lucetilogs | House of M - The Beginning

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House of M - The Beginning

Who: Billy Kaplan + Anyone who wants to be involved in the House of M Plot + Related CR + Anyone Really
What: Um. The House of M Plot.
When: October 1st-7th
Where: Literally anywhere in Luceti, yo
Summary: Billy returns from a kidnapping feeling a bit, er, different. A white light envelops the village for just a moment, and when it fades... well. All kinds of things are different, actually.
Rating: Varies, anything above R take it elsewhere!

Still accepting last minute sign-ups, if anyone is interested.

It starts off so innocently, early on the morning of October 1st. A burst of light, a warm rush of energy that consumes everything it touches, and it's gentle enough to feel like stepping out into sunlight from the shade. It's so brief that some people might not even notice it happened. But there are certainly... differences. Some subtle, some not. And those changed won't even understand the problem.

After all, why would perfection be a problem?

The truth is, there are no problems. There can't be. It's perfect, Billy thinks. Believes it. His belief is his reality, and now, it's their reality. It all has to be perfect; they deserve it, all of them, for one reason or another. And he'll do whatever he has to protect that perfection from being tainted, ruined, taken away from them.

Teddy died so this could happen, after all.

So what is your new reality?

((first two threads reserved for the intro thread and billy's status; after that consider this log a free-for-all.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm taking my break!

[Bucky drops into the chair across from him.]

Max, what the heck is going on with you, man? You alright?

[Max raises an eyebrow at him, meeting his gaze squarely.]

I'm fine. I'm not the one you should be asking that question.

You wanna string me along some more? 'Cuz I love the suspense. [He kicks Max under the table.] Out with it.

[Max chews on his lip for a moment, looking serious.]

It is possible, y'know, to rewrite reality. What if someone had done it, but they'd fixed things so you'd never even know? So things had always been like you think they are now. Except the people outside the spell know differently.

[Bucky stops cold, his expression hardening in an instant.]

Tell me you're not messing around with that stuff, Max.

[Max goes pale and looks a little sick at that question.]

Me? Hell no. Once was more than enough and that was an accident.

It isn't me, Barnes. But things are different here. And you haven't noticed a thing, have you?

You accidentally messed with reality?

[His immediate instinct is to deny it. Nothing is different. In fact, things at Luceti used to be worse with all the strange experiments, but those stopped long ago and at least no one was ever really hurt.

Still, he remembers them.] Spell it out for me. What's different?

I... I didn't even know I could, when it happened. I was terrified and... it was bad, okay?

[this isn't supposed to be turned around onto him. It isn't about him. He takes a breath and meets Bucky's eyes.]

You know I don't remember you getting married right? Neither does Jack or Eugene. Because you weren't this time last week.

[Bucky is getting a headache just thinking about how something like that happens.

His lips press together in a thin line and he shakes his head.]

Are you kidding me? You were all at my wedding. Gene caught the goddamn garter. Look, I get that you believe what you're sayin' here, but maybe the Malnosso decided they were bored again and it's you guys who got a little messed up.

It. Never. Happened. If you asked Jack or Gene, they'd say the same thing.

When exactly did this wedding happen? How long do you even think you've been in Luceti?

[Maybe later, Bucky won't be proud of how he responds to that. He asked for it, after all, and it's not Max's fault if he's a bit turned around. But the reason this gets him is, he can't completely convince himself that Max is the one who's turned around.

Bucky is married to the girl he loves. He has a daughter who plays with the neighbor kids, has watched them all grow up together. He's never been happier. He also doesn't want to think about a world where they're not a family. Where, for some reason, he never asked and Natasha never said yes.]

Get out of here, Max.

[He winces at that, sighing and leaning back in his chair, arms folded stubbornly over his chest as he looks back at Bucky.]

You're not even going to listen. Of course not. Why did I ever even... forget it. Just... forget I said anything. But I'm sorry. For when it ends.

[Because it would. Because it was wrong, because something this elaborate couldn't be sustained forever, not when other people knew about it.]

[Bucky doesn't even remember the last time he was this angry. He's not really the type to let things get under his skin, but this - this gets right down to his bones.

Max planting himself in the chair doesn't help at all. For a second, he thinks maybe he really wants to start a fight with the reality bending wizard because there's nothing he'd like more than to leave a bruise on that smug, pretty face; but even as his hands curl into fists against the table top, he knows he can't. He has his family to think about first. Always.

So instead of saying what he wants to, he swallows.]

Please. Leave.

Edited 2013-10-15 20:21 (UTC)

[It drags a frustrated noise out of him, all sorts of bad memories brought back up. He hates not being believed, he hates being told no and that goes double, triple, when he knows he's right. He grabs his things, shoves them into a bag and winds a few of the threads around his fingers. Just in case.]

This is so far out of your realm of experience you have no idea. But it is in mine. This is my life, Barnes. I don't hold back.

This is my life and you don't know a damn thing about it. If this is a dream, why the hell would I ever want to wake up?

Because it isn't real! It's about as real as any of the shifts the Malnosso put us through. I didn't see you clamouring for those to stick around.

It's a pretty film set, and you're following a script.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Way I'm feeling right now, it would be a mistake for it to try.

[Bucky doesn't answer, but from the tense line of his shoulders and the way he looks at Max, he couldn't be asking him to leave any louder if he was shouting it.]

[Max gives him a hard look and he kind of desperately wants to do something, wants to fight or argue or something to make Bucky see the truth. But there's nothing he can do. Nothing that would help anyway, not right now. He heads towards the door, shoulders taut and tense. He pauses as he passes Bucky, just out of arm's reach.]

The accident I mentioned. There's a friend of mine back home, who never existed.

According to you, he and my family have that in common.

I get your point. I don't want to hear it.

Never took you for the sort to close your eyes and live a pretty lie.

[She doesn't know what they're arguing about and she's not particularly sure she cares, except that it's in her cafe and they're getting louder and she can tell from Bucky's posture that things are escalating very quickly.

She does hear that last jab from Max as she approaches and there's part of her that almost coolly lets her husband punch him for saying something like that, even if she doesn't know the context. But no, this is still her cafe and there are customers here and the last thing Rue needs to hear about after school is how her Papa got into a fistfight in town.

So her hand is there to grab Bucky's wrist in a firm grip before he goes for Max, stepping between them and making a physical barrier she doubts either of them are going to be so eager to push past, leveling them both with an unimpressed look.]

Hello, boys. Do we have a problem?

[The 'you're about to' is unspoken but very strongly implied.]

[Bucky jerks against her hand - not because he's trying to fight her, but because she stops him mid-motion. He doesn't go any further than that, the snarl on his lips fading as he meets his wife's cool gaze. He slowly becomes aware of the fact that they're making a scene. After that last comment, he finds all of two reasons to care about that. One of them is obviously very real, and none too pleased.

He steps back.]

We don't. Max was just leavin'.

[He freezes when Natasha comes over, stepping between them to block them from each other. His expression is entirely stubborn, his arms around his bag defensively. He feels kind of like he had back then, trying to convince his brother that he wasn't crazy, that he wasn't just suffering damage from his coma.]

No problem that anyone wants to see at least.

Re: Any Day for Bucky

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/threadjacks all smoothlike

hi honey

Re: hi honey