Routine Adjustments, Catch-All Log for February [Open+Closed prompts]

[worthallthis]

characters: Soldat etc, open and closed prompts
location: Various, see each prompt
date/time: February 4 - 15, non-event stuff
content: Some new additions to the usual routine, some quiet grieving, and some dancing
warnings: Just the usual Bucky shit


I. Expanded Patrols, All Over + Invincible [Open]

With downtown open, and so far away in the snow, patrols take a little longer. Soldat spends a week in early February balancing locations until they find the optimum route for the morning and afternoon patrols (or, the 0500 and 1600 patrols, since there's no real morning or afternoon in a world of endless night). After that, snow and ice or not, they can be found reliably following one looping path or the other, depending on the time of day. Sometimes with company, sometimes not. Sometimes stopping at the scrapyard to give the dog-spirit a treat and sift through the junk in search of something useful. Sometimes wandering the halls of the school, wondering what it would have been like to attend one. Sometimes glowering at the mall downtown with the stupid crocodile spirits in the lower level.

And after, lingering in the warm Invincible tavern room and kitchen, listening to people, playing music softly on their tablet, and munching idly on sandwiches or whatever Midge has made that day while they play a newly remembered boredom-dispelling game: solitaire.

They're willing to segue into poker, should anyone come to join them before they get up to clean their dishes in the kitchen and go home to sleep.


II. Expanded Hours, Gym [Open]

Wednesday and Friday, like clockwork, after the 1600 patrol along the downtown loop, Soldat is at the gym with Javert and Jason for weapons and survival lessons or, if no one shows up for those, sparring and practice. Because practicing outside is kind of dumb when it's freezing, and because the trees behind Aziraphale and Crowley's cabin are starting to look rather worst for wear, Soldat winds up adding another day during the week-- sometimes Monday, sometimes Saturday, whenever they have time. They just show up at the rec center and throw knives at things, slash at imaginary opponents all across the gym floor, and hit things with the flesh fist (the metal one doesn't need to practice; it's a machine).

Feel free to join in. Or watch and wolf-whistle. Whatever.


III. Fading Hope, Church [Open]

Between actual routine activities, Soldat has spare time. They don't normally like spare time, and try to find useful ways to fill it, but the first week or so of February, it's good that they have it, because they spend most of it in the church.

Scarlett, their very first friend since Steve Rogers, had an obituary. Scarlett has been gone for possibly weeks. Scarlett might still come back, and Soldat wants to be there when she does. Or at least find her as soon after as possible. Make sure she's all right.

So they sit in a pew near the back, feet propped unrepentantly on the pew back in front of them, and hold a notebook over their knees, sometimes writing (slow and halting, occasionally hasty scribbles), sometimes just staring at the blank pages. Waiting.


IV. Buck Up, Sad Boy [Closed to Misty]

Scarlett is gone, apparently for good, but. Well. They're not. And other people are not. And they can only wallow in Sad for so long before the Sergeant nags them into doing something they enjoy, even with the Asset apparently enjoying the mope. So after clearing out Scarlett's things from her old room (boxing up the more personal effects in their own room, distributing her canned food supply to the store), they head to Misty's.

They have a plan. This will cheer them both up, they hope. So they knock, tablet already out and clutched to their chest, and hope she's awake.


V. Dragged Along for Research [Closed to Sora]

The library is not really Soldat's favorite place, but here they are anyway, trailing along behind Sora, looking around at the books in a somewhat blank and lost manner. There's so damn many. How do you even know where to start.

Thankfully, that's what hyperactive teenagers are for. Start them in the right direction, Sora. Or at least start them somewhere.


VI. Wildcard

Got an idea not on here for something you'd like to do with Soldat before the memshare event? Hit me up, I am open to p much anything and everything.

Comments

[shadowsran]

For better or worse, her injured hand keeps Misty plenty awake. The door is opened within the minute, and beyond vague dishevelment there's little cause for worry. They're largely past greetings in her opinion - she merely smiles and steps back, ushering him in from the cold.

The deviation from a schedule is intriguing, though.

"Something wrong, or just looking to kill time?"

[worthallthis]

"I want to show you something."

They come inside and take off their coat to hang up, that part is easy enough, like a hundred time before, now. Then they look around her living room, at the couch, at the coffee table. That's the harder part, asking for something out of the ordinary. "Can I move some of your furniture? I'll put it back, after."

[shadowsran]

Her head tilts slightly, but it's amused, curious, and that's the full extent of her commentary on the oddity of it. He's likely got a good reason and she's not too fussed about it anyway - nothing to do but nod.

"Don't see why not, sure." Moving to nudge the coffee table at least aside for him with the side of a leg she adds, "Is this a good thing?"

[worthallthis]

"Yes, it's a good thing. I think it is, anyway." If Misty doesn't like dancing, then maybe it's not, but they're reasonably sure she won't disapprove. They push the couch further to one side, closer to the far wall, and the coffee table over into the kitchen, well out of the way. They move a couple of her plants, for good measure, then set the tablet on the now-safe coffee table and hit the button to start the little mini-playlist folder.

A cheerful 40s dance tune starts up, all brassy trumpets and bouncy clarinets, and Soldat takes a deep breath, squares their shoulders, and offers their hand to Misty. (The one that would be opposite her good one, of course. She's healing, but they're not going to jeopardize that.)

[shadowsran]

Well that's. A shock. A good one, but a hilariously far cry from the fist bumps, nudges, and rare head pats she's been scraping by on. What brought the leap in progress or memory, she doesn't know - and won't ask until later. No wasting this or cutting his momentum in the moment. Too exciting.

"I don't know what I'm doing," she warns, careful to keep her tone amusing enough not to discourage. Self conciousness might play a part. Though she does accept the metal hand without any fight beyond that. "Not allowed to laugh."

[worthallthis]

Oh good, she's not averse to dancing. Not that they really thought she would be, but... they just worry needlessly, sometimes (all the time). This might still be a disaster, but maybe it will be fun, too. Like snowball fights. "Misty. I won't laugh. I'll show you. That's what a good dancer does. They lead." And according to Midge-- and their own memory, now-- they're a pretty good dancer.

And with that, they pull her into a turn, starting a simple set of steps from the Lindy-- nothing fancy on her part. It's a slightly slower dance tempo than some pieces, specifically in case she didn't know how to dance. Where necessary, they'll murmur what to do, but mostly hands and feet to the guiding, a lift and a turn here, a little footwork there. They are, in fact, a good dancer.

[shadowsran]

A far, far cry from a disaster. She fears for a moment he'll overextend himself, have proposed the idea with good intentions and quickly hit the same contact barrier, but it fades. He seems fine and there seems little risk he'll trip her over anything - so she allows it to be fine. Also a worrier, she's learned decently enough to turn it off. Small bursts.

It's nice. Not a talent she expected of him, but a fantastic surprise. Exact steps will take more than one round to memorize, but she has rhythm and takes direction quite well - just stoked to be there, really.

"You should be careful, if I have too much fun or get anything like good we'll have to make a habit of it."

V.

[arsarcanum]

Sora is definitely doing that thing where he's hopping between a friend lagging behind and the location he needs to get them to because he is a child! Adults move so slowly! What is this taking in the ambiance nonsense, huh? There are friends to see! Books to read! Mostly friends to see! And a good several things to research while they're at it. Sora isn't sure if the exact things that the Soldier will need to remember things will be here, but he is a HUGE advocate for not knowing a single thing unless you try.

"C'mon, you gotta say hi to the Librarian whenever you come in!" He'd be tugging the soldier's pant leg if he were a dog here. He just stares soulfully at them, trying not to hop around like a five year old. He likes to think he's past that stage in life. (He's getting there!) "They get lonely! At least, I think they do."

[worthallthis]

And you wonder why they picked a frog for you, Sora. Soldat doesn't pick up the pace despite the obvious attempt to urge them to. Perhaps a little bit because they're a contrary asshole, sometimes, but mostly because they're uncertain. They only ever come in here to look for people, or occasionally to just duck in from the cold for a minute on patrol. Not to actually, you know, look at books.

[arsarcanum]

He's going to ribbit at them in defiance someday. Anyway, he'll come back from his latest bop between the two locations, his shoulders going from tight with excitement to a little slouched in concern. He doesn't want to force them to do any of this, especially since they were pretty adamant about all of the memories coming back as randomly as possible. He doesn't know if it's, like, the laws of the universe or the soldier feeling daunted by the endeavor, but he'd at least like to get them on board with all of this if it's the latter. (If it's the former, Sora doesn't care. The laws of the universe are more like really harshly worded advice as far as he's concerned.)

"I'm gonna go gray and wrinkly by the time we get there." Just like Stone. "C'mon, what's keepin' ya?"

[worthallthis]

"You have a long time before you go gray," Soldat says, tilting their head a little in mock-sternness. "Learn patience."

Then, after a beat, they admit more seriously, and with a more normal, quiet tone: "Sorry. Hunting memories doesn't usually go easy." Or work at all. They don't want to get their hopes up, and that appears to be translating into ducking into themselves a little like the turtle their speed probably resembles, as far as Sora's concerned.

[arsarcanum]

A sigh, and a salute. "Yes sir."

And this, oddly enough, triggers another echo for him? This is the first time he's ever saluted at an authority figure overseeing his training even as a joke, after all. His eyes go a little unfocused for a few seconds, then he relaxes, putting down his hand at staring at it uneasily. He wishes it was just as easy for them.

Which is, actually, what Sora comes back to in the conversation - how hard this is going to be. "It can't be all that far away." Sora makes a fist. "I mean, even if this doesn't work, we can always just go somewhere else and try again. And the work we put in here is important too!"

[worthallthis]

Sometimes it is. When they aren't expecting it. Just not when they're hunting for it. They start to swat the flesh hand in his general direction (not close enough to even brush him with it, of course) at the salute-- that's wrong, no one should be saluting to them, they're just a Sergeant-- but pause and drop their hand when Sora does his now-familiar moment of zoning out. Do they look like that, when they get caught up in internal conversations, or their own memories?

"I know. I'm sorry, I know you want to help. We'll see if we can find anything." They pause, looking from Sora's face to his hand, too. "What did you see."

iii

[lunchbreaks]

It's been a little bit since they'd seen each other last. Having mostly been stuffed back into a recognizable shape, he had gone to the cabin to check up on Crowley and then come directly to the church. He'd thought of praying, when he spies the Soldier in the back.

He doesn't want to disturb his writing, so he just takes a seat beside him. "Hullo, dear."

[worthallthis]

Soldat twitches all over when Aziraphale drops onto the pew next to them, looking up sharply from their current notebook scribblings and blinking once. That's Aziraphale. The angel. Who's been missing for the past week.

The notebook gets tossed aside and their feet come down so they can turn around and grab Aziraphale's wrist, which isn't much in the way of contact, but still more than they've done voluntarily. "Aziraphale! Where have you been! I was afraid you'd gotten eaten by something!"

[lunchbreaks]

Aziraphale nearly jumps out of his seat when Bucky takes his wrist.

"Oh--"

Oh, that's almost sweet.

"--I wasn't feeling right. And you know, Crowley needed the bed, he's asleep. Didn't want to... transfer it to him, so I. Ah, left."

It's technically the truth.

[worthallthis]

Aziraphale wasn't feeling well. In the middle of everyone's lanterns malfunctioning. So he just decided to vanish. They stare at him for a long moment in baffled consternation, before coming up with, "And you couldn't leave a fucking note?" Soldat shakes his wrist once, not gently exactly, but not hard enough to hurt. Just hard enough to make a point, that they're holding it, and want him to maybe pay attention and shape up a little.

Look, just because you make them nervous, doesn't mean they don't care about you, angel, Jesus. Living in that house alone with just Crowley asleep in the next room was more torture than spending half that event with all the metal in their body going nuts and slicing up their back.

[lunchbreaks]

Aziraphale looks at his wrist and then jerks it away. "No. I couldn't have you coming after me, or anyone, to be honest, and it wasn't-- It's very complicated, but I assure you that I acted out of safety for everyone else around me."

"Would've... been best, if everyone had just assumed I had died and would be returning in a week," he admits.

[worthallthis]

They let him go, snatching their hand back at the first sign that Aziraphale doesn't approve of the contact. They absolutely overstepped there, but Jesus, who wouldn't? They look back at the pew in front of them, torn between frustration, relief that their housemate is in fact all right, the familiar spike of fear, and stupidly wanting to cry. (Why does everything make us want to fucking cry lately? No. Shut up, Asset.) None of it shows on their face, at least.

But their voice is maybe a little bit wobbly when they say, "You are a technician. If you tell me to do something, I do it. I wouldn't have followed if you said not to." They can't criticise him more than that. But being left alone and not knowing what had happened was almost worse than the threat of punishment.

wildcard

[mewtiny]

Mewtwo waits for the soldier's patrol circuit to reach the armory. It hovers at its mediocre twenty feet height, observing the trees and surrounding area as if watching for something else, and when the soldier appears, it drops down in front of him.

It shifts its tail a bit so it can look at its own lantern, squinting to make sure it's in order. "My lantern appears to have returned to normal."

[worthallthis]

Soldat just twitches a little, blinking, but then offers a little smile. "Hello to you, too." They're feeling better than they had, the last time they spoke. They can be a little less stoic. "Glad you're lantern's okay. Looks like the worst of that is over."

Theirs still has its tiny crack, the Asset is still making monosyllabic commentary now and then, but it's... bearable. They can deal with it.

[mewtiny]

Mewtwo nods. This is about as good as conversation as it generally gets. A friendly back and forth exchange accounting for horrible things that they've been through.

"I attended the meeting in town. I believe I understand more about the situation. I was hoping we could make plans to speak to the spirits before something else delays us."

wait I coulda sworn I replied to this hours ago...

[worthallthis]

"Oh." No wonder they came out to talk to them. Mewtwo doesn't usually come chat just to say hi. That seems kind of... sad, actually, to the extrovert who still doesn't always know how to interact with the people they love. (Maybe we ought to come in and say hello, on our patrols. Might be a good idea. Bring music in case they don't feel like talking. Even better, knowing this guy. Ready for the mission. You know, startin' to think that means it agrees. No.)

But regarding the matter at hand: "Sure. Any day you like. I visit my friend on my 1600 patrol. You could come along."

[mewtiny]

Mewtwo has two modes- ready for action and philosophical inaction. Social skills aren't a necessarily a part of its existence and the empathy expansion pack didn't come with an instruction manual.

But... On the other hand, this is about as excited as the Soldier has seen it. Maybe not smiling, maybe not with a cant to its voice that seems jovial, but a certain energy.

"I would like that. I need something to... focus on."

It's basic needs have been taken care of- it has food and shelter, it has an understanding of the situation, but its purpose still eludes it.

[worthallthis]

Soldat is, perhaps unsurprisingly, sympathetic. Not having a purpose is the absolute worst. They've had to work hard, for a long time, with a lot of help, to fill in the empty spaces of their daily routine and feel less aimless. "Downtime is hard," they agree. Maybe talking to Owl Friend will help, though it might only be for an afternoon, if it doesn't work... hmm.

Not borrowing trouble. It might work, and Mewtwo might spent the rest of their year and a half here talking to spirits all the time. They'll worry about what else they can do if it doesn't work. "All right. Tomorrow at 1600, you can meet me at the bonfire. We'll bring my friend coffee and you can try to talk to them, too."

Gives Soldat a chance to ask Owl Friend today if that's okay, on today's patrol.

They pause. "Do you have a name? So I know how to introduce you." They're not sure if not knowing the giant psychic cat's name is rude or not, but it was never actually offered, and... well, it never actually occurred to Soldat to ask. It's like it never came up.