Log:Before the Time Barrier

2020/10/09 Arthur Aevus Magda Rupert Amelia Radical

1

The weather is fair and comfortable, with a few clouds lazily rifting across the side. But very quickly, the weather sours. Dark clouds collect and thunder begins to rumble.

Radical has finished classes and grading for today, thankfully. He's out and about now, practicing with his various new spells. Or he had been. The odd weather draws his attention, though...and he goes to investigate, teleporting a few times to get into the general vicinity. Perhaps it's nothing?

Radical does check to see if there's magic involved as he gets closer...and finds that there doesn't appear to be any. That's promising.

Magda enjoys stormy weather, no matter its source; while her size can result in severe buffeting, her senses keep her aware if there's any real danger. And feeling the electricity in the air is fascinating. But the origin of all of it is odd; following it to its source, she identifies a zone near Steinberg Tower and, as a safety precaution, uses her powers to move bystanders out if the zone.

People start floating away. With the pull on people, some cars stop, sometimes with screeching breaks, but the people are still stuck in their cars.

Radical sees people starting to float, and he teleports several times, grabbing them and getting them safely out of the zone. "I have no idea what the heck is going on."

Magda releases the people as Tadical moves them out of the collapsing zone of problems, but she does drop in to call out, "I have these; get people clear, there's a zone of ... I don't know. Tachyonic something, but I'm still working my way up to temporal mechanics."

Magda Quickly excludes people in cars from her telekinetic safety zone clearing.

Radical furrows his brow, "Temporal? This is something Timewarp did, isn't it?" He takes a closer look around, seeing if he can detect anything in particular about it with his current senses available to him. Though he's not optimistic.

"I don't know enough to be able to tell you what it even is, much less who's doing it," replies Magda.

Amelia emerges from her Tower to check for any magical or supernatural influence on the weather. On spotting familair faces she assumes this is not natural. "Hi. This looks ominiously like the opening to a horror movie. Any idea what's happening?" she says Radical and Co.

Radical shakes his head and says to Amelia, "No idea yet. Not magic. Though she..." He points to Korkoro, "...indicated there might be some kind of tachyons involved. Something temporal."

Amelia nods, "I can't detect any magical, dimensional, or supernatural influence. Temporal, that's Timewarp or you, Radical."

Once bystanders are out of the way, Magda -- Korkoro -- gestures to cause a glowing outline to appear, a 'red zone' which she conforms tot he steadily-constricting area of temporal ... issues. "That's the area of it," she tells the other Powers getting involved.

Radical shakes his head, "I can look back into time. But I can't analyze the energies involved."

Another day another even'n on the job. Only a few hours left, but it had been another long day, Rupert's eyes on the clock on his PDA. Nearing closer to the end. Another delivery though, out in Old Town got him up on his scooter, putting along. Sure, darker clouds started gathering and the sky started to rumble with thunder, but all considering the city? Was probably another microburst. At least... until he turned on the corner. Ominous clouds? Normalish. Floating People? Less so. A lot less so.

"Miss Betty is just going to have to wait," he'd murmur, hopping off that scooter. Though, lingering for the kickstand. "Yo!" He'd shout. "The why do we got the beginning of the end here?" It wasn't familiar faces, but rather people who weren't floating at least. "And, the heck is on over there? That one of you?" He'd gesture on to a section down the street, seemingly... empty. At least till it started to hum 'red.'

Amelia glances at Radical, "No way to contact Elizabeth?" she asks quizzically.

Radical nods, "I'll go ahead and try to see what started it. Amelia, make sure no one bumps into me. I won't see or hear anything here while I do it." He places a hand against a building wall fo balance, "I can, that's true. We'll see if that's necessary in a moment." He then tries to peer back into the past in this location to see what happened, using the magic of Order. There are no magic words or gestures. His senses become aligned to this location's history and future....

Lightning crackles and arcs among the clouds as they darken. The electrical field only Rupert and Magda sense starts to rapidly collapse and condense. As it gets about 3 meters around, there's the sound of an approaching yell, or help, as suddenly with a flashCRACKLE of energy, Professor Arthur Aevus is ejected into the present at rapid speeds. Upside down. And back first.

Amelia creates a barrier around Radical to protect him from accidental bumps, straying stinging wasps, and high expolosives.

Radical is blissfully unaware as his senses are elsewhere along the timeline. Not that it's helping much, it turns out.

"Damn," would be all Rupert could offer, Quickly trying to make his way through stalled traffic, towards the man that had simply been... shunted into existance. The time shenanigans that the others mentioned, he couldn't fix that. Person? Well, can't fix much there either. Check up on him? Sure. "'ey! Are you okay man? What happened?"

Magda's right hand gestures -- she was kind of expecting something like this -- and intercepts the flying form before it smacks into Radical. Turning it about and upright, she descends from her position a few meters up, to float a foot off the ground as she sets the Professor down the way he's supposed to be. "Well. Professor Aevus. What a surprise."

Radical returns his senses to the present. "No clues in the past. The weather literally started out of nowhere." He blinks a few times as he sees Arthur.

Amelia nods to Radical, "Then I image the clues are in the future, and the arrivee. Who seems to be recognized."

Radical nods slowly. "Dr. Aevus. He helped with the mission that involved Magpie."

Arthur is caught helplessly upside down, arms and long coat dangling down towards the pavement. As he's set right-side up by Magda. It doesn't help him look less disheveled by much. But at least his Porter-ish luck didn't end up with him unmaking himself or creating a time paradox. His hair sticks out and about wildly, but for those who know him, it's not all too different from its normal style. In fact, he runs his gloved fingers through his hair to fix it by messing it up in a different manner. "Ah...better," he sighs. Aside from the hair and the rumpled clothes, he has a bloody nose, which he's just noticing. His nose wiggles a bit from the tickling before he runs his thumb over his upper lip and inspects it. "Ow."

Amelia nods, "Then the clan of Amelia's owes him a debt. And as I doubt Magpie will ever pay it... I should see if help is needed."

Arthur pulls out a handkerchief from his vest pocket and holds it against his nose. "Thank you for the catch, Dr. Gutzu," he manages breathlessly with his usual chipper politeness.

With Arthur ejected, the sky begins to clear and calm once more.

Amelia steps forward, "I can heal that nose if you permit, Dr. Aevis," she says. She mis-pronounces the name slightly.

Radical looks up, seeing the weather returning to normal. "Dr. Aevus, can you explain what just happened?" He looks the other male professor over from a respectful distance for any clues.

Blinking blearily a few times, Rupert would have to turn his eyes between Arthur and Magda. A glance spared up, the crackling of the air and the feeling of tension above having disapated. "I... will take it you all know eachother. Lovely. But... Yes. Care to explain what just happened? And... the floating people?"

"That would be much appreciated, Ms. Steinberg. Or is it Magpie this time? Just no touching, please. I'm a germaphobe," Arthur explains. He looks about, then looks to Rupert and smiles. "Well, I think most of us know each other by now. Have we met?" He's certain he hasn't met Rupert yet. That tail would be hard to forget!

"Of course," Magda replies. "Bloody nose from travelling, or from those you encountered?" The red 'warning area' winks out.

"From trying to overcome the time barrier someone so rudely erected so I could see my wife," Arthur mutters with some irritation. And to see his timeless husband. Well, Katrina Prince's future husband-to-be who totally gave her spoilers when he knew he wasn't supposed to. It's complicated.

Amelia lifts her arms to release a stream of butterflies swarm out from the sleeves of her Hanfu robe. The butterflies flutter around Dr Aevus. The nose injury heals.

"No, I don't think so, Mister Arthur." Twisting his tail back up behind him, a little closer, Rupert would shake his head. "Time Travelers in the steets. What a world. I'd shake your hand, but, well, as you said. The name is Rupert." A glance shot back to Amelia and the butterflies that flowed from her. Insectomancy? Or... no, just a curious healing. "What a day."

Radical waves to Rupert. "I don't believe we've met, either. Unless I'm horribly mistaken. I go by 'Radical'."

"Professor," Magda corrects the young man -- Rupert -- somewhat primly; her accent is Germanic. "Not 'mister'. 'Doctor' is also appropriate, at least until he gives you permission to use his personal name."

Offering a slight smile and nod back to Radical, Rupert would give a slight chuckle. "No, I don't believe we've met Miss Radical. Forgive the intrusion, just... well... when there are people floating in the sky, one gets a bit worried, no?" His gaze would turn back towards Magda and Arthur, a slight pause and curious lift of his brow, before that thin hispanic accent would roll once more. "Ah, appologies. I was not aware, Mister Professer," he would offer with a chuckle of mirth.

Arthur cleans off the little bit of blood and looks good as new. "Thank you, Ms. Steinberg. Much appreciated." He carefully rolls up the handkerchief and stuffs it in an inner coat pocket. Her inspects the blood on his glove, and a white glow begins. When the glow subsides, the white glove is perfectly clean. He then offers his hand to shake with Rupert's. "What's what the gloves are for. I'm afraid the floating people, myself including, aren't my doing as far as I am aware. Speaking of, Dr. Gutzu, could you be so kind and so alight me back upon the ground?" Since he's still held telekinetically and stuck leaning a bit forward at an awkward angle to try and shake hands. He chuckles at Magda's formalities, and Rupert's understanding. "Much appreciated, Dr. Gutzu." To Rupert, he says, "Arthur is fine. Or Professor." Often The Professor, but...he leaves that out.

Radical looks down at himself to see he looks overly feminine. Gabrielle and Mari would likely be amused at the thought. He then looks back to Arthur, "So, what was this about the time barrier? I know of it only from descriptions."

Amelia turns to Rupert, "The floating people aren't really a problem or cause for concern," She pauses a heartbeat, "Rather it's the falling ones that we need to worry about. I'm Amelia Steinberg." She offers a hand, not being a germophobe.

Arthur may still be a bit loopy. He looks down at the ground. Blinks. Then lightly stomps his foot on the ground a few times. "Oh. I already -am- on the ground."

Korkoro smiles a little at the Professor's disorientation. "After I learn about temporal mechanics, I should study the interaction between time travel and mental states."

Another warm chuckle would roll itself from Rupert as he reached over, a firm shake of Amelia's hand given. "Well, to us, I imagine not. To the one's floating? Probably more so. Again, Rupert. Rupert Garcias if it is important." Turning back to Arthur, he'd offer a swift nod and shake of that hand as well. "Glad to meet you then Professor. Forgive me for not knowing if there is propper protocol on, ah, temporal greetings. Hopefully your meeting with your... Wife? Pressent, past... Bah. I hope the meeting with family goes well at least!"

Amelia comments to Radical, "Miss Moriaty mentioned it briefly, Radical. In the coffee shop in Milan."

Korkoro glances sideways at Rupert, then says to Arthur, "I take it you didn't get through?"

Arthur finishes shaking Rupert's hand and smiles sadly. "Future. Present. It's all a bit out of order. My meetings seem to be...a bit of a question mark since the time barrier is blocking me from a time we were supposed to meet."

Arthur is of two--no, three--minds on Korkoro's theory of time travel and mental states. "That would be a most interesting paper to read, Dr. Gutzu." He turns to Radical. "It's a barrier that prevents travel beyond a certain point. I've tried approaching it from, ah, different vectors, but each time, I get bounced to where I started. It's a relatively recent development. It wasn't always there. More concerning...whom would possess such power to erect such a barrier?"

Radical nods to Amelia, "Right. But that's all I know. I haven't seen it for myself."

Amelia nods, "I think I recall Timewarp saying it's outside of her currewct travel range."

Arthur looks about. "Is there a place more private we could discuss such sensitive matters?"

Amelia nods, "I'll be happy to offer my penthouse, Dr Aveis."

"Dr. Aevus," Arthur corrects with a smile this time. "Really, Ms. Steinberg, we've worked together before. I'm fairly sure of it," Arthur takes out a brushed silver fob watch on a chain from his vest pocket and checks the time. "Yes, definitely by now." He snaps it shut and pockets it. "The penthouse will do."

"I think most people would think it theoretical, but -- Ms. Steinberg, thank you for allowing us to impose ourselves.? Magda settles the rest of the way to the ground.

Rupert would furrow his brow at the Professors words, considering them. "Pardon, layman here. So, a temporal barrer preventing access past a certain point has popped up, recently. Recently described as... uh... recently." Damn. Time stuff is hard to consider. Furrowing his brow, a few sparks could be seen flickering around his tail, seeming to drift towards Magda as he listened. "That... is unfortunate. I am not certain if I could be of assistance, but if you wish, I'd be happy to help. Uh, as much as one can against... time walls."

Radical tilts his head as Arthur checks his watch. "Hmm. Talking privately sounds good."

Amelia opens a gate into her penthouse, "Don't try this at home, viewers. There are defensive neasures now," she says with a smile.

Amelia steps through into the penthouse.

"Oh? What sort of defensive measures?" Arthur asks as he steps through the gate. "And how do you bypass your own defenses?"

Amelia chuckles, "The defensive measure are me lying about having defensive measures. I bypass them by not believing my lies."

"Attunement, of course," replies Magda as she follows, glancing at the electrical youth and the overactivity of his tail.

Radical steps through the gate as well. He chuckles quiestly at Amelia's explanation.

Still lightly concerned on time walls, Rupert will simply shake his head and follow on, a faint flick of his tail given at the examening. "... What? It just happens."

"Ah, the power of denial," Arthur chuckles as they walk along.

Amelia keeps the gate open until everyone has passed through into the penthouse, "Refreshments anyone?" she asks then.

Radical shakes his head, "Not for me, thank you."

"I'm quite fine, thank you," Arthur smiles.

Rubber-necking the whole way, Rupert would quietly whistle as they wandered into the Penthouse. "Refreshment? Ah, just a glass of water if you don't mind." Another few moments glancing about, the lad having to shake himself as a soft hum was heard. "But, Mister, ah, Professer. You said you wished to discuss this more in private, yes?"

"Scotch, please. Laphroiag if you have it," requests Magda as her combat armor reforms into a black ankle-length wool skirt, a white blouse, and a blue blazer.

Amelia summons up house spirits to fetch water and casts a far reach for Magda's scotch.

Arthur converses with Rupert, "For a layman, you're grasping it quite well. Recent is relative." He grins at that.

Amelia sends a house spirit to fetch an asprin. Offers it to Rupert, "Talking time travel, you may need this. When I talk to timewarp I always end up with a headache."

Radical chuckles quietly and he goes to take a seat on one of the couches.

Sparing a glance back at Magda as that armor seems to fall away into a more fashionable choice, Rupert will glance back down to himself. A tan tee with a floral overshirt, and jeans... Feeling a little underdressed. The water and asprin though, he will take a smile. "Thank you, kindly. And Professor, do not mistake it. Half of me is wanting to scream how on earth or other planets you do anything you do. But, the rest of me is saying, 'Time Traveler!' like a little nino. So, I do what I can."

Arthur explains, "For me, the Time Barrier didn't use to exist, because I've been beyond that timeline. And some of my future is known to me but has yet to happen, and now my future's been changed. Or...my future self's past has." Headache-inducing. Definitely. "I'm not even sure of the full ramifications, but civilizations I allegedly saved...might not be. And now I'm barred from the love of my life!" In Arthur's head, all his personalities have difference answers to that simulataneously: Paragon/Griffin/Zeal! Arthur frowns a bit and tries to get himself level headed instead of emotional. Griffin is what was meant. Astra is just the evasive wife he still needs to learn more about. He forces a smile. "No worries, Rupert. I still wonder that myself."

"Says the young man with an electric tail," murmurs Magda, smiling up at Amelia as she receives her scotch. "Thank you."

Radical nods as he listens. "Given that it's part of time...how could it not be there at one point, and then there afterward? Wouldn't it always have been there?"

"It's not a part of time. It's something else. Perhaps artifical. Some...one, or ones, or things, put it there at one point, at some point," Arthur tries to explain, but he doesn't exactly think linearly. He's traveled time far too much. "The how and why is a mystery. I've traveled frequently beyond 4879AD, which is as close a guess as I can get to where it starts. Then one day...I bounced. And I've been bouncing ever since, trying to get to my wife, and to the things I was meant to do there," he says as he paces to straigthen out his thoughts.

Asprin and water in hand, Rupert simply gave a soft chuckle back to Magda. "Eh, there may be a fair bit of me that doesn't question how for other reasons too, no?~" A few light sparks would roll from the end of that tail, the lad trying to move it away from those drifting lines towards Magda. Lightly grinning, he would take a sip before.... nodding back to Arthur. "I dunno how time travel works, but it sounds to me you got a one way door in time. Except maybe also like one way glass? You know, where you can see through it from one side, and when hopping back through it you can suddenly no longer see through it, and can't go through it. Either that, or it's a two way barrier. Only way I can think to figure that out, is if you can bring something from past the barrier to the past. Er, now. If you can? One way. If you can't? Two way."

Amelia says, "Didn't you mention that when after Halfdemon, Porter got the Earth conquered in the 15th Cent or something. But you still existed because the effects hadn't reached your location?"

Arthur stops pacing and stares at Amelia for several long seconds. "Porter did -what-!?" he suddenly exclaims.

Radical sighs. "Yes. Porter changed the past, and caused the Earth to get conquered. We were...able to fix his mistake."

Amelia nods toward Radical, "I wasn't there. I just heard tales from Moonshadow and Radical."

Korkoro takes a sip of her drink. "I presume causality is more complicated than we believe," says Magda. "I have never been privileged to sit down to have a conversation with the Empress of a Billion Dimensions, but from what I know, she may have the greatest knowledge of temporal manipulation ever. And from what I hear, she has sworn off it."

Radical says to Amelia, "That's the event that caused that gemstone from Lord Krul to fall into my hands. Still studying it. Slowly. And carefully."

"Huh. This is news to me," Rupert would murmur, sipping that drink. "We were conqured, in the past, but we fixed it, in the future. Maybe causality is like beurocracy. All incompasing, but slow to take effect..." A slight scratch of his chin, considering. "Wouldn't that be fun. "

"How in...how...did..." Arthur asks and starts trying to search his memories. He doesn't recall any of that. "How did you fix that?"

Radical rubs his temple. "I'll explain the chain of events. Briefly." He takes a moment to collect his thoughts. "There was a magic spear created with Black Iron. It has the power to make anyone desire it...and it causes strife whereever it goes. There was an alien...a conqueror, named Lord Krul. He wanted to get access to the metal ore the spear was made from on a planet. I looked into the future and determined that if we allowed it, he woudl conquer Earth. We fought him...and defeated him, albeiet temporarily. That's how I got the gem in question. But Porter decided that if we could stop the ore from being found in the first place, the problem would be solved...and he didn't consider the results..."

Radical continues, "...so he went back in time to hide the location of the ore from the Dwarves who were fated to make the spear in the first place. That kept the spear from destroying a civilization that eventually instead...conquered Earth."

Amelia looks at Rupert, "Like another asprin?"

Radical chuckles. "So...we managed to stop Porter from doing that. I...don't THINK anything else was changed? But how can you be sure?"

Radical says, "We only knew that there was an issue when Elizabeth Moriarty showed up from the Time Police."

Arthur starts rubbing his temple, too, but just over Porter. Because...Porter. And the part of him that's Porter is trying to convince himself it's not that bad.

Arthur drops his hand from his temple. "Well, it would be difficult to tell the full effects of allowing Porter to change history," he says with a certain sense of dread.

Arthur thinks. o O (I certainly taught him better than to mess with the past.)

Radical nods. "All I know is the destructive 'Time Wave' wasn't going to hit us. So...problem solved, I think."

Radical chuckles. "This is probably all just extra confusing information for people, though. Sorry to add more confusion. It was confusing at the time, too. And more involved than I'm making it sound, believe it or not."

Amelia nods, "Well, the point is changes in time, whatever that means, obvious don't propagate instantaneously."

Magda, slouched in the chair she?s chosen and running her finger around the rim of her glass, says, "Every point of data is a useful point of data."

Chewing that asprin and downing it with a small gulp of water, Rupert went to snag a seat. "Nah, one is enough. I've learned to sometimes just accept what's happening. And besides, this is all stuff that happened in the past. Er, relative past, and absolute past. So... uh... Yeah. How about no other asprin yet?"

Arthur nods with Amelia. "Yes. But they are possible. So...the past can be changed. And the future. Navigating it is...tricky. Initially, I thought the time barrier was a sign that someone had changed the future--my past--and the timeline suddenly ceased to exist at that point. But now I don't think that's the case. I'm thinking of traveling close to when the time barrier starts, and learn a bit about how it came to be. Something like that does not suddenly appear without -someone- knowing. The power or technology is hard to even conceive!"

Amelia shakes her head, "You're thinking in linear time, Professor. If I wanted to set up a barrier in time I'd make the date it happened before any planning even started. Then there'd be no clues. No way to determine any weaknesses or prevent it."

Arthur smiles at Amelia's answer. "Ah yes, very linear thinking. If it is artificial, that is entirely possible."

Curling his tail back around into his lap, Rupert would try to gather his thoughts. "So, a barrier... exists in time. Preventing travel at least to the future. We don't know when it happened, by whom, or why. We aren't certain if it is to prevent time travelers to go forward, or to come backwards. We do know it would take significant effort to create such a barrier, whether by technology or by a powerful individual." Slowly brushing the bulb of that tail, a soft crackle of static heard, he'd nod. "So... What's the plan?"

Magda shakes her head slowly. "I don't think that it requires immense power," she says. "I think it takes immense reach, on a universal scale, and an excruciatingly fine touch." She looks up at Arthur. "I mean, I know how /I/ would do it."

Amelia says, "Still missing the point, I think. If that barrier wasn't there and now is, there was a time when it wasn't. I mean, for some definition of time. Damn, I meed an asprin. Now let me make an assumption the change wave expends spherically, that means if you travel far enough waway fast enough the change wave won't have reached where you are and the barrier won't exist. Maybe."

Amelia says, "I mean, the maths makes sense with a few reasonable assumptions. Like QM though, human minds are generally capable to visualizing it."

"Well yeah, but think about what you are trying to state," Rupurt would say. "If you do travel far enough, and fast enough away that the barrier doesn't exist, by definition, you are going away from the barrier. To then go through it, you would need to be... well... going towards it. So, you might find a time in the past where the barrier doesn't exist, but it would be in the past. WHich is the oposite of where the future is. I think."

Radical nods. "Well...okay. So, Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is most likely the right one. If it was there at one point...and not there another, it's not part of the time stream, as Dr. Aevus mentioned. It it independent. Something outside of the flow of time, like someone standing above a stream and damming it with a barrier."

Arthur smiles a bit. Plans? He relies on luck half the time. "Yes, I agree. It wasn't always there. So if your theory is correct, then someone changed the past, and left no one to know the means of how. I spent quite a bit of time beyond that time period. But...hmm. I don't -recall- anything that would hint at this coming. I'd ask the Quantum Mechanic. He's been beyond that time, too. Much moreso than I. But I'm afraid I haven't seen him in quite some time."

Arthur thinks a moment. "Hm, so traveling to the beginning of time and then hurtling to beyond the barrier? Since the change takes time to occur."

Radical rubs his temple. "I've heard that time is a separate dimension from others. So, we live in three dimensions. Time is the fourth. moving to other dimensions like my sanctum is moving in the 5th dimension. And then the multiverse theory is moving in the 6th dimension. Wathever it is...is moving perpendicular to the 4th dimension. It's like the book Flatland."

Amelia says, "Find out the velocity of a change event wave. If you can translocate faster that the chance wav can, you can sneak around it."

Arthur snaps his fingers at that. "Ah, well that seems simple enough!" Does it, though? He must be nuts.

"I think that if you know about it," says Magda slowly, "you bring it with you."

Reconsidering the offer of Asprin, Rupert will sigh. "That is... makes... some sense? I just don't know if you can move on such dimensions Mister Arthur. If you can, then slipping to other... 'verses, and then back at a point in time inside that barrier might work. Throwing yourself back to the start of time, and then forward into it though... well... All I can see is a bug meeting a windshield at that. "

Arthur frowns in sudden thought. "Though if I'm able to get around it one way...there's no certainty I'd be able to get back."

Arthur smiles at Rupert's thought. "Oh...now there's a thought...although no, I can't travel across dimensions. Other time streams...yes. But not full other dimensions."

Amelia says, "we can," Amelia says, nodding at Radical.""

Arthur smiles to the gathering. "Well. It seems worth a shot!"

Radical nods. "We can cetainly do that. But I can't travel through time on my own. I can only look through time."

Arthur chuckles, filled with scientific curiosity. "Well, I've travelled all over space and time, to the end of time and back again prior to all this. I could certainly make arrangements."

Arthur thinks on something that bothers him and looks to Magda. "Bring it with you?"

Magda looks up from her thousand-yard stare; the finger that's been slowly circling her whiskey glass pauses, and she smiles, quick but real. "Yes, I think so. Or, let me be precise -- I /intuit/ so."

"Very well. Care to elaborate?" Arthur asks.

She sighs, pushing herself upright and taking a sip of her scotch. "I would have to do the math to prove it, of course, but I don't know the math." Letting her glass go, the silver-haired Magda floats her still-partially full glass to the table before her. "Do you have any of the biological sciences, Arthur?"

Leaning back as far as that tail allowed, Rupert would look back and lift an eyebrow towards Magda. A presumption that the time barrier followed people. Strange. But, unknowledgable about time and it's nature itself, he stayed his tongue, simply watching for now. "I'm not exactly certain what biology has to do with time travel..." He'd murmur...

"Mostly physics and math. Well...some biological, but nowhere near your extent," Arthur says with a smile as he finally stops pacing and sits down on a lounge chair to listen.

Magda nods slowly. "All right. I think one of the main theories behind temporal meddling is -- has been -- thinking that time is like this." With a gesture, she creates a 'decision-tree', using a sparkling little orb trundling down a light-path -- one that then splits into two, then A splits into three, and B splits into four, and so forth. Sometimes the paths recombine, but that's rare. "That a major decision changes the entire universe. I think," she muses, "that the most popular version is 'what if the Nazis won?'" A wave of her hand shows one of the famous films of Hitler at a rally, and then she gestures to duplicate it. Both pan back -- one is in Germany, the other is in what is obviously Washington, D.C."

Arthur chuckles at the mention of the nazis. "Yes, that old hat."

Magda nods. "To be honest, I ... would be tempted anyhow. Still." she flexes her fingers, and makes Hitler disappear. "We already know -- from Porter's accident -- that change is not ... instant, though, and clearly not instantly universal. What if, instead, it spreads at the speed of causality?"

Another twist of her hands and fingers, and a silvery timeline forms, with spirals. "We have time travelers," and a chibi-Porter jumps from one spiral back to a loop three back, "and they change something." The silver at that point suddenly turns red. "Instead of splitting off a new universe, it progresses at the speed of change and decisionmaking -- of /causality/." The timeline remains, but with the red proceeding up the spirals -- sometimes fast, sometimes painfully slow, but always moving forward. For comparison, there is a marker of 'one second per second' meter that shows the 'normal time' speed; the red moves much faster, but it isn't instant.

Arthur leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands as he watches. He grins faintly at the chibi-Porter. What did his silly Companion get himself into with this Lord Krul and the 15th century incident, he wonders.

"Another way to think of it is this," she says, and creates a globe. "I don't know enough of the actual history, but let's call this the Mongol invasions." She creates two maps of Asia, both with chibi-Genghis Khan, and chibi-Porter appears in the second one, killing him. The actual spread of the Mongol Empire appears on the first, while the consequences of Khan's death are displayed on the other -- different empires continue to exist, are taken over by something else. Most notably, gunpowder doesn't catch on in the West, and experimenters in India are the first to really make use of that mixture, resulting in India becoming near-conquerors of the world.

Arthur raises a brow faintly at another chibi-Porter. No, seriously, what has his Companion been up to? "Well, it's not -always- Porter," he murmurs somewhat defensively.

A gesture, and Magda gestures the two away. "Until the Khan reached Poland," she says slowly, "life there didn't change -- and wouldn't. But if someone else had those dreams of conquest, and sufficient talent and ruthlessness ... you have the same thing. Maybe a couple years later, maybe nearly at the same time. But the key element would be decisions, and how that affects things. 'Two roads diverged in the wood' and all. And the thing is, where there's a lot of decisions -- wars being the most obvious -- the rate of timeline conversion would slow down -- people have to take time to think, make a decision, gain more information, whatever. When there's no real need for that -- when the most important decision is Thousand Island or Ranch dressing -- the change roars on through."

Magda lifts her hand to stroke her hair. "Which means that a timeline change would take place at ..." She frowns. "The rate of cumulative decision-making time -- in the new timeline, I think. But if someone from the original future notices ..."

She re-conjures the spirals, and -- after a smile at Arthur -- she makes a villanous little chibi-Magda jump over, along with a chibi-Rupert, and the silver timeline starts to turn her eyes' electric-blue. Chibi-Rupert jumps back to the original time-point, and taps on chibi-Arthur's shoulder. Little time is wasted (although the blue has already engulfed the silver across a hundred, two hundred years) and chibi-Arthur and chibi-Rupert jump back to the start of the blue and stop chibi-Magda. And the silver ripples forward, swallowing up the blue as the original reasserts itself.

Arthur listens patiently with a boyish smile, just admiring Magda's theorizing. It's quite a show. "I suppose that makes sense on how the Time Patrol and the Temporal Police are able to reactor. I don't recommend dealing with them. They're terribly boring."

Magda sighs. "So much explanation, and I haven't even gotten to the 'carry it with you' part yet." She considers this. "History ... is both what actually happened, as well as what we remember happening. It's knowledge, and in its way, knowledge is a viral thing. Thinking of it in biological terms, then ..."

Her imagery this time fills the entire room, a vast web of clumps and spaces and, looking closely at one of the clumps ... spirals. "The universe, as we currently understand it," she states. "Change something here ..." She pokes one spiral galaxy near her; nothing happens for a moment, but then red appears, and extends to another place near it, then to another, and inevitably, if comparatively slowly, beyond. "Eventually, everything is altered, but even /I/ know that time is /not/ mathematically the same everywhere. It might always be 'now', but that's a slippery subject. However, if there's been interaction between, oh, these two --"

Here she has a circle open at one cluster, P, and another by a second cluster, Q. Little points of light pass through the circles and back and forth between the clusters. Cluster P gets consumed by the encroaching red, and the change abruptly infects Cluster Q -- and the 'gateways' disappear, since in the new history, P never opened them up.

"You know the barrier exists," Magda says quietly. "For you, no matter where in the universe you go, no matter when in history you start from, it /will/ exist -- until you find out /why/ it exists, and who managed it, and see if you can't change their mind about doing so. You carry the virus of that knowledge with you, and to be frank, the more people who know about it ... the further that barrier may exist. The only chance to see if it doesn't, per se, is to ask someone who can time travel but who doesn't know about the barrier to get something from a time that /you/ know is beyond that point. In my opinion, though, it does -- and will -- until you can, as it were, find who managed it. Like I said, I know how /I/ would do it."

"Ah, but if the time barrier ceased to exist at that point, would I have been able to ask that person to check in the first place?" Arthur smiles. He waits patiently for Magda to explain how she thinks she could do it.

"Not ceased to exist," explains Magda, "does not exist -- for /them/. Presumably until they're infected with the knowledge that it exists." She glances at him, then smiles. "A femtosecond-long alteration in how each tiny element of the universe handles time. Like I said, immense reach, and impossibly fine control. Power ... well, not necessarily. The change itself doesn't have to be permanent, you see, or for very long -- because if you make time travel impossible for even a fraction of a second, you can't time travel through that second.

"But," she adds, "I'd have to do the math to prove it, and I don't yet know the math."

Rupert quietly raised an eyebrow. "Let me try to sumarize what you are stating. Though, without all the glowy bits. Only glows I can give is either constant or strobe. So... Assumption 1: Changes in time propegate based on the rate of decisions that are made, and the temproal Significance of them. Assumption 2: When there is travel between other... 'verses in time, they are linked in some manner, such that change can impact the second 'verse in time. Assumption 3: Knowledge can cause a change in the propegation of time altering events, at least on the micro scale."

Rolling onto his side in the chair, the lad rubbed his forehead with the bulb of that tail, considering. "So... Three immediate flaws with that. Firstly, the propegation of a temporal change via connection in other 'verses. This is easy to say.... nah. Mister, sorry habit, Professor Arthur here traveled back to this time. He is now unable to travel to the future. He still remembers things from that future. If what you are saying is true, he shouldn't. That connection could no longer be made, thus, wouldn't have happened."

"Second Flaw. The clinging of history as a vector of transmision. If history were a way for that change to occur on the microscale for that individual, then that would mean the easiest way to prevent someone from time traveling is simply yell, "You Can't Time Travel out of here." Because then they know that. Obviously, this doesn't work. So... Yeah. Thirdly, this... Shutter of time. That little... half of nothing second that people can't travel through, yeah? That's presuming everyone who travels through time, travels /through/ time. That in their own little.... weird bubble of a thing, they pass along these decision tree lines. If someone were to travel /to/ a time. Instead of just going through time, but just go /to/ a point in time, then it wouldn't stop a thing. And, the first two points, change propogates through time at the rate of decisions, and that Connections between 'verses can act as a vector for that change, do not prove that history carries that change with it."

Magda blinks. "Wow. That's a pretty good summary. I mean, the rest of it makes assumptions that I've stated otherwise about, or haven't said /anything/ about, but there you go." She looks over at Arthur. "When you travel, do you exit the universe?"

Rupert simply shruged. "Time travel, I don't get. The flow of thengs? Well, when you see and feel the flow of electricity around you for your whole life, you learn the ins and outs of movement well enough."

Magda mmmms. "It's true I haven't been doing electricity my whole life, but I'm willing to bet I know a thing or two about it."

Arthur listens to the pair with a light smile on his face, friendly and intrigued. "No, Dr. Gutzu, I do not. But there are other methods of time travel that might."

Magda nods in acknowledgement. "Like I said -- I don't know temporal mechanics or meddling. Biology, though ...

Magda shrugs, and finishes off her scotch. "We know temporal manipulations can be contained and reversed. This sounds, if you'll pardon me, less like physics and more like biology -- treating an infection before it gets out of hand."

Rupert would chuckle and shake his head, gesturing. "That is if you are asuming that the Barrier exists as a transmitable vector, not as a raw existant barrier. As far as I've heard, we don't have evidence which, or if either of those are true."

Magda nods, taking Rupert's proposition seriously. "Hence my suggestion of a test. Do you know of any time travelers? As I recall, you were surprised that it was possible at all."

Shaking his head, Rupert sighed. "Alas, the only Time Traveler I know of is Mi-Professer Arthur. Before today, I simply thought it was a fantasy thing. Something to talk about when wondering what one would do if handed the timeline. Something people argued over to sound smart." Wriggling in his seat, trying to find another way to be comfortable he looked to the two. "So, it seems some investigation, or a test of sorts would be needed to figure out what it is and isn't, so it could be bypassed. Or at least what might have better chances of it."

Magda mmms faintly, then shifts her gaze to Arthur. "Professor," she asks thoughtfully, "you were uncertain whether it existed across dimensions. The Fae realms are regularly open; could you try there?"

"And yet, physics are used to theorize paradoxes and causal loops," Arthur chuckles as he leans back in his chair. He's debating how much is safe to say. Some secrets aren't meant to be spoken. "The strange thing is there are time agencies in place to stop people from changing history 'is it is written'," he quotes the last in a stuffy, borish impersonation. "And aside from the problems in that belief, what are they doing about the time barrier? Are they even aware there was a time it didn't exist? They're local time is situated much closer to when it is."

Arthur then gives his head a shake, then pauses and frowns to think about it. Copycat's mimicked Amelia in the past, back when Amelia was more witch than martial artist, and could in theory use the dimensional spells Amelia has. "HM." It's a sudden confirmation that he could. "I could check, yes. I suppose. Hop over, check, hop back. Though the rumors have been no one travels back from beyond the time barrier. I wonder..."

"If you don't return," Magda suggests, "I'll consider that as proof it doesn't exist going the other way there, but does for the return trip. Or, you know -- that you got eaten by a dragon."

She smiles. "Medicine uses plenty of physics too, Professor. It just realizes that -- if you'll pardon the vernacular -- that some times, the body doesn't care about what it's /supposed/ to do."

"If the rumor is that no one travels back from it, I would recommend a bit of prudence first. Likely speak to others that you know of who can also slip through time. Tell them your suggestion, so that they can actually check on how it is going. We can't do much more than spitball ideas. Your the one with the time shenanigans." Rupert would say, quickly following by finishing his drink.

Arthur chuckles warmly. "So they can get stuck, too? That would be my worry. Though there would be some arrangements to take care of before I could put any of that to the test." And maybe decide if he should even risk it this soon. Griffin would flip out if Copycat were to suddenly disappear. -Again-. "Though...as time travel goes, I suppose I have plenty of time to investigate, so it doesn't really matter when I do." He could get all his adventuring and them some prior to the time barrier before trying to go beyond it. He has all the time in the world, after all.

Magda nods. "The individual who did it is, entirely likely, on the other side -- you know, presuming it was done in an instant, and it wasn't automated and they fled backwards before it happened, and they're not outside the boundaries of the universe, in which case you're probably screwed anyhow."

Arthur looks over to Rupert and Magda. "I think I'd like to explore some of the why. Why would someone go through all this effort. Why then. That will take some more time and research."

Why? Rupert actually chuckled at that, shaking his head. "Well, that's easy. If you create a seperation in time, somewhere where no one can get through, you are probably doing one of two things. Either trying to make it so that what happens in there has no redo. No one to swoop in and save the day after you won. After you did what you wanted to. Or, you are making a cage. Something anomelous that Time Travelers can move one way through. Cage them all up in time, and suddenly, same result as the first option, but they did it themselves."

"Certainly there must be time travelers in the far future, though," Arthur proposes. Then he frowns. "A cage...hmm..."

"Ah," Magda murmurs, "to be young, innocent, and thinking purely in terms of superheroics."

Rupert simply tossed a sidelong look back to Magda at their words. "Ah, to be old, bitter, and lost in frivolity. If you wish to say something, please do so. But... Mundanity has far better ways to do something. With the endless expanse of time, if you wanted to hide one's activities, one need not errect a barrier. Just be in the quiet. If you are worried about the interferance of Time Travelers, you are likely doing something that would draw their attention."

Arthur hears those fighting words and thinks it may be a good time to flee before something blows up. "Well, this has been enligthening," he says as he stands up, smiling. "I think I'd better do some investigating. And not a word to anyone else about what I can do, okay?" he chuckles, and begins walking to the exit.

Magda's lips curve upwards. "Old indeed, but not the oldest I've met. Bitter, I've reason enough, though I would challenge the label being applied to myself. Lost in frivolity? That's /spectacularly/ amusing, so much so it carries the rest with it past the point of insult and into the realm of the ludicrous. But I do everything I do because I know /how/ to do it. I have done, as they say, the math." She lifts her hand towards Arthur, and stands as well. "Indeed. Who would believe me?" she teases him as she follows him out.