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[fridgeflower]

Do you think that it's possible for people to be inherently bad? Not all the way, necessarily, but like maybe there's a bigger chance of messing up if you come from something bad, or like you've got some kind of latent seed planted deep that could burst someday.

I don't think that's true, if you look at it objectively. It still makes me really nervous sometimes, though, so I wonder if some part of me thinks it's a real possibility. I can't shake it off, so I get frustrated with myself sometimes.

I'm sure other people must feel like that. I'm sorry if you do.

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[fridgeflower]

I expect most people would say something like that. Or, well-- Do you think those everyday choices are good or bad?

video forever

[abduxel]

[He frowns like he's genuinely unsure.]

Do you mean to ask if most people choose to be good or bad? Or, if making the same choice again is bad?

Before I can answer, I guess I need to know what you consider bad. Not donating to charity? Or, being selfish? Or, theft? Or, murder? What's the line? I think everyone is selfish, and has to choose not to be. But is that really bad?

[fridgeflower]

Well, people have faults, of course. That's not usually bad right-out. I guess maybe I'm thinking the second bit? About whether you think making the same choice is bad?

You said it was a catch, so... I don't really think I know what you mean by that.

[abduxel]

You're right, I did say catch. [He laughs a little.] I don't think making the same choice is bad, I guess, but I don't think people really change. Make the choice to be a bad person once, it only makes it easier to do it again.

What do you think, when you look at it objectively?

[fridgeflower]

I think people can grow and change in either direction. I mean, the headmistress at my old school used to be a super-villain, and-- Well. I don't know how good she is, but she's not evil. And I don't know-- Hm.

Well, I already said. Maybe it doesn't make sense to say that somebody's destined to be one way or the other.

[abduxel]

[Incredulously,] A super villain? What do you mean by that?

[fridgeflower]

You know, like a super-powered villain, doing bad deeds and causing chaos and all that stuff.

[abduxel]

What kind of super-powers are we talking, here?

[fridgeflower]

Ms. Frost has telepathy, and she can be all diamond-y. She was kinda part of this evil organization and stuff... I think most of them were mutants, actually.

[abduxel]

Geez. Wow.

Are there a lot of supervillains where you come from?

[fridgeflower]

It might depend on what you'd consider 'a lot.' Maybe? I mean, there are enough of them to keep superheroes in work, and that's probably enough to qualify.

[abduxel]

Where I come from, lots of people have abilities, but none of them have gone infamous with it. You called them "mutants"? We call them "supernaturals." [He's really just interested in the parallels, here.]

[fridgeflower]

That sounds specifically like ghost and monster stuff. Or magic.

Not everybody with superpowers in my world is a mutant. In fact, we don't cut down pretty significantly. When I left, there were only about two hundred of us left. There's also magic, abilities caused by accidents, people who use technology to fight crime... Lots of stuff.

[abduxel]

Yeah, it's more like ghost and monsters and magic.

Do you have superpowers?

[fridgeflower]

I do. Pheromone projection.

And I'm a mutant, specifically, not, like... Radiated or anything.

[abduxel]

[Well, apparently the term "pheromone" was coined in the 1950s. The things you learn from RP. Abduxel frowns a bit.]

You project what? That sounds vaguely dirty.

[fridgeflower]

Pheromones. It's-- People think that, because they're usually associated with, um, animals attracting mates and such, but they're really just... They trigger chemical reactions in certain parts of the brain.

I can control people's feelings. Stuff like that.

[abduxel]

[He's smirking.] Do you use it to attract mates, then?

[fridgeflower]

N-No! Absolutely not! I wouldn't do anything like that on purpose! [ She's attracted people accidentally, after all, and-- ] And I'd regret it if I made a dumb choice like that.

That's not funny, you know.

[abduxel]

On purpose? Does it happen by accident?


[He snickers at the statement that it's not funny.] I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

[fridgeflower]

It has, and... That's how I found out I even had powers, actually. I thought they liked me, but it was just...

And it's wrong. It's not funny. It's... It's a lie. It's forcing someone.

[abduxel]

[He whistles.] Tough break. That must have... [He decides not to finish that sentence.] ...Do you think that makes you a bad person?

I wouldn't call it "forcing." Maybe "encouraging." Feelings are just feelings, people make their own decisions. [He's still smirking, but trying to stop. It isn't working really.]

[fridgeflower]

... My mom didn't really want to be with my father. If she were here, you could ask her how she feels about that. That's what I came from.

My father's a mutant, and that's why I'm the same kind, and he is a bad person.

[abduxel]

What about people who aren't mutants, but make "pheromones." That's not cheating, right? Just because you're better at it doesn't make it bad. She could have left, right, but she decided to act on her feelings.

[fridgeflower]

It's stronger than you're thinking. My mother did leave when his powers stopped working on her. Carrying me negated them somehow.

I can make people terrified of me, and I can put them to sleep. I can make people feel so awful that they want to die. It's, like, natural pheromones times infinity.