Re: front steps
"Everybody here seems to be younger than they ought to be." She said it with scientific wonderment and awe in her cornflower blue eyes. She came from a place where mutations resulted in boys with spider powers, in evil mentors with lizard scales, but this was still super weird. But she could buy it, of course she could. There wasn't any reason to assume the strange things she experienced at home were the only things of that nature, and there was no reason to believe the world wasn't filled with amazingly awesome scientific discoveries not yet made. So, this was kind of way out there as far as new stuff, but she believed her future self's information, and so she believed that all of this was possible.
And, unbeknownst to her, they had something in common. Like milk on a freezer shelf, they both had expiration dates they were entirely unaware of. Hers was in a week, but she had no clue, and she didn't have any of the weird baggage that came with the experience or the understanding. Her dad's death was the baggage she carried, a backpack on her young shoulders, but even a year had passed since that happened, and she was doing better. She still missed her dad like crazy, but he would want her to live, and so she was living.
But, right, he was totally saying stupid stuff about smoking, and she rolled her eyes. "I can voice concern for the welfare of your lungs if I want to. Apparently, I know you later, and so you kind of can't croak before. It'll mess up the timeline." Maybe. She wasn't really sure, because physics had never been her area of interest, but maybe she'd do some research once she was back home. She wasn't sure how long this would last, this phenomenon, but she really didn't see it as any kind of impediment. She assumed everyone she knew was back home, except Flash, who was maybe around here somewhere, and so she didn't expect to experience any sense of loss from being this age for however long it lasted. She could continue to do the things she felt needed to be done, like finding the hard drive she'd left herself a note about - but that could totally wait until morning.
She didn't glance at the bottle he tucked between his legs, because she was pretty sure he was being lewd on purpose, and she wasn't going to give him the pleasure of blushing or anything. Nope! No blushing. She looked ahead instead, at the people dancing beneath the white tents, and she wondered if he had any idea how to dance. "I'm Gwen Stacy. I'm a student at Midtown Science. I'm Valedictorian, and I'm one interview away from getting accepted to Oxford." She sounded smug, but also kind of giddy, and the giddiness lasted a few seconds before somberness took over. "I'm not sure about going, though. My boyfriend's kind of stuck on New York." Hah. She was so witty sometimes. "He doesn't have a lot of time for me lately." Which, okay, she was totally saying too much. Yep. Shut up, Stacy.
What did she come for? That was both an easier and harder question, and she considered it as her gaze turned upward, toward the night sky above the manor house. "I don't remember the decision to come here, but my notes say my friend - Flash - they say he was worried about his friend - Donna. Um, I kind of don't know where he is, though." She didn't sound concerned. If anyone could take care of himself, Flash could.
She looked back out at the white tents, and she hopped to her feet. The hand that reached out for his sleeve wasn't tentative. Gwen, she wasn't particularly fearful of anything, not at this point in her life. "I bet you have two left feet," she challenged.