Mermay!!

[pursuitofcappiness]

WHO: Steve Rogers
WHERE: all around
WHAT: MERMAY
WHEN: MERMAY
WARNINGS: ....MERMAY

darling it's better

Steve can be found on his now early-morning swim around town, zipping past anyone. He'll happily deliver anything to anyone within the confines of Temba, for any reason, in the early morning, since he makes a whole loop around. He's faster than a shark, but he's got a rather ostentatious blue tail, with red and white striped fins.

He seems to be in a decent mood, if only because he's having trouble with a lot of his memories of the past that don't reconcile with his ones of being a merman. Anytime he tries too hard to wonder why there's a lack of water if he thinks too hard, the memory disappears like seafoam.

He's having one of those such moments, paused mid-fin flip, eyes in concentration as he starts to sink, but then, he shakes his head, and keeps swimming. That was weird!

down where it's wetter

Sitting on a rock somewhere, Steve's drawing things into the sand. If you ask, he could make a whole series of drawings, each of them replacing the last, ephemeral in nature, washed away by the waves.

"I can try drawing you next," he offers. He's not sure how portraits will work out in the sand, but he'll give it a good college try.

take it from me!

[ cw: injury ]

Having swum through a whole nest of sea urchins in order to grab one, somehow Steve'd accidentally loosened a whole bunch of them, and they'd fallen, mostly on his tail.

He swims out of there quickly, but he has lots of barbs sticking out. He pauses to pull one out, only to manage to accidentally shatter a few of the ones in a cluster and leave them further embedded into his tail. Trying to violently flip it doesn't really help, either. He needs to swim somewhere he can sit down and address this as best as he can.

"Tell me you have tweezers on you," he requests of the nearest He-Row that he finds.

Comments

[sinistral]

"Fine." But there's no heat, no annoyance in it. If anything, the response holds threads of amusement, like this is a shade of conversations past. Too bad the Soldier doesn't remember any of it.

"Running out of aquatic life here," he play grumbles, crossing his arms and trying to hide the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of hours mouth. A sand castle hadn't been aquatic life, after all. "What about...a squid."

[pursuitofcappiness]

"If I was drawing a squid, I wouldn't be having so much trouble with your tentacles," Steve says, smiling. "And I never said I was drawing aquatic life." Either aquatic, or life. "Do you wanna do twenty questions?"

Maybe that'll help narrow it down, but, he's sort of enjoying this game as it is.

[sinistral]

"I'm not a squid." It's not an excuse Steve!!! But he is almost always in motion, surely it's actually making Steve's job harder than it would be otherwise. "Would it help if I stayed still?"

The Soldier does make a face at the suggestion of the new game, because it feels like it might make things too easy. "If I get up to twenty guesses you'd probably tell me anyway. A boat." That's not really aquatic, for all that boats move through the water. The Soldier believes he's sunk a few.

[pursuitofcappiness]

"Maybe not, but you have tentacles," he counters. That part at least is true, and makes sense. It's easy to utilize one to draw the other.

"A boat," he responds, deadpan. "I guess that's closer, but no." There, he even gives free hints. Very generous of him.

[sinistral]

"They're different." Now he's just being difficult. On purpose of course; something tells him that this is the way he should be, that this is natural for interacting with Steve. He'll have to examine that more closely.

"You guess," he grumbles, in the tone of voice that asks does Steve even know?!? That too is part of the act; he really isn't grumpy at all but somehow letting Steve know he's enjoying the game doesn't seem quite right. "A c—"

He frowns and shakes his head. Car? That doesn't seem right, there are no cars under the water.

[pursuitofcappiness]

A c? What is that? Steve looks over and just wonders if maybe he's having an episode the way Steve does sometimes, grasping for a memory and then being unable to find whatever it was. Very strange.

He blinks at Soldier.

"Everything okay?" he asks.

[sinistral]

Oh. Oh, Steve noticed that. The Soldier tries to shake it off, he's fine, nothing to see here.

"Yeah. A crab, that's my guess." Because that's much more sensible than a car, never mind that it falls into the aquatic life category.

[pursuitofcappiness]

He did notice, but he lets Bucky let it go for them and moves onto finish the game. After all, he also doesn't like it when people notice.

"A crab," he says, and then says: "That's further away."

[sinistral]

Not noticing together, the true mark of friendship. But at least Steve lets it drop so neither of them have to focus on it.

"Seashells," he says finally, knowing it's probably not likely. But whatever it was is long washed away.

[pursuitofcappiness]

Not likely. But it might be a little mean not telling Bucky - the thing he'd drawn isn't something that exists down here, but that he'd seen in a dream that feels so real. He'd accept, however, the closest equivalent down here, or the general category it belongs to.

But he shakes his head no. "Not a seashell."

[sinistral]

"Could be a seashell," he grumbles, though it's just the way waves move the sand around forming those scalloped patterns. "What about..."

He has to pause and think. Not aquatic, not life. A boat was closest to it. "A building?"

[pursuitofcappiness]

Steve nods, delighted. "It was a building." It wasn't any of the ones down here, though, so he doesn't think Bucky would know what it was exactly. It was one of the ones from his memories.

But, as he says that, he finishes up his drawing. "Come look?"

[sinistral]

"See? Didn't need twenty questions." Took him longer than maybe it should have, but he got there.

He makes his way over to Steve's side, looking at the drawing. It's actually pretty damn good, for being drawn in and and likely to be washed away by the waves. But the imperfect medium also means that he doesn't have to dwell on those things about his anatomy on which he doesn't like to dwell. "Looks good."

[pursuitofcappiness]

Steve nods, rather proud of his piece. "Thanks," he says. Then, he offers Bucky the stick. "Do you wanna try?" This was a fun exercise, maybe he wants to play too.

[sinistral]

He shakes his head, leaving the sick in Steve's hand. "Never been an artist. Won't magically be one overnight." He knows he's not going to be any good at it. Even with the forgiveness of shifting sand he doesn't think he'd do justice to any kind of drawing.

[pursuitofcappiness]

"Doesn't mean you don't get to draw in the sand," he says. "Just 'cause I'm not a cook doesn't mean I can't learn." Might be a bad comparison because Steve hasn't been good at it for a long time despite lots of effort.

[sinistral]

The Soldier gives Steve a look, then uses the tip of one of the metal tentacles to trace a star in the sand, near to Steve. "Took my turn. Back to you."

Is assholery a love language? Is assholery even a word?!?

[pursuitofcappiness]

Steve looks at the star in the sand. It's. Uh, well, it's not the best. But he'll give Bucky a pass, because he's not an artist.

"Alright. What's next?" he asks.

[sinistral]

The star is lopsided and sad looking, clearly not the work of an artist. But that's fine.

"You said you wanted to draw a sand castle. But you can draw whatever." Bucky's tentacles roam over the sand, searching out a pair of shells that he passes up to his hands. "Found some decorations for you."

[pursuitofcappiness]

"I did, didn't I?" he asks, but then, he adds: "What's the difference between a sandcastle and a regular castle if I draw it in sand?" That's something to muse on as Bucky hands him a shell.

"Oh, thanks," he says. "Maybe you could help me draw the castle."

[sinistral]

"Hmmm..." The Soldier makes a thoughtful noise, trying to decide if the question is serious or not. Could go either way really. "One has a moat," he finally decides. "Don't need a moat under water."

But does Steve really want his help? He couldn't even manage the straight lines of a star! He's better off fishing shells or rocks or tiny forgotten baubles out of the sand to decorate. "Maybe. If you really want me to."

[pursuitofcappiness]

He has a point. It's kind of a stupid point, but it is a point.

"Why do people need a moat above water?" he asks. "Wouldn't you just swim through it?" Sounds silly.

[sinistral]

It's kind of a stupid conversation. But that's good in a way too, low stakes and relaxed. Somehow it seems important to be able to talk like this, carefree in a way the Soldier hadn't felt often lately.

Another thoughtful noise as he digs out bits of shell from the sand, considering. "What if you couldn't swim?"

[pursuitofcappiness]

Steve looks at Bucky like maybe he's hit his head. "Why wouldn't you be able to swim?" he asks. Everyone can swim, right?

"Doesn't seem like a very good army," he says.

[sinistral]

"Maybe you got hurt." He waves one of the metal tentacles. Without them he'd be distinctly lopsided. "Maybe something got you so bad it's hard to move."

He makes a noncommittal noise in response to that supposition. Even a bad army could win on numbers, right?