꿈

kkum / artemis — hacker.

[dreamhck]

JUNGWOO‌.

━━ ◤ “more  than  likely,  yeah.”  he  chuckles  with  a  nod  of  his  head.  "but  being  paranoid  is  apparently  working  in  their  favor,  is  it  not?“  jungwoo  asks,  eyes  scanning  over  the  screen  once  more.  god,  he  truly  didn’t  understand  a  thing  that  was  going  on  when  it  came  to  the  things  flashing  before  his  eyes.  "i  haven’t  had  a  night  like  that  since  i  was  in  high  school.  learned  that  any  amount  of  sleep  is  better  than  none  at  all.”  he  shrugs,  though  he  does  know  where  they’re  coming  from.. he  used  to  be  like  that  himself.

“everything  has  to  have  wires  somewhere,  especially  if  it’s  plugged  into  the  wall.  means  there  is  something  somewhere  that  could  be  unplugged,  right?”  jun  asks  with  a grin,  wiggling  his  brow  at  artemis  in  a  playful  fashion.  "uh..  i  don’t  think  you  believe  that  considering  you  and  i  both  know  that  it  could  eventually  lead  to  you  being  unable  to  do  your  job  well.  so  therefore,  i  think  they  would  do  something  like  that  over  something  so  'petty’.“  the  male  counters,  though  he’s  merely  still  teasing  the  other.  "you just  yawned  a  moment  ago,  i  don’t  think  your  body  would  allow  it  even  if  you  did  want  to  just  to  be  able  to  spite  me.”

     artemis shrugs  ,  then says  ,  quietly  ,  “  we’ll see about that  .  ”  they don’t want to admit that jungwoo is  right  ,  that would feel too much like  defeat  —  and it would be an admission that they’re  not  unstoppable  ,  which is something artemis  really  doesn’t feel like facing right now  .  the kumiho has always been their  escape  from the crushing feeling of inadequacy  —  they will stave off the  destruction  of their safe haven by any means necessary  .  no matter how unhealthy  .

     artemis shakes their head  ,  partially in  genuine  exasperation  .  “  well  ,  yeah  ,  it has wires  inside  it  ,  but–  look  ,  unless you  really  want to go searching through my junk for the wall plug  ,  just  leave  it  .  ”  they’re being  unnecessarily  harsh  ,  particularly given that jun has their best interests in mind  —  but the hacker just wants to  finish  what they  started  before they rest  .  “  body can shut the fuck up  ,  then  .  i’m  busy  .  i don’t  need  sleep  ,  and not sleeping won’t  kill  me  —  not  yet  ,  anyway  .  ”

[nnxmesis-deactivated20191006]

⤥…𝓉 & 𝒶

[dreamhck]

TITUS‌.

❝ well, for one, there’s nothing like a little boom to start your day. ❞ titus’s chest shakes with a silent huff of laughter, the corner of his mouth curving up into a sly smile as he feigns reading the useless words in front of him. ❝ and for another, we’re always so secretive. nothing like getting a little reaction every now and then. ❞ the macgyver lets out a yawn, dropping his head back against the leather chair as he eyes artemis from the corner of his gaze. ❝ it’s my job to help people make noise as well as keep quiet. can’t blame a little entertainment when i’m in the workshop nearly all week. ❞ a click of his tongue and titus is dropping the reading material onto the middle table, a sigh of boredom falling out of his lips. ❝ yeah, well, you aren’t wrong. at this pace he’ll be out of range before your shit hits 50%. ❞ glancing over to their computer screen, the macgyver begins to make a ‘tsk tsk’ sound, finger raising to gesture side to side in a negative manner. ❝ people who can’t afford LTE, and apparently you? ❞ 

     “  a  boom  sounds  entertaining  ,  but draining his bank account and corrupting his email would be  hilarious  to watch  .  especially since i can pull up a video feed from the camera  .  ”  artemis punches in more code  ,  searching for a better network which can  maintain  their connection to the man’s  phone  .  “  listen  ,  it’s easier to hack someone if you’re on the same network as them  —  there’s less walls to break through  .  and for another  ,  uploading  something is dependent on the network speed  .  but seriously  ,  we’re in  south korea  ,  not  australia  ,  it should be faster than this  .  ”  they grin with  satisfaction  as their  virus  finishes downloading itself to the man’s phone  ,  eyeing the rapid  flood  of data that begins copying to their computer  .  “  gotcha  !  oh  ,  man  ,  there’s  so  much dirt on this guy  —  please  ,  wait a few minutes to explode the phone  ,  i wanna  ruin  his life  .  ”

[nnxmesis-deactivated20191006]

⤥…𝓉 & 𝒶

[dreamhck]

TITUS‌.

― @dreamhck

❝ bet you five bucks his phone’s going to explode before your virus hits it. ❞ titus smiles smugly behind the magazine drawn up in front of his face. ❝ but, then again, you did say your….stuff was more important. ❞ turning his face and glancing to the side, the macgyver raises an eyebrow at his companion seated next to him in the hotel lobby. it had been a while since the elder male had partaken in any form of ‘rivalry’, and yet here they were - a friendly competition, nonetheless, or rather as friendly as seeing who could maim the targeted businessman quicker. ❝ your turn. ❞ titus smirks, nodding his head towards artemis before returning prior focus to the article in front of him.

     “  why  explode  a phone when you could  hack  it  ?  ”  artemis retorts  ,  already circumventing the businessman’s security as they type away on their laptop  .  “  you’re so  indelicate  ,  titus  .  ”  the information they want  is  important  ,  but they can acquire it through  other  means if necessary  —  however  ,  the man’s passcode is  pathetically easy  to crack  ,  so they would  prefer  to get it  now  .  “  making him  prank call  all his coworkers would be  funnier  ,  though  ,  so maybe you should call off that bet and just  let  me win  ,  ”  they add  ,  watching as their virus file is slowly delivered to the phone  .  “  urgh  ,  this internet is so  slow  ,  what kind of cheapskate uses  free wifi  in places like this  ?  ”

[dreamhck]

JUNGWOO‌.

━━ ◤ jungwoo  reaches  out  to  gently  pat  them  on  the  shoulder.  "maybe  they  don’t  know  you’re  trying  to,  maybe  they’re  just  paranoid.  you  know,  one  of  those  people  that  watches  conspiracy  theories  all  day  and  because  of  it  thinks  it’s  all  going  to  happen  to  them?“  he  starts,  trying  his  best  to  comfort  the  other.  "staying  up  too  late  and  not  sleeping  at  all  are  two  completely  different  things,  art.  yes,  i  have  stayed  up  well  past  when  i  should  have..  but  at  least  i  actually  went  to  sleep  afterwards!”  he  teases  with  a  chuckle.

“i  would  honestly  love  to  see  you  try.  give  it  your  best  shot.”  jun  retorts,  sitting  with  his  arms  held  open  as  a  'surrender’,  grin  never  faltering  from  his  lips.  "i  don’t  need  to  know  where  it’s  at  in  here,  one  call  to  the  mastermind  explaining  how  i’m  concerned  for  your  health  and  they’ll  be  quick  to  turn  it  off  for  me.“  the  dark-haired  male  teases  more,  brow  raising.  "plus,  all  i’d  have  to  do  to  find  it  is  follow  the  wires,  right?”

     “  yeah  ,  but—  ”  artemis bites back a yawn  .  “  they’re still probably an incel  .  ”  they’re being unreasonable  ,  blatantly  irrational  ,  but they’re tired and irritated and don’t want to admit that  maybe  jun is right  .  “  no  ,  like–  when you stay up to the point where you  may as well  just stay up all night  ?  ”  perhaps it’s just artemis’ peculiar brand of half-asleep  ‘  logic  ’  that leads them to doing that  ,  though  .

     “  well  ,  it’s plugged in at the wall socket and i don’t use an ethernet cable  ,  so no  ,  you  can’t  just follow the wires  —  there aren’t any  .  ”  artemis huffs  .  “  they wouldn’t turn off the internet for something so  petty  ,  either  .  it’s just sleep deprivation  ,  it’s not like it’s  serious  .  ”  they do have  other  reasons for wanting to stay here  ,  to keep working  —  but jungwoo doesn’t  need  to know that  .  their apartment is  lonely  ,  but the other alternative is their  family home  ,  and while artemis doesn’t  hate  their family  ...  their relationship has been a little  tense  lately  .  “  ‘sides  ,  i’ll still stay up  —  just to  spite  you  .  ”

[dreamhck]

JUNGWOO‌.

“ ━━ ◤ "okay  you’ve  got  a  point  there.  most  of  them  are  stupid  enough  to  make  their  passwords  their  birthdays  or  some  shit  like  that.“  jungwoo  chuckles  in  response,  nodding  his  head.  "considering  you’re  trying  to  crack  into  this  person’s  shit,  i’d  say  they  have  a  right  to  be  paranoid.”  he  shrugs,  though  he  knows  that  even  if  the  person  was  just  paranoid,  artemis  could  still  end  up  cracking  into  their  account  with  only  little  trouble.

“ ━━ ◤ "feel  free  to  kick  me  out  at  any  time  if  you  feel  the  need  to,  i  won’t  impose  unless you’re  okay  with  it.“  he  grins,  though  the  action  of  him  sinking  further  down  into  his  chair  tells  a  whole  different  story.  "wait,  what??  you’re  telling me  that  you  forgot  to…. sleep?”  he  starts,  giving  them  a  slightly  confused  look.  "how  does  anyone  forget  to  sleep?  that’s  like  my  favorite  activity.“  jun  continues,  sounding  more  and  more  confused  &  lost  with  each  word.  "hm,  that  doesn’t  sound  like  the  truth  to  me,  considering  you  just  admitted  to  'forgetting’  not  even  twenty  seconds  ago.”  he  starts,  looking  around  the  room  for  a  moment.  "do  i  need  to  go  turn  off   the  internet  router  to  make  sure  you  actually  do  get  some  rest?“

     artemis pouts  .  “  yeah  ,  but they’re not supposed to  know  i’m trying to hack them  ,  and it’s not as if their wealth is super well-known or anything  .  ”  they’re being  patently  irrational  ,  but they  are   also running off very little sleep  ,  so maybe the universe should cut them some slack  .  “  i was preoccupied  !  don’t you ever get distracted by something and then accidentally stay up too late  ?  ”  they’re not sure that’s an  entirely  relatable experience  ,  but it certainly happens to artemis a  lot  .

     “  if you turn off the internet router  ,  i’ll kill you  ,  ”  artemis threatens  ,  although they doubt a simple threat  (  especially from someone as unthreatening as artemis  )  will actually  stop  jun  .  “  i  swear  i will sleep  .  it might be passing out from exhaustion  ,  but it’s still sleep  .  and you turning off the internet won’t speed up my going to sleep  .  if you even  know  where the router in here  is  .  ”

[dreamhck]

JUNGWOO‌.

━━ ◤ truth  be  told,  there’s  more  to  the  janitor  than  meets  the  eye.  he’d  grown  up  with  strict  parents  &  because  of  it,  rebelled  as  hard  as  he  could.  violence,  crime  &  all  things  illegal  calling  out  to  him  like  the  most  beautiful  sins.  which  is  why  he  knew  more  than  just  'cleaning  up’  after  the  crew,  he’d  learned  how  to  manipulate,  how  to  steal,  how  to  hide  in  plain  sight.  though  he  doesn’t  get  to  use  those  skills  all  that  often  and  he's  started  to  feel  rusty…  not  to  mention  bored  out  of  his  mind,  but  then  again,  when  wasn’t  jungwoo  bored?  (  answer:  when  he  was  setting  things  on  fire,  of  course.  )  

━━ ◤  so  with  one  shrug  of  his  shoulder,  he  begins  approaching  his  fellow  crew  member  in  the  large  lounge  room  of  headquarters,  pretending  to  be  paying  attention  to  his  phone  as  he  'accidentally’  knocks  into  their  shoulder  as  he  heads  towards  the  front  door.  he’s  not  quite  to  the  thresh  hold  when  he  stops,  turning  around  to  face  the  person  he’d  just  pick-pocketed.  "hey,  this  happen  to  be  yours?“  there’s  a  smirk  that  forms  on  his  lips  as  he  speaks,  holding  up  the  object  in  plain  sight  before  stuffing  it  into  the  back  pocket  of  his  skinny  jeans.  "it’s  mine…  unless  you  come  with  me  to  get  something  to  eat.”  he  continues,  slowly  stepping backwards  towards  the  front  door  with  a  mischievous  look  on  his  features.  "what’s  it  gonna  be?  deal  or  no  deal?“

     if one were to ask artemis  what  ,  precisely  they spend most of their time doing in the lounge room  ,  their answer would be a vague  ‘  stuff  ’  .  they’re currently stretching the  limits  of their word count to achieve  miracles  ,  and the endeavour is proving remarkably  painful  .  this is what they get for wanting to study something  meaningful  at university  ,  artemis supposes  .  nevertheless  ,  the distraction provided by  jungwoo  was a welcome one  ,  even if  it involved the theft of artemis’ possessions  .  they really needed to start trying to make it a  challenge  to steal their  stuff  .

     “  that’s just  rude  ,  ”  artemis pouts  ,  snatching at the keyring  .  it doesn’t  actually  have anything of value on it  ,  but they keep it for  sentimental  reasons  .  “  you could just  ask  if i wanted to come  ,  do you know any teens who would say  no  to food  ?  ”  they stand from their seat  ,  rolling their shoulders back and  eyeing  jungwoo carefully  .  the janitor is not someone artemis usually  chooses  to spend time with  (  although arguably that statement is applicable to  anyone  )  and they do not entirely  trust  jungwoo to return the keyring  .  “  ‘s’not like i’ve got anything  better  to do with my time  ,  ”  they add  ,  perhaps needlessly  .  “  you paying  ?  but also  —  you need company  that  badly you’re resorting to  theft  ?  ”

[dreamhck]

CHAEYOUNG‌.

––––––「  chae disregarded any thought in her mind to hide how hard she rolled her eyes at the other’s response.   “   you say that like i’ve never done it before,   ”   she replied, ease in her voice where theirs had clear bite, though that didn’t diffuse the tension between them any less. chaeyoung bit her tongue once she heard those with higher positions than either of them held mentioned and knowing that the words had truth to them –– or at least, enough warning to keep her from firing back with just crack them then.  “   i wasn’t asking you to shut down any more of them, the only thing i would need is some peace and quiet in my ear piece if you watched me open more.   ”   」

     artemis is  sorely  tempted to turn the security cameras  back on  mid-heist  ,  just to get her  caught  and hopefully take the girl  down  a few notches  .  “  just ‘cause you’ve done it before  ,  doesn’t mean you won’t  fuck up  this time  ,  ”  they retort  ,  glaring at chaeyoung  .  “  you’re not  perfect  .  ”  their tone is  definitely  excessive  ,  but artemis can’t bring themself to  care  .  “  and how would you avoid the whole  cameras  issue  ?  ”  they challenge  ,  holding back a snort at her comment about  peace and quiet  .  “  y’know  ,  the part that’s the  actual problem  here ?  ”

[dreamhck]

JUNGWOO‌.

━━ ◤  jungwoo  was  decent  at  technology,  needing  it  from  time  to  time  to  help  with  his  job’s  tasks.  but  when  it  came  to  thinks  like  hacking  into  other  people’s  private  things  was  just  not  his  strong  suit.  perhaps  that’s  because  he  preferred  being  far  more  hands  on  with  his  'targets’  than  a  job  like  that  of  a  hacker  would  allow.  "that's  probably  a  really  bad  idea,  actually.“  he  starts  off,  grin  pulling  on  the  edges  of  his  lips  to  show  them  he’s  simply  just  teasing.  "sounds  painful,  if  you  ask me.”  the  janitor  continues,  making his way  over  to  the  other before  leaning  against  the  desk.  “rich  people  who  are  far  more  concerned  about  their  money  being  stolen  from  them  than  anything  else… that’s  who.”  jungwoo  explains  with  a  shrug  of  his  shoulders.  “there’s  a  few  other  people  who  come  to  mind  too,  but  given  what  we  do  —  rich  people  are  usually  the  first  thing  that  pop  into  my  head.”  he  chuckles,  eyes  scanning  the screen  before  them.

━━ ◤  “just  bored,  honestly.  don’t  have  anything  that  needs  to  be  done  right  now  so  i  figured  why  not  come  bug  other  people  while  they  try  to  do  their  jobs?”  he  smirks,  pulling  an  empty  chair  across  the  floor,  making  himself  comfortable  before  turning  to  glance  at  artemis.  "you  look  like  shit,  art.  have  you  even  slept?“

     “  don’t take it literally  ,  you jerk  .  ”  artemis frowns  .  “  but also–  not necessarily  .  the definition of a  computer  is very loose  .  technically you could just be fucking a  mathematician  .  although they’re  mentally  painful to be around  ,  so i suppose your point still stands  .  ”  they punch in a string of code  ,  and a new process begins  ,  one that will  undoubtably  take even  longer  to complete  —  and quite possibly have  no success  . 

     “  most rich people don’t change things as  basic  as their  computer  login  ,  and a good deal of them  likely  have  no clue  how to change an  online  bank login  ,  this one is definitely just  paranoid  .  ”  possibly with good reason  ,  given that artemis’ intent was to  liberate  them of a  not insignificant  portion of their wealth  .  but  still  ,  they feel that people in possession of  billions of dollars  ought to be somewhat  obliged  to have poor security  .  it’s not as if they  need  the money  .

     artemis nods  .  “  fair enough  ,  ”  they say  ,  and part of them enjoys the company  .  having  someone  to inflict their frustrations on makes them more  bearable  ,  they think  .  “  i–  might have forgot to  ?  ”  they’re not particularly  skilled  in identifying fatigue  —  possibly it has  something  to do with their  constant  tiredness  —  and they  regularly  lose track of the time  .  “  ‘s fine  ,  i’ll  catch up  another time  .  ”  a blatant  lie  :  artemis has no intentions on making up for lost sleep  ,  nor do they have the  time  to do so  .  

[dreamhck]

JIWON‌.

JIWON  DIDN’T  ACKNOWLEDGE  THE  lack  of  honorifics  as  he  never  found  the  allure  in  them  —-  with  the  majority  of  his  “growing  up”  happening  in  the  states  he  didn’t  think  twice  when  someone  didn’t  use  them.  but  it  wasn’t  the  lack  of  honorifics  that  was  responsible  for  his  PUZZLED  expression.  adjusting  his  posture  the  grip  around  his  glass  tightened.   ❝  what  ?  ❞  he  simply  uttered  out  not  ENTIRELY  SURE  if  he  wanted  to  know  the  response.  he  shook  his  head  sending  a  strand  of  hair  to  fall  from  it’s  place.  quickly  he  tucked  it  back  into  place.   ❝  why  are  you  asking  me  if  you  can  fight  the  internet  ?  if  i  said  no,  would  you  have  listened  ?  ❞  it’s  question  after  question  as  he’s  deciphering  such  a  peculiar  conversation.  

     “  uh–  well that depends on why you said no  .  like  ,  if you aren’t using it  ,  i don’t need permission  —  not from you  ,  anyway  —  but if you  are  ,  i don’t wanna  ,  like  ,  interrupt your stuff  .  especially not if you have unsaved things online  ,  ”  artemis explains  ,  stumbling over their words  .  there’s probably a better way to explain it  —  likely by using a word  other  than  fight  —  but artemis is stubborn in their  desire  to refer to it that way  .  “  n’–  if you’re wondering what the whole  ‘  fighting  ’  thing is about  ...  i find technology responds  positively  to death threats and  violence  .  ”  and they  wish  that wasn’t true  ,  because it’s  patently  unfair  ,  but  c’est la vie  ,  computers are the stupidest  ‘  smart  ’  things on the planet and  murphy’s law  is very much  accurate  .

[dreamhck]

ZARA‌.

@dreamhck​ ! 

“ oh my god, this sucks. ” finger scrolls through her instagram feed for the fifth time in two minutes, a sigh given as she locks her phone once more and tosses it beside her. “ i am so bored. the one day of the week i have nothing to do, and i think i might actually go insane. ” dark russet hues flicker to artemis, one of the crew members she had yet to really know - but the only one currently around. guess it was time for some team bonding. “ hey um, would you wanna go get lunch ? ”  

     artemis  technically  has an essay to write  ...  and a handful of  other  assignments to finish  ...  but they’ve never been very good at  resisting  the lures of  procrastination  .  so when zara asks them about  lunch  ,  they look up from where they sit  ,  eyes  glazed-over  from staring at a blank document for  hours  .  “  sure  .  where should we go  ?  ”  they’re  bored  in the way that  seeps  into bones and leaves one  immobile  .  the  perpetual  ,  self-fuelling  variety  .  it is not something  exercise  or  action  can shake off  ,  but they try  anyway  .

[dreamhck]

TAEJIN‌.

♡    –––   𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦  𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔  𝑏𝑦  𝑡𝑎𝑒𝑗𝑖𝑛   didn’t  have  the  intentions  of  staying  behind  and  interacting  with  the  other  members  of  the  organization.  minus  a  few  formal  hello’s  taejin  kept  to  himself  as  he  only  was  in  attendance  to  retrieve  some  paper  work.  on  his  route  to  the  exit  taejin  passed  by  a  door  where  the  sounds  of  struggle  became  increasingly  noticeable.  nosy  was  a  good  word  for  it  but  taejin  preferred  curiosity.  peaking  his  head  in  the  doorway  his  slim  frame  then  entered  the  room.  ❛  or  they  could  just  be  an  idol.  ❜  taejin  joked  from  his  own  experience.  the  blonde  couldn’t  help  but  to  greet  the  younger  with  a  smile.   ❛  how  could  someone  with  such  a  sweet  —  adorable  face  have  such  a  sailor’s  mouth  ?  color  me  confused.  ❜  he  added  while  tapping  his  chin  with  his  index  finger.

     artemis snorts  .  “  idols don’t have passwords  this  long or complicated  —  not that i’ve hacked any idols’ things  —  and they at least use  regular  ascii characters  .  this  greasy velociraptor  of a person has used some  weird-ass  non-ascii characters  —  fuck  ,  they’ve probably used  emojis  or some  bullshit  like that  .  now i’m going to have to go through  every goddamn unicode character  ,  oh my  god  ,  ”  they groan  ,  two seconds away from just slamming their head into the desk repeatedly to end it all  .  “  all i wanted was to steal a few  million won  ,  not even anything  big  .  ”

     at taejin’s next comment  ,  artemis scowls  .  “  you call  this  a sailor’s mouth  ?  what kind of company do  you  keep  ?  there are literally  millions  of people who swear more than i do  —  and  don’t  call me  ‘  adorable  ’  .  ”  they huff ,  now thoroughly frustrated  .  “  i’m an adult  .  did you  actually  need something  ,  or did you just come here to  insult  me  ?  ”  

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CHAEYOUNG‌.

––––––「  chaeyoung caught herself stifling a scoff at the other’s reaction – or really, lack thereof.   “   please, i could knock out two vaults myself. this isn’t even the first store with this security system that i’ve done.  ”   she sighed quietly to herself, thankful that she had bitten her tongue from adding i don’t need a fucking graph.   “   i doubt we’ll ever get this place again in the next few years, most jewelry importers like to change how they lock up once anything’s been taken from them.   ”   」

     “  ‘kay  ,  well you go take shit from multiple vaults without backup  ,  then  ,  and tell me how well it works out for you  .  ”  the  level  of snark in artemis’ tone is  unnecessary  ,  but the girl’s  arrogance  irritates them  .  “  the higher-ups don’t just  arbitrarily  pick how much to steal  .  and there’s a good  dozen  cameras in the other vaults that my decrypter  hasn’t  cracked the passwords to  ,  so they’d  see  you coming  .  ”

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CLAY‌.

                she had always wanted to fly    ,    she looks out to the sky    &.    sees those hollow-boned creatures    &.    envied them    ,   that she was the dreamer who saw the good in the bad    ,    hope in prison    ,    opportunity where they see none.     ❝   im sick of reading through like 500 emails to find out if the CEO is banging the CFO     ,     i want the drama           but i dont wanna make myself blind by 45.    ❞      there are blind storytellers on the street    ,   weaving their yearns    ,   beckoning for any coin that they can line their pockets with. never listen          they dont know what its really like. they sing of hubris   ,    of the mighty gods.      ❝   you could like         put in what key words you want like we could do it for passwords    &.    shit. so we dont have to wait for them to crack.   ❞     they never talk about how beautiful icarus looked when he was soaring through the sky     ,    only talk about how icarus looked when he was dead in the water. only looking for fear   &.    shock. 

     “  aw  ,  don’t you enjoy reading boring business emails  ?  ”  neither does artemis  ,  to be fair  ,  but they  have  to  —  yet another attempt by their parents to bestow responsibility upon them  .  so their sympathy for clay’s struggles are somewhat  dampened  by their immediate future  .  “  but that sounds like a great idea  —  and if we train it on the right stuff  ,  we could even find  sketchy deals  and all that  .  even better than just regular  gossip  .  ”  their phone buzzes  ,  and artemis switches the thing to ultra-silent without even  glancing  at it  ,  before tossing it at a wall  .  “  so  .  where do we start  ?  ”  they are in desperate need of  distraction  ,  and they will take  any  opportunity  —  no matter how  small  .

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CLAY‌.

                          they’ve swallowed cities once   ,    now they are going to swallow a god with a few well-placed words. they ache to drink down divinity     &.     yearn to watch the panic in his eyes.    ❝     you’re just mad cause i thought of something cooler than you’ll ever think of.   ❞      it is a quiet thing to watch divinity to decay. like a stately home   ,   forgotten   ,    cobwebs creep     &.     crawl filling mouths to suffocate holy prayers.      ❝   oh    ,    shit          im so so sorry           what do you want me to call you     ,     like instead of the b word.   ❞      dust consumes fine linens   ,   china      &.     pearl until there’s nothing left at all. 

     “  okay  ,  keep telling yourself that  ,  ”  artemis hums, eyes glittering with mischief  .  “  i’ll just be over here teaching a computer how to hack  .  ”  they  are  actually working on that  ,  didn’t just say it to try to  one-up  clay  ,  and the idea is  slowly  coming to fruition  .  “  it’s not the  word  that’s the problem  ,  ”  artemis says  ,  but they don’t have the  heart  to finish with  ‘  it’s you  ’  —  not when clay is so  willing  to apologise  .  “  but  ,  i dunno  ,  dude  just  feels  more gender-neutral  .  ”  a half-baked peace offering  ,  served with a dollop of  i still hate you but  .  “  anyway  —  putting glue on your face is a dumb idea  .  people will watch it  ,  but only to make fun of you  .  you should make something better  ,  like  ...  literally anything  .  i dunno  .  youtube is a bad place to receive validation  ,  anyway  .  ”

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TITUS‌.

he only listens with quiet intent, watching artemis’s explanations as a teacher might await an explanation. there was less need, titus found, to therefore be as apologetic as he seemed; it wasn’t usual behavior for the elder male, although he viewed maybe once taking the initiative to be better than his past self had. ❝ oh? I don’t watch much youtube, besides music and… ❞ he trails off, not quite knowing where to go with what he’s saying. awkwardness wasn’t usually his repertoire, and he had to fight the urge to turn away to dissuade such a fact.

❝ dunno, people seem to either be uptight or loose. can’t be too sure these days ❞ titus shrugs, creases forming in his brow as he allows the phone to be slipped out of his grasp. artemis’s questions and sudden curiosity involving the device ponders the macgyver - were all hackers like this? he supposed not. ❞ heist work. it’s become apparent there’s some contacts on there that are of interest to the mastermind and he….quote en quote, ‘wants to see what they’re up to’. ❞ titus hums, eyebrow raising at the male’s inquiry. the question makes him chuckle, pearly whites splitting out from under his lips in a slight smile. ❝ if by days you mean more than a week….probably. but i’m sure you can mess with it for a little while, they won’t mind. although… ❞ titus groans slightly, blinking as a memory resurfaces. ❝ just….try not to lose it. please. ❞

     artemis shrugs  ,  unbothered by the stilted conversation  .  “  yeah  ,  there’s quite a few with several screens  ,  it’s probably why half of them are in debt  .  that  ,  and the cameras  .  ”  they’re by no means an expert on the world of youtube  ,  but as a student  ,  they’ve spent  many  hours deep in the rabbit hole of  that  website  .  you pick up a thing or two from it after a while  .

     “  people suck  .  that’s why i work with computers  —  they don’t talk back unless you want them to  .  ”  they smile  ,  the bluish light glinting off the whites of their eyes and teeth  ,  and if this were a movie they’d be the antagonist  .  all  count olaf  ,  poor lighting and sinister faces  .  but this is  reality  ,  and so they look rather more like a  harmless  child  .  “  aight  ,  i’ll take a look at it  ,  see what i can get  out  of it  .  should have the results by ... monday  ?  ”  they toss the device to one side, letting it clatter against the desk as they rummage in one of their  myriad  storage boxes  .  “  s’fine  ,  i won’t  lose  it  .  not until i’ve gotten  everything  off it  ,  anyway  .  ”  they’ve  definitely  got some lightning to usb cables  somewhere  ,  but given how  rarely  artemis encounters  iphones  ,  they’re likely buried under something  .  or several somethings  .  “  what’s got you so stressed about it  ,  though  ?  ”

[dreamhck]

          open starter  !

     “  ...  what the  fuck  ,  are you  kidding  me  ?!  ”  artemis has spent the last  twenty-seven  hours  painstakingly  monitoring the progress of their latest project  (  honestly  ,  the time it was taking  ought  to have been the first indicator  )  —  only to be met with the most  mundane  error message in existence  —  ‘  incorrect password  ’  .  “  fuck  computers  .  ”  they’re done  .  they’re never dealing with computers again  —  they’re going to go live in a cave somewhere  ,  far  away from this  disaster  .  “  what kind of  incel arsehole  changes  their password in  twenty-nineteen  ?  ”  it’s the only conceivable reason  (  in artemis’ mind  )  for their attempt to fail  —  it worked  yesterday  ,  on the  same  person  —  but the only people artemis knows who change their password regularly are  a)  naïve  or  b)  people who work in cyber security  .  

     they glance up at the sound of the door opening  ,  meeting the eyes of an  intruder  —  “  sorry  ,  don’t mind me  .  did you need something  ?  ”  the picture of politeness  —  a stark contrast to their  earlier  demeanour  .

[dreamhck]

TITUS‌.

― @dreamhck

❝ knock knock, anyone home? ❞ titus raps his knuckles against the wooden doorway, head dropping to the side in an almost curious manner. he couldn’t help but stare around the office; dark, gloomy, the only light allowing him to peer upon artemis’s face being the nearly florescent glow from the computer screen…s? screens?  ❝ jesus christ how many of these things does a hacker need…. ❞ he can’t help but mutter, blinking somewhat in a manner to hopefully adjust to the lack of lighting.  ❝ look, I know we got off on the wrong foot with….that job, trust me it wasn’t either one of our faults it went bad. ❞ titus sighs, biting at this bottom lip as he slides his hand into his jacket pocket and fishes out a turquoise-cased phone.  ❝ but I need to you to hack into this for me. mastermind has been up my ass about it since one of the magicians busted it a few days ago. please? ❞

     “  hey  ,  if you think  this–  ”  artemis gestures to their four-screen arrangement with one hand  ,  “  is a lot of screens  ,  you should see  developers  ,  i swear software companies spend like  ...  eighty percent  of their profits on more screens  .  ”  they pause for a moment  .  “  actually  ,  scratch that  ,  youtubers are the worst  .  it’s like  ...  a rite of passage for being an unlikeable nerd  .  ”  they grin, face silhouetted by the bright screens  . 

     “  you call that  the wrong foot  ?  sheesh  ,  your standards are  low  .  yeah  ,  the job went south  fast  ,  but south is  mi casa  ,  there was no permanent damage done  .  ”  artemis has better things to do than hold grudges against their crewmates  .  like hold grudges against their  parents  .  “  it yours  ?  or is this heist work  ?  ”  they take the phone  ,  turning up their nose at the clear  apple  branding on the device  .  “  and do you need it done  quickly  —  will they be annoyed if i take a few days to fuck around with it  ?  ”  artemis doesn’t hack apple devices as often as pcs and androids  (  korea being the  home  of samsung  )  and they’re  eager  to examine any possible backdoors for future reference  .