And back again [open]

[noparachute]

Who: Steve Rogers and anyone
Where: Tony's room and around the city
When: February 23rd
Summary: Steve comes back after staying in his world for about 70 years. Cue making sure that Tony is okay and reorienting himself with Saeng Seong.
Warnings: Steve being a grumpy old man.


[Locked to Tony]

Steve wasn't very happy, to say the least. He thought that he would be getting a little time to himself after the battle in New York, time to maybe adjust to the new era or at least see how much had changed since his frozen slumber in the ice. But no, he woke up in another unfamiliar place without any warning. Of course the unfamiliar place became familiar once his memories came rushing back. Saeng Seong, right. He was... small when he was last here. It seemed so long ago. Steve briefly wondered if any of his friends were still here, how much time had passed in this place.

Oh, and Tony. He was here before. So was Loki- and okay, he needed to see if his teammate was alright and if Loki had done anything since his disappearance. Exploring the city would need to come after.

With that task in mind, Steve headed to Tony's apartment and knocked on his door, trying to remain calm despite the frustration he was feeling. He was getting sick of being transported to places without knowing how much time had passed.

[option a; open]

After being reassured that Loki hadn't done anything destructive yet and getting an explanation on how much time had passed, Steve decided that it would be a good time to walk around Saeng Seong again. Although, barely any time had passed since he was gone, almost the opposite of how it was on Earth.

Figures. A small part of him wished that only three days passed when he took the plane down.

Still, he had to do this. It wasn't like he remembered every single detail of this city... and he just really needed the fresh air. So Steve could be found around the districts, stopping every so often at different shops with a look of surprise. Surprise that it remained unchanged even though he knew it had only been a short amount of time. Or Steve could be seen walking down the street and turning his head at everything in almost a daze.

[option b; open]

Afterward, Steve was just sitting down on a bench in the park, staring down at his folded hands and looking a bit distracted. He needed a little time to take this all in still. Maybe he was overreacting, but just seeing the city almost unchanged... it was just a bit mind-boggling to him.

"Just three days..." Steve mumbled to himself, although his voice was clear enough to be heard. He also was a little angry about everything, but he tried to keep things to himself as he sat there on the bench.

Comments

[lightstrike]

She didn't think that would work, considering how much bigger Steve was, but she guessed that the bigger they were, the harder they fell.

So she took advantage of that, sitting on top of Steve to aim her fists at any part of him she could reach. He was going to shove her off and get up sooner or later, and she wanted to get in as many hits as possible.

[noparachute]

Despite landing rather hard on his back, Steve fought back, blocking a few of her strikes although some of them still connected. They hurt and he wasn't about to let this continue, so he didn't hold back when he shoved her off of him. It had been a while since he used his full strength against another human, but Steve felt it was necessary at that moment.

Once she was off, Steve quickly jumped back to his feet, still looking like he could take a lot more rounds.

[lightstrike]

When Steve threw her off, she twisted her body as soon as she hit the mat, so she could roll into a position to get back onto her feet.

And of course, once she got back on her feet, she was at it again, charging him. Lightning had her fist up in mimicry of a punch, but that's all it was. If it connected, it wasn't going to be strong. She was just expecting him to either dodge or block and if he did, she'd follow it up with a kick.

[noparachute]

He was ready as she charged at him, dodging the punch and managing to block her kick with his arm. Steve grunted from the force and strain, that was definitely going to bruise tomorrow, but he held up as he went in for a kick, trying to hit her in the side this time.

[lightstrike]

Lightning dodged-- or at least she thought she managed to dodge out of the way. But she clearly misjudged Steve's reach when it came to his legs, so he definitely got her in the side, making her grunt. And that was going to be an even worse bruise than the mark on her cheek was going to be. She'd have to apply a Cure on that later.

Clearly she had to be quicker and more careful now.

She broke away from him completely, putting a few feet between them-- hopefully out of his range, but a distance Lightning could cover easily if she put her legs into it. She didn't attack, just shuffled her feet to put her in a slow circling motion around him.

[noparachute]

Steve watched as she pulled back, enough out of his range so that he wouldn't be able to try for another hit. He didn't remain standing for long though, as he started to move in a circle as well, not wanting to have his back turned towards her. Never have your back facing the opponent, right?

He went in for another attack, this time rushing in and feinting to the left before throwing a punch at her from the right.

[lightstrike]

Lightning didn't expect him to feint, though the blow still missed her-- barely, but missed her at least-- but not because she dodged left or right, but because she dropped into a crouch. If he were any other person, Lightning would have just taken the hit, but she'd rather not put too many Cures into herself when she could be conserving her energy. Steve could really hurt her if she wasn't careful.

But down there, she didn't take the opportunity to sweep his feet and take him down again, because it was the obvious choice in this situation. And she wasn't about to shove him down and hit him while he was on his back when he could just easily throw her off again and put them back at square one.

Instead she rolled to the side and used that to get her standing again, giving her the opportunity to aim another kick at him.

[noparachute]

Steve was expecting her to sweep his feet when she dropped down, so he stepped back a bit, only to see her stand up again and swing her leg towards him. He couldn't get out of range for that one. The blow directly landed and Steve already knew that area was going to look ugly tomorrow, but he clenched his teeth to keep himself from saying anything and dashed forward to try and punch her in the stomach.

[lightstrike]

She took that punch, grunting as his fist connected.

Lightning couldn't get out of the way for that one, so she took it, and knew it wasn't going to be a good look on her tomorrow even if she steeled herself for it. It was still going to be big though, with ugly coloring and downright painful for her if she didn't a Cure to ease it.

But she was determined to pay him back for that blow, and with interest.

She jumped away, way out of his reach again to bait him into rushing her again.

[noparachute]

She definitely took the hits, that was for certain.

He jumped back a few feet himself, trying to assess the situation and plan his next move. But he didn't wait too long and started to run towards her, except this time he jumped mid-run and twisted his body in such a way to try and kick her in the shoulder in a downward arch while attempting to land on his feet still.

[lightstrike]

Unfortunately, there was a limit to how much she could take. She wasn't like Snow or even Fang who were excellent defenders. She wasn't even like Hope, who was so easily knocked out, but had a kind of drive to pay back whatever damage he took in double, maybe even triple.

And Steve's final blow really shoved her past her limit.

Before she knew it, she was down on her back on the mats, breathing hard and wondering where the Behemoth that hit her went to-- before remembering that it wasn't a Behemoth. It was Steve, and it stung her pride. Even moreso when she raised the hand not attached to the shoulder that Steve had it. She's done.

[noparachute]

When she didn't get up again and raised her hand, Steve relaxed knowing that the spar was over. He was trying to breathe a little more normally again as he ignored the sweat covering his face.

After a few seconds, he offered a hand for her to grab, smiling a little in the process. "Good match." Steve was completely honest as he said that, it wasn't just out of being polite or anything similar to it.

[lightstrike]

"Hmph."

Lightning's pride was bruised, and she wasn't about to injure it further by accepting his help in getting up. So she got up herself, slowly and stiffly, favoring her injured shoulder, and tsked. It didn't feel broken, or dislocated, so it was probably just sore, and she could apply one Cure to it and it wouldn't be as bad.

So she placed her hand on her chest, drawing the bright blue magic from her brand, and touched it to her shoulder. It was easing already-- good.

[noparachute]

His smile wavered when Lightning got up on her own, but he didn't say anything about it. Steve hoped that she wasn't too upset about this, but he figured that going easy on her would be even more insulting. So he lowered his arm and stood around awkwardly for a while until he noticed the blue glow emitting from her hand.

"Is that magic? A healing sort?" He could only guess, since she was putting her glowing hand against her shoulder now.

[lightstrike]

"Yeah."

She quirked an eyebrow up at him. The look on his face... What, he'd never seen magic before? And yet he correctly guessed what it was-- then again, it was obvious what it was for.

"What, you want one?"

[noparachute]

"Sorry, just haven't seen magic like this before." He didn't know that Lightning could use magic, but he shouldn't be surprised by it anymore. A lot of people apparently could use it around these parts. "Can you create lightning too?" It was a really stupid joke and Steve wondered why he even said something like that. He hoped to make the atmosphere lighter, but he wasn't the best at these type of things really.

"Um- no, it's okay. Don't wanna make you waste your magic on me, I heal fast." Steve wasn't too comfortable about demanding healing magic for himself, even if the bruises on him are stinging a bit now. But he could deal with them, he had before.

[lightstrike]

That eyebrow stayed up. She should have expected that comment to come, really. After all, it was a joke about her own name.

Instead of replying, she let the magic speak for itself. She returned her hand to that point just above her breasts, and drew a Thunder spell from it-- but only to a point, just to let Steve see the little yellow bolts of electricity crackling between her palm and her chest. She didn't let it linger, and stopped casting the spell, letting it fade away harmlessly.

"If you want to see more, we shouldn't be indoors."

[noparachute]

That definitely answered his question. Steve watched with curiosity at the sparks appeared before they disappeared again. "Don't need a hammer either." He wondered how Lightning would react to Thor, Steve imagined that he would like a good spar with her as well. Figures that only Loki was here and not his brother.

Oh, he should probably explain why he said that though. "Guy back home- well, not back home exactly, but someone I knew. He could summon lightning using a mystical hammer."

He was interested to see what else Lightning could do, but... "You don't mind? Don't want to use it more on yourself?" The healing magic, of course.

[lightstrike]

She snorted. "No, I wasn't going to show you."

She was being snarky, but maybe the bruising on both her body and pride dampened that a little. So instead Lightning just busied herself with taking inventory of her body, poking at her side and wincing. She put a cure on that too.

[noparachute]

"Oh." Steve rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed that he missed the intent of her comment.

"Take it that we're done for today?" Guess he should start heading back to his apartment to patch himself up a bit. He wouldn't need a whole lot of personal care, but some stuff to stop the swelling would be good.

[lightstrike]

"Since there's nothing else to do? Yeah, I'd say we're done." Best to just hobble on back to her apartment to take care of the parts she didn't want to waste a Cure on.

Though... He did help her, even if it was really more of knocking the wind out of her.

"Hey, wait for a bit." She pulled another Cure from her brand, and sent the spell to where she knew she had hit him the hardest. It was the least she could do.

[noparachute]

"Let me know if you wanna do this again." He'd be happy to have another spar against her, good practice and all that.

Thinking that their conversation was over, Steve turned to leave, but he stopped and looked back at her when she called out to him. He suddenly felt the injury from the kick start to heal up and Steve blinked for a moment, before smiling in gratitude. "Thanks. That really helped out."