CRACKING BONES // MANIPULATION AFTERMATH

[buckingham barnes]

[ aftermath of this thread: https://beastsofbeyond.com/index.php?topic=8933.0 (lol forgot that) & retro to recent captures ]

Oh god, Bucky isn't sure he's ever been so afraid in his life until now. He can still hear his heartbeat in his ears, and feel it thump in his chest. His paw steps were shaky as Steve pulled him out of the situation, feeling mentally and physically drained. While on the outside, it looked like Stryker barely laid a claw on the Helion, Bucky practically fought for his life. For the entirety of Sunhaven. Bucky wanted to get to his house, find his bed and just collapse, but he couldn't get himself to make it all the way there.

The sun rising due east, if members weren't woken by the commotion, they would wake soon. There was no point to going to sleep- anyways despite how drained he feels, there's no way he'll get any well rest. He nearly got manipulated into the Winter Soldier, that isn't something he can just sleep away at! The Helion sat down near the fountain, eyes still gleaming with fear- as if the tom feared Stryker would burst into camp and have a second go at Bucky's mind. The maine coon was so deep into his petrified thoughts that he physically jolted at the gentle prod of an npc. His gaze snapped over to them, eyes filling with alarm. This seemed to frighten the npc, clarified they wanted to know if Bucky wanted them to do anything about the Pittian Adrent. His gaze dropped, eyes looking down at his front paws. "Double check the territory and border, make sure he's out of our territory," He murmured, to which the npc gave a nod and ran off.

As soon as the npc ran out of sight, his shoulders were quick to hunch. His metal claws began to dig into the boardwalk, his bushy tail twitching back and forth. "He nearly manipulated me...," The former assassin muttered to himself, unaware that members nearby could hear him. If they weren't there to witness the attack, a seemingly terrified, breaking down leader should send some nervous shivers down their spines.

[STEVE]

[align=center][div style="max-width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 1.4;letter-spacing:.1px"]Bruises weren't the worst thing that could happen to somebody. Sometimes they were, and there was nothing wrong with that -everyone had different pain thresholds, different tolerance levels- but physical wounds would heal eventually. They might scar, but they could be hidden, if need be. Emotional and mental trauma were...on their own levels. Steve didn't personally know what it was like for someone to root around in his head and strip away everything he was in a crude attempt to remake him into something else, but minds were sanctuaries. Places people were supposed to be secure in, and from what he'd seen, Stryker had tried to violate that, had tried to violate Bucky, and even though the stranger had bought time for Steve and Bucky to leave, that didn't fix damage done in those moments before. Steve didn't know very much about Bucky's history, tried to ignore whatever he heard that came down the grapevine because it just wasn't right to know a man's personal business, but there was obviously past associations with...manipulation.

Steve wished he could've gotten to him sooner.

He wasn't scared of him, though, even being unaware of what Bucky might be able to do. If they gave him a wide berth and treated him like someone ready to snap at any second, that'd just make it worse, wouldn't it? Treating him like he was something to be feared, when Steve didn't believe that was true.

"But he didn't," the smaller feline said, quiet yet firm, "and if he tries again, we'll just have to be ready for him. Seems like a hard guy to miss." He glanced down at the boardwalk, where Bucky's claws made gouges in wood.

[venus]

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(set right after the thread i havent finished yet where venus gets all there memories back about buck and ximen,,, i know i should make that but i dont want it to be any crappier than it is going to be so ill make it when its not 2 in the morning lmao)

downing as many painkillers possible without causing inadvertent death, battling a killer migraine only now settling in the dust and allowing the kitsune to see things once again - to say that venus had already been awoken before the sun's shining call would be an understatement. coming to grips with the overload of information that had flooded their mind in the midst of another attack, venus kept to themselves in the confines of their temporary settlement in the trashed sunhaven territory, unprepared to handle the sights and sounds of the outside world just quite yet. a simple comfort in which venus had been rather hoping to hold on to for at least five minutes more.

commotion outside drew venus' attention from their self-pity party in the remains of their earlier migraine attack, sapphire eyes scrunching up in despair of the voices emanating from outside. of course it was him. no, that thing! that's what it was, that was what it would always be. just a mindless machine, designed for serving a cruel man who utilised the machine to keep his other subjects under his thumb to ascend his way to ultimate power. when venus looked up to the thing that they now had to respect as their "leader", all they can see is the machine sent out to discipline the youthful espionage agent with an iron fist. maybe if venus tried really hard, they could fall back asleep? yet the teen knew, sleep long had escaped them, there was no way other than forward now.

draping a shawl along their cold shoulders, venus stepped outside their abode, baby blue gaze locking on to the panting and distressed forms of bucky and steve, the ones no doubt making the ruckus that had forced venus to venture outside. ugh. did they have to be so loud and obnoxious? no one was forcing them with a knife to be this loud, and if someone was truly following bucky surely unless they were feral or stupid then they wouldn't dare follow him to the lands of sunhaven. the helion was too worked up, too melodramatic for venus' liking, and wasn't about to turn the other cheek.

'he nearly manipulated me..' who? why? where? how was a no-brainer - from the gathered information venus could recall it was no tremendous feat to manipulate bucky into submission. again, he was made a slave, moulded to be a mindless thing that obeyed commands and orders sent for missions to further his master's benefit. without ximen around the soldier was probably thirsty for something to do, someone to obey. it was a miracle that the group had even half a man to lead them nowadays.

only one came drawling out of their mouth. "wow."

[align=center]tags

[Stryker]

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[glow=#000,2,300]☣ —[/glow] tracking!!