driftfleet | 02

Entry tags:

02 - video

Who: Winn
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: the Tourist
When: now!

[ last time he posted anything, he was a nervous wreck and kind of nauseous. the changes the past two months have left in him are impossible to miss; winn is smiling, upbeat, and almost comfortable. the nervous energy that is there has more to do with his addressing a bunch of strangers than the constant fear of death by space-stuff that overshadowed his first feed. ]

Hi, if we don't know each other - I'm Winn Schott. If we do know each other...I'm still Winn Schott - [ shaking his head, why hasn't he learned from the last time? prepare a script! ]

Anyway! I've been here for a couple months now, and it's been interesting - and I mean that in the original sense of the word. Think about it - not only are we in outer space [ there's only a slight wince at that, and even a lot of excitement. space is terrifying - but it's also really cool ] - but we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to reach across the multiverse and learn things that haven't even been dreamed up in our worlds yet. I've been learning - a ton from just casually talking to people, but there is a much better way to do this if we all cooperate, [ open source. it's the way of the future! ] and I know I'm not the only one out there who's interested!

So, I've got a suggestion for anyone who thinks that's really cool - and - pity for anyone who doesn't [ and by pity, he means judgment. he gestures excitedly with his hands as he introduces his brilliant concept ] - 2016: A Space-Time Odyssey - a series of free weekly lectures about anything and everything we've got here. Talks about different worlds, science, history, art lessons, concerts - I know we've got some musicians here - basically anything anyone signs up to talk about, teach, perform, or however you communicate things where you're from. Since we don't have a lecture hall we can broadcast the talks - give ourselves a fun routine....and if that doesn't work for someone, I can post the notes I'm so gonna take of all of these. Who's in? Who wants to go first?

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It's not. [ he nods, agreeing. how can it be bad when it's the happiest he's ever been? ] It's really good. Thanks, Kate.

Does this mean that -- if given the chance -- you'd, uh, stay?

[ maybe the question is a rude one, but kate's never been good with delicate. ]

[ he runs a hand through his hair, the other playing with his notepad, clearly she's touched on a sore spot. he wants to take kitty home with him. but what if that somehow ends up not being a possibility? what if for whatever reason of their luck just sucking - she can't cross the dimensional barrier with him?

then he'd have to make the most difficult choice of his life. when he's with kitty, it seems almost simple - the truth is, he's obsolete at home. kara will be fine without him, supergirl never needed him, ms. grant will replace him faster than he can think about it, james will make a 100 other friends who aren't an awkward mess around him...nobody needs him there, not really. kitty does.

but he does need his friends - kara is the first family he's had since he was a child, and she's always reassuring him of how important he really is to her. james - they may have the world's strangest friendship - but it's theirs and it's irreplaceable. and the DEO really isn't investing in top notch hackers the way it should. his apartment, his life, everything he's used to - saying goodbye to that forever...it hurts just to consider. but then, how can he go on with his simple little life there, knowing he's done to kitty the one thing she's afraid of - left her? ]

If all other options are exhausted...I don't know. Maybe. [ he wants to think he would. it'd be the right thing to do. but when the time comes, will he have the courage for it? ]

[ she doesn't hurry his answer. kate leans back, almost as though offering him up physical space to match the emotional space needed to answer a question such as this one. slowly, her arms fold across her chest. solid, wall-like. non-combative. ]

I suppose it's a moot debate. The choice might never be afforded to us.

Yeah.

[ his tone is so very unconvinced, his eyes are downright devious. he has no intention of waiting for anyone to afford him the choice - he may not be the one to get them all home, but he sure is one of the people trying their hardest. ]

So, I'll - just, I'll make some preliminary sketches, and we'll go from there?

[ she inhales -- and decides she doesn't have the heart to tell him how these interdimensional tangles sometimes aren't straightened out through sheer force of will. they take a delicate touch and a lot of luck, on occasion. she would be the first person to admit that without noh-varr and america chavez, her team would have been ended in the mayfly dimensions.

usually far more optimistic than this, kate is suddenly seized by a gnawing need for that same team. those familiar faces. billy, wow, he could have pretty much thought them out of this.

slowly, she nods. ] Sounds great, Winn.

[ he knows it won't be easy. it hasn't been, already. it doesn't matter what other people think, though, all that matters is what he ends up doing. kara's here, and he believes in her. they're taking very real steps towards getting her powers back. kitty is here, and she's strong, and brilliant. cisco's brilliant. he's brilliant. they have so many things going for them, in their little team - and so many things going for them outside of it - kate, for example. with all these heroes, all these geniuses, how can they lose? ]

I'll try to have some options for you over the next couple days. [ he nods in return. ]

Next step? A real bow. [ she smiles -- and then holds up a hand, as though she can predict winn's overt, helpful nature before it even manifests itself once again. ] I'll take care of that one.

[ that makes him laugh a little, look at all the ladies in his life, trying to cut down on his projects. it's really endearing. ]

Can I watch? [ ... ] You - making the bow, I'd love to learn, up my skills for the next superhero I gear up.

Honestly? I was gonna get Clint to teach me. He's made his own gear before. [ ... ] But if you like, I'm certain he'd let you in on the lesson as well.

[ the struggle is real: getting in the middle of whatever weird relationship clint and kate have -- vs. learning how to make a real awesome bow.

he thinks it over for a moment. ]

...yeah. Yeah - I'd like.

[ who is he kidding, like he could resist! ]

[ she laughs -- mostly because she can sense his hesitation, and she empathizes. ]

I talk a lot of crap about him, I know. But beneath that crappy exterior, there's a decent guy. A really...good person. I just think he doesn't care one way or another whether people see that side of him.

You know I...should probably butt out, but that's not really the impression I got. Not -- that he's not a good person, he just. Seemed kind of confused more than indifferent.

He...does that. [ her cheeks puff, and she seems to be weighing her options. but then again, she's never really agreed with the way clint hides himself, so to speak. ] I thought the same, at first. Look at this loser, can't even get his entertainment system hooked up right.

[ kate takes a seat -- like committing to the conversation. ] It's a different kind of mask, you know? I think he likes being underestimated. He's the guy with no powers and a weapon that's basically paleolithic, standing shoulder to shoulder with gods and super-soldiers and mutants. Best I can figure? It's a defense mechanism.

[ force other people think to he's a total write-off -- so, perhaps, they don't come to that conclusion on their own. clint likes to manage the expectations of others. he'd done it to her, too.

it pissed her off. ]

We all have our blind-spots. Our things that confuse us. Clint exaggerates his.

[ he sits down as well, hands toying with his notebook ]

I can understand that.

[ the part about needing a defense mechanism, at least, not that specific one. winn's choice of defense is know as much as he can so he can be of use as often as possible, so these amazing people will have a reason to keep him around. ]

Believe it or not, he used to lead the West Coast Avengers. [ a wry smile. ] I certainly can barely believe it. But maybe he was different when he was younger. Less likely, maybe, to pretend like he doesn't know his way out of a wet paper bag. Clint's been doing this for years on years. He's been dead and he's been deaf and he's been divorced. Not necessarily in that order.

Sometimes I worry there's a best before date on heroes. Like maybe, for some of us, the work just weighs us down. Clint's got a lot of career baggage.

Edited 2016-06-02 10:55 (UTC)

[ HOLD EVERYTHING. ]

...what do you mean he's been dead?

[ he thought you said he's normal human. far as he knows, death is pretty permanent for those! ]

Dead. Like, killed. [ okay, so maybe this doesn't happen quite as often in central city. but it also sounds like they have fewer masks running around, so: ] That's when I took up the name. Hawkeye was dead. There was room for someone else to take up the bow.

The specifics get a little...weird. Reality-warpers are rare back home, but they exist. Powered people who can change the very fabric of history, of fact, and of experience. That's all I'll say. It happened before I even became a Young Avenger -- it's not my story to tell.

[ and the scarlet witch is here. she doesn't want anything getting back to wanda. ]

[ BUT KATE HE HAS SO MANY QUESTIONS IT'S ACTUALLY KILLING HIM TO HOLD BACK. is she saying he was resurrected, or that someone grabbed him from before he was killed and then plunked him back into the world later?

you can practically see the wheels turning in his head, as he keeps opening his mouth to say something - changes his mind - and then thinks of something else to say an does it all over again.

you may have broken him. be sure to get kara a replacement! ]

[ wow. had she recognized in advance (and she should have guessed this would happen) that winn would be so sent off-kilter by what is a strange fact of reality in her home-world, kate might have been gentler in the reveal.

she is silent for a moment. then: ] Guess that doesn't happen to often in National City, huh?

Edited 2016-06-02 13:51 (UTC)

[ his head is still reeling, still trying to come to grips with the implications (what could this mean for kitty, in case he fails to take her back to national city?). all he manages to get out is a faint reply. ]

...No. That's definitely a first. Is this -- resurrection, or stealing from the moment before the...death?

[ yes she said that's all she's gonna say about it but come on you can't expect him to ask no questions! ]

Honestly? I've witnessed both happening. [ she tries to not to make it sound too old hat. maybe she's a little bitter -- how does the universe decide who's fate it is to return? plenty of days, kate misses her mom. ]

Clint -- like I said, a reality-warper was involved. Bringing him back was more like changing a fundamental fact about the universe. Smoother than resurrection. Less complicated than time travel.

[ but oh so very dangerous. ]

[ she doesn't have anything to worry about here from winn - while there are plenty of people he would want to see return (kara's family, kitty's family), everyone who's ever left him - did it by choice, not by passing (is it him? at some point, you gotta wonder if there's just something inherently wrong with you). he's messing with the universe enough by trying to save kitty, bring her back to national city with him. he doesn't need to make things even more impossible on himself.

no resurrections for him. he doesn't need the zombie apocalypse on his conscience. ]

So what you're saying is -- in your world -- death isn't death?

[ he's just struggling to wrap his brain around this. there are at least 3 ways to bring people back from the dead. that's. are graveyards just parking lots and shopping malls where she's from? ]

No, death is death. [ and death is also a someone but that's a hurdle not yet worth jumping. kate frowns. ] My mom's dead. She's gonna stay dead. Probably. And it's not like some of these death-reversal things don't go really hinky really fast. I can tell you about one mess in particular, if you like...

[ the offer hangs there a moment, before: ] It's not unheard of for people to live again. But it's usually the people who are neck deep in weirdness and super-powers and stuff like that. Or the people who just can't die.

[ he's quiet for a moment. and then he shakes his head. ]

It's ok, I don't need to know.

[ is he curious? of course. does that mean he'll subject her to telling him about this? of course not. ]

I'm sorry about your mom.

[ losing his mom was hard, but he lost her because...he can only imagine the reason, but to him it felt like she couldn't love him more than she hated his dad. to lose someone who did love you unconditionally, who wanted to be there for you...he doesn't want to dredge that up for kate. ]

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