oom + dual ep: a door from wakanda

[from_the_outside]

OOM: The morning after this:

During his first morning as a free man, Bucky speaks with Steve, makes an important call, and does his best to express his gratitude to T'Challa before heading to the lab for a consultation. And then...

"Did you mean what you said last night? About wanting to find a place for a drink, or to go dancing."

 

Featuring NPC versions of: King T'Challa, Princess Shuri, Okoye, Natasha Romanoff, and Steve Rogers (written prior to Steve's return to the bar).

---

The first figure to step through the door and into the Bar proper is a familiar one – tall, a little scruffy, shaggy brown hair, neatly pinned sleeve where his left arm would be – though the lightness in his eyes and in the way he carries himself is something new.

So is the woman whose hand he holds as he guides her through the door. She's tall and slim, dressed casually in light pants and a white tank top, and the look on her face is one of such comical surprise it's nearly dismay.

"Holy shit," says Sharon Carter. "You were not kidding."


Tinytag: Sharon Carter

OOC: After months of OOMs leading up to this point, here we are as Bucky and Sharon enter the bar together! Two pups, two muns, two wildly different timezones. Ask for either one or both. Slowtime is, as always, welcome, especially as we head into a holiday weekend in the States. Ping Lorna or Aspen if you have any questions!

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

"Sunny!" Bucky's answering smile is equally bright, and together they could light the room as he waves her over. "I want you to meet someone."

To Sharon, he says, "Remember I told you about the baker with the cinnamon rolls?"

[from_the_outside]

"No way," she laughs. "The cinnamon rolls from World War II? That was you?"

That's to the woman approaching, and Sharon grins again. "They must have been amazing, considering he's still talking about them seventy years later."

[sunbaked_baker]

"That was me!" she affirms, cheerfully including Sharon in the buoyant gladness carrying her forward. "Still is, too, Milliways being what it is."

Bucky is absolutely getting a well-telegraphed-beforehand but still fiercely glad hug from Sunshine, because her friend came back and is smiling with a lightness she hasn't seen on his face in... well, seventy-plus years, depending on how you count.

"Oh I'm glad to see you again."

[nerves_of_ice]

“It’s good to see you too,” he affirms, hugging her back. “And as you probably figured out, the procedure worked. Completely.”

[from_the_outside]

Sharon watches with a small, slightly bemused-but-pleased smile, and sips at the wine in front of her.

(It's helping.)

[sunbaked_baker]

"Yes!" Rae squeezes his hand before letting go. "I had been hoping..."

She had known that, if the procedure hadn't worked, she wouldn't have seen him again. Seeing him walk in again was all the confirmation Rae had needed.

"I don't mean to hog him," she adds, grinning at Sharon. "Just glad to get to see him again. I'm... Sunny, like Bucky said. Rae Seddon, more often called Sunshine."

[nerves_of_ice]

“The best baker in all the worlds,” he adds, “and a really good friend.”

[from_the_outside]

Sharon waves off the apology, fascinated by this whole concept.

(Bucky has friends, plural. A bunch of them. A whole other group of people who worry and care about him.)

"You're good," she assures the other woman. "I didn't know he had so many people waiting to see how everything went, or else we'd have come earlier."

God, she wouldn't wish a moment more of that stress and worry on anyone. "Sharon Carter. You don't happen to have any of those cinnamon rolls around, do you?"

Sharon loves cinnamon. And she skipped lunch.

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine's grin softens into a true smile. "Glad to meet you, Sharon Carter. It's good to know Bucky has folks watching his back, beyond the door."

And his front and sides too, as needed.

"But as to the question of cinnamon rolls, it just so happens that I do have a tray cooling from the ovens at the moment, just waiting to be iced," she offers, with a glance and crooked eyebrow at Bucky in case he'd like one too.

[nerves_of_ice]

"She really does, you know," Bucky tells Sunny, keeping his tone light, but with a look in his eyes that says he isn't kidding. At her offer, he grins, quick and bright.

"You know I'll never turn down your baking."

[from_the_outside]

Before Sharon can say anything else, her stomach rumbles. She puts a hand on it, amused.

"That sounds amazing. How much?"

Her hand goes instinctively to her pocket before she remembers she has no wallet and no cash; she hasn't needed to carry them in Wakanda, not unless she's going to the markets. She looks at Bucky. "Do you have any cash?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Nuh-uh, nope," Sunshine smiles, wryly waving away the idea with a flutter of her fingers. "These're celebratory cinnamon rolls."

There are reasons why neither Sunshine nor her stepfather handle the books at the coffeehouse. Both of them have that dominant feed-people gene. Making money is a far, far second to making good food for friends to enjoy.

[nerves_of_ice]

“The bar runs a tab for people, too,” he explains. “And can convert currency.”

His smile at Sunny is warm. “That’s really nice of you.”

[from_the_outside]

"That's really sweet," Sharon agrees, pleased and surprised in equal measure. She smiles over at Bucky.

"But I guess there is plenty to celebrate."

[sunbaked_baker]

"There absolutely is," Sunshine agrees with Sharon, smiling at Bucky. The hug and confirmation of success has taken some of the fierce edge of her gladness, but she is still very much lightened by the knowledge that her friend has come though the point of crisis and is well.

It's really what she wants for them all. To be safe, well, and happy. Sometimes it seems to much to ask. But sometimes it feels within reach.

She steps back over to finish her pale purple, faintly floral-scented soda - which promptly disappears from the bar top when she sets it down again - and gives a word of thanks to the Bar before giving Sharon and Bucky another smile as she moves towards the door to the kitchen. "I'll be right back with those cinnamon rolls then. One moment."

A proper welcome to the bar for Sharon and a proper welcome back for Bucky.

[nerves_of_ice]

“Let us know if we can help!” He calls after her, then looks at Sharon. “Sometimes she does, but never yet with her cinnamon rolls. It’s worth it, though.”

[from_the_outside]

"If she knew what a terrible cook I am, she probably wouldn't want me anywhere near them," she says, grinning.

"Except maybe to wash dishes. That I am definitely equipped to handle."

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine soon re-emerges from the kitchen, her blue, sunflower-dotted apron protecting her clothes from the genuinely massive cinnamon rolls she's bringing in, each on their own plate. One would be forgiven in missing the plates entirely, however, because the platforms they provide are pretty well hidden under the cinnamon rolls they carry. The soft spirals of bread are still quite warm from the oven and fragrantly steaming with melted cinnamon sugar filling, the thick vanilla icing melting a little and pooling in all of the buns' many crevices.

She brought forks and napkins too.

Just in case.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky grins, and turns to watch Sharon have her first experience with one of Sunny's cinnamon rolls.

[from_the_outside]

"Oh my god," says Sharon, lighting up like Christmas before she looks at Bucky.

"If you want to break up so you can marry this lady and her amazing cinnamon rolls, I'd understand."

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine laughs, delighted by Sharon's response.

"You know," she says, settling the plates in front of them on the bar's counter-top (with the all-important napkins and the forks-of-secondary-importance), "it's been nearly a month since I've received a marriage proposal over my cinnamon rolls. I had been starting to worry I had lost my touch."

As if.

[nerves_of_ice]

"I tried to coax her to run away with me and join the squad," Bucky tells Sharon. "No luck, but you can see now why the boys would lose their minds whenever we showed up with her baking."

He smiles at a memory. "Dugan threatened to stalk me night and day until I introduced him so he could plead his own suit to her. I had to take him to an empty shop before he'd give up."

[from_the_outside]

"Definitely," Sharon says, and digs in without waiting, then moans a guttural, non-verbal sound that is most often universally translated as holy god that is delicious.

She puts her hand up to cover her mouth and mumbles, "Very good," around a mouthful of cinnamon and tender bread and icing that's dissolving like a dream on her tongue.

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine can't help the delighted laugh that bubbles up in her, upon hearing Sharon's reaction. The day may come when Rae will be immune to the sincere compliment of involuntary audible enjoyment of her baked goods, but today is not that day, etc. and so forth. Right now, she is practically beaming.

"Sounds like she approves," Sunshine gives Bucky a grin.

[nerves_of_ice]

“How could anyone not?”

He forks up a bite of his own, as he pulls a chair out for her.