Summary:What's better after a long day of work than dinner? THE SELFIES!!! Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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*
It's a calm evening at the Triskelion. The local busiest of bumblebees has finished out all paperwork and offered helpful tips to the last junior agent about his shooting technique. Now, with leather jacket slung over his shoulder, he closes the SHIELD laptop on his desk and leaves it along with the work day behind. His phone comes out of his pocket and Steve swipes out a short text to his oldest friend: Meet me out front of the Trisk. Drinks? Forgot to eat lunch.
No one's surprised, surely.
Exiting out into the open grounds of the Triskelion's building, the Captain exhales slowly and glances up at the sky. It'll be cold tonight and maybe a little clear. The chance to see stars is a welcome one. He shrugs on his coat as he walks, momentarily preoccupied with this process.
*
Buck has that ability, generally known only to ninjas and really skilled butlers, to just kind of manifest out of nothing. It's what made him a terrifying assassin….and now it makes him an obnoxious room-mate.
For when Steve glances up, he's alone. When he looks down again, there's Bucky there in his canvas army-surplus parka and jeans, comfy t-shirt….and faintly manic grin. "You always forget to eat," he scolds the bigger man, elbowing him gently in the ribs.
*
Kori's sitting in the common area, balanced on a large marble barrier stone and with her back to a taller pollard. She looks almost like every teenager in America— consumed in her phone. Except for the subtle brilliant of her orange skin, of course, or the flaming blaze orange and impossible voluminity of her hair. One foot is propped up near her seat and the other dangles off the side of the stone. A low-heeled boot swings back and forth. She's dressed casually enough, a long-sleeve black tee with a modest scoop neck and a plaid, pleated red skirt that hangs to a somewhat modest mid-thigh. Black thigh-high leggings disappear into tan, low-heeled booties.
She looks like she's busily texting someone as the two men walk past. Kori looks up and beams a smile of pleased excitement. "Friend Captain America! Hello!" she cheers, setting her phone on her lap. "It is good to do the seeing of you!"
*
"Geez! Buck!" The Captain slaps a hand over his left pectoral as he stops himself himself from swatting out at the sudden appearance of his roommate. "Make some noise!" It's an old gripe and by the grin, Steve knows it. "Yeah, can you blame me? I was busy." That's an old excuse too. "Figure we can head over to the pub nearby?"
His strides are long ones and even before he goes to continue that thought, a familiar voice is interrupting it. Stopping on a dime, Steve turns to look in the direction of the female. Buck won't miss it. He goes still almost as a bird-dog on point. A sharp clearing of his throat and he lifts a hand towards the red-head. "Hey, Miss Kori." His voice is exceptionally even as recent memories crowd up against his fore-brain.
"She's not from around here," he quickly hisses at Bucky as forewarning.
*
Bucky rolls his eyes at that reply. An exchange as well-worn and comfortable as an old shoe. Grinning, he's about to make a retort of his own, but then Kori pipes up, and he simply looks over to her. A glance back at Steve, and then at the young woman again. "So I see," he observes, mildly. He lifts a hand to wave at her in greeting. The left hand is gloved - black leather, it looks like.
*
Kori touches a palm to the stone and vaults off the smooth surface with a flash of legs and a surprising amount of celerity. She's got some muscle tone, absolutely, but to the critical eye of the super-soldiers, there's something *off* about her. No human moves so surely or smoothly. She skips (seriously) a fluttering two steps forward. "Joy of days! I am so happy to see you again, Friend Captain America!" Her pace aims to land in front of Bucky and Steve, perhaps six inches nearer than would be comfortable or polite for most others.
So much for 'landing', because her momentum doesn't *quiiite* stop. In face she more or less crashes right into Steve with an enthusiastic hug. It'd be violent if were not so clearly affectionate, and Kori beams sunnily like she just saw a friend unseen in years. She also has Steve's feet about four inches off the ground and hefts the fellow like he weighs almost nothing. "I hope you are 'the well'!" she tells him.
Still holding Steve, she turns to look at Bucky. "Hello friend!" she says again. Loudly. "I am Koriand'r! But please call me Kori, as that is my alias."
*
One can see it in Steve's face, how his eyes grow wide on her approach. He's clearly expecting at least something out of the norm — and it culminates in him attempting to brush the ground with his dress shoes and barely able to do so.
"'s'good to see you too, Miss Kori," the Captain says back a little breathlessly. With his arms trapped to his sides and the hug of his person, his shoulders are akilter about his ears. He looks like a dancer who expected a proper lifting and instead was grappled. A glance over at Bucky. "This's my friend Bucky. Bucky, Miss Kori," the man repeats her name in a profound showing of manners despite his situation. "We met at the local high school, when I went in to do the calesthenics testing."
*
He hasn't seen anything like that in years…and Buck's eyes go very wide indeed. There's an instant where he's tensed, poised to go to Steve's rescue. "Ah, Miss Kori, please put Steve down gently," he says, sounding like nothing so much as a cop trying to coax a jumper back off the ledge. "And a pleasure to meet you, I'm Bucky Barnes."
*
"Friend Bucky Barnes! I am pleased to meet you," Kori assures him. She transfers Steve to her left arm. "I have been learning about this! I offer you the ceremonial 'shake of the hands'," she says, and sticks a hand out at the end of her arm towards Bucky for a pompous clasp of fingers.
Hearing Steve struggling she realizes she's still holding him and sets Steve down next to her, close enough that he'll be obligated to step back to break some of that full-body contact. "I am gratified for the introductions, friend Captain America," she tells Steve. "May I ask why you and your friend are here today? I am checking in with my case worker," she says, proudly.
*
And step back Steve does, fixing the lay of his leather jacket as he clears his throat. He gives Bucky a thankful look before returning his attention to Starfire.
"I work here," he explains as he then zips up the coat against the impending chill of the evening. "Nine to five, every day." He does not make note of the fact that it is decidedly more towards seven in the evening, as if this will make everyone gloss over the fact entirely. He pauses, lifting his brows. "Who's your case worker?"
*
Buck shakes her hand, gently. Clearly somewhat at a loss - beings who look like teenage girls don't usually move Steve around like he's a favorite teddy bear on the bed. "Uh, I work here, too. Different department." The 'murdering people who need murdered' department, though they don't call it that. "Steve and are room-mates, so we generally walk home together."
*
"Roomates… oh!" Kori finishes shaking Bucky's hand and just sort of… hangs onto it. "I am pleased to meet you, mate of rooms. I have heard of this term. You are 'the upwards shacked' with Friend Steve, yes?" she asks Bucky. "Is he a good mate to room with? I imagine he is very tidy."
"Oh!" She starts babbling at Steve in Gaelic. <I have been told that it is inappropriate for an older man to kiss a younger woman. I wish to assure you that now that I have absorbed your language, it will not be necessary for you to kiss me at the high schools again!?>
*
Thank god the lighting's not the best. Steve pinks at the cheeks for the delightfully blunt and naive addressing of their situation. While Starfire is keeping Bucky's hand all for herself and thus extending the solicitous greeting into the realm of Totes Awkward, he gives the man a knowing, almost helplessly-amused look. Kori's shift in attention catches him off-guard enough that his eyebrows nearly disappear into his hairline.
"Oh, um, «it's fine, Miss Kori, but you're correct,»" he replies, shifting too in Gaelic. "«It won't happen again.»" He reaches up to rub at his neck beneath his ear and smiles as politely as he can manage.
*
Buck's started to turn colors, too. "Ah, no. That….shacked-up has certain connotations. A pair-bond, I guess you'd say. Steve and I - we're friends and we live together. Yeah. He's nice to live with. He's very tidy."
He hasn't let go of her hand, either. The bemusement is mutual.
*
"Yes, that is what I said," Kori agrees with Steve cheerily. "I believe it is what I said, at any rate. Some languages translate awkwardly," she explains. "It works best with languages learned at a young age."
She looks at Bucky. "I was explaining to Captain America that I have learned his language of the Gaes," Kori clarifies. "I belive I have a sufficient vocabulary that kissing him again is not necessary."
"Is tidiness not a wonderful trait?" she asks Bucky with a winsome smile. "My only roommate is my … pet," she says, whispering loudly. "And a tomato plant."
*
"Gaelic…she means Gaelic…" mutters the Captain quickly under his breath as he rubs at the back of his neck. His look upwards towards the strafing thin clouds and distant winking of stars is likely entreaty for patience and sanity — and no further blushing, the latter of which is likely doomed to failure.
"There's nothing wrong with a tomato plant. We've got goldfish." He looks to Bucky for confirmation. "Two of them, a black one and an orange one. Googly-eyed. With the eyeballs that stick out like frog's eyes do. They're named…Fred and…Slim." Those are clearly not the real names of the fish. The goldfish actually go by FUBAR and SNAFU.
*
"So, you learn languages by kissing someone. Wish I could do that," Buck says, a touch wryly. "What kind of pet do you have?" He's mastered his own reaction, for the most part. Only a little blushing, on his own part.
At the mention of the fish, he grins. "I've taught them to do tricks," he tells Kori, eyes brightening. "They play soccer and jump through hoops." …..they what? "Can you teach languages by kissing, as well?" Oh, god, surely he doesn't intend to ask her to teach him Gaelic. He's never achieved full fluency, even after years of trailing after Steve.
*
"It is a minor telepathic trait," Kori clarifies for Bucky. "It works through any physical contact, though," she amends. "It's most effective for those languages that we imprint at birth. Second or late-life languages are much harder to grasp."
She's stilllll holding Bucky's hand. "Unfortunately, the telepathic bond only works one way. There is no point in me kissing anyone," Kori explains to Bucky, rather sadly.
"Oh! My pet is a Silkie! There are none other like him," she says, and digs her phone out of her pocket. She swipes a few images and then almost jams the screen in Bucky's face. "LOOK AT HOW THE ADORABLE HE ISSS," she squeals.
It's an ugly, pink-grey larvae of some kind. Doing… nothing remotely interesting.
*
Bucky earns himself an eyebrowing from Steve for his wish as well as a redux of aforementioned look of reprove for the query after teaching languages. "You would want to know that…" he mutters under his breath, smirking a little. He shoves his hands in the pockets of his coat as he then watches his friend be subject to the extreme levels of enthusiasm over this Silkie worm creature.
"He's extremely adorable," the Captain chimes in and is sure to add, "I think Bucky needs to see another picture." Cue the mildest sly smile from the man now.
*
Oh, it's on. Dueling pets. Buck finally detaches his hand in order to go for his phone. Like nothing so much as a gunslinger realizing he's a little slow on the draw. It even glosses over his disappointment over the language training not happening that way.
"Aw, that's too bad you can't teach 'em like that," he says….but then he's leaning in to admire the sea cucumber or whatever it is. "Cute," he says, and then he's flipping through pictures on his phone. There're the fish in question, goggling at the camera through the glass of their tank - ridiculous globe-shaped things. As if Buck'd adopted a pair of golfballs with googly eyes.
*
Kori gets cheek to cheek (mostly) with Bucky, swiping through her gallery of Silkie images as he enthralls her with the gallery of the fish. Both seem to be doing the same thing: a lot of absolutely nothing at all. But Kori squeals happily over every photo of the fish that Bucky shows her.
"Quick! We must commemorate this with a 'the selfie!'" Kori tells Bucky. Her phone's held at arm's reach and she rests her cheekbone on Bucky's forehead. "The smiles!" she declares, and taps the 'photo' button.
*
|ROLL| Steve Rogers +rolls 1d10 for: 9
*
How the Captain manages not to bust out a horse-laugh is a miracle. Maybe someone up above heard him after all instead of admonishing him to give it a rest already. He also keeps his phone inside his jeans pocket as he observes, even if he is tempted beyond reason to take a picture of this brewing amusement.
"You gotta smile bigger, Buck, that's a fake one," Steve tells the other soldier as he shifts his weight into an easy stand. His smile can be caught in the right lighting. This is revenge — sweet revenge for how hard the other man laughed when the Captain haltingly told the tale of a stolen kiss for a new language.
*
Buck's definitely bemused, by the way his expression shifts. Brows up, and there's a sidelong look at Steve. But he does manage a smile…a genuine one. "I don't usually do these," he tells Kori. And indeed, he generally has what's close to an allergy to having his picture taken.
*
"It is the fineness!" Kori assures Bucky. "Everyone is taking their selfies with them," she explains. She examines the photo. "A wonderful image! I will treasure it forever," she assures Bucky.
Steve's horse-laugh gets her attention. Suddenly Kori's *there*. Even to Steve's enhanced reflexes, she's moving faster than can be believed. Her feet don't even seem to touch the ground. Of a sudden she's hugging Cap and smooshing her cheek against his. "Another selfie!" she declares, and hugs Cap close with her free hand.
"There! I have a wonderful collection of these," she says. The face-smushing is making speaking difficult. She holds her phone up where Cap can see it and starts flicking through an array of images ranging from 'yay, selfie!' to expressions of shock and discomfort, such as is on Steve's face right now!
*
Poor Steve — once audience to the selfie, now repeat victim of the selfie. He definitely tries for a smile, but the suddenness of the situation means the man appears to be dealing with numbing agent post-dental procedure in the resulting picture. It's not flattering, but Kori appears unaware of this in her twinkling outlook on life.
"Thanks for including me, Miss Kori, but I think one's enough for now, don'tcha think?" He looks to Bucky in silent entreaty for assistance before he gently extricates himself from Kori's cheery grip.
"It was nice meeting you again, Miss Kori, but we've got to get to dinner." Steve's stomach betrays him with a loud grumble. "Good luck with your check-in with your case worker." Giving the young woman a polite smile and little wave, the Captain then walks on, likely trailing Bucky in his wake like the shadow the Soldier will ever be.