Forums » General Roleplay » A Philosophical Search (1 Position Open)

-- Note -- -> This RP is still available to join! Please post in the "Looking for RP" forum or PM me.

"It's Monday. I should say, another Monday. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like the university. It's that... I get very restless here. With each book I read about previously unknown symbols being discovered, or a body of water with enough surface tension to walk on, or even just some sort of strange new alchemic creation, I just want to leave here and discover these things for myself."

"I think that's why I don't want to pursue my doctorate just yet. Here at Berkley my physics professor, Dr. Stirling, has just recently let me know that my final grades are good enough that I can skip master's school and enroll in the doctorate program. I think I'm going to tell him that I just want to get my master's degree anyway. I think what I need to do is tell him that I don't want to do it here. Well... I don't mean to receive the credit from some other university, and I don't want get another supervisor, it's just that I would prefer to go on a field project. Go somewhere new, see the sights, discover some law of physics that isn't already known..."

"Am I being too ambitious? Maybe. But I can't sit around here any longer."

I picked up my backpack and headed to the library, completely contrary to the heartfelt conversation I just had with the wall of my bedroom dorm. I thought to myself, if that's what I'm going to do, I had better figure out somewhere, or something, to set my sights on.

Storming into the library with my backpack lazily hung over one shoulder, I glanced around quickly and spotted Nemo.

"Anything interesting?"

I was immediately shushed by several people. "Sorry."

"Anything interesting?"

Nemo worked at the university's library part-time, but anyone that visited regularly would think he lived there. A corner table, piled with assorted books, was his usual spot to lurk whenever the place was open and he was off the clock. Today was, thankfully, one of his days off, which meant he could focus on reading for a change. At least if not for a handful of students daft enough to wander over and ask for his help occasionally.

Damn it, I took this job to deal with books, not people. He thought crossly after directing another clueless student in the right direction; far away from him, preferably off a cliff.

Not five minutes of blissful quiet later, he thought he heard footsteps coming in his direction again. Idly wondering what the university's policy on inducting the mild discipline of a couple hundred volts through a student was, the idea passed when he heard a familiar voice that was quickly shushed by some of the other more tolerable people nearby.

"I wouldn't know." He replied quietly. "Monday seems to be the day I get interrupted the most and haven't got much done because of it. Do me a favor and join me, would you Schimmel? Perhaps if they think I'm tutoring you I'll get a trace of peace."

Schimmel took a seat next to Nemo with a smirk and immediately picked up a book with the title Modern Symbology. He opened to the table of contents, skimmed, closed it, and finally dropped it on the table in front of him with a sigh all in about five seconds.

"I need to find something revolutionary. Something nobody else has found before. What do you think?" Schimmel continued to flip through books of various disciplines, not really putting much focus beyond skimming the contents.

"I think you're in the wrong place." Nemo replied blandly, not looking up from his book. "A library is made for a collection of knowledge that's already been found, studied and organized to inform others on the subject. Although it pains me to say it, I highly doubt anything revolutionary will come of sitting about reading alone."

Pausing for a moment and giving a quiet "Hmm..." as he thought, he glanced over at Schimmel. "Of course, it can be a starting point. There are books here describing of unexplained phenomena and such, they even have a collection of unfinished research journals. You could skim them for a place to begin your own experiments." Nemo gestured to the mound of books on the table. "I think I have a couple in there somewhere, if you feel like searching. Of course a far easier option would be to just ask the librarian to assist you. The on duty one." He added pointedly, still a bit irritable from earlier interruptions.

Shifting back and forth in his seat, Schimmel grabbed a pencil and paper out of his backpack and started purposefully writing symbols.

"Nah, the librarians are usually pretty usele... I mean, useful when finding something in particular hahaha." The unanticipated slip in his words while looking back and forth around the library caused him to write his symbols wrong, forcing him to erase some and then keep going. "All I mean is, I had better rely on my own intuition if this is the case..."

With a strong slam of pencil on paper for the finishing period at the end of his line of symbols, Schimmel stood up and closed his eyes. Pausing for a few moments he took his seat again, followed by a ruffling through the texts.

"What made you pile all these here anyway?" Schimmel asked his question while he moved several thousand-page books and a pile of small journal records. "Aha! Found it. I used a philosophy code to ask what I should read and it gave me this." He showed Nemo the title that read A Collection of Unexplored Areas in the Region of Brack-Knii.

Nemo turned back to his book and grinned slightly, silently approving of Schimmel's preference to use his own intuition. That was one of the reasons he found this student more tolerable than others; he seemed to be keen on doing things for himself. It's also why he let the quickly-altered stab at librarians slide. (Though he honestly felt similarly about his coworkers.)

"My mood can shift at random, so I've learned to have a variety of books on hand at one time. Saves time collecting many at once instead of having to get up and search between urges. Jumping topics suddenly can keep things interesting as well." He replied, closing the book he was holding and setting it by the pile Schimmel was in the middle of shifting and grabbing one off another stack. "Like right now, I've finished a section of this history book and want to move on to..." He glanced at the title of what he'd picked up, frowned and put it back, looking for something else. "...anything but engineering."

Poking through the titles of his now disorganized chaos thanks to Schimmel's efforts, he looked over when the blonde showed him what he'd picked out. Then stated the obvious. "Unexplored areas... that doesn't sound like something new you could discover in the comforts and relative safety of a lab, Schimmel."

"Hmm..."

Deep in thought and focus, Schimmel didn't even register Nemo's comment for a good ten seconds.

"Yeah... I've been thinking of getting my master's degree here on a much more difficult level than it would normally be." Turning his head from his book, his eyes must have sparkled as he grinned. "And much more fun. The more I learn here, the more I learn that I can't learn everything from these books. Your point on not being able to discover anything new here hits the red herring on the nose too."

Schimmel slowly rested the book on the table. It lay open to a section called Brackly Beach Underground. It read that there were results gathered from ultrasonic readings that predicted the existence of an average six foot hollowness underground that spanned at least a ten mile radius.

"I have to confirm the project idea with Dr. Stirling. The problem is I need a project to confirm, you know? A simple archaeological venture won't suffice."

Dropping his head for a moment with his eyes closed, it finally dawned on him.

"Resources... This planet has been short on resources for a long time. It means the poor starve and get sick with no hope of affording medicine. A very small percentage of the population can afford post-secondary education as I have been fortunate enough to. The population continues to grow. It's only a matter of time before we outgrow the entire planet, you know? There's all kinds of efforts to work on colonizing Marze, the next planet over but... it too is slow-going because fuel is so expensive and symbology isn't powerful enough."

"A few hundred years ago there was a great scholar by the name of Melibdenum. He discovered that spacetime is curved such that the universe wraps around itself and is thus infinitely finite. He said that gravity acts not because of an innate tendency of things to draw each other closer, but because the objects mass simply bent the curvature so that the objects were only following the most natural path in their motion, like a bowling ball in the middle of a trampoline surrounded by ping pong balls. The bowling ball causes the ping pong balls to roll towards it by bending the fabric."

"But the most fascinating thing this irrefutable genius brought to the world of science is that all matter in the universe is simply a manifestation of energy given by the formula E = mc^2. A way to convert from one to the other hasn't been found."

"You see where I'm going? I want to figure out how to destroy the world!... I mean, figure out how to break any matter down into its fundamental energy content and harness that energy for the good of the world. The planet's resource problems would be completely solved. Just one brick off of a building could theoretically power a city for a day."

"The only thing is... I need to show that I can do it, given time. Where to start..."

Schimmel's surroundings came back into focus after his spiel. He hadn't realized it, but only 50 seconds had passed where normally that would have taken several minutes to get out. Damn, it happened again..., he thought.

Aranel didn't seem to be doin' so hot. Yeah, sure, she didn't look too worse for the wear, but her head was at a different place and a different time, even as she walked into the library. Typically a place she sought solace, she now felt an even more intense crushing sensation as she meandered about. Would she lose this place, too? The stress of finances and her inability to pay her own way through these years here finally began to take its toll on her.

Although she was clean, she looked a bit disheveled. Her hair, a light gray, was a fluffy mess reaching past her posterior. She had bags beneath her eyes, half-hidden by the glare of her round, coke bottle glasses. As far as clothes went, it was evident she didn't spend too much time on fashion as she wore a simple knee-length skirt with a very large tunic tucked into it. Her socks were white and pulled high up her shins, dipping into comfortable leather slip-on shoes.

In her arms were a few books she decided she'd return, but though she'd been walking around rather clueless, she might have just forgotten to deposit them where they should go. Eventually, she took a seat on the table where Schimmel and Nemo were sitting, placing her would-be returned books in front of her. She sat in silence for a while before something seemed to snap and she realized she just sat down with her overdue books. The girl dropped her head against the pile before her, gentle in execution but it still made a slight smacking noise. A tiny obscenity escaped her mouth and she got up to place the books in the deposit bin and returned to her seat. Pulling out a notebook from the pack on her back, she began to scribble, though not symbols like Schimmel. Instead, it looked like she was... budgeting?

God, how bland.

Staring rather blankly at Schimmel, Nemo tried to process what he had just said. Mainly because he had been talking a mile a minute, if not faster since he was pretty sure a minute hadn't even passed since the little tangent had started and ended. He'd listened to fast talkers before, but that was on the verge of ridiculous.

"I see..." He murmured, mentally noting words that he actually caught like resources, Melibdenum, energy and... wait, was destroy the world in there too? Nemo sighed, oblivious to the new arrival at their table since trying to decipher that speedy lecture took up more of his focus than an intriguing book. "...actually, I don't. Would you mind giving me a brief recap at a more comprehensible pace, perhaps taking a breath between every sentence or two?"

"Sorry..." Schimmel's head was still a bit fuzzy. Thinking back, he replayed the image of the scarf-headbanded one sitting at the table across from him. He now realized why the sound of the head smacking against the books seemed louder and longer than it should have from the speed of her head. He had sunk into that weird state again for a few moments where the whole world seemed to operate at a slower pace than himself.

"I have an idea, hold on." He looked at his watch, got up from the table and disappeared into the stacks for a few moments. Back at the table, he continued, "I've always wanted to try this one..."

Schimmel looked back and forth between his scrap paper and the text furiously writing several lines of code. Upon finishing, he ripped off the part of the paper including the code and put it in the center of the table. A moment later, a hologram appeared bearing an image of Schimmel and Nemo. It even played in slow-motion his whole idea, and Aranel in the background.

Aranel had no idea what the two were talking about, and only halfway listened in. And why wouldn't she? They were loud enough to listen to, so why not? The girl pushed her glasses up her nose and she thought about prices of this and how much she makes from that and so on and so forth. Based on her expression, things weren't adding up. The first-year may have to drop out. Defeated, she let out a quiet sigh to announce this.

She placed her pen against her paper and looked up only to see the floating holographic screen of sorts replaying what just happened. The words were then slowly soaked in, though she got distracted by watching the thing as a whole and then noticed her own appearance.

"Ah-" she began, not smiling but very impressed regardless. "Um... hi... good job. Well done. I already said that. Sorry...," she muttered, sinking down in her chair, though she kept her eyes on the visual before her. How does one communicate normally again?

Watching the hologram curiously, Nemo adjusted his glasses while listening to the repeat of the now uncondensed lecture. It was a very interesting idea, he had to admit. If such a method of conversion could be found, it would undoubtedly be as revolutionary as Schimmel was hoping. Perhaps even more-so. Though glancing at the book the blonde had showed him again, he had to wonder how going on an excavation or something along those lines would supposedly yield such results.

"You have a very intriguing theory there, Schimmel. The method, however... how could finding it like that work?" He mumbled more to himself than anyone. Mulling the idea over, his preoccupation with the possibilities once again resulted him being so trapped in his own thoughts that he probably seemed to be outright ignoring Aranel at this point.

Sitting at the next table, Leo saw the whole thing.

Very interesting...

Without alerting those at the table talking about solving the world's resource problems,
he stood up and casually walked out of the library leaving his book on the table.

Schimmel finally helped Aranel to stop being invisible as he noticed her interest in the video.

"Hey, thanks!" After glancing at her notes, he said, "People like you are exactly who I'm trying to help, you know." He slowed down for a moment, with a new thought. "I don't actually even know if I'll be able to do it, but I can at least try." He smiled at her warm-heartedly.

Nemo had spoken in mumbles mostly to himself, but Schimmel had heard and felt the need to respond.
"Well... I have a feeling that nobody knows the required mathematics to pull it off." He shifted his gaze again, this time glancing around at the stacks quickly at some book titles. "It's pretty out there. I believe a good starting point is to get out there and find some new symbols. There were all kinds of symbols that were used before history began to be recorded... and there are even some groups of people out there who use completely different styles than anything ever taught in universities around here. I think I should broaden my capabilities that way. What do you think? You could always come with if it sounds interesting, I could use a friend to watch my back. Although, I guess you couldn't just leave your job here..."

Aranel blinked. Although her limited knowledge of things did not grant her the ability to understand much of what the man said, she was still very interested. She was momentarily embarrassed as he glanced at her budgeting notes, and she covered them subconsciously. "Really...? How would it help people like me? Well I guess it wouldn't matter too much. I'll probably have to drop out here soon," she said in reply, a little down.

She liked it here, though her lack of social skills could make it a tiring experience. Along with that came her ability to forget much of what she learned.

Aranel interjected Schimmel's daydream-chatter. "You mean... like a road-trip?" she asked. She grew jealous, but she was smiling. Awh, she wanted to go on a road trip!

"I am becoming quite interested in this ambitious little project of yours, Schimmel." Nemo stated, frowning a bit at the reminder. "You are right, though. The job aspect does need tending to before I can begin arrangements for this venture."

Absentmindedly tapping his fingers on one of the books on the table, he mulled over the issue. "You want this to be project for the university, not an independent one, correct? If that is the case, perhaps we can convince them so send me along. They'd certainly want a subject so... revolutionary, as you put it, to have some professional oversight." Nemo thought aloud, staring at the tabletop. "I have taught before, so my experience shouldn't be an issue. I could also share the idea with some of my colleagues, I'm sure most of them would back the proposal of my going along simply to be rid of me."

"Not... quite like a road trip," Schimmel said in response to Aranel, swinging his head back and forth as he mulled over how to put it properly. "Much more rigorous, and probably a little dangerous too. We'll need to pack supplies and I'm not sure how we'll have a place to sleep if we're out in the middle of nowhere..." His head now bobbed back to look up at the ceiling, his chair leaning back slightly with his hands braced against the back of his head. "Looking up at the stars is always a joy though."

"Okay, I say we meet back here in an hour. I need to go sort things out with Dr. Stirling. Why don't you go talk to your colleagues, Nemo, and we'll figure out a departure date when we get back." After kicking his chair back with a note of purpose, Schimmel stood up and abruptly rushed off out of the library.

Just outside, Schimmel made a note to appreciate the beautiful scenery that was the campus of Berkenz. Easily the best feature was that it was comprised of many different buildings, new and old, that each housed a different discipline. The math building was a deep black littered with white symbols. Some with meaning, and some that were just decorative. It was interesting during his undergraduate program; Schimmel gradually came to understand which were which and he imagined it was the same for all math majors.

The physics building, however, was by far superior in style. There was a single, endlessly detailed, enormous symbol carved into the ground beneath it that actually caused it to levitate into the air. To enter, one must climb a 12-foot wide staircase attached from the ground to the front entrance. Within, the lobby was a holographic manifestation of the Milky Way (at least in relative darkness). One could actually feel as though walking through the star ocean that exists in the void around our planet, and with some effort could even find our planet Earth. Too bad it was a static hologram and not dynamic. Schimmel learned in his second year, destroying the mysticism of it all, that it was always the same in that it did not keep up with the current locations of the planets and stars as they blasted through the cosmos. As one traveled the building, they would find many classrooms and professors' offices. Some classrooms were fit for a focused group of twenty or so, but some were build more like an auditorium for hundreds.

Schimmel busted into Dr. Stirling's office on the third floor. "Dr. Stirling! I just came up with the greatest idea for a new project for my master's thesis!"

A man sat across the room behind a large desk equipped with many books, pads, paper, and other desk supplies. He was a sizable man in the sense that his broad shoulders were almost intimidating and his jaw, shape visible with his clean shave, seemed perfectly chiseled into a square. He happened to be rubbing it with his thumb and forefinger when Schimmel threw the door open. He stood up slowly a moment later, after giving Schimmel a wide-eyed look that said "huh?", revealing his tall stance at least half a foot over Schimmel's even six.

"I'll be the judge of that..." He scratched his white, bushy hair causing almost invisible white specs to disperse gently into the surrounding air. "What is it?"

Aranel smiled a bit and canted her head. "Then an adventure. A good old fashioned adventure!" She wouldn't say she wanted to come, mainly because she didn't want to seem too eager, but the idea of adventure excited her.

Instead of going about her own business, she eavesdropped on the rest of their conversation and decided she'd stay in the library for the rest of the hour. Little they could do to make her do otherwise, right? Not like she had much to lose here or anything. Hell, she may even be able to find use in this adventure academically! So until that hour passed, she sat in that same chair, flipping through a book without really soaking up any information.

((Sorry it's so short!))

Nemo nodded, heading for the other areas of the library in search of his colleagues to get another view on the idea. For better or worse, the only one available was a rather short, scruffy man referred to as Twitch by others in the library that tended to a little bit of everything and seemed to be permanently confused. With no other current options and a bit of effort to get the man to focus on him, Nemo asked him about the requirements and such for going out with a student. Then was forced to clarify he meant out on a field study, not a date.

"Ah, ah! Of course, yes." Twitch muttered, fidgeting uncomfortably. "I-I think you need to be accepted for something like that by the bunch in charge. Give them a proposal. Of-of the idea, of course, not of marriage. Though that may be more acceptable than dating a stude- oh, right, never mind that. Anyway, yes, gather your group, get a little support and you should be able to do that easily. I'd be happy to- uh- get behind your goal, of course."

"My group?" Nemo repeated curiously.

"Yes, yes. The- ah- group of students you intend to take. Normally there are q-quite a few on an excursion. Of course, there have been a few smaller outings accepted. Like- ah- Dr. Traverty's last venture. I say last, because he and his group were never heard from again. Q-quite the tragedy, unless they simply got very lost. That happens to me sometimes. T-this was over a year ago, of course, so I- I- I'm rambling off the subject, aren't I? S-Sorry. My mind likes to wander. Anyway, students, yes, groups tend to be quite large, but I believe the minimum number is three. Perhaps four? I forget. Ah, a-and that's only if the reasons behind it are good enough, of course. Could be a trial to manage for one that's not even a professor."

"I see... thank you for that possibly useful information and support, Twitch." Nemo said, turning and putting some distance between himself and the man before he could keep talking or ask what he had just be called since the other library workers had only referred to him like that behind his back before.

Pushing up his glasses as he thought, Nemo returned to his usual table to sit and process this information since his other nearby colleagues were either in the middle of something or acting busy since they realized he wanted to speak with them. "A group, huh?" He mumbled to himself, hoping Twitch had been mistaken. If he hadn't though, it called for some prep work. The challenging kind of finding any students open-minded, foolish or crazy enough to hop on board with Schimmel's idea.

Letting his eyes drift across the students around the library, they eventually settled on the young woman sharing his table, staring rather listlessly at the book in front of her. She'd been speaking with Schimmel about the idea too, hadn't she? Unless that was someone else... or he imagined it. He did have a poor memory for faces. Still, it he was right, she might have some interest, so it couldn't hurt to ask. "Pardon the interruption, but I don't suppose you would be interested in joining a potential and rather reckless excursion to uncover lost symbols of the past?"

Leo stormed into his apartment. One of them, anyway. His condo was filled with many spare living spaces. Some were kept for his own personal pleasures, others for business. Slamming down into his $800 lounge chair set up in front of his super-computer, he started slamming on the keys. For hours he researched as much information as he could on matter decomposition. The boys' idea from the library was brilliant. He had to make sure that HE was the one to make it come to pass, if it were even possible. Leo had no thought for the meek, the hungry, the poor or the uneducated. The only stream of thought in his mind was that the idea of massive amounts of cheap energy just waiting to be captured was too good to pass up. He would be able to buy the entire planet if it were true.

After some time, it was clear the only obvious place to start were the old pyramids that led underneath Yggdrasil, the largest desert known to geologists so far. Supposedly there were many discoveries to be made there that included ancient symbols, monsters and even unknown chemical substances. It was no place to be taken lightly.

Leo picked up his land-line telephone that was connected through the computer in front of him.
ring... ring... ring...

"Father, I've decided to go to Yggdrasil. I have a lead on something big."

...

"Harnessing energy from matter decomposition."

...

"It's not foolish. If the idea is anywhere, the strongest chance is there. Even if that's not what's there, something there will be worth my while regardless."

...

"Are you serious?"

...

"Fine... I guess I'll just go without your help."

Leo hung up the phone slowly, calmly, holding back wanting to slam it through the bronze-laden desk in front of him.

Moving to the next room, he entered a room littered with many things that should he ever be found to be in possession of he would surely be brought to prison immediately. He packed an extremely long briefcase full of weapons and another small one full of his favorite symbols. Off to another room he packed bags full of living supplies and clothes.

Finally on his way out he heard a voice call to him. He looked back to see that a young girl with disheveled crimson hair was holding a bath-towel that didn't work very well to keep her covered... at least not the way she held it.

"Leo~! Where are you going? You didn't say goodbye this morning and I've been waiting all day for you to come home~~~!"

Oh dear... "I didn't expect you to stay this long, all the others are usually gone home by this time..."

"Well I guess I just care more than all those other bimbos!"

"Alright. Stay around then. I'll be back... maybe in a few months or so."

"Okay! I'll wait as long as it takes... um, wait, what?"

She had looked down to process what was said for only a moment, but when her eyes came back Leo had already disappeared.