I like to people-watch. Sometimes I project into a crowd of people, seeing the faces they make when the laughs quiet and everyone turns back to their beers. Sometimes I like to have a clearer view of things and sit in the corner of the bar while invisible or disguised as just another gutter-rat, watching bemusedly the lively anarchy you all are so fond of. And sometimes I just sit in plain sight and look.

Why do I do it? It's not money; I never tell anyone what I see or even that I do this. Why do I do this?

Sure, there's morbid curiosity; people like to watch other people die, even when they hate their lives, but that's not it. There's self-interest, but I have no interest in using you people. It destroys the aesthetic distance, you see. There's voyeurism, but really, where you eat, drink, shower, and piss is not nearly so interesting as what I can see in your eyes when the lights die down. I just want to know, to see between the fine cracks in your facades that nobody can see until no-one's looking. No one but me.

So bluster all you want; wave your gun, drink your beers, have your little fights over who disrespected who. Sure, you fool some people, hell, you may fool everybody. But you don't fool me.

--Shen

You might want to instead focus your curiosity inwards, as you seem to be contradicting yourself. You say you cdon't care about other peoples' private lives, but then you go out of your way to intrude upon them.

There's a psychological theory that's been bandied around for generations called "projection." It describes the tendency for people to view the rest of the world through the eyes of their own psyche. Is it at all possible that you look outward for signs of humanity because you're afraid to look inward? Is your concern about seeing through other peoples' illusions steeped in the desire to see throguh your own?

Yes, people wear masks in public. They also wear them in private. Given that you yourself are a member of that lovely delusional and deluding bunch of organisms known as "people" do you really feel that this is not also something you do yourself?

I.... am CURED!!! This never really occurred to me before, that, in viewing people's unhappiness, I am most likely myself unhappy!

Also, my parents beat me when I was little, I was molested by a dragon, fell in love with a girl named Annabel who died of typhoid two months later when I was a boy, and don't remember these things because I have all my memories repressed! How did you know?

>>Shen

Ah, the "hide behind being an asshole" approach to self delusion. It's o.k. though, it just places you in the denial phase. After a few cycles through the process, if you're lucky, you'll come to grips with who you really are. It happens to us all, if we take the time to look inward.

If you'd ever care to talk about things, I'm always here. Or there are literally thousands of licensed professionals in the Seattle metroplex alone. Some of them are even good. I can suggest a few names.

I'm not saying you're crazy and need help. I'm saying that everyone can use a little introspection, and that introspection is best when accompanied by an outside viewpoint. A medical professional, girl/boyfriend, parent, or even just a good friend you can trust all work. Having spent years studying the human mind, I think professionals are better qualified to remark upon the human condition in general, but I am admittedly a bit biased.

So Shen, you lucky awakened you. How is it to read our emotions? How many of us are actually honest when they talk about feelings? How many are just emotionally disabled beeings faking feelings to participate in society?

How do you know what I think over the matrix, what with me shilling on Hawaii ATM?

-Gremlin (who would like to be a fire elementalist, if that term is correct)

It's strangely satisfying to know things about people they don't themselves want to know; depressing, yes, and it produces a feeling not unlike what you'd feel if you watched a live video feed of a cute little puppy dying on the other side of the world, but it nonetheless satisfies me in a way that few other people seem to need to be satisfied.

And to you, James. Denial would be my thinking that this makes me happy; I can say with considerable confidence that I am not. At best, it temporarily kills something that gnaws at me. Denial would also be saying that I can do anything but watch; that anything I would do to help them would really last and not be undone by everything dishonest and stupid in this world. Denial would mean ignoring this need to know despite all that powerlessness. So really, if you were me, what would you fragging do?

>>Shen

I would find something whose benefits to my life are more lasting. I would figure out what it is that gnaws at me and find a way to fix it. Otherwise you're doing no better than the people you seem to despise, hiding behind the things that work now because finding things that work now and later is too difficult.

It's not contempt; it's more an inner need to bear witness.

>>Shen

Bear witness to what? The factt hat people hide themselves fromt he world? Why is there a need to bear witness to something that's blatanty obvious to anyone with even a mild understanding of social behavior? Wouldn't it be better t instead focus the energies on trying to help people merge their inner and outer aspects into a stronger whole?

It's not just the sad faces people make in the middle of crowds; it's the hopes and fears that their tapestry of expressions betray, the unconscious desires and hates that can be gleaned from detailed observation that are individual to each person. Why biker A secretly loves runner A, how she's mistaken about runner A, how runner A may or may not be able to live up to her love, etc. etc.

I watched a woman die today, and I did nothing about it.

Let me give you some background. There's a BTL dealer who I will name Bob, the woman who I will name Clara, and me. Every week, when a local unnamed BTL dealer drops off his shipment, he opens his trunk before walking around to it. In these three seconds, she darts out of the alleyway and steals her bliss. These three seconds are the only times that she ever shows any sort of drive, any sort of life. I float in astral space and watch this all, lingering for some minutes afterwards to get a hint of what sorts of joys and tragedies that could possibly overcome the kind of life she lives. I can only imagine the sorts of things that drove her to this, and I can only hope that I am never right.

Today, things didn't happen the way they normally did. Bob had apparently been told about the missing BTL's and had extra safeguards installed. When Clara bent down to grab her weekly handful, an arc shot out and dropped her. Bob had a really sick sense of humor and decided to kill her while she was watching whatever it was she watched. Straight from heaven to hell. Very clever. She smiled even as her face exploded.

I should have done something. I could have summoned a spirit and taken her away; I could have manifested and distracted him long enough for her to crawl away; I could have even taken her to me and reassembled the broken fragments of her mind. But I didn't.

I have to stop this; I have to do something.

It seems at first a good thing to find you looking for the things you can do instead of the things you can watch. But it's also scary. While sometimes what is right and wrong is obvious, that is rarely the case in today's world.

What if that woman's life was so dismal she went through her weekly routine becuse she wanted to die and knew that Bob could be the instrument that wouldn't stop att he last second? Saving her at that point means you've destroyed her last attempts at escape. Do you then kill her when she explains?

In the end nothing you do to help the world will fill the void you are feeling now. All it will do is let you push aside those feelings for a little while. But when you go back to your bat cave at the end of the day you'll still have a dark spot in your soul.

Look inside for the things you need, and then you can take your healed psyche out into the world. Physician, heal thyself.

I have no right to make that choice for her, and I don't think she was in any position to make that choice for herself.

Every being has the right to choose the time of it own death, so long as that choice doesn't infringe upon the rights of others. By interfering in her life you remove that choice.

You have chosen to flee from yourself into the lives of others. She has chosen to do the exact same thing, except that her window into other lives is a technological bridge into her brain. Your window is an astral eye into the soul. You violate peoples' privacy and will soon begin meddling in the affairs of others. She only hurts herself.

Can you honestly consider yourself better than her and more capable of making her life choices for her?

How do you know that she got into that life out of choice and not despair? How do you know that she didn't just see a complete lack of options? How do you know that she couldn't have made her life better? No one ever sees every option; nobody ever knows all the ways they could improve their lives, and nobody can do everything for themselves. Humans are, paradoxically, driven by inertia. I am a testament to that.

I don't know that she didn't do any of those things, but neither do you know that she did.

Do you think it odd that this old woman, who it would seem has absolutely nothing to live for, would have the decency to keep her personal failings where they won't interfere with the lives of others?

Do you think it odd that you, who seemingly has much to live for, will not?

I think the entire point about the incident was that I DIDN'T interfere with her life; I regret it fully.

As for her lifestyle as a choice to "keep her personal failings where they won't interfere with the lives of others," wow. You are absolutely callous, and without even knowing about her life, you have denied any sort of value for it. You have only convinced me to "interfere" more.

To quote a wise woman: Shit or get off the pot!
Get your game on dude, because right now you might as well not be holding the controller.
>>ChunkyMonkey

Relax, it takes time to work up to the "Death-Wish Vigilante" stage of existential anxiety.

>>Irreverent Fool

There's 'death-wish vigilante' existential anxiety, and 'sit on your fat astral ass' existential angst, and then there's a whole spectrum in between. But hearing you piss and moan while letting some poor sucker cack it makes me grind my gnashers good and horrible. You're a disgrace is what you are.
>>ChunkyMonkey

Or to put it another, more delicate, way: ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing' (Burke).
>>Philophile

I'll see your Burke and raise you an Anon. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
>>Witness

I took out a gang today. Or rather, I debilitated its ability to do harm.

It started out as an experiment. A few gangsters were in an alley mugging a young boy, so I manifested and spoke to them, asking them why they did what they did. See how well they deal with the unknown yet harmless. I thought I would have a small chat with them about their purpose in life and everything.

They did what any rational man would do when confronted with a harmless projection of the metahuman form: they shot it without a word. So I summoned a very high-force fire spirit and instructed it to lightly burn every member of the gang and destroy their weapons cache while causing no collateral damage outside of their pile o' guns. I gave them a number they could call in case any rival gangs ever tried to seize the opportunity and attack them while they were unarmed; if they did, I'd summon another fire spirit and send it after the people giving them trouble. I also told them I'd check in from time to time to see if they simply downgraded from threatening people with guns to threatening people with bats. So now they're safe, and they can't mug people, either. Win-win.

I won't tell you which gang I hit up, both because I don't want them getting hurt and I don't want you to get your skin burned off.

I feel almost good about myself.

>>Shen

Maybe not that much time.

>>Irreverent Fool

If you think I was making judgements about the worthlessness of her life you should reread what I said. I was very clear that I don't know the circumstances of her life, only that she is free to choose her own death and she does not visit her ills upon others.

You sound as if you expected something different when a spirit materializes out of thin air in the middle of an armed group. These people live in a violent world. Not shooting first means dying, and appearing in someone's house or work is ample cause for self defense in most jurisdictions.

I hope you did your homework before this. Some gangs serve a purpose in stabilizing the area. It is possible that this gang's lack of an ability to defend itself adequately will draw other gangs into the area. The slaughter that results could easily take out some innocents when the bullets start to fly.

What if the new gang wants a larger amount of protection money, sells more drugs, or rapes more children?

Lack of action is indeed the way evil triumphs, but action without forethought can create evil on its own.

But at least you show signs of wanting to grow. Unfortunately you're growing outwards instead of inward. You can't fix the world if you yourself are broken.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

>>Shen

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

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

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.

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

You just don't understand.

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

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

You will.
>>Witness

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

"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

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.

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 and is going down very slowly. I think I'll lose patience after about a day and actually pay them what they ask.

>>Shen