war table: one giant leap.

[propulsion]

WHO: Intrepid heroes
WHAT: Forging a path to the second Crossroads Gate, and then poking it with sticks.
WHEN: Late Drakonis
WHERE: The Crossroads
NOTES: n/a

Comments

[heirring]

"It means that this 'Gate', such as it is, has reached a sort of...state of equanimity. It's more stable than those we've discovered previously. Or that would be my guess, anyway. It may be more difficult to disrupt. Or maybe it's simply been here longer. Or maybe, given the state of our surroundings, it has somehow linked itself to the Gate in Orlais and they are now feeding off of and supportive or one another. Or maybe we are merely standing on the other side of that one, and if we were to return to Ghislain to take new measurements we might find that Gate has stabilized as well."

It's a charming array of possibilities. And also very ominous and dangerous, of course. Charmingly ominous. Dangerously fascinating.

[youwonscience]

"Yeah. You can only observe data so long before you pick a hypothesis to test. The data by itself can be interesting, but it only tells us so much." She's not especially eager to revisit her initial suggestion that someone try their luck with their anchor shard, but Wysteria no longer has hers and Ellis didn't have one to begin with.

"Measuring the age would be hard with just what we have here. And I'm not ready to suggest anyone, like, try to go through it and see if they end up in Ghislain. So I guess that leaves is it more difficult to disrupt, of the theories you mentioned." Of course, maybe someone else will have another idea, but that is possibly too much to ask for.

[heorte]

"Do you think they'd have to all be closed at once?"

Challenging, considering they only know of two.

[heirring]

"Oh, now there's a dispiriting theory!"

Yet she's all pride as she says so, going so far as to jot down a note as if Ellis' particularly grim hypothesis is the most pleasant or promising thing she's heard all day. How charming it is to recognize one's positive influence in another person!

"First literature, now the sciences. We will make an academic of you yet, Mister Ellis. Miss Niehaus, what is you assessment of our Warden's suggestion?"

[youwonscience]

"Definitely possible. Not great if true, but it feels like the kind of rule that might govern a bunch of magic gates." To her credit, she looks less delighted than Wysteria, though at least they're not in the middle of trying to close it right this second.

"It also raises the question of whether they'd all have to be closed from the same side. But I don't have an immediate idea of how to test that. Probably just worth adding to the report for now."

Oh, by the way, we were wondering.

"Mme de Foncé, were you looking for anything particular? I know our research has some overlap but isn't exactly the same."

[heorte]

The briefest twitch of amusement crosses Ellis' face, Wysteria's enthusiam returned and then muted as the full scope of what that would entail sinks in. Nevermind that on top of that, they don't exactly know where this rift leads to.

Not great indeed.

But here, rather than interject, Ellis straightens to observe the pair of them. Weighing up the wisdom of calling attention to a thing that feels like an interruption.

[heirring]

"In particular? Oh no. Only confirming that this Gate acts in such a fashion which is more or less consistent with the one in Orlais. I wonder whether—" and here, she lapses into a brief moment of contemplative silence before jotting down a quick note.

Evidently, this passing musing isn't solidified enough to be worth sharing with the class however. For rather than complete the sentence when she's finished, Wysteria simply tucks her pen away again and diverts her attention back to Cosima.

"And you?"

[youwonscience]

"The Gate isn't really my wheelhouse directly," she admits, interested but resisting the urge to press after that half thought. "But ever since we've figure out that red lyrium has the Blight, I've been trying to figure out if the Blight is a pathogen the way I understand it, or if it has a different mechanism. The taint energy we're measuring might be connected, I think, but I'm making up a lot as I go because I'm not sure which of the rules I know about pathogens even apply, you know? I mean, those rules aren't perfect even at home, viruses are objectively weird, but this sometimes feels more like a physical phenomenon."

[heorte]

These are considerations far outside Ellis' wheelhouse.

Physical phenomenon furrows his expression into a frown, though rather than ask the question, he slants a look sideways to observe Wysteria's reaction before interrupting the flow of their conversation.

And still, a question of his own held in check. For now.