04 - video

[winn]

Who: Winn and you!
Broadcast: y!
Action: on the Tourist!
When: August 2nd

[ some of you may have noticed that winn has been uncharacteristically quiet for the past...16 days. he's not really sure how to address the elephant in the room - he knows these two weeks and change have been hard on the people he loves but for him it's like no time has passed and the dissonance is hard to bridge.

it's a good thing he has a not at all unhealthy coping mechanism set in place. ]

You know, if we're entertainment on a reality show, the least they can do is give us like a recap - you know your basic [ in a tv announcer impression ] here's what you missed on the Fleet - or - last week, on the young and the Drifting - [ he rubs the back of his head before shaking it ] Well, maybe talking about the 'least they can do' isn't such a great plan...first order of business - what'd I miss? Second order of business - if you or anyone you know has ever fallen into an unexplained sleep here or at any other kidnappy world - I'd appreciate it if you'd answer a couple questions, they're a text attachment at the bottom. Sorry if it's been done before, I'll gladly take a link to any previous research as well as fresh data. Third order of business -- hi. [ he gives the camera a little wave and a nervous chuckle ] Um. Yeah, I'm, I'm fine, I should've opened with that but if you know me the order isn't really gonna surprise you that much and if you don't you're probably really confused right now and looking for the off button - it's to your right, right on top, there you go.

That's it, I guess....good morning, Drifters - don't forget to drink your coffee! Winn out -

<br />1. <b>date and duration of sleep</b>: self explanatory.<br />2. <b>surrounding events</b>: when it happened were you or your sleeping acquaintance going about your daily lives, experimenting with anything, uncovering anything?<br />3. <b>results</b>: did waking result in new memories, loss of old ones, a change in personality or attitude, were you or your sleeping acquaintance at a different physical location (ex: new planet, back at your ship, new kidnappy world), were there any physical differences or after effects, if so how long did they last, anything you can think of that changed - put it here.<br />

[ except he's not all the way out. hank and cisco each get the following message to their personal numbers ]

I need to discuss something in person. My place? [ he can't really leave kitty yet ]

Comments

[winn]

He didn't freak out, he had fun with it...which, could be intentional too, but it doesn't really seem to serve the same kind of purpose if it is.

[beathach]

Certainly not the same as the other two, at least.

[winn]

Yeah...have you ever...malfunctioned?

[beathach]

Er. No, I haven't.

[not yet, anyway.

. . . he just jinxed himself, didn't he]

[winn]

[ winn's pretty sure they both did. there's no way they can poke their heads in this without consequence. ]

Alright -- tell me about that virtual reality you were in.

[beathach]

[wonderful, let's hope it isn't a terrible consequence, at least]

There's not much to tell, honestly - it just - felt real. The magic there did the same thing, more or less at times. I was only involved in one of those games once, but the Echo who ran those types of games was called Iota - she was an AI.

All we really did was play a game where we had to guess whether or not our opponent was lying. [he shrugs a shoulder] It was harmless.

[winn]

[ one can always hope. and suck to their mun. ]

That's...a bizarre use of a virtual reality.

[beathach]

Mm, a little bit. [a shrug] By that point, you're just . . . conditioned to it.

[winn]

But there has to be a point to it, there has to be a reason to construct a virtual reality for the sake of this game.

[beathach]

[he drums his fingers against his knee again, thinking]

Aside from gathering data, you mean?

Maybe they need us for something.

[winn]

Why check your ability to detect lies in a virtual realty? Maybe that was a prototype? A -- test, to check which parts they need to improve on, to check their ability to control your perception?

[ he starts scribbling ideas in his notebook as he speaks ]

[beathach]

It's possible, but why bother using virtual reality when their magic had already been doing the same thing? [he's quiet for a moment or two, trying to remember the details of the game]

It wasn't just detecting lies - each round we were given a "fact", and we had to ask questions to determine whether or not it was true. Some of them were things like "I dated my best friend's sister", or . . . [he makes a face] "I've never lost my temper here.", things like that. So not only did we have to detect the lie, we had to lie convincingly, too.

[winn]

Maybe magic is hard to sustain, or maybe it was never magic -

[ he falls quiet, trying to decipher a possible cause for all of this. without the masterplan, it can seem so random - which is exactly what makes it so brilliant. ]

[beathach]

Kyriakos is an entirely different place, though. And I would hope that the same concept isn't at play, here. - [he makes a face] I really hope it isn't.

[winn]

That's just it - I don't think it is. The premise may be different but each of these kidnapping worlds have too much in common to be completely separate. People moving from one to the other included. Think about it - which makes more sense? A completely separate set of pocket dimensions controlled by secretive groups with remarkable similar abilities who steal participants from each other even though there's an infinite multiverse of easy victims out there - or one group, orchestrating multiple stages of the same experiment?

[beathach]

The former, because the idea of the latter being even remotely true is terrifying.

[it could almost be a joke, if he didn't sound so serious. He rubs at his face, then just takes off his glasses and sets them aside]

I'm sure you can - simulate a hell of a lot in virtual reality, but there's limits to that, isn't there? Everything we went through was far too real for it to be anything but.

[winn]

Back home, it happened to Kara. This...alien thing trapped her in a false reality. [ even now, talking about the black mercy hurts, and it shows. he was so scared he was going to lose her, the one time in their whole friendship they weren't on good terms. ]

Her sister had to go in to break the fantasy. The longer she was there, the more her brain was conditioned to accept it. She told me...this reminded her of it.

[beathach]

[that's even more terrifying, especially happening to someone like Kara.

He rubs a hand over his mouth, and he's quite for a long, long moment]

Shit.

I still - want to believe the former, but I'm willing to consider the - other thing as a possible theory to look into. We may as well go at it from all angles.

[he can remember dying, very, very vividly. He can't assume that's an experiment, not when he still had nightmares about it]

[winn]

Yeah.

[ he's not sure so many separate yet similar monstrosities existing makes him feel any better. everything being connected...it just makes more sense to him. coincidences exist, and in an infinite multiverse things are bound to repeat, but still...why are the same people chosen? over and over again, passed around like a hot potato? ]

The multiverse's largest bottle of vodka sounds pretty good about now, doesn't it.

[ this theory has been eating away at him from the start. maybe you haven't been worried enough about him. ]

[beathach]

[oh you can rest assured that the worrying has been ramped up tenfold. As well as some accompanying paranoia, but that's normal. Sort of]

At this point any sort of alcohol sounds pretty damn good.

[winn]

[ he gets up, and pulls a bottle of scotch from his closet, offering it to hank. ]

I've had enough depressing conversations in here to learn my lesson. [ he's decided he needs to keep one around after his girlfriend told him she died and he had nothing to drown his sorrows with without subjecting himself to shuttles and people. he hasn't opened it yet - even though he's had plenty of reason to. but today feels like the day, and drinking with a friend feels much less pathetic. ]

[beathach]

[he takes the bottle and squints at the label, then can't help but laugh when he sees what it is]

I've drank more here than I ever did back home. [and that's including ten years living with an alcoholic who's drink of choice was exactly what Winn handed him. Oh, the irony]

Do you want me to go grab some glasses?

[winn]

Says something about your home.

[ he's drank a lot his last month back home. after being kidnapped by his father and losing the last bit of hope of ever having kara, coming to the fleet he feels like he's cut down on his drinking significantly. he only got drunk once, and he wasn't even drinking alone. progress! ]

Oh ye of little faith.

[ he pulls out a box from under the bed, and takes two glasses out, holding them out to hank for filling. ]

[beathach]

[a little dryly] Home was full of scotch and whiskey at one point. I'm just not a big drinker, usually.

[he'd even tried it, once or twice, but shutting down completely was so much more effective than drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

He half-grins and reaches out to pour some scotch into each of the glasses]

[winn]

I feel like I should be apologizing for being a terrible influence.

[ he grins and hands him one of the glasses, holding the other one up for cheers. ]

This is a celebratory drink, Hank. We're gonna get to the bottom of this, and we are gonna get out.

[ yeah, he believes things are very grim and twisted. but he also believes in them, he believes in kara, he believes in his new friends, and little by little - he's starting to believe in himself. if he got close enough to be a threat all on his own, imagine what they could accomplish together? ]