[Text] 1.

[eagletears]

Testing.

All current transported residents, Anchor City.

Attempting headcount. Please respond with identity and statistics if possible.

Warmest appreciation for your invaluable support. We are stronger together.

     Captain Steve Rogers.

Comments

[eagletears]

No one else stepped up, so I did.

We have to unify if we want to get through this.

[mayorness]

Unify? Against what?

Though I'll admit, finding a way home would probably be nice.

[eagletears]

That thing told us we would be fighting a war and we don't even know which side we're on.

Our enemy is an unknown, and so are our allies.

[mayorness]

So you think we should make alliances with each other? What makes you think we have any more in common?

[eagletears]

We do have something in common.

We all lost the same thing.

[mayorness]

I doubt that what we lost by coming here is the same thing. Not by a long shot.

[eagletears]

I disagree.

Regardless of where we come from or who we are, we've all lost our freedom.

That's common ground.

[mayorness]

Freedom.

[There's a bit of a pause before she replies, as if she's thinking about it, about what that means to her, if it even matters after everything.]

I guess there's something to be said for that. Not that I have much to do with my freedom anymore.

[eagletears]

Ma'am, this might just be your chance to change that.

[mayorness]

Might it?

I hope you know how difficult it is to cross between worlds.

[eagletears]

Difficult is just another way to say challenging, and I don't know about you- but I can appreciate a challenge.

We've got a lot of time on our hands so we might as well keep them busy.

[mayorness]

I like a challenge so long as the rewards are worth the efforts. I'm sure you understand.

[Another pause, and then she texts back.]

I might have been trying to work on a few things.

[eagletears]

I'd like to think most would consider their freedom worth the effort.

I'm still figuring out the facts, and I think it would be good to share our findings and what we've been up to.

Going in circles won't get us very far.

[mayorness]

That depends. I value my freedom, but the thing I truly want the most is something I can't have, freedom or not.

But I've been working on a few spells when your friend isn't leering over my shoulder.

[eagletears]

We all want things we can't have, ma'am, but that doesn't mean we have to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

He's not a big fan of magic.

[mayorness]

Considering what I want, that's a very, very poor choice of words.

I got that. I compromised. All the really explosive stuff, I've been trying outside.

[eagletears]

So you're the one who scorched the kitchen ceiling.

I thought Tony had tried to use the stove.

[mayorness]

That actually wasn't me.

But if there was a green stain on the carpet in the common room, that might have been.

[eagletears]

Getting that out took some elbow grease.

Do I want to know what it was?

[mayorness]

It would have just cleared itself up overnight, you know.

It was potion. Or an ingredient, at least.

[eagletears]

May I ask what for?

[mayorness]

I'm not sure yet. I wasn't sure when I was making it. But I've been preoccupied with trying to make something new, something useful.

Maybe something to cross worlds, as impossible as it is.

[eagletears]

Hope you don't think I'm being too forward, but are you some kind of witch, ma'am?

[mayorness]

No, I'm not a witch. I just use magic.

[eagletears]

You wouldn't happen to be friendly with a guy named Loki, would you?