This is new for me. OK?

[thestaremaster]

WHO: Bucky Barnes, OTA
WHERE: Fountain, Network, The Deep End
WHAT: Arrival
WHEN: Early June
WARNINGS: TBD




Arrival
Bucky was still reeling from having that information forcibly shoved into his mind, and he took a half step back, eyes narrowing at the data point as he tried to push down the memories it evoked.

He had to focus.

Aliens. It just had to be aliens. Sam was never going to give it a rest now. The damn 'Big Three'.

He rubbed a hand over his brow and sighed, lifting it again to spot a figure in the distance.

"Hey- wait up-" he called, not sure if they were a fellow 'He Row' or one of the jerks that had brought him here, but either way- he wanted a word.

Network

[Bucky looks a bit uncomfortable on camera, offering a stiff smile for a moment, before quickly abandoning it.]

Hey- uh...

[He frowns and tries to wave an insistent mothkitten away, but the gleam of his arm keeps drawing it back.]

Someone wanna catch me up on this place?

The Deep End

His fingers drummed on the countertop, frowning in thought. Of course when he'd finally reached a place where he was ready to explore opening up he got pulled away to fight someone else's fight.

It didn't feel right to be so bitter, he's put a lot of bad out into the universe, if some force out there wanted to make him to continue to make amends for that could he really object?...Definitely. But it didn't do much to help the conflict in his mind.
He tried to think about what the doc might say. She'd never dealt with anything quite like this, but that was true for most everything they talked about, and she did all right.

"...How long have you been here?" he asked, breaking that long silence with a sudden turn of his head to acknowledge he wasn't alone, taking a long sip of his drink.

Comments

Network

[kree_soldieress]

[Enjoy the grinning blue face on the screen in the response.]

What exactly do you mean by catching up? Are you racing somewhere? Are you following someone?

[Slang, she's TRYING to get it.]

[thestaremaster]

[Aaaaaaand it's an alien. Great. Bucky's all ready tense smile stiffens that much more.]

Uh....no. Looking for a...summary of events?

[kree_soldieress]

[Yes, aliens exist. Don't grimace at her.]

Ah, I cannot provide a very large one, but I can speak to the spider attack, and going to another planet, and then the super hero world that Wiccan created by accident.

[thestaremaster]

[He hasn't had great experiences with aliens so far, all right? And the grimace is a pretty key feature.

He blinks, not one bit of that sounding like something he wants to be a part of, and he sighs heavily.]

The what that who created by accident??

[kree_soldieress]

Super hero world, mimicking that of the Earth of my own dimension, created by Billy. He is a super hero, the son of the Scarlet Witch. It has been resolved. But many people here existed as super heroes there. It was... strange.

TDE

[deal_me_in]

"What, we having a case of amnesia or did you leave something back when the rubberband snapped?" It probably wasn't the answer Bucky was expecting, but it was the one he got once the Exo had stepped out of the back room to go and rifle through the bottles on the shelf behind the counter. He came up with a bottle of something amber, set it on the counter as he pulled a glass from below.

"...wait..." he said, mostly to himself as he paused, glowing gaze studying the man sitting on the other side. His metal brow furrowed, his own fingers drumming on the countertop for a brief moment before he inquired, "Soldier?"

[thestaremaster]

Soldat.

Bucky visibly stiffened at that address, and his eyes narrowed sharply, pausing with his glass half way to his lips.

"...What did you call me?" he demanded, a very real threat in those eyes.

[deal_me_in]

Hoboy. Now that is a look.

Cayde raised his hands. "I mean, I'd repeat myself but I would like to keep my bar damage-free. However, you already answered my question so I'll just have to reshuffle. If you're not him, then you're the other one. Another one?" The Exo looked a little confused, head cocking to one side before he shook it, tossing his hands.

"Yeah. It's confusing here. Seems like you're popular with the Agrii for some reason 'cuz believe it or not, your face has been around- may still be around here. -and when I say face I mean like, with person attached, not like...just floating around- brr, now that's a horrifying thought," Cayde shuddered.

[thestaremaster]

That look didn't exactly soften, but some of the threat left his posture at least, still stiff as he frowned at the Exo and then at his drink.

"The hell does that mean?"

How could there be more of him here all ready?

He drained his drink with a grimace and pushed the glass across the counter for a refill.

[puddledancer]

Whatever you learn, pass it on, yeah?

assuming network?

[thestaremaster]

You look familiar.

/thumbs up

[puddledancer]

Do I?

[shit. had he stolen something from this guy? had Rocket? did Drax try to shove his head into a bar table over a colloquialism he'd taken literally? shit shit shit.]

I've got one of those faces. Had a guy in a bar think my name was Andy once. ... It's totally not.

[thestaremaster]

You do...

[Bucky can't quite place him though, just...staring in that unnerving way as he tries to recall.]

Arrival

[the_child]

What was that about aliens?

The figure in the distance... wasn't as far in the distance as Bucky might have thought. In fact, the figure was only about a foot and a half tall. With long green ears. He turned and looked up at the voice, trilling curiously. What?

[thestaremaster]

Well that...that was a small...alien thing. Bucky paused, and looked about for whoever this child(?) might belong to, or some other more responsible adult type, but he seemed to be it.

"...Uh. Hey Buddy?" he greeted uncertainly, "...You supposed to be wandering around alone?" Did it even understand English?

[the_child]

Yup. Small alien thing about sums him up. Grogu tilts his head and waves. Hi! And duh, he doesn't need to be babysat all the time. Just most of the time. He makes a curious noise at the strange man. Are you new?

[thestaremaster]

"..." Bucky stares at it, and finally offers a tentative wave back, a bit stiff.

"I'm uh...Bucky," he introduces flatly, still not sure if the thing understands him. "You're one of the people here, right? I'm not chatting up the local equivalent of a squirrel, right?" he mutters.

The Deep End

[mrsklover]

Richie looked over at the other guy and then down at his drink. "You mean in the bar or on this planet? The answer to both is probably 'Too long, but that's not gonna make me leave anytime soon'."

He swallowed whatever he was drinking and waved for another. Finally, he turned to look at the guy more fully and squinted his eyes. He looked familiar. Sort of. Kind of like the guy he'd met at the fake benefit dinner when he'd been a fake bartender in a fake world but actually flirting with a real Eddie.

He drowns that thought with a gulp of his new drink and does what he always does in a situation like this: talks.

"Didn't we meet once already? Like. In Bizarro-World?"

[thestaremaster]

"Was thinking the planet, but- know..." Bucky allowed with a faint tug at the corner of his lip, gesturing with is drink, "That works too."

"Bizarro-World...?" he repeated blankly, before giving a short wobble of his head. That would be a no. "First day. The uh-...robot seemed to suggest there might be someone else walking around with my face though." Totally normal. Yup. Bucky took another long drink.

[mrsklover]

Richie nodded because, yeah. Why not? Someone else with the same face? Sure. Sounded like a Tuesday in this fucked up place. Did they have Tuesdays? God. He wasn't drunk enough, yet.

"Ah. You missed the fun, then. I mean, fun for some people. Assholes got to fly or do other fun shit. I got to not talk for a fucking month. Bullshit, if you ask me. But good for you, missing that crap. Sucks about the...you know. Kidnapping stuff and forced service to aliens but, what can ya do?"

Drink. Which he's gonna do the rest of the night.

[thestaremaster]

"Fun," Bucky noted sarcastically, "Looking forward to it." He offered mock cheers to the other man, and drained what was left in his glass before filling it up again.

"Bucky," he introduced belatedly.

Jumping right off the deep end—

[sinistral]

Sometime after Catra told him about the presence of another who smelled like him, the Soldier finally decided to see for himself. He supposed it could be made into a lesson about why he shouldn't stay so isolated from everyone, but he refused that on principle. Especially after spending a month being extremely social in that other reality, now he desired his privacy.

But he probably needed to know sooner rather than later.

The bar was an obvious choice mostly for the gathering place it seemed to have become. The Soldier himself tended not to visit; alcohol was wasted on his metabolism anyway. But tonight he did, standing just inside the doorway, silent and still. A ghost.

That the other man noticed, well. It only offered confirmation of what his eyes told him.

"Long enough," he replied calmly, turning to leave. He had what he came to find out.

[thestaremaster]

Despite the months of practice in confronting who he used to be, Bucky couldn't really be prepare for the feeling of actually seeing him there- in the flesh. Every fiber of his being wanted to retreat, beyond tense, and he fought with himself to force his next words out.

"...Can we talk?" he managed before the other could get too far.

[sinistral]

He stopped on hearing that request, though he didn't turn around. Instead, he turned his head just enough to toss the "why?" over his shoulder, standing otherwise still.

Well, it's not like he hadn't known coming here was a bad idea. Still needed to be done.

[thestaremaster]

"..." Bucky sighed, and drained the rest of his drink, pushing up out of his chair to catch up with the other. This was probably best done in private.

"You know why," he said, maybe a bit coldly as he passed the other and stepped outside, trusting him to follow eventually. He took a breath and tried to shake that impulse. Neither of them asked to be here. It wasn't fair to take out his own issues on...him.