01 ★ Arrival

[sidearmed]

WHO: Bucky Barnes + YOU
WHERE: Town and environs
WHAT: A wild winter soldier appears
WHEN: Early May
WARNINGS: Severe PTSD, possible mentions of Nazis, torture, etc.

Arrival

[ The soldier's grasp of reality is still a bit tenuous, but he's pretty sure that sitting inside an old bus one moment and abruptly waking up in a town square somewhere else isn't an ordinary occurrence. At least, not like this. He has gone under in one place and woken up elsewhere, but there are protocols followed. Doctors and techs and his handler. This is ... not like that.

He's quick to roll to his feet, taking a cursory glance around, and makes for the closest building that might provide shelter. He's reasonably confident of keeping his feet under him if someone objects, but it's dark outside, and the world is full of weird smells. And his ears echo with equally strange noises, ones he doesn't care to investigate without some sort of weapon. Especially potentially hostile strangers. ]


Exploring

[ For the next few days, the soldier will do his utmost to gather intel (including a spare change of clothing) and explore this strange place on his own, without giving away that he's even there. Much less wandering around and asking questions like an idiot. Of course, the road to hell is often paved with good intentions. So those who are observant (or, indeed, any who might stumble across his path by accident) will find the newest arrival exploring the ruined city first — the 'town square', including the agriculture building, a brief investigation of the hotel to find out how many people might be quartered there, and avoiding the hospital once he takes a gander inside and realizes what that particular building used to be. ]


Wildcard

[ The soldier will expand his area of investigation to other sectors, so if there's another place you'd like to meet him or have a different idea in mind, throw it here. As always, pm or plurk pings for plotting and questions. I will also try to match tag styles. ]

Comments

[theladyofwinterfell]

( Sansa never sleeps any longer. The baby has made it so that she's massively uncomfortable no matter how she positions herself so she only gets snatches of sleep here and there. She is out on a walk just now when she sees someone moving in the shadows. Her eyes are good but not as good as Lady's and the direwolf makes a break for it. Sansa calls for her and demands that she yield, immediately, before she notices the faint glint of metal where an arm is supposed to be. Oh. Oh this one was hers, wasn't it? It had to be her version, with this arm, and Sansa tries to keep herself calm as she approaches. )

James, I'm sorry about Lady. I think she scented you and made a break for it because my own wolf likes you better than me. She's a damned traitor. Are you all right? Are you hurt?

( What she wants to do is throw herself at him the way Lady had but unlike her wolf, currently begging for pets, Sansa knows a little better. )

[sidearmed]

[ In another life, he'd like to say that it wasn't intentional skulking around in the shadows. That he doesn't mean to startle her. But that other life is long gone and one he can only remember in tiny flashes, so it's more that he doesn't think to try. And, besides, there is a giant dog bounding toward him - which takes up the majority of his concern.

The soldier steps back, his movements exceedingly cautious (with maybe a hint of fear, because giant canine), and tilts his head to look past Lady to her mistress. ]

I'm fine. [ That is .. a prepared response, and not quite accurate. ] Who are you?

[theladyofwinterfell]

( This has happened so many times before in the time that Sansa's been in the Fleet and now here but it does hurt to hear him say that he doesn't know who she is. It's difficult to even describe what they were to one another, the things they knew about each other, but she has to push through this. She hadn't built the relationship they had in a day and it isn't going to come back in a day, in spite of Lady's enthusiasm. Lady is still nosing for pets but Sansa comes only a tiny bit closer, just enough that they might see one another's faces. )

My name is Sansa. There's...a lot to explain about this place but I'll start with the simplest bit. I knew you, in another time, and we were close friends. I'm sorry if I startled you by calling you by name and having my wolf lose her mind but she doesn't have the same restraint that I do. I know you won't believe me, because I did know you well, but you can trust me. I promise.

Lady, to me. Now. Leave him be.

( The last is sharp and the command of a queen, not the soft tone she'd used before, and Lady slinks back with her tail between her legs to come and sit at Sansa's feet. )

She isn't going to hurt you. She loved you, very much, and you smell like her friend. It's harder for her to understand than it is for me, unfortunately, but she'll heed your commands the same she does mine.

[sidearmed]

[ It doesn't compute: 'I knew you in another time'. That makes next to no sense, but he can say that about most of the last few weeks. But the tone of the woman's (girl's?) voice says she believes it. It's what stops him from arguing, from denying her certainty, from saying that it can't be him. Because none of the flashes of memory ever showed him this place. ]

Sansa. [ He says slowly, committing the name to an admittedly swiss-cheese memory, then flicks his attention from lady to .. well, Lady. Man and wolf eye one another for a long moment before the soldier lowers into a crouch and extends his flesh hand, palm facing the sky. Just to see what happens. ] Lady?

[ His tone is low and miles from certain. ]

[theladyofwinterfell]

( Lady looks back at Sansa to see if it's all right before approaching him again, licking his palm. He seems the same to her, her old friend, and she wags her tail hopefully in search of pets. )

That wolf of mine will betray me for you every single time, I think. I want to tell you something you can keep to yourself, all right? There are others here who know you. They'll have memories of you from your home and it might overwhelm you - it did before, sometimes. I am your advocate. No one else's.

I know - I know some things. I've never betrayed those confidences, not even to my own husband. You knew my darkest secrets as well and I know you never told them. If you need anything, all I have is yours. If anyone is too much, even me, you needn't apologize. Tell me and I'll keep them or even myself away.

[sidearmed]

[ He frowns even as his fingers curl gently into the coat of the wolf, half expecting to get his arm ripped off but going for it anyway. Who says Steve has the sole lion's share of doing stupid shit. Besides, it's easier to concentrate on the animal while his brain is racing with everything that Sansa is saying.

People know him. Know of him. Know the horrible shit in his head, and know the blood he's spilled in the name of HYDRA. And he has absolutely no idea how this whole situation may or may not have been rigged. ]

I don't remember anything, [ He says, after a moment. It's both a break in the silence and an apology. Of sorts.