4706/They're No Sonja Henie

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Revision as of 22:43, 27 January 2021 by WikiAdmin (talk | contribs) (Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2021/01/12 |Location=Rockefeller Center |Synopsis=Cap takes Janet ice skating in a backscene of their early relationship. |Cast of Characters=38,60...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
They're No Sonja Henie
Date of Scene: 12 January 2021
Location: Rockefeller Center
Synopsis: Cap takes Janet ice skating in a backscene of their early relationship.
Cast of Characters: Steve Rogers, Janet van Dyne




Steve Rogers has posed:
Between Christmas and New Years, 2018

Steve Rogers pulls the car around to the front of the Mansion. It's one from the fleet of cars kept for use of Avengers when they might not have their own vehicles available. An expensive black Mercedes sedan, a nicer car than Steve would have usually chosen for himself when not using his motorcycle. But then today it's not just for himself.

Steve leaves the car idling to give the heater more time to warm the interior as he climbs out. Wearing a leather jacket and gloves over black jeans, he walks up to the doors of the Mansion, pulling out his phone. He has managed it well enough to send text messages, as Janet's phone chimes shortly thereafter.

> I've got the car down at the front door.

Steve walks up the steps to the Mansions entrance, opening it up and stepping inside to wait for Janet's arrival.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet comes down the stairs from the Avenger's dorms and smiles down at Steve. She's taken his recommendation to dress warmly, and the result is a a grey turtleneck and matching close-fit leggings that are just warm enough for winter. Calf-high winter boots with a fur lining clomp lazily on the wood and a flirty, lightweight pink skirt with a brief hemline hugs her hips. It matches the fleece vest she's wearing, to offer a contrast of lively colors against the grey backdrop.

"Ready when you are," Janet tells Steve, and pulls a cream-colored white knit cap onto her head. "Glad to see we're not taking the bike today. It's a little cold to be zipping around Manhattan on that thing." She waits by the door for Steve to get it for her, beams approvingly, and seats herself in the passenger side seat.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Yes, though it's easy to make it through the traffic on it. Long as a taxi doesn't take it out at least," he says with a chuckle. He's avoided accidents on the bike pretty well since it was gifted back to him by Nick Fury. Though not without a few near misses.

Steve walks with Janet down to the car, opening the door for her and seeing her seated, before hurrying back around to the driver's side and climbing in. The stereo is playing music, quiet enough to not interrupt conversation. The songs were arranged with the help of JARVIS to be ones that Janet favors.

The car pulls out of the mansion and makes the turn to head for Rockefeller Center. Steve picked a day with a nice weather forecast, a little warmer than usual and not too windy, though the sun will be going down in an hour or two and the temperature will drop then.

"Have you ever been skating at Rockefeller?" he asks her. "I've been by to see the tree last year, but didn't actually make it out onto the ice. I did go once when I was younger," he comments as he guides the car through traffic.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
     "I think once, but it was a long time ago," Janet responds. Her hand rests in Steve's, fingers curling with his. The lifelong Manhattanite doesn't do much rubbernecking, content to let the vehicle take them along to where Steve drives them. "I was ... god. Ten, maybe. I can't remember if it was before or after my mom died."

A little wistful expression crosses Janet's face, and she falls quiet again until they're at Rockefeller. "I'm glad you didn't spring this on me as a surprise. Rental skates are always the worst," she tells Steve, and grins at him. "Can you skate? Or am I going to file this under 'Steve's continuing improbable athletic shortcuts?'" she quips.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve gets a bit of a soft smile at the question. "I can skate a bit, but I'm no Sonja Henie either," he tells her. "We used to flood a lot around the corner from us. Took a lot of buckets of water to get enough ice to actually skate on it, and it was probably as much snow as ice most of the time. But enough for a bunch of kids to play on at least."

He glances over to Janet with a thoughtful look. "Do you think about her very often?" he asks. "Not the easiest growing up after losing a parent. I can relate to that," Steve tells her. He guides the car over to the entrance to a parking structure that caters to the huge complex that is Rockefeller center, pulling up a ramp and into a parking space.

"Let me get your door," he says, climbing out and circling the car to Janet's side to open the door for her if she lets him. Afterwards he opens the back seat and pulls out a pair of skates.

Old skates. They look like they were probably made in the 1960s. Thin leather as compared to all the support that today's skates have. Though they seem in fair shape given their age.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's only response to the question is a small smile. It's hard to tell if it's bitter, sad, or just wry. Maybe some combination of all three. She waits patiently for Steve to get her door (as is right and proper!) and uses the offered hand to swing her legs out and stand up. Her own gym bag is shouldered, containing essentials like a water bottle, skates, and a towel. Probably packed and readied by her PA.

Janet seeks out the crook of Steve's elbow and hangs from it while they walk into the skate rink arena. New Yorkers are generally blaise about celebrities, but there's a special consideration for them even in Rockefeller. Putting everyone on an equal footing for a while, a space to be shared by all New Yorkers. Some pro skaters even come out to practice and play in the rink; they're the real stars. Still, once or twice there's some finger-pointing and 'oh heys!' at the two Avengers. Janet answers them all with a photo-ready smile, miraculously always sitting at a picture perfect angle for any camera aimed her way.

Some superpowers aren't really 'super' at all.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve pauses at the top of the stairs that lead out to the outdoor area with the rink to take in the site. The Christmas tree rises up majestically in the background, as if standing a solemn watch over the city's Yuletide cheer. "The decorations are quite a bit nicer than in my day," he comments as they step out to join the others who are preparing to skate.

Steve's handling of the attention is a little different. Nods, and smiles that are a mix of friendly and polite. Those that know him well would probably sense the small bit of reluctance he has inside at being the focus of attention. Yet he won't let that into his demeanor to ruin anyone's experience of meeting him. "Hello, thank you," he says to someone who wishes Janet and him a Happy New Year. "And the same to you."

He gets changed into his skates and after looking about and seeing people using public lockers, goes over to one to stow their things. "Something that still takes coins," he says, pulling a few quarters from a pocket to feed the machine and taking the key with him after he's locked their things up.

Steve turns back to Janet, wearing the old-fashioned skates which stand out from all the modern figure skates and even hockey skates that people have brought or rented. "Shall we?" he asks as he offers her his hand to walk her out onto the ice.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's skates, in contrast, look expensive. Lightweight, finely honed steel, with a combination of white leather and fine nylon mesh. They're the sort of thing one would expect from a professional deeply invested in their craft. For Janet, it was probably a matter of throwing a credit card at the problem.

Fingers curl into Steve's hand and she tentatively works out onto the ice. "It's been a little while since I skated, don't go throwing me around until I've got my balance," she warns him. A little push, a slide, and she's moving in a rocking back-and-forth pace. On the initial lap she wobbles once or twice but it seems in short order she's starting to remember how to skate. Not professionally, no, but with the confidence of someone who's had some proper instruction at some point in her life.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve's first time on the ice since boyhood is helped along by the physical improvements that some might note if they compared him to a young Steven Grant Rogers. The improved sense of balance certainly doesn't hurt. Steve propels himself about the area slowly, staying at Janet's side. Holding her hand, but with a light enough grip she can easily pull away if she needs to the double-armed wobbly waving that is so common to see from people who don't know how to skate or are just getting back to it.

The rest of the crowds are a mix of beginners and experienced skaters. Some kids weave in and out of the crowd playing tag, drawing occasional calls from the watchful rink staff to slow down.

Steve watches two such kids zoom past, one chasing the other. "You look like a natural on the ice. Might have to come up with a new name for you in winter," he says. "Though there aren't a lot of good flying insects in winter to pick from are there?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"I don't think there are any," Janet says wryly. "Hank tried to explain it to me once. It's got something to do with the mass squared energy loss and the capillary structure in the wings. I can't fly for too long if it's cold outside, let alone if there's snow or god forbid, hail. Repairing torn wing membranes is very uncomfortable and can put me out of commission for a few days."

Trusting Steve's balance she tries a hop and starts skating backwards. It's a little wobbly and erratic at first but soon enough she's pretty smoothly retreating ahead of his forward path. "You can't grow up in New England and /not/ learn how to ice skate a little. Add in the hols abroad... I took lessons, one or two winters. Nothing too much, just enough so I wouldn't fall on my ass in public." She smiles winsomely up at Steve and pivots smoothly on her toe so she's going forward again.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve's hand comes up in a supportive way, ready to steady Janet if she needs it as she does the little about face to coast backwards. "So now I know who the Sonja Henie is," he comments. After a moment, perhaps figuring people today wouldn't know who she is, he adds, "She was a skater."

He gives an appreciative smile and a shake of his head. "I'd have just gone with 'too cold for them' or 'too smart to be out in the cold'. It's pretty impressive what people like Hank and Tony and Bruce are capable of," Steve comments as he skates along, following Janet's lead while she's moving backwards.

A pair of kids playing tag weave around people as they make a turn behind Janet and Steve. One of them manages to tag the other, the latter leaning so far that the 12-year-old wipes out and goes sliding across the ice at high speed. There's not much warning, just the faint sound of him sliding on the ice before he hits Steve's legs like a bowling ball hitting a pin. Steve goes over backwards, landing hard on his butt, while the kind careens off to the side, spinning a few times before coming to a stop.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Look out!" The warning comes too late, and Janet does what she can; she vanishes in a mild rush of hair, wings buzzing furiously to keep her aloft while Steve and the kid wipe out. She reappears near Steve's head, offering him two hands to help him up. She's sensible enough to set her skates against the ice and counterbalance a little rather than risking Steve simply pulling her over. It helps that Janet's quite a bit stronger than she looks for as petite as she is, too.

"You okay? That was a fairly gnarly wipeout," she remarks. Janet looks over at the sprawling youth. "You dead?" she calls over to the pre-teen. She gives him a look of prim reprimand, clearly concerned with Steve's welfare and dignity.

Then again, Janet's big on 'tough love', and no one seems to be bleeding or unconscious, so....

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve is laughing softly. He takes one of Janet's hands, though largely rises on his own, probably rather than risk pulling her down as well. His black jeans have a layer of ice shavings on them from where he went down.

The kid gets back up to his feet. "Sorry about that," he says, casting a worried glance over for any of the rink staff if they are coming their way. "It's ok," Steve tells the kid, at which point the kid gapes. First at Steve. Then a glance at Janet. Back to Steve, and then realization hitting him a second time and gaping at Janet then. "Captain America? And The Wasp?" he says.

Steve makes a gesture with both hands as if to keep it down. "Yep. Just out for a skate," he tells the kid. "She's teaching me," he confides with the kid, who looks at Janet with big eyes and nods.

"That's so cool!" he says and then skates off, accelerating quickly to tell his friends. Who are all dodging him now that he's 'it', making it tougher on him. Steve looks back to Janet and chuckles. "Where were we?" he asks.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet starts a slow backwards pace, hands behind her back. The look she gives Steve is an impish one. "I was teaching you how to skate, apparently," Janet quips at him. It's coming back to her now; she moves more comfortably on the ice, easily transitioning from forward to backward. The socialite moves just fast enough to beckon Steven on, but not so much that she's flat outrunning him. When he gets up a head of steam Janet pulls ahead a bit and ventures a jump and a spin. The landing's a little wobbly but mostly on point and she sails backwards with one leg extended behind her like a catamaran cutting over the ocean currents. "C'mon soldier boy," she encourages. "Show me some moves."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve's lips pull back in a soft grin and he picks up the pace as Janet does. "Mostly I ended up playing defense. Bucky'd tell me to lay down in front of the net to help the team," he says with a wry laugh. Steve transitions from forward to backwards, those sixty year old skates he's wearing seeming to work that well at least. The man at the used sports equipment store had tried to talk him into something newer, especially after recognizing him. But when Steve had been determined to get the ones that felt the most familiar to him, the man had taken them in back and worked on the blades and carefully sharpened them. It shows as Steve is able to turn on that pivot point readily enough.

He looks behind him towards Janet, tentatively crossing one foot over the other, which causes him to pick up a bit more speed than he expected. "Pretty soon those people in the yellow coats will be coming after us," he says, referring to the rink staff with their jackets that read STAFF on them. "So I had a spot picked out nearby for after. Not particularly fancy. But it's somewhere that was around in my day that I remember going to once," Steve comments.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
They're going just a /bit/ fast, sure, but between Steve's athleticism and Janet's lissome agility they're not in immediate peril of wrecking into anyone. Still after a while the chasing slows down and Janet moves into Steve's orbit, catching his hands and sending them in a smooth spin around a common center of gravity.

"Ooh, a spot!" she gasps. Then her expression flattens with comical disappointment. "Oh, for food," she says in a neutral tone. "Fine, I don't mind you taking me out for a bite." In she comes, hands resting on Steve's hips, and giving him a smoulderingly playful look from where her chin rests on his broad chest. "Or for food."

And with that she pushes off of him and sails smoothly away, skates pointing in opposite directions and her knees bent in a graceful plie.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Their hands joined, Steve spins around in the circle with Janet. There's one slight stumble before he gets the old skates turned just right to be able to just circle like that, but it's managed easily enough.

As Janet reacts in that neutral tone to realizing it's about food, Steve starts to say, "Why, what did..." and then trails off as a light comes on. "Oh," he says, giving a nodding smile that turns into a chuckle and a shake of his head. He clears his throat. "Yes, somewhere to eat, AND drink, I'll have you know," he tells her.

As Janet skates up against him, Steve's hands go to the woman's hips, resting on those curves that grace her mostly slender body. He looks into her eyes for a moment, responding to the playful look with one of quieter warmth. Something it seemed to take him a little while to settle into it, hot to react to Janet's vibrant energy.

He watches as she pushes away and glides back, taking a moment to admire before pushing off with a skate to coast after her. "So. By chance, have you been roaming the mansion's hallways ahead of me?" he says, asking the question he'd wondered at for awhile before finally coming to the conclusion himself.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet pauses and blinks back at Steve. She almost trips, stumbles, and recovers before it becomes a full pratfall. "Uh... nnnno?" Genuine befuddlement creases her brow. "I'm just... going where I go, I guess. Why?" Playful suspicion narrows her eyes at him, though as mercurial as her temperament runs, it's a little hard to tell when she's sincerely vexed or merely playing at it. "Have you been following me around? You keep looking, I'm eventually going to start charging you for the view."

Janet turns and skates forward with a pointed swing of her hips, obscured by her hands mostly interlacing behind the short skirt covering her rear. "Eyes on the ice Steve, you'll fall and hurt yourself," she sings back in a playful cadence.

Steve Rogers has posed:
The wry smile that Steve Rogers gets seems to take the denial, or some aspect of it, as confirmation. Though he doesn't challenge her on it, merely skates forward, eyes on hers with an amused expression. "They don't really pay us all that well, so I'd probably better be careful then," he tells her.

Do they pay them that well? Steve still is getting a feeling for what it costs to live in 2018, with his Avengers dwelling fully paid for, and even the place in the city still technically on SHIELD's dime, things like the cost of the light bill are nuances he has yet to have picked up since waking.

Though the way that those true blue eyes follow Janet, Steve doesn't seem to be thinking about Con Ed's rates. He pushes forward to catch up with her, ending up at Janet's side and after a moment, sliding an arm about the small of her back, hand resting on her far hip. "Have we worked up a bit of an appetite? Shall we head over to get something to eat?" he asks, glancing up at the sky where the sun is already disappearing towards the horizon, shining from beneath the skyscrapers off to the west.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet sighs, a little theatrically, when Steve doesn't rise to the bait. Oh well. Can't keep him off-balance, all the time. She nestles into the curve of his arm happily enough when he comes up aside her.

"I'm starving," Janet acknowledges, and follows his lead towards the benches. They do the clunky skate-walk until they can get their gear stowed. Janet's skates are touched with a little oil to ensure no rust forms. A few sips of her water bottle slakes her thirst; it's offered to Steve, then she shoulders her modest duffel bag and waits for him to be ready. "Lead on, Cap," she bids, and curls her arms around his forearm with an adoring gaze upwards.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers takes a sip of the water when offered, with a quiet, "Thank you Janet," and removes his skates and dries the blades. He holds up the ancient-looking skates and says, "These worked pretty well. I thought they just felt... better, the leather instead of the molded plastic on the hockey skates the man was recommending."

Once their shoes are back on, Steve rises, hanging the skates over his far shoulder as his arm is claimed by Janet. "It's not too long of a walk, we can leave the skates at the car and head over," he suggests. If that works for Janet, it's a short walk to leave their skates and her bag in the car, and then out onto the sidewalk.

The sidewalks are mostly clear of ice, having lost most of it during the sunny day and the effects of salt that was spread in the morning by city workers. Clouds are coming in though as the sun is setting, with forecasts for snow flurries. They look orange and fluffy as they drift in to fill the formerly clear skies, with the rays of the setting sun lighting them from beneath.

People pass them on the sidewalk, most intent on a destination. It reduces the number of people who recognize them compared to the over at Rockefeller Center. "I'm glad you came out tonight," Steve tells Janet, looking over to her and letting his gaze linger for long moments. He finally looks away. "I know it took me awhile to ask."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Mmm, I can do it today, but pro tip: never spring a long walk on a girl on a date," Janet informs Steve. She uplifts her calf-high boots with their two-inch heel. "I can walk in these pretty comfortably but a couple city blocks in stilettos, and I'm going to insist you carry me the bulk of the distance.

"Why -did- it take you so long to ask?" she queries Steve, after a little distance. "It's not like we haven't done some stuff before, and it's not like we're total strangers. I'm pretty sure I was sending the right signals. For a while there I was worried you and Bucky were more than just old foxhole buddies. I mean--" she looks down at herself, clasps her hands to her chest, then her rear. "Is this thing on? Are you receiving?" she asks, and shoots another impish look up at the Captain to see if she's succeeded in unbalancing his resolute mien.