fourteen ✪ voice

[imfollowinghim]

[Anyone on the second floor (or first or third, really) might have heard a couple gunshots, shattering glass and other signs of a fight not too soon before Bucky's post. Then there's another gunshot, and silence for a couple seconds before quiet voices start up - C'rizz and Bucky.

A while later, a post's on the network. Bucky's panting and his voice is hoarse and strained, either because he's exhausted or in a hell of a lot of pain (it's both), but he manages to let everyone know what the hell was going on anyway.]

Zane's dead. [That's it. That's all he wants to say about it, and it kind of seems like he's going to leave it at that before he bites out:]

We need fucking call signs or passwords next time this happens.

[And then clicks the comm off so he can figure out how he's getting to the infirmary, because he is definitely not being carried.]

Comments

[fridgetothefire]

They don't work. Memory and trustworthiness change independently of each other.

[Quiet, bitter. She's thought through this, hates the futility of it. And Zane is - a good friend. She holds that back, as much as she can.]

Can you tell me what happened?

[imfollowinghim]

Trust me, he wasn't fucking remembering a password.

[He's bitter too, because this whole thing has been ridiculous, and he's hurt and angry and tired of seeing his friends getting caught in the crossfire, and it's familiar and alien all at once. And he hates it.]

He tried to beat me to death in a hallway and I shot him. C'Rizz distracted him long enough for me to do it.

[fridgetothefire]

Next time someone's evil, they will. Or someone will forget their own mother but still be on your sign. The point of call-signs and passwords is to be reliable.

Thank you.

[imfollowinghim]

I fucking know all of that, Anya. [Which might have been snapped at her under slightly different circumstances, but as things are, he just sounds exhausted and bitter.] We can argue about how dumb my suggestions are when I'm not bleeding out of my ears, alright?

[fridgetothefire]

I'm sorry. I just meant - it's not your fault for not having a system already. It's not anybody's.

[imfollowinghim]

I still don't know how much I believe that.

[fridgetothefire]

Maybe it's like the Snow Queen's mirror. A little piece for everybody, but you shouldn't let it get in you too deep.

[imfollowinghim]

[Bucky barks out a laugh, and sort of regrets it when his insides remind him yep, we're still pretty busted up, but he still sounds a little less heavy.] I haven't thought about that story in forever.

[fridgetothefire]

I used to think about it a lot.

[Sometimes her father was the queen. Sometimes he was Kai. She was always the mirror.]

Do you want me to bring you anything? Snacks, beer, cold pack?

[If Zane tried to beat him to death, he's been beaten. He has the look of a man who intends to avoid the infirmary. She makes it sound as casual as she can.]

[imfollowinghim]

I'd take some ice.

[No guarantees on whether or not he'll actually be in the infirmary by the time she gets there to give it to him, but yeah, he definitely could use some ice.]