Asshole telepath protection racket

[telepathicignorance]

Type: Text
Sender ID: 🖕nunya🖕 (Sidestep)
To: Public
Subject: Lessons
Warnings: Mind reading, swearing, mouthiness? Will warn if things get worse in individual threads.


I guess the cat's basically out of the bag at this point anyway: Does anyone want lessons on how to shield your mind from telepathic intrusion?

Free for people I like or have to work with regularly. 100 dubloons for everyone else.

Comments

[telepathicignorance]

I'll pick up things automatically sometimes, but I'm not gonna deliberately poke your mind unless I absolutely have to, Sherlock.

(Testing shields via mock attacks is a thing they could do by request, but Sherlock isn't getting offered that kind of service because Sherlock's brain gives them seizures.)

[astudyinviolet]

I prefer the lack of intrusion, so that will not be an issue.

Would it be more accurate to say that your power is like a sponge, soaking up what is around regardless of your intentions?

[telepathicignorance]

Something like that. Or like a bunch of conversations are going on around me at once.

[astudyinviolet]

[ Sherlock gets overwhelmed by his own thoughts and surroundings enough. He doesn't want to imagine what it must be like to also be forced to factor in the thoughts of those around him. ]

You have my sympathies.

[telepathicignorance]

Thanks.

(They're still not sure how to respond in situations like this.)

Private

(A second message, sent to just Sherlock, for reasons about to be very obvious.)

You've got something else going on in your mind that makes anything more than a surface read basically impossible anyway. Some kind of dangerous memory, I think.

private

[astudyinviolet]

That would explain the reaction one of my captors had when trying to pull information from my mind. He seemed to break and started chanting words I had only heard back in my world.

Still Private

[telepathicignorance]

Sounds about right.

There was a telepath?

[astudyinviolet]

Yes, though between his attempt at prying into my mind, my rescue, and the chaos that followed, I do not think it likely he survived.

[ He can't say he feels any guilt about it. It won't be something that keeps him up at night. ]

[telepathicignorance]

Good riddance.

Sorry about throwing you on the boat. I wasn't sure how long we had.

[astudyinviolet]

[ The apology takes Sherlock by surprise. He wasn't expecting one at all from that time. Much less from Chris. Ever. ]

Given how murderous the red-eyed entity was, haste was necessary.

[telepathicignorance]

Yeah. You were pretty fucked up though.

(The hilarity of this: Chris likes Sherlock more than Sherlock likely thinks... they're just that huge of an asshole.)

[astudyinviolet]

Yes, being crystallized and beaten for half a month will do that.

[telepathicignorance]

I'm sorry.

(That's not something they'd wish on their enemies.)

[astudyinviolet]

[ Another apology. Is Sherlock speaking to the right Chris? This is highly out of character for them. ]

The people who captured me are no more. They could not escape the island with their injuries.

[ That is... if they hadn't been outright killed by two angry chaos gays. ]

[telepathicignorance]

(They're capable of not being an asshole... but also they did literally die recently, even if Sherlock doesn't know.)

Definitely good riddance.

[astudyinviolet]

I have been following the arrests and trials of those who were involved. I will shed no tears over the fates of any of them.

[telepathicignorance]

Someone had set up an organization funneling riftfarers into the business. People used to taking orders, who were desensitized to suffering and unlikely to realize how much worse this was than what they're already used to until it was too late to get out.

(This message is, of course, super private, much like the last several ones. It's not a thing they want spread everywhere, but Sherlock should probably know.)

[astudyinviolet]

Have they been taken into custody? Are any still free?

[telepathicignorance]

The ringleader's down. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the underlings were still around.

[astudyinviolet]

Would you have any access to who those underlings might be?

[ Depending on if they show any hint of remorse or not will decide whether Sherlock tries to go after them. ]

CW: Very brief mention of racism/profiling

[telepathicignorance]

Nothing concrete.

(Nothing other than species, and Chris isn't down for encouraging that sort of profiling here.

Especially since it's their species.)

[astudyinviolet]

Damn.

For their sakes, I hope they have decided to change their ways and repent.

[ Sherlock would see those criminals punished to the fullest extent of the law otherwise. ]

[telepathicignorance]

I don't think any of them are likely to have the resources to start that kind of operation again on their own.

[astudyinviolet]

Not immediately, though any who would attempt to do so plays a very dangerous game. The return of such a group from any surviving and free members would take some time. That is what we must watch for. The knowledge of the process may still be in their grasp, and they can still cause much cruelty on a smaller scale and build their funds to something larger.

[telepathicignorance]

Yeah.

(Could they reach out to them? Those Re-Genes who weren't there because they wanted to be?

...They'd have to find them first. If any are still alive.)