Gwendolyn wasn't sure what had just happened - for a minute, there was a boy, probably possessed by the devil, and the next she was knocked out. The pain was unbearable. Is that what was waiting her in D.C. with childbirth? Gwendolyn wasn't sure if she could bear it. But she did make it, at least this time, because she opened her eyes. The train car was... Damaged, heavily. The paint had been stripped off of it, there was numerous dents and damage to it. The only thing that seemed to not be damaged was Gwendolyn and her suitcase, which her hand was still firmly grasped on. Maybe that's why it managed to make it? Oh well, there was more important things to do - Gwen had to get herself up. 

Using a seat, she pulled herself up and grabbed her suitcase. Maybe the train had wrecked? If there was a demon on board, it would make sense for that to happen, right? The windows were very grey - almost nothing could be seen outside them. Honestly, Gwen was surprised they weren't shattered. The rest of train seemed to be irreparably damaged. 

Gwendolyn slowly moved towards the exit of the train car. With her senses finally coming back, she heard numerous noises outside the train car - people talking, a few people seemed to be screaming, and... a loud blaring noise? Several of them, actually. She opened the door and used one hand to keep her skirts up as she stepped off and onto... is that concrete? Well, maybe a road. She looked up and she gasped, her eyes going wide. Glass buildings? How were they so tall? What was in front of her? 'Taxi?' What was a taxi? There were... People in them. Horseless carriages? What was this place? 

She looked around and saw several people staring at her, bright flashes coming off these little devices in their hands. What were they doing? Why were they looking at her? She glanced up the street and saw where that loud noise was coming from - blue, white, and red lights atop one of those horseless carriages. What could that even mean? She looked back towards the train car, it looked like it had dug into the ground, barely missing one of the horseless carriages to it's side. Oh God, what if someone was underneath it...?

She could hear so much and she had no idea what was happening, so she instinctively tried to connect with her father - but she couldn't. It was a dead end. Was he dead? Did he no longer exist? She couldn't stay here, she thought, her breath constricting fast. She had to get out of here. She had to run. So she grabbed her skirts up in one hand, grabbed her suitcase handle, and started running as fast as she could. Where could she even run too? She had no idea - but there had to be something familiar around here somewhere.

(OOC: Charlie Sinclair)

Monday afternoons were great for… what was Charlie doing, exactly? That was a good question. It had started off as something productive, but suddenly she was back at the bar, and there seemed to be quite a few empty glasses around her. Things had gotten out of hand rather quickly. How had she even gotten there? Oh, right. Something had crushed her in the middle of the road. Things were starting to make sense again.

Still, it was a Monday afternoon, and she was back to her first life’s alcohol tolerance, and Roger was having none of it. After a few dirty looks, Charlie rolled her eyes, tipped her glass to him, and decided to be on her way. Maybe she could figure out what she was doing earlier that was oh so important.

The blonde stumbled out of the bar and squinted in the intense sunlight. Damn summer with its brightness and warmth. She began to walk, trying to clear the fog out of her mind enough to figure out where she had actually wanted to go. There had been somewhere that she had in mind earlier, but it just wasn’t coming back to her. She had to stop running into things.

When she turned a corner, what it was that had crushed her earlier was no longer a mystery. There was a train car in the middle of a New York City street. Not just any train car, either. It was one pulled straight from the mid nineteenth century. That was… strange. Maybe a mutant robbed a museum or something? Or it was something to do with the RIP? Those days, just about anything was possible.

”Does anyone know what happened here?” she asked a nearby group casually, hoping that no one would recognize her as a body that had formerly been underneath the train. Hopefully her outfit of jeans and a button-down shirt was different enough from what she was wearing earlier. In fact, she could even see her leather jacket poking out from underneath one section of the car. She hoped it would be salvageable.

“It just came outta nowhere. Then some girl in a crazy dress ran away from it. I’d think it was all choreographed if it didn’t cause so much damage.”

Charlie nodded, trying to work through the haze that was her mind. That probably meant… either time travel or some weird drug s***. The second option didn’t make much sense unless everyone in the area was drugged at the same time. Either way, it had to be something real, since it had quite literally killed her.

With that information, Charlie wandered through the crowds, trying to get a glimpse of the woman that people had seen run off from the scene. Perhaps she would know a bit more about the train that had somehow wound up in the middle of 12th avenue.

She walked for a little while, but eventually, she noticed the slightest bit of a large skirt peeking out from behind a wall. Cautiously, she approached. There was no telling what this woman could be capable of. ”Excuse me?” she asked, intensifying her upper-class accent as best she could, just in case she really was from the past.

Gwendolyn didn't understand what was happening. She was running, as best she could, as she took in her new world. What had happened? Where was she? She was pretty sure the boy was dead, there wasn't much doubt about that. 

She reached the corenr of an alley way, and stood inside, and leaned against the wall. She took a few deep breaths, "Okay, Gwendolyn, it's okay. This is just a weird, creepy dream and you're going to wake up soon." Hopefully. It did not feel like a dream - it felt very much real, very much alive, and very much terrifying. Everyone was staring at her like she was crazy - but the women here were wearing... pants? How is that okay? Some even wore shorts that barely covered their butt cheeks. And then what were they even using to cover their breasts? A shirt tied up? She was all for women empowerment, but what had happened that made it so okay so suddenly? There were tears forming in her eyes. 

>> ”Excuse me?”

She kept seeing those horseless carriages and closed her eyes. She hoped she'd wake up but instead, she heard a upper class voice. The voice sounded familiar - in terms of its accent. She jumped and squealed quietly before turning to stare at the woman. Who was she? Why did she find her here? Well... It wasn't exactly a great hiding spot but it felt safer than most. She stared at the woman as she debated what her next few words should be. She wasn't sure how to respond.

"How do you do? Who are you?" She returned in an equally upper class accent. She eyed the woman cautiously, unsure of her intentions. She was wearing blue jeans. A woman wearing blue jeans. She was quite confused about her situation. Was it actually acceptable for a woman to wear those type of clothes here? Better yet, where was here? She had no idea where she was. There was no way she was in Boston. She couldn't even be in her time period with all these... gadgets and what not. 

The woman looked more curious than scared, if Charlie was reading her right. As she stepped out in front of her, she raised her hands to show that she meant no harm as she did so. There was definitely something familiar about her style. It was likely from the mid nineteenth century, if she was remembering right. The woman didn’t seem like she was acting, and neither did the train, for that matter, so that meant that there was some weird mutant stuff going on.

Lady Time looked scared enough to suggest that she either wasn’t the one pulling the strings or she wasn’t yet acquainted with her own abilities. The purple eyes suggested that she was a mutant of some form, but the confusion pointed more to the idea that her powers had nothing to do with time travel.

They would have to take this slow, then.

”Uh… hello,” Charlie began, trying to slip into her old speech patterns so that the woman would be able to understand and relate to her better. Clearly, the last thing that she needed was more reason to freak out. Charlie was actually a little shocked that she hadn’t run away yet. ”I’m… Charlotte,” she paused before giving her full name. She’d only switched to Charlie during the twenties when that was becoming more acceptable. ”I think you might have gotten a bit lost. Can you tell me where and as strange as it might seem, when you’re from?”

Her hands were still out in front of her. She really did want to help the woman; if anyone could understand what it was like to be f***ed over by time, it was Charlie. She was probably the best person to approach a woman displaced by time in the middle of New York. It was probably good that she’d been hit by a flying train car after all.

Now was the time to see where the woman truly stood. If she was dangerous, then that would hopefully become obvious, and Charlie would likely find herself in the basement of that familiar old bar for a second time that day. If not, then they would have to evaluate the situation.

She watched the woman approach her carefully, with her hands out reached. She wasn't going to harm her or it could be a trick - she was from a different time period. And those loud noises were all over there. Gwendolyn just wanted to hide from literally everything. And that thing in the sky with the swords flying above it? What in the name of God's green earth was that? 

>>”Uh… hello, I’m… Charlotte, I think you might have gotten a bit lost. Can you tell me where and as strange as it might seem, when you’re from?

Charlotte was not an uncommon name in her time, so it made her feel a little better names hadn't gone crazy yet. She relaxed a little at knowing Charlotte's name. Charlotte knew she wasn't suppose to be here, either. 

She shook as she tried to explain her situation, "I... I am Gwendolyn White. I am from Boston... It is... Or was... 1862." She stared at the woman carefully considering what had happened to her, "The year? What is it?" She paused, predicting she was going to something crazy like 2839 or 2100 or 1964, just something. She knew it had happened - there was no other explanation for all these gadgets. How did that kid even transport them here? How? She took a deep breath, realizing she had to know another thing: "Did they win the War? Did the Confederates win?" She had to know if slavery was a thing or not - did the North win? Was slavery illegal? At least she could take some solace if the North won and slavery was abolished. 

Every suspicion that Charlie had about the woman being a time jumping woman was confirmed when she stated where and when she was from. Boston in 1862. Her memory had even been good enough to place what time period her dress was from! Score one for Charlie!

Still, there were more pressing matters at hand. How did she end up in New York? All the theories about time travel pointed to the fact that people would stay in the same location, just years in the future. Maybe that just wasn’t how that particular brand of weird juice worked, though. That was perfectly justifiable. This very pretty woman had somehow landed nearly two hundred years into the future in a completely different city.

Her first thought was to ask what year they were in. That was a good sign. Charlie wouldn’t have to break some horrible news to the woman. She wasn’t about to beat around the bush, either. If Gwendolyn wanted to know when she was, then Charlie would tell her. No matter how much it sucked.

She took a breath before she did so, though. ”It’s 2017. The year is 2017, and you’re in New York City,” she told the woman. She put a hand on her shoulder for support, just in case that information blew her completely away.

”We did win the war; slavery is kaput- abolished,” she rephrased it at the last second. Getting herself back into that way of speaking was a bit of a task. What she had said was mostly true, though. Slavery was pretty much abolished. In the states, anyway. They still had a host of other problems, but at least that was sort of under control. She was a little surprised that a wealthy white woman even cared about things like that, though. Charlie certainly didn’t when she had been in that position. It took her years to wake up from her privilege.

”I think there are a few other things that we should likely get figured out first, though,” Charlie continued, ”how did you get here? Do you remember at all? Is there a way to get you back?”

Gwen shook as she retreated a little further into the alley. Everything was so loud and the multitude of people here was insane. She had to be careful with this Charlotte. She didn't know her - of course, she didn't know anyone. Why was she talking to her? Why did she even care that she was from the past?

>>”It’s 2017. The year is 2017, and you’re in New York City,” 

Gwendolyn's eyes widened. A panic shock threw her body. She knew it, but she didn't know know until Charlotte said it. New York City? How did she even get here when she was boarding a train headed for Washington, D.C. 

She felt Charlotte's hand on her shoulder, but she felt numb. She ended up sitting down on step, in front of a door. She stared ahead for a moment, lost in her thoughts, "2017... I... I'm over 150 years into the future..." Her family was dead. Everyone she knew was dead. She was in New York City. She knew no one in New York City, in her time period at least. 

>> ”We did win the war; slavery is kaput- abolished,”

Abolition was great, but it didn't seem like too much of a big deal now that her entire life had been upended. But it was a relief to know that the North won the war. She had no idea what 'kaput' was, but abolished made sense. Was there a new language? Did kaput mean that slavery had been abolished? She tried to make a mental note of that if she ever conversed with someone else about slavery. "I... I am supposed to be wed in 2 days. I did not want to, but I did not want to get catapulted into a new time, a new land." She definitely didn't want to marry the Senator's son, but she had a duty to her father. It looks like it was no longer going to happen though.

>>”how did you get here? Do you remember at all? Is there a way to get you back?”

She took a deep breath of air, trying to regain her thoughts. "I was going into my train car... I had my luggage. A boy, could not be a day over 11, stepped out. His eyes were white as snow. He had to be have been possessed by a demon. I only remember him turning very white. I... I believe I fainted but then I felt so much pain... Like every piece of my being was being ripped apart." She turned a little pale as she thought about it, "Then.. I woke up. I... I... I don' think the boy lived. His shoes... They were melted into the train car when I woke. And... There's a shadow printed into the wall of the train car that is his exact height. I do not know what happened, but he died. I don't think there is a way for me to return home..."

Just like she’d assumed, the fact that she was over one hundred years in the future had come as quite the shock to Gwendolyn. Charlie watched as she took a step backward and sat down on a doorstep and stared ahead. When Charlie had realized that she couldn’t die, it had come as a shock to her too. She wasn’t sure when exactly it had hit her, but it had been difficult. She, at least, had gotten a long time to deal with it, though. Gwendolyn was going to be hit with everything at once.

As if she wasn’t already feeling a connection to the displaced woman, Gwendolyn went on to admit that she was supposed to marry someone back in her own time. A wedding that she didn’t want to go through with. A wedding for wealth and honour rather than love, no doubt. Much like Charlie and James’ marriage.

”Look, I know this will seem strange, but if anyone can understand what you must be going through, even a little, it’s me,” Charlie admitted. She didn’t know if it would be any comfort to the woman, but she hoped it would help her to at least know that she wasn’t alone.

And, just as she’d assumed, it wasn’t Gwen who had catapulted that train car into the future. There had been a little boy who hadn’t survived the journey, which meant that she would likely have to get used to being in 2017 for a little while, at least. Maybe they could track down another time travelling mutant at some point, but it likely wouldn’t be an easy task. There was no way that Charlie could just leave her in the streets to make sense of everything by herself. She had a duty to the ancient woman.

”Alright, then it sounds like you might be staying here for a little while,” Charlie said with a sigh. ”Why don’t you come to my apartment and I’ll make you some tea while we figure things out.”

Gwendolyn did not really know what to do or what was going on. She was in a new world, a new time, and she just witnessed a child die. How was she suppose to deal with this? How was she suppose to adapt to this world, which was full of different things and tall buildings out of glass, flying swords with a huge body, horseless carriages, and words like kaput? What would she if she couldn't adapt? After all, it wasn't like she had a choice now...

>> ”Look, I know this will seem strange, but if anyone can understand what you must be going through, even a little, it’s me,”

"How?" She demanded and immediately regretted how loud it came out, "I ask for your forgiveness... I am terrified. I do not know how or why I am here. What kind of sorcery brought me here?" She cupped her face in her hands for a moment as she tried to catch her breath. How would the woman know what she was going through? She did get thrown through time? "How am I going to learn all these things? What are these buildings? And the horseless carriages? And the things in the sky? And... And... All the small gadgets the people had." 

>> ”Alright, then it sounds like you might be staying here for a little while, Why don’t you come to my apartment and I’ll make you some tea while we figure things out.”

Gwendolyn wasn't sure if she could trust the woman, especially already asking to bring her into her home. Tea would be great, though, and it's not like she had much to live for at this moment anyways. She nodded and stood up slowly, brushing her skirts off. "I... I don't know this place... Is it close by? Can we walk...? Or are... Are we going to have to take a horseless carriage...?" 

It was to be expected that Gwendolyn would be scared. She’d just travelled far into the future and was experiencing things that she would have never experienced before. For Charlie, it had been a slow burn. Sure, there was always some disorientation when she woke up and forgot things, but for the most part, she’d learned how to deal with the constant changes. She’d kept up with the times.

Gwendolyn could not possibly be expected to know how to cope with everything around her. Charlie was actually more surprised that she’d gone that long without losing it than the fact that her voice had gotten a little louder. ”Alright, let’s just take a minute. There’s a lot that’s different from when you’re from. We can’t possibly be expected to cover it all in a few minutes.”

The issue of what brought her there was a different matter. Charlie could make the easy assumption that it was a mutation disaster, but for someone less experienced in such things, it could be hard to imagine. She had assumed that Gwendolyn was a mutant from her purple eyes, but that wasn’t necessarily the case. She frowned and thought about how best to say that there were some crazy things in the world.

Instead of jumping into anything right away, Charlie suggested that they go back to her place. They could talk everything out there; get her into some clothes that would allow her to blend in more, and get her settled down. That would keep her from running away if she got an answer that she didn’t like, too.

”It’s not far, really. Just a few blocks. We can walk, so you don’t need to worry about the horseless carriages. We call those cars, though, for reference.” Charlie gestured to the left and then started to walk forward, hoping that Gwendolyn would just willingly follow her. She had a lot to learn.

Gwen did not know what to do or who to turn to - this was a whole new world, a world she never knew existed or even would exist. Just a few hours ago, she was prepared to be married a couple days later. It was not what she wanted but it was something she was willing to do to help her family. Now, none of those plans would come true. She figured her family would be notified that there was an accident on the train, or maybe a train wreck, and that she was presumed dead. 

She nodded slowly. Charlotte was right - there was no way for them to cover all that had happened since 1862 in a few minutes nor was there anyway she could remember. She was distraught, confused, and unsure about what was happening. She understood that much, at least. 

Charlotte wanted to take her back to her home, which was a kind thing to do. Gwen just hoped that she wasn't about to get murdered by some stranger in the 21st century. People weren't always friendly in her time, she was sure they were not all good now. Maybe even worse.

She nodded. No horseless carriages. That was good. Her face showed a very visible sigh of relief at the thought of not having to be in one of them. How did it even move? Maybe it was like the steam engine in trains and boats? There didn't seem to be any steam coming out of them, though. Apparently, the horseless carriages were called cars. Where did the word car come from? She sighed and began to follow Charlotte to her apartment. She rubbed the back of her neck, her adrenline seemed to have slowed down. She wasn't quite as freaked as she was even just a few minutes ago. 

She kept her eyes on those 'cars,' though. They really freaked her out, "Are these 'cars' safe? How do they move?" She asked in a near whisper to Charlotte. 

It was a fairly short walk from where the collision had occurred to Charlie’s apartment. For the most part, Charlie didn’t stray all too far from it, considering it was only a block from the bar that she found herself in way too often. Each time she tried to get away from it or take a vacation, she ended up with a train car on top of her from the 1800s. Just her luck.

So, they walked toward it. Charlie weaved them in and out of crowds with seasoned expertise, careful to take a route that wouldn’t overwhelm the woman that was extremely new to the whole “twenty-first century” deal. She didn’t need to be more terrified than she already was.

Hell, she was from a time forty years before the invention of the first car, and she was asking about how a mercedes could drive down Times Square. There was a bit of a time jump there. ”Um,” Charlie paused and considered how best to approach the question. She had a basic understanding of how cars worked, and for a week or two (if she was remembering correctly - she probably wasn’t) she had worked in an auto shop. Still, there was a lot of background info that she was missing. Charlie couldn’t expect her to keep up if she dropped a whole bunch of science on her out of the blue.

”Cars are run by combustion, so a fuel burning within an engine. Sort of like steam. That’s the simplified version, anyway. You’re going to find that there’s a lot of technology that wasn’t around in your time, and that’s okay. You’re not expected to understand any of it, but hopefully I’ll be able to help with working things. If you want the help, that is.”

Lots of people were put off by Charlie. She wouldn’t put it past the woman to be completely turned off by the idea of spending more than a few hours with her. It was just a shame that women back then often didn’t explore all that much, because she was cute.

”We’re here,” Charlie announced as they turned to a nondescript brick building. She held open a glass door for Gwendolyn and then strode forward to enter her code into the keypad.

Gwendolyn knew she needed to get herself together. There were people in the cars, so most likely they were relatively safe. Hopefully, anyways. She stared at the large glass buildings, "There is so much glass... How is there so much glass?" In her time, glass was rare and a sign of extreme wealth. But now every building had it, were practically made of it? It was just so extreme.

She nodded slowly. So it was at least kinda like a staem engine. Maybe they had just built up on previous technology? Maybe it was kinda like a train car, just smaller. She wondered if they still had regular trains. She gave Charlotte a smile and a nod. She wasn't why the woman took an interest in her, but she was glad she did. Gwen was happy to hear that she offered to help her adjust to the new time, "I would love that."At least Gwendolyn had a friend in this new world already, but she was curious as to why she wanted to help, "Um, if you do not mind me asking, is there a reason you want to help...? I did not think people were so kind... I will do my best to adapt as quickly as possible... But... Everything is so different." 

Entering the brick building, she sighed and rubbed her hands against her arms. She looked up and down the lobby of the apartment complex. There was a large box that had pictures that were moving on it, which was interesting but strange. How did they get paintings to move like that?

"Where are the stairs...?" She asked as she looked around. Did they still use stairs, actually? 

Normally, Charlie stuck to her own business. She’d lived long enough to know that people didn’t really care about each other, and she was okay with that fact. She was alright with living out her days alone and making sure that she was the one that always came out on top. That was really the way, wasn’t it? That was how everyone secretly wanted to live, even if they wouldn’t admit it.

Sure, there were notable exceptions, like her recent involvement with the Syndicate, but a girl had to fill her days with something, right? It was best to choose something that would benefit her in the long run, like making sure that mutants came out on top of the ongoing political struggle. If that involved helping a few sad sack mutants along the way, then so be it.

Every now and again, though, she saw herself in someone. Usually, she would see someone in the situation that Gwendolyn was in and turn away. It was their problem, after all - not hers. However, she remembered the first century or so of her life and how hard that had been, and she sympathized. It was only right that someone who had also been displaced should help the girl, after all. She could understand at least some of what she was going through.

”Let’s just say that I know some of what you’re going through,” Charlie supplied to answer her question. ”I’m a hell of a lot older than I look. Old enough to remember the time you’re from, anyway.” That was enough info on that front. Any more and they would never reach the apartment with all the questions. She could always fill her in more once they were settled a little.

Stairs. She was asking about the stairs. Charlie had gotten lazy in her old age and mostly used elevators, but there were stairs in that building. Just behind a door. It was probably easiest to start her off in those rather than shove her in a moving metal box right away.

”Through here,” Charlie said, walking forward and holding a large door open for the other woman. Once they were both through, she began to lead her to the sixth floor of the building.

Gwen perked a brow. How could Charlotte know what she was going through? Did she get thrown through some type of time thing too? She nodded, unsure of how to react, "How?" She whispered it, almost like it was a dirty secret. She wasn't sure why she whispered. Charlotte hadn't whispered it. She just didn't know what to do or not to do. She figured that Charlotte would tell her more once they were in the apartment, anyways.

She followed Charlotte into the stairs and said a polite thank you for holding the door openf or her. How many stairs was this? She never saw so many tall buildings in her time - it seemed to be like 2-3 stories, max. "How many stories does this time have...? All the other buildings with glass... How does it support it?" She asked as they climbed the stairs. She wasn't sure how they didn't collapse. It just seemed crazy to her. Of course, this entire time period seemed crazy to her. 

Once they were at the sixth floor, she followed Charlotte to her apartment and nervously rubbed her arms together. She hoped she hadn't made a mistake going into a random home with someone she just met. She didn't seem like a threat so Gwen just took a breath and let go of those type of thoughts. The woman wanted to help her, and apparently, knew of her time. That was a good sign.