Hello Soldier

[alwaysdramatic]

There is a man in the Nexus. Standing tall, he is cut like a champion athlete or a Greek god. The uniform he wears proclaims him to be proudly American - a star emblazoned across his chest - and the shield that hangs on his back should leave no doubt as to who he is. He pores meticulously over one of the brochures, brows furrowed as he reads the strange information it provides. Having finished it, he shakes his head in disbelief before sliding it into a pocket and looking up to pay more attention to his surroundings.

"First a robot tries to take over the world and now this," he mumbles to himself. Passing a hand across his eyes he lets out a quiet sigh before straightening his shoulders and turning to the the Nexus at large. The instructions are to ask a question, and he seems to wrestle for a moment with his thoughts. Captain America has no room for doubt, but Steve Rogers? Well, he could use a fresh viewpoint, and if he's lucky this will all be some strange dream and he'll at least wake up with a little clarity.

"Duty entails sacrifice. That's a pretty cut and dried concept. How do you know if you're sacrificing too much? Is there a too much?"

((And we'll just keep this spoiler free!))

Comments

[alwaysdramatic]

The thing about being Captain America, is that in comparison, most normal people look pretty tiny. So when you're actually faced with someone who's diminutive at the best of times, it can end up looking pretty ridiculous pretty fast. Still, Steve's never quite forgotten what it was like to be that size, hence his soft spot for the fragile looking people.

At her declaration of her ability though, and the unexpected accent, he finds his head jerking around in surprise, regarding this little woman a little curiously. "Well ma'am, I'd say that would've been a useful ability to have a couple days ago."

"I've always been ready to give everything. I suppose the question's changed since 'what's there to be gained' has gotten a little more complicated lately." Back in the day it was just fighting for freedom, but now? Now it's a lot less clear, even if his place in the world is more cemented.

[aphotic_auror]

"Oh aye?" She beamed up at him, looking rather pleased with herself for shocking this Adonis-like Greek (American) god. "Only a couple days ago, then? I mean, sorry; honestly, I wish I'd been there to help you out..."

Her nose crinkled up with slight amusement at the answer to her question, that she had posed in response to his question, of course. "I dunno... I mean, honestly: I could tell you a bunch of shite-- oh, pardon my French, please, Sir!" She let out a little giggle, as she realised how bloody old-fashioned this man really was. After all, hadn't he just called her "ma'am" rather than even "miss", given her obviously young age? She couldn't quite place the time period he was from, but she knew that she had truly travelled back in time, to end up walking alongside someone who thinks that "ma'am" and "sir" are the only appropriate honorific's to use on an apparent adult. "I mean-- sorry... I meant only-- where was I talking towards, again...?" She let out another nervous giggle as she said this, even as she struggled to think back to what she was saying before she was so distracted with apologies for her language. She was also blushing a little too brightly for someone of her apparent poor health....

[alwaysdramatic]

"Gotta say, it would've been a big help." He couldn't help but crack a slight smile at her in return. It was always nice to see someone who could smile like that, it reminded him of just what he fought for. After all, had someone like Ultron or Loki been successful in their endeavours, it was doubtful that anyone would have been able to smile quite like that.

His brows furrowed out of reflex at her cursing, but quickly relaxed again when she apologised, some habits died hard. "Don't worry about it, ma'am."

When he was from, if you didn't know a lady's name you called her 'ma'am.' And once you did you called her 'miss' followed by her surname. Maybe it was an old-fashioned way of speaking, but it was the way he'd grown up, and for much of his adult life it had been the only way he'd known how to speak to people. Things were different nowadays or course, but again, old habits died hard.

This woman's reaction him however, wasn't one that he was unaccustomed to. Sometimes people recognised Captain America on the street, and the one who did come speak to him often ended up tongue-tied. Sometimes it was almost enough to make him wish he could shrink down to his old size again, at least that way people would have been less intimiated.

"Don't worry about it," he offered her a sympathetic grin. "I'm sure it'll come back to you."

((Aaaah, my preferred style of prose. Haha.))

[aphotic_auror]

"Oh aye, I'm sure it will..." she responded with another nervous little giggle escaping her mouth. "I mean-- wait, I'm sorry; I don't even know who you are, sir.... Nor do you know me, either!" She blushed a little bit brighter of course, as she eyed this Adonis-like person, and then finally gathered her wits enough to apologise again, and finally spit out her name: "I'm-- Maria Selwyn..." Of course, her first name was pronounced the old fashioned British way, rather than the newfangled Spanglish version of the name: sounding rather like Mariah, as in Mariah Carey-- though of course, if Steve brought up that singer's name, he'd get a blank stare from Maria, given that she was from 1981, when Mariah was just a wee little thing of 11 or 12, not yet famous.

"And you are, sir...?"

[alwaysdramatic]

When she offered her name, he extended his hand, offering her a smile in return. He'd never get used to people being so tongue-tied around him. After all, no matter what year he was in, or how big he'd gotten, in his heart he was still that skinny young man from Brooklyn.

"Steve Rogers," he offered along with the smile and the extended hand. "That's a pretty name, Ms. Selwyn." Thankfully for Maria, Steve's little sojourn under the ice had deprived him of the pleasure of Ms. Carey's voice. It was probably somewhere on his list of things to catch up on, but it was a long list, and he hadn't had much downtime lately

[aphotic_auror]

"Pleasure to meet you, Mister Rogers," Maria said warmly, if somewhat squeakily, too, given the way his hand encased her tiny, bony one. Of course, she gave his a firm enough shake anyway, given the size difference.

"Oh! Than-thank you," she gasped out, still sounding rather squeaky. "I mean-- honestly: I think it means "friends of the castle"... " Though she sounded unsure, she was really quite certain what her surname meant; after all, she was a Pureblood witch, with a very proud, if somewhat dying, lineage.

[alwaysdramatic]

"Pleasure's all mine," his smile matched the warmth of her voice, and he returned the handshake, albeit a little less firmly than he would have with someone like say, Romanoff.

"Sounds like a good solid meaning," he chuckled. "Have a lot of castles where you're from do they?" It wasn't as if he knew much about Europe. Not beyond Germany really, and hardly ever anything beyond the warfront. He knew enough to tell she must have been from Britain, but not much else apart from that. Steve was still a Brooklyn boy at heart.