savetheearth | Entry #A-4: "Ante" [February 21, Text]

Though the police and the Blood Keys obviously represent a threat to many numbered individuals, I have a question about organized religion, and what pulses might mean when framed within certain philosophical contexts. No matter how natural it might feel, if there really is another being nudging its way into an existing consciousness, changing a person's aptitudes, physical attributes and even their personality... there have to be at least a few churches that would consider that demonic possession, right? Has anyone tried to reconcile what's happening with influential religious practices, and do we have any resources for assisting anyone who might wind up the subject of an attempted exorcism? Those still happen today, they can be extremely dangerous, and I'm concerned about the possibility of frightened numbered people seeking out such assistance, or being subjected to it by their families and communities. Thinking you're crazy is one thing, but sincerely believing that the devil is wielding you as an instrument is another entirely. Probably not something that the FAQ page can successfully assuage, for the most tenaciously convinced.

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[Uh, yeah. Whoa.]

So, you were a slave

[ HRK. That way of looking at it never occurred to her. WHOOPS. ]

No! No way. I remember calling the spider mom! So it has to have been more complicated than that. It can't have been, like.

I mean.

I mean whatever. I wasn't some weaky-weak dumb stupid slave! I was strong and powerful and important and nobody was the boss of me.

Except the spider that used you as bait. When a parental figure uses someone for their own gain, it's definitely not a good thing. No matter how happy you are to do it, it's still exploitation.

I was not a slave! I remember having to mercy-kill the giant spider-mom and that means I could have killed her at any time and that means I have to have been cool with what was happening which means I was not a slave don't say I was a slave why would you say that why is that a thing stop it.

[ Freaked-out run-on sentences are go! ]

[He switches to audio. This is... worrisome.

His voice is a soft, clipped baritone.]

Hey, um... are you OK?

Yes.

[ Hissed out through clenched teeth. She's in that precarious area between furious and distressed - her echoes have left her with the feeling that being weak is absolutely not okay, and what's weaker than being a lamey-lame slave? ]

I just wasn't a slave. At all. Ever!

We... all had to do things we didn't want to when we were younger. But you're right, that doesn't mean we were slaves.

Yeah! Yeah. Exactly. It's like. The past-life-alien-fairy equivalent of being told to clean your room. Except instead of "take out the trash" it was "mindjack some chumps so they walk into my giant spidermouth."

Is "mindjacking" what it sounds like?

If it sounds like hijacking somebody's brain, yeah.

And... can you do that, here? In Locke City? Or do you just remember being able to do it?

Hell yeah I can do it now! How do you think I organised my own jailbreak? I mindjacked Karson and contacted the network that way. It was pretty amazingly inventive of me.

[Again, it doesn't sound very Christ-like to L. But it's still impressive.]

Can you mind-control someone into hurting themselves?

Yeah. Probably. I mean I didn't test that yet! But I mind controlled a bunch of Blood Keys into giving me and Alan their guns, and I'm pretty sure I could've made them shoot each other if I wanted.

I was actually thinking about making Sherman slam his face in a high-security prison door.

Wow. Coincidence! I think about that exact thing for like an hour per day!

I'd have done it by now if it wasn't super important to keep him in the dark about what powers we have and stuff. But one day I will totally get him to fucking drown himself or something and it is going to be the best.

[So... so Christ-like. *_* ]

I've hated him since before any of this started.

Are some people more difficult to control than others?

You knew him before this shit? I feel so super bad for you. And, uh, yeah. I know a couple of people it just doesn't work on!

[ Hrrm. ]

It's like. Grabbing a normal brain is like pushing my fingers into sand! Some people are like dry sand where I can just plunge right in, and others are like wet sand where I have to dig and squirm my fingers around a little.

And then there's Aria, and her brain's like a fucking stone and trying to get in there just makes me look dumb.

We'd met a few times, yes. Which was ultimately a few times too many.

What's special about Aria? I don't think I know her.

I hope you kicked him in the dick. Aria's like. My age-ish? She's soulbonded to me, too. And she used to be a robot and I can't control those! So I guess that's why my shit doesn't work on her.

There were a lot of other cops around. It wasn't really an option.

I guess it makes sense... but you used that word again, "soulbonded." Implying that robots have souls, where you come from?

When I get to kill him one day, I'll kick him in the junk first. Just for you! You are welcome in advance.

And, uh, yeah. I guess? She was a ghost in some of my memories, and a robot in others. And the robot definitely came after the ghost, because she was a robot when she killed me!

You'd really kill him? He deserves so much worse, and you're probably capable of giving it to him, right?

How is your relationship with Aria?

Of course I'd kill him. He threatened to kill me and Alan! So one day I'm going to make him pay.

And Iunno. She doesn't like me, I guess. Like she talks nice to me and stuff but this one time she said she super disliked me because I was rude to her friends or some junk. Who cares.

I'd use a nail file to take a little bit of his skin away every day. And then apply salt, lemon juice, and other things. Creatively. Isn't that so much worse than death?

Don't you care? It's not a good feeling to be disliked.

Entry #A-4: "Ante" [February 21, Text]

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