entranceway | 001 ☆ video

[When the video feed starts up, it shows a man seated at a desk in a rather nondescript room. Not much can be seen behind him beyond a bed and closet. Much more noteworthy is his face, which has a few bruises and a line of stitches extending outward from the corner of his mouth.

Despite that, he has a bright, open look on his face, though the fact that he's sitting up straight and looking head-on at his phone's camera makes it clear that he means business.]

So... had a few days to take everything in, read what information I could find. It's been helpful, it really has. [A lot of the work and investigation had already been done for him, though that hasn't prevented Steve from doing his own exploration.]

Just a few questions, if anyone can help. [And so far, most everyone has been helpful.] I can only assume there's some escape effort that's been put together here. A group of like-minded people, working together to get everyone home. I'd like to be a part of that. [It might seem overly transparent to ask about something like that over a network like this, but Steve has no interest in secrecy, especially not after everything that he's been through.]

Secondly, I've heard a lot about people being from different worlds. I'm trying to get an idea of how many we're dealing with. [He knows about Asgard and has heard vaguely of the Nine Realms, but beyond that he's clueless. He needs to determine the scope of this operation.]

Oh, and the name's Steve Rogers. I'll do whatever I can to get us all out of here. [It's meant mainly as a test to see if anyone here is going to recognize him, or if he actually has some manner of anonymity in this place.

With that said, he offers a small smile and then ends the feed.]

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[Steve feels like he's looking into a mirror. Not because Abby looks anything like him, but because he remembers saying the exact same kind of thing at her age. I can take care of myself. He'd said it to Bucky when he showed up at school with a split lip and two black eyes.

Maybe she isn't trying to compensate for something. Maybe she is. But it does make him feel drawn to her.]

That so? You have a lot of experience with this kind of thing back home?

[Regardless of what she says, it's tough not to worry.]

[It would be very easy for her to lie right now. She could spin some sob story about how her life back home is horrible, about how she's always being picked on or just fighting to survive, about an 'uncle bad touch' she's forced to spend holidays visiting, about... well, the list goes on and on. However, she doesn't say any of those things. She isn't strictly opposed to lying, necessarily, but prefers to do so only when it's needed.

This isn't one of those times.

So she shakes her head, just slightly, and answers him truthfully.]

No, I don't have experience with this kind of thing, back home. Wonderland isn't anything like where I'm from. [She smiles, just a bit, more to lessen the blow of what she's about to say than because of any humor.]

But after three hundred years, there isn't much that any place can throw at me that I can't handle. Wonderland included.

[Steve's hoping that no one has a world that resembles Wonderland. Granted, if that's what a person was used to, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, and the company makes it at least tolerable. Maybe if this was an actual place for people to live rather than some kind of prison, it wouldn't be so bad. But it's not.

At first, Steve thinks that Abby's comment might be some kind of joke or reference that he's missing. He squints at her, but she delivered it with complete seriousness and considering that Asgardians age into the thousands, it's not like he hasn't come across this kind of thing before.

It's just... she looks so young.]

That's how old you are? Are people just really long-lived where you're from?

[Oh Steve, you're positively adorable. Abby likes you already.]

I honestly don't know how old I am. I stopped counting after the first century. I didn't see the point and I've forgotten what year I was born after all this time. [She looks thoughtful.] But I remember when the eighteenth century began.

[And now for how. This is the tricky part.]

Most people where I'm from have normal lifespans. I was [a pause] infected with something when I was twelve. [That also requires her to drink blood and avoid sunlight and yeah, she's not going to simply spell it out for him. She'd rather not have Captain America think she's a threat. Hurting him would be like committing high treason or something.]

[If only other people thought that hurting him was tantamount to high treason. Instead, Steve's had a good handful of people try to kill him recently, to the point that it's becoming old hat to him.

Abby was infected with something. It doesn't sound good, whatever it is, and while Steve wonders for a moment if this might be related to her comment about vampires, he's having a hard time actually swallowing that possibility.

Besides, how can he just come out and ask her something like that?]

Does it have symptoms, this infection? Or did it just stop you from growing and then extend your lifespan?

[Yeah, this is sounding more and more like she is definitely a vampire, but Steve will withhold his judgment for now.]