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Post by The Astronomer on Nov 7, 2015 20:08:51 GMT
"The mayor. Trustwell has a very long history in Ambrosia, and every good politician needs to keep their constituents happy."
Then Rory saw them. Ewan Darrell and Victoria Saunders, arm in arm, talking to another man not ten feet away. Neither had seemed to notice her yet. They looked friendly, or at least Victoria seemed fond of Ewan. Harker's intel appeared to have been solid.
****
Dr. Maxwell was telling Ewan that Bessie had a picture of him in her room, and sometimes confuses him with 'Doctor Who' because he has the same accent and is 'vewy smart'.
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Post by Rory Hamilton on Nov 7, 2015 20:38:29 GMT
"A shame I came late then, you could have introduced us," Rory asked smiling, though perhaps it had a bit of an edge to it, she was more nervous about Saunders blowing her cover than anything else. This could turn very bad for her.
it was tricky, but she tried to make just the light coming off of her and and Lionel, that would be going into their eyes .she couldn't make them disappear for everyone, but she also did not want to strike the two of them with sudden blindness... but she definitely wanted to know where they would be sitting.
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Post by Ewan Cromwell on Nov 8, 2015 2:52:42 GMT
Dr. Maxwell was telling Ewan that Bessie had a picture of him in her room, and sometimes confuses him with 'Doctor Who' because he has the same accent and is 'vewy smart'. "I am glad to hear she is well" Ewan said. "So, do you know much about what Dr Willingham is going to be presenting tonight" |
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Post by The Astronomer on Nov 8, 2015 4:41:20 GMT
"I haven't the faintest notion. I teach Toxicology here when I'm not at the hospital, and made the reservations when Yorick Vaughn was supposed to be the speaker. We had met a few times at teacher conferences. As for Willingham, I know he is a physics man, I know he's an activist, and I know he has issues with Trustwell, but I don't really know him at all. I hope this isn't a sermon about how we're bad people for not giving all our money to the poor or something of that nature..."
Ewan Cromwell INT: 42
Ewan notices something happening with his eyes. There are suddenly odd blanks in his otherwise perfect vision. Lucy and Clyde do not seem to notice anything, but the detective can see... yes, it is. The light is somehow distorting around... He cannot see them, but he knows there are two moving figures who are not appearing where they should be. VIP section, only a few yards away, moving away towards the seats.
***
"Perhaps I will." He stroked her back as he spoke. "He's quite the lech though. He already has two mistresses and a wife half his age."
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Post by Ewan Cromwell on Nov 8, 2015 8:40:54 GMT
Ewan used his Morphic Resonance, though he was unsure if anything of use would be found.
"All I heard is a rumor he has something special today" he said.
As he spoke, he kept his eye on the phantoms, doing what he could to follow them.
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Post by The Astronomer on Nov 9, 2015 19:10:58 GMT
Dr. Willingham was on stage now. There were cheers but he did not speak yet. There was a piece of paper in his hand that Ewan suspected he recognized. Nigel Oakmont was talking to him, grinning, as though HE had changed human history merely by proximity to this man. Lionel and Erwin pointed out the professor to their respective companions. Nigel commandeered the microphone to say a few more words of introduction.
***
Saunders is here, this could turn very bad for me/If and when I fall, why should there be anything left at all?/His arms are like reeds and I could snap him in half if I needed to, but Wick has faith/Vater unser im Himmel, geheiligt werde dein Name, dein Reich komme, dein Wille geschehe, wie im Himmel so auf Erden/An exquisite symbol beneath which men long ago veiled their knowledge of the most awful, most secret forces which lie at the heart of all things; forces before which the souls of men must wither and die and blacken...
The last thought. Ewan remembers hearing the same thought in Starcrown, only then it seemed to drown out the world like a flood of noise.
Ewan Cromwell INT: 46
He realizes that it is not a single thought, but rather the same thought being repeated in unison by multiple versions of the same mind. Someone has found a way to mask their thoughts by creating some sort of telepathic buffer.
Lucy grips Ewan's arm a bit more tightly, almost in reaction to his own revelation.
***
And then John Wick was in the VIP lounge. Noone saw him arrive, he simply was there, hands in his coat pocket.
"Mister Chronos. Always a pleasure to see another philanthropist." They had never met in person, of course, but their images were readily enough found via Google. Somewhere in his bones, Maximilian Uhrmacher could hear the faint crackle as time and space lightly distorting itself around their encounter. But presumably, as Chronos knew Wick was the leader of the Perfect Circle, so did Wick know Chronos was Totenkopf himself.
***
"I would like to thank my good friend, Yorick. We met at a conference in Switzerland. He had just earned his first doctorate, I was still working on mine. Yorick was... insightful in a way his biographers fail to illuminate. He was a great admirer of Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickenson, Marcel Proust. The search for parallel Earths was to him, not just some vain intellectual exercise or some Kirkian attempt at boldly going where no man had gone before. To him, interdimensional exploration was not a gateway, but a mirror. A mirror in which we might look upon humanity's own trajectory in the cosmos. Every uninhabited Earth we colonized was not evidence of a cold and uninhabited multiverse, but rather another sonnet in the folio of our race."
"Here we are. Here we are, and we are all there is. And yet... we are here. What miracles we are. What miracles." There was a pause in Vaughn's speech. "He said that to me before the Vriskae came. At the end of the Reign, I asked him if he still held such optimism. He showed me a picture of his grandchild, recently born. He said, 'Yes, even in Hell. Even in Hell we still believe in miracles."
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Post by Ewan Cromwell on Nov 10, 2015 15:09:38 GMT
Among the Chaos, Ewan was split as to what he should do, but opted to focus on whoever was trying to avoid his sight.
He momentarily closed his eyes, feigning a slight ache while he focused on whoever was hiding. He had been experimenting with his powers recently, trying to expand his ability, and so attempted to send a single thought to the hidden individual. "Better off acting normal, I didn't see you then"
He hoped that would be enough to spook the person into making a mistake.
Shaking his head, as if shaking off a slight pain he asked Lucy "Are you okay?", in response to the tighter grip his arm was now in.
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Post by The Astronomer on Nov 13, 2015 22:50:36 GMT
Ewan Cromwell SOU: 6
Rory Hamilton INT: 14
Lionel Hargrave INT: 21
Rory is unaffected, but Lionel tilts his head, as though being called by something. He frowns a little, looking behind him as though responding to a call, but sees nothing. He turns back, taking Rory's hand in his. "Sorry. Thought someone was talking to me."
***
Lucy murmurs, "Alexander Chronos. I've just... never seen him up close like this."
Ewan Cromwell INT: 38
That was a lie.
***
Erwin whispers to Elize, "That's John Wick. Runs a charity group in Starcrown. Quite the eccentric, they say, but then of course, he would have to be."
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Post by Rory Hamilton on Nov 13, 2015 23:21:35 GMT
Rory looked round to see if the line of sight was broken, if so, she'd turn the light bending off, a they were more covered facing the front. It took a fair amount of confrontation.
"Trying to get away from me so soon?" She teased, scrunching her nose cutely for a second and smiling at him. "I'd not be surprised if they did, no doubt everyone wants to take the time to talk to you, rude to interrupt the lecture though" she said, smiling at him and holding his hand loosely in return, "I didn't hear anyone say your name"
She was nervous about Lucy, but she could always crush her skull in if things got close.
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Post by Ewan Cromwell on Nov 14, 2015 14:12:37 GMT
Ewan looked at Lucy, an idea in his head as he made another attempt to see what he could make of her.
"I am in the same boat" he said. "What are your thoughts on the man"
As he spoke he attempted to use his powers to pick up any surface thoughts.
INT 10,
Source 2
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Post by The Astronomer on Nov 15, 2015 1:25:43 GMT
"No, it was more like someone whispering in my ear." He lifted her hand and kissed it, then set his hand back on her leg.
*****
Ewan Cromwell SOU: 8
Ewan Cromwell INT: 34
Lucy INT: 19
...a traitor to the cause, hiding in his high tower. When we're finished, we'll rape his soul until he begs for forgiveness, the coward...
"I don't really have any. I just know there's a big honkin' statue in the courtyard of my university."
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Post by Rory Hamilton on Nov 15, 2015 1:43:47 GMT
Rary smiled and looked forwards to watch the lecture, but shivered and leant against his side, either from his hand of the cold, she was not sure. If she got too cold, she'd just redirect some heat from other people to her, but not unless she had to.
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Post by Alexander Chronos VI on Nov 19, 2015 18:11:13 GMT
And then John Wick was in the VIP lounge. Noone saw him arrive, he simply was there, hands in his coat pocket. "Mister Chronos. Always a pleasure to see another philanthropist." They had never met in person, of course, but their images were readily enough found via Google. Somewhere in his bones, Maximilian Uhrmacher could hear the faint crackle as time and space lightly distorting itself around their encounter. But presumably, as Chronos knew Wick was the leader of the Perfect Circle, so did Wick know Chronos was Totenkopf himself. *** "I would like to thank my good friend, Yorick. We met at a conference in Switzerland. He had just earned his first doctorate, I was still working on mine. Yorick was... insightful in a way his biographers fail to illuminate. He was a great admirer of Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickenson, Marcel Proust. The search for parallel Earths was to him, not just some vain intellectual exercise or some Kirkian attempt at boldly going where no man had gone before. To him, interdimensional exploration was not a gateway, but a mirror. A mirror in which we might look upon humanity's own trajectory in the cosmos. Every uninhabited Earth we colonized was not evidence of a cold and uninhabited multiverse, but rather another sonnet in the folio of our race." "Here we are. Here we are, and we are all there is. And yet... we are here. What miracles we are. What miracles." There was a pause in Vaughn's speech. "He said that to me before the Vriskae came. At the end of the Reign, I asked him if he still held such optimism. He showed me a picture of his grandchild, recently born. He said, 'Yes, even in Hell. Even in Hell we still believe in miracles." "Mr. Wick." the billionaire replied in terse greeting. "I did not see you come in." he added, with a knowing glint in his eye. He was no stranger to understated yet dramatic entrances. "I believe that in order to be considered a philanthropist you must both promote the welfare of others and have a good cause. I was not aware you met either criteria?" he remarked coolly. Wick and his Perfect Circle were the twigs in his meticulously tuned clock. Unchecked, they would cause it to run unpredictably and erratic. It was not a variable he could afford with the current timetable, but the organization's agents had proven elusive. |
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Post by The Astronomer on Nov 25, 2015 7:50:32 GMT
"Mr. Wick." the billionaire replied in terse greeting. "I did not see you come in." he added, with a knowing glint in his eye. He was no stranger to understated yet dramatic entrances. "I believe that in order to be considered a philanthropist you must both promote the welfare of others and have a good cause. I was not aware you met either criteria?" he remarked coolly. Wick and his Perfect Circle were the twigs in his meticulously tuned clock. Unchecked, they would cause it to run unpredictably and erratic. It was not a variable he could afford with the current timetable, but the organization's agents had proven elusive. "Is that hypocrisy or self-delusion? You've been hiding among the humans so long, I'm not sure you recall what actual humanity feels like." ... "It is in that spirit I reveal my purpose here at this esteemed institute. I asked that this lecture be dubbed 'Man and the Multiverse' for a distinct purpose. I'm aware many of you know my sympathies for the Starborn throughout the world, but I assure you, I am not here to discuss that topic. Instead, I will read a correspondence left to me by my good friend. It relays the thoughts of a younger man, still grappling with his place in the multiverse... with our place in the multiverse." Willingham produced his reading glasses and opened the envelope had clutched before. "'Dear Mr. Ronald Simpson.'" He looked up at the crowd. "For those unaware, Simpson was acting supervisor of Trustwell's wormhole program prior to the war. He currently resides comfortably in Miami, Florida, and has never been prosecuted for either negligence or incompetence. He returned the letter. "I hope you are healthy, and your son David is enjoying his birthday party. Everyday, the sun grows harder to see through the smog, and I hope he has clear memories of it in his adulthood. I know it is your hope that our great work will help alleviate our planet's burden in time, but I more regularly fear the consequences of our success. Dr. Hans Willingham and I fear that with every wormhole we open, we risk damaging the structural integrity of our reality. I will not bore you with the science, Mr. Simpson, but understand that we risk the total annihilation of our existence. Dr. Kazuo Ogami, the head of our colonization efforts, will tell you that it is inevitable that we will make contact with an alternate strain of intelligent life, perhaps overwhelmingly so. I know the board will lump our arguments together in some bin of vague pseudosience, but understand this. Mathematical proof exists of what we are risking. We must halt our breaches and be content with what we have already culled from those alternate worlds we have discovered. I have attached a list of suggestions for wisely curtailing our operations, and eventually ending the project with grace. Faithfully, Yorick Vaughn" Willingham set down the letter. "Just before stepping on this podium, I sent copies of that letter to every major American newspaper not owned by Trustwell. Along with it is Mr. Simpson's offer of monetary consolation in exchange for further support of Trustwell's efforts, and Yorick's own response. I am... ashamed that I have not the moral fortitude to read either at this meeting. Yorick was a good man. He was my best friend. But he was also a patriot who loved his own family. I will not stand here and condone or condemn his paid silence throughout the years. But I will tell you his sins were not his and his alone. Thank you." *** Lionel cursed under his breath beside Rory. "Where the fuck is Haskie?" j |
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Post by Ewan Cromwell on Nov 25, 2015 8:02:17 GMT
"And with one match, the blaze is lit, how shall it burn" Ewan said to himself, distracted from Lucy as he looked around the room, trying to get an idea of what he had helped start.
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