voidtreckerexpress

Entry tags:

wound up

Who: Kaiba and open!
Where: Spa car
When: Imagination 4, very late at night
What: Someone gives into temptation to indulge and has potentially interesting discussions!
Warnings: Implied/possible mention of child abuse, other war/injury discussion possible. Will update if needed.

It's been...a day. Kaiba's spent time this evening working on how to talk to the others. It's clear as a train they need to regroup on a number of topics and make some changes, but how? And does he even want to try to facilitate? Not exactly his strong suit. He can already imagine the headache. He's sketched out a few potential outlines of topics to open the floor on. Maybe the memorial really is the simplest place to start?

But he's putting that out of his mind. After a late night in the standard car hunched over his notebook, he realizes that the train's fallen quiet in the night. Time to head back to bed. He moves through the largely-empty cars, but as the strange new scent of the spa car filters through in the corridor, he hesitates. The quiet is the perfect time, isn't it?

One ruffle through the closet and a quick shower trip later, he returns, carefully folding his legs beneath him as he sinks in. His torso's long enough that he's only covered up to the ribs and the old, angry red marks between his shoulder blades are exposed, but surely it's quiet enough that that's not an issue.

Finally...at last, he hears nothing but the sound of water lapping the edges of the pool. He can finally relax. He closes his eyes, rolling his shoulders back with a soft sigh.

"...hm. Not bad...maybe."

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He pauses at the interjection; it is a fair point, after all. "Orisa is entirely unique, not an omnium-standard creation. As it is, she is far too new to have had any part in the Crisis." Any further reassurances would have required context that only he and Orisa had, and that is an entirely different story.

He cannot help but smile at the optimism on his behalf. "They resulted in progress. Large, sweeping changes in the study of gravity are rare; most discoveries are the result of years of detailed equations and slow progress. My initial experiments were a success, in that the change of environment yielded the change in results I had expected, but further refinement over the following months eventually confirmed that I would need to continue my work in a zero-gravity environment in order to truly progress. The moon could not provide that, and so my tenure on Horizon One came to an end."

He pauses. "But only after losing several hundred hands of gin rummy and one very ill-fated Monopoly game."

"So did you go back to Earth, or someplace else? Drake has...entire sections of the Lab for his experiments, but I think he has some way to compress physical reality. Do I understand that? Oh hell no," Xander said, half-chortling to himself. "I feel lucky I understand my own magic. Among other things."

Not that he really wanted to go into those 'other things', either. Self-consciously, he rubbed at his right wrist.

"But your luck has changed since then, right? At least with gin rummy?" Sure, Xander will look on the bright side...or he'll try. "I mean, the Monopoly game deserved it. By questionable virtue of being what it was!"

That's Xander's story, and he's going to stick to it.

"We can see if his luck changed," Seto snickered, still looking a little pleased with himself. Honestly, with the run of Duel Monsters games he'd played, that had been a necessary respite. And he'd enjoyed it.

His gaze followed Xander's hand for a moment, but as curious as he was about his companions...he wouldn't voice his guesses for now. He'd just let that curiosity fade into the ether.

"I'd still love to hear more about those gravity experiments...and any other magic I should look for from you," he said, turning to Xander with a quirk of his brow. "But that dimension-warping, that subspace...I've heard theories before. Nothing I could ever act on, though. I was far too busy with crafting a perfect virtual reality."

Oh, he could go on about that...but as much as he was in love with his ego, he was trying to refrain. A little.

Edited 2020-11-14 04:28 (UTC)

"It has not. Someone has seen to that," Siebren says, looking very pointedly at Seto. The look is for dramatic effect only, and he lets it fall after a moment, rolling his shoulders and sinking a bit further into the water. "But to answer your question, I returned to Earth for a while. There were equations to adjust, permits to apply for, permissions to request, and then all off-planet operations were halted for...some time." Horizon One had been a highly publicized beacon for the future. To see it go offline so catastrophically had been...a blow, to say the least, to the world at large and to Siebren personally.

Best not to dwell, especially in front of an empath. "But that is another story entirely, and I believe I have held the floor long enough. As much as I would love to hear about Drake's experiments-" He turns to look at Seto again. "-I do not believe you would bring up your 'perfect virtual reality' if you did not wish to speak about it." Thereby taking Xander off the hook for explaining procedures he may not fully understand, and keeping the conversation out of dangerous waters.

Okay, Xander had to respect the way Siebren controlled the conversation like that. Not that it didn't sound like Seto wanted to bang his own drum for a bit, but really, what else was there to do?

Except to talk about things he didn't want to dig too deep into, admittedly. He gave the older man a grateful look, but couldn't suppress a chuckle as he did so.

"There's time for that, but if this gives you any idea--one of Drake's favorite expressions is 'explosions mean progress'. He puts the 'mad' in mad scientist, just a bit."

Though the nephilim was absolutely certain Drake and Siebren would probably get on like a house on fire.

"So, perfect virtual reality? That was the next topic, right?"

Seto noted their ability to deflect questions, but...well, that was their right, and he wouldn't be put out for long. He had his own story to tell.

"Kaiba Corporation, under my father's direction, was a weapons dealing enterprise. His simulations focused on war and conquest, and ever-paranoid, he'd thrown in the ability to upload a human brain as a backup. The virtual environment he created for that was therefore basic, focused on expanding knowledge...as he was planning to imprison me and hold the world hostage via the internet, I later learned."

Now it was his part. Seto straightened his posture, a glimmer of his old showman persona shining through.

"Training on those computers gave me a foundation, but as I rebuilt the company to focus on games, I much preferred creating immersive illusions in real space to entering computers---it was easier to install safety valves. I created the first solid holograms, computer images manifesting to alter the real world---wind, vibrations, heat, cold. Why simply play with cards on the table when you can place them on a duel disk and have the entire story of the duel play out around you?"

Deep breath. "I added environment effects, programmed all card interactions...card game sales skyrocketed, and as we brought our imaging technology to other entertainment fields and the sciences, astrophysics, medicine...our star rose higher than my father ever could've dreamed."

There was a clear gleam in his eye. Seto flashed them a rare grin as he sat back against the wall, as if sheepishly remembering that he was at a friendly gathering in a hot tub, not advertising at a tech conference. Yeah...time to dial it back a bit. He scratched at the back of his neck.

"I don't have my full lab with me, but I do have a duel disk I've been working on and the cards, if you'd like to see a small sliver of what I've done."

For a moment, Siebren simply stares at Xander. Explosions mean progress is a rather terrifying scientific philosophy, though if Xander's dimension involves magic - which it sounds like it does - then it may be an entirely applicable one.

He turns his attention back to Seto. He blinks for a moment - evidently the businessman in question was somehow even more of a monster than initially thought - and settles in for the rest of the explanation. So Kaiba Corporation is a hard light pioneer, not unlike Vishkar, except it seems Kaiba Corporation had taken an entirely different direction with their hard light experimentation. And sharing that technology with other disciplines - what he would not have given to have been able to test his experiments virtually before attempting them in a physical space. Perhaps what happened to him could have been prevented-

But that is a rabbit hole best avoided. Instead, he smiles at Seto as Seto settles back in. "With a sales pitch like that, how could we refuse?"

It definitely does--that would likely be evident in further conversation, and Xander isn't precisely trying to hide it, either.

Xander can't help but make a few faces as Seto talks about his father. Sounds about as good as the Emerald Bastard, if the nephilim wanted to think about it. But he didn't. Nor did he want to mention that, either.

"I think if I ever met your adopted dad, I'd probably punch him in the face," Xander admitted, a bit of sheepishness crawling over his face. "I know that's not proper or respectful, but..."

He shakes his head, and changes the subject. "The rest of that stuff sounds so cool! And you said you have part of it here? Sheesh, what you could probably do with a full lab..." Xander can't say real, because all of the stuff here is plenty real enough. He shakes his head again, grinning a little. "Yeah, I want to see this!" Sure, Drake has cool stuff too, but Drake's got science, mad Science. This is all pure human ingenuity, and he definitely wants to see that.

It's...strange, listening to Xander express that level of concern. They've just met, yet in this odd circumstance...there's a glimmer of a bond between them. Siebren, too...

Ever since boarding, Seto had to adjust to the idea that what had happened to him wasn't normal. That he wasn't okay. But...that he could be okay, and things could get better eventually, that gave him strength. His posture may have radiated with pride, but his heart felt a strange feeling that he'd recently identified as gratitude.

"I'll show you next time. The disks are water-resistant, but not waterproof---we haven't built underwater dueling arenas yet. That's next on the list."

A small joke. He looked at them each in turn, feeling lighter than he had when he'd arrived.

"Next time we can place orders from home, I'm ordering more parts from my lab. I want to see what I can do to help our mission."

(That Xander would stop there is what Siebren would consider an incredible show of restraint. Much as he dislikes violence, there is something gratifying about the idea of witnessing someone get theirs.)

"How long is your list?" Mentioning the improbable or impossible as an item on a to-do list is a joke Siebren has made himself a few times over the years, and he responds with that same sense of humor.

Then Xander brings in a good bit of enthusiasm, and Siebren smiles. "I second that sentiment. What were you thinking of ordering?"

He can probably stop after one punch. The physical violence, anyway. There's something to be said about having weaponized his empathy, but for some reason, Xander doesn't think Seto would be into that sort of thing, even if his adopted father was a piece of junk.

So he decides it's best not to go there.

"I don't have a lot of points yet, but I also don't think I'd be averse to making a few donations for the cause, either. I'm not sure I can get any of Drake's materials, but I think it might be better if I don't, since I don't understand how a lot of those things work. I mean, he builds things like AIs and robots and...well. It's a lot."

He pauses, then. "Though I do know enough about chemistry to make alloys if you need them. There might not be enough raw materials on the train to do that, but on a planet?"

"First duel in space is next. I'm almost there. Then there's first duel in another time period, first duel on Mars..."

It's been a long time since he's let himself relax like this. It's nice, being with like-minded people. He never really had the chance to stop and enjoy what he was doing, everything was always so urgent.

"That would actually be a huge help," he says to Xander. "I'll show you my plans later. We seriously need dedicated lab space, that's going to be my next request. And I'd fill it with varying chipset materials, welding torches, wires, piping, engine parts...the armory was a good first step, but not every battle's won by the sword."

"Oh, skipping the moon entirely? Very ambitious of you." Small, ridiculous, perfect jokes. Siebren has missed this sort of thing.

He raises an eyebrow at Xander's initial statement, especially given what Xander has just told them about Drake. "Rule of thumb: if you do not have at least a basic understanding of any given object, do not attempt to run an experiment with it. That way lies disaster."

If they are planning a laboratory space, he would very much like to be in on it. "Is that space the sort of thing the train would provide, or would we need to claim space in an extant car?" They are a bit pressed for space, true, but it ought to be doable, provided the rest of the passengers are amenable to the idea.

"Yeah, I know. That's a constant between magic and science," Xander admits. "Biting off more than you can chew in either one can lead to bad things..."

He'd only heard about certain...issues...that Drake had had, but the stories had been plenty enough for him. Xander didn't ever want to run into that sort of thing for real.

"I don't need that sort of thing--I'm better as an Igor to someone else's mad scientist. Hand you this wrench. Transmute this scrap into the same amount of alloy. But hey, if you need hands, I've got them, you know?" He shrugged.

"Ha...so can trusting the wrong people," Seto adds, far too familiar with that aspect. "But yes. We can petition the train---it should understand that we not only need weapons, but development space for defenses. We're so spread out on missions, there aren't always enough warriors to go around."

He's a little bitter about that. But...moving on. He takes a breath, in and out...and lets that stress float away.

"...somehow I can't get as worked up, here. Maybe this wasn't a bad idea."

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wound up

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