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(no subject)

Who: The Vision
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The Caprine
When: At the Shuffle, evening of the 20th

[He doesn't appear immediately on the Caprine, of course. First he's rudely deposited onto the hospitality deck of the Marsiva, but although he grasps the reality of the situation quickly enough it takes some time to process it all - the uncovered memories of his time here, the juxtaposition of his new situation with the events at home, and then a crushing disappointment as he scans over his newly-acquired communicator and realizes he can't put in a transfer to the Windrose, because his ship doesn't seem to exist anymore.

So that's how it's going to be.

He figures it won't be long before he's assigned to a new ship, and sure enough he's popped over to the Caprine in all his maroon-skinned android glory. He shakes the confetti off and pulls up a video broadcast.]

Good evening, members of the Fleet. I am the Vision, recently of twenty-first century Earth and one of the Avengers, if that means anything to anyone. [Yes, he's still technically an Avenger, even if he's been a bit AWOL lately.] If there's anyone here who knows me, I'd like very much to know that you're here, and please don't hesitate to ask me if you'd like anything from me. I seem to be on the Caprine this time around.

[And then he looks a little wistful.

Does anyone know how long it's been since I was here last? It's been two years for me subjectively, but I'm aware that often has little to do with time passing in the Fleet. I was on the Windrose. [Captain of it, in fact.]

Thank you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Exactly! Who?]

You are always welcome at any cooking skill level. You can even claim a room before it's official if you want. [She totally gets to unilaterally offer this, right?]

[Their worlds may be very different on the outside, but in some ways they're more alike than outsiders might think. Like the ultra-powerful douchebags that occasionally come along.]

Perhaps I will, at that. I'll be over shortly.

[He still knows how to pilot these little shuttles, right? Right.]

I'll meet you in the cargo bay. [In fact she gets a little sentimental and decides to be air walking up by some of the hanging plant beds because he was hovering by them when she first met him.]

[It takes him a moment to get the hang of things and then make his way out of the shuttle pod and into the bay, but once he does--

--it's home.

Sure, the Avengers facility in New York was technically his home, too, but it had been echoingly empty and lifeless after the team had split. And there were plenty of details here that were different already, but there was still a large part of it that was his influence, his work and a place where he'd spent many happy hours tending to the little buds of life. There's the kelp tank, and is that his glow fish still flickering in and out?

Rather than saying anything, he floats over to Kitty and embraces her in a hug. It seems he's been practicing this.]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Well, she couldn't let anything happen to the glow fish, could she? They're part of the crew now. Of course they all could have been wiped away in a blink if things had gone differently in the merge, but since they've been here she's made sure they were cared for and when she was in an almost two month coma someone else handled it. They all care for the place.

She hugs him back, tightly. She spends a lot of time and energy missing Winn, but part of that encompasses how much she misses everyone from home, from Marina, from people she connected with in the fleet who've left. It's not just the guy she loved. It's everyone she loves. It means a lot to see him again.]

Thanking me even after I crashed your ship? [Crashed? Merged? Had nothing to do with what the Atroma planned? PoTAYto. PoTAHto.]

Ah, but you gave up your pilot skills as compensation, didn't you? [His tone is light, but he doesn't relax his grip for a long moment. Memory loss is just the worst. To have had good friends and a home, and to forget it all due to the whims of some all-powerful captors would be bad enough, but that it's been in the name of entertainment makes it worse.]

But it all looks wonderful. I wouldn't have expected things to remain static while I was gone; what has changed, aside from the name and the crew? Tell me everything. [And maybe they can grab a beverage or something - he's admittedly a bit curious about the taste, now that he's made an effort to try some food back home on occasion.]

I guess you could call it that. [She hates the process of getting more things added to your augment and switching one out isn't that different to her way of thinking, but she thought it would help her ship and it might help her find a way back to Winn, so in those more desperate days she put in the requests to get it done. It's a haunting feeling to know you are missing skills you once performed easily and even more so when you know they're skills you would have learned on your own if you were capable of retaining it here.]

Well, it's got traits from both ships, and I've lived in it for over a year now, so I might not even remember which parts are different, but we've had a lot of upgrades since then. [She works pretty hard putting money to upgrades so everyone can have nice things.] Let's see... They added new possible upgrades since you were here. We have a lounge now. Oh, and your room changed back to the way it had been after you left. [Remembering now that it had been extremely different for awhile.] And I guess it's the one I'm in. [And she doesn't spend half her nights on the Tourist. Or any of them.] We have a lot of windows. Even more than before. Oh, and there's a pet corner in the clinic. The armory is missing again since no security officer with Chuuya gone. [Not that he'd know Chuuya either, but he left very recently so it's more fresh to her mind than Wrath.]

[It makes sense that the armor is gone; she'd mentioned being out a security officer, and even if Wrath will always be the Security Officer in his heart, it's one of those compartments they can only really get back with a new crew member. And poaching crew from other ships has never been his strong point (that's Kitty's job), so they'll just have to deal. Not like the crew he knows needs weapons to fight....]

A lounge is an excellent addition, though I should warn you I've been preemptively banned from competitive board games at home. [Maybe some of the planets will have cooperative games. Those are the best.]

I can't say I'm surprised about the captain's room. [It had been a special gift from the forest planet to him, and if he wasn't around anymore, the gift didn't have anyone to attach to.] But I'll be happy to contribute to any additional upgrades, if you like. As with before, I can't imagine there will be much else I need to spend credits on. [When you don't have to eat and you can make your own clothes....]

[The crew also tends to make or buy additional weapons on various planets and with other fleeters. Bladed weapons and staffs seem to be more their speed anyway except for Vash who has his own guns.]

Well, no ban here for the moment. Or we can just play Candy Land and see if you can strategize your way into winning that somehow. [She says it with a smile.]

And upgrade help is always welcome if you want to. [Especially since she also tries to make enough to buy extra fresh food for herself and the others when they are in a system that has resources to enjoy.]

Do you want to just walk around and see things? I'll try to catch you up. I'm not even sure where to start. You were already gone by the time we were attacked by slavers, weren't you? [Yes, he must have been. Wrath was the captain, but she was off ship so Kitty was directing things on the Windrose.]

Random chance is always an acceptable genre. [Candy Land is a random chance game, right?

He gestures agreement to the idea of a tour.] Id' like to walk around, yes. [There are a couple of differences in the cargo bay - did they always have a basketball hoop? Is that a spare bed?]

I don't recall such a thing, no. Was that the same time the Marsiva demonstrated weapons capability? I was told about that.

Good to hear. [Why don't you know more toddler games, the Vision?]

[Kitty heads down her invisible staircase of air particles. It's probably slightly less extra of them to do the tour on the ground.]

No, that happened when we were at a masquerade ball and heist caper.

[Because his primary social group is a couple of emotionally constipated men, now that the Avengers broke up?]

Oh, dear. Was the heist planned by us, or by the enemy?

[They could totally float the entire way, except most of the hallways probably aren't tall enough to make it practical. The cargo bay is great for it, though.]

For me, the past two years have been rather uneventful, on the dangerous events front. It sounds like it's been a bit less boring here, hasn't it?

[That'll do it.]

It was planned by the other fleet I think. So, by people at least trying to make us think they're allies. [Someone is hard to win over.] I was kind of distracted when it was all happening. [It was right after Winn left.] I might not have the best details even though I participated.

But yeah, it feels like everything got pretty intense for awhile. Attacked by slavers, the Marsiva shooting that ship, a planet was destroyed—I was in a coma for that one—cannibals shot us down. Oh, and in between all that we had calibrations again which was a different kind of intense. [And her first time experiencing it.] It seems like things have kind of evened out again. Maybe? Oh, except for the zombie outbreak on the last way station.

Ah, I see. I admit the idea of another fleet intrigues me. Was there anything significant you learned that might apply to us? Though if you were distracted at the time, it's understandable if not.

[And then he blinks, because yes indeedy that sounds intense.]

I'm glad you all seem to have come out of it all intact, more or less? [Did they?? He hopes so.] I do remember Calibrations. [Some of the things he'd seen in other minds had made him glad he wasn't a telepath. No wonder Wanda is so stressed out much of the time, if she gets even occasional glances of that sort of thing.]

Ah, and that reminds me - is this planet a new arrival, so to speak, or will we likely be here for some time?

It was right after Winn disappeared. [Hopefully that will forgive some of the distraction or at least explain it. Honestly, she was never the most engaged in these things. Coming from a space that was a shared virtual reality where she spent years in what she thought was less than a year's time it's hard for her to see much of this as real or more than flaming hoops for them to jump through. She believes in the rest of the crew, but she's never sure anyone else they meet is anything more than a very good illusion designed by their captors.]

Kurt and Remy actually died trying to save people before the planet was destroyed, but turns out death isn't so permanent here. [She hadn't known that. She did ask around about it when she arrived some since Marina shared that feature but everyone she talked to assumed death worked the way death always works. Permanently, so she assumed the matter was settled until she was very joyfully proven wrong.]

As far as the system goes, it's been about a month already, so it could be any day now, but you've probably got some time. Hoping to explore?

I understand. [That had to have been enough of a stressor for her to lose some of the finer details of what was going on. Goodness knew he'd been out of it for a few weeks after the fight in Germany, and that hadn't been the effective death of someone he loved.

He looks briefly panicked at the thought of Kurt dying, but he reminds himself she'd mentioned he was still here and looks relieved when she mentions how.] There was--I recall, there was a time someone had gone missing and reawakened on the Marsiva after some time had passed. [It's a bit fuzzy.] Was that what happened with them? Were there any, er, longer-term consequences, aside from the trauma?

[And at that he shakes his head.] Not if it's near to the end, no. I believe I'll adjust faster if we're in deep space. And--it will give me the opportunity to see how things stand with Wanda.

That sounds right. Wrath said she remembered people coming back before, but it was Wrath and with her memory and no one else talking about it, I wasn't sure I wanted to indulge the hope. [She loves Wrath, but the memory was swiss cheese at best.] As far as they've said everything is okay now though. [But would they say if they weren't? Kurt can hold things in. Remy too. But hey, much happier subject change, what are you doing here?]

Things with Wanda, huh? [She'd almost forgotten they started to get closer toward the end before. At first she thought Wanda was just visiting her more, but she was just her sidepiece! She wants the deets, red.]

[Oh, yes. He'd adored Wrath, but her memory had been chewed up and spit out by the people she had trusted the most, and it still makes him angry to think about it.] I'll have to see if they want to talk about it. That can't have been easy for any of you.

[Annnnd if a maroon guy could blush, he'd probably be blushing right about now. In fact, he takes a quick moment to look around and make sure no one else is in earshot.] Er, yes. I'd mentioned that two years had passed for me at home? And that it wasn't terribly exciting on the professional front?

The, er, personal front is another matter entirely.

You did and I meant to ask you how being an Avenger could be professionally boring, but that can wait. More about the juicy stuff. [She smiles delightedly—preemptively happy for both of her friends.]

[He ducks his head, still embarrassed.]

I will say that the Wanda here now seems to be from significantly earlier in the timeline, so I'm not assuming anything, mind.

But it seems it wasn't a fluke that we fell in love in the Fleet the last time I was here. We've been seeing each other at home as well. I--asked her to run away with me shortly before I was pulled back.

I don't know whether I should be doing the sappy kind of awing over you two in love or the sad kind of awing over you in different places right now. [That can be so hard. It can scare the other person off instead of catch them up.] A little bit of both? I'm really happy for you and really sorry she's not... wait, run away with you?

Do you mean like a romantic escapade or was there something to run from?

Er.

[Definitely not a romantic escapade. How to sum up the situation without going into boring detail?]

Techinically I should have been reporting her for failing to adhere to oversight and thus becoming an international fugitive.

Okay, that's pretty intense. The rift with Steve and the government orders? [She's heard things, but the Avengers have this stoic way of never really going into it with her.]

[He nods.] The Sokovia Accords, they're called, after Wanda's home that Ultron attempted to turn into a cataclysmic meteorite. The Avengers--and probably any other persons with extraordinary abilities they learn about--are to be overseen by a council of world leaders. It's by no means a perfect system, but it's been my opinion to follow the rules until something better can be developed.

[He glances away, shoulders slumping a little.]

But the restrictions they place on her are exceedingly harsh. It's not right to keep her a virtual prisoner and allow me freedom, simply because I have better control over my destructive ability.

The government wants to oversee people with abilities... You can't legislate against a person for being who they are. [For her it's obviously a personal topic. But it would be for anyone born differently with powers. But in her world it wasn't the governments that oppressed mutants. It was mutants who rose up and destroyed governments—civilization as they knew it and most of the planet. Apocalypse was in control, powerful, and driving a mostly mindless force of Infinite soldiers beneath him but how many mutants signed up without mind control or genetic augmentation because of the hate and harassment they faced from their elected representatives? It didn't make it right and she was decidedly not on their side, but she knows it was never easy to be a mutant. It's a little unsettling to hear Vision think any part of that is okay, but she can also understand wanting some kind of order after all the chaos she lived through.] Yeah, that's not going to go well.

I guess it didn't.

[And however he felt in the beginning it doesn't sound like he's wholly behind it now, wanting to run away and all.] Did something get destroyed accidentally? [By Wanda.]