blasto, meet official opinions on self-replicating minions

[peterxy]

The PRT catches wind of a strange increase in disappeared domestic animals in the downtown area. Given that the people who live there are the rich and powerful, this is clearly a problem that needs to be investigated and solved immediately. The PRT, of course, agrees that this is of utmost importance, and not just because of precedent about mass abductions of pets, of course not, why would you think that, they are so very worried about Fido, even Scion recognizes the merits of rescuing lost pets.

(Lorica's asked to maybe keep a few more eyes there than she has been.)

Comments

[mxglam]

"Nnnno, they aren't, but that's a bit of the point. It's, hmm, the kind of thing every cape goes through to get their powers, it's a way to understand why capes are the way they are a bit? Also to break a bit from the perpetual monotonous Be A Good Student, Don't Do Drugs, Don't Jaywalk talks these kids get."

[thinkering]

"Yeah, I just mean, don't terrify the elementary schoolers."

[mxglam]

"...I'll try? I mean, I triggered when I was seven, I may not have the best thermometer for that."

[thinkering]

"Probably don't use your own example, then, make something up."

[mxglam]

"Mmhm. I might go with a few examples, actually, for different kinds of powers."

[thinkering]

"Sure."

[mxglam]

"And I'll probably need to clear with Branding. It's not like the existence of trigger events is exactly a secret, but your average cape geek doesn't really know about it."

[thinkering]

"Yeah. Which is weird. I mean, most people won't bring up theirs since it's personal but the phenomenon seems like it should be better known."

[mxglam]

"It's... bad PR, perhaps, that literally every superpowered person also happens to have some form of horrible trauma in their past."

[thinkering]

"Yeah, I guess. But a lot of people who don't have powers have been through shit too."

[mxglam]

"They have, but they don't also happen to be able to," and they produce a handgun, floating in front of them, "at will. Or," and there's a Siberian lookalike, standing behind them.

[thinkering]

"Mmhm."

[mxglam]

"So when you think that Eidolon is probably a PTSD case waiting to snap, well. It's no wonder the PRT might want to keep this on the down low."

[thinkering]

"Not everyone who's traumatized gets PTSD and most people with PTSD are not going to 'snap'."

[mxglam]

"Right, yes, but this is about public perception. Dealing with mental issues of any kind is not our society's forte, between completely ignoring that depression is a thing and considering emotional abuse to not be abuse at all, so... it's not hard to imagine a situation where public opinion is suddenly against the heroes because of that."

[thinkering]

"Yeah. So... tread carefully, get Branding's okay. Before you invest too much effort into this idea for the presentation."

[mxglam]

"Yeah. I dunno if I should email or just show up there."

[thinkering]

"Email's probably fine, if it's complicated enough they can call you in."

[mxglam]

"Yeah, fair." Floating handgun and Siberian disappear, new copy appears. "You. Go to our room and email them."

[thinkering]

"Are your copies any good at composing emails if you're not thinking closely about it?"

[mxglam]

"They're good at anything I can do automatically or without planning much, or any very obvious actions I would take. They're... less good than your bots at being creative," they explain as the copy goes do that. "If I already have the email skeleton in mind, it's me enough to know how I'd phrase it and do that."

[thinkering]

"Fair enough."

[mxglam]

"Since I'm also expecting it to come here with the reply should it receive it in the next half hour, it'll do that." Pause. "I have no idea what it'll do while I'm not watching."

[thinkering]

"I could send it a bot and spy on it."

[mxglam]

They laugh. "Do that! And, erm, don't tell me what it's doing, that'll probably ruin the experiment."