{application | ataraxion}

[outofclothes]

P L A Y E R   I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Crystal
OOC Journal: nerdangel
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: No
Email + IM: octoberrain08 @ gmail + kyotoshowgirl
Characters Played at Ataraxion: N/A

warnings: alcoholism, physical abuse/torture, suicidal/homicidal ideation

C H A R A C T E R   I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: James Stark
Canon: Sandman Slim
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Between Kill the Dead and Aloha From Hell
Number: rng me

Setting:

The world of the Sandman Slim series is set in modern-day Los Angeles, California, particularly the very tail end of 2009 and onward into 2010. This world is exactly like ours in terms of technology and culture, but there is the presence of the supernatural. In this universe, magic is real and many of the monsters are, too.

As far as magic is concerned, there is a magical community known as the Sub Rosa. They don't like ordinary people very much and prefer to keep themselves as segregated as possible from the non-magical community. That isn't to say, however, that particular civilians don't know about the existence of magic. Many of the rich and powerful citizens are well-aware of magic and use it to either get ahead or protect what they've already obtained. The rules of the Sub Rosa, particularly it remaining a secret, are enforced by the Inquisition. The Inquisition punish violators and cover up any magical mishaps.

In regards to the monsters, they are what the Sub Rosa refer to as Lurkers. The Sub Rosa don't like them any better than they like civilians, but they tolerate them as second-class citizens within their own community. For example, they often hire Lurkers for more menial labor jobs.

Beyond the Earthly creatures, there are also angels, Hellions (most of angels that fell with Lucifer after his failed rebellion), and creatures known as Kissi. Hellions, with the exception of Lucifer, are trapped in Hell while angels are free to roam wherever they please. Not all of the fallen angels, however, went to Hell or supported Lucifer such as Uriel who simply remained on Earth. As for the Kissi, they are God's first screw-up. They are essentially anti-angels; they appear to be bug-like with a little bit of machine mixed in there and feed off chaos. Therefore, they typically stir the pot wherever they go for the heck of it.

And speaking of God, He's real, too. But the problem is He had a nervous breakdown and has since broken off into five separate "brothers." Each piece of God is a particular facet of him. For example, Mr. Munnin (the first piece Stark meets), is typically kind and patient with a curiosity for the world whereas some of his other brothers tend to go a little more Old Testament. The other big piece of information is that God actually stole the universe from the old gods, known as the Angra Om Ya. He seals them away in another dimension, but little mindless fragments of them still linger behind as demons.

History:

Prior to the events of the series, Stark met Alice. Alice was sent by the Sub Rosa to spy on Stark in order to keep track of him because although the Sub Rosa didn't know exactly what Stark was, they knew he had the potential to be a problem. Eventually, Alice's feelings for Stark became very real, however, and she stopped agreeing to spy for them, ready to spend the rest of her life with Stark. It wasn't going to work out. When Stark was 19, his former Circle sent him to Hell.

Alive.

While in Hell for the next eleven years, Stark was tossed into an arena and made to fight to the death for the entertainment of the Hellions. Stark was also taken as Azazel's personal hitman to take out Lucifer's other generals in order to raise his standing with Lucifer. Eventually, Alice ended up dead though - killing herself when Mason (the head of Stark's former Circle) was attempting to use her to get Stark back out of Hell - breaking the deal he had with Azazel that he would stay put if she stayed safe. Stark killed Azazel and stole the key Azazel gave him to sneak into the palaces of the other Hellions and returned to Earth.

Back on Earth, Stark starts tracking down his old Circle. He starts first with Kasabian, decapitating him, but not killing him with the black bone knife he also took with him back to Earth. He makes a new friend in Allegra, a regular civilian that will eventually learn to be a pretty damn good alchemist and hoodoo doctor thanks to some mutual acquaintances. Stark also meets up with an old friend, Eugène Vidocq. Vidocq is the same man as the infamous French thief, a talented alchemist who accidentally made himself immortal. Vidocq tells Stark to talk to a man named Doc Kinski (and his assistant named Candy, a jade who is trying not to eat people anymore) who can help him with the bullets he took when he attacked Kasabian. He also introduces Stark to Mr. Munnin, an eccentric and very old being that acts as somewhat of a procurer and collector of very rare goods. Stark puts seeing Kinski on the back burner at first, however, and goes looking for the others in his old Circle: Jayne-Anne, Cherry Moon, and of course, Parker and Mason. Jayne-Anne and Cherry Moon end up being loose ends Mason uses Parker to tie up and Stark can't get any information out of them.

Kasabian is also another loose end that Mason attempts to tie up, sending him in with a defective weapon to kill Stark. However, when things go awry and he ends up dead, Stark visits him before he moves on and gets Kasabian on his side. Kasabian tells Stark everything, no holding back.

He meets the Golden Vigil, Homeland Security's partnership with Heaven, particularly with an angel named Aelita who quickly decides Stark is an abomination and should be put out of his misery. She takes it upon herself to stab him through the chest with her flaming sword, but Vidcocq manages to save Stark's life before his soul can leave his body. Stark also has a confrontation with what are known as Kissi, anti-angels that feed on chaos and God's first screw-up and eventually discovers that they're responsible for dragging Stark to Hell after making a deal with Mason. He also discovers that Mason was working with the Kissi to kidnap and defile angels and ends up saving a rather ungrateful Aelita.

Stark also finally locates Mason and leaves him in Hell alive, much in the same way Mason dragged him down there and kills the rest of the remaining Kissi.
Stark gets the bullets removed and it is then that Doc Kinski reveals to Stark that the reason he can do and be all the things he is is because he is a nephilim. Stark doesn't take the news very well and decides he's just going to do his own thing, not anything epic or further than what he already's done. Lucifer pays Stark a visit to return Kasabian's head, in order for him to act as liaison, and point out to Stark that he played right into Mason's hand as Mason wanted to get into Hell in order to take over and then eventually march on Heaven. Stark agrees to work freelance for Lucifer in exchange for money and makes the same arrangement with Aelita. Although, in Aelita's case, he had to do a little extra strong-arming as she would be just as content to kill him. Stark manages to get Mithras, the first flame, from Mr. Munnin and has it as his insurance. If anything happens to him, the first flame will be released and the universe will burn.

Six months later, Stark is hunting down a vampire named Eleanor Vance. Stark has largely spent the first half of 2010 being drunk and not paying any attention to what's been going on around him. Members of some of the strongest and most influential Sub Rosa families have been going missing or turning up dead. Stark's scars have also begun to heal, which he manages to put a stop to using an elixir that Vidocq and Allegra identify and concoct for him. The Vigil are investigating and Lucifer is trying to nudge Stark in the right direction while he's on Earth, working on a biopic with a director whose soul he owns. While Lucifer is on Earth, he hires Stark as his bodyguard and Stark ends up quitting the Vigil.

Stark meets a woman named Brigitte Bardo at a party Lucifer's attending and eventually run into one another again at Stark's favorite bar. Their second meeting is a little more eventful, however, when zombies start trying to chew their way through the patrons of the bar. Brigitte reveals that she only moonlights as a porn star and actually is a zombie hunter by trade. The two end up hooking up after the slaughter and Stark feels a little guilt over it because of Alice, but decides he's alive so he deserves to live once in a while.

With the appearance of zombies, Stark goes down the rabbit hole and begins learning all there is to know about zombies through Kasabian - who has special access to Lucifer's manual/encyclopedia - Brigitte, and others in the Sub Rosa, including the various types and the fact there are thousands of them below L.A. with their souls acting as a means of powering the power spot that is the city. Stark eventually comes to find out that Eleanor, the vampire he had been chasing in the beginning of the book, had stolen an item called the Druj Ammun, or the Sleepless Aegis. This was a seal put on the gates of Heaven to keep Lucifer and his buddies out of Hell, but the Kissi took it and dropped it on Earth to see what would happen. As it turns out, the Druj is able to control both the undead and Hellions, turning them into puppets.

In the process of getting to the bottom of who's behind the sudden increase of zombies on the surface, Brigitte ends up being bitten. Stark also manages to get himself infected as well, but unlike Brigitte, he doesn't start to turn: his human-half simply dies. Brigitte is placed into a magically-induced coma to stop her from turning until a cure can be found while Stark gradually becomes more and more of an angel. Stark does discover a cure when he meets a Savant, a really intelligent zombie and one of twenty-seven in the entire world, named Johnny Thunders who explains it requires Savant blood and a handful of other things brought to a boil and injected straight into the heart of the victim.

When Stark runs into the Golden Vigil again, who have decided that he's a threat to national security, Aelita decides that God has truly abandoned them and should be killed wherever He's gone because Stark is able to summon his own flaming sword and an abomination should not be able to do this. She abandons her plans of trying to kill Lucifer, allowing for Stark to rescue him. It's at this point that Stark finally addresses the issue of who his father really was. Lucifer says it's not him, but Uriel aka Doc Kinski. The downside, of course, is that Doc Kinski is now dead. While Aelita abandoned her plans of trying to kill Lucifer, she did go after Uriel and managed to successfully kill him. Stark doesn't know or realize this until after he's finally dealt with the zombie problem.

As it turns out, the zombies were under the control of the Geistwalds. The Geistwalds were a family of undead themselves, but they were special in that they had their souls removed at birth and otherwise functioned like normal people. Angered at the weakness of her husband and the ways in which the other families continued to just barely hang around, Koralin Geistwald planned to use the zombies under L.A. to wipe out anyone else who was living and give themselves full control. Unfortunately, Stark tricks her and is able to give her and her husband the cure, leaving them to die at the hands of a group of zombies. A distraught Candy forces Stark to take the cure after Stark destroys the Druj and thus destroys all of the zombies that were starting to turn L.A. in to a post-apocalyptic nightmare.

In the aftermath, life has somewhat returned to normal. Allegra is taking over Doc Kinski's business with help from Candy. Vidocq continues to work the odd job here and there for Mr. Munnin. Stark is also back to normal with his human half restored. Brigitte is also up and around and decides that it would be best if Stark and her went their separate ways. There are also a few changes. With Aelita gone rogue, the Golden Vigil has also disbanded and Lucifer is on his way back to Heaven, ready to hang up his hat as Satan.

There's no rest for the wicked, however. While Stark has been busy dealing with a zombie apocalypse, Mason has been busy in Hell turning all of Lucifer's generals against him and also manufacturing his own key. This key allows him to possess people on Earth and send a very loud message to Stark: they're not finished. Stark heads back into the realm where he last destroyed all of the Kissi and he waits, knowing some are still out there and willing to make a deal.

Personality: 

Stark has a lot of issues, but it's his issue with belonging with other people that is perhaps the greatest motivator for every facet of his personality. Most of this black sheep complex stems from his life at home, particularly his relationship with the man he believed to be his father. Although his father raised him and Stark always looked up to him even as an adult, he knows that his father always held a resentment towards him as his father was often bordering on abusive and even attempted to kill him while they were on a hunting trip. Rather than be angry towards his father about the "accident," Stark simply accepted it. When it came to Stark's mother, he knew that she loved him, but when it came to ever showing any kind of support, she was largely absent and could be found at the bottom of a bottle or popping pills to cope.

While Stark's upbringing is the beginning of his issues with fitting in and trusting other people, he instead chose to blame it on his magic for most of his life. In Stark's mind, other people are either afraid of his magic and want to exploit it if they were civilians; or they're outright jealous of what he can do if they were part of the magical community known as the Sub Rosa. In other words, Stark managed to successfully alienate most people he came across and quickly rationalized it as something about the other party rather than himself. He spent most of his life trying to avoid building any solid relationships with people who weren't part of the Sub Rosa as a result, treating them as more of a means to an end by conning them with his magic. Stark took an especially antagonistic relationship with most of the Sub Rosa he came across by showing off and rubbing it in their face that he didn't have to try nearly as hard as they did to pull off big magic.

However, none were quite so combative as his relationship with Mason Faim, who Stark actively competed with all the time when it came to the type and scale of magic they could do. Neither was satisfied with just one-upping the other. They had to be definitively the best. While Stark continued to effortlessly do complex magic, Mason became obsessed with gaining as much power as possible until finally he had the power to send Stark to Hell alive. But even after Stark gets his revenge on Mason, it starts to become clear that nothing between the two of them has been resolved. Stark begins to realize that the two of them will continue trying to beat the other until the universe is in pieces. However, Stark has not yet found the courage to return to Hell out of fear that he will never leave if he goes back. Thus, he has not found it in himself to deal with Mason either. Instead, he continues to convince himself that putting Mason in Hell was a final solution to their rivalry despite the evidence to the contrary.

This attitude of being an outcast loner doesn't change once he returns from Hell or when he discovers that he's a nephilim; as might be expected, it only intensifies. Initially, both of these things - Hell and Stark's true heritage - serve as further reminders of how he doesn't fit in anywhere.

Due to his experiences and trauma in Hell, Stark views himself both as a monster and as a killer. At first, the killing was difficult. But after a while, Stark became numb to it and it's just become another day at the office. Stark begins wrestling with the question of nature versus nurture: did Hell make him a monster or did it bring the monster out in the first place? Unfortunately, Stark doesn't have an answer to that largely due to the fact that he thinks in very black and white terms when it comes to this question. Stark did some very terrible things in Hell and has done a small handful of terrible things since he got back. But he fails to realize the difference between the two. While in Hell, Stark was merely trying to survive. It doesn't excuse what he did, but the context is important because now he's the monster that kills other monsters. Stark may find a familiarity in violence - particularly when it's a 'him vs. me' situation - but he's never gotten his jollies off taking a life; nor does he do it for entertainment purposes now like he did in the arena. Stark puts down monsters before they can hurt anyone else.

Being a nephilim (half-angel) also places another layer of problems onto Stark as far as his identity problems are concerned. Nephilim are viewed as abominations unto God and therefore have been all destroyed with the obvious exception of Stark. Aside from being the last of his kind, this also explains his relationships with his parents as well as how he was always able to do magic so easily. But despite this, Stark feels almost at war with his angelic half. The angels that Stark knows, he holds no respect for and he finds the idea that something like that as part of him almost downright offensive. He distances himself so much from that part of himself that after nearly dying from a zombie bite, Stark's inner angel (hence forth referred to as St. James for clarity's sake; please also refer to the powers/abilities section for explanation as to how St. James will manifest in-game) becomes a separate entity in his head. While St. James does have some distinct differences from Stark because he's at least half an angel - such as choosing to abstain from human vices like smoking and drinking or even swearing - he is really not as different from Stark as Stark believes him to be. In some ways, St. James is a younger Stark and has adopted older habits and mindsets from Stark. St. James, for example, does not really trouble himself over the well-being of others and concerns himself only with reaching his objectives. Although Stark has grown past this mindset, his only concern in the past was getting what he wanted with little regard for those caught in the crossfire.

Stark also believes himself incapable of coming up with a plan and thinking things through, seeing that as something St. James handles. In reality, it is not that Stark is incapable of planning, but the two have different strategies - a symptom of the human vs. angel conflict - and complement one another. St. James typically concerns himself with the larger picture and worries less about the minute details like an angel would. Stark, on the other hand, has a tendency to blot out the larger picture and focuses on what's in front of him like a human would. On the occasions that they work together, Stark becomes pretty hard to beat. But the problem is that they usually refuse to get along. Stark locks St. James up more often than not in a mental closet, not letting him have any commentary or say in what they do. He only lets St. James out to make use of his angel vision and when Stark feels there is not any other way to solve the roadblock ahead. Of course, this creates a growing resentment in St. James towards Stark. It was already there because St. James views Stark as weak and better off excised from the mind/body they share, but this certainly doesn't help matters.

Most of this turmoil over his identity and home, however, is something that Stark keeps to himself. On the surface, Stark is often facetious about his origins or his ordeal in Hell. For example, he brushes off the hypothesis put forth by Allegra that Lucifer may be his true biological father, but in reality it's something that he's wondered from time to time given Lucifer's intense interest in Stark. But even when not trying to deflect through sarcasm and humor, Stark can still be very obstinate in discussing what's going through his mind. He will sometimes lash out in anger or just simply lie and claim that whatever it is, it doesn't bother him. Stark also chooses to cope with self-destructive tendencies - particularly drinking himself to sleep and smoking too much - instead of talking about things.

Stark has a tendency to take a nihilistic perspective with the universe that is quickly applied to his own life; although this is beginning to take a different shape with recent events. In combination with his guilt, grief, and anger over the death of the one person Stark cared about the most, Alice, Stark's experiences lead him to believe that ultimately nothing really matters in the grand scheme of things. Thus, when he first returned from Hell, Stark really didn't care if he lived or died and would have likely been happier if he had died in his attempts to avenge Alice. Since then, Stark has struggled to find a meaning or purpose to his life with Mason, the man responsible for Alice's death, trapped in Hell. While he still does not place the greatest value on his life and he has made it abundantly clear he doesn't care for the family psychodrama between Heaven, Hell, and God, he does care about the people who have stayed by his side enough to keep the world spinning as it should.

And despite Stark's belief that he doesn't really fit in anywhere or have a place, he is capable of making connections with other people for better or for worse. One of the first and most important relationships to Stark is what he had with Alice. Alice was the first person Stark felt he could truly be himself with and shared everything with her. He doesn't know if they would have lasted forever, but he definitely saw a future with her that he had never seen with anyone else. This is what made Alice the perfect target for Mason in trying to draw Stark out of Hell. But Stark has more than just Alice now and more reason to stick around that he did when he first crawled out of Hell. He looks at his long-time friend, Vidocq, as a father figure. He begrudgingly keeps company with Kasabian and has helped introduce Allegra to the supernatural side of life. Stark also is beginning to have a surprisingly strong attraction (despite his hang-ups with Alice) and connection with a fellow recovering monster named Candy who holds him accountable, pushes, and supports him in ways the others can't.

In short, Stark has a lot of conflict when it comes to his identity and place in the world/universe at large. In the past he has largely been the source of his isolation from other people. He buries most of this - as well as his guilt about Alice - behind sarcasm and alcohol while approaching the world and his own life with a nihilistic perspective upon his initial return from Hell. He is still haunted by his experiences in Hell and he is struggling with finding a purpose to his life, but now he is slowly finding his place and making connections while letting his past stay in the past.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:

magic. Stark's main asset is his ability to do magic. Most of the magic Stark knows how to do these days is destructive Hellion magic he picked up in the arena. He does remember - and has been working on - some other magic though from before he went to Hell that's far less destructive and more defensive than offensive. Stark's magic ranges anywhere from creating an indoor tornado to making a clerk think he's already paid them. Restrictions: Because Stark's range of magic is essentially limitless in canon, I would say that he's unable to do anything that would result in the ship falling apart/blowing up.

angel senses. As a nephilim, Stark has some heightened senses/perception. For example, when interacting with other people, he's often able to smell their sweat and distinguish if it's fear, anger, or something else. He's also able to hear conversations from farther away than what a human would be able to and he picks up on microexpressions/notices something like pupils dilating. Stark also has better vision, but this is something that he has to allow St. James to come out to access. This vision allows Stark to see essentially the molecules that make up the universe. He doesn't know what any of it is, but it's essentially night vision. Stark also has a very limited psychic ability where he can get impressions/images, but nothing very concrete as this isn't his forte. He does sometimes freak people out by using their name without them ever giving it to him.

I also feel it is important to note how St. James operates in canon/will be handled in-game. St. James is a schism in Stark's personality, but he is not an entirely independent entity. In other words, other characters will not be able to interact with St. James, even on a telepathic level, and he cannot take control from Stark either. If Stark lets him out of the mental closet he shoves him in for the angel vision or even for some input, it's something akin to have an internal dialogue with yourself rather than chatting it up with a separate personality.

the key. The key in Stark's chest allows him to get to and from anywhere he wants. By stepping through a shadow, Stark comes into the Room of Thirteen Doors aka the center of the universe. Stark is able to bring others through the room as long as they maintain physical contact with him as he passes through. Restrictions: Stark's movements with the key would be restricted to where he has access/standing invitation. In other words, he wouldn't be able to use it to break into areas he's not allowed due to game mechanics/rules, events that restrict movement (i.e. parts of the ship become inaccessible to everyone), and/or the space belongs to another character as a business or passenger room. He would also not be able to leave the game's environment. So, no weekend visits to home or anything like that. It just lets him skip using a lift if he's feeling lazy.

healing factor. Stark is very hard to kill because of his healing factor. For example, he's able to walk around for days with multiple bullets rattling around in his chest cavity. Punctures and lacerations heal between seconds or minutes - depending on how deep they are - and a new scar takes its place. Originally, his scars made it so that whatever attacked him couldn't do it again in that particular spot, but the more time Stark has spent on Earth, the less this is true. He still heals quickly and still gets a gnarly scar, but the invulnerability isn't there.

misc. Stark knows his way around guns and has some familiarity with operating Hellion weapons. As a nephilim, Stark can also summon his own gladius (flaming sword). And speaking of Hellion, Stark is fluent in it both written and spoken - although spoken just sounds like a lot of grunting and growling. Stark is also familiar with a little bit of Enochian as well, but it's very limited. Lastly, Stark is also pretty physically strong and with a pretty high threshold for pain due to his time in the arena. He's generally not someone you want to get into a fight with because he's very likely going to win.

Note: If mods feel there are any other restrictions necessary, please let me know. I would be more than happy to do what I can to make him more manageable in the environment and I am fine with further restrictions!

Inventory:

↳ One (1) pair of jeans.
↳ One (1) pair of combat boots.
↳ One (1) black trench coat with places to hide guns and other assorted weapons.
↳ Three (3) shirts (two of which are Max Overdrive Rental store shirts).
↳ One (1) black bone knife*.

* = The black bone knife is a supernatural item. Stark uses it to essentially lockpick which would not be doable on the Tranquility as a restriction. The black bone knife can also not kill even when delivering what would normally be a fatal blow (i.e. decapitating Kasabian, but leaving him and his body alive). Beyond that, it functions just like a normal knife and you could use it to butter toast or carve the roast beast.

Appearance:

I'd like to think they're staring because of my white-hot animal magnetism, but I know I'm not Elvis. I'm Lobster Boy, hear me roar.



Not much physical description is provided for Stark in canon as it was the author's intention for the reader to envision their own version of Stark. What is provided is that Stark is tall and that he's covered in scars that aren't going to help him win any beauty pageants. The closest approximation to what I envision for Stark (beyond the scars) therefore is my selected PB above of Devon Sawa.

Age: 30

AU Clarification: n/a

S A M P L E S
Log Sample:

Stark is on auto-pilot as he walks from the Bamboo House of Dolls back to Max Overdrive. It would be faster to just steal a car and ditch it a few blocks away from the store and it would be even faster to just step into a shadow, but he's already managed to walk a block so far. He figures he's committed to it by now and besides, he could use a little alone time anyways that wasn't being spent at the center of the universe before listening to Kasabian chatter at him. He's managed to be less of a drunken hermit, but Stark hasn't been all that big about socializing since Mason sent him that greeting card through the customers in the bar a few nights ago.

That's the one great thing about L.A. though. You don't have to go very far to that alone time. It's a busy place, sure. People are sometimes in a hurry, sometimes just milling about and trying to pass the time and there's always traffic. But even with all that noise, it's not that hard to get lost in it, to separate yourself from it which is what Stark prefers to do when he's out and about like this anyway.

Stark brings his gaze away from the end of the street to the face of a girl he's approaching. She looks about the same age as Stark was when he was dragged to Hell, but if he had to guess some of those years are fake. L.A. being what is, it could possibly be hoodoo, but a close look tells Stark it's not a glamour. Her make-up is probably something she saw in a magazine once and her clothes contrasted with her ratty knit purse look like something she spent the last of her money on. If he had to guess, she's doing what so many people in this city are doing in either trying to make it big or at least settling for making it work. If she's lucky, she'll do either. If she's not, well, that could depend on a lot of things where she'll end up.

He doesn't know if he wishes her luck or not though. Chasing dreams in a city like this ranks pretty high on his list of stupid things to attempt. Then again, he's also done plenty of stupid things himself that rank higher and will most likely do worse, so who is he to judge?

Sunglasses on top of her head push dark, curly hair out of her face while she's fishing around her purse for something. She glances up at Stark briefly and ends up doing a double-take, not an uncommon reaction. He doesn't really need to be able to hear her heartbeat to know she's a little nervous. Stark doesn't smile at her. He knows that's about as comforting as a dog baring its teeth at you. But he does give her a small nod and focuses on the sidewalk ahead of him. She'll forget about him in a while and go back to finding her cigarettes, her cell phone, or whatever the hell it was she was after in her purse. He'll forget about her, too, because that's how it goes in L.A. The dead might have evaporated, turned to dust, or whatever the hell that was when he destroyed the Druj, but it's still a city full of lost souls just vaguely bumping into one another, trying to figure out what the hell it was they were even trying to do.

Comms Sample: 

[Stark is not really one with technology, but he is getting better. Sorta. The mere fact he's managed to turn on the video feed without having the camera angled at the floor, the ceiling, or over his shoulder is actually large strides of progress since the first time he tried this. It does still click on and off a few times, however, a curse or two peppered in before it finally remains steady.]

I decided to check out the library like some of you suggested and I tried to keep an open mind. I really, really tried. But what the fuck is this shit?

Zero decent movies and worse television. Even Hell has better cable programming than this crap.

How have there not been riots over this? [This is both a serious and a sarcastic question.] I'm just going to assume that you guys have been drinking yourselves into a stupor to cope with the boredom around here.