[written]

[friendofdorothy]

Where does one go if one is having...power trouble? Besides to march myself straight over to the nearest mutant registration camp, to register my new power, as I've been told I should by certain people on campus who will eventually thank me for leaving them anonymous for one reason or another.

Comments

[friendofdorothy]

Normally yes. But to a psychic, sins are considered pre-confessed.

[mouflon]

[Ugh. Putting it like that is enough to give her hives.]

I'd like to think he wouldn't dig under the surface without permission, you know. That's Ethics of Mind Reading 101. And anyway, what I meant was that you can't absolve someone if they have no intention of changing their behavior. If you take in a dangerous criminal, they're still a dangerous criminal if they don't plan to change their ways.

[friendofdorothy]

I'd like to believe it too. But I don't expect it from anyone.

Speaking of ethics, what can be said for someone who was acting under compulsion then, under orders? I was in the military, I remember watching it warp cornfed, naive farmboys into...well, complete shitheads.[And though he wasn't raised on a farm, he's well aware that he was not in any way immune]

[mouflon]

Again? Alright, but if I answer, you have to answer the question you never got around to the last time we talked.

he doesn't even remember

[friendofdorothy]

Alright.

oh liir

[mouflon]

I imagine it depends on why a person chooses to follow their orders. There's a world of difference between a soldier who doesn't care about doing harm and one who only does so because they fear their own family will be harmed or killed if they don't comply. And I'd save the complete shithead label for the ones that do it happily.

Your turn: If you're going to say mutants are better off changing tactics, what strategy would you suggest?

[friendofdorothy]

[Which makes what he did all the worse, he thinks]

Something that's not assimilation or Magneto's grandiose posturing. Both approaches believe that knowing more of us will get the baselines to leave us alone: the former by convincing them that we are basically the same, the latter by intimidating them into submission with displays of power. But perhaps we should instead rely on their ignorance. After all, ancient mutants were called witches and afforded at least a modicum of respect due to the shadows around them.

Of course, I could be completely full of shit.

[mouflon]

I think we're a little too far gone to take that approach now. Plus, I'm not really a fan of separatism myself, which it would require a certain degree of. The core of the idea still raises some valid points, though. They're worth considering.

[friendofdorothy]

Maybe not in the sense of making people believe we are wizards, but as a strategy, obscurantism has some merits (I won't condescend to you by quoting Sun Tzu here). And on an ethical level, we certainly don't owe the baselines any knowledge of us.

[mouflon]

Well, I can agree to that without reservation. Thanks for the perspective.

[friendofdorothy]

[Hold the phone. Someone just thanked Liir for his opinion? That has never happened before. A day goes by before he types:]You're welcome. I'm glad to find someone who can discuss these things.

[mouflon]

Same here. It's nice to meet someone who doesn't just toe the party line.

[This is all high praise from Rin, so he should be thankful!]

[friendofdorothy]

[It's true, earning the respect of a tsundere is hard.]

Liir Ko.

[OK if I jump to after he catches a glimpse of her past?]

[mouflon]

Rin Tousaka.

[ If you want to, that's cool with me! ]

[private/two days later]

[friendofdorothy]

[Liir kept his gloves on during class and religiously vacuumed his room. He was polite to her but as standoffish as he normally was. There were no more Incidents until today. An errant blonde hair settled on his wrist, at the exact spot where skin was exposed between gloves and cuff. And then he saw quite clearly: in a room with several nervous people, a poster of Nasser and Magneto on the wall. Rin's voice, quite clearly planning a guerilla raid. Well then, that explained a lot.]

Do you want to know why I seemed so struck by that news report?

[mouflon]

[Rin had been quite herself as well—or, in other words, impolite and standoffish, in her more confrontational way. She's a little taken aback by the private message, then—but, then again, she knows having a computer screen in between can make all the difference for some people.]

Sure, if you're telling. I'll admit I wondered.

[friendofdorothy]

I'm Elphaba Thropp's son. Or at least I think I am.

[mouflon]

[It might be a good thing they're having this conversation through text. All things considered, it's unlikely that Rin would have been able to stop herself from blurting out, "The Elphaba Thropp?!" if they had been face to face.

But, no, gotta play it cool. After some deliberation, Liir receives the following reply:]

Okay, Question 1: What do you mean, you think?

Question 2 depends on your answer.

[friendofdorothy]

She would have been in a coma while I was born and every possible eyewitness to it is now a political prisoner. Thus she claimed not to remember when I arrived with her. But it is a fact that I was raised around her if not actually by her. And I do turn green at the most inconvienent moments.

[mouflon]

[Sheesh. That probably explains a lot...]

If she acknowledged you, it might not matter whether it's really true or not. Any particular reason you're spilling the beans now, though?

[friendofdorothy]

[Oh just accidentally rooted around in your memories, NBD.]

I just had a feeling I could trust you with this information.

[mouflon]

[Hiding the details is either a very wise choice, or a very foolish one.]

Good to know I seem so trustworthy, then.

[Having typed that, Rin dithers for a bit about the rest of her message. Eventually, though, she adds another question.]

What was she like? I've read about her, but you can only glean so much of a person's personality from the third-hand accounts you find in most books and articles.

[friendofdorothy]

[Liir is an expert at doing both at once]

Ill at ease with...everything. She was all parts that grate. That sense of not fitting with the state of things probably fueled her political work.

[mouflon]

I guess in that line of work, you have to be. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're not here under pleasant circumstances?

(Don't feel like you have to detail anything in writing. The faculty can check our private messages if they want to, I'm sure. If there's anything you want to stay between us, we can talk in person.)

[friendofdorothy]

No, not really. I'm sure they have it all figured out.

I should tell you though that if I really am her son, I've inherited none of her heroism or charisma. You can compare me to her if you want but be prepared for dissapointment if you do.

I would like to talk in person with you at some point, but I'm in no particular hurry.