[GP/EP] Check-in Day

[st_oneswidow]

The woodwinds in her collection were for noodling mostly, and the violin was for memory of her family, but when Curnen really wanted to play she turned again and again to her guitar. This would probably always be her best instrument. It was the first of the month, she’d been here over a year, and it was probably a check-in day. So she sat on the lawn with her instrument in her lap, sending out a subtle magic to call anyone stranded in their little world this way.

At one point, though, she set aside the guitar and turned her face to the sky. For just a few minutes she required a different kind of magic.

It had been a week now since Scanlan had vanished in the battle. And Pike, too, though Curnen honestly couldn’t have cared less about her going away if she tried. Still. The two of them were family to people very dear to her, people who missed them. And Scanlan had been her friend. You marked something like that with a song.

Of all the money that e'er I had
I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas, it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

It was a traditional Irish goodbye, a farewell to friends said with love, drinking, well wishes, and the hope of meeting again. She couldn’t think of a better one for the occasion. And as she sang she twined her magic into her voice in a new way, sending the song to any ears that needed it, ears of those who knew and missed the departed. Not all of them might understand it, not all of them knew what she was, but she didn’t particularly care about that right now. The song was more important than the hiding.

Once the last note had dissipated she picked up her guitar again and resumed her work. If there were anybody out there, they had to know where to go.

Comments

[st_ranger]

"I... I am." Bucky sighed. He might as well rip of the bandage, he thought to himself. "Steve and I grew up together. Were friends." Best friends, he thought to himself. His heart still aches, unsure about the memories that fly in and out of his mind. "Kids together," he said sadly.

Bucky chuckled. If anyone could get them home, it would probably be Tony. Stark and his technology were known back home. Why would this be any different. "It's hard not to miss what you know." Bucky wished he knew more.

His eyes widened and he stared at Peter. "Sounds... Familiar?" He was sure it was something he passed or seen, but he didn't have any immediate memories of the location. "Understandable. Small bodega? Usually better than large chain that knows nothing," he murmured. "Numbers don't compute. Masses always like the smaller stuff." The ones that made them feel like home. Most people empathized with that.

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, it's great. Not too much bread like the other places." Peter's not happy with the fillings-to-bread ratio at a lot of other places.

"What was Mr. Rogers like when he was a kid?" Peter asks. "There's all this stuff about him at the Smithsonian, but there was never a lot about his early life. Just a lot about everything that happened afterwards."

[st_ranger]

Bucky looked at him with a very serious expression. It wouldn't be clear if he was joking or not. "Bread to meat ratio is very important."

And that did it. The mention of Steve made Bucky's eyes twitch, but in a good way. The corners of his lips turned up as he remembered some of the memories that he'd still been unlocking in his own mind. "He was smaller," he murmured. "Sick. Frail. He..." Bucky frowned. "They wouldn't let him enlist right away. Not healthy enough. Before he was big, he had a big heart."

There was something in Bucky's voice, the way he spoke about Steve when he wasn't around. Even as confused as he was about everything, he could feel how important Steve was to him. It scared him.

"Fighter. Even then. Many fights. Too small to fend for himself, so... I think I jumped in." He chuckled. "Awkward. With women. Didn't know how to talk to them. Was... Was always there. Every memory, he's in it," he whispered. "Art... Liked art. Drew. Sketches... All over the walls."

[st_arkintern]

Peter can appreciate that Bucky regards this serious issue with the appropriate amount of seriousness. He doesn't remark upon it, though -- he just listens as Bucky talks about Steve.

A few things become a little clearer when Bucky talks about Steve. And not just about Steve's personality or his physique or his almost-not-ever-military history.

"So you guys were best friends."

[st_ranger]

Best friends...

The words seem to jolt Bucky. He's slow to respond, his head moving at almost a snails pace. "I... Yes?" He doesn't sound sure of himself. "Complicated. Parted, for a while." His brow furrows and he turns to look at Peter directly.

"HYDRA. I... Weapon." His hand clenches beside him and his shoulders tense up. "Didn't die. Like Steve didn't. Hard to..." His hand moved back and forth, gesturing as if he was struggling for words. He wasn't sure he should trust Peter, especially after knowing he was Team Tony, for lack of a better descriptor.

"We were. I'm not the same now. Don't know how he sees me anymore."

[st_arkintern]

Bucky had been a little quiet, a little twitchy before now, but there's something in the shift in his voice when he mentions HYDRA that gives Peter some room for worry.

"You can always ask him," he suggests. Maybe Steve wouldn't show up here, but Bucky could always ask him when he went back.

"Hey, did you want to get some water?" Peter asks, suddenly. He's sure that it seems like it's coming out of nowhere, but he really is worried and he's not sure what else to do.

[st_ranger]

"Water... Yes. Important to stay hydrated." Bucky nods his head, as if water and fuel were important factors to consider. They were, though perhaps not as important as they seemed in Bucky's mind.

He paused, considering Peter's words. "If I make it back home, I... I might." He had been on the run from everyone, including Steve and his friend that flew. He was not sure if he wanted to speak to Steve or what the Captain might say to him.

"Thank you."

[st_arkintern]

Peter begins to lead the way to the Copper Cafe. After Bucky tells him thank you Peter glances over at him, clearly puzzled.

"Mm... For what?"

[st_ranger]

Bucky hesitates. "For... For listening." He didn't have to. He could have reacted as Tony did, full of anger and frustration. He hadn't. "I just... He what? He wasn't sure what he wanted to say or how to phrase the words.

He tries to smile for Peter, a real one and not one that's fake or forced. "So... Thank you."

[st_arkintern]

"You're welcome," Peter says, smiling. It doesn't take long for them to get to the Copper Cafe and when they do, Peter jumps easily over the circular bar at the cafe's center.

He finds two glasses easily enough and scoops cubes into them both.

"Do you know about the Captain America Fitness Challenge?" Peter asks as he sets both glasses (sans water, for now) on the bar. It's hard for him not to talk about Captain America when he's talking to Captain America's best friend.