By The Causeway | Sunday Morning

[shapethecentury]

The castle towering over the island did not get any smaller-looking when you made your way across the causeway and onto the island proper. This was what a certain Bucky Barnes was finding out right about now, as he trudged along with a bag slung over his shoulder and crumpled slip of paper in his hand. If anything, the castle only got more imposing. He'd known this random small town of Fandom wasn't ever going to be anything like Brooklyn or the rest of New York, but this was really something else.

He stopped, just to stand there and let out an impressed whistle.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

Steve was going to kill him if he didn't write back home about this place immediately, wasn't he?

[so open!]

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[nuclear_snide]

Like Bob was going to miss someone new arriving? Not likely!

"If you don't know," he answered the question, "you probably won't believe the answer." He eyed the man's clothes, placing him as a bit out of time.

[shapethecentury]

By about eighty years or so, yes. You could take the boy out of late 1930s New York, and so on and so forth.

Bucky turned towards the new arrival. "Is that so?"

[nuclear_snide]

Bob smirked. "A hub of sorts for various different dimensions, times, and worlds, allowing bits of each to coexist. Also a high school."

[shapethecentury]

"And a great big castle too, by the looks of it," Bucky noted, choosing to ignore the parts of that he hadn't really understood. For now, anyway, he was going to assume they were just eccentricity on the man's part. "Not quite what I was expecting of an island in Maryland."

[nuclear_snide]

"That, too," Bob agreed. "What were you expecting of an island in Maryland, then?"

[shapethecentury]

That was a little harder to answer. Bucky shrugged, and gestured vaguely at their surroundings. "Not this," he said. "That's not really a complaint, by the way. I like the look of it, but it's not..."

He considered his words for a second.

"It's pretty far from New York, 's all."

[nuclear_snide]

"Maybe farther than you think." Bob chuckled. "What year is it?"

[shapethecentury]

Bucky gave him an amused look.

"What kind of a question is that?"

[nuclear_snide]

"Just curious." Bob grinned at him. "Well then?"

[shapethecentury]

Bucky was still giving him a questioning look, but he still rattled off the year he considered to be the current one. It was not 2015. Not even close.

"You should consider investing in a calendar, pal," he added.

[nuclear_snide]

"Wouldn't do any good," Bob answered breezily. "Also it's a lot later than you think. Where are you headed?"

[shapethecentury]

Oh, an easy question. "This place," Bucky said, showing him he crumpled paper in his hand. It was a flyer advertising Wonka's Sweet Shoppe, complete with mention of an open store manager's position. "Do you know where that is?"

[nuclear_snide]

"Yes, that's right over here." Bob pointed in the right direction and started heading that way. He knew where everything was. He didn't have much to do but explore, after all.

He did give the other man a grin, though. "You don't seem like the sweets shop type."

[shapethecentury]

"Oh, yeah?" Bucky asked as he started to follow Bob along. His gaze was on the buildings. They were a lot different from what he was used to. "What sort of type do I seem like, instead?"

[nuclear_snide]

Bob gave him a once-over. "The type to chase a different kind of sweet thing," he said, grinning.

[shapethecentury]

Bucky smiled, although briefly. "Maybe," he said, "but right now, I really need the money."

To do his part to support not one but two families.

[nuclear_snide]

"Well, you're certainly in the right place. From what I understand, rent is ridiculously cheap here, and the jobs pay well," Bob said. "Even before you take eighty years of inflation into account."

[shapethecentury]

Bucky was going to keep on dismissing that last part. He'd come back to this conversation much, much later, and figure some things out.

Mind, some of the things they were passing looked an awful lot unfamiliar in a way that was different from the castle. "That's what I was hoping for," he said. "Gotta be able to save as much of the money as I can. Think the sweet shop does good business?"

[nuclear_snide]

"No idea," Bob answered, shrugging. "That castle's a school, though, so the odds are good."

[shapethecentury]

"That's what that thing is?" Bucky asked, glancing towards where he knew the castle was, even if he couldn't actually see it past the buildings right now. "Not a damn thing like any school I ever went to. Looks like it might be expensive."

[nuclear_snide]

"It's not exactly your typical school," Bob answered. "But all children like candy, don't they?" Maybe the younger ones more, but high school wasn't all that old.

[shapethecentury]

"I guess." He hoped so. He wanted to feel useful, and he wanted to earn money. And he needed the store to have customers for that.

But, that was enough about that. "Name's Barnes, by the way," he said. "James Barnes."

[nuclear_snide]

"Bob. Pleased to meet you. What brought you down here from New York?" he asked curiously.