#Frederic-104

[appo-arsin]

Blue Team preps for another mission

[pedroam-bang]

Halo 5: Guardians (2015)

[crystalsandbubbletea]

Berat: Where's Lopis?

Locke: Don't worry, I'll find her.

Locke, shouting: Fred sucks!

Veta, distantly: Fred is the best person ever! Fuck you!

Locke: Found her.

[hollytanaka]

@giftober 2023: day #5: friendship ↳ Fred and Master Chief in HALO 5: GUARDIANS (2015)

[cornerdreams-txt]

i went through halo 5 again. the found family. it's getting to me.

kelly offering encouragement at random on the field. linda knowing all the facts and providing them when prompted. fred's deadpan inquiries and offhanded remarks at random. the silent mutual trust between all of them. not needing to talk all the time, they always know what the others are thinking. john expressing more around his family, even if he doesn't voice everything he's thinking. kelly, linda, and fred not knowing what going to meridian means, but pledging themselves to follow john into what could be a life-threatening situation because it's john. it's their brother. and they'd follow him anywhere.

the fact they're literally remarked to be family. the fact that if you pause long enough before going to confront cortana, kelly, linda, and fred all offer assurance and support ("chief?" "having second thoughts?" "we're here for you.") no snide remarks or comments between them - no real hostility, why would there be? the fact that linda goes to stand in front of john when they see cortana. the comment on the use of olly olly oxen free ("we haven't used that signal in years.") the way they huddle around john when he comes out of that message from cortana on argent moon. the fact they don't question what he saw for a second.

fucking blue team, man.

[halobirthdays]

Happy birthday to Spartan Frederic-104!

Today is his -487th birthday!

As a Spartan-II, Fred has participated in hundreds of engagements against both the Insurrection and the Covenant. He is notable for his leadership skills and skill in close-quarters engagement.

Since the end of the Human-Covenant war, Fred is technically the commander of Blue Team, though out of respect and affinity, usually defers leadership to John-117 if he is present.

Fred is arguably the most socially adept member of Blue Team, being highly observant and better attuned to reading others, which is an asset to his leadership skill. This also allows him to form relationships outside of the Spartans, including his friendship with Veta Lopis. Like all of Blue Team, Fred is bonded to and deeply loyal to his team.

In canon (~2560), Fred is turning 49!

[ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask]

@mlgssy asked for the prompts "Those rumors about us are getting annoying. How many times do we have to tell them we aren’t together?" and "Come back to bed." for Fred/Kelly (and you all know how much it pains me to write some Fred/Kelly) from a few different prompt lists that I didn't actually recognize, but they looked like a lot of fun.

So anyway! Here goes.

---

Olivia-G291 bounced nervously on the balls of her feet out in the hallway. She had been tasked with what was probably the most dangerous mission of her life, and it took a few moments to amp herself up and get enough courage to actually go through with it.

After several moments of hemming and hawing, the young woman finally decided that enough was enough. It was time to bite the bullet - hopefully only figuratively - and get things done. With only a slight tremor, she lifted her hand and knocked gently on the door to the quarters she had been squatting outside for nearly twenty minutes now.

It took exactly forty-eight seconds for the door to slide open a few inches. "It's 0230," came the gruff voice of Kelly-087 from in the dark recesses of her personal quarters. "What do you need?"

O swallowed nervously. "Ash and Mark had a question for the LT," she said, quieter than she had meant to. Her palms were sweaty and her throat was suddenly very dry.

Kelly poked her head out of the door to raise one eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. Her hair dangled loose, for once not in her signature ponytail, and the blue-dyed ends shone in the fluorescent hallway lights. "If you're looking for Fred, why are you at my door?" she demanded.

O swallowed again. "Well, he wasn't answering at his quarters, and he wasn't in the gym or the cafeteria, so we figured - well, Ash figured, really - that he might be..." she was jabbering now. For someone who had such a skill for silence, she couldn't seem to shut up at this point. "Well, I told Ash that he should come knock, since it was his question, but he told me that I'm the only one that Fred wouldn't kill tomorrow morning if I happened to interrupt you two. You see, he seems to think that I'm Fred's favorite, which is ridiculous because-"

"Enough," Kelly said firmly. O found herself very grateful for the excuse to actually close her mouth. "First," Kelly said, raising a finger to count her points, "Fred isn't here. Second, of course you're his favorite, don't be ridiculous. And third, those rumors are starting to get annoying. How many times do we have to tell you that there is nothing going on between he and I? Honestly, it's-"

Kelly fell silent when the distinct sound of a tired groan echoed out from the room behind her.

O, momentarily forgetting her abject fear of the older Spartan in favor of her ravenous curiosity, leaned forward slightly to try to get a peek into the room. "Was that...?"

"It was nothing," Kelly answered sharply. The look in her electric blue eyes dared O to challenge her.

O did not take that dare.

"Kelly come back to bed, it's cold," Nothing rumbled, its voice sounding shockingly similar to what O imagined one Lieutenant Junior Grade Frederic-104's voice might sound like if he were woken up in the middle of the night, his voice rough and his mind slightly disoriented from sleep.

Kelly's head drooped and she sighed dejectedly, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "I don't know why I bother," she muttered under her breath.

The younger Spartan took a step back, her hands raised. "Well, I think I'll just... go tell the others that he wasn't here," she said quickly, already turning and jogging back the way she had come.

Kelly didn't answer; she just retreated into her quarters and slid the door shut behind her.

[helix-studios117]

Halo Reloaded: Hangry

Within the Spartans' private area in Fleetcom HQ, a situation was brewing that could only be described as... domestic. Linda and Kelly were caught in the throes of an epic battle, one that had nothing to do with the Covenant, but everything to do with the rumbling discontent of their stomachs. It was a hunger so profound, so primal, that it threatened the very fabric of their unit's camaraderie. Meanwhile, John-117 and Frederic-104 watched in bemusement and mild horror as their normally unflappable comrades transformed into hangry behemoths.

John approached the dilemma with the gravity of planning an interstellar campaign. "Aw, dammit." he exclaimed, eyeing the mess hall's locked doors with a mix of desperation and resolve. Linda, the sniper whose aim was as sharp as her current mood was foul, shot him a glare that could curdle milk.

"John, I love you; but if I don't get something in my system right this second, I will not be responsible for the imminent deaths of anyone who stands between me and a decent meal." she snapped, folding her arms—a gesture that somehow managed to convey both impatience and a menacing promise of violence.

On the other side of the room, Kelly, whose speed was legendary, was now using that attribute to pace a trench into the floor. Fred, ever the voice of reason, attempted diplomacy. "Kelly, bunny-bun, you're going to wear a hole in the titanium flooring at this rate." he chided meekly, only to receive a look that could easily strip paint.

"I will wear a hole in the floor, the ship, and then proceed to run on the vacuum of space if it means getting something to eat, Fred," Kelly retorted, her voice a mix of jest and deadly seriousness. "And why is it that you boys don't have to deal with this? What, did they program you to photosynthesize?"

Fred, caught between amusement and fear for his life, shrugged helplessly. "I guess they thought we'd be too busy carrying heavy things and brooding thoughtfully into the distance."

Recognizing that the situation was deteriorating rapidly, John took decisive action. "Fred, you hit the mess hall. Charm, bribe, threaten—whatever it takes. I'll raid our emergency stash. We've got about five minutes before mutiny."

As Fred sprinted away, John turned to face the women, a man preparing to negotiate with dragons. "Ladies, if you can hold off on eating the junior Spartans for just a few more minutes, we'll have food."

Linda, leaning against a wall with a huff that suggested she was entertaining the idea of just how many calories were in a standard-issue MRE wrapper, nodded once. Kelly, meanwhile, ceased her pacing and eyed John with a mix of skepticism and hope.

What followed was a frenzied ballet of military efficiency and sheer panic. Fred returned, his arms laden with what looked like the entire contents of the mess hall's pantry—his charm offensive had apparently been successful, or perhaps the cooks had simply feared for their lives. John, meanwhile, unearthed a cache of emergency rations so old, they might as well have been made by the Forerunners.

"Here," John announced, laying out the assortment with a flourish that was utterly wasted on his audience, "a feast fit for... Spartans."

Linda and Kelly descended upon the food with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for victory celebrations or the discovery of new weaponry. "You are both," Linda declared between bites, "marginally less terrible than starvation."

Kelly, her mouth too full to form coherent words, simply raised a hand in a thumbs-up, her expression one of blissful relief.

The episode, while certainly a departure from their usual brand of heroics, served as a poignant reminder of the Spartan-II's humanity. Yes, they were super-soldiers, capable of extraordinary feats of strength and bravery. But at the end of the day, they were also just people—people who got hangry and whose day could be made or broken by the simple acquisition of a good meal. It was a humbling thought, one that brought a rare smile to John's face as he watched his team, his family, united in the face of adversity... or at least hunger.

[boomboomgaff]

Mark V[B] armour core

The Mark V[B] is generally loved by most of halos playerbase from its use in halo reach, the fan favourite instalment allowed players to modify their armour in the campaign, this in turn let players have a more individualised experience of halo in comparison to the mainline games. My mark 5 is pretty different to most of my other spartan builds, I normally don’t really go for the bulky builds instead opting for a more UNSC accurate looking spartan. However, me thinks I hit the mark on this build, finding a sweet spot between the two. Hope you guys like it!🙏

Lore

While its physical architecture is derived from the Mark IV[B], the Mark V[B] was the first mainline model of the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor to incorporate energy shielding technology. The Mark V[B] is largely similar to the final version of the Mark V. The only major difference between the two is the [B] variant's lack of an accompanying upgrade to the wearer's neural lace enabling the wearer to interface with a smart AI. This did not come to fruition until John-117 and Cortana successfully tested the final Mark V on August 29, 2552.

The Mark V[B] was manufactured by private organizations contracted by the UNSC rather than developed by the Materials Group as was typical for most other Mjolnir designs. The development of Mark V[B] was conducted in secret, with its prototypes tested by Spartan-III personnel.

The Mark IV[B]'s first known use was by Frederic-104 during an operation against Insurrectionists sometime before the Battle of Circinius IV on April 26, 2526. Fred continued to wear the armor during this battle when Blue Team was sent to evacuate the survivors from the Corbulo Academy of Military Science. The Mark V[B] entered service with the Spartan-IIs and select Spartan-IIIs on November 24, 2551.

/////ALL LORE AND INFO TAKEN FROM HALOPEDIA.ORG AND IS NOT MY OWN WRITING FOR SAKE OF ACCURACY/////

(I ain’t writing allat)

Components of my build

Coating: Kinetic Instruction

Helmet: Balor

Visor: Rampant

Chest: UA/Vauntlock

Shoulder pad L: SAP/SEC

Shoulder pad R: SAP/SEC [K]

Gloves: Challenger

Wrist: TAC/SRT UGPS

Utility: M10 Tactical soft case

Knee pad: UA/TYPE FJ

Halopedia reference images.

[0owhatsamsays]

Dark Horse - Good Omens

I am down the rabbit hole again.

Ever since I heard that phrase several times in s2, it bugs me. People keep saying "It's a common phrase". Yeah, I know. However, they repeat it several times, and there is an actual dark horse statuesque that Crowley leaves his glasses on.

I decided to look it up. Of course.

Besides the common meaning of the phrase - "someone who surprises you with some hidden quality", I didn't know exactly where this phrase derived from.

It comes from the book "The Young Duke" by Benjamin Disraeli.

The first thing that caught my eye here was the "Duke". So I searched the book. The second thing that caught my eye was that it was published by "Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley".

The subtitle of the book is "A moral tale, though gay".

I found out that the phrase is taken from Byron's Don Juan. But why?

There are several interpretations of the connotation the word gay had in the past. Quoting from an article that I read and to which I will add a link below if someone is interested in reading it, "(The world ‘gay’ did not carry its present connotation as relating to homosexuality, though an 1857 Punch cartoon reveals that two decades after The Young Duke it referred to prostitution). William Kuhn suggests, Disraeli associated ‘gaiety’ with cheerful disposition, although Kuhn finds ‘a hint of Byronic licentiousness in Disraeli’s quotation’ and speculates on his latent homoerotic fascinations with good-looking young men (104). In The Young Duke, Disraeli introduces not only episodes from his early adult life but also presents his passion for politics. He makes a satirical picture of the English aristocracy that indulges in a hedonistic lifestyle while avoiding its political responsibilities.")

Then I decided to check Disraeli, and forgive me, I am not from the UK and I didn't know, but it turns out he has been Prime Minister of the UK twice.

Also, he was the 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, and Terry Pratchett is born in Beaconsfield.

Disraeli's sexual orientation has been questioned by others.

I read the article by William Kuhn that is cited above and this is what it says:

"Disraeli's previous biographers have noticed that there were some romantic irregularities in his past: he preferred old ladies to young women; he married late; he had a passion for male friendship. The standard explanation for this is that in those pre-Freudian days there was a Romantic cult of friendship and that love between men was sexually "innocent" (the underlying assumption being that sexual contact is "guilty"). Some of his earliest biographers (such as W. F. Monypenny and G. E. Buckle) explained away Disraeli's odd history of affectionate relationships by saying it was due to the "oriental" part of his nature. By this they meant that he was Jewish and thus partly "foreign" and un-English. They were also hinting at a Victorian prejudice that sexual license, including same-sex contact, was more common in "the East" or what we would call the Middle East. Lord Blake, whose 1966 biography is still authoritative, hinted that Disraeli was a lot like Oscar Wilde, and left it there. Two more recent biographers (Sarah Bradford and Jane Ridley) have been more comfortable referring explicitly to the homoerotic element in Disraeli's personality, but neither has regarded it as important enough to give it more than a page or two."

Anyway, let's leave his sexual orientation aside and go back to the book.

The book plot: The protagonist of the novel, George Augustus Frederic, Duke of St James, is an orphan, who has inherited an enormous fortune. The young Duke becomes an unprincipled dandy who wastes much of his wealth on luxuries, debauchery, and gambling. He wears effeminate clothes and has adulterous affairs with women. Gradually, he becomes reformed by his honest guardian Mr Dacre, and his lovely daughter May, whom he eventually marries. May helps him realize that his privileged social position requires him an extraordinary sense of duty and commitment to society.

Basically, the story follows the Duke’s slow transformation, under the discreet influence of a beautiful and benevolent woman, from a self-indulgent, selfish dandy to a responsible aristocrat who takes part in the social and political life of his country.

So yeah, I don't think "dark horse" was just a used phrase. Nothing in GO is "JUST"

Link to article:

https://victorianweb.org/authors/disraeli/youngduke.html?fbclid=IwAR0fuLb1df0cow0xgwRoah5KegHArLf7-XCHsulME5q6oCWEoJBKWr7hNVw

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

For the ask meme: a perspective flip for your "John finds a kitten" fic? Or some point in the future? Where's the bapey now?

From this ask prompt list - Also everyone needs to look at the awesome art fablepatron drew of the initial fic. Dude I love putting Chief in mundane situations, he deserves it.

-

Being planet-side without being shot at or having the Infinity undergoing serious repairs was a rare treat, one that Thomas Lasky was hoping to enjoy. Just as soon as he was done with all the meetings you get dragged to when they make you captain and give you enough security clearance to make your head spin.

Blue Team was also present, as some of this was due to their enforced R&R. They had been assigned to the local base's training facilities in an effort to keep them out of combat for more than a few days. Seeing them out of armor and dressed down was…something. Tom felt out of place already in the chair next to Chief and the other Spartans, but Hood had wanted one last meeting in before the week was out.

They were halfway through when Tom heard a noise. He would have written it off if he hadn't noticed the Spartans' body language change. There's no surprising a Spartan-II, at least not easily, but out of armor and without the helmets to hide minute facial expressions and eye movement, Tom could tell he didn't imagine it. This close he could see that Chief's hands had not left the hoodie pocket of the 4XL UNSC issued jacket, and that the pocket was moving.

Sitting next to him meant that Tom got to witness a side eye aimed at him with the skin around it crinkling along with a slight twitch of his lips. That was a smile as far as Lasky was concerned, and probably the most content he'd ever seen the man. Almost happy.

Tom doesn't see the next signal but he catches Linda's hand passing a small object to Chief. It disappears between their hands and goes into the pouch, following by eating noises and is that purring?

He's staring. He can't help it. Ship cats were one thing but the Master Chief?

"Captain Lasky, am I boring you?" Admiral Hood asks from the head of the table.

"No sir." He responds quickly, sitting upright and peeling his eyes away from the eyes now peeking out of the pocket at him.

The meeting continues without further interruption. Tom glances over one more time to see gray fur and teeth chewing on Chief's thumb as he keeps the kitten entertained and hidden. When it's over, Lasky sits there in a bit of a daze, waiting for the more important people to leave while the Spartans have their own silent conversation.

Eventually he stands up and Blue Team approaches. Chief's face gives nothing away but Kelly is smiling, Fred looks vaguely annoyed or maybe just tired, and Linda is Linda. "Captain. Would you like to meet Frederic?"

Tom looks from Chief to Fred 104 whose eyes are boring holes in the back of Chief's head. Before he can respond, Chief pulls out a gray kitten, gangly limbs and claws splayed as it mews in the light. He cups it easily and pets it as it looks up at Tom with a wobbly stance.

"New addition to Blue Team, Chief?"

"More of a pet project."

Tom can't help the choked laugh that escapes him nor the smile as Kelly smacks Chief on the shoulder.

[raspberrylmao]

other girls: blue eyes, blonde hair, perfect makeup

me: dark hair, dark eyes, weird sense of humor, scar on my lip, obsessed with knives, born on the colony ballast, is a spartan-II, has a higher rank than master chief, always on tik tok, lives in the backrooms. i am frederic-104.

[crystalsandbubbletea]

Veta: That's ridiculous, Fred doesn't have a crush on me.

Berat: Yes he does.

Yekatrina: Yes he does.

Fred: Yes I do.

[doom-dreaming]

I believe it's completely unfair that John gets freckles, blue eyes, light brown hair, AND a pretty slim waist. Like. You're a male??? Why do you get these pretty things?? Save some for the rest of us princess

Now hang on a second, guys can be pretty! And I think Chief's allowed to be a pretty princess. Honestly, he might even deserve it.

Sidenote though, it is very funny to me how the Blue Team boys are described vs. the women. Like I get having a robust description for John because he's. the main character of the universe, basically. But I was looking at Fred's description on Halopedia the other day and it reads like the description of a teenager's OC (affectionate).

Frederic-104 stands at 216.3 centimeters (7 feet and 1.2 inches) with his armor and weighs 129.6 kilograms (286 pounds) without his armor.[1] His face is described to be slender and handsome, with rugged features, a narrow nose, and covered in numerous scars. Fred has pensive blue-green eyes and thin eye brows, with high cheekbones.[4]Veta Lopis noted that there was a sensitivity in his expression and that he was unexpectedly attractive for a Spartan.[4] Fred has black hair with streaks of silver that first appeared after he underwent his augmentation procedures; he also has a noticeable scar that runs up the center of his hairline.

I mean. Come on. This is a guy I would have made up when I was 15. I have never met a single person with blue-green eyes. Oh the augmentations gave him sexy silver streaks in his hair, huh? That's convenient. Really got lucky there, Fred, most of your friends FUCKING DIED FROM IT. Unique scars? Check. But then it's also hilarious because literally in the next paragraph:

When Fred was fourteen years of age, John-117 noted that he was "not too short or tall", slightly shorter than John, and neither too muscular, nor too slim. John-117 remarked that if any member of Blue Team could blend into a crowd, it would be Fred.[3]

So....he's super hot and really identifiable because of several specific features but also average enough to blend into a crowd? THAT'S some Main Character Energy.

Meanwhile, Kelly gets....four sentences of description. And Linda gets, uh, two.

[cornerdreams-txt]

scattered halo headcanons (for the funnies)

#. Johnson and Master Chief see each other as sibling figures, and bicker constantly whenever they're both off duty at the same time and in each other's presence.

#. Fred is the one to patch up the other three in Blue Team whenever they fuck up and get themselves hurt in the process of doing something stupid.

#. Cortana thinks about Noble Six sometimes. She never tells Chief there was another Spartan before him she wanted to partner with. She thinks they might've gotten along anyway.

#. Rtas is the only one allowed in Thel's private quarters. Normally it involves a lot of shit talking other Covenant members they secretly hated or Thel doing mundane things while Rtas watches over him silently.

#. Chief really loves the color green. Even the ugly shades. Kelly thinks he's out of his mind for it.

#. Thel is silently terrified that Chief will hate him if he finds out that he was behind Reach. When Chief finds it out, he brings it up to Thel, and when he sees Thel stiffen, quietly tells him that it wasn't his fault that the Prophets manipulated him and everyone else in the Covenant.

#. Rtas and Thel are extremely protective of each other, and become extra aggressive when they get separated during battle.

#. Blue Team treats Cortana like she's family. It makes her extremely happy every time, without fail.

#. Buck catches himself missing his old team whenever he's alone. He thinks about Vergil a lot too. He doesn't tell the others about this. (Locke knows anyway, and has tried multiple times to arrange for them to work together so Buck can see them again. It never worked out.)

#. Thel accidentally picked up human phrases and slang when he fought on Earth. He uses them occasionally, and it confuses the fuck out of the other sangheli.

#. Johnson met Blue Team a few times and promptly said he understood why Chief was "like that" when he saw them bicker. Linda laughed herself to tears and Chief practically pouted about it.

#. Locke is really good at logic based puzzles. Vale enjoys teasing him for it and receives a blank, yet somehow incredibly disappointed stare every time.

[spartansagas]

Spartan Sagas 1: Vinh-030

Name: Vinh-030

Gender: Female

Born: 2511

Died: 2552

Personality: little is known of Vinh’s personality.

Appearances: Vinh is mentioned explicitly in the novel ‘Halo: First Strike’ only.

Biography: Born in 2511, Vinh was selected for the Spartan program and abducted by ONI in 2517, at six years of age. Trained and educated by CPO Mendez and Déja, and augmented and armoured by Catherine Halsey in 2525, she joined the rest of her Spartan II class in fighting throughout almost the entirety of the Covenant war. Little is known about her wartime career - it is however known that she fought during the Fall of Reach, surviving Red Team's initial descent to the planet's surface with major inj*ries. She (and teammates Isaac-039 and William-043, three unidentified Spartans and the four survivors of Charlie Company) were assigned to Delta-Red, a sub team with the goal of securing Red Team's fallback point: Castle base. She, Issac and Will were separated from the squad, but arrived at the base. They were unable to gain entry until the remains of the Alpha-Red subteam (at this point consisting only of Kelly-087 and Frederic-104, though formerly including Joshua-029) arrived and alerted Catherine Halsey (already inside Castle Base) to their presence. Vinh was presumed killed in action under Castle Base when she and Isaac detonated satchel charges to cover Red Team's retreat deeper into the Forerunner facility that was being excavated below it. Though her body was never seen she was unable to be raised on the comm, and her former position was soon swarmed by a hoard of Covenant making survival unlikely. Like all Spartans, under ONI Directive 930 she is listed as MIA instead of KIA, though in this instance it's actually true.