eachdraidh | Video (Seelie & Hermione-Net Compass)

For anyone who doesn't know me, my name's Steve Rogers. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet many of you at the feast. Things came up, but I at least wanted to introduce myself.

[For reasons, curiosity. Maybe he's a limited edition but he's definitely not one of a kind.]

I also wanted to talk about something else. Some of you might remember Sam Wilson - in fact, if you ever met him, I'm willing to bet that you do. Sam served two tours in the military, so he could definitely hold his own in a fight. But what he really loved to do was help people. My entire world had turned its back on me, and Sam took me in, made me bacon and eggs. That's the kind of friend I hope to be to anyone who'd call me one.

[Emphasis on 'anyone'.]

Sam's gone now, but he started working on something before he left. It's a clinic, he called it The Nest. There's some medicine and stuff there, but it was more than that. It was a place for people to come if they just needed to talk, or if they needed to rest. I never realized it before, but sometimes in a war people need that as much as they need bandaging up.

[Steve pauses there to take deep breath. Here comes the hard part.]

This is my friend's legacy, and I've tried to keep it afloat. The problem is, I don't know how. And it's hard for me to ask for help sometimes.

[He can barely even maintain eye contact. But the same thing keeps going through his head, fuels him on: for Sam.]

But if you have anything to offer...if you have medical knowledge or if you're just a good listener, even if you want somewhere else to stay. There's a place for you here.

I guess that's it. Again, welcome, and try to watch yourselves out there.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm sorry I didn't let you know sooner. Sam...he made a lot of friends in a short amount of time. I didn't know them all.

Both of those would be welcome. You know, for someone whose ma was a nurse, I didn't learn as much as I should have.

It's okay. I know it would have been harder to do this closer to the time it happened. I understand that. But you're right, he did seem to make a lot of friends. I'm sure with that I'm hardly the only one offering to help if necessary.

[Oh, mothers. There's something almost guilty and bittersweet on thinking about her own. So long ago now.]

Unfortunately, we don't always get the chance or put in the initial interest to take up after our parents all the time.

No we don't. I didn't get a chance to meet my father, but I know they were both heroes.

[Like that didn't inspire him with his own life choices.]

I'm sure he'd be proud though. Even here, you're doing what you can to help. Even if it might be by continuing where Sam left off. We all help and are heroes in our own way.

[Life choices are never easy. And often inspired by someone or some particular event.]

I like that. Something you learned from your own parents?

I suppose, in a way. They both taught me to respect everyone, regardless of their station. That they all contribute to our kingdom in their own way. One could say my grandson also assisted in reinforcing that as well.

[What with his belief and determination to help the people of Storybrooke in spite of the obstacles to get there in breaking the Curse.]

Grandson?

[His eyebrows raise at that. Steve knows he shouldn't comment on the obvious, but he's probably already given himself away.]

I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you look pretty young to have a grandson.

[Steve, you are hardly the first to be surprised at her mention of Emma or Henry for that matter.]

Well. That would be because I was under a curse for 28 years and didn't age in that time. He's here, actually. Henry. Both him and my daughter. Which I know must seem strange since we look about the same age, but.

[The circumstances of their lives are anything but normal, really.]

Really? Small world, I sorta went through something similar.

[It was for a little longer than 28 years, and it was less a spell and more a cryogenic state.]

Yes. Really. I know it might sound.....well, crazy. But it is true. The same as me being Snow White probably is to a lot of people around here.

[She's used to it by now. But then there's a pause as she bites her lip, looking empathetic.]

You did?

[He would offer more of the story, but.]

Snow White?

Yes.

[Yes, there it is. That familiarity, that double take. She's getting more used to that after being here this long when introducing herself. That and some from Westeros making other assumptions from 'Snow'.]

[Well. He probably shouldn't be too surprised. He's met Hercules, he's living in a world full of fairies, and apparently there's all kinds of hims running around out there.

Steve offers her a smile.]

My best friend used to have a crush on you.

Let me guess. You grew up reading the fairytales? Some of it is true. Though it leaves a lot out in the telling.

[To say the least. Even if people get the basic idea that she and the Evil Queen were at odds and she was put under a Sleeping Curse with the apple.]

I can believe that. And I wouldn't mind hearing the truth.

[Or at least her truth.]

I'd say I'd lend you the book but now Henry's here that's pretty much his again. But perhaps I could sum some of it up.

[Yes, 'the book' that tells the story of her and all the others in the Forest most heard of growing up in their fairytales. Most if not all stories possibly have some basis in truth, after all.]

A summary would be fine.

[He's not going to take a boy's book away from him. They were some of Steve's best friends too.]

Even the summary would be rather long. But....I lost my mother when I was young. Father remarried and initially we got on rather well. I just never knew until much later how hurt she was that I'd told her secret when we first met and I was ten. After he died, I was on the run. Wanted. That's when I met Charming. Tried to steal his jewelery on his way to getting married to Midas' daughter. He caught me and persuaded me to help him. In spite of ourselves, we ended up falling for each other. We had Emma and our land was Cursed to Storybrooke, to forget each other and our past lives until she came to save us.

In a nutshell without all the details, I guess.

Yeah, that's definitely a little different than the story I know.

[Snow White the thief? He's amused though.]

I guess that's the way it is a lot of times.

I suppose, yes. You're hardly the first to say that or be confused at mention of my name. Or having a child or grandson either. But things aren't always or necessarily often exactly as they are told in books. Even if they are based on some truth.

Yeah, life's not a fairy tale.

[How much different is his own life? He's Captain America, a hero, a symbol. But he's human, and there's a lot more to it than that.]

No. It's not. But even so, that doesn't mean we can't try to keep our spirits up all the same. Things seem to have a way of working themselves out, in my experience. Even if it might take time and your happy ending might not be what you necessarily expect.

[Everyone makes mistakes. It's whether they do it with the best of intentions, whether they learn from them. It's only human to, but that doesn't mean they can't try strive to keep moving forward and rise above it somehow.]

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