14461/Spring, Sprang, Sprung

Spring, Sprang, Sprung
Date of Scene:	21 March 2023
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Study
Synopsis:	Bien.
Cast of Characters:	James Barnes, Wanda Maximoff

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James Barnes has posed:
James Buchanan Barnes, contrary to many people's popular opinions, _reads a lot_. Right now, he's catching up on things he hasn't read that came out while he was gone (and there was a lot of that) but at the moment, it's something a bit closer to what he read when he was a young man roving around Europe fighting Nazis: Tolkien.

He's catching up. He's reading _The Return of the King_.

Bucky reads like an old man, stoically and turning each page methodically.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
The library in the mansion probably doesn't have enough books for Sergeant Barnes. The digital collection, probably. The NYPL, it may give him something to do with the century of his life ahead. Unfortunately the NYPL doesn't usually stock spellbooks, much to the gladness (or chagrin) of Masters of the Mystic Arts.

The resident one here has her own book floating above her knee, and a bowl of Himalayan salt idly churning itself, guided by a stream of red motes. "The film version is quite inspiring," she adds without quite interrupting him, even if she's sitting back to back with him in some respect. Unless he controls the situation by sitting in an isolated chair. In which case, she'll just sit on him.

James Barnes has posed:
He'd never sit in isolation while she's around. Instead, he chose a loveseat, but since he doesn't sit sideways, her back is to his shoulder, but that's all right. He lifts his gaze from the book when she comments and goes, "Hrm?" before snorting. "Everything has a movie now a days," he says, like an old grump. After a moment, he turns a page, finishes a chapter, and then lifts his arm, wrapping it around Wanda's shoulders and leaning over to set his chin on her shoulder. "How's your spell coming?"

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Easier to be curled up in a way that gives him peace and lets her study, as is the wont of many. Wanda doesn't particularly mind sitting sideways, her things out of the way of anyone who might wander by. The Avengers aren't piled up living on one another like in a dorm these days, which feels a hell of a lot better than being packed into sardines. "This one was good. Excellent cast. I remember seeing it... must have been fifteen? Sixteen? Pietro barely could sit still until we got to the battle bits, and we were squeezed into a cinema replaying it. Hadn't any money for the tickets, but still."

Her smile toys at the memory, then fades into easy recollection. "It's behaving, that's a start. I don't come into my inheritance of the season for another few days yet."

James Barnes has posed:
"Inheritance of the season?" Bucky raises a brow and then puts his book aside, turning to slide one leg along the side of her and the other placed on the floor. He wraps his arms around her stomach and settles his cheek on her shoulder, half-looking up at her. "What does that mean?"

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
"My magic stirs with the natural world. Rising in spring, the flush of life exploding fuelling what I can do. It is a slow climb into June but one that markedly affects me. The same in autumn. Red witch, after all." She tugs lightly on her hair and looks back over her shoulder toward Bucky, though that's not an easy turn by any sense of the imagination. She's not Elastigirl or Reed Richards, thankfully. "You didn't have to stop reading merely to entertain me. If it mattered, we could share thoughts."

James Barnes has posed:
He reaches up with his hand and tilts head head back a bit so he can press a kiss against her mouth. "I stopped reading because you're more interesting," he points out, chuckling. "So does your power wane in winter or is it more like just a different sort of power?"

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
A kiss received as a blessing earns the light-hearted laugh out of the witch. Wanda tilts her head a little downward to make that reception easier, that they may bestow greetings and affection in equal accord. The salt in the bowl gets set neatly to the side, landing in a rustle of grains sliding against one another on the table, the spell holding it up exhausted.

"Different. It follows different cycles. Some of the instability when I was younger came from that, but I didn't understand it well then," she explains. "I'm sure this is all terribly dull when you could be following the March of the Ents."

James Barnes has posed:
"You should stop doing that," Bucky says, lifting his flesh hand up to her chin and tilting her head back so he can lean in and kiss her neck. "Deflecting. Self-deprecating. As if any Ent could be half as interesting as you." He scoots a bit closer, tighter against her back, and chuckles a little against her shoulder. "So do you get better at different magic during different times of the year? How's that work?"