Players:
Summary: With the appearance of future faces, discussion turns towards time.
Date: July 13, 2010.
Log Title Think in Five Dimensions
Rating: PG-13.
Xavier Mansion - Kitchen
This kitchen was designed to feed large numbers of people, and looks it with its bright white walls and stainless steel appliances. The stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher are all larger than normal. There is an island with stools around it for people to sit and eat around along with a table for twelve by the windows in back. Along the wall is a hole in the wall looking into the dining room so food can be passed back and fourth. Anything you want to cook or eat in the kitchen you will find the food and supplies to do so.
Clashing odours emanate from the kitchen, mixtures of dinner foods and breakfast foods as well as snacks. Apples sliced thin, placed carefully over a bad of hashed browns, some caramel drizzled upon the awful concoction. Eggs mixed into a tomato based spaghetti sauce and poured over pieces of chicken, a salad made up of iceberg lettuce, grape and pineapple on the side. There are other mismatched meals being plated by Heather as she zips back and forth in the kitchen in preparation for her greatest meal of the day. Her tape recorder hangs around her neck, her clothes as mismatched as her cooking. It is like a rainbow of terrible. In the future, she tended to wear garments of her own design, which actually showed some flair of talent, but apparently that's a skill developped over time. It is getting later, some students are already in bed, but Heather's schedule bows to no clock.
Betsy should be in bed recovering from her ordeal from the night before. But there's only so much medbay food one can stomach before one starts craving real food. Especially when somebody came from the future where real food was something of a luxury, although judging from the smells emanating from the kitchen, she may rethink this idea. There's only one person who could cook this badly: "Heather." Her cultured british accent is at odds with her Japanese features. "It's good to see that some things remain a constant no matter when you are."
Heather turns towards Betsy, her eyes blinking a few times. She pauses for a few moments in thought. "Are you here to kill me? That will cause a paradox. Strategically speaking, it could your best move. Otherwise, I need your help. You might need mine." She smiles slightly and gestures towards the plates she's set out, "Are you hungry? I am starving." Grabbing a fork from a drawer, Heather starts to dig into her breakfast dish.
Betsy looks more amused than anything else as she heads towards the fridge. "No, I'm not here to kill you. You belong here, alive, and if I were that would fragment the timeline more than it already is." Pulling open the door she scans the contents of the fridge. "I'm here to keep that from happening."
"I'm trying to think of ways to make it all work. Make it so that things aren't bad for you. But… I will need your help. I need to hide my thoughts from myself," plays Heather from her tape recorder. She doesn't seem to have much difficulty accepting that this is someone from the future, but she's immersed herself in futurethink for awhile.
Betsy rummages around the fridge a bit before pulling out some easily heated leftover spaghetti, and a can of Coke. "How do you mean?" she asks, putting the tupperware container on a bit of counterspace that hasn't been taken over by Heather's mad scientist version of cooking. "I take it you're not talking about a regular shield."
"No, of course not. I'm not a telepath. I need you to break my mind. There will be times when I approach you, now or in the future, where you will have to go in and obscure some things from me. If you can't do that, then I need them broken out completely," plays Heather on her tape recorder, looking very serious. "I will be your enemy, but I will always be on your side. I think. What is the future like? Who is Ahab?"
Betsy opens up a cabinet and finds a plate to dish the spaghetti onto before popping it into the microwave. She's silent for a moment while mulling over the request. "I see," she says, finally. "I can erase things. That's easy. Hide them so you don't know about them in the future… not so easy." She cracks open the soda and takes a swig of it, closing her eyes. "Have you asked Addison about it? He'll be better at it that I would be." Notice how she carefully avoids the question about the future.
"Am I going to see Addison? I need to know I can trust people who are still alive at that time." Since Heather never actually went down into the Redeemer tunnels, she didn't get much opportunity with Addison. She shrugs and adds on her machine, "But if I get you to erase these things… You have to erase them from yourself, too. It will be part of the plan. I have to remember this conversation, so that I don't come after you for that knowledge. If I knew that you knew everything… I would have a problem, but I still need to know to come to you. Do you know what I mean?" She grumbles lightly to herself for a moment, a high pitched little squeak. "But we will learn these things in time, because I will make sure they all get through before letting them fade."
As Heather speaks, Betsy's eyes go wide, and the soda drops from her hand, making a fizzy puddle on the floor. "It was me," she says, quietly and in wonder. "I'm the one who edited my own memory." Her brows knit together, her mind wheeling with the possibilities. "No. It couldn't have been. I was dead here. I never died there." She winces, as if in pain, putting a hand up to her forehead. "No, this just doesn't make any /sense/!"
"No, it makes sense. It all makes perfect sense," plays Heather, nodding her head quickly at Betsy, "And it's important that it makes sense. If it doesn't, the world will never be saved. We are dealing in puzzles of the likes we've never seen before, some entrenched in our own minds." She takes a bite of her apple caramel hashed browns, chewing them carefully. "And if you help me, we step one more step closer to a solution. But the costs… there will be costs."
Betsy seems to finally realize that she made a mess on the floor and goes in search of a towel to clean it up. She shakes her head, "I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. How can I have altered my memory of these events when I wasn't even /here/ for these events?" Finding a towel, she bends down to soak up the spill. "Maybe.. my God. This is just insane. Maybe I /am/ dead, but due to the time warp we did last night I ended up resurrecting /myself/."
Jaidee is just stepping in from the outside, padding barefooted in his jean shorts and loose t shirt, to look around at the mess being made. "What's going on?" He asks curiously.
"Now you're thinking in five dimensions! I realized that it's possible to have causal links to future versions of oneself when I showed up from the future. That knowledge is what is setting this plan into motion, something that I might not remember. Or may be forced to forget. Nonetheless, a future self causes something for a past instantiation," plays Heather on her tape, a small smile appearing on her face as this tape place. "So long as I arrange so that all of the future circumstances are exactly the same as they are, I can break them. I have an endgame in mind, but it is only budding. When it is revealed, we will both forget it, but again it will come in time." While her tape plays, she takes opportunities to eat her own meals before looking towards Jaidee, answering simply on her tape recorder, "Namuch."
Betsy looks both confused and amazed at the same time. "If that's true… then… I'm forced to live that future over and over and over again. A never ending ten year loop of the world going to hell," she says, her voice cracking in horror. "There has /got/ to be another explanation." She finishes mopping up and looks up at the new student. "Oh. Hullo."
Jaidee makes his way over to the refrigerator around the mess, and opens it up. "Oh, time stuff?" He says curiously as he reaches in to get an apple from the fridge, smiling. "Time is an illusion." He offers, biting the apple.
Heather shakes her head quickly, "No! No. I don't want you getting caught in a stable time loop. It is a time loop pair. It coils twice and then continues in a string like most of these others. Maybe even a single line…" She gestures towards Jaidee as an example of these others. "This is the fifth dimensional shift… Connor can touch it. I have seen it. In his spaceslips. As for timeloops, I will have to relive it so many times, even if it works. It will all have to be in my memory, but erased, but replaced again." She blinks a few times at Jaidee when he says that time is an illusion, "Yes, and so is space. But we live in an illusion. Illusion is /reality/." Stated like this is obvious.
Connor walks into the kitchen as he's spoken about, and makes his way towards the refridgerator, opening it with a smile and a nod to the others and suddenly, "Holy Shit… fresh veggies!" Comes blazing out. Picking up two bell peppers, some mushrooms and some celery, he walks it all over to a cutting board and sets it down, "So what conversation are we not having today?" The words carrying over the entire group as he goes back and gets himself some flank steak. Pulling and twirling a knife with uncomming skill from the chef's rack, he begins to prep all the things he's put out, grabbing some garlic, some hot oil, and then several spices, "Bets, Heathr… sorry… don't recognize the face. Vietmanese, or Cambodian?"
Betsy looks horribly out of her depth as Heather continues to speak. This has gone above and beyond anything she had already planned for. "But that still doesn't explain why I'm dead here, and why I didn't die where I come from." She looks over at Conner as he enters. "Did we make a mistake? Did we get the wrong tunnel and ended up in a universe that almost identical to to mine?" She growls in frustration, "God DAMN you, Ahab, for making my life so complex."
Jaidee shrugs. "Illusion is illusion." He offers in response. "Space is illusion." He responds, eating the apple a little bit, eyeing the guy wielding knives and chopping. He smiles a bit. "Sorry…sawasdee kreup, I'm Jaidee Chayanurak. I'm Thai." He says to Connor, before he looks back to Heather.
"Do not worry too much. Let me be in charge of timeline management," says Heather, putting her hands up in front of herself at Betsy's frustration. "But be assured, I will keep you from an endless reincarnation cycle. That is a crueller fate than death, and a place I won't even put myself for the sake of victory." She sighs deeply and turns back towards Connor, eyebrow raising at the surprise at fresh veggies, "Are you Connor or are you Volk?" And then to Jaidee, "If we are in an illusion, then that is our nature. It is irrelevant if it is not real. It is still our context."
As the scent of fajitas begin to come up… and it's a nice and smoky-spicy aroma, not greasy like so many home-made versions are, Connor replies, "Volk. And about illusion? Perception is nine-tenths of the law. What you see is what is. Problem is that it's the remaining tenth that's the important part." Smirking as he digs up some flour tortillas, "Reincarnation cycle? Does this have to do with your memory block, Bets? Conversations we can't have because I've found a couple key words you start to blank on. But how can you be constantly rebooting if Jamie isn't in on it? You told me yourself, he brought you back and made it so reality can't change you…" He stops and then mumbles, "Unless this isn't the first time we've done this song and dance." Speaking up once more, he adds as he begins to rub spice into the meat, "This is the right place, the right memory… problem is it got changed from the baseline before we came back. Remember… Central Park?"
Betsy puts her hand on her forehead again, fighting away a migraine. "No, no, no." she says to Connor. "That's all wrong. Jamie never brought me back. He brought /Emma/ back. I never died. I asked Addison about it and he said that Vargas killed me. Yes, he and I fought, and it was a close call, but he didn't kill me." Her plate of reheated spaghetti is all but forgotten from the overpowering smell of the fajitas. Shaking her head she turns to Jaidee, apologetically, "I'm sorry, luv. We shouldn't be having this conversation in front of a student. Especially one so… deep."
"Finding the difference between real and illusion is what life is." Jaidee comments back as he takes another bite off of the apple. "Our nature is eternal; illusion is temporary, a way of keeping us from eternity." He says in response. "Only by rejecting illusion can we touch the eternal." He smiles to Betsy. "It's alright. Before now, I'd say I was qualified to help on reincarnation cycles, but."
"I miss Connor. I like Connor," says Heather, pouting slightly at Volk's response. She gets over it, though, and continues eating her own strange food concoctions. She shrugs at Betsy and says, "I do not mind if you have deep conversations in front of me. And it might not be the first instantiation of a song and dance, but it's not the same one. I will make sure of it. It can be subtle, an insurance to remind ourselves of loops. A counter that we press every time we reach a certain point in history, even. Notes and reminders, notes and hints…" The speedster frowns slightly and says, "But I am not of your time, and my help right now you might find stifling. I have no context."
"He'll be back, don't worry… I'm only here so long as my future remains as it is." And as if that's the end of that discussion, chili-crusted and spiced flank steak is taken off and cut with delicate ease, the vegetables crisp and their own flavors brought out with some other spices chosen just so. Plating up one first, he brings it to Betsy with a dab of guacamole and sour cream on the side, "Here, beautiful. Okay, so Jamie brought Emma back… but the thought of it is starting to crack the shell. Look…" Starting to construct a second, Volk adds, "The fact of the matter is… This is a conversation that can't have happened because until Heather becomes a Hound, Heather doesn't go back in time, Central Park doesn't happen, the time between our time and this time doesn't begin to crack and crumble, taking the whole thing with it. So… if you follow the logic, Heather had to let herself get caught to ensure that the next play happened right."
Betsy takes the offered plate of fajitas gratefully, blushing slightly at Volk's comment. "I'm never going to get used to you like this," she says coyly. She, then, wastes no time in chowing down the tasty dinner. When she's done she looks at the small gathering apologetically. "I'm sorry. Being up has taken more out of me than I thought. I should get back to the medbay." With that she gives Volk a quick hug and heads out of the kitchen.
Jaidee eats the apple more and watches as things play themselves out. Alternate timelines. He shrugs a little bit. "So since she got cvaught, it will all work out?"
"Someday, I will look back on this conversation and mumble that it is very rude to be talking about me like I'm not here. I mean by the time I'm the person you're talking about," plays Heather. This is an attempt at a joke, but like most of her attempts, it's a bit unwieldly. "But yes. My being caught is inevitable. It is the signal that told me to mobilize myself now. I could tell myself never to meet Ahab, and that would be avoided, but then we are back to square one, where your future is inevitable and unsolvable. It is a catalyst. For what, I don't know. Your future is yet veiled from me. That's fine. I will discover each step myself." She glances between Betsy and Volk a few times, narrows her eyes for a second and then laughs her weird high pitched squeaky laugh, "Volk has a girlfriend, Volk has a girlfriend! Volk and Betsy sitting in a treeeeee, Kay Aye Ess Ess Aye En Gee!" The last part is sung in Heather's usual tuneless voice. Chloe can attest that it's not particularly good even without the translation system. To Jaidee she adds, "I don't think it's a guarantee, but it's a step in the wrong direction to get everyone else stepping in the right one."
Connor sits down with his fajita, and looks back and forth for a moment, "I remember loving your sense of humor, but I also remember us not getting on so well… anyways… it's taking it all in context, kid… first off… I'm just a future iteration of myself… the me you'll get to know is one hell of a fucking nicer person than I am. Second… Bets is a lady… and shut up. It was a about time anyways." The food in front of him is devoured, and a second one is made, "The only way to break causality is by interfering in the events that cause it at first. But in breaking a causality, you create a new one in the events you attempted to stop. Following me yet?" Volk smiles, "This is where it gets fun… you see ALL of it can be unravelled with the right event at the right time, in the right place… the trick is… you've got only one shot. Otherwise? It's all moot. We hit the watershed events, the things that cannot be changed, until we find the ones that create the necessary divergence. At least… that's the theory…" And for some reason he's smiling at the end.
Jaidee is, similarly, content to just eat his apple and listen to all of them talking, even though…Connor continues to generally try to explain it to him. "If it is meant to be changed, it will have already have been changed." He offers.
Another squeaky laugh from Heather after Connor's response, though towards the end she becomes more thoughtful. "One event, but you have to prepare for that one event. Those preparations are deviations. You have to have many deviations. Fine touches, but one single event with a rippling effect. The preparations must be obscured, but the broken lines must be caught in memory to prevent reoccurences. An insurance. I will know more when I know more, and that will be clear to you when it is clear to me." She tilts her head slightly and says, "And we get along fine. Look. Look at this." Heather pulls her hand through her hair, and manages to only catch a couple minor snags, which pull out easily enough anyways. "That is how good of friends we are. I did this in the morning, but Connor had to leave and here you are. Such good friends. Geez. Or do we not get along in the future? I know I'm an evil dominatrix, but before that…"
Connor tuts softly as the third one is made, "I can give generals, not specifics, Heather… you know the game as well as I do. Something said now, even out of context, changes things that might be important later." But with that he sighs and stretches before devouring the last of his fajita mix, "Pardon, both… and thanks for putting up with this. I got to visit Thailand… later than this, but I enjoyed it. While it's not the safest place in the world, there's something so much simpler about southeast asia and india than the rest of the world has to offer. There's a peace there you can't always find in these times. Anyways…" And he thumps the table, leaving the dishes, "Later. Addison shut off my mojo for a few hours, and it'd be nice to get some real sleep for a change."
Jaidee smiles happily. "I like talking about the future. I don't have to worry about verb tense, cause no matter what I say…it's right." He continues to grin, and finishes his apple. "What's a dominatrix?"
Heather waves at Connor and plays, "Well, I hope we're friends up until I become crazy and evil." She turns towards Jaidee and blinks a few times rapidly, "Oh. It is a person who dominates over other people, usually in leather fetishistic gear, in order to give the victims a sexual rush. I do not understand it, frankly, but I guess I will." She shrugs a few times at that.
Jaidee hmms. "Interesting." Is all he says. "Well…being attached to pleasure leads to suffering, so…I guess if suffering is involved hopefully the lesson is that much easier to learn/"
"I think not, because they learn to enjoy the suffering, which leads to an endless cycle of pure carnal joy," states Heather flatly. She blinks her eyes a few times and shrugs, "Honestly, though, I think suffering is terrible."
Jaidee hmms. "Well, that won't be very promising on the next reincarnation." He says simply, giving a nod. "Suffering is terrible, which is why Buddhism tries to overcome it through detachment. But…not for everyone/
"I do not think I am a Buddhist. It is hard to be in any way religious when you are me," plays Heather, shrugging her shoulders a few times lightly. "Suffering is terrible, but to be intelligent, I think it is needed."
Jaidee shrugs. "Being fast, or having hard life?" Jaidee asks curiously. "Neither one seems like it would kill faith." He offers softly for a moment, smiling. "If you are smart enough to recognize suffering, you are smart enough to fix its' causes in life. Your life." He ammends, shrugging himself again. "At least I think so.":
"Being fast? Hard life? No. That's irrelevant. Being unsure of context, perhaps. Uncertainty. And if you have no goals, there is no reason to call you intelligent. But if you have goals, you suffer for having them unfulfilled. But isn't the answer to my statement a more vague question? 'Why do you think being intelligent is important?'," asks Heather to Jaidee, head tilting slightly.
"Goals are the end of a journey. The journey is what grants fulfillment. If you can take meaning from the journeys you go on, you will never suffer for not meeting them." Jaidee responds. "Who said it was?"
"Believe me, I find meanings in my journey. There is too much meaning to sift through, and the journey becomes a part of myself," plays Heather. She shakes her head quickly and says, "I should clean up and take a nap. It is getting late into my wake cycle."
