#his range of expressions as maximus is so impressive to me

[wildsaltair]

hello lovely man 💕

[kadmeread]

Not Over Yet - Chapter 2: Explanations

Chapter 2: Explanations 

I was shaken out of my reverie by a knock on the door. After opening it, I saw the girl who had brought me here standing there. 

“Hello,” she said, holding out her hand. “I’m Samirah, you can call me Sam, it’s nice to officially meet you.”

Taking her hand I said “Hi, I’m Jason Grace. I take it your my Valkyrie.” She looked surprised at my guess so I presumed I was correct and that she was indeed my Valkyrie, whatever that was.

“How much do you know?” she asked.

“Not much,” I admitted. “Magnus gave me a rundown on my hallmates and told me the basics. I must admit I didn’t expect to end up here.” She glanced down at my tattoo, reminding me of Magnus’ reaction to it earlier. I moved my hand to cover it subconsciously.

“You deserve to be here Jason, I am proud to be your Valkyrie.” She told me as we continued on towards what I guessed was the dining hall. I nodded uncomfortably, wondering how much she knew.

As we walked Sam told me various other facts about Valhalla. I made sure to try and memorise them as I had found it better to always be prepared. I never knew how Percy could stand it, not knowing anything until someone told him about it. I would say it was a Roman thing except Annabeth is the same way, and she’s about as un-Roman as you can get. 

Sam was looking impressed by my comments. “You’re taking this well,” she said. 

“Yeah, well, with the way my life has been going recently, the fact that the Norse gods exist and I’m in Valhalla isn’t actually all that surprising.”

She looked like she was about to question me on that, when we reached the dining hall and I wouldn’t have heard her anyway.

The dining hall was impressive, it reminded me of Olympus. Except it didn’t have Annabeth’s architectural flare. “Wow,” I murmured.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “It doesn’t ever really get old. There’s our table over there.” She pointed to a table with two other people already sitting there. “Good thing we’re not the only ones.” She muttered as we sat down. I wanted to ask about that but she obviously didn’t intend for me to hear it, so I decided not to pry.

“So…” I started awkwardly, “Magnus mentioned something earlier about me getting the hall to myself soon? Are they all going away somewhere or something?”

Her expression darkened, “Or something,” She repeated. “You see we have to stop my father from launching Naflgar and starting Ragnorak.”

I had a million questions going through my head after that, but I decided to start with a simple one. “Your father?”

She nodded, “My father. Loki.”

Before I could work out what to ask next, the doors opened with a boom and hundreds of warriors streamed in. I was very grateful that we had entered earlier and avoided the rush. I saw Magnus wave at me as he came in with whom I presumed to be the rest of our hallmates.

A girl came around and gave me some meat and what I guessed to be mead from the smell. Sam saw me looking around and got my attention. 

“Eat now,” She recommended. “After we get to watch you die gloriously.”

The idea of reliving my death slowed my appetite a bit, I don’t think anyone would be all too keen on that idea. Yet I did still look forward to it, if I was lucky I would find out what happened to my friends, find out if they survived.

As the meal ended my anticipation and anxiety only grew, warring for the place of pride in my stomach. First we watched the other guy die heroically, gun in hand, saving two strangers, and heard he was destined to fight well during Ragnarok. Then it was my turn. It felt odd seeing it happen again. I watched as Apollo stabbed himself and I blew Meg out the side. The others in the hall were silent, they hadn’t been for the other guy, so I distantly felt that was odd, but didn’t pay much attention to it, I was too busy watching what was happening. I saw myself take arrow wounds, I hadn’t even noticed that I got shot. I winced as I turned to Apollo, I knew what was coming, I reminded him of his promise and then I saw Caligula stab me in the back. I heard Piper’s scream of grief, and knew that even if we weren’t together she still loved me. We were a team, her and I. The last thing I saw before the video faded away, was Tempest running across the water, my friends on his back. I smiled, relieved to know that my death hadn’t been in vain, and that they had all gotten out of there safely.

There was silence for a moment before the hall exploded into whispers. If I tried to listen, I could hear them saying things like “Thor”, and “powers”. I figured they probably thought me to be a son of Thor. Suddenly they all stopped talking. On a throne that had been empty before except for two large ravens (which had been watching me throughout, they gave me the creeps) appeared a huge figure of a man. What I first noticed about him was that he only had one eye. Then I noticed that the murmurs had started up again, this time with “Odin” and “Allfather” interspersed with the ones about me.

“It is good to see you again my friends.” He boomed, looking around at us all. “But unfortunately I come to you in dire times. Sitting before you is a warrior, who we will have need of before long. I sent Samirah to get him, before he left to places not under my jurisdiction, for a reason. I hope you will forgive me.” He looked directly at me as he said this. “That reason being, the Pontifex Maximus may save us all. And so I humbly ask, you Jason Grace, if you will help us on this quest, or will you depart to be judged worthy of Elysium, as my counterpart has informed me you would’ve been placed. Without your help, I have foreseen that Ragnarok will come. And so, son of Jupiter, will you help us stop Ragnarok?”

The hall was silent except for the whispers of the warriors, that was becoming a common reaction for anything to do with me. I sighed, considering. I had just died helping out with a save the world quest, I would have liked to have a break. But I knew what my answer would be, what any demigod’s answer would be. “Yes,” I said. “I will help.” As cheers rang around the hall, I had an inkling that I had agreed to something bigger than what I had originally thought.

The next time I looked up I notice Magnus leading who I guessed were to be my new questmates over. As he introduced us, he eyed me oddly when I didn’t appear to be paying attention, I wanted to ask but I knew then wasn’t the time. I asked a different question instead. “So when do we set off?”

“We’re setting sail in the morning, unless something else goes wrong.” The guy who I now knew was T.J replied, looking accusingly at Magnus.

“Hey!” Magnus protested, “I actually got some good advice from Percy today!”

“Yeah,” Alex chimed in smugly. “He didn’t die today.”

While Magnus continued complaining about their lack of belief in him, I suddenly felt dizzy. Percy...Percy and Annabeth had been in Boston this weekend, helping her cousin, I think, prepare for some sort of cruise. I hadn’t gotten the full details because of the communication block and the Apollo situation, but Apollo had told us that, along with the information about Percy’s baby sister. Magnus must be Annabeth’s cousin, that was why he looked vaguely familiar. That would also explain the odd looks he was giving me, he knew. It sounded like Alex probably knew too.

Having realized this, I wasn’t surprised when Magnus and Alex dawdled after everyone had gone back to their rooms. 

“Come on in.” I told them, leading them into my rooms. They followed me in awkwardly. I could tell they had no idea how to broach the subject at hand. 

“So...do Percy and Annabeth know yet?” I asked. They obviously hadn’t worked out that I had worked out that they knew. 

“I don’t think so,” Magnus replied. “They’ve been down here for the weekend, meaning they’ve been even more out of touch with the situation then in New York. They’ll probably find out when they get back. In fact I should probably…” 

He trailed off as Alex interrupted him impatiently, “So where are you in this mess?”

“Me? I’m Roman, son of Jupiter. I was on the quest to Greece with Percy and Annabeth.”

Magnus nodded, “Annabeth mentioned you. You were the one swapped with Percy, right?”

“Yup that was me. So...who exactly knows what?”

Magnus thought it over quickly before replying, “So Alex and I are the only ones who have actually met Percy and Annabeth. Although Sam knows of them and the existence of your pantheons. The others had no idea you even existed, and quite possibly still don’t.”

I thought it over, “I’ll tell the rest of our quest group once we’ve set off, is there anyone else other than our hallmates?”

Magnus looked startled, “Oh, right. My friends Blitz and Hearth, along with Sam as you know. Blitz is a dwarf, very fashionable. Hearth is an elf, he does magic, and he’s deaf.”

I nodded and relaxed from where I had been standing stiffly near the door. “Thanks for letting me know.”

They nodded and then left me to it. I decided to try and get some sleep, who knew when I was going to get some.

Unfortunately, even though I was dead, my demigod dreams didn’t appear to have stopped. While not as bad as Percy’s, (from what I heard he had the worst dreams) they were still fully capable of ruining any sleep I tried to have. First I saw flashes of what must’ve been happening in California, I saw Piper grieving. Apollo speaking prophecies in chains, Piper killing Medea, Leo flying in one Festus, and then hugging Piper as she cried. Meg and Apollo boarding a plane, a coffin sitting in the plane, which I knew with a chill of certainty held my dead body. 

Then the scenes slowed down and changed again, I was on what I guessed to be a Viking ship, made of what looked to be people’s finger and toenails. The ship was surrounded by ice, I saw mummified human bodies and giants which thankfully looked very different from those I had fought before.

“Oh look,” said a cheerful voice behind me, I jumped, turning to see who was speaking. “It’s Odin’s secret weapon. Not so secret now, are you boy?” 

The guy’s face was horrific, burned and scarred. As I studied him, he continued, his face softening. “Here’s a warning for you little demigod. Don’t get in my way, you may have defeated giants. But I can promise you this, I am like nothing you have ever faced before. You will not be able to escape me. Run, little son of Jupiter, and you may just survive the storm to come. This isn’t your Pantheon, little Pontifex Maximus, and if you continue on this path of interference,” 

His face darkened, and it struck me that he was quite mad. That didn’t reassure me, I was killed by a madman after all. “I can promise you this, you will never see your friends again.” I could sense someone shaking me, as the dream receded I could hear the guy laughing. “Welcome to the end, little boy, your father may be king, but I was born to destroy kings.” As the dream faded away, he met my horrified gaze, “Enjoy your afterlife.” His laughter followed me as I woke up.

A.N So that was the next chapter! I should probably explain the timeline to you guys. So I have The Hidden Oracle happening at the same time as the Sword of Summer, leading Hammer of Thor to be about the same time as The Dark Prophecy. I have placed Jason’s death in The Burning Maze, at about the same time as Percy and Annabeth leaving Boston in the Ship of the Dead, thus they haven’t heard yet of Jason’s death and that Nico can’t find him in the Underworld. Once they do, Annabeth will obviously try and contact Magnus, but due to him being on a quest, she won’t be able to until after they get back. I hope that makes sense. 

Please let me know any ideas, errors etc. 

Thanks Kadme.

[bwprowl]

Crazy mechanical crossovers abound this week, as we take new looks at pillowy mobile suits and kickflipping Primes. There’s also a crossover of the more usual variety, but still unexpected in toy format. Pre-orders are also open on new figma boys and figma girls, and this eccentric business inspires me to look at one of the silliest Transformers I’ve ever gotten. Get ready for this odd little Tuesday Night Toys.

New Stuff: Marvel vs Napcom

A new set of Gundam-themed pillows has been revealed, featuring the Z’gock in regular and Char flavors, as well as that adorable mascot of a mech, the Acguy. These big squishy heads are based on designs that lend themselves well to pillow-dom, and for as much Gundam crap as some people decorate their houses with, should add to the décor nicely.

Marvel vs Capcom Infinite is upon us later this year, and looks to be…okay. But if the roster of that retread offers few surprises, at least this piece of ancillary merchandise does: A Hasbro-made action figure two-pack of Iron Man and Mega Man X! This Target exclusive come right out of nowhere, all branded as if to be part of a larger line that’s forthcoming. We can only hope, as new, easy-to-get toys of Capcom characters would be extremely welcome in this day and age.

Details have slowly been emerging on this odd Optimus Prime recolored in collaboration with Primitive Skateboarding company. Initially the toy’s vaguely Nucleon Quest Super Convoy style deco was notable enough, but now we also know it will be an SDCC-exclusive, and Hasbro’s gone all-out with it. Just revealed, the figure also includes a grind rail, as well as a little Transformers: The Movie style hoverboard that can be used by Prime’s Titan Master, now named (I am not kidding) ‘Shreddicus Maximus’. This is one of the more ridiculously fun collaborations Hasbro has entertained in a while, and I’m certainly interested in picking one up now.

Wishlist: The Royal You

The Toys R Us exclusives for that new Transformers movie are starting to appear, and that lets me finally bring up how much I want that new Primus. Okay, it’s actually just called ‘Cybertron’ here, but it’s the Cybertron Primus mold done up in a *startling* purple, orange, and blue color scheme, looking like nothing so much as Trasformers God’s Generation 2 color scheme. I never got Primus before, and I’m glad now, because this is most certainly the version I want.

The figma version of Haikyu’s main dude Hinata went up for pre-order, finally bringing that series out of Nendoroids and into the full action figure set you’d really want for outrageously-posed volleyball action. Hinata here actually one-ups the Nendo release too, including as he does a *full* volleyball net (no promo-camera trickery hiding a partial prop here)! It also appears he’ll have an extra ‘link’ in his figma stand, letting him jump as impressively high as the character is known for. Hopefully he precedes many more releases in this line, or that big volleyball court is going to look awfully empty.

And yet another figma of a Love Live schoolgirl isn’t really newsworthy, but I mainly wanted to call attention to the release of Love Live Sunshine’s You just for how neat her facial expressions are.

On Desk: Bear pun

Seeing that wild skateboarding Optimus Prime puts me in mind to take a look at the dumbest thing I bought at that convention last month: Be@rbrick Megatron! A crazy crossover venture from a few years back, I’d always wanted to get one of the Be@rbrick TFs, and Megatron was a relatively high choice, so seeing him available for a decent price (and not having seen much else to buy in the dealer’s hall) led to me pulling the trigger.

This improbable mash-up of Transformers and hipster vinyl toys have always mostly appealed to me based on the surprising amount of effort they put into them. It would have been super easy to just paint Be@rbricks up in TF schemes like they do for other licensed properties and call it a day. But instead Takara went the extra mile, engineering a whole big converting Be@rbrick figure and painting that up in choice TF colors. Megatron here exemplifies it himself. One mode is a double-size recreation of one of those blocky bear dudes, with his boxy legs and tubular arms marking the Lego influence and still having decent range of motion despite their pointedly stumpy stature. And the whole surface is painted up with details from the quintessential G1 Megatron model, patterning his bad-guy-bot face right onto that big-eared bear head. It’s odd and distinctive in the best way.

And then it transforms into a robot! Quite impressively, even. Despite being a usually-simple ‘humanoid to humanoid’ conversion, this one packs in some pretty interesting twists and reveals. The way the big ol’ head splits and spins into the legs is clever, as is the way the chest splits into shoulder pads with the robot torso underneath. The result is a suitably ‘cool’ robot coming from the cute cartoony bear form, with tons of articulation introduced to boot. There’s just something undeniably impressive about such a dynamic form exploding from that stylized box-bod we had earlier. The little bear ears on the robot head are a nice touch too.

Maybe Be@rbrick Megatron is just a shameless corporate cash-in of licensing mash-ups, but he’s one that clearly had some work put into him. He’s fun and cool and he’s like nothing else you’ll have on your TF shelf (unless of course you get any of the other Be@rbrick TFs). This toy, or any of the other versions of the mold, are at least worth grabbing for novelty.

So I’ll leave you with that, everyone! I’ll see you next time, and remember to have fun!

[mechagalaxy]

Initiation

 The god machines bestrode the worlds of mankind like avatars of humanities spirit.  Towering the height of buildings, with power equal to that of a small city, or starship, they carried weapons capable of leveling city blocks, or extinguishing a company of conventional tanks, or wing of aerospace fighters at a single salvo of its weapons.

 The mecha wore the shape of armoured men, or hunting beasts, the hundred spirits of mankinds inner demons or holy guardians, or just the eternal hunger for war that beat inside the breasts of the most civilized of men or demure of women.  The god-machines were the highest expression of the machine cult of Cogwork, a divine blend of niode based AI and human pilots.

 The days of looking at the Forerunners as the great masters of mecha were done.  Humanity had surpassed the classical limits of ninety tons, and pushed beyond the limits the mecha-renegade Drocha established of one hundred tons.  Humanity now produced the Charon, and Revenant.

 Giaus Octavian had been a tech with the Spirit of Bunny, and his great work was the Revenant Antillar Maximus.  The machine was the very epitome of the god-machines.  Black armour plates housed a blazing machine spirit that lit if from within, a spirit of such raw power that only the greatest mind could merge with it. Five pilots attempted to bond the machine when it was new.  Four pilots were consumed, attempting to master the storm of the machine spirits power. One hundred and five tons of niode driven rage were too much for most minds to bend to their will, the struggle for dominance was one that caused the first four pilots to burn into brain wrecked corpses.  The fifth was a mistake.  The pure discipline of the machine cult was not found in Max.  He was a warrior of renown, a pilot of Dreadnoughts that had delighted in facing Reaper cannon for cannon, hunted Regis and Boreas with laughing unconcern.  He bled a lot, drank a lot, and missed bed check (or was found unexpectedly in someone else’s) frequently.  He was a disgrace to just about any standard of military protocol, or religious doctrine, especially the somewhat stodgy Cogwork cult. Giaus had watched Max join with the first Revenant, and watched him not attempt to bind the storm winds that raged within the god-machine, but ride the tempest laughing, master it not by suppressing it, but by leaping ahead of it, and daring it to follow.  Antillar Maximus was born, the first Spirit of Bunny Revenant. Giaus had been his chief technician, and had watched the pairing of man and god machine, the Princeps Max and his god-machine becoming a pairing that moved with the grace a cat like Smilodon would envy, and struck with precision a Reaper would beg to possess.

 Giaus Octavian had been building his skills piloting Max’s old Dreadnought, the prize mecha from Faction War 1.  Through his training with the older god-machine he had begun to get not only a sense of how to control the powerful machines shields, sensors, weapons, and internal repair protocols, but a greater sense of how to work with the AI, rather than simply force it into obedience. A novice pilot in an experienced god-machine, he allowed the Dreadnought to teach him about his own flesh body instincts, about how the endless hours of real life combat training and martial arts prepared his meat body and primitive endocrine system to become the missing component in the god-machine’s battle persona.  The AI running the great mecha were powerful beyond all belief, but they were lost in the sea of data, in the very fullness of their power they were helpless. Powered automatons had existed for centuries, and they were so much meat for the manned units that stalked the killing fields of war, as the finest of the machines lacked the ability to act without thinking, lacked the ability to ever beat the statistics.  The Cogwork cult taught of the purity of the union of man and machine, the single spirit formed from two souls of the niode based AI and the animal fleshed pilot.  Now Giaus understood why.

 The Dreadnought filtered its data through Giaus, and instinctively he switched from feed awareness to impressions.  No longer were targeting auspexes a data of emissions signatures/detection thresholds read in graphs flashing too fast for thought, but they were the instinctive threat that had his “body” responding, triggering response cascades from the god-machine that configured shields, powered shifts in the chassis, deployed ECM lures and active jamming.  His animal brain allowed the establishment of machine AI reflexes that made the greatest machines more nimble than a hunting cat.

 Today was the day he took the greatest challenge.  The last war had won for the Spirit of Bunny a twin to Antillar Maximus, a second Revenant. This machine was already potentiated to fifty, far stronger while unbonded than Max had faced.  This machine was stronger, more wilful than Antillar Maximus had been when Max joined it.  Would he be ready?  Would he be a Princeps?  A mecha pilot, one half of a god machine pilot pair, or just another “electric chicken” dancing his last on the end of his cerebral jackplug as the powerful AI fried his meat brain with the fury of its rejection? Max had told him to wear some freaky underwear under his pilot jumpsuit so if he fried he would at least make the clean up crew freak out.  Giaus had NO intention of asking Max what he had worn.  He did however take the time in front of the mirror to paint his chest with “Still prettier than you”, and his ass cheeks with “Do not enter”.  He supposed that would count for bold enough for any bunny pilot.

 Incense burned and holy oils anointed the joints of the Revenant as he approached.  Chanting of the techs as he went to initiate the first union with the Revenant calmed him as he approached. When the god machine awoke for the first time, it was intensely traumatic for the AI, and the first pilot to join with it would forever mark the machine’s interaction with humanity. A first rejection made the machines into pilot killers, and each subsequent rejection raised the odds against succeeding pilots.  It was rather less than one in a million who could be a fifth pilot after four failures, so Giaus had no intention of doing the dance of the electric chicken today. Max was smirking as he leaned against the cockpit ledge.  He had in his pocket what Giaus had requested.

 “Are you sure about this little brother?”  Max had joked that if Giaus pulled this off, they would be brothers of the Mecha, twins joined by their twinned machines.  He tapped the flask in his pocket, the forbidden, but frequently found alcohol had no place on any sane initiation day, but the Bunnies were not wedded to sanity.   Giaus nodded, and accepted the flask.  He unscrewed the cap, and breathed in the heady aroma of the amasec.  Stronger than the general preference for mead, it couldn’t quite take the bluing off a breach block, but it could remove carbon build up from power shunts, and clear burned coolant off jammed valves.  Go big or go home, and with a hundred and five ton mecha, he was planning to go big.  Filling his mouth with the burn of amasec, he leaned forward for Max to jack the mecha’s control cable into Giaus’s pilot implant.

 CONNECTION

FURY/CONFUSION/RAGE

 The AI was powerful beyond anything the Dreadnought had prepared him for, the feedback through his body was more than he could take.  Reflexively he swallowed, and the burn of Amasec filled his stomach. Eternity screaming in pain as white fire burned down his synapses as unfiltered and unbuffered imput blasted his systems. He felt the powering up of his pseudomyomer musculature, the powerful piston augmentors and magnetics filling the machine with movement potential, even as its fury and confusion paralyzed it. Years of screaming agony passed in seconds.

 A warm wash of alcohol flooded his brain as the high test Amasec hit his frying wet ware like a computer reset subroutine.

 [WHAT WAS THAT] screamed the panicking AI

 {that was the good stuff, please, a little less power on the feed. If I die, I swear by the machine gods that I will pee all over your cockpit, and the smell will be with you forever}

 The panic of the Revenant’s AI lessened as the awareness of OTHER filled it.  Seeking now it opened its awareness to the second intelligence joined to it.  As the channels opened, Giaus instinctively suppressed the confusion as his own brain took over balance, body awareness, situational awareness, external communication, and threat analysis.

 The AI no longer drowning in information overload, its own processors began to work on refining the data stream, focusing sensors and providing the matchless computational power of the Revenant to anything the pilots intelligence focused on for even a microsecond.

 Giaus took a second sip of Amasec, and the alcohol washed through him, cleansing the last of the panic from his system.  He let his simple uncomplicated joy fill his mind, and he felt the machine drink it deep.

 Sending the command to rise, he let the god-machine see how his meat reflexes could allow the machine to borrow his meat body’s own reflexes to turn the ten thousand commands involved in bringing one hundred and five tons of killing machine from sitting to standing into a single thoughtless and effortless action.  New protocols flowered within the machine AI as he drank deep of his pilots knowledge.  New engrams began chemically burning themselves into the pilots brain as he learned the ways of his new self.

 Moving forward, the god-machine stalked out of the bay, sensors drinking in the rich electronic spoor of the range.  Threat/Detection icons flashed, and powerful weapons powered up as a battery of Man Of War rays preheated on the weapon arms and torso of the god/machine.

 {will you join with me, will you go to war with me, from the fire of battle to the dark of death, will you be with me?}  Giaus asked, because the best pairing were partnerships, not slave/master relationships.

 [YES!]  This time the roar caused glorious pain in Giaus, and he answered with his own snarling roar.

 {who are we?}

[I/WE ARE ANTILLUS CRASSUS]

 A scream of primal joy sounded as the next god-machine of the Spirit of Bunny finished its initiation. The flash of a blue Man of War Ray burned brighter than the sunlight, and struck harder than lighting.  The combat drone exploded as thousands of points of damage hammered past its shields and shattered its carapace like a hammer on a tea cup.

 A new mecha and pilot strode the fields of Mecha Galaxy, ready to join in the wars that gave both men and machines a purpose.  

 John T Mainer 28840