DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Alternate Reality PHX: Phoenix Reform Academy PHX: Change of Phase (Lamar and Mariel)

Wherever Lamar heads after leaving the class, he soon sees the dark haired woman walk up to him.

"Lamar, I think its time for a chat. You good with that?"

Lamar

A somewhat wry expression presented by the shapechanger. What benefit was there to refusal or negation? Given their circumstances, given what had been said, given what was going on. Thus, when presented with not a choice, but a courtesy, a nod to consent, it seemed better to play along.

“Sure,” he replied. “Anywhere in particular?”

You could glean a lot from an innocuous question. Quick, informal, no sensitive information? Here and now might suffice. The privacy of her office, Mariel’s place of power? That sent its own signals. Someplace neutral but relatively secure, an unused nearby room? Expediency over hierarchy. Someplace else, far from prying eyes? Security and gravity the emphasis. Let’s find out.

Mariel

She pauses for a moment.

“That is up to you. Some of this may be personal to you, so if you wish some sort of privacy, we can do this where you wish. Your room, my office - your choice.”

She still had the look of someone running on nerves and caffeine, and perhaps too little sleep.

Lamar

Ah, recipient-centric. He glanced around, saw no-one and shrugged.

"Privacy is a bit of a myth and I don't think anyone else is in earshot, here's as good as any. I'm all ears."

He briefly considered making that literal, but swiftly opted against, the time and energy better spent elsewhere.

Mariel

She looks at him and tilts her head and assays a quirky half smile.

“I am happy Lamar, that you did not do what I would have been tempted to do with your power set.”

She pauses a moment again.

“Are you aware, Lamar of your parentage, your lineage beyond and outside of your mother, where the sequences that make up you ultimately originated from - on both sides?”

Lamar

Exceedingly recipient-centric. With the way it was phrased indicating a high chance of new information. Choosing his words with care, he replied,

"Oh, I was tempted, but it seemed smarter to hold on to my reserves for now, given what we're up against. I'm aware of my mother, I'm aware of whom my mother identified as my father. Beyond that, the resolution gets a little hazy, the information I do have I'm willing to question. So, what information do you have?"

Mariel

She pauses a moment as if thinking.

“You are aware that at one remove your mother was a creation, as it were, of the individual known as Enkidu. Your father was as well we think, although we cannot of course easily confirm this. As part of our medical evaluation, however, Eric has discovered something more. We are almost certain that you share at least a degree of genetic consanguinity with several others here. That consanguinity leads back to one central individual.”

Lamar

Now this was new. The speculation around his father, accurate or no, was at best a good guess given that individual's preferences and capability to enforce them, but his own code was available for study. Naturally, the question had to be asked,

"Have we determined who this individual is? Which of my fellow students am I related to?"

“Well, let’s see. You bear a relation to Cadence, to Ben, to Hadassha, to Anne, to Norton, to Blake ... and to Grey and I. Our best speculation is that the point in common we have is most likely Enkidu. You all share sections of genetic code which we suspect have something to do with powers. Or at least that is Eric’s best guess. Grey’s early life is, well, at best Grey. Mine ... I’m pretty sure that Alchemy and Nyx were interfered with. I see little reason why not me. In other words, I highly suspect there is a reason for the recent surge in the powered that goes beyond mere chance.”

Lamar

"Interesting. Are the rest of our genetics indicative of consanguinity, or is it some sort of splice of this... super-code?"

Did his mother and father share an actual relation, or was it artificial? Had he acquired a Superfamily, or a batch of fellow experimental subjects? Were the two exclusive?

,Ariel:

“As far as I can tell, Lamar, the answer is ... yes. I’m pretty sure this was not accomplished with a gene splicer. There are sequences of code which are at a deeper level. But on the other hand ... there are enough similarities to consider at least cousins. I am starting to suspect that Enkidu is playing a deeper game than anyone realizes.”

Lamar

"Given what I know of my mother, and have gleaned of my father, that wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. I'd suggest keeping an eye on my father as a potential deep-cover activation, but let's face it, there'd not be much to do in that case and the contingencies have probably long been laid out. For that matter, what can we learn from the code? Have we sequenced it, deduced what it can do? Kill switch? Subversion? Can we deduce the existence of other parts from the bits of it that don't appear to be available?"

Mariel:

“Near as I can figure I would have to guess it has something to do with “meta enhancement”. Whatever it is that causes us to be us seems to be connected to that bit. Almost universally those modified seem to be ‘enhanced’ in some way. Why Enkidu would want that I am not sure, however I might guess that as much as collecting powered individuals he may be creating them.”

Lamar

"Test subjects. Refinements. Experiments. Learning the how and the why of it. He can give powers, alter powers, does so almost casually, callously, refining human beings, and discarding what he sees as the dross. So, a couple of questions. Given he can do this, what has he done to himself? And what creation is he sufficiently happy with to keep to himself rather than release to the world?" He mused.

Mariel

“All questions we have asked ourselves. I think he has been playing a very long game. He started being active back when Kemp was young, and that is a long time ago. You are part of that game.”

Lamar

"So, assume the worst. Longevity and vitality are no-brainers, he can give powers so being able to remove or alter them has to be a possibility. Add in every positive trait from his creations, control over speed, visibility, his own form, matter, energy, entropy. Mind reading, mind alteration. Perception filtration. Perfect memory with instant recall. End state is every power imaginable, as close to godhood as a mortal mind can conceive."

Mariel:

“Perhaps, Lamar, Perhaps. Yet I doubt he has achieved this or by now he would have no reason to hold back. At any rate, I think we cannot dismiss the possibility that Alchemy and Nyx’s plans may connect to this.”

Lamar

"Unless holding back has value above what we would think to ascribe to it. Reasons which we are unaware. Plans more wide-ranging than we're considering. Everything we have here, with this place of education and redemption, which just happens to have all of us scions, all of his handiwork together, we should start thinking how this could be made to connect with their plans, under his direction."

Mariel pauses, then leans back against the wall, with a slight hint of a smirk on her face. He can almost see her as a rather cocky teenager.

“Lamar, your honest opinion. What do you think of our intellectual capabilities here?”

Lamar

Raising a brow, the shapeshifter replied,

“Excellent question. How much of this problem has been solved already?”

Mariel:

“What do you think, Lamar? One thing I have learned from Kemp is that we cannot let the thought that others might be trying to use us to prevent us from doing what we believe is right. We will have to stake quite a bit on what we think of your character.”

Lamar

"I think there are too many variables to give you an answer narrow enough to be useful, so let's prune some branches and drill down to the core. What powers do we know for definite Enkidu doesn't have or have access to?"

Mariel

She studies him for a long time.

"Sometimes, Lamar, there is little to be planned other than to make yourself as ready as possible. TO relinquish the idea that you are actually in control and prepare yourself to react, whatever the circumstances turn out to be. Figure out how to be 'Troublesome' to the right people. The amount known about Enkidu is very limited. Intentionally. Obviously he has long life and health. He is smart, we can safely say. I suspect he has some ability to interact with powers themselves at some level, perhaps gene coding. It is hard to say, but if he has been doing what he is doing as long as is suspected he was doing it before the ability to manipulate gene structure was even a thing technologically. But this is perhaps beyond the point Lamar. right now, I am trying to glean where your mind is. What your thoughts are. How you view yourself in this matter. I am going to be completely frank with you here. You are not normal in a way that among those here perhaps only Dash and Blake can get. DO you see the necessity or is this, like it might be with your mother, a 'dangerous game'?"

Lamar

An impassive facade met that study, an awareness and perhaps a slight irritation at being weighed in the balance.


"Can I be relied upon? Can I, Inanna's child, personally raised by her, be relied upon? Can I, with my father's potential for insouciance, be relied upon? Or is my worldview too alien, too other? Too akin to that which Enkidu has been working towards for himself and those he favours. If you didn't doubt me, it probably would not speak well of you, of our side. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I don't relish being doubted. Who would?"

He paused, leaned back, and began ticking off points on the fingers of one hand with the other.

"Point one. The Black hole has been used as a dumping ground for those with powers whom society cannot contain. Very few if any of those within would accept the status quo if freed, and they have power enough to back that up.

Point two. Alchemy and Inanna could probably solo an escape from the Black Hole. They could almost definitely escape as a team. At the head of an army of the imprisoned, and it's not even remotely close. Not if but when, and what they do with the momentum. My best guess so far is an end run, a decisive strike to neutralize the forces of the status quo, with an all-hands-on-deck jailbreak being the ideal bait to the trap.

Point three. Inanna and possibly even Alchemy are in there deliberately. I suspect they're much more aware of their connection through Enkidu than we are, and that all this was planned at the outset when they were free, possibly in confab with Enkidu.

Point four. At this moment in time, the three biggest locations for Enkidu's creations and evolutions are wherever Enkidu is right now, the Black Hole and this institution right here. I don't think that's accident or coincidence. I think we're a known factor, a calculated variable. Perhaps vengeful for our parents, perhaps indoctrinated into the status quo, perhaps a wild card, a mishmash of responses. Either way, our own parents, creators, whatever, haven't forgotten we exist, haven't missed the amassing of potential and power.

Point five. Enkidu himself. If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. I think we're at the every battle is perilous stage, which is at least one up on those who won't acknowledge there's a war on. If we want to come out of this on top, if we want to come close to breaking even, we need to truly know what we're up against.

Point six, Eidolon. Does he have reason to be confident? Does he have reason to be dismissive? It's not arrogance if you can back it up. Corollary: It is if you can't."

He waved the extraneous digit out of existence and continued,

"That's where my head's at. Too many variables for us, too few for our opponents. They know themselves and they know their enemies. This has been in the works a long time before we got wind of it. It seems likely the new status quo will be even worse than the old one, if they're successful. At least for most people. Do we have any means to rebalance the scales in our favour?"

Mariel

“One thing, Lamar, that I have to rely on at the core is that Alchemy and Nyx are at the center of this and that Alchemy and Nyx both - I know all too well - do not understand people at a basic level. At their core they think others are like them, are driven by the same things but only lack the will to act on their desires. I think, in this, they have things backwards. They don’t understand the will to be other than them. They think, when it comes down to it, people will make the decisions they want, because they cannot comprehend how people could want differently.”

Lamar

He said, the words heavy despite their conciseness,

"They're working with Inanna."

Mariel

"Don't think I am not aware. However, we are working with our own minds. Grey, Carver. In the end, Lamar, if we start triple guessing ourselves then we accomplish nothing. We have to proceed as our conscience dictates with our eyes wide open."

Lamar

"I'm just saying relying on them not understanding people on a basic level seems a bit forlorn when they're collaborating with someone whose most dangerous aspect is how well she can understand people. No triple guessing there."

Mariel

“Ah, yes. But one other feature of those like Alchemy is that her broken glass brilliance allows her to stand for only limited loss of control. She must be in charge, even if it means not listening to those she most definitely should listen to. And we have a Grey. And a Carver. In the end, I think trying to out triple think a master of the art only makes you dizzy.”

She pauses a moment.

“Lamar, do you understand what Carver is?”

Lamar

“Let’s assume I haven’t figured out every last little nuance just yet.”

Mariel

She pauses a moment.

“So ostensibly what he does is manipulate power fields and waveforms, from light to electromagnetism. Fairly potent in its own right, and largely what he is known for. But more interesting are the secondary attached powers that come along with that: the ability to see waveforms, which extends into one area which concerns us here, probability waveforms. It’s not so simple as to say he can see the future, because he would be the first to tell you that isn’t exactly what he is doing.”

Lamar

"Makes sense, given the nature of it. I presume we're looking to amplify a potential positive outcome that necessitated going hugely off-script with a bunch of powered minors."

Mariel

“Again, Carver makes my head hurt sometimes. But he describes it more as ‘eliminating the most negative outcomes’. He is a strange bird. He doesn’t think like you and I.”

Lamar

"I can grok it to a certain extent. If you don't bring us on board, there's a whole bunch of problems caused by our presence or absence at a number of junctures. This is cutting off the branch with the most rotten fruit, if you will."

Mariel

“Perhaps something like that. I’ve given up understanding Carver completely. Other than that I trust him.”

She pauses a bit longer.

“There is another thing. Golem may be coming here. If you wish to avoid him, I can arrange it.”

Lamar

“Quite the opposite. He knows I exist. He can do with that knowledge what he likes.”

Mariel:

“As true as that is, do you wish to meet him … or not? I can tell you he is a frustrating individual, if a useful one.”

Lamar

"To be clearer, 'Quite the opposite, I do not wish to avoid my father'. Frustrating but useful might as well be the family motto. Let's see how we get on."

Mariel:

“Very well. I wanted to make sure that the choice was yours. He should be in later this evening.”

Lamar

"Understood. Anything else in the mean time?"

(I can blip ahead, or we can fill some interaction with others first)

(Either works.)

New thread incoming