video; un: kovacs ( ft. the 11th doctor )

[kovach]

[ he's not really in the habit to go public on here, and he's much less likely to show his face usually, but considering his intent in this, he figures it helps to show a visual. the face he wears now, a few days into their return from giva, is probably more familiar to the people here than the one he was wearing around taeum, back to its usual display of bruises and cuts, having already returned to this body by the time he'd gotten into his fight with v'rizz, wasting little time in getting damage done to it again.

his old smoking habit is back to, fingers snatching the cigarette from between his lips so he can start speaking. ]

So, some of you might've seen me with a different face this past mission. I pretty much explained it to those few what the whole deal about it is, but — since it's not really a normal thing for people, I figured I can save everybody's time from having to provide the entire backstory every time.

[ because there's only so many times he could give a combined history-science lesson. ]

Where I come from, advancements in technology have allowed the extraction of human consciousness from the physical body. It can be stored and moved like data, and mostly we keep it in these discs called stacks, implanted in the back of the neck. [ his hand reaches back, tapping at his nape. ] It stores everything that makes a person who they are — personality, thoughts, instincts, memories. Which means a person can be moved around — downloaded and uploaded — from body to body. The physical is just ... sacks of flesh we call sleeves. You can even shoot down a body, destroy the heart and all the other organs, but as long as the stack is untouched, a person can survive. Just put the data from the stack into a different sleeve and life goes on.

[ it's a lot more complicated than that, if you involve the politics and economics and morality issues, but he figures the basics is enough for now. a sigh leaves him, bringing the cigarette back in and breathing in the smoke. ]

The sleeve I'm wearing now wasn't originally mine. How I got it and why is a whole other story that's not important — [ not for a public speech, anyway. ] The sleeve some of you saw me in while at Taeum ... is the one I was born with. But just like everything else in that place, it was mostly just bullshit tricks, so you're all stuck with this face again.

Oh! [ A completely different, yet additional familiar face pops up over Kovacs’ shoulder in his usual attire, dark coat and vest and bowtie. He waves. ] Hello! Sorry to interrupt, couldn’t quite help but overhear you talking a little bit about that ol’ ‘same person, different bodies’ bit. You see, I know a little something about that. Bit different, of course, but the concept’s really quite similar —

[ Yes, he’s just going to join Kovacs now. Sup. ]

Right. What you’ve said might be a little bit confusing if you haven’t got any experience with same-person-different-bodies, and — and what? Where are your drawings? The presentation?

[ There’s a shuffling as the Doctor turns to glance in Kovacs’ direction, and then his left, his right, and up towards the ceiling for good measure. ]

Discs and sleeves and stacks and all that, basically: bodily-wodily stuff. You, and the good-looking one are one and the same. Same person, different bodies. [ There’s a brief pause, and then: ] You know what, I think we’ll need a Powerpoint.

[ having a horrid flashback of the presentation the doctors attempted with trying to explain their own mutual existence, kovacs is quick to try shooing the other man away with a cigarette-holding hand. ]

We're not doing the shitty diagram strategy. [ a pause. ] Wait — what do you mean good-looking one?



( the blue text above is a guest appearance by the eleventh doctor. feel free to address either one of them! )

Comments

video | un: m.cabrera

[naloxone]

Are you sure a Powerpoint is enough, Doctor? Don't you think throwing some pamphlets in will be even more thorough?

video — un: the.doctor ;

[lateness]

Pamphlets! That's brilliant!

They'd have to be the sort that can be transferred over the network though, eh? But that's easy.

[ He's got ideas a-brewin'. Kovacs will absolutely love it.




(Kovacs would absolutely hate it.) ]

[naloxone]

[ kovacs hates a lot to things. what's one more tiny thing to add to the list? ]

Be sure to add lots of pictures, hm? Maybe even get him to pose for a few. For all the visual learners, you know.

[kovach]

[ hey, hey — he's here too. ]

Don't do that.

[ he's definitely giving her a disapproving face since he knows she knows what she does by encouraging this. ]

[naloxone]

[ she can't lie, but she can certainly feign innocence when she's motivated enough.

turns out being a lil shit is pretty good motivation. ]

He wants to help. It'd save you having to explain it again, right?

video; un: stargirl

[bossily]

[Her boys being clever and informative and charming together in one place. She really can't wipe the smile off her face. She knows plenty now about stacks and sleeves and regeneration, so she doesn't touch that part just yet.]

Careful. He really will make you a powerpoint.

[The warning comes with a laugh, eyebrows arching before she adds on:]

I don't think it's that confusing, though. You're Takeshi. No matter what your face looks like.

video — un: the.doctor ;

[lateness]

I'm thinking of composition as we speak!

[bossily]

You'll let me help, won't you? I could draw the diagrams.

[kovach]

Well, you did the pre-existing experience.

[ since clara's a hands-on witness to the nonsense that both present doctors have attempted to explain. and maybe she's one of the very few who has both a tolerance and fair understanding of it.

he sighs, giving a rub to his forehead. ]

Apparently everybody liked the other face more.

[bossily]

[She can't tell if that bothers him, or he's just making a passing comment. Either way, there's nothing wrong with a little honesty. Especially since she's encouraging the Doctor.]

Yeah? Well, I'm partial to this face.

[And everyone knows Clara's opinion is the only one that matters.]

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

So they worked out a way to put people's souls into those... stacks.

[Sabriel's voice sounds... unnerved. And suspicious.]

Sorcerers do something like that in my world- take over others bodies, to live on even after their original ones have died. The body's original inhabitant does not survive the process.

[kovach]

That almost sounds more like possession.

[ which is the sort of thing he normally wouldn't believe, but with his experiences in this place and the magic he's been a witness to, he's gotten better about having an open mind. ]

But that'd be true in my world too — if you didn't transfer someone out of a sleeve before putting someone else in. You can't have two people share a stack. Two consciousnesses would just destroy each other.

[bindsthedead]

Well. That would imply that an exorcism might restore them to their original state. Instead, they're just- replacement bodies. Alive, even if the original spirit is dead.

Until they get worn out, and the sorcerer takes a fresh one.

text; un: doctor.disco

[attackbrows]

[ That’s the thing about having two iterations of yourself. One of you is the mouthy, more sociable one bouncing about. While your future self is out there playing chess.

Behold: Kovacs.JPEG ]

[kovach]

[ he should have known to expect this one's contribution sooner or later. ]

... what the hell does that even mean?

[ that's not even close to a helpful visual. ]

[attackbrows]

[ Now you're just being picky, Kovacs. ]

I believe I have demonstrated the advanced technology of your species, transferring the conscious into one humanoid vessel body via a cat in a hat.

Sometimes pictures read louder than words.

video; un: yennefer

[choicely]

[ she's skipping through all of the nonsense about these presentations, especially since a cursory skim through the other posts seems to indicate more of a fixation on that aspect.

instead, yennefer finds herself more curious about one thing in particular: ]

Who did this body — this sleeve — belong to, before you acquired it?

[kovach]

[ really, he wants to thank yen for not stepping into the territory of cat pictures that this public explanation somehow steered into elsewhere. ]

Some guy who's currently doing prison time. Thing about this whole sleeve thing is that once you get locked up, you kind of lose all rights to the body you've got.

[ not that kovacs himself has any rights at all. ]

Promised his girl I'd get it back to him once things got sorted out though.

[choicely]

[ the primary reason she's not venturing anywhere near that discussion is that, quite frankly, she doesn't care. ]

So what happens to his — [ she pauses, to try and recall the right word in question. ] — stack, in the meantime? While you're the one using his body?

audio | un: spade

[pursuit]

Hold on... So where you're from, you don't have a spirit? Ghosts?

[ Perplexed? Yes.

Recognizing Kovacs? Nope. After all, he only knew a different face himself. ]

[kovach]

People still have souls, if that's what you're asking.

[ it's more of a complicated topic though amongst his world since it steers out of the science and more into just what people believe. ]

And plenty still die. So, ghosts — that's everywhere.

video; un: navigator

[droide]

[ ...Huh. This is actually somewhat fascinating to Elthree. ]

So humans in your galaxy have co-opted droids' ability to transfer their minds from one physical form to another.

This is cultural appropriation.

[kovach]

It's stolen tech, but it's got nothing to do with droids.

[ the situation with the elders is a whole other thing — ]

But if that's your argument, guess there's plenty of things droids stole from humans, right? Speech patterns, having an opinion, that kind of thing.

text. un: barnes.

[starer]

important question
what happens if you use a microwave?
you gonna wipe yourself?

[Look, the idea of memories being messed with will never stop being a trigger to him. But maybe he also wants to check in too. Hi, fight buddy!]

[kovach]

[ memory trauma boys that fight together always have to stick together. ]

it'd be pretty lousy tech if heating up a meal was all it took to send it to shit.

it's mostly reliable at not being affected.
direct damage is the biggest threat.