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HATCHING LOG 002
WHO: All PCs
WHAT: New characters arrive on Ethyraia and settle in at the Basecamp!
WHEN: July 8th onward
WHERE: Basecamp Leviathan
NOTES/WARNINGS: Potential character nudity, violence, trypophobia (images) as well as light mentions of gore, alcohol and drug-use.
WHAT: New characters arrive on Ethyraia and settle in at the Basecamp!
WHEN: July 8th onward
WHERE: Basecamp Leviathan
NOTES/WARNINGS: Potential character nudity, violence, trypophobia (images) as well as light mentions of gore, alcohol and drug-use.
HATCHING LOG 002 ❀
CONTENT WARNINGS: potential character nudity, violence, trypophobia (images) as well as light mentions of gore, alcohol and drug-use, light aphrodisiac effects (optional), and references to mass death.
Players who participated in our TDM are welcome to keep their CR and the content of those threads. Please make sure to chat this out on the OOC intro & CR meme before making assumptions. Please take your time reading the hatching and basecamp bullets, as some items have been altered or expanded.
This time, the Adamant's survivors are ready. When the Hatchlings arrive, they are no longer held at gunpoint or the tip of a spear. They are helped up, taken to the showers, given time to clean themselves.
They are still quarantined for a few days — albeit in a more comfortable setting. An area of the Theatre has been set up with emergency bunking and privacy screens. Each bunk has a small bundle of amenities on it — a change of clothing (that may be too big or too small, too fine or too plain, feel free to swap!) and what precious else can be spared, including a small tube of protein paste. Given that the theater doubles as a childcare center for the basecamp, your character may find that any toddler-aged children will stare hungrily at these tubes!
Ensign Ashley Porter flits about this emergency station at all hours, chatting amicably at people. Explaining the situation. He's reasonably certain it's his fault — the entire 'hatching' process seemed to start after he tripped one day and fell into the Central Chrysalis. This disturbance must have triggered the process of pulling in people from other universes. He's terribly sorry and will say he understands if people want to be angry at him or hate him for it. He also makes mention of the fact that some people have found personal items if they return to the Chrysalis — in eggs, like the ones they woke up in.
The Hatchlings are given a few days to acclimate, and then they are expected to contribute to the duties around camp. The day-to-day life in Basecamp Leviathan is not glamorous. Repairs are always needing to be done, food is always needing to be made, dishes always needing to be washed. Anyone with specialized skills will probably be snapped up by a division before too long!
A few notes:
Unfortunately, the thessyx clear out of the basecamp shortly after witnessing the second hatching, before the new children of the leviathan are cleared of quarantine. Their exit is prompt and quiet, their visit clearing like the end of a summer rain. They do not make the rounds for goodbyes, but simply remove themselves graciously from their hosts' camp.
However, even after their departure, the basecamp is abuzz with questions about the thessyx. How had they known the hatchlings arrived? What did they mean about chosen? While some are markedly suspicious and moody about the special treatment afforded to the hatchlings by their long-term neighbors, most of the Adamant survivors have been strongly influenced by the generosity and composure of those hatchlings who shared their food during the feast and who represented the hatchlings during the meeting with Childe. Word gets around!
The theater folks pack up their talent show, which culminated in a rousing performance of Tristan and Yseult that brought tears to the thessyx's eyes (or would have, if they had tear ducts). The art installations, however, remain. New paintings hang and new sculptures stand in the streets, plazas, and public spaces near the theater and the bunks.
Failing considerable progress in his extermination campaign, Rémi and the security force stay busy reluctantly adopting the hatchlings' plan to funnel any stray lingering 'shredder moles' (their new names) from the basecamp as they crop out of the various sinkholes. They use a two-pronged attack to steer the moles in the right direction: they use strong-smelling cleaning chemicals to divert the moles from high-value areas like the mess hall, aid station, and bunks; and they use metal plates to create temporary tunnels that funnel the critters on the fastest route between the sink hole and the edge of camp, where they can scamper off to join their surviving friends.
However, many of the critters are dead, some of the animal corpses divided between the aid station and the engineering department that would seek to do science on them. In medical, they're trying to better understand the anatomy of the critters and develop an understanding of the natural wildlife on this planet that could help them develop antidotes for various poisons and so forth. Similarly, engineering is interested in making use of their hides for greater safety for the Adamant's survivors, but it seems like the grunt work of figuring out how to separate the impenetrable hides from the carcasses is left to the newbies. The rest of the engineering department has bigger fish to fry — the giant holes appearing all over the base.
All hands are on deck from engineering volunteers as Thorkil tries to rally an effort to fortify the very ground beneath the basecamp where the shredder moles had tunneled. This project will continue for the remainder of the month and involve some particular efforts by innovative hatchlings like Ian, but also more traditional approaches like soil fills, new concrete pours, and the erecting of support beams that dig deeper into the earth beneath the steel plates of the basecamp's flooring.
Anyone with engineering who isn't working on this project is charged with helping with the fortifications of the theater, which is the de facto emergency shelter, or repairing the showers to prevent the loss of too much desalinated water. Regardless, the basecamp is thoroughly under construction in most of its major community areas. Basketball games are cancelled for the foreseeable future!
Life around the basecamp:
Players who participated in our TDM are welcome to keep their CR and the content of those threads. Please make sure to chat this out on the OOC intro & CR meme before making assumptions. Please take your time reading the hatching and basecamp bullets, as some items have been altered or expanded.
❀ HATCHING
This time, the Adamant's survivors are ready. When the Hatchlings arrive, they are no longer held at gunpoint or the tip of a spear. They are helped up, taken to the showers, given time to clean themselves.
They are still quarantined for a few days — albeit in a more comfortable setting. An area of the Theatre has been set up with emergency bunking and privacy screens. Each bunk has a small bundle of amenities on it — a change of clothing (that may be too big or too small, too fine or too plain, feel free to swap!) and what precious else can be spared, including a small tube of protein paste. Given that the theater doubles as a childcare center for the basecamp, your character may find that any toddler-aged children will stare hungrily at these tubes!
Ensign Ashley Porter flits about this emergency station at all hours, chatting amicably at people. Explaining the situation. He's reasonably certain it's his fault — the entire 'hatching' process seemed to start after he tripped one day and fell into the Central Chrysalis. This disturbance must have triggered the process of pulling in people from other universes. He's terribly sorry and will say he understands if people want to be angry at him or hate him for it. He also makes mention of the fact that some people have found personal items if they return to the Chrysalis — in eggs, like the ones they woke up in.
The Hatchlings are given a few days to acclimate, and then they are expected to contribute to the duties around camp. The day-to-day life in Basecamp Leviathan is not glamorous. Repairs are always needing to be done, food is always needing to be made, dishes always needing to be washed. Anyone with specialized skills will probably be snapped up by a division before too long!
A few notes:
☆ Your character will at some point be pulled aside and asked about where they're from, what year, any personal information they wish to share, etc. This is no longer described as an 'interrogation' as with the first set of Hatchlings. It's now more of a chat. Captain Childe has deferred this duty to her various underlings, and she will likely not make an appearance here unless a Hatchling says or does something very interesting or meaningful.
☆ The NPCs will be as forthcoming about how the Hatchlings have arrived and what they know about the Chrysalis as possible. Unfortunately to both, the answer is 'not much'. They will still try to be transparent about this.
☆ The NPCs will be as forthcoming about how the Hatchlings have arrived and what they know about the Chrysalis as possible. Unfortunately to both, the answer is 'not much'. They will still try to be transparent about this.
❀ EXPLORE THE BASECAMP
The Engineering Corps is always looking for new members who can contribute to some of its long term infrastructure solutions. The head of this department, Thorkil, is a large man with a booming voice who brews moonshine on the side and is the sort of bright, cheerful soul that can light up a room when he enters it. He is friendly with all the Hatchlings unless given a reason to be otherwise, and he is also very patient, gentle and understanding. If your character has demonstrated engineering skills of any coat or color (mechanical? electrical? outdated by hundreds of years? more advanced by a millennium?) please expect that Thorkil will ask if they'd be willing to help out!
The Security Division is headed up by a rather unpleasant man named Rémi. He neither wants nor, in his opinion, needs the help of the Hatchlings, but he's perfectly willing to let them risk their lives instead of the lives of his people where leaving the basecamp is concerned. Little wonder, most of his division has been chewed up and spit out by the harsh conditions on Ethyraia — can one blame him for being a little protective? If anyone asks about helping here, he's going to respond scornfully and dismissively. However, some of the Hatchlings have earned enough of his goodwill that he will consider, consider letting people have a weapon from Security's stores if they're leaving the Basecamp. (Carrying of non-Hatchling weapons is forbidden within the basecamp itself, so please be mindful!)
The Theatre is another venue that one could help out with — there are stories to be told! The current production is a classic, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. However, after performing this for the thessyx at the talent show, the theater department is moving onto their next show — Procyonate, for which there are many props to build. As the only truly fortified building in the Basecamp, the theatre doubles as a place to care for children (most of the 'young' survivors are between 13-19 now, but babies have been born to the survivors since their crash-landing!) there is also a need for anyone who excels with toddler care. They are also looking for anyone who can sing, write music, or play instruments. Such people will be hastily recruited and put to work!
The Aid Station is being run by a very harried woman named Sunya Hyacinth, who fits the description of 'overworked and underpaid' to a T. She doesn't have time to reach out to any recruits, but if you wander into the Aid Station you might find yourself being put to work. Just be careful — if she decides you have higher accreditation than she does, she might just decide to dump her practice on your lap for a week so she can go take a vacation! Standard injuries you may see include acid burns, broken bones, and bad cuts and gashes out of the engineering department who's hard at work repairing the sink holes around the base. Some of the 'ill' being treated will also have psychological effects. PTSD is common, and there are no officially 'trained' counsellors, just people who try to listen and help.
The Sanitation Department handles a lot of the day-to-day cleaning that involves sewage, garbage, et al. After all, it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it! Not only will they take just about anyone, but if they warm up to you they'll let you in on a little secret... they've totally started an underground green house where they're growing some interesting plants...
(pot, it's pot).
The Communications Department is headed up by the AI Cartagena, and helps with disseminating useful information to the population, as well as managing the intranet and its infrastructure. Cartagena will be quick to point out (cheerfully) that they don't get days off and would love for someone else to make announcements once in a while! A small group of the communications department is also hard at work on a distress signal, persevering in the belief that someone will come looking for the wayward Adamant.
The Agriculture department could always use a few new green thumbs around their little hydroponic garden units, and of course the Mess Hall is in dire need of someone who can make ten pounds of questionable protein paste taste palpable...
Otherwise, the daily grind in Ethyraia seems to be fairly... well, grind-y. People wake early to manage their chores in the early hours, everyone breaks during the hot hours of the afternoon to nap or lounge around, sometimes they take in the daily movie at the Theatre, and then it's back to work for the afternoon shift. People generally work from 7 AM to 11 AM, and then have between 11 AM and 3 PM 'off' (with the exception of anyone on KP duty) and then work again until 11 PM. Exceptions are: each person's designated 'days off', or recovery time from injuries/etc. Ideally, the Adamant's survivors will work 4 days and has 3 off in a week, but oftentimes this is cancelled due to need.
While it's not mandatory that the Hatchlings work, those that don't 'pull their weight' so to speak will find themselves being increasingly shunned by the community, and the quality of their rations and their overall care will decrease. There isn't enough to go around on the best days, much less when someone isn't contributing at all!
What goes on at the base for me to engage with?:
What else can I do?:
A few additional notes:
The Security Division is headed up by a rather unpleasant man named Rémi. He neither wants nor, in his opinion, needs the help of the Hatchlings, but he's perfectly willing to let them risk their lives instead of the lives of his people where leaving the basecamp is concerned. Little wonder, most of his division has been chewed up and spit out by the harsh conditions on Ethyraia — can one blame him for being a little protective? If anyone asks about helping here, he's going to respond scornfully and dismissively. However, some of the Hatchlings have earned enough of his goodwill that he will consider, consider letting people have a weapon from Security's stores if they're leaving the Basecamp. (Carrying of non-Hatchling weapons is forbidden within the basecamp itself, so please be mindful!)
The Theatre is another venue that one could help out with — there are stories to be told! The current production is a classic, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. However, after performing this for the thessyx at the talent show, the theater department is moving onto their next show — Procyonate, for which there are many props to build. As the only truly fortified building in the Basecamp, the theatre doubles as a place to care for children (most of the 'young' survivors are between 13-19 now, but babies have been born to the survivors since their crash-landing!) there is also a need for anyone who excels with toddler care. They are also looking for anyone who can sing, write music, or play instruments. Such people will be hastily recruited and put to work!
The Aid Station is being run by a very harried woman named Sunya Hyacinth, who fits the description of 'overworked and underpaid' to a T. She doesn't have time to reach out to any recruits, but if you wander into the Aid Station you might find yourself being put to work. Just be careful — if she decides you have higher accreditation than she does, she might just decide to dump her practice on your lap for a week so she can go take a vacation! Standard injuries you may see include acid burns, broken bones, and bad cuts and gashes out of the engineering department who's hard at work repairing the sink holes around the base. Some of the 'ill' being treated will also have psychological effects. PTSD is common, and there are no officially 'trained' counsellors, just people who try to listen and help.
The Sanitation Department handles a lot of the day-to-day cleaning that involves sewage, garbage, et al. After all, it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it! Not only will they take just about anyone, but if they warm up to you they'll let you in on a little secret... they've totally started an underground green house where they're growing some interesting plants...
(pot, it's pot).
The Communications Department is headed up by the AI Cartagena, and helps with disseminating useful information to the population, as well as managing the intranet and its infrastructure. Cartagena will be quick to point out (cheerfully) that they don't get days off and would love for someone else to make announcements once in a while! A small group of the communications department is also hard at work on a distress signal, persevering in the belief that someone will come looking for the wayward Adamant.
The Agriculture department could always use a few new green thumbs around their little hydroponic garden units, and of course the Mess Hall is in dire need of someone who can make ten pounds of questionable protein paste taste palpable...
Otherwise, the daily grind in Ethyraia seems to be fairly... well, grind-y. People wake early to manage their chores in the early hours, everyone breaks during the hot hours of the afternoon to nap or lounge around, sometimes they take in the daily movie at the Theatre, and then it's back to work for the afternoon shift. People generally work from 7 AM to 11 AM, and then have between 11 AM and 3 PM 'off' (with the exception of anyone on KP duty) and then work again until 11 PM. Exceptions are: each person's designated 'days off', or recovery time from injuries/etc. Ideally, the Adamant's survivors will work 4 days and has 3 off in a week, but oftentimes this is cancelled due to need.
While it's not mandatory that the Hatchlings work, those that don't 'pull their weight' so to speak will find themselves being increasingly shunned by the community, and the quality of their rations and their overall care will decrease. There isn't enough to go around on the best days, much less when someone isn't contributing at all!
What goes on at the base for me to engage with?:
You are free to invent NPCs to have (minor) antagonistic clashes with, or who can flag down your character to assist with something, or who you can have to help 'rescue' on a mission outside the Leviathan. We want to give players as much freedom as we can within the structure of the game, and we would rather people not feel limited.
What else can I do?:
There is no one keeping your character physically at the Basecamp! If they would like to leave and go exploring on their own, that is perfectly welcome. For the sake of the TDM, we would ask that anyone choosing this option refrain from asking us any in-depth questions — we will happily collaborate with people once they're in the game.
A few additional notes:
☆ If your character leaves the basecamp and wanders outside the Leviathan, they may begin to notice that what they perhaps took as a giant cave is actually an enormous dragon. Everything they see that seems 'human made' will look varying levels of worn down, patched, repaired and patched again. This is not a place of prosperity and happiness. Many people are recently injured, or have new scars or missing limbs.
☆ For any 'missions' or such happening outside the basecamp, please refer to our plot engagement page! We are always willing to work with players to facilitate storylines for their characters. However, please keep in mind our time limitations on major tier plots.
☆ If you think your character wouldn't be interested in helping or pitching in, that's fine! However, please be aware of the consequences that will follow — a decrease in NPC esteem, support, etc. The NPCs understand that the Hatchlings didn't ask to be here, but they simply do not have the resources or manpower to accommodate for anyone who doesn't want to work or assist in engaging with local infrastructure. Your character will not be ICly ousted from the basecamp, but they will experience a poorer quality of food and little social engagement from the NPCs. Even Captain Childe picks up a trenching tool with the best of them!
☆ For any 'missions' or such happening outside the basecamp, please refer to our plot engagement page! We are always willing to work with players to facilitate storylines for their characters. However, please keep in mind our time limitations on major tier plots.
☆ If you think your character wouldn't be interested in helping or pitching in, that's fine! However, please be aware of the consequences that will follow — a decrease in NPC esteem, support, etc. The NPCs understand that the Hatchlings didn't ask to be here, but they simply do not have the resources or manpower to accommodate for anyone who doesn't want to work or assist in engaging with local infrastructure. Your character will not be ICly ousted from the basecamp, but they will experience a poorer quality of food and little social engagement from the NPCs. Even Captain Childe picks up a trenching tool with the best of them!
❀ A DEPARTURE AND A BIG PROBLEM
Unfortunately, the thessyx clear out of the basecamp shortly after witnessing the second hatching, before the new children of the leviathan are cleared of quarantine. Their exit is prompt and quiet, their visit clearing like the end of a summer rain. They do not make the rounds for goodbyes, but simply remove themselves graciously from their hosts' camp.
However, even after their departure, the basecamp is abuzz with questions about the thessyx. How had they known the hatchlings arrived? What did they mean about chosen? While some are markedly suspicious and moody about the special treatment afforded to the hatchlings by their long-term neighbors, most of the Adamant survivors have been strongly influenced by the generosity and composure of those hatchlings who shared their food during the feast and who represented the hatchlings during the meeting with Childe. Word gets around!
The theater folks pack up their talent show, which culminated in a rousing performance of Tristan and Yseult that brought tears to the thessyx's eyes (or would have, if they had tear ducts). The art installations, however, remain. New paintings hang and new sculptures stand in the streets, plazas, and public spaces near the theater and the bunks.
Failing considerable progress in his extermination campaign, Rémi and the security force stay busy reluctantly adopting the hatchlings' plan to funnel any stray lingering 'shredder moles' (their new names) from the basecamp as they crop out of the various sinkholes. They use a two-pronged attack to steer the moles in the right direction: they use strong-smelling cleaning chemicals to divert the moles from high-value areas like the mess hall, aid station, and bunks; and they use metal plates to create temporary tunnels that funnel the critters on the fastest route between the sink hole and the edge of camp, where they can scamper off to join their surviving friends.
However, many of the critters are dead, some of the animal corpses divided between the aid station and the engineering department that would seek to do science on them. In medical, they're trying to better understand the anatomy of the critters and develop an understanding of the natural wildlife on this planet that could help them develop antidotes for various poisons and so forth. Similarly, engineering is interested in making use of their hides for greater safety for the Adamant's survivors, but it seems like the grunt work of figuring out how to separate the impenetrable hides from the carcasses is left to the newbies. The rest of the engineering department has bigger fish to fry — the giant holes appearing all over the base.
All hands are on deck from engineering volunteers as Thorkil tries to rally an effort to fortify the very ground beneath the basecamp where the shredder moles had tunneled. This project will continue for the remainder of the month and involve some particular efforts by innovative hatchlings like Ian, but also more traditional approaches like soil fills, new concrete pours, and the erecting of support beams that dig deeper into the earth beneath the steel plates of the basecamp's flooring.
Anyone with engineering who isn't working on this project is charged with helping with the fortifications of the theater, which is the de facto emergency shelter, or repairing the showers to prevent the loss of too much desalinated water. Regardless, the basecamp is thoroughly under construction in most of its major community areas. Basketball games are cancelled for the foreseeable future!
Life around the basecamp:
☆ More than fifty people were injured in sinkhole incidents in total. Things are pretty crazy around the aid station right now. Most of them were only moderately injured — broken bones, deep cuts, that kind of thing.
☆ More mouths to feed mean tighter belts! People may notice their rations in the mess hall shrinking this month while the outreach department works on recalibrating what's safe to share following the intrusion of the shredder moles and the arrival of all the hatchlings.
☆ A holiday called Unwara is on the 22nd! Community prayer services are offered at one of the temples in the basecamp. The prayers center around the relationship between rain and the first harvest (obviously there will be no such harvest on Ethyraia, but this religion emerged on Earth between 2100 and 2800). Celebrants will be dressed in their finest and may be sharing zwetschgendatschi with their neighbors. Late on the 22nd, they'll be serving freshly prepared strips of goat jerky with anyone who joins them in their evening prayers.
☆ With the gymnasium shut down, people are playing soccer (or football) in the streets. It's becoming a bit of a rowdiness problem. It's probably just the heat making people stir crazy.
☆ Kainé, Zeta, Lottie, 9S, 2B, Kaz, Lys, and Maria Juliana have vanished, leaving behind allergy medication, makeup, a bible,rosary beads, five two swords (one two-handed), a hunting knife, two pods for combat assistance, two spears, a radio transmitter, some clothes, a walking cane with a crow's head, a deck of playing cards, and a jeweled hairpiece. Unless someone claims it (please drop a note in Mod Questions if you do), the community outreach department will be collecting and redistributing these items.
☆ More mouths to feed mean tighter belts! People may notice their rations in the mess hall shrinking this month while the outreach department works on recalibrating what's safe to share following the intrusion of the shredder moles and the arrival of all the hatchlings.
☆ A holiday called Unwara is on the 22nd! Community prayer services are offered at one of the temples in the basecamp. The prayers center around the relationship between rain and the first harvest (obviously there will be no such harvest on Ethyraia, but this religion emerged on Earth between 2100 and 2800). Celebrants will be dressed in their finest and may be sharing zwetschgendatschi with their neighbors. Late on the 22nd, they'll be serving freshly prepared strips of goat jerky with anyone who joins them in their evening prayers.
☆ With the gymnasium shut down, people are playing soccer (or football) in the streets. It's becoming a bit of a rowdiness problem. It's probably just the heat making people stir crazy.
☆ Kainé, Zeta, Lottie, 9S, 2B, Kaz, Lys, and Maria Juliana have vanished, leaving behind allergy medication, makeup, a bible,
❀ RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY
When they finally get a few minutes around the aid station towards the end of the week and most of the injuries have cleared out or been dressed and redressed, one of the aid workers who had done an autopsy on the shredder moles puts out a job posting on the network:
WANTED: BRAVE SOULS WITH AN EYE FOR ADVENTURE TO INVESTIGATE SHREDDER MOLE HABITATS. COME TO AID STATION FOR MORE DETAILS.
Anyone who answers the advertisement will find the aid worker busily tying clean bandages on some of the worst cases of the sinkhole incidents. The tall and broad-chested nonbinary individual will explain that someone needs to trace back the source of the shredder moles and figure out where they're living so that it's easier for the engineers and xenobiologists to team up and make sure they don't wind up digging back under.
This mission would entail following the shredder moles' tracks back to their homes, charting some of their observable behavior (WITHOUT, they emphasize, INTERFERING WITH THE TUNNELS) especially with regards to diet, and reporting back.
A few notes:
WANTED: BRAVE SOULS WITH AN EYE FOR ADVENTURE TO INVESTIGATE SHREDDER MOLE HABITATS. COME TO AID STATION FOR MORE DETAILS.
Anyone who answers the advertisement will find the aid worker busily tying clean bandages on some of the worst cases of the sinkhole incidents. The tall and broad-chested nonbinary individual will explain that someone needs to trace back the source of the shredder moles and figure out where they're living so that it's easier for the engineers and xenobiologists to team up and make sure they don't wind up digging back under.
This mission would entail following the shredder moles' tracks back to their homes, charting some of their observable behavior (WITHOUT, they emphasize, INTERFERING WITH THE TUNNELS) especially with regards to diet, and reporting back.
A few notes:
☆ You can feel free to handwave involvement in this mission, but if you'd like specific details about the shredder moles beyond what has been added to the bestiary, feel free to ask!
☆ Only characters who have established a positive rapport with Rémi will get access to rain shields for this mission, so make sure to group up with someone who's done their time kissing ass to Security!
☆ Only characters who have established a positive rapport with Rémi will get access to rain shields for this mission, so make sure to group up with someone who's done their time kissing ass to Security!
no subject
( He answers grumpily, and it almost sounds like an accusation — leveled not at Steve, but rather at the trees. It's the second time one's reached down to sting his right arm, and in his frustration he reaches back and yanks, snapping the tendril off and tossing it to the ground. )
Bat... chicken... things. And eggs.
( Bucky's hangry, but it's less... anger caushed by hunger and more that he's always irritated, and now he's irritated and hungry at the same time. Natasha can only foist spare rations at them so much, and really, it doesn't accomplish quite as much as he'd hoped. They'll get by, obviously. HYDRA gave him exactly the bare minimum he needed and it worked for years.
Which is why one of the first things he did after breaking out is reintroduce himself to cheeseburgers. Just. So many of them. He would kill for a cheeseburger, and the uncomfortable thing is he's not sure how literal he's being about that. )
no subject
[ Even one from a questionable 'chicken'. But mostly he's eyeing Bucky as he grabs one of those tendrils barehanded, half concerned and half really? He lets out a breath and shakes his head, raising his retractable shield to push back another attempt to curl around his bicep. ]
We oughta keep an eye out for some starspire root, they're low back at camp. [ Low on everything. But as he says that he's pointedly eyeing the red marks on Bucky's arm. This time he gives him a light nudge with his shoulder on purpose. ]
Otherwise you're gonna have to find someone else to piss in a bottle for you.
[ Coney Island, summer of '33.
Piss does not, in fact, help jellyfish stings, but what did they know back then? ]
no subject
We agreed never to talk about that.
( No, they did not. Bucky agreed to never talk about it — firmly insisted, in fact — but if memory serves Steve made no such promise. All the same, he's gonna act like they did.
It's not terribly unlike Coney Island, in that there's a couple of little red pockmarks dotting his right arm now. He stops, twisting it around to get a better look at it with a sigh. )
What're the odds this is some kind of alien poison ivy?
( Follow-up question right on its heels, maybe more important: )
You get poison ivy since the whole...
( You know. Upgrade thing. He hasn't had the opportunity, they gotta be immune right? )
no subject
With a tilt of his head he squints at the marks, his expression sobering just slightly. ]
Still allergic to cats.
[ (which may as well be psychosomatic, so hey, the serum doesn't fix everything)
Anyway— ]
Is it itching?
no subject
Something about this stupid exchange brings on a gentle brush of fondness, an appeal that he diligently keeps out of his expression because god knows he can't be caught encouraging this behavior. Still, it's enough to rob the last of the irritation out of him, so when he studies the pockmarks it's more scrutinizing than annoyed.
He shakes his head. )
Nah, it just stings for a second. Not really like a rash, more like a thorn bush or somethin'.
( He shifts a little, angling their bodies closer so he can hold his forearm up on display. )
How are you not getting hit by-
( He stops abruptly, eyes flicking past Steve into the empty woods. It's a tune, he's faintly catching it on the breeze. Something familiar, just fading into audible range. Crooning, and... strangely, with the muffled and faintly scratchy sound of a record player. His brow knits up. )
You hearing music right now?
no subject
Omelettes'd be worth the equivalent of stomping through scratchy brambles, if that's all. God knows they've been dumb and desperate before for less. His frowns deepens a bit as he examines the welts a little more closely, reaching for his arm by the wrist to turn it. Starts replying as Bucky trails off. ]
— probably cuz I'm not getting handsy — [ and trails off himself, glancing up with a cocked eyebrow. ]
No?
[ He actually listens, though. An alien monarch came to them in their dreams and they're walking through a jellyfish forest right now. Music? Sure, why not? But he doesn't hear anything besides the faint ringing in his ears from the headache he's got. ]
no subject
turns out to definitely be the music; if he were a dog his ears'd be pointing straight up right now. the melody picks up a little, and he can finally start to pick out words. )
Shh- hang on-
( An absent murmur while he focuses. )
I know that song. It's, um--
( the fundamental things apply...
as time goes by
He motions vaguely, struggling to pull the memory to the forefront for a second.
Snaps his fingers when it finally hits. )
Casablanca. You seriously can't hear that?
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No sound. Only the sudden sense of eyes on them. An ominous quiet in there air that wasn't there only a few minutes ago.
His mouth opens, closes it again. Tilts his head. ]
... I seriously do not.
[ You messing with me? The wryness in his tone's faded, and he slips his hand from Bucky's wrist to his shoulder, anchoring there as he meets his gaze again, studying his eyes, his pupils warily. ]
C'mon, lets head back.
[ They barely know what they're looking for out here and now you're hearing things. Putting him on edge. ]
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Hang on.
( it's a gentle appeal, a please without saying please written somewhere in the expression. )
We're finally getting out, me and you. You wanna cut it short already? We got, what, a whole twenty minutes?
( that desire to hang out's always been there, of course, before and after they skipped those decades. he hasn't actually gotten much of it after. the feeling's suddenly making up for lost time, it's gotta be, with how hard it's hitting him all of a sudden.
he just... wants this. )
Come on, man.
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(the welts are less noticeable on him: a long strip on the back of his neck, a thin tracing along the veins of his forearm.
he doesn't notice, the fault of being convinced, and needing to be in control)
He locks up at hang on, bewilderment readable on his face but there's a tightness in his chest, the unspoken part that catches him off guard this time. His fingers reflexively tighten and loosen on his shoulder. Features twist in discomfort. Conflicted, the force of some unknown, external threat weighed against a request that's a hook beneath his ribs that's not exactly new to him.
Swallows dryly. ]
Casablanca?
[ He's trying to bargain for a few more seconds. Shore himself up again. ]
You Bogart or Bergman?
[ A chill runs down his spine, eyes on the back of his neck. Hang on. ]
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he huffs in feigned offense at the question. )
You really gotta ask?
( you know he's Bogart.
but he can still see the trepidation lingering there, and he gets it. he does. he's not drunk on anything, he's not off his rocker. he reaches out in turn, curling flesh and bone fingers around Steve's bicep to offer up a reassuring squeeze. )
Look... if it gets any weirder, we'll turn around and go back. No question.
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The touch ought to feel grounding. After a moment he nods, inclines his head as he lets go, shrugging off Bucky's hand to force his legs to move again.
They catch a lone spinemole by chance. It's a skinny thing, they don't know enough about it to decide whether it's sick but they decide to haul it back anyway.
The plants start to sweat. They take cover beneath an outcropping of rocks, a small space that just fits the both of them if they crouch and shuffle toward the back. There's old, cracked bones, but no signs of recent life.
The humidity has his suit clinging to him like a second skin. The heat coming off of both of them might as well be a third occupant in close quarters (fourth, if you count the carcass at the front). The headache's become background noise again, the kind of consistent pain that's easily ignored. He drinks from a canteen and passes it over, half his attention focused on the rainfall outside their cover. ]
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knees up, hair in wet spikes that stick straight up in places where he's run his fingers through it. he takes the canteen easily. drinks easier. settles in with their bodies flush from shoulder to thigh.
there's companionable quiet for a while, one that Bucky slightly breaks by side-eyeing Steve's profile and humming out a soft sound of humor in the back of his throat. a muted laugh, easy to miss if it weren't for the way it gently jolts his ribs and slightly jostles the man next to him.
whatever he's thinking about, apparently it's amusing. )
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The humming passes from rib to rib, the movement at his side has him glancing over with a raised eyebrow. ]
What?
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It's just... it's France.
( less than a beat passes before he makes an amendment. )
I mean, it's not-- I'm not hallucinating France, I'm just saying... You know.
( A little shrug of one shoulder. )
I don't know. It feels like... same thing, different planet.
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Only us that's changed.
[ He turns his head just enough to fix his gaze sidelong gaze on him, his voice warm and low. ]
Older. [ he cocks his head the other way, eyes half-lidded and his lips pulling at one side. ] Debatably wiser.
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I'm wiser.
( he corrects dismissively, like it's an afterthought. wholly, completely untrue and he knows it — of the two of them, arguably Barnes has become the more reckless one. not that Steve really knows that, he hasn't stuck around to see Bucky's reintegration into society. all the agitation and passive aggression probably tips it off a little, though.
a second after he says it he looks over, just to make sure they're both in on the joke.
there it is again, that pang. that twist of want that catches in his chest and makes his mind just go.... quiet. )
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I missed you, is a funny thing to feel when you've been right here all this time.
But it's all broken suddenly, a sharp lance of pain behind his eyes that has him grimacing and turning his head away instinctively to hide the way he grits his teeth. ]
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something almost clicks into place, but before it can, Steve breaks away sharply. Bucky's eyebrows knit, and he nudges Steve's knee with his own. )
What is it?
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Got a sneeze stuck so far up there it's tickling my brain...
[ He shakes his head through another faint wince. Lets out a breath through his nose. ]
What happened to your music, anyway? [ both eyebrows raise ] Was worried you were gonna ask me to dance again.
[ Be the first time this century. His eyes are bright in a different way now, glassy and feverish. ]