music and mayhem

[advanced]

who: Bucky and OPEN
what: A variety of prompts, serious and more light-hearted, for existing and new CR
when: The month of September
where: Quarantine and the ruins
warnings: Minor injury/blood discussion

[i: thief at the hospital]

[Bucky has used the last of what Steve brought him on the night he was pulled from underneath the girder and patched up, but the wound still isn't completely healed and he doesn't want to risk it getting infected from substandard care. The bastardised serum he has might help keep infection at bay, but he's still human and he knows better than to risk it.

So clearly the best thing to do is head on over to the hospital, right?

Anyone passing by the hospital on a few days throughout the month might catch sight of a man subtly climbing in through one of the upper windows, and then climbing out again a few minutes later with his hoodie noticeably more full as if he's been pilfering supplies... mostly because that's exactly what he's doing.]

[ii: a stitch in time]

[Following the hospital raids, Bucky can be found out in the ruins tending to himself.

He has his shirt off, meaning that his metal arm is exposed to view for once, and is dealing with a nasty looking gut wound. It's already been stitched up, he's not in danger of keeling over any more, but he's cleaning out the dried blood and wrapping with fresh bandages.]

[iii: kiss and tell]

[After the disaster with Obi-Wan, Bucky has been keeping a very close watch out for those stupid little lights, determined not to get himself trapped under someone else's influence again. But they're more numerous than he'd like and sometimes one doesn't get seen until it's just a bit too late...

A warning to anyone getting themselves caught with Bucky in the kiss and tell, he may not react well and it could lead to fighting rather than kissing.]

[iv: songs from the old days]

[Bucky doesn't have much of a solid base, more a few bolt holes that he uses in a random pattern to keep him from being easy to track down, and that means that he doesn't have much in the way of possessions. It has to be easy to carry and flee with at a moment's notice, after all. But he has one or two indulgences that he's picked up on a whim, driven by half remembered days from before the Soldier.

He has a kite that he can sometimes be seen perched on a rooftop flying in the breeze, looking unaccountably peaceful. He also now has a record player. He found it in a little curiosity shop, a proper old one with some vinyls to go with it. He doesn't play the music too loudly, but anyone passing by some of the abandoned buildings or ruins might hear the quiet strains of the Andrews Sisters.]

[v: wildcard]

[Bucky can also be found at nights having nightmares, skulking around at the gun range watching others play, or generally observing the world around him. If you would like to play any of these, or have a completely different idea for a prompt, just go for it and I'll follow your lead! You can also hit me up on bibbety for plotting.]

Comments

[advanced]

[That's not comforting at all, and it's vague enough that he still doesn't have much to go on.]

Then what can you do with it?

[jedies]

I can move things. Sense disturbances in the environment. Be more perceptive towards the intentions of others. Communicate with animals. I think that mostly covers it.

[ A beat. ]

On the weak-minded, we can suggest alternatives using the Force. But it is not easy and cannot be forced onto a person.

[advanced]

[The perceptiveness is what worries him most, until that last admission. He tenses completely, looking like an animal about to bolt.]

How do you define weak minded?

[jedies]

[ Obi-Wan runs a hand through his beard. ]

People without conviction is the best way. Easily pulled from one direction to the next. Their thoughts tend to be flippant, distracted.

[advanced]

Could you do it on me?

[Might as well cut to the heart of what frightens him about this, he doesn't ever want to find he could be under someone else's control.]

[jedies]

[ He wasn't expecting that. ]

I could though I can't guarantee it'll work.

[advanced]

I want to know if you can.

[And if he can, Bucky will have to figure out whether he needs to kill this man or not.]

[jedies]

Very well.

[ Obi-Wan concentrates in the Force before picking a question to ask. ]

You will tell me what you were doing at the hospital.

[advanced]

[He feels the press of it on his mind, but it doesn't grip him. It's not the electric force of the reprogramming machine, it's not what HYDRA did to him. Instinct kicks in and his mind fights it with the desperation that only someone who has been controlled can have.]

No.

[A beat.]

Is that the strongest you can do it?

[jedies]

[ Obi-Wan shakes his head. ]

That would require more. An intent to force my suggestion. It is not the way of the Jedi and I certainly can't do it.

[advanced]

[He's not sure if he believes him, but he'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.]

What is the way of a Jedi? What is a Jedi?

[jedies]

[ Obi-Wan weighs his words before speaking. ]

The Jedi are a group of people who can sense the Force. And serve the Light. We're peace-keepers. We help planets and people when their need is great. We can be called upon to broker peace, protect innocents and serve justice.

[advanced]

[If it's something born with and not taught, then how can they be sure all Jedi will want to serve the Light and do that sort of peace-keeping? Seems a bit flawed to him, though it does sort of explain why Obi-Wan was so calm and tried to negotiate when they were trapped together.]

You said you were involved in a war, you were a general, doesn't sound much like a peacekeeper.

[jedies]

[ There's a flicker of regret. ]

You're not wrong. The circumstances behind the war are . . . complicated. And the Jedi are still beholden to the Senate. Our participation was necessary.

[advanced]

If you're beholden to a government, you're not peacekeepers, you're a private militia.

[He could be less blunt about that, but it's the truth as far as he sees it.]

[jedies]

Yes and no.

[ Obi-Wan can be blunt too. ]

As I said, it's more complicated than that. And I'm not going to condense a war.

[advanced]

[He's not going to push further than he can get away with, but he is curious.]

I have time, but not here.

[No condensing necessary, if Obi-Wan is amenable.]

[jedies]

[ Obi-Wan weighs this before replying. ]

Very well. Where to?

[advanced]

Follow me.

[He sets off at a fair pace through the streets, mostly sticking to the back alleys rather than the main thoroughfares, and only stops when he gets to a little abandoned building near the west perimeter outpost.]

In here, second floor.

[jedies]

[ Obi-Wan raises an eyebrow at his surroundings. He's seen worse, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. But he dutifully enters, following Bucky's instructions. ]

[advanced]

[The room that Bucky finally stops in has a sleeping bag in the corner and some mould on the walls, but it's relatively dry and not falling apart. He takes a seat on the floor and gestures for Obi-Wan to do the same.]

Okay, I'm listening.

[jedies]

[ Obi-Wan sighs, running a hand through his beard. ]

Under normal circumstances, while the Jedi are a branch of the Senate and the Republic, our authority is usually our own. And even in some matters, that remains the same. The Senate cannot fully dictate what the Jedi do and vice-versa. The Jedi are self-determined.

But . . . this particular conflict brought an old enemy of the Jedi to the fold. The Sith who serve the Dark Side of the Force. Their goal is destruction and power. They sow the seeds of chaos in the galaxy and forced an intergalactic civil war.

[ Exhale. His tension leaves him. ]

I won't deny the problematic intent it leaves the Jedi in. That it pushes us away from our ideals. But I still believe, even when the worse is upon us that we hold true to them.

[ Obi-Wan has to. Needs to. They've slipped, but the Jedi have never claimed perfection. Or total enlightenment. Or perhaps Obi-Wan is slightly defensive of the people he loved. The Jedi are his family. He has no other. ]

But if the Sith win . . . there won't be a government. There'll be no peace. Only total subjugation.

[advanced]

[It still takes him by surprises sometimes how open people can be, how little they hesitate before talking about their world and their past. Was he that open once? Was the man he used to be happy to talk about his life? He doesn't really remember, but the idea of doing it now is alien to him.

He listens carefully, he can see the want to believe, the need. It's dangerous, but not necessarily without merit or without good intentions. It shows his instincts were correct as well, that there is a counterbalance of people born with the Force who don't want to be peacekeepers.]

Sometimes fighting is important, sometimes a war is the only way.

[He knows that was the case with Hitler.]

But what happens when it's won? Will people be able to forget that the Jedi fought as military weapons and come to them for peace again?

[jedies]

That is up to the people and up to us. We haven't forgotten what we are and we can reclaim it once again if we're willing to put the work into it.

[ The reputation of the Jedi is damaged, but they've been in similar straits before. It won't change Obi-Wan's calling or his desire to help. To act. And he knows it is the same for all of the Jedi. Being pushed does not mean they will forget their ideals. Their calling. ]

I for one will.

[advanced]

[He finds himself believing that Obi-Wan means what he says a little more, maybe he actually is someone who tries to do good no matter what. Doesn't mean that Bucky trusts him, though.]

And what about when you're here? What's your role now?