THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS.

𝙹𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚂 𝙱𝚄𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙰𝙽 𝙱𝙰𝚁𝙽𝙴𝚂 @ 𝚄𝙽𝙸𝚃𝙴𝙳 𝚆𝙴 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝙽𝙳

[bahrnes]

WBBING

STARTER    |    @bahrnes​

HOW MUCH HAD HE FUCKING MISSING?    (   Not that this is the first time he’s been taken by surprise at the appearance of the other man. But since airing out that particular mix-up about HYDRA, he thought they had been all squared away.   )   Not looking to deliver another kick to the guy’s face, Peter approaches more subtly this time around.    “    Hey, Tommy.    ”    (   Alight, so slightly more subtly.   )    Careful to avoid any potential eavesdroppers, he leans in closer.    “    You know I’m all about a secret identity    ——-but you coulda picked something a little less goyish.”

VISIBLE CRINGE GONE AS QUICK AS IT’D CRASH - LANDED, still his shoulders stay drawn up damn near t’ his ears on the approach.  For his first night spent wearin’ a whole new name, it sure seems like Bucky’s runnin’ into more old friends than he would’ve expected.

❝ WHAT ‘BOUT HIDIN’ IN PLAIN SIGHT ? ❞  Sure, he can try n’ make light of it.  But Parker’s point stands.  And Bucky’s not quite ready t’ own up to the fact that he’d ended right back where he started so easily.  Followin’ orders oughta be second nature, but that don’t mean it’ll ever feel natural.  Not like this.  ❝ --- --- Corporal Raymond t’ you. ❞  A purposeful loosening of of his expression like crackin’ your neck after too long into a rifle’s scope.  ❝ Why, y’don’t think it fits ? ❞

[bahrnes]

PURRFECTIONIIST

HE SOUNDS A LITTLE ROBOTIC; probably the amount of introductions and photographs he’s been roped into —- bout Selina knows how just damn FED UP sounds when she hears it too. These heroes, these new avengers - for all this evening was about them and their achievements, not one of them looked TRULY excited. But then, with a megalomaniac at the helm there wasn’t a great deal to be EXCITED about. Looking back towards the dance floor, then back to the soldier her eyes bore into his for a moment, a fleeting familiarity strikes her as she holds out a hand, a tilt of the head - more friendly than flirtatious really, her sly smile more a painted on effect as black nails drum against her palm. 

❝ Wanna know a secret ?  ❞  she offers it openly, knowing how many people surround them, how many of them hold secrets more important – but somehow, LESS ENTICING.  ❝ Dancing makes things easier.  ❞ 

HE’LL TAKE THE COMFORT HE CAN GET IN A ROOM THIS SIZE. And ‘f that makes him silly, well . . . he did just sign himself up t’ spend overnights runnin’ around wearin’ a flag.  Maybe he oughta get a head start.

❝ Well now, y’do seem like an expert. ❞  Second - nature in the way he takes her hand n’ guides it into the crook of his arm, pointin’ them both in the direction of her gaze.  HE WELCOMES THE DISTRACTION, truthfully, and it’s been a good, long while since he got t’ dance.  That thought alone is enough to finally coax out a smile.

❝ --- --- ‘Spose we oughta try it out, right ? ❞  

[bahrnes]

VERTLANTERNS

❝     SHOULD I SAY CONGRATS, OR WHAT     ?     ❞     Certainly an odd turn of events, but Hal isn’t complaining     — —     even having one sliver of an in with the new Captain America, only one degree removed from Lex Luthor himself, is going to be advantageous no matter how you cut it.     ❝     How d’you even land an interview for a gig like this     ?     ❞

@bahrnes     /     EVENT STARTER

❝ OR WHAT, MAN. ❞  A hand offered out to shake that turns easily into a quick, casual embrace --- --- if you were wonderin’ if he’s been short on COMFORTABLE GREETINGS as the night’s worn on, well, you’d be right.  It’s reassuring enough seein’ a familiar face but there’s an added bonus when that face reminds him t’ think of Sam.  --- --- Anyway.  ❝ Would y’believe me if I told you they called me ? ❞  

[bahrnes]

FLASHOUTOFTIME

There’s a millisecond where Wally tenses up, caught off guard when there are very few who can do that nowadays. The man looks unassuming enough, but Wally’s used to people like that. Some days he envies that ability.

Pretty hard not to stand out with the hair he had.

Using his enhanced ability, Wally takes the opportunity to tap into the Speedforce for a microsecond and get a good look at the man at his side without appearing as if he’s looking away from the crowd. He files the man’s appearance for later just in case he needs it, and then lets the Speedforce fade, the slight glowing green flash of his eyes disguised as the light being caught on the iris color as he shifts back into the molasses feeling of ‘normal’ time. 

“From what I hear, they’re usually bigger….But I’m guessing a few fiascos here and there caused a bit of unease with these public affairs.”

❝ WELL NOT ENOUGH, ‘F YOU ASK ME. ❞

Unease, he means.  This many fuckin’ people crammed to the rafters in a place with far too few exits is about enough t’ make his skin crawl before you work in the fact that HE’S one ‘f the trained monkeys they’re all here t’ see.  Jesus.

The bartender comes back with two highballs n’ Bucky waits for the stranger to pick his up before offerin’ his own out in cheers.

❝ --- --- Take it this ain’t your first rodeo, then ? ❞

[bahrnes]

HUMANBCLT

❛    I’m positive my FICO score got a boost trying this,   ❜    he’s in his ELEMENT much like a fish asked to wear heels.  (  Doesn’t mean Barry can’t enjoy the little things: tiny versions of food no one could fill up on, for starters.  )  Please, new Captain America, judge not a man and his defense mechanisms. Judge only the small stuffed mushroom cap that’s passed forward.

ud&d starter for @bahrnes​

OF ALL THE THINGS GETTIN’ HANDED HIS WAY TONIGHT, miniature canapés don’t even crack th’ top ten for things he’s wishin’ he could dodge.

Old habit means he smells it before tossin’ . . . whatever it is back in one bite.  Mouth full ( natch ) : ❝ M’gonna be honest, I dunno what that is but it sounds expensive. ❞ 

[bahrnes]

[unitedwestandhq]

The Picture of Dorian Gray sentence starters

Stolen straight from Oscar Wilde’s novel courtesy of @spoilers-ahead-647 ! Feel free to change pronouns/tense.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.

It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue.

What nonsense you talk!

He becomes an echo of someone else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.

To realize one’s nature perfectly—that is what each of us is here for.

People are afraid of themselves. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to oneself.

Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it.

The bravest man amongst us is afraid of himself.

Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

You know you believe it all.

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.

Don’t frown.

It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.

Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.

With your personality there is nothing you could not do.

The moment I met you I saw that you were quite unconscious of what you really are, of what you really might be.

Man is many things, but he is not rational.

Ah! This morning! You have lived since then.

I wish I could trust myself.

What I want is information; not useful information, of course; useless information.

I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.

I can sympathize with everything, except suffering.

The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray, and the advantage of science is that it is not emotional.

Humanity takes itself too seriously.

If the caveman had known how to laugh, history would have been different.

People like you—the willful sunbeams of life—don’t commit crimes.

To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour.

People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves.

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date.

I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.

One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.

The one charm of the past is that it is the past.

Conscience makes egotists of us all.

There is nothing that you, with your extraordinary good looks, will not be able to do.

This world and I are on excellent terms.

Moderation is a fatal thing.

I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words.

You and I are what we are, and will be what we will be.

The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it.  

Your cynicism is simply a pose.

Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know.

I had a strange feeling that Fate had in store for me exquisite joys and exquisite sorrows.

She is a peacock in everything but beauty.

Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.

You like everyone; that is to say, you are indifferent to everyone.

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.

He is all my art to me now.

There is nothing that art cannot express,

You might see nothing in him. I see everything in him.

My heart shall never be put under their microscope.

I find a strange pleasure in saying things to him that I know I shall be sorry for having said.

You can’t feel what I feel. You change too often.

Those who are faithful know only the trivial side of love: it is the faithless who know love’s tragedies.

The rich would have spoken on the value of thrift, and the idle grown eloquent over the dignity of labour.

The world is wide, and has many marvelous people in it.

Would you think it awfully rude of me if I asked you to go away?

He has a very bad influence over all his friends, with the single exception of myself.

I suppose he has been paying you compliments.

You mustn’t believe a word that he says.

Always! That is a dreadful word. It makes me shudder when I hear it.

He won’t like you the better for keeping your promises. He always breaks his own.

If a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.

Most people discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.

All I want now is to look at life.

You may come and look at it with me, if you care to.

People know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.

You filled me with a wild desire to know everything about life.

Don’t be afraid. There are exquisite things in store for you. This is merely the beginning.

The longer I live, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us.

Ordinary people waited till life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away.

Experience is of no ethical value. It is merely the name men give to their mistakes.

Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.

You are much better than you pretend to be.

Love is a more wonderful thing than art.

There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us.

It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.

You call yesterday the past?

The past can always be annihilated. But the future is inevitable.

Society, civilized society at least, is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating.

Even the cardinal virtues cannot atone for half-cold entrées.

I am tired of myself tonight.

With such blood as he has in his veins, how could his record be clean?

You have chattered enough about corruption. Now you shall look on it face to face.

Each of us has heaven and hell in him.

You have done enough evil in your life.

You would be a set of unfortunate bachelors.

I give the truths of tomorrow.

I prefer the mistakes of today.

[bahrnes]

FLASHOUTOFTIME

Wally tugged at the collar of his shirt for the fifth time in less than 10 minutes. Honestly, how did men wear ties and bowties for this long and not feel stifled? He felt like he was going to melt or choke.

Neither sounded very appealing.

“Geez, you’d think they’d wanna get on with the main event already…” With a huff, Wally slid onto a barstool and waved the bartender over.

“Something with bourbon, please” he idly tapped hid fingers on the bar until he had his drink in hand, gaze scanning the crowd in boredom from where he hunched against the bar.

❝ MAKE IT TWO SOMETHINGS, ACTUALLY. ❞  Not that slidin’ in beside a stranger is usually his MO, but then nothin’ about this whole entire evening really is.  The weird double - edged sword of anonymity makes it both easier n’ harder to disappear, and Bucky . . . doesn’t really know what t’ make of that.

His own gaze follows back out into the crowd, glass tucked up in the well of his palm.  ❝ The crowd usually this big at these things ? ❞  

[bahrnes]

PURRFECTIONIIST

❝ SO – WHICH ONE ARE YOU AGAIN ? ❞ The haze of the party helps with the act, Selina’s gestures more intimate and a little feigned as her finger tips reach out towards the lapels of his jacket. ❝ S’not really your scene is it.  ❞

starter //  @bahrnes·

❝ CORPORAL THOMAS RAYMOND AT YOUR SERVICE. ❞  Automatic as a revolving door by now.  Her face isn’t necessarily unfamiliar, but that don’t mean a damn thing, not really ; he’s familiar with who they tell him is familiar, anymore.  ( He’s not so great at it, but then they should’ve expected that, too. )  Regardless, somehow the brush of fingertips against his lapels rings truer n’ a large portion of this evening’s interactions have.

Smaller : ❝ no, ma’am.  I can’t say it is. ❞

[bahrnes]

OWRACLE

                One thing Barbara loves being on a chair is that no one really pays attention to her until she their shoes or dressed with their wheel. A couple of times, she would do it on purpose to figuratively stepped on their privileges.

                  Getting to Bucky was a harder feat than she thought but she took the very first opportunity when he was free and maneuvered  right by his side.   “ Don’t let it get into your head but this one of the most handsome looks you had pulled. “

closed starter for @bahrnes

HIS ARM EXTENDS OUT REFLEXIVELY, held up t’ block a passing suit who jostles in too - close to Barbara’s path.  Bucky grins at that, the expression takin’ up all the real estate on his face in a way that couldn’t make it more obvious that it’s likely the FIRST real smile of the night.  ( If he ain’t careful, it’s powerful enough to stick like that. )

❝ M’sorry, ma’am, ❞ collision averted, he brings that hand back toward his ear, holdin’ it up as if th’ din of the room was interfering.  IT ISN’T, but look at him, don’t he deserve a laugh ?  ❝ --- --- What was that ?  M’not sure I heard you right. ❞

[slvicshdow]

@bahrnes​

HE ISN’T DIFFICULT TO SPOT       in a crowd of photo-ops for those dripping with political ambition.   (   Tony had been no stranger to hosting an Avengers Victory Party, the difference lying in the ulterior motives of the crowd gathered.    )     Tact comes in unfurling herself from those meant to boost themselves off her exposed shoulders.     ——-     She’s no stranger to this sort of work, which might make it all the more boring.

Once free she approaches,    “     Mister Raymond. You clean up nice.    ”

An olive branch though most of what had to be said remains under the bridge. She proves, save for the notable exceptions and possible limitations   (   and the distant satisfaction to watch Barney Barton still shifting uncomfortably through pain    ),     she can be quite the team player.     “     Drink?    ”     Natasha’s hand vaguely waves towards the open bar,     “     My treat.    ”

[bahrnes]

❝ --- --- THAT BAD, HUH ? ❞

He’s finally PULLED HIMSELF AWAY from the press - gang that’s been followin’ him like a pack of particularly starvin’ dogs since the doors opened, and if he looks a little bit disheveled for it, well.  But s’easy enough to disappear faced up with the brilliance that seems to roll off her in waves, charisma or whatever else it is that lets her command a room n’ keep it hostage in equal parts.  

( Either way, he’s just glad everybody in th’ immediate vicinity stopped lookin’ at him. )

❝ Well, if you’re buyin’ . . . ❞  A pivot, n’ he offers her his arm, newly - minted flesh - and - blood lookin’ hand on display where a gloved one might’ve been otherwise, and it just draws a thick underline beneath the oddity of the whole situation the way you might tick off a crossword puzzle clue that particularly pissed you off.  He smiles, at least, his expression relaxes, a dip of his chin manufacturing privacy while they stroll.  ❝ Does it ever get any easier ? ❞

[bahrnes]

BARNES 012.

[bahrnes]

SLVICSHDOW

IT TURNS TO ASH IN HER MOUTH    ——-   some long-forgotten shame she was never meant to learn at all.     (    To be anything else than what was made of her, impossible. Not when her birthright has been burned away, starved out of her.    )

Her mouth moves around it, words never quite souring the particular lilt in her tone.    “    Trust me, it’s that good.    ”

(    He knew her once, she supposes. In a way anyone could ever know her. While few stand to spite such an evasive truth. He knew her there, where stolen moments felt like their own victory and there was a reminder of her own beating heart rather than what she was trained to steal. And, as it would go on, he knew her in Odessa. Perhaps better, there. Perhaps a course-correction. The victories turned to ash too, off a cliff’s edge with something pierced through there. Twice.    )

He doesn’t know her, now. It should lessen the sting of the lobs thrown by a desperate man.     (    He might know her best now, she counters. A wounded ego always cries loudest.    ) 

She’s waiting when he looks up, gaze leveled without expectation. Though his reasoning for disrupting a quiet afternoon isn’t all-together surprising either. This isn’t the man she knew either, but patchwork made possible by the man so desperate to find him gave her a rough idea. She holds that between her teeth, too. 

“    Whatever you bribed Clint with to find this place wasn’t worth it.    ”    It’s ill-fitting and all together unwelcomed when her approached had been reliant on understanding he had no access to. It had been her mistake to make, and Natasha edges closer to an outright admission.    “    An apology isn’t necessary.    ”

❝ WELL DON’T TELL ME THAT NOW, ‘CAUSE I ALREADY OWE HIM A FAVOR. ❞  More’n one, probably.  Although Clint Barton’s never really struck him as the type that’d make owin’ a favor a punishment.  But then he guesses y’ never really know.  ‘Least not ‘til said favor actually gets called in.

( --- --- Look at S.H.I.E.L.D.. )

Bravado keeps his attention peeled away from the menu in his hand like a fist around his neck, keepin’ him lookin’ over at her like he’s got any business t’ be doin’ so.  HE’D FOUND HER, perhaps in a place she didn’t wanna be found, and now he’s forcin’ the issue, or least that’s what it would be if he thought for a damned second he could’ve actually tracked her anyplace if she really didn’t want him to.  And that’s another thing, another history he doesn’t remember living or learning or reading or writing, but one he knows just the same.

Knowin’ things without knowin’ why is a feeling he isn’t sure he’ll ever get properly comfortable with.

Lips press together around the untethered edges of his expression, pullin’ it into something a little more formal the way you tuck the corners of a bedsheet in like the points of an envelope.  ❝ No, ❞ disagreement gives way to something softer, clinking like ice settling in a glass.  ❝ I think it is. ❞  Never one t’ escape unscathed from his own self - pity, Bucky’d spent enough time over the past days feelin’ sorry for himself the only way he knows how : replayin’ the conversation, lookin’ for where he could’ve gotten out, where he missed the opportunity to fight back or back off or whatever combination of lyin’ down and playin’ dead could’ve gotten the circumstances to take pity on him n’ change.  BUT THERE WASN’T ONE.  But there won’t be one.

Steve had a CHOICE, even if he set th’ whole thing up feelin’ like he didn’t.  Bucky just isn’t ever really gonna know that luxury, apparently.  But that ain’t her fault.

❝ --- --- I was outta line. ❞  Flingin’ barbs like a desperate man, he isn’t proud.  ❝ For what it’s worth, I know . . . ❞ what ?  What does he know, really ? ❝ --- what I said wasn’t fair.  And it ain’t right to take any o’ this out on you. ❞

[bahrnes]

❝ there is always so much depth to the way you write bucky, even in all of the little things. it's so clear that you put a tremendous amount of thought and research into everything you write. you always consider how things might affect him and do it in a realistic, believable way ❞

thank you whoever sent this it really made my day ( and i’m keeping the actual ask in my inbox for Reasons ok )

[themissingslate]

I will come to you, gasping & dry-mouthed as before, wearing the future around my neck. & nothing else.

Natalie Wee, ‘In the Unlikely Event of the Apocalypse’. Published in The Missing Slate. (via themissingslate)

[fightasone]

Anonymously send me your favorite detail about how I play my character.

I will publish and respond OOC.

[oldmemesandhelpandthings-gone]

❇ life philosophy headcanons.

Send a symbol, receive an answer. For multimuses, specify muse:

♚ — Does your muse believe in objective right and wrong? Why do they hold this view?

♔ — Does your muse believe people are innately good or innately bad? Why do they believe this?

♞ — What does your muse believe happens after death? Do they believe in an afterlife and why/why not? If they do, what do they imagine this afterlife to be?

♘ — Do they believe humanity/their species, as a whole, to be moving in the ‘right’ direction or the ‘wrong’ one? Why do they believe this?

♖ — Do people, in your muse’s opinion, ever really change? Do they believe themselves to be capable of changing?

♟ — Does your muse believe in free will? Do they believe that people are mostly free?

♛ — Does your muse believe in luck? What about fate?

♙ — How hypocritical is your muse? If they can be hypocritical, do they realise this about themselves? How do they reconcile with it?

♕ — What does leading a ‘good’ life mean to your muse? Are they satisfied with the choices they make?

♝ — Is your muse concerned about being remembered after they die? If so, do they have anything specific notions about what they want to be remembered for?

♡  — How would your muse define love? Do they believe in soulmates? Do they believe this definition of love is achievable?