InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I am your father"

Bart Allen | Impulse (killerspeed) wrote in marinanova,
@ 2013-09-18 00:30:00

Entry tags:

:mingle, aradia megido, bart allen, geordi la forge, matt donovan, miranda lotto, number one, yvaine

[Day 237] Time-Space Shenanigans Group Therapy Mingle
[Anyone summoned to Time-Space Shenanigans Group Therapy will wander down to the Education Center in Sector 2. Specifically, to a large physics lab, which has been outfitted for a day of scientific learning. The first table, near the entrance, has pastries, cookies, endless bowls of fruit, and jugs of lemonade, water, and various sodas. There are bots hovering around the table, as they know that one (or possibly more) of their guests has an endless appetite. Just ignore them - the bots are pretty much there to re-stock the food table.

The other lab tables each have a stack of cards, with instructions to get into pairs and answer them as honestly as possible, making sure to give everyone ample time to answer questions. The tables also have demonstrations for various physics experiments on each table, though they require 2-3 people to get started. Each lab table - except for the one with food - also has a small bowl of candy hidden inside each lab experiment. Although there is no music in the background, there is a soft 'tick-tock' from multiple clocks on each of the walls. Each clock, strangely enough, reads a different time than the one next to it. Not a single one of them is in sync, despite the harmonious tick-tock sounds coming from them.]

1) People watching lab demonstrations will note that each experiment relates to the Space-Time Continuum. One demonstration would be for Schroedinger's Cat, while another would explain Einstein's Theory of Relativity, while another would give the essentials for one of Stephen Hawking's theories. All demonstrations are explained in a concise, accessible format that anyone with a middle-school education could understand.

At the end of each lab demonstration, people are instructed to ask their partners what they thought of the demo - did it remind them of a law of physics they broke back home? Did it remind them of the last world they visited or the last year they time-traveled to? Perhaps it was a popular theory of an era they were incredibly fond of. Even if they don't feel like answering, each lab demonstration is eerily set-up as so to remind people of certain situations from their homeworld. If characters performed the lab sufficiently, the lab demonstration will open up to reveal a bowl of candy. (If characters failed the lab, they receive no candy.)

2) The stack of cards would include questions such as the following:

1. Explain the Time-Space Continuum to someone the best you can. What does it mean to you or your world?
2. We all know there is life on other planets. How would you explain this phenomena to someone who has just arrived in MarinaNova?
3. Have you visited other worlds prior to arriving in MarinaNova? If so, what method of transportation did you use? Was that method legal in your world?
4. How do you perceive time and/or space? Is it a manmade invention or something innate?
5. If you are able to time-travel or visit other worlds through natural means (IE, your own superpowers), was that an acceptable practice in your world?
6. Have you broken any laws of physics governing your world? If so, how did you break them?
7. Have you indirectly experienced a broken time-stream (meeting a time-traveler, your children from the future, etc)? If so, how did you handle the experience? Were you proud of how you handled it?
8. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would you change? Did you actually change it?
9. How would you prepare to travel through time or to visit another world? Do you perform any research or do you just wing it?
10. What was the strangest custom you encountered on your travels? Did you eventually learn to embrace the custom or do you still hate it to this day?
11. Have you ever encountered yourself in another world / another time? Were they the kind of person you wished you could have been? Or were they the exact opposite?
12. Have you ever accidentally insulted another alien race? If so, how did you make amends with them?
13. If you can time-travel, did you try to change history? If so, why?
14. Did your friends or family think your abilities were unnatural? How did you handle their reactions when they found out about your powers?
15. Your best friend has just admitted that she's a time-traveler or world traveler and broke several well-known rules on her last trip. What do you do?
16. Name a time (or place) where you felt especially proud of your being able to control your powers and/or method of transportation.
17. Do you ever get wanderlust? If so, how do you manage to curb it?
18. What advice would you give your past (or future) self? Do you have any regrets?

[OOC: Yet another mingle! These are not all the questions - feel free to make some more up if you desire. Also, the questions and lab demonstrations are merely suggestions; if there is another topic that would fit well for you, make it a reality. Today is a day of learning ~~about the horror stories that come with messing with the 4th Dimension~~, after all.]

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	killerspeed 2013-09-18 04:30 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah? Was your world back home a lot less technologically advanced, then? [Color him curious. She seems more interesting than half the experiments here, really.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-18 06:21 pm UTC (link)
	Given the apparent complexity of the device they call the dimensional stabilizer, as well as the construction of the facility, that isn't an unreasonable analysis. What concerns me more is the presence of several individuals from a significantly advanced point in my own timeline. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-19 04:48 pm UTC (link)
	So... you're from your time, but people from your world are from the future? That sucks. [He holds out a pastry.] Can't say the food'll make things better, but it won't make your head hurt thinking about it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-19 07:09 pm UTC (link)
	[She nods, rather formally.] Approximately one-hundred twenty years ahead of my temporal point, although I'm given to understand there's a certain, smaller amount of variance among them. I am somewhat concerned about the effects our interactions may have on the timeline. [She takes the pastry with a faint smile of thanks but sets it aside for the moment.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-19 11:48 pm UTC (link)
	[He whistles softly.] Damn, that's quite a bit of time. Dunno how it'd affect the timeline, though, since this place seems to be its own little dimension. Like, if it turned out that we were all part of some weird planet-gathering place [he means a nexus], I wouldn't be surprised. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-20 10:12 am UTC (link)
	I'm not familiar with the phenomenon to which you refer. [She sounds curious, though.] It's possible that the effects would be minimal-- or even possible that the changes are inherently already a part of their timeline. It's impossible to know. I can't subscribe to the theory that we will all remain in this prison until death, however. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

killerspeed
2013-09-20 10:50 pm UTC (link)

[How does he explain it... Bart grabs one of the lab worksheets and starts drawing on it.] It's like... like MarinaNova. Think of a place where people from multiple dimensions and times can meet without it affecting their worlds. Usually it's its own small dimension, but sometimes it's part of a bigger one. [At this point, his scribbles are a mess, but he's tried to illustrate the nexus the best he can.]

Oh, we won't.

[After speaking to inmates who've been here for a few months, there's one thing Bart's certain about: people leave.] Sometimes - and I don't know why - people somehow get parole and leave.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

first_xo
2013-09-21 09:48 am UTC (link)

A fascinating concept. Have you visited other locations matching this description?

[Scribbles or not, she gets it. She's a quick study and-- perhaps more importantly-- accustomed to accepting the possibility that her worldview is incomplete.]

That would seem to be more in line with their attempts at rehabilitation; there is little point to effecting change in our thinking or behavior if we aren't going to be released.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

killerspeed
2013-09-22 12:52 am UTC (link)

[He shakes his head.] Not me personally. One of my friends did, and he came back to tell the tale.

Also we're probably super expensive to maintain. [Bart's been in prison before - he's aware of just how much money is poured into the prison system, and that's just for the cruddy ones.] I can't imagine them keeping us for life without us draining their economy somehow.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-22 10:45 am UTC (link)
	[There's a flicker of surprise to her expression.] That presumes this system is attached to a civilization with monetary needs. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-22 10:00 pm UTC (link)
	Oh yeah. [The thought hadn't occurred to Bart.] I guess there would be some, but that just sounds really weird. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-22 10:15 pm UTC (link)
	However, I believe you raise a relevant point-- the amount of resources, energy, and attention expended to maintain this facility must be monumental. They must receive some sort of reward, tangible or not. [Maybe only entertainment, but she doesn't want to say that.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-22 10:56 pm UTC (link)
	Some people think we're on a reality show. [She may not bring it up, but Bart definitely would.] I'm thinking it's either that, or we're some scientist's pet project. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-22 11:05 pm UTC (link)
	I'm sure there are myriad other possibilities we haven't even considered. It may be an avenue of inquiry worth exploring, however. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-22 11:12 pm UTC (link)
	Figuring out why we're here? Yeah, that might work better than forming an escape plan. If we don't know why we're here, then we prolly don't know how they're keeping us here either. [Beyond, you know, the obvious of an underwater prison and the bots.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-22 11:19 pm UTC (link)
	An escape by brute force seems unlikely, and inadvisable given the uncertainty of our precise location. Perhaps with a better idea of what they wanted from us, we could propose an alternative way of meeting their needs. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-25 11:16 pm UTC (link)
	You mean like a compromise? Kinda hard to compromise with the way they're programmed... though you know, even robots malfunction sometimes. [Maybe they could figure out how to get the Wardens to malfunction, though he highly doubts it. Bart's also the kid who couldn't figure out his comm device the first time he saw it.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-25 11:18 pm UTC (link)
	It's only one possible avenue of investigation. [She refuses-- really refuses, on a fundamental level-- to accept the idea that there's nothing she can do about the situation.] Perhaps we could appeal to whatever beings created the artificial intelligences. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-25 11:20 pm UTC (link)
	[Right. Someone had to have created the AI. The Wardens didn't just pop up overnight.] I didn't even think about that. Most everyone I've seen here's an off-worlder, though. If the people who made 'em are here, they've been doing a good job of blending in. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-25 11:25 pm UTC (link)
	And I'd be very surprised if the Wardens were willing to facilitate communication with them. [Still, she might ask, eventually.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-25 11:28 pm UTC (link)
	They'd probably claim that they made themselves. Which, considering this place, wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've heard. [Bart's a bit excited now! While he'd settled in for the most part, there was always this nagging feeling that wanted to get out of here, no matter what - and this conversation just brought back his motivation.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	first_xo 2013-09-25 11:41 pm UTC (link)
	It may, in fact, be possible; however, I find it an unlikely prospect. [It's not that she means to start a rebellion, she just has Strong Feelings about keeping people in captivity like this. And besides, she has a ship to get back to!] I must admit, I find it somewhat surprising that attempts to escape are not more common, in spite of the obvious difficulties. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

killerspeed
2013-09-26 12:01 am UTC (link)

You've noticed how nice this place is. People try to escape initially, but the security's too good for most of us to crack initially. [Bart would know: his powers haven't worked when it came to vibrating through private Warden buildings.]

That, and compared to the other underwater prisons around here, Marina's not as bad as it could be. [If he has to go back to Squall again, it will be way too soon.]

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	first_xo 2013-09-26 09:21 am UTC (link)
	A comfortable prison is still a prison. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	killerspeed 2013-09-28 01:04 am UTC (link)
	I don't doubt that. I'd like my freedom back - I just don't know where I'd start rebelling against the system. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)