Some of the more well-established council members certainly feel that way - though I have the benefit of having distinguished myself in the last two wars.
[ Is it really a benefit, though? Only time will tell. ]
But what I was thinking about was my being a Coordinator. Even now, there are a lot of people who want my kind dead.
Cuz you're different from 'em, right? But they're weaker, yeah? So shouldn't it be the other way 'round? If it's not now it'll be that way eventually. That's how it was in my world. The first quirk users were shunned but now it's the quirkless who are at the bottom of society.
Quirk is the name of special abilities in your world, yes?
[ It seems pretty clear from context, but like... just to make sure. ]
The situation between Naturals and Coordinators remains.. complex, to say the least. Initially, Naturals reacted violently to the first generation of Coordinators. Many were killed in the resulting panic. Our immune systems might be better, but we are not immune to simple and plain violence.
Coordinators formed their own space colony country to escape the violence and prejudice. That's the PLANTs, my home. Tensions were high, but it was a terrorist attack on a peace conference that set off hostilities. Believing Coordinators to be responsible, the Naturals eradicated one of our colonies. 243,721 civilians died as a consequence.
The resulting wave of anti-Natural sentiment brought Patrick Zala into power, a man who believed Coordinators to be a separate, advanced and inherently superior race. Such foolish thought... How can he call us a species when we can't even keep reproducing on our own?
[ Lacus shakes her head, and takes another sip of tea. ]
I apologize, I do not mean to bore you. The fact is that yes, there are genocide advocates on both sides.
Sounds more like an evolution to me. And yeah, though they used to be called meta abilities too.
[ Crazy though, bc all of this sounds familiar but also not. ]
With my world, it's more that society is built around heroes who do things for the "greater good", but also profit, fame, and all of that. Which is whatever, but they cling to the belief that things are better for everyone this way. They ignore the stuff like people marrying to produce "perfect" off spring, or shunning those with "unattractive" quirks like mutants who have reptilian traits and all that. Not to mention people like me who just can't and won't play nice.
My quirk lets me decay anything I touch. [ Rather than explain more, he downs the rest of his tea, and without changing his grip on the cup at all, makes it disintegrate into non-descript gray ash. ]
[ Well, this explains a lot about the sentiments he'd voiced before. What a world, what a society... And while things like the prevalence of 'heroes' sound completely made up and alien to Lacus, there's still a lot in here that she can understand painfully well.
And theeeen he disintegrates a tea cup. For a second, Lacus is the perfect image of the :o face. ]
Oh? Too bad! [ says Mr. Pink. ]
[ Lacus leans forward to look at the ash, hovering her finger over it with a questioning look. Is that safe to touch? ]
I can see how that would scare others. Looks like we are both from worlds ruled by genetics even though they shouldn't be.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against quirk research or experiments either. [ A particularly knowing smile and a nod to her look. ]
My beef is way more personal, but that's a story I don't feel like tellin' now.
[ There's a lot wrong with current society regardless. ]
But yeah, they do. The first quirk was a baby born in China who could glow. A pretty useless quirk, but they popped up in more kids born after that, and the more they mix the more powerful they get. First gen might have had somethin' like the ability to create a spark of fire if they clapped their hands together real hard. Current gen can create an inferno with the same amount of effort.
[ At the nod, she does run her index finger through the ash pile. She's not sure what she's expecting from the experience, it's just that... Moments ago there was a solid object here and now it is not, she feels like she needs to feel that to actually internalize it. It's a terrifying power. ]
Then you're the complete opposite of Coordinators, after all.
[ And that is fascinating in its own right. Lacus leans back again, expression now deeply thoughtful. ]
The first generation of Coordinators was created artificially. "Designer babies", often made to their parents' specific aesthetic specifications. When Coordinators have children, they naturally pass on their enhanced traits, but the more generations of Coordinators there are, the lower the fertility rate. Left to our own devices, isolated and only reproducing among ourselves, we would simply die out.
I'm beginning to understand why we seem to talk about so much of the same, and yet such different things.
[ The ash is fairly fine and smooth and it's almost pleasant to touch, which is ironic in itself. ]
Huh. We have designer babies too, but it's more 'bout pairing off "complimentary" quirks. The current number one hero married his wife so he could have kids with both fire and ice quirks. He had three kids before the last one finally came out "right".
So yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Do you have any mutations among Coordinators? Kids who get a power that's not related to either of their parents.
[ Glowing, decaying... Fire and ice... Quirks really do sound like they come straight out of a superhero story, something the kids at the beach house might have liked to read. It's disturbing to think about them in such realistic terms. ]
Hmm.. not really. Second and third generation abilities kind of even out into more general 'advancements' like better health, higher physical performance, better memorization... Things of that nature.
But in the days of the first generation being made, there were often incidents where children didn't come out the way parents had specified. Natural birth isn't as forward as entering data on a computer screen after all. People blamed the mothers for it.
Man the current number one would fit right into your world! I'd offer to send him there if I wasn't gonna just kill him first. People will blame whoever they can that isn't themselves, no matter the world I guess.
[ ...eugenics smh. Though again, his issues aren't so cut and dry as that. ]
I asked cuz that's what I am. A rare mutation or whatever, neither of my parents quirks were related at all. That's why my hair and eyes are like this too.
[ Please do not hand her any more weird eugenicists, yes. She has enough of those on hand already. ]
... based on all you told me, I'm going to guess that caused you a lot of trouble.
[ Putting it mildly. Lacus can't say she thinks his hair and eyes look unusual to her, but it's not about what she considers normal. It's about what his parents, his teachers, his neighbors might have seen. ]
Well lookin' like this didn't happen until my quirk awakened. Fully, actually which was pretty recent. But yeah I mean, it's not like anyone knows when a kid will get their quirk, though it's usually when they're three. I was pretty late, so I think my parents thought I was quirkless.
One minute you're mindin' your own business, the next everything is turning into ash all around you.
[ She's just been thinking how depressing it'd be, to live a life in which you're always physically removed from everyone else. Another line of thought he wouldn't want and wouldn't agree with. Unfortunately, sympathy is just hard to turn off entirely. ]
... do you?
[ Though 'should' is not the most encouraging word. ]
Of course. I certainly have no plans of breaking your boundaries in that regard.
[ If he'd decided to pose this as another test, Lacus would have offered her hand despite the nervous pounding in her heart. But not having to take this test of courage right now is just as well. ]
[ Mr. Pink, flapping his little ears: ] I'll do my best!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ He's on the same thought as her, but it still is interesting. ]
Lemme guess they discount you because of your age too?
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Some of the more well-established council members certainly feel that way - though I have the benefit of having distinguished myself in the last two wars.
[ Is it really a benefit, though? Only time will tell. ]
But what I was thinking about was my being a Coordinator. Even now, there are a lot of people who want my kind dead.
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[ Finally he takes the smallest sip of tea. ]
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[ It seems pretty clear from context, but like... just to make sure. ]
The situation between Naturals and Coordinators remains.. complex, to say the least. Initially, Naturals reacted violently to the first generation of Coordinators. Many were killed in the resulting panic. Our immune systems might be better, but we are not immune to simple and plain violence.
Coordinators formed their own space colony country to escape the violence and prejudice. That's the PLANTs, my home. Tensions were high, but it was a terrorist attack on a peace conference that set off hostilities. Believing Coordinators to be responsible, the Naturals eradicated one of our colonies. 243,721 civilians died as a consequence.
The resulting wave of anti-Natural sentiment brought Patrick Zala into power, a man who believed Coordinators to be a separate, advanced and inherently superior race. Such foolish thought... How can he call us a species when we can't even keep reproducing on our own?
[ Lacus shakes her head, and takes another sip of tea. ]
I apologize, I do not mean to bore you. The fact is that yes, there are genocide advocates on both sides.
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[ Crazy though, bc all of this sounds familiar but also not. ]
With my world, it's more that society is built around heroes who do things for the "greater good", but also profit, fame, and all of that. Which is whatever, but they cling to the belief that things are better for everyone this way. They ignore the stuff like people marrying to produce "perfect" off spring, or shunning those with "unattractive" quirks like mutants who have reptilian traits and all that. Not to mention people like me who just can't and won't play nice.
My quirk lets me decay anything I touch. [ Rather than explain more, he downs the rest of his tea, and without changing his grip on the cup at all, makes it disintegrate into non-descript gray ash. ]
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And theeeen he disintegrates a tea cup. For a second, Lacus is the perfect image of the :o face. ]
Oh? Too bad! [ says Mr. Pink. ]
[ Lacus leans forward to look at the ash, hovering her finger over it with a questioning look. Is that safe to touch? ]
I can see how that would scare others. Looks like we are both from worlds ruled by genetics even though they shouldn't be.
Did 'quirks' occur naturally?
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My beef is way more personal, but that's a story I don't feel like tellin' now.
[ There's a lot wrong with current society regardless. ]
But yeah, they do. The first quirk was a baby born in China who could glow. A pretty useless quirk, but they popped up in more kids born after that, and the more they mix the more powerful they get. First gen might have had somethin' like the ability to create a spark of fire if they clapped their hands together real hard. Current gen can create an inferno with the same amount of effort.
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Then you're the complete opposite of Coordinators, after all.
[ And that is fascinating in its own right. Lacus leans back again, expression now deeply thoughtful. ]
The first generation of Coordinators was created artificially. "Designer babies", often made to their parents' specific aesthetic specifications. When Coordinators have children, they naturally pass on their enhanced traits, but the more generations of Coordinators there are, the lower the fertility rate. Left to our own devices, isolated and only reproducing among ourselves, we would simply die out.
I'm beginning to understand why we seem to talk about so much of the same, and yet such different things.
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Huh. We have designer babies too, but it's more 'bout pairing off "complimentary" quirks. The current number one hero married his wife so he could have kids with both fire and ice quirks. He had three kids before the last one finally came out "right".
So yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Do you have any mutations among Coordinators? Kids who get a power that's not related to either of their parents.
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Hmm.. not really. Second and third generation abilities kind of even out into more general 'advancements' like better health, higher physical performance, better memorization... Things of that nature.
But in the days of the first generation being made, there were often incidents where children didn't come out the way parents had specified. Natural birth isn't as forward as entering data on a computer screen after all. People blamed the mothers for it.
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[ ...eugenics smh. Though again, his issues aren't so cut and dry as that. ]
I asked cuz that's what I am. A rare mutation or whatever, neither of my parents quirks were related at all. That's why my hair and eyes are like this too.
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Please do not hand her any more weird eugenicists, yes. She has enough of those on hand already.]... based on all you told me, I'm going to guess that caused you a lot of trouble.
[ Putting it mildly. Lacus can't say she thinks his hair and eyes look unusual to her, but it's not about what she considers normal. It's about what his parents, his teachers, his neighbors might have seen. ]
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One minute you're mindin' your own business, the next everything is turning into ash all around you.
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Horrifying context. Being a child and suddenly destroying your surroundings, not yet accustomed to your powers... ]
You had to learn to control it, then. How long did that take...?
[ How long has this little boy been a horrifying hazard to everyone around? ]
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[ He doesn't look bothered by it and even grins a bit. At some point you get used to your life being a disaster. ]
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It makes Lacus sad to imagine how much pain Tomura must have endured over the course of this, but she knows he's not looking for sympathy. ]
And now it's on command? If you wanted to touch someone without destroying them, you could?
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[ A beat. ]
Why, do you wanna try?
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[ She's just been thinking how depressing it'd be, to live a life in which you're always physically removed from everyone else. Another line of thought he wouldn't want and wouldn't agree with. Unfortunately, sympathy is just hard to turn off entirely. ]
... do you?
[ Though 'should' is not the most encouraging word. ]
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No. I'm not like Ho-oh but I'm still not big on bein' all touchy feely.
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[ If he'd decided to pose this as another test, Lacus would have offered her hand despite the nervous pounding in her heart. But not having to take this test of courage right now is just as well. ]
[ Mr. Pink, flapping his little ears: ] I'll do my best!
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If you decide to break something and don't tell me first, it'll hurt my feelings.
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[ Slightly tongue in cheek, complete with the shocked hand on her cheek. ]
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Sure would be. Anyway, I can't stay and chat too long. Got anythin' else you wanna ask?
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[ Though that means she can go to bed and maybe not be conspicuously tired tomorrow... ]
Then one question: which game in the Arcade should I try getting decent at?
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That depends. Is this to play against me or to beat everyone else?
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