01 - video/action

[winn]

Who: Winn & you!
Broadcast: video
Action: on the Marsiva
When: now!

action;

[ it's the smell that makes the first tug towards wakefulness, or rather the lack of it - over the years, winn's gotten used to waking up to a familiar aroma of an apartment that's just a little too dusty, has just a little too many clothes that really should have been washed yesterday lying around, maybe some residual takeout smell that still lingers from the night before because he's forgotten to properly ventilate - none of it is hitting his nose now, and his mind is not taking it well. groaning, and rubbing his eyes with one hand, his other reaches for his bedside table to pick up his phone - only to hit air.

well that's weird.

eyes finally blinking open, he finds himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. shifting in bed - he finds himself falling to an unfamiliar floor.

what the hell?

he's dreaming, right? he has to be dreaming. or maybe it's a freaky fantasy like the one kara was stuck in - though why would anyone waste disgusting alien hallucinatory-leach things on him? and besides, this - this looks absolutely nothing like his ideal fantasy world! well, just in case it'll work (he'd fill really silly if he passes up the simplest solution for being too simple and it'll end up being all that it takes!), he shuts his eyes tightly, pinches his arm, and mumbles to himself ]

I hella reject this fantasy. You are rejected, fired, gone!

[ opening his eyes again, he finds that unsurprisingly - the only change that transpired is that his arm now aches. well, what else was he expecting? pulling himself up to his feet, he decides he might as well try to figure out where he is - and how to get out of here.

and then he spots the window. blurting out a girly scream, he turns his back to it, his knees nearly buckling under him, and his face losing color. slowly, he turns back towards it and chances another peek, chuckling nervously at his own behavior, trying to ridicule his fear away ]

That's a pretty good green screen -

video;

[ the face that appears on your screen is pale and clearly very shaken. actually, he kinda looks like he's going to be sick, doesn't he? good thing that space tech isn't 7-D! ...unless it is in which case, now would be a pretty bad time to find that out... ]

I got a couple questions for -- whoever's watching this - or - [ he looks around, waving his free hand to gesture around the room - wherever the less voluntary cameras may be ] this - If this is a reality show, when's elimination? Cuz I - I volunteer to go home! I mean let's face it, there is no point to keep me in the running - unless elimination's actually eh, elimination [ he runs his finger against his throat to illustrate his point ] in which case -- my vote is still on home, thanks -

This...isn't really space, is it? [ he chuckles nervously ] I know 'beam me up' was my birthday wish for like 3 years running, but you're over a decade late and this is so not what I had in mind - [ he clears his throat. not the point! and not something he needed to share with - potentially an entire galaxy. actually, this whole broadcast was probably pretty dumb, way to make himself easy prey. ok, no worries! he can still salvage this! ] Anyway! Little help, a lotta help, Xanax, I'll take what you got, thanks. [ clearing his throat again ] Over? [ nailed it. ]

Comments

[ladybro]

Code or not, our chips can buy us actual things at actual shops. It's all fiat -- and it's exactly like home, anyway. Money's mostly become a bunch of ones and zeroes.

[winn]

Who owns those actual shops though.

[ it could all just be a controlled cycle! ]

Besides, I heard that there wasn't even anything that great to buy out here.

[ladybro]

Depends what you're in the market for. [ ... ] Maybe it makes me into a cliche, but I wasn't going to go another day in that horrible jumpsuit.

[winn]

That really is a lameass uniform, I could so design something better than that.

[ladybro]

[ BE STILL HER HEART. ]

-- Do you work in fashion?

[winn]

[ LET HIM TELL YOU ABOUT THE AWESOME SUPERGIRL UNIFORM HE MADE oh wait, he can't. ]

Uh, no, IT. But I make a mean cosplay?

[ could his nerd-grave be any deeper right now? well, if he's being perfectly honest with himself, honestly, it probably could. ]

[ladybro]

[ here is a case of two ships passing in the night, 'cause kate is a superhero in mad need of a new uniform. ]

Cosplay. [ she breathes in. whatever judgement she wants to make, she forestalls for billy and teddy's sake. ] That's -- okay, that's cool. Do you do your own stitching?

[ she flips this on its head. she makes herself curious. after all, without the mission wouldn't all the young avengers just be cosplaying too? ]

[winn]

[ ONE DAY those ships have to meet, because he will weep so many tears if someone else ends up landing that job. ]

Yeah - [ it's ok, he's used to judgment. at this point, judgment is his oxygen. ] yeah, I do my own...most things.

[ some things get ordered, but did that just sound way sadder than it was supposed to be? ]

[ladybro]

[ look, she's trying. ]

A friend of mine would be so jealous. Well, friends, actually. Last time they, uh, cosplayed -- I had to take pity and order them in some good quality stuff.

[ because sure why not. we'll just casually discuss her superheroing stuff and pretend it's cosplay. but the truth was that those old uniforms really kinda sucked and kate had been more than happy to use her father's money to procure them something...better. ]

[winn]

[ and he appreciates it! ]

Your friends cosplay? What were they trying to make?

[ look there are very few things he gets to feel superior about: it's basically hacking and sewing. talking about hacking on camera seems like a very bad call, so this is what he's left with! ]

[ladybro]

You know how it is these days. Everyone wants to be an Avenger.

[ at least she can tell the truth while she lies -- after all, it's not like heroes didn't have their own special, dedicated fans. ]

[winn]

Sure - yeah -

[ nod nod. sorry, he's gonna frown there ]

Is that a band? [ because that would totally explain why he's never heard of them. oh, there's also the parallel universe explanation, but even though he's discussed it - it's still hard to adjust to immediately going there. besides, he doesn't know a lot of popular things! they just don't usually have cosplayers involved. not that...he would know, since he doesn't know them! ]

[ladybro]

You don't know them. [ ok. kate's attention narrows -- she isn't indignant. nor is she particularly surprised. she dissects this new development with cool ease.

wow, this poor world with no avengers. ] Captain America? Thor? Spider-Man?

[ tiptoeing around hawkeye, to be frank. ]

[winn]

Thor - that's - that's - a Scandinavian god of some sort! I'm...pretty sure. And that's, probably not what you were talking about at all -

[ but those names sure sound like things he should know about. spider man? come on, who but a nerd! ]

Please tell me you're not talking about a man sized spider. Though -- you can't really, who'd want to be that? No -- offense to any giant spiders in the audience -

[ladybro]

[ wow, he really doesn't know. kate leans in towards the device -- smiling. this is downright charming. intriguing. ]

Just a man with...spidery qualities, actually. [ just a man. kate's nose crinkles. ] So are heroes just a non-thing in your world? Real super-heroes, I mean. Not like the movies.

[winn]

Oh we totally have superheros - we have the best superheroes. We have the super superheroes! [ he totally thinks that was clever! ]

Ever heard of Supergirl? Superman?

[ he'll get back to asking a lot of questions about the man with spidery qualities, and the rest of them, after this short kara-fangirling break. ]

[ladybro]

Sorry, Winn. [ kate shrugs. but why is she called supergirl, huh? ] I don't know. Do they do the New York thing? I'm mostly familiar with the New York names...

[ she's beginning to think they're probably from two similar-but-different worlds. especially since this guy'd never heard of captain america. captain america of all people. ]

But I'm really glad you have them.

[ in her opinion, no world should be without superheroes. ]

[winn]

[ take that up with miss grant, he's only responsible for the costume! ]

Supergirl mostly stays in National City, but Superman's all over.

[ yeah, he's getting that sense too. how can you live in the world and not hear about the kryptonians? living in a cave wouldn't be deep enough a hiding place from their media buzz, he's completely certain that living in new york wouldn't cut it. ]

Me too. Couldn't imagine life without them.

[ a pause ]

So when you say man with spider qualities -

[ladybro]

Mmhm. He slings webs and climbs buildings and -- honestly, I don't know that much about him besides what's in the news.

[ kate wonders how long she can keep up the innocent fan facade. ] Only four limbs, though. Unless he's hiding something under all that spandex.

[winn]

Spandex?

[ if he looks personally offended, it's because he is ]

[ladybro]

Spandex. Or some brand new cutting edge fabric developed by Stark. But if you ask me, they both have the same effect on camera.

[winn]

Well, Supergirl is definitely not wearing spandex.

[ which is. as close as he can get to bragging about his work. being a superhero's secret sidekick is a sad difficult life. ]

So they're like - a group? [ because kara kicks ass all on her own! yes, he may be having a little 'my superhero is better than your superhero' checklist going in his head right now. ]

[ladybro]

Sorta. Sometimes. When it's needed -- strength in numbers. [ no hitch in her voice, because there's nothing about this that isn't public knowledge in her world. ] Earth's Mightiest. But the roster tends to change. Every Avenger is a hero in their own right, though.

[winn]

How many are there? How often is a team-up needed?

[ national city may have become a pretty freaky place in the past year, but there's never been anything so bad that kara couldn't take care of it on her own, or with the DEO at most. her world...is sounding like a pretty scary place. ]

[ladybro]

-- I couldn't tell you. Hundreds, maybe? If you count the guys who've only done a turn or two on the team. But there's the core ten or twenty. But at the same time, it's usually no more than six actually active on the team at the time.

[ she exhales. ] Invasion. War. Cosmic events. Less often than you'd think, but more often than you'd hope. I'm sure they save us in all sorts of ways every day that never even hits the news.