milliways_bar | (no subject)

"Swimming, mostly."

He looks as rueful as he sounds.

She's got to laugh at that hangdog expression on his face, and claps a hand to his new metal shoulder before turning to face the bar.

"Better to find out ahead of time, though, huh?" she points out, grinning.

Edited 2021-10-11 19:06 (UTC)

"That's the point of a field test," he agrees. "I just feel bad that it happened so fast."

Something shades wry. "But she's taken it as a challenge, so that's probably good."

"I get the feelin' whatever you wind up with is gonna have to be able to take a whole lot of punishment," she says.

"So that's probably a good thing."

"Probably," he agrees, and leaves it at that. The future's still uncertain in a lot of ways.

"But enough about me - how's everything with you?"

"Oh, no you don't, y'rascal!" she laughs.

"Not after that surprise last time I saw you. Where's that girl of yours, anyhow? Not around today?"

He chuckles at that. "Okay, fair. And no, although she might stop by later if she feels like it - she's out with a friend of hers right now."

Bucky imagines Sharon explaining the bar to Nakia and has to swallow a grin at the thought.

"She mentioned she ran into you."

Zinda pats the bar with a fond hand and takes the beer that appears; she lifts it to him in a loose toast.

"She did," she reports. "Or, at least, I was bartendin' and she came in. Nice gal. Kinda fiery, huh?"

She says that last with deep approval: fiery is her favorite kind of girl.

"Better believe it." From his expression and his tone, it's obvious he also thinks that's a good thing. He finishes off his coffee and carefully places his left hand flat on the bar to request a refill.

"I thought you two would get along, once you got to know each other."

"I hope so," she tells him, thinking a little wryly of the Birds. She's not sure how just one fella could cause such a fallout between them all, but maybe this Nightwing's worth all the fuss. "But I ain't gonna push."

That's a quick ticket to long resentment, she's always found.

Edited 2021-10-11 19:41 (UTC)

He hopes so too. Only time will tell.

"It was a bit of a surprise to her," he says. "Ever tried to bring any of your new friends through?"

She shakes her head, setting her beer back down. "The Canary's already been here," she tells him, "and she said the Skipper used to come in, too, long ways back. Huntress... "

She pauses for a long swallow of beer, trying to imagine Helena's reaction to this place. "Hell, she'd hate it like anything, I think. At least at first. Not a gal who likes to be out of control, Huntress... and she's not much for surprises."

"That'd do it," he agrees, dryly. "Like a one-two punch."

"Sure," Zinda says, easily.

"Anyhow, I hope your girl – Sharon, right? – lands more on the other side of the reaction spectrum."

"Well, I tried to explain before I brought her through the first time," he says. "Only it's hard to explain everything about this place, you know? How would you even begin?"

She shrugs, slightly. "Dunno," she says, unhelpfully.

"For me, it's just enough like a place I used to work that it wasn't such a big shock. You gotta kind of see it to believe it, you know?"

"Oh, I know," he says, openly amused. Bucky shakes his head and lifts the coffee cup for a long swallow, making note of the temperature detection through the surface of his fingers.

"And even then it's hard to believe sometimes. I've got to admit, that's one of the things I like about it."

"Sure," she agrees, easily. "And you never know who'll walk through the door. But I can see how it might not be for everybody."

"Those are the ones who don't come back, I guess." He looks the question at her. "Warrior's, right? That was the name of the place you were before?"

"That's the one," she confirms. "And if you ask me where it was, I couldn't tell you; I got no idea. It wasn't like this place, at some kinda nexus of time and space, but it was pretty far out there anyhow."

"Next universe over, maybe. Who knows." He shrugs with both shoulders, feeling how the left shifts.

"Weirder things have happened."

"You can say that again," she laughs.

"When I think back on some of the stuff that used to happen to me and the Blackhawks, it feels like a dream... or science fiction."

Bucky grins. "That's for sure. It's like ending up in one of the books I used to read."

"Life is stranger than fiction," she agrees, and sips at her beer, then nods at his arm with a crooking grin.

"Too bad you're takin' it easy. I bet we could really cut a rug now that you've got two hands again." She arches her eyebrows at him over her bottle. "And I guess your dance card's pretty full up, huh?"

"Trust me, we want to make sure it's two working hands," he drawls. "I've shattered a few things by mistake already. But once it's all fixed--"

He smiles, warm and kind. "My card's full, all right. But that doesn't mean I'm the kind of person who's going to turn away from spending time with a friend. And Sharon wouldn't want that either."

He's sure of it.