selfhelp | [Voice/Action]

[Today is a good day for serious business, apparently. There's a certain something he's been putting off for a while, and after one-too-many dreams interrupting his sleep, he's had enough: this morning when Billy wakes up, the first thing he does is jot out a note in the journal-]

[Private to Ben Grimm]

Hey, would it be okay if I swung by to ask you a few things?

[He'll work through his morning routine until he gets a response, after which he'll go for a visit and get a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.

After that, his mood for the day is drastically altered; he'll skip out on school, trying to sort out his feelings on the matter. Tommy's still AWOL, and he's trying not to worry Teddy, but what he's just been told has really got him thinking- about people, and heroes, and the unfairness of mankind in general. And eventually he'll just go ahead and return to his journal for it. He's kind of in over his head here.]

[Open to All]

I know Luceti's full of heroes- seems kind of a standard trait for most of us, for whatever reason. Back on my world, super-humans aren't that uncommon, and in general they're revered for everything they do for the world. Some of them were born that way, and some of them are from other planets, and some were altered to get their powers, and some have a lot of talent or skill instead of powers. But they're all considered to be super heroes. There's bad guys, too- just as diverse and unique as the heroes they fight. People fear them and celebrate their defeat.

There's another group, though... humans who got their powers because of evolution. It's much more natural, in a lot of ways. Some are heroes, some are villains. Some are just trying to get by without becoming one or the other. But regular humans fear them, and hate them for it, even if they save the world just as much as the heroes they love. They're called criminals or monsters, no matter how innocent they might be.

[He hesitates- it's probably obvious to some, what he's talking about, and he's not sure if he should lock it from the mutant population, or apologize, or something, but it relates to them even if it's not by name. Hiding it wouldn't be right.

In the end he just leaves it be.]

...Sorry for the ramble. But it's not fair, and... I just can't understand why. Why hate one and love the other, when they're basically the same?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I think just as . . . human beings, really, our heads get away from us when we're frightened. [He pauses, then laughs softly, more thought behind the sound than amusement.] It's funny - you'd think it would be hard to club a zom, right? Never been a violent sort, civilized person, all that - and especially the fresh ones, they just look like . . . people. Sick people, but people. The minute you think one might kill you, though, you or someone you're looking out for? Hard to see that that as a person any more.

[There's a pause for thought, and when he responds, Billy's voice is somewhat strained. This isn't the first time he's heard this comparison, and it doesn't make him feel any less queasy the second time around.]

It's not the same thing. They're not sick, or monsters. They can't infect people...

Oh, no-! Sorry, I should have made that- God, sorry, that wasn't what I meant at all.

[In retrospect, he really could have been clearer with the target of the analogy, and Jack catches himself waving his hands at the screen in a gesture of stop stop pull back wrong turn that goes entirely unappreciated. Probably. He doesn't know the exact timing of the little reaction-camera.]

I meant, maybe it's the same bit of wiring gone buggy. Human nature. In your case it's still completely deplorable, absolutely . . .

...Mm. [Well, that's a little better. And a relief. He hasn't experienced a lot of mutant hate back home, comparatively, but even the idea of experiencing it second-hand is frightening.] Maybe. I mean, it's... not like either side is entirely innocent. But most of the violence of super-powered humans against the regular population is either retaliatory or accidental. It's really unbalanced.

No, I agree. Whatever the reason comes down to, it's monstrous, hating someone who's out and struggling on your behalf. I mean- yeah, fear's powerful stuff. But that's no excuse for not bothering to wonder why you're afraid, or even think of how it's making you behave.

[Hopefully that's an explanation that's a little more eloquent, and less reliant upon shared life experiences. Wow, he's going to feel like an ass for awhile over that.]

Honestly... it's amazing there are still good people willing to fight for the humans, despite how they've been treated all this time. They act like they're kicking around a stray dog but it's more like they're poking at a tiger.

[So many mutants could wipe out humanity if they all banded together to do it; his own mother proved that, apparently, and it's luck that her target was ultimately depowering the mutants themselves. It could very easily have been mass genocide.]

[Well, that's a mildly unsettling perspective on the whole issue - at least, from the 'regular human' side of things. Jack looks briefly puzzled, never mind a little distressed, cocking his head curiously.]

Is it that surprising? I mean, it's hard to imagine at least some of these more powerful people wouldn't be close with ordinary ones. But I don't quite know the specifics of the situation, either, so I can't speak to how terrible the treatment has been, or how popular the discrimination is.

Well, it kind of... it really does vary from person to person. I mean, most of the evolved humans come from families of regular humans, so wanting to retaliate against all of them would probably just cause them pain in the long run. But some have suffered too much- they've been experimented on, imprisoned, enslaved...

...I don't know. I can see how they might never be able to trust an entire species like that. And that mutual lack of trust causes wars.

[He thinks of Magneto - of his grandfather - and all the suffering he endured only to fling it back in humanity's face. He's the first-and-foremost face of the human-mutant wars, instantly recognized and feared by most, if not all. And example of just how bad it could be.]

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