2866/Advanced Cliff Diving For Dummies, Chapter 1

Advanced Cliff Diving For Dummies, Chapter 1
Date of Scene:	16 October 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	A video was made, but will the viewers like the addition of a cheshire cat?
Cast of Characters:	Brick, 87

---

Brick has posed:
Montauk is that little fingery bit of Long Island that sticks out past the majority of the rest of it. Any decent megatsunami will wipe it. If Greenland melts, parts of it that are currently hosting lake-like areas will be hosting bays. And yet, this is where Brick Marsden has chosen to film his cliff-diving video for the week, right at the point where MegaloMap says the fictional camp for demi-gods is located. There is no apparent camp, but then most people don't get onto Platform 9 3/4 either, if they go to the place where Megalomaps says it's located and lets you explore. Because those places are tricks and sneaky frauds. Probably.

A Boom Tube opens and drops two people at the bottom of the beach. Somehow, along the way, Brick has picked up a backpack.

"This is the place," he says. Directly north, what looks like a miniature horrible crag to climb to an evil castle is situated, and to the west, the sun is thinking of how to make the sky a bunch of colors, though it's still some time before sunset.

Brick shifts the backpack to rest balanced across his shoulders, crouches, and LEAPS! soaring up above the crest of the crag and landing somewhere beyond it. When Vorpal makes his way up, should he choose to do so, Brick will be unpacking four drones and setting them up to record his actions. They were not evident at the Titans meeting earlier because it's very rude to do video of yourself meeting a group of strangers who you hope will allow you to join them so you can learn useful things.

"OK, drone one and drone two, watch from the rock that says it's a camp. Drone three, follow me but do not damage. Drone four, capture the take-off."

The drones are about the size of a large-size package of chewing gum or possibly an old-fashioned cell-phone, and seem to use something other than propellers to move themselves around. One of them focuses on Vorpal and another on Brick as he paces around measuring distances.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Cheshire cat stares at the drone focusing on him for a few seconds before he remembers you //can't// out-stare a drone, and instead focuses on Brick. He walks idly to him after- he didn't climb, of course, but used a Rabbit Hole. Even Brick, who is considerably shorter than most people, is taller than Vorpal, he notices. Everybody was taller than he was.

"So, Brick was it? Do you ever get nervous doing.. these things?" he waves to the cliff.

Brick has posed:
"Not really. I mean, I wouldn't do them if I didn't prepare myself for it. And I have to think them through more than the first time since I realized that Maire Boit wasn't thinking in human terms."

Prepare himself for it. Which means, a crackle of energy (not as easily noticed back at the Tower) runs up and back over Brick's body leaving behind something that looks a bit like increased solidity or stronger reality. It's very weird.

"If I have time to prepare, I'm really hard to damage," Brick says. "OK, simple swan dive first."

With that, he runs four steps toward the crag, hops a meter distance from where he is to where the point of the crag is, and launches nearly straight up, performing a perfect swan dive. The drone on him follows, and the drone that's watching Vorpal shifts around to watch the movement. There is no earth-shattering thud, no scream of pain and no horrible wet splashing crunch. Instead, when he hits the ground with his leading hand Brick turns it into a rolling movement across the beach and stops after one rotation.

"I should've totally made that Goofy yell ... remind me to dub that in."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"So aside from violatinng the laws of physics for fun and social media," the cat says as he steps out of a Rabbit Hole near Brick's landing point, "You want to put those powers to use for the sake of the good fight? By the way, awesome dive. The suit with the hoodie... is it just decorative or does it serve a function?"

Brick has posed:
"Actually, I only break them when they're not looking," Brick answers, as if the laws of physics were ever NOT looking. "I dunno what 'the good fight' means. I just ... if I don't do something that challenges me physically at least once every other day, I start to //itch// all over, like my body is trying to reject itself. Maire Boit says it's because of equilibrium reversion which, really, that's not a real thing in such a short time."

He moves to the left, and LEAPS back to the top again. When Vorpal gets there, he's telling something to a drone.

"That was a swan dive. I think maybe one in a million of you could do that without getting badly hurt, which means maybe 250 people, most of whom have much better sense than to do stupid stuff like this. So I'm going to do a double-twisting reverse jackknife here. If I pull it off. Then the next dive is going to be a belly flop. Once again. Do Not Do This At Home. I'm invulnerable. You're not. Check my old videos for the proof, OK?"

He grins at Vorpal. "Tell me what this Good Fight is. Oh, and people? This is my recently acquired friend the Cheshire Cat, who goes by 'Vorpal' because snicker-snack off with their heads but I've never heard of him actually removing anyone's head yet."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Er, hello, invisible people," the cat says to the drone, somewhat self-consciously. "The good fight... you know, the good against evil sort of thing. It's what we do." He pauses and looks at one of the drones. "We being the Titans, that is. Hello. Again."

WHile he hasn't removed any heads yet, Robin has come dangerously close. Although it would safely be argued that Robin would most likely get the upper hand in any head-removal attempts.

Brick has posed:
"Only a handful at most of the viewers are invisible," Brick says. "But some of them watch in the dark."

No further comment on that potentially boggling statement, Brick does a few up-down jump motions, then steps to the point where he did the hop-over last time. Then back four paces. Then almost too fast to see he runs the four paces and SPRINGS up and into the air, doing the double-twisting thing then the reverse jackknife which isn't really folding backwards but is instead a backwards rotation into a jackknife. There's a single rotation as he plunges past the edge of the crag, the drone following him simply staying in place because he hits the bottom feet first and turns it into an immediate leap back to the top of the crag, then hops over to where Vorpal was waiting.

"So how do we do this good versus evil thing. Seems pretty ontological ... is it actions or intentions or pragmatic outcome that determines whether ambiguous actions are good or evil?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal watched Brick with a bit of awe. When he snaps out of it, he joins Brick at the top of the cliff.

With a frown, he looks at the other young man and opens his mouth a few times, before finally something comes out.

"I'm not sure I exactly caught what you were saying. Do you have an English version of the same question? I'm afraid I don't speak PhD yet..."

Brick has posed:
And now for the ironic moment of truth...

"Sure. You want to fight the good fight against evil. How do you tell who is good and who is evil?"

Then Brick does a cartwheel towards the crag, backflips over the intervening space, and belly-flops to the ground. The puff of dust rises. He's in a very slight crater. The drone pans over his body spread-eagled into the sand. And then after a few moments it pans back and he slides into a pushup and then stands up again.

"Do not try this at home."

Brick has posed:
Note OOC: for those who wonder where this is: this is the place. http://tinyurl.com/yasphjjp

Vorpal (87) has posed:
This time the cat decides to jump down the cliff himself. Of course, he cheats because he usses a rabbit hole to convey him to the other side before he has a chance to splatter himself. He lands in a crouch a few feet from Brick, dusts himself off and says "Ditto. Well. The finer points of that question are usually puthsed aside when there's a giant robot rampaging through the city, a parademon invasion, and similar other things. A good rule of thumb is that if they're trying to destroy the city and or its inhabitants, they're probably not good. And we work down from there?"

Brick has posed:
"So empirical testing works: if they're obviously causing general harm, they are the enemy of good. That's a beginning anyway. And this thing you were talking about, going 'on patrol' ... do you have fixed beats? I'm not sure how this works. My parents were not eager to share crimefighting tips. I'm not sure they even know whether a tip would be good or bad."

Brick dusts himself off. The weird cross between a skinsuit, a scuba suit, and light armor that he's wearing, does not seem to approve of dirt sticking to it.

"Oh! You asked about the suit. Well, it has several useful traits. It shows off my physique without making me look fat, the lines make me seem taller, it tracks well on video, and it's comfortable. I designed the fabric myself, well, with Maire Boit's help. And when I'm not charged up, it provides an extra bit of protection from the elements and natural dangers. The hood is to keep my head dry and warm, and I can contract it if I need to, and when I have it up, Maire Boit can give me visual display more easily."

He crouches, jumps, almost misses, but catches himself and hops over to the backpack. The drones go inside the pack and he checks the playback on the small screen that's part of the drone 'home base' in the pack.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"It's odd that someone who is indestructible would need protection from the elements, though," the cat says, grinning as he walks up to the backpack. "I try not to have fixed beats, if only because having a beat makes you predictable, and criminals who can predict your movements know when to be naughty, and when not to." He kicks at a bit of sand and holds his hands behind his back. "I usually just roll a D12 dice and let the beats fall where they may. I re-roll if I am in class, of course. I roll once before, too: odds for PM, even for AM."

"And your parents... are they okay with you fighting crime? Mine don't know. Yet."

Brick has posed:
"Not indestructible. Invulnerable. Slightly different. And if I'm not charged up, I'm just tough and resistant. I can't go around being charged up all the time either. Way too tiring, among other things."

He takes a couple candy-bars from the pack, and devours one, then offers one to Vorpal. Whether or not he accepts it Brick ends up eating a second candy-bar.

"Regarding the matter of parents approving... wouldn't matter if they were or not. I'm 18 and I pay my own way. Mom might get upset. Dad and Pops wouldn't if I could explain what I'm doing. As long as I keep my progress going at school, they're not going to complain, and Star Labs won't care unless it gets in the way of what they're doing. And frankly if they're doing something wrong, I'm going to make them quit."

Clearly Brick has a strong opinion (and possibly a mistaken one) about the activites of his ... employers? Owners? Whatever that relationship is.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Cheshire cat has no experience with Star Labs per se, so he is not one to make an assessment of truth on Brick's statement. He simply nods and assumes things are more complicated than that. They usually are.

"Well, I rolled up a midnight patrol. If that doesn't interfere with class tomorrow, I could pick you up for a tour of Metropolis' less savory areas. You game?"

He accepts the candy bar and takes a bite out of it. He also idly reaches over and runs a finger across the shoulder of Brick's suit, curious to see if the material is as metallic as it looks.

"And this 'Mere Boite' thing... is that something you invented?"

Brick has posed:
PING! PING PING! -- from close up it's clear that it's coming from a spot between Brick's ribcage and right arm, a flattish box that curves slightly to follow his natural curve. It's concealed by his suit to some extent though.

"My imaginary friend? Maire Boit has been with me since I hatched, she's my buddy. She helps me deal with complicated things like keeping my endocrine in balance, and not overloading or going too dry."

Brick touches the spot on his side with his left index and middle fingers, and a faint thrum of ... something ... there's a sudden aura of black bubbles that fizz silently and then fade away.

"I didn't invent her. I haven't even tried to improve her, to be honest."

The Kirby-krackle energy feed happens as Vorpal tests out the surface of the suit -- which is metallic, but warm and very slightly flexible. The feed is also tingly, but feels sour and grating at the same time.

"I don't have early classes tomorrow. Sure, I'll see you in a few hours then."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal looks at his fingers for a second, then back a the suit, clearly curious as he absorbs the information. Finally, he nods and says "Alright, then, meet me at the tower at quarter two midniWAIIIITAMINUTE."

He stops and turns around on his heels.

"Hatched?"

Brick has posed:
"We can discuss that after you tell me how the Cheshire Cat is a real person given that the book he came from was written by a church deacon and mathematician around 1864," Brick says, zipping the drone pouch shut.

"It's only fair, given that I've told you about me. Maire Boit, could you do the honors? Home?"

A Boom Tube opens with the requisite BOOM. From here you can tell that the noise is strange, as it doesn't echo. Perhaps because it's such a short hop.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Alright, but it's a rather simple story. Dodgson didn't 'write' the book so much as he chronicled, you see." Vorpal smirks and puts an arm around Brick's shoulders, as if he were about to say something in the strictest confidence as they begin to make their way towards the portal. "Once upon a time, in the land of Wonder, there was a very smart, intelligent and savy Cheshire cat..."



Ten minutes later, it turns out it wasn't THAT simple a story, after all.

"And that, more or less, is how it all happened." The Cheshire cat says, apparently satisfied.

Brick has posed:
BOOM. Amd with that there is only an empty beach.