Two Not-Super-Heroes go for a walk....[for fightlikehell]

[juststeverogers]

Steve gets up off of his couch and sets his mug down on the counter. Time to bundle up again and venture into the great outdoors.

"Everyone keeps saying that . And I know it's not. But I also know what people expect when they think of me. And I'm not that person. So I have to do the best I can, even if it's not as good." He's clever, strong willed, and big hearted. The spirit is willing, but the body....

That's why he's training. Trying to be the best he can be, despite the hand he's been played.

"It sounded like something like this hadn't happened before. At least not recently. The attack, I mean. I'll show you where the memorial is."

Comments

[fightlikehell]

"They expect you to be--?" There's something he's not getting. And visuals sure do take away a lot of what is normally apparent. That starspangled champion of justice and this fellow here are the same person. They have the same face. One is more beefed up than the other.

Matt sips down the last of what's in his mug and stands as well. His cane isn't far.

[juststeverogers]

"There's all these other worlds, right? Well, I've met me. An older me. And I've met Clint Barton. He knew me too. Everyone knows me. They think they do anyway. But I'm not....I'm not a hero. I'm not a soldier." Steve's voice has turned slightly bitter. He can't help it. He feels like such a disappointment sometimes.

The door is tugged open harder than it probably needs to be. But Steve isn't going to slam doors. He takes a breath as the cold air hits his face, pats at his pocket to make sure his inhaler is on him.

"Their Steve Rogers isn't....who I am. And how could they not be disappointed?"

[fightlikehell]

"You don't have to be a soldier to be a hero." Matt doesn't know Steve well enough to reach for him and still he feels out to put a hand on his shoulder. It's pretty spot on for being blind. "This whole many worlds thing, it's about other places, not about you. That's what I keep telling myself."

He sighs and hangs back as Steve takes care of the door. "You've got no control over that just like they've got no control either."

[juststeverogers]

The gesture is touching, reassuring. Steve lets out a long breath and nods after a moment.

"Sorry. I'm not usually...I try not to let it bother me. I just want to do more. I want to be that guy, you know? But I can't, and it's frustrating. And I don't mean like--oh why bother trying--I mean that guy literally got fixed. He's able to do all the things I wish I could, because they fixed everything that was wrong with me. So, I don't got that. But I'm takin' lessons. I'm getting stronger in my own way."

The walk downstairs and out is met with that same nagging feeling of being watched ever so briefly, but then they're out in the softly falling snow, and Steve can't help but to smile.

"I shouldn't complain to you, though. You've managed damn well. I gotta try my best too."

[fightlikehell]

"The world better look out, that's what I think." Because for all the heart anything else this guy has to pack will really make a difference. The issue can slip for now. Matt is positive that it will be long standing. That's okay. He's pretty stubborn himself.

The return trip down to the street below is another session of collecting details and clues that will be able to find this place on his own in the future. That feeling. What is that? Birds? Cats? He'll have to ask sometime. A new chill in the air and the feather light fall of snow has Matt turning up his collar.

"I've had a long, long time to practice." And he had Battling Jack Murdock in his corner refusing to let him live any different. "...Thank you."

[juststeverogers]

"Buck always had my back, but he was th' only one until I ended up here." Steve shrugs and shivers and tucks his chin into the collar of his jacket so he's covered up to his nose. It's not that cold out, but the cold air is hell on his asthma.

He does wiggle back out of his fabric shell to talk though. Steve isn't going to be rude and muffled.

"Nothin' to thank me for. You're a swell guy an' I'm grateful t'get to know you. It's over here." And over here has a distinctly sharp presence if anyone is sensitive to magic. A foreboding Nexus door, stitched together from where it was once shattered, and emptiness where there is usually park benches and people.

Near one of the few standing trees, there is a simple bronze placard embossed with the names of the deceased. it has fresh flowers at its base. Some kind of lily, by the smell of it.

"It says there was a...Demon? Outbreak? Earlier this summer. Little over a dozen people were killed. This memorial is dedicated to them...and to the people who put their lives on the line to defend the Nexus."

[fightlikehell]

"Buck?" Even if he didn't uncover his mouth, Matt would hear him just fine. That's not yet something he's ready to let on. Hopefully Steve won't begrudge him because of that. They walk close enough together. The white cane taps along the way as he follows the sound of Steve's steps.

"You know you took the words out of my mouth, Steve." Maybe not swell but close enough. Matt smiles just a little. They're coming up on their destination. It's not a happy place. Still important. Worth seeing. Magic isn't exactly something he's ever encountered but the air feels electric, strange the way a graveyard at midnight might. He taps his way to the placard and guides his hand to the lettering even as Steve speaks.

[juststeverogers]

The letters are raised so Matt should be able to feel them out. Broken portals. Demons invading the Nexus. Anti-violence field shattered. Death. Destruction.

Remembrance.

It's all there, just as Steve says.

The shorter of the two is brushing snow off of the offerings left at the base of the memorial.

"...The field's fixed now though, right? You'd think so, anyway. Nothing else looks broken..." Steve wonders.

[fightlikehell]

There is a places at home that feel like this. Solemn, quiet and filled with lingering emotions. At least Nexus for all of it's overlapping knows when to take pause. The placard is an even better touch to mark the place where these people...beings had been. That's what Matt wants to touch upon. Feel the dimensions. Touch a piece of it.

"I haven't heard anything that would say otherwise. So yeah. It is fixed." He's not sure what broken would look like, really.

This kind of an attack on innocent people, that's the makings of war.

[juststeverogers]

"That's good. I was going to ask you to hit me to see if it was working, but I wasn't sure if that would constitute permission. Magic is weird." Steve pushes himself back upright and brushes the snow from his pants.

"...You asked earlier? About Bucky. He's my friend. I saw him here, when I arrived. Hurt. Broken. That...and seein' this place. That's what made me want to do whatever I could, here. My world might be gone, but there's folks here that need protectin' too. They just don't know it because of this field."

[fightlikehell]

He fully turns in the direction of Steve's voice. His glasses slip down his nose some. The amused, scornful look would have more impact if his eyes focused but he knows Steve is there. "And then some." As he turns back he nudges the other man's leg with his cane. Not violence but something? The pressure is greatly decreased.

A friend hurt, possibly helpless... people attacked and unprovoked. That's more than enough to drive anyone to action. "You won't be alone in that Steve." Privately Matt makes a promise to answer that call to action here. "But I think you'll be an inspiration."

[juststeverogers]

"This place has a lot of heroes already." Steve shrugs. "The difference is, they also have their own worlds to worry about. I don't, not at the moment anyway, so if I throw myself into training--then if something happens, maybe I'll be able to help."

How, he's not sure. There's literal...what did Verity call them? Super heroes? Point is there's crazy strong people here already. He's not sure what he can hope to add to it, but giving up just because he was small and weak was never something Steve could do.

He looks down at the nudge at his leg. ?? Maybe Matt was trying to figure out where he was? It's nothing more than a light tap from his side.

[fightlikehell]

"You ever think there's a reason a lot of heroes are here? I mean, " some people, some people like Matt believe that these things happen for a reason beyond understanding. It feels fitting to meet Steve Rogers. This one even. "Might be just in case."

The tap of his cane is just that. Nothing more. No pain. No force. Just a test.

[juststeverogers]

"I think because heroes tend to be where they're needed." Steve gives a small shrug. "And they come hereto be themselves. but trouble follows those who fight it."

It would make an awful lot of sense, given everything he's seen.

"I want to be able to help make a difference."