experienceandpatience: (pic#14796200)
Helmut Zemo ([personal profile] experienceandpatience) wrote2021-05-27 02:58 am
Entry tags:

Open Post



[Drop prompts, starters, etc.]
freakymagoo: (213)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-06-09 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
He pulls his hands into his lap, still alert, still not really able to relax, but at least he's not so on edge anymore. It's 'just Zemo'. Famous last words, maybe.

"There's no reception out here." As if that's the main thing stopping him from calling this in. He just-- doesn't want to be found, either. Doesn't want to be bothered. Doesn't want any trouble, like he said. As soon as those people find out he's living here, they're going to want to stage an intervention, make him move somewhere with people, help integrate him into society even though he will always feel like he's a potential danger to everyone around him. If he lives here long enough, this place could be a cell to rot in for eternity, for someone like Zemo. Bucky of course doesn't seem to mind dying here. At least everyone else is safe from him.

"I don't use the bedroom." So that's a yes, even though he doesn't directly answer Zemo's question. His clothes are piled up in a messy heap in the living room, and the bathroom opposite from the bedroom is stocked, so at least there's some self-care happening, however minimal it might be. There's a big dog bed in the corner by the kitchen door where his favourite girl sleeps. It looks much more comfortable and welcoming than Bucky's corner, of just a sheet on the floorboards and sometimes a cushion.

"Just a few days. And then you'll go." And leave him and his floor alone.
freakymagoo: (258)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-06-11 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"Nobody's contacted or found me out here." Should he be telling Zemo that? Probably not. It's easy enough to guess that no one else has come, seeing as they might not let him live like this if they could see how he's living. But it goes both ways. Anything could happen to Zemo out here as well and nobody would know.

"The walls are fine," he states through gritted teeth, glaring holes through Zemo's skull. "I'm letting you stay and you're going to complain about this place not being a five star hotel?" How do you say 'ungrateful fuck' in Sokovian? Is Zemo expecting Bucky to get up and put a shirt on and make breakfast for him too?
freakymagoo: (169)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-06-20 10:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Why would I be? What's the point of moving out here if I wanted to be found?" He'd have just gone back to Wakanda if that's what he really wanted. And, yeah, sure. Some days that's all he wants. He just wants to be alone in his hut by the river, get gently headbutted by his goats, play with the kids and listen to stories told by the elders. But he can't just stay there forever. He's doing just fine here, with his own little ragtag crew of strays.

The best peace offering he could be given is for Zemo to get back in his car or helicopter or however the hell he got here, go back the way he came, and never come out this way again. He doesn't actually want help, stubborn and wanting to go at it alone the way he does.

And he could say as much. That he maybe could put up with helping Zemo, but he doesn't actually want the help. That much is already obvious though, so instead of brushing Zemo off, he just looks at the wall for a while and then lowers his gaze, resting his hands in his lap.

"I already have to deal with you. I don't want other people in my house. Touching my walls. Asking me why I live like this." A therapist might call this progress. It's not some witty, sarcastic, deliberately hurtful thing he said to protect himself with, to deflect from the real issue. He's not seeing a therapist though, clearly. And he hates giving Zemo an inch because he'll want to take a hundred miles.
freakymagoo: (258)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-03 03:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's got character," Bucky comments dryly, as though that was a line someone trying to close a sale actually tried on him when he bought over the place. It was practically abandoned when he came in so there wasn't really much salesing or negotiating involved.

"You can run to town yourself. Get your own supplies." Maybe Bucky will be crazy enough to attempt packing up and leaving. It's been so long since he lived that life that he doesn't have a bag just ready to go, but it wouldn't take him five minutes to just shove a few things into a bag and throw the dog and chicken in the back and just take off, call someone later to come for the other rescue animals.

It's all very movieesque though, and unrealistic. If he really wants to go he has to leave everything behind. He-- can probably do that to himself. But he's too much of a worrier to just abandon all his animals. They're all old and the only places nearby that'll take them will either turn them to dinner or put them down.

Sounds and feels like a familiar fate.

Besides, Zemo seems insistent on making his life as miserable as possible. It'll likely only make things worse if he does something rash and stupid.
freakymagoo: (037)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-05 01:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Bucky pushes himself up to his feet slowly. The old girl hears him get up and comes padding over from the kitchen, nudging at his flesh hand. He can't even be angry at her, rubbing her head gently. Some more human company might be good for her, even if Zemo's company is always. Questionable.

"I can make space in the barn. Cover it up with some tarp," Bucky offers. He would have rescinded that offer with all that shade Zemo was throwing on him and his place but Zemo has wisely chosen not to speak any of those things out loud. It does mean that his little rescue farm will have slightly less space but it's a big enough barn that it shouldn't bother them too much.

Of course, the place is so run down that it doesn't look like it can survive a strong gust of wind. But the barn, like everything else here, has seen some shit and is sturdier than she looks.

"Unless it's not good enough for you." Bucky can't keep the scowling juvenile sarcasm out of his voice.
freakymagoo: (171)

I wrote half this tag then fell asleep 😆

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-08 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
There's only boring staples on those shelves. He needn't bother looking for anything nice. The bottom shelves are reserved for dog food. The food fit for human consumption includes half a bag of rolled oats, the last stash of rice, some herbs that look like dried lawn trimmings, scattered small boxes of dried goods like different coloured beans, and several emergency cans he hasn't touched. Tomatoes, tuna, little bit of fruit. But if Zemo accused Bucky of eating only plain rice the last two weeks he wouldn't have denied it. If he's expecting something better than prison food he's only setting himself up for disappointment.

"No one else would take them in." He thinks he isn't good with them. Needs a gentler touch. More research. But most experts are farmers, and rescues or whatever old age/palliative operation he's found himself running are fewer and further between.

He couldn't have done it when he was younger, if he'd come back from the war. He would have wanted his old city life, with all its conveniences, surrounded by people. Now he's finding he doesn't like people very much. Especially not this one nosying around in his kitchen.

"What're you looking for?" he tries to change the subject.
freakymagoo: (169)

At least I turned on my phone screen and there it was 😆

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-11 01:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"I told you, I didn't have much food." He also just woke up, so. Kind of a shitty animal caretaker. Most responsible folk would have been up by now, fed their four-legged friends, accomplished more than breakfast. Bucky is on his feet, so. Expecting anything more than that might be asking too much.

The offer of breakfast is met with a suspicious, wary look. But Bucky eventually relents and nods.

"Fine. I'll go get cleaned up." He could probably shave a bit. Put a shirt on. Make himself look marginally more presentable. Although other than a couple of formalwear pieces he's not sure he has anything that doesn't have a hole in them.
freakymagoo: (171)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-20 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
The temptation to crawl out the window and make a run for it is there, juvenile and not well thought out and shortsighted though it might be. He'd be leaving the old girl behind. He'd have to leave them all behind. And who's to say that Zemo won't simply leave and track him down again?

Bucky spends a long time hunched over the sink, brushing his teeth and half-assing a shave. If he climbs into the shower he might not climb back out again so he settles for wetting a towel and rubbing himself clean that way. Well, not as clean as a shower. But that can wait.

He emerges with a fresh shirt on and gym shorts, glancing at Zemo and the happily panting dog stepping left and right, relishing in the attention. He shows up out of the blue, makes Bucky upset, tries to win the dog over. And claims he's just looking for breakfast.

Sure.

Fine.

He pulls a chair out and sits and glares at Zemo for a while before touching his food, pulling the bowl in a little closer. Then he seems a bit more content with staring into his bowl and nudging the fruit around with his spoon.

"Don't feed her anything weird," Bucky warns. "She's old and decrepit. You'll make her throw up everywhere."
freakymagoo: (258)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-22 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"I haven't been to town in a while." As if he's actually left the confines of his property recently. He'll go when the feed runs out, or when he needs more dog food. In fact the animals are the only reason he doesn't starve through winter. He ends up getting some food for himself on his way back after he gets their needs sorted. Living alone has the added benefit of not getting guilted about his self-neglect.

"There's a cow and a chicken in the barn. Occasionally you'll find an egg." They're all rescues, so they're not meant to produce anything that could sustain one person, let alone two. Needless to say, Bucky will be Very Displeased if something happens to one or both of them. Even though it's a miracle they've lived this long given Bucky's periodical cycles of unintentional neglect.

"We used to joke about retiring on a farm," he offers after a pregnant pause even though he doesn't really much want to talk. Especially not about Steve. "I had goats, in Wakanda."
freakymagoo: (188)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-24 08:33 am (UTC)(link)
"They snap, but their bite doesn't hurt." Funnily enough, they don't respond well to prodding either. Zemo likely wouldn't like them.

"It was quiet. Peaceful." Took some getting used to, especially trying to do everything with one arm, but Bucky had loved it in the end. He never thought he would ever be that safe around children, but the whole community had embraced him. Would have lived out the rest of his days there if he could, if they let him stay. He suspects the elders wouldn't have minded, but it wasn't his path in the end. And he didn't want to bring them any trouble.

It was the kind of place where the nightmares had stopped, for a while. He misses that most of all. He's got the peace and quiet out here, some shambles of a routine. Having a few animals that depended on that routine didn't turn out too disastrously. The nightmares came back, though. And he didn't really have anyone to talk to frankly about them. Receiving counsel from an elder isn't the same as a therapist's 57 step program.

"Thinking of a holiday?" That'll be a bit awkward. Zemo's kind of persona non grata there.
freakymagoo: (171)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-28 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"They knew enough." Shuri and T'Challa wouldn't have just airdropped Bucky into the village and not warned them that he's dangerous, mentally unstable. At least, he wouldn't believe that they didn't tell anyone that they need to be ready to put the crazy one-armed foreigner down if he starts spiralling.

"Didn't seal me into a mud hut and leave me to rot, if that's what you're worried about." Even if that's the kind of fate he deserves. They might be eyeing something less pleasant than that for Zemo though. They won't be happy to know that he's out and about. Especially the fact that he's here, after all that time they spent trying to help Bucky.
freakymagoo: (258)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-07-31 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
That's... unexpected. Like being slapped with an olive branch when he was expecting more poking and needling. For a moment Bucky doesn't seem sure what to do with that information. And then he just returns to spooning his oats into his mouth with a small little scoff.

"I'm older than him," Bucky points out. He's not going to speak on behalf of all old people but living that relatively uncomplicated life in solitude has its appeal.

Maybe... it is a little lonely. But Bucky feels safer too, out here. Nobody's looking for him - or so he thought. He can't hurt anyone. Nobody would know if he died out here. Maybe just the Wakandans if they put something in his left arm, letting them know it's attached to a decomposing corpse and they can come pick it up at their convenience.

"You talk a lot for somebody who's spent time in solitude." Don't say Bucky never sugarcoats anything.
freakymagoo: (037)

[personal profile] freakymagoo 2022-09-05 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Old fashioned. Yeah. That's a nice way of putting just how out of touch with reality he is. Both literally and metaphorically speaking. Out here though there's none of that. The strays don't care how he talks, what he thinks, any of those old values he still holds onto.

"Maybe you should get a dog." He's not necessarily mocking Zemo. Okay, well, maybe a little bit. He's a spiteful and bitter grumpy old man, and he's clearly given up on raising his walking stick and shaking it in the air telling Zemo to git off his lawn. What can he say? But he's only half-kidding about a dog. She's helped him a lot through more bad days than he cares to admit he ever has had even though she doesn't talk back.

"Is this what you want? Living in the country in your old age." Of course, Zemo could afford many more comforts and indulgent little luxuries. Assuming he even lives that long. It's not always a blessing. Bucky's continued existence is testament to that.

(no subject)

[personal profile] freakymagoo - 2022-09-06 03:01 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] freakymagoo - 2022-09-06 16:01 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] freakymagoo - 2022-09-07 13:15 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] freakymagoo - 2022-09-26 04:11 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] freakymagoo - 2022-10-04 16:44 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] freakymagoo - 2022-10-13 01:27 (UTC) - Expand