mental link, day...36? sure.

[headinjuries]

[ Technically, it came up a few days ago, but Sam's been letting something bounce around in his head to see if the possibility gets less troublesome after he sleeps on it. And sleeps on it a couple more times.

or he's just saying it late so the newbies can hear it too, w/e

It's not getting any less freaky. So, out of left field: ]

( So if aliens can hack our emotions, do we...actually know they can't mess with everything else? Memories? Are we actually who we think we are?

What if there is no spoon? )

Comments

[headinjuries]

( That's still...kinda creepy, dude. )

[ He's had his hands full hiding the superhero thing from his friends, but he doesn't think he could actually mess with anyone's memories over it. ]

[cur]

[ Well, this definitely isn't what he was expecting to be judged for, but it isn't impossible to sympathize. ]

( But no less necessary. A single Muggle ranting about dragons isn't looked upon kindly by his peers. He'll become a pariah or lose his mind, or both. I can't say I find that to be the more humane option. )

[headinjuries]

( Does it have to be a secret from everybody? )

[cur]

( Not everyone. The Prime Minister works quite closely with the Minister of Magic, actually. )

[ "Works closely" here meaning "helps them keep their wizard secrets", but you know. Slightly biased perspective. ]

[headinjuries]

( Enough people that it might as well be, then. )

[cur]

[ There's a very faint flicker of annoyance, though he still sounds patient. ]

( It's understandable that you'd have a different perspective on it. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that the place I'm from wouldn't take the revelation of the wizarding world particularly well. Yours may be more adaptable. )

[headinjuries]

( Maybe.

SHIELD was doing the memory-wipey stuff, and it exploded in everybody's faces, so...it kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth. )

[ Pleasant Hill was not pleasant for anybody. ]

[cur]

[ So it's personal. He's curious about how things backfired, of course, but he caps that in favor of the most objective angle he can think of. ]

( Is SHIELD your government? )

[headinjuries]

( Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Sometimes they do good world-saving stuff? And sometimes they're just total douchebags. )

[cur]

[ Absurdly complicated acronyms. Feels like home. ]

( Is there no system in place to mediate their decisions? Checks and balances. )

[headinjuries]

( I'm pretty sure oversight's supposed to be better than it actually is in practice? Because I really don't want to think they'd get trusted with a cosmic cube otherwise. )

[ Frankly, though, Sam's not sure who he'd trust with a cosmic cube.. ]

[cur]

[ ok buT what the hell is a cosmic cube. ]

( That would be something that's immensely powerful, I take it. Was it involved in the incident you mentioned?)

[headinjuries]

( Yeah. I guess the director decided it would be a totally great idea to use it to screw up a bunch of bad guys' memories and make them think they were nice normal civilians living in this nice normal town. So I think you can guess how much they liked that when it stopped working. )

[cur]

[ Oh. Well, that is stupid, even by wizard standards. ]

( Was it an attempt at rehabilitation? )

[ Kind of a reach, but it's difficult to square it as a strategic test. Surely there are safer guinea pigs. ]

[headinjuries]

( I dunno if they were actually expecting them to improve or if it was just a "they keep escaping normal prisons so let's do something crazy" kinda thing, but either way, it definitely wasn't working. )

[ Did Maria Hill actually talk about the end goal at some point? She might've. He might've spaced out somewhere, it tends to happen. ]

[cur]

( They might have gone with an abnormal prison, first. )

[ Azkaban seemed to work. Usually. ]

( In any case, it wore off. So long as we aren't all criminals, I'd think that should be a reassurance — knowing that brainwashing doesn't stick. )

[headinjuries]

( Well, things kind of went to heck before they got better, but yeah. I guess it is. )