InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Timmy's in trouble!?"

Not Hawkeye 2, Just Hawkeye (justhawkeye) wrote in timerift_log,
@ 2022-03-14 12:28:00

Entry tags:

mcu: james barnes, ₴ inactive: kate bishop

Who: Kate Bishop & Bucky Barnes
What: Target Practice
When: Late night
Where: Random nearby forest
Warning: None, other than they're probably somewhere they shouldn't be

It's astounding, time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
But listen closely, not for very much longer
I've got to keep control

Another day, another aimless wander through town. At first, the idea of an alternate universe and the possibility of being brought here for a reason had fueled Kate through meeting her flatmate in person, her first exploration of the town, and first cup of coffee in a new place (which turned out to be surprisingly good. Mental note #37: Definitely come back to HobKnob to ask for a job). She knew there was a team looking into the reason and how people were pulled here, but the PI side of her couldn’t help but try and follow up on a few things as well.

Good bunch of luck that did. She had tried to go back to the spot she had been discovered, but that was quarantined and “classified”. Everyone else (weirdly? Surprisingly? Obviously?) seemed content to be here, starting their own lives in a new world, a new time. No one seemed to think too much about the how or why; not that Kate blamed them. It was easier to accept and adapt and it seemed from the few people she had talked to through their network, they’d had their own fair share of weirdness in their lives back home. Why not just kick back and treat this like a mini vacation? A mini vacation to a very wet, dreary place that seemed to be twice the size of Manhattan.

Which begged the question, why couldn't Kate do the same?

As each day wore on, Kate began to question if it wasn’t so much destiny as happenstance that she was there. Surrounded by wizards and witches of this time and other heroes that she knew, but didn’t know her, it was starting to bring her spirits down without an outlet of snark and inside jokes with those she’d usually banter with. Part of her wondered if she did get another cell phone if she could reach a version of Clint or America, Billy or Teddy, but then reason would take over and she didn’t want to chance it. She wasn’t completely comfortable with the logic/science/magic of time travel, but she wasn’t going to be the one to possibly cause the end of the world. Besides, she was hearing rumors that this supposed “rift” that brought everyone here could be a reaction to time tampering.

Rather than examine the whirlwind of emotions swirling through her, Kate had decided food was the ultimate answer and had set out to explore the other fine cuisine Cardiff had to offer.

So here she was, coming back from a late night trip with some pizza, a closed box in her hand and a piece dangling from her mouth. She was pulling out all sorts of things from her pockets, not finding the key to get her inside the building. As she dumped napkins, tissues, discarded papers and lint on top of her pizza box, she began to wonder 1) if she should have picked up some ice cream for later and 2) why it was taking so long to find one key.

Mental note #43, look for a keychain the next time in town.

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russki
2022-03-14 09:53 pm UTC (link)

Another day and a half before his body would start to shut down and demand the full fifteen minutes of sleep that he allotted it when given no alternative, it was another late night for James. There seemed to be less of a bustle around the wizarding parts of the streets of Cardiff, and while that was perfectly fine for most nights he was finding, this evening proved to be a bit different. This was a good kind of day, one where he didn't constantly hear the static and shock of an age old machine trying to liquefy the stubborn parts of his thoughts - so he took it upon himself to venture into the rest of the waking world rather than try to get into another drinking contest where he'd win again. At this point the guys at the pub were going to start asking questions and he really didn't think they wanted those kinds of answers. Even in a fantastical realm, it wasn't exactly the most pleasant of stories - and he liked that nobody asked. Yet, anyway.

No, tonight he'd spent the majority of his time sitting off at the edge of the bay, watching the bright lights mirror and dance off a smooth tide. There were lots of things rattling around in his thoughts, and while it wasn't anything underlined bolder than anything else, it was pressing on him. Not as weird as other things - other realities were hardly anything that James would scoff at so much, he just didn't like the magic. Meat and machine he understood, megalomaniacal people trying to pull the strings from under ground he got, but once you start introducing incantations and moon rites, he was more than a little out of his depth. So, he got lost, he blended in and muted himself against the bright colors of the night when people should have been asleep with the damp air threatening to be colder and bite at his cheeks. And, for what it was worth, it was nice for a while.

Not quite after the middle of the night, James pretended to meander back down from the boardwalk and through the streets, past an alleyway and through an unassuming door in a bathroom that could have stood to use some baking soda, if everyone was being honest with themselves. But that was part of the camouflage, one would suppose. A bottle of Snapple Fire in hand, complete with obnoxious click-y cap screwed on tight, James took the next step back into what had become the usual in the wizarding world. It'd take him maybe six more minutes to get back to the ..was it an apartment, was it a communal living space, who knew. He had no interest in going back up there, but there was a nagging theory in the back of his head that if he didn't, something would happen - and he'd rather be there when it did for a few reasons. Still. Quiet as the grave and quite slow in amble, he made his way up to the building and saw. ..well he saw someone trying to balance a lot on a little box with a piece of pizza held tight in her teeth, she also seemed to have an endless river of things coming out of her pockets and nothing useful like a lock pick or a key, so he made his way up and leaned his left side against the frame, watching her for another solid minute before offering his key wordlessly with a little jingle. James' brows shot up, nodding toward the door, placing the key into the keyhole and turning it quietly, "I have a feeling that you're breaking cerfew," the latches turning and clicking before he'd pushed the door open for her, "you need any help with all that stuff?"

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justhawkeye
2022-03-14 10:55 pm UTC (link)

Geez he moved quietly. As soon as Kate heard the voice, she turned, her fist closed and pulling back only to find a familiar face standing in front of her. Bucky may have a noticed a slight jump, but she would deny it to her grave.

She let out a breath and rebalanced the pizza box, the one in her mouth swaying back and forth. "Tanks," she said, stepping inside and carefully taking the pizza out of her mouth. "I swear I had my key, but it doesn't seem to be..." she stopped as her hand finally pulled out the singular key, a scowl crossing her face. "You mad me look like an idiot," she said to it, as if she could blame her embarrassment on an inanimate object. She glanced at Bucky and grinned, shoving it back in her pocket. "Don't worry, I already have it on my to do list to get a keyring for it."

She gobbled up the piece of pizza that had been hanging out of her mouth, opening the box and offering a piece to him, before taking one for herself. "If I'm breaking curfew, then you're in trouble too." She raised an eyebrow. "Unless you're coming back from a long night at work?"

Kate had popped into a few bars and pubs, but had yet to find his place of work. Part of her thought he maybe wanted it that way and, while she wanted to respect that, she couldn't pass up a fun challenge. It had only taken her a day to find Claire and she had been surprised to find how few people had actually come through. So far she reminded herself, but tried to push the thought away. Now wasn't the time to dwell on conspiracy theories.

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russki
2022-03-14 11:20 pm UTC (link)

The way that Kate was handling herself, the situation and her pizza was really very endearing, not being able to stop the small grin as James watched her scold her key. "I dunno if I'd say idiot, seems a little harsh," turning the grin down as to admonish the idea of her looking any kind of foolish. "In a hurry, yeah maybe, but not the other thing," shrugging lightly, he followed her in for a moment, sort of lingering and stepping back toward the front door, ready to leave again as soon as he saw that she'd gotten where she needed to be safely. But barely turned to leave again, he sighed, his shoulders slumping a little before he'd knelt there, pulling up his pant leg to show that there was a holster with a very big hilt to a knife strapped there inside his boot - but more importantly, he'd pulled a black carabiner from it's handle. James turned back to regard Kate with the little thing, holding his hand out with it as a kind of peace offering - you don't tell on me, I won't.. well he wasn't about to tell on anyone, but still.

"I am coming back and leaving again for a long night on the pier," after she'd taken it, or didn't, both of his hands stuffed inside his jacket pockets. This was not the time to go into the finer points of his insomnia.

And when he turned the second time to leave, happy that Kate was safe and dry indoors, he smelled the pizza - now this wasn't going to be nearly as good as the stuff that was in that little bodega down on the corner near where his apartment was - but. But. James turned around again, taking a few measured, careful steps back up to her with a curious look on his face, "where'd you get that," his eyes cast down to the pizza box and then back up to her face.

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justhawkeye
2022-03-15 12:06 am UTC (link)

Kate felt herself tense up as he pulled up his pant leg, exposing the hilt of a knife (a pretty big knife by the looks of it), but it immediately flooded out as he handed her a...was that a carabiner for her key? "Uh, thanks," she said, reaching out to take it, her eyes glancing back down where the knife was now hidden, then back up to his face. "You just happened to have one on a hidden knife in case you wanted to attach it to you belt buckle?" She suddenly thought she sounded too ungrateful and attached her key to it. "But, one less thing to waste the Ministry's money on." She held it up in a sort of cheers before it disappeared back into her pocket.

"Long night on the pier?" she frowned, wondering if Bucky took up fishing in his spare time. "By yourself?"

She couldn't help but grin as he turned back once more at the offer of pizza. She shrugged, offering the piece to him again. "Some hole in the wall place, so you know it's good. It doesn't even have pineapple on it!"

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russki
2022-03-15 12:28 am UTC (link)

There was a very good chance that James had read the situation all wrong with that, but truthfully, he was trying to be helpful, he had something for keys that he wasn't going to wind up using any time soon for it's intended purpose - and she... looked like she needed to be able to keep track of that at the very least. Then the question she asked made him pause, step back and look at himself and then back at her, his head inclining a little, as if to say what part of that question did she think the answer was going to be no for. "Technically, I used to use it for scaling rope, but that's where that one wound up," his right shoulder shrugging a little. "Just thought it might be easier than something that was going to wind up being enchanted or charmed or whatever, but y'know," he sighed, his hands wringing at some of the fabric inside his pockets while the conversation went on - this wasn't so bad, it wasn't really bad at all.

But he still felt endlessly awkward, sometimes words and everything that went along with them felt oddly shaped and heavy in his mouth - he was worried he'd say something wrong or offend someone that was never the intention but, so far. So far this wasn't so bad this time.

The question of by himself didn't strike him as odd so much, so when he nodded after she'd asked it wasn't slow or sarcastic or anything of the kind, just a simple kind of physical yeah before his attention was directed again at the pizza. -- he hadn't actually caught on that she'd offered it to him, more so that he just wanted to know where it was so he could get some himself. But the second time, he sort of understood. ..sort of. "Smells good, anyway," turning to lean his back against the hallway wall, "I really didn't think anybody over here was going to be able to make anything that didn't involve liberal use of baked beans so, I'd be happy with pineapple if there was no other way to have it," he paused, "you sure it's okay with you," questioning her softly before potentially reaching over for some of the pizza.

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justhawkeye
2022-03-15 01:03 am UTC (link)

"Hm, I haven't gone rock climbing in awhile." Kate chewed on her pizza, thinking that she hadn't really done anything so normal in awhile. When did her life go from one end of the world situation to another and left little room for recreational activities? Not that she needed to do anything too exerting on her days off. Pizza in front of the TV sounded good enough to her. Wait, scratch the pizza...a burrito. Despite the pizza she was already eating, Kate could feel her mouth start to water. The burritos in California had been so good...

She turned her attention back to Bucky as he reluctantly took a slice. "Yeah, I'm sure. You seem pretty cool," she said, teasingly. "Besides, I've already eaten half of this and I really shouldn't finish it." That was true. Maybe it was best that she had skipped out on the ice cream.

There was something about the way that Bucky hesitated, both physically and while he was speaking that made Kate look more closely at him. He seemed so different than the Bucky she knew, but then again, she didn't really know the Bucky in her world. She knew of him, of course, and having her superhero hook up, she had been able to meet him once or twice. But this was the most she'd ever talked to a Bucky Barnes. She never would have thought they'd be bonding over a late night pizza run.

"You know what would be even cooler than hanging out at the pier by yourself this late at night?" Her eyes twinkled as the idea came to her. "Target practice!" She grinned, nodding her head and giving him the 'huh? yeah!' look to encourage a longer hangout.

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russki
2022-03-16 04:11 am UTC (link)

His brow had raised at her mentioning rock climbing, sure, that was exactly what he meant, no reason to think it was anything else. Still, if her world was anything like theirs, it wasn't really about trading in the end of the world for a little room and a vacation - it was, like everything else, waiting for the timer to start ticking over again until someone figured out exactly how much time they had left between that moment and the next end of the world, if he were more superstitious, he'd say something like they came in threes, like deaths and other unwelcome omens. There he'd argue that the street tacos in New York were better - just on general principle, but that wasn't part of the conversation.

"I've never understood that," he said plainly, taking what looked to be the smallest slice he could manage, "I can remember my sister being like that but it was a lot of saving the food for everybody else," he shrugged, "but if it's a oh no, I'll put on weight thing it's kinda," he shrugged, taking a bite of the crust first, "you're going to work it off, given the lifestyle choices, so it doesn't make much sense to restrict that kinda thing if it's what your body's saying it wants," giving a little shrug, eating the thing backwards, "but then my diet's been shit for the past 90 years give or take, so probably not anything to take seriously."

The fact that Kate seemed to be studying him was not something that he'd missed and while not surprising, it still prickled the back of his neck. She knew some things about a different version of him - and who knew what all that meant and if there were any real similarities, but that wasn't for him to ask about - he didn't want to know, frankly. But at the mention of target practice, he shifted, looking down at her shaking his head, "I mean for you, maybe," taking another bite while considering it. It wasn't a brag or anything but it wasn't like he needed the practice in hitting things - group formations, sure, maybe team building, but hitting marks? Not something he needed to worry about in this or probably any other lifetime. "But there's a soda pop machine about three blocks after you get out - and this is," he made a face at the slice of pizza before taking another bite, "it needs a Coke or somethin'."

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