portalhopping | video

video | arrival;

[ the video opens on a man who, for all intents and purposes, looks tired. he doesn't look surprised to be here by any means, but Steve Rogers has become accustomed to anything and everything going awry.

what was meant to be a journey to return all the stones to their appropriate time lines (which he did, thankfully) has turned into a final stop in Eglaf, Florida. ]

I have to say that of all the places I thought I'd end up, this wasn't one of them.

[ he'd intended to find a quiet place somewhere when he got back - leave Sam and Bucky and the others to pick up where he and Stark left off. when he shifts the camera, there's a piece of tech on his arm that looks scorched and burnt up - pym particles used up. so Eglaf is his final stop. ]

Steve Rogers. I think I've ended up here by mistake, but the welcoming committee was nice enough to tell me that maybe I didn't. They mentioned Stark - and while I'd like to think Tony Stark wouldn't dive this deep into... well, it isn't time travel, but, anyway - it wouldn't surprise me if he did.

I'd like to get more information on this place.

[ he's being jovial, but there's a reserved kindness to him - after all, he's learned the hard way that not everything is always as it seems. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You know Tony Stark?

[ Color Number Five incredibly interested. He's always interested to know people who know Tony, as Tony is perhaps the only person he's ever met who was smarter than he is. ]

What sort of information, exactly, are you looking for? There are a lot of different ways this conversation could go.

I knew him very well.

[ even if they didn't always see eye to eye, even if at the end of all things they hadn't spoken the hurts of their years out loud, his respect for the man never waned. ]

I have to admit that my experience with time and space travel isn't exactly a good one. There's always something bad at the root of it, so that's probably a good place to start.

Wish I could say the same, that brain of his is impressive, even to me. You're using the past tense, so I'm sorry for your loss, to whatever degree it is.

[ He could just mean that they've gone their separate ways, for all Five knows. ]

It very seldom is, seeing as how it's not supposed to happen. Civilians are the last people that should be traveling through it and yet, here we are. This place isn't so bad and the bad part at the root is decades old and gone by now, for whatever that's worth.

It was a portal originally opened up by some nefarious beings from another earth a long time ago. The portal you came through is a copy of it made by a defector to draw in superheroes to get the invading aliens back off this earth and put them where they belong. Once that was done and the heroes went back to their respective earths, unfortunately, so did the knowledge of how to work the damn portal. So it just kept pulling people in and pulling people in until finally it found Tony and I and we were able to put together a small team to fix the fucking thing.

At least, we thought we had. It had stopped doing this for a while. I'm not sure what's going on with it now, but the three of us still here are trying to fix it again.

You're entirely too calm right now, buddy.

( She might look reproachful, but she sounds impressed. )

Can't say I've ever heard of that guy so I'm guessing either I missed part of that welcome schpiel because I was too busy freaking out while trying not to let them see that I was freaking out because I figured if they knew I was freaking out, then they'd know I was in a weaker state and, for all I knew, that could've been the actual worst thing.

( Robin gulps in a deep breath, realizing only when she needs that breath that she's been rattling on. Again. )

Um, anyway, so I don't think whoever he is is the problem. My friend Steve said it's like a portal that's been here for a while and stuff and now it's kinda broken and bringing people here all willy nilly.

[ Steve gives her the time to spit out her words, watching with a quiet sort of amusement. he knows a kid just like this, an open book with words going a hundred miles per minute. so he waits, huffs out a breath when she finally winds down. ]

I've learned that panicking in unfamiliar situations doesn't always help. Turns out you miss out on some information, too.

[ a small, tired smile, then: ]

How long have you been here? Seems like there are plenty of new people around this place.

( Robin smiles a little, happy to not have been called out for her rambling. He seems nice. Robin likes him already. )

You'd think I'd have learned that lesson by now after all the shit I've been through in the last two years, but you'd be wrong, I guess, because I absolutely lost my mind for a minute in there.

( The smile goes appropriately impish and she shrugs. )

Oh, I'm Robin. I've been here for a couple of weeks, I guess? Not very long. Some people have been here way longer. What year was it for you? I feel pretty ancient even though I'm one of the youngest people here...it was 1986 for me.

( Lydia gives him a sympathetic smile, but she can appreciate that he's the first person in a while coming in who hasn't lost their damn minds. When he mentions Tony in passing, Lydia huffs a fond laugh. Now she knows why. )

None of us intended to come here the first time we got here, sweetie, we're all a beautiful mess. Tony didn't start this fire. A version of him did help Peter, Five, and I put it out and then he headed home, but...it appears that we missed some of the smoldering embers because it's back to its old tricks.

( Lydia at least has the grace to look apologetic for that. )

What do you want to know? I've been here a while. I can probably answer at least some of your questions.

A version of him.

[ but of course there are other versions. after all, he'd had to fight himself once upon a time. they also had to turn back time and save the world, after all. but there's a small part of him that feels drained after tony's death - he feels it even now. ]

And there are always embers, aren't there? [ he grins a little at the thought. the war is never over, and no battle is ever fully won. ]

How long have you been here? I suppose if they need help fixing things again, I might be able to lend a hand. Oh, sorry. I'm Steve, by the way. Steve Rogers. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Yeah.

( Lydia nods, pausing to try to recall something. )

There have been two here in the time I've been here. There was an older one, probably my dad's age, give or take, but he was only here for a week or two at the beginning of all of this. At least, the beginning for me, that is. The one that helped Peter, Five, and I was closer to my age, though.

( Huffing softly with a mirthless laugh, Lydia nods again. )

It seems like it, yeah. I've been here a few years on and off. After we fixed it the first time, I popped home briefly, but I like it here. It's safer here than at home. That and there are people here I'd miss too much to leave for good.

( Lydia wiggles her fingers in a wave. )

Lydia Martin, nice to meet you, too, Steve. Are you pretty good with science or programming, then? Because if you are, we'll take all the help we can get to fix it faster, for sure.

[ Pietro only barely resists the urge to ask Steve sarcastically whether he didn't see that coming, remembering only that the man with the arrows was present for those quips, but he can't recall whether Steve was. ]

From what I hear, Stark did not do this. Do you know who I am?

[ Laura said that there was time travel involved. If he knows who Pietro is, then he knows, probably, what happened to Sokovia and, more importantly, to his sister. ]

[ seeing pietro is like seeing a ghost and for a brief moment Steve doesn't say anything. his jaw works, and he has to tell himself that this is just the nature of what he'd been doing - traveling time and seeing things and people who died or were lost along the way. ]

Pietro.

[ their time together was limited, but he'd taken Wanda under his wing, and had intended to do the same with the silver-haired speedster. it's unfair, but he gives a tired smile. ]

How long have you been here?

[ He nods slowly, quiet for a moment while he watches Steve's face. The tired smile lets Pietro know he can relax a little. ]

Not very long; couple of weeks.

[ Pietro pauses and takes a deep breath. ]

My sister?

[ It's probably the most vulnerable Pietro will ever let himself look, but that's all he needs to know: is his sister okay? ]

She's alive. Safe.

[ he thinks of Wanda and he remembers everything from the airport tarmac to the funeral. alive and safe seem fair enough, because he's not sure any of them were in good shape by the end.

he knows he's not even now. ]

She helped me when I needed it most.

[ His eyes close and he lets out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. Then, he opens his eyes again and nods, giving Steve a small smile. ]

Thank you. For letting her help. For fifteen...sixteen years, was just us against the world. I maybe should not have done what I did, knowing it was suicide mission, but...

[ He shrugs and looks down briefly before looking back up again. He doesn't have to say that they both know it was the right thing. The child and the archer were innocent and Pietro helped set Ultron's plan into motion. His life for theirs was no question. ]

How long has it been? For you, that is? For her?

[ He's not entirely sure he wants to know, even as he asks. For Pietro, the ache in his chest is still incredibly fresh. He misses Wanda so deeply that it feels like a hole in his heart. ]

[ how long, he asks, and he has to take a pause. it feels like eons since they dealt with Ultron, since the snap. so he takes a breath and levels with him. ]

Eight years? Seven. Somewhere in there. But you don't have to thank me. We didn't know each other long, but my team is my family. You and Wanda were part of that.

[ he rubs at the back of his neck, weary. a part of him wants to reach back in time and spare Pietro, spare Wanda, all of them. ]

I'm glad you're here. It's... it's good to have a familiar face in all of this.

[ Nearly a decade. Wanda has been without him for almost a decade. That would make her well into her early thirties. For all Pietro knows, she's married and had children by now and he's missed it.

The disappointment is crushing and that might show a little on his face. The weariness in Steve's isn't lost on Pietro, either. ]

It is good to see you again. They say they can send people back when they fix portals again, so you should not have to stay too long. I'm sure you would rather be home.

[Laura waves.]

Hi Steve - I'm Laura. I'm just going to join the train of people willing to try and answer whatever questions that you have - and compliment you on just how damn composed you are about all of this.

[The werewolf smiles.]

Though, for the record, Tony helped fix the portal when it was acting even worse than this - so he's one of the good ones from what I know of him.

[ he gives a nod in recognition to her. ]

It's nice to meet you, Laura. And it probably sounds ridiculous, but this isn't one of the crazier stops I've taken. I expected to end up in a lot of places, but Florida wasn't one of them. I've never been before.

[ and here they are in sunny florida. she mentions Tony and he looks away, his smile tired and sad. ] Tony Stark was one of the good ones. The best of us all. I'm glad he lended a hand when he was here. How long ago was that?

Surprisingly un-ridiculous, actually - and you have something in common with a few people here knowing that fact.

[Laura admits with a small shrug.][Laura clocks the look and tilts her head slightly.] Oh man, months, maybe a year by this point. People, when the portals are calibrated and everything, can choose to come or go, basically.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

video | arrival;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject