Michael Garibaldi ((B5, application, open rp))

[chief_michael]

Just five more minutes. He had five more minutes before his shift was over and he’d be able to retreat to his quarters with a hot pizza and 4 or 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Things were finally going his way.. which had him worried. Because when things went his way, it meant that something was gonna go wrong, something always went horribly,

Comments

[psycho_vertue]

Diana arched an eyebrow up at the man, hands in her coat pocket and standing like she owned the castle. If one stood near her, they might have picked up on the aura of psionic energy that usually radiated off of her like excess heat--then again, they might not have. This place seemed to be wreaking havoc with her, she'd noted, much to her annoyance.

"What's this about renegade telepaths?" Her voice, harsh and ruined, could have been genuinely curious or borderline hostile. It was hard to tell with her, sometimes.

[chief_michael]

No gloves, no badge and no PsiCorp emblem. If she was asking with that sort of attitude, it could only mean one thing. Telepath on the run. Briefly, Garibaldi wondered if he had some sort of ‘kick me’ sign on his back.

“I mean telepaths on the run from the Corps. They tend to filter through the station and most of ‘em don’t cause a problem. It’s the ones that spend their time in the Zocalo, cheat at gambling, start fights or illegally scan people and generally make life difficult that I have to worry about. Believe me, I don’t like calling that sneaky son of a bitch Bester any more than telepaths like seeing him.”

[psycho_vertue]

If she had poked around in his head and picked up on his thoughts, she would have laughed. Diana was done running, and she was definitely not a team player.

However, she didn't make it a habit of rifling around in peoples' heads unless they gave her a reason to, so she kept her mind to herself.

"Let me guess. This Corps takes esper--telepath, whatever--kids away from their families, trains them up, puts them to work, and they get treated like tools and thrown away when they're not useful anymore." She narrowed her sharp blue eyes in consideration. "And the ones who get out of the system have to be stopped so the others don't get ideas. Am I close?"

[chief_michael]

If she had bothered to try and scan surface thoughts, the only thing Diana would have picked out were old snippets of songs or math problems running through his head. It wasn't enough to stop a deep scan by a telepath, but he was in the habit of doing it whenever he was around one. Just incase. Paranoia came with the job.

"Look lady, it wasn't my idea. PsiCorps is for all human telepaths, it's a way to keep them regulated so they don't run around scanning people whenever they choose and using the information how they see fit. I don't like PsiCops any more than anyone else, but I also don't trust the average human any further than I can drop kick them. The average telepath? Probably a little less."

"Lately John's been letting some of the rogue telepaths hide out in Down Below. They keep their head down and keep quiet, I don't have a problem. It's the ones that think they can ride all over mindblind people that I wind up having a problem with."

[psycho_vertue]

Once upon a time, Diana had been just a normal esper--a telepath, actually. Since then, she had been touched by the Mater Mundi, and it had left her an uber-esper, with more powers than she should have had without them burning her brain into cinders and more power to back them up than any person should have.

She had become quite comfortable with that, but then something had plucked her up and set her down here and now, and they had been on the fritz ever since. It was like trying feel through a wet woolen blanket, and it had done nothing at all for her already fiddly temper.

She narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin. "Okay. You have a kid, maybe four or five years old. One of them comes and tells you that they'll be taking that kid away for their own good and the benefit of the state. You know what you do about how they operate, and what happens to the ones who work outside of the rules. What do you do?"

[chief_michael]

"Nope. Not answering a question that has two wrong answers," he said, waggling a finger at her. "Are the PsiCorps a benevolent organization working for the betterment of all? Hell no. Do they train telepaths to use their abilities and shut out the voices so they don't lose their minds? Yes."

"Look, both options suck, okay? You live with the Corps, you do it all their way. You live on the run, you have to live below the radar and off the grid as much as possible. Neither one is the better choice, but so long as a rogue telepath doesn't cause trouble on the station, I got no problem with them."

Well, not entirely.

[psycho_vertue]

"So what are you going to do, keep your kid in a box forever? Something's going to have to happen. You're the responsible one, you have to pick. Tool to be used forever and ever until they use it all up, or a life on the run? Choose. Quick, go go go." The shadows around her deepened slightly, sharpening her already harsh face.

[chief_michael]

God he hated hypotheticals.

"I take them to the Underground Railroad. I still have a few contacts on Mars and on the station that would be able to do a hell of a lot better by some telepathic kid than I ever could. Then they can grow up and make their own damn decisions."

Hell, he had trouble keeping his own life together, much less worrying about anyone else's.

Vote: Gryffindor

[psycho_vertue]

The shadows vanished as if a light had been turned on and Diana smiled cheerily. "You can stay," she said, casting her vote. "Watch out for the staircases. They move around on their own."

Re: Vote: Gryffindor

[chief_michael]

He pinched the bridge of his nose again. If this got any weirder, his head might explode.

"Right, staircases. Moving. Got it."