A visitor

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

Ms. Elisabeth Braddock arrived at the mansion today and will be staying with us for a while. For those of you not familiar with her, she currently works with The Snow Valley Memorial Center for Mutant Affairs and is a former Xavier's staff member.

Some of you may recognize her as having been involved in the Genosha incident earlier this year due to programming similar to that used in the mutate process. However, the professor and I have both confirmed that there are no lasting effects. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to myself or Professor Xavier.

Comments

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, yeah, I have concerns.

She's a freaking powerful telepath. Sure, the prof and the doc and all are too but are you really, really sure that she's fully deprogrammed and that there's nothing left behind that will come out one day, when we're least expecting it and our guard has gone down?

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

Yes. The professor and I both have long-standing baselines from which to judge. All scans clear, and there is no reason to believe the deprogramming was any less effective on her than it was on any of the others residents subjected to the process. The Genoshan architecture is gone.

However, if it makes you feel better you can come to my office and I'll be happy to share a complete list of current and former residents who have at one point been made to act in ways contrary to their nature, judgement, or perception of reality so you can be fully prepared in case of an emergency. (Bring your own paper.)

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

That would be good. I'll be down in a few minutes.

It just occurs to me that if I were doing that kind of thing, I'd leave hooks behind, really small ones, things that you might not have noticed because how often do you really go through her entire mind? Stuff that doesn't even freaking look Genoshan, so that you can get back in there later on, when you think you might need a powerful telepath who is you know. Connected to people.

Hell, if I was doing it, I'd have made sure that all the people who got mutated had hooks left in them, too, just in case, since hey, they didn't much like us, did they?

I bet, I bet, if you were a telepath, you could leave some sort of back door and hide it under the fact that they're all behaving a bit differently now, because they're traumatised. Hell, make it a thing that needs to be activated before it does anything.

I'll bring my paper.

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

The Genoshans didn't use a telepath; it was more of an organic hardwire, as I understand it. And the answer to how often one goes through an entire mind is: At least once, if that person has been under some sort of suggestion and control. We do take that seriously. I did have contact Ms. Braddock's mind when she was under that influence and there is a very distinct feel to the Genoshan's process.

There is a chance something was missed or unrecognizable to us, but I consider it very, very small. In addition to our knowledge of the Mistra programming the professor and myself dealt with a variant of the mutate process some years ago. This is not a new issue for us.

However, if you see any behavior that you consider strange, yes, I would advise reporting it to the staff.

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm kind of relieved to know that they didn't use a telepath.

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

It's impractical if you're going for mass-production, apparently. And telepathic conditioning can usually be breached with sufficient time. It is my understanding that the most developed version of the mutate process could not.

Fortunately, it was also much easier to remove cleanly. At least if you had the right tools.

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

It is? Why?

Do you think you've got some time to sit down and explain all that part of it to me?

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

I don't have the scientific understanding to explain (or comprehend) how the genegineering process actually worked -- only the end result and prognosis. But I can cover a few aspects of telepathic conditioning if you like, at least the kinds we've seen so far.

(Just give me time to brush up on Mr. Dayspring's file.)

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that would be great. I can't think why I would ever need to really know how telepathic conditioning works, but yeah, that would be good.

Oh, wait, I live here and still haven't figured out what I'm doing with my life. There's a good reason to understand how it works.

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

I love your optimism.

This may require multiple sessions.

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

That's fine. I really don't have anything but time right now while I figure out how to avoid living like a poor person once I move out.

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

I do have a shelf full of college literature.

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

You know that lack of a full ride scholarship on my cv, right?

I'm not going into the kind of debt you need to get to go to college without the guarantee of a minimum 65k salary out the other end.

(unless you have a degree that will do that?)

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

We can take a look. But at the very least maybe we can make some headway on that whole issue of vocation.

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

I'm fine, Mr Haller. Really.

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

All right. But remember I'm here if you need me.

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

I will.

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Does this mean you have not trusted any of us who were made into mutates since Genosha also?

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

It's complicated, okay.

Mostly, I trust you just fine. But I did occasionally wonder if they cleaned all the Genosha out when we left. People's personality changes made me wonder.