The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. - Dorothy Parker

"It's smart. It's a smart line, and a smart crowd will appreciate it. And I'm not going to dumb it down for some bonehead mass audience!" -George Costanza

You're entitled to your beliefs, naturally -- you're not entitled to falsely ascribe beliefs to others. –Unknown

Humans are only separated from beast by memory, thought process, and guilt. -unknown

It's always the quiet ones who you should be most cautious with. -unknown

"Security isn't just a piece of software, it's a state of mind." -anonymous, on computer/internet security.

Argument Against Reparations for Descendants of Slaves: 359,528 Union dead in the Civil War. -James Howard Kunstler

"I hear people whine, 'I'm only one person. I can't do anything.' As a U.S. citizen you have more political power than most who've ever lived on this earth."
~ Molly Ivins

The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars;
the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
~ H. L. Mencken

There no dumb questions. There are only dumb people who don't ask questions. -anonymous

Groundskeeper Willie: It won't last! Brothers and sisters are natural enemies! Like Englishmen and Scots! Or Welsh and Scots! Or Japanese and Scots! Or Scots and other Scots! Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland!
Principal Skinner:You Scots sure are a contentious people.
Groundskeeper Willie: [Bangs on Skinner's desk] You just made yourself an enemy for life!
—The Simpsons

"That's right, night elves: Your deity is a giant light-spinning windchime." -Anne Stockney

"Reading is the gift of being able to live more than one life." -unknown

Who is more foolish, the fool or the one who follows the fool? -unknown

When you’re confused, you’ll do anything to understand. -unknown

'Falling short of perfection is a process that just never stops.' -William Shawn

'Great minds must be ready not only to take opportunities, but to make them.'
-Charles Colton

'Put yourself into a different room, that's what the mind is for.'
-Margaret Atwood

Those who make mistakes at the first shall last the longest. -unknown

"Under some circumstances, there is no shame." -anonymous

"Better people think you a sheep, then reveal yourself to be a wolf." -anonymous

"Me, I'm dishonest, and with a dishonest man you can always trust him to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you have to watch out for, because you never know when he's going to turn around and do something incredibly stupid!" -Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean

Don't knock on death's door. Ring the bell and run- he hates that. -unknown

Tell your voices to SHUT UP...I can't hear mine... -unknown

I have a grip on reality--just not this particular one. -unknown

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The mind is like a mirror, it reflects what it is shown." -unknown

Silence is golden...but shouting is fun. -Anonymous

Do you know that at some random place, random people are talking to other random people about random events that randomly happened at a random time and a random place? Randomly! -unknown

"Some people are like slinkys, they're not much to look at, but you can't help but smile when they fall down the stairs..." -unknown

Destiny is not a matter of chance it's a matter of choice, it's not a thing to be waited for it's a thing to be achieved. -unknown

You can fight crime, but you can't fight crime and win. -anonymous

“…military flamethrowers don't set stuff on fire, they incinerate. As in "your muscle turns to char in under three seconds" kind of incineration.” –anonymous

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes." -Smedley Darlington Butler

A tyrant shall always find a pretext for their tyranny; it is useless for the innocent to try, by reasoning to get justice, when the oppressor intends to be unjust. -anonymous

"It can be argued that rapists deserve to be raped, that mutilators deserve to be mutilated. Most societies, however, refrain from responding in this way because the punishment is not only degrading to those on whom it is imposed, but it is also degrading to the society that engages in the same behavior as the criminals."
-Stephen Bright, human rights attorney

"The punishment of murder by death is contrary to reason, and to the order and happiness of society, and contrary to divine revelation."
-friend of Benjamin Franklin's, Dr. Rush

"In the US the overwhelming majority of those executed are psychotic, alcoholic, drug addicted or mentally unstable. They frequently are raised in an impoverished and abusive environment. Seldom are people with money or prestige convicted of capital offenses, even more seldom are they executed."
-George Ryan, former Illinois Governor

"What says the law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing!"
-Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables

"As if one crime of such nature, done by a single man, acting individually, can be expiated by a similar crime done by all men, acting collectively."
-Lewis Lawes, warden of Sing Sing prison in New York in the 1920s and 30s

"Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders."
-Albert Camus, French philosopher

“Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out... and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for 'the universal brotherhood of man' - with his mouth.” –Mark Twain

Only the weakling seeks to prove his strength at every turn. –Thor, Marvel Publishing, Thor #130, Page 16

What we hear, we forget. What we see, we remember. What we touch, we understand. —A Fourth Grade Student visitor to Mission: Wolf

Well now everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back –Bruce Springsteen

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice. –Robert Frost

That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons even death may die.
-H.P. Lovecraft

Humans like to light things up. -Professor Katherine Meiners

Floss only the teeth you want to keep. -anonymous

An immortal will remember your heart when men are fairy tales in books written by rabbits. -Peter S. Beagle

Mortal things are all the more beautiful than immortal things, precisely because they don’t last forever. -Peter S. Beagle

Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.-Emily Dickinson

Death.
You can't escape it.
You.
Will.
Die.
- Dresden, Dead Beat, Dresden Files, Jim Butcher

Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.-Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality
-Emily Dickinson

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.
-Emily Dickinson

Humans attempt to impose their own sense of morality where it has no place. If you consider all killing to be evil then by rights this world should be considered a place drenched in evil. -Unknown

“I don’t discriminate, I hate everyone equally.” -Unknown

“The devil’s greatest trick was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” -Unknown

“As I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity; I collected some of their Proverbs.” William Blake (1757 - 1827)

“First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Pagan. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”-Unknown

“Here's to you and here's to me
I pray that friends we'll always be,
but if by chance we disagree,
the heck with you and here's to me!” -Irish Toast

“There will be two dates on your tomb stone, and all your friends will read them, but all that’s gonna matter is that little dash between them.” -Unknown

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” -Bilbo Baggins, Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien

“Winners never talk about glorious victories. That's because they're the ones who see what the battlefield looks like afterwards. It's only the losers who have glorious victories.” -Terry Pratchett

“The world doesn't stop being funny when people die, nor does it cease being serious when people laugh.”-Unknown

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight and never stop fighting.” -- E.E. Cummings

"People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news." -Abbott Joseph Liebling

Statism: The argument that the only sure way of protecting oneself against violence, aggression and coercion is to help institute and continually support a vast, monopolistic apparatus of institutionalized violence, aggression and coercion. - J.B. Wisniewski

"If a youth is not a liberal, he has no heart. If a man is not a conservative, he has no brain." -unknown

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. -Karl Marx

"Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?" -a friend of Albert Einstein

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." –Arthur Schopenhauer

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
Confucius

It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.
Confucius

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.
Confucius

It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.
Confucius

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.
Confucius

I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents. -James Madison

The idealistic impulse to abolish rank and ranking is futile because people are unequal in their realized talents and abilities. This inequality has been evident since the first time two humans raced on the plains of Africa: one won, the other lost. Pity the loser, except that he probably went off and invented the spear. –Robert W. Fuller

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself. -Confucius

I will not be concerned at other men not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability. -Confucius

He, who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger. -Confucius

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. -Confucius

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." -Thomas Paine

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. -Confucius

Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. -Confucius

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. -Confucius

Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu

Four seasons come, four seasons go, all things ebb, all things flow. -unknown

Duty is heavy as a mountain but death is lighter than a feather. –Japanese Proverb

You've never lived until you've almost died, for those who fought for it; life has a flavor the protected will never know. -unknown

To be a revolutionary you have to be a human being. You have to care about people who have no power. -unknown

Life consists not of holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. -unknown

Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood. -unknown

There are two sorts of curiosity -- the momentary and the permanent. The momentary is concerned with the odd appearance on the surface of things. The permanent is attracted by the amazing and consecutive life that flows on beneath the surface of things. -unknown

Darkness. It is merely a state that exists within the world. Void of all forms of light, darkness is the polar opposite of the light that comes and gives the life to this world. Does that mean that the darkness is wrong? That since it is the opposite of life-giving, that in fact it is life-taking? Does that mean those of the dark are also to be condemned as such? -unknown

You have to stand for something or else you'll fall to anything. -unknown

“Those who believe solely in their own strength are fools who will die at the rise of many. True strength comes from external forces.” -unknown

To know one's enemy is not just to know their strengths, but also their faults. To know oneself is to acknowledge one's faults. True wisdom comes in doing so. True power comes in accepting it. -unknown

Space, a maze without walls. -unknown

"Careful with that light at the end of the tunnel, it might be another train coming." -unknown

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." --unknown

“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy." –Albert Einstein

“Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.” --Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. -- Nelson Mandela

Affliction, like the iron-smith, shapes as it smites.” -- Christian Nestell Bovee

“The nearest to my heart are a king without a kingdom and a poor man who does not know how to beg.” -- Khalil Gibran

Enemies stab you in the chest. Friends stab you in the back. True friends don’t carry knives. -unknown

Worlds are hidden in books, as long as you know how to read them. -unknown

Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger. -unknown

To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can have.
-T.H. White

"It's all the same. Someone starts a war, there's lots of blood, gore and death, and then a treaty's made and then broken before the ink dries. All that changes are the names of the people involved." -unknown

Knowledge is the true organ of sight -unknown

If we all did the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. -Thomas Edison

"The great god Desktop dwells in the sacred heaven of Internet; where the spirits Microsoft and MacIntosh serve the deity's wishes. The god's Prophet was named DOS. Those who are evil are banished to "WorkOffline" for all eternity." The high priests are called "Sysops" and the lesser ones called "Teksupport".
I could go on, but I'm laughing too hard already... –RedEye (anonymous)

Anybody remotely interesting is mad, in some way or another. -Doctor Who

Destiny is as destiny does. If you believe you have no control, then you have no control. -Wess Roberts

Committee- a group of people who individually can do nothing but as a group decides that nothing can be done. -Fred Allen

Question: Why does God allow evil in the world?
Sri Ramakrishna: To thicken the plot.

Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.
-Henry Brooks Adams

Truth, justice, honor...none of that's worth shit. What matters is people, and people aren't honest or just or honorable. They're petty and they're angry and they're afraid, and all anyone really wants, deep down, is to be wanted. And what's truth to that? -M. Clark(unknown)

The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his. -George S. Patton

A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day. -Bill Watterson

Among life's perpetually charming questions is whether the truly evil do more harm than the self-righteous and wrong. -Jon Margolis

…Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction. –Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Hi. I'm probably home, I'm just avoiding someone I don't like. Leave me a message, and if I don't call back, it's you.” -unknown

“We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.” -Bryan White

"A woman is like a tea bag... you don't know how strong she is until you put her in hot water." -unknown

"...Sir Issac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space!" -Gunnery Chief, Mass Effect 2

I'm the man of the house and I have my wife's permission to say so. -unknown

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton

Warning: Trespassers will be shot
Warning: Survivors will be shot again.

Lo there do I see my Father.
Lo there do I see my Mother and my Sisters and my Brothers.
Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me; they bid me I take my place among them.
In the Halls of Valhalla. Where the brave may live forever. –The 13th Warrior (Eaters of the Dead, Michael Crichton)

"It all comes down to a choice really. Get busy living, or get busy dying." Red - Shawshank Redemption

With lies you may go ahead in the world, but you can never go back.” –Russian Proverb

Families are about love overcoming emotional torture. –Matt Groening

“So let’s seeeeeeeeeee, how-a-bout-I-call-yoooooou…Nao-chaaaannnnnn! Yay!” Oh, like that’s any more creative than Naota-kun! Damn hypocrite.
“How come he gets a nickname!” Amarao whines. I blink back into reality enough to realize I’d forgotten anyone else was here. Or where here even was.
“Cuz Naota grew up into a MAAANN!” Oh. My. God. Kill me now.
It is really hot in here, you know? I’m burning up. I hope I spontaneously combust and burn down to smoldering embers before disintegrating into ashy dust. And then my molecules undergo deterioration, spout gamma rays and break apart into their various electrons, protons and neutrons. And then those in turn break down into quarks. And the quarks break down into vibrating strings of energy. And then those strings of energy release their power and explode.
The fact I’m still breathing proves that wishful thinking is a lie! A lie I tell you!

Not a moment after I realized my life for the next couple months (or the rest of eternity) was going to suck, did Haruko pull out a small mechanical thing and slam it on the table and Superior Raharu’s Reign of Terror ensued via live-feed hologram projection.
She went through the usual: Our department is a bunch of primitive, jumped-up monkeys (I don’t know if I really believe in Darwinism, but that still stings), a bacterium could do our jobs better than we do (um no: it couldn’t), we weren’t worth her time (apparently nothing is worth her time so this doesn’t really bother anyone), we should all rot in our respective versions of hell (you mean this isn’t hell?), and last but not least she was certain that our presence in this operation was only going to fuck things up but her ‘superiors’, (she said ‘superiors’ like a normal person might say ‘pond-scum’,) made her do it anyways, and she wouldn’t come near us with a ten light-year long pole if such a thing existed which it didn’t, (Raharu-babe, the feeling is mutual).
“—If I know you people (and I DO, miserably enough,) you’ll somehow manage to screw something up DESPITE whatever I do, so I expect DAILY reports of your progress so I‘ll have time to FIX whatever FUCK-UPS you make before the inspection by the SGC Administrators! If this sorry excuse for an interplanetary relations operation does ANYTHING to jeopardize my standings with the brass, I will PERSONALLY make your lives a living HELL—!”
Okay, I’m getting really sick of this. I think it’s been going on for about an hour now. Maybe longer. Yeah, probably longer.
At the beginning of Raharu’s whole rant thing I was pretty bewildered, nervous, scared and surprised at the same time. But the whole surprised part wore off pretty quickly and after the first half hour or so, the scared and nervous did too, and I had transitioned back into my default emotion: sullen, cynical and mildly irritated.
And if you know the default version of Naota at all well, you’d realize he wouldn’t take this crap lying down. And by ‘he’ I mean me. Why did I just talk about myself in the third person like that? Bizarre. Funny: if I were to blame it on aliens invading my brain it wouldn’t even be far-fetched. Go-figure.
Speaking of aliens…
Interrupting her, I ask in a patronizingly innocent voice: “So what if YOU fuck up? Do we get to make YOUR life a living hell?”
Queue vinyl record backtracking sound-effect.
The eyes of everyone in the room were suddenly looking right at me. A split second’s scrutiny and I knew that Amarao and Kitsurubami looked shocked and freaked-out; Haruko looked quizzical as if I was a dog that had suddenly done an interesting trick; Atomsk had only looked at me long enough to clarify who’d spoken, then shook his bird-like head and let it drop into his claws: a ‘you just HAD to fucking open your mouth, didn’t you…’ gesture, if I’d ever seen one, (and I had).
Shit, I’m stupid.
The moment I realize this, I hear ringing in my ears and the world starts swimming in front of my eyes and suddenly that disembodied feeling I had earlier while walking up to the DII comes back triple-fold. Once again I feel like I’m not really in control of my body. I think my brain got sucked somewhere through my N.O. channel. Yeah, that was a joke. But seriously I’m having a panic attack here.
Raharu looked like she was replaying what I’d just said in her mind, trying to discern whether she’d heard me correctly, because she couldn’t quite believe anyone would talk back to her. “—What did you say—?” Raharu demanded, her voice low and dangerous.
Quick Naota, make something up! I tell myself, but I feel like I’m out of step with time somehow. As if my thoughts are coming both too fast and too slow at once. I’ve got too much time to think and not enough so I start raving in my own head: Why am I talking to myself in the third-person again? Or is that second-person? I think its second person, since I’m telling me to do something…I think…I’m not sure; whatever. I might look it up if I decide I care.
For some reason that I can’t explain, I answer Raharu back, just as condescendingly as before. “I said: If we think you’re a shitty boss who can’t do her job, can we make your life a living hell? I’m justified; it’s only fair.”
Nooooooooooo-ho-ho-hooooo!
God I want to kick myself. It’s too bad that is physically impossible.
I’m under some kind of surreal trance or else I would probably be running right now, because Raharu is fuming. She tenses up, her hands clasped into fists straight at her side, and her face contorts furiously as she spits: “—I am an EXCELLENT boss! How DARE you even ELUDE to the possibility that I might not be—!”
The hologram is slightly larger than real-life not to mention projecting from the table, making the top of her hologram about eight or nine feet off the ground. Which is pretty damn intimidating, I must say. I’m sort of used to the yelling at this point from having to put up with the almost identical, if slightly toned down, rant she’d forced us to sit through the last hour or so. I’m still flinching at some of the main words, but that’s mostly reflex, rather than actual fear. I think most of the negative reactions are being blunted by my state of semi-consciousness.
“—I ought to FIRE you for even CONSIDERING such a thing—!”
Blink.
Fire me? She ought to fire me? HA HA-HA HA ha-ha ha ha…Wow, I’d like to see her try.
Is the fact that I’m mentally laughing in this situation indicative of my mental state? I sure hope not…I think this is another example of having too much time to think about things in my head…
“Go ahead: I don’t work for you,” I said wryly with a hint of a laugh. You know that tone of voice you get while patronizing an idiot who is trying to insult you and failing miserably at it? That’s the tone I’m using right now. Or the one the alter-ego that’s controlling my body right now is using. I think I will call him Bob.
Raharu splutters for a couple seconds before growling and finally stabbing her holographic finger at Amarao. “—AMARAO! Control your employee, I DEMAND restitution! YOU HEAR ME? DEMAND IT!”
Amarao jumps in his seat, startled at being addressed, as if he’d forgotten he was in any way involved, “Uhh…uhh…” he stutters, his fake eyebrows twitching a mile a minute. That’s right Amarao, you aren’t safe either. Welcome to hell.
Raharu seems to realize Amarao is vaguely comatose at the moment and not about to come up with a comprehensible response any time soon, and turns back to interrogating me. “—Who the hell are you, anyways? What are you doing here—?”
“Finally, a good Question. What the hell am I doing here? I should have just walked out ages ago. This was the most pointless meeting I’ve ever been too and I was at the meeting last month when the research department spent the entire three hours insulting Amarao’s illustration skills when he tried to draw a Centuarian alien with dry erase marker on the white board. Ch-yeah. Entertaining, but pointless. This meeting wasn’t even entertaining. I spent the entire time getting bitched at…” Blink, “Damn it, I just said that aloud.” Shit.
“—INSOLENCE—!”
Well, in for a penny in for a pound…“Right back at yah,” I reciprocate voice dull and bored. Or Bob does, anyways. Wish I could take credit for it. Why don’t I? Henceforth anything said by Bob will be cited as if spoken by me: the less masochistic version of Bob.
…The dilation in my perception of time is creating the weirdest running commentary I’ve ever thought of before. I think I’m channeling Haruko or something.
Whatever I give up. Whatever the hell comes out of my mouth comes out of my mouth. I’m not going to bother being nice. Or as nice as I ever am, anyways. Or as sane as I ever am, at that. Fuck it; I’ve never been sane…
Amarao seems to have recouped enough to realize what exactly is going on i.e. the grave I’ve been digging this whole time has gotten as deep as the Marianas Trench and I’m jumping in head first while making a pretty good effort at dragging everyone else down with me.
“Shut up, Nandaba!” he hisses at me.
As I said before, I’ve given up caring what I say to Raharu. She deserves it, anyway. I sigh, “What’s she going to do about it? Yell at me some more? She just did that for an hour. It’s like white noise at this point: unintelligible, meaningless and mildly irritating.”
God damn you Bob. You and your snappy comebacks and big talk…You would be cool if you had even the slightest amount of self-preservation…
“I really will have to fire you if she puts enough pressure on us, Naota-kun,” Amaro informs me. I should probably feel nervous right about now. Odd that I don’t.
“—I’m still HERE, you know—!” Raharu screams.
I say ‘Good for you,’ the same moment Amarao says ‘That’s nice.’
“I thought we went over this, Amarao,” I tell my boss, “You’re not going to fire me.” I remember that we’d come to this conclusion over lunch just today. Was it just today? That increased perceptivity of time made it seem like such a long time ago. When would today be over? Or hell, just the meeting.
“It wouldn’t be me firing you it would be the higher ups.” Good argument, Amarao.
“Meh, once they realize you don’t get anything done unless I’m here they’d just hire me back,” I respond, (that Bob, he always knows what to say). And that’s not even an exaggeration.
“—HEL-LOOOO—!” Raharu yells again but we ignore her; me because I’m just that much of a jerk, Amarao because he wants to convince me not to say anymore stupid stuff before he redirects his attention elsewhere.
“You’re pretty full of yourself,” Amarao says with a frown.
“I’m not bragging; it’s just the truth. Do you know how much double-overtime I get because Kasami has to call me in on my days off because no one can get you to do anything?”
“Of course I don’t, I don’t write the checks, finance does!” Ain’t that the truth.
“Well, let me tell you, it’s a lot.”
“—PAY ATTENTION TO ME, DAMN-IT—!” Raharu demands, stomping her foot like a three year old. She’d have broken the table if she was actually on it.
I turn to Raharu and giver her my most arrogant stuck-up voice, saying “Could you stop interrupting? It’s rude.”
Amarao flinches and grabs his hair like he’s going to pull it out, “What’s with you today, are you suicidal or something?” Suicidal, no. Schizophrenic, maybe.
“I just listened to Atila the Cosmic Hun over here rant for more than an hour. I’m surprised you’re not suicidal too.” Suicidal he may not be, but his mental health is still in question.
Shruggin, Amarao says, “That’s a good point.” I know.
Raharu is jumping around in her navy blue GSP uniform with it’s her rank bars, like a petulant child. “—Shut up! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!—”
It’s getting kind of annoying. “You shut up,” I tell her, “You’re the one yelling.” My God! Bob needs a fucking muzzle, I swear. The asshole won’t keep his trap shut.
“—No, YOU shut up!—” Wow, that’s mature.
Amarao groans, and starts rubbing his temple, “Don’t encourage him, Raharu…”
The Kukurian rounds on Amarao, stabbing at him with her finger. “—That’s SUPERIOR Raharu to you, Amarao! And I’ll encourage him if I damn well want to—!”
I can’t help smile at how ridiculous this is as I tell Amarao, “Yeah, you heard the lady.”
His ugly eyebrows knit together in irritation. “Shut up Naota.”
“You shut up,” I tell him bossily, “You’re the one butting into our conversation.”
“—Yeah, Shut up—!” See, even Raharu agrees. With Bob no less, who was insulting her all this time. I think that means I’m right. Me and Bob are right.
“Oh my god,” Kitsurubami pleads, speaking for the first time. She looks like she’s about to have a panic attack. Or maybe whip out a revolver and start shooting. Or both. And I thought Amarao and I were unstable. “Everyone: Stop. Saying. Shut up. It’s annoying.”
Raharu glares at her. “—You’re annoying—!” Hehe! That’s funny.
This is so random. It’s probably compounding my feelings of disconnection from reality. “My, what intelligent conversation we’re having,” I remark seemingly absently. I can’t even think of a conversation I’ve had with my four year old niece that was this juvenile. Hell, we had more in depth conversations when she was two.
“—Fine, it’s obvious no one wants me here. I’ll just leave.—” Raharu says haughtily, crossing her arms, pouting and looking a hell of a lot like Haruko. Oddly, I’m getting the impression she actually thinks we care whether she leaves or not. Or rather, she thinks we want her around. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
Halleluiah. “Thank you. Finally,” I pronounce with feeling. Bob is just as happy she’s leaving as I am.
“—I’m leaving—!” she says again.
“Great.” Hurry up.
“—I really am going—”
“Okay.”
“—I’m going to leave now—”
“You do that.”
“—I’m going—”
“Good, go already.” Fuck, I don’t think she’s leaving.
Raharu frowns, growling “—Fine! I will—!”
“Fine.”
“—Fine—!”
“Fine.”
“—Fine—!”
“Fine.”
“—FINE! I’m GOING! You happy—?”
“Immensely.”
“—Humph—!” she huffs and the hologram winks out.
Silence.
It starts with a smothered snicker and faint choking sounds, but by a few seconds later Haruko is full out laughing, one hand around her stomach and the other hand in a fist banging against the table as she collapses over it.
I was hoping once Raharu was gone that sense of unreality would break but it’s still running, although the ringing in my ears has toned down a little.
“Damn it Naota, this is all your fault!” Amarao suddenly growls before letting out a strangled whine, slamming his head down on the table and hiding himself with his arms.
Maybe I don’t trade clever repartee with Raharu everyday, but Amarao is another matter altogether. It’s practically my sole method of entertainment around here day in and day out. I’m ready to retaliate without a second thought.
I snuff, looking away as I lean back in my chair. The muscles in my shoulders start to un-tense and it almost hurts. I respond, “If you mean getting rid of Superior ‘pain-in-the-ass’ Raharu, then yeah, I did. No thanks to you.” For-fucking-real.
Amarao looks up from his moping to glare at me. “No, I meant screwing us six ways to Sunday, you asshole!”
I ignore the insult, instead saying, “You know, I never really got that expression.” (Bob, go away; your services aren’t needed anymore.)
Thankfully he gets the right idiom, (I half expected him to start explaining the concept behind the word ‘asshole’). Amarao shrugs, “I think it has something to do with Sunday being the day of rest when Christians go to church and there being six other days besides that…or something…maybe…I dunno.”
Umm…“Even knowing that, it still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me,” I tell him, “Besides, I’m mostly an agnostic, but I practice Shinto.”
Frowning in confusion, Amarao asks me: “Then how come you say ‘oh god’ a lot and ‘god damn’ and ‘what the hell?’”
“Well, it doesn’t have to be that god in particular. Besides, those are just expressions.” Yeah, I bet Satanists say those things too.
“Right, well, the fact remains that we’re fucked and it’s your fault,” Amarao tells me before letting his head go limp to bounce against the table, “Owe-owe-ooowwwies!”
It’s times like these I fear for the survival of humanity and just as quickly ignore that fear as a manifestation of denial.
Haruko’s laughing calmed enough for her to say: “Wow…I don’t remember you guys being this amusing…or this stupid.”
I’m still too out of it to jump at her voice, but I was surprised upon hearing it. She’s been uncharacteristically quiet all this time. It’s freaking me out.
“Haruko-san,” Kitsurubami asks, turning to the pink-haired kukurian, “What can we expect from Superior Raharu in response to this?”
“Hmmmmmm, she’s a cutthroat bitch twenty-four-seven sooooo I expect she’ll be about the same. She’s not really that imaginative,” Haruko informs us apathetically, supporting her head with a hand.
“Yeah, now if Naota-kun can just do that every time she calls us up, you’re covered,” Atomsk says airily, “But no pressure.”
“Gee thanks, I feel so relieved now that you’ve said that—not really,” I inform him. I still feel weird talking to a giant bird. He’s like a blazer-vision version of Big Bird. You know, what he’d look like if you watched Sesame Street while tripping bawlz.
If you don’t know what blazer-vision or tripping bawlz is, don’t worry about it. Your ignorance is a sign that you haven’t been tainted by ‘society’ and ‘the world’ yet. Which is kind of sad, considering I know it and I came from Mabase. Really, what’s that say about where you live? I leave that for you to decide.
“Yeah, I still think that was really stupid of you,” Atomsk told me wryly.
I snuffed, “I could tell, you had this ‘You fucking did not—Shit, you fucking did…’ look going on before it lapsed into complete despair.”
“That obvious?”
“Yeah, but mostly because I was telling myself basically the same thing, and then Raharu really started pissing me off so I was like, ‘you know what? Fuck it, she’s a bitch anyways. This is a response to her build up of shitty karma.’”
Wiggling his eyebrows in confusion, Amarao says, “I thought you just said you were Shinto?”
I shrug, “Buddhism, Shinto, same-thing.” Actually Shinto did adopt a lot of Buddhist customs. Granted it is an exaggeration.
Amarao frowns, “Karma was originally a Hindu concept.”
“Hindu, Shinto, same-thing,” I say mostly just to piss him off. I think Amarao is a Buddhist, although according to him it isn’t a religion, it’s a ‘guide to directly experiencing reality’. I’m sure Buddhism is great, I’m just equally sure Amarao hasn’t gotten the knack of it yet. Or ever will.
Amarao frowns more. “Um no, they’re not.”
Psh. “Same enough,” I declare—wait, that doesn’t sound right. “I mean, close enough,” I correct myself.
Amarao sighs, “You know, sometimes I think you’re the smartest kid I know, and then you do something like this and I start to question.” Aww, that’s so nice…ish…okay, next subject.
“Did we actually have a meeting for a reason?” I ask leaning back in my chair with my arms behind my head, “Besides getting bitched at that is? As in something important?”
“Um, well,” Amarao itches his head before shrugging, “I guess I’m supposed to give our legal aliens some kind of orientation and their paperwork or something but…I’m just going to give you guys your legal interstellar resident visas and send you home. Kitsurubami-san, Naota-kun, just take the rest of the day off,” he said, then as an afterthought added, “And take your aliens with you.”
Ha ha…that’s funny.
“I feel so loved,” Atomsk deadpans. It works even better because his face doesn’t move. And I’ve yet to figure out where his eyes are.
“You’ll be gagging from all the love tomorrow,” I inform him, “It’s a secret inspection day, which means the melodic ring of chastising shouts will echo through the halls and office cubicles.” It is one of my most favorite days. Like a holiday really. Christmas or Halloween. Or something.
“Wow…I’m looking forward to it.” Very sarcastic, this guy is. He seems a lot like me. But I don’t think he’s getting the point of Super-Secret-Inspection-Day and the joy it brings. Or maybe he’s just not as vindictive as I am. Naw.
“You can help me yell if you want to,” I offer, and he perks up. Yeah, he’s totally as vindictive as I am.
“Oh okay, sounds good,” says Atomsk, nodding his bird-like head, voice still emanating from seemingly nowhere. -unknown

“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” –Herm Albright

“The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.” –T.S. Eliot

Memories echo, wandering in the mind,
Unchanged in a changing world. -unknown

Meeting together, the parting of ways,
Hope of reunion, in the heart stays. -unknown

The only thing more annoying than your faults,
Is seeing them reflected in others. -unknown

Loneliness seeps into the soul, unnoticed,
Realized only in the company of others. -unknown

Fear is something to be controlled,
Not to be controlled by. -unknown

All who wage War know my name. -War of the Four Horsemen, Darksiders

Hunger drives us all,
For some, it consumes. -unknown

Mothers of teens know why some animals eat their young. -unknown

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." –Bertrand Russell

I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem. -unknown

“Lets have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” -Abraham Lincoln

“Faith... Must be enforced by reason...When faith becomes blind it dies.” -Mahatma Ghandi

Faith is faith only as long as you believe in it without the need to have it proved to you. -anonymous

"Every person makes choices as to how they will live. Evil does not exist independent of man. Men do evil by choice. Choice involves the requirement to think, even if ineffectually. The most basic choice you can make is to think or not to think, to let others do the thinking and tell you what to do, even if they tell you to do evil. Wise choices require more, they require rational thinking. Refusal to think rationally affords one the ability to maintain the illusion of knowledge, wisdom, even sanctity while committing evil. If you follow the teaching of others who do your thinking for you and who have you do evil, the innocent victims are harmed just the same as if you choose to harm them yourself. Dead is dead. Their life is over. Teachings that defy reason defy reality; what defies reality defies life. Defying life is embracing death. Celebrating faith over reason is merely a way of denying what is, in favor of embracing any whim that strikes your fancy." -Terry Goodkind

"Truth has advocates who seek understanding. Corrupt ideas have miserable little fanatics who attempt to enforce their beliefs through intimidation and brutality… through faith. Savage force is faith’s obedient servant. Violence on an apocalyptic scale can only be born of faith because reason, by its very nature, disarms senseless cruelty. Only faith thinks to justify it....Justice is not the exercise of hatred, it is the celebration of civilization." -Terry Goodkind

"To exist in this vast universe for a speck of time is the great gift of life. Our tiny sliver of time is our gift of life. It is our only life. The universe will go on, indifferent to our brief existence, but while we are here we touch not just part of that vastness, but also the lives around us. Life is the gift each of us has been given. Each life is our own and no one else’s. It is precious beyond all counting. It is the greatest value we can have. Cherish it for what it truly is... Your life is yours alone. Rise up and live it." -Terry Goodkind, COnfessor

Wizards Rules:
1."People Are Stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or they fear to be true."
2. The greatest harm can result from the best intentions."
3. Passion rules reason, for better or for worse."
4. "There is magic in sincere forgiveness, the magic to heal. In forgiveness you grant, but more so, in forgiveness you receive."
5. Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie."
6. The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason."
7. "Life is the future, not the past."
8. "Deserve victory."
9. "A contradiction cannot exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole."
10. Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self."

Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't. -unknown

Always forgive your enemies -- Nothing annoys them so much. -Oscar Wilde

“There are two ways to argue with a woman - neither one works.” -Unknown

"We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities." -Bill Maher

Suicide is a way of telling God: 'You can't fire me, I QUIT!'-Bill Maher

A knight is sworn to valor, his heart knows only virtue, his blade defends the helpless, his might upholds the weak, his word speaks only truth, his wrath undoes the wicked. -The Old Code of Knights, from ‘Dragonheart’