who are we to be emotional

[fight_like_a_girl]

WHO| Steph and YOU!
WHAT| Arrival Shenanigans
WHEN| Today after she gets dropped in Panem
WHERE| Training Center, District 8 Suites, Rooftop
WARNINGS| None at the moment!


Training Center

This isn't the first time Stephanie has woken up in a strange place, but it was certainly the first time for a mob of armed guards informing her that she was now apart of a battle royal to the death. She'd insisted that they must be joking, but when they got nasty and threatened violence, she backed off. Contrary to popular belief, she didn't actually enjoy getting beat up. There was also the nagging feeling that something was very wrong with her, she just couldn't place what, which is why she's here in the training center.

It doesn't take long for her to discover that they're somehow blocking the serum in her body. Her punches don't move the sandbags like they used to, and she gets winded so easily that it's alarming. Steph stops the bag from swinging, breathing hard and fast. None of this boded well.



District 8 Suites

The district suites where they dropped her off are ridiculous to say the least. They're huge and gaudy and she can't quite decide if she likes them or not; It's so much space for so few people. She might be biased in that respect, but there's no denying the scale and luxury of it all.

Steph is poking around the common areas and the kitchen, investigating all the bells and whistles. It's not like she has much else to do.



Rooftop

After everything that's happened so far, Steph has wandered to the rooftop for some fresh air. She has to admit that the view of the city is is impressive. It's still a whole different world, hostile and controlling, apparently feeding on death and pain like it's going out of style. It's frustrating to be so powerless in the face of such gross injustices. But none of that means she's about to give up. No, she's just got to come up with a plan of attack. And there's no use rushing headlong into trouble.
 

Comments

[tookthewheel]

Each knife finds its mark with precision. A steady thud thud of the blades sinking into the targets with perfection most people would be over the moon at. To Bucky however it is frustrating, because he knows he should be faster than this, better than this.

He's about to start a fresh round when he feels it, a prickling on the back of his neck that he knows better than to ignore. Someone is watching him.

Despite the continued rule hanging over their heads that anything more than sparring is forbidden he keeps on of the small knives in hand as he turns to look at the culprit, a tall blonde woman he doesn't recognise. Someone new? There have been a number of those lately, he takes it as a high possibility.

As to why she is observing him he considers that it is either one tribute evaluating another as a possible threat or it's the arm. It's often the arm. He meets her gaze in an expression she might find familiar from a different face than his, "What?"

[fight_like_a_girl]

The more she watches, the more he reminds her of a certain someone, but she's not here and there's no telling how many other people Hydra decided needed ridiculous metal arms. Discovering their widespread influence on the world had been alarming to say the least, and who knows how many others where victims of their sick schemes.

"I'm just looking." She raises her hands in a gesture of non-aggression. She really doesn't want to get on his bad side considering the deadly display she just witnessed. "There's not a rule against that, is there?"

[tookthewheel]

"No." he agrees, looking strangely at her now. Tick, tick, a prickling in his head. Familiarity but not quite, something that is almost there but wrong. He doesn't like that, the not knowing, the feeling of double-vision.

He is positive he doesn't know her but maybe she reminds him of someone he once did.

Bucky leaves the target practice station, gliding over towards her but leaving a good distance between them still. "Why are you looking?"

[fight_like_a_girl]

"Because I wanted to." She shrugs. Did she really need a reason beyond that? "Besides, you're pretty good."

Though that was an understatement. He was really good, better than the average soldier or spy. But that was Hydra's game, wasn't it, to make weapons out of men?

"I'm Steph, by the way." She offers a name because she'd like to get along with him if she can. "How long have you been here?"

[tookthewheel]

She's being honest, it's more than most people are.

Bucky doesn't say thank you for what it probably a compliment, he just inclines his head a little in acknowledgement of her words. He is better than that but still, not enough.

"Bucky." he replies in response to her introduction. Bucky is fairly certain he knows no one by that name, it doesn't ring a bell at all. Maybe it is nothing, a false alarm that he felt there for a moment or proof of his suspicion she might look like someone he once knew. He'd have to ask Steve about that and see this woman's appearance reminded him of anyone too.

That is if it's someone from his pre-Soldier life. It's entirely possible she looks like a target he has killed before.

[fight_like_a_girl]

She goes silent for a long moment. It could all just be weird coincidences and over-enthusiastic people naming their children after war heroes, but that's simply not possible. Not when things rapidly fall into place and Steph realizes how much he looks like her.

"You're... Bucky." It can't be, but it is, but what is even going on? It explained some things, like the arm, but raised a hundred different questions in it's place. "But how?"

He probably doesn't know what she's talking about, much less having any answers for her.

[tookthewheel]

The moment she responds the way she does his demeanour changes. It's instant, the way his shoulders set and the suspicion rises up at an unknown entity seeming to have some familiarity with his name.

"Yes." he says, and it's a little more clipped than before. But firm, very firmly said, he is Bucky, he won't let anyone question the name he's reclaimed for himself.

But how? Blue eyes darken and narrow, the Soldier rising underneath the surface at what could be a threat. It could just be that Steph knows of Bucky Barnes from history, the news reels and photographs, the books written about Captain America and the Howling Commandos and is surprised to find a dead man walking around. "What do you mean, how?"

[fight_like_a_girl]

"You," She starts, still reeling and not really sure what to say. How do you explain something you barely understand yourself? Steph takes a deep breath, and it's hard to meet his eyes. "You aren't my Bucky."

That's the best she can do at first. It's the truth, because looking at him is a study in not quite right, a mirror image that someone has fudged the edges of. "But you're are Bucky."

She'd really like to know how the hell that worked.

[tookthewheel]

my Bucky. it's that which catches him because the concept he thinks she's talking about isn't unknown to him, not when there's already another man with almost his face and name walking around this world.

It doesn't dispel his wariness but when he meets her eyes he notices they are a very familiar seeming shade of blue.

"... who... how do you know, Bucky?" and why didn't she recognise him as that man to begin with? He and his other self look enough alike that they can be easily mistaken for each other at first glance, something which has in fact happened before. "Why do you look familiar to me?"