maskormenace | Video [1]

[When the screen blinks on, the sender—lanky, black sweater, glasses being slipped off—is already centered and ready for it, clearly very familiar with the technology already, and he starts speaking immediately, quick and terse as if this is already taking up too much of his time.]

Good evening imPorts, my name is Dr. Harrison Wells. It is a...supreme...irony that I'm asking this, but to those of you who left your worlds as ordinary humans and arrived here with new abilities.

[There's a pause, Harrison's fingers tapping lightly against his lips, as he considers the reception he'd experienced on his arrival. Not cold, not remotely, but…knowing. Everyone he's seen in Heropa seems to know what he is, and that's...new. New and unpleasant. And he's reluctantly beginning to understand what the metahumans in Central City had gone through, being watched and whispered about.

He catches sight of the tattoo on his wrist, a very faint glow under the skin, and abruptly twitches his sleeve back down to cover it.

How do you cope?] I'm curious how you mastered them.

[It's a much more dismissive tone than the beginning of that sentence, very clearly not what he'd originally intended to say. The glasses go back on and he moves to switch off the transmission, then taps his finger against the edge of the screen, speculative.]

And as I will apparently be spending my time here making science fun and accessible for kids, I anticipate needing copious amounts of coffee. And I am...taking recommendations. On the best fast food in the area. Also anyone who understands a reference to STAR Labs and/or Central City.

[He looks like he’s going to add something else, then rethinks it. The screen blinks to black without another word.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well depending on your definition of 'mastery'.

But extensive testing in controlled environments was the answer as far as mine were concerned. Through progressive testing, I've come to understand the use and limitations of each, so that how I've come to be rather comfortable with them, personally.

But each set of abilities is unique, and even similar ones tend to vary in functionality to some extent. And of course, some are more difficult to test than others.

[Now this is encouraging. Harrison can absolutely get behind progressive testing in a controlled environment.]

That proposal has the most merit of any I've encountered. You wouldn't have any suggestions about tracking down a controlled environment for testing purposes.

[Which is when Harrison discovers the hissing of graphite against paper is very unpleasant to his enhanced hearing and quiet muttering can be heard as he chucks the pencil away and hunts down a pen instead.]

That absolutely depends on your requirements for your abilities. Mine for example, aren't destructive, so I was able to safely test them at home with a bit of supplementary equipment.

One of my.. friends however, required a sterile lab and a full work up.

For destructive capabilities, I'd either try a training facility or somewhere very remote.

But for 'magic' abilities.. [And like a proper scientist, Hermann sounds incredibly disdainful of the word, but it's difficult to deny the existence of something along those lines. It only needs further study, which many professed individuals aren't willing to submit to.] Well, you may want to seek out something of a personal trainer instead. No use injuring yourself too badly in the process.

Hm. [The absent, distracted sound of a scientist too busy examining the possibilities in his mind to respond with more than a cursory vocalization. It's familiar to all.]

No need for a sterile lab or full workup. And I don't think magic comes into it. [He has just the same amount of distaste for the word, and the concept. Magic is just science with a few unknowns involved.]

But I may look up a training facility. Thank you, you've been very helpful, Dr...Gottlieb, is it? What's your area of focus, by the way?

If you're asking after my doctorate, that would be computer science and engineering. However, I've since spent ten years working as a theoretical physicist and the past eight months in biotechnology. Bit of a difficult query to easily answer anymore, I'm afraid.

[That gets a laugh, short but genuinely amused.] Sounds familiar. I began in particle physics, myself, twenty-odd years, but circumstances had me branching out to quantum physics, plus bioengineering and metahuman research for the last two or three.

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