Bucky Barnes (assignment) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2017-10-23 21:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, *aurora, *hannah, bucky barnes, sarissa |
OCTOBER 12
Bucky Bear ✦ Sarissa
Sarissa helps Bucky get to work Fluff 'n Stuff✦ Complete |
Even though Bucky’s team hadn’t been selected to go on the current mission, he still liked to keep up his regular training schedule and to check in to see if there was anything that needed doing on behalf of the mission. It also gave him a good excuse to check in with both Becker and Sharon without giving any indication that he was there to specifically see Sharon. They hadn’t gone public with whatever it was between the two of them, and while he was sure their close friends had their own suspicions, nothing had ever been confirmed or denied one way or another. He’d stopped for a quick coffee on the way to the training center, and it wasn’t long after he was back on the street that Bucky started to feel a little strange. Strange in a way that was actually a little familiar and not in a good way. He looked at his arms and hands and saw that they were changing as they had barely a month ago. He also started to shrink closer and closer to the ground. Not again, he thought to himself and sure enough a few seconds later he’d turned into a fluffy teddy bear. He nearly dropped his coffee but instead managed to hold onto it with both hands. Suddenly, the walk to the training center seemed like an awfully long way. Although Sarissa no longer needed coffee to be alert - or, more accurately, coffee no longer worked on her - she liked the taste of it enough to get it every so often. Usually, the most exciting thing that happened in the mornings was someone getting cranky at the barista because they hadn’t had their caffeine fix yet. Today, she watched a grown man turn into a teddy bear. An extremely dextrous teddy bear, at that. Sarissa didn’t know many people who could shrink in size and still hold onto a cup of coffee, let alone someone who shrunk in size and turned into a plush animal. “Goodness,” she exclaimed, “what just happened here?” Bucky knew that someone was bound to see him change into the bear or at least see him awkwardly start trying to walk down the street. He just wished that somehow he could shrink down into the pavement and hide there until this was all over. At least the first time he’d turned into a bear in the privacy of his own room. This time it happened in public. Looking up, and it was way up considering how short he was now, he probably looked quite pitiful and dejected. “I’m a bear. Again.” Atlantis really liked playing around with him, didn’t it? “This happened last month. It only lasted for a day, but a day like this was long enough.” Again? Sarissa thought back and remembered that not long ago, this had happened as well - at least according to network chatter. This poor man seemed to have been hit twice. Feeling bad for him, she set her own coffee down and knelt so she wasn’t towering over him. Up close, she smelled like sunshine and blossoms. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Was there anything she could do for him? What Bucky really wanted to do was to crawl down into a storm drain and hide until this was all over. Or teleport back to his bedroom and hide there instead. Either would work, but neither were viable options. He looked in the direction of the towers and then back in the other direction where he’d already been heading to the command center. Which was closer and which way would he run into less people? Sighing, Bucky stared down at his fluffy, little legs. No matter where he went, it was going to take him a really long time to get there without help. HIs teddy bear face probably looked pretty pitiful when he looked at Sarissa, thankful that she’d gotten down to his level. “I need… help getting to work,” he said, sounding kind of embarrassed. “It will take me a long time to get there on my own.” “I can help you get there,” Sarissa readily offered. She wasn’t on an active mission either, and her only plan for the day had been to go to the library to do some more reading on some of the worlds represented here. She looked over him, however, and hesitated. “I’m sorry if this sounds insensitive, but...would you be able to do any work in your current...condition?” No matter how embarrassing all of this was, Bucky was thankful that he’d run into someone who could offer help rather than just point and stare or point, stare, and laugh. Not that there might not be some of that later, but there was probably a long list of people who would have done so right in his face. Not that he’d necessarily blame thing since he may or may not have done the same if the shoe was on the other teddy bear foot. “I’m… not sure. I wouldn’t be able to train, but maybe help with the mission logs.” He looked up at her a bit sheepishly. “Or find some place to hide until this is over.” Sarissa hadn’t known what a sheepish expression on a teddy bear would look like until that moment, but she valiantly resisted laughing - or worse, cooing over how cute it was, because it wasadorable . “I can take you anywhere you want,” she told him. “Or, if you don’t mind my company, I can help you out for the day. I imagine that’d be a lot more fun than research at the library.” “No, that’s alright. I mean, you don’t need to worry over me for the day. I can make it alright once I get there. It’s just the… getting there that might be a little harder than I’m used to.” Bucky wasn’t so sure how to ask what he needed to ask, so he just stood there for a short moment, looking down at the ground and then ahead of him in the direction he needed to go. Finally, he looked back at Sarissa. “Would you mind… I’m don’t think that walking would be the fastest way for me to get there. At least not walking on my own.” Before he’d finished his awkward request, Sarissa was already holding out her arms. “May I?” she asked. She could only imagine how mortified he was feeling at the moment - she’d feel the same - so she was quite willing to ease the humiliation where she could. As embarrassing as it was, Bucky resigned himself to reaching out his arms and letting her pick him up. Most people probably wouldn’t realize that it was him, but people who knew him would recognize the silver arm. It was some kind of shiny cloth instead of chrome, but it still easily identified him to anyone that knew him at all. “Thank you. I hope that I’m not troubling you too much or taking you away from somewhere else you should be.” “Believe me,” Sarissa told him as she balanced him on her hip like a child, “this is probably the most exciting thing that’s going to happen to me all day.” For which she was grateful. After a lifetime dealing with the faerie courts, Sarissa was looking for a bit of peace and quiet. She reached for her coffee and quickly drained it before turning back to Bucky. “All right, where am I taking you?” Rather than walk down the street and prolong his embarrassment, she figured she’d teleport them to where he needed to go. She just need to know where that was. “Me too, I guess. Though I could have probably done without this kind of excitement. I think I would take having candy thrown at me by cupid again over being a stuffed bear.” There was a hint of humor in his tone, so he wasn’t completely feeling sorry for himself. Then again, being hit by cupid wouldn’t have the same effect since he and Sharon didn’t need much pushing anymore. “Headquarters. I still need to check in. I can hide out in someone’s office after that until this wears off.” He considered going into Sharon’s office for a moment. That could either be the best idea or the worst idea depending on how sorry she felt for him - or didn’t. There had to be an empty office around there somewhere. “All right, hold on, then,” Sarissa told him. She took him outside and - just like that - they were gone in a flurry of red and gold leaves. They appeared outside the doors of headquarters; Sarissa figured it would be rude to just pop in. Besides, she wasn’t sure where in the building Bucky needed to go. “Here we are,” she said, brushing a small leaf off his fur. “Are you okay from here, or should I take you to your office?” Bucky had never teleported before, so he wasn't sure if it was the new experience or his current condition that left his insides feeling a little out of place like he might have left some of them back on the street. He was lucky for running into Sarissa though since she made the journey to work as easy as anyone probably could have. And she hadn't given him a hard time about his fluff and stuffing. “Thank you,” he said and gave her a small smile. “This was very nice of you.” Once he was back on the ground, he looked up at the door and sighed, nearly hanging his head. “Could you…” He pointed to the door. The handle was a little high for him. “After that I think I will be okay.” “Yes, of course,” Sarissa assured him. She didn’t mind helping. She just hoped that if one day she was turned into a bear - or a rubber duckie - or whatever else Atlantis had up its sleeve - someone would similarly help her. “Let me know if you need anything else,” she added. Then, realizing typing might be hard for him, she handed him a silver acorn. “Just speak to it if you need me.” Bucky took the silver acorn and studied it for a moment. He’d never seen anything like it before, but he nodded and placed it in his little pocket. He imagined that he’d try to find a way to keep from needing help, but he knew he could call on her if he really ended up needing someone to open doors. “Thank you again,” he said and slipped through the door that she was holding open for him. As he walked through, he turned back and gave her a small wave before trying to find a place to hide out until all of this was over. |