06 - video

[winn]

Who: Winn Schott and you
Broadcast: Video
Action: Tourist
When: Friday

[ there's something off about winn when the feed turns on. something different from all his other broadcasts. it may take a second to spot it but once you realize what it is it becomes glaringly obvious: there's not a hint of happiness anywhere on his face. his eyes, his lips, his nose, it looks like every last bit of joy has been drained from his features, so even when his lips do stretch lightly upwards, despite his dry eyes it feels more like watching him sob than seeing him smile. ]

Margaery's gone home. [ he has no way of knowing that. she could have been kidnapped to another world, one where she would have no protective big brother to introduce her to superheroes and feminism, to embroider with her and teach her science. but he chooses to hang onto that thought, to believe that she's gone back to the family he knows she so desperately missed despite never letting her pain show. he clears his throat. ] If any of her friends wanna come by for a toast and some stories, I'll be on the Tourist all day.

[ he has been on the tourist since he realized she disappeared, curled up in his bed, shut down. this is the most he's said since, and it feels almost like an outer body experience. he clears his throat again, and nods at the camera before killing the feed. ]

Comments

[winn]

If? [ this time, he even musters a little energy to sound mock offended. ] I'm puzzling out new physics to get Hank an expending-shrinking ring, I think I can handle a little math.

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she smiles. she loves baiting him into banter, especially when he's down ]

I know you can do math, but there are a lot of variables. And it's probably different here than it would be on Earth. I'm just saying.

[winn]

[ and they doubted her sneakiness! ]

The difference is in the variable values, not the formula. Bring it.

[takingkarabusiness]

Oh, I will.

You'll have to design trials, right? So we can have controls and stuff? To test my speed.

[winn]

Cisco probably has designs we can use.

[ since he works with a speedster and all. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

Well, whenever you guys are up for it, so am I.

[winn]

I'll talk to him, we'll see what we can work out.

[ he assumes cisco will call him up when he sees the broadcast, but if he doesn't, he'll call him up when he's feelings a little steadier. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

Good.

It will definitely be worth it for a sewing contest.

[winn]

I'm still gonna win.

[takingkarabusiness]

It'd be a waste of a name if you didn't.

[winn]

You can call me Failure McLoser, I'll still win that one. [ he's been sewing so much on the fleet there were points in time where his hands were going through the motions in his sleep. ] Unless I was going up against - [ margaery. he still can't do the things margaery can do with a needle.

what little air has gone back into him deflates. ] Margaery.

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she leans her head on his shoulder ]

[winn]

[ he wraps an arm around her, quietly apologizing for the state of him, and quietly reassuring himself that kara is as solid as anything in the fleet. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she gives him a few moments and then moves to change the subject again ]

What kinds of trials do you think Cisco has Barry do?

[winn]

[ it takes him a moment too long to answer, almost making it seem like he's not going to. ]

I know there's a treadmill.

[takingkarabusiness]

Do you want to talk about her?

[winn]

[ now there's a question. on the one hand - yes, he does, otherwise he wouldn't have suggested story time with her friends. but on the other - he's really unsure whether his eyes will be able to remain dry through it and he really hates crying in front of people.

but margaery deserves to be talked about. she deserves to be remembered. this is hard.

he shrugs a little. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

I'd like to hear you talk about her, but only if you want to.

[winn]

I don't know what to say.

[ where do you even start? he's still hurting so much that she wasn't born in national city, the things she could achieve in a society that at least preached equality.. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

She's way more self-possessed than I'll ever be.

[winn]

If she had a real education, she could be the nice Ms. Grant.

[takingkarabusiness]

I think she'd be very good at knowing when to be nice and when to be ruthless. But maybe I'm wrong; she really is sweet.

[winn]

I'm sure you're right, you don't survive medieval politics [ especially as a young woman ] if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

[takingkarabusiness]

Yeah. She's really something.

[winn]

She really is. 17 and she never complained, no matter what the Atroma threw at her, even though it kept throwing people who were terrible to her from her world at her instead of her family.

[ he's proud of her, and he's infuriated to think they might be celebrating her disappearance now. well, just you wait. she'll get things done back home, he's sure of it. ]