#( reply queue; )

     The jarring CRACK of shots fired was far from a new sound to Bucky’s ears. Was, however, one he could’ve easily been happy never hearing again. Fat chance of that.

     the clear glass plant pot meets the counter-top with a soft clunk. ( clear, because bucky likes seeing the root structures, when they appear in the dirt. fibrous networks, no one exactly the same as another. he finds the intricate patterns visually stimulating. also... the clear ones were the cheapest. and extravagance is not a word that fits him well. )

     it’s a small pot. with a small plant. a succulent: short, young, shape vaguely reminiscent of a flower, particularly when viewed from above. raised by bucky himself, and, within the rules of plant life, probably able to give him a good contest at being hard to kill.

     “for you,” he says, with a small gesture. a tightening of his lips. 

five words.

                    why do I love you?

  Alice lies on her stomach, her face turned toward him although her eyes are closed. Her arm has trapped beneath her long enough that she can’t feel her fingers. But the price for being able to drift off is that she treads lightly through her dreams — stays in them, but just tenuously.

  This is to say, she’s not as asleep as he thinks she is.

                    why do I love you?

  In a second she’ll wish she pretended she didn’t hear him, but that’s after her heart stalls. Alice’s body rises and falls as she draws a deeper breath and releases it slowly. She knows better than to blame herself for whatever Dio is feeling. She can only love him her own way, not the way he’s used to. It confuses the hell out of him, which she doesn’t blame him for, either. She knows all this, but can’t help wishing —

  If she had made him happy, there would be no blame at all.

harry potter.

     “ … That a prophecy? Or just an observation.”

  Aniela’s skinny arms are currently clinging to her, as if for dear life. Alice hikes Aniela up higher on her hip before saying anything else.

     “I don’t know about much about souls.”   She knows her soul is in tatters. She’s pretty sure it’s going to hell. But Alice noses into the tight curls at the top of Aniela’s head.   “You know what’s gonna be just fine, monkey?”   The index finger of her free hand pokes Aniela gently in her tiny chest.   “What’s in here. Our hearts are on the mend, I think. I hope.”

  If you asked her if this gesture is for Aniela’s benefit — Aniela, who probably doesn’t really understand what she means — or for her own, she wouldn’t have a satisfying answer. So instead she smiles, and her hand moves to tickle the kid under her arms.

prince of egypt.

     She’s been told that before, although she couldn’t tell you who else said it. Probably more than one person, if she’s honest. But she has the faint memory of saying to someone else, Good — One of us has to.

  But that’s not what she says to Aphrodite. Because it may be true, but this time it doesn’t feel… honest. God. Lying on her stomach, Alice buries her head in her arms.   “Would you think more or less of me if you knew I tried to stop.”

     Her voice is nearly toneless, muffled into the bed and her arms and her hair.   “Just shut down. Once it was for days. Wouldn’t respond to orders… wouldn’t get up. I was punished for that. But I still cared. It was because I cared. If I hadn’t we would have been even more of a monster.”   It’s the most she’s said about the Reach in… longer than she can remember. But Aph already knows about the Reach, like she knows everything, and Alice is so tired. She’s so… tired.