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[Dean's been around a while now, long enough to get settled in and learn how to work the stove, so he figures it's about the right time to give the Tranquility a formal greeting. Video feed opens up to Dean clearly trying to keep himself in frame, chin ducking once he's sure everything's set up and running.]

For anyone I haven't met yet, which... I'm sure is probably most of you, my name's Dean Winchester.

[It sounds a little rehearsed. He's run it through his head a few times, and it drags on a little as the words spill out.]

I'm, uh... well, apparently I'm not exactly new here, but for all intents and purposes, let's just go with that. If I knew you any more than, say, a month ago, I hate to break it to you, but all that's pretty much gone now. Blank slate. Sorry.

[He doesn't seem all that perturbed by it, but he's been through it too often to really put a lot of heart in the sentiment. He does offer up a tight sort of grimace in apology, but a second later he plows on. His eyes duck down for a second, and then they're back on the camera.]

I've got a couple of questions for anyone who thinks they can answer them. First of all- has anyone ever been anywhere before this? I'm not talking about back home on Earth, or... wherever it is you're from originally. I mean, has anyone ever been bounced to another dimension, or universe, or... something like this ship, but different? Possibly 80% less Star Trek?

[There's a sort of awkward pause there, and it looks like he wants to extrapolate on that. His lips twitch, and then he shakes his head, evidently changing his mind.]

Second off, does anyone know anything about tech crap? See, I got this...

[The camera jiggles a little as his head ducks, he searches through his pockets to find another phone. It isn't a ship-designated communicator, but it looks similar. He holds it up irreverently, flipping it back and forth to display it.]

This other thing, but it's... [He gives it a floppy shake] dead as a doornail, and I can't exactly pick up a charger from the nearest Apple store, so. If anyone has any ideas on how to give it some juice, I'd appreciate it. I'd like to get some crap off of it.

[It's shoved absently back into his jacket pocket.]

Oh, and uh- one last thing. Any word on why some people aren't popping out of the space womb tube things? Is there an ETA on that, or is it step one to getting shipped back home? What's the deal with that?

[It's asked with a sort of consternated, displeased expression. Obviously his phone isn't going to answer him, so after a weird second, he shrugs it off. Scratches awkwardly at his cheek.]

That's pretty much it. Anything you got for me would just be... awesome. Over and out.

[The camera gets a lovely second of vertigo wherein he shifts the view from his face to his boots before he can finally cut the feed.]

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[He holds up his hands defensively.]

I'm not saying we do it now for nothing.

[Jeeze, he can wait a few weeks or whatever for the guy to pop back out again. Cut him a little slack.]

I'm saying if- hell, I don't know, we start losing oxygen and half the ship's on fire, we're gonna wanna be able to crack people out of those bad boys and shove 'em into an escape shuttle. Just something to think about later on.

Fair enough. Still worth asking engineering and medical what they think about the process. Might be a safe way to disengage them. It's kinda outta my wheelhouse.

[He tilts his head in reluctant agreement.]

Yeah, alright. Fair enough. Talk to the experts before I take a buzz saw to it. I'll keep that in mind.

[What follows is something of a tense, awkward silence. He's not sure how to act around here anymore, considering their last conversation. It has him pursing his lips unhappily, arms crossing over his chest.]

How you holdin' up?

[ Something flutters in her expression. A part of her wants to call him on it, tell him asking about her wellbeing is breaking their deal. That doesn't throw aside whatever attachment he'd felt for the Emma who he'd called a friend in Wonderland. On the other side of it, though, she doesn't find herself minding as much as she might have a year ago.

Where the horrors of the ship might turn people hard, cold, or paranoid, Emma has actually softened some. With all those horrors come persistent people just like Dean. ]

Aside from the coma, fine. You didn't run into any especially hazardous sleepwalkers last jump, did you?

[Hey, it's a perfectly valid question to ask a relative stranger. How you doin' is a universal pleasantry, and just because there might be a slight undertone of familiarity doesn't mean... anything. It doesn't mean jack squat.

So.

Shove it.

Maybe Wonderland's done some similar softening on Dean's end. He snorts a little at the question.]

You kidding me? I hoarded beef jerky and kept the door locked. I was not about to jump in the middle of that pack of roaming wet dreams and angst.

[ Her face says wow that was more graphic than it needed to be whY ARE you talking about wet dreams. Maybe she's only making it uncomfortable because of one-sided context, but there's a slight grimace. All the same, shakes it quickly, blinking fast. ]

Right.

[ Dude. ]

Probably a good call. That kinda thing happen in Wonderland? [ She's just trying to get a feel for how similar they really were—which is almost like going back on topic to the post, but really more like prodding at all that time she doesn't remember anything about. Whoops. Dealbreaking all around. ]

[Wow Emma, why so sensitive? It's almost like you're hiding something. Not that he notices, he's too preoccupied by how freaking weird this whole thing is, and trying not to give a crap.

He offers a noncommittal shrug.]

Like clockwork. Every couple of weeks, some new bullcrap would pop up.

[He scratches absently at the back of his neck.]

The general consensus was the whole place was... basically fueled by memories, or... or pieces of us, and when it needed to recharge, it sucked a memory out from someone at random. Whatever memory it snagged, it would put the rest of the mansion through something similar. Sometimes it was a picnic. [Literally.] Sometimes it was hell. [Also literally.]

Mansion?

[ Her brow furrows with genuine interest. This is Wonderland like she's never heard it before. And yet, she finds herself thinking back on Jefferson's home. Drugged tea. Huge mansion.

Kidnapping and assault.

Not exactly the stuff of fairytales. ]

[He's thrown off by the question for a second, until he realizes how odd it sounds from an outside perspective.]

Uh, yeah. It was pretty huge, ten stories tall, not sure how wide. I'm pretty sure it was alive, like this ship.

[He settles back in his seat as he thinks about it.]

Straight up magical, too. The rooms redecorated themselves, the closets were... You could pretty much think about whatever you wanted, open the closet door, and it'd be there.

[Unless you were thinking about busty asian twins, in which case you'd get two identical half-deflated blow-up dolls and six hundred condoms, because apparently the closets had a screwed up and unhilarious sense of humor.]

Had a pool, a diner, a bar. Pretty much anything you could want, all shoved into the same house.

So wait. When you said you lived in Wonderland for a year, you're telling me you never left the house in that time?

[ Does that sound judgy? It sounds a little judgy. And incredulous. ]

[Excuse him while he pulls a face.]

Don't you go putting words in my mouth, Mrs. No Indoor Plumbing.

[Huff huff. Always have to assume the worst, don't you?]

There was a forest, a few fields, not a whole lot to write home about. A dock, too, but you couldn't go far out in the water without getting drug back. Same for the woods. The whole place was practically in a bubble, you couldn't get out.

[ woW MISS. ]

Sounds like Neverland. I mean, we never tried to push the boundaries, but you could see it was just one island. Portal in, portal out.

[He gives her a solid nod.]

Portal in, portal out.

[He agrees, though it was... less of a portal and more of a they had no idea.]

Crappy, horrible, traumatic events aside, it was a pretty sweet set up.

Well, it's not all that different here. Food's probably worse on the Tranquility— at least if you don't wanna go vegan. [ And given that Dean had been the poster child for Fight Club, she can't imagine he's big with the veganism. ]

[Yeah, no, about that. The face he pulls is 100% anti-vegan sentiment.]

No. No, no, no, no, no I'd rather eat all the cows. Every cow. Seriously. Space cow. Mars cow. Purple Cow. Screw that plant crap.

[Though, the only thing he'd found that even remotely resembled meat ended up tasting like bananas, so. He's not so sure he hasn't accidentally gone that route already.

But hold up, he's just going to circle this conversation around really quick.]

What's with the sudden questions about my origin story?

We don't have an overabundance of space cow. But there's canned ... something.

[ But she's quickly distracted from diet woes by his question, and Emma's quick to raise one hand in passive surrender. ]

You're the one who brought up Wonderland. I was just trying to get an idea of how different it was from here. I mean you said it was a lot alike, it could help us to figure out how much so.

[He squints a little, thinking it over. He's not above canned meat, god knows he's had his fair share of spamwiches, but canned something?

He's between a rock and a hard can. It's a tough call.

He relaxes a little at the explanation, even if he doesn't seem fully convinced.]

It's kinda like heaven and hell- completely different landscape, but the rules ain't all that different. At least from what I can see. Memory loss, people coming and going, no way to get home.

[And then he pauses, something a frown on his face.]

Let me ask you something- anybody ever die here?

Yeah.

[ She grows rather somber, dropping her gaze. ]

A fair few.

[...Crap. Probably could have been a little more sensitive about that or something. He scratches absently at his cheek.]

Judging by the puppy eyes, I guess they stay dead here.

[He mutters unhappily. Weird as it sounds, that's going to take some getting used to again. He'd managed to get to a whole new level of reckless in Wonderland.]

You say that like it's surprising somehow.

Freakily enough, yeah, it kind of is. Things were a little different in Wonderland- the dead didn't really stay dead.

[A pause, and he holds up a hand.]

But not in the, you know, Walking Dead way.

I'm having a hard time imagining another way.

[ But, on the other hand— ]

Sometimes, people who ... who were dead back home. They come back here. But never after they've died on the ship.

[His lips purse.]

Yeah, no, we got our fair share of post-death arrivals, but it's a little... different. Either way, that's important information for everyday life. Thanks for the intel.

[Even if it was... slightly awkward and a little weird. At least he won't go throwing himself in front of any unnecessary bullets.]

There is one thing ... [ Her brow furrows. ] Commander Shepard died. She was on board, missed the jump. When she came back, it's like ... It's like she's someone else entirely. Doesn't remember the ship, looks different. But she's the same woman. It might be something like what you saw in Wonderland, but I don't know.

[His brow furrows, too.

...He never learned what happened to people who made it beyond the fifth and final death back in wonderland, maybe it's something like that.

Maybe. Or maybe it's nothing.]

Commander Shepard.

[He repeats the name and, after a pause, finally nods.]

I'll look into it.

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