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[ The video turns on to a view of a man’s face, and those observant enough to notice nitpicky details might realize that this is a man who’s familiar with and comfortable using strange bits of technology. There’s no fear in his eyes, no outward confusion or panic. He looks calm and in control, and when he speaks, he sounds like it, too. ]

Hello. My name’s Steve Rogers and I just recently arrived from a city called New York. I was debriefed about the situation and I wanted to offer my help to anyone who needs it.

[ He pauses for a moment as he collects his thoughts. These days, it’s not often that he goes somewhere that people aren’t at least slightly familiar with who he is. Providing a brief resume is a somewhat novel experience. ]

I’ve been a soldier for a long time, but I’m also good with my hands. Construction, farming, hunting, good old-fashioned heavy lifting, I can help with that. I can speak a number of languages, too, if anyone needs translations done. I know I’m new, but I want to pull my weight. So if you know anyone who might need a hand with something, let me know.

[ Offering a faint smile, he gives the camera a short nod. ]

Thanks for your time.

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[ Bucky’s reticence gets a sideways glance, but he doesn’t inquire further. Perhaps Bruce told him of the Hulk and swore him to secrecy. Perhaps it’s something else. Either way, Steve won’t try to pry it out of him. Secrets have a way of coming back to haunt their keepers in the worst possible ways, and maybe that ought to be proof enough that none of them should keep them, but some lessons never truly sink in.

Not even with Steve, who decides to say no more about the future and what it holds for Bucky. ]

Can you tell me then of the efforts being made to get home?

[ Assuming anyone’s making them. ]

[He notices the glance, and just shrugs in response before offering a slightly guilty-sounding explanation, because he usually tells Steve everything and he usually never has a problem with it.] Ask him yourself. He'll tell you if he wants to, but he's practically the only person here besides you and Toro that I actually like. ['Besides you guys, he's the only one I can trust.'

But then he sighs, glancing up at the sky for a minute.] Hell if I really know. Nobody tells me much, I don't think I've made enough connections yet. Toro and I kinda had to lay low. Some people have been trying to get the turtle better, science types, but I don't think it's done a whole lot. It swam into some nicer waters once, and seemed to get a little better; everyone was really relaxed and the kedan threw a big party. But after that it sorta declined again, though they haven't been as hostile toward us as they were. Then the satellite crashed to the shell.

There's more goin' on than I know, Steve. A lot more. The kedan don't really know anything, I've been listening, and the Emperor ain't talkin', far as I know.

[ He lets the subject of Bruce drop, unwilling to get too tangled up in sorting out what's known about him by the population here and what's not. The last thing Steve wants is to out him as the Hulk if he's trying to keep a low profile. ]

Then it sounds like that's the plan. Find out what nobody wants to say and figure out how to heal the turtle.

[ Unless it's dying and can't be saved. He doesn't want to say that yet, wants to at least try to approach this with some optimism. ]

Does anyone know how it decides where to go? If those waters made it feel better, why doesn't it go back?

[It's a little late for that, sadly. None of them have really been able to keep secrets about themselves here, and Bucky and Bruce are both a bit bitter about that.]

Somethin' like that. Easier said than done. They say we were brought here to fight something, maybe that's it. Or maybe it's just a symptom of whatever it is getting stronger.

Far as I know, it goes where it wants to. I don't think it actually got any better then, I think it was just a... a bandage. The kedan were a little nicer after but in the long run that's all that changed. And I don't know why the Emperor's not gettin' help from other settlements. It stopped by this city a while back, Atam, for supplies, and they didn't seem to like anybody but... I dunno. I was never good at mysteries.

I can't say I am either. I'd rather be a soldier than a detective.

[ But he's had some experience being one. Not enough to make him great at it, he'll never been at Fury's caliber as far as solving mysteries is concerned. Still, he can give it a try. ]

The other settlements. Are they on turtles too? Or is there actually land in this world?

[ He pauses as another thought forms. It's a little crazy, but so is everything else going on here. ]

Has anyone tried communicating with the turtle?

You and me both, buddy. [Too bad Nick isn't around. Apparently he's gotten good at the whole information thing.]

No. I think this one's the last one of its kind. I guess the mainland is just... made up of dead ones or something. [A shrug.] One person made a post about it way before I got here. I don't think he could really talk to it because it was way too old or something. And then people a while later were saying stuff about having weird, peaceful dreams, but I never got any nighttime visitors personally.

Dreams?

[ That almost sounds like psychic projections. Of course, he’s not an expert on psychics, but he’s been around them often enough. ]

Maybe it’s possible that the turtle communicates through telepathy. Maybe we just need to find a powerful telepath. Xavier, maybe. He’s here. He’s younger than I remember, but he was the strongest telepath in the world in the future. Have you met him?

Could be. But talking to it normal-like, normal for telepathy or whatever the hell it was, didn't seem to work out too good for the first guy. Maybe it has to be through dreams. [He just shrugs and shakes his head once.] Nope. Never heard of him. Might have seen him on the network once but I didn't bother to reply.

He's a good man. One of the greatest.

[ And he was cut down in front of Steve by his own student. By a man that might have been Xavier's own son, for how close they'd once been. Steve doesn't think that he will ever forget the sudden silence as he fell. Or the heat of the flames that helped to bring him down. ]

Dreams, then. We can start there. There are so many people here, there's got to be someone who can navigate the dreams of others.

I'll take your word for it, then. [Anybody Steve thinks is good has to be alright, and though he says it casually, he means it; that's really no surprise, though, considering he'd follow Steve through the gates of hell if he had to.

He just chuckles, shoving his hands into his pockets.] Day one and you're already comin' up with a plan. Same old Steve.

[ That makes him laugh. It's a low chuckle under his breath, but it's genuinely amused. ]

You expected someone different? Don't worry. Seventy years doesn't change a man that much.

[ And in Steve's case, it hasn't really changed him at all. ]

I dunno what I expected, honestly. [He gives him a sideways glance.] Seventy years is a long damn time, and you've got all these new people hangin' around, a new team, a new world with stuff like the "internet" and you can't say dame anymore...

You can say it, you just have to ready for the looks of people who either don't know what it means or think you're old-fashioned.

[ Which is what everyone thinks of Steve, so he's gotten used to it. ]

It takes a lot of adjusting, pal. I'm not going to deny it. But it can be done. And weird as it is at first, the internet's not so hard to figure out.

Really? 'Cause I got a lecture and got told I was sexist. You don't know embarrassing until you get treated like somebody's grandpa. [It comes out an irritable grumble, because it still rankles a little, that somebody thought him that close-minded.]

Doesn't really matter for me, I figure. I'm not gettin' outta here, and if I do I'm just gettin' frozen and I probably won't remember this turtle adventure anyway.

If it's any consolation, everyone treats me like their grandpa. It's a little... awkward.

[ Especially when it comes to those dames in question. The levity dries up at what Bucky says next, though, and Steve immediately shakes his head. ]

Nobody gets left behind. If you're staying, I'll be right here with you.

Hey, you brought it on yourself, Team Dad. [He remarks with a little half grin and a light punch to the arm.] If you'da acted your age more often and learned from me how to have fun...

[But then he gives Steve a sideways glance and a slight shrug.] Probably doesn't work like that. Besides, the future needs you. Supposedly I'm there anyway, right? Just... bigger.

Think it's too late to teach an old dog new tricks?

[ Making jokes about being a senior citizen all the time probably isn't helping his case, but he doesn't have to tell Bucky about that.

And he's probably right. It probably doesn't work that way. But Steve hasn't been letting people tell him what is and isn't impossible since day one. He's not about to start now. ]

I think you'd be surprised at how malleable the space-time continuum actually is. [ A beat, and he adds; ] There and dating a woman so beautiful and talented, I think you make a lot of guys jealous.

Nah, stick with me, pal, and we'll go places. [The grin settles comfortably on his face, and he rests his hands behind his head, watching the bustle of people going about their business for a moment.

His eyes take on a slightly sad cast when Steve mentions a girlfriend, though. He can put two and two together, he knows what him being frozen for decades probably meant for the girl he wanted to go back for after the war was over. It's been a little over a year since he's seen her, and he'd never really talked about her, but he'd always had it in his head that he'd get to see her again when they'd ousted the Nazis from Germany.] Sounds swell. So what do we need a malleable space-time continuum for anyway, then?

[ Steve can relate. He's left so many behind, and even though he's gotten to see some of them again, there are others - like Peggy - who he's had to come to grips with losing. It seems like time marches on for everyone but him.

He doesn't dwell on it now. He can't. For now, he simply tries to enjoy the time they have like this. ]

Speaking of going places, is there anywhere to go on a turtle? Seems like it'd be a little limited on exciting things to do.

[The change in subject is welcome. It's still hard to think about, waking up decades in the future and getting used to a new world and new people. It had almost been easier thinking he was just dead. After all, death was an occupational hazard of being in the Army, of being on the front lines as much as Bucky was. He'd made plans for after the war like everyone else, but some part of him had maybe known that he wouldn't actually make it. He'd just never imagined this.]

You don't know the half of it. There's nothin' interesting going on unless it's some cataclysmic event. Toro and I have a bar in Earth Sector we like to go to on Saturday nights, but it still ain't much. Can't exactly go dancing or pick up girls like we used to on leave.

Maybe we can put something together.

[ Not that Steve is much of a party planner, but if there are enough people interested in entertainment, he can't imagine that it would be too hard to figure something out. That and he really doesn't know what else to do with himself, other than try to solve the mystery of the turtle's sickness. ]

Somehow.

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