Cryptozoology 101, Thursday, Period One

[nohattrick.livejournal.com]

Back in the classroom today, no Fae servants or flesh-eating horses in sight. You're welcome students. This week was something of a break for you. Yes, Trick was still going to tell you about a sinister type of Fae that looked completely normal and yet could do horrible things to many of you without reprisal, but at least you weren't going to have to deal with any of them, either before or after class?

Maybe he was feeling a bit sorry for the last two weeks. Or maybe he was saving up for something extra-special next week. Who knew?

"Mesmers are a type of Fae that gain control over others by manipulating their locomotive systems," Trick began, as he enjoyed starting class on a cheerful note. "Using hand gestures, Mesmers control victims like marionettes; with a simple twirl of their hands, they can force their victims to do any physical action they choose. While this can be as simple as forcing someone to make a fool of themselves in public, it can also be used for much darker purposes, using catspaws to commit acts of robbery, treason, and murder. Once a Mesmer has gained control over someone, it is almost impossible to break free without significant outside help. This is true whether the victim in question is a human or another Fae; even the most powerful Fae can be held by a Mesmer in full control of his or her powers. There are some items that can offer a measure of protection, but these items are incredibly rare and powerful."

In other words, he wasn't even going to bother talking about them, because the odds of anyone who had one voluntarily giving that item up were astronomically small. Well, that and because he wasn't keen on sharing all Fae secrets.

"As dangerous as Mesmers are, there are a few way in which you can keep them from using their powers against you. The first and most important option is to keep a Mesmer's hands bound. If they cannot move their hands, they cannot use their abilities." There was a more gruesome way to keep Mesmers from using their powers, but that was a conclusion he'd let unless the students draw for themselves if they wished. "Mesmers also must remain close to their victims; they cannot send them away to carry out their orders elsewhere. At the very least, they seem to require line of sight, which means that if someone is bound by a Mesmer, that Fae is relatively close by. Furthermore, some Mesmers can be convinced to let go of a victim, if offered something for their trouble. However, Fae are just as varied in their needs and desires as humans, so finding the price for their cooperation may be difficult--or possibly too high for you to meet.

There was a reason many Mesmers joined the Dark Fae.

"The last option is to distract them. Mesmers must concentrate to keep their victims ensnared, and breaking that concentration will halt their magic. Furthermore, Mesmers are not effective against groups. An incredibly powerful and competent Mesmer may be able to ensnare a group of two or three people, either by controlling them all at once or, more likely, switching their concentrate from person to person at will. More than four or so will make it too hard for the Mesmer to focus long enough to do real harm."

"So, today, we have a discussion class. Sadly, if you find yourself being controlled by a Mesmer, there is little you personally can do about it. However, if someone you know is being controlled, you have a few more options. How would you handle that situation? Are there any times you can imagine a Mesmer's powers being used for good?"

Comments

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"Downtown Toronto isn't exactly the safest place in the world," Toby admitted. "Especially when you don't actually have anywhere to live. There's definitely some times I could've used a power like that to help me out." It likely would have been more useful than his own power, at least in an active sense. "A good way to use it? Well, if someone were robbing a bank or comitting some other kind of crime, it'd be a pretty good way to stop them without endangering others, I think."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[myownface]

Sparkle was looking at Toby in a whole new light, right there. Street-kid Torontonians unite?

Except that Sparkle couldn't really come up with any particularly 'good' reasons for using powers like that. Mostly, he was just thinking about keeping his own ass safe, though he couldn't help but think about a little petty revenge on the side against people who had chased him out before. Could anyone blame him?

"Powers like that could've kept a lot of shitty things from happening to anyone without a place to go," he noted, chewing on one fingernail as he focussed on the earlier part of what Toby had said. "You meet a lot of punks on the streets after dark who don't want to mind their own goddamn business. I probably would've made them turn around and walk away. And... if they came back, I'd do it again."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[abitlowkey]

"Only turn and walk away?" Loki chimed in thoughtfully. "That sounds awfully magnanimous of you when it comes to those who wish you grievous bodily harm."

He was totally an expert on that.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[myownface]

Sparkle turned a grin back at Loki that was perhaps a little too sharp.

"They get three strikes," he decided. "If they kept it up after that, obviously I'd have to come up with something more creative to keep them from coming back again."

He shrugged. "But what I'd want to make them to do themselves, I can't say in class or I'd land myself in detention."

... Sorry, mind-readers in the room, for the horrifyingly creative thoughts that were flitting through Sparkle's mind just then.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[abitlowkey]

"And, should they screw up their courage with wine and testosterone, returning in a group?" Idle curiosity, really. "That which cannot be understood is to be feared, yes. But more often, that which is feared is to be hated with great zeal."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[myownface]

Sparkle wrinkled his nose at that, shaking his head a little.

"Where I come from, stuff like this doesn't happen," he pointed out. "If someone goes running into a bar screaming about some punk kid dancing him around like a puppet, he's just going to get laughed at, man. Committed, maybe, because he's talking like a freaking psycho. You lose credibility when you talk about monsters that bump in the night. You don't round up the townsfolk and the torches or, like, anything like that."

A beat.

"But I dunno, it probably depends on the situation."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[abitlowkey]

"Perhaps you are correct," Loki granted him, twisting in his seat to be able to set his feet on the chair closest to him. "The peoples of Midgard are a resilient lot, though. I think, should it happen more than once, some will take note. A secret may only be kept by one person, after all. Two, if the other is dead."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[myownface]

"So the trick is knowing when to use powers, and when to use your brain," Sparkle noted. "I mean, I survived on the streets just fine, and it isn't like I can fly or turn people into puppets or... other super things."

His knowledge of superpowers was... small.

"And I did it without killing anybody, too. Having something like that for like emergencies or something, though? That would've been fucking awesome."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[abitlowkey]

"It would always be an emergency," Loki replied after a moment. Perhaps Ikol deserved a nice dinner tonight for this stunning revelation. "Power such as that would be hard to contain. Harder still to avoid using. If you are threatened with a dagger, but possess a gun, would you not use it? From there it becomes easier and easier to use."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[myownface]

"And if it became that easy, we'd be having a really different conversation right now," Sparkle mused. "Maybe if I'd had the gun the whole time, I would be using it. But I didn't, I never had the damn gun, so maybe it's just harder for me to think about using it."

In retrospect, however, he was coming up with his fair share of moments when he wouldn't have minded having a gun to use.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[nohattrick.livejournal.com]

"That's where you're incorrect," Trick told Sparkle mildly. "I asked for your opinion, I'm not going to punish you for it. If you don't want to share, that's one thing, but if all that's keeping you from complete honesty is a worry about detention, then by all means. Share."

Oh, Trick. You probably had no idea just what you're just unleashed.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[myownface]

Sparkle's eyebrow. It went up at that.

He was going to hold you to this promise of impunity, Trick, just as soon as he got into the meat of what he had going through his mind.

"Well, I'd give them a taste of their own medicine," he decided, and then cleared his throat and launched into a diatribe not suitable for a public comm about all the very creative things that he'd make the sort of people you'd run into trouble with in a dark alleyway in Toronto do to themselves.

And since he was speaking with the voice of experience, the descriptions were not sparing in detail in the least.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[nohattrick.livejournal.com]

Trick had lived through the Fae wars, so while creative (and, yep, disturbing), Sparkle's diatribe was unsurprising. He'd seen what centuries-old Dark Fae could do to another, including some very sadistic Mesmers. He was a bit worried for Sparkle, that he could easily come up with these ideas, but not about to punish him for them.

"And do you feel that's a moral or right way to use your powers?" Trick asked when Sparkle was done. "Or simply the most satisfying?"

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[myownface]

Sparkle shrugged.

"It's the one that'll keep them from trying that shit again," he replied. "Maybe that makes it all the same thing, when the goal is keeping alive."

Morality was for other people. Sparkle's opinions of morals were pretty low, after seeing damn near everyone in his Philosophy go running blind into the alley to play the hero during Monday's class.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[nohattrick.livejournal.com]

"If you had this kind of power, would you still be in the same position you are now?" Trick asked. "Presumably, you'd be able to make things easier for yourself as a Mesmer. Would survival still be an issue, the same way it is now?"

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[nohattrick.livejournal.com]

"But is taking away someone's free will, even to prevent them from doing harm, is that necessarily right or moral?" Trick asked. He would be fine if Toby answered yes, he was just curious. "Is there a limit to what kind of crime this power is acceptable for use?"

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[godscrankshaft.livejournal.com]

"Should it not be?" Thomasina pointed out. "Do we not gaol those who thieve and pillage? What is that confinement but a limitation of their own free will?"

Not that Thomasina had any kind of real experience with such crimes, but it was hard to avoid when one read the classics.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[abitlowkey]

"Being confined is not the same as losing control over your own actions," Loki said, giving her a look. "While one may be prevented from leaving, they are still allowed the choice of their following actions."

Somewhere, someone was cackling over the fact that Loki was talking morality.

"To lose oneself to another would be, I believe, a punishment beyond cruelty."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[godscrankshaft.livejournal.com]

Thomasina considered this. "Perhaps," she allowed -- sorry, Loki, it's all you're getting, "but then imprisonment is imperfect. While I can understand ways in which this type of ability could be drastically misused, surely it is something that the constabulary could use effectively. Even if merely to force an assailant to stop, rather than to do anything? Another form of confinement, limiting their movements on a somewhat stricter scale, and perhaps a shorter time-frame until they can be imprisoned."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[abitlowkey]

"What is short term? Who shall be in charge of this force? How shall they themselves be controlled? In a perfect world such plans may hold merit, but we do not live in one as such."

Not even Asgard. Especially not Asgard.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"If the world were perfect, we wouldn't really need to have rules ofr that sort of thing, since it wouldn't happen in the first place," Toby pointed out. "But most worlds already have rules that are sort of like that- that decide who can place someone under arrest, or where and how they're incarcerated, stuff like that. I think they'd need to be tweaked a little, sure, but they could work."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[abitlowkey]

"Could they? We apply this with the guilty in mind, not the innocent," the god of lies and mischief said. Lies. And mischief. "And would we only place those with such abilities as guardians of justice? What if they are less than inclined toward such activities? What of those who remain uncomfortable in a situation where they work with someone capable of playing with them as a puppet."

A beat.

"Oh dear, I believe this conversation is about the Superhuman Registration Act. How strange."

Loki, don't be a dick.

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[godscrankshaft.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry, but which act would that be?" Thomasina asked, instantly curious. "I am unfamiliar with it -- perhaps it's something from your own world that you could explain further for us?"

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

That last bit was gonna get a confused look from Toby, because he had no idea what the hell that even was.

"No, I don't think you'd have to have powers to be a cop, or be a cop just because you have powers," he shrugged. "As for people who are uncomfortable... I can understand why they might be," people didn't even know he had powers and he still managed to creep most everyone he'd come across back home out, "but that's their problem, not that of the person with the power."

Re: Discussion: Bonus Morality Question!

[dressedinblood]

Anna had been trying to stay quiet and out of this conversation, as the subject was a little close to the bone for her, but on 'imperfect' her head came up. "I don't think I like your idea of perfect," Anna said. "He's right, it's beyond cruel; to suggest it would be fine to use that kind of thing like...like handcuffs, or that it's even in the same family as jail...you can't even begin to know what you're talking about. Have you ever been taken out of control of your own actions? Ever watched through your own eyes while you did something you would never have done of your own free will? No one deserves that."