliance was right there and there was one hero. Dabi seemed really happy to be able to open fire, and I am thinking he likes to fight, which may be odd since before he joined the Alliance he wasn’t attached to any big crimes. Not only Dabi opened fire (pun intended), Shigaraki jumped in as well, and this disturbs me. Shigaraki has grown incredibly rapidly since his first appearance. He gave up really quick during the U.A. raid, now he is one of the first people to attack a police caravan, against someone who is their “natural enemy.” Not only this, but he did it as a distraction, like holy crap, that shows maturity, intelligence, and a willingness to die for his cause, Shigaraki has developed just as quickly if not faster than the 1-A students in the opposite direction. Compress even launched Shigaraki onto the next car, which Shigaraki then freaKING CRASHED WHILE HE WAS STILL INSIDE OF THE VEHICLE.

Dabi then corners the hero and seems pleased with his reputation as a murder has grown. I have no clue were Dabi stands as a character. Does he want to prove himself? Is he just incredibly sadistic? Does he have a cause? I’ll leave the “is he a Todoroki” question out because that is a whole nother can of worms. Back on track, Compress then compresses the hero. We have only ever seen him compress things fully, now we know that it is possible to compress parts, living the victim either dead or wounded (at least that was my impression).

Shigaraki then finds Overhaul, and a scene that should not have been as emotional as it was happened. For starters, Overhaul looks tired and defeated, and he is maskless. Next, Shigaraki states that he is going to do something worse than killing him. Then, Compress takes Overhaul’s left arm. After that, Shigaraki takes the serum that Overhaul had worked on for who knows how long from him. Which Shigaraki follows up with destroying Overhaul’s right arm. Finally, Shigaraki finishes with an extravagant “I’ve destroyed you entirely, I’ve maimed you so you will never be as good as you were, and everything you have worked for will now go to your enemies.” Like holy crap. That is the most thorough dismantling I’ve ever seen a villain accomplish. It was a total victory for the Alliance. Overhaul knows this, his face says it, and for someone who spent that last some years torturing a little girl, you feel empathy despite knowing that you shouldn’t feel bad. Kai watched his dream die and his means of accomplishing get destroyed, again the most thorough dismantling of anyone by a villain I have ever seen.

Then the Alliance leaves Overhaul to either burn to death or to be collected by police officers again. Compress does a fancy little bow, Dabi stretches out and Shigaraki claims the Alliance will be the “one.�� Which again shows more progress on Shigaraki’s side, “for us” rather than “for me.”

So that is about it, but I want to talk about something, this will be long so you can ignore it if you want. This chapter was such an incredibly display of villains that I was both scared and amazed. Villain in movies, comics, literature and most any medium have a sense to them that I had not noticed until I read this chapter. Villains typically are beaten at most steps of their plan, or at least repressed by the heroes to keep their evil to a minimum, but their plan progresses normally for whatever reason. Ultimately they are defeated before they accomplish their goal, which leaves as people with evil ambitions with very little to actually show for it. They also seem to become sedated or depressed after capture, as if their motivation or personality vanished (of course all of these claims are broad assumptions and generalizations). Shigaraki is not that type of villain. His first plan to raid U.A. and his random destruction with Stain both failed and followed the regular theme, but every action after that was much realer. When he captured Bakugou, his plan eventually failed and he lost All for One, seemingly the only person he has ever cared for. Since that event, he has been learning, he has been active and smart. He doesn’t show his face unless it is a tactical move. The entire arc went exactly according to his plan. It was brilliantly executed in the most underhand way, which is fitting for a villain, let others do the work, and while our aim is at the weakest, strike hard. All of the Alliance members really started to feel like real criminals this round too. Dabi is pleased with his murders, Shigaraki now has an insanity streak that is brighter than a parrot, Compress is seemingly calm but does not care about inflicting deep pain for the sake of a grudge, Toga is brilliantly convoluted, Twice is genuinely disturbed and Shigaraki genuinely loves inflicting pain. None of these traits will disappear. After they are captured, they won’t appear like depressed individuals. Shigaraki will scream himself horse about making a list of his captors and killing them later, Dabi would strike out only when he knows he could hurt someone, Compress will appear calm, but will hold a grudge just like Shigaraki. None of these people will stop being villains, they are genuinely terrifying. Their characters prove that they are villains in nature and not in name.

Whew, now I’ve tired myself out. That is all, and despite how twisted this chapter was (or maybe because it was so twisted), it was fantastic and showed some fantastic villain characters that are so real, so genuine that I am amazed. So thank you for taking your time to read this and have a great day.

#bnha #bnha spoilers #bnha thoughts #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #shigaraki tomura #Compress #dabi #Spinner #toga himiko #twice #overhaul

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Monday, December 14, 2020

Loss of ‘snowbirds’ amid pandemic another hit to US tourism (AP) This is the first winter in five years that Steve Monk and his wife, Linda, haven’t driven to Arizona from their home in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. They typically leave Canada to hunker down in warmer climates for six months. They could fly, skirting travel restrictions at the border, but they’d rather “freeze their buns off” than go to the U.S., where COVID-19 infections and deaths are surging. “It’s not worth taking a chance. It’s not nearly as bad in this country as it is down there,” said Monk, 69. “Pretty much every Canadian person we do know that goes down (to the U.S.) is not going. It’s pretty widespread.” “Snowbirds” like the Monks, often retirees who live somewhere warm like Arizona or Florida part time to escape cold weather, won’t be flocking south this winter. For Canadians who drive, nonessential border travel is banned until at least Dec. 21. Snowbirds’ plans have a huge impact on tourism. In Florida, 3.6 million Canadians visited last year, making up a quarter of its foreign tourists, according to the state tourism office. Visit Florida estimates that only 15,000 Canadians arrived between April and September, the last month with available statistics. That’s about an 99% decrease from the same period last year.

Gunman shot by police at NYC cathedral Christmas concert (AP) A man was fatally shot in the head by police on the steps of a landmark New York City cathedral Sunday afternoon after he began firing two semiautomatic handguns at the end of a Christmas choral concert, police said. A detective, a sergeant and an officer fired 15 rounds after the man started shooting just before 4 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said. “It is by the grace of God today,” Shea said, that no one besides the gunman was struck. The man had a lengthy criminal history and was carrying a bag containing a can of gasoline, rope, wire, knives and a Bible, Shea said. The police commissioner called the actions of the officers “heroic.”

Ailing newspapers abandon newsrooms as pandemic deepens woes (AFP) The buzzing newsroom has long been the lifeblood of American newspapers. But in recent months the buzz has become virtual as the pandemic deepens the industry crisis and forces journalists to work remotely. In recent months, established dailies such as the New York Daily News, Miami Herald and Baltimore Sun have joined other news outlets abandoning their headquarters, amid pandemic workplace restrictions that had already left them empty. Tribune Publishing, owner of the Baltimore daily and others, has acknowledged it is re-evaluating its real estate needs as it struggles with a difficult environment, with lower print circulation, falling advertising revenues and increased costs for health and safety. Many journalists say the loss of the newsroom has changed the nature of their work and worry that newspapers may not re-establish newsrooms even after the pandemic. The move out of the newsroom follows a long crisis for the sector that has seen consolidation by major chains, the closing of many smaller papers, and hedge funds buying newspapers only to slash costs and squeeze out as much profit as possible. With advertising dropping, there are few alternatives. It’s difficult to remain profitable, so newspapers are going to continue to cut costs.

Donations soar but nonprofits still struggle with pandemic (AP) Despite record amounts of charitable donations this year, the effects of the pandemic are suffocating nonprofits across the country as organizations face soaring costs and demand for help, yet are largely without their own support systems, including volunteers and in-person fundraising events. December is typically the most important month for nonprofit revenues, as Christmas and end-of-year tax deductions drive a flood of charitable giving. The holiday campaign season that charities big and small rely on is underway in full force amid a resurging pandemic that has infected more than 16 million people and claimed nearly 298,000 lives in the U.S. alone. The Salvation Army, already down 18% in funding this year, projects its Red Kettle campaign will net half as much as it did in 2019. That’s a $60 million drop for the iconic fundraising drive being crippled by the pandemic in numerous ways. Thousands of kettle locations were eliminated because the businesses that once hosted them have closed and foot traffic has diminished as much of the public opts to stay at home. Its pool of volunteer bell ringers is smaller, as many older helpers—some who dress up as Santa Claus—are unable to participate because they’re at high-risk for COVID-19. There’s even a national coin shortage, in part because pandemic shopping has turned increasingly digital. But multiple studies and surveys say more people than ever are giving and at greater amounts than usual. Big philanthropic players have also stepped up. The Ford Foundation said it has already surpassed last year’s total giving with $580 million in grants. It’s giving another $400 million through a bond. Ford and four other foundations announced earlier this year they would borrow $1.7 billion through bonds to help keep afloat donations-dependent nonprofits through the crisis.

4 Stabbed and One Shot as Trump Supporters and Opponents Clash (NYT) Incensed by a Supreme Court ruling that further dashed President Trump’s hopes of invalidating his November electoral defeat, thousands of his supporters marched in Washington and several state capitals on Saturday to protest what they contended, against all evidence, was a stolen election. In some places, angry confrontations between protesters and counterprotesters escalated into violence. There were a number of scuffles in the national capital, where four people were stabbed, and the police declared a riot in Olympia, Wash., where one person was shot.

Biden to be the first churchgoing president in decades (CNN) Joe Biden rarely misses Sunday Mass. That’s a level of devotion to regular religious services not seen from recent presidents, who were professed Christians but intermittently attended church or worshipped privately while in office. Donald Trump has not had a habit of attending church services weekly, though he made several appearances at the Episcopal church in West Palm Beach near his resort as well as at various evangelical churches across the country. Barack Obama would go to church for the occasional Christmas or Easter service in Washington or on vacation in Hawaii, but rarely during the rest of the year. And George W. Bush, despite being a high-profile born-again Christian, tended to worship privately as president and only attended church when back home in Texas. But for Biden, who next month will become the second Catholic president in US history, attending weekly Mass is expected to be a fixed part of his schedule. “For Joe, faith is both a private devotion—he prays regularly, he goes to church. But it’s also public. He’s open about and proud that he’s a Catholic,” said Fr. Kevin O’Brien, a friend and spiritual adviser to Biden and his wife Jill.

A Venezuelan village finds gold (NYT) Venezuela’s economic meltdown had pummeled the fishing village of Guaca. Then something glistened in the water. Hundreds of pieces of gold and silver jewelry and ornaments mysteriously surfaced on Guaca’s beach, easing the pain of an economic crisis and creating a local gold rush for villagers. Many of them immediately sold the objects they had discovered and bought food. “It got so bad, I felt as if a rope was tightening around my neck,” said Yolman Lares, who first discovered the gold. The treasure has allowed his family to go back to eating twice a day. Despite weeks of speculation over the discovery—including tales of Caribbean pirates, a sunken colonial frigate and modern smugglers—its origins are still unknown. A chemical test commissioned by The Times on a link of gold chain indicated that the piece had most likely been manufactured in Europe in recent decades.

Boris Johnson dials up warnings of a no-deal Brexit as Britain and E.U. agree to continue talks (Washington Post) Blowing past another deadline, Britain and the European Union said on Sunday they have made enough progress in their seemingly endless trade and security talks to continue negotiations into the coming days. Many had feared Sunday was the final hour to reach a Brexit deal, but the talks will roll on. Businesses on both sides of the English Channel, fearing chaos at the ports and steep, immediate tariffs, sighed a collective “Whew, that was close!” Still, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in a TV address, did not sound optimistic. “I’m afraid we’re still very far apart on some key things,” he said. “But where there is life there’s hope.” Johnson warned “the most likely” outcome would see Britain depart the European Union without a deal, leaving it to trade on what the prime minister insists on calling “Australian terms,” which really means defaulting to do business by the rules set by the World Trade Organization. Europe is Britain’s largest trading partner; reverting to WTO rules would mean taxes, or tariffs, on exports sold to the continent. The average WTO tariff is less than 3 percent. But for automobiles it’s 10 percent, and for fresh meat—such as Welsh lamb—it’s 38 percent or more.

Germany to impose stricter lockdown to battle rise in COVID-19 cases (Reuters) Germany will close most shops from Wednesday until Jan. 10 as it tightens coronavirus restrictions and tries to rein in the spread of the disease, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday. Under the agreement, only essential shops such as supermarkets and pharmacies, as well as banks, are to remain open. Schools will also be closed in principle during the period, and employers will be asked to close operations or have employees work from home. The sale of fireworks will be banned ahead of New Year’s Eve. Germany has been in partial lockdown for six weeks, with bars and restaurants closed, while stores and schools have remained open. Some regions have already imposed tougher measures as infections grew.

Nigeria: Hundreds of pupils feared missing after bandit attack on school (The Guardian) Bandits armed with assault rifles attacked a secondary school in Nigeria’s north-western Katsina state late on Friday, police said, and two local people told Reuters hundreds of students were missing. Police said they were working with the army and air force to determine how many pupils were missing or kidnapped, and to find them. There were chaotic scenes at the school on Saturday as desperate parents and security personnel gathered to search for about half of the school’s 800 students who were still missing, one parent and a school employee told Reuters.

#headlines #news

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withabackpackandcamera · 7 years

Photo

April 7th, 2017

Day 19: Making The Most of a Short Afternoon in Torres del Paine

The night was long. I ended up staying up most of night because of the lady working at the cafe and because I wanted to try and get some editing and Patagonia research done. By sunrise, I found myself in and out of sleep and before I knew it, it was time to head out of the departures terminal and catch my bus to Puerto Natales.

The bus ride was about three hours in a comfy chartered bus. With little sleep throughout the night, I used the bus ride to catch up on rest and essentially slept the entire way to Puerto Natales. Occasionally, I would look outside in-between sleep and semi-sleep and found the weather to be perfect and the landscape constantly changing around me. First, there were plains for a while. Then the landscape slowly shifted to snow-capped mountains. Man, what a beautiful morning with beautiful weather.

Once at Puerto Natales, I hiked my way into the city from the bus terminal and eventually found and checked into my hostel, The Singing Lamb Backpackers. Once settled in my new home for the next couple of days, I ate some late breakfast while spending some much-needed time figuring out what it was I was going to do in Patagonia and how I was to get around to do those things. With limited but expensive travel options once down here in Patagonia, I didn’t have much choice but to try to efficiently optimize my schedule so that no time would be wasted.

And so, after some planning, I came to the conclusion that the best way to spend the afternoon was to go into Torres del Paine by bus and to see what I can see in a limited 2-3 hour span. With that plan in hand, I walked around town to find lunch, which ended up being a stop at Picada de Carlitos, a Chilean restaurant recommended to me by the hostel staff members. Here, I had the typical Chilean dish of lomo a lo pobre, which is a beef dish with fried chips (french fries), a fried egg, and onions with bread and salsa on the side. Pretty good! And super filling. Though it’d be nice with a bit more seasoning.

Once lunch was done, I headed back to the hostel and caught a ride to the bus terminal where I took another chartered bus into Torres del Paine National Park, about 2 hours away from where I was staying. The bus was empty except for a couple of people. Definitely expected because I would be astounded that anyone would want to take an expensive bus into the national park for a 2-3 hour adventure and come back. Oh well, time well spent > money saved.

On the way to Torres del Paine, the landscape was beautiful. It looked something like a mix between open plains mixed with green mountains and hills with clusters of jagged mountain peaks that looked so different than anything I’ve seen when it comes to mountains. Once the bus was in the park and we went through the rules of the park, I jumped back onto the bus and rode into the park, where I eventually got off at the Pudeto stop. At this stop, I was told there was a nice little hike that I could do that would take 2-3 hours and would be the right length for my short afternoon. So I wandered around until I found the trailhead I needed to find for the hike to see a waterfall and the Mirador Cuernos del Paine.

Though the hike was short, it was quite spectacular! A waterfall to start it all off. Then majestic views of jagged mountains right in front of you as you hiked into the viewpoint. There were hills and dips, constantly changing landscapes, lakes, etc. A gorgeous hike! It took about an hour to get to the viewpoint to see Los Cuernos. An amazing view of some spectacular peaks! And with a turquoise blue lake in front of the mountains, it was just captivating to see it all! And crazy to think how different these mountains looked when compared to the Rockies!

Once photos were taken, I headed out and back toward the bus stop to catch the bus. At this point, there was still plenty of time to get there. But along the way, as I looked around the area to find more photo ops, I found this stunningly calm and clear lake with reflections of Los Cuernos in its waters. So I immediately headed over and proceeded to scout the area while photographing the beautiful reflection. I was there for a bit longer than I expected, having run into an American photography tour group. But once I got some good photos and looked at the time, I raced off and back toward the bus. Because by this point, time was quickly running out to get back to the bus. And I was NOT very close. So I ran almost the entire trail back to the bus. It was tiring.

Once the buses were within view, I slowed down and bit to catch my breath and as I rounded the corner into the parking lot area, my bus started its engine and just drove off. WTF! ARE YOU SERIOUS!? I was RIGHT THERE and it just ran off??? Man, I was mad! But luckily, there was still another bus here in the area and the driver was nice enough to let me on his bus as he quickly drove behind the other bus to catch up. Eventually, night fell and the bus I was riding caught up to my bus and I changed back to my bus and chilled and slept the rest of the way back to Puerto Natales. Whew, usually I cut it close and don’t miss things, but this one happened. Even though I thought I was right on time!

Back in Puerto Natales, I was hungry and didn’t know what would still be open for dinner. So I roamed around town and eventually found a pizza place called La Repizza that was still open. Ate some odd pizza (like amateur not great pizza with bacon, spicy pork, bell peppers, olives, tomatoes, and cheese) and finally headed back for some much needed rest.

But man, what a tiring long productive day. My throat is starting to hurt a bit more after sort of starting a couple of days ago. Hope it gets better tomorrow because I don’t have any time to be sick on a travel adventure...

5 Things I Learned Today:

1. Patagonia is expensive, even in low season. And life without a rental car is very hard. No car means no easy way to get in and out of Torres del Paine National Park. And that means you’re at the mercy of buses and bus schedules.

2. Stores and restaurants close at the most inconvenient times in Puerto Natales. If you're taking the bus to get around to TdP and other places, everything will likely be closed when you get back into town. Which makes dinner and supply shopping almost impossible.

3. Chile uses credit cards! Hallelujah!

4. The mountains in TdP are so different than those seen in the U.S. (in places like in RMNP and Yosemite). These mountains here are way more jagged and sharp and less flat, triangular, and boring than some of those I’ve seen.

5. There aren't many big trees in TdP. From what I’ve seen. And maybe it’s because of the huge fire that destroyed something like half of the park a several years ago.

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dragonkeeper19600 · 7 years

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Either, Do an analysis of Nazz's scene in the swamp from Big Picture Show. Starting from where Nazz and Kevin are thrown into the swamp ending at the point where Nazz chucks Kevin's bike into the swampy water. Or if you don't want to do an analysis you may answer this question Is Nazz truly a kind person? Do you think she has been wearing a mask? *If you have any questions look at the post on my page.

Everyone throughout this month has been consistently naming the swamp scene in Big Picture Show as one of their favorite Nazz moment. Their reasons for liking this scene in particular seem to be A. We finally get a moment of definite personality from Nazz and B. Kevin gets told off for being a jerk/idiot/Gary from Pokemon. So, a lot of fans view this scene in a sort of “Right Vs. Wrong” light. I rewatched the scene a few times to see if that reading holds up.

The last time we saw Kevin and Nazz before this scene, they were in the Lemonbrook Gag Factory. I know you said we only had to analyze the swamp scene starting when they’re in the pipe, but I think it’s important to at least remember what happened to them before that.

So: In summation, Nazz accidentally flips a switch, activating a conveyer belt at the factory. The conveyer belt begins to carry away Kevin’s bike. Kevin panics, and Nazz volunteers to get it, but in trying to reach for it (which involves standing on her tiptoes and reaching up like a ditz), she gets caught, too. Kevin is completely frantic. He tries to flip the switch back, and when he can’t, he shouts, “I’m coming, babe!” climbs to the top of the conveyer belt, dives heroically in front of the chute leading to the waste disposal pipe and at the last second grabs… his bike.

Whew! That was close.

Um, meanwhile Nazz is still kind of stuck on the conveyer belt. She shouts, “What are you doing?” because, of course, she was kind of expecting Kevin to try and save her and not the bike, but the only other thing she has time to say is his name before the conveyer belt dumps her into the exact hole Kevin saved his bike from and all three end up in the pipe.

Evidently, that was a pretty long pipe because the swamp scene starts with them still rocketing through it. It was still daylight when they arrived at the factory, and the sun has already set by the time they land in the water. Who knows what ecosystem of horrors they ran into along the way.

Anyway, Nazz comes out first and lands on her face. Just as she’s getting up, Kevin, like, careens over her with his bike hard enough to literally knock her shorts off. Not sure how she got ahead of him, seeing as how her fall from the conveyer belt is what knocked him in. Continuity error! NURSE!

Anyway, Kevin screeches to a stop, frantically pulls off his shirt, and begins polishing the bike with it. Nazz stomps up, covered in mud and with a water sausage stuck to her head, and shouts, “How’s your bike?”

Kevin’s response: “Oh hey, Nazz!”

That fucking “Oh hey, Nazz!” cracks me up. It’s just so casual! It’s as if he’s pleasantly surprised to see her in the neighborhood. Like, he hasn’t even been thinking about her at all up to this point. “Oh, hey? What’s up?”

Kevin’s obsession with his bike has reached a truly absurd level. This is beyond just being self-absorbed, it’s like he has no ego whatsoever outside of the bike. He ripped his shirt off, knocking his hat into the bog in the process, just to rub down his bike. It’s like even his own safety doesn’t matter compared to that of the bike. Where are we? Who cares? Bike. Is Nazz okay? I can’t hear you! Bike! Should I be taking my shirt off in a place full of mosquitoes? There is no God, there is only T H E B I K E.

Anyway, this is the point where Nazz slaps him.

I have a few words to say about that slap. Nazz is clearly infuriated that Kevin has prioritized his lord and master, the bike, over her safety. She’s had a pretty stressful day, something she herself will bring up later in the scene. Remember The Scam That Went Too Far happened that morning. She’s potentially miles from home, exhausted, scared, and full of rage. A lot of people see her slapping Kevin as a moment of triumph for Nazz. However, I have a few qualms about women slapping men in the media. Hitting is often portrayed as an acceptable way for a woman to express her anger with a man because, well, she’s just a woman and it’s not like she could hit that hard anyway. However, in real life, violence between anyone of any gender is not okay, and Nazz’s slap has in no way clued Kevin in to what’s upsetting Nazz. Granted it should be obvious why she’s unhappy, and it’s not Nazz’s fault that Kevin’s a fucking idiot, but his immediate question upon getting hit was, “What was that for, man?” That slap in no way told him what he was doing wrong, and it rubs me the wrong way how many people are applauding it.

But then again.

This is Kevin we’re talking about. Kevin’s a pretty violent guy himself, as I’m sure you know. He’ll knock Eddy into the sky without provocation. He once threatened to tie Edd’s legs into a pretzel. He completely destroyed Jimmy’s toys without remorse. Granted, that last one was a mistake, but not even an “I’m sorry?” Really? A big part of why people like this scene is that Kevin usually doesn’t receive any kind of retribution for his violent outbursts. It’s not like Kevin has gotten out of the series unscathed up ‘til now, but there is the sense that Kevin has had this coming for a long time.

On the other other hand, the code “don’t hit girls” is something that seems to have been drilled into the boys in this show. Ed specifically mentions it’s something that his mother taught him. (As a side note, this would be the same woman who taught Sarah to show no mercy.) Girls are on the receiving end of slapstick in this show, but it’s usually either delivered amongst themselves or is the result of some prop falling on them, like when the fence flattens Sarah and Nazz (and, um, Jimmy) in “High-Heeled Ed.” The girls are hardly ever, if ever, deliberately harmed by the guys. Ed holds Edd back from attacking Sarah after she coughs on him in “Is There an Ed in the House?” Rolf lets Nazz absolutely thrash him in “Little Ed Blue” when he tries to steal her popcorn. Even Eddy has never physically retaliated against Sarah. Really think about that. Can you name even one moment when Eddy hit Sarah? One?

A man’s refusal to hit a woman is rightfully seen as a sign of his moral fiber. By contrast, if a man does hit a woman, it’s considered a horrific crime. Remember when, in this same movie, Eddy’s brother called Edd “girlfriend” and then slammed him into the ground? Not even Eddy’s brother hits a girl onscreen, but the fact that he thought he did and was okay with it is used as (one of many) indicators of how terrible he is. Kevin’s already an unpopular character, but imagine if he ever slapped Nazz, the way Nazz just slapped him. People would be burning him in effigy for that.

What complicates this question even further is that, well, none of these characters are really supposed to be role models. They are just kids, and the things they do are meant to be a reflection of how children behave not a guide for how children should behave. And Ed’s mother, the one who told Ed to never hit a girl but told Sarah to show no mercy, is implied throughout the show to not be the best parent.

So, it’s unclear if the show is treating this double standard in a positive light. Honestly, you could probably write a whole dissertation on these issues, something like “The Morality of Violence in Slapstick,” but honestly we don’t have time for that.

Anyway! Back to the scene. Nazz slaps Kevin (with her left hand, I might add. Is she left-handed?) and when he asks why she did that, her response is, “It’s late and I’m cold.”

This response implies that she’s expecting Kevin to take care of her. The subtext is clearly, “What are you going to do about it?” but Kevin doesn’t get this, and as she glares at him, waiting for a response, he just silently looks back.

I like how his eyes awkwardly drift to the side as the silence drags.

Making prolonged eye contact with someone is sometimes seen as a hostile gesture. That’s definitely the case here, and it doesn’t seem like Kevin can face that angry look for too long.

It definitely seems like Nazz is testing Kevin. Evidently, he fails because she angrily declares, “Fine! I’ll make a fire.”

Kevin’s response? “Sweet!”

Oh, Kevin. Someone help this poor, idiot child.

Nazz’s attempt to make a fire is truly pathetic. Not only does she not seem to know what to do, she’s working with wet wood on mushy ground. When she blows on the sticks, it sounds like she’s blowing raspberries, not really the type of air needed to start a fire. She seems to realize how futile it is, angrily slapping her sticks on the pile of wood she created and then throwing them on top. In typical cartoon fashion, a roaring fire immediately springs up out of nowhere, rendering her instantly dry.

She gets busy getting herself warm, rubbing her hands together and such, but when Kevin calls out to her (“Wicked fire, Nazz!”), she gives him a truly delightful glare.

Kevin asks if he can join her in what I guess is supposed to be a seductive way. Nazz normally responds positively to attention like this from Kevin, but this time she just ignores him and pokes the fire. Kevin is surprised by this response. Evidently, Kevin thinks that if he just acts friendly, Nazz will forget about whatever’s bothering her. Remember: Nazz still hasn’t really told him, and it’s not like this kid is going to figure it out himself.

Kevin looks from the bag containing his sandwich to Nazz, and you can practically see the wheels turning in his head. Maybe splitting the sandwich with her will improve things? He offers to do so, but Nazz, still mad, takes the whole thing.

Kevin’s a blundering idiot who fails to grasp the simple concept that girls have feelings and don’t like being run over with bikes, but I still think it’s kind of cute how he doesn’t even get mad. He just sidles over next to her, comments that it would be nice if they had another sandwich (not once reproaching her for eating the whole thing), and puts his hand on her shoulder.

The sound effect they use in this shot struck me as oddly familiar. I was wracking my brains trying to figure out where I’d heard it before when I suddenly remembered: It’s the fucking growling stomach sound from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.

In this case, however, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to sound like a cat purring. This one affection gesture from Kevin is enough to placate Nazz. She sheepishly apologizes for eating the whole sandwich. Kevin gives Nazz a thumbs up to show he’s not mad and puts his hand on her shoulder. Nazz responds by tugging Kevin abruptly close in a shoulder-to-shoulder embrace, which he was clearly not expecting.

The following scene is rife with sexual tension. I feel weird saying that considering these are thirteen-year-olds, but there’s really no better way to describe it. Nazz bats her eyes as she apologizes for slapping Kevin, and both of their mouths are really close together through the following exchange.

Nazz: “It’s been such a crazy day, you know?”

Kevin: “Yeah. No foolin’.”

Nazz: (dreamily) “No foolin’…”

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m uncomfortable.

Kevin holds a finger to her lips and tells her not to move and that he’ll be right back. Nazz waits for him, clasping her hands together into a silent squee, no doubt expecting some kind of romantic gesture. But when Kevin walks up with the bike, her eyes pop.

Kevin comments casually that leaving the bike out in the cold is bad for the paint. Here is where Nazz loses it. She socks him in the stomach and tosses the bike out into the swamp in a fucking WWE giant swing. Kevin frantically chases after it as Nazz shouts, “That’s I think of your stupid bike!”

Perhaps the most vital component of any relationship is communication. If both partners aren’t on the same page or one has problems or an issue that the other doesn’t know about, then all kinds of additional problems can come up because neither party has everything they need to solve the problem. Throughout this whole sequence, Kevin and Nazz fail to communicate as they should.

Nazz clearly has an idea of what Kevin should be and most of her ideals for him are born from his status as a male. She wants him to be there for her, to save her, protect her, provide for her, hold her, and Kevin seems incapable of doing any of that. Kevin’s attitude by the fire reminds me of the stereotypical “husband in trouble” idea. He knows that something’s wrong, but he can’t figure out what, and he figures he can get himself back in the clear just by being nice. He tries asking her what’s wrong exactly once (“What was that for, man?”) but doesn’t ask her to specify when her answer gives him no clarity. He never asks her why she threw his bike into the tree, dismissing the action as “I just don’t get her, man.” Kevin seems to have abandoned understanding Nazz’s behavior as a lost cause. It kind of reminds me of Eddy’s recurring complaint: “Dames! Who can figure ‘em?”

This seems to be a recurrent issue men have in general. There’s a common saying that women are “mysterious” or “unfathomable” creatures because men find themselves unprepared to deal with any kind of emotional negativity from a woman. “If I’m not upset, why is she upset?” Maybe that’s oversimplifying it, but it’s a damaging attitude to have because what’s so “mysterious” about women is their failure to behave in the exact way men anticipate them to behave. Oh, you think that a hug and a smile is going to make the problem go away? Clueless boy, you don’t even know what the problem is.

Nazz, for her part, is not making things any easier for him. True, as I’ve said before, the reason she’s unhappy should be obvious, but assuming that something that’s clear to you is also clear to someone else is often dangerous. Nazz tries to give Kevin the silent treatment after he disappoints her. While she may have needed a minute to be alone, that strategy didn’t really help Kevin at all. I don’t think it was cool of her to hit him, take his sandwich, or sock him in the gut, but it definitely wasn’t cool of him to run her over with his bike, not even worry about her safety in the factory, or dismiss her anger as “Women, amiright?”

This is a good scene because we get a lot of character from Nazz and see her pushed beyond her limit, but neither character really comes out of this scene looking ideal. But, honestly, none of the characters of Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy are flawless. That’s kind of the point of the show. This scene documents the early growing pains of two kids in their first love. Of course they’re going to fuck it up and do and say stupid things. They’re still young (that’s they’re fault); they’ve got plenty of time to learn how to do it better. Not necessarily with each other, but definitely with someone.

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terabitweb · 5 years

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Original Post from SC Magazine Author: Bradley Barth

In the film “Ocean’s 11,” Danny Ocean and his team of expert cybercriminals execute a daring casino heist in glitzy Las Vegas.

This past summer at the Black Hat and DEF CON conferences in Sin City, the editorial staff at SC Media attempted to pull off a less ambitious – and decidedly more legal – caper of its own. With far less success.

The job: Complete a full series of video interviews with leading cyber experts, all while riding the world’s largest ferris wheel.

As a bonus, we even invited a pair of wireless researchers from the DEF CON Wireless Village to accompany us on the ride and use their equipment to sniff out whatever devices and signals they could detect along our 360-degree journey.

Our crew was set: one reporter + one cameraman + two wireless researchers + five experts + two PR associates for logistical support = SC’s 11.

As it turned out, Ocean’s 11 would have a much easier time of it.

The first challenge was getting on the ride in the first place, without breaking any rules. Ferris wheel policy didn’t allow professional video cameras, so we steered clear of this problem by filming only with an iPhone. Meanwhile, wireless researchers Rick Falcone and Rick Mellendick inquired in advance to make sure nothing they would bring on board was forbidden and were given a thumbs up that all was well.

Still, it was tempting fate when, for dramatic effect, Mellendick decided to handcuff himself to the protective case carrying his equipment. Surely, even in Vegas, this odd sight would cause a scene once we reached security, wouldn’t it? But after a few curious questions from the guards at the metal detectors, we were sent on our way.

Bradley felt like a big shot when a passerby saw the SC logo on the microphone and asked if he was with SportsCenter. Of course, reporting for SC Media is pretty darn cool too.

The next phase of the plan was to perform four interviews with our five experts (two were a duo who were interviewed together) in 30 minutes of ride time, before we quite literally came full circle. Mission accomplished there – just barely – as we finished our final interview right as it was time to disembark. Feeling victorious, we hurriedly gathered our belongings and stepped out of the cabin.

That’s when we ran into security. And they were not happy.

The woman in charge began interrogating our group, insisting that we should never have been allowed to board the ferris wheel while carrying electronic equipment – especially during DEF CON week. But since we didn’t actually bring any officially prohibited items, she let us pass. But not before making an ominous statement along these lines: “Excuse me, I have to go fire some people.” (We certainly hope no one was actually fired when it appears everyone had followed the rules.)

Whew. That was a close one. But at least we got our footage, right? Well, not exactly. The next morning, we discovered that the audio did not record correctly. Nothing but static. It was the equivalent of the Ocean’s 11 crew escaping the casino with bags of loot, only to find they were filled with Monopoly money.

But we weren’t about to let that stop us. So, nearly three months later, SC Media is finally pleased to present a photo essay of our Las Vegas (mis)adventure, featuring Q&A commentary from our guests, who were kind enough to recreate some of their talking points from the ride.

Who would have thought that a slow, scenic trip on a ferris wheel would turn into such a roller coaster ride?

See our interviews, below:

Sherrod DeGrippo (right), senior director of threat research and detection, Proofpoint.

Our first guest passenger was Sherrod DeGrippo, senior director of threat research and detection at Proofpoint.

SC: Sherrod, during our ferris wheel interview you described some of the recent activity of the cybercriminal threat group TA505, which historically has been associated with the Dridex banking trojan and Locky ransomware. What are the latest developments with this actor?

SD: This summer, we observed TA505 introduce a new downloader malware, AndroMut, which has some similarities in code and behavior to Andromeda, a long-established malware family. Our researchers identified two distinct campaigns by TA505 that used AndroMut to download [the remote access trojan] FlawedAmmyy. These attacks appeared to be targeted carefully by geography and somewhat targeted by industry, especially in Singapore and the UAE, where attacks were dramatically skewed towards financial services organizations.

Our research has followed TA505’s evolution over the last few years from an extremely high-volume actor dealing in global ransomware and banking Trojan campaigns to a targeted actor focused on regional campaigns and malware ranging from downloaders to sophisticated remote access trojans. This group is both adaptable and adept at following the money. They tend to set trends across the malware landscape, so, at this point, it appears that they are adapting to changing conditions based on regional and vertical targeting, as well the types of malware they are distributing. Some of these conditions may relate to cryptocurrency volatility and adaptations of defenders to previous malware strains they distributed en masse.

SC: During the interview, we noted that you are from Georgia, which has been hit repeatedly by ransomware attacks on a local and city level. Please explain why municipalities have become such an appealing target. Also, you mentioned that you may have even been indirectly affected by the SamSam ransomware attack on Altanta. Please explain.

SD: Threat actors recognize that municipalities typically have outdated information security protections and lack the resources necessary to recover quickly from an attack. These factors, along with their broad swath of responsibilities and relatively deep pockets, have made them more attractive targets in recent years. Additionally, ransomware actors look for the best, highest payout potential and focus their efforts there. A municipality has access to funds in excess of what consumer users or most small or medium businesses would have available that they can relatively easily divert to regain access to their systems, making them a lucrative target.

I was actually pulled over by a police officer in Atlanta during the city’s SamSam ransomware attack. Because the police department’s systems were down, I was let go without a ticket.

SC: You also mentioned the most paranoid thing you’ve seen someone do to keep secure at Black Hat and DEF CON. Is there such a thing as being too paranoid?

SD: I don’t think there is such a thing as too paranoid. Everyone should take every possible precaution to protect themselves and their digital identities. However, I have seen extreme acts taken at Black Hat/DEF CON that don’t have any impact on security, like tinfoil-wrapping an entire hotel room. That’s probably more for fun than actual security. I’ve seen people handcuff their tech to their wrist. That’s pretty paranoid, but also important if you’re forgetful.

Tyler Moffitt (left), senior threat research analyst, and Jason Davison (center), advanced threat research analyst, Webroot.

As we climbed toward the apex of our ascent, we were joined by a duo from Webroot: Tyler Moffitt, senior threat research analyst, and Jason Davison, advanced threat research analyst.

SC: Last year, the big ransomware threat was GandCrab. That changed following the developers’ supposed retirement. Now there’s a new threat, Sodinokibi, which also uses a ransomware-as-a-service model. Based on your observations, what makes this threat unique and dangerous? And what has led experts to conclude that Sodinokibi was created by GandCrab’s developers?

TM and JD: GandCrab was one of the most successful RaaS (Ransomware as a Service) operations we’ve seen to date. Due to their success, they [GandCrab’s developers] received attention from researchers and the media alike. It’s not uncommon for successful threat actors who receive a lot of attention to try and start new projects in an attempt remain successful. There are extremely strong ties between Gandcrab and Sodinokibi. We even found an early decryptor binary listed as “gc6” (assumed to be GandCrab 6, since the last known distributed version of GandCrab was version 5.2) in the PDB path.

SC: You’ve also been following several DNS hijacking campaigns in which malicious actors, perhaps government-sponsored, are altering internet records to reroute website visitors to attacker-controlled sites. Explain how this scheme works and explain why this is such a serious threat to the integrity of the internet’s infrastructure?

TM and JD: DNS is an older, fundamental part of networking that didn’t really account for security too much when it was initially designed. Attacks have been reported targeting mainly government and military organizations in the Middle East and North Africa regions. At a high level, the attack is to manipulate DNS name records to then redirect to hacker-controlled servers. This is critical because attackers are leveraging the trust placed on DNS systems to successfully attack users.

SC: We also talked about DEF CON being famous for hackers trying to hack into everything – elevators, hotel rooms, ATMs, etc. What’s the most unusual device/system hack you’ve researched or witnessed, at DEF CON or elsewhere?

TM and JD: I haven’t seen anything too crazy with my own eyes other than construction signs hacked to say “ZOMBIES AHEAD.” Also, all the speakers at the Bellagio casino were once hijacked to play Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

Dr. Richard Gold (left), director of security engineering, Digital Shadows.

Halfway home! Our next guest was Dr. Richard Gold, director of security engineering at Digital Shadows.

SC: Over the summer, the Senate Intel Committee released volume one of a report detailing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. You have followed reputed Russian APT actor APT 28/Fancy Bear closely. What were your reactions to the report?

RG: The report really lays out how the Russian intrusion groups took an “offense in depth” approach to their activities; that is, they conducted a very broad campaign against a number of targets using a wide variety of methods. The report goes into detail on the activity around the election infrastructure in a number of states. This is all in addition to the intrusions into the DNC [Democratic National Committee] and the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] and the misinformation campaigns that have also been attributed to Russian groups. With the 2020 election looming large, the report clearly indicates the need for shoring up the security of any systems around elections and political campaigns.

SC: How great is your concern that Fancy Bear is willing and able to take more extreme measures next year and actually alter voter information (to cause chaos or disqualify certain voters) and/or change vote tallies?

RG: It is certainly possible. However, they had this access in 2016 and they did not use it, indicating that they didn’t need to use this access in order to achieve their goals. That does not mean that they will not use this access in 2020 as the target environment for these groups has changed in the last four years. There is more awareness of the threat posed by foreign interference than there was in 2016 so it may require hostile groups to go further in order to achieve their goals.

SC: You also have closely followed Hidden Cobra/Lazarus Group. During Black Hat, news broke that the reputed North Korean ATP group has collected $2 billion in illegal funds. What has made Lazarus Group so effective and lucrative over the years?

RG: Lazarus/Hidden Cobra are adept at “following the money,” to use a well-known phrase. They have consistently targeted organizations that handle large sums of money but do not necessarily have the same level of security as some more mature organizations. They have targeted cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions where the attackers had uncovered security weaknesses. This increased the likelihood that their intrusions would be successful, that they would be able to steal substantial amounts of money, and would be unlikely to be detected.

Ben Seri (left), VP of research, Armis.

Our final on-board guest was Ben Seri, vice president of research at Armis. Ben took us through the Armis team’s discovery of URGENT/11, a series of vulnerabilities found in the real-time operating system (RTOS) VxWorks. More than 2 billion devices operate on VxWorks, about 200 million of which were judged to be affected by the flaws.

SC: Ben, please summarize your URGENT/11 presentation at Black Hat, and the nature of the vulnerabilities you discovered.

BS: At Black Hat, we presented our findings, and did a deep dive on some of the most interesting of the discovered vulnerabilities. Many of the discovered vulnerabilities were found in esoteric features of the TCP and IP protocols, that are rarely used but nevertheless implemented, even in modern TCP/IP stacks. These esoteric features tend to be overlooked by both developers and pen testers, and therefore might end up containing very critical vulnerabilities.

SC: We talked about how vulnerability researchers have largely overlooked real-time operating systems. Why is this the case?

BS: There are a couple of reasons researchers overlook real-time operating systems. First of all, researching RTOSs is challenging – many of these operating systems are closed-source, and not easily debuggable. So to start hunting for vulnerabilities in such systems, a researcher would first need to invest significant time in preparing tools. Other reasons might be the competitive nature of researchers, who are mainly focused on the security of their personal devices – PCs and mobile phones. In addition, researchers have a much greater incentive to search for vulnerabilities in devices of companies that have bug bounty programs, for instance.

SC: I understand that since we last spoke in Vegas, it was determined that other RTOSs are similarly affected by the vulnerabilities because they share the flawed TCP/IP stack component known as IPnet. Please elaborate.

BS: The IPnet TCP/IP stack was indeed a standalone product that was licensed to users of various RTOSs in the past. Armis actually discovered this through the BD Alaris Infusion pump, a widely used Infusion pump that was detected as running the IPnet stack in a hospital environment where the Armis solution is used. The surprising factor was that this device is not based on VxWorks. That fact led us to further investigate the reach of these URGENT/11 [vulnerabilties]. It is surprisingly difficult to determine the OS used by medical devices, and embedded devices in general, let alone the TCP/IP stack that powers the network connectivity function of these devices. A vulnerability in a widespread component, such as the IPnet stack, is a case of a software supply chain vulnerability that unfortunately affects any device or operating system that uses it.

Rick Mellendick (left), chief security officer, PI Achievers, and Rick Farina (right), senior product manager, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Company.

With our feet firmly planted back on earth, we finally turned to our wireless detectives Rick Mellendick, chief security officer at PI Achievers, and Rick Farina, senior product manager with Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Company. The two Ricks ran this year’s Def Con Wireless Village, and so we had asked them to bring some special equipment aboard the ride to passively – and legally – monitor the local environment for notable device activity. (You might remember them from our 2019 Trolley Talk segment at the RSA conference.)

SC: Explain your point of view of what happened at the end of the ride with ferris wheel security.

RF: The most likely explanation? The manager saw what appeared to be an interview and accosted the people who looked like they were carrying camera equipment. When she realized we didn’t have professional camera equipment, she claimed DEF CON attendees aren’t allowed to bring any electronics, which seems reductio ad absurdum. In truth, their physical security was about what would be expected at most places. We had a briefcase full of stuff, we showed them inside, it wasn’t dangerous or otherwise prohibited, so they let us through (despite the silliness with the handcuffs). Once we were past main security, and we powered up the kit, I am a bit surprised no one cared that Rick and I were tethered together. Again, all of our stuff was already checked, but I would say we behaved sufficiently atypical in a manner that would have easily justified additional scrutiny.

SC: Describe the equipment you brought with you for this particular mission, and what you were looking for.

RF: We brought a hard case full of wireless monitoring equipment; specifically, a small Intel compute stick, four general purpose software-defined radios for looking at different types of standard sensors and wireless remotes, one ADS-B-specific SDR (Software Defined Radio) for tracking airplanes, three Wi-Fi cards for monitoring Wi-Fi traffic, one Bluetooth dongle for monitoring Bluetooth and Bluetooth smart, two 802.15.4 (Zigbee) dongles for monitoring 802.15.4 in 900 MHz and 2.4GHz, and 2 Crazyradio PA dongles for monitoring wireless keyboards and mice. Basically, our goal was to see everything we could easily see passively, specifically using a free open-source tool called Kismet.

SC: Did the height of the ferris wheel present any unique opportunities to capture data? Also, did the ferris wheel present any unique challenges or obstacles that hindered data collection?

RF: The overall design of a ferris wheel does obviously lend a great opportunity for gaining some altitude, which removes the lower height obstructions like buildings and lets us pick up signals from farther away. Being Vegas, however, the pods of the ferris wheel likely use nice expensive low-e glass, which works as a shielding against much of the electromagnetic spectrum, as it is specifically designed to block out things such as infrared light. While these two things balanced out quite a bit, being in an enclosed space that was moving around (a ferris wheel in our case, but it could be a subway or a train or a bus) gave us the unique opportunity to really “get to know” everyone around us. We profiled how many phones we saw, and based on signal strength and duration seen it was obvious who was in the pod with us and who was not. While we only acted passively, there was more than enough time to consider a targeted attack against our fellow ride enthusiasts, which remained purely theoretical. The same thing could easily happen every day on the yellow or blue metro lines in Washington DC, or anywhere else where it may be interesting to profile people via their electronics.

SC: Ultimately, what did you find? Give us some specific examples of interesting observations, and then share with us your total statistics!

RM: We saw seven wireless mice and keyboards, as well as hundreds of active Bluetooth radios (both associated and probing). We saw a typical amount of Wi-Fi, and many other associated signals.

The stats: * 1,496 Bluetooth devices * 1,286 Wi-Fi devices including both clients and access points * two temperature sensors * seven wireless mice and/or keyboards * 65 aircraft

RF: So here’s how I broke it down and my assumptions: Wireless keyboards and mice have a fairly short range. The low-e glass also limits our range. As such, it’s extremely likely that the wireless keyboards and mice were in use on the [cocktail] bar-equipped ferris wheel cars.

The temperature sensors are also pretty short range typically. We saw one that was an appropriate temperature for a refrigerator, and one that was the current outside temperature. Range is a bit further on these things, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that one was in a refrigerator and one was monitoring outdoor temperature for some monitor system or a sign with the temperature.

SC: Finally, a question for Rick M.: Explain why you handcuffed yourself to the equipment and, since you didn’t have a key, how long did it take to pick yourself out of it?

RF: I’m not Rick M, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say “because it was funny.” It does prevent security from attempting to confiscate things if they don’t like something, but we did unlock the case and show them everything inside before gaining entry. As for the picking, I think it was about 20 seconds for the first cuff and 10 for the second. Don’t let him convince you he did both cuffs in 10 seconds.

RM: The handcuffs were just for show, and to be different. It forced questions, and allowed for us to possibly have some teaching moments. If we just had backpacks, no one would have asked much of anything. And I think Rick’s estimation of the time to get out is a bit high, but it was very quick and during a discussion, while talking to a colleague.

* Q&A responses were minimally edited for content and clarity.

Trolley Talk, RSA 2019 edition: SC’s second annual cable car chats (video)

Trolley Talk: SC cruises the cable car line with cyber experts

Trolley Talk – The Full Ride

TA505 cybergang debuts ‘AndroMut” downloader to deliver FlawedAmmyy RAT globally

Report suggests GandCrab’s developers may have created Sodinokibi ransomware

‘Brazen’ nation-state actors behind ‘Sea Turtle’ DNS hijacking campaign

DHS issues emergency directive to protect federal domains from DNS hijacking campaign

Report: Russian-sponsored hackers could have modified U.S. voter data, but didn’t

Second Senate Intel committee report confirms Russia social media campaign to influence 2016 election, skewer Clinton

U.S. sanctions North Korea hacking groups, says attacks funded missile program

Over 200M devices affected by critical flaws found in real-time operating system

The post We interviewed leading cyber experts on the world’s tallest ferris wheel. Then security showed up. appeared first on SC Media.

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Go to Source Author: Bradley Barth We interviewed leading cyber experts on the world’s tallest ferris wheel. Then security showed up. Original Post from SC Magazine Author: Bradley Barth In the film “Ocean’s 11,” Danny Ocean and his team of expert cybercriminals execute a daring casino…

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drawerevent03-blog · 5 years

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Cinnamon Crunch Cereal and Hemp Milk

“It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.” – Margaret Mead

Yup. Pretty much. This entire shift began when I had a particularly gnarly couple of months with manic mood swings that rivaled my adolescence, acne flare-ups, bloating, low energy, night sweats, and all-round malaise. Knowing what I know, I looked at my diet first to see what could be adjusted. Everything was organic, whole, plant-based and totally “healthy” by most peoples’ standards. But it just wasn’t working anymore. I knew something had to give.

Delving in deeper, a typical day for me was a whole-grain porridge in the morning, topped with all kinds of seasonal fruit, homemade granola etc. Lunch was a couple slices of organic sourdough rye bread from the local bakery, with homemade hummus, avocado, sprouts etc. Dinner was often a mixed bowl, the base of which was brown rice, quinoa, millet or buckwheat covered in a rainbow of vegetables, homemade pickles, superfood-loaded sauce, and fresh herbs. I wasn’t eating sugar, drinking coffee, I was keeping up with my exercise and sleeping well. So what was the problem? In this case, I had a feeling it was a big ol’ grain overload.

The idea of cutting back on my morning oats, bread, and grain bowls was literally devastating to me. I cried. On multiple occasions, just talking about giving up muffins made me weep, and I felt like there was just no way I could make even more changes, or think about my diet even more than I already did.

I have had two serious experiences with orthorexia in my life. For those of you who don’t know what orthorexia is, it is defined as an obsession with healthy eating. It is considered an eating disorder, and one that is becoming more prevalent in Western culture as healthy eating becomes increasingly “trendy”. The first bout happened the year I moved out of the house to study at university. While many of my friends were bingeing on junk food and beer, I swung in the opposite direction entirely and took advantage of the incredible meal program that was offered at school, and fueled myself with enormous salads, delicious sandwiches and wraps, veggie-heavy soups and stews, and protein-rich smoothies. I also signed up for the free fitness classes at the university gym, got hooked on kickboxing, step aerobics, boot camp drills, and the weight literally fell off me. I lost about 25 pounds that year, and for the first time in my life I felt like I was in control of the way I looked. The sudden attention from guys – which I had never had before – further stoked the fires for my desire to be even thinner, even though my initial motivation to eat this way stemmed from a desire to be healthy. As my attitude towards food morphed from friend to enemy, I flirted with a full-on eating disorder at this point, playing games with myself to see how long I could go without eating, how many exercise classes I could fit in between classes and study groups, how long I could make my bean salad from lunch last (too long!). Eventually my energy levels dropped to the point where I had a very hard time getting out of bed in the morning and I couldn’t concentrate well in school. I realized that I had taken things too far and started eating in a more balanced way again. I put the experience behind me without giving it too much thought.

The second time this resurfaced was, ironically, while studying holistic nutrition. While I was learning all about foods and how my body worked, I became almost afraid to eat, toxifying my body, or “poisoning” it with sugar, gluten, dairy and the rest. I became obsessed with detoxing and subsisted only on “clean foods”; mostly vegetables. I was stressed, my hair started falling out, my acne came back and my energy hit an all-time low. Despite my obvious physical misery, I somehow felt validated since I wasn’t putting anything “bad” in my body. Eating as healthy as possible became obsessive for me and my classmates, and we’d all proudly bring our lunches to school, subtly scrutinizing each other’s Tupperware contents. Again, food had lost its pleasure, its joy, and had become something that I saw as more of an enemy than a friend. And that really scared me.

After graduating, I finally got a grip, and once again slowly re-established a healthy relationship to what I was eating. It is for these reasons that food is such a tender subject for me, and changing my diet dangerous territory. I spent so many years struggling to achieve a positive connection with food, and when I finally got there and it felt like such a relief. The prospect of having to go “back to that place” of thinking about food more than I already did felt unsafe for me, and slipping back into an obsessive place felt like an inevitability. Meanwhile, the negative self-talk voices were loud and overpowering, telling me how I was fat, flabby, weak, old – things that I KNEW weren’t true. But that’s the sad thing about internal monologues, they don’t need to make sense to play like broken records in our minds all day every day. It’s enough to drive a person insane. The cruel voices coupled with my extreme fear of reverting back to my old thought patterns and eating habits absolutely terrified me. I felt like I had hit a wall of hopelessness. And all I wanted to do to feel better was to eat a piece of eff-ing bread.

The reason I suspected the grain thing was because of the unique relationship that blood sugar has to our hormones. If we’re consuming carbohydrates at a faster rate than our bodies are utilizing them for energy, that extra glucose gets stored in the fat cells of the liver, which decreases its ability to breakdown excess estrogen, and allowing it to hang around in our systems longer than it should. This excess circulating estrogen causes a whole host of symptoms, including, you guessed it: mood swings, bloating, sluggish metabolism, tender breasts, fatigue, foggy thinking, PMS, and many more less-than-desirable issues. Now, these things can be exacerbated by stress (shocker), inadequate fat and protein intake, and environmental factors, all of which I was likely suffering from.

I set out by making a plan, since I know how hard it is to make positive changes without preparation. Instead of focusing on the all the things I wanted to reduce or eliminate, I focused on the foods I could have, foods higher in fat and protein, since I knew that those things would naturally elbow out the things I would normally fall back on (I’m looking at you, banana bread). I made a list that I could refer to when I was grocery shopping for ingredients. I cooked and froze things. I stocked the fridge and pantry. I was ready.

Within the first few days I already noticed a difference: my energy was incredibly stable, my emotions were in check, the bloating in my stomach dissipated, and I just felt good. As the days rolled on my compulsive urges to down half a dozen muffins subsided, and it was like I could clearly see that what I had actually been battling was blood sugar issues – not just “too many” grains or carbohydrates. It became clear that I had been taking my bod on a wild rollercoaster of high and low blood sugar for years, which had in turn been tossing my hormones around like a pair of sneakers in a washing machine. Stabilizing blood sugar is the first step in managing your endocrine’s system ability to do its job properly. I realized that if I was going to eat grains (or any carbohydrate-heavy food), I had to eat them in smaller amounts, balance them out thoughtfully with enough fat and protein, and make sure that I was actually using that energy instead of letting it sit around in my body. So far, things have been going incredibly well, and I am so darn proud of myself for not only identifying the issue, but actually doing something about it.

We are fluid beings with needs that evolve and change over time. Our diets need to reflect that, which is why it’s imperative to listen to our bodies and be advocates for our own health. No one knows your body better than you, and once you quiet all the noise out there telling you “how” to eat in black-and-white terms, you’ll be able to hear yourself, without judgement, and choose the way of eating that is just right for you, right now. It may be different tomorrow, and that is okay too. In sharing this all with you, I am trying to set an example, because you too have this intuition that is telling you just what you need to eat and do right now. It’s actually fun to be connected to yourself, your unique rhythms and needs. Learning about how you operate and designing a plan that caters to your exceptional self means that you can celebrate, instead of berate your body the whole month through, and experience pleasure in every stage of our cycle. I promise.

This is undoubtedly a huge topic, and one that I plan on chipping away at over the next few blog posts. Some things I want to reiterate here are, that I do not believe that grains or carbohydrates are bad. No natural food group should be vilified, just as no macronutrient should be either. If you’re thinking about giving up carbs, I’d advise you not to. Glucose, the sugar found in carbohydrates is your brain’s primary fuel source, and when consumed responsibly, carbs will help you on your wellness journey, not hinder you. I still stand behind each and every one of the recipes that I have created for this blog, the app, and both of my cookbooks, and I believe that they are appropriate for many people to enjoy. However at this stage of my life, some of the recipes do not serve my needs any longer, and I’ve had to make small changes to them, or put them on the shelf for another time. I’m okay with that.

Whew! Now for some notes on the recipe.

The base recipe for my Cinnamon Toast Crunch-inspired cereal is grain-free, but it does rely on almond flour, which can be expensive. If you can tolerate pseudo-grains, feel free to top up the base with buckwheat flour. This will bulk up the cereal considerably so you’ll have more for less money.

This cereal is r-i-c-h. You really only need a small amount to fuel you in the morning – not like the bottomless bowls of that we’re used to consuming in the morning without every really feeling satisfied, ya know what I mean? And paired with a luscious liquid like my Super Creamy Hemp Milk will keep you full for even longer, help stabilize your blood sugar, not to mention flood your bod with the delicate nutrients and powerful enzymes that store-bought, plant-based milk is missing. This recipe is dead simple and pretty much like cream – I shouldn’t even call it milk, since it’s so rich and thick. And since we’re thinking outside the cereal box here, don’t stop at breakfast…this milk is amazing in coffee and tea, in raw treats and baked goods, soup, smoothies, ice cream and popsicles. You’re gonna love it!

I made the cereal the first time with just almond flour and a full half-cup of applesauce. It was definitely delicious, but I loved it just as much when I cut this amount in half. If you don’t want all the sweetness, use just ¼ cup / 60ml of applesauce instead of the full amount. If you’re using buckwheat flour, you will need the full amount of the applesauce’s moisture to bind it all together. I haven’t tried a version without the coconut sugar, so if you’re not into that stuff feel free to play with the recipe on your own.

Print recipe

Grain-free / Gluten-free Cinnamon Crunch Cereal Makes 5-7 servings

Ingredients: ½ cup ground flax seeds / 50g 1 ½ cups / 150g blanched almond flour 1½ Tbsp. cinnamon ¼ tsp. fine sea salt ¼ cup / 35g coconut sugar ¼ cup / 60ml – ½ cup / 125ml applesauce (½ cup / 125ml if using buckwheat flour) 1 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted optional: ½ cup / 85g buckwheat flour

Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C.

2. Combine the ground flax seeds, almond flour, cinnamon, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir well. Then add the desired amount of applesauce and coconut oil, and stir to fully incorporate (you made need to use your hands if it gets too dry). Gather dough into a rough ball.

3. Place dough ball on a sheet of baking paper with another sheet on top. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough as evenly as possible, about 2mm thickness (not quite paper thin). If you’re using buckwheat flour, you’ll need to separate the dough into two batches to achieve this. Remove top sheet of baking paper, and using a paring knife, score the dough into small squares of your desired size (mine were about 1.5cm / .5” square).

4. Place in the oven to bake for about approximately 25 minutes until turning golden around the edges, then turn the oven off and let the cereal sit in there until cool (this will help dry it out and make them extra crisp).

5. Once the cereal is completely cool, break up the pieces into squares and place in an airtight glass container. Store for up to one month at room temperature.

Super Creamy Hemp Milk Makes 1 liter / 1 quart

Ingredients: scant 4 cups / 1 liter water ¾ cup hulled hemp seeds / hemp hearts

Totally optional add-ins: sweetener (stevia, dates, honey, maple syrup…) vanilla sea salt raw cacao powder

Directions: 1. Place all ingredients in the blender and blend on high until smooth (this make take a couple minutes). 2. Pour directly into a sterilized bottle and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Initially, I was really afraid to come out about any of this stuff – the changes my diet is undergoing, the orthorexia, the internal voices! But I know in my gut that if I’m going through it, someone else out there is too. And the reason I wanted to start My New Roots in the first place was to create a safe space for everyone to share and support each other on our health journeys, so I have to be as transparent and honest as I feel I can be to set that example. I want to say a huge heartfelt thank-you to all of you who have stood by me all of these years and continue to do so. It feels pretty amazing to have you, and to be getting better all together.

In light and gratitude, Sarah B.

*****

Also… There’s one spot left for the upcoming retreat in Ibiza, click here to join me for a week of total inspiration and rejuvenation!

Source: https://www.mynewroots.org/site/2017/08/cinnamon-crunch-cereal-hemp-milk/

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blkwidowsweb · 7 years

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Dawn Tallman: Ministering Through The Music

Known as the Queen of Gospel Energy, Recording Artist and Song Writer, Dawn Tallman is a gifted singer with an anointed voice. Her voice has been heard across dance floors around the world. Full of love, high energy, and positivity, she is able to uplift and encourage while making you dance. I was thrilled to be able to chat with Dawn about the messages in her music, her career and her impact on the House and Dance Music Scene.

Black Widow: Tell me about your background and how you began singing?

Dawn Tallman: My background is rooted in the church. When I was a little girl around 1, my mom said I’d sing all the commercials on TV. I would jump off her lap and rock back and forth and sing all the songs. My mom knew that there was something special inside of me. She knew I had a gift. I started singing in church. I had my first concert at 5 years at old at church. This wasn’t a kid choir it was an actual concert. I remember that moment. As a kid it felt like a million people looking at me from that pulpit. I remember the look of happiness on their faces. I knew this was what I wanted to do. Putting smiles on people’s faces because I could sing? Yeah…

Growing up in church and then getting older, I started exploring other kinds of music like R&B and I started doing that for a while. You know doing R&B you had those stigmas you had to fight against.

Black Widow: Like what? What were some of those obstacles?

Dawn Tallman: You know…it’s about the look. I got those typical responses. I was too big but I could sing my butt off. I didn’t have a certain look. I was doing the “Kelly Price” thing. You know my voice was always accepted. I was doing hooks and working doing background vocals, but when it was time to be out front, they weren’t having that. It was very discouraging.

Black Widow: That had to be frustrating and discouraging. If you let it get on the inside of you, it can be damaging.

Dawn Tallman: Absolutely!

Black Widow: How did it affect you and/or motivate you to keep doing what you are doing?

Dawn Tallman: I always believed in what I was doing and my foundation is rooted in my faith. I knew this was a gift from God and my gift was going to make room for me. So I knew to keep pushing. Of course, It bothered me and I was hurt but I had a fire inside of me and determination, so I pushed through that hurt and kept going but everyone can’t do that.

Black Widow: Faith will push you through things others would never be able to deal with. Who were some of your earlier influences?

Dawn Tallman: Girl yes!!!! You know I love music. My dad listened to a lot of Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole. I was influenced by different artists, not just gospel. I loved Aretha Franklin, Vanessa Bell Armstrong…artist like those. That kind of stuff.

Black Widow: My mom used to say to me, there are some people who can sing and there are others whose voices are anointed. The ones who are anointed will touch you in deeply personal ways. I can tell you, some of your songs have gotten me through some really rough patches in my life. In particular, when my divorce became final, I heard “For me” at the club and was in tears. They were happy tears tho…

Dawn Tallman: Oh wow…we have a lot in common. Those songs were written from real life experiences. They were birthed from a bad marriage/divorce/relationship and I was in a dark place. During that time, that light bulb switched and that inner voice said, “Wait…you don’t have to be in this. You have a choice. You can get out of this”. It took a minute. It took my faith and it took work. God isn’t going to sit there and pull you out; you got to do the work.

Black Widow: and it’s hard… it’s really hard…

Dawn Tallman: Yes it is. It takes time and it takes work. It’s very hard. You have a choice but it is not easy. There are days now where I have to remember what I sing and the testimonies I get from people. I still have to keep going even when I may not feel like it. It’s my ministry.

Black Widow: Your music makes people feel something. It’s not just the kind of music you sing but the way you sing it. Your faith comes through your music. How has your faith influenced you as an artist?

Dawn Tallman: These songs are birthed from real stories and situations. Of course, I can write a song about whatever because I’m an artist. That’s what we do. My faith is the foundation. That’s where these songs from. These lyrics are powerful, and you got to have faith to sing them and to convey those messages where people can feel it. It’s not just me performing, it’s my testimony.

Black Widow: You have songs I play to remind me that I got this or songs that remind me that even when I make mistakes; I’m still going to be ok. They stay in rotation on my playlist especially when my faith is challenged. I’m not going to lie to you; I’ve burst into tears in the middle of a dance floor!

Dawn Tallman: You know… the lights, camera... action… stuff is cool but this is real ministry for me. My ministry is not in the four walls of a church it’s out here. I’ve ministered to myself in a club sometimes. It’s always my prayer that what I say or what I sing will touch someone. It’s a career and I love it but more than anything, I want someone to be touched, transformed or have their heart changed from my music. I’ve received so many testimonies from people telling me some of my songs have really pulled them through hard times.

Black Widow: Those are the reminders you are doing what you are doing what you have been called to do. You’ve made some awesome music with Josh Milan. How did you guys start collaborating?

Dawn Tallman: He’s my partner and best friend. When we did, “For Me”, he just knew what to say. God really used him musically. I mean… WHOA…what I couldn’t write, he knew exactly what to say.

Black Widow: When you have a partner or someone you collaborate with that knows you like that…

Dawn Tallman: WHEW Girl!!!

Black Widow: Those collaborations are priceless. You know we make mistakes and we are human. Songs like this remind me that you can fall down and get back up again.

Dawn Tallman: “For Me” was one of those songs that I ministered to myself with. You know, we have a choice to be happy. It may be hard but I’m making a conscious decision to be happy no matter what.

Black Widow: YES! YES! I completely relate! Happiness is truly a choice! How did house music come into play?

Dawn Tallman: I first heard songs like “Follow Me”, “Break for Love” etc. when I would go out to clubs. I just remember that feeling when I heard it…it was crazy. I was at a wedding about 20 years ago and met Juan Coon. He was a producer and loved my voice. He asked me to do some music with him and I put out a single with him. In the early 90s, I did a song called, “Caught in Love” on K4B records with producers K London Posse. This record was like fate, it just took off. Then Benji Candalario did a remix. He was a huge producer/remixer in the 90s and that record did phenomenal. I did my very first show at the Sound Factory Bar with Barbara Tucker, Don Welch and Louie Vega and I was hooked.

When I went to that club it was a whole new world I never knew existed. Everyone was just free and having a ball. They didn’t care that I was big. They didn’t care how I looked; they just loved me and my voice. I was accepted here. No one was telling me how to look or anything, they just said, “Girl keep singing”!!!

LAUGHTER!

Dawn Tallman: It felt like I was walking into this family and I was accepted and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Black Widow: That’s what I love about this scene; it’s a lot of kids in these clubs that went out to be accepted. It’s very come as you are…

Dawn Tallman: Yeah you come to dance, be free and have a good time.

Black Widow: Let’s talk about your creative process. You mentioned your songs come from real life experiences. Do you have moments of writers block? How do you combat it?

Dawn Tallman: You know around the time of “For me”, I struggled. That’s where Josh came in. Like I said, he was able to write the words I couldn’t at that time and we were so connected, he really conveyed what I wanted to say. I most definitely get times when I just don’t have it in me. You have to try to push yourself out of it but if you force it, it’s not going to be authentic. Sometimes you have to ride it out. Sometimes I feel like I’m not creative, I’m not hearing nothing…I’m just not feeling it. Once I get back in, then it slowly comes back. I will force myself to write because you don’t want it to linger to long.

Black Widow: I’ve definitely been there. Sometimes I’ll just write whatever I’m feeling. It won’t necessarily be a song; it may just be my personal writing in my journals. Writing is a muscle and you must exercise it…you know?

Dawn Tallman: OMG! I was going to say the same thing…even if it’s in my journals. Write something and write exactly how you feel…just write everything; that inspiration and creativity will come back to you.

Black Widow: Writing is my therapy. Sometimes the songs I write are sermons to myself. Do you feel the same way about performing?

Dawn Tallman: Oh yes! I totally understand. You know...what we do has to bless us first before it’s blesses the people. That’s the only way people can feel it. You have to be open, you have to be vulnerable.

Black Widow: It’s about releasing fear…

Dawn Tallman: Yes! That’s where my song, “I’m not afraid came from”. It’s about embracing it all. You can’t be so diva-fied” because people can’t connect with you that way.

Black Widow: When you are vulnerable, you are putting yourself out there and sometimes it ain’t pretty. Is there a fear in that?

Dawn Tallman: Nope…not for me. That’s artistry. When people see that from you, they connect to it. You become human. I try to keep it 100 but there’s a difference between being vulnerable and letting people inside your person. It’s a balance between being vulnerable and allowing people inside your personal space. I’m a firm believer that you overcome by the words of your testimony. You can’t keep it in. Even if it’s only one person…it matters. You just never know. I try to be open and vulnerable because I need people to see I’m human just like you, I make mistakes just like anyone else, I’m figuring it all out just like you. These songs pour into me and I want to pour them into someone else.

Black Widow: it makes you relatable.

Dawn Tallman: …and Human. There’s a difference between being too familiar with you and being vulnerable.

Black Widow: I’m most certainly learning about creating those boundaries.

Dawn Tallman: You got to learn how to discern and decipher.

Black Widow: Because we are human and go through stuff, it doesn’t stop the job! How do you press through performances when real life is complicated?

Dawn Tallman: it seems like when I’m going through it in real life, those are my most powerful performances!

Black Widow: Out of great pain comes great art sometimes.

Dawn Tallman: Girl yes!!!! Even when you are dealing with stuff, you got to remember people have decided to come out and pay their money to see you and you never know what people are going to receive from your performance. Sometimes the songs I sing, minister to me while I’m ministering to someone else.

Black Widow: Ministering to yourself through your own music.

Dawn Tallman: It’s a powerful gift.

Black Widow: I have told my parents that I’ve had the same experiences they have in church in a club sometimes. It really can be transformative and a completely spiritual experience. That’s a deeper connection with your audience that cannot be faked.

Dawn Tallman: There are going to be people who may never go to church. I may not be stuffing church down your throat but you will be encouraged and uplifted. That’s why I remain open; you don’t know what people are going through. I have to be willing to strip myself down and connect with people; it’s what draws people to me.

Black Widow: How do you balance career, family and motherhood?

Dawn Tallman: You know it’s hard. I’m sure you know what I mean. It’s so difficult. It’s hard because of the type of business I’m in. It’s not a 9-5 where I can turn it off at the end of the night. It’s the music industry… I can get a call tonight that Beyoncé wants me to record…and I got to work all of this out! You know?

Laughter!

Black Widow: Girl yes! Absolutely! That’s a call you aren’t gonna miss! LOL

Dawn Tallman: It’s hard to juggle but it can be done. It’s difficult…there are times I have to turn it off. I have to set aside those moments. I have to turn my phone off; it’s a conscious decision and just have that quality time. It can be a lot but you know…we do what we have to do. I am the caretaker; it’s all on me so I’m out here making it happen. I don’t just sing house music, I sing in two wedding bands, I sing in a jazz band, I do background vocals for jazz artists. I’m all over the place sometimes. Being on the road, motherhood doesn’t stop. I was just in Russia but I’m on the phone making sure my kids are good, homework is done, and everyone is on point. It’s hard to balance but it gets’ done. It’s what we do.

Black Widow: Tell me about it! We always do! So, let’s talk about the party! I’m excited to see and hear you perform. What can we all expect?

Dawn Tallman: GIRL!!!! I’m coming with the heavenly choir!!

{LAUGHTER}

Dawn Tallman: I’m excited! I’m coming with an open heart and ready to do what I do. I’m bringing the fire with me tho! I’m ready to bless the people. It’s going to be such a great night! Bring the tambourines!!!

Black Widow: Well if you see a girl with curly hair dancing and singing every lyric…that’s me! I can’t wait. Thanks so much for speaking with me today. I look forward to hearing you sing!

Dawn Tallman: Absolutely! I can’t wait. It’s been a pleasure.

Check out Dawn Tallman at the following:

www.dawntallman.com

On Facebook: @Dawntallman1

On Twitter: @dawntallman

On Instagram: @dawntallman

On Traxsource

Hope you enjoyed this week's interview! As always, see ya on a Dance Floor!

Black Widow

#DAWN TALLMAN #HONEYCOMB MUSIC #BLKWIDOWSWEB #HOUSE MUSIC #GOSPELHOUSE #SOULFUL HOUSE

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