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[driftsintobuffetline]

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Comments

[superposition]

No, I doubt it was actual mind control. I'd probably have known if it was.

I haven't had any mobility or power issues. (Why, have you?) Haven't taken anything for the symptoms, I didn't feel like discovering new drug interactions on top of everything else.

[driftsintobuffetline]

How would you have known?

(Hermann had mobility issues, so I did by extension. To a lesser extent, anyway. No power issues aside from our heads going haywire.)
Good. I figured you wouldn't, but just wanted to check.

[superposition]

Because I've dealt with it before. Knew an esper back home, once, who forced an entire town into committing mass suicide. That didn't look anything like this. It takes a phenomenal amount of mental energy to force that many people to act against their will, and even more to cause so many disparate effects custom-tailored to each victim. Not to say it's impossible, but the effects make more sense if it was our own brains doing all the work.

Doesn't he normally have some...? I don't mean to pry, just curious.

[driftsintobuffetline]

Why?
Any way you know of to fight something like that esper?

Well, YEAH, he doesn't use the cane because he's a PIMP, no.
But. Normally it's just the limp.
At one point during that thing, his legs stopped working.
I mean, full stop. Like paralyzed.

[superposition]

Why'd he do it, you mean? ... Sort of complicated, not really relevant at the moment. [Plus, he'd feel bad talking shit about a guy who eventually committed suicide himself. Burrows had had Problems.] It's definitely possible to shield against psi attacks, though. Once you've done that, it becomes a simple fistfight. [Unless they have powers besides telepathy, of course.]

[And... right. That was where he'd seen Metalman. "He took my legs."] That's unusual. Did anyone else have that happen? Any idea why? Odd that that would bleed through your link, unless it was psychosomatic...

[driftsintobuffetline]

Okay. Someday you'll have to tell me how.


Possibly. Hermann's condition itself is nerve related--for his sake, I'll stop my explanation of it there--but I think the paralysis was purely in his head as a result of the gas, which triggered a worst-case fear and his body responded. Maybe my body responded with sympathy pains? I don't know. It wasn't nearly the level of what he was experiencing.

I'm really thinking it was just Hermann, that it was a specialized fear. I don't know if I like that or hate that option.

[superposition]

[> gets mad about invasive questions
> proceeds to ask invasive questions]

Honestly, I'm not even sure my method would work in your case. Having two brains involved increases the complexity exponentially, even in the best case.

... Come to think of it, how's he holding up? He didn't actually answer me on that, now that I look at it again.

[driftsintobuffetline]

And here I thought it might better our chances. It's worth knowing anyway. Never know when info might be useful!

Hermann is
I don't know if I should answer that, if he didn't. But since you're a friend-- don't tell him I said anything.
He's okay-ish. FYI the legs thing is a touchy subject. He's pissed off, same as you, as me. Pretty determined.
We had a fight, but that's good now.

Hermann is Hermann. Grumpy, pissy, mathematical.

[superposition]

[Well his method is pretty drastic and involves unlicensed brain surgery but let's be real, that would not deter Newt at all would it]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. [the legs thing, that is.] At least we know he's not going to do anything reckless. Hell, I'm tempted to do something reckless.

[driftsintobuffetline]

[would not normally. But Hermann might have just enough sway now to cause Newt to reconsider.]

Who isn't?

Speaking of. He's going to try out his teleport power. You're going to double check his equation, right? Because, and I am loath to admit it, I can't. And would be really not cool for him to, say, not come back.

[superposition]

Right, I already agreed to. Given what I've seen of his capabilities so far, I doubt he'll manage to strand himself in the fifth dimension or anything, but an extra set of eyes never hurts.

[driftsintobuffetline]

If he betrays our faith in his abilities and does in fact get stuck in the fifth dimension, can you just portal him out?

Unscientific aside: thanks a lot. I now have Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In stuck in my head.

[superposition]

Almost certainly. Although I think it'd be less a matter of portaling, more a matter of isolating him from background noise and projecting him back down into 4D spacetime... Not something I've had the opportunity to try before, actually. But we'll cross that bridge if and only if we come to it.

[Still, it's interesting from a theoretical standpoint. How would he do that, if he had to? That'll be something to think about in front of the fridge.]

... Damn it, now I do, too. Except I only know the chorus.

[driftsintobuffetline]

I feel totally reassured. :|

There's not a whole lot more to those lyrics, to be honest. Here!

[superposition]

Well, what do you want? Overoptimistic reassurance or an honest assessment? You're the one who said science is inherently risky.

Also I'm not clicking that, the cure for an annoying earworm is not more of the same song.

[driftsintobuffetline]

Honest assessment. But risky science is different when the risk isn't your own.

I tried.

[superposition]

Point. At any rate, I do promise I'll do whatever I can on the off chance something goes pear-shaped.