#ready made local bitcoin

[thoughtfulnerdpeanut]

Embracing the Future: Services Where You Can Use Cryptocurrency for Everyday Life

In a world where digital currency is no longer the future but the present, services that accept crypto are leading the charge towards innovation. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or just dipping your toes into the vast ocean of digital transactions, finding a platform that welcomes your crypto wallet with open arms is like striking gold. Imagine the ease of accessing a myriad of services, from the mundane to the extraordinary, all with a simple click and a blockchain handshake. These services aren't just accepting crypto; they're embracing a revolution, making every transaction not just a transfer of funds, but a leap towards a boundaryless financial world. So, if you've been on the hunt for a sign to dive into the crypto pool, this is it. Let's swim together in the digital waves made possible by services ready to accept your crypto, transforming how we think about money one transaction at a time.

In recent years, the rise of cryptocurrency has revolutionized the way we perceive and handle financial transactions. What was once considered a niche market is now becoming increasingly mainstream, with a growing number of businesses and services accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. From online retailers to local businesses, the options for spending your digital assets are expanding rapidly, offering users more flexibility and freedom in their financial transactions.

One of the most significant advantages of using cryptocurrency is its borderless nature. Unlike traditional currencies, which are subject to the regulations and limitations of specific countries, cryptocurrencies can be used to make purchases globally, without the need for currency conversion or hefty transaction fees. This makes them particularly appealing for international transactions, as users can send and receive payments quickly and securely, regardless of their location.

So, where exactly can you use cryptocurrency for everyday transactions? The answer might surprise you. While the list of businesses accepting cryptocurrency is constantly evolving, there are already several industries and services that have embraced this digital revolution.

Online Retailers: Leading e-commerce platforms like Overstock, Shopify, and Newegg now accept various cryptocurrencies, allowing users to purchase everything from electronics to clothing and household items with their digital assets. Additionally, numerous smaller online retailers and marketplaces cater specifically to crypto users, offering a wide range of products and services for purchase.

Travel and Accommodation: Planning a trip? Several travel agencies, airlines, and hotel chains now accept cryptocurrency payments, making it easier than ever to book flights, accommodations, and other travel-related services with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital currencies. This trend is particularly popular among frequent travelers and digital nomads who value the convenience and security of cryptocurrency payments.

Food and Dining: Hungry? Many restaurants, cafes, and food delivery services now accept cryptocurrency payments, allowing customers to order their favorite meals with Bitcoin or other digital currencies. Whether you're craving pizza, sushi, or a gourmet meal, you can satisfy your appetite without ever reaching for your wallet.

Gaming and Entertainment: Gamers and entertainment enthusiasts are also jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon, with numerous gaming platforms, streaming services, and digital content providers now accepting cryptocurrency payments. Whether you're purchasing in-game items, subscribing to streaming services, or downloading digital content, you can do it all with cryptocurrency.

Charitable Donations: Want to make a difference? Many nonprofit organizations and charitable foundations now accept cryptocurrency donations, allowing users to support their favorite causes with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital currencies. This trend reflects the growing recognition of cryptocurrency as a legitimate and impactful tool for social good.

In conclusion, the opportunities for using cryptocurrency in everyday life are expanding rapidly, offering users more choices and flexibility in how they manage their finances. Whether you're shopping online, traveling the world, enjoying a meal, or supporting a charitable cause, cryptocurrency provides a convenient, secure, and borderless alternative to traditional payment methods. As more businesses and services continue to embrace this digital revolution, the future of cryptocurrency looks brighter than ever.

[ailtrahq]

alt HD: Avalanche bulls run prices back to the $10 resistance as odds of a breakout look good Avalanche has been strongly bullish over the past week Traders can wait for a reaction at $10 and the lower timeframe charts to decide which way the sentiment was Avalanche [AVAX] was on a strong upward run as the sentiment across the crypto market turned bullish. Bitcoin’s [BTC] performance was a major catalyst for this market-wide turnaround. How much are 1, 10, or 100 AVAX worth today? A previous analysis of Avalanche from AMBCrypto published on 5 September showcased the importance of the $10 as support. It noted that a move south to $8.6 was possible, which occurred on 25 September. At the time of writing, AVAX was trading at the $10 psychological level again- will we see a rejection? The bearish breaker block at $10 was important once more Source: AVAX/USDT on TradingView Highlighted by the red box, the H4 bearish breaker block from 22 August was retested as resistance. Yet, all the factors showed that a breakout was possible in the near term. The price action of AVAX outlined a bullish market structure. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has been well above the neutral 50 mark over the past week as prices climbed higher. Moreover, the On-Balance Volume (OBV) also witnessed hefty gains in recent days. Together, the indicators signaled bullish momentum and good demand. Therefore, blindly entering a short position at the $10 mark could be risky. However, a rejection from this level accompanied by a shift in the lower timeframe market structure such as 1-hour could be used by courageous traders to enter a short position targeting the local lows at $8.6. This idea would be invalidated if AVAX closed an H4 session above $10.16. The high demand in the spot market was a sign that Avalanche might be ready for a breakout past $10 Source: Coinalyze Over the past few days, the Open Interest shot higher, gaining $20 million as AVAX made rapid gains. They indicated bullish euphoria in the market, with buyers chasing green candles. The funding rate was positive. As well, the spot CVD trended higher and like the OBV suggested steady demand for the asset. Is your portfolio green? Check the Avalanche Profit Calculator Given the bullishness in the market, shorting AVAX might be too risky. A pullback to $9.5 in search of liquidity was possible, but an entire retracement of the rally with such strong bidding could be unlikely. Therefore traders can wait for a breakout past $10.16 and subsequent retest to go long, targeting the $11.2 resistance.

[coinnewz]

Hervé Larren on Bitcoin, Apes and the psychology of NFTs

During a period of hyperinflation in 2013, “my Venezuelan mother asked me to send money to Caracas, the country’s capital,” Hervé Larren recalls. However, bank transfers were not possible between the two countries. Busy with work in New York, he told a friend that he planned to fly to Caracas — carrying cash for his mother �� and return the same day. “Why don’t you just send Bitcoin?” his friend asked, which quickly led to a change of plans as Larren made his first Bitcoin transfer. “My first crypto transaction, in 2013, was to wire Bitcoin from the U.S. to Venezuela. Due to the economic collapse, there was no functioning banking system between these two countries.” Switching from a career with luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Larren co-founded a large-scale crypto mining operation and worked with Grayscale to bring crypto assets to old-school investors. He later became a key adviser to ApeCoin and the first person to bid a million dollars for a nonfungible token. From old to new “We were reporting to Nicolas Sarkozy, and he was coming to our meetings,” Larren recalls of his time as the head of a high school student council in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the wealthiest old-money suburb of Paris, where he grew up. Sarkozy served as the local mayor for 20 years before becoming the president of France. Larren’s mother — from Venezuela — was a TV host and the first Latina model signed by the L’Oreal cosmetics brand. His French father imported wine to Canada,  where a third of the population is French-speaking. In the late 90s, Larren began undergraduate business studies at Montreal’s Concordia University. In 2019, Concordia labeled him “The Blockchain Maven” as part of a “50 Under 50” alumni distinction. Upon graduation, he got a job at Moët Hennessy’s New York office, where he worked on brand development of the firm’s Hennessy cognac brand in the United States. Larren worked on his MBA at Columbia University part time while at LVMH, graduating in 2010 and entering the venture capital world with Peak Ventures, which “was involved in tech companies including Twitter.” It was Larren’s first experience in the technology sector, which he describes as very different from the old-world, intergenerational luxury goods industry. Larren quickly moved to accept Bitcoin at an e-commerce business he was involved with, a company that helped charities raise money by partnering with celebrities. In 2015, he formed crypto mining firm Global Crypto Ventures, which grew into an operation of nearly 3,000 machines composed primarily of Bitmain Antminer S9 miners in Las Vegas and Texas, where “the cost of infrastructure and electricity was cheaper.” Larren at his mining facility. (Hervé Larren) Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund While speaking at the 2017 World Technology Forum in New York, Larren met Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert, who was talking right after him about the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, through which retail investors could get exposure to Bitcoin through their brokerage. He was also working on a new investment vehicle called Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC), which represented a weighted portfolio of cryptocurrencies, including Ether, MATIC, ADA and SOL, in addition to Bitcoin. As a publicly traded investment instrument, it would require approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission. One relevant matter would be to ensure that the fund could buy its digital assets from a trusted source, preferably from within the United States. Larren’s mining firm was an ideal source, and having a ready buyer for mining proceeds made business smoother. This opportunity represented Larren’s first foray into crypto beyond Bitcoin, and it “attracted me to a new space.” Working with the SEC was no easy task, Larren recalls. “It was a nerve-racking process. Though the company was very confident about getting approval, there was a lot of uncertainty because no such investment trust had been approved previously.” However, the GDLC was approved, expanding the potential pool of crypto investors. Though many in the industry continue to preach the “not your keys, not your coins” mantra, Larren argues that just as with stocks, owning Bitcoin and other crypto assets through a financial instrument instead of on an exchange or cold-storage device is preferable for most of the public. There is less risk of being hacked or losing access to keys, and regulated funds must meet stringent security policies and often carry insurance. He also notes that they are easier to manage on a portfolio basis, particularly regarding taxation and being more straightforward for accountants to understand. Will BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF be approved? These advantages make it easy to see why heavyweights of the financial industry see an opportunity in offering Bitcoin investment vehicles accessible to retail investors. One of these is BlackRock, which recently applied to launch a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund in the United States. “BlackRock offers the credibility to convince the SEC that the Bitcoin market can be operated safely and has much to offer investors,” Larren says optimistically. He expects that with BlackRock’s track record of 575 approved ETFs versus one denial, it will soon come online, with similar products expected in other markets. “I think it would lead to an automatic rise in Bitcoin’s price. I think many people are on the sidelines waiting for clarity, and that’s a step in Bitcoin’s institutional adoption.” “For a very long time, Grayscale had a premium on its shares” compared with the price of Bitcoin, Larren notes, explaining that the security, certainty and convenience meant that more conservative investors were historically willing to pay more per BTC. BlackRock’s ETF is unlikely to hold a large premium, which would serve to make the market more efficient. All roads in Decentraland lead to Beeple Larren first heard about the metaverse through Decentraland’s initial coin offering in August 2017. “They were selling 90,000 pieces of NFT land in the metaverse,” he recalls, adding that he felt a proximity to the project’s Argentine founders due to South America’s shared currency issues. “My first NFT purchase was actually buying my name in the metaverse,” he says, recalling how he spent 100 MANA to name his avatar. He was also given a piece of land on which to build the Airvey art gallery, where Larren placed various NFTs for sale. When Christie’s announced it would auction Beeple’s “Everydays” piece in its first-ever NFT auction in March 2021 — a story previously covered by Magazine — the auction house contacted the Airvey gallery to invite bids. “I wanted to be the first person in the world who bid seven figures on an NFT.” “Well that escalated quickly” was Beeple’s only comment when Larren’s bid for $1 million came through, representing the first volley in a bidding battle that would see an anonymous buyer later revealed as Vignesh Sundaresan, also known as Metakovan, beat Tron founder Justin Sun with a record-setting bid of $69 million. Beeple posted his reaction to the $1 million bid on Instagram. Bored Apes design ApeCoin With a newfound passion for NFTs, Larren joined Horizen Labs in 2021, months before the firm began discussions with Yuga Labs, a small company where four founders were working on an NFT project involving monkeys. Yuga contracted Horizen Labs to create ApeCoin, a large allocation of which was distributed to holders of Yuga’s NFT collections — including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Bored Ape Kennel Club — via massive airdrop. “We did everything from the white paper, tokenomics, to listing on exchanges. In less than 20 minutes, it became an $8 billion project,” Larren says, referring to the token’s undiluted market cap, now about $2 billion. In addition to the launch, Larren notes that Horizen Labs designed the token’s staking mechanism, which will see “100 million tokens distributed to the community over three years. As Gucci and TAG Heuer began accepting ApeCoin as a form of payment, Larren’s luxury contacts came calling back. “I spent a week with Chanel’s team at a castle in the English countryside, educating them on all aspects of Web3,” including MetaMask and NFT drops. Larren observes that as he moved from “the most successful physical goods company, LVMH, to the most successful digital goods company, Yuga Labs, the thought process was the same.” Read also Features Tiffany Fong flames Celsius, FTX and NY Post: Hall of Flame Features All rise for the robot judge: AI and blockchain could transform the courtroom He describes metaverse real estate and PFPs, which include Yuga’s famous monkey pictures, as fitting into a broad category of “consumer NFTs” that are purchased by individuals in a way not dissimilar to luxury goods. Indeed, he notes that many of LVMH founder Bernard Arnault’s children — heirs of the world’s second-richest man — are actively dabbling in them. Larren overlooking the Horizen Labs office floor in Milan. (Elias Ahonen) “People want to feel that they are part of an exclusive community with like-minded individuals,” he explains, relating the concept sold in luxury boutiques and exclusive events the world over. In the case of Yuga’s NFTs, he argues that “there is value for many people in being members of a group that shares similar cultural references, whether it being digital or at concerts,” referring to events like ApeFest, the next of which will take place in Hong Kong in November. Can an ape JPG really be a blue-chip NFT? NFTs that gain mass appeal as recognizable status symbols are often labeled as “blue chip” among the NFT community, a nod to a term typically referring to reliable stocks and originally derived from poker, where blue chips are traditionally the most valuable. “It’s a brand-building element as recognition of industry and buyers. Supply is far less than demand, and there is a strong fan and collector base. In traditional art, Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat are blue chips,” he explains, noting that Bored Apes and CryptoPunks hold such a position within the PFP hierarchy. “The price is a result of the value that has been created. When you go to a Louis Vuitton store, the price is nowhere to be seen.” “Holding a BAYC can make sense because you can stake it to earn tokens, and it can act as a financial instrument because you can borrow against it,” he notes, naturally enough, considering his company designed the staking mechanism. Larren poses in Milan with images of NFTs, including a Bored Ape and an Otherside land plot. (Elias Ahonen) “There are blue chips in other categories as well, such as metaverse land,” he adds, cautioning that its value, “like traditional real estate, will depend on the income generated with it.” This is because, in his opinion, people will not remain interested in vast spaces of empty metaverse land but rather in spaces that are built up and useful, like his art gallery. “Traditional real estate involves buildings — the same will be true of metaverse land.” Where might we look for the next crop of blue chips? “I’m now passionate about building on top of Bitcoin with BRC-20s and Ordinals,” Larren explains, hinting that something big is in the works. For him, the coming metaverse is a place and time “when your digital life is more important than your physical life and where digital image matters more than physical image.” In this new environment, he believes that the Bitcoin chain, with its newfound capability to host NFTs, will hold a key position as a central pillar. “In Web3, you need to anticipate how consumer taste will evolve and what the market will want in the next six months.” Subscribe The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a week. Elias Ahonen Elias Ahonen is a Finnish-Canadian author based in Dubai who has worked around the world operating a small blockchain consultancy after buying his first Bitcoins in 2013. His book ‘Blockland' (link below) tells the story of the industry. He holds an MA in International & Comparative Law whose thesis deals with NFT & metaverse regulation. Follow the author @eahonen Source link Read the full article

[technewsbite]

Step-by-Step Guide to Launching a Peer-to-Peer Crypto Exchange with Paxful Clone Script

Cryptocurrency has become a popular investment option for many people around the world. With the rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, there has been a growing demand for cryptocurrency exchanges. These exchanges allow users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. One such exchange is Paxful, which is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange.

In this blog post, we will discuss Paxful Clone Script and how it can be used to create a peer-to-peer exchange like Paxful.

What is Paxful?

Paxful is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It was founded in 2015 by Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback. The platform allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using a variety of payment methods, including bank transfers, credit cards, and gift cards. Paxful has become a popular exchange due to its ease of use and the variety of payment methods it supports.

What is a Paxful Clone Script?

A Paxful Clone Script is a ready-made software solution that allows you to create a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange like Paxful. The script includes all the necessary features and functionalities required to run a successful exchange. It is a cost-effective solution that saves time and money compared to building an exchange from scratch.

Features of a Paxful Clone Script

User-friendly interface: The script comes with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Multiple payment options: The script supports multiple payment options, including bank transfers, credit cards, and gift cards. Escrow system: The script includes an escrow system that ensures the safety of transactions.

KYC/AML verification: The script includes KYC/AML verification to ensure compliance with regulations.

Multi-language support: The script supports multiple languages, making it accessible to users from different countries.

Multi-currency support: The script supports multiple currencies, allowing users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in their local currency.

Affiliate program: The script includes an affiliate program that allows users to earn commissions by referring new users to the exchange.

How to create a peer-to-peer exchange like Paxful using a Paxful Clone Script?

Choose a reliable cryptocurrency exchange script provider: The first step in creating a peer-to-peer exchange like Paxful is to choose a reliable cryptocurrency exchange script provider. Look for a provider that offers a Paxful Clone Script with all the necessary features and functionalities.

Customize the script: Once you have chosen a script provider, you can customize the script to meet your specific requirements. This includes branding, design, and functionality. Set up the exchange: After customizing the script, you can set up the exchange by configuring the payment options, KYC/AML verification, and other settings.

Launch the exchange: Once the exchange is set up, you can launch it and start promoting it to attract users.

Benefits of using a Paxful Clone Script

Cost-effective: Using a Paxful Clone Script is a cost-effective solution compared to building an exchange from scratch.

Time-saving: The script saves time as it includes all the necessary features and functionalities required to run a successful exchange.Customizable: The script is customizable, allowing you to tailor it to your specific requirements.

Scalable: The script is scalable, allowing you to add new features and functionalities as your exchange grows.

Reliable: Using a Paxful Clone Script from a reliable provider ensures the reliability and security of your exchange.

Final Thoughts

Creating a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange like Paxful can be a lucrative business opportunity. However, building an exchange from scratch can be time-consuming and expensive. Using a Paxful Clone Script is a cost-effective and time-saving solution that allows you to create a successful exchange with all the necessary features and functionalities. When choosing a script provider, make sure to choose a reliable provider that offers a high-quality Paxful Clone Script.

[danni-phantom]

Batbtc Charts And Quotes

Batbtc Charts And Quotes

Content Sell Orders How To Exchange Bat For Btc? Day Price History Of Basic Attention Token Bat To Btc Get Live Basic Attention Token To Bitcoin Conversion Rate, Historical Price, And Bat Convert Bat To Btc In addition to tracking price, volume and market capitalization, CoinGecko tracks community growth, open-source code development, major events and on-chain metrics. CoinYEP Foreign exchange converter and cryptocurrency converter. Turkey made itself a name as a crypto-friendly country with a “wait and see” approach to digital assets, but that could be about to change, as the government batbtc is now ready to take things in hand. The Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance went to Twitter to express concerns about cryptocurrencies and to announce collaborative work on the topic with several local regulators on Monday. The Basic Attention Token itself is the unit of reward in this advertising ecosystem, and is exchanged between advertisers, publishers and users. Is bat a good investment 2020? BAT is a moderately good investment. It doesn’t have much explosion potential, both according to investors and judging by its price history so far, but it can provide good returns in the long run. It also has a relatively high market cap of over 1 billion USD. Maker fee is charged when your offer isn’t matched with any of the already existing ones – it is placed in the offer table. Your account is inactive and you will be charged with an inactivity fee. More questions like this suggest crypto is becoming more mainstream to me. Like many cryptocurrencies, BAT can be purchased directly using fiat at a variety of brokers or can be traded against fiat assets on platforms like tradeallcrypto and Bithumb. Like any ERC-20 token, BAT is secured by a rigorously tested proof-of-work consensus algorithm supported by an extensive Ethereum miner network. Get ahead of the market with the largest news, analyses, and updates with the CoinMarketCap blog. Both Basic Attention Token and Brave Browser have achieved significant user uptake since their launch. As of October 2020, Brave Browser has a total of 20.5 million active monthly users, whereas the Basic Attention Token is now held by a total of more than 368,000 unique wallets. In total, the Basic Attention Token website lists 16 team members, many of whom have a development, engineering or research background. As of November 2020, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada had the most active advertising campaigns. Sell Orders According to the central bank’s notice, the ruling is an extension of earlier warnings from the bank about the risks associated with digital currencies. BAT locally matches ads to users without any tracking or data collection required. Please note that technical indicators don’t provide a full representation of what’s happening in the cryptocurrency market. Before making the decision to buy or sell any cryptocurrency, you should carefully consider both technical and fundamental factors, as well as your financial situation. The cryptocurrency market is also highly volatile, which means it may not be suitable … Leggi tutto

https://online-wine-shop.com/batbtc-charts-and-quotes/

[laughing-at-nothing]

Batbtc Charts And Quotes

Batbtc Charts And Quotes

Content Sell Orders How To Exchange Bat For Btc? Day Price History Of Basic Attention Token Bat To Btc Get Live Basic Attention Token To Bitcoin Conversion Rate, Historical Price, And Bat Convert Bat To Btc In addition to tracking price, volume and market capitalization, CoinGecko tracks community growth, open-source code development, major events and on-chain metrics. CoinYEP Foreign exchange converter and cryptocurrency converter. Turkey made itself a name as a crypto-friendly country with a “wait and see” approach to digital assets, but that could be about to change, as the government batbtc is now ready to take things in hand. The Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance went to Twitter to express concerns about cryptocurrencies and to announce collaborative work on the topic with several local regulators on Monday. The Basic Attention Token itself is the unit of reward in this advertising ecosystem, and is exchanged between advertisers, publishers and users. Is bat a good investment 2020? BAT is a moderately good investment. It doesn’t have much explosion potential, both according to investors and judging by its price history so far, but it can provide good returns in the long run. It also has a relatively high market cap of over 1 billion USD. Maker fee is charged when your offer isn’t matched with any of the already existing ones – it is placed in the offer table. Your account is inactive and you will be charged with an inactivity fee. More questions like this suggest crypto is becoming more mainstream to me. Like many cryptocurrencies, BAT can be purchased directly using fiat at a variety of brokers or can be traded against fiat assets on platforms like tradeallcrypto and Bithumb. Like any ERC-20 token, BAT is secured by a rigorously tested proof-of-work consensus algorithm supported by an extensive Ethereum miner network. Get ahead of the market with the largest news, analyses, and updates with the CoinMarketCap blog. Both Basic Attention Token and Brave Browser have achieved significant user uptake since their launch. As of October 2020, Brave Browser has a total of 20.5 million active monthly users, whereas the Basic Attention Token is now held by a total of more than 368,000 unique wallets. In total, the Basic Attention Token website lists 16 team members, many of whom have a development, engineering or research background. As of November 2020, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada had the most active advertising campaigns. Sell Orders According to the central bank’s notice, the ruling is an extension of earlier warnings from the bank about the risks associated with digital currencies. BAT locally matches ads to users without any tracking or data collection required. Please note that technical indicators don’t provide a full representation of what’s happening in the cryptocurrency market. Before making the decision to buy or sell any cryptocurrency, you should carefully consider both technical and fundamental factors, as well as your financial situation. The cryptocurrency market is also highly volatile, which means it may not be suitable … Leggi tutto

https://online-wine-shop.com/batbtc-charts-and-quotes/

[mimwashere]

Batbtc Charts And Quotes

Batbtc Charts And Quotes

Content Sell Orders How To Exchange Bat For Btc? Day Price History Of Basic Attention Token Bat To Btc Get Live Basic Attention Token To Bitcoin Conversion Rate, Historical Price, And Bat Convert Bat To Btc In addition to tracking price, volume and market capitalization, CoinGecko tracks community growth, open-source code development, major events and on-chain metrics. CoinYEP Foreign exchange converter and cryptocurrency converter. Turkey made itself a name as a crypto-friendly country with a “wait and see” approach to digital assets, but that could be about to change, as the government batbtc is now ready to take things in hand. The Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance went to Twitter to express concerns about cryptocurrencies and to announce collaborative work on the topic with several local regulators on Monday. The Basic Attention Token itself is the unit of reward in this advertising ecosystem, and is exchanged between advertisers, publishers and users. Is bat a good investment 2020? BAT is a moderately good investment. It doesn’t have much explosion potential, both according to investors and judging by its price history so far, but it can provide good returns in the long run. It also has a relatively high market cap of over 1 billion USD. Maker fee is charged when your offer isn’t matched with any of the already existing ones – it is placed in the offer table. Your account is inactive and you will be charged with an inactivity fee. More questions like this suggest crypto is becoming more mainstream to me. Like many cryptocurrencies, BAT can be purchased directly using fiat at a variety of brokers or can be traded against fiat assets on platforms like tradeallcrypto and Bithumb. Like any ERC-20 token, BAT is secured by a rigorously tested proof-of-work consensus algorithm supported by an extensive Ethereum miner network. Get ahead of the market with the largest news, analyses, and updates with the CoinMarketCap blog. Both Basic Attention Token and Brave Browser have achieved significant user uptake since their launch. As of October 2020, Brave Browser has a total of 20.5 million active monthly users, whereas the Basic Attention Token is now held by a total of more than 368,000 unique wallets. In total, the Basic Attention Token website lists 16 team members, many of whom have a development, engineering or research background. As of November 2020, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada had the most active advertising campaigns. Sell Orders According to the central bank’s notice, the ruling is an extension of earlier warnings from the bank about the risks associated with digital currencies. BAT locally matches ads to users without any tracking or data collection required. Please note that technical indicators don’t provide a full representation of what’s happening in the cryptocurrency market. Before making the decision to buy or sell any cryptocurrency, you should carefully consider both technical and fundamental factors, as well as your financial situation. The cryptocurrency market is also highly volatile, which means it may not be suitable … Leggi tutto

https://online-wine-shop.com/batbtc-charts-and-quotes/

[ailtrahq]

Proof-of-Work (PoW) cryptocurrencies have long been debated under the umbrella of energy consumption. Earthjustice, an environment-focused non-profit organization, explains in its report “THE ENERGY BOMB,” how these assets are worsening the climate crisis. Coal Consumption is Still at Large Among Crypto Miners The document highlights energy consumption by Bitcoin (BTC), the flagship cryptocurrency, boomed from a gigawatt (GW) a day in 2017 to 11 GW/day in 2022. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), a department of the US government, estimates crypto mining takes up to 66 Billion kWh/year or up to 1.7 percent of total annual energy consumption in the country. Primarily, China catered to global crypto mining operations until the government crackdown in 2021. Bitcoin mining, however, did not have much impact with much of computing transitioning to the US. Currently, the nation accounts for nearly 38 percent of global energy consumption by crypto mining operations. Source: Earthjustice Earthjustice, in their study, researched crypto mining facilities and located over 140 operations. It notes the usage of burning coal to generate electricity as one of the most destructive choices for the environment. Crypto miners’ acquisition of fossil fuel plants adds to rising carbon in the air. The document reads, “We have identified several fossil fuel power plants where greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and local pollution increased dramatically after those plants were acquired by cryptocurrency mining companies and began operating around-the-clock.” Source: Earthjustice The report adds that many companies also use electricity generated using oil and gas combustion. It may lead to the reopening of orphaned wells. Some miners capture methane from flaring to generate electricity. However, a California University professor describes it as a way to monetize flaring, not stop it. Crypto Mining Accounted For Up To 76M Tonnes of GHG Emissions in The US Moreover, Earthjustice believes the impact of crypto mining on climate and energy is substantial. Crypto miners do not readily disclose their energy consumption. The report says, “The most obvious way cryptocurrency mining increases global emissions is by driving huge increases in electricity demand.” Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s grid operator, estimates 33 GW of new cryptocurrency load to be interconnected by 2026. BTC mining operations in the US accounted for up to 76 Million tonnes of greenhouse emissions last year. As per the report, crypto mining “derails or reverse decarbonization in ways that go beyond simply adding electrical load.” Cheap renewable energy prices in the US caused many coal plants to retire due to high cost and risk of operation. However, this made them attractive for crypto miners acting on short-term profit strategies. Low acquisition costs and operation-ready infrastructure make such facilities an economic opportunity for them. Carbon emissions from crypto mining operations may vary from location to location. Marginal emissions, as Earthjustice puts it, emissions that are associated with incremental additions or reductions in demand lead to such variables. For example, a 300 MW data center in Texas may emit 1.6 Million tons of greenhouse gasses. Meanwhile, in North Dakota, the figure may convert to 2 Million.

[coinnewz]

Hervé Larren on Bitcoin, Apes and the psychology of ‘blue-chip’ NFTs – Cointelegraph Magazine

During a period of hyperinflation in 2013, “my Venezuelan mother asked me to send money to Caracas, the country’s capital,” Hervé Larren recalls. However, bank transfers were not possible between the two countries. Busy with work in New York, he told a friend that he planned to fly to Caracas — carrying cash for his mother — and return the same day. “Why don’t you just send Bitcoin?” his friend asked, which quickly led to a change of plans as Larren made his first Bitcoin transfer. “My first crypto transaction, in 2013, was to wire Bitcoin from the U.S. to Venezuela. Due to the economic collapse, there was no functioning banking system between these two countries.” Switching from a career with luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Larren co-founded a large-scale crypto mining operation and worked with Grayscale to bring crypto assets to old-school investors. He later became a key adviser to ApeCoin and the first person to bid a million dollars for a nonfungible token. From old to new “We were reporting to Nicolas Sarkozy, and he was coming to our meetings,” Larren recalls of his time as the head of a high school student council in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the wealthiest old-money suburb of Paris, where he grew up. Sarkozy served as the local mayor for 20 years before becoming the president of France. Larren’s mother — from Venezuela — was a TV host and the first Latina model signed by the L’Oreal cosmetics brand. His French father imported wine to Canada,  where a third of the population is French-speaking. In the late 90s, Larren began undergraduate business studies at Montreal’s Concordia University. In 2019, Concordia labeled him “The Blockchain Maven” as part of a “50 Under 50” alumni distinction. Upon graduation, he got a job at Moët Hennessy’s New York office, where he worked on brand development of the firm’s Hennessy cognac brand in the United States. Larren worked on his MBA at Columbia University part time while at LVMH, graduating in 2010 and entering the venture capital world with Peak Ventures, which “was involved in tech companies including Twitter.” It was Larren’s first experience in the technology sector, which he describes as very different from the old-world, intergenerational luxury goods industry. Larren quickly moved to accept Bitcoin at an e-commerce business he was involved with, a company that helped charities raise money by partnering with celebrities. In 2015, he formed crypto mining firm Global Crypto Ventures, which grew into an operation of nearly 3,000 machines composed primarily of Bitmain Antminer S9 miners in Las Vegas and Texas, where “the cost of infrastructure and electricity was cheaper.” Larren at his mining facility. (Hervé Larren) Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund While speaking at the 2017 World Technology Forum in New York, Larren met Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert, who was talking right after him about the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, through which retail investors could get exposure to Bitcoin through their brokerage. He was also working on a new investment vehicle called Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC), which represented a weighted portfolio of cryptocurrencies, including Ether, MATIC, ADA and SOL, in addition to Bitcoin. As a publicly traded investment instrument, it would require approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission. One relevant matter would be to ensure that the fund could buy its digital assets from a trusted source, preferably from within the United States. Larren’s mining firm was an ideal source, and having a ready buyer for mining proceeds made business smoother. This opportunity represented Larren’s first foray into crypto beyond Bitcoin, and it “attracted me to a new space.” Working with the SEC was no easy task, Larren recalls. “It was a nerve-racking process. Though the company was very confident about getting approval, there was a lot of uncertainty because no such investment trust had been approved previously.” However, the GDLC was approved, expanding the potential pool of crypto investors. Though many in the industry continue to preach the “not your keys, not your coins” mantra, Larren argues that just as with stocks, owning Bitcoin and other crypto assets through a financial instrument instead of on an exchange or cold-storage device is preferable for most of the public. There is less risk of being hacked or losing access to keys, and regulated funds must meet stringent security policies and often carry insurance. He also notes that they are easier to manage on a portfolio basis, particularly regarding taxation and being more straightforward for accountants to understand. Will BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF be approved? These advantages make it easy to see why heavyweights of the financial industry see an opportunity in offering Bitcoin investment vehicles accessible to retail investors. One of these is BlackRock, which recently applied to launch a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund in the United States. “BlackRock offers the credibility to convince the SEC that the Bitcoin market can be operated safely and has much to offer investors,” Larren says optimistically. He expects that with BlackRock’s track record of 575 approved ETFs versus one denial, it will soon come online, with similar products expected in other markets. “I think it would lead to an automatic rise in Bitcoin’s price. I think many people are on the sidelines waiting for clarity, and that’s a step in Bitcoin’s institutional adoption.” “For a very long time, Grayscale had a premium on its shares” compared with the price of Bitcoin, Larren notes, explaining that the security, certainty and convenience meant that more conservative investors were historically willing to pay more per BTC. BlackRock’s ETF is unlikely to hold a large premium, which would serve to make the market more efficient. All roads in Decentraland lead to Beeple Larren first heard about the metaverse through Decentraland’s initial coin offering in August 2017. “They were selling 90,000 pieces of NFT land in the metaverse,” he recalls, adding that he felt a proximity to the project’s Argentine founders due to South America’s shared currency issues. “My first NFT purchase was actually buying my name in the metaverse,” he says, recalling how he spent 100 MANA to name his avatar. He was also given a piece of land on which to build the Airvey art gallery, where Larren placed various NFTs for sale. When Christie’s announced it would auction Beeple’s “Everydays” piece in its first-ever NFT auction in March 2021 — a story previously covered by Magazine — the auction house contacted the Airvey gallery to invite bids. “I wanted to be the first person in the world who bid seven figures on an NFT.” “Well that escalated quickly” was Beeple’s only comment when Larren’s bid for $1 million came through, representing the first volley in a bidding battle that would see an anonymous buyer later revealed as Vignesh Sundaresan, also known as Metakovan, beat Tron founder Justin Sun with a record-setting bid of $69 million. Beeple posted his reaction to the $1 million bid on Instagram. Bored Apes design ApeCoin With a newfound passion for NFTs, Larren joined Horizen Labs in 2021, months before the firm began discussions with Yuga Labs, a small company where four founders were working on an NFT project involving monkeys. Yuga contracted Horizen Labs to create ApeCoin, a large allocation of which was distributed to holders of Yuga’s NFT collections — including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Bored Ape Kennel Club — via massive airdrop. “We did everything from the white paper, tokenomics, to listing on exchanges. In less than 20 minutes, it became an $8 billion project,” Larren says, referring to the token’s undiluted market cap, now about $2 billion. In addition to the launch, Larren notes that Horizen Labs designed the token’s staking mechanism, which will see “100 million tokens distributed to the community over three years. As Gucci and TAG Heuer began accepting ApeCoin as a form of payment, Larren’s luxury contacts came calling back. “I spent a week with Chanel’s team at a castle in the English countryside, educating them on all aspects of Web3,” including MetaMask and NFT drops. Larren observes that as he moved from “the most successful physical goods company, LVMH, to the most successful digital goods company, Yuga Labs, the thought process was the same.” Read also Features Tiffany Fong flames Celsius, FTX and NY Post: Hall of Flame Features All rise for the robot judge: AI and blockchain could transform the courtroom He describes metaverse real estate and PFPs, which include Yuga’s famous monkey pictures, as fitting into a broad category of “consumer NFTs” that are purchased by individuals in a way not dissimilar to luxury goods. Indeed, he notes that many of LVMH founder Bernard Arnault’s children — heirs of the world’s second-richest man — are actively dabbling in them. Larren overlooking the Horizen Labs office floor in Milan. (Elias Ahonen) “People want to feel that they are part of an exclusive community with like-minded individuals,” he explains, relating the concept sold in luxury boutiques and exclusive events the world over. In the case of Yuga’s NFTs, he argues that “there is value for many people in being members of a group that shares similar cultural references, whether it being digital or at concerts,” referring to events like ApeFest, the next of which will take place in Hong Kong in November. Can an ape JPG really be a blue-chip NFT? NFTs that gain mass appeal as recognizable status symbols are often labeled as “blue chip” among the NFT community, a nod to a term typically referring to reliable stocks and originally derived from poker, where blue chips are traditionally the most valuable. “It’s a brand-building element as recognition of industry and buyers. Supply is far less than demand, and there is a strong fan and collector base. In traditional art, Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat are blue chips,” he explains, noting that Bored Apes and CryptoPunks hold such a position within the PFP hierarchy. “The price is a result of the value that has been created. When you go to a Louis Vuitton store, the price is nowhere to be seen.” “Holding a BAYC can make sense because you can stake it to earn tokens, and it can act as a financial instrument because you can borrow against it,” he notes, naturally enough, considering his company designed the staking mechanism. Larren poses in Milan with images of NFTs, including a Bored Ape and an Otherside land plot. (Elias Ahonen) “There are blue chips in other categories as well, such as metaverse land,” he adds, cautioning that its value, “like traditional real estate, will depend on the income generated with it.” This is because, in his opinion, people will not remain interested in vast spaces of empty metaverse land but rather in spaces that are built up and useful, like his art gallery. “Traditional real estate involves buildings — the same will be true of metaverse land.” Where might we look for the next crop of blue chips? “I’m now passionate about building on top of Bitcoin with BRC-20s and Ordinals,” Larren explains, hinting that something big is in the works. For him, the coming metaverse is a place and time “when your digital life is more important than your physical life and where digital image matters more than physical image.” In this new environment, he believes that the Bitcoin chain, with its newfound capability to host NFTs, will hold a key position as a central pillar. “In Web3, you need to anticipate how consumer taste will evolve and what the market will want in the next six months.” Subscribe The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a week. Elias Ahonen Elias Ahonen is a Finnish-Canadian author based in Dubai who has worked around the world operating a small blockchain consultancy after buying his first Bitcoins in 2013. His book ‘Blockland' (link below) tells the story of the industry. He holds an MA in International & Comparative Law whose thesis deals with NFT & metaverse regulation. Follow the author @eahonen Source link Read the full article

[chrisbrown999]

Buy & Sell Local Bitcoin 

[markanderson9221]

Embrace your business revenue with local bitcoin clone

The trading in local bitcoin clones provides an efficient platform for buying and selling local bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It adds value for users to trade cryptocurrencies locally in this generation. This platform offers P2P exchange with escrow protection for trade to happen safely and securely. It has a feedback mechanism and dispute resolution process that enables trading to be trustworthy and comfortable. The bitcoin clone comes with a customization solution to design as per the business requirement.

Cons of Trading Local Bitcoin Clone :

Peer-to-peer (P2P) trade.

Updated pricing structure.

Rapid Bitcoin Trade.

Safer trade with Escrow.

Background check for trustworthy traders.

Automated trading.

Attractive Features of Local Bitcoin Clone :

Two Factor Authentication provides state-of-the-art security solutions for every buyer and seller in the marketplace.

The creation of crypto-wallets provides escrow integration and performs safe transactions between buyer and seller.

It has multiple coin support to be Escrowed and transact without any inconvenience in the market.

It enables current live prices displayed in the market for allowing buyers to have a clear idea of trading the coins.

The sellers can advertise coins along with cryptocurrency details for the buyers to open a trade request.

The local bitcoin clone enables users worldwide to trade using local currencies for the exchange of cryptocurrency. The rise of local bitcoin value is high in the marketplace for investors to step forward and generate more business revenue in less time by contacting Blockchain App Factory to provide complete guidance.

[eric-faulkner]

A LocalBitcoins Website Clone will help you to overtake your competitors in the market

A LocalBitcoins website clone will have some stand-out characteristics like the support for multiple kinds of digital currencies, multilingual technical support rendered 24x7, an accurate matching engine for quick processing of orders,  real-time information provided about the market movement, a secure escrow wallet, swift dispute resolution mechanism, and an over the counter trading facility. 

The security aspects that have been incorporated into the platform are email verification, two-factor authentication, jail login, end-to-end encryption, anti-DDoS protection, password-protected user access, cross-site request forgery protection, and HTTP authentication.

[yellowocaballero]

The Crow’s Funeral Snippet: Jon Gets Involved In Local Politics, Regrets It

Annabelle, of course, was standing on the other side of the door. 

Slightly less obviously, she was dressed in a finely tailored suit, complete with high heels and a gorgeous dripping silver chain-link necklace. Her hair was tied up in an up-do of braids piled neatly on top of her head, and there was even a briefcase. 

She looked Jon up and down critically. He was wearing sweatpants and a holey shirt. 

“You forgot,” she condemned, “didn’t you?”

“No I didn’t,” Jon said reflexively. He paused. “Forgot what?”

Annabelle pinched the bridge of her nose. Jon noticed that she was even wearing her usual all-black lipstick and winged eyeliner. “The council committee for London I planned for today. Remember? The one with a representative for each Entity?” Jon stared blankly at her. “There was an invite?”

“Oh, that. I don’t check my mail.” Jon looked at Daisy, who was now pressing aggressively against Jon. “Did you open up any mail recently?” Daisy barked. Jon looked back at Annabelle. “She ate it.”

“...of course she did.”  Written for no real reason besides for the fact that I know too much about my own AU and I care about Annabelle. This story takes place both pre- and post- story: six months after Jon enters London, and six months after the events of the story. We talk about childhood/adulthood, stagnancy/growth, good/evil, and the inherent metaphor of a Nintendo DS. Sometimes...found family...is bad. Rest under the cut. 

In the third month, boiling and bubbling over, someone knocked at Jon’s door. 

Not the door to his office. The door to his flat, which had a very large ‘EMPLOYEES ONLY’ sign on it, and was always locked. The employees were, granted, Jon and Daisy, but the message was conveyed. Jon saw the sign in stores and copied it, as he copied many aspects of business models. Jon didn’t quite understand how to run a business, but he had read both ‘What they teach you in Harvard Business School’ - whatever a Harvard was - and ‘What they don’t teach you in Harvard Business School’, so he figured he was set. Daisy had also grabbed him a Girl Scout book on starting your own lemonade stand, which helped more than the other two books combined. Harvard Business School could take notes. 

Jon rolled off the bed, where he had been downloading knowledge of string games and trying to figure out how to do them. Omniscence was closer to reading an instruction manual than actually knowing how to do something, but at least that left Jon with plenty of time to learn skills. Even if it wasn’t necessarily his favorite activity - he was bad at a lot of them, which would frustrate him and make him wreck the craft. Daisy kept on saying he needed a hobby other than reading but what did she know, anyway -

Daisy, from where she had been sleeping at the foot of the bed, lifted her head and barked sleepily. 

“I’ll get them to go away,” Jon promised. Or eat them. Maybe just eat them. 

But when Daisy bristled and jumped off the bed, barking heavily, he knew who it was. Jon sighed, hastily shoving a shirt over his head, and undid the three deadbolts before unlocking the door. 

Annabelle, of course, was standing on the other side. Slightly less obviously, she was dressed in a finely tailored suit, complete with high heels and a gorgeous dripping silver chain-link necklace. Her hair was tied up in an up-do of braids piled neatly on top of her head, and there was even a briefcase. 

She looked Jon up and down critically. He was wearing sweatpants and a holey shirt. 

“You forgot,” she condemned, “didn’t you?”

“No I didn’t,” Jon said reflexively. He paused. “Forgot what?”

Annabelle pinched the bridge of her nose. Jon noticed that she was even wearing her usual all-black lipstick and winged eyeliner. “The council committee for London I planned for today. Remember? The one with a representative for each Entity?”

Jon stared blankly at her. 

“There was an invite?”

“Oh, that. I don’t check my mail.” Jon looked at Daisy, who was now pressing aggressively against Jon. “Did you open up any mail recently?” Daisy barked. Jon looked back at Annabelle. “She ate it.”

“...of course she did.” Annabelle glanced down at Daisy, whose fur was standing on end as she growled lowly. “Have you had any success?”

“You would have noticed if I did,” Jon said shortly. 

“Have you tried talking to -”

“Yes,” Jon snapped, “but apparently some of us have better things to do than attend meetings and cure dogs.”

Annabelle intelligently dropped the matter, instead frowning at Jon. He crossed his arms, fighting the urge to hunch over away from her dark and perceptive stare. But instead of pushing him, she said, “Go get dressed in something a little appropriate, please. You look like you crawled out of the Buried.” Daisy barked, which Annabelle ignored. “What are you doing to your hair?”

Jon hunched defensively. It was a little matted and frizzy, but who was counting? “Daisy can’t exactly shave it anymore, and I don’t really...know what to do with it...am I doing something wrong? I bathe.”

It was very important to Daisy that he bathe and brush his teeth. Jon didn’t know what the big deal was, but if it was important to her then he did it.

Annabelle just pinched the bridge of her nose again, checking her wrist-watch. “Buzzing your hair is a crime against God, and letting your hair look like that is a crime against me. I’ll take care of this later. Just get ready in the next five minutes, or I’m filling your fridge with spiders again.”

Jon got ready in four. Annabelle didn’t joke around with that stuff. 

He didn’t really know what a council committee was. He didn’t know why he had to go to one either, seeing as Jon only tended to concern himself with Daisy. Daisy had been taking up a lot of his concern lately. Then his mood had plummeted again, and in the last month they’ve both been recalcitrant to leave the flat for anything but eating, and he was capable of noticing when he was hunting a little vindictively, and - anyway. 

He downloaded the knowledge, and then made a face when it didn’t really help. One of those nasty little political things. What was with his fellow Avatars and politics? Just torture anyone who bothers you. If they were one of those freaks who liked being tortured, then just smite them. Life was easy and very simple once you remembered that basic rule. 

But Annabelle was really into it - she kept on saying something about ‘order’ and ‘regulation’ and ‘first dibs’ - and she tended to drag him along into these things. She thought it was ‘important’ that Jon ‘know what was going on’ or something. Jon liked Knowing things, but once you know everything you realize that some things aren’t really interesting enough to know. 

When he asked Daisy if she wanted to go with, she feigned sleep. She had been hyperactive lately, compensating for her months of starvation with unbridled and frantic Hunting. Jon had taken her to one of those little pockets where people were running around and screaming all the time, and let her run wild in the rainforest for a while. It was the kind of fun bonding experience they hadn’t had in ages, and Jon had the opportunity to pluck his own grapes from the vine too. 

There had been an old man who really hadn’t been happy to see Jon, which had freaked him out a bit. He had started going on a little bit about how Jon had ruined his life, but he only got a few sentences in before a giant, carnivorous plant had eaten him. That was lucky. 

Jon had ripped the dimension apart as he left. Nasty little place. Nothing good there. 

So Jon left the house without Daisy for the first time since she had been well enough to move around, and with Annabelle. Daisy had been waiting at the door with a rucksack packed with his favorite book and his Nintendo DS, which made Annabelle ask her where the juicebox was. Daisy tried to bite her again. Jon didn’t know why everybody couldn’t just get along. 

There was a cab waiting outside, driven by another skeleton, and Annabelle quickly bundled him into it. Jon slouched in the corner and started playing WarioWare as Annabelle leafed through typewritten documents, lips pursing and making notes on the margins of each one with a red pen. She was muttering to herself, somewhat entertainingly. 

“My fourth arm for a computer, I swear to Jesus. My fourth and fifth arms. My sixth arm for a computer…”

“Are those the internet machines you told me about?” Jon asked, scribbling his stylus on the screen. Ashley cheered him on. He loved Ashley. “Do council committees need the internet?”

“The internet’s for a lot more than council committees Jon,” Annabelle said tightly. “They’re for video games. Ememoharepeegees -”

“Gesundheit.”

“ - bitcoin mining, instant messaging, online dating, freaking Google Docs -”

“Do you want it back?” Jon asked, bored. “I can make you the internet.”

Annabelle’s pen froze on the paper, hovering over a bullet-point list. “The entire internet? You can just do that?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Jon poked his tongue out his mouth in concentration as he pressed the monkeys in a rhythmic order. Rhythm games were his jam. “That’s, like, the pocket nightmare dimension from Tron, right? I can do that. Addictions are easy. Put people inside, trap them inside a video or something. It’d be mostly for torture but you could probably use it normally.”

Annabelle stared at him, expression blank, for so long it made Jon a little uncomfortable and defensive. What had he said wrong? Daisy was usually good at interpreting these things for him, although sometimes when people went on about ‘violence’ she was just as confused as him. Finally, she said, “No, that’s alright. I always hated Black Mirror anyway.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a telly - never mind. I don’t want you getting any more ideas.”

***

The council committee was held in the stupidest building Jon had ever seen in his entire life. And he had been in London for six months. He knew stupid buildings.

‘London City Hall’ or whatever was this awful giant, lopsided, obloid monstrosity. All glass and windows, with nary a brick in sight, Jon hated it instantly and severely. He was immediately filled with the urge to turn to somebody and commiserate with them about shitty architecture, but there was nobody else in the cab but Annabelle - and, well, she seemed to have other things on her mind. 

The neighborhood around it was filled with a mix of equally stupid buildings and perfectly respectable buildings that looked as if they had been made a long time ago. The sidewalks were relatively abandoned, and the streets were empty of everything but the endless rotation of tourist double-decker busses. Jon knew that this wasn’t one of those districts where people actually lived and roamed - instead, it was one of those business districts that people only stepped inside for work or city business. Like that silly little Palace of Westminster building that Annabelle had taken him to months ago when she was showing him the city. 

That building Annabelle had especially loved. It was filled with old white men with sagging jowls and liver spots, looping in endless routines and miniature atrocities. Annabelle had asked him to take as many Statements as possible, and Jon had needed no encouraging. 

That had been a strange trip. Normally people found his little monologues boring, because they were idiots with no taste, but Annabelle had listened to every single one. She had been enraptured, excited and triumphant. She had dragged him into some “Lord’s Chamber” or something and posed on the throne as Jon obediently took polaroids. Well, so long as she was happy. 

Jon was already seeing that London City Hall was no better. Annabelle dragged him through it, anxiously checking and re-checking her files, as they effortlessly weaved between shambling zombies of old white men in suits. Jon tasted the ripe air of trauma from them - a similar taste to that spiralling academic building, but rather a little more tart - but Annabelle dragged him away before he could stop and eat them.

There were parts of London that were safe. Maybe even most of London - although nowhere was truly safe, not really, not every location was absolutely haunted. The grocer’s was the grocer’s; the chemist still sold your medication. Not that you really needed it anymore, but habit was habit. 

But some buildings, which were entrenched so firmly in hundreds of years of evil, could not be dissuaded from their nightmares. In that respect, the safest city in the United Kingdom became the most dangerous. Some buildings had been nightmares even before the end of the world. 

Jon, of course, gave very little shits about this beyond in the academic sense. Annabelle refused to let him duck out of her meeting to go snack, and she ended up dragging him in front of what looked like a smallish conference room. 

Annabelle stopped in front of it, taking a second to breathe in and out and check her makeup. She seemed to be hyping herself up for it, shaking out her arms loosely. Jon slouched behind her, hands jammed in his trenchcoat pockets. Annabelle had asked him to put on a less raggedy suit, but - well, he sometimes had nicer suits, but they got raggedy very quickly. She had also asked him to leave the trenchcoat at home, but no way. It was part of his Look. 

“You’re frightened,” Jon noted with interest. Annabelle was scared of less than he was, and she had much less of a reason. “What about this room scares you?”

“It’s not the people in the room,” Annabelle snapped, flashing her compact shut. “It’s what I’m trying to do. If this world’s going to last more than a few years before it devolves into fuckin’ Mad Max we need leadership. I didn’t put all of this work in just to -” At Jon’s blank look, she sighed. “Never mind. You don’t care. Just - try to trust me, Jon.”

“Of course I trust you,” Jon said, baffled. “Why wouldn’t I?”

She stared at him, expression inscrutable, for a long moment, before opening the door and pulling him in. 

It was a nice conference room, all wood panelling and that specific green shade you only saw in lawyer’s offices. There was a large rectangular table in the center, and more than a dozen luxurious chairs arranged around it. There was a big pull-down screen on the far wall. Jon didn’t know what it was for, but he knew that if he downloaded the information it wouldn’t help. Omniscence was so useless. 

In a move that horrified Annabelle, most of the attendees seemed to be there. They had been chatting - talking, actually, quite loudly - before Annabelle strode in and Jon slumped in after her. But in the second that they both stepped in, an abrupt hush swept the room, and every eye swiveled to them.

If Jon was honest with himself, he’d say that they didn’t quiet when Annabelle stepped in. He’d say that they quieted when Jon stepped in. That it was Jon who they were looking at. 

But Jon didn’t particularly feel like engaging with that. He didn’t like being stared at by people he didn’t know, and he didn’t like being out in public with people he didn’t know. He didn’t enjoy being in buildings or meeting new people, much less going to boring meetings. Jon decided all of this instantaneously, as every eye swiveled to him.

Rooms full of humans were fine. It was just humans. Nothing even vaguely intimidating about that, unless the humans were teenage girls. But these were Avatars - Jon could taste their nature in the air, a sharp and electric tingle - and when they stared at Jon he felt something heavier in their gaze. Oh, lord. There was a teenage girl here. 

Jon tried slumping to the back chair, but Annabelle grabbed his collar and dumped him in a comfortable chair to her right. Jon saw a little placard in front of it that read ‘THE BEHOLDING’. Great. 

“Thank you all for coming today,” Annabelle said crisply, and suddenly every worry was gone. She was calm, poised, confident, and professional. A perfect imitation of the officials and politicians who once really walked these halls, who passed laws and rubber-stamped policies. She could have passed for an assistant or junior staff member, bright and intrepid and ready to climb her way up the ladder. “Are we all accounted for?”

It seemed so. Every chair but one was filled. When Jon peered around at the placards, he saw that each one had a different Entity on it. One of the seats had no placard, and was occupied by said teenage girl. Four were unoccupied: the Spiral, the Slaughter, the Hunt and the Extinction. 

Annabelle sat down in the head chair, which seemed just a little fancier. She put her folder in front of her, eyes flickering down the room. “It seems that Helen couldn’t make it. The Hunt duo seem to have...recently met unfortunate ends. The Slaughter Avatar called ahead to say that they couldn’t make it - it was high school picture day? And...I suppose the Extinction Avatar still doesn’t exist.”

She glanced at Jon, who shook his head. “Do you want one?” Jon asked. “I can go find a climate change denier in this building and make one for you.”

That also disturbed Annabelle, as well as everyone else. Jon abruptly felt awkward, and hunched in his seat. He defensively pulled out his DS, his plans to fall asleep in the back of the room already foiled. 

Above him, Annabelle continued droning. “Still, I appreciate you all coming. I know that we haven’t all gathered since a bit after the apocalypse began -” Wait, they had? Since when? “ - but I hope we can agree that further coordination is necessary. We’ve already begun having serious territory and jurisdiction disputes, and it’s best that they’re resolved sooner rather than later.” Nobody looked very impressed, but Annabelle looked seriously at them all anyway. “I want us all to have an equal voice at this table. Save the fighting for another time. And please try to keep your powers out of here. I’ve already sworn to avoid using any of my Mother’s gifts in this room, and I hope you all can do the same.”

“Yeah?” A woman drawled. She was unfamiliar to Jon, like most people in the room, but she had a teenage girl sitting next to her who seemed to be paying rapt attention to Annabelle. “How are you going to enforce that?”

Annabelle stared at him for some reason. Jon jabbed at his DS and won the Mona minigame. Nothing more was said. 

“Alright, then. I’ve already collected motions from all of you prior to this meeting.” Motions? Annabelle hadn’t said anything like that. Maybe it was on the invitation Daisy ate, but somehow he doubted it. Annabelle looked down and traced her finger down to her first point. “Many of you suggested this, so I would like to introduce it as a general discussion. Territory disputes, apparently, are a point of contention between many of us.” She opened her briefcase and pulled out a large map, and if Jon looked over the top of his DS he could see that it was a map of London. She also pulled out a red marker, uncapping it. The sheet was laminated, and there were already circles and markings all over it. “We’ll go one at a time. Amherst, you’ve motioned that the Stranger is intruding within Camden.”

A foppish looking man on a dumb little top hat scowled, as the young woman sitting behind the Strange placard looked annoyed. “It is gentrification. Every apartment complex occupied by artist studios are stealing food from the plate of my insects.”

“You haven’t had Camden for a decade,” the Stranger woman said, rolling her eyes. The Omniscience informed Jon that her name was Sarah Baldwin. Vaguely familiar - had he seen her at a cafe? “Nobody lives in those rat-infested tenements anymore. Now all the rats are performance art. Which is us. Get over it.”

“What is performance art -”

“Motion for no more Avatars over the age of 40,” Sarah Baldwin said. “I hate how Amherst and Wakely are in this room.”

“I wish I could second that,” Annabelle said, to the great affront of two grimy old men, “but unfortunately we do have to deal with this. Amherst, I’ve heard several complaints from other council members that you’re infiltrating their territory.”

“I am made of bugs -”

Jon checked out after that.

Instead, he surveyed the room a bit. Nobody in it was really interesting, just a meaningless collection of self-important people. The only person in the room other than Annabelle who he recognized was Oliver, who was sitting at the very back doing his best to fall asleep. When Jon Stared at him a bit he took notice and subtly waved. Jon shyly waved back. Jon liked Oliver. 

Oliver mouthed something adjacent to ‘what is wrong with your hair’, offending Jon grievously. He didn’t look that bad, did he?

He glanced to his left, then down, to ask Daisy’s opinion, but he realized too late that she hadn’t come with him. Stupid. She could have come as part of the Hunt - they didn’t have anybody, it wasn’t as if they could complain. Not to Jon, anyway. 

But she wouldn’t have wanted to. Daisy hated being an Avatar, for reasons that Jon had just never understood. She tried explaining it to him a long time ago, trying to talk about how guilty it made her and how much harm she had done, but it had just confused him more. She had tried to explain up until the end, as Jon had grown more and more angry at her for her refusal. He had never understood. 

She had stopped talking about it lately, though. Which was good. Jon didn’t know what he’d do if she starved herself twice. He wouldn’t have tolerated it.

Daisy had told him that the most important thing in the world was to make your own choices. So he let her make hers. No matter how much he hated it. 

The others weren’t familiar at all. There was a woman with wild dark hair sitting behind the Dark placard, which confused Jon slightly until he decided that they likely hadn’t wanted to send the thirteen year old. There was this really wrinkly and gross old man for the Vast, a younger looking but older feeling man for the Buried, a deathly pale woman for the Lonely, the muscular woman and the teenager for the Desolation...why did they have two…

The teenager was staring at Jon. She had intense orange eyes, the kind that bored into you and never blinked. She looked away every few seconds, as if she was being subtle, but when her gaze drifted back to him again he met her eyes with an unimpressed stare. She squeaked and looked away firmly, hiding behind her curtain of long red hair. 

Okay. Whatever. Kids were weird. Jon was glad he had never been one. 

Jon swapped out WarioWare for Pokemon SoulSilver, opening back up where he left off catching another MissingNo. His entire team was full of the things. He wanted a Mareep, damn it. 

Finally, Annabelle rapped the table sharply and said, “It’s agreed, then. Everybody submit specific written documentation of your territory by city block, and fax it to me by our next meeting. Please abide by the resolutions to the conflicts we discussed here. Any objections to moving onto our next order of business?”

“I have an objection to the Dark’s questionable behavior,” the Buried guy rumbled. He was dripping dirt everywhere. Why didn’t anybody complain to him about his hygiene? “In the words of the lad Brody, they are kill stealing. If they do not withdraw their nightmares from our embrace of the Earth, we will unleash retribution with extreme prejudice. The dirt is a holy place, and we will not be polluted by -”

“Oh, stick your shovel up your fat ass, Wakely,” the woman with wild black hair said. “People aren’t afraid of the fucking dirt, they’re afraid of the darkness in the tombs. Walk into a mausoleum sometime.”

“You poach the End’s territory now too, wench?”

“Please leave me out of this,” Oliver said. 

“If you call me wench one more time, you’ll be watching the back of your eye sockets for eternity,” the woman said pleasantly, “so royally fuck you.”

“Um, not to interrupt, but that’s not really how it works,” the teenager said, and the death glares between the two turned on her. She hunched her shoulders, but her expression stayed firm. “The terror is going to overlap. That’s just how it is. The Buried and the Dark are not entirely...separate things, they’re gradients that overlap. If you get all finicky about what belongs to who, then you’re just going in circles…”

“The last thing we need is the coward Messiah of the Eternal Flame telling me how to worship my god,” the woman snapped. 

“Watch your fucking mouth, Manuela,” the muscular woman said flatly.

Then they were glaring, and Wakely was saying something else snide, and Manuela was making another dig at the teenager as the muscular woman bitched, and Jon abruptly wanted them all to shut up. 

“You’re being too loud,” Jon said. 

The entire room shut up immediately. The teenager opened her mouth, but the pale woman caught her eye and shook her head. 

Annabelle clapped her hands in the silence. “Onto the second motion, then! Infrastructure! Right now we are sorely missing a great deal of essential city infrastructure, and it’s becoming a huge problem. We’re still figuring out what’s mystically maintained, and what’s just being maintained because the humans haven’t figured out how to stop doing it yet, but there’s some work that’s being neglected. The Vast has motioned to reinstate the postal system.”

“Vetoed,” the Lonely woman said. 

“You can’t do that,” Annabelle said blankly. “We need to vote.”

“I’d like to make an argument for the motion, dear,” the Vast man said, making Annabelle’s eye twitch. “My argument is this: Amazon Prime is so convenient!”

“We have every Amazon warehouse under our control,” the representative from the Flesh said. He was...very fleshy. “It’d be no issue to go back to production.”

“Jared has a point. The Eye’s been feeding through Amazon for years,” Annabelle said thoughtfully. The mention of the Eye piqued Jon’s attention, but then he finally ran into a Mareep and he stopped paying attention again. “We can tap into the people who are living 1984 and get them back in industry.”

“Can we begin producing again?” the Desolation woman asked, interested. “We have all these people miserable at work, but nothing’s actually being made. If we let a little reality break into the nightmares…”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?” the Lonely woman asked sharply. “It’ll make it easier for them to escape.”

“They all escape eventually,” Sarah Baldwin said. “They all break out in days to months. We can afford a little more permeability if we actually get things working again.”

Then conversation was off and running about something that Jon didn’t really care about, so he checked out again. He didn’t know what all of this production and infrastructure stuff meant. Going Postal meant that he had a very good understanding of a mail system, but he didn’t have a personal interest. Who he would send letters to?

Jon quickly downloaded what Amazon was. Oh, that would be useful. Wait, he could get any book delivered to his door? Without having to go out hunting for it? How would this work without the internet - a catalogue? 

Everybody seemed invested in getting the internet back up, except for the two hundred year olds. Jared kept saying something about porn, whatever that was. If enough people felt like Annabelle, then maybe they would make it a priority. Jon didn’t know how he felt about that. 

He didn’t know how he felt about the fact that it was impossible. 

But everybody - or most people - genuinely seemed excited about it. They even seemed to be working together, intent on the same goal.

Sarah Baldwin wanted to know if we have enough people constantly under camera to have footage for television. Maybe we could get cable back up? DVDs were a lost cause, but if we could just start airing the VHS tapes…

Annabelle had a look of hook-ups (literally) in the film industry, maybe they could do something like that?

The Hahns are highly involved in production and distribution, Jared pointed out. There was no need to produce food, but if we wanted to increase access to goods it might be possible. 

Why? Why did they care? This world provided them everything they needed. 

For some reason, Jon felt a little defensive. What did they need all of these things for, anyway? All of this entertainment - cable and movies and internet. The world had books. What was so wrong with books? There were even old VHS tapes liberated from charity stores if you really wanted to get fancy. The most high-tech electronic Jon had ever found was the DS in his hands and a couple of games, which Salasea had given to him as an exotic artifact. Only Salasea owned these things now: trinkets and curiosities, hallmarks of an antiquated time. 

What was the point of these supply lines? People didn’t need to eat or shop or consume. Nightmares provided the facsimile, and since they got a little crazy if they never ate they were provided the security of food. Buying towels and shoes and toys...it was a waste of time. People had towels. Nobody outgrew their shoes or wore them out. Children’s toys didn’t break, and anything that made happiness a little easier to come by was discouraged.

Nothing was ever subtracted. Nothing was added. The world was frozen, captured in the amber of time, and it would never move backwards and forwards.

They knew this. Didn’t they?

“We have to make this place livable for us,” Annabelle was saying. She spoke oddly intensely, with a fervor that Jon had seen in her a few times before. Annabelle didn’t like to give off the impression that she cared about things, but once you knew her it was hard to miss. “It’s easier than ever to stay powerful and feed our Forces, but that doesn’t mean we can grow complacent. We have to work together to eat sustainably. To live sustainably. If we don’t try to rebuild, at least enough to get the world moving again, then we’re sentencing ourselves to a boring and decrepit eternity in a world we will all see die within our immortal lifetimes.”

Everyone at the table was nodding. They looked determined. United. Almost...they held an expression that Jon just couldn’t name. An emotion he didn’t understand.

He had seen it in Daisy, once. She had called it hope. He hadn’t understood back then. He still didn’t. 

“Liar,” Jon said, as his minigame timed out and the game over music tinkled across the tinny speakers. 

Annabelle looked at him, expression inscrutable. “These problems are legitimate, Archivist. The writing’s clearly on the wall, and -”

“You’re all so stupid,” Jon complained, and Annabelle abruptly stopped talking to glare at him. Whatever. Jon had lost all patience. He closed his DS and dropped it on the table, resigning himself to talking. Jon hated public speaking, especially in front of so many people he didn’t know and, frankly, creeped him out. “You can’t build anything in this world. If you try to impose a cute little government then it’ll break down into cannibalism or something.”

“Would you know, Archivist?” Jared asked evenly. 

“Jonah didn’t enact this world through myself for living,” Jon said, bored, and everybody stared at him with wide eyes. “We created it for suffering. Suffering isn’t living.”

“One might say the opposite,” the Vast man said, somehow twinkingly. “Suffering is an unavoidable side effect of living, isn’t it?”

“Is that philosophy? I don’t understand philosophy.” Jon wasn’t very good with anything that required extensive and complex thought. Which made sense - Jonah hadn’t exactly created him to think. “Humanity has clouded your minds. Makes all of you irrational and sentimental. Release your attachment to the old world. Just accept the way things are now.” Jon shrugged. “It’s not as if you can do anything about it.”

“Nobody in this room is exactly human, Jon,” Oliver pointed out placidly. 

Jon snorted. “Wanting free porn back? You’re all dripping with it.” It was honestly a little sad. “The only ones in this world free of that weakness are Jonah and I. And he’s the only one who could do any of this.”

“Then where is he?” the Desolation woman snapped. She leaned forward, hands gripping the table in anger. The teenager watched her anxiously. “Why doesn’t he come on down from his high tower and explain what’s going on? We’re in the fucking dark here!”

“I’m sorry,” Jon said coldly, “who are you?”

He rubbed his bad hand. For some reason, everybody watched him do so. He stopped, self-conscious. 

“Prejudiced remarks aside,” Manuela said. She had been hostile all day, but she now spoke cautiously. “Jonah Magnus needs to take responsibility for this. We don’t even know how the world ended.”

Several people glanced at Annabelle, whose lips thinned. “I shouldn’t say.”

Of course she knew. And of course she wasn’t about to tell him. Whatever. Jon didn’t care. Past was the past. 

He found his hand clenching. There was a strange tension in his throat. He didn’t care. He didn’t. Rehashing the worst pain he had ever felt in his life, even now, wasn’t really worth the time or energy. He didn’t care.

“No use crying over spilled milk,” the Vast guy said lightly. “But it is a relevant question. Jonah frequently spoke of his plans, and I realize now that he had never truly shown all of his cards. But he had always held an intention to...well, rule. It’s only in this moment of his victory that he shows no interest.”

“Jonah’s busy,” Jon snapped. “Trust me, you don’t want that arse around. He never even gives me directions, and I’m his right hand.”

“Or his puppet,” Sarah Baldwin muttered. 

It was fair. Probably even true. So why did an intense and burning fury shoot through Jon?

“What gives this child the right to dictate us?” Wakely demanded. Jon’s hands clenched on the table until his knuckles turned white. “What gives Jonah Magnus the right to rule us?”

“He’s not much of a ruler,” Amherst grunted. “My vote’s that we rule this world in a council.”

“Administration is important,” Annabelle said, impossibly terse, “but unless anyone here actually has the means to seize control, then there’s no use voting on it.”

“There’s only one Avatar here who has those means,” Manuela said darkly, crossing her arms and looking straight at Jon. “So why doesn’t he do anything?”

They were feeding on each other. They wouldn’t have said these - these treasonous things by themselves. But when one person spoke up, the next felt empowered, and they felt as if they outnumbered him. Jonah Magnus was hardly there to press him into obedience - why buckle under his oppressive gaze? What could he do?

The stupidest people in this world all gathered in one room. It took a special level of arrogance, pride, and stupidity to assume that one was more powerful than Jonah Magnus.

“I’m not in charge of anything,” Jon said tersely. “I don’t even have a domain. I’m just trying to live my life.”

The Desolation woman snorted. “Typical. You’re rolling over for Jonah.”

Jon’s eyes widened - not in surprise, but in anger. 

The teenager seemed a little uncomfortable. “Jude,” she hissed, “I don’t think -”

“Jude,” Jon breathed. “So that’s your name.” 

He was standing up. Jon didn’t remember standing up. Everybody was leaning away, their own eyes wide. Some just looked confused, slightly perturbed - Wakely, Amherst. Others looked ready to bolt - Manuela, the old man from the Vast. Jon knew, in a flash of insight that grew hotter and hotter, that he preferred to be called Simon. 

“Sit down, Jon,” Annabelle said, as authoritative and no-nonsense as ever. Normally he’d listen to her, respecting that she usually knew what was going on far better than he ever did. But the words barely reached him, drowned out by the rushing in his ears. “Look, we can talk about this rationally, alright?”

“Oh, fuck off,” Jude said. She snorted, burning red eyes never leaving Jon’s. “As if I’m scared of this baby prick.”

“Maybe we can move on from Jonah Magnus,” Simon said quickly. “A discussion of airspace rights, perhaps -”

“Jon,” Oliver said, voice creased in worry, “are you okay?”

“This is the all-powerful demigod you all warned me about?” Amherst said. He was dripping with condescension, just like - just like everyone else - “He’s little more than a child.”

“Guys!” the teenager’s voice rang through the room, close to scared. “The walls are melting!”

So they were. It was as if the stone and wood was made of wax, sent guttering by a sputtering candle. Wood and finish were already pooling on the floor, melting the rolling wheel of Jared’s chair and forcing him to jump up from it. 

“Jon!” Annabelle said sharply. “Don’t throw a tantr -”

The table cracked sharply. It was warping, twisting in on itself as if it was a wrung towel. Jon realized, too late to care, that his hair was rising. He knew his eyes were spinning, an eternal churning wheel. 

“Fuck this, meeting adjourned.” Manuela stood up sharply, pushing her chair back into a melting bubble. The floor was beginning to bubble and warp. “See you all next month.” 

“I’ll walk you out,” Simon said quickly, standing up too. 

“You have two minutes,” Jon said, voice heavy with static. “Don’t bother me about this shit again.”

The signal was clear enough. Jude rose from her chair, grabbing her teenager’s elbow and pushing her out the door. The others followed in their wake, expressions carefully neutral. It was useless: Jon could taste their fear, their trepidation. Even better: their anger, barely brindled fury, and disgust. 

They couldn’t do anything about it, Jon thought giddily. No matter how much they hated or were scared of him, they couldn’t do anything about it. Jon was powerful. Jon couldn’t be hurt. Jon couldn’t - 

Jon couldn’t reign this in. 

Before he knew it, the conference room was empty. Only two other people remained: Annabelle, expression as inscrutable as ever, and an uncomfortable Oliver. His hands were stuck in the pockets of his pea coat, and he was looking around with disaffected interest - as if he was standing in line at a Starbucks in rush hour instead of in the epicenter of a melting building.

Jon knew. The entire building was dissolving. It was teeming with humans, lost and trapped and defenseless. He didn’t want to kill them. Jon didn’t like hurting people. He heard a voice speak in his head, foreign and familiar. Bring it in, Jon. 

But he couldn’t. His hair would fall back around his shoulders, and the static rushing through his ears just wouldn’t abate. It felt like everything was pouring out of him, a relentless faucet that wouldn’t stop churning out thick streams of putrid water. 

Jon fisted his hands in his hair, groaning. “Where’s -”

“She’s at your flat,” Annabelle said calmly. “Do you want me to get her?”

No. No, this was too embarrassing. He was an adult, he could handle this. Jon groaned again and sank into his seat, saved from the toxic waste of glass and brick. “No. Focus on getting the humans out of here.”

“What do you care?” Oliver asked, vaguely curious. “You don’t seem that fond of humanity.”

“Just do it!” Jon snapped, instead of admitting that he didn’t know either.

Eventually, the room stopped melting. Jon didn’t even want to think about how difficult it would be to leave the building. He could probably straighten out the hallways just enough to help Annabelle and Oliver get out.

Ugh. This place had sunk straight into Helen’s domain. He could taste it in the air: any future human who wandered in would be stuck in an endless spiral of twisted, melted hallways. Probably flavored with...powerlessness and fear. Feeling very small, as someone very large loomed down on you. Tories. 

At least he hadn’t sucked flattened the building into one plane again, robbing it of all spiritual and metaphysical dimensions. Jon had done that to a graveyard once. The place was putrid now. He had accidentally fallen into a grave and panicked and - anyway. 

He rested his forehead on the warped and splintered conference table, waiting for his throat to open back up and the rushing in his ears to die down. Finally, after what felt like forever, his hair floated back down and he felt his eyes resume their normal shape. 

Awkward silence loomed. Jon sighed. “Sorry.”

“I worked hard to arrange this, you know,” Annabelle said.

“Yeah.”

“I am not happy with you, Jon,” Annabelle said. 

“Sorry,” Jon said miserably. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I mean,” Oliver said, after a beat, “that’s kind of terrifying. That you can melt a building on accident. Like, what would happen if you got really pissed at Manchester or something?”

“Goodbye, Manchester,” Annabelle muttered. 

Jon lifted his head, glaring blearily at Oliver. “If you think that’s crazy, you should have been there the one time I opened up an extradimensional gate and unleashed nightmare terrors into the world, rendering all of humanity immortal and eternally trapped in endless infernal hellscapes.”

Oliver shrugged, conceding the point. 

But Annabelle just looked thoughtful. Probably reworking five billion plans, knowing her. Jon didn’t want to know, because he didn’t care. Let her do whatever she wanted. None of his business. Hopefully, after this disaster, she’d keep it out of his business. 

Finally, she asked, “Was that true? That there’s no moving us forward?”

Jon sighed. He really didn’t want to talk about this anymore. But if he didn’t tell her then she’d just bug him about it later, or find some way to get the information out of him that would be both convoluted and unpleasant. “I’m not saying that people can’t...live their lives. They’re obviously still going to work and typing in every digit of pi into their spreadsheets for eight hours and then going home to stare, hypnotized, into cable television. But I am saying that there’s no achieving more than that. There’s no going backwards, and there’s no going forwards. The past is closed to us, and so is the future.” He eyed her warily. “If you have any cute time travel ideas, forget it.”

“I would never,” Annabelle said innocently. 

Yeah, sure. Liar. Jon scowled. “You’re all hampered by your humanity.” When Oliver opened his mouth, Jon just shook his head. “Even Avatars are still people. We’re all conduits for eldritch Forces, hollowed out to serve as a live wire for their power, but we - you all remember a human life. You care about things. You have relationships. You love. It makes you weak. Some of you don’t even like your lot in life - some part of you aching for something familiar, when you felt genuine happiness instead of the cheap facsimile induced by causing pain.” Jon looked down at his hands, reflexively picking at one of his many scars. “You should be more like me. You’d be more focused.”

“Are you capable of...changing, Jon?” Oliver asked curiously. “Or will you be this way forever?”

“Most of Annabelle’s plans hinge on that not happening,” Jon said, not even aware it was true until he said it, “so I suppose we’ll find out.”

Of course, Jon knew what Oliver had tactfully not said. He had wanted to know if Jon would ever grow up. They all thought he was a child, even Annabelle. Jon had the feeling even Daisy did, sometimes. 

It was stupid and they were wrong. Child would imply adult, would imply birthday parties and learning to talk and learning geography. Jon didn’t have to learn geography. He knew geography. He didn’t age. He was born being able to talk. Jon was above all of these things. He was mature. And even if he wasn’t, who cared?

But Annabelle just smiled at Jon, a polite mask. Annabelle hadn’t made a genuine facial expression in - well, longer than Jon’s memory. Or maybe that was the wrong way to put it. Maybe it was more accurate that she never expressed an emotion that she didn’t mean to. “Well! That wasn’t entirely a disaster, was it? I think next time could go really well. Don’t worry, Jon, I won’t drag you out of bed again.” She propped her hands on her hips. “Now, the three of us are going back to your flat and doing something about your awful rat’s nest.”

Oh, lord. This was going to be terrible. “Do we have to?” Jon whined. 

Annabelle smiled again, but this time it was so dangerous that Jon couldn’t help but quail. “My spiders are collecting the avocado oil and coconut oil now. My best friend in secondary had 3C hair too, I think I know what to do. Oliver, bring the buzzer, scissors, and satin wraps.”

“Three cee?” Jon asked, confused. “What’s that?”

Oliver grimaced. “Why am I involved in this?”

“Because I don’t know what to do with a guy’s hair, and you’re probably the only guy I’ve ever met who knows what to do with hair? Keep up.”

“I’m feeling pigeonholed, but fine. But we are not buzzing that hair. It’s a crime against god.” Oliver looked thoughtful for a second. “I think Jon would do a nice, loose afro. I think I still have some hair masks and vinegar rinse -”

“Why is this so complicated?” Jon asked, completely freaked out. “What are these things?”

But Annabelle just smiled sweetly at him, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Jon. I’ll teach you what you need to know.”

Well. It seemed easier than figuring things out for himself. Jon didn’t like responsibility. Today was his first taste of responsibility in ages, and he had already decided that it sucked. Better to let somebody who actually cared take care of it. 

That way, he didn’t have to be powerful. Didn’t have to be anybody’s demigod on Earth, capable of murdering whoever he liked. He could just be Jon, Private Detective, Archivist. He could have fun. Just live. Didn’t he deserve that, despite everything?

He stood up too, summoning a shaky smile for Annabelle. “So you aren’t mad about me ruining your meeting, then?”

“Water under the bridge,” Annabelle said. “Now come on, we have to stop by the chemist’s and pick up a decent hairbrush.”

Hairbrush? What was that for?

****

Six months after time resumed its course

Jon opened his mailbox, only to find mail.

Suspicion immediately loomed. Jon didn’t get mail. Not due to any kind of impossibility, but just because he didn’t pay bills and none of the mimic junk mail was brave enough to try their luck with him. Maybe invoices, sometimes, but mostly those were dropped off in person. The invoices were scarier than the finger-biting mimics: he still didn’t quite know how they worked. Sasha kept insisting they were important, but Sasha also insisted face masks were important. She didn’t know everything. That was Jon’s job.

He grabbed the singular envelope anyway, elbowing his door back open as he inspected the envelope. Thick, rich, and creamy, it reminded Jon uncomfortably of Annabelle’s party invite from a while ago. In the front, he saw that it was addressed to...Agnes?

The living room was noisy and busy, entirely due to the recipient of the letter and her brother. They were playing Mario Kart on the Wii, and apparently disowning each other. Jon watched Agnes hit Gerry with a blue shell, slightly bemused, and saw Dry Bones spin out into the center and make a pitiful noise. Baby Peach loomed supreme. 

Jon almost felt bad interrupting. An opened bag of chips scattered dust around Gerry, and Agnes had a half-empty pack of uncooked hot dogs next to her. They had both been at this for a while. “Agnes, you got a letter. And try to keep it down, Sasha’s working and Daisy’s sleeping.”

Agnes turned around, half a hot dog hanging out of her mouth like a cigar. She swallowed it quickly, holding out one hand and letting Jon give her the letter. She frowned down at the front, ignoring the way Gerry craned his head to take a look, and when she checked the back she frowned deeper. There was a wax seal, its details out of sight to Jon. 

“Is it that time already?” Agnes muttered, putting her controller down and letting the parade lap on the screen continue. 

Gerry frowned too as Agnes carefully broke the seal. “Is that from…?”

“Yeah. Weird, though. Guess it’s about time for the follow-up to the emergency meeting.” She pulled a letter out of the envelope, embossed on creamy paper. She scanned it quickly. “Downing street this time…”

“Are you going to go?”

“Well, it’s not as if Jude can,” Agnes said diplomatically, refolding the paper. 

Jon cleared his throat, making the kids jump. They had half-forgotten he was there. Far too late, Agnes hid the invite behind her back. “Care to explain?”

“Oh, you know,” Agnes said vaguely, casually tossing the invite behind her shoulder and letting Gerry snatch it out of midair. “It’s the invite to the Avatar council meetings. I think they’re held once every three months, but since months are a theoretical concept it’s occasionally hard to tell..”

“Not these days,” Gerry said excitedly. “It’s cold! The leaves fell!”

“The leaf thing is dope,” Agnes agreed. “Anyway, I should go. I have, like, serious words. I already submitted ten motions. I want to run for Treasurer, but Jared keeps saying that anybody who isn’t old enough to open her own bank account shouldn’t be treasurer.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?” Jon asked blankly. Was this some kind of youth league? Baseball? Was this baseball?

Abruptly, Agnes looked very sketchy. “I...it’s really nothing you’d be interested in.”

“I am interested in everything,” Jon said. He was offended beyond all belief. “Don’t keep secrets!”

“Jon’s not a big fan of secrets,” Gerry stage-whispered. “Did Annabelle say that we shouldn’t tell him or did she just say not to bother him about it?”

Agnes abruptly started sweating wax. “I can’t remember.”

“Now you have to tell me,” Jon said flatly. 

They gave up very quickly. Teenagers loved hiding things, but they also loved drama and spilling secrets. “It’s the Avatar council meeting thing,” Gerry said eagerly. “You know, where you guys all get together and re-enact the British empire by making government decisions and imposing made-up laws on the people you’ve conquered and are currently subjugating under your big stompy boots?”

“I’m changing the system from the inside,” Agnes said proudly. 

Gerry shot her an unimpressed look. “Okay. Yeah. Sure. Because that’s a thing that makes sense in an inherently corrupt system with an inherently unethical existence that exists to be profitable at the expense of the marginalized.”

“I don’t understand anything children these days even talk about,” Jon said. 

“I’m surprised you don’t remember it,” Agnes said to Jon. But she had a strange expression on her face, one hard to decipher. “It’s where we met.”

Jon stared at her blankly. “I don’t remember talking to you.”

“I was sitting next to Jude?” Agnes hinted. “Teenager? Red hair?”

Wait. Jon snapped his fingers. “Annabelle’s idiot thing! Right! Right, of course, Oliver made me sit still for five hours afterwards, it was insufferable.” 

Wait. Jon abruptly remembered the rest of that day. It seemed like so long ago, even though it was probably objectively only about three years. It must have been about...yes, a few months after Daisy had gotten stuck...

He barely remembered those tepid and awful months. He had been on a bit of a hair trigger back then. It had been really tough, with Daisy leaving and his terrifying encounter with Jonah. He remembered everybody had been annoying and mean and made him feel bad…

“First time I ever remember feeling fear, honestly,” Agnes said to Gerry. “Scariest moment of my life. Remember when we first met Jon? All I could think about was that he was going to melt us like he melted that building.”

Hot shame flared in Jon’s gut. Right. Other people were real, and existed, and were probably more important than his...what had he even been upset about? He didn’t remember. 

He melted a building and he didn’t even remember why. 

“I’m going too,” Jon said, and both kids startled. “I’m coming with you.”

Agnes and Gerry stared at each other with wide eyes. 

“Uh,” Agnes said finally, hesitant, “there’s about a 50/50 chance Annabelle said not to tell you about this, and you definitely didn’t get an invite, so statistically you probably aren’t -”

“She can’t exactly stop me from coming,” Jon said, and both kids quieted. 

Power-tripping had lost all appeal for Jon - assuming role as a conduit for global and absolute power did that to you - but he couldn’t deny it was useful sometimes. The world probably could have stood a little more power-tripping from him, actually. At least, it would have been helpful if he had ever done anything helpful with it. But he had never really bothered. 

But Agnes still looked perturbed, almost worried. “Annabelle’s like one of two people you used to ever listen to, so if you don’t really care what she thinks anymore -”

“I think Annnabelle knows better than to complain these days,” Jon said. 

It probably was for the best that Jon didn’t listen much to Annabelle anymore. 

****

Jon hadn’t really told the others about Annabelle’s worse-than-murder attempt. 

It didn’t really seem like any of their business, and he had spinned a vague explanation of how the situation happened. He didn’t lie, just - withheld information.

For the first time, the truth didn’t seem so important. He had the feeling it would have just upset them. It wasn’t as if he would take revenge against Annabelle. The world needed her, and Jon was a little tired of murdering everyone who upset him. The others (Daisy) would insist on the little murder attempts if they knew, but that was probably part of why he didn’t tell them. If they never knew about the one unselfish thing he had done in his life - well, one unselfish thing didn’t make up for three years of selfishness, so there was very little point.

Martin suspected. Actually, Martin seemed to know, which terrified Jon slightly. It was impossible to get anything past Martin. Jon was deeply intimidated by the man. Sasha laughed very long and hard when he told her that, for unknown reasons. 

Besides, it wasn’t as if he felt betrayed. Even if the last time he had attended one of Annabelle’s little council meetings he still trusted her, that had faded quickly in favor of complete apathy. Even then, as young as he was, he had never expected the truth from her. Just friendship. Whatever she was doing, it probably wouldn’t affect him, so there was no use in worrying. Even if Annabelle slightly terrorized every other person in the United Kingdom - well, Jon was fine, so what did it matter.

Jon couldn’t decide if he was stupid or naive. Or, even worse - if he was just lazy. 

Jon didn’t listen to Annabelle anymore. 

Unfortunately, he still listened to Sasha James. 

Two weeks later, the date of the actual meeting, Jon was stuck explaining himself to his entire house, who doubted all of his decisions. Which was just unfair. Jon made good decisions! He had made tons of good decisions, like -

Anyway!

“I think it’s a great idea,” Sasha said, freaking out Jon. “Displaying interest in your local government’s fantastic! Did you do any research on the relevant issues?”

Jon, in the middle of pulling on his trenchcoat, started sweating. “I was just planning on showing up.”

Agnes, who was wearing a gauzy skirt and blouse as Daisy helped a whining Gerry with his court buttons, gave Sasha the thumbs up. “I’m going to propose motions and Jon’s going to say ‘yeah what she said’ and it’ll be great.”

Jon let Agnes believe that.

“Well, you’ll have to share Jon’s political weight,” Sasha said cheerfully. She was in sweatpants and one of Jon’s pilfered t-shirts again. She had recently designated herself a writer, and had joined some sort of recent artist and activist collective where they did mysterious things that Jon didn’t understand. There’s a zine involved? Jon didn’t know what a zine was and he was scared to ask.

Georgie and Melanie had spent a week teaching Jon in laborious detail what exactly the internet was - information Jon could have just downloaded, but they had been intent in their mission of creating ‘the perfect internet’ and had gone through great effort in teaching him what the ‘good’ internet was (Ravelry, Spotify, r/HobbyDrama, YouTubers but only a very specific list) and what the ‘bad’ internet was (social media, the rest of Reddit, every other YouTuber). Jon wasn’t sure if the new internet was to their specifications, and he hadn’t quite been able to avoid parts of it spiralling into nightmare dimensions and hellish breeding grounds for violence and trauma, but Melanie assured him that Twitter had always been like that. 

Jon also secretly added a nightmare filter to Melanie’s screen reader, after he made sure every inch of it was accessible, after he roughly recreated screen readers. Melanie said that the voice sounded uncannily like the aunt she had hated, but that it was no big deal. 

Anyway, Sasha was a blogger now. After a few meltdowns to Sasha’s computer he had to install a nightmare filter for her too, which made her complain about feeling like an old woman whose grandson had to install AdBlock on her browser. Jon was a little scared of the whole blogging thing, but everybody seemed much happier, so maybe that was the important thing.

“Wait,” Jon said, finally recognizing what Sasha said. “Share with who?”

There was a knock on the door. Jon felt intense fear.

“She’s here!” Sasha said cheerfully. “Come in!”

Jon watched in horror as Basira Hussain casually strode into her house. He knew he couldn’t stop her. She had a key to the place, because Jon had no control of his life. 

“Hey honey,” Basira said, intimately. 

“Hey honey,” Daisy said lovingly, releasing Gerry from her clutches.

They stared at each other, as if this was any kind of greeting whatsoever, before ignoring each other. Jon did not understand so many things. 

Basira, terrifyingly, was dressed like she was about to go defend her client in court. She had a briefcase, and Jon recognized her most important looking crimson hijab. Very abruptly, Jon had a flashback to the way Annabelle had dressed when she had picked him up in his old office. They even had the same expression: determined and resolute, in a way that Jon could never understand. 

Basira nodded at Jon. “Hey. Sasha invited me to this thing. She told you I was coming, right.”

“She did not.”

“Whatever. Are we going to get going? We’re going to be late.”

Jon looked at Sasha pleadingly. Cold and resolute stone, Sasha showed no mercy. She smiled brightly, giving Agnes a final hug and pushing her forward. “You kids have a great time! Terrorize the bourgeoisie!”

“I am the bourgeoisie,” Jon said blankly, but the situation had already spiraled out of his control. Agnes and Basira were already comparing lists of notes, seriously discussing the motions Agnes had raised and how she was going to help Basira. 

That was it – how Agnes could help Basira. How Agnes, and the role she had in the council hall, could help Basira and the people Jon knew that she intended on representing today. 

They hadn’t even looped him in. Had they assumed that he wouldn’t care? That he wouldn’t help? Agnes hadn’t even wanted him there. Only Sasha -

He felt a cool, small hand grab his arm, and he turned around to see Daisy. Gerry was already enthusiastically capturing Sasha about the concert he and Agnes were going to later, and Jon knew that they weren’t listening. Daisy’s expression was somber, her body tense. Daisy wasn’t one for facial expressions at the best of times – not even a new development – but something about this…

“I should go with you,” Daisy said. 

“I already told you no,” Jon said, miffed. “I can handle this by myself.”

“I shouldn’t have let you go by yourself last time,” Daisy said. Jon could admit that things probably wouldn’t have spiraled out of control if she had been there, but that didn’t mean – “Don’t terrify yourself just because you feel guilty.”

Daisy hadn’t aged any more than the rest of the world had. As an Avatar, she likely never would. She even looked young for her mid-forties, with her short stature and broad, unlined face. Sasha had assured him that she was ‘Kristen Bell-ish’, whatever that meant. But she always seemed so old to him: larger than life and not even reaching his shoulders. Wise and world-weary even when, as Jon was beginning to see, she didn’t know what she was doing any more than the rest of them did. 

It scared Jon, almost: if Daisy wasn’t the person who could swoop in and make it all better, then who could? 

If Jonah wasn’t the omnipresent god, then who was the most powerful person in the world?

Jon shook her off, fighting the pull in his gut. “I’m not scared of them anymore.”

She didn’t look impressed. “You’re always scared.”

“Look at the time, going to be late, gotta go!” 

He still couldn’t win an argument against her. 

They took a taxi there, as Jon had cheerfully informed them that the Tube was delayed due to infernal leaves on the line (Work-from-home was the hot new thing these days). Basira was clearly on edge, tense and constantly keeping an eye on the taxi driver (a friendly skeleton) and the street. Agnes wasn’t any more relaxed, reading her notes over and over. 

Jon leaned back in his plush seat, closing his eyes. What would Martin say? He would probably be cuttingly pointing out how Jon was in denial over how he really was secretly afraid of the Avatars and now it was even more dangerous because he was much more willing to power-trip. 

Forget about what Jon wanted. Forget about his fear, his insecurities, and every rationale he had constructed for himself as to why Jon deserved a life free of these worries.

Jon was above politics. The Avatar with no need to defend their territory, who held no fear of death or failure, had no need. Jon could not lose the affection of his patron. His domain was the world, and it could not be attacked no matter how hard he tried. Jon was not a politician, so of course that meant he could not be manipulated by politicians -

“What’s your plan,” Jon asked, without opening his eyes.

They told him. Basira was clinical; Agnes excited. Jon didn’t say anything about it, and let the conversation die down until the taxi was rolling in front of 10 Downing Street. Didn’t the prime minister live here? Boris...something? Jon quickly downloaded the information, before he found that Boris Johnson had been the world’s most convoluted psy-op by Annabelle and had never exactly existed. Thank goodness.

Right as the taxi idled in front of the building, Jon opened his eyes. He let them flare up, an intimidating spark of toxic green. “You two follow my lead.”

“Excuse me,” Basira said flatly, as Jon waved at the driver in lieu of payment. He hadn’t found out that you were supposed to pay taxi drivers until...a few months ago. In his defense, they never asked. “This is our operation.”

Jon glanced at her, and something relaxed around the corners of her eyes. He wondered if his expression was familiar to her. He couldn’t help but smile weakly, and that softened her expression even more. “Will you trust me?”

Basira stared at him for one long beat, then two, before grimacing. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“Do I usually make you regret it?” 

“Literally, every single time,” Basira said. 

“Then it’s a pretty stupid decision to trust me again,” Jon pointed out. “You don’t seem the type to make stupid decisions.”

Basira stared at him for a long moment, before leaving the car. 

Jon and Agnes silently watched her leave, before glancing at each other. 

“And I thought you ran from your feelings,” Agnes said finally, before following her. 

Jon, left with nothing else to do, followed Agnes.

10 Downing Street, Jon quickly found, was just like every other pretentious old British home. With lots of grandiose rooms with furniture shoved into corners so everybody could appreciate the gold-plated tile, or sitting rooms with the most uncomfortable places to sit Jon had ever seen. Each wall hosted gigantic portraits of famous British figures, who were all so ugly that Agnes incinerated one for fun. Jon respected her choices: he had been wearing a stupid wig. 

Jon, unfortunately instinctively aware of the layout and history of this sordid place, led them through the halls. He opened his mouth, instinctively about to funnel a Statement regarding the decades of human suffering and imperialism, before forcing his mouth closed. Basira wouldn’t appreciate it. Besides, the Statements had been easier to ignore lately - like curious dogs nosing at his hands rather than insistent children demanding to be fed. 

Instead, he settled on casually updating them on the choice of location. “A year ago, this location wouldn’t have been safe for Basira at all. This building was a nightmare pit of despair.” He led them up the ridiculous flights of stairs watching carefully as Agnes jumped up them. Trick steps, you know. Basira proceeded far more cautiously. “It’s...no less a nightmare pit, but like the rest of London it’s now safe to navigate. I’d keep clear of the residential rooms, however. The Prime Minister and his family haven’t escaped their nightmares since the apocalypse, and they never will.”

Basira’s eyebrows skyrocketed up. “David Cameron’s stuck in hell? No surprise there. What’s he having a nightmare about?” 

“Well, there’s this pig, right, and you’ll never guess what he’s doing -”

“Never mind,” Basira said quickly. “Not interested.”

“I’m interested,” Agnes said. 

“I’d rather you weren’t.”

Jon, who also wished he didn’t know this information, quickly directed them towards the conference room.   

But he found himself stopping in front of the intricately carved oak double doors. The wrought golden handles were grimy and dull with dust, but Agnes and Basira did not hesitate to open the door and walk in. They didn’t hesitate; they weren’t frightened. Or, if they were, they didn’t let it stop them.

But Jon stopped. He felt like Annabelle, in that moment. Annabelle, standing in front of that conference room door so long ago, unable to admit that she felt any fear at all. 

She had been desperate. Jon saw that now. Only a desperate person would have ever concocted that plan against Jon. He was the sole person capable of murder in this world, and the sole person who was so vindictive and petty that he would kill anybody who said something that he didn’t like. 

Annabelle was arrogant. She thought herself the most intelligent person in every room. She was petty, manipulative, and power-hungry. She thought that the world was so broken that somebody had to fix it, and that she was the only one who could. She was desperate. 

Jon didn’t particularly want to do this. But Jon really, really had to grow up. 

Jon opened the door. 

It was a far cry from the nice, professional conference room in City Hall. The floor was some ugly light brown hardwood color, and the walls were tudor-like and panelled. Old man ribboned curtains, an intricate rug woven from human rights abuses, and a claw-foot long conference table with an array of chairs made up an incredibly ‘antique’ room. The British found ‘antique’ and ‘wealth signalling’ to be the same thing. It made for some very ugly buildings and very uncomfortable chairs.

 Nobody else had entered yet. Jon checked the time with his extradimensional psychic powers and realized that Sasha had hustled them out the door fifteen minutes earlier than necessary. She was so intelligent. 

Agnes was already moving to her uncomfortable seat, and Jon tapped Basira on the arm and silently pointed to the seat with the ‘EXTINCTION’ placard. She raised an eyebrow at him, but followed his direction. Maybe that was what her trust looked like. 

There was a placard stamped ‘BEHOLDING’ in big letters. Gone unoccupied since the last time Jon had been here. 

He ignored it, and sat down at the head of the table. Likely where Annabelle usually sat, as director of the meetings. Historically, where the leader of Britain had once sat and directed the affairs of the country.

Jon kicked up his heels on the polished antique wood, pulling up an episode of The Twilight Zone in his brain. He identified with Rod Serling. 

The other Avatars filtered in, one by one. All of their eyes widened when they saw Jon, but none of them said anything. Jon wondered what had filtered through the Avatar grapevine. They always knew all of the gossip on each other. It was impossible to miss the Earth’s paradigm shift, and Agnes mentioned that they had convened an emergency meeting on it. Doubtlessly, his name had come up. They likely knew he was the instigator. Who else could?

Annabelle was the fourth in, as fashionably on time as usual. She was the only one who stopped in her tracks when she saw Jon. A surprise, to a woman unused to surprises. Jon’s house didn’t have insect problems. 

Her eyes widened. Her jaw clenched. That was all it took. And Jon Knew, in the way that he Knew things, that she was wondering if this was when he finally killed her. 

She didn’t know why she was still alive. It was stressing her out. It was a move that made no sense - an unforeseen reaction. Jon was predictable. When Jon wasn’t predictable, and when Jon’s actions weren’t being very precisely controlled, then she was left with a vindictive and irreverent steam train on her hands. She hadn’t predicted his presence here. 

Jon was also sitting in her chair. Scuffing the wood. Leaning back in the chair, and definitely scuffing the floor too. 

He pointed to the chair at his right, with a placard that now read ‘WEB’. Annabelle sat down in it. Everybody noticed. 

Everybody also noticed Basira. She was receiving some glares, or some pointedly unwelcome expressions. But Basira’s glares and unwelcome expressions were more powerful than any demon could ever offer, and one by one each Avatar looked away in shame.

Only Oliver actually talked to him. Which made sense, as Oliver feared neither life nor death. When he walked in he was just as surprised to see Jon as everyone else, but he offered Jon a smile too. Jon smiled back, which made several of the other Avatars lean back.

“Hey, Archivist. I thought you hated these things.” 

“I do!” Jon said cheerfully. “I wasn’t even invited.”

Annabelle busied herself with her notes and agenda. 

As usual, Helen didn’t show up. Jon waited patiently for everybody to filter in. Sarah Baldwin didn’t show up either, and Jon searched for the information before realizing that he really didn’t want to know. He saw some other new faces, as well as some faintly familiar ones. It wasn’t that strange: no position of absolute power was forever. Where was that bloke Wakely?

Wait. He was the Avatar who had talked for too long about burying people alive at a party in a ridiculous skyscraper. He had upset Daisy. Jon had seen red and lost his temper. Jon had...tossed him over the side of the roof. Let him keep falling. Left him to waste away. He was probably gone now. 

The entire room had been at that party. Whoops. 

Now uncomfortably reminded that Jon had murdered two people at this table, that everybody was aware of that, and that Jon had completely forgotten about one of the semi-accidental murders because, in Sasha’s words, he was “a bit of a psychopath, what the hell”.

This distressed her, because apparently Jonathan Sims had always been a “sensitive boy” with a “tender heart”. Daisy had said that he was still a sensitive boy, just prone to power-tripping. Sasha said that this was also very consistent behavior. Martin said -

Martin said that Jonathan Sims had been a good person. And, more importantly, that Jonathan Sims had wanted to be a good person. That was one thing that Jon didn’t want to change. 

Who just buried people alive -

Jon waited until everyone was settled down. Nobody was chatting or talking to each other: just sitting silently, avoiding eye contact. 

He could see Annabelle preparing herself to say something. Better get this ball rolling, then.

“Jonah Magnus is dead.”

The silence suddenly became oppressive. 

Jon didn’t stop to savor the looks on their faces. That wasn’t the point. Enjoying this wasn’t the point. Jon had all the power he wanted and - and he didn’t want it at all. He hoped that nobody here would make him have to prove it. 

Jon did not want to melt anyone. He wasn’t going to melt anyone. Life had started feeling a little valuable lately. These people, the soulless demons surrounding him, weren’t any different than he was. Humans with delusions of grandeur. Infighting and power plays weren’t going to fix it. 

But Annabelle had been right, as she always was. Jon couldn’t keep ignoring this. If he could do something, he had to. Even if it was something he didn’t like doing. 

Or something he hated that he enjoyed doing. 

“Jonah Magnus is dead,” Jon repeated pleasantly. “The world has changed. These two events are related, of course.”

He didn’t elaborate. Jon didn’t lie, but he didn’t have to say everything. 

“The chains which bind this Earth have loosened,” Jon continued. He folded his hands over his stomach, relaxed and casual. “We now exist in the third age of life. I ask that you do not resist.

“The seasons have begun to change, our eternal placid summer ripening into fall and sinking into winter. Our world turns yet again. Babies are born, grow old, and die. The apocalypse as we’ve always known was rooted in its stagnancy. Life and growth has bloomed, and will continue to subsist. Change is once again thriving, and we must adapt with it.

“You’ve noticed that your power has weakened. You will have to fight harder than ever to maintain your food supplies. What was once a conquest is now a battleground. The playing field is far from even, but the enemy and harvest now have a fighting chance.” Jon smiled brightly. “Of course, I’m sure that this was all discussed during your emergency meeting. Great job with your repeated warfare attempts against humanity during the last six months, by the way. How’s that working out for us?”

Silence loomed. Of course, their repeated attempts to quash the new human uprising had not gone very well. At the end of the day, for every one Avatar there were thousands of humans. 

“You are no longer strong enough to allow these divides into factions,” Jon continued. “We must present a united front if we’re going to maintain the ground we have. We can’t continue on the way we have. And I’ve realized…” Jon glanced at Annabelle, catching her eye. “I’ve realized that I haven’t been helping the situation. There’s more I can do. That’s why Annabelle has handed over moderation of these meetings to me.”

Nobody looked impressed. 

He could see it: the way Jon had become an unpredictable, dangerous nuisance towards them. Almost everyone in this room would be much happier if Jon dropped dead. Nobody had really liked him because nobody had ever felt safe around him. Only Annabelle and Oliver - the person who had nothing to fear from him and the other person who did not feel fear - called themselves his friends. 

But they would have preferred it if Jon was hostile or dangerous. If he had even admitted his power. But Jon play-acted at harmlessness, unwilling and afraid to make enemies, and in that way he became a nuisance rather than an enemy. He couldn’t even pretend that it wasn’t on purpose. No matter how many Avatars brushed him off or ignored him, it was better than feeling their eyes on him. Or feeling the fear rich on their tongues. 

 “Also I invited a human to work with us on human affairs,” Jon said cheerfully. “Diversity hire! Any questions?”

There were a lot of questions. Basira didn’t look very pleased at his remark, either. 

Simon leaned forward first, pale and watery eyes intent for the first time. “What happened to Jonah Magnus?”

“Natural causes,” Jon said cheerfully. “Next?”

“What does this mean for us?” the Lukas matriarch said. Her eyes skittered away from him. “Are we in danger?”

Jon shrugged. “Only if you’re incompetent at feeding.”

“What caused this?” Manuela demanded. “The children are running wild, we can’t control them. We’ve lost a major food source.”

Jon scratched his temples. “What caused it...sustainability efforts.” He sobered abruptly. “You could never control the children, anyway. This is the generation of the apocalypse. You’ll find that very little frightens them now.”

“Does this have to do with those humans you’ve been running around with?” Jared asked, scratching his chin as Manuela’s expression contorted in rage. 

As usual, a frighteningly insightful observation from such a brute. “It is actually directly their fault!”

Everybody turned to look at Basira, who was completely unapologetic. She crossed her arms. “Don’t ask me. First I’m hearing about this too.”

“Did you kill Jonah Magnus?” Oliver asked, morbidly fascinated. “How?”

“We humans didn’t kill him. We showed up at the Panopticon to kill him, only to find Jon there and Jonah Magnus already dead.” Basira scowled as Jon and Annabelle glanced at each other. Jon subtly shook his head. Annabelle’s lips thinned. “It looked like he’d been dead for years.”

An unfamiliar young man with a thick mop of clumped black hair peered at Jon, expression contorted in grotesque interest. He was one of the Avatars who had been born in the Apocalypse, who were all recognizably weird. His name was - right, Geoff Anjou. Some French man who had made his mark in the Parisian Underground before moving to London and conquering his next terrain. A Parisian to the bone - or, a great deal of bones, as the case may be. So many bones. Jon had always meant to take Daisy to that wonderful little nightmare and let her run loose. Chase people through the tunnels. Munch bones. Perfect vacation. 

“So did the Archivist kill him?” Geoff asked, in the same way you would ask who won the World Cup. “Steal his Watcher’s Crown or whatever?”

“Are you the new queen bee?” a young woman asked Jon. The new Slaughter Avatar, Henrietta Something-or-another. A Cambridge legacy college student, Annabelle had intoned, and Jon had been afraid to inquire further. She was cyberbullying someone on her mobile, which seemed to be bleeding. “Cuz, like, you don’t seem qualified.”

“I did not kill Jonah Magnus,” Jon said, for the five hundreth time in the last six months. “And I’m uninterested in filling his shoes. That’s enough questions, I think.”

“Are you as weakened as the rest of us?” Amherst demanded. “Surely this destruction has affected you worst of all.”

“He probably ate Jonah Magnus,” Henrietta said. “The Archivist’s probably god now.”

Geoff snorted. “No way. He brought a human as back-up.”

“Why is there a human?” Another woman asked, with long brown hair and a broad face. Something about her was unquestionably severe, from her bulging muscles to her incredible height. Jon had never seen her before in his life. Her name was Julia Montauk. Something about her stank of life and undeath, same as Amherst. “We can’t exactly work with the prey, here.”

“I’m proposing an emergency motion,” Amherst said suddenly, shutting up the rapidly overlapping voices. “I vote that a leader is elected democratically. And that representatives are limited towards loyal patrons of the Forces.”

“I second that motion,” Geoff said immediately. “We can’t afford a chaotic uprising in our government right now -”

“This really isn’t a vote,” Jon said. 

“Isn’t this a democracy?” Henrietta asked, with the self-righteous assurance of a twenty year old. “We vote on things in a democracy. And leaders.”

“Annabelle was voted in last spring,” Julia agreed. “No reason to change things.”

Well. Basira said that she trusted him. He’d have to rely on that.

Jon pressed down. 

It felt just like that: pressing down. Reaching out a hand and squashing. Sometimes it was like ripping someone into shreds, and other times it was like plunging your hand into their chest and ripping out their heart. But this was just a press: a heavy static, bearing down over your shoulders like a ten ton weight. A sight so horrible that it was too eldritch to even look at. The realization that the hideous sight was you, and that it was all you would ever be.

Some - Geoff, Amherst - gasped, as if they were choking. Others - Lukas, Henrietta - gasped at their hearts, as if they were having heart attacks. Jon carefully kept it off Oliver, Annabelle, Basira, and Agnes. He couldn’t help but remember what she had said a few weeks ago, about being so frightened - 

But Basira winced anyway, clutching her temples, and Jon carefully released the static until the inhabitants of the room could breathe again. His eyes did not stop glowing, and Jon didn’t bother to turn off the light show. 

Jon put his feet down on the floor and rested his elbows on the table, leaning forward. As everyone shuddered and gasped, he spoke slowly and pointedly. “This is not a democracy. It never was. It is a monarchy, and the line of succession is clear.”

Annabelle’s eyes widened, and she abruptly clenched her fists before loosening them. An uncharacteristic show of emotion from her.

“This coalition has never been a democracy,” Jon said severely. “This is a house of lords. You are uninterested in representing any needs but your own, and I know Jared failed level eight government, but I’m sure all of you know that democracy represents elected officials. Nobody here has ever lived in a true democracy, and in your human fallibility you have recreated the only system you have ever known. The seats at this table are determined by power - all of you, the most powerful conduits for your Entity. I am the inevitable consequence of this system. I am your natural disaster. All of you bought me. Now you have me. And you are no longer powerful enough to make me leave.”

Agnes’ hand was covering her mouth. Jon dearly hoped Basira was holding onto that trust. He dearly hoped that he wasn’t speaking from anger. 

But he couldn’t stop. It boiled and bubbled. It was an anger and a powerlessness that had subjugated him for thirty two years of his life. It had served as the cloud hanging over his head for three more. 

“If you want someone to blame for the Archivist who now moderates this meeting,” Jon said, his voice the thin lid over this boiling pot of hurt and anger, “I now know their names. Jonah Magnus. Jude Perry. Nikola Orsinov. Twice. Breekon and Hope’s coffin. Peter Lukas. Jane Prentiss. Maxwell Raynor. A strategic book.” Jon tilted his head, having effectively made his point. There were others, but he had forgiven Daisy and Melanie a long time ago. And Jared had been polite about it. “Bring up your complaints with them. Good luck with that.”

Jon clapped his hands, closing the lid on those memories. Maybe one day the pain would leech from them like a sun-bleached painting, but that day hadn’t come yet. “Now! If you have any further complaints about my position here, or if you want to continue debating political theory, feel free to stand up and tell me so. We’re all interested in you regurgitating your life story until you die. Anyone?” Crickets. Jon leaned back in his chair, making himself comfortable. “Can we go onto the motions now? Ms. Hussain first, then clockwise from her.”

As if they had planned this, with the air of a well-choreographed actress, Basira stood up and spread out her papers in front of her. “The human contingency requests neutral zones in essential areas. Maternal wards in hospitals are highly vulnerable locations, and when assaulted by parasites the mortality rate of children is very high. If you want a self-replenishing food source, you have to allocate space for safe living. The next essential zone is a daycare and a school for children -”

And she was off. Jon had nothing to say, nor was anything necessary. Raging debate sparked after she finished speaking, and Basira effectively crushed the opposition. Agnes spoke up in her defense, and to Jon’s surprise even Manuela contributed a solid understanding of the necessity of children. When the debate started spiraling in an unhelpful direction Jon cut in and shut it down, before forcing the vote. 

It did not pass, obviously. 

“By the way,” Jon said. “Ms. Hussain proposed five different motions today. At least two of them have to pass. This debate is about picking which two you want.”

Then that started up all over again, and Jon tried not to fall asleep.

Moderating was hard. He actually had to pay attention and focus, and he hated focusing. He was effective enough at shutting down conversations, but sometimes shutting down conversations wasn’t helpful - he just needed to steer them in a more productive conversation. And Agnes’ political theory and Basira’s almost-definitely-made-up statistics started flying so thick and fast above his head that Jon was starting to almost completely lose the plot.

Jon chose his moment as the Lukas woman was complaining extensively about how Henrietta’s digital bullying was intruding upon the Loneliness of her adherents. Henrietta had argued that social media made people more lonely. Jon was afraid that Henrietta was his fault. Maybe the Eye’s fault, holistically. Jared wanted to be friends with Henrietta and co-host Instagram events, which Jon enthusiastically supported despite Basira’s glares.

He leaned over to his right, gesturing slightly at Annabelle so she would lean in closer. She raised an eyebrow at him. Annabelle’s eyebrows were crushing. 

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Jon whispered to her, as quietly as possible. 

Annabelle mouthed very clearly at him, ‘Wow, really? Shock!’. 

“I was making a point,” Jon hissed. “An important point. But I don’t - I still -” Jon faltered, uncertain, as Henrietta began sneering something about Lukas’ hairdo. Finally, he weakly said, “You care. They need you.”

Annabelle stared at him for a long, silent moment, before turning away from him. 

For the first time that day, she spoke to the room. “Let’s keep ad hominem attacks out of this,” she said sharply. “Madame Lukas, if you’ll make your closing remarks we can bring this to a vote.”

She really was good at it. Just like she had always wanted. She had never directly admitted it, but Annabelle had always wanted to be the kind of person in rooms like this. 

A politician sitting in an uncomfortable chair at 10 Downing Street. Rich, successful, important. Powerful and respected. Back then, she had wanted to be famous. Now, she was content to be controlling famous people. A dream out of her reach in life; laughably attainable in this stagnant after-afterlife. 

The dream had crippled her. In her search for a functional world, one that achieved and grew and provided a comfortable world, she had ended up recreating a world that hadn’t been functional at all. A world that was slow to change, and seemingly impossible to improve. A world passed down from the hands of the greedy and bloodthirsty into the hands of the uncaring and apathetic. 

The apocalypse had been inevitable. Humans driving themselves to extinction. And Avatars, possessed of human weakness, had been eager to do the same. Just a pathetic room of sour and bitter people power-tripping. 

For all that Sasha calls us bougie, Jon thought, we’re such deeply unhappy people. 

There had once been a young man, desperate for attention and acknowledgement. Dreaming of importance. He would stay up late at night, planning out his life as a famous researcher and well-respected philosopher. Everyone would tell him how smart he was. He would prove it all - with a scholarship to Oxford, with a sneer and a haughty air, with a boss who said that he had so much promise, here’s a job that will let you realize your potential. 

I deserve this job -

Something in Jon’s mind flared, a hot poker rammed behind his eye sockets. Jon hissed, one hand reaching unconsciously to his temple, and Annabelle glanced at him in alarm. She had - Jon had been thinking about her, and - what had he been -

Together, they managed to wrangle the meeting into something half-way productive. Most importantly, Basira had gotten three of her proposals passed, and Agnes’ arguments were stirring the other Avatars into serious discussion. Conversation itself would be stilted by his sheer presence, and they weren’t quite all working together yet, but they would. 

It was really all the same to Jon if the Avatars or humans won the war. He should care a bit more than he did, so he didn’t vocalize this to the others. But this conflict sparked life, a strange and frantic energy. Experiences and growth. That was what Jon had always fed on.

It seemed that Jon’s skill at prioritizing himself over all others was as sharp as ever.

Eventually the two hours wrapped up, and the other Avatars were eager to leave. Jon waved them off cheerily. 

“Meeting adjourned. Try not to do anything stupid until next time. And if any of you break the boundaries of the human safe zones, I’ll know! Annabelle, will you stay behind?”

The others filtered out quickly, uncharacteristically unwilling to see whatever carnage would be wrought. Agnes and Basira lingered. 

“That went so well!” Agnes shouted, the minute the last Avatar left. The room was now empty save for Agnes, Basira, Annabelle, and - Oliver, who was leaning against the doorframe. “I can’t believe you actually did something useful!”

“Ouch,” Oliver said. 

It was fair, though. Jon smiled weakly at her. “Hopefully I can help out a little more often going forward. But I’m not going to give any favoritism to you, Agnes. I’ll intervene to give humans a fair shot, but I really don’t want to be...king of a ruined world or whatever.”

“I know,” Agnes said firmly. She reached out and squeezed his arm, round and gentle face creased in determination. “You’d be terrible at it. So just be you, okay?”

Jon saluted her, before gesturing to the door. “Will you steal a historical British artifact from this garbage building for me? Daisy needs more targets to shoot.”

Agnes nodded eagerly and ran off. Jon silently hoped Basira would follow her, if also out of interest for also seeing British things destroyed, but she just looked at Jon intensely instead. Not quite a glare - just a searching, intense look, as if she was finding her own Statement from deep within him. It had always been disconcerting. Jon was still convinced she hated him.

“It’s not as if I knew you very well before we rescued you from the Panopticon,” Basira said crisply, pressing a folder to her chest, “but you’ve changed. What happened? What did Annabelle have to do with it?”

Jon and Annabelle glanced at each other. Oliver lifted an eyebrow. 

“Basira -”

“Don’t ask me to trust you.”

“I didn’t betray that,” Jon asked, “did I?”

Her expression didn’t soften. “You didn’t. We’re going to continue needing your help. But an ally with inscrutable motivations who does everything on a whim is a bad ally to have.”

“I’m trying, Basira,” Jon said, impossibly exhausted and just a little disappointed. “Please be patient.”

“I’ve been patient for three years,” Basira said, before forcibly cutting herself short from whatever emotion she was about to display. “What happened?”

A phantom pain pieced Jon’s arms, like chains threaded through bone. Jon fought the urge to wince, unconsciously reaching up to rub at a spot on his forearm. Everyone noticed. “It’s...family business…”

“Did you kill Jonah Magnus?”

“Jonah Magnus killed me,” Jon snapped, far louder than he intended, “so he would have deserved it, wouldn’t he!”

He felt a little lightheaded, more than he intended. It felt like a hand was clenching inside his chest, more than he wanted. No, Basira is fragile, you can’t just - no, Agnes is a kid, Daisy said that we can’t -

“Basira Hussain,” Annabelle said, hands folded tightly in her lap, eyes serious and intent. Jon started, surprised to hear her speak again. “You should go catch up with Agnes.”

Basira stared at Annabelle for a long moment, lips thin, before she abruptly whirled on her heel and stalked out. Jon watched her go, exhausted. He waited for her heels to click down the hall, far away enough that he knew she wasn’t eavesdropping, before groaning and dropping his head down onto his desk. 

“They hate me.”

“They’re scared of you,” Annabelle pointed out. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. “Frankly, Basira could stand to be a little more afraid of you. She’s going to get herself in trouble one of these days.”

“She’s practically my sister in law, I’m not going to hurt her,” Jon snapped. “Your stupid plan relied on me never hurting people I love.”

 “Sorry,” Oliver said pleasantly, “is anyone ever going to tell me what’s going on? I feel like an NPC in Jon’s Dungeons & Dragons game.”

“You want to be an NPC, I found you working at Taco Bell.” God, whatever. Jon could tell Oliver. He wouldn’t give a shit. Jon sighed, lifting his head to twist around and look at Oliver instead. “You remember when I was asking around after Sasha James? Annabelle had put me up to it.”

“Obviously. And then Sasha James started following you around? You terrorized Annabelle’s party again?”

“Yeah, it was this whole big thing.” Jon waved a hand expressively. “Anyway, then Annabelle tried to trap me in an eternal limbo that would shred me from inside out so I could act as purveyor of the world, and probably also use her connection with me so she could take over affairs here, and probably either nudge me into shaping the world back into order or into sinking it deeper into hell. I broke out and now I’m mad at her.”

“I had at least twenty other reasons,” Annabelle said, “but that’s the gist.”

Oliver stared at them.

They all sat in awkward silence. Jon found himself winding a finger around a stray coil of  hair and letting it spring back into place. He had kept it the same the last three years, never bothering to change the style. A loose and bouncy cloud of hair, sometimes brushing against his shoulders until Annabelle kidnapped him to cut it again - him, as much as the trenchcoat was. So much as anything had ever been ‘him’. 

“Well,” Oliver said diplomatically, “I see that you skipped a lot of steps there. So why are you here, then?”

Was it just to spite Annabelle? Screw her out of her work? Did Jon genuinely care? Did he want to organize the other Avatars, get them mobilized and going? Did he want to protect the humans? 

Did he really only care about himself, and the people he called his friends and family? Did he really only care about himself, and those he possessed?

“There’s a person I want to be,” Jon said quietly, “but I don’t know how to be him.”

Annabelle stared at him, with dark and glittering eyes, expression as implacable as always. For a sudden, stupid, intense moment, Jon wanted to know if she cared about him. If one of the few people who had always helped him, who was always in his corner, had seen him as anything more than a tool. 

Like Basira, who didn’t like him as a person, but found him too valuable to alienate. But Basira was - she was deeply good, if not always kind, and Jon had the sense that she had fought to turn herself into that good person. It was something she chose. She was trying to push Jon into making that same choice. 

Jon clenched his hands in his lap, his fingernails digging into his palm. “There’s people I respect, and who I want to respect me. This person I want to be...I’m worried that I only want this because that’s what they want. They’ll deny it, but they want my power. Everybody just makes me into whoever they want. Whatever’s useful to them.” Jon’s gaze snapped to Annabelle, and he fought hard to keep the compulsion from his voice. It was difficult, when he wanted to know so badly, but - “The kind of person I used to be. That person I’m ashamed of. Is that the person who was useful to you?”

He didn’t want to force the answer from her. He wanted her to choose to say it. 

Annabelle didn’t react. She didn’t show anything on her face. Much less what Jon wanted from her. She just tilted her head, one of the few unafraid to meet his eyes. “I never made you be anyone, Jon. All I ever did was put you in the right place at the right time.”

“That wasn’t my question,” Jon said, and this time he couldn’t help the static creeping into his voice. “Answer me.”

Annabelle sighed. “Of course it was useful. Is that what you wanted me to voluntarily say, Jon? I didn’t bring you to the first meeting because I thought it would be educational for you. I needed your power to keep the others in line. I needed everyone else to see that I controlled your power. That’s the only reason why any of this worked. We both got something out of it. Don’t pretend that you weren’t happy with the arrangement.”

It...it wasn’t a surprise, but…

“So that’s why you didn’t bring him to any of the other meetings,” Oliver mused. “He wasn’t as controllable as you liked, not when there’s more than ten other idiots around needling him. There’s never been anybody who can always predict when Jon’s going to lose his shit. Besides the biggie, I guess.”

The biggie, which was his past. 

No wonder he had stayed so childlike, innocent, and cruel for so long. Jon took responsibility for his own laziness, but - but he had been most useful that way. Annabelle had liked him best that way.

Daisy had liked him best that way too. That cruel child - Daisy had wanted him, because he made her feel needed. Annabelle was just the same.

Everyone had liked him best that way. And if Jon became the kind of person who he wanted to be, nobody would like him at all.

“If you’re going to kill me,” Annabelle said, exhaustion seeping in through her voice, “just do it.”

Jon closed his eyes. He could feel it - Annabelle’s exhaustion, the way that she had just been waiting for him to do this. Everything she knew about Jon led towards an obvious course of action. Even though you nobody knew everything that set Jon off, certain things were pretty guaranteed that he wouldn’t forgive. 

Annabelle had never accounted for Sasha. She had brought Sasha into his life, and she had no idea the effect she would have on it. Sasha, who had been the first to tell Jon that she chose to care about him for him. For a brief, hot flash, Jon was jealous. He wanted to be someone unpredictably kind. 

If he only wanted that because he had found yet another person to give his wind-up key, then…

“You won, Annabelle,” Jon said finally, and he only knew it as he said it. “Congratulations. You played the perfect manipulation. You took a vulnerable, afraid man, who had been violated in the worst possible way and left to die.” He stood up, already uncomfortable with what he was about to say. “And you arranged him so that he loved you. I chose to love you. I’m making the choice never to hurt you, because I still love you. ”

He left the room. Oliver stood aside just in time, letting Jon brush by. 

As Jon met up with Agnes and Basira, summoning a smile and a wave for them, he felt uncomfortably as if he had grown up. 

He wasn’t sure that he liked it.

[blueiscoool]

Rich B. Caliente Teamed up with Rick Ross to Create a Kaleidoscopic 911 Porsche

One auto designer-turned-artist found a way to sate both of his life’s passions—and the colorful results could be yours. Rich B. Caliente has a hand-painted Porsche 911 and an NFT to match, and the first-of-its-kind duo is heading to auction.

Caliente, a proud Miami local who worked in the auto industry for 15 years before becoming a full-time artist, says offering the NFT in conjunction with his colorful 911 was a way of immortalizing his creation in both the physical and digital world.

“To me, it’s very important to have something tangible,” Caliente said “So it’s kind of like my twist on an NFT, where you have something that’s a digital capsule, but you also have something that can be enjoyed in real life.”

The artist, who has wrapped exotic rides for an array of high-profile collectors, enlisted some impressive help to make the project happen:  The bespoke 2021 Porsche 911 that’s gifted with the NFT was made in collaboration with rapper Rick Ross. The Grammy Award winner also signed the car to give it a dose of celebrity fairy dust.

According to the Caliente, this is the first time that a minted NFT artwork will come with a car title digitally included. It’s also one of the only Porsche art cars of this century, following Janis Joplin’s psychedelic 356 of the late ‘60s that Caliente describes as “amazing.”

The project, which is at the intersection of art, technology and automotive design, represents the culmination of Caliente’s career and also pays tribute to his Miami roots.

“The whole point of this project was to inspire, but also to formulate and represent where you’re from and who you are,” Caliente added. “So this is our little piece of the world that we live in.”

The artist says he briefly considered a Lamborghini Urus but opted for a 911 on account of its “iconic shape,” which he says enhances the artwork rather than compete with it. Caliente spent two days within arm’s reach of the Porsche to conceptualize the design before embarking on the two-week paint job.

The painstaking process involved taking everything off the car and applying his signature splatters and drips, which harken back to the work of Jackson Pollock. Think Tiffany-blue hues juxtaposed with splashes of bright yellow. Parts of the paint, like the orange above the taillights, also glow in the dark to emulate “oozing magma,” according to Caliente. The artist says that the whole design is symmetrical—so even though it’s thrown paint, everything looks purposeful.

The luxe interior, meanwhile, remains largely unchanged save for some custom leather mats, which are also emblazoned with both men’s signatures and Ross’s 2021 album title Richer Than I’ve Ever Been. Under the hood, the car retains its 3.0-liter 6-cylinder engine that delivers up to 379 hp.

The idea to digitally embed the Porsche’s title inside of the NFT may well point to a future of smart contracts that become a standard part of high-end digital purchases. And, since the transaction is processed through the blockchain, it’s completely transparent and traceable. All parties can see exactly where the funds go.

The auction, which is running June 4 through 14, will be hosted by an NFT management consultancy co-founded by Caliente known as Slashdot. Bids will be accepted online in the cryptocurrency Ethereum, and a portion of proceeds from the sale will benefit the Irie Foundation. This organization is dedicated to empowering the lives of at-risk youth in South Florida through mentorship programs, cultural experiences, and scholarship opportunities.

Naturally, the multi-pronged artwork doesn’t come cheap. Bids will start at $305,911, with the first three numbers a reference to Miami’s area code and the last to Porsche’s beloved sports car. For those who want to see the multicolored creation IRL, the 911 will debut at the 2021 Bitcoin Conference in Miami from June 4 to 5.

Caliente is already planning follow-up artworks, too. The artist exclusively shared with Robb Report that he has another NFT and one-off luxury ride in the pipeline, along with a bespoke aircraft and matching digital art.

Best get your digital wallets ready, folks.

By Rachel Cormack.

[tradecryotocurrency]

Benefits and Risks of Trading Forex With Bitcoin

The forex market is the largest and most liquid market in the world. It's a truly global currency market, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, everywhere.

As if forex was not dynamic enough, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have added a fascinating new dimension to currency trading. In recent years, many forex brokers have begun to accept bitcoins for currency trading, with some accepting a variety of other digital currencies as well.

Should you jump in and begin using your hard-mined bitcoins in the forex markets? Find out the risks and benefits first.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The forex market is dedicated to trading in the world's currencies.

Many forex brokers now accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin trades benefit from the anonymity and decentralized valuation system the currency represents.

They add a new layer of risk to forex trading, exacerbated by the extreme volatility of crypto-currencies.

A Standard Forex Trade

Before you consider whether to trade forex using bitcoin, it's helpful to understand how a conventional forex trade works.

A forex trade is simply an exchange of one currency for another at its current rate. Unlike tourists who exchange their home currency for local spending money, forex traders are trying to make money off the continual fluctuations in the real value of one currency against another.

Trading a 'Pair'

Imagine you are an American trader betting that the British pound will lose value compared to the U.S. dollar. This is called trading on the British pound/U.S. dollar currency pair (GBP/USD).

You deposit $100 with a forex broker. Assuming the rate of $1 = £0.5, you will receive £50 for your $100. If the GBP/USD rate changes to 0.45, you close the position to 50/0.45 = $111.11. That is, you make an 11.11% profit over your initial $100 deposit.

Most forex trading is conducted in a decentralized fashion via over-the-counter markets. However, the fact that the forex market is decentralized and that bitcoin is considered to be a decentralized digital currency does not mean that the two are equivalent.

The Impact of Decentralization

The key distinction is that, though forex exchanges might be decentralized, the currencies themselves are backed by central banks in the countries that issue them. It's the job of those banks to stabilize the value of their currencies and keep them stable.

Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies do not have that support.

A Forex Trade Using Bitcoin

Now consider an example of a forex trade using bitcoin. First, you open a forex trading account with a broker who accepts bitcoins. These include AvaTrade,1 eToro, and LiteForex.2 You then transfer 2 bitcoins from your digital wallet to the forex broker’s digital wallet.

If you want to trade using bitcoin, use only a locally regulated forex brokerage. And avoid using leverage until you know what you're doing.

Assuming the current bitcoin to U.S. dollar rate is 1 bitcoin = $7,500, your deposit of 2 bitcoins is worth $15,000. Now, assume that you want to take a position in British pounds. If the exchange rate is £0.5 = $1, you will receive £7,500. After some time, the GBP/USD rate changes to 0.45, and you square off your position to get $1,666.65 in your trading account. You have made a tidy 11.11% profit and you are ready to cash out.

The Bitcoin Effect

However, suppose that the bitcoin to U.S. dollar rate has changed during this period of time to 1 bitcoin = $8,500. When you withdraw your money in bitcoins, you receive ($16,666.65/$8,500) = 1.961 bitcoins.

$5,332-$11,982

The range in value of a bitcoin over the year ending in July 2020.

Despite the fact that your bet on British pounds earned you an 11.11% profit (from $15,000 to $16,666.65), the fluctuation in the bitcoin to U.S. dollar rate means that you sustain a loss of 0.039 bitcoin or about -2.%. (Initial deposit of 2 bitcoins — 1.961 bitcoins = .039 bitcoin).

However, had the bitcoin to U.S. dollar exchange rate changed to 1 bitcoin = $7,000, you would realize a profit from both the forex trade and the bitcoin exchange. You would have received ($16,666.65/$7,000) = 2.381 bitcoins, a profit of 19.1%.

Increased Unpredictability

This hypothetical example illustrates the big reason to exercise caution when using digital currencies for forex trading. Even the most popular and widely used cryptocurrency, the bitcoin, is highly volatile compared to most traditional currencies.

In the year ending July 24, 2020, the value of a bitcoin ranged from $5,532 to $11,982.

This unpredictability means that the risks associated with trading forex using bitcoin are that much greater.

Beyond the exchange rate fluctuations impacting profit and loss, there are other benefits and risks to consider before trading forex with bitcoin.

Benefits of Trading Forex With Bitcoin

Decentralized Valuations: A major advantage of trading forex with the bitcoin is that the bitcoin is not tied to a central bank. Digital currencies are free from central geopolitical influence and from macroeconomic issues like country-specific inflation or interest rates.

High Leverage: Many forex brokers offer leverage for bitcoin trades. Experienced traders can use this to their benefit. However, such high margins should also be approached with great caution as they magnify the potential for losses.

Low Deposit Amount: A trader can start with as little as $25 with some bitcoin forex trading firms. A few forex trading firms have even offered promotions like a matching deposit amount. Traders should check that the broker is legitimate and appropriately regulated.

Low Cost of Trading: Most forex brokers that accept cryptocurrency are keeping brokerage costs very low to attract new clients.

Security: You don’t need to reveal your bank account or credit card details to make a bitcoin transaction. This is a big advantage in terms of cost and financial security.

No Global Boundaries: Bitcoin transactions have no global boundaries. A trader based in South Africa can trade forex through a broker based in the United Kingdom. Regulatory challenges may remain a concern, but if both traders and brokers are willing to transact, there are no geographical boundaries.

Risks of Trading Forex with Bitcoin

Different Exchange Rates: Bitcoin trades on multiple exchanges and exchange rates vary. Traders must ensure they understand which bitcoin exchange rates the forex broker will be using.

U.S. Dollar Rate Risk: While receiving bitcoin deposits from clients, almost all brokers instantly sell the bitcoins and hold the amount in U.S. dollars. Even if a trader does not take a forex trade position immediately after the deposit, they are still exposed to the bitcoin-to-U.S. dollar rate risk from deposit to withdrawal.

Danger of Volatility: Historically, bitcoin prices have exhibited high volatility. In the absence of regulations, volatility can be used by unregulated brokers to their advantage and a trader’s disadvantage. For example, assume the intraday bitcoin rate fluctuates from $5,000 to $5,300 U.S. dollars per bitcoin. For an incoming deposit of 2 bitcoins, the unregulated broker may apply the lowest rates to credit the trader $10,000 (2 bitcoins * $5,000 = $10,000). However, once the trader is ready to make a withdrawal, the broker may use the lowest exchange rate. Instead of the original 2 bitcoins deposited, the trader receives only 1.88679 bitcoins ($10,000/$5,300 = 1.88679 bitcoins). The unregulated broker may be exchanging bitcoins and dollars at, say, $5,150, and pocketing the difference at the expense of the client.

Security Risks Inherent to Bitcoin: Deposited bitcoins are prone to theft by hacking, even from a broker’s digital wallet. To reduce this risk, look for a broker who has insurance protection against theft.

Risk of Leverage: Using leverage is risky for new traders who may not understand the exposure. This risk is not unique to cryptocurrency forex trading and comes into play in traditional forex transactions as well.

Asset Class Mixing: Cryptocurrency is a different asset class altogether and has its own valuation mechanism. Trading forex with bitcoins essentially introduces a new intermediate currency which can impact profit and loss in unexpected ways. Any money that is not locked down in a trader’s base currency is a risk.

The Bottom Line

Although cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are gaining popularity, there are still many associated risks. In forex trading, dealing in a decentralized currency that offers global transactions with no fees is an advantage. But the tradeoff is essentially adding a third currency to what was a trading pair.

Traders who want to take on that risk should use only a locally regulated forex brokerage.

[tuunaa]

Xircus

Xircus "The Right Platform To Build And Market Your NFT Token"

Cryptocurrencies are gaining popularity much faster than expected. The crypto industry has grown and developed significantly. One of the most recent and significant advances in the Cryptocurrency world is A Non-Fungible Token (NFT). The privilege of non-fungible tokens revolves around three concepts, namely Unique, Rare & Indivisible. NFT sales volume skyrocketed to $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021, the top NFT market has witnessed billions of trades, to facilitate this increasing demand, the NFT market is growing competition. The current traditional or first generation NFT market is not a fully proven solution. This marketplace is centralized and content creators, artists depend on this marketplace to list their art. This is where Xircus comes in.

Xircus Ecosystem (Review) Xircus is the world's first multi-chain gamified DAO platform that allows users to create and deploy custom NFT marketplaces. In a few easy steps, Xircus users can create and launch a personalized NFT trading platform for free. The idea behind Xircus is to create the ultimate solution that empowers individual artists, influencers and collectors, by giving them the control that comes with the power to create their own NFT marketplace. Powerful, unique and automated tools that empower artists, influencers, content creators, collectors and brands by enabling them to create personalized NFT marketplaces. It is an easy, secure, time efficient and cost effective way to develop a private marketplace for your NFT. Xircus is the first marketplace that allows users to create their own marketplace without any control over their data. On the Xircus platform, content creators have absolute control — they can also add custom features to their NFT marketplace ecosystem and decide on NFT pricing and payment terms. The project is tested and ready to run, no need to wait for testnet or mainnet. The platform has a native currency that has various utilities in the Xircus ecosystem. It also features a Defi powered token economy with rewards. Xircus supports multi-chain deployments to various blockchain protocols such as Polkadot, Solana, flow, and other EVM compatible blockchains.

Xircus Platform Features

Deploy in Minutes — No development experience required to deploy your own NFT marketplace where makers and collectors can buy and sell their NFT items More cost-effective technology — Building and securing technology infrastructure is expensive, time-consuming and messy if not done right. Building complex smart contracts can also add to the cost. Xircus has just made it available to you. Start Local Earn Global — Grow your market locally with global reach, Xircus helps cross-promote with other markets to introduce culture and creativity from different countries and regions Your Own Ecosystem — Deploy your community's NFT marketplace locally and welcome creators and collectors from your community, other NFT marketplaces, and from the world.

Watch a short video on How to use the NFT marketplace

Why Does Xircus Stand Out?

Privacy First Authentication — Xircus developed its own Authentication API so users can easily log in anonymously using a unique nonce encrypted by the wallet. Better Infrastructure — Xircus builds high-speed infrastructure and dedicated servers capable of handling millions or even tens of millions of requests per minute. Xircus added a cloud firewall to ensure that illegal DDOS attacks can be blocked instantly. Developer Friendly — Xircusa is building a frontend library to integrate with the existing codebase in React, NextJS, Vue, and Angular. And added support for e-commerce systems like Shopify, Magento, and Woocommerce.

Benefits If you join xircus

LIVING A good event ensures meetings and unites people. We can also do this at live digital events. The technical possibilities of xircus ensure a living relationship between the audience and the actors.

INTERACTIVE We focus on people and their exchange with each other, also in the digital world. All participants are also contributors. For example, speakers have the opportunity to bring interested parties from the audience onto the digital stage and speak to them.

INTUITIVE Xircus is intuitive to use and very easy. It works without instructions and without waiting.

RELIABLE PLANNING Every event requires financial and human resource costs. Xircus uses the right tools and formats required for each event and makes the event 100 percent reliable for the organizers.

PERSONAL The bigger the digital event, the more confusing it gets. Xircus provides orientation and, with the help of intelligent matchmaking, leads each participant to the content and people they are interested in.

FREE At xircus, all visitors can move freely through the platform and decide for themselves which content they want to see.

#xircusnft  #nft  #BSC  #BinanceSmartChain  #Binance  #PancakeSwap  #DeFi  #Bitcoin  #cryptocurrency  #blockchain

Tokenomics

Xircus  has 2 tokens that will support the operation and development of the platform. These two tokens are Xircus Marketplace Token (XMT) and Xircus DAO Tokens (XIRCUS). The XMT token is a token that will be used for the market and paired with a stable token. And XIRCUS tokens will be used as tokens to upgrade, vote, stake, subscribe and propose features, with a built-in DeFi feature that allows holders to earn XMT while holding. It is hoped that with the support of these 2 tokens, Xircus will continue to grow in the future.

Xircus Road Map

The team started the   Xircus project in Q1 2021 with smart contract development, wallet integration, DeFi features, stablecoin integration, DAO governance, decentralized marketplace, and functional prototypes. And in Q2 2021, the team will start developing DeFi token, XMT token for marketplace, cross chain integration, market spreader, static spreader, ERC721 collection spreader, ERC1155 collection spreader, subdomain provisioning via xircusnft.com, core platform complete, testnet launch, and launch pad construction. And in Q3 2021 the team will do a public soft launch, and 3 stages of token sale, mainnet launch, music features for music related markets, features for influencers, initial dex offerings, Graphics protocol integration, orientation of 500 ringmasters and dApps, complete custom collection spreaders and upgradeable contracts,  Music UI and Sport UI Marketplace themes. Then finally in Q4 2021, the team will undertake WASM contract creation for Solana, Flow, and Near, V1 mobile app release with crypto wallet and AR features, Xircus NFT TV App, 2500 ringmaster orientation, cross market promotion, and many more market themes.

PROJECT TEAM  :

Behind every success of the Project is a dedicated, experienced and intelligent team of elites. The team are the best individuals who always work hard to get the best Xircus and users.

To conclude

Most of the content creators today launch their NFT tokens on third party NFT marketplaces. However, sometimes the NFT market imposes high fees that burden the user. Therefore, developing their own NFT market is the right solution, but not everyone has the knowledge to build their own NFT market. And Xircus comes as a platform that allows users to implement the NFT costume market without the need to write any code or any experience, users can use their own marketplace in just a few steps. In this way,   Xircus  can empower artists, influencers, content creators, collectors and brands who want to use their own NFT marketplace and help them reclaim their rights to fully monetize their content without any third party fees.

Useful links:

Website — https://xircus.app/ Telegram — https://t.me/xircusnft Twitter — https://twitter.com/xircusnft YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCljy1Y7cl748M2fc2bUiFMg Github — https://github.com/xircusteam Facebook — https://facebook.com/xircusnft Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/xircusnft Linkedin — https://www.linkedin.com/company/xircus-nft

Bitcointalk username: tuna

profile link  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3357682