mission 02: voice, action

[unspangled]

Who: Steve Rogers (AU)
Broadcast: Fleet
Action: Heron or Iskaulit; Work, Art Therapy, Gym
When: During drift

broadcast
If you could have any name, would you keep your own or pick something new?


action
[ If you're looking for this former star-spangled menace, he can generally be found one of two places. On the Heron, attending to his ship responsibilities, or on the Iskaulit, tentatively settling in with newer responsibilities. He can often be found in the gym, preferably at odd hours, and it's not inconceivable he might wander into the art therapy room to see what it's all about. ]

Comments

Video

[brooklyn_boy]

[He had to make contact sometime. This is as good a time as any.]

Somethin' wrong with our name?

[Perfect first meeting. Yep. Nailed it.]

Video

[unspangled]

[ It feels like there should be some dramatic music underlying this, instead of the background noise of a spaceship. ]

It's yours. [ yep, best meeting. ] Not sure I should taint it.

[brooklyn_boy]

It's ours. Room enough for both of us to drag it in the mud.

[Steve looks over this other version of himself carefully. So this is him with HYDRA's claws sunk in. It's surreal.]

This as weird for you as it is for me? I dunno how Buck managed it.

[unspangled]

[ His expression will probably remind the other Steve of his Bucky, haunted and shuttered. But the other Winter Soldier is probably a shade better at hiding his emotions and, at least outwardly, shutting everything down to appear unaffected. This Steve, not quite so much. There's a flicker of something dark and angry coming through, every so often.

And a stubborn lift of his chin that Steve should recognize. ]

One of us deserves it, from what I've heard. [ Go ahead, pal. Argue. ] It's -- weird works. What do you call yourself?

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve. Same name our ma gave us.

[He lifts his own chin, ready for a fight.]

You don't deserve or not deserve a name. It just is what it is. You're no more or less Steve because of what happened to you. That's not how it works.

[unspangled]

Is that your unbiased opinion?

[ Other Steve is assuming a hell of a lot here. And he's never had his name, his freedom, his life taken away. Rogers doesn't want to get into an argument with anyone, he is honestly curious about choice and identity and how seriously or lightly other people take theirs.

But that's not to say he'll walk away from a challenge. Especially given by -- himself(?). ]

That's how some people might think it works.

[brooklyn_boy]

[Steve scowls.]

That's how it works, pal. You don't just...stop being someone because of stuff that happens to you.

Feels like HYDRA wins of you let that happen.

[unspangled]

What if you're wrong? What if you do stop being someone because of ... stuff that happens to you.

Maybe they already won.

[brooklyn_boy]

And you're alright with that?

[unspangled]

I don't know. [ His voice is quiet. ] Why does it matter to you?

[brooklyn_boy]

Because you're me. And it matters what happened to you. What HYDRA did to you.

I want to understand and I want to help.

[Even if it's super clear now that he doesn't know how.]

[unspangled]

HYDRA does a lot of things to a lot of people.

[ And Steve isn't sure how to react to sympathy.

Especially coming from this version of himself. ]

[brooklyn_boy]

Yeah. Well, call me biased then. I'm worried about you right now.

[He leans closer to the camera.]

Do you really not feel like Steve Rogers anymore?

private

[unspangled]

You're worried about someone you've never met before now.

[ color him cautiously skeptical. enough to make this as private as he can manage. ]

You and I are not the same. We may have been once? I don't know, I'm willing to admit the possibility. But we aren't now. The Steve Rogers I read about was a hero.

I'm not.

[brooklyn_boy]

The Steve Rogers you read about is a lie.

They made me into something bigger than life because that's what America needed. I'm no hero. Underneath it all I'm just a man looking to try and do the right thing.

I'm thinking you can relate.

[unspangled]

Barnes seems to believe in the man I read about.

[ He can't speak to being bigger than life, simply because he was trained as a ghost. A specter meant to inspire fear and terror, which could be bigger than life depending on one's perspective. ]

That depends on what kind of man you think I am.

[brooklyn_boy]

Barnes is biased.

[Steve is paused by the question though, not sure how to respond.]

I think you're someone who was made into something else. And is now trying to find his own way.