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]

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. ]

[torchbearer]

No, nothing like that.

[ though, unbeknownst to kyle, he does possess that power. he just never used it since he got here. ]

[deadthenred]

Yeah, I'm gettin' that.

[ Do not make it so the Nazis win. ] My world has something called the the Cosmic Cube. I thought it sounded like your ring, except evil.

[torchbearer]

[ not to worry, kyle has also punched nazis. ]

Well, the ring was made by Guardians who believed in peace. And not everyone can use it.

[deadthenred]

"Believed?"

[ He's questioning the past tense, here. ]

[torchbearer]

Well, they weren't around when I got it. They were wiped out.

They only came back recently. Force of habit.

[deadthenred]

Occupational hazard, I guess.

[ He thinks of how Steve came back to life to see him carrying the shield. And the bitter mix of hope and disappointment that Bucky felt, figuring Steve would be taking it back. ]

They let you keep it?

[torchbearer]

[ kyle twists the ring idly on his finger. ]

They owe me.

[ kyle would probably give it back if asked. probably. but the sacrifices he made for oa, for the guardians . . . he is their torchbearer. they may not ask the same of him as they do the others, but he'll keep the flame alive. ]

[deadthenred]

I bet they do.

[ Power like that puts a target on you. ] Would you give it back if you could? [ He realizes that's a big question, after he asks it, so Bucky hedges a bit. ]

I never had powers, but I know a lot of people who do. And some of 'em loved it, but some of them just wanted to be normal again, even if they couldn't say so.

[ Some of them were never normal in the first place. Maybe nobody is. ]

[torchbearer]

[ kyle considers this for a moment, his fingers cradling his cup. he ran from earth for a long time after everything. there was too much baggage and not enough . . . of a life. but giving up the ring? he can still picture major force's leering face. ]

I think it's a moot point. Wanting, loving. It's about how it's changed you. And how I've been changed by it. There's no magic that can turn back the clock.

[deadthenred]

Yeah. [ There's a bit of a sigh in his voice, and a lesson he didn't want to learn. ]

That's how you get the Nazis winning. [ Or Lukin and his quest to bring back the real USSR, whatever that meant. You can never go home again. ]

[torchbearer]

The . . . Nazis?

[deadthenred]

I used to be Captain America. You fight a lot of Nazis. Or psychos tryin' to bring them back.