fableshards | (no subject)

--kay. Start? Record? Umm-- Oh.

[with his own mirror starting to reflect, peter manages to muster up a relieved smile. sure, he's used the shard before, but he's never had to work out how to start a message before. he's only ever had to respond to something already there.]

So, um. Hi? My name's Peter, and I've been here for like...two months now?

[he blinks, looking away from the shard for a moment. has it really been that long already? he fiddles with something off screen, tugging his sleeves further down over his hands to hide his webshooters.]

I know some of us kind of met during the whole-- [he holds his breath a second, cheeks puffing out.] --underwater thing. But I was talking to someone the other day, and it kind of reminded me that there's some things we should probably all know about. About this island, I mean.

So, it happened about a week after I got here. One night, there was a scream, and all our shards lit up. There was a girl on the other end of it who tried to warn us, I think. She said "he's coming", and then she disappeared. I think there was someone else there with her, but I don't know for sure. There wasn't really anything to see. She didn't show her face, it was just...a shadow? My...friends and I tried to find her. But there wasn't anything to go on.

[a pause, and he stares across the lake, towards the building in the far distance. right up until he's snapped out of his own thoughts by the appearance of scales breaking the surface of the lake. it's back. scrubbing his eye with the heel of his palm, peter refocuses on the shard again, his expression sombre.]

People have been disappearing here. When I turned up-- There were two people here from my world. [well, technically, universe. but he's not getting caught up in that.] They're not here anymore, and I don't know where they've gone. All I know if that I woke up one morning, and their room was empty. Their bags had gone. Everything.

I...I think they went home. I think they got sent back somehow. [because he refuses to believe that anything bad happened. (they're safe. they have to be.) or that they found a way home and left him behind. (they wouldn't do that. they're heroes.)] They wouldn't have left as long as people were stuck here. So that has to mean that there's something out there that's capable of sending people home whenever it wants. Which means we have to find it.

[... easier said than done. he shakes his head suddenly, jumping to his feet and grabbing the shard. he holds it up as though he's taking a selfie of himself, turning so his back faces the lake. it's a shot of his head peeking in from one side, the distant castle taking up the rest of the space.]

We need to find a way to go there. [there's an enthusiasm to him now that'd been missing for the rest of the message. he has a mission to focus on now, and it's a lot easier to look forward to that than to dwell on what's already happened.]

I know there's other things we probably need to focus on too. Food, for one thing. Working out how to protect ourselves if that creature comes back again. Fixing up the buildings here so they don't leak if it rains. [a shrug, and he lowers the shard again, looking down at its surface.] I guess that should all get dealt with first, seeing as we have no idea how long we'll be stuck here. But I still want to check out that castle too.

[another pause, and he does his best to put on a smile.]

So, yeah. If anyone needs any help, or you just want someone to talk to, I'm by the lake. I'll probably be here all afternoon.

[a wave, and then the picture goes dark as he places the shard down and goes back to fiddling with his mask. he could really use you right now, karen.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[curling up tightly around his legs, peter fixes his gaze on the space between his shoes, and for a long while, that's all he does. it's a lot to take in. the revelation that bucky killed the stark's. that bucky (his...friend?) is responsible for killing his idol's parents.]

You... [a shake of his head, and an amendment. something he knows he needs to focus on if he wants to continue to be able to spend any kind of time around the other man.]

They killed them just so they could make more supersoldiers.

[a statement rather than a question. if he focuses solely on facts, then maybe it'll be easier to process it all.]

You didn't get a choice back then. But things are different now. You're not HYDRA's Winter Soldier anymore. You're you.

[another deep breath, and he glances sideways towards bucky.]

I don't think you would've done it if you'd had a choice. Am I wrong?

[Bucky would argue that statement; controlled or not, it was still his hands that did the killing. His hands directly in fact; it was a murder meant to look like a car accident and that meant getting up close and personal. But Peter doesn't need to hear that, nor does he need to hear anything about any of Bucky's other missions.]

They did. [A beat.] They wanted to create a team that could destabilize and overthrow a government in the space of a day. They succeeded.

[And Bucky had trained them, had been used from their creation up to their storage. They're still there, in the tanks, waiting to be woken for a mission. But they're not as controllable as he, he knows. Not as easy to use.

Peter doesn't need to hear all of that.]

I don't know what I am now. I'm not the Winter Soldier, but I don't know who Bucky Barnes really is.

[It's honest, and he doesn't hide from Peter's glance. It means showing some of his own struggle on his face, how it really feels to only have pieces and not even know the shape of the whole.]

You're not wrong. I— [he looks at his lap with a bitter laugh] —remember each mission, each face. But I promise you, I don't do that any more.

[while he may not know everything about hydra, from the few details he does know, it sounds par for the course for them to be creating weapons to overthrow governments and place themselves in a position of power instead. creating those weapons out of people only makes it that much worse. an army of supersoldiers. it's not as though the avengers can be everywhere at once.

nodding slowly, peter finally comes to a decision. one born partly from knowing that it's the right thing to do in the situation they've found themselves in, and partly due to enjoying the time he's spent with bucky since arriving.]

Then...as long as Mr Stark doesn't turn up here too, I think- I don't think it matters.

[he frowns a little at his own words. at how flippant they might seem. but given that they're trapped in an unknown environment, he knows that they'll have to keep working together if they ever plan on finding a way home. so short of mr stark turning up on the island and finding out bucky's secret, he knows he needs to find a way to set it all aside and focus on the bigger picture.]

It matters. I don't mean that it doesn't. But...what happened, what they made you do? That isn't the you that I know. So maybe we could both get to know Bucky Barnes together? [a beat, and then he's scrunching his face up.] That sounded a lot cheesier than I wanted it to. Sorry?

If he does—

[It's a big if, but it's certainly not impossible. After all, they don't know what brings people here, or how, or why.]

I'll deal with it.

[He will, singularly. Peter doesn't need to get involved in something likely to turn ugly. And since Peter seems to have a good relationship with Tony Stark, Bucky won't do anything to compromise that.

And, honestly, he finds that he wants to know Peter a little better.]

Relax. I know what you mean. [He looks toward the lake again, picks a small stone out of the grass at his side and tosses it at the glassy surface. It hits with a small splash and a ring of ripples.] I'll forgive you the cheesiness if you forgive me for dumping all that on you in probably the worst way possible. I would like to know who I am, not just what I am. I think I'd like you to know too.