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apocalypsehowcomm2022-07-05 08:53 pm
worthallthis) wrote in apocalypsehowcomm2022-07-05 08:53 pm
A Return and Regret [LOG/OTA]
Who: Winter (Bucky Barnes) and OPEN
When: Late June/early July
Where: On the road, buzzing around ADI, moping around town, and the beach
Summary: July catch-all
Warnings: Paranoia, grief, grumpiness
I. Road Trip!
Somebody (Yelena) has the bright idea to not subject Winter to a fucking train again, and they get a car. Probably rented. Possibly stolen. ... probably rented. Winter hardly uses the money he gets from ADI, he's got plenty to spare for the means to avoid going catatonic on a fucking train for two days.
So he, Yelena, Kate, and Steve all bundle into an economical sedan and take the long way back to Gloucester. They trade off driving (except for Steve, whose hands are damaged) and stay in cheap motels and eat roadside junk food and play a variety of music and stupid travel games.
It is possibly the best four days of Winter's remembered life. He's actually kind of smiling by the end of it.
II. Missing Friends
People Winter knows have gone missing before. It's impossible not to have lost people when you work for ADI and your friends consist pretty much entirely of people who get into dangerous situations weekly. Winter has not actually lost a good friend before.
He shows up at Meredith's old desk with an extra coffee and an extra donut and finds it empty. He searches the building, and can't find her. He goes back to the ADI housing and checks her apartment. He makes the rounds, looking in every place Meredith usually goes. He asks people, "How long has she been gone?" and "Where was the last place you saw her?"
And he looks morose when he doesn't get any helpful answers. Meredith is just gone.
III. Winter the Grouch (Birdwatching + Routine)
Though Winter gets back into his usual routine, he's kind of a grump about it. Meredith is gone. Things are about as awful at ADI as they always are. He aches all the time, which is normal, but lately it feels like it's getting worse. (Really, it is getting worse, because while he exercises kind of obsessively and is a fan of long baths to soak in, he doesn't really take care of himself in any other ways.)
He settles back into his usual routine: patrols with ADI during the day, teaching self-defense after work in the ADI gym or practicing alone if no student shows up, twice weekly forays into town for 1) lunch in a cafe, most likely with a friend, and 2) a prowl around Dogtown, though this time it's only around the outskirts, given the fencing.
He stares hard at the silent birds as he circles. Winter is naturally hypervigilant as it is, veering into paranoia at the worst of times, but it's not helping to have the feeling that all the birds are watching you even walking back to the apartments. It's bad enough that a flock of pigeons taking flight startles him into pulling his ever-present handgun and glowering at them over the sights as they fly away. "Fuck," he mutters, and hopes nobody saw that.
But of course somebody saw that.
IV. Not a Beach Bum
Though Winter goes to the beach thing, he resolutely does not have fun. He stays wrapped up in two layers of shirt (though the jacket gets ditched halfway through the afternoon), heavy jeans, and his combat boots. Someone who would recognize such things might note the shape of a gun holstered in the small of his back and there's certainly knives under his clothes, though those are harder to find.
He prowls around, keeping an eye on people and chasing off birds, and only takes a break from his impromptu patrolling twice: once for a plate full of food (fully one third of it is Kate's brownies), and once to prod at the sandcastle making equipment. Somebody show him how to actually make a sandcastle? Maybe he'll have some fun on accident.
When: Late June/early July
Where: On the road, buzzing around ADI, moping around town, and the beach
Summary: July catch-all
Warnings: Paranoia, grief, grumpiness
I. Road Trip!
Somebody (Yelena) has the bright idea to not subject Winter to a fucking train again, and they get a car. Probably rented. Possibly stolen. ... probably rented. Winter hardly uses the money he gets from ADI, he's got plenty to spare for the means to avoid going catatonic on a fucking train for two days.
So he, Yelena, Kate, and Steve all bundle into an economical sedan and take the long way back to Gloucester. They trade off driving (except for Steve, whose hands are damaged) and stay in cheap motels and eat roadside junk food and play a variety of music and stupid travel games.
It is possibly the best four days of Winter's remembered life. He's actually kind of smiling by the end of it.
II. Missing Friends
People Winter knows have gone missing before. It's impossible not to have lost people when you work for ADI and your friends consist pretty much entirely of people who get into dangerous situations weekly. Winter has not actually lost a good friend before.
He shows up at Meredith's old desk with an extra coffee and an extra donut and finds it empty. He searches the building, and can't find her. He goes back to the ADI housing and checks her apartment. He makes the rounds, looking in every place Meredith usually goes. He asks people, "How long has she been gone?" and "Where was the last place you saw her?"
And he looks morose when he doesn't get any helpful answers. Meredith is just gone.
III. Winter the Grouch (Birdwatching + Routine)
Though Winter gets back into his usual routine, he's kind of a grump about it. Meredith is gone. Things are about as awful at ADI as they always are. He aches all the time, which is normal, but lately it feels like it's getting worse. (Really, it is getting worse, because while he exercises kind of obsessively and is a fan of long baths to soak in, he doesn't really take care of himself in any other ways.)
He settles back into his usual routine: patrols with ADI during the day, teaching self-defense after work in the ADI gym or practicing alone if no student shows up, twice weekly forays into town for 1) lunch in a cafe, most likely with a friend, and 2) a prowl around Dogtown, though this time it's only around the outskirts, given the fencing.
He stares hard at the silent birds as he circles. Winter is naturally hypervigilant as it is, veering into paranoia at the worst of times, but it's not helping to have the feeling that all the birds are watching you even walking back to the apartments. It's bad enough that a flock of pigeons taking flight startles him into pulling his ever-present handgun and glowering at them over the sights as they fly away. "Fuck," he mutters, and hopes nobody saw that.
But of course somebody saw that.
IV. Not a Beach Bum
Though Winter goes to the beach thing, he resolutely does not have fun. He stays wrapped up in two layers of shirt (though the jacket gets ditched halfway through the afternoon), heavy jeans, and his combat boots. Someone who would recognize such things might note the shape of a gun holstered in the small of his back and there's certainly knives under his clothes, though those are harder to find.
He prowls around, keeping an eye on people and chasing off birds, and only takes a break from his impromptu patrolling twice: once for a plate full of food (fully one third of it is Kate's brownies), and once to prod at the sandcastle making equipment. Somebody show him how to actually make a sandcastle? Maybe he'll have some fun on accident.
no subject
(He'd like to think he can keep an eye out for things, too, but he... is not either of them. And he still feels kind of like crap. He doesn't know about Kate - although maybe she's just as well trained.)
"I - guess I barely know what else to get," he admits, laughing a little as he motions for her to lead the way. From what he remembers, the Starbucks menu is huge - and seems to only be partly written down. Half the things he's heard people ask for don't appear to be on said menu. "What do you usually go for?" Maybe he'll try it, if it doesn't involve too many words that sound made-up.
Either way, "We should definitely get something sweet for everyone."
no subject
"Yeah, we should. I know what Winter and Yelena likes."
no subject
Although he is definitely curious about this place in Gloucester, now. "I feel like people these days have very strong opinions about their coffee." Granted, he sounds a bit bemused, and there's more of a Sure, bring it on sort of feeling to his tone than anything else. "But that's pretty high praise. I think. You will have to show me." Provided they don't have some weird, huge falling out on the way back. He doubts it, fortunately.
And in any case, "Yeah. Let's get them something, too." He... can probably carry a bag with pastries. Probably. (Plus he thinks Starbucks has these little cardboard holders, so people can carry more than one drink. He's seen them.) "Have you known them long? I keep feeling like I just got here, but - I guess I really didn't. It's been a couple months."
no subject
These days? It's such an odd comment that Kate can't help but turn her head and look at him. Maybe he was a historian prior to arriving in Gloucester. Maybe it's none of her business. "There's so much variety. You can have your coffee basic and black or you can be fancy and extra. I mean, you're right. People do have strong opinions."
She knows what Yelena and Winter both will want. As they get in line, Kate looks at the display case that houses the pastries and other goodies. She also doesn't think anything of Steve's questioning. "I've known Winter since we both arrived about a year ago. Yelena showed up not long after. She's my bestie but I'd do anything for them both." Kate says what she means and means what she says. She's ride or die for them both.
She gives Steve a look and then asks a very important question. "How do you know them?"
((Forgive the lateness. I was dealing with a severe case of writer's block and a broken motivator. I'm so sorry.))
no subject
"I mean, people'll have strong opinions about anything, but coffee seems a particularly heated topic," he adds, smiling a little lopsidedly as they approach the doors.
It falters a little at the question, but not really because he doesn't want to answer it. More because it's a little complicated. "They're from the same world as me. I think. Or one that's similar enough - but we're also all from different times, as far as I can tell. Winter... he and I used to know each other pretty well. Before everything happened to him. Yelena, I'd never actually met."
He does pause to see how that goes down before trying to explain any more.
[OMG no not at all, I totally understand! <33 I'm sorry this is late, too, it's been A Week. XD]