02 - video

[winn]

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?

Comments

[winn]

[ 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? ]

[ladybro]

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.

[winn]

[ 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. ]

[ladybro]

Thanks. [ she doesn't look shattered. but it was years ago, and she hides her pain well. in many ways she lost her mother well before the accident. and in many other ways, her mother's legacy resonates with her still. derek bishop's wife was a noted philanthropist; kate always admired the good she did. ] What you should really be apologizing for, though, is my -- [ she won't say step-mother ] -- dad's new wife. We went to the same school. At the same time.

[ time to deftly deflect conversation away from death and dying. ]

[winn]

[ he's only too happy to oblige, scrunching his face. ]

Classy.

[ why does no one have just...normal parents? ]

Hey, I'll apologize for your dad's new wife if you apologize for my mom's new everything - [ because he should probably reciprocate a little here, right? ]

[ladybro]

Everything?

[ oh boy this is gonna be plastic surgery isn't it. at least, that's where kate's mind first leaps. ]

[winn]

Well, I don't really know, but I'm guessing she's not a hermit in some cave -

[ he shrugs. ]

She bailed, the story makes more sense after I point that out -

[ladybro]

Oh. [ crestfallen. ] That kinda everything. Jeez, Winn. That sucks.

[ she puts a hand on his shoulder. ] I'm sorry. Lots of sorrys flying around, right now.

[winn]

[ he smiles a little in a 'it's all in the past' sort of way. ]

Mom bailed, dad's in jail, I'm practically a country song. On the other hand, never had to call anyone who gave me wedgies dad, so - could be worse.

[ladybro]

...Jail? [ she wets her lips. it's hard not to be curious. and yet -- ] Wait. You don't gotta tell me if you don't want to.

[winn]

[ his smile turns strained, but he shakes his head. he doesn't like talking about it, but kate's a friend. besides, it keeps coming up, he may as well just come out with it before it becomes fleet gossip. ]

It's absolutely where he belongs. He's deranged, of the homicidal persuasion.

[ladybro]

[ you too, huh? ] kate wants to say it, but she doesn't. she holds back -- lingers, for fear of speaking the sort of honest truth she's harboured (silently) since she was a kid. since the day she saw her father beat a man in her kitchen, running straight through to the more recent...problems with bishop publishing.

but kate expresses sympathy instead. ] When did he go away?

[winn]

When I was 11.

[ he nods, 'going away', almost makes it sound like he went on a business trip instead of a murderous rampage.

he rubs the back of his neck; he appreciates the sympathy about as much as he's uncomfortable with it. ]

[ladybro]

Hey. I get it. [ she 'lost' her dad when she was eleven, too. witnessing his villainy and his cruelty and his indifference. until that day, she'd always wanted to grow up to be her father. a powerful man, with the power to change things. but after seeing the blood spill... ]

It's the kind of thing that sticks with you. No matter who you lose someone.

[winn]

[ he didn't just want to be exactly like his father - he was exactly like his father. inseparable, best friends.

it sticks with him in too many ways. in the ever present fear that one day - he really will wake up and be his father. ]

Yeah, it's not much fun going from 'my dad's a toymaker' to 'my dad's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs'. [ he shakes his head with that same strained smile. ] Bright side, I bet new wife's not looking so bad anymore, right? [ a part of him, the part's that been raised around people who hated him for his father's sins, is uncomfortable with the sympathy because he's been conditioned to believe he doesn't deserve it. the other part of him is uncomfortable with it because he just wants to put it behind him, and yet. every time he thinks he has - it pops back up. this fleet makes everything he's been feeling bubble up to the surface, and he can't seem to stop. ]

[ladybro]

Guess not. [ it's hard to say whether kate's animosity towards heather is really heather's fault. mostly, it's her dad's -- and the fact that heather seems to always want to shove diazapam at her whenever she visits. god. ] Even so, I'm not calling her mom. Or step-mom. Too weird.

[winn]

I bet. Is she trying to get you to do that? [ because that's just messed up. ]

[ladybro]

Yeah-huh. Definitely uncool. [ -- she has a tumultuous relationship with the entire family legacy. although there's little love lost between her, her father, and his new wife...it's hard to simply turn her back not only on blood, but on the family finances. she knows she benefits from being her father's daughter. ]

[winn]

Why would she want that?

[ he never got that part of bill and ted, he gets it even less in life. isn't it super weird? ]

[ladybro]

Who knows. Power? A ham-fisted way of getting respect? If I tried really hard to be sympathetic, I'd guess it's pretty awful to be reduced down to a mere trophy wife.

[winn]

But I mean, wouldn't having someone you went to school with call you mom make that worse?

[ladybro]

Heather never was one for self-awareness.

[winn]

I guess she wouldn't be - [ self awareness kind of makes the whole trophy wife thing even more depressing. ] Is she nice, at least?

[ladybro]

Nice? Not especially. [ ... ] But she's not, like, evil. Or mean. Just a little clueless and shallow. There are worse ways to be.

[ and she certainly deserves better than kate's dad. ]

[winn]

Families.

[ he nods. what else do you say? ]