Maybe I'm a Lion.

 "Just answer me one question Gerulf," Captain Dieter said, as we marched down the street together, surveying the rebuilding efforts.
"Yes?"
"How do you do it?"
I considered this question for what felt like a long moment, but was really only a second or two. And then I said, "I will answer that question, but not for you," Cutting off the retort, I added, "For everyone."
"...Everyone?"
"Everyone."

Barely over an hour later, I found myself on a low tower addressing quite the crowd. Seems the good Captain had called my bluff and assembled the entire population of Hillfar in short order. And it said more than a little about me that they'd actually answer what was initially a frivolous remark on such short notice instead of telling me to fuck off and continuing to live their lives. Well, there was nothing for it.
If they wanted serious, I could do serious.
I lightly struck a glass with a spoon three times, both of which I'd brought in case they'd ever be necessary. Ting! Ting! Ting! "May I have your attention please. I have a very important announcement to make."
"Fuck niggers, fuck kikes, and fuck jannies?" helpfully offered one of the based travelers who had survived the repeated gatekeeping efforts and was still allowed in town.
Naturally, the Hillfarians didn't know what most of those words meant. Though, when they provoked the usual, preprogrammed reactions from five "individuals" that had made it past the repeated screening efforts, likely by being logged off at the time, the good people of this border town showed that word spread fast on the meaning of at least one of those words. They were how you made hidden subversives expose themselves. And the Hillfarians knew exactly how to deal with subversives.
Beating them down until the soycattle meat is nice and tender is a good start. Sticking it with a sword helps.
Once the usual traveler misadventures were resolved, I continued as though nothing unusual had happened. "Not quite. This one, well..."
And then I straightened, the amused look gone from my face, posture all business.
"A good friend of mine has asked me how I do what I do," I then stopped, as a roar of voices indicated that the general sentiment was that this curiosity was wide spread, "I'll tell you!" A loud roar of approval punctuated this statement.
"The greatest fear in the world is the opinion of others, and the moment you are unafraid of the crowd, you are no longer a sheep, you become a LION."
"FUROR LEONIS!" came the answering chant. I waited until it stopped before resuming.
"A great roar rises in your heart... the roar of FREEDOM!" The crowd roared again in approval. I roared too, though I was cheating and used the armor.
"Sheep have no freedom. The sheep live with FEAR and UNCERTAINTY… EVERY DAY." No loud noises accompanied this statement, but a few especially nervous travelers were being watched with suspicion. The looks they were getting said without words, "Fuck around and find out."
"A sheep never leads. A lion never follows."
One of the nervous travelers was getting fangs brandished at him by a pair of predators. One of them actually was a lion, and Silentsong and Masumi sniffed the air, discerning his intentions.
Aside from them, I commanded the crowd's complete attention as I continued, "A lion is in complete control of his, or her life. The lion does not accept scraps and does not get told what to do or where to go. The lion goes about his business FEARLESSLY and with extreme competence.
You will never lead a lion to the slaughterhouse! They will lead you!"
The deafening roars of the crowd drowned out the marginally quieter roar of Silentsong, who liked what he heard and didn't like what he saw and smelled. Him and Masumi advanced on the object of their suspicion with manacing slowness and extended claws.
"The lion is the king of the jungle… and it’s not because the lion is the biggest… it’s not because the lion is the fastest… it’s not because the Lion is blessed with any great advantage over other animals… It’s the MENTALITY of the lion that makes the lion the KING OF THE JUNGLE!
What is the lion mentality?"
The suspicious traveler would never get the answer to that question, as his assailants had already dispatched him and cleaned their claws. The Hillfarans, no strangers to violence afforded them a wariness due from respect, but nothing more. Everyone else waited with ears perked - literally so, in their case.
"Point one: Fearless courage!"
"Bravery is a key trait of the lion. The lion will NEVER SURRENDER. The lion will never lie down and die, not even if surrounded by a hundred hyenas – the fight is NEVER over until it is over!"
By now, word of the hundred "hyenas" having attacked and killed me in town - and what I did with them after coming back from the dead had surely spread throughout the entire region, much less this town. Whatever the case, eyes intently cast about... while sentiments such as only the guilty have something to hide are normally memes, here they have merit, as my words would only inspire terror in my targets.
I did not look at any prospective targets, instead casting my sights on some travelers that looked alright, "Maybe you’re not surrounded by hyenas… maybe you’re just buried by bills… maybe you need to stand up for something you believe in that NO ONE around you agrees with… DO NOT GIVE UP… DO NOT GIVE IN… BE FEARLESS in going after what you really want in YOUR LIFE! Maybe you’ve been at it for years and NOTHING has worked… YET… Maybe you’re tired of hunting your goals and seeing no rewards… DO NOT GIVE UP! You must keep fighting!"
Now, the travelers did seem nervous. But, it wasn't because they were afraid of me. It was because my words resonated with them in their own way. How could they not? If you were on Earth and weren't an NPC, you were plagued by NPCs endlessly. Being alone in a world full of people was the absolute best case scenario, and having someone lean down and speak to you and tell you things that served your interests? That was solely the purview of works of fiction. It just didn't happen in "reality".
I let them stew on that while I pressed forward, "You have no guarantees of success if you keep going, but you do have POSSIBILITY! There is a CHANCE! The only guarantee comes with quitting... and that is the guarantee of missing out on the life you really want!"
The stones shook beneath the fury and joy of the crowd's call, as each man, woman, and child considered what they wanted from life, what was in the way of that goal... and how they could defeat that obstacle.
"KEEP FIGHTING for the life YOU MUST HAVE… regardless of the hyenas… regardless of the problems, the setbacks. NO SURRENDER." Another roar, almost as loud as the last punctuated my words.
"Point two: Certainty."
"The lion is certain. The lion never second guesses. When the lion goes in… it goes in ONE HUNDRED PERCENT! There is nothing half hearted about the lion. How great could your life be if you lived with the CERTAINTY of the lion?"
Masumi fluffed out her tails proudly. Of everyone here, she had the greatest understanding of what I meant as she could even read my thoughts - to a point. Though she was hardly the only one that knew...
"Is it true you jumped off that damned tower the boss is obsessed with?" A man from the crowd asked. Based on his lithe build and shifty demeanor, I had a good guess of which boss he spoke.
 "It is."
"And where do you get off doing such a crazy, half cocked..."
I neatly intercepted what promised to be a rant with a calm interjection, "I was certain it would work."
Though it was nowhere near as high, I jumped off the building I was standing on, taking a fall that would have, at minimum broken the legs of an ordinary man and then kept walking as though it were nothing, "Belief is power."
And then I leaped backwards after lightening Gravity's hold on myself, returning to my original position, "Doubt is a poison to the body, mind, and soul. Doubt ensures your worst enemy will be yourself. Now, may I continue?"
"Yeah, let him speak!"
"It's getting good!"
"It always was good!"
This time I didn't wait until they quit talking before resuming, "What if you just started BELIEVING in YOURSELF... and your own abilities? How far could you go with UNBREAKABLE SELF-BELIEF?"
Theirs was a world where such stunts as leaping off a tower taller than the Empire State Building and not suffering a scratch on you - from the fall at least were entirely reasonable and almost normal. Which gave them a lot to think about, knowing the source of said power.
"Who could you become if there was NO DOUBT in you? If you trusted your intuition and just went for EVERYTHING you want in life with the same ruthless certainty as a lion hunting its prey? You can't rely on other people to achieve the results YOU want in life. YOU are the only one responsible for YOUR RESULTS! Take responsibility. Take ownership. Take action."
"Only YOU know what is best for YOU in YOUR LIFE. Only YOU know which path to take in each moment of your life. You must make those decisions with CERTAINTY!"
The crowd, who had remained in quiet contemplation quickly made up for lost time with a ground shaking roar of approval.
"Point three: Freedom!" My eyes swept the crowd and quickly locked onto that one disgruntled vet of Earth wars. He inclined his head in my direction but otherwise did not acknowledge the attention.
"The lion has freedom because the lion DEMANDS FREEDOM.
The lion has freedom because he FIGHTS FOR FREEDOM. His very nature says he will die for that freedom. Perhaps there is no more valuable asset on any world than FREEDOM... something you could only understand if you've experienced a lack of it."
The soldier in question had believed he fought for freedom at one point but eventually realized he fought against this same cause. Merely by virtue of joining his subverted military, he fought for the interests of his foreign occupying conquerors instead of his own. Yet, there was nothing intrinsically wrong with militaries or fighting, both of which being absolutely essential for the survival of all sapient life for without one, you will just get slaughtered by the first outside threat that comes along.
Should a nation's military fail so spectacularly that a man wearing a duck costume in thirty six degree summer weather tells recruiters to go fuck themselves when approached with a "better" offer, that nation is already a walking corpse and constitutes one more member of the zombie hordes that surviving humans must avoid at all costs.
As for everyone else, the message resonated with them slightly less... emphasis on slightly. They already understood what I was saying and lived it out every day. The only difference is that they were not taking it as far as I advocated for now.
The dramatic tension built for just a moment before I resumed my speech, "n your own life, you must fight for FREEDOM. Your own, and that of others. The freedom to speak your mind. The freedom to be who you want to be. The freedom to live on YOUR TERMS. FREEDOM means fairness for all. The freedom to be who you must be while allowing all others to be who they are going to be. There is no greater value. FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM."
It was unclear whose roar was louder this time - mine, the crowd's, or Silentsong's. A sense of budding power filled the air. I couldn't place its nature, and I don't think it originated from me... not exactly, anyways. Along with it came a familiar feeling of being watched... a feeling that, based on some, particularly Masumi looking at the sky suggested was not merely my imagination.
"Point four: Protective!"
"The lion is protective of EVERYTHING of value. The Family. The pack. Dinner…" Someone snickered, the sound echoed by more than a few other voices, while a few more made various offers of free meals... so many that even with this exaggerated appetite, I could not possibly entertain even a tenth of their offers, "If you threaten anything of value to the lion you better be prepared to fight! What do you need to protect? What are you willing to fight for in your life – PHYSICALLY – MENTALLY… EMOTIONALLY…"
"What are you willing to sacrifice your time for? What or WHO keeps you going?" A certain fluffy fox stood tall and proud, "What is your PURPOSE? What or who gives your life MEANING? THAT IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR."
I jumped down again, walking through the roaring crowd and looked Masumi in the eyes. She leaped into my arms, and another backwards leap took us back to my perch, where I set her down beside me.
"Point five: Competence."
"Lions are said to sleep around 20 hours a day… still they NEVER GO HUNGRY. They get up… and they get the job done! They EARN their rest. They EARN their success. They EARN their freedom. There are great rewards for competence in this world. In life, if you provide more value to others than anyone else, in a shorter space of time… you will be rewarded, and you will be rewarded WELL… and OFTEN."
By now, most of the subversive travelers had been exposed and disposed, which left only the good ones, or at least the not proven bad ones. As one, they shifted uncomfortably, though it was out of disbelief, not fear or nervousness. As any sapient being knows, Earth isn't like that at all. There, the "reward" for hard work is just more hard work, and the secret to success is to gather as many resources as possible with as little effort as possible, a process that rarely if ever involves any form of work at all. And of course, the only thing that matters is providing yourself value, as providing value for others will never, or almost never be reciprocated, making you a simple cuck.
"It does not matter HOW LONG you work... it matters HOW GOOD that work is. It doesn’t matter how many hours you’ve put in… it only matters how much VALUE you have created. Develop yourself into a competent machine! Work on what matters in your life with LASER FOCUS… RUTHLESS DETERMINATION and a BURNING DESIRE to do everything to the very best of your ability. That builds PRIDE and RESPECT for yourself."
Those travelers, they had no idea what value was. How could they? Fake work for fake money surrounded by fake people... value can only come from what is real... what is genuine. They had no concept of these terms. It was as if they were blind their entire lives and I explained the concept of color to them. They lack the means to even comprehend these concepts. And yet, even from my largely impersonal vantage point, standing with Masumi leaning against me surveying the thousands that had arrayed themselves to hear my words, and the smaller but still significant group that no longer wished to hear them, I could see the shift within them. That realization that they were lacking something deeply, fundamentally important and would be changed forever. It wasn't something you could forget... ever!"
Seeing the gathered crowd, including a few of these awakened travelers move to block the armed group's approach, I shook my head and called out, "No. Let them pass!" They shot skeptical looks at me, then glanced at the "hyenas". Some shrugged and some grinned. All knew this was going to be good.
The eighty four triggered NPCs were allowed safe passage through the crowd of sapients that, like any healthy immune system could easily repel their illness. Some measures of soycial distancing were even practiced, as a few of the natives had gotten it in their heads that the madness of travelers might be contagious. They entered the building I was in through the ground floor door like the plebs they were, and I waited patiently beside the rooftop entrance.
As soon as one of them brandished his ugly mug, I fed him his favorite food - a steel toe boot eternally kicking his face. Actually, only one kick did the job, as the soycattle was sent skidding across the rooftop far enough that his head hung off the edge, neck broken, in full view of the crowd.
"You will not DEFEAT ME!"
A minor earthquake seemed to emanate from the area, but no, it was just more cheering.
I let the next advance a little further before giving him a boot to the chest. The better angle ensured he flew further, straight off the edge. No divine favor safeguarded this one, and trusting the science just meant that a five story fall would invariably prove fatal even if the rib smashing kick did not.
Crunch!
"You will not DETACH ME FROM MY PURPOSE!"
Two came up at once. I grabbed one by the neck with my hand and Masumi coiled a tail about the neck of the other. We both hurled our detritus off the ledge, down to the crowd who was watching the falling bodies from a safe distance.
"You will not DISTRACT ME FROM MY GOALS!"
Three of the soycattle charged up the stairs at once, promptly stumbling over each other and ruining any effectiveness their attack would have otherwise had. I gave two of their empty heads a ring against each other, then resumed my tryouts for the National Cuck Tossing League - the only sportsball fit for sapient life! I looked over to find that instead of tossing her prey, Masumi was suspending a creature of indeterminate gender over the edge, her tightly coiled tail serving like a rope, holding it fast while it seemed paralyzed and unable to struggle free from that unnaturally fluffy bondage.
"You will not DETHRONE ME!"
Masumi let the electrocuted creature fall, then casually bitch slapped another with a tail that had tried sneaking behind her. Both of them, naturally fell to their sadly temporary deaths.
"And you will never DESTROY ME!" I shouted while leaping into the air, the four that were charging me from behind stopping dumbly, only to make their trademark gesture as I landed behind them and double Hillfar kicked a pair off the ledge. The others turned around, dined on delicious knuckle sandwiches served with extra spicy memes, and joined their brethren in amateur skydiving practice.
"I wake up with INTENTION!" A back punch caught a failed ambusher, while an elbow drop caught another. "ALERT. READY. FOCUSED!" Masumi's tails snapped low, seizing the legs of four of the soycattle at once and giving them a throw. "Whatever I WANT…. I GO AFTER…" I looked at, then past Masumi before seizing the one soycattle with a little sense with my mind before he could bring his blade down on those outstretched tails. A little bit of mental manipulation sheathed the sword back where it belonged, and having finally gotten some sexual action, it was time for death by snu snu. More than a few snickers broke out as they saw the body fall with a sword stuck in his ass. "Whatever I go after…. I GET!"
Six of the soycattle charged me at once. That vintage meme cowboy was onto something, because one Roundhouse Kick scattered and shattered the horde. "If it matters to me: I WILL GET IT!" The rest of the horde tried charging us all at once, but there wasn't enough room for that many to fight effectively. I grabbed the arm of one who lived long enough to get a swing off, then began spinning him about to clear some space.
"Bing! Bing! Yahoo!" someone, obviously a traveler shouted from the crowd.
"I WILL HAVE IT!" I lobbed the soycattle sideways, letting it bulldoze a line through the others.
"Yippee!" shouted the same traveler, completely ruining the seriousness of the moment.
"I WILL BE IT!"
Those still capable of standing dared rise against us again. Perhaps it was just their programming, or perhaps even subhuman automata could be motivated by my words. Whatever the case, I grasped Masumi's hands in mine, and the earth shaking roar of the crowd was steadily and quickly drowned out by the air shattering roar of a rapidly building wind. Its velocity and power intensified rapidly, an impossibly narrow and tall tornado, formed with superheated air ascended to the sky. We stood in the eye of the storm, watching the whirling chaos around us as one spun by, caught upside down in a chimp out pose and another flew sideways, looking every bit like the pig he was. After a few seconds, the winds abruptly scattered, taking their cargo with it and leaving the roof, and the surrounding area shrouded in deafening stillness.
"You can not DEFEAT ME! You can not DETACH ME FROM MY PURPOSE! You can not DISTRACT ME FROM MY GOALS! You can not DETHRONE ME! You will never DESTROY ME!"
"And that," I said, dropping to a much quieter, almost indoor voice, only audible at all because of the complete lack of any competing sounds, "Is how you become a lion!"
The dam broke, and I had to have Masumi shield me from the overwhelming power of the cheers.

#PRO
#Antipode