Doubts and Discoveries

"The Monitoring has been going on in some form or another since time began. mankind has no memory when the wolves were not watching them. It has not always been remotely and up until the invention of computers and remote transmitters, the observers were much more indiscreet. The position were in now is a little more acceptable than having a Watcher always here; you cannot fool them."

He smiles back at Lucy and asks her; "Is there anything I can do for you? I dont want to make you feel out of sorts in any way."

Tigerwasp wrote:

"But tell me, why are they watching everyone?"....

"It's a long story up until only recently was unknown to 99% of mankind. See, they were here first, this was their planet. They have a name for it, Gaia. All of the shapechanger have a reverence for the earth which frankly, most of mankind could take a lesson from. They have been watching mankind for all of history, some of which seems to be lost, due to the fact that for perhaps over a thousand years they forbade mankind to write. That which could be past down verbally was but we all know how reliable that is. For all we know, we could have been under this no writing stricture for tens of thousands of years."

He pours the last half a swig from his bottle and looks at the bottle with regret that its empty. The man settles the glass in hand and begins to spin the liquid around in circles in the glass as he finishes.

"No one knows exactly what happened, but there was a large conflict in the year 22 AD. Many shapechangers were slain and mankinds cities were all but destroyed as over half the population of the planet was killed. If not for the formation of the Council of Gaia man might have been wiped out. Since then, they have allowed man to write, to develop and most of all, we were allowed to freely 'breed' as they put it. Medical care is free and we really cant complain for the most part. Like I said, even to this day, what I just told you is either unknown or falling on deaf ears of over 99% of the poor fools on this planet. This world is OK, but some are wondering what we would be if the wolves never held us back. The more vocal the wonderers are, the quicker they disappear."

Armor tilts his head to the side, intrigued. "That destructive conflict in 22 AD -- was it between the shifters and mankind, or was a third party involved?"

"It was between man and shifters with man on the starting side."

Intrigued, Doc found it hard to comment. Eventually he said, "What can you tell us about this Council of Gaia? They seem like they're being presented as moderates."

"The Council is a tightly organized coalition of shifter from all non-man races. Originally the Council was said to be the brainchild of the Kitsune, or the were-foxes. The Fox is said to be the only beast that truly needs man and they saw this arrangement as the only way to stop mans annihilation. The Council was originally called the Beast Courts but that concept only lasted a few decades and was usurped by the membership of Garou, the wolves, who are said to be too proud to follow. The structure of the Courts was changed and now we have the Council of Gaia, which is apparently run by wolves."

"Considering they forbade humans writing it's a wonder why it took so long for a rebellion to start." Southern Cross replied angrily."And that's probably why they want metahumans registered-they want to make sure that a second rebellion doesn't start,or if it does that humans don't help out the Saps".

Not disagreeing with Southern Cross's reasoning Doc asked thoughtfully, "Have you ever heard the word 'Paradox' used in reference to non or meta humans?"

Heller smiles and puts his finger into the top of the empty bottle of Jack. Picking it up temporarily with his stuck finger he fakes a shaking of his hand trying to pull it out.

"Funny thing about that question really. Only a very few people in all the earth would even begin to guess at exactly what you were asking. But to answer you, yes, I have heard the word. Not many times but yes none the less."

He plops his finger out of the bottle and licks it. The carefully weighing his words he asks; "Now where does that super-human brain take your thoughts?"

Joe went totally still, this could be a dangerous question.

Doc said after a moment's reflection, "I'm wondering whether I'd be better off not knowing the answer."

"The fact that you answered in such a manner says you already know the answer. You also know what knowledge of the matter brings. So with that, I will not answer with any more details on the subject."

Heller stands up and grabs a small marble rose off the bookshelf. No longer than 2 inches he holds it carefully as it weighs many more pounds and clutches it tightly in his fist. He then turns to Lucy.

"You young lady, ought to find a nice man and settle down with. You might be happier not seeing where world has been and worrying where it might go. Matter of fact, and forgive me if its the Jack talking, I wouldn't mind being that man if i weren't in this spot. I am not one that can let something go if I fell differently about it, and I certainly feel differently than the Council leads us to."
He pats Lucy with his clenched fist as he grabs his empty glass from the desk. "I wish you happiness."

Heller glances at Cross and then at Armor saying; "You need to stick together, your energies complement each other well. Joe and John over there don't fit anywhere frankly, but their mind is right by you."

He stands at the door to the hallway now.
"There is going to a party, if you will, here at this building tomorrow night. It's the type of party that police will show up at the behest of local power brokers to stop. If I lose my way, there will be deaths on mans side, If I get my way the coin will flip. This fight is as local or as global as you want to make it but were all needed on both sides. Show up before the building collapses and pick a side if you like. Otherwise, you all have lives to go back to that I am sure you can enjoy in partial ignorance."

He opens the door. "I have a memorial to go to for my the other two members of my team and I should really be going if you will let me. The office is yours for the next 34 hours."

Heller stands by a moment to see if anyone has anything to say. After about 10 seconds he will leave if no one says anything.

Not trusting himself to say anything, Doc scans Heller and the room.

The member 'Doctor Chronos' has done the following action : Die Roll

'2D10' : 9

"You young lady, ought to find a nice man and settle down with. You might be happier not seeing where world has been and worrying where it might go. Matter of fact, and forgive me if its the Jack talking, I wouldn't mind being that man if i weren't in this spot. I am not one that can let something go if I fell differently about it, and I certainly feel differently than the Council leads us to."
He pats Lucy with his clenched fist as he grabs his empty glass from the desk. "I wish you happiness."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Lucy was quite indignant. Settle down? Her? How old did he think she was? Still she could b=not help but smile at his sentiment. The impending 'party' left her feeling far more ambivalent. She was as yet, unsure as to which side she was on, if any. She hoped that Doctor Chronos would put things into perspective, or more likely, Joe. She could follow what he said with far greater ease.

"Wait," says Armor, holding up an open palm for Heller. "The last time we fought a shifter, he died faster than I'd hoped. Do you have any experience taking one alive, the better to help us play twenty questions?"

Joe stated/asked, "Silver?"

"The garou you fought at the hotel was already weakened, and it was not dead. They have remarkable healing capabilities. Capturing one is harder than killing as they can 'step' thru various materials and cross many miles."

"Silver works grand but good luck finding any, its a banned substance. It it will just ouright kill them."

"But really, I need to go. Hope to see you tomorrow, one way or another."

Joe waited until Heller was gone and then requested, "Doc?"

Doc nodded and snapped his fingers. The rest of the world outside this room halted in time.

Doc remarked quietly, "I'm not sure how much privacy that buys us. This building is well monitored. On a side note, that rose was an item of great power. Great as in, much greater than my own."

"So... 34 hours. Anyone want to start off? Questions, comments, decisions?"

The member 'Doctor Chronos' has done the following action : Die Roll

'2D10' : 10

"Silver should be easy enough," Armor relaxedly nodded to Doctor Chronos, "as your scan of my philosopher's stone presumably indicated; hour after hour after hour of alchemy might be all we need, and hours aplenty are exactly what we've got."

Doc nodded to Armor and said, "Good to know... and Time is something I can supply in spades. Keep in mind is silver is going to be seriously banned and probably detectable. Whatever you make we'll need to hide. How are you at weapon smithing?"

To TigerWasp Doc said, "We have got two issues. The first is the Earth has been conquered by these shapeshifters. That they're currently less repressive doesn't change that they still are. The second, perhaps connected issue, is this whole Paradox thing."

"For us, this sounds like the disadvantages of prophecy. You know something bad is going to happen, so you act to prevent it, and in doing so create it. Clearly there are people trying to keep us outside the system... but that doesn't answer what the bad things are that they've predicted and we're supposed to stop."

Joe interrupted, "Ahem. Since we're in this guy's office, maybe we should search it and see what we can see?"

Armor moves to assist Tigerwasp with the search. {OOC: roll for Clue Analysis.} While doing so, he replies to Doc: "I'm not bad at weaponsmithing, and not too bad at camouflage tactics either. As for the rest -- what exactly made you say 'PARADOX' just then?"

Doc and Joe started searching... although Lucy noticed Joe searched so he could observe her as well. More on task, Doc searched so that he couldn't.

Doc replied, "Truth said something about madness created by paradox coming from reality... but stemming from the wolves actions. Heller had access to their files, I wanted to know if they knew. What we've learned is this isn't just Truth making this claim."

"More importantly, I don't think their definition of Paradox matches ours. They seem to be saying something along the line of 'things out of tune with reality', and I'm not sure if that's because of how the wolves are treating the humans or because of them misusing their powers."

Joe answered Lucy, "The humans don't have a recorded history, so that claim comes from the wolves. Consider how close this timeline is to yours and consider how self serving that claim is. I don't believe it, and even if it's true, it doesn't justify much."

{OOC Forgot to roll, Joe is second in case he gets a negative.}