nysalogs | [closed]

Who: Annie Walker (

smithsonian) & Bucky Barnes (

deadthenred)
What: Rise of the Ryders quest.
When: Late September.
Where: Somewhere slummy in Wyver.
Warning(s): Possible violence?

[ The first time he was here, Bucky joined the Olympian Royal Guard, because it was the first place to ask. He'd been less skeptical of his orders, back in those days, more unblinkingly loyal. Less inclined to asking questions. This time around, he has more doubts. For one, the Natha were gone, the space station in shambles. And on the ground things weren't much better. Bucky wanted to get a better look at Wyver and he wanted to do what he could to help the people in the aftermath of the apparent disaster. So he took Heryn up on her quest to try and root out the old guard turned bad. And if he can get a better idea of what is really going on, well, so much the better.

He tracks down one of Rasyc’s old followers to an underground gambling house outside of the city proper, hidden in an abandoned warehouse. Bucky's there to scope out the scene— see who comes in and out, maybe get a few more leads before shutting the place down. But the first person he sees isn't one of Rasyc’s men. It's a vaguely familiar blonde. ]

Hey. [ He says, approaching her, not a little confused. ] You're… Annie, right?

[ The "what are you doing here?" question goes unsaid. At least for a moment. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I didn't think you were.

[She motions to the bartender for another round.]

This one's on me.

Thanks.

[ He smiles, just for a second, incongruent with everything he was just talking about. He still has an easy, John Q. Public grin, one of the last remnants of the kid he was for America's newsreels. ]

So, languages, huh?

[ It does explain why she'd be recruited, but not why she can fight like she does, why she'd pick field work over an analyst desk. He assumes most people get the choice. ]

Languages.

[She huffs and runs her finger across the rim of her glass, then shakes her hair a little before looking at him.] I know a lot of them, but that's why I got recruited. They pulled me a month early from the farm for a case they needed help on. My, uh. I guess my ex-something or other was involved and they wanted me to lure him in.

[Cute, blonde... what can she say?]

[ That makes sense. He's not sure if he should buy that story entirely— or rather, if that's the whole truth. But he wouldn't blame her from holding back. He was doing the same. ]

Did it work?

[Annie huffs a laugh that carries no amusement and looks out over the bar they're in, glad they're tucked away in a corner. Did it work?.]

Yeah, for a while it did. He has a tendency to do what he wants, though, so. [She shakes her head.] But he saved my life that time and the next time our paths crossed, I saved his.

[She gives a shrug, suddenly uncomfortable.] He was a fling, not really an ex. [Her lips quirk.] Still owes me fifty bucks.

Gonna be hard to collect that debt here. [ Hard to pay debts here, too. But he doesn't say that. ]

Listen, that kinda work mixes you up. It makes it hard to know who you owe, and for what. [ Translation: he has dated spies, too. ]

[Annie laughs and tries to explain.]

I know, he's asleep. But it's not that. [She takes a drink from her glass before going on.] I met him on a beach in Sri Lanka. I didn't know what he did for a living and I was there after doing a humanitarian trip in South Ossetia. We were together three weeks and then I woke up one morning and he was gone.

[Her smile widens.] I'd spent fifty bucks on a bar tab he'd said he pay back and then he just. Disappeared. [Eh.] Or so I thought.

I get what you're saying, though. Don't hold on to the little things.

[ He looks at Annie, then looks down at the table. He also takes a drink. ] The first girl I ever really fell for— I'd just turned nineteen. She was working with her father, in the German resistance. She made fun of my accent.

[ He smiles, remembering. It's a simple smile. ]

I couldn't keep in contact, with the Nazis breathing down her back. I couldn't risk giving up her position. But I told her I'd come back for her, when it was all over. And she believed me. I never did.

[ And it was never over, not for him. ]

So… [ But if he has a point, he doesn't know how to make it. ]

[If the point can be verbalized, Annie's not any more certain of how to do it, but the lesson is there all the same.

The look she gives him isn't pitying, but something else. Understanding, maybe.]

I can't imagine what that was like. For you or for her. [A pause.] I'm sorry.

She married someone else, had a nice family in Iowa. A good life. [ He nods, not in agreement, but just to feel himself move. ] I'm not sorry about that.

But yeah, it gets... complicated. I'm sorry that guy stole your fifty bucks.

He was kind of a dick. [She shrugs.] We are who we are, right?

[Taking another swallow from her drink, she nods at him.] What about here? How're things going for you here?

Well, they aren't boring. [ Then again, his life had never really been boring. Hell of a Chinese curse he was under. ]

It's hard to trust the explanation for it all of this, though. The Nadril, and the subway— they weren't here before. Or they were, but the Natha weren't telling us about them.

It makes you wonder what else they aren't telling us. [She looks at him over the top of her glass.] Have you done any exploring? Seen how far out we can go?

On the planet? Yeah, though things can get pretty sticky pretty fast. [ He gestures. Monsters, et cetera. ] I'm a bit more curious about what's off the planet, though. I've been tryin', lately, to take a long view.

A long view. [Her curiosity shows and she leans forward.] How're you planning on doing that?

I don't know yet. [ He has a couple feelers out, is all. ] But if the stuff about the Storm isn't true— or even if it is. Then it won't be on this planet.

[Watching him, Annie has to wonder how many people have doubts about the Storm.]

I wonder... has anyone tried to see just how many pods are in the station? If we're talking worlds upon worlds, it'd be endless, right? It just doesn't seem that big.

Which would support the theory that the Storm isn't true.

Or there's more than one ship.

[ Maybe an endless number of ships. To match an endless Storm. ]

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