Coming to America. (Shen's bl0g) Options

[emo samurai]

I DID say that I'd send them a fire spirit if they ever ran into trouble. And I will.

>>Shen

And I'll love it and feed it and let it kill people with its touch forever and ever and ever.

>>Irreverent Fool

Maybe I should send him over to YOU.

>>Shen

[James McMurray]

So after they're done being massacred they'll be sure to call you. After all, most people are very trusting of someone that breaks into their home, sets them on fire, and torches their belongings.

And because it's possible you'd be deliberately obtuse, I'll spell it out: that's sarcasm.

[emo samurai]

They will give up on their stupidly territorial pride and call me if trouble occurs, or they will die. It sounds callous, but this is a lesson in trust and the ability to give up on their clearly evil level of survivalism; I can't see them as the "keep order" kind of gang, either. They beat up a small boy for money; I have no compunctions with hurting them to teach them a lesson.

They are only scorched, and only over part of their bodies. And I wasn't threatening; if beating was truly an attempt to keep the order, they wouldn't have been afraid of people watching them. I simply wished to talk, and if they did so honestly, I may have left them alone. Instead, they are left without weapons and with light burns over small but humiliating parts of their bodies. If they don't resort to beating children with bats rather than holding guns to their heads, I can see no problem with this bit of social engineering. I'm sure a large mass of malevolent, living fire is much more threatening than any mass to 20 guns could ever be, and much more dangerous.

>>Shen

[James McMurray]

Let me know your address. I'll send some guys over to burn the place down, but I'll be sure to leave a note saying to call me (a total, obviously crazy stranger) if you have trouble.

[emo samurai]

The beating they were doing was in an alley; I remember saying this quite explicitly. People don't usually shoot people in an alley; or rather they do, and they shouldn't. I didn't summon the spirit until they shot at my projection, at which point I still wished to talk to them. It wasn't until they continued with the beating that I decided to call my fire spirit and scorch them and their cache of weapons.

>>Shen

Fi-yah spirit, flying into that niiiiiiight,
Fighting the real good fiiiiiiiiight....

>>Irreverent Fool

I'm still looking for a hacker who can track this idiot. I'm willing to pay good money to do so.

>>Shen

[HMHVV Hunter]

Shoulda done more than that.

No warning, no threatening. Just straight-for-the-throat attack.

As someone once posted: Shit or get off the pot. Instead of doing one or the other, you did both - and now the toilet seat's got a lotta brown on it.

Go all the way, or don't bother and leave the evil-hunting to the serious ones among us.

>>>Helios

[emo samurai]

You mean take over the gang? I try to steer people onto the right path, rather than push them through it.

>>Shen

[HMHVV Hunter]

No. I mean telling that fire spirit to burn more than just their weapons. If I have to spell it out any more clearly, you're a moron that doesn't deserve to be running the shadows.

>>>Helios

[emo samurai]

I tend to prefer to let people live. It's the humanitarian in me. If that's a problem, PM me any time and I will tell it to pay you a personal visit.

This seemed like the "least force" approach. Gangsters are people, too, and the only thing I wanted to take from them was the capacity to do violence. The threat of another visit from the demigod of fire should be more than enough to deter them from hurting people.

>>Shen

[James McMurray]

I missed the location of the encounter, but the point remains: violence towards violent people does not solve problems.

Most likely what you've done is inflame their pride. They'll stop out of fear for a little while and then start over again. You say you removed their ability to do violence, but you also say they were using bats and you burned guns. I'm assuming you didn't burn their arms and legs off, so they're still capable of punching and hitting.

Threats of violence are not a detterent. If they were then the death penalty would curtail crime and people wouldn't borrow money from loan sharks. All you've probably done is saved on boy a beating. But he will almost assuredly get another worse one some time in the future. When weak men cannot strike back at their tormentor (that would be you) they generally choose the next most convenient related target (that would be the boy).

You're a silly little man with silly little ideas, made dangerous by your awakening. Hopefully you'll wake up before this thing spirals out of control.

[emo samurai]

If I catch them doing anything wrong during my daily manifestations, then I'll burn them worse, possibly to death. Simple. And the reason people aren't so afraid of prison and guns is because prison's a building several miles away filled with people who can punch and kick about as well as you can, and most gangsters use guns every day. They can deal with both, or at least think they can. What they can't fathom, though, is pure flaming death. I think mr. embodiment of fire will do fine.

And I can always ask the boy what happened to him and help him disappear if there is a threat of reprisal. I'm good at telling if people are lying, so he's pretty much okay. I'm lending him a service from a bound spirit as we speak.

>>Shen

[James McMurray]

You just don't understand.

[Witness]

And so the eternal battle begins anew. 'Freedom to' versus 'freedom from'.
>>Witness

[emo samurai]

Well, there's the "freedom from" getting beaten that the child and all his friends will have. There's the "freedom to" walk around at night without fear of getting accosted by the gang that the locals now have. I don't see a conflict at all.

>>Shen

[Witness]

You will.
>>Witness

[emo samurai]

All the freedom I've taken from anyone is the gangsters' freedom to threaten people and feel awesome while defending "their" turf themselves. I don't think I'll ever feel concerned about that.

And James: "tormentor?" I'm touched.

You're just angry that I'm no longer a defeatist; I'm doing good work, and I've got all the bases covered.

>>Shen

[James McMurray]

You have very few of the bases covered, but I know that someone with your ego would never believe me when I tell you that.

And yes, you are a tormentor. When you torture someone with fire, you get to wear that dispicable title.

[emo samurai]

And is it any worse to allow that tormentor to beat up a child? You can't use the "He wanted it" argument this time. And which bases don't I have covered? I would really like to know; last time you told me about that, I lent the boy a spirit service to ensure his protection.

Torture is such an inaccurate term, in this case; "brand" is more like it.

[FanGirl]

Hey, that happened in my neighborhood! I admit that I didn’t see the confrontation in person, but I heard all about it through the grapevine. I gotta say that I appreciate that you were trying to do a nice thing, but because of what you did...well, things are probably going to get worse before they get better.

I’ll admit that the gang does some bad stuff, but the neighborhood would actually be less safe if they weren’t around. See, gangers are like the law-abiding at bottom: when the chips are down, their first priority is to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. Gangers are usually not looking for someone to beat up just for fun when they go patrolling—any sadistic pleasure the gang would get from assaulting random people is often outweighed by the potential vengeance they might attract from said random people. No, the gangers patrol for their security as well as ours—they’re going after muggers, rival gangers, and other potential threats to the safety and stability of our community.

When gangers do go after some poor undeserving slot, it’s usually for one of two reasons: either 1) he hasn’t been able to pay his taxes to them or 2) the gangers mistook him for a member of a rival gang encroaching on their turf. The latter was most likely true in your case: from what I heard, the kid was wearing the same kind of orange jacket that the Halloweeners wear. The kid most likely didn’t deserve what he got—I bet he borrowed the jacket from his older brother or something—but if the Halloweeners think that our gang is getting too lax, the prospect of invading our neighborhood will be much more attractive to them (the Halloweeners). I hate to let the violent assault of an innocent boy pass, but I must admit that it is preferable to the deaths of dozens of innocent boys (not to mention girls and adults) that would result from an all-out gang war.

So anyway...the fact that my neighborhood gang is now so vulnerable has made me very afraid for my safety. Again, I don’t always agree with the methods the gang uses, but at least they offer us some protection, which is more than can be said for the Star. You might not like the idea of rearming them, but I know I’ll start sleeping easier when they’ve replenished their stockpile. That’s why I’ve already paid next month’s taxes in advance and asked my fixer to keep an eye out for any cheap weaponry that might come on the market. I appreciate your idealism and I understand where it's coming from, but the next time you feel like unleashing your inner pyro, please remember that your rain might fall on the just as well as the unjust.

—FanGirl

[James McMurray]

She said it better than I could.

If you don't think that branding someone is torture, try it on yourself some time, then imagine it combining with fear.

[emo samurai]

I was being sarcastic; I also do that every so often, if a bit morbidly.

And like I said, if trouble comes, there is always Mr. Pyro there to help. Everybody loves Friendly Mr. Piro.

Maybe I'll give them their guns back; after maybe a month.

And if any rival gang attack en masse, I'll just have Mr. Pyro brand them and destroy their guns, except without the promise of protection by Mr. Pyro.

>>Shen

[James McMurray]

So yo will forever be on the lookout for those whose lives you wreck? Eventually you will run out of free time.

"Mr. Pyro" can't be there all the time, and they'll most likely be slaughtered before they think to call the guy that did this to them.

Face it. You screwed up. Your lack of foresight has put many lives in danger. Fixing the world is an admirable, albeit naive, goal. But you've shown that you don't fix it, you just act on your impulses without prior research.

[emo samurai]

"Mr. Pyro" can be summoned at any time with little to no effort and sent on a remote service from halfway across the UCAS. Here's how the emergency call works.

"Help!"

"Help is on the way!"

4 seconds later: "THE WORLD SHALL BURN WITH THE CORPSES OF THE UNWORTHY BLAAAARGHHH!!!"

And I said I'd give their weapons back after a month of good behavior and helping old ladies cross the street. I just haven't told them. If you tell them and I find out, it'll take a selfless act of self-sacrifice on their part before I give them their guns back. An act that involves death.

Besides, they threatened my life while I tried to ask them about the obviously questionable act of beating a young boy. They are stupid and violent and must be taught a lesson. Their lives are mine to socially engineer.

The gang should be safe, anyway. I had Mr. Pyro parade through the turf of the adjoining gangs accompanied by a watcher spirit announcing that they were under Mr. Pyro's protection.

>>Shen

[James McMurray]

Ah yes, the all too typical god complex associated with awakening. It would hold professional interest for me if it weren't so common.

You are absolutely right in saying that they need to have consequences for beating a child. Unfortunately your choice of consequences is likely to end in several more deaths, including innocents.

You still seem to think that they'll call you. Again, give me your address so I can burn it down, torture you, then leave behind a friendly note promising aid if you need it. Someone as divorced from reality as yourself might take that offer, but I can practically gaurantee you that nobody else will.

At first I though perhaps you could be saved from yourself, but it's quite obvious that you'll spiral out of control, viewing your life like God Mode in Doom XXI. I can only hope someone puts you down before you do more harm then you've already done.

[emo samurai]

So watching the child get beaten would count as spiraling into control? And if they get into trouble, they'll have no choice but to call on me. If they refuse to do so, it's their loss of life. Between the hourly sweeps and the intermittent visits from a spirit of Man with mind probe, I doubt much badness will go down. I'm not spying only on their gang.

And when we're using astral space, it's no-clip mode. Which is more or less accurate in this case, unless they get a wizgang to help them out, which is unlikely, since I'm told that they're quite unpopular. Most people seem to enjoy watching them be tormented, which is an unfortunate side effect. I'm breaking up inside, I swear.

>>Shen

I feel for you, man.

>>Irreverent Fool

I've got several hackers and a technomancer lined up, all of them ready to find you. The bidding started at 30,000 :nuyen: and is going down very slowly. I think I'll lose patience after about a day and actually pay them what they ask.

>>Shen