riverviewlogs | (no subject)

who: open!
what: a bunch of old soldiers hanging out
when: 3/22
where: the riverview bar and grill
warnings: none yet, will add as necessary

[The Riverview Bar and Grill is a pretty typical-looking bar-slash-restaurant. Sam's spoken with the owners about having a gathering here, and he's there early to push several tables into position so everybody can sit around and chat (though if anyone wants to break into small groups or be less socially inclined, there are still some smaller tables in the vicinity, or there's always the bar itself). A local sports match is showing on the tvs, of course, and there's a pool table, foosball, darts, and even a pinball machine tucked away in one corner for entertainment purposes.

Sam himself spots one round for the group, several pitchers of cold beer on the table once they're all gathered. After that, it's every man for himself - and, of course, the menu has all sorts of appetizers available, from everyone's favorite bar nachos to hot wings to...well, whatever Riverview offers in terms of specialties.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Sam, for his part, raises an eyebrow at Bucky. He'd talked to his counterpart about coming, but hadn't expected this one to show. But he's glad to see him, nonetheless.]

That's what I said on the network. And if anyone tries to cause trouble, I got a couple of guys to help out in that department.

[Sam honestly doesn't know anything about Pierce's background - hell, the guy could lie and say he'd been in 'Nam and Sam would be none the wiser. And while he's not going to start shit with someone who, as far as the public of Riverview knows, is an innocuous old man, he'll do whatever's necessary to keep Bucky safe.]

Even if I'm the one causing trouble?

[Not that he's planning on it, but how prepared are his guys to help out if the Soldier decides to make an appearance?]

Sorry-- forget it. So what exactly are you supposed to do at a place like this?

Yeah, well, that's one of the reasons why I was trying to get both Steves to come. So there'd be enough muscle to handle anything. 'Course, I'd like to not get banned from here, so if you could maybe not flip out, that'd be great.

[Sam reaches for his beer and takes a drink, shifts the pitcher over towards Bucky in case he feels like pouring one for himself. He knows it won't do anything for him, but maybe he likes it anyway.]

Mingle with people, maybe make some friends. Or kick someone's ass at pool, if you feel like it. Usually meetings are more organized back home, but I wanted to make this open-ended, didn't want people to think I was forcing them to share their experiences or anything.

[Sam makes it sound so simple, like Bucky is always mingling and making friends, and not like he's a ridiculous loner who spends all of his time hiding from anything resembling socialising.]

People actually come to these things to share what's happened to them?

[That's so weird to him. Back in his day, men didn't talk openly about that sort of thing.]

[Well, yes, he knows what Bucky's social life is like, Sam just chooses to be optimistic about the possibilities. Or something like that.]

Sometimes. Usually it's just the comfort of knowing that you're around people who understand what it's like, that you could talk about it if you wanted to and nobody'd look at you like you're crazy.

Sam... everyone'd look at me like I was crazy if I talked about stuff.

[His experiences aren't really like most of the ones people have had when they've gone to war, not even other POWs.]

Just talk about- [he gestures vaguely] regular stuff.

[Though, to be fair, he doesn't know what kind of regular stuff Bucky has to talk about.]

Like dogs. You have a dog, people have dogs. Or shoot a game of pool, no talking required.

Pretty sure someone told me you were good at this.

[It's quiet, ever so slightly sarcastic.]

All you have to give me is 'try dogs'?