powersthatbe | Conversation Space: The Ultimax

"My siblings went to great lengths to undo my death. Much as they'd like to, I'm not sure if that's an experiment that can be repeated." One less among the dead is still a big accomplishment, really.

"Is that why they went to the trouble. Huh."

"In the name of Science, huh?" Jim laughs at that, "Good to know that curiosity and the desire to undo death is a universal kind of objective, I guess? Congrats on your revival, I'll hope it was less painful than mine," he winks.

"And yeah, humans can go through a lot of stressors, but we need to have something to anchor us or we'll just fizzle out or go mad. Vulcans have Meditation, The Klingons have ritual fighting, and Humans have a little bit of everything."

"Now, I know I didn't get pulled from my five-year mission to dick around in this room and teach you about the human Psyche," he leans forward in his chair and locks eyes with Fortune. "So what's the win condition? People have called this place a 'Game', but I'm seeing a lot of seriousness here, a fair amount of bitterness and not a small amount of anger about it. I gotta know what the situation is as best as you can describe it to me." He says, and he realises belatedly that he's using his Captain voice.

"Please," He tips his head with a guilty looking smile.

"'Science' might be stretching it, and curiosity only applies to some of us, but wanting to undo a death is why I started this round in the first place." She would have sooner or later, without that particular impetus, but traditionally they only have one way to restore those they've lost.

"It is a game, but if one with higher stakes exists, we're not playing it. The win condition in general is reaching the end of the competition phase. In particular, that depends on which of us you ask. The prize is the World - the chance to reshape the universe in our image. I don't think any of us have won more than once, and I sure wouldn't mind being the first to achieve it, now that I have the chance."

Jim eyes widen as he listens to Fortune deal the cards, and he's left near speechless at the end for all the questions warring on the tip of his tongue.

"Okay. That's... A lot. The World, huh? Wait, you're saying that you've already won this before. So this is... Okay, you started this round to undo a death of one of your fellows, but you couldn't do that with this World... thing?" He's thinking too fast for his mouth to follow, but then he comes to a sudden halt.

Cycles and Surprises.

"This game doesn't actually end, does it?"

Jim thinks about having to constantly be toeing the line of reality and it's undoing over and over again.

He realizes he doesn't have to.

"It ends. Your involvement likely won't stretch past this round. We just start another round after a while." There aren't many of them who would know how to stop, and even Fortune's own idea for what to do this time isn't 'stopping,' as such.

"The power of the World doesn't stretch quite that far. I did use it to revive those who were lost during Hakan's round, but after that we were in a new universe. We didn't have a means other than starting again."

Something in his chest settles in that, at least.

"I wouldn't say that was ending, just a break. I've been in enough failed relationships to know the difference," He points out.

"And you just... hop universes after all's said and done in the round? The fact that you've managed to pull people from such a wide range of them in the first place is incredible, and you're telling me that that isn't enough power for what you guys want? That's... like, legitimately insane," He finishes, but it's said with more awe and curiosity than anything else. He should totally be feeling other things, right? But when he thinks about other the other crazy powerful aliens he's met before, everything ends in War and Dominance. He can tell from some of the other Travelers that that does seem to be the case and yet, he thinks he's been chosen by the one Arcana that maybe, maybe might understand that they aren't just pieces.

"Okay so. Win the game, get back home in the exact same time and place I was taken, yeah? That's the general jist? Get cool powers, fix shit in the places we're sent, yadda yadda, profit. So you get to 'Shape the universe in your image' and let me be honest, that's usually a bad thing when I've dealt with beings that say the same thing. What does that mean for you?" At least if he knows who he's going to be representing, he can do better.

"Whether and how you go home, much like what happens between rounds, depends a great deal on who wins. Vi, for example, might prioritise maintaining the connections you guys make while you're here over sending you back to where you came from. The only consistent point is that we each value different traits in a group of Travelers, so there's not much overlap across rounds."

The irony here is that Fortuna is very, very new to the 'Travelers are people' club. Like with many other things, she's trying to make up for lost time.

"As for what that means for me, well, you've lived it. A World where anything has a chance to happen, rather than being ruled out because it's not part of the expected order." The contrast was especially strong on the heels of Emperor's World. "My rules are riddled with loopholes, and they're like that for a reason - if you can find them, use them."

"A chance to defy any and all odds? I can't see the harm in it," he laughs.

"I can already tell that people here have forged bonds, the likes that I see in my crew. It won't be easy to separate them after the fact, but I'll guess that there'll be enough moving space in your rules for us to exploit something," he winks.

"If you guys don't exploit something I'm going to be very surprised. Most of what you've all done with Liminal Space... isn't quite an exploitation of the rules, since I just left the paths open to see what you'd do if you could take them, but it's still set a high bar for everything else."

"Ha! Oh, if you want exploitations, then you probably want my Engineer Scotty," Jim laughs, "but I guess I'm just going to have to get stuck in and find out for myself, right?" He stands up with a slap on his thigh and a big exhale.

"So, anything else you want me to know before I go back out? Any game breaking-secrets you want to let me in on or super power-ups you can bestow upon my lovely being?"

No, she has exactly the guy she's looking for, for exploitations.

"I can't go telling you all our secrets. What would be left for you to work out for yourselves?"

Jim grins, a big, shit eating, dazzling smile.

"How to win, of course."

"But that would be telling. Uphold my idiom and I think you'll do just fine."

Conversation Space: The Ultimax

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