THE STAR SPANGLED MAN WITH A MANPAIN [open]

[usavatar]

who ; Steve Rogers
what ; Steve set up an obstacle course for himself in the junkyard to try and get away from people for a bit and get out of his own head.
where ; THE JUNKYARD \o/
when ; Right. Now.
warning(s) ; FEELINGS.... This happened sooner than expected, but he's starting to wrestle with his own uncertainty re: his political position in

Comments

[ironhowdoesit]

Running's an easy task- keep one foot in front of another, and sooner or later you wind up some place better, or at least you hope. Running solves plenty of things, but there's plenty of other things a run can't solve: being marooned on a space station, things you should have apologized for, pent up vitriol, and dying. Dying was a big one, but luckily Tony was done with dying.

For now at least. Anyways, enough random introspection.

An early morning run's a good way to loosen up pent up frustration, and the past few weeks have given him plenty of things to feel angry about. Poor Tony Stark. Never alone, yet always alone (thank you Sue Richards). If people weren't harping on about his father, they were harping on about war crimes or something similar. Even Pepper, with all her patience and understanding couldn't fully comprehend what was going through Tony's mind- not with the missing six months, something he should tell her about but couldn't

[usavatar]

Steve smudges at the cut on his forehead, glaring at the blood on his hand instead of at Tony. "The kids I grew up with learned it was too much trouble to try. What do you want?"

He's not feeling hospitable, or patient, or any of the things that usually characterize a conversation with someone he finds aggravating. Some part of him knows that being temperamental where Tony is concerned will only backfire, spectacularly, but still. He's not a saint.

[ironhowdoesit]

Watch out guys, we're dealing with a badass. Tony raises his eyebrows, slightly bemused by the fact Cap seems angry for once. It's good to know the other man is capable of emotions beyond the spectrum of 'happy' and 'judgemental', but still. Tony hasn't even said anything yet.

"Besides world peace and a new car? Not much. I figured I'd be a friendly neighbour and stop by to say hi."

[usavatar]

Oh yes. Complete badass.

He pulls the shield off of his arm and flips it around to check for new scars, buying himself a moment to get his temper under control. "Really. You were looking for me." Skepticism: he has it in spades. "Or were you just as frustrated as I am and happened to have the same idea I did?"

Okay, that was not his temper under control. Steve rests the edge of the shield against his forehead and counts to ten, wincing a little as something in his arm pulls. "Sorry."

[nolimitation]

Olivia noticed the clanging and occasional crashes of the shield bouncing off various bits of debris from a long way off, and followed the sound to its source out of a mixture of curiosity and concern. It could just be the sound of random bits of junk falling out of the rift, but it's a little too regular for that. It takes a while for her to locate Steve among the heaped mounds of flotsam - she'd just rounded one to where she could see him when another pile wobbled, and then started crashing down on his head.

Olivia flinches and quickly ducks into the shelter of what used to be the hull of a boat, before it landed here and was half-smashed by something else falling through on top of it. She waits there until most of the crashing stops, tense and breathless, and charges out as soon as she thinks it's safe, while some of the bits of debris are still falling.

She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees Steve still standing - still alive for that matter - and runs toward him, slipping a little on the unstable footing when it

[usavatar]

His expression mirrors hers, the pit of his stomach yawning open in horror at the thought that someone else was in the vicinity, that he could have hurt her with that stupid stunt.

"I'm all right- I'm fine." He climbs over the junk-tide and catches her arm gently when she slips, letting go at once. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize- I never would have- Are you all right?"

[nolimitation]

Her eyes flick over him despite his reassurance that he's fine, checking for any obvious injuries, any sign of pain when he moves, but except for a few scrapes that look fairly minor... he really does look alright. It's a little unsettling.

"Thank you," she says with a quick, flickering smile as he catches her arm. "I'm okay. Just a little startled."

Okay, 'a little startled' doesn't quite cover it - she's still trying to catch her breath, and her heart's pounding so hard she can feel it in her throat - but she's not hurt.

[usavatar]

She doesn't look it. Steve silently kicks himself for being so stupid, forgetting there could be people around, even if he did pick a place far enough from the entrance to not be immediately accessible.

"Do you want to sit down?"

[feedislive]

Georgia hears the chaos from a distance, and freezes for a second, waiting for it to stop and trying to tell if it's coming any closer. It doesn't seem to be, and when nothing more happens after a minute or two, she starts walking cautiously in that direction. At the very least, she should make sure no one's been hurt, though she's really wishing she'd dragged Shaun along for backup.

She steps out from around a trash dune with her gun in hand - and automatically lowers it and stares when she sees Steve standing there surrounded by twisted metal and miscellaneous junk, shield on his arm.

"...why am I not surprised it's you?"

[usavatar]

He didn't hear her coming. Kind of a consequence of temporary deafness caused by not-so-accidental avalanche. As a result, when she speaks, he's turning on her with a look of pure calculation, the expression of a soldier about to smash someone's head in with a blunt weapon.

And then he sees her, falters, slips on a piece of debris and almost falls over, catching himself instead on a standing piece of pipe- which promptly grates, shifts, and dumps him into the chaos he caused.

...Serves him right, really. He doesn't bother getting up, just stares through his one clear eye at the distant ceiling. "Um. Hello, Miss Mason."

[feedislive]

Georgia doesn't move right away, just stands there watching him and taking a few seconds to just... appreciate this moment. She's only sorry she didn't get that on film.

Finally, she holsters her gun and starts carefully toward him, making sure to place her feet carefully on something solid before putting her full weight on it. There may not be zombies on the station, and quick healing may be easy, but she still doesn't want to twist an ankle here - if she does, she's certain something nasty would take that opportunity to fall through the rift on top of her.

"Hello, Steve. So... nice job, super soldier. What the hell just happened?"

[usavatar]

"I lost my temper." He still hasn't moved. He probably should. But this is deceptively comfortable.

He would be very, very glad she didn't get it on film, if he knew she carried as many recording devices as she does. "Well... I was just trying to drill, but it wasn't-"

Sigh. "I lost my temper."

[duplicitas]

In all honesty, Natasha is sick of the dump. She's sick of sifting through pile after pile of scrap metal and junk looking for her impossibly small wrislets and belt. And Steve's avalanche is a welcome distraction. The noise itself would have attracted her attention, regardless of whether or not her search was going well.

And seeing the cause of it is a surprise.

Natasha wasn't exactly fond of Steve Rogers. It grated on her, how he'd presumed to give her orders, how he'd told her to stand down as if he were Nick Fury. But this little display was interesting, enough so that she slid down from her perch to address him face to bloody, grimy face.

"Impressive."

[usavatar]

He turns and stares a little, not quite surprised she's here. It takes him a moment to frame a response beyond just a nod of greeting.

It takes a second more after he croaks out a syllable to cough and clear his throat.

"Thank you." He manages, and coughs again. "I hope you weren't..." Sudden worry at the thought that there might have been others in the vicinity of his tantrum? Yes, indeed. He scans the area, speaking as he does. "You didn't see anyone else around, did you? I wasn't thinking."

Correction: he was trying very hard not to think.

[duplicitas]

He looks an utter mess. It's surprising. She hadn't expected this of him, not of Captain America. It was an interesting little twist on her perception of him.

"I didn't, but I hadn't exactly been looking."

For once she was here without Bruce. Which was possibly a good thing. Who knew what all the commotion would have done to him?

"What were you doing?

[usavatar]

His expression goes blank, while he decides silently just how dedicated to the idea of returning with SHIELD he actually is. He doesn't really know them. Barely knows them at all, if he's being honest with himself. So why does he trust them? Because they're the SSR's legacy? What have they done to prove themselves, really?

Steve stops himself from rubbing his forehead, barely. He's drowning himself in uncertainty at this point and it's not helping anyone, least of all himself. "Trying to sort some things out."

[thom_293]

[Okay, so loud noises? Sort of automatically attract a soldier's attention. Thom pauses in what he's doing (brushing detritus off the serial number on a scrapped Pelican) and straightens up.

W E L P.

Why not.

He's in armour, he's packing a gun. Not bothered.

SUDDENLY SUPERSOLDIERS?]

[usavatar]

[OHAI THAR. Steve blinks at him from the middle of his disaster playground, the back of one hand pressed against the cut on his forehead.] ...Um. Hello. Have I met you yet?

[thom_293]

[.............. oh well. That's not the alien invasion disaster-type thing he was expecting.

He doffs the helmet and tucks it under one arm.]

Sorry. Forgot you hadn't seen me in armour before. Need a-- hand? With anything?

[... that question is in fact accompanied by an eyebrow raise of 'you look like you could use a good sparring match.']

[usavatar]

Oh, hi. [He grins at Thom, realizes what a disaster he must look like himself, and winces.] No, I'm all right. Just... letting off a little steam.