Checkmate (BuckyBarnes x OC)

Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey

1 week later

"Right, Masha, I'm here so you can take a break now!" I called to my coworker and possibly the best friend I had since I came here. I set my bag on the hangers in the change room and headed through the kitchen door that lead behind the bar of an old town pub where I was employed, called 'Ginger Water Bistro'. The pub, or GW Bistro as I like to call it, was this rusty old pub near the docks. I was walking by the shore one day and ran into this place to have a drink when I saw the 'help wanted' sign, so I applied and got a job only two days after I immigrated. I didn't have much problems with the language as it was quite similar to other languages I alredy knew, but I still had a bit of an accent and people could sense I wasn't from around here. However, people were still nice to me despite being a foreigner, especially Masha who was working most of the shifts behind the bar with me and was probably the most effective waitress I'd ever seen when doing her job. She always remembered every little detail that people ordered without even writing it all down and she was good when crowds hit us. That was mostly when cruise ships that sailed across the Caspian see stopped in our dock and people came flowing in like a stampede. They were all about the vintage, which GW Bistro definatelly was. We also served smaller meals, but didn't have that much space for chairs and tables so it was easy for the pub to get full quickly.

I liked working because it got me off my worries and also - free drinks anytime I wanted really. I liked to work night shifts, since this was a 24/7 open pub for the sake of sailors that docked even at night. I didn't have to deal with any night swaggers since I came here, but Masha assured me only a few wandered this far from the city, since weather was always colder by the sea. It was nearly the end of March by now, but some winds and breezes made the weather chilly around 3 am.

I managed to take care for most of my apartment decorations and furniture; the bed, the TV, some new shelves, paintings and pictures (I printed and hung up some from back at the Avengers tower), got some new books and brought in plants. Since I wanted a second oppinion on decor, Masha volunteered to go shopping with me. She knew I was very new and decided to help me and took me to all the good furniture stores around the city. I decided to leave the wallpapers and wall paints for later, since I didn't really feel like taking a trip to the hardware store just yet.

I also met some of my neighbors. My favorite was probably the old lady that lived below me, Mrs. Zima. I knew that meant winter in Slavic and she fitted the name. She had long silver hair and a pale skin. She absolutely loved white and bright blue colors, which was also seen with her furniture and wallpapers. She invited me over for tea once after I helped her moved the couch from her living room to her bedroom and I saw her apartment was like a winter wonderland. Most of her furniture was white, accompained by light blue walls and crystal chandeliers in every one of the rooms. She also had many shelves with glass showcases behind which porcelain tea cups and plates were brooding. I didn't really see any of my other neighbors much, most of them only passed me in the lobby while picking up their mail. I guessed they were simply too busy to get to know the newest inhabitant of the building.

With all of the excitement and momentum of the move I didn't have much time to properly find out where my father lives. I asked all of my coworkers and even Mrs. Zima, but no one knew exactly. It's like he didn't want to be found. I was grateful my job description also included talking to customers, so I could subtly ask anyone really. It's just that most of the people were either regulars (which I also asked too many times) or foreigners in tourist or business matter and didn't know anything about the city. Or Garry Kasparov in general. Some that did know him weren't familiar with the fact that this was his home town.

"Hannah, hey! It's about time, the place is flooding with customers!" Masha shouted jokingly and pushed a tray of beer glasses in my hands. "Wash these."