the only comics characters who stay dead are b̶u̶c̶k̶y̶, ̶j̶a̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶d̶d̶, and uncle ben

[frostythehitman]

WHO: James Barnes and YOU!
WHERE: All over town
WHEN: 11/18 onwards
WHAT: James is back from the dead, freed from prison, and 20 years older! If this sounds like a shitshow, that's because it is.
WARNINGS: mention of suicide in the cause of death snippet


11/15: reports and posts on James's death (cw: mention of suicide, suicide note)



I. you could argue he is wearing a crop top (11/18 - 11/21-ish)

[ When most people move to a new city, it's kind of hard to tell--after all, with so many people around, it's easy to blend into the crowd.

However, this man....does not blend in at all. He wanders around, unevenly shaven and scruffy, wearing clothes so comically ill-fitting it almost begs the question how he even put them on. The way he ducks his head and tries to curl into himself as he walks makes him look suspicious.

What might be even more suspicious is the moment he pulls his hand out of his pocket for a brief moment to scratch at his jaw. The hand looks shiny and metallic. Maybe it's just something he's holding, maybe it's a trick of the eye--but it's definitely a strange one.

Eventually, though, he does need to ask a question, so he begins asking (either you or another stranger near you)-- ]

Hi, I need some help finding something.


II. neurotic coffee spinning (11/22 onwards)

[ By now, James has at the very least acquired a jacket to stand out a little less. He stands at Zee's ofrenda, studying every inch of the table like there's going to be a test on it later. He leans in to get a better look at some of the items, but doesn't touch them. And after a while, he places the coffee drink he'd been holding this whole time on the table, rotating it to try to figure out what angle it should be at. ]


III. your one-stop shop for impostor-ghost confrontations (11/22 onwards)

[ Is this actually the ghost of James Barnes? One might think so, with the way he keeps haunting all the places he used to go. He's spent hours going around the beach, the neighborhood just outside Fort McCoy, the buses he used to take to school, over and over again. He even used to loiter around by the high school sometimes, before he realized how bad and suspicious that looked. So now he hangs around the university instead, glancing over at the high school from down the block when it lets out every day.

The more he does it, the more he does actually start to get treated by people (and even other ghosts) as one of the dead himself. He's been trying to figure out how to get people to realize no, he's actually alive, but what is he supposed to do? James Barnes did die, and he doesn't know if he can go back to being that person.

While he's contemplating this one day, he finds a flyer posted up on one of Recolle U's bulletin boards advertising...a show being played at a tiny local venue by A Lyrical Assassination. ]

What the fuck?

IV. wildcard!

[ HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT. or hit me up over plurk to talk other prompts if you want! ]

Comments

11/17, locked to john egbert and dave strider

[frostythehitman]

[ This isn't where James intended to go, exactly.

It's more like, the hospital released him with barely any answers, and they live close enough to the hospital that James is able to stumble his way there without needing directions. (He thanks his summer self for memorizing like this entire neighborhood, even if it was for nefarious, probably-planning-to-kill-someone reasons.)

He knocks frantically on their front door, and when they open it, they'll see: one (1) James Barnes, allegedly dead, looking both tired and panicked all at the same time, with two wholly natural, flesh arms. ]

Uh. Hey guys.

[ NAILED IT. ]

[parodeity]

[ honestly, people come back from the dead in a lot in dave's experience. it's not even just his past life experience: he's mourned people here in recolle only to find out they were Just Fine, Actually, and it's.

well, it's sure a thing?

all the same his eyes widen slightly and he opens the door further. ]

Dude. You look like you need to sit down.

[ and he'll just, you know, step aside. it's a saturday, so he and john were pretty much just spending the day together. ]

[windeity]

[He'd been somewhere else in the house when James knocked and so by the time he appears at the front door Dave's already answered it and John's...just going to give him a Look because having been in James' body for longer than he'd liked, he automatically notices the flesh arms.

He has questions, but he just nods to himself and waits for him to come inside.]

Yeah, I'm gonna agree with that. Come, sit down...can I get you anything? [What the hell do you offer someone who apparently just came back from the dead?]

[frostythehitman]

[ James wastes no time in lumbering past the doorway and flopping onto the first piece of furniture that can be even vaguely construed as something to sit on. ]

I don't know. Whatever you get for someone who just came back from the dead.

...Water, I guess?

[parodeity]

Personally I'd go with AJ, but water is doable. [ there's a couch right inside! enjoy, james.

dave's gone in a woosh of flashstepping air, leaving john to speak up while he retrieves a glass of water. by the time john's finished with whatever he's about to say dave's back and handing james the glass, though. ]

[windeity]

Yeah, about that. [Dave's going to get the water and John follows James to the couch. He kind of has that Serious Dad look on his face because:] What'd I say about taking care of yourself, dude? What happened...?

[Like. He read the news, but he wants to hear the first person account and make sure things are Okay, actually.]

II

[argone]

[While he's rotating said cup, someone else arrives, heralded only by the soft crunch of boots on pavement. Kara steps up, not really even looking at James at first, setting down a small offering of flowers.]

Some guy, huh?

[Just an idle comment.]

[frostythehitman]

You knew him too?

[ He actually isn't sure how much of a life Zee had outside of Retrospec. Did he have friends and family who had nothing to do with the app? He must've, but James can't picture it. Like he himself was invented by the company.

He tilts his head to see who's here--they sound familiar--and tenses up at the sight of Kara. ]

Uh...oh.

...Wow, I thought you were taller.

[ He didn't mean to say that out loud, but, HERE WE ARE. Turns out, aging 20 years and sprouting up several inches in a single day really messes with your ability to both perceive people's heights as well as your decorum. ]

[argone]

[Kara's head bobs in a nod, not really sure what to say. she hadn't known Zee well, they'd only talked once, but it didn't seem right to not pay her respects.

Of course, her head jerks to the side when he comments on her height, confused. Because uh...]

...do I know you?

[frostythehitman]

[ He shouldn't be surprised that he has to reintroduce himself, but man is it surreal. Like he's been erased from the world and has to reintroduce himself all over again. (Like all those ghosts around town, har har.) He points a finger at himself. ]

It's James. Barnes, I mean. I know I look...different than usual. Sorry.

[ He doesn't know why he's apologizing, but he feels like he ought to. It's not technically his fault, but he is the one causing the confusion--and it's not like it's your average, everyday levels of confusion, either. ]

[argone]

[You know, if she couldn't literally hear his heartbeat (and that's disturbing) and hadn't actually taken the time to learn how heartbeats can give away lies? She'd probably punch him. Seriously, just punch him. Because that's not funny.]

...You died...though?

[She saw it in the paper.]

...and now you're older. What?

I

[standalonehuman]

James can be forgiven for not realizing that was Togusa, because he's seen better days, too. He isn't sure when he bought the blue hooded parka but it was there in his closet and he dragged it out on a whim. There's something about it that feels the antithesis of himself. Something anonymous.

And he needs that right now. He just re-solidified his identity just in time to wish he was anyone else. Anyone but the guy that couldn't get James Barnes out of jail before he died.

The burning need under his skin is familiar. Too familiar. But he doesn't have a convenient building with the offending Retrospec logo on it to go stand in front of, so he finds himself too damn close to the Wiffle Waffle. It takes someone walking up to him and asking him a question before Togusa actually pays attention to his surroundings. What is he even doing here?

"I-" Togusa raises his head and shifts the hood of the parka down, before he looks at the man who spoke.

He blinks once, coming out of a daze, and his mouth opens so slowly. "..Hello?"

[frostythehitman]

It comes as a shock to James that, out of all the people in this big, wide city, he'd run into Togusa without even knowing it. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, really--Togusa lives in Recolle the same as anyone else, wanders the same streets as anyone else, and has even more reason to be standing outside the Wiffle Waffle than most other people do anyway. He just...never thought he'd run into someone he actually knows out here. Like he's a stranger to the whole world, including himself, and there are no familiar faces left to see.

It completely short circuits his brain and he immediately forgets about the reason he was even wandering around asking strangers for help in the first place. James just squints at him, as if trying to verify he's real.

"...Togusa?"

[standalonehuman]

What the hell else can Togusa do but stare? For a second, it’s the wrong muscled-up cyborg bruiser that he is staring at. But he shakes his head, because it’s a different impossibility that his mind is telling him.

No. His brow sharply furrows and he takes a half-step back. “Who are you?” The words spill out of his mouth, confused. He doesn’t need the cyberbrain to tell him what he already knows, the features and voice that are right but wrong at the same time.

“You can’t-“ But damn if Togusa’s stupid bleeding heart wont try to hope for something impossible. Even if that hope could hurt him worse.

“Who are you?” More confident this time.

[frostythehitman]

Hell, if that doesn't sting. He shouldn't be surprised by this either--he's fully aware that he looks like a drastically different, much older person than he did just a few days ago. But it's another thing to have to explain who he is to someone who already knows him.

"I'm James. James Barnes." He doesn't know what else to offer up as proof, so he holds up his arm. "See?"

It looks exactly like the same metal arm James had been using before--although it looks more balanced and well-fitted now.

[standalonehuman]

He needed the confirmation, some piece of data outside of just the desperate wish of his heart, which is usually the primary thing that Togusa depends on. So many of Togusa’s wishes never even brush up against reality, let alone come true in their entirety. But this one did.

It’s him.

The whys and the hows and the god damn it Retrospecs can wait. Instead, James gets the split-second warning of Togusa’s stunned expression cracking before he is throwing his arms around James in the most desperate hug of his life.

Sorry your dad is embarrassing James

iii

[liberal_arts]

Not how I'd word it, but I find myself in agreement. That was a one-man show and said one man is in prison.

[ Kasen had wandered up while James had been staring, not recognizing him, but definitely took notice that it was that particular flyer that had caught his attention. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ He huffs at the blunt mention of where he should be. Or, where he was, now. Not like it was ever a secret, he assumed it must have made the news in some capacity or another. But it's one thing for the information to be out there in the wild, and another for it to just be presented to you without prompt. ]

Wow, so you just blurt that out to any old person you pass on the street, huh?

[liberal_arts]

Well it wasn't as if it was a big secret. [ At least Kasen hadn't thought it was, but what's more, who's THIS asshole to chide him for it. Kasen's shoulders square up, not that much shorter than the other man. ]

[frostythehitman]

Just because it's not a secret doesn't mean it's always relevant--

[ He grunts in annoyance. This is not the point. He shakes the flyer in his hand. ]

More importantly, who the hell is behind this?

[liberal_arts]

You ask as if I should know. This is as much news to me as it is to anyone.

... Were you actually a fan of his? [ Please don't word it like that, Kasen. ]

I.

[royaldifficulties]

[ Bart blinks slightly at the sight of the hand, and arm attached to it. That... seems familiar. And he frowns, ever so slightly, at the man wearing it. ]

Something? Sure...?

[frostythehitman]

[ He doesn't know why exactly this guy is frowning at him (and hasn't he met him before? James feels like he's definitely met this guy before, but he can't quite remember how, or where). But he isn't all that bothered by it. Frankly, if some other man came up to him looking this haggard and with clothes this spectacularly poor-fitting, he'd be pretty suspicious too. He holds his hands up and open a bit, almost in a pacifying gesture, trying to say "I'm not here to hurt you and don't have anything I can use against you."

Well. Aside from the robotic arm. But there's not much he can do about that. ]

I'm looking for one of those altars around town--but for Zee Carlisle, if you know him.

[royaldifficulties]

[ Bart shakes his head. ]

I don't - didn't? Not too sure, right now - know him personally, but I do know where the altar is. There was a post earlier - it's in Chata, near the animal shelter. Would you like to go alone, or should I come with you?

[ Bart wasn't frightened in the first place; the offer is honestly given. Not everyone has to deal with things like that alone.

And, no, he doesn't think it necessary to ask if the other man has the app. Going by the person he's mentioned, Bart thinks that's a given, even if his guess about the man's identity is wrong. ]

[frostythehitman]

Oh--I didn't see that post.

[ He hasn't really been able to read many of the posts for the past few months--with what limited connectivity time he had in prison, he couldn't really afford to just browse around. ]

...You can come if you want. But you don't have to.

[ He certainly doesn't want to pressure this stranger into following him, anyway. ]