[Video] un: spanglethesestars

[ukase]

[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.]

Comments

[ukase]

[Despite his normal reserved hands-off tactic with everyone else, Ava had always been different. He lifted a hand to the back of her head to bring it forward so that he could kiss her forehead affectionately. It was good to not feel cold, to be able to walk about and interact again. Whatever he had done to earn a spot back in the tank, he hoped to avoid it in future.]

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.

[krasnaya_vdova]

[She smiles, shifting a little so that she can tug his head down a little, a brush of her lips against his. She was an affectionate person by nature, but with Rumlow that felt more acceptable than it was with most. She didn't have to resist the urge, worry that she was too much. And that was nice in and of itself.]

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.

[ukase]

[Ava was definitely more open with her affection than he was, but he had no problem with that. It was nice to see her happy, living a life that had so previously been denied to her. She was free, an aspect he hadn't actually seen much before coming to this place.]

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.