Truth or Happiness

Doctor Cal Lightman is a published author, co-founder of the Lightman Group, former head of the Department of Defence's program on reading body language, and has ties to just about every Federal and Military intelligence agency in the United States. Why? He's a living lie detector. And a damned good one at that. [Indie RP blog, timeline is wibbly but set after Beat the Devil. Triggers and NSFW will be tagged, spoilers for Lie to me* will be present.]

[desolationrow24]

[inglourious-babes-deactivated20]

[canneverhaveboth]

"Answer's still no," Lightman uttered as he glanced through a file. "You're way too young to be going to Manhattan with 'friends', unless you can find and bring five people I trust as chaperones." With that, he'd casually close the file and place it to one side in the same manner one would flick a magazine closed. But he hadn't glanced up yet, and he most certainly wasn't done speaking. "Easy as winning the lottery, luv. You are not going, and that's final." It took him half a second to look up and realize he'd made a mistake. "...Wrong conversation, never mind."

Pure embarrassment flashed across his face as he hauled himself out of the chair. "Kids these days. Can't believe she's almost old enough to head off to college now. If she's like either of her parents, it'll be a miracle the campus stays intact." He made his way around the desk in order to lean on it. Removing the barrier. No crossed arms, no safeguards, nothing. "But you're not here for my problems, of course. I've said far too much already. So. What's got you here at this part of the evening?"

[canneverhaveboth]

[Right. Yes. Getting this blog up and running again.

Sorry about that, the force just up and left one day, apparently.]

[hannigraham]

Literature Meme: 2/3 Genres

Utopian/Dystopian society

The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal society, or utopia, as the setting for a novel. Dystopian fiction is the opposite: creation of an utterly horrible or degraded society, or dystopia. Many novels combine both, often as a metaphor for the different directions humanity can take in its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures. Both utopias and dystopias are commonly found in science fiction and other speculative fiction genres, and arguably are by definition a type of speculative fiction.

The word utopia was first used in direct context by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 work Utopia. The word utopia resembles both the Greek words “no place", “outopos", and “good place", “eutopos".

Dystopia is defined as a society characterized by a focus on mass poverty, squalor, suffering, or oppression. Most authors of dystopian fiction explore at least one reason why things are that way, often as an analogy for similar issues in the real world. Dystopias usually extrapolate elements of contemporary society and are read by many as political warnings. Many purported utopias reveal a dystopian character by suppressing justice, freedom and happiness.

[yunafire]

Cal & The Soldier in 2.08 ‘Secret Santa’ pt 1 {x}

[canneverhaveboth]

Consultant | Open

The scene was vaguely reminiscent of a drawing in a child's storybook. A densely-packed forest with a lone path winding through and stopping suddenly at a well-lit clearing. At the centre of the nearly pristine field of grass and wildflowers was a cabin. One floor, wooden, obviously handmade  ages ago by the look of the moss coating one side of the stone chimney. Smoke had been drifting lazily out of said chimney not half an hour earlier. Any other day, it would have been an utterly stunning thing to stumble across.

There were just three things wrong with the picture. One, police tape wrapped in several obvious places. Two, the crowd of investigators bustling about doing their jobs. And finally three, a dead body resting smack dab in the middle of the clearing. Which begged the obvious question of why? Why was Cal Lightman standing among the throng at the edge of a fresh (relatively speaking, of course) crime scene? The answer was simple. He wasn't there to study the scene. He was there to study the people present at the scene. It wasn't every day when a third of the local forensics team were suspects in a grisly streak of serial murders.

It was like they'd hauled him out by his arms to take him to the doctor, but surprised him with a trip to the toy store instead. He'd never show it, though. That was just unprofessional, not that he was the picture of professionalism himself. But there was something in the way he levelled his gaze over the clearing that spoke of contentment, and something in the way that he was pacing back and forth behind the tape. A real challenge was far more satisfying than your normal case of suspected infidelity. Of course it was also a real challenge to watch both a group of people and where you were going. If he could convince them that he wasn't watching, they'd relax. Cal suddenly made the (deliberate) rookie mistake of ramming headlong into someone and instantly recoiled in an effort to not fall over.

"Oh! God. Sorry. I was, um. More than a bit distracted there. ...You alright?"

[galaxylaughing]

WRITER PROBLEMS

Don’t you hate it when you’re just writing along and then you think wait would that even is that possible how does this work oh shit RESEARCH

And the next thing you know you have twenty million tabs open about everything from hydrogen engines to the psychology of serial killers to the evolution of the pronghorn

[canneverhaveboth]

[Absolutely not related to RP, but I went to the pet store today. I was originally there to pick up a new brush for my cat Blofeld makes it look too easy but they had a tarantula in. They were showing it to someone who was interested and I wanted to see if I could handle it, so I asked if I could pet it. And I did. I wasn't scared for a second.]

[perionwhitlock-deactivated20170]

We See it All | Perion & Cal

[perionwhitlock-deactivated20170]

Perion looks back at the older man an eyebrow raised skyward. What’s he playing at, now as calm as anyone—inviting her over? He’s certainly caught her attention that’s for sure. Perion runs a hand through her hair, watching the man play with his phone. Okay, no more games, and the line has cleared. Perion smiles at the woman behind the counter and takes her order, paying promptly and taking her coffee and muffin with her. She steps up to the table where the man’s is sitting and puts her food down, hesitating to sit. “I already know you don’t care if I sit, but why?"

[canneverhaveboth]

He's just finishing off the dregs of his coffee as she sits down. Caffeine is caffeine, when he needs it he'll take whatever he can get. Even if it is horrible. "You-" He puts the cup down quickly and just as quickly motions to the chair. "Well, let me explain. Now I was just going on a hunch. It turns out... my hunch was right. You read me just then, didn't you?" His eyes narrow for a second. In thought, not malice. Colour him vaguely impressed. And then he grins, glancing up at her instead of vaguely across the room. "Like a book. Granted, I was faking it, but you still picked up on it." Another narrowing of the eyes passes and he throws his right arm behind the back of the chair. He's never been able to sit properly. "What I want to know is, have you always been able to do that, or did you learn it? An' if so, where?"

[roleplayingconfessionsfromrpers]

There’s always that particular roleplay partner that you are simply glad to see, that you always squeal when he or she is on and your threads are always special. And it seems that you have a bond OOC. If the one I’m talking about reads it, I just want to say: “Thank you for being so special to me, and for my muse."

[canneverhaveboth]

[So. Back and such. Kind of. I'm rewatching series 1 to boot this guy back up and make gifs because I can do that again.]

[perionwhitlock-deactivated20170]

We See it All | Perion & Cal

[perionwhitlock-deactivated20170]

Out of the corner of her eyes she sees him fidgeting. Perion looks back over, taking in the posture and glances he’s taking. Her eyes flicker to his sudden white knuckle grasping of the table, and she follows his fearful gaze to the police officer a few people ahead of her. What strikes her as odd—Perion turns back toward the man with a raised brow and an accusing look in her eye. Whatever he’s playing at she doesn’t like it, and looks back toward the counter, where the line is slowly getting shorter, and her muffin and coffee are getting closer.

[canneverhaveboth]

The sheer bloody panic in his eyes fades into a calm, knowing smirk as Cal glances at the seat across from him. It's empty. He glances back at her, calm as ever. What he's getting at is probably loud and clear. Nothing sinister, of course. He's just offering someone a seat in a busy shop, and maybe a nice chat. What better way to start a conversation was there for two people who had a definitive grasp on nonverbal communication? In the meantime, he crosses his hands on the table in thought for a moment before the mobile phone under them vibrates. A text. He's got something to keep him busy, so he can wait.

[canneverhaveboth]

A Study in Stags - closed, dreamingofstags

[dreamingofstags]

"I wouldn’t say the list was that extensive but I do have a list." A lot of them came out of women finding him physically attractive and that was about the end of it. He never understood what they saw, but one rarely sees the merits of themselves. “My dogs don’t stay on my bed. Some of them aren’t even fond of me touching them." Just how they functioned. He didn’t mind it one way or the other.

"I could use a little more time in the stable I think." Just to sleep if anything but that was far off in some undetermined future. “I’m well acquainted with the FBI. I was under impression they didn’t want me in the field. But that’s why I’m ‘Special investigator’ and not “agent" He gave a small shrug.

A look crossed Will’s face that clearly read he had never considered that before. “I’m not…positive that it would be the best of ideas" He seemed concerned with the idea, that was certain, The idea of it had unsettled him. "…Not sure, depends on what they are being used for."

[canneverhaveboth]

"So do I, but I've had a headstart of... oh, fifteen years probably?" Ten, twenty, something like that. Close enough. Cal hadn't hazarded a guess at just how old Will was yet. Couldn't be less than a decade between them. "Give or take." He took another drink. It seemed correct and he wasn't bothering with a full analysis. In fact, Cal was actually trying not to look directly at him. His glances landed vaguely off to the right or vaguely off to the left, but never directly centred. "It's the fact that they're there that counts though, isn't it?"

A nod was his response. Give someone the wrong set of wiring and anything could happen. Anything at all. But was there a right way to be wired? "They don't want you, but they need you, so they'll want you until they don't need you." The life of an invaluable yet unstable resource was a cycle of want and need until something better was found. Or so it was from his perspective.

Even though he was trying, he couldn't help but catch the less than subtle expressions that Will passed his way. "Ah. Just a question. Don't worry, there's not going to be a quiz later." He waved the thought away and slouched back casually. "Though I recommend carrying a pencil on you at all times just in case." The grin on his face lent a lighter tone to his voice. Joking, of course. Careful was the name of the game that go around, so he wasn't about to try and startle the man on purpose. Any more than he had to, of course.

[canneverhaveboth]

Cyberhound of the Baskervilles | dreamingofstags, AU

[dreamingofstags]

Will had been to this settlement before. He wasn’t so keen on their names anymore though. He named them mentally for the things that happened to him or who he met. This place (Was it Freeside? He had a feeling that’s what people called it), was one he remembered as having a population big enough to use it to restock supplies.

Usually he kept his head down and tried to stay out of trouble whenever he could. Didn’t always work that way. Few towns hated him, a few saw him as a savior. Will just knew he preferred to be alone. Occasionally a stray of some sort would be his company but that always ended some way.

It took Will a moment to realize someone was talking to him. His body turned vaguely, just to give the impression that he was listening. He’d already figured on saying no until it settled what this person was looking for. “I.. can’t say I have seen something like that. He get loose recently?”

[canneverhaveboth]

The dust settled around his boots as he tilted his head to one side to get a better look at something he'd spotted down the road. The momentum from the tilt lent itself to a rather awkward-looking lean, as if Lightman either had absolutely no idea where his center of gravity was or as if he was compensating for a particularly odd one. No, no. That wasn't Rex, that was just an unusually large rodent. Well, it wasn't unusual for Freeside. But he grew up with the knowledge that those things used to be... much smaller.

He swung back around as the man spoke and almost looked like he was going to topple for a moment. Obviously he'd done such a thing several times before and didn't actually fall. So, compensating it was. "Yeah. I was just running him over to the Fort. We've got a kid there who won't respond to any of our doctors, but her family owns a lot of dogs. So I borrowed Rex to see if she'd calm down around him." She was barely his daughter's age. ... If he had a daughter. Which he didn't. Not anymore anyway.

"Thing is though," he lowered his voice in order to continue, "Rex hates rats. He probably bolted after one as soon as I took my eyes off of h-" The robohound in question suddenly bounded around the corner in pursuit of the rat that Lightman had spotted. "... him." He gave a sharp whistle and the hound stopped in his tracks. "Never mind, then. ...By the way, are you alright? You look like you've been running from raiders for the past week. And I mean that in the nicest possible 'been there, done that' kinda way, of course."

[euclasedeac]

Visit Original Link

[andrewbaggott]

Billy Joel - We Didn’t Start The Fire

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television, North Korea South Korea, Marilyn Monroe, Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom, Brando, The King and I, The Catcher in the Rye, Eisenhower, vaccine, England’s got a new queen, Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser, Prokofiev, Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist bloc, Roy Cohn, Juan Perón, Toscanini, Dacron, Dien Bien Phu falls, Rock Around the Clock, Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn’s got a winning team, Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, ElvisPresley, Disneyland, Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev, Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac, Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California, Baseball, Starkweather homicides, Children of Thalidomide, Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia, Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go, U-2, Syngman Rhee, Payola, Kennedy, Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land, Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs Invasion, Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania, Ole’ Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson, Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex, JFK, blown away! What else do I have to say?

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again, Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, Punkrock, Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline, Ayatollah’s in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan, Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, Heavy metal suicide, Foreign debts, Homeless vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz, Hypodermics on the shore, China’s under martial law, Rock-and-roller cola wars

Are you kidding me? This is perfection.  Educate yourselves, buckos.  

[candlelion-deactivated20140107]

WHAT A GREAT POST

[roleplayerscoffeeshop]

Hey, roleplayers, do me a favor and REBLOG THIS if you are willing to roleplay with a supernatural character. Enhanced human, something out of science fiction, mythology, folklore, fairytale, legend, monster, mutant, demon, angel, any and everything that’s just not quite human. OC/Canon/Fan or otherwise.