Closed

[deadthenred]

Who: Bucky (deadthenred) and Kyle (torchbearer)
What: Awkward meetings as
When: The date it happened
Where: A coffeeshop somewhere in New Jersey.
Content Warnings: N/A

[ It's a nice coffeeshop, the kind with white walls, high ceilings, and exposed ductwork, the kind of places you find in Brooklyn, these days, with the kind of prices to match. (When did a cup of coffee start costing $7?)

He's not sure where Jason ran off to and why he left him alone with this guy. (Why is Bucky friends with Jason?)

Before going up to the counter and ordering, there's an awkward silence. This isn't like the other people Bucky's met through Jason, he has no idea what Kyle's deal is. ]

Are you— uh, another one of his brothers?

[ Dark hair, light eyes— they all have a look. ]

Comments

[deadthenred]

My dad was in the Army, and I guess, growin' up, I always figured I'd follow him.

[torchbearer]

[ ah, father figures. kyle barely knew his until recently, so that tracks. ]

That tracks. Even with — [ kyle waves his hand flippantly. jason. the bats. etc. ]

[deadthenred]

Yeah. [ He would've wound up in the service, probably, being born in 1925. But he got in well before the United States entered the war. ]

They make it seem a lot more fun than it is.

[torchbearer]

It never seemed like much fun to me. I mean, I get the feeling. Shared experience, sort of communal. Everyone's trauma coming from the same place.

But that's all it is.

[ still, he shrugs. ]

Then again, maybe I'm missing something. I never really had a team or a mentor. Kind of got tossed into the deep end.

[deadthenred]

[ That's an interesting perspective. Kyle isn't wrong, about the communal trauma, the esprit de corps. But it also makes Bucky feel old, because when he was growing up, it felt like everyone had the same hardships. Maybe that wasn't true, maybe he knows better. But it felt that way. ]

Yeah? [ For a loner, Bucky's been on so many teams. ] How'd that happen?

[torchbearer]

I got handed an all-powerful ring by the last guardian of OA, which made me the last living Green Lantern while I was in an alley, getting out of a bar.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't his first choice because he went "You'll do" and basically vanished.

[ ganthet came back due to the virtue of cyclical comic book reality, but he was never kyle's mentor. though they do have a decent relationship, all things considered. ]

[deadthenred]

Wow.

[ He takes a long sip of his coffee. ]

Dunno what I was expecting. Maybe falling into a radioactive vat.

[torchbearer]

That does seem to be the number one cause. Curse you confusing radioactivity!

[deadthenred]

Better than getting stuck in a spinning machine, I guess. Or mongoose blood.

[torchbearer]

I'm sorry, mongoose blood?

[deadthenred]

That one I only heard about second-hand. Guy called himself the Whizzer.

[torchbearer]

[ kyle cracks up. ]

The Whizzer? Really?

[deadthenred]

Wore a big "W" on his chest and everything. Also had wings on his head, but I think he got rid of those eventually.

[ Not that he can talk about the wings-on-head thing. ]

[torchbearer]

That's hilarious. I kind of wish my rogues' gallery had someone that hilarious.

[deadthenred]

He was actually a pretty serious guy. Not sure he could hear himself talk.

[torchbearer]

How do you seriously call yourself the Whizzer.

[deadthenred]

[ Very dry: ]

He had super speed. From the mongoose blood.

[torchbearer]

Guess that's one way to get powers.

[deadthenred]

I'd say it beats gettin' handed a ring outta nowhere, but I wouldn't know.

[torchbearer]

Very little beats the ring.

It has the power to turn anything into reality. As long as you have the willpower for it.

[deadthenred]

[ Sounds like the Cosmic Cube. Except maybe not powered by mass murder. He's willing to extend Kyle the benefit of the doubt. ]

And what you can think to use it for.

[torchbearer]

Not just that. Whatever I can imagine, as long as I have the will to back it up.

[ he flicks his fingers and on the table, a little replica of new york city appears. people are running around the street like it's normal, cars are driving around. carelessly, kyle makes it vanish once more with a blink of an eye. ]

[deadthenred]

Oh.

[ He blinks. ]

I was picturing something different. [ Why, exactly, he doesn't know. ]

[torchbearer]

Different how?

[deadthenred]

[ Fair question. ]

I guess I was thinkin' "reality warping" so that the Nazis won the war, or St. Louis pizza tastes good somehow.

[ Usually more the former than the latter. ]