so goodbye yellow brick road

[ex_enlisted288]

WHO: Steve Rogers
WHERE: Village environs
WHEN: Mid to Late October
OPEN TO: Tony Stark + Open
WARNINGS: TBD

---

Domestic Agendas

[ It's been a long time since Steve lived with just one person. Five years, seventy years, a few months and some change. He tries to make himself invisible as much as possible. Lets Bucky know that he's welcome to bring over Liv and Steve will find somewhere else to be if they need alone time. He reads the books he got from Father Mulcahy and gets accustomed, for the very first time, to sharing space with a cat for more than a couple of days. Steve had wanted a pet as a child, but money and multiple health concerns had nixed that plan before it ever came to fruition. The best he could do back then was sneak scraps to the alley cats that roamed the tenement buildings and belonged to nobody.

He's getting a little better at fishing now, too. Several times a week, he makes the trip down to the river and splits his haul between himself and Bucky and the Inn. His newest project is learning how to gut and cook the things, and anyone who stops by to visit is more than likely going to find themselves at the kitchen table, talked into eating Steve's latest cooking experiment. (At least he's getting fairly decent with stews. Hanging around the Inn pays off sometimes.) ]


Great Minds*

[ Steve has been trying to avoid Tony since the incidence with the breathing problems. He's glad the guy is doing okay, but has decided that trying to mend fences any further would be like slamming his head repeatedly against a brick wall. In other words, a futile exercise that may yield results in the far future but only give himself a headache in the here and now. But he does make a point of widening his jogging ritual so that he heads by the forge twice a day - once in the early morning, and once after dinner. Just in case.

And, if Tony is paying any attention when Steve happens by, he may notice a quiet, continuous stream of useless useless you're nothing emanating from the super soldier's subconscious. ]


Tricky Treats

[ On the 24th of October, at exactly high noon, Steve is frequenting the Inn to catch up on gossip and eat a meal prepared by someone with more culinary skills than he currently has. At first, everything seems normal, but his nose starts to twitch. About a minute after that starts, and he clearly isn't able to help it, a fuzzy little rabbit tail appears in the immediate vicinity of his rear end. How embarrassing.

But not the most embarrassing. Not by a long shot. Because there are also two rabbit ears sprouting from where human ears should be. And, in the midst of the usual 'What the hell' reactions, Steve is probably going to try and slip out the back door and head for his own house. Feel free to stop him on the way and strike up a conversation. He'll be bunny-ed for a whole hour. ]


((* - if you want in on mindreading shenanigans, hmu at anthologies and we'll discuss options.))

Comments

[connatural]

[Ashley chuckles at that, glad to know she's not the only one. She's always lived a life that supported her tendencies, that channeled them into ways that made them not only safer, but more helpful to the general population. Now she's facing what things might have been like without her mother, without the Sanctuary to lend her guidance and help, and she's doing her best to try.]

Glad to know I'm not alone in it. And now going to argue, but definitely trying to. Pay it forward, that is. Kinda how I was raised, so that work.

[So far, best she can tell, it's all they can do for one another, and hope that it works out in the end.]

[ex_enlisted288]

Some of us are made to break things, others are made for healing.

[ Steve knows which side of the line he falls on these days. ]

But yeah, pay it forward. And maybe the person you help will do the same.

[connatural]

[Ashley pauses for a moment, considering that. She smiles, even if it's a bit sad.]

Yeah, my mother was one, and raised me as the other. Well, I just was. Kind of my nature, I guess.

Best way we can help one another around here. I lived in a kind of community like this. All we can do.

[ex_enlisted288]

You do what you can, and try to make sure nobody falls through the cracks.

[ Speaking as someone who watched a lot of people fall through cracks during the Depression. ]

Your mom sounds pretty smart.

[connatural]

Exactly. I'm glad others can see things that way. I know it's not the same for most.

[And she's glad to know others will do their best to try and protect those that can do so themselves.]

I could go on and on bragging about her, but I'll just agree with that.