[Bucky. That shape is Bucky. He didn't notice at first when he spotted him—and he did, once he started to come his way—but the outline becomes clear before he stops and speaks.]

And you kidding me?

[He calls it back from where he is, mouth twisted with disbelief. Just seeing a figure was enough to have him stop and watch, waiting, debating what to do or how to escape if he had to, even with the glow to his eyes that became apparent with proximity.]

Do you really think you're the guy I'd want fussing over me if I were injured?

[He doesn't look particularly harmed. Still, tension is wound tight as a spring throughout his posture.]

Talk to me when people aren't trying to kill me, Jay. You're enough to make a man paranoid on a normal day, and today is definitely not that.

[He'd be kinder if times were different. He really, really would like an honest chance for a do-over, to see if Bucky could act more peaceable and trusting in his presence after the talks they've had, but right now his mind only brings up memories of how it was at the aquarium and the state Watson was in. He watches him without daring to look away.]

I ran into some, yeah. One tried to kill me. But I'm not dead, am I, and if I was hurt that badly you would see it.

[His blood glows, for one thing.]

[Seeing Natasha in person is strange. He knows her, has seen her before over the network, but most of their communications have been in text and audio. He'd appreciate it more if the circumstances were different. Even with the telling glow of her eyes he can't relax.]

I'm fine.

[His tone is clipped. He doesn't look injured, but his posture is mistrustful and tightly wound.]

Do you have any idea what's going on? First that pain, then our eyes glowing, now the snow is stopped in midair and I can't even feel the cold. I shouldn't even be this far east yet, but coming this way felt like the only smart thing to do.

[He follows the motion. It helps a little, but not as much as it should. A knife in her belt is still a knife right in reach. And sure, his logical mind doesn't believe she would hurt him. His logical mind knows that glowing eyes haven't imparted him with any desire to harm people, and that Natasha's likely the same. But after a week of paranoia, a few days of Al's (and then Ed's) clanking in his ear, and the tension of waiting for anomalies with such a large travel group, his stress is tied into him like a knot. He can't trust yet. Tonight's not over yet.]

If you've read up on old posts as much as you say you have, you know we can't trust our perceptions, and that this isn't the first time anyone's ever felt like time is acting weird. Besides, my thing was jumping through time, not stopping it.

[The only person he knows who could is Homura, and she did nothing weird before it started. It's not really why he asked. Something like this needs a reason, but he doesn't remotely know what it is.]

And yeah, I have. Most of my group got the new headlights installed, but then I ran into Jim. You remember the eyes that kept plastering themselves everywhere during the static? He had them. He tried to kill me.

[By now at least one person has tried to hunt himself a Christmas turkey crow, so when House lists the danger, he knows exactly what he means. Still, the warning does not settle him.]

[Coming east may have felt like the right choice when he's been able to move as fast as he has, but it sits sour in his stomach that even if he makes it through the night, it will be those damn dolls with that same symbol that he has to look for. He finds, too, that he really doesn't like the tunnels. They are creaky and claustrophobic, awkward to move through when he has wings at his back and no legs for leverage.]

So what, you're being helpful now?

[He'd be more grateful, but he gets prickly when he's stressed, and his current level is a hell of a fucking lot.]

[Davesprite's patience ran out a while ago, so they're on even footing there. But he's not so far gone down the paranoid spiral that he can't listen to the actual words House is saying. And dick or not, the man's never given off real harmful intent.]

Not even a little.

[So, he's going to make House be helpful. He's had his tablet out already to keep the map in mind, but the split tunnels are a confusing labyrinth to wander through. He floats over closer and holds it out.]

Which apartment is the one you mean? I don't want to have to rely on my best guess and get myself murdered by accident.

[Tony isn't someone Davesprite expected to run across, but normal expectations are out the window tonight. They shouldn't even be outside at this hour, the snow shouldn't be hanging still in the air, and neither of their eyes should look the way they do. Tony's prophet eyes are ones he's seen already on Jim, and that's would be enough to tell him 'watch out', even if not for every other part of his demeanor.]

East.

[It's true, but unspecific. As Tony stalks closer, Davesprite floats backward, matching his pace.]

How about you stop creeping over my way and tell me what you want?

[He would really rather not deal with a second attempt on his life tonight.]

[Oh, great, this again. It was nonsense enough coming from Jim, and just because Tony is repeating it doesn't make it any more believable. He keeps moving back, undeterred, because he knows Tony may well attack him if he gets close enough.]

Check a dictionary, broseph. You don't see any legs for running, do you? But maybe my hope's not over. Maybe if we get together and beg the admin real sweet she'll build me up a new pair of legs out of nanomachines and I can hightail it terrestrial style before you get your murder on. I haven't done a goddamn thing to Norfinbury, man.

[Davesprite has been careful as he can be in his trek. He can get where he wants faster than he has any right to, but everything in his mind has yelled caution at him. Keep watch, keep wary, keep ready: something's behind you. And as often as that something is just more snow and ruins, he doesn't let his guard down an inch.]

[It pays off once he sees someone coming. Some guy, a teenager, not a person he recognizes by looks. More important are the eyes. Al had the same ones, but his scarf hid them from view, and he fled too fast to learn anything more. The only thing that places him is his voice.]

Jim? What the hell happened to your eyes?

[Despite the concern in his voice, his posture is tense and ready to move.]

[He thought he could outmaneuver him. His mind's been warning him for days to watch out for people behind him, and he made excuses for it, but now he has real reason. Someone looking like a kid doesn't mean they can't be dangerous. And now that it's clear Andersen has been following, that he's not going to lose him so easily, he's turned to try to make him back off.]

[What he gets instead is taunting, but that's not the part he addresses.]

What the hell is wrong with your voice?

[Stupid question, maybe, but he can't help it. This kid looks 10 or so, but he sounds like a full grown man.]

[Davesprite by contrast has had more encounters than he'd care to count. Some were harmless—even helpful, like House's warnings—but he's meet those afflicted with the scrawled eyes of the prophet and the according mindset it brings. Jim tried to kill him once. If not for the same task-oriented mindset that let him finish Dave's quest when he was grievously wounded, he'd be a lot more freaked out.]

[Trying to investigate the tunnels turned out troublesome and tiring, though. Navigating is hard with his wings and tail, and too many doors are locked or just inaccessible this night. He doesn't know where to look, what to do, how to solve the stupid puzzle, and so resigned he has retreated back to the residential areas.]

[It's somewhere out here that Jade finds him. Her instincts are good enough that he doesn't even notice until she's already moving. He turns, halfway, almost, but her mass is slamming into him already, driving him down and back to skid a rut into the snow while he caws out alarm.]

[His arms come up, trying to shove away the body that's landed against him. It only takes a second more of looking for the features he's seeing to click.]

Jade? Jade, get off me!