voidtreckerexpress | Settling In [OTA Catch-all]

Entry tags:

Settling In [OTA Catch-all]

Who: Bucky Barnes AKA Soldat, and OPEN
Where: Each prompt will have a car listed
When: Jelly 2 - 5
What: Getting settled in, working out chores, discovering movies
Warnings: Amiable disassociation, possible discussion of trauma, probably swearing :P

I. Sleep Schedules - Sleeper car, specifically 4:A

Generally, to foil nightmare-laden nights and to split up their day, Soldat used to sleep twice a day: once right after lunch, and once after midnight. They don't know if that will work here, but they're definitely going to try it.

Walk into the cabin to clean it or to get to your things, and you might find a supersoldier bolting awake, with a metal arm held up between you and them, or a supersoldier sitting curled on one of the bottom bunks with a notebook on their knees, hastily writing something down and looking hunted.

II. Hi, Red Team - Kitchen car

So Soldat has swapped their cleaning chores for Otoha's cooking chores, and here they are, showing up bright and early on their second day to the kitchen car, looking uncertain of their welcome but absolutely ready to work. "I did a lot of the cooking," they say earnestly, "back at my last place. Traded with one of your guys."

And they'll dive in with all apparent happiness when given ingredients, a new recipe (they've never worked with avocados before), and tools. Might even kind of quietly hum to themselves now and then, when they forget they're not surrounded by strangers.

III. Sadly, No Muppets - Cinema car

The first thing Soldat looked up when creeping into the cinema car to investigate was a movie, or show, or set of movies, or something that Misty had told them about. They look vaguely confused when they find something... similar... but with a slightly off name. The Moppet Show? The remaining inbox conversations on their tablet says "Muppet" but... maybe it's a different universe thing?

Either way, find them taking up some time here and there when the cinema car is otherwise unoccupied, watching wacky puppet shenanigans and being at turns delighted, annoyed, and confused. "I'm not sure if that is supposed to be funny or not," they muse aloud, frowning at a puppet rabbit flailing over a puppet wolf's joke act going badly, while a pair of puppet old ladies in a balcony heckle them both. (Seems like it's supposed to be, but I don't get it. Yes. Was that agreement with us or with the show? No.)

IV. Common Train Passtime - Gym car

A lot of people on this train seem to like spending time in the gym car. Well, Soldat isn't necessarily one of them, but they also can't lose their edge, either, not if there are missions where people need help. So they stop by once a day, looking kind of shy and keeping out of the way until there's room, then settling into a routine of hitting dummies and dancing around against invisible opponents.

It's clear from their motions that they're used to having a knife, or multiple knives. (They miss their knives so bad.)

Anyone wanting to spar, or wanting to critique, or wanting help themselves-- Soldat's there. They try to keep to themselves unless asked, though, knowing that their role as a teacher in Beacon was familiar and accepted, but it probably isn't here.

V. Wildcard

Soldat can be found poking around pretty much anywhere but the medical cars. Feel free to run into them wherever, I can work with it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That stalls them out for a second, glancing up to find her literally floating, but it'd probably be worse if they didn't have Thanatos as a roommate. He kind of likes to float everywhere. (Can't blame the guy. If we could float, I'd be fuckin' floating everywhere, too. Yes. Seriously, this is the thing you agree with me on, Asset?)

They shake themselves out of their moment of staring pretty quickly, at least. "I have a kind of. Problem. Came from damage from a death in my last place. This will help with it." They gently pat the chain they're piecing together with pliers.

Raven doesn't float everywhere, usually. It's more she's unsure where would be a good space to sit, so she's making it easier. Fortunately, she's also going to ignore the stare other than to just blink at him. Listening to what he says, she hmms gently. "Do you need a healer? We have a few, including me, on this train."

"Oh, not. That kind of problem? I'm all healed." They consider whether to reveal their lantern and what it really means-- it's sitting on the shelf at the head of the bed, still tightly shuttered up-- and decide... no. They like her, but don't trust her that much yet. Just the practical stuff, for now. "Sometimes when we came back from dying, in my last place. We came back. A little broken. Me, I have the urge to eat. All the time. Anything. Even not-edible stuff."

(~~Everything is edible. You're just a coward.~~ Serum can't fix everything, Pit. You're just lucky we survived the gun oil that one time.) Several stress-origami have gone down their maw, since arriving here. Thankfully, paper is safe enough.

"So I used to have a chain with pendants," Soldat finishes. "Can chew on those, but not swallow. Keeps me from accidentally eating shit I shouldn't."

Raven refrained from asking about potential digestion issues. "Sometime, when you're comfortable with it, I'd like to hear more about where came from." He talked about dying so casually...

"Ah. You're recreating it."

Probably for the best, that. "Yes. Otherwise I'll wind up making a problem for myself," Soldat says. They, do set the pliers aside, though, to focus more fully on her. "I don't mind talking about Beacon. If you're curious. It was more my home than anything with HYDRA."

"If you're alright with talking about it, then I'd like to hear more." A pause. "You're too casual when you speak of dying."

"Ah. Yeah." They look away and down, sheepish and kind of apologetic. "I've been told that before. Sorry. I'm. Technically dead, right now. Died twice again in Beacon, and was repaired." (Maybe three times. I don't know for sure what happened. We might have survived and just got torn out of the world.)

They shake their head a little. "I don't know how many times I was medically dead with HYDRA. A lot, probably. I can try not to mention it. I know it bothers people."

"I mean, you can die on the train. And you come back in the luggage carriage. Your SCA on your wrist ensures you don't die permanently. Along with translating so we can all understand each other, apparently." Raven offered; despite her deadpan tone, there was no judgement.

"I'm not sure if it would upset people or not, honestly."

"I've heard about the dying thing. Less labor-intensive than Beacon repair, seems like." They'll still try to be careful. They remember Misty's face every time they mentioned death and dying-- and they understand why. "Beacon did that, too. Translated for us. Except with the spirits, we had to learn their language ourselves."

"Tell me about Beacon, please." Raven asked, with genuine curiosity in her tone.

"Beacon is. Was. A small mining town with a lighthouse, in a dead world," Soldat explains. "Someone eighty years in its past discovered portal technology. Opened one. And got the attention of something called a World Eater. That attention. Killed their world, slow. All the light went away. Because there, light means life."

World Eater... Why did that sound familiar? Maybe it was in notes Raven read somewhere, while catching up on what she'd missed being 'gone' from the Train.

"Sounds like a fun place." Raven's deadpan tone was, nonetheless, sarcastic. "Why were you there?"

"Our goal was to stop the World Eater on the world," Soldat answers. "Maybe help the world start to live again. We were in the middle of trying to blow it up when I got stolen for this train." They hope to hell it worked, but they're not sure how they'd know one way or the other.

"Not unlike a lot of us. You were pulled in the middle of something important." Raven sighed.

"Yeah. Weaver was about to set off the bomb, though, so. Maybe we did it. I can hope." And hope that everyone else is okay. Or at least not being eaten by a World Eater. They'd half-expected to just fade away once the world started living again, or to be left behind on a still-dead world to hunt down World Eaters on other planets, but this? Not in the plan, at all.

"I understand." Raven said softly, quietly. Arguably, she'd been pulled from something important too. Except her world was safer without her. She missed her friends, it had become home--but it was for the best.

They're silent a moment, thinking of Beacon-- of home. Because the few slivers of memory of Brooklyn and the horror that was every HYDRA base don't add up to anything more home than a town shrouded in permanent darkness, where everyone was dead and half the "people" looked like crabs or blanket-mummies or hairless horses or corn-husk dolls.

But then they shake their head a little, and continue. "Anyway. Everyone there was dead. Some of us still remembered our lives. Still looked alive, acted alive, needed to eat and sleep, had magic-tech-something bodies." They wave the metal hand basically at themselves. "Others were older, had masks. We called them spirits even though we were all technically dead."

Raven listened patiently and quietly. Giving him her attention, and trying to recall if she'd ever learned of a dimension like what he described. There were elements there of a few, but she'd have to consult her books back home, and possibly at Temple Azara---oh right. Azarath was no more.

"For what it's worth, you seem pretty alive to me."

"Magic-tech-something clone body," Soldat reiterates with maybe half a smile. "Still eat, still sleep, still breathe. Just. I died to get there." The smile fades off, and they debate again indicating their lantern-- ugh, they're out of the habit of not trusting people, with so long in a very small town where everyone was working towards the same goal. But it's only been a couple of days, and they don't know how these people are with secrets yet.

They shake their head finally. "It probably won't matter. Not that different from being all the way alive."

"Good point. I think most of us would just consider you 'alive' though."

"Close enough," Soldat shrugs. "Like I said, probably doesn't matter much." There's not anything else really to say about it without getting into the lantern problem, so they ask, "What was it you came from? Pulled from something important."

(Buddy. You can't just ask that.)

Uh. "You don't have to answer, if you don't want to," they add. "Just curious, is all."

"Sort of." Raven hedges, then quiets for a moment. She trusted Bucky, before--although he didn't know the reason why she was glad to be on the train, than back-home. Only Luke had known, but he wasn't here anymore. Madoka knew now, but only the bare facts.

"It's better for my world that I'm here, instead of there. Someone very bad was hunting me, and willing to do whatever it took to get me. If I'm here, they can't get me, and my world is safe."

Soldat simply nods. "Reasonable. I'm glad your world is safe, Raven. And you can do good work here, instead." They can imagine she must miss her friends and family, but they also know saying that might make her more sad-- bringing up the people in Beacon makes them sad. And if there's no way to go back anyway... no point in harping on what everyone knows.

Raven was kind of relieved that he didn't push further--although she wasn't surprised. Soldat seemed to have his own things he didn't want people pushing against. Then again, Raven had a feeling Bucky wouldn't have pushed either.

"As far as I'm aware, they can't get me here even though they can do dimensional travel." A pause, before more quietly. "There was a question and answer session with the train--I asked it if I was safe here, and it confirmed my enemies can't get to me here. Given other information it told us, I'm not entirely sure how reliable that is." But it had been reassuring, so Raven hoped it was reliable.

"Oh. Yeah, Cassie told me about that," Soldat says with a little perk up. This is something they know about! "About how the train is a she, and can't talk to us easily, and is maybe driving herself. What other information was there?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject