voice + text transcription

[expellerhead]

Who: Everyone
Broadcast: Yes
Action: N/A
When: Now

[putting his voice on this thing is...not preferable, but this has to get out to everyone to be even half as effective as aizawa would like it to be. so time to get over it.]

Gathering info for something, so I'd appreciate any participation.

One: length of time you've been here.

Two: whether or not you were in a place like this before, IE forcibly removed from your home universe and kept captive.

Three: something you wish you'd known or been told upon arrival here.

Four: something you miss most desperately from home. No 'family or friends' here, please. Material objects only.

Thanks.

[and below the soundbar, a text transcription:]


Gathering info for something, so I'd appreciate any participation.

1. Length of time you've been here.

2. Whether or not you were in a place like this before, IE forcibly removed from your home universe and kept captive.

3. Something you wish you'd known or been told upon arrival here.

4. Something you miss most desperately from home. No people, only items.

Thank you.

Comments

[expellerhead]

On my way.

[when he gets there he just orders a coffee to bring over to the booth where peggy sits, sliding in across from her. he pauses to check the actual time on his comm before lifting his mug to her in acknowledgement.] Evening.

[mucked]

Good evening.

[ she responds without standing. but, like his, her attention raises to make the requisite eye contact. as ever, aizawa's pragmatic and business-like nature suits peggy just fine. she likes the precedent it sets.

she likes how she never feels compelled to paddle in the sentimental side of the conversational pool. others, she knows, expect more from a conversation. ]

I ordered for you. I hope you don't mind. [ a polite smile that doesn't touch her eyes. there are two pie slices on the table -- one apple, and one key lime. ] But I'll happily have the one you don't want.

[expellerhead]

[turning her down would be rude as fuck, but...well, he can at least try one. key lime is a little more tart than sweet so after a moment he snags the edge of the plate and pulls it closer, though he doesn't start on it just yet.]

I appreciate it. You didn't have to. [since he's the one looking for information, after all. it's awfully accommodating of her, considering that they're usually pretty business-only.]

[mucked]

An excellent choice.

[ but it's all casual, it's all thoughtless, it's all ornamental to the real thrust of the conversation. that said, she absolutely did take a shining to key lime after moving stateside. so she means it: it is, to her mint, an absolute cracker of a choice.

peg, meanwhile, turns her attention to a cup of tea. she's never at the bistro without one.

to business: ] I knew a man. During the war. Sergeant James Barnes. The man with the metal arm who captains the Heron.

[expellerhead]

[hopefully she won't mind if he takes notes. he at least flips open the notepad and angles it so she can clearly see what he's writing.]

I've seen him, never spoken with him. [which is the deal with like 90% of the fleet in his case.]

[mucked]

Admittedly, he's not the easiest to speak with. [ peggy's smile flickers. it's not that she minds being recorded in some capacity -- lord knows, she does it often enough to other people. and she did come here under the agreement that her words would be used. but it does hit home how judicious she ought to be.

there are parts of this story that are barely hers to tell. still, what spy worth her salt can't spin a tale with the meager details left to her? ]

He and Steve were childhood friends. Although I met Steve well before I met Barnes. For reasons that aren't important to this explanation, they reunited in the field and fought together side-by-side. That is, until Barnes was lost. Fell from a train, while that train was passing over a rail-bridge.

The Barnes we have in the fleet is that Barnes. The one who fell, the one who was found by the enemy after, and was programmed to be an asset in the field going forward.

[expellerhead]

[at least the notes he's taking- oh, they're in japanese. well if she can read that, she'll see he's mostly taking notes on concepts instead of the five Ws.]

Okay, so the one you're familiar with then. Where does the double come in?

[mucked]

[ she absolutely does not read japanese -- but knowing that he's recording is enough to make her filter her responses with care and thought. she can skip the more painful bits; she can stick to the facts. ]

The first double, the one who was already here when I arrived, was a version of Barnes who didn't die on that train. In his world, Steve was the one who fell instead -- and Barnes took up Steve's title in his place. Otherwise it would seem that the world carried on rather similarly. Nearly everything else about his experience and the experiences of people from my world match up.

This new double, the one who's just arrived, is a whole different kettle of fish.

[expellerhead]

[it's a little arrogant to assume one single person could have such a huge impact on the world that just swapping him out for someone with arguably a different personality would change world events, but from what aizawa's been hearing their 'steve rogers' is a lot like his world's all might.

and if their world hadn't had all might, exactly as he is...things would be very different indeed. for better or worse.]

Is Mr. Barnes the only individual you've met here with multiple versions of himself?

[mucked]

Once, we had a man named Clint Barton. I'm told he exists back home, also, but the one who came to the Fleet wasn't the same one from my world.

[ her expression clouds. ]

There used to be another Steve, too. Although he didn't go by that name any longer.

[expellerhead]

That must have been uncomfortable. [he's writing so much] You weren't kidding when you said you have experience with this phenomenon.

[mucked]

I suppose it comes with having been here so very long.

[ not as long as some, of course, but long enough to see some shit. peggy reaches for her tea cup, sliding her nails along the rim. ]

And I know we're both the sort who's keen to stick to only the facts but -- in whatever you write, Aizawa, I might suggest you also advise readers to keep an open mind about these doppelgangers. [ ... ] They might forget that the alternate versions are people too. In their own right. Not merely just, well, alternate versions.

[expellerhead]

I'll make a note of it, [aizawa agrees without trying to delve any further; and he has, a couple times.] I'm not sure it'll become a huge issue in the future, but maybe to head off any unkind reactions at the pass.