mixingbowl | No light in the distance

No light in the distance

[It's a tiny mistake that costs her everything. After her father's features had been transformed in the most horrible way possible, it had been a mad rush to flee from the crazy triangle and his friends. At first, Pacifica had thought they would make it, even if she and her mother had been slowed down by dragging her father's stumbling form between them. Then, they'd gotten separated by the crowd of townsfolk trying to escape, Pacifica torn away despite her grip on her parents. By the time she'd fought her way back out, her parents were nowhere in sight. Instead, she'd been greeted with a madness bubble heading straight for her.

She doesn't remember anything after that, Pacifica realizes, as she sits up with a groan. Her head aches--actually, scratch that, her everything aches--and she's coming to the unpleasant conclusion that she has no idea where she is. The trees around her are eerily silent where she expects to hear screams from terrified townsfolk, and there is dirt where there should be asphalt. How did she get from the middle of the street to...well, this?]

Hello...? [Pacifica calls out tentatively as she shakily gets to her feet.] Is anybody there?

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[Keep moving.

It's the motto he has lived by for the last eighteen months. He found out HYDRA lied, evidence he couldn't deny in front of his eyes in the Smithsonian, and he had to run. He didn't want to be the Soldier any longer, but neither was he Bucky Barnes any more. He was wanted by SHIELD, by HYDRA, by Steve Rogers, by nearly all the governments of the world for crimes committed.

He couldn't let any of them find him, not until he knew who he was.

Sometimes he thought he knew. He had fragments of memory from his life before, he knew his name was Bucky, he knew-- a lot of disjointed pieces that didn't quite make a whole. He was in Romania now, though he might need to move on soon. He was travelling to another town, another place to settle, when thinks he's gone mad. The sound of an American child in the middle of the forest.

He moves closer cautiously, silently, slowly. One hand on the knife at his belt as he rounds the trees and looks down at a small blonde head.]

How did you get here?

[Compared to the things she's seen back in Gravity Falls, the man approaching her looks normal enough. There's a pause as two parts of her argue over what the correct response would be. On one hand, Pacifica can't help but feel wary of anyone who's a stranger at the moment. On the other, she has no way to defend herself if any of Bill's minions find her, and this guy looks like he can at least take a hit.

She looks him over, lips pursed slightly.]

I don't know. One second I was in town, running like everybody else, and the next I'm here. [The overall quiet of her surroundings hits her again, and she casts a suspicious look at the trees.] How did you get away?

[He's immediately on edge.

It shows in the tiny details of his stance. His muscles tense, the knife is drawn fully from its sheathe with an ominous shiiiick, and his eyes begin to scan the treeline for any threats approaching.]

I came from a different town.

[He must have done.]

I haven't seen any trouble, what happened?

[The knife makes her a little nervous, obvious in the way she takes a step back from him. When it doesn't look like he's about to attack her, though, she stays put.]

"What happened?" A hole opened up in the sky--that's what happened! [To make her point, Pacifica points up toward the rift and...sees nothing there. She falters.] It was right there!

Wait... [His earlier words finally register with her.] You mean this isn't Gravity Falls?

[He's immediately scanning the skyline himself. He doesn't discredit her story; after all, didn't a portal open up just a few years ago and disgorge an alien army to attack New York?

But there's nothing except the overcast sky, heavy clouds threatening rain.]

No, this is near Bucharest. Where's Gravity Falls?

[In Romania, at least?]

[The faint alarm returns with a vengeance. If he has to ask where Gravity Falls is, then--it most likely means something she really hopes isn't true.]

It's in Oregon. [She hesitates.] Where's, um...Bucharest?

[They have to still be in the state somewhere, right? Pacifica's growing worry is all too visible in the way her eyes watch him with a mixture of hopefulness and dread, in the way she fidgets as she waits for answers.]

It's in Romania, do you know where that is?

[He accepts this as reality, or at least he will provisionally accept it. He's seen weirder.]

Oregon's a long way from here.

[That's so not what she wants to hear at the moment, and her panic manifests in her sharp tone as she replies.] Of course I know where it is! That still doesn't explain how I got here.

[Pacifica buries her face in her hands for a moment before steeling herself. Her parents are still terrible people, but she doesn't want to just leave them and everyone else in that crazy triangle's hands either.]

If there was an attack on a city like that, it'd be on the news, right?

I haven't seen anything about an attack in Oregon.

[He's uncomfortable.

He used to know how to comfort a crying dame, especially a young one, but now he just feels awkward and out of place. He rubs the back of his neck.]

I don't have a cell phone, but I'll get you back to a town and you can call your folks from there.

You're going to help me?

[For a second, she seems taken aback. He's a stranger, and yet he's willing to go out of his way for her? Pacifica has no illusions that if it were her parents in his position, they'd just laugh at the idea of helping anyone and go off on their own merry way. And she... she would have done the same not too long go.

Guilt begins to eat away at her--it's not a pleasant feeling, and one she isn't used to having at all.]

I'm not going to leave a kid alone in a forest.

[The Winter Soldier would have done without hesitation, if she wasn't part of his mission then he probably wouldn't have even spoken to her at all. But he's not that man any more, he refuses to be.

It'll be good to help someone for a change.]

It's a long walk, a few days, I don't have a car.

[There's a surge of something--anger? indignation? or maybe even some mix of the two--as she first processes those words. It's a reaction that's been trained into her since she was old enough, and she's not that person anymore. Pacifica quickly snuffs it out.

She's lucky he's helping her at all, even if the trip will take days.]

That's...okay? [Her voice lifts uncertainly at the end. Without the snobby facade to hide behind, Pacifica doesn't know how she's supposed to act anymore.] I just want to know what's going on back home.

We'll get to the main city in three days, maybe four, they'll have news for you then.

[His answer is blunt.

It makes him seem rude, but this is honestly the most comforting he's been to anyone for a long time.]

Are you hurt at all?

[Any other time, she might have taken offense, but in light of everything else that's happened, the straightforward answer is what she needs. Pacifica glances down at herself and takes inventory of the various tears and smudges in her clothes. She's definitely looked better, but she isn't hurt as far as she can tell.

She shakes her head.]

No... I was running away from the creatures before I hit one of those weird bubbles. [Realizing he wouldn't know what she was talking about because he wasn't there, Pacifica elaborates--] The guy that attacked our town brought some friends with him. It sounds crazy, but they all looked like monsters of some kind.

[He frowns across at her, but it's a frown of consternation rather than disbelief. After all he had seen with HYDRA, and after aliens turned out to be real attacking New York before, how can he say creatures don't exist?]

Then you're lucky that whatever happened just brought you here. Sure, it's a long way from home, but you're alive.

[He sets off walking through the trees, footfalls naturally careful and silent through long practise even on the undergrowth.]

[Pacifica returns the frown with one of her own, even as she trails after him. Something about his reaction had bothered her. It doesn't strike her until a second later.]

You believed me right away. [Her eyes study him again when she isn't looking down at the ground for things that would trip her.] Does that mean you've run into monsters like that before?

[He is too cautious to want to give away anything about himself, even things that seem inconsequential, so his answer is noncommittal.]

There are a lot of strange things in this world.

[He glances behind.]

Do you have any food or water on you?

[She's...taking that as a "yes". Figures that the guy she'd end up traveling with for a couple days would be the mysterious type.

His next question manages to replace her burgeoning curiosity with chagrin, though. She already knows the answer, but she glances down at herself anyway. She remains as empty-handed as ever.]

No. They caught us by surprise. [She bites her lip, suddenly worried about the amount of time it'll take them to reach the nearest town.] What'll we do?

[He hadn't expected her to have any, not if she was snatched by surprise as she claims, but it's still not a good thing to have confirmed.

He digs in the ratty backpack he's wearing and tosses her a wrapped homemade cheese sandwich.]

I've got enough, you can share with me.

[He's got the endurance with the serum not to need it as much as her, he'll go without.]

[Once again, she's floored. A memory niggles at her now--Handouts? It's called sharing!--as she catches the sandwich. For a moment, she stares at it.]

Thanks. [The word rolls awkwardly off her tongue, like she doesn't say it too often. She slips the sandwich into the pocket of her jacket.] I'll--I'll pay you back somehow.

Forget it, you don't need to pay me back.

[It's not so much generosity as it is him not wanting to give her reason to seek him out affer they get to the city. Though he honestly wouldn't have expected payment anyway, she was just a lost kid and it was only some food.]

Tell me more about what happened in Oregon.

[He glances up at the darkening sky between the trees, not night but a storm cloud. Well damn.]

[Her eyes narrow at him, but she tosses her hair over her shoulder and figures she'll bring it up again later. She does not want to be in someone's debt.

Besides, they have more important things to talk about right now.]

Some weird stuff started happening over the summer, but it was nothing compared to what happened today. [Pacifica's arms fold across her chest as she frowns, voice lowering as she remembers the terror on everyone's faces as they fled.] A tear opened in the sky and this.. thing called Bill showed up. He looked like a triangle with one eye. Called a bunch of his monster friends to join him, too.

[Triangle with one eye didn't ring any bells, it definitely didn't match up to the description of any of the aliens he had heard about. Not Chitauri or Asgardians, then. But that didn't mean there weren't weird triangle aliens out there.

He accepts this with a soft grunt of acknowledgement, eyes constantly scanning the treeline for threats in a practised and slightly paranoid manner.]

Something that big'll have been on the news, SHIELD are probably involved by now. [A pause, slightly hesitant.] Maybe even the Avengers.

[Which means he definitely doesn't want to go anywhere near Oregon now. He should ask her name, but that would probably lead to the same question in reverse and he's not ready to answer that to himself yet.]

They'll protect everyone they can, there's nothing you can do right now out here.

[While she doesn't doubt the news would have caught on by now--the tear in the sky is pretty visible and hard to ignore--the rest of his words make her frown again. This time, it's in puzzlement.]

You're saying them like they're supposed to be important, but who the heck are the Avengers? And SHIELD?

[He's momentarily surprised. The Avengers have been world news since Iron Man first took to the skies nearly seven years back, and SHIELD went viral after Black Widow released all their files to the wider world.

But people could be wilfully ignorant sometimes, especially in small communities, maybe this was a case of that? Or she could be lying, of course.]

They're-- [Heroes?] --people who protect the world from things like this.

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