Happy Birthday//Welcome Home!

[alittlehinky]

The garden is flourishing, a riot of blooms at one end, plants heavy with fruit at the other. The chickens are in place, over two dozen of them in an oversized coop at one end of the property. The barn is unfinished, but the moonshining shed is massive, shiny and new, with locks on the doors and storm shutters on the windows, in case of another winter like the last.

The house is not huge, a sturdy two-bedroom place built with thick stone walls. It contains single floor for living, a small attic, and a deep split-level cellar. The furniture has been moved in; it's all secondhand but repaired and refinished.

By Cricket's own standards, the place is practically a palace. He never dreamed he would own so much land--granted, this is the Nexus so the topography and acreage may fluctuate, his claim may be challenged legally, whatever--it belongs to him right now, he bought it with money he earned, and he's got the living space upon it arranged to his liking.

It's sunset, and there are fairy lights strung up on the porch and in the yard, tables with food and moonshine set out, and beneath the treeline off to the right of the house there are fireflies flickering. There's a radio playing music, and lots of blankets spread on the grass for sitting or watching the stars. It's meant to be a low-key affair, but enough people wanted to see Cricket's place he felt like a party was the right idea. A small one. A quiet one.

(This is the Nexus, and there are Lokis. There is always a chance small and quiet may not stay small and quiet.)

The cake, in case anyone wants to know, is vanilla with blackberry filling. There's no writing on it, but it's the centerpiece of the food table. Cricket's not in the habit of demanding attention on his birthday, but...blackberry cake.

[[ETA: Please feel free to assume if your character knows Cricket they were invited via text or face-to-face discussion. If your character doesn't know Cricket personally but you want them to drop in, feel free to PM me and we'll figure out a reason to get them there.]

Comments

[alittlehinky]

Cricket is more than a little surprised to see Steve. He invited him, of course, because he's a friend, but the text he sent was flavored with an implicit 'I know you're busy and I won't be upset if you can't make it'. It's good to see him, though, not just because Cricket's touched he took time for him, but also because it reassures him Steve is still functional enough to get up and get around, at least some of the time.

So, maybe Cricket moves a little faster coming to meet this friend than the others. "Hello, Steve!" His smile is bright and uncomplicated, because he can do that for someone he knows is in pain.

"It's your birthday comin' up, too, ain't it? It's okay if you can't stay, but maybe have a little cake before you go." He offers an armclasp and a hopeful look.

He can't do anything much helpful for the lot from Steve's world, but giving him sweets at least makes Cricket feel like he's doing something.

[juststeverogers]

The big problem with being in the Nexus is really how unaffected it is compared to his own world. Everything's just fine here with people much the same as they've always been. It makes the man out of time feel dislodged once more. An infection that could spread to anyone else if he's not careful.

Steve's not sure how Cricket knows it's soon to be his birthday but despite his clear surprise and raised eyebrows he nods all the same. He doesn't want to insist it's nothing to make a deal about considering he's here to celebrate Cricket's even a little bit.

"Sure is." And despite everything the soldier finds himself smiling a bit more at being offered cake. Here it is Cricket's birthday and housewarming and he's trying to give something to Steve. He's the kind of guy Steve appreciates on a whole lot of levels. "I'd... I'd like that, yeah. How's the new place treating ya?"

[alittlehinky]

It's weird from the other end of things, too, although much less painfully so. Awareness of what's happened in Steve's world makes Cricket think of how many other places must suffer disasters like that, while he's happily digging and planting his garden, buying his new chickens, putting up curtains on the windows...

He's never been the sort who felt like he needed to save everyone, just his close friends. He wishes he could do more, but at the same time, he's a little glad he can't, because he wouldn't know what to do with that responsibility.

"D'you like blackberries? The cake is vanilla with buttercream frosting and blackberry filling. And I got iced tea or lemonade as well as the moonshine." He's eager to steer Steve toward one of the seats on the patio. If he's not staying long, best to make the most of however long he'll be there.

"It's amazin'," he says sheepishly of the new place. "I never owned any land before, and I never expected I'd have anything like this."

[juststeverogers]

It's enough to crush a man down to his very atoms if he lets it. Steve's a strong guy, always been strong of heart even before he got the body to back it up. But the loss they've faced with Thanos goes beyond anything he knows how to cope with. It's not just losing Bucky (againagainalwaysagainitneverstops-), not just failing a mission. Not even just failing their World.

The stakes were so much higher.

Half of all life is gone.

Something Carol's all too quick to point out any time someone can get in touch with her. And so little by little Steve erodes away a bit more under the weight of that failure. Under the weight of trying to do right by everyone who's left. Questions about fruit preferences are a nice change of pace.

"I like them just fine. A slice of that and a lemonade would be real good of you, thanks." It's wholesome to watch Cricket talk about trivial things like food preferences. Steve couldn't say what he's had to eat in the last week if his life was on the line. Everything blurs together after a while. He settles into the chair and takes a look around while Cricket speaks with the same passion Steve once had about having his very own home here in the Nexus. He knows that feeling, distantly. Even though it feels like it happened a lifetime ago. He can try to recollect it now.

"When I first got my own place here, I'd never owned much of anything before in my life. Never had the means to. This place gave me a lot. I'm real glad it's treating you just as decent."

[alittlehinky]

The multiverse is so big, and Cricket is so small. He's always been aware of his smallness--hard not to be in the face of the mountains themselves, towering and ancient as they are--but here in the Nexus it's become a kind of protection. He can help his neighbors and greet strangers, give whatever money he can spare and donate time to help people repair things, but he's not going to be saving any worlds. His is the Little Way, gentle and personal and low-stakes, but he gives it all he's got.

"Comin' right up," he tells him warmly, moving off to fetch first the lemonade, then cutting a very generous slice of the cake for Steve. He still remembers him starving in the Winter, lethargic and past the point of being able to work, all but bedridden and still trying. There is as much magnificence, in a way, in weakness as there is in strength, when it pushes past its own boundaries with such determination.

"Exactly that," he admits as he sets the plate and fork in Steve's hand, and finds a place in the chair beside him, propping his legs up on the lower rung of the porch railing. "There was no way I'd ever have anything like this back home. Never had no real prospects. I had work, at least, fixin' engines and such, but it wasn't gonna get me but so far. Not in 1931."

"It's all I ever wanted, this," he says. "My friend Jack, he used to talk about fancy cars and when he had money he'd buy himself a nice suit. He liked flash. That ain't for me, though."

[juststeverogers]

Pushing on through weakness is something Steve doesn't know how to stop doing. Even now when he's more lost than he's ever been he can't be still. He doesn't feel like he's good enough anymore so he went and took up Sam's mantle instead. Whatever it takes to make a difference. And if it happens to enable Steve to stay firmly rooted in the past no matter how much others tell him to move on, well.

Steve certainly isn't going to admit it's a factor for doing the work he's doing.

"I had work off and on. Freelance jobs makin' signs or little comics for the papers. Was too weak to work down on the docks or any of the labor work that was available. Bedridden as many days as not." There's equal parts sadness and peace talking about the past. He's not quite as bad as he was. Steve stays in the present this time even though they're talking about days long since past.

It's a choice not to escape to those memories. One he's strong enough to make now.

"There's nothing wrong with flash if it makes you happy. I had a pretty nice apartment in DC for a couple of years. But even then, there wasn't a whole lot extra. If anything, most of the money I spent was on antiques. Things that reminded me of...well. Home." Fixing up the old radio he'd found had been a real treat. Long gone now, of course. "Thanks, pal."

For the cake and for the drink. There was a time Steve would have gotten embarrassed over being given such a large portion of food even if it's more in line to how he eats when he's alone. He's always hated how much energy it takes to fuel this body of his. Never quite gotten past how wasteful and greedy it feels for a kid who grew up during the Depression to eat the way he does. It's one more thing Steve just doesn't have in him to fret about anymore.

The cake's damn good, too.

"I hope you've had some of this yourself. It's a real treat."