bionicstaringmachine

( from here )

Because I'm not pretending. Sam knows a lot of people and the ones I know, I already have saved in my phone.

[ There's a frown at his phone and it's hard to tell if it's his typical expression or if it's because he wonders what Sam is up to. ]

If this is about not answering his texts back, you can tell him I planned on getting around to it eventually. I've been busy.

[ No he hasn't. But it's easier to bend the truth over text. There's a beat, deciding to bring it back to this person so he can figure out who they are. ]

How do you know Sam?

Edited 2024-03-03 07:26 (UTC)

Because Sam lives in the woods?

[ This is not making sense. Sam texts? Sam the giant she can maybe understand because he has opposable thumbs and everything, but Sam the wolf, unlike her brother, is an actual wolf, not a wolf shifter. ]

Is this some kind of joke? Are you pranking me back after I accidentally set you on fire?

[ It was an accident! And it was just Fenris' tail, not all of him... ]

[ What the ...

He stares at his phone for a moment, his expression showing his clear confusion that's built with the latest response and then something else happens --

He laughs. He laughs at the idea of Sam living in the woods and then as it becomes clear that he and this mystery person think they're texting someone else. ]

I don't joke. [ He jokes. ] But I think you meant to text someone else earlier and I got it instead.

[ There's a beat, as he tries to figure out introducing himself. He's said James 'Bucky' Barnes so often while trying to make amends for what he'd done as the Winter Soldier but he doesn't know this person ( probably ) and now it's time to put things back on the right foot. ]

I'm Bucky.

[ She's convinced it's a prank, or at least at first. But a repeated check of the number reveals that, yes, she'd messed it up in the first place. Oops.

She thinks to simply dismiss the conversation, yet she finds she can't bring herself to ignore it. Whoever this Bucky is, he's not from the Ironwoods. He's from outside. She's never really talked to anyone outside of her family and those who live in the woods.

It's kind of exciting. ]

Sorry about that, I thought I was talking to my brother. But the Sam I know does actually live in the woods.

I'm Hel.

[ When he introduces himself he knows he’s taking a chance. This person can write him off ( he wouldn’t blame them, he’s not the person they were trying to text after all ) or he could … make a friend? Acquaintance. He’ll go with that, since he doesn’t have many he calls friends these days, even less he’ll actually say it out loud for.

He doesn’t think too hard about about the breath he releases when he gets a text back. Or how it’s a distraction from not sleeping and the loneliness he was just briefly thinking about. ]

Nice to meet you, if this counts as meeting. I never know how all this stuff works these days.

[ “All this stuff” meaning how to meet people, what is considered the way to go about it when before he knew exactly what to do, could do it without thinking. Now he needs Sam and misdirected texts to meet people he’s not trying to make things right with. ]

Do you live in the woods too? You mentioned something with claws.

You just got a phone too?

It does so much, I don't even really know what to do with it.

[ Though give her a minute to figure it out and she's going to start prank calling random people. For now, though, she's learning how to text, and it seems to be going quite well, considering how it all started. ]

I do. Not with Sam and the others, but I have a nice little cottage by a hill. [ If that makes her sound like some kind of witch, she probably is. Technically. By human standards. ] But the claws, I was talking about my dog. His name is Garmr. He's a good boy most days, but today he had too much fun outside and came home wanting all my food.

[ She'll send a picture if asked. She just doesn't know it's a thing yet. ]

Kind of. I don't really use it much, so it's still new for me.

[ The flip phone he gave his shrink was more of a decoy phone than anything, but he knows how to use a touch screen even if sometimes it was a little tricky when he grabbed for it with the wrong hand.

Despite not being face to face, he can feel the slightest hint of a smile in knowing he's not the only one trying to figure out technology - something that had only seemed like a dream or something from the future whenever he was going to science expos before, now it was a reality. ]

You got a picture of him? I don't have any pets yet.

[ Picture? Right, okay, she knows what pictures are, but she's never really had any reason to take them. She hardly even looks at a mirror, so selfies are out of the question; as for the view in the woods, why bother when she can just look at all that beauty?

It takes a bit of fumbling, but finally: ]

Oh now he's pretending to be a good boy. Don't believe him.

[ If he looks like a wolf, it's because he is. But he isn't a shifter, so she calls him a dog, while Sam and her brother and the rest are wolves. ]

Well yeah, you threatened him with a steak knife.

[ See? He does know how to joke! ]

I'm surprised the steak knife warned him off, with the size of him. Good thing you're in the woods.

[ The part of him that's the old man wanting to get away from the world is a little envious of the space ( and calm, the peace ) that probably provides but then the part of him that's trying to connect with who he was before would miss the city even in the times it can be overwhelming. ]

Hopefully you got that text to your brother after we realized what happened.

And who taught me that?

[ Oh, she likes him! He's funny. Or she thinks he is, anyway, based on just these texts and... call it instinct.

Until he (he's a he, isn't he? since a buck is like, a male animal) sees her for what she truly is, anyway. But he's not going to be stupid enough to want to come to the Ironwoods. Nobody ever comes to the Ironwoods. Humans say it's haunted, and the wolves and the giants will tear anyone they deem a threat apart. ]

I did, but he's no fun to talk to.

Sounds like a good teacher, whoever it is. You'll at least keep one around near meal times in case it happens again.

[ It's easy talking to Hel ( and he's realizing he doesn't know if Hel is a man or a woman, as his brain tries to call Hel a 'she' ) but it's probably because they're strangers and they're not face to face. He doesn't have to explain why he's wearing gloves and come up with some bullshit reason like having poor circulation. And he doesn't have to explain the vibranium arm and either filter information about himself or pretend he's joking when he makes references about being old. ]

You're the first person in a long time to make it sound like talking to me is fun. I'll try my best to keep that up.

What's Hel short for?

I don't need to keep one under my pillow?

[ She's not had to, but... it's not a bad idea, actually. Maybe she should. More humans have been getting lost in the Ironwoods lately, though whether they are just stupid or they've been deliberately trying to infiltrate, well, she doesn't know for certain. Neither the wolves nor the giants have said anything, but she's not sure they've even stopped to ask. ]

Why not? Are you an awful person, or just a bore?

No no don't tell me, let me guess! But answer me first: what's the worst thing you've ever done in your life?

[ ~~Sorry, she has no idea that question's in bad taste.~~

His question about her name then catches her off-guard. It's supposed to be short for something? Like a cutesy nickname? Or is he asking about her titles? She doesn't have any, not officially, but... ]

Maiden of Hell.

[ Tiny Trickster is her favorite, her dad even made her a certificate, but there's no "Hel" in it, and besides, she can't resist pulling this human's leg a little. ]

Edited 2024-03-10 23:07 (UTC)

Doesn't hurt to have one under there and be prepared. I know I've done it.

[ He just likes to be prepared as a whole, even if he's a civilian now and isn't supposed to get mixed up in things above his pay grade - it still happens.

The huff of laughter when she asks if he's a bore, that immediately chokes in on itself when she asks what's the worst thing he's ever done in his life. It's not even a question he can assume is aimed to go right for the jugular or a kick to the stomach - but it easily makes him stare at his phone for a long moment. ]

Depends on if things I've done that I was made to do count. I didn't have a choice, but I still did them.

[ He leaves it at that for now, not going any further but it probably paints a decent picture about him, at least from where he's standing. ]

Were your parents in a cult?

[ Depends on if things I've done that I was made to do count. Yikes. That sounds sketchy for someone with a funny name like Bucky. ]

Were your parents strict and they made you do horrible things, or was it murder?

My parents HAVE a cult. [ Her father more than her mother, really. Though, come to think of it, her entire family's made it to the humans' myths... does that mean they all have cults, even her brothers? Even her? ] I'm pretty sure you at least have heard of my father.

[ Narrator: He has definitely heard of her father. ]

Nah, not my parents. They were good people. [ He just doesn't talk about them much or any of his family for that matter. ] It was the other one. [ Beat. He really oughta clarify that, huh? ] Murder. My mind wasn't my own for a long time, but I remember what I did. I don't do that anymore.

[ He's been pardoned of the crimes he committed as the Winter Soldier, even if it doesn't mean his record is expunged, those crimes can't be held against him any longer. Now it's just about making peace with that part of his past ( and be accountable for it, despite the programming ) and move forward with his life.

But it's probably a helluva lot easier to talk to someone who's technically a stranger, over text, about that past. At least the subject of her parents manages to take some of that spotlight off of him, now that he's curious about who her father is. ]

Who's your dad?

Edited (accidentally used parentheses instead of brackets) 2024-03-18 06:19 (UTC)

[ She can't say she's surprised, after all that advice about knives. But not having your mind as your own, and for a long time? That's just horrible. She doesn't even know this person and she already feels for him. ]

I guess I shouldn't complain about Father not wanting me to leave the woods.

[ Mind control magic being freely used out there? Yikes. ]

My father is Loki, Prince of Asgard. The Trickster, the Sly One, the God of Mischief, Father of the Sea-Thread, the Wolf-sire, the Hound of the Roaring Sea of Corpses of the Ale-Gefn.

[ She can go on, really. Her father has a whole list of titles. ]

It's not something that happens a lot, unless you're certain people.

[ He's talking about how this type of thing happens to Avengers and Avengers adjacent people more often than they probably like to admit ( more than once is already too much ). Or if it were conditioned into you because you had no other choice. ]

Your dad is Thor's brother?

WHY do people always do that? Why do you have to be someone's anything when you have perfectly good names and titles yourself?

[ Choosing to call herself Tiny Trickster is one thing. But Loki's daughter? Fenrir's sister? The Ironwoods' Most Wonderful Spinster? ]

It's like joining the Avengers but everyone calls you Captain America's dog.

[ To be fair, the only Avengers she knows are Cap and Thor. ]

You’re talking to the guy who’s also known as Cap’s Best Friend.

[ He knows Sharon meant that to be a pain in the ass, but from that display on Steve’s behalf at the Smithsonian, it wasn’t entirely off the mark. ]

And I’ve at least met Thor, even if I didn’t really talk much to the guy.

For what it’s worth, I didn’t mean any offense by it. I’m not really part of the Avengers so I don’t know much outside the little bit I was there for and what I’ve been told or read about.

[ And he was part of the reason they had that rift between them, but he’s not gonna mention that. ]

Seriously?

[ She was just joking. Mostly. Oops. ]

I didn't mean any offense by it, either. It's just... brothers can sometimes cast really dark shadows, and we'd like to be our own person, you know? I'm the youngest of four. My brothers are all [ Weird. Monstrous. Literal monsters. Er. ] talented. I'm not.

[ Oh no, she's having a pity party with a stranger. It's easier to be honest like this though, strangely enough. ]

Seriously. That or the Winter Solider. But the Smithsonian’s more about me being his best friend, making me sound like some kind of hero.

[ May as well air it all out, right? Between who her dad and uncle are, she might even know more than he does half the time. ]

Sounds like something my siblings would’ve said, if they were around still. But it was a different time back then, I had to do my fair share in taking care of all of them.

So older siblings don’t always gotta be so bad, shadows or not.

You don't think you're a hero because of the murder?

And what's the Smithsonian?

[ She has no concept of geography beyond the Ironwoods. And Asgard somewhere out there beyond a rainbow. ]

Well, Fen did get me a phone. Maybe older brothers aren't always so bad.

[ Okay, her curiosity is piqued. She has to know more about this Bucky, Cap's Best Friend, or the Winter Soldier. But she can't ask her father. Loki's not exactly keen about her meeting boys (or girls) outside of the family. ]

Back then, maybe? I did what I was supposed to. I went to war, fought to try and stop the bad guys. Then the bad guys made me into one of 'em for a while. Now I just do what I can, when I can.

It's a museum. They like to keep old stuff there.

[ Now he is being funny, making a joke at his own expense about being an old man because of the exhibit for his best friend being in one and how he was a feature in it as well. He doesn't even know how old Hel is in comparison to himself, but he was raise with some manners not to ask that kind of thing. ]

Or he's the good one out of the three.

"Bad" and "good" is sometimes just a matter of perspective though. [ Her father is definitely not bad. Just misunderstood. ] You sound like a good guy.

But I might need to let Garmr give you a sniff test to be sure.

[ Now she is being funny. He seems to get it. Even if she doesn't get the "old" jokes... yet. ]

Where is the Smithsonian? I've never traveled outside of the woods. [ Except Asgard, but even then that's not official. She'd snuck over there when her father had been drunk out of his mind, but nobody's supposed to know so she doesn't talk about it. ]

And if he bites me? That could mean he thinks I'm "bad" or just that he's lookin' for his next meal, after you said you had to threaten him with a steak knife.

[ His is a joke as well, even if she can't see the slight upturn to his lips into a smirk. And he won't argue about the "good" and "bad" labels that get thrown around because he's slowly coming to terms with the fact that people might actually view him as a little heroic but then he waits for the other shoe to drop and for them to look at him in horror when they realize what he used to do. It's a daily struggle, but it's getting better the more he tries to integrate himself into the world. ]

Sounds like you need to leave the woods, see some things. It's in D.C. - Washington. I don't know where these woods are you're at, but it's about five hours from here in Brooklyn.

tfln continuation — 02/16/2024 — @franfalle.

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