The Other Stark

The Bar 1943, New York Part 1

Elaine is tired and frazzled after dealing with the post-show clean up for most of an hour. Momentarily, she considers bailing on Howard and going straight back to their suite at the hotel. Eventually he'd figure out she wasn't coming and either find some company or come back and join her. Odds are good he won't actually be at the bar anyway. She saw a couple of show girls trying to discreetly follow him out when he left. And while she doesn't share her brother's proclivity for what the papers term salacious behavior, she's has an educated idea of what happened between a man and a woman behind closed doors.

Her finishing school did it's damnedest to keep the wool over her eyes when it came to such salacious things, but as Howard Stark's little sister, there was very little hope in maintaining her naivety past grade school, let alone into her twenties. 

Elaine steps into a surprisingly dodgy bar, one Howard had pointed out as where they would get a couple drinks after the show earlier that evening. The band is loud and soldiers are everywhere she turns. It looks like the last stop for boys about to ship out. She feels a tug in her chest at the thought of how many lives have been lost overseas already and how many of the boys here tonight that will likely never come home.

The horns trumpet something loud and catch and several soldier's try to catch her eye or her hand as she makes her way to the bar, as her Mary Jane's snapped up from the sticky floor with every step. There was a blur of color and movement and sharp peals of laughter coming from the dance floor, but she waved off every man who tried to pull her into the chaos.

She knows what they're after, someone to dance with and kiss and fall in love with for the night. And she knows she'd disappoint them. She's not looking to fall in love. She has too many more important things to do. The last thing she wants to send one of these boys off to war with is a broken heart, so it's better if they simply find another dame to strike their fancy.

Finally, she makes it to a bar that is no less sticky than the floor and to her surprise she finds her brother and a Manhattan waiting.

Howard hunches over his drink, looking more exhausted than he has any right to be, considering he's been free as a bird for the past week while she's been finishing up the latest glorious prototype to prove that Stark Industries is still a cut above the competition.

"What's wrong?" Elaine asks as she slips onto the waiting stool and picks up her drink and takes a sip, making a slight face as the harsh edge, she doesn't mind her drinks strong, but it tasted like the bartender when a little wild with the bitters. She isn't about to complain, though, a drink is a drink after a week like this one.

"The prototype broke." Howard says, darkly, swirling his almost empty glass.

Elaine raises an eyebrow. His words sound more like something that would put her in a sore mood than her brother. After all, a broken prototype means she is headed back to the drawing board for another half dozen sleepless nights. Except not this time... flying cars are to be shelved for more pressing concerns.

"That's what prototypes are supposed to do." She shrugs. "They show you all the ways a thing can break before you make the actual thing."

Howard tosses back the remains of his drink and Elaine notices there are a couple more empty glasses beside him. She purses her lips. He always drinks a lot, but since the war, and since Doctor Erskine approached them for a special project, he's been drinking far more. Too much.

"And what about the super soldier serum?" Howard asks, louder than he should considering they are in a public space. "That prototype is a person. We can't mess up."

Elaine shakes her head insistently. "We won't."

"You can't know that." Howard says, sliding off his bench, obviously ready to leave even though she's only had a sip of her own drink.