@katelin.philips

[covertness]

after the fire, i talked to one of the firefighters on site. he said the fire started at the nurse's apartment and that the nurse was found dead inside. no cause of death known at the time, but they were already considering the fire suspicious. he said there'd be a full investigation soon.

i went to have another talk with him, together with marcos diaz. [ between her powers of emotional manipulation and marcos' truth inducement, they make a good team. ]

he's not involved in the investigation, but he's heard a thing or two. apparently someone was stockpiling carcasses of the smaller creatures that attacked in one of the other apartments. apparently people have been doing that, looking to resale the bodies.

not sure how useful that is, but i figure we're better off sharing whatever information we get, no matter how random. maybe we'll spot a connection or a pattern at some point.

Comments

[covertness]

it could have other side effects than what we've already seen

[secondnature]

I don't care.

[It's really as simple as that as far as Keith is concerned. If they can figure this out and prevent it in the future, he doesn't care. People were hurt. And he just led a group to cure others. So, he wants to prevent it, and getting ahead of it means someone might need to fall on a knife.

Hence: volunteering himself.]

[covertness]

maybe you should

[secondnature]

I'm fine with it. Isn't that what matters?

[covertness]

i'm not saying it doesn't
i'm not even saying we shouldn't do it
i'm just saying we should think about it
make sure we understand what we're getting into

[ has no one ever heard of informed consent here ugh (katelin cares okay) ]

[secondnature]

None of us had a chance to think about it when we went into the fire to save people.

I don't regret what I did there. I did everything I could.

[covertness]

and now we have a chance to think about it
so i think we should take it

[secondnature]

Okay.

Fine.

Don't be surprised when I don't change my mind. I won't be happy if you try to make me think about it all over again.

[covertness]

i'm not trying to change your mind

[secondnature]

Good.

Because if you couldn't tell from our trip to the hospitals, I like to see something through.

[covertness]

i'm not saying we shouldn't
that you shouldn't

i'm just saying if we have the opportunity, let's make sure to think it through and get as much out of it as possible at as little risk as we can

[secondnature]

Okay.

We'll need someone who wasn't infected if we're doing testing. That's something we need to use this time for, and preferably someone with little combat training.

[covertness]

i can keep people calm
or calmer, even when they're that angry
reduces the risk of injury

[secondnature]

Good, but it's better to limit the risk if we can. If I'm set off again and it's worse for some reason, you may need to direct that toward me.

How good are you at using it?

[covertness]

getting better
i should probably practice more, but i'm not sure i really want to

[ manipulation bad, free will good etc etc ]

[secondnature]

Look at it this way. You don't have to use it, but if you learn how, with willing participants, it'll be able to help with what happened all around the city.

[covertness]

i don't think anyone likes being manipulated

[secondnature]

How does the power work exactly?

[covertness]

i tell people to feel a certain way and they do
within limits

[secondnature]

Then that's where you start. You set boundaries and limits on what you're allowed to make someone feel. That way it's something you have to work to control.

Do you think you can do that?

[covertness]

are you volunteering for that, too?

[secondnature]

No. It's probably better if I don't.

It took me a long time to get a hold of them on my own.

[covertness]

i'll work it out

[secondnature]

People will help.

We're a team.

[covertness]

yeah
thanks