"Good to meet you Myron. Sam's the name." He was rather put off by the Mathematician. ~Mathematician??? That seems a rather silly name. Super math? Ha! Ridiculous.~ He let out a small chuckle.

~You'd be ssssssurprised what a little intelligence could do for you, Ssssssamuel.~ Zeus jibbed.

~Quiet you.~

~Ssssssss.~

Sam could do nothing but role his eyes as Impetus went about his flirty way. ~Seems like he'd hump anything that in a braw.~

"I'll remember that."  Dillon took an extra moment in shaking Myron's hand to test his grip.  Guy was strong.  "Utopia's good work.  We're just getting started with it, so all I can tell you right now is they've got dynamite Basic.  Beats U.S. Army, I can promise you that.  You thinking about joining up?"

Looking at Pedro -- the Mathematician -- Dillon ran a hand over his head.  "Uh, so, I don't want to piss anyone off, should I be using Nova names or given names here?  I heard from Gravitas and Zero that the Count had some opinions on the subject."  And I really don't want a repeat of last week.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:35, Fri 05 June 2009.

"Mathematician, huh? I'm Quentin, alternately Gravitas. We," he indicates himself and any others present that were also here last weekend, "made the Count's acquaintance quite by chance last week. Quite the fellow," he dropped his voice in volume a bit, "Apparently quite wealthy too." He resumed speaking normally, "had one of my first good philosophical talks about the nature of novas. He's got a number of notions that are... fascinating."



"Myron, Louise, good to meet you too," Quentin nods to both. He recognized Myron from the news, though he hadn't particularly studied film, so he didn't recognize Louise's name.



"Hah," Quentin smiles merrily, "Indeed? I shall remember that." He looks around, quite the crowd seems to have gathered in the Archon's lounge. "Shall we claim a table? I'm interested in hearing about everyone. We - novas, that is - are a fascinating breed. We share so much in common, but we're all utterly unique."

He inscribes the name 'Pedro' alongside 'Mathematician' in his vast mental library as he reflexively makes entries for all of the others as well. He'd been a bit worried that he wouldn't have much to do in the city this week, but now he was starting to look forward to the rest of the night. Any friends of the Count must be intriguing characters, indeed.

"Hi everyone, I'm Phantasm. Nice meeting you."

She waves at the people, then flops down in one of the vacant and well-cushioned chairs to watch as people interact.  That lady's name seemed familiar, not sure why... Didn't she watch some movie with Grandma with a woman by that name?

"Hey, is there a computer up here by chance? I kind of wanted to look up show times for tomorrow night."
And check out a hunch...

Mathematician:
"Yeah, Raoul, me, and a few others have a sort of club going.  I mean there is this, yeah, but more like... Oh a philosophy club of sorts.  Though it's a bit more serious than that really.  We're trying to plot a course for the future, see where nova-kind is going, what it can do, and what it should do."

Myron:
"Yeah, they were just giving us the spill.  Nice to meet you Sam, Comstock quite a grip there... Gotta say, they make sense especially Mathematician with all his numbers, though I'm also pretty interested in what Utopia has going.  I mean sure, they aren't the best pay or the best on autonomy, but sometimes its good to play for the team, as long as the leadership is going in the right direction.  You said it was pretty good to work with sir?" (talking to Comstock)

Caroline:
"I am sorry to say that we do not have any communications devices here miss.  Part of the point of our little hideaway is to shut out all of that" she says as she waives her hand at the downstairs and the rest of Vegas, "so that we can think.  Forgive me if I'm too forward, but what do all of you think of being a nova, and of the future?  This is a question I attempt to ask every nova I meet, you understand.  I am trying to come up with a sort of... oh, a unifying philosophy if you will."

Louise:
Smiles and leans back in her chair.

"Being a nova, is, I think, what we each chose to define ourselves as, Caroline," Imp says, taking a sip of his drink.  "I don't think that we are able to be easily given definition as a group, my friends have powers as diverse as becoming metal, manipulating electricity, birthing entities made out of quantum, and defying gravity in one way or another.  How can one generalize when we are so different?"  Imp takes another drink, briefly locking gazes with Louise over the rim of his glass.  "What is our future?  I honestly have no idea.  Again, I see it as each of us following or forging our own destiny.  I believe that rational, compassionate people should use their abilities, whatever they are, to help those less able to help themselves, which is why I have chosen to work for The Project.  They have more connections than I ever could, they can get the green light to help out in areas that I never could, and they also offer insight into how I can become who I am becoming.  They are trying to sculpt us, I know, but really, we are each changed by our interactions with others on a day to day basis.  I am affecting you with my language, just as you affect me."

"Well, yeah, Myron, it's cool stuff.  I don't buy all the propaganda and that, but all signs point to good acts and good intentions.  More than I can say for my old job."  Dillon took another drink.  "I ... look, I'm new to all of this Nova-stuff.  Way I see it ... I'm trying to make the world a better place.  Best thing I can do is make sure people can live in peace.  Stop people from fighting, help build schools, that kind of thing."

"People need heroes, and since I'm harder to kill than other people I figure it's my job to put an end to this."

"Interesting," is the only response Quentin is able to render before Caroline speaks up.


"Being a nova is having the greatest opportunity ever offered. We hold the power to affect the world on a vast scale - we can already see that happening. We're media icons from the moment we erupt. We're starting to see the beginings of a vast technological revolution that I think likely to accelerate as more novas enter the fray. This substantially accelerates the timeline of human progress. We can clean up the world by inventing better sources of power and start colonies in space, probably before the end of the century."

Quentin thought for a moment before adding, "You must forgive my focus, but the sciences have been my concentration for a very long time, so that is naturally the principal area in which I imagine innovation. Certainly the very existence of novas will start a socio-political revolution as well, if it hasn't already, along with - apparently - a philosophical one."

"You all are once again thinking too hard." Solitaire says, clapping Imp on the back playfully. "What do I think of being a Nova? And of the future? The questions are one and the same. We are the future, its happening now.  Still, to forget the past is a mistake, you know the saying. We were human once, and still think much the same way. Still subject to the same petty conflicts and motivations of baselines. I feel we have a debt to where we came from that we must settle before we move on to where we must go. She raises her arms upward and twirls, the buckles and zippers on her jacket chiming merrily. "I want to see the stars, surf the edge of the universe and gaze into the nothing beyond, to dive in a black hole, do things that haven't been imagined yet.  But I want to be able to come home too.  We have the power to set all the problems with the world right, I think we should. A parting gift to those who came before, and to those who cannot follow." Solitaire stands there, and smiles, basking in the glow of her own destiny. She could do all that, she knew, she could do anything.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:51, Sat 06 June 2009.

Solitare's words made Sam feel... uncomfortable. He always wondered what was in store for him, but he never thought beyond... well, Earth. Black holes. Edge of the universe. Scary stuff.

He decided to try and change the subject, for his own benefit more than anything else. "So, uh... What's this philosophy you guys keep mentioning? Sounds like some interesting stuff."

Imp looks appraisingly at Comstock.  "Some heroes are born my friend, others are made.  I'm guessing you're one of the former," He whispers.  Then at Sol, "I don't know if we can set all the world's problems right, but we certainly can give it a fresh start, at least environmentally.  Can we solve religious wars?  I think we'll spark them.  Can we solve racism, hatred and bigotry?  I think that we have spawned more of that too, just look at those religious nuts who want to kill all of us off.  No offense Prodigal. Some of us will be examples for them too look up to," he nods to Comstock, "but for every one of us is a living breathing hero, others will use their powers for petty revenge, or for instant gratification," he smiles self deprecatingly.  "Sure, we can develop clean power, fix the oceans and the atmosphere, but can we 'fix' the human psyche? Should we?  I'm right there with you on seeing how far we can go and wanting to be able to come home again after, but I don't know if we'll be welcome." Imp quaffs his drink and heads over to the bar, anybody who signals will be given a 3 mile island, Imp notices that the bottle of additives is topped up again.  Weird.

Caroline's eyes dilate as Impetus talks.  She smiles slightly, and looks down occasionally, breaking eye contact.  But her gaze quickly returns, and each time she stares more intently.

"Exactly.  Exactly.  By helping them we may hurt them, and they may not develop if we do everything for them.  And is it fair to us to take on all of the responsibility for the world?  Some yes, but how much?"

She looks at Solitaire "We were meant to be marvels, heralding in a new age, but not parents, and not slaves to the masses..."

It's clear that she is moving in and out of her own little world, but she's also very distracted by Impetus, and the more he talks them more distracted she becomes.

Louise is still there, but she's happy just to watch and make it clear that she's going home with you tonight via body language.  And she is certainly not without a great deal of allure herself (m.cha/m.app 1)

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

more on the other players tomorrow, off to bed for now.

---

"Charmed!" The Bad Doctor pretends to kiss her hand (impossible with the mask), unless not allowed. "As my good friend put it, we haven't many tales yet, other than the drama of basic training. It is quite invigorating to learn how far your Nova powers can be pushed, though. Utopia is definitely making good on their promise to help us hone our skills."
...


The Doctor gently takes her hand and makes another mock 'kiss' to it jokingly, despite it's mask. "A classy name for a classy lady. My oh my. So much beauty in one night. I am overwhelmed."



"That is a tempting challenge. Do you have any topic you like to debate in particular, Caroline?" Zero extends it's hand to shake.




"My friend brings up a very good point. But, despite how much our powers reflect our psychology, I am curious how much our powers will later define us."



"Well said."



"That's chachy. 'We are the future.' 'We are your future...' 'What we are...'" The Doctor roles the phrases on it's tongue, playfully.

"A slave to the masses? Any nova should be more than strong enough to forge their own way, regardless of baseline influences. Is it wrong to change the world for the better? As we grew up, all the problems we saw, and said 'Somebody should do something about that.' That's us. We are that somebody. Many others have tried, but we Novas have the power to accomplish, and I'm going to try. I'll fix them for myself, because I promised I would, a long time ago."

In reply to Solitaire (msg #282):

"Wow." Zero pauses from it's blathering for a while, obviously moved. "Do you ever feel you are in the wrong line of work, Solitaire? I think you would make a great motivational speaker."

The Doctor pauses again, and begins to speak. It's body language slowly becomes hypnotic, as it makes calm hand gestures with it's words. It's voice is it's usual low baritone purr that playfully accents some of it's words.

"As far as being a slave to Baselines, yes. I feel I am a slave. Or, more accurately, I am an indentured servant. I have, of my own free will, signed into a period of service. And I feel no shame. Humility... Humility, my friends, is a virtue. Ever since my Eruption, I have known one fear. Pride. I fear the pride that has led to almost all of humanities' greatest failures and atrocities, and I fear it in Nova kind. Imagine such hubris in our hands, my friends. We are like gods, but the petty Gods of antiquity would pale to what we could do if we feel we are above all." The Doctor takes a long sip from it's cup. "A little humility is a great thing."

"But... I must admit, the Count and yourselves have made an excellent point. This... 'separatist' idea has intrigued me greatly. The idea of developing as a race separately would be something I would like to support, if you'd have me. I am especially interested in setting up for the long run."

"I must make a confession. I must admit I am not yet sure Novas are a step above humanity. A part of me is an incurable cynic, and I would like to wait and see how Novas develop before concluding we are the next big step." The Doctor waves it's hand dramatically to the sky. "We still do not understand if there are any disadvantages to wielding Quantum. There are still a lot of unknowns. And, coming back to the topic of hubris, there is still the question of power and moral corruption. Can we have too much power? Perhaps Baseline humanity will prove better because it is limited, and we will blow ourselves up drunk with our godhood."

"I suppose I see Utopia as training wheels of a sort. For now, they serve as a guide and a needed setter of limits, at least until we get our feet wet. With them, we can take some time and see who we are and what we wish to be. To me, this is a great thing."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:54, Sun 07 June 2009.

Dillon looks to Myron with a bemused smirk.  "Yeah, listen to Zero.  He's a little weird but he's got a damn good head on his shoulders."  The Three Mile Island must be doing the trick.  He sat listening, trying to follow all the heady concepts zipping back and forth across the room, only half-succeeding.

Myron:
"Yeah, no one has bad points here.  I really think that we have a duty to make the world better if we can, but I do see how it would be wrong just to give up our lives entirely to civil service, if for nothing else because people might start depending on us instead of themselves."

Mathematician:
"Well, don't we have a right to be proud of what we are?  I mean sure, you don't want people to go crazy and blow up the world, but that's why we need a society of our own, where we can set up guidelines for each other, and a network of trust and education... the Upies just want us to pretend like we're normal, but from everything I've been able to calculate, that path will lead us to disaster faster than anything."

Caroline:
"Certainly Solitaire... Impetus... We should make our world better, just be careful not to do it to fulfill other's wills.  We have to be our own masters.  And this isn't just for our own free will, or to prevent the baseline population from becoming overly dependent.  What if the "greater good" pits novas against novas as weapons in war?  Nuclear escalation by another name,  and it would make novas little more than enslaved weapons to world governments.  That is a danger of the Utopian ideology.  I do believe that most of the organization has good intentions, but what is your western phrase?  Something about the road to hell?"

Louise:
"What if we just want to be a star?  Or to bask in the adoration of the public?  I personally have no interest in being separate from everyone, it kind of kills the fun of it all.  And we do have a certain responsibility to the world, and the people on it.  We have power, we should make a difference, as long as it doesn't interfere with our having a good life."

"Certainly I can see the potential for novas in warefare. Many of us have abilities that might be classified as more powerful than nuclear weapons even, and most who don't are more versatile besides. There's plenty of novas out there who won't give a damn about whether or not it will be a good idea or not for us to participate in warfare - someone will just pay them enough money and they'll do it.

"When that happens, who is going to stop them? Someone likely to get hired for such mercenary ventures is certainly going to have a power set that, if it does not predispose them towards violence, at least greatly facilitates it. Baselines are unlikely to be able to stop such an individual - other novas will almost certainly have to step in to do the job. Then we've got wars being fought by nova proxies."

Quentin looked lost in thought for a moment. "There doesn't seem to be a good clean solution to that problem."

Sam sits back and listens to the words of the Mathematician."Well... Being proud of what we are is one thing, but... separating ourselves from the rest of society... that seems like the road to ruin. What do you think the, um... baselines" Sam didn't like that word' "would do if we were all concentrated in one community? Many of whom have the potential to... blow up the planet. Some of them are just paranoid enough to declare a preemptive strike. I know that's a bit of an overstatement, but... Hm." He lets out a few sparks absent-mindedly. "And isn't that how elitist groups get started?"

"Basking in the adoration of the public is something i can fully understand, but what if their expectations are different from what we ourselves want?  I know that it's only a matter of time before everybody in this room has at least one, and perhaps many more, obsessed fan, who thinks that they alone understand us, that they can emulate us, up to and including trying to force their own eruption.  Anything humans can do novas can do ten times better, it stands to reason that anything that happens to a baseline celebrity will happen to us, only moreso.  I don't want that kind of fame, that kind of attention.  The problem is that the things that happen to baseline celebs happen because of what they do, we will achieve that kind of fame simply by being who we are.  I don't want to be separate from humanity, i think i am still part of the collective whole that makes up the species, but I want to be able to have privacy and solitude when i want it."  Imp takes a sip "I don't think that we should be used as weapons, or as soldiers.  Yes, two novas fight, one dies, saving hundreds of lives.  But, why are they fighting to begin with?  Why not go after the fuckers responsible for the conflict in the first place?  There're only a couple thousand of us alive now, if we lose even a handful of our peers in a war that's a huge loss, especially considering the sheer potential lost because some dictator wants a bigger piece of the pie."

"So, here's one for your philosophy:  What do you do with criminals?  The nova child molester, the serial killer, all that?  While we're going all Nietzschian in here talking about being supermen, what happens to the people that are all screwed up?  Do we hunt them down?  Make up new laws to deal with them?  What?  And what about if they're only hurting baselines instead of Novas?  What if they target other novas?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:22, Mon 08 June 2009.

"It boils down, as it always does, to the individual." Solitaire says, pulling her feet up and adopting her midair 'thinking position.' "I truly don't believe that any of us could be enslaved by anyone, in the end, we serve only ourselves. I don't mean that selfishly, only that nobody but another of us could truly force us to do something we do not wish to do. And even then, only with significant effort. Utopia is a tool, nothing more, a guide to direct our efforts  and to provide help and training. None of us can really perform this function for younger nova's, we haven't really figured it out ourselves yet. Personally, I would not have a clue how to really make a difference. Utopia does though, and their vision is admirable. If we fumbled about on our own, it would only take one of us, one significant blunder to turn us from 'Marvels' as you put it Caroline, to 'Monsters.'

She runs a hand through her hair, still thinking. "There's what, 1000? 2000 of us? Each unique, each with the power to reshape the world. I don't care what anybody does themselves. But if it effects others in a negative way, I'll put a stop to it.  We are all free, probably moreso than anyone else in history.  But that should never come at the expense of others."

Imp looks at Phantasm, thinking about the curly haired little girl named Jenny in Seattle, "We hunt them down, find out if they really did it, then we kill the fuckers. If you are given the power to reshape the world and instead use it to rape, torture, and kill, it's time to take another bite at the reincarnation apple."  Imp takes a long pull on his drink, he wasn't even feeling it, something in his brain must have cooked off his ability to get drunk.  Fuck.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Mon 08 June 2009.

Sam frowns at Impetus. "That really doesn't sound any different than... baseline society." He leans back and nudges his drink around, then something dawns on him. "And it's not like that would be their fault in some cases. I'm living proof that eruption can mess with your head pretty badly." He yawns. "Maybe some sort of rehabilitation program?"

"But whose got the right to decide that kind of thing?  I mean, we ... uh, baselines ... didn't really, you know, figure it out fast.  There were wars and stuff.  Governments changing."  Dillon was a bit uncomfortable with bloody, simple answers.  "Uh, are you guys talking about a government?"