Tuesday Tales - Foolish

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! I'm sorry I have been gone. I've been dealing with some Facebook issues. 

This week we are with the Gods of DC and the word prompt is “foolish”.

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Hestia let go a loud, long sigh and then swept past her sister towards the noise. Demeter spun on her toe and followed her.

“Hestia! Sis! How’s it going?” Poseidon’s muscular, leather-covered arms were spread wide and seemed to fill the cavernous hall. 

Hestia stopped in her tracks. Demeter skidded to a halt beside her. She could see her older sister glare down at their brother with her hands clasped to her hips. 

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” he pried.

“Don’t be foolish,” Hestia answered. 

“Hestia,” Demeter chided under her breath. 

Hestia humphed then pressed her lips together in a tight, thin red line.

“Aunt Hestia,” Juliet addressed. “I promise our stay will be short.”

“We are very appreciative of your kindness,” Freddy followed. “We’ll be gone before you know it.”

Hestia’s mouth curved into a slight smile. “You better not be gone before I get to enjoy those babies. I’ll whip you up something to eat before you start practicing.”

Poseidon scowled as Hestia scooped up the twin from Freddy’s arms. “Wait. You were ready to kick me, your own brother, to the curb but you are ready to feed everyone else. What gives?”

Hestia pointed to the rest of the family. “I like them and that includes Ares. They’re helpful and send me gifts and let me play with their cute children. You...” Her words trailed away as she waved the sea god off. She sashayed down the corridor with the rest of the gods, goddesses and magical beings that were not her siblings on her heels. That left Demeter standing with the pouting deity. 

Poseidon stared at them, dumbfounded. “But I’m her little brother.”

Demeter smirked at him. “When was the last time you sent her flowers?”

Poseidon frowned at her. “I just did it…” His words faded as he wiggled his fingers. He must have been counting on them. “It might have been a millennia or two.”

The Diary of a Hacked Author Entry #1 - Keep Your Wits About You

 

I never planned to use this blog other than to promote the books that I write. Then, last Monday (November 13th), I got a friend request on Facebook from someone I was certain I had already friended. Like normal, I reached out to them and asked if they friended me. 

No, they claimed. They were hacked. They asked for help getting back into their account. 

As I helped them, I sensed something was wrong. I checked for devices that didn't seem to belong to my account. There were a few so I booted them. Then I changed my password. I missed one key point to check. 

Bada-bing, bada-boom. At 4:00 am the next morning, I was kicked out of my account, unable to get back in. Hackers had control of my account and still do a week later.

Incidentally, the way I was hacked is exactly how Facebook tells you to reclaim your account. It encourages you to use a friend or family member's Facebook account to begin the recovery process of your own. It seems to be the latest and most effective way for a hacker to get your profile.

So, what do you do if you sense something is off and someone is trying to hack you? You need to keep your wits about you and not panic.

1.) For starters, right now, go enable your Two-Way Authentication. I know it sucks to jump through hoops to get into your account. It is well worth it. Many platforms will ask if it is you on an entirely different website that your hacker cannot access. Stop reading. Go do it now. I will wait here until you are done. 

Under your profile, click on Settings. From there, click on Password and Security. You will find Two-Way Authentication.

2.) Check for other devices that are logged into your account. If one doesn't look familiar, boot it. Worst-case scenario, you have to log into one of your personal devices again. That option is far better than fighting a hacker for how long. 

Follow the same steps as in Step One. In the section beneath Two-Step Authentication is a step that says "Where you are logged in". Click on that button then start booting devices except the one you are on. 

3.) Check the email that you log on with. This is the step that I missed. The hacker set up an email that was similar to the one I have (feel free to email them at triciaandersenauthor@outlook.com). If you find the address is not the one you set up, change it as quick as you can and save it. Double-check that all foreign devices are gone and it is just the one that you set up. Verify once again that the email there is yours. You can never be too careful. You can find this under your profile then Personal Details. 

4.) Change your password. Whenever you feel something is wrong with your account or you suspect that you clicked on something you shouldn't have, change it. It's better to be safe than sorry. Come up with a word or phrase that is hard for a hacker to figure out. It should have a capital letter, a lowercase letter, a number, or a symbol. 

Once you have changed everything, keep an eye out for your texts and emails. Hopefully, everything is quiet and the threat is over. If not, stay tuned for part two.

Tuesday Tales - Narrow

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week we are with the Gods of DC and the word prompt is “narrow”.

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

“It will just be a little while, Hestia,” Demeter protested.

The goddess of hearth and home dismissed her little sister with a wave of her hand. Her wide, full skirt brushed against the narrow path between the stacks of books on the floor. For having a literal mansion in the middle of nowhere, there seemed to be little room to live in. Packrat.

“I didn’t relocate here so that I could entertain company, especially family. Zeus is fortunate that I didn’t just go back to Olympus so I could be left alone.”

“You know that Pan and his nymphs use Olympus for their own personal playground. Do you really want to be exposed to that type of debauchery?”

Demeter barely made out what Hestia said. It was very Greek and the curse was very unladylike for a Vestal Virgin. “Again, I decline your offer. You and your adorable children are welcome to stay. I miss you, mi amor. But the entire brood? They took over my house not that long ago and I’d like to put a few thousand years between then and the next time I see them.”

Demeter scowled. “Not even for Artemis?”

“What does any of this have to do with Artemis?”

“She’s gone, Hestia. Someone took her.”

That got Big Sis’s attention. Hestia spun around, knocking a pile of potential reading on the floor. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“We don’t know who they are. Ares said they looked like a motorcycle gang, so we need a place to practice riding. We won’t be long. And it’s everyone that you like.”

“Is Posideon coming?”

“Okay, nearly everyone. This is your niece. My niece. We have to do something.”

Hestia bit her lower lip as if she was thinking. “If I agreed, and that is a big if, when would the hoodlums arrive?”

A voice boomed from another room. “Anyone here?”

Demeter rolled her eyes. Leave it to Poseidon to make a loud, obnoxious entrance. “About now. They’ll be here now.”