small question

[obliviscere]

Type: Text
Sender ID: obliviscere (Namine)
To: everyone!
Subject: Question
Warnings: None

This might be a very personal question to ask like this, so nobody needs to feel like they have to answer but...

I was wondering if anyone's ever had a power that they've been uncomfortable with? How did you get over it? Do you think powers that do 'bad' things can be good?

Just curious! And also not related to that but I'd like to make some care packages for those islands in need. Any suggests for good food for them?

Comments

text; un: madeofmirrors

[madeofmirrors]

Define "bad" powers, darling.

text; un: chaosvessel

[chaosvessel]

I've never tried.

How you use them matters, I think. Powers that let you change your shape could turn you into a monster, but if you use that monster to fight villains, is it 'bad' that it murders people?

text;

[activatingcombatmode]

I think "bad powers" is kind of a broad way to see it. There's no such thing as a bad power. Just bad people. Because it's more about how you use a power than what it is, don't you think?

» text | un: tilfrosset

[tilfrosset]

Yes.

[Is that an answer to the first or third question. Or both?]

As for getting over it... it took time, but I met a man who shared his vision of a better world, where people looked down upon could have a say in how they lived. That thinking changed how I saw myself and others like me.

[Thanks Cid! And by extension, Clive.]

[obliviscere]

Things that do bad things to people? That hurt them.

text; un: sunbursted

[sunbursted]

[ it's a funny question given the user name her shellphone has on it. sunbursted, like a reminder of her sunburst spell. the one that could have... but it reminds her of percy. and a bit of herself. ]

I think it depends on the ability and how it's used. A friend of mine back home had some abilities that he got from a demon and they made him kind of scary. But he used them to help save the world. Mostly. My powers are all nature-based but I've used them... I've done some things I'm not proud of. Thought they were good, thought I was being cool. But I hurt people in the way that I used them.

I don't know if that helps.

[obliviscere]

Never? Why?

I guess that depends a lot on what the villains have done.

[obliviscere]

I think that's a really nice way to look at it and I'd like to think it's true. But a part of me wonders if maybe there's some powers that just do a lot more harm than good?

[obliviscere]

I don't really know much about demons, but I can't imagine they'd want someone to use their powers to help save the world. I'd have thought they'd have wanted him to use them for their own goals or something.

[ so she can't help but wonder if that meant he went against what this demon wanted and if that was hard to do. ]

Did you only hurt people? Or did whatever you did do some good?

[sunbursted]

oh, no, his was totally for a vengeance streak. But then we severed his connection to the demon and he still had those powers. He just put them to better use. With less weird yelling or gruesome shots.

[ it's complicated and keyleth isn't doing the best job of telling that story. her mind briefly remembers tiberius and his fireball habit, but she pushes that to the side for now. that's even more complicated than percy. ]

No, I use my powers all the time to help. Heal. Pull people out of harm's way. Just... sometimes if I don't think about what I'm doing... a helpful vine trying to pull someone to safety might hurt them instead. Or a bright ball of radiant light might... damage people who are too close.

My point is... even good spells or abilities can be used for bad things. Maybe the same is true in reverse.

[obliviscere]

Oh. That's not so good, vengeance I mean. Although I guess something really bad had to have happened to him for him to think about dealing with someone bad like a demon.

[ so, she's not going to judge him at all. ]

oh! I understand. It sounds like you have to use a lot of concentration and precision for your powers.

Maybe you have a point and I just need to try to figure out what the good use could be.

text; perfpilot

[sos_pilot]

think of powers like weaponry - it all depends on who is wielding it.

take your basic sword. in the wrong hands, it can be used to hurt innocent people, threaten them. but in the right hands, it can protect people, and defeat those who mean others harm.

[obliviscere]

That seems to be what a lot of people are saying. So you don't think any weapon or power is inherently bad?

[obliviscere]

I see.

I'm glad you were able to meet someone that helped you like that.

[tilfrosset]

Me too.

But I have to ask, and forgive me for prying: what is your answer to the questions that you posed?

[obliviscere]

Oh, it's only fair to be asked in return.
I thought it might be obvious my own answer would be yes. I wanted a bit of advice I guess.

[tilfrosset]

I used to think my ability had no beneficial merit to it. All I knew was that it caused immense hurt and pain, destruction and death, and all I could see was what I had ruined. Either by choice or force.

[For the longest, Jill had naively believed she had a choice: either do what she was told or others would suffer. She was but a young fool.]

I can't change my past, but at the very least, I can use it keep those I care for safe. Even at the risk of my own safety.

[Because with being a Dominant, comes the inevitable slow burn of petrification and soon enough, death.]

[obliviscere]

What is your ability?

[madeofmirrors]

And powers that can hurt people can be used to protect others, can't they?

[tilfrosset]

I'm what they call a Dominant in my world. It means I was born with the ability, perhaps one could say the responsibility, to command something called an Eikon at will.

[It's the second time this week Jill has been so open about herself, but at least this time, the conversation is less irritating.]

To be brief, since I suspect I know what your next question will be, an Eikon is an all powerful being. Think great deities that can take shape for whatever and whenever their Dominant desires.

[obliviscere]

So there's a lot of things you can do with yours?

[tilfrosset]

Unfortunately. Fortunately.

Depends on who you ask.

[obliviscere]

Maybe some parts of them can

[obliviscere]

You don't really like talking about it, do you?

[tilfrosset]

It used to be so, but...

I've committed some horrific transgressions with my power in the past. Ended innocent lives. Left destruction in my wake. If you ask those people, they would be the ones to say unfortunately. And I cannot find it in myself to blame them.

My friends? Those who have become family to me? They'd say the opposite.