Food for Thought

Apr 6th, 2019 03:14 PM

"Wait" He blinks at Langdon "Wait wait wait wait, back up please. Cracks in reality?" Damn, he really needs to pick up more of that 'theory of magic' thing. Seems knowing how his Arcana worked just isn't sufficient anymore "You said before you are part of a Legacy? Is one connected to the other?"

Shodan looks up at Abacus "Well, it was good advice, so I took it. Contrary to popular belief, thinking you are the only one with good ideas isn't a prerequiste to join the Free Council" The Libertine flashes a smile at the gathering.

"Also, you clearly aren't in it for the money. You could probably eat half the wise-asses at the New York Stock Exchange for breakfast between what you know and what you can do" It's a part of the Acanthus routine he doesn't understand. Shodan isn't one to place an 'either-or' on cash and enlightenment, so the intend is to fish for some answers, get the mage accountant talking.

Apr 6th, 2019 08:56 PM

"Time and relative dimension in space, it is all connected. The here, the now, the then, the soon to be. Reality is still water and a stone whether the size of a pebble or a red giant can disturb it. When you listen to its taste, you will find that reality truly is infinitely diverse in infinite combinations."

The movie title was different than he remembered it. "Donnie Darko? Interesting. It has a different title in this continuum but then again it always does. Do you know that it is known as Debbie Demented in a timeline where Caesar slaughtered the entire Roman Senate? With twenty-three swords."

**Abacus** · Apr 7th, 2019 01:32 PM

"Within the two years after I got it and started working at a hedge fund with the Mastigos that hired me. The kind of trades he was making could only come from someone with prescience. And he just kept doing it. Over and over and over. I made more money than I knew what to do with. He paid off my graduate loans within the first week."

"It didn't take long after that to get a Supernal boot to the head. He made me curious."

He turned to Shodan.

"You'd be surprised. There's a small number of brokers who are Sleepwalkers. They're keyed in to something that most would call absurd luck and we would call a step away from Awakening, except it wanes when they lose their cool and succumb to the stress when they make a bad trade. The spark fizzles out like it was never even there and when it comes back...it's not as bright. They start to believe it's just dumb luck and nothing special. They stop looking for the threads."

It was what separated Abacus from the rest. He was still looking, following threads to the most fruitful outcome. There were ways to put oneself in all of those rivers and travel upstream simultaneously. It required a lot. Too much. And there was nothing the Mysterium had that wasn't a treatise on the idea. No written spell-work. If the Guardians had it, there would be no way for him to get his hands on it. The Arrows would kill him if he even thought about it around them. He didn't know any Ladders. That left the Hierarch...

And the Libertine.

"Shodan, tell me more about your pet project."

Apr 10th, 2019 07:31 AM

What kasterborous says about time... it makes sense, more so than what the Time Mage usually says. Shodan finds himself nodding and pausing when the Acanthus speaks about the movie "Really? No shit? I wonder if the Caesar thing is connected to how they named the movie" What? Stranger things have happened.

He listens to Abacus' story with interest obvious on his face. Damn, that's new. Also, fuck the Lie.

Now his 'pet project'... that he can talk about for hours, brother.

"Like I told you when we met to discuss cabals, I'm interested in digitalizing the mind, especially the Awakened mind. The way I see it, a good start would be seeing how quantum computing and perfected metals - like thaumium, siderite or lunargent - interact with each other. If I'm right, and the human mind can be summed up as a bundle of information, then that means two things: first, it is possible to find a suitable hardware for it, or even change it as you go, leaving you in full control of your physical side. Second, if mind is information then there must be an Awaken.exe file that can go" Insert snapped fingers here "and here you are, with new mages in geometric progression" He takes another bite of food and a sip of the drink "Now, not only is it a super funny way to fuck with the Exarchs' Lie, but can also solve lots of practical problems like, you know, death or space travel" He says that as casually as one'd sell a pitch for Avon products. Seems he's been thinking on it for a while now.

"On another note, have you noticed this Consilium doesn't do anything for fun anymore? I mean, we are what? A dozen or so mages that happen to discuss business once a month, then part ways to do said business... maybe go out for a beer with a guy or girl we like once or twice. It's always artifacts this, bitching Archmasters that... I mean we have problems, I get it. But it doesn't mean we can't have some community bonding, it'll even help us!" Shodan was still sore from the 'bonding experiences' mandated by his former corporate masters, and Abacus probably knew a thing or two about it as well, but this was different. This would be edifying and also - the corp citizens usually don't find their bonds tested by universe-tearing horrors.

"So I'm thinking, once we get settled for good we put up a notice about a party. Now you might say 'hold up, man, I didn't sign up to no party planning group!' but think about it - if the rest associates us with a pleasant social experience they'll be more likely to come to us when they want a debate or an advice... or even an academic event, like a workshop or something" Like with most topics he's passionate about, the Libertine is mostly talking to himself at this point, and talking a lot. Solipsism is a terrible/awesome thing

"Thoughts?"

**Langdon** · Apr 10th, 2019 08:43 PM

Thoughts move and entangle as Langdon tries to work out how to describe the cracks to Shodan. There's curiosity and learning and then there's ending up stuck on an alien world watching a purple sunset. "They are related yes. My legacy studies anomalies in the Pattern of reality. Somewhere sometime, maybe Atlantis falling, maybe something worse, put well. I guess stress onto reality and caused some cracks to form."

"Are you serious about that Kaster or not? That may be related to what my Legacy does. In a fashion." Alternate timelines? Sounds like places you could reach by reality cracking. "Can Awakenings fail like that?" The Stalker asks the supernal accountant. "Is it something like that or just part of their soul expressing itself?"

"I'm curious to see what arcana would be needed to seat a human soul into a computer like that. But the party idea sounds good. Let people take a moment to relax and enjoy being alive before we dive into the next thing this city decides to throw at us."

Apr 18th, 2019 02:14 AM

To Langdon's question about Arcana "Matter, likely. Prime, because lots of raw magic would be needed. Forces, to bend the laws of physics at just the right angle?" He isn't certain of this, his occult knowledge is a bit too limited... yet.

"I'll think over the plan for this party of ours, then, if no one is against it" it was the next best thing after everyone being for it "You can mull it over, too... if you want"

Jumping ahead and also closing scene due to inactivity

Food for Thought

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