driftfleet | ✧ 03

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✧ 03

Who: Kaidan Alenko
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: The Space Bar/Iskaulit
When: Today

[Kaidan's not in here to drink, which seems like an odd choice, but it makes for a decent quiet neutral place to settle down and sort out the thoughts that have been rattling around for quite some time. The calibrations merely encouraged the notion he's had for some time. Sitting in a booth near the back he pulls up his comm]

Before everyone gets lost exploring this new planet, I wanted to bring up something that I've been thinking over lately. Well, pretty much since I got here, if I'm honest, but especially lately.

There's been a lot of people gathering information on Atroma...I missed out on our last opportunity for that and I don't think it was a coincidence, but in any case...I think our efforts might be a bit too scattered. It might help if we put out heads together, all at once, and figured out exactly what questions we should be asking and what we know so far.

[He glances aside, as if Atroma wasn't aware of everything going on on the network anyway] I'd also like to do more than just ask questions. Testing the limits of our cage, I guess you could say.

That's about as much as I should say over the comms, but I'm just saying...we should think about getting together. It's like trying to move a boulder - a group of people working together can accomplish what the same amount of people acting alone could ever do. I'm not saying we have to do this right now...but if you want to talk it over I'll be here on the Iskaulit for awhile. Maybe later we can make use of something a little more official, like the lecture hall. For now I just want to see who's interested.

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Not unless you count our dreams. This? [Merlam gestures.] It's like getting thrown into some science fiction story - exciting, terrifying, and actually kinda fantastic.

Minus the kidnapping angle, sure, but I can see it. I read some of those stories when I was a kid too.

I prefer this kind of kidnapping to some of the crazy things that have happened in my life. [Her hair swings forward, obscuring her face for a moment. Yeah, too much bad shit.]

My room's quiet for the most part but honestly, space sounds weird and wide and if I listen just right, some of the noises out there sound like songs. I'm not sure if I'm creeped out by it or fascinated.

[Sound like songs? She sounds like a Rachni...]

Last I checked space was generally pretty quiet.

Maybe to your physical ears but in my head? Mm.

[She shakes her head as she thinks. Micah pushing her mind in so many directions, stretching it out like a rubber band and watching to see how far it flung her, how quickly she could adapt. The sounds are terrifyingly beautiful as they sit hauntingly in the background of her mind.]

I guess having a cosmic entity who really likes his universal whale songs cranked up leaves a certain residue when he's not around.

[Merlan gestures, her expression wry.]

Out there, you can find x-rays, gamma rays, planetary sounds, ion storms, and just cosmic matter all tumbling around through space. Their energy leaves trails, traces, everywhere. It's like a host of long dead messages whispering where they've been.

[Her smile is soft at the wonder of it all.]

I'm sorry. Honestly, it's one more reason why I became a scientist.

[He looks momentarily confused but not bothered by her words. His smile comes out uncertain but warm]

I...think I understand what you're getting at. At least, I'd never fault anyone for following their passion. Space is...pretty amazing...and I know there's a lot more than nothing out there. But usually you have to have the right equipment to be able to tap into those those signals...as...far as I know...

Mn. Usually, you would and so would I. It's not even useful, kinda like...picking up a washed out, faded music program from millions of years ago that's just weird music. No navigational direction, no markers, nothing.

[She made a face and shrugged.]

Micah liked hearing it from a human perspective and I had a pretty good antenna for emotional and telepathic energy already. I suppose he just fine tuned it to hit the right energy station if you will. I don't think I could do this on a planet but here? We're in the primordial bath.

I guess that's one way to look at it. Maybe it's even more true in whatever universe they've pulled us into. Or what corner of it, anyway.

[Talking to her is a little weird, like he's walked part way into a conversation with an acquaintance he doesn't remember - there's that level of casual familiarity that doesn't make it to his end]

Feel free to tell me I'm overstepping, but you're some kind of telepath?

It could be! I guess I'm excited to be able to explore that in whatever capacity I can. It's something new to learn about and I suppose I've always been fascinated by gaining any sort of knowledge I can.

[She tilts her head a little and hums a little, thinking about how best to put it all.]

You're not overstepping. I really don't mind questions. I figure I'm far enough away from my own world that it doesn't matter much.

[She nods, shfiting position slightly.]

I am a telepath, telekinetic as well. I'm not particularly fond of being a telepath but-- [She shrugs minutely.] I suppose you are what you are.

You remind me a little of someone I know.

[Liara, mostly. It's that lust for learning and the hint of eagerness that does it]

No...I guess you can't. Were you...born a telepath or was it...something else?

[There's the slight implication that the something else in this situation is potentially unpleasant, but in all fairness he can't think of every possibility]

I was born with it. [She nods slowly.] Do your people have a, mm, something else?

[He wonders faintly if her ability works over the network and then chides himself for being paranoid. Still, there's the tiniest hitch of his eyebrow.]

Uh...yeah. You could say that. Biotics. It's...kind of like telekinesis? In theory, I guess. I'm not sure how telekinesis would work in real life. It's developed as a result of exposure to something we call element zero in utero. At least in humans. The asari just have it naturally...[He realizes he's getting a bit of track and gestures apologetically]

Anyway...it hasn't been around long, and there are a lot of people that still think biotics are telepathic too. Because those kinds of things usually go hand in hand in stories, I suppose. But it isn't true.

[She notes the hitch in his brow. Microexpressions give a great deal away when it comes to studying how people respond to, well, everything. It was perhaps one of her favourite series of classes in forensic psychology and something she found interesting enough to dig through research on long after the classes were done.

The slight give of a facial muscle here, a shift in position there, an increase in tension or that hitch in his brow - all of these are enough for her to glean insights into his psychological state or how he responds to the elements they've been discussing. Even word stress is helpful in that regard. It does seem like telepathy but it's definitely not.

Exposure in utero sounds unfortunate both for mother and child, more like an accident, a chemical spill or containment breach. Colour her scientifically intrigued.]

Does the exposure affect the mother as well as the child and does that exposure extend. to any other pregnancies?

[It's only fair to ask. A one-time exposure might very well mean the mother experiences a mutation as well unless she doesn't survive the birth. That sounds like a terrible end to it. Merlan tilts her head slightly, thinking about the word and how that would go hand in hand with telekinesis.]

It sounds like it's got something to do with manipulating energy fields. Physics would indicate that everything has an energy field surrounding it, so if you were somehow able to tap into that and manipulate that, it would be similar to telekinesis.

But that said, I'm hypothesising. [She waves off her words.] You know more about this field than I do, I'm sure. I can't help but find it a fascinating parallel.

Is it impolite to ask if you're biotic?

[She colours a little and dips her head slightly, though she keeps eye contact.]

If so, I apologise.

[It's probably really unfair of him to assume that someone with telepathy might also just be good at reading people, though it certainly would help to develop the skill to have both. It then becomes a matter of connecting moods with the corresponding unconscious pull to skin and muscle.

Kaidan isn't an expert at it, but he's a decently good poker player in the very least. She doesn't seem judgmental. Clinical, maybe, but he's used to that. It's infinitely preferable to gawking or fear. There was less and less of that back home, but it had never quite made its way out.

He smiles faintly, pleased and even amused by her remarkably astute speculation]

I am, yeah. But, it's alright. I don't mind. I'm used to the questions, and I'm okay with who I am. What I am.

You're pretty spot on though. Biotics tap into dark energy fields, specifically, meaning we can alter mass and gravity. I mean, I wouldn't call myself an expert in the field. I know enough to make it work on the battlefield and leave most of the physics to the scientists.

That's the important part, being comfortable with yourself, and probably the only thing that matters.

[Merlan smiles warmly, pleased to have gotten it mostly right. Her eyebrows arch and she listens intensely. Dark energy fields?! That's incredible.]

That is one hell of an ability, physics alone. If you wouldn't mind, I would love to see a demonstration if it's not too much a strain.

For myself, my telekinetic ability is on a small-scale. [She shrugs and lets out a soft puff of a laugh.] I like to think I have a talent with liquids, really. They're fun to manipulate.

[He chuckles with a soft rasping soft of sound, in answer to hers.] Not at all. It's kind of like a muscle...it needs to be exercised now and again to keep it honed. I do drills with my biotics on the Iskaulit sometimes. You're welcome to join me.

I can't say I've ever heard of a biotic manipulating liquid, though. I imagine it'd require some pretty fine control that takes time to develop. If ever. Can't say I'm not a bit curious myself.

I suppose, like anything, mental manipulation of physical matter is about the same. I would absolutely love to join you. Name a time and I'm there.

[She laughs a gain, crinkling her nose a little.]

I guess when one thinks about manipulating dark matter energy, playing with water isn't on the list of stuff to do. More like blowing stuff up. But I do wonder if it's possible.

Well, I don't blame you. Who doesn't enjoy a good explosion now and then?

[Lots of people, Kaidan. Stop being awkward]

I'll let you know when. Didn't get your name, by the way.

[She nods, all grin.]

Good, and it's Merlan.

I'm Kaidan.

Merlan's an interesting name.

Kaidan, mmn. [She nods finding interest in the Celtic root of his name. It's a good name and she likes it. But his neat probe into her name makes her laugh quietly.]

Da was, well. He was always very much in love with Arthurian legend and he wanted a Merlin in the family. Mum was against it but his charm won in the end. She wanted the i to be an a if she could get Margaret down as my middle. Compromise on both sides and here I am, strangely named and full of that sorcery my father wanted.

Does that power run in your family, or was that just a happy coincidence?

I'm not entirely sure. [Merlan frowns a little.] My father was pretty interested in that kinda stuff, from what I remember of him. He could have had some, my mum might have had a little but she hated it if she did. My aunt Lillian is a very skilled practitioner of the magical arts, so, maybe that factors in somehow.

[She takes a breath and shakes her head slowly.]

I was ten when I watched my parents get possessed by demons. They just disappeared and took any real answers with them. Maybe it's luck, maybe it's just whatever Micah left behind, I really don't know.

[His eyes widen just a little, the surprise obvious, though it's not quite disbelief. He normally wouldn't give credence to the word demons being uttered with sincerity, but here it's a different story.]

Jesus...that's...I'm sorry.

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✧ 03

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