[video] she can also explode heads but nobody freaks out about that one

[zerg_rush]

[Given how badly people reacted to (in Kerrigan's opinion) nothing at all, she figures she needs to go public before someone finds out she's a psychic and loses it over the possibility she overheard them thinking about her ass or their bank password or where they hid their ex's body.

Sigh.

What would Dan do? Something friendly and open, probably, so she writes that possibility off and decides to wing it. Kerrigan pulls out that stupid mirror that won't just stay broken, and with a minimum of fiddling, gets it to a decent size, hovering in front of her.

A twenty-something redheaded woman is sitting on one of the rocks outside the canyon, wearing sci-fi armor and a neutral expression.]

I'm Sarah Kerrigan. I've met some of you already, but in the interests of...group harmony [she says that like she doesn't believe those words just came out of her mouth] you should all know that I'm a telepath. I can read minds.

Hearing is a good analogy for it. Anytime I'm near people, it's like being in a public place where a lot of conversations are going on. It's easier to "overhear" someone closer to me, or someone whose thoughts are more focused or emotional. I can't turn it off.

I can go deeper than surface thoughts, but I don't do that without a good reason. You're just going to have to take my word for it on that one.

If you decide you're going to avoid me, fine. I'm used to it. I wanted to tell people so no one can accuse me of keeping secrets later.

[Kerrigan doesn't sound defensive or hostile, or even resigned. Just matter-of-fact. Nobody likes telepaths! She knows! Buuuuut it looks like they're all stuck with each other, so people are going to have to deal.

OOC: Lookie here, it's a telepathy permissions post!]

Comments

[greyerrant]

Sounds like heresy.

[ did the big man make a joke ? </Small ]

[zerg_rush]

[lineface]

You're lucky you're cute.

[millenyal_pink]

[Wow, that was brave as hell to come out and say it like that.

Elle honestly thinks it's really cool (and is a little jealous), but she doesn't want to make anyone who isn't cool with it feel alienated, so she takes the pragmatic approach.]

Thank you for sharing and explaining, it means a lot.

[She's 100% genuine about that, too.]

[zerg_rush]

[Since she doesn't know Elle personally, Kerrigan can't pick her up telepathically without concentrating and sorting through the minds in the camp, which would be contrary to the spirit of this whole exercise, so she has no idea how sincere Elle is being.]

Uh.

[...]

You're welcome.

[unsealthecatbox]

...

[Ange has to take a moment to gather her thoughts after hearing that, wondering if the stuff she does is surface thoughts or if it's deeper than that. Well, probably it's deeper than that and therefore it's no big deal, but the thought someone could peek into her thoughts and hear her private conversations with an imaginary friend -- in everyone's eyes except Ange's, at least, to her she exists even though she's aware her friend isn't "real" -- is a tad freaky]

I suppose if you intended to delve into people's heads you wouldn't be saying all this right now. It's fine.

[zerg_rush]

[Well, it could be some reverse psychology nonsense, but Kerrigan doesn't get that devious until the zerg get their claws on her.]

It sounds mean, but really: most people's heads aren't that interesting.

[hasapoint]

[Same hat, but she hasn't spelled it out like that, leaving it as 'mind to mind contact'. Need's Mindspeech comes through the mirror without the usual flow of additional context, but it's definitely still a form of telepathy, seeming to come from somewhere between the ears.]

That must be difficult for you, if you can't shut it down. I mean it. A verbal filter is a beautiful thing.

[zerg_rush]

I've always had the talent [at least, as far back as she has memories] so I don't have anything to compare it to.

[cw: dead animal]

[hallelujahjunction]

[Dan's recovering from all the emotionally-charged drama of the last few days, which means he's keeping himself either drunk or busy - in this case, busy, as he's working to butcher the wild boar he and Ace just brought in to the camp, and appears on the mirror shirtless and bloody, partway through quartering it.]

Sorry, hacking up a hog.

Given that you might could have gone a long time, possibly forever, without a none of us catching wise, I reckon it speaks volumes to your integrity to come forward like this. I know I appreciate the transparency.

I don't see no reason to avoid you, but I trust we can rely on you not to relay thoughts we don't speak aloud to others.

[Dan absolutely hid his empathic ability from everyone but Bunny and Price on the Rig. He no longer can use that ability, and since he rarely used to the power he figures no harm, no foul.]

[zerg_rush]

[Neither death nor blood bother her.]

I'll rat you out if you have real plans to murder someone or something like that, but I'm not a shit-stirrer.

[She lacks the social skills for that.]

[the_hit_list]

I appreciate the heads up.

[ Not warning, and he’s not going to scream that she needs to stay out of his head. He’s just going to assume natural curiosity and do his best to avoid her. ]

They made a show of telling us that “we” are allowing “everyone” to have our own personal secrets, so you didn’t have to do this. Thanks, though.

[zerg_rush]

Hmm? I must have left before they got to that part.

[Kerrigan thought the whole thing was stupid and wandered off after Raistlin explained to her what was going on.]

I would have said something anyway. Keeping that kind of secret just blows up on you eventually.

[konman]

I know a pretty powerful telepath back home. [Good old J'onn.] He's a great guy. He, uh...he helped me a lot after a brainwashing thing. Cleared out the booby traps and helped train me in resisting mind control in the future.

[Case in point, his surface thoughts are definitely a little more locked down than average. The strong mental architecture he developed after his whistle-stop tour to train with all those telepaths and mystics paid off.]

And I knew another telepath on a team I was on for a little while. The Legion. She was good at using hers to fight some pretty big bads. She had trouble filtering out the surface noise, too.

It can be a really useful power, and it doesn't mean you're automatically a dangerous person, so no avoidance here. The fact you don't dig on purpose is what's most important.

[zerg_rush]

[She's faintly puzzled by people being nice. Actually, she's very puzzled, but only a hint of it is making it to the surface. Even on the Rig she got some negative reactions to her abilities. This is worrisome, because why would anything nice happen?]

I'm used to channeling through the psionic circuitry in my suit [she gestures at her armor] so I'm going to have to invent some new tactics.

[rambles_on]

[Dean is Freaking Out, but tries to stay cool about it.]

'S long as you keep what y'hear to yourself, we're good.

[He's going file this one into his ever growing pile of 'try not to think about it'.]

[zerg_rush]

[Revealing other people's thoughts has historically not been a problem, because Kerrigan had no friends to whom she could reveal.]

If I catch you on the way to a murder or anything like that, I'm going to act on it.

[She feels like this is a fair line to draw.]

Normal people thoughts I mostly don't even remember.

[wheyoftheadept]

Hey, I been meaning to ask, if I get a song stuck in my head, do you end up havin' to hear it, too?

'Cause if so I wanna apologize for the five consecutive days of swedish pop songs back on Piper 90.

[zerg_rush]

The song never even says what "the sign" is!

[That's a yes, then.]

[okayimin]

So it's magic.

[ Why are all of you so weird. ]

[zerg_rush]

...No?

[There's no such thing as magic, duh.]

[prettycoolguy]

[ Can he do anything about this? No. Can he accept this is a thing he's going to have to deal with and it's not really her fault? Yes. Does he hate it? ABSOLUTELY. ]

I appreciate the warning.

Don't share, and I'll try to maintain a positive outlook.

[ Is... is that a joke... Chief... ]

[zerg_rush]

[Snort.]

Don't pull a muscle trying, marine.

[Despite the really nice necklace, that's clearly an armor underlayer he's wearing, and everything about the Chief's bearing screams military. Kerrigan feels more at ease with him than a lot of the others, especially since Loken has mostly disarmed her automatic assumption that the vast majority of marines are criminals sentenced to resocialization whose only redeeming quality is their ability to soak up incoming fire.

Sorry she called him a marine. :( ]

[cachedout]

Oh! Oh! Next town we go into, we have got to figure out if they play cards here.

...They gotta have towns with people in 'em somewhere, right?

Right!

Team up with me and we'll fund this whole thing.

[ Cayde is in high moral color today, I hope everyone is proud. ]

[zerg_rush]

[Heeeeeee's a robot.]

You're a robot.

[Terran cybernetics aren't that advanced where she's from.]

[takenalive]

[Oh good, she's not in a tree. ...Is she? Totally looking at the background.]

Are the responses all that you thought they would be?

[zerg_rush]

[She's in the rocks at the mouth of the canyon.]

...Not really.

[People are being way too rational and nice.]