[oom] a diplomatic visit

[nerves_of_ice]

In all the things he's done up to now, he's never been asked to be a diplomat. Bucky's still not sure this is a good idea, but if nothing else at least it gets him out of Ross's path. And besides, being a diplomat to the Jabari's as T'Challa's White Wolf is a little different from being one anywhere else on earth, he's certain.

M'Baku greets him with a wide smile and widespread arms, inviting him to take in the grandeur of the Jabari's traditional homeland from the clifftop view before leading him inside. Bucky can already see some of the others measuring him for threat or competition or both. It's clear M'Baku knows it as well, and is amused by it - amused enough to let things play out as game or challenge or both.

It's going to be an interesting visit, he's sure.

Forty-eight hours later, he's sure of something else: he likes these people.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

Even with her détente with Ross (and the unexpected one with Zinda Blake), Sharon's nerves are rubbed raw and her stress level is at an all-time high. She's spent the last twenty-four of the past forty-eight hours as a mix of negotiator, go-between, and unwilling antagonist during arguments with Ross about Berlin. By the time she gets out of the Citadel and into the mountains, she feels paper-thin and edgy.

It helps to hike up into the crisp, cold air, her Jabari guide silent but obviously curious, darting glances at her as they go. It helps even more to be able to breathe at the top, looking out over the wide, mellow stretch of Wakanda beneath them, before the guide gestures towards a gaping entrance in the cliffside. It leads into a rough-hewn hall that opens into a large circular room, more than half open to the elements, where M'Baku lounges, draped in furs and claws, on a throne.

She curtseys to him, dipping her head respectfully. "Great Gorilla," she says. "Thank you for the invitation. Your lands are beautiful."

Stark. Cold. Unpolished. Wild. But gorgeous all the same.

[marvel_npc]

"Ms. Carter," M'Baku observes. "It is good to see you. I had begun to think that you would never accept and dare to visit us here in our home, far from the polished lands below."

He smiles, wide and bright.

[from_the_outside]

"A little lack of polish sounds pretty great right now," she tells him, blunt even as she smiles back.

"I'm sorry my duties kept me away so long. I'm very happy to be here at last."

[marvel_npc]

His loud and unrestrained laughter fills the room. "Straight to the point, as direct as ever! I like you, Ms. Carter. Welcome to our lands, we are happy to have you here."

He gets up from the throne and ambles over to join her, towering over her but without any sign of intending to intimidate. "Come with me. I will show you some things that I think you will enjoy seeing."

[from_the_outside]

"Sounds good," she tells him, equably. "After everything you told us, I've been wildly curious."

She paces alongside him, her head barely reaching his shoulder. It doesn't stop her from conversing easily with him, or from looking around with interest, just as curious as the Jabari natives who watch her with their king.

[marvel_npc]

He leads her through the winding halls and corridors of the mountain home, pacing leisurely beside her to give her time to observe what they pass without needing to scramble to keep up with him. Much of the decor is in shades of brown and white, skillfully carved from wood or made from fur. Very little metal is used in decoration, and none of it is vibranium.

They reach a very large wooden door, wide enough to let three pass walking side by side, and M'Baku grins at her before he throws it wide. It opens to the outside, into a hanging valley on the side of the mountain, with green fields and blue skies above and a wealth of forest augmenting the sharp and rocky terrain of the mountains themselves. From this height, grazing herds are easy to see -- as is the city of wood and stone that slopes down in a long, curving spiral around the valley.

M'Baku's very obviously watching her for her reaction.

[from_the_outside]

She'd been astonished at the great capital city of Wakanda and the gleaming walls of the Citadel, vibranium everywhere, but she's no less amazed at this view of the Jabari lands. She's conscious of M'Baku watching and waiting for her reaction, but she doesn't need to exaggerate at all for his benefit; she's visibly impressed.

(And maybe, just for a brief moment, a little homesick; there's not much here that's familiar but the rising green forest and the wide valley and the clean mountain air are just enough like Virginia to make her heart clench.)

"Amazing," she says, and means it. "I had no idea this valley even existed." Let alone the city nestled into its green embrace.

[marvel_npc]

"Most outside the Jabari do not," M'Baku tells her. "T'Challa. His sister. Nakia. The queen. Their outland ally. And now the White Wolf, and you."

He wrinkles his nose. "I suppose there will be more from the other tribes now, as well. But that is all right. We are proud of our heritage here, and our way of life."

[from_the_outside]

Their outland ally. Her expression doesn't flatten so much as turn carefully neutral. "Ross, you mean," she says.

Great. Hopefully he won't get a yen to come visit the Jabari any time soon.

The rest is easier; she nods, still looking out over the valley, the forest, the city. "I'm looking forward to experiencing some of that myself," she tells him.

[marvel_npc]

"The tiny blond man. Yes." M'Baku snorts. "He is easily intimidated. Come."

He starts to walk with her along a pathway set with river stone that arcs down along the side of the mountain.

"I am curious about you, you know."

[from_the_outside]

Her mouth twists, but she keeps from smiling. M'Baku is approximately half again as big as Ross; maybe bigger. She can easily believe her old boss had been a bit... startled.

"Oh?" She lifts her eyebrows at him as they walk.

"Well, you're welcome to ask whatever you like."

She might not answer, but she's perfectly willing to listen to his questions.

[marvel_npc]

"Maybe I will. After all, if you wish to find a name, we need to know more of you." Mischief flickers in his glance.

"But first... do you fish?"

[from_the_outside]

"Fish?" she says, blank.

"Sometimes, sure."

[marvel_npc]

"Fish," he confirms. "The fishermen of the Jabari are the finest anywhere. Sometimes we catch kings out of our mountain rivers, but more often it is barbfish and featherfin. Look."

He leads her around the curve of the path and points out at a waterfall which roars down from the mountain's height and plunges toward the valley below. A wooden platform juts out from the stone into the spray, and on the platform are several fishermen.

At second glance, one of them is revealed to have only one arm.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon's trying to work out how to explain casual fly-fishing in Montana rivers or Virginia lakes to M'Baku when she casts a second glance at the fisherman and her face lights in the kind of brilliant smile she hasn't had in days.

"I didn't know wolves were all that good at fishing," she says, amused.

[marvel_npc]

"It seems the White Wolf, at least, is willing to learn," M'Baku allows. "Watch."

As they look on, one of the other fisherman throws a barbed harpoon-like spear into the waterfall, drawing it back to the platform by means of an attached rope with a fish on its hook. He pulls the fish free, turns to Bucky and offers the spear. They're too far away to hear what he answers, but he accepts the spear readily enough and moves to the edge of the platform.

Not thirty seconds later, the spear goes flying through the air into the depths of the cataract. "His aim is true," M'Baku observes, as Bucky hauls it back to reveal a large fish of his own on the hook.

[from_the_outside]

"It would be," she agrees, feeling ridiculously proud of him.

All those skills that were hammered and tortured into him: at least now he can use them for something like this. "But you can't all be fishermen: I saw herds in the valley earlier, at the prospect."

[marvel_npc]

“You are observant.” M’Baku smiles at her. “Yes. Farmers and fishers and craftspeople and traders and warriors and more. We do not need vibranium to live well.”

[from_the_outside]

"I can see that," she says, impressed at the easy way the fishermen throw the spears and haul out the enormous wriggling fish.

"You clearly have it all figured out."

[marvel_npc]

“Glory to Hanuman, my people prosper. I intend for them to continue to do so.” He gives her a sharp, cagey look.

“Even in this bold new approach to the world.”

[from_the_outside]

Sharon arches an eyebrow at his clarification. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

She watches the fishermen for a while longer, and if her glance lingers more on the one-armed man than any of the others, she doesn't say anything aloud. "Are we going down to the pier, or are you planning to bring me somewhere else first?"

[marvel_npc]

"We can, if you would like. Or you might like to visit our craft halls," he offers. "Perhaps not the training grounds today. You are fierce, I know, but you must also be tired and I would not see you at a disadvantage."

[from_the_outside]

The other eyebrow joins the first in pushing up towards her hairline at tired and disadvantage. "I've certainly trained under worse conditions," is all she says, "but sure. Let's see the craft halls."

Maybe she can pick up a little something for Bucky, an apology for the strain of the last few days.

[marvel_npc]

"Have you." He gives her an interested look before starting to walk further along the descending path toward the city.

[from_the_outside]

She glances blandly back at him and doesn't take the bait. It's hard to say what he actually knows of her, aside from the fact that she tends to be around the White Wolf, and she has no intention of volunteering information.

"So what kind of crafts do the Jabari specialize in?"