002 ➳ audio + action.

[sinuosity]

​Who: Nyssa.
Broadcast: Fleetwide audio.
Action: On the planet.
When: When the Fleet makes planetfall.

[ Briskly, ]

I am leading a hunting party. One companion is ideal; I will take no more than three. Bring your own weapons and dress for the cold. We depart at sunrise, from the lodge at the foot of the mountains, and there will be trips every other day beginning tomorrow.

​[ Beat. ]

If you wish to come and learn, you are welcome, but if you cannot keep up, you will be left behind.

​[ ooc: action prompts in comments. let me know if you'd like a custom starter. ]

Comments

[sinuosity]

[ Seven years is a long time. The trail leads to more rocks, and Nyssa climbs them carefully, still silent. ]

What were you before being a soldier?

[enshields]

[His tone is light when he replies,]

Whatever kept food on the table.

[His art paid the bills when he was lucky. The rest of the time-- it was whatever he could get. A few days of work a week delivering papers, stocking grocery stores. Hell, he shined shoes when he could. Pride didn't have its place in survival, and he'd have done anything to be less of a burden on his Ma and Bucky.]

[sinuosity]

[ Nyssa's expression sharpens. There's too much room to interpret that statement. ]

What did you do to survive?

[enshields]

[He gives her a sideways glance as he navigates deftly over a rocky outcropping. Atroma's watching this, too. It makes him choose his words with care.]

Lot of things. Worked when I could. Federal Art Program was a way for artists to keep their jobs during the thirties, so I painted murals in a few hotel lobbies in Manhattan. Delivered newspapers, milk. Stocked shelves, took inventory. Helped bookies in a couple underground boxing matches.

[He lifts one shoulder in a shrug.]

[sinuosity]

[ There is a pause -- she considers every thread she could tug on. He's not much of a talker and Nyssa's own instincts tend to silence. They scale a wall, climbing steadily -- she refuses to give him the backpack -- and once catching her breath at the top momentarily, ]

Why not go back to art? There is no shortage of soldiers.

[enshields]

[He's not even a little winded, he just waits politely for her at the top and surveys what they can see of the land. He'll give her a hand up if she'll take it.]

Lost the taste for it, I guess.

[Lost the people he loved to draw is perhaps the better quantifying statement.]

[sinuosity]

[ She takes it at the last moment, following his line of sight. ]

[ Wryly, ]

Will you tire of my questions?

[enshields]

[With a very slight smile,]

Nah. It's kinda novel to have people ask. Lot've my life is public record back home.

[sinuosity]

They derive comedic value from 'The Star-Spangled Man With A Plan'?

[ Legit the only thing she can see for him being famous for. ]

[enshields]

[He snorts, it's half a laugh.]

Remember how I told you about 'Captain America'?

[sinuosity]

[ She raises her eyebrows. Go on. ]

[enshields]

[He really wants to explain this in as few words as possible, so--]

Back home, to the public-- Captain America is not a soldier, he's the soldier. Emblematic.

[sinuosity]

If you had not been honest with me previously I might be inclined to wonder if I was being mocked.

[ Lightly said. They're walking side by side now. ]

There is little to romanticise about soldiers, let alone place them on such a level. Perhaps I will understand given time.

[enshields]

[He's inclined to agree. They did dirty things in a dirty war, some people came home, some stayed in the ground. There were plenty of heroes, but none more-so than those they left.]

People needed a hero. Turns out, a guy from Brooklyn at the right place and the right time who can lift cars over his head serves just as well as anything. Me, I'd kind've preferred the anonymity.

[sinuosity]

[ Agreeably, ]

It is better to act as such and remain unknown. Though — if you do not like your story, there are ways to shape it.

[enshields]

I'd be fighting seventy years of myth if I tried.

[And honestly, he doesn't care enough to correct it. It would give too much of himself, of Bucky, of Peggy away to even try. Let the media blitz keep their Captain America. What little he has left, he guards fiercely.]

[sinuosity]

My father was fond of saying: Nothing is too much for one with the heart of a warrior.

[ Matching his tone. She looks at him, curious, but not piercing. ]

[enshields]

[He gives her a bit of a smile.]

Guess that depends on the warrior.

[sinuosity]

[ She smiles. ]

By definition a warrior is strong. So they will prevail, regardless.

[enshields]

Ah-- I always figured there was more to it than that.

[Strength can mean many things, but it's nothing without compassion, without care.]

[sinuosity]

Oh?

[ She raises an eyebrow. ]

[enshields]

[He shakes his head.]

Can I ask what you mean by strength first?

[sinuosity]

That is a difficult question, Steve Rogers.

[ Several minutes lapse: Nyssa's gaze follows the horizon, their feet, and the wind rustles the grass. ]

Strength is many things. The keen blade. A merciful hand, for those with less. The ability to hope and endure when all else is lost. Perhaps above all, I would say it is the willingness to be changed by love.

[enshields]

[The canary. He remembers.]

I've known a lot of people who fit that description who still haven't-- [he trails off. The snow is bright and blinding at the angle of the sun overhead, he thinks about photokeratitis and what it did in Europe.] --who got tired.

[sinuosity]

[ Nyssa frowns, and after moments of consideration, ]

One cannot expect the path to be easy.