[ But there are no vampires. Just Bucky waiting in a booth. He's recognizable from the dream the same way you can see someone in their yearbook photos a decade on. His hair's long enough he has to have been in New Amsterdam for awhile, and he keeps his arms close, but his eyes are the same clear color.
[ she believes it. though it does make her wonder about vampires here. if any of the displaced are vampires, would they lose their... vampire-y abilities? do they need blood? she spends the walk to the diner contemplating vampires and taking in the walk. ]
[ she slips into the diner, cases the tables, and spots a very familiar face, looking only slightly older than the last time she saw him. she slides into the seat opposite him, raising her eyebrow. ]
You sure you're 95? I promise I won't be weirded out if you're secretly over 100. It won't even be the oldest I know.
I turned twenty in 1945. [ And that was the last birthday he got in the proper order. He's closer to 90 than 100, thanks. ] It's not what you're thinkin', though.
[ there's no dramatic wtf, she already knew he was old. ] I turned twenty in 2014. [ she is a child compared to all the old men and old andy she apparently knows, but that doesn't make her childlike. ]
My only thoughts are vampire or immortality, so any third options are definitely gonna need explanation. [ a beat. ] And to be clear, that's immortality without the need for blood sucking.
Technically you never said anything about slow aging till just now.
[ she pauses a moment to wonder if their limbs grow back? has andy ever lost an arm? joe a leg? when she thinks about it, she still has a lot of questions. ]
Cryogenics? [ yes she knows a fancy word or two! ]
[ Bucky doesn't exactly recommend the "losing an arm" experience, but to be plain, he doesn't remember most of it.
He nods, once. Not as large a gesture as the ones he used to make. ]
I blew my arm off and fell a few dozen feet into the North Atlantic, so that's probably where they got the idea.
[ Bucky really hopes this doesn't turn into a discussion on who "they" were. He ain't sure he's ready for that. So instead, he tries to steer the subject. ]
In my world, the '40s was when powers first started showing up. Men who could fly, or lift tanks like they were paper, that sorta thing.
Sounds like the ocean might have prepared you for the upcoming deep freeze. [ ayyyy. was that bad?? maybe it was bad. ]
We don't have superpowers like that. No crazy strength or anything. Just the healing, and that's a couple thousand years old. But there aren't too many of us, only a handful at a time.
It didn't, but that's a nice thought. [ Is he sore on this subject? He might be sore on this subject. ]
And no, I don't have powers. [ But he has to correct himself. ] I mean, I guess here— [ Everyone gets a power, but, he's not thrilled about that, and it shows on his face. ]
[ wHOOPS! she will back off that trajectory, but offhand jokes are her default to lighten the mood, or to distract herself from her own stresses. she just has to work on what works with bucky. ]
I lost my healing basically as soon as I got it. Feels like some shit luck, considering I'm not even at home. But I got a new one. Not sure which I'd prefer. What do you have now?
Nah, it's fine. [ It isn't fine. But Bucky doesn't know how to talk about his trauma. It's not something they teach you how to do in the Army, or in KGB school. And so he usually winds up feeling awkward, or makin' someone else feel awkward.
He's definitely cagier in real life than he was in the dream. Smaller, somehow, even if he takes up less physical space. Cagey. ]
And maybe it isn't unlucky. [ But what does he know about powers? ] I mean, it'd be worse if you got used to it, and had to fight without it. [ He's fought Wolverine; he knows how he leaves openings that'd get anyone else disembowled. ]
[ he is super cagey, but she's not particularly bothered by it. he went through the second world war and was frozen in for decades, for thus far reasons unknown. she doesn't miss the way he completely avoids her question about what he has now, but. she won't press. (yet.) ]
I'm probably in a better place than the others, but it woulda been a nice gift to have when I don't know what's happening in this place. [ how is she supposed to throw herself out of windows now? ]
At least I still remember how to fight without it. [ not that someone like andy needs that. nile doesn't think anyone could beat that woman, immortality or otherwise. ] I'm not about to have an identity crisis over suddenly losing it.
Who wants to live forever, huh? [ He has definitely not heard the Queen song. He is pop culture illiterate, unless you're talking Bogart. ]
Hard to die here, as long as you got backup. [ At least, death from misadventure. The medical tech is good enough to take care of it. ] Still, s'weird they'd take it away, just to give you something else.
[ the song IMMEDIATELY gets stuck in her head. it's a miracle she doesn't start singing it tbh. ] Forever's a pretty hard concept. The woman who found me, explained it all - she's thousands of years old.
[ and nile knows it to be true, but it's still wild to think about. ]
Yeah, I got the impression that the medical levels of this world are highkey advanced. Immortality's not the worst thing to lose in that scenario, as long as it can bring me back from a neck wound just the same.
Yeah. Think I'm gonna try not breaking my neck, anyway. [ He says this. He even means it. But Bucky's never lived a life that would keep himself safe. ]
I wanna go back, if I can. [ Do most of the Displaced want that? Likely. He'd like to go a back a good bit farther than most. Sometimes he catches light reflecting black across the skyline, and there's nothing he wants more than for it to be 1945 again.
It's something his father told him once: People are built to crave impossible things. ]
I prefer a broken neck to getting stabbed in the neck. [ she is speaking from experience. ]
Me too. [ she's got her new family here, and that should be enough, but it still isn't the same. nile knows they'll all help out, it's simply what they do. ] Nothing against any new powers, but I know I'm gonna miss home.
[ a beat. ] I've already died a couple times now. I wonder how well the medi-units hold up against that.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ Baron Blood. It's always Baron Blood. ]
And?
I mean, was it Flash Gordon space science or a natural healing factor?
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spontaneous healing factor. i can't die now. back home at least, this place took it away almost as quickly as i got it.
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Everything dies.
But maybe we should talk.
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eventually, yeah. but for now i'm pretty much immortal. i came back from every injury sustained since the neck one.
pretty sure we're already talking.
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If you want to.
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i'm still kinda new here, so it might be better if you picked a good place
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I'm free tonight.
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as long as you promise no vampire surprises.
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[ But there are no vampires. Just Bucky waiting in a booth. He's recognizable from the dream the same way you can see someone in their yearbook photos a decade on. His hair's long enough he has to have been in New Amsterdam for awhile, and he keeps his arms close, but his eyes are the same clear color.
He is not 95. ]
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[ she slips into the diner, cases the tables, and spots a very familiar face, looking only slightly older than the last time she saw him. she slides into the seat opposite him, raising her eyebrow. ]
You sure you're 95? I promise I won't be weirded out if you're secretly over 100. It won't even be the oldest I know.
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[ Whether it's vampires, or something else. ]
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My only thoughts are vampire or immortality, so any third options are definitely gonna need explanation. [ a beat. ] And to be clear, that's immortality without the need for blood sucking.
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Immortality and slowed aging aren't the same thing. [ But that's not the point, so he switches the subject. ]
You wanted to know what happened to me, after the war. I blew off my arm in '45, fell into a coma, and when I woke up it was 2015.
[ Which is true, more or less, but he's leaving something out. ]
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[ she pauses a moment to wonder if their limbs grow back? has andy ever lost an arm? joe a leg? when she thinks about it, she still has a lot of questions. ]
Cryogenics? [ yes she knows a fancy word or two! ]
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He nods, once. Not as large a gesture as the ones he used to make. ]
I blew my arm off and fell a few dozen feet into the North Atlantic, so that's probably where they got the idea.
[ Bucky really hopes this doesn't turn into a discussion on who "they" were. He ain't sure he's ready for that. So instead, he tries to steer the subject. ]
In my world, the '40s was when powers first started showing up. Men who could fly, or lift tanks like they were paper, that sorta thing.
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We don't have superpowers like that. No crazy strength or anything. Just the healing, and that's a couple thousand years old. But there aren't too many of us, only a handful at a time.
That mean you have a power too?
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And no, I don't have powers. [ But he has to correct himself. ] I mean, I guess here— [ Everyone gets a power, but, he's not thrilled about that, and it shows on his face. ]
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I lost my healing basically as soon as I got it. Feels like some shit luck, considering I'm not even at home. But I got a new one. Not sure which I'd prefer. What do you have now?
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He's definitely cagier in real life than he was in the dream. Smaller, somehow, even if he takes up less physical space. Cagey. ]
And maybe it isn't unlucky. [ But what does he know about powers? ] I mean, it'd be worse if you got used to it, and had to fight without it. [ He's fought Wolverine; he knows how he leaves openings that'd get anyone else disembowled. ]
Crappy to end up here, though.
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I'm probably in a better place than the others, but it woulda been a nice gift to have when I don't know what's happening in this place. [ how is she supposed to throw herself out of windows now? ]
At least I still remember how to fight without it. [ not that someone like andy needs that. nile doesn't think anyone could beat that woman, immortality or otherwise. ] I'm not about to have an identity crisis over suddenly losing it.
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Hard to die here, as long as you got backup. [ At least, death from misadventure. The medical tech is good enough to take care of it. ] Still, s'weird they'd take it away, just to give you something else.
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[ and nile knows it to be true, but it's still wild to think about. ]
Yeah, I got the impression that the medical levels of this world are highkey advanced. Immortality's not the worst thing to lose in that scenario, as long as it can bring me back from a neck wound just the same.
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I wanna go back, if I can. [ Do most of the Displaced want that? Likely. He'd like to go a back a good bit farther than most. Sometimes he catches light reflecting black across the skyline, and there's nothing he wants more than for it to be 1945 again.
It's something his father told him once: People are built to crave impossible things. ]
Dying makes everything tricky.
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Me too. [ she's got her new family here, and that should be enough, but it still isn't the same. nile knows they'll all help out, it's simply what they do. ] Nothing against any new powers, but I know I'm gonna miss home.
[ a beat. ] I've already died a couple times now. I wonder how well the medi-units hold up against that.
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And you knew you were gonna come back?
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cw: mentions of gore, bad historical myths
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