TEST DRIVE MEME #5

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

[starspangled]

We.

[Steve repeats it without hesitation, but a little softer too. Bucky's almost impossible to read now, even for Steve. He can only guess at what he's thinking.]

This world takes a little getting used to, but you don't have to do it alone, Buck.

[Not when Steve knows what it's like, waking up in a world that you barely understand. He wouldn't willingly leave Bucky to the same kind of confusion.]

[wipedclean]

[He could say no. He has that option now. He almost wants to, just because he can.

But he's missing so much, and somehow, somehow Steve holds the answers. The important ones, anyway.

But still he hesitates. And he's not sure why.

He'd rather take Steve's offer. If he can learn anything from him, he wants to.

Finally, he nods.]

[starspangled]

[Steve exhales a breath that he barely realized he'd been holding.]

You can come away from the corner if you want. Or...you can stay there.

[He amends quickly, because he knows Bucky's been conditioned to take orders, has been made to believe that he's a weapon instead of a man. Steve doesn't want to give him orders. He wants to help him reclaim his autonomy.

The problem is that the army didn't train him for that, and it's the first time that Bucky has needed his help. He's nervous, but they'll figure it out.]

Did you eat anything at the feast?

[Clearly he's following the What Would Bucky Do formula with that question.]

[wipedclean]

[He hesitates. Another choice. He's not sure how to feel about all of these choices. It was easy to be given missions, follow orders, do as he was told. Now that he's supposed to decide things for himself, he finds he's a little stuck.

But Steve... he knew him. He knows him, or is supposed to, but not "supposed to" in the way that he wasn't "supposed to" make his own decisions or have irrelevant emotions or disregard orders. "Supposed to" in the way that it's... part of the person he was. Before. He doesn't know if he wants to be that person again, but he does want to know more about him, about why Steve seems to be the key to all of it.

So he takes a step out of the corner, into the light, toward Steve. Then he takes another step, but he stays about five feet away.

The question makes him frown. It seems familiar for some reason, though he can't put a finger on why.]

No.

[He hadn't trusted the food provided by his kidnappers. Also, he had bigger concerns.]

My arm didn't work.

[starspangled]

[It probably should feel familiar. In another life, questions about Steve and eating left Bucky's lips on a near daily basis, like all Steve's ailments could be made well if he could just get another sandwich in him.]

We can do that - if you want.

[Steve looks back over his shoulder, trying to hide his own confusion. Food, food...they have that around here, don't they?

But his attention is drawn back at the mention of Bucky's arm. Steve takes a long look at it, his eyes trailing over the shiny metal. That arm that Hydra put on him. Just thinking about it makes him feel a little bit like he's been punched in the gut by it.]

Yeah, a lot of things like that don't work outside of the Station. That's why a lot of folks come here.

[wipedclean]

[The way Steve looks at his arm makes him uncomfortable. It's not the look of an enemy sizing him up, or even a handler making sure he's fit for a mission. It's a look that he can't discern. But it makes him feel... upset. Like he's done something wrong. Irritated, he flexes his metal fist and concentrates on the information at hand.]

It'll only work here?

[That's not good. Not that he particularly cares about this world or what's in it, but being confined to a single area... is still confinement.]

[starspangled]

For now.

[Because Steve wants to give him hope, and he knows that the courts can and do grant favors.

Except he doesn't want to see Bucky used by his. And would his own court even hear his request if it's for the sake of an Unseelie?]

We'll get it taken care of, somehow. I promise.

[And he's not about to break his promise, especially not to Bucky when he's trying to get him to trust again.

He'll think of something.]

Come on. Let's at least get some coffee. Maybe they'll even have some that doesn't cost six dollars and taste more like pumpkin pie.

[That one time Natasha took him to Starbucks or something.]

[wipedclean]

[Part of him doesn't want to just follow this man he can barely remember just because they were apparently friends once, but the rest of him wants to follow him for exactly that reason, because he's the only link to his own past that he has.

Besides, he hasn't gotten very far on his own. Maybe an ally is what he needs.

Or a friend.

Or whatever the hell this is.

So he nods, though something about what Steve says doesn't make sense.]

Why the hell would it taste like pumpkin pie?

[It seems ridiculous. The fact that he can't remember what either tastes like doesn't really cross his mind.]

[starspangled]

Same question I've been asking. The closest thing I've gotten to an answer is that it's popular.

[Steve smiles at him, but it still doesn't quite reach his eyes. He's afraid to turn his back on him - not afraid of what Bucky will do, but afraid that he'll disappear.]

You used to tell me that coffee would put hair on my chest. [And he shouldn't, he shouldn't. It's not good for either of them.] I guess you don't remember that.

[wipedclean]

[He doesn't remember it specifically, but he remembers... something. It feels like an echo of an echo, a soft, dream-like image.]

You needed it.

[His brow furrows as he remembers it, but he doesn't know if he can trust it, because he remembers... he remembers him smaller. And it doesn't make sense.]

You were... smaller.

[starspangled]

[Steve pauses at that, brows drawing together as he watches Bucky working it through.]

You remember that?

[And again he hears that warning, tread carefully. Bucky is powerful physically, but he doesn't know where all the fractures are just yet. It's the flip-side of decades ago, when a good gust of wind could blow steve over but he was strong in other ways.]

Or maybe you saw it at the museum.

[wipedclean]

[...he did see it at the museum, but this is different. It's not pictures, it's an actual sense of looking at Steve, but having to look down to do it. Of Steve being frail, but the strongest person he had ever known.]

I... remember...

[But it's still faint, not nearly as strong as it should be. Too easily lost.]

[starspangled]

[Steve watches him, and he sees it, the way Bucky's eyes lower sometimes. At first he thought he was avoiding eye contact with him for some reason. But they almost always lift again, and now Steve understands: he's looking for his eyes on the level they used to be at.]

You're right.

[He says it firmly, because Bucky's confidence is starting to waver and he doesn't want it to. He wants him to trust himself first, and maybe then he can trust him too.]

I was small and sick and you took care of me a lot. Sometimes I didn't have anything but you. And that's why I had to do it. I couldn't just let you go off to war without me, it wasn't right.

[wipedclean]

[He's right?

He's right.

He takes a deep breath and nods, and though he's not confident, he feels... better about believing the shadows.

He wishes there were more.

Maybe... if he stays with Steve, there will be more.]

You're not anymore.

[starspangled]

No, I'm not.

[And he's not sure how to explain it from there. Not because he doesn't think he'll understand; if anything, he's afraid that he'll understand too much.]

I volunteered for a special program. It made me taller.

[And stronger, and faster, and everything really.]

[wipedclean]

[He nods again, because... that makes sense. It coincides with the exhibit. It talked about the serum...

The serum.

Remembering that makes him flinch. It makes him think of needles, and treatments and all the pain that comes with it.]