Are we okay? he'd asked, there by the sunny shore of the impossible inlet, and the truth is: she's not sure.
Something is still gnawing at her, sharpening her temper and setting her on edge. It knots in her stomach, unhappy and annoyed, and kills her appetite, leaves her preoccupied. The only way she can keep from brooding or snapping at him or picking another fight is to simply remove herself from being around him so much, and thankfully she has a ready-made opportunity: the office she plans to set up in what was originally her rooms at the Citadel. It gives her something to focus on, something to do, and it keeps her away from the hut by the lake for large swathes of the day and into the evening.
There's zero chance he won't notice she's avoiding both him and a replay of their fight, but Bucky won't push. He's not like her. And probably they both need some time to think about things. Besides, withdrawing a bit is better than getting into another argument, right?
(She's conscious of how different a call she'd have made when she first got here, but all it does is annoy her further.)
But there's a lot of work to do if she's going to set things up to work more effectively with Fury, and there's nothing like setting up a series of internal security measures to distract her from her thoughts. Also distracting: M'Baku's here, somewhere, and it would be nice to catch up with him before he heads back to Jabariland. But first things first.
Something is still gnawing at her, sharpening her temper and setting her on edge. It knots in her stomach, unhappy and annoyed, and kills her appetite, leaves her preoccupied. The only way she can keep from brooding or snapping at him or picking another fight is to simply remove herself from being around him so much, and thankfully she has a ready-made opportunity: the office she plans to set up in what was originally her rooms at the Citadel. It gives her something to focus on, something to do, and it keeps her away from the hut by the lake for large swathes of the day and into the evening.
There's zero chance he won't notice she's avoiding both him and a replay of their fight, but Bucky won't push. He's not like her. And probably they both need some time to think about things. Besides, withdrawing a bit is better than getting into another argument, right?
(She's conscious of how different a call she'd have made when she first got here, but all it does is annoy her further.)
But there's a lot of work to do if she's going to set things up to work more effectively with Fury, and there's nothing like setting up a series of internal security measures to distract her from her thoughts. Also distracting: M'Baku's here, somewhere, and it would be nice to catch up with him before he heads back to Jabariland. But first things first.
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Date: 2024-01-22 04:44 pm (UTC)(It is not that T'Challa wouldn't gladly do so. Especially with their history. It is that he doesn't want to have to ask. Or to admit why he would.)
With all of that in mind, it's very convenient that there is a friend of the Jabari here in residence in this very Citadel of theirs, isn't it? M'Baku watches with amusement as his escort trades an expressive look with each other when he suggests that they bring him to Sharon Carter, wherever she may be.
Where she is, is not the fields near the lake where he has seen her before with the White Wolf. Good. That will be much more convenient.
Humming to himself, he raps on the door with a heavy fist before the guards can announce him. "Snow Leopard! Are you still sleeping? It is late! Are you ill?"
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Date: 2024-01-22 06:29 pm (UTC)"Who could sleep when the Great Gorilla makes so much noise?" she wonders, as she steps aside to invite him in. "Come in, come in. Welcome to my lair."
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Date: 2024-01-22 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 08:28 pm (UTC)She keeps the door open in deference to the guards, then follows M'Baku into the room, watching with amusement as he looks around. "To what do I owe this pleasure? If you're looking for the Wolf, he's not here."
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Date: 2024-01-22 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 08:37 pm (UTC)"Is that what's happening? A social call?"
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Date: 2024-01-22 08:47 pm (UTC)"I am here to extend an invitation."
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Date: 2024-01-22 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 08:59 pm (UTC)"Well, if it isn't him... what exactly are you inviting me to do?"
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Date: 2024-01-22 09:10 pm (UTC)"I am inviting you to visit."
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Date: 2024-01-22 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 10:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2024-01-28 02:29 am (UTC)Sharon spends her first day with the Jabari deep in discussion with the head artisan and two of his assistants, along with several of the fishermen. Under her direction, they get to work, fashioning the things she needs while she updates M'Baku and spends time at the training yard. The warriors she'd met the last time are more than happy to help her practice, and after three days, she's confident that she's as prepared as possible. No one can call her reckless this time.
The fourth night is a moonless one. She spends the afternoon motionless in the trees, watching as the men work, and when they head back to their camp as the sun begins to go down, she follows them. The chameleon circuit on the suit is working better than ever, but even as she stays out of sight, she allows a branch to crack, here and there; leaves to rustle. A lingering worker looks around, uneasily, and she decides he'll be her first target.
At the core of her plan is this: that the men realize they are being stalked. She follows the man, flitting out of sight when he looks, allowing a flash of white here and there. His nervousness spreads to the others, even as they mock him for being afraid to go near the trees alone. He should have listened.
He's on his way to his tent when she attacks, chameleon circuit still running as she drops from the trees onto his back. He screams as she lands, the wicked hooks she'd had the fishermen make and which serve as claws curving from her knuckles sinking into his flesh. She slashes at him and is gone, leaving him bleeding on the ground, and when the men chase her she flirts with their vision, allowing them just enough of a tantalizing glimpse to keep them on her trail.
It leads them right back to the blasting sight, where they skid to a halt with uncertain cries. None of them are willing to get too close to the thing she'd had one of the Jabari place while she'd kept the men busy: a carved, wooden snow leopard, baring its teeth at the interlopers.
They destroy the statue. The next night, she leaves another one in the leader's tent, along with a bound and bleeding member of his team, once again slashed with her claws.
And this is only the start.
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Date: 2024-01-28 04:42 pm (UTC)"Hmm." That could be a problem, but he suspects that the clever and crafty Sharon Carter has considered this already. He slants a look at her. "What next, then?"
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Date: 2024-01-28 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-29 10:51 am (UTC)M'Baku grins at that.
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Date: 2024-01-29 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-29 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-29 05:49 pm (UTC)Bucky doesn't have a phone. But she'd sent a message to Nakia asking her to supply him with one, and it's that number she calls now, standing at the window and looking out over the Jabari homelands.
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Date: 2024-01-29 06:18 pm (UTC)The note hadn't given him much in the way of answers, but he suspects it's a test. He doesn't intend to fail it.
Nakia had brought him a phone yesterday. He'd never bothered asking for one before; who would he call? He won't risk Steve or Natasha or even Wilson on any other device but Shuri's secured system. He'd kept it with him, waiting for it to ring, then set it on the table in the hut overnight, and finally brought it outside with him in the darkness before dawn while he sits and waits for the sun to rise, just in case.
The chime it makes is the loudest thing around. Bucky answers it on the second one. "Hello," he says, and waits.
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Date: 2024-01-29 06:38 pm (UTC)No chance of that, really.
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Date: 2024-01-29 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-29 06:47 pm (UTC)She turns from the window and starts pacing slowly across the floor, tired but still too wired to sit. "They've got a pest problem I've been trying to take care of."
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Date: 2024-01-29 06:50 pm (UTC)"How's it going?"
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