[open] august starstruck mingle

[wingedman]

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: n/a
Action: Starstruck
When: August 1-31

Everyone on the Starstruck is regretting their life and their choices. Why does anyone want to visit this ship again?

Comments

[reconstitution]

[ Good, another person who will completely ignore calibrations. He is all for ignoring what happened. And completely willing to bother Sam. It's been a while.

And he's being weird already. ]

Been around.

[wingedman]

Uh-huh. I knew you were trouble when you walked in.

[How does Sam have an encyclopedic knowledge of Taylor Swift lyrics? The world will never know.]

[reconstitution]

[ ..Uh-huh. Sam, you're secretly a teenager girl, don't fight it. ]

He told you, didn't he? [ Because of course Steve did. ]

[wingedman]

[Not as much as Bucky is, apparently.]

Maybe sometimes I just feel like quoting shit.

[Look at how innocent he is. Totally innocent.]

[reconstitution]

[ Hey. HEY. He just knows enjoyable music when he hears it. ]

All right, sure. Everybody okay?

[wingedman]

[Sure, Bucky, sure.]

As all right as anyone ever is around here.

[Sam pauses for a moment and stirs his sauce very deliberately, trying to sound casual when he speaks again.]

Steve say anything to you about the shield?

[reconstitution]

...Fair enough.

[ It's not really a surprise, given who the crew is and how they deal with things. He raises an eyebrow, though he does fight not being more concerned. ]

What about the shield?

[ After everything that happened, he can kind of guess, but doesn't want to draw conclusions. ]

[wingedman]

About not deserving it anymore, that kinda thing.

[What passes for typical Steve talk these days, as much as Sam hates to admit it.]

[reconstitution]

[ Steven Grant Rogers... The sigh that follows Bucky rubbing his face wearily speaks volumes. ]

Does he realize the shield is just a symbol? He never needed it to be who he is?

[ They're not following the symbol, and Bucky's pretty sure Sam is following that same scrawny kid from Brooklyn that he is. Steve's always been hard on himself, and he understands how the conclusion came around after recent events, but not deserving the shield? Steve's always been above the shield. ]

[wingedman]

Pretty sure the answer to that is no.

[Sam's tone is dry, because he agrees wholeheartedly with Bucky.]

But, hell, you know how he is. Won't listen to anyone else once he's got some stupid idea like that in his head. I didn't even try to tell him no.

[Maybe Bucky would've had more luck. Maybe he should have tried to out-stubborn Steve, but he doesn't know if that would've done him any good in the long run. And he's worried about him too much to fight him.]

He said he wants to find who he is, and he can't do that with the shield.

[reconstitution]

I can't say I don't understand needing to do that. At least here, he has the luxury.

[ Steve has been practically nonstop since he woke up from the ice, he probably didn't give himself a second thought aside from acclimating to the future. ]

[wingedman]

And nobody'll have to chase him all over Europe.

[Unlike what they had to do to find some people. Just saying.]

[reconstitution]

Right.

[ Listen. He was perfectly happy hiding in Romania not bothering anyone and shopping at the local farmer's market. And then someone decided fuck him. ]

[wingedman]

[Sam hesitates again, does something with his noodles before he turns around and speaks again.]

He gave it to me.

['It', of course, is the shield. That's implied. Sort of.]

[reconstitution]

Oh. [ It makes the most sense, really. Sam will take care of it. He just really didn't think Steve was going to physically let it go. It's whatever Steve thinks is best, and Sam's the best person to give it to. ]

He must think you've earned it. Congratulations, Wilson.

[wingedman]

Not so sure what I did to earn it.

[Sam makes a bit of a face. Yeah, maybe he's uncertain about deserving the shield. He's perfectly willing to take care of it - at least to keep an eye on it in his quarters. But carrying it is another thing entirely.]

[reconstitution]

He must've seen something. Steve doesn't misjudge people very often.

[ Bucky can't imagine the pressure of even holding it for safe keeping. There are a lot of expectations and he knows for damn sure he's not that person. It's good Steve has Sam for that. ]

[wingedman]

I know he doesn't, it just feels- hard. To live up to everything he did.

[Which he knows is how Steve feels; that's the entire point. He just doesn't think he's any more worthy of it than Steve is.]