The Garden of Everything

Danparan looked momentarily disappointed at the soldier's words, but recovered almost instantly. She couldn't blame Wesley for wanting to stay here; the garden was truly beautiful. She would have loved to relax and enjoy the place herself, if she had arrived there by less suspicious circumstances, but as it was, she had to assume somebody had brought here for a reason, and their intent might not be so benign as the garden itself appeared.

"It's a hobby," she said, in answer to Wesley's question. Then she frowned, noticing what he had said. "What was that word you used? That slur, dragon. Where did you learn it?"

Wesley was slightly taken aback at the question. He hurried to clarify his use of terms, not wanting her to think that he was in any way prejudiced. “Ah- no well, that was just- it was- it’s a normal word where I come from. I only found out that it was apparently offensive when I called Xavier that. You see, in mythology Dragons are these large fire-breathing lizard-like things that used to fly around hoarding gold and eating virgins. N- not the most pleasant of connotations I’ll grant you but he does look an awful lot like what the legends describe. Th- there was really no better word for him at the time, I swear!” He had even stuttered a few times. “It was Xavier who told me it was offensive where he came from, I er…” Then he trailed off into silence.

"Terribly sorry about that, Miss Leah." Matthias lowered his instrument, turning towards her.

It was getting quite loud back there; and he still wanted to practice his instrument. Why not?

"Matthias Cline." He offered his hand for her to shake. "Enjoy the performance?"

All around him, vibrant flowers in all sorts of colors were in full bloom, as were the trees. The lanterns burning brighter than ever, they casted a warm, golden glow upon the petals, the leaves shimmering in bright, otherworldly colors. The garden was always a spectacle, even to Matthias, but one might want to say that music could make it even more magnificent.

Jesus Christ, I'm still burned out. I'm gonna back out for a few hours for a nap. Good thing I don't have any homework.

"Oh, I see," said Danparan, oblivious to Wesley's distress. "Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of calling Xavier such a thing. A mythical creature, then? Hmm."

So Wesley had not grown up around chimeras, clearly, though such a coincidence was surely uncanny. Perhaps, in some long forgotten era, the chimeras had themselves inspired his myth?

"Thank you," Danparan told Wesley. "You've been very helpful. Now I guess I'll go check out this sphere. I'll leave you to your entertainment." She shot a look in the direction of Asau and grinned at Wesley.

"Oh, Xavier," she said, turning to the chimera. "I was wondering if I might take a look at that transportation sphere of yours..."

"Go ahead," said Xavier, handing it to her, "but whatever you do, don't touch the top and bottom circles at the same time. It'll send you to some weird time and place, and you'll probably never get back here. I don't really understand how it works myself."

Hmm. Why would she want to see it? She obviously enjoys it here. Maybe she's preemptively looking for a way back home, just in case. Anyway, it can't hurt to give it to her.

Ah, Christ.

September, as a matter of fact, hadn't actually said anything. The three most likely options presented themselves before Hector.

1. Angel was insane. Probably true to some degree, but not in a manner relevant to the question.

2. Angel was exceptionally good at reading people. Probably false. He hadn't looked at September.

3. Angel read minds. Coupled with Leah's proposition that everybody in the Garden had a tie to the supernatural...

We have a winner.

Odyssey did strange things to the people living in it. Mind-reading really should not have been on a list of "most probable" anythings, but when the question was given to people who lived among the strange and bizarre every day for the past five years...

Anyways. Mind-reading. Hector immediately averted his gaze from Angel's eyes and began taking very large steps away from him.

Eye-contact. Effect radius. Two of the most probable—and simple—ways a mind-reader could limit his own powers. In order to prevent a mind-reader from going completely insane, certain filters had to be put into place. It was inferred that Angel could sift through the nigh-endless background noise of the human mind and find the relevant information, but more discrimination had to take place if Angel didn't want to end up in a straightjacket.

We all live in a yellow submarine—

Hectors' off-tune whistle began to sound out through the pool as he half-jogged over to Wesley, Xavier, and Danparan.

We hate the damn thing—

"Wesley, Xavier, Danparan, this is very important. You can all continue what you're doing momentarily, but if you'll follow me away from Angel for a second?"

We wanna paint it green nowifhe's a mindreader then snipertakehimout different ways his power can propagate try interrogating him? nothat'suseless tryattackinghimheadon?

It helped having a mind-reader on his team. Jax had told him—if the background noise sounded like the relevant information, the first instinct was to stop looking.

"Thanks," said Danparan, allowing the lantern to hover by her shoulder. "I'll be careful, I promise."

She took the bronze sphere and held it up to the light, examining the intricate lines and symbols on its surface. "It's beautiful..."

She looked up, intending to ask Xavier a question about the sphere, and caught sight of a man hurrying towards them and asking them to follow. Danparan thought she detected a note of urgency in his voice.

"Sure," she said, grabbing the lantern again and turning to follow the man. "What's up?"

edited 31st May '11 2:29:31 PM by BobbyG

Hector turned around and shouted over his shoulder, "Oh, and Leah! About that kid friend of yours—the whole 'powers of Go'—oh, sorry, I wasn't supposed to say...well, anyways, if you could just think about that a bit, see if there might be some way that he could be relevant to this whole situation? Thanks."

What he said didn't make any sense; it was impenetrably vague. But as long as it made Leah think thoughts that would be interesting to Angel, that was fine by him.

Hector walked until he estimated that he was about three hundred yards away from Angel. "I believe that the new kid can read minds. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for one very important reason: he obviously has no compunctions about doing so without our permission, as was evidenced by him responding to September when she didn't say anything. It is possible that he accomplished that through other means, but I'm sticking to mind-reading as the most probable. I'm taking precautions—if it turns out that the kid can only read minds up to a certain radius, we're trying to get as far away from him as possible."

Dammit, what happened to my vacation?

"Any questions?"

edited 31st May '11 2:38:44 PM by Chubert

"Um, yeah," said Xavier. "What kind of 'precautions' are we talking about? Thinking happy thoughts? Some kind of magic? Psychic static? Tinfoil hats? You probably know more about this than I do, but I'd like to know what we're going to do about it."

Great. Mind-reading jerks. It was just starting to get nice too.

Matthew saw the ragtag group huddle up like some preteen clique. He cuckled. They think I can read minds. How cute.

In fact, the reality was the exact opposite. Their thoughts was the only place they were really safe. Take a kernel, let it sink in and pack it deep away in your heart and mind. Maybe then you could keep something from him. Until then, he supposed he'd have a little fun with these folk.

"So, that bronze sphere you got there. Mind if I take a look at it?"

A human boy, with mind-reading powers? Danparan didn't believe it was possible, but supposing it was, how exciting! She could be on the verge of the first ever breakthrough in human telepathy.

"It's not mine, it's Xavier's," she said, turning to face the young man and wearing a stern expression, clutching the sphere tightly. "And it's not a toy. What do you want with it?"

Sprouts, she thought. Sprouts and gravy. Wichpet. Hulderkind. Great dodecicosidodecahedron with a cherry on top.

Asau was curious about Angel now. She had trouble believing his resistance to her charms was from mental fortitude. Was he only interested in men? Did he just not have any sex drive at all? Or was he a eunuch? Those were the three possibilities Asau considered — the possibility that he was simply focused, smart, or controlled enough to ignore her didn't come into her mind at all.

So she followed Angel and, standing behind him, examined the group which seemed to have become suddenly nervous. She couldn't have them fearing him. It might go to his head. So she mussed up his hair in a pointedly condescending manner, and said, lazily, "what's this? Are we worried about our little miniature philosopher now? I mean, he's kind of cute... the way he uses big words and concepts reminds me of a kid turning a condom into a balloon. He has no idea what he's really got in his hands, just playing around with things stolen from grown-ups, but that's just what makes it so adorable." Besides, she thought to herself, fucking with people was her job.

edited 31st May '11 3:34:20 PM by KillerClowns

"... Right. Anyway, it's not like I'm going to steal it. I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to paint a target on his back in this group." He stopped talking for a moment and ran that last bit through his head again. Oh yeah, that's what he'd been doing for the last hour and a half. He smacked himself mentally.

edited 31st May '11 4:31:14 PM by KSPAM

Xavier considered Angel's request. On the one hand, the guy was a jerk, and possibly liked screwing with people. On the other, it might just make him angrier, and assuming he was telling the truth when he said he wouldn't steal it, it would just sow discontent between the group and him. Xavier didn't watch many horror movies, but he knew that one pissed-off guy plus a group of innocent people plus an isolated location generally equalled slasher. That would leave a pure girl left to kill him. Probably Danparan, from what he knew of everybody.

Even if the group of innocent people included two soldiers and a flying, fire-breathing magical lizard, he didn't want any violence. Nothing good could come from that. Violence probably wouldn't occur anyway, but the contempt would just grow.

And just to be safe, he thought all this in his native language, Menyic.

"Why do you want to see it, anyway?" he asked. "I mean, I'm probably the only one it's of any value to, the only one who knows what precautions to take when using it, and it's my only way back home."

"I've seen something like it in museum back home and wanted to take a look at it. Where I'm from, this thing is behind a three-inch think glass panel and covered in rust and crusted over seasalt." Matthew said. It was a good lie, or at least he thought so. Vaguely worded, no way to check the relevant information, and best of all, laced with a bit of truth. He really did just want to have a look at it.

edited 31st May '11 4:47:20 PM by KSPAM

Okay, he's almost definitely lying. We performed several chemical tests on this thing, and it's definitely bronze. Bronze doesn't rust. His version might not be made of bronze, but that's a bit unlikely, if it has a duplicate and considering its whole thing is alternate-universe-jumping. Again, all in Menyic.

Xavier did his best to not let it show, though. "Really? Did it say where it was found? I didn't find this underwater, but your world is probably different. What kind of civilization used it? Anything on what it was used for? You probably don't remember much about it, though. I mean, it might've been years ago, and you might've only been interested in it because of the tight security on it, because three inches of glass is a bit overkill unless it's valuable.

"Which," he continued, deciding to call Angel's bluff, "this thing would definitely be. I mean, jumping between alternate universes? You could build up a following in one, take your army back 'home', and rule the world. Instant dynasty. And considering alternate timelines are included in the set, it might even allow time travel, which opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Maybe yours and mine are one and the same."

Okay, so I'm doing something wrong.

Hector didn't like kids very much. Especially ones that laughed at him derisively.

Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

Three hundred yards was far enough; any more and the kid would have gone insane the moment he stepped onto a street. Eye contact was certainly not the case, and other sensory media were unlikely—he definitely wasn't smelling or hearing or tasting anything differently.

You say you want a revolution, we~el, you know...

The simplest explanation for the kid was mind-reading. But then again, the simplest explanation for Marcus Black's miracles was self-duplication, yet the reality had been much different. Once evidence that possibly suggested the contrary arose, every single Paranormal in Odyssey had made the mistake of not checking the assumptions that had been made about Black. And it always helped to double-check the most basic assumptions first.

We all wanna change the world...

From the suspicious look in his eyes, Wesley trusted him, but not (for good reason) Angel. None of them really trusted Angel. Which meant that there would at least be backing for him if the entire experiment went horribly wrong.

But if you go hey kid guess what I'm going to pull out a gun and shoot you carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow...

Of course, Hector thought, under the dulcet (and very prominent) tunes of John Lennon, he didn't actually plan on shooting the kid. If he had heard him, then he would react, and if he didn't, well, Hector would have to start over. Starting over would be far more preferable than continuing to chase mind control, however. A reaction could mean many other powers beyond mind control, which would require further investigation. Perhaps there existed more complicated and subtle methods of troubleshooting, but the direct methods always tended to appeal to Hector with their cleanliness and simplicity. There was no need to spin the roulette machine if the outcomes were purely binary: success, if the kid didn't react, and failure, if he did.

What I learned from this thread: Hector likes the Beatles, even if I prefer American music.

edited 31st May '11 8:14:44 PM by Chubert

Leah shaked Matthias' hand, after a moment of hesitation.

"Thank you, Matthias. And yes, I enjoy it very much. The music fits very nicely with this place. If you don't mind, I'm going to stay here for some time."

September was coming this way. Good thing, that. Her body was still suffering as a result of her training, but every single fictional story ever said that if that doesn't happen, then you've wasted your money. Besides, September was nice enough, not at all like some other people here. Leah definitely wouldn't mind her comp-

"About that kid friend of yours—the whole 'powers of Go'—oh, sorry, I wasn't supposed to say...well, anyways, if you could just think about that a bit, see if there might be some way that he could be relevant to this whole situation?"

That ba-

"Thanks!"

That bastard. He told everyone! It wasn't enough for him to have the information for himself, no. He had to-

Powers of Go. He keeps it secret.

Screw that. Now everyone knew she wasn't a normal, lost little girl. Her one advantage, the only thing she could depend on for her survival was gone. Just like that.

You told him that. And he's running away from the new one. Angel.

Indeed, Harold, along with his buddy soldier and a new woman -when did she come anyway?-, had now gotten to a distance from Angel. Was he dangerous? Perhaps. Perhaps Harold shouted that just so Angel would turn his attention to her. To kill her? Not probable, Angel didn't seem to mind anything that had happened.

Anyway, Harold wanted to get away.

Right. So that's what she should do right now: go with him.

"Sorry, Matthias. But I've got to leave."

She nodded at September as she passed by, but didn't wait to talk. She hurried to Harold and the others, making sure not to get too close to Angel.

"Okay, Harold, you win. Now, what the hell was that?"

Surrounded by voices he'd ceased to comprehend, and the warmth of the grass he lay in, Leitha drifted to sleep.

He dreamt of himself, Vuka, and Yantra alone in the garden, just...talking. At first, he couldn't remember who Yantra was. She was so amicable, waxing philosophical about the necessity and inevitability of Change, and...

Change.

Of course, she was Wasp. The dream wasn't about Leitha, Vuka, and Yantra, it was about Dog, Lynx, and Wasp. Depressing as that thought was, the dream itself held a glimmer of hope - they were talking like normal people, about normal things. Wasp wasn't some sort of shadowy apparition attempting to drag them all to their own self-destruction, and Vuka spoke not like he normally did, as a person trying to keep people whom once regarded each other as friends from tearing each other apart, but was genuinely happy for once in a long time.

Yantra turned to him and smiled. No creepiness, no duplicty.

Was that why he was here, to bring them here? Is this what the garden was capable of? Could things go back to the way they were?

Leitha awoke, stood up, and began to walk over to Leah.

It probably wasn't, it definitely is, and they most likely couldn't, but the malamute'd be damned if he didn't try.

edited 4th Jun '11 10:13:34 PM by Lasty

Shit! Science fail XD

His sudden lie falling apart, Matthew decided to back off and try something else. Shit. That's what I get for going the romantic route. 'Crusted over seasalt' indeed.

Oh well. There'd be other opportunities. He sneezed into his sleeve. "Jumping between universes? Sounds like science fiction to me. Back home, the theory is it was used as a sort of map."

Xavier shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know about you, but where I come from, maps are used so that you know where you are when you go there, not for looking at and going, 'Oooo, that's pretty.' Well, they can be used for that, too, but not usually. Maybe it has two uses - map and transportation system, like those route maps on subways. Maybe it's pure coincidence that they look similar. It's amazing we can even speak the same language.

"As for jumping between universes, that's pretty much what I thought until I found the sphere. This is actually my first time using it. I'm not even completely sure how it works, or what purpose it could be used for."

Hector turned to Leah quickly. "That, apparently, was a completely useless maneuver. Which is alright. In fact, it's a good thing. Long story, I may or may not explain later."

If he was making death threats with his mind, and the kid wasn't reacting—no fear, no movement, not even a condescending sneer—then Hector could be reasonably certain that his mind was safe.

Unfortunately, the elimination of straight-up mind control removed the simplest and easiest option from the table. All remaining powers that might be at Angel's disposal were complicated—too many variable to reliably identify that power as Angel's ability.

Well, he wasn't hostile; he was only a particularly annoying kid. Were he to become hostile, Hector patted himself on the back for already taking preparatory steps. There wasn't as urgent a need to swiftly identify Angel's capabilities now that his own mental security was ensured.

Hector looked back at Leah. Starting from the way his mind began working when he talked with her and ending with the lies and duplicity, Hector was reminded, somewhat reluctantly, of business. Well, she had come to him first. He had no reason to feel any sort of companionship or sympathy towards her—not like Wesley, a kid who didn't deserve any of the misfortune that he carried on his back—and Hector didn't trust the way she asked her questions, as if to her, it was of tantamount importance that she familiarize herself with all the intimate details and secrets of the garden's people.

Surely, if she extended an invitation to play at that game, Hector couldn't blame himself for smiling widely and accepting.

"Out of curiosity," Hector said, "Is there some reason why you were so interested in whether or not I had 'ties' to the paranormal?"

Yeah, Hector's instinctive reaction of, 'If I don't like you, respect you, or need you to like me, I have no reason to remain civil when I perceive that you're entering my territory' has kicked in.

edited 1st Jun '11 9:38:52 PM by Chubert

That man... was he up to something, or it was just because he could?

"Yeeeeeeah, curiosity. Fine. Everyone else has ties to it, and thank you very much for announcing that, and I thought it would be a good thing if we found some kind of connection that we all share. I don't know how it is where you come from, but in my world, supernatural things are so rare, it's a miracle that from all humans, it was I that was brought here. I just want to figure out how this place works, does that bother you that much?"

Don't give him more information. And be friendly. Whatever it was that bothered him about Angel, he was the only one that noticed.

"Now, out of curiosity, is there some reason why I seem to be the only one bothered by the prospect of never going back to my world?"

Danparan had been keeping her expression neutral throughout this conversation. The confirmation that the sphere was some kind of transport between dimensions was certainly interesting, but she couldn't allow herself to think about that, because she was busy trying to force any mind-reading abilities to reveal themselves. Without taking her eyes off Angel, Danparan experimented with different thoughts that might provoke a response.

A ⇔ ¬A, she thought. 2+2=5 in base 10. Antimatter is delicious; it tastes like strawberries. Angel, you sexy thing, you. Gravity isn't real, it's just a theory. Lilichumans are dogs and should be treated like dogs. Teenagers deserve a good whipping. Down with the capitalist pigs! Naked woman. Naked man. Naked fat man. Harlequin baby. Waste with half his face hanging off after that pipe bomb explosion. Danparan's own fist connecting with Angel's face. The concept designated I6-2, which, it had been discovered, it was not humanly possible to imagine without reflexively squawking loudly like a parrot.

"BWAAARRK!"

That broke her concentration altogether.

edited 2nd Jun '11 10:31:04 AM by BobbyG

"Well, I don't know," Hector said. "But if everybody here just managed to slip in, shouldn't it be just as easy to slip right back out?"

As it turned out, it was much easier to "slip in" to the more unstable continuities. There, a lack of origin was hardly treated as anything suspicious—why would it be when the cause-effect timeline was completely destroyed? But still, it could be done to the Garden as well. Hector just needed to think up additional motivations for why he would be exiting and entering, and the Garden did the rest for him.

Danparan, by the thin lines pressing themselves into her forehead and the vaguely ovine—she was imitating a sheep, right?—still seemed to be concentrating on Angel. Hector surreptitiously shook his head. Obviously, he had been wrong about Angel. He have to wait for the obnoxious little brat to do something warranting attention before he could resume investigation.

edited 2nd Jun '11 10:54:43 AM by Chubert