hide and seek

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who: Bucky and OPEN
what: Bucky is being a total hermit, and there's a burglar dog
when: Early January
where: Around Riverview
warnings: None yet, any that crop up will go in the subject lines

[One; Out in the ruins; Open]

[Pierce is here, and that means that Bucky is not.

He's abandoned literally every bolthole that he'd claimed as his own, he's erased his username from the network and dumped his phone - so that any attempt to contact him that way will result in the number not being found - and has gone into as deep a hiding as he can possibly manage. This isn't just paranoia, this is an actual handler in the city and the possibility of everything going very very wrong.

It's been a few weeks now, so anyone that leaves him food semi-regularly might notice that it's not being collected. Anyone that he sometimes stalks, or who stalks him, might notice that he's just not around. But he's definitely not gone back through the portals.

If anyone is truly determined enough to track him down, they might find him hiding out among the ruins.]

[Two; Around Riverview; Open]

[The last thing that Bucky did before he went into hiding was go to reclaim his dog, Sasha, after months of refusing to keep her. He needs her now, and not just for her usual skillset of assisting with traumatised veterans. No, he's got her trained to go and steal food for him.

Whether your character owns a store, is just shopping, or is even at home in their apartment; they might hear a scrabbling noise as a rather large golden retriever noses her way in and starts rooting for food. Or, if she manages to get food, then they could follow her as she runs off with her stolen treats.]

[ooc: I realise this isn't the most interactive of logs (which is why there's the option of chasing the dog), but unfortunately Bucky is in deep hiding at the moment. Anyone is welcome to tag in, though, not just existing CR!]

Comments

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[He can't help the flash of guilt in his eyes when he sees that he's actually hurt Ivar, but he does his best to push it down and away for the good of them both.]

Fine, then I'll leave.

[He grabs his bag and turns away, preparing to just jump out of the small window and disappear.]

I'm done acting as a babysitter to some teenage hothead, understand?

[ragnarsson]

[Well, if Bucky was hoping that would get the "teenage hothead" to drop the subject, he is sorely out of luck. Ivar doesn't respond, and for a moment, it appears he's just going to let Bucky go. But he's not. Instead, he's morphing into a new shape, this one much bigger than the husky was. It's a strange alien, like a cross between a horse and a wolf. His form ripples and gets bigger, black fur covering him as a long tufted tail sprouts. His legs and arms grow longer and with lean muscles underneath the skin. His face pushes out into a muzzle while the ears travel to the top of his head, growing up and up until they stand almost nine or ten inches long. Ivar ignores the animal's uneasy instincts at being trapped in a building.

Instead, he runs forward, far faster than any human can go, pouncing onto Bucky, and his furious voice will be ringing in his head.]

<No. You don't get to run away this time!>

[The animal is growling now, though that part of his brain isn't sure whether this is predator or prey he's trapped beneath his paws.]

[advanced]

[Bucky has always been careful around Ivar, around anyone, because he knows what damage he could do if he doesn't keep a tight leash on his strength and his instincts. But now he's trapped and there's something growling in his face, and those instincts take over.

He's a weapon, highly trained and experienced, and he's capable of stopping a car in its tracks or leaping several storeys of a building. He's not going down to one animal. His metal hand is slamming towards the side of Ivar's head at full strength, while he twists his lower body to try and grasp one of the animal's hind legs between his ankles to wrench it out and round.]

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar knows Bucky well enough to know those assassin instincts still lurk just below the surface of his mind. This really wasn't one of his brightest ideas, but it's too late to back out now. There's an inhuman shriek of pain as the metal hand slams right into his elongated head.

The thing that most people tend to forget about animals is that a majority of them are a lot stronger than they look. Sure, everyone knows a tiger or an elephant can kill a person with little effort. But even the only reason domesticated animals didn't rip the arms off people or smack their heads clean off was thousands of years of breeding.

Now Ivar's good and mad, unwilling to hold back in a form as strong as this one. With an angry growl, he grabs Bucky by the arm with his teeth, an omnivorous set with both flat and sharp ones. Then he flings the man towards the nearest wall with all the strength his current form possesses.]

[advanced]

[He's not quite so easy to fling, and that arm is made of a vibranium alloy that no mere teeth could ever pierce. He still has to brace himself against the snap of the attempt to throw him, doing his best to grab onto whatever fur he can to viciously yank on that in return.

He's not trying to kill, if he was then this animal would already have a bullet in its brain, but he is trying to get Ivar down so that he can get away.]

[ragnarsson]

[There's a growl of frustration from Ivar. The creature's instincts don't like this. The animal part of the brain wants to run away after facing what is clearly a stronger predator. Ivar disagrees. He's in the fight now and Vikings don't back down, even when facing someone stronger and better.

The ruff of fur along the back of his neck gets yanked roughly and he nearly loses his footing. He kicks out at Bucky with his back paw. This creature doesn't have hooves, thank goodness, but he does have a pad split into several tough toenails.]

[advanced]

[Bucky doesn't bother trying to avoid that kick. He doesn't fight like a sane person, trying to avoid damage by dodging, he was taught to just let the damage come and fight through it anyway. He feels the kick crack at least one rib, but he powers through it to try and grab that leg and snap it.

Hard to fight with a broken leg.]

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar's aware of the Snap! that comes from the leg being broken like a twig. He knows that sound all too well. There's a terrible shriek of inhuman pain, not only from the creature's muzzle, but inside Bucky's head too. Ivar's broken bones before, and his legs more times than he cares to think about, but it never really gets easier.

He's down for the count now, the equestrian-like body not designed to be able to survive a blow like that. He sinks to the floor, beaten. He's glaring at Bucky with those wild animal eyes, but when the words come, there's surprisingly no hatred in them, just anger and frustration.]

<You can't avoid me forever. I'll find you again!>

[advanced]

[It's like the snap is a slap to the face, and it breaks him out of the fighting instincts that he'd slipped too far into. He stumbles back a step with sudden horror painted across his face, but he doesn't make any move to keep running away.]

Shit. Shit. No, no-- no.

[Why does he keep doing this? What's wrong with him?!]

[ragnarsson]

[Focus, he tries to tell himself. Push past the pain and focus on demorphing again. He's had worse than this done to him. There were so many broken bones in his childhood he's sure he can't even remember them all.

His form shrinks down again as he struggles to hold onto an image of his human self in his mind. There's the usual disturbing nature of morphing as the fur disappears and the tail shrinks back into his spine. Perhaps more disturbing of all is how the broken leg straightens itself back out and then knits together again, forming a whole leg that shrinks back to human size again.

Within about two minutes, Ivar's human again, and there's no sign of his broken leg. He pokes it tentatively. This has been his first big real test of the healing capabilities morphing can provide. He could get used to this. He glares up at Bucky from his position on the floor, more annoyed than angry now that the pain is gone.]

Was that really necessary?

[advanced]

[Ivar might only look annoyed, but Bucky looks utterly sickened at himself and what he's done. He knew that Ivar had brittle bones, knew that it was still the teenager he had come to be fond of, and yet he fought with all he had because of his own selfish need to leave.]

Sorry.

[It's choked out, hoarse.]

Sorry-- I'm sorry.

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar doesn't hold it against him. He'd been the one pushing the issue, despite knowing what could happen when push came to shove with his friend.]

Are you going to tell me now what's going on with you?

[It was a manipulative thing to do, but there was no better time to get to the heart of the matter than while Bucky was choking on guilt. Ivar was worried about him. Was he cracking up even further than he already was?]

[advanced]

[It's a low blow, but it's effective. Bucky is caught between wanting to run away, and gather Ivar up into his arms to rush him to the nearest doctor in case Bucky's done something permanent to him.]

Someone I know is here.

[It's ripped from him like someone pulling a tooth.]

It's too dangerous to tell you more.

[ragnarsson]

Someone from when they used to torture and brainwash you.

[It was the only thing that could have caused such an extreme reaction in Bucky. He wasn't trying to push Ivar away out of anger, he was doing it because he was scared and worried about the teen.

If Ivar was smart, he'd just drop things right there, and agree to just let Bucky handle things. But where emotions are concerned, sometimes logic tends to get shunted to the side.]

You don't have to do this alone.

[advanced]

[The way his jaw grit is probably answer enough that Ivar is right, this is someone from where they made him into a weapon.]

I do.

[Though it sounds more weary than angry now.]

Anyone near me is gonna be in danger.

[ragnarsson]

And you thought pushing me away before anything happened was a good idea?

[He snorts at how bad an idea that was and crawls forward slowly. When he's nearly at Bucky's feet, he stops, reaching up one of his hands to rest on top of the flesh-and-blood right one. Neither one of them are much for physical contact, but he wants to both show he's not holding a grudge and try to punctuate his point.]

When will you learn I'm not going anywhere? I know you want to keep me safe, but I've been taking care of myself a long time. If I put myself in danger, that's my choice, not yours.

[advanced]

[He hates that Ivar uses the word choice. It's such a big thing to him now, choice, and he doesn't want to take away the choices of others. But at the same time, Ivar has no idea what he's getting himself into.]

You don't understand what you're talking about.

[His gaze hardens, eyes steely.]

If he got to me, I'd kill you without hesitating. No mercy.

[ragnarsson]

You know death doesn't scare me.

[Though it would feel awful to get killed by a friend and he'd hate for that to haunt Bucky forever.]

And your plan to deal with him is just hiding away, what, forever?

[It'd be wise not to let Ivar know who he's hiding from. He'd likely go off to solve the problem with one of his axes.]

[advanced]

No. I'm working with someone on a way to make it so he can't control me.

[Sort of, that's a very generous assessment of the truth, which is that he said he'd think about maybe exploring some options with Stark's experimental technology.]

I just need to hide until then.

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar knows just how important control is for Bucky, especially after having been witness to his memories. Still, he doesn't like the feeling of leaving Bucky to deal with this by himself. Doing something like this alone feels like asking for trouble.]

You can't just expect to sit back and do nothing.

[But if Bucky explicitly asked him to, he'd step aside. Ivar respected him enough to obey him, one of only three people he did.]

[advanced]

[He could make more demands, or go silent again, but clearly that's no longer working. He just stares for a moment, and perhaps it's the guilt over hurting Ivar that makes him finally be a little more open.]

I'm asking you to stay out of danger. It's hard enough that he might come after me, I don't want to risk the people I care about as well.

[ragnarsson]

Fine. I'll stay out of it.

[Did he sound happy about this? Not a bit. But he'd stay out of the way if that's what Bucky wanted. He squeezes the hand he's got on top of Bucky's and then drops it.]

Don't think this isn't going to stop me from checking up on you.

[He'd be far too worried if he left the ex-assassin to his own devices for too long.]

[advanced]

No.

[It's a gentler refusal than before, rather than a demand, because Ivar is actually seeming to listen to what he's saying.]

Someone could follow you and find me that way, or even just see you with me, that would put you in just as much danger.

[ragnarsson]

You really think anyone is going to suspect a random animal that's in the area? I don't just turn into a dog, you know.

[He isn't quite saying yes or no just yet. He really is worried about leaving Bucky to deal with this on his own. He knows he's tough enough to take on anything that comes up physically, but mentally, Ivar knows he's like a fractured pane of glass. It makes him worry and he hates having to worry about other people.]

[advanced]

What else do you turn into?

[That's a nice convenient way of sidestepping the other argument in the hope that Ivar will just forget-- some hope of that.]

And how the hell do you even do that?