Yo ho, me hearties? [video] (set after steampunk pirates, but before Earth field trip])

[iamresponding]

[Rich looks a little confused. Just a little. He's lived too weird a life to look a lot confused after something like this. But he's at least a little confused about suddenly being a pirate and then turning around and finding himself back in his quarters without even a boom or flashy lights or anything. ]

So, this may, uh, seem like a really odd question.

But who else remembers being a pirate?

Comments

[iamresponding]

I didn't really see everyone there, so I don't know for sure, but no one else has said they were put on the pirate side yet.

[He considers that maybe Thad is worried it means something about him. Hell, for all Rich knows, maybe the kid was a villain back home, and he's worried about being seen that way now. Whatever the case, it doesn't matter.]

Listen, kiddo, I don't know what your history is back home in your universe, hero or villian or civilian, but even if some weird cosmic being or whatever it was got it into their head to shove you into the villain role in there, it doesn't matter. What matters is you've been cooperating with the heroes out here.

Whatever was behind that was purposefully messing with our heads. Experimenting with us. Playing games, you know? Manipulating us. The choices it made says more about It than us.

[mirror_soldier]

[Thad made a quiet noncommittal sound. If what Rich said struck any chords he wasn't letting it show.]

What my placement was meant to imply isn't what bothers me. Or at least, I'm more concerned with the idea that whatever put us there did set out to mess with us or gauge our reactions.

Do you remember it giving you instructions or information when you were pulled in to...whatever that was? Pocket universe? Alternet reality? I was given the impression it was a simulation, but all things considered, I don't know if I trust that.

[iamresponding]

Mmm. [Rich nods in agreement. He's concerned over the intended manipulation, too, and also wondering what it means.]

In my head, I got this...information. And instructions. I think it was...real. It didn't seem like a sim. It was like I knew it was real. Or whatever put us in it wanted us to think it was real.

I think it wanted us to react to it like it was reality, so that our reactions weren't fake.

Kid Q and them aren't chiming in but they might be off on a mission. Soon as they're back, we need to tell them about this, see if it sounds like any of their villains.