Winter & Vision's (not so) Excellent Adventure

[reconstitution]

Who: Winter, Vision, & You
Broadcast: n/a
Action: Forest, planetside
When: July 9th

[ This thread is going to serve both as a canon update to post Captain America: Civil War for Winter and Vision, but also be used as a monthly catch-all with prompts. ]

[ It's been a few weeks since they've landed, so Winter's finally gotten over most of his initial uneasiness. Enough to finally venture into the forest for a hike and get the lay of the land. He's familiar with the beach and the markets, and he's heard things about the forest and a certain tree, so he needs to see for himself if the rumors are true.

It's relatively peaceful, and he hasn't come across anyone else yet. He's making his way around a fallen tree when an animal jumps out of a nearby bush and startles him. Winter stumbles back, and his immediate reaction is to reach out with his left hand to steady himself. Unfortunately it's still broken, so it doesn't cooperate like it's meant to. Which means that he trips and falls. Down a steep hill. Only having one functioning arm means he raises his right to shield his head until he can manage to slow down or run into something. Which is exactly what he does before his head smacks solidly against a hard surface. ]

[Meanwhile, the Vision is similarly engaged in heading toward the tree to investigate it. He’s heard you need someone’s hand to hold in order for the magic to work, but his curiosity has the better of him and he’d like to observe it in action first. A scuffle down below his flight path catches his attention, and he swoops into the forest to see what’s going on just in time to see Winter, of all people, taking a tumble down a steep hillside. He rushes over to try and intercept the man before he seriously hurts himself, and in his rush he miscalculates his own density and slams down hard enough that Winter smacks his head against the Vision instead of catching himself safely.

Oops.

The impact is enough to snap the Vision’s head back and hit it against the tree he’d been trying to prevent Winter from hitting. So now there are two enhanced individuals knocked out on the forest floor. How very impressive.]

Comments

[reconstitution]

[ He hears someone approaching, but doesn't immediately raise his guard. There are enough people milling about the beachfront that he's used to it. When she approaches, though, Winter looks up at her. It's someone he doesn't recognize. ]

That's right. I'm on the Heron.

[takingkarabusiness]

I'm Kara, I'm on the Tourist. Do you mind if I sit?

[reconstitution]

I don't own the beach. [ He motions with his head for her to join him. ] Winter.

[takingkarabusiness]

Well, maybe not, but it's still worth asking.

[ oh. winter. that winter? well, he deserves to not have strangers talk to him about the low times. she'd hate that ]

It's so great that we're here, I think. Do you like the beach?

[reconstitution]

[ He'd tolerate it if she asked. He has a lot to answer for after the Iskaulit. ]

It's peaceful. Can't remember the last time I've seen an ocean.

[takingkarabusiness]

I grew up in California, so it's been a little long for me to have not seen one. And the sun is so nice here.

[reconstitution]

The sun's nice. [ He's got to agree with that, at least. ]

[ Oh, he should probably say something else, huh? ]

Brooklyn.

[takingkarabusiness]

There are so many New Yorkers here. Do you know the others? Steve and Kate? And probably like a million more. New York likes to make itself known.

[reconstitution]

I know Steve. I've met Kate once. The others I'm not familiar with.

[ Being an assassin hidden away for 70 years tends to do that to a person. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

I really like Steve.

[ a pause. she's hesitant to bring it up, but she doesn't want there to be any elephants on the beach ]

I don't want to be rude, or bring up bad subjects or anything, so we definitely don't need to talk about it, but were you the Winter involved in a recent thing?

[reconstitution]

[ He really likes Steve, too, Kara. He just doesn't want to get his hopes up that the guy will stick around.

His mouth draws into a thin line, and he looks away.]

That was me.

[takingkarabusiness]

I think something like that happened to me once. I don't really know any details, but it feels like a similar thing. It's... really hard to deal with, afterwards.

[reconstitution]

It's hard. Knowing I hurt a lot of people and couldn't control it.

..Still my fault. Doesn't matter what anybody says.

[takingkarabusiness]

Believe me, I get it.

Can I asked what happened?

[reconstitution]

Heard a voice in my head and everything went dark.

[ That's about as into it as he's going to get with someone new. Even if she knows Steve. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

So you don't remember it?

...Sorry. We don't even know each other. But like I said, I've been through something similar.

I have superpowers—I'm very strong, I can fly, I can create heat lasers from my eyes, freeze things with my breath... It's a long list.

Anyway, the point is, one time I got... affected by an object and it just made all the worst parts of myself come out, and more. I almost killed my boss by dropping her off of a building. I broke my sister's arm. I said such terrible things... and I could tell all of it was happening, but I couldn't stop it, and I didn't want to.

Everyone was quick to tell me it wasn't my fault, but there was truth to what I was doing. I didn't really want to face it. Even if something else made me do those things, it was still my responsibility. At the same time, I would be very quick to tell someone else that they had no control over what they're doing. It's funny the way we forgive other people more quickly than we forgive ourselves.

[reconstitution]

I'm sure it will come back.

[ Her situation is much like his own. She knows what it's like to be a passenger in your own body. ]

This wasn't the first time. It was the first time here, but-- [ He shakes his head. ] Won't be the last time.

People can tell you all they want that you weren't at fault, but you know better. You might not have been in control, but it was still your hand that hurt them. Your hand on the trigger. Shifting blame is a nice ideal, but they're not the ones who have to remember.

[takingkarabusiness]

At the end of the day, it has to be less about who's fault it is, and more about how everyone can move forward. I wanted to just forget I had said or did any of those things. I felt like I needed to, to move on. But my sister and my friends... they recognized what I wanted to hide away but they still wanted me around anyway.

[reconstitution]

It's good you have friends to support you.

[ He does, too, but he's being stubborn about their help. ]

You didn't hurt them too badly, did you?

[takingkarabusiness]

I mean, no one got killed. But I did hurt them. At some point, any degree of hurting them is too much.

How are your friends dealing with it?

[reconstitution]

They're taking it better than they should.. I could have killed them.

[ The guilt's eating him alive, but honestly, he deserves it and can live with it. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

Can I give you some advice?

[ she won't wait for an answer ]

Let them be there for you. You don't have to feel okay about what happened, but if you really feel guilty about it, don't finish what you started then by pushing people away, okay?

[reconstitution]

[ Well, he already tried pushing them away, and it hasn't seemed to work. Though he's not as close with some of them as he used to be. It'll be a long time coming before he trusts himself with them again. ]

I'll try to keep that in mind.

[takingkarabusiness]

This place seems so harmless, it can be easy to forget they an just do whatever they want. I'm sorry that happened to you.

[reconstitution]

It's not the first time I've been somebody's weapon.

[ It's easy enough to brush off the Atroma's assault on his mind as one more thing to add to the list of horrors. Doesn't make it right, but there's nothing that can be done about it. ]

Sorry it happened to you, too.