Network - Audio - Open

[cuttypie]

Who: Luka Kovač
Username: un: 13371uk@
Warnings: None so far


[He know he's playing a dangerous game here. That's why he's on audio instead of video, in case he...slips up. Being an Avatar of the Stranger had both its benefits and its downsides, and sometimes he couldn't quite...help the way he looks, especially if he gets a whiff of fear. His voice is pleasant and perfectly normal, with a melodious Croatian accent.]

Hello everyone, this is Dr. Luka Kovač. If I haven't met you yet, I'm a doctor who specializes in emergency medicine.

Some things I still don't understand here, so maybe someone else might have some information or thoughts on it. I come from a world where you don't really see too much of the supernatural around, but here there are superpowers and superheros and terrifying things that happen all the time.

And I guess Avatars have the power to make those terrifying things happen, right? To feed the Entities? But what gives them that power?

I suppose what I was really wondering is that maybe some of the people we've encountered used to be good and then were corrupted, somehow. I'm a doctor, the first thing I look for is a way to treat the patient, maybe even so far as find a cure.

But is there a cure for an Avatar?

Comments

Voice | un: valentine

[outofthepast]

[He admittedly doesn't know much about this, but now he's curious.]

As far as my understanding goes, somebody's gotta make a deal to become an Avatar. Like accepting a job interview.

You're asking if somebody could quit the job later on?

[cuttypie]

Yeah, I figured as much. I feel like sometimes people might be desperate, or possibly tricked into it. Versus someone that was cruel to begin with and is only using it to get more power.

Exactly, yes. Can they just choose to stop? Or get rid of the Entity's influence on them?

[outofthepast]

Now, I'm not the best person to be asking. Me and the supernatural aren't real acquainted, even now. I'm not sure if it's more like an Entity's influence on someone, or if it's like... well. Programming.

[Not to suddenly make this real personal, or anything.]

If it's the former, I'd hope someone could fight back or refuse. Dunno about the latter.

[cuttypie]

That's not a problem, I'm just curious to hear your thoughts on it anyway. I had suspected it was something like that, like an influence, but if it's programming...

...can you break programming? I guess the real question is how much free will is involved when you've got Entities involved?

[outofthepast]

Well... [Oh boy, what a question.] I guess I'm not a great person to ask as far as programming goes, either.

In most cases, your household robots and your old gen synths, the answer is no. But even then...

[This got awkward in record time. And he still can't answer definitively.]

Surely, ADI's got some kind of info on that. Free will, I mean, not robots.

[cuttypie]

[Household robots actually sounds super cool, he's gotta find out more about that.]

I don't know if that information is... [Can be trusted.] ...accurate.

But it's a good place to start.

From what I've seen with other Avatars, they're already so far gone there's no way to tell which is of their own will and what is of the Entity's will.

[outofthepast]

Really? Why's that? I thought ADI's whole thing was keeping track of that stuff.

[Maybe the Avatars are a fairly new concept?]

Hm. That's not encouraging to my "maybe," is it?

I'd still like to believe it's possible, but that really is a guess on my part.

[cuttypie]

Well, yes, not that their record keeping is bad, but the kinds of records they keep. [Would they even listen to an Avatar, if one gave them information? Or even if they would, they’d imprison or kill them next. No, he doesn’t trust ADI at all.]

Not really.

And as do I. I’d like to think that there are some who aren’t malicious. Who maybe made a choice to save someone and ended up in a bad situation.

[outofthepast]

I think that's pretty likely, knowing how people are. Be a real shame if we couldn't figure out a way to help folks like that.

Not sure how they'd go about finding out the answer, either... but if there's any way, we should try sometime.

[cuttypie]

[He quietly adds Nick to his mental list of good people who he can possibly trust from ADI.]

I think so, too. I don’t think ADI will like that. But I don’t care. I’m gonna try.

Un: bright

[abrightboy]

I’ve actually been looking for a way to bring Avatars back for a while now. I think, in some ways, it’s like treating addiction.

[cuttypie]

It seems very similar, yes. I'm honestly surprised that people [Lookin' at you, ADI] haven't exactly gone that route first.

[abrightboy]

My impression is that they aren't as interested in saving people who've been victimized by the Entities so much as stopping the Entities and all their affiliates cold, no matter the cost.

If you're doing research into it, I'm interested in helping.

voice | un: badgirlcoven

[edalyn]

[This is... stuff that she's been thinking about a lot more lately. She sounds surprisingly serious, or would to anyone who knows her.]

I don't think we've met, but I'm from a world full of magic. I'm a witch--where I'm from it's part of us, what we are, who we are.

I don't understand how for people like us these things can just... take our power, only give it back on their terms. There's some magic that only works in my world because it's powered by the land itself--it makes sense for that kind of thing to be different here, but the power we bring with us--that should be ours.

At home it's possible to block people's power, only let them use it for certain things. But it still comes from them. This is... I don't know, more like a curse in some ways.

Having something twist a part of you like that... I wouldn't be surprised if they did start out like the rest of us. For the ones who had powers back home, at least. Not sure what any of this is like for the locals.

[cuttypie]

It's nice to meet you. I've never met a real witch before! [Luka sounds a little brighter at that, like he's meeting some character from his childhood.]

I'm glad that you brought that up because I was curious of how it works for people who come from worlds with different powers and magic. Which is something I never thought I would say in my life, but here we are.

Maybe it is a curse, for everyone. It seems to be like one.

[edalyn]

[Eda snorts, but just in an amused way.] Yeah, I know I'm pretty dang cool.

[She gets more serious again after that.] At least other worlds aren't completely new to me... but I'm only used to there being magic in one. And if we were in that one I'd have more ideas. If it is like a curse... there are treatments there, at least. Not always cures but potions and elixirs that can help. But if everything here is powered by these things then I don't even know where to start.

[cuttypie]

It’s too bad powers cost something here, I would have loved to have seen a real magic trick from a witch.

[Alas, he can only lament.]

So in your experience, different worlds have different rules? Does your magic work on other worlds?

Maybe there are rules here too, on how the magic and powers here work. It’s like medicine, I guess, in a way. You start at the atoms and molecules and work your way up to understanding larger systems.

[edalyn]

[A couple of weeks ago she might have offered, but right now, for the moment at least, she's being more careful.]

Maybe there are.

Where I'm from... there's my realm and the human realm. Witch magic, the kind that comes from ourselves, that works in both worlds. [She doesn't feel like explaining she no longer has that in any world.]

There's also magic that comes from the land--which happens to be the rotting corpse of a magical giant, long story--and that doesn't work in the human realm.

Seems like everything works here... but only through feeding those things. But it's not like I'm gonna experiment. [...More than she has.]

[cuttypie]

That is…okay. Wow.

[The rotting corpse of a giant?! That sounds super interesting so he makes a note of it to ask about it later.]

I wish there was a way to experiment…ethically, of course.

I suppose all we can do is infer what we can from our observations.

[edalyn]

Believe me, so do I. But... seems like a bad idea. Especially if it might be a road to ending up one of those avatars.

[Then again, they do need to learn about all this somehow.]

[cuttypie]

The question is, does the use of a power automatically mean you get corrupted? Or is it just getting on an Entity’s radar?

I don’t actually know, but I wish we had some way of finding out.

[edalyn]

Two-for-two on the so do I. [But wishing isn't exactly getting them far.]

It seems like it ought to take more than that. [It must, right? After all, she still feels like... herself. Even if it's easier to give in to certain types of urges lately.]

un: Aberration

[aelwyn_aberration]

It's not just Avatars that feed the entities, everyone does it. They feed off fear, it's just that Avatars are particularly loved by the entity they represent and chosen as a champion, and so they produce a lot more fear for their master.

Anyway. If there was a cure for being an Avatar, would you be able to stomach giving it to people who would refuse it at every turn?

[cuttypie]

["...it's just that Avatars are particularly loved by the entity they represent and chosen as a champion, and so they produce a lot more fear for their master."

That sentence rings out in his head over and over again and only makes the guilt worse. He clears his throat before talking again.]

What if that person that the Entity chose wasn't a bad person to begin with? Or maybe they made a choice trying to help people. Maybe they wouldn't always refuse the cure.

[This is all extremely hypothetical.

Of course.]

[aelwyn_aberration]

Nobody's bad to begin with.

[She's not even sure she believes that. She tries to, nowadays.]

It's mainly a question of when the point of no return is, isn't it? When do we move past rehabilitation and straight to punishment?

But that's philosophy, not practical in the slightest.

It seems like some Avatars are capable of being Avatars and retaining their morality, at least to an extent.

[cuttypie]

I feel like in most cases, in this world, everyone goes right to punishment. There doesn't seem to be any consideration for rehabilitation.

And that's what I was wondering. How much morality can an Avatar save? And how much can an Entity make them lose?

[aelwyn_aberration]

My personal belief is that either of them should be secondary to what's practical. Our job is to save lives and prevent the apocalypse. If someone is too far gone that trying to save them would just result in the deaths of dozens of others - if not the complete destruction of the world - then mathematically we need to prioritize getting rid of them as a threat over their own safety.

But I think ADI's black and white thinking about all Avatars is deeply stupid. We've already met Avatars that we could have saved but didn't because ADI is an organization run by idiots for idiots.

[The second part... hits close to home though.]

What differentiates the two, in your mind? The entity doesn't make you do anything. It always feels like your choice.

[cuttypie]

Mathematically, maybe, yes, but—

[He stops a moment before he gets too frustrated. He gets it, on one hand, but also it’s awful to think about—]

I’m a doctor. I do everything I can to save a patient.

[But he agrees with that.]

Exactly! Just think about all that knowledge about Entities and how Avatars work. Now it’s lost.

I mean corruption. It may feel like your choice—it may even be your choice, but it’s possible that exposure to the Entity erodes your will, erodes your morals.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Fair enough. I'm a wizard. We're a callous lot, by and large. And our focus is on understanding how it all works.

[She doesn't understand, but she's past the point of demanding that people see things her way. At least he's not jumping down her throat like Keith and Ren did.]

The Avatars we don't attempt to reason with or get onside are just going to go seek someone who will shelter them, and foster them into getting worse. It's a vicious cycle. They compare it to addiction but this doesn't even work with addicts either.

Others have said the same. [She purses her lip.] I don't quite agree, honestly. I think the more contact you have with them, the better it feels to feed, and everything else feels comparatively so dull. Your morality isn't something that's inherent. It's not a limb, it can't be taken away like that. It's just a belief. If you lose faith in it, that's probably because an alternative popped up that you liked better.

[musicdied]

I think you would have to sever their connection with their patron to cure them, and from everything I've heard on the subject, that is difficult to do even for people who haven't hit that tipping point.

Sending them into remission, to extend the metaphor, might be easier. But either way, it's something they would have to want. Katie Dunn is proof enough that forcing the matter doesn't work.

[cuttypie]

Do you know how to sever this connection? But you’re right, if it is that difficult…

…perhaps remission is the safest way.

I talked to Katie Dunn, I thought I could reach her.

I was wrong.

[musicdied]

Nothing for certain. Just that the few stories I've been able to find have involved sacrificing more than just the magic, and that was just normal renunciates, not Avatars. It's possible that there are other ways, but...it fits with what the Entities are. Binding the people they've claimed more tightly to them by making the only way to escape terrifying.

...I don't think there was anything to reach. Even if Katie Dunn wasn't already a monster when ADI caught her, the way they decided to deal with her could not have been a better way to make her one if they'd had that as the end goal.