tushanshu | 001 ☆☆☆ [Video]

[Anonymous location]
So I gotta hand it to myself, this is one heckuva hallucination I've dreamed up.

[The face on the screen is young; he could probably pass as sixteen or seventeen still, though in reality he just turned twenty. The way he sits, the expression on his face, he's not trying to act any older - people let their guards down for teenagers, mostly, and he can use that to his advantage. His brown hair is combed neatly in a vaguely old-fashioned style, and what's visible of his shoulders are clad in something that could be US military - though, circa WWII if you would recognize something like that. He seems a little... bored? almost, leaning on his hand, elbow on the desk in one of the little cafes. He's already spoken to Toro, but he's still not sure he believes the whole story the kedan are feeding him.]

I'm guessin' I'm in a VA hospital somewhere, drugged outta my gourd. Might not have lost my looks in that grenade blast if the nurses are givin' me the good stuff. [His smile is easy, charming, that winning Bucky Barnes smile he's so known for. The 'grenade blast' is an obvious lie to anyone who might have heard of him in the modern day, not that he knows that, but he's trying to figure out if anyone else is here that he knows, trying to get some answers about what's really going on.] Shapeshifters, a city on a turtle, an' a 'world between life, death, and dreaming', what'll the morphine cook up next? Even these video talk consoles, bet the Army would love to go runnin' with that idea. Hey, if this is my drug-induced coma, my unit's prob'ly here somewhere, so hey, you see 'em, tell 'em Private James Barnes is lookin' for those guys. Especially you, Rogers, you big lug.

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I guess telling you it's not a dream or a hallucination or whatever won't help anything, huh?

Probably not since the alternative is being dead. [Shrug.] Didn't figure I could survive hoppin' on a grenade, but a guy can have hope when he wakes up somewhere weird with all his limbs in place after somethin' like that. [Yeah he's going under the assumption that his everything as 'Bucky' is classified as all hell, so he'll be sticking to that grenade story.]

I died too. Still got all my limbs and... well... atoms in the right place.

...it's complicated. Being here. Getting here. I wouldn't try to wrap your head around it all at once.

Little late for that, got a massive headache already. Again, have we met? Cause I asked for a Rogers, not Steve. [Just how much does she know about him? About Steve?]

[ ...oh. She hadn't even noticed that. ]

We're friends. Me and Steve. I used to be his partner in my original universe.

And I knew... a version of you. Really really well. [ Should she tell him about the Bucky that's already here? Probably not yet. ]

[Yeah, probably not, his mind is already violently rejecting the idea of 'other universes'. But that's got him frowning, because... Steve's partner? No. Can't be. She couldn't be, because Steve's partner is him. Cap and Bucky, not Cap and Some Girl.]

Yeah, well, forgive me if I don't believe you, lady. You're gonna have to prove that one.

[ She sighs. Of course this couldn't be easy. ]

Which part?

[Would you necessarily believe you, Rikki?]

Let's go with both parts.

[ ...given her life, she'd consider it plausible. ]

Geez, okay. Um. [ Rikki frowns to herself, and hesitates before typing in a quick encryption. ]

I know you were born in Indiana and you moved to Camp Lehigh when you were little. I know you probably didn't date Peggy Carter, which is still weird to me. I know it wasn't a grenade that killed you, and... I know you had a little sister named Rebecca, 'cause I'm named after her.

I don't really know how to prove the Steve part. I don't have my old SHIELD ID card or my Bucky costume or anything - just my shield, and that doesn't really prove anything.

[He goes suddenly cold as she starts listing off facts about him - classified things, all true, but not things anyone should know. He wasn't supposed to exist as James Barnes, not really, he was just an army orphan earning his keep. No one is supposed to know. And there isn't even any use denying it, is there?]

Where'd you get the security clearance to figure all that out? You some kind of spy? [But then-] Your- Your what costume?

[ Rikki sighs and rolls her eyes. ] I'm trying to explain, but you're making it kind of hard what with the refusal to believe what I'm telling you.

[ Under her breath: ] This was so much easier the first time.

[ Deep breath, shoulders straightening. ] Okay, can we back up a little and just...

Hi. I'm Rikki Barnes.

The first time? [He's not getting answers here and he might be freaking out. Just a little. It's been an extremely stressful day thus far.]

Barnes?

Yeah. That's kind of what I was trying to say.

I'm from a universe where you lived... and had kids... And anyway, the point is, I'm kind of your granddaughter.

[He's just going to... stare. For a few minutes. Silently. He could process being dead, he pretty much knew it would happen before it did. Steve being dead was a nasty shock and learning he'd been replaced was pretty disheartening. Hearing another him lives in another timeline and has kids and a grandkid?]

That's a pretty nasty joke.

It would be, if I were joking. I'm not.

C'mon, you worked with a bunch of superheroes. Is this really that much more unbelievable than your actual life?

I just got told I'm dead. [From his best friend, no less, who cried and hugged him.] You really wanna rub somethin' like that in my face now?

[ She flinches. ] I'm sorry, I didn't mean...

I wasn't trying to rub it in. I know how much it sucks, I was just... You asked, okay?

Yeah, I asked for answers, not some dame messin' around with my head claimin' she's my granddaughter.

[ Rikki growls in frustration, pressing her palms against her forehead for a moment while she tries to rein in her annoyance. ]

What would I possibly get out of that if I were lying?

[Might have been a bad idea to mention his sister, then. He's on edge right now, obviously frustrated himself.]

How the hell should I know?

[ Yeah, she's getting that. ]

Right. So by your logic I just decided to screw with you because... what? I decided I don't like your face?

Well hell, lotta terrible people out there, ain't there? [And this is about when he disconnects, feeling rather off-balance and on-edge. As far as he knows, his entire life is classified (to the point where they replaced him, and he never even got so much as a funeral), and now some stranger is telling him everything she knows about him and his only remaining family...

It doesn't sit well.]

[ Rikki groans softly to herself and tips forward, letting her head smack into the keyboard. ]

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[ Without lifting her head, she reaches up to shut off the video. ]

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