( #001 )

[brainiest]

Who: Hermione Granger and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva, baby
When: From now until shuffle!

[ When she wakes up, the first thing that's obvious to her is that this is not her house; it's nothing like it, and that's more than enough to have her drop her hands to her hip - where, again, there's nothing familiar. The next stop is around her neck and it's obvious that she finds some comfort there, her fingers sliding around a ring before she breathes out and moves to sit up. At least some things are familiar, and she recognises a video feed when she sees it, lifting her free hand to push her hair out of her eyes. ]

Well, this isn't the Drabwurld, is it.

[ She sounds remarkably put out about it, shifting to stand and adjust her weight, her fingers finally dropping away from the ring around her neck. It's only then that she really looks into her feed, wondering if it worked just like the lockets did - and, at the same time, wondering if she ought to be afraid. Considering the number of worlds and things she saw and went through in the Drabwurld, however, she thinks that it'll take a little more than this to put her on edge, even without her weapons. ]

I don't suppose anyone here has heard of Nimh Gleanne? Leathann? ... Anything like that?

[ There's a kind of awkward hopefulness in her voice as she tries to smile, the scar on her cheek shifting with her lips. ]

Anyone?

Comments

[enshields]

[And that is an equally and unnecessarily vehement response to something so simply said. Steve shifts his jaw off to one side-- this late in the game, he's learned to trust his instincts and though he thinks she's hiding something, he doesn't think it's out of any especial malice.

He clears his throat before he speaks.]

Please, just-- Steve. And I can only answer that in the most general sense-- we're in a sector of space I don't recognize and can't compare to anything on Earth. [A bit dryly,] Believe it or not, our gracious hosts haven't been forthcoming with exact coordinates.

[brainiest]

[ She nods her head, more than happy to listen to whatever he tells her. Experience has afforded her the knowledge that she can trust Steve Rogers, no matter if he remembers her or not, and she softens a little before she settles back on her cot. If she's surprised that their hosts haven't told them much then she doesn't really show it. ]

Steve it is, then.

[ It's almost nostalgic. Hermione hesitates for a moment before she breathes out. ]

It's a little strange going from a medieval world to being in space, but I'm sure I'll cope. Is there anything you think I need to know?

[enshields]

You won't be on the Marsiva long. Everyone gets a ship assignment once they've finished bringing in new arrivals.

[He pans his video towards his ship, he appears to be in the kitchen.]

I'm on the Bloodsport. Your placement will depend on what sort of Augment you were given. [He reaches up to his neck, in the approximate location of the implant.] Don't try removing it. Far as I've heard it's never ended well for anyone.

[Which means he definitely tried it at one point and later regretted it. GJ Steve.]

[brainiest]

[ She's quick to mimic him, lifting her hand and feeling around for the Augment. Fingers brush against it and she huffs a noise. From a shard to some strange, space-age technology in the back of her neck. If John was here he would be furious, but - John isn't here. She's alone. It would make her break a little if she hadn't been forcing herself to stay glued together. ]

Thanks for the warning. I might have tried a little magic otherwise - I've never done well with people doing things to me.

[ Says the woman that has a rather garish scar across her face that she let someone do to her. ]

How many ships are there, do you know?

[enshields]

['Magic' doesn't get much reaction. He's been working alongside the Scarlet Witch for long enough now he knows better. Her comment about people doing things to her, well-- that's the one that makes his mouth quirk down at one corner. It's not something someone ever says without cause.]

Eighteen. Not counting the Iskaulit and the Marsiva. The latter you're on, the former is a larger communal ship we have leave to visit or leave as we please. Do you know what your Augment is?

[brainiest]

Is there a way to tell?

[ Eighteen ships. That's a rather huge fleet, even in space terms. That means there must be dozens of people around, and Hermione has no idea who they are or if she's going to be at all familiar with any of them. She already knows Steve, after all, even if she's holding her tongue, and now...

She breathes out. ]

I was a little pre-occupied with, um, waking up. I haven't really focussed on much else.

[enshields]

[He grimaces faintly.]

New knowledge. Might be in an area you already have some experience. It's-- like having a manual in your head on how some aspect of the fleet works.

[He raps his knuckles against his temple gently.]

Flight manuals for days.

[brainiest]

New knowledge isn't something that I'd notice straight away.

[ She's stored so much in her brain that sometimes she forgets she knows things until they pop back in, tied up with a memory or a book that she had read weeks before. Now, though, she blinks, hesitating for a moment before she leans forward. ]

Muggle chemistry is new, and first aid. Does that sound like something that could be an Augment...?

[enshields]

[Sounds like Tam's. So:]

Yeah. Lab support.

[-- A very brief pause, and then,]

But I might have to ask what a 'muggle' is.

[brainiest]

Lab Support.

[ It makes sense, she supposes. She had spent the last three years as the residential potion maker slash healer, alongside being Marchioness... Where else would she go?

She explains almost absently, until she blinks and turns back to Steve. ]

It means a non-magical person - someone that isn't a wizard or a witch.

[enshields]

And that's what you are?

[He says it with polite curiosity, no trace of caution or enmity. She's been nothing but kind so far, and he-- well, he has a soft spot for dames like her. Self-assured and possessed, stronger than anyone gives them credit for. One bad experience with magic hasn't been enough to turn him off the concept indefinitely.]

[brainiest]

Yes. Witch, born and bred, though I didn't really find out about it until I was eleven.

[ Hermione smiles, tilting her head up and trying to seem a little taller for it. She's proud of being a witch, after all, despite what other people might have said and what people might have called her in the past - because that's what it is, the past. She's more than she ever was back then and she's aware of it entirely. ]

[enshields]

[He watches that little tick of pride with faint approval. People fear magic more than almost anything else, he wonders if the world she's from has given her Hell for it.]

A friend of mine back home [which is true, he's just not going to mention that Wanda's here as well in case she'd rather play her cards close to her chest] is one too. Don't think she's ever called us 'muggles' though-- I'm guessing different worlds? I recognize the accent, though.

[She sounds so much like Peg.]

[brainiest]

[ It's taken some time to get from 'mudblood' to 'Marchioness' but Hermione had done it; the scar on her arm might not be there anymore but she's still just as haunted, using the pain and the hurt to make herself stronger, better, braver. ]

I think we must be from different worlds - it's alright, I'm more than used to it. [ She smiles, ducking her head a little bit. ] I'm actually from London.

[enshields]

[He's getting to be more than used to it, so the comment just gets a nod. The concept of different worlds is far from the most outlandish thing he's ever dealt with, after all. Most of the people he's met here are from Earth or a variant thereof, centuries in 'his' future or decades in the past.]

I spent a lot of time in London.

[And Peggy Carter grew up just outside it. That in and of itself is the singlemost reason the city endeared itself to him. That, and all the time spent in pubs during brown-outs.]

Mind if I ask what year it was for you? Roughly.

[brainiest]

[ It might have been strange to her, once upon a time, but now? Now the idea of different worlds, different people, experiences - it's just normal. Perhaps not your average kind of normal, but normal all the same, and she welcomes that. ]

Really? Isn't it lovely?

[ Still, she has to pause to think - not because she had forgotten but because it does bring back memories. ]

1998.

[enshields]

It's a beautiful city. One of my favourites I've been to.

[His sincerity is palpable. He is so very, very fond.

Also: '98.

(Three of his Commandos, not counting Peg, were alive then. The thought is directionless, it ricochets about in the sound stage of his conscious mind and he dismisses it out of turn.)

Offhand, he knows: that was the year Clinton was impeached. Google was founded. India and Pakistan both tested nuclear weapons. Saving Private Ryan was released. His grasp of individual years is fuzzy, the knowledge defined by events rather than specifics. He's caught up to the eighties now, back home. Everything else is cursory.]

I'm a little ways ahead of you-- 2015.

[He's inclined to say that gently. He's the last one to ever rub the 'future' in someone's face.]

[brainiest]

I miss it, I really do. Three years away from somewhere really makes you realise how much it felt like home.

[ She could say the same for Hogwarts; that had been home, just as much as the Drabwurld had been. She misses the walls and the staircases, the lessons and the students, even the teachers - and, oh, the homework and the library. Nothing in the Drabwurld could ever really compare and she's more than glad that she was able to have a chance to see it again before she was dragged here.

Rubbing her eyes, Hermione shakes her head, offering a small smile. She isn't too worried about the future - it couldn't be worse than the war she's fought in, twice over. ]

I don't suppose there's anything I ought to know? The war ended in Britain, but...

[ Who knows what American wizards have been up to. ]

[enshields]

[It hits him harder than he was expecting. He didn't need three years to come to any such realization, but it's the same length of time he's been out of the War (his War, in all the ways that matter most) and what he told Stark was just-- smoke and mirrors. Meant to deflect. The future is where he lives, but it's not his home.

He rubs his thumb idly over his brow bone.]

Which war?

[brainiest]

[ Things have been hard - really hard - but having friends at her side meant that it was a little easier. Steve had been one of those people, one of the ones she trusted and cared about, and it doesn't really matter if he doesn't remember her. She still loves him; she still cares about him.

That's what's important; he's here, and he's okay. ]

The Wizarding War. It was, um, between us and the Dark Lord Voldemort. We fought against him because he wanted people that believed in the things he did - the purity of blood, that people without magic should die - to be in charge.

[enshields]

[Sounds like something out of a comic-book. Steve doesn't bother with incredulity - most of his life has been an actual comic-book, and he's willing to trust that she's not lying at least until proven otherwise.]

I think you're right about different worlds. I, ah... can't say I know anything about that. I'm-- ['sorry'. But he's said that once already, and has no desire to belabor the sentiment into uselessness.] -- I wish I had better news.

[brainiest]

To be fair, a lot of it took place in Britain and a lot of it was a secret. Non-magical people weren't supposed to be aware of magic - they weren't supposed to know we existed at all, really. I don't blame anyone for not knowing about any of it.

[ Most of the physical damage from that war is a long forgotten memory, now; even her mudblood scar has disappeared. What remains are scars from a newer battle and Hermione breathes out. ]

Is it peaceful, at least, where you're from? For the most part?