[UA] The Boy in the Box

[Timothy Toner]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stuart Anderson" <stuartanderson at qwest.net>
To: "UA List" <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2001 3:22 PM
Subject: [UA] The Boy in the Box


>     There're plenty of X-files hooks where the boy's
> abilities are manifesting as fortean phenomena and the
> players investigate. That's cheap, though, and I want to
> stay away from it. But I've committed the ultimate GM faux
> pas of coming up with a story that isn't really about the
> characters. Maybe that's what I want. What can the PCs gain
> from the resolution of this story, other than observing a
> bizarre coming of age? Any ideas? Do I have anything here
> other than an icky and disturbing premise? You fellas are
> usually pretty good at this.

Okay, as someone who works with children for the state, you should know
about mandated reporters, who must report even the smallest bit of child
abuse / neglect to the proper authorities, or else face losing their jobs
AND possible criminal charges if it is discovered that you knew and did
nothing.  For those of you who don't know what qualifies as a mandated
reporter, it varies state by state, but here is a list of possible
occupations: health practitioners, including but not limited to physicians
and surgeons, psychiatrists, psychologists, MFTs and interns, dentists and
hygienists, residents, interns, podiatrists, chiropractors, nurses,
optometrists, EMTs, paramedics; childcare custodians, including but not
limited to teachers, instructional aides, child daycare workers, foster
parents, youth camp employees, social workers, probation and parole
officers; employees of a child protective agency; commercial film and
photographic print processors; clergy; firefighters, animal control officers
and humane society officers, and child visitation monitors.

As you can see, shoehorning one of the PCs into that role probably won't be
hard (I especially like the photo processors).  They'll see out of the
corner of their eye the boy, parhaps in a window, and he'll be in a frighful
condition.  Doing his/her job, the PC reports the abuse, and nothing comes
of it.  There's no evidence that the child is being abused.  Now in theory,
there's no penalty for reporting a possible case, even if it turns out to be
nothing at all.  However, we're human beings, and shit happens.  Even if
you're 100% right, and they're evil bastards, other parents get weird around
you because, after all, you were directly responsible for getting a child
taken away from his parents.  If you're wrong, the pressure is ENORMOUS.

And that's what happens here.  The reporting goes nowhere, and then everyone
turns on the PC.  As a sense of wounded pride, or a desire to see justice
done, the PC recruits friends to help out.

Now what I'm thinking is a changeling situation.  There's a kid who's born
the exact same time and day as the abused child, and he's also born with a
satchelful of problems.  The parents, quite wealthy, decide to create a
whipping boy, who will take the punishment of both children.  Further, by
instigating harm on the abused child, the other child reaps benefits.
Restraining him makes the golden child agile, removing teeth straightens
his.  The fozzies feed the kid plenty of sugar and caffeine, to make a bad
mental situation worse.  And the parents also keep an ear to the ground,
regarding any investigations.  When one is planned, the golden child takes
the place of the whipping boy, and everything seems fine (part of the magick
makes the two look identical).

What do the PCs get out of it?  Well, one is creeped out by the situation.
He starts having odd flashbacks to his own childhood, only he can't remember
if he was a whipping boy or a golden child.  And why does he occasionally
have a strange craving for meat, but nothing he finds seems to suffice?  Of
course, that gets answered when the PCs stumble across the final ritual in
the transference--the one that makes it permanent.


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