#danpeterson

[imperialmask]

Homeworld Bound Chapter 7: Patriarchs [Part 2]

"Another brother? What?" Dan asks, confused.

"Yeah, here in Salem. I was gonna go meet him in about an hour if you wanna come with." Mick suggested.

"I mean, sure. I don't see why not." Dan answered.

"He'll be a good fit for The Watch, a strong fighter, think he already joined COG actually." Mick explains.

"Might know him." Dan suggested, taking a bite out of his pizza.

"Not too sure about that, pretty sure he dropped out after awhile. I found the guy basically rotting in his apartment, only was able to get him out of his funk with Kip's help." Mick said back.

"Well, we'll see." Dan said.

///

Dan sits in shock on a bench as Mick talks to a man covered in yellow fur. He sits in a hoodie, joggers and a white shirt peeking over his hoodie like a baby kangaroo looking out of his mother's pouch. His eyes were weird, black eyes with no iris and only a pure white pupil, it was unmistakable for who it was, the living legend of COG, the man with Special Tier potential, Mega Fressbar, The Kinetic Man. Mick was in different clothes now too, a brown zip up jumper and a black shirt beneath with an black over coat, combat pants and boots.

"So...your brother...is...THE Mega Fressbar?" Dan asks in awe.

"Half brother." Mega corrects, Mick punches him in the shoulder and Mega laughs.

"God...you're my hero sir." Dan says to Mega, reaching for a hand shake. Mega belches loudly, wipes his mouth and then reaches for the hand, shaking it violently.

"It's a pleasure, i guess." Mega smiles.

"You should go fight him Dan." Mick suggests, Dan frowns.

"No, no, I can't do that." Dan says back.

"Why not? Afraid you'll get destroyed?" Mega asks.

"No i'm just afraid if we get him moving too much, he might end up breaking his hip." Dan quips, the other 2 laugh.

"No but seriously, let's do it." Mega tells him, getting up.

"Why? We're supposed to be training Mick for his duel." Dan says, slightly unnerved.

"Oh, he'll be fine. He's prepared enough. Gotta make sure you're also fit to lead though, don't we?" Mega tells Dan, extending his hand out. Dan nods and reaches for it, getting pulled up.

Dan and Mega are now within a fenced off Tennis court, Mick still on the bench outside. Dan looks at Mega and prepares to fight, putting himself into a fighting stance, Mega stands normally, drinking a soda out of a can before throwing it on the ground when he's finished.

"I'm a little rusty but don't go easy on me kid, alright?" Mega tells Dan, Dan nods.

"FIGHT!" Mick yells. Dan immediately runs at Mega and activates Azure to read his ability. Mega's ability is "Kinetic Manipulation", a lot like Mick's it is the ability to control energy at the molecular level. While originally the ability was control over his own kinetic energy and the kinetic energy of anything he touches or in a short range of him, through a series of Mystical Vows (a contract with the soul if you will), his ability was changed into something far more deadly. Mega cannot increase the kinetic energy of an object or person, but he can remove it, nor can Mega build up kinetic energy to do a static shock or increase the force behind his movement, finally Mega can not use his own mana to create or dispel extra kinetic energy. Yet in return, he can convert kinetic energy into mana without any repercussions on control with no upper limit to how much mana he can store, he can still also steal the kinetic energy from others and from his own moves.

Essentially, the more Mega moves and the more Mega hits his opponent, the stronger he becomes throughout a fight with seemingly no limit to his own potential. The only downside to this is that by surpassing his own potential, he must keep hitting in order to keep building up energy or else his output will start to pivot back to his regular limit, yet this is no issue for someone with years of COG training and experience under his belt. Even if Mega is deflected or blocked, he still gains mana, just as long as he hits. Mega is one of the very few people to break the system of grading, having been placed in the tier made specially for him, anomaly.

Dan's fear of fighting him were founded when he felt Mega's first punch, it knocked the wind straight out of him like spilling a bottle of ketchup. Dan reeled back in pan before Mega went in for a kick to the head, Dan catches it with his hand and attempts to throw him yet Mega reaches for the ground and is able to grab on, knocking Dan off his feet and sending him stumbling. Mega propels himself into another kick towards Dan but Dan is able to stop himself from falling over with a quick rock pillar for support, Dan then uses his shield to block the kick yet the pure force from it sends him flying backwards. Mega falls directly to the floor but catches himself and gets up, Dan skids along the floor of the court and stops just before the fence, by then Mega is already running up to him and going in for a right hook. Dan blocks. Mega immediately goes in for a left, Dan blocks again. Mega continually throws punches rhythmically like a drum in a marching band, yet the tempo and the force keeps increasing. Dan knows eventually his shield won't work anymore and Mega will break his defence so he attempts something. After about 10 seconds of this, Mega goes in for a powerful swing, charging up his mana in his fist. He goes in for the killing blow only for Dan to drop his shield in the air and duck below, Mega punches the shield out of the court and Dan gut punches him in the chest before hitting a right hook, then a left and finally a kick to the side. Mega dashes out of the way of the kick and smiles.

"Well then, you got moves i'll give you that." Mega tells Dan, smiling with a trickle of blood going down his nose.

"That punch could've killed me if i didn't dodge." Dan complains.

"But you did dodge." Mega answers, smiling. He goes in for a kick which Dan grabs yet Mega grabs Dan's arm and uses it to propel his body around to punch Dan in the face. Dan is completely shocked by this move and stumbles backwards again. Suddenly, Mega dashes around and behind Dan faster than he anticipated yet Dan is able to throw off Mega's punch by upsetting his stance with a rock bump. Dan sweeps Mega and punches him into the ground and holds him there as a rock pillar surrounds them both, the rocks breaking on Mega's body and avoiding Dan perfectly.

Mega punches Dan in the face, stopping the pillar and throwing Dan backwards. Mega gets up, visibly bruised while Dan's wounds are healing.

"You really are a tough nut to crack with that healing factor of yours." Mega points out.

"Thanks." Dan says.

"One more goal and we'll call it quits, kay?" Mega suggests, Dan nods. Mega suddenly disappears and reappears infront of Dan, Dan is shocked and goes to block Mega's right hook yet Mega swaps to a grab and punches with his left, throwing Dan in the direction of the punch and onto the ground. Dan loses consciousness for a second but readjusts himself to get up, Mega looks at him and smirks. Dan realises that Mega has used up all the mana gained by kinetic energy, yet knows that Mega can still pack a punch. From documents, Dan can guess that Mega is stronger than him even without the added scaling from his ability, yet he has 2 things Mega doesn't: range and versatility.

Dan runs back in and casts a small barrier around his body, like a second layer or skin, and goes in for a swing on Mega. Mega grabs him yet Dan breaks out of his grasp and grabs the back of Mega's head, dunking him into his knee. Mega goes in for a swing on Dan's face and it hits yet Mega notices his mana not increase from it. Mega looks back at Dan.

"Clever." He compliments. He sees Dan charging up a fireball and he fires it at Mega, Mega attempts to dash right but is tripped up by a rock stump in the ground. Mega is narrowly out of the way of the fireball but is slammed by Dan's lightning spell. Mega is kept on the floor and Dan walks up to him, putting his foot on his chest. Mega grabs his leg and pushes him off, running straight for Dan and grabbing his throat. All Dan does is extend his arm out and call for his shield. His shield flies back into his arm which he slinks back behind him, making it wack Mega in the back of the head at incredible speeds. Mega, not noticing the shield, is unable to mitigate damage using his ability and is hit with the full force of it, it knocks him out.

Dan sighs and Mick walks into the court.

"He's out cold." Mick says, kicking Mega's head.

"How'd you even find out he was your brother in the first place?" Dan asks.

"Well, my dad made him live here. Didn't want him back home on Gen." Mick explains as if that's a sufficient answer.

"But why?" Dan asks, Mick seems taken aback.

"Hell if i know, my dad was a weird guy with 3 weird kids." Mick says back, almost slightly offended. Mick picks Mega up.

"I'll get him back home."

"Right, just make sure you're ready for your fight tomorrow." Dan tells him. Mick smirks.

"Yeah, i'm ready." Mick tells him.

After dropping Mega off in his dorm room in the new Watch Compound, Mick walks into his lab. He opens a cabinet and smirks, a sword lays in there. It's a small thin thing with a dark stone brown handle with yellow lights, a small yellow light tracks from the handle and through the blade, ending just before the top. Mick smirks.

"Let's get to work."

[eungenio73]

Era dai tempi di #danpeterson che non vedevo dei #match di #wrestling e per la #prima #volta l’ho fatto dal vivo in un fantastico #sundaynight . E come diceva Dan “Mai sanguinare davanti agli squali!” Sopratutto se cacciano la #lingua #😆 (presso Centro Sportivo di Cesate) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpaRBc-KHqj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[theoluk]

My personal WWF keychains: @hulkhogan vs Andrè The Giant The Real Wrestling, in a Hand! 😎 . I miei portachiavi personali WWF: #HulkHogan vs #AndreTheGiant Il Vero Wrestling, in una Mano! . . . . #wwf #keychain #sport #wrestling #wrestlemania #wrestlers #wrestler #wrestlinglegends #hulkmania #hollywoodhulkhogan #hulkhogan #legends #danpeterson #worldwrestlingfederation #8bit #8bitart #pixelart #pixelartist #nerd #personalizedkeychain #keychains #keychaincustom #customkeychain (presso Rome, Italy) https://www.instagram.com/the_oluk/p/Byn4Vm8Bhwf/?igshid=8pn4lvbo7goy

[veronica-leon]

@danpeterson

“Detective?” Veronica arched an amused eyebrow as she, in one of her colorful robes, descended the staircase. “Is everything alright? I’m only asking since, you know, it’s a bit late and you look like absolute hell,” the woman would be lying if she said she didn’t took some perverse pleasure in seeing someone associated with the rival gang so worn out and miserable. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Even though she already know, there was only one possible reason why the detective would be seeking her out.

[earthpages]

“Christianity was never meant to be an explanation of anything in the first place.” 

Opinion: 

Well, actually Christianity hooks up with the Jewish Old Testament which does offer a creation myth. This was not seen as a myth by many for centuries and is still taken literally by some fundamentalists today.

That is why we must think and reflect on our belief, even if we say we have ‘reason to believe’ from a single experience or from a series of personal experiences.

[imperialmask]

Homeworld Bound: Afterthoughts A Very Late Notice

Hello guys, sorry for putting this out on a Wednesday, bad form ik but i'll explain why that is.

I've been hard at work on a lot of stuff lately, in fact i'd say it was a miracle i kept HWB running weekly for 7 weeks despite the amount of pressure i got from coursework, exams, other projects im working on, my physical and my mental health but it's all finally caught up with me. You may have noticed chapter 7 was shorter and ended weirdly, that's because i didn't spend nearly enough time working on it, wanted to end it a certain way but realised that it didn't lead into anything, atleast this is the reason for the weird cliffhanger i barely followed up on.

This leaves me in a really tight predicament for Chapter 8 which is THE chapter i've been ping ponging on for awhile, it keeps swapping between 3 different ideas for what should happen that i keep forgetting which one im going with in the moment. So i've decided to do something weird since i'll be honest, i don't have a fresh chapter to give you guys today. Instead, i'm going to do a sort of part 2 to Chapter 7, it'll still be Chapter 7 but just continuing off the last line.

This isn't the only reason why i've been struggling, like i mentioned before i've been extremely busy as of late since i had 2 bits of coursework and an exam all due in on the same day as Chapter 7 (June 5th), plus i've come down with something like a cold (not sure what it is) which has been sapping any energy i have to do work on HWB. After this week, i'll be free to do work on HWB but i wouldn't be shocked if i do take a break next Wednesday (and maybe the Wednesday after that) to recoop after the extreme amount of work i've done lately. Hey, maybe i'll blow off steam with a Lyrics chapter, who knows!

So yeah, all that complaining out the way, let's talk about the content of HWB. I'd love feedback if anyone out there has any, especially on whether i should focus on being descriptive or focus on action or focus on character. I'm not 100% sure on what's the right way to go here.

Something i do want to start doing is filling chapters with 2 stories like a TV show, swapping between the 2 for a more episodic feel every chapter. It makes little sense in this format until you realise HWB ultimate goal is to be a TV show at some point, this whole series is just a first draft. A bad one, i'll say that, but a first draft none the less.

We're almost out of the woods when it comes to this boring opening arc, i'm not the happiest camper with these chapters but they'll have to do i guess. We have only about 2 more chapters until the end of this small opening before we genuinely get into London Calling and that arc, that'll last for about another 10 chapters and then we get onto full on new content. Anyway, instead of a teaser, here's a synopsis of the next 4 chapters!

Homeworld Bound Chapter 8- Alien Vs Zombie The anticipated Mick and Gas Mask Fight has finally arrived. A duel to determine the leader of Gold Squad on looked by it's members, as Mick starts to pull out all the stops to guarantee a victory, Gas Mask must find a way to get around Mick's Manipulation. Can Mick stop Gas Mask's brutal onslaught of attacks or will Gas Mask fall to Mick's constant shifting around the battlegrounds? Lets find out!

Homeworld Bound Chapter 9- Your Worst Enemy Red, a nobleman and well respected hero of Salem, and his squad mate Minos, the deadliest marksman COG has to offer, set off to stop a squad of soldiers that have broken into Salem. Meanwhile, Mega begins his training with Kip, showing him how to do magic.

Homeworld Bound Chapter 10- London Calling: Absolute At a campaign rally for the upcoming election, an assassin attempts to take Jones life. Dan chases him in pursuit to find out where he comes from. At the same time, another squad of soldiers led by a dangerous Rogue break into Reverend Bay to free the original group that was captured.

Homeworld Bound Chapter 11- London Calling: Kings and Thrones Mick and Dan head to London to meet the new King of Britannica who supposedly has information about the assassin who attempted to kill Jones. While they're there, Leech and the Salem Watch's professional scout Kate search for their own clues.

Alright, see ya!

[pwung]

Volleyball Coaching Life-Choking

Generally, people talk about choking when a team or a player blows a big lead.  Worse than watching the act of choking in real time is to be doing the choking and experiencing that sinking feeling as the game get away. Perhaps even more excruciating is to be the coach as they watch their teams going through that process, because the coach knows that there is absolutely nothing immediate that he or she can do to affect the outcome, as the fundamental work should have been done in the weeks, months, and years before. They can only curse themselves for not having trained their players to better survive the situation.

As I sat watching my Illini lose to Nebraska in the national semi-finals, I had that sinking feeling. Nebraska showed great heart and unity of purpose as they processed the loss of the first two games and played as they were trained. Their highs were celebrated and their lows were processed and forgotten. As the tide turned, the Illinois players showed signs of wavering, not through their demeanor but through the series of unforced errors.

Two days later, the Nebraska team took on a Stanford team that had gone through their semi-final match with relative ease. Indeed, it was a championship match for the ages, this match went five as well even though the sequence followed was completely different than the Illinois-Nebraska semi-final. The first two games were so even that either team could have won, they ended up splitting. The next two games were alternating blowout with Stanford winning the third and Nebraska winning the fourth. The last game was tight all the way down to the wire, with Stanford winning the championship, but barely. The causal sequence of games won and lost was indicative that both teams were mentally ready to battle and they did indeed, giving us one of the best finals in years.

As I was watching the semi-finals, my coaching thoughts turned to how I can train my players to behave as these players are behaving, the Nebraska players losing first two games and then turn around and playing comfortably and confidently as the pressure mounted? On the other hand, I was also thinking about what could be done to help the Illinois stanch the bleeding and turn the momentum around back to their favor. There was nothing inevitable about any of the three games that Illinois lost. Each game was relatively even until it moved into the critical segment of the game. The officiating was even, except maybe for the last touch in the deciding game giving Nebraska the two-point turnaround.

For the finals, I wondered about how the coaching staff of both teams trained their teams to maintain their composure and executed with such consistency while so much pressure is on them. They went through the emotional roller coaster ride with aplomb and resilience without succumbing to the fatalistic spiral that is so attractive when challenged.

The real question to me is: how to train the cognition system of these players to survive and succeed under the circumstances?

I have never been in Nebraska, Illinois, nor Stanford’s practices or had the privilege of witnessing the coaches train and I won’t pretend to project any of my conjectures upon these three programs. I used this match as motivation to think about how I would do it and to research how people who are much more experienced than me are training.

One resource that I found is The Playmaker’s Advantage: How to Raise Your Mental Game to the Next Level by Leonard Zaichkowsky and Daniel Peterson. Zaichkowsky is a psychologist who has been working at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and sports performance for a long time, while Peterson is writer working in the same area. The book is fascinating and educational. They also give us a look at the latest in cognitive neuroscience results, rather than just conjectures, which helps me think about these questions. I consider the book a must read

In chapter ten of the book, titled: How to Compete: The Clutch and Choke of the Performance Engine, they delve into the states that they call flow, clutch and choke. Zaichkowsky and Peterson quote Dr. Christian Swann -  a researcher who had interviewed high performance athletes about their cognition during periods of clutch and choke - defines: “Flow as a state of effortless excellence, in which everything ‘clicks’ into place.”  Swann further states: “We perform on autopilot, are totally confident in our abilities and fully absorbed in what we are doing without actually thinking about it.”  

Swann further defines Clutch as:

“a state where athletes are much more aware of the importance of the situation, what’s at stake, the potential consequences, and what’s required to achieve a successful outcome. In clutch, athletes describe being conscious of the pressure, and feel the pressure, yet are still able to perform at their peak.”

He also differentiates flow and clutch by stating that: “Clutch states share a core similarity with flow, but are more effortful, deliberate, consciously controlled and intense.”

Choke then is defined as the opposite of clutch. Swann found that the key factor which decides whether the athlete is clutch, or choke is a matter of personal perspective. It isn’t the score or the objective measure of the performance that affects performance, it is the subjective perception of the performance which most affects their performance. In other words, how people perceive of their own performance is what decides whether they are in a clutch or choke state.

This is all very instructive, and Zaichkowsky and Peterson goes in depth in explain the difference, but what mattered to me is: how do I train my players to perform in a clutch state and avoid the choke state. How do I get from understanding the explanation of the states to executing effective training to promote clutch performance? How do I put all of this knowledge into practice?

Zaichkowsky and Peterson delve into two interesting theories. The first theory is that the pressure is taking the athlete’s attention away from our task at hand, causing the athlete to be distracted, therefore disrupting their flow state. The alternative theory is that the pressure is causing the athlete to focus too closely on the task when they are under pressure, they begin to overthink their task, the paralysis by analysis idea. The alternative theory is based on the idea that any motor skill become so ingrained in the motor control system over time that the athlete does not need to pay attention because they can do it in their sleep, but the breakdown in performance comes when they have to focus and pay attention to what they do.

Not happy to have just theories, Zaichkowsky and Peterson found various large studies testing those two ideas together. The testing was done by other researcher on high level athletes and the result is that the latter theory, the over focus on the task theory, is the main cause for the most erosion in performance. They asked the athletes to perform familiar and ingrained tasks under two conditions: one is to introduce disruptions like noise and visual disruptions, and the second is to ask them to an addition unpracticed but simple task as they do their familiar task. The former tests the unfocused attention idea and the second tests the idea that focusing on a task causes the athlete’s mind to not do as they are trained but think about what they have to do. The practiced and well-trained athlete would perform at less than optimal levels if they had to think too much about HOW they do what they do and they would interrupt their flow state to focus too hard on WHAT they did, which inevitably cause them to make errors and spiral downward into a choke state. In other words, when the athletes start to turn their attention inward and try to FOCUS on the mechanics of their skill, they accomplish the exact opposite of their intent. Interestingly enough, I had read this same idea in Timothy Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Tennis.

How does this translate into training? According to the Zaichkowsky and Peterson, one key aspect of training is to teach skills in an integrated whole rather than in a step-by-step manner, keeping the skill performance automatic and keeping the skill acquisition process as continuous as possible and limit the mental processing during skill acquisition. The reason is that if the athlete learned their skills in an integrated whole, they wouldn’t try to break it down into progressive steps when they are under pressure. I had to think about that for a bit. While I agreed with this in general, I keep thinking about the process of teaching skills to the youngsters and knowing the confusion caused by their minds trying to absorb the entire skill in one shot, especially dynamic skills like jumping and hitting or transitioning to the pins from the middle and blocking. On the other hand, I think about how long it takes for the athletes I have trained to break away from the if-then thought process and how difficult it was for them eventually overcome the mental process of the progression steps. I have tried to minimize the progressions when I teach skills, but I can’t get away from that paradigm when introducing beginners to volleyball. I am still thinking about that.

A productive way to think about the clutch performance is to define clutch performance as being able to perform as expected while under pressure, that is, treating performing under pressure the same way as performing under no pressure. Which sounds difficult knowing human nature, but if you train the player deliberately de-emphasize the mental pressure within the scheme of the sport, become acclimated to playing under pressure, and expect the players to be performing in the flow, regardless of the situation, then it seems possible. The ideal is the train the athletes to treat every action on the court as a natural and expected part, there are no surprises. It also follows the idea of preparing your team to be anti-fragile, that is, prepared to handle anything rather than preparing to be ready for specific things.

Of course, the problem is that we don’t know how our athletes will react while under pressure while in training, we don’t know what we don’t know about them. We can only hope for the kind of performance that we want when they are under pressure because we can’t possibly put realistic kinds of mental pressures which could alters their reaction in a practice. One thing that Zaichkowsky and Peterson suggests is to train them while altering the space and tempo of the training regimen, working deliberately in small spaces and with overspeed to make the players problem solve while under artificially created pressure situations; to be completely un-gamelike but erring on the side of overloading their cognitive capacity. They will fail and then they will learn while under space and speed duress, they will expand their cognitive capacity and learn; that is, create new capabilities in the system 1 or hot cognition response. This allows the athletes to learn to perform automatically without overanalyzing their situation and attempt to slow down their reactions or the game.

So, having thought about this, I have a blueprint of how I am altering my training plans this year, even though I am already a big fan of going overspeed, I will try to up the tempo even more and working in the space restrictions this year. This should be fun.

[bnhtradersllp]

Paper doesn’t save people, people save people - #danpeterson 

[imperialmask]

Homeworld Bound Vol 1 (London Calling) Chapter 7: Patriarch

It's the next day and Dan was on his way to the Mayor's office for an important meeting with the Mayor, his father, Jones Peterson. The Mayor's office is a magnificent building, a Gregorian monument to grandeur, authority and power. A marble white portico flanks the entrance like a cavalry unit coming in for a sneak attack, white granite steps lead up to a large wooden door with a crest carved into it carefully. The crest is an Athenian owl standing in front with a symbol of the sun on it's chest and a lambda as the background. The owl had a caduceus in hand. Dan looked up at this symbol, contemplating the rich history of Salem and his own families history behind it.

Dan entered the Mayoral Offices, walls painted a formal light on the eyes red with white columns evenly spaced out like men in formation. Trinkets and Artefacts dot the halls, many coat of arms also hang but a notable one is one of a blue shield with a triple headed eagle with 3 crowns. There's more, one of a red shield and a singular headed black eagle, one of a green shield and a frog with a gem on its back and finally one of a yellow shield with a blue lightning bolt. When Dan walks past these, he feels the weight of legacy crushing him like a boulder.

When he arrived outside his office, he found something he didn't expect, a bored Mick Smith balancing a pen on the tip of his finger. Dan looks at him, confused.

"What are you doing here?" Dan asks.

"Here to see Jones, i bet you're here to do the same." Mick says.

"Yeah. 4pm time slot?" Dan follows up with.

"Yep." Mick answers.

"Same meeting" Both of them sigh. They stand outside, waiting awkwardly. Dan taps his foot against the floor, Mick starts humming, a tumbleweed metaphorically flies through the room. Dan turns to Mick and asks a question.

"How do you know my dad?"

"I met him when i came to Earth." Mick answers.

"Why did you come to Earth?" Dan asks.

"Am i still under interrogation?" Mick asks back.

"Not really, just curious." Dan says back. Mick stands there thinking.

"Ya know...i actually don't know. My Dad never told me." Mick responds.

"You came with your dad?" Dan asks.

"Yep, met your dad. They talked in his office for a bit while i stood outside. I remember sneaking away to find some food at this one really good pizza shop in the city, god i hope that place is still open." Mick responds.

"Remember what it was called?" Dan asks.

"Shit...something with a T?" Mick answers.

"Tubby's?!?" Dan shockingly tells him, he smiles.

"Yes! That was it, Tubby's!" Mick responds, smiling too.

"Tubby's is amazing, i'm friends with the guy who owns it." Dan tells Mick.

"So it's still there?" Mick asks, excited.

"Yep, i'll take you after this meeting if you want." Dan responds, Mick nods.

"Dude, their pepperoni, mwah, chef's kiss." Dan tells Mick.

"I got BBQ." Mick tells Dan, Dan laughs.

"Well thank god your first Pizza wasn't Hawaiian." Dan jokes, Mick laughs too but is also a bit confused. They sigh.

They both stand there smiling, male bonding activities.

A loud buzz plays and both the men turn towards the door. It starts to open and they both see Jones Peterson sitting at his desk with 2 chairs ready opposite him.

"Come in, boys." Jones jovially tells them. Dan approaches with caution but Mick casually walks in. They both sit down in the chairs.

"I need to talk to you two about The Salem Watch." Jones explains.

"The what?" Mick asks.

"The team you joined, the one you're now co-leading." Dan tells him. Mick mouths "oh".

"What is it, father?" Dan asks. Mick inconspicuously looks at Dan when he finishes speaking .

"Hudson and I had a meeting last night about the future of the Watch, we've reached a compromise. An experimental unit of 10 agents split into 2 squads. The overall unit, the Watch itself, will be led by Daniel with Daniel leading one of the squads and Michael leading the other. To get COG to fit the bill for dedicated support teams, i had to agree to a few stipulations, one of them being that you, Michael, will have to prove yourself to COG by beating another agent chosen by Hudson in a legally binding duel." Jones calmly explains in his gruff and stern voice. Mick looks taken aback ever since Jones called him Michael but he calms himself, Dan looks concerned at Mick.

"Father, can i speak my mind?" Dan asks.

"You may, Daniel." Jones responds.

"You need to lay off Hudson and COG. Hudson's a good guy, he's worked for you since i was born, hell you put him in the position he's in now. You don't need to micromanage him." Dan explains. Jones stares at him and sighs.

"Hudson is a pragmatist with a militia of the strongest people in the Mystic world under his command. If he sees fit, there's no reason why he couldn't just overthrow the democratic system that our family has been fighting to keep for over 400 years. Daniel, if you have any concern at all for the future of Salem, I'd follow my commands and know your place. Do you understand, son?" Jones says.

"Yes father." Dan responds, cowed.

"And you, Michael?" Jones asks.

"Yeah...I copy." Mick says. Jones glares at him and Mick glares back, a perceived slight won't stand though Jones will let it go for now.

"Good. The Duel is scheduled 2 weeks from now for when your new compound is finished. I'd recommend training for it and investigating the arena and Gas Mask for any tricks Hudson may use to cheat." Jones tells them, they nod.

"You're free to go." He says as Dan gets up and bows before leaving, Mick gets up and just walks out after him. As they leave through the giant door, Mick turns to Dan's solemn face.

"Wanna grab that Pizza?" Mick asks, Dan turns to him and shrugs.

"Yeah sure, why not." Dan responds.

Mick and Dan sit at a table at Tubby's, it's mid-day with the sun high in the sky. Both of them are waiting for their pizza. There's a silence until Mick turns to Dan to speak.

"You know, my Dad once took me to the Citadel." Mick says. Dan looks at him, confused.

"The Citadel is this big city in a giant structure right? It was a flying city where the Royal Family lived along with the richest people in the Capital." He continues.

"Why are you telling me this?" Dan asks.

"Well, he took me to the peak of the Citadel, the Perch we called it, it was the highest peak on all of Gen, even surpassed any mountain we had. When he did this, my Dad looked me dead in the eye and told me that i was a disappointment and a failure right now. He told me i was reckless, disobedient, rude and didn't deserve to be called his son. That's when he picked me up and threw me off the perch, i had to use my powers to grab onto a drain." Mick elaborated, getting more and more subtly angry as he went on.

"My Dad was a total dick, he constantly did shit like that to try and get me killed. If i died then, oh well, he's got a 2nd son to work on, if i survived then it was proof i was getting stronger. My Dad made weapons for the war and he saw me as the ultimate weapon, he always talked about how he would 'mould me like hot iron in a forge'." Mick told Dan.

"A proper piece of work." Dan responded.

"Tell me about it." Mick told him.

"My Dad's not that bad, just a control freak. The Peterson's have been in Salem since it founded, he just doesn't want me to be the one who screwed up everything. He wants me to prove my heritage, prove i'm a Peterson. I mean i'm trying, but it takes time, you know?" Dan tells Mick.

"I think you'll get there, you're a good dude." Mick tells him, Dan seems a little caught off guard by the comment.

"Didn't think you were the type to give compliments." Dan responds, Mick smiles.

"I don't say things that aren't true." He responds, he takes a bite of his pizza before continuing.

"My Dad has the same ideas about legacy. We weren't nobles or anything but we had ancient lines to before the Union." Mick says through the chewing, he swallows.

"But we'll bury them both in history." Mick finishes with, lifting his glass of Coke for a toast, Dan obliges with his glass of Water. A clink, a chug and a slam.

"You're fully on board now?" Dan asks.

"Yep, lookin' forward to it!" Mick responds.

"Big change of heart today, you're a different guy than the dude threatening my life to find his brother." Dan tells him, Mick smiles.

"That's cause i found him." Mick smiles.

"Congrats." Dan retorts.

"I found something else too, it's a suprise to be sure but a welcome one."

"And what is it?"

"I've got 2 brothers."

[joelkato]

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http://joelkato.blogspot.jp/