Home is where the heart is (for chiron_survivor )

[juststeverogers]

It started with the running away.

Every time Steve would be beside himself with worry and go looking about the Nexus fruitlessly until his friend would see fit to return back home to Steve. It didn't take long for him to simply message Adia and warn her to keep an eye out for the Braviary because he was loose again. He invariably went looking for her whenever he ran off from Steve's place. Steve thought moving to a new home with more space for the pokemon would make the pokemon feel more at home, but no luck there.

They've been talking about it for a while now.

Every so often Steve and Adia will chat over text, worry over that to do. What would be best for everyone. They nearly made a decision before spring came crashing down on Adia and hard. There was no time for less urgent matters like this. But things are resolved now, better than they were, according to Steve's friend. It's as good as time as any to have a talk.

"Alright everyone, we're heading to the park!"

Steve files them out of the house and makes sure to coax Bucky into coming along too. He and Adia both need to talk to their fine feathered friend.

Comments

[juststeverogers]

That's what Steve's worried about. He's heard all kinds of stories and rumors about things happening in the Nexus. Just because a guy wearing his face shows up and says he's Steve too doesn't make it so. Hell, it could be Loki in disguise for all Steve knows and that thought sets the soldier on edge ever so slightly.

Until he checks this out for himself it's going to bother him. Steve knows it.

"You're right." He tells Adia. She's been through so much lately. Steve doesn't want to give her something else to worry about before he even knows if there's anything to worry about at all. "I'll have to keep an eye out for him. Thanks for filling me in."

[chiron_survivor]

She can tell that Steve finds the news disconcerting -- rightly so. It's an aspect of the Nexus that unnerves her, that it's possible to run into another version of yourself or a loved one. But she's fairly certain that there's nothing ominous about Other Steve. (Not that she's never been wrong about someone before, but...) "At least it won't be a surprise for you. You should talk to Jim and ask how he handles it."

Still hung up on what Adia meant by encountering a not-nice alternate, Caspar adds distractedly, "It's a real mindfrak seeing your face on someone else for the first time, trust me..."

The human conversation leaves Tepig looking bored. She trots over to Zelus and Ethel and introduces herself with a friendly "Tep!" Maybe the four of them could engage in a game of tag before it's time to go?

[juststeverogers]

"You'd think I'd be used to that considering this isn't really my body."

The mindfuck of seeing his face on someone else happens daily. Steve's gotten used to it. Somehow throwing someone else wearing that face into the mix makes it even more weird though. Adia's got the right idea. He'll have to talk to Jim and see if the captain's got any advice for dealing with this kind of thing. He doesn't really know the other Captaion Kirk very well so it's the only real option open to him.

The idea of tag makes Ethel give a bit of a scowl, but it won't take much promoting from Sarah and a bit of a nudge from Zelus for her to begrudgingly get to her feet and shake her head to limber up. Alright you kids. You asked for this. Ethel may not have the speed any of the other pokemon have but she'll still be running when they're out of breath and begging for mercy. Let the games begin.

[chiron_survivor]

Caspar blinks at Steve's admission. "What are you talking about?" he asks before Adia can redirect the conversation. He's only known Steve as the broad-shouldered do-gooder of the Nexus and beyond. "I thought you were human?"

Adia flashes Steve an apologetic look. Obviously this never came up in conversation between them. Hopefully he's comfortable explaining his transformation.

Ethel's scowl does not deter Princess, who bounces up and down impatiently until the other pokémon cajole the Shieldon into joining their game of tag. She races around -- not as fast as Sarah or Zelus, but she is a smaller target. The gleeful look on her face is evidence enough that she's having a wonderful time. Caspar tries his best to get enough playtime in with her, but nothing beats some good old school fun with other pokémon.

[juststeverogers]

"Oh I am." Steve gives a wry twist of his mouth that somehow isn't a smile despite it being fundamentally the same motion as one. "But my body was a lot smaller and a lot weaker up until--"

Here Steve falters because time is a tricky thing. It's been years for him since he was last in the Nexus but only months for the friends he left behind when he took the fatal blow from the Nexus invading augment. He has to narrow his eyes and try to remember how long they said it was here. Because he knows 'almost a century' isn't going to help clear things up.

"--I guess until a little over half a year ago."

Is that really all it's been?

Zelus is the fastest of all of them but in order to not cheat he's forced to be much slower hopping and trotting along the ground. It leaves Sarah as the all out quickest but she'll also be the first to tire. Princess has a similar attitude and Ethel's confident she can tag all of them eventually. Like a juggernaut unleashed she will doggedly follow them until one begins to flag and she can tag them.

[chiron_survivor]

"When he was badly injured during the Khan invasion," Adia adds, and Caspar lets out a quiet "ah" of recognition in response. He's heard plenty about the Khan invasion, in all its lurid detail, although he always paid more attention to how a certain psychopath took advantage of the mayhem that Khan brought to the Nexus.

"Didn't realize you had changed in the interim," he says, shrugging a shoulder in apology for bringing it up in the first place. "Wouldn't have minded an upgrade for myself, personally, but... yeah. That's hard to get used to."

And then he's content to let the subject drop -- ha and Adia both -- as they watch the pokémon play together. It puts a smile on Adia's face and takes some of the tension out of Caspar's shoulders.

Sarah is tagged first, burning out all her energy early on as predicted. Zelus flutters his wings once or twice, getting a little bit of lift in hi hops -- not cheating! But Ethel tags him anyway when he doesn't hop out of the way fast enough. Tepig lasts another minute or two before she misjudges the space under a bush and is tagged while trying to squirm away. Ethel lifts her head and lets out a triumphant, metallic cry. The Shieldon is once again champion!

"We should be heading back," Adia says, once the game is over. "Caspar needs to return Tepig to Professor Madrone's lab and I should talk to him about setting up some space for Zelus."

[juststeverogers]

There's a definite palpable feeling of gratitude when Adia steps in and the subject is dropped. No matter how hard Steve tries, trying to explain time and the Nexus leads to everyone getting frustrated in one regard or another. Steve's grateful enough to accept things for what they are and spend time with his friends here. Grateful to have not lost them as he has everyone from his old time.

It's only a little jarring to whistle and have only Sarah and Ethel trot over, though Zelus at least turns and looks at Steve out of habit before he makes his way over toward Adia with Princess instead. Steve smiles. He knows the braviary will be happy with this new arrangement once he's gotten used to his new surroundings.

"You all have a good evening and a safe trip back home." Sarah and Ethel each get headpats form Steve when they reach the soldier's side before he straightens up again. "Take care of them, Zelus."

[chiron_survivor]

Adia gets up off the bench so she can give Steve and the other pokémon a proper goodbye. "You have a good evening, too. I'll let you know how everything goes. If you think of anything else, just shoot me a text."

It's a little jarring for her, too, but she remembers what it was like to be solely responsible for a pokémon's welfare. This time she has a even stronger network of resources to draw from. "Ready to go?" she asks Zelus.

The Braviary lowers his head towards Steve, a gesture of respect and affirmation. He will take good care of them. Even... ugh, Caspar...

Pokémon playtime over, Princess oinks and tugs at Caspar's shoelaces until he relents and scoops her up, softie that he is. "Later," he says to Steve, and Princess oinks again. Goodbye, new friends!