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[Video] un: spanglethesestars
[Rumlow had just woken up after been sent back to the cryostasis tubes for a time. He was paler than usual, still shaking off the effects if the way he had to clench a hand around his thigh was any indication, but he was as presentable as one could be with a shiver or two.
And maybe - just maybe - the fact he had gone back to cryo once shifted a little of his cocksure attitude when it came to his place.]
Cryostasis the second time round isn't nearly as fun as the first. Makes me sympathetic to someone I used to know who spent too much time a popsicle. And I heard there was a dragon that showed up? I'm not used to missing out on the action. Anyone care to give me an update on how that went?
[He sat up straighter suddenly, his nose twitching and then he sneezed rather violently into a hand. Normal stuff, really. Except that the little bits of spittle that landed in his hand apparently had solidified into what looked like shards of glass that jammed into his hand.
Needlessly to say, he dropped his communicator.] Son of a bitch...!
[Guess who discovered a new power that came with the new wakefulness from cryo.]
And maybe - just maybe - the fact he had gone back to cryo once shifted a little of his cocksure attitude when it came to his place.]
Cryostasis the second time round isn't nearly as fun as the first. Makes me sympathetic to someone I used to know who spent too much time a popsicle. And I heard there was a dragon that showed up? I'm not used to missing out on the action. Anyone care to give me an update on how that went?
[He sat up straighter suddenly, his nose twitching and then he sneezed rather violently into a hand. Normal stuff, really. Except that the little bits of spittle that landed in his hand apparently had solidified into what looked like shards of glass that jammed into his hand.
Needlessly to say, he dropped his communicator.] Son of a bitch...!
[Guess who discovered a new power that came with the new wakefulness from cryo.]
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[He was picking glass out of his hand, dropping each shard in the trash and wondering how the hell any of that happened. Of course, removing the shards made his hand all bloody and that was just a completely different mess.]
Kind of interesting they can freeze the natives in their tracks and make them way for a clean up. With that kind of power, one would think they would do something more useful.
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There you go. I'll be waiting.
[Her tone is a little bit playful, even if she's clearly given up any pretense of not being glad to see him.]
And you have a point- though I think one of the more interesting things about the Natha is the strange limits there seems to be on their power. It almost answers the question of why they'd need people like us.
[She's even wearing the hair clips he got her for her birthday. She maybe even gets a little cleaned up before he gets to her door, though she'd never admit to it.]
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Sometimes get the feeling we're their little puppets on some kind of social experiment. They have way more power than they let on, and yet, we can't even mention them in public or anything when we're on the surface.
[He chatted to her as he walked, moving through the space station and looking for familiar faces. He found her door before he found anyone that he recognized in the halls.]
Knock knock. [He knocked on her door at the same time and shut off his communicator.]
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Yeah, that's something I've noticed too. Although, I'm not sure they're going to be able to cover this up, so things could get real dicey once we get back down there. Better bring the popcorn.
[She's dressed fairly casual, just jeans and a form-fitting white top, but her hair is down around her shoulders with those barettes. There's a smile and a faint glow to her blue eyes as she opens the door, and gestures him inside. Her duffle bag is on a chair against the wall; she's lucky she had it with her.
Her fingers twitch a little, like she's attempting some sort of self-restraint, which she is, because she's trying to wait until the door closes.]
Looks like you made it alright.
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[Maybe they could finally get some real integration instead of the Natha's attempt to keep things all smoothed over. Actually giving answers to the native population was likely to get as much fear as not telling them, and at least part of the truth was better than holding it all back.
He stepped inside when she opened the door, noting that she was wearing the birthday present that he had mustered up for her. He wiped his previously bleeding hand on his pant leg before he reached out to curl an arm across the back of her shoulders as he kicked the door shut.]
I am a professional. Making it alright is what I do. How you doing, Ava?
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[But he's here now, so she kicks the door shut as he steps inside, curling an arm around her shoulders after wiping the blood off, and that's all the invitation Ava needs to press in against his chest and wrap her arms around him for a moment. Doesn't really care that he might be getting blood on her top, if it means she gets to hold on for a few moments. It takes a few breaths before she lets go, stepping back and looking a little awkward for a moment.]
I was afraid you wouldn't wake up.
[It's raw, honest. But she smiles, shrugs her shoulders a little with a touch of a sigh.] So I'm doing better, now. Let me see what I can do for your hand.
[Not that he probably really needs it, but it's an excuse, and it makes her feel a little bit better. The prospect of bandaging his wounds, even if she knows that he's tougher than this. It's still a nice thing, a quiet sort of comfort.]
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He also very much recalled what it felt like to be pulled apart by it, to lose every aspect of himself to it. Of course, he might have forced himself to experience more than a person should, but it was his way.
That notion derailed when they embraced, the door shutting to lock them in together. He kept his potentially bloody hand away from her, only using the one to embrace her shoulders, but it was nice to in the presence of someone familiar.]
Were you now? There was that possibility, but I'm awake and that's what matters, right?
[He rubbed his hand on his pant leg and then raised it for her to see. He had wiped away most of the blood, and it didn't seem to be too damaged, not as much as when he was on the communicator. He really had no idea what was going on. Only a small amount of blood was beading from the holes in his palm.]
It seems like it is going to heal quickly. It looked a lot worse even minutes ago.
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[Just for the fact that she could totally see Rumlow wanting to fight a dragon, or at least be there for it. And honestly, she thinks she probably would have done more if he'd been there. If someone had been there. But it had reminded her so much of that night in Odessa, when Natasha had pulled her from the flames, and there was no one here to save her, not even to stand by her side. And that had been-- hard. So she did what she could, pretended she didn't want to curl up in a ball in a dark corner.
But it was fine. He's here, he's back, he's awake, and that alone eases that tension that had lingered in her shoulders. He hugs her one-armed, but it's enough.]
Yeah. You're awake again, so I'll take it.
[He lifts his hand for her to see and she looks it over clinically for a moment, a slight hum of consideration.] You're right. But I'd still like to at least clean it- did you get all the shards out of your hand?
[She's already moving for her duffle bag as she asks the question, ripping open a disinfectant pad that she can swab across his palm. She doesn't bother warning him that it'll sting.]
Well, that's a good thing. Though I'll admit that it's a little strange.
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[Rumlow would one-hundred percent fight a dragon, though he would want to be properly planned and equipped for the job before entering into that deadly combat. He noted that she wasn't very talkative about what she had done when the dragon came and made a mess of everything, but he didn't ask about it. Had she really been that upset to find him in cryostasis again? She would probably be the first, maybe the last too.]
And I don't plan on going back to the freezer, but I guess we don't exactly get a say in all that either.
[He observed his hand and shrugged his shoulders. He had picked out all the glass shards; they had thankfully been big enough where there hadn't been tiny slivers of the stuff. He was still mentally questioning how all of that had gone down in the first place.
His jaw tightened with the sting of the disinfectant, but he otherwise offered no complaint. It was a necessary evil, and he wasn't about to risk an infection at this point.]
Everything about this is strange. I still don't actually know what happened. I mean, I sneezed and then there was this mess...
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[It's a little bit teasing, but also honest. She really did miss him, had been upset when she'd found him behind frosty glass, not far from Rollins. Maybe she was the only one, but he really did matter to her. It was easier to let go of that worry about the Natha or the Storm taking him away again when he was right in front of her, thankfully. Even if part of her just wanted to hold him, she resists the urge mostly because she already feels vulnerable.]
I know it's not your fault. You never would have missed the dragon on purpose.
[Teasing; but that's easier than the alternative. So she focuses on his hand, a faint smile as his jaw tightens. She considers at least putting a bandaid over it, but it's not really bleeding, and fact is that on his palm it wouldn't really stay anyway. She instead just leaves it.]
Yeah, that is weird. And as odd as this place has been, weaponizing sneezing doesn't seem quite in theme. But I definitely want to keep an eye on it, and see if anything like that happens again.
[Or maybe she's just selfish and wants an excuse to keep him around for a while.]
Do you feel anything strange?
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[The experience was, in its own way, mildly humbling. He had always wondered what had made the Winter Soldier special, what it was like to go from frozen to warm-blooded and then frozen again, over and over. He had a bit more respect for HYDRA's Fist at this point, having now experienced the strange disconnect between the time before and the time after cryofreeze. His only advantage was he wasn't electrocuted when he decided to go off the rails, at least not that he remembered, though brainwashing was a cornerstone of HYDRA life at times. They liked to be more subtle about it most of the time.
And he definitely wouldn't have missed a dragon on purpose. He had been curious of the creatures, of the challenge that they poised. It wasn't his fault! Jones had kept pushing at the notion of the creatures and he had looked into them at the library and then it seemed reasonable to want to see one in real life. He couldn't believe he had missed a dragon!]
Damn rights I wouldn't have. What little boy didn't want to see a dragon?
[He was shaking his head, t'sking his disappointment. He was by no means a boy anymore, had out-grown almost all of his childhood fantasies.
He flexed his fingers as she wiped his hand and investigated if there was a need for a bandage. He thought of refusing a bandage, not wanting the bulk on his hand which he might have to use in the first place. However, he hadn't gotten into nearly as many fights as he usually did since arriving here, but he wasn't that open to inviting questions as to the state of his hand. The weird sneeze had been public enough.]
Just my luck to have the develop the worst and more useless power ever. This is why I've always been perfectly content just being me.
[He shrugged his shoulders, tilting his head as he considered how he was feeling. Nothing was obvious, nothing out of place, no weird tingling.]
No, I can't say that I do. Even that sneeze felt normal right up to the point where it apparently turned to glass. Do you feel different? You have abilities after all.
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[Ava much preferred this over just going to see him in cryo, seeing him there, frozen and unaware. She's just glad that he came back, that she can touch him again, that she can watch his breath and feel the warmth through his shirt. She knew he wasn't dead, but that didn't mean that it didn't feel almost like dead. And if he hadn't come back-- she doesn't like to think about it, honestly.
So instead, let's talk about dragons!] You're right. I always wanted a dragon, ever since I first heard about them. When I was in 7B I thought they were something you could raise like a cat or a dog, you know?
[There had been a number of ways that the world did not work quite the way that she had thought that it did. Although finding out about dragons had honestly been the most disappointing. She finished with his hand, letting it drop slowly, and that's when he talks about powers and she frowns softly.]
If it is a power, I wouldn't jump to that conclusion that it's useless so quickly. Things like this- accidents? For me, those sort of things were shades of what I could do. And at first it was hard for me to even get a charge to dance between my fingertips.
[Well, intentionally, she means. And she's not counting the nightmares, because that wasn't so much about accidental as it was having her powers react to her dreams. Terrible for everyone, really.]
Well, mine are different, but sometimes. Mine can build up, so it feels like this sort of tension. And for me, there are triggers- situations where my powers can activate without me necessarily intending them to. If my heartrate spikes, adrenaline, fighting- If you have powers, coming out of cryo could have been enough of a system shock to trigger it.
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That was me as well, though I suppose male approach to dragons seems more along the lines of killing them to be some saviour. A pet would be much better, though it seems they aren't so easy to be tamed. [And as for 7B, he had his own opinions on how she had been kept which he largely kept to himself.] You would have benefited from the responsibility of a pet back then.
[His hand seemed like he would keep it and the oddity of what had happened still played in his mind now that they were discussing it. What had it felt like? Nothing except the surprise at the end when pain had laced his hand. It had been nothing more than a sneeze, ordinary in sensation as it was every other time that they had occurred.
Even now, he rubbed his nose and felt nothing different. Unlike what she described, he couldn't experience any pressure within him announcing when whatever happened might reoccur. Maybe it was a one-off oddity? Maybe it was something more he was going to have to figure out on his own?]
Shades of what you could do? You've given me the impression that even now, you don't control your powers very well. And besides, what do I need a latent power for? That's not... [what he was built for. What he had seasoned himself on.
Rumlow was an underdog when it came to super-people, but he was top of his class when it came to regular men and women. That's the position he enjoyed being in, good but not so great that everyone had to moon-eye him. He had out-grown the notion that he needed special powers, super-soldier serum or all that nonsense.]
I don't have powers, never have. I'm far too old to be developing something special; special shit is for youngsters where they have years to master it.
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Mm, I'm sure you'd have made quite the dragonslayer. And a pet would have been nice, but we both know they'd never have never allowed me anything that breathed fire.
[As bad as that part of her life had been, talking with Rumlow about it was always easier than it was with most people. She didn't have to explain it, recount the worst of the trauma. They could just talk about things like this. Her first and only pet had been Sasha, the black stray cat that wandered in and out of her life until it had become part of it, and then she'd given her to Oksana.]
Well, I have gotten better with them. Or else I wouldn't have gone swimming with you, you know. Electricity and water aren't the best mix.
[There's a slight hint of warmth to her fact at that. But she just smiles, shrugs her shoulders a little and leans in toward him.] I don't think you need it. But just keep an eye on it, yeah? You have shards shooting from any other parts of your body talk to me? But, it could just be some weirdness with being in cryo. They say people falling back asleep is because of shards of the Storm. Maybe that's all that was.
[She slips an arm around him, leaning into his side.] Mm, you're adaptable. I'm sure you'd figure it out if it came down to it.
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Oh you know I would have been. Killing things is on my top five approved skills. I don't think anyone would have been allowed to keep something that could burn the house down. It's just a fire hazard with intelligence.
[He knew that she had some help with the bracelets that she wore, and that she was likely mastering them every day that she was alive and able to take the time with them. He didn't think she had quite the resolved self-control that made excellent soldiers good for combat; Ava was a passionate woman, not always good for dampening down emotions.]
I would have been shocked if you hadn't been in control. [How do you like that pun?] I might have even been illuminated by your conductive personality.
[He nodded his head, flexing his hand as he waiting for some strange potentially catastrophic power to manifest. It didn't. He had no issue, but he felt a wave of being unsettled by the notion something strange could be happening to him. It was just the cryostasis process, he told him. Somehow, he knew there was a lie in there.]
If something comes firing out that isn't supposed to, you'll be the first I kiss and tell, okay? It's probably just cryo or the Storm, just a glitch. [He slipped his arm across the back of her shoulders and hummed softly.] I'm good the way I am. I don't need nor want strange powers. I know who I am.