IC Inbox

[advanced]

This is the IC inbox for Bucky Barnes at Snowblind.

Network name: @bucky; formerly @j, @username, and @robertsmith

This is the place to contact Bucky over the Network. Contact by voice, text, or video is all perfectly acceptable, and there is no need to plot with me prior to posting in this inbox.

Any contact for @j following day 125, @username following day 190, or @robertsmith following day 224 will be met with the following message: USER NOT FOUND.

Comments

[spoileralert]

That doesn't mean you aren't going to.

Look, I'm being nice. Steve is my friend. These people are my people. I may not have a super strong metal arm but I am willing to do whatever I have to in order to protect them.

This is your chance to convince me to pull my punches.

[advanced]

[She's going to tell Steve.

What frightens him is that a part of him doesn't care any more. The part that's edging closer to shutting down from Bucky Barnes and accepting missions again, the one with no autonomy. Barely human, just an asset.

But he's not that man now and he's fighting it as hard as he can. It hurts to deny Steve, but maybe the safest thing he can do for both of them right now is lie.]

Steve Rogers, right? I talked to him when I first got here, I don't know him otherwise. I don't know how he ended up in that place, probably the same way you did.

[spoileralert]

[ The response is too flat, too calm. The one thing she needs from him, that he isn't going to hurt anyone, that he doesn't want to, completely eludes her. If Steve doesn't know who he is then he's still a threat. ]

You really suck at this, you know.

[advanced]

[Damn. He thought that might be convincing, especially as tone is hard to read over text.]

I don't know any more than that. What do you want from me?

[spoileralert]

I want to know that I'm not going to regret it if I don't tell everyone what I know about you and what you can do.

[advanced]

It was a dream. Don't you ever have dreams which don't mean anything?

[He's panicking now, he can't have her go to Steve.]

[spoileralert]

Not like that. I dream about home, people I know, places I've been. Languages I speak.

[advanced]

The point stands. It was just a dream. It didn't mean anything.

[spoileralert]

[ She rubs at her temple, wondering just what she's stumbled into.

Story of her life, honestly. ]

I'd rather be wrong about you being a threat than not.

[ To Steve, then, and likely the rest of the town after. ]

[advanced]

I'm not a threat, I don't want to hurt anybody.

[spoileralert]

Then why didn't you just say so?

[advanced]

[Not wanting to and not actually hurting people are different. That he's not a threat is a lie.]

I just did.

[spoileralert]

Too little, too late. You're not even trying.

[advanced]

[He can't keep arguing with her.

She knows too much and he's just making it worse. The best thing he can do is hope she bought that he doesn't know Steve and that she keeps it to herself, unlikely. So he'll do the next best thing and move on.

Hide as best he can.

He hangs up.]