OPEN - (1: Natasha setting up blind dates for Steve Rogers / 2: dates with Steve Rogers)

[krasnayapautina]

WHO ||

1). PART ONE is: Natasha Romanoff + any ladies in particular of the castle who are at least over 18. (Please read this for more details, including how to sign up.)

2). PART TWO is: Steve Rogers + his dates!

WHAT || If you specified that you wanted to play out the initial interaction with Natasha, this is what is happening in the first part of this log. The second part of the log is the actual dates!

There will be a thread starter (edit: here now! ) for the initial interaction with Natasha (I'd rather multi-thread this than have it single thread, for the sake of my sanity). Jesse, however, is the guy to talk to about starters for the dates with Steve.

WHERE || In and around the castle, with Natasha. For Steve, anywhere the date is happening.
WHEN || Natasha and Steve talked again at the April after party, so we can say this is ... May/June? I can adjust if needed, however.
HOW || Prose or action.

Comments

Steve Rogers ♣ Skye

[recruited]

Fun @ Thorpe Park

[hacker]

Predictably, amusement parks have a way of pulling out Skye's inner (or outer) child. They get to Thorpe Park, and she wastes no time in tearing down the sidewalks alongside Steve, always just a half-step ahead of him as she goes to track down the tallest, twisty-turniest roller coaster she can find.

"I didn't even know British people had theme parks," She jokes, though it's rather well-hidden behind deadpan sarcasm, and there's every chance she may well seem like she means her hyperbole. Turning to look back at him over her shoulder, Skye enthusiastically questions, "Have you been here before?"

[recruited]

He really didn't imagine that the theme park was going to have Skye racing around like a child on Christmas. He doesn't mind it though. Steve can keep up fairly well and he can't help the smile that tugs at his lips when she darts out in front of him like that. Tears down the sidewalk. She's got a mission and Steve has to keep up.

"Well, the British are just full of surprises." He grins and then finally makes his way back along side of her. "I haven't. I don't really get out too much though." Mainly because Steve devotes most of his time to his work. "You really like theme parks huh?"

[hacker]

"I pretty much never got to go to them as a kid," She explains with no sign of self-pity or slowing down. "I didn't have parents, and St. Agnes didn't have the money to send a bunch of orphans to play on roller coasters." Instead of dwelling, she spins on the sidewalk, then points to one of the larger coasters and starts to lead them over that way. Better to make the best of it now that she's here instead of worrying about why she didn't have much experience with them before.

[recruited]

"Really?" That surprises Steve. Though he's not sure why. Kids should get to fun things like this. He knows his mother used to bust her hump to get him and Bucky out to Coney Island when they were young. He misses those days. He's happier he actually decided to take Skye here now. At least she got to experience it now. "Ya know--that sounds familiar." He tilts his head. "I'm sorry you had to grow up there though. It must've been rough." Those places are never ideal. "A lot of kids back in my day were winding up in those."

[hacker]

"Oh, don't—" Skye held up her hands quickly. "It's not like a pity thing. I mean, I turned out fine." She shrugged. Okay, that was probably debatable. Highly debatable. But she decided not to linger on it too long. "And now I'm here, taking a vacation from living in a freakin' castle to come visit an amusement park." Her gaze slides over towards him, a smile starting. Company wasn't bad, either, but she didn't let that observation make it out of her mouth. "I just hope this isn't like a 'best if used before 2005' thing. Or must be under 18 to enjoy."

[recruited]

He definitely gets her wanting him to not to give her pity concerning what happened. When people learned about Steve's crappy dating life before the serum they always jumped to give him massive compliments and boost his ego. He definitely never needed that stuff. He didn't ever really think he was too hopeless. Just a little lost. "You're right. You did turn out pretty okay. Not many people can say they live in a castle." He definitely didn't imagine he'd be living in one. Not a kid from Brooklyn. "I don't think that's how amusement parks and fun work. I'm pretty sure you can have fun at any age. I mean look at me. I'm well into my nineties. I'm having loads of fun."

[hacker]

At that, Skye laughed breezily; while Romanoff hadn't included that in the brochure, she'd already gotten the spiel, so it rolled off her back without much notice.

"Mm, that's right. You know, I don't think its actually counts if you spent most of it frozen. Technically."

[recruited]

Natasha probably did leave out the fact that technically Steve is an old man. Sometimes she makes walker jokes about him. "How do you know?" He smiles at her. "Are you the expert about aging while encased in ice?" Because if so she might have to help him. "It totally counts though. All my other friends got old." And died. He leaves that part out. He learned his lesson with Sydney when he told his sob story.

[hacker]

"And you didn't," Skye said it like it was an explanation, but something sank in as the words passed her lips. Slowly, her expression softened, and she lowered her gaze. Oh. It's hard to imagine, waking up one day to all of your friends aged or dead, in homes or with grandchildren. Life keeps happening, even if Steve's didn't. Understanding, she nodded, tucking her hands into her pockets. "Did you get to see them? Before you came through the Veil, that is."

[recruited]

The way she's looking at him makes him believe that she's suddenly putting everything together concerning Steve. Which means she's realizing that all of Steve's friends just died. Steve woke up to a whole different world that he didn't really know how to fit into. He'll admit that he was pretty depressed at first. Hard to shake that feeling that you don't belong when you really don't. "Not really. Honestly, most of them were dead. Met their kids and grandchildren though." Which helped. "Some--forgot who I was." Meaning they suffered from illnesses.

[hacker]

Looking at him, it's obvious that she hurts for him. Whether it still needles at him or not, Skye can't help but imagine the feeling, and imagining it alone is enough for her to ache as if she were the one being forgotten.

"I'm so sorry. I can't even … imagine how awful that must have been for you." She shakes her head, trying to parse it with no gauge to measure by.

[recruited]

You're a little bit suicidal huh?

He thinks back to the question that Rose asked him when they were sparring. Maybe he was. Steve's lost everything. It's hard for him not to throw himself into the only thing he has left. The only thing that was from before his life got lost. Helping people. Being a soldier. Everything else just got lost in the cracks for him. Maybe he is though. Steve lost concern for his own life a long time ago. He's willing to step in front of a bullet for just about anyone.

"I uh--" He swallows hard and then out comes a smile. "--I don't think this is how date conversations are supposed to go. I'm not an expert though."

[hacker]

"Maybe," Skye nodded, considering it. But then again, she wasn't much for normal. That had never suited her lifestyle, roaming from place to place, never finding a home. She shrugged her shoulders. "But I haven't been on a lot of gates with guys over sixty, so I don't know that this is a normal date."

[recruited]

"The fact that you said not a lot leads me to believe you've been on a few. Which just makes me feel like I'm one of your hook ups with geriatric men. I feel very used." Anything to change the topic away from the fact that everything Steve's ever loved and known was ripped away from him the moment he decided to crash that plane. "I guess I have to stand out ahead of the pack."

[hacker]

"You're not holding my type against me, are you?" Laughing, Skye turns towards him, breezing easily into the lighter subject matter as if it were natural to her. He's not alone in finding comfort in choosing not to dig into that darkness that they've felt.

[recruited]

"As long as none of them were better looking than me. I guess I can let it slide." He appreciates that she doesn't continuously look on at him with pity after hearing all that. He's used to that being how it pans out. He figures she wants the same regarding her story. No one needs that. "You wanna go on a ride?"

[hacker]

"Well, I didn't come here just to unlock your level four tragic backstory." She answered like it was obvious, glancing around at the rides before opting for one and pulling him towards it. As she did, she looked back at him to clarify, "To be fair, I didn't know you had a level four tragic backstory."

[recruited]

Steve doesn't really get that. Level four tragic backstory isn't exactly a thing that Steve hears in everyday conversation. Which is why he's looking at Skye maybe like she's grown a second head. Talk like an old man, Skye. It'll help. "Yeah. I uh--I don't tell a lot of people. It kind of ruins the mood." He smiles weakly.

[hacker]

"I get it," Skye assures him. "I mean, not that all my friends are old and stuff. Just … Sometimes, it's the normal stuff, the questions nobody expects an unhappy answer to, that brings the worst up." She's been there any time someone prods with questions about her family or childhood. It's hard to tersely explain that it was garbage without seeming like a mood-killer. "But for what it's worth, I think the mood's salvageable." She stops and points up to a roller coaster. "I mean, it'd be pretty bad if theme park rides couldn't pick it back up."

[recruited]

No one really understands that when they ask Steve about his time that sometimes it's got dark spots. The forties wasn't all happy fun and games. They had diseases. They had really bad stuff happening. They had a war ripping the world apart. It wasn't just good music and drinking. It was dark. Steve follows where she's point and smiles. He nods his head. "Believe it or not there was a time when theme park rides terrified me. I was more than a hundred pounds lighter and a weak stomach, but yeah. No--I say let's go."

[hacker]

"Just because you're ancient doesn't mean you were never a kid. Let me guess: scrawny, awkward phase in middle school." She holds her palms up flat, thumbs out as if to frame him and imagine a dorky yearbook photo.