TheStarsAreRight:RebeccaNote1
REDLAND
"When we were in New York, Boris indicated to me that I should pick up some more 'mystical' knowledge. He gave me a bunch of documents to read through and told me dedicate some serious time to it. I was wondering if you'd be willing to take a quick glance at the materials he's given me and let me know what you think?"
He tentatively offers up the documents.
REBECCA
She looks up at your entrance with a smile, though her eyes are serious. After hearing you out, she makes a gesture for you to sit across from her, and holds out a hand for the papers.
Rebecca spreads them out on the table here in the private car, and skims through them quickly, stopping now and again to read something in a bit more detail. Once in a while she frowns, or makes a face like she's seeing something distasteful.
Then with a sigh, she pushes them back over to you -- all out of order. For a moment, she studies you in silence, an odd expression on her face.
"Do you want to learn how to work with ponic energy . . . magic, Jack? If so . . . why didn't you come to me? I thought we were friends."
REDLAND
As Redland responds, he looks only at the papers, idly shuffling them about, trying to put them back in order. [Depending on how perceptive Rebecca is, his tone and body language come across a bit sulky but at the same time eager to please. More like a 15 year old talking to a parent or teacher than a 31 year old talking to a peer]
"Well, you know, I did, sort of, ask you a couple of times. The first time you were too busy... I was kind of... well... I didn't understand at the time..." [smiles slightly and looks up] "I'm not the world's most observant guy sometimes." [looks back down and continues shuffling] "I tried again a bit later, but I probably asked the wrong question. I wanted to know how to protect myself, and you and Carl indicated that it wasn't possible... that the only defense was a quick offense. I don't really want to hurt anyone, and I sort of felt... well, I just decided to let it drop.
"After that, you were just so busy ... with getting married... and stuff... that I...
"Anyhow, a few days ago, I was getting fed up with how disorganized we all seemed to be." [Vaguely waves his hands to indicate the whole group] "I asked Boris for his advice on what we should be doing, since he has always struck me as a really focused (and unbiased) guy... Among other things, he suggested that I should really learn more about 'mystical' matters, as this would give me a better perspective on what was going on... I think he also thought it might give me a little more... ... standing, I guess.
"I've been looking through the papers a little bit. Although I don't think Boris would intentionally do anything to harm me, floating around in my brain is the thought that his primary interest isn't necessarily my well-being. Oh, not that I think he would maliciously harm me, but I presume he learned most of his knowledge from 'The Tower'. Since I don't really understand mystical stuff, I figured it might be nice if someone from a less ... evil ... background could make sure I'm not doing something I'd regret... So, er..."
[trails off while shuffling away]
REBECCA
"Hey . . . hey . . ." voice soothing, she reaches out and grabs your hand before you can get too far away. "Wait a sec, Jack." She gazes up at you from where she sits.
"There's a lot to discuss here . . . there's a lot of information . . . and as you may guess, Boris and I have very different ideas about this stuff." A moment of silence while she thinks.
"Look . . . I'm really sorry if you felt that I was pushing you aside. I wasn't . .. really, I wasn't. And if I said something that made you think that . . . it wasn't my intent at all." She gives you a flicker of that wry smile, "I don't have all that many friends that I can afford to throw them away.
"Sit down, we'll try to make some sense out of all this."
REDLAND
"Oh.. it's okay. It's probably my fault. I can be pretty stupid sometimes."
[As is often the case with Jack, it is difficult to ascertain whether his words: 1) indicate true sentiment, 2) are part of his standard, self-deprecating defense mechanism, 3) are his attempt to take the 'blame' so that she won't feel bad, 4) are fishing for a compliment, 5) or something else altogether
He nervously sits down and glances at her in that fashion that can be endearing if you're feeling positively disposed or really irritating if you're not.]
REBECCA
<<Right now, it's pretty endearing . . . .>>
She waits until you get settled in across the table from her, and holds out her hand for the papers again.
"I don't think it's anybody's fault. We're human, miscommunications happen all the time." She glances at the papers and sets them down on the table.
"Look Jack, the information from the Tower, and the information the French have - is basically the same when you get right down to the mechanics. There's only one set of rules for magic, that we all have to obey. What's different is the intent behind it. What it means to them, and to us are very different things.
"I know you don't have much use for faith .. . . or those other intangibles. But in the realm of magic, intention and desire shape the way magic works, and how it effects the user. You can't work evil magic, without it corrupting you in some way. That's what I believe - the Tower believes otherwise."
REDLAND
"So there are obviously a bunch of things I don't understand. On the 'simpler' side (at least for me to ... comprehend), we have the mechanics of magic. Now, I understand this as being similar to, say, understanding mathematics. If I understand the building blocks and I'm creative enough, I can prove anything that's true. Is this reasonable? Or is it more like, for example, catching a ball. That is, I don't really need to understand the complex mathematical equations representing the force with which the ball was hit, the air resistance, the wind speed, etc. in order to catch the ball.
"As for the ... intangible side of things ... I don't really 'get' this. How can (noncommunicated) desires influence anything? Do the ponic, er ... atoms, or whatever they are, read our minds?
"And what is meant by corruption? I can understand it in the figurative since. That is, the more 'bad stuff' you do, the more inclined you become to do bad things. Practice makes imperfect. What is literal corruption? Why does it occur?"
REBECCA
You get a little smile at your words, and she nods now and again in agreement with the things that you are saying.
"It's both a science and an art." a bit of a grin. "Yes there are laws and mathematics involved. For instance . .. you know that you have to expend a certain amount of energy to make something happen - like Brain Wave Radio. It's going to get easier to do with practice . . . but it will always cost the same amount of energy to do." She pauses for a moment to gather her thoughts.
"The other part is the communication part. In a very real sense the energy does read our thoughts - but only when there are enough of them together to become smart. You'd have to ask Carl about the numbers . . ." a little shrug "but there's some sort of thresh hold I think. The more Rands* you're using at once, the smarter they get . . until sometimes they ignore what you're asking them to do, and they do whatever they want. " there's a sort of undercurrent of bemusement at this thought.
"But you have to remember that this energy . . . it's a part of who and what you are, and while you can think of it objectively just as fuel to make an effect work - it's more complex than that. It carries part of our identity, part of our make up as human beings, and it carries the intentions behind the command as well.
She pauses for your next round of questions, before addressing the next subject.
- "Rand" - you've heard this term once or twice - a "Rand" is a single unit of ponic (magical) energy.
REDLAND
"Hmmmm. Interesting. Can the Rands then be stored? Could we increase their numbers as much as we wanted? If so, does their intelligence asymptote? Does it grow arithmetically or geometrically? Perhaps new life forms could be created!... or maybe I misunderstand what is meant by 'intelligence' in this instance."
REBECCA
She blinks once or twice and looks at you blankly. Obviously being left in the dust after the first two sentences.
"Ah . . . uhm . . . " then she laughs at her own incomprehension. "Yes they can be stored. Carl has a sphere, a sort of battery that you can put energy in and then draw it out when it's needed." Then that familiar shrug.
"Other than that . . . I don't have the faintest idea." grin " I just use the stuff, I don't know much about what's behind it."
REDLAND
"Ah. Sorry, got a little bit excited there. Hmmm. Maybe I'll just jot those questions down to ask Carl."
[Pulls out his ever-present notebook and makes a few notes]
[Ponders for a moment]
"Oh. Right. How about corruption? How is the 'literal' corruption of using 'evil' magic different than the 'figurative' corruption of doing 'evil' deeds? Does it have something to do with 'Vitalics' being part of our identity, so using 'Rands' in an evil way actually alters our brain in some fashion?"
