(Hornets Bookstore) Book Covers

[Winter]

"Not as good as I was supposed to", is his curt reply. There was a lot that escaped the Consilium's scrutiny. "Just remember that appearances might be deceiving. What looks like freedom to one, could be a gilded cage fitted with bars wide enough to allow a view of the outside to the eyes of another. The latter is no doubt closer to the Truth, but the former is surely happier in his blissful ignorance", he glanced at the rack of magazines on his left. New age ramblings, random trivia and assorted trash. "And neither is truly free to do his own things. Prisoners all the same"

[Mobius]

A cryptic response, as might be expected from a Guardian. She didn't try to read too deeply into Winter's words, not too interested in diving into a metaphorical discussion on freedoms. In the end, she wasn't confined to the study of her mentor's interests any longer, so that was a win for her.

"Ignorace or no.. I'm sure some prisons are better than others." She followed Winter's gaze to the magazine rack. Seemed he wasn't too impressed, but she amused herself thinking that was probably par for the course for the Guardian. "Was it part of your prison to end up in that mess?" she asks directly, strangely so considering her usual demeanor. She thinks back to that day at the consilium, and how it was like a train off the rails, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

I hope my understanding of continuity is correct and this takes place after Consilium since that was a sticky

[Campanella]

Winter's metaphor was apt.

"A prison is still a prison, whether it be a bare cell or an ivory tower where every whim is catered for. As long as one abides in it, confined, one can never truly live. One is concerned to be stunted and in some way immature. And that is a tragedy."

Campanella had now made his purchases and drifted toward the pair.

[Winter]

His gaze casually shifts to the Science mags rack. Her answer didn't surprise him, she was young and still drunk on the Awakening.
He grinned - a face splitting grin that no doubt she could see through the back of his skull - at the thought of the girl more than two thousand miles away that undoubtedly shared this particular Enchantress' own brand of unbridled optimism. Of his, the girl happened to possess half of her genes. Luckily for her, the good looks had been inherited by her mother, the swagger however...
The connection between that girl and this bookish gal was mystical, however, they trudged through the same path. "Perhaps I should introduce the two of you... some day. Historians are great friends", he was in a good mood today. For the last few days he had talked a lot, perhaps because he actually had something to say.

He bites his lips, fingers stretched for a copy of Nature "Quantum Supremacy", he says. "In the nineties they called it Chaos theory. The idea that the flap of the wings of a butterfly could cause a hurricane on the other side of the world", he half expected that Campanella would smirk. He was good like that, the Moros, not the Guardian .
"Then came faster computers, more and better statistical techniques could be performed over larger data-sets. And the name had to be adjusted to Nonlinear dynamics. Social interactions for example", there was a time before the spy games, both mundane and otherwise. And age even earlier than the soldiering stuff, where he just drew formulas on a chalkboard. That, and praying to God, but he still does that; the Moros wouldn't probably agree with the last part, but his path was a lot more... fatalist.
"Anyway, what we truly call random is really something which pattern we just don't understand yet. Perhaps there are too many dimensions for our computers, or we need larger data-sets. The larger the sample size is, the closer to a truthful assessment we get. Incidentally, this is also the way the Scientific method works", of all the things the Exarchs perverted, Science was likely the least corrupted. No, he wasn't sharing the Libertine ethos; but after the Fall of the Dragon's Dream, science must have been developed as an answer to the vagaries of the False Gods.
"For Example if I said: two days from now, we shall meet again in the Boss' weekdays office at noon. Am I making a statement concerning the truth or just a forecast? In natural science the answer is easy, there are no feedback loops. You observe the event, make an assumption and then you verify your prediction based on that account. If your prediction is statistically unlikely to be incorrect, you're unto something", he coughs, "Excuse me... anyway you can't actually prove a positive, that's the purview of mathematics and not of Science. An explanation instead is when you take data and work backwards toward a theory that fits your empirical analysis. Deduction versus induction", he looks back for a second to check whether the girl is following his hastily bred techno-Koan. Truth be told, the Hierarch is the true addressee of the message. It's not the first time that they shade their plans from unwanted ears by covering them in riddles.
"Now the thing is, when enough Force is exerted, causality breaks down. Both at the microscopic and the macroscopic level, you see? This is especially common in social interactions. Because if I say: "I know you will be there". Am I making this statement based on a presumption? Wishful thinking? Or actual knowledge of the future? There are feedback loops by which the future affects the present and it is affected by it at the same time. Both are branches of the past, in fact, this discussion is itself the root of the tree. I know you perfectly understand this, perhaps on a very visceral level", he tells the girl.
"So, in the case of the meeting. I know my actions will cause such meeting to occur, and I know that my self-fulfilling forecast prompted my actions both now and in the past. Such is reflexivity", he shrugs.
"But both causality, casuality and the passage of time have a relative and an absolute component. We define change in a system by the level of general entropy. In an irreversible process, entropy statistically increases, so when a state A moves to a state B, we can say that some time has passed by measuring the change. But if A and B stay the same, then change hasn't occurred and time is standing still", this is something all their paths had in common. "Nevertheless, the temporal dimension is the measurement tape. The real event, the big deal though, is newtonian dynamic. Action and reaction. A big enough engine, a powerful enough computer, and then you can break stuff. Time is a frame of reference you see, variable", he deadpans, "but the speed of light, now that's invariant", the Guardian leaves the magazine on the counter, he nods to his peers, ready to depart. Hopefully this bunch of hogwash and bullshit had gotten the point across to his Friend and had answered the girl's question.
Science was cool though, really cool. A book here and there, fill the boxes with enough dots and even simpletons like himself could sound almost erudite.

[Mobius]

Astounding to say the least. As he said, looks can be deceiving. Most apparently Winter himself.

The science and the mechanics, these were things she could understand on an intellectual level - albeit barely - but it did all mostly fly over her head. Perhaps by design? Either way, her understanding of Time was not something she thought about in a logical way. It was something she could feel, perhaps the Guardian said as much, and something she could experience as if she were an integrated piece of an engine. She had difficulty from time to time connecting the thought and the feeling.

Either way, it didn't matter. Mobius didn't think it did anyway. There was something being passed along here, she was certain. Noon. Two days. If this meant they were friends now, then that's something she could digest. Maybe not friends, maybe she would be a tool - an asset. That was fine with her, she might have an opportunity to render service, do good, the important stuff. Why she had the knowledge and the magic in the first place.

"If you know it, then it must be true." she responds with an awkward smile. She was clearly overwhelmed and made no effort to hide it.

She looks to to Campanella and Winter and turn, and nods to both of them. "If you guys will excuse me." she turns to leave.

"See you soon."

Wait, introduce me to who?

Mobius will make her purchases and depart unless otherwise stopped

[Campanella]

Campanella's eyes flick - once - to Winter.

His expression shifts, softening into a smile, as his attention moves briskly to Mobius.

"Of course. See you soon."

He waits a few moments as the Acanthus leaves before he makes to move off himself.

"See you later."

He addressed the Guardian and offered no wave or parting nod. The words clung to the space between the two men. The Hierarch had picked up on the message as well.

Campanella will exit the scene at this point unless stopped.