Clara Oswald is going the long way round (alwaysbeenthere) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-08-27 08:12:00 |
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It had been a pretty mellow day and going into night. No random cases to work on, Orange County quiet for the time being, and just her and Bucky in the TARDIS/Diner at the moment.
“We should go swing dancing.”
Random and in the middle of a comfortable silence? Of course. Sometimes that was just the way things happened. Not to mention Clara’s mind sometimes jumped from thought to thought with little care for reason. She wasn’t nearly as bad as the Doctor was with it, but between her own inability to die and time travel, well… she had picked up a good number of his tendencies.
Still, Bucky was dreaming of WWII, Clara had a time machine that could take them to Berlin in the late 1930s to the underground cultural resistance, and it just seemed like something he’d enjoy. And if not, they could find other things to do. But Clara was pretty certain this was a good idea.
“Swing dancing?” He asked, looking at her with a smile. “You know, I could definitely go for swing dancing. Guess we should see if any of my knowledge carried over from the dreams.” Bucky was suave, and of course he’d known how to dance back then. After all, he liked going out and dancing.
“Do you know how to swing dance?” Either they both knew and would be fine, one of them would know and they could teach the other, or neither of them did and it would just amusing. It didn’t matter to Bucky what the truth of it would be.
It never really mattered what they did together, Bucky just enjoyed being around Clara. Coming to Orange County had been the change he needed, and Clara was just the kind of person he needed in his life. Someone to keep him on his toes and meet him flirtatious quip for flirtatious quip.
“I bet it would. You seem a quick study.” Grinning, Clara pushed herself up. “So how does Hamburg 1940 sound?” The major raids of the clubs were in 1941, though there had always been risk involved. And while Bucky knew she time travelled, she had yet to tell him that the diner was actually a TARDIS as well. No, she was just going to act like they were going there and then (because they were) and he could keep up.
“I do actually.” Though really, Clara would be amused no matter the dancing dynamic between the two of them. Yes, the cut off age was more often 21 however she had a feeling they’d be fine getting in. “Come on.”
And leading Bucky to the back of the ‘diner’, she pointed towards the room that had all the appropriate outfits for different time periods.
“You’ll be able to find something to wear that will be appropriate in there.” She’d go change once she set the course.
“I like to think that I’m quick to pick things up,” Bucky quipped with a smile. He was no slouch when it came to learning things. Though he blinked, a little taken aback by her question. “Wait, swing dancing in 1940? You mean I’m able to go in your time machine?” Okay that was just really incredibly cool sounding. “I mean yeah, I’m totally fine with that!” The fact that Clara had said 1940 Hamburg was an afterthought currently. He wasn’t thinking about the fact World War II was already underway in Europe at that time.
Bucky eagerly followed after Clara. Though as she pointed at a room, he eyed her a bit. “You just have clothes sitting around in there? Are you sure there’s some that will actually fit me?” Bucky was tall, though not the tallest person ever, but he had a lot of muscles on his upper body. Sometimes it was a chore to find shirts that fit him right.
“Oh, Bucky, you’ve been in a time machine this entire time.” Grinning over her shoulder, Clara continued on the mini tour, with a bounce to her step. She could definitely understand why the Doctor always was excited to show off his TARDIS for the first time, to see how people responded. With his of course, it was a tiny police box that then was so much more. With Clara’s, it seemed a normal diner and yet….
“Time lord technology. There will be a closet that has appropriate clothes for different time periods, you’ll find something.”
Clara was quite fond of Bucky’s muscles, but also she had just stopped questioning how a TARDIS could just materialise outfits that would work. Still, it was also part of the fun acting all nonchalant about something with someone who had no idea about what to expect.
“Wait, what? I have?” He asked, momentarily stopping in his tracks as he blinked at Clara. That...didn’t make sense. He looked back over his shoulder, wondering what the hell that meant. This was just a restaurant, right? He shook his head a little and continued after Clara.
“Okay that’s...weird. Way weird.” He scratched his head, trying to make sense of it, but he felt he should just go with it instead. At least for the moment. Bucky headed off to the closet that Clara had indicated, and he quickly found out that she was quite right. There were all sorts of clothes in there. Clothes for both men and women.
What the hell? Bucky kept wondering what exactly this was, but it didn’t take him long to find something suitable for 1940 Hamburg, and he changed into it. Luckily, it fit like a glove. Which was kind of shocking. He then headed back to join Clara.
“Well, I definitely look the part, but how do you have all those clothes for different time periods? And how is a restaurant a time machine?” Important questions, really.
Really, it was just too amusing to see Bucky’s reactions as he sort of got used to the fact that he was in a time machine. She would explain later. As he came into the control room, Clara gave him an appreciative once over and nodded.
“Patience.”
What, she wanted to have a bit more fun. Well that and she needed to go and get her own outfit, a red dress that was easy to move in because apparently sometimes she just really enjoyed wearing red. Hair quickly styled appropriately, Clara made her way back to the control room.
“The clothing? It’s a Time Lord thing I think. I mean when you travel through time and space, you need to be able to blend in. As for how is a restaurant a time machine? Chameleon Circuit so that it can blend into its surroundings. It broke though. Luckily it also has the ability to seem invisible so no one will notice it.” A function she sometimes had on when she didn’t want to be bothered. “Hold on!”
Grinning, Clara pushed the control so that they were suddenly travelling and then landed. A quick scan of the computer and she nodded. Good, just where they wanted to be.
“C’mon!” Grabbing Bucky’s hand, Clara led them out of the TARDIS and down the stairs as they had landed on the roof of the Cafe Heinze to where there were already many people dancing.
Okay, this was definitely a time machine. Not that the console screamed time machine to him, it just seemed to be weird alien technology to him. But Clara knew how it worked, so he’d let her do her thing. The console definitely looked confusing. For one thing, there were no labels, nothing saying what each button and lever did.
While Clara was changing, he was peering at the console, leaning down, but he wasn’t touching it. Bucky at least knew not to touch any strange buttons or pull any weird levers that he didn’t know what the outcome would be. When she came back, he straightened and it was his turn to give her an appreciative once over. She definitely looked like she belonged in the 40s.
“I guess that makes sense, needing to blend in. I suppose it would be weird to show up in Gaul during the age of the Roman Empire wearing jeans and a tank top or something.” Or, god forbid, any clothing style from the 80s. “Huh, a circuit meant to let this blend in. That’s...definitely interesting. Also makes sense to not draw attention to it by having it blend in.” He rubbed his chin in thought. It did make sense, though he was still a bit weirded out by the whole having been in a time machine every time he’d come to see Clara at the diner.
Holding onto Clara’s hand, he followed after her, a grin on his face as they made their way down the stairs and to where the music was playing and people were dancing. If he’d had any reservations about whether or not they had actually moved through time and space, seeing other people, and the state of the technology and buildings around them, proved that they had traveled through time. “This is pretty cool! Though won’t they notice that we don’t speak German? Or, well, I don’t. I don’t know if you do.”
It was rather adorable watching Bucky as he pieced everything together about the TARDIS. How it could appear like a diner, how it could seemingly vanish as well. While she didn’t just show off her TARDIS to anyone, she really did enjoy watching people figure it out for the first time. How could she not?
“Right? And don’t worry. Another TARDIS thing. Even if most of the Swings didn’t speak some English because of being Anglophiles, the TARDIS has a telepathic language thing so we’ll hear English and they’ll hear German. Very handy when you actually know about it.” Good times being thought of as a British spy because she’d been speaking Russian without even noticing.
“Now, are you going to dance with me or do I have to find someone else?” Grinning, Clara started to move towards the dance floor to see if Bucky would or would not follow. She had a good feeling he would but she could still tease him.
Okay. This was even more intricate than he’d initially thought. Bucky had known that Clara had a time machine, that wasn’t the issue. What was the issue was how the time machine was far more complex than he had anticipated. He’d been thinking something more along the lines of H.G. Wells’ time machine. But the TARDIS was so much more than that.
“Seriously? So right now we’re speaking German as far as anyone else here is concerned?” That was actually kind of cool. The easy way to speak multiple languages without having to go through the trouble of learning each and every one of them. Certainly useful for when one traveled to different places and times where English either wasn’t spoken or didn’t exist.
“Oh no, I’m going to dance with you.” He said with a grin as he followed Clara to the dance floor. No way was he going to let anyone else dance with her. He wasn’t the type to sit and watch, he preferred being right in the middle of it all. He quickly picked up the beat, and knowledge from his dreams crossed over so he didn’t make a fool of himself when he started to dance.
The TARDIS was far more than most things. Then again, with Time Lord technology and the general sentient parts that was to be expected. No need to go into that though. Not exactly good memories from the dreams about that. Things she didn’t remember in them but remembered here and all. That was also confusing .
“As far as anyone else is concerned. Sometimes it can lead to….confusion and misunderstanding but we should be fine.” Should because nothing was ever a guarantee and well….travel in a TARDIS and you never knew what you might just get.
“That’s what I like to hear.” And it was straight into the dancing, matching and keeping time with the people around them. Really, all it was was a bunch of apolitical teens who just wanted to have a good time and enjoy the music and dance and be young in all the chaos. It was easy to get swept up into the music and dance and lose track of time. But with her current dance partner, it wasn’t like Clara was exactly complaining about length of time or anything like that.
Perhaps once he fully digested the whole TARDIS thing, and when they weren’t otherwise occupied with dancing, Bucky would ask a million questions about it. He never was afraid of learning about things. His dream self had rather admired Mr. Stark’s demonstration. He still had some wonder in him, having been in a warzone hadn’t burned that out of him.
Though Bucky was rather convinced that had he not gotten out of NYC, he’d still be in the funk he’d been back there. Transitioning from military duty to civilian life was not an easy one to make. It had been a little difficult for him at first, but since meeting Clara and others, he was finding himself again. And he liked it.
He also really liked Clara. Bucky managed to forget that they were in Germany during World War II. All he was really focused on was having fun and ensuring that both he and Clara had a good time here. So he relaxed a bit after letting the world and any sense of worry fade away. Which wasn’t the best thing in the middle of a war, but it was what it was.
“This was a really great idea,” he said to Clara with a grin on his face.
Sometimes a change of scenery was exactly what was needed. Despite all the trauma from her dreams, Clara wouldn’t change moving to the States for anything. She had found her footing in some ways, new changes and experiences, new friends. Some things had been harder to come to terms with, but they were still part of life and that was all that mattered. Maybe not life as previously known, but Orange County had a tendency to change one’s perspective.
Returning the grin, Clara laughed some, “Well I am known to have them from time to time.”
Sometimes, even if letting worry fade away wasn’t the best idea in the midst of war, it was still necessary so people didn’t completely burn out. Though there was still some concern - such as a raid happening.
And seemingly with practiced ease, those dancing all bolted in different directions, so grabbing Bucky’s hand (it was a familiar practice thanks to the Dreams), Clara started towards the stairs so they could get to the TARDIS. And punched someone because who didn’t want to punch a Nazi? From the sounds of it at least, no one had gotten caught, they just needed to get to the TARDIS.
Buky’s dreams had only just begun, and he wasn’t entirely certain where they would lead, but anything involving World War II wouldn’t be sunshine and rainbows. Though he wasn’t anticipating anything other than something like Band of Brothers occurring. After all, aside from Mr. Stark’s show at the expo, there wasn’t really anything overly outrageous or fantastical about his dream world.
Though he was pulled out of the reverie when a raid started. Bucky didn’t even have time to fully react before Clara grabbed his hand and started to move. He moved after her, also intent on getting to safety. The last thing they needed was to be captured by Germans. He wasn’t sure if that translation filter thing would mask that they were English and American, and he wasn’t all that keen on finding out.
But then a Nazi came into his view, and before the man had any chance to do anything, Bucky did punch him in the face before reaching the stairs to head up. “Go, I’ll bring up the rear!” He said, ushering Clara to go first up the stairs. He’d follow while also keeping an eye behind them, ready to punch more Nazi’s if need be.
Well, this suddenly went from just a nice night out to…. Whatever this was. Clara probably should have expected that though. Whenever she travelled in the Dreams, it always ended that way. Oh let’s just go to Vegas that sounds fun, wait just kidding, now we’re on a Russian sub in the midst of the Cold War and keeping an Ice Warrior from starting a nuclear war. Really, nothing ever went easy in those travels.
Still, luckily it seemed that it was more or less easy to get by, a few Nazis got punched but soon they were back at the TARDIS, where they couldn’t get hurt and Clara went to the control room. Good, everyone had managed to scatter before getting caught.
“Well. That was a night.” Even without the sensation of her heart pounding, the adrenaline was still in high gear.
In hindsight, a raid should have at least been anticipated for. It was Germany, after all. But hey, at least they’d managed to get away. Better than potentially being discovered as being from enemy countries and most likely accused of being spies. Which was definitely a good thing. They really didn’t need to go through that.
“Bit more exciting than expected, but I never say no to punching Nazis.” Bucky quipped with a smile. He had slicked his hair back when he’d changed clothes earlier, better to look the part of a guy from the 1940s than having longer hair that didn’t quite look like it belonged to that time period.
“Perhaps next time we should do dinner somewhere a little less exciting.” Yes, yes James Buchanan Barnes was asking Clara on a date. While the adrenaline was still pumping. Because clearly that was the appropriate time to do so.
A raid probably should have been expected since that was the way of her dreams in general, but Clara had done her research. She just should have chosen Berlin or Frankfurt as they didn’t have raids in the swing clubs unlike Hamburg. But too late now. And they had gotten away so there was that as well.
“That’s the spirit!” Because really. It was an adventure and they had gotten to punch some Nazis. So even if the dancing had come to an end sooner than she would have liked, they had still had a good time out. Though she did smile more at the comment.
“Well it’s about time you ask me on a proper date. But I think that dinner somewhere less exciting can be arranged.” She didn’t even pay attention to the fact that it was in the midst of pumping adrenaline. Why would she?
Bucky was definitely not above having adventures. Sure, he would more prefer ones that wouldn’t end with them getting captured by Nazis, but it had still been an enjoyable experience. And he would do it again, so long as the outcome of getting away from the Nazis happened again.
He had to smile as Clara accepted the dinner date. “We can still have excitement, just not with Nazis involved.” He chuckled. “We could do dinner and something like laser tag or indoor rock climbing or something. Or go straight old fashioned dinner and a movie.” Really, he could go for any of those scenarios. Bucky liked spending time with Clara, didn’t matter if they were punching Nazis or watching a movie.
Clara was definitely a fan of not getting caught. It had been an error on her side to choose Hamburg instead of Berlin or Frankfurt, but too late now. And in the end it had all worked out so there was that as well.
“I think that’s a fair compromise. As for what we can do, hmm. I’m flexible.” Yes, she needed to end on innuendo, it was how they were. Like Bucky though, she was much more interested in the spending time with him and less with what they were doing aspect. So dinner and movie was fine (she actually did enjoy quiet time), or laser tag. “Surprise me.”
“I have to say, I rather enjoy flexibility,” he countered. Because he had to continue with the innuendo because it was just his way. The two of them certainly had innuendo down pat. “And I shall certainly surprise you.” Perhaps something to accentuate that flexibility. There were pros to each choice he had offered, it mostly just came down to what he felt like, and what he felt would make the better date night.
And, with any luck, Orange County wouldn’t be invaded while they were trying to have dinner. Such things tended to ruin the mood and all.