A/N:

Hey Guys it's DI here! I have been playing Far Cry 3 like it's nobody's business lately and decided to write a fanfic for it because Vaas is super crazy which makes him hot in my mind I guess C; haha anyways this fic is influenced by the book "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. I hope you like it!

Perception

Chapter 1

"The Foreign faces, the changing immensity of life, glide past, veiled not by a sense of mystery but by a slightly disdainful ignorance; for there is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself, which is the mistress of his existence and as inscrutable as Destiny." Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

I had always thought nature to be my ally against the superficiality of humanity, the selfishness of civilization but as many before me, deep within the monster I had found myself to be wrong. Everything was different in the green jungle. A man who had everything suddenly had nothing, and a man who had nothing then created everything, only to be the prey of those who had nothing while he created his empire. A vicious cycle with unpredictable twists had formed within the tropics. You become the prey to be the predator, but when you cast the first stone the second one falls near. To be ahead you had to be behind, around, above; these were the commandments of the hungry great green jungle, the ever ravenous tropic suicide. To not be destroyed you had to perceive the inevitable of the unpredictable.

So who could be saved from destruction? Who could be a true survivor? I will tell you: No one can. For no one can expect to change the world without having a change manifest in them first.

"We will not be stopped, we will not be silenced Wildlife is beauty and humanity creates violence!"

I screamed along with my fellow protestors shouting, willing society to understand the ignorance of those in power. The hot California sun beat down on my shoulders but I could not stop, I continued on the chant with my group of beaded, dreadlocked peers.

"Tear down the jungle! Tear down animal's homes! We say we are deprived but look at what we own!"

We yelled in sequence waving signs with catchy phrases around. It was the middle of the day when most people were out and about, so we were starting up a crowd gathering, asking what we were outraged about. Good, more people had to know of the crimes committed by those who live in cushy chairs stuffed with hundred dollar bills.

"Hello Miss, may I ask you a few questions for our news cast tonight?" I turned around when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. It was a lady with a news station. I had been so adamant on shaking signs at the company building I had not realized that a news van had pulled up.

"Yeah, sure." I smiled at her kindly, fixing my short blonde hair and flower woven headband.

She smiled and gave a wave type signal to the man in the cap holding the camera. After looking in a pocket mirror to check her makeup she smiled into it scraping off a bit of her dark lipstick off of her tooth, she then slipped the pink compact into her purse putting it aside out of the camera shot. The camera guy signaled 3-2-1 and 'go' when the camera was recording. The news lady immediately straightened her back and threw on her brightest smile.

"Ally Brigs here with you at news station 5. In Huntington Beach, California today there is a big rally, or should I say a protest outside of the Phillips and Brother's company building. Here with me right now is one of these protesters."

She turned to me holding the microphone at my face "What is your name and where are you from?"

I cleared my throat and leaned into the microphone. "My name is Josephina Caler, but I go by Joe and I am from Monterey, California."

The lady smiled politely "Wow, that is a far ways away from here in Huntington!"

I smiled "Yeah, I agree, My friend surprised me with tickets for a cruise, but it leaves from a port down here in southern Cali, so I drove down and am staying at her house until the cruise leaves tomorrow."

"How exciting!" the lady enthused but upon noticing that she was getting glared at by the camera man for getting side-tracked she cleared her throat and got back on the subject at hand. "So why are you all picketing outside of this corporation?"

"This company uses their money to not only cut down rainforests but also destroy beautiful wildlife by creating oil-mining projects that destroy the ground and then abandoning them when no profit is found, leaving non-biodegradable steel equipment to rust and deteriorate creating an unhealthy and toxic environment for wildlife."

The lady nodded swinging the microphone back to her.

"How do you feel about the war of the natives versus the companies workers?"

I threw my arms up in indignation practically grapping the mic from her manicured acrylic nails.

"I'm outraged as any sane person should be! Us Americans we are trespassing on their land and destroying it! I don't expect anything less than them rising up and fighting for it. Who are we to steal what is theirs? I'm not saying the workers deserve to be killed, but ignorantly walking into a situation of that weight, it is almost inevitable and I have less pity on a fool getting himself killed."

"So you believe if a righteously purchased American post is under siege, and the natives are killing the workers, then the American's shouldn't fight back? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

"You know, I don't believe in that eye for an eye nonsense. War, war is just an eye for an eye, you take my land, I will take yours. If that saying were true, war would never stop peace could never happen. For peace to take place the person who is in the wrong must lay down and admit defeat." I concluded.

Suddenly sirens were going off, everyone started to scatter as if it was a high school party instead of a protest, not wanting to be the one person left behind, I said my good bye to the interviewer lady and jogged off into the pedestrians to blend in.

"Joe!" I glanced behind me to see a familiar light brown haired man jogging to catch up with me.

"Grant." I greeted with a smile as he caught up with me. Grant was one of those guys with a young face that women adored, he was tall and skinny. Grant and I are on and off people, we dated a bit, then broke up, then dated a bit and now we are broken up, but lately he has been trying to talk to me more and more.

"Hey you were great talking to that lady." He complimented giving me a puppy dog smile, and with that smile I knew he was about to change the subject to something he was nervous over.

"Cut the crap Grant." I playfully rolled my eyes "We can both tell you want to talk about something else."

Grant smiled blushing a bit sheepishly; he shoved his hands nervously in his pockets looking at the ground, anywhere but my eyes.

"Yeah Joe, I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with me sometime."

I smiled, Grant was a sweet guy, a really sweet guy, he was quiet and was always agreeing with what anyone around him said for fear of creating a fight. He always looked at the ground as if he was not worthy of being in anyone's presence. Grant was a very nice humble man.

"Well, I am leaving tomorrow

for a cruise with Vivian, and everything is kind of crazy right now, getting ready for the cruise and all…"

Grant frowned picking at his sleeve dejectedly when he realized I was rejecting him. I hated that frown and I hated how his eyes flickered up at me with that stupid kicked puppy look.

"Well I guess when I get back we can plan something out, I'll be down here for a couple more weeks after the cruise."

A glimmer of hope exploded through his expressions and it made me cringe.

'Stop' I reprimanded myself 'Grant is a nice guy, any girl would be lucky to have him as a date.'

I forced a smile and he seemed to buy it, hope ushering on his belief.

"Wow great! I'll keep in touch see you in a week Joe!"

I forced a smile.

"Yeah….great."

He broke out into a huge smile, and awkwardly shifted onto one foot than the other not really knowing what to say, he then just waved and ran off bumping into about five people as he looked back at me to wave again as he left.

I wanted to face palm for his sake, Poor poor Grant forever oblivious of his awkward ways.

It felt like a decade before I arrived back at Viv's place. Her parents have a ton of money so of course as soon as she got into a collage far away from Washington they didn't waste time buying her an apartment but rather a whole house! To say I wasn't jealous would be a lie, because I was very jealous. Not so much of the fact that it was a nice house that probably cost a pretty penny, but rather her parents loved her enough to entrust her with a whole house. It just seems so unfair that while she got everything, I got stuck with a meth-head mother who I haven't seen in 5 years.

When I entered in, I saw Vivian at the coffee table in front of the TV, but the TV was not on, rather papers lying a strew everywhere, books open. No doubt Vivian is studying for a test in one of her collage classes. I said a hello to her and she just gave a short dismissive wave obviously preoccupied with studying. I decided to go back into my room (which is her spare room) and grab some of my painting supplies. The rest of the day I finished up a couple of paintings, when I looked at the clock next it was about midnight.

"Hey Joe, might want to go to sleep soon, we are leaving at 9am tomorrow which means we leave here at like 8:30am."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Says you! You haven't even finished packing yet!"

She stuck her tongue back at me "Hey packing is a difficult process, and I'll have you know I actually did finish today when you were out protesting with some old collage buddies!"

I rolled my eyes "Whatever I was just finished painting anyway."

"Yeah right, you never stop painting; you probably do it in your sleep." Viv laughed and I rolled my eyes at her.

"If you don't shut up I'm going to paint you a new face while you sleep tonight." I threatened swinging the paintbrushes around that I picked up to wash out in the sink.

"You know who wouldn't mind that? Grant, I bet he'd like some sexy body painting with you." She waggled her eyebrows.

"That's is it!" I yelled at her "I am so done with your shit!" I ran at her armed with the paint brushes but, she slammed her door standing on the other side of it so I couldn't get in. I could hear her maniacal laughter through the door.

"Joe and Graa-ant sittin' in a tree-" she sing-songed.

"You are such a child!" I shouted at her through the door.

"Says the girl who does face paints!" She laughed, then I broke down and started laughing too, and soon enough we were both in hysterics.

"Viv, you are a handful, I'm going to wash out these brushes and go to bed."

She opened the door cautiously of me attacking her with paint.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow bright and early!"

I gave a gagging sound and she laughed and made some comment about how she should be gagging over how I look in the morning, I rolled my eyes.

"Goodnight Viv."

"Goodnight Joe."

Comment? I would love to hear what you guys think C: !