soul_campaign | 8 April

Entry tags:

8 April | Video

[It appears Okabe has his eye jammed up against the mirror, as that's the only thing visible at the beginning of the video. Slowly he backs away, revealing a tired face, then bedraggled hair, then a hint of a lab coat.]

Hello, despaired networkers! I am the mad scientist Hououin Kyouma! Consider this video my debut, where all of Death City will soon know my name!

[He throws his head back and evil-laughs for a solid twenty seconds. This is a common problem, please stand by until he starts coughing.]

Now, to more pressing matters, as Screwhead Biologist was of no help. [Okabe certainly wasn't helping himself, but he chooses to omit that. He's distrustful of Shibusen as-is - they feel like SERN.]

I am interested in this device you call "BREW." Does anyone of this world know how it functions? Does Shibusen hold a monopoly on its powers? I'm... curious on its ability to manipulate time and space through multiple universes, and to take physical matter with it! Even the most advanced technology - my own, of course [he flips the lab coat for flourish] - of my time could send but small pieces of data without the target matter becoming jellified and... disgusting... How did Mayuri even eat that banana?

For that matter, does anyone of this world know of the space-time warp I, and assumably all you others, have traveled through? I'm curious on, specifically.... the structure of time in this world, and if I can reasonably apply the yarn-theory from my home world-line here.

Finally... [Okabe clears his throat and puts all his charm on.] Does anyone have any old or unused electronics they would kindly donate to the developing Future Gadget Laboratory? If anyone would like to build Future Gadgets with a genius mad scientist, I'd be glad to show you my plans... in private, of course.

Remember, you never know who's watching you.

[He jams his eye up to the mirror again.]

El. Psy. Congroooooo.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How ridiculous and dangerous. Memories should not be fooled with in such a manner. The consequences of such an action could result in the permanent loss of experiences you would have wished you could have kept. I am willing to place money on the fact that you did not even think to make a backup mechanism in case such an action wiped your thought process out completely, turning you into a toddler in the body of an adult.

Still, a television set and microwave. To cause or utilize a type of black hole from such minimalistic equipment...

...that would be impossible. Not unless you had something that was enchanted, blessed, or perhaps....

Hmm...

Either way, I can see the basic theory but the most probable method I could derive in a short time of such equipment being able to achieve such a feat is if, across the entire infinite multiverse, you are a constant. So much so that every time you activate this mediocre piece of equipment, an infinite number of yourself also does the same at the exact same time, causing the effect to grow exponentially.

[Oh. Well, that brings him back to memories he doesn't particularly want to remember. He heaves a large sigh.]

Well, we didn't plan on using the device in the first place... but... things came up. I would have rather been a toddler in the body of an adult than have been captured and used for time travel experiments by a sinister organization... [a small whisper.] or have Mayuri dead.

Wait! Hey! Don't call the Microwave Phone (Temporary Name) a mediocre piece of equipment! I worked HARD on that stupid thing!

But that... that makes some sense, actually. I possess an ability I call Reading Steiner; I can sense changes across world-lines. That is, if I do something that affects the world-line, I'm the only one that can sense it or retain my memories of jumping. In fact, I made a device called the Divergence Meter to keep track of where I was in time, because I kept losing myself.

Why me, though? It seems so many key events have revolved around me, particularly back home, but that's just because I'm living in this body. I can only see through these eyes, I suppose.

I see. Reading Steiner. [Crazy abilities are all over the place where she's from so there's very little skepticism.]

That would account for the issues if every version of yourself was aware of when there would be a change.

No, no...you are going about this all wrong. Your thoughts on your abilities are not thinking outside the box and is too restricted. I require time to calculate all of this.

[Which means she's interested enough to dedicate time away from her other studies to look into it.]

Thankfully for you, I am an alchemist who specializes in the transference of phenomena. Consider yourself lucky you have spoken with me.

Aha! So you're interested in Hououin Kyouma's work!

[He grins. It's been too long since he's been able to sit and talk about what he's done without being looked at as though he's crazy. Being looked at as though you're crazy is useful sometimes, but it's refreshing to be taken seriously.]

[And this girl reminds him of Kurisu, enough for a slight flush to come across his cheeks.]

Transference of phenomena, huh... like what phenomena? That's a vague phrase, but then again, you're used to magic that doesn't exist where I come from, except in those stupid moe games. Are you familiar with the conversion of matter into energy? That would be a good skill to have in my lab's toolkit.

[He perks up and raises an eyebrow; he remembers something... and it would have probably been better had he not.]

Oh, I never got your name! Not a problem, though; I hereby codename you Calculus Tsundere!

[Good luck getting out of that nickname. It only gets more ridiculous from here.]

[From behind Sion, a dark-haired girl comes into view, looking at the crazy scientist man. Her blue eyes narrow and one hand comes down on Sion's shoulder... almost possessively.]

No. You will not call her that. Her name is Sion Eltnam Atlasia. Understood?

[Apparently Akiha had heard enough while painting her nails in her partner's room to feel the odd need to interfere here.]

[Fuck.]

[He's willing to mess with one girl, alone, but two? He knows how that ends.]

Very well then. Sion Eltnam Atlasia. Quite a mouthful, there.

[He turns off to the side and his face twists into a mildly panicked grin. He can't stop the nickname once it's come. He speaks in a tiny voice.]

... Tsundere.

[We're talking science here, Akiha. And Sion loves to blab science.]

My name is Sion and I do not know what a...tsundere is. Not to mention that Calculus is far below me so such a name, even is a nickname, is unfitting.

As you were asking, conversion of phenomena is a very wide open subject. Turning matter into energy is not part of it at all but is quite possible with the right materials. It more encompasses the concepts and ideas of things. The ability to transform a concept into a completely different concept, for example. Or the ability to take ideas, memories, or knowledge and make it into something else. In short, it is a field that most would consider 'supernatural' but it has nothing to do with magic at all.

[Akiha narrows her eyes again at that 'tsundere' but since Sion pretty much refused the nickname, continuing on as if it didn't happen, she decides to let it go.

For now.

...besides, she still has to do her nails on the other hand. So, she returns to Sion's bed, no longer part of this conversation. Probably.]

This deals with something beyond spacetime... [Okabe grins.] Interesting.

So, then, I'd assume this conversion would have and effect on the physical manifestations of the phenomenon? For example, modifying an idea - would that then modify the universe around that idea, or rather switch to a parallel universe where that idea was already different?

You'll have to bear with me, of course; much as it pains my poor heart to say [and he clutches at his chest under his lab coat, because it really is a pain], this isn't my area of expertise.

Let me give you an example.

Everyone has a concept. You are you and you have your own traits. If you were to get shot with a bullet, it would deal damage to you but not to your concept. However, I can take a bullet and give it the ability to say, for example, erase your concept of existence. If the bullet hit you, if would not deal physical damage but you would be killed because you technically would not exist anymore.

[She can't actually do that but IT'S AN EXAMPLE.]

That is considered a conversion of phenomena. It works on small scale but on a large scale, such as what you suggest, there would be a natural correction from Earth itself, causing it to fail. Therefore it is not possible to change the idea of horses into unicorns and then watch as every horse becomes a unicorn.

That!

That - the natural correction from Earth, or rather spacetime itself - is another thing I've had to think on.

Throughout my travels in time, it seems there are certain concepts set in stone. For example, on one set of world-lines, the world was set to devolve into a dystopia led by an organization we called SERN. No matter how many changes I or others could make, this would not change, nor would several key events - but I never quite understood why small things would change, like a bottle of Dr. Pepper on a table.

I think I'm starting to get it now. We called it "fate" at the time, but really it may just be spacetime correcting the errors my presence has made.

Things get muddy from there, at the point I managed to fool myself and then... perhaps fate itself. [He smirks, obviously proud of what he's done.]

Yes, the planet has a will of its own and can sense changes. If the change is too large, it will work to automatically correct it. If that is beyond the power of the planet, then it will dispatch its own specialized agents to forcibly get rid of the anomaly. That will never end well.

But...

...I warn you. Do not try to change the future. I have seen the result of two who have tried and it did not end well. [AKA: Her grandfather and herself.]

[Well. That's already been done.]

Unfortunately, I take "fate" as a challenge. [He laughs - not the mad scientist laugh, but something a bit more natural.] I have successfully changed the future twice - once to save my dear friend Mayuri from death, and the other to save the world from the inevitability of World War III.

The experience wasn't one to be laughed at, though. I would never go back to that, not if I didn't have to. There were too many people whose lives I had to see end, too many people's dreams I had to see crushed... I can say with confidence I'm not the same man I was before all that happened.

Let it be known, though, that I am not one to give up. Even if it means going insane.

You lose the moment you go insane. Saving a life or two is one thing. Attempting to avert the fate of humankind is not something that should be messed with. The mind can only undertake so much stress and so much...power before it cracks. Once that happens, you have no goal. Just insanity.

Unfortunately, saving Mayuri necessitated changing the fate of humanity along with it. Her death was one cog in the wheel, and she started to die in stranger and stranger ways the more I tried to avert it alone. It became clear that the only solution was to get past a certain barrier of divergence; call it the butterfly effect, if you will.

And I did! I didn't go too insane! Almost did, but I didn't give up. Not once. That's not an option for Hououin Kyouma. I'd rather see myself dead than one of my lab members. When I found out that another would die, in the new future that I had brought upon the world, I worked for 25 years to avoid that future, too.

It helps to have a constant, an anchor when you travel through time. For me, that's my lab members, and my cherished friends.

[She would have instantly retorted about friends being worthless but she had made a few herself. Saying anything of the sort would make her hypocritical.]

I see.

Well, I am currently building a lab for my own use but if you require anything, you are free to ask me. Your situation interests me because it could lead to something that could help me with my own goals so I do not mind assisting you if required.

You are not putting it in my room.

And the same goes for you, if you ever require the services of the Future Gadget Lab! In fact, I would go so far as to make you... Honorary Lab Member Number 009!

[His eyes flicker to Akiha in the background.]

If you need a place for your lab, I'd well be willing to pool resources for a space in the city. Unfortunately, my living quarters are being... used for the... Future Gadget Lab's facilities at the moment. [Even this amount of space is huge for him, considering he's used to sleeping on a couch.]

That sounds like a beneficial deal.

However, seeing as my intelligence level is most likely greater than yours by a large margin, I am no Honorary Lab Member, much less one as low ranking as number nine.

[Okabe grins at Calculus Tsundere and sweeps his lab coat dramatically.]

No take-backs, you keep the title - which, might I add, is based on chronology, not ranking. Unless that hesitance is because you'd become a true lab-mem!

Edited 2012-11-20 02:53 (UTC)

Logic dictates that if we are sharing a lab 50/50, then we would be partners. It would not be a superior/subordinate relationship.

You see, though, the Future Gadget Lab has a long and varied history, thus including that there have been lab members before you. I would not be so callous as to give someone else's number to you! I have morals, you know!

And I believe I already told you it's not a matter of ranking, but of chronology!

If it is a matter of chronology, then my research has been going on longer than yours. That makes you the honorary lab member.

Aha! So it is a matter of wanting to be a true lab-mem, then!

Well, if you wish.... [He feigns being irritated, but it shows he's not.] I will crown you -- Future Gadget Lab Member #009!

Unacceptable! You are Lab Member Number 002!

[Akiha gets 001 spot.....even if she doesn't care.]

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threadjack (FORGIVE ME)

(all is forgiven, I apologize for this moron here)

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