[MINGLE] Worried/Sick 1: Symptoms Manifest & Reaction

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: Anywhere; multiple locations
WHEN: Apx. 13-18 November
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Serious illness and reactions to such

IMPORTANT NOTES: This is the first of two mingles. Please see the timing and general event details here.

Illness Presents and Putting Heads Together will have their own top-levels in this post, but you may make separate top-levels for whatever you like! Anything is welcome, as long as it tangentially relates to the Worried/Sick plot.

Please keep in mind the established plot details, but creative license is welcome and encouraged as long as it doesn't step on toes.

Comments

[nonstopnarcissist]

Yeah. It- you don't want to know. You really don't want to know.

[ It's easier to stay slumped against the pillows, cradling the glass of water to his chest with one hand and comb sweaty hair out of Steve's face with the other. ]

...you live. I think. Bruce said. Which is good. Kind of need to yell at you back home since I haven't yet.

[ex_enlisted288]

People say that and I start thinking I want to know.

[ Because Steve is the contrariest of contrarians. The most stubborn man on the planet before he got a hold of the serum. But he does settle back down once ascertaining Tony isn't going to die on him in the next five minutes. ]

-- why?

[nonstopnarcissist]

Remember right after Ultron killed Jarvis, took the scepter, flew off? That thing you said about us...facing it together. Failing together?

We aren't.

We don't.

[ Together hadn't been a thing for awhile, he'd just never looked close enough at everything to notice. ]

Same reason I yelled at you here. Few more reasons besides but you haven't made those mistakes yet. So. Won't yell at you about them here.

[ex_enlisted288]

We did until the Accords.

[ Steve sighs, closing his eyes. The tone of his voice suggests he knows it's not the whole situation, that there were exceptions and outliers, and a thread of regret that he was to blame for most of it. ]

If you need to yell, can it wait until we're out of here? I really fucking hate hospitals.

[nonstopnarcissist]

We did until Wanda.

[ Or until Steve found out and kept mum but- clean slate, right? That'd been a thing they promised or shook on or whatever. ]

I'm not yelling at you for something you haven't done yet. That's a dick move. I'm an ass, I know I'm an ass, but I'm not a complete dick. You vanish and wake up remembering what happened? Then I'll yell at you.

[ex_enlisted288]

We did until--

[ No, that's not quite right. He was tempted, yes, and Wanda was part of the catalyst to walk away. Steve tilts his head up toward the sound of Tony's voice, keeping his eyes closed. He doesn't need to see the other man for this.

Because yeah. Clean slate. Communication. ]

It always starts with a list. Always. There were rumors swirling, especially among the prisoners we captured that the Germans were up to some nasty crap. With the Jews. With gypsies. Anyone not like them. You know? People different and meant to be feared.

That was one of my sticking points. I think you're right that we need some oversight. But I don't believe in putting our fates, and the fates of people who are different through no fault of their own, into the hands of people with agendas.

I just -- I can't do that. Not after what happened.

[nonstopnarcissist]

That's not the Wanda conversation I'm talking about, Steve.

[ Because it is Steve, and they are trying to...be open about this shit. Be transparent. ]

They were going to happen with or without our say. We get in on the ground level, work with the system, keep them from getting where they were before, having you on hand to point out the exact thing you've just said to me? Would've done wonders. But you walk. So I have to pull up and point at history I wasn't around for on my own.

But that's not-

I meant during Ultron. I meant having someone that reached into your head and made a toy out of you flipping because 'oh shit someone I signed on with is actually going to kill me too' deciding they don't want to die doesn't redemption make, and doesn't make them trustworthy no matter how much you might empathize with them because you both signed up to get shot up by Germans for the good of your country. Erskine defected. The Maximoffs knew they were signing on with Hydra- and they were adults when they did it.

That's what I mean. That's when 'together' became hollow and hypocritical.

[ex_enlisted288]

Wanda and Pietro signed on because of Stark Industries. Because weapons of war tore their childhoods apart. And. yeah, they did sign on willingly. But when they realized their mistake, both kids were willing to step up and do the right thing. Because it was the right thing.

That's why I gave her a second chance after her brother died. And remember, he died trying to atone for his mistakes.

[ God, his head hurts, and trying to concentrate on the particulars of the siblings, the miracle children as von Strucker had referred to them, is making that worse. But Tony deserves to hear his side of it, even if, or maybe especially if, they don't agree. ]

I gave her a chance. It's up to Wanda to earn everyone's trust. That's her burden.

[nonstopnarcissist]

...Really. That's what you're going with?

[ There's-

A lot to unpack there.

Probably should've tried to discuss this before they agreed to a clean slate, to be honest. ]

I think we're done here. We keep talking we're- two steps forward, five steps back.

[ex_enlisted288]

I'm trying not to die here, Tony. What the fuck else do you expect?

[ Coherence? He can't focus long enough to actually recall the conversation in question, just little flashes, which Steve attributes to a massive headache and being very ill. If they get better, hopefully, his memory will go back to normal.

On the other hand, that did sound suspiciously like a dismissal. So he's going to climb to his feet. Even if it takes some minutes to do that. ]

Okay, I'm going.