Hermit

Mad Max Headroom

Tell Tale- True! It was, of course, the brilliant Poe who first made me realize the true nature of my condition. God bless, Edgar, and damn the fools who misunderstand his tale of a man who might as well have been me in a past life, if it is possible for a fellow to be so twice cursed. I thought I was going mad, you see. The filthy stink of my peers had grown more pungent until I could scarce breath around them.  The streaks of color they wore became progressively more garish and glaring, as disturbing to my sight as any gleaming vulture's eye. And to touch them, to accidentally brush up against the filthy oil of a fellow adolescent's skin, or the rough texture of some decaying older man or woman who were like lizards that refused to shed properly.
 
But note, gentle sirs and ladies, the worst aspect had to be the sounds; the horrid rushing of their ravenous pulses through blood vessels, the grind grind grind of molar against molar as their jaws clenched and unclenched in cacophonous champing. If not for a short story that revealed all to me, I might have thought I'd descended into madness. Oh yes, the sounds were the worst, to have my ears constantly exposed to the rustling of that stagnant breath, like winds through some fetid swamp's reeds, or the clack clack clack of their joints in motion?
 
Why, I can see why one would THINK I'd gone mad.
 
Where was I? Ah, yes.
 
Of all the sounds, it was the hearts, the wretched thump of that detestable muscle bullying away all lesser sounds, that irritated me most. Some other man might gaze in wonder at the sweet slope of some maiden's torso. I? I could only grit my teeth in frustration as the antagonizing beat in the cage of her ribs pounded away relentlessly like some bird caught in the weave of a net it could not escape, and yet it was too stubborn to be silent and DIE already!
 
 
My revulsion at their ever unwelcome and untimely presence did not diminish one iota with exposure, I can tell you that. Rather it built up. It was Mr. Poe's excellent documentary that lead me to the full realization of my particular problem, not madness, but true acuteness of the senses. I was under constant attack, constant! And did not I, did not any living being, have a right to defend himself from such bombardment?
 
It was my desire for self defense that led me to silence my first enemy. This first and particular heart beat in the chest of a teacher, one Mr. Bellows, who insisted I sit in the front row. It was he who had introduced us to the works of Poe, so I suppose I should have been grateful. But, he read the story. He pushed it upon us. Clearly this was no innocent, he KNEW what his hellishly raucous heart was doing; he had to. And so, it was only right I should first defend myself against him, or more accurately, defend myself against the weapon within his chest that bludgeoned me ear rattling crashes.
 
I shan't go into the details, no no. That would have you thinking I am some lover of the macabre, some murderer who enjoyed taking a life. I'm not. I just want to live in peace. If I could have removed his heart without killing him, don't you think I would have?
Oh, but when it finally silenced, it was more than a peace that descended upon me.
 
It was power.
 
Somehow, the anointment of blood, that first purge, allowed me to project my hypersensitivity upon others.
 
The school girl, the one who tried to be so oh so kind, unaware of how the glare of her smile blinded me, how the attempts at gentle touches she made tore at my flesh... she tried to reassure me that the police would find Mr. Bellows' killer. HER heart was beating too, and I wondered in one fit of despair if I'd have to kill everyone in the school just to finally end my torment. But something passed between her and I, and then?
My senses became as any other man's, delightfully dull, deliciously obtuse, and wonderfully, gloriously weak!
 
I almost kissed her as an angel right then. But as the hour passed on, I watched her twitch at every wayward stink that I could no longer smell, I watched her cover her eyes at the bright colors that no longer bombarded me so heavily. And after an hour, she began screaming to others, "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"
 
My curse had passed on!
 
They took her away, of course. Not my fault, I am not the one who misdiagnosed her, am I? I am not the one who thrust her into some modern day bedlam institution for the crime of being more aware than they. She senses remained sharp until she took her own life a week later. She was weaker than I, I suppose, or perhaps wiser, who is to say?
 
Sadly, my own heightened state of awareness returned in less than twelve hours.
 
But I  have the cure now, well, not the cure, but a reprieve. Midas could, with but a touch, dull the senses of a target as they became naught but blissfully inanimate gold. I? I can grant the barbed gift I bear to others. It almost always ends up having them labeled as 'mad' by a cruel and primitive society, but really, what's the alternative?
 
I can't rip out EVERY heart, now can I?
...........
 
Tell Tale is a truly disturbed individual, with hyper senses that he just can't cope with. It's driven him utterly insane, though he denies that categorically, claiming all his actions are merely part of self preservation. He works with other members of the team much to their distaste, but his skills, that of a poised serial killer, range from stealth to security systems (hyper senses make it much easier, of course, to bypass much of that) and even psychology (Enough to rationalize his own actions) have proven useful. He often dresses in items meant to muffle or dim his senses, but they never really are enough. His only true respite from his power is to pass it onto others. They stay hyper sensitive (And are almost always driven mad by it to one degree or another), but he finds only a half day of "blissful dullness" before his condition returns again.

Re: Jokes
 
Why Men Are Not Allowed to Write Advice Columns...
 
Dear John
I hope you can help me.. The other day, I set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching TV.
 
My car started stalling and then it broke down about a mile down the road and I had to walk back to get my husband's help. When I got home, I couldn't believe my eyes. He was in our bedroom with the neighbour's daughter!
 
I am 32, my husband is 34, and the neighbour's daughter is 19. We have been married for ten years. When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted that they had been having an affair for the past six months. He won't go to counselling and I'm afraid I am a wreck and need advice urgently. Can you please help?
 
Sincerely, Kate
 
 
Dear Kate:
A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intake manifold and also check all grounding wires. If none of these approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the injectors.
 
I hope this helps,
Regards
John

I think part of the problem with the police who themselves break the law or abuse their authority merely 'resigning' is there is little to keep them from heading to another area of the country and getting a new job with a new police department. Sure, their background might raise a red flag, but the new department might also just note that they 'quit their job' instead of 'were fired'. So you have Bad Cop #3 get caught using excessive force on year, and quitting. But in three years, he could be wearing another badge doing the same thing all over again.

I think part of the problem with the police who themselves break the law or abuse their authority merely 'resigning' is there is little to keep them from heading to another area of the country and getting a new job with a new police department. Sure, their background might raise a red flag, but the new department might also just note that they 'quit their job' instead of 'were fired'. So you have Bad Cop #3 get caught using excessive force on year, and quitting. But in three years, he could be wearing another badge doing the same thing all over again.

I think part of the problem with the police who themselves break the law or abuse their authority merely 'resigning' is there is little to keep them from heading to another area of the country and getting a new job with a new police department. Sure, their background might raise a red flag, but the new department might also just note that they 'quit their job' instead of 'were fired'. So you have Bad Cop #3 get caught using excessive force on year, and quitting. But in three years, he could be wearing another badge doing the same thing all over again.

I think part of the problem with the police who themselves break the law or abuse their authority merely 'resigning' is there is little to keep them from heading to another area of the country and getting a new job with a new police department. Sure, their background might raise a red flag, but the new department might also just note that they 'quit their job' instead of 'were fired'. So you have Bad Cop #3 get caught using excessive force on year, and quitting. But in three years, he could be wearing another badge doing the same thing all over again.

"Born on a mountain top in Tennessee, 
Greenest state in the land of the free. 
Raised in the woods so's he knew every tree, 
Killed him a bear when he was only three. 
 
Davy, Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier."

Well, Follmer is so clueless to his own arrogance and borderline evil that it is...down right chilling

"Born on a mountain top in Tennessee, 
Greenest state in the land of the free. 
Raised in the woods so's he knew every tree, 
Killed him a bear when he was only three. 
 
Davy, Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier."

D'awwww

Nope. She's not even making me budge on my position. Setting up a tier system and hoping for no abuse is naive at best. I don't claim to know European priorities, but here in America, better stream for pay would go to things like commercials and cutting rivals who couldn't keep up with payments off. It would become legalized extortion by the providers.
 
You want to really speed up the internet all around? Encourage better and quicker infrastructure with faster connection (Something that many companies in the US ALSO fight tooth and nail)

Nope. She's not even making me budge on my position. Setting up a tier system and hoping for no abuse is naive at best. I don't claim to know European priorities, but here in America, better stream for pay would go to things like commercials and cutting rivals who couldn't keep up with payments off. It would become legalized extortion by the providers.
 
You want to really speed up the internet all around? Encourage better and quicker infrastructure with faster connection (Something that many companies in the US ALSO fight tooth and nail)

I actually like it the way we got. She's a super hacker because she has Mad Skillz, the powers.. .eh they're just extra.

Some more Anthony Green Art. First up is Dark Knight, a vigilante with a knight inspired costume:
 

 
Ant Queen, a Golden Age Villain in the public domain who commanded Giant Ants:
 

 
Mr. Frost: Another public domain villain. Nazi agent who could create a freezing aura after swallowing a special capsule:
 

From my new online campaign, The Retributors, here is one of the PCs: Blip.
 

Pretty much this.. if, for example, maybe only 1% of the police nation wide are corrupt, abuse their authority, or are trigger happy idiots... the problem is the 67% who rally appear to rally around the bad cops and the others just don't speak up  even when they know wrong has been done.
 
Police have fallen into the ultimate 'us vs them' mentality... and the problem is, their 'them' has gone from criminals to being the American public and this battle overides all else... equality under the law, our liberties, and increasingly, our lives.
 
Or so it appears to me.

I guess he tried that excuse just for the halibut

Death Tribble invented a tasteless, odorless poison that does double damage against Sicilians even when death is on the line

Leonard Pitts Jr commented on much the same thing in this article. Particularly in the bottom half
 
He sums it up with "An argument can be made that rights which aren’t respected in the moment they are asserted are not really rights at all."
 
We are dangerously close to a state of slack martial law, one that can instantly be tightened and brought to full force at any time by any police officer in a 20 foot or more radius around him even when there is no crime.

Leonard Pitts Jr commented on much the same thing in this article. Particularly in the bottom half
 
He sums it up with "An argument can be made that rights which aren’t respected in the moment they are asserted are not really rights at all."
 
We are dangerously close to a state of slack martial law, one that can instantly be tightened and brought to full force at any time by any police officer in a 20 foot or more radius around him even when there is no crime.

Leonard Pitts Jr commented on much the same thing in this article. Particularly in the bottom half
 
He sums it up with "An argument can be made that rights which aren’t respected in the moment they are asserted are not really rights at all."
 
We are dangerously close to a state of slack martial law, one that can instantly be tightened and brought to full force at any time by any police officer in a 20 foot or more radius around him even when there is no crime.