are you going to age with grace? [OPEN]

[assembles]

Who: Steve Rogers and YOU
Where: Throughout Wonderland
When: 03/17 - 03/24
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A "day in the life" scenario with the star-spangled man!
The Story:
I.
Steve's always preferred the diner to the dining hall. There's something about the personal touch that's put on the food. It's not quite like home, but it's definitely better than the formal setup of the dining hall, with its long tables and lavish decorations.

On any given day, Steve can be found camped out in one of the diner's booths, picking at an enormous plate of food while he works on one project or another. Depending on when he's found, he might be scribbling down names into a notebook (names like Black Widow and Hawkeye, among others), or reading a novel, or even doodling in his sketch book.

While he doesn't mind eating by himself and never has, finding the alone time to be relaxing, he certainly won't turn away anyone who might decide to join him, gesturing them toward the opposite side of the booth with a brief smile.

II.

As much as Steve enjoys jogging around Wonderland's grounds, particularly now that spring has sprung and the weather is so nice, from time to time he prefers to switch things up, which is how he finds his way to the swimming pool located on the mansion's second floor. As far as he knows, people don't often make use of this amenity, and so he usually finds it empty when he heads down in a pair of trunks with a towel in hand to swim some laps.

Steve's instincts might be good, but with his head mainly submerged underwater while he swims, he isn't likely to notice if anyone does happen upon him during his workout. On the other hand, he might be finishing up and pushing himself out at the edge of the pool to dry off as someone walks in.

Either way, it's going to involve him wet, dripping, and shirtless -- and who would want to miss that?

III.

With Natasha and Clint having arrived in quick succession, the pressure on Steve to restructure the Avengers is stronger than ever. He's been putting it off, which isn't like him, probably because it's another way in which he has to make a change because Bucky has left. That, and there haven't been any threats on the mansion as of late. Most people can put up with some talking plants without the aid of a superhero team.

Still, it needs to be done, and that means getting back into the swing of his title. He can't just be Steve here, not when he's got people relying on him, and so he's in full uniform as he takes out the robot drones that Tony set up for them in the training room.

He crashes into one with his shield, throwing it off balance, and then flings his leg up high enough to slam his boot into its head, which knocks it clear off the thing's shoulders and sends it rolling across the floor. Then he spins around and flings his shield out to clip two more of the drones, racing after it to slam into the metal dummies with all his strength. This is entirely different from watching Steve spar -- he isn't holding back right now because he doesn't need to, instead making full use of the serum.

IV.

Wildcard! Want to interact with Steve in some other place or setup? Go for it! If you need to check anything over with me, hit me up at demonology.

Comments

[assembles]

Both Steve's hands lift up to wipe the water from his face and then smooth back his hair, and it's only after he drops them and takes a look around the area that he realizes he isn't alone.

It's not some stranger who's come across him like this, though. Steve knows this girl -- or rather, he knew her. It's been a long while since Elizabeth was last here in Wonderland, but their conversations come rushing back to him with a sharp clarity.

She's from a place called Columbia, a city that floats in the sky. She'd been locked away by her father, because she had the ability to see through doors to other possible universes. She likes to paint, and she considers herself responsible for a number of deaths.

He knows a lot about her, as it turns out, because she'd confided in him back then. But to her, he's just a stranger.

"Elizabeth," Steve blurts out, standing there in his soggy swim trunks as he drips water. The blush she's got there barely even registers. He's a little too stunned to see her again.

[ OOC: So yeah, Steve knew a previous version of Elizabeth! If this isn't okay, please let me know and I'll change it. ]

[uncaging]

When he says her name she stares at him in surprise, then her glance flits down again to the water dripping from his chest and she quickly averts her eyes again, never having seen a man in a state of partial undress other than illustrations in books.

"How... how do you know my name?"

[ooc: That's fine! I'd rather she's not spoiled for the end of her canon, but otherwise go for it.]

[assembles]

Steve can sense that she's distracted, and so he pushes past his initial shock at seeing her and works on toweling himself dry and then wrapping the damp towel high on his waist. He pads over to where he'd left his sandals and steps into them.

"Sorry, it's..." Has she been told about this particular quirk of Wonderland yet? Steve sighs and turns back toward her. "You were here before. It was a while back, but we knew each other. When you left, Wonderland took your memories."

[ OOC: All right! I don't think Steve knows about that stuff anyway, haha. ]

[uncaging]

Elizabeth shakes her head, looking surprised and feeling very uneasy, knowing that this place had potentially violated her memories once over already. "Why would they let me leave only to bring me back?"

sorry for the delay! i was out of town for a few days.....

[assembles]

That's the million dollar question, isn't it?

Steve sighs and shakes his head. "I wish I had a good answer for you. We don't know why it happens, it just does. Some people leave and never come back, other people can come through here multiple times." Maybe some memories hold more power than others, and are therefore more valuable, who knows?

"The common theory is that Wonderland somehow needs our memories, but that's all I've got."

Hoping that he can put Elizabeth more at ease, Steve closes the distance between them and then offers her his hand. "I'm Steve." He probably hasn't made the best impression so far, but he can try to rebuild their previous friendship all the same.

no worries! happy to backtag

[uncaging]

Elizabeth takes his hand, shaking firmly and hoping that action, the contact, would spark her into remembering having been here with him before, but she still draws a blank. Whatever hold this place has on their memories, it's a strong one.

"I'm glad to meet you, Steve. Or, well, meet you again, I suppose."

[assembles]

This would be their first time talking in the pool area with Steve only half-clothed, so really, they're already making some new memories.

"It's nice to meet you again, too," Steve replies as he pulls his hand back. "So, you wanted to go for a swim? Don't let me stop you. I like your swimsuit, by the way." Which he means in a completely innocent way. The style reminds him a little of the fashion he'd seen seventy years ago in Brooklyn.

[uncaging]

She glances down at her swimsuit and blushes a little. "It might be a little old fashioned here, but I like it. I'm not sure I could swim dressed like you are." She really hopes that it's more common for women to cover up more, at least. "Not that you look bad!" she adds quickly, realising she may be digging herself a hole. "Maybe I should just swim."

[assembles]

When it comes to how women's swimsuits are in the modern day, it really does vary. Steve's seen everything from bikinis that barely cover anything to more modest one-pieces. While the style of Elizabeth's swimwear might make her stand out, he really doesn't see it as a bad thing.

Apparently his lack of clothing is making her feel a little awkward, though, and so he lifts his towel up to cover his chest more. "It's fine," he says with a half-smile, "I know what you mean. And I don't mind old-fashioned -- I was born in 1918, so what you're wearing is actually kind of familiar."

[uncaging]

"Really?" She perks up a little at that, surprised and relieved to find someone from nearer her time period. "That's only six years after when I'm from."

post-hiatus tag, totally okay if you drop!

[assembles]

They've already had this conversation, but there's only one way for Steve to get Elizabeth back up to speed, and he doesn't mind some retreading.

"Yeah, although I don't think the places we came from are exactly the same. There's no floating city called Columbia where I'm from, for instance."

Still, it immediately establishes some sort of shared experience between them, which is helpful.

"Have you been adapting here okay? I know there's probably a lot of technology you're not that familiar with."

[uncaging]

"It doesn't look like there's a Columbia in the worlds anyone else I've spoken to here is from, either. That's probably for the best." Especially having a glimpse into Comstock's ultimate plans, fearing the city would float by and destroy them all any day.

"It did take some getting used to," she admits. There's still a lot of the technology she's afraid to poke too much in case she breaks it somehow. "But it's incredible! Being able to speak face to face with people over a screen, like they were in the same room. And the tiny ovens that make popcorn instantly."

[assembles]

It's encouraging to see that Elizabeth is so excited by the idea of all this new technology, instead of being scared by it. Steve remembers how it had been, where he was partly overwhelmed and partly in a state of wonder at how everything had progressed.

"I had to learn my way around a lot of this tech too, so if you ever have any questions I can try to help." Granted, he'd figured all of that out before ever coming to Wonderland, but the fact remains that he's been in Elizabeth's shoes before.

Though there's something else that she said which Steve finds interesting. He motions her over to a bench at the poolside so they can sit, since it doesn't seem that Elizabeth will be getting into the water just yet. "Why did you say it's probably for the best that Columbia doesn't exist in other places?"

[uncaging]

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." She reflects that it would be nice to learn from someone else who had to struggle with the technology in the first place, who'd be less likely to think her silly for marvelling at it so.

Elizabeth frowns a little. "Didn't she tell you about it? The ... other me?"

[assembles]

"Not a lot about it. Mainly just that it was a floating city, and that you were held prisoner there for most of your life... but not much about the city itself." It had been so long ago that they'd had the conversation, but Steve still remembers it. Her father had locked her up because of her abilities, and then she'd had a tough time getting out of the city even when she got free. People had died, and he'd tried to urge her not to blame herself.

Steve doesn't want to go into that much detail, though. Not when he's still a stranger to her, and the amount that he knows might make her uncomfortable. He'd rather leave it to her to choose what to tell him.

[uncaging]

"It's not a good place." Her brow knits over into worry as she thinks about all that she'd seen in such a short time once she was out of her tower. "On the surface it's beautiful -- homes and stores and even a beach just floating up there in the sky. But when you look closer it's all rotten underneath. They see themselves as superior, the white elite anyway. They want to scourge the surface of..." her lip curls up in distaste as she hears Comstock's words come from her mouth, "...of the Sodom below."

[assembles]

It's not such an uncommon idea, places that look squeaky clean at first glance but have a seedy underside filled with the worst kind of people. And Steve is hardly a stranger to the idea of white supremacy, given what war he fought in.

"Sodom," Steve echoes with a frown as he braces his elbows on his thighs, a contemplative gesture. "Like Sodom and Gomorrah?" It's Biblical myth in Steve's world, but it could be a reality somewhere else. Either way, this is an aspect of Elizabeth's world that Steve hasn't heard about before.

[uncaging]

Elizabeth nods, feeling a little uneasy thinking about the fanaticism and bigotry at Columbia's core. "Just as the God of the Bible is said to have destroyed those cities of sin, so Columbia aims to do with the world below."

[assembles]

So it's more of a metaphor, then. Steve's heard similar proselytizing from Loki, from Ultron, and first of all from the Red Skull. It seems that no matter what world someone comes from, there will always be people like them.

"I hope you can get away from all that, Elizabeth," Steve says with all genuineness. "Or that you can find a way to stop it." Not everyone wants to sign themselves up to be the "hero," but she strikes him as the type who would do something if she could.

[uncaging]

She looks around at the sunlight glistening off the tiles, the checker board hills out the window. "Here's about as far away as I could get, though it's not quite what I had in mind. But thank you."

[assembles]

Steve huffs out a laugh and nods. "Yeah, I don't think any of us had this in mind." Even when they're sent home, they forget all about Wonderland until they're brought right back again.

There's a few moments of quiet as Steve considers whether or not to say more, but encouraging other people to make the most of Wonderland isn't a bad thing. "There are some people who have started to think of this place as home, if where they came from was worse." Steve can't speak to how Columbia compares to all this, but it's something that Elizabeth could keep in mind.

[uncaging]

"I've been trying to do that, but..." She sighs, knowing that this place was a great deal better than most of the worlds she could end up stuck in, and especially better than the one she'd come from. She knows she'll just sound ungrateful. "All this place feels like is a bigger prison. I just want to be somewhere I don't feel like I'm in a cage any more."

[assembles]

That's definitely a sentiment that Steve can relate to. As much good as he has found in Wonderland, as many opportunities as he's received here that he never would have had back home, it's still a prison at the end of the day. They're still kept here against their will, unable to leave on their own terms.

"I know," he says after a long pause, wishing there was anything he could say to change that fact or make Elizabeth feel better. "It might look nice, and there might be parts of it that are good, but we're still prisoners."

It really hadn't been his intention to turn this conversation into a downer, though. With a sigh, Steve stands up from the bench. "Anyway, I should let you enjoy your swim." That's why she'd come here, after all.

[uncaging]

Elizabeth looks from Steve to the water and back again, nodding. She sits on the edge of the pool and dangles her feet in the water to acclimatise herself to the temperature. "It's been nice talking to you. I hope I can compare to the other Elizabeth."

[assembles]

"What? Of course you can." Steve can understand why she would refer to her previous stay as being an entirely different version of herself, but the fact is that it had still been her. She just doesn't remember it.

Steve smiles at her, hoping to set her at ease. "Enjoy your swim, Elizabeth." With that, he heads for the exit so that he can go shower all the chlorine off of him.