"Almost a week." He says. "And rough going for the second half of it. Sorry." He says, tossing some coins on the table to settle the bill and retreating to the little room by the kitchen. He starts to unpack his bedroll, nudging what little other furniture the room possesses aside to make room.
"Ah." Well, she's not quite sure what she was expecting, but she's not entirely surprised. It's fine. She's hiked for long periods of time before, she'll manage alright. "And stop apologizing, god. It's not your fault."
Following him into the room, she quietly shuts the door behind them and latches it, then turns around to look at him.
"Nope." He says, stubborn as ever. "We've been over this, I'm taking the floor." As if to demonstrate his commitment, he stretches out on the bedroll, looking at her from an upside down perspective.
She takes a few steps closer, so she's standing at the head of his sleeping pad, and sets her hands on her hips as she looks down at him. Trying to hide the fact that she's amused — of course she'd find herself traveling with a man as stubborn as she is — she lets herself slip a little bit more into her Cap voice, a tone that expects obedience.
Fuck, he must have really overdone the Igni on that fire because it's very toasty in here all of a sudden. If he closes his eyes he can't take her in from this particularly imperious angle.
"We've been over this: you need the bed more than I do. I sleep like this all the time, it's fine. You enjoy having a bed while you still do. Cause it's a week of sleeping rough and then I don't know where I'm gonna put you when we get home."
She's not entirely sure, he could just be closing his eyes to make a stupid stubborn point, but she's going to take him doing that as a concession to her rightness.
"Look at me when I'm speaking to you," she demands quietly, not upset about it, hardly even teasing, just a gentle yet firm statement.
"We have been over this, and your reasons are bullshit. Get off the floor, and get on the bed." If he were Bucky, or hell, even Thor, she might kick at his shoulder with her socked feet. As it is, she takes half a step forward so she's looming over him even more, and waits for him to look at her. "I'm serious, Eskel."
"And you don't think I'm serious?" He says, sternly. "I'm trying to be a gentleman here and look out for you. You need the rest more than I do, I'm sure you're not caught up yet and you don't know what's ahead of you." He closes his eye again, stubborn as a mule.
"I don't need you to be a gentleman." It's partly endearing, this stubborn chivalry of his, but it's also just as much annoying. She's a soldier. She's been a soldier for longer than she's been anything else. Her body doesn't need coddling. She can sleep on the floor just fine. "You know what's preventing me from getting any rest? This conversation. Now. Move or you will be moved."
"Oh, you're gonna move me, huh?" He says, crossing his feet. It's not that he doubts her strength, she doesn't seem like the kind of person to oversell herself like that. But he is determined to get her to see dense and sleep in the bed.
And he's pretty sure it doesn't seem worth the trouble to try to move his enormous body.
She knows that tone all too well. It's one she heard all the time growing up, and even though she likes Eskel and knows that he doesn't mean anything by it, it also ignites that same coal of anger and need to prove herself in her chest that she's never been able to extinguish.
"Okay," she says, and steps over his body so she can stand at his side, his body between her and the bed. Dropping to her knees, she moves just that much faster than a normal person might, shoving one arm under his legs and the other under his shoulders, getting a grip on his shirt because he isn't being accommodating and shifting into her arms so she can cradle him comfortably.
With a low grunt and a quick yank, she hoists him up into her arms, using the momentum of her hauling his bulky frame off the floor to help send her rocking back up onto her heels. It's not exactly effortless, but she doesn't stagger and drop him either, and it's only a few small steps between where she's standing to the edge of the bed, where she can toss him onto the mattress to land with a satisfying whump.
"And stay there," she says, dusting off her hands.
He doesn't even have time to make an undignified noise of shock, but he does cuss with the breath the landing punches from his chest. He rolls over onto his side and stares at her. They'd talked about her strength previously but he hadn't quite envisioned being on the receiving end of it. Then he frowns at her, his eyes burning in the firelight.
"Bullshit." He laughs, rolling back onto the pillow for a moment.
"I could come over there and put you back over here. Just for the record." He declares, even if the temptation to just fall asleep right here and let her learn her lesson about choosing to sleep on the floor is almost appealing.
He's very glad he's not looking at her straight on, because it makes it easier to cover his flush with a rough laugh.
"Don't think the landlord would like that much." He says. "Have it your wat then, but don't be bitchin' about it come mornin'." As if that will make the stubborn woman change her mind.
He can avoid her gaze as much as he likes, she still knows she's won and it makes her unbearably smug.
She takes her time with combing out her hair, working through every tangle her fingers encounter, drawing them through the long golden strands and carefully collecting any loose ones that fall free so she doesn't leave a mess.
"A few years after I got the serum," she starts to explain, not really knowing why she feels compelled to share this but knowing Eskel probably won't find it that weird, "I crashed a plane into the Arctic. A plane is, um, a large aircraft that can fly but needs to be piloted by a human being. It was full of bombs, giant explosives that were set to destroy my hometown, one of the largest cities in the country. It would have killed millions of people, devastated our economy, ensured our country's defeat in the war. So I took hold of the controls and I put the whole craft down in the open ocean. We crashed, but the water was so cold that the bombs never exploded. So cold, actually, that the whole plane simply froze over, me and the bombs and all.
"I spent seventy-odd years in that ice, frozen, the serum keeping me from dying. Once they found me, once they chipped me free and thawed me out, I couldn't sleep on a bed for months. They got real fancy mattresses where I'm from, soft like you're sleeping on a cloud."
She shakes her head, a small smile twisting her lips that isn't that cheerful at all. "I preferred the floor."
He's rolled onto his side by the time she's finished, listening to her curiously. He might not be able to follow her narrative as clearly as someone who knows what all those words mean, but the concept of being frozen, of a kind of unnatural suspension for long periods, are all things known to him.
"That was...really good of you." He says, which sounds less impressed than he means it to, he's actually awestruck by that kind of sacrifice. "To be willing to give it all up like that. I'm sorry being frozen kinda sucked, I've heard it's uncomfortable."
She shrugs, still fiddling with her hair, and looks into the fire.
"It had to be done." It wasn't like she had anything else to live for, anyway. All her family was dead, Schmidt was defeated, the war was basically over, and she'd let Bucky fall from that train to an icy grave below. The decision to sacrifice herself was an easy one to make.
She's grateful, now, that it didn't work. Her life on this side has been good. She's made good friends, done good deeds, eaten good food, et cetera. Bucky turned out to be alive after all, and they were able to reunite.
She's still sometimes struck by a kind of wistfulness for the peace of the ice, though.
"I don't really remember most of it. Just the quiet. And the cold." She shivers hard even though she's only feet away from crackling flames. "I don't like being cold."
"Well I've got some bad news for you." He jokes, wanting to lighten the mood. "We'll have to get you a jacket or a cloak or something, it's pretty damn cold where we're going." Though "solid ice" season is still at least a month off yet, and he hopes to have her on her way by then.
"Ugh," she wrinkles her nose, laughing a little. "Just my luck."
Still. She's well aware of how lucky actually is, having found herself washed up on the shores of Eskel's apparently boundless charity. This entire endeavor could have wound up much, much worse.
It's not boundless, if she had asked for a fine but useless dress or demanded her own horse or fussed and whined her way through the woods, she would eventually have found the edge of his patience. But as it is, he's only been frustrated with her attempts to deflect any of his efforts to get her to rest and get comfortable in the world she's found herself.
"Yeah, sorry, you probably won't be surprised to know that the organization that turns boys into monsters didn't exactly prioritize comfort or luxuries."
If she were the type of person to ask for a fine but useless dress or fussed and whined about a little hiking, she probably wouldn't be in this conundrum in the first place.
She does have a secret fondness for pretty dresses, though, and hiking gets boring and sweaty after a while. But she's not going to complain about it when there's nothing that can be done to rectify the problem.
His comment has her grimacing a little. "I'm sure it can't be worse than some of the tenements I've lived in before."
"Guess you'll find out." He says. "And it's not all bad. I mean, it's a dump, but it's home, you know?" He says, somewhat fondly. Then: "This is your last chance to come to your senses and take the bed 'cause I'm gonna pass out if you don't."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 03:47 am (UTC)Following him into the room, she quietly shuts the door behind them and latches it, then turns around to look at him.
"Eskel."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 03:54 am (UTC)"Get on the bed," she says instead.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:03 am (UTC)"Get up. And get on the bed."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:09 am (UTC)"We've been over this: you need the bed more than I do. I sleep like this all the time, it's fine. You enjoy having a bed while you still do. Cause it's a week of sleeping rough and then I don't know where I'm gonna put you when we get home."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:17 am (UTC)"Look at me when I'm speaking to you," she demands quietly, not upset about it, hardly even teasing, just a gentle yet firm statement.
"We have been over this, and your reasons are bullshit. Get off the floor, and get on the bed." If he were Bucky, or hell, even Thor, she might kick at his shoulder with her socked feet. As it is, she takes half a step forward so she's looming over him even more, and waits for him to look at her. "I'm serious, Eskel."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:23 am (UTC)"And you don't think I'm serious?" He says, sternly. "I'm trying to be a gentleman here and look out for you. You need the rest more than I do, I'm sure you're not caught up yet and you don't know what's ahead of you." He closes his eye again, stubborn as a mule.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:39 am (UTC)And he's pretty sure it doesn't seem worth the trouble to try to move his enormous body.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:48 am (UTC)"Okay," she says, and steps over his body so she can stand at his side, his body between her and the bed. Dropping to her knees, she moves just that much faster than a normal person might, shoving one arm under his legs and the other under his shoulders, getting a grip on his shirt because he isn't being accommodating and shifting into her arms so she can cradle him comfortably.
With a low grunt and a quick yank, she hoists him up into her arms, using the momentum of her hauling his bulky frame off the floor to help send her rocking back up onto her heels. It's not exactly effortless, but she doesn't stagger and drop him either, and it's only a few small steps between where she's standing to the edge of the bed, where she can toss him onto the mattress to land with a satisfying whump.
"And stay there," she says, dusting off her hands.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 02:33 pm (UTC)"So you insist, huh?"
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:01 pm (UTC)"I just love your bedroll so much," she quips, dry. "I couldn't bear the thought of not sleeping on it again tonight."
Satisfied she's made her point, she steps back to sit cross-legged in the center of said bedroll and starts to finger-comb through her hair.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:08 pm (UTC)"I could come over there and put you back over here. Just for the record." He declares, even if the temptation to just fall asleep right here and let her learn her lesson about choosing to sleep on the floor is almost appealing.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:15 pm (UTC)"Baby, if you wanted to wrestle, all you had to do is say so."
They'd definitely get kicked out for destroying the furniture, but it would be kinda fun, though.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:19 pm (UTC)"Don't think the landlord would like that much." He says. "Have it your wat then, but don't be bitchin' about it come mornin'." As if that will make the stubborn woman change her mind.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 04:31 pm (UTC)She takes her time with combing out her hair, working through every tangle her fingers encounter, drawing them through the long golden strands and carefully collecting any loose ones that fall free so she doesn't leave a mess.
"A few years after I got the serum," she starts to explain, not really knowing why she feels compelled to share this but knowing Eskel probably won't find it that weird, "I crashed a plane into the Arctic. A plane is, um, a large aircraft that can fly but needs to be piloted by a human being. It was full of bombs, giant explosives that were set to destroy my hometown, one of the largest cities in the country. It would have killed millions of people, devastated our economy, ensured our country's defeat in the war. So I took hold of the controls and I put the whole craft down in the open ocean. We crashed, but the water was so cold that the bombs never exploded. So cold, actually, that the whole plane simply froze over, me and the bombs and all.
"I spent seventy-odd years in that ice, frozen, the serum keeping me from dying. Once they found me, once they chipped me free and thawed me out, I couldn't sleep on a bed for months. They got real fancy mattresses where I'm from, soft like you're sleeping on a cloud."
She shakes her head, a small smile twisting her lips that isn't that cheerful at all. "I preferred the floor."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 06:44 pm (UTC)"That was...really good of you." He says, which sounds less impressed than he means it to, he's actually awestruck by that kind of sacrifice. "To be willing to give it all up like that. I'm sorry being frozen kinda sucked, I've heard it's uncomfortable."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 07:06 pm (UTC)"It had to be done." It wasn't like she had anything else to live for, anyway. All her family was dead, Schmidt was defeated, the war was basically over, and she'd let Bucky fall from that train to an icy grave below. The decision to sacrifice herself was an easy one to make.
She's grateful, now, that it didn't work. Her life on this side has been good. She's made good friends, done good deeds, eaten good food, et cetera. Bucky turned out to be alive after all, and they were able to reunite.
She's still sometimes struck by a kind of wistfulness for the peace of the ice, though.
"I don't really remember most of it. Just the quiet. And the cold." She shivers hard even though she's only feet away from crackling flames. "I don't like being cold."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 07:40 pm (UTC)Still. She's well aware of how lucky actually is, having found herself washed up on the shores of Eskel's apparently boundless charity. This entire endeavor could have wound up much, much worse.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 11:01 pm (UTC)"Yeah, sorry, you probably won't be surprised to know that the organization that turns boys into monsters didn't exactly prioritize comfort or luxuries."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 11:26 pm (UTC)She does have a secret fondness for pretty dresses, though, and hiking gets boring and sweaty after a while. But she's not going to complain about it when there's nothing that can be done to rectify the problem.
His comment has her grimacing a little. "I'm sure it can't be worse than some of the tenements I've lived in before."
no subject
Date: 2021-08-21 12:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
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