driftfleet | In like a Tourist, out like a lamb

_{[ Ah, so this was the 'we're just friends, I did not handle it when he kissed me well' Winn. Which was a long title, so just Winn. He wasn't sure what he was expecting from the guy when he met him, but this hadn't been what he'd envisioned. Kara had said he had never been in space before and was frightened and Kirk could see it. Everyone who got on a ship for the first time tended to have that same sort of look, the same sort of tenseness as they waited for something to happen in this strange and new situation. Of course none of it was helped given that they had all been kidnapped on top of it.

He caught up to Winn during one of those times Kara was otherwise occupied, dressed down from his workout and breathing only a little hard, which put one of his tattoos on display - the series of numbers on his inner right forearm. He flashed Winn a bright grin as he made for their fridge to fetch himself some water and held out his hand. ]}

You must be Winn. Kara's told me a lot about you. I'm Jim Kirk, one of her ship mates.

_{[ He was slowly learning to drop the Captain from his name, even! ]}

[ what is it with kara and really fit men-candy? it's really disconcerting, he doesn't need the constant visual confirmation that in her circle of friends and admirers - he's an anomaly. maybe if he changed his name to james and hit the gy- no, can't even complete that thought.

this would be where he's supposed to say something clever like 'don't believe everything you hear' or - he can't even think of a second option because saying the charming thing has never been his forte - but let's face it, kara wouldn't lie or exaggerate about him, which leaves him with the hope that she at least chose the more flattering stories. he likes to do his embarrassing himself! call him old fashioned. ]

If I must, then I am - [ he reaches his own hand for what he hopes isn't a bone-crashing shake ] Hi Jim - are you the one I'm supposed to gang up on her with?

[ he doesn't really see it. unless it's the sort of ganging up he and james used to do -- but that sort of ganging up has only ever been to help her...reserve judgment he reminds himself. you have a long stay ahead, don't spend it all at once! ]

_{[ He just ran a lot Winn, really. Seriously, it was a favorite activity since he had needed to find something to help him with his meditation. Between that and needing to rebuild his body with weights and hand-to-hand combat, yeah, all right, he was fit. He felt better than he had before he died, but it had taken all this effort simply to get to a point he could realistically convince the admiralty to give him back his ship.

And no, the hand shake is not bone-crushing, but Kirk has a higher pain tolerance as of late thanks to some very genetically advanced blood. As it was, he laughed, recalling his and Kara's late night conversation. ]}

Apparently so. I thought I'd let you take lead since you have more experience.

_{[ He chuckles to show he's joking as he cracks open the water and devours half in the first go. ]}

You're going to be crashing here, right?

[ running, meditation, weights, combat, all those things winn...watches people do on tv while he scarfs down takeout. every now and again, he toys with the idea of getting up and doing them, but they're a pretty unsatisfying toy he tends to shove right back under his bed 30 seconds into it.

he smiles, if with a little discomfort, and lets his arm fall back to the side of his body ]

Don't worry, you'll pick it right up! [ actually, he isn't really sure what kara is talking about. he's never really been the 'ganging up' type, 'do anything and everything for her' was always more up his alley. ]

Yeah, yeah. [ he nods ] Hope that's ok, cuz my dead body's the only part of me that's going back into one of those shuttles.

_{[ Stick with Kirk, he can teach you to love it. Or if not love it, at least appreciate it. Knowing how to defend yourself properly is an oddly satisfying feeling, especially when you can do it a lot better than when you first started bar fighting. Frankly, given what he's heard about this place, knowing how to throw a real punch and take one might not be a bad idea.

He gives him a look for a moment, as if sensing Winn doesn't quite understand what it is he's talking about, but he doesn't pursue. Whatever the relationship between Kara and him, that was for them to figure out and he wasn't about to go sticking his nose in the middle, despite having chided Kara a bit a few nights ago over her handling of it. ]}

No, it's fine by me.

_{[ He laughed at the last bit though. ]}

You sound like a friend of mine - my CMO actually. He's terrified of space, anything to do with it, hates shuttles especially. But I promise they're safe. You have more of a chance of being struck by lightning in space than something happening with the shuttle.

_{[ And he should know, Winn. He's seen lighting. In space. ]}

[ he doubts that, kirk. he doubts that very much. yes, knowing how to defend himself will definitely help with the constant fear, especially considering kara's de-powered state. his fear stems in part of the nagging suspicion that a skill like that would actually come in handy! but like it? he's more likely to learn to like what passes for food around here. if he does end up with you in one of those bar fights, though, he'll probably still opt out for hiding under one of the tables, just a heads up. ]

Sounds like a very sensible guy!

[ so far, most people seem to act like he's the freak for being terrified. what do you mean you're scared of space? you go to the grocery store, don't you? it's no different! someone in that conversation lost their mind, and winn doesn't think it's him. ]

...what are the odds of getting struck by lightning in space? We are talking actually impossible, right? [ this sounds like it should be reassuring but considering how weird all these worlds are! yeah, he's going to make sure. ]

_{[ It wouldn't be the first time one of his bar buddies had hid rather than fight with him, but honestly he couldn't blame them. Sometimes things did get a bit wild, and not always when he intended them too.

Not a freak, but Kirk doesn't necessarily see the point in being terrified. Then again, he had never been terrified in the first place. It was simply a fact of life, and life flying in airplane it was just another form of transport. ]}

No, because in my experience it's happened twice. And you never know what can happen out there. So really traveling something like fifty feet isn't anything to worry about. It's not any different than getting on a boat in the ocean or an air plane. You're just in space.

_{[ See? Nothing to worry about. ]}

[ if you think you're being reassuring, kirk, but let him tell you - you're really not! somehow, he just doesn't find the thought of 'oh you could actually get struck by lightning or something you can't even imagine yet might pop up out of the blue and eat you' particularly comforting. ]

In your experience - how long's your experience? [ no, the take away for winn from all of this is worry about travelling something like fifty feet - and worry about everything else too. ]

I wouldn't get on a plane either. Or a boat - unless it was like, a short little ride around.

[ extended period of time trapped with a bunch of people with no land in sight? he'll never understand why anyone pays actual money for cruises. ]

_{[ Well, he can either tell you a nice lie or he can tell you the truth. Which would you prefer, Winn? Yes, the lie sounds better, but in the long run it only hurts you. ]}

I joined Star Fleet when I was twenty two, and I've been a captain of my own space ship for three years.

_{[ See? Reassuring Winn! He just won't mention one of those years had been completely grounded due to injury and his ship nearly being destroyed. ]}

Well, that's what the shuttle is. Just a little ride around. And then when we warp you won't even feel it, promise.

[ can he have the nice lie turn into the truth? he'll take that, please! ]

So you're - local? You know where we are, how all this works?

[ because that might actually be reassuring! it means he'll have some information to start working with to get kara her powers back and both of them back home! oh and everyone else too, he supposes. that'll be more kara's bit of the operation. and he appreciates that, jim! bros don't scare the shit out of bros unnecessarily, right! ]

Great so -- warp speed's a real thing? Why couldn't the magic solution that gets everyone home safe after 45-120 minutes be the real part!

[ all of the dangers, none of the reassurances: living in a movie, the winn schott version! ]

_{[ Better take the bitter pill now than choke on it later. ]}

Not local- I don't think you could call anyone here a local. But I'm from an advanced Earth where space travel is normal - I'm the captain of a space ship, even. Aliens, space travel, all of that - it's par for the course for me. I can't say I know how the kidnapping thing works or even why, but I understand space as much as one can.

_{[ He couldn't say he completely understood because no one really did. Sure there were general laws and rules that space really should obey, but who knows? Maybe one day they'll come across a phenomenon that changes all of that. But what he does know for now he'll use. ]}

Because nothing's ever quite that easy. And besides, TV episodes and movies leave out all the hard work in between, you know?

[ can't he just avoid it altogether? his diet is mostly sugars and salts - there's really no room for bitterness there! that's his soul's thing. ]

I think the 'why' part is either entertainment or experimentation - never did get social sciences.

[ or reality tv, but at least back home contestants want to participate, know the maximal amount of time they'll be spending and where they'll be spending it at, and can go home if they have a breakdown. he's not really sure if this is making the point for people worried about reality tv's influence on society - or the opposite, pointing out that hey - it can still get so much worse. ]

That's the appeal - reap all the rewards from a 5 minute montage, get the girl, go home.

Those would be the initial guesses, but who really knows? Atroma doesn't exactly tell us anything, you know, and as far as I can tell no one has concrete evidence one way or the other.

_{[ He shrugged, because it was the truth of it. For all he knew, they WERE on a show, but it seemed like a lot of effort for that sort of thing, not to mention highly unethical and illegal. Experiment seemed more likely, but other than the augment implanted in his head, he had no real evidence of that either. Which just made it frustrating. ]}

Come on, you know what they say - no pain, go gain.

Yeah, the only thing people know to tell you is that we know nothing except that here we are and someone's paying us. Unless of course we're not even here and this is some seriously elaborate virtual reality and people know to tell you zilch with a side of nada -

[ it's incredibly frustrating. on the one hand, this is a conspiracy theorist's dream. on the other, this is a scardy cat's nightmare. and right now? winn's feeling the latter much more intensely. if it is an experiment, he would really like to get his hands on the thesis; he's absolutely not ok with being a test subject, especially where his brain in concerned. it's a fragile thing as it is. ]

Maybe for guys like you. For the rest of us it's more like 'pain - no gain anyway'.

_{[ He blinks at him for a second and shakes his head. ]}

I'm going to ask this once - would you like me to slap you or kiss you? Either one tends to wake people up or prove that they are awake.

_{[ Because you sound like you're about to have some sort of mental break down and as understandable as it is, there really isn't time for it. Better that he simply get over it now and move on rather than break at a potentially critical moment. ]}

[ from winn's point of view - they have nothing but time for his mental breakdowns. it's why he keeps having so many of those! nothing to keep him distracted from them, he's not used to all this boredom. he comes from the world of playing on your phone while your video game loads meanwhile there's a movie playing in the background. this is torture.

right at this second though, he's not actually having a meltdown, which results in him giving kirk a stay-the-hell-away-from-me sort of glare. ]

Yeah, if I were asleep you'd be a woman and the slapping wouldn't be on the table, I know I'm awake.

[ his life basically sucks, his brain doesn't need to make stuff like that up. he's just trying to figure out other possibilities. if these people are powerful and capable enough to make them see this impossible scenario - they can probably make them feel it too, right? it's all about stimulating the right areas of their brain at the right times. just because he doesn't know the technology for it, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, especially if the theory of the multiverse is involved! is it really more complicated than abducting people from multiple planets and dimensions, a lot of them with superpowers, and trap them in a fleet of spaceships? ]

Back off - [ he stretches his arm between them, as if that would somehow stop the guy. (really, his only chance here is for jim to listen, because he certainly isn't strong enough to do anything about it if he decides to go with either plan. and yelling 'kara!' isn't as magical a fix as it used to be). ] I'm just trying to think outside the spaceship.

_{[ If you keep having so many, maybe you should go seek medical help. Honestly, you hang out with alien girl fighting crime, why are you having such a hard time with the whole riding through space concept?

A bark of laughter does leave him at the other's response though and he reaches into their unit to hold out a water bottle to him instead. ]}

Well that answers a few questions about you.

_{[ He leans back against the counter and drinks more of his water, crossing one arm across his chest as he does so, watching Winn with the wariness one does a startled cat, waiting for it to scratch. ]}

But look man, I get that it's upsetting what's happened. But panicking and freaking out isn't going to help your situation. In fact, freaking out and panicking makes sure that you make a bad decision. So just calm down, breathe for a second, and I'll answer your questions and we'll get you sorted.

Also, if you at any time you feel the need to vomit, the trash can is over there.

[ he was told space xanax wasn't a thing -- are you saying he's been lied to? because he may want to keep a supply of that around just in case -

he's usually behind a screen helping her with her crime fighting, or at worst - manning the phones for her at work. he's not usually in on the action...and space is not a happy place for someone who's terrified of heights, you know?

winn grabs the bottle uncertainly - this guy is weird - why did kara think they were gonna get along so well? ]

Yeah, glad we got those out of the way -

[ scratching may be the worst he'd be able to inflict about now, so it's a fair comparison. though attacking is not really on his mind, so maybe it's not. ]

-- I'm fine, thanks. [ he already did his vomiting. ] Besides - I thought we settled on the answer for everything being 'I don't know' - unless, I'm missing a key question?

_{[ Probably. But any doctor worth their salt wouldn't give you any - you look likely to abuse in this state of mind. And they really didn't need someone being loopy during emergencies.

Doesn't it feel good to get out and be part of the action for once then? And to be fair, there is no "up" or "down" in space, so therefore there is no height. You're essentially floating in a vacuum, so those two concepts only have meaning within the artificial gravity of the ships themselves.

And he's perfectly normal, thank you, you're the weird one. :/ ]}

Well you could have more questions than the ones we've already covered. I'll answer as much as I can, especially the ones about space. Which if I'm not mistaken seems to be the part you're most worried about.

[ wow, he would not, thank you very much! he happens to be way cooler under pressure than he ever is when everything is just marginally not ok.

but this isn't really 'part of the action', this is - trapped, without any idea what to do about it. he thinks of plans, and alternative plans, but they're all annoyingly hypothetical because everything here is just so different. god knows how long it's going to take him to get even one single component right, and in the meantime, their benevolent overlords could change absolutely everything else, oh and that part he figured out too. he almost prefers a fist fight. (he said almost! don't go getting excited there!)

and space -- space has one more very significant up or down - the one that's in his head, the one that will forever view 'earth' as down, and everything distant from it as 'up'. he knows space doesn't have true directions like those, thank you very much, but floating away forever isn't in any way more comforting than falling to his death - it's actually like making the falling part last forever and ever and ever...without the relief of the splat that at least makes everything over (that is, assuming he's protected from all the other ways space can kill him).

you don't find that scary? you're weird, deal with it. ]

The kidnapped against our wills part is pretty concerning. [ especially since they managed to grab supergirl and all ] But yeah -- you know what, thanks, I got a lot of science fiction mixed up with my science where this place is concerned - how do you navigate using stars when they're actually in your face?

[ this may not be going amazingly, but the guy is a friend of kara's, and he does need some info if he's ever going to come up with a plan that works. ]

_{[ Kirk isn't so sure, but the current performance isn't giving him much faith. But he will pretend to believe you.

He understands the frustration part. He's used to doing, to being the hero, to getting things done one way or the other. Not having all the information, barely understanding their actual roll, or even who Atroma was - it was enough to give him the hate energy to run several full miles a day in the gym and then some. At this rate, he would loose those ten pounds Bones was worried about in no time.

It's really more like floating in water. Not so much a sensation of falling so much as suspension. Falling involves gravity, the sense of being pulled - floating is just... floating. It can be quite soothing, actually. Though death by asphyxiation wasn't precisely pleasant, though most likely you would pass out before you realized anything.

But no, he doesn't find it scary. Do you know what's scary? A giant crab monster trying to eat you. ]}

You don't. You use coordinates like you would on earth, but there's a new axis added - Z. It's the perception of depth. So say you have a point on a piece of paper, right? You have X and Y, which bisects that area into four flat quadrants. Add in Z and you add depth - so now your flat squares are more like cubes.

And your coordinates read like this.

_{[ He rolled up his sleeve to show Winn the series of numbers tattooed on his right forearm. ]}

Those are Earth's galactic coordinates. But we really don't do any of the navigating by hand - we use subspace sensors to help plot the courses, which helmsman lock in and coordinate with the ship. Or at least that's how it worked on my own ship.

[ for winn, it would have ended up being the opposite, if space wasn't also lacking in the real food department. stripped of his tech, stripped of his comfort food, stripped of all but one of his cardigans - what's a guy to do, but freak out? and don't say work out. please don't say work out.

yes. a giant crab monster is also scary. it doesn't make death by space any less scary, the two are not mutually exclusive and you know what? now he's also terrified of giant crab monsters - are those a thing? someone go check under his....couch.

winn listens intently to the explanation, grateful for some real information at last, as well as the distraction - from space and their previous conversation. ]

So hypothetically, if we can figure out how to navigate this thing, and how to cut it off from remote control - [ yes, two completely improbably actions, he knows, but they're all pieces to the puzzle, and what does he really have to do here but work on them? don't say work out. ] if we punch in those numbers we'll make it to this verse's earth? [ he may be memorizing them. ]

_{[ It's a great way to relieve stress, all right? You should try it
Winn. He promises you'll feel better - or be to tired to care. Either way,
it's better than what you're currently feeling, right?}

_{oh no, when he says giant crab he means like a thirty foot tall red
creature with a prehensile tongue. It would not fit underneath your bed, by
any stretch of the imagination.}

_{He gives a shake of his head and a sympathetic look. ]}

Not that simple. Atroma controls these ships so taking them so far isn't possible - and I'm fairly certain it's with more than remote control. Other people have tried to leave, and Atroma has pulled them back or stopped them. I'm not even sure these little ships can make the necessary jumps in the first place.

Not saying it's not worth exploring - I want to go home too. But just prepare yourself for the long haul.

[ most likely, he'll be tired and frustrated and self-loathing at how quickly it made him tired and frustrated.

his imagination is pretty stretchy, ok! just. just look in there. ]

This is all in the hypothetical - [ he's perfectly aware of how long a haul it's gonna be, especially since he can't discuss a single thing in private thanks to their wonderful overlords' desire to snoop - but if he doesn't do anything it won't just be long, right, it'll be the rest of his life or until they get bored of him. and have you seen him freak out? he's pretty entertaining! ]

When you say 'pulled them back or stopped them' - do you have any specifics? [ he'll take any spec of actual information about atroma and their abilities ]

_{[ Oh he's getting plenty of entertainment over this particular freak
out. Though he is seeing how you and Kara are friends. It must be adorable
when you freak out together. ]}

One guy essentially opened a dimensional portal if I understand him right, and - nope. That got shut down, and he's back here.

Needless to say, I think we're going to have to come at this from sideways if we plan to get home.

/slides in here

/welcomes with open arms

/falls into

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

science i may or may not have just made up + actual Star Trek stuff

I bow before your made up science abilities!

/makes magic sparkle fingers

no subject

no subject