better than getting Maratyred, right? ...right???

[lefthandfree]

WHO? Siegfried (gerechtigkeit), James Buchanan Barnes (lefthandfree), Jean-Paul Maratatat
WHAT? Despite all his rage Marat is still just a rat in a cage. I mean the sewers. They trapped him in the sewers to nullify his vote.
WHEN? Before the vote, while maintaining shifts and watch over their new human-sized pet.
ANYTHING ELSE? cw for TEAM TOP BARA

[Though they’ve divided up slots of time to alternate between scouting, keeping an eye on Marat, and resting, unlike many of the other missions he’s done in the past, whether with the Howlies, for Hydra, or on his own, time seems to pass differently. He knows teamwork well, his recent forced foray into that territory still fresh in his mind, but there’s a huge stagger between that and pairing up with someone. Solo work is the easiest; there’s never awkward silence, just him and what needs to be done. With a large team, there’s no way for everyone to talk at once either, so keeping to himself still comes easily. When there’s only two people though, he grows keenly aware of the other party’s presence and existence, ultimately necessity for the mission, but when there’s nothing really pressing to do, like right now?

After all that work they did in preparation, he certainly hadn’t really thought through how to handle the intermissions.

Saber is out getting rations for them after a scouting run. Which is great! But also, now that the guy isn’t really on-the-mission-clock, so to speak, Bucky feels like keeping quiet is akin to giving him a cold shoulder. Less great considering they’re teamed up and trust is important on assignments like this. He’s been polite and easy to work with the entire time, something Bucky hadn’t anticipated but certainly appreciated greatly. Maybe if the state of their current task were any more dire, it’d be easy to brush off the silence, argue that focus is the most important and not chatter, but. The reality is, babysitting Marat for the next few days is going to be a cake walk for the two of them; the most difficult part of their mission has long passed.

He gives another peek toward their unknowing captive, mumbling to himself and seemingly settling for rest, curled against cold, wet bricks. The upside of watching over some guy who’s half outta his mind is that whispers are the least cohesive thing to their senses.]

Hey, Saber. [Classy start, Barnes. He keeps his voice quiet, obviously not wanting to rouse their dozing target.] What’s your home like? Where you came from, I mean.

Comments

[gerechtigkeit]

[For Siegfried, working alone or pairing with another has never really been that different for him. More often than not during his life, he fought alone- a hero meant for great things, a man who could conquer an entire kingdom overnight at the request of his brother-in-law. He'd led armies as well, had worked alongside men who saw him as their saving grace, an assure promise of victory in battle.

But working alongside someone as two people is still something relatively new to him. Despite his teamwork with Berserker against Rider and Archer, he hadn't said a word to her. Of course, had he been allowed to, it might have been a different story- the two of them could have at least communicated in a way that might have had the battle end differently. Still, he agreed to his Master's orders of not being able to speak with no qualms, and adhered to them even in battle.

This isn't a battle, however, which leaves them time to kill and for Siegfried to get used to his teammate. It's odd to him still, how they can easily work together after planning, and not waste much time. So, obviously, chatter becomes a necessity in order to make sure things don't drag out or seem too long.

He just really wishes he wasn't so bad at it.]

Hm? [He can hear Bucky on the other end as he's walking back through the sewers, eyes attentive to where he's going.] It's... not Paris, obviously. Older. The buildings and homes are smaller. [How does he do this without really giving away who he is? Siegfried pauses.] Some of them were, at least. [Another pause, and he exhales.] It also depended on where you went- being a knight required me to travel often.

[He figures that's at least a start.]

[lefthandfree]

[The fact he needs to adapt to others not only being from different places but different times is still very new, yet discovering the differences is nonetheless fascinating. By look alone, he wouldn’t have been able to know this of Saber, though now, with the knowledge of him having been a knight, the name holds so much more impact for him.]

A knight, huh? [He smiles wistfully to himself, adjusting his legs as he leans back against the wall to look up in thought. There was a time when he and Steve had loved playing knights, darting between back allies as if on some epic quest, sometimes conceived of their own imaginations. It’s a bittersweet thought, recalling those moments so clearly now, knowing what they’ve become. Bucky can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like had they really lived in those days. Would they have seen a different end? Found another path?

Even as he asks these, he doesn’t want to find the answers.]

So you got to see castles and stuff like that too, right? And travelled by horse?

[gerechtigkeit]

[He'll learn to adapt easily enough, so long as he's asked to work with others, he'll have no qualms. He honestly has no idea what to expect- with a Servant, it was easy to understand that their Master was the one they would fight for, and protect. Siegfried imagines it's similar here, but the work done in order to change time and protect others has already shaped up to be... well. Not quite what he was thinking of.

He hears the other acknowledge about his life as a knight, and he stops just for a second, before realizing that Bucky is just asking out of curiosity, not out of wanting to possibly sabotage him. His paranoia really is excessive at times, and his doubt just makes it worse.]

Castles weren't the only things I saw- there were fortresses and walls, as well. Most of the time they were heavily defended. [To keep invaders out or possible heroes like him away, he doesn't know.] And yes, I traveled by horse, as it was the quickest way for us to move.

[lefthandfree]

[Likely it’d come as jarringly strange for Siegfried as it was his reality, but with his verbal affirmation, Bucky feels a sudden giddiness toward the notion, that there were real knights, real kingdoms and fortresses, and that the hours of chatter he’d made with Steve in their childhood had been reality somewhere, even if it had only been fiction for them.

He surprises himself by needing to actually fight the urge to respond too cheerfully with this new information. Because that’s Creepy. And probably Inappropriate for building trust.]

I’m a soldier myself, so I know how it is to have orders and all, but... What’s that like? Did you serve a king or queen? Have to go all over cause you were needed lots of places?

[And after a moment of afterthought because he doesn’t want Saber to think he’s trying to interrogate him,] —ah you don’t have to all that. If it’s personal or anything. I’m just... I’m from a lot further in the future. Curious cause things aren’t like that when I’m from.

[gerechtigkeit]

[Luckily for Bucky, this isn't the first time he's been pulled into a time that differs from his own. It helps that in being a Servant, he's made aware of the current state of the world whenever they go somewhere.]

I serve a king and queen, but- [How does he explain this, hm.] My choices and actions were my own. I was more a representation of their will. [And he didn't mind, it let him move freely and without being held back in places where stating that he was a prince might have.] I traveled mostly for my own sake; if not to assist others, then it was to meet someone I wished to see.

[His wife is a prime example of that.]

It's fine, I don't mind. And I'm familiar with the future. [Ah, that sounds odd, doesn't it?] ...It's complicated.

[lefthandfree]

[Frankly, if the guy’s from the past and is also familiar with the future, then, yeah, that definitely also qualifies as complicated in Bucky’s view, especially being something of a similar sort himself. Not that Saber’s case seems remotely at the same minuscule scale his apparently is by comparison.

Inhaling slowly, he lets out a thoughtful hum, caught between wanting to ask for clarification and switching to something less complicated that would still serve as tangential conversation.

He settles for the latter.]

I guess that makes all of this more complicated to you too then, huh? This...revolution we’re supposed to helping.

[gerechtigkeit]

[Miniscule or not, they're similar in that aspect- though his body is young, his soul is much older, one that adapts and fills him with the knowledge of the time he's summoned to. It helps, but that doesn't mean it's not awkward at times.]

A little. [A shift, and he reaches for the nearby wall as a method of counting the correct amount of turns.] I've heard of other revolutions, but haven't seen one myself. [A beat.] Most of my confusion is the more modern terminology spoken, if anything.

[....slang, he means slang. LORD HELP HIM.]