first meetings are tough, @wingedshield
It’d been so long since he’d been thoroughly human that he nearly didn’t register just how much things hurt. Ribs ached, his shoulder throbbed, and the beating he’d have taken without a blink of his eye was suddenly something far more serious. Sand coated half his face, red mask half buried from where it now lay (thank god, because he couldn’t deal with that right now - he really couldn’t). His knuckles ached from fighting back. A finger throbbed; had he really broken it?
Steve wasn’t sure. But then again, he wasn’t sure of a lot of things at the moment.
The blows had stopped, however, bodies quiet, and though serum may not flow through his veins he wasn’t about to meet an ally face down in the sand. So with a groan, he pushed himself up, spitting blood before turning to sit heavily in the soft sand.
Wincing, he peered up through a half lidded eye. Hoping to god that whoever this was perhaps didn’t put two and two together. “You know, haven’t had a beating like that since calling out the school bully for swiping lunch money. I’d offer you that now, but got all the way here without it. Thanks...”











