worthallthis | The Last Voyages: IC Inbox

He does get some slightly narrowed eyes in his direction at the admission, but no direct questions. He just nods. Give him intel, Steve, let him know what to expect from the other people here.

And maybe Steve might be biased, might not tell the truth, might be trying to make eventual punishments worse or win the Asset over for some kind of Barge-politics gain-- it's what anyone at HYDRA would have done. But there's a little bit of him, maybe the leftover train-guy feelings, that says Steve will do his best. That little bit is being bouyed by Steve's continual attempts, awkward and often failed though they are, of doing what the Asset wants. Trust isn't a thing he knows anymore, but he's going to at least try to believe Steve means well, until he's proved otherwise.

"Well, starting with the people I trust: Lark Tennant's at the top of the list. I trust him with - anything, frankly. Even the hard stuff. Especially the hard stuff." So, the things that maybe need to be done, but that will hurt or have consequences.

"After that... I mean, my warden, Cal Kestis, he'd help you if you needed something. So would Tiffany Doggett and Ford Pines. Iris Wildthyme - she and I don't always get along, but she'd be there when it counts. Buffy Summers and Luke Skywalker, too. Elijah Kamski could fix your arm if it was broken. I think he'd be as gentle about it as he could. Nikola Tesla might be able to help, too. I like Aloy, Godric, and Rita all right, although they're new. They've been decent to me, anyway. I think they'd be decent to you."

As for the other side of the coin; Steve takes a breath. "Most of the wardens I actively hate are gone," he says, lips twitching up wryly. "So that's a plus. Most of the rest are just... I don't know. Complacent. They think the way things are here is fine. Don't see a problem with it. But Betelgeuse - I wouldn't trust him as far as I could've thrown him when I was ninety pounds soaking wet. Don't give him the benefit of the doubt." Steve had, and it had crumbled within days. "Zoe Hange and Misty Day don't much like me, because I don't get along with Betelgeuse. That's how it can be - if you don't get along with someone a warden cares about, they'll shut you down and call it fair. I don't trust Jonathan Sims, either. He brought a whole mess of trouble down on the Barge, and he felt bad about it, sure, but I still don't trust him."

Most of those names he knows, a couple he doesn't. Most of the ones he knows are from the network rather than meeting in person, and a couple of them are already people he'd rather avoid, but-- "Iris keeps bringing me a rope to tug on or a ball to throw. As a wolf." Just to make sure Steve knows he's not doing this with an old woman.

He's not sure what to do about the Misty situation, though. If she doesn't like Steve, will she be angry if she sees him spending time with Steve? He's not about to stop, but does that mean he should stop seeing Misty? What would she do if he avoided her? Ugh, there's so many ways that could go, and he doesn't know her well enough to confidently predict any particular outcome. Maybe he'll just wait and see. That's usually the safest course.

"Have you met Ellie. Or Zhao Yunlan." Because both of them seem to keep poking at him, so he ought to see what Steve has to say about them.

"Oh - " Steve smiles a little, hearing about Iris. "She's... yeah. That doesn't surprise me. That's good." She'd done Steve a big, big favor last year, and she seemed to always like Bucky a lot. It's good to see her taking care of him now, in her own way.

At the question, though, he has to shake his head. "No. But there's a lot of people I don't know. I... could? If you want more intel."

He shrugs. It's not that important. "They just keep talking to me. It's fine." If Steve doesn't have intel, he'll just keep collecting his own. Yunlan gave him a little scare once (by implying he'd been insulted by something), but otherwise has been pretty okay, and Ellie is practically cute-- not that he lets his guard down, exactly, but he can think someone is cute and also a potential threat at the same time.

He finishes off his coffee and starts picking himself up. There's been time to come down from the expected freakout, and he needs to get breakfast before work.

Steve nods, but fine or not, he makes a mental note to maybe look into them, anyway. Just out of curiosity. That's all.

He tenses for a second when Bucky starts to get up, planning to get up himself - but then he thinks better of it, figures he's less threatening down here on the floor, and stays where he is. "Do you want to meet at the Enclosure tomorrow? I can bring Lark to let us in. Or we can give it a few days, to get things set up."

There's a moment of hesitation as he runs over the plan and its components. "Day after tomorrow," he suggests, then, with a little hunch of his shoulders at making the decision himself, but at least he did it. He needs time to track down Dogma, somehow verify that Dogma will talk to him after the train-guy feelings, and work up the nerve to ask Dogma if he will let him use that obstacle course again with Steve. And if he wants to come, he supposes.

Definitely gotta have an extra day for all that.

"Sure thing," Steve agrees immediately, with an easy, small smile. "And if that timetable becomes a problem - let me know. The mission parameters are flexible."

He hopes putting it that way is acceptable. And understandable.

"If he doesn't want me there... that's okay, too. The point is for you to do it."

Acceptable and understandable, both, and he nods with a little relief. "If he doesn't want you there. There's other things to do. Running, you said." Because he'd kind of thought the point was to do it together.

He offers the coffee cup back. Can't really take that with him.

Yeah, okay - it had been the point, despite Steve saying it wasn't. Or, at least, it had been Steve's hope. Giving Bucky peace of mind is more important than being there to do it, but... Steve kind of wants both. If he can have it.

"Okay. We'll figure it out. But no need to plan for contingencies yet."

He finally does get up so he can take the cup, with a nod of thanks. "I'll see you the day after tomorrow, then, if not at lunch."

The Last Voyages: IC Inbox

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