What would a psionic look like in 'real life'?

Or more accurately, what would a prionic's powers look like?. I created a character TheCardinal as kind of a behind-the-scenes tyrant to TheExorcist. In some of the creative writing I've done, I've made him someone who can put images into your mind (mind control), create loud thunderous noises in your mind (Mental/Psionic Scream) all of which can leave you feeling a bit drained (kinetic).

But I rolled him in game as a kinetc/psionic defender over a mind controller because Exorcist is already a controller and I wanted my second alt to be different. On the plus-side, it's more fun and made me a better player, on the negative side, it is up for speculation whether a psionic can do the things I've written Card doing.

What do you think a psionic's powers would look like in real life? Is a psionic more someone who can read minds rather than make you see crazy crap? Is a psionic Jean Grey and a mind controller Dr. X? IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A PSIONIC TO DO THIS.... (NOTE DONKEY KONG IS TheCardinal if that's not terribly obvious):

From the confidential files of the Paragon Archdiocese
on Father Brody Brunello of Our Lady of Virtue in Independence Port
April 11, 2005

Nightmares of a dead neighbor's ghost...hazing from Hellion's over missed meetings...the very real possibility of a 1st-degree murder conviction.

"And now, I'm suppose to go to calculus?!" thinks Tony.

He ditches after lunch and tries to think of a place with no problems, street-gangs or bad memories.

"The nickel arcade in Talos," he says to himself.

He walks up the wharf and into the game room, and he hears.... Snippets?

The childhood song on tv.... Who knows what it was ever promoting, but the song is as recognizable now as when it was serving as a bridge between commercials and afterschool specials, before there was such a thing as X-box or nickel arcades.

Tony wants to say mushrooms, but they were closer to the wallpaper print of his grandma's old musty apartment. Digitized...pixeled in the brightest colors. Shifting to left and right, out from the walls over the gameroom floor, up the ceiling, before Tony just inches, then back again. All moving to this breakbeat, bastardized version of a song from a simpler time.

Tony didn't back away. He wants to embrace it. He wants to stay here forever with his grandmother's wallprints broken down into horrible squares. He wants to dance with these bad graphics forever. At least until the case surrounding his dead neighbor is gone.

Then...him! The master of ceremonies, presiding over the nickel arcade's surreal remodeling: Donkey Kong. His legs contorted into an impossible diamond shape as his oversized pixels shift to the rhythmn. The funny white hat on Donkey Kong's head didn't even phase Tony...as if Donkey Kong always wore the Pope's hat. The blue eyes like light-beams, only slightly brighter than these happy new surroundings!

"Hi, Tony! I'm Donkey Kong! Remember me, Tony?" in the same voice that every costumed kid's character has, low, kind of gruff, but warm, hospitable and ingratiating.

"Yes, I... I remember you, Donkey Kong. You're... You're...," replies Tony.

"Hi, Tony! I'm Donkey Kong! I'm looking for my friend Ben! Donkey Kong gets lonely without my friend Ben around," says the Donkey Kong in the Pope hat. "Have you seen our good buddy Ben, Tony? ...our bestest buddy in the whole wide world!?"

"I... I..." listless, reality is breaking down to Tony.

"What's wrong, Tony?" the character inquires. "You can tell your friend Donkey Kong anything."

"I... I... I killed Ben, Donkey...Donkey Kong," sounding less relieved than incognizant. Now, his fears didn't matter. His secrets didn't matter. It is just a game now.

"Ooooooooh, that's okay, Tony! Hey, maybe now that Ben is gone. You can be my new friend, Tony? You want to be friends with Donkey Kong don't you?"

"Yes", says Tony. "I do. I do want to be your friend Donkey Kong."

"Oooooooh, happy day. Donkey Kong likes making friends! We need more friends at Donkey Kong's party, Tony. Do you have a special friend, Tony? Someone you trust more than anyone in the world? Someone you can tell all your secrets to?" the game asks.

"Bruno, er, Father Brunello," the young boy replies. "He's a priest."

"Wooooooooow! That sounds terrific, Tony! That makes Donkey Kong so very happy," it replies. "Is the priest coming to come play with us soon, Tony!"

"Yes, the priest is going to come play with us very soon," the boy answers to the Donkey Kong in the funny hat dancing, dancing to....

'SNIPPETS!'

Psionic in real life... I would say that if you were not the target then you would not even see it. Its all in the mind after all. Anyone else seeing it would make it an optical illusion and not really psychic in my book.

I would also say it would be subjective. One image or sound that would terrify one person might not even phase another. That kind of psychic weapon is very scary and personal. Hope that helps.

I agree with Wolffe that you wouldn't see it unless you were the victim, but it all depends on how you're 'seeing' it. with psionics you've got to handle the third eye, and unless the person is so powerful to see auras and into other realms, the third eye will just be feeling out for the stuff, so victims would feel the attack comming, and from what direction. Just my thoughts on it. Psionics in RL is hard to explain if neither side knows diddle about how it really operates, and I don't think there's anybody tthat truly knows what it would really 'look' like. As for what psionics can do, well, I'd base it's limitations on your own imagination. I've always seen psionics as the force without the cool lightsaber.