onepassingnight | (no subject)

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The mellow dance hall had an old timey feel to it: wooden paneling, sweethearts dancing slowly with each other as the gentle music of a big band song played. Steph was standing to the side, searching over the slow moving couples to see if she could find...if she could find him. But something was off. She knew she wasn't in the 40s anymore. She knew that. She was wearing her new Captain America uniform. One that Coulson designed. Yet...yet the setting looked just like home. And there was hope in her chest that Bucky was just really late.

No. This was a dream. It had to be.

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If she wasn't pleased by being referred to as 'kid', Homura didn't let it ruffle her outward nonchalance.

"I will leave after our conversation," was the only concession she made, bait to make Stephanie agree to her request.

Maybe Steph could call the kid's parents when they finished their conversation or offer her a ride home herself. Still, she found herself nodding. "All right, what is it?"

"You have a reputation throughout this world," Homura said bluntly. "You possess unusual strength and stamina, among other qualities. I would like to know more about your abilities."

She was not particularly known for mincing words when she had a goal in sight.

That got her attention. "Yes. I'm Captain America." Steph's brow furrowed at how to the point this teenager was. "Who did you say you were again?" She certainly didn't look like a HYDRA agent of any sort. "Who sent you here?"

Not a HYDRA agent, but Homura did appreciate that sense of caution. It was like her own, and she nodded.

"I am Homura Akemi," she introduced herself in Western order. "I came here on my own. I would like to ask you what you stand for and what you intend to accomplish with your abilities."

Actually, a part of her wanted to ask if Stephanie had met any strange seemingly-cute creepy creatures named Kyuubey. But she held off.

"Miss Akemi," Stpeh acknowledged. "Sweetheart, you should be at home with your parents. And I...I hope I can just protect my country with my abilities." She should send the kid home. Steph began to pat her pockets and look through the pockets of her belt. "Hang on, I think I've got a phone."

Homura, a veteran of time travel and time manipulation, noted the discrepancy. "There aren't usually many phones in a place like this."

At least, not many cell phones in the 1940s. It was another detail out of place, and she noticed it just as Stephanie had been noticing them, as if this entire world were somehow caught between two eras.

That made Homura wonder why.

"This is...This isn't right," she muttered to herself. Each pocket she opened was another trinket that reminded her of her old team: a cigar that Dum Dum liked, Morita's dog tags, Gabe's little prayer book, Falsworth's shot glass, Dernier's cigarette. "Miss, I think something might be very wrong here."

Somehow, Homura's manner almost conveyed the impression that it was Stephanie being quizzed and questioned about the strangeness here. After all, a magical girl... might be willing to speak up by now. And if this is not one, this may be an innocent - who may be caught in a witch's barrier. (What else cause this... localized time warp of sorts?)

"I would like to know what you believe the situation at hand may be," she said.

"My pockets wouldn't have all of this. It would have other things in them." Steph kept checking them, then checked the pockets to her pants. Still no stark phone. "This is unusual."

That does not precisely answer Homura's question, Homura is quick to notice. She decides to be more leading in her comments.

"I believe it may be the result of outside interference from an enemy." Even after all this time, she hadn't fully immersed herself in these dreams, still saw them as foreign, strange.

"The enemy?" Steph asked. "What enemy would this be?"

"Enemies of humanity." Stephanie had, perhaps, already met some of these - or would soon.

"No name? No origins?" she asked. "Where have they attacked? What are they after?"

"You may call them what you like," Homura, who has seen witches come and go and demons take their place. "They attack humanity for the sake of sowing chaos and confusion."

"What?" Why did SHIELD not know about this? "Where are they? What's the situation? How many men do you have on this?"

That settled Homura's question about how much Stephanie knew, certainly. A contracted puella magi would have at least known precisely what enemy she meant. She was somewhat relieved. It was simpler with less of them, fewer people deceived by their own good intentions.

"There are very few people who know of this," she said - and the habit of caution meant Stephanie would not have heard of it from Homura even a year ago. "They do not have the means to protect themselves."

And then the real point: "But you might, just as you are now." No need for a contract, no need to be caught up in Kyuubey's games.

She nodded solemnly. "Does SHIELD know about this? What organization did you say you were with again?"

Immediately, Steph slipped into her Captain America mode.

She may work together with other magical girls, but she still sees herself as slightly apart from them, still has memories of things they have no idea ever happened.

"I am not with any organization," she answered. "I fight together with those who have the same enemies as I do."

"What else do we know about the enemy?" she asked. Perhaps later, she can dig up about this girl on her own.

"They are abominations that should no longer exist in this world." This was, perhaps, stating the obvious at this point - at least to Homura, whose world's magical girls faced that type of threat regularly. To a soldier whose enemies were simply the opposing, human, army, perhaps it was different.

"And that's it? We need to do a little bit more recon work in order to figure out what our course of action," Steph insisted.

"If you wish, I will accompany you. It may be for the best." That is, it may be for the best if Steph thinks of these sorts of things instead of the strangeness of the situation.

"Kid, this might not be the best place for you," she insisted. Just then, a loud alarm went off. The people started disappearing.

She was too deep in the dream to take the cue at first; Homura didn't disappear until she ran to the door and outside to check on the people quickly vanishing from the grounds. Just before she faded, she gave one last look back to Stephanie.

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stephrogers - 2013-03-23 23:08 (UTC) - Expand

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