shellphones | Asshole telepath protection racket

(They frown.) You have trouble with keeping your head clear, don't you?

The more you practice at it, the better you'll be with the stuff I'm gonna teach you. For now, try and concentrate on something you don't care if I see until it's everywhere. Try to ignore any other thoughts you're having.

[He blinks, glaring up at Chris.] It's easier when I'm by myself. [It should probably be obvious why. With a huff, he glances away again.

He can think of one place that brings him calm. A field of lavenders. Something about the way they smell, calms his spirits. An unassuming image that provides no details besides liking lavender.]

Yeah. Unfortunately, needing to defend your mind implies the presence of others.

(Huh. So basically the same thing he was already focusing on.)

That's a good passive defense for if you're worried about someone seeing thoughts but there isn't any proof of deliberate invasion. If someone is trying to actively read what's in your head, it'll probably be much harder than normal to focus on things like that: you'll keep trying to go to whatever topic the telepath is trying to get at. Smarter telepaths will try tricks that bring the information they want to the front of your mind naturally, like asking questions and skimming for the answers that you think of.

Edited 2025-09-29 04:54 (UTC)

...That makes sense. [Even when he can't see himself being swayed so easily. But he can't deny that the mind will wander in the midst of a discussion. Even when he doesn't say what's there.]

(They raise an eyebrow.)

I may not know the specifics but I can still tell you're doubting.

(They can smell that arrogance... or what they're interpreting as arrogance.)

Just continue the lesson and let me decide how to handle it. [It's just how he is.]

Well, if you're really worried about wipes, that willpower will help.

(Willpower and confidence do a lot in the realm of the mind.

But for subtler types of manipulation he's more likely to fall for it if he doesn't believe it can happen.

...They'll just have to watch out for that. ~~Actually they're arrogant enough they'd just fall for it too.~~)

Now I want you to find something that you might not care if I see but that anyone who looks in your mind will regret seeing. Like a really gross thing you've seen or imagined. Be as mean about it as you can without making yourself upset or sick.

[Well, that can be a number of things. It should be a simple request, but nothing about Shadow is exactly chill. What he finds disgusting may not be the case for someone else either without context. But the first thing that comes to mind, is a strange larval creature. Bit creepy with how it just stares unblinkingly. In the next moment, there's an image of a human, slumped over against a wall. On it's head, the leech had attached itself to it's head, slowly devouring it's flesh.]

(Well, at least he's good at focusing hard enough to make it difficult to block out.

They flinch when that second image hits them.) Yeah, yeah, that's good. You can also find something that's just really awkward and embarrassing but I wasn't sure if you had anything like that you'd want others to know about. That's for if you're detecting signs of active intrusion but either don't know or can't access whoever is invading your mind. Keep yourself concentrating on that image so that not only is it harder to divert your thoughts and get what they need but make it actively unpleasant for them to try.

(Could also just concentrate on an image like that so telepaths have to actively work to block it out even when they're not reading his mind if he wanted to annoy them/drive them away, but if he wants to do something like that he'll have to practice it himself.)

Hmph. Of course not. [The Ultimate Lifeform doesn't expose such things he would consider vulnerabilities. At least what he provides certainly leaves an impression! His expression hasn't changed though. Almost as if he was desensitized by the imagery. In fact, the imagery seems to be warping into something more gruesome.

Large cocoon-like structures over mutilated bodies, no longer recognizable as they were taken of whatever these larval organisms deem necessary for their continual development. What comes from these cocoons are creatures of varying forms, ready to perform for their master's needs. To hunt, kill and provide for their kind.

...

Was he suppose to stop?] So you can see what I'm thinking. I can't tell you're there.

Only the surface stuff. Right now you're concentrating hard enough I'd have to make effort not to see it.

(They're not, in fact, always in people's heads, thoughts are just picked up anyway. Is this because subconsciously a part of them is just in every accessible mind around them or because there's some medium through which thoughts are projected and they're just able to access that medium in ways others can't? No idea, though some canon stuff points to an extradimensional component to telepathy, so ...maybe the latter?

They sigh.)

If you want to experience a direct intrusion, you can tell me something you don't care if I find out about and I can try to look at it while you try to keep me from it by thinking of anything else.

Edited 2025-10-02 23:01 (UTC)

So you passively pick them up anyway. [This is important to know, that it can't be helped the other will inevitably hear a simple throwaway thought. Must be annoying.

He's quiet once more, thinking.] All right. [He has a thought. A memory of going to see a certain wishing tree that blooms pink and red blossoms at night. It happsns only once every year in spring, and he had the chance to observe it with someone else. They are obscured in his mind, like a shadow, blurring their image. The important thing is getting passed the alien conquering humans imagery to see the blossoming tree anyway.]

Yeah. What, you think I want to do things like project my worst traumas everywhere when I sleep and hear way too much information about people's mating habits?

(The first one is an intentional jab, but the second one is mostly just to highlight how annoying it can get... and also troll him for a reaction. Gotta get their kicks somewhere.

Huh. Apparently he wants to do an intrusion. They focus their attention, managing to catch a glimpse of the scene before it sinks behind the grisly images of alien monsters.

Something about ...plants?)

You seen the garden at the Conservatory?

(They try to slip along any lines of thought about green and growing things.

Does he feel it? That skin prickling sense of eyes watching him entirely too intently?)

Edited 2025-10-04 03:32 (UTC)

[Shadow remains ever stoic at their attempts to goad him. He'd just tell them something equivalent to "skill issue" anyway.

He doesn't give an immediate answer to the kid's question, more focused on anything that might feel off. Would it feel similar to when another once tried to communicate and manipulate him? Provide him with false images and memories. How he had to fight to find what was the lie and what was the truth.

A looming figure with three glowing eyes suddenly overrides the current wall he had put up. The memory of that blossoming tree becoming faint. He blinks, remembering the kid had asked a question.] Why do you ask?

(No false memories here. They specialize more in brief and easily seen through illusions or very subtle sensory tweaks. Distractions rather than permanent alterations. And that's not what they're aiming for anyway.

And well, that distracts them, and they turn their attention from trying to follow the thread to figuring out what that thing is. An intentional block? Something else?

For all they know, it could be what Shadow really wanted them to find and the sense of plants is a red herring.

It takes them a moment to respond, preoccupied as they are.)

Faulkner started growing strawberries there.

[The memory of the blossoming tree is still there. The wall to break to it again is oddly stronger than before. And there are feelings attach to the image. Hate and disgust.]

For what reason did you feel the need to tell me that? [What does the other expect him to do with that information?

...

Oh.] I see. You caught a glimpse.

Yeah. Was trying to see if I could get you to think about it more strongly.

(The problem is, they're curious about the three eyed thing now too. But Shadow has just confirmed that they are, in fact, looking for plants and it's probably not a good idea to go poking at the off limits parts of the mind of someone who has made it very clear that he'll kill them if they intrude.

They probe at the shield, looking for weak spots, or possible new threads they could follow. They might poke a little harder than they usually would. The point is teaching, so they might as well be more noticeable. Let him get a feel so he has a better idea of what to look for. Their presence isn't a nice thing, and he might find himself more distracted by the idea of them getting a glimpse than he would have been otherwise as they try to see if they can follow that realization to, well, whatever they're supposed to be finding--sometimes paranoia about seeing a thought can be just as useful as ignorance of an intrusion--but they're more scalpel than bludgeon, not trying to force things but to subtly slip in past his notice.

In the real world, their tongue pokes out just a bit as they concentrate.)

[His brows furrow, feeling that new bit of pressure against his mind. Still a gentler intrusion than from the one his blood belonged to. More persuasive than forcing them onto himself.

The memory isn't anything worth hiding if they did get to it...but that would defeat the purpose of the exercise, wouldn't it? That memory could turn out to be something he didn't want to be exploited one day. For a moment, the memory leaks, the sound of a stream can be heard. Pink petals floating along the water. But in the next moment, that water turns into a crimson red as the petals sink. Red clouds obscure the vision, those eyes ever watching once more.] Is that the best you can do?

No, but I'm trying to teach you, not give both of us a headache. (Also, something about the imagery blocking them...

They scrunch their face.) ...Are you intending for the thing with three eyes to pop up when you block me? (It only sort of fits with the imagery he was using earlier.)

[He hums quietly.] For the time being. [The mysterious three eyes just pissing him off that much that he just ends up in the forefront. Essentially the anger he feels is the wall.]

...You really hate that thing.

(Anger, huh? That's a problem, because the best way to get past would be to make him less angry, and Shadow doesn't ever seem to be anything but.)

...Actually, using your anger to shield you might be a good idea. Your mind is used to it.

[Anger is...definitely a feeling he's carried for a long time. It used to be a lot worse. Bringing attention to it only reminds him how easily the feeling still comes to him.]

There are plenty of things to be angry about. [Maybe if the world and society would stop pissing him off. Like something that happened recently that should be unnatural. To which he withheld from the other until now. The other reason he is here to see him.] How are you alive?

(And well, maybe don't ask something like that while a traumatized telepath is in your head, Shadow.

Terror shoots through them, breaking the connection. A momentary flash of pain wnd horror at the memory of what happened and then Chris' presence is gone utterly from Shadow's head.

Externally, they merely flinch.)

I don't know. Apparently some riftfarers don't die and I won the world's shittiest lotto?

[His eyes twitch from the abrupt retreat of the other from his mind. Not before getting flashes of the moment of their death.

...

That is a weakness that can be exploited if they're not careful.] It's always been like that?

(Only if he uses it right.

They look away.)

Which part? The part where I don't die when I should or the part where riftfarers come back to life? (Hunched up. Arms crossed. Defensive.)

Asshole telepath protection racket

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CW: mutilated bodies and aliens hatching

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CW: Trauma and mentions of death, murder, questioning identity.

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