stars and no stripes

[advanced]

who: Bucky and OPEN
what: Various prompts
when: Throughout December
where: Around Quarantine and just outside the perimeter
warnings: None yet, any content warnings that crop up will appear in the subject line

[i: Around Quarantine; OPEN]

[Ever since Steve went home, making the decision to leave him behind, Bucky has regretted how he behaved. He should have made more of an effort to work past his fear and paranoia, be more of a part of Steve's life. Not just Steve's life, the life that's bustling around him all the time. The people that he's met here have, by and large, been good to him. He has to stop hiding.

It's not exactly stopping hiding, but it's a step in the right direction when he decides to start prowling the streets looking for crimes to stop, or people to help. Has your character been set upon by a mugger? Got hit by a car? Accidentally dropped their ice cream? Never fear, for a threatening looking man in a ratty hoodie and torn jeans is coming to the rescue!]

[ii: A series of rooftops around Quarantine; OPEN]

[Ever since receiving an old record from Ava for Thanksgiving, an unexpected present, Bucky has felt like he should be doing something with it. It feels wrong to let a present, one of his first proper ones in a long time, just languish and gather dust in his backpack. So he's taken the second hand gramophone he got his hands on up to a variety of flat rooftops over the first couple of weeks of December, and started practising dance steps.

They're rusty. Very rusty. But they're not all completely gone, as he feared they might have been, so anyone drawn by the sounds of old 1940s music might catch sight of a man in jeans and a hoodie swing dancing on his own.]

[iii: Mission report, December 16 1991; CLOSED to Tony Stark]

[The significance of the date has passed him by. He's from before when Zemo came to drag all of that out into the open, and if he marked every day that he murdered someone then he'd do nothing else all the year round.

He's just scavenging out in one of the buildings outside of town, looking for anything useful or interesting to gather up. It's an unstable building, but he's being relatively careful as he prowls through the gloom, but he has no idea that someone else is also in the building. He climbs a set of stairs and as soon as he puts his weight on the new floor it combines with the weight of the man already there, and the whole thing cracks and collapses.

Well... great. Just great. Now he's trapped under a bunch of rubble with someone he didn't even get a good look at before everything went dark and slightly painful.]

You alive?

Comments

[ i ]

[supersweet]

[ While he's met Bucky plenty of times around and about in Riverview, it still takes Jon by surprise. With a smile, he approaches the man (but keeping his distance in case Bucky wants to play it that way) ]

Hey, Bucky. Gonna do some Christmas shopping?

[advanced]

[He hasn't really gone looking for Jon since they collided in dreams, it felt too awkward, but apparently Jon doesn't seem to hold any of the same reservations if that smile is anything to go by.

He shrugs, looking awkward.]

No. I was just--

[Trawling for people to rescue. He can't say that.]

--walking.

[Good. Excellent excuse.]

[supersweet]

[ Uh . . . huh. ]

Walking where?

[advanced]

Uh.

[Felled at the first hurdle.]

To... the store?

[supersweet]

[ Okay that's a little funny. ]

You really make me look good at this secret identity stuff, not gonna lie.

[advanced]

[His lips turn down, but he can hardly deny it.]

I'm not trying to have a secret identity, I was just-- I thought maybe there might be people in trouble, that's all.

[supersweet]

I don't think you'll find them like this. Maybe you need to tune into the police radio band? That's what most people do.

[advanced]

They have a police radio here?

[He's really not good at this.]

I've not tried to do this before.

[supersweet]

They might. Or the Perimeter Guard might use something like that. My mom used to use one all the time.

[advanced]

I thought your Ma was a journalist, not a cop.

[Oh. Wait.]

...pretend I didn't say something that dumb.

[supersweet]

[ Jon smiles. ]

Don't worry about it.

You could try one of the missions. They always need help for that.

[advanced]

I don't think I'm quite ready for a team mission like that.

[He's trying out his solo saving people first, he's definitely not ready to jump in the deep end with too many others.]

[supersweet]

[ Jon nods. ]

Maybe you just need a partner?

[advanced]

Maybe.

[He still doesn't look too sure.]

I'm not so sure that's a good idea either, you saw-- you know what I can do, I think it's better if I stick to myself for now.

[supersweet]

Well . . . yeah.

But I can do bad stuff too. It shouldn't stop us from trying, y'know?

[advanced]

No, that's why I'm here, I'm trying to try. Just try on my own.

[He knows that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.]

I can do some good like this, maybe I can trust myself with others.

[supersweet]

[ Jon gives him a thoughtful look. ]

Bucky, what do you think doing good actually is?

[advanced]

Helping out people in trouble.

[Isn't it? He doesn't need to be in a team to do that sort of thing, it's why he's trawling the streets looking for people who need saving.]

[supersweet]

Well, yeah but it's not just about trouble. It's about getting involved. Good people get involved. That's how they know when to help.

It's not always something you can just spot, y'know?

[advanced]

I said I was trying to do good, I never said I was a good person.

[That's one huge step too far.]

Getting involved with people in the way you're talking about won't help me and it won't help them, trust me.

[supersweet]

[ It's amazing how Jon says one thing and Bucky takes it another way. ]

It's what dad always says. It kind of means if you wanna do good, you have to be involved.

And I don't mean like knowing them and stuff, but just. The little things. It's not always running to the rescue.

[advanced]

How can you help people with the little stuff if you don't get to know them?

[Surely it's only by knowing people that you can see when they need the little things, otherwise they're just more strangers passing in the street.]

Getting involved is getting to know people.

[supersweet]

You can always ask. That's what I do! Sometimes, you notice someone and you need to ask.

But that's kind of how it works. The small things are important too. I'm just as proud to help a cat out of a tree as I am to put out a fire or beat up a robot.

[advanced]

Good, great-- and that's you.

[He's starting to feel just a little bit cornered now. Isn't this step, even if it's not all the ways Jon would help out, enough for now? Enough for a start?]

If I see a cat in a tree then I'll get it down, but I'm not about to start conversations with random people. That's not me. Someone else can help them with their small things.

[supersweet]

It can be anyone.

[ Except maybe Batman. Who knows how Batman does things. ]

I mean, you could always do the brooding of rooftops thing. That way, you can see most of the city?