8738/Karen is a Worry Wart

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Karen is a Worry Wart
Date of Scene: 11 August 2019
Location: Josie's Bar - Hell's Kitchen
Synopsis: Bucky's not been by Josie's Bar in a while. Karen worries and haunts the place until he finally shows. They catch up on things, discuss the ways the world has changed in the past 80 years, and speculate on future outings. And baked goods.
Cast of Characters: Karen Page, Winter Soldier




Karen Page has posed:
If there's one thing that Karen knows only too well, it's that humans are creatures of habit. She can fairly reliably predict about what time Matt and Foggy each arrive at the office in the morning, what their coffee preferences are, even to some lesser degree the comings and goings of the people who frequent Josie's Bar. So, when she doesn't see a particular Apocalypse-swilling barfly more than twice, she grows concerned.

Having spent multiple evenings sitting in Josie's finishing paperwork in the hopes of seeing aforementioned barfly, she's there yet again with file folders, legal pad, and pen in hand. Her requisite mug of beer and a plate of nachos sit off to one side, both only about half-consumed as her focus has narrowed to the documents in front of her.

Okay, so her idea of a stake-out likely leaves much to be desired.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He knows better, profoundly better, than to be a creature of habit. Operational rules dictate that he not take the same route twice. Not visit places repeatedly. But that's one of the luxuries he has now, as something like a free man - the ability to have habits, to settle into place. To drink and dine and play at places he's come to know.

So while caution or depression or sheer busyness might keep him away for a while....here he is again. Lili's pacing at his side. And ridiculously, her nails are painted a sparkly pink. He's plainly clad in t-shirt, jeans, and the diamond-plate pattern compression sleeve, black glove over the metal hand. Buck ambles for the bar, but Karen gets a lazy lift of his metal hand in greeting.

Karen Page has posed:
And here is where Karen proves to be the WORST spy ever. She's working so intently on the documents in front of her that she completely misses Bucky and Lili's arrival. Even the reaching for a nacho appears to be blindly on autopilot.

Though one thing's for sure. Once she pays attention, she's gonna think that compression sleeve is HYSTERICAL.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Oblivious, in the way people so often are now. It gets him, not just as a spy but as a citizen, how they surrender their attention. How they cocoon themselves from their surroundings with phones and earbuds and tablets.

So he settles comfortably on a stool at the bar, Lili flopping down at his feet. The drink this evening is a Four Horsemen, again.

Karen Page has posed:
Strangely, though, Karen has neither earbuds nor electronic devices currently on the table. It's all paper and pen, and she's sifting through the loose pages with one hand while jotting notes on the legal pad with the other.

Apparently reaching a stopping point, she sits up a bit, looks at the legal pad, then puts the pen down to stretch her arms up and back.

And THEN she notices that Bucky's here.

"Oh. Hey, James. Sorry I didn't see you walk in, getting this deposition sorted for tomorrow." Karen promptly starts packing up said paperwork. Either she completed what she wanted to do or similar, and she's in the middle of tucking the papers into her overlarge shoulder bag when SOMETHING occurs to her. She stops, frowns and blinks a few times, then looks at Bucky again. And stares for a solid two seconds before grinning.

"Okay, the sleeve is awesome."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"IT was a gift," he notes, with that little sphinx's smile. "Part of a set. You should see the other ones." There are more, and more absurd? "Pretty nice."

The fact of the gift is so much of it....but the pattern definitely amuses him. "I gotta have something to protect it." Which is kind of ridiculous considering, but...

Karen Page has posed:
"Hey, that's totally fair. Too much sun is bad for anyone's skin, and really, you can only get away with wearing a leather jacket so many months out of the year." Paperwork all tucked away and her bag resettled in its chair (yes, it has its own chair), Karen slides her flat beer mug and cold nachos to one side. "You wanna sit over here so we don't have to yell across the way? You've got to tell me all about the ink that's under that sleeve."

Then, as if she's remembered something, she digs into her bag again. "I hope you don't mind. I brought something for your dog."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Ink. He doesn't have.....then there's that absurd, incandescent grin. The one that makes him look, for a fleeting moment, like the boy in the old newsreels. "I don't have any ink," he says, as he picks up his glass and comes padding over to her. "I mean, no tattoos." He has terrible, terrible memories of things associated with tattoos - thus another modern fashion that's passed him by. "This isn't to cover a new tattoo. My left arm is a prosthesis. I lost it when I was in the Army." As if he were just some poor guy who ran into an IED in Afghanistan or Iraq.

The mention of Lili has him blinking. "What'd you bring?"

Karen Page has posed:
Karen ah-has faintly and brandishes a ziplock bag of what look like odd cookies, simultaneously oily and gritty. She turns to present them to Bucky, and he mentioned that the sleeve isn't hiding ink. "Oh. Cool. Just trying to avoid the whole uncanny valley thing and still dress to not roast alive outside. Makes sense."

Then she slides the bag of bizarre cookies over. "I stress bake. And if I take one more thing of cookies or cupcakes into the office, I think both Matt and Foggy are going to kill me. Anyway. It was stupid o'clock in the morning and I ran out of flour, so I used this app I found to see what I could make with the stuff I still had. Apparently, dog cookies are a thing." She taps the bag. "They're mostly peanut butter, carrot, blueberries, and powdered eggshells. I think they taste awful, but my neighbor's schnauzer thinks they're amazing.?

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Yeah," he says. "It's better to have a cover of some kind. Keeps it clean, protects it." As if that alloy monstrosity needed anything like protection. "And since they don't make one that looks really real, might as well go for something that's at least amusing."

He takes them, looks at the bag. "Thanks," he says. "Yeah. Dog cookies are a thing." Yes, he has a dog cookbook.

Karen Page has posed:
"Be careful about the whole amusing thing, people will take it WAY too far. I made the mistake once of admitting that I like the color pink, and suddenly every last gift I was receiving was some shade of pink. It was scary." Karen shakes her head in clear amusement.

"Anyway," she dismisses that topic. "How have you been? You were kinda scarce for a while there. I thought I was gonna have to shoot up a flare or something."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I.....well, this was a gift. You should see the other ones I was given. They're even brighter. I couldn't bring myself to wear the one with pink flamingos on it, not yet. I'd have to be more drunk."

He shrugs. "Okay. Just busy with work, mostly. Trying to take care of a friend."

Karen Page has posed:
At the mention of pink flamingos, Karen grins the most impish and wicked grin ever. "There's another thing you should be careful about saying. Now I kinda want to feed you a gallon of Everclear with a whole pan of pot brownies just so I can see those pink flamingos." But she won't. Not unless Bucky asks.

"What's going on with your friend? Going through a rough patch? Those suck. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know," she offers with a small shrug. "I could send you with baked goods."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"It'd just make me sick," he says, a little wistfully. "I can't really get properly drunk, anymore. It goes from not doing anything to making me want to throw up. I just get miserably ill." There's a shudder for the memory of his last drunken bender. What an awful experience.

"She.....she's a buddy from overseas service. There was an accident, she lost her husband and kids....she's back in DC now but when she comes up here I try to keep her company." Buck licks his lip. "Thanks for offering."

Karen Page has posed:
Karen grimaces in sympathy. "Oh, that's harsh." While she's not one to get drunk on a whim, she knows the 'miserably ill' state, and not getting the fun stuff in between? Criminal.

"She's lucky to have a good friend like you. You know, let me know next time she's back in town. I'll bake up something then. No wacky additives, I promise." She then calls over to ask Josie for a fresh plate of nachos, because the current one is long past gross and she's realizing she's still hungry with all the talk of food.

"I'll make you a deal. You wear the pink flamingos one day, and I'll wear every hideous pink thing I still own."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck gives her a look that's just a hair too innocent. "Why would I do that to you? You've never been anything but nice to me," he protests, in dulcet tones. "I mean, you brought her cookies." A look down at the lump of gold and black fur sprawled across his feet.

Karen Page has posed:
Karen laughs lightly. "Okay, then. For Halloween. Then EVERYONE will be dressed like a weirdo and you and I won't stand out at all."

Then she remembers the way halloween costumes have gone in the past decade or two, and where the man sitting across her from comes from. That... might be a bit too much culture shock. "Though maybe Halloween would be a bad idea in general."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Yeah?" he asks, blinking at her. James has never dealt with a twentyfirst century Halloween, has he? What was it like in his day? How does he deal with this day and age, sex frank and permanently on display?

Karen Page has posed:
"Yeah. It's gotten ... way more commercialized. What was Halloween like when you were a kid? I kinda think the whole 'wear a silly costume and go door to door begging for candy' thing wasn't really popular until the nineteen fifties. And more recently, well, let's just say wearing silly costumes isn't just for kids anymore."

She can think back on a few of her high school and college costumes and how they'd like have scandalized James to no end. She's almost glad he never had a chance to see them.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"We did a little trick or treating, sometimes. When Steve was healthy enough. We used to read spooky stories to each other. There were parties, sometimes," There's that wistful tone....but since Karen doesn't ever seem to find the disconnect in age something funny, he doesn't seem to mind sharing thestories. "But....stuff for grownups? No. Not really."

Karen Page has posed:
Unable to keep from smiling at the thought of Steve and Bucky as little kids, Karen can't keep herself from imagining the two of them sitting with a blanket over their heads and telling spooky stories by yellowy flashlight. "Yeah. Well, stupid college kids will come up with any reason to have a party and drink too much. Halloween just seems kind of perfect for it. And, people get to wear things they'd normally never wear out in public." That's about as close as she dares get to mentioning the 'sexy' costumes. Though maybe she can break it to him easy by starting with some of the absurd memes about it. Like that one with the Windows paperclip.

She thanks the bartender for bringing the nachos over and promptly takes one particularly loaded tortilla chip from the pile. "Oh, help yourself, there's no way I'm gonna be able to finish this."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Thanks," he says, as he takes one. "And college kids always have. Tha's what I understand. It's a lot wilder and less tame than it was. There's a parade in Greenwich Village, isn't there?"

Karen Page has posed:
Munching on her loaded chip -- Oh, yeah, the jalepenos are fresh -- and nods at Bucky's question about the parade. "Mm. Yeah. Whole lot wilder." She doesn't elaborate on that. It's a little too close to subjects she'd rather avoid. Thus, she latches onto the mention of the NYC Village Parade.

"There is. It's a serious to-do, and I don't think just anyone can be in on it. Hey, if you want, I'll look into it, maybe we can go with a whole group to see the parade." It'd likely be a safer bet than going to a nightclub or some such, and less worry about feeling obligated to drink liquor.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Maybe. Sounds good, but we'll see closer to the day?" Gods only know what kind of insanity SHIELD will have to deal with at that time. "I mean, you can just go watch the parade, right?"

Karen Page has posed:
Snagging another chip, Karen nods. "Oh yeah, of course. It's way too early to really be planning anything, but if we float the idea past our friends now, when it gets closer maybe it'll be easier to not have conflicts, y'know? And the whole point of it would be to watch the parade. Kinda like a tamer Mardi Gras in October. And no beads."

Please let there be no beads. Or the reasons for people throwing beads.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He nods. "Yeah. People seem so busy now. But I'll remember, see what I can do." Lili makes a questioning noise, and he looks down at her, grins. "Never been to Mardi Gras." That's not strictly true, though what his brain is trying to supply him with is memories of some form of Carnivale in Europe.

Karen Page has posed:
"Oh, now Mardi Gras is a WHOLE different story." Karen gestures as she explains, though thankfully the chip in her hand only gets mildly flung about once. "Crazy clothes for sure, but a lot more... hm, let's say lack of inhibitions. It's huge party thrown on Fat Tuesday, the last day before the Catholic observance of Lent -- when people give up something until Easter, like liquor or bacon -- and since it's a sort of final hurrah before the month plus of being extra religious, people are extra free with how they dress and behave. I mean, typically the reason people get beads thrown at them by the people in the parade is because they lift their shirts and show off what's underneath."

Kind of make her glad she's not Catholic.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Back in my day, you used to have to do a whole lot more to get a lady to be willing to show what she had underneath her shirt," he observes, with the faintest twinkle of amusement. "Everything else seems to've gotten harder, I dunno why that's gotten easier...."

Karen Page has posed:
That elicits a chuckle. "Maybe it's because women don't feel as oppressed and forced to hide things anymore. I mean, stop and think. If a guy walks down the street wearing no shirt, no one bats an eyelash. If a woman does that, people get scandalized and clutch their pearls. How is that fair?" Her gestures become more emphatic every time she feels strongly about a topic. "Imagine if you were forced to wear something over your eyes every time you went out into public just because some uptight old men four hundred years ago came up with the bright idea that blue eyes were 'indecent and of the devil'."

Even some air quotes going on there.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I mean, that happens in some parts of the world now," Buck says, ruefully. "Still. And.....I guess. Maybe guys do now. Back when....listen, when Steve and I were kids, t-shirts were underwear. Period. I wouldn't've gone out in a t-shirt and pants unless the house was on fire. It'd be like you going to work in a bikini. I still can't get used to it, honestly."

Karen Page has posed:
"Well, there you go. Now, t-shirts are perfectly okay. And really, if I wanted to, I could wear something to work about on par with a bikini. I wouldn't, because it's unprofessional, but there it is. It's called social equality. And it's been needing to happen for a few thousand years now, pretty much since someone somewhere way back when decided that women should be considered property and less valuable than livestock, and even showing their ankles was indecent."

Karen sits back in her chair, apparently done with the nachos. "But, I better get off my soapbox now before I really go off on a rant. I know what you mean about it being some hardcore culture shock. But try to think of it this way: how would people have treated you if you'd been missing your arm back then? We've come a long way, haven't we? And, there's still even farther yet to go."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I get it," Buck says, mildly. "The double standard has never been fair. I remember how hard Peggy had to fight to get numbskulls to acknowledge that she was their equal, let alone their better. And.....yeah. In America, at least, people treat amputees a lot better. The technology for helping them's much, much better too."

Karen Page has posed:
Karen nods and gestures vaguely with one hand. "Yeah, there you go. That Peggy lady sounds like she was awesome. I would have loved to have met her, I'll bet she'd have had things to say about the modern day and age, including 'it's about time!'."

She crosses her arms to stop herself from gesturing still more. "Oh man, technology. That's something that's going to keep racing forward faster and faster, especially with people like Tony Stark out there pushing the boundaries way beyond what people could have imagined even in the nineteen eighties."

She smiles at Bucky at that, then asks truly innocently, "So, if the tech gets good enough that you can get a prosthesis that works kinda like your organic arm used to... would you want one?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
"She was," and his tone is very wistful indeed. Nevermind that she's alive and well and no doubt raising fifteen kinds of bureaucratic hell in DC. That's another story for another day. "And I bet she would."

More nachos disappear. "Yeah," he says. "Figure I would. I mean, why not accept the best there is, if it's available."

Karen Page has posed:
At that, Karen grins and nods. "Good. Then, thumb-wrestling."

She sits forward again. "Now, because I already know how bad next week is gonna be, what kind of cookies or cupcakes or pies do you and Steve like? Anything but red velvet, that stuff is a hard no from me."