I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. The low-income borough of Lambeth has been largely taken over by London's mutant population and is now known as Mutant Town.

I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Mon Oct 12, 2015 7:33 pm

The drive and breakfast was pleasant and now they were driving their way through traffic to get into Lambeth. The triplets were wearing their hair differently and had adopted different clothing styles. They pulled up and parked behind a van outside a small factory-ish building in the south end. "I have to go in and talk to someone, see if I can change his mind. Would you like to see what we do?"
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:26 am

"I must admit, I'm curious."
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:59 am

She smiled, "Well, come on then." She walked up to the van and rapped on the back of the van. It opened and Ursus stuck his head out. "Is he still in the office," Trinity asked.

"Yes," Ursus said, "Flare has him in there."

"Well, hopefully I won't need flare, but I'm not ruling it out yet. Mnemosyne and I are going inside." She motioned for Miriam to follow. They went into what looked like a small side building built on the factory. Inside was what looked like a manager's office and a young man was seated on the desk, keeping an eye on an older man who was sitting in the corner. "Has he been behaving?"

"More or less," the young man said. "He has said a few less-than-kind things."

"Hmph," Trinity said, "Keep an eye on the door." She waved her hands at the man and his head drooped to his chest, "I'll need a bit to do my work."
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:39 am

Miriam curiously follows along, eyeing Flare and trying to get a read on him. Probably some kind of energy-projector or maybe flames? Something that packs at least enough punch to frighten someone into compliance.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:20 pm

Flare gave her a friendly smile as he moved to the door and stepped outside. "So this 'gentleman'," one of the triplets said as they clustered around the unconscious man, "has been firing anyone he finds out is a mutant and refusing to hire mutants at all. And this close to Lambeth, that's a real crime, wouldn't you say?"
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:32 pm

"Technically, thanks to some people well beyond this poor saps circles, it isn't." It's not hard to recognize what Trinity is trying to do, but that does little to quell the feeling of resentment. The man was using his position of power to inflict his will on others. Not exactly the same, but close enough in principle that it stung a little.

"But hiding behind the lack of civil rights isn't exactly the moral high-ground, is it?"
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:40 pm

"We've never concerned myself overly much with who actually holds the moral high ground. We're more pragmatic than that," she said as two of the triplets placed their hands on the man's head. Miriam could sense the surge in telepathic power as the third triplet held out her hand to her, "Want to come along for the ride or watch from the stands?"
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:48 pm

"I'll take a look." she says, taking Trinity's hand. If she was going to do this she might as well get more familiar with Trinity's power and how she uses it. She'll just have to be careful about shielding her own thoughts...
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:23 pm

Trinity pulled them both briefly into the Astral before diving into the man's head. They found themselves in a messy office filing room. Trinity apparently had three avatars in this space, all dressed in identical power armor. Two of the avatars were already sorting through the files. The third looked around, I don't suppose he filed 'Prejudices' under 'P', did he? One of the other avatars shook her head. Oh well, it was worth asking.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:33 pm

Miriam's avatar slips into the room by floating out of the space between where two walls meet to form a corner. She takes a brief moment to shove her fear aside when she realizes Trinity is splitting her attention three ways even here. Manipulating her with her own power seem borderline impossible. She'd have to affect all three at the same time or risk being noticed.

"You're just going to rip his prejudices out like that?"
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:47 pm

Of course not. Do you think we're monsters? He can keep hating the Welsh and the Scots for all we care, but we need to smooth out his prejudices regarding mutants. If Miriam concentrated, she could almost see the data streams running between the three avatars as an *almost* 'visible' representation of the communication that the triplets engage in.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:06 pm

"I feel it'd be easier to find the core of it. Trace it back to the things that set his hatred in stone." she says. She might risk revealing too much about how her own powers work and how she approaches these things, but it'd probably be impossible to hide in the long run anyway. Especially if she ever wants to discuss the intricacies of actually doing these things with her. Unlike Sam, Trinity doesn't seem to be afraid of her own abilities in the slightest.

"And it'd be less likely for him to notice the discrepancies. His friends might, but if his new worldview is something he decided on himself he's much more likely to defend it. Let him do most of the work to justify his feelings himself." Of course that also meant manipulating the man on a much deeper, more intimate level. In a way that would be a much bigger violation of the man's psyche...
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:26 pm

The data stream between the avatars picked up. Not a bad idea, but more time consuming. Maybe if we pooled our resources, we could find that touchpoint faster.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:35 pm

"A little, but maybe not as much as you think." Time to try and impress her. "If you stay here and keep the relevant file fresh on his mind I can follow it's branches down." she says, floating over to place her hand on one of the file cabinets. Her cloak whips around her and her avatar disappears in a cloud of shreds of fabric that are whisked away into the cabinet. Only a single piece of thread catches on the corner of the cabinet to maintain a faint link as Miriam's cloaked form sinks through the darkness, waiting for Trinity to light up the mental connections.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:42 pm

It takes a few more moments for Trinity to find the relevant file, but the connections begin to light up like electricity racing down a wire.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:46 pm

Miriam latches on to them as they light up the void around her, trying to identify the strongest one to follow it to the cause of the man's hatred for mutants.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:01 pm

She finally finds the one with the strongest connection. As she approaches, the memory is frozen in still frame with the man being hauled out of his car by some guy that's hard to immediately make out. The surrounding buildings make it clear this memory is taking place in Lambeth.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:06 pm

Miriam latches on to it and pulls herself into the still image. She opens herself to the emotional palette the man associates with the memory so she can get a better feel for how this shaped his beliefs.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:09 pm

There's a healthy amount of fear combined with disbelief and indignation that this is happening to him. It had to be one of them. The thought echoes through the memory. There's nothing immediately obvious on the individual pulling him from the car to indicate human or mutant.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:14 pm

Miriam tries to search through the memory for any clues as whether the assailant's a mutant or not. It doesn't really matter, in the end, but she wouldn't want to leave a detail behind that might cause enough mental dissonance to fracture the changes she's intending to make. Already her head is swimming with subtle changes and how they'll blend into the whole to shift the perspective.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:29 pm

A closer look reveals no details to indicate that this person was a mutant. That assumption seems to be entirely based on the fact that he was carjacked in Lambeth.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:17 pm

Miriam looks for the mental connection that caused this assumption and gathers up all the tiny little things that fed into it. News reports about mutant-propagated crime, vague fears about the unknown, a whole bunch of subtle social reinforcements of this idea. She looks at the ephemeral strands she's gathered up and focuses her attention on a proper tool. A dagger with a thin blade appears in her hand and she cuts through the strands. Instead she conjures up something else. A memory of an article emphasizing Lambeth's non-mutant population and some phony crime statistics. She makes that the prime connection to draw on in regards to being mugged, nudging the details as they ripple out from the change to make sure they have the desired effect.

She adds the vague recollection of a weapon into the criminals hand to reinforce the thought that a mutant wouldn't have need for a switchblade and then, to add some sting to it, adds a faint thought about how a majority of mutants don't necessarily have an innate protection against being stabbed either. As far as empathy goes it's a little clunky, but it should hopefully do to make the man think about how a mutant would feel similar to him in the same situation and they often have to live in higher crime areas. She takes a metaphorical step back and looks over her work. one of her masks gives it a satisfied nod and she withdraws from the memory, sending out ripples back along the lit up connections leading to the man's consciousness as she follows them back up tot he surface, smiling as she watches them branch out differently now.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:36 pm

The changes ripple upwards towards the present, recoloring perceptions and creating a bit of shame here and there about certain decisions made. As she resurfaces in the file room, she sees the triplet avatars looking over the file with a nod. Excellent work. Now to just have him forget that we were here and we'll be set to go. One of the avatars picks up a fresh file, looking over it. She holds up a hand and the data stream picks up towards the one with the raised hand. A shimmering, scanning beam comes from the hand, scanning the surface of the fresh memory from the afternoon. It skims over Flare's threats and their arrival, erasing them and replaces them with a dull afternoon of paperwork. One so dull that he dozed off. Anything else need our attention?
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:46 pm

"No, nothing that I saw. It's not perfect, but that would take hours of hunting down memories and I'm not sure he's worth the effort." She's laying it on a little hick for Trinity's benefit, but she does have to admit that it felt incredible to see her work take effect and it's strangely satisfying to find an elegant solution. Like a puzzle she was meant to solve and really, you could almost say this was for a good cause. The man's not going to suffer for it, he won't even remember.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
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Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:04 pm

He's not, Trinity agrees. Bitshift will make sure we don't show up on the security cameras. It's so nice that so much is digital these days. And now that he's open to hiring mutants, it will help Lambeth at least a little. She began to pull them out of the man's mind, You do good work.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:12 pm

"Thanks. I feel more comfortable the further away from the conscious thought processes I get. Having someone causing and interpreting the ripples on the surface helped a lot but once I find what I'm looking for..."
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Miriam Bell
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:26 pm

"It just becomes a matter of redirecting the ripples," Trinity says as they return to the real world. The man was gently snoring in his chair and one of the triplets pushed his chair back to his desk and laid his head down gently on it. "Okay, let's get out of here and go get some lunch. Then shopping with Blazer."
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:32 pm

"Impressive nonetheless." she says as they walk outside.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:41 pm

"Feels good doesn't it," Trinity comments. Flare falls into step behind them.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:48 pm

"It does. There's a sense of purpose to it. Even regardless of the path we set him on."
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:55 pm

"Good. Glad to hear you feel it to." One of the triplets glanced back at Flare, "Phone your sister. Let her know we'll meet her at Liberty in Soho. And tell her to eat before she gets here." Flare just responds with a nod.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:40 pm

"He doesn't talk much, does he? Or is he just not thrilled about me being here?" she sends to Trinity.
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:07 pm

"He doesn't know you and he's afraid he'll say too much. Plus he's kind of shy," Trinity sends back.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Oct 13, 2015 11:25 pm

"Understandable. You're probably a pretty tight-knit group."
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:32 am

"We are, but we open up that knit every now and again." She smiled, "His sister makes up for his shyness though."
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:02 am

"Well, I don't expect everyone to be quite as welcoming as you." she sends with a smirk on her face.
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Miriam Bell
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:05 am

"Then your expectations are reasonable," Trinity sent back along with a couple of particularly vivid memory-images.
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:32 am

"I'll just put that down to the fact that you certainly know what you like." she grins. "But I do have to admit, I'm a little surprised that you trusted me enough to bring me to something like this already."
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Trinity » Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:53 am

"I'm good at sensing kindred spirits. Is this where you tell me I was wrong?"
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Re: I2DT - Heaven Can't Help Me Now

Postby Miriam Bell » Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:59 am

"Hardly. But I won't promise you that I'll always blindly agree with you."
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Miriam Bell
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High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

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