Whatever you do it's all good

[paragon]

Who: Steve Rogers + assorted others
Where: 5031, the sheriff's station
When: Backdated to the night of the 26th and a couple of days after.
What: Wayward Pines' rendition of Weekend at Bernie's, i.e., transporting a dead body.
Warnings: The corpse-related grossness that's par for the course of this event; feel free to use headers liberally.
[Closed to various]

fellow lawbreakers at the rogers-romanoff-barnes residence; the 26th

[ Bucky's been keeping Steve briefed and in the loop ever since Nyx brought him in on what they found in the river. While the body is certainly a mystery, it does confirm one thing Steve's suspected since he'd first started to wrap his head around the dichotomy of memories here — that whatever lies have been put in their heads by the people who don't want them asking questions, those same connections can only work against the powers that be in the end. For his part Steve is glad to let that happen.

For all his experience with all of the ways a body can fail, it's always been something he's resisted down to his bones, trying to shrug it off even as it's lodged itself there like frozen winters and gunshot wounds. He's always just figured that as long as he had a chance to keep ahead of it, he wouldn't slow down long enough to let it catch up to him. Watching someone else die, though — that's a different story. A familiar one, maybe, but he's not any more interested in getting used to it now than he was when he watched his mother coughing herself to death. (Or Bucky falling, or Peggy's mind failing her.) So he doesn't. Instead he carries Natasha to the car, stumbling as he goes like he's ninety-five pounds soaking wet again with two left feet. It occurs to him he's still never danced. He doesn't count memories of things that never happened, and he knows she wouldn't either.

After two days of sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair, he's almost relieved when Bucky tells him he's needed elsewhere. Somewhere he might actually be able to do some good.

He knows now that the cameras get replaced when no one is home to see it, so Steve leaves them for the time being, and he and Bucky drive towards the water, first making a pit stop to pick up Prompto and his camera. When they get closer he's careful to leave the car where it won't be seen, well back from the cordoned off section of the river though it'll mean a longer trek back with the body in tow. Still, he and Bucky have both recovered somewhat just in the day since they stopped drinking the water themselves, and between the group of them (and one fairly loud explosion, which he imagines he'll hear about later), they're able to wrangle the body into a tarp in the rear of the station wagon.

(Part of him can't help but regret that they had tarp in the garage at all, but he grabs it anyway out of some residual gratitude for the car's last use in getting Natasha to the hospital.)

Steve goes ahead of the group into the house to break the cameras along their path after telling Izumi he can lead the way a few seconds behind him, up the stairs to Bucky's bathroom. The cameras in the living room and kitchen are left alone, however, so once the body's settled and their motley crew begins to make their way back downstairs, any conversation about it must still remain hushed. There are, however, safer spots for such conversations thanks to Natasha's careful angling, so anyone who seems inclined to do so might find themselves nudged in that direction by Steve. It's not the only thing he's learned from her, and he knows it will only look more suspicious if they all leave now, looking various stages of wet, muddy and exhausted. ]

Can't get that kind of workout at the gym. Who's hungry? Pretty sure we've got bottled water in the fridge, too.

[ Yum. ]

ibaraki at the sheriff's station; the 28th

[ The body disappears sometime late morning or early afternoon — hard to say and no one's fault, really. There was only so long they could expect to keep it hidden once the cameras were taken out and lives had to be gone about as usual.

At least it gives him a chance to visit Ibaraki at the station after he gets home from school to find the tub empty. He's not worried; if they were planning to arrest him, they would've done so already. He's been in the same place all day, so it seems they're more concerned with keeping things quiet than exposing him as a troublemaker. That he holds himself stiff and straight while the officer at the front desk inspects the tin of cookies he'd brought with him has little to do with worry for himself and more to do with the fact that they're keeping a young girl locked up in a jail cell. He doesn't necessarily mean to be imposing but can accomplish it without much effort when he's unhappy, and the officer seems only too glad to hand it back to him and point the way through.

Steve heads in that direction and peers inside at the sleeping horned girl; there's some faint sense of recognition for her that probably precedes the last couple days, but he can't place it beyond that. He taps the tin once, lightly, on a bar to announce himself before speaking. ] Ibaraki?

Comments

[bulletfool]

[ After a long day of hauling around a gross body, Izumi is ready to kick back and relax. As long as he's not breaking rules within the scope of the cameras, he doesn't see why he should be on edge. The promise of bottled water gets a bright look out of him, but he's got a craving for something else as he faces Steve. ]

Do you have juice?

[paragon]

[ Steve nods him over to the fridge, opening it to show Izumi the contents. There's actually a fair amount of juice inside: OJ, apple, pomegranate. There's also an unopened bottle of prune juice. ]

I'd say pick your poison, but . . .

[ Wry enough, but overall he seems to be pretty chipper for a guy who just hauled a carcass across town in his station wagon. ]

[bulletfool]

[ Izumi studies the fridge's content from a respectable distance, admiring the variety that wouldn't be found in his own house. Here's a veritable juice bar, a good place in his book. ]

I'll have orange. Are those all yours, Mr. Rogers?

[paragon]

Yeah. Well, most of 'em. Not sure who the prune juice belongs to, since I think it counts as a gift.

[ Nominally. He leans down to grab the orange juice, then closes the fridge and takes the bottle to the counter so he can set it down and open the cupboard for a glass. ]

My, uh— wife thinks she's funny.

[ After another second of consideration, he gets down two glasses — his throat's suddenly a little dry. Don't tell Natasha he called her that, Izumi. There are just some ways in which he's always gonna be an old fashioned kinda guy, which includes his taste in music and, apparently, how comfortable he is talking about his live-in girlfriend with a student.

He pours. ]

Caught us on a day we're running a little low, actually.

[sirnyxalot]

[Nyx hadn't been planning on going with the crew back to the house. He trusts them enough to let them handle the body from that point on, and figured it would have been a bit suspicious if anyone saw the lot of them all going to the same place. He fully intended to go home and wash up.

As the body got settled into the wagon, however, Nyx had realized that the idea of walking back was a daunting task. He's been awake for Far Too Long, and the last couple of times he actually tried to sleep were filled with feverish nightmares. He's running on fumes. If he were in the middle of a battle he'd be a liability at best.

So squishing into the car it is.

When they get to Steve and Bucky's, Nyx opts to stay downstairs instead of following them up to the bathroom. He finds a sturdy looking wall to lean against, letting go of the weight of the last couple of days and closes his eyes. A few minutes to chill and regain some energy before leaving couldn't hurt.

Maybe with the cameras out he could take the risk to try and figure out what the hell is going on here, too.]

[ouzel]

[ Cassian had vaguely considered walking back from the woods, but...with the explosion he was honestly concerned the sheriff's office might just start sweeping the roads back to town so like everyone else, he piled in the incredibly crowded vehicle and made his way with his roommate, a body, and a motley crew of residents back to the house where Steve, Bucky and Natasha lived.

This entire ordeal has been...interesting. Watching people who remember interacting with one another and yet are aware (at various levels, probably) that those memories might not be real, coming together in order to solve a mystery that affects everyone's health because the powers that be are probably in on it or at least don't have their best interests in mind. Evaluating the skills everyone brings to the table and wondering what that says about him, that he's perfectly comfortable to be quiet and just watch.

Plus occasionally put in his two cents here or there.

Probably doesn't say anything good, really.

Either way, Cassian is still in watch-everyone-mode when he comes out of the kitchen, water bottle in hand, and catches Nyx napping standing up against a wall. Not a bad look, honestly, but. ]

Hey.

[ Do all their conversations start this way? (Probably.) ]

Maybe you should take the couch?

[sirnyxalot]

[Nyx opens his eyes as Cassian comes out of the kitchen, quirking a smile at the simple greeting. He hasn't had much of an opportunity to talk to the man since he started remembering. It's only been like three days, but that's hardly the point.]

Probably not a bad idea.

[His voice is little more than an exhausted rumble, but he also makes no move to get off the wall that was holding him up.]

[ouzel]

[ Cassian tilts his head before giving it a little shake and putting his water bottle in his jacket pocket before his hand ends up at Nyx's elbow and he gives a little bit of an encouraging pull. ]

You don't even have to lay down. Sitting will do just fine.

later, after Nyx's conversation with Cassian

[paragon]

[ Even back in civilian life — and Steve doesn't mistake this for any such thing, despite the trappings and the memories — you notice as a matter of course when the people around you are on their last leg. Once a commanding officer always a commanding officer, or at least that's how Steve explains the part of him that will always be assessing, always be ready. That Nyx was never really one of his men, well — it doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference to that part of Steve's head.

He's certainly had to make his men keep moving in spite of it before, but Nyx has done all he can here, so he's either sticking around because of some sense of duty that clings in probably no small part thanks to the exhaustion, or because moving seems like a daunting prospect. Both, probably.

Once Cassian leaves his side, Steve makes his way over, clapping a hand on Nyx's shoulder (on his uninjured side). ] Got a guest room, if you want it.

[sirnyxalot]

[After getting something in his system besides adrenaline, Nyx couldn't keep going anymore. He'd made a good show of it for Cassian, but the truth was that there were no enemies here. There was no reason to force it until he collapsed or started hallucinating. Not even the threat of nightmares was a good enough deterrent.

He stops staring blankly at the opposite wall when Steve approaches. Blinks up at him and debated the merits of a bed over the couch.]

Probably not a bad idea. Won't need more than a couple hours.

[paragon]

Have it as long as you like. Follow me.

[ The command in his voice is mostly unconscious, though the part that isn't comes from the awareness that sometimes the conditioned response to it is all the tug necessary to get a resting man moving again. He lets go of Nyx's shoulder and turns around, starting in the direction of the stairs so that when he speaks again it's over his own shoulder. ]

Once you rest up I wouldn't mind you sticking around for longer. I need to get back to the hospital at some point.

[ Someone'll need to keep watch so Junyoung can get everything he needs. ]

the drive up; CLOSED to steve ( and bucky too if you'd like to chime in at any time! c: )

[failtography]

( what a whirlwind it's been. the revelation of their false memories have exacted no cheap toll on the young gunner and his sleep, further exacerbating the lack of rest his condition has left him in. he's going to crash hard later for sure, but prompto still has a bit of energy in reserve yet. besides, just being on the road, in a car again, is something he can appreciate, even if it makes him miss the rest of his friends terribly. )

Um - Steve? ( he starts, a little haltingly; the name still feels foreign on his tongue, seeing that he's unused to it by virtue of them actually being strangers to each other more than the man having been his teacher once. ) Got a question. Might sound a lil' strange too, but hear me out -- y'had anything weird happening to your memories, recently? ( aranea had mentioned him and nat, after all, as having possibly gained access to their true memories. the other guy she didn't say anything about, and neither does his face register as anything familiar but prompto figures that in the case of them having to go lowkey, steve could probably take care of it. )

[paragon]

[ His only view of Prompto at the moment is in the rearview, and Steve automatically glances toward it to look at him when he asks the question. Prompto's view of him is less limited by angles and reflections, however; he'll be able to see the suddenly fixed set of Steve's jaw and how the question does little to change his posture as he drives, but if anything it only speaks to more discomfiture on Steve's part than if he'd run the car off the road. ]

You just got 'em back?

[ He'd assumed the trajectory for remembering would be more or less the same for everyone, the realization that it isn't seeming to settle over him like a revelation and weight. They're smart to forbid them to talk about it, if it meant this basic understanding was apparently beyond him. None of them really know what anyone remembers, and they can't push back against it together if they know nothing about each other. He does glance away from the road and into the backseat at Prompto then, briefly but with something of an apology writ in the lines on his brow. He doesn't know what he wouldn't done differently, but something. ]

Aranea?

he...llo............ sorry i've been missing iM BACK NOW

[failtography]

Yeah, both of us at the same time. We're not -- ( actually married. or even vaguely involved with each other, at all. the slightest reminder of it is enough to twist his stomach with both a distant echo of nausea and the twinge of regret; while it's sickening enough that the faceless entity behind this seems to have no qualms with messing around in their minds to play out some strange game of pretend, the authenticity those false memories projected is worse still. ) - from around here. Guessing you guys aren't, either?

backtag buddies tho!!

[paragon]

[ Steve looks back at the road as Prompto speaks, fairly sure he knows where that answer leads and also the last guy to make the kid say it aloud. ] Nope.

[ He straightens his shoulders slightly, as though he needs to bother, his posture relaxed but far from a slouch. ]

I'm sorry. If I'd known you were still in the dark I would've spoken to you both. [ It's sure as hell not an assumption he's gonna make in the future. ] Where are you from?

[naneunyulyeongibnida]

Hey, uh--

[ Junyoung's voice rings out from the bathroom. Right now he's occupied, kneeling in the bathtub with the body the others hauled here.

He's dressed in scrubs, with a surgical mask and safety goggles on, and double gloved. He's doing his best to do a makeshift autopsy on the body while half straddling it. It's challenging.

And it's made more so by this cat, who keeps walking along the edge of the tub or slapping his tools into it. ]

Hey, can someone help me? Come get the cat. Please?

[ There's a pause... he's not sure what the cameras can and cannot pick up, and he is raising is voice. ]

I mean... I'm just in here trying to do my business in peace and it's kinda weird having him in here just staring at me.

[bulletfool]

Coming!

[ Izumi volunteers—not because he likes cats (they're okay), but because it'd be cool to get a sneak peek of the autopsy. Abandoning his drink on the nearest surface, he climbs the stairs at a casual pace so as not to raise suspicion on the cameras and enters the bathroom, where he stops to gawk at the scene. ]

Whoa . . . that's disgusting.

[ Unsettling, too, but worth it for that same reason. That's not why he's here, though. Izumi approaches the cat on the edge of the tub. ]

All right, time to go downstairs. Whose cat is this, anyway?

[paragon]

Did you fall in?

[ It's been a few minutes since Izumi took the cat out of the bathroom and left the door closed behind him. Steve gives it a rap with a knuckle to announce his presence before speaking — not entirely for the cameras' benefit, though the care with which he turns the knob afterwards certainly is. ]

Got everything you need in here?

[ Listen, with everything going on in this town, is it any wonder they're all concerned about Dr. Cho's intestinal troubles? ]

Sorry about Liho. Let me know if he gives you any more trouble, we think he's figuring out how to open doors.

HERES THE JAIL IT NEVER FAILS IT MAKES ME WANNA... blow up another car

[dehanded]

[ using her noble phantasm takes an immense amont of mana, more than she really has these days. its only thanks to her craft essence that she managed to fire one off and it didn't kill her when she did, slowly helping her regain a tiny amount of energy. but the power of sleep helps conserve everything.

she's curled up on the bunk, her elaborate kimono draped over her like an incredibly expensive blanket — no matter how many times the sheriff's office has taken it away, she just rematerializes it again. it works as a blanket and a pillow, more than just the clothes she was wearing when she blew up the car for them.

but she hears that noise, and even through a closed tin, she can smell the cookies inside. waking starts out as a slow process but quickly gets faster as she starts to rise before — SLAM. faster than the human eye can follow, ibaraki jumps from her spot on the bed and rushes to the cell door. like. super fast. fast enough that she disturbs the air, creating a little bit of an indoor breeze with her passing.

... hi steve. ibaraki is currently latched onto the bars of her cell with her hands like a goddamn howler monkey, holding herself up off of the ground and at eye level with him, but she's still looking down at the tin of cookies. ]

Is that from jiji? [ she means nyx, of course. ]

[paragon]

[ After getting out of the ice — after the war — he's never quite been able to shake a certain sense of readiness. Sam would probably call it PTSD, but Steve's not quite so sure about that. Just that at this point in his life, as long as he's the man he is, he's more accustomed to living with it than without and suspects it's not going anywhere.

He's also never backed away from anything in his life.

These two things together means he doesn't startle, exactly, at her movement. His stillness is a reaction in and of itself, though, save for the relatively short strands of his hair being moved by the swiftness of her passage from one end of the cell to the other. But he'd be lying if he said it didn't widen his eyes. ]

They're from me.

[ He sets the tin down in the slot where meals go. He doesn't know who jiji is but supposes it doesn't matter if one tin of cookies is as good as another. ] How are they treating you?

[dehanded]

[ eyes emoji...! ibaraki doesnt care what impact she has on humans, unless she's actively trying to scare them, which she's not. if anything, someone unresponsive to her bullshit like steve is welcome, no needing to rein in her behavior, simply being able to just... be.

which is why she slides down to the floor with a menacing giggle. ]

Unasked loyalty! You are a good human, fufufufu... [ that tin of cookies? its hers now, goddamn! she yanks the lid off without preface and immediately stuffs two in her mouth, talking around them and only partially succeeding with a shrug. (she's spraying crumbs.) ]

Ih if uh 'uman plison. [ TWO MORE COOKIES. ] 'ey ahr nosh known 'or comhort.

[ and she is a criminal by nature. she knows not to speak of the illegal activities that landed her here, even if she's willing to bear this punishment in order to receive her payment. (she's done with eating for now.) ]

Should I chose to do so, I could walk out of here with their human law man's head as payment for their insolence and ingratitude.

[ iba. no. dont. you're going to freak out the cops again. ]

[paragon]

Yeah, but you didn't.

[ He looks pretty unimpressed by this proclamation on the whole, not least because she's still in here in spite of it, the edge of censure there exclusively because he doesn't particularly hold with decapitating human law men just for doing their jobs. Even if he's yet to figure out everything that entails here. Especially because of that. ]

I'll take that to mean they're not manhandling you.

[ —he remembers her now. A student of his. He should've guessed, but the horns must've thrown him off, for starters. ]

Haven't seen you in class lately, Iba.

are you interested in food? let the man cook you a food.

[ouzel]

[ After talking to Nyx, Cassian takes it upon himself to investigate the state of the kitchen. Namely to get a sense of whether or not he could manage to cook for everyone present.

There's a lot of food, actually, and Cassian takes a glance at both Bucky and Steve as if to calculate how three people eat this much, and then shrugs. It's not his business (not that it's ever stopped him before?) and more to the point, it's useful right now.

So.

Cassian wanders out, approaching everyone individually: ]

Are you allergic to anything? Is there something in particular you'd like to eat?

[ He probably won't make a half dozen dishes but he can likely come up with two or three that'll meet everyone's needs. Right? ]

[paragon]

[ Admittedly, it's something between a couple of supersoldier metabolisms in the house and Steve having become somewhat of a foodie in his old age that Cassian has to thank for the well-stocked kitchen. Not that he can really tell the man that, or necessarily would if he could, and Steve returns his questions with a small shake of his head. ]

I ate earlier. Good thing, too.

[ Both of these are bold-faced lies, unless you count bags of chips from the hospital vending machine or are willing to look past the fact that Steve's never been particularly squeamish. If anything the night's endeavors have left him in a decent mood, given something solid to get their hands on to begin to explain what they're caught up in here. But he knows it's transitory and has a feeling that sitting down to eat at the table he usually shares with Natasha will only give the body upstairs competition for tangible reality. ]

Whatever everyone wants is fine. You missing anything?

[ouzel]

Yeah, I'm not sure how Junyoung's gonna feel about food. [ There's worry there, and a grimace. It's partly for show - they're being heavily observed, after all - but Junyoung is Cassian's roommate, and they don't know each other really but...they're in this together. By extension, he's worried about everyone in this house. ] But I'll bother him about it in a minute.

No you've got the staples, and then some. Nice spices, too. [ He can honestly appreciate that. ] It's nice of you to put us all up. [ They're going to clean that car, he thinks, the moment that Nyx has had some sleep and other people have eaten and no one looks like they're gonna fall over.

Clandestine autopsies take time. ]