DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Alternate Reality PHX: Phoenix Reform Academy PHX: Cadence and Amplitude

As the class breaks up, and others start leaving, another teacher slips through the door entering. The one they had called Carver, and after exchanging a look with grey, he motions for Cadence to sit down for now.

Cadence stood to follow the others out just as Carver was entering the room. Everyone else was exiting and made a gesture for her to sit back down. She audibly sighed, and it came out more like a chuff. She had only seen him and hadn't actually spoken to him before. But, as far as she perceived being the only one told to stay after, was that she was being singled out. Perhaps her recalcitrance in wanting to join 'Team Rejects' had earned her some punishment, or maybe it was a heartfelt speech from an elder teacher meant to see things differently because this guy's life experiences were so similar somehow. That all felt rather tropey.

Cadence cast a hardened glance toward Grey. Was all that talk about letting go of he things that held her cling to an identity she hated but needed really a lie? And now came the hard pitch? Join or get locked away because someone with her power and strength couldn't walk away from what was coming? Someone with her parentage couldn't be left in the middle? Someone with her angst and anger couldn't be allowed to walk away and find her own path?

Did she even want any that? to walk away? No. She had agreed to give this a chance, but she wanted to know that she still possessed a modicum of freewill in her choices... even if it was a lie.

She moved back the same two steps she took on her way out of the room, and reseated herself at her desk.

He sat down himself.
He paused a long while.

“Cadence, I need to talk to you. Not about ‘that’. Whatever decision you make there is your own and not mine to make. There will be consequences to those decisions, but there are always consequences to every decision in life - the universe works no other way. With every decision you make new threads are woven while others are cut short.”

He pauses, pulls out a cigar and just chews idly at the end without lighting it.

“What I need is your insight, your mind. Your thoughts on an unpleasant topic. Alchemy. I also want to lay before you what I am and what I do, and give you the information we are working from. You deserve to know it. Much potentially revolves around you, and will revolve around you regardless of the choices which you make. You need to be equipped to defend those choices, and there, knowledge is the key.”

He pauses, seeming to study her.

“You are not being singled out. Others are having some variation on our conversation as we speak. Just not in this room. Do you understand?”

Cadence

The blonde teenager from Texas would not be rude. Well, not any more rude than she already had been when she made a face, sighed, and sat heavily in her chair.

"Yes sir," she replied. She would wait to hear what he said, what he offered, before making a decision. Her experience with powered adults was limited and painful, both emotionally and physically. Hers was not a unique story here. Nothing ever came free. Everyone wanted something.

“Cadence, what I am, what I do, is see and in many cases modify wave forms. Now in many cases wave forms comprise things like light and sound. Magnetism. However, there are also other things which I interact with which are much harder to understand. To a small degree, I can even see some of what you interact with. More through the ripples created and its effects upon other things than the seeing of the energies themselves, but nonetheless I have some perception. However, the thing which I perceive and interact with which is most relevant to the current situation is probability waveforms.”

He pauses.

“Do you understand so far?”

Cadence

Cadence started to nod, but then it turned into a reluctant shake of her head.

"I was good... until you said probability wave... waveforms. I mean, I know what I can do and I get that you can see how it affects normal matter and energy... but... umm.. I don't know what that last part means. Ummm, I mean, I know what probability means..."

The effort to explain herself seemed to cause more frustration than it was worth. "You know what I mean," she finally stated.

Amplitude:

“That is fair. It is not a simple thing. Probability, or chance, can be described to some degree as a waveform. It’s complicated and involves quantum mechanics, but to boil it down to simpler terms, it means I can see alternate probabilities and read different futures. Usually I can view them at a small difference. Immediate results. The roll of a dice. The bouncing of a roulette ball. Things which are not very far off. However, occasionally, with great effort, I can interpret farther off and at a larger scope.”

Cadence

This all felt like a prelude to the topic he really wanted to talk about. An explanation, or the presentation of his credentials, as it were.

"Okay... and I am guessing you have something you want to tell me... or something you want me to tell you... that involves alternate futures you are seeing..."

Amp:

“Well, yes, to not put too fine a point on it. Part of how I see it you could call something like magnetic fields, say. Or perhaps gravity. Differing bodies within the stream of what happens exert different pulls. Some have a relatively minor part in a given equation. Some have a variable effect, depending on circumstance. Some, Cadence, are destined have a large effect no matter what they choose.”

Cadence

Cadence understood what Carver was talking about and to whom he was referring.This was never a conversation about her powers and whatever disturbances they made in the waveforms he could see. It wasn't even a conversation about her willingness to use her her powers either. It was about a choice she knew she had to make concerning her willingness to make a stand... not for any noble purpose or villainous effort, but rather a choice to take charge of her own life or keep hiding from the truth of what she had done in the past. Could she let go of the fear that she had turned into a security blanket to hide from the belief she was destined to be just like Alchemy? Could she overcome the nagging doubts about the possibility she might find redemption in a new life moving forward? Could she move beyond the previous choices that led her to believe that she was descend from the place where she made choices without the guidance of a moral compass into an abyss of evil like the woman who claimed to be her biological parent? Was it her destiny? Or was there more choices to be made that could truly change the course of her life in a different direction?

Did she have the courage to try?

The only way to find out was to take that first step.The only way forward was through...

"I think I can help Dash," she offered hesitantly... Testing the waters, so to speak. "Hadasha..."

Amp:

He looks at her ... and smiles slightly.

“That would indeed be a worthy endeavor. That is one who has suffered greatly. Small choices add up to large ripples.“

He pauses a moment.

“By own best guess, again, from an outsider’s perspective watching the ripples and waves in the fields around her is ... maybe something like an electrical appliance designed to operate on direct current being hooked up to alternating current, thus causing system degradation. Admittedly that is like trying to figure out what an object is from the ripples it makes in the water. Then add to that that I have no way to interact with that current and even if I were right, there is little I can personally do.”

Cadence

Cadence shrugged at the mention of alternating current versus direct current. "I don't know about that... I think she's out of phase. Like, she had an ability and someone tried to add something something to her, but couldn't really make the two things work together properly. She flickers in and out... that was my first clue... and... well, even as I'm sitting here I can see the other side if... it's like i live in both places at the same time. In a way, so does dash, but not all the time."

The other guy, Sorenson looked at her with contempt. At least she felt that way. She probably deserved it, but he wanted answers. to him, she was a test subject. A puzzle to solve. But Carter was easier to talk to. He didn't treat her like she treated herself.

"Her being fast... and converting matter into dark energy... to be real fast... except it doesn't work that way. It's hard to explain. I read everything I could find but it was all theoretical. I live it everyday... but, science isn't my thing... But it has to do with something called the Laws of conservation of matter and energy... But dark matter and dark energy have their own rules too."

She sighed heavily. Sher was trying to think of a better way to explain this.

"Umm... think of a big square, with with 4 squares inside..." Using the space between them, she 'drew' the imaginary box and then pointed to the four inner boxes. Top left "Matter", top right "Energy", bottom right "Dark energy", and bottom left "Dark Matter" as she went around the box.

"I can go around the box as I convert between them... like... I can convert energy to matter and matter to energy, like Alchemy can... not as strong. But I can also convert dark matter to dark energy and the other way as well. But here's the tricky part... I can convert matter to energy, yes, but i can go the other way around the box... I can convert matter to dark matter, then to dark energy, and back to energy... I can go either way around the box... But the rules seem to be that I can't cut across the box... I can't directly convert matter to dark energy. Or energy to dark matter... There's no shortcuts. Does that make sense?"

"That's how I think Hadasha is messed up... She's out of balance in the equation and when her glitches happen... When she goes to use her speed, her body is converting the matter to dark matter and then dark energy so that she can move very fast... It's not a full conversion... but it's out of balance and not following the conservation rules... so she can't control it very well. Sometimes it controls her and just happens."

Carver pauses for a bit as if chewing on what she said.

“Yes. I can see that. Makes sense. It even sort of fits with the things I had been guessing, in a way. What can we do about it? Alleviating that pain. That girl, that young woman - I am not sure what to call her, as she is not truly an adult but I’m not sure if I can call her a child - she has suffered entirely too much. You think you can help her gain better control? Or something else?”

Cadence shrugged as she scrunched up her face.

"I don't know. I've never done anything like it. I see what I see, but I don't know what was done to her... or how it was done. I don't want to know how it was done either. Seems like torture... But, I guess something was done to me as well... so I'm not sure who or what I'd be in Alchemy hadn't decided to do what she did to me... I didn't know she was my... mother until nine months ago... No idea about who my biological father is, but if he got nasty with Alchemy then he's probably a piece of work too. All I knew was that Mom and Dad were the the people who raised me... and they're dead now.Alchemy destroyed my whole life to take me away so I had nothing to go back to... and then... 9 months in her hell, I wrecked my future and I can have powers I don't want."

Cadence shook her head.

I want to help Hadasha... I just don't know how... and I'm a little scared to try. I mean, what if my idea is wrong? I don't want to hurt her, or anyone... ever again."

Carver

“Is it really possible, Cadence, to assure that? Every decision creates ripples, whether that decision is a pebble or a boulder. Those ripples bounce off of other ripples and the shore, and the pattern is not something anyone can see with certainty for good or bad. But enough deep philosophy - Cadence ... is Hadassha hurting now? As important a question, and I suspect that you have an answer in your mind and heart, how much longer do you think Hadassha can go on in her current state?”

He gives her a steady look.

“If you decide that you can’t do it, I am not judging you. I just want to make sure you make your decision with everything in mind.”

Cadence

She didn't know the answer to either question. Okay, yes, Hadasha was hurting... emotionally and physically. But she wasn't Hadasha and she had no idea how much. Was it constant? Again, she didn't know. Maybe if she could actively watch her, instead of passively, she might see how the glitching actually affected her body. It couldn't be good though, and so... she could guess at the second question's answer. Since it wasn't going to balance itself and might get further unbalanced... there wasn't as much time left as even she might think there is.

There was no answer coming yet.

"I have to talk to her first..."

Carver

"That would probably be a good idea. I can tell you don't like him - and I can understand why - but talking to Eric on the matter might not be a bad idea either. He really does have a good heart, if an abominable lack of social skills and graces.

Cadence.

Cadence didn't try to hide her lack of enthusiasm for the idea of talking to Eric Sanderson. She shrugged and shook her head negatively. "I don't know. He makes me feel like a lab rat... Like he wants to dissect me to see how I work. And there's the way he looks at me... Maybe I deserve it, the look of condemnation, or hatred... or whatever it is... But, doesn't mean I want to volunteer for it either."

She looked down at the floor. "I might need someone else there."

Carver:

“I can understand that feeling. Eric never has been good at anything remotely social. Most of life he goes through as If it’s a puzzle to solve. One thing I can guarantee you is that he doesn’t view you as less than a person or condemn you - or hate you. He’s usually too busy finding ways to blame himself. However, if you don’t want to try there then I would talk to Mariel. She has a good grounding in science, especially physics and energy fields as they relate to powers. I’d probably talk to her either way, actually.”

Cadence

"Maybe I see the anger and hate I feel for myself in... him... Mariel, yeah... maybe that's a place to start. Well, you were the place to start, so umm... after her, I figure no matter what, I will have to talk to him. So I guess when it comes time to talk to him... Ummm... Can you be there too?"

carver

“Absolutely. I think I give him the willies, so it may put you on even terms. Just give me a call. I’ll be around here somewhere.”

Cadence

It seemed inappropriate to ask carver about what he meant when he said Eric Sanderson was 'too busy blaming himself'. It hung there in her mind though and left an awkward silence as she wasn't very practiced at hiding her feelings.

"Thank you," she finally replied. "Do I head back for the Common Room? Or is there someone else I'm supposed to see next?"

“Well, Mariel might well be available now , if not I’m sure at least a couple of the girls are in the common room.”

Cadence

She glanced back at Carver and shrugged. She wasn't going to seek out Mariel. She had already had too much introspection and psychological examination today. She would save that for another day. If there was anything more to be said on the topics already discussed, it would be after she had spoken with Hadasha.

She left the room, door still open, and headed back for the girl's common room.

(Common room is set up)