thecapitol | Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties...

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Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties...

WHO| Tony, The Avengers, and everyone else.
WHAT| Tony's woken from death and is now seeking the Avengers that died before him, Dave and Bucky too.
WHEN| 2nd of the 10th
WHERE| D12's floor, The commons of the Tribute Tower, possibly out on the streets.
WARNINGS| Thoughts on and talking about death, Maybe swearing?

District 12's Level

When Tony came too in his room his first instinct was to gasp for air. After all, dying from toxic dust you were immediately aware was not only in his body, but had managed to breathe in enough of it during the explosion to essentially leave him not only poisoned by internally hemorrhaging from coughing too long and too hard.

When he realised that he could in fact still breath and that his lungs were clear, Tony spared a thought to Thor, after all, when Tony realised how bad it was going to be he left Thor in the night, having to give mercy to Bucky had been hard enough on him, and Tony didn't want him to go through that, let alone see Tony get to that point. Hopefully Thor didn't take it as an insult, especially not after they started getting along.

Sitting up Tony got himself changed into something he felt more comfortable in, just a t-shirt and jeans before heading out into level 12's common room. Paying no mind to the Avoxes (After all it's not like they can talk to them, and he hates being handed things so they have no real reason to interact) He grabs an apple and walks to the elevator. After all it was a good time of day for people to be leaving their rooms, so Tony was going to go on the hunt.

Tower Commons

He wanders slowly around the commons of the tower, keeping his eyes open for the familiar shapes he was looking for. While he doesn't presently look all too open and obviously amused at the world, right now he looks determined and focused. If it's one thing Tony knows he can rely on is that Bruce, Bucky, Dave, Steve and even Anna all have pretty distinctive shapes to themselves making them easy enough to pick out of a crowd.

Even if the crowd is full of equally weird looking tributes sometimes.

Various drinking establishments.

If he was being honest with himself, Tony might say that the bars were calling to him. But considering his last foray into the world of marinating in liquor had him waking up without his hangover cure of coffee and donuts, Tony felt that maybe he should at least hold off on drinking for... Maybe an hour. So he chose to convince himself instead that he was looking for the others.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bucky doesn't remember the exact details of his death, at least not the last few hours of it. It was a blur of colour and sound, images that made no sense to him now but left a strong unpleasant impression on his mind.

For all the confusion however he knows one fact; which is that Tony and Thor stayed with him to the end, just as they said they would. Some things just can't happen without forming attachments as Bucky has been given a crash course in learning these past three months.

After Tony dies -- alone, choking -- Bucky waits for the next day to come and time to tick over to when Stark should be resurrected before seeking him out. The commons of the tower is this the most likely place to run into others and his assumption is proved correct when he identifies Stark through the crowd.

He'll make a quiet approach, allowing Tony to see him as he does, "You're back."

Look who got his long hair back, Tony.

As Tony see's Bucky approaching his eyes run up and down him, checking to make sure there isn't anything lingering from the arena. Really the fact his hair was long and shaggy again was cause for Tony to be so very relieved that Bucky was more than okay.

"And you, need a hair cut."

Tony says with a flat expression, which is slightly ruined by the amusement in his eyes.

Bucky doesn't miss that once over and wonders if he should assure Tony as to his wellbeing now before the other man abruptly opens with another topic.

Stopping in front of him the former-assassin looks thoughtfully at the strands of hair in his peripheral vision and then back at Tony, nodding. "I need someone to cut it first." he answers, noting the amusement in his expression.

Because Bucky doesn't trust the D1 stylists at all, besides, they like the long hair so they wouldn't cut it anyway, even if he asked.

"I'd suggest my barber, but he's on earth. Roger's probably knows how to work a pair of scissors. I'm surprised he hasn't tied you down to make it regulation yet."

Really that comment could be teasing Steve or Bucky, but at least since leaving the arena it's at least a hell of a lot more obvious that it's a more familiar kind of teasing than his usual teasing to tease.

"Though really, the Stylists could probably do a neater job, and put on some makeup to hide the schmutz on your cheek there."

For the most part, the brand had been hard to see, at least now that Bucky's hair had been returned to it's long shaggy spaniel look. It was the slight shifting of his person that Tony even noticed it.

"Steve couldn't cut hair straight if he tried." he says, shaking his head and then wonders where the information came from. He hadn't asked Steve, nor had any reason or evidence to evaluate his skill level on such a task.

It must be on of the leftovers of the man he used to be.

"I don't like them. They're..." he thinks of how to phrase it, "Inconsiderate." that's an adequate description. He touches the brand on his cheek lightly just for a moment, "This doesn't matter."

"If it didn't matter, they wouldn't have put it there in the first place."

He leans into Bucky's space a little more to look at the brand.

"At least it doesn't look like it'll get infected. Have you thought of using a bowl?"

It was a joke, a joke that Tony would so very much laugh about if Bucky actually took the advice, but really didn't think Bucky would take it on board. then he wraps his knuckles on the back of Bucky's flesh hand.

"I need donuts, come on." He starts walking as always just expecting Bucky to follow, like he does to anyone he gives instructions to. "Oh maybe you should braid it."

"It doesn't matter to me."

Bucky says, not moving as Tony leans forward, letting him look. He let's out a rusty huffing sound that might be approximate of a laugh at Tony's suggestion, slightly shaking his head before feeling the other man's touch to his hand. Brief, light, not harmful.

At first he means to walk behind him the way he was expected to in his life as the Asset but then uses his longer stride to catch up to Tony, putting them near enough on level with each other while still allowing the shorter man to lead the way. Bucky is not opposed to the prospect of donuts. "I tie it back, it works."

Really he doesn't mind having it loose, he's used to it. He liked it better shorter though.

"You really need to work on that laugh." He glances over at him taking a moment to look at his face. "Actually never mind, it won't work with your face right now."

Tony keeps walking when Bucky say's he'll just tie it back, he gives a glance to the hair and even Tony admits there's nothing really wrong with it other than looking shaggy.

"You should get one of the kids to tie ribbons in it too. Make yourself look cute."

Bucky quietly and briefly hums in acknowledgement, not sure how he is supposed to work on it. He laughed before, briefly, better than what he just did but only once. It felt good when it happened, it felt good just now, so he's not opposed to trying to get better at it if it's always that way.

"Why would I want to make myself look cute?" While asking the question he can't help by think of Aang when Tony mentions the kids, the kid would probably enjoy getting to do that. It's a good thing he wasn't around to hear that or he would have shot off to find some ribbons already.

He knows Tony's teasing him with the question but asks anyway, keeping up the conversation instead of lapsing into silence like he is more accustomed to.

"You've got the face for cute. I don't see why you shouldn't go for it?"

Is all Tony comes back with, before looking at him with a grin, because yeah it was an obvious tease.

"Besides, there is a whole demographic of women out there who really go for 'cute'. Believe me, that demographic got me through college. Men to really."

"So you wore a ribbon in college." his eyes flick to Tony's hair, which isn't so short someone couldn't get a ribbon in there if they tried, maybe the clip-on kind. The image of Tony with a ribbon in his hair rises, unbidden, to the front of his mind and he feels the corners of his mouth twitch slightly.

Internally he's not exactly sure he wants women or men's attention in the way he assumes Tony's talking about, it's not something he's ever contemplated before (in memory) though from what he knows of his past James Barnes had been considered something of a charmer with women at least.

"Okay, I'm going to reply to that by saying the 80's were a weird time for everyone involved. But yes, there were a few moments where I had a ribbon or two in my hair. But I had more the baby-face cute going for me at the time."

But then he had the baby face because he was 15 and at MIT, and college girls found 15 prodigies hot. Possibly because of Doogie Howser.

He raises an eyebrow when he glances at the slight lip twitch.

"You're picturing this, aren't you?

Bucky hadn't expected confirmation on what had been a idle but not serious train of logic following from Tony's statements and suggestions. Hm. He doesn't think it was usual for men in the days before the Soldier existed to do that.

He wonders if he was ever awake in the 80's. More than likely, it was difficult to imagine an entire decade going by where his service was not required. "I wouldn't know."

As to that... well, there's no point in lying, even if he hadn't been caught out. "Yes."

Tony can't even pretend to be embarrassed about the fact, after all it got him attention and at least made him feel like he belonged somewhere, which for him at the time was a big deal. That and Tony just really never had a use for shame in his life so how could he feel embarrassed?

"Well, I can promise you that no matter what you have in your head it was at least five times cuter and well braided than you think."

Then he adds as an afterthought.

"The ribbons, not my hair, I mean it was shaggy then, but not long."

"I was going to ask." he admits without much difficulty in doing so.

Guess what he's trying to picture now Tony.

"You enjoyed it there?" Bucky is making a guess judging from the way Tony speaks of it.

He can picture it all he wants, a 15 year old boy-genius with ribbons hair isn't a sight no one can ever mentally do justice too.

The question makes him pause. A second to collect what he does think about what he thought of his days at MIT, which felt a million years ago these days.

"Uh, yeah. I guess so."

Especially a brainwashed assassin with a limited capacity for imagination right now but he's giving it his best shot, mostly resulting in the image of Tony as he is now, hair a little longer and covered in ribbons. Maybe that's another of those weakly amused huff's escaping him before he moves on from it.

Bucky's doesn't think Tony sounds so sure as they continue onward's towards the promised donuts. "I don't think I went to college."

"No one went to college when you were younger." Tony said with certainty. "Everyone enlisted the second they looked 18, for the temporary American Dream of kicking Hitler in the pants."

As they approach the coffee shop, Tony really doesn't even make any note of it, just walks in and heads straight for the counter to charm the girl into giving him a tall cinnamon later and at least 12 donuts. As he knows that his assets have been cut off until further notice. Then he gestures to Bucky.

"And something for the hippy, I'm thinking chai."

"I didn't enlist." he replies, the words coming out with certainty. Bucky's step stumbles slightly because that's right, he didn't enlist, he was drafted, that was it. A distinctive letter on the floor flashes into his head alongside the sense of foreboding that had come with it, the knowledge that his life was about irreparably chance.

It takes focus to keep going forwards and try not to show that he'd just suffered an epiphany.

With interest he watches how Tony manages to persuade the girl behind the counter into giving him the baked goods for free, using his celebrity status as a tribute to make it happen. She looks overwhelmed and flustered as she looks at Tony, then at Bucky who shakes his head. "Just coffee."

Not chai, whatever that was.

At the implication that Bucky was drafted Tony gives him a long look. He had known more than well enough that Steve had been doing everything he could to get into the war effort, so Tony had just assumed that Bucky had been the same. Howard might have been really chatty about the good captain and his commandos, but how they got into the army was something Howard never brought up, possibly because he didn't know, though more likely it was because he didn't care.

After a eyebrow knitting on Tony's part that had him quietly understand that there was no way drafting would be something easy to accept during WWII, he makes no other comment from there about it.

Instead, Tony turns back to the girl with a grin. "Just coffee for him then. Make it tall, there's a lot of him to fill don't you think?"

He's leaning on the counter now, sounding almost gossipy with the girl about Bucky, who gives a shy giggle that she's trying really hard to not be noticed for, after all Tony might have just been a bit naughty to get himself stuck with a bracelet, but Bucky was meant to be a traitor. She was unsure, but seemed to be caught up enough in Tony's complete disregard for his status enough to then leave to make them both their drinks.

Good. Bucky's glad Tony doesn't say anything about it because he doesn't want to talk about it. He's pushing the knowledge back, or trying to anyway, for when he's alone and can deal without questions being asked of him, so he can try and process the memory and understand if there's questions he needs to ask himself of Steve. Steve never mentioned that he;d been drafted before, neither had the museum.

He shakes himself back to the present, standing quiet and alert until the girl has gone (ducking his head slightly when she giggles and glances his way) before quietly asking "Won't she get in trouble for this?"

He shakes his head easily.

"If anything it would just make me look more awful, corrupting young woman. I've had the headline before it's not a big deal."

Then he looks around the coffee shop, seeing people look at him and Bucky, whispering to each other, looking both affronted and thrilled that they get to be near such deviant tributes.

"Seems to be good for business anyway."

Bucky follows where Tony looks, noticing all the other customers gazing at them too and fights not to hunch in on himself, to not try to disappear from plain view. Honestly, he hates this visibility and how everyone knows who they are. After going from hardly anyone knowing he existed to being a celebrity in a few short months is hell on him and the reason why he very rarely leaves the Tribute Center when every instinct that has been trained into him tells him to hide.

"I don't understand people." he says with exasperation. "Why do they enjoy this?"

"Because judging famous people isn't like judging normal people." He says simply. After all, the things he's seen written on the Internet and in magazines about him, you might as well assume he was character in a show than a real person, treating his more news worth days as utterly shameful when just as many of them either do the same thing or wish they had the courage to do what he does (As a playboy or a hero, really).

To make a point he looks at two women sitting by the window, and gives them a big grin, they make a show of looking affronted but quickly enough were leaning in across the table to each other to giggle and chitter about Tony.

"Pretty sure there's a thing about tall poppies and wanting to cut them down that applies here."

Bucky watches the interaction out of the corner of his eyes, as well as the follow-up action the two women take after finishing pretending to be upset by Tony's attention. He still can't say he understands it but he realises he doesn't care enough to pursue the subject here.

The scrutiny directed at them is starting to make him mildly uncomfortable.

"Have you seen the others yet?" he asks to change the subject.

Commoners tower

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