[Fiction] Jordan Rossi:The Interview

[N News Service]

Well, hello again to my little mouthbreathers out there. Time yet again for you to suckle at the teat of our beloved OpNet and discover yet again that you are nearly not as fabulous as you had hoped. This fine day finds your faithful correspondent on the sunny beaches of Cannes for this year's spectacular Cannes Film Festival. For all of you scratching your heads, Cannes is a city in France, big film festival there. Well, this time around boys and girls, your favorite interviewer is blessed with the presence of one Jordan Rossi. Now, if you've been a devotee of Madeline Marsten's columns on the nova fashion and party scene I'm sure you've heard of him. Otherwise you'd actually have to have the ability to follow the finance pages because his company, Solar Solutions is quite the rising star. Jordan has made quite the name for himself, a shock he being such a young pup.

It's a lovely city and I have lovely company. Jordan is a perfect example of one of those gorgeous male novas who makes even an avowed hetero like myself begin to wonder about how five o'clock shadow feels in a kiss. As per usual he is dressed impeccably, clothing cut to accentuate a body to kill for and a face to die for. Quick introductions are made and we're off.

Zack Bronstein; So, first of all, hello Jordan, thank you for sharing some of you're time with the refuse that call themselves my fans and thank you even more for picking such a lovely locale for our chat. My editor about had puppies when he found out what the expenses were going to be. Let's have this little talk start off in a bit of a free flowing fashion. Now, you agreed to talk without the usual hesitancy I see, do you have something specific you'd like the unwashed masses out there to know?

Jordan Rossi: Thanks for the warm welcome there Zack, and I'm glad you're enjoying that big fat expense account of yours. Well, I guess I'm supposed to say something dry and witty about my life here, which is actually more tantalizing than revealing, and gives you a easy out on a line of questioning, hmm? Come on Zacky-boy, I know you don't give a shit about any personal advertising I could do here and I can tell by that wicked gleam in your eyes that you just dying to ask me something very personal and completely uncomfortable. So, lets get it on already.

ZB: Okay, personal and uncomfortable? Well, I got a couple in mind so I'll start off with the one that a number of people in my office have been asking about. What's up with you and the QNA? You're not a shining diva like Mr. Tommy Orgy nor a butch nightmare like the current XWF Silver Ring Champion, Javier “El Hombre Supremo” Losordo but, let's face it, you're not closeted either. Nearly every nova whose sexual orientation runs towards same sex happy pants is at least associated with the QNA. They show up at rallies, fundraisers, hell, at this year's Gay Pride March in DC there were enough novas on stage to take on all four Team Tomorrows! But you? I don't see you even acknowledging them. Explain it to the uptight little man that I am.

JR: You want to know about my opinion of the Queer Nova Alliance? What the hell for!? Fine, I agreed to this so, here goes. They're a minority rights group whose political goals and methods of achieving those goals I find personally distasteful. Half of the gay community doesn't even understand what they're fighting for. You bring up a perfect example in the DC gay pride march. I doubt if even a quarter of the people who go to those stupid Bacchanals even understand the origins of the pride march. How many people know what I'm referring to when I mention “Stonewall?” Not to say that the QNA doesn't do some good, nor am I saying I don't care about the community, I just have my own way of showing my support and it doesn't involve me getting up on a float, bare-assed naked in front of 550,000 drunk people. I have my pride after all.

ZB: Wow. So, the slightly "excessive' behavior that occurs amongst some of the organizations higher profile members is distasteful for you? I note, that for a man of fairly few years that you do seem to have taken quickly to the concept of responsibility. You head an up and coming tech firm, you've been involved in some heavy situations involving elites, and now a statement regarding personal behavior. When you first appeared, you seemed to be a bit of a party boy, exactly what you'd expect of a handsome young man given such power. What happened? Where did this gravitas that I'm getting off of you come from?

JR: Don't get me wrong Zack, I still love to party and I am more than capable of my own levels of “excessive behavior” as you call it. Life is to be enjoyed, no? I just don't have the urge to act like a drunken fool in the name of “Gay Pride.”

As for the rest, well, it's amazing what “walking the world” will teach you. I have seen Novas who got the short end of the quantum stick try to fit themselves back into their former lives with less then successful results, I have witnessed first hand the killing fields and mass graves of The Congo, I have taken life. These things tend to change a person. Solar Solutions is just one outgrowth of those changes.

ZB: Ooooh, heavy stuff. But, it's an honest answer so you're not giving me an opening for one of my trademark sarcastic remarks. Okay, you've touched on something the little vermin of the world out there love to here about. Other Novas. Not that you're not a fascinating little cutie all by your lonesome, but when I interviewed Elizabeth the biggest response was to her musings on other novas. She was one of the first novas I've interviewed that gave me some honest answers. She wasn't spouting a party line or trying to kiss someone's ass. I kind of get the same vibe from you. So, gimme a list, at least ten, of those novas you've met who have affected you the most. Not impressed, not scared you, but those novas you walked away from with a sense of having changed something about you. You wanna go more than ten? That's more than fine. Fire away stud.

JR: Ooh, I love it when you talk dirty Zack. Ten most influential Novas eh? Well Zack, when you really think about it, everyone we encounter changes or influences us in small, sometimes imperceptible ways, but I can see by the look on your face that your not going to let me get away with that kind of answer.

Fine, I'll drop a few names for you if that'll make you happy. Okay, 10 Novas that have influenced me. Lets start from the beginning;

Stormbreaker: A weather manipulating Terat bitch that killed my best friend and a few other schoolmates of mine shortly after I erupted. She was pissed "cause I blew her and her offer to join her in the Teregen off.

Jager: An early mentor of mine, my sensei if you will. He taught me how to fight, how to defend myself, and he showed me that the world can be much darker than I could ever have thought. He also taught me that depending on others and not on myself would lead me to failure and betrayal.

James “Prodigy” Meehan: While he may not know it, Mr. Meehan has had a profound impact on the way I think about the physical world. Even though I was only his guest for a few short hours, being in the presence of a true inventive genius has given me a vision of what the Nova mind is really capable of.

Elizabeth Janet “Wizard” Dowling: Anyone who has been in the presence of this extraordinary woman knows what I mean when I say it is impossible to meet her and not walk away a changed person. She is a crossroads of possibility, sometimes good and sometimes bad, and never will I ever forget what we share.

Ashnod: Diplomat goddess of the Teregen, Ashnod is a woman who must have infinite levels of patience. While I've never met her face to face, I have had numerous online conversations, some might call them arguments, with her and all throughout she has treated me with respect despite my attacks on her and her philosophy. She has taught me the value of listening and keeping an open mind.

Adriana Alexis “Swift” McKenzie and “The Pixie”: Never will you meet two people as diametrically opposed as these two ladies. If you do, pray to god that you never get stuck in a miserable excuse for a jungle while they bicker endlessly on the merits of their opposed philosophies. Project Utopia and The Teregen, so different yet so similar, it's almost funny.

Prana and Sha'ir: Two Elites, my first two kills. I never understood just what taking a life meant until I stood over their bodies watching the life drain out of them. I don't think I will ever forget that moment.

Barry “The Confederate” Meldrun: If I have learned anything in my life, I'd have to say that the most important thing would be “Actions Have Consequences” and that is the only thing I can say about my relationship with Barry.

Boomslang: You cannot love someone and not be changed by the experience, nor can you loose someone you love and not be changed by it either.

So Zack, is that what you looking for?

ZB: Eh, I'll take it. Nah, it was fine handsome. Well all except for Prodigy. He's a dick and you're just too nice a meshuga to say so. If I never see Ashnod again it'll be too soon and Wizard, while one of the better interviews I've done still sets my teeth on edge. Uppity little tart that one. Well, I hate to jump around topics so much, but the little homunculi that I call my readers have the attention span of a weasel on crack so lets get a new topic before they actually start thinking for themselves. Ok, we've covered the elephant in the room, who you think is kewl and the hellos. So, let's cover the professional base, Solar Solutions. First of all cute name, read a lot of comics as a kid? Second, you're treading some difficult ground their my friend. Novas work for corporations, they are the employees, not the employer, or didn't you get the memo from Big Brother? Seriously, you've set yourself up a nice little company, aren't you worried about being targeted by Utopia? They tend to go after nova run tech outfits with a fairly wolfish hunger. Remember what happened to Next Step? What exactly is it you are trying to accomplish? Fame and Fortune? Making The World a Better Place? Bringing Us Monkeys Into the 22nd Century?

JR: Whoa, whoa, slow down and back up a minute there. Lets set the record straight on that last question. That was not a list of Novas I thought were “kewl.” You asked me to give you a list of those Novas that have had and lasting impact on me, not who I would party with. Get that straight and don't try to put words in my mouth got it? Good.

Okay then, you want to get the scoop on SolarSol? That's cool. Lets do this one question at a time though okay? First off, I'm glad you like the name. It was a small joke between me and the other two investors.

Second, I remember very well what happened to Next Step. Utopia's prejudice hasn't passed by us either although there is a vast difference between Next Step and SolarSol. Next Step for all of Mr. Meehan's brilliance was a technological design house. They basically sat around all day and thought up new ways of pushing the current technological and scientific boundaries to their absolute limits. Solar Solutions, is about something else. We are about providing solutions and products to Novas who otherwise have nowhere else to turn. So while we do delve into technological advancements and have created some very cutting edge products, for the most part we use current or pre-existing technology to achieve our ends. This doesn't mean we aren't hassled by Utopia, it just means it happens less often than you might think.

Now as to our goals, that is simple. We are all about making life better for Novas and providing for them what no other company has bothered to do. We design and manufacture everything from vehicles, to clothing, to buildings, to electronics and appliances. All adapted specifically to the physiological needs of our clients. I'll give you some examples:

Our first client was a good friend of mine who happened to be 11 feet tall, permanently. Needless to say, that proved quite an inconvenience to her in her everyday life. She came to us and asked if we could redesign her car so she could fit into it more comfortably and we obliged. We then redesigned her house and furniture, provided her with a brand new wardrobe and stocked her new home with all sorts of giant sized goodies and toys, all at a fraction of the cost that any of the baseline companies would have charged her for these “custom” orders. Incidentally, it was this first account that proved to use there is a market for what we do. Flair Fashions, our clothing line has really started to take off in the last few months especially now that we've our online ordering system up and running and Solar motors has been manufacturing the “Aegis” our first car designed specifically for Novas for about 3 months now.

SolarSol is about catering to the needs of Novas, not gouging them. We have even done things pro bono for some clients. Take one of the newest DeVries elite “Dr. Troll.” He was having problems with his computer system due to his size and strength so as gesture of good will we put together an incredibly resilient system and sent over to him, free of charge. He needed it and we provided it.

We aren't about fame, or becoming the biggest, richest company in the world. We are about supporting our community with superb products while making a decent living at it. Our community just happens to be Novas.

ZB: Okay, kind of a nova For-Us-By-Us kind of thing? Interesting. That kind of focus on your own community though, are you afraid that this might align you, at least in the eyes of the public, as being Terats?

JR: Not really Zach. Oh, I'm sure there area people out there that are going to assume that The Teregen and Solar Solutions are connected, but then there area people out there who think Elvis is still alive. Do you really think it has me worried?

Anybody with half a brain cell can see the differences between SolarSol and the big T. Their whole philosophy is one of uplifting Novas out of Baseline society where my company is enmeshed, indeed reliant, on baseline society and it's economics. The two hardly go hand in hand if you know what I mean.

At this point Jordan excused himself. Apparently some truly righteous shindig awaited his attention and let's be honest, I'm an annoying little bastard, he was probably tired of me. So there it is you chimps, another look into the fabulous brought to you by yours truly.