7006/Fruit Basket full of Ammo

Fruit Basket full of Ammo
Date of Scene:	23 March 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Janet makes a game attempt to win Bucky over.
Cast of Characters:	Wasp (van Dyne), Winter Soldier

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Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
After Steve Rogers and Janet had their movie night, Janet had resolved to get to know Bucky a bit better. No matter how hard-edged he could be it takes a real friend to dime out his buddy to a girlfriend, and now Janet had 'Captain Jasmine' locked and loaded for all eternity.

This time when Janet goes to meet Bucky, she's sitting at the table first. She's in a smart charcoal pantsuit with a yellow blouse, the cut of the jacket sleekly feminine and form-fitting. Stylish leather pumps in the same bumblebee with a stiletto heel (totally impractical for the office) clearly mark her as something other than 'corporate drone'.

She's sitting at a table sipping coffee and flicking her thumb at her mobile phone. There's a fruit basket on the table. It looks like it's full of neatly cut pinepples, strawberries, and sits on ... a bed of several boxes of high-performance ammunition. A smaller box about the size of a textbook is at Janet's left elbow, neatly wrapped with a meticulous sort of care.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He's in a t-shirt and jeans and boots. SHIELD's private enough that he doesn't need to hide the arm, so he hasn't bothered. It's gleaming softly in the light of the dining area.

Lili the Shepherd is at his side. Not on a leash, but heeling neatly, as befits her training.

The sight of Janet's gifts has Bucky frowning - not in evident displeasure, more mere puzzlement. Just that little indent graven between the dark brows. He nods to her politely, takes a seat across from her.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet looks up and spots Lili first. "Oh hi!" she tells the service dog, looking delighted. She holds a palm out awkwardly to try and keep the shepherd from shedding on her immaculate looking suit, but petting her ears roundly for a few seconds.

She smiles up at Bucky with a welcome expression. "Thanks for seeing me, Bucky," she says. "And for not, like, having me summarily thrown out. I got you a present! Well, two presents," she says, and slides the fruit basket towards him. "Everyone likes fresh fruit, but I figured you'd like something a little more refined." Under the fruit are several boxes of ammunition, including some very high-quality hunting ammo reknowned for precision and performance. "That's for 'Captain Jasmine', which I will now treasure forever anytime Steve gets snippy with me."

Winter Soldier has posed:
His brows climb at that. "Thanks," he says, as he looks at first the first fruit basket. He can keep that in the kitchenette in his quarters. "That's kind of you."

Lil licks Janet's hand, wagging her tail. She's in glossy good health - Buck must tend her like a showdog. He picks up a box of the ammo, looking thoughtful. At least it isn't bubble bath or something. He doesn't smile at the mention of that nickname. "I pass it on to you. Someone's gotta remember that story besides us."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"Locked and loaded," Janet confirms. "And thiiis is for me being a crazy bitch and I hope we can sort of let, uh, bygones be gone." She slides the other box over to Bucky. It's cleverly tied with ribbon so that pulling a single loop of the complex net makes the whole thing unravel. Inside the box: designer dog toys, organic dog treats, and a handsome leather slip collar for Lili. "I really do feel bad about that and I don't want you to feel like, y'know, you oughta tell Steve he should be checking the crazy/hot scale every time we go out, y'know?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
That bemuses him, a little. His expressions are subtle, but he doesn't have the mask slammed down. Not right now. The ribbon he sets aside, reflexive thrift - what would he use it for later? Lili's collar, maybe?

He plucks out one treat, offers it to her on his metal palm. A word of approval, and the SHepherd takes it with great delicacy, wagging her tail. "Steve's a big boy," he says, mildly, "And you're a grown woman. I'm not his dad or his chaperone. Be nice to him and we're fine, that's all." Voice low, no threat in his manner. As if he were no more than Steve's old war buddy. There's no particular warmth in the pale eyes, but nor is there that awful, cold light.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"Mmm..." Janet sways her knees back and forth. Green eyes narrow thoughtfully at Bucky. "No. You are his best and oldest friend, though," she points out. "Steve doesn't just appreciate your opinion, he respects it. He finds you and asks what *you* think he should do. So me 'being nice' at best puts me..." She drums manicured nails, thinking. "I don't want you to be mad at me anymore, obviously, but indifference isn't a big improvement. I'd like to, I don't know. Be friends? Friend-ly?" she hesitates.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Now there's....something. Not wariness, exactly. A kind of uncertainty. "I'm not mad at you anymore," he says, slowly. "I'm...." Groping for words, even with that stillness. He doesn't move like most modern men. There's no restlessness in him, no fidgeting, no darting of attention. Which is possibly perturbing - most people don't fix their attention with that unwavering intensity....but then, he is, arguably, a kind of serial killer.

But then he comes to some kind of decision, and his lips thin out. "We'll see. Because honestly, I'm not interested in you save as I see how you treat him. That's all my concern. Steve's very smart and mostly sensible, but that doesn't mean he can't get hurt. I hauled him out of a lot of fights, or took it on the chin with him when I couldn't get him out of the middle of it....but this isn't something I can train him for or defend him against. It's not like it was when I was a young man - the signals and the rules are different, and it seems a lot more dog eat dog than it was." At the mention of 'dog', Lili looks up, letting her tongue loll, and he strokes her ears absentedly.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"You really take the 'love is a battlefield' thing to heart, don't you," Janet mutters. She sighs and rests an elbow on the table, chin balanced in the palm of her hand. Her entire demeanour, much like Lili, is to appear as casually charming and loveable as possible. She's good at it, too. More effective than simply coming at Bucky like a vamp, anyway.

"Look if you think things with me an' Steve are getting that crazy that you need to give him some relationship judo, then things have gone wrong in a *spectacularly* bad way," she tells Bucky.

"I'm not-- I'm not like, looking to make this a confrontation," she begs of Bucky. "I like Steve. We've been dating a while and it's going well. You're his best friend, and he's yours. Even if you and are are all, 'oil and water', separate well, we at least need to, y'know. Understand each other a bit better," she urges. "For instance, I know you like dogs. Dogs are good judges of character." Her fingers flex and spread as if offering that as support for some ironclad bit of unspoken logic.

Winter Soldier has posed:
A fractional shrug at that. "Isn't it?" he asks, still in that offhand tone. Lapsing into that neutrality, neither hostile nor relenting. "Do we?" A glance down at Lili. "Dogs are. Dogs don't lie and they don't really get deception, so they're very good at looking past the cues humans use to lie to each other."

He gets up from his chair, claims a bowl from the rack, fills it with water from a tap, and sets it down before Lili so she can drink.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet exhales when Bucky rises. She looks a little relieved when he returns, and gives him a frustrated look as she tries to read past that immobile mask. Janet's not bad at getting a fix on people... but Bucky's a past master of the Data routine.

"Okay, lemme try... lemme ask you this. Wheeen was it," she says, fingers *clicking* a staccato on the table. "When was it that you realized 'Hey, this Steve guy is my best friend'?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
There's the flicker of his gaze, as he goes through old memories."Moment I met him. We were...ten. This scrawny little kid trying to take on a whole pack of bullies and just....refusing to say uncle. No self-pity, no fear, no....not even anger on his own behalf. I knew, even then, he'd never surrender....and that he clearly needed someone to have his back."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"So you were like... eleven," Janet deduces. "That's kind of ... awesome," she admits. "I mean the idea of charging in headlong just because you see someone in a losing fight," she clarifies. "I can see getting in a fight and being too stubborn to quit when the odds go sideways. You charged in after him? Even knowing you two were gonna get pavement facials from these guys?" She sips her coffee and keeps her green eyes attentively focused on Bucky.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck shrugs, again. "They ran, after a little. Bullies only really like overwhelming odds. Most times I could haul him out of the fight - I was enough of a boxer that I was more than a match for most kids one on one, and I fought mean enough people didn't want to get into it with me repeatedly. We managed to carve out some space by high school."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"You boxed! Like, just bloody knuckles in the playground, or did you do the actual--" she puts up her small dukes and mimes a jab and a cross. "See I watch how Steve fights and I don't know *anything* about fighting," she acknowledges, "but I can't figure out what he's doing at all. T'challa's got his own style, Nats and Carol too, but Steve just like... flows." A wavy motion of her hand describes the effortless motion. "Did you rub off on Steve, or did he rub off on you?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Playground stuff at first, formal gym training later," he says, softly. "I tried to teach Steve, then, but it wouldn't take. He was too frail and uncoordinated."

A little shake of his head. "Neither. We trained together during the war, with the Commandos. That's what we have in common there." Not even a flicker of a lash at that entendre. "After the War, I was in Russian hands, so in as much as I have a particular fighting style, it's Systema - the Soviet military stuff."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"I don't know anything about Systema," Janet tells Bucky, cheerily. "I'm too tiny to really hurt anyone with a punch while I'm full size. I did, uh, y'know, the one the Israelis do. Krav Maga," she supplies. "And then I really got into Brazilian Jiujitsu and judo when I decided I wanted to get serious about it. Do you think it's a better system than what Americans use?" She sips her coffee and sits perkily upright on her chair, waiting eagerly for Bucky's expert opinion.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I dunno," he says. "Most ...." A beat and he looks down. "I can't really judge. I'm coming in to most hand to hand fights with advantages that make it hard for me to evaluate fairly."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"Yeah, but you've trained a lot of people," Janet says encouragingly. "You know how people move and fight. I mean, I can drop Steve in a triangle choke. I can't guarantee it'll *stick*," she admits, "but I don't know a lot of people with steel cables in their necks. You can at least say 'that technique's valid' even if, like, it's a question of an expert applying it perfectly to someoen who can just totally ignore it, y'know?"

Her phone buzzes and she glances at it. "Oh, crud. I gotta get going. Meetings later today." She sets her phone face-down and rests her fingertips on the surface of the table, making deliberate eye contact with Bucky. "Thanks. For sitting with me," she tells him. Maybe simple, blunt words are more useful here. "I feel a lot better having talked to you."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Thanks for the fruit and the ammunition and the dog treats." Strange offerings for an idol of uncertain temper - Buck clearly doesn't know what to make of them. But at least he seems to be willing to take them as peace offerings.

And Lili hasn't deposited a slobbery tidbit on her clothes. Better than last time.