[Social] Shark Raven Mad

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh had arranged to talk with Sam after classes in dorm kitchen. He had brought along his tablet for taking notes and sat at the table browsing science blogs.

[Samantha McManus]

Sam makes her way into the kitchen, nodding to Tosh.

"So what did you need from me?"

[Toshiro Narumi]

He closed the browser and looked up.

"Basically, I'm looking for a more detailed account of what you sensed from the 'golem,' or rather the force driving it. One thing I want to learn from this is if this energy is one for all mutations or was just one of many such phenomena, and the memories you encountered could shed light on that. As would any other observations you can recall or theories you might have."

[Samantha McManus]

"...I've sensed it on more than just the rock monster."

"I don't know if that helps or hurts your theory."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"It could go either way. But the more information the better," he said, curiously bubbling from him.

[Samantha McManus]

"I mean it's... I think it's part of being who I am."

"This wasn't the first time I saw it. The first time was when... when the Point blew up. When I died."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"What did you see?"

[Samantha McManus]

"You know how they say when you die you see a light at the end of a tunnel?"

"I saw... everybody's lights."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"So in retrospect, given what you saw recently, you think those lights were the same thing as with the golem?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm... pretty sure. And I know where to send them when people die. Where I'm supposed to send them."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Wait... you think we're dealing with souls?" he asked skeptically.

[Samantha McManus]

"I... look, I don't know what's on the other side."

"I just know what it feels like when I see this, and I can't explain this in any other terms."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Sorry. If that's how you can best describe it, then by all means."

"So these souls, energies, whatever we're calling them, they were all distinct phenomena and not something more akin to... seeing the sun through a cheese grater?"

[Samantha McManus]

"They all feel different, but they all go the same place in the end."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"So separate sources existing on the same plane of reality. To make it sound all sciencey."

"Something Natalie suggested was that changes to powers might either be changes in the energy or a refinement of the lens the energy is being projected through, that lens being us. If you're at all correct, then perhaps it's both. And perhaps the X-Gene simply allows us to allow more of our respective sources through. Would you agree?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't know if I'm the person to quantify it, Tosh. There's some other oddities. Like some people are connected, through it."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Connected in what way?"

[Samantha McManus]

"It reaches across worlds somehow. All of the versions of me are linked."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"That fits with the higher dimension readings and the idea that MGH in our bodies is a conduit for that energy. But what about the version of me that reportedly had electrical powers instead of shapeshifting. If we have the same spark of power..." he said, typing 'Spark? Possible term?' in his notes, "... then how do we account for that? Different levels of compatibility?"

[Samantha McManus]

"Tosh, no offense, but every two months a new creature falls out of your head. You don't know that your powers are different."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Fair point," he chuckled.

"But I still suspect any variations between incarnations could well be differences in how much comes through, or even the changes in our abilities not easily explained by experience and exercise. But there'd be no more way to gather empirical evidence on that than anything else we're discussing here."

[Samantha McManus]

"I just know that everybody's got these, and with mutants they're... well, brighter. And that sounds awful when you say it out loud."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Put that way, yeah, a little. But, the way I interpret it, it's not the 'soul' that's brighter but merely that the aperture its light passes through is wider."