pineslog | I'll follow behind you on rainbow road

Who: CAPTAIN AMERICA WANTS YOU
Where: The Baromanogerneson Residence (i.e., 5031)
When: May 9th
What: Mario Kart and subversion, two great tastes that taste great together.
Warnings: Please warn in subjects as needed!
[Open]

The thought had formed pretty much as soon as he'd opened the box that was left on the front porch. The people here need a way to talk. There are two rooms in the house where they would be free to do so. He'd come home one day — not long after the body had disappeared from the upstairs bathroom and all the cameras he'd ripped from their wiring between there and the garage had been put back in place in their absence with a friendly maintenance note left behind that all fixtures in need of repair had been seen to, along with a bill for the expenses — to find Natasha sitting on the bed, writing a note in Sharpie. He'd leaned against the door frame and watched her hold it up to the cameras and make a deal: Steve wouldn't break any more cameras, if they give them the privacy of their bedrooms. As there had only been the three of them at the time (despite the insistence in his head that the house has always been filled by his teammates, just as he remembers of the last few years before Wayward Pines), that had meant the master bedroom downstairs, and Bucky's upstairs.

It had actually worked, though Steve wouldn't have trusted the word of whoever's behind the cameras himself if it weren't for Natasha's daily inspections, and so far the deal's held.

But it's not — can't be — a luxury only afforded to them, for their own sakes. He's told others here and there, and he knows his friends have, too. It's not enough, but nor does he have a way to get people over without arousing suspicion. But then there's the Nintendo system. A little unorthodox, as far as his own methods go, but he'll work with anything he has.

He doesn't put it down anywhere in writing, letting news of the party travel by word of mouth and hoping that's enough to keep it out of the wrong ears. At least for now. There's a chance — a good chance — that it will eventually get the Sheriff's attention, but by then it will have had the effect it's supposed to and given the people here the chance to speak to each other truthfully. And if that comes down on anyone, it's gonna be the people prepared to deal with it.

The day of the ninth is a rainy one, a good day to stay inside and play games with friends. It also provides a good excuse to use the master bedroom just off the end of the foyer as a temporary coat room. Straight ahead in the living room, Mario Kart is all ready to go, and in the kitchen next to that, snack food and drinks are available.

((ooc: THIS IS A MINGLE POST. While I will be tagging around with Steve a bit, this is mostly to give people a chance to chat with each other without the cameras watching. Per Natasha's deal with the powers that be, the cameras in the master bedroom and Bucky's room upstairs have been removed. Natasha will be greeting people at the door and taking them on a "tour" (i.e., to the master bedroom to explain the camera situation, why the party's really happening, and that they are not to discuss the lack of cameras while elsewhere in the house). Feel free to wander in there any time for a chat, or simply enjoy some Mario Kart and refreshments! Commenting around is encouraged, and please note in your top-levels whether they're open or closed. If you have any questions for me I can be found on plurk (

jeeps) or discord (jeeps#9644).))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[At first, news of a party doesn't tickle Jack's interest the way it might for some teens. Video games run on tek he's not familiar with, even less so. Both are foreign, both seem like a distraction from the real problems of the day.

But when he finds out it's being staged at the same house that once held the body of their missing monster friend, he changes his mind. Now that could be interesting. He joins the influx of party guests, stopping briefly to watch this "Mario Kart" stuff in action (... huh) before orchestrating an excuse to make his way into an unmonitored room.

Using the tour to get there isn't out of the question, as the last time he'd been in and out of Steve's house before the cameras were repaired so they wouldn't have clocked him inside the premises, but street cameras might have still caught him in the vicinity. Rather than pretend it's first time learning the lay of the land, it's much easier to toss out an offhand joke that he's curious what kind of lingerie a redhead keeps in her underwear drawer. Once inside, he sighs. There's not a lot of relaxing to be had even with the cameras gone--the disease causing the symptoms hasn't changed.]}

... Yeah, but how does this help us? We still don't know who's behind the surveillance yet, do we?

_{[But hey, on the other hand it must be nice to change clothes in peace and quiet.]}

[ Steve's pretty sure Natasha would take the joke in stride if she heard it, that it would be an easy sacrifice for her to make to the need for subterfuge here. She's a professional, her morals occasionally flexible when it comes to getting the job done and the larger imperative at hand.

Funnily enough, Steve isn't Natasha — less flexible than steadfast — and he gives Jack an unimpressed look as he closes the door to the master bedroom behind them. The expression smooths out only slightly as he shakes his head. ]

Harder to find out if we can't talk about it, though. Or fight back.

_{[Well, no one would believe him if he said he was sneaking off to see Steve's underwear collection. Jack's not that type of guy... (that he knows of)... and besides, it's probably just all the usual boring guy stuff in Steve's collection.

... Probably. If you have any lacy thongs, dude, please keep those to yourself.

Glancing around the room in the kind of cursory once-over everyone gives a private space they've just entered for first time (a primal instinct to check and see if any of those said unmentionables are hanging out in the open), Jack's gaze finally rests back on Steve, an offhand smile playing at his mouth. In any other time and place, he'd be the perfect demographic for a Mario Kart party and the last person you'd expect taking part in conspiracy and collusion.]}

That's true... but how can you be sure they're not just going to sneak out of their spy lair and reinstall everything?

_{[It'd happened at Jack's house, the first time he'd found a camera and "accidentally" fumbled it, breaking it on the floor. The next time he'd checked, there'd been a new camera. They're a clever bunch, to get their surveillance back up and running so quickly and quietly.]}

We can't.

[ The same thing's happened in this house more than once, and under much less ambiguous circumstances, i.e., Steve had been the clear instigator of the broken cameras, having deliberately and conspicuously been the one to reach for them each time before he'd ripped them from their wiring. Part of Natasha's negotiation had been that he wouldn't do that anymore, despite never actually clearing that part with Steve. ]

That's why we check 'em every day. So far they're holding up their end of the bargain. [ Not that Steve sounds impressed. Agreeing to less surveillance means agreeing to some, and that's not his style. It's assuredly Natasha's, however. ] Until they decide not to, it's an advantage. Doesn't make it ideal.

[ He doesn't close the door behind them (suspicious if too many of their guests have conversations with them or each other behind closed doors), but Steve leads Jack a little deeper into the room, closer to the pile of coats and purses and, not coincidentally, farther from the door and the cameras outside of it. ] You're not from around here.

[ He doesn't just mean this town, which he guesses Jack's smart enough to get, despite his inattention in class. ]

Well... that's the part I don't get. _{[Slow, thoughtful.]} They watch you less openly, but what do they get out of it? Have you seen them? Talked to them?

_{["They." It's the only name Jack has to use, what with how little he actually knows of the people who saved his life just to separate him from his team. It's hard to fight an enemy you don't know, just as it must be hard to make a reliable agreement with someone you can't see.

Steve is certainly right about one thing--Jack is from somewhere where the rules of conflict are often very different. Like most everything else. These glossy, magazine-style homes remain alien to him to this day, and he deliberately moves in a way that keeps him from touching anything accidentally. This is a monument to indulgent living he doesn't feel welcome to marvel at.]}

That obvious, huh? _{[It doubtlessly is when he's like a tourist in a foreign land.]} I'm an Agito cadet. From Rubrum.

_{[... Wow, it's been a long time since he's said those words aloud. Admitted the truth of them with his own voice.

It brings on a strange sense of homecoming, and on its heels, loss.]}

It was Hitchcock, actually.

[ His displacement's probably more obvious to Jack than most of the people around him, themselves concerned with their own ability to blend in, but yeah, Steve's observant. And he's made other opportunities to talk to people not from around here, or anywhere like here, so this news doesn't phase him. He just lets Jack have a moment, looking away briefly. ]

A soldier, huh? That's something we have in common.

[ For his part, Steve's learned to live with the luxuries, even if they're never likely to make him feel at home. That place is lost for good, so he can only treat them as the resources they are to keep doing his job, keep living. An occasional raised glass to the kid who didn't have any of it, when he can stand to be that philosophical. ] I suppose they appreciate that it keeps me from breaking all of 'em, [ he continues in answer to Jack's question, the emphasis on 'all'. ] But I don't know any more than you do. All of this was done through the cameras.

[ Jack may get the distinct sense that Steve doesn't entirely approve, either. But give him an inch and he'll damn well take a mile. ]

_{[Hitchcock what? Jack lets it go without asking; if he questioned every time someone in town says something confusing, that's all he'd ever do.]}

Wow, no way. I just thought you worked out a lot. Lifting paint cans is probably good for toning up the muscles.

_{[The flash of a grin marks this a joke firstly, and secondly that he's not entirely surprised by the admission. People with Steve's kind of conditioning have an air about them. Much as Jack likes to make light of it in himself, he supposes he must have moments of it, too, when an inhuman scream from the woods causes his fingers to curl around an invisible sword hilt.]}

Hmm, kind of hard to get a good deal when you don't know the terms you're dealing with. _{[An observation more than a critique. Asking for the cameras to be removed merely so more won't be damaged and having their captors actually comply is more suspicious than the cameras themselves.]} Makes you wonder what the catch is.

I'll follow behind you on rainbow road

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