#spartan badassery

[mephistagain]

Everything, or Nothing At All

Hello good, sweet, kind, wonderful friends who follow Flawed by Design.

Here is an epilogue which will not appear in the actual story, but which I*gleefully embraced and ran, ran so far away*toyed with the idea of at one point a few months ago. 

If you’d prefer to wait for me to finish FbD prior to reading any spoilerish content, abort reading now.

John parked the warthog in the usual spot at the edge of the redwoods. He retrieved his pack, slung it over his shoulder, and hauled the camo tarp atop the vehicle so that it didn’t stand out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of the verdant mountainside. Then he turned and started into the forest. The trek generally took him two hours, and while the warthog could handle the terrain for part of the way, he preferred the solitude of travelling on foot. 

Briar had also complained on the one occasion he had driven closer that the approach had been about as inconspicuous as he was - which was evidently not very, he’d been given to understand. 

The hike gave him time to clear his head of the latest sim test results, the monotony of base life, and the lingering impotency of being involuntarily removed from active duty. He was still a highly functioning tactical asset, so while he understood the decision as it had been explained to him by Brass as a matter of PR, he didn’t like it. Linda didn’t either, but she never complained. Unsurprisingly, Fred and Kelly were transitioning from life in the field with the most ease. They were anticipating instructional appointments as an opportunity to guide and shape the next generation of Spartan-IVs. 

Not him.

Pausing, John examined the trunk of one of the towering trees - more specifically the scarred markings some animal’s claws had torn into its bark. She’d informed him when he’d last left that there was a cougar lurking in the area. He continued on, the familiar weight of the M6H2 strapped to his thigh precluding any concerns about crossing paths with the predator. The territorial scorings didn’t appear recent, sap had already wept over the abrasions and hardened, but he still recentred his focus. Which wasn’t easily done as he tallied up just how long it’d been since he’d last left base. 

An unfamiliar weight settled in his gut, but he knew it for what it was - guilt. Seven weeks was not inconsiderable. And while it hadn’t been his intention to avoid returning, neither had he sought rec time or leave in order to do so. Hadn’t even given it much thought between the day in, day out routine trials Blue team had been selected to participate in for the Gen3 MJOLNIR platform.

He now had to wonder if that had been subconsciously purposeful because of his conflicted feelings over the pregnancy. Briar had encouraged him to seek the input of Fred, Linda, and Kelly, and yet he’d not done that either. Not even when Fred had noted that he was behaving more introvertedly than was characteristic of him. The reason for that, at least, was logical. As Blue team’s leader, undermining the others’ confidence in him by requisitioning advice on a subject none of them were more likely to have experience with than he did was irrational. Fred and Kelly may be more sociable than he was, but he doubted they were concealing clandestine children out there in the systems somewhere. The thought nearly made him snort, in fact. 

The elevation increase and time elapsed since he’d set out from the warthog suggested he was better than halfway there now. 

Would she be displeased with him? He hadn’t gotten the sense his initial reaction had caused her to be so. If anything, she’d seemed as uncertain about the development as he’d been. She hadn’t questioned him when he’d prepared to head back to base earlier than planned. Just requested that he speak with his fellow Spartan-IIs. 

The issue stemmed from the fact John had never factored children into his future. He’d factored another few decades of service in. But not much beyond that. And now, here he was; forced into semi-retirement for all intents and purposes, and staring fatherhood down the barrel. What that even involved, he couldn’t begin to fathom. His memories of his own childhood were so watered down and repressed that it took a Herculean effort just to recall that he’d possessed one at some distant point in the past. He would have a duty to protect the child, that much was obvious. And provide for it - though with the healthy settlement he’d been saddled with as compensation from the UNSC, there should prove no barrier to that. 

What would life for a child born to two Spartans even look like? It had never been explicitly expressed, but there wasn’t a shadow of doubt in his mind they’d never been expected to produce offspring. And while the inquisition into Orion and the subsequent Spartan programs had clued up, and public perception had shifted dramatically in light of its innumerable findings, it still didn’t feel as though society was prepared for Spartans to fully re-integrate. At least, not IIs and IIIs. The IVs had been regular enlisted before being recruited into their program. They’d led normal lives. Had families. No so for his and Briar’s generation. Despite having been stationed there for six months now, Blue team still received a variety of conspicuous reactions from the base’s other personnel as they went about their assigned duties. He ignored them, but the relief of leaving it all behind when he drove past the last checkpoint and the wild landscape opened up before the warthog had been palpable. 

The fact he looked forward to Briar’s company wasn’t the enigmatic response it had initially presented as to him any longer. With her, he was just John. And whatever that entailed, she took in stride. No expectations. 

He smelled it before he saw it. The copper tang of blood hung heavy in the air as he approached the clearing the cottage occupied on the ridge. Through the foliage, tawny hide could be glimpsed. Brandishing his sidearm, he strained his honed senses for further signs of intrusion as he stalked in towards his quarry. Within twenty metres, John could detect the error in his assessment. The once-predator’s pelt hung from a make-shift frame of pliable branches, stretched out wide in a curious display of victory. So, she’d taken care of the cougar. Bypassing the trophy, he was returning the magnum to its holster when he noted the smear on the doorframe. Briar wasn’t as fastidiously tidy and organized as he was wont to be, but a bloody handprint seemed grisly even for her to disregard cleaning up. 

John glanced back to the hide. The dark stain from blood which had pooled beneath it seemed to indicate it’d been hung there for some time. Hours, probably. His attention returned to the smeared handprint. Was it possibly not the result of the animal’s blood, but her own? Had she been injured?

“Briar?” he called not without apprehension as he pushed through the door and inside. Crimson droplets led directly across the rustic floorboards towards the lav. His heart rate kicked up a notch. She hadn’t responded. Dropping the pack with a thud, he stepped over the trail as he strode to the open doorway. No light spilled out, so he wasn’t surprised not to find her within, but the open med kit, mess of bandaging supplies, and blood ringing the sink did alarm him more than he cared to admit. She’d treated herself for whatever wound she’d received, he reasoned with himself. Everything was likely fine. 

Noise outside pulled John away from the chaos which had been unleashed in the lav. He re-emerged from the cottage just as Briar was latching the door on the small tool shed he’d insisted they erect during his last visit, to remove the clutter of equipment from the limited space offered in the main living structure. 

She looked about as bewildered by his presence as he felt about the scene he’d witnessed upon arrival, but as usual, recovered first. “Could have used your help earlier,” she commented while wiping her dirty hands on her already soiled pants. A combination of blood and grime interrupted their dark green camo patterning. 

“With the cougar?” he surmised, having paused just outside the door.

“With burying it.”

That explained the mud, anyway. “Are you alright?” She appeared whole, but the med kit had been rummaged through for a purpose. Her black t-shirt revealed a few shallow lacerations on her arms, but none of them were bandaged.

Briar shrugged, or began to, though the motion was cut short by a grimace. “It got the jump on me, nothing serious.” She lingered by the shed, her gaze having shifted to the hide. “Should have driven it off a while ago.” It didn’t seem a conscious action, but one of her hands drifted briefly to her abdomen before falling back to her side.

It hit him with the sheer, unrestrained force of a NOVA. She’d been in danger - the child she carried, his child, had been in danger - and he hadn’t even known. No matter his uncertainty, the overwhelming and fierce instinct to protect that precious unborn life consumed him with an abruptness he’d never before experienced in his 48 years. He didn’t know what to expect from fatherhood, but the fear of having that opportunity snatched away by variables outside his control was perhaps the realest he’d ever known. 

She was eying him pensively as he closed the distance between them. Dark strands of hair had escaped her braid and smudges on her cheek and temple implied she’d probably been pushing the loose locks out of her eyes. He reached up to do so for her now after she’d unsuccessfully attempted to blow them out of her line of sight. 

“Are you going to tell me what you’re thinking, or should I stand here waiting like an idiot for you to say something for another ten minutes first?”

“I’m thinking that cougar chose its prey unwisely.” 

She rolled her eyes, but they then shot down to where his hand had come to rest over her stomach before she could reply. 

“And that I shouldn’t have waited so long to come back,” he supplied with regret. Not only did he now comprehend how cowardly it had been, even if it shamed him to ascribe such a trait to himself, it had nearly cost him more than he’d at first understood. 

Briar was regarding him with an unreadable expression. She hadn’t stepped back, but neither did she seem particularly welcoming of his proximity. What must she have thought of him as the weeks had stretched on in his absence? “I knew you would,” she said after some time. “Eventually.” It didn’t sound as though that certainty had reassured her much, it was more of a statement of fact.

“I didn’t speak to the others about it.” She deserved to know he’d disregarded her request along with leaving her out here alone without explanation.

“John-”

“But I’m going to. When I go back.”

“It was just a suggestion-”

“What were the bandages for?” he cut her off, having already made up his mind on the matter. Blue team might not be able to offer parenting advice, but they would give him their honest assessment of the situation. And since the added responsibility could potentially affect his performance as team leader, they needed to be aware of that. 

Sighing, she turned around and lifted her shirt to reveal the gauze padding haphazardly taped to her back. Blood had already seeped through several wads, suggesting the wounds they covered were deeper than those on her arms. “I’m going to clean up the shitstorm in there, I just wanted to deal with that asshole before dark,” she said while shooting the pelt a miffed glare and dropping her shirt again. 

“So you decided to skin it.”

“Only after it tried to eat me.” 

John took her by the arm to gently propel her inside. Fortunately, she didn’t resist. In the lav, he again turned her so that she faced the opposite direction and pulled the t-shirt up and over her head, prompting her to lift her arms in the process. Then he began the painstaking process of peeling the medical tape off, doing so slowly so as not to aggravate the injuries beneath. 

All of this, Briar endured cooperatively in silence. Even when he applied the biogel, which he knew from plenty of personal experience, stung owing to its antiseptic component. Once he’d reapplied the bandaging in plush squares, he returned the supplies to the med kit and rinsed out the sink. 

She was still standing in the same spot, shirt held in one hand as she faced the shower unit. Her posture didn’t point towards being receptive to physical contact, so he leaned against the doorframe to give her some space.

“Listen, I’ve been thinking… if this isn’t something you want to go through with, I understand.”

The sudden remark set him on edge almost as swiftly as the cougar pelt had. “Explain,” he prompted her when no further information was offered. 

“Explain what - that neither one of us would have any clue how to raise a kid?” She was shaking her head and he knew without needing her to say more exactly where her doubts stemmed from. She’d confessed before to having no memory of her parents, and his own were vague impressions in the few flashbacks he’d experienced over the years.

“I want to try.”

When she turned around finally, she was frowning. “It’s not something you ‘try’, John. There are no trial runs. No sims. You can’t fuck it up, you don’t get to reset to alpha position.”

Jaw setting with determination, he pushed away from the doorway. “Then we don’t fail.” They’d been forged with a will to succeed at all costs as ingrained as the fundamental functions of breathing, eating, or sleeping. 

“And we’re going to base it off of what? How Mendez treated us? The other drill instructors? AIs?” Briar moved to bypass him, but he prevented her by blocking her path. It wasn’t difficult in the confined space. “I won’t be responsible for screwing some kid up as badly as we were.”

“Some kid?” John repeated, chest tightening at the description of the child even now developing in her womb. He searched her features for some sign she held no attachment whatsoever to the new life they’d inadvertently created. All he saw was diffidence and frustration. This time when she tried to squeeze past, he caged her in against the cabinet the sink was built into, an arm to either side to keep her there. “I see you,” he told her, voice even despite his own inner turmoil. He couldn’t pressure her into a role she wasn’t prepared to undertake. Even if he’d come to the conclusion it was what he wanted. One of the few things he’d ever wanted - not because it was a duty he’d been trained and groomed to carry out, but because it was one he desired the privilege of fulfilling.

Dropping her gaze, she balled up the shirt. Her shoulders rose and fell with shallow breaths, another indication of her state of agitation. 

It wasn’t something that came naturally to him, but he brought one hand up to cup her face nonetheless, offering her the comfort he perceived she required in that moment. He still recalled the light and foreign touch of her own fingers upon his cheek in ‘Vadam’s keep. It’d been the first time anyone other than Fred, Kelly, Sam, or Linda had laid a hand on him for a purpose other than addressing an injury, delivering punishment, or examining his MJOLNIR since he’d been conscripted into the Spartan program. She’d advised him not to analyze it, but that’d proven impossible when, from that moment forth, a steadily growing part of him he hadn’t previously known existed had craved that contact. Expressing that hadn’t been something he’d been aware of how to do, or even whether he should do. 

“What’s going on in there?” she asked quietly.

Chagrined to have lost focus, his brow furrowed. He ran his thumb over the dirt smudged across her cheekbone, but it didn’t remove the blemish. Neither did it diminish her appeal, however. “Thinking,” he answered. “About you.” About how much had changed for him in the time they’d known each other, none of it anything he could have ever predicted.

She was waiting for him to elaborate, he could tell.

“And about being something other than a Spartan.” Something more. Something he chose. “But only if it’s what you want.” 

Her lips grazed his palm as she turned her head. She pressed a kiss there. “I want you.” Rising up onto the balls of her feet, she gripped his shoulders, the t-shirt slipping to the floor. “I want everything. With you. And it scares me, John.” And he could see it in her eyes. That terror. The fear of daring to want something. 

Carefully drawing her in close with an arm around the small of her back, which hadn’t sustained any gouges, John held her gaze. “Someone told me being human can be like that.” He was expecting physical repercussions for the cheeky reminder, namely a punch, but gladly obliged when Briar instead tugged on his tags. Lowering his head, he released a pained grunt when her mouth only briefly met his before she captured his lower lip between her teeth. 

“Smartass,” she scolded him with relish and then kissed him - properly this time. 

#halo fic #flawed by design #john-117 #b312 #spartan badassery #false epilogue

[theaverageshooter]

Molon Labe. . #molonlabe #spartan #2a #pro2a #gunrights #ar15 #merica #murica #america #usa #badassery @brownellsinc @gunsdaily @firearms @gunfanatics @gunfreaks @weaponsdaily (at Fayetteville, North Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4TBIA8p3mx/?igshid=izerrxctu9x

#molonlabe #spartan #2a #pro2a #gunrights #ar15 #merica #murica #america #usa #badassery

[shipsnthenight]

Ultimate fashion Creed. 

#Assassin's Creed #assassin's creed odyssey #kassandra #look at all the spartan badassery

[moonstoneunivs]

I don’t need a sugar daddy, but Drayden from Pokémon can get it he could disrespect me 💋 his complete badassery on talking down team plasma is the greatest he gets ish done they don’t call him the spartan mayor for no reason. Also, team flawless with two of the Axel line and Druddigon you better (Bob as Symone) also his design as this old man ( and I do mean old he was around before poké balls were invented) but he has this perfect 😍 perfect 🤩 body is funny and awesome 😎 so yeah that’s why he’s my favorite of all time. #Drayden #pokemon #KoN #suggardaddy #buffgrandpa

#drayden #Pokémon #suggar daddy #Buffgrandpa

[ageless-aislynn]

SPOILERS for Halo 1x02

The things I loved about this episode:

Master Chief moving things with the Power of Badassery™ (and Mjolnir armor 😉).

Master Chief having to increasingly strip down. 🥰

Master Chief losing his temper... and it scares him.

Master Chief waiting for Dr. Halsey. He looks so lost and alone, poor bb. 😕

And finally...

...that beautiful moment when I reached through the screen and held his hand. I’ve got you, Master Chief. Don’t you worry. 🤗

What do you mean that was Dr. Halsey? No, man, it was TOTALLY me. 😜😉

In conclusion, I’m loving what they’re doing with Master Chief and I can’t wait to see where things go from here! 😎

I am slightly worried about the fact that Cortana seems to be straight-up designed to completely mind-control a Spartan. That seems a little... excessive. 👀 I’m hoping, though, that she’s going to go beyond her programming in the same way that Master Chief is trying to go beyond his. I’d love to see them take that journey together. My feeling is, whether you ship them in the game or not, there’s no denying that they love each other as best as either one of them can. I really would love to see that relationship here as well. 🤞

💖

#halo #halo the series #halo paramount+ #master chief #john-117 #pablo schreiber #halo spoilers #spoilers #ageless aislynn #aislynn's halo episode gifset recap thing

[askmalal]

“Hey, Mal. History question for you.”

Okay, OP.

“300…”

Hell. This again.

“A. Did Thermopylae happen? B. Did the Spartans really dress that way? Were all Spartan soldiers gay or bi? Also, war rhino?!”

A. Yes. The Spartans weren’t alone, though. There were 700 Thespians (from the city of Thespiae, not actors. I suppose some where.) Three Spartans survived. The Thespians died where they stood. True badassery, because unlike the Spartans (who were utter badasses, it’s true), they weren’t required to stay there by any socio-political norms. They stayed and fought because it was the right thing to do, and the Spartans never forgot it. There were probably at least one million combatants in Xerxes’ army. Still debate about just how many there really were, though.

B. Fuck no. No self respecting Hoplite went to war with nothing but a codpiece, helmet, and cloak. And the helmets are totally fictional versions of what’s called a “Corinthian” helm. Many probably were wearing those at least.

Naked Hoplites aren’t a thing in combat either. Those are a convention of art and a part of sport. Not combat. Not in the fifth century BC, anyway.

C. No. The Spartan system of training relied upon friendships, but that doesn’t mean all of them were having sex. Some certainly were: so don’t thin they weren’t represented. It was just a different kind of society than Athens. If you are looking for a truly heroic and undeniably gay military unit of the era, take a look at the Theban Sacred Band. Those men….I get teary eyed. Seriously.

D. No. No War Rhinos, though hundreds of years later the Seleucid Army fighting the Romans at Thermopylae did have war elephants.

Weirdly, engravings of armored rhinos have been unearthed in Assyria and Mohenjo Daro, but.. erm… rhinos do not take to instructions easily, and I doubt this was more than some kind of ceremonial thing at -best-.

Thank you for your question, little mortal!

#malice #askmalal #malal #ancient history #Ancient Greece #thermopylae

[incorrect-history-quotes15]

Daily appreciation of the pure badassery of Sparta.

Context: Macedonia has been threatening to invade Sparta for awhile,

King Phillip II: You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.

Spartan Ephors: if

#sparta #history humor #history #humor #Macedonia #ancient Greece

[117--087]

Blog PSA #21: Spartans Never Die...

...They’re just missing in action.

Long time no see. The first few months of 2019 have been very busy and very challenging for me, and that’s putting things extremely mildly. If y'all already couldn’t tell though that meant this blog had to fall by the wayside for a while as I tried to figure some stuff out. As in: what the future of this blog will be. What direction it should take. One that I'm comfortable with, and is consistent with the highest good - and so on and so forth blah blah blah. ;)

(Kinda long and ramble-y spiel under the cut.)

After certain things happened a few years ago I figured I would stay around the Haloverse if only to see how/where everyone on Blue Team would ultimately end up. Just so I would know, you know? But the more I think about it, the more it is starting to look like dealing with everything else that comes along with that may not be worth it? Particularly if the end of the things I love most is not handled very well.

It’s all wrapped up in a long, complicated, & v. personal story that I won’t get into here. But suffice to say I’m still confused as to what to do. Which I suppose is par for the course when trying to completely change the way you engage with something that was formally such a reliable source of happiness and creative inspiration for you for over 10 years. And while there’s always the “screw everything else - I’ll just enjoy my own headcanons/AUs/etc.” route, I’d hate to become something I’ve so long fought against as well (i.e. a person that denies canon simply for the sake of making myself feel better). :\

Its tough to know what to do with something when you suddenly lose all sense of consistency and quality assurance from it. Are the Spartans on Blue Team even friends anymore? Will it end up being retconned in a book/comic that the Chief “actually always secretly hated the rest of the S-IIs” or some other such nonsense? An exaggerated example (maybe), but that is simply how it feels to be a Halo fan these days. Even things formerly fundamental to the series’ fiction are so easily thrown out or changed on unexplained whims it seems hardly worth investing in anything.

Above all though, I’m mostly just sad. Especially for Kelly-087. No matter what, from hereon out at least Fred-104 will have gotten his time in the sun in Mr. Denning’s books. Linda-058 now has a gorgeous comic serial dedicated to her badassery. All while the last actual “founding” member of Blue Team gets...either nothing at all, or something I honestly believe will do her no justice while simultaneously being completely lost in the inevitable ramp-up to ‘Halo 6′ that is set to begin in about 2 months time. And seeing a character like her, who represents so many positive things and means a lot to me personally, basically treated as “not good enough” for anything special hurts a lot. :’(

Which on top of all of 343i’s other highly questionable decisions, just makes me want to throw up my hands entirely and not devote any more time & energy to something that has just gone so far off the rails in terms of its treatment of the story, characters, themes, etc. Even the individual parts of it I still love so much.

That said, after working so hard on this blog and getting to chit-chat with some very fine folks because of it, I figured it was best to finally reach out and see what some other people might think. Would anyone really mind if this blog stopped caring about/acknowledging what the current canon is anymore and just stuck to what was good about Halo fiction circa 2001-2014-ish? Would it be okay to devote more focus to full-blown AUs and the like for the sake of simply keeping myself in the creative mood and this blog a positive place to visit?

As always any & all thoughts and opinions are welcome. And my apologies if all this isn’t worded in such a way as to be very understandable. If you have further questions I would be more than happy to try to elaborate/clarify in a private message.

Sincerely,

GreenleafCM, Admin of The Eagle and The Rabbit

#About the blog #PSA #...sorry for the ramble. #(includes some personal bid-ness)

[dryrobe]

Awesome interview with Rea Kolbl on Lessons In Badassery about her stunning @spartan Ultra World Championship win, training and plans for this year.

#dryrobe #dryrobeterritory #reakolbl #spartan #spartanrace #spartanultra #spartantraining #ocr #obstaclecourseracing #ocrtraining #trainsavage

[haileysallgreek]

An Army of Lovers (Post #2)

When we think of Ancient Hellenic badassery, the first thing to come to mind for many are the Spartans. Why is it always those damn Spartans? Overrated to the max, that what they are.

Time for something a little different. Forget the Spartans. Today, we’re talking about the men who assisted greatly in the erosion of Spartan dominance over Ancient Greece, cementing their own city state’s influence. Everyone give it up for the Sacred Band of Thebes, a military order consisting of one-hundred-fifty pairs of male lovers who rose to be the most feared Greek military order of their time.

There is great debate over when this military order was formed. Some point to a section Plato’s Symposium as evidence of the Sacred Band existing as early as 385 BCE. This discussion of how an army composed of lovers “when fighting at each other’s side...would overcome the world.” This doesn’t explicitly mention the Sacred Band by name or Thebes in any capacity, so the argument of this being only hypothetical will be bantered about until time travel is invented and someone goes back to ask Plato.

The earliest surviving instance of the Sacred Band of Thebes being referred to as such dates to 324 BCE. Dinarchus name-drops these boys along with Pelopidas, the Band’s commander, and Epaminondas, commander of the Boeotian army.

Plutarch, a native of the village of Chaeronea where some highly unfortunate things happen to the Band, records that Gorgidas was the creator of the Sacred Band. Other Greek writers (Heironymus of Rhodes, Dio Chrysostom, and Athenaeus of Naucratis) say that Epaminondas created the Band.

Only Plutarch mentions the reason - or any reason, for that matter - for “Sacred” being included in the band’s name. The lovers in the Band took vows at the shrine of Iolaus, a lover of Herakles’s, according to Plutarch. Iolaus was a highly revered figure in Thebes. The Theban gymnasium (where athletes for public games trained) was named for Iolaus, along with the Iolaea, which was a Theban-hosted athletic festival.

Regardless of who assembled this order or reasons for its naming, it was great. Until it wasn’t great, of course, but I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s focus on when things were good.

The Battle of Leuktra stemmed from Epaminondas’s refusal to enter a peace agreement stemming from another battle at Tegyra four years prior. Epaminondas refused to accept this agreement because he wanted to fight the Spartans some more. They met at Leuktra after some Spartan stalling and the Boeotians yelling, “Come at me, bro!” repeatedly (it had to have happened like that, right?). Both the Boeotians and the Spartans sent out their respective cavalries. 

The Spartan cavalry retreated off field into the heavy infantry lines. This retreat disrupted the heavy infantry’s attempt to outflank the Boeotian left wing, where the Sacred Band and the core of the Boeotian military was situated. The left wing was ordered to advance diagonally, super revolutionary for the time. Due to the Spartan cavalry’s haphazard retreat, the disruption of the heavy infantry’s line, and all the freakin’ D U S T, the Spartans didn’t know what hit ‘em until immediately before it hit ‘em.

An attempt was made to engulf the incoming Boeotians, but it was all in vain. One-thousand (1000) Spartans were slaughtered. Four-hundred of the dead were Spartan citizens. Most importantly, one of the dead was Cleombrotus I.

Why is Cleombrotus so important, you may ask. Or you may not, but I shall answer anyway. Cleombrotus, you see, was one of Sparta’s two kings.

So, there you have it, boys and girls and anyone in between. The story of how some diagonally marching gays killed the Agiad king of Sparta and became a Hellenic power rivaling that of Athens.

Enter stage right, Macedonians.

#Ancient Greece #Sacred Band of Thebes #Sacred Band #Thebes #English 111 #Delta College #History #Ramble

[hldw]

this is akane  a bad ass  spartan oc  by my girldfriend  texd41  I did this concept time ago . I wanted to share her badassery  one of my fav antagonist from her in BTA  

#texd41 #Halo #Female Spartan #halo spartan #digital art #anime girl

[mephistagain]

Chapters: 36/? Fandom: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms Rating: Explicit

Year: 2558. Master Chief is returned triumphant to Infinity following the destruction of the Didact's ship, but the cost of humanity's salvation is steep this time - perhaps too steep. The UNSC's hero is a threat ONI can no longer abide. They've already pocketed one dirty secret. What to do with a legendary super soldier in a downward spiral? (Femme B312/117 pairing) Canon up to and including events of Halo 4 for majority of characters.

#halo #master chief #b312 #noble six #spartan badassery #THE power couple #hyper lethal vectors in love #thomas lasky #blue team #the arbiter #plenty of others #Halo 5 take 2 (sorta)

[ark-of-eden]

Horizon: Zero Dawn, Please Platonically Marry Me

(&:) We're breaking our long repost/shitpost/unnecessary comment tradition for the sake of the most awesome game we've seen in a long, long time. ChristopherOdd's LP of Horizon: Zero Dawn just ended today and we've been licking the bottom of the barrel to try and find new things to watch because the emptiness in our souls is real and profound. This game is so fucking good. It would be pointless to try and list off all the ways in which it is so, so good. If you can get your hands on it, it's amazing. If you're broke like us and just like watching vids while eating, COdd's LP is quite pleasant. (His work is generally a restful breath of fresh air compared to most other LPers I've watched.) OMG, it HURTS, how good this game was. It is so overwhelmingly good, all the damn time.

Do you know what one of the most unexpected and wonderful parts of the plot was? NO ROMANTIC SUBPLOT. AT ALL. NOT EVEN THE OPTION TO START ONE. The main character is just an incredibly skilled, attractive, 19-year-old woman who has WAY TOO MANY IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO TO BOTHER WITH THAT RIGHT NOW, AND IT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I HAVE SEEN A MAINSTREAM PLOT DO IN AGES.

THAT DUDE: Gosh, thanks for saving my life, Aloy. You're amazing. I made special armor just for you. I worked really hard. *___* ALOY: Wow, nice. Good craftsmanship. Thank you.

THAT OTHER GUY: You are such a mighty warrior that you might even be a mightier warrior than my mom. I am constantly stunned by your badassery. You're even favored by the local deity. Please allow me to follow faithfully wherever you lead. *_____* ALOY: Sounds good. How about you manage our defenses out yonder. I'll be counting on you in that one battle.

THAT SUBPLOT GUY?: Girl, I have never seen anybody who looks as good splashed down in the blood of evildoers as you do. We should partner up together and spend our lives happily taking out human trash all over the world. Also, I look fucking scrumptious in this armor. ;D ;D ;D ALOY: Wow, you're kind of creepy and sociopathic. I hope I never have to see you again.

OTHER OTHER GUY: I may be a bumbler with motivational issues, but I have a heart of gold and a lot of enthusiasm! Thanks to your guidance, I'm turning my life around and growing to become a better, more effective human being! How are you amazing like how my sister was amazing?? *______* ALOY: Good for you. I have faith in your ability to do well from now on.

THAT TOTAL BABE: Allow me to openly hit on you, you super cutie. ALOY: Allow me to not acknowledge that because I have to fix a civil war and kill robot dinosaurs. THAT TOTAL BABE: My, I love how you get things done. If I come through here again, I'll have to Thank You Appropriately~~~ ALOY: *pulls out to-do list and starts plotting map coordinates*

ACTUAL KING OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD: I know my love interest was horribly murdered, but you've supported me through my time of trials and I wonder if we could work toward more intimacy. ALOY: Gee, if you really loved your love interest, perhaps you shouldn't instantly rebound hard enough to get whiplash. ACTUAL KING OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD: Damn, you're absolutely right. (much later) ACTUAL KING OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD: Hey, I apologize for hitting on you before. That was really unclassy of me. ALOY: We're cool. Just don't let it happen again.

EVIL SPARTAN VOICED BY CRISPIN FUCKING FREEMAN: HRRRGHH I HATE THIS WOMAN IN THE DEPTHS OF MY BEING AND YET SHE IS SO POWERFUL AND MAGNIFICENT THAT I MUST BECOME OBSESSED WITH SNARING HER AND FANTASIZE ABOUT HOW WE ARE DESTINED TO DESTROY EACH OTHER HRRRGH RRGGGHH ALOY: You're being an obstacle, you inadequate scrub. *stab*

CUTE ENGINEER: Your tech-savviness is painfully charming. I am dazzled despite myself. ALOY: Your enormous weapon is great for killing all kinds of things. Really nice work! CUTE ENGINEER: I may be a fiercely independent isolationist, but please come back and see me lots. ALOY: Probably not. Got stuff to do. CUTE ENGINEER: Well, don't mind me if I accidentally turn up to fight and possibly die for you at that one big battle. *_____* ALOY: Reinforcements are always appreciated!

I don't know if this might be called a canon asexual character. I think you could spin it that way if you wanted to, but I also think that a character shouldn't have to be asexual in order to just have rational priorities and to thus understandably rate flirting/romance/hookups as really low on the list compared to genocide and world-ending. I really, really like both explanations. I LOVE the lack of an obligatory romance. I EXTRA LOVE how they deliberately included all those characters who crush so hard on Aloy so that she can be completely unconcerned about their dokidoki. I FUCKING ADORE THIS GAME TO PIECES. NUMBER ONE NON-ANIME WAIFU. WILL NOT PRINT ON A DAKIMAKURA COVER BECAUSE I RESPECT ITS UNIQUE INTERESTS AND LIFE AMBITIONS. MY HEART~~~~~ TTT_____TTT

#horizon: zero dawn #horizon zero dawn #horizon: zero dawn spoilers #horizon zero dawn spoilers #no romantic subplot #asexual main characters #aloy #realistic life priorities #better things to do in epic rpgs than get dragged into a required romance #best games ever #A+++++ MIGHT ACTUALLY WATCH ALL 59 LP EPISODES ALL OVER AGAIN #peak life experiences #someone out there in the world loves me #good people #faith in humanity: restored #IT'S ALREADY SET UP FOR A SEQUEL SO JUST GET ON THAT ASAP #strong female characters #strong female protagonists #i love aloy because she would rather save the world than love me back #overwhelmed right now #media deprivation shock #also some of those robot designs were kinda yummy don't judge me

[kagetsukai]

Seven things meme

I got tagged by @slothquisitor so here it comes! I'm not tagging anybody else because I *literally* have less than 10 followers. If you wanna do it, do it ;)

 One insecurity: My body. I know I shouldn't, I'm capable of some serious badassery, but body dismorphia is real and I have it.

Two fears:  Trypophobia and claustrophobia. Trypo literally makes me want to scratch my skin off...

Three turn-ons: michievous smirks, good conversations peppered with bad jokes, calm confidence

Four life goals: publish a novel, do salmon ladder that has more than 4 rungs, travel to Ireland, complete Spartan Sprint with ALL obstacles

Five things I like: food, good jokes, bad jokes, martial arts, reading

Six weaknesses: potatoes, bacon, chocolate, hazelnuts, kittens, youtube (note how it’s mostly food...)

Seven things I love: food, my man, my family, my bestie, where I live, how I feel after exercise, having alone time

#well that got real super fast #I don't sugar coat things #even though it's the internet #yes I love food more than my man #he's aware of it

[knapptasticdesigns]

Dam right never been afraid I know my talents I know my skills. @rogueamerica #spartan #america #bad_ass_official #badassery #loner #doitmyself #movethrfuckoutway #damright #picoftheday #grind #success #successmindset (at Renton, Washington)

#success #damright #successmindset #picoftheday #badassery #grind #spartan #bad_ass_official #doitmyself #loner #movethrfuckoutway #america

[andrewbawidamann-blog]

Spartan art on a spartan folder. So much yes! I feel privileged to be in the company of Mark, Curtis, and Bill. I appreciate you guys! @spartanblades1 #Repost @spartanblades1 (@get_repost) ・・・ A Spartan- Harsey Folder that our good friend Andrew Bawidamann was good enough to let us put his art work on. Did two of these folders for USN in Vegas. Be sure to check him out @abawidamann #usnfollow #abawidamann #knifecommunity #knives #spartanblades #theknifeclub #knifefanatics #knivesofig #bestknivesofig #knifegasm #knifeporn #knifepics #knifenut #everydaycarry #customknives #knifestagram #usn #usnstagram #usnfollow #everyday_tactical #tacticalshit #tacticalgear #gearwhore #dailycarry #americanmade #merica #badassery #edcgear #useyourshit #knifegasm #theknifeclub #knifeaholic

#knifenut #knives #knifeaholic #tacticalgear #edcgear #repost #knifecommunity #theknifeclub #usnstagram #useyourshit #abawidamann #knifestagram #tacticalshit #knifeporn #gearwhore #knifegasm #bestknivesofig #americanmade #usn #knivesofig #dailycarry #spartanblades #merica #badassery #everydaycarry #everyday_tactical #customknives #knifefanatics #usnfollow #knifepics