tekla: (Default)
❝ ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ. ❞ ([personal profile] tekla) wrote2022-03-02 12:45 pm
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PERMISSION GRANTED。(sᴏᴍᴇ ᴅᴏ ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ ᴀɴᴅ sᴏᴍᴇ ᴅᴏ ʜᴀʀᴍ.)






✃     TRICKS     OF     THE     TRADE.     ✁



TELEPATHY: ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ's strength as a telepath is virtually prodigious, if more than slightly mismanaged. She is perpetually curious and inconsiderate of mental boundaries, and she uses the gift in a disturbingly self-serving way when not employed in a specific task by someone with the cash. People usually pay her to extract thoughts directly and pass them on, sometimes to influence them, and other times to use those extractions in order to infiltrate certain circles, herself — all for a generous commission. After years of training and grooming, espionage has become a skill that goes hand-in-hand with her telepathy. Those who employ ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ enter into a contract that ensures any violation of confidentiality on their part will lose them more than anything they could hope to gain.

Although she is more than capable of mentally communicating with your character — usually on a case by case basis — the influential side (see: brainwashing) of her ability is negligible in comparison. Whether this is because she doesn't possess the same knack for it that she does for eavesdropping or because it doesn't interest her enough to practice, she doesn't elaborate. When influence is necessary for a mission, ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ usually takes care of it with two favorite fallbacks: blackmail and violence. It's much easier for her to invoke mind control as a tool for self-defense. Unreliable influential powers aside, her capacity to listen in — even when she doesn't want to — is daunting. The doubly invasive nature of her strength is such that she often works to turn down the volume, as it were, sometimes without success.

Rather than expend her efforts trying to "tell" others what to think, she makes enthusiastic use of sharing her own thoughts and sensations — or her concepts of sensation — as a source of indirect influence. If she's experiencing pain or discomfort, relaxation, or pleasure for that matter, all ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ has to do is open up her side of the connection to make you believe you're feeling it, too — like opening up a complete mental loop. Even a memory of a sensation or thought is enough to share with you, so be careful not to trigger her mood swings if you don't want a taste.

If your character possesses mental shields, ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ will likely take them as challenge material, but if she tries to probe around them, I won't let her fully ascertain anything your character's shields are even minutely capable of protecting, without checking in with you. My basic rule amounts to her sensing vague hints of character direction and/or identity before the connection cuts, and I can always find a believable way to keep her out completely if that is your wish. I try to play with her powers as realistically as possible — this does include occasionally demonstrating her ability to psi-detect information where appropriate — but if she discovers something you're not okay with, just communicate with me, and I'll make the adjustments.

All of the above means I'm most likely stalking, err doing research on your character while we are tagging (which might make me extra slow, I apologize), with any profile material and permissions posted on his/her journal, in an effort to get a feel for him/her and to keep the telepathic side of things believable if it comes up.

Please leave a comment to this post to tell me whether there are certain thoughts belonging to your character that you do or do not want ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ to hear and, if there are thoughts up for grabs, whether there is a specific way you'd like her to take advantage of them. This is also the place to let me know if your character possesses mental shields I might not have been made aware of either on his/her journal or via tagging with me.

Talented telepath or no, I won't take privileged OOC information into the IC realm when inappropriate, and I can always work out a scenario or reason for ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ to dismiss information she does gather up, should the need arise. She will not out your character if she is permitted important discoveries, unless it's a plot move explicitly designed by the two of us, together. I don't ever want to make you uncomfortable about the possibility of unwanted exposure. So, stop by to talk if you're confused/curious/concerned; my door is always open.



HACKING: As far as this second skill goes, computer security is ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ's main area of expertise, and you should take the term "expertise" quite seriously. A few keystrokes will have her inside your company's mainframe, firewalls completely dismantled, bugging certain lines of code, blocking out authorized users, and browsing leisurely through your personal email account all at the same time. While each security system she encounters will have its own idiosyncrasies, it almost always comes down to basic code patterns. She hacks into nearly all systems remotely. It depends on the objective of the breach in question whether more equipment and closer proximity to the target are required. Wireless networks are a no-brainer, although the intermittently sluggish nature of today's mobile technology can slow her progress down now and then. ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ is the one to go to if you can't get a signal — not that she doles out help to everyone or without demanding compensation. She's a girl who likes to make a good trade.

Although her abilities as a hacker don't quite measure up to how invasive she is as a telepath, I still feel like submitting permissions is the safest thing to do, even when not in a game setting where game-wide communication devices are distributed to all members, each operating under the same security network. Outside the game setting, the usual hacks/skills include all manner of code encryption, decryption, and analyses thereof; security tests and improvements when commissioned; sending calls, texts, emails, and instant messages to unfamiliar users within a given radius of mobility; blocking and unblocking her phone number and IP address to either cover or expose her identity; dismantling firewalls; embedding viruses; and more of the same. Please drop a comment to this post if you have limitations you'd like to set with your character's electronic devices, or if there are certain elements in your character's possession you would like ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ to hack into (and what information you'd like her to find).



VIOLENCE: ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ possesses a veritable armory hidden in her small flat, with weapons ranging from long range scope rifles, pistols and handguns (including a few concealed easily in a lady's handbag), to knives and crossbows. A firearm she is particularly fond of would be her AMT Automag III, but it's a bit unwieldy to carry around on an everyday basis. Rest assured, if she needs or wants it, she will find a way to strap any weapon she pleases to her deceptively waif-like frame. Violence is something she usually keeps for a last resort, but when she does resort to it, she is formidable. Unless we're talking about in-game plot scenarios, popping a cap in your character's ass, throwing a punch, or maybe tossing a grenade his or her way probably won't ever come up in play. Just because she owns a lot of wicked weaponry, it doesn't mean she gets to use any of it on your character. If for some reason, however, a scene between ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ and your character involves violence, drop a comment here to let me know how far you want to take it.

I will never god-mod; I will never injure your character without your permission; in the event that we aren't already discussing the scene OOC, if ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ throws a blow your character's way, it's up to you whether it's a hit or miss. My character will never kill your character (neither will she try to unless it's a plot designed between us, no matter how much she'd like to go on a murder spree some days). I absolutely do not condone unnecessary role-play violence and would prefer to save it only for moments when it is organic to the scene. Violence doesn't need to be tagged out, either — things can always be alluded to later if requisite for plot progression. The above guidelines apply to blows thrown ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ's way, as well. Let's all play fair.




✃     TIME     TO     FIGHT     BACK.     ✁


MENTALLY: Is this character susceptible to mind reading/mind control/psi-persuasion?
Not susceptible, but not immune, either, if she is dealing with a character whose powers of telepathy/mind control are either roughly equivalent to or stronger than hers. ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ constantly checks and rechecks the foundation of her mental walls, which are exceptionally strong due in part to her innate gift and vigilant nature, as well as to extensive formal training. Random psychic interference will be difficult to pull on her, but I'd love to work out a scene involving this technique if your character's powers apply.

ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ's mind is like a steel trap: the moment she picks up a piece of information, she’ll keep it forever — comparable to eidetic memory for same-sensory humans — and trying to break into her head for your own information will run you directly into a cold, metallic wall. If your character possesses telepathic skills strong enough to break through this barrier, be prepared for contact with an aggressively nervous, twitchy sensation to the point of distraction, partly designed by ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ and partly a surface-level chaos that never seems to leave her. Beneath it is merciless, OCD compartmentalization and the feeling of stress pressing against your insides — of growing claustrophobia. Other telepaths who manage to get past her walls usually don't stay terribly long due to the discomfort.


PHYSICALLY: How comfortable are you with physical harm coming to this character? What will those characters attempting to harm her face?
A good fight, whether against other characters or alongside them, is often satisfying for ᴛᴇᴋʟᴀ, even exciting — and hopefully always for plot progression.



EMOTIONALLY: What sort of aura does your character cast? What would an empath encounter when in her company?
Let's talk about little black rain clouds.







DISCLAIMER: I am not a telepath. I am not a hacker. I'm only attempting to play a character who is both, which is asking for all kinds of technical trouble on my end, basically. (I am also not a violence enthusiast.) If you run across something in play that makes me sound like a damn fool, my apologies, and feel free to leave a (hopefully constructive so I can fix it) note about it in my HMD post at the top of this journal. Gracias. :]