10704/Not Entirely Left Out in the Cold

Not Entirely Left Out in the Cold
Date of Scene:	11 January 2020
Location:	Brooklyn Subway Station
Synopsis:	Felicia shares some warmth and friendship through a peppermint mocha she bought for herself originally, but gives to Bucky because winter's a tough time. And don't think she'll share next time!
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Black Cat

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Winter Soldier has posed:
So, he's been the fist of HYDRA, one of the deadliest creations of the Red Room, killed more people than polio, etc, etc, etc. But now he's free. Now he's not....if not like everyone else....a lot closer to a normal human being.

More accurately, closer to being a normal American veteran with his own heaping helping of PTSD and POW trauma. Which explains by one of the deadliest beings in the Tristate area is crouched on the floor of a subway car from Brooklyn to Manhattan, in the empty space usually reserved for a wheelchair passenger, with his face pretty much buried in the ruff of his German Shepherd. Lili's in 'please keep away' mode, standing between him and the nearly empty rest of the car. The only other people there now are a trio of teenagers, eyeing the man in the old parka and watch cap warily.

Black Cat has posed:
Ka-click, ka-click, ka-click -- her knee-high boots clinging like a second skin overtop her fitted dark jeans mute when Felicia steps onto the subway car. She's looking just about picture-perfect in her long black Toscana sheepskin coat; its hem reaches her knees. Silvery faux-fur with ashen undertone trims along her shoulders and up into the voluminous hood folded back. It lies beneath the loose fall of her platinum-blonde hair, this under control through sheer willpower and a plain black stocking cap. In her gloved hands, a newly-bought peppermint mocha, its white lid untouched by her red-red lipstick. But who's kidding: the lipstick wouldn't come off anyways.

She's got a small shopping bag slung over her shoulder. It bumps off her ribs as she turns and then pauses, her brows kitting. Isn't that...? Oh, it's the Shepherd, um -- um -- Layla -- no, Lyla -- no -- Lili! And that means...

"Hey...hey, buddy." Her voice precedes her as she walks over. She stops in front of Lili, still holding the mocha before her chest. "I...got you that drink you wanted! Yes! It's a peppermint mocha, nice and warm. You gotta sit up though for me, yeah?" Her jade-green eyes hold much more concern than shows on her face.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Lili's no guard dog. She contents herself with simply standing in the way, pinning her ears, and giving Felicia the censorious stare of a librarian who is just *dying* to shush the fool bopping along to his headphones too loudly in the library.

But that voice....he knows it. Knows it well enough to raise his head after a few beats of silence, and blink at her. He wasn't *crying*, exactly, but his eyes are a little red around the rims, as he squints at her. Voice whiskey-and-cigarettes rough. ".....what's a peppermint mocha?" he wonders. Not a flavor they served, back when coffee was a nickel a cup.

Black Cat has posed:
"Hey yoooooooooou," the Cat fairly croons after his face appears and Bucky speaks, her own voice just about oozing with cajoling cheeriness. "It's great. It's chocolate and coffee with a bit of peppermint, like the candy. You're gonna like it, come on. It's better enjoyed when you're in a chair though."

A hand gloved in the most supple, soft kidskin with shearling cuffing is offered out to him. "Baby-girl, help a chick out here!" The whisper is for Lili primarily on the off-chance that the dog is hyper-intelligent.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Lili's ears go further back. She doesn't growl or bristle, that's not what she does. But then Buck's murmuring to her, giving her permission to stand down. Then he reaches up to the pole at the end the seating row, and hauls himself up. He's not as big as Steve, but he's plenty big and foreboding looking, with that set expression and those broad shoulders. The effect is somewhat spoiled, however, by him cuffing at his nose like a preschooler with the sniffles, before he remembers his hankie. Does he even get colds, this one? Now Lili's sniffing the air inquiringly. That does smell good.

Black Cat has posed:
Felicia's offered hand returns to the warmth exuding through the thin cardboard cup. "There we go, bud, that's great. Here," and she walks a few steps sideways even as the car gets to moving again. All the while, her bright eyes never leave him. "C'mon and sit next to me, right here."

After she seats herself in the middle of the series of four seats, she patpats at the empty space next to herself primly. It leaves a lot of room for him and even for Lili to sit without being too close to the nearest pole or the sliding doors.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He obeys without hesitation. HE trusts her. Or trusts her enough, anyway. Doesn't quite slump, but there's weariness in his lines. Lili comes along, of course - she's leashed to his belt, and in her bright blue winter coat. "Thanks," he says, and it's clear he doesn't mean just the coffee.

Black Cat has posed:
"Hey, don't make too big of a deal out of it -- I've got a reputation to uphold here," she replies. Her smile's a touch too big to put much merit to the statement. Her eyes fall to his hands. "Here, take a sip. You'll like it, I think. It's warm at least and not too sweet. I make 'em add another shot of espresso in there to cut the sugary taste, decaf."

The drink is offered out to Bucky now that he's seated. It's got a merry green patterning on it overtop white to still continue celebrating the holidays. "I can get another one, there's another Starbucks on my walk home from my stop." The reassurance is to ward off any concern on his part. Felicia accompanies it with a gentle further movement of the coffee towards him.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Man, those are everywhere," he says. "Starbucks. I can't get over paying that much for a cup of coffee, but....my sense of price might be distorted." And Buck gives her a watery little smile. He takes the cup, carefully - he's got black sniper's mittens on - and sips. Whereupon his eyes get wide. "Wow, jeez," he says, and for a moment she can *see* the boy he used to be. Really, physically, he's frozen around twentyfive. It's just usually his manner and the tension lines in his face that make him seem so much older.

Black Cat has posed:
"It's good, right? They really got on to something when they came out with it a few decades ago." Felicia daintily crosses her legs now and interlaces her fingers in her lap. Her eyes scan over the man carefully, marking the clothing and its state. She certainly didn't miss signs of discomfort and emotional uncertainty on his face.

"Sooooooooo...let's see. We haven't talked in a while. Um. The holidays were good, lots of fun. Lucifer says hi, I'm sure," and the Cat laughs to herself. "Ummmm...well, Copperfield's been off-world -- off-dimension? -- out of the dimension for a few weeks now and I'm sure he's fine." She waves sharply a few times and tosses her head to one side; truly, no big deal, she lies. "He's busy and it's not like I didn't know it when we got together. But hey, how've you been?" Her smile is yet again coaxing.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He seems clean and healthy, at least. Lili is glossy with good grooming. Tired, maybe, and stressed, her handler....but easing. James makes no move whatsoever to hand the mocha back. It's his now, he got his soldier germs on it. "Mine weren't bad. I like 'em. I mean, Christmas is okay. New Year's eh....I'm not so much with the fireworks and the crowds. I just....hate winter." In both senses of the word.

Black Cat has posed:
Felicia's richly-painted mouth rounds into an 'O' of understanding. There is a subtle inflection on the seasonal word that of course, immediately brings to mind allusions of cold and all its malaise; on the tail end of that, to bring goosebumps to her arms, the reminder that this man is one of the foremost assassins of the twenty-first century -- was, //was// this, with all of the memories left in ragged wake.

She shifts in her seat and leans back harder against the plastic backing with its paltry cushioned points. "I mean...I don't like it much either. I don't mind the cold, but it's hard after the holidays are over, and, like... I mean, I saw my mom. She's doing okay. The presents are always nice and everyone's cheery and all. I dunno." She wrinkles her nose and twiddles her thumbs obviously down in her lap, glaring at them. "I mean, you've got someplace warm to go, right?" the blonde asks as she glances over at Bucky again.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He doesn't look like someone living rough on the streets. Oh, his clothes are plain, simple....but he doesn't look poor. "Oh, yeah. I gotta nice apartment," he says, gently. "And friends I an stay with, if I need to. I just....see, when I grew up, I was really poor. Starving, depression poor. So winter was dangerous for real. We never had enough money to make anything out of Christmas, so we did what we could, but...even then, that was behind it. Then....I got captured at the very end of winter, and they kept me in Siberia, mostly. They froze me when I wasn't needed. So....cold like this....it's got bad associations." He's *never* been that forthcoming before. And she didn't even have to lace his drink.

Black Cat has posed:
Felicia listens in a silence far too sober in comparison to her general mein. She looks down at her lap multiple times, as if cognizant that staring isn't polite, and frowns. Her lips purse and relax multiple times, though they invariably end up scrunched. Sympathy? Worry?

Bucky waxes fully informative as to his past with nary more than a breath between thoughts. It brings the Cat to look up at him, dead-on, wide-eyed. While she might have an ego streak a mile wide and a bad habit of walking off with things she wants NOW and not later, empathy isn't lost to her.

"Jesus...!" she breathes, a hand now curled up before her chest in reaction. "For real? God -- fuck, sorry, of course for real -- I'm so sorry!" It all blathers out thankfully quietly rather than in some hysterical glistening of tears. Her hand falls from her chest and floats towards his thigh as if to anchor him with a patpat, but then she appears to think otherwise of it. It returns to bundle into her lap. She still grants him her full attention, kohl-lined eyes and all.

Winter Soldier has posed:
How many people has he just told? How many people has he discussed it with that weren't used to dealing with Winter as an active threat, one way or another? Not many. His lips are thinned out into that grim line, and Lili lays her head in his lap, gets her ears petted.

"Yeah," he says, quietly. "I....it's still so weird. I remember how cold it was when Steve and I stood in line to enlist on December 7th. Guys were down the block and around the corner. Y'know, I'd been thinking about it for years, 'cause hey, the Army's three hots and a cot, clothes paid for, how hard could it be....but I couldn't leave Steve. He was so sick. But Pearl Harbor.....I knew war was already there. If I enlisted, I'd have a choice."

Black Cat has posed:
"God... I can't imagine."

As the subway car rumbles on, the Cat considers her reflection in the empty windows across the way. Tiles grimed with the dirt of years and sallow lighting inlaid to the walls flash by. She looks back at herself with what appears to be gloom.

"I mean, I really can't," she emphasizes when her face turns towards Bucky again. "I'd do a lot of things for my friends though..." Picking off a piece of lint from her coat, she clarifies, "I mean...within reason." The Cat doth protest too much, methinks. "I've heard of that before, that Captain America was sick before he joined the Army. I still don't get why they picked him if he was all scrawny." She gives Bucky a half-smile now with notes of apology. "You could've tied him to a chair and left him in his apartment instead of standing in line, y'know."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Sister, you don't know Steven Rogers. I asked him about it. He impressed the guy who headed the project with his heart and kindness and courage. Which makes sense - if you've got this project that can make a man mountain out of a 98 pound weakling, you don't need to start with someone big and strong. But you do need to start with someone who won't act like a monster when he has strength and power. Because that's what we were fighting," He says, simply.

But his smile is enormously fond. "And I never met the guy, but Erskine picked right. The thousand year Reich is eighty years dust, but Steven Rogers is still out there fighting the good fight. They do say that living well is the best revenge." Which is when he takes a big moutful of coffee.

Black Cat has posed:
Felicia can't help the sly little smile that crosses her face for a second. She tries to hide it, fails and needs to look across the way towards the windows, and then completely away entirely. A small jilt of her shoulders is a laugh stuttered away and when she glances back at Bucky again, she's all cool composure again -- save for the vixen's red-red smile, of course, close-lipped.

"He's living pretty well if you ask me. Got a nice mansion to sleep in, rubs elbows with the other superheroes, not scrawny at all last time I checked any of his fundraising calendar shots." A canine tooth dimples the plush of her lip for just a second. "And hey: anyone who can tame Janet Van Dyne to hand is someone who gets pretty big marks in my book. I went to school with her. Her wild streak was a mile wide. I don't even KNOW how she didn't get expelled. The world's a weird place though, y'know? I think...I'm..." She rolls her eyes off to one side. "I'm kind of jealous that he's your friend. That's...that's really cool. He's lucky to have you. I hope he knows it," she says sincerely, now looking Bucky in the face.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He goes a little pokerfaced at the mention of Janet. It's not quite Winter slamming down the shutters, but it's close. "Yeah, he's living okay now. But he's got the work ethic of a whole goddamned hive of bees, and he won't take wha he's actually due. Believe me, we all try to make him, but...."

Black Cat has posed:
"Well..."

The word is elongated with thoughtful dramaticism. Felicia switches the crossing of her legs and plucks down the hem of her coat as if her knees might be cold, all with an exaggerated finesse.

"I'm happy to take what's due to him. You know me...I won't let an opportunity pass." Bucky gets a gleaming side-glance through her thick lashes and a knowing smirk. She sobers an appropriate amount as she continues.

"But really, I think you're probably the only one who can get through to him. You're...y'know. You're his first friend -- his best friend -- and...yeah, okay. You're a nice guy with manners. It's a rarity. Don't let that go to your head though." A forefinger is waggled at him; that smirk hasn't faded.

"My stop isn't for another ten minutes though, so you have time to try and explain to me why you haven't had a peppermint mocha before and buddy, inflated prices aren't going to cut it as an excuse. I know you have money. You need to try a raspberry mocha next -- I've decided it, this is a thing. It's a plan. You're welcome." Felicia preens.