A Valentine's Thought

[Hannah]

So was rereading some Lazlo after class today and his comments about emotional vampires really struck me. In particular he noted that a number of such entities have learned to trigger emotions in humans to feed off of. Because of an incomplete understanding of our minds, these entities tend to focus on negative emotions, like pain, fear, anger, sadness and loss, which are easier to trigger thus providing a more reliable source of emotional sustenance.

So, I was thinking, wouldn’t t be great if there were more of the entities that knew how to trigger positive emotions out there. Just think, if instead of being haunted by things that make us cower under our covers, imagine a world where you felt like every day was a cross between your birthday and Valentine’s Day. What a great world that would be and I doubt you’d find many people dedicated to keeping such entities away from humanity.

Hannah

PS: Of course it isn’t so. Just as I finished typing this up I got a text from Peter, he’s on a train out of town chasing another lead on his father’s killer and won’t be able to make the special Valentine’s Day dinner I had planned for him. Congratulations dark side, you’ve got more food tonight. Arrgh!

[Cybermancer]

Just as it falls to humanity to stand against the dark, so to does it fall to us to bring the light.

I'm sorry to hear that your Valentines day plans will not work out the way you would have liked. Perhaps you can treat it like another day but with an emphasis on spending time with your friends? Save the romance and the plans until the opportunity comes up next, instead of pinning it all on an arbitrary calender date.

Romance is best when its a year round activity, in my humble opinion. I know I've missed opportunities in the past due to too much waiting.

For the record, I have encountered beings that seem to want to bestow positive emotions in those around them. They're called friends.

P.S. *Edit*

Did he say where he was going, exactly?

[Hannah]

My two closest friends have Valentine's plans already, with each other (have fun you two and do everything I wouldn't do) so I'm probably going to wind up enjoying the Park on my own.

Hannah

PS: Maybe I'll troll for muggers, a good brawl would make me feel better.

**EDIT** PPS: He didn't, other than it's a new lead. I assume he's going to track the lead down and if he gets the chance, act on it. Which isn't a bad thing. Peter needs to get that resolved soon.

[GhostSpider]

I love feeding on positive emotions, and try to encourage them whereever I go.

I am sorry your valentine's plans fell through Hannah. If you need some company (if only yo help with the muggers ), I am just a teleport away.

[Cybermancer]

Hannah,

Peter's problems will not be so easily solved or resolved. Trust me on this. I understand his feelings of anger and his need for revenge, really I do. Sometimes things are just more complicated than that.

As for the trolling for muggers thing, well, that's complicated too. I suppose we can discuss it when I drop by Friday.

All things considered, I'm going to see if I can make an opening in my schedule sooner than Friday. If that's all right by you, of course.

GhostSpider,

I'm glad to hear that you're the sort that prefers positive emotions.

P.S. Hannah, I could express mail you that movie, Labyrinth. Might be something better to do than your current plans.

[Hannah]

Thanks for the offer Konrad, but I'm sure you'd rather be around someone happy that day.

Matt, I'd rather watch it with you. I'm sure Ill have a lot of questions to ask.

Hannah.

PS: I have practice every weekday plus scheduled work outs and class. If you want to come early I'm sure I can squeeze you in though.

[Cybermancer]

Hey Hannah,

Something has come up that saw my plans for today and tomorrow cancelled. I'll probably be able to drop by tomorrow evening unless things change.

[Technocrat]

Hi Hannah!

I know things can get weird for those of us who have become aware of the larger world but that doesn't mean our lives can't be filled with romance. Even a geek like me can be living proof. I'll be taking my wife out to a very special dinner tonight.

So I'm sorry things aren't working out for you the way you'd like this year but keep your hopes up. It's not always going to be bad and better times are just ahead of us. I'm sure of it!

[Rowan]

Sorry about my tangential thought—but, not completely. To feed is a strange verb, especially in our “profession.” It is almost used exclusively as a negative term—for vampires and the like. In humans, it transforms one thing into another. Generally, there is no endless supply. Even vampires can only drink so much before the victim is completely dry. If emotions can be treated as an energy that can be consumed—how does it work? How much of that energy do we have? What is the end result to the victim’s emotional state after an emotional vampire has fed?

Do you have any insights you would care to voice, GhostSpider?

Hannah—I won’t say I’m sorry your Valentine’s day dinner didn’t work out. It would be meaningless from a stranger such as me. I don’t have a significant other, so there would be no sincere commiseration on my part.

[GhostSpider]

Hmm, an interesting question and one not easily answered. First though I'd like to correct a part of your question. Psychic vampires, at least not myself and the ones i am familiar with, do not feed on the emotion itself. We feed on the psychic energy generated by the emotion.

This is how it works for me: I seem to act like a psychic black hole(perhaps not the best analogy, but one I have found to quite apt for a simple explanation), and like a black hole, draw in the energy from all around me. At one time this ability was always on and i had little to no control of it. However, thanks to a powerful will and a crash course in meditative techniques with Shang Li, I have since learned how to control this black hole. I can now manipulate size, strength, and can select whomever i wish to feed upon. Furthermore, I can turn it off and on, which tends to keep unintentional feeding to a minimum.

As for ill effects, I must say that I have never attempted to test for them. When I feed I always try to from a large crowd, or group, so as not to cause undue strain upon anyone person. Theoretically, i suppose if I concentrated fully upon one target and feed at full strength for an extended period, I could cause serious harm. Not death, but something close enough as to be indistinguishable.

I hope this answers you questions.

[Hannah]

Rowan, thank you for your sincerity.

Ghost, that's what made my father so nervous about you being near me or anyone else. That possibility that there may be a finite limit that you can take from a person. Some of the less pleasant fey were apparently able to completely drain their victims.

Hannah

[Tms3]

Yes there are Fey and other things that can drain some one to death or what might be worse. there are coma words with such victims you now the ones where the dr can find no reason for them to be in a coma

[RAVEN]

Now that you mention it, I do remember reading about some research being done in this field.

Ah ha, I found it! A Professor Charlette Handler, in the 1960s, wanted to train spirits to provide positive emotions. Her background, ironically, was in mechanical engineering. She taught engineering at an ivy league school and held patents for a few new types of atomic reactors and other stocking stuffers. Her chemical battery design is the one still favored by psi-mechanics today. So in 1965, she publishes a paper about using empathic spirits in place of mood altering drugs for treatment of depression. Needless to say, she lost her job. After that, she simply vanished. No records mentioning her further exist.

[Cybermancer]

That's unfortunate. I hope she merely took on a low profile.

[Professor Ali]

My friend, do not dwell on Professor Handler. I know some colleges at my new university who worked with her at the time and kept in touch with her afterward. She tried her experiment. It failed. It simply does not work.

More to the point, I have been asked to take a trip to Libya soon. Perhaps my valentine is waiting for me there. We can hope.

[Cybermancer]

Good luck with that, professor.

[Rowan]

It does—for the most part. Now, I have more questions that regard the energy that powers—enables?—our emotions. But I’ll save those for later.

Thanks.

[Grace]

Worst Valentines Day, Ever.

[Hannah]

Worst Valentines Day, Ever.

No argument from me Darcy.

Hannah

[Grace]

Maybe next year will be better for everyone.

[Hannah]

I really hope so.

Hannah

[Grace]

I guess that's up to you now, kiddo.

[Hannah]

Thanks for the opening, now I'm going to do what I do best,

run with it.

Hannah


PS: I hope to hear about your next valentines day being pretty awesome.

[Cybermancer]

As I said earlier in this thread, Valentines day is an arbitrary calender date. The only thing that makes it even remotely special is love and a desire for romance.

Love is not a one day a year sort of thing. Love is all the time. And for lovers, every spare moment should be filled with romance. Thoughts of their partner should be with them during every waking moment and possibly many of the sleeping moments as well. The romance is in every hug or kiss. It is in every whispered, "I love you." It is in every meal shared, every thought expressed and every look exchanged.

Between real lovers? Valentines day is just another day.

[Tms3]

Well said Cyber well said.

[Clarity]

_____I thought it was one of the greatest days I have ever had this year. I got to go to Mr. Ron’s and see Hannah and meet Miss Got and help her sleep and stuff.
_____P.S. Hannah got me a new smartfun. It’s really neat! Wasn’t that kind of her?
_____P.S., again. It’s reasons like that that I want to be just like her when I grow up.

[Sparks]

So that's what Mel meant by being 'Miss Got'...

[Hannah]

Thanks Clarity.

You're pretty awesome already.

Hannah

[Razor]

The psychic energy given off by emotions, is in part what powers a psychic's abilities to function. It is often when on the hunt, when emotions are on the rise that our powers begin to rise and peak. A lot of this is due to the subconscious responding, as most Psychics have not learned the difference between using their subconscious and using their emotions. If you can learn to use the real source, which is the mind beneath the mind, and learn that it's potential is far greater than most suspect, and how to truly develop it, emotion matters little.

It is, however, easier to generate the rise in psychic energy if using Emotions to fuel them and give them focus, intensity, color... power. This is what, I believe, most emotional or energy vampires feed off of. And many emotions have a specific type of energy, and thought/power behind them. Lust and temptation make you feel powerful in a way different from anger, or hate, or rage, but both can make you feel empowered.

I know that I have often experienced a sort of mental static, and being quite drained in mind, and sometimes body, after a pitched battle (some of which never involved a real physical component). I have felt my mind numbed, and buzzing for hours, usually with a headache, sometimes for days. Some of it is of course mental Backlash because I didn't finish certain techniques right, but the other part of it is a total burnout of psychic energy.

It is possible to use physical fuels sometimes to power psychic abilities, but its hard to even explain that one. I'm sure though, we've all experienced that drain after high emotions, good, or bad. Some of it is due to adrenaline, but adrenaline doesn't count for that "mind and soul" type of tired, or worn out.

So when psychics use up all their stores, and push beyond their normal limits, and they come down from all of that, and they experience headaches, fatigue, sometimes hemorrhages... there's at least some evidence to suggest that a creature that can drain more from you, against your will, could cause great harm, especially brain damage. But I think it could go deeper.

Being on the receiving end of something like this, I would imagine would inspire a very deep type of trauma... something that emotionally hurts, sure... but something on a spiritual level that seems to cut to the bone, something that makes you feel old, aged... weary and wary.

Maybe I'm rambling at this point, but I believe the threat could be very real. Even from someone or something that wanted to love you to death.

[Grace]

Emotions make me tired too, Razor.