fourth history lesson ◈ [ video ] ◈ encrypted 100% against niklaus mikaelson

[surrogates]

[ there's a funny thing about every psa ric has seen over his device is that there's a distinct lack of explaining things like certain creatures that are on the ship with them. jenna had avoided mentioning anything about the supernatural when talking about the ship at large and her plans, kirk had mentioned people having different feeding needs (he knows jenna is one of them, and damon and— the others) and nathan had mentioned people not having voices. there's a part of him that needs to do something to get his mind off the fact that jenna said she handled klaus. it takes him a while to actually figure out what he wants to say (and if anyone cares to look they'll see notebooks around him testifying to just how much he's poured over them before he even turned on his device). when he finally does say anything it's clear he means business, but at the same time, there's a smile on his face like there's nothing to be alarmed about here. ]

There's a funny thing about stories you get to here at home sometimes. Legends, actually, but you can live your whole life without actually finding out that those legends you've heard are real. I get that a lot of you have never heard of things like vampires or werewolves or witches before, but if there's one thing my life and, I'll be honest, my time on this ship has taught me, is that while they may just be fantasy in your world, they're real in others. And, coincidentally, we have some of each on this ship.

You're scared or angry and you think it's a good idea to toss them off the ship because what if they hurt one of us. I'm going to let you in on a little secret, those vampires I mentioned? All of them are living off of synthetic blood from medical. Even the one that can't is asking for volunteers. None of them are feeding off the general populace. The werewolves? They're contained when they shift and if they weren't, all of us would know and the ones of us who can handle corralling them would. Typically witches don't actively go around killing people nor do they like being particularly evil depending on the type.

I can see why some of you might be scared, and admittedly, first time I met a vampire, it wasn't pleasant at all, but once you get to know some of them, it's not that bad. Supernatural creatures, in general, are only as evil as they want to be. True, some can be evil— [ like klaus ] but the same can be said with any one, honestly. Most can exist with humans, aliens, and anything else on this ship without causing mass panic. Honestly, any of them hiding are only hiding because they know how people can get. I'm not saying you have to be buddy with your resident supernatural creature, but unless they're going around harming the rest of us, there's nothing wrong with treating them like they're shockingly normal.

In the long run, as much as it hurts to imply that we'll be here for even longer, it's better that we don't end up starting fights with each other because someone had the unfortunate luck to be a vampire or a werewolf or a witch on a ship full of people who have been raised to know that they're creatures of the night that they need to run from. And if there is any fights started, there is security here and even though I'm just in gunnery, I would not actually hesitate to play for both of those teams and break up whatever fight happens because we couldn't act like rational adults.

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[growling]

Wow, thank you for that. You're the very definition of a white knight.

Now my camping analogies are really out the window.

[ First rule of being a creature of the night is we don't talk about being creatures of the night, Al. Jeez. ]

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[surrogates]

Remus and Mason. The two out in the open werewolves. Everyone knows they have it handled unless they're new. They're not going to suspect you with the camping analogies. Also, only a white knight of the vampires. Immense personal investment, remember?

Besides, wasn't actually lying about breaking up a fight with people. I've done it with a werewolf once and I'll do it again.

[ Well, okay no, they hadn't been wolves at the time, but details. Still, let him make the little PSA, Josh. It's not going to kill anyone. ]

video | no klaus club 100% encrypted

[dilemma]

You remember your first still? I'm touched.

[ horrible, poorly timed, worse possible joke he could ever make but the self-satisfied smile on his face says it's totally worth it. the whole ex wife turning situation is something that has been safely tucked away in the "do not discuss under any circumstances even if you're wasted" pile but he had to. you left that one wide open, ric.

but this actually is a topic that concerns damon. he hasn't been completely honest with the ship about his supernatural state but he hasn't exactly been advertising it either. as uninterested as he is in werewolves (that's a boldface lie, he's overly concerned with them and trying to figure out why there are so many) technically people trying to airlock vampires would affect him and his. so color him mildly concerned. ]

This PSA provoked by something or just an after school special?

video | just ric and damon 100% encrypted

[surrogates]

You should be thankful that you're over this thing and not right in front of me, otherwise I think punching you in the face would be an excellent idea.

[ he might do it anyway later. parts of ric still bristle at the mention of isobel especially coming from damon of all people but he's getting better about not being two bothered by it. so really, his threat is mostly half-hearted.

ric didn't call damon out because he knows that officially jenna is the only one who has come right out and said, i'm a vampire. to be honest, he had strictly made it so he hadn't called mason or remus out either, but they weren't his best friend. people airlocking werewolves isn't bad, considering ric still doesn't know (nor does he really want to) if it's bad for jenna and damon and stefan and caroline, but he'd like to avoid it and avoid having the vampires airlocked, hence, this post. ]

Not necessarily provoked, but the responses to Kirk's post about asking for volunteers for that feeding thing reminded me of it. [ a beat. ] Jenna might have too. The overabundance of things that like the moon too much. Take your pick.

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[thenormalsquint]

Excuse me, what?

[Guess who ignored everything else and concentrated on one particular word. Or two.]

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[surrogates]

[ He had been expecting this, sort of. ]

Which part is making you what?

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[theshabbiestofmen]

Are you friends with one, or are one yourself?

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[surrogates]

[ that's a good question remus. very good question. ]

Friends and more with the vampires. Teach a witch history at home and the werewolves, sure, I'll call them friends. And Jenna and you are close, so I can lump you in there even if you're young enough for me to teach you things.

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[golemized]

You did not mention birds.

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[surrogates]

[ ...he's not drunk why is there a fucking rock creature thing talking to him. is the stress of things getting to him and now he's hallucinating? ]

Birds are just animals? Unless we're talking bird shapeshifters or angels.

[ seriously what the fuck. ]

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[altercate]

[ well, this sure is a post that derek plays over three or four times before he even tries to parse a reply to. what he wants to ask is how many werewolves but that is subtle as a damn sledgehammer, so. ]

How prone are the people here to torches and pitchforks?

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[surrogates]

[ if it makes you feel any better, derek, ric's met people who are forever as subtle as sledgehammers. he's used to it by now. ]

Depends on the people you're talking to. And what the someone might have done. And any particular home prejudices. I'm not a big fan of them myself, in case that wasn't clear.

[voice]

[falsehoods]

The power of myth is deeply engrained into mortal minds. Their stories are passed down through generations....And I fear 'twould be difficult to undo the damage myth has done.

[voice]

[surrogates]

I'm under no illusions that it's easy. Half of my experience beforehand was just in knowing and hearing about the myths and how most of them were just written by people who were scared and wanted to cast someone as the villains in their stories, regardless if they were or not. I like to think we're a little more open minded right now, considering the circumstances we're in.

[abrahamic]

so you know both werewolves and vampires? because that's pretty cool.

[surrogates]

Oh yeah, it's pretty cool until you end up being the only human out of the bunch and wondering when your life became something out of a supernatural drama. Or Twilight.

It at least makes it easier to not be too disturbed when someone comes out and says oh by the way, I'm a supernatural creature.

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[angerissues]

[ Mason may be an "out and proud" (or at least out) werewolf but that doesn't mean he enjoys chatting about it over the network freely. Even a few months later and he's still trying to get used to it. ]

How nice of you to play peacekeeper for us.

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[surrogates]

[ The funny thing is that Ric hadn't even bothered to name names (he knows Jenna won't mind, but Mason definitely will) because of how Mason doesn't like chatting about it over the network. ]

You want someone to come at you with a pitch fork? [ A beat. ] It was meant to be more informative than anything else, if only so any time something bad happens that might be the result of a supernatural creature, no one jumps to the wrong conclusion.

[anonymous text] heh creatures of the night

[chiroptophobic]

And the danger of imprudence? When you feed a monster, you should never forget that it could turn on you in lean times, or simply because it wants to.

text| quietly taps this......

[entrapments]

monsters eat whether you feed them or not.

[the_infiltrator]

I didn't know vampires could live off of synthetic blood.

Does this mean you don't think there are any dangers on the ship?

[surrogates]

Considering how old most of the myths are, you wouldn't. It's never been something anyone writing the myths are have had to think about and it never really was a viable option until someone even was able to synthesize it anyway.

I didn't say that. I said they're not automatically a danger, which is what people can jump to as far as conclusions go.

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[theredchampion]

[ Nial spends a while debating if he should respond to this or not, and if he should make his response private.

Still, though, he hasn't harmed anyone here. He has nothing to hide, particularly. ]

People fear what they do not understand. It is the way things have always been.

[ Humans are simple, he wants to add, but doesn. ]

Thousands of years have not changed that, and neither will a few words -- carefully put together as they may be. They will still act on instinct, and blame that which is 'other'.

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[surrogates]

You don't need to tell someone who's spent his life studying history that it's the way people have always been. There's always scapegoats and even if supernatural creatures didn't exist, they'd be blamed nonetheless.

[ There's a pause of about a minute or two between that text and this one, almost as if he actually has to formulate the way he's saying this so there's no room for poking a hole in what he's saying. It's ironic, in a way, how Niall mentions blaming any other when he knows that he did the same thing once upon a time before he even met Damon for real. ]

There's something all of us can call an other, you know. I'm pretending this is going to change anything, but my personal investment in keeping everyone from fighting because someone has to drink blood or has an unfortunate love affair with the moon means I'm going to at least try and say something.

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[spitfiery]

[ she resents being lumped under the term supernatural creature, but more importantly: ]

Are there many on board with a negative opinion of magic and the supernatural?

[ which is to say: should she stop being so open about the witch thing on this ship? ]

( text )

[surrogates]

[ in his defense, it's a lot easier than saying supernatural being, if only because it implies that they're above humans. and maybe he should have thought about that particular word choice a bit more. ]

Not exactly. There's never been an exact poll among the entire ship about it, but the vast majority of the ship comes from places where magic and the supernatural are strictly fictional concepts. Usually relegated to bedtime stories and myths that scare people.

It's either they don't think it exists, they do and they're okay with it for the most part, like myself, personally, or they think it exists and don't like it because they've had bad experiences with it, or just you know, old prejudices dying hard.

[ which is to say: she shouldn't, but be prepared to not always have a favorable reaction. ]

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[target]

the thing is, humans? a good punch and they're down. werewolves and vampires and whatever the hell else we have here? a human doesn't stand a chance with them

also doesn't help that you've got one of those guys feeding off of people all the time. he may ask for volunteers but that doesn't make it safe

perma-text;

[surrogates]

you'd be surprised what a human can do.

[ he leaves it open ended, knowing fully well that he can't talk openly about what he's capable of doing on an open feed and he can't lock it because he doesn't know who to lock it to, but he knows how it probably sounds to some. ]

did i say i liked that guy? he's the one creature we have on here who isn't able to eat anything synthesized. i find what he does annoying, but i'm not lumping him in with everyone else because he's different and until you can synthesize something for him or he makes his way off the boat, we're stuck with what we have now.

slightly better than him just eating people without their consent.

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[stacked]

Check you out, Gunny. Playing rainbow bridge for the goes bump in the night crowd.

[ THAT IS APPROVAL IN HER VOICE BTW. ]

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[surrogates]

[ GUNNY THO. but he'll take that approval and run with it. ]

Consequence of having a soft spot for a few of them. Can't tell if you're mocking me or if that's actual approval.

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[grandseigneur]

You seem to have had time to become accustomed to the fantastical.

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[surrogates]

I had the bonus of dealing with it at home. I'm working with a distinct advantage when it comes to the fantastical.

Not a believer?

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[aggressively]

...vampires and werewolves.

[ ...says the hulk. ]

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[surrogates]

[ says the hulk indeed. ]

And witches oh my. [ ric no. ] There were demons on the ship a while back too, if you want to add that to the list of things that don't exist.