so in terms of my second experience with aliens ever, i can't say this one was that great.
[ he and sam had been sent out in response to a baffling distress call. when SHIELD explained that they thought it was aliens, sam had sent bucky a Look which made bucky fling an empty paper cup of coffee at the other man. "androids, aliens, wizards," sam had said again with a waggle of his eyebrows. "every damn time."
which is how the pair of them wound up fighting off horrible screaming things that kept trying to attach themselves to people's faces. one had latched onto bucky's vibranium arm, its mouthparts digging uselessly at the metal. he'd thought maybe they were related to tiny chitauri leviathans, but apparently there were more things and other kinds of aliens in heaven, earth, and space— as evidenced by the RAC agents who had showed up, and shown them how to neutralise the beasts. helped bail their asses out of the fire. ]
just think, soldier boy these were only the babies
[ baby aliens of an invasive species that, as far as dutch can tell, is intent on conquering the universe, terraforming planets to their particular brand of hellhole, and wiping out all of humanity.
she's not a fan. hasn't been since before she started a war because of their mother, really. (well, and her own sister/mother, but that's a whole other story and she's not going to get into that, thank you.) ]
sincerely, then: what the fuck. what are the adults like, and how much would i not want to meet one?
[ her suggestion is casual and easy enough but it makes him hesitate for a second, wondering— he couldn't even say the last time he went and bought drinks for a pretty woman. but drinks for a battlefield compatriot? that, he knows how to do. ]
what kind of drinks do suave, heroic secret agents from space like to drink?
[ he does a double-take at that one. sarcastic and mildly horrified: ]
cool. very cool. earth already fought off one alien invasion in broad daylight, so i guess maybe it was our turn to field an invasion of the body snatchers one.
and you might regret being that open-minded, just so you know. i've had some horrible swill in my time. like, moonshine-in-the-trenches level swill.
does that mean you go around politely cutting people to verify their blood? just asking out of, y'know, logistics.
and i might know a good hole-in-the-wall in new york that'll fit the bill. are you guys okay with being around in public on this planet?
[ you guys; leaving open the dangling possibility that she might want to drag her crew along. just in case he misinterpreted the one-on-one invitation. ]
nothing polite about it, usually, but yeah, sometimes. when there's doubt, yeah
i'm leaving the kids on the ship, but that's because they can't hold their liquor, not because they can't be trusted hanging around on strange planets that have barely discovered space travel
[ "the kids", like they aren't trained rac agents -- but the truth is that dutch is their leader and responsible for them and anything she gets them into, she'll get them out of, but they're not team awesomeforce, they're not hers the way johnny and d'avin and the rest of them were.
hey, the planet might be strange as hell but they did discover spaceflight a whole like 60 years ago.
[ which probably pales in comparison to the rest of the universe, but he can't help but stick up for earth just a little, teasingly. ]
guessing that's a hint that you can hold your liquor? i'm not trying to be an obnoxious showoff about this, either, but fair warning i'm an expensive drunk. enhanced metabolism.
although the rounds are on me, since i'm guessing you don't have local currency.
[ not. impressed. not that dutch has any right to take pride in spaceflight when she barely knows how a ship even functions. but hey, that's what nerds are for. and ship ais. ]
intriguing. but i think i can hold my own, yeah.
and you'd be buying even if i had what passes for joy around here. but i don't, so you're definitely buying. [ joy, of course, being the currency in the quad. ]
fair point. it's not like i've even been to space, so not sure why i'm even trying to argue it. [ answer: because bucky is a little shit and being contrary is his way of being friendly. ]
you're dutch, right? was kind of hard to hear the names between all the yelling.
[ and even after all these years, there's still a ghost of the polite midcentury boy there, a metaphorical tip of the hat: yes, ma'am. but then, a second later, although he should really get started on finding that dive bar and sending her directions, the curiosity gets the better of him first: ]
depends whether you mean in actual space or if planets count because pree's bar in old town, hands down, but that's planetside
i don't really care about space all that much one way or the other guy i know, johnny, now he's ready to cream his pants every time there's an asteroid, but that's not me
planets totally count. i've never been to another planet.
which means i guess i might be more in your pal johnny's camp about asteroids, but if i'm ever out there, i'll try to maintain my dignity
what's good about pree's bar? maybe i can try to find somewhere similar here
[ he is, secretly, a nerd. he's trying to play it cool but of course he would lose it over spaceโ even normal commercial airflight had been a relative novelty in his day. ]
if you make it worth my while, maybe i'll let you tag along for a little joyride to the nearest asteroid field might even give you a moment of privacy, if you need it real bad
[ dignity, what dignity? ]
i drink for free at pree's and i know the joint
[ it used to be something akin to home, as close to the notion as dutch knew how to let herself come. ]
[ she is and isn't and this probably isn't fair, but dutch wasn't raised to be fair. (she was raised to be a weapon, a killer, the kind of person who'd survive the transition to hullen, but that's neither here nor there.) ]
[ had he stolen a moment, during the whole 'oh dear fucking god an alien is trying to eat my face' chaos, to still pause and admire how the newcomer handled herself in a fight? yep. sure did. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
for ~motivation.
[ he and sam had been sent out in response to a baffling distress call. when SHIELD explained that they thought it was aliens, sam had sent bucky a Look which made bucky fling an empty paper cup of coffee at the other man. "androids, aliens, wizards," sam had said again with a waggle of his eyebrows. "every damn time."
which is how the pair of them wound up fighting off horrible screaming things that kept trying to attach themselves to people's faces. one had latched onto bucky's vibranium arm, its mouthparts digging uselessly at the metal. he'd thought maybe they were related to tiny chitauri leviathans, but apparently there were more things and other kinds of aliens in heaven, earth, and space— as evidenced by the RAC agents who had showed up, and shown them how to neutralise the beasts. helped bail their asses out of the fire. ]
still, though. think we owe you some thanks.
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these were only the babies
[ baby aliens of an invasive species that, as far as dutch can tell, is intent on conquering the universe, terraforming planets to their particular brand of hellhole, and wiping out all of humanity.
she's not a fan. hasn't been since before she started a war because of their mother, really. (well, and her own sister/mother, but that's a whole other story and she's not going to get into that, thank you.) ]
you can pay me back in drinks
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[ her suggestion is casual and easy enough but it makes him hesitate for a second, wondering— he couldn't even say the last time he went and bought drinks for a pretty woman. but drinks for a battlefield compatriot? that, he knows how to do. ]
what kind of drinks do suave, heroic secret agents from space like to drink?
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[ drinks for a battlefield compatriot. drinks with a goodlooking guy who knows how to fight. is there a difference?
(dutch has hang-ups, but this has never been one of them.) ]
the alcoholic kind
beyond that, i'm not all that picky
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cool. very cool. earth already fought off one alien invasion in broad daylight, so i guess maybe it was our turn to field an invasion of the body snatchers one.
and you might regret being that open-minded, just so you know. i've had some horrible swill in my time. like, moonshine-in-the-trenches level swill.
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all you need to know is that if someone bleeds, they're human. if there's green goo, you're fucked.
never heard of moonshine, but it can't be worse than some of the algae brew i've had before pree started stocking the good shit
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and i might know a good hole-in-the-wall in new york that'll fit the bill. are you guys okay with being around in public on this planet?
[ you guys; leaving open the dangling possibility that she might want to drag her crew along. just in case he misinterpreted the one-on-one invitation. ]
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i'm leaving the kids on the ship, but that's because they can't hold their liquor, not because they can't be trusted hanging around on strange planets that have barely discovered space travel
[ "the kids", like they aren't trained rac agents -- but the truth is that dutch is their leader and responsible for them and anything she gets them into, she'll get them out of, but they're not team awesomeforce, they're not hers the way johnny and d'avin and the rest of them were.
and she really wants that drink. ]
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[ which probably pales in comparison to the rest of the universe, but he can't help but stick up for earth just a little, teasingly. ]
guessing that's a hint that you can hold your liquor?
i'm not trying to be an obnoxious showoff about this, either, but fair warning i'm an expensive drunk. enhanced metabolism.
although the rounds are on me, since i'm guessing you don't have local currency.
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[ not. impressed. not that dutch has any right to take pride in spaceflight when she barely knows how a ship even functions. but hey, that's what nerds are for. and ship ais. ]
intriguing. but i think i can hold my own, yeah.
and you'd be buying even if i had what passes for joy around here. but i don't, so you're definitely buying. [ joy, of course, being the currency in the quad. ]
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you're dutch, right? was kind of hard to hear the names between all the yelling.
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yeah, i'm dutch
some bits of space are cooler than others
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[ and even after all these years, there's still a ghost of the polite midcentury boy there, a metaphorical tip of the hat: yes, ma'am. but then, a second later, although he should really get started on finding that dive bar and sending her directions, the curiosity gets the better of him first: ]
you got a favorite place in space?
[ what a weird question. what a weird life. ]
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because pree's bar in old town, hands down, but that's planetside
i don't really care about space all that much one way or the other
guy i know, johnny, now he's ready to cream his pants every time there's an asteroid, but that's not me
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which means i guess i might be more in your pal johnny's camp about asteroids, but if i'm ever out there, i'll try to maintain my dignity
what's good about pree's bar? maybe i can try to find somewhere similar here
[ he is, secretly, a nerd. he's trying to play it cool but of course he would lose it over spaceโ even normal commercial airflight had been a relative novelty in his day. ]
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might even give you a moment of privacy, if you need it real bad
[ dignity, what dignity? ]
i drink for free at pree's
and i know the joint
[ it used to be something akin to home, as close to the notion as dutch knew how to let herself come. ]
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i'm easy
[ she is and isn't and this probably isn't fair, but dutch wasn't raised to be fair. (she was raised to be a weapon, a killer, the kind of person who'd survive the transition to hullen, but that's neither here nor there.) ]
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[ yep, that's 100% her take-away here ]
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[ had he stolen a moment, during the whole 'oh dear fucking god an alien is trying to eat my face' chaos, to still pause and admire how the newcomer handled herself in a fight? yep. sure did. ]
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you weren't too bad yourself, sugarpants
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i give you "badass", and you give me "sugarpants"
[ he acts affronted, but he's amused. ]
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trying to get used to it, honey...tits?
[ -- nevermind that sounds terrible ]
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