Video:

[hatestrashcans]

Hello, my lovely temporal refugees!

Quick question:

Does anybody know if we've actually answered the question of whether Porters are actually porting us or if we're actually dying each time and being re-assembled as an entirely new being on the other side? You know, basic teleportation existential question.

Also I would officially like to register a complaint that these random cold spots are bullshit and I was not made for the Arctic, thank you. What, do you expect me to morph winter coats? Normal clothes are hard enough, geez.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know: I'm Marco, I'm a shapeshifter, I'm awesome blah blah blah you get the picture.

Private to Peter Parker:

So I was just gonna ask if you were okay or good with whatever was going on with Mysterio-

[ Marco emphasizes the name because come on, a grown man calling themselves Mysterio is just sort of inherently ridiculous. At least Marco came up with the term 'Animorph' as a thirteen year old.]

But now I sort of want to know more of what's up with him, if that's cool, he's kind of starting to creep me out a bit. Just basic genre savvy rule: Anybody saying they want power so 'people will listen' gets my-

[ He stops. ]

Huh, I was gonna say 'Spidey-sense up' but that metaphor doesn't really work when talking to you, does it?

Anyway, sort of creepy, I don't know.

And if you can't or don't want to tell me, that's cool. I get it: Some information is sensitive and not my business. I won't bug you about it.

Private to Peter Parker, Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, David Alleyne, and Bart Allen ]:

And the most important question for last:

[ He gives everybody a cheesy grin. ]

LAN party?

[ He points to the screen. ]

Yes?

Obviously. Who's in? I know Tim is, but two people is a sad LAN party.

Comments

[Private To Same Group]

[helpdesk_hero]

Yeah, why not. What game? You providing snacks?

[How has David gotten adopted into the kid squad? Hopefully Barbara is a bit older. Please?]

group chat group chat

[made_up_names]

You know what a LAN party is?

[helpdesk_hero]

Peter, did you just call me OLD?

Re: [Private To Same Group]

[hatestrashcans]

I figured we'd figure out what game once I've got a headcount. Since we're all from different times and places, should pick something everybody's about on the same level with.

Yeah, I got snacks? Requests?

[ Marco doesn't even think of it as a 'kid' thing. He was raised by a nerd adult, most of the nerds he knows are adults. It's just a nerd thing. ]

video; private

[made_up_names]

Okay, I definitely wanna tell you what's going on, and that's going to happen, so don't think I'm putting you off.

But what's a LAN party?

Re: video; private

[hatestrashcans]

Oh, ow, Peter. Seriously. Way to make me feel like I need to go out and buy a walker and some dentures.

[ He smiles, obviously kidding. ]

Anyway, before the internet was awesome, people used to just bring their computers over to a friend's house and hook themselves up to the same network to play. So like playing online but you're all in the same room. Way better, because then when your tank is an idiot who doesn't protect his healer you can throw a soda can at their head.

audio;

[dragony]

You just mean the intra-city ones, right? If we were being killed and being reassembled, then it shouldn't take us nearly so long to resurrect when we die-die.

Re: audio;

[hatestrashcans]

Huh, good point.

How long does it take? Do you know?

text;

[threeisapattern]

well thanks for bringing up THAT existential nightmare

Re: text;

[hatestrashcans]

You're welcome! :D :D

Text

[lootsnshoots]

As someone who has experience in dying and being brought back AND transmaterial transportation prior to windin' up here? Not the same thing. Hope that helps!

Re: Text

[hatestrashcans]

So do you know if teleporting 'killed' you in your home timeline?

[Private to same group]

[kid_flash_found]

Uh, just pointing out before I get accused of cheating every time I pick up a controller: Superspeed means I have super-reflexes, and I'm eidetic so I remember all the details.

Co-op might be better than versus. And the more random the scenarios, the longer I have that slight disadvantage of having to adapt.

[He's just making sure everyone knows.]

Other than that, you got me.

[helpdesk_hero]

That's just an argument for us to go one on one in a tactical game. Genius versus WAY too much time to think about things. Might be fun.

Re: [Private to same group]

[bodilesswarrior]

You know, when I was a teenager, I never told anyone about having a perfect memory. [Kudos for trumping her level of maturity on that one, Bart.]

[Private To Same Group]

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara watches this whole conversation unfold with steadily building delight. It's a very welcome distraction from - well, everything else. She shoves all that to the back of her mind.]

I'm definitely in, and I love the charity idea. I've researched a lot of the ones here already.

Re: [Private To Same Group]

[hatestrashcans]

Great! I'll leave that research to you since I'm the selfish asshole who would've kept the money.

Let me know if you have any snack requests. So far for real food we've got pizza and stir fry.

[pullsheavendown]

Pretty sure we'd notice if we died.

[Would they, though? Would they really?]

What can you shift into?

[hatestrashcans]

But that's the thing! You wouldn't! Because 'you' would have been made with the memories of the former 'you' but before the former you's death so the death memory wouldn't transfer!

[ Look, Marco's dad is really nerdy and this is his idea of normal conversation. ]

Any animal with DNA if I acquire it first. Right now I've got about 30.

text

[fremde]

You're talking about quantum teleportation. This isn't the same as death. The atoms of your body are constantly being replaced by new atoms, yet you don't refer to this as an endless cycle of death and rebirth.

In quantum teleportation, also, your atoms are being replaced but not destroyed. Information is transferred from one particle to another, making the "new" particle also the original particle, because the identity of indiscernibles principle holds that there cannot simultaneously exist two identical entities with identical properties.

You have been rewritten onto new particles, but in essence and structure, you remain as you always were.

Re: text

[hatestrashcans]

Yes, but normally your atoms are replaced one by one, not all at once. The argument is that there's continuity involved.

Does it? I'm going to look that up. Dad hasn't talked about that yet.

I get what you're saying about the information transferring, since information can't be created or destroyed, right? But who says that 'you' are the information and not the physical matter?

[Group Private]

[notafraidofyou]

I am super in. Obviously.

This is going to be awesome, and I see that no one has volunteered the little pizza rolls that you heat up in the oven if you're classy or the microwave if you're impatient, so I volunteer to bring those.

Re: [Group Private]

[hatestrashcans]

True. We also don't have Bagel Bites.

Now I want a gathering where all the food is just different presentations of pizza.

God bless America.

text;

[112ounces]

You mean you get your clothes messed up when you do . . . whatever? Like werewolves in the movies?

[ Shifting, morphing, whatever it's called. ]

Re: text;

[hatestrashcans]

Not messed up. It's just that animals don't have clothes, so I have to remember to do clothes when I turn back, and the more clothes there are, the harder it is to do. I have blueprints in my head of how to turn into animals or myself, but clothes don't have DNA.

A winter coat would be really hard. So would a ballgown.