#did all the technopaths go on strike all of a sudden?

[the-great-gullon-incident]

Is technopathy a rare ability?! Why in the world is Dex, a 13 year old, helping to work on a device for a councillor?!

[loganofthenorth]

I have some pretty whacky dreams so

I think I'm gonna start posting them here

So, last night, right? I had this dream where Lex Luther was trying to escape Superman and ended up stealing some random boat to get away. There was a terrible storm out and the oceans waves did indeed carry him away, but he was holding onto this boat for dear life.

As Superman, having a difficult time navigating the storm and seeing anything, flies above looking for Lex (this time to pull him out of the storm and make sure he's alive) Lex Luther crashes into a rock and starts to sink into the deaths of the ocean.

Lo and behold, however, a strange being, an aquatic man travelling within the Skelton of a large fish, finds Lex and saves his life. He tells Lex that in return for the ability to breath under water, Lex will have to spend the week with the stranger. Lex reluctantly agrees. Better than drowning after all.

So they spend a day or two under water. The aquatic man uses the fish skeleton as armour when he's travelling out and seems much more humanoid after he leaves it behind. He lives far off from Atlantis. In a shabby house built from drift wood and other things humans have left floating through the ocean. He explains to Lex that he was banished from Atlantis long ago, and this was his home now.

After spending a day or two at the house one sudden move away from collapsing, Lex approaches his host (the dream never gave him a name so let's call him Nell.) with a new offer. You see, Lex has always been a negotiator and well, as great of a deal (however pathetic) it is to have his life saved in return for keeping a former criminal company, he would still like to get home before he's assumed dead and funeral arrangements are being made. Marcie would take too much pleasure in that, after all.

"You know... It's awfully pathetic, isn't it? So desperate for company in your sad little shack that you're resorting to saving the lives of drowning land dwellers for the sake of company." Lex began. Always good to start with a strong point. It's so easy to get powerful people riled up. Might as well get that part over with.

So Nell grabs Lex by the shirt, and pins him against the wall. The house shakes. Lex smirks. His point was proven. "What's wrong?" He asked innocently. "Did I strike a nerve?" He taunted.

So Lex makes his deal. He has Nell's attention after all. His offer is for Nell to go with him back to Metropolis. There Lex will offer Nell a better life. Nell can live in a large house supplied with all the food he can eat, as thank you for saving Lex's life. In turn, Lex can go home as well, with the promise to visit Nell now and again for the sake of keeping him company.

It all sounds well and good. Nell agrees. He knows he has the ability to leave if Lex betrays him.

So they return to the mainland via the fish skeleton, which is abandoned to the tides once they step onto land. As they travel through the city, both receiving wide eyed stares, Nell revealed to Lex why he had been banished. Turns out Nell was a technopath. A rare talent here, even more surprising to find in Atlantis. He had taken over Atlantis's advanced technology and acted as an anonymous terrorist who assisted Aqua Man's brother in mutiny. Then got banished when said brother was defeated.

He offers yet another addition to their deal. He will help Lex take control over Metropolis, and they could live better lives together.

And well, if you watched the Justice League Animated Series, you'd remember how that went with Braniac. And know that Lex would be far too eager to accept a similar deal.

So the two of them take the market by storm. All of Lex's products are hits thanks to Nell convincing people through hypnotic advertisements he puts on their screens. Of course Superman catches wind of it, flies towards Lex Luther's window and stares him down as he did at their first meeting in Superman the Animated Series.

Lex is basically like: Can I help you?

And Superman tries to convince Lex to stop what he's doing. Obviously that doesn't go well.

So Nell and Lex do this for awhile. The adds are influencing people to want the products so bad, that when Lexcorp introduces a new fashion line, young women are breaking into fashion stores to collect them before they can sell out. They of course leave behind large payments, oddly even more than said clothing is worth.

Lex walks through the streets and is complimented for keeping up with the times.

Nell walks through the streets and, people by then knowing him and Lex are close, is asked questions about Lex as a person. During this part Nell is asked by one lady if Lex is looking for any relationship right now. Nell reveals he suspects Lex is gay, because he has absolutely no interests in hot woman doing everything for him, but a huge obsession with Superman, bringing Brainiac back to life, etc.

Time goes on. They're still working together despite it having been months. They enjoy each other's company after all. Or at least, according to Lex, Nell enjoys the resources Lex provides and Lex enjoys the power Nell offers him.

Holidays roll around and Nell manages to convince a family that they are Lex's family and have always cared about him through his weird telepathic technopath powers that hypnotize people. Cause Lex has no one to spend the holidays with so, now he has a caring family to do so with.

Lex is just like: That's horribly psychotic. Even I'm not that cruel.

And Nell is like: "Well now there's two lovely people convinced you're their child and they'll be so upset if you don't make it to their annual Family Reunion."

So Lex and Nell go together to this family reunion and at first Lex is extremely confused and stiff because this all looks so alien to him. He scoffs at the family drama and has no idea why he feels so angry when the family is loving to each other...

And so sad when they show love to him.

Lex introduces Nell as a work partner. Nell introduced himself as a friend.

It's uncanny that the family, both 'close' and extended, seem to think they've known Lex his entire life. Loved Lex his entire life.

They share stories with Nell, stories Lex knows full well Nell invented in their heads. Lex isn't sure whether to be scared or impressed by how powerful Nell actually is. He decides to be grateful Nell doesn't use these powers on him.

A few more months, and Lex is starting to realize that his partnership with Nell is becoming more than a business arrangement. Nell is there for him during emotional crisis, even though Lex never reveals that's the case. Lex even finds himself thinking to send gifts over to Nell when he discovers on the news that Nell got harassed. For a moment Lex is convinced Nell is hypnotizing him. However he had seen heroes break free of Nell's hypnotism before. He tries their tricks and it doesn't work.

Odd. But what use were heroes anyways?

So Lex starts avoiding Nell. Avoiding screens too. Just to be safe. Nell gets worried and starts trying to find Lex.

When Nell does find Lex, they have an argument where Nell is trying to convince Lex he cares about him and that he wouldn't use his powers on him. Lex is trying not to reveal that he's started caring for Nell.

Nell ends up changing the subject, and hands Lex a box. A led box. Inside, Lex finds a large green crystal. One he's become all too familiar with.

"This represents your obsession with Superman. That's the only thing you really want, isn't it? To destroy him? Even if it destroys yourself?" Nell asks.

Lex gets defensive. "What makes you think you know so much about me!?" He demands.

"Am I wrong?" Nell retorts.

And Nell is wrong. Nell has forced Lex to realize that he has never experienced love. Of course Lex cares about more than defeating Superman at this point. Lex doesn't know what he wants anymore.

"Or you can dispose of it. Move on." Nell suggests. "I can give you a life where you're successful, loved, well renowned. Superman won't matter anymore. You'll have everything you need, and no one will be willing to keep you imprisoned, and everyone will be willing to help you." Nell persuades.

And they're silent for a moment.

And then Lex crushes the Kryptonite into so small pieces it would matter little if anyone found them.

Lex tosses it into a sewer drain, and Nell can't help but take his hand in his.

Neither say it out loud, but a mutual understanding forms about why they're really doing this.

So life goes on. Lex and Nell become fully dedicated to the hypnotized family. All is well in their world.

But of course the Justice League have their Martian, and nothing can last forever if it's effecting citizens or deemed unethical by those Lex calls 'Dictators from the Sky.'

The Holidays come around again. Lex and Nell assume they're arriving at another family reunion. This time Lex is smiling, holding a wreath and carrying a box of presents he brought. Nell is holding a second box of presents and a bottle of wine.

However they don't walk into a holiday party. It's a family gathering, but... not a festive one.

It's an intervention. Composed of Lex's 'concerned family', guards from Atlantis, the Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern (who prevents Lex and Nell from leaving with his power ring), and press from the Daily Planet.

Lex demands to know the meaning of this, and he is asked to sit down. It's an intervention. The others spew nonsense that they care bout Lex. That they're worried for him. That what Nell's doing is wrong.

This of course leads to a huge argument. Why the hell would the Justice League care about him? If they're no longer hypnotized, why would this family?

Well, turns out when you're really touch starved and negotiating family drama and seem close to tears while crashing one family event... then proceed to help the family and be an active member of it for the next year, the kind people in it, despite their hurt in being tricked, start to care.

As for the Justice League... They don't care. They want to arrest both Lex and Nell, but, they want peace too. So if they can get Nell out of the picture peacefully, that's good enough to let Lex go for now.

Nell holds Lex's hand, and it gives Lex courage. He would usually leave, but his new family, whom for some reason decide to remain as such, ask him to sit. Despite his better judgement he does.

The intervention continues, and Nell gets angry. He convinces Lex that Lex is everything to him, but... as he does, Lex realizes the same light in his eyes as when he controlled the screens that convinced people to buy Lex's products.

Lex tells Nell to leave. Leave and work on himself back in the ocean. Lex would work on himself, become better, and maybe they could meet again. Maybe, one day,

They'll both deserve love.

Nell refuses to let Lex go, begs Lex to let him stay in his life and confesses that he loves Lex. Lex is unable to believe it, however. He stays seated as Green Lantern force Nell to leave. Martian Manhunter assures the family and Lex that Nell will be returned to Atlantis jurisdiction and won't be bothering Metropolis anymore.

"If it makes you feel any better, Lex." A familiar voice starts from behind him. Lex turns to face Clark Kent, a man he had been friends with since he helped Clark escape a cruel prank back in Smallville. Clark had a harmless voice, a polite and clumsy demeanour. They were still on good terms, though rarely saw each other. At least, Lex believed they were on good terms.

"I don't think anything less of you. In fact, I see you as even stronger than I did before." Clark continued.

"How so?" Lex questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Making the right choice is so much harder than making the easy choice. It takes a lot of strength to leave a situation that isn't healthy for you. Why, I'd say you're stronger than Superman, sir." Clark chuckled in his usual polite, lighthearted manner.

"Who knows, Kent." Lex replied in amusement, unaware of this conversation's irony. "Maybe I am."

And with that Lex leaves, and Clark adjusts his glasses. His polite smile falls into a concerned frown. "I really do want to help you, Lex... even after all these years." Clark whispered.

"I just don't know how."

[ageofwrathrpg]

Name: Larisa Tsoy Age:  31 Ability:  Empathy Faction:  ROSTEKS as a HACKER/SPY Faceclaim:  Lucy Liu Availability:  OPEN

THE STORY || CW:  Death, Violence, Blood

Even as a young girl, Larisa’s dark eyes would sparkle each time she watched the graceful figure skaters take to the ice, aspiring to one day be like them, to one day bring home multiple Olympic gold medals.  Her human parents were supportive, as they were always supportive about everything their daughter did, and even pushed her when she thought she could no longer go on, through the pains of sprained ankles and bruised hips.  Through perseverance, Larisa Tsoy and her partner, Sayoran, were an unstoppable duo that all the competitors hated yet aspired to be.  Her Human parents never would have suspected their daughter of being a Vila, so after she turned 12 and started to complain about “feeling weird” or having sudden mood swings, they chalked it up to puberty.  Sayoran, on the other hand, suspected Larisa was Vila.  Together, they determined she was an empath and could feel the emotions of others.  As partners in more than just ice dancing, they tried to find ways to help her control it.  Because they trusted each other implicitly, Sayoran promised to take her secret to the grave.  

For two years, Sayoran kept his promise.  

A bobby pin had fallen from another dancer’s hair onto the ice.  While holding Larisa in a curved lift, Sayoran’s skate struck this pin, causing him to lose balance and drop his partner as he fell. She would never forget the clash of red streaks upon white ice as the blade of her skate crashed down.  Her screams and sobs melded with his desperate gasps and gurgles as he clutched at the deep gash of his throat.  His eyes were wide with terror, terror that she could feel.  She could feel him choking on his own blood, the pain he felt.  Larissa screamed for help and while their coach ran for an EMT, she stayed with Sayoran.  She could feel it, his fear -- not just from dying, but from dying alone.  He didn’t need to speak a word as she gripped his fingers tightly, reassuring him, over and over, “I’m not leaving you.  I’m right here.”  She refused to let go of his hand when the paramedics arrived, but he was too far gone.   Larisa felt the last of Sayoran’s life drift out of his body as though it was her own, like ice water to her veins, making her numb but sensitive to everything around her.

After Sayoran’s death, Larisa wanted nothing to do with people.  She dreaded feeling that pain again, that hopelessness and fear.  Because their daughter had witnessed and been involved with something so traumatic, her parents never thought twice about Larisa locking herself away from the world.  She had seen counselors and therapists alike, but due to her empathy, she felt more judgment from them than sincerity.  She found refuge in computers; they were just things that had no feelings, but they were useful.  Eventually, she did brave the public for the sole purpose of obtaining degrees in Computer Science and Engineering.  Because she spent all her time with these machines, it wasn’t long before she was building her own computers and learning how to manipulate their uses to benefit herself and her parents.  Through forums, chat rooms, and eventually social media, Larisa learned she could still have a social life without ever having to leave her basement.  It was perfect, to just communicate with others without physical feeling what they felt.

Time and time again, she came across sites and forums created by humans who detested Vilas, some even plotted ways to destroy innocent Vila families.  Larisa would go into full-on hacktivist mode and bring these sites down, track down the users’ computers and do everything in her power not just to destroy their own machines, but their lives as well.  How dare they plot to hurt, let alone kill, innocent people?  It was through a twist of fate that she stumbled across information about the Rosteks, and agreeing with most of their Cause, did not hesitate to offer her services to them.  She now uses her hacking abilities to spy the various information exchanges between individuals and groups, and uses algorithms to track any “suspicious” activity.

THE CHARACTER

Online, Larisa is a very sociable person through messengers and video chats.  She is considered likable and has a dry wit that others find hilarious, able to defuse a heated conversation with her stellar sense of humor, not to mention knowledgeable about computers and certainly not above helping out a “nerd in need”.  Online, nearly everyone is equal and it does not matter if someone is Vila or Human and that is a large part of the appeal.  However, she takes great pride in striking down Humans who dare intend harm to Vilas regardless of affiliation.  

CONNECTIONS

Yana Czarevna Grekova - Several years ago, Larisa followed a lead that a science facility was conducting experiments on Vilas.  By happenstance, she came across Yana in the same forum discussion, quickly learning that the woman was a researcher for the Lesyas.  The hacker’s gut reaction was to investigate Yana, learning some basics … including her brief stent with the Rosteks.  Initially, Larisa thought befriending her would be her “in” to the Lesyas for the sake of obtaining information for the Rosteks, but she quickly discovered that the two had more in common than she had realized at first.  The beauty about computers was that you didn’t need to hear in order to read typed words, you didn’t need to be physically with someone to know how they felt, and you couldn’t read someone’s thoughts through a computer.  It wasn’t long at all before she considered Yana to be a true friend, though she keeps her Rostek affiliation a secret. Because Yana is a telepath, they have yet to meet in person, and Larisa prefers to keep it that way or she could risk losing everything.

Aleksey Zhu - Computer aficionados need a reliable supplier, and Zhu’s got the goods.  This technopath knows zir stuff and Larisa is happy to do business with zir.  In fact, Larisa goes as far as to not only vouch for Zhu’s authenticity and quality, but will even go as far as to organize requests and shipments for the Rosteks.  These two keep in close contact online and in person.  In fact, she sees a lot of Sayoran in Zhu, and is quite protective of zir, setting up firewalls and safety features to ensure her friend’s safety from cyber attacks.  Zhu is one of the few people Larisa doesn’t mind hanging out with on a regular basis, as she adores zir “toys” and the two will rarely run out of anything to talk about.  

Kirill Samuilovich Wolff - Larisa does know that Kirill is Shifr’s right hand man, and according to her sources, Shifr’s got his fingers in a lot of pies.  She learned that one of the reasons why he is so good at protecting Shifr is his empathy.  Looking deeper into his life, his family, his military service--and knowing her own personal experience with the same ability--she could only have respect for him coming out of it seemingly balanced … at least, in present day.  Though she does not know him personally, she respects him for his loyalty to his boss.  He actually seems like a nice guy when he’s not bashing in the heads of Shifr’s enemies.

Elena Vladimirovna Ostrovsky - One bad day was all it took and Larisa was in the Rostek gym, punching the shit out of a heavy bag. She was rusty, but she’d retained enough of her figure skating training regime to clumsily pick off where she’d started. Elena walked in on her throwing blow after blow, and suddenly she spoke: “You should go on a mission with me.” Larisa was stunned to silence, and then she was embarrassed. She started to pack her things and Elena’s expression grew defiant. Ever since, Elena’s been pestering Larisa to try being an assassin, a spy, a damn thief if that’s what it takes to get her off of her screen — but Larisa has none of it. She’d sooner chain herself to her monitor than join Elena on anything. 

Rashid Javed Bashir - Once upon a time, Larisa and Zhu visited a bar after hours, and though there were few people in attendance, they certainly were enjoying themselves … until this hunka hunka sexy cop walked through the door.  He was in his uniform, and because he was smiling and making nice with the bartender, Larisa was under the assumption (in her drunken state) that he just HAD to be a stripper.  Needless to say, they were both quite embarrassed when the bartender informed her that he was really a senior lieutenant and was just checking in after his shift.  Nevertheless, it was certainly an ice-breaker!  She finds him endearing, somewhat dorky, but always good for a laugh and a pick-me-up.  His natural optimism is something she actually enjoys being around and the two have remained good friends.  Though she can’t quite figure out if he’s Vila … or if he’s Human, and Vila police employees are notorious for lying on their records; however, she is leaning toward Vila as this cop refuses to use his gun with the Vila suppressant bullets.

[[ More Connections ]]

ETC

Because she hates crowds and being around people in general, she avoids shopping in public and will instead order everything online to have it delivered to her home.

Banks are easy targets for a woman of her skills and she will often transfer money in a Robin Hood-esque way … except she and the Rosteks are often the ones reaping the benefits. 

Larisa loves to dance and is very graceful with her movements.

Sometimes, she will dare to venture into public for the sake of a mission … though sometimes, she will do it to briefly socialize as long as it is a small group (such as after hours as a bar, restaurant, or movie theater). 

She lives in a large basement apartment at the Rostek Manor and refers to her “home base” as “The Citadel”, as an homage to her own given name.  It is filled with top-of-the-line equipment that is either extremely difficult or impossible to find anywhere else.