i am bad at titles.

[deadthenred]

Who| Bucky and ??? (it's an open log)
What| Exploration and paranoia
Where| Around
When| Week 3, backdated so this is earlier
Warnings/Notes| None right now!!

*

1. (TOMORROW LAND)

Disneyland Park— the real one, was built in 1955, from land Walter E. "Walt" Disney bought in 1953. He'd met his wife Lilian in 1925, and they got married the same year. That was the year Bucky was born. Snow White was just about the first movie he ever watched, or the first he could still remember. The first that counted.

He didn't recognize this place.

Bucky was pretty sure this was all a Nazi trick. That'd— alright, it didn't make sense, but it was the best sense he could make, so the idea found roots and grew within him. Bucky was used to a strange sort of sense-making, anyhow. He didn't listen to anything they told him, not when he woke up and not when they stuffed him into new clothing and sent him out to die. And because he was so intent on not listening Bucky did something he didn't usually do. He ran away from danger, instead of straight toward it.

And that was how he found Tomorrowland. Bucky was a fine sneak: he knew how to move when you didn't know what to expect. He recited lessons from the Parachute Regiment under his breath, figuring every other noise for something sinister. The more he wandered alone, the more his paranoia grew.

*

2. (TOON TOWN)

By the time he got to Toon Town his stomach was stabbing at him. It didn't make the place seem any more friendly; Bucky was beginning to think this place wasn't a Nazi trick after all. (But you could never tell, with them.)

The hunger made the colors of the place seem bigger than they were, less faded, more true. Or maybe that was something else: he hadn't slept in a while. Bucky'd tripped a few hours ago and the bottom of his left foot winced a little whenever it touched the ground.

So against some of his better (or worser) instincts, he sat down. Fifteen minutes of rest wouldn't kill him. He told himself this, and got angry. Because being angry was better than being scared.

Comments

[deadthenred]

"No one, I—" I what? But Bucky hadn't seen too many people since he started up with the running and hiding. He was changed, a bit, by the loneliness of it all. So he hadn't thought this one through. Stupid, stupid.

"I didn't know there was girls here." He finished sheepishly.

[pinklady]

"...There are." He didn't seem like he was after her, so Chibi-Usa's stance relaxed slightly as she walked towards the sound of his voice. "They've brought all sorts of people here male and female. Even people who aren't actually human."

[deadthenred]

Not really human? Maybe they'd caught Jim. Or Subby.

"Does one of 'em fly around hopping mad without any pants?"

He figured if Namor was here, he wouldn't be subtle.

[pinklady]

"No." Chibi-Usa shook his head. "Or if he was, they put him into clothing like the stuff we're wearing now."

Of course, as she got closer, no doubt Bucky would notice she was Japanese. Not that she realized that could be a problem.

[deadthenred]

Bucky can't actually tell the Chinese folks from the Japanese folks, and even if he could— he's worked with the 442nd, he knows they ain't all rotten.

A girl's a girl, anyhow.

"Why'd they stuff us into these, anyway? Cripes, it itches." Not getting much chance to talk had apparently turned him talkative.

[pinklady]

But loose lips sin--well, no, Bucky's got a point in this case.

"Its the theme," she replied. "This used to be just a theme park made by Walt Disney, a long time ago. So they dressed us up like princes and princesses."

At this, she sighed.

"Now its just a death trap."

[deadthenred]

"Walt Disney?" He knows that name. "It doesn't look like Snow White." But now that she said that, he turned a keener eye to his surroundings, desperately searching for someone familiar.

It hits him a bit later, the other part of what she said, the part that goes "a long time ago." His stomach lurched, and it might've just been 'cause he was hungry. But maybe not.

"I met a princess, once," he said, trying to swim away from the subject. He didn't want to drown.

[pinklady]

"...Oh?"

That might be the ghost of a smile on her face. Not that she was going to say that she was the second princess he's now met, of course.

"Yeah, this is no place for Snow White or Cinderella, that's for sure."

[deadthenred]

It was the Princess Elizabeth, and she hadn't done much but posed for a photo. He was stationed in London, when he kept to one place at all.

"I dunno. Snow White did spend an awful lot of time in the middle of nowhere."

[pinklady]

Not even any advice on how to maintain a Jeep on the front? Rude.

"Yeah, but she also had dwarves and singing birds and docile animals helping her out."

[deadthenred]

"They don't like my singing voice. Imagine that." Cracking jokes felt good, familiar to him. Like putting one foot in front of the other. He's still standing stick-straight, like someone at attention, but his face settles, a bit.

[pinklady]

"I'm not such a good singer either." She's definitely relaxing. It doesn't look like this guy's going to kill her, that's for sure. "So...I'm Tsukino Usagi back in Tokyo. But everyone calls me Chibi-Usa. What's your name?"

Hey, she wasn't lying. That was her name in the 20th century.

[deadthenred]

"Barnes," he said. "Private James Barnes, Jr." He tenses up when she mentions Tokyo— he's not gonna attack a girl just 'cause she's Japanese, but he will get a shade more suspicious.

[pinklady]

She does notice the tenseness, even from her distance. She does pause to think for a moment as to why. Ok, private who speaks English looking a bit worried speaking to her who is Japane--

"...Oh! Wait, that would make sense." Please share your thoughts with the class, Chibi. "Um, so, is there a war going on when you're from? Because I'm not from that time. That was before I was born."

Which was a really long while ago either way.

[deadthenred]

He just glares at that. Now, he's dealt with timetravel and whatsits before, so there's a sliver of doubt that creeps into his psyche. It mixes in with all the other stuff that hasn't added up so far. But it doesn't settle. Not yet.

This is exactly the kind of crazy crap Nazi supervillains'd try to pull, after all.

He crosses his arms, which isn't a fighting gesture. It begs an explanation.

[pinklady]

Oh dear, not the exasperated Mamo-chan stance! If it helps, Chibi-Usa's crazy supervillain days were also awhile ago too!

"Well...the thing is, I come from the future." Sigh. Guess she's not exactly going to get away with it forever. Especially not when the Mamo-chan stance is used. "The 30th century, in reality, but I also lived around the 1990s. Even back then the war had been over for a long time. It ended in 1945."

[deadthenred]

Bucky's supervillain days are ahead of him. But he doesn't know that.

"This ain't the thirtieth century." He seems so sure. "This is some sorta Flash Gordon set-up." Maybe he'd gotten sent to outer space.

[pinklady]

Oops.

"I know that. I would know the thirtieth century if I saw it." Frown. "But this is definitely Earth. Not many places have a Disneyland, that's for sure!"

[deadthenred]

"Earth doesn't got no place called Disneyland! If it did, I'd know." He speaks with the particular sureness of not thinking something over real carefully.

[pinklady]

"If you're from the war, you wouldn't." Chibi-Usa paused to think. "Disneyland was built after that. There's actually more than one Disneyland. There's one in Paris, on in Florida, one in Tokyo, and the original in California."

[deadthenred]

"Why would you need more'n one Disneyland?" He's trying to get to the bottom of her highly suspicious story.

[pinklady]

"Isn't it obvious?" Headtilt. "Because its popular enough to warrant having more than one! Besides, what if you lived in Europe or Asia and can't afford to go to California or Florida? Its cheaper to go to a park that's on your own continent!"

[deadthenred]

"I'm in the army," he says, fussing with the fancy clothes they stuffed him in. "That means I go everywhere." And that was true: he'd never had to worry about staying in one place too long.

[pinklady]

"Maybe, but you've never been to Disneyland." Frown. "Well, not any of the...un-death-arena-ed versions that are actually fun to visit. You are definitely missing out!"

[deadthenred]

"It doesn't look like such a gas to me." Bucky's being stubborn.

"I did like Snow White," he admits, quieter, but still audible.