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neoptolemid · 3 years ago

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Neoptolemus super doc ? ??

ARE WE ABSOLUTELY SURE,, , ,, ,

uh okay, I pull together my super document of Pyrrhus, have pardon cause it's a bit old and i'm gonna spread it through like 3 or 4 posts probably , , so uh enjoy and I'm sorry for all grammatical errors

Skyros

Pyrrhus was born by the name Pyrrhus and this was based either on his red hair or due to Achilles name of Skyros being Pyrrha.

When it comes to appearances I generally describe him as a good mix of both Deidamia and Achilles’ traits, having inherited Deidamia’s red hair and Achilles Blue/teal eyes. He is around the middle of both of his parent’s height as I make Achilles 6’0 and Deidamia 5’3 when full grown, Pyrhhus rounds out to be 5’6. He also has a number of beauty marks which are similar to Achilles’.

It is unknown how long Achilles stayed on Skyros or when Pyrrhus was born. Either way Achilles did know about his son, we know this from the fact Achilles makes references to his son within the Iliad and Odyssey.

I like to believe that part of Pyrrhus growing up with his mother and aunts is that he has a lot of appreciation for women’s crafts and what they do. That he as a younger child would simply sit and be by his mother and/or aunts as they worked enjoying their company.

He would try his best growing up to join into their songs and dances, and at least once dressed himself in girls clothes to show his mother and aunts which got a good laugh out of them.

From Quintus ‘Fall of Troy’ we are informed that learning to fight and it was Odysseus and Diomedes who came with their black sails to ask him to join the war cause. He was promised to marry Menelaus’s daughter Hermione, he was also promised to have Achilles’ armor and gold, riches, and glory for coming with them.

While work will generally age him to being a young man or simply portray him to be very well spoken, if you follow along with the time line it is very possible that Pyrrhus is only 11 or 12 when he leaves Skyros, I tend to write him as being 13 for my own comfort.

Another thing to note form Quintus’s piece on Pyrrhus is they depict this being especially sad for Deidamia, she is written as having weeped and weeped. She doesn’t want him to leave because she doesn’t want him going to war and leaving her. She doesn’t want him hurt and she doesn’t want another person she loves leaving her again.

Deidamia Pyrrhus’s mother is written as loving him and I interpret bits of this story as Pyrrhus is the only tie to Achilles she has. Generally I prefer the idea that Deidamia did care for Achilles and so it did break her heart that he left and she had hoped that he would return eventually to her and their son.

Over the years she understood more and more that he would not return, so all she had was her son, and then eventually they come and take him from her as well.

Mattering on the version of the story, it is fully possible that Deidamia may have never seen her son again once he left the island.

Dawn climbed the wide-arched heaven, straightway they rose from their beds. Then Deidameia knew; and on her son's broad breast she cast herself, and bitterly wailed: her cry thrilled through the air, as when a cow loud-lowing mid the hills seeks through the glens her calf, and all around Echo long ridges of the mountain-steep; so on all sides from dim recesses rang the hall; and in her misery she cried: "Child, wherefore is thy soul now on the wing to follow strangers unto Ilium the fount of tears, where perish many in fight, yea, cunning men in war and battle grim? And thou art but a youth, and hast not learnt the ways of war, which save men in the day of peril. Hearken thou to me, abide here in thine home, lest evil tidings come from Troy unto my ears, that thou in fight hast perished; for mine heart saith, never thou hitherward shalt from battle-toil return. Not even thy sire escaped the doom of death -- he, mightier than thou, mightier than all heroes on earth, yea, and a Goddess' son -- but was in battle slain, all through the wiles and crafty counsels of these very men who now to woeful war be kindling thee. Therefore mine heart is full of shuddering fear lest, son, my lot should be to live bereaved of thee, and to endure dishonour and pain, for never heavier blow on woman falls than when her lord hath perished, and her sons die also, and her house is left to her desolate. Straightway evil men remove her landmarks, yea, and rob her of her all, setting the right at naught. There is no lot more woeful and more helpless than is hers who is left a widow in a desolate home."

Lemnos

Pyrrhus agrees to go with them and on the way they stop by the island of Lemnos to get Philoctetes. Odysseus makes Neoptolemus lie to Philoctetes because he knows that he hates Odysseus because he is the man who abandoned him on Lemnos and he knows that Philoctetes doesn’t want to go to Troy but back to Greece and to his home.

This causes a Pyrrhus strife because he has been taught to be noble up until now, in the play Philoctetes by Sophocles we are shown multiple times how this causes him strife because he is having to lie. Philoctetes also considers Pyrrhus to be a friend because Pyrrhus lies and says that he wants to go back home to Skyros because of the way he is treated by the other Greeks even though he hasn’t met any of them yet to our knowledge.

Good lines from this play that I personally characterize him are

‘It would have been better if i had never left scyros. Everything around me oppresses me ..’

‘He’ll (odysseus) claim i’m too soft-hearted’

‘I can’t. It is right and in our interest to listen to those in authority’

Some of the best development to see from this is how he was raised to be noble and how he doesn’t want to trick people or lie, he wants to be honest.

Another thing I find interesting to read from specifically this play is how Pyrrhus is very rarely called by his own name, he is almost always referred to ‘son of achilles’ and also in this play he is often referred to as ‘child’ or ‘boy’.

While none of these things are brought up as an issue in the play I do think it is a detail you can play with, like how it might weigh on an individual to be always referred to by your famous father or how people don’t recognize you by your name but by your father’s.

I think these are things that would weigh on Pyrrhus he wants to live up to his father but it also oppresses him to be referred in such a way. He wants to be like his father but he is still his own individual which he doesn’t feel recognized by as people continually anything but his own name.

To the idea of playing into the fact he is also often called ‘boy’ or ‘child’ These could be names that eventually upset and anger him. He is being dragged into this war like he is old enough to fight, which he is not and yet he is not recognized as such by those around him.

It is a case of a child feeling indignatinge by being called terms which denote being naive, though I like to think there is some justification for his anger because this isn’t just a small thing but he is being taken into a man's world.

In Philoctetes he is referred to by the name Neoptolemus, he was given this name by Phoenix, a man also considered to be a father by Achilles. Phoenix is one of the oldest men in the Trojan war and he is either involved with Pyrrhus coming from the island to Skyros to the war or some time later down the road. He gave him this name because it means ‘new war/warrior’ it is meant to reflect how Achilles himself was a young man when he entered the war.

It is honestly more common to see Pyrrhus referred to as Neoptolemus by the Greeks and Pyrrhus by Roman sources to my knowledge. (i’ll be using Pyrrhus just for simplicity)

Troy

There are a lot of various stories that have to do with the fall of Troy, we have records again from Quintus “Fall of Troy” and the “Aeneid” by Vergil. There are also a number of plays by the three tragedians of Ancient Greece(Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus) that have to do with the end of the war and various stories of the aftermath.

While Pyrrhus doesn’t appear in these very often they still help to give more insight to his possible character.

Pyrrhus makes a minor appearance within the play of ‘hecuba’ and is in the background of ‘andromache’, he makes no appearance within this story but he is directly related to things happening in the play.

Back onto the subject of the fall of Troy, he is regarded as the killer of both Astyanax and Priam. These are generally agreed upon details and sometimes Odysseus fills the role of Pyrrhus when the story decides they don’t want to introduce more characters.

He is generally described as being ‘battle-eager’ ‘Fierce-hearted’ and a few other epithets relating to fighting. In general he is not described as being worse than anyone else. The fall of Troy is a greek work and all the Greeks within this work are killing and fighting people. He is by all means a competent fighter within the text.

In the Odyssey when Odysseus goes into the underworld and speaks with the dead, and when Achilles comes to speak he asks about his son.

Odysseus describes him as

‘but I can tell you all about your son Neoptolemus, for I took him in my own ship from Scyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was always first to speak, and his judgement was unerring. Nestor and I were the only two who could surpass him; and when it came to fighting on the plain of Troy, he would never remain with the body of his men, but would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valour. Many a man did he kill in battle- I cannot name every single one of those whom he slew while fighting on the side of the Argives, but will only say how he killed that valiant hero Eurypylus son of Telephus, who was the handsomest man I ever saw except Memnon; many others also of the Ceteians fell around him by reason of a woman's bribes. Moreover, when all the bravest of the Argives went inside the horse that Epeus had made, and it was left to me to settle when we should either open the door of our ambuscade, or close it, though all the other leaders and chief men among the Danaans were drying their eyes and quaking in every limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from his cheek; he was all the time urging me to break out from the horse- grasping the handle of his sword and his bronze-shod spear, and breathing fury against the foe. Yet when we had sacked the city of Priam he got his handsome share of the prize money and went on board (such is the fortune of war) without a wound upon him, neither from a thrown spear nor in close combat, for the rage of Mars is a matter of great chance.'

In general from the greek sources he is described as nobly.

He is noted for killing quite a few people during the fall of Troy but his most notable kills are Priam, who he kills within the throne room (to my knowledge) and Astyanax who is killed after Troy has fallen.

In the Aeneid by Vergil he is described in ways that frame him a more villainous or evil way

‘The fatal work inhuman Pyrrhus plies,’

During when Pyrrhus is about to kill Priam there is a line that I believe characterizes him as more of a tragic character than anything else. Before killing Priam, Priam berates him about how Pyrrhus is about to treat Priam because of how Achilles showed him humanity and how Achilles gives Priam his son’s body back. This is partly brung up because Pyrrhus getting into the throne room kills one of Priam’s sons in front of his face.

The line basically translates out to be Pyrrhus telling Priam that when he dies and sees his father to tell him of the terrible deed of his son, of how terrible his son is.

In the translation that I read they use the line ‘Tell him of degenerate Neoptolemus’

When in the context of the Philoctetes I think this paints Pyrrhus as being a rather tragic and sad character, because prior to going to the island of Lemnos Pyrrhus tried to act most noble, he wants to be noble like his father. When on Lemnos he has his morals questioned and is forced to go against his morales at the hand of Odysseus.

I interpret this as him vocalizing how he might be upset with himself as he is forced to look at the reality of war which isn’t noble or glorious at all. He wants to live up to the noble idea of his father and everything he is forced to do makes him feel terrible.

I personally think that Pyrrhus probably doesn’t know a lot about the terrible things that Achilles has done or he tries to ignore them. When fighting in the war he might realize his idea of his father might not truly be acturte, he was raised on stories from his mother telling him of his outstanding father.

In terms of justifying his actions during the war because going off my own headcanon he probably wouldn’t be so interested in killing so many people, I imagine he kinda just turns off his head and acts purely on his emotions and just acts like that of a soldier. (Is this PTSD?)

He follows the orders given to him and acts without questioning and lets all his emotions out. I personally don’t assign Pyrrhus that much pride but I like to think he inherited some of his fathers famous anger. All of his anger at what he is being forced to do comes out when he is forced to fight.

That is where the brutality of his portrayal within the Aeneid comes from.

#super doc sorry #my thoughts #my terrible terrible thoughts of my boy #I am sorry some of these thoughts are kinda old and need to get updated lol #neoptolemus #pyrrhus #the iliad #(I guess)#my super doc of all things

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bigskydreaming · 5 years ago

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That sounds pretty cool, if you are fine with it, or if you feel like it, would you elaborate one of this scenarios? It doesn't have to be right now, just if you feel like it, i just loooove your opinions on dick grayson as a character, they are just perfect, to me at least, because you know your own version of him and its amazing! So, like i said, would you write a little about mind controlled dick grayson if it doesn't bother you uu

LOL, thanks - I have a few different headcanon type things along those lines, but most of them are about the aftermath of existing instances rather than additional scenarios of Dick being mind controlled.

For instance, my personal view of the BIGGEST (and almost completely untouched) repercussions of the Spyral mission for Dick is all the stuff it might have brought back up from the Brother Blood stuff in the early days of the New Teen Titans. When he was being controlled and manipulated without his knowledge by the Church of Blood.

Because in order to even do the Spyral mission at all, at Bruce’s behest.....going undercover with the organization meant Dick HAD to let them put the Hypnos implants in him. There was literally no way around it, it was a fundamental part of the mission. They were standard issue for all Spyral operatives....

And as Dick only found out later, coming as a complete surprise to him, and thus something that Bruce himself had to be unaware of before sending Dick in - part of the reason the Hypnos implants were standard issue for all Spyral operatives was not JUST the advantages the implants gave their operatives in the field. The implants were ALSO a backdoor for Matron and other higher-ups in the organization like Agent Zero, to basically....shut down the operative with a word, knock them out - a failsafe that essentially made all their operatives unable to pose a threat to them, or powerless against them in case they turned traitor (or like Dick, had other allegiances from the start).

I don’t know if you’ve seen my meta about how and why I view Dick’s greatest fear as being the cause of his loved ones’ deaths or suffering, or being used against them to be the cause of this.....but imagine you’re Dick Grayson, and your hands down greatest fear is being completely hijacked, without agency, a passenger in your own body, as your enemy turns you against your mission, your allies, your family, whatever.

And then you find out that the Hypnos implants that you willingly allowed them to put in you, not knowing they served as any kind of Trojan horse that gave the people you were there to take down a secret kind of control over you, the very kind you fear more than anything given your specific history with this sort of thing....

Like, you find out in the worst possible way, when Matron uses them to basically turn off your brain with just a WORD, that from the moment you let them put these things in you in order to go undercover as one of their operatives....you’ve been totally at their mercy without even knowing it, even as you worked against them. You had no idea that they held the edge over you the whole time, had no way to even be on guard against the possibility....because you went into this only knowing the information Bruce had to give you, and this wasn’t in it.

(And then of course, it gets worse, when the Hypnos implants are revealed to be Luthor Corp tech, and with a FURTHER backdoor feature only HE knows about, that gives him the ability to completely hijack the movements of people with the implants in them. Again - Luthor. The artist formerly known as Dick’s murderer, which led to him being on this mission in the first place).

Anyway, that’s the most damaging fallout from the Spyral mission IMO, that’s rarely if ever touched on - the fact that in the aftermath of Dick’s trauma and death, he went on this mission that he never wanted to go on in the first place, at least trusting that Bruce’s reasons for wanting him to go on it were sound.....and implicitly putting his trust in Bruce (as he had so many times before), to not send him into anything he couldn’t handle, or without crucial information.

Which of course Bruce did, because his reasons for sending Dick on this mission WEREN’T sound. They were as much emotional as they were practical, born of his own issues and his own inability to handle Dick dying in front of him while he was powerless to do anything about it, or to be the one to revive him, and he was IMO almost driven to send Dick far away from the target he saw him as having painted on him due to his unmasking, as long as he was known to be alive and in Gotham....and also far enough away that he was kinda out of sight, out of mind, for Bruce, and as such, Bruce didn’t have to be constantly haunted by the reminder of how powerless he’d been to save or help his son.

IMO there’s no mistaking that Bruce’s behavior in all of this was both extraordinarily shitty writing AND at the same time compliant with previous shitty behavior of his (born both of similarly shitty writing AND just....examination of his worse tendencies). So for me its a fine line between over-vilifying Bruce for what I think was the writers not paying their due diligence to the reality and implications of how they were writing him.....but at the same time, not apologizing for his behavior, especially given that its not THAT far off the mark of tendencies that had been written into him before this point.

So for me, the way I reconcile that and find anything useful to take away from this story, its to distill it down to specific lasting repercussions/implications for Dick, that are paired to something that can kinda be....learned by the characters from this story, something they could take away from these events and use to BETTER themselves and their relationships.

And for me, I come away with two things here:

1) Whether you write about the Spyral mission and aftermath and include the canon exactly as it happened, or you tone down Bruce’s behavior or rewrite that to be not quite as egregious....a useful dynamic to focus on IMO, as an example, is the idea that while Bruce’s basic motivation was most likely an inability to cope in a healthy way with watching his son die and being unable to do anything about it.....that doesn’t mean that out of all of this, that PART, the death, was the worst of it for Dick himself. Yeah, I emphasize the fact that Dick did actually DIE and this was traumatic as hell, because its so often glossed over....but even with that, I tend to think that given his history with being controlled, stripped of his agency, etc....its all of that, that was likely more damaging to him, more lasting. The fact that he HAD been here before, so to speak, and here he was in this exact kind of situation he hated and feared so much, ALL OVER AGAIN....and not because of anything he WANTED to do, or would have done if he’d had any real choice in it at all, but solely because Bruce, his dad, the person who is SUPPOSED to protect and comfort and care for him....pushed him into it, despite and over his protests.

Because by focusing on this, you can address the reality that as they’ve been written for the last...who knows how long....the Batfamily doesn’t really even KNOW each other. They don’t KNOW each other’s greatest fears, strengths and weaknesses, underlying motivations and personal goals. They tend to base everything off of their ASSUMPTIONS about each other, and as I’ve outlined here....that can be incredibly damaging, for instance when you have Bruce literally hurting his son because he’s CONVINCED himself its the best thing for Dick, he’s only doing it to protect him like he couldn’t protect him from being killed....but then, because he doesn’t truly know Dick at this point as well as he thinks he does, and because he isn’t LISTENING to him and what he wants and doesn’t want....Bruce ends up pushing him into a situation that I would argue Dick probably hates and fears even MORE than physical danger or being in danger of being killed.

Also, I’m always going to point out the constant barrage of sexual harassment, inappropriate touches and scrutiny and innuendo Dick was subjected to by Dr. Netz as part of his regular ‘check-ups’ while at Spyral - which given Dick’s history of sexual assault and harassment like, should not be discounted IMO - and again, this is all stuff that Dick was basically forced into by virtue of needing to keep his cover for this assignment, that he’d never asked for or wanted, and had very little control over from the start, let alone freedom to call it off if things got to the point where he no longer felt safe or in control - like, I’m never going to imagine a Bruce who would CONSCIOUSLY put any of his children in a situation where they had to ‘choose’ to be regularly sexually harassed/assaulted for the sake of the mission, and like, EXPECT them to make that choice for the mission, because no. But at the same time, there’s no getting around that whether they addressed it on the page or not, that was EXACTLY the situation Dick was forced into by this mission.

Which brings me to the second thing I come away with from this story:

2) As I said, a big thing to focus on with this story IMO is to use it to highlight how little the Batfamily knows about each other by this point, and thus how often they tend to make choices regarding the others that are completely opposite of what the others would WANT them to choose or do on their behalf...and then like...address that, with fic. Fix that with fic. Use fic to have them realize this, explore this, LEARN from this....

BUT, ALSO....the other crucial takeaway is that all of this only really happened...Dick only ended up in the incredibly compromised and vulnerable position he was in with Spyral, Matron, Dr. Netz, Agent Zero, Luthor, etc....

Because....he went into this with only the intel Bruce had to give him....and Bruce just flat out didn’t have as much intel as he thought he did, clearly. He didn’t have the necessary details to know that he was sending his recently-traumatized-son into the lions’ den with FAR less control of the situation than EITHER of them thought.....and no real way to HELP Dick COMPENSATE for this once this was made clear to him. Dick had to figure out how to handle all of this on his own, and the fact that he was able to is a testament to him, NOT validation of Bruce being sure that he could handle anything unexpected that came up during this mission....because the kind of stuff we’re talking about, Dick shouldn’t HAVE to handle without warning, help, or back-up.

So, the thing I try to emphasize here, that can be applied across SO many stories, across SO many timelines or events, is just....

BRUCE CAN BE WRONG.

And that’s so, so crucial, and yet so rarely referenced outside of like.....Bruce being placed morally opposite various of his children about certain arguments. The idea that Bruce is just....fallible, that he can and does make mistakes, does not have all the information at times, draws the wrong conclusions at times...THAT is something that I think is so much more....in need of scrutiny, than just blasting Bruce for how shitty he was during this story over all. Because the real danger IMO isn’t just any one story, but how across so many stories, both canon and fic, its just taken for granted that Bruce’s information is right, Bruce’s plan is the right one, Bruce’s conclusion is the most empirically accurate.

When he and Dick or Jason or any of the others are in conflict about how to go about doing something, or what specifically needs doing....there’s a tendency to default to “well he’s Batman,” and ASSUME his position as the correct one due to his age and experience and innate Batman-ness.....and that by contrast, Dick or Jason or whomever is just being difficult, or immature or irresponsible or wrong-headed....reckless or impulsive or being ruled by their emotions, instead of cold hard logic, like Bruce is operating off of.

And I would argue that more than anything else, the largely-unexamined elements of the Spyral mission are case in point for how that’s just flat out not always true, and dangerous to assume is always going to be true given that we have SO many canon instances of Bruce being ruled by emotion rather than logic, and from that drawing conclusions or going with information that flat out...isn’t the right one.

And as shown here....that’s what’s so often at one of his children’s expense. Batman can be wrong. Bruce is just a man, he’s fallible, he can be blinded by his own emotions. Dick and the others are sometimes right, when he’s not.

And they should ALWAYS be upheld as knowing better than him when it comes to their own personal experiences, especially the adult kids....and flat out, there’s no excuse for Bruce delivering his son into one of his worst nightmare scenarios in order to cope with HIS emotions about Dick’s trauma/death even moreso than to truly help Dick....since IMO, the situation Dick ended up in was nothing but a recipe for MORE trauma, rather than any kind of help with the stuff that had just happened to him.

And the only way to truly address that, push back against that kind of story, is just to examine in story that like.....this time, Bruce was wrong. His motivations were wrong, his intel was wrong, his plan was wrong, and his decision to override what his son WANTED and not listen to his protests....was, bottom line, wrong.

And Dick was the only one to pay any kind of actual price for it.

Soooooo....lol, its not ultimately about the mind control at all, despite the fact that your ask is what started me down this train of thought, BUT the mind control is still so fundamentally essential to it, because of Dick’s history with it AND his focus on self-autonomy and agency.

Which to me, is always gonna be far angstier than the mind control itself. Because living with the aftermath like....there’s no actual cure or off-switch to that, unlike with the mind control itself.

(Related headcanon: I headcanon that after Dick was truly back from Spyral, he went and got full body scans every couple months from STAR Labs, Cyborg, random other hero affiliates, etc....just to reassure himself that the implants were truly gone, because he didn’t fully trust that they were or that he’d even know if someone lied to him about them being gone....so he’s not satisfied until he’s double, triple, even quadruple checked for himself.

This IMO goes back to how during the Brother Blood stuff, he was literally brainwashed by the cult on three different occasions, with him still having been brainwashed after the second one, even after everyone told him the conditioning was really gone and he was all good - but they’d missed stuff, a deeper layer, and so....its not even about whether or not Dick trusts whomever is telling him his conditioning/implants/whatever are all gone and safely removed....its that he doesn’t trust that they’re necessarily RIGHT, no matter how confident they are, and since he’s ultimately the one facing the consequences of them being WRONG, if it turns out they are.

IMO, this is an area where Dick is likely almost if not completely obsessive....having regular rituals of checking, double checking, triple checking that he’s alone in his own head, that his body is clear of all foreign agents, that there’s nothing hidden about him or his body or his psyche, just waiting to activate and turn him against his friends and family...because his body is his weapon, but he can only truly trust it, trust himself with it, when he’s reassured it - he - isn’t in danger of becoming someone else’s weapon on a moment’s notice.

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rwbyremnants · 4 years ago

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NOTE: The word “Negro” is only used for historical accuracy in this chapter, as it was the most polite/inoffensive term in the 1950s. As a POC myself I think history should not be erased. I'm a strong supporter of BLM, and if you wanna debate that you can just take it right off this fic; I'm gonna delete super politically-charged comments (especially if you're a racist lol, you might get reported)

=Chapter 17

Pyrrha showed up just in time for the cake, as it turned out, since it had to chill before it was ready to be served. In the interim, they had all chatted and played a game of poker, which only proved that Kali had even more talents than previously were visible. Luckily, they were only playing for starlight mints instead of real money.

As anyone could have predicted, Kali took an immediate liking to Weiss's childhood friend. She did tease her once - asked if she wanted a little “extra sugar” with her slice of cassata, leaning in a little too close - but when Pyrrha flushed and pulled away, she left her unmolested for the rest of the night. Pyrrha clearly appreciated that consideration.

The two drove back home with full bellies and high spirits, Weiss even moreso due to dinner before the dessert; Pyrrha was just filled with cake and milk. They took the long way home, both to throw anyone who might be trying to follow them off the scent, and to enjoy the evening for a few seconds more.

“I never thought I would say this, but… I really do like your new friends.”

“Yeah?” Weiss couldn't help the huge grin that broke out across her face. “They like you, too. Though I am sorry they can't seem to stop flirting.”

“I already told you, I don't mind. Even Cinder, as long as she doesn’t go too far. They are simply expressing desires that come very natural to them. Maybe they don't to me, but I'm starting to realize that they aren't as ‘unnatural’ as the church would have us believe.”

The church had scarcely occurred to her. The Schnee family weren't much for religion at all, since her father considered himself “an educated man”, as he was quick to inform anyone who broached the subject. “Yeah. Maybe not.”

“And…” After taking a deep breath, she continued, “I think I can handle the flirting, as long as you don't join in.”

“What?! But I would never-”

“I know, but you probably thought you would never date a woman at all,” she went on stubbornly, despite how uncomfortable she looked to be discussing this. “I'm not trying to say that you were thinking about doing it; just… expressing my gratitude that I know you understand. That if they ever start going too far, you'll always be there to step in and stop them.”

Weiss nodded as she absorbed that. Maybe it wasn't quite fair for Pyrrha to assume that she would ever change her behavior that drastically, but she could also understand the mindset looking from the outside-in. All the more reason for her to keep an eye on the other Dragons; as often as Yang reassured her that they wouldn't really have forced her into anything she didn't want, they were still extremely pushy.

Before she could respond, she noticed her friend leaning in to squint over the steering wheel. “What… what is that? Up there.”

Two men seemed to be standing in the middle of the street. At first, Weiss was only concerned that they were trying to get themselves run over - or just being a general nuisance. Then she recognized one of them by his bristly white mustache and groaned.

“Great. What is this fresh pleasure?”

“We're about to find out,” Pyrrha sighed as she pulled over to the curb. Weiss had already shucked her leather jacket and was in the process of stuffing it under her seat. “Do you remember our alibi for today?”

“The diner? Or… wait, we were going for a Sunday drive.”

“But it's Friday.”

“You know what I mean!” Without waiting for her to answer, she exited the car.

The two fathers were waiting for them. This close, Weiss could indeed tell that the other man was Mr. Nikos; she hadn't been able to tell from further away. His red hair was thinning on top, but otherwise he was quite the good-looking fellow; a burly ex-Olympian who was definitely the driving force behind Pyrrha’s career in track and field.

“Hello, Father,” Weiss said shortly.

“Where exactly have you two been keeping yourselves?” he asked without preamble.

“Out driving. We had a nice meal and decided to enjoy the fresh air before it gets too cold to-”

His overly loud sigh interrupted Weiss's words. “Spare me the double talk. I've already confirmed that neither of you have been to the diner all day today. Now, would you like to amend your story?”

“It's true,” Pyrrha added, her voice a lot stronger than expected. Weiss was furious that he was checking up on her, but she would handle that later. “We found a quaint little place by accident, had our supper there. Since it isn't a school night, we thought it would be fun to splurge and try something new.”

“Mmhmmm. And what sort of new things did you try?”

Something about the way her father had phrased that made Weiss uncomfortable. She couldn't put her finger on why right away, but it made her hesitant to answer.

“Shall we share our hypothesis with the class? Very well then.” Barely glancing at Mr. Nikos, he began to pace back and forth, still in the middle of the street. “Already, we've caught you hanging around that uncouth girl. The one you've been warned against spending time with. Or don't you recall that?”

Throat dry, Weiss managed to rasp, “Of course.” This was it. They were about to be defeated, and everything was going to get so much worse.

“I've heard from Whitley that you spend a lot of time with a strange group of girls. Granted, you haven't spent any time with them since our little talk, but it is something you've been guilty of in the past. And now, you are spending a little too much time with Miss Nikos.”

“Well, it's not that I mind so much as all that,” the other parent said in a more mild tone than Weiss's father.

“Shush.” Weiss wanted to run up to him and kick him in the shin for talking to her friend's father that way, but she resisted for the time being. “You can see how this looks to us. It would look that way to anyone. So I hope you aren't terribly offended when I suggest that you spend a little less time together from now on.”

Of course, she knew exactly what he meant. Still, she had a good defense prepared for just such an accusation. It had originally been about Yang, but the sentiment worked just as well for Pyrrha.

First, she would start with feigning ignorance. “No, Father, I can't see how it looks to you. What's wrong with having a good chum and spending my free time with her?”

“As I said,” he went on patiently - though a muscle tick had appeared in his jaw. “It's not your chosen company, who is at least an improvement over that other hooligan. It's the amount of time. This is far more than any two gal pals would entertain each other's company.”

“Is it? I mean, how do you know? Have you spent a lot of time as a gal with pals?”

His face darkened. “Weiss Schnee, you will not sass me in this manner.”

“I'm not sassing you! I'm merely trying to point out that you've never been a teenaged girl. You can hardly be expected to understand our sisterhood.”

“Fine,” he growled. “But it doesn't matter. I have put my foot down and I expect you to obey me. Understand?”

“Please, Mr. Schnee,” Pyrrha began in a humble voice. “I really don't understand. What do you think will happen if we spend too much time together? Is it her homework? I always do mine - we do it together!”

“That is not the concern.”

“Then what is? If I know what the problem is, I can try to rectify it! B-but I don't want to lose my friendship with your daughter purely because… because of a reason you won't even tell me!”

Those were real tears sliding down her best friend's cheeks. In the back of her head, Weiss was thinking it was Pyrrha who deserved to be in ‘Our Town’ .

“He means that you're behaving a little too… familiar with each other,” Mr. Nikos provided, looking quite ill at the prospect.

“What does that mean? How can we be too familiar? Doesn't the Good Book say to love our neighbor as ourself? I'm only trying to be a good friend and a good Christian to my neighbor.”

That seemed to finally do it. Though her own father looked relieved, Weiss was still squinting at them suspiciously. But there didn't seem to be anything more he could accuse them of without simply shouting more unfounded nonsense. So he sighed and shook his head, gesturing for Weiss to go inside.

“Sorry about this,” Weiss whispered to Pyrrha, just loud enough for everyone to hear. Then she hugged her very briefly, very chaste, and they shared an awkward smile before parting ways.

As the Studebaker was moved into the garage, her father joined her on their way up to the front door. “Don't you think for a second this is over. You may have fooled those Greeks with your Trojan Horse lies, but you won't fool me.”

“And don't think your pretend concern fools anyone,” she told him in a dangerous tone of her own. “You only care that you can't control me as well as you wish.”

“Don't speak to me in that-”

“What have I really done wrong? Snuck out once, just to check in on my friend? And I know,” she interrupted before he could interrupt. “You don't approve of Yang. She really isn't as awful as you think, but I've respected your wishes, and haven't brought her around anymore. And now you're suspecting my best friend, a girl so sweet she could be in an Ovaltine commercial, of being a bad influence? Where does it end? Am I just not allowed to have any friends at all?”

“Not the type of friends that you are engaging with lately. You've already demonstrated delinquent behavior, so why should I believe you when you state that you are giving it up simply because I've asked you to? Delinquents already misbehave, and you have done nothing to prove that you've reformed entirely.”

Weiss wanted so badly to shout at him. She wanted to kick him, or to tell him everything that was really going on and watch him be completely shocked. But she knew that Salem was counting on her to remain in his good graces - and despite not trusting her, she already trusted her more than she trusted her own father, tragic as that may be.

“I'm trying my best, Father. And I'm not doing anything wrong, I haven't hurt anyone - I'm keeping my grades up and spending leisure time with Pyrrha. And whatever kind of negative influence you seem to think she is, I promise you that she isn't. Can't you tell that just by talking to her?”

The man considered for a moment, still glaring down at her as they came to a stop in the living room. “I thought I could tell that by talking to you. Apparently, I was mistaken. But fine, pretend that all is well and you aren't about to disgrace our family name. You'll either prove that you were right, or you'll prove me right. Eventually.”

As the man headed to his seat by the fire, Weiss stomped upstairs. If she never saw him again, it would still be too soon.

------------------------------------------------------

Saturday was largely boring for Weiss. Hoping to appease her unreasonable parent, she spent most of her time practicing her singing lessons, and going over schoolwork to make sure it was ready for Monday morning. Her mother was present for breakfast, and she tried to engage her in conversation, but as usual the woman was already mentally divorced from everything around her. And with the male members of her family being so intolerable, she decided to avoid them altogether whenever possible.

But Sunday, she received a shock in the early afternoon. When Pyrrha came over, she felt vague surprise; she had expected her to keep her distance for a little while after essentially being accused of “deviant behaviour” without it being openly stated.

“I had to come right away,” she whispered once they were alone in Weiss’s room.

“Why?” She pressed a paper napkin into her hands. “What’s this?”

Squirming for a brief moment, Pyrrha breathed, “Did you know that… th-that Mrs. Belladonna works at that Italian restaurant downtown?”

“No, I didn’t,” she confessed. Privately, she thought it was an entirely fitting occupation for the woman.

“She does. I had to try very hard to keep a straight face when she came out to ask my family if we were having a nice meal. Then she said I ‘dropped my napkin’, though I still had mine in my lap. She stooped to pick it up, and…”

Weiss was afraid that Pyrrha was about to confess that Kali had made stronger overtures toward her friend. “And?”

“A-and it was like a magic trick! Her hands moved so smoothly, no one besides me could tell she took the napkin from my lap, pulled one from her apron pocket, and presented that to me as if it were the one I dropped! Really, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did shows in Las Vegas or something!”

“Oh,” she sighed in sheer relief. “Alright, well that’s… strange, but nothing worth flipping your lid over. Though I might have to ask if she has any card tricks.”

“No, no - it’s not that. Read it.”

“Read what?”

“The napkin,” she said impatiently, unfolding it for her…

And revealing a hastily-scribbled note. Suddenly, Weiss had realised that this wasn’t just a strange story that didn’t affect her. It was the beginning of something larger.

‘ Parlay went south. Rumble tonight - old factory, 5pm. Sorry but S needs you there. Love you sweetie.’

The fact that Kali had taken the time to tack on the last sentence did touch Weiss, even if it was easily eclipsed by the rest of the message. Reading between the lines, she had a feeling the real shape of the matter was that Salem didn’t need her in particular, but that all Dragons were supposed to be in attendance, or their loyalties would be called into question.

“What is a ‘rumble’?” Pyrrha was whispering softly. “D-do you think- should I stay, just to make sure everything’s alright?”

“No! I mean…” Reading through the note again and committing the details to memory, she wadded it up in her hand. “No, Pyrrha. Thank you, but you aren’t one of us. I don’t want you in danger, too.”

“But I want to help!”

Her heart breaking, she hugged her tightly. “Absolutely not. I already feel bad enough for dragging you into this as much as I have, so… so if you got hurt because of me, I would never forgive myself. I hate to ask you to help me at all, so just… please, drive me over to the Belladonna’s an hour earlier, then go straight home. Do you understand?”

“No, I don’t, but… I trust you. Even if I wish I could do more.” They patted each other on the back. “I wish I weren’t the bearer of bad news.”

“It’s alright. Excuse me, I need to use the little girls’ room.”

As she watched the torn-up napkin swirl and rocket down the hole in the bottom of the toilet bowl, Weiss felt like she might be ill. But there was no sense in worrying herself sick now. There would be plenty of time for that when she got to the site of the rumble.

------------------------------------------------------

“Thank you for coming,” Kali sighed as they followed Blake to the factory. Weiss had already struggled into her leather jacket, and had dressed in blue jeans and a darker blouse in the hopes it would make her look less like a square. “I know this can’t have been an appealing way to spend your evening.”

“It wasn’t. Does Salem really expect me to be able to do anything? I’ve never so much as punched anyone in my life!”

With a long sigh, she pulled up behind Blake’s hog along the curb. This was an out-of-the-way location that they felt would be a safer place for the car; Blake would ferry the other two women to the actual rumble site one at a time. The trip had already taken twice as long, due to having to ensure they weren’t followed, so now they were trying to make haste.

“I understand. But if you don’t show, Salem will assume being a Dragon isn’t important to you. And if it isn’t important, it isn’t anything worth protecting.”

“That’s what I thought,” she grumbled.

“Just hang back,�� she whispered, shaking a little with nerves. “The rest of us are a little more practiced at this kind of thing. We… might get a little bloodied up, but it’s very rare for anyone to die. Small town like Vale, rumours circulate pretty fast, and none of us want undue attention.”

“So no guns?”

“No guns. Probably a few baseball bats, but mostly fists and wits.”

“They don’t feel like louts for hitting girls?” When Kali laughed, she frowned as they got out of the car. “What’s so funny? I can’t believe they would actually hit us!”

“They know we could cut them down if given the chance. And since very few of us would consider dating them, it’s easy for them to not even consider us women anymore.”

That didn’t seem quite right to Weiss. They were still women, regardless of whom they dated. However, Kali was already hopping onto the motorcycle behind her daughter, so then she had no one to voice her displeasure to. No sense talking to the wind.

After a few minutes, Blake returned, idling for a moment. Weiss moved to get on but she turned around and said, “Wait.”

“What is it? I don’t want to be late and upset anyb-”

“I want you to know something.” After a few quick breaths, to prepare herself to speak, she said, “Yang is going to be trying really hard to protect you out there. And I’ll be trying to protect Yang. So just… don’t worry about doing your part, or helping either of us. Just protect yourself. By doing that, you’ll be shielding Yang as best you can with what you’ve got. That’s… that’s all I had to say.”

“Alright.” Then she hopped onto the bike behind Blake, sliding her arms around her middle. “But Blake?”

“What?”

“I know you won’t care, but I really hope we all make it out of this okay. That means you, too.”

She could just barely see the ghost of a smile flicker across her lips. “Really? If I didn’t, I would be out of your way.”

“You aren’t in my way in the first place. Aren’t we friends? Or did that whole conversation mean nothing?”

“No, no, it did. And we are. I’m sorry.” One of her hands lowered just enough to pat the back of Weiss’s hand before she took off from the curb.

When they got to the factory, the two different factions were clearly visible from far away - simply by the length of the hair of one side. Getting closer to the fenced-in parking lot, it was easier to tell differences besides that. Weiss was still pretty far away from the other side of the parking lot where the Huntsmen were gathered, but she thought she recognised the blue-haired boy from her first visit to Junior’s.

“You decided to grace us with your presence,” Salem said mildly. It struck Weiss that she still wore the heavy cloak, all but completely obscuring her face and arms. “Punctual. And admirable, for a new Dragon. Young Ilia has not arrived yet.”

Ignoring her wildly fluctuating pulse, Weiss gave a slight curtsy. Her healing brand seemed to tinge merely from Salem’s close proximity. “Well, m-maybe she got held up in traffic?”

“Are you making excuses for her?”

“No, High Dragon.”

“Good.” Turning back to the other women, she said, “The hour draws near. We have… five minutes before our warlord will approach theirs and dictate the terms of the rumble. Settle business if business is to be settled. If we can’t reach an amicable agreement, the rumble commences in ten minutes.”

It was at that point Yang stepped forward, cracking her neck. Weiss noticed she was ignoring her; keeping her focus on the matter at hand. It hurt a little, but she tried not to take it personally. “I’m ready.”

“Is the Duchess ready to attend the final parlay with the warlord?”

“Yes, High Dragon,” said Kali with a brief bow. That shocked Weiss thoroughly; she had a feeling before now that Kali was a relatively unimportant member, only tasked with cooking for them. Was she really some kind of lieutenant?

“Then all is set. I will repair to the shade. Cinder, if you please?”

The serious-faced girl bowed to her. Once she turned her back to approach the corner of the parking lot, she did flash Yang and Kali an inscrutable look, but that was all the hesitation she indulged in before following her master.

“I almost wished you didn’t make it,” Yang sighed in a shaky voice. “But… it would probably be worse if you didn’t.”

“I’m glad I got the message! Have you guys known about this and you didn’t tell me?”

Glancing over at the men at the other end of the lot, Kali answered, “It happened late last night. Salem met with their president in a one-on-one meeting that most of us thought was a bad idea. We were right; she insulted him and he insulted her back, and they left unhappy.”

“Wasn’t pretty,” put in a Dragon that Weiss didn’t know, other than by sight from Shopkeeper’s. She was an older Negro woman with a soft afro and multiple gold earrings, though the red bindi in the middle of her forehead suggested she might also be Indian. Her uncertainty made the sheltered girl wish she’d had more contact with other cultures in her short life. “I wasn’t supposed to do anything other than drive her to and from the meeting, but I had to fight off one of Watts’s boys to keep him from getting to the High Dragon.”

“I should have been there,” Yang growled under her breath. “This is my job, isn’t it?”

“Only if asked, honey,” Kali soothed her. “Don’t worry, Sienna had it under control. That’s what she’s there for: to step in if the High Dragon can’t fulfill her duties.”

“That’s your job,” Sienna countered with a slight smirk. Which Kali returned. “Isn’t it, Duchess?”

“My job is to feed hungry, growing girls.”

“I’ll bet you like them hungry,” she accused with a slight chuckle as she turned away from the conversation, and Kali only rolled her eyes before moving off to check on Blake.

That left Weiss with her girlfriend. While it was nice to be able to see her during the weekend, since she had expected to be waiting until Monday, these were less than ideal circumstances.

“Hey.”

“Shut up,” Weiss whispered as she wrapped her in her arms. Even though she still felt a thrill of dread every time she did that with her in public, she knew this was one of the few places where it was safe. Where though there might be a few jeers or catcalls, they were in good humour.

“God, I miss you when you’re not around,” Yang sighed into her hair, hands tightening against the back of her jacket. “Sweet little Schnee.”

“You don’t know I’m sweet yet. But I know you’re tangy.”

A little laugh blasted out of her as she pushed her back, grinning wide. “And I used to think you were a princess. The mouth on you!” They both giggled. “Oh… okay, so. I never got around to sparring with you, and now that feels like a big mistake. Really wish I taught you a few moves.”

“Blake already warned me,” she hurried to assure her. “I’ll keep my head down and try to defend myself, stay out of everyone’s way. But isn’t there some way we can… I don’t know, not fight?”

“Afraid not, by this point. They’re all really set on kicking each other’s teeth in. Salem and old Watts don’t care, since they’re both jerks and they’re not even gonna be in the rumble themselves. So this is the only way they can decide once and for all who gets Junior’s.”

“That’s what this is over? Junior’s? I thought that was neutral territory.”

“Yeah! When we’ve all been fine with sharing it before! I thought the talks were going fine, and then just… I don’t know, they really get under each other’s skin so easy.”

Weiss leaned her head against Yang’s chest, listening to her rapid breathing. “This all seems ridiculous. They’re acting like children.” When Yang didn’t answer right away, she whispered, “Can you try? For me? Just ask if there’s any other alternative to fighting. If they still say ‘no’, then… well, I guess we’ll resort to fisticuffs.”

“You sound like you’re from the turn of the century,” she laughed, petting over Weiss’s hair. “But… yeah. I mean, I kinda wanna bash their stupid faces in, but I also don’t want you in danger. So I’ll ask.”

“Thanks,” she breathed, before leaning up on tiptoes to kiss Yang’s cheek. “Love you.”

This time, there was a chorus of “oooooooh” from a few of the younger Dragons, and also from a couple of young Huntsmen with sharper eyes. Weiss stuck out her tongue at them and they laughed. Then she was distracted by a small figure jogging up to them from the corner.

“Sorry!” Ilia gasped out weakly, bracing against her knees while she caught her breath. Her hair was in wild disarray, and she was sweating quite a bit. “I couldn’t… find my jacket, my… and then the bus wouldn’t… pick me up while I was wearing it, so I had to… hitch…”

“Whoa, breathe,” Yang told her, patting her on the shoulder. “You should have got in contact with one of us. This is cutting it way too close.”

“Salem knows you weren’t here before,” Weiss warned her. “I think you might want to be ready to apologise.”

Ilia looked stricken. “Oh… oh n-no, I didn’t… is… Blake upset?”

Even though it was difficult, Weiss didn’t roll her eyes. Yang exercised no such concern. “Pal, you need to cool off with that. Blake doesn’t care.”

“Yet,” Weiss added, hoping it would soften the blow. “And you’re certainly not going to help yourself by chasing after her this desperately.”

At least her face was already flushed from running, so she had a ready excuse for the redness in her cheeks. “Oh… I… oh.”

“But hey, maybe you’ll impress her out there,” Yang put in, having figured out Weiss was trying to cheer her up and attempting to do the same. “Knock ‘em dead.”

“Not ‘dead’!” Weiss squeaked.

“Oh, right- uh… knock ‘em… alive?”

Ilia sighed, still wiping sweat off her forehead. “She doesn’t know I’m alive now, so it doesn’t matter if someone knocks me dead or if I do it to them. But… thanks, girls.” Then she paced off to lean against a telephone pole, slight chest still heaving.

“That’s gonna be a problem,” Yang grunted.

“What?” Weiss glanced between the two of them. “Ilia? She’s actually kind of sweet, in a… small puppy kind of way…”

“Not that. With Blake. She’s never been interested in her, and didn’t think she had what it takes to be a Dragon. And still doesn’t. I kind of agree, but I also don’t really have her chasing me around, so it doesn’t matter to me much either way. She got initiated so she’s one of us; that’s how I see it.”

“That sounds right to me, too. Do you think it's just that Blake isn’t interested in her making her act so dismissive of her?”

Yang shrugged. Then after a heartbeat, she added, “You like her, don’t ya?”

“I do. Like I said, she’s sweet, and I think a genuinely good person under all that hero worship.”

“Hmm.”

But that was all the chance they had to chat about it. The minute she saw a burly man walking toward the middle of the lot, Yang gestured to Kali, and they both began to walk forward together. Weiss couldn’t see their equivalent of a “Duchess” walking with the big man, but he could have been in his shadow very easily and he would be practically invisible.

“I hate this part,” Blake confessed as she and Coco walked over.

“What?”

“The waiting. Not knowing what they’re saying, and just… hoping it goes alright. And I hate seeing my mom out there.”

“I know,” Weiss said with an eyeroll. “You don’t like having to watch her hang out with us.”

“What?” Blake seemed genuinely surprised by that comment. “No, it’s not that. I just… she’s in danger out there. Both she and Yang are, but Yang’s tough; a brawler. Mom can scrap pretty well, but she’s not a tank the way the Dragon is.”

A thrill of dread shot up her spine. “Are you… saying that they might be in danger right now?” When Blake nodded, she took a step forward, but Coco instinctively threw up an arm to stop her.

“Calm down, Schnee. It’s fine.”

“But you just said-”

“We’re all in danger,” Blake went on for her as Coco lowered her arm. “Just by being here. The cops could bust this up and we’d all be cooling our heels in the slammer for weeks.”

Only then did the true danger begin to press in on Weiss. All the baseball bats, lead pipes, car antennae and bicycle chains were enough to ensure there would be blood. If the police showed up, they would probably have no qualms about shooting into the fray to break up the fight. They always seemed to be carefree with human life when it came to people they deemed as "thugs". She had been focusing so much on her duty to the Dragons, and to Yang, that she had suppressed all deeper worries about how terrible this rumble could be - partly thanks to the assurances that there were rarely fatalities. But “rarely” wasn’t the same thing as “never”. Had she stood idly by while Yang walked to her death?

Apparently not. After a few more gestures - some from Kali that were a bit more irate than Weiss would have expected - Yang and the man stepped back enough to let Kali cup her hands around her mouth and announce, “The warlords have reached a compromise!”

There were a few outcries, and a “What?!” from Cinder.

“There will be no rumble tonight! Instead, we’re going for pinks! There will be a brief recess of ten minutes to choose jockeys!”

That didn’t quite have the effect Weiss had been expecting, which was “relief”. Instead, there was a lot of muttering and worried glances, groups breaking into smaller clusters to mutter amongst themselves.

“What’s the matter?” Weiss whispered to Blake, whose face was a mask of misery.

“Racing for pinks. If we lose, their winner gets their bike. But… it’s worse than that.” Glancing over there and back to Weiss, she went on in a hushed tone, “The street race will be out in Mountain Glenn. Somebody might not make it home.”

#princess and the dragons #freezerburn fanfic #freezerburn #rwby fanfiction #rwbyremnants

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okimargarvez · 6 years ago

Text

FEW HOURS IN LUKE ALVEZ’S MIND -3

Original title: Few hours in Luke Alvez’s mind.

Prompt: Luke’ POV, memory of war.

Warning: quote of 12x1.

Genre: comedy, family, angst, friendship.

Characters: Luke Alvez, Penelope Garcia, BAU team.

Pairing: Garvez.

Note: oneshot.

Legend: 🔦🐶.

Song mentioned: none.

Few hours in Luke Alvez’s mind- Masterlist

GARVEZ STORIES

This part is dedicated to inlovewithgarvaz.

Part 3-

The chief, Hotchner, who everyone calls Hotch, has a private office. In the grip of a moment of discouragement, I decide to try to express my doubts directly with him. I knock the door.

-Yeah?- it comes a voice from inside. I open the door.

-You got a second?- I ask, standing in the doorway. He nods. He is sitting at the desk. The room is small, but well furnished.

-Yeah, sure.- I hesitate again.

-May I?- he is stronger than me. It puts awe. I seem to be in front of a professor before the exam begins. Or when I was going to ask for information on how to proceed with the thesis.

-Yeah, have a seat.- he must guess my embarrassment. It's too obvious. I execute the order. And I take courage.

-So I'm up to speed on all the fugitives this team is hunting, which means I read up on all of Peter Lewis' victims. And, uh, I saw that…- he interrupts me before I can finish the sentence.

-You saw that I was one of them.- he admits simply, without any effort. Yet in those pages I have read terrible things. Not only has he been among those whom Lewis has subjugated (and believe him, even just knowing him, it is difficult), but he has also been targeted by another "unknown subject", if possible even worse... George Foyet, the Reaper, killed his wife. I can’t even imagine the pain he felt. But I also know that the latter doesn’t run the risk of being released. He killed him, even though in the final report it is written in self-defense, I can’t believe he would have done so even if it hadn’t been a danger at that time.

-Yeah...- I admit- I don't want to know what happened. I just want to know… Don't you want to kill him?- the question is legitimate. He looks at me for a moment, before replying.

-Do you want to kill Daniel Cullen?- he answers me with another question.

-I took an oath to uphold the laws of this country. So… Yeah. Yeah, I want to kill him.- and I need it, to rediscover the serenity. To stop seeing those horrible images every time I close my eyes. To begin to believe the words of Phil. It wasn’t your fault. But yes, because I should have been there, in his place, under-coverage. I was older than him, more experienced, theoretically. I didn’t have a wife, not even a girlfriend, waiting for me at home. The rest of my family has always known that something could happen to me, given the choices I made in my life. I am convinced that I would be less hurt, if I were now the one who has to recover from the attempt to open the stomach. I would feel less... helpless.

-Why?- Hotch's voice penetrates through my thoughts.

-You read my personnel file.- I try to avoid having to say it clearly.

-I want t hear your version.- is not a suggestion, but an order.

I sigh -Ok. All right.- I take a breath, before doing the big confession. -Anyone that asks, I tell them that we caught him in the act.- I lower my eyes, I report it on the man in front of me. -Which is the truth. What I don't tell them is that the act that I caught him in was him cutting open my partner, who he somehow figured out was FBI.- I am catapulted back in time, I still feel to hear again those words. -"Try not to finch!"- I repeat. -Phil told me later that’s what he said.- I conclude.

-I strongly believe that men like Daniel Cullen and Peter Lewis belong in 5-foot by 8-foot cells where they can live out their lives as failures, instead of dying thinking that they accomplished something.- he says without anger. It would be nice to think of it in the same way.

-I'm not there yet.- the view gets blurred. I'm not going to cry. But being indifferent to certain things is not possible. And I'm not even that good at hiding what I feel.

Hotch understands it perfectly. -Let's talk about right now. I wanted you on this case because I know that you're driven to find Cullen. I know that you're a good tracker. If there's something in this profile that you're not agreeing with, I'd like to know what it is.- well, the moment of truth has arrived.

-You’re not gonna like it.- he nods, as if he had already imagined it.

-Then everybody should hear it.- he stands up. We move to the meeting room, where there are all the others. It's the first time that I’m going to expose me like that. My opinions of non-profiler, before experts in this field, what value will they have?

-You can't analyze a fugitive's actions on the outside without taking into account what he did on the inside. So what did Peter Lewis do on the inside?- it might seem like a rhetorical question.

-Nothing, he was a model prisoner.- Spencer answers. I don’t want to contradict him.

-No, it goes further than that. He had no contact with other convicts. He didn't join or get pressured into a gang. When he gets out, he picks up as if no time had passed.- the implications in my sentence are obvious.

-So he had the resources in place before we arrested him.- the first that understands it is JJ.

-A safe house to stay in, backup supplies of his drugs.- Rossi continues.

I nod. -He could have gone anywhere in the country. I mean, anywhere in the world, probably. Then he came here. To Tempe, Arizona?- I try to use a tone that makes clear what I think. It is not really one of the most famous countries in America.

-He had the highest concentration of targets with D.I.D. here.- the doctor insists.

I turn to him, looking at him directly. -You said he wouldn't reveal himself until his plan was foolproof. Right? This isn't foolproof. Brian and Chelsea have been failures. But what part of his plan has worked?- I don’t give anyone time to answer. -Us. You see where I'm going with this? Most fugitives, they do everything they can to stay on the D.L. He's courted our attention from the beginning. Where I keep hitting a wall is why.- my contribution practically ends here.

-Especially if he already has a list of all the kids that went to that camp.- Tara continues to reflect, taking the floor for the first time since we started discussing.

-Maybe we need to re-evaluate our presumptions. When Peter Lewis needed information before, he hacked Quantico.- Hotch exchanges a glance with everyone else, except the brunette woman who carries the same surname as the unsub we are chasing.

-Well, he can’t do that again.- says the blonde.

-So, maybe he’s going to get his information from us.- the leader concludes.

-And we're compiling the very list he would want.- Dave punches his desk.

-We know all his tricks. We're not gonna give him the list.- JJ can’t understand. -The police aren’t. How is he gonna get it?- the answer comes from the other woman present.

-Brian.- Tara exclaims, while a shadow seems to pass in front of her eyes. -I asked officer Duke to go over the list with him once Garcia had somenthing.- she turns to the chief. -Oh, god, Hotch. I'm so sorry.- the man doesn’t reply anything, but starts a call.

Without being named, the shapely blonde on the other side answers. -Yes, sir.- I can even imagine her in this office. With too much ease. Everyone exchanges worried looks. Only Tara keeps her eyes on the floor, obviously feeling guilty. I know what she feels. For four years I have never stopped feeling guilty.

-Garcia, don’t distribute the list!- it is not a video call, yet that moment of hesitation is clear even only vocally.

-But...- crisis. What she has to hear right now, is that she made a mistake. -It...- she doesn’t know what to say. Yet she didn’t seem to me a person who has problems in finding topics of conversation. -I just hit sent.- Hotch doesn’t add anything else, but ends the call abruptly. JJ stares at him. The two blondes are probably very friendly. And although I do nothing but proceed by hypothesis, I think it is very evident that she feels obliged to protect her.

-Why do you have to treat her like that?- I hear that she whispers in a low voice to the chief, without an ounce of fear. Man merely observes her. The other surrenders.

-Well, now we know who the copycat is.- Rossi tries to find a positive side in the current situation.

-What's scientifically revolutionary is that Peter Lewis isn't just inducing an already existing alternate, he's actually creating one. Brian thinks he is the Crimson King. That's undocumented in D.I.D. literature.- not just the amazement, but declared admiration is highlighted in Spencer's tone. I haven’t yet fully framed him, but I understood that his fame was not very far from reality.

-It's possible, with the right balance of drugs and torture.- adds Tara.

-Peter Lewis never tortured before.- JJ shows horrified.

-He does mentally, by hypnotizing his victims into self-harm. It explains Brian's shallow wounds.- and the words of Hotch have a different weight, from the speculations of his colleagues. Because they are those of those who have passed it. They are a direct testimony.

-Tara, you mean he cut himself?- I ask.

-It was all there in the story that he told me. I just didn't see it.- the criminal psychologist continues to blame herself. Before leaving on this mission, after having known all of them, I asked a few questions around, to inform me about the people with whom I should have

collaborate.

-D.I.D. is usually the result of trauma. If Peter Lewis could build an alternate like this through hypnotic suggestion, it means that Brian has some propensity for psychopathy in his past.- Reid looks out of the corner of his eye towards Tara.

-Lewis, did you locate the parents?- Hotch asks.

-Yeah.- says the woman.

- All right. See what kind of history you can get from them. The rest of us need to look at every clue again through the prism of Brian as Trojan horse.- saying this the meeting melts. There are just me and Rossi.

-Where is the evidence room?- I ask the latter. He makes the way.

I extract that kind of bar covered with holes for the arms and the head.

-So, this. Why would Peter Lewis make Brian wear it?- I ask.

-So we wouldn’t question that he was a victim.- says the eldest of us. I nod, but that's not all.

-It worked, huh? Cullen hand-made his.- and I am expert, in spite of myself, of this subject. I can think of many evenings spent in the office settling all that crap of material but knowing that the bastard was in prison. -Peter Lewis knew that. Knew enough to copy the lock bolt mechanism. Not enough to sew it himself. A machine-stitched this.- and now I smile, perhaps for the first time since we're in Temple.

-So he had to order it.- I raise my eyes in an emblematic way. He extracts the phone and starts a call. He puts the speakerphone.

-Ready and waiting.- answers the blonde's voice on the other side. And once again it is far too easy to materialize her and move on with fantasy towards dark shores. What's happening to me? Why suddenly this kind of thoughts cross my mind? Fortunately, I'm the only one to have access to it.

-Garcia, we need leather experts in the Phoenix and Temple areas.- explains Rossi.

But I decide to express my opinion. -Yeah, I think the leather experts might have asked too many questions.- then, I turning to the phone, then to her. -Uh, and Garcia, if you don’t mind, checking sex shops and BDSM specialists. The more extreme, the better.- I am making a strange effect to make such a request, but I really believe that Lewis was forced to turn to someone who wouldn’t have made too many problems, wondering what such a deal could have served. Silence. No answer comes from the other end of the line. Yet rumors told me that she and what was there before, Agent Morgan, were very famous for their... hot conversation, so much to have forced the entire department to carry out a series of cycles on how you behave with colleagues and how to avoid mobbing.

-Garcia?- Rossi finally calls her.

There's a kind of sigh of suffering. -I'll send Agent Alvez that list now. Good bye.- and she vanishes, abruptly interrupting the call, as before Hotch had done with her. I look at my phone. I register the new sender under the name Garcia BAU , but not entirely convinced that it will remain so informal.

After having tell to the others about the news, Hotch orders Spencer and me to go around all the shops in the area that may have treated that article. I'm happy to go with him, because with his attitude I will feel less embarrassed, like it was with JJ or Tara. Or worse, Hotch. Even with Rossi I would have felt at ease. And with Garcia... forget it.

We enter the third store today - This guy ordered this arm spreader. Um, two of them, actually.- the girl on the other side of the bar will have at most twenty years. Blonde, very short hair, nose piercing. In short, the stereotype of the clerk for a place like that.

-Two of them? So where is the other one?- I turn to my colleague.

-Um, could I see your badge again?- she asks Spencer instead.

-Is there a problem?- he frowns.

-Uhm... yeah, ok, the guy who ordered them, the name he left on the invoice was Dr. Spencer Reid.- now she looks at both.

-Did he pay with my credit card also?- he presses her.

The young girl shakes her head -Cash.- then she throws a smart look. -I knew he was sketchy. Guys like him give S&M a bad rap. Which is why I did ask for a copy of Dr. Reid's driver's license, which he gave me happily.- she shrugs.

-We’ll need to see that right now.- I intervene.

-Oh, uh.- she goes down to take it.

As soon as we get in the car Spencer starts a call to "our" computer technician. -He was all up in your business, boy wonder.- for the first time, she seems to be indifferent to the fact that I'm listening too. -He used your social security number to do a change of address and everything, but... speaking of addresses, we have a local one for him.- from the corner of my eye I see Reid unconsciously nod.

-Good. Get that information to the rest of the team and the police, please. We need to assume he has the same level of personal information for the entire BAU.- his manner of speaking is so different from that of anyone else. He seems more like a... a university professor, than an FBI agent.

-And Daniel Cullen.- I add.

-But we ruled out his involvement.- we seem about to discuss. But no one has closed the call, so Penelope is theoretically still listening.

-Now I'm not sure. Peter Lewis copied a specific detail of the Cullen’s arm spreader, one that wasn’t in a public record. The only way he could have gotten it is if the real Crimson King has been a part of this all along.- the other man is able to pretend to agree with me.

-I send everything to the others.- the sweet and strangely fragile voice of the blonde intrudes. I thank her mentally. Although she doesn’t seem to be very nice with me, at least she took my idea into consideration. Then we hear a beep at the end of the conversation. And a moment later the young doctor's phone lights up again.

-Reid, Luke, the police are 10 minutes out.- Rossi warns us.

-That could be a problem. If the police try to convince Brian he is not the Crimson King, he could get unstable.- I think it is the first time that a sentence uttered by him doesn’t seem perfectly good.

-Guys we might have a solution. Try to keep Brian calm. We're on our way.- Tara seems to have found confidence in herself again. A few minutes later we reach our destination. Parking, we go down. As if we had already done it before, or if we had agreed, I open the door wide and Spencer come in, shouting.

-FBI! Drop the weapon!- his gun is aimed at the boy. His gaze is crazy. Much more than Cullen's when I caught him dealing with parts of Phil's body.

-No! Try not to finch!- that sentence is more than I can bear. Then I realize that the man to whom he is aiming at the throat with a knife is really my personal monster. Daniel Cullen. And if Brian's might sound scary, the Crimson King's is terrified. He rolls his eyes everywhere, shining with terror. I should feel happy to see him suffer. Why it’s not so?

-Help me...-he whispers, while the blade presses lightly on his skin.

-The Crimson King doesn’t kill. He doesn’t have to. Remember?- he tries to bring the boy back to reason, but I don’t think it's possible. Despite myself, I am forced to help him. Hotch is right, a prison is better than a painful death for less than a second. It would be much better for him to have all the time to think about what he did.

-That’s right. You kill, and it's over. But if you let him go, he has to live the rest of his life as a failure, is not that what you really want?- yet I'm not asking the question to Brian, but to myself.

-No! That’s not enough.- and it's not even for me. I hear footsteps behind us. Tara and JJ also appear.

-No one is going to hurt you like that ever again. Nobody. Never again.- it is understood that the brunette is a psychologist. Her tone is sweet and understanding. What he really needs. He trembles but doesn’t give up.

-Back off! I mean it!- yet it sounds like a plea.

-We can’t do that. Ok? Someone told you to do this. But this is not who you are, is it? We know that.- do we really know? This boy suffered one of the most horrible things in the world: he was the victim of those who were supposed to protect him. Those who should have taken care of him. Too many conditions in a few lines. But the most tragic thing is that it forces me to think that if Brian became so because he was fragile... what was the reason Cullen became the Crimson King? Does pure evil exist, absolute black or do we have to deal with many more shades of gray?

-No one is gonna hurt you like that ever again.- reiterates the same sentence JJ.

-Nobody hurt me, I hurt them.- it is an attempt not to feel in complete mercy of others. To affirm that he still has control of himself and his actions. But, partly for his fortune, it is not like that.

-Yes, they did hurt you. They cut you when you were little. And then right here on this very table, you saw your own blood and you didn't know what to do, so you became the Crimson King to protect yourself. No one is gonna hurt you like that ever again.-will I ever be so tolerant, so understanding, so human? I fear that the man in front of me has eliminated this possibility from my soul four years ago.

-No one is gonna hurt you like that ever again.- the blonde repeats again. It almost seems like a sing-song, a nursery rhyme for children. Of those that, if deliberately slowed down, become perfect soundtrack for a horror film.

-Do you remember Eliza? Angelica? What they used to say to you at the foster home to calm you down? No one is going to hurt you like that ever again.- his eyes wander over the woman. Then he abandons the knife. A part of me is not happy. If I were a believer, I should go to confession.

-Do you promise?- a child wouldn’t seem less innocent than him.

-Yeah, I promise.- handcuffs are put on him. The boy looks at her scared. -Brian, this is for your own protection, ok? We’re taking you into custody, for your safety.- he nods. He desperately needs to trust her.

-Tara?- he calls her once again.

-Yes?- she stays close to him.

-Oh, my God, what did I do?- and here the Crimson King no longer exists.

-I’m going to be with you every step of the way. All right? I’m not leaving your side.- a promise that weighs heavily. But now my attention completely falls on the other man, left in the room. Extracting the handcuffs, I put them on him. The latter seems even more stunned than Brian.

-Thank you. Both of you.- I clench my fist to keep myself from pulling it in his face and smashing his jaw, that so easily chuckled with satisfaction while my partner lay in a state of semi-consciousness, but was perfectly able to feel the pain and whatever he did to him.

-No, don’t thank us! You’re under arrest.- I try to carry on the pantomime, but it is clear that the time has not come when I will have my revenge.

-Ok... for what? What... what did I do?- he can’t really forget it.

-Must have dosed him to make him lose his memory so we couldn't get any answers out of him.- Spencer tries to calm down me, with his usual pedantic tone even if he doesn’t want to be, too smart and rational to be able to tolerate it. In order not to vent myself with him, I concentrate all my energy on the monster.

-Now, we’ve met. Three years ago. Hmm? What's my name? What was my partner's name?- I shout until I almost lose my voice.

-I don’t know!- is the truth, but I can’t accept it.

-You’re faking it!- I shout even louder.

-Luke...- I completely ignore Reid's voice trying to intrude.

-You’re faking it.- I repeat with a lower tone, now defeated.

-Luke...- he repeats. I have tears in my eyes. More than anger or pain?

-You’re faking it. What's your name? What's your name? Say it! - but I don’t get any answers. Because maybe it's not there. There really never was.

-I don’t know. Tell me. Please.- and I wish I could do it. Have time to tell him what kind of man he was, if he really doesn’t remember him anymore. Let him know how rotten it was. Scream in his face that has ruined Phil's life and mine too. Which is his fault if I can’t sleep anymore and the only living thing I can stay with, without having to hide what I've become and what I feel, is Roxy.

But Spencer takes him by the shoulders and takes him away, taking away from me even this last satisfaction.

TAGS: @arses21434 @kathy5654 @martinab26 @reidskitty13 @jenf42 @gracieeelizabeth27 @silviajajaja @smalliemichelle99 @charchampagne14 @thinitta @garvezz @shyladystudentfan @cosmicmelaninflower @kiki-krakatoa @pegasus-scifichick @ leftlamphumanfestival @inlovewithgarvaz @thatnerdygirljudy

#garvez #penelope garcia #luke alvez #criminal minds #aaron hotchner #david rossi #spencer reid #jennifer jareau #tara lewis #roxy #penelope x luke #luke x penelope #garcia x alvez #alvez x garcia #cm #Luke POV #the crimson king #12x01

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dumbledearme · 6 years ago

Text

chapter forty-five—the fate we make

read Child of Land and Sea here

Act V — Walking On Water

Part VIII — We're off on a mission, we're tough; in good condition. We're short but standing tall. No fear!

Thalia said the Titan wanted to see Andy under the flag of truce, that he had a message from Kronos. Andy didn't seem to have a choice. The flag was as big as a soccer field and was carried by a thirty-foot-tall giant with bright blue skin.

"A Hyperborean," Thalia said. "The giants of the north. It's a bad sign that they sided with Kronos. They're usually peaceful."

"You've met them?" Andy asked.

"Mmm. There's a big colony in Alberta. I'm telling you, you do not want to get into a snowball fight with those guys."

With the giant, came a half-blood in armor, an empousa demon and a tall man in a tuxedo. The group walked leisurely toward the them.

"The tux dude is the Titan?" Andy guessed. Grover nodded.

The Titan stepped forward. He was taller than an average human. His black hair was tied in a ponytail. Sunglasses covered his eyes, and the skin in his face and arms was covered in scratches. "Andy Jackson," he greeted. "It's a great honor."

"Why? Are you a fan or something?"

"I think he was only being polite," Thalia pointed out.

"Well, he can-" Andy caught herself when she realized the half-blood was Ethan Nakamura. The son of a bitch. His nose looked like a squashed tomato which made her feel a little better. "Oh, you shouldn't have come here," Andy told him. "Now I'll be forced to hurt you."

Ethan glared at her, unsure if she was being serious.

"To business," the Titan got between them. "I am Prometheus."

With difficulty, Andy tore her eyes away from Ethan and shook the other guy's hand. "The fire-stealer guy who was chained to a rock with the vultures?"

Prometheus winced. "Please, don't mention the vultures. But yes, I stole fire from the gods and gave it to your ancestors. In return, the ever merciful Zeus had me chained to a rock and tortured for all eternity."

"And how-"

"How did I get free? Hercules did that, eons ago. So you see, I have a soft spot for heroes. Some of you can be quite civilized."

"Unlike the one beside you," she commented.

"Oh, demons aren't so bad," Prometheus eyed the empousa. "You just have to keep them well fed."

"I meant him," Andy specified pointing at Ethan and thinking of ways to make him suffer.

Prometheus smiled as if he too didn't like Ethan but was too polite to say anything. "Andy Jackson, let us parley." Prometheus laced his fingers. He looked earnest, kindly, and wise. The idea of fighting him made Andy sad. "Andy, your position is weak. You know you can't stop another assault."

"We can do this all day."

Prometheus looked pained. "Andy, I'm the Titan of forethought. I know what is going to happen."

"Also the Titan of crafty counsel," Grover put in. "Emphasis on crafty."

Prometheus shrugged. "True enough, satyr. But I supported the gods in the last war. I told Kronos: 'You don't have the strength. You'll lose.' And I was right. So you see, I know how to pick the winning side. This time, I'm backing Kronos."

"Because Zeus chained you to a rock," Thalia guessed.

"Partly, yes. I won't deny I want revenge. It was very upsetting what I went through. But that's not the only reason I'm supporting Kronos. It's the wisest choice. I'm here because I thought you might listen to reason. We have you surrounded. We know your numbers. We outnumber you twenty to one."

"You also have a spy."

Prometheus smiled apologetically. "At any rate, our forces are growing daily. Tonight Kronos will attack. You will be overwhelmed, Andy. You've fought bravely, but there's just no way you can hold all of Manhattan. You'll be forced to retreat to the Empire State Building. There you'll be destroyed. I have seen this. It will happen."

Andy shook her head. "I won't let that happen. Our future isn't set. I can change it. We can all change it."

"Understand, Andy. You are re-fighting the Trojan War here. Patterns repeat themselves in history. They reappear just as monsters do. A great siege. Two armies. And you are Troy. Do you know what happened to the Trojans?"

Andy felt again, that fear creeping inside of her. But she wouldn't let him see it. "You're going to cram a wooden horse into the elevator at the Empire State Building? Good luck with that, buddy."

Prometheus smiled. "Troy was completely destroyed, Andy. You don't want that to happen here. Stand down, and New York will be spared. Your forces will be granted amnesty. I will personally assure your safety. Let Kronos take Olympus. Who cares? Typhon will destroy the gods anyway."

"You expect me to believe that Kronos would spare us? That he has even a drop of mercy in his blood?"

"All he wants is Olympus," Prometheus promised. "The might of the gods is tied to their seats of power. When Kronos destroys Olympus, the gods will fade. They will become so weak they will be easily defeated. Kronos would rather do this while Typhon has the lost. But make no mistake, the best you can do is slow us down. The day after tomorrow, Typhon arrives in New York, and you will have no chance at all. The gods and Mount Olympus will still be destroyed, but it'll be much messier. Much, much worse for you and your city. Either way, the Titans will rule."

"I serve Artemis," Thalia said angrily. "The Hunters will fight to our last breath. Andy, you're not seriously going to listen to this slimeball, are you?"

"You both have courage," Prometheus said. "But the courageous die too. We need not be enemies. I have always been a helper of mankind."

"That's a load of shit," Thalia said. "When mankind first sacrificed to the gods, you tricked them into giving you the best portion. You gave us fire to annoy the gods, not because you cared about us."

Prometheus shook his head. "You don't understand. I helped shape your nature. I have been whispering in man's ear since the beginning of your existence. I represent your curiosity, your sense of exploration, your inventiveness. Help me save you, Andy. Do this, and I will give mankind a new gift – a new revelation that will move you as far forward as fire did. You can't make that kind of advance under the gods. They would never allow it. Bu this could be a new golden age for you. You know in your heart that Titans and their offspring aren't all bad. You've met Calypso. She made you see."

"That was different-"

"How? Much like me, she did nothing wrong, and yet she was exiled forever simply because she was Atlas's daughter. We are not your enemies. Don't let the worst happen," he pleaded. "We offer you peace."

Andy looked back at Ethan Nakamura. "Peace... If we take this deal, you don't get your revenge. You don't get to kill us all. Isn't that what you want?"

His good eye flared. "All I want is respect, Jackson. The gods never gave me that. You wanted me to go to your stupid camp, spend my time crammed into the Hermes cabin because I'm not important? Not even recognized?"

"People make mistakes. Gods make mistakes too. You ask us to respect vengeance?"

"Nemesis stands for balance! When people have too much good luck, she tears them down."

"Is that why she took your eye? Were you just too damn lucky?"

"It was payment," he growled. "In exchange, she swore to me that one day I would tip the balance of power. I would bring the minor gods respect. An eye was a small price to pay."

"Mother of the year."

"At least she keeps her word, unlike the Olympians. She always pays her debts – good or evil."

Andy punched him so hard in the face he fell backwards. "I saved your life! You son of a bitch, I saved your life! And you repaid me by raising Kronos and hurting Anthony! You want someone who keeps their word? Well, you got me, Ethan Nakamura. And I swear I will watch you die!" As soon as the words left her mouth, Andy regretted them. She knew she was just being mean, that she was just angry.

Although the fear that crossed Ethan's good eye kind of made it worthwhile. He grabbed the hilt of his sword, but Prometheus stopped him. "We're on a diplomatic mission." The Titan studied Andy. "It bothers you what happened to Luke," he decided. "Hestia didn't show you the full story. Perhaps if you understood..." He reached out. Thalia cried in warning, but before Andy could react, the Titan touched her forehead.

Suddenly she was back in May Castellan's living room. Thalia sat on the table while Ms Castellan bandaged her wounded leg. Anthony held her hand. Hermes and Luke stood apart in the living room.

"Why show yourself now?" Luke demanded. "All these years I've been calling to you, praying you'd show up, and nothing. You left me with her!"

"Do not dishonor her," Hermes warned. "Your mother did the best she could. As for me, I could not interfere with your path. The children of the gods must find their own way."

"So it was for my own good?" Luke cried. "Growing up on the streets, fending for myself, fighting monsters?"

"You're my son," Hermes said. "I knew you had the ability. When I was only a baby, I-"

"I am not a god! Just once, you could've said something. You could've helped when... when she was having one of her fits, shaking me and saying crazy things about my fate. When I used to hide in the closet so she wouldn't find me with those... those glowing eyes! Did you even care that I was scared? Did you even know when I finally ran away?"

Ms Castellan was singing aimlessly, but it was obvious the others could hear them.

"Luke, I care very much," Hermes said slowly, "but gods must not interfere directly in mortal affairs. It is one of our Ancient Laws. Especially when your destiny..." his voice trailed off and Andy finally understood. Hermes knew; he had known all along. He knew what would happen to his son and he did nothing to stop it.

"What?" Luke asked. "What about my destiny?"

"You should not have come back," Hermes muttered. "It only upsets you both. I'll speak with Chiron and have him send a satyr to help you get to camp."

"We're doing fine without help," Luke growled. "Now, what is my destiny?"

"My son," he said, "I'm the god of travelers, the god of roads. If I know anything, I know that you must walk your own path, make your own choices, even though it tears my heart."

"You don't love me."

"I do love you. Just... go to camp. I will see that you get a quest soon. You will get a chance to be a great hero before-"

"Before what?" Luke's voice was trembling now. "What did my mom see that made her like this? What's going to happen to me? If you love me, tell me!"

Hermes expression tightened. "I cannot."

"Then you don't care!" Luke yelled.

Finally, May stopped her singing. "Luke? Is that you? Is my boy alright?"

"I'm fine. I have a new family now. I don't need either of you."

"I'm your father," Hermes insisted.

"A father is supposed to be around. I've never even met you. Thalia, Tony, come on! We're leaving!"

"My boy, don't go!" May Castellan called after him. "I have your lunch ready!"

Luke stormed out the door, Thalia and Anthony scrambling after him. May Castellan tried to follow, but Hermes held her back. She collapsed in his arms and began to shake. Her eyes opened – glowing green. "My son," she hissed. "Danger. Terrible fate!"

"I know, my love," Hermes said sadly. "Believe me, I know."

The image faded. Prometheus pulled his hand away from Andy's forehead. Her face was wet with tears. She had to focus not to throw up.

"Andy?" Thalia called. "What... what was that?"

Prometheus nodded sympathetically. "Appalling, is it not? The gods know what is to come, and yet they do nothing, even for their children. How long did it take for them to tell you your prophecy, Andy Jackson? Don't you think your father knows what will happen to you?"

Andy held back a sob.

"Andy," Grover warned, "he's playing with your mind. Trying to make you upset." He could read her emotions so he probably knew Prometheus was succeeding at that.

"Do you really blame your friend Luke?" the Titan asked her. "What about you, Andy? Will you be controlled by your fate? Kronos offers you a much better deal."

Andy clenched her fists. "No. Tell Kronos... You tell him to call of his attack. Tell him to leave Luke's body and return to the pits of Tartarus. If he chooses to continue this war, then let him know we're right here. We'll be our own heroes. And we will write our own stories - to death or to victory. That is my message."

The empousa snarled but Prometheus just sighed. "If you change your mind," he said, "I have a gift for you." A Greek vase appeared in Andy's hands. The ceramic lid was fastened with a leather harness.

Groven whimpered. Thalia gasped. "That's not-"

"Yes," Prometheus said. "You recognize it. This belonged to my sister-in-law. Pandora."

"Pandora's box?" Andy asked.

"I don't know how this box business started. It was never a box. It was a pithos, a storage jar. I suppose Pandora's pithos doesn't have the same ring to it. Nevertheless, she opened this jar, which contained most of the demons that now haunt mankind – fear, death, hunger, sickness."

"Don't forget me," the empousa purred.

"Indeed," Prometheus conceded. "The first empousa was also trapped in this jar, released by Pandora. But what I find curious about the story is how Pandora always gets the blame. She is punished for being curious. The gods would have you believe that this is the lesson: mankind should not explore. They should not ask questions. They should do what they are told. In truth, Andy, this jar was a trap designed by Zeus and the other gods. It was revenge on me and my entire family. The gods knew she would open the jar. They were willing to punish the entire race of humanity along with us." Prometheus tapped the lid of Pandora's jar. "Only one spirit remained inside when Pandora opened it."

"Hope," Andy whispered.

Prometheus looked pleased. "Yes. Elpis, the Spirit of Hope, would not abandon humanity. Hope does not leave without being given permission. She can only be released by a child of man. I give you this as a reminder of what the gods are like. Keep Elpis, if you wish. But if you decide that you have seen enough destruction, enough futile suffering, then open the jar. Let Elpis go. Give up Hope, and I will know that you are surrendering. I promise Kronos will be lenient. He will spare the survivors." He stood and left, the others following him.

"What did he show you?" Thalia demanded. Reluctantly, Andy told her. "Ah... Yeah, that was a bad night," she admitted.

"What happened to Ms Castellan?"

"I don't know. Luke told us about the strange things she would say. What caused it... I have no idea. If he ever knew, he never told me."

"But Hermes knew," Andy said. "Something caused May to see parts of Luke's future, and Hermes knew what she had seen – that he would turn into Kronos."

Thalia frowned. "You can't be sure of that. Prometheus was manipulating you. Hermes did love Luke. I could tell just by looking at his face. And Hermes was there that night because he was checking up on May, taking care of her. He wasn't all bad."

"But it isn't right. Luke was just a kid. Hermes never helped him, never stopped him from running away."

"Andy," Thalia said darkly, "this is exactly why I joined the Hunters. It's easier to control our feelings, you know? Love... it stops being so overwhelming. We all have tough things to deal with. All demigods do. And like you said: people make mistakes. Mothers, fathers. Gods. But Luke... he made terrible choices. And he made them on his own. Nobody forced him."

"So you don't love him anymore?"

"Don't say that. I will never stop-" she stopped herself. "If you're worried about who loves who... Well, if Tony... I mean, if he has to face Luke in battle, I don't know if he can do it. From the moment those two met, they've had a connection. They don't share the same blood, but they are brothers. After that night... After we left his mom's house? Luke was never the same. He got reckless and moody, like he was trying to prove something. By the time Grover found us... well, part of the reason we had so much trouble was because Luke wouldn't be careful. He wanted to pick a fight with every monster we crossed. And Tony... he didn't think that was a problem. He likes recklessness, just look at you."

"Who are you calling reck-"

"Those two together..." Thalia continued. "They wanted to be heroes. All I'm saying is... don't fall into the same trap. Luke has given himself to Kronos. We can't afford to be soft on him just because we love him."

Slowly, Andy nodded. "Alright. I hear you."

"I'm going to check on the Hunters, then get some more sleep before nightfall. You should crash too."

"No, I don't want to. I'll only have bad dreams."

"I know, believe me," Thalia looked down. "But there's no telling when you'll get another chance to sleep. It's going to be a long night. Maybe our last night."

"Do me a favor then," Andy handed her the jar. "Lock this in the hotel vault, will you? Hope isn't going anywhere. Not while I'm around."

Thalia smiled. "You got it."

Andy watched her go then found the nearest bed and passed out.

#andromeda #andy jackson #anthony chase #andony #genderbend #fanfic #dfcrosas #child of land and sea #walking on water #fem percy jackson

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magicalman · 2 years ago

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sabrina-christiansen:

The light hint of mint left Brina hopeful. Even if the potion was bitter, it was far better than walking around like a zombie. If she kept going at this rate, her brain would be just as rotten as one. “Not too bad then.” She smiled. Arthur was right. She knew that he was, but still she couldn’t simply do nothing. It was not in her nature to be idle. “Maybe I should just confront him and get it over with.” She would need to sleep first. Face him unprepared but at her weakest would rid her of any and all advantages she might have. There was no way to know if he would lie or not, but she’d force him to know that she was watchin just as closely as he was. “You act like the story of James finding me almost crushed by a Christmas tree isn’t common knowledge.” Sabrina was clumsy enough to injure herself without anyone’s help. It would be easy to make anything that happened to her look like an accident. “I’ll just finish up a bit of grading. Maybe go to the club when I’m done. Sorry for venting like this.”

“No not too bad.” He admitted and then tried to think of a charm he could make for her to make her relax a bit more perhaps some protection charm or something. Then what she countered with made him laugh. “Sorry I don’t mean to laugh but you are going from one extreme for another. There has to be a good mid ground from living on constant alert or confronting someone that may want to hurt you in some way. One of my past lives I was a military strategist. Causing fear by just the presence is a tactic confronting an enemy or in this case potential enemy well that could be worse for you. Say he doesn’t know and the idea pisses him off. Then you just created an enemy. If he is plotting you harm all you are doing is moving up his time table but going to be extra careful not to leave his prints on whatever it is.” He sat back and leaned his head back staring at the ceiling. “I think you may need someone to go in as a trojan horse maybe a slave probably wouldn’t see that coming but would also need Keith to compel the conversation out of the slave’s mind and into the subconscious of what they are to do. That way your half brother could not tie it to you. Something to consider anyways.” he thought and it made sense to him if he was in the same position well he would do it without another thought. “Sorry Sabrina I don’t listen to all the gossip usually what Clara, Bella, or Daisy tell me.”

text: Do you have anything better than coffee? My energy is slacking.

[Text] Might do better if you were taking your potion. Yes I could fix something up I'll put a little mint in to keep it from being too bitter.

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olympivnshq · 5 years ago

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congratulations tessa! we truly adored your rendition of HELEN OF TROY. the trojan princess and spartan queen is difficult to portray given how many contradictory traits she possesses, but you tied them together in a beautiful depiction of a woman yearning for something more than what she was given. we’re so excited to see this version of helen with her unique mortal memories on the dash (especially with clytemnestra, omg). please join us with your third faceclaim choice: ELIZABETH LAIL.

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ OOC INFO.

hi! i am tessa. i am 25, my pronouns are she/her, and my timezone is CST. i work at a restaurant five nights a week, and i am also a master level student for psychology/counselling.

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ DEITY — GENDER. AGE RANGE.

HELEN OF TROY - FEMALE. 24-30

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ MORTAL NAME. JOB/OCCUPATION. BOROUGH/NEIGHBORHOOD.

Serena Scott. Counselor at Manhattan’s Women’s Medical. Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

☆ﾟ*・ HOW WOULD YOU PLAY THEM?

She never asked to be beautiful, much less hold the highest honor in that court, and if Helen had been given the option to choose to keep or leave her beauty in the shell she hatched from, there would be no hesitation in her decision to cast it aside. Of course, that wasn’t always the case. A young girl being courted by men from all over the world was a dream come true, like standing atop a mountain of clouds, offering smiles to the promises of riches and gold and happiness, Helen had no issue with the grandeur of her face. Lucky was she, fortunate enough to pick her own fate while other women were subject to the whims of men, and when she chose Menalaus, Helen foolishly believed she was choosing wisely, for when she looked at him, she saw a golden future, one that filled her completely, but that was her naivety rearing it’s ignorant head, for though she tried to be happy in the stagnant position of wife, she quickly found that her beauty was all she was wanted for. Had anyone even thought of her mind? Words? No, she was as useful as the tapestries on the walls, golden busts in the likenesses of gods, jewelry that adorned the necks of royalty. Helen was a bauble, a token to be appreciated, not even a pawn in the game. She was a pretty trinket waved around to impress.

It was not naivety that held her complacent with Paris and his proposal, nor was it overwhelming lust like so many of the stories state. Her decision was a calculated move to be more than she was, more than the choice she made from the high horse she sat on, but the artless plan did not account for the possessiveness of Menelaus. How was she to know he would throw himself into a war to get his prize back? How was she to know her beauty came with such a cost? The happiness she found on the shores of Troy quickly evaporated into the air like smoke with the sounds of approaching war, and when it was over, when her treachery brought Troy to its knees, she sailed home with Menalaus, knowing she would never be so foolish again to believe she could reach beyond the parameters given to her. That promise, of course, was forgotten with her mortal renewal.

Serena Scott was graced with the same beauty, and unfortunately, the burden that went along with it. Her parents are of the elite, her father an investment banker, her mother a transplanted southern socialite. Another bauble in a different time, but Serena was not born to please the world in this life. She wasn’t born to please anyone but herself, so it seemed, much to the dismay of her mother (who often reminded her inner beauty was a mythical legend) and her father (who wanted nothing more than to ignore the chaos his daughter reigned). By sixteen she had the party life and drug tolerance of a college student, but that all came to a screeching halt on a night she was forced not to remember. Fluorescent lighting coaxed groggy eyelids open while her parents stood bedside, and a nurse all but force fed her pills from paper cups while speaking of unwanted pregnancies and the risk of diseases. A man had taken it upon himself to use her beauty in the way he saw fit, and the idea weighed heavy on the teen’s mind for years, rolling around and tainting the once wild child’s view of the world she once thought was her oyster. Eventually the trauma filled knowledge pushed her towards a career that was not even a fraction of the lucrative (and bored) existence her parents’ planned for their only daughter. Despite their refusal to pay for college and threats to cut her off, she went to NYU, received a degree in psychology, and after completing her masters (all on student loan debt thanks to no funding from home), Serena began counseling women on how to be the masters of their own destinies, on how to protect themselves from the patriarchal society they all fell victim to. There was an intrinsic need to make sure she empowered as many women as possible, and when Helen’s memories came flooding back into her conscious, she knew it was not some singular event that held her enraged at the idea of a woman’s choice being made for her but a whole lifetime of events that put a stain on her soul.

answer these questions:

1. are they more likely to stand with the pantheon or against it?

Serena will undoubtedly stand against pantheon, for with her memories of the past, she knows that gods meddling in the lives of mortals, of the lives of anyone but themselves, is a fate worse than death. She feels as if this time around, she’s been given a second chance, and she isn’t keen on any petty gods ruining that for her.

2. what is their stand on mortals?

To be honest? She likes mortals a heaping amount more than she likes gods, and she isn’t really afraid to give that opinion.

☆ﾟ*・ GIVE US A SAMPLE OF YOUR WRITING!

Helen stood on the balcony, eyes on the sea, on the pillows of white that stretched as far out as she could gander, wind whipping her hair and dress about her violently as a fear gripped her so tightly that her knuckles turned more pale than the stone barrier her hands clutched. The repercussions were on her now, sailing towards her with a vengeance she wasn’t sure she had the power to dismantle, nor did she have much faith in the walls of Troy to stand long enough for Menalaus’ rage to temper. Oh, how foolish was she? To think she could outrun the decision she’d made simply because it wasn’t all she dreamed? How could she, a woman, expect to be the master of her own fate? When Paris had offered her the escape, she hadn’t thought twice before her hand was in his, and now she’d dragged a whole city down with her impulsivity.

She saw the way the people looked at her, the woman who wanted more than she was dealt. Some offered her pity in their eyes, others only held daggers. Helen was used to neither, only the admiration of people who wanted to gaze upon her beauty, and so at first she was held meek, shying away from the whispers and taunts, but it was hard to remain fearful when she was given a voice in Troy, a life, a chance to be something more than a bauble on display. Slowly, she began interacting with the commoners, and she found it easy to immerse in this life, a princess of Troy, not a trophy for Sparta. Day in and day out she grew more comfortable inside the high walls that kept her safe, until the gongs of war sounded and popped her pretty little illusion to pieces at her feet.

Hard eyes watched the water, tears pricking her eyes as the apprehension of what was to come shrouded over her shoulders. Helen knew she may be able to end it all should she be brave enough to hand herself over when the boats found land, but as she stared out at the sea, watching the ships inch closer to shore, she realized she would rather die than give up so easily. “I want to live,” she heard herself say, and the sound was stronger than she felt. “I deserve to do it how I please.”

No one was there to hear her words, but it mattered not. Helen of Troy was choosing herself, no matter what the men or gods or kings wanted, no matter what wagging tongues would say to spite her, and even if she regretted it for as long as she lived, at least she had one sure moment, which was more than she’d ever had before.

☆ﾟ*・ ANYTHING ELSE?

https://pin.it/xvw3yedoqfq4q7 - Pinterest board!

#semi appless rp #city rp #spn rp #lsrp #active rp #ohq: accepted #helen of troy #helen

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district12mentor · 6 years ago

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@cybervigilant || from here

𝙸𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘? 𝙽𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚞𝚌��𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑. 𝚆𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚎 𝚍𝚘. 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚞𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕. 𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚞𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎. 𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚑𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚖𝚊𝚓𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎.

Not that Elliot was any better. Denying his own status as an actual addict but hey, denial was a part of it, wasn’t it?

“Listen man. I don’t want any trouble. I’m just saying I could be saying a lot worse about this shit fest but I don’t want to be dragged off by peacekeepers.”𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚝. 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚍 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝙸? Honestly Elliot got away with saying a lot of shit simply because it stayed in his head and he didn’t like talking with people. That and he was pretty much known to be rather messed up in the head. Crazy was not an usual modifier when people talked about him behind his back. Genius was another but whatever. Hell, he’d shocked the audience when he started off the games by keeping to himself and scared shitless and later ‘snapped’. Almost as if he had become an entirely different person. But he didn’t have much of a choice at these ceremonies and opening parties. Forced to interact with the rest of the former victors and current ‘lucky’ individuals that would be competing in the Games.

Elliot hated everything about the Games. Which wasn’t exactly unusual but it had become obsession of his to ‘break down the establishment’. A dangerous venture for certain. Pity the Games relied so heavily on computers. He’d grown up around them in District 3. He understood them better than people. His Trojan Horse had set up good before his game. Redirecting gifts meant for other players to his own location by default. Oh it had pissed off the Gamemaker at first and Elliot thought for sure he’d be killed if the guy ever got control back over his own system but — the boy from District 3 had turned out to be quite entertaining. He’d still gotten a lot of shit for it after he won. But his skills were deemed too useful to waste so he wasn’t executed. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚘𝚕 𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚝.

“Besides, you’re not one to talk I am willing to bet.”

“I don’t think that any of us would want that.” Haymitch replied as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair to get it out of his eyes. It was normally unruly and unkempt, but his stylist had somehow managed to make him, and his hair, look halfway decent before dragging him out to the party to be paraded around in front of the cameras for all of Panem to see. The cameras hardly stayed on him for very long, because it wasn’t good for their propaganda videos that they were so very proud of. Truthfully, all of the Victors could be saying a lot worse about this ‘shit fest’, but Haymitch decidedly left it at that for both of their sakes, just in case the Capitol was listening in on their conversation.

Normally, Haymitch would be getting completely wasted at these parties to a point where he couldn’t stand up straight without somebody else holding him up. But this time was a little different somehow... he could just sense it. There was a certain energy looming about all around them in the atmosphere that had caught his attention, so he decided that he would hold off on getting drunk, at least until he discovered if it meant anything or if he was only imagining it. If he could take a guess at what it was, he would have to say that energy was a feeling of ‘hope’, a feeling that he hadn’t known in many many years.

“It’s how all of us stays alive. We find a way to cope.” He said with a light shrug and then took a flask out of his jacket and waved it around as if to demonstrate a point, when he really meant that bending the truth was his own way of staying alive as well. He, too, twisted words and lied and did things behind the backs of the Capitol and President Snow. It was the only way to accomplish anything without them knowing about it and Haymitch had learned very early on how to become proficient at lying. Haymitch had been in near constant contact with District Thirteen and was currently plotting with them to stage a rebellion, and soon, but that was something else that couldn’t be said at these parties.

Haymitch squinted at Elliot for a moment, as if trying to grasp at some far off detail about him, and then smiled. “You’re the kid that redirected all of those pods to you, didn’t you?” I bet the Capitol didn’t like that. The smile slowly dissipated and Haymitch went to work at unscrewing the lid off of his flask, knowing good and well what the Capitol did to those who played by their own rules out there in the arena. It was an admirable idea, he liked it, but he couldn’t imagine the terrors that Elliot had been put through for trying it. “What’s the Capitol have you doing these days?” He asked, slowly taking a sip from his flask

#cybervigilant #v: there are no winners #misc

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anchor2health · 8 years ago

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I Was Trained for the Culture Wars in Home School, Awaiting Someone Like Mike Pence as a Messiah

Posted by

Kieryn Darkwater

on January 26, 2017 at 8:40am UTC

I was working the polls on election day, handing people ballots and explaining how to fill them out properly. I made it my mission to come up with interesting uses for the removable tabs and entertain people for the 30 seconds that I had their captive attention. When 7 pm hit, people came in looking grim. “Did you hear about the polls?” they’d ask. “No,” I said, “but don’t tell me, I need to get through the next hour.” I guarded my polling location from news of what was happening because we still had to close – I still had to close – and needed to be able to focus without dealing with the sheer terror of reality. I checked Twitter as I got in my Lyft back home. Shock bombarded and horror filled me as I scrolled through my timeline. I hoped the panic would vanish once the CA votes were counted. It didn’t. Slowly the new reality set in – the one where I wake up horrified and lose more of my basic human rights every day. The one where I wake up and am reminded that I was prepared for this, I saw this coming, I know what’s happening.

I grew up in the far-right evangelical conservative (Christofascist) movement; specifically, I was homeschooled and my parents were part of a subculture called Quiverfull, whose aim is to outbreed everyone for Jesus. I spent my teen years being a political activist. I was taught by every pastor I encountered that it was our job as Christians to outbreed the secularists (anyone not a far-right evangelical Protestant) and take over the government through sheer numbers. I was part of TeenPact, Generation Joshua and my local Teenage Republicans (TARS).

When the Tea Party rose in 2009, that was my culture. The Tea Party was step one. I was laying the groundwork for those elections in 2006. These people didn’t come out of the blue like it seemed. This plan, this Christofascist takeover of the US government, has been in the works for decades. When evangelical conservatism started becoming popular and more mainstream around the 1970s, the foundation was being laid for the tragedy playing out right now.

Evangelical conservatives started taking over their local republican parties and founding organizations like Operation Rescue, Homeschool Legal Defense Association, Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, just to name a few.

Michael Farris founded HSLDA in 1983 as a way to ensure that homeschooling was legal, but what he’s been striving for is the wild west. His organization is trying to keep homeschooling away from any interference so the children he trains through his sister organization, Generation Joshua, would be able to fly under the radar. Generation Joshua started in 2003, primarily catering to children homeschooled by extremely religious rightwing adults. Its purpose was to train us to fight in what the Christofascists have been calling the “Culture Wars.” It’s a loose and ambiguous term that basically means anything or anyone that doesn’t align with this very specific view of Christianity must not be allowed to continue.

How do you do that? Well, you overturn Roe v. Wade, Griswold v. Connecticut, Brown v. Board of Education and Bob Jones v. The United States. Each of these decisions currently protects reproductive rights or non-discrimination based on race. As retribution, you amend the Constitution to discriminate against queers, trans people, women and people of color. Then, you make laws legislating morality. The only way to do this is to infiltrate the government; so Generation Joshua, TeenPact and other organizations exist to indoctrinate and recruit homeschooled youth who have ample free time to participate in politics. The biggest resources for teaching civil discourse are the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association and Communicators for Christ (since renamed Institute for Cultural Communicators). Through these programs we learned how to argue effectively. As students, we were taught critical thinking skills but given only a narrow view of what was acceptable to argue for. We were, after all, being trained to take over the country for Christ, literally. We knew how to perform logical gymnastics about abortion, Christianity and any evangelical talking point you could throw at us.

When we showed up to city council, local political party meetings and tours of the Capitol we asked intelligent questions, were respectful and had a vested interest in how our local political machine ran. We impressed every government official and staff member with our questions, earnesty and demeanor. In short, we were sneaky and polite Trojan horses; we had an agenda. Yes, even as 15-year-olds. It was forcefully handed to us by the adults in our lives who had been preparing for this since before we were born.

I watched the Tea Party takeover and was surprised no one saw it coming. After all, this was part of the plan. Trump being elected is also part of the plan, although not Trump specifically; the true goal is Pence.

Christofascists have been wanting someone like Pence in the White House and, until now, didn’t have a way to get one in. They know Trump is easily manipulated and will change his mind with the wind if it makes him feel more powerful and famous. Trump couldn’t care less about policy, a fact he’s made quite obvious. The Right has given a tyrant power and fame; he will do whatever they want him to do in order to keep it. This way they can sneak Pence in on a piggyback while filling Congress with even more evangelical conservative Republicans. Compared to Trump’s abrasive and terrifying behavior, Pence seems much less threatening. This is not the case. Pence has a proven track record of legalizing discrimination and acting against women and marginalized people. Those of us who didn’t leave the far Right are being elected to federal positions or are taking over states and cities. With Pence in office, even the reasonable-seeming incumbents – who have been and are still at the mercy of the Tea Party – are growing more bold in their attempts to further the Christofascist agenda: To Take Back The Country For Christ.

This was the mantra we heard. This was our mission. This is how we were to win: Outbreed, Outvote, Outactivate. Every class, every event, every pastor or guest speaker reiterated this, choosing to risk the 501c3 status of their church to push their agenda. To take back the country for Christ, we needed to outbreed, outvote and outactivate the other side, thus saith The Lord.

Meanwhile, mainstream Democrats shake their heads in confusion and fundamentally misunderstand the meaning of grassroots organizing, which is where all of this happens. Republicans have a vast network of homeschoolers that HSLDA and others have given them to tap into as a source of free labor. Republicans in state governments are lax on homeschooling oversight because their Get Out The Vote base is made of homeschoolers thanks to Generation Joshua and Teenpact.

Homeschoolers may make up a small portion of students as a whole, but they are loud, have time and can be activated with one email blast. When HR6 was brought to Congress in 1994, homeschool families realized their power. With an alert from HSLDA, homeschool families flooded the lines of Congress demanding that they exclude private, home and religious schools from the bill. They succeeded. The reach of HSLDA to activate the homeschool community has only grown since then. We are the secret no one knew about and it’s time to come to light. Homeschoolers are a huge reason for the evangelical conservative takeover we’ve seen over the last decade or so; it would be a mistake to write them off.

Self-proclaimed constitutional lawyer Michael Farris, the founder of HSLDA, and revisionist historian David Barton have spent years twisting their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution as some kind of God-breathed document into the minds of parents and their families who will just believe what they say because they’re “Good Christians.” They don’t necessarily practice critical thought, are dissuaded from looking at the Constitution themselves without a law degree and don’t bother to read history from all angles, relying only on the whitewashed Christian versions of the Constitution and our founding.

If you’re thinking that declaring the nation a Christian one and turning into a theocracy is a ludicrous idea that has no basis in our constitution, you’d be correct. However, Christofascists have imbibed this theory and now believe it is their Christian duty to save the country from its secular ways in the name of religious freedom. In this worldview, any non-Christian (including Catholics and Jews) is doomed to eternal torture if they don’t convert. Thus, we are all going to hell in a handbasket if “good Christians” don’t save the country from the liberals who think people should just “do what they want regardless of what God says.” Their religious extremism is worse than any group they fearmonger over, but the irony is lost on them.

Evangelical conservatives are convinced that their agenda will save the country from God-ordained death. Pat Robertson and many others believe that natural disasters are sent from God specifically to punish America for letting marginalized people have rights and be alive. This motivates them to do everything in their power to “save” the country from the ungodly – even, maybe especially – if it involves stripping others of the freedoms they deem to be against God’s wishes. They don’t care if their war for Christ hurts humans they see as living wrongfully, because they are capital “R” Right and that’s what matters. Their Rightness, they believe, comes from God Himself. Their beliefs are callous and without empathy, prioritizing dogma over people. These beliefs are dangerous. Many of us who have come out as queer, trans, or even merely gone to college, have lost family because of this worldview. A single powerful person who is convinced of their own Rightness with no thought of introspection is dangerous. We now have a government full of them.

It is important to understand that they are coming at this from a place of passion and dedication. They have a fire in their bellies. While it looks like a bunch of backwoods hillbillies playing with guns to anyone outside, they are resilient and in it for the long haul. They want America to succeed, but in their America there isn’t room for anyone unlike them. There’s a reason Trump’s mantra stuck despite his deplorable behaviour. They think America was founded on conservative Protestant ideals because that’s what they’ve been fed, because that’s what aligns with their interpretation of the Bible and they will not go down without a fight.

They are scared of anything newer than the 18th century; you can’t logic the fear of change away from people. If you do no research and are instead predisposed to the belief that older is better, it’s easy to think the Puritans were good and wholesome. People wore funny hats, were conservative and hated science. Church was basically mandatory and women weren’t allowed to speak or be autonomous people. These are all comforting things for people who feel as though the world is against them because of their religion, rather than the fact that their views and actions are bigoted, racist and actively harmful to millions of other humans. You cannot be this version of evangelical and not force your beliefs on others. Failing to convert is a failure on you and your dedication to your faith. This religion is based entirely on fear; you can’t argue away a fear so intense that it hardens you to anyone unlike you or your tribe.

They will not be won over with sit-downs and respectability politics. This kind of dogma cannot be reasoned with; it must be fought against. Trying to convince them to come to the other side is a waste of time unless they’ve already started on that journey themselves. The ones in power, actively harming our lives, are past this point. We can only fight back.

The revolution has come and we are the resistance.

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airoasis · 5 years ago

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Fallout 76 Angry Review

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/fallout-76-angry-review-2/

Fallout 76 Angry Review

You fucked it up by means of now you know that this sport sucks I might barely carry myself to play it in order to conclude this evaluate i’ve never in no way obvious this type of piss-bad effort from Bethesda a recreation manufacturer i like in a door you would name me a Bethesda fanboy I make whole game days for his or her releases and no I truly failed to get a review reproduction or a free box set I in reality purchased the 200 greenback collector’s variation with my possess cash long in the past most often for the helmet but I had a small hope that Bethesda would put out the game they promised to us and conceal up so much go the place you want watch do anything you need this is the Golden Age of game make the player proud song language make your self proud that you simply made it make your player proud that you simply purchased it it works it absolutely responds to move the place you need do some thing make your player proud well I was once lied to we were all lied to and betrayed betrayal yeah that is all I wanted shut the door fuck this position shut the door i have not felt one of these massive disparity between what we have been instructed and what we bought due to the fact aliens colonial Marines and no man’s sky bethesda has unequivocally failed at what it set out to do right here in spite of whether you for my part like it or no longer on account that one man’s trash is a further man’s treasure and trust me this is trash by using their possess words they fail and this time it points all new rendering lights and landscape science rendering quite you get here it is proper over there there it’s see it you not see that helicopter what the fuck proper there it just spawned in that popin is fucking horrible and this time it elements all new rendering lighting fixtures appear at this like can i just ask okay inform me why that light is coming from okay it can be like you understand what like you know if persons like God Ray’s God Ray’s out of the fucking earth that is so folks like what’s the floor will not be why is the ground i am blowing oh my god what is this fucking guy and this time it points all new rendering lighting fixtures and panorama technological know-how first of path that you can play this solo alright you’ll be able to be you can be who you want exploring a big world doing quests experiencing a narrative and leveling up we like those things about our video games too it wouldn’t have it another means in actual fact you’ll by no means even see a server while you play so realistically speakme oh appear the server crashed tremendous time it cup yeah it relatively cannot go any minimize severely fallout 76 is through some distance the biggest undertaking that now we have ever performed it encompasses materials of the studio in Maryland Austin Montreal for Bethesda sport Studios as good as we’re getting quite a few aid from different parts of Bethesda one of the vital pleasant men and women at ed software arcane ZeniMax online and so it really is a tremendous challenge not just for us but all elements of Bethesda no no it can be not and if that many studios contributed to making this mess then perhaps that used to be a part of the predicament why did it take that many to create this piece together fallout four asset blip considering that that’s what that is provide an explanation for it to us gigantic patches that hardly fix some thing it is obtained so many technical problems it can be amazing Bethesda I’ve web I’ve there may be truthfully I’ve this clip proper here this is this encapsulate psmith is de this is without doubt one of the most blurring undercooked worm crammed lazy efforts with the aid of Bethesda and as long as i will be able to remember you sir I just bought a sweet roll hell yeah they would need to double your stamina they usually desire a fast travel again right here at least OG we see a participant here you higher be competent to move bro i’m continuously competent be ready to move at all times it comes by means of a hundred% as a speedy effortless money snatch to any person with a mind it takes expertise of the Fallout fan base except but this did not even trouble to decorate it up a little bit bit no rather it shows up tremendously late belligerent and shit-faced inebriated to the survival get together you understand that asshole that manages to break it for everyone 76 is here little one ready to social gathering no boy come on let’s go back know the survival occasion is over howdy did you just log out no no would you just glitch no you bros you all out fallout all out 70 triumphant first-rate – it’s idiot no all right it’s night he is asking me for money now look nobody plans survival games in or you are late to the party it can be what about mutters oh yeah now combat Royale fuck is that fuck that man he is a fine man he does not have you ever go residence go home touch me do not touch me cook dinner come on I are not able to don’t forget this is the identical studio with a view to cancel the strong-watching preto due to great issues and production cut-off dates yet turns around and places out this excellent sign for this with probably the most worst bugs and outright admitting it can be now not even completed of their freaking press free up and their computer virus record reads like a fucking novel no no this isn’t ideal this is not our job that’s your job your job is to unlock a completed game not a opening factor to a sport so that we will fix it for you our video games often at this point have numerous techniques which might be working but we’ve not quite gelled all of them together rather the way the end customers see it and definitely we did file these malicious program issues to you three years ago and fallout four you just ported it proper back in right here nonetheless damaged although the group fix them with patches you could not be equipped to do the equal and they literally reproduction pasted this sport so tough that that trojan horse from fallout four exists in this sport and it is fucking over 1000’s of people when you consider that you can not patch it what do you imply you can’t patch up you cannot use the fix from fallout 4 and fallout 76 which was once a participant patch Bethesda is mindful of this worm and it has existed for two years in Fallout 4 and they not ever constant it and it is on this recreation that too I’ve grow to be Windigo man all proper you’ll you can be who you want exploring a huge world doing quests however that’s executed this isn’t early entry this can be a full retail recreation that clearly has no proper to be bought at these costs that you’re promoting and now you have to agree considering the fact that it’s already reportedly right down to 40 after which by the point this review it is like a 35 I’ve under no circumstances noticeable a sport dropped that rough and speedy in price in ceaselessly if ever that means they already knew it wasn’t worth that shit and folks like me who paid for to persons such as you who pay for guts we paid them to beta experiment their game we anticipate triple a satisfactory or at least finished pleasant from a company we keep in high regard and that i on no account not ever want to see them pull some thing like this again I I learn on the net that our video games have had a few bugs I did I learn it on the internet so it is actual and that in many instances it would not just work anyway certain variations it is excellent the graphics are awful it permits us to have sixteen instances the element sixteen occasions the detail sixteen instances the element I was once announcing sixteen occasions the detail yeah I used to be saying some thing 16 times the detail I was once definitely pronouncing whatever that is for sure the sport is actually destabilizing in front of me there may be a glitch in the matrix its action oh my god it’s just getting worse in each door oh however God the game is destabilizing sixteen instances the element i’m jogging into an invisible wall correct now all of this simply works it’s no longer i’m not kidding and again it just works in even view far-off climate programs throughout the map and i’m worn out of it the computer interface it’s shit there was zero effort put into that poor and the engine it is a literal fossil the sport on pc has such awkward default enter instructions its dumbfounding in an RPG where you are fiddling round along with your inventory much more so than than fallout 4 and also you cannot pause the article for the reason that of all their gathering and crafting and within the are living survival recreation now that damn factor was applied to enhance a player’s exceptional of lifestyles ctrl + tab doesn’t do some thing yeah does ctrl tab and that is sure I would like to join the staff now you invited me to alternate within the manipulate tab you have to become a member of our staff they simply basically did the identical from fallout 4 the same crafting the identical constructing with a few extra abnormal action options right here and there this game is actually all of the weakest points of fallout 4 repackage together as its core expertise does that sound enjoyable to you the shitty filler quests the busy work the fumbling around and a strategy to small stock all made worse by the introduced hunger and dehydration considerations there must be residing this factor proper additionally we have to heal we did not even drop I bought two pieces of dogmeat and that i bought that is it that’s off the dead dog lets off the dead dog gunpowder and why don’t our there no interesting human NPCs it contributes to creating real world feel empty and shallow though it teases you with a mayor a hunts grasp oh however of path they may be robots just of course you’re fortunate they help us get equipped for the upcoming flood of keen tourists and i am now not the whole 5% off the cost of all points of interest we now have four major points of interest around here wavy Willard’s no doing variety no no no you mess with the lore anyway to get this recreation to occur you mess with the Brotherhood lore you may have messed with the creature lore you’ve got messed with the Enclave and the timeline you are clearly inclined to bend matters and create new things but you refuse to place in human NPCs with intriguing reports given that of a massively misguided directed from possibly Todd that every human he desired you to meet can be a participant however there is one huge difference with this game it can be that each of these characters is an actual person well guess what players suck gamer’s don’t play games like npcs and they may be able to on no account be substitutes for them chiefly on account that people are shitty assholes in games with the aid of nature they do and say shitty matters they lose their fucking cool please do not behave as Bethesda wishes them to and none of this cross their mind considering that they could not even be bothered to position adequate push-to-speak feature at launch ELC which is the fuck they the game with the open mic from the damn personality creator they do not even help you get out of the vault before somebody’s yelling racist shit respiration into the mic like a moron or their mother is heard yelling at them to wash their fucking room that is fucking ridiculous what’s the who the fuck is speaking right now shut the fuck up tell your mom to shut up looking to fucking play listen right here you little stop fucking masturbating and switch your mic off this indicates you ways little proposal went into this it’s all downhill from there the opening of the vault it feels weak when it’s presupposed to be this epic moment it appears like rust crap i am opening compared to yes okay when you get available in the market there may be consistent popping so it is for that rendering and landscape engine horrible draw distances there’s an unsightly blur off in the distance irrespective of how powerful my computer is and it is empower ‘fl movement pace is relatively tied to border cost some persons document that it even makes the motion ill to play with this totally limited field of view and bobbing head made even worse in third-man or woman and particularly once more there is an issue with the engine they can not even quite comfortably repair to put sufficient in fov slider yeah there is zero problems with this engine all right um the satisfactory strategy to alternate the fov is to move inside of your consumer account files my video games and fought seventy six find the fought 76 I and i and do a replica paste and then rename the reproduction customized simply add the phrase custom like that now I can not do it once more on the grounds that I already have one however you then just identify yours customized and then what you wish to have to do is go into the custom ini and these are the two traces you need the lighting fixtures bloom effect is ridiculous guys it offers everyone keratoconus a degenerative eye that I actually was diagnosed with and suffer from where lights get blurred and they have got like these halos and lots of spill to them and bleed outcome so watching at fallout is how I truely see most often this game actually gives you a simulation of getting a scientific i what the fuck it seems that the shadows are based on the place i’m looking video on how to get unlimited grenades and unlimited XP so and it will not stop going up fucking unlimited however yeah see i’m going right right here showing you you could go to each of these wires don’t work that way oh yeah the sport’s story which there is not any story is brought to you in probably the most boring static holotapes so you engage of their story we brought a lot of holotape to this sport you can hear plenty of audio you will of path be capable to it so that the reports absolutely wealthy in a way considering that you’ll be able to be able to hear it as you continue to quest along and enjoy the experience in a technique we have not carried out earlier than oh your acquaintances and random strangers are screaming on your ear so you barely even work here with them they’re saying I do not know how you are making ammo I believe you desire a tinker and these supposed quests first of direction you can play this solo my god I was once describing this recreation to a buddy and i spotted simply how mundane these quests have been I used to be like hi there man yeah I needed to select up ten beer bottles turn a water valve which failed to do something cool like fill the park with radiated water or something after which I had to kill a crap exceptional satisfactory genius time you keep thinking that it’s gonna get higher it is gonna go someplace the questions gonna get better your degree 10 it can be gonna get better degree 20 is it better but level 30 better please degree 60 oh my god why is it no longer better he’ll Dell even made it to 100 and fucking 40 and it in no way acquired any better it in no way does all that occurs is you get fairly cooler loot to play the equal terrible gameplay loop again and again awful pics awful UI awful quests terrible gameplay loops terrible enemy AI awful and that’s to not say that the gameplay can not be exciting once in a while along with your buddies it can be a stressful second while you see an awfully high-level gigantic monster on the earth and taking one down with the crew it can be enjoyable but these moments are few and a ways between and are not particularly all that high-quality after its newness wears off by and large because the combat is so shallow can they are saying they made these guys like pleasant shit Raiders are replaced with the boring scorched zombies I believe they are forever caught in here but other than that the style of enemies is without a doubt notably good most effective ruined by the horrible AI it is mind-dead god-awful standing round like statues caught in poses or enemies popping correct in entrance of you fuck did you simply spawn correct in entrance of me but perhaps that is all of the intention maybe the complexity of the AI in fallout seventy six is so first-class that it is borderline self-mindful and the AI effortlessly just desires to kill itself for being on this game stating that this can be a $60 recreation with shit like this okay did this this is my point this proper right here Wow seem chat is still oh my goodness Wow what about what about just like the super gun right here nope still nonetheless the difficulty bats has been bastardized to check out to fit in here it should had been unnoticed entirely it is what made fight in prior Fallout games tolerable but it surely’s oftentimes less accurate than just firing your self considering the fact that it will go from like ninety five percentage all the way down to zero in an on the spot without good judgment real-time bats it is simply dumb and i’m so unwell and worn out of the Bethesda fanboys attacking me on the grounds that i do not like this game and that i think Fallout multiplayer deserved significantly better painting me as a troll on YouTube immediately to Todd or to Pete conveniently since I located it boring in one early session however Joe it can be fun with pals frankly any game is extra fun with friends so do not trot out that tired excuse to disregard its flaws and paint me as a villain i do not I critically should not have some form of vendetta to ruin this sport I wanted it to be excellent to be better than what we bought I paid $200 but it has just method too many problems and i see it for what it’s my personal favorite part of fallout 76 is when they create their own enjoyable a giant part of the sport is meant to be PvP it is only awful and execution here it desperately desires a whole redesign and our PvP targeted provider to work if n if the game is meant to be a co-op expertise to take down fallout monsters with your acquaintances then let or not it’s that but if it was once supposed to be PvP as well that some serious work needs to go in right here cuz everyone ignores it i do not even care o.K. Let me show off my PvP so dumb on this game i have a bounty of a hundred and twelve caps right now would not topic that i’m desired or some thing if I if I die lose these caps but except I fucking go and get shot back by means of this man or woman even though I want a PvP it doesn’t matter most robust shotgun in the entire King imaginable and i cannot kill this individual I do like one damages shot i am got bounty for attacking him up to a hundred and twelve calves and there is nothing i will do except he clearly fucking shoots me again now that I simply have a bounty and if I die I lose all those caps there is nothing I would do about it so if he shoots me but oh no someone’s opposed and i will be able to kill them in a single shot or not I would get the injury worm on a participant I ok now I acquired I got the damage trojan horse on a player so i don’t i don’t even understand i don’t even comprehend how you can handle that this game is too damn buggy it is just you suck at a such a disadvantage to fight your enemy’s gonna respawn correct subsequent to you again and again striking you into a demise spiral loop it’s atrocious put out of your mind it i’m accomplished the top recreation it is non-existent yes shedding nukes may also be cool as hell what have I completed that is what you get for telling me to gather cans motherfucker that is what you get well feed the humans you know what I spent them dying but even that has disorders you type new codes which can drop by way of the world or perhaps it failed to drop through the arena and it is just that worrying beeping even when there’s no codes it makes no gameplay feel anyway you kind these codes you drop the nukes and then you definately inform the new crop field but you don’t even need to farm those codes anymore when you consider that these idiots don’t trade the codes whenever a nuke is launched so the code is the same and all of the work you probably did to find that code means nothing when anybody else simply post the code to learn it so that you can simply launch it with no need to do any of that shit it is long gone there may be nonetheless beat me there’s still fuckin pygmy whats up hey the place did you get that new this is penny out bloodless do you telling me that i’ve been out here for hours days or don’t fucking map for the fucking correct go peasant get fucking read did you waste your time however watch out to now not drop a couple of nuke at a time or it will crash the Bethesda servers if truth be told you’ll be able to under no circumstances even see a server while you play your ultimate boss is a scorch beast queen I imply Skyrim dragon however even that’s mainly a enormous waste of time legendary drops are so totally random so that you get a lone one megastar piece of legendary for your entire rough work and past that there’s nothing at this factor within the recreation you’ll be killing glowing loss of life claws like they may be nothing oh my god I wrecked it simplest life deflating the entire undertaking in the sport happens means too speedy your hardest enemies assault Franz possibly mirelurk queens are more difficult to kill definite but once more the sport finds a approach to fuck that up hiya howdy this just works it can be no longer i’m now not kidding look at that 4 bus kiss chat get in on that for a bus yeah let’s doing it for me oh there she bought me get oh there goes the help and again it just works so does the game do anything well good sure i would say probably three matters complete the new perks system it can be sort of interesting but I cannot particularly say better per se it’s simply exciting it’s like playing should you get card packs and gum which scared the hell out of me into considering that we’d be shopping these packs as frankly it seems developed for that purpose however nope they’re simply given to you at intervals perhaps it’s intelligent to keep it that means if they weren’t aspiring to do some thing one of a kind let’s hope it stays that method but at later levels even with that you simply get annoyed regularly swapping your perks for stuff like normal things like lock-deciding on given that it’s the one technique to do it and if you screwed up your stats while leveling get this too bad you can’t admire at all although I completed the sport and i hit degree 50 and like you get stopped getting perk points at level 50 not being capable to respec like to change your stats it can be such a tough method because i have so many perk facets and so many matters I want to do but there may be like actually no appreciate within the recreation you just caught with anything aspects you get so should you like her just a informal player and you do not feel this out earlier than you go and do it you get screwed like if I have been to only have 5 agility i would be screwed someone else at this point consider this game was once not well suggestion out and was rushed every game that we will we are taking the entire suggestions that now we have gotten from our fans that are effective and they provide it all to us whether it’s good dangerous anything that is what makes us better builders and so reading all that suggestions from our previous video games what they already consider about fallout 76 fairly informs what we’re doing what we do in the future go the place you want what do anything you need I was gonna say the tune subsequent but fairly it can be only one stunning track that I rather love k and the map the map it’s stuffed with exact areas and lots of kind probably greater than some other Fallout sport ever the sport is colorful in ingredients now considered one of my colossal criticisms of Fallout 4 used to be how drab it used to be and this cements that it is only significantly better with just a little of color but what is the factor when the whole thing else fails to are living up round it it is like a amazing wealthy child sandbox with just a bunch of broken lame-ass toys to play with him there after which it has the gall to ask you to purchase microtransactions but what the fuck is this or are you fucking serious a paint set 1800 atoms for fucking blue you need me to spend $18 for fucking blue what is this evolved no Bethesda No zero effort here like the rest of the sport but laziness even extends to what they need you to buy and microtransactions it’s astounding you guys are fucking incompetent I hate this sport and that i barely desired to play any further of it i’m sorry the overview took goodbye however i’m gonna recall this this it can be it can be simply terrible it is boring there’s nothing worse than boring I almost have a hilariously dangerous sport than a fucking boring game and that is what that is it in general deserves probably as if you’re crazy you could supply it a type for those who literally love whatever certainly not once more and i hope this sends a message but this does now on become aware of and recognize the trolls did not do it the YouTube provocateurs failed to do it however that did it and now i am going from insanely occupied with megastar subject and Elder Scrolls 6 to deathly afraid if Bethesda used to be willing to position this out with out apology this must be a serious warning call for this corporation there’s no love no care no effort here at all an asset flip fuck fucking cat toes you’re gonna you are gonna put tattoos in my face on the end of the evaluation for this much money anything that was once free and a long way for I can’t I cannot I cannot with this no terrible i want my money back okay am i able to nonetheless get my money back does anybody wish to buy up a fallout 76 what number of any individual did you waste your time you’re now not fucked it up

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batterymonster2021 · 5 years ago

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Fallout 76 Angry Review

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/fallout-76-angry-review-2/

Fallout 76 Angry Review

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musiccosmosru · 6 years ago

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Our appetite for the internet of things knows no boundaries: From the pace counters we wear on our wrists to the smartphone apps that lock our front doors to the sensors we install in our universities and hospitals that let us monitor energy usage, more and more corners of everyday life are revolutionized by connected devices. In 2017, according to Gartner, 8.4 billion such connected devices were in use; by 2020, that number is expected to jump past the 20-billion mark.

With big data comes big responsibility. As we plug in more and more devices, for ourselves and our customers, we must make sure that we take the utmost care in keeping data secure; otherwise, we might end up like that casino that recently fell victim to a cyberattack after someone hacked the thermometer on its fish tank and used it as a portal to enter the system maliciously.

Related: Security Central: Is IoT Part of Your Strategy? It Should Be

So what are those among us who aren’t cybersecurity experts to do with all the new connected devices we keep buying, selling and plugging in? Here are the five commandments of keeping your gadgets secure and your data safe:

Timing is everything: This is especially true when it comes to updating firmware. Some manufacturers offer repeated updates, which indicates that they’re actively looking out for bugs in the system and fixing them to make sure you’re protected against the most current threats. Others, sadly, just want you to buy their gizmo. They care very little what happens to you, your customers or your data once you’ve shelled out your dollars. So before you buy anything you’re going to plug in – like a digital camera, say – go online, check the manufacturer’s release notes, and see how often they’re patching the firmware. You might be tempted to buy a cheap device that’s getting good reviews, but if its makers haven’t updated their firmware in more than two years, you’re basically inviting a Trojan horse into your home or customer site.

Make it automatic: Most devices, you’ll find, enable you to turn on auto updates. Do it! That way, rather than having to check periodically for the latest patch, you’ll be sure to catch up immediately.

Just say no to remote control: Some devices feature what’s fondly known as a RAT, or remote administration tool. In theory, it’s a helpful feature that allows users or an MSP access even if they don’t happen to be physically near the device they’re trying to control. In reality, it can very likely be used to allow hackers a way in. So as you’re setting up your device, log in to the administration panel and disable remote administration. If you’re deploying devices at far-flung or difficult-to-access sites and need that remote admin capability, check with the manufacturer or a security specialist to do it safely.

Keep them guessing: Never keep a default login/user name or password. Change them, on every device, and keep on changing your username and your password as often as you can. It sounds like an obvious piece of advice, but you’d be surprised how many of us stick with the same old passwords, making it that much easier for attackers to have their way. I realize coming up with new passwords is annoying, but trust me, losing all your data or worse is a much bigger hassle.

Welcome guests: Guest networks, that is. It’s a simple but powerful trick: Set up your Wi-Fi with a protected network you use for your laptop, say, and a guest network you use for everything else. It sounds complicated, but a beer and 10 minutes of Googling should do the trick. Then, if you have an IoT device that doesn’t need to communicate with any other device – like, say, your camera, or your Fitbit – put it on the guest network, and set up your guest network to isolate devices from one another. That way, you’ll minimize the risk of hackers being able to access all your data even if they figure out a way to compromise a single device. For MSPs, this sort of segmentation is a big selling point of a managed WLAN practice.

So next time you get a fancy new internet-enabled thingie, don’t just rush to unbox it and plug it in. A few minutes and a few steps could save you a lot of time and pain.

Related: IoT and Shadow IT: Dangerous Bedfellows?

Robert Gibbons is Datto Inc.’s chief technology officer.

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The post 5 IoT Safety Commandments | Channel Futures appeared first on MusicCosmoS.

#beauty #healths #kids #royal espanol

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davidsilvercloud · 7 years ago

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Terry David “Butch/Butch Naked” Silvercloud

"Step aside! I shall perform the necessary heroics" Comic Book Guy/The Simpsons

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T. S. Eliot

....... The DAILY GRIND..... what's up today.

11.6 Million photo views, to date at http://ButchNaked.com. Thank you. At this time I'm getting about 100,000 photo views a week.

Again... thanks for the visits.

TELL EVERYONE. Free photo downloads at BUTCHNAKED.COM

My homepage is http://ButchBoard.com I'm not your average canary.

Now keep reading.

Wednesday, 29 Nov. 2017. Grey and some showers. A bit cool. I wuz up early and had a regular kind of day... painting, TV, coffee, T3's, exercise, lots of selfies.

I have doctor appointments the next two days. My eye doctor tomorrow, and my Family Physician on Friday for a Hormone Shot and some Rx renewals.

One of the most serious consequences of the Donald Trump Presidency is that he is changing the face of the Judicial System... nominating 59 new appointments of, mostly under 50 year old, extremely Conservative lawyers, one of whom has never tried a case in his entire life and who was declared to be unqualified by the committee who oversees these nominations.

That particular appointee believes in ghosts and is a paranormal investigator... among the most stupid of the stupid humans upon the planet.

Fentanyl is destroying the Western World and the police and government are completely, totally, undeniably responsible for this horror and, to make things worse, are reluctant to make any changes. Personally, I no longer support ANY politician of ANY party. I am of the belief that all serving politicians should be immediately arrested, thrown in jail for this offence... and all police chiefs should also be arrested and thrown in jail while we sort out this issue.

Police forces and government need a complete and total change starting with the arrest and detention of all politicians and police chiefs, everywhere. The problem is at the top of government and police. Our governments and police are so totally corrupt you are not safe. Really, you are not safe and have no rights unless you are stinking rich... and that might not work either, anymore. I said it, I mean it. Democracy is a delusion and has failed.

Speaking of horrors... EGYPT is working overtime to arrest anyone deemed to be Homosexual. Any display of Gay Rights can get you arrested and tortured. WHY?

The issue is a direct result of an Islamic government... Islam. There is no more evil nor horrific religion upon the planet. Islam is as close as you get to worshipping Satan and the so-called Devil. There is no Satan, nor Devil. They exist only in Islam. Those words are, entirely, mistranslations of the Aramaic words for "adversary" or, simply, someone who is not in agreement with your ideas... an opponent to your thought, as it were. Neither are proper names, but descriptions of a person. The greatest evil on the planet is Islam, followed closely by that other horror show, the Roman Catholic Church. Pure, pure, pure evil... both religions. They cleverly fool the idiots of the planet and continue to do so.

I despise religions... all of them. I demand the arrest and jailing of all religious leaders, the immediate seizure of all properties owned by various religions, and massive education programs, publicly funded, to teach people the history of religions. Once you know where they came from and how you will see how horrific and evil all religions are.

Religions MUST NEVER BE EXEMPT FROM CRITICISM. The Trojan Horse of Religious Freedom.

There is NOTHING eviler than religion. It must be ridiculed and criticized constantly to defeat the horrific evils placed upon the planet by the superstitions and fears presented by religion. Religions are evil and are not exempt from being criticized.

Arrest and imprison all religious leaders, seize all religious properties, and begin massive education of the public about the history of religions and their horrific deeds and past.

Throw every religious leader into jail or slave labour camps for life. If they are released and begin preaching again, they must be executed. I said it, I mean it.

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, is eviler than religion. It's time to END stupidity and ignorance and superstitious fears.

THIS IS THE END OF THE DAILY GRIND.

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN HERE, BEFORE, HERE IS MORE STUFF TO READ...

I'm a bit OCD and ADHD and go on like a dripping tap. Think Sheldon Cooper, if that rings some kind of bell. I quite simply assume everyone around me is a complete idiot.

http://DavidSilvercloud.com (Blog) (http://David_Silvercloud.Tumblr.com)

http://ButchNews.com (Video) (http://YouTube.com/ButchNews)

http://ButchNaked.com (Photo Stream) (http://Flickr.com/David_Silvercloud)

http://SeriousThunder.com (Art)

http://ElectronSpeed.Tumblr.com (Physics... The Speed of Light, Grand Unified Theory, Gravity, Dark Matter, Dark Energy... how the physical size of the Electron is the clock that sets the speed of light. Gravity is motion and a product of the fact that nothing ever sits still, combined with the magnetic properties of Dark Matter/Energy. Nothing can ever move in an absolute circle and rest is a relativity illusion.

Absolute rest is not possible... ever. The universe can not end. Time is change and is an illusion. It is always now, everywhere, all at once, all of the time. Proof of that is that ANY object MUST be HERE and THERE at the SAME time, no matter how large... even a Galaxy. It is always NOW on both sides... here and there, in space, of the Galaxy... all galaxies, everywhere. Waves can be either physical or electronic. The duality of the universe keeps it ongoing. DNA is the battery of life. When the chains can no longer co-operate, life ceases in the body. Life, itself, is a duality. Time measurement is a relativity convenience.) Time travel is impossible because time is not a place and nothing stays where it was. One year from now the Solar System will have moved about seven BILLION kilometres through space and will NEVER return to where it was... ever.

Earth travels through space like a long wave... it has NEVER, ever made an actual circle, nor ellipse, in space. The circle/ellipse is an illusion of relativity. Nothing can ever travel in an actual circle in space... NOTHING. Nothing can ever go backward. Backwards motion is an illusion of relativity. Time is a repercussion of change and has no fixed rate... things explode or move like a glacier. At best we can only compare rates of change. Our rate of change is called the second/minute/hour/day/month/year system.

WATCH VIDEO FOR EXPLANATION OF THE PATH OF EARTH THROUGH SPACE. Earth moves about 7 billion kilometers through space, each year... in a long wave. Earth NEVER returns to where it was before. Earth is NOT an island in space... one of the reasons why time travel is impossible. If you take a trip through space, outside the Solar System, Earth will NOT be there when you return... it will be far, far away. You will have to return to where it will BE when you arrive... remember, it's moving very, very, very fast through space in a long wave... never a circle, or ellipse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPjohZCMwmI

http://The-Shape-Of-God.Tumbler.com Manuscript of my book... The Shape of God.

Butch, himself. Visual Artist, Photographer, Physicist (Particle, Sub/Atomic Physics/Relativity)

Inhibitions are just so inhibiting, I avoid them.

I'm a friendly, but pretty blunt, kind of guy. No time for beating around the bush. I like to say what I mean and mean what I say. I'm 73 years old. Time is not on my side. You don't have to like me. I'm a social recluse, anyway. I share my life, in photos, video, and words, to let you into my life and hope to inspire you to be a productive and useful human. I have old age issues but will continue to post, here, while I'm well and able. I talk a lot... I'm told it's part of my OCD and ADHD. Come direct at http://ButchNaked.com Sign in if you wish to see me naked.

If you don't know me, the following might help you get to know what kind of person I am. I don't expect you to understand me. I can be a bit OCD and ADHD.

"They've already got more blowjobs than we'll ever get" Steve Smith (American Dad), talking about college jocks.

"Now let us touch testicles and mate for life" Alien on The Simpsons

"It never hurts to have a second set of prints on a gun" Nelson Muntz, The Simpsons.

I'm here to teach you things. While I appreciate other people's opinions, I really don't much give a crap what anyone thinks. Until you prove your worth, I will be nice but you have to earn my respect. The moment you say a word, I'll be figuring you out really, really fast. You should assume that I don't trust anyone. I've not met a single trustworthy person in my entire life. I've met lots of nice people who aren't too bright... well-intentioned folk who know little about anything, people who are nice, most of the time until you say something that offends them. Honourable people agree to disagree.

Look up the phrase "CRITICAL THINKING" then learn to practice it. Most people leap before they look and judge before they listen to the facts. Most don't have enough knowledge, nor experience, to be experts in much of anything. You don't know what you don't know. I like to remind you of that, often.

The only other REALLY IMPORTANT thing to know about me is that I, totally, despise all religions, the teaching of religion, and religious institutions... I despise them as the evilest things on the planet. If you follow a religion, you CAN NOT BE MY FRIEND. THAT'S THAT. You are an ignorant idiot who is an ever-present danger to yourself and everyone and everything around you. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, is eviler than religion. I don't stand for, nor sing, our National Anthem because it praises a fictitious and superstitious being called 'God'. Only a brain dead moron bonehead ignorant idiot would believe such a thing.

If you have a religion, I will not associate with you... period. You are a danger to be around. Yes, I insult religions... they are extraordinarily evil. I said it, I mean it. You have a right to be an idiot, but not around me. I have a right to defend myself against the horrors of religion and I will. Religion is evil. I can't say it enough times.

http://The-Shape-Of-God.Tumblr.com

I keep a homepage at http://ButchBoard.com

You may come directly to my photostream at http://ButchNaked.com

You must sign in to see me naked. You may download and share nude photos of me... go nuts.

GOOGLE my name (Terry David Silvercloud or David Silvercloud) for more information.

#Artist #Photographer #Visual Artist #Butch Naked #Vancouver Artist #Physicist #David Silvercloud #Terry David Silvercloud #Butch Himself

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