voice; username: h. wells

[hsalf]

Hello...hm - fellow victims. Not sure what we call ourselves. Teammates? Comrades? ALASTAIR-ains? Considering we've all been ripped from the homes we know, victim perhaps is apt enough until I begin learning names.

[Ok but that's not what this is all about, so moving on:]

I want to pose some questions regarding the powers many people here seem to have. Both of a magic and genetic variety. I'm a physicist who studies the latter back home, from the angle of how environment can effect the spread of genetic mutation that brings people to have special abilities. The phenomenon is a relatively new one back where I came from, so it's still a topic of curiosity for me.

I'm not as well-versed in magical concepts, but from my standpoint they seem to be akin to miracles - powers that warp reality, even in small ways. And not everyone is predisposed to using them. Many of these sorcerers and witches are among the most powerful beings alive.

[He pauses for a moment, the message stopping as he thinks on his idea before continuing to transmit it through the jewel.]

It's nothing you need to get deep about if you don't prefer to - I just want to know what powers you have and what you use them for. Be it back home, or here, since I imagine the use would be far different given our circumstance.

If you're not keen about talking on your abilities, I'm equally curious about the perception of abilities in different world environments. Are they accepted or reviled? Is it everyday or miraculous? Back in my home, most people are still reluctant to believe. Those who do...well, there are both heroes and villains who use abilities for their own means.

[There's another pause, shorter, and then he softly laughs before going on.]

The multiverse is a vast realm of infinite possibilities. I like to learn as many of those possibilities as possible, if people wish to indulge me. Curiosity is a vicious bug.

Comments

[hsalf]

[He pauses, absorbing all that Loki just said, before breaking into a hearty laugh.]

Oh no. You got me. How did you ever figure it out, Loki? Was I so obvious?

[selfimage]

[ Loki tosses his fingers up. ]

It was the cherry filling, best keep that under wraps.

[hsalf]

Ah, good to know for the future.

[An odd fellow indeed, but that is perhaps expected of someone by his name.]

I am but a simple man of science. There's really nothing so horrifically ground-breaking about me in the end.

[selfimage]

Then I have to ask—what exactly were you doing when you stumbled right into ALASTAIR?

Somehow I doubt that you'd be recruited unless you were at least partially competent.

[hsalf]

I was helping someone open up a black hole.

[And there's more to that, but he's not gonna share.]

[selfimage]

Sounds reckless.

[ you mortals and your mortal science. ]

[hsalf]

I like the word "risky" better. [Reckless implies no planning. He always plans.] It was a necessary action and, well, when you need to do something, you do it.

[selfimage]

Mm—okay. I'll humor you on that one. Space, the final frontier! Risky black hole business!

[ perhaps there's a little lingering excitement in his tone. ]

Now that sounds like a tale worth telling.

[hsalf]

There's honestly not that much to it. [Other than being the culmination of fifteen years of planning, but that aside--] What about you Loki? What were you up to before being brought here?

[selfimage]

I had a system to subvert—well, if you must know, I was returning from it. We had a rather tricky run in with a hidden realm that wanted to pull out the big guns and go to war. Best to nip things like that in the bud, if you get my drift.

[ there's nothing entirely secret about what he was doing at that time, so he delivers it casually. you know, like everyone just goes gallivanting between realms to stop wars all the time. ]