milliways_bar | (no subject)

Steve has made good use of his time in Milliways, and his drawings are done.

(The two he's giving away are. The third, he's not sure what to do with.)

He's put them into envelopes with thin pieces of cardboard, one addressed to David Posner and the other to Ellen Park. Ellen's envelope has postcards and photographs, too, from the western leg of the USO tour: California beaches, Nevada deserts, Arizona canyons, Utah rock formations, Washington forests. He's even added a few comics of his own--literally, his own, including the first Captain America issue where he socks Hitler on the jaw right on the cover.

And when he stops at the bar to drop them off, what's waiting for him but another parcel from Ellen? Even the partial pages make him smile. He loves seeing how comics are done in other places and times--he's learning so much.

Dear David,

I redid one of my trading cards for you. (Yes, they've made trading cards about me. It's all a bit silly if you ask me, but maybe it can do you some good.) Whenever you feel like it's too much for you, remember: Captain America has faith in you.

Yours,
Steve Rogers

Dear Ellen,

I'm so sorry I missed you! I was so happy to see the new pages and can't wait to look through them.

I managed to get home since the last time we talked and put your package together: more pictures, this time of the western part of the country. We even got down to Mexico for a night! I had something called Abulita for the first time. It's a spicy hot chocolate, very delicious. I aim to try it at the Bar, too.

I've also included some of the Captain America books for your world's archives, if you think they'd take them. The stories are completely made-up, but as I'm constantly reminded, good for morale.

Since you mentioned you'd never seen the ocean, I decided to give it to you my way. You'll see it someday. I'll take you myself, if it comes to that.

Take care of yourself,
Steve Rogers

With the envelopes in Bar's care, Steve orders that cup of abulita and starts looking over the comics Ellen left for him. Time stands still while he's here--he feels no guilt about putting off his return.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"We have the same problem. Organized crime came in when I was a kid and has never really gone away.

"Of course, there's a lot of crime when people are hungry. Not that I want to excuse it. I just understand why."

He hesitates. "This fella sounds like a vigilante, though."

Edited 2012-08-01 02:02 (UTC)

"Yeah, I guess he is. But he works with the police most of the time. Things were just that bad that we didn't really care that he was outside the law at first.

"And it's sort of standard operating procedure for the heroes when they start out. It's not like they have the US Army backing them."

Knox decides he's overdue a beer.

"If he's outside the law, let's just hope he has a strong moral center of his own," Steve says quietly and drains his cup.

"He seems to, so far. Been at it five years and then some.

"And if he doesn't, there's a hero in Metropolis who is a boy scout and would probably make the Bat toe the line." It's not like Batman could slow Superman down.

"Does he use gadgets too?"

"No. He's from another planet. Somehow he draws power from the sun and from Earth's gravity." As revealed all those years back in Lois Lane's groundbreaking interview. "He calls himself Superman.

"OK, someone named him that. But it works for him. Like I said, boy scout."

"An alien...huh."

Says the science experiment.

"Yeah. That's kind of how we reacted. We're still not sure what to make of him. Of knowing that there's at least one more world out there.

"Or was. He's one of the last of his kind."

Steve would say he's the only one of his kind, but it hardly seems important.

"So he just showed up one day and, what, started righting wrongs?"

"More or less. Though the theory is that he was raised as a human and when the time was right went public." A theory Knox can't actually share at home without blowing Clark Kent's cover. Something Knox couldn't even prove in the first place.

"So I guess he blends in. Whenever we had aliens in the comics they were green or had tentacles or a dozen eyes. Or more."

"Yeah, he's never really tried to explain that. But I'm not a scientist. And I am happy to leave science to someone else." Though he wonders if Lane ever actually asked Big Blue just how he looks so human without so much as a pointed ear.

"I suppose it stands to reason that a planet similar to ours would produce beings similar to us."

"Since I never saw Krypton, I don't know if it's a thing like ours." Why doesn't anyone ever ask about that, either?

"If he can breathe our air, there's got to be some similarities. Haven't you ever read H.G. Welles?"

"I saw some films based on his stuff. Does that count?

"You suggesting Supes is gonna catch cold and die?" That always seemed silly in the movie.

"Close enough for me.

"If he was going to, he would have already, I'd say."

"I hope you're right." The idea is silly. But kind of scary.

[ooc: good fade point?]

[ooc: Looks great. Thanks for the thread!]