15778/And The Old Folks say...

And The Old Folks say...
Date of Scene:	02 September 2023
Location:	A Bar in Athens, Greece
Synopsis:	Nettie and Bucky recount the Good Old Days. It's covered that Bucky was the partial cause of The Tank Incident.
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, James Barnes

---

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "OPAAAAA!" comes a cheer. People are singing in Greek, toasting to the Thunderer and Shazam. Toasting to how clever Audra is. Josh is likely also caught up in the celebrations and libations, and in the back corner of the bar sit the veterans. You tend to want to watch the front door after too many fights. There's a bottle of Ouzo on the table, with a couple of tumblers. In front of Nettie, who had sported a bloody nose after getting whacked with the broom on accident, the liquid was floating ice, smelling of ginger and cardamom and *wow* 120 proof Ouzo is strong and definitely can carry the anise as well. She'd been quiet, supervising the younger revelers among people whose language they did not speak, but she had settled into the chair.

    Her crow was drunk and asleep in a scarf she's hooked up like a sling around her neck.

    "Just like old times. Just different faces." she mumbles amicably.

James Barnes has posed:
    The bike's parked out front. Assuming it isn't Nettie's, Bucky will have to figure out how to get it back to its rightful owner... at some point. For now, though, he has other things to do.

    Like finally drink the Greywitch under a table.

    He doesn't know any of the other people here and hadn't made any moves to introduce himself. Frankly, he prefers the anonymity when he can get it, and with the rest of the bar patrons more concerned with celebrating the Big Damn Heroes, Bucky is perfectly fine with fading into the background, his seat across from Nettie's. There is no visible reaction to the taste of the Ouzo, he just takes a mouthful and swallows.

    "Some things never change," he agrees, his voice muted amongst the revelry. He sets his glass down and then reaches to pull his hair free of the tie keeping it up in its previous man-bun, letting it fall around his face now.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie gives a smile. "Like the longer hair. Looks good." she complements Bucky quietly, and she takes a big breath and lets it out.

    "So. Are you at liberty to share why you're still up and about after... oh... eighty years?" she asks, looking ovr to Bucky with amusement. "You're looking fantastic for your age. What moisturizer do you use?"

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky tips his head lightly at the compliment, which is about all the acknowledgment he's generally willing to give to such things. Before, he knew he looked good and used that fact to his advantage greatly; now things are different. So it's not so much him not understanding it as not really knowing what to do with it, any more.

    The question that follows doesn't surprise him, not really. But his reaction is still to go a bit blank in the face, which he covers up surprisingly smoothly with a long drink of Ouzo. "Nothing good," is his evasive answer. "And, uh... does soap count?"

    He knows it doesn't.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Fair answer. I'm sorry." Nettie replies as she raises the clear alcohol to her lips, and then, when he asks if soap counts, she gives a grin, her nose wrinkling as she almost chokes on her drink, and she shakes her head.

    "I'm afraid soap doesn't count, sir." she replies in a friendly manner, and she gives a nod to the group.

    "The younger one's one of mine -- in the 'I'm his supervisor' sense. Shazam's a friend, and Windrose is the friend of a friend. If you feel amenable to introductions afterwards I can make them, but you seem like the type to keep to yourself. Understandable." she replies quietly.

    "I run an outfit out of New York City. Loose collective of mages, assassins, theieves demons and monsters that fight in the dark to help the more marketable good guys. You're welcome to stop by if you so wish."

James Barnes has posed:
    "It's fancy soap," Bucky says, pointing with the hand curled around his glass. "A friend of mine tried to teach me about self-care once, so now I waste my money on bath products so he doesn't bug me about it any more." Does he use most of it? Hard to say.

    He looks out at the crowd, pale eyes distant, and then he nods along with Nettie's estimation of his sociability. "That's fine. Recognized a couple of them from the news," he explains.

    That Nettie's relocated to NYC doesn't seem to surprise him, or maybe he just no-sells literally everything. Either way, he only leans forward a little bit, on his elbows. "Maybe I will. Is what happened today your usual?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "MUST be the fancy soap." Nettie replies, and she leans her head back as she looks up to the ceiling, and then back out. "No. This is a first time for necromancy-created flying boars from a jealous assistnt professor. Usually it's some sort of demon, or assassin. Sometimes the leaders of unfriendly countries causing issues for the community. Would have liked m'self to take on and handle some of our own but... meh. The one in the red and blue pajamas doesn't appreciate when we get a little more bitey than we need to." Nettie waves her hand around in the air. "Mostly I sell tea and tell people not to mess around with ouija boards."

James Barnes has posed:
    That this is new for Nettie as well earns a level look from Bucky, and then after a long pause, a nod of acceptance. Because the whole thing was very weird for him, all told, but if things aren't always this side of strange maybe he will drop by and visit when they're back State-side.

    He finishes off his drink and picks up the bottle, first to top up Nettie's glass before he refills his own.

    "People are still messing with those things these days? Even back when I was a kid we knew they weren't something to play around with."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Eh. Most of the time they're harmless, couple teenagers on a sleepover. Other times they can give someone bad ideas. Other times -- well." she gives a small smile as she raises her glass to toast Bucky.

    "Luckily, before I was a nurse for the British Army, I was also a Nurse for the British Army, and before that, spent time back and forth globe-trotting. I was old before you met me." she gives a wry, sad smile.

    "Did you hear about what happened with that fifty dollar bill I won out-drinking you?"

James Barnes has posed:
    The toast is acknowledged with a lift of his own glass, and then Bucky downs half of it in one go, like the Ouzo is just water to him. He sets his drink down after and folds his arms on the table, his brow furrowed slightly as he ponders over something. Perhaps Nettie's true age.

    But even as he is now, he's still too much of a gentleman to ask.

    "Don't think I ever did. What sort of trouble did you manage to get up to?" One corner of his mouth twitches upwards. It's almost a smile. "I hope the shit I got for you drinking me under the table was worth it."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Well. After you surrendered your wallet, me and a couple of the other nurses went out. We got some local spirits and wine. You know, I was married to the redhead, Addie Flynn? The tall Irish girl with the temper. I ended up perhaps imbibing a bit too much, and was stripped down to my natural self when we came across a couple of lads guarding a tank. We thought they were French. They spoke to us in French. We guessed the tank was American, since it lacked a teakettle." she gives a smile, ad she laughs at the memory "So there we are, four nurses for the British and American armies, and me naked, and we ended up stealing the tank and joyriding for a good hour or so." she gives a bright grin. "Because four of us drank fifty American dollars of cheap wine in France. Good God that was so much wine back then!"

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky is silent as he listens, but his eyes are attentive. He even nods along at salient points, like when Nettie mentions Addie. Active listening. The rest of his drink is nursed through the explanation, and he again repeats the process of topping Nettie's up before his own.

    "So you stole a tank," he summarizes, at the end. Fullstop. His eyebrows go up, not in a challenging way, but maybe something amused as he peers at Nettie over top of his drink. His... third drink? How much Ouzo is even left?

    He takes a more moderate sip than previously, and adds, "Sounds like money well-spent."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Yes. And then crashed into a house in the village that was secretly holding German lessons. See, we'd wandered so far off track through the woods that we came to the German side of things, and then drove one of their tanks back. I'm certain they didn't expect a bunch of drunk nurses to interrupt their party. Lucky for us." Nettie gives a smile, and she raises a hand, calling for another bottle.

    "So your fifty dollars would have purchased four medals if we had been men." she gives a bright smile.

    "Priceless having to give a debriefing while debriefed." she laughs. Nettie is pretty well toasty.

    "Ah. Well. Addie always took a shine to the Americans. Thought you were all just the most adorable buttons to cross the Atlantic, full of hope an' tar, she would have said."

    "I remember having to stand with a housecoat borrowed from one of the farmer's wives, and when Chamberlain said 'if only the lads showed that much spirit', I had to correct him, 'no spirit, sir, it was the wine!'"

James Barnes has posed:
    Nettie is toasty. Meanwhile Bucky looks completely unaffected. There isn't a flush to his face, or even a hint of glassiness to his eyes. He's, for all outward appearances, still fully put-together.

    "We were full of something, that's for sure," he jokes, but that seems to be the extent of his good humor, as he is quiet afterwards. Momentarily his gaze shifts away and he's somewhere else, many decades in the past, but he doesn't lose himself to his memories for long.

    In fact he sits up abruptly when the next bottle is set down on their table. "I need to make a phone call, check on someone back home." So he stands up and leaves the bar briefly to go do exactly that.

    When he returns some minutes later, his expression has darkened, and he sits down heavily at the table, downing his drink in one go.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The new bottle has been opened, and Nettie lifts the bottle and shakes it as Barnes returns.

    "Need to make a sssswift exit?" she questions, giving a squint of a look to James Barnes, and she gives an apologetic look back to him.

    "If you want, I can get you sstatesiddle, within a couple of blocks a' Central Park. Quiet parrrrking garrrage." Nettie rolls her R's. the Lincolnshire accent coming out strong now. And she squints.

    "I don't often get to drink with people close to m'own age. Everyone's either a young buck or an ancient bastard anymore. Gettin' old while your body doesn't is a double-edged sword. Eventually nothin' seems familiar."

James Barnes has posed:
    "My cat isn't eating."

    Apparently Bucky has a cat. He has his phone out still, and he's flipping through something with his thumb. Which turns out to be pictures, as he turns it around to show Nettie one: a fluffy white cat with bright blue eyes. It's standing on top of a counter of a small NYC apartment, looking intently at the camera. Or rather whoever is holding it.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    That seems to sober Nettie right quick. She frowns, and removes from her pocket a pair of wire-rim half-moon glasses to take a closer look at Alpine.

    "A beautiful cat." she agrees, "Is this a new development?" she asks, settling back into advisor -- the Nettie that Nettie was when she wasn't drunk or fighting with someone. The Nettie in the camps for the RAF and Britain's forces, of course, was the nurse to the dying, and often took the ones who weren't going to make it so that the other nurses didn't have to.

    Probably explains the crow. Actually nothing explains the crow.

    "Could be they're just upset without their human nearby."

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky turns the phone back around towards himself, and just looking at the picture makes him crack a smile. A tiny one, but a real one. "Recent, yeah. Found her outside my fire escape one day," he says.

    "The petsitter," a harried junior SHIELD agent who probably doesn't get paid enough for this, "Says she seems fine, she's just refusing to eat." Which, given that, suggests that Bucky is in agreement with Nettie's theory on that one. He doesn't move to refill his glass, only frowns down at the picture for a long beat before he tucks his phone away into his jacket.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Normal animals don't like to keep 'bout me. That's a story for a different drink." Nettie pours for Bucky, but just a half glass before she sets the bottle down.

    "Have him change the water if it's a still bowl. Sometimes that'll trigger the intent to eat something if their foodbowl's nearby. Otherwise could just be the change in staff." she gives a small smile.

    "I'm glad that you have someone to return home to. Most people our age don't."

James Barnes has posed:
    The phone comes back out, and the instructions are dutifully texted the petsitter's way at a speed that belies more comfort with technology than anyone would think someone as old as Bucky is would have. But HYDRA made sure he kept up on world developments so long as they were beneficial to the mission, and rapid communication certainly counted.

    He looks at the half-refilled glass, and then accepts it. "It's... nice. Pets are uncomplicated, easy. They don't have the same expectations people do," he says, and it sounds like a confession, one pulled out with great difficulty. The liquid swirls around in his glass before he lifts it to take a sip.

    Then Bucky's nodding to the unconscious bird being toted around by Nettie. "Bit different with that one, I'm assuming."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "They don't, in most cases. A warm bed, good food, clean water -- and a cup of coffee to knock over in their rage, for cats I hear." Nettie gives a smile, settling back into toastiness.

    "No. Corvax is a bit different. I've had him since I was eight. He's my familiar." Nettie states, and she gives a small smile. "Though it may be no surprise that the lady with the flying broomstick and the talking crow is..."

James Barnes has posed:
    "Or try to stick their face in," Bucky adds to the mention of cups of coffee for cats, and he sounds like he's speaking from experience. Aided by the glower on his face, it makes it seem like he's recalling a specific memory.

    He gives the drunken crow another look, expressionless as he does so, before he polishes off his drink. "It's been... good. Seeing you. Good to know you found yourself a place to settle down. None of us had the opportunity to do that, back then."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "No. No I don't suppose any of us did. Or felt we deserve it." Nettie replies thoughtfully, and she gives a small nod. She rises to bid Bucky farewell... and then stops.

    Pauses.

    And sloooooowly tilts over and has to hold onto the table because she might fall off the planet.

    "... son ov... a...." she trails off.

    And then she reaches into her pocket, and just... shoves a fifty dollar bill in Bucky's general direction.

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky stands when Nettie does, and he's standing still as Nettie begins to topple. No, he doesn't move to help, only watches like a silent guardian in case he needs to collect her from the floor.

    But no, she collects herself just fine, so Bucky nods. "Plane's taking off soon. I'll look you up in New York. Take care of yourself until then, Nettie Crowe."

    The fifty dollar bill gets a Look. And then, carefully, a metal hand reaches out to take it and slip it into Bucky's pocket. After that, he's gone.