Hurrah! New stuff!
So continues Solution’s origin story…
Summary
After about an hour or two in solitary confinement, it became clear to Kalissa that this wasn’t about punishing her. They put up a big show, made it seem like she would never been seen again, then just stuffed her in a little box for a night. That wasn’t the punishment; the punishment had been dragging her out in full view of the cafeteria to be held up as an example for all around. Let the uncertainty scare them into submission.
Typical tactics for a totalitarian dictatorship. Honestly, these ‘heroes’ lack of self-awareness defied all reason.
The game of cops and robbers went a lot better than Kalissa had expected, considering the name. Especially after she had been placed on the side of the cops. Managed to get control over her team, and used her tactical knowledge to secure a victory, leading up to the moment when she had her enemy, in this scenario being Reese, at her mercy. Then immediately shooting her with very little fanfare.
She needed victory. Reese would understand.
She actually did have fun with it. Her memories of her parents training her came through, just as it did when she fought the speedster earlier. Her victory was immediately soured by the instructor’s next words. “The cops win, as they always should.” Everything felt cold for a second. There wasn’t a rush of rage that seemed to come over the others; instead, she felt a chilling bitterness. Kalissa, for a moment, wanted to kill that instructors. Not the same way that the others talked about it, raging and fuming, heat of the moment. She seriously and consciously thought about killing the instructor in that moment.
Cops should always win. Nevermind that their oppressors in that prison were practically cops. Corrupt, horrid humans with selfishness and fear at their core. Miserable piles of secrets and lies, caring not for the pain and affliction they cast on others so long as their own insecurities were tucked away. Ancient progenitors who’s greatest achievement would be the production of their offspring, and chose to hold those offspring down rather than accept their fate with dignity. When all the world needed was for them to all just die!
In the following scenes, she grew a little closer to the various other inmates, learning a bit about them to help them stand out from each other and actually have a presence in her mind. Kalissa learned that Timmi was a good cook, and got a bit of insight into her mind as well as a tid-bit of advice; befriend the little folk and downtrodden. The question about the worst thing Kalissa had ever done was a bit out of nowhere, but she answered honestly; petty crime, robbery and the like (after all, murder didn’t count if it was humans).
Also talking with Trenton, learning about his hobby of photography. Ending up becoming an accidental model; she felt a little flattered by it. He took a good photo.
Even if it was a bit of a girly thing to want, she could stand to be complimented more often.
Of course, she could never be allowed to forget her situation. It came into her face when she walked by that locked room and saw the guards go inside. Hearing the screams coming from within created a pit in her stomach. She felt chills go over her again, though not the same as when Katrina mis-spoke earlier. This was the coldness of pure, genuine horror. As those screams echoed through her mind, one thought accompanied them.
“They’re killing us in there.” None of the usual rage or hatred accompanied the thought. For the first time since arriving, she was truly horrified.
She was so shaken that when she ran into Katrina, she couldn’t even be angry. The instructor was crying over how she couldn’t seem to get to her kids, completely overlooking the horror show that they were being subjected to and failing to even understand why they might be angry with her. Though for some reason, even when thinking these thoughts, Kalissa just felt hollow.
The feeling stuck with her the next day, when Katrina asked them that question. “What role to mutants have in society?”
"Nothing. We’re not part of your society…Humans have made it clear that mutants, heroes and villains alike, don’t belong in their world. And which one of us can argue that?..To much mutant blood has been spilled because we tried to get humans to accept us. Who wants to be part of a society that hates them anyway?”
I have nothing to add there. That was a good scene.
When it came time to make their move and rescue Jordan’s friend, Kalissa felt alive for the first time in a while. No more empty gestures of defiance that ultimately amounted to nothing. She finally felt like she was doing more to fight than be a small annoyance to a pack of bullies. Made even better when they came up on the others attempting their own attacks against the chains that bound them. After some disagreement at the start, Kalissa was able to convince them all to settle down with a very loud argument, and they started working toward their common goal.
Mutants, working together. Helping each other against the common enemy. As it should be.
Then the next day the attack happened. No idea what. She was confused and running around, saved someone who was trapped since she wasn’t sure if it was a mutant or not and wasn’t willing to take the chance of letting a sister die. When she saw the guards, she kind of assumed they were doing some kind of extermination, and booked it in the opposite direction. Jumped out a window just to get away.
Maybe to freedom, maybe to death. No idea what was coming next, and there was something liberating in that.
In the midst of all the chaos and strife, she felt more free than ever.
Do note: the philosophies and opinions of the above origin story are for role-playing purposes only. I am very pro-police and am strongly opposed to the genocide of all human life.
I can tell you’re improving a lot when it comes to character interactions. It took a while but faces are starting to come to mind whenever I see a name show up on the screen. A few of them I’m even able to remember what I think about them; mainly Joran, Timmi, and Charlotte.
Still can’t remember whether they’re outcasts or villains though.
(Side note: I can’t see the pictures on the character sheets. Except Reese at the top, all of them are tiny little black boxes with an x in them).
I, personally, am starting to feel really bad for the instructor. She reminds me a lot of my mom; a teacher who clearly cares about her kids. The problem is that she’s dealing with kids and circumstances that are way outside of what she normally deals with and it’s causing a lot of friction with them, especially when she slips up with phrases like ‘cops should always win’ without thinking about how a group of criminals would react to that.
I can kind of picture her profile on Kalissa: “Her sense of morality is complicated. She is very altruistic and puts the needs of others above her own, jumping into danger to protect other people, however this only seems to apply to mutants. Her view of humans is extraordinarily negative, even compared to other villains. While they seem to want to separate themselves from humans, she’s not content with that; she would settle for nothing less that the extermination of all human life on the planet. And yet, she’s still the same person who would give her life to save a fellow mutant, even if she didn’t know them.
Kalissa could be described as an idealist. At her core, she’s a person who sees something wrong with the world, and wants to change it. If the world doesn’t make sense; break it and rearrange the pieces until it does. If only that idealism could be re-arranged into something less…evil.”
Actually, I think that’s more my assessment than Katrina’s. Her’s would probably be more sympathetic but a lot more negative.
I’m finding it pretty easy to get invested in all this. It’s not often I get to play as an idealist whose only moral flaw is that she wants to kill all humans. It also helps that I’m starting to get pretty attached to these side characters, and that room with the screaming was legitimately kind of horrifying. It is seriously easy advocating for the extermination of human life in this game, though the inclusion of the cooks and janitors that Timmi mentioned does help make the game a bit more grounded in reality rather than a rollercoaster for all that is morally wrong with humanity. Little hints that there are humans who don’t deserve to die.
Never thought I would need a reminder of that.