Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on May 27, 2016 16:09:16 GMT -7
Blue Jay still didn’t agree with Aurora’s stance on how he was feeling. Sure, if you consider getting max combos in a video game the same as beating it. It was a way to gauge success, not success itself. “As our bi-weekly Bulwark self-loathing meetings have concluded, we do indeed not hate ourselves that much.” He said seriously, and choose to let the argument drop. She could draw whatever she wanted from that.
Having put some thought into it, he was already feeling better about the matter. “And thanks.” He sighed. “Recently, most of my larger efforts have ended in complete failure.” He left out that a couple of those failures could be contributed to her. “Or, you know the news station? I’ll bet you a hundred dollars the paper’s going to run a story about how all of us just wrecked the place. I’ve been feeling kinda down about it - no civilians got very hurt, but as I’ve been saying, it hasn’t helped out my reputation any. But you know? Taking a step back and looking at it critically, I shouldn’t be too worried about that. I don’t need the public’s approval to help them. No one’s died, so I’ve done my job fine enough.” He scratched his cheek. “Probably would’ve kept moping about it if you hadn’t thrust it so kindly in my face.”
Blue Jay leaned back. His initial action was to look up at the sky, but remembering the sparking cloud above them, he instead turned his gaze to the police below. He was surprised by the… good of her goal. It was naive of him to think she was only in this for power or something selfish like that, but it was still somewhat jarring to hear someone he’d fought on several different occasions say she was aiming for something he could actually see himself getting behind. “Man, it’d be nice to have a big, overarching goal like that. Sometimes I feel like I’m just running around doing busywork while I wait for the next dragon to show up. And being able to use our powers out in the open without fear of being attacked or ostracization? I’d love that.” He’d thought this before, but he wasn’t the biggest fan of secret identities. He only kept his so he could continue to go to class and have some semblance of a normal life for a couple hours every day. As a super, he fighting alongside his peers, sometimes for their lives. It felt weird to think that someone could save his life one day and the next he might pass them on the street and never recognize them. “But how exactly do you plan on achieving your goal? You say force, but do you really think stealing their stuff, beating up people, is going to make the city a safe haven for supers? I’m sure you’ve put more thought into it than me, but I think the city and its mostly unpowered population has to be on board for that to work. To do that they’ve got to be okay with us. If you force them into it, you’ve got a peace born of fear.” He paused, contemplating the other side. “But I agree that we’re under no obligation to prove we’re ‘good little supers’. If they try to force that on us, it’ll be the same; a peace born of fear. History’s tried that kind of arrangement a number of times before. They never end in anything but blood.” He shuttered.
Looking to Aurora, he asked, “So what’s your solution? Your ever grand plan, as it were?”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on May 28, 2016 18:49:08 GMT -7
"That's why I said it's important to be honest with yourself. It's the only way to know what you should be doing."
Aurora leaned back, putting her arms behind her head. For a moment she actually looked satisfied, albeit a little on the bored side still. Then Blue Jay kept talking and the signs of goodwill and contentedness gradually disappeared from her face, until her expression was closer to what it usually was. She started scowling, though it had a bit of flatness to it. Sitting up, she slammed her hands down onto her chair, letting the clang it made hang in the air for a moment.
"Are you kidding me? You compare yourself to the greatest scientists in one breath, and then in the next say that you have no personal goals and are just doing busywork? No wonder you thought public opinion was a reasonable metric! Holy shit, do you people ever think--no care about anything? How the hell does this bother you so little?"
Aurora slumped back in her chair and folded her arms, the scowl deeper than it was before she started talking. After letting out a small huff, she dropped a few more trash bags around the police just so they would squirm a bit more. It made her feel a little better, but not enough to make her look any less irritated. Aurora tended to have at least a degree of respect for supers that used their powers for something instead of trying to hide them. What little respect she had for Blue Jay because of that was melting quickly. He didn't seem to be that different from most people in the end. Normally, she would be happy to talk about her plans, but the way he was talking about it just pissed her off further.
"Of course not!" she snapped. "I'm still just gathering resources, I haven't even made any real moves yet. And you only have to care about their opinions if you plan on coexistence, which I am not," she waved her hand dismissively. "My ideal would be to have no unpowered people in the city at all, with possible exceptions made for genuine allies, but this is impractical due to how few supers there are. As such, I'm content to let them stay in the city as long as they mind their own damn business and don't interfere in super affairs. They can't do anything about it anyway, and they only get in the way, so it's better to let us handle our own problems. I have incomplete data that I'm trying to fill in right now, so I can't give you a complete picture of what this will look like. What I can tell you is that the most important thing for us to have are rules of engagement. We're strong enough that if we let things escalate too much, we would destroy ourselves and everything around us. When a conflict arises, it's necessary to solve it somehow. Whether it's through talking, fighting, or a fucking game of Monopoly doesn't matter as long as both parties agree to the stakes and respect the outcomes afterwards. I still can't work out the exact details without knowing what most supers would agree to, but the rules that are most important in my opinion are that if you have a problem with someone, you go to that person and that person alone. You don't involve their friends, family, or even people they don't even know. And if there's a situation where going all out is the only means to solve something, then it's necessary to have a place where they can do that; a place we're okay with turning into a wasteland so that nothing important gets destroyed. This is all vaguer than I'd like, but there's a reason I haven't started doing anything serious yet. Unlike some people, I actually think about these things."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on May 30, 2016 23:26:51 GMT -7
Blue Jay was taken back by Aurora’s harsh response to his goalessness. “Of course I care about things!” He sputtered unconvincingly. “Why do you think I’m out on the streets every night doing my best to help people rather than trying to live a nice quiet life? Sorry not all of us have some grand and definable objective.”
A couple of the police fired a few warning shots, and the officer who seemed to be acting as the leader of this effort shouted something else into her megaphone. Several of the officers were clearly shaken by the bags that fell a little too close for comfort. This initiative was not going well for them - twenty officers, at least, unable to do anything about a single super who’d yet to so much as stand up. It was business as usual.
“Don’t intervene with super affairs.” Blue Jay repeated like the statement was ludicrous. He was clearly annoyed by Aurora's previous assertion of goals. “Do you have any idea how selfish that is? Whether we intend to or not, we intervene with their business all the time. We wreck their stuff every time we can’t agree on which end to break our eggs. Some of your faction steals and destroys their stuff for fun. A lot of my faction does it by accident. Letting us ‘handle our own problems’ has sure created a lot more problems for them.” He said, gazing down at the clear problem Aurora had caused for the business owners and consumers previously in the square below.
“I’ve got no issue with making rules of engagement for the reasons you give. If there was a means of controlling disputes so they don’t get out of hand and upholding the winner’s spoils, for lack of a better word, I think it would benefit everyone.” He said truthfully. “But you’ve got to also consider the unpowereds in whatever system you make - you can’t overlook them. We can’t not coexist with them.
“I know you said earlier that supers are better than unpowereds, and while that’s true in terms of skill, we’re not better as people. We’re all humans, you know? That guy down there, with the neon green socks,” he pointed to one of the policemen, “he’s got as much right to a city that’s safe for him as we do a city that’s safe for us. Just because you could drop a lump on concrete on him and squish him, or beat him in an upstart moving business, doesn’t mean he and his family or friends should be displaced from the city or forced into submission to our rein." He crossed his arms. "I’m not saying things are equal now, or that we shouldn’t try to even things out, but we can’t jump to the other extreme. If the fact of our shared humanity isn’t enough for you, there’s plenty of economic reasons why we have to work with the unpowereds too. Are you sure you've all put the necessary thought into this?"
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on May 31, 2016 8:39:39 GMT -7
"Ah, let me see, how did you put it?" she started rubbing her temples. "'I want to help people because then I won’t feel like I’ve wasted my life.' I just didn't realize exactly how literally you meant that until now," she was practically shouting at this point. "I assumed that came with something you actually wanted to accomplish given 'helping people' is so nebulous that it doesn't actually mean anything, but apparently I expect too much of you people! You use your powers to feed your own ego, to make you feel less worthless, to make you 'feel good,' and you have the audacity to say that I'm being selfish? Do you--WILL YOU SHUT UP?"
Aurora slammed her hands on her chair once more, sat up straight, and turned her attention to the police again. Normally, it was easy for her to ignore their threats and warnings, but right now she was furious and all the extra noise they were creating was just making it worse. Her aurora started to swirl slowly in the sky and a few more trash bags fell out of it, one even landing about a foot away from Blue Jay. She didn't expect it to have the same effect on him as it did the unpowered people, but even throwing him slightly off guard would be cathartic in its own right.
"I don't give a damn about their feelings! If they were interested in coexistence, they should have thought of that before they shunned an entire group of people to the point where they have to hide themselves just to avoid being killed. I'm reclaiming my home and if they have a problem with that they can leave. I'm not going to design a system for supers that considers the people making their lives hell. If you want such a system do it yourself.
"But you're fooling yourself if you think coexistence is possible. They've already proven it isn't. Even if you look at history, it didn't just go away, peoples' minds were rarely changed. What fixed it was the bigots dying of old age and the next generation being slightly less bigoted. Maybe if we could wait four or five generations we'd see some progress, but given how quickly medical technology is advancing we might not even get the benefit of older generations dying on us for much longer. Unless they do something stupid like intervene in super affairs. I don't know why you have such a problem with saying they shouldn't. They already shouldn't and often don't. What can these people hope to accomplish? They're only alive because I don't want to kill them, they're only uninjured because I don't want to hurt them. If they tried to fight me, what would they accomplish? I'd destroy any weapon they could use against me before they even got a chance to try. Unpowered people have no place in super powered fights. They just get in the way, accomplish nothing, and get themselves hurt. The sooner they accept that the better."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 2, 2016 8:26:52 GMT -7
As Aurora continued Blue Jay became increasingly more on edge, to the point that when the trash bag came dropping from the sky towards him, he reflexively drew his sword and swiped at it. The bag exploded outward at the point of contact, spewing shredded trash into the air to land on the street below. Momentarily, he was surprised by his own actions. He’d done it without thinking; he hadn’t intended to initiate any kind of anything unless Aurora started it, but there was only so much he could take. He’d had enough of Aurora’s assertions.
He stood up, unable to stand sitting any longer. “This is not about my ego, or making me ‘feel good’, or any bullshit like that.” He said humorlessly, sheathing his blade. “I’m using my powers to do as much good as I can before I get killed by a goddamn dragon!”
His fists were clenched to white knuckles. “I’m not going to become just another nameless soldier to be sacrificed and replaced after a handful of battles.” He muttered, mostly to himself. As if their previous conversation on the matter hadn’t happened, all the reasons he wanted to make a name for himself came flooding back to him. He wasn’t trying just for himself.
He locked eyes with Aurora. His brow was knotted and he was yelling forcefully enough that his voice cracked on the high notes. “I’m doing the best I can, okay? I know I’m not ‘moving our cause forward’ or ‘making great change’, but I don’t have time for some far-flung goal!
“And so what if I don’t? At least I’m not bullying the weak!” He took several stopping steps towards her, but stopped with still a few meters between them. “I don’t think you realize how much you sound like the very people you say are causing our problems. ‘It isn’t possible to live peacefully with them’, ‘they’re only alive because we need them’, ‘they can remain living here as long as they don’t bother us’; ring any bells? You sound like the anti-super politicians on television, Aurora! I don’t care how noble your goal is, or how much it would help supers. If you think it’s okay, that it’s just to kill or displace hundreds of thousands of people who have only been trying their best to live in a system that isn’t goddamn set up for them either, you’re just as bigoted as any of those suits.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 2, 2016 9:30:40 GMT -7
Aurora didn't even flinch when Blue Jay cut through the trash bag. As much as she wanted to use this as an excuse to punch him in the face, she couldn't call that an act against her anymore than dropping the bag next to him was an act against him. No matter how much her fury built up, she would be true to her word. She said she wouldn't start anything, and while she would sure as hell finish anything someone else started, she was no liar and the circumstances hadn't changed enough to warrant action on her part. Violence towards either Blue Jay or the police would be starting something at this point.
"You don't need a fucking 20 year plan to have a goal dumbass! I don't even understand how you can accomplish anything at all without something to actually accomplish! How does that make any fucking sense at all? Are you hoping that you'll write Hamlet by randomly pressing keys on a keyboard? Are you expecting a purpose to fall into your lap? I don't understand it at all! You're acting like thinking about what you want to do and how your actions impact the world is this great insult as opposed to an absolute necessity. You want to do as much good as possible? What the hell does that even mean?" her expression darked further. "And you're lying again. Every time you talked about your goals they were always centered around you. How you wanted to leave a legacy, how you don't want your life to be worthless, how you don't want to be another expendable super. I can't tell if you're only lying to yourself, or if you're lying to me, but maybe you should take a moment to think about your own god damn motivations for once too.
"Power? Preying on the weak? Don't make me laugh! Do you honestly think we're the ones with the power here just because we have greater ability? How long do you think one of us would last if our identity was discovered before getting killed or going insane? Are we really more powerful because we could kill most of the people here without much effort? How many supers do you know that are honestly so psychotic that they could kill even a few people without having some kind of mental breakdown? That's not how people fucking work! It sounds like you think strength, power, and ability are all the same thing when they're all very different things. In the grand scheme of things, supers have very little power right now. We can only move because no one knows who we are. The few that do show their faces have no life outside of being a super because they can't. If we had any amount of power, that couldn't happen. If you payed any amount of attention to the people I hit or the actions I take, I only go after the people that deserve it. The people that abuse the power they have, normally through the wealth they've obtained. I do not 'bully' people weaker than me. There's no point to doing anything to people weaker than me. It proves nothing, it gains me nothing, it changes nothing, it's just a waste of time.
"Considering I only said one of those things, no it doesn't sound similar at all," she spat. "And when the hell did I say that I had any interest in killing them all, let alone that it'd be okay or a good thing to do? I'm a lot of things the masses would consider 'bad,' but 'murderer' is not one of those things. For someone that's getting pissy about me speculating about motives, even though I have done no such thing, you certainly like to assume a lot about me and my own morality."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 6, 2016 8:24:12 GMT -7
“Will you stop pretending like everything’s just that simple?” Blue Jay shouted. It felt like he was talking to a wall that couldn’t see past its own bricks. She continued to take his words literally, and while he’d been trying to some degree to chose them carefully because of that, he was done trying to cater to her needs. “You’re acting like the direct results of your actions are the only ones that exist! You know what happens when you do something like attack the news station? Yes, you get the media’s attention, maybe get more respect, but you also force a news company to have to find and pay for a new building. That’s loss in property costs, but also in production and product sales.You know what happens when a company needs to make up for losses? They downsize. They lay people off.” He felt like most supers didn’t consider that when they went around smashing up whatever they felt like. Unpowereds weren’t made of money, and not everyone would be able to bounce back.
“Have you thought about that? Do you have even the slightest clue how economics work? When you attack a rich person, destroy their office building or whatever you do, the same thing happens! With these ‘anti-1% acts’ or whatever you want to call them, it’s not the ones with the big money that you’re hurting. They’ve got enough money that a couple of lost buildings will be recouped the next month. They don’t give a damn if you’ve destroyed their fancy tower with their name on it, they’ll just build a new one. It’s the small people who are working low-paying jobs that get axed and loose all of their income that get hit. You’re not hurting the rich, you’re demolishing the people unable to get out of the cross fire!” As he said this, he took several steps towards Aurora, until he was no more than two yards away. He still, to some degree, feared getting much closer. He was mad, but he wasn’t looking for an exchange of blows. Especially not when there were unpowereds below them.
Blue Jay’s voice dropped down to a low growl. “You say I’m lying to myself, but these simplistic views are lies if I’ve ever seen one. Stop acting like you know everything about a situation from a couple of ‘facts’, because you don’t! We need to work with unpowereds. Your actions have ramifications far beyond you and the guy who pissed you off. And I do not fight just for myself. I don’t need some stupid and poorly thought out overarching goal to be accomplished, and you’re narrow minded if you think I do.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 8, 2016 20:02:22 GMT -7
"What the fuck does that even have to do with what we were just talking about?"
This wasn't the first time he drifted from one topic to another after she thoroughly smashed anything he could say, but it was definitely the most annoying. Aurora wasn't the least bit intimidated by his approach; it was difficult to be intimidated by someone this pathetic in the first place, but trying to use his presence when he was a scrawny little boy with nothing else to bolster was just ridiculous. By this point the police had been completely forgotten and it was getting harder and harder to hold back her desire to just beat the shit out of him already. She was disappointed that he didn't try something so that she could release all this pent up anger without betraying her words before.
Then, something felt off in his words. It took her a moment to realize it, but it had been happening for some time, it just wasn't as obvious until now. He had surrendered. He probably didn't realize it yet, but this was a complete victory for her. Defensiveness, contradictions, agreeing with her overall but not her methods, agreeing with her while also saying she was terrible for doing the things he agreed with, likely projecting his own insecurities onto her...she could keep going. By this point he had acknowledged most of what she said in one way or another, he just couldn't admit it because he didn't like her. It was something Aurora dealt with on a regular basis, especially from those who cared more about their pride than they did doing what was right. Her expression melted back into an irritated glare, and she flopped back into her chair and got comfortable again. She wasn't shouting anymore, but she still sounded as irritated as ever.
"First, I don't think you're in any position to lecture me about collateral damage. Second, it is important to think about how your actions affect the world, I'm glad you agree. Third, yes, having a goal of some kind is very important. Without one you're little more than a madman throwing your sword around, attacking the first thing that looks like a reasonable target. Wanting to accomplish something, even if it's something small, isn't a bad thing idiot. Maybe if you stopped acting worthless, you'd stop feeling worthless, or like you're doing busywork until a dragon finally shows up again. Fourth, I'm not specifically targeting the rich or business owners, though many of my targets tend to be those. I target those that abuse what power they have, the people that make the world worse for everyone. If they're allowed to get away with what they're doing, they'll keep doing it. The only way to stop that is to stand up to it, to not let them get away with it. Fifth, it's impossible for me not to be aware of the lasting effects of what I do, I watch it closely. I just know that in order to accomplish anything on a large scale, it's very likely that someone's going to have to get hurt. I have no illusions about it, nor am I afraid of it. Given your actions, I thought you understood that on some level too, but it seems I was giving you too much credit and that it likely didn't even occur to you. Finally, we do not have to do anything. We do not have to work with unpowered people. You simply want to. As I plan, as I work, as I change the world around me, they will not be in my thoughts. Period."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 11, 2016 14:19:39 GMT -7
“What does it have to do- What does it not have to do with it?!” Blue Jay restored. He was studdering slightly now. “You’re talking all high and mighty about your large-scale goals while ignoring the actual effects your plan is going have on things! If you’re aware of them, then why aren’t you worried about them? How are you okay with hurting people that aren’t involved in your fight? The people who are just trying to live out their lives as best they can? And don’t give me that ‘it’s everyone’s problem’ bullshit.” He interjected. “Yeah, it’s all our problems, but not everyone’s able to help deal with it!” That was the number one argument he got in response - that these things affected everyone and thus everyone should help. Like that wasn’t selfish and easy to say for the people who actually had time to devote to these causes.
“How can you not think about ninety-nine percent of the population? Are you incapable of empathizing with them from your own position of power? Are you not abusing your power now, causing problems for people who have done nothing to warrant it? Those policemen down there,” he thrust his arm out at those below, the people who had simply come to work today and were doing their part to keep the city safe, “you think that they deserve having to risk harm because you’re here on a whim to see how much weight your name carries? Do you think those people at the news station deserved to be suddenly attacked? People got hurt! Several were nearly killed!” Not specifically by Aurora, but Dullahan had been Aurora’s alley. Had they indeed been killed, the fault of their deaths wouldn’t have been entirely on his head. “You’re throwing your power around and I don’t care if you say it’s for a good cause, you’re doing it selfishly for your own personal gain, not for the good of the mass of society!”
Blue Jay found himself deep in the effects of adrenaline and anger. His balled fists were shaking ever so slightly, and though he was trying his best to maintain eye contact, he kept jerking his gaze elsewhere, like someone who suspected they were being followed. It wasn’t because he was too nervous to keep looking Aurora in the eye, or that she intimidated him. He was having trouble sitting still. His gut was telling him to leave, now, not unlike it would be if Aurora was trying to drop a building on him.
His voice was catching in his throat. “What kind of status-quo are you trying to make for supers? One where we can live and act without fear? What do you think’s going to happen to the unpowereds who can’t stop us from taking whatever we want from them? If you don’t consider them, our ‘safe haven’ is going to be a hell hole for them! Do you- can you not see the fucking hypocrisy?!” He was to some degree aware that he was really hung up on this one point, but in his mind, it was the most glaring and dangerous flaw in Aurora’s argument. He had nothing against her trying to create a place of safety for supers, but he couldn’t let the rest of humanity be thrown to the wayside by people who could rip hundreds of people's’ livelihoods away in an afternoon. He didn’t respond to her claims about his goals, though that was honestly the most mad about. Who was she to tell him how he should be fighting his battles? To assume how he was feeling about himself? She’d twice told him the same thing, called him stupid for not having some goal, and he didn’t want to hear it again.
But there was one thing she said that he couldn’t let pass. He was no longer yelling, but none of the anger had left his voice. “And don’t you dare call me worthless. I am- I am not worthless.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 11, 2016 17:19:14 GMT -7
"Because it's inevitable," her tone was cool with only the slightest bit of irritation. "When the internet came along, nearly every newspaper went out of business, but I don't hear you suggesting an attack on Comcast. It comes with every radical, and even several not so radical, social changes. It happens to everyone, it's just that the people at the bottom are the least able to handle it. Hurting no one means doing nothing. If you took it to its logical conclusion, it means death. Unless you're going to suggest that we should stop eating because people are horribly exploited in the production of it, but somehow, I don't think you feel that strongly about it."
Her attention turned to the police again for a moment. It looked like they finally gave up on trying to talk to her and were getting ready to go inside the building. Given how tall the building was, her estimate on about ten minutes to get to where they could do anything to her was looking accurate. She still had some time to beat some common sense into this idiot hero, not that she thought she would get very far this time. It would likely take many more conversations and many more demonstrations. He was both very simple minded and very stubborn.
"First, the police here aren't going to have to risk any kind of harm, unless you include falling down the stairs or driving," her expression darkened for a moment and she steepled her fingers. "Probably. I understand that they don't know that, but given how I've operated so far you should. Second, I never claimed to be doing anything for mass society. Society is 99% unpowered people and I have already stated, several times in fact, that I do not care about what happens to them. I am acting to set things right. Supers deserve a place of their own, and we deserve to have decent land to live on so we can live comfortably. In order to avoid uprooting anything I would basically have to colonize the antarctic. Thus, as I have stated several times now, I am working for supers and only for supers. Unpowered people can deal with their own problems. I'm just one person, there's only so much I can do to make the world perfect. Spreading my focus too thin would just make it so I accomplished nothing."
Even though Aurora wasn't looking at him, she felt the need to roll her eyes at some of his comments. They were so simplistic and it was clear that he wasn't even listening to a word she was saying at this point. She was just the big mean super villain and everything she did was mean, bad, and evil.
"Call another super obviously. You act like they'd even be capable of defending themselves from a super if that super decided to rob them. That would just be foolish. They should stay out of the way and let the people that can actually handle it do so, much like things are handled now. You wouldn't ask someone to put out their own house if it was on fire, would you? You wouldn't ask someone to stop an armed robbery on their own would you?"
It was the comment about himself that made her look at him again, albeit only out of the corner of her eyes. Her lips curled into a small smirk.
"You don't sound convinced."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 14, 2016 16:41:36 GMT -7
“But that’s- How can you-” Blue Jay didn’t even know anymore. It felt like every time he tried to make any sense to Aurora she beat him down with some high and mighty statement that ignored all the unpowereds but he still just couldn’t argue against. Society did suck for supers. It wasn’t safe for them, it didn’t care about them, and if supers up and vanished tomorrow, a good number of people would be thankful for it. Not one super asked for their powers - it wasn’t fair for just random people to be suddenly forced to hide because of reasons beyond their control. Further, supers did need some sort of structure or code to keep them in line, because as it was, this was a might makes right world where the winners get whatever they want and the losers get broken bones. He knew something was wrong with her arguments, but his brain was such a swarm that he couldn’t pull any sensical thoughts together in his mind, let alone aloud. He was not going to be winning this one.
Instead of a rebuttal, Blue Jay took a shaky step backwards. His hand flinched, as if reflexively going for his sword hilt, but he stopped it before it reached higher than his hip. Distress crossed his features. His inability to argue with this harmful mindset was sinking in. It was wrong, he knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t tell her why or convince her against it.
Distress was replaced with anger and again he was yelling. “This is why there’s so much fighting between supers! You’re all so selfish!”
If words wouldn’t stop her, he’d have to keep fighting her, wouldn’t he? He’d have to keep getting into battles. He’d continue to fight on the behalf of civilians who didn’t give two shits about him against people who didn’t give two shits about them, and to what end? Destroy one building to save five? How long would he have to keep this up?
“At least I won’t have to be a part of this stupid cycle for much longer.” He spat.
He didn’t wait for her reply. He didn’t want it. With a single step he was on the next building down, and on the next beyond that before the gunshots attempting to follow him rang out. He traveled swiftly away without any destination in mind, or any mind put to where he was going. Her last sentence ran again through his mind, and his own parting words quickly followed behind. His stomach clenched. It was unlikely he’d get to either his super duties or his history homework tonight.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 20, 2016 18:57:45 GMT -7
Even though Aurora had already declared victory, this just proved exactly how overwhelming of a victory it was. He couldn't even articulate his points, typical of someone who wanted to disagree just because of who she was rather than because of what she as actually saying. His outburst was almost adorable even. Selfish? Absolutely. She tried to work with them in the past, but it didn't work. If they were going to make her carve out a place in the world for herself, for everyone like her, then she would do that. She would go as far as necessary to make that happen. No one should have to deal with this, and she wasn't going to leave things in such a way that someone else would have to fight this fight later. That idea bothered her far more than anything else she might have to do.
His second statement made her curious though. She wasn't quite sure how to interpret it given she wasn't quite sure what he meant by cycle in this context. Aurora couldn't think of a context in which any of that made sense. He said that he had no goals and didn't appear to be lying, but he was planning on doing something? That didn't seem quite right. The way he said it implied more that something was happening to him. That could mean a lot of things, enough that any speculation felt pointless. It at least explained his sense of urgency, but it hardly excused just randomly swinging his sword around without thinking. It was something to file away for later.
All things considered, she was glad that he left before the inevitable gunfire game. The last thing she wanted to do was have to defend someone that probably wouldn't fight back in that situation.
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