tushanshu | 001

[He needs to stop thinking that he's incapable of being surprised. By the end of the Battle of New York, Steve thought he had seen it all. Insane technology, other worlds, aliens... What else could there possibly be?

The answer, of course, is a giant turtle in a realm outside the continuity of time. He had a long chat about nearly everything with the locals that helped him earlier, but it's still crazy, and he probably wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen some of the turtle shell himself.

Yet here he is. It'll probably all sink in over time; Steve's been overloaded with so much information over the past few hours and it's exhausting, even for him.

Getting on the computer hadn't been his top priority, but he's already gone outside of his new home and back. Steve's experienced enough culture shock for today. He might as well at least reach out and introduce himself to all of the other people who wound up here like him.

Once he's got the computer up and running, he accesses the network using the video function. He looks a little stiff and probably as exhausted as he feels, but that's the least of his concerns right now.]

Hello. My name's Steve Rogers. The kedin- kedan? - brought me up to speed already, but I only just arrived here a few hours ago.

[Maybe longer than that. He hasn't exactly been keeping track of time. In any case, it's really jarring to be talking to a computer screen and not actually know who's on the other end.]

I have a couple questions that I'd like to have verified. [It doesn't necessarily mean he'll believe whatever he's told, but second opinions are typically useful.] We're all more or less stuck on this turtle, right? But there's a way back.

[That's a question as well, but it ends up sounding more like a statement. It sounds like a reasonable assumption. There obviously isn't a rush since no time is passing back home; he just wants to know.]

The other question I have is about jobs. Since it looks like I'll be here awhile, I'll start looking soon. Does anyone know which places are hiring offhand?

[He pauses for a moment before adding a 'thank you.']

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[Steve listens intently, and even though he's more or less hearing about a complete stranger, it's somehow comforting to hear that an alternate version of himself still sounds like... himself.

He's still catching up on his history and everything else he missed while being frozen, but he knows about the Tet Offensive and political motivations behind the entire war. Steve figures he probably would've reacted the same way, if he was around when it all happened.]

He sounds like a good man.

[He doesn't say that because that's what he strives to be, but because that's exactly what the other Cap sounds like. Besides, how else would you describe someone with such dedication?

There's more he wants to say, but he's having a hard time putting this thoughts into words. Still, the last part sounds nice. Of course, he knows nothing about Namorita, but he doesn't have any family either anymore.]

I suppose the biggest difference between him and me is that he didn't end up out of time? I was frozen during Vietnam.

[She's about to respond affirmatively to Steve's judgment that his alternate is a good man, but then he guesses wrong.]

Oh no, he was frozen. They found him right around when Vietnam was starting.

[Nita's off on dates by a couple of years, but not enough to really affect the truth of what she's telling him. She's just not very reliable on surface history before the early 70s.]

I was a kid in Lemuria so I heard this all later. My cousin was around for it, though.

[He pitched a huge fit, didn't recognize Steve in the ice, and consequently threw Capsicle into the water because Namor is not really what you'd call stable. Ahem.]

Edited 2014-01-04 18:21 (UTC)

[Steve has to wonder what it would've been like for him if he'd been found around that time, if he'd only been on ice for twenty or thirty years instead of seventy. Everyone he knew, except for Bucky, would've still been alive. But they'd have been older, probably moved on with their lives.

He's not sure if it would've been harder to adjust to that or to find out that nearly everyone he knew had already died.]

Where is Lemuria?

A little bit west of Hawaii.

[She appears to have forgotten to mention the "on the ocean floor" part.]

[That would be a bit of vitol information, because he's now trying to imagine a map of the Pacific.]

Is that in the Midway Islands?

What? No.

[She giggles. Silly Cap.]

The sunken continent of Lemuria. The city of the same name is the capital of the Pacific provinces of the Atlantean Empire.

[Or something like that; Atlantean politics are fuzzily defined at best.]

[Give him a moment to process this.]

I thought Atlantis was just a legend.

Yeah, I get that a lot.

[She turns her head to one side, and with a conscious effort, the way one might flare their nostrils, makes the gill slits on the side of her neck open. Usually on the surface they stay tightly closed, almost invisible unless someone is looking closely.]

[He's seen a lot within the past year or so- going by his time, not everyone else's- but this is still a bit of a shock, and he does a poor job of hiding it.]

Whoa. You can actually breathe underwater.

[He's stating the obvious, of course, but the tone's of amazement.]

[Fortunately for Steve's pride, Nita finds this all some combination of charming and amusing.]

Actually can. I didn't breathe air for the first time until I was 14.

[Oh, good. He doesn't have to feel too bad about his reaction then.]

Did it feel like drowning? Do you swim or walk in Lemuria?

[ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS, CLEARLY.]

I don't know what drowning feels like, Cap.

[What with the water-breathing and all.]

The hard part was walking without water around me. I almost fell flat on my face in front of a bunch of penguins 'cause of how much less resistance there is in air.

...And we do both. It's kinda rude to swim indoors unless you have a good reason.

[idk I'm just making stuff up because god knows the writers never bothered to think about anything]

--Right.

[That makes sense.]

It's the opposite for me, which I guess is kind of obvious. Wading through water is difficult at times. [He's been knocked over by waves so many times during his childhood/pre-serum days.]

So it's like not running in the house.

[fff it's cool, no worries.]

Humans are pretty fragile, not gonna lie.

...Not you.

[She's aware Steve used to be a 98-pound weakling, because the entire world knows that, but she's always known him as Captain America.]

Not anymore. A slight breeze could've knocked me over a couple years ago.

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[video] oh my god i lost the notif for this

[video] it's ok <3