action | party mingle

[seeingscarlet]

Who: Wanda, Bucky, and you!
Broadcast: No
Action: Iskaulit
When: March 10

[It's a double birthday party! There's pizza with slightly strange cheese and cake. And probably shenanigans.

...definitely shenanigans.]

Comments

[passingthrough]

That is lucky. You totally cut a deal with the Atroma, didn't you? [Kidding.]

Not bad. Pizza, cake, reluctant birthday-havers. What's not to love? It's nice to have a little celebration. Things have been kind of tense.

[outstandingbalance]

Hard to imagine why, under the circumstances.

[Spoilers: it's not hard to imagine at all.]

Having a bad time of things too?

[passingthrough]

Not really. I mean, not in the context of my life for sure. Which calibrations decided to remind me of every night. [She smiles.] I'm glad we're on a pretty planet. Not into the hunting motif at all, but the trees are nice. Destroying a planet will really make a nature girl out of a city girl.

What about you?

[outstandingbalance]

Hoping there's no planet destroying involved in this visit.

[She glances over the party, her gaze lingering on Wanda and Barnes.]

The party's okay, though. It's been a while since one of us actually went along with one of these.

[Natasha certainly hasn't.]

[passingthrough]

Fingers crossed.

An Avenger? Are you too cool for birthdays? [She doubts that's the problem.]

[outstandingbalance]

For the most part, we have better things to do with our time. [Which is a lot less complicated an answer than she could give. But who wants to get into details.]

Clearly Wanda is cooler than the rest of us.

[passingthrough]

I don't know. That sounded like shots fired to me. Better things to do with your time. Like saving the world is so much more important than punch and cake.

[outstandingbalance]

See, that's mostly back home. Here... no such excuse.

[passingthrough]

No choice but to party? Such a fate.

[outstandingbalance]

For Wanda. [Clearly, pointed.] And Barnes.

Might as well.

[passingthrough]

They do seem like worthy causes. Even if I've only met the fresh Buckys each once so far. It does make gift shopping more challenging. Should I be worried my first gift idea always defaults to a weapon? In junior high I'm pretty sure it was scented lotions.

[outstandingbalance]

I can't say I know they all that well, but... I bet both of them would like a combat knife more than green apple scented bath gel.

[passingthrough]

[She has to wonder at Natasha's assertion that she doesn't know them all that well either. Maybe not these versions?] My instincts save me again. Maybe someday I'll find the nuance in between. Most people I know seem like they'd be happy with food anyway.

[outstandingbalance]

[Look, it's complicated. Very complicated.]

Well, you have a good head on your shoulders. I think you would have figured it out on your own.

[passingthrough]

Well, that's why I went for bazookas. You can never have just one anyway. Or was that Pringles? I always get those confused. [Kidding. Kidding.]

So, the one who dresses like Steve I figure he's from another world closer to yours than mine, but still different. The other one...? Is he from your world? [Is he your Bucky?]

[outstandingbalance]

[That depends on how you define "your" in this case.]

He's from our world. He doesn't remember being here though. Or the last few years, from my timeline.

[passingthrough]

[The grammar of heartbreak.]

So, he's from an even rougher time? [She actually might not have guessed that one. But then they haven't talked about anything of consequence. Mostly cocktail umbrellas. And yes, he might know Natasha from home. She's not sure about the details there, but he wouldn't know what they shared here. That's a hard place to be. Wanda and Vision faced it recently, but neither of them had recently escaped years of programming forced on them.]

[outstandingbalance]

You could say it that way. It's complicated. A lot's gone on since then... not all of it good.

[Considering Barnes is dead now. That's pretty rough. She shakes her head though, shrugging off the specifics.]

But I'd say he's coming off a worse place.