Bucky & Darcy's First Easter
From a distance, Jane watched Darcy move through the palace and gardens with a basketful of something obviously heavy. Every now and again, Darcy would stop, look over the contents of the basket carefully, and select one of the items before tucking it away in some priceless vase or behind a shrubbery or, once, even beneath the seat of one of the Einherjar playing cards in the guards’ break room.
Jane couldn't piece together whatever this activity must be, so she asked when Darcy wandered past the lab again, "Whatcha doin', Darce?"
The brunette sighed. "Bucky's bored, waiting on the new prototype for his arm, but he's not up for a good, old fashioned bilgesnipe hunt with the boys without it, so I thought I'd organize a little fun here at home for him until the smithies straighten out the issue with the new arm."
"Mm... No bilgesnipes, so no mundaks either, then, I suppose." Jane poked a finger in the basket and hmm'd noncommittally when she saw what Darcy had inside.
"You know how animals, if kept in the zoo too long, without activities to enrich their play space, will become listless, sometimes even depressed?"
"Sure. Captivity is no place for a wild animal."
"I'm so glad you feel me, Janie. My Buckerdoodle needs to run free like a wild stallion on the plains, the wind in his hair and the grass beneath his feet. He's been so listless, lately."
"So that's why the..." Jane circled a finger over the basket in Darcy's arms.
"Exactly, Janie! It's a little scavenger hunt for my Buckster, something he mentioned to me a while back that I never got around to. Just a little binger to brighten up his day.”
Jane felt faint. "I'm sure he'll love it, Darce."
"Yeah," she repeated dreamily, hugging the basket close. The knives and truncheons inside it clattered, and something started ticking. Darcy glanced down. "Whoops. Fire in the hole, Janie."