driftfleet | (no subject)

[ somehow, this is all very unsurprising. ]

Why do I get the feeling that happens to him a lot.

I'm guessing you're right. When you hit on people that often you increase your odds?

Did he, uh, hit on you?

[ there's really no casual way to ask that, is there? he assumes he did, honestly, because well...he can't be sure he meant it seriously but he did sort of offer to kiss winn out of his panic - if he'd do that, why wouldn't he hit on an awesome lady like kitty? ]

Not that I'm aware of. [Have they had some flirty exchanges? Yes. Did anything seem that serious? No. Then again he did casually refer to something as a date and she kind of recoiled so that might have done it.]

I did walk in on him getting dressed once though.

[ you mean he got picked over the burly, handsome, athletic guy? he'd look for the hidden camera, but - ]

So -- I need to meet more people, is the take-away here.

[ he doesn't need to hear about half-dressed jim kirk. his sanity doesn't need to hear about that. he's just getting over being insanely jealous of a guy named james who's sort of a friend, he doesn't need a do-over. ]

[He could take it that way, but she's not sure Kirk had any interest. When joking around and choosing between love interest and sassy best friend in her life story he chose the sass. Not that it actually made him either sassy or her best friend.]

Maybe. If you want to meet more people. You do seem like a person who would like people. [It was something Reid always had some trouble with and those comparisons are always fun.]

Depends on the people.

[ he shrugs. usually they don't tend to like him - he's too awkward, too weird, too nerdy, too winn. though, he's been getting along with a surprising number of them on the fleet. maybe it's catco that wasn't the right fit for him; people are just too serious about working for the queen of all media. ]

Or, I could just make virtual people to introduce you to. [ because once he's done with costumes, he needs to work on his programming skills or lose his mind. and making a game is a really good and simple way to practice. ]

Mmm...I don't know about that. I was a virtual person for about a year. It's pretty nice getting away from that. [At least she hopes she has. The prison can really make you doubt reality.]

[ he frowns; almost afraid to ask. but she told him to do it, and he cares about her. what she wants to tell - he should know. ]

What -- do you mean?

Hm? Oh! Sorry. I guess I haven't mentioned it? [She really has met a lot of people in the last two months and change. She sometimes forgets who she told what already.]

In the prison...I told you I was in another place like this but with a prison/rehabilitation/underwater theme instead of a reality show/space theme, right? [And she really is starting to see them as nothing more than "themes" for possible underlying goals. Maybe they're even all connected somehow.] Anyway, for the first several months of that it seemed as normal as a multidimensional, underwater prison could be but then there was a glitch in the system and some of us woke up in our bodies which were not where we thought we left them. It turns out they were keeping our bodies in a kind of maintenance stasis and everything else was a shared virtual experience. [She doesn't really sound that bothered by it if it helps.]

[ it's actually something he's suspected about this place - it seems easier than actually kidnapping all these people, and it's the last thing that happened back home - kara was trapped in a fantasy. they could do that to supergirl once, they could do that to supergirl again. or...maybe she's not even here, maybe all of it is his fantasy...though not one he's in control of, because he wouldn't have given kitty that backstory. god, he hopes he didn't subconsciously give kitty that back story - what kind of a monster is he if he did? ]

Are you sure that part was real? [ that's the problem with doubting reality - it makes you doubt everything. it's a really easy way to lose your mind, and winn is extremely apt at spiraling. ]

Of course I'm not sure that part was real. Or this part. That's the fun of it. You start doubting what reality even is. [It could make her angry or upset, but she just sounds amused at this point. What can you do? She's not up for losing her mind to it. She sets herself a functional reality and she functions in it.] The important part, to me at least, is that even after I woke up if I was waking up, was that I remembered everything. The feelings were still real.

[ he's only too happy to get on board - beats drowning in doubts. though if they're given virtual bodies -- couldn't his at least be in better shape? ]

Well, data, cells, same difference, right? [ his mind is what's gotten most of the use in his body anyway. ]

I guess so. I don't know, maybe it was all just a testing facility for the technology. Maybe it really was someone's terrible prison concept. I don't know. But I think you [getting back to the more recent conversation] deserve friends you don't have to build either way.

...wow, that just makes me sound really lame.

[ he laughs, because it's funny, right, it's not like that's his life. ]

For the record, I've never actually built friends -- [ he's just developed attachments to fictional characters. ]

[Like comic book heroins?]

I didn't think you had. [Much.] You're not lame. I don't have lame friends. [She totally has lame friends, but she also believes Winn is sweet and funny and smart and cute and thus not lame.]

[ for example! ]

It's quality over quantity anyway. I have the best friends.

Yeah, Kara is pretty great.

Yeah she is. [ and though he's not really sure what to call what they are, she used friends a moment before and they're definitely at least that. ] So are you.

[Friends is a good safe term for right now and it actually means a lot to her. He gets a flattered smile.] Not always, but I'm trying to be better.

Seems to be working pretty well to me.

[ he smiles, because that's pretty much where he's at; not the person he'd like to be, but always trying to be better. ]

[She's going to thread their fingers together again.] What am I supposed to do with you when you're this nice? [No, really, she has no idea.]

[ he's definitely happy with that ]

Like me a whole lot?

[She smiles. That was pretty cute.] Isn't that too expected? [A girl has to tease.]

Don't we have enough surprises around here?

[ besides, this never works for him. things going the way they should is very unexpected for him! ]

You have something else in mind?