004;;

[reconstitution]

Who: Bucky & You!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Heron
When: 11/2

[ Hello, fleet! Today you get a message from someone who's been more than a little absent the past month. Some people may be more aware of it than others, but he's finally crawling out of the woodwork.

Waking up has been more than a little disorienting, because he didn't recall falling asleep, or when. It makes him uneasy, a solid weight sitting in his gut. The last time he couldn't remember things, it wasn't so great for the fleet. ]

What year is it?

Not sure how long I was out..Is everyone okay?

Comments

[ladybro]

[ AND SURE ENOUGH...

the next day, the kitchen on the blameless is something of a disaster-zone. the table is taken up by cooling racks with donut-croissants in various states of cooling and glazing. the counter is a landscape of mixing bowls, of pots filled with frying oil, and a lot of flour. flour is smudged everywhere.

even on kate, despite the apron. ]

[reconstitution]

[ He lets himself onto the Blameless, and it's easy enough to find the kitchen- or what's left of it. The smell draws him down the hall, and to Kate's credit, it smells fantastic. Hopefully the taste isn't deceiving. ]

..You know, I'm pretty sure the flour is supposed to go in the bowl. Unless they've changed the method of cooking in the past seventy years.

[ladybro]

Most of it got in there. [ she smirks, dragging the back of her hand across her cheek. ] And, to be fair, seventy years brought the excellent leap forward in cooking technology that is the microwave. Not that I've been using ours today. This is strictly a frying situation, here.

[ she cants her head towards the table -- there's a free chair, there, unfettered by a pile of baking sheets. ] Milk? Water? Coffee? I don't have a machine, but I have a french press. It's passable.

[reconstitution]

[ He takes the unoccupied seat, making himself comfortable. ] Coffee sounds great. Do you want me to make it?

[ Or help cleaning up, because this is some intense-level mess she's made. ]

[ladybro]

[ -- pleased with his offer, she nods. ]

Grounds are in there, [ kate points. ] And the press is beside the microwave. The kettle speaks for itself.

[ a grin. ] Someday we'll upgrade the kitchen and I'll get an actual coffee machine to work with -- but for now, the press makes me feel pretty damn fancy.

[reconstitution]

[ Right, he's going to get up and make himself useful for the time being. While she's busy with these doughy monstrosities, Bucky fills the kettle with water and fiddles with the stove until the unoccupied burner comes to life.

Now all that's left is the waiting bit. ]

You ever need anything from an upgraded kitchen, let me know. We've got a pretty good selection of stuff.

[ladybro]

...Really?

[ the gleam in her eye suggests that if you give her an inch, she'll take more than her fair share of miles. ]

Right now, I just make frequent trips to the First Breath. 'Cause Clint. But the occasional raid on your kitchen might relieve his crew of seeing me pop up every few days.

[reconstitution]

Really. Your Captain is a common-enough face. If you don't want to make it over, I'm sure he'd pick up things for you.

[ Bucky Barnes: Winter Pushover. ]

I'm sure they don't mind the visitor, but you're welcome on the Heron whenever.

[ladybro]

Right. 'Cause of the Professor and Magneto. [ a beat. ] Sorry. Hank said I should be calling him Erik. But old habits die hardest.

[ kate uses a pair of tongs to rotate a sizzling batch of would-be cronuts. ]

[reconstitution]

That's right, you know a version of them from your world, don't you?

[ The kettle boils, and he turns the burner off and gets the coffee grounds into the french press before topping it off with water and closing the lid. ]

[ladybro]

Sorta, yeah. I never met the Professor -- but people tend to speak highly of him. [ ... ] Erik, I've met. Worked alongside, actually. Technically.

[ she scoops the sizzling cronut experiments out of the hot oil, barely looking up from her work. ]

[reconstitution]

I don't know about the one from your world, but the one here? I'd probably be pretty lost without him. Erik's not a bad guy, either.

[ Troubled, sure, but not irredeemable. Bucky lets the coffee sit for a few minutes before pushing the strainer down to the bottom of the press, getting a few mugs from a cabinet. ]

[ladybro]

[ not a bad guy. kate tries not to laugh. ]

Erik's history, back home, is pretty mottled. [ ... ] But he was there when we needed him.

[reconstitution]

That's what matters, isn't it?

[ He pours them both coffee and raids the baking mess for some sugar to put in his own mug. He can't even bring himself to care that he's potentially ruining a great cup of coffee over it. ]

[ladybro]

Always. [ she answers with a lopsided smile. evidently, erik isn't the only man with a mottled past who's been there when it mattered. some of that goodwill bleeds over to the winter soldier. clear as day.

kate reaches for her mug. raises it, almost like a salute. ] Besides, I'm best friends with his -- [ kinda ] grandson. Or, well, my world's version has a grandson.

[reconstitution]

Oh yeah, what's that like?

[ It's still odd that people from her timeline and the ones from his are different ages or affiliations. He can't say it doesn't make sense due to the circumstances of each world, but at the same time.. really weird. ]

[ladybro]

Being BFFs with Billy? [ kate shrugs. ] It's great. He's great. But he's a lot more like his mother, actually, than his grandfather -- abilities-wise, at least. More magical than magnetic.

[ she's talking to much. she knows she's talking too much. but it always happens around versions of him, it seems. ]

[reconstitution]

Some of your Avengers are magic-wielders?

[ Listen, he'll sit here all day listening to her talk about her shit so long as he doesn't have to talk about his own. ]

[ladybro]

Sure. The Scarlet Witch. She's one in your universe too, right?

[reconstitution]

Oh, that's right. Your world's version is a bit different.

[ Though no less spectacular. ]

[ladybro]

Just a bit. [ her half-smile hints at more. more than a bit different. ] Wanna hear something hilarious, though?

[ kate's taking a risk, here. telling a story. a particular one. it's not a bad story -- just an embarrassing one. mostly, she just wants to figure out if she can make him laugh. ]

[reconstitution]

I assumed stories came with this little excursion.

[ There's coffee and snacks, so obviously there needs to be a third in there somewhere to balance it out. ]

[ladybro]

Clint once kissed her. The Scarlet Witch. Wanda. [ which doesn't sound like such a great story, actually, but kate's paused for dramatic effect while she clears off enough space on the table so they could sit across from one another. ] Only she wasn't really her. The Scarlet Witch he kissed was actually Loki -- glamoured, or whatever, so he'd look like Wanda.

Which who cares? A kiss is a kiss. No biggie, really, except somehow he could tell -- via kissing -- that Wanda wasn't Wanda. To this day I am convinced that's actually Clint's superpower.

[reconstitution]

Really? How did he even know that it wasn't really her if he'd never kissed her before?

[ It doesn't make any goddamn sense. ]

[ladybro]

How should I know? Maybe it wasn't the first time. Maybe it was. Frankly, being around for it to happen was bad enough. I try not to ask too much about Clint's personal life 'cause then you start learning about things like him sleeping with robots or -- you know, whatever the hell the thing with the Black Widow is.

[ it's like a chill legitimately went down her spine. kate has mad respect for romanoff, she just can't comprehend why a figure so daunting like her would ever waste time on a half-functioning mess like barton. ]