video; guess who's back, back again

[assembles]

[ The feed snaps on, and the frame is on the crowded side. In the foreground Steve and Wanda are seated, arranged on a couch in one of the mansion’s tea rooms, while Natasha stands behind them, leaning against the wall near the door. Steve has his phone tilted so that all of three them are visible, Wanda’s arm linked with his.

Steve’s in civilian wear, his expression composed and collected. He isn’t here to give out orders or make any speeches, though. ]

So it looks like Wonderland sent all three of us home at once. Sorry about that. [ As if they had any control over it. ] But we’re back now and more or less in one piece. [ Which isn’t the full story at all, but that isn’t something that needs to be shared with all of Wonderland.

Natasha pushes away from the wall at this and moves closer into the frame of the video, leaning on the back of the couch over Steve’s shoulder, expression mild. ] I don’t know if any others of us were sent home recently, but if so, letting us know would be greatly appreciated.

[ Her lips quirk briefly. ] Either way, I think some of us will need to be assembling for a SitRep soon regardless. But we wanted to let you know we were back to keep people from worrying.

[ Steve glances over his shoulder at Natasha, nods, and then returns to looking at his phone. ] Let us know if we’re needed anywhere.

[ With that, the feed cuts. ]


[ They’ve done their duty and reported their return, which means that it’s time for all three of them to go and lick their wounds. Steve returns to his room first and foremost, finding Bucky even sooner than he had expected when it turns out he’d camped in his room.

Once they’ve reunited, though, Steve laces up his shoes and goes for a run up and down the beach, needing some time to clear his head. Everything that happened back home has him on edge, searching for a way to take action, to do something, and yet none of it means a thing here in Wonderland. There are no Accords here, but a secret that had been revealed in the worst possible way back home remains a secret here, and it’s eating at him.

He also heads up to the roof, as if hoping that a bird’s eye view of everything will somehow cause it all to make more sense. Wonderland isn’t where he’s supposed to be, but at least some of his team is here. They maybe be prisoners, but they’re not caged and collared. It’s something. ]

[ Once Natasha parted ways with Wanda and Steve, having had a chance to - finally - compare information, she briefly stopped by her room upstairs, checking to make sure everything she'd accumulated here was as she'd left it. Then, after replying to a few text messages that had been waiting for her, she headed to the fifth floor. And the bar.

Because damn, did she ever need a drink. Or twenty. ]

[ For most of the day following their return to Wonderland, Wanda remains out of sight. There's no trace of her in either of her usual haunts, the training room or the magic study: she shuts herself away in her room for the better part of the afternoon, door locked tight, though she'll likely answer for those who seek her out. It's been months since she's been this withdrawn-- longer, considering how much time had passed during her trip home, but she finds herself feeling very much like the Wanda who had first come to Wonderland one year earlier, skittish and wary of human contact, unnerved by the idea of having to explain exactly what had changed to rob her of the confidence she had spent so many months building alongside her teammates and new friends alike.

Eventually, it's one of the most basic of human needs that forces her to emerge, hunger driving her to leave her room behind and make her way down to the communal kitchen. After spending time in government custody, the need for a real meal as opposed to whatever the closets might be able to supply is enough to make her brave the mansion beyond her room. She keeps her focus narrow at first, rummaging through the pantry to see what it might have to offer in the way of ingredients, occasionally turning her attention to the kitchen at large to see who else might have wandered in since her own arrival, an attempt to remain aware of her surroundings. House arrest followed by more severe isolation has done very little to put her at ease, and she finds herself unwilling to trust even the slightest creak of the floorboards, regardless of the fact that here, the word fugitive means very, very little. ]

[ OOC: One or all of them will respond to any network replies. If you reply to any of the action options, please specify who it’s for! ]

Comments

video »

[sorryitasedyou]

You three were the only ones sent home, as far as I know. But, I mean - that's fine. Everything's fine and nothing burned down while you guys were gone.

I'm really glad you guys are all back. [ Guess who's super over playing adult. ]

[widows_kiss]

[ Natasha had just finished glancing through her own waiting text messages when she sees this reply come through, opening up a video feed on her phone to reply. ]

Miss us? [ Her smile is playful and bemused as she studies the girl in the screen. ] Sounds like you've had an exciting week yourself.

video »

[assembles]

[ It's difficult to tell if Darcy is trying to convince them or herself that everything is fine, but Steve has to admit that it seems like Wonderland is as they left it.

This is the second time that he's had to deal with returning to a place only a week later even though he has a whole year worth of memories. It isn't any easier. ]

We owe you for taking charge while we weren't here. I'm not sure why Clint, Tony, and Sharon didn't leave with us, but it's probably better this way.

[ For a number of reasons. ]

elusive telepathy club for wanda;

[radiopalkiller]

[ Philip doesn't have much in the way of a thrilling welcome message to deliver, but there's one goodbye he's glad he didn't have to say after all, so the least he can spring for is a quick hello. Talk about a training schedule, maybe? Well, who knows how the home visit went. First the hello, in any case.

--And he almost types it, too, but if there's anybody who should get to experience the alternative version, then it's got to be her. And it's still exhausting, Christ, like staring at fifty squares of near identical colours, with one slightly odd one out. But he tries, and he tries, and eventually one floor feels just a bit more right than the others. One room just a bit closer to how he needs it to feel.

And then he says, tries to say, directly to her: ]

So, two things: a.) Welcome back! b.) Guess who's starting to get an idea of how to zone in on people with this thing? Actually, let me rephrase that: Guess who's either getting better at long-range telepathy, or currently really freaking out some poor sod in Wonderland with a random voice in their head!

[mindbend]

[The message comes through, though she hesitates to call it loud and clear. There's obvious strain there, effort put forth, but the fact that he manages at all is impressive, given how little he'd claimed to know about the use of his own abilities. The faintest hint of a smile tugs at one side of her mouth for a moment as she marks her place in her book with her thumb, sitting cross-legged on her bed, having been intent on finding some way to distract herself, to let herself believe that Wonderland itself could offer reprieve.

As distractions went, this would do. A reminder that she'd made friends beyond the team that had torn itself apart.]

I can hear you. You're getting better.

[Even her mind sounds weary, and she frowns a little at the realization.]

Thank you. I'm glad to be back. Home was not so hospitable by the time we left again.

video

[saved]

[Peter is such a sweet summer child to anything the three of them could have experienced. He knows Steve and Natasha though, and he'd been worried about their absence. It's why he's there on the other side of the screen]

Uh, hey, guys.

You all okay?

[widows_kiss]

[ Natasha replies with her own phone, as she'd retrieved it by now and was sorting through what they'd missed, in case anything was important. When Peter replies to them, she flicks open a video feed to answer. ]

Relatively speaking. We're all in one piece. There weren't any giant lizard men.

[mindbend]

[Meanwhile, though Wanda and Peter haven't actually met, she knows who he is-- which means something different now than it did before her trip home. She'd been quiet during the initial broadcast, but she answers him from her own phone sometime after his response comes through, eyes narrowed curiously.]

You're Peter Parker, yes?

video

[assembles]

[ Peter's existence here isn't something that had been at the forefront of Steve's mind when he got back, he'll admit. He's had so many other things to deal with and parse through that it had been put on the backburner -- until it's shoved in his face, anyway.

Who would have thought he would actually meet Peter in Wonderland long before going toe-to-toe with him back home? He'd had heart, and as they'd already covered, they were both from New York.

It's difficult to take any issue with the kid, especially since he obviously hasn't lived through it yet. ]

We'll live. [ Steve gives a wry smile. ] And you should know... we ran into you back home. Or... some version of you, anyway. [ Steve hadn't seen him without the mask on, and his voice does sound a little different, so he can't be sure. ]

You know what. Whatever. I want all three of you DEAL WITH ALL THIS LOVE.

[hypoxic]

Beach

[Fitz is actively trying to stay out of Important people's way since their return. He's gone out to the beach for general specs. Events have given him a lot of indoor work, but his research is still lacking on the outdoor end of things. He's brought a small utility cart full of test tubes and minor experiments, and is kneeling down taking samples and meticulously labeling them. The sound of fitness alerts him to someone else's arrival, and he scrambles up to protect his research from jocks ruining everything because that is what jocks do.

Except oh it's not an ordinary jock. And now he feels bad.

Should he be saluting? Coulson would probably salute. Fitz ends up looking awkwardly away instead.]

....Captain. Um. There might be a situation back at the mansion.

[He deserves to know about the Winter Soldier.]


Natasha's room

[Oh, no there's absolutely no seeking going on here. It's just that she's across the hall from his room, and she did ask for some research on surveillance and things. He's got some floor maps to give her, with a detailed proposal about potential camera placement. There's a little blue post-it with "submitted for your approval" scrawled in impossible-to-read handwriting. He'll just slide it under her door and not actually knock because that would be inviting conversation and why would anyone ever volunteer for that.]


Kitchen

[Fitz spends more time in the kitchen than anyone probably should. He likes to eat, and he likes to work, so working in the kitchen makes the most sense. He's settled with an enormous plate of Scottish breakfast, working his way through a mountain of meats and beans and cholesterol. He eats with little regard to table manners without his prim BFF around to glare at him about keeping elbows off the table, but also combines it with work. He's drawing on napkins, considering technology for powered people. Would it be useful to adapt plans for a power dampening room like they used for Inhumans at home? Daisy might take issue with it, but with as many setbacks as they were already encountering, it might be for the best to have something set up for an emergency.

He doesn't actively seek out interaction with Wanda, but he's thinking fairly quickly and loudly. It might be a little aggressive to someone so mentally sensitive, particularly given her recent ordeal.]

[Natasha's Room]

[widows_kiss]

[ It was a valiant attempt, Fitz, but you're not getting away that easily. In fact, mere moments after the paper is slipped beneath her door, the door itself is opening and she's standing there with a bemused smile at having caught him. ]

Good morning, Agent Fitz. May I help you with something?

Video (for all of you if you all want)

[bowsniper]

[ Well they are a sight for sore eyes. He hadn't fully believed they would be back until now.

Though, judging by the looks of them something was off. ]

Welcome back. As far as I know it was just you three that disappeared. We seem to have acquired someone new though. Darcy and the little wizard seemed distraught about it.

[ His gaze flickered over them once more before locking on Natasha. He gave her a meaningful look. She would find him when she was ready to talk, of that he had no doubt. ]

[widows_kiss]

[ Natasha opens a return feed directly to him from her phone, a puzzled look on her face as she eyes him for a moment. He certainly didn't look like he'd just come out of a relatively rough fight. Which meant. ]

You haven't been back home. Have you?

action;

[araneidal]

→ Natasha

[ The bed has been slept in. Natasha's hair is still a little rumpled; she's not sleeping when the other one walks in, just curled up on a chair sipping some coffee and a Swiss roll. Pastry for breakfast, chocolate therapy or whatever, she doesn't have a word for it. ]

[ Nothing else in the room has been touched. She blinks, assessing. ]

What happened?

→ Steve

[ She's waiting on the roof. Perched — that's Clint's word — at the edge. ]

Come here.

→ Wanda

[ The last time they spoke, it was heavy. Natasha, generally, lets her counterpart take point on responsibility for people from her world, but in a few cases, it's distinctly split between them. She's no gourmet chef, but plenty of dishes don't require that level of skill, and pelmini certainly doesn't. Except Wanda comes down to the kitchen before Natasha can bring it up to her room. ]

Don't tell me you managed to get Netflix.

[ Her pallid face; lack of sunlight, or drugs. There's some redness on her neck, a rash? Natasha frowns deeply at it. ]

[widows_kiss]

[ There's not many Natasha would allow into her private quarters like this while she was absent. She's fiercely protective of her private spaces, but she wouldn't have been surprised to find Clint on her couch, if he'd needed it. And the sight of Natasha curled up in one of her chairs having breakfast gives her pause for half a second before she just accepts it and strolls towards her, looking tired. ]

Steve's a stubborn idiot, Tony's an arrogant ass, someone thought it would be a good idea to put Thaddeus Ross in charge, and we might have destroyed an airport.

[ Huffing in frustration, she drops down into the chair next to Natasha's, a long-limbed sprawl that still manages to look graceful despite the fact that it's obvious she's 300% done. ]

Oh, and the team might be done. Rhodes got badly injured, half of them are in prison, and most of the rest of us are on the run.

action; steve please

[readytocomply]

[Everyone's been telling him that Steve's coming back. His stuff didn't disappear, they say that means he'll be back in a few days, but Bucky waits and waits, and he doesn't come through that door. He finds a blanket, even though the closets kind of bother him he uses that when he has to, spreads it out in a corner of Steve's room, and keeps on waiting. He only sleeps when his body makes him, wakes more often than not, begins to resign himself to the fact that they were lying and Steve wasn't here. He knows that nobody can make him believe that this place is real, not even Steve, but it's a start and he needs it.

But then the door opens up; he's immediately on his feet, hand up in a fist, stance defensive.]

Steve.

[He drops his hand to his side, pressing his mouth into a firm line. Bucky knows he can't fool Steve, even after a few moments pass and he schools expression back into something manageable, that mask on again. He's relieved, visibly, and happy, too.]

They kept saying you'd come back, and I wanted to believe them.

[A slight step forward.]

You've got a lot of friends here.

action;

[assembles]

[ Steve has had some warning about Bucky being here. Not that it's something that needs warning, exactly. It hadn't been so long ago that he'd seen him, but it also hadn't been so long ago that he'd put him to rest, watching as the ice crackled up the glass and his eyes fell closed.

It had been one of the hardest things he'd done. He'd been selfish on Bucky's behalf, he's well aware of that, but he'd had to let go in that moment. Because it was what Bucky had wanted.

Here, though, there really isn't that option. Here, they can work on rebuilding everything they'd lost. For the second time, in Steve's case. He'd expected this moment to come with a hint of disappoint, but all that hits him is relief. Bucky may be on ice back home, but at least Steve knows that they do reunite and that Bucky is in relatively safe hands. The uncertainty he'd lived with before is all gone.

Steve matches Bucky's step with one of his own, then another, then another, until they're in reaching distance. ]

I've been here a while. It's... confusing. [ Especially for someone like Bucky, where time had meant so little for so long.

Steve can't help it; he breaks out into a smile, even as he takes in the room. Dodger isn't here, but his guess is that Darcy's been watching over him in his absence. ] You could have used the bed, you know. [ Instead of sleeping on the floor like an animal. Steve remembers the state of Bucky's apartment in Romania, it hadn't been pretty. He'll be holding him to a higher standard here. ]

video;

[oversight]

You're travelin' in packs now?

[ Rhetorical. But wouldn't he like to know how that works. Blake smirks and then leans in to squint at the small image on his phone. ]

Welcome back, anyway. Or sorry you got pulled back. [ He never quite knows anymore which sentiment he should use. ] All in one piece?

[widows_kiss]

[ Natasha opens a return feed when she sees Blake's face pop up on her screen. ]

Relatively speaking. And here I thought we always traveled in packs. Steve seems to inspire it whether he likes it or not.

Did we miss anything important?

Action for all three because I'm a hoarder XD

[actualwizard]

Roof- Steve
Billy likes the roof, likes to sit on the edge with his feet hanging off staring out at the ocean. It's as high up as he can get here and it reminds him of home, on a way. Sitting on the roof of his apartment building staring out at the city.

That's where he is when he hears someone else approaching, turning his head he spots Steve and shoots him a smile. "Welcome back. I got your text."

Bar- Natasha
He actively seeks Natasha out after seeing their message. Last time Steve and Natasha had disappeared they had come back from fighting Ultron and having met his mother. Its safe to say Billy is a little curious about what they are returning from this time. Events in their world might not match up entirely to his but...well usually he knows of what they have faced.

Natasha definitely looks like she needs the bottle that's on the table in front of her, and he raises an eyebrow as he slides into the empty chair across from her. "That bad?"

Wanda's room
Billy seeks Wanda out almost immediately. He hadn't been too worried when she disappeared, after two years he was used to people suddenly disappearing only to reappear a week later. He knows she's back even before the video on the network, feels it as soon as she reappears in Wonderland. Something is wrong though, he sees it on her face in the video and it sends him to her room, knocking on the door quietly.

Bar | Natasha

[widows_kiss]

She's perched at the bar when he slides onto a stool beside her and she casts a wry glance his way before taking another sip of her vodka.

"Oh yes, you could say that. We've had worse - probably - but this wasn't exactly a picnic."

video + action;

[agentxthirteen]

[ Sharon is about to reply to the video before she realizes that a message to one of them is a message to all of them, and though she sort of knows the other two, she doesn't know them. Not like she does Steve.

So instead she pastes on a bright smile, videos in, says, ] Welcome back to hell, you three. [ And then she cuts the feed and takes a breath.

Because it's not as if she really knows Steve, if she's being honest. She knows facts, sure. She's read his file, she's lived across from him. She knows a bit of his character. Enough to respect him, even though sometimes he makes her grit her teeth and want to smack him and tell him off.

But they can still talk. But it's awkward enough that she doesn't want to talk to him with anyone as perceptive as Natasha Romanoff listening in.

So instead, she decides to try and meet with him in person.

She avoids his floor. There are too many people they both know there, mostly him, and if she doesn't want Natasha listening in to them being awkward and careful of each other, she certainly doesn't want the rest of the floor listening in.

She considers sending him a text, but he and the other two are probably still together and fielding messages.

She figures she'll have to see him eventually, one way or the other, so she doesn't rush. She more just... wants to make sure he's okay. She knows what she went through before she arrived, so she'll just... make sure.

He isn't in the training center. Isn't in the kitchen. That's fine. Not in the library, as near as she can tell. But no, he wouldn't be in the library. He'd be burning off steam if something's wrong. Or if it's... Well, if she's being honest, he's probably working out somewhere anyway, just with varying degrees of emo. The guy could bench press a bus, but he still works out like a damn machine.

She heads outside. He wouldn't be in the maze. He'd be somewhere he could run or hit things or both. She sighs and heads down to the beach, thinking she'll check the roof after if he isn't there, and maybe, maybe, if she still can't find him, check his room.

But no, there's the idiot right there, running fast enough that Sharon would feel ashamed of her own speed if it weren't for the fact that she's not superhuman.

She doesn't try to catch up with him. Instead, she just waits. He'll see her eventually. ]

[Video]

[mindbend]

[Wanda offers Sharon a very brief, faint smile-- on top of their interactions in Wonderland, Sharon had been on their side back home. Wanda won't forget that.]

If this is hell, I think it is not so bad.

action for roof steve?

[punful]

[Sans is up on the roof, napping in a stolen pool chair. His cat, 4, is exploring the roof while Sans dozes, so it's probably the cat that Steve will run into first. A tiny black couple-month-old kitten with a bent ear and a sort of ornery disposition. 4 decides to go over and demand attention from Steve. Meanwhile Sans mostly wakes up when he hears footsteps nearby as well as a cat yelling. He's got a copy of A Brief History of Time open over his face to block out the sun and he doesn't bother to move it because obviously that takes too much effort.]

hullo. best to just give 4 what he wants. never leaves you alone otherwise.

action

[assembles]

[ Steve isn't prepared for the first thing that he sees on the roof to be an adorable kitten. The cat immediately starts mewling at him and rubbing up against his leg, which means that he really has no choice but to bend down and give it pets, scratching gently under its chin.

It's only when a voice cuts in that Steve realizes it's not just him and the cat. He glances over and spots the pool chair, along with the bony figure laid out on top of it. Well, that could only be Sans. ]

And what does he want, food?

[ Right now the kitten seems content enough being pet, but it wouldn't be that hard to go grab a can of cat food from a closet. ]

text;

[lifeskills]

_{[After the exchange he'd recently had with Bucky, Victor makes a note of Steve and the others' reappearances. Captain America. He still hasn't let that one go--and it's even more bemusing looking at the eclectic group Steve's assembled around him.]}

It seems you have returned intact. That is good to see when good news is so hard to come by.

_{[The "welcome back" is implied without him adding to the chorus of them. It goes for all three, though he's thinking there's one scruffy brunette in particular who'll find this development interesting.]}

text;

[assembles]

[ Steve's a little surprised when he looks at the text message and realizes who sent it. He and Victor haven't exactly had the warmest interactions, but the man remains interested in him all the same. Probably because of Steve's status as a science experiment.

There's no reason to be rude, though. The least he can do is reply. ]

I guess it also depends on whether us coming back is really good news.

[ It means they're prisoners again, but it also means they get to see the friends they made here. And they have some time to gather their composure after the mess of back home. It's really a toss up. ]

steve.

[intelligently]

( It's the roof where she finds Steve, later in the day. It's a good place to think, Lydia's used it herself and so it isn't that surprising when she does find him there. It was a guess that he'd come here, if not then than another time )

Things didn't go so well.

( It's also a guess, but based on what he'd said in the message - and how his previous trips home have ended - it's not a bad guess )

[assembles]

[ It's not a bad guess at all. Lydia had been here to hear Steve's story the last time this happened, although that had at least been less personal. The whole world had been at stake then, but that was the sort of thing Steve could handle. What had happened in Siberia? Not so much.

Still, he made his bed. Now he intends to lay in it.

He drops his arms from his chest to his sides and nods. ]

Yeah, that'd be... an understatement.

[ There are things about it he regrets, and things about it that he doesn't. ]

video;

[beatupgrass]

Lucky bastards. [that's his commentary.] 'Course I guess it ain't so lucky if you came back. If I ever get outta here, I better not be back in a few days.

video;

[mindbend]

[Oh hey, Rocket.]

You would not say that if you'd been where we had been.

[Specifically where she had been, though she doesn't feel the need to point that out over the network.]

action; wanda

[henrydaniel]

[Being a growing teenage boy finds Henry always on the lookout for food, but particularly really big sandwiches. He loves them, gets them bigger than he thinks even Emma would, and for sure bigger than what Regina would. But it means he does make them himself because he wants it to be very specific.

That's what he's doing in the kitchen when Wanda walks in, and he looks up to smile, just being friendly. More often than not he's decided to share his big sandwiches if someone seems hungry. This one is pretty huge so he cuts it in half. If she doesn't want it, he's happy to wrap it up and take it for dinner, and if she does, then hey - he's all about sharing.]

My sandwich is pretty big. It has salami, ham, mustard, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and black olives. Want half?

[mindbend]

[The offer is one that catches her by surprise, and Wanda looks to him curiously as she puts her own investigation of the kitchen on hold, a small smile pulling at one corner of her mouth for half a moment before it vanishes again.]

You don't even know me.

[She's seen him before, of course, knows his name, but that anyone would offer anything to a stranger-- it strikes her as odd, as well as endearing.]

You're-- Henry, yes?

Steve, The Roof

[nascensibility]

[Evelyn has worried.

She always does when people disappear, particularly when friends of theirs show up not long afterward - Bucky had been polite, something distinctly off in his air - but Evelyn has also learned how to compartmentalise loss when her usefulness wanes. Unlike many residents she is not in possession of preternatural skills, inhuman capabilities, and they grow more numerous by the week. She keeps the books and the names, and is happy to see them come (less so to see them go).

Having witnessed the recent transmission and understood the weary pall cast over the three people on the little screen she thought it best to allow some space before her inevitable flurry of questions, before encroaching into the time of residents who have a bevy of others from home awaiting responses in the mansion. Mildly tearful reunions, perhaps. Tired expressions and even more tired smiles.

She doesn't intend to find Steve on the roof: she was sitting there long before he arrived, savouring the early evening heat and humidity as stormclouds gathered over the ocean. They're still too far away, the thunder a distant rumble and the lightning a bare flicker, but it's coming.

It's coming.]

Welcome back.

[assembles]

[ When Steve looks at the oncoming storm, all he can think of is what will happen when it's Tony's turn to return home. It's going to happen one way or another, Wonderland wouldn't allow anything else in this situation. With Bucky here, they're more or less waiting for another bomb to go off.

Not that Steve necessarily thinks that Tony will go after Bucky with the same amount of intensity now that the immediate shock and betrayal is over with, but it isn't going to make things easy for any of them.

He'd come up here to avoid having to give out any more tired smiles, but it looks like he might have to. Evelyn is someone he can be a little more open with, but there's no easy way to explain anything that happened, especially to someone who isn't from their world.

Maybe she won't ask, but Steve knows her better than to assume that. ]

Thanks. [ Eventually he goes to take a seat next to her, exhaling as he watches the sky. ] Looks like we're taking turns.

text;

[interspatial]

is it too much to ask if i can stop by for 5 minutes and get some scans off of you all?

[ oh right manners are a thing ]

oh and um welcome back. darcy missed you guys.

text;

[assembles]

Does that mean you didn't miss us?

[ It's only a tease. Steve knows that these science types are not always the best with social skills. Hence why Jane's first thought had been about scanning them. ]

What kind of scans?

wanda, kitchen

[brainleak]

[River can feel unease. It's not her own, but she can feel it. She takes her boots off in the hallway and walks slowly, barefoot, to the kitchen. Trying to avoid scaring Wanda, though she might end up just startling her anyway. It's tough with these things. River creeps into the kitchen and just stares at Wanda while she rummages through the pantry, standing still in the doorway.]

You went home.

yesss psychic friends!

[mindbend]

[Wanda picks up on her presence just in time, a prick at the back of her mind to alert her to the fact that she's not alone mere moments before River actually enters the kitchen. Rather than startling, she turns to face her, lightly resting her weight against the counter as she draws back up to her full height, both hands braced against the edge.]

Yes-- for some time. [A beat.] A year.

[So much had happened in just one year.]

video

[therapize]

I don't know if anyone else from your world got sent home, but at least one of you showed up. [And Cami can only imagine that Steve's phone is on the verge of blowing up from all the messages he's gotten about it. Though her reply is mostly meant for him, she's aware that he's not the only one listening. So she leaves it at a vague hint, and offers a small smile to the other two.]

Cami, by the way. Since Steve's the only one I know.

video

[assembles]

[ Yes, Steve's phone had definitely blown up while he was gone. Cami isn't the first person to tell him via this network post, either. All of them want to make sure he's aware of Bucky's presence, which he appreciates. ]

Hey, Cami. Don't worry, I heard. I'm gonna be tracking him down as soon as we're done here.

[ The fact that he isn't racing around the mansion in search of Bucky right now is a testament to his attempt at self-control, he thinks. ]