Stern Algorithm

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

Bright and early, Vedika had woken up, cleaned herself, and had a quick snack. She was all ready to start this semester off on the right foot and show up early (or at least on time) to class. Ready to go, she opened her window and climbed out. She had done this many times before (well, maybe once or twice) so she knew exactly where all the sturdy handhold were...whoops, that gutter wasn't supposed to break. As morning dew and late night condensation dripped onto her, Vedika realized she had no way of going back to her room this way, not that it mattered. She continued to climb down. When she reached the bottom, she made her way around the building to the front and pushed her way through the front door. Unfortunately, she was stopped by the very front doors she was attempting to open: it was locked. Vedika rattled the entrance hoping someone would hear and come unlock it for her. She could attempt to punch her way through, but she was sure the main gate of the school must be reinforced, and even if she could destroy it, it would probably take too much time and energy, besides, the school had let her run around without an inhibitor due to good behavior, behavior that did not involved busting open doors and destroying school property. It wasn't until much later that a security guard found her locked outside, unlocked the door, and wrote a student delinquency report on her, before she was allowed to head to the gym, quite a bit later than she had planned.

On her way there, she saw Ashleigh sitting down in the hall, and Jason hovering over her. "Hey Ashleigh, Jason! You two ready for the first day of the rest of your lives?" She greeted, spouting some inane inspirational BS, and completely failing to read the mood. At least she was energetic.

@Caits @Hitman5455

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

@Hitman5455 @Thundercrash @Caits

Vedika listened with interest as Jason explained his ability,his talking getting faster and faster with a strange stutter towards the end. She had wanted to state how impressed she was with his powers but Jason excused himself quickly after that stutter, leaving Vedika to wonder if that stutter was due to poor control of his ability. It had reminded her of someone messing with a video's speed setting.

Vedika finished her dinner and just hung around with Ashleigh until Paulina came back to join them for the principal's speech, during which Vedika definitely did not fall asleep and definitely did not make one of those explosively loud snores where you wake yourself up. Yup, she also definitely did not draw the attention and ire of faculty and staff, nor looks of resigned exasperation. She also was definitely not drooling when she woke herself up with her own snore. When the speech and social finally ended, Vedika went outside the building to get some running done before lights out. And if she didn't make it back before lights out, well, she'd cross that bridge when she got to it.

Stories Beyond Summer | Seeking roleplayers with longevity ~

@Genkai

Hey thanks for getting back to me. No worries, it was just a craving I was having, but instead of putting out my own 1x1 thread, I just scoured for others who I thought might be interested. I actually found someone to do my Zelda RP with, so it's all good. If I ever get a craving for one of the fandoms you listed, I'll come knocking.

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

@Stern Algorithm western philosophy is my Forte tbh so I'll let you know if I think of anything but she appears to draw heavily on eastern philosophy which I have only barely scratched the surface of

@Themerlinhawk

Here's where I out myself as a pretentious weeb. Watching the anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion, I first heard of Arthur Schopenhauer's Hedgehog's Dilemma. The dilemma says people are like hedgehogs in winter, the cold forces them to huddle together for warmth, but they prick each other when they get too close, so their lives end up being having to choose between the cold (isolation and loneliness) or getting pricked (hurt by proximity). Being in science, I saw that subatomic particles like protons and neutrons have a similar behaviour, in the form of two fundamental forces: the strong atomic force, and the weak atomic force. These particles do have a tendency to stick together, creating the nuclei of atoms, but if you try to push them closer than their 'sweet spot' they start repelling with tremendous force. Something similar can be observed with cells. A living cell can be simply described as a tiny bag of water. Now most cells live in water, or a water-like environment. What determines a cell from its environment? The cell wall, or cell membrane; everything inside is considered part of the cells and 'alive', and everything outside is considered part of the environment and dead. The membrane has tiny holes that the cell uses to carefully regulate what comes in and goes out in order to keep itself alive. But if the membrane is faulty or broken and the contents of the cell mix too much with the environment, then the cell dies, it becomes indistinguishable from its environment. To establish life, it draws a boundary and establishes a 'self' that must be distinct from its environment.

At the end of the anime, spoilers, the walls separating individuals, which the anime calls the AT Field (Absolute Terror), actually breaks down and all life on earth unites into a mad, psychic soup. Though the anime never called it this, I thought the word 'love' was appropriate to describe the attraction opposite to 'terror' which was the repulsion.

So in a nutshell, inspired by a pretentious anime, I started overthinking the Hedgehog's Dilemma as some sort of universal truth.

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

What kind of ability gives me confidence? I never thought of it like that. It wouldn't matter if I had no power, I still would have done something.

"I'm not that special" he replied. " I would have helped her out regardless of any kind of ability." Jason wondered if he would have become the same person he is without his powers. He had trained his body to peak performance, so he wouldn't have to rely on them. However his athletic ability was nothing supernatural. His cognitive acceleration on the other hand...

"You really wanna know what I can do?" He asked. "I'll show you. Try to punch me, knock my teeth out, just go for it." He said with a grin. He prepared to hyper focus, and waited in anticipation.

@Hitman5455

@Caits @Thundercrash

Almost instantly, Vedika's body tensed up as she pulled her shoulder back, just about to throw a full-body, no-holds-barred punch when she paused, let the tension out of her body, and remained seated. She remembered that she wanted to keep things calm for Ashleigh's sake, and punching Jason, even if he had a defense for it, was not a recipe for calming things down. Vedika resumed eating, "Maybe some other time, besides, campus security must be on high alert after what just happened. But I'll tell you mine, I can make myself indestructible; and apparently, others." She put out her palm to clue him in to what she had done earlier to protect Paulina, and then Adrian. "I also punch weird," she added, not really sure how to describe her offensive ability, "It's like my punches target weak points, go past defenses or something, I don't really get it myself. Paulina thinks it has something to do with resonance, maybe. Oh, but if and when I punch you, I won't be using my power, I'll just be giving you a normal punch." Vedika winked, as if informing him that she had no intention to punch his brains out was somehow a friendly gesture.

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

"I think I wanna take you up on your offer..." he said with a dark tone. He drew his fist back and punched at her chest level. However just before his fist connected he stopped it instantly. And opened his hand for a handshake, laughing.

"I'm just fuckin with ya." He said jokingly. "Nice to meet you Vedika, I'm Jason."

@Hitman5455

Vedika stared with unflinching eyes as Jason's fist came towards her, ready for the hit. It was a few seconds after the non-impact that she blinked in mild confusion and looked down at his outstretched palm. Ah, this is that thing boys do Vedika thought to herself. She reciprocated incorrectly by giving Jason a light finger high-five, the kind that usually leads to a fist-bump followed by any manner of weird secret handshake-type rituals, though Vedika left it at just the fingers. Sitting back down, and saying bye to Paulina who had just left to see actually socialize at the social, Vedika said, "Jason, is it? Knowing the kinds of people you're likely to find in this school, you must be pretty brave to run to someone's aid like that. What is it you can do that gives you that kind of confidence?" It was maybe a bit out of character for Vedika to be asking this, but perhaps some of Paulina's curiosity and desire to learn and experiment on all the students' powers was rubbing off on Vedika.

Ashleigh gave a soft sigh, clutching her book tightly to her, but nodded to Paulina. she watched her friend walk off, standing where she had left her. She glanced about wearily. She knew she could go, but what was the point? She'd still be able to sense the large gathering of emotions nearby. She could take the easy way out. Grumbling under her breath, she sat down by Vivi, and Jason. Until Vivi leaped up. Ashleigh flinched, automatically shifting away from the flamboyance that was Vivi.

She gave another sigh, setting her book on the table and closed her eyes, once more hiding her face with her hair. She dropped her head into her hands, there was just too much going on. She drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

Maybe she should have taken a pill.

Maybe she could just sneak off and take one.

That would leave her with two left. Was this really a situation she wanted to waste a pill on? They had become surprisingly hard to come by. She thought someone must be blocking her advances at getting them. Sighing again, she looked up. @Hitman5455@Stern Algorithm

@Caits

Vedika could notice that Ashleigh was tired. Seeing her lift her face, Vedika gave her a reassuring smile. Paulina had told Vedika enough times in the past how her energy could be tiring to others around her, especially Ash. Vedika hoped that by sitting back down and just having a simple conversation with Jason would be enough to slow the pace down to a bearable speed for Ashleigh.

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

@Stern Algorithm something in your explanation has occurred to me.

Vedika's abilities are based on her inviolate sense of "self", separating her "self" from "other"s. But, in order for her to then pass on her power to protect someone else, she would then by necessity have to include them as being part of her "self", otherwise her power would repel them.

So then her sense of "self" isn't totally inviolate.

@Thundercrash

@ThundercrashThats an interesting point. Or she could just be making them inviolate. sort of like forcing them to be "Self"

@Themerlinhawk

My original idea was that she was triggering her target's 'terror' to become physical rather than extending her aura to them because she isn't protected during it. I suppose I did call it 'aura transfer' though. I think Merlin's version probably makes the most sense. To be fair, Vedika's inspiration comes from two sources, and in explaining everything through the lens of self vs other, I potentially neglect to explain things that were mainly derived from the other inspiration (Shaolin Monks in Wuxia novels).

@Stern Algorithm you know what's funny I was going to use the idea of a neutrino to explain spirits in a similar fashion. Beings with no mass, no energy but with a manifest effect on reality. Nice to know someone else has a solid grasp on physics although your ideas areally straying dangerously close to philosophy which tends to my area of general expertise. Besides psychology....God I sound arrogant XD

@Themerlinhawk

Honestly, the closer I can stray towards philosophy, the better. I'm what I'd call a 'Wikipedia Philosopher' which is to say I'm not a philosopher at all, but the topic intrigues me and what little knowledge I have on it I learned from Wikipedia. If you have any thoughts that could bolster or better flesh-out Vedika's lore and/or character, I'd be happy to hear it.

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

@Stern Algorithmhmmm. I will have to consider. It may have the opposite effect. Since spirits can't be read in the way you are suggesting she can't be. And they can't be physically harmed

@Themerlinhawk

No need to worry about it for now since it's way off into the potential future. Ultimately, Vedika's power was intended to be metaphysical, it has merely only manifested in a physical way for now. It is the 'terror' half of 'love and terror', where 'love' manifests physically as 'attractive force' and 'terror' manifests physically as 'repulsive force', which in physics is called Pauli's Exclusion Principle, simply stated, no two objects can occupy the same position at the same time. Entities cannot 'superimpose'. Individuals maintain sense of self and identity by defining and rejecting the non-self, the 'other'. In this sense, Vedika's concept of self cannot be violated, and it is this isolation and her comfort with this isolation that makes her so weird and sure of herself, that makes her lack a certain degree of empathy because empathy is love, empathy is putting yourself in someone else's head, to emotionally occupy a space that is already occupied.

Her attack takes advantage of the reaction a 'self' has when its sacred space is invaded by an 'other'. By attempting to superimpose her own aura on someone else through a punch, the victim's aura reacts with 'terror', that is, a body would rather destroy itself than occupy the same space as an 'other'. Occupying the same space as another object is terrifying because it embodies absolute 'love'. If love is an attractive force, like gravity, then absolute love is a black hole, where all matter occupies a singularity and becomes indistinguishable as individuals: loss of self, loss of identity, the fear of personal space invaded. It is this 'terror' that physically manifests as damage and destruction when Vedika punches.

Ironically, while Vedika's power embodies the physical manifestation of absolute 'terror', Ashleigh's power embodies the emotional manifestation of absolute 'love'. @Caits

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

Posted. I hope the slow frequency of my posts isn't holding this RP down.

I think it's also slowly becoming more apparent that Vedika's chipper attitude may be the result of her having slightly different values than others. What I'm going for is a sort of 'zen', a transcendental emptiness and oneness that can under certain conditions be as cold as the void of space. I also actually want her powers to have a mental/spiritual aspect to it, though she has no idea about it. I described her powers using several 'terms' in quotations in the CS, and if you know what those are, you'll probably get a sense of what I'm going for. Part of it involves completely isolating her sense of 'self' from all 'others' (because no barrier is more absolute than the conceptual barrier between 'self' and 'other'), which would mean that at some point her barrier might protect her from mind reading and potentially spiritual possession, which I understand if @Caits, @KiritoAsuna, @TheMerlinHawk and @Natsu might object to.

The Academy: A School for Metahumans [Closed]

”Vivi, if you’re gonna tease him like that, at least remember to learn his name before you start playing with him. And try not to wear this one out; you’ll ruin him for other girls, and that’s just not fair for the rest of us,” Paulina teased, poking the other girl in the side.

@Thundercrash

"I'm being serious," Vedika replied, putting food on her plate, "And what do you mean ruin him? I'm letting him punch me, not the other way around. And I'm not even going to use my powers, he deserves that much at least since he was trying to help you." Vedika was mildly confused, but unbothered, oblivious to Paulina's insinuations. Paulina then turned to comfort which Vedika admired. Paulina was willing to spend the effort to resolve things that Vedika found too intangible to deal with. Vedika had plenty of elbow grease, but somehow, physical effort couldn't solve all problems. When Paulina mentioned both of them hugging Ashleigh, Vedika nodded, agreeing that she would if it was asked of her, though she had never done so in the past. In fact, because many people considered Vedika a 'warm personality', they assumed she was a touchy-feely sort, when in fact the opposite was true: she almost never made physical contact with people unless she was using her aura transfer. This wasn't something she developed since coming to the Academy out of fear of killing another person, it was something that was always a part of her, but people tended not to notice it due to her outgoing, chummy personality.

Ashleigh sighed at Paulina's words however and said softly, "you don't understand, people are complex. Their emotions are even more so. You put that altogether, not being able to stop feeling it, and it would drive you crazy too. It would make you feel like a freak too." She said, shaking her head "And you know contact makes it a million times worse, a hug is a very volitile threat, Paulina. Especially right now."

"I know you guys love me...But look around you, look at the number of students here. Imagine all your doubts, all theirs, their feelings? Imagine putting that all in a container, and not being able to seperate them. I'm scared of my abilities, absolutely terrified of them. And so I think less of myself for it, because someone else could do something amazing with these abilities, but I can't because I can't control them, even with the bracelet."

@Caits

Vedika blinked a little dumbfoundedly. She had never been overwhelmed by her own emotions before and couldn't understand how it should be possible to be overwhelmed by other people's emotions either. While it was not entirely true that Vedika had never been overwhelmed by her own emotions, it was was not something she truly acknowledged. Her mental and emotional stability stood on a very unusual, almost transhuman foundation, yet it was firm. She understood physical hurt much better than emotional hurt. Still, she wasn't completely unsympathetic, and listened with the intent of offering support.

The blonde also came and sat down at their table and struck up a conversation with Paulina and Ashleigh, which Vediak simply allowed and listened, stuffing her face.@Natsu

"Damn this food is so great, I had to come back for seconds!" Jason said in an upbeat tone. As he turned to Paulina his eyes flickered to Ashleigh and for a fraction of a second he gave her a knowing look. His gaze quickly shifted to Paulina. "It seems you're the one who puts all the restraints on everyone's powers. So your power is controlling our powers?" He said jokingly. @thundercrash

@Hitman5455

"Ah!" Vedika called out in surprise, "The boy who's going to punch me!" She stood up with a slight clatter, nudging the table, and pointing at Jason. Then, as quickly as she had stood up, she turned her face down, brows furrowed, a look of deep thought on her face as she tried to remember what Paulina had just told her. Lightly slamming her fist into her palm, she looked back up again, saying, "My name is Vedika Venkatraman, what's your name?" She felt proud that she had asked him his name just like Paulina advised.