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

[from_the_outside]

Her brows furrow into a frown. "We just got here." She tips her head toward her wineglass with a crooked half-smile.

"You owe me a whole drink, not half of one, Barnes."

[nerves_of_ice]

At that he smiles, warm and sweet.

“You got it.” He squeezes her hand and lets go to reach for his coffee. “I’ve been wanting to bring you here for a while.”

[from_the_outside]

"Yeah?"

She takes another fortifying swallow of wine. "I can't believe you've been coming here for so long. Has it changed a lot?"

[nerves_of_ice]

“Not as much as you might think. Time runs different here. It hasn’t been nearly as long.”

[from_the_outside]

"Huh."

She casts a glance over the frankly incredible assortment of items pinned up behind the bar. "So magic bar, different universes, weird time stuff..."

She makes a moue, considering. "Good wine," she admits, and sips at it again.

[nerves_of_ice]

“Any drink you could think of. Or food, too,” he says. “Hotel rooms upstairs, lake and grounds outside. Live band sometimes, … just all kinds of stuff.”

[from_the_outside]

She arches her brows at him, impressed. "I can see why you like it," she says, holding her wine in her hand between sips.

"Harder to see why you might want to go anywhere else."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Well, it feels kind of unreal sometimes,” he says, after giving that serious consideration. “And not everyone can get here, either.”

[from_the_outside]

The wine is helping; she can feel it warming her stomach.

"I guess that's the downside to it being a multiversal nexus," she says.

Seems like the kind of place Thor would love.

[nerves_of_ice]

“I never tried too hard to figure it out,” he admits. “I was just glad it was there sometimes.”

[from_the_outside]

Her eyes soften at that. "I bet."

She takes a last sip before putting her glass back down. It's a good deal emptier than it was a minute ago.

"So," she says, lightly. "What's your plan? Do I get a tour? Or is this strictly a 'dip your toes in' kind of first impression plan?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky grins at her.

“That’s really up to you. My plan ended with getting you here at all.”

[from_the_outside]

"How can I possibly make a choice?" she says, amused. "This place is like a buffet; there's a little of everything."

[nerves_of_ice]

“One piece at a time?” he teases. “That’s usually how I do it.”

[from_the_outside]

It's worth it to haul herself out of her despondency, she thinks, smiling at the way he teases her.

This place is important to him. It's important that she like it. "Okay," she says, unwrapping the foil-covered heart and taking a bite.

"So where did you start?"

[nerves_of_ice]

“Right here at the bar,” he tells her. “I thought Steve was playing a joke. So I asked for—“

As he starts to explain, a glass shimmers into being in front of him, and he laughs as he picks it up and takes a sip.

“—yes, that. Exactly that.”

[from_the_outside]

She laughs, too. "That would have been a hell of a prank to pull off," she admits.

At least she's used to a world where the God of Thunder shows up every now and again, traveling along a bridge made of rainbows. This hardly seems weird after some of the things that have happened at home over the last few years. "What then?"

[nerves_of_ice]

“Then he started introducing me to people - oh, and showed me the window.” Bucky’s expression turns solemn. “Before you look, know that whatever shield they’ve got keeps everything here safe, okay?”

He nods over her shoulder.

[from_the_outside]

She gives him a startled look. "What? Why?"



... except it all becomes clear when she turns around and sees it. A window stretching nearly the length of one wall, and beyond it: the death of everything. "Holy – "

She jerks back on instinct and almost falls off the bar stool.

[nerves_of_ice]

He’s bracing her in an instant, his arm behind her back.

“If you watch long enough it repeats,” he tries to reassure her. “It cycles.”

[from_the_outside]

She stares it down, watching as planets crumble and stars fail.

"It really is the end of the universe, huh?" she says, after a long second of trying to get her heart rate back under control. "Literally."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Looks that way,” he agrees.

“I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it, to be honest.”

[from_the_outside]

She gives the window one last incredulous glance, then turns back to him.

"Well, I can see how it could be kind of a downer."

[nerves_of_ice]

“More like it’s out there and can’t get in here,” he says. “And if someone tried to break or blow up the window - well, I figure it’s pretty well protected from what I can tell.”

A beat of silence.

“And it’s kind of amazing to watch.”

[from_the_outside]

She gives the window a faintly doubtful glance. "Well, it would be over pretty fast if it did break," she admits.

"So I guess there's not much use in worrying about it."

Who knows? If she manages to come here for seventy-plus years, maybe she'll just enjoy watching it, too.