[There is no responding voice message. She doesn't trust a voice. Not here. Not with him. There's been too many false alarms. Too many faces and voices that don't belong to whom they're supposed to. Instead, just text, as she prepares:]
Gym. Ten minutes.
[She's already there, but he should expect that, if he's really Steve.]
[He doesn't just expect it, he just knows. She'd never ask him - potentially an impostor or an enemy - to an area where she didn't have the strategic advantage. Not knowing what he's capable of.
So.
He goes. Opens the door, enters with his hands held visibly but not exactly in a gesture of surrender. He doesn't say anything, just waits for her to pass her judgement, all the while assessing her at the same time.]
[Of course he doesn't ask. Even if he's not her Steve, he's a Steve. Close enough. Even the other one--Orion--wouldn't ask. So when he walks in, she's prepared. Just stops mid-stretch, one arm across her body, looking at him with cool eyes that might as well belong on a jungle cat, for all the compassion in them. They'd been...almost friends. Something like it, when she'd left. No telling when he's from. No use getting her hopes up.]
[The scrutiny doesn't bother him. He's got nothing to hide, and anyway he's lousy at secrets. Most of them. Wryly,]
Or maybe you were early.
[There's some species of fondness there, suffused with a quiet warmth. They're friends. He can't and won't even try to hide it, or that he'd die for her without a second thought.]
[She knows better than to assume, based on appearances. She'd been hopeful when she'd first seen the other one. The fact that this one acts like Steve doesn't necessarily mean anything. The fact that he's friendly--that he acts like he remembers any part of the last two years--doesn't necessarily mean anything.
Told you my name. I can rattle off my serial number and rank if you want them. We both know that's not the confirmation you're really looking for.
[She knows as well as he does, there is nothing of his life that isn't public record, and information is manipulable. He draws in a breath, folds his arms across his chest. She's not surprised to see him, her hair's too long for her to be lately from what happened in New York. So he makes a few reasonable extrapolations, holds his breath briefly, bracing, and then starts,]
Every year I drop off the grid on the 4th of July. First time I did it was just a couple months after the Chitauri attack. SHIELD didn't like that too much, sent you to track me down. You didn't like the mosquitoes.
[Since, you know. He'd done his level best to get lost upstate, as far away from cellphones and computers and television as he could. He'd needed the space, from there it became a tradition.]
[It isn't the confirmation she's looking for, but then, most anyone
would know that. They don't have to be Steve to recognize suspicion and
identity issues. They do have to be Steve to realize that she's going to
wait right here forever until she gets the nod, one way or the other. And
the answer she gets proves within a 90% certainty that this is Steve. Her
Steve, or close enough. There's an infinitesimal change in the set of her
shoulders as she relaxes, just a little.]
No one likes mosquitoes, Rogers. There's a reason I don't spend my vacation
days in the tropics.
[More than one. Not that they really got vacation days, these
days.]
[She's not an easy person to be friends with. Doesn't seem like it's
stopped him trying, or that he will. She nods. Understands what he hasn't
said, but then, she usually does.]
Guess you know most of the situation already, then. Have they mentioned
Orion yet?
[May as well get this over with, before there's any sort of
misunderstanding.]
[He hasn't heard the name, but judging by inflection and the prior topics he can sort of extrapolate.]
He's the other-- me, right?
[He says that sort of awkwardly, like he's unsure what to do about the situation at all. There being two variants of James Barnes had barely given him pause, but Steve has no idea what he'd do if confronted with a duplicate of himself, someone who went on to become his world's version of the Winter Soldier.]
[She takes a moment to think about the answer to that question. If he'd asked her two months ago, she'd say yes. Now, she's less certain of that answer.]
He mostly keeps to himself. He's...like Winter, but less broken. Doesn't like me much, either.
[There's no delicate way to say that. They all are what they are, and she'd be lying if she said otherwise. She tries not to lie to him, when she doesn't have to.]
[It's not like he disagrees, even, but hearing it outloud is a different matter. There aren't many people who hear broken and think worth saving and though he knows rationally that Natasha is different, he needs the distinction.]
It's the name he's chosen. While he tries to figure out who he's supposed
to be.
[Steve knows about the scars she bears that were given to her by the
man they're discussing. Knows if anyone would hold a grudge here, she'd
have the reason, and yet she's also the one perhaps best equipped to
understand what they did. And...they've talked. In their way. She's watched
him, listened to Captain Barnes talk about his progress with hope and
affection and excitement. She's listened to all the things he's said, and
saw what he let her see in his calibration. It's not every day someone gets
the chance to rebuild themselves from the ground up, into what they want to
be. Steve...she knows at least a little how he feels about it. What he
hopes for. It's a dangerous thing, hope. She shifts her stance, one hand
running though hair grown way too long before dropping to her side
again.]
We've talked.
[She does conveniently leave out their first meeting.]
[It's what he's been. Broken. He's fragments of who he used to be,
fragments of who they made him, all rough edges rubbing against each other.
It's not a bad word or a negative statement, just a fact. But this is
Steve. And so she only shrugs, conceding to him.]
He's got a lot to figure out. Knows about the bridge. Some of what's
happened since, to us.
[She might hoard knowledge, but some things should be
shared.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forever
Date: 2015-11-24 04:27 am (UTC)From:Gym. Ten minutes.
[She's already there, but he should expect that, if he's really Steve.]
action;
Date: 2015-11-24 04:36 am (UTC)From:So.
He goes. Opens the door, enters with his hands held visibly but not exactly in a gesture of surrender. He doesn't say anything, just waits for her to pass her judgement, all the while assessing her at the same time.]
action;
Date: 2015-11-24 04:50 am (UTC)From:You're late.
[Not really. But what else is there to say?]
action;
Date: 2015-11-24 04:53 am (UTC)From:Or maybe you were early.
[There's some species of fondness there, suffused with a quiet warmth. They're friends. He can't and won't even try to hide it, or that he'd die for her without a second thought.]
action;
Date: 2015-11-24 05:00 am (UTC)From:But it means something.]
I usually am. But you'd know that.
[Wouldn't he?]
action;
Date: 2015-11-24 05:05 am (UTC)From:I know you'll have a contingency for this, too. You're going to want to ask me questions.
action;
Date: 2015-11-24 05:10 am (UTC)From:Telling me who you are would be a good start.
action;
Date: 2015-11-24 05:50 am (UTC)From:Told you my name. I can rattle off my serial number and rank if you want them. We both know that's not the confirmation you're really looking for.
[She knows as well as he does, there is nothing of his life that isn't public record, and information is manipulable. He draws in a breath, folds his arms across his chest. She's not surprised to see him, her hair's too long for her to be lately from what happened in New York. So he makes a few reasonable extrapolations, holds his breath briefly, bracing, and then starts,]
Every year I drop off the grid on the 4th of July. First time I did it was just a couple months after the Chitauri attack. SHIELD didn't like that too much, sent you to track me down. You didn't like the mosquitoes.
[Since, you know. He'd done his level best to get lost upstate, as far away from cellphones and computers and television as he could. He'd needed the space, from there it became a tradition.]
Re: action;
Date: 2015-11-25 06:00 pm (UTC)From:[It isn't the confirmation she's looking for, but then, most anyone would know that. They don't have to be Steve to recognize suspicion and identity issues. They do have to be Steve to realize that she's going to wait right here forever until she gets the nod, one way or the other. And the answer she gets proves within a 90% certainty that this is Steve. Her Steve, or close enough. There's an infinitesimal change in the set of her shoulders as she relaxes, just a little.]
No one likes mosquitoes, Rogers. There's a reason I don't spend my vacation days in the tropics.
[More than one. Not that they really got vacation days, these days.]
no subject
Date: 2015-11-27 04:37 am (UTC)From:Idly,]
I've never seen you take a vacation.
[Peace doesn't know what to do with Natasha Romanoff any better than it does with him. He drops his arms back down, and gives her a faint nod.]
Too early to ask for a sitrep? Or are you still feeling me out?
[As if he's one to be bothered by a little suspicion.]
no subject
Date: 2015-11-28 04:19 am (UTC)From:[Maybe both. It usually isn't ever just one thing, with her.]
You see what I want you to see. You know that.
[Then again, her vacations usually aren't vacations in the traditional sense.]
No rule saying I can't do both. I guess since you aren't asking any of the obvious questions you've been here long enough to get the basics?
no subject
Date: 2015-11-28 05:13 am (UTC)From:[Their friendship has - and maybe will - always be on her terms. Steve cocks his head to one side.]
I've been around the block. Met-- James. And the Winter Soldier.
[And Peggy, but that one's his to keep, close to his chest and near to his heart.]
no subject
Date: 2015-12-07 02:40 am (UTC)From:[She's not an easy person to be friends with. Doesn't seem like it's stopped him trying, or that he will. She nods. Understands what he hasn't said, but then, she usually does.]
Guess you know most of the situation already, then. Have they mentioned Orion yet?
[May as well get this over with, before there's any sort of misunderstanding.]
no subject
Date: 2015-12-07 11:36 pm (UTC)From:He's the other-- me, right?
[He says that sort of awkwardly, like he's unsure what to do about the situation at all. There being two variants of James Barnes had barely given him pause, but Steve has no idea what he'd do if confronted with a duplicate of himself, someone who went on to become his world's version of the Winter Soldier.]
no subject
Date: 2015-12-08 05:01 pm (UTC)From:[A nod. She knows he's smarter than people seem to think. He knows what she meant.]
He looks like you. Maybe you have some things in common, back in the distant past. But he's not you. Just wanted to make sure you were aware.
[The two Barnes have more in common than Steve and Orion, she thinks. But then, she and Orion hadn't gotten off on the right foot,exactly.]
no subject
Date: 2015-12-08 11:10 pm (UTC)From:Heard about it from Barnes.
[There's a brief silence, and then he folds his arms and gestures with his chin.]
You think he's going to cause problems?
no subject
Date: 2015-12-09 01:21 am (UTC)From:He mostly keeps to himself. He's...like Winter, but less broken. Doesn't like me much, either.
[There's no delicate way to say that. They all are what they are, and she'd be lying if she said otherwise. She tries not to lie to him, when she doesn't have to.]
no subject
Date: 2015-12-09 02:10 am (UTC)From:He's not-- please don't call him that.
[It's not like he disagrees, even, but hearing it outloud is a different matter. There aren't many people who hear broken and think worth saving and though he knows rationally that Natasha is different, he needs the distinction.]
no subject
Date: 2015-12-09 06:38 pm (UTC)From:It's the name he's chosen. While he tries to figure out who he's supposed to be.
[Steve knows about the scars she bears that were given to her by the man they're discussing. Knows if anyone would hold a grudge here, she'd have the reason, and yet she's also the one perhaps best equipped to understand what they did. And...they've talked. In their way. She's watched him, listened to Captain Barnes talk about his progress with hope and affection and excitement. She's listened to all the things he's said, and saw what he let her see in his calibration. It's not every day someone gets the chance to rebuild themselves from the ground up, into what they want to be. Steve...she knows at least a little how he feels about it. What he hopes for. It's a dangerous thing, hope. She shifts her stance, one hand running though hair grown way too long before dropping to her side again.]
We've talked.
[She does conveniently leave out their first meeting.]
no subject
Date: 2015-12-13 12:59 am (UTC)From:Tasha. 'Broken'. Winter is-- that's fine, if that's what he wants.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-13 01:32 am (UTC)From:[It's what he's been. Broken. He's fragments of who he used to be, fragments of who they made him, all rough edges rubbing against each other. It's not a bad word or a negative statement, just a fact. But this is Steve. And so she only shrugs, conceding to him.]
He's got a lot to figure out. Knows about the bridge. Some of what's happened since, to us.
[She might hoard knowledge, but some things should be shared.]