Stuff [OTA]

[worthallthis]

Who: Winter (Bucky Barnes) and OPEN
When: September catch-all
Where: Various, see prompts
Summary: What Winter gets up to in September
Warnings:


I. Movie(s) - his apartment, close CR only

In the end, Winter chickens out on setting up another outdoor projected watch party for the movies he wants to watch. Instead, he invites people to his apartment sporadically, sometimes one at a time, sometimes in pairs. He always has food and cocoa for them while they watch The Wizard of Oz or Buck Privates or Snow White, all movies that apparently came out during the time he was supposedly living in New York being a normal person.

He watches each one with dedication, hoping for... something. He's not really sure what.

Buck Privates makes him laugh, at least, startling even himself-- even if it's also kind of uncomfortable. He remembers more flashes of the war during that one than he does the movie.


II. Weeding - in town, OTA

The lamb plants sprouted in one place: he and Yelena rooted them out, burned the remains, and salted the ground where they'd sprouted. Now he's prowling the town making sure there aren't any more around. Find him poking his nose into alleys around Thing of Beauty, haunting warehouses near the one they'd cleaned out, and glaring at the fences around Dogtown as if suspecting the things to be in there, lurking, waiting to spread outside the confines of the weird places.


III. Lost - Dogtown, OTA

Winter is... not great at simply drifting along and not thinking. He is not great at being careless. So when he dives in after some stupid kids late one afternoon, he finds himself soon hopelessly lost. He isn't afraid... but he is frustrated and that apparently counts as enough to keep him turning around on himself for hours. He misses dinner. He misses curfew.

Someone might have to come in after him and lead him out, or else let him stumble out whenever the woods simply get bored of him, in the middle of the night.


IV. Passtimes - around town, OTA

Even when not "weeding", Winter patrols the city on his days off, because he can't not work even when he's not on call at ADI. His patrols are, often, more of an amble than a stalk, hands tucked into his coat pockets and gaze roving around to interesting and familiar things about town rather than fixed and open to take in as much as possible at once.

He sits on benches in the (non-Dogwood) park and reads out loud to himself from whatever book he's working on that day. He checks the local papers on streetcorners (those he doesn't read out loud). He buys a milkshake at a little drive-through and looks surprised at how good it is. He looks for any sign that there might be an event related to swing dancing anywhere in town, and is largely disappointed at the lack.

A friend passing by might get offered a sip of his milkshake. A stranger paying any attention to the newspaper stand might get his newspaper offered to them, even if he isn't finished with it.

Comments

[musicdied]

"It's probably both," she replies. She's quiet for a moment, considering him sidelong, before asking, "What brought you out here? I didn't see you on the Dogtown patrol roster today."

Which doesn't mean she minds the company at all - another pair of eyes is always welcome, and Winter is a comforting presence in the face of the eternal chaos that is Dogtown.

[worthallthis]

"I was looking for sheep-plants, and just wound up here when I was done," he says. Maybe partly because he knew she was on duty here tonight. But mostly he was on the hunt for sheep plants and keeps wondering if they'd thrive out there, with nothing to burn them down.

[musicdied]

"Those fucking things," Yelena mutters, expression twisting in a grimace. "Have you found any more of them lurking around, waiting to eat people?"

Her gaze flicks again towards the fence, her thoughts veering down a similar path to his own: how well would they thrive in Dogtown, which is alien and tangled enough that no one would be likely to interfere with them?

[worthallthis]

"Don't think so. Might have found something that could have turned into them, just once, but I burned it and salted the whole area around it just in case." It was, frankly, probably just regular weeds. But he's being extra careful. "We really should napalm the forest," he adds darkly.

[musicdied]

"I'll put in another request." It's impossible to tell if she's joking. She kicks at a can half-buried in leaf litter, sending it skittering away down the path in front of them.

"What do you think it's doing to the people it calls in?" she asks after a brief silence. "There's been too many of them for it to be just stupidity."

[worthallthis]

"Hopefully not eating them. Did I tell you. About when it tried to eat Steve?" He probably did, but it was a while ago now. "Most of them do come back out, though. So probably not that this time. Maybe it's just trying to eat their fear of being lost."

[musicdied]

"You did. Unless it was a different time than the mud pit, in which case you didn't, and we need to put a tracker on him."

She considers for a moment, then dips her head slightly. "And maybe you're right. Or maybe something horrible is laying eggs in people and they're all going to hatch into unspeakable monsters, because fucking Dogtown."

[worthallthis]

"It was the river," Winter says grimly. "And maybe we do need to put a tracker on him." It would make finding him to rescue him easier, anyway.

He wouldn't mind putting a tracker on Yelena, either, but he at leasts trusts Yelena to call for help if she needs it, and also to accurately assess risk levels. Steve he trusts to do neither one.

[musicdied]

"You distract him," Yelena suggests, only mostly joking. "I'll sneak up and plant one."

[worthallthis]

Winter snorts, an amused an exasperated sound, but then looks thoughtful. "He might let us, actually. If we asked. He's pretty. Pretty amenable to things, when I ask." More than his vague sense of "this is what Steve is like" suggests he should be, but since on the whole Winter is asking him to do thins that increase his safety, he's also not complaining.

[musicdied]

Her nose wrinkles slightly, distaste clearly exaggerated. "Where's the fun in that?"

Another glance towards the fence, and then, "You should ask. There are the GPS alarms ADI hands out, but only when they know someone's going into Dogtown."

She bites her lip, worrying at a bit of dry skin. "I hate the thought of being tracked again, but we should maybe all consider carrying something less conspicuous than our phones or the alarms, with the number of enemies we're collecting."

[worthallthis]

"We could probably find something we could. Purchase," Winter suggests, eyes narrowed. "Just for us. Me, you, Steve. Kate. Maybe Cortana. A couple others, if you want. Just for us, that ADI doesn't know about."

He has no idea how to find bugs just for purchase. If this were a universe with HYDRA in it, there'd be bugs in safehouses, and he'd just go rob one of those... but this isn't a universe with HYDRA in it. Which is a good thing! Just briefly inconvenient in this one fashion. Maybe Yelena will know how one purchases surveillance equipment.

[musicdied]

She nods slowly, considering. "It will take a little while to get a good source for things, but it wouldn't be hard. The really weird magic might interfere, but it would at least get us a last known location if anything happens to our people."

[worthallthis]

"Good. I want to do that," Winter says. Then anxiety rears its head a bit-- stating direct wants is something he's better about but still not great with-- and he backs off some with, "If we can. If you'd want to. I can help pay if it's expensive."

[musicdied]

"We can," Yelena assures. She considers him sidelong for a moment before adding, "And we will split the costs. I'll tally it up and show you your share once I've sourced everything we need. Okay?"

She doubts it will be expensive enough for her to feel the pinch - while she has some creature comforts, she's also been carefully saving what she can over the course of the year she's been in Gloucester. But it's something to hold up against his anxiety, something he can act on that will hopefully pull some of its teeth.

[worthallthis]

He'll take it, nodding. "Okay. Thank you." He scuffs at the ground with one foot as they walk, and adds, "I should know how to source them, too. Then, and other things. Outside of ADI. Can you show me?"

[musicdied]

Yelena nods sharply. "I'll show you. We can do that after I'm off patrol, if you want."

She pauses for a moment, then asks quietly, "Are you thinking of pulling away from ADI?"

[worthallthis]

He scowls, and shrugs. "I don't know. I'm just thinking of exit strategies. And. Keeping people safe. Just in case. If we have something outside ADI. If something happens to ADI, or someone targets them, there's should be a way out."

[musicdied]

There's a long moment of silence before Yelena says, tone careful, "I have been thinking that we've been too reliant on ADI for shelter and safety. It would be...useful to have a fallback, that isn't held by ADI, or tied as closely to them as Bonnie is."

[worthallthis]

"Yes," Winter agrees without any real hesitation. "That's a good idea. Some kind of safehouse, maybe. Edge of town. Or even outside it." He shakes his head. "I don't know how to get that. How much that kind of thing costs." Their rent with ADI is free. He doesn't actually remember having to worry about rent or mortgages... ever. He's not even sure where you'd start with something like that.

[musicdied]

"We will have to look at listings. And look at places, to see what isn't advertised but might be available if we ask the right people." She blows out a slow breath. "How much it will cost will depend on what we decide we need, and how much work we're willing to put into setting things up the way we want. I can supplement our income, if we need it."