Forever Captain: “The Hemingway Trip” - 3. Rough Time

Forever Captain:
“The Hemingway Trip”
By Phoebe Roberts
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Summary: “In the twenty years since Steve Rogers returned to the midcentury to build a life and family, he’s always been surprised at how close he became with Howard Stark. But it’s that very closeness that makes him the only person Howard can talk to when he’s wrestling with something big.

Nothing like a fishing trip to give the boys a chance to talk.”

Previous chapters:
1. Birds of Odd Feathers
2. In the Drink

Chapter summary: Steve recalls another fishing trip he took Howard on, when his friend was clearly going through a difficult time.

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( Chapter 3 - “Rough Time” )

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Next chapter: 4. Before This Day Ends

Eyes above a mask

I’ve been wearing eyeshadow to work very consistently lately. I kind of started doing it regularly over the course of lockdown, with all the meetings on Zoom. It was a nice way to do something different when other people could see me, since I was spending so much of my time on my own. Now I’m teaching in a mask, and my eyes are the only part of my face that my students can see. If I wear good eye makeup, then there’s something distinctive about me that can strike them. My vanity likes to be looked at. And I’ve gotten a lot of compliments from students who liked it in the last year, so I think it’s worth it to make the impression on them.

I’m much better at it than I used to be, or at least I think so. I watched a bunch of Youtube tutorials and have gotten a lot more practice. I don’t try anything particularly unconventional— I just stick with the pretty much universally flattering principles. Darkness on the outer edge of the eye, brightness on the inner edge, so that even eyeliner and crease color stops about two thirds of the way over, and slant the outside upward so it looks lifted. I use basically the application style every time, just in different color schemes.

Neutrals probably look best on me, from a purely flattering standpoint, though I’ve been experimenting with colors. I have bought several palettes from Juvia’s Place, which are well-priced, black owned, and very good quality, though it’s prone to glitter shades and I’m not really a shimmer fan. Trouble is I often find I can’t tell if the look I’ve chosen is too much to be professional, just because of the presence of color even if it’s otherwise the same application. I still avoid blue, but I have done orange, dark red, yellow, and purple. I want to do green but I haven’t yet managed to figure out how to keep it from being overwhelming, and I love grays but the palette I currently have may be too shimmery. Not like my work demands I be buttoned down, but I don’t want it to seem too much for daytime.

Maybe I should only use one bright color anywhere in the eye, in order to keep its presence subdued. The style I do requires like five different colors, and I will often use all variations on one hue. But maybe if I keep them all neutrals like browns except for maybe the lid, the effect might work more subtly while still having some colorful presence. I guess I need more practice.