exsilium | video.

Hi, I'm Kate Bishop, and I'm a superhero. [There's a pause before she goes on.] There's a chance that doesn't mean much to many of you. There may even be some of you questioning the legality of vigilantes, but I'm not the type that goes too far. There's a reason why we kind of prefer "superhero" over "vigilante" anyway. For those of you who do know them, I'm an Avenger. But that's meaningless here. And I'm not really here to ... brag, either.

[Her voice is warm either way. There's a reason why she's here.]

Back home, I've got a like-minded group that tends to go on missions like the ones here. I was hoping to form something like that. It won't be the same, but I've got a couple teammates and not the whole set. We'd do pretty well for ourselves, but we need a couple more helping hands. So that's why I'm here. Well, partly.

[There is a question she has about this whole alternate earth business, but she'll get to it. She really wants a cohesive unit working together, as that seems to be the best way to proceed forward.]

The other goal I'd like for our group is to mobilize and help people in need. I can do this myself, and I'm planning on it, but more hands at the deck might help out. We don't just need this in missions, and from what I've read, we don't know what's gonna come next. I know it's risky to put together a group like this with how people come and go, but I'm prepared to deal with that. Plus, I don't just back down from something. I'm kind of stubborn that way.

If you've already got something like this going and wouldn't mind a few more people, I'd love to chat with you. I'm an archer mostly, but I have other gifts. One member is a ... [a trickster? How does one even sell Loki?] ... well, I'm sure he's good at something. And the final is an alien with advanced knowledge of technology that he might share. He's also got bug DNA and is extremely flexible. [That last bit. She really had to add that last bit.] So let me know.

The other question is: in the annals of this world, have people of Earth found evidence that they existed? Back home, alternate Earths like this usually mean ... alternate versions of us, which can either be a good thing, or a very, very bad thing. I'm thinking bad, considering the state of things. I was just wondering.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

THANK FUCK.
NOT THAT IT CHANGES ANYTHING, BUT I'VE BEEN GETTING TIRED OF HAVING TO EXPLAIN IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
PERSONALLY I'VE DEDICATED MYSELF TO HAVING NO PART IN ANY OF IT THAT ISN'T TELLING THE INITIATIVE TO GO FORNICATE WITH A RAILROAD SPIKE.

Yeah, I've actually had to a couple times already.

But I can't leave people to lose their world. Compulsive hero, can't kick the habit, etc.

HONESTLY, THEY'VE PRETTY MUCH ALREADY LOST IT.
THE WAY THINGS ARE LOOKING, IT MIGHT BE IN THEIR BEST INTERESTS TO *NEVER* WIN THIS WAR.
ONCE THEY STOP SPLITTING THE TIMELINE, THERE WON'T BE ANYTHING TO PREVENT THEIR DOOM FROM CATCHING UP TO THEM.

[If only Kate knew about Age of Ultron. If only.]

How would that work? That might be the limit of my knowledge on the subject.

WELL, THIS IS MORE A THEORY THAN ANYTHING ELSE
TIME WASN'T MY ASPECT, SO ALL MY KNOWLEDGE ON IT IS EITHER VIA EXPERIENCE USING A TRANSTIMELINE CHAT CLIENT AND ALL THE RESULTING MIGRAINES, AND THE MISCELLANEOUS "SPOOKY" TIDBITS OF CONTEXT-FREE INFORMATION OUR RESIDENT TIME TRAVELING ROBOT FRIEND DEIGNED TO GIVE ME.
BUT AS FAR AS I'M AWARE, ONCE YOU'RE DOOMED, YOU CAN'T RETURN TO THE ALPHA TIMELINE. THERE'S NO WAY TO REVERSE IT, AND NO WAY TO ESCAPE IT. EVENTUALLY PARADOX SPACE WILL DISPOSE OF YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH TO INHABIT THE WASTE OF COSMIC SPACE THAT HAPPENS TO BE YOUR TIMELINE.
BUT THEY'VE BEEN DOING THIS TIME TRAVEL BUSINESS FOR A WHILE HERE. LONGER THAN I THINK YOU COULD EXPECT THEM TO.
WHICH LEADS ME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THEY'VE MANAGED TO STAVE OFF OBLITERATION THROUGH THE REPEATED CREATION OF NEW TIMELINES.
IT'S LIKE, IF THIS TIMELINE IS A BOMB WAITING TO GO OFF, SPLINTERING IT RESETS THE COUNTDOWN.

All right, I'm back on board in understanding. A friend of mine had to build a thing into his time-traveling suit (just go with it) that allowed him to see the possibilities before he went and traveled. It gave him the ability to remain in one place without any drastic effects or altering world as we know it (as his future self became a supervillain). If we had him here, he'd be a great help, as I think he'd be good at stabilizing, only I'm not sure how stable he'd be if we got him (for reasons not connected to this timeline business, mostly).

[The "mostly" being "no you can't bring Cassie back from the dead, even if I wish you could, too." She does pause in her typing here, even if Karkat can't see that (but he might ... know since they technically live together).]

When I went dimensional hopping, those other worlds were "bad ideas," things that shouldn't be real, or come to pass, and they're doomed timelines, too. They're the bad ideas, the places that went bad partly because we went bad and doomed them. It wasn't exactly great to see, and in some ways, this place is better in comparison.

In others ... not quite.

But I think the general idea is that the bad ideas wouldn't come to do anything. Still, I'm stuck or confused as to why we can continue to run missions, remain (as far as we're aware) unaffected by all these terrible ideas, and see the world build up or fall down around us. Either way, it's difficult to forget that there is a timeline where (from what I've learned) a bunch of people died in a nuclear strike because there was no saving that world.

It goes along with "necessary evil," but doing what I do, it's generally supposed to stop those things from coming to pass.

WELL, THERE'S REALLY NOTHING *STOPPING* YOU FROM CONTINUING TO MANIPULATE TIME, EVEN IF YOU'RE DOOMED, AS FAR AS I'M AWARE.
AS FOR REMAINING UNAFFECTED, I THINK IT'S DUE TO THE FACT THAT *WE'RE* THE ONES WHO WERE MANIPULATING TIME.
WE AREN'T REWRITTEN THE WAY THE NATIVES HERE ARE BECAUSE WE'RE THE ONES DOING THE REWRITING.
THE FACT THAT WE COME FROM DIFFERENT UNIVERSES MAY ALSO PLAY A PART. I HAVE MY SUSPICIONS REGARDING HOW SANCTIONED BY PARADOX SPACE OUR ABDUCTIONS ARE, AS WELL.
YOU CAN'T REALLY STOP AWFUL THINGS FROM HAPPENING, THOUGH, SORRY TO SAY.
WHAT PEOPLE HERE NEED TO REALIZE IS THAT THEIR PERSONAL PLACEMENT IN THE TIMELINE MEANS VERY LITTLE, IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS.
I'VE TALKED TO BOTH MY PAST AND FUTURE SELVES, AND ALTHOUGH IT WAS AN ENTIRELY REGRETTABLE EXPERIENCE THAT I HAVE NO WISH TO REPEAT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, IT TAUGHT ME SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY THIS SHIT WORKS.
PAST YOU, CURRENT YOU, FUTURE YOU
THEY ALL EXIST. AND EVERY SINGLE ITERATION OF YOU EXISTS AND PERCEIVES THEMSELVES AS THE "CURRENT VERSION".
LIKE, IF I'M TALKING TO FUTURE ME, EVEN THOUGH I'M "CCG" (CURRENT ME) AND HE'S "FCG" (FUTURE ME), TO HIM, *HE'S* "CCG" AND I'M "PCG" (PAST ME).
HE'S ALSO A NUBHUMPING ASSLORD, BUT DETAILS.
YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE FUTURE, BECAUSE THE FUTURE IS ONLY "THE FUTURE" FROM *YOUR* PERSPECTIVE. AND THE SAME GOES FOR THE PAST.
THE TIMELINE IS NOT THIS IN-PROGRESS THING THAT YOU CAN MANIPULATE THE COURSE OF.
IT'S ALL ALREADY THERE. LIKE A BUNCH OF POINTS TO CHOOSE FROM.
AND ATTEMPTING TO CHANGE IT OR DEVIATE FROM WHAT'S "SUPPOSED" TO HAPPEN, WHETHER IT'S FOR THE BETTER OR WORSE, COMES WITH A PRICE.
YOU CAN CHANGE IT.
BUT YOU WON'T LIVE TO ENJOY IT.
REALLY THE ENTIRE THING IS BULLSHIT, I'D ADVISE NOT THINKING TOO HEAVILY ON IT. YOU'LL JUST SEND YOURSELF INTO AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS AND WIG THE FUCK OUT OVER WHETHER OR NOT FREE WILL EVEN EXISTS AND IF ANYTHING YOU DO WAS EVER AUTHENTICALLY YOUR CHOICE OR IF IT WAS JUST WHAT PARADOX SPACE "NEEDED" TO HAPPEN TO FURTHER THE TIMELINE.

I'm not wigging out. No chance of it.

[It's her special talent that only flags on the very, very rare occasion.]

But it does make me wonder if there's a way to return to step one, launch a surprising but very directed all-out attack against the United Earth, and cut this out.

It'd save everyone else the headaches related to time travel.

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