Settling In (IC)

[Electra]

Erin chuckled. "It's technically against the rules," she acknowledged, "but as long as people aren't getting into funny business, it's not really enforced. And even if they do, the RA will just send you back to your own floor. Typically you actually have to do something wrong to get in trouble, so just don't do that." Oliver, deciding that introductions were going well enough, deserted his new friend to hop up and make himself comfortable on Erin's lap. She scratched his ears and made him purr. "So what do you do?" she asked Evander with simple curiosity. "What brings you here?"

[Griffalo]

Evander stood tall. At least this was a chance to exercise his powers. He stretched out his hands like a Roman orator, in the direction of the alarm clock that sat on Erin's desk.

A few passes with his hands, and he spoke the word "Transmuto."

With a sharp crack and the faint smell of ozone in the room, the dark plastic casing of the alarm clock had been transformed to solid gold. He kept his hands outstretched, as if he was holding the transformation in place.

"Reach out and touch it," he said, his eyes not once leaving the clock. "It's not an illusion."

[Darksider42]

"Sometimes it feels like it takes the equivalent of attempting to blow up the school just to get noticed for doing wrong these days." Rift replied.

"Huh." Rift said, getting a closer look at the alarm clock, yet managing to stay out of the way. "Transmutation of matter. Interesting. Should have plenty of applications...Can you turn tickets to things people like into diamonds?" He asked just before he cracked up laughing and moving back to where he was before..

[Electra]

"It's polite to ask people before you do things like that," Erin reproved Evander mildly. Even so, she reached out to pick up the now-nonfunctional alarm clock, turning it over in her hands. "Heavy," she noted, then set it back down and looked over at his readied stance. "Does it only stay like that for as long as you're concentrating on it?" she asked. "Or am I going to have to melt this down and sell it to buy Alex a new clock?"

[Griffalo]

His teeth were gritted right up until Erin put the alarm clock down. He then let out a great sigh, like he'd been holding his breath the entire time.

"It's not my best spell, but it's usually the one that's most impressive." He shrugs. "I have to really concentrate for the quintessential energy to hold the new structure of the item." He seemed like he was doing a good job to hide his disappointment, at least. He'd expected the two of them to be more impressed, but he guessed people who'd been here a while had seen a fair few things a lot more impressive than someone turning an alarm clock gold.

"So... yeah. That's what I can do. I'm basically here to learn more control and finesse. Then... well, I don't know what happens when I've learned that."

He looked over at Rift.

"I can turn any one material into any one other material. It's child's play really, compared to true transfiguration. Turning owls into wine goblets, pumpkins into stagecoaches, that kind of thing." He couldn't resist a smile.

[Darksider42]

"Turn inanimate objects into living creatures?" Rift said with his eyebrow raised. "Hm, thats pretty impressive...Though it does raise a ton of ethical questions, especially applied to humans. Not to mention what happens to the human continuousness when the brain becomes another state. Could be possible that it remains in tact despite the change, although.... He paused when he realized what he was doing. "Err, sorry. Brain goes to weird places sometimes. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression or anything." He stood there in awkward silence for a few seconds before saying. "So! How did you discover you could do this? I'm guessing magic of some sort?"

[Electra]

Erin picked up the clock and examined it, noting it seemed to be back in working order, even if it was blinking an obstinate 12:00, 12:00, 12:00 after having its power cut off. She reset it from the computer clock, rather grateful that Evander hadn't chosen to demonstate on her netbook. "That could be useful, especially if you can do it permanently. Search and rescue type deals especially. We get them sometimes, and being able to turn debris into air or whatever would be a big asset."

[Griffalo]

He nods. "Well, like I said, I'm working on my control while I'm here. One day I'll be able to do much more material and for longer."

He looked over at Rift, leaning against the doorframe. "Well, weird things had been happening round about my twelfth birthday. Couldn't define it, just... weirdness." He paused, making sure the two of them were following. "Well, not long after my dad shows up. Says I'm capable of magic and starts teaching me a few things."

Another pause where he avoided looking at either of them before speaking. "And now here I am."

[Darksider42]

"Control is important. Hate to see that sort of power backfire and turn everything into Jello. Might make kids happy. Everyone else, well not so much." Rift joked. He stretched a bit as he looked around the room as the gears in his mind turned and sorted though everything Evander was saying. "Sounds a bit vague man, especially about the weirdness. But I don't think I'll prod too much. Magic is not my area." He was sure he wasn't the sort that was touchy about their origins, but its not always smart to push someone into telling you the whole story.

[Griffalo]

"You know... weirdness. Like things moving by themselves, spontaneous fires. Stuff like that must have happened when your powers appeared, right?"

He sighed. "Well, people are going to find out sooner or later... my dad is Hermes. Like, the Greek God." He looked around at their reaction before continuing.

"So... a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd try to really impress him... show him what I'd learned?" Another pause, making sure he hadn't lost them.

"So, I find this Ritual of Summoning in an old spellbook. I figure, what could be better than repeating one of Dad's Greatest Hits? So... I summon up Argus, the Hundred-Eyed Giant." A bitter smirk. "Suffice to say our battle wasn't exactly epic. Dad had to step in and solve the whole thing before people got hurt." He put his hands in his pockets, sheepish.

"So... Dad's sent me here until I learn not to be such a screwup."

[Electra]

"Picking a fight isn't usually a good idea, especially when you don't know how to fight," Erin nodded sagely. "That's another thing you can learn here, if you want to. Some kids just come here to learn how to control their powers, and then they go off to college and get jobs or whatever. But if you want, and if you're willing to work really hard, they'll train you to be a superhero, and use your powers for that. Is that what you plan on doing?"

[Darksider42]

"Damn, your lucky man. Moment I got powers I pretty much had to go up against the Maestro right away. I only got lucky in stopping him, and I was pretty much a walking train wreck after that. Of course, Old insane conductor with mind control powers doesn't quite compare to Giant monster that required literal divine intervention to stop." Warren said. If he had the option, he probably would stick with The Maestro instead of Argus. "But yeah, Claremont is the place to learn the whole Power comes with Great Responsibility thing. You planning on the superhero thing? Sounds like it with the whole take down a giant on my own thing."

[Griffalo]

He looked at the both of them with a smile. That was a much better reaction than the one he'd antiticpated, at least.

"I dunno... being a super-hero does seem pretty cool. Plus I think my parents would be really proud of me if I did something like that - help your fellow man and all that. Maybe in a few years I'll feel different, or I'll feel the same." He shrugged. He seemed to be loosening up now, more relaxed. Something a little closer to his usual self, perhaps.

"I guess you've got to have a good reason to do it though, right? Something to keep you going other than it seems like a cool idea. Some kind of cause to fight for?"

"What about you guys? Is being heroes something you want to do?"

[Electra]

"I'm applying to the Freedom League this spring when I graduate," Erin said, scratching the cat between the ears. "There's only a certain number of things you can do to really use superpowers, and hero work is the best of them. Plus I've already been training to do it for two years now." She didn't say anything about how she got her start in heroing, it didn't really seem to match the tone of the conversation.

[Darksider42]

"I'm not too sure at the moment." Rift admitted with a shrug. "Still, being a superhero has been a pretty good to me so far so its still something for me to keep doing. Besides, not much use for having supreme control over sound other than make things sound better and possibly trying to levitate coffee from the other side of the room to where I'm sitting." He paused of a second, thinking on that. "...Should work on that a bit more now that I think about it."

[Griffalo]

He listens carefully to their responses. After considering for a second, his face splits into a wide grin.

"Oh, wow. You guys are already going it, aren't you?" It was all he could do not to bounce up and down on the spot. "Tell me everything, it must be so awesome! Do you guys have a team name? Have you done anything I would have heard about? What about arch-enemies, you got any of those?"

He looked about warily, realising that he was essentially still in the corridor where anyone could hear.

"Does the school know?"

[Electra]

"Yeah," Erin told Evander casually. "I'm on Young Freedom, my codename is Wander." Despite the fact that Young Freedom was well-known in the city, she wasn't exactly surprised that she didn't stand out among her flashier teammates. Young Freedom wasn't even connected with Claremont after all, at least not publicly. "After our first big outing, the school made sure we worked our butts off to get the training we needed to not screw up. We've done pretty well so far."

[Griffalo]

"That is SO COOL!" He looked like he was ready to burst, although his voice was a strangled shout so as to not disturb the entire floor. "Is there, like, an application process you have to go through, or a exam or an assault course or something?"

He thinks for a moment, then pitches the next question rather low, as if it's a taboo subject. "Do you get paid for it, or is it a 'justice is its own reward' kind of thing?"

[Electra]

"There's no pay," Erin said, shaking her head. "It's more like kind of a really intensive extracurricular activity. The Freedom League gives, like, stipends to its members so they can afford food and shelter, but there's no big money to be had in hero work. And as far as Young Freedom goes, I don't really know. We sort of invite people in when we think they're good and have some ability we need. But since most of the team is graduating this year, I don't know if it's even going to continue to be a team, or if some other team will form up after we all move on." She shrugged. "Maybe a totally different team that's still called Young Freedom, even."

[Griffalo]

He nods in understanding. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not here for the money. I was just thinking it'd be hard to hold down a job, because being a Hero is pretty much a full-time commitment anyway, right?" He smiles.

"I don't really know what you guys in Young Freedom has done. We don't hear a lot about Freedom City back home unless it's huge. It'd be a shame if you guys disbanded though, if you have a good thing going. And personally I think if you're going to swap out all the members, call the team something else. No-one wants a Ship of Theseus deal going, after all."

[Darksider42]

"I'm not actually part of Young Freedom." Rift manage to get in before the sudden back and forth between the two. "At least, as far as I know. Most of the stuff I've done is solo or teamed up with other supers I bumped into at the time." He waited till there was a short break in the conversation to start again. "I have heard of some superhero teams get backed finacially by someone with a ton of cash. They are suppose to be well taken care of. Course, that means you do have to spend most of your time being a superhero. Don't know a huge ammount about the subject beyond that. When it looked like he was about to speak again, Warren stopped and looked at Erin. "Wait, you guys are graduating soon? I really need to start paying attention to this sort of thing. What is going to happen to the rest of you guys once you are out of here?" He asked. He was pretty curious about the team that took him to see the Centurions hidden base (Not to mention their encounter with Alpha-Centruion)

[Electra]

Erin cracked half a smile at Warren's comment. "Um, yeah. Alex and Mike, Mark and Trevor and I all graduate in the spring. That's what seniors generally do, I think. Mark's going to Africa with UNISON to do volunteer work, Alex and Mike are getting married. I think Trevor's decided he's going to stick around and go to college here, and I'm doing the Freedom League thing, or at least I hope so. We'll stay in touch, I'm sure, and we're never more than a teleport away. But it won't be the same." She decided not to touch the "ship of Theseus" comment, unwilling to expose her ignorance.

[Griffalo]

Evander cursed silently at Wander not taking the bait. He'd really wanted to show them how smart he was. He nodded at Wander's comments.

"I guess so. My mom says people change a lot when they're growing up, so maybe it's best people go their separate ways before they grow apart." He scuffed his foot. He couldn't help himself.

"The, uh... Ship of Theseus that I mentioned?" He smiled briefly. "It's one of those thought experiments. They call it an ontological paradox, actually." He'd already warmed to the subject, heedless of the expressions of the other two, whether they were interested or not.

"It's, like, when you start replacing the timbers of a ship, at what point does it stop being the old ship and start being a completely new one? And..." He holds up a finger "...here's the interesting part; if you keep all those old timbers and make a new ship out of the old timbers, which is the original ship?" He smiles, pleased with himself.

[Darksider42]

Warren scratched his head as his brain started to go through the paradox. "If the majority of the ship has been replaced with new parts, then the question of if its the same ship is a no. Though one can clame it's at the very least built on the foundations of the orgignal. The second half is simple in that the second ships materials are for all intents and purposes recycled and therefore cannot claim to be the first ship but could make a good imitation if its designed around the original." The Guitar Genius answered, eye twitiching a little as his mind settled down.

"Of course, these sorts of paradox's are similar, such as the "when does a man stop being a man when he replaces his body parts with cybernetic limbs and organs" question." Which is trickier when you factor in human psychology and concepts such as humanity. He stopped for a second and looked at the two other students. "...Sorry, thinking too much into this."

[Griffalo]

"Well then..." He smiles cleverly. "What about you? Every cell in your body has been replaced every seven years. Are you physically the same person you were seven years ago, or not? Is a corporation still the same corporation if every original member of staff has been replaced?" He grins. "Will they still be Guns 'n' Roses if they finally replace Axl?"

He turns back to Wander, evidently aware that they might be excluding her.

"My point is... if all the members of Young Freedom are replaced one by one, are they still Young Freedom?"