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Who: Njoki and Steve
What: A Very Important Conversation
Where: An ice cream parlor on the outskirts of Mog Hill
When: this evening.
Notes: Always wait 30 minutes after you eat to go for a run. Or, do as Captain America does, and have your ice cream after.
Warnings: Cap may or may not keel over from mortification in his post. Film at eleven.

Steve is happy to lose a race these days. He's not a guy concerned with winning in the first place. Since the procedure he was the strongest, the fastest; losing a race is a gift he doesn't often get. It keeps him humble, keeps him connected to who he used to be.

To the person to whom he promised Dr. Erskine he would remain true.

"Fair's fair," he says as he steps into the ice cream parlor, holding the door for Ki. "You won, I'm buying. What are you having?"

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Steve--believe it or not--returns the shoulder-bump, though it's about as shy as something like a shoulder-bump can be.

"I don't have anything to ask you right now. But if I think of something, I'll ask. And that goes for me, too. If you have something you want to know, you can ask me."

The shoulder-bump, despite being shy, pleases her. She takes it to mean that he won't be treating her any differently than he did before.

While they reenter the ice-cream parlour and order their floats, she sticks to polite chit-chat about what they're going to get, but once they've got their snacks and have found a place to sit, she's got something to say.

"So, you can tell me off if you want, but, how do you run so fast?"

He's mid-polite-slurp when Ki puts the question to him; he glances up at her, through those impossibly long eyelashes, blinking a few times. He takes the straw out of his mouth and he straightens up, smiling. He's not surprised that she wasted no time in taking him up on that ask-me-anything offer.

"I'm an experimental super soldier," he tells her without hesitation. "I was meant to be the first of my kind but things went wrong and I wound up being the only one of my kind. I was given a serum and exposed to these vita-rays. They changed me physically. They made me bigger and stronger, they improved my reflexes and stamina. They sped up my metabolism, too, which in turn speeds up my healing."

He grins, a bit rueful. "Believe it or not, I used to be five-foot-six and barely a hundred twenty pounds. I had asthma and a whole laundry list of other physical problems. And now--" he gestures at himself-- "I look like this and I can run that fast."

"Less portable now and probably need to get your pants rehemmed, but it's not all bad." Vita-rays? Sure, why not. If she can accept and roll with every other half-mad thing in Baedal, 'vita-rays' are perfectly plausible. She does want to ask about why he's the only one, but has a sneaking suspicion that it would be a less pleasant answer.

"You volunteer for it?"

"Pants were a problem," he agrees, with a wry smile.

"I sure did." He pokes at the ice cream in his glass with his straw. "I tried to enlist in the regular Army. They wouldn't take me. I got rejected four times. I kept trying. I was willing to serve my country and protect those who needed it. So many men my age were laying down their lives to do those things. I had no right to do anything less. But I couldn't get in the regular way. I happened to meet Dr. Erskine and he offered me a shot at this. I had to work for it. Tryouts, kinda. I went up against a whole bunch of other fellas who were bigger and stronger and seemed more like your typical soldiers. But Dr. Erskine picked me in the end."

He pauses, pressing his lips together for a moment, that shadow having settled across his features again. He glances up at Ki a moment and then he goes back to swirling his straw around. "I asked him why. The night before the procedure. Why me. He said it was because of my heart. And because those other fellas--see, men who have always been big and powerful don't know any different. But a man like me, who used to be small and unimportant... he said I'd always remember what that was like, and that would make me compassionate. And he was right."

His voice softens. "He made me promise I'd always stay true to who I was. That night, and the next day, before he... before he died. I'm never gonna forget, I swear. I promised him."

"I don't know if I'd've had the nerve to do that, but I am damn thankful you did," she says sincerely. Njoki believes that she's a bit of a coward. There have been times when she feels that she could've or should've stood up against some of the less pleasant vampires she's worked for, but chose to stay quiet. "And I'm sorry you lost your friend. He sounds like a smart man who understood how people view the world."

"I might not know you like he did, but I'm glad you got the chance to do your part and fight. Worth the cost, right?"

"Thank you." He gazes down into his glass, still idly playing with the straw for lack of anything else to focus on, emotional as he is right now. It shows a little in the way he won't look directly at her for long, the way the smiles that come and go from his lips are just pale shadows of what they usually are, the wistful cast in his expression.

"Dr. Erskine was a good man, himself. I sure was proud he chose me... but I was even more proud to call him a friend and a mentor. I looked up to him. He believed in me like nobody had since my mom and dad, may they also rest in peace." He glances up at her again, for a moment.

"And I'd do it all again. Even knowing the cost, I'd do it all over again. Ten times."

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