On my, um, preferences while game-searching

[nobler_red]

Dear Autor,

You are not allowed to seek out Herr Rogers - pardon me, 'Captain America' (these alternate universes will never cease to be confusing to me) so you can plop me in a game alongside him. Firstly, he's not even the same man as the one I fought back home. Secondly, it is an unreasonable stretch to try to find both a place that takes AUs and one that has him present. You are making this search unreasonably, fruitlessly hard. I have been blessed to so far avoid him on here; that's something I would like to maintain as long as humanly possible.

On another note, yes, I understand you are nervous about applications. But if you don't fill something out eventually, we are going to be sitting here for a long time. There has to be a point where you just dive in. This waiting period is trying my patience even without the Herr Rogers issue clouding it. Kindly apply me somewhere before the month is out. Yes, I'm just as annoyed as you are that LJ didn't work out. That doesn't mean you should wander about forever.

Danke,

Johann Schmidt

Comments

Awesome.

[nobler_red]

My mundane autor wishes to place me in his general vicinity and see confusion ensue. That is all. I have no desire to make those kind of waves. Although it has, admittedly, been worrying me where Herr Rogers has been, I've been told that in most universes he's not an Ubermensch traitor to his country. And I have faith the various heroes here would be able to take my world's Rogers should he show up.

[lonecoolwoman]

I'm sure you'll forgive me if I'm suspicious of your motives, Schmidt. Confusion is well and good to entertain our mundanes, but your counterparts interactions with my captain have rarely been of the more benign nature. And I doubt that of you would approve of me or my captain's goals.

Who is labeled a 'traitor' is determined by the winning side, Schmidt. You should know that.

[nobler_red]

Oh, there is nothing benign about my interactions with him. We are on opposing sides, and though we're both traitors to our homelands, he seems to think me pathetic for it despite his own defection taking place at the same time. He's infuriating. But most versions of him I have met are not the same man, not by a long shot.

No matter who wins, the fact remains he is an American Nazi and I am a German Allied Force member. I'm fairly sure no victory or defeat will absolve either of us of our choices.

[lonecoolwoman]

I live with one of those versions. He's not sure what to make of you. A version of you caused us so much pain... Helped turn me mad. Or mad by the SSR and SHIELD's standards. [The admission is casually made. It is the truth and Peggy hasn't shied away from that fact in decades.]

Madness is another label that depends on point of view.

I admit, I am curious about your Rogers. Mine is a traitor too, but he desires what's best for his country. The Nazis' ideals hold no interest to him.

[nobler_red]

Mad? In what way, exactly?

'My' Rogers is something of a victim of the serum. It seems to have turned his conscience off entirely, and rekindled mine. Think of it as having an adverse effect on personalities instead of an amplifying one. He's riding high on the power of being the blonde, blue eyed ideal right now. Power corrupts, as they say.

[lonecoolwoman]

Your counterpart killed Captain Rogers, or that was what I was told by a man we both had called a friend. Stark showed me a mangled body so that I would believe him. Then, he twisted my grief and ideals to make me into a weapon of sorts. I willingly became his lab experiment when he attempted to reproduce the serum.

It had unexpected side effects but I won't complain about them since it allowed me to live to see my captain again.

Your Rogers sounds boring. Everything that made him worthwhile has been stripped away. It is odd, though, that you became the better man when for years I regretted not killing my reality's Shcmidt when I helped Erskine escape. I'm glad that in one world you redeemed yourself.

[nobler_red]

What in God's name...? I work with Stark. He's guilty of hitting the bottle too hard, but the Howard Stark I know would never do anything so vile and twisted. Your universe has not been kind to you, and I can only offer you my sincere condolences.

Herr Rogers is nothing like who he used to be. That much, everyone I know agrees upon. However, I would like to think that I can work hard and keep him from doing too much damage. After all, I've been blessed by God with a second chance. It would be insane to disregard it. And I'm hoping that there might be something of Rogers left in there, for the sake of my world's you. You... did not take it well, when he changed.

[lonecoolwoman]

Howard showed me a mangled corpse. I still don't know what poor soul he killed so I'd believe him. If he could make me believe, then the others would too. I don't know why he did it. Jealousy perhaps or maybe he finally snapped and he thought turning people into weapons was the only way to save the world.

And the things he did to Tony...

Second chances are rare and we should be grateful for them every day. I've been given mine and there's so much to be done, but he's here. [She smiles sadly at the mention of her counterpart, wondering how she would have reacted if Steve had turned into a monster instead of the hero that few had seen him as without the serum.] Did she... did she follow him or fight against him?

[nobler_red]

I can't fathom what would go through Howard's mind to cause that. But I pity anyone who comes into contact with that version of him. I'm almost afraid to know what became of his son in your world, to be honest.

[He gingerly places a comforting hand on her shoulder.] She fought against him. But to see someone she loved fall so hard from grace did a number on her. For what it's worth, I find you tend to be consistantly strong in any universe, despite their pitfalls.