one. the looking glass so shiny and new

[morphogenia]

Who: Kamala Khan
What: arrival!
Where: Western Forests
When: October 23rd
Warnings: Child endangerment? Otherwise, it should be safe.


She fell asleep in class again. It's not a surprise really. Kamala has been burning the candle at both ends between her activities as Ms. Marvel and her life as Kamala Khan. Her brother is getting married soon! The Avenger team she's on is kind of tiny. They need her help or so she reasons.

Instead of drooling on her desk, Kamala wakes up in a forest. At first she thinks she's dreaming. Five pinches later? She's definitely not dreaming and trying to use her cell phone(s) and Avengers comm to get a rescue. It fails as badly as one can imagine in a place with no cell service or whatever Tony uses to get the Avengers comm to work most places.

Kamala is alone. It hits her how ridiculously unprepared she is to be randomly kidnapped and dumped in the woods. She does the only two things she can do after barely avoiding giving into tears: put on the backpack and start to walk. It doesn't take long for her to feel lost and exhausted even with her feet guided by some mysterious force.

It's about then she stumbles across a cabin. Kamala goes tiny, checks the place for people, and heading back in with her pack. Time for a raid for food and a quick nap. If anyone tries to get in through the door, she at least has the sense to put something heavy in front of it while she rests. Any time after? Well she'll be hiding under the bed if someone does manage to get in another way.

Once she has food and some rest under her belt, she back off again. Hopefully to reach civilization!!!

[ooc; Catch Kamala either wandering the forest or hiding in a cabin for a while.]

Comments

[morphogenia]

Kamala glances up long enough to actually explain this. She doesn't look the least bit surprised he doesn't know who she is talking about. Misty is kind of niche compared to like Captain America. "Misty Knight used to be a cop! She was so brave and awesome that Iron Man gave her a new arm after she lost hers in a bombing. She's a private investigator and superhero now." The passion and respect is impossible to miss in her voice.

[sinistral]

"Ah... that's something." It eases a little of the initial tension he'd felt on thinking of HYDRA, but the subject of Iron Man isn't necessarily a comfortable one either. Still, it's easy enough to see that she's clearly a little enamored of this Misty person, and the descriptor makes Bucky feel a little bit better about it.

Just a little though. It's not like the thought of any of the Avengers is a comfort to him.

"So she's your role model then?"

[morphogenia]

She shakes her head. The more she talks about this, the better Kamala feels. She rambles while the opportunity presents itself. "Actually no! Captain Marvel is my role model! I totally want to be just like her. I have healthy respect for Misty Knight and you know." Kamala points at her shirt. No point in being subtle about it. "They're really inspiring to me."

[sinistral]

Bucky nods. Good role models at least, which speaks volumes because he doesn't get the sense that she's lying; he doesn't think anyone could fake that level of excited rambling and the sheer attitude of a teenager that surrounds her. "I'm sure they'd appreciate that."

Because Bucky only knows Captain America. (Only knows of him, not knows him, right? But it's complicated and he's not thinking about it right now.) To pull himself away from his thoughts he tries to move the conversation in another direction instead. "So how long have you been here, Jersey?"

[morphogenia]

It's an effective distraction. Kamala hums thoughtfully. "Uh... maybe a few hours, Brooklyn? To be honest it's hard to tell when you get super lost like five minutes in." She shrugs. She's a city girl with absolutely no idea what is happening here. Better figure out how to get home already. "So do you know who kidnapped us? Because I'd like to skip to the part where I punch them really hard."

[sinistral]

"Wish I could tell you there's a map or something, but there's not. Have you met anyone else yet?" He's hoping she has, because Bucky really doesn't think he'd be any good at the welcome-to-wherever-the-heck-we-are speech. But he also doesn't think it'd be right to just not share the little he knows.

"Not a clue. Information about this place has been pretty hard to find." It's an understatement, but she doesn't need to know about that. "You might have to get in line for that punching though."

[morphogenia]

This is the part where Kamala laughs nervously. She needs that speech like crazy. "Uh... I met a giant dog who was super nice? And you." She shrugs helplessly. "Who else is here?"

[sinistral]

“Bucky,” he says and, after a moment of thought, pats the spot next to him. It’s not something he’d normally do but nothing about life has been normal since arriving here. “My name’s Bucky. But Brooklyn is fine.”

Part of him too is curious to see if she’ll recognize the name, put it together with Captain America. He’s not sure if he wants that or not, or what he might do if she does.

“Not totally sure who else is here, not really. Seems to be only about a dozen of us, maybe fewer. Haven’t met them all in person yet, but everyone I’ve met has agreed so far: we’re not sure why we’re here, or even where here really is.”

[morphogenia]

He won't have to wonder for very long. Kamala's eyes light up in recognition. She's been taught well enough at this point not to interrupt information sessions. "Okay... that's bad. Like really, really bad." She crosses her arms over her chest. This is the part where she'd turn to Iron Man for advice. He's not here and neither is Carol.

"What should we do?" Congrats on your promotion to fill-in Carol and Tony.

[sinistral]

He looks away when he sees the recognition in her eyes, unsure how to feel about it. She's not the first person to seemingly know who he is while he has no idea of her identity. It's vaguely uncomfortable.

"Honestly? I don't know." He runs a hand through his hair, because that's not easy to admit. "I've been concentrating on food and shelter, mostly. The second one is easy enough, since all the buildings I've seen are empty. They're not in the best shape, but they'll do. Food means mostly hunting or scavenging — it's taking a little getting used to."

Bucky is admittedly more used to hunting humans, but that doesn't seem like an appropriate thing to say.

[morphogenia]

"Okay I've gotten in on that a little. I found some food in a cabin I was hiding in." Kamala remarks before sighing. She needs to address the elephant in the room, huh? Metal arm and that name... of course she knew who he was. The trial was pretty public along with his time as Captain America. Kamala clears her throat awkwardly. "Listen...if you don't want to talk about who I think you are, that's okay. You're helping some random teenager in the woods after being kidnapped. You literally owe me nothing, okay? I owe you not being a total jerk who makes you talk about something you don't want to talk about. Okay?"

[sinistral]

"That's good." Scavenging is probably her best bet, but that thought doesn't sit too well with him. He's not sure why. "But you let me know if it's not enough and I'll help you out."

He can't say he didn't think this was coming, but even so the statement gets a short, sharp laugh out of him. "At least makes one of us knows who I am." It's an awkward thing to say and he knows it, which is why despite her assurance of it being unnecessary, he still feels like some sort of explanation is in order. "No memories," he says, tapping his temple with the index finger of his left hand. "You probably know more about me than I know about myself."

[morphogenia]

Kamala's eyes light up with sympathy for him. She can't imagine not knowing who you are while someone else apparently has an opinion on it. She can't let that be how it is. "Then don't let me tell you who I think you are." Kamala is soft, but firm on that point. Now to make it a reality. "How about this? You can be Brooklyn and when your brain gets better, you can tell me if you feel like you're Bucky or someone else. Okay?" It's fair. He will get better. He has fancy supersoldier serum or something, doesn't he?

[sinistral]

Sympathy and pity aren't surprising, even if they're not the easiest things to bear. Still, Bucky senses that they're honest enough and it makes him wonder at someone who can be so genuine as to feel such for someone she'd only just met. "Heh." His smile is a little disbelieving, but it's hard not to want to put faith in how earnest she seems. "Fair enough deal, Jersey."

After a pause he shakes his head a little, almost like he's clearing it. "I guess if I'm making new memories, you're not a bad one to have in it." When did he become so sentimental?

[morphogenia]

She's not terribly surprised. People are still cynical about her even now that she's leveled up in the world. Kamala isn't going to let that stop her for a second. At least he isn't doubting her out loud. Actually that is super sweet and totally melts her heart if the smile on her face is any indication. "Are you kidding? I'm an amazing one! I'm still fun to be around even during a kidnapping." The power of positive thinking or something. It definitely helps she thinks he won't let her starve to death.

[sinistral]

"It's been a pretty strange kidnapping so far." If that's even what being here is, but it's the best explanation Bucky has heard for it thus far. He's willing to just roll with that descriptor rather than get caught up in the semantics, because there are other things to consider. "No one I've talked to seems to know why we're here. Is it because someone wants us to do something? Is it to put leverage on someone else? Not a clue."

[morphogenia]

She nods sagely at this. Kamala hasn't figured out they're not going to be as free as they appear to be for long. The whole thing is just kind of off and random at this point to her. "It doesn't help no one is evil cackling yet. That's usually a dead giveaway. Don't bad guys usually like to brag after they've kidnapped you?"

[sinistral]

In Bucky's experience, the 'bad guys' did less cackling and more just experimentation, but he's certainly not going to say that. Instead he just nods sagely. "No laughter and no droning monologues. I mean, what gives?"