worthallthis | Apocalypse How: IC Inbox

[This is unusual. People don't contact him much. Also it's usually text when they do so it takes him a moment to get up enough voice to reply.]

I can meet you somewhere. Sure.

Only if you have the time. I'd be happy to buy you lunch or a coffee.

I always have time. And I love coffee.

[Also he hates actually talking over this thing. In person is much better.]

Pick a place.

The coffee shop on third. I will be buying.

[Winter won't protest. He is, after all, unemployed and all. Saving money by having your friends buy your coffee is only practical.

He shows up within ten minutes, bundled in a layers of coat, jacket, and hoodie, thankfully sans antlers now. If he's early, he waits outside, leaning on the nearest lamp post.]

[Rue arrives only a few moments after him, coming up right to his side and resting a glamoured paw to his back.]

Thank you for meeting me, darling. Let us get inside. It is beginning to get chilly out, isn't it?

[He very carefully does not flinch from the touch, and then finds-- it's actually not that hard. He's been a ghost around his own house lately, and everyone has been very careful not to touch him when he doesn't initiate it, but Rue doesn't know that. So they just did. And it's not too bad.]

Course I'd meet you.

[He lets them guide him towards the door, but then shakes himself and steps ahead to open the door for them.]

Everything okay?

[what a gentleman. they never emote very well in this glamoured face, but rue offers winter a gentle, small smile at how he moves to open the door for them.]

Yes and no. [a brief pause, before Rue finishes the thought.] My husband has returned to this place.

[He nods. He'd seen the message on the network about it. He gets them both in line for their coffee.]

That going okay?

[He doesn't need to beat the man for being awful to Rue, does he? He will if he has to.]

[Rue is close enough that even if their glamoured form does not look like it's touching, their wing is brushing up against the man's side.]

He does not remember being here previously. None of the trials we went through, none of the good or bad times. Not even our wedding. I do not mean to complain, because of course I am so grateful he is returned to me in any capacity, but it is just a touch difficult.

[Winter considers this a moment. Then he half-turns to look them in the face and, expression very bland, he offers,]

I could punch him for you. Maybe knock the memories loose.

[He is (mostly) not serious. This is, in fact, one of his first attempts at a joke since the tiny town. Rue might recall his usual delivery for jokes is deadpan, or they might not.

But he will do it if they say he should, joke or not.]

[It's almost comical how immediately that brings the owlbear to laughter, their glamoured-green skin flushing dark with mirth, a touch of their usual warmth back in their expression.

Still, they believe completely that he'll do exactly that if they ask.]

I know you would, but I do not know if there's anything left to knock loose. [It feels like such a silly thing to say standing in line at fucking Starbucks, but Rue sighs gently and smiles at Winter.]

I love him. If we must start over, then I would do it a hundred times over to be with him. I think I am just stuck on something else, that is not helping me let go.

[Winter pauses in their conversation to make his order-- Rue's too, if he's familiar with their usual order-- and to let them pay. Then while they wait, he picks it up again.]

He doesn't even remember he loves you?

[That's. Sad, actually. And uncomfortable. Because he knows Stevie probably felt something like that, seeing him attacking him on the helicarrier that day. Feels like a decade ago, but it was only a couple years, now.]

[Rue is all too happy to step in and pay, before they can both pick up their drinks and find a table near the back. Something with sturdy chairs.]

No, no. Forgive me. I am not quite that unlucky. He remembers up to the moment before we arrived here, so it was after our engagement. It is only our journey here he does not remember. Which is, well, I realize is such a minor complaint in the end.

[Well, that's not quite as sad as it could be. Winter won't feel quite so bad for them. Still bad, but not quite so bad.]

Still not fun. And it's upsetting you. So still important.

It is.

[A gentle pause, holding their mug between their glamoured hands.]

I do not wish to touch on uncomfortable subjects, so you must tell me off if I have stepped over a line, but you lost your memory of Rogers, did you not?

[Winter nods.]

Of everything. Not just him. But yes.

[He tries to arrange his face into something apologetic, but expressions are still a little hard, so he's not sure he gets it right.]

I haven't got much back. He might not get anything.

[It is the harsh reality of losing one's memory, but it is what Rue was expecting to hear. It doesn't stop their shoulders from drooping a touch.]

I thought as much.

Did it make it difficult? Being with others who held so many memories of you that you did not know?

[Winter considers this a moment, having a sip of his fancy coffee.]

Sometimes. Worse with certain people. Before you got here, there were more people who knew me. They were worse. Belova and Rogers... aren't bad. Belova was always easy. She only knew-- this.

[He gestures vaguely at himself, meaning his more-Asset-like personage.]

And Rogers got better about it.

[Rue listens quietly, not daring to interrupt, just slowly sipping their own drink.]

Do you wish you hadn't been told what you were missing? Would it have been better not to know?

[Winter shakes his head.]

Mostly, no one did tell me. Only when I asked. Strange and Wanda tried a little, and I hated it then, but when I ask. Then it's okay.

[He hesitates, then adds,]

Might not hate it so much now. I'm. I'm me, now. I wasn't me, then. Your guy. He's still him.

[Try as they might to keep their composure, Rue sniffs, blinking back tears. But they nod, hearing his every word and taking it straight to heart.]

Thank you, Winter. That is all that I needed to hear. And I so appreciate you sharing so much with me.

[Winter hesitates again, then gives their shoulder a little, careful pat.]

Best to ask him that, though. He is still him, but maybe a different him. Me, there's a chance I'll remember if someone tells me something. Him, maybe not. And he might think different than me about it.

[Oh, that's enough to drag an uneasy chuckle out of the owlbear, but they smile across the table at Winter either way.]

You are right. I am here talking to you about him instead of speaking to him directly. I think I must be frightened to, but that is ridiculous. Knickolas and I have always thrived when we communicated. It is only when we hold back that things turn wrong.

I should speak with him.

He still loves you.

[That Rue seems certain of. So:]

He'll understand. Even if you're scared. Probably even hug you about it.

[A pause.]

If he does hugs. He should do hugs. You give the best hugs.

Apocalypse How: IC Inbox

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