Confused Soldier Seeking Work (OTA Catch-all)

[worthallthis]

Who: Bucky Barnes AKA the Winter Soldier, and OPEN
Where: New Bark Town, Route 29, and Cherry Grove
When: May 31 through June 5 or so, first leg of the journey
Summary: A new breeder gets his bearings and is very confused by... everything
Rating: PG-13 at least, he kinda swears a lot


I. "Mom"? - Closed to Entrapta

It takes everything in him not to punch the woman who shoves things at him and pushes him out the door. While the whole "mom" thing and the house were all unfamiliar (Some kind of new handler? Some twisted way to try and win me back? Did they catch me again?), being outfitted and sent out on a mission isn't. And he doesn't want it.

The only things that keep him from doing it is the fact that there are no guns for this mission, and the white furry thing pressed to his leg. She's... comforting. He has no idea what she is, but he's pretty sure she's not going to hurt him, or let him be hurt. There aren't cute, white, furry animals in HYDRA.

So he's shooed out the front door, which closes and locks soundly behind him, and he has no idea what his mission is supposed to be, and-- there's a woman on the lawn in front of him tugging on her own long hair. He stares in consternation for a long moment, the plates of the arm shifting and buzzing.


II. The Tiniest Town

"Ma'am. You. I. Can't take that."

"Don't be silly, someone needs to take care of him, and you look perfect for the job."

"But I--"

"No buts! He's my last one, and I can't be toting him around all summer. Here, his name is Fuzzlebutt."

So the Winter Soldier can be seen prowling around New Bark Town with an Absol padding at his side, and a very tiny Skitty clinging to his shoulder with all four sets of claws and chewing on the collar of his tac vest. He's looking vaguely bewildered and a little nervous-- the Soldier, not the Skitty. The Skitty looks bitey.

He spends the whole day systematically mapping out the town, and then at a campfire just outside once the sun sets, reading through the shit in the two books he's been sent off with. The Skitty (Fuzzlebutt, Christ, what kind of a name even is that? ... Probably not much worse than Winter Soldier. Or. Fucking Bucky.) is curled up on his (black) backpack, and the Absol is sprawled against his leg while he tries to figure out how in the hell this place works.

And try to wrap his brain around the idea of no handlers.


III. On the Road

There's no work in New Bark Town. And there's a crazy lady claiming to be his mother. Got to get well away from that. (Even if the meal she made was pretty good.) The Soldier has no real idea what kind of work he could even do when he's not allowed any guns or knives or anything (Don't want to do that again. I'm done. I'm done. But. What else do I even know how to do?) but he knows there's none of it in that town. So, on the road it is. The map claims there's a bigger town to the west, and he knows how to make camp and scrounge for food, so off he goes.

With two animals who say a single word each-- pokemon, according to the device and the books, and everyone back in New Bark; weird name, but he's uses to just accepting things even if they're weird-- alternately bounding around him investigating things or begging for rides. He'll sigh and carry the pokemon in question whenever they do, though, so anyone passing by or lying in wait for new trainers and breeders will have a nice view of a big guy in tactical gear, carrying a furry pokemon in the crook of one arm.


IV. Capturing is Not Like Cryo

Running into wild pokemon is... an experience. He's read about catching them. That you're supposed to use the little red balls. That you're supposed to have plenty of them for battles (Hell no am I making these cute things fight if I don't have to. Even if Fuzzlebutt seems to want to.) and for breeding (Which is supposedly the mission, now.), so he's supposed to catch them.

He's not entirely sure what's supposed to happen, but the first time the Absol swats down a Starly that had been dive-bombing his head and he actually throws the little ball at it and it disappears inside-- well. Anybody with him, or just nearby, gets to enjoy watching him have a small panic attack while he tries to get the creature back out again.

"No no I'm sorry I'll get you out I'm sorry it's okay--"

He is never doing that again.


V. Too Cutesy to be Real

Cherry Grove is... pretty. Cute, even. Calm and quiet. And hopefully nobody deciding they need to fight his small furry friends, Jesus Christ. There's no way he's wasting money on the inn, either, so he'll just camp out on the beach. Eat at the cheapest restaurant he can find. Quietly and only somewhat guiltily "borrow" a steak knife that immediately makes him feel more at ease, hidden safely in a pocket where no one can see it, wrapped in a scrap of leather like a makeshift sheath. (Not gonna use it. It's just... just in case.)

Thus secretly armed and feeling a little less like every pair of eyes on him is a threat, it's time to explore the town and watch the people, see if there's work for an (ex-)assassin and a couple of furballs, and maybe move on if there isn't.

He even feels just barely safe enough to come up to someone and ask, haltingly and without any eye contact, "Excuse me. Is there. Work here?"

Comments

[thestrongsilenttype]

He isn't sure why, but something about the idea of a hyper, tech-obsessed person strikes him as weirdly familiar in an almost painfully nostalgic way. He shrugs--why not?

"Sounds all right." Then he asks the next obvious question: "What's your name?"

[worthallthis]

Maybe they both can have nostalgic moments without really understanding why. Well, he understands why... sort of. There's a couple of those pre-HYDRA impressions with a skinny blonde kid. Much skinnier than Link. But close enough.

Right, there it is. Entrapta took it well, didn't even question it, so maybe so will Link? "Winter Soldier."

[thestrongsilenttype]

"So... Winter?" Because whether or not it's an odd name is kind of immaterial. The guy says it's his name, so it's his name. It's just a bit of a mouthful, is all.

[worthallthis]

It's what Entrapta's been going with, and it's probably closer to an acceptable name for most people, so.... "Sure." He's not sure if he'll ever be able to think of himself as Winter, but who he hell knows. It's better than Asset.

He picks himself up finally, keeping the Starly balanced easily on his shoulder. "How long have you been. Here?"

[thestrongsilenttype]

"A month? Maybe two. I don't much keep track of time since I got here. But a few of my pokemon evolved, which can take a while, I guess."

Most of the ones he caught in that first week have evolved, in fact; without memories of his home to anchor him there, he's quickly become fully-immersed in the world of pokemon. It's a relief in a way--being tasked by a disembodied voice to save the world is pretty serious business, and that nagging worry about the state of Hyrule is always going to be with him, but there's nothing he can do about it now.

"You said you were traveling with someone else. They won't mind me tagging along?"

[worthallthis]

That seems like both not a long time at all, and at the same time very long, when one only has memories that last a couple days and the distinct feeling that this is normal, that he never has memories more than a few days. The Soldier can only hope in a month, maybe two, he feels as settled as this guy looks.

And hasn't forgotten anything else important.

Though he doubts she'll mind, the Soldier doesn't want to speak for Entrapta, so: "We can ask her. When. We find her." Shit. He looks around, but Entrapta has vanished. Again.

[thestrongsilenttype]

"Guess we'd better find her, then."

Even though Champion could most likely track her down by her scent, or Kaepora spot her from the sky, Link isn't really in a rush either way. If Winter's wayward companion declines to have him join there little party when they cross paths with her again, he'll just press on alone.

Link allows a moment of silence to stretch out as the two begin to head down the trail. Champion forges ahead, tail wagging as he sniffs at all foliage. He brings a stick to Link at one point, and it's thrown with enough force to give the Lycanroc a good chase.

[worthallthis]

The Absol keeps close to the Soldier, right where he can just shift a hand over to bury in her fur if he needs or wants to, but Fuzzlebutt attempts to chase Champion every time, tries to swat at the stick, tries to catch and chew on his tail. Fuzzle is small for a Skitty, and also still pretty young.

The Soldier watches with an ever so slightly concerned expression. "Your. Champion. He won't be too bothered by that?" he asks. "I can collect him."

[thestrongsilenttype]

"If it bothered him, you'd know." But Champion is a good boy, and he tolerates Fuzzle's shenanigans with the admirable sort of patience that comes with remembering that you, too, were small and hyper not that long ago. He even seems to come up with a game of his own to play with the little Skitty, picking up the stick and holding it up just out of reach of the tiny claws.

"They can't use words, but pokemon are good at letting you know how they feel."

[firstonesexpert]

It's not hard to find said companion - her purple hair is a stark contrast to the greens and browns of the general natural world, and there's an Impidimp standing on her head looking around with some concern. It's really not uncommon for her at this point to rush off when something distracts her or Nancy, who wants to fight everything.

The Impidimp spots the two men first, and lifts both arms to wave with a screechy little cry - this gets Entrapta to look up too, from where she's bent down to pick up the Shinx she's been chasing, who looks rather dissatisfied with being removed from the hunt. But Entrapta lifts an arm and waves.

"Oh there you are, Winter! Hi person I don't know!"

[worthallthis]

A glance at Absol's normally stoic face makes the Solder doubt that a little, but there's a handy distraction. Some of the tension goes out of his shoulders (his still-hurting shoulders, but he can ignore it) at the sight of Entrapta and Leslie.

Fuzzle abandons Champion to scramble over after Nancy, instead, bouncing up to try and catch his tail dangling from Entrapta's grasp.

The Soldier (Winter, again) gives the little group a look that might almost be wry. "There you are. I stayed where I was."

Link get to introduce himself, sorry, Link.

[thestrongsilenttype]

Realizing that no introduction is forthcoming, Link gives a little wave. "Hi. I'm Link." A nod to his Lycanroc. "That's Champion."

Another pause.

"You wouldn't mind me tagging along, would you? I'm headed to Violet to challenge the gym there."

[firstonesexpert]

Nancy flicks his tail up and starts trying to kick at Fuzzle's face, but Entrapta ignores his wriggling and tilts her head in a grin. "Of course you can! There's safety in numbers after all." She straightens up again with a slight frown. "Isn't the next town Cherrygrove, though? You sound like you've gotten lost."

[thestrongsilenttype]

It seems to please him that she accepts his company without question. Link shakes his head at the following observation, though.

"Cherrygrove doesn't have a gym--the first one is in Violet, the next town over. I kind of skipped a lot when I first arrived, so now I'm starting again. Seemed like the thing to do."

[worthallthis]

The Soldier is just relieved by it. Means he doesn't have to deal with any actual conflict, here. "Gyms. Where you make the pokemon fight." He sounds a little bit skeptical-- not of it being a thing you do there, because he's read the guide that came in his backpack, but of that being a particularly good idea. Why bother with something like that unless you had to?

[thestrongsilenttype]

"They don't have to if they don't want to, but most of them seem to like it. Champion does."

Champion barks and wags his tail, sitting at attention at the mention of his name. There's a proud, defiant gleam in his green eyes.

"I thought it was weird at first, and I still kind of do, but Champion wanted to get stronger. Most of them can't evolve without training, anyway."

[firstonesexpert]

"Oh, Nancy loves fighting!" She drops the Shinx, who lands on his feet with a surprised 'mrrp', and then immediately pounces on Fuzzle for playtime. "What does evolving mean in this case?"

[worthallthis]

"There's a section on that in the book," the Soldier says. "They. Change shape? Get new powers?" Look, this is all very new and weird to a guy who was just a weapon a few days ago.

Fuzzle is perfectly happy to rough-house a little with Nancy, making little kitten growls and try to catch an ear to chew on, while the Absol stands by ready to separate if things get too rough. The new Starly looks kind of disgusted by the display, and hunches down further on the Soldier's shoulder.