#oc: aerfen dalcais

[karimac]

...in the details, Part 12

A/N: Warning for this series: 18+ audience (minors DNI), some cinematic level violence, some fluff and angst. Doubt that smut will be involved, but it may be implied. I’ll make sure that is noted clearly if it pops up.

All relationships, at this point in the story, are platonic, but there is romance in the cards for Kari and Bucky.

Please do not repost or translate my work. Likes, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated.

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Word count: 3.5k, give or take a word. Not beta read. All mistakes are my own.

Masterlist

Weeks had seemingly passed since the “Save Kari from herself” club was formed, but in reality it was only a few days. Despite the truncated length of the encounter, Devnet Casey was regretting getting involved at all with the Avengers and their hangers-on at this point.

Dev liked them all well enough. Darcy Lewis was gas, or funny beyond words as the non-Irish might say, and Wong was as wise as Kari had made him out to be. And Bruce Banner? He was all sorts of trouble Dev likely should have avoided like the plague, but she had a weak spot for science types.

She just didn’t like spilling the tea about one of her oldest friends to some new crop of “friends in training” yet again. How many times had it been now? After nearly 1,500 years? Who would want to keep track!

“I’m mental. That has to be it, Ty,” Dev said as she sat in her leather chair and patted the head of her Irish wolfhound Tyrone, his salt and pepper fur soft to her touch. “I’ve lost the plot, and here I am, about to make this all a million times worse.”

As Dev looked up at her clock, she shook her head and realized she’d need to leave soon. She’d asked Bruce to meet her at a small restaurant in Galway to sit and chat. He was going to be in town for yet another scientific conference. Biomedical and Clinical Engineering Association of Ireland if she remembered correctly. She did not want him coming out to her home just yet. A bit of distance never hurt as far as the immortal was concerned.

“I wish I could take you, but I will bring you a treat bag, Ty,” she said as she leaned over and hugged her furry companion before grabbing her keys and heading out the door. Kari might have used a portal to get there, but Dev needed to drive to center herself a bit.

For some crazy reason, Dev had suggested the Ard Bia at Nimmo’s. It was on the Spanish Parade Long Walk, and it tended to be a place for the more loved-up of the local crowd, but the seafood was to die for, and she did not want to be in some dark hole of a place for this talk. Light to clear the omissions and misgivings away and to help the new crowd understand what was ahead.

Heaven help them all.

If this lot were truly Kari’s friends, they could withstand the tumult.

“Of course he had to beat me here,” Dev said under her breath as she parked her car and walked past a few tourists who were dotting the street. “I see you found the place well enough,” Dev said as she waved to Bruce as she got to the entrance. “I do not have the lead foot Kari does, and I was not keen on using her other favorite mode of transportation. It can spook the tourists a bit too much.”

“Ah, yeah, Sam hates her driving, and I get why the other isn’t a great choice,” Bruce chuckled as he held the door open for Dev to go inside. “And your directions were perfect. I enjoyed the walk from the hotel.”

“Reservation for two. Casey,” Dev said to the hostess, and soon she and Bruce were seated at a table inside. “I know it’s a tad cozy. The design concept is more or less eclectic farmhouse, but the food is fantastic.”

“If you can’t trust a local…” Bruce said as he looked at the menu. “Wow. Beetroot gnocchi. You don’t see that often.”

“Alright, I figured it might be good for the local businesses to have more visitors trying out the fancier spots in town. You could tell your test tube society friends about this place,” Dev giggled as Bruce gave her a bewildered look. “They can’t eat protein bars and energy drinks all day.”

“That was Tony,” Bruce replied as he set down his menu for a minute. “Wait. You told Pepper you knew Howard.”

“In the Biblical sense, ah, yes,” Dev said as she looked Bruce straight in the eye. “But we ended it long before he met Maria, and I made myself very invisible after that. She did not need an old, I mean really old, girlfriend hovering around.”

“Not judging,” Bruce said as he held up his hands in a slight protest. “I just wanted to make sure I had the details straight. Dillisk mash?”

“What? Oh, the menu,” Dev asked as Bruce pointed to a particular item. “Mashed potatoes with greens, in this case a reddish seaweed.”

“Oh, Kari makes that colcannon thing. Like that. I get it.”

“Kari does a lot of things. That’s why I invited you to have dinner. I know you and Darcy and Wong have been pouring over my books. You probably need to have some things decoded by now. Right? Her very large family tree. All the battles she fought. Some odd historical point, maybe?”

“Only one thing actually,” Bruce said as he took a look at the drink menu. “Why are you so nervous about talking about all this? That Cailleach thing scared you, but that wasn’t the only thing that made you antsy.”

“Would you want to spill all of your friend’s secrets to people you didn’t know very well? Secrets you’ve held since the 500s in some cases? The fact she killed herself with a huge sword but was resurrected because of some jiggery pokery deal her Mhamó made with a goddess? Sorry. Her grandmother. The story of how a wizard—who was played by Colin Morgan or Sam Neill in one drama or another—used a blade to cut her body and soul into tiny shards and send them out into the ether, and how she is connected to nearly ever damned part of what Wong calls the multiverse? Maybe you want to hear the tale of how she was found, babbling like a lunatic in Irish, by a now famous British spy and tossed into the story of the Star Spangled Man and his poor friend who became the assassin for the ages? Where do you want me to start, Bruce? Because no matter where I start, this will all end in heartache and tragedy. It always does. And don’t get me started on why she has no kids. That one I can’t…I just…it hurts too much…”

“Slow down,” Bruce said as he gestured with his hands again, the immortal across from him levitating slightly in her chair. “And please sit down. This was never going to get settled in a day or even a hundred days. I think we all know that.”

“Sorry. I just don’t want to see anyone hurt. Not Kari. Not Barnes. Not any of us,” Dev added as she looked at her own drinks menu and waved over the server. “Chardonnay, please. And a Barry’s tea pot for two. Two glasses of sparkling water as well. I think you are not a drinker, right?”

“I’ll try the Silk Tree and Poacher’s Tonic. It seems to be a really nice non-alcoholic G&T,” Bruce said as he shook his head at Dev. “Good memory.”

“I try,” she said as she flexed her fingers a bit. “Kari’s afraid something will happen with Barnes. They…they have had a lot of run-ins over the years. That mess in Poland. A couple of bad dances in Russia. A train tunnel in the middle of Hungary. There are times I’m sure the Goddess blocks from her memory. He damned near killed her a few times, and either she is not bringing them up, or she doesn’t remember. I don’t want to think of them, you know, and him doing something that makes her snap. Or vice versa.”

Bruce by now was playing with his silverware as the server came over to take their orders of the chef’s favorite fishes with lots of local side dishes. Dev was not sure what Bruce would make of the samphire with his order. It was a local succulent that was used in a mixture with asparagus. She’d just have to wait and see.

“Look, I do not want to know about their private moments…” Bruce said as Dev turned bright red. “Oh. Sorry. What did you mean, then?”

“OK, if I reach for something near your arm, no issues. If he does and it reminds her of when he choked her, well, that is another story. And he choked her when he tossed her out the window in Katowice. Loki told me that story one night over Asgardian ale and some dreadful Viking dish I do not want to describe right now. Loki, well, he...it wasn’t that he loved Kari like that. That’s not my understanding anyway. They were friends on some weird level no one else could fathom. But they never…you know…”

“That is one picture I do not need to dwell on,” Bruce replied as his appetizer of aubergine fritters was brought over. “I know she felt horrible when he died. She always says she let him down because no one believed that he was brainwashed by Thanos.”

“I would not have either,” Dev noted as she took her tiny seafood fork and went to work on her Killary mussels. “But back to Herself. I think she is afraid that any problems she has with Barnes will send her down the road to ruin. To become The Destroyer. To become Cailleach.”

“Wait. That’s not another person?”

“As far as we can tell, no. Kari has two living sisters-in-law. Enya Sun and Minerva O’Malley Harkness. We call her Mina. They are part of the we in all this. And we have never once feared this Cailleach nonsense. Not until now anyway. Wong made her antsy about things. And the fact she did that stupid spell didn’t help. And that succubus in New Jersey fighting The Scarlet Witch. Add to that the fact Kari’s self-esteem sometimes is just shit. Thank her mother and grandmother fighting over her for that. Losing her siblings in the ways she did, especially her twin Branan. I’m afraid, Bruce. And I can’t just blurt it all out yet. Your friends will think I’m a basket case. I’m really not.”

“Then why did you decide to tell me?” Bruce asked as he dipped his fritters in the miso aioli that they were served with. “Why not Wong? Since he is the Sorcerer Supreme, wouldn’t it make more sense?”

“You can thank Howard for this chat,” Dev said as she put down her fork and picked up her Chardonnay. “I know a lot of people thought he was crazy and reckless, but he always listened. You always listen, too. So here I am, spilling my guts about one of my best friends because I can’t carry this by myself anymore. Enya will get snarky, and Mina, well, she’s a vampire, so not too many people invite her into any of their homes for very obvious reasons. So by default it’s always been me doing the heavy lifting on this stuff. I love them all, but I can’t fix this. I can’t undo Kari’s stupid spell. I can’t rewind time so she never met that succubus. And I can’t have a million people asking me a million questions at once. So for tonight, well, I’ll answer yours, Bruce. Maybe we can get a better footing to figure out what to do next? Or at least maybe I can give you a reason to trust that I’m not barmy or a bitch.”

By now the wait staff started bringing over the main dishes, and Bruce seemed pleased with the black sole he had ordered. “Thank you,” Dev said as her plate of pan roasted cod was set in front of her. “Bruce, I hope you like it. And don’t worry. I never say no to dessert.”

“How did you end up meeting Kari anyway?” Bruce asked as he looked at the servers clearing a nearby table. “Back in Camelot, right?”

“That is a very long story. The short take is this. I was sent to Avalon to study with a group of bards. Kari’s grandmother sent her there hoping she’d marry Arthur. Frankly, Kari scared the man. She did not scare Enya’s brother Galen. We just moved in the same circles in court, and being the Irish girls, well, we sort of stuck together. Then Galen was killed in battle, and things went boots up pretty damned fast. I’m sure you read that part in one of my books.”

“Then enter Merlin and his spell, and all hell broke loose?” Bruce asked as he tried the samphire and asparagus that came with his black sole. He stopped to look at it for a moment before taking a good sized bite. “This is pretty good. But what happened in Camelot sounds like a nightmare.”

“It got to be one once we realized Kari was still connected to all those parts floating in space. She felt them, and then she started seeing what they were doing while she slept. Most of the time it’s nothing, but sometimes it’s really bad. Those parts of her all have their own lives. Some of those shards have husbands and children. And that’s what hurts so damned much. Kari has always wanted children, and she technically does have them because of all those parts of her that have kids, but it isn’t the same. It’s enough to make your head explode at times. That’s why I stayed in Galway teaching. It keeps me sane. That and my dog Tyrone.”

“I can only imagine,” Bruce said as he sipped his virgin G&T. “Do you think she’s told Bucky about any of this?”

“I’d say that’s a hard no. But he’s not stupid. He reads. A lot from what she’s told me. He’s likely to start looking up stuff. Especially if that nut Helmut Zemo is involved. He gets under people’s skin pretty easily, and I know Kari got upset when he started talking to Bucky during that Flag Smasher business. We tapped into our mental link to her briefly when they were in Madripoor. I don’t think she told any of them. To be brutally honest, she’d have left Zemo to die in Siberia if Black Panther had let her. As she’d say, that was not her call. When it comes to Barnes, Kari never thinks straight. My opinion, and I’ll die on that hill.”

“Pretty forceful words, Dev,” Bruce noted as he finished his rosti, a Swiss-style potato pancake and set down his fork. “Why does that scare you so much? From what Sam has said, Bucky doesn’t seem to think all that straight where Kari is concerned. They dance around each other a lot.”

“And that can’t be good,” Dev said as she looked over the dessert menu that one of the server’s had left on their table. “They just, they…oh shite.”

Dev turned slightly in her chair and then started to hunch down like a scared school girl. “Not now. Not here,” she mumbled as Bruce looked over at another table and saw a couple sit down. The only thing that seemed slightly unusual was the fact the man, tall and muscular and seemingly in his 30s, sported a very healthy head of pure white long hair.

“You know them?” Bruce asked as Dev squeezed her eyes shut and seemed to be praying or casting a spell.

“Dev? Devnet!” the slender woman with dark brown hair and stunning green eyes shouted as she got up and hurried over. “Is this your new gentleman friend? How delicious!”

“Aerfen, no,” Dev said as she rolled her eyes. “Dr. Bruce Banner, may I introduce Aerfen and Ardan Dalcais. Kari’s twin cousins. I never thought I’d see them here tonight. I swear. They usually stay in Dublin where they live.”

“Oh, what has cousin done now? Or should I saw who has she done now?” Aerfen giggled as Ardan walked over. “So, Dr. Banner? Ah yes. Devnet has always enjoyed having her…”

“Don’t you dare!” Dev snapped. “I don’t accuse you of seducing every person you see, Aerfen.”

“Moi? I am not accusing you of anything. Just a bit of camaraderie and you go girl spirit! I wish I were in your shoes,” Aerfen said as she batted her eyes at Bruce.

“Pay no attention to my sister,” Ardan said as he stood and looked at the Avenger. “Devnet, if you need us, we’ll be over here. Not bothering anyone,” he said as he guided his sister back to their table.

“It could have been worse, I suppose,” Dev said as the twins walked away. “It could have been Conri and Saorla O’Cathain. Kari’s cousins on her father’s side. Aerfen and Ardan are on her mother’s side. They mean well, but…no. Back to the topic at hand. Barnes and Kari. Dancing.”

Bruce looked a bit confused after the cousins went back to their table. “Kari never mentioned…”

“Any of her family? I’m not shocked. When her siblings died, she shut down. She never gives straight dates on when they passed. She never talks about surviving family. She rarely tells anyone about me, Enya or Mina. I think she’s afraid we’ll all be in line for some sort of trouble. Those stupid accords. People coming after her. As I said, it can make your head explode. Now, how about dessert?”

Dev finally looked at the menu and decided on the strawberry parfait, and Bruce opted for the chocolate and hazelnut cake.

“She’s staring again, isn’t she?” Dev whispered as she leaned closer to Bruce. “And I just gave her more ammunition. I am an eejit. Don’t worry. I am not…I have read your story…Natasha…and I am so sorry about your loss…I just need a friend.”

Bruce was processing everything Dev was saying when several of the patrons got to their feet and looked out the window onto the street in front of the restaurant. There were purple lights dancing in the air, and suddenly they vanished. Dev looked at Aerfen, but the woman simply shrugged and went back to drinking her own glass of wine. “And just like that, another evening in tatters. Níl ann ach figiúirí. Sorry. It just figures,” Dev said as she looked at her dessert and finally remembered her promise to Tyrone. “Waiter, could I please get a Morgan’s ribeye to take home? Thank you.”

“Midnight noshing later?” Bruce asked as Dev laughed. “No, I promised Tyrone a treat bag. Maybe I should call Wong? That seemed a bit too supernatural for my liking, and if the Trouble Twins did not cause it, and I know I didn’t do it, then who did? I know you don’t know, and you have that talk tomorrow. I’ll find out on my own for now, but I’ll keep you posted.”

When the bill came over, Dev slapped Bruce’s hand after he started to put down a credit card. “I asked you here. My treat,” she said before she turned to hand the server her card. The purple lights came flashing back, and this time the patrons started to shout as something appeared in the lights. “Bruce, maybe you want to get out of here before…too late.”

Ardan was running out of the restaurant, sword in hand, scaring whatever people were still outside as he tried to see what was coming through the lights. “Oh joy! He thinks he’s the Witcher or something,” Dev grumbled as she got up and ran outside just to watch the lights fade again. “Well, did you see anything?”

Ardan walked over to his fellow immortal and Banner and shook his head. “The Rift might be pushing the boundaries again. I’m not sure. Where is Herself?”

“Herself, if she finds out about any of this, will kill me,” Dev replied as she looked to see Aerfen had followed behind Bruce. “And now I think I have to tell you two as well. Bruce, I can take it from here. I’ll ring you tomorrow after your talk. Night.”

“Night,” Bruce said as he walked back to his accommodations. The Eyre Square Hotel was not that far off, and Dev was glad for that in case she needed his help later.

“Now, Trouble Twins,” she started to say as Aerfen poked her in the side with her elbow. “Ow. What?”

“You like him. I can tell,” Aerfen said as Dev groaned in reply. “Fine, but you are no fun! What is wrong with Kari this time?”

“Remember back when Merlin was stupid? Kari upped that with a dodgy spell, and I have a funny feeling those purple lights mean we are all in the shite because of it.”

Dev turned back to make sure Bruce was actually on his way back down the Spanish Parade Long Walk. “May this be nothing I can’t handle on my own,” she said quietly as Ardan gave her a funny look. “Trust me. The Avengers are not ready for The Rift or any of the nonsense your family brings with it at times. You are all like family to me, but gods, they can’t deal with the lot of us on a good day.”

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