exsilium | ten; video + poll

[ Roslyn is behind the camera again, face stern, Vennett & Lowell seated just behind her. She’s looking as calm and professional as she can, though traces of exhaustion are seeping through regardless of her best efforts. ]

I’m going to make this as brief as possible. We do not have laws governing the actions undertaken recently by people currently in custody. While hopefully there will shortly be a fuller code of conduct, we cannot apply it retroactively. I do not have the resources to keep anyone locked up indefinitely, nor can I provide a fair trial, and it would be morally suspect to do either in the current environment.

I believe there is a solution to this, one that several others agree with, including Lowell Orwin and Vennett here with me, both of whom were held hostage by these people and have a fair amount of insight into their mindset. However, given that you will all have to live with it as well, I’m going to bring this solution to general consensus.

Under this arrangement, as a first part all current prisoners will be released into the custody of someone who will agree to monitor their actions and ensure that they are not able to plan anything further. These parole officers will either be volunteers from the general population or police officers if necessary, and all will be very carefully vetted. If it is necessary we will ask them to submit to a brief telepathic scan.

The second part of this arrangement would be undertaking a set amount of missions under the supervision of Orwin and Vennett with the goal of putting forth effort into our return to Earth. I am assured that they will be doing real work that will benefit us all.

This is the solution that I and others hope will work best for everyone involved, as well as free up resources to continue working towards getting off of this base and setting up an actual system of leadership.

While Jesse Pinkman was not a member of this, as he has given back all powers taken he would be released under the same conditions.

This is being presented to you all as, essentially, a poll. That is the first option. The second option is ‘other’, and if that is your answer I must insist you provide a fully thought through and careful plan that does not simply consist of ‘strand them somewhere’ or ‘airlock them’. Should enough support be shown for a provided 'other' plan over parole, it will be considered as an option.

Thank you all for your time. I hope this will be resolved very shortly.

[ And cut. ]

Poll #14659 solving the jail problem

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40

View Respondents

Pick a solution:

View Answers

Parole as outlined above
36 (90.0%)

Other (must provide clear plan below)
4 (10.0%)

[ ooc: this is an ic poll of the population! you may vote once with each character you have in game. roslyn and others are available for question answering and so forth. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Now tell me how you're different from them.

really?

i told steph, i told tempest, and i told peter that i wasnt gonna go after him. i was planning on leaving everything else well enough alone

but im not going to back down if he threatens me

So instead you're simply going to break your word to your friends so that you can try to harm someone.

seriously? did you see what he just said to me?

I saw everything both of you said to each other. If you think you're blameless in this entire out of hand thing, then you're fooling yourself.

he talked to me. ive been trying to avoid... engaging or whatever. and last i checked i didnt go around promising people id give their powers back and then not doing it. im allowed to hate a liar who puts all of us in danger

and if he threatens me and tells me that he wants to settle it i should be allowed to do that as well

He did, and it was stupid of him and I can promise you a very close eye is going to be kept on him. But he has as of now returned all powers he took and it's been made very clear to him the consequences should he ever do that again.

And no. Assault of any kind is unacceptable. If you can't hold your temper in check, you should have disengaged immediately and refused to talk to him.

do i need to tell you how not smart that is? what 'consequences' will happen when he can just take the power of whoever goes against him? whos going to keep a 'close eye' on him that he cant screw over? you don't get it. releasing him into this base isnt just a slap on the wrist to him- its putting the rest of us in danger of having pieces of ourselves taken away just because you trusted him not to do this again.

i dont trust him. he already lied to me. do i get a say in what happens since im being put in danger by this? apparently not

Do you really think powers is the only way to handle someone? I'm completely baseline human and I could take him out with very very little effort. He's aware of this. One of his victims physically subdued him effortlessly after he took her abilities - he knows precisely how little sway he has over me or her or anyone else without powers but with physical training here. I don't trust him not to do this again. I trust the psychiatric evaluation that says that he's stable enough to realize that if he takes anyone else's powers he's not coming out again and there's nothing he would be able to do about that.

He's lied to quite a few people. And you do have a say, and you have said it, but you still haven't provided a different solution.

yeah thats great for you. but that puts other people at risk of having everything taken from them. did you see how upset tempest was? did you see what losing her power did to her?

my solution is to keep him locked up. maybe we find someone who can lock his power maybe we dont. either way hes proven that he cant be trusted with his power and i dont like being the one at risk if he snaps again

Both victims were in my custody, yes. I saw. I also saw him return them, and while I don't know if I buy his remorse as genuine I know someone who realizes when they can't get away with something. I've been in law enforcement for quite a while.

So we keep him locked up, in theory. Who guards him? Who pays these guards for their time and where do we find people willing to do this for as long as you require who don't have powers and therefore cannot be compromised by him? Who pays for his food? Where do we keep him, exactly? How long is long enough for you? Should he prove to need psychiatric help during this time, how will it be paid for and provided? Have you considered keeping him locked up long term is very likely to make him more resentful of everyone involved in it rather than more likely to look at his actions and the potential consequences and realize he doesn't want to do that ever again? What about the (likely) possibility that continued imprisonment would be detrimental to his mental health and make him snapping more likely?

maybe nobody. maybe we put him in a room and we throw away the key

and

[And he stops. Cold.

Maybe we put him in a room and throw away the key.]

...forget i said that. i didnt mean it

im sorry i didnt mean it

I know you didn't. You're angry, and I know that you have reason to fear his ability, and that's understandable.

But it's important to stop and think about a course of action and what is actually feasible and acceptable. And that's what I'm here for.

[Isaac doesn't respond- Ros is going to get a little offline message. He's done. With this, with everything. There'll be a shot to talk later, but for now, Isaac is too busy trying to get back to his room as fast as he can before losing it.

It's kind of a terrible thing, realizing how your anger can make you a monster. And Isaac is beyond diplomacy, beyond trying to compromise to find a solution- all he has is his anger, his impulsiveness, and the sudden horrific realization about himself that they bring him.

He's going to need awhile.]

ten; video + poll

private

private

private

private

private

private

private

private

private

private

private

private; 1/2

private; 2/2

private 3/3 i lied

private oh my god send help

private weeps i'm so sorry