July Catch All

[unclesam]

CHARACTERS: Sam Wilson & You (Open + Closed Starters)
LOCATION: All Aboard the Ximilia
DATE: Post Fox and the Hare
CONTENT: Catch-all prompts for post mission feelings
WARNINGS: Will be added to Top Levels

Closed/Open Prompts in the comments:

✪ [OPEN] Simulation Room
✪ [OPEN] Infirmary
✪ [OPEN] Lab/Tech Storage
✪ [OPEN] Training Room
✪ [CLOSED] Natasha

If you want to wildcard anything or want a closed starter, too, feel free to hit me up via PM, Discord: inkcharm#4573 or Plurk: inkcharm

Comments

[unclesam]

Good to know.

[ No seriously. Goddamn good to know.

But Sam's not gonna get deeper into that for now. Missed your chance implies there might have been a birthday none in the not too distant past. And Sam gets not making a big deal - barely anyone here knows his birthday for a reason, too, and not just because he's in his 40s.

He does take note of how at ease Itachi is here. Thinks he might invite the guy out to the water in the future. This is a safe haven for Sam in more ways than one, peace of the kind that's only rivaled by flying. Might be something they could share. Maybe they could splice that upside down temple in with a boat on water... ]

When I picked up the shield you've seen me carry, I swore to myself I'd use it in defense of those who get left behind in the world. When I came here, I figured... the mission's worth it, long as I don't pretend like whatever I want to change and fix is more important than the people we meet along the way. Just 'cause they're not our worlds don't make them less real. Or less impacted. So... I don't know about 'right'. [ He thinks about his combat tours. And then he very deliberately does not think about them. ] What I do know is that we all can and should do better.

[ Sam doesn't look at Itachi. Just keeps gazing out over the water. Eventually, quietly: ]

I'd have rather failed our mission than the Fables.

[blackfire]

（ i defense those who get left behind. it's a sentiment he can appreciate, even if it isn't something he has had much occasion to put into practice in the way sam does — with decency and righteousness, a sense of what is just and fair. he understands well what it is like to make yourself a bulwark against the world for the sake of those most vulnerable to its cruelties, but he went about it in the wrong way, diametrically opposed to sam's approached. he was misguided, then.

he leans back on his hands, face tilted up to the sun. ）

There is a balance to be struck. I do not know that we found it.

（ it's neither agreement nor denial of sam's expression of desire. he cannot say that he would do the same — failing these missions is not something he considers to be a viable option, given what he is working towards.

the happy shriek of a child draws his attention, and for a moment his expression is something other than placid stoicism — there's a faint upwards quirk at one corner of his mouth as a young boy races down the length of the pier. part of the simulation, but it speaks to the love and care that went into building it. ）

'Better' is also subjective. What it looks like to us, what it looks like to the residents of the worlds we visit, these things will always differ.

[unclesam]

[ I do not know that we found it. Sam nods along to that. That balance he knows to be an ideal to strive for, extremely hard to get even remotely right. Especially with the amount of moving factors they have to contend with. ]

You're right about that. It's a slippery slope, once you start projecting your own idea of 'better' onto others.

[ He glances towards the pier, watches the child race down it. A moment later it's followed by a figure Itachi knows - Bucky in a short sleeved shirt, unbothered about his arm being on display, chasing the shrieking child with a smile on his face. A woman who has the same sort of smile Sam does calls out not to drop her son into the water, gesturing briefly towards the pier with a ladle as she fills someone's plate with food. There's an air of sincere fondness in this place. In this moment Sam clings to and reminds himself of when he's unhappy. When he needs to shelter himself away a little bit. The figures fade from view as they move back up the docks. ]

What do you make of our mission? Setting aside our regrets and personal goals for the time being. Just the orbs.

[blackfire]

（ his attention does not linger on bucky. he does not particularly care for the man — considers him to be puerile and petty — and has not yet been proven wrong in his instinct, so his presence in the simulation goes unremarked upon.

(quite possibly, sam has poor taste in partners) ）

In what respect?

（ this is, perhaps, partly his being cagey and partly his preference for specificity. he views his own feelings on their mission as being largely irrelevant, but that has been his nature from childhood. missions require action more than they require one's own thoughts and feelings. ）

[unclesam]

Travelling to all these different worlds. Removing the orbs there, bringing them here. Y'know, the base line.

[ Sam glances over towards Itachi. Still feels a little detached from his own emotions at present, but it's no longer an unpleasant kind of floatiness. He no longer feels unmoored. Company's good for that. Gives him something else to focus his attention on, at least for a little while. ]

What do you think about it all? No wrong answers.

[ It's a quip, but the reassurance is genuine. Sam's not looking for a spirited debate, just... someone else's perspective. ]