Log: February Catch-All

[punched_hitler]

Who: Steve Rogers & OTA!
When: Throughout February, depending on your event of choice
Where: Around ADI, the apartments, and Gloucester
Summary: February catch-all, including the fact that Steve's lost certain memories in Dogtown, been negatively affected by using Mjolnir again, and is available for some more specific shenanigans (Love Potion No. 9, Bumble Gum, Grave Matters fire). Or tag in with whatever you like, even if I don't mention it!
Warnings: Possible negative health effects from Mjolnir, investigating arson, emotional manipulation via chocolate, the bug candies at Bumble Gum (will note anything else in specific threads)


Frustration: Around ADI and the apartments
Tony is gone. He's vanished without a trace, without a word, and Steve wants to hold out hope that he's on some kind of personal (or even not-so-personal) mission. That he's following a lead, that he's gone underground. That he'll pop up and say something flippant over anyone's having worried, and that will be that.

That he's not gone, forever, all over again. That Steve hasn't lost him a second time.

But the days pass with no word, with no signal from his tracker. No Tony.

It doesn't stop Steve from doggedly looking for him. What else has he got to do in his spare time, right? He spends most free evenings combing the town, stopping into any shop that looks like it might interest Tony Stark in the least: mostly electronics, but some of the higher-end clothing shops and out-of-the-way bookshops as well. The longer Tony's been missing, the more frustrated he gets.

And it's not the only thing bothering him right now.

You might find him on his lunch break in ADI staring at an old compass with a black-and-white photo pasted inside. It's on the table in front of him while he eats a sandwich, frowning at it. He keeps fiddling with it in his pocket while he walks the halls, taking it out and then putting it away again. It comes out again at home sometimes, too; he'll leave it on a table and walk away, only to come back and pick it up and shove it frustratedly back into his pocket a few minutes later.

He doesn't know who she is. She's inside his compass, and he doesn't know why.

After he helps Winter with the pyramid, he has an off couple of days. That's all he can call it: off. It's this weird sense of deja vu, like, he's in his old body again, with achy joints and shitty blood pressure and stupid back pain. He's not sick, he's just… sore. Tired. Grouchy if you catch him at the wrong time or call him out on the way he rubs at his knuckles, his wrists, or teeters just a little when he stands up too fast.



Curiosity: Around ADI and Gloucester
There's plenty else going on to keep him occupied when he's not worrying about Tony or mysterious pictures that may or may not have been planted inside his personal things. His room isn't affected by the strange malaise that seems to be going around, but he does make several trips to Bumble Gum, first out of curiosity, then later to get samples with Cortana. He probably visits a time or two after that, browsing the strange confections, picking up a few more in case extra samples — or evidence — is needed later.

He's not a huge sweets guy, but he does like chocolate — enough to peer curiously at the boxes that appear in the break room before Valentine's Day, like he's trying to discern which is safest to try. If anyone else walks into the room, he glances up, almost like a deer in the headlights, and grins a little lopsidedly. "There're a lot of choices."

And when Grave Matters' workshop burns down, he wonders if it has anything to do with the way certain bars had a tendency to catch on fire a few months ago. If you happen to be wondering about the fire's origin, too, you might find him skulking around the premises.

Comments

Frustration: Lunch Break

[lobster_bib]

Jesus eats alone too, often on the go, eating as he walks and wanders Gloucester trying to get a feel for this world and why he's here.

But one day he finally approaches this man who sits alone scowling at what Jesus thinks must be a pocket watch or a compass--whatever it is, he's curious.

"You okay?" He asks, food in one hand and drink in the other, offering Steve a quizzical smile.

[punched_hitler]

Steve glances up, a little startled out of his thoughts, but after a second he ends up looking sheepish and reaching over to push the compass closed. "Yeah," he says, offering Jesus a lopsided, helpless smile. "Just wondering if I'm losing my mind - typical day around here, huh?"

That's... probably not something you should say to someone in passing, even as a joke, around here. Whoops. "It's fine." He motions to the other side of the table, with its empty chair. "Wanna sit?"

[lobster_bib]

"Yeah," he says, his smile grateful as he slides into the seat and sets his food down. "Hi. I'm Jesus. Didn't mean to interrupt, I just haven't seen anything like that," nodding at the compass, "In a while."

[punched_hitler]

"Steve. And you're not, I promise."

Of course, Steve has to laugh a little, given that, "Yeah, well, it's about eighty years old, I guess. That's probably why."

He hesitates for maybe the briefest of instances, then pushes it over, in case the guy wants to take a look, himself.

★ curiosity

[sathan]

"They like to tempt you to buy more than you need."

At least is what Lilith assumes, temptations were so simple to do, a little trickery, luring people in. She'd employed enough in her time that they were simple to recognise even if that wasn't entirely what was happening.

"It doesn't have to be terrible."

[punched_hitler]

"It is a good strategy to stay in business," Steve agrees, glancing over from the box of chocolate-covered beetles he's considering. "Especially when I'm looking for a variety." He's no scientist, but he does figure that kind of thing would be useful for testing.

"Anything catching your eye?" He is admittedly curious as to what other people are finding in here.

[sathan]

"I'm not much of a chocolate person."

Though Lilith did, surprisingly, have a sweet tooth.

"What is it you enjoy?"

[punched_hitler]

"Ah. I am," he admits, holding up the box. Chocolate is his favorite, though, "Orange, too. Candied oranges are pretty good. Or - they make chocolate oranges. Not here, but in general. Those are pretty good, best of both worlds."

He glances back at the box. "I'm not sure I'm actually going to eat these."

That much is the truth. They're ideally more for testing, but he is still curious.

[sathan]

"You're buying something... to not eat it?"

She both sounds a little confused and judgemental all in the same sentence.

"Why then buy them?"

frustration

[ruevealing]

To be perfectly honest, Rue normally spends their lunch break as far away from ADI's break room as possible, usually preferring to take an outdoor walk around the grounds or to slip back to their own apartment for a quick bite. But today has turned into a jumbled mess of tasks to complete, so a brief pop into the break room is about as much as Rue has time for.

Dressed for the more professional setting - a black pencil skirt and a silk, fitted floral blouse with swooping sleeves that gather delicately at the wrist to hold all of their wing feathers - Rue ducks their head into the break room, immediately catching sight of a friendly face.

"Steve," Rue's greeting comes warmly, until they notice the rather faraway state he's in. Perhaps they should have left him to his thoughts instead. "My most ardent apologies, my friend. I hope I'm not interrupting. Please, if you would prefer to be alone, you simply need to tell me. No offense taken."

[punched_hitler]

The sound of his name does pull Steve from his intense study of the compass - he glances up and, when he recognizes who it is, he smiles and reaches out to shut the compass, shaking his head a little. "Hey - no. You're not interrupting at all. I was just thinking - dangerous, I know."

He laughs a little, straightening as he realizes, "I don't think I see you in here often. Just passing through?"

The chair across from him is empty and available; he maybe kicks it out, just a little, with one foot in case Rue might like to sit down.

[ruevealing]

It's honestly very sweet, how Steve gently kicks the chair out for Rue to sit on. Their expression goes warm as they lean over, paws gently curling around the chair back as they continue to stand, voice dropping down to a conspiratorial whisper just between the two of them.

"Tell me, do you like to make wagers?"

[punched_hitler]

Steve blinks, but then he grins a little. "I can be convinced, if I think it's something worth betting on," he says, just as quietly. "Got a hot tip?

[worthallthis]

Winter has has his own memory issues, though he hasn't told Steve yet. That's today's plan. He brings the usual thermos of cocoa and a worried sort of expression when he tracks Steve down at lunch that day.

"Steve. I need to tell you something."

[punched_hitler]

Steve immediately glances up, both at the sound of Winter's voice and what he actually says, though it maybe takes just a second to process. He shifts in his chair, more alert as he tugs the compass back across the table and asks, "What is it? Do you want to talk here?"

[worthallthis]

"Here's fine. It doesn't matter." He drops onto the chair opposite Steve, and sets the thermos down, but jumps right into it instead of pouring. "I forgot dancing. I don't know if it's the pyramid's fault. Or something else. But I forgot dancing." He sounds somewhere between genuinely freaked out, despite having had a day or two now to get used to the idea, and offended. Dancing was one of his favorite things, or so he's been told. How dare the pyramid (or whatever) take away one of his favorite things?

[punched_hitler]

Steve frowns. "You forgot dancing?" he repeats, though of course he caught it the first time - he just. Needs a second to process that.

It probably should be harder to process, but given the way he feels right now, it really isn't.

"Do you know when? Is that a stupid question?"

It's not like he remembers remembering who the picture in his compass is of. But maybe whatever's happened to Winter is different.

He has a sinking feeling it's not.

frustration; the apartment!

[lowficharm]

Even though it's pretty rare to get all three of them in the same space, Martin really likes Steve being around whenever he can find him. Steve is generally a nice guy, and unfortunately Martin is not only nosy but incredibly well-tuned to when someone is upset, with an innate desire to fix everyone's emotional problems. So of course he's hovering around before Steve goes out one night, puttering aimlessly with things in the kitchen until he finally turns and forces himself to say something.

"Uhm-- Steve, is-- I mean, not to be a bother, but-- are you. Uhm. Okay?"

[punched_hitler]

Steve's pretty easily settled back into living with roommates; it's nice, and they all get along pretty well.

But maybe he's forgotten, a little, that obviously other people are going to notice when he starts acting a little weird. He signs, but - "No, you're not - "

It's not a bother, of course. "I just." He hesitates, because it sounds crazy. But this whole place is crazy, right? "Has anything around here ever made people forget things? Like - things they should know. People."

Martin's been here longer than he has. Maybe this is - well, not normal, but not unheard of.

[lowficharm]

Admittedly, that isn't the thing he expected Steve to say, but-- well, hell, this whole place is crazy. Honestly, the question puts him at pause a moment, his brow furrowing as he lifts his hand to his chin.

"Well, it... I'm not sure I'd say anything, but we haven't exactly, uhm-- f-found all the limits on everything the Entities can do and influence on people. And there have been some cases about, uhm, selectively forgetting things outside of major events." The best guess he'd have would be a Lonely thing, but it wouldn't necessarily cause much of that if he's just confused. "What I mean is-- I don't think it's impossible. If that, uhm, h-happened to you."

[punched_hitler]

Steve just nods. "It did. And - I don't just forget things."

Sure, he's "only" human now, but this is still - this isn't like misplacing his keys. It's forgetting a whole person.

"I'm not entirely sure when," he admits, and he doesn't sound happy about it. "Whatever it was... unless I forgot that, too, it wasn't particularly memorable in the first place."

Nothing really sticks out as an instigating factor.

"Which is a problem in and of itself."

Curiosity

[easilyamused]

It isn't the fire that Methos is interested in - he's no arson investigator, and has no desire whatsoever to risk getting set ablaze, for all that he might still be able to recover from it. It's safe to say, though, that the fire is what draws his attention to Grave Matters' workshop, and so by sheer coincidence, there he is, slipping past the safety cordon in time to spot - he's fairly sure the large blond man is from ADI, at least.

"You'd think after the past few months, fire would have lost its fascination," he says, with just a touch of dry humour on the words.

Re: Curiosity

[punched_hitler]

Steve glances over, then offers Methos a tight smile; he similarly recognizes the face from ADI - and the attitude. "You'd think," he agrees, letting out a breath and pausing as he picks his way through the rubble. "But maybe it's more that the fire is fascinated with this place."

That's a bit quieter, admittedly. "You curious, too?"

Re: Curiosity

[easilyamused]

"Maybe. Or our pet pyromaniac is getting restless." He traces a fingertip over the doorframe, and rubs the gritty ash between thumb and finger, remembering choking, oppressive heat and clinging steam. It's been months, but the sourdough graveyard has stuck.

"Curious. Feeling like I've missed a step. It all seems much the same thing here."

Re: Curiosity

[punched_hitler]

"Or that," Steve says, but there are several reasons he doesn't sound happy about it. It's both not neat enough and too neat an explanation, maybe. Something in his gut doesn't like that option, but even after so long here, he still feels enough out of his depth sometimes that it's hard to always trust his gut, like he'd like to.

"The staff here seems to think it really was faulty wiring, though. No one I can get to talk to me saw anyone hanging around that shouldn't have been. But at least one of 'em isn't real broken up about these things not getting made anymore."