timeskip.

[starspangled]

Steve Rogers COURT Seelie TITLE Description. OCCUPATION Description. ABLE TO FAST-TRAVEL Description. RESIDENCE IN 2,701 Description. RESIDENCE IN 2,702 Description. MAJOR EVENTS HIGHLIGHT Description [ ✖ ] HIGHLIGHT Description [ ✖ ] HIGHLIGHT Description [ ✖ ]

PLANS Steve will be sleeping through the majority of the timeskip. SUMMARY OF KNOWN DETAILS A brief summary of what your character will have done/accomplished/experienced over the timeskip. TIMELINE OF EVENTS SPRING IN 2,701 (Mar, Apr, May) MARCH -Warm-ups APRIL 15 -Harps! DATE -zzz SUMMER IN 2,701 (Jun, Jul, Aug) DATE -zzz DATE -zzz DATE -zzz FALL IN 2,701 (Sept, Oct, Nov) DATE -zzz DATE -zzz DATE -zzz WINTER IN 2,701/2,702 (Dec, Jan, Feb) DATE -zzz DATE -zzz DATE -Wakes up from enchanted sleep. SPRING IN 2,702 (Mar, Apr) DATE - Description DATE - Description DATE - Description

( codes by whambam )

Comments

march freeze 2,701 - the station

[starspangled]

[This cold would've killed him once, put a rattle in his lungs that would've been his death knell. Now, he feels the cold but that's about it so far. His body has a higher tolerance for just about everything. He took a nap in the ice for decades and didn't even lose a toe to frostbite.

The Station is still badly damaged, unfit for shelter in so many places. But the people who live there and the ones who just got snowed in are trying. Steve tries to help patch it up when the snow first hits, but supplies are limited. So he finds as many blankets as he can, gives them to whoever he comes across and encourages them to huddle together. It's not enough, and it won't help for long. He's trying to figure out what to do next.

Steve returns to the room that he's been sharing, a shivering Colonel Phillips tucked under one arm. Truth be told, they could both use a little defrosting right about now.]

[wipedclean]

[He's been on Steve's heels, most of the time rather close, but for the past half hour, he's been moving more slowly. He's cold. He's so cold. It's come on almost as quickly as when Hydra would put him on ice, except he can move around. He does, trying to combat the cold, but by the time he follows Steve into their room, he can feel his body shutting down non-essential systems, going into hibernation.]

Steve...

[starspangled]

[He's noticed it, the distance between them growing the longer they took to get through the Station. It's hard not to slow down when it's this cold. Steve kept his pace through sheer willpower, but even supersoldiers have physical limitations. It doesn't help when there might be magical undercurrent to it all.]

That's all we can do for now. We can rest for a little bit.

[Steve looks up at Bucky when they're back in the room, and he's instantly startled. He's sluggish, his lips are turning blue, and there's a far-off look in his eyes that scares him.]

Bucky?

[wipedclean]

[His response time is slow. Too slow. He blinks, and that's slow too, trying to focus on Steve.

He knows this feeling. He might as well be back in the chamber with the sudden onslaught of cold.

His head shakes once, in a small motion that's almost not there at all.]

I'm...

[He can't even think of how to finish that. He sits down.]

[chromosomes]

[ It took him longer than it should have, John thinks, to think about those living in the Station. Hell, he had seen what had happened to it -- he had been there to take the Jabberwhelp down. And yet he had been so caught up in the villagers around Glaschu that it's late in the month when it suddenly dawns on him.

As a result, Steve and his small dog are suddenly interrupted by a snow-covered Marine and his two bear-sized saber-fanged cave lions appearing out of midair right in front of them. Both of the cat-shaped animals shake themselves free of snow and yowl unhappily at the sudden transport while John tells them to calm down, brushing snow off his gloves before looking up to see Steve.

Oh. Hi. ]

Need a hand?

[starspangled]

[Steve halts when the party suddenly appears. The Colonel starts to bark, his tail wagging to beat the band. He sees cats - big cats, and doesn't seem to realize that he's small enough to be nothing more than a mouthful for them. He is Steve's dog, after all.

Steve arches an eyebrow, chapped lips curving into a smile.]

A cup of coffee would be nice, except I think it would turn to ice cubes in my stomach.

[chromosomes]

[ Luckily, both cats (or almost cats; really, they're more related to weasels, but after the first ten times explaining it John has all but given up) are aware of how large they are. The male growls slightly in warning at the small barking sausage before John scolds him, while Buttercup simply steps forward to try and sniff him. Hello, Colonel. ]

The coffee I make is practically solid already. Sludge, you know? Of course, there are those iced coffee things...

[ He's from the future even by Steve's standards and even he doesn't understand iced coffee. ]

march -- deep freeze.

[fulminants]

[ It's not entirely surprising that Steve would call on him; Johnny had just been finishing up in Mair when the text came in, and even through words he could sense the man's urgency, the weight of his concern for his friend and all the others at the Station.

There are other people helping too, he knows, but with the frost setting in beyond anything he'd ever known, Johnny's steadily realizing that things are going to get worse -- it's not going to get better, not for awhile, not when storms are biting cold and the threat of natives and Shardbearers alike succumbing to the ice start to creep into his mind.

He won't think of that; he won't. He'll only do the best that he can, for as many people as he can do it for -- after all, isn't he tailor-made for such an event? The Human Torch, bearing the gift of fire, flames that burn hotter than normal, and he only hopes he can help.

Landing in the middle of the Station, the very core of his being rendering him quite impervious to the swirling cold, he pays it little mind when he starts hunting for Steve. At the same time, he's unable not to help when he sees struggling people huddling from the wind, the ones that look half-given over to the cold.

He bites his lip, frowning. He's been here for only over a month, and he's seen more death than he's ever had in his lifetime. Johnny doesn't hesitate, lighting the bins that he sees, bringing the dying embers blazing back to life.

It's not much, he knows, but he has to try. He doesn't turn off his flames, his heat burning through the snow. He helps the group of stragglers in their makeshift rooms and corridors, staying long enough to let his heat permeate the area, starting fires, bringing light. But he's still searching for Steve, knowing that the man probably has an idea of what to do, where to go to save as many people as possible,

It's impossible not to feel overwhelmed, but Johnny keeps his cool (ha), before waylaying another couple. He flames off, enough to carry on a conversation without scaring the daylights out of them. He doubts things go very well when a dude on fire asks you questions out of nowhere. ]

Hey, sorry. Have you seen Steve Rogers? This tall -- [ He indicates, right about his height. ] Looks a lot like me.

[starspangled]

Over here!

[This isn't the first time that they've teamed up to help people at the Station, Steve just doesn't have blue feathers this time. He'd come up to meet Johnny as soon as he arrived, so he could lead him to the room where Bucky had finally succumbed to the cold. But he can't ignore the other people that he sees suffering from it. Steve picks up the shivering man like he weighs nothing, and carries him over in Johnny's direction.]

Can you warm that metal table up?

[fulminants]

Yeah, of course -- [ Johnny stares at him when he comes up, before placing his hands on the table to warm it up -- this case is pretty awful as far as things go, the man so frozen that it's startling to see. ]

Put him there.

[starspangled]

[Steve lays the man down carefully, trusting that he didn't get the table hot enough to burn him. He didn't, of course, which says something about the impressive control that Johnny must have over his power. The man's shivers start to subside immediately, and Steve runs for another person to place beside him, and another.

He looks up at him and nods, taking a breath before he starts to lead him to their next frozen dilemma.]

Bucky's this way.

march 10

[starspangled]

[Steve's been keeping a close eye on Bucky since Johnny thawed him out. And Bucky's been keeping an eye on him too, dragging Steve in when the cold and snows were just too much for even a couple of enhanced guys like them.

There's always something going on in the Drabwurld, and a lot of it bad. But nothing, nothing could make him forget about this day.

He sits down beside an unsuspecting Bucky in their room, and hands over a rolled sheet of paper. Surprise, it's a drawing of the forest, an antlered deer standing just off-center.]

Happy Birthday. [He smiles sheepishly after he unrolls it, pointing to the deer.] See, it's a buck. Get it?

[wipedclean]

[He's a little surprised when Steve hands him the paper, and he stares down at it for a long moment before he looks at Steve, his brow furrowed.]

It's... it's my birthday?

[starspangled]

Yeah, it is.

[Steve laces his fingers together, looking down at his hands like he's debating something before he speaks up again.]

It's always been my favorite day. It's the one day I could make a fuss over you and it was okay. There wasn't anything you could do about it.

[wipedclean]

[He stares at Steve, at a complete loss for words. He doesn't know what's rushing through his mind, only that it's in pieces and scattered and... he swallows and shakes his head and looks down at the picture and suddenly all that's overwhelmed by one big feeling of...

...he doesn't know what it is. But it's big, and it's warm, and it hurts a little, and he can't tell if it's in a good way or not.

His words choke in his throat but he manages to force them out on a whisper.]

...thank you.

april 15th - harps - ariadne

[starspangled]

[Steve's the patient type. He waited, when he was younger and skinnier, for a partner who could look at him and see more than slumped shoulders and pale skin, for someone who could forgive him for being a terrible dancer. He found her - but he never did get that date.

He waited, after he woke up, for someone who had an appreciation for art, and Glenn Miller records, for long conversations over a cup of coffee - maybe cream and sugar, he personally doesn't need the caramel and the pumpkin spice and half a cup of foam. And then he came here, and he met another girl, one who came across a Seelie soldier in his pajamas in the middle of the enemy's castle, and her first instinct was to help him.

Steve still waited, not always because he wanted to, but because there's a war and bigger things to consider most of the time. But tomorrow is Ariadne's birthday and he promised her another date, but one day doesn't feel like nearly enough now. So she's coming to the Station to see him in a matter of minutes, the words I'm all yours still ringing in his ears, her voice a stronger, sweeter music than the harps. And he is so done with waiting.

He goes to meet her, and if the way he kisses her once they're just inside the Station makes anyone uncomfortable, they should just be glad that they're not around when he gets her back to his room. That's where Steve picks her up, coaxes her legs around his waist and kisses her hard, until even he's near to breathless.]

It only took you fourteen minutes.

[Yeah, he was counting. Steve whispers the words against her lips before he kisses her again.]

[boutant]

[ Steve is patient. Ariadne is not so much, but this had never been a priority. School was a priority. Proving herself was a priority. Her career was a priority. Now, the people she cares about are the only priority. Anything she can do for them, shardbearer or native, Unseelie or Seelie, she will. And Steve- she cares about Steve a lot, with or without harp music. Turns out he feels the same way.

It also turns out that the only thing more difficult than dating is dating someone in the middle of a war that you're on opposite sides of. They don't get to spend a lot of time together, certainly not enough time. Taking off an extra day when one is already planned is the least she can do -- and Ariadne wants to. She wants to a lot, and considering her mood swings as of late due to the harps, her staff is more than amenable to the idea. She doesn't even change out of the skirt she's taken to wearing around her spire for the more traveling-suitable pants; she simply goes.

And it's worth it. It's so fucking worth it that she can't breathe, her arms wrapped around him, fingers in his hair. ]

I'd already arranged things for tomorrow. Just bumped it up a day.

[ Fourteen minutes was still too many minutes when it came to not seeing him, just like two days weren't enough to spend time with him. Ariadne kisses back, and it's not the easy, almost chaste brushes of lips together that they'd indulged in on the beach. He has to know just how much she wants whatever he'll give her, and this seems like the best way to let him know. ]

[starspangled]

Smart thinking.

[That's one thing that he loves most about her: she's smart, able to keep a calm head even in the middle of situations that a lot of soldiers couldn't handle. Steve kisses her, again and again, traveling down her neck and just inhaling the scent of her skin. He lifts his head and his lips part for her again. Steve's hands are big and warm on her back, and they slide down, hesitating just briefly before they move down to the top of her ass.

He wants her too, so much that he doesn't thing he could ever get it out in actual words. But he doesn't need to say anything, not when their bodies are pressed this close. All of his senses are filled with her, but he still wants more, so much that it's a physical need, an ache.

Steve turns to the bed, lays her down on it while his lips keep exploring, pressing against her shoulder, down her arm, against any bit of exposed skin it can find.]

You're so beautiful, you know that?

april - harps - bucky

[starspangled]

[It's been a few days since Bucky disappeared again. Steve tries to give him space, the freedom that Hydra denied him for too long. He's not his handler, he's his friend, and whatever Bucky needs to do to find himself again, it's Steve's role to be there to support him without pushing him too hard, without making him think that he's expected to go back to the Brooklyn boy that Steve grew up with. Things have changed, they both have - Steve on the outside and Bucky on the inside.

But it's a little hard to be there for him when he's not around.

It was always Bucky who used to come looking for him, finding Steve bloody in some random alleyway. Now it's Steve's turn to find him, to bring him back where he belongs, and to dare anyone who tries to stop him. He's not...angry. No, that's not what he's feeling. Maybe determined, the strumming of the harps simple and steady. But there is something in his chest that drives him. It takes Steve a few days to catch up, and with the shield on his back he gets a lot of strange looks from people, for more reasons than one. But it helps him go where he needs to go.

Steve tracks him to a brothel of all places, mutters a Ma'am and Excuse me as he makes his way through the main room. He only has eyes for the door that Bucky's behind, and he doesn't bother knocking.]

If you have things, get them. You're coming home with me.

[And that's a little bit of what this feeling is, something almost territorial. The war took Bucky away from him first, then Hydra. Now the Unseelie. Steve's had about enough of it.]

[wipedclean]

[Jack's been... generous enough to let him stay, and he's been able to hide out in the back, curled up in a dark corner and fighting with the confusion and anger and feeling of being so lost... He doesn't know who he is, or what he should be doing, and they keep expecting him to be able to just stand up for himself and be his own person and he can't because he doesn't even know what that means.

He's desperate, he needs... he needs something, but he doesn't know what. Part of him just wants to fall back into Hydra again, because at least there he knew who he was and what was expected of him.

And then Steve walks in and he gets to his feet to meet him... and Steve gives him exactly what he's been wanting him to give...

Orders.

And it makes him angry.

Now he's giving him orders? Now it's suddenly alright?

And then what, he obeys and they leave and they just go back to how things were? With Steve just waiting for him to magically get better?

He faces Steve fully, every muscle ready to attack.]

Why?

[He growls it out through his gritted teeth.]

[starspangled]

Because it's where you belong!

[Steve takes another step forward, jaw set, his shoulders a tight, tense line. He sees the same thing in Bucky's poster, his body coiled, and he's ready for it. He doesn't want to fight him, but that doesn't mean he's not prepared to do whatever it takes.]

You belong at my side, not in a place like this, halfway across the Drabwurld!

[What's Bucky even doing in a brothel? That kicks up another feeling, the tune of the harp different, and he suddenly remembers being young and skinny and watching Bucky with his arm around a girl, the way it would make his stomach feel like it fell through the bottom of his shoes sometimes.

Steve takes a breath to steady himself, glancing around the room for anything that might belong to Bucky before looking him in the eyes again.]

We're leaving.

waking - Feb. 2702 - Station

[starspangled]

[Steve dreams while he sleeps. He won't remember most of them when he wakes, but there's both sweet ones and nightmares. He dreams about the sound of laughter and sunlight shining through strands of dark hair. He dreams about the familiar weight of an arm around his shoulder, drawing him close. He dreams about an outstretched hand that he recognizes as his own, a crimson splash across the snow, about war and the weapons of it, guns and monsters alike.

It ends as suddenly as it came over him, with a sharp breath and a lot of confusion when Steve opens his eyes. He pushes himself up onto his elbows, looks down at the bed that he doesn't remember getting into. Bucky's asleep beside him, and the only thing that makes Steve doubt himself is how peaceful he looks, how that wouldn't be the case if something was wrong.

But Steve knows that something is. ]

Bucky.

[ He whispers his name, tries to shake his shoulder gently and gets ready to dodge the slash of a knife if need be. Some people sleep with teddy bears; his friend sleeps with a blade under his pillow. Steve says his name a little louder the second time, shakes him harder. The feeling from before not only returns, it's confirmed. There's a note in his hand, and Steve unfolds it to read Ariadne's handwriting: I miss you. Please wake up soon.

There's more around him, in different handwriting, some with the ink smeared. There's little gifts too, like things people might leave at a grave site, and it's all so damn unsettling that he can't stay still. Steve gets up, tries to use a locket that no longer works. He checks on Bucky one last time before he goes up into the Station, and the confusion gets worse from there. There are walls and windows repaired where they weren't before. Steve goes outside and there's a chill in the air that they were finally leaving behind the last he remembers, and a light patch of snow crunches under his boot.

Steve takes a deep breath, looks around one more time, and then starts looking for answers in any place or person that he can find them.]

[boutant]

[ Lumina is an absolute godsend, and while Ariadne probably should not encourage her consumption of anything sugary, she all but shoves gold at her after the girl teleports her (and Ser Pounce-a-lot the tabby) to the Station and tells her to go get something. It's a bit difficult to run with a cat in her arms, especially when that cat is already unhappy about the magical transportation, but Ariadne manages to move as quickly as she can through the Station anyway. Once she's close enough, she uses the shadows to get into the room Steve and Bucky had been sleeping in, depositing the cat on the ground among the notes and the presents (he immediately meows and goes to curl up on Bucky's chest; Ser Pounce has never been shy about his favorites).

Ariadne doesn't notice, because she's bodily throwing herself in Steve's direction. The tears are starting back up too, but as long as she's allowed, she's going to hold onto him and not let go. ]

[starspangled]

[Steve will get Lumina the biggest batch of Sam's drabwurld famous cookies that she can imagine. He tries to be patient, because she's waited for him for nine months. But it's tough, and he's pacing the room when she appears. It's so sudden that for a second or two, Steve's afraid that he's fallen back asleep and straight into a dream.]

Ari.

[He doesn't notice the cat either, can't take his eyes off her face as he closes the distance between them in two steps, catching her and picking her up off the ground.]

April, 2701 - Harp wrap-up.

[starspangled]

[He's sleeping better than he has since he came to the Drabwurld - maybe better than he has in awhile. Two things used to keep Steve awake at night: the things that hadn't changed and the things that had.

Things have changed here, but for the better. He has his arm thrown across someone he cares about, someone he loves, and even with a war raging around them he's found the time and ways to express it. He was a little more forward with Ariadne than he normally is, a little more territorial with Bucky. But the results turned out okay.

He hears the harp in his dreams, and there's no reason not to follow it. Steve finds it playing himself, floating slightly above him. With every not that's played, Steve remembers something, a touch or a kiss or a feeling that he's had these past days.

Right. Steve sighs, nodding softly to himself as he pulls the shield from his back. He sends it flying at the instrument, breaking wood, severing strings, rendering it silent. It's enough to wake him, to steady all the things that he's been feeling. The music's gone, and he suspects it's for good.

But Steve always was more of a Glenn Miller fan anyway.]