turn back time;

[advanced]

who: Bucky and OPEN
what: Various prompts spanning Prijata, the AU, and just random things.
when: The month of June
where: Around and about
warnings: Panic attacks

notes: Because this spans pre-AU and during-AU Bucky, I don't mind if anyone wants to tag in more than once to interact with both bits. Open to new or existing CR. If there isn't a prompt you like, just PM me and I'll work one out with you!

[i: Prijata; around the abandoned city and Quarantine]

[Bucky has been delivered a lot of unexpected things for the Prijata celebrations, gifts from people he never expected to get anything from, and gifts from anonymous sources. They're all thoughtful - food vouchers, clothes vouchers, survival equipment - but there's one gift that really takes him by surprise. A dog. An actual dog. The letter that comes with it states that this is a service dog designed to help veterans, she's his to borrow for six months and then either give her back or take her full time.

The things is...

He has no idea how to take care of a dog. It's not something he had as a kid, and the Soldier certainly wasn't given pets. He knows common sense things, like that she'll need to be fed and walked, but that's about it. Which is why he can be found in one of several places:

a) skulking around the various pet shops of Quarantine with a black lab trotting at his side.
b) sitting out in the outskirts of the abandoned town, throwing a stick idly for her and watching her return it.
c) awkwardly hoisting said dog into his arms so that he can climb the side of a building.]

[ii: Good and bad; at night down an alleyway; cw: panic attacks]

[Maybe it's being given the dog that's meant for a specific purpose that brings it to the surface, but Bucky has been dwelling more and more on his time as the Soldier. It leaves him on edge, tenser than usual, and less willing to mingle with the crowds. He doesn't sleep for as long as he can, unwilling to leave himself vulnerable to attack, but in the end he's only human.

Whenever he does manage to get some sleep, his dreams are far from pleasant, enough that he's not exactly a silent sleeper. The occasional moan might draw attention to his hiding spot, and anyone who tries to disturb him will find that he's not in the mood for it at all.]

[iii: Sergeant Barnes; AU plot; the park]

[It's absolutely amazing!

Of course he's been here for a few months now, but it's still mind boggling that he could be living in a place where there were people from all sorts of places and times. It's like one of those dime novels he used to read, all aliens and fanciful technology. He can still barely believe cell phones are a thing, he can only imagine how much this might have enhanced the war effort back home.

The only problem is... he doesn't seem to have a place to stay. All of his stuff was down an alleyway with him, and that's not exactly ideal. He's dressed in world war two uniform, having not quite got round to getting changed yet, with the insignia of a Sergeant clearly visible. Though he's obviously still Bucky, same face and same body, there are differences that might make him hard to identify. He's clean shaven, he doesn't walk with the wariness of a predator stalking prey, and he's smiling.

He even raises a hand in a friendly and lazy sort of greeting, friend or newcomer.]

[iv: Wildcard; anywhere; anytime]

[Got something you want to do with Bucky or Sergeant Barnes? Put it here, and let's do it!]

Comments

[ragnarsson]

[Bucky leads him to a place that looks a little more homey than trendy. That's fine by the Viking. As long as they can make a decent meal, he's not picky. He snorts at the question of his education.]

School is for people who don't already know everything.

[So that would be a no.]

[advanced]

Oh right, I forgot that you know everything.

[He snorts and reaches down to lightly cuff Ivar on the ear.]

Punk.

[But he's not the kid's guardian, so he's not going to advocate school too much.]

So what do you even do with your days, then?

[ragnarsson]

You just wish you were as smart as me.

[He swats Bucky's hand away playfully. It reminds him of the way his older brothers treated him at home, especially Ubbe. He missed that easy banter and light physicality they had around each other.]

Mostly pick up shifts at the Perimeter Guard and teach Skinfaxi to pull my chariot. [He pauses and then adds on.] And occasionally look for someone who might be interested in a night or two with me. [Not as easy as it seemed, considering Ivar was always going to be awkward around anyone he felt even a modicum of affection for.]

[advanced]

You've gotta treat a dame right if you want her to step out with you, kid, you can't just try and jump into bed with them.

[He's a playboy, he gets around, but he's not a bad boy. He takes girls dancing, kisses them in doorways, but he never really goes beyond a grope or two.]

Take them out to dinner, a horse-drawn ride through the starlight is a winner too.

[He'd suggest dancing, it's always the winner in his book, but he doesn't because he's not a jerk.]

[ragnarsson]

I dunno, buying them drinks until they forget I'm sitting in a chair has worked this far for me.

[He might as well joke about his circumstances because it's better than crying. Ivar may talk big game, but he's just as insecure as any sixteen year old boy about the card he got cut from the deck of life.]

[advanced]

If she cares you're in the chair, she ain't good enough for you to begin with.

[This feels like a familiar conversation. Not a chair like this, but how many times had he told Steve that the right dame would look past his stature and asthma and see him for the great guy that he was?]

[ragnarsson]

Then that cuts out a significant portion of the entire population.

[Ignore his sarcasm, he's just being his usual charming self. No matter what the gender was of the person Ivar was interested in, first, he looked for someone able to see him for himself, not someone to be looked at either as a curiosity or an object of pity.]

[advanced]

So?

[He shrugs, voice and expression firm now. This is exactly like when he had to drum some sense into Steve.]

You're a good kid, Ivar, and that chair doesn't define it. So what if it means only four outta ten, even four outta a hundred women don't think it matters? They're the ones you're going to want to step out with in the end. If you sell yourself short, the world will too, so don't do it.

[ragnarsson]

Gee, thanks. You sound like my father.

[That's a compliment despite the dry tone. Ivar adores his father more than anyone else in the whole world. He's the only one to have ever given his son a chance instead of seeing him as a weak little runt that should have been left in the woods when he was born. Ragnar saw Ivar as being his true heir despite his disabilities. In return, Ivar had given him love and loyalty that would last for an eternity.]

[advanced]

Good, sounds like you have one sensible guy in your family.

[He's not going to take offence at that, though he's hardly old enough to be anyone's father. Even the thought of it is kind of insane, though he has always assumed that one day he'd settle down with a nice gal and have some kids.]

You're still young, plenty of time for you to find someone.

[ragnarsson]

He's the smartest person I know.

[With as many issues as Ivar tends to have, no matter what his memories are, he tends to collect father figures wherever he goes. Bucky falls more into the category of cool older brother, but the principle remains the same.

He snorts and just gives Bucky a look.]

You do realize most Vikings my age have a wife and a child by now? We don't live long lives.

[advanced]

Then maybe you'll be the first one, fight smart as well as fight hard, and learn to do other stuff, and you'll live a lot longer.

[He's pretty pleased about being compared to someone smart, so he's smiling benevolently now.]

Plenty of fellas my age back home have a wife and kid too, but I'm not ready to hang up my dance card yet.

[ragnarsson]

And live to get old like you? [Yes, because being in late-twenties is automatically retirement age. Just ignore him, Bucky. He's only messing with you because he cares about you.] I'll pass and go out in the glory of battle outsmarting my enemies instead.

[The mention of a piece of forties culture gets a blank look from Ivar.] What's a dance card?

[advanced]

You have dancing where you're from? You must, that's not exactly a modern invention. Well, where I'm from, when a guy really likes a girl then he takes her dancing to let her know, but you can't really take a lot of girls dancing if you're a married man.

[He might not ever get there, he enjoys stepping out too much.]

[ragnarsson]

Sounds romantic. Better than the way my brothers decided to court a woman anyway.

[That had mostly involved just asking a slave girl, Margrethe, if she was willing to sleep with them. That's right, all of them. It hadn't turned out too well for Ivar, but that wasn't her fault.]

But I'm glad that's not the way they court here. Or I'd never get a date.

[advanced]

[He snorts, shaking his head.]

There are other ways to court a girl. Take her to the movies, a nice dinner, that sort of thing. Dinner is probably the most traditional, and you pay.

[ragnarsson]

I'll keep that in mind, oh wise one.

[No, really, Ivar is taking notes in his head. Bucky knows a lot more about this than he does. He orders enough food to feed two people and it's soon to arrive. His table manners aren't the best and he does tend to use his fingers more than he should. But he is a Viking and all that entails.]

So what about you? How've you been spending your time?

[advanced]

[He doesn't mind the lack of table manners, there are worse things out there, so he just settles to eating his own food when it comes.]

I've not been doing a whole lot, mostly doing some chores around the house for Poe since he's letting me stay for a while.

[ragnarsson]

Good. So you finally stopped deciding to be a homeless wanderer?

[The description doesn't quite match up with the Bucky Ivar currently knows, but it's the only explanation for what he can recall in his current memories.]

[advanced]

Yeah.

[He does look a little disconcerted at that, though.]

Still not really sure why I was doing that.

[ragnarsson]

Eh, who knows? [Ivar shrugs, wiping his hands off on a napkin. He grabs another one. He's got a lot of grease and sauce on them now.] In my time, people who wander instead of having a permanent home usually do it because they're either like to travel or they're looking for something better than they already have.

[advanced]

I kinda remember giving my bed to this lady when I first got here, so maybe she just needed it more than me.

[Or maybe he had run off and then she tracked him down to claim his bed, one of the two.]

[ragnarsson]

You're too kind for your own good.

[Rough edges smoothed out or not, Ivar was still a brutal person who could be quite cruel when he chose to be so. But around those he actually cared about, like Bucky, he put on his best face. The young Viking could be very charming when he chose to be so.]

[advanced]

[He snorts, amused at the flattery, and shakes his head.]

It wasn't that kind, pretty sure the other people in my room snored.

[ragnarsson]

You'd hate to have been a Viking. We had to bring in our livestock in the winter to keep them from freezing to death. You haven't had a rough time sleeping until you've got six people, three goats, some chickens, and a pig all wanting room to sleep in.

[The smell alone would have driven anyone crazy. That was definitely one part of home Ivar was most decidedly not missing.]