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[Carol is seated in front of her console, in civvies. Actually, sitting might be the wrong term. She's more floating a few inches above her chair, legs crossed. She does this sometimes without thinking when she's sitting. She looks mostly unbothered by this whole thing. A little frustrated maybe but at most it seems to be a minor inconvenience]

So. Alternate universes are a bitch, huh? Or whatever you'd classify this as. You would think whatever bigger power it is you believe in would have decided by now that this has happened to me enough but I guess not. Oh well, what can you do? [Said oh so casually like she has just seen way too much of of this shit. Which she has. Weird happenings are sort of a thing in her life ]

Anyway, alternate universe craziness aside, my name's Carol. Nice to meet you guys. Under the circumstances and all. I'm sure you hear stuff like this a lot but let's just get this out of the way first: What's the progress on not being here anymore?

And while I'm asking things, how many people here are from Earth? Better yet, who here has heard of the Avengers, the X Men or Captain America? Or who knows anything about superheroes at all, even if it's not any of the things I just mentioned? Let's just say I want to know for my own reference.

[She'd also like to see just how many people ended up here from her world. Or a world similar to hers. Having more superheroes around never hurt. She pauses and glances off to the side, looking at something intensely for a minute as if considering something very important before turning back to the console]

Unrelated but can the fires around here actually burn things? Just, you know, curious.

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Yeah, yeah. Don't ask me. I seriously don't know what's up with the kid. [Shrug]

Okay, fine. So, the explosion. You were blasted into the water. The thing is, the water was freezing cold. You were frozen and the ice preserved you. Years later they pulled you out of the ice and thawed you out. [Wow that sounds like bullshit. Marvel universe why the fuck do you exist] Which I know sounds stupid but it's what happened. There's probably some crazy scientific explanation for it but I'm not a scientist. Anyway, after you were thawed, it turns out you were alive. The ice preserved you. The explosion blew your arm off so they gave you a cybernetic replacement. [Just gonna....leave out the whole Winter Soldier thing]

And the reason Toro doesn't know this is because it hasn't happened for him yet. He's from way back in the past. They don't find you for...a long time, from his time point.

[He just kind of listens, holding a cup of coffee, looking a little distant while she goes on. Normally? He'd call bullshit. But Nita had said the same thing had happened to Cap, just about, and they'd gone down in the same waters... Still, Steve had the serum. Bucky had nothing but a lot of training, which wouldn't save him from ice. He's just going to ignore the twist in his gut at hearing that he loses an arm. He's seen it happen to other soldiers, but the thought of it happening to him...]

...The same thing happened to Cap, right?

[She's sort of glad he's heard about Steve]

...Yeah. Same thing happened to him. They found him a little before you. Now you're both members of a team of heroes called the Avengers. Actually, Cap was one of the ones who built the Avengers.

[That jives with what Nita told him, for the most part. He didn't see them conversing on the consoles, so maybe it's not a coincidence...]

How long before? Namor's cousin Nita knows about Steve but not me, and I got the impression he'd been around as far as she knew for a while already.

I'm not sure exactly. Few years, at least. [Actually she knows Bucky was fished out before Steve but nope not mentioning the Russians] They kind of kept you quiet for a while after finding you because of the whole arm thing. Wanted to get you situated, I guess. Plus, you dying was....kind of big deal during the war. So, you know, it was complicated.

Who's 'they'? [Because not referring to 'them' by name is sounding a little ominous. And, lovely, he was 'kept quiet' because their boy war hero was a cripple. Sounds like a wonderful life so far.]

It wasn't, actually. No one knew about it for a while. The government stuck a new kid in my tights to fool the people.

The government. [Which isn't totally untrue] And an agency called SHIELD. They're the ones who gave you your fancy robot prosthetic.

I meant for Steve. It was a big deal for him.

[And there's that gut twisting feeling again. He really does not want to hear much more about having a prosthetic right now. When she mentions Steve, though... it's like a punch in the gut, hearing that Steve was upset over him. Logically, he knows that'd happen, because he and Steve are like brothers, best friends, partners, but having it phrased like that is a whole other story.]

...Yeah, well, he'd get over it. [He just kind of shrugs uncomfortably and stares into his coffee.] So if you supposedly know me, why didn't you recognize me?

[Carol just shrugs too because Bucky apparently doesn't want to talk about it. Feelings and all that]

You were older than this when I met you. You look different. And to be fair, most of the time I see you, you have your face covered with a cowl.

[And that has him all suspicious.] How could I be much older if you said it hadn't been long since I was thawed out? I can still pass for 17 now, I don't look my age as it is.

And I don't do cowls.

It was a few years from the time you thawed to the time I met you. You aged.

Maybe not now. You sure you wanna hear this? I've already told you a lot.

I wouldn't be unrecognizable. [He has no idea he went through a lot of harsh Soviet training to bulk up or that he aged about eight to ten years over his career as the Winter Soldier. Probably for the best. But it still doesn't quite sit right.]

Everybody's told me a lot, and I'm kinda gettin' sick of it. [And just for a moment there's a flash of something else in his hard brown eyes - a sort of discomfort, vulnerability almost. His mind's been thrown through loops ever since he got here, like a particularly unpleasant roller-coaster ride. As soon as it's there, it's gone again, though.]

Not unrecognizable. I thought it was you before I said anything, I just didn't want to jump to conclusions. I've met a lot of people who aren't right today. It's headache inducing. But once we talked a little I was sure it was you. [Shrug. She's really determined to not be the one who drops the Winter Soldier bomb on him]

So if you don't wanna know, I won't tell you. Simple as that.

[He doesn't really have anything to say to that. At least she had the decency to give him a few minutes before she dropped the "I know you" bomb, which is more than some people. And he doesn't have much to say to the next comment either, because he really isn't sure if he wants to know. At least not today. He's already yo-yoing between accepting his own death and being told he isn't actually dead, and what the hell are you supposed to do with that information?

So he settles on changing the subject.] So you said you knew Steve. Word of warning, the one here who says he's Steve ain't Steve.

[She feels bad about this. She really does. It can't be easy to take in all this crap about your own future. She knows she wouldn't handle it so well. But at the same time, he has a right to know. She couldn't just lie to him. Well....any more than she already has. Leaving out the Winter Soldier is for his own good, she thinks]

Yeah, so I've been told by like six other people. He's Steve but he isn't the Steve from our world. That kind of sucks. So many people I've met aren't how they're supposed to be....

If he's Steve at all, I ain't seeing it. When we met he acted all condescending at me, treated me like I was bein' unreasonable. Steve'd never do that. [He'd have tried to understand that Bucky was having a hard time with everything. He would have understood, because Steve and Bucky were partners, but this one isn't his Steve.] I don't trust him. He's too different.

And welcome to my life since I got here. Nothing makes sense.

Yeah, that doesn't sound like Steve. [Steve has always been supportive, understanding and amazing. The fact that this Steve apparently isn't is disappointing. Then again, who knows how much of that is reality and how much is just Bucky being cranky] I'll probably avoid him unless he approaches me first. Which he probably won't because he probably doesn't even know me.

No kidding. You're from the past and there's a whole bunch of weird alternate universe people who are weird and don't know me.

Probably wouldn't. [At least judging from the things he's heard, and the things he's seen of that Steve. He and Toro are steering clear.]

Well you're from the future and way too many people know who I am here, so don't gripe to me.

Oh well. No loss, I guess. [It's easy to tell herself it's not loss but it'd be nice if Steve was actually here. Steve has a talent for making everything better. But if he doesn't know her and probably wouldn't even talk to her, that does the opposite of making everything better]

I wasn't griping. I was commiserating. We're having a conversation. That's what people do. [Oh Bucky. You are so tiny and prickly]

Not with that one, no. [Someone is a little cranky about the whole situation.]

We're not friends. [There isn't much venom in it, just a sort of tired wariness, because he's spent pretty much his entire time here being paranoid and wary of everyone.] Just because you know me doesn't mean I know you well enough for "commiserating".

You're right, we're not. [She can't even say they are back at home, where Bucky's all grown up. At least that Bucky knows her. She's so sick of this place and this day already] But okay, have it your way. I told you what I thought you should know. If you wanna know anything else, I'm right here.

Has anyone ever told you that you're really prickly? Sort of like a cactus.

I am not prickly. I'm wary about people who think they know me because I ain't a naive sap. [...He might be pouting. Just a little.]

[Pfft. Oh, you're cute]

That's understandable. You've got not reason to trust people you don't actually know. I'm just saying, not everyone wants to murder you.

You know when I came from, right?

[Fair point]

....Not everyone who isn't in a military uniform wants to murder you.

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