15724/Freak flags

Freak flags
Date of Scene:	26 August 2023
Location:	Burnley - Bleake Island
Synopsis:	Lonnie and Jean-Paul meet, hacker style (but in real life)
Cast of Characters:	Jean-Paul Valley, Lonnie Machin

---

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
Gotham's never been short of abandoned factories. In this case, it was a symbol of the failing industrial order, the rotting core of capitalism's failures. Or maybe the simple fact that nobody could really compete with Bruce Wayne in Gotham City. The industrial machinery here once crafted electronics parts for things like calculators, home computers or even the kind of toys you could get at Radio Shack. But it died, died a long time ago, and now it sits and rusts and rots.

The meeting was supposed to be here where they were all offline, forced to deal with each other face to face. Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the hackers who invited to this particular gathering didn't show up. Jean-Paul Valley had almost been among them. But he had to get out of the old church where he crashed, the little sub basement where he lived, the old rectory he'd acquired with stolen wifi and electricity, with a mini-fridge full of energy drinks and Lunchables, a hot plate for grilled cheese. It was not far from this place at all. And sitting there, even the electronic superhighway couldn't always tune out the voice of the angel in his head.

He had himself leave the armor at home, the sword. This wasn't the place for that. He wasn't here to fight, to avenge. He was just tired of being alone all the time. In the sense that he was never really alone.

"Hello?" he calls out, his voice echoing in the mostly hollow space.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
There are a few here, and one is talking to the others, quite enthusiastically.

"You have to get over this cultic devotion to anyone - scientist, philosopher, whoever. One of the most influential people on my own collectivist beliefs is Mikhail Bakunin. But when I reached his quasi-supernatural hatred for the Jews, I learned a lesson - a person can be a genius about some things, and absolute staggering fool about others.

The redhead is obviously no ordinary chair jockey. His voice still has hints of that rough Otisberg accent, and he's got scarred knuckles, and currently his hair is shaved into a mohawk strip. The dog sitting on the ground next to the crate is cute, though - he's wearing a patch on his dog vest that says 'Kill the Masters'. He looks up, and then waves. "A newcomer!"

One of the guys rolls his eyes. "For a guy who says nobody has all the answers, Lonnie sure has enough of them."

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
Jean-Paul Valley is wearing a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt and a pair of jeans with sneakers. His hair is long and blonde, tucked behind his ears. His eyes are striking blue and he definitely seems a bit shy for the type of bombastic short that usually shows up here. He puts his hands in his pockets and shrugs. His voice has a hint of vaguely Euro accent, shades of both Germanic and Romance languages in his pronunciation, but just ghosts of both.

"Hi. My name's Jean-Paul. Online, I am, uh, BleedsLikeFire," he says. He made a decent name for himself a few years ago, mostly attacking institutional religion and bigotry online. Before his father died. Before Azrael.

He's been reappearing more lately, although more in just technical conversations, less focused on diatribe. He and Lonnie have had a few encounters in group chats but don't really know each other.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie is wearing a t-shirt for a local Gotham punk band - The Clown Beatdown - and then he looks up.

"Oh hey!" His tone's not irritable or displeased. "I was glad when I saw you show back up. I got in an argument with you once about the need for spiritual belief in an empirical world and you debated me pretty well. I enjoyed it." He did that under one of MONEY.SPIDER's different aliases, because the Man is always watching.

"Come join the sesh. I brought sandwiches. You like tuna fish?" He murmurs, "It's one of the best on the go protein-sources, even though it can't be sustainably sourced - I'm still trying to drum up investment into safe lab-cultured fish proteins... the survival of humanity kind of depends on us reaching that point. You know? I think I have some egg salad in here..." He hops down, and unpacks a cooler, before he takes a plastic container of food out and puts it down for the dog. "This is Yap, my comrade."

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
Jean-Paul Valley nods, "I like tuna fish. Been eating a lot of grilled cheese and peanut butter lately, mostly. I did have a nice girl give me some breakfast sandwiches at the coffee shop the other day. I think she felt sorry for me," he says.

He smiles down and even will kneel to pet the dog for a moment, greeting it in a friendly way. "He's a good dog," he says. He wouldn't ever try to keep a pet. He doesn't trust Azrael enough.

"Yeah, I remember. My belief in God is, uh...complicated. But that's a separate thing from the Church. The Church is just...untrustworthy. Bad. Corrupt. Not to mention some of its many, uh, offshoots."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"Corruption is an inevitability in any institution. The best way to organize society would be along the lines of an adhocracy. Organize to deal with problems as they arise." Lonnie gives Jean-Paul a tuna fish sandwich, and then says, "Nutrition's important, man!" He gives Jean-Paul's forearm a friendly squeeze as he offers him the sandwich, and then he adds "Healthy mind in a healthy body, right?"

Then he considers, his hand on his chin. "You won't find any argument from me about the inherent putridity of organized religion - they're the original pyramid schemes, quite literally."

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
Jean-Paul Valley grins slightly, "Well, I don't know if the Pope had anything to do with ancient Egypt, but I see what you mean," he says. He takes the sandwich and eats a bit energetically. "Sorry for bad manners. I have money, but I can only access it inconsistently. I have some people after me and they monitor my old accounts. I'm transferring funds out a little bit at a time, quietly, but it's not easy and I'd rather not alert them in any way to where I might be, so I mostly live like I did in college, by the skin of my teeth," he says.

He appreciates the friendly approach. He's not used to having friends. Or people who aren't trying to kill him generally. Of course, it'll only last as long as he can keep Azrael at bay. He knows that.

"I've spent a lot of time lately monitoring and tracking Templar offshoots."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"Money's not real." Lonnie says, but he shrugs, "If you know how, you can just create bank accounts that say you have X Money - as much as you need to do the things to do the things you need to do all the time." He raises his eyebrows, and then looks at the others, and he says, "Okay guys. I'll let you off the hook today. Remember, if you're serious about organizing a collective in Gotham, *you have to bring friends*."

Once they're shooed out, Lonnie pinches the bridge of his nose, and then he looks back to Jean-Paul. "Listen... I know a couple of things about what you're talking about. It's a bunch of cults that read John Milton and decided they dug that whole swagger, right?"

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
Jean-Paul Valley waves goodbye to the others and sits down to finish his sandwich on top of an old machine, "Some of 'em, yeah. Some of them are a lot older than that. The Maltese Falcons. The Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword. The, uh, Order of St. Dumas," he says. "Some of them barely embrace modernity. Warrior monks, committed to the end of the world and the return of Christ. The types that think all sinners should burn and all of us, of course, are sinners," he says.

"Most people don't know they exist. Can't imagine the things that still go on in the mountains of Europe and the Middle East," he says softly.

"Sorry. Just a...personal issue I have," he says. "I hope none of it comes to Gotham."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie exhales, and then says, "Listen, I'm opposed to fascists on principle, religious or not. I won't pry into why they're after you - much as I'd like to - but if you need some tips on ways that you can collect resources while stayng under the radar, I'm an expert on that sort of thing. I can help."

He pets his dog, casually, as he stays in a half-crouch. "Everything comes to Gotham City sooner or later." He says, his eyes canted downward. "Just a matter of when. You know?"

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
Jean-Paul Valley smiles softly, "I appreciate that. I am, uh, very capable of defending myself - I know I don't look it - but it's nice to have someone say they would help. You're the second person to do that this week. They say Gotham's pretty harsh, but I've met surprisingly decent humans here."

"The girl I met even said she knew Batman. That sounds like she was lying, but she didn't seem like a liar. I don't know. I think I'd rather he not notice me. Being not noticed is always easier."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie curls a lip and he snorts. "Batman's a fascist, and he teaches other people how to be fascists too."

He shakes his head. "He notices everything. What matters is whether or not he thinks he should expend limited time on you. And whether you think what you're doing is important enough to risk him expending his time on you. That's when you have to choose whether to go loud or not."

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
Jean-Paul Valley frowns, "Yeah. Well, sometimes I get noticed whether I like it or not. Sometimes I get loud whether I like it or not. I...lose control sometimes," he says.

He looks down. How can he even begin to explain Azrael, "I was, uh, altered when I was growing up. Those cults I mentioned? My dad was in one. He let them do things to me, to change me. To make me so that I'm not always myself. And the other person I am is...very, very dangerous."

"I know that sounds like weird bullshit. You don't have to believe me."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie exhales, and then says, "Look. I know I have a rep as someone who's stubborn, but I know that cult deprogramming is something you have to deal with for a lifetime. And some of these cults, their programming goes all the way to the bone. I wish I could give you more help, there - I've got some self-taught experience with neurolinguistics so maybe I could direct you to some books, though I think there's a lot of nonsense surrounding the things that have real value."

"...But it seems like you need help, Jean-Paul. People in the collective have to look out for each other; that's one of the central tenets of anarchism." He furrows his brow, and then says, "I've seen a lot of things. So I do believe you. People, after all, are my religion."

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
"That's a very nice idea, I think. People are your religion."

"I don't know much about anarchy. I've always been someone who lived in ordered ways. Schedules, plans. Lines of code. Classes and prayers. Regimented. Disciplined. And god damn, I hate it. I hate it all. I hated being told when to wake up and go to bed. I hated being made to wear a uniform to go to school, locked up in a castle up in the mountains with only the other sons of other bastards to keep me company."

"I loved my father. He was a victim of theirs, too, in his way. But he also let them have me. I don't know if I can ever forgive that. I don't know if I can be helped. I don't think what was done to me can be...undone."

"I just don't want to hurt you. I don't want him to hurt you."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"Well," Lonnie digs into the pocket of his camo pants, and he says, "I keep a collection of different philosophers - Anarchist and other - to share with people." He takes out a jump drive. "I highlighted the passages that I think are important." He offers it out. "In a cult, everyone is a victim, and the real strength is trying to get away and break the cycle of victimization. Forgiveness and Redemption aren't really relevant. Survival and quality of life and your ability to participate in a human community in a way that makes more than it takes - those are what's important."

He shakes his head. "The meanest city in the world's been doing its best to kill me since the day I was born. I can handle a lot."

Jean-Paul Valley has posed:
"Azrael is more than a lot," he says softly.

He takes the booklet, though, tucking it away carefully in the back pocket of his jeans. "I'm still hungry," he says. "You wanna maybe go get a burger or something? I know, I know, industrialized agriculture is the devil. But sometimes the devil can taste good."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"Listen." Lonnie says, "Principles are fine, but you can't fight for a better world if you starve to death. The hierarchy of needs is important." He pats Jean-Paul on the shoulder, and then says, "So... sure." He whistles, grabs the cooler, and the dog obediently falls in with him. "That's right." Lonnie says, "Fuck their leash laws. Good boy."