if you build it, they will come. hopefully.

[abyssum_invocat]

So. Replicators.

They take some getting used to for a child who's never come across technology even remotely similar before, but after a few wrong turns and a bit of confusion over how what it spat out at her was supposed to be decent clothing Sinthia got the hang of it. Enough, anyway, to order food and drink, and a modest bunch of parts to make something.

A something which, if the instructions are anything to go by--thankfully they're pictograms as well as words, in case the passersby like the mun don't read German--will be a quite pretty little mechanical tellurion.

She's totally interruptable while building this, yes. Periodically she needs breaks.

Comments

[stark_spangled]

She won't ever have to find out.

Steve comes up behind Bucky, silent and swift, wrapping his arm around Bucky's neck. No sooner is he in the choke-hold than Steve is forcing his arm behind his back, pinning it between them.

"Bucky, let her go," he grits.

Everything has been unsteady since Bucky Barnes showed up. Steve doesn't know if this is a trick, or a trap, or a really vivid hallucination; what he does know is his friend needs his help, and he's not going to abandon him. But the second he heard screaming his instincts kicked in, and as soon as he made it to the scene there wasn't a doubt in his mind what he had to do.

"Let her go!" he repeats.

[bestpal]

As soon as the arm locks into place, Bucky immediately tries to fight out of the hold until he hears Steve's voice. He freezes, he isn't going to fight Steve not again. Unless, a voice whispers inside of his head, he keeps protecting her. To make sure Steve stays on his side, he drops his hand a little.

"She's Hydra," he hisses, his eyes blazing, still locked on his target. "She's tortured soldiers."

[abyssum_invocat]

Every time he says that word, she shakes, and her diaphragm flutters against her ribs like the frantic wings of a trapped moth. But she can't find any way out; if she teleports she'd take him with her, and she doesn't want the man dead from ending up in a wall or bulkhead. She can only push him so far with telekinesis, and she can't concentrate enough to let herself loose by making herself intangible. For such a powerful girl, fright and panic are still the icy hands that immobilize her.

"Why don't you understand," she whispers, voice gone terribly quiet while she stares at Bucky, as if she can't bear to admit what she's done aloud, or if she does she might be sick. The pallor of her face certainly suggests it. "I didn't get a choice." It would have been them, or her, and there was no third option.

[stark_spangled]

"I know," he grunts, keeping his hold on Bucky tight. Bucky's stronger than he used to be, and Steve can't risk slackening his hold only to have him go after Sinthia. "But she's just a kid, goddamnit. We're better than that."

His eyes stay on Sinthia the whole time, even as his focus is completely on the trained soldier struggling in his arms. She's terrified, but somehow her words echo in his head louder than the pulse of blood or his racing heart.

You're going to be okay, he thinks. Bucky's hand has dropped a little. Steve can talk him out of this, he knows he can.

[bestpal]

"Makes no difference," Bucky grits his teeth. "She had a choice." It wasn't taken away from her. Had he been in control of his own thoughts he would never....And he would never treat a kid like this. His head bows, he isn't better than that. He's killed kids before with a lot less provocation than the girl is offering her now.

Hydra operatives shouldn't be scared, it is enough to make him pause and really look at her. He finally responds to the command in Steve's voice and lets himself go limp. Things are so much easier when he doesn't think. There will be no apology from him. Not yet, he can't bring himself to do it.

[abyssum_invocat]

"I didn't have a choice," she says softly, dropping to the floor the minute Bucky's grip loosens on her shoulder.

Sinthia doesn't wait to talk more, doesn't even bring a hand to her shoulder--which hurts, all her weight has been hanging from it--as she collects herself. She only looks up at the two men, eyes wide and expression seeming two seconds from crying, and disappears without a trace. There's no flash, no noise, nothing; one moment she's there, hair mussed and in her face, and the next she's gone.

[stark_spangled]

As soon as he feels the shift in weight and knows Bucky has let go, he pulls him back and away from Sinthia. His grip is strong, but not rough. He eases him to the floor and settles on his knees, getting ready to tell Sinthia to run. But the second he catches that look in her eyes, he loses all words.

And then she's gone.

He blinks at the empty space, chest heaving. He spares a second to wonder where she is, hoping to god she'll be okay, and then he turns his head and presses his cheek into Bucky's hair.

"It's okay," he says, voice muted. His arm slackens and slips around Bucky's shoulders, and he lets go of Bucky's wrist. "Relax. It's okay, I've got you. I've got you."

[bestpal]

"I almost killed her." Now she's out of sight, Bucky's temper cools and he's left feeling cold and empty. He barely feels any pain left by Steve's grip; he deserves any feeling of pain. It won't make up for the pain he's caused countless people. Slowly he turns to look at Steve.

"She wouldn't be the first kid I've killed." He looks like he might throw up. "I'm remembering more and more. I've forgotten how many people that I've killed I've killed for Hydra....I...she is the first chance I've had to strike back at Hydra."

[stark_spangled]

"But you didn't," he replies, without hesitation. He doesn't stop to think about what might have happened if he hadn't stepped in. Bucky was a precision fighter during the war, great with a rifle, but thinking of him as a killer is something Steve won't allow himself to do.

He meets his eyes, pained by the tortured look on Bucky's face. They haven't gotten far yet, there's still a lot Steve doesn't know, but he knows whatever Bucky's been through has left him deeply scarred. "You remember the war, Buck? Kid's shoes burning in the streets, the only thing left from ... "

He swallows.

"HYDRA did that," he says. "I don't blame you for wanting to strike back. That was the mission. But we're not fighting a war, not here. You and me, we'll figure this thing out together. I've got your back. You are not HYDRA, and you're not a killer. No matter what they did, you're still James Buchanan Barnes."

[bestpal]

Steve uses his name every chance he gets. Slowly it is becoming less alien and he feels less disconnected to the name. His eyes flicker uncertainly and for a moment he is standing in a city in the far east, bodies strewn around him. He can almost taste the ash from a burning building.

"For years," He says hoarsely as he tries to clear the vision. "There has always been a mission. How do you sit still on this ship and do nothing?"

[stark_spangled]

Steve sets his jaw, lips pursed.

"By finding ways to do something good," he says. Like rescue a scared kid, or give somebody directions. Like give comfort where it's needed, and tell your best friend it's all going to be OK. "It's not exactly the same, but it takes the edge off."

Being stuck on this ship is driving Steve crazy, little by little. He played the boy in the bubble once, and he has no desire to do it again. But he has no choice in the matter, which means he just has to be a good man when a good man is needed. That's the heart of a decent soldier.

[bestpal]

"Like what?" Bucky looks up, and for a second he looks like himself, looking to Steve for leadership. "People are fed. They've somewhere safe to sleep." There is no war. Bucky's shoulders set miserably.

"I don't know what to do.." He doesn't want to talk to more people than he's got to. He is still struggling to form full sentences. His conversation with Sinthia is proof he doesn't know to talk to people normally. He wants to be like a ghost.

[stark_spangled]

Steve's not going to let him fade away.

"Do you remember basic training, Bucky?" he asks, squeezing his shoulder. He realizes his memories, or rather the lack thereof, can be an upsetting topic for Bucky to muddle through, but Steve doesn't know any other way of reaching him. "Before they shipped anybody out, they made sure you could pass muster. You can't fight a war without training, and you can't save lives until you figure out how to save your own first."

Bucky knows how to fight, that much is obvious. He knows how to make his body a weapon. But Steve isn't sure he remembers how to live inside his own head anymore, and that makes him dangerous. "Maybe your mission now is to figure out who you're supposed to be."