Community Center Class: Psionics for the Headblind Herd [Monday Evening]

[icecoldfrost]

Today there was a table in the middle of the room, with something on it that, once, might have been an entire suit. Now, it was just bracers, gloves, boots, and a sort of diadem. There were also piles of empty medication bottles, per her discussion with Eliot, and a pot of coffee going.

"Psionics!" Emma said cheerfully from where she was sprawled in a nice, comfy chair. "If you have them, there's always a way to boost them. If you don't have them, there's always more reason to run screaming."

"Since next week we're going to focus on how to keep people out of your brain, as that's of interest to many of you, I thought this week it was only fair to show you some of the ways I can cheat and try to up my own power levels to get past whatever extra tricks people try to use."

Yes, Emma had already had coffee. You were welcome.

"The most obvious one is, of course, chemical," she said, pointing at the various empty bottles. "No, I didn't take the entire bottle at once, that would be stupid. Yes, I have tried all of them in the interests of science, in a controlled atmosphere." Translation: With Hank Babysitting the Telepath. "If you are a minor, do not do drugs. Your brain is still developing and that is not the time for experimentation. If you are an adult, do not do drugs in a stupid manner. Safety first."

"For the record, caffeine counts as a drug!" Emma pointed at the coffee pot. "Some of my best work has been done on coffee and coffee alone. Never underestimate the fully legal if terrible idea options of boosting energy, like mixing Red Bull and coffee. It's disgusting. It also works miracles."

"Last, but far from least, is technological. This--" Emma gestured to the tech on the table, "--is a reworked Hostile Environment Suit, colloquially called a 'Ghost Suit.' The Ghost Suit originates from another universe, and was a gift to me from a teacher back when I was a student." And oh, how Emma missed Kerrigan so badly most days. "The original suit came with a form-fitting suit to be worn underneath, which is interwoven with an advanced circuitry system that covers the entire body apart from the head, which could interfere with the psion's powers. In addition to an adjustable temperature setting, it is laced with a form of psi-sensitive artificial muscle fiber which augments their natural physical strength and endurance, and helps the Ghosts channel their psionic energy."

"Many ghost suits feature a personal cloaking device, allowing the ghost to render him or herself invisible. The device works in conjunction with the suit, as its outermost layer contains synthetic cells that, under psionic stiumuli, refract light to synergize with the device, and making the user invisible to the naked eye. The amount of time this is able to be used is limited by the amount of psionic energy available, meaning it depends on the wearer." Emma got out of her chair to walk over to the table and place her hand on one bracer, which responded with a pulse of gold light cascading along the armor. "This suit has been re-keyed to my genetic signature. No other psion would be able to use it."

"There are, of course, other, smaller, ways to technologically enhance psionics, such as cybernetic implants, but I do not recommend putting electronics in your brain. Too many ways it can go wrong."

"These methods of temporary enhancement do not make up for regular training, and when used by an inexperienced psion, may actually give you an advantage." Emma offered a crooked grin. "A telepath high on pot is easily distracted, for one. Or bribed with cookies."

"Feel free to pick things up and handle them, and ask me questions. If you try to take anything apart, I will hurt you." Yes, Emma was serious. "It took two years and two geniuses to work that Ghost Suit into the new configuration to fit me better."

Comments

Sign-In

[icecoldfrost]

With a boost!

Re: Sign-In

[suitably_heroic]

Atton Rand

Re: Sign-In

[furnaceface]

Jono Starsmore

Re: Sign-In

[vdistinctive]

Eliot Spencer

During the Lecture

[icecoldfrost]

Take notes, pass notes, wonder if your teacher took any drugs pre-class... (she didn't)

Re: During the Lecture

[suitably_heroic]

After the weekend he'd had, Atton was actually distracted today-- which was why he looked like he was paying some genuine attention to Emma during the lecture, his hands preoccupied with the idle reshuffling of a pazaak deck.

Re: During the Lecture

[furnaceface]

Jono was paying careful attention to that suit, contemplating if it would be at all possible to figure out what parts tapped into one's telepathic abilities in order to turn around and mimic that technology in his old collar.

Of course... he wasn't about to go touching Emma's toys, either. He didn't figure she was any more willing to share her toys than he was willing to let people poke at his.

Activity: Enhancements!

[icecoldfrost]

Pick stuff up, ask Emma if she's got blueprints of her Ghost Suit, read the labels on the different pill bottles, ask her honest questions about her chemical experimentation!

[OOC: For those of you that are StarCraft fans, Emma's suit is the same type as Nova's, but experimented on by her and Dark Beast to create something better suited to Emma's form of telepathy (and no boobplate).]

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[furnaceface]

//The suit,// Jono mused, leaning over it thoughtfully. //That's... it's bloody fascinating. Do you know much about what makes it work?//

He really, really missed flying, and was at least somewhat certain his old tech could be re-worked to tap into his psionic abilities as both a control system and a power source. So sue him.

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[icecoldfrost]

"Some," Emma said, coming over to stand by him. "Most from what Kerrigan taught me, the rest from Hank and I attempting to reverse engineer things or adapt them to suit me instead of someone from her world, and the fun explosions that happen when you have the two of us working on any projects. I'm the better engineer of the two of us, while he's the geneticist, so we've been able to do some mapping. Not nearly as much as we could do if we had the original design schematics."

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[furnaceface]

Jono nodded a little, glancing back at her thoughtfully.

//I've been thinking of attempting to rework my collar, or at least make a variant on it, that'll work alongside my current power-set,// he explained. //Starting to miss flying. But I haven't the first clue where to start, when it comes to making it work with psi-controls.//

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had enough trouble with contemporary tech from his own world, thanks very much, so he was skipping the suit. He was going to take a look at those pill bottles, though.

You never knew when a handful of interesting chemicals might come in handy. Which was precisely the sort of reasoning that had him stealing psychotropic sedatives in Bogotá. Which had, naturally, then come in handy on a con a few years back, so. . . .

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[icecoldfrost]

"Never mix these two unless you don't want to sleep for a week," Emma offered, tapping two of the bottles. "You'll possibly be hallucinating by the end of it, but you'll still be awake."

"...for Science."

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded, making a mental note of the items she pointed out. "Can't say I'd ever tried mixing them. Thanks for the heads up."

He'd had weeks where not sleeping at all might've helped out. Even possibly hallucinating.

RE: Activity: Enhancements!

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison's was practically itching to get his hands on that suit. Future tech from another universe? You couldn't make it any more up his alley if you covered it in gummy frogs and orange soda.

In fact, if you tried that, he'd probably be moved to violence because you just did not do that to tech that beautiful!

So instead he kept his hands firmly in his pockets while he eyeballed the heck out of that suit, brain cycling through a hundred different possibilities about how it worked.

"I don't suppose you have anything about the suit, do you?" he asked. "Like...specs, or a manual, or whatever?" He wasn't going to ask about blueprints. Surely the universe didn't love him that much.

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[icecoldfrost]

"You can pick it up and look it over, just don't take it apart. I spent two years reworking that bastard to best optimize my powers, and it's the only way I've got any access to TK in the slightest," Emma warned. "Their psis tend to be high on the TK scale and low on telepathy, so my partner and I had to figure out how to tweak some of it."

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked Hardison over warily. "Why?"

Paranoid Emma was Paranoid, thanks, and that was why she'd lived this long. It wasn't personal.

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal was intrigued by the suit, but that was hardly his area of expertise. Instead he was going to look at the drugs and work out how they might affect telepathy.

"You mentioned many telepaths also have OCD to some extent. Do traditional SSRIs and other methods work to help control that, or do they also affect your telepathy?"

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[icecoldfrost]

"They affect my telepathy as well, most drugs do," Emma replied. "Other telepaths may have different reactions, but I'm lucky in that my OCD behaviors were at their most extreme immediately prior to and during my powers appearing. It tends to show up now in my perfectionism, or as part of coping strategies when under duress, but I don't usually need to touch everything anymore." Her smile was slightly crooked. "I don't need to reassure myself constantly that things are real, physical, to keep from going out of my head. Better control over my powers abated it, which makes me wonder if it's a wiring in the brain, to train telepaths in grounding themselves before we start hearing voices."

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[nuclear_snide]

Bob squinted at the suit. "So, you wear this thing, and it makes your telepathy stronger?"

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[icecoldfrost]

"It makes me better, faster, stronger," she quipped. "Boosts my telepathy, allows me to go invisible without altering someone's mind, and gives me access to basic telekinesis, which is sadly not part of my usual powers set."

Re: Activity: Enhancements!

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker was looking around avidly. "Where's the chocolate?"

Zing! went her brain. PING! went her attention.

Talk to Miss Frost

[icecoldfrost]

Before or after class.

Re: Talk to Miss Frost

[bitten_notshy]

Jack came by after class with two coffees. (They might have been enriched at the bar. He wasn't telling.)

"Good class today, Miss Frost?"

Re: Talk to Miss Frost

[icecoldfrost]

"I brought toys, Mr. Priest," she said smugly, accepting the coffee and taking a long (appreciative!) sip and raising an eyebrow at him. It was totally enriched from the bar. This was one of the many reasons she liked him. "It's always a good day when I bring my toys."

OOC

[icecoldfrost]

This class is divinely inspired by dreaming about video games, and remembering stuff from 2011. WOO.