these are the times that try

[deadthenred]

WHO: Bucky Barnes + various
WHERE: Red Wings, the safehouse, ???
WHEN: Late March.
WHAT: Catch-all log for March, with some open prompts.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: N/A, will update if it changes.

[ Prompts are in the comments below. PM or message me at lightfellows if you'd like a closed starter. ]

Comments

[deadthenred]

Drinking can still mess you up, even if you're forty-five.

[ Which Bucky is not, but. How has he even gotten here? ]

[overrate]

I know.

[ he shrugs off the advice, and then cracks open the beer. fuck open container laws. ]

[deadthenred]

Yeah. You probably do.

[ A pause. ]

It's not very good beer.

[overrate]

[ and then he just takes a solid sip of it, doesn't cringe. ]

Cheap shit has its place.

[ he's not going to fuss over the quality, even if it does taste weird compared to "cheap beer" from the 2000s. ]

[deadthenred]

You gonna ask about the codename?

[ He hasn't actually told it to anyone here but Jason. ]

[overrate]

I assumed it was your alter ego. Kinda like Robin or Batman, but if there's a story there...

[deadthenred]

I mean, kind of, but… Batman? Robin?

[ Weird names he's never heard of. ]

[overrate]

So [ a pause. he seriously hates calling him Jason. ] Jay mentioned the whole sidekick gig, but he didn't mention the code name that went with it.

Well, that's some discretion, I guess.

[deadthenred]

He did not. [ Bucky should probably just ask Kate what the whole deal with this universe… or series of universes (?) is. ] Are you Batman or Robin?

[ It's surprisingly not obvious. ]

[overrate]

Robin.

Or I was, back home. Here, I'm not really anyone.

[deadthenred]

No. You're still someone even if you're not wearing a mask.

[ It's a reflexive protest. Take it from someone who wasn't actually anyone for a very long time. ]

I was Bucky. Of Captain America and Bucky. [ No one ever says it "Bucky and Captain America." ]

[overrate]

[ his protest doesn't really hit. jason's past the point of believing "Jason Todd" ever really mattered. Robin, though? Robin mattered.

but then he transitions, and so Jason doesn't have to answer that at all. ]

No clue who "Captain America" is, but sounds like some boyscout bullshit.

Kinda like Superman.

[deadthenred]

[ He almost laughs at that. ]

You have no idea.

[ Steve could never be called a bad influence. ]

It was a whole other time.

[overrate]

What, how far back are we talkin'?

[ he's... mildly curious-- and this seems to be skirting the actual thing Bucky was prompting him to ask about: ]

And who's the Winter Soldier, then?

[deadthenred]

'41. [ But he should probably be more specific here, right? ] 1941.

After the war, I stopped. [ That is one way of putting it. ] More of a secret agent than a vigilante, but spies love codenames, too.

[ Yeah, yeah, how are you a secret agent if you tell everyone that's what you do? ]

[overrate]

You're a lousy secret agent if you're telling everyone.

[deadthenred]

I've only told you.

[overrate]

So, why you telling me?

[deadthenred]

Not sure yet. Maybe I'll figure it out later. [ But. ]

If you ask me, though, we really don't benefit much by keeping secrets from each other. Tactically, it's gonna screw us.

[overrate]

What makes you say that?

We're not even sure what the hell we're all doing here.

[ slowly making his way through this shitty beer. it's halfway gone. ]

[deadthenred]

No, but whatever they did to us…  [ If it's a they and not an it or something even weirder than that. ]

Clearly it works better when we're sharing. Clearly it's gonna put us in other people's shoes whether we want to be there or not.

[overrate]

You mean the empathy bond bullshit.

[ he finishes the rest of the beer, and then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. ]

No fucking thanks.

I had no powers before. I'm fine not having powers now.

[deadthenred]

Like I said, I get it. [ He wants zero part of the touchy-feely stuff. ] I could've done without the interdimensional kidnapping, myself.

But that's where we are.

[overrate]

Doesn't mean we have to play their game, or whatever.

You're just gonna go with it?

[deadthenred]

If I think it'll help people, yeah.

[ He just hopes he'll figure out how to actually help people, this time. ]