America's Favorite Pastime

[onlyforthedream]

I missed a lot in my years spent dormant and adrift in the North Atlantic. The sum total of minute cultural detail that passed me by is baffling in its magnitude, and I'm afraid no matter how much time I spend trying to catch up it's a moot endeavor. There were bigger things, though, more important things that I missed. The death of the president

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[frakkup]

"Piss off Captain Hardass and spy on my opponents?" Kara asks, delight plain on her face when she clears the trees. From a distance, the blond man's face had given her pause, too like Johnny's who, despite the many that followed him from the island, she's managed to miss dearly throughout the years.

But he's not Johnny, that's obvious in the way the only wicked smile in the clearing is Kara's own. "What, is it my birthday?"

[onlyapassenger]

"Wouldn't go around celebrating just yet," says Bucky, following after Steve once he hears another familiar voice. It's been a weird day in its banality, the simple act of playing catch with an old friend -- Steve, in particular -- a strange luxury after the stress of the previous month, maybe even the past year and it's been a conscious effort all afternoon to not let his thoughts drift to the past.

Replacing his glove onto his left hand, Bucky ambles forward, his earlier smirk still in place. The distraction's welcome, to say the least.

"You'll need an act of God to win against our lineup come Friday, no matter how much intel you collect... Captain Rogers meet Captain Thrace," he adds, gesturing between the two of them. "She asked me to help her out with the local task force a few months back."

[onlyforthedream]

"The ITF," I say, nodding, pulling my glove off as I start forward. I extend my hand right to the young woman, unable to help noting her bearing and posture and thinking she must be formidable- but then, I would have guessed that from her associating with Bucky.

"I haven't seen you all in action yet, but I hear it's an impressive group. Good to meet you, Captain."

[frakkup]

Kara passes the ball into her left hand and grips his right one with her own. It's a handsome face, to be sure, and it doesn't take long to decide she's not sorry to see the repeat. "Likewise. And I thought it was," she says, "but James here's made training before him seem downright lazy."

She grins at them both. It's nothing short of sadistic at times, the runs they put the ITF through, but Kara thinks it would've done Kendra proud, and that's nearly all of why she'd signed on in the first place. "You don't have to tell me that Rogue's got something planned," she tells Bucky. "She was on my team before yours snaked her."

[broken_brushes]

There had been awhile there, after George left, when it had been really difficult for me to so much as look at something that reminded me of World War II. That there had still been members of Easy on the island after didn't make it very easy to avoid, especially as those who had been left had rallied around me as could be expected. I'd always been made to feel like a part of that family and was ultimately glad for the support, but for a long time after the clothes box had stopped giving me swing dresses and I'd stopped pinning my hair up

[onlyapassenger]

She looks like one of the girls back home in that get-up, Bucky thinks when he sees Shari, the ones from his era. It's enough to make him smile, a little, though the reminder's bittersweet. It's been a weird day all around, Steve's invite a loaded one for how innocent it was, and while Bucky's plenty glad to not let the occassion go unnoticed, what flashes of memory he has of May 8, 1945 are far from pleasant, as he'd been busy being poked and prodded by Soviet scientists at the time. They were trying to find out if he shared the super soldier serum running through Captain America's veins, and instead found themselves an operative so deadly most didn't even believe him to exist.

That's enough with the trip down memory lane. Focus.

"Old nickname," Bucky says with a shrug. It's not something he introduces himself as anymore, and hasn't for a long time -- he's no longer that kid -- but it's as much a part of him as anything else. "We go way back. Steve, this is Shari Cooper. She's on the Council and started up that bakery near the

[onlyforthedream]

I hesitate when she comes into view- it's not a look I've seen anywhere but dreams and memories, not since I woke up in the modern world. She reminds me of the girls I would see on the trollies, going into Manhattan in the morning to be secretaries or nurses or shop girls while I went to beg the army for another shot. Only she's an elected official.

I respectfully pull the baseball glove off after I've caught the ball, tuck it under my arm, and walk closer to hold out my hand.

"A pleasure, Miss Cooper."

[broken_brushes]

"Nice to finally meet you," I replied, reaching out to meet his hand as he stepped closer. Before letting go, I leaned to the side so that I could peer across the clearing at James.

"Please tell me it's because you have such bright and shiny teeth. That would make my day," I called, then cast Steve a smirk. "He keeps running me over, I feel entitled to give him a little bit of a hard time," I explained.

[exweapon]

I've got my complaints about this place, a whole raft of them, and I'm not about to start treating it like a vacation, but I'll make allowances for Rogue's baseball team. Not just because she'd beat the crap out of me if I started shirking; I hate the situation, and it pays for me to keep that in mind -- keeps me focused, gives me something to work with when the time comes -- but not everyone's wired the way I am.

There's those that need their minds on other things to keep them sane.

Couldn't say which, if either, these two belong too, but it's good for moral either way. Can't say it isn't good to see Cap back up on his feet.

"Did I just walk into a propaganda reel?"

[onlyapassenger]

"I think we'd need a couple more Nazis to make it a memorable one," says Bucky, his grin brief, but genuine while it lasts. It's been a hell of an afternoon, trying not to get swept up too much in the past, and the sight of Wolverine doesn't make it any easier. It's been a long, long time since the three of them first met.

[onlyforthedream]

"Logan," I say, greeting the man with a nod. I lift my glove hand and wait.

"Is that your way of saying you're feeling nostalgic?"

[exweapon]

"I'm not about to get all misty," I say, walking on up. Been a while since this place had any use, and it's about time they got this up and running. "Maybe if this place sees fit to drop in that couple of Nazis for us to hit, I might have a moment."

[ghostinthecity]

All that Annie really knew about baseball involved watching films in which it was a cute-but-charming subplot. Like Field of Dreams and that terrible Drew Barrymore film. Honestly why couldn't they have just let Nick Hornby alone? Americans were always doing that thing where they took something that wasn't their, added their funny accents and perfect everything. She could get behind it in some cases, but most of the time it just made her squint.

Bending down she picked up the runaway ball on the edge of the treeline, looking up to see which direction it had come from. Feeling a bit stupid that she hadn't been paying much attention to the pair of frankly, gorgeous men who had been using it just before.

"Here you go!" she called a smile on her face as she gave the ball a good lob back towards them. Unfortunately her aim was terrible and the ball wound up flying a good fifteen feet to the left of them. "Oh God. Sorry. I probably shouldn't have thrown it."

[onlyapassenger]

"Don't worry about it," says Bucky on a laugh, already striding towards the ball. He recognizes the woman from his first day on the Island -- Annie, he's pretty sure her name is -- but doesn't comment on it. He hadn't exactly been in his right mind that day, too disoriented to take anyone, really, at their word.

[onlyforthedream]

"Good distance," I add with a nod and a polite smile, "and you can always work on your aim."

[ghostinthecity]

Laughing as she took a step closer, she smiled brightly. The more that she thought about it, the more that she regretted that she had thrown it at all. It probably would've been a lot easier to just hand it to them.

"Ah yeah. I suppose I can." Making a throwing gesture before laughing nervously, she shrugged. "I mean, I used to be a bit better. Though I used to just throw things in general, without having to aim. I am sorry about all that though."

[theboywhowaited]

Oh Christ, it was That Bloke.

Steve Rogers. Mr. Popular without even having been on the island one day. Not that Rory begrudged him visitors. It wasn't as though he could leave the clinic; he had been seriously knocked around. Everyone deserved friends, whether you had to work to make friendships anew or you were just lucky enough to have them intact when arriving in an inexplicable pocket dimension. But having to give a sponge bath to the man possessed the only true definition of washboard abs did something to the ego of a man who wore skinny jeans because they fitAnd now he was asking him to throw a baseball like he was some American ideal that ran around shirtless and ate apple pie, too

[onlyapassenger]

Recognizing the guy as the nurse who scrubbed in on Steve's surgery -- Rory Williams, his brain supplied -- Bucky has the good grace to not look as pleased with himself as he felt just a second ago, having proved, to an extent his point.

"He's taking it easy, don't worry."

[onlyforthedream]

"Physical therapy," I say, catching the ball easily out of the air and giving the Rory an appreciative nod for a dead-on throw.

"How are you, Rory?"

[theboywhowaited]

Rory didn't have a problem with physical therapy or physical therapy being used as excuse to mess around a little. He did prefer keeping people out of the clinic as much as possible, except during his clinic shifts when simple injuries were more than acceptable. Steve damaging his shoulder again would be too much time in the clinic according to Rory's standards.

He pushed his hands into his pockets and strolled closer, but out of the way of any ball trajectories. "Pretty good, thanks. Another day in paradise," he answered wryly. Yesterday hadn't been so paradise-like, with Desmond passing away. But the sun did keep shining regardless. "How are you both?"