Log:The Fall of the Cartesian, Scene 5

The Fall of the Cartesian 2018/04/02 	 Raven|Amelia Radical|Connor

5

Steinberg Tower is a skyscraper in Old Town. It's been constructed in a style and with materials to match and blend in with the surrounding structures although it does tower over most of the buildings in the district. The building has 30 floors above ground level and two levels of underground parking. Much of the building is unoccupied at this time although that space is likely to be expanded into in the future. Occupancy of the building is organized by Floors.

The entirety of the Ground floor is given over to a spacious lobby which is often the site of various exhibitions and small stalls selling bizarre, and often other-dimensional, wares. Steinberg Tower contains the Steinberg Medical Facility free clinic, the Ashcroft Foundation, and an Arcane Studies Centre. A Mystical Portal on the 28th floor provides travel to a number of other-dimensional destinations.

The top floor contains a spacious and luxuriously furnished Penthouse Suite as well as four equally well furnished and equipped self-contained apartments. There's a helipad on the roof. However, non-emergency use of it is discouraged.

Amelia has invited Connor to meet her at the Penthouse. So Sasha's Spirit Servants get a workout tidying up before he arrives. The penthouse looks better than it has for a week. Amelia tends not to bother when it's just her.

Connor knocks on the door. He's dressed in civilian clothes, figuring that showing up in his new costume might draw too much attention.

Amelia opens the door and gestures for Connor to enter with a smile. "Take you for accepting my invitation, Connor. Can I take your coat? Get you a drink?"

Connor takes off his jacket, "Thank you. And just some water, please." He steps inside and looks around. "Very nice place. Kind of a stark contrast to Randal's old century home."

Amelia smiles delightedly, "Thank you. It home, however humble." she says and chuckles. "Make yourself at home. I'll be back in a moment with water. Iced?"

Connor nods. "Please. That would be great." He heads over to a window to look out over the city, and he smiles, "Nice view here, too."

Amelia nods, heading out to the kitchen. She returns after a short time with a fluted glass of wine for herself and a tall cut crystal glass of iced water for you. "Here we are, Connor. The water is from a highland spring on a Earth without humans. No pollution."

Connor takes the glass of water and he smiles, "Thanks." He takes a sip, "I guess my first venture in the new costume could have gone a bit better, eh? I missed the action entirely."

Amelia grins, "On the bright side you made no mistakes or errors at all. I remember my first time as Raven. I would have died if not for other heroes happening by. Tali was one of them." She looks out at the city view for a moment. Then turns back, "Connor, have you any ideas on how to handle the Rira situation?"

Connor nods. "I might. I've been thinking about it quite a bit. I managed to get her to talk to me for a while. I think she and I are becoming friends. Or at least she tolerates my presence." He laughs at that, "I'm clearly still a bit too stuffy for her tastes, despite my recent changes." He steps away from the window and takes a seat on a sofa, pausing for a moment as he collects his thoughts. "She needs to learn to control her abilities. Right now, she's just...naturally reacting to things. I can't see the future any longer, but my gut tells me that if she is on her own two feet solidly...she won't be the danger that she could be otherwise."

Amelia listens. Then pauses to collect her thoughts. "That rather depends on two factors. Can she learn to control her abilities? And does she have the temperament required to stay in control under stress. Of the people in our special little community you very probably know her best. Can you hazard a guess as to the answers to those questions?"

Connor thinks about it. "I'm optimistic. I've offered to try to help her, but she's a little...reticent at the moment. I'm pretty sure she can learn to control them. As for her temperament...that I'm less sure on. From what I can tell, her upbringing wasn't exactly sweetness and light. She's pretty angry under that...only slightly less annoyed facade."

Amelia nods, "That could be a problem. But I don't see we have a lot of choice except to help her gain control of her abilities and hope that once she has she'll exercise due restraint. Because unless she can look after herself she'll fall victim to one side or the other. Lazare is not going to give up. And what I've seen of the new Cartesian makes me think she's not the quitting type either."

Connor nods. "The new Cartesian is a better spell caster than I ever was, I think. Based on what I saw. Not that I was a slouch, mind you. But her facility with large scale casting was pretty impressive. The quick dimensional shift...I was able to do. But some of the other tricks, not so much." He takes a sip of his water again, "I suspect she and I each had a different focus when learning to cast. She's more likely focused on direct action, whereas I learned a lot about...sensing things."

Amelia agrees, "I think you're correct. And that quick shift out to a Plane of Order is going to make any actual victory against her darn near impossible. I cannot follow her there. And on a Plane of Order... I'd hate to have to face up against her on her home turf so to speak. Which leaves us with protecting Rira and driving off Lazare and Cartesian each and every time they turn up. And they only have to get lucky once. We will need to succeed every time. Unless... Rira can protect herself sufficiently to survive until help arrives."

Connor nods, "Exactly. We can't watch her all the time. It just won't happen. Sooner or later, we'll slip up, so she needs to be able to defend herself. She certainly has the potential to do so." He tilts his head, "Do you think Lazare could be spoken with to try to slow down his attempts?"

Amelia takes the time to think about that, lifting her glass to sip on the fine red wine. Then she shakes her head. "Honestly? No. He's in the same position vis a vis the Lords of Chaos as you were with the Lords of Order. Except he's less likely to rebel against his instructions in my opinion. As a person, he might have been amenable to persuasion. As an Agent of Chaos he'll do what he's told to do." She shrugs, "That's my opinion anyway."

Amelia adds after a moment, "It's almost funny in a way. Lazare is the Agent of Chaos yet he's really quite focused and methodical in his activities."

Connor nods slowly, "I think you'll find that even as an agent of one side or the other, the other side leaks in. Humans are not...can not...be purely Chaos or Order. It's impossible. That's the weakness of using humans to be agents. We fall somewhere along the sliding scale and cannot be at the far end. And even those that are close to the end of the spectrum will find that they let the other side through once in a while." He smiles, "Think about it: How useful of an agent would Lazare be if he was truly random? All the time?"

Amelia nods, "Not at all," she says in full agreement.

Connor says, "Exactly. To accomplish things, there needs to be a direction. Some kind of force behind it. Lazare is fairly random, from what I've seen. He's not as focused as you believe. But at the same time, he's given a goal, and he has to try to get to that end in some way. It might be a little circuitous. And sometimes, it might be the simple direct route."

Connor smiles, "Speaking of such things, I heard about the recent incident in the student quarter. The whole...'shunting an area into another dimension' result of Lazare's arrival. That strikes me as the kind of weird wake that he leaves behind him. One of the prior times I fought him, I was dealing with...trying to stop out of control buses filled with kids and an anvil dropping from an upper floor."

Amelia suddenly laughs, "Sure it was an anvil and not a piano? That's more traditional isn't it?"

Connor grins, "Quite sure. The piano was a different incident altogether."

Amelia nods again. "So we seem to be in agreement that step one is helping Rira gain control over her abilities. Perhaps with an initial drive towards a defensive ability. You didn't see the initial phase of the incident. Rira was threatened by a number of Hellions. That's a street gang based in Harrisburg. When one of the them made to punch her she flinched. The punch never landed because one of the heroes on the scene intervened. But the flinch suggested to me either a lack of defenses or a lack of confidence in her defenses. Just the kind of stress that could trigger an uncontrolled use of her latent, and maybe not so latent, powers."

Connor thinks about it. "That makes sense. Did she exhibit any abilities during the altercation?"

Amelia says, "Not that I saw but what I saw was very limited. The hero I mentioned dropped a smoke bomb. I couldn't see what was happening in the smoke and that's where Rira was."

Connor nods. "Well...there are two types of moments that I'd expect might cause her abilities to manifest. First, it might happen when she's completely relaxed. A good example of that was at the bar, when she was playing guitar. She had kind of retreated into her own world and lost herself in the music. The second kind of situation that might cause it would be a high stress moment. Something which will cause her to lash out in anger."

Amelia says, "I'm inclined to think the former is less likely to be hazardous for everyone nearby. Although I admit I have no idea what the tentacles might have done."

Connor smiles. "I suspect...nothing other than act like a display. Somewhat like a...peacock. The wide fan of feathers. Or like a flower. But I'm guessing, of course. It's a matter of whether or not she was truly in control. If she was, I'm sure there was no real danger...other than from the tiger-person. If she wasn't, then who knows what might have happened?

Amelia nods. "Second point. We need to watch over her. Certainly at this point on time. That may not apply if she learns enough to be able to protect herself. But at the moment either she'll be defenseless against Lazare or Cartesian, or maybe just as likely she'll be deadly to anyone in her vicinity. I have a Watcher keeping an eye on her. With instructions to inform me if either Lazare or Cartesian show up, or she is threatened in some recognizable manner and then seek out and inform you. Now Watchers are not all that smart so they can be fooled but it's as good as I can manage short of 24/7 spying on Rira."

Connor nods. "Seems like a good plan to me. I was a bit surprised when that one found me. I wasn't in costume at the time. So, I suspect that made it easier."

Amelia says, "That was why it found you, Connor. If you had been in costume, and remember I hadn't seen you in costume until you arrived, the poor little Watcher would still be looking."

Connor says, "Speaking of such things, I decided to go with the hero name 'Radical'. I figured it works for a couple of reasons."

Connor grins and sips his water, "So no need to have an awkward pause next time."

Amelia smiles, "I'll try to remember that and not go blurting out your actual name. Which I almost did. I apologize for that."

Connor chuckles, "Even if you had, I suspect none there would have known who I was anyway. So...I don't think it was a big deal either way."

Amelia shakes her head, "Still, I'm glad I managed to shut my mouth in time." She laughs, "Actually I'm sure quite a few people would say I should do that more often. I've changed a lot from the hesitant shy nerd I was in high school. Whether for better or worse is probably not for me to say."

Connor smiles. "Well, no damage was done, either way. At least on that front. Besides, I was an introvert in school as well. I still am, to a certain degree."

Amelia glances at her now empty glass. "Can I refresh your drink. The ice must have melted by now?" she asks.

Connor smiles. "No...thank you. Besides, it's cold enough." He then adds, "Was there anything else you wanted to talk about regarding Miss Gonzalez? Or did we pretty much cover it?"

Amelia says, "I believe we've covered what needs to be done. But not yet how to do it. I'll continue keeping a Watcher on oversight. Are you willing and able to coach her in gaining control of her abilities?"

Connor nods. "Of course. Assuming I can get her to be a bit more friendly. But I'm making progress on that front. I'll certainly do what I can." He smiles, "I kind of see a 'road not traveled' kind of thing with her. It's interesting. I always wanted to be a bit of a rebel. And I suppose I am now, in my own way. But not like someone like her. Or the other members of her band."

Amelia grins, "Maybe as a bonus you'll end up learning to play a guitar," she says.

Connor smirks, "I suspect I'd try to play some stupidly complex Spanish style, rather than just relax and play rock music. But we'll see. You're right, I might manage to pick that up."

Amelia gestures toward the media centre and a Spanish guitar track starts playing at low volume. "Like that?" she asks smiling. Slight change of subject. When we return to the Ice Earth you'll be going as Radical I expect? What would you like me to tell Timewarp?"

Connor smiles, "Yeah, like that." He nods, "I might as well go with my gear, since it might help. My schedule's pretty open. Just let me know. CBSU is on spring break this week, so...some time this week."

Amelia laughs, "Connor, you're forgetting who else is involved. Time is largely irrelevent. You can go this week if that's convenient. I could go next month. And Timewarp can go next year. I doesn't matter."

Connor chuckles. "Fine. But for me, this week is convenient. So let's aim for that."

Amelia nods, "Duely noted," she affirms. "Did you get to the Great Library? I was hoping to make the trip with you but I couldn't make time."

Connor nods. "I did. Otherwise, I think I wouldn't have been able to build the devices I needed. It also helped that I remembered where the local entrance was. It hadn't moved since I saw it last."

Amelia nods, "It's hugely impressive. I have a floor of this building dedicated to a Library, with two additional floors earmarked for expansion. But even then it will only be the fifth in scale of the Libraries I know of."

Connor laughs, "Why haven't you gone digital? You could store so much more." He smiles, "I realize that some books don't translate to digital well. I'm joking."

Amelia nods, "I am a cyberpath. Everything that can be digital is. Or will be. But as you say, many of the books, scrolls, and parchments, related to our interests are difficult or impossible to scan. Heck, some even fight back. I've ruined several scanners that way."

Connor raises a brow, "I...don't think I've run into that particular problem, myself."

Amelia says, "Some works are just downright dangerous. There's one volume that needs to be kept in a light-tight hardened steel container. I'm keeping it off world just in case."

Connor finishes off his glass of water, "Again, not something I've had an issue with. Every volume I've looked at, including Randal's library, has been pretty typical 'book-like' books. Not attacking anyone or...manipulating their minds, or whatever."

Amelia nods, "Mostly it's the manuscripts written by the darker more 'quirky' mages that present that behaviour. But in some cases the content itself has such power the medium is infused by it."

Connor nods, "Mostly black magic sorts?"

Amelia sadly nods, "Mostly. Yes. There have been, and are, mages who's search for power leads them into paying a terrible price. Often that price is a step into darkness. When I was a Chosen One I needed to know about such mages to counter them. Although, honestly, I was and am unable to confront them directly. Because I'm not willing to make the kind of deals needed to achieve that level of power. I value my soul and sanity too highly."

Connor says, "So, you were a Chosen One, and you're not now? Did you become...unchosen?"

Amelia winces at the memories. "I died. Long story short. I was a fool and paid the price of stupidity. I traveled to a Earth where Witchcraft didn't function and a demon tore me apart. I was revived but their medical people after a few seconds. But that was long enough for the role of the Chosen One to pass on."

Connor furrows his brow, "But...if I may say so, that doesn't make a lot of sense. If you were chosen, that implies a decision point, like a discrete moment in time, with a probability..." He stops himself and takes a deep breath. "I...need to accept that there isn't always a logical explanation."

Amelia says, "I was chosen by the previous Chosen One dying. It's a bloodline thing. Back then Chosen Ones were dying at a rate of several a year. I believe I mentioned that I would have died on my first time out in the field if not for heroes stepping in to help."

Amelia says, "When a Chosen One dies the next Chosen One is the female in the bloodline closest to her sixteenth birthday."

Connor nods. "Yeah, but...you were still chosen. You don't become...unchosen by dying. That's what I have issue with. It just means that there are now two people who were chosen at different times, still alive now. But I think I clearly don't understand the import of the role."

Amelia nods "In a way you're right." She changes to Raven. Then changes back. "There's another Chosen One. Doing an excellent job. I'm still technically a Chosen One but I've resigned from an active role as such."

Connor nods. "So...what is the Chosen One chosen for, exactly? I don't think I ever knew."

Amelia recites, "In every generation there is a Chosen One. One girl who is given the magical abilities of a powerful witch to fight against evil. Thus it has been since the dawn of time itself." She shrugs, "Yeah. One scared poorly trained sixteen year old girl against demons, devilds, vampires, dark mages, etc.. It used to mean something. But for a couple of hundred years before my Chosing the Chosen Ones had been weak and the White Coven had gotten into the habit of viewing them as expendable."

Connor winces. "That's awful. The expendable part, I mean. Seems really problematic."

Amelia says, "I couldn't agree with you more. I hated it. I was so scared all the time for the first year or so. Thing was, I couldn't say no thanks. Because even if I didn't go after the dark side they would come after me. And my only chance was to learn more magic. The White Coven was the only place I knew of back then to get that training."

Connor nods slowly, "Sounds kind of familiar. I kind of got tossed into my role as the Cartesian. The major difference was...I was kind of prepared for it by my uncle. And I was quite a bit older when I took on the role.

Amelia nods, "I was sixteen. It was my birthday."

Connor nods. "A big difference, then. I think I was...twenty-eight? Something like that. I had just become a professor."

Amelia says, "Exactly the same in the most important fashion though. Neither of us got a choice in the decision, right?"

Connor shrugs, "Technically I suppose I had a choice? But realistically? Not really. It was expected of me. So, there was a lot of pressure to actually go along with it."

Amelia nods. "The current Chosen One is doing well. But before I left I forced a few changes to the White Coven's practices. No more will an unsuspecting girl get a knock on the door. As each girl becomes the potential next chosen one she's contacted and prepared for the possibility. There's still no choice but at least she's far more ready to assume the mantle."

Connor nods. "That's something, at least."

Amelia says, "Yes. It is. Plus, if it happens I'll be with the new Chosen One until she finds her feet. A unique benefit of having two chosen ones."

Connor says, "So...is the current person also local? Or from somewhere else?"

Amelia smiles, "Now that's also a long story. She's not local in place or time. Back in the seventeenth century the Chosen One lost a fight against a dark mage and was trapped in a book. Harlequin... have you met him? Anyway Harlequin discovered this and freed her. When I died she became a active Chosen One for a second time."

Connor chuckles. "I feel like a third person should have been chosen at that point, then."

Amelia holds her hands up, "Magic. Logic takes a holiday," she says. Then grins, "Well, other than my magic. I know some spells taught to me by other mages that are as irrational as most spells. But I developed a strictly rational and mathematically based spellcraft system for the spells I create."