#Just know this account is an army recruitment account

[honey-blob]

When an Army Recruiter tries to recruit you from TUMBLR

Then After the chat, they changed their profile description from “A loving gentle sole” to this? Double ew. 

[hairyjocktf]

New Recruit

Luke was at a low point in his life. He’d graduated high school but wasn’t smart enough to get into college. He had tried working some retail jobs around but he never had the work ethic to last long in those. He had similar problems in other gigs. It had been months of him bumming around and his parents had finally had enough, he was officially out of their house. With few options left, he was desperate. While walking down the street one day he saw an ad for the military, boasting stable careers and plenty of benefits. He’d played a couple seasons of sports in school and felt like he might be able to at least pass the initial evaluation, and out of near desperation he decided to try and enlist.

He made his way to the army office nearby that had been listed in the ad, and to his surprise there was no trouble. They did a quick physical evaluation and he was good to go, ready to sign up for boot camp. Luke was nervous; there was no coming back from this point. He thought about it for a couple minutes while being stared down by the recruiter, realizing he really couldn’t think of a better option. And so he signed the contract, unsure of what was to come. 

Two weeks later he was on a bus out to the base to start his boot camp. Luke didn’t know what to expect; he’d heard numerous stories about how brutal this training would be to weed out people. The bus was filled with the strangest mix of people he’d ever seen. Some guys looked like they’d been using steroids since they were 12, some looked like they belonged in an accounting department, and some he just couldn't pin down. Regardless of who surrounded him, Luke felt out of place, and he was only growing more nervous as the bus sped through the dense woods. After what felt like hours they finally cleared the trees and he saw the huge fences that would enclose the next few months of his life.

The buses pulled into a large dirt clearing at the center of the base where they forced everybody out. A huge and built man addressed the new recruits with his booming voice.

“Privates! Welcome to Fort Eagleton!” he shouted above the noise of disembarking men. “I am Drill Sergeant Thornton, and I’ll be in charge of whipping you lot into shape!”

Luke gulped, it looked like those rumors had been true. He was in for a world of hurt.

“You’ll be under my watch and command for the next ten weeks, learning what it takes to be a soldier. First, I want to see what I’m working with. Privates! See those chalk markings on the ground? Space yourselves on them for inspection!” 

His loud voice echoed across the clearing. The men all scrambled to stand in position, each on a chalk marking that were spaced four feet apart in a grid. Luke found an open one unfortunately near the front of the pack. He glanced nervously around at the others. Some were standing at the ready like they had been born for this, but the rest also looked around with worried looks on their faces. Their attention was brought back to the front by the thundering voice of the sergeant. 

“Listen up, privates! Here with me I have Corporal Evans, a prime example of what you should all strive to become in the next ten weeks!” The sergeant gestured to a tall and strong looking man next to him. Evans was at attention in full uniform, but Luke could tell the man was absolutely jacked underneath. He could see how the coat was straining against his huge, broad shoulders.

“He is the epitome of a soldier, and what all men should model themselves after,” the sergeant continued. “I will make a real man out of each of you! That is my promise as your Drill Sergeant. However, some of you may take to that easier than others.” He began walking through the rows of men in plainclothes, observing each of them with scrutiny. Luke’s eyes went wide as the sergeant stopped directly in front of him.

“You, boy. What’s your name?” The sergeant did not quiet his voice even when right next to him. 

“Luke,” he said shakily, “Luke Peterson.”

“Private Peterson, you may have passed the exam to get here, but I hold doubts that you are up to the challenge that is basic training,” the sergeant said while making intense eye contact. “Do you think you have what it takes to become a soldier?”

“Yes.. sir,”

“Well! Let’s put that to the test,” he boomed again. “Evans! Bring me this private’s new uniform.”

Within seconds, the man was at his side holding a folded army uniform. Thornton took it and handed it to Luke.

“Put this on, boy! Let’s see how you’ll fit in here,” he said with an almost sinister twinkle in his eyes. 

Luke had no choice but to then strip down to his underwear in the middle of the crowd. The eyes of the dozens of men he had entered with were burning holes in him as he changed into the fatigues. They immediately felt too large for him but he continued as the sergeant watched impatiently. He pulled up and belted the pants before buttoning the shirt closed. They were at least two or three sizes too big, Luke thought, and he looked ridiculous in the oversized fatigues. He laced up his boots which were also excessively large and stood back up to address the sergeant’s burning gaze.

Out of nowhere, Luke suddenly felt like he’d taken a punch straight in his stomach. He collapsed to the ground on his hands and knees, gasping for air as the pain in his stomach did not lessen, but began to spread. His torso felt like it was on fire, and he groaned in distress as his body was overwhelmed. Everyone else in the clearing was watching in awe as Luke’s body began to grow. His spine lengthened slowly, back widening and shoulders broadening. His legs began to stretch and grow longer, adding a good eight inches to his height. He began packing on muscle like he’d been working out for a decade, limbs inflating in seconds adding strength and size. His chest pushed out into two meaty pecs, which finally caught Luke’s attention from the incredible soreness he felt as his body exploded in size. His eyes widened as he watched his own body fill out the fatigues that had moments ago been far too large, arms swelling to fill the sleeves and chest pushing against the now tight shirt. His legs also bulked up, adding 20 pounds of muscle as quads and hamstrings grew in and thickened. His feet expanded, pushing against his large boots. He felt a sharp pain shoot through his jaw as it widened, giving him a square and masculine face. The pain began to subside and Luke managed to stand back up, this time matching the sergeant in height. 

The drill sergeant addressed him, “Good start soldier.” He had a hint of a grin on his stern face.

Luke was angry and confused, “What the hell was that? What did you do to me? What do you mean good start…” His sentence trailed off as he felt an intense tingling feeling arise on his chest. Underneath his tight uniform shirt, in the center of his massive pecs, tiny brown hairs began to poke out of his skin. The hairs started out thin and wispy but quickly thickened as they grew longer, spreading out across Luke’s mountainous chest muscles. The hairs erupted across the expanse, burying the skin under a dense layer of fur as they grew thicker, longer, and tangled together. Especially dark hairs sprouted around his sensitive nipples, causing Luke to let out a moan as he brought his hands up to massage them. The crowd watching Luke was stunned at his actions in front of the sergeant. Some of the men closest to him could see what looked like thick hairs beginning to poke out from above his shirt collar. The fur on his chest had spread up across his collarbone and had started peeking up onto his neck, where it was finally visible. The sergeant stood watching with a smirk as Luke was lost in a world of pleasure, rubbing his nipples as hair began taking over his body. The hair was not confined to just his chest, and shot down south across his stomach, coating his new abs and muscle in the same thick rug. The hair was growing in so densely that it started to push out through cracks and seams in his uniform. 

The other privates were speechless watching this erotic display in front of them, not knowing what to do. A few noticed Corporal Evans, who was standing behind the drill sergeant, subtly mimicking Luke’s actions, seemingly lost in his own bodily pleasures as his hands roamed his body. Luke’s breaths grew louder as the hairs continued climbing up his thick neck, creating a river of hair traveling up from his chest to his square jaw. He’d never had much stubble before, just some light peach fuzz, but that was changing. The soft hairs were overrun with thick, wiry, testosterone-fueled growth that coated his jaw in an incredibly dense beard. His upper lip was next, first darkening with the shadow of thick stubble before the hairs pushed out and completed the full beard on his face. Luke’s hands moved upwards, stroking his fingers through the long wiry hairs that now covered the lower half of his face. His eyes closed as the pleasurable sensation began to control his actions, wanting to experience every ounce of this growth. The beard growth was very noticeable to the crowd as well, as men further away began to break formation and inch closer to see what was happening to Luke. Evans was in the back, feeling the scratchy stubble on his own face as it pushed out a couple millimeters, just enough to leave a dark five o’clock shadow.

Unbeknownst to the crowd, Luke’s body was continuing to change under his uniform. Luke could feel every new hair sprout out of him as the hairs spread, conquering more of his newly buff body. His armpits tingled as the follicles there went into overdrive, pumping out hair after hair. What had previously been a sparse grouping of hairs quickly became a thick tuft of sweaty, musky hair. Dark and wiry hairs pushed out of bare skin, spreading out and covering his pits in a full manly bush, already dense enough to trap his body sweat and stench. Luke stuck one hand into his shirt to scratch the growing forest in his pit before pulling it out and smelling his fingers. He shivered from the euphoric smell of his own musk that was only growing more potent. The pit hairs continued to spread and even connected with his chest hair, creating a seamless rug across his whole upper body. 

The wave of hair growth continued advancing across his muscular body, with hairs beginning to pop up across his broad shoulders. They were joined by more and more hairs, giving Luke a thick coating across his traps. The hairs began to crawl down his brawny back, knitting a rug as they grew thick and tangled across his shoulder blades. As the hairs advanced down his spine they also began covering his arms, where long dark hairs were pushing out across his triceps before utterly engulfing his forearms in dark fur. Luke watched as the thick hairs poked out of his sleeves, ensuring anyone would know even in full uniform how hairy he was under there. That is, if they didn’t notice his large, calloused hands, which had their own small carpet of hairs sprouting across the backs. Luke could feel as the hairs creeping down his back reached the bottom, where a bushy tuft sprouted up just above his waistband. He subconsciously knew what was next, and moments later he was overcome with bliss as his thick ass cheeks sprouted their own rug of dense curly hairs. He could feel how the thickest, longest, and darkest hairs were pushing out of his crack, and he reached his hand into his pants to feel the silky fur that filled the gap. As all eyes were on Luke, Corporal Evans was still engaged in his own stimulation, feeling his pit hairs push out a little more, his back get a little more hairy, and his ass plump up just a bit more.

Luke felt his now size 16 feet heat up in his boots, beginning to grow itchy. Hairs were crawling out of the tops of his massive feet, popping out of his thick toes shortly after. The hairs climbed up his thick legs from his feet, coating his calves in dark hairs before engulfing his massive thighs. The hairs came in thicker and darker as they neared his groin, where his formerly modest bush began to double, then triple in size. Thick pubes were sprouting up all across his crotch, enveloping the area in a dense forest of curly hairs. Luke let out another moan at the sensation and shoved both his hands into his pants. He felt the coarse hairs sprouting through his fingers as his bush continued to spread outward. His cock began gushing precum before it too began to grow. It had almost been swallowed up by the immense bush, but now it hardened and pushed out, growing longer and thicker. Luke grasped his growing member and felt the hair climbing up the shaft as it continued to push further out of his bush. He felt his balls swell in size and drop a little farther down, becoming coated in hairs just like the rest of his groin. 

Luke was overcome with euphoria, and the animalistic instincts took full control as he began stroking his nine inch cock with both hands, each pump blasting his brain and body with pleasure. The sergeant and everyone else watched as Luke jacked off to his own transforming body right in front of them, stunned into silence. Corporal Evans, still unnoticed, slid his own hand into his pants to deal with his rock hard problem. Luke kept at it, moaning louder and louder as precum poured out of his cock. Every stroke seemed to make him grow just a tad bit larger, just a little hairier. Finally, after a few minutes of being overcome by pure ecstasy, he erupted, a fountain of cum spraying out covering his new uniform in sticky white semen. Some of it even got on the sergeant, who seemed unfazed. Evans grunted quietly as he pumped a massive load directly into his jockstrap that he had on under his uniform. He wasn’t prepared for quite how large it would be, leaving a wet spot on the front of his trousers and leaking down his leg. Luke panted as his mind returned to his body, finally taking stock of the situation and realizing in a moment of panic what had happened.

Before he could say anything Sergeant Thornton started to laugh. His roaring laughter pierced the awkward silence that had overtaken the space for the last while. He walked over to Luke and slapped him on the back.

“Atta boy! That’s what I like to see,” He said to Luke with an uncharacteristic smile. The crowd was shocked. That was not the response they’d expected in the slightest. 

“You’re fit to be a real soldier now, and I trust you’ll serve us well. A fine specimen!” he turned to the crowd. “Look here, privates! This is a real man, a bastion of strength and masculinity who can take a beating and give some hell.”

Luke too was stunned. He was scrambling to process what had just happened to him, and that it was seemingly planned by the sergeant the whole time. His thoughts were cut short by the sergeant addressing him again.

“Well son, you’ve done good today. We’ll have to clean up that scruff of yours to get you in regulation,” he stroked Luke’s new beard with his hand, sending a bolt of lightning directly to his still semi-erect cock. “Corporal Evans will help you out with that, and with cleaning up your fatigues,” he said as Evans approached from behind. Luke noticed the darker stubble on his face and the dark splotch in his bulging crotch. 

The drill sergeant once again spoke to the crowd, “The rest of you will be assigned living quarters and shown the areas for training. I want you all back here at exactly 1300 hours!”

Evans ushered Luke away from the grounds and into his own private quarters, where he stripped out of his cum soaked uniform and finally got a look at himself. He was taller, absolutely built, and incredibly hairy. It turned him on in a way he never knew he could be, his cock once again rising to full mast. He rubbed his hands through all of his new fur, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“I was in your shoes when I enlisted,” Evans said to him. Luke turned to face him and saw a slight blush in his cheeks, and his bulge was even more noticeable. “I’ll make sure you get cleaned up and everything, but how about first we just enjoy the new you in its raw form,” he said, stepping right up to Luke and wrapping his hand around Luke’s cock. Lost for words, Luke pulled off Evans’ hat and leaned in for a kiss, grabbing his bulge and pushing him against the wall.

Maybe bootcamp wouldn’t be that bad.

This was my longest and most ambitious story yet! Hope y'all enjoy it and thank you for nearly 400 followers in just a month! Feel free to dm or send an ask if you have ideas for future stories.

[trivalentlinks]

back on my weird leverage AUs (this is another darker-than-canon AU)

AU where the events of the pilot episode happens three years earlier, when Eliot is still working for Moreau (but it's towards the end of this period, when he's already starting to question whether he can live with himself like this).

(Let's push up the timeline for everyone else, so Nate lost his son three years earlier, etc.)

Since Eliot isn't on the market, Dubenich hires Quinn as the hitter. Quinn does like guns, and is a little more cheerful, but a little more skittish, but mostly things are the same.

The thing is, Moreau, with Eliot by his side, is much more careful. Eliot never tells anyone about him, and neither does anyone else, so even though this Moreau is just as powerful and influential as he is in canon, hardly anybody knows who he is.

A few months in, the team accidentally end up in Moreau's crosshairs by unknowingly doing a big job against a company that Moreau secretly controls.

They had no idea what they were up against--None of them had even heard of Moreau, except Quinn (who used to work with Eliot on-and-off, before Eliot worked for Moreau), but even Quinn doesn't know anything about Moreau other than that he's Eliot's employer. (He knows that much because Eliot tried to recruit him for Moreau once several years back, but he wasn't ready for the commitment back then.)

So anyway, they really kicked the hornet's nest on this one, and now this little rag-tag team is being hunted by Moreau's private army led by Eliot fucking Spencer, uh-oh, they're all gonna fucking die

(Eliot and Quinn didn't part on bad terms, but they were never really friends, either. They trusted each other on the job and shared the occasional post-job meal or drink, but they weren't friends beyond that. They were certainly not friendly enough for Quinn to think Eliot would go easy on the team on Quinn's account when he catches up to them.)

(Also Quinn knows Eliot well enough to know that it's when, not if, Eliot catches up to them.)

I'm really just imagining a scene where Eliot closes in on Quinn and Hardison, and Quinn, injured and out of ammo (and didn't have a better than 30% chance of defeating Eliot in hand-to-hand combat even on a good day), begs Eliot to let Hardison go, like, "Please. He's nineteen--a teenager. You don't kill kids, right? Teens included?"

(Back when Eliot and Quinn worked together on-and-off, they still sometimes took jobs working against each other. One such time, Eliot didn't kill Quinn when his job would have been easier if he did, and when asked about it, cited "I don't kill kids. Teens are included in that," as his reason, much to then-19-year-old Quinn's annoyance.)

(Quinn knows that Eliot was just teasing him back then--older, armed teens like Quinn were not included in "I don't kill kids".)

(And anyway, based on the rumours, Quinn is pretty sure Eliot left the realm of "I don't kill kids" a long time ago.)

(But look, he's about to die. This annoying, brilliant teenaged hacker who managed to embarrass Damien Moreau (and, more impressively, has almost wormed his way into Quinn's non-existent heart) is about to die. Quinn is desperate.)

(Quinn certainly isn't expecting it when this last-ditch plea actually works.)

[sitkanir]

Hello! It's my first fic here. I want my account to be mostly Tord x Reader based.

" Taking care of you " Red army head general reader x Red Leader

" Are you alright? " You asked, your face filled with a lot of worry and curiosity over what was your boyfriend, Tord, AKA. the Red Leader doing. You were holding a plate with a selection with his favourite snacks.

When the accident happened, he only started trusting you, Paul and Patryck. It's no suprise though.

" Yeah, I'm fine. Just.. tired. " the caramel-haired man sighed and stood up from his office chair. " Did you need something, love? " Y/N just looked into his pretty eyes and smiled.

"Nah, just wanted to check up on you. I got you snacks and something to drink."

"Oh. Well, I could use a break.."

With a shit-eating grin you pulled him into his chair again and sat on his lap with the plate. " Also, I wanted to just.. relax with you. Training with the new recruits has been.. hard. " You sighed, being a general in the Red Army meant a lot of responsibility and frustrations.. but also, you weren't bored and could protect your lover anytime.

Tord was mostly worried about Y/N. In his eyes, you were the most precious thing on this planet, and couldn't get enough of you. It is silly, yes, but not for him. Even when he did what he did, you still took him in and loved him. He won't let you go. Ever.

What brought him back to reality, was you, starting to kiss his neck and gently rub his hand with your thumb.

" You know, I could just make Paul or Patryck train them.. it isn't a prob-" he started but you cut him off immediately. " No way. We talked about this. "

" Well.. alright then. " smiling he kissed your forehead and you could feel your heart pounding already.

[roo-bastmoon]

Incredibly lucky to even be here

I just realized, exactly one year ago today (May 11th) I was diagnosed with endometrial stromal sarcoma and given less than a 34% chance of survival. I'm incredibly, miraculously lucky to be well and cancer-free today. I owe that to my amazing doctors, and also in a small way to BTS.

The moment I got told I had cancer, I immediately decided to only entertain thoughts of complete health and victory. It was a pure and immediate defense mechanism and I stuck to it. So no sad songs or movies or TV shows. No online drama. No negative nellies or naysayers. No stressful projects at work. No arguments, no entanglements, no regrets.

For months, I would focus only on laughter and quality time with loved ones and things that brought me joy, even as I had to deal with practical stuff like creating a will and a pet trust and filling out life insurance forms and undergoing test and surgeries.

BTS (and Jimin, as my "recruiter") gave me moments of grace and beauty and art and warmth and giggles--and kind ARMYs gave me a sense of belonging and community, especially during a dark and terrifying time, when in the quiet of the early morning hours, the sense that my own body was my worst enemy would eat at all my mental defenses. I could switch on my phone, go to the timeline, and ARMY and BTS would be there.

If I seem to be very Pollyanna-ish or boringly polite these days, it's because I decided one year ago to focus on what I want instead of giving energy to what I don't. I know bad things are very real and they need to be confronted--of course! But I also know that depression, anger, and fear can erode the myelin sheath wrapped around our nerve endings and weaken the walls in the chambers of our hearts; that toxic emotions can bleach our hair of color and rob our nails and skin of suppleness; that negativity can lengthen our immuno-response times to bruises and cuts.

So if other folks get a thrill, a hit of adrenaline, from drama and trash talking in our fandom, more power to them, I guess. It must serve them in some way I don't understand. Me? I find meanness and pettiness draining and damaging. So I'll never do that. I'll never rudely call someone out in public or go on their blog to rant or snipe openly about members or fellow ARMY. I will just keep myself to myself and do my best to be authentic and kind and hard working.

Doesn't always work. I'm human. I will absolutely make mistakes (case in point--the campaign idea yesterday that could have really harmed Jimin. I didn't think about all the consequences and I'm so grateful to the people who patiently set me straight.) Please know that if you ever feel strongly I'm going in the wrong direction, you can always speak to me--I'll ask a million questions, I'll hear you out, and I'll try to be flexible in my mindset. You don't have to hide behind throw-away accounts or talk to others about me. I will do my best to always be kind and act in good faith with everyone. (But I'll likely still make some mistakes, because my intentions are good but I myself am not perfect.)

By and large, I feel I'm just really astronomically lucky to be here. I know the kind of cancer I had is very sneaky and could come back at any time. So how I spend my time left in this life matters to me. I want to be a source of good in the world, help other people, experience bliss and celebrate good things. I don't want to be selfish or destructive. If I start to go that way, I know good friends will gently call me back.

Like BTS, I want to connect with people and help build something worthy. So if you're on board with that, let's be friends. And if you're not, let's part amicably.

I just... figured I should probably say that... out loud. So that's that on that.

Love you guys,

Roo

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I think there are a couple of reasons why the Sussex Squad became so prolific.

1. Initially, this is between late 2015 to 201, MM spent a lot of money and time, buying bots and then consolidated this bit army to make herself popar on social. Mainly via her website and her personal+tig insta.

2. She used very strategic PR, short videos, cutsey appearances, interviews, pre-election political soundbyttes etc, to make it seem like she was very popular and in demand. Then used paid bots to make these videos and articles popular via engagement. So, then when she blew up on the world stage it seemed like she had a fan following already. New people became fans. And more bots and paid accounts padded the numbers.

3. Sunshine Sachs was a huge win for her. They literally created a fan army for her and then made it seems like a bigger deal than it was. I do think they ran a lot of parallel fan campaigns along with hate campaigns for her to make it seem like she was a bigger celebrity than she was.

4. She bought or paid off the more vocal social media accounts covering her. YouTube, twitter, Tumblr accounts. I think she also created fake accounts, dummy profiles and proxy handlers for YT, Ig, Tumblr, Fb etc as both fan accounts and hate accounts, which garnered followers and pushed her desires narrative. She created cults in either side this way.

5. She employeed certain people, who became the face of her hate campaign or defence campaigns. She also recruited the fans, made a group, and gave them directions about what to do. These individuals in turn, ran their own bots, and ran multiple accounts. Which made it seems like their were more people in the squad, when in reality it may just have been 2 people running 15 accounts between them.

This is just my assumption from whatever has become public knowledge about her more fanatic fans. And from what I know of how PR agencies manage/orchestrate fan followings for celebs.

Apart from all the above, MM also benefits from being - a Hollywood celeb. A biracial American celeb. A woman. A College educated and articulate celeb. An LA girl. Relatively unknown, pre-harry. An American. An American married into the whitest, most privileged, very well known high profile family. The underdog and the inherent bias most people have against Britain's colonial past. Being married to an idiot.

Makes sense.

[iventig]

“A new recruit? What do we would need a newbie for?”

“Soap, there's no use questioning it,the decision has been made months ago.Now quit bothering me.” Price is truly annoyed. Ever since he broke the news to his team,Soap has not stopped asking about why, when, how and for what reason this new teammate will arrive to the taskforce.

“Okay,Okay,I get it at least tell us where they’re from,I mean we need to work with them at the very best of our abilities and-“

“Johnny”

Finally, freedom and peace arrived in the menacing form of Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley. Never, in his years of work had Price thought that peace and Ghost would occur in the same sentence within his thoughts. As he stood just a few meters away from his office,and the peaceful moments that he’d get by just getting through that door, Gaz came from behind.

“Captain,outside is -“

“what time is it Gaz?” Price asked in the most nice and calmest tone he could muster. Inside his chest panic rose, as he reminded himself of today's date. The recruit is coming today at exactly 16:15 pm

“Its 16:13, sir”

“Thanks Kyle, I need all of you to go. To your bunks,or the main hall,or somewhere else. Now.”

“Why?” again, Sergeant soap thought it was a good idea to talk again and so to break the last straw of his captain’s calmness.

“Ghost make sure this nuisance doesn’t get in my way with his stupid mouth today again, or he’ll gets to experience a whole week of outside recruitment training.Understood?”

With that Price turned on his heel and out of the sight of his teammates

“Fucking bloody muppets” he mutters as he made his way outside

“Great job, Soap.Now what?”

“I know we’re all thinking the same. So, Gaz , even if you don’t want to say it, Im going to say it.We’re going to follow him, obviously.”

Soap looked to his brothers, expecting a quick response,but none came.A minute of silence followed.

“Soap,no”

“C’mon L.t, I know you give more fucks about this as you let on,so if nobody’s going to stop me,I’ll be following my Captain.”

With that he to turned in a over dramatic way just as Price did three minutes ago, and got to follow his captain way outside.

“This godforsaken scottish bastard.A’right ill better follow him and get him back before the captain does, if anyone asks for me tell’em i’m dead or drunk. Thanks sergeant Garrick.”

And so Gaz now stood alone in front of his superiors office door , neither knowing how to react to the oder given or the situation that had just occurred, while he simply wanted to inform his captain of the helicopter sighted near the base. So, he decided, he will do as told by both his Lieutenant and Captain Price, staying right where he was and tell anyone who asked that the Captain is on his Period,Ghost is drunk and Sergeant McTavish turned feral.

A rather peaceful start for them, Garrick thought.

In the helicopter, a young man looked down at his wrist, the watch showing exactly 16:14.

In exactly one minute the helicopter should land,he’d get off his seat, take his duffel bag and backpack, depart the helicopter and meet the Task force 141, under command by the British army and the CIA. He would meet his new colleagues and captain, staying with them for a exactly three months before He would be seated in this exact position, back to his home country and comrades.in exactly 45 seconds he would be on time, he thought, in 46 he would be late.

He hated being late, he despised the thought of being where he was supposed to be even a millisecond late.He knew how much could change within a single minute or even second. His time out in the fields made it even mir obvious to him, how important it was to be accountable, accurate and quick. He dreaded the thought of being late, as he knew, the seconds one waste, may be the last of anothers life

How long are thirty seconds really?

He looked down at his watch, he laughed. It was a quick moment of bitter happiness filled by empty thoughts.

29…28….27

The Helicopter landing and the small ruckus of the helicopter as it touched the ground was the only thing he felt.

16:15 exactly on time, Second.

[bonefall]

I was wondering, has there ever been anything major you've wanted to change but haven't (either so the story wouldn't stray too far from canon or would still be able to follow future warriors releases, idk if i articulated that right lol we will see)

Yeah. Sol being the main villain of AVoS.

I have to account for the possibility of Sol returning as a villain, unfortunately. Requires too much reworking, I'm proud of the theme I have, but I think it would have been super pog.

Instead of Onestar going down to kill his son, it would have been Darktail stealing Breezepelt's plan to defeat Harry, who was doing all of these terrible schemes in an attempt to impress his boyfriend God, Sol, and win him back from Fallenleaf.

Unknown to Harry it's not actually Sol's CHOICE to be trapped inside of Fallenleaf, but as soon as he learned that, he'd be nonstop trying to kill every cat in ThunderClan with his armies. Absolutely nuclear. Wants all Clan cats dead, wants their gods to burn, throwing a fit because they are keeping what he wants.

Darktail would really just be a pawn in that scheme, helping to recruit other sad and desperate cats like himself. Darktail's strength would be in talking to people where Harry would be the long-term schemer.

Anyway. I have enough going on in AVoS, it's already shaping up to be pretty decent, like I said I have to account for Sol coming back one day. But it's something I think about.

Also context for those who don't know; in BB, Harry is a vessel of a god, Sol. They go by Sol when Harry is inhabited by him. Sol eventually jumps ship to possess Hollyleaf, leading to the events of Hollyleaf's Century.

[misscammiedawn]

Back to the Future, Brainwashing and Mr. Robot

Our little journey into rewatching Mr. Robot with our girlfriend continues and we ended Season 2 last night and got to the point of Angela's interview with Whiterose.

See, Season 2 Episode 11 asks a question that the show has asked a number of times "How do you hack a human being?" but this time applies it to Angela and Darlene. Elliot's two most trusted humans. His sister and his love interest.

Is it possible for the FBI and Whiterose respectively to get them to betray Elliot?

Well, Elliot said it himself in season 1

"People always make the best exploits. I've never found it hard to hack most people. If you listen to them, watch them, their vulnerabilities are like a neon sign screwed into their heads."

Darlene even monologued about hers in the previous episode. All she needs is to feel special and you can exploit her.

But Whiterose does not exploit people like Elliot does. She owns them.

Let's talk about how she brainwashed Angela.

Before I begin I want to just mention that I am a hypnokink blog but there is a world of difference between consensual hypnosis play (I write a lot on the topic) and literal brainwashing.

My post/analysis is through a lens of muted horror because I know the tactics being employed and I want to break down the scene from the perspective of someone who reads the theory. I do not in any way shape or form endorse the methods being played out on screen.

I do know members of my community who would very much enjoy recreating elements of this scene in their play but it would be in a risk aware and negotiated manner. Full love and respect to y'all, I am not yucking on your yum. The difference is fantasy vs reality and consent vs coercion.

I know I shouldn't need to write that but I'm a hypnokink blog and this may reach fandom spaces and I want to make it clear that this sequence depicts psychological torture and it is not the same thing as my hobby.

---

At the start of the episode Angela is in the back of a van being driven by two Dark Army agents.

The plot of the show is instigated by a leak at a nuclear facility that claimed the life of Elliot's father and Angela's mother. Much of the narrative is the pair of them on their relentless individual crusades to destroy the company that allowed this to happen, covered it up and took no accountability for the disaster. In fact E(vil) Corp knew the radiation levels were unsafe and hid that fact, allowing Mr. Alderson and Mrs. Moss to perish.

What's worse is Angela has evidence that the levels are still unsafe to this day and the company knows about it. She is about to whistleblow and that attracts the attention of the big bad of the series, Whiterose.

We do not yet know the connections but we do know that Whiterose refers to the facility as "my plant". It is clearly important to her. Enough that threats to the plant are motive to kill.

But they didn't kill Angela for her attempt at whistleblowing. They recruit her. A good idea, all things considered, as she is Elliot's exploit.

It is night time when Angela is taken and daytime when she arrives at her destination. During the ride she is kept in the back of the van while the two riders stare on ahead. Angela pleads with them, screams, tries every trick she can to get their attention and they refuse to acknowledge her.

All the while a song plays on the radio.

In universe we know that Back to the Future is Angela's favorite movie. It's come up a lot and much as Darlene's need to feel special was directly referenced in the prior episode, Angela's love of BttF was mentioned when she refers to a tender moment in season 1 when she wanted to get high and watch Back to the Future 2 with Elliot.

The show takes place in 2015 by the way. That becomes plot relevant later but at this moment it's just a lovely coincidence.

When Angela has run through her options her captors pump the volume on Marvin Berry & The Starlights.

Later in the episode we cut to Angela waking from a sleep. It is daylight now and there is still music playing on the radio...

I was watching the show with my girlfriend, @soveryverytired and she is as big a BttF fan as Angela and she recognized this instantly. These musical stings are diegetic and so they are for Angela but let's not forget that we the audience are a character in this show. Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence.

Angela is released from the van and guided into a house which seems to have been tailor made to mess with her. The brainwashing began the moment she was picked up but this is when the audience gets to share in some of Angela's emotional state.

The hallway she is guided down is full of family photos with the faces inked out.

Itself a reference to the artwork of John Baldessari.

In the portraits Angela sees she is given the idea of family and the image of a family home. A place which exists in memory for Angela as she may have been raised in Jersey but she's a New York girl now who lives in modern chic apartments.

The portraits have their features removed as a stand-in for an idea. Family. Comfort. Safety. Home. Just ideas right now of course, but it also evokes alienation. There is nothing for her to latch onto. Her captors refuse to look at her.

(Incidentally I am uncertain of why they picked the people who caught Angela. Neither of them look like Dark Army agents and they do not radiate nostalgia or identity in any meaningful form. They are disparate and just appear to be people who caught Angela. I cannot place anything on them)

Angela has been isolated and kept for an elongated period of time in transit. She does not even have the comfort of human faces to latch onto.

Which makes her entrance into the brainwashing room all the more startling.

Blue, Green and Red in stark contrast with White and Black. The room is barren of features spare for the objects that are intentionally placed there for her. A Commodore 64 computer, a red phone, a copy of the book Lolita.

There's also a copy "Hang in there" poster. Angela likes motivational posters and listens to confidence tapes a lot.

As I mentioned in my previous Mr. Robot analysis, Esmail really enjoys giving us parts of the code to go back and try and look at things again with context. In that analysis I spoke of how Whiterose detected Dom's sexuality from a single sentence. Here we have a more direct decryption.

Eliott comes into a room much like this later in the show and instantly identifies the pieces placed out for him and what their significance are. These are objects from Angela's childhood home. Whether directly the same ones or replicas created from Whiterose digging on Angela's life is unknown. But there's always the implication...

Between every phase of Angela's ordeal she is given a well of time to stew in her situation and remove all distractions. She tries the door and discovers it is locked. She is given time to understand and accept her circumstance. She stops struggling in the van and lets the BttF soundtrack lull her to sleep. She stops trying to escape the room and sits in the chair.

Every step of the process thus far has been to isolate her and allow time to guide her into compliance. Whiterose likes using time as a weapon after all... it's her obsession.

Then the interview begins and we are introduced to Angela's interviewer.

A young caucasian girl in a suit with blonde hair in a high pony tail. A child version of Angela.

We don't know this yet but in Season 3 there will be a flashback of a 9 year old Angela watching Back to the Future while her mother is dying. Both the interviewer (credited as "Girl") and 9-year old Angela are played by the same actress, Mabel Tyler.

The implication goes beyond her just being dressed to look like Angela did at that age. Whiterose found someone who looks exactly like she did.

Angela's stint of social isolation has finally been given reprieve with the dignity of a human face, even if it is her own (but that's impossible, right?) and she, bewildered and confused, asks for answers. "Who are you?"

The response is "There's water coming out of that fish tank. We don't have much time. Let's begin."

No urgency. No emotion. Just matter of fact.

Time, which was once drawn to unbearable stretches of isolation has now been flipped on its head and suddenly Angela is not allowed time to process anything. She is instantly asked a number of questions.

"Have you ever cried during sex?" - "Have you ever fantasized about killing your father?" - "Are you a giraffe or a seagull?"

Any attempt Angela makes to talk with the child results in the question being asked again. (The sequence makes direct references to text adventure games also, showing that Angela has no control in this situation, the prompts will continue repeating until she gives the desired answer)

After a number of failed attempts the phone will ring and the girl will get instructions to force the test to proceed. The first time she displays heavy bruising on her back and tells Angela she will be beaten if she does not complete the test.

The fish will die if she does not answer fast. The girl will be punished if she does not finish the test.

Empathy is being used against her. A time limit and the girl constantly forcing her to engage with the question prevent her processing.

So now should be a time to mention the real world mind control techniques on display here. They're brought up in movies a lot. For a simple and harmless version of it you need to look at the Baseline Test from Bladerunner 2049 and for a disturbing but all too realistic version of it you need to look at The Master.

Massive warning on the scene from The Master as it contains exceptionally dark content.

There are a number of factors at play and I feel even with as much as I've read there are others in my community who could break this down better than me.

The obvious ones are empathy and stress being put at play. Angela is being forced to capitulate via sheer aggressive coercion. If she does not obey the child will be punished, if she does not beat the time limit then a fish will perish. The captors would be punishing the girl and killing the fish but they have framed it in a way that she is volunteering responsibility. A simple and insidious manipulation that is all too common. How often are we informed that our not showing up to work will make things harder for our coworkers? The world is rife with people forcing us to take on empathetic responsibility for those around us despite the fact that the pain inflicted upon them is only our fault in that we allow others to force us to be at fault. Life is full of little trolley problems like that. After all... can Angela really ignore the fact that this child copy of herself will be hurt if she does not comply?

Then you have the more psychological ones. Fractionation is a term we in the hypnosis community use a lot. Within hypnosis it means to go in and out of hypnotic state often enough to maximize the impact of the altered state. Long story short, bringing someone down into a hypnotic state and then up again and then down again and then up and then down enough causes someone to become more susceptible, altered and heady.

It's fun!

Emotional Fractionation is a NLP technique that is so colonized by pick-up artists that I literally couldn't find a definition of it from a google search which wasn't buried in misogynistic dogma. The concept is simple. Put someone into several extreme emotional states of varying tempo to "prime" them. A person is more susceptible and emotionally malleable when they have been through a series of these quick short bursts.

"Have you ever cried during sex?" and "Have you fantasized about murdering your father?" are both examples of invasive questions that conjure extreme emotions of shame and disgust paired with topics of sexuality and violence which are typically taboo topics, especially when coming from a child's mouth. They are things that people would not casually answer. There is guard to them. The test is forcing Angela to answer questions which no person would give an unguarded answer to and doing so in a pressurized window where she cannot fully process the questions or continue to deny answering them.

The Master clip does something a lot more grounded with its blink test. Every time Joaquin Phoenix's character blinks the test starts again. He is forced to answer the same questions over and over. With that test his emotionally guarded replies are single word answers and denials. As the test deprives him and emotionally wears him down he begins giving honest answers. It's... not enjoyable to watch.

The interesting thing about Angela's questions is the Giraffe/Seagull question is how baffling it is.

Two emotionally volatile questions in a row and then a non-sequitur about animals. Emotional whiplash. But it serves a purpose. Flatten the landscape. Remove expectation. Interrupt an emerging. Allow answers to become automatic.

In hypnosis this kind of pattern plays with call and response to train a hypnotee to fall into a pattern of reactions that we guide. There's even a method of interrupting the pattern and creating a breakdown in critical thinking that allows us to communicate directly with the subconscious mind. That's not really at play here but I can't notice a pattern interrupt in emotional fractionation tactics without typing "transderivational search", it's a compulsion in me.

Anyway...

We cut away and next time we return the fish only has a third of the tank left.

"Are you red or purple?" and Angela, sat down and exhausted, simply answers "Purple"

As before exposure and time has caused her to just accept what is happening to her. She's going along with the process now and not trying to reason with her predicament. It's easier just to answer.

But as every other time Angela has become comfortable in her ordeal, a curveball appears.

"Is the key in the room?"

Every question until now, including during the implied time that the fish tank has been emptying, was a personality question. Personal and invasive or banal and trivial. Either way this provides another case of emotional whiplash. Angela is baffled and becomes frustrated. Her emotional resilience has been whittled into non-existence at this point, she cannot help but yell in frustration.

The phone goes again and this time Girl hands Angela the phone. A digitized voice says:

"You are standing in a dark room and can't see anything. There is a torch and a match. What do you do?"

The idea of a text based adventure is already on mind but now Angela is being trained to think how her captors want her to think. She obeys as she has been primed to do and says she lights the torch. No resistance. No confusion. No attempting to get the voice on the phone to identify themselves or answer to her predicament. She is given a prompt from a text based adventure and she follows the prompt.

Every other exploit in the show used the computer analogy as a metaphor for human behavior. Now we are seeing a human being programmed to run on simple prompts.

The voice continues this text based adventure until she reaches a door. She tries to open it but the door will not open. Much as the start of the test the voice keeps repeating prompts. Not deviating. Angela, frustrated begins yelling that she doesn't fucking know but the voice keeps saying "the knob doesn't turn, how do you open it?" until she breaks down and says that she uses a key. She opens the door with a fucking key.

The girl repeats her question.

"Is the key in the room?"

Angela looks at the copy of Lolita on the desk. The artwork depicting a closed fist.

She understands now and in an emotionally distant voice speaks, referencing a quote from the book "Yes. The key was in my fist. My fist was in my pocket."

The Lolita connection actually spans the entire show and this Reddit post does a better job explaining than I could.

The fact that both this show and the book are pastiches (one of modern cinema and the other of literary genres) is relevant though. Don't forget. The Back to the Future references are in universe and targeted specifically at Angela.

The interview concludes and Angela is left to wait a further 4 hours in the room. The fish dies. She's emotionally exhausted. She's no closer to understanding what is happening or what will happen to her. Then the big bad of the entire show, Whiterose, enters the scene.

Whiterose herself allots 28 minutes to their conversation. Which if you know her is remarkably generous.

The conversation is dense.

It starts with Whiterose following the format of the previous interview by noting the lack of time and saying they need to begin before playing some quick and easy mindgames. Insisting her time is more important than Angela's and simply shrugs off her request to leave with "No you wouldn't", she's already invested this much time (against her will or otherwise) and she's going to stick around for the rest.

Angela sits.

Whiterose then berates her lack of agency in attempting to do anything with the door. That she had simply remained in the room without attempting to change or alter her situation.

Angela says that the door was locked. That it was impossible for her to leave.

But Whiterose is training her how to think. She was presented a locked door in her interview and she manifested the key.

Angela, now faced with an actual human being who will converse with her, instantly attempts to claim some leverage in the conversation by accusing Whiterose of murdering the fish (she is not shaken) and hurting the girl.

Whiterose tells her it was make-up and that the child was not hurt at all. That her empathy was part of the test.

This is a subtle one but I want to highlight it. Whiterose killed the fish. The fish is dead. But she ignores that criticism and focuses on the child and tells Angela that it was make-up and the child was not hurt.

It's a brilliant bit of emotional manipulation because Angela has come at her with two immoral and disgusting acts and Whiterose ignored one and excused the other. The deflection throws Angela off her guard because her assumption was that Whiterose was torturing a child and now that's not true. That revelation (which is unconfirmed, mind you, we only have Whiterose's word) erases the accusation. Suddenly Angela is made to abandon her accusation despite the fact that this woman did force that child to conduct the psychological torture, that she kidnapped Angela from the subway and that the fish is dead and Angela can still see it.

Whiterose then gives a mild exposition dump about Angela's prevalence in the plot and the fact that her plot armor has kept her safe when by all estimations she should have been killed the very moment her actions threatened Whiterose's investment in the Washington Township Plant.

She then gives yet another emotional sideswipe to Angela by saying that she is important to Phillip Price (the head of E(vil) Corp) and Elliot Alderson. This serves to make her feel Whiterose knows everything about her because this unknown individual has intimate details about her childhood, her current life and her attachment to Elliot and the crime he committed on 5/9.

Plus after making Angela seem so important for the fact she keeps turning up in Whiterose's plans, she instantly puts her position as an attachment to Price and Alderson. Preventing Angela from even feeling as more than an accessory while giving her a taste of being important.

She then goes on to explain Angela's mother and Elliot's father died for her schemes and that both Angela and Elliot owe their current lives to that fact. After riling her up by insulting her mother's death and claiming personal responsibility for it she says she has no intention of killing Angela but she cannot be allowed to continue jeopardizing her plans.

Angela is broken by this point. Tears burning her eyes she finally says she will give Whiterose what she wants. Destroy the evidence. She submits.

But that's not what Whiterose wants. Elliot and F Society use fear and coercion to control people. Whiterose does not want Angela's fear.

She then asks if Angela has ever believed in something so hard that she could manifest it into being through sheer will.

Much like the key from the test.

Angela admits she used to but she is admitting that reality does not allow for such optimism. Whiterose asks her what "real" even is.

...and that's the sequence.

Next time we see her she is being driven by a Dark Army car to her lawyer's house to drop the case. It's night time and presumably she went straight from Whiterose's. She's been in captivity for over 24 hours at this point.

and she not only complies with Whiterose's request, she does so with zeal and a mildly disconcerting affect.

She's 100% a believer now.

...but of what?

Can you guess?

What do you think Whiterose convinced her of? Made her a believer of?

I think you know. She spent the entire episode priming Angela for it. We saw it. We were there.

Does that mean we were primed too?

So even if Angela's brainwashing is complete. We still have the audience to think of, we're a character in the show, we sit atop the forth wall, not behind it. Don't you want to be included in the brainwashing too?

The episode continues on without Angela, progressing the A-plot with Elliot and Mr. Robot. We also get Sam Esmail teaching the audience how to decode the cypher in the novel that covers Elliot's time in prison.

As the episode comes to an end and Elliot and Tyrell are reunited we get we hear this music in the background. This time it's not diegetic. It's the show's soundtrack.

Three times is a pattern.

As the credits roll and we get a tease of Silvestri's original score for the film. That is present in the track, you can hear it in the above YouTube clip. But the song itself, Earth Angel, is diegetic in the film and yet the final few moments of the song are part of the film's soundtrack. An outright confirmation for anyone watching that we are hearing Back to the Future right now.

See... Angela heard those songs in the van but only we heard the third, final and most crucial one.

Mr. Robot is a grounded show. Up until now everything has been remarkably realistic with all of the hacking based on real techniques and even the psychology of Elliot's delusions and his DID are associated with reality (sidenote: though like most media they happily pair schizophrenia and DID as a single condition which they are not. A successful DID diagnosis typically excludes the possibility of schizophrenia. To point Elliot should not be able to see or literally hear Mr. Robot. Those with DID are aware the voices originate within their head and any visualization of the alters is typically within and requires practiced/guided visualization in a therapeutic setting to accomplish)...

Yet...

The idea that Whiterose's plan involves time travel has entered your mind hasn't it?

Like a little seed. A virus that you can't quite delete from your mental operating system.

Every bit of evidence in this show tells you it's based in reality and time travel isn't real.

...but this episode has put the idea in your head... and it doesn't really go away, does it?

Esmail's script never says it. Whiterose alludes to parallel universes and creating the world that was always meant to be. But she never calls it time travel.

But there's the implication...

Either way. Angela believes it's possible now. She'd betray Elliot and let thousands of people die for her belief. One Whiterose worked very hard to give to her.

[bangtanhoneys]

Profile

Stage Name: Grace

Birth Name: Chu Grace (British), Chu Hea (Korean)

Nicknames: Gigi, Hea

Birthdate: 14th May 1990

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Birthplace: Manchester, United Kingdom

Placed where she lived: Germany, America and South Korea

Ethnicity: British-Korean (Her father is Korean, her mother is British)

Languages: English, Korean, German

Height: 5’5

Education: Homeschooled during England/Germany, attended online university in South Korea for dance

Position: Dancer, singer, sub rapper

Joined Big Hit: 2009 as a trainee for singing (backup) and as an assistant 

Debut: June 12, 2013

Debute age: 23 / 24 Korean age

Trainee period: 4 years

Face claim: Adeline Rudolph/other idols

Personality: 

Stubborn when she knows she’s right, can be a bit insensitive when she knows she’s in the wrong 

Will throw herself into everything she can: dancing, singing, rapping, writing, reading. Any hobbies or interests she’ll give 100% to

Steady and patient, loyal to a fault and very loving

Very friendly and outgoing around people she knows, but steely silent around people she doesn’t know. Knows when to turn on the charm and when to switch it off again 

Motherly and likes taking care of people

Will stay away from gossip and arguments, unless she feels threatened then hands are thrown and words sting. She’ll be the one to end the argument on the winning side

FACTS

Being Big Hit’s only girl trainee and BTS’ only female member. Big Hits Ace 

In America or England, she’ll take over from Namjoon for translations if needed

Big Hit originally hired her for background singing and as an assistant but then later planned to make her a solo artist. They added her to Bangtan on a whim to see if it would work. Her original contract was only meant to last through two albums in case no one wanted to see a girl in BTS. 

Doesn’t like heights and doesn’t drink alcohol, prefers tea over coffee 

At a young age, she did ballet due to her mother and then moved into ballroom dancing for a period of time. Did win some competitions in ballroom dancing. Secretly learned Beyonce’s Choreography in her bedroom

Is considered the mother of the group because of her age and her motherly instinct. 

She can bake and sort of cook - give her British recipes any day of the week, not Korean. 

Born in the United Kingdom, moved to Germany when she was seven years old due to her father’s work and then the family moved to South Korea when she was ten years old, where they lived in Suwon-si. They moved to Seoul a week before her 11th birthday - her parents remain there to this day 

She didn’t live with the boys in the first dorm, instead living in a dorm down the corridor. The spare room was left for their manager

Was recruited for her singing and dancing but learned to rap as a just in case - this helped with backing vocals for the first two albums for the rap-line parts.

Jokingly called Jungkook’s mother for how protective she is of him - though she’s protective over all of them 

Her personality sometimes matches Yoongi, so they are called the cats of the group

She’s close to Seokjin, Yoongi and Jungkook - these four are called the ‘introverts’

Any solo songs she records outside of BTS is on soundcloud until her first mixtape came along which included some of the songs

Was the researcher behind the ‘Wings’ album and the stories that surrounded the album, then became the main researcher behind the consequent themes and theories regarding albums afterwards

Has a secret twitter account that follows important ARMY accounts 

Does not do TikTok so you won’t find her on there but she does have a secret account 

Doesn’t take anyone’s bullshit in person or over V-Live. Will call you out if she has to.

[humanitys-last-call]

considering the Elites that worked tirelessly to repair you a new body, where are those elites now? and how has your relationship with them been ever since? (🐙)

"It would help immensely if I could actually present them to you, but I'm afraid our route of communication is limited at the moment.

I suppose you'll just have to humor me and try to imagine what they look like... Actually, that might be a challenge. I've heard that many Inklings are under the assumption that all Octoling soldiers look virtually indistinguishable from each other...

No matter. Moving on."

"There's Helui, a robotics engineer. Those are quite valuable in the Octarian army, you know. Though they are not easy to find...

She's a bit of a strange one. Prone to taunting her colleagues, picks on the lesser Octarians like some sort of schoolyard bully, laughs perhaps just a bit too much- you get the picture. She does as she's told, though, and her work on my body is not without praise. Questionable maturity aside, Helui's engineering talent far exceeds that of her former comrades.

I do not mind her."

"Then there's Wakapi, our mechanic. Hmph. Her work is good, but some of my previous recruits easily dwarf her. Beggars cannot be choosers, however, so her work is within an acceptable standard... for now. She's very sociable and proud, and she needed little persuasion to join me at my side. Despite that, she is mildly rebellious, likely on account of her ego, and she will resist my orders at times or make snappy quips directed at me. The other soldiers do seem to enjoy her presence, though.

My fear is that Wakapi enjoys mine... too much. I am under the suspicion that she's harboring some level of intimate feelings towards me, but I really cannot be certain. I've never been good at spotting these things.

I am not sure how I feel about this one."

"Last, but certainly not least, there is Wanni. Wanni is our humble little clothing designer. She is responsible for my stunning uniform, of course. One befitting of a commander like me, if you could try to visualize it.

She is outwardly meek and speaks little, but she is incredibly vicious on the battlefield. Attacks to kill. Do not underestimate her capabilities. Wanni is frustratingly modest and is a bit of a pushover, especially with Helui, so I do find it aggravating to watch her struggle sometimes. That being said, she is very diligent, and obeys every order without question. Her loyalty never falters.

I am decidedly fond of this Octoling."

[josefavomjaaga]

Foreign languages: Eugène says something in German

In 1809, when Eugène marched his Italian army from Italy to Austria during the Fifth Coalition War in support of Napoleon, vice-queen Auguste, from the safety of Milan, tried to help as best as she could by providing her darling with German phrases he might find useful in conversing with the local population. We know that because at some point Eugène wrote back he appreciated the thought and was very grateful, yet still could not memorize any of it (plus they were now moving into Hungary where people don’t speak German – hooray!).

Yet it seems Eugène managed to remember at least some of Auguste’s lessons at a later occasion during summer and falls of 1813, when he – in vain – tried to defend French possessions against Austrian attacks after Austria had switched sides and joined the Allies. At least according to a footnote in "Handbuch der Geschichte des Herzogthumes Kärnthen", Volume 2, Part 3, about a fight at Feistritz an der Drau:

Welden, a Lieutenant Colonel at General Headquarters, who hurried to the battlefield with Hiller in order to assemble the grenadiers, gives a very brief account of the entire affair [...], but he does provide us with an episode from the events of that fateful day, which he had been told by the Viceroy himself, when he had the honour of being invited to his table after the armistice had been concluded.

Which is just so very Eugène in the first place. "So we don’t shoot each other today? Cool. Do you already have plans for dinner tonight?" But let’s hear lieutenant colonel Welden:

"Early in the morning of 6 September, Eugene Beauharnais set off from Assling with the two battalions of his Guard chasseurs mentioned above, and, guided by a farmer who knew the area, made his way through the Bärenthal to the pass where they descended into the Feistritzthal. Thick fog covered the area and the canyon was so narrow that only one man could walk behind the other. They had been mistaken about the distance from Feistritz, and thought it was still several hours away. The Prince walked at the head of the column. It was 7 o'clock in the morning when he, still walking through the fog and turning around a boulder, found the opening of a rifle pointed at him from only a few steps away. A " Halt wer da!" [Stop! Who’s there?] informed him who he was dealing with. The Viceroy frankly confessed to me how his blood froze in his heart until, from the small stock of German words he owed to the lessons of his spouse, he managed to utter a "Gut Freund" [good friend].

The vedette on the other side thereupon withdrew his rifle, and with a swift leap Eugen Beauharnois seized the man by the neck, the Frenchmen rushed up, made the vedette, a recruit of the 8th (9th?) Jäger Battalion, a prisoner, and after they had brought him to safety, the Italian chasseurs set themselves up in ambush. Soon an Austrian patrol arrived; this, too, was captured, and after due orientation, the nearest enemy post was attacked, thrown back towards Feistritz, which lay quite close, and thus the connection with the posts of the Campi brigade established. United with the latter, Feistritz was bypassed, but only taken after the bravest resistance and setting fire to the castle, not without great losses." - "What turn would the affair of Feistritz have taken," exclaims Welden, "if, instead of a mere recruit, a soldier of experience in war had stood at the outpost?"

Yes. Or if Auguste had not insisted on drilling some German words into this linguistically challenged husband of hers? Though, considering that later in Bavaria Eugène’s pronounciation was so very bad he barely could make himself understood, how could this Austrian sentry ever fall for it?

Austrian: Halt! Wer da?

Eugène [staring right into the muzzle of the Austrian’s rifle]: What? Oh, that’s German, right? Just a second, I’m sure I know the answer to that one… [takes a handwritten phrasebook out of his pocket and starts flipping through the pages]

Austrian: Look, Frenchman, I don’t have all day, okay?

Eugène [proudly]: Got it: Gut Freund. - Right?

Austrian [withdraws rifle]: Horrible pronounciation but I’ll let it go. Now take me captive already.

[ryin-silverfish]

if you are answering fsyy questions. I wanted to ask, I was reading an article, and it is said that Yuanshi Tianzun pushed Shen Gongbao to complete his destiny (because Shen's actions were necessary), so would that be a betrayal or manipulation of an immortal master to his student?

I know that most immortal teachers look out for their students, and at least try to get them out of trouble (master Puti seems like the exception to me but that's jttw). I think you also said that the immortals had committed crimes and broken the rule of not killing long before the events of fsyy, does that mean that Yuding Zhenren and Taiyi Zhenren committed crimes but they are never specified?

Interesting. I'd like a link to the article, but from a brief skim, the source that claim is based on probably came from Chapter 72:

看官：元始天尊岂不知道要此人收聚“封神榜”上三百六十五位正神，故假此难他，恐他又起波澜耳。

Context: after sending all those troubles in Jiang Ziya's way, he ambushed Jiang Ziya and tried to kill him, but was stopped and captured by Ju Liusun, who brought him to Yuanshi Tianzun for judgement.

He scolded Shen Gongbao for his petty grudge against Jiang Ziya, then commanded his subordinate warrior to trap him under the Qilin Cliff, to be kept there until the War of Investiture is over.

It was at this moment that the narrator suddenly informed us that yes, Yuanshi Tianzun knew this guy was vital in filling the 365 empty job positions in the Celestial bureaucracy, and was just...throwing that threat out as a test or something.

Shen Gongbao, of course, protested and was spared on account of his promise to never bother Jiang Ziya again, else his body would be stuffed into the "Eye of the North Sea".

He didn't intend to keep his promise, but the very act of making one set his fate in stone and meant the consequences of breaking it could not be avoided.

This sort of "fatefully binding statements/vows" is a trope that can also be found in other God-Demon novels, like JTTN. In fact, previously on Chapter 37, Jiang Ziya had broken one such promise to never stop and talk to anyone on his way to deliver the Investiture, and was almost talked into burning the Investiture by Shen Gongbao, thus Xi Qi was fated to fight 36 invading armies.

Now, to most modern readers, all these Fate and Destiny stuff probably sounds like bullshit, and characters using that as a rationale or motive, sketchy as hell/manipulative.

But it is important to remember that people in the past usually believe their own religion, and unlike JTTW where you can make a reasonable argument of satire, FSYY, in general, took Daoism and Confucian ideals more seriously.

So yes, from a modern reader's perspective, it would seem like Yuanshi Tianzun just let Shen Gongbao be a petty plotting asshole in order to complete ancient China's bloodiest pantheon recruitment program.

However, from the author's perspective, they were all agents of the Will of Heaven, willingly or unwillingly, thus Shen Gongbao was deified at the end, too, despite his punishment.

As for your second question: "failure to sever the Three Corpses" doesn't mean crimes, though killing probably is. In the former case, they could have just failed to rid themselves of worldly desires and entanglements represented/caused by the three supernatural parasites, believed to reside in the human body and lead to one's eventual death by Daoists.

[snowpetaly]

Hi, I haven't published for some time, but that's why I couldn't find the strength, energy and joy to do so. I'm not closing this account, no, it's not going that way, I just thought it would be good if I wrote something. If you know it or not, due to the ongoing boycott of Hybe due to its association with Zionists, we are ceasing (for the duration of the boycott) financial support, music streaming and other activities.

I stand for the boycott, I stand for a free Palestine, for the freedom of Palestinian ARMYs, for art free from Zionism. I will not tolerate any form of financing of genocide or this atrocity itself.

That's why I appeal to you to join the boycott and fight with us for freedom, human rights and art, which is being brutally trampled at this moment.

We do not allow silence.

Read more about HYBE boycott here;

https://boycottinfocentre.carrd.co/

Petition to sign #HYBEDivestFromZionism #HYBERemoveScooterBraun

https://www.change.org/p/help-divest-scooter-braun-from-hybe?recruiter=938662705&utm_source=share_pe

[schrijverr]

Shapest Tool in the Shed

A look into Eliot and how he views himself, his past and his intelligence.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: suicide ideation, self esteem issues, guilt, mentions of violence

~~~~~~~~~

Eliot never graduated high school. He has always looked old for his age and army recruiters with quotas to meet are more than glad to pretend they believe the kid in front of them claiming they’re eighteen.

So, Eliot disappears into the thrum of the army when he is sixteen – sixteen and a half, as Eliot will point out often to his mother back when he still calls home. Though, those calls end quickly, he has nothing to go back to anyway.

Quickly – quicker than someone his age has any right to do – he starts climbing ranks as the missions he gets send on get more and more dangerous. Eliot, however, doesn’t care. He’s proud of himself, of his skills. He might not have been the smartest in school, but he has found something he is good at and he relishes in it.

Joining the army at such a young age means that it is made difficult to develop a conscious. The violence is encouraged, ruthlessness rewarded and death is seen as natural. So, Eliot never really does.

He just moves into ops so special that he’s not even sure the president knows about them, doing things no human should be capable of doing without feeling remorse. There are truly two types of ways to go from there: wetwork or suicide.

Eliot rolls from specialized missions into wetwork with the ease of a seasoned professional at age 23. Seven years he served his country and now he serves his own bank account.

In his time in the army, he was often the youngest on the team and people always treated him like the baby, until they were out there in the field. Eliot had the experience to back himself up and while he might not have known what the hell Einstein or Newton are on about, he picked up enough skills to survive and those are way more valuable.

Those survival skills also include how to remain under the radar. How to function without being seen by the government when they have to be able to deny your existence. It’s knowing how to remain invisible, how to hide money, how to find water and food in the wilderness, what danger to avoid and how to blend in.

Eliot does not view himself as intelligent, but he is smart and he knows what he needs to get the job done. He picks up the skills he needs to survive. It’s either that or get killed, nothing special about it.

It takes him two years to build up a solid reputation in his line of work. Two years of staying out of sight of those that want him in prison and in sight of those that want to pay for his services. Two years before he ends up on Moreau’s radar.

Damien Moreau.

Somehow, it feels unavoidable that he ends up in front of the man. Anyone, who is someone in their business, has heard of Damien Moreau. Every hitter worth something has a job for this man on their resume. It’s been a build up. Something that had been coming for a long time.

So, Eliot finds himself in front of Damien Moreau. He’s still young, no longer naive, but with more confidence in himself than is probably good for him. It’s only much later that he’ll realize that taking his first job for Moreau is the stupidest thing he has ever done in his life.

However, Eliot does not realize that just yet, so he accepts the job from Moreau with a grin on his face, the amount of zero’s behind the number flashing in front of his eyes.

Eliot works together with Moreau for three years. In those three years he gets closer and closer to the man as the jobs he does get more and more brutal. He adapts to the work, growing to feel secure as he succeeds. Soon Eliot Spencer is the best in the business. No one to fear.

Being on top of the game, however, comes with an unforeseen setback. Eliot has never really been the best at something. He was good at a lot of things, physical things. But suddenly, he’ll look at the younger recruits and cringe at their mistakes, mentally mapping out how their behavior is going to get them killed one day.

For Moreau, these are the grunts that will do the less intricate work. He does not care if they live or die. Those who will serve him well, will live, those that will not, won’t.

Eliot then also realizes that he is their leader. He is the one in charge to organize their stings and these kids are the ones, who are supposed to have his back.

If there is one thing the army taught him, it’s that the people you’re attacking with can make or break a mission. Eliot might be skilled, very skilled, but there are certain things he can’t do alone and if these are the ones to have his back, then he’ll be screwed.

He’s going to have to take these kids under his wing and teach them at least basic skills, if they all want to make it to tomorrow.

Taking those kids under his wing backfires in the oddest way.

He starts to feel responsible for them, starts to care about their well being. Starts to care if they die. He has built these kids from the ground up, taught them what they needed to survive and when they don’t, it falls on him to carry that blame.

So, his road to redemption starts selfishly. It’s heartbreakingly in character for him and he’ll hate himself for the rest of time for it. But it is the step he needs.

The first time, one of his men dies on a mission and he feels guilt about not being able to return his body to his family, Eliot knows he is screwed. He hasn’t made the effort to bring a comrade’s body back home since he was 21 years old. He hasn’t cared about anyone dying since he was 22. Now at 28, he’s suddenly thrown back into caring; the emotion foreign to him.

Suddenly, Eliot starts to feel the need to get out. To get away from Damien Moreau and his entire operation. It’s not even that the man asks him to do worse, he has already done his worst and at the time he didn’t care a bit, didn’t flinch at the innocent blood on his hands. It is only in hindsight that he starts to feel sick at his actions.

Sparing the General had been self serving. Eliot might have regained guilt, but he still is a selfish man at heart and the General is his ticket away from Moreau.

So, he gets out.

He flees.

And then he hides. He hides and tries to deal with the fallout of getting slammed out of that disassociative uncaring state he has lived in for many years now and into a life of shame and guilt and fear. A life of revulsion at the person he has become.

Eliot has to find peace in what he has done, knowing he can never undo all the hurt he caused and never repent for all the lives he took. That he can’t go back to that kid from Oklahoma, who thought the army would save him from the horrors of high school.

He also has to come to terms that he never thought he would feel like this. That he had convinced himself he was above what he had seen break so many others in his line of work. Much like leaving the army, those in wetwork had two endings: remain uncaring till death or loose your mind and take your own life.

Right now, he is leaning hard against that second option, the first forcefully taken from him, all by that stupid kid. That kid, who had been so proud the first time he won a fight, who always managed to make a joke despite the danger they went into. Who looked with unseeing eyes and a bullet hole in his head.

But he also knows, that taking his own life, would be a coward’s way out. And Eliot prides himself on not being a coward. He is going to live through this, that he vows. He’s going to make it through and not let Moreau win, not let him take the rest of his life.

However, this is the moment where he realizes that taking that first job for Moreau, has been the stupidest thing that he has ever done.

Not just because of the destructive path the man lead him on, a path Eliot had already been walking before him. But also because Eliot has intertwined all of his being into Moreau’s business and now, he has not a cent to his name and will have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life. Maybe if he had gotten that diploma, he wouldn’t be here now.

He has no skills next to death and if he wants to see his redemption through, he will need money, a job. Saying yes to the contract to kill again, weighs heavy on him, but he doesn’t see another way to be able to move on.

The compromise he makes himself, is no guns. If he is doing this, he is giving his opponents a fair chance and himself room to get defeated, to take the punishment.

Eliot will never be sure what Toby sees in him that night, when he is looming in his kitchen, knife in hand. Lurking and waiting for the lone cook to return for prep tomorrow. Doesn’t know why Toby would quirk a brow at him and merely say: “Your knife form is all off.”

But Toby does and Eliot is shocked to the core. His skill in weaponry is one he is proud of, the only one he has developed over the years and to hear it be critiqued piques his interests. That curiosity leads him to ask why Toby would say that and Toby merely informs him that he’ll be cutting no food if he holds the knife like that, before showing him how cooks use their knives.

It is the second time that Eliot does not complete his mission, that he does not leave his target behind dead and bleeding. Toby lives and this time, it is not out of a selfish reason. It is hardly anything, but it feels like a big step for Eliot anyway.

He stays and talks with Toby for the rest of the night, learns the other has been to prison and the hit on his head is from a former gang buddy of his. Learns that Toby now teaches other ex-cons how to cook, so they can make something off themselves. Learns that Toby has an empty spot for him if he wants to take it.

Eliot knows that he is no ex-con. What he is, is way worse and integrating back into society will always be out of reach for him. But he is closer to them than most other people. Ex-cons often don’t finish high school, get caught up in things bigger than them until they don’t know how else to live, they know violence and the fear of getting caught.

So, Eliot stays and Eliot learns.

Cooking, as it turns out, is something Eliot is good at. It’s something he enjoys and something he can use to push out all the emotions that threaten to overtake him. He can put the guilt of what he has done into pasta, wrap up the shame in the dumpling dough, mix the fear into the sauce he’s stirring and display the revulsion at himself on the steaming plates.

His 29th year on this planet is the first in twelve years wherein Eliot Spencer does not take a single life.

He has learned a non-violent skill and feels human again. Hell, he just feels again. He knows that he has more skills than the killing he gave himself credit for. He can fix cars, has picked up multiple languages and can plan like the best of them. However, Eliot will never feel smart again, fears giving himself that label, because it makes him blind.

Eliot is just a guy with plenty of skills. These skills are limited to the physical for the most part, not things that he can put on a resume, but they’re enough to market himself. Like he had already suspected, Eliot is not cut out for the civilian life. He has tried it, but he will always feel like he is putting those around him in danger.

He only stays with Toby those first two months, skipping town after the man who put a price on his head died in a shoot out with the cops. Then he travels around the world, picking up more ways to cook food and hiding from those that still have it out for him. His name carries enough weight that many don’t try, but he is intimately aware of the ax hanging above his head and the lack of funds that can carry him to safety.

So, he decides to go in a different direction. Retrieval is close enough to his old job that his skill set and reputation come in handy and pays well enough for him to rebuilt the safety net he used to have.

When changing career paths Eliot also decides that he will no longer kill and no longer use a gun. The two rules have kind of already existed in his own mind, but he makes them explicit to himself and people looking to hire him. He is turning over a new leaf.

Of course, Eliot knows that he cannot undo what he has done. He cannot make up for it and he cannot pay the universe back what he has taken from it. Eliot Spencer is a terrible man and he is aware of it. He is not looking to make up for what he has done, he just doesn’t want to make the bloodstain on his person bigger. He allows himself to be stupid enough to believe that that will be enough for him.

Retrieval can be kind of fun. It feels less intense than wetwork, while giving the same adrenaline kick and good enough pay. People will never pay the same for a statue than a man’s life, however, the amounts would be enough to send a normal person spinning.

In his new line of work, he also encounters one Nate Ford. By the time he gets into working with artifacts at 29, Nate already is an established name to watch out for and by the time Eliot turns 31, the man has chased after him on a few occasions.

And Eliot must admit Nate is good at what he does. However, Nate should also be lucky that Eliot isn’t doing his old job anymore, because he is terrible at securing a place and often times it would have been easier to eliminate him as a threat than try to work around him, but Eliot manages.

Well, he manages most of the time. Nate never catches him, but he does outsmart Eliot and gets the stuff Eliot stole back. It’s infuriating, but Eliot knows he is not the most intelligent out of the two of them. He’s not the most intelligent out of most people in the world. He didn’t even finish high school.

Then Nate Ford disappears from the scene, falls off the face of the earth for a few months. Then falls into a hole of alcohol. With a man like him, people talk and Eliot heart aches for the loss Nate endured. Eliot knows what inhumane looks like – he still calls back on that part of his life to dole out threats he won’t live up to – and what IYS did to Nate is inhumane.

However, Eliot can’t ruminate long in what happened to Nate, nor does he care very deeply. He isn’t the man’s friend, hardly knew him.

Plus, while retrieval isn’t the same as wetwork, it is still very dangerous and with Eliot’s past, he continuously has to be on high alert or it will all come crashing down on him again. And selfishly, Eliot wants to live. He is starting to like who he is becoming and starting to be at peace with who he used to be.

So, he doesn’t really think much of what happened to Nate Ford until two years later, when the man is in charge of a job.

Eliot can be honest with himself and admit it is a surprise to see Nate playing for their team. He has always been as honest as they come and Eliot knows that what they’re doing now is far from honest work, but with the turn his life had taken, Eliot can’t blame him for taking the payday and he hears how the man justifies it to himself.

Eliot can also be honest with himself and admit that Nate is good at what he does. He is obviously very clever and a good strategist. When it all goes south, the way he plays Dubenich right back can only be described as masterful.

And another thing Eliot can be honest to himself about, is that taking down Dubenich felt good. Really good.

It felt good in a different way than a good, clean kill used to feel, different than what winning an evenly matched fight feels like, different than what a good retrieval feels like. It felt like he is actually making a difference in the world. Taking down a scumbag like Dubenich prevents people getting hurt in his path, instead of Eliot hurting people. He’s protecting them.

The payout they get from the job also doesn’t hurt. The amount makes Eliot’s head spin and his head is hard to spin after all the payments he has been offered for his services throughout his lifetime.

That check, which Hardison hands to him, is his ticket to safety. There is still the chance people will come after him of course, that will never go away. However, he’ll have the funds to disappear if they do. And what this money really does, it ensure that he can say no to whatever job he wants. It is retirement money. Eliot will never have to fear again that he’ll have to resort to wetwork to keep himself alive.

With that safety, he craves to feel more of that good feeling. He has always resigned himself that he’ll never be able to make up for what he has done and, while he still believes he won’t, the work makes him feel like he can at least turn the ocean of blood into a pool.

And it seems Eliot isn’t the only one who felt good while on the job, because all of them return to Nate, ask him to lead and want them to be a team.

Eliot Spencer is pretty sure that coming back for the second job, is the only smart thing he has ever done in his life.

Working with the team is the best thing that happened to him. All of them are highly skilled in their areas and Eliot learns more than he is willing to admit from just watching them. From being allowed on their team.

If he allows himself to be honest, he can admit that he isn’t sure why they’d want him there. He has never been a good person and they’re aware of it, at least on some abstract level, so why they would even want to be near him is beyond him.

However, he can recognize special, so if he can take the hits so they don’t have to, then he’s more than happy to protect them. He has always been better at taking this hits then thinking.

He is more than happy to protect the team, to feel like he’s keeping this bit of goodness alive. To feel like he’s doing good by keeping them safe, instead of keeping safe the riches of someone who got them through carnage. Just the fact that he is protecting instead of hurting is more than enough, he can take the punishment, repay the hurt he doled by getting hurt for them.

And he is grateful that the team lets him, that they recognize him to make the calls he has to make and that they trust his judgment in the situations he knows best.

It’s not that he’s smarter than them, he tells himself. He knows he isn’t. Grunts like him just repeat the same steps over and over again, see what works for others and what doesn’t. It’s one big dance they all do.

But that doesn’t mean everyone knows the responses, Eliot does. Eliot knows risks, one of the only things he has had to get good at. One of the only skills he honed.

So, he knows it’ll be safer for him to take the beating from Tank, rather than risk the team in one of Nate’s convoluted last minute plans after they’ve already been made. And he knows how to respond to the kidnappers when Nate and Maggie are taken.

What throws him for a loop about it all, however, is that the other seem to respect him, seem to think he is knowledgeable.

Sure, Hardison continuously makes fun of his punchy hands and how he doesn’t understand tech and Parker gets an odd amount of joy of poking at the bruises he got by trying not to kill anyone as he fights, while Sophie calls the fighting barbaric and Nate uses him as human shield more often than not.

However, when Nate puts him in as a grifter, no one questions his choices and they all assume he can do it. When a new language pops up they turn to him to see if he speaks it and when it all turns south, Nate refers to him to get them out and everyone follows what he says.

A part of Eliot can’t help but think of those kids he was in charge of under Moreau. The ones that didn’t make it on the dark days. How much it hurt to loose them. How much worse it will be if anything ever happens to the people under his care now. How easily they trust him with their lives when he isn’t the brightest out there and one mistake can end up with them dead.

Eliot feels like he doesn’t deserve their trust, but revels in it anyway. Feeling human is something he hasn’t done until he was 28 and feeling positive about being alive is a novel experience that has only come once he met the team.

Slowly, he starts to feel like maybe he doesn’t have to get their trust, their faith in him. He just has to accept it and play his part in keeping them alive.

Naturally that means it come crashing down. He already doesn’t deserve the trust they put in him and now he’s lying them and putting them all in danger by allowing them to go after Moreau without speaking up. Without warning them of the dangers of that man. Without telling them all he knows about how Moreau runs his operation.

The guilt is eating at him and he makes another stupid decision. His whole life is already made up of stupid decisions, what’s one more? He’s only ever done one smart thing and that is stick with the team, he’s not putting them in danger when it is his past haunting them.

He decides to go after Moreau himself.

Of course he still has the team’s back while they go after his former boss, he is just also going behind it, so they won’t ever get to their final destination.

Eliot reasons that if he can kill Moreau, before they get close, then no one but him will ever have to know about his past. About how stupid he has been. How many people he’s hurt. No one but him and Moreau, who’ll have a bullet in his head.

Moreau loved having him as a secret weapon, few people know he worked for him and his leaving Moreau’s side has been kept under wraps to avoid Moreau seeming weak. As far as the dirty underbelly is concerned, Eliot is still out there, doing Moreau’s bidding.

It’s not a reputation Eliot is a fan of, but it helps. He knows how the silent shadow of Moreau has kept some people off his back these past five years. Let him be peaceful. Allowed him not to have to kill again.

He will have to kill again.

Yeah, he knows that is a pessimistic way to look at it, but there is no other way to defeat Moreau and he knows it. He has spend years in the man’s operation, he knows how hard it will be to come close to toppling it over. How smart Moreau is. Should he live, he will find a way to break out and rise to power again. It’ll only be a matter of time.

So, Eliot has resigned to breaking his no-kill streak to take down Moreau. Anything to protect those who have taken him in, who somehow see good in him.

Finding Moreau isn’t hard – Eliot has kept tabs on him ever since he left – it is finding an opening to take him out that is difficult. If he had Hardison at his back to track Moreau’s digital moves or Parker to look for unseen entrances or Sophie with her way of getting close unnoticed or Nate’s planning, he might be more successful, but he can’t involve the team in this. He’ll have to do it in his own stupid way.

Not that he isn’t cautious, of course. Eliot’s one skill next to violence is risk assessment, as stated before. He knows how to not rush in unprepared. How to not get killed. It’s the whole thing that got him in this mess in the first place.

Just like he knows it’s easier if you have good people at your back, but how those people will be at risk of dying if either of you don’t know how to assess the risks. If either of you do something you shouldn’t have. He can’t risk the people at his back again, when he has the most experience in what he is doing. When him dying matters less than them dying.

Eliot works alone, he knew that back then too and if he involves other people in that sort of job, they get dead.

Naturally, this plan of his also doesn’t work out for him. The pressure on the team gets bigger and before he can take a shot on his own, Nate is already hounding Moreau and will not be swayed differently. Eliot understands Nate not listening to him about it, he doesn’t have the mastermind’s brain and he never tipped his hand as to why he might know how dangerous this is.

A part of him knows that if he speaks up, they’ll think twice about it, but then they also might just kick him to the curb. He would get that. But then they would go after Moreau without him there to keep them safe and why he might be dumb, he isn’t stupid enough to let that happen.

So, Eliot stays quiet and Eliot plays along.

However, he makes sure to get assigned to get the auction details from Moreau and volunteers Hardison to with him. He is the smartest person Eliot knows and he needs some smarts at his back before he does something stupid again. Plus, Hardison trusts him the most. He hates himself for it, but Hardison is the one that won’t question him if he has to do something and who’ll play along if needed. Eliot wants him there.

At the elevators Eliot realizes that if he doesn’t take charge now, they’re never getting in and if they do, they’ll be blown in seconds when he is recognized. So he does something stupid and gives the guards his real name and hopes Hardison’s smarts will balance it out.

Standing next to that pool, Eliot realizes that thinking he would be able to face Moreau again is one of the dumbest things he has ever done.

Fear grips him as he is face to face with the man, who made sure Eliot would never find peace ever again. It takes all his energy not to let it show. To not let slip how terrifying is of Moreau in front of him and for Hardison in the pool behind him.

Eliot will say yes to anything if it means Hardison will be able to come up for air again. If the other dies due to Eliot’s own stupid decisions, he’ll never be able to live with himself.

So when all Moreau wants is to have some General dead, then Eliot will do that without any hesitation. He already knew going after Moreau meant ending his no-killing streak.

In the end, he doesn’t kill the General. It’s almost ironic that the two times he thwarted Moreau it involved not killing a General.

More surprising is the fact that the team doesn’t immediately send him away. Not even Nate, who has witnessed the carnage that can be Eliot Spencer. The person he used to be without a soul, without remorse or a conscious. That heartless killer.

They’re a little mad at him of course, but they seem to understand why he didn’t want to tell him, how much Moreau scares him.

And when they keep him away from Moreau during their second con they run on the man, it doesn’t feel like distrust. Instead it feels like they’re keeping him away from his personal devil, so he won’t have to go through that again. It feels like he’s being protected and no matter how much his mind screams at him that it should be the other away around, his heart can’t help but feel safe.

After they take down Moreau, Eliot throws himself into keeping these people safe even more than he did before. Putting his body on the line is the only way he knows how to make up to them for the man he used to be.

He scales a mountain, getting Parker back safely. He takes a carnival ride to the face, because Nate told him to do his worst. He takes on a cartel to get Hardison back. Subjects himself to torture because Nate asks, goes back to his roots and tortures the interrogator right back when Hardison is taken again. He even contemplates killing again, so Nate won’t ever have to come close to being who Eliot used to be.

He doesn’t, though. He doesn’t, but it’s close.

When he holds the gun to Dubenich’s face his hand is shaking. Killing in that warehouse took more out of him than he thought. Not killing has soothed his soul like nothing else has ever since the kids under his command died.

Eliot knows that he will give up that peace of mind if Nate asked it of him. If the man wanted someone dead, Eliot would pull the trigger.

But Nate hasn’t asked for this death.

Sure, he wants the man dead. Hell, he wants to kill him himself. A thing Eliot can’t let him do, because he knows what it will do to Nate and he doesn’t deserve that. And if Eliot does it now, he will save Nate that fate.

He should do it.

He should go back to that far away state where he didn’t really exist in this world and neither did his actions. He should pull the trigger and kill Dubenich. Protect Nate from becoming anything that is close to what Eliot is.

However, his hand is shaking and selfishly he disarms the gun instead of shooting it as he prays that Nate will be smart enough not to do what Eliot did.

As Eliot prayed, Nate does not kill someone. The two end up dead, but Nate is intelligent and he doesn’t need to get his hands dirty for the world to do as he wants. Doesn’t have to use brute force to bend it to his will. Doesn’t have to be stained like Eliot is. A part of him hates Nate a little for how easy it comes to him.

The team moves to Portland and Eliot follows without question. He would follow them anywhere, no questions asked.

The others probably know that, so Eliot is a little surprised at the Brewpub and state of the art kitchen Hardison has waiting for him. As if Eliot needs an insentive to stay, even as Nate and Sophie start to drift off and it becomes clearer and clearer that five are going to be three soon enough.

Eliot isn’t stupid enough not to see how Nate tests their abilities more and more. How they fill the gaps Nate and Sophie will leave. Can’t help but wonder why Nate think Eliot will ever be enough without them. Parker and Hardison are smart, but Eliot’s stupid might weigh them down. Wonders if Nate is assessing if he can handle it or if he’ll be a liability.

Fuck, Eliot doesn’t want to become a liability.

Nate and Sophie deserve a good retirement, so Eliot tries his hardest to prove that he’s good enough to be an asset. He takes all the hits that come his way, works on characters with Sophie and tries to think what Nate will do when a mark just won’t bend.

The most obvious move Nate makes is sending the three of them to DC for a small con, even Eliot can’t miss that one.

The con they’re there to run goes off without a hitch, but before they can skip town and avoid consequences for their crimes Eliot gets a Call. The capital is completely deserved there, because it’s the type of call he used to get before. Before the team, before his conscious, before the lives of others became valuable to him.

Eliot can’t ignore what is about to happen. Can’t ignore that someone is going to die today unless he does something about it. He is a good guy now. He protects others. It might be stupid, but he tells the others as much and they, maybe equally stupidly, trust him enough to come with to stop it.

A part of Eliot blames himself for not walking away when he had the chance, because what they uncover in the end is way bigger than any of them can handle. Eliot knows that, the second he sees who is on the hit list. And it becomes even more clear when Vance fills them in on what needs to be done.

Vance is a military man, who Eliot worked with between 21 and 23. Vance might have been older than him, but at the time Eliot had more experience than the other. Eliot went into wetwork, while Vance was smart enough to accept a suit position before his hands were so stained, he no longer felt the need to serve.

Eliot knows what Vance has done. Knows how smart the man is and how he uses it to get people together and dance to his tune. Knows that people die under Vance’s command, just like they’d done under Eliot’s.

Hardison and Parker cannot, under any circumstance, die. Eliot won’t let it happen.

However, Eliot also isn’t as bright as either of them and maybe he has grown soft with having people to fall back on. People who are so intelligent and who have the skill to get Eliot out of situations he can’t get himself out of. So, Eliot lets them stay.

With every new thing they uncover about what is happening in DC, Eliot regrets bringing the two with him, but sending them away is impossible. This needs to be stopped or they’ll be at risk anyway and Eliot knows this is beyond his own capabilities to stop. He punches problems, not solve those that are unpunchable.

But when Hardison panics, a small part of Eliot wants to validate that fear and get him to run and not look back. Get him to leave Eliot here while he can get out of harm’s way.

But at that point they know there is no getting out of harm’s way. They either stop it or are all in danger, no gray area to operate in.

So, Eliot is more open about his feelings than he has ever been before and tells Hardison how smart he is, how amazing his brain is and that he just needs Hardison to point him in the right direction so he can solve this problem in the way he knows well: with a good punch.

It is enough to calm Hardison. They both know this is how their team works. Hardison the brain, Eliot the punch and Parker with solutions to the problems they didn’t foresee.

He fears for her life, but god is he glad she is there with them. That she is smart enough to board the train, to bring that diamond to cut the glass, that she knows to keep Hardison safe, that she remembers how fire kills it.

Eliot doesn’t mind getting shot twice to keep them safe. He can take the punishment and he can protect the people who do the good, who are righting the world. He can aid in their struggle for justice, even if it will never cleanse him of his own sins.

The three of them work well together and he has no issue saying no to Vance when he asks. Nate will be leaving and these two will need someone to point in the right direction so he can punch the problems that are punchable.

It’s only when they get to their hotel that Eliot’s worldview comes crashing down yet again, much like it had back when he was 28. Now at 38, ten years later, it happens again and in a very different way.

After throwing away his crutch – which isn’t the smartest thing he has ever done, but not the dumbest either – Hardison and Parker have supported him all the way back to their room until he can collapse on one of the beds.

He is exhausted and glad to sit down. The other two are clearly still too wired from their day to even think of taking it easy, both still buzzing with excess energy, which they try to pour in fussing over Eliot.

On an abstract level Eliot appreciates their concern, but it’s quite unnecessary. He tells him as much and they ignore him after giving him a look.

Luckily, they ease up a little bit anyway and when they deem him cared for enough, they go back to poking and ribbing him. Parker is poking his shoulder, while Hardison sends him a smug look and says: “So, I’m the smartest man you know, E? I’m flattered.”

Eliot bats Parker’s hand away and plasters on his best grumpy expression. He can’t let Hardison know how high he has him in his mind, the other will become insufferable. No need to show any genuine emotions, he thinks as he grouches: “It’s all comparatively, Hardison. I never even graduated high school, not that hard to be smarter than me.”

Instead of gloating further, like Eliot expected, Hardison frowns, smug face gone, and asks: “What do you mean by that?”

Later Eliot will blame the blood loss, but in the moment, the question just catches him off guard and without meaning to, he replies: “We both know I ain’t smart, just ribbing you back a little.”

Hardison’s frown deepens and he says: “Eliot, you’re very smart, what are you on about, man?”

Next to him, Parker nods and repeats: “Very smart.”

Eliot meanwhile can only look at the two with, what must be, shock on his face. There was a time Eliot considered himself to be smart, but with hindsight he realizes he has made too many stupid decisions to ever be it. He has made peace with it. To hear from two of the smartest people he knows that they think he is smart is tilting his world.

Much to his horror, he can feel a flush overtaking his cheeks and he looks away as he tells them: “No need to lie to me. I’m a little hurt, not in distress. I can handle the truth, you know. I punch things, you guys just point me to who. I don’t mind. We all have our things.”

“Are you playing with me? Is this a joke?” Hardison asks, practically demands. “Eliot, you speak multiple language and are skilled in so many martial arts, not to mention all your culinary knowledge and frankly terrifying Rolodex of distinct features, sound etcetera. And your grifting manipulation skills.”

“Those all require smarts,” Parker adds. “And you are very tactical, good at coming up with exit strategies and plans of attack. That’s not easy either.”

Eliot blushes deeper under the praise, but waves it away in the end as he shrugs: “Those are just skills, both of you have basic criminal skills. I’m not a mastermind like you’re shaping up to be Parker or a literal genius. I’m just a guy who joined the army before getting out of high school.”

“You keep bringing up high school like that is a measurement of any form of intelligence instead of just if you can remember stuff,” Hardison says. “Not to mention that Parker never even went to high school and-”

“She’s street smart,” Eliot protests, because no one will insult Parker’s intelligence when he’s around, not even Hardison.

“I know,” Hardison rolls his eyes as Parker points out: “So are you.”

Before he can protest more, Hardison says something that shuts him up. “And – as I was saying – I also never graduated high school.”

“What?” Eliot can’t help but exclaim, never seeing that coming.

“Yeah, man,” Hardison shrugs like it’s nothing. “Me and school didn’t really jam and Nana could use extra money more than anything school could teach me. I dropped out to help, then never really looked back. Not like I needed a degree with my job.”

Eliot’s whole view is shattered like that. It isn’t like he didn’t know that high school wasn’t indicative of much, but a part of him assumed that those around him had more education than him, that his failure started there. But that internal bias has just been shaken up.

“What you do isn’t easy, E,” Hardison tells him intently as if to drive the point home, just in case Eliot missed it. “You’re one of the smartest people I know.”

“I’ve always thought you were very smart too,” Parker agrees. “You know things, makes me feel safe that you’re there to help me find a way out. You think like me. We’re us. I like us being us together.”

And Eliot really hopes the blood loss is substantial enough that he can blame the moist eyes and choked up voice on it as he says: “Thanks, I- uhm, I’ll try to see it like that.”

“We’ll be here to remind you,” Parker informs him happily as she crawls into bed next to him and snuggles into his good shoulder.

“Yeah, man, we won’t let you forget you’re our own smart ass,” Hardison smiles as he sits on Eliot’s other side, letting their legs press together while being cautious of his injuries.

“You’re the smart ass,” Eliot ribs, aware that Hardison probably let him have that easy comeback so they could leave the emotional talk behind them if he wanted too.

“And still you put up with me,” Hardison says, letting his smile turn back into that smug little grin from before.

“Sadly,” Eliot grouches, but he doesn’t mean it and they all know it.

So, yeah, Eliot never graduated high school. He has made some stupid decisions in his life and lived the consequences, but he has learned from them too and picked up all sorts of skills that make him a smart hitter, who made it to 38 already.

Eliot hasn’t disappeared into a shallow grave before he could reach proper adulthood like so many around him have. Instead he found a family who want him there and make sure he has them to come home to, alive and well.

Quickly – quicker than they had any right to – they made themselves comfortable in his heart and he can’t be mad, because the work they do feels good and they all work well together, both as five and as three. They have found something they’re good in and they relish in it.

Nate and Sophie leaving when they do means that the others have to refind a balance. But they have been taught and mentored, given room to learn how to swim, before getting thrown in the deep end of the pool. So, they’re prepared to say goodbye when the moment comes.

And when they go, Eliot feels comfortable in promising that he will keep them safe till their dying day. That he has the skills and intelligence to keep Hardison and Parker alive until they all retire together. It took him a while to get here, but he is finally comfortable with who he is and what he can do. What he does.

Eliot is smart enough to run with the best thieves in the world that more than counts as being intelligent in his book. And it’s not like Hardison or Parker let him forget it, they’re stubborn like that.

[richardsphere]

Leverage Log: the Lonely Hearts Job

Well with a name like that, im expecting this to either be about con-artists cheating people on E-harmony, or a legitimately tragic story about love and/or loss...

---

Ok so Rich man arrives with armed goons (heck of a way to make a fist impression) and is crying within 2 minutes of the episode starting... I've said before that i want to see more of the marks' humanised so this promises to be an interesting episode. Nate: "There's no evidence of wrongdoing, She left you" Sophie (to nate): "thats harsh" Wellesley the fourth: "no it isnt".

This is a guy who knows how it looks, understand that it looks that way and acknowledges it openly. Its nice to see us go from last episode's overly naive Hurley to one of the more competent clients we've seen so far. "Whatever you want... its yours. Just find my wife".

I wonder whats going through Nate's mind in this moment. Here's a guy he's been scouting as a mark begging to be taken as a client...

Gut feeling: The second wife (the one who is missing) was actually the type of golddigger it looks like, but accounting for episode name. Its gonna be one of those "the mask grows to fit you" situations where they actually fell for the guy.

---

So Hardisons analysis implies this guy is like, legit as clients go. He's inherited old money not new money, which is the difference between "evil billionaire CEO" and "Born with privilege, gonna use it how I can". Basically: His great granpa would've been a Leverage mark, but he himself is a legit philantropist.

Meanwhile missing wife may in fact be a black widow. (luckily this client has his own goonsquad to protect him, so we dont need to leave Elliot behind to protect him)

---

Parker extremely annoyed she's not allowed to steal any of the rich folks' jewelry at the auction. The Boys deciding to have an auction-shaped dick-measuring contest.

Hardison wins the bid, we are reminded that one of Sophie's aliases is a duchess.

Ok so its an entire army of Sophie's.

Need to fight the ringleader, "pick a fight with Hardisons date". Well she did what you asked her to!

--- "I promise next time, i'll use the word argument instead of fight." Clear Comunication! If only people IRL would learn this lesson.

And once more the little Parker moments "what's a Hohe Minnie?", she's consistently the only member of the Young Thieves who takes an interest in the other people's jobs in the cons they're running. She's definitly being primed as Nate's eventual replacement (wether permanent or temporary).

---

Nate's pajama's. Sophie is loving the idea of a con where Nate has to "pretend" to wine-and-dine her.

I agree with Elliot, the moment it turned out they were grifters, the bet was off. But also, like that we once again get a nod at his cooking skills. "do you want me to teach you about the wines again?" "thats hurtfull and presumptious... but yes."

--- I love the way that Elliot punching the guy out is framed as a shot, good transition. Elliot bribing the guitarist, photographers commentary is great. "I picked you", such a simple statement, Every other member of the group was recruited by Dunevich, but Nate brought Sophie.

---

They found the wife. Suprisingly she isnt dead. (Meredith seems competent enough to tie off that loose end, and i think she could've exposited on the similarity to Nate falling in love with "The Duchess". But then, without recovering the wife Nate doesnt get to have a Favor for use in the season climax)

Seeing the gifts... Im 100% certain Elliot improv'd the guitar as well, that wasnt actually a Nate plan. Just Elliot.

Final tease with Latimer, he's a bit too much of a nothing-character to be truly intimidating, which means either the showrunners are making a mistake somewhere, or he's about to take a big fall to sell the credibility of the guy who he just called. Wait.... i just got a brainniggle. The story he tried to spin to Nate: "Someone stole a guy's patents", thats the same lie used in episode 1 of season 1. This in the same episode that had a reminder about the difference with Sophie and the other members of the team (on the subject of how they joined the team)

Is Latimer working for the Episode 1 mark? Or is my brain just doing that "i've connected the dots" meme?

Guess i'll see in time.