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Steve Rogers ([info]kidfrombrooklyn) wrote in [info]paradisolog,
@ 2016-08-20 02:24:00

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Entry tags:steve rogers (kidfrombrooklyn), ~mary crawley (ladycontrary)

WHO: Steve Rogers & Mary Crawley
WHAT: Building a shelter & getting to know each other
WHEN: Friday morning (backdated a bit!)
WARNINGS: TBD; will update
STATUS: Closed | Complete


Steve had been more than happy to offer to help build Lady Crawley a shelter for herself. It had been the right thing to do, but it also turned into a really great distraction. Things were getting complicated with Peggy's arrival, so it was nice to take his mind off all of that and get lost in building something with his hands. His morning had started off very early, just as the sun had risen, and he'd stripped his shirt off within the hour to deal with the heat. The frame work was all done by the time Lady Crawley came up to check in on his progress, and he offered her a warm, easy smile as he saw her approach.

"Morning, Lady Crawley," Steve greeted, hoping she wouldn't mind the fact that he was dressed only in his cargo shorts and sneakers. His shirt was tucked into the back of his shorts and he'd been using it to wipe the sweat off his brow every so often while he worked. "I'm making good progress," he offered. "I should be done in a few days, hopefully." He was going a bit slower than he would've liked because he wanted to make sure he was doing it correctly.

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-20 06:46 am UTC (link)
Mary certainly did not mind the fact that his shirt was off. She'd seen him with it off earlier in the week and good God. There were a lot of well-built men on the island, but Steve might have taken the cake. If it didn't make her feel dirty, she might be tempted to sit and watch him work.

She returned his smile as she approached. "Good morning. It's looking wonderful so far." Well, as wonderful as a shelter on an island could look, but Steve was doing an excellent job and she didn't want to diminish that. "Is there anything I can do to help? Or perhaps I can get you something? Water?"

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-21 12:46 am UTC (link)
Steve was glad she'd found his progress acceptable, particularly with the way she smiled at him. She looked like the kind of woman who could use as many reasons to smile as she could find. He was glad he'd been the one to give her a reason to smile this afternoon at least. "I wouldn't say no to some company," he replied.

It was nice of her to offer to get him water, but he didn't need it just yet and he could use the company. "I know I'm doing this for you, but I appreciate the opportunity to help out around here. It makes me feel useful," Steve admitted with a shrug as he picked up a piece of lumber to add to the wall. There were a handful of nails in his pocket and there was a hammer hanging off his belt loop.

"Where are you from, Lady Crawley?"

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-21 08:16 am UTC (link)
Mary stood next to him, hands clasped in front of her. "I understand what you mean," she said with a nod. "I've been trying to find ways to be useful as well, so I've been doing a lot of sewing." Survival skills were low on Mary's list of skills, but she wanted to be able to help in some way.

"A small town called Downton in Yorkshire," she replied. "And you?"

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-21 02:40 pm UTC (link)
Sewing was definitely helpful. "You should reach out to Pepper. She's been working on diapers and clothing for the babies, and there's a sewing machine in the community center," Steve replied, perking up at the opportunity to get Pepper some help, too. "I'm pretty good with hand sewing, but the machine takes some getting used to." Not that he minded, but he'd rather someone with more experience helping her with the machine.

"Brooklyn, New York," Steve replied, recognizing Yorkshire as being somewhere from England even without her accent. "I spent a fair bit of time in Europe though, during the war. I didn't get to see too much of England, but it's a lot different from a tropical island, huh?"

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-21 02:56 pm UTC (link)
"Yes, I've been using it," she said with a nod. "It's a more modern version than the type I'm used to, so it was a bit of a learning curve." Not that she really knew how to use the one they had at Downton anyway. She had maids to sew for her and had only ever learned to hand stitch from her governess. "You hand sew?" Mary cocked an eyebrow. Most men did zero sewing. She tried to imagine a big man like him pulling tiny thread through fabric and it was quite a funny image to her.

"I've been to New York, though Manhattan mostly." They'd talked about the war, and it wasn't a topic either of them wanted to revisit, frankly, so she didn't comment on that. "Dear God, yes. I've never been this hot in my entire life. It doesn't get this hot in England."

Mary peeked her head into the shelter. It wasn't finished, but it was secure enough to be free-standing and it provided some shade. "Come sit for a moment, Mr. Rogers. You've been working quite hard. Are you sure I cannot fetch you some water?"

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-21 10:27 pm UTC (link)
"I do, yea. My Ma taught me when I was younger. I was sick a lot back then and it kept me busy. Drawing did, too." Steve felt plenty comfortable sharing so openly with Lady Crawley because there weren't any stakes on the Island. He didn't need to be so secretive about his past here and it was freeing. He just got to be Steve Rogers, and that had been the whole point of coming here.

He couldn't help chuckling at her estimation on just how hot it was. "It doesn't get this hot just about anywhere, I don't think. We'll get used to it," he promised. He'd gotten used to the heat, the cold, and everything in between lately so this wouldn't be too difficult. Steve finished nailing in one more nail to secure the piece of wood he'd been working on when she came to take a seat inside.

"I'm happy to sit, but you don't need to get me anything. I can go a lot longer without water than most people so it isn't so bad," Steve promised, taking a seat next to her in the shade. "I'm sorry it isn't going as quickly as I would've liked. I'm trying to make sure it's right, not rushed," he apologized.

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-21 11:34 pm UTC (link)
"Really, it's fine," Mary reassured him. "You're doing an excellent job. I have no complaints."

Especially when he looked like that. His chest was gleaming with sweat and it made his body practically shine in the dim light. Mary tried not to leer at him because that would be incredibly impolite, but it was almost difficult not to.

"Why is it that you can go so long without water?" She asked, scooting a bit closer to him once he sat down. "Good genes?" Very good, though he did say that he'd been sick a lot as a kid.

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-22 12:13 pm UTC (link)
Steve grinned widely at that. Lady Crawley was nice in a way that women just weren't in the world he woke up in. It was comforting but not complicated, and that made him feel pretty relaxed around her. "That's good to hear. I wouldn't want to be the thing you complain about on an island like this." For as hot as it was, it was beautiful. There was no denying that.

He couldn't help but laugh at her thought that good genes were responsible for his super human abilities. "More like Vita Rays," Steve replied, still chuckling to himself. She probably wouldn't understand since he honestly didn't, so he continued. "I was really small, maybe ninety pounds soaking wet? Up until I was in my 20s, when the war hit. I wanted to enlist, tried half a dozen times before they finally took me. This doc, he had a procedure and a formula that could turn regular guys into super soldiers. I won the test spot and came out of the pod looking like this." Glistening and all, as the case was.

"I'm stronger, faster, can go longer. I need maybe four hours of sleep a night, if that. The one downside is I need to constantly eat. My metabolism's so high that it'll get bad if I don't eat larger meals on a semi-regular basis." He was eating less than he probably should have because he wanted to make sure there was plenty for everyone else first. If he needed to, he'd hunt something small for himself to supplement as needed.

"I bet they don't have anything like that in Downton, huh Lady Crawley?"

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-22 06:05 pm UTC (link)
She gave a short laugh. "Right now the weather is on my top list of complaints anyway." Steve was doing the best he can with her shelter and it was very kind of him to help out anyway. Mary could have had to fend for herself and that would have been a disaster.

While she listened to his story, she nodded, her eyes growing wide. "How extraordinary. Imagine that a... medicine - was it? - could do something like that. I imagine that would help a lot of people, though also potentially create problems. You seem like a good man, Mr. Rogers, but would all men who had that strength use it responsibly?"

She doubted that. It seemed as though it could have the potential to be abused.

At his last question, she laughed again. "No, I can safely say that no man in Downton looks like you."


[OOC: I can totally see Mary squirreling him some food now, but I don't want to have her say it and make her sound like a mama bear when she's also trying to get into his pants lol. XDD]

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-24 02:11 am UTC (link)
Steve nodded. "Medicine is the best way to describe it, yea," he replied. "It amplifies what already exists, so what's good becomes great and what's bad becomes worse. Dr Erskine had to fight to get me chosen for the project, and then when he passed, the formula was destroyed in the attack. Johann Schmidt was the name of the man who took the serum before it was ready. It didn't end well for him." That was something of an understatement, but Steve didn't want to bore Lady Crawley with the details.

"I didn't think so," he said with a grin. "It'd be a little interesting if you did, but I'm sure Downton has it's own interesting tidbits?" Steve was curious because he knew they were from times that were pretty similar and that made it seem a lot easier to talk to her. "You guys were just starting to push for women's voting right?" That must've been pretty exciting for her.

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-24 04:55 pm UTC (link)
Mary shrugged and gave a slight eye roll. "It's all rather boring, really. It's a country life. Our estate leases land to farmers for a share of the profits and I help to manage the leases and make sure that everything is on the up and up with the farmers." Other than that, her life was kind of dull compared to what it sounded like Steve's life was like. "My sister was actually quite involved in the suffragette movement, yes."

She eyed him. "A man like you did not have a wife back home?" Might as well lay it out.

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-26 09:38 pm UTC (link)
He chuckled at that. Lady Crawley probably hadn't felt very challenged, Steve supposed. "You weren't?" he asked, surprised that she said just her sister had been into it and not the pair of them. She turned the conversation to him and he felt the blush that started to color his cheeks.

"Nah, no wife for me. I uh, well my plane went down in the Arctic before the war was over. I was frozen in the ice for seventy years or so," Steve explained. "When I woke up, the world was too different to even really think about having a relationship with anyone." There had been Sharon, but in the light of day, Steve couldn't quite be sure if he'd been interested in her because it was her or because she was Peggy's niece and he'd been mourning.

"And yourself? Surely you've made a man very lucky in Downton?" It was a heck of a lot easier to talk about her instead of him.

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-26 09:49 pm UTC (link)
"Not particularly. Sybil was the civic-minded one." Being the oldest, Mary was more traditional than her sisters. It certainly wasn't that she disagreed with the idea of women being able to vote, it was just that she was far too conservative to campaign for such a thing. In that sense, she was a typical wealthy lady.

"How incredible," she said of his story. "Sometimes being here I feel as though I have done that as well." Most of the people here tended to be from an entirely different era and it made her feel awkward.

She gave a sad smile at his question. "I am a widow," she replied. "My husband has been dead three years." Thinking about Matthew still hurt, and thinking about him here made her feel as though she were being unfaithful to him.

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-27 08:54 pm UTC (link)
He could understand that. There were always those who preferred to not get too involved in causing a stir until it was more socially acceptable. Steve wouldn't begrudge Lady Mary for that in the slightest. Especially since it seemed like she was all for it even if she wouldn't come right out to support it ahead of it's time. Steve hadn't ever been like that, but he knew plenty of people who were.

"You'll adjust," Steve promised her. "You're smart, Lady Mary, and kind. You'll find your way soon enough and everyone here will be kind enough to help however we can. I know that much, even if I don't know everyone on the island just yet." So far, everyone seemed pretty nice.

His smile quickly turned into a frown at the mention of her husband passing away a few years ago. "I'm so sorry to hear that," he replied, gathering her hands in his. "That can't be easy to carry around with you every day." There was a part of him that wondered if that was why she came to the island, but it would've been to insensitive to ask. Steve would always try to be as polite as possible.

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-27 09:14 pm UTC (link)
It had played a small part. At that point in her life, she had broken it off for various reasons with both men who were courting her and she felt like she had no idea what she wanted. Uncomplicated sex sounded fun at the time.

"Thank you," she said. "I have mostly come to terms with it, though one is never truly over something like that."

It brought up sad memories though and she did not want to think of them here in this beautiful place with a man who looked like Steve. She turned her gaze back on him, particularly on his sculpted chest.

"Many people have been helpful, though you have been particularly helpful. I feel as though I should repay you for your kindness."

Perhaps she should not get in the habit of repaying men for favors with sex, but something about Steve made it feel ok. Mary didn't think he would take advantage of the situation.

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-28 06:13 am UTC (link)
"The loss of a loved one is hard," Steve agreed quietly, thinking of Bucky. Losing his best friend had been his own fault, and what followed for him in the seventy years Steve'd been asleep in the ice was on him, too. Bucky'd never admit it, or even agree to seeing it that way, but it didn't matter because that was the way Steve saw it.

He was distracted from his line of thought when she said she felt she needed to repay him, and Steve wasn't so dumb as to miss her meaning. "I'm flattered, Lady Mary, really, I am. And I'd love to...get to know you like that, but only if you want to. I'm not expecting anything in return for building a shelter for you. It's just the right thing to do."

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-28 07:11 am UTC (link)
He spoke like someone who had experienced such a loss, though Mary did not press. They had time to get to know each other.

Which led her to their other topic of conversation. Perhaps he was right. "Maybe I should not set the precedent of offering intimacy for favors, though I assure you that I wouldn't do such a thing unless I wanted to. I'm quite sure I want to with you, Mr. Rogers, but for now perhaps we can settle on a kiss?"

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-28 03:40 pm UTC (link)
Steve couldn't help smiling at that. Lady Mary sure was something else. She was a good woman and would potentially be a good friend. She reminded him a bit of Peggy in a way, if only because of how straightforward she was. It was good to see a woman going after what she wanted, and Steve was flattered that it was him that she wanted.

"I think that'd be swell," he replied with a smile. Steve was happy to take the initiative this time though, so he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers gently, though he wasn't in any rush. Lady Mary was beautiful and kind, and he was happy to pass the time with her.

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Moved to the iPad, done fighting my laptop
[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-28 04:11 pm UTC (link)
Any woman here had to be at least a little bit of a firecracker, Mary felt. They had to be able to voice what they wanted. At the same time though, Mary was happy that Steve had initiated the kiss. She put a tentative hand on his chest as she leaned into him. For a man who claimed little practice he was good. Perhaps now was not the time to go all the way, but Mary definitely had her sights set on him for the future.

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-29 08:48 pm UTC (link)
It was an easy kiss, a gentle one that was more about getting to know one each other than anything else. Steve was certainly interested in getting to know her better because she didn't have any connection with his world. Things hadn't ever been this complicated before and it was putting him all out of sorts.

When he pulled back, Steve was still smiling. "I should probably get back to work," he said, mostly because he did want to finish it and he needed to be sure she wasn't trying for anything just to repay him.

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[info]ladycontrary
2016-08-30 06:20 pm UTC (link)
It was a good kiss. It was warm and Mary could tell there was feeling behind it. She was very interested in seeing where it could go.

"I suppose you must," Mary said with a sigh, reluctantly removing her hands from him and standing up. She smoothed her skirt down. "Please let me know if I can assist you in some way, even if it is only to bring you some food or water."

Mary was happy to do it since he was being such a huge help to her.

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[info]kidfrombrooklyn
2016-08-30 11:51 pm UTC (link)
[Wrap?]

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