With A Bang And A Whimper

Arren just looks at Lucas for a moment, then to Jenova. "Well, I'm just wondering if Thorgood wants to join in. Considering he and Lucas both have IQ's that make the rest of us look like bumbling idiots, they might very well figure this out a whole lot quicker."

Lucas actually smirks a little. "You do realise, that, if Shein disappears on the same track of history that we have recorded from the Revans, it won't be Corrine that ascends to the throne anymore at this point. The Rutian people won't allow it."

Jenova arches a brow. To Arren, she says, "I'll contact Thorgood," but it's clear that she doesn't quite understand the Vampire's comment.

(OOC: IE, I don't understand the vampire's comment )

Arren sits down and leans back, just looking at Lucas for a moment. He glances to Jenova, clearly catching that she didn't get it. "Well, the time track we have from the Revans is clear. Corrine ascends to the throne. If that track continues, this child will be twelve. Legal adult."

Lucas nods. "Of course, this is assuming Corrine doesn't kill her younger sibling." He shrugs.

"Are you suggesting," Jenova asks, "that the disappearance of this planet could alter the timeline of THIS universe?"

He mutters to himself, "I hate time travel."

Lucas tilts his head toward Jenova. "That's exactly what I'm suggesting. What we need to decide is whether or not we want to interfere." He nods to Dmitri. "I'm beginning to understand why."

Arren leans forward, elbows on table and rubbing his temples. "I think I'm getting a headache."

Lucas raises a brow at Arren. "Newsflash. You're dead. No blood pressure. No headaches."

Arren snorts, but doesn't look at Lucas. "Newsflash. I'm very well aware of that."

Lucas: "Note to self. Make sure the Tremere is indeed dead."

Arren: "Note to self. Make sure the Malkavian shuts the fuck up. Permanently."

Lucas just giggles, clearly amused by this.

Arren even smiles a bit.

Jenova's commlink buzzes. She looks at it for a few moments. "Thorgood will participate," she says, "but in that case, I need to go. Can't leave Burnination untended totally. Best of luck to you. If you need anything from us, I will be at your service from Burnination," she says, finishing mostly directed at Arren. She ignores the banter and profanity without comment.

She then vanishes (after Arren or Lucas respond if they desire), presumably teleported away, given the ray of light that accompanies a Burninite teleport.

Arren nods to Jenova. "Thanks."

Lucas, however, goes back to his origami for the moment.

After about a minute, Thorgood appears. He's wearing a mismatched outfit that he probably thinks is good for 'field' work, and is wearing his shruiken pistol holster sideways. Would probably be interesting to know what is in the backpack he brought.

Arren just raises a brow. He doesn't say anything.

Lucas, however, does comment. "Did you, uhh, get dressed in the dark or something?"

Arren sighs and begins rubbing his temples again. "Ignore him. He's got no filter from his brain to his mouth today."

"There were a fairly standard number of lumens," Thorgood responds. "I've gathered that Rangers often use these particular pants when adventuring, so I decided to requisition a pair."

Which basically means he has totally missed the point. Win.

"So, I hear we have a problem to a-solve."

Arren nods to Thorgood. "Well, technically yes, but should we? What if this is par for the course for the timeline?"

Lucas raises a brow at Arren. "I realise that your IQ is quite likely several thousand points below mine." He pauses, then tacks on, "and his," fairly quickly, while glancing to Thorgood, "but let me point something out. If this were par for the course, it means that there would be no Reva to come back in time to warn you about impending doom for the Imperial Republic in the form of a currently cherubic six year old that's going to turn into a megalomaniacal madwoman later. So, this is not par for the course for the timeline. What I believe has happened is that something changed course. Shein, Kennah, whoever, did something that has altered the timeline. As such, the time stream, twisted as it is, has done something to protect itself. It's wiped the existence of Reva out. Now, the fact that it didn't have enough oomph to go past the borders could indicate that the temporal disturbance that caused this...." He trails off. "I've lost you, haven't I."

Arren, who's eyes were beginning to glaze over, just nods. "Yeah." He might not have admitted that were Jenova still there.

Lucas sighs. "Something happened. Small change, small effect. I'd be worried that something bigger is coming later. So, the question becomes, do we try and reverse the small change or do we just throw our hands up and say fuck it and wait for the bigger effect to wipe out everyone's knowledge of Reva?"

Dmitri rubs his temples, muttering "I hate time travel."

"The issue would be the grandfather paradox of course," Thorgood says. "Our lives as we know them could cease to exist; people could cease to exist, and we wouldn't remember them. I would hesitate to call the disappearance of Reva a "small" effect, and I also think that allowing the disappearance of Reva could have a destabilizing ripple effect, or at the very least change many of our lives. I say we try to get it back. It is the call of the Rutians though."

Arren groans. "Which Shein left me in charge of. Gods, this is a mess." He sighs. "Right, so, we do nothing and chances are Corrine doesn't ascend to the throne, but we risk some kind of bad effect. We do something and Corrine ascends, I get drafted, Reva and Kennah get tossed back in the past, and we're all screwed. Sounds like we're screwed either way."

Lucas nods. "Yeah. We're screwed either way." He frowns. "What affects one of my vampires affects me. I don't much like the thought of you being forced to serve that bitch."

Arren doesn't even react to being called one of Lucas's vampires. He's that distracted by the problem at hand. He looks to Dmitri. "You guys have far more experience with this than we do. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated."

"Crazy time travel hi-jinks supervillains? That's not my specialty. I suppose I could ask some of my contacts on Earth who are time travel experts but I'm not sure how busy they are."

"We should do whichever has the least effect on the timestream as we know it, I think," Thorgood posits. "I'm considering less effects on individuals in particular. But again, up to you. Being in charge sucks, don't it?" Thorgood finishes.

Arren nods. "Yeah. Really sucks." He sighs. "Not supervillians, but anyone who knows anything about time travel really." He shrugs. "I really don't know what to do." He whines.

Lucas sighs. "Fine. I'll take it from here. First we need to find out exactly what changed the timeline. Personally, I think it's this new little brat Shein and Kennah are having. The child will be old enough to ascend." He shrugs. "Then, if we want Reva back, we have to find a way to make it so the brat doesn't ascend. That means we have to make sure Corrine does, thus sending the Imperial Republic into chaos and hell. So, ideas anyone?"

"I could try Rip Hunter but it's nearly impossible to contact him. Doing so usually involves time travel itself. If I was to do so, I would need to try to get my hands on a cosmic treadmill. I may not be fast enough to use it, though, and it may just send me back to the current time I am in, kill me, or drive me insane."

(OOC: Rut, mind giving me an OOC explanation in short of what's going on? The possible options on Corinne vs the 'brat' are going over my head.)

(OOC: Yeah, that's why I'm delaying on talking about time travel.)

(OOC: In short, there's now another Darson. One that would be twelve when Corrine is supposed to take over. Because Rutian's are considered adults at twelve, that means that Corrine will no longer take the throne when she's supposed to do so. Whether this has any affect on what happened to Reva, though, I won't say. That's the path Lucas is on currently.)

(OOC: How do we know whether Reva went back or forwards in time? If it went into the future it wouldn't have any effect at all.)

(OOC: If Reva disappeared and went back in time from this point in time, there'd be reference of it still, just not quite the same information.)

(OOC: OK, I've gotta go, but I'll post on this probably tomorrow. Thanks for clarification .)