new number, who this

[ostavil]

Bucky doesn't answer calls from people he doesn't know so when he gets one, he lets it ring, then he lets it ring again. No voicemail. Of course not. Still, he doesn't like to leave a thread hanging and his life is full of bullshit that tends to show up out of nowhere so it's better to know than not know.

I don't pick up random calls. Who is this?

Comments

[redwigglywoos]

Everything has been... quite frankly, a hot mess express for quite some time now. There was a moment, brief and fleeting as it ended up being, that she thought maybe it really was all over. Maybe she could find peace. Just... rest for awhile...

But life has always had a funny way of not going the way she expects it to. This is no different.

If you answered the phone, you would know already.
How quickly you have adapted to the modern way of screen calls, James...

[ostavil]

There are a handful of people who call him James and most of them he doesn't like but he doesn't get the sense this is Zemo or his former therapist and Zola is long dead.

I might be 106 but I'm not senile. If I call you and you're Helmut Zemo, I'm not gonna be happy.

[redwigglywoos]

I am not Helmut Zemo.
Will you answer when I call this time?

[ostavil]

Yeah, I'll answer. I don't want to have a mystery inside my phone.

[redwigglywoos]

He doesn't know how much energy it took her to even make that first attempt to call him. And he just ignored her? She was too tired for this.

At least he said he'd answer this time...

"Hello, James..." she lets the greeting linger on the line between them after he picks up. She needs to gauge so many first instincts and reactions to her voice before she even dares to continue this conversation.

[ostavil]

"Wanda? I had no idea you even had my number. You are definitely more welcome than the other Sokovian I was thinking of."

This is a shock, really, and it's enough of one that Bucky actually sits down (in his one chair - he did buy furniture but he hasn't put it together yet and it's a work in progress) to process it.

"How are you? I haven't seen you since...you know. Thanos."

[redwigglywoos]

There’s something so shocked in the tone of his voice, it squeezes like a vice at her heart. When is the last time someone sounded like that when they spoke to her?

“It was not easy to come by,” she admits with a soft smile.

“It has been awhile, hasn’t it?” She sighs softly. “Not great, if we’re being honest. How about you?”

[ostavil]

"Not the best," he agrees. "Nice hearing from a friend, though. I never forgot that you had my back in Germany even though you didn't know me at all. I don't forget that kinda stuff."

Bucky is nothing if not loyal to his allies and in his book, Wanda is exactly that. She'd fought for him in Germany and she'd fought beside him with Thanos. She's a welcome call.

"Where are you living now? Not New York, I'm guessing."

[redwigglywoos]

There's a soft huff on the other end of the line, not really a laugh, not quite bitter, either. Hard to judge from his end, but mostly, she's just a little overwhelmed with his reaction. Treating her... amicably. Like a friend. Like... a person, and not a monster. It means a lot.

Still. She can't help but ask, "Are we...? Friends." Did no one tell him all the terrible things she's done? She thought they would have all turned against her now. Especially after...

Well.

"No, um... I'm in Bulgaria." Strange and his ilk think her dead, and it's best that way. She has so much to work through and with the Darkhold's influence gone, the guilt has come so intensely, she felt that isolating was the best way to do it. At least for awhile.

Until now.

"It's really nice, in the mountains," she adds softly.

[ostavil]

"We're not enemies, if that's what you're asking. I'd consider you a friend after we fought together even though we don't know one another that well. You were in my battalion, essentially. We've got a bond."

Is it a battalion they used against Thanos or a whole damn army? Bucky doesn't know that there's a difference.

"Been to Bulgaria before but never the mountains. You ever get visitors?"

[redwigglywoos]

She closes her eyes against those words, glad he can't see her because she might not hold it together at all if he could right now. "Of course... thank you, James."

The question is innocent enough, and it brings a soft scoff out of her, this time there's a little edge of bitterness that's more obvious. "No, but that's mostly by design," she doesn't know how to explain everything, and especially not over the phone, so she adds, "but maybe it's time that changes."

[ostavil]

"It's not like I wouldn't seek you out unless you wanted to stay away," Bucky says. Going to Bulgaria is hardly impossible for him and if Wanda has reached out, she's got to have done it for a reason even if that reason is as simple as loneliness. If she needs him for something, though, she's got him.

"Of course, I would probably need better directions than just 'Bulgaria.'"

[redwigglywoos]

"I appreciate that," she says, her voice soft. She thinks he might be one of the only people she has left, at this point.

She laughs softly, "I'll text you." She bites her lip, hesitating before asking, "How soon do you think you could be out here?"

[ostavil]

"Could get a flight as soon as I got directions, honestly, so as fast as a plane could carry me. I'm the kind of guy who can drop everything because in between doing...hero stuff I don't got a lot going on."

No family, no local friends, no pets.

"Just pick up my go-bag and leave."

[redwigglywoos]

"And you aren't busy right now with the hero stuff?" She's assuming that's what he's saying, but just to be sure.

"I wouldn't hate seeing you as soon as you could make it here." She can get him the directions he'd need to find her easily, even if she has secluded herself a bit. (A lot).

"The sooner the better, I think." She's so tired of being alone.

[ostavil]

"I think other people can handle the hero stuff for a little while. I'm not exactly the most powerful person out there anyway."

Not like Wanda. Wanda can make things move with her mind. He can just be a little extra muscle in a fight and a crack shot. He thinks she's way more useful than he is.

"Give me your coordinates and I'll see about getting there. Might have to come in...unconventional methods considering."

[redwigglywoos]

"Don't doubt yourself, James," she says softly. He may see her power, or some of the others' with magic or more-than-human means, as more or better, but Wanda finds herself doubting that a lot these days. More power isn't always better, she's learning that.

She smiles a little to herself. "Who needs convention when you're us, huh? I'll text you," once they're off the phone, he'll get a text with the exact coordinates to where she's staying.

[ostavil]

It really is in the middle of nowhere but it isn't like Bucky hasn't made trips like this before. It takes two flights, a train, and one pretty long walk but he gets there even if it isn't as fast as it would be if he were Strange or someone else.

It's a cute place, a little cottage, and he raps on the door. He imagines Wanda doesn't really get visitors at all so she should be expecting him but he's gonna be polite about it anyway.