(Untitled)

[mind_sculptor]

Who: Jace Beleren and Armand St. Just (and OPEN if anyone else wants to multithread me)
Where: Level 5, wandering around
When: Not too long after Jace has arrived.
Warnings: Jace will read Armand's mind a little bit.

Comments

[young_idealist]

Armand was on his way to the library, or her way if you prefer, but he preferred to think of himself still as male. This was only temporary, after all. He'd finished reading Great Expectations and dearly needed a break from Dickens, so he was considering snagging Candide before Sexby came back for it.

Mostly, though he was in a habitual reverie. He walked these few steps from his cabin to the library many times a week. What did it matter that today he was a woman, still sporting ill-fitting 18th century men's clothes? But today there was someone in the corridor. And it wasn't Ethan.

Armand smiled and gave a quick bow. "I don't believe we've met, monsieur."

[mind_sculptor]

Jace turned as he was approached, and then returned the quick bow. "We haven't, I only recently arrived," Jace said. This would be a good chance to learn the layout of the ship.

He cautiously reached out with his mental senses, feeling the woman's mind carefully. She didn't feel like a mage upon first examination, so Jace went in, trying to ignore as many memories not pertaining to what he was looking for as possible.

Jace still had to deal with very odd thoughts on the outer most regions of the woman's mind. One of them being that she was only temporarily female, and her clothes were male. How odd. How did one temporarily change from male to female?

Realizing he was distracted Jace concentrated on his task, seeking the layout of the ship.

[young_idealist]

Armand was completely oblivious to the poking around in his mind. He nodded at the admission of being new. "This is likely an odd time to be arriving. Many of us aren't quite ourselves. The Barge took on water sometime yesterday." This explanation was giving as if he expected it to make perfect sense. "Are you assigned to live on Deck Five?"

[mind_sculptor]

It seemed Jace had chosen well. Armand appeared to know most of the ship, though it seemed 'level zero' would need to be investigated. And the library was on this floor, that was convenient.

Since he was still withdrawing as Armand spoke, Jace was actually able to determine what he was really saying, more or less. Jace had to withdraw completely before he spoke.

"Yes, I believe I am assigned to this deck," Jace said.

[young_idealist]

"How exciting!" Armand said cheerfully. "We'll practically be neighbors. It's a joy being so close to the library." In truth, Armand wasn't sure he liked Jace yet, but he hadn't seen any reason to justify the feeling yet. The man was a little intense, but some Wardens simply were. "Do you want to see the library? I was just going over to return a book."

[mind_sculptor]

"Yes. What sort of selection does the library hold?" Jace asked. He was curious about that, and while he wasn't sure he would come across anything particularly useful, Jace remained optimistic that he'd find something to read.

"I'm Jace," He said, deciding he should introduce himself.

[young_idealist]

"Oh, and I'm Armand. Armand St. Just, not the one with fangs. And I haven't delved much into the non-fiction. Reading literature from after my time has been quite absorbing enough." This size and shape probably just emphasizes how much of a mental butterfly Armand can be when he's not depressed.

"I think they are working on organizing it better."

[mind_sculptor]

Not the one with the fangs? Was Armand talking about a vampire that shared his name?

"I think I would be more interested in the non-fiction as well," Jace remarked. He had little interest in reading about stories of brave adventurers going to strange lands, or whatever it was adventurers did.

"There are books from your future?"

[young_idealist]

"I know there is some. I simply don't know much about it." Armand didn't mean to dismiss Jace's interest in non-fiction. He simply was too easily bored by it.

"Yes, there are many, many books after my time. It was 1794 when I accepted the Admiral's offer, and there are hundreds of years of books after that." Yes, he was very excited about books.

[mind_sculptor]

"I'm afraid that unfortunately means little to me," Jace remarked. "Knowing what the year was for you when you came aboard the barge means little if I've never been to your plane."

The idea of books that could potentially have not been written yet from his point in time being available to him was interesting. But how would he know the difference? "Although books from the future have the potential to be interesting, I think there might be material from the past I'd be more interested in."

[young_idealist]

"There are other planes?" Most the people Armand had met on the Barge seemed to be from places that used somewhat the same calendar. Not quite everyone, but very few had no idea of European dating.

"But the past from what point? If you're not from the same... place, how do you know? My future is the past of most people on board."

[mind_sculptor]

"There are many. Haven't you noticed that since you arrived here?" Jace asked. And he shrugged again.

"I don't know. All I know for certain is that when I travel from plane to plane I go to a point in time close enough in the future to account for the time I spent away from it, and whatever time it would take to travel between them. I could very well be from the past or future relative to where you are, but your time system seems odd," Jace paused for a few moments.

"That number, 1794... it's a measurement of years, right? What significant event happened that started that measurement?"

[young_idealist]

"The dates roughly measure from when the son of God--sadly, not one acknowledged by everyone but a predominant part of my world--was born as a man to live among us." Armand is politic enough to know that not everyone believes as he does.

"Many people here seem to come from places that measure exactly the same, but they mention years hundreds and even thousands after mine."

[mind_sculptor]

The child of a God was born to them? Jace briefly thought of the religious group he'd been sent to investigate, the one that believed Planeswalkers were closer to divinity than any other beings aside from gods. Being the object of such attention and blind adoration had been very unsettling.

"How long did your plane record history before that point?" Jace asked curiously.

That god child must have been something special to cause such a big impact and still be worshiped nearly two thousand years later.

[young_idealist]

"I'm not enough of a scholar to be certain, but certainly a few thousand years."

[mind_sculptor]

"It sounds like civilization where and when you're from is considerably younger than it is in some places I've been," Jace remarked. "Although not all planes I've been to had the same level of advancement."

It was interesting to think about this ship holding people from the same plane but different points in time.