( bucky obeys silently, hands going where she needs them to: clutching the cloth, applying pressure, holding the equipment so she can work. he's used to taking orders, used to being patched up on WWII battlefields and clandestine HYDRA missions alike. the only ever difference was the scale and the scope of it. blood and bone was blood and bone, and bodies had to cobbled back together somehow.
his gaze is still distant, faraway, retreating from himself while karen works. the bite of the needle into his flesh, that surreal little tug of the thread as she laces his skin back together. he doesn't really seem to notice it. he's been through much worse.
he does crane his head, though, glancing back over his shoulder to squint thoughtfully at her while she keeps talking. )
So this is, what, you going digging? You gonna want an exclusive afterwards?
( he's half-joking — a bitter, mordant kind of humour — but there's also a thread of curiosity and faint suspicion humming beneath it all. because maybe it explains some things. why a woman might take in a strange man and then, more importantly, still be fine with him in her presence even after learning who he really is. that metal arm like an identifying badge stamped on his flesh, and which he can't get rid of.
honestly, as far as payment for rescuing him goes, an interview wouldn't even be too terrible. )
no subject
his gaze is still distant, faraway, retreating from himself while karen works. the bite of the needle into his flesh, that surreal little tug of the thread as she laces his skin back together. he doesn't really seem to notice it. he's been through much worse.
he does crane his head, though, glancing back over his shoulder to squint thoughtfully at her while she keeps talking. )
So this is, what, you going digging? You gonna want an exclusive afterwards?
( he's half-joking — a bitter, mordant kind of humour — but there's also a thread of curiosity and faint suspicion humming beneath it all. because maybe it explains some things. why a woman might take in a strange man and then, more importantly, still be fine with him in her presence even after learning who he really is. that metal arm like an identifying badge stamped on his flesh, and which he can't get rid of.
honestly, as far as payment for rescuing him goes, an interview wouldn't even be too terrible. )