abraxaslogs | [ CLOSED ] on the ice i'm afraid

[ Steve nods in acknowledgment of what's owed, even if it was meant as a joke. He does feel a twinge of guilt for what happened, even if it hadn't been intentional, so as they walk he keeps an eye out for another tavern that might be more open to taking them.

The remark about Sam isn't all that surprising here, and Steve lets out a little scoff of a laugh and shrugs. ]

There was something he said about that. "I do what he does, just slower."

[ It's something that's stuck with Steve ever since. Sam has remained at his six in all the years that followed, at least when he was around to do so. There's a lengthy pause before Steve glances over to catch Geralt's gaze. ]

At this point, though, I think he's overtaken me.

[ There's no resentment in his voice or on his face when he says that. If anything, he looks relieved. ]

[ What does Sam do? Geralt has never asked, now that he thinks about it—not for lack of interest, but because Sam's always presented himself as a soldier (former, mostly, rather than present) and that's been sufficient for Geralt. Soldiers, no matter the world, are generally the same.

Steve's arrival adding to the mix has made him wonder, though. ]

Here? Or back home?

[ He's aware Steve is—was—no longer in Sam's life, has not been for a good chunk of time. The way Sam told it, Geralt presumed Steve dead, but he knows there's more to it that's...complicated. Not a betrayal, exactly. An unexpected decision, maybe. ]

[ It's a fair question, and Steve's pace slows slightly as he thinks it over. ]

I meant here, but I guess it applies back home too.

[ They've had the talk by now, about what happened to Steve when he left to return the Stones. About why Sam had been left to take on the mantle of Captain America, and it hadn't come easily. (How could it?) It's something he's still processing, if he's honest, and he hadn't expected this to come up with Geralt of all people.

Though maybe he should have, given how close he knows he and Sam have become. ]

Actually, things are a lot less complicated here. I'm offering him support where I can, but he was doing just fine without me.

[ Again, he means this in a genuine way, completely without any sort of resentment. If anything, he sounds proud. ]

[ Geralt glances over, absorbing that for a moment. Steve does sound proud. And though he's always heard the admiration in Sam's voice when the topic of Steve's come up, that still catches his attention. ]

Sam spoke of you as a friend, but you speak of him as his mentor.

[ It's interesting, that's all.

Less complicated to be sure, though. He doesn't know if it applies to him—things feel no more or less complicated than when he was on the Continent—but. It does help, knowing no one is after Ciri here. Her secret is protected.

For now. ]

[ A mentor. Is that right? Steve thinks of Sam as a friend and a partner first and foremost, but there's no denying the fact that he had trained him up to be an Avenger right alongside Wanda and Vision. He'd needed less teaching in most cases, already having the experience of a soldier, but the work that an Avenger did was on a whole other level, and Sam didn't have enhancements. Natasha had plenty to show him from that perspective too. ]

I never really thought of it like that, but I guess you're not wrong. Sam knew what he was doing, but... joining a superhero team is a whole different ballgame.

[ He probably shouldn't use baseball terms with someone like Geralt. Well, too late.

Taking note of a tavern on the right hand side of the street that's both open and not overly rowdy from the sound of it, Steve nods toward it and leads them inside. ]

Find a table. I'll get us drinks.

[ It may not really have been his fault that Geralt had to leave the last place, but he wants to make up for it all the same. ]

[ A what? Steve receives a raised eyebrow at that term.

Geralt isn't expecting Steve to pay up what he owes now—or at all—but he'll not complain. He finds a seat that's undoubtedly typical of him: in a corner, against the wall, door in view. It's a quieter place, bit cleaner, with a few candles beginning to light for the setting sun.

He picks up the conversation as though it'd not been interrupted. ] Sam said he was a soldier. But we shared some memories. Early in.

[ As in: he's aware Sam is more than a soldier. He's seen some of it, through Sam's eyes. Things that, to this day, he isn't sure what to make of. Never seemed that important to ask, beyond the bits and pieces Sam's told him over a few ales. He saw enough, though. Let's just say he wasn't surprised when Sam showed up with some wings strapped to him, like a fucking steel bird. ]

You also fly?

[ They've sat together in a tavern once before, in Libertas before it had been bombed to hell. Steve has some idea of what sort of drink Geralt likes for that reason, and joins him holding a pint in each hand. He sets the drinks down on the table as he sits, not at all thrown off when Geralt picks up right where they'd left off.

They shared memories, huh. That's not so different from sharing dreams, which is something Steve experienced shortly after arriving here. He gets the idea, anyway.

He lets out a huff of a laugh at that question, then shakes his head. ]

No, I usually rely on him for the air support. When he was in the military he received special training with those wings as part of his pararescue unit.

[ And now he has them here, thanks to Tony. Steve's glad that Tony's had that as a project to keep him occupied, somehow working out how to make a version of them even with the downgraded technology available. Though if anyone could do that, it's him. ]

He's not enhanced, not like most of the rest of us on the team. He's got that specialized skillset, but no additional power or resilience beyond that of a normal person. Of course, powers aren't the only thing you need to be effective in a fight.

Edited 2023-01-13 23:12 (UTC)

He's mentioned. Sorry I missed his trials in the sky.

[ If he learned anything about experimental inventions through the Free Cities, it's that they never go as planned. And Sam does not provide him with that many opportunities to give the man shit.

Though Steve, he notices, answers the question with details about Sam more than about himself. Worth noting, if not surprising. He can understand. He isn't too inclined to discuss his own circumstances. Still, his interest was caught when Steve had said So am I the last time they spoke; now with the added remark of enhancements, Geralt decides to pull on that thread.

In the way he prefers. Directly. ]

Is that what you are? Enhanced?

Edited 2023-01-15 17:02 (UTC)

[ Steve figured that Geralt got the general gist of what he was during their last conversation and hadn't been interested to learn any of the grittier details, but it seems now is the time. He gives a quick nod before taking a long sip from his glass.

He doesn't mind talking about it, really. It's the most important decision he's made in his life, but it still was his decision. Which makes all the difference. ]

I volunteered for an experimental project run by the military. They were hoping to make a super-soldier to help them win the war. Enhanced strength, speed, resilience...

[ Steve pauses then, glancing down at himself. At a broad chest, muscled arms that will stay that way regardless of how much or how little he exercises, and so on. He's had ten years with it now, but even so... ]

I didn't always look like this. Used to a be a lot smaller.

[ To give Geralt an idea of just how involved this project really was. ]

[ Now why doesn't that sound familiar. Winning a war seems to be the common denominator. Against other humans, against monsters. But it's the second aspect which catches his attention. Geralt raises an eyebrow: intrigued, not skeptical.

Hard to imagine Steve smaller. ]

I've never heard of mutations taking effect in a grown man. [ Not successfully. Or...that would be the kindest presumption. It's possible the mages simply found children easier to recruit and mould and train, and chose not to bother with refining the process for the adult form. ] Witchers have always been created from boyhood.

[ The information is dispensed matter-of-fact, a little distantly. As though he's skipping over the implications behind what he's saying. ]

[ Mutations? Is that what Geralt would call it? It's not entirely wrong, as the combination of the serum and the vita rays had altered Steve's very genetic makeup.

What's implied next is what truly grabs Steve's attention, though, and he gives Geralt a long look as it sinks in. A Witcher. That's what he is, and it's why he isn't like a normal human. But it was done to him when he was a boy?

Steve doesn't hide his disdain. He doesn't think he needs to. Surely by now Geralt has come to understand how messed up that is, even if he hadn't realized it when he was just a kid. ]

Always? Just how long has it been going on? And who's behind it?

[ He can't quite remove the outrage from his voice, though it's not like he's speaking loudly or making a scene. ]

[ Geralt's gaze shifts up, then back down. Not wholly dismissive—maybe a sense that for all he understands the reaction, he doesn't know what to do with it. Only when he stepped off the Continent did he begin to come across it. Back home, the history of the Witchers is nothing new—and few gave a shit. ]

Dead. [ Is the eventual blunt answer. ] Hasn't been another Witcher in a century.

[ He doesn't get into it, how much his own were at fault as the mages, the humans. His mother may have given him away and the mages may have administered the Trials, but it was a Witcher who dragged the wagon of young boys up the mountain.

He rests his fingers on the lip of his mug. He considers asking how many like Steve were made, too. But he's not certain it matters a damn anymore. ] Suppose we're both one of a kind here.

[ A century. Meaning that Geralt is at least that old. Technically so is Steve, but it isn't the same unless Geralt was also frozen for seventy or so years. Which he's going to say is probably pretty unlikely. ]

... Huh. Yeah. Guess we are.

[ He raps his fingers against the tabletop for a moment before realizing it's probably obnoxious and drawing his hand into his lap. He heaves out a long sigh. ]

Do you remember much from before it? Or can you pretty much not imagine another way?

[ Steve could offer condolences, but he doesn't think they would mean much to Geralt. Like it or not, this is his life, and he seems to have made some sort of peace with it. You would have to after that long. ]

A summer or two. Sure. [ That's all the time that makes up before. A handful of years. He tips his head, something of a shrug in the gesture. ] Another life, really.

[ One that's not been a part of him for a long time. He remembers like one remembers a child they once knew; distant, not quite him—something he only thinks about when the topic arises. Mostly, when he considers his childhood, it begins at the gates of Kaer Morhen.

Steve is right. He has made his peace. Inasmuch as peace ever enters his life. He had a family he actually gives a shit about, and he knows that's more than most ever receive. ]

Could be worse. [ His eyebrow lifts. ] I might've been raised collecting leeches.

[ Another life. Steve nods, maybe a little too emphatically, because that's how the time from before the serum feels to him too. Even though it had been over twenty years of his life, the time that's passed makes it feel like he was a different person back then.

And, well, in a lot of ways he had been. Though nothing has changed at the core. That's the whole reason Erskine's formula even worked.

Before Steve can respond, Geralt cuts in with that next wry comment and it takes him by surprise. A curt laugh startles out of him, maybe the first one he's ever managed around Geralt. ] That's... those are your options? Child experiments or collecting leeches?

[ He lets out a low whistle and shakes his head to himself, then takes a long drink. ]

Well, I'm glad you made it out the other end and found your way. For better or worse.

[ His lips quirk. No. Not quite. But the point stands. ] What were yours?

[ People do not simply volunteer to be experimented upon without a reason. It's a personal question; he doesn't expect a genuine answer, wouldn't be bothered if Steve doesn't grant him one. They don't know each other like that.

Maybe a little better than two hours ago.

Still, rocky start aside, Steve is Sam's friend. One of the few Sam's ever spoken of. And he does trust Sam's judgement, if not necessarily all of his friends. ]

[ CLOSED ] on the ice i'm afraid

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