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]

I've only ever done it once. A couple months ago. Before I got brought here, anyway.

[ He bought a house in Indiana, and it had felt strange and normal at the same time. Otherwise, he'd lived his life on base or in a tube or Captain America's secret apartment or a spaceship or… anyway. He bought a house in Shelbyville, IN and that's the first time he'd looked. ]

It isn't that hard. If you're smart enough to live without a roof over your head, you're smart enough to figure out how to live in a real house. [ He leans against the counter. ] If you want the choice.

[sestra]

I have stayed in house, but was always temporary. [ hm. well now she is contemplating how nice it might be to have an actual space... for her own? how has that concept never occurred to her before about this place?? ]

I like choices. [ bad ones or good ones, being able to decide for herself has been one of the most freeing things about escaping tomas. they're not always the best choices, but they're still hers. ] How do you find empty house or apartment? I do not think you can just move in and claim in this city.

[ what the heck is a real estate and how does it work! helena can only handle hotels, let's be real. ] When you phrase like this, having own house does seem better than staying in safehouse forever.

[deadthenred]

[ You know, he hadn't checked the squatter laws. ]

If you have the money you can look around for ads. Someone was just showing me— [ God, he didn't like the hologram stuff he had set up in the apartment SHIELD gave him, and he doesn't like the hologram stuff now.

But he throws out a few overlays of room listings that he'd been looking at. Mostly small, cheap apartments, for someone who doesn't care much about living in a sketchy area. But there's information, people to call, prices. ]

[sestra]

[ her mouth opens when he sends it over, and it's clear she is at the very least skimming over the information, ignoring the man for a few moments. it's not a lot, but it's more than she had before. she is definitely not someone who cares about living in a sketchy area, and some of these look nicer than her old convent. ]

This is looking like very good place to start. Thank you, Mr. Dishwashing Man. Are these houses you would like to live in also?

[deadthenred]

I've been looking into some of them. [ But not in the way that he minds sharing the ads. He hasn't visited any of them, yet. Or thought about the things he really needs, in a place. Especially since he hasn't got the stock for a weapon room, here. ]

And it's Bucky.

[sestra]

[ she is temporarily distracted by looking over the apartments again, idly wondering what might be the best fit for her - or, she supposes, which one she wants. she's storing her own weapons at a friend's house, it would be very nice to have them in her own space. ]

Hello Dishwasher Bucky. I am Helena.

[ just gonna drag out the dishwashing for a little longer because of who she is as a person. ]

It might be nice to find house with more windows.

[deadthenred]

Ah. Now you're picky. [ He smiles, making a joke. Really, he's glad she has opinions, that she's thinking about her options. Since she wasn't before. ]

Helena like the capital of Montana?

[ That's his revenge for Dishwasher Bucky. He can tell she's not from Montana. ]

[sestra]

I thought point about house was to be picky. Pick more than we have here. [ she doesn't miss the smile, and she's usually bad about noticing that sort of thing, but she does get the sense he is... being friendly. huh. ]

I have not been to Montana. This is state from America, yes? [ there is no way to tell if she is being serious about this or not from her tone. dishwasher bucky is gonna stick around, she thinks, so she can tolerate weird jokes about presumable states. ]

[deadthenred]

That's the one. [ Did they have him memorize all the US capitals as part of the Captain America test? No. ]

Your world must not be too far off mine.

[ If the United States existed, that's a good start. But she's clearly from someplace else. ]

[sestra]

I am knowing New York. [ she can barely name all the states, much less the capitals. america is too big, and she only ever went places they told her to before. ]

[ she wrinkles her nose. ] It was Earth, just much different from this one. I am not thinking Canada exists anymore, but I know Ukraine does. New Kyiv they call it. They spell it right way, at least.

[deadthenred]

And how's that? [ Not Киев, he's guessing. ] I don't really understand how the translator they put in supposed to work.

[ Most people seem to be speaking English, anyway. But maybe he just can't tell. ]

[sestra]

They spell it Ukrainian way, not Russian way. [ and the russian romanization got more mainstream for a long while. ] At least when it is being in English.

[ she speaks english and ukrainian, her translator does funky things sometimes. she stopped trying to figure it out too. ]

[deadthenred]

That's complicated. [ He means, translating it into Russian and then translating it into English, again. ] People who live there know what to call it.

[ Bucky Barnes comes out against the occupation of Ukraine? ]

[sestra]

Yes. And I lived in Ukraine, so I am knowing what to call it.

[ bucky barnes is CORRECT. go away russia let her country be free of your meddling. ]

[deadthenred]

[ Never forget. ]

Is that where you're from?

[ Bucky lived in London for a while, and it didn't make him English. ]

Or Canada?

[sestra]

I live in Ukraine until most recently.

[ she always thought she was born there, but now she! doesn't know! amelia never actually said where she gave birth, or maybe helena just ignored it before killing her. ]

Now I stay in Canada. [ a beat. ] When I leave this strange fake Earth, I go back to Canada. You live in America?

[deadthenred]

Indiana. [ And sometimes space, but, that's a secret. ]

It's in the middle. [ Bucky was born there, as it happens. ]

[sestra]

Is very big middle. [ american is very big! not as big as russia, geographically speaking, but she doesn't care enough to know individual states or oblasts. ]

Is it nice place? Do you want to go back there also?

[deadthenred]

[ Not as big as Canada, either. ]

It's fine. Quiet, mostly. [ And he hadn't chosen Shelbyville at random. He was born there, sure, but it gave him a bead on most of the Midwest. He could ride to most of the big cities in a couple of hours, tops. ] But I've never stayed in one place very long.

[sestra]

[ she barely has the toronto landscape down, you can't expect her to know canadian geography too! ]

You like to move, or you had to move?

[deadthenred]

Both, I guess. [ Still mad about Clint Barton wrecking his house, though. ] My dad was in the army.

[ So they moved every couple of years, until he died. But by then, Bucky was already closer to grown than not . ]

[sestra]

I do not have dad. [ she says so very casually, carelessly. she grew up in an orphanage, she had no parents ever. ]

Grew up with nuns. They did not take us on many field trips. I like this about here. I can go to many cities for no reason.