Scene #9551: Father Time

Owner	Pose
Angela	District 20, managed by The TimeTrack Corporation, isn't very colorful even in its nest. While the Backstreets are nearly unanimously sepia-toned, the Nest itself seems like it has never escaped the Industrial Revolution. Factories pump out smoke and the District is perpetually foggy as well as smoggy. The weather is cool and quiet and still and numerous gears moving with unknown purpose blend with the architecture, constantly jerking and spinning away. Typically, a purchased pass is required to exempt yourself from T Corp's rules while in its territory, but the Concord--as well as Petra and Sougo in particular--have caught the corporation's eye and they want to play nice. 'So consider all expenses paid', the invitation said. 'A limo will arrive to pick you up at the Warpgate Station!'. A Class 5 Auditor (the highest) is driving the limo. She is a serious-faced woman with bangs covering her right eye partially with dull brown eyes and hair. Despite her rank, her clothes are plain and businesslike--frankly rather drab--with brown shoes chosen for comfort long periods of standing and walking rather than style. She wears a pith helmet wearing the T Corp logo. "Hubert has informed me that I am to be at your disposal up until our meeting time. My name is Mai, a pleasure to meet you. Right now we are moving at a 1:1 temporal rate, but we expand the amount of actions undertakable in each moment by up to a factor of 8. I can give you a quick guided tour or let you out at one of our museums or zoos--" But ultimately, however you wish to make use of your limo and Class 5 Auditor, eventually time marches on and Mai takes you through a long tunnel that she has to scan a security card to pull into and dips down and down deeper underground as the tunnel goes on. One might be reminded of the necessity of Lobotomy Corp to be built underground and away from the prying eyes of Beholders. It isn't just a trick that they pulled out of Binah's head--other corporations have figured out this little trick as well. "It's been years since anyone's been allowed to come down here." Mai says. "T-Corp is older than Hubert and he has always been a researcher before a CEO. He developed the Timetrack Protocol himself, which is how he ended up in his current position. Before he took over, T-Corp could only trade in time. Now, to a limited extent, we can reverse it. Control time, Control your story." There is a small unspoken but important 'but' at the end of that sentence that Mai seems unwilling to say herself.
Angela	The limo eventually comes to a stop in a small underground garage. Mai steps out and leads the group onward through a small door leading into large--but clearly private--workshop. There's about three floors with shelves filled with meticulously labeled and separated parts, tools, and gizmos. There is a framed photograph of a young, bored looking man receiving a ribbon for a 'Young Inventor of the Year' award, two diplomas framed along the wall, stacks of Armsmeister Journal and Inventors Weekly magazines. There's a photograph of a what must be Hubert (who, as it turns out, looks exactly like the T-Corp employee that tried to bill him back at Trídéag) with a man who clearly looks like Ayin--just look at his sullen golden eyed face--and a young grey haired man who looks to be about the same age. He is recognizable as Benjamin, but is considerably younger than his Librarian self or his Cognition Filtered form. There's also a picture of Hubert with Ayin, Benjamin, Carmen, an unfamiliar woman, and a woman specifically familiar to Petra Much of the space is taken up by what looks like a sleigh with a satellite dish on its back with a number of dials on a dusty dashboard. It is, frankly, a little ridiculous. Some attempt at a proper time machine, perhaps? There's also a long mirror, covered--for the moment--by sheet cloth--it doesn't look like it has been there for very long, in fact! Hubert is sitting at a workdesk at the far end of the first floor, tophat sitting at the top of a hatrack along with a blue coat. He spins around in his seat and smiles broadly upon seeing the Concord. His eyes are a dull brass-gold color and he says, "Thank YOU, Mai! Best to keep a meeting like this quiet--could you please leave us, for a spell?" "Sir." Mai says. "They were already involved in the apparent death of one--maybe two--Wing leaders..." "I promise I'll be fine." Hubert promises. "If I'm in real danger I'll call you right over." He winks at her and Mai, slowly, makes her way back to the car. She's not going too far. "So!" Hubert says, turning his attention back to the Concord. "My understanding is you have answers that I'm looking for about what happened to Lobotomy Corp and my proteges. My name is Hubert. Let's chat."
Sarracenia	In an effort to keep contributing to Trideag, Sarracenia has joined the others on this outing. Although it was billed as a Concord meeting and not a Trideag meeting, the princess still wears her Trideag outfit: A white silk button-up blouse with ruffles down the front, a black velvet vest with golden buttons and green lapels, and a long and slightly airy black skirt with flowing green ivy-like embroidery. The skirt reaches just past her knees, where broad-striped black and green leggings can be seen before disappearing into pointed black boots with gold zippers along the insides. Naturally her eye-patch, crown, and Silver lotus remain in place on her head. Despite the expenses apparently being paid, Sarra opts out of any tours or zoos. She does not like this T-corp. Or any corp so far. They already tried to leverage their made-up bill against Trideag in a rather uncouth fashion. She is here mainly to see more about just what they do here, how they do it, and just to be backup if needed. Mai gives a bit of an introduction on Hubert, and Sarra frowns lightly. "Only a limited extent, you say? How limited?" she asks. As they pass the pictures, awards, and diplomas, Sarra's eyes the pictures of those people from the Lobotomy Corp that caused all that trouble. She shakes her head at it, then continues following after the others. 'They were already involved in the apparent death of one--maybe two--Wing leaders...' Sarra hmphs softly. "We are here only to talk." she says, then turns her attention to Hubert. 'My understanding is you have answers that I'm looking for about what happened to Lobotomy Corp and my proteges. My name is Hubert. Let's chat.' Sarra lets out an uncomfortable sound. While it makes sense that he wants to know about Lobotomy Corp, Sarra is still not keen on talking about it. She's been told/ordered not to by basically everyone who has enough influence over her to say such things. Not to mention the whole Black Silence ordeal. She crosses her arms in a stubbern and somewhat confrontational posture. "So far it has proven disastrous to reveal information about that. Trideag itself was attacked by a Color because of it."
Petra Soroka	This is a meeting that has somewhat more weight to Petra than to the rest of the Concord, since it's her fault it's happening. The nonsense situation between Cane Office, Warp Corp, T-Corp, and L-Corp, and Petra Soroka is one that stretches back a year, thirty years, or ten thousand years, depending on where you decide to start counting, and it is this nonsense that lets Petra ring up a Wing CEO's personal phone number to schedule a meeting. Keeping track of all the plates spinning in the City is what occupies Petra's mind on the trip to District 20. Far from being calm and collected, on the inside, she feels a twinge of nauseating anxiety, agonizingly aware of how in over her head she's gotten, and also that it's way too late to shirk her role to anyone else despite her extreme unsuitability for it. Politics and economics are never really Petra's favorite subjects: hopefully Hubert feels the same way. Because of course, he's practically Petra's sister's creator's dad, completely by chance. She can't even think about whether she wants to bring that complete clusterfuck of a Spaceballs reference up though, because she has to scope out his opinion on her undermining of Warp Corp, his relationship with Dias, his opinions on the Head, his secret machinations in the City, and also, whether he'd kill her for murdering Ayin. What a busy life Petra leads. She's wearing a plain black suit when she steps into the limousine Mai brings. There's no identifiers on it either way, not the red and tan of L-corp, or the blue whorls of the Reverberation Ensemble, just monochrome black and white, with one cufflink in gold. The colorlessness is, in part, because she's aware of T-Corp's whole... shtick, but ambiguity usually serves Petra well in the City anyways. PHONE: Lilian Rook says, "People like you are what the Head likes, I think. It's why Colours exist and unions don't." Petra frowns a little bit to herself, palm to her cheek while she looks out the window at the sepia-toned landscape going by. "I don't really need any tours right now. I'd rather get right to the meeting. I won't take up any more of your time than I have." "It's been years since anyone's been allowed to come down here." "Hubert himself makes appearances aboveground more often than that, though, doesn't he?" It's a rhetorical question, but she's still interested in the answer. Learning that the TimeTrack 2 was solely Hubert's creation increases her suspicions more, knowing how involved he was with Ayin and Benjamin's early life-- it's impossible to tell, but easy to guess, whether the Seed of Light or TimeTrack came first.
Petra Soroka	She only glares at the picture of Ayin long enough to register the thought that her eyes look the same as his now. When she tears her gaze away, it catches on Dias instead, and the idea of someone having a framed picture of Dias in their private laboratory suddenly makes Petra more scared than the fact that he's a Wing CEO, for reasons she can't name. "They were already involved in the apparent death of one--maybe two--Wing leaders..." Petra focuses on slowing down her breathing and heartrate when Hubert appears. Trying to appear as unbothered as she can, and looking only at Hubert rather than Mai, she holds up her hands and flips them back and forth to show how empty they are, completely aware of how meaningless a gesture that is for showing whether she's armed or not. "He'll be fine. Thanks for the ride here, Mai." "My understanding is you have answers that I'm looking for about what happened to Lobotomy Corp and my proteges." "Hi, Hubert." Petra stays on the far end opposite Hubert, leaning back against an iron column and fiddling with her sleeve. She doesn't feel the need to introduce herself, for a bunch of reasons. "I'm sure you've heard enough about me to know some of the 'end' of that question already. But I don't know where the 'start' should be, with you. I'd rather not start talking from before the Smoke War and bore you with a decade of history you already know."
Timespace Riders	Sougo has thought about today since the day he received that exorbitant bill. Of course, it was meant to be a statement. He has the choice on how to respond to it, and a good king should know what is said and unsaid by his every action. The choice of what to wear is always a coordinated thing, with him, but his choice today is especially important. Showing up in a Trideag uniform or even colors would make a statement about his loyalties and possibly put T Corp even more on guard than they already are, regarding him. They played a bold opening hand and dialed it back to show a potentially very beneficial, very luxurious offer after the dust settled from that bill. It's good for Sougo and good for Trideag if T Corp thinks he's eating out of their hand--so, not only does he show up in casual clothes (a navy peacoat, a pastel pink-white striped button up, rolled khaki jeans and a pair of trendy hiking boots), but he takes Mai up on the offer of museums and zoos ahead of the meeting with Hubert. Or, rather, he would, if Petra didn't object. "Well," he says, "Maybe some other time." Woz, for his part, wears what he always does (save for deployments with Trideag). He is quiet during the trip, for the most part, seemingly happy that his king is enjoying himself. When the limo takes them to the underground tunnel, Sougo is at rapt attention. Control time, Control your story. "But only so much will fit on the pages," Sougo supposes. "Isn't that right? Thanks for the ride, Mai." Although he's done a pretty good job of playing dumb up to the entry into the workshop, Sougo can't hide his reaction to seeing Ayin's photo. His eyes linger a little too long, and his pleasant smile dims considerably until he can bring himself to look away. At least there are other people in these pictures that he can occupy himself with studying. My name is Hubert. Let's chat. "Hubert, I am Woz, retainer to his majesty, Sougo Tokiwa. My liege is most pleased to have received your invitation." "Hi, Hubert," Sougo says, turning from the pictures to face him. "You guys have treated me really well after that little misunderstanding, so I'd be happy to answer your questions."
Angela	''How limited?'' "True time travel is a taboo of the Head, one of the oldest. I won't bore you with the particulars but suffice to say that reverting The City's time is not allowed, but within a localized area is. ... Though as you can imagine--like with any Wing--there are always those that will try to get as close as they can to violating the spirit of such laws without actually incurring the Head's wrath as once happened with Hongyuan some time ago. The Head has access to most Singularities owned by WIngs and we must assume a grand understanding of them." Mai does seem to approve of not fucking around at least. ''Hubert himself makes appearances aboveground more often than that, though, doesn't he?'' "Oh he's often above ground. I'd say he's either slumming it on the streets looking for anything interesting to occupy his time, touring offices, working in his workshop--he does spend time in the boardroom but he usually leaves the economics of it all to others. He's an inventor before he's a businessman. Sometimes to the displeasure of the board--but they have little room to complain, they put him in this position. The Timetrack2 Protocol," The very 'Protocol' that kept Lobotomy Corp in its hell loops. "It could have been seized by him as 'unauthorized technology' but the previous CEO protected him and eventually abdicated the position to him when he retired. Probably wanted to see how far he could push the technology." ''But only so much will fit on the pages. Isn't that right?'' "...It's an old T Corp slogan. Hubert is more fond of another one, but we still use it." Mai is a high ranking official as far as T Corp goes, but it sort of feels like she's more like a direct assistant to Hubert and gets dragged along by his whims. She KNOWS the boss and she's no shareholder. ''You guys have treated me really well after that little misunderstanding.'' "I wasn't actually expecting you to pay the bill." Hubert says, which Sougo already knew but is now confirmed. "But if you throw something shocking at someone, you get a bit more of their measure, don't you think? People are less honest to me when they know who I am besides."
Angela	''I'd rather not start talking from before the Smoke War...'' "Ah, fair fair. You know what I want and I should make a good impression by offering something for free." Hubert thinks for a moment, leaning an arm against his chair. "Benjamin was my protege all along, but Benjamin was the one who found Ayin. He was quite taken with the man--I saw a bit of myself in both of them. Benjamin, his fondness for machinery and tinkering. Ayin his--" Hubert frowns as he's trying not to speak too ill of a dead man. "--pursuit of meaning to his work. In The City, many technologies have been uncovered but the growth of such discoveries are clearly stagnating and often simply serve to entrench powers that already exist. Even the most well meaning Wing leaders, like dear old Stephanette--even they are just 'Feathers' before the 'Wings'. I suppose to some of you it might seem a bit strange that even those who benefit most from the current system are still, nonetheless, helpless to it--even if they might not care as it ''does'' benefit them. But then they die, having accomplished nothing besides self-satisfaction." "Carmen as far as anyone could tell was a nobody. I tried looking into her but there was nothing interesting to note. She just showed up one day in the Backstreets but it was clear she was educated even though she had no accolades. The real difference between her and everyone else, I suppose, was that this world could change--and that people could change--become what they were always meant to be and so on--I did not meet her enough so I won't speak third hand when you've surely heard from closer sources about her already." "I was pulled in, of course, because I wanted to support my proteges. Just as I had been supported. At one point I hoped Benjamin would be able to one day take over here, but he was inspired by Ayin--so I did what I could. But their research eventually drew the ire of the Head--I know not why but miraculously Benjamin and Ayin survived. After some time to make sure there would be no followup attacks, Ayin decided they needed true power to achieve Carmen's dream. Laryngos Corp was the viable option. T Corp could do terrible things to a battlefield, but we are no military. R Corp was simple, we gave them a generous contract, but to win a Wing War we'd need more." He looks towards that photograph of the whole crew on the wall there. "So we hired the Udjat as well. She assigned a bodyguard," Tennant. "To Benjamin but didn't ask for much. Some favorable contracts, information, technologies--we needed her people more than she needed us so she could have asked for much." "After the Smoke War, they built their Lobotomy Corp and were very kind to us in their offers of Enkephalin but they stopped involving us in our plans shortly after. I stopped hearing from Ayin, first, and then Benjamin some time later. The last he talked to me he seemed worried that the project had gone too far. But Lobotomy Corp was still running, and I knew Ayin was the type of person who could easily lose years to some obsession--but then the White Nights and Dark Days came." He looks to Sarracenia, "And of course it was made apparent rather quickly that Outsiders were involved. I appreciate your loose lips--even if the Blue Reverberation might not. You are still alive, though, so perhaps he is trying to be reasonable?" He seems to think it was Argalia who attacked the Association. "I believe that summarizes my knowledge of what had happened. Anything else and I'd just be guessing at what you want."
Petra Soroka	"He was quite taken with the man--I saw a bit of myself in both of them." Hubert rep, down. Not that he has particularly high rep with Petra on any metric, and it's not so low that he's an enemy, but Petra's seen nothing to distinguish him from the rest of the City at this point. He can talk all he wants about how the poor little Wing CEOs are just slaves to the mechanisms of the City all he wants, but being quirked up and having met Carmen once does not a revolutionary make. The rest, she knows. The inclusion of the Udjat makes her stiffen, but she knows that, too. From Hubert's retelling, it seems like he's a nearly arbitrary factor in the story of the Seed of Light-- any man could have picked up Benjamin when he was young, and it just so happened that the one who did was a trillionaire eccentric weirdo who could pave the way for the next nascent Wing. Ayin was Ayin already, Carmen was Carmen, and Benjamin was whoever the other two wanted him to be, and Hubert could have just as well passed them by if not for random chance. "Do you still have a contract with the Udjat?" The first question that slips out of her mouth is by far the least important one, and she shakes her head to dispel it. "Nevermind." "So you know up until the facility HQ went underground. That's..." Hours before Petra's own firsthand-secondhand knowledge of everything starts. The time in between, as short as it is, might not be known to anyone alive anymore. Petra reaches past some of the nonsensical machinery clutter in the workshop, pulling out something covered in gears that clanks and puffs steam as it rolls. It's also, conveniently, chair height, so she sits down on it and folds her legs. In a very Lilian-esque way, she's seemingly materialized a water bottle in her hand to sip from, though she actually just pulled it out of the reflection of the compact mirror in her breast pocket. "Argalia's more than reasonable, and not a threat to us. The Black Silence is more unpredictable, but I think he's well in hand. He hasn't been shy about mentioning his involvement with the Watch, so the only reason you'd have to be worried about him would be the normal ones." Petra eyes the giant contraption in the center of the room without turning her face towards it. The TimeTrack tech she's familiar with is over a decade old, far from being on the cutting edge of invention straight from the mind that created it in the first place. "You did give them two more things before the facility went underground that you didn't mention, though. Timetrack 2, and TimeTrack 1. Both of those fell into my possession at different points." If he's aware of Angela, then that second claim is almost nonsensical-- and surely he has to be aware of Angela, right? "Because as you're fully aware, I killed Ayin right as Lobotomy Corporation fell. Benjamin was killed... sometime before that, but-- and I'm not blind to why you'd have your laboratory underground, so let me be blunt-- he was resurrected by taboo-breaking means. He's not the person you'd remember, and it may be impossible for you to see him, but maybe that's a relief, at least." Petra tilts her head and frowns. "When you say that Ayin would 'lose years' to an obsession... how many years do you mean? You're aware of how much time passed, aren't you? I mean, from what I gathered off of your TimeTrack, you were harvesting those years."
Sarracenia	'I won't bore you with the particulars but suffice to say that reverting The City's time is not allowed, but within a localized area is.' Sarra isn't sure she likes the wording there. "Not allowed? Does that mean that T-Corp has the capability if they desired?" she asks, then is quiet a moment as she considers something. The Liu mentioned de-aging treatments in her time in their training camp. She might have to investigate this later. History has never been a subject Sarracenia cared much about. It is long and boring and her fun-seeking and lack of attention span make it difficult for her to pay attention. She listens as best she can, but her gaze wanders fairly often. The only thing she really takes note of is Carmen apparently just appearing one day. Sarra feels like she had heard someone theorize that Carmen was an Outsider. Angela maybe? 'The real difference between her and everyone else, I suppose, was that this world could change...' Sarra hmphs softly. "It does seem to be a running theme that the Wings maintain. The status quo must be maintained and that there is no hope to be had." she says disdainfully. 'I appreciate your loose lips--even if the Blue Reverberation might not. You are still alive, though, so perhaps he is trying to be reasonable?' Sarra raises a confused eyebrow. "...the Blue Reverberation? It was not he who attacked. It was the Black Silence, grieving over the loss of someone to the Pianist and looking for someone to blame. Not that we realized that until later." She leaves the greater discussion of L-Corp and the TimeTracks to Petra and Sougo. Instead, she walks slowly around the room, regarding different devices. She really don't know much about any of the things here. She probably should, but again, paying attention is not her strong suit. Her attention is drawn back though when Petra says Hubert was -harvesting years- from Lobotomy Corp. "How does one...harvest years?" she asks out of curiosity while reaching toward a random small, innocuous looking device to pick up and give it a look over. Surely there's nothing super dangerous that shouldn't be touched in here, right?
Timespace Riders	I wasn't actually expecting you to pay the bill. "Of course not," says Sougo with a little smile. "I think... you would have been disappointed if I actually had. It's better for the both of us this way." "L Corp's enkephalin came from these things called Abnormalities. I'm not sure how they get made, but... basically, you can think of them like stories. If you engage with them, and show that you understand the message of the story, then, somehow, they generate power." "I came around after they were already underground, over there," says Sougo. "And... that was also my first exposure to the City," he adds with a frown. "No one there was really happy. Not Benjamin, any of the people he worked with or under. Not really." "There were moments, here and there, but it was... the kind that you take where you can get it. Sorry," he says, pressing his thumb into the opposite hand and rubbing it anxiously against his palm. "I never really talked much about this." "Everyone there seemed trapped. The clerks and agents were trapped by the same things that trap anyone in the City. You know. Being broke, being desperate... And even though Benjamin and the other 'Sephirah' were in charge, they were trapped, too. By the past, by a future that seemed like it'd never come." "T Corp has the TimeTrack because it was invented. I have what I have because..." The words don't scare him like they used to. It's that realization that stops him, more than the fear that used to be there. "Because I was born to be king. Even without TimeTracks, time doesn't pass fairly for everyone. One hour for someone who feels powerless, feels like a lot less than one hour for someone who basically has everything they need." "The Abnormalities, the enkephalin, if that was what they wanted to do, they could have just stayed aboveground. But they wanted to change the world, and the City hates any change that it can't claw back towards its own benefit." "I hated seeing everyone there so unhappy. I hated seeing them trapped. I didn't know what I was getting into, or that seeing all of those Agents risking their lives and dying wasn't even really out of the ordinary for the City. But a good king doesn't just turn his back on something like that." "So, that bill... that would be that 'disturbance' you saw. I didn't know exactly how that change was going to happen until that day. What you saw was me trying to stop it, because that was when I learned that they were going to pay for it with blood. The blood of people that I thought I'd been fighting to protect, that whole time. Maybe that was childish of me, to try and have it both ways." He shrugs.
Angela	''That seems to be a running theme that the Wings maintain.'' "I wouldn't say that. I feel most CEOs are actually oblivious. The systems maintain themselves top to bottom." Hubert says (her prior question as to what T Corp could do if they were simply bound by what they desired is unanswered). He seems surprised to hear about The Black Silence and he admits, "The Black Silence is a mysterious Fixer. Most Colors are well known celebrities, but not them--to be honest, I was not even sure they were a man. You know more about them than I do." Hubert doesn't stop Sarracenia from wandering around. It's only when she grabs something he speaks up, "Ah." and by that point it's too late. A small pulse of energy jumps out of the little pocketwatch she picked up and hits Sarracenia and she finds herself... FROZEN IN TIME Well actually moving quite slowly, like at one sixth the normal speed. "Ah, that was my attempt at a smaller temporal long term storage device. Give me one moment..." He walks over and opens up his own pocket watch, returning Sarracenia's time to normal. "Fortunately I had just filled my own. Be careful of touching things, I have everything carefully positioned for a reason." ''Do you still have a contract with the Udjat?'' "The original contract is over, but we still deal with her. It's difficult not to!" Hubert says anyway. "She's akin to a Wing on her own with ambition to match. But she wouldn't tell someone like me her real plans." He is briefly fascinated by Petra's trick with the water bottle but he is distracted by the next question. "Well I didn't think it was worth mentioning. Many Wings use Timetrack technology in their laboratories. Naturally we make sure they can't be jailbroken--" Hubert says. "--But what they wanted Timetrack for seemed inoccuous enough. Timetrack 2 was to allow for repeated dangerous experiments so that the facility wouldn't fall when dealing with experimental resources and unknown entities. And Timetrack 1 was for their managers to use in order to be able to respond quickly to emergencies along with non-sapient non-bodied AI which Benjamin called 'The Manuals', I believe? I gave them my customary warning of not going past 8 times baselin temporal perception. A human mind can only manage so much, after all, and frankly--only so much is even that useful." He doesn't mention Angela. He is not aware of Angela. He seems to be genuinely confused. He frowns when Petra mentions her killing of Ayin--but his breath gets sharp and shallow when she mentions Benjamin was also killed-- --until she mentions he was resurrected. He's a mix of sorrowful, relieved, angry, and upset. But he is still from The City. He does not try to kill Petra. "If Benjamin lives, that is...quite the relief." He says. "...Why did you kill Ayin, if I may ask? Was it a mercy--I suppose he might have seen the destruction of his plans as a fate worse than death--or did he harm you in some way?" As Petra anticipated, he doesn't seem to be bothered that a taboo was broken, at least.
Angela	''You were harvesting those years.'' "We have to harvest time. There's a few ways we go about it. We have a deal with some Wings to help, like W Corp and--yes--previously L Corp. And some Syndicates. Because of the nature of our Singularity we have to work with many Wings." ''How many years do you mean?'' "Oh who knows? Ten years? Certainly doable." He is probably not aware of just how many timeloops were instigated in L Corp. He does think it's interesting that Enkephalin came from Abnormalities and he even murmurs, "Peculiar..." But he doesn't press on the matter. He is trying to limit his questions to what he's here to learn or they might be here all day. ''No one there was really happy.'' Hubert frowns. "...Pity..." His gaze lingers on the photograph of Benjamin. "Sephirah? That is also a peculiar turn of phrase ... but I suppose I understand the feeling of struggling to find a future. As you no doubt surmised, the Timetrack 2 was over a decade ago. I'm working on the Timetrack 3, of course, but it is difficult to work around the restrictions and it's been a struggle. I've innovated, tweaked--but...ahh you don't want to hear of ''my'' struggles surely." Telling him about Benjamin seems to have loosened his lips. "And as you can imagine, my interest in you is because you are a human with a natural ability to manipulate the flow of time. Or at least, natural as far as I can tell. I've been able to move around the numbers here and there, but truly rewriting the rules--.... You can reverse time, but you cannot reverse a tale. And so, perhaps, something can be learned from such tales, ever as they remained etched upon us even through time." He nods to Sougo. "A Wing succumbing to its own worst impulses. A tale older than The City, I imagine." He exhales slowly. "So who's Angela and why is she ruling over that 'Library' that rose up over the ruins of their dreams?" He asks.
Sarracenia	'I wouldn't say that. I feel most CEOs are actually oblivious. The systems maintain themselves top to bottom.' "Hmm." Sarra ponders. "...I suppose. Though, I find it unlikely. CEOs like to feel in control, and that usually means having some idea about how their companies work. Unless these CEOs are just...figureheads kept in place as a scapegoat. I have heard of that in corporate business." 'The Black Silence is a mysterious Fixer. Most Colors are well known celebrities, but not them--to be honest, I was not even sure they were a man. You know more about them than I do.' Sarra hmms softly. "He did seem quite disinclined to share information. I do not think we even learned his motive from him directly. Apparently the person he lost was also connected to the Blue Reverberation." Sarra doesn't feel like telling Hubert about Angelica specifically. She was a bright spot in the city, and Hubert is so far not. 'Ah.' Sarra blinks in surprise at the pulse and then...oh, she's experienced something like this before. Angela 'blessed' her with her time curse. What was it? 1/100th speed? Sarra has time to ponder the pocket watch she is holding, then time to wonder just how many of these devices are something unpredictable and dangerous, then time to wonder why she didn't consider that they were something unpredictable and dangerous before she touched one. 'Ah, that was my attempt at a smaller temporal long term storage device. Give me one moment...Fortunately I had just filled my own. Be careful of touching things, I have everything carefully positioned for a reason.' It is novel to hear part of what someone said in chipmunk speech and then the rest in normal. Sarra carefully places the watch back in its place. "I see. A stop watch. Could be useful." she says, then turns and curtseys to Hubert. "Forgive me. And thank you for your assistance.". She isn't deterred from wandering around, but she does refrain from touching things now. 'So who's Angela and why is she ruling over that 'Library' that rose up over the ruins of their dreams?' Sarra almost just tells him everything out of disdain for the library and Angela. But, she realizes that could be putting a Partner in direct danger, and she isn't supposed to do that. So, she only tells part of the story. "She is not just ruling over the Library. From what I have seen it is essentially an Ego-gear - are you familiar with those? - but also a part of her. Her main goal is to leave the City, but in order to do so she had to subvert their dream. It did not entirely work, though. She gained more freedom than she had but is still bound to that place. She is now gathering energy with no regard to who or what might be damaged along the way in the belief that if she gathers enough she will be able to break the shackles placed upon her by Ayin, Benjamin, and Carmen. Once she is able to leave, I am fairly certain she will never return. At least, I am not sure why she would. She has no attachment to the City other than the actual binding holding her."
Petra Soroka	"You know more about them than I do." "That's not surprising. Fixers like that usually stick more to the Backstreets." Petra sips from her water bottle to give herself a moment to think. Argalia does seem like the type who's much more prone to be brushing shoulders with Wings and Nests than the Black Silence does. "Why did you think it was the Blue Reverberation?" > A small pulse of energy jumps out of the little pocketwatch she picked up and hits Sarracenia and she finds herself... For a moment, before Petra's mind adjusts to the surrounding environment, it looks like Sarracenia is moving very quickly. It's easier to see someone moving quickly slowly than it is to see them moving slowly quickly, and one-sixth speed is sixteen times as quick as she saw people move for a long time. Petra watches her for a moment, and then startles when Hubert walks towards Sarracenia in normal time like it breaks a spell. "No one there was really happy. Not Benjamin, any of the people he worked with or under. Not really." Petra scowls just a little bit. It's not really necessary to present a totally unified front here, especially since Sougo's context for interacting with Hubert is so different from her own, so she lets herself bitch a little bit. "We do really talk a lot of shit about Lobotomy Corporation for somewhere that was probably, like, top five places in the City to live. No thanks to the Manager, obviously. But, like, people weren't pretending when they were happy there. I bet you take any Wing on the planet and they'll kill more people in a day in one building than HQ had for the entire last year before the fall. Everything that happened still makes sense even if you don't describe it as hell on earth." "The original contract is over, but we still deal with her. It's difficult not to!" "Mmm." That's probably good news. In the end, Petra needs to build up a network of power in order to combat a network of power, so if she can coordinate with Dias to make Hubert someone she can rely on, then that's another resource at her disposal. "--But what they wanted Timetrack for seemed inoccuous enough." She's trying to remain quiet through Hubert's explanation, but that involuntarily pulls a sharp laugh out of her. "Customary warning, huh?" "...Why did you kill Ayin, if I may ask?" "For being a shit dad." Realizing that she literally does have family resemblance to him and desperately correcting herself to avoid that lethal embarrassment, "To my sister, I mean." She crosses her arms, not thrilled with the topic of conversation but knowing she has to get through it. "That and a million other reasons. At basically every opportunity possible, he made the wrong choice, hurt someone an unforgivable amount, undermined his own fucking project, or eroded the standards of... fucking, living and decency in everyone around him. The first step to making this world better was getting rid of him." "I've innovated, tweaked--but...ahh you don't want to hear of ''my'' struggles surely." Petra shrugs with one shoulder, twisting a gear in her makeshift chair back and forth with her foot idly. "Actually, it might be a good idea if I hear it. I'm pretty familiar with TT2 myself; you can think of it as me... inheriting your protégé's talents, and the machines you gave him. There's plenty of things I'd like to work with you on."
Petra Soroka	"So who's Angela and why is she ruling over that 'Library' that rose up over the ruins of their dreams?" Well, this is what Petra was afraid of. It's Angela's fault for signing all of her Invitations with 'Angela' at the end. She responds by slipping off of the machine she's seated on and walking around the room, orbiting the prototype TT3 in the middle while going off on a long tangent. "Ten thousand years, actually. Ayin started killing himself after the first couple hundred. Angela is a fully humanlike AI installed with the Timetrack 1 protocol permanently set to one-one hundredth speed, along with the inability to forget, and forced to run the facility in his place because he wasn't up to the fucking task for a minute. Together, she and I lived through about a million years in Lobotomy Corporation." She feels like Angela's motivations stand for themselves after that, but Sarracenia's explanation can fill in anyways. Petra comes to a stop near Hubert's workbench and leans one palm back against it. She twirls Silver between her fingers, coiling around them and then consolidating and stretching into a wrench, then a screwdriver. "Benjamin is in there, not against his will. I came here today because our mutual connection said that you might be willing to make an alliance with me, as two of the four Wings originally working together, because I think I can offer you more than W-Corp and R-Corp combined." "Without L-Corp, Warp Corp isn't gonna be long for this world, and given how much of a time drain I'm sure they are for you, you must be glad to hear that. I'd like a chance to work through their accounts and contracts with TimeTrack so that we can consolidate our knowledge of what timeline they've got remaining, and then get in touch with Nemo after that. In return, our information on Lobotomy Corporation and Angela, my help improving TT3 if you want, and I'll facilitate you sending letters to keep in contact with Benjamin. How's that sound?"
Timespace Riders	A Wing succumbing to its own worst impulses. A tale older than The City, I imagine. "It's so, so difficult to make any headway here, trying to help people. Even for us. This place makes you choose between slow, incremental progress or dangerous and unsteady. No matter which one you choose, you pay for it. It was the same in L Corp as it is anywhere else, that way. They..." Angela didn't really have a choice in her presence there, but he'll let Petra answer the question about her. "They chose what they thought would get them what they want. My time trying to make a difference for those people did teach me something, though. You can't reverse a tale," says Sougo, smiling sadly, "But you can write a sequel." We do really talk a lot of shit about Lobotomy Corporation for somewhere that was probably, like, top five places in the City to live. "'Top five places' is a really low bar here," Sougo says, firmly but calmly. "Doesn't it make you angry that a place in the 'top five' smelled like bleach and dried blood every other day? It makes me angry. I'm not giving it an award for killing less people. But, we're not here to talk about that, either." Sougo returns "Your man made me an offer, at Wuthering Heights. I'm here because I've made up my mind. I'll work with you to improve TT3. Intensively. In return, I want a spot on your board, access to your technology and details about what exactly you built underground to accomplish."
Angela	''Why did you think it was the Blue Reverberation?'' "The one who died was his sister and ... he has a bit of a reputation of moving to violence quite quickly. I cannot say if it is ''true''--as you say, Fixer life is far from me--I pay a lot of attention to the Tres Association. Up and coming inventors always interest me." ''Top five places in the City to live.'' Hubert smiles wryly. "A strange thing to hear from the one who claims to have destroyed it." ''He did seem quite disinclined to share information.'' "Frankly, I'm surprised more Colors don't hide their identity." Hubert muses. "The designation gets you fame and freedom but from what I've seen, it's not a job with much life expectancy." Some people aren't so lulled in by fame and celebrity. He also doesn't know what an EGO Gear is, though he doesn't actually just say that. Instead he says, "It sounds like a manner of psychoment." but he doesn't seem phased by it, at first, but then he rethinks the matter that the whole of the Library seems to be one to Sarracenia, which does make him at least let out a low appreciative whistle. Psychoments are not usually building sized. But the idea of 'psychic gear' in of itself doesn't seem to so much as raise an eyebrow--the special thing about EGO Gear is, of course, that it cannot be entirely controlled by any Wing and everyone has the potential to have one. And he doesn't know that's a quality it has. He doesn't entirely understand what Sarracenia says next, brow furrowed. Well, okay, he understands the words she's saying but they don't make sense to him. "Couldn't she just disguise herself as an Outsider and leave with you through one of many Warpgates?" He asks. "It might be difficult for a normal citizen to just ''leave'' but surely not one with strong contacts out in the Multiverse." ''For being a shit dad.'' Hubert stumbles midstep and coughs into his fist as if Petra just said the craziest thing he's ever heard. "A father? Him?" This is the craziest thing he's heard so far. He finds his own stunned expression unseemly enough that he takes a moment to compose himself. He needs a moment to think about this. Just this by itself. It gives him a moment to look to Sougo. "I'd say ... that's so." Hubert manages. "There's a saying that everything can be bought in the City but nothing's for free. Though I'd caution against looking at your own worlds with rose colored glasses because of the blood we've splattered on them." ''Your man.'' Hubert is amused. "Who was me, and I am my own man." He considers the offer. "I'll need time to make it happen. But I will make it happen." He looks to Woz, assuming that Woz is, like, Sougo's assistant. "I know some of his qualifications, of course, but if you could draft a document extolling on his leadership qualities, it would help--ahh, you can embellish some, of course, they would be more suspicious if you don't." HE HAS NO IDEA.
Angela	And then he can finally turn to look back to Petra and take another steadying breath, listening carefully to her. As it turns out, there's just so much coming at him that he can't really stay all that inflappable about it. He's unintentionally performing that Spaceballs thing in his head trying to figure out what exactly he's learning but, like, not as a joke. And then he has to process Angela. The ultimate taboo. And something like anger enters his eyes, not quite like fire--except perhaps if it was cold. It shimmers down as he thinks of his own connection to the man and how little he really understood of just what was happening. "One one hundredth. You might as well make it one thousandth, that's a maddening burden to put on anyone. That in of itself, regardless of whatever else Ayin had done, would be cause for... anything, really. And to then go and give that AI a human consciousness? When you already have the Manuals?" He runs his hand down his face. Even as someone who is surely aware of the horrors his own technology has unleashed, this is beyond the pale for him. "...I had considered that perhaps I ought to seek vengeance. I had thought they had such promise--I assume you are not an AI as well, you said 'Angela is' not 'We are', after all. And though you have golden eyes, you hardly resemble him. Still, I can hardly seek vengeance on the children and protege he left behind. And honestly, I'd be rather bad at it. I imagine a million years with anyone could make siblings of just about anyone." He exhales through his mouth. "If she is a granddaughter of mine I'd like to meet her sometime, but such a meeting would have to be outside of where Beholders can see. Since one day she will be seen and it wouldn't just be my hide that pays the price if The Head learns of our connection. In the meantime--you've given me what I asked--and you are offering more than I could expect. Yes, I would like to be in contact with Benjamin. I should scold him. And yes, I would like to get to know your sister." And he hesitates at the TT3. Obviously this is something he'd love to have, but for what may be the first time in his life--he feels like he's being offered too much. "...And I would like to get to know you, Petra. If you're willing to help Sougo and I in perfecting the TT3, I'm happy to accept--but I won't demand it as part of what you want from me. If you're their heir, the inheritor of their skills--then I'll leave it up to you if you wish to learn more about the nature of Time together." He closes his eyes for a moment and then adds, "...Also, if your sister consents--I am willing to see what I can do to help restore something of a more normal semblance of temporal perception for her. I can't promise much without schematics, but if anyone in ''this'' world can do much about it, it would be me. If she is somehow trapped-- I will do what I can to try and free her." And then, he sinks down in his chair, exhausted. "One million years..." He murmurs. "Wings..."
Sarracenia	'We do really talk a lot of shit about Lobotomy Corporation for somewhere that was probably, like, top five places in the City to live.' 'Top five places' is a really low bar here. Doesn't it make you angry that a place in the 'top five' smelled like bleach and dried blood every other day? It makes me angry. I'm not giving it an award for killing less people.' Sarra gives perhaps her biggest nod of agreement and an enthusiastic 'mm!' to what Sougo says. "Being the least terrible of a meat grinder is still a meat grinder! And they may have killed less people overall, but those people died in endless time loops over and over again! Your girlfriend died there! How can you give them any leeway?!" Sarra's mouth hangs open as Petra goes into full details about who and what Angela is. Why is it that she always seems to get it backward? She was holding back information but Petra just goes and tells the details that Sarra was holding back. Sarra huffs in annoyance, though it doesn't seem aimed at Petra. Her annoyance turns to confusion as Hubert says he wants to meet his granddaughter, doubly so when he takes her being an ultimate taboo in stride. Did she misjudge Hubert? And he is even offering to try and remove her accelerated perception? "You...are...forgive me but, I am surprised. I was under the impression that if anyone learned of her true nature then she would be hunted down immediately and with no mercy." Sarra approaches Hubert. "If you do get a chance to meet her..." she says gently, "...then I sincerely hope you are able to help her...in a way that does not involve massacring the entire population. She seems to think it is the only way now, and is willing to do anything to escape."