@john.dixon

[baum]

[ God, he really wishes he could post anonymously. Why isn't that a thing? At least it's just text. Anyway, alright. Introductions. ]

Hey everyone. My name's John Dixon. I just came in with the new arrivals, so sorry in advance for the dumb questions. Anyone who's been here a while is probably so used to this, you don't think about it anymore. At least I hope that's how it works. So: superpowers.

That's new to me. That's comic books and movies where I'm from.

The empathy thing, when you touch someone. Is there a way to turn that off? Short of just never touching anyone again, because in the safehouse, that's more complex than you'd think.

[ If it's done deliberately, fine. He still doesn't like it, but it's not terrible if he knows it's coming. He'd like to avoid getting taken by surprise. ]

And the other powers, the [ how does he even... ] blue ones. In our chests.

You all have them. How did you train yourself to use them?

Last thing, unrelated: I'm looking for work. I'm good with computers, building hardware and software engineering. I can fix pretty much anything (as long as I have the tools, which I don't yet). But honestly at this point I don't care if you just need an errand boy, as long as it pays.

Thanks.

Comments

@ian.fowler

[wittingly]

How old are you? And are you okay with part time?

[baum]

17
And yeah. Right now I just want to be earning.

[ So that he can find a route out of the safehouse.

Maybe it's somewhat related. ]

[wittingly]

Alright
I'm an engineer as my day job, but where I'll need you is probably a few evenings or weekends. Rey is opening up a new workshop from the ground up and I plan on teaching some classes there, plus I do side projects like the safehouse work you saw earlier

It would mainly be supply runs or programming, since I can't exactly do that with magic

Are you interested at all in learning, or do you have your eyes on another field long term?

@hafid.alghul

[batricide]

No.
Wear gloves.

[baum]

That's the only option?
Okay
Well, good to know.

What about the other powers?

[batricide]

Those can be trained.
What did you get saddled with?

@lance.sweets

[lifetothefullest]

As far as I know, there's no way to turn off the empathy bond and so you have to avoid contact entirely if you don't want to use it. Memory sharing through the bond can be controlled, though it can also happen by accident.

As far as practicing your power goes, have you discovered what yours is and want to learn more about how to use it, or are you trying to find out how to activate it for the first time?

[baum]

Memory sharing

[ See now, he hadn't even got that far.

That's worse. That's so much worse. Gloves, it is. ]

How do you control that? Is there a method, or is it just practice?


My power seems like it's always on. Best as I can tell. I don't really know how it works, but I'd like to.

[lifetothefullest]

I've had success controlling it by being aware of what I'm thinking about while using the empathy bond. A brief recollection of a memory doesn't usually do anything, but if you're thinking a lot about a particular memory, that's what typically causes you to share it. In my experience, anyway.

Are you glowing all the time along with it?

[That seems like the most pressing issue to figure out first, though he's still curious about what the power might actually be.]

@ellie.miller

[notathreat]

Yep
just gloves. It's not so bad if you're not freaking out or anything but it's still not cool to spring on somebody if they're not expecting it

Like Lance said, you can control the memory thing if you practice. They usually only jump out if you're already thinking about something specific and can't get it out of your head.

As for the power thing, that's mostly practice. It seems like the more you use them the stronger they get and the better control you have

[baum]

Yeah, I don't want to spring it on anyone. Practice isn't exactly what I was hoping for on that front.

[ Because that means he'll have to let it happen. Repeatedly.

He's gonna invest in gloves. ]

On the power thing, though, that's good to know. How long did it take for you to feel comfortable with yours?
Assuming it's not something you had before you came here.

@demi.tomato

[wrend]

empathy bond only happens with others like us
touching natives to this place is perfectly fine

[baum]

Okay, that's good to know. Doesn't help me with the safehouse, but at least it means it's not everywhere.

You gonna join the chorus telling me gloves are the only answer?

@stephen.strange, private

[rehandle]

It looks like you're covered for work, but Red Wings is always open for Displaced employees if you need income while you're working toward something full time.

As for training, trial and error was my original approach, though there have been people here who are experienced in training powered people. The best thing to do if you'd like guidance is find out if there's anybody here with a similar ability to the one you find yourself with. They're all so different that it's difficult to generalise on best practice.

[baum]

I didn't figure Red Wings was an option. Isn't that a bar?

[ Maybe he's naive, or they just don't care. Anyway, he's not turning anything down; the sooner he can be out of the safehouse and behind his own locks, the better. ]

I can sense electromagnetic fields. Which sounds cool, except that they're literally everywhere.
You know any experts?

@ren.amamiya

[variate]

Powers are harder than the empathy bond.
We've been trying to find a way to train them through our dreams, but only a few people have been able to do it.
Do you know what yours is?

Oh. Right.
There are a lot of odd jobs around if you need something in the meantime.

[baum]

Through your dreams

Is that possible?
I know what mine is, I think. I don't really know its extent or how far it can go. That's what I want to test

For jobs, I'll take anything going. I have a part time option, which still leaves a lot of time to spare.

@kai.gracen

[halfbloodhatchling]

Focus on touching people who aren't like us.

And hey, don't be rude to those of us who come from different realities than you.

[baum]

Wait, what did I say that was rude?

@max.guevara

[revvedup]

gloves work, provided someone doesn't grab you somewhere that's not covered by them.

and do you mean how did they activate or how did you learn to control them?

[ she can fill him in on one, but not the other. ]

Re: @max.guevara

[baum]

No, I mean how do we learn to control them. Activating them isn't a problem, for me anyway. Turning them off is.

@jai.kinvaio

[kestrels]

Full-body condom.

You can get them in clear latex.

Really handy.

（ everyone else said gloves, he's just here to be a smartass, really. ）

[baum]

[ He's gonna spend a lot of time deadeyeing people here. He can feel it in his bones. ]

Sure, that's subtle. Obviously hundreds of us have gone for that option.

@kylo.ren

[warfares]

Since everyone has thoroughly covered the empathy bond, have you managed to figure your power out or is that still a mystery?

[baum]

That's a work in progress.

I mean, I know what it does, kind of, I just can't really control it yet. The consensus is practice, so I guess I'll be glowing blue for a while.