Log: Early days of May

[punched_hitler]

Who: Steve Rogers and OTA
When: First half of May
Where: Prompts include Dogtown (Rivertouched), a random bar/the streets of Gloucester, and the train,. You can also catch him at ADI or in his apartment/around the ADI housing building, or hit me up if you have other ideas!
Summary: Steve has been here for a month and still feels like he's a little adrift. He doesn't like it. He takes the mission in Dogtown, then "investigates" some local haunts (i.e., bars) to try to relax, and boards the train with the rest of his colleagues for whatever lies ahead.
Warnings: supernatural compulsion, hallucination, suicidal ideation and drowning (past and potentially present) drinking/drunkenness, nyctophobia, burns/dead bodies


It's better than the Arctic
His conversation with Yelena shortly after arriving had piqued Steve's interest in Dogtown, so when the opportunity arises to check it out for himself, he takes it. Sure, he's got the ADI-issued GPS in his pocket, but he sure as hell doesn't plan on using it. (Maybe he'll change his mind. We'll see.)

All he's got to record with is his phone and he knows how to use it, but frankly he's more interested in simply finding out what's up with this place than actually documenting anything or earning any reward. He won't outright abandon his partner, of course, but they must have taken different paths back at the fork, because now he's standing at the edge of a river that he doesn't… think was on the map he'd looked up, but hadn't Yelena said something about maps being unreliable? He's much less interested in the why and much more interested in crouching down and running his hand through the water. It's warm. Nothing at all like the icy Arctic waters that had closed in over his head. That had been terrifying. He'd felt so desperate. This doesn't feel like that at all — and of course, why would it? It's just a river.

A pretty inviting river. And he's tired. He's tired, because he's stuck here, in a place where Tony is alive and where Bucky doesn't want to be Bucky, where the people he knows are different and he feels out of step, like he's been given a second chance but he's still out of sync with it. He still feels very alone. But that's how it's supposed to be, right? He always ends up alone.

At least this time, the water's warm, he thinks, as he leans closer, and closer. It's really so inviting. He could just… slip in. Then he wouldn't have to think about apocalypses or infinity stones or Natasha or Tony or…



I need a goddamn drink
After Dogtown, Steve does something… well. It's not stupid, really. It's normal to want a drink right? And hey, drinks even work on him these days, supposedly. So he's just going to test it. For science.

And maybe to forget that awful river. And the Arctic. And - everything. Just a little. Just bury it under a buzz. Just for a little while.

He finds a bar — something the locals seem to favor, something casual and laid-back and where his limited budget (and palate) is well suited. He orders a couple drinks. And then he orders a few more.

When he finally steps out the door, headed for home, it's late and he's definitely the floaty kind of buzzed. Not falling-down drunk — apparently his big-but-not-enhanced physique can hold its liquor like a true Irishman — but he feels… good. Ish. Better? Kind of. Good enough that it takes him a while to actually make his way back, to the ADI housing, to get up the stairs, to fumble with his keys outside his door. He's still a respectful roommate, somehow, beelining for his room and maybe only hits his shin once or twice if the apartment is dark. The cursing will be quiet.



Time for a train ride
Steve shows up at the station as requested, bag slung over his shoulder. When they get on board, he takes a seat by the window and plunks the bag down by his feet (it makes an odd, heavy, almost metallic sound when he does). He mostly spends the trip alternately watching the landscape go by and checking on Winter, sometimes getting snacks from the dining car for one or both of them. Anyone seated near him might get offered a bite or two, if they look interested.

While he doesn't manage to get caught between the cars, he's definitely by the window when they go through the tunnel. When the tapping starts, he tries to get closer, not back away (like a reasonable person). Still, he can't make anything out by the time the lights flicker back on.

His seat means he also sees the burned bodies; he doesn't know what to think about that, but anyone sitting next to him will get a nudge as he asks, "Do you see that?" Of course, when you look… there's nothing to see. And when he looks back, it's gone.

Comments

Not actually better than the Arctic, dude

[worthallthis]

Winter is not Steve's partner today. But he did... maybe kind of follow him and said partner here. Because Steve and the weirdness of Dogtown is not a thing Winter really wants to see mix without proper backup.

And thank fuck he did, because that sure is Steve leaning way too close to a river that wasn't there yesterday.

Steve will get the back of his shirt collar grabbed, and hauled back.

Are you sure, though

[punched_hitler]

Steve makes a sound that's somewhere between dazed, confused, and unhappy at the sudden jarring motion. The world seems to tip sideways and sort of... fizzle, and suddenly he's blinking on the bank of a muddy river, mud up to his shins and elbows, and -

"Buck?"

Sorry, his brain needs a second to come back online.

"Shit - Winter."

There we go.

"What?"

the Arctic didn't have tormenting evil fear gods in it

[worthallthis]

Winter scowls down at him, though Steve will probably recognize the scowl as a worried, angry-you-almost-died scowl, more than a you-used-the-wrong-name scowl. "You got separated from your partner. And you almost drowned yourself."

that you know of

[punched_hitler]

Steve looks back at the muddy river, and down at his clothes. He frowns. Had he...?

"I - " Guess he did. That's... not great. That's really not great.

His (admittedly rusty) panic response kicks in right about then, his heart triple-speeding in his chest as he scrambles back a little, wanting to sit down but not sure where it's safe. Wanting to get Winter away from the water, too, scrabbling at his sleeve.

seems like a thing you'd remember, Steve

[worthallthis]

Winter is perfectly happy to get further away from that river. He drags Steve further back, bodily, even though it hurts. His leg isn't healed yet. He's only here out of that fierce need to make sure Steve doesn't do something stupid.

Like this.

"You never leave your partner in Dogwood," he growls, giving Steve a little shake, worry making itself known in the eerily familiar scolding. "They can stop you from getting into illusion shit like this. Or call help. Or you can stop them. Didn't anyone tell you about this place?"

A drink~

[welladjustedwhitly]

Ainsley is perched on the balcony of her apartment when tall, blonde, and drunk fumbles his way up the stairs in the apartment block next to hers and she can't help herself–

"Hey, there, sailor. You got it?" She gets it. Keys are fickle things after you've had enough drinks. But he's hot, can you blame her for flirting a little?

[punched_hitler]

There's about a two-second delay between the words and when Steve's head comes up, blinking for just a brief second before he pinpoints where the voice is coming from.

"Not a sailor," is absolutely the most important thing to establish here. The insistence is accompanied by a wave of one arm that's just a little more than strictly necessary, but fortunately(?) not by a whole lot. "Army's much better."

[welladjustedwhitly]

"Oh, my mistake," She laughs, a light, flirty sort of thing. "Soldier, then. You been here long?" Because he's a tall glass of fine and she'd hate to think she missed out on this particular set of eye candy somehow. (Work is a fickle mistress, especially for her).

[punched_hitler]

Don't worry, he won't hold it against you. Now you know.

"Not really," he says, shaking his head a bit, then deciding that's not the best idea and planting his feet for a second until it stops spinning. He'd normally have someone to make sure he gets home all right. He - used to have that. Not anymore, though. "About a month, now. I haven't seen you around."

It ticks up just a little at the end - a question that's mostly a statement, at least. "I'm Steve. I live in B4."

[welladjustedwhitly]

"I'm bad at the social thing sometimes," she admits with a light chuckle. "I've got the work-a-holic gene that just really gets in the way every now and then."

She smiles brightly at the introduction. "Ainsley, C3." Which is why this is probably a bit of an awkward way to have a conversation, but whatever. Who sleeps around here, anyway, honestly?

Train

[musicdied]

"Hmm?" Yelena glances up from the book she's been leafing through - folklore, more research than entertainment, given everything this world chooses to be - then leans forward to peer past him out the window. The motion's a little bit cautious, but she's hardly the only person to have been injured over the past several weeks.

It's an occupational hazard, especially when your occupation involves fighting malevolent wax figures.

"The tent?" she asks after a moment. "It wouldn't be my choice of camping place, but maybe they wanted an easy landmark."

[punched_hitler]

Steve definitely notices the way she moves and catalogs that for later, but just at the moment, he's still a little preoccupied frowning out the window.

"No," he says, because - it wasn't a tent. It definitely wasn't a tent. "There was a body." He cranes his head; the train is moving fast, but there's nothing receding in the background, either. "A burned body."

Jesus, is he seeing things? That seems awfully specific for his brain to have concocted, especially because, "I saw - there was a flag. That same insignia as the Shadowcats they've printed in the paper."

[musicdied]

She squints past him, frowning a little herself, because ruined corpses are the sort of thing that draw the eye, and--

Oh.

Well.

She drops back into her seat, and scrubs a hand over her face.

"Fuck," she says quietly. "There's no body. At least, there isn't a body outside the train. Probably there's one somewhere, because even magical psychopaths need a model."

[punched_hitler]

"Those sound much worse than the regular kind," Steve observes, still craning his neck for just a few more seconds...

But she's right. There's no body. Outside the train, anyway. Apparently.

Well. Everything here is just that little bit worse than normal.

"Why would I be seeing it outside the train if it isn't there?" he mutters, leaning back in his seat again. "Unless the point is to drive me crazy making me wonder that."

But someone is dead, and it's hard to joke too much about it.

[musicdied]

"A warning," Yelena suggests. "Or a threat. Maybe a taunt. These are not subtle people we're dealing with."

She gives him a sidelong once-over, mouth quirking in a faint, wry smile. It doesn't last. Death disturbs her far less than it should, but what he described is disquieting for reasons that have very little to do with the fact that someone almost certainly died in agony to create the vision.

"I don't know if it will make you feel any better, but it probably wasn't aimed at you specifically. You haven't been here long enough to make that kind of enemy."

Drinkin'!

[fightinginfinity]

[ Tony has long accepted that everything's kind of topsy-turvy around this place (to describe it in as G-rated a manner as possible) but the sort of complete and utter role-reversal that seems to be going down right this moment is a little too on the nose for him. See, normally Tony is the one getting positively shit-faced and Steve is the one playing designated driver, always the straight man in contrast to Tony and his various shenanigans. Well, when Rhodey isn't expressly on call, anyway.

But like, the guy can't get drunk, right? He has said so before; he couldn't even if he'd wanted to. And weirdly, Tony has always found comfort in that. Safety. It had just been one of those incredibly rare constants in Tony's orbit, old and reliable just like Steve himself. So needless to say, when Tony looks across the bar he's haunting tonight and sees Steve knocking back what definitely isn't his first drink, looking more than a little inebriated to boot, he has to do a double take to make sure he isn't fucking hallucinating. ]

Cap? [ Tony picks up his own drink and meanders closer and wow, yeah, Steve's been busy. The dude reeks of Jameson. Tony's surprise starts to give way to concern. ] Damn, I think something in hell just froze over. Absolutely no pun intended, Ice Cube.

Re: Drinkin'!

[punched_hitler]

[Steve glances up, and it does maybe take a second too long for his eyes to focus on Tony's face. He's maybe right at about the point where a guy should consider slowing down. He's just not used to needing to slow down; that part is coming a little slow.

He frowns as the words finally get around to processing, face looking somewhere between confused and belligerent.] What. A guy's not allowed to have a drink? I like whiskey, Stark.

[He does. He did. He does.]

[fightinginfinity]

[ Tony is very familiar with that point of no return; it's the one he usually ignores. He does know when he's hitting that threshold, though. In Steve's case, he's probably getting there simply because he has no idea what his threshold even is. Worry tugs at Tony's heart and plays with his features, but he tries to keep things casual. ]

Of course you do. I know the what, the what doesn't concern me. I have an idea of the how, too. What I'm wondering about here is the why. [ Tony walks closer so he's standing with Steve, joining him instead of just lingering nearby. ]

You could just be enjoying your first buzz in a hundred years, sure, but I know that look you're wearing. That steely-eyed, furrowed-brow look. Attractive but concerning.

[punched_hitler]

[The why is because drowning is awful and Steve very nearly did it again. And it scares him, and he should've known better because people have tried to warn him, and so he feels small and stupid and a little out of his depth, and a lot like life enjoys pitching him curveballs.

And he is not inclined to say... any of that.

Instead, what Tony gets is,] Had a bad day. This's what you do after bad days, isn't it?

[It is, sadly, possibly the healthiest thing Steve has done after a bad day in a long time... which says a lot, probably. Given.]

[fightinginfinity]

It is what I do. [ Tony agrees without missing a beat. ] It could be argued that it’s what most people do, actually, in varying degrees.

But it’s not really what you do. [ He punctuates the ‘you’ by prodding Steve in the center of the chest with one finger, extra obnoxiously. ]

► train ride

[vrituom]

She'd had her eyes closed, not asleep but not paying attention to anything around her. Waiting and travelling was perhaps one of the few times that Quill had a moment to herself. And she'd definitely not used it on talking to anyone.

Which is why when he gets her attention with a nudge she gives a hard look at him as her head tips, rather impolitely--

"No. See what?"

Re: ► train ride

[punched_hitler]

"N... othing," Steve trails off absently, squinting out the window, but - there's really nothing there now. "It's gone. I saw - a body. It was definitely a body. Charred."

That's not the kind of thing his brain would cook up. No, when it does that, it's usually ice.

"Sorry -" he adds, glancing over. "Guess it wasn't worth waking you up over."

[vrituom]

"I wasn't asleep."

Her voice conveys the shrug her shoulders don't do.

"A human body or an animal?"

[punched_hitler]

"Human," Steve says, still frowning out the window, but even if it had actually been there - stayed there - they'd have long since passed it right now. "With a - banner? The logo looked like that one associated with the Shadowcats."

He has read the papers, at least.

"But I don't know anything more about them than I've read in the papers."

[vrituom]

Vaguely interested.

"Pretend I've never heard of them."

Because she hasn't. Give her some good deets, sir.