#those are the only options the government leaves us like that's just completely insane

[apoloniaspiegelgold]

Oh i am so sorry to hear about your living situation. All the best to you ❤

Thank you! <3

Let's hope the government does a 180 and finally starts listening to us during the current reform of the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz and stops actively sabotaging its own education system and deliberately making us researchers lose our jobs permanently three years after the PhD. They are so insane for this.

[sloptime]

Ok but the thing is the thing is, you're kinda misrepresenting the game

(incoming long post)

Tl;Dr: To me, someone familiar with HtR, it seems you have a fundamental misunderstanding about what the game is all about. I urge you to give it another chance and reconsider your opinion.

HtR isn't about playing superheroes or holy warriors and it's not a game about playing the oppressor if anything it's the opposite. On a meta level I would say one of its major themes is empathy, considering how callously, cruelly even, humans are treated by the other splats. It's about putting yourself in the shoes of a normal person finding out they live in the world of darkness

You might say the imbued aren't normal people. They aren't crusaders on a mission from God to purge the world. They aren't angelic warriors or battle priests or tier one operators or government spooks. They're bus drivers, garbage men, plumbers, lawyers, doctors, cops, firefighters, paramedics, sons, daughters, wives, husbands, human beings who've had their eyes forced open by something utterly beyond their comprehension and forced to act.

Sure they have extraordinary abilities but they also have friends, a family, a dog, a shitty job that they need to make rent on their shitty apartment, they're still entirely normal people. The powers themselves aren't even that good and only serve to turn the tide in a pivotal moment (hence the name, edges. An edge up on the supernatural), a hunter couldn't get by just using the powers because they A. Are limited by conviction, basically the fuel for the powers, B. Terrifying and slowly drive you insane, C. Won't be able to stop a pissed off vampire from ripping you in half. The game gives many options for approaching the supernatural, whether you want to kill the monsters, save them from themselves, find common ground and maybe even peace, or just protect you and yours, there's an archetype for that.

Considering that you said you only skimmed it, I highly recommend giving it another shot. HtR has stellar writing, it's honestly a great read. The characters are varied, down to earth, and compelling and the tone is so oppressive and conspiratorial, the horror works in my honest opinion. Besides some mildly problematic writing (I chalk it up to it being a product of it's time) I really have no problem with it. I think it would be worth your while.

By superhero I mean someone who has power without also being a monster. I did read about the messengers, and while they leave things up to interpretation, I think their choice of imagry and their name 'the reckoning' makes it pretty obvious what they're alluding to. Of course, all white wolf games need a degree of positive interpretation and erasing of some lines to enjoy, but I am just not the kind of player who's gonna enjoy it. I don't really like playing Mages, Mummies or sorcerers either for the same reason, power without enough consequences. You're not a monster unless you choose to be one, it's just not what I go to World of Darkness for.

I do appreciate WoD characters who are normal people, I admit I find it a lot more compelling when Janet the Secretary is forced to become a Ventrue than when Janet the Secretary gets some superpowers and realizes there are monsters to fight. I'm sure it's full of some compelling writing, these games always are, but if you're not tainted by the power you've been given, I just don't see the point in making it a Gothic Horror game. I'd rather play those kinds of characters in more straightforward fantasy or sci Fi adventure games, and if I am gonna be not a tainted monster, I want to be a completely normal person with no supernatural powers at all.

While I do feel compelled to criticize what I see as reactionary tendencies inside these games, I'm not calling you a bad person for liking them, I'm just posting my feelings on my blog here. So by all means, enjoy your taste, it's just not what I'm interested in..

[springcrafter]

This is going to be a personal post, the sort is that's completely about me and my thoughts and life story (slightly obfuscated because I'm not going to doxx myself over here). Don't think for a second this means that I'm ignorant or dismissive of anything that's going on around me; it doesn't lessen my personal trauma and if anything, it makes it even worse.

tl;dr - I'm in pain beyond words. I'm so furious and distraught that I can't even begin to be afraid.

I once spent six blissful months in a particularly safe European city. For the first time in my life, I knew what it was like not to experience existential anxiety. Existential anxiety was always present in my life to the point I thought it was the normal way to be. It was there as I grew up in an unsafe city (for everyone, but for Jews in particular), and then after fleeing to Israel when it was clear I would not be able to make any sort of life worth living for myself in a country that never saw me as one of their own.

It also dawned on me that loyalty to a place is the norm. Everyone around me had a home in their towns and cities, or simply their countries, that they had absolutely no interest in leaving behind. Most people are not uprooted once a generation (if lucky) to start over anew - and most nations don't go through this for 2000 years straight.

For at least three generations back, everyone in my family has migrated twice in their lives. A few times by choice (and I use that word loosely) but mostly because of generalized persecution and personal threats. Come and tell me with a straight face, then, that you know what it's like to walk in my shoes. Tell me with a straight face, that I should "just leave" as if there was no Antisemitism whatsoever in the ideas of the Wandering Jew and dual loyalty, or the belief that we're sitting on the sort of piles of cash and resources needed for sustainable immigration.

As for me - I was born rootless. My dad let it escape that I was conceived while my family was transferring their life elsewhere, after he received a personal threat that put the entire family in danger. We got lucky that one time - there was somewhere we could go. But it was not by choice.

The second time, twenty years later, saw the openly Antisemitic government actively destroying hour livelihood. With everyone but me being either aging or severely disabled - we only had one option. Only one place where we could go. I got here before, desperately wishing to belong somewhere, anywhere, as a Jewish immigrant. Except that when I understood there was nothing to go back to, I realized there are no roots under my feet. Not here. Not anywhere.

I often thought of myself as uprooted but I keep wondering if I ever set any roots at all.

I was fortunate in countless ways - I consider myself a lucky person and I count my blessings at every opportunity. Right now, though, I'm not okay. I would be insane if I were. I'm not okay, and no one around me is okay, and I don't know if I'll ever be.

Because there are people who think being pro-Palestine or pro-Israel is like your run-of-the-mill shipping war or sports rivalry, when what's at stake is human lives, including mine. As if one side had to be 100% right and the other 100% wrong. This obsession with "picking a side" is disturbing to me.

(The way I have always seen it, there are two sides - those who benefit from this conflict and treat it as a chessboard, and everyone else. Because when I hear the testimonies of the Palestinian people who were violently uprooted, who have been purposefully kept disenfranchised for nearly a century not only by their enemies but their own allies - I feel that in my bones, far deeper than anything anyone in my leadership has to say. Because we're more similar to one another than to our respective leaders, and they keep us busy hating one another because they don't want us to see that.)

Yes, I'm furious, because so many of you are willing to ignore that high politics are at play, and that this stage of the conflict (October 7 onward) was never about Palestinian freedom. The Israel-Palestine conflict has become a proxy war for bigger fish. It's no longer about us. We're their pawns. But that's not as appealing to emotion as the Palestinian cause, and not the sort of black-and-white narrative people love to latch on to.

Because there are people saying with a straight face that October 7 was perpetrated by Israel against our own. That's a baby step removed from Holocaust revisionism. I've always poked fun at my friend for letting themselves be bullied by the youth; this is the first time I'm genuinely scared of them.

Because Free Palestine, which is about the right of the Palestinian people to live a free life in this land, has genuinely Antisemitic people within their ranks and they are not being held accountable by the broader movement. They are platformed and followed and being allowed to dictate what is and isn't Antisemitism (surprisingly moving goalposts after October 7) - as if anyone who isn't Jewish had the right to define what is or isn't Antisemitic.

Because genuine Antisemitic sentiment is rampant among the general Palestinian population as well, but that is never taken into account when discussing the possibility of peace in the region. "From the river to the sea" is a phrase used by both sides in an ethno-nationalistic manner, and whoever pretends it isn't is outright, knowingly lying to you. There are people on both sides who won't accept peace unless the other side is dead. That is just a fact.

I'm furious, because some of you find this selective blindness acceptable. Because some of you genuinely think that displacing half the world's Jews is any form of solution. Because I have been told "if you don't want to be killed, just leave".

Just leave. Sure. We have been doing that for 2000 years.

There are no roots under my feet, but no wings on my back either.

Because we apparently "control the media" (Antisemitic trope as old as time) but it's extremely clear how little control we have of the narrative - not that I think this is the sort of narrative that should be controlled by anyone.

(A good rule of thumb is that if a turn of phrase or a general idea sounds icky when you replace "Israel" with "half the world's Jews" - it's most likely Antisemitic. Things like blocking Israeli netizens for no reason other than them being Israeli, calling us conquerors when generally we came here as refugees - that is all rooted in Antisemitism, and if you refuse to even consider that idea, you should be taking a good look in the mirror and ask why.)

Because everyone accepts that Hamas runs the Gaza Strip in a brutally repressive manner not unlike North Korea (talk about an open-air prison) where freedom of expression is quelled, but everyone believes their officials blindly.

(Another good rule of thumb: If you believe blindly what one side says and label everyone else as liars - you are a victim to propaganda.)

I'm seething, because the concept of nation-states is inherently European, and it was forcibly imposed upon much of the world in an act of Neocolonialism that areas like the Middle East and Africa will never recover from. Because the Middle East was broken into arbitrary pieces precisely as an European tactic to divide and conquer post-World War 1, and Britain controlled this land and fueled the local conflict until their departure post-World War 2 (whether that was ineptitude or malice, I don't care).

But it's easier to blame 'those savages' in the Middle East rather than force your own to take accountability for all the pain and misery they brought into the world - pain and misery created precisely so you, yes you, living in the Imperial core, could benefit from it.

Furious, because the "solution" to Antisemitism in Europe was to ship the Jews off elsewhere (after taking everything we owned and making it nearly impossible for us to go back) - and now they don't want us here, either. Yes, horrible things are being committed by our own, and we are unequivocally holding our leadership accountable - but you would rather think we are a monolith; that makes us easier to hate.

(I fear that the inevitable accountability will make our leadership prolong the war for as long as they can - there's nothing more that Netanyahu fears than the day after.)

Because I have been labeled as "one of the good ones" before, several times, as if that train of thinking alone wasn't inherently discriminatory. As if the "good Jew" as one who accepts their fate passively wasn't yet another Antisemitic idea.

Because people seem to care about Palestinian lives but say little about the allies using them as proxies. Because people only care when they can justify their hatred for (cannot stress this enough) half the world's Jewish population.

I'm holding the anger of two-thousand years of rootless ancestry and you don't get to tell me how a mile on my threadbare shoes should be walked. Not now, not ever.

[gch1995]

I don't get how people have jokingly compared Obi Wan to Jesus when Anakin is literally Space Jesus complete with a force-induced virgin birth

Anakin’s a dark and tragic subversion of the “chosen one” trope because as inexcusably awful as he did become at his worst, at his best, he displayed all of the same amazingly brave, idealistic, empathetic, kindhearted, loyal, and selfless heroic traits that Luke did in the OT. The amazingly good side shouldn’t have ever gotten so deeply pushed down underneath this ugly darkness he developed because Anakin had so much potential to only ever make the galaxy a better place instead. If only he’d had more self-confidence in his own conscience and personal agency like his mother taught him after leaving Tatooine, had healthier support from those with positions of authority over him in his life to work through his anger, fear of abandonment, and trauma, and had more viable options outside of the Jedi Order and Sith, and he hadn’t spent his entire life being conditioned to be a useful tool or weapon for corrupt and misguided authority figures.

I don’t think Anakin is completely blameless via reason of insanity. He had a conscience, regardless of the mitigating circumstances, and he made the decision to deny it after a while in his fear of abandonment, anger, fear, and self-loathing.

However, his actionable agency definitely was always compromised by abusive, corrupt, manipulative, and emotionally negligent authority figures his entire life and a lack of resources outside of the Empire and broken Jedi Order and Republic. His sanity is definitely not all there either by AOTC, ROTS, TCW, and the OT era. Anakin seems to have poorly treated/severely neglected symptoms of BPD and especially CPTSD from a lifetime under systematic abuse, crime, emotional neglect, exploitation, and oppression under corrupt authority figures from whom escape either technically was and/or he was made to feel were inescapable.

Not a whole excuse for his crimes, of course, nor did anyone deserve them, but when someone turns out to be a horrific human disaster as an adult after spending their entire lives with compromised agency and emotional as a slave, child soldier, and member of abusive, corrupt, and oppressive cults that are systematically enabled and perpetuated by the governments in power they are under “for the greater good,” then it’s not fair to blame it all on just that person for becoming and remaining a dangerously emotionally/mentally unstable monster under that abusive, corrupt, manipulative, and oppressive authority when all the odds were steeply stacked against them for making morally correct decisions that ensured safety, anyway.

As for Obi-Wan, forget fact that he can’t technically be a “chosen one” because he wasn’t born to his mother via a miraculous virginal conception, and because he wasn’t foretold to fulfill a destiny. Forget the fact that being a “chosen one” in fiction doesn’t automatically equal a character being or becoming a good person themselves.

Let’s just focus on the fact that complex, relatable, and well-developed characters will have actual individual aspirations, goals, interests, and personalities apart from just asskissing those with power of authority over them to fit in and get ahead with the elites in their cliques and cults. Let’s focus on the fact that if a well-written character is meant to be heroic and/or have an atonement or redemption arc, then we will actually see them have growth and self-realization of their flaws and self-improve on screen. Let’s focus on the fact that flawed but static and flat well-written characters who don’t change in the narrative or learn from their mistakes won’t get the hero treatment at the end just because they did something good for someone else to get validation and reward from an authority figure who tells them it’s “for the greater good.”

Obi-Wan never was never portrayed as a horrifically evil monster at his worst because he was such a Yoda ass-kisser, but he was never portrayed as being a particularly good person who accomplished amazing acts of heroism at his best either because he largely defined the entirety of his life to blindly serving Yoda and the Jedi Order at the cost of giving up any opportunities to explore, get invested in, and self-improve through any other hobbies, interests, friendships, relationships, and possibilities outside of them, particularly after Qui Gonn died.

He’s a good example of how fitting in with the “right” side does not automatically equal being a hero when your heart’s only in the game to fit in and get ahead in class by being a conformist and kissing the teacher’s and cool kids asses. I’m not sure if he ever gets away with it because, I mean, look at what happened to his relationships with Anakin and Ahsoka in the prequels. Look at how Anakin survived the fire and became Vader because he couldn’t commit to either killing or not killing him in his anger, cowardice, and indecision. Look at how he was framed as wrong to deceive and manipulate Luke in the OT movies.

Obi-Wan is still essentially supposed to be the “good guy,” but he never really seems to have an arc of growth, self-realization, or regression either. I get why it was partially necessary for Luke’s and Anakin’s arcs as the main characters of the OT and PT movies, but it always bugged me that Obi-Wan and Yoda never actually had that moment of self-realization and growth on screen.

[lazyliars]

The Quackity Meta: a Tale of Two Absolutes

More than anything else, Quackity wants control, and to never, ever lose his own autonomy. And that is why he despises Technoblade.

But wait, how is Technoblade a threat to Quackity's autonomy? Techno is all for individual freedom! He wants to eradicate the government so that no one can be controlled!

There's the question though... How do people exercise control within the framework of a video game like m/inec/raft?

“a person exercising power or control in a cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary way.”

Power on the Dream SMP cannot be translated one-to-one with real  life power. In real life, yes, a government had infinitely more power than an individual, for numerous reasons. But on the Dream SMP, the government's power is always directly tied to the power of the individuals who are willing to defend that power.

Technoblade is powerful. This is not debatable. How he uses this power, historically, has been a mix of generosity and self-interest*, although primarily the latter.

Generously, He gains resources and then distributes them to his allies during the Pogtopia Rebellion, gearing everyone up and giving them a fighting chance against Dream. However, in the aftermath of Tubbo's being appointed president, Techno turns on them, swiftly and mercilessly. The moment that it becomes clear** that Pogtopia's interests don't align with his own, he crushes them with the aim to prevent them from ever recovering.

( *I use self-interest as a neutral term here. Everyone on the SMP is selfish to some extent – it doesn't make them evil, and in fact has been treated as a positive at times, as well as a negative.

**I want to note that whether or not Technoblade knew of Pogtopia's goal of reinstating the government is unclear. It would seem that from Techno's POV that he didn't know, or assumed that it was a minority who wanted another government. But on the other hand, no one was actively lying to him about their intent, and people like Tommy and Quackity made their goals very clear.  Further doubt is cast on the idea that Techno had no idea when you take into account that he enchanted the Netherite armor in the vault with worthless enchants like Fire Res.

Ultimately, there's no way to know until it is confirmed by cc!Techno himself, and it doesn't pertain that much to this analysis, but I'm aware that it's a hotly debated topic so I wanted to address it.)

It can be argued that Techno's destruction of L'manberg, both the first and especially the second time, was necessary. It can also be argued that it was cruel and a disproportionate retribution against both culpable and innocent parties. Extant of these arguments however, how does it feature into control?

Well, we can’t talk about control without mentioning the most controlling force on the server and the other person on Quackity's hitlist, Dream.

Dream is a tyrant. I don't think anyone can really make an argument against that in good faith at this point. He ticks off every box, no matter how vague or esoteric. This makes the interactions that Quackity and Techno have with him very interesting.

Quackity despises Dream. He's one of the earliest adopters of the hating-Dream-train, to the point that some people have compared him to Cassandra, a priestess who was cursed with the vision of prophecies that would always be true, but never believed. And indeed, Quackity's apprehension of Dream comes in as early as Pogtopia, and grows at a steady pace after the fact.

But despite his rightfully calling out Dream's hypocrisies and his controlling tendencies, Quackity was largely ignored on this front, especially when the time came to exile Tommy and Quackity basically predicted the next arc – If they gave Dream this concession, they would never be able to get out from under his thumb. Flash forwards to the Green Festival, and the moment Tubbo hands over the discs, any illusion of nicety drops and Dream proceeds to destroy them, side by side with...

Technoblade has always had an amiable relationship with Dream. From their first proper interaction on the server being Dream giving Techno some hefty resources, to their snap team-up on Doomsday, they've had a smooth time, with some notable bumps.

Techno fought against Dream during the Pogtopia rebellion, but when it became clear that Dream was more invested in chaos than his other allies, Techno temporarily allied with him to summon the Withers and drive the nail deeper into Manberg’s coffin.

The only time Techno has really bothered to challenge Dream directly is when he came for Tommy in exile. Techno went to great lengths to protect Tommy, hiding him and distracting Dream.

He did give Dream the option to call in his favor and take Tommy, but there are arguments to be made that he did this more as a challenge – that Tommy is worth the favor. Again, we probably wont ever know.

The difference in their relationships with Dream is polarizing. It also reflects the difference in personality – Quackity is an aggressive, ambitious person, whereas Techno leans more towards passivity and caution. Quackity is looking for enemies to challenge, where Techno is avoiding them, people who actually stand a chance against him most of all.

Technoblade is an individual with extraordinary amounts of power. Others have pointed out that he is rarely challenged by other characters or the narrative, and regardless of the merits or flaws in that, it paints him as nearly untouchable. His being in the good graces of Dream only adds to this.

And like with Dream, the only way that people have been able to threaten Techno is when they work together. The Butcher Army, for all it's flaws, managed to capture Techno through numbers – with Tubbo and Fundy (barely) holding off Techno's blood rage while Quackity snuck off to take Carl hostage. And they would have gotten away with it too, if the other most powerful person on the server hadn't stepped in – both by pointing Techno to a totem of undying in the days before the attack, and by getting Punz to cause a distraction and directing Techno to the final control room, where he could escape with Carl.

So, if the most powerful person in the world can only be threatened by people working together, and the most common form of organization is by government, then what does it say about Technoblade, who wants the government destroyed?

People like Tubbo, Fundy and yes, Quackity, all benefit from organizing and working together. They all tend to be less armed, less ready to defend themselves, and completely unable to stand up to titans like Techno and Dream on their own. It's safety in numbers, but it's also control, and control is power.

Ranboo's insistence that Snowchester is a Government is interesting when viewed through this lens. Ranboo is another person who is insanely rich, and able to defend himself and his belongings consistently. Ranboo doesn't need other people to defend him – he's living with Techno and Phil not out of necessity for his survival, but out of need for connection with others.

This seems to be the main difference he finds with Snowchester, which has a more structured environment, geared to defend itself and it's people, if harm should come their way.

Which makes sense, considering it's founder, Tubbo, holds no earthly belongings, and Jack, another prominent member, has made a character trait out of losing his things every other day. The two of them have no conceivable way to defend themselves against people who are stronger than they are. But together, holding the keys to nuclear armaments, they can suddenly play on the field of gods.

The anarchist commune, despite having all members working together and being on good terms, aren't really an organization, they're individuals with common goals and interests. They don't need to live together to be strong, they're all already strong, they choose to be near each other because they want to.

Snowchester is not a government and has no ruler, but together, it's members hold power. They have sway in the world when they work as a collective, and most members have a vested interest in keeping themselves and each other defended because of this. Consequently, the “identity” of Snowchester becomes more prominent, resulting in the flag, the uniforms and the, well, identity.

(Now, the more perceptive among you might have noticed that I basically just compared Techno Phil and Ranboo to the ultra rich 1%, which. Um. Is a pretty serious comparison to make about in a block game rp?

And I wanna say that I don’t think this was necessarily intentional on the parts of either the CCs or the characters, and beyond that, it’s just one way of examining the text. This analysis is by no means the “Right” way to view the story, just a different one.

Regardless...)

Techno uses his considerable power to further his own goals, first and foremost. This is not inherently good or evil, it just is.

Contrast with New L'manberg's cabinet; Four people, pooling their limited power to further their shared goals. Not good or evil, just a way of exercising power.

But power is not static. Power is fluid and changing, moreso now on the SMP than ever before, and Quackity and Technoblade are fighting to define what Power means going forwards.

Techno is fighting for the status quo, knowingly or not. Individuals with power should lead the world, and those without should strive to emulate their betters. He destroys all forms of government, which strip away the rights of the individual in exchange for hierarchy and consolidated power within that hierarchy.

At it's best, this is a very freeing ideology, where nothing and no one can hold back the individual. The world is your oyster if you are willing to work for it.

But at it's worst? “Violence is the only universal language,” is the key phrase. Where does this ideology leave people who aren't strong? Where does it leave those who cannot fend for themselves? If Violence is the only universal language, then the weak have no means to speak.

Quackity is fighting to get a foothold for a contrary ideology – One that prioritizes words over violence and offers alternative methods of gaining and exercising control, such as through currency and conversation. Quackity has tried to varying degrees of success to implement this on the level of his own individual power, such as during the elections, but his attempts at employing this on a grand scale have all been short-lived.

At it's best, this ideology can uplift anyone, regardless of their strength. It encourages more communication, more commerce, and thrives under, you guessed it, strong government.

At it's worst however, it creates a brutally controlling environment. Where a few people gain absurd amounts of power through the complex machinations of a fiat currency, and are then able to use their sway and influence with governing forces to exercise power that they would never be able to hold on their own.

Again, neither of these ideologies are inherently good or evil. They both have flaws and benefits, and benefit no one more than perhaps Techno and Quackity respectively, while hindering the other.

Techno is benefited by anarchy because he holds incredible amounts of individual power. He is the strongest person on the server, he is rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and on a meta level, he's straight up good at the game. The current status quo puts him firmly at the top of the food chain, and this is most obvious on Doomsday, when he and the other two most powerful individuals (Dream and Philza) come together and crush the combined forces of New L'manberg. They are not meaningfully challenged in any way, whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Quackity is deeply hindered by the current status quo. He's not strong, he's poor, and he's vulnerable to anyone who wants to bully him with brute force. On a meta level, cc!Quackity just straight up does not play m/inecraf/t as much as some of the other people that on the server. (To be clear, I do not mention that as a criticism, just to contrast Techno. Neither of their levels of play are better or worse for content, they just add to the experience differently.)

On the other hand, in a government? Quackity “Law Student” HQ is suddenly on top. He's charismatic enough to debate with Wilbur “Can Talk His Way out of Anything” Soot during the elections, and come out of that arena smelling like roses. Back during the days of El Rapids, Quackity held his men back from conflict with Dream, and talked him into a corner of technical truths where Dream had to concede that he viewed El Rapids as an independent nation if he wanted to get involved with their conflicts.

And Techno, while he is brilliant and an English Major, suddenly loses a lot of his intimidation factor if he has to respect laws preventing brutal murder. Techno can certainly debate, but his go to conflict resolution is usually violence, and if you take that away, you take away the threat of challenging him. Because make no mistake, challenging Technoblade right now? Is suicide.

And this duality, this grey morality and clash of ideals, is why Quackity is my favorite character on the SMP. He isn't strong. The power he holds is tenuous and balanced on a knife's edge. It would make more sense for him to stay quiet, keep his head down, and if anything, try to change things from the shadows, where he'll be in the least danger.

But he isn't quiet. He doesn't just challenge authority, he challenges the authority; Dream, Wilbur, and of course, Technoblade.

And in all but one of those matches, he's come out with a concession from his enemy gripped between his teeth. He schooled Wilbur in the debates. He forced Dream to grant El Rapids Independence at a time when he hadn't done so for New L'manberg.

But he failed miserably when he challenged Technoblade. Quackity lost that fight in the final control room before it began. He lost the moment he formed the Butcher Army. He would have lost if he managed to kill Technoblade, and he lost still when he died.

He lost because he conceded that the only way to achieve his goal was through violence. He decided that the only way to establish himself and New L'manberg as powerful? Was to kill Technoblade. And he lost that fight and he always will. There was never a way that he walked out of that fight with the victory; Quackity lost the ideological battle long ago.

But not the war.

As of writing this, Quackity is in the process of introducing an economy to the Dream SMP, on Sam's initiative. There is no action I can think of that is wiser for him to take right now. Now, when Dream has been deposed and there's a vacuum in power; Now, when people are getting tired of endless violence and the loss it brings; Now, when people are looking for something new.

An economy is a direct challenge to Might Makes Right. Trading, supply and demand, politics. It offers a new way for people to obtain resources and a direct alternative to brute force; other methods to pay for slights and breaches of honor and etiquette. No more will pet wars be fought with iron swords and shields, but with money! A healthy sum of cash for the murder of Fungi!

If Quackity can get this system off the ground (and with Sam's help, he definitely can,) the stage would suddenly be tilted in the favor of not just Quackity, but the people who he has associated himself with most closely – Tommy, Fundy, even Schlatt. They're all business men, all scammers. This could be Quackity's world, and he's damn well intending for everyone to live in it.

We’ll have to see what Techno thinks of this - Quackity hasn’t made any moves to start another government, and an economy doesn’t inherently contradict anarchy. But it does hold a potential threat to Techno’s current power.

And as for Quackity? What will he do once he’s at the top? Will he finally become a true tyrant? Will he usher in a new age of equality and justice? Or will he eschew all of that in favor of personal riches. For once, the cards are in Quackity's favor, and we might get the chance to see what he does when he holds real power.

[taxfraudtutorials]

Do you have any starter tips for internet security? The network story spooked me.

At very minimum, and this is an absolute necessity, if you have any "smart" home devices, toss em. Those things are riddled with security vulnerabilities and are just straight up wiretaps.

Aside from that, if you live in an apartment and you are on a carrier grade NAT (you share the same network with everyone else), hide everything behind a personal router you own (and for the love of god, change the network name, password, and router credentials on it). So anything that IS exposing a service such as a media server, an SSH server, or even a game server, even if it's LAN, isn't exposed to everyone else on your network. Anything you DO expose to the public internet, try and make sure it's exposed only through either a service like Zerotier, which requires you to connect via a VPN connection and requires authentication, which is relatively secure but is unfortunately dependent on a third party. Or only expose it through your IPV6 address so you aren't as vulnerable to IP Sweeping, and get familiar with how to properly configure your firewall. I would NEVER expose a service to the internet over a public IPV4 address, that's asking for trouble. Speaking of which, some routers have a stupid fucking option they call "remote management" which is an SSH server exposed to the public internet. Turn that off. This is what I believe is the absolute bare minimum for securing your home network.

For your mobile stuff, never ever connect to public wifi. I would rather drop the extra cash for unlimited data then connect to public wifi. Speaking of which, if you are ever in an airport, turn on airplane mode, and then turn your phone off well before you enter the airport, and don't turn it back on until well after you leave. Airports are prime targets for governments and other nefarious actors. If you can, remove the battery entirely. Also keep your bluetooth off when you aren't using it. Bluetooth is an exploit riddled, piece of shit technology (keep NFC off too).

For just basic all around internet safety, please please PLEASE, don't post any personal information on the internet. Treat the internet like you would the cops. Anything you say can and WILL be used against you. Post absolutely ZERO identifying information about yourself to social media. If you can help it, don't even use it at all. You'll never see me purposefully reveal or confirm my age, sex, race, nationality, or ANYTHING that could narrow me down. If you do post any of these things, only share it with people you know and have a lot of trust in, and only share it in private servers. Which I still discourage, but I understand that for some people, being that tight lipped about shit isn't really their jam. I see a lot of stupid parents of, or the stupid kids themselves, online posting their face and even what school they go to. Or people posting their jobs, and even their goddamn phone numbers and home address. Pure insanity.

A lot of people don't realize it, but their cameras actually put EXIF data in the photos, which can tell you exactly when and where the photo was taken. Some websites automatically scrub it, some don't. So if you ARE planning on posting a photo on social media, even if it seems completely harmless, make sure you manually scrub the EXIF data before you upload it.

I'll keep updating this post as more comes to mind.

[cockasinthebird]

I dreamt last night that Billy and Steve were both hospitalized after the event at Starcourt

Steve in Urgent Care, being watched closely by the government to ensure that the Russians hasn't fitted him with any odd devices like maybe a tracker or some kind of mind control chip, and of course to ensure that whatever drug he was on earlier doesn't have any serious side effects, but he's fine, really, and this is all too annoying to deal with, he just wants five minutes alone

Billy is in the ICU, barely alive, rarely awake, drifting in and out of consciousness, doctors and machines everywhere, some people in lab coats followed closely by big guards. It would be so easy for this to be the end of him; he could just give up now and drift away, finally a way out that isn't really his fault in the end, so maybe he can go out like a hero, being remembered for having saved El and Max and everyone else in the world practically

But then he sees Steve, dressed in his own hospital gown, hair a limp mess, face bloodied, but... smiling. Billy can't talk, can't smile, for he's got a tube going down his throat, hair shaved off and an ugly scar where the scientists and doctors got a good look at his brain to see the after effects of having been “mind flayed”, whatever the fuck that means, and his entire body aches near constantly - the morphine doing a shit job

Steve mumbles something about just wanting to see how he’s doing, talks about himself too, how he’s fine and just wants to go home, but they’re keeping him here because it’s easier to keep an eye on him that way, and Steve might not be as dumb as Billy thought once

And Steve sits down on a chair he’s pulled up next to Billy’s bed, and turns on the tv

They watch Jeopardy together, at 3am, Steve getting almost all the answers wrong as he guesses along, and Billy wants to laugh, but doesn’t feel like he’s physically capable of even that

The next day Steve shows up again three times; breakfast, lunch, dinner. Sometimes he talks, sometimes he just eats in silence, but Billy doesn’t really care either way, he’s just happy he’s not alone

Steve mentions that Max really wants to visit, but she’s not allowed to, some big brutes in suits stand guard and keeps everyone away. Neither of them really know why they allow Steve to visit, but they’re not going to complain about it

Sometimes Steve shows up at night, turns on the tv and leans against Billy’s bed. He looks exhausted, bags heavy under his eyes, no glow to his usually somewhat cheery expressions, and Billy wants to ask what’s wrong, but the tube remains in the way, and neither of them talk 

Eventually Steve falls asleep, head on his arms that rest crossed near Billy’s legs. And he doesn’t wake up till a nurse at 5am asks him kindly to go back to his own room and get some rest there

After about two weeks, give or take, Billy can’t tell time anymore, Steve shows up in a set of fresh clothes that Dustin and his mom brought, because he’s being discharged from the Hospital, and promises to come visit as often as he can, but he’s not allowed to drive yet after… everything that has happened, but he will be back

And he visits several times a week at first, Billy never doubted it, but as Steve returns to the real world out there, he shows up less and less. Every time he does visit he apologises profusely, and talks about his “normal life” and how everything is - how everyone is doing, and he asks Billy how he’s doing, but all he can do is nod

Not that he’d tell the truth if he could

The day comes when Billy finally gets the tube removed, and although he hasn’t spoken in nearly two months, hoarsely he asks for them to call for Steve and have him come visit

And Steve smiles big when he sees Billy doing the same, which is an odd experience for the both of them, because whatever hatred they had for each other got knocked down a notch when Billy sacrificed himself, and through the last month or so it has almost grown to friendship

After that Steve visits far more regularly, always with food that definitely isn’t a part of a healthy diet, but it tastes fucking amazing compared to the hospital food

They talk and talk and laugh, watch tv, read magazines, eat. Steve tried to get Billy to play some board games with him but hell no he’s not doing that. It all almost feels normal

What could have been- what should have been

When Billy starts physical therapy, he feels his self hatred amp it up by a thousand, because he used to be strong, be the fucking King around Hawkins, but months of being hospitalised and sewn together and only getting up to shower has made him nearly dwindle away

His tan has started to fade, muscles weak and useless, everything just feels sore constantly, and most movement of the legs feel dull and weirdly impossible, and as he has thought so many times during this process, he should have just died. They should have let him

But… Steve’s there, here, always present, shows up for every session he has with the physical therapist without fail. And Steve’s no less stronger than he was before all of this happened; he supports all of Billy without as much as a trembling muscle, and Billy hates him for it, yet he also… loves him for it, and perhaps that’s scarier than anything else that has happened this year

Or ever

Steve’s present too on the days Billy sees a psychiatrist, not that he wants to see one because he’s not insane or mentally disturbed or- he just doesn’t need help, doesn’t want help really, doesn’t want to be seen as weak, or weaker than he obviously is

But Steve explains that he’s seeing a shrink, too, and shares without restraint his own meetings, as they sit and eat junk food on Billy’s bed after his latest appointment, and honestly Billy doesn’t feel as pathetic or weak when Steve talks about going through the same thing, kinda

Time passes, Steve visits near daily, which is weird because doesn’t he have a job at the video store now? He sometimes talks about that girl Robin, but even half a year later nothing has happened between them, and Billy is oddly relieved at that

He’s come to terms with his unrequited feelings for Steve, feelings that he now knows he’s had from the moment he saw him in that parking lot, what feels like ten years ago now. All that anger came from wanting what he couldn’t have, and now it has simmered down to sadness, depressed to know that one day Steve will find a lucky girl and then Billy will become a second choice, or probably a third if he has to fight Robin for Steve’s attention, too… maybe fourth, what with Dustin and the gang

And he truly believes he can live with that, even if it does make him want to cry, which he rarely did before, but everything has changed now

He’s changed

For the better or worse, he can't quite tell, but now he can make Steve smile and laugh, so he can convince himself it's all for the better

Eventually, after almost a year in therapy and being basically a test subject, he's released on two conditions 

1, he has to stay in Hawkins, no leaving it unless escorted by assigned guards

2, he has to "voluntarily" show up two times a week for tests and check ups

And there's a moment where he doesn't want to leave

Not because of those two conditions, because that'd be better than being hospitalised for the rest of your life, right? 

But because he's not sure where his life is going, where his place is in this world anymore 

Neil won't take him back, but even if that was an actual option, he'd have chosen the uncomfortable hospital bed instead 

He can't go back to school, or rather he's not allowed to, and he can't go back to being a lifeguard, not with all these scars and a general inability to fucking swim

At least here at the hospital he's got some semblance of purpose in life, although it isn't much of a way to live

When he mentions it to Steve he's depressed, downtrodden, completely and utterly destroyed, because there's no place for him anymore anywhere, he'll forever be caught in the limbo of Hawkins

But Steve- he… He places his hand on top of Billy's, warm and soft and grounding, and as he smiles so softly, so lovingly, he says "There's a place for you in my life" 

And suddenly nothing else matters than that, than there, here, in Steve's life

In Steve's hand

[captain-yeet]

Seeking Sanctuary (Demetri Volturi x Reader One-Shot)

Request by @like-rain-or-confetti

Summary: Life had been going right down the gutter for Y/N - even more so now that a crazed vampire had taken an interest in her. Her home is no longer safe. So she turned to the one she knew she could trust with her life.

Prompt: “I didn't know where else to go.”

Word Count: 1.36k

Warnings: Mentions of being stalked, anxiety, angst.

Author Notes: THIS WAS FUN AS HECK and the prompt request made my day! I don’t get those often so I’m hyped for this one in particular. Bless you for requesting this prompt because I’m a sucker for this exact thing.

When life gives you lemons they say you can make lemonade from it. You doubted that you could make any light of the situation you were in or something of use that could bring you joy when life threw an insane vampire who thought you were a reincarnation of their long lost mate at you.

In fact, life had been very hectic for you lately. Work life wasn’t going so great, and you found yourself feeling demotivated and losing interest in things you typically enjoyed.

You had become rather depressed, and the insane vampire stalker was your tipping point.

With red puffy eyes from crying your heart out, you packed what you could into a large suitcase and backpack; clothes, things you used daily, things you didn’t want to dare part with. Looking around your home, you held back a sob as you gingerly closed and locked the door, and proceeded to leave the place you once thought was your safe haven.

With dumb luck and a one-way flight to Italy booked, you hoped that he wouldn’t turn you away. If anyone was capable of helping you, it was him. 

After all, it was either this or let yourself get killed or turned into an immortal being against your will. And you didn’t want to die. Not yet. And certainly not by some crazy asshole’s hand.

Once you arrived in Italy, you made way for Volterra, armed with a cell phone and a teeny little Italian translation book at your disposal. You called ahead to the Volturi’s receptionist line that Demetri had once given you, in case you needed to contact him, to alert them of your impending arrival.

Ah, Demetri. The man in question. Your relationship with him was strictly platonic but you felt some underlying tension between the two of you. No anger or negative feelings... just, something else. You could feel the two of you had chemistry together but you chalked it up to you being wooed by the supernatural good looks.

You’d met him through a mutual friend of a friend who happened to be a doctor at some hospital in Forks, Washington and from the first moment you saw him you found him captivating. He was kind to you, he spoke to you like you were on equal footing, and there was something about him that you just couldn’t put your finger on that made you feel connected to him.

You hoped he would be able to help you. 

You were out of options at this point.

The stalking had escalated to a frightening point to where you realized that no cop - no human - could help you. You’d wake up in the night and windows would be open that you swore you shut. At first, you thought you were simply forgetful and forgot to shut them yourself... until one night where once again, they were open only instead this time, you found a bouquet of roses and a lengthy love letter going into explicit detail of your stalker’s intentions.

How he planned to “court you”, how you reminded him so much of his long lost love from so long ago, and most importantly, how he planned to “whisk you away to live in bliss for eternity.”

Fuck. That.

You checked into a hotel nearby and dropped off your belongings there before setting out to find Demetri. It was the dead of night and you found yourself in some kind of plaza, looking around you trying to get your bearings. A slight drizzle of rain gently falling on your head. “Okay, I need to think. Tower in the Palazzo dei Priori. Is this it?”

You came to a stop in front of said tower, hand hovering over the old wooden doors. Were you supposed to knock? What was the protocol for visiting the literal vampire government?

While you dilly-dallied on what to do the door opened, and the face you came to see was before you. “Y/N, what are you doing here?” Demetri asked with a mix of concern and surprise on his face.

 “I um,” you paused to swallow back the emotions bubbling to the surface in your throat, “I need your help. I - I’m sorry for appearing like this.”

Concern won over his surprise, and Demetri took off his jacket and wrapped it around your wet frame. “You’re alright,” he soothed you, ushering you indoors and out of the rain. 

If not for his arm firmly around you, you felt as if you would completely disassociate from reality. His presence was what you needed and it grounded you enough to be able to move your legs forward as Demetri lead you somewhere in the castle.

 “It really is like a castle in here,” you murmured quietly to yourself, taking in your surroundings as the two of you walked, missing him shoot you a frightened look as you continued to stare blankly ahead.

Finally coming to a stop, Demetri opened a door and brought you into a large, spacious bedroom that could pass for a condo. Leading you to a couch, he sat you down and then sat next to you, taking your hands in his gloved ones. “Tell me what’s happened, love.”

It all came out in a rush. “Just - everything has gone wrong,” you whimpered, feeling pathetic. “Things at my workplace have been chaotic and causing me a lot of stress, more so than usual. Now there’s some vampire who’s been stalking me and won’t leave me alone -”

 “Hold on, you’re being stalked by a vampire?” Demetri’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and you swore his eye color darkened.

You weakly nodded. “He thinks I’m some reincarnation of his dead ex or something. I knew you would probably be the only one able to help me... you’re a vampire too, so I thought...” Trailing off, you closed your heavy lids and sighed as your worn out emotions and the travel caught up to you. God I am so tired.

 “You did the right thing coming here. Your human police aren’t equipped to stop someone like us - especially a mad vampire. Here’s what we’re going to do; I’m going to ask a friend of mine to collect your things from whichever hotel you’ve checked into and have them brought here to my room. You will stay here until this menace has been dealt with.”

Your eyes fluttered open, anxiety filling your mind and your stomach. “But your - the leaders of this place, they’d be upset if a human -”

Demetri shushed you, reaching out to stroke your hair gently. “I’ll deal with that. Do not worry about it.”

 “I’m sorry if I cause you any trouble, Dem,” you sighed, letting slip the nickname you’d affectionately bestowed on the centuries-old vampire, eyes closing once more as the exhaustion began to take hold of you, “I just wanted to feel even a little bit safe. My own home wasn’t safe anymore and honestly? I didn’t know where else to go.”

No response from Demetri. Instead, you felt the couch you were sitting on disappear from beneath you briefly as sturdy arms wrapped themselves around your body, before being laid out carefully onto something soft and comfortable. As you nestled in more you clicked Demetri had probably put you into his bed.

And boy was it the comfiest bed you’d ever laid down in. It was what you imagined a cloud to feel like.

 “No one is going to lay a hand on you Y/N,” you heard Demetri say to you with conviction, his fingers finding their way into your hair once more to tuck a stray strand behind your ear. “Not on my watch.”

You hummed in reply, a small tiny smile on your face. “You’re a good man, Demetri,” you breathed, “I’m very lucky.”

His quiet laughter was the last thing you heard as your consciousness faded, along with what you swore was, “It’s me that’s the lucky one, cara mia.”

And as your consciousness left you, you felt a little safer knowing that you had someone in your life who would protect you from this insane vampire no matter what. A little piece of sanctuary in this scary time of your life.

[jasontoddiefor]

Title: Sea shells and all the things he left behind 2/2 Summary: Somehow explaining that you were raised by a siren is not an easy task. AN: I wrote a sequel. Wild, i know.

Read on AO3

Dick didn’t have a chance to explain anything to Wally or anyone else at the aquarium until after Bruce was settled. The siren wouldn’t sleep, Dick would be surprised if he did in unfamiliar terrain, but he had calmed again. The boy, Tim, or secret-who-paints if Dick had caught that correctly, was sitting at the edge of the pool, dressed in a new set of clothes. His legs were dangling in the water and every so often Bruce would pull at them, reassuring himself and the boy. Far more often than that though, his large tail fin dragged against Dick’s legs. His scales were sharp, could cut if grabbed incorrectly, but he had never hurt Dick and even now caressed him as softly as he used to. The entire day had been exhausting and nothing short of a train wreck.

Dick wanted to go home and sleep.

The fact that he couldn’t really recall whether home was the apartment he shared or the caves he had grown up in didn’t help his mind either.

His tiredness must show because Roy and Wally both were sitting next to him in the red zone – the five-meter room all handlers were supposed to stay out of unless they wanted a siren to drag them into the water. From experience Dick knew that that space wouldn’t be enough if Bruce wanted to get to them. He was massive, large even by siren standards and more stubborn than anyone else. If he wanted you dead, you’d be no matter how far away from him you truly stayed.

“Dick,” Wally finally spoke up. “What is going on?”

Dick had no idea how he was supposed to start. He hadn’t ever said a word to anyone, not a single living soul. He’d been angry at Bruce when he had left, but not so angry that he would give away all their secrets.

He turned to look at his father and the mer clicked at him. Yes.

“I was nine when that huge earthquake hit Gotham,” Dick heard himself say. He felt like he was miles, years away from this room and moment. “We were performing in Gotham. I think I told you that I used to be part of a circus?”

Wally and Roy both nodded. Dick was pretty sure that even if he hadn’t, they’d have known. Dick would always be flipping, spinning, jumping and flying. Being an acrobat was in his blood.

“When the earthquake hit, we were in one of the underground trains. Gotham was built pretty much artificially. The earthquake shook it up pretty good and the support just broke. There are large caves underground, huge water dwellings. You can cross the entire city underground without ever touching the surface. Paths towards it are far and few and difficult to access. Most of the people living down there are physically unable to reach them. They don’t particularly care about them.”

“People?” Roy inquired.

Dick smiled wearily. “Yes, people. Mers. There is pretty much a second city right below Gotham. The waters there are toxic, mutated after years of waste being stuffed into them so most of the mers never leave. They’re pretty much incapable of breathing actually clean seawater.”

Dick glanced at Bruce again, who held his head high above the water. He’d always been able to breathe air as well, so he wasn’t suffering too much, but it would aid his recovery if he’d be allowed to submerge completely. They should throw some chemicals in the water, up the chlorine levels. Maybe Bruce’s fins would shine as prettily as they usually did then as well.

“But yes, the earthquake hit and the train crashed into one of those caves. Most people died upon impact or were so severely injured that they died soon after. Others drowned in the water.”

Roy and Wally looked positively sick. Dick couldn’t even blame them. He’d gotten used to the sight of bloated corpses, death and bloodshed to a degree that was honestly concerning.

“But you didn’t,” Wally said and sounded like he was half reassuring himself that his best friend was still there.

“I didn’t,” Dick replied. “Bruce saved me.”

The siren in question frowned when Dick’s friends both set their sights on him, confusion coloring their expressions. It was a little funny, to be honest.

“His name is Bruce?”

Roy’s voice sounded almost a little hysterical. He was probably trying to save up his panic attack for when he could afford to lose his calm in the privacy of his own home.

“It’s actually dark-who-swims-with-the-sharks,” Dick pointed out.

Wally mouthed the clicks and thrills Dick had let out so very easily by comparison, but just shook his head and gave up. “Yeah, that totally sounds like Bruce.”

“I was nine, I couldn’t exactly pronounce it either,” Dick defended himself. Bruce had been very proud of him the first time he actually had gotten it right. His name was still too long to use it regularly so the nickname had stuck.

“So Bruce saved you and what? Helped you back to the surface?”

“After a couple years,” Dick answered.

He didn’t want to think too much about it. In the beginning Bruce had been more concerned that Dick would make it through the nights. He had been injured by the fall and Dick almost couldn’t recall how long it had been until he’d been able to move on his own. A month or two? Probably longer. His diet had suffered a lot and he’d lost a lot of weight until Bruce had figured out that he could not in fact live of fish, never mind raw fish, alone. But then Dick had needed to learn how to hold his breath for a longer duration, until he could swim from the cave that was their home to the next and so on. He was fairly sure that if he tested against the current world champion, he’d be able to hold his breath minutes longer than them without any preparation.

“It’s not like there was anybody else and Bruce was the only other person who could understand me besides Alfred.”

Alfred had rarely left Bruce’s side, they were family after all. Dick knew that it was a common misconception amongst humans that sirens were solitary creatures, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They just usually didn’t go anywhere near humans with the rest of their family and were therefore only ever spotted and caught on their own.

“Who is Alfred?”

“Another siren. Bruce’s sort of parent but not. It’s complicated and doesn’t translate well into English. He raised Bruce after his… owners died. Point is that I spent six years down in there with him until I reached the surface again for the first time. I think I looked like death, there’s not exactly a lot of bioluminescent fauna down there. I left when I was seventeen because I wanted to be amongst humans again. Studied a lot, played catch up with long-forgotten human manners and here I am.”

“Here you are,” Wally echoed, then froze up, realization settling in. “Is that why you didn’t know any TV shows whatsoever?”

“What?”

That was absolutely not the question Dick had expected. In fact, he had thought that at least one of them would run out screaming by now, calling the nearest clinic because Dick Grayson has gone insane! Or if not that, maybe a government office to inform that that mers were in fact as sentient as humans, had a language and one of them even raised a child. Wonder if that would get Dick an entry on Wikipedia.

“And your obsession with spices,” Wally continued. “And fruits. How are you even healthy, your diet must have been the stuff of nightmares.”

“It was okay,” Dick said. “Just because it’s hard for me to get in and out of the caves, doesn’t mean it was for everyone else. Bruce and Alfred brought me stuff they found out in the sea or on the beaches. I had clothes and like bagged chips, dried fruits and instant noodles. Even a couple books once we figured out how to transport them safely and life got a lot better after I could make my own trips upstairs. And then I left.”

That felt like a simplification, but he didn’t want to share all the gruesome details of that period. Sure, he had gotten books and could actually get caught up on school and the like, but he’d almost drowned on the regular making those trips, which lead to fights with Bruce which lead to leaving which lead to this.

Dick turned to the kid who had listened attentively to the conversation, but hadn’t actually added anything to it. He was a quiet boy, silent in a way Dick had never been. He had always been babbling in any language he knew, from English, Chinese and Spanish to Bruce’s language and all the other dialects of it that his friends had taught him.

“Shit, dude,” Roy cursed and buried his head in his hands. “You got raised by a freaking mer. You got raised by a mer. How-?”

The rest of Roy’s question was lost to the overwhelming realization that Dick was not just one of them. He hadn’t ever felt like it, but he had been able to pretend and that had been good enough. There simply hadn’t been another option.

“So you haven’t actually spoken with… Bruce ever since?”

“No,” Dick answered. “No, I have not and now I’d like to know you found me.”

The kid, Tim, apparently didn’t catch onto the fact that Dick was talking to him now. His head was dropping and his eyes fluttering shut. He had had one hell of a day, just as exhausting as Dick if not worse because he was years younger than Dick

“Kid showed up here with a stolen boat and Bruce tucked into the cooler,” Wally said.

“Not stolen,” Tim muttered sleepily. “It’s mine. My parents were on it.”

When he said parents, his voice quivered so badly that Dick thought he was going to cry any second. Bruce picked up on that as well and moved away from Dick to pay full attention to Tim. He tugged on his legs again, trilling softly, and Tim pushed himself off the pool’s edge and jumped straight into the water, into Bruce’s arms. It was straight to see another child cling to Bruce when recalling how he used to hang onto Bruce. The fins on his arms were so long, Dick had been able to disappear completely in his embrace when he’s been younger. Only his black hair had been visible, like it was now with Tim. Wally and Roy stood up in alarm, but Dick gestured for them to sit down again. He supposed it looked frightening to them, the ocean’s most terrifying killers gently consoling a young child.

“What happened?” Dick asked Bruce.

Tim was in no shape of answering now and Dick wouldn’t force him too, no matter how much he wanted an explanation.

“I was caught,” Bruce replied. “I was looking for terror-who-laughs, but secret-who-paints’s parents found me and put me in a viewing glass. Showed me off to other humans, but secret-who-paints is smart, kind. He’s a good child.”

Bruce scowled and the displeasure was apparent. He hadn’t been in a pool since he was twelve and the Wayne’s had died. Being locked up like that again most have been horrible, especially since whoever Tim’s parents were, they definitely wouldn’t have been able to contain Bruce in a pool big enough for him.

“And then venom-in-his-blood came.”

Dick paled. He had hoped that he had misheard Tim before, that the child had made a mistake in his panic, but-

“Venom-in-his-blood? Are you sure?”

“He attacked their ship,” Bruce continued. “Pulled them off, I’ve been on the sea with secret-who-paints on my own since, we only barely managed to escape.”

“But why would venom-in-his-blood show up in the first place? You defeated him years ago.”

Dick remembered that battle vividly. He had been much younger than, small and helpless and had to watch from afar as Bruce and venom-in-his-blood tore into one another.

“He came back,” Bruce spat. “He came back and Gotham’s falling apart.”

“What are you two talking about?” Wally asked uneasily. “It sounds serious but we don’t speak… that.”

“There is a mer, another siren,” Dick began to explain. “His name is-“ Dick sighed in frustration. ”Just call him Bane. He’s dangerous, incredibly tall. Easily the biggest siren I’ve ever seen, bigger than the ones we have on record here. He attacks humans and mers alike.”

“What for?”

Dick turned to Bruce and Tim. Bruce was swimming slower now, just floating on the surface, really. The kid must have fallen asleep.

“Fun and hunger,” Dick finally replied after moments of silence. “He’s a cannibal and once he set his eyes on his prey, he doesn’t stop.”

Which meant that the moment Bruce swam back to Gotham, Bane would attack him.

[silenthillmutual]

I beg your pardon! It’s me who is going mad.

So, I know I did a Twitter thread about the ways Daniil is manipulated in Classic, and I thought I’d put it on here too.

I’m going to stop short of calling it gaslighting here though, because too many people are using that term who don’t really understand what it means. Gaslighting is specifically a form of abuse where the intention is to make the victim feel they are going insane. Not all manipulation or abuse is gaslighting - which doesn’t make it less bad, just...not gaslighting.

That being said: in Classic, there are quite a few times where Daniil can say that he thinks he’s losing his mind, and there are times when the game seems constructed to make you feel this way. Particularly I had in mind the ending of the game, and not just the part where you find out you’re a toy and always have been (that falls more under cosmic horror). What bugs me about the end and how that fits into things, is the fact that the Sand Pest and its outcomes have been chasing you - the clouds, the angels, the muggers, the firestarters, the rats, literally chasing you through houses and through town, only for all of it to completely vanish without a trace on the exact day you’re meant to give a solution to it all. I made a point on Twitter about how people attempting to gaslight you will submit you to a large amount of damage - physical, verbal, emotional, take your pick - and then remove the abuse and any signs of it just before they’re caught. it’s how they show to others that it’s you who’s the problem, not them. 

Regardless of whether you think the intention is to make Daniil feel he’s losing is sanity or not, the question would be who is manipulating Daniil, and why? There are a couple answers.

The first answer is the Town. The first playthrough as the Bachelor of the game is probably the closest fitting to psychological horror as the game gets. Like Silent Hill, the Town is full of horrors that seem tailor-made to torture Daniil specifically: most of these people are uneducated (the Town doesn’t even have a school), their cultural beliefs (mostly appropriated from the steppe culture) actively prevent him from doing his job as a doctor, his word and name are constantly weaponized by people with ulterior motives, and men run around on the first two days beating women to death or burning them alive and intervening actively costs you reputation - which you need to do anything. He arrives with the hope of finding evidence to keep his lab opening and, as we later learn, keep himself from execution, only to find that both the man who would serve as this evidence and the colleague who informed you of his existence have been murdered just before your arrival. You have a lot of things riding on your success, and everything about where you are is actively working against you. The government wants you to find a cure single-handedly, but the Town has other plans for you. 

And those plans are: errand boy, and scapegoat. People throughout the Town will inform you that they are scared of you when you’ve barely interacted with them, let alone in ways that should inspire fear. It doesn’t matter how good your reputation as Daniil is (and through the course of the game, there’s very little you’re made to do that lowers your reputation, and it never gets bad enough for you to be attacked on the street or refused sale from shops), what matters is the fact that everyone in Town, from the nameless NPCs to the rulers, are putting every bad thing they’ve done down as being your fault. 

But the Town has another way it’s manipulating Daniil, by almost making him a member of it. I don’t think I got a screenshot, but I’m sure that somewhere along the line Daniil comments that he’s starting to talk like one of the townsfolk. You can see this happens to Andrey, too, later in the game; he talks in what Daniil calls “Griefisms”. 

You have been sent here to fight an adversary that inherently cannot be beaten - in foolish hopes that a miracle would happen and your outstanding mind would stumble upon a once-in-a-million chance. And just so that you wouldn’t give up, they kept insisting that the adversary must be destroyed. Do you see how insidious the Powers That Be are?     > But why? Their motives are becoming less and less comprehensible to me by the day.

The second answer is the Powers That Be.

Three people enter the Town that the Powers That Be want to get rid of: the Bachelor, the Inquisitor, and the Commander. It wants them all to fix or solve or demolish something in the town, and doesn’t really care what happens to any of them. Pathologic 2 spells it out clearer for you that Aglaya, Block, and Daniil will all be executed upon return to the Capital if their answers are not what the Powers That Be want to hear. And for the time that you are in the Town as Daniil Dankovsky, the Powers That Be - like the town itself - actively work against you. The trains that are meant to bring food and medication never, to my knowledge, arrive, and most days bring about a new letter from the Powers spelling out for you how disappointed in you and your progress they are. Some of the ways they attempt to manipulate Daniil through these letters are subtle, but most of them are unsubtle suggestions that what he’s been able to accomplish is not good enough, that he was meant to work alone.

Even one of your first letters from them is suspicious; early on in the game, they write to let you know that they are in no way responsible for the outbreak, which is an incredibly suspicious thing to say. What is the point of sending such a letter? Would the player have really thought that they were if they hadn’t suggested as much through denial? After all, what called you to Town was a letter from Isidor Burakh. But yet, the Powers That Be are the ones who leave you stranded in the Town with limited resources, no help, and constantly shifting goalposts. Aglaya makes this clear to you when she arrives: you were never supposed to be successful. 

The letters from the Powers That Be do not serve any purpose other than to upset Daniil, and most if not all of them contain lies: that a train will be arriving, that they don’t mind if you have help in carrying out your plans, that Thanatica still exists, referencing conversations you’ve never had, signing drafts of letters you didn’t consult on with your name. One of the reasons i had put this down as gaslighting is because people who gaslight like to keep you off balance and emotionally fragile so that you’re easier to manipulate. You’ll do whatever they want to make the feeling stop, because you just can’t handle the stress anymore, and in the process you come across to others as unreasonable, unhinged, crazy, dangerous, so that no one will trust you. And that’s exactly how Daniil starts to come across to the townspeople: deranged, strung out, dangerous, untrustworthy.

You can contrast all that to a different letter they send you where they claim to be proud to call you one of your own. Combine the two, and you get honeymooning. They want to remind you of the good (or at least, not-as-bad) times you’ve had with them. This behavior serves two, sometimes three purposes: to keep you off balance from the violent back-and-forth, dizzying nature of what they’re doing to you, and so that you’ll defend them to people who can see what’s going on and want to get you out of it. You’ll even convince yourself that you’re not really being mistreated. If you were being abused, would they be so nice to you? 

You are the last friend our family has. I hope our attachment to you doesn’t look obtrusive.      > It requires too much from me. I’m not comfortable with it.     > No, not at all. 

The third answer is the Kains. Specifically, Georgiy and Maria repeatedly manipulate Daniil, though I’ve no doubt in the text above Victor stating their attachment to Daniil is also a manipulation, and one possibly planned by either or perhaps both of them. The text above probably looks normal, but think about the purpose it serves: to reinforce that Daniil is friendly with the Kains. Your only two options are to say that it doesn’t bother you, or to express that you feel your boundaries are being violated by their attention. But I even thinking about picking that option... Well, it feels mean. 

Throughout the game, people will comment on Maria’s attachment to you and what they feel is your predestination to be romantically paired with her. All this, despite the fact that you don’t really interact with her that much. I’ve seen this be explained as forced heterosexuality, but I think it also is a way of the Kains manipulating Daniil into doing what they want. Daniil gets upset whenever people cry; when children cry, he tries to calm them and fix whatever’s upset them - there’s an entire sidequest after the army arrives in which Daniil kills a group of soldiers, spurred into action by upset children. Whenever he encounters Maria crying, he reacts with discomfort, and she uses these tears and upset to manipulate Daniil into thinking Aglaya has lied to him, effectively distancing him from one of the only people in the game with a rational mind to show him support and tell him the truth. I don’t think the two are in any way unconnected. Something abusers, manipulators, gaslighters love to do is isolate you so that you only have one source of information to go to. If they cut you off from other people, they can continue to feed off of you. You’ll never have a chance to question if what you’re being told about yourself or others is correct, you’ll just be a constant supply of drama for them. 

DANIIL: Was there any particularly notable backstory? I’m deadly tired of all these people. They’re inhuman. They tell the future, believe in walking zombies, and die in all manners of painfully abnormal ways. 

AGLAYA: Your line of thinking is obviously fallacious - and I was implying something rather mundane. I promise you no one can really tell the future around here and neither are deaths inspired by third parties uncommon. Mysterious phenomenons do occur here sometimes... but hardly more often than anywhere else.

You can see, first, the effect all this has had on Daniil, how dispiriting the past several days have been to him. But you can also see here exactly why a family that prides itself on multi-generational reincarnation and manipulation through “fortune-telling” wants to keep its blunt instrument in the dark. 

That is, ultimately, why they are manipulating Daniil. Georgiy knows full well when he tells Daniil at the beginning that everyone, even himself, will lie to Daniil, that being that honest upfront is more likely to lead Daniil to trusting him. They want to sway him to their cause; this is why you are told that your success here depends on the wellbeing of the people Maria considers useful: herself, her father and uncle - who she gets out of the way later on to come into her power, the architects of the Polyhedron - which she will use to ascend to power, and the theatre director who has pledged himself to be her loyal servant. Eva’s on the list, too, but her inclusion was deliberately set up to make you depend on the Kains later in the game, considering that it’s Maria who convinced her to commit suicide:

DANIIL: Why did Eva die then? AGLAYA: I have a distinct suspicion she was made to die. DANIIL: By whom?  AGLAYA: One of the Kains. I’d even go so far as to claim that they may have performed human sacrifice.

It’s a two-for-one deal: try in vain to make a Focus of the Cathedral, and remove from Daniil the last piece of influence who was not totally in love with Maria. Maria “cries” and is “upset” at you for thinking Eva’s death is her fault, but no one directly tells you Maria is responsible - all Aglaya does is tell you the Kains are at fault. The rest is just you remembering how nasty Maria was about Eva at the beginning of the game. I wouldn’t even say that Maria was removing a rival for Daniil’s affection. She really does only view Daniil as an object: if you speak to her on day 12, she assumes that you’re leaving, and doesn’t even ask you to stay (for kicks, contrast this with either ending of Pathologic 2 when you speak to Daniil as Artemy, where he’s supposed to be your rival. what was all that about Maria being in love with you...?); he’s not even present in his own ending cutscene. Even Mark Immortell says you’re leaving -

And actually, that’s a really fascinating conversation you can have with him on day 12. It’s where the game outright admits exactly what Aglaya told you: it’s all fake. Maria cannot really see the future, you’ve just been manipulated the entire game to achieve someone else’s goals, and unless you’ve gone around and saved Artemy’s or Clara’s bound, it’s too late for you to turn back and make a different decision. If you’ve picked Daniil’s ending, you just destroyed an entire town on the basis of outright lies. 

[aceofwhump]

Babe thank you x30000 for recommending SG-1 to me!!!! I watched the first ep and am halfway through the second one and I am in a blissful state. Daniel is such a smol hurt puppy who needs to be cuddled... Do you have any favorite fics with Daniel in them??

You are so very welcome!!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!! And I couldn’t agree more about Daniel lol. He’s my favorite, my first whumpee, and one of the reasons I got my degree in history. Daniel means the world to me. I love him. 

Do I have fic recs? YOU BET YOUR SWEET BIPPY I DO!!!! This got really long so if you don’t mind I’m just gonna post the links. Trust me. They’re all great :D

Don’t Mess With Danny

Bullies and Women Oh the Life of a Geek

Surrogate Father

The Barista (this one is not whumpy but read it anyway okay. it’s the best)

Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines

Don’t Go Away

A Change of Orders

HurtComfort

Counting to Ten

Tumbling Down

The Bridge

Need

Could it be Forever

Drifting on the Wind as Light as a Feather

Fire in the Belly

Trees Are Crying Leaves Into The Darkness

No Evil

The Stuff of Legends

Lost In Translation

The Perfect Recipe

Celebrate Me Home

No Man Left Behind

Beloved

What Dreams May Come

Cocidian

Solitudes Redux

Up Canada Creek Without a Paddle

The Thorn Beast

ALSO I am going to recommend some of the Stargate novels that are super whumpy and SO GOOD:

STARGATE SG-1: Hall of the Two Truths By Susannah Parker Sinard

Summary:

After suffering a brutal attack off-world, each member of SG-1 finds themselves stranded alone in the Ancient Egyptian afterlife — and on a journey through the Book of the Dead.

With reality shifting around them, Colonel O’Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Major Carter and Teal’c must each navigate a treacherous path toward final judgment in the Hall of the Two Truths. On the way, they will be tested to their mental and physical limits by their past mistakes, their greatest fears and their deepest desires…

In this classic SG-1 adventure, the team must dig deep to survive. Their only hope of escape lies in finding each other, but in this place where nothing and no one is what it seems, who do they trust and what do they dare to believe?

STARGATE SG-1: Four Dragons By Diana Dru Botsford

Summary:

It was meant to be a soft mission, something to ease Doctor Daniel Jackson back into things after his time among the Ancients — after all, what could possibly go wrong on a simple survey of ancient Chinese ruins? As it turns out, a whole lot.

After accidentally activating a Goa’uld transport ring, Daniel finds himself the prisoner of Lord Yu, the capricious Goa’uld System Lord. Meanwhile, SG1’s efforts to rescue their friend are hampered by a representative of the Chinese government with an agenda of his own to follow — and a deep secret to hide.

But Colonel Jack O’Neill is in no mood for delay. He’ll go to any lengths to get Daniel back — even if it means ignoring protocol and taking matters into his own hands.

STARGATE SG-1: The Barque of Heaven By Suzanne Wood

Summary:

Millennia ago, at the height of his power, the System Lord Ra decreed that any Goa’uld wishing to serve him must endure a great trial. Victory meant power and prestige, defeat brought banishment and death.

On a routine expedition to an abandoned Goa’uld world, SG-1 inadvertently initiate Ra’s ancient trial – and once begun, the trial cannot be halted. Relying on Dr. Daniel Jackson’s vast wealth of knowledge, Colonel O’Neill must lead his team from planet to planet, completing each task in the allotted time. There is no rest, no respite. To stop means being trapped forever in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, and to fail means death.

Victory is their only option in this terrible test of endurance – an ordeal that will try their will, their ingenuity, and above all their bonds of friendship…

STARGATE SG-1: Siren Song By Holly Scott & Jaimie Duncan

Summary:

Bounty-hunter Aris Boch once more has his sights on SG-1. But this time Boch isn’t interested in trading them for cash. He needs the unique talents of Dr. Daniel Jackson – and he’ll do anything to get them.

Colonel Jack O’Neill and his team are taken to Boch’s ravaged home-world and handed over to the insane Goa’uld, Sebek. Obsessed with opening a mysterious subterranean vault, Sebek demands that Jackson translate the arcane writing on the doors. When Jackson refuses, the Goa’uld resorts to devastating measures to ensure his cooperation.

With the vault exerting an increasingly malign influence, Sebek compels Jackson and O’Neill toward a horror that threatens both their sanity and their lives. Meanwhile, Carter and Teal’c struggle to persuade the starving people of Aris Boch’s world to risk everything they have to save SG-1 – and free their desolate world of the Goa’uld forever.

STARGATE SG-1: Hostile Ground By Sally Malcolm & Laura Harper

Excerpt:

“Teal’c, how far?”

The colonel’s words were clipped, each one bitten off like a curse as he knelt next to Daniel in the mud. Sam couldn’t see what he was doing, didn’t dare take her eyes off the rain-sodden tree line, but she could smell the antiseptic and heard Daniel hiss in a sharp breath.

“We are now less than a kilometer from the Stargate,” Teal’c said. He crouched next to her, staff weapon raised and his arm brushing against hers, making the most of the scant cover they shared – a fallen tree, rotting in the incessant rain. It wouldn’t do much against a staff blast but it was better than nothing. She glanced up at the heavy sky, the clouds hiding a multitude of dangers. If those gliders came back…

Breathing hard, breathing through pain, Daniel said, “I’m okay. I can make it.”

“Damn right you can.” The colonel’s growl made it an order as he ripped open another field dressing. Sam heard Daniel’s shout of pain as the colonel pressed the bandage onto the wound. She didn’t know how badly he was injured, but it had to be serious for the colonel to risk stopping their breakneck flight to the Stargate.

Movement – a fleeting shadow back in the tree line. She wiped rain from her face and eyes, squinting through the curtain of water that slanted across the open ground between SG-1 and the edge of the forest. Yes, there it was again, a glint of gold amid the trees. “Sir,” she said, finger itchy on the trigger, “you might want to hurry that up.”

“What do you think I’m doing, Carter?”

She ignored his sharp tone. “Teal’c, do you see them? Two-o’clock.”

“I do.” He shifted his position, taking aim.

“Sir?” she risked a glance over her shoulder. Daniel was ashen, his jacket torn and dark with blood where the staff blast had hit, just above the hip and below his tac vest. She glimpsed a white compression bandage through the torn fabric. He grimaced as he moved, trying to stand.

The colonel put a restraining hand on his shoulder and looked over at Sam. She knew that look, the flat uncompromising expression that shut everything down. It meant they were in trouble. “Daniel and I are gonna head for the gate,” he said, starting to pack away the med-kit with quick, efficient movements. “You and Teal’c hold them here as long as you can, then come after us.” He stuffed his gear back into his vest and tugged the bill of his cap lower. “Don’t leave it too long, Major.”

She understood. If they were too slow getting back to the gate, there was a real danger they’d be outflanked. “Yes sir. Good luck.”

His only reply was a curt nod before he turned to Daniel. “Ready?”

“Sure,” Daniel said, teeth gritted. “How hard can it be?”

“Attaboy,” the colonel said as he helped Daniel to his feet. “We might have to run.”

Daniel nodded, turning from ashen to milky, but determined as ever. “Let’s go.”

Sam looked away, back to the enemy hiding in the trees, but not before she’d seen the bloom of scarlet on Daniel’s dressing. She swallowed a hard knot of anxiety. It would be difficult enough to make it to the gate carrying a wound like that, let alone with a platoon of Jaffa on their heels.

“The enemy is moving,” Teal’c murmured as several Jaffa emerged from the trees, keeping low as they scanned the scrubby clearing. Sam ducked behind their cover, not wanting to give away their position. “Go now, O’Neill,” Teal’c said softly. “We will cover your retreat and hold this position as long as possible.”

“Counting on it,” the colonel said.

With Daniel’s arm looped over his shoulder, he headed out into the sparse woodland that ran all the way back to the Stargate. Sam winced at their slow, awkward pace. At that rate, they’d never reach the gate before the Jaffa.

A squall of rain blew into her face and she had to turn away, squeezing her eyes shut. When she looked back, Daniel and the colonel were gone, the rain at least helping to hide them from the advancing Jaffa, even if it did make the muddy ground slick and treacherous under foot. Wiping her face on her sleeve, she squirmed around and shivered as a trickle of rain slid down her neck and under her collar. “Daniel’s moving pretty slow,” she whispered, taking a bead on one of the Jaffa and switching her weapon to single shot. “Do you think they’ll make it in time?” Even through the rain, she knew she’d hit her target. But not yet, let them come out a little further from the cover of the trees.

“It is possible,” Teal’c said, “that one of us will need to precede them to the Stargate and hold it against the Jaffa.”

“Yeah,” Sam said, a beat of fear kicking in her chest, “that’s what I figured.”

[jennadrawsandgames]

Don’t Go Alone - A Creepypasta OC Story

Before I get into the story, I want to tell you all that this is an original character I created. A story told in a different person’s perspective. Other than that, I hope you enjoy.

-

I’ve never expected that this town was the heart of missing people. Just the other day, a report of three middle school children went missing. I was fazzing out whenever the news reports talked about the children, and their names. I mean, they didn’t matter. I’m not some type of investigator or police officer. I’m just an average teacher at the prep school downtown that opened just months ago. If I needed to know the children’s names, then I would care. Besides, their just about to become high schoolers. They can take care of themselves.

“Mr. Johnson, the principal was hoping to see you.” Katie, my TA told me as she dropped the class phone, snapping me out of a minor transition.

“Oh, okay. Thank you Katie.” I replied to the high schooler.

She looked kinda disappointed in me when I was just leaving the empty classroom. It’s like she’s missing something. I brushed it off so I can focus on what’s coming to me now.

The empty halls filled with lost papers of homework, little doodles, and missing papers of students. Just having the feeling I’m missing something myself. It must’ve been the coffee from this morning.

I managed to get into the office to meet with the principal, but everyone seemed to be depressed over something. It’s just washing over everyone. I just see the man waiting for me in the doorway like always.

“Good morning Johnson.”

“G-good morning sir.” I just felt so hesitant when the words came out of my mouth.

“Come in. I need to chat with you for a moment.”

He let me into the office. It was just filled with many papers of bills and missing papers of students and some teachers over the last few months. You can’t even see his desk with all of these papers from worried parents and government officials and complaints of how unsafe the school can be from the amount of people going missing.

“You must be wondering why I wanted you in my office.” William Woodrow gave me a grin hoping for the response I’ll give back.

“I was sir. You called me while I was preparing for my English classes with my TA when you called.” I replied back still feeling worried on where this conversation is going.

“Look, we’re not getting a good reputation with all these complaints of missing children and one of our own students going on a homiside just in October. I also looked into your resimay and your were in the army. Aren’t I correct Johnson?”

“Whoa-wait. What does being part of the military 4 years ago have to deal with being a teacher?”

“We need your help to find those missing children. I hate the school getting a bad reputation because the parents are coming to me instead of the government about their children.”

“Sir, I don’t want to look back into my military past. I never wanted to speak about it ever again. Please just let me be the thing I wanted to be-.”

“That’s why I’m not giving you an option. You do what you’re told to do, and you’ll do it.”

I went silent when he stated that to me.

“That’s what a thought. You and some other teachers will begin the search tonight, 7 pm. You’re the only one who knows how to use a gun, so you’ll be leading the group. I hope to see good results from you like always.”

I started to leave the room since that was the only thing he needed me for. My question is why Principal Woodrow making me and other teachers be a search party? Most of these children could be faking of going missing just to make is an excuse to not do school. I only signed up to become a teacher after leaving my past life behind. The tactics they’re teaching in the Army were very sketchy like we’re going for war against each other. I’m just a black individual trying to live a better life, not make it worse for myself.

The day continued on like how it should be, but I can’t get that thought out of my head. The principal has now gone insane. I just had to accept this offer. I need this job. If I lose the job, I lose everything. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.

It’s about 6:30 pm when some other teachers started to arrive at the meeting point. Most of them will back out of it and lie about the search. They eventually left at 7:00 out of the fact there’s no use to it. I went into the entrance of the woods all by myself. It sucked to not have others around me for support.

“Pussies. They pretend to be something they aren’t. Just man up and we’ll find out the truth.” I told myself since nobody was around.

The entrance to the woods is gone even from not making that much progress in. It gave me the chills to see only trees and freshly made foot prints from last night. This must’ve been where those children went.

It’s been getting darker, almost pitch-black. It feels like forever since I last entered in. Especially how I still found nothing. I was at the point of giving up when I found a stench coming from around the area. It smelled like flesh being cut opened just recently. I stepped onto a log, but it felt so squishy? The stench grew stronger the more I stepped onto these logs.

I looked down to see exactly what I was stepping on and was shocked. These weren’t logs at all. These were the children that went missing last night. I was so shocked that I couldn’t move at all. Fear just swallowed me up whole.

“You know, it’s funny to say for a man like you to be a fucking wimp and stand up for yourself.” A voice giggled around me.

“Who-who’s there? I got a gun and I’m not afraid to use it!”

“Andrew Johnson. English teacher at Pacific Prep. A private educational school for middle schoolers and high schoolers. It sucks how shady the government is to use students from that school as extermination weapons.”

“The fuck you’re talking about and how do you know my name?”

“That’s a secret for another day, if you can last. Everyone knows not to enter into my woods alone, or at least my father’s woods.”

I shine my phone’s flashlight around, hoping to find where the voice is coming from. This has to be a student prank.

“Show me your fucking face you bitch!”

“Aw.. You called me a bitch. Such an insult from a ‘holy man’ like you. You can say I’ve known you for a while now. Just hiding behind a mask.”

I managed to finally find some movement of a girl wearing one of the school’s uniforms? Half her face was covered with a mask that’s covered in blood. The worst part was how bloody the uniform was. I can see her holding a pistol of some kind. It was a custom made pistol.

“Uh oh.. You found me~.”

“G-get away you monster!”

She jumped down from the trees cocking the pistol up. I felt so defenseless when I met eye-to-eye.

“Who are you?”

“You can say I died in October, but never did. You can say the one who helped the government kill protesters that were fighting for their rights. You can also say I’m the girl who was falsely accused for many fights I’ve never started before getting suspended for breaking a bitches’ nose.”

“Evelyn Brooks? Holy shit. How are you alive?”

“I never died. I only escape. They thought I was the mouse, but I was really the cat with the mouse in my hands. Well bummer that you now know a lot. I could keep you alive, but that would never be fun.”

She didn’t answer my question. Well she did, but why like that? I just realized I still have my gun fully loaded, so I can get back alive. I quickly aimed at her arm and tried to shoot her, but she was already gone.

“Oh now we’re playing. Only one gets out alive.” Her voice rings inside my head as my hands gripped right onto the gun barrel. That’s when I felt a sharp object hit my back. I turned around to see nothing, but it happened again.

Shit, she’s too fast. I don’t even know where she is anymore. I need to think to get out alive. I’m already losing a lot of blood were also too deep in for anyone to hear a person. I just grabbed the gun and shot around the area hoping to hit the girl.

I ran out of ammo just at my second turning. This became bad, to worse. From at top, I see the girl firing shots at me. She was only grazed by some of the bullets, but nothing else. I was in complete shock how this girl survived that without being badly hurt. She definitely knows what she’s doing which makes it the worst part of it. She shot 5 times and all of the bullets hit me in my arms and legs. It just hurts to move anymore and dropped to the ground on top of the dead children’s bodies.

“You know, that wasn’t a bad fight you put up. The first one to manage a hit onto me. And I don’t go by ‘Evelyn Brooks.’ I go by Eve.” She says as she shoots the final bullet into my head and rips the knives out of my back. My body lies there as everything goes black.

-

“This is the daily news for today. This morning police officers found 4 bodies known to be the 3 children that went missing and the fourth one being the man of Andrew Johnson. A teacher for Pacific Prep. Before he was found dead, some teachers saw him enter into the woods near the town around 7:00 pm. He was the only teacher that fully consented to search for the missing children which the school funded a search party to find the students. Police also found a pistol that was there at the crime scene and looked into the gun and saw something they would never expected. Engraved within the gun, ‘Project EVE.’ Were theorizing that this gun to the owner was responsible for the murders of all of those peaceful protesters from October, to December.”

“We also heard about another student that goes to Pacific Prep, Skylar Evans, was considered dead by the government. Before she went missing last month, she was last spotted walking from a small cafe before heading to the school. They claimed to find her dead in the woods as well during the search party that happened earlier this morning. We’re not sure this is true, so we’ll keep the investigation ongoing. That’s all of the news for today.”

The television turns off with people surrounding the area.

“It’s nice to know you’re back from keeping the people away from our territory.”

“I did find someone hiding that was eating some flesh while I was on my way back. Her name, Skylar Evans, but she would be preferred to be called ‘Patient Ø.’”

“Thank you for the information Eve. We’ll have you get her to us tonight, so we can meet her.”

[bamon4bamily]

TVD 9x07 - The storm before the calm (part 2) Enjoy! =)

Edward arrives at the Lockwood house; the door and windows are broken. Something is very wrong, he knows…

EDWARD: Sheriff?! Sheriff!?... (searches the foyer, the living room, dining room, until he reaches the kitchen… Khuyana and Tyler are lying on the floor in a pool of blood, he drops the bottle of wine he had brought as a thank you gift). Oh, god! Oh, god! (Rushes to their aid, calls 911… Tyler begins to react). It’s okay, help is on the way….

TYLER: (Gains enough strength to get up, sees Khuyana is unresponsive, gives her his blood, she doesn’t respond). Why isn’t this working!?

EDWARD: Let me try, I have medical training… (gives her CPR, after a few attempts he finally gets a heartbeat, the paramedics arrive soon after). Quick, help her!

 Cut to - Mystic General Hospital. Edward, Tyler, Bonnie, Damon, Caroline, Stefan, Alaric, Radka and Elena are in the waiting room; Khuyana has been rushed into surgery; Sam is in the O.R with her.

 EDWARD: (Takes Tyler aside) I know you are still in shock, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened.

TYLER: All I remember is a bunch of military guys and federal agents barging in… they arrested Matt, knocked him unconscious, then gunshots.

EDWARD: Military and federal agents? That doesn’t make sense, he hasn’t done anything for them to have jurisdiction, and they most definitely wouldn’t shoot without probable cause.

TYLER: With all due respect, but you know it doesn’t work like that.

EDWARD: Well, it should… Listen, I have my people on this; rest assured we will find who is behind this.

TYLER: Thank you for all your help, I know I’ve been a jerk to you, and I’m sorry.

EDWARD: Don’t worry about it, I understand.

 Cut to – a secret facility, inside an isolation room. An agent enters Matt’s cell. He looks badly beaten.

 FEDERAL AGENT: Donovan… here (hands him a glass of water, he chugs it like his life depended on it). Listen, I’m not like the other guys, but trust me, man, if you don’t give us what we are asking for, this is only going to get worse…

MATT: Where is my wife?!

FEDERAL AGENT: Tell me what we need to know, and I’ll tell you where she is.

MATT: Screw you…

FEDERAL AGENT: Some advice, you are playing with the big boys now, papa Powell can’t bail you out of this one; so, it’s in your best interest to cooperate… I’ve seen some pretty fucked up shit happen to people that don’t.

MATT: I swear; if you do anything to her…

FEDERAL AGENT: Aw, don’t you get it, Matt? We don’t care. Now, if it’s any motivation, I can tell you she is hanging by a thread, but if you give us what we want, I promise she’ll be just fine.

MATT: You are bluffing…

FEDERAL AGENT: You’re not very bright, are you? It’s no wonder our police force is at an ultimate crisis, pretty much anyone can qualify to become an officer. But I have to give it to you, you have some balls to be gambling with your wife’s life…

MATT: Please, I swear, I don’t know what you are talking about!

FEDERAL AGENT: Don’t insult my intelligence, Sheriff. If you don’t want to cooperate, that’s your choice; and you will suffer the consequences, but don’t try to play dumb with us. So, once again, where is the bunker’s location and where are the devices?

MATT: Fine, fine… the devices and the bunker’s location coordinates are at my house, in my bedroom’s safe, inside the closet; the combination is 235689.

FEDERAL AGENT: (He walks out of the cell, makes a phone call, comes back a few minutes later). You know, I’m the nice one, and yet you’ve managed to piss me off (hits him, then kneels to whisper). I’ll let you in on a little secret, when we went to get you, we shot your wife and friend on the spot, no questions asked; but somehow, they survived. Your friend made a full recovery, guessing he’s one of those supernatural freaks; and your wife is in surgery as we speak… takes a one-second phone call to make sure she doesn’t come out alive (stands up, kicks him). Welcome to the big leagues, Donovan.

MATT: (As the agent is about to leave) Wait…

 Cut to – Mystic General Hospital. Sam comes out of the OR.

 ELENA: How is she?

SAM: It was a complicated surgery, and she’s still in a delicate condition, but we are confident she will pull through.

EDWARD: Thank god. (To the gang) I’ve talked to my contacts at the agency and the military, they are definitely not involved; I have my people processing the scene, tracing any evidence that can lead us to the Sheriff and whoever is behind this.

TYLER: I saw them, they were wearing uniforms…

EDWARD: You can get anything on the internet nowadays; I’m sure they were fake.

ALARIC: But why come after Matt, and role-play to be the government?

EDWARD: I don’t know, but my team is the best in the field, and I know people in very high places; we will get to the bottom of this, all I ask is that you are patient. In the meantime, take care of Mrs. Donovan, and stay alert. I’m on call 24/7 for whatever you need. I have to go now; Mrs. Donovan’s medical treatment and accommodations have been taken care of; she is in the best hands.

BONNIE: Thank you, Mayor, for this; and that other thing…

EDWARD: Please, Ms. Bennett, call me Edward; and no thanks are required. The Sheriff is not only a fellow colleague; he is a friend. As for the other thing, it was the least I could do. I’d love to be able to stay longer, but I really must go; it was a pleasure seeing you again (kisses her hand, blushes), we will be in touch (leaves).

TYLER: Listen, guys, why don’t you go home and rest. I’ll stay with Khuyana and call you with updates.

SAM: I’ll be here making rounds, so don’t worry.

ELENA: And I’ll stay with Sam.

CAROLINE: Are you sure?

ELENA: Yes, Care, go; we will keep you posted.

 Cut to – The Mayor’s house; the Madame, the Strange Man, and Edward talking.

 STRANGE MAN: I thought you said Darius’s groupies had been taken care of.

EDWARD: They have, this is someone else.

THE MADAME: I’m getting very irritated with all of this.

EDWARD: (Looking quite irritated himself) Well so am I!… I don’t like unexpected surprises.

STRANGE MAN: And we are positive Ms. Bennett contained Darius? Maybe he’s still playing mind games…

THE MADAME: With her power, that would be close to impossible, dear. I’m more inclined to think this is someone that wants to sabotage the order, to impose their own...

STRANGE MAN: Do you think it’s an inside job?

EDWARD: Might be; with Darius’s revolution the society has been divided.

THE MADAME: With that type of manpower and armory, it has to be someone very high up the food chain.

EDWARD: And that reduces our suspect list considerably (lights a cigarette).

THE MADAME: I didn't know you smoked, love...

EDWARD: I don’t.

Cut to – The Salvatore house living room.

 BONNIE: I’ve tried everything, a locator spell, psychic reach, nothing… I can’t even sense him… it’s like Matt fell off the radar completely.

CAROLINE: What should we do? We have to find him…

ALARIC: There is nothing more we can do… the Mayor has his whole team looking, even brought in secret service, military, special agents, pretty much every heavyweight there is; I think they are our best shot at finding Matt.

CAROLINE: This is so frustrating!

RADKA: I’m sure they will find him; it’s what they do. Right?

DAMON: What are we, brainwashed or something?! We can’t trust the government to take care of this.

ALARIC: I’m not saying we should trust them; I’m saying, they are our only option, Damon.

BONNIE: No, they're not, Ric. I’m sure this has something to do with that bunker, and why Matt was kept there. So, I think we should ask the man that lured him there…

DAMON: Bon, no…

BONNIE: I can handle him.

CAROLINE: Are you insane, Bonnie? There is no way in hell we’re letting you go near that psycho again!

BONNIE: Care, I’m stronger than him, and he is trapped in my illusion; I have absolute control. Sorry, but this is my decision; I’m doing this.

DAMON: Fine, Bon, but I’m doing this with you, and that’s my decision.

CAROLINE: And so am I; we respect your decision; you have to respect ours.

BONNIE: You two are so stubborn!

DAMON: The pot calling the kettle black…

ALARIC: Guys, please, let’s just wait and see if they find him; we don’t need to put anyone at risk.

STEFAN: I agree; if they don’t find him in a day or two, we’ll take it from there.

BONNIE: They shot Tyler and Khuyana like it was nothing, who knows what they’ll do to Matt, we can’t wait.

DAMON: What’s the game plan, Bon?

BONNIE: We go into the illusion, twirl with his mind, find out what he knows… that’s all I got for now.

ALARIC: Okay, since you’re gonna do this regardless of what we say; we should at least get Danae and that Madame lady to help.

BONNIE: Danae and Klaus went back to New Orleans; I think she’s had enough of her brother, so let’s leave her out of this one.  

DAMON: But we could use Vampirella's help, Bon; she can be ruthless when it comes to getting people to spill the beans.  

BONNIE: She can be ruthless, period. If she’s game, we’ll definitely bring her along. If not for us, I’m sure she’ll do it for the Mayor.

KATHERINE: (Who has, once again, sneaked in on their conversation). I’m happy to help too…

CAROLINE: Seriously?! You’re still here?!

KATHERINE: I told you, Blondie, it takes time to pack. You know, I’ve always had a soft spot for Matty blue eyes, so if you want my help, I’m in.

DAMON: (Sarcastically) Aw, how sweet of you, Kitty Kat, but no thanks.

BONNIE: Actually, she can help.

DAMON: With what, Bon?

BONNIE: With what she does best.

KATHERINE: Well, second best, unless this mission of yours requires a sexual encounter…

BONNIE: (Rolls her eyes, yet can’t help but smirk) It doesn’t. All you have to do is be yourself.

CAROLINE: Aka, a bitch.

KATHERINE: Well, that is my area of expertise (winks).

CAROLINE: Uhm, and how is that going to help? And, I can be a bitch too, so I don’t see the added value.

BONNIE: You can try, but it’s impossible to hate you, Care. On the other hand, that comes naturally to her; she can help us drive Darius to his breaking point, and that’s gonna make it easier to get the information we need.

KATHERINE: Once again, Barbie, my talents succeed yours…

BONNIE: Okay; let’s go…

STEFAN: Wait, where is Darius exactly? I get really confused with the psychic stuff.

BONNIE: He’s locked up in that bunker; Edward let us keep him there.

STEFAN: And you’re sure it’s safe to go back there? I mean...

BONNIE: We’ll be fine, Stefan, it’s under the Mayor’s control now.

CAROLINE: Hey, come here. (Takes Stefan aside) Listen, I know you wanted to talk, and we will, I promise; let us find Matt, and I swear we’ll go to our spot and talk as long as you want; okay? 

STEFAN: Just be careful, Care; and help Damon keep an eye on Bonnie; I know she is strong, but that psycho is resourceful and obsessed with her.

CAROLINE: I will.

STEFAN: I hate that I can’t be more useful.

CAROLINE: Hey, don’t say that; you are; if it weren’t for you, I’d probably be crazy by now. I love you (kisses him)

STEFAN: I love you too. 

BONNIE: (To Damon, also on the side) You know, you don’t have to see him again, I can do this alone.

DAMON: I know you can, but we are a team, so you’re stuck with me.

BONNIE: (Smiles and teases) And you’re stuck with me too…

DAMON: (Smirks) Can’t think of anything better than that… (kisses her).

BONNIE: Once we find Matt, and everything is back to normal, we are definitely taking some time off.

DAMON: I’m already packed (kisses her again).

KATHERINE: (Looking at both couples) Okay, enough with the puppy love, can we go now?

BONNIE: Yep, let’s go. I’ll call the Madame lady on our way there. (Bonnie, Damon, Caroline, and Katherine leave).

 Cut to – Mystic General. Matt runs in.

 MATT: (Desperate) Where is she!? How is she!?

TYLER: (Shocked to see him) Man, thank god! (Hugs him) Don’t worry, she’s fine; she’s in recovery. What happened? (Sees he has been beaten) What did they do to you?!

MATT: I’m fine; they got the wrong guy; once they figured that out, they let me go. I need to see her...

TYLER: Sure; she’s in room 302. (Matt rushes to see Khuyana; Tyler takes out his phone and calls Bonnie... goes straight to voice message; then Caroline... voice message; then Alaric).

ALARIC: Tyler, is everything okay? How is Khuyana?

TYLER: She’s stable, but that’s not why I’m calling; Matt’s here.

ALARIC: (In shock) What?! I’ mean, that’s great! But, what the hell happened? Is he alright?

TYLER: He���s beaten up, but he’ll be okay, I hope. Don’t know what happened, we couldn’t talk, he ran in to see Khuyana. All he told me was that they figured out they got the wrong guy, and let him go.

ALARIC: That’s strange... Listen, I have to call Bonnie, I’ll call you back (hangs up).

 Cut to -the Salvatore living room.

 STEFAN: What’s going on?

ALARIC: Matt is back, he’s at the hospital. Call Caroline, I’ll call Bonnie.

STEFAN: (As he is dialing) Is he okay?

ALARIC: (Also dialing). He’s beat up, but Tyler says he’s fine. 

STEFAN: Voice message... probably ran out of battery.

ALARIC: Typical! Well... guess Bonnie did too (hangs up).

STEFAN: Let me try Damon... ( as he is dialing, Damon, Bonnie, Caroline and Katherine, come through the door).

KATHERINE: Well, that was the shortest mission ever!

ALARIC: Guys, Matt is back!

BONNIE: We know. When we were driving to the bunker, I suddenly sensed him again. We were gonna call you but our phones are dead. He’s at the hospital. We need to go see him.

ALARIC: Yes; let’s go. Rad, can you stay here with the girls?

RADKA: Sure; call me if you need anything.

ALARIC: Will do. (Kisses her; as they are heading out, he turns to Caroline, Damon, and Bonnie...) And, guys, please, charge your damn phones!

Cut to – The Mayor’s house. Edward on the phone with Tyler.

 EDWARD: ... I’m glad he’s okay. I’ll go see him first thing tomorrow morning (hangs up).

THE STRANGE MAN: They let him go? Just like that? I doubt it.

EDWARD: That is obvious. I’m certain he had to give them something in return, and we all know what that is… We need to move fast.

THE MADAME: (Using her mental powers to appear as Edward’s dead mother) My darling, I think it’s time to put your pride aside; you need to call your father...

Cut to – Mystic General. The gang arrives to see Matt.

 CAROLINE: Elena, how is he?!

ELENA: He’s okay. Sam treated his wounds, he’s inside with Khuyana.

BONNIE: What happened?!

ELENA: All he told us was that they let him go after they realized he wasn’t the guy they were looking for.

TYLER: I’ll go get him so you can talk to him; but, once you do, I think we need to leave, let him be with his wife.

CAROLINE: Yes, sure. (Tyler goes to get Matt, after a few minutes he comes out; Caroline runs to hug him) Matt! How are you? How is she?!...

MATT: I’m fine, Care, and so is she. Thanks for being here for her.

CAROLINE: Of course!

MATT: (Turns to Bonnie) Bon... (hugs her really tight) Are you okay?

BONNIE: I’m the one that should be asking you that…

MATT: Not after everything you went through. Really, how are you?

BONNIE: I’m fine, and happy to see you, is what I am.

MATT: (Smiles, hugs her even tighter, tears rolling down his cheeks). Bon…

BONNIE: (Consoling him) It’s okay, it’s okay… it’s over.

MATT: (After a few minutes of venting) Why did we ever come back to this place?

BONNIE: (Grabs him by his cheeks, and looks tenderly into his eyes) Cause it’s our home…

 Cut to – a secret facility, inside a very high-tech looking office. A man is sitting in front of surveillance monitors; live footage from the gang at the hospital, the Salvatore house, the Mayor’s house, the Lockwood house, the bunker. The man gets a call, he picks up…

 MAN: Hello, son...

  TVD 9x08 (part 1) coming next! Hope you stop by, read and enjoy! =)

[gastricpierrot]

Title: Heartbeat 

Series: Promare

Pairing: GaloLio

Rating: T

Summary: 

Lio turns himself in after the final battle, the start of a new life he must get used to.

This is a story of how Lio Fotia navigates through the days that follow, learns that support comes in more forms than he's ever familiar with, and deals with his alarmingly developing feelings for Galo Thymos.

Warning: slow burn so slow the promare would’ve had to personally leave the earth

Also on AO3

[Prologue]

The first thing that sets in is the silence.

The voices that’s been chattering in his head since as far back as he could remember, the voices that screamed, demanded to burn burn burn—are gone. The sun is rising. Lio’s ears are still ringing from the explosions of the battle. He still hasn’t registered the foreignness of the feeling of cool breeze against his bare skin.

It's... quiet.

“Lio.”

He turns, meeting eyes with the man whom he’d just saved and set the world on fire with. Bruised and battered but still standing tall and proud, though a little mellowed out at the moment. Lio figures even Galo would be drained after that intense ordeal of piloting giant robots, screaming, and punching two-faced hero figures.

“Yeah?”

“What do you plan to do after this?” Galo’s voice lacks the needless energy and passion it always seemed to carry. It's instead level, laced with genuine concern. Lio averts his gaze towards the yellow-tinted sky, hugging his elbows as the cold begins to sink in.

“What about you, Galo Thymos?”

He breathes, basking in this short moment of peace for just a while longer. The ringing in his ears gradually subside; he can hear sirens in the distance, the buzz of aircrafts racing towards their location. His heart, once on the verge of stopping completely, beats in a steady rhythm.

“What I’ve been doing all along,” Galo answers, “rescuing people in need.”

Part of Lio can’t help envying his simplistic viewpoint. Part of him envies that Galo still has something so normal to return to, a world that doesn’t have to change as drastically as his own. Lio honestly doesn’t want to think about what future awaits him, but he knows he must. For the sake of all the Burnish he’d tried and failed to save from Kray Foresight’s grasp.

“You haven’t answered my question,” Galo prompts, and Lio feels himself smiling without mirth at the realization that dawns him.

He's afraid. He's so afraid, for once, of what could, and what’s going to happen from now on.

“I—” Even admitting it brings a tremor to his hands, and he digs his fingertips into the flesh of his arms. “I don’t know.”

He forces his mind to work through his exhaustion. The sirens sound much closer. Lio has to make a choice, has to weigh his options. His people still need him.

“Well for starters, why don’t we help get the Burnish out of the rubble while backup’s on the way?” Galo pats his back in assurance, albeit with enough force to make him stumble a step forward. He’s quick to offer apologies, but Lio doesn’t really mind. He appreciates the effort Galo seems to be making to put him at ease.

It’s truly comforting to be reminded that he’s still got someone to rely on, despite everything.

Lio scarcely flinches when multiple spotlights are trained on him, his hair whipping all over his face from the gale produced by aircraft rotor blades. Galo immediately moves to place himself between Lio and the forces arriving to arrest him, probably all set to argue in Lio’s defense. Lio tugs him aside by his wrist, having come to a decision.

“I’ll leave my brothers and sisters to you,” he says, only able to hope that his voice isn’t lost to the wind. He catches one last glimpse of Galo, wide-eyed and confused, before he turns himself in.

Lio Fotia, despite having been part of the pair that had saved Earth from imploding, surrenders himself without fuss. It is his way of taking responsibility for the destruction he’d caused during—and even before—his rampage through Promepolis. It is also so that the rest of the Burnish, now people just like everyone else with their flames lost, would not be punished for crimes they did not commit. Lio had been the one to give orders, the one who had led all those acts of arson in the city. Those who weren’t part of Mad Burnish had only been trying to live peacefully without being captured. Those who had been part of Mad Burnish had merely been following him out of blind obligation.

Lio is eventually trialed at court, under a law he still despises but have no choice to abide to. He’s prepared for a heavy punishment—lifelong confinement or even death, perhaps—so he’s genuinely surprised when he’s instead sentenced to several years of community service while kept under strict surveillance. He hears later that it’s because the members of Burning Rescue had appealed on his behalf, insisting that without him, the Promare would’ve gone haywire during Kray Foresight’s insane operation and destroyed the entire planet. They’d argued that the atrocities carried out by the Foresight Foundation far outweighs Lio’s actions in scale and consequence, and that Mad Burnish had mainly been only retaliating against what the government started. Facts provided by scientists and researchers who’d worked with the Foundation had added weight to their claims, and the decision is finalized after weeks of deliberation.

Lio Fotia is charged with arson and mass destruction of public property, but not for killing people.

True to Galo’s word, the former Burnish were rescued from the rubble of the Parnassus engine as soon as reinforcements arrived at the scene. Lio’s informed that most of them only carried light injuries; it’s likely that the final blaze by the Promare had healed most physical damages caused by the generators. Even so, there were still quite a number of them who had had limbs, even organs burnt away that couldn’t be recovered. Some hadn’t been able to survive. Those who were still hanging on has been sent to receive immediate medical attention, though at present it is uncertain if they could be treated with existing means.

Everyone else, on the other hand, has been brought to shelters to settle down while society and the government worked to right themselves after all that’s happened.

Lio is made to stay in a detention facility after his sentence, a tracker surgically implanted into his ankle to monitor his movements at all times. He isn’t allowed to meet the former Burnish, much less check on how they are faring. The first day of his new life begins with him waking at the crack of dawn, heading down hallways while fighting the urge to brawl with inmates who can’t keep their excessive obscene comments and gestures to themselves, and almost freezing to death when he takes his first shower in what feels like forever.

He's then clad in a jumpsuit that’s just a bit too loose over his frame, and given a serving of dry sandwiches and milk as breakfast. He’s later escorted into a vehicle where he joins a group of other inmates who barely make any eye contact (already miles more civilized than those who’d greeted him in the hallway, he thinks), and they’re taken to a site that seems to be just recently cleared of the remnants of destruction. Their community service turns out to involve helping rebuild and reconstruct places that have been wrecked during the latest battle.

Lio gets to work with a blank mind, at this point too tired to listen to his own thoughts and the occasional backhanded comments about him and the Burnish uttered by people around him who seem to have too much energy to spare. The intense labor keeps him occupied enough for the hours to pass at a decent speed, and by the time he realizes it, his whole body is aching, the sun is setting, and he’s ordered to stop and return to the detention center.

Lio spots the flashy blue hair first from the corner of his eye as he makes his way back to the van waiting for them. He turns, and, in another moment of unexpected synchronicity, their gazes meet.

And the first day of Lio’s new life ends with a wave and a bright smile from Galo Thymos.

[wallbrat]

Felicia

I Intro I read a lot. I research. I pay attention to the news. I do a lot of fact checking. I have 10 to 15 news sources and the news I pay attention to is domestic and international. I spend hours fact checking because people lie. I also make mistakes. If you can prove to me, logically, that I’m wrong, I’ll admit it, apologize and write a retraction. Keep all of this in mind as you continue. II History I’m a student of history. My favorite periods are Ancient and Medieval, however, I’ll read about any period. I spent a few years digging into WWII because my Grandfathers served then. For the last few months I’ve been focused on WWI and the Spanish Flu. The H1N1 virus got it’s nickname not because of where it originated. Spain was neutral and wasn’t under media censorship like the countries fighting the war. Anything detracting from the war effort was not allowed so the news you saw then was not impartial. Spain, however, reported on a disease that was killing people. While H1N1 impacted us in 1918 and 1919, there were reports of it back in 1915. Yes, our government knew about it and restricted the information because of the war effort. The H1N1 virus hit America in three waves, the second wave being the worst. A deadlier strain of H1N1 surfaced and was spread by the massive troop movements of the war. It’s been said that the dropping of the quarantine restrictions are what caused the second wave and that’s incorrect. While it was a small factor, the troop movements are what spread the new strain. The cramped conditions and the malnutrition among the soldiers hastened the spread. It’s estimated that 500 million people died from H1N1. While that doesn’t sound devastating today, in 1918 that was about one third of the world population. The transmission vectors for H1N1 and Covid-19 are similar and a century of time doesn’t tend to change that. While we lack the troop movements and the conditions of WWII, we more than make up for that with our transportation technology. If that technology had been present in 1918, the death toll would have been much higher. We’ve been extremely lucky so far, yet stupidity is attempting to alter that. III Rampant Stupidity Why do we refuse to learn from the mistakes of the past? We have people protesting, with loaded guns, because they want a hair cut. Instead of throwing these morons in jail, they are allowed to continue in their stupidity. I have a few questions for these paragons of questionable intelligence. Where did you get your medical degrees? What? You don’t have medical degrees? OK. Then your Google Fu must be strong. What? You didn’t use Google? Where are you getting your information then? Ahh, I see. It all becomes clear to me now. This is not about politics and it never has been. These shining examples of American arrogance are simply angry because they’re being told what to do. They think they know more than the experts and they rage against any kind of restriction. Instead of doing what they need to do to protect their families and themselves, they prove their stupidity by endangering everyone around them. If people are still wondering why I view humanity as a failed experiment, this is a perfect example. IV The CDC I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV. They have advanced degrees that qualify them to advise us on disease, contrary to what some might choose to believe. Science is fact. Disbelief of science does not invalidate it. In the middle of a pandemic, these are the people I'm going to listen to. Our politicians have no more training in this than I do and out President is less than worthless. To the idiots protesting: No. Your Google Fu is not strong. You're not a scientist or a doctor of anything. If you won't protect others by doing what you're told then stay away from me an mine. I'm 54 years old with a stressed immune system. I follow what's been laid down because I refuse to put you at risk. I could be asymptomatic, meaning I could have the virus and have no symptoms. Having no symptoms does not entitle me to disregard the advice of the experts. Your Pastor or Priest is no more an expert than you are. Some churches ignored the restrictions and what happened to them? Many got sick and others died that may not have if they had done what they were told. V Trumpus Defectus To be clear, our president is neither insane or damaged. He simply doesn't care about you. As long as you vote for him, you could die immediately after casting that vote. He's a billionaire and you're not therefore you're beneath his notice. You don't care about the feelings of a bug when you step on it and that's all you are to him. He's been trained that way since birth. Most of the other billionaires are just like him, he's simply in the public spotlight. Most of the older politicians are no better than he is. They've been bought and paid for decades ago. The sooner we realize that we're nothing more than voting numbers to them, the sooner we can actually make our votes mean something. VI The Economy Money is nothing but ones and zeros in a computer. The dollar is worth what those computers say it is. The economy should have been shut down completely, No money, no revenue, no bills yet everything continues. We could have stayed home, ordered what we needed until this virus burns itself out. Afterwards we could have restarted things, there would have been no penalties and everyone would have been fine. If we had done that it would have restructured the economy, which is exactly why it wasn't done. Another option would have been to turn all of the billionaires into millionaires. Take everything that the filthy rich have, above $500 million, and use it to pay the American people to stay home. We don't need billionaires or the class distinctions they create. It's obvious why this wasn't done. VII Mental Restructuring Since I can't give our country the mental ass kicking it so desperately needs I have to focus inwards. While I'd like to say that this is by choice, it was forced by recent events. Few things are more painful than discovering, or feeling, that you're insignificant in the scheme of things. During a pandemic, our focus should, understandably, on our families and ourselves. Survival is paramount. Understanding that, with the exception of two people, I've done all of the reaching out to make sure that people are OK. These are the same two people that poke ate me if I've been quiet for too long so I wasn't surprised that they reached out first. I'm not a needy, whiny bastard. I'm fairly self-sufficient, I can order what I need and I'm a fairly good cook. Pumpkin, Onyx and I are fine alone, especially since I'm not a big fan of humanity in general. I love certain people but humanity, as a whole, is a lost cause. I didn't reach out for personal connection. I did it see how my friends were doing mentally. The Covid-19 situation has been tough on everyone, especially those of us with mental illnesses. I'm 54 years old with ADHD, Anxiety, Depression and three hernias requiring surgery, which explains the stressed immune system. If it wasn't for the fact that my meds had been increased a month or two before this happened, this situation would have broken me. Two people checking up on me would not have been enough to stop me from imploding. I would have been reduced to a gibbering mess because of the stress or I'd be dead. I'm fine because I noticed a couple of things about five months ago and I consulted my doctor about it. Most people in this situation aren't as lucky as I am, which is why I reach out. Having only two people that bothered to make sure I was OK was eye opening. I'm forced to reevaluate why certain people are in my life and who remains. VIII Bye, Felicia This has honestly been coming for a long time. There are people that only contact me when they want something, usually money. There are others that don't do anything. It's past time to do some pruning. I don't like giving up on people which is why I've avoided this for so long. There are some that are immune to this. My three adoptive sisters in my local area and the ones I love who are out of state. CA, WA, CO, UT, WI, WY, LA, TN, TX, GA, NJ, NY, NH and MD. Wow. Apparently I love more people than I thought I did. They know who they are. If not then they aren't paying attention. If I contact you or interact with you, in any fashion other than work, then I probably love you. Toxic people are leaving as I can't afford to keep them around. Stupidity is also making an exit. Stupidity is Willful Ignorance so why would I want them around to begin with? I have a perfect example of both. There's a post circulating on Facecrack. This one states that the plight of the jews in the Nazi concentration camps is comparable to the Covid-19 quarantine. An old friend shared that on my timeline. If he had been anyone else, I would have deleted and blocked him without hesitation. The only reason he remains is that I've known him for 38 years. I'm waiting to see what he does next. Student of history, remember? I studied WWII in depth so that means that I know more about the concentration camps than most people. The jews were herded there a variety of ways, primarily by train. They were tortured, experimented on, starved, brutalized, a huge number of them were gassed to death and those are actually the high points. It was much worse than I'll ever be able to properly describe and in no way is it even remotely similar to our quarantine. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequence. We're all free to say anything that we want to. We just need to be prepared for the repercussions that arise. If anyone else is stupid enough to share something like that on my timeline, or share it any other place that I can see, they are gone. No questions asked. All anyone needs to do to understand the difference between the two situations is to read a US history book that covers WWII. Posting crap like means that you're choosing to ignore basic evidence. I have no room for anyone like that so Bye, Felicia. IX Best vs Worst This situation can bring out the best or worst in people. You can rise to the occasion or you can sink into depravity. There are plenty of example of both around us. I'm working from home. My bills remain paid. My cats and I are fed and safe. I choose to help where I can. While it's true that I have little faith in humanity, that doesn't mean that I have to circle the drain with the rest of them. I will always try to help those around me. I've been extremely fortunate during this and that should be shared with those that are struggling. This is going to get worse before it gets better. I hope I'm wrong yet there are reports of increases in the infection rate where businesses are being reopened. The last thing we need is a second wave but I'm afraid it may happen. X Dystopia I look around and I have to wonder if we're ever going to grow up as a species. We keep making the same mistakes decade after decade. It's a wonder that we haven't blown ourselves off of the planet. The truth is that this is already a Dystopian society. It's not as bad as the examples we see in movies and on TV yet we are moving towards that. Compared to 20 years ago, we have less privileges now than we did then. We gave them away in exchange for the illusion of safety. We have privileges, not rights. Rights don't exist and are simply an invention to make us feel superior. If it can be taken away, it's a privilege. XI Conclusion While that last part was a little darker than I intended, it is true. I write, primarily, to relieve stress and to clear out my head. It gets pretty cramped in there otherwise. While this won't win me any friends, I may actually post this. My life needs some simplifying anyway. Namaste

[qunot]

Lolicon’s Impact on Me

Oh, how I loathe to write this post, but write I must, I don't know if this will sink to the depths of darkness, but I'd like to think that at-least one soul might benefit from it.

I am what society would call a monster or aberration. A being who has no attraction to adults but does have it to kids. Some as young as 9.

Contrary to popular belief, I did not get bored some day and decide, "I am feeling really masochistic today, why don't I do something that is bound to really backfire on me and completely destroy my life, just to spice things up."

No one thinks like that, it is innate. From the very moment you're born to the very moment you die, it is a part of you forever and ever and it sucks. A lot. Having sex? Never. Having a relationship with someone? Never. Looking at porn? Only if you want to go to prison for forty years.

Also contrary to popular belief, I don't have the desire to jump on random people in fits of lust or to seek out sexual encounters just to relieve the pressure. This is similar to how you don't really see hordes of virgin men scouring the streets for every random woman they can forcefully abduct into their homes.

This is not to say that we are completely stable. Societal pressures involved (being called a monster constantly), having nowhere to turn to, etc. conspire to make us a fair bit more unstable than the national average.

I myself am actually fairly well-adjusted compared to many more unfortunate people like me.

Some go insane.

Some just give into temptation and eventually end up in a dark part of the web filled with things which shouldn't be allowed to exist.

Some get all self-loathing and punish themselves every-day to make themselves feel how much of a monster they are.

I on the other-hand manage to stay relatively stable, albeit having to deal with bouts of depression and mood instability. This wasn't always the case, and I attribute much of it to lolicon hentai, which is a sort of cartoon porn.

Unlike real pornography, every character is entirely fictitious and there is no person to horribly traumatize or to soil the reputation of by being associated with naked pictures of kids. Everyone wins. Society gets well-adjusted productive members of society and I get to be sane.

Except, is this really case? You would think that society would rally behind something with such great benefits, right? Sadly, politics is a huge part of anything to do with this, and more often than not, facts are optional.

At this point in the game, not only are the facilities to help support people woefully lacking, but governments have been carrying the flawed mindset that "this is a slippery slope which leads to children getting abused" when every law they pass actually achieves the opposite.

To really understand how this is so however, I am going to have to take you through a little story about myself and how I came to get to the point I'm at now.

Throughout my childhood and teenage years, I never really thought about sex, it was just something which never really crossed my mind. Other kids would mention a thing or two from time to time, but I would be content to leave that be.

That did end up changing, but not in the ways one might expect, I grew more and more curious towards kids who were far under my age, but were all but present. I would sometimes look at fully clothed images on the internet with a weird feeling.

And one day, I saw perhaps one of the youngest people there who looked a fair bit younger than they actually were, although still a fair bit younger than me who I found extremely cute unlike all of the so called "attractive girls" who the other teenagers would always talk about.

She was far, far less developed than them and that was very enticing.

I very awkwardly tried to make friends with her, and while it very slightly worked, my social awkwardness was off the charts and making it difficult to get much further and eventually it crashed and burned like many unrequited loves too.

During this process, I had a slight feeling that something was wrong, especially with the low age involved, but no one seemed to notice a thing as we were all well within the legal boundaries.

Those were the first encounters with this unique sexuality, although certainly not the last.

At some point, I'm not even sure exactly, , but I drifted away from looking at clothed images of real girls and started looking at random anime (cartoons of sorts which are produced in Japan) ones as I found them particularly cute.

I flicked through lots of them, being pulled more and more towards the young ones who I adored and contained the qualities I loved. I even childishly wanted to leave this world behind entirely.

This continued for a number of years, even past school, although I became more and more conscious of cute school kids roaming by. I didn't have any particularly bad intentions for them, but I did find myself looking whenever they happened to be nearby.

I gradually became more and more disillusioned with reality, especially with this taboo attraction which society all but called the devil and eventually all alone in the depths of depression and repressed self-loathing and after the deaths of several loved ones, I decided to deal with it once and for all.

Through a great deal of research, I discovered that sexual desire had a connection to several hormones within the body, so I thought that if I get rid of those, then I can become normal, right? It's not like these desires are good for anything, right?

Unfortunately, the methods to deal with this involved prescription drugs and getting a hold of them would require going through the right medical channels, but I didn't let this stop me.

I knew that if I let the information about me loose to those professional, then I might well be locked up for the rest of my days in some sort of mental hospital, unable to die. This is how deep the stigma regarding this condition runs, even what may be perfectly reasonable professionals in other times will go crazy at the thought, and I could not take this risk.

I managed to get the pills through sketchy yet perfectly legal channels and began to rid myself of this condition, discarding my former self and being reborn as a normal productive member of society... Except, this did not work, even slightly.

It is true that it somewhat reduced my sex drive, but the romantic attractions, protective instincts for them, etc. simply refused to disappear, so I channeled all my willpower to suppress those and tried to seek relationships with normal adults like any other human being.

As the chief symbol of my depravity, I also cut myself off from all cartoon porn and strived to maintain a porn free life as regular porn could do nothing but conjure up feelings of revulsion in me, as part of this, I slowly brainwashed myself into thinking that all sexual thoughts are evil and clamped down on them viciously.

This too failed as my distorted mental state and already irregular sexuality made it impossible to really get anywhere further than permanent friend zone. They eventually left and looked at me with disgust, or so the distorted feelings said.

As the hormones vanished, my body grew weaker and weaker to the point I would easily run out of breath even for short walks, my bones grew rickety, and I found myself staring listlessly at the wall for many hours at a time, my mind an empty void and occasionally thinking about throwing myself off the tallest building and researching the best way of committing suicide.

I also began to hear faint voices which weren't really there whispering and sometimes saying my name, calling for me and I grew steadily more paranoid about people watching me from outside the window or from behind me, even though there was no one there.

I drifted further and further from the world, continuing the courses of pills like a mindless zombie, and when I was out and about, I felt as if everyone around me was looking at me with the utmost disgust. I even ate a bit of bleach, while thinking about just ending it.

At some point, the pills ran out and I couldn't muster up the will to get more of them at that point, so I continued my suppression exercises and my mindset bit by bit still remained in a weird way, almost like that of an alien and yet I pressed forward convinced by that letting my repressed self out would be a terrible idea.

Eventually, a few more friends abandoned me due to my distorted mind, I pleaded with them to stay, but they took the rational choice. I can hardly fault them for that.

Completely distraught and unable to muster up the energy to continue, I ended up looking at the cartoon porn again and bit by bit reconnected with various people and continued trotting along until I learned that several people near me were arrested for doing the same thing and had their lives destroyed for it.

I freaked out and started looking into various laws and regulations and drifted towards the forums of the various sites which produced my favorite content. I pored over each page and even noticed a few people who were somewhat like me there, and even more surprisingly, they didn't seem to be the evil sadistic monsters which society taught me they were.

I ended up talking to them in a slightly liberating experience and learned a number of things. I also branched out into various other communities.

One of the things I learned is that looking at child abuse images is more of an addiction than being a complete sadistic monster, and that safer content is extremely scarce with people having to dig deeper and deeper into the darkness to find more of what they need.

According to them, it can allow one to vent more effectively than anything else, in practice, a lot of the content is so horrible that it ends up driving you to near suicide.

They also commented that it would have been impossible to escape from that content, if not for the fact that they had an alternate outlet to switch to. This reaffirmed my beliefs that an outlet is vital for dealing with your natural urges and to stay away from that horrible yet addictive content.

Fate tends to make fools of us all, however as while browsing, I stumbled upon a couple of blurry images. I looked in closer and each one was a naked child standing on her own completely naked, I was really surprised that something like this could actually exist on the surface web.

It had a stronger sexual attraction than usual and as I had never seen a naked child (of the right sex) before, I looked curiously at their body structure. Shortly after, I dragged myself away from those images, deciding to stay away from them and just focus on cartoon porn instead.

Several weeks later, I stumbled upon an article about the ban in Japan and discovered that those images in particular were commercially produced thirty years ago back when when it was legal, which made sense considering that the quality of the images was fairly poor by today's standards.

After all these events, I sat down and thought about the poor state of information regarding us.

For instance, there is a misconception that mere thoughts lead to cartoon porn which lead to real porn which lead to rape. Or the very common assumption that we are all crazy rapists by default,  I used to think that too after hearing it so many times.

In truth, I have yet to see anyone who has actually abused someone, they seem vanishingly rare and I'm happy for it as-well as I would be very uncomfortable to be in the same space as someone who abused someone against their will.

This led me to think of ways to try to get information out to people that a lot of things have been massively misunderstood and I decided to write a short post. It won't quite be the most effective thing in the world, but every little bit helps in the grand scheme of things.

In the end, even though I am attracted to them and can fantasize about doing all manner of erotic things with them, I wouldn't actually be able to force them to do things against their will, even thinking of it would weigh too heavily on my conscience.

I don't know what you will make of this post, but I hope it's of use to at-least someone.