fatemarked | oo1. video. / let's get this party started;

oo1. video. / let's get this party started;

[ There's a young person on the screen of the first broadcast since the new batch arrived. Other older members have used the network for their own communication, of course, but this one has all the hallmarks of a freshfaced, uncomfortable but trying newbie. ]

Um... so, what are we supposed to do here? I had a job back home... and I know—once we're assigned we might have more to do, but as it is, I'm just...

[ Beat. Casey's face turns a little red. ]

Right, my name is Casey. Everything here is a little weird for me — from what I understand, nothing here is powered by magic? Ah, but I guess I might be the weird one. No one else has said anything. My point was, it feels a lot like coming into something halfway. Where do we start? Is this it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Er... like a dragon?

[ Casey pauses, rolls their lips together to keep from saying something probably not all that nice overall. ]

No, um... dragons are draconic, but so are yokai. They're different draconic races.

[Well, it's been a pretty long time since he had time to play Elfquest, or Wizards and Warlocks, so he's not totally up on the different races of dragons.]

...I did not know that. There aren't all that many in my world. If there are any at all.

[He hasn't met any, but... the world is weird. He won't rule it out.]

Maybe they're hiding.

[ More likely than you think, Tim. ]

Guess that means no, though... But—Batman?

Could be. Stranger things have happened.

[A lot stranger.]

Well, he dresses up in a bat costume. I guess she could be a draconic [no], but from what I've heard he doesn't have any special powers or anything...

Like what?

[ Not to say that dragons hiding is strange. It's really not. Now, though, they're curious. ]

And no magic, either... Why, uh, why a bat costume?

[blink] Oh. Uh. Well, things get pretty weird for the Justice League, I guess. Alternate earths, aliens, ageswapping... stuff like that.

As for Batman... I don't know. I guess criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot. [I literally cannot help myself.] I think it's just to be scary.

Justice League? You mean, like... the police...?

[ That sounds rather... exciting... ]

Oh. I guess bats could be scary.

Um. More like... an organized group of mostly sanctioned vigilantes. [He says 'mostly.' Because... technically they're extralegal, but the government doesn't really have anyone else to deal with the things that the League and Titans and so on deal with, so...] The police are separate.

To some people, I guess. I... well, Batman's been around and taking care of my city for as long as I can remember, so I guess I don't find bats all that scary at this point.

Special forces vigilantes...? [ That's what it sounds like. Why is that what it sounds like??? ]

Huh. So maybe it's not the fact that he's dressed like a bat so much as despite that he's dressed like a bat...

I guess? [How do you explain the Justice League to someone out of universe?] Except... they're more... organized by themselves, rather than a specific government.

For me, yeah. But I guess he scares the crap out of the bad guys, which I am totally not complaining about, so. [shrug] I guess it works for him?

Um, a militia? Kind of? [ They're trying. so hard. to understand all this. ]

Sure... Sorry—we don't really have any costumed vigilantes where I'm from. Not like that...

[Have a sort of wry laugh.]

My world is pretty much crawling with them. There's generally at least one to every major city, and several teams.

... but why?

[Well, that brings Tim up short. He's never really considered that question before. It's just how it is.]

...Um. Because they're needed? I guess?

If they're needed, wouldn't it be easier to get official sanction? Or...

[ Casey really doesn't know, actually, but that just seems really weird. Powerful costumed vigilantes working on their own for no discernible reason? ]

[He only just manages to hold back the almost automatic 'not in Gotham,' but that would involve a pretty lengthy discussion of his city's rather corrupt politics, and that's probably not important right now. It also doesn't explain... Basically everywhere else.]

Well, there are some things that the police and the armed forces aren't really equipped to deal with. That's where our superheroes come in. To deal with the things that the rest of us just can't.

You just said it now, though. The police and armed forces are both official structures meant to deal with things on different levels, so why not—um, superheroes?

[ so confused ]

Um.

[How to go about this without giving himself away?]

I think--initially--there wasn't a lot of trust, when the superheroes started crawling out of the woodwork. So they got used to doing things on their own. And then they started working together, and got used to doing it without having to answer to any particular government--the teams go all over the world, rather than staying in one place. The Justice League is based in space these days.

In space?!

Yes? The Watchtower is a space station. It orbits the earth.

Whoa...

[ Space travel is not quite a thing yet for Casey's world. Satellites and the like are unnecessary for transfer of information when there's magic as a medium, after all! ]

That's normal?

Space travel is becoming more common, I guess. It's not in the purview of most people, but the hero types seem to do enough of it. There are plenty of them that aren't even from Earth at all.

Huh? Like... aliens? Those are real?

[He nods.]

In my universe, anyway. One of our world's greatest heroes was born on a different planet.

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

Re: video;

video;