DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Alternate Reality PHX: Phoenix Reform Academy Boys common room

Norton

“You might be surprised. You don’t know dad.”

The last bit is entirely without rancor.

“I don’t either, really.”

Lamar

He paused for a moment, thoughtful.

“Yeah, fair point, hadn’t considered who your parents might be or what upbringing you’d had. You just... don’t give off that vibe, if that makes sense? More rebel against society than rebel against a villainous home. Possibly villainous conformity in terms of color scheme, but I’m not seeing it in attitude, none of the big, sweeping control ethics, and you called out the comparison to the gods earlier.

Which might be worth revisiting, most of the old pantheons were chock full of petty assholes using their powers for their own pleasure or to hurt those who slighted them, with abilities not too far away from our own. But I digress. I know who my parents are, though one of them is a mystery to the world even now, and the other was picked out as good Powered breeding stock and never had much interest in me. Considering my last acts as a free person were using my powers to help my parent with a sophisticated bank heist, it’s fair to say that upbringing wasn’t entirely salubrious. But I couldn’t call them cruel or abusive.”

Norton:

“Kid’s gotta grow a backbone or the world’s gonna chew her up and spit her out the other side like leftover gristle on a steak. World has no room for coddling.”

Lamar

"Why do you care?"

Norton

“Who says I actually do? Why do you?”

He reaches into a cabinet and pulls out a snack bar and tosses one towards him.

“Here. All that shifting stuff you do must burn some through some chow.”

Lamar perhaps can’t help the feeling that he is trying to shift the conversation- although one might also think an easier way to do that would be to enter his room and shut the door.

Lamar

"You did, just now, by saying that. Did you ever think of talking about that with her first, let her know the philosophy of it rather than diving right in to trying to help her grow a spine?"

He caught the bar, glancing at it briefly.

"Thanks, and yeah, I suspect most folks saw me at breakfast. Haven't really pushed myself here yet, but there's the testing coming up. As for why I care, it's like I said. I know some who have been through Enkidu's clutches on the outside. I've been made aware of what it entails. There's a few common traits, sharp, smart, precocious, good at hiding one way or another, very dangerous, and hard as iron. You don't get out of what he does alive without being inured to pain and torment. The fact you still think Dash is harmless is a kindness on her part."

norton

“Yup. His experiments have it hard. At least in theory, his commissions have it easier, as at least they are usually with their different parents. Doesn’t help as much as you might think if those are a bit crazy themselves.”

He opens a coke and drinks.

“But yeah, being a science fair project is no fun, I’ll grant.”

Lamar

"I'd ask if you were speaking from experience, but I'm not trying to pry anywhere painful or that you want to keep to yourself. I imagine most folks here have had pretty grim episodes. I'll listen if you're up to share it, though. Might even quid pro quo."

He peeled the bar, chewing on it as he pondered matters further.

Norton

“Bah. Who says I know a thing, just a cynical miscreant yah? Least demons I see here is that Ben guy, and I’m pretty sure he’s just lying to himself.”

Lamar

"Always puts it on his family, good or ill. Here because of them, thinks their lawyers will help. So, villainous parents, but successful and ostensibly clever ones. And yes, both parents, he used the plural when pleading his case, which narrows it down further. He's not lying to himself, he's repeating what he thinks is true given his immersion in his upbringing. Can't see a legion of demons when you're standing in the front rank of them. On the whole seems pretty decent nonetheless."

Norton:

He snorts.

"Just because you aren't aware you're doing it doesn't mean you aren't lying to yourself, it just means you don't know you are. He could be a saint, but those parents are still sinners."

He takes a big bite of an apple.

"What I'm still working on is what angle to staff is working."

Lamar

“Easy enough. It’s a pre-emptive subversion strategy. The worst of the silvers were born of the gold, likewise the bronze from the silver. So, short circuit that production line. Any and all that you can turn away from destructive villainy is a powered individual that would likely be willing to pitch in against existential threats out of self interest, at a minimum. Convince them to actively help, and that’s a major asset on the table. Conversely, grab all the potential major threats early, and if you can’t steer them into usefulness, you dump them straight into emergency storage past the event horizon. Every outcome is an additional ally or one less problem to deal with when the next invasion or outbreak occurs.”

The door to the common room opens and Ben comes in, pausing for a moment to nod to the others.

Lamar

A friendly raise of the hand from the smaller of the other two present to reciprocate the greeting.

Norton:

A bit of a snort.

“The boy wonder arrives.”

Lamar

“Interesting. Does calling him that tie in with your philosophy of helping to toughen those who seem most vulnerable, or are you just yanking his chain to see what happens?”

Ben

He raised an eyebrow as he paused, then shrugged.

"You like picturing me in yellow and red spandex? Do you often fantasize about men in skin tight clothes?"

A faint smile quirked his lips up.

Norton:

“Worked so far with you, Boy Genius. Got lots of interesting information.”

He looks over at Ben.

“Nah. Maybe the colors, but whatever it was would be tailored by Armani.”

Ben

He chuckles and shakes his head, heading over to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge before heading to his room.

A good night's sleep is what he wanted now. Tomorrow would likely be a busy day.

"Night Lamar."

Lamar

“Night, Ben.” Came the response.

Turning back to Norton, “That’s the idea, and seeing what you do with it is a solid reason. You’re smart enough that trying to alienate everyone else is not an accident, but the potential responses to that course of action are where it gets interesting. Being isolated would prove the point you claimed to espouse, running headlong into a tolerance paradox. So, what happens when that doesn’t happen? I’m aware of the strings being pulled, but letting them be pulled will prove more interesting in the long run than not indulging.”

Norton

“Hey, bad to the bone, right? People are the sum of their flaws. Me as well.”

Lamar

“People are biological self-replicators with overactive sensory processing. People are the risen ape and the fallen angel. People are biology, chemistry, physics, mathematical principles. People are annoyingly hard to comprehensively sort owing to a predisposition to complexity in random directions. Bad to the bone? I know there’s at least one person here descended from a hero.”

Norton

“And at least one hero here descended from a Villain, yes. Changes nothing. Sometimes flaws can cancel each other out.”

Lamar

“Puts a damper on ‘bad to the bone’ if those bones were never bad to begin with, though. No moral determinism if the output doesn’t resemble the input. No excuse to be found there, sun of our flaws or no. Besides which, everything is a tool to be used, flaws included.”

Norton:

“Other thing I’ve learned, Lamar, is that one of your flaws is that you think you just have to win arguments.”

One corner of his mouth turned up.

“Almost at any cost.”