[ she finds some small comfort in the familiar sounds of tea being set: the soft clink of china and the weighty tough of a cup and saucer touching down on a table-top. she listens very carefully to each and every sound -- not least of all because she's a stranger in a stranger's flat. and in a strange strange land, to boot. she might have her back turned to the brunt of the room, but that doesn't mean she isn't paying rapt attention to it.
his tone shifts. that, too, is a comfort. she likes some professional patter much much more to this makeshift flirtation the city has tried to force upon them. peg fills her lungs, drags her gaze away from the monumental bank of windows, and wanders nearer her tea cup.
she is quick to claim it. happily, it sits cradled in her hand. poised, but not posh. hers is a rather austere posture but not one learned through pedigree. middle class, probably. upper middle class, maybe. she shows an economy of movement when she brings the cup up to her lips. ]
I hope you won't take any offense when I say it's a touch more complicated for us in the Down -- playing along. [ not that the division isn't unfair to both halves -- only that it's never easy to trust the hand that's reaching out and offering assistance. and to only give them three months to decide...!
had it been anyone else -- anyone without ink like his on his arm -- she might have lectured them on the price of playing along. already, she's gambling against that tactic. ]
I don't know you from Adam. [ ... ] A simple chat, even this one, won't change that fact. [ but she's here and she's drinking his tea and she's (probably) armed somewhere underneath the hem of her skirt. ]
But I'm curious. And willing to start somewhere. So -- it was 1947 when I was last home.
[ primly, she takes a seat and waits to witness how he'll handle what should be an equitable exchange of information. ]
[ He joins her, taking a sip of tea, placing his cup back down on the coffee table when he's satisfied. He listens to her and he does feel sympathy - in her position, he knows he would probably already be jailed, angry, each new event causing a feedback loop until he's a wounded animal undoing his own stitches. He does not envy her. ]
I know that it's more complicated for you, and that it would take a great deal of trust to believe what I want is just a contract in name, an offer of assistance to level the playing field and get all willing subs operating as independently as possible.
Thank you for at least hearing me out.
[ He doesn't want to be responsible for anyone in the way that he has to accompany them grocery shopping and to find a job and the like. He'd rather just make everything simple, adjust to life here as painlessly and close to "normalcy" as possible, so they can focus on things that aren't trying to find their place in a foreign land. He remembers how much unnecessary extra stress that puts on a person. ]
1947 was seventeen years ago for me, now. A good year. I was trying to start over, and was admitted into the United States under the Truman Directive. Have you ever been? It's quite nice.
[ If it's a casual conversation she wants to get to know him, he has no qualms with that. Hopefully he doesn't have to undergo the kind of background check that leaves him feeling raw and vulnerable, but he doesn't think she would pry so far. Three months is really a tight schedule for someone like him to let someone into his life. He imagines it's doubly so for her, given her designation. ]
[ something flickers deep in her expression. as if she's clawed her way out of the muck more than once before and never quite acquired enough of a callous when it comes to considering yet another climb. level the playing field, he says, and peggy is left questioning whether playing fields ever truly get leveled. even now (back home) she makes her peace with missing recognition.
(it'll come, some day, if her world-mates are to be believed. but she tries not to think about it too long or too hard.)
and so instead she lets the conversation gain its own organic momentum. but not before she does the simple math -- seventeen years -- to determine his year of origin. always good to know. ]
Actually -- these days, I live stateside. New York. In the city. [ a beat. in reality, she'd been in california when she'd been taken from her world. but her home address is in nyc. ] Moved there in late '45 -- not long before that particular executive order came into being.
[ another sip of tea. she's stamped the cup with the print of her lipstick, now. ]
[ His eyes light up in recognition as soon as she says New York City, and memories he'd forgotten he had surface into his mind. They're tinged with sadness but a little hopeful, memories of waking up in a cramped apartment with other young men and showing up for a hard days' work and spending all their money on pizza and cheap beer. ]
We might have crossed paths, though I was barely a man at the time, hardly recognizable.
[ The smile he gives her is small, though it definitely reaches his eyes. ]
I ended up in Queens. Right off the A train.
[ He can still hear it in his mind, the rumbling underneath the street, the people bustling about, and all the rest. He can't believe he hasn't revisited those in such a long time. ]
[ she wonders if their new york was ever the same new york. it happens -- heaven knows she's run across so many who come from her same world, albeit flung to different corners of the timeline. but as far as she knows (as far as she assumes) he didn't recognize her name.
just as well. a blank slate is considerably easier to manage. ]
Helluva city, isn't she?
[ and there -- just there -- a genuine smile breaks through her performance. she's soft as lights on new york city: it's as if girlhood imagination got hijacked by a rebel spirit and just ran away with her. her love shifted from man to metropolis with such natural ease, back when she first moved stateside, that she hardly noticed it happened. ]
I miss it. [ more so because it's been over a year and a half since she was last living there. ] Are you still there? In Queens, that is. Back home before you were so rudely acquired like all the rest of us.
[ Don't think he missed that smile Peggy, but he knows. He knows exactly how she feels-- there's just something about New York that all other cities lack. It's the perfect mix of grit and polish, of fame and anonymity, and she's alive and breathing with countless different souls all contributing to the variegated quilt of New York City. ]
That she is.
[ And then, at the question, he pauses. His eyebrows knit. He thinks he should be honest with Peggy, especially given what he's asking of her. He just doesn't know how honest he should be. ]
No, I... haven't been in Queens for a long time now. I traveled for a bit in Europe and South America, and now I'm in Washington DC.
[ here, there, and everywhere. he paints a picture in broad strokes -- in place-names rather than in activities. and such is his right, she supposes, because it isn't as though she's said a word about why she'd come to new york. perhaps it's enough that they both of them know the shambolic state of europe after the war. was it selfish to leave it all behind?
a letter from peggy's mother once implied the accusation. and who was she to refute it? the war had taken both of amanda carter's children from her (in one way or another) and she was entitled to her bitterness about it.
for now, she dips her attention back to her cuppa. peggy watches the swirl of tea after another sip. ]
Might I ask where you're from? [ given the indicated age, the ink, the all of it -- peggy proceeds carefully for once in her life. ] Or... tell me to bugger off. My feelings won't be hurt.
[ He likes this question much more than the last one, even if he doesn't like it a lot more. ]
Germany, but in 1943 my parents decided we should leave the country as it was becoming dangerous for us to stay.
So we went to Poland.
[ There's a dark humor behind his tone of voice. It's how he's come to deal with speaking about it; of course it's an important part of him, and of course he knows she already knows, so it's harmless to confirm. But he also does it as a coping mechanism - if he speaks this way, people tend to follow up less with their apologies over the situation.
And then, there's part two of his coping mechanisms. ]
So, tell me. You visited New York during the war, you fell in love with the city, you decided to stay? Am I getting that right?
[ there's no kindness in how she scoffs -- equal parts surprised and impressed by the gallows humour hiding in erik's explanation. so they went to poland, of all places, and she doesn't require many more details beyond that one. not when the focus twists and it grows clearer how it's her turn to provide some sort of answer.
his question is a fair one. so, too, is his assumption. ]
Something like that. [ he's gets nearer to the bullseye than most do. ] Although I wouldn't say I visited New York so much as was dispatched there. The first time 'round, at any rate.
[ and even if she does have a taste for talking around the truth, even peggy knows when it strains comfort and credulity. besides, her career is no big secret. not any longer. not when people from decades later can look at her and recognize her for deeds not yet done.]
I served. [ easily said. less easily elaborated on. there are only so many places a good guesser can take intel like that -- service paired with international travel. and always (inevitably) espionage will be one of them. ] And while I served I was most often attached to an American unit.
[ american by designation if not by makeup. the howling commandos were quite a patchwork quilt come the end. ]
[ He isn't picturing espionage, even though he didn't think that they let women in the rank and file unless it was specifically for that purpose or to serve as engineers or nurses. No, what he thinks is: ah, that's what they mean when they say she's a knockout.
And, there was the fact that she mentioned she'd been dispatched at least twice. So, judging by the very little he already knows of her character, he assumes she had done so willingly, enthusiastically, and probably against the advice of many people in her life.. ]
Thank you.
[ He says, after a bit of a pause. He had a lot of words to say about all this, but he thought he'd start with those two. ]
I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner, here I thought you were a boxer.
You are... absolutely extraordinary, and I understand now I could never have convinced you to follow their rules until we get better leverage.
[ gratitude and apology nearly in the same breath. and a heady compliment hard upon the heels. peggy wants to sputter out a cavalcade of refusals -- refutations, really -- but she just about manages to hold her composure with a fortifying mouthful of tea. she isn't accustomed to it: someone saying thank you so sincerely. with understanding. it's so very different to the way it's said by young creatures from the 21st century who think of her service as something abstract. as a line in a history book. ]
To be fair, [ she pipes up once her reaction finds its even keel, ] I've been told I've got a rather mean right hook. And I can't blame you for seeing pincurls and a pencil skirt and not first assuming active service.
[ it's rather the point, after all. she doesn't look like an intelligence officer. ]
Can't blame you for seeing an opportunity and aiming to seize it, either. [ that is -- recruiting a hot-headed submissive to his cause, his play-acting, his infiltration. and at the end of the day she's not a bad fit for such work. but perhaps her hubris is a bit too overwhelming; she doesn't always play well with others.
him, however. him she's starting to like. ]
May I speak openly? [ she doesn't wait for permission. ] I already have a Dominant in mind. But we could all of us always use more allies.
[ Yes, of course she would have a Dominant in mind. Of course she would have several suitors. A shame, but he didn't think he had a chance anyway. Still, if an alliance is what can be offered, then that's honestly what he wanted in the first place. ]
Agreed. And I believe that it would be symbiotically beneficial to be able to see things from both sides of this coin.
[ After all, if they were too close, perhaps it would blow his cover. Not that it's a good one, as precautious as he's trying to be. But he has to, somehow, let all the experiment's new recruits know that he is truly on their side. It's so hard to do when there are so many prying eyes. He wonders offhand if they're tracking how dangerous they think each of them are to the project.
He wonders offhand how high he's scored. ]
You will get in trouble, sooner or later. I'm not admonishing it, I admire it really. But I hope that, when the time comes, you can trust me to come to your aid.
[ Even if he's trying to lay low. He couldn't leave her hanging like that. ]
Oh ye of little faith. [ peggy leans forward and perches her elbows on her knees. at first blush, it sounds as though she's about to mount a mild defence of her discretion. but! ] Perhaps I've already gotten myself in trouble.
[ she's picked more than one fight with more than one vendor. thrown coins in their faces, insulted their siblings, caused scenes. but she only does it because she knows there's someone she can call on should the need arise.
and now it seems there's someone else. good -- a healthy little mental black book of pinch-hitters is a good thing to have. ]
Although I am curious about the sort of aid on offer.
[ Ah yes, now she wants to know his credentials. Good thing he has something of value on his pedigree, even though he has a gap which he's going to conveniently skip over. ]
A few years ago I was working with the CIA, so infiltration mostly. They were chasing an escaped nazi by the name of Sebastian Shaw, though I had known him as Klaus Schmidt. I also speak several different languages, though that seems unimportant here.
[ And then he thinks, perhaps he should tell her the other thing. ]
Could you keep a secret?
[ He doesn't imagine the answer to that is no, and honestly it wouldn't be the worst if it got out. He'd just like to use whatever he can as a secret, and he's got a lot of mystery left. ]
[ cia. the initials cause her attention to narrow, albeit only briefly, as she listens to his explanation. it's not an agency she knows from back home -- but she half-wonders whether she hasn't heard of it spoken in other contexts. more modern contexts.
but before she can ask, before she can clarify, he's dangling bait before her. and peggy simply can't help herself. ]
I can keep several. [ and in pursuit of any and all information, she weighs her next words carefully. ] Although, generally speaking, the ones I usually keep come with a firing squad should I ever divulge them.
[ bound by the official secrets act. and in that moment she plays a piece of her hand. she signals, however coyly, just how much of a boxer she isn't. ]
Well, I can't promise there won't be a firing squad involved in this one, but I'm usually not the one doing the firing.
[ Usually. Usually it's everyone else firing, sometimes at him, and people happen to get in the way. But regardless, he holds up his hand with a finger pointed upwards, and hooks it forward as if beckoning someone else in the room.
Instead, the tea kettle lifts off of its spot on the stove, and neatly floats all the way over to land its handle on his finger. ]
[ he talks it up, doesn't he! and so she stays hooked -- watching him with a low glimmer in her eyes that implies (whole-heartedly) that she does like being on the inside of a secret. her attention shifts only once his finger crooks and then, naturally, her gaze flicks over to his hand.
it takes a moment -- two moments, maybe -- for her to notice the floating kettle. a brief slack comes over her expression. her chin lifts. so too does her entire posture as she sits straight once again. peggy breathes in, watching the kettle bob a moment before it settles on his finger. ]
Good God.
[ she sets her cup back onto its saucer. ]
How remarkable. [ she quickly overcomes her awe and wonder (although both are certainly still present) and hones in on her curiosity instead. ] Is it telekinesis?
[ at the very least, she's not surprised. clearly she's seen some stuff in her lifetime. ]
[ He tops her off and swaps her teabags, and then refills his own before sending the kettle back to its spot on the stove. ]
It's a limited telekinesis, I suppose.
[ He helps her stir the bag by moving both their spoons, one in clockwise and one in counterclockwise. ]
Magnetokinesis, I believe it's called. But it sure does come in handy.
[ He takes another sip of tea and then stops showing off, though it is nice to indulge as he usually only gets to do when he's alone. All the other times it's like walking around with a blindfold on. ]
[ she can't help the way gears seem to spin behind her eyes. it isn't that she's an enterprising person -- she doesn't see powers in a person and feel any compulsion to turn them into a tool -- but she can't help imagining the possibilities! the implications! the things he must be able to do, to achieve, to accomplish! she may be a spy but (off-duty) she wears some of her bolder emotions on her sleeve.
and it's easy to see she's impressed. ]
Remarkable still. [ gently (gingerly) she lifts the spoon from her cup, the one that had so recently been stirring, and examines it with a kind of quiet wonder. like having watched a marksman fire off a good round at the range. ] And you mean to say you keep it a secret?
[ shame, that. although she can certainly understand... ]
[ His expression goes dark for a little bit, and he debates with himself for a moment but eventually says: ]
I kept it a secret, only known to people like me, up until last year.
They fear us, it's as simple as that.
[ And then he pushes that thought aside, which takes visible effort on his part, and changes his tone. ]
I doubt our captors don't already know. But if they don't, I'd prefer if only we did. We're already at a major disadvantage in that we have no idea who they are. So we should remain a mystery.
[ she registers every tic -- every variation in his expression -- and makes a mental scribble next to erik's name: a little list of truths, of impressions, of assumptions. a tidy little file she can keep in mind for any and all future interactions.
he speaks of fear, and given what pieces she knows of other worlds and other times, she can easily imagine such a prejudice existing. but beyond that he speaks of strategy -- and that's something she can certainly understand. keeping an air of the unknown about their persons (or merely pretending to be anything but interesting) is certainly a tactic she's fond of using. the advertisements make it difficult, however. erik's interest alone is proof enough that hers had been a bit too...fascinating.
peggy hooks her fingers around her teacup once more. ]
People like you. [ she echoes. ] Enhanced individuals?
We were called mutants. Children born of genetic mutation. Shaw sought to accelerate it by the use of nuclear weaponry.
[ So yeah, that was fun. He's going to stop saying Shaw's name now, every time he does he bets Peggy can taste the bile from where she's sitting. ]
But people fear what they don't know. And they didn't care to differentiate the ones who were trying to cause war and those of us trying to prevent it from reaching their shores.
[ Anyway. ]
But if you ever get stuck in an elevator... you know who to call.
[ she says the word like it's heavy. like it means something. and if she's honest, the word probably has all kinds of meanings for all kinds of people. but the extent of the man's abilities and the way he discusses it -- well, how can she not be reminded of billy? billy, and his story about how he came from a world with avengers. just not her world with avengers.
her fingertips tap restlessly on the teacup. nails creating a little clinking sound as she digests the information. ]
...Or a bullet extracted. [ because that's where her mind goes first -- a soft roll of her shoulder as she thinks about the painful procedure she'd endured just to take fragments out of her tissue. ] Or -- just about anything, frankly.
[ she finds him just that impressive. ]
I'm terribly sorry, Mister Lehnsherr, but I have a strange question I feel I must ask you.
[ He smiles at her when she says that because honestly, he mostly uses his powers to extract bullets from him and from others, or to place them in other people.
He's about to tell her wish granted, call him anytime for that, but then-- ]
--Sure. What did you want to ask?
[ At this point, he's an open book. At least, as far as anyone else is concerned. Nobody else has gotten all these secrets from out of him, not so much at once anyway. He trusts her implicitly more than the others, perhaps because of her service, her timeline, or the fact that she's willing to talk to him like this. ]
[ she's trying to piece together a puzzle. and peggy? peggy likes puzzles. she enjoys them -- albeit not with the sort of enjoyment that engenders smiling or relaxation. but when she gets her teeth in something, when she's chasing an answer, she seems to light up with serious purpose.
so she sets aside her fresh tea without so much as taking a sip. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
his tone shifts. that, too, is a comfort. she likes some professional patter much much more to this makeshift flirtation the city has tried to force upon them. peg fills her lungs, drags her gaze away from the monumental bank of windows, and wanders nearer her tea cup.
she is quick to claim it. happily, it sits cradled in her hand. poised, but not posh. hers is a rather austere posture but not one learned through pedigree. middle class, probably. upper middle class, maybe. she shows an economy of movement when she brings the cup up to her lips. ]
I hope you won't take any offense when I say it's a touch more complicated for us in the Down -- playing along. [ not that the division isn't unfair to both halves -- only that it's never easy to trust the hand that's reaching out and offering assistance. and to only give them three months to decide...!
had it been anyone else -- anyone without ink like his on his arm -- she might have lectured them on the price of playing along. already, she's gambling against that tactic. ]
I don't know you from Adam. [ ... ] A simple chat, even this one, won't change that fact. [ but she's here and she's drinking his tea and she's (probably) armed somewhere underneath the hem of her skirt. ]
But I'm curious. And willing to start somewhere. So -- it was 1947 when I was last home.
[ primly, she takes a seat and waits to witness how he'll handle what should be an equitable exchange of information. ]
no subject
I know that it's more complicated for you, and that it would take a great deal of trust to believe what I want is just a contract in name, an offer of assistance to level the playing field and get all willing subs operating as independently as possible.
Thank you for at least hearing me out.
[ He doesn't want to be responsible for anyone in the way that he has to accompany them grocery shopping and to find a job and the like. He'd rather just make everything simple, adjust to life here as painlessly and close to "normalcy" as possible, so they can focus on things that aren't trying to find their place in a foreign land. He remembers how much unnecessary extra stress that puts on a person. ]
1947 was seventeen years ago for me, now. A good year. I was trying to start over, and was admitted into the United States under the Truman Directive. Have you ever been? It's quite nice.
[ If it's a casual conversation she wants to get to know him, he has no qualms with that. Hopefully he doesn't have to undergo the kind of background check that leaves him feeling raw and vulnerable, but he doesn't think she would pry so far. Three months is really a tight schedule for someone like him to let someone into his life. He imagines it's doubly so for her, given her designation. ]
no subject
(it'll come, some day, if her world-mates are to be believed. but she tries not to think about it too long or too hard.)
and so instead she lets the conversation gain its own organic momentum. but not before she does the simple math -- seventeen years -- to determine his year of origin. always good to know. ]
Actually -- these days, I live stateside. New York. In the city. [ a beat. in reality, she'd been in california when she'd been taken from her world. but her home address is in nyc. ] Moved there in late '45 -- not long before that particular executive order came into being.
[ another sip of tea. she's stamped the cup with the print of her lipstick, now. ]
Where did you wind up?
no subject
We might have crossed paths, though I was barely a man at the time, hardly recognizable.
[ The smile he gives her is small, though it definitely reaches his eyes. ]
I ended up in Queens. Right off the A train.
[ He can still hear it in his mind, the rumbling underneath the street, the people bustling about, and all the rest. He can't believe he hasn't revisited those in such a long time. ]
no subject
just as well. a blank slate is considerably easier to manage. ]
Helluva city, isn't she?
[ and there -- just there -- a genuine smile breaks through her performance. she's soft as lights on new york city: it's as if girlhood imagination got hijacked by a rebel spirit and just ran away with her. her love shifted from man to metropolis with such natural ease, back when she first moved stateside, that she hardly noticed it happened. ]
I miss it. [ more so because it's been over a year and a half since she was last living there. ] Are you still there? In Queens, that is. Back home before you were so rudely acquired like all the rest of us.
no subject
That she is.
[ And then, at the question, he pauses. His eyebrows knit. He thinks he should be honest with Peggy, especially given what he's asking of her. He just doesn't know how honest he should be. ]
No, I... haven't been in Queens for a long time now. I traveled for a bit in Europe and South America, and now I'm in Washington DC.
[ Honest but... not that honest. ]
no subject
a letter from peggy's mother once implied the accusation. and who was she to refute it? the war had taken both of amanda carter's children from her (in one way or another) and she was entitled to her bitterness about it.
for now, she dips her attention back to her cuppa. peggy watches the swirl of tea after another sip. ]
Might I ask where you're from? [ given the indicated age, the ink, the all of it -- peggy proceeds carefully for once in her life. ] Or... tell me to bugger off. My feelings won't be hurt.
no subject
Germany, but in 1943 my parents decided we should leave the country as it was becoming dangerous for us to stay.
So we went to Poland.
[ There's a dark humor behind his tone of voice. It's how he's come to deal with speaking about it; of course it's an important part of him, and of course he knows she already knows, so it's harmless to confirm. But he also does it as a coping mechanism - if he speaks this way, people tend to follow up less with their apologies over the situation.
And then, there's part two of his coping mechanisms. ]
So, tell me. You visited New York during the war, you fell in love with the city, you decided to stay? Am I getting that right?
[ It's a much simpler, kinder story. ]
no subject
his question is a fair one. so, too, is his assumption. ]
Something like that. [ he's gets nearer to the bullseye than most do. ] Although I wouldn't say I visited New York so much as was dispatched there. The first time 'round, at any rate.
[ and even if she does have a taste for talking around the truth, even peggy knows when it strains comfort and credulity. besides, her career is no big secret. not any longer. not when people from decades later can look at her and recognize her for deeds not yet done.]
I served. [ easily said. less easily elaborated on. there are only so many places a good guesser can take intel like that -- service paired with international travel. and always (inevitably) espionage will be one of them. ] And while I served I was most often attached to an American unit.
[ american by designation if not by makeup. the howling commandos were quite a patchwork quilt come the end. ]
no subject
And, there was the fact that she mentioned she'd been dispatched at least twice. So, judging by the very little he already knows of her character, he assumes she had done so willingly, enthusiastically, and probably against the advice of many people in her life.. ]
Thank you.
[ He says, after a bit of a pause. He had a lot of words to say about all this, but he thought he'd start with those two. ]
I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner, here I thought you were a boxer.
You are... absolutely extraordinary, and I understand now I could never have convinced you to follow their rules until we get better leverage.
no subject
To be fair, [ she pipes up once her reaction finds its even keel, ] I've been told I've got a rather mean right hook. And I can't blame you for seeing pincurls and a pencil skirt and not first assuming active service.
[ it's rather the point, after all. she doesn't look like an intelligence officer. ]
Can't blame you for seeing an opportunity and aiming to seize it, either. [ that is -- recruiting a hot-headed submissive to his cause, his play-acting, his infiltration. and at the end of the day she's not a bad fit for such work. but perhaps her hubris is a bit too overwhelming; she doesn't always play well with others.
him, however. him she's starting to like. ]
May I speak openly? [ she doesn't wait for permission. ] I already have a Dominant in mind. But we could all of us always use more allies.
no subject
Agreed. And I believe that it would be symbiotically beneficial to be able to see things from both sides of this coin.
[ After all, if they were too close, perhaps it would blow his cover. Not that it's a good one, as precautious as he's trying to be. But he has to, somehow, let all the experiment's new recruits know that he is truly on their side. It's so hard to do when there are so many prying eyes. He wonders offhand if they're tracking how dangerous they think each of them are to the project.
He wonders offhand how high he's scored. ]
You will get in trouble, sooner or later. I'm not admonishing it, I admire it really. But I hope that, when the time comes, you can trust me to come to your aid.
[ Even if he's trying to lay low. He couldn't leave her hanging like that. ]
no subject
[ she's picked more than one fight with more than one vendor. thrown coins in their faces, insulted their siblings, caused scenes. but she only does it because she knows there's someone she can call on should the need arise.
and now it seems there's someone else. good -- a healthy little mental black book of pinch-hitters is a good thing to have. ]
Although I am curious about the sort of aid on offer.
[ aka, tell me what you bring to the table. ]
no subject
A few years ago I was working with the CIA, so infiltration mostly. They were chasing an escaped nazi by the name of Sebastian Shaw, though I had known him as Klaus Schmidt. I also speak several different languages, though that seems unimportant here.
[ And then he thinks, perhaps he should tell her the other thing. ]
Could you keep a secret?
[ He doesn't imagine the answer to that is no, and honestly it wouldn't be the worst if it got out. He'd just like to use whatever he can as a secret, and he's got a lot of mystery left. ]
no subject
but before she can ask, before she can clarify, he's dangling bait before her. and peggy simply can't help herself. ]
I can keep several. [ and in pursuit of any and all information, she weighs her next words carefully. ] Although, generally speaking, the ones I usually keep come with a firing squad should I ever divulge them.
[ bound by the official secrets act. and in that moment she plays a piece of her hand. she signals, however coyly, just how much of a boxer she isn't. ]
no subject
[ Usually. Usually it's everyone else firing, sometimes at him, and people happen to get in the way. But regardless, he holds up his hand with a finger pointed upwards, and hooks it forward as if beckoning someone else in the room.
Instead, the tea kettle lifts off of its spot on the stove, and neatly floats all the way over to land its handle on his finger. ]
More tea?
no subject
it takes a moment -- two moments, maybe -- for her to notice the floating kettle. a brief slack comes over her expression. her chin lifts. so too does her entire posture as she sits straight once again. peggy breathes in, watching the kettle bob a moment before it settles on his finger. ]
Good God.
[ she sets her cup back onto its saucer. ]
How remarkable. [ she quickly overcomes her awe and wonder (although both are certainly still present) and hones in on her curiosity instead. ] Is it telekinesis?
[ at the very least, she's not surprised. clearly she's seen some stuff in her lifetime. ]
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It's a limited telekinesis, I suppose.
[ He helps her stir the bag by moving both their spoons, one in clockwise and one in counterclockwise. ]
Magnetokinesis, I believe it's called. But it sure does come in handy.
[ He takes another sip of tea and then stops showing off, though it is nice to indulge as he usually only gets to do when he's alone. All the other times it's like walking around with a blindfold on. ]
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[ she can't help the way gears seem to spin behind her eyes. it isn't that she's an enterprising person -- she doesn't see powers in a person and feel any compulsion to turn them into a tool -- but she can't help imagining the possibilities! the implications! the things he must be able to do, to achieve, to accomplish! she may be a spy but (off-duty) she wears some of her bolder emotions on her sleeve.
and it's easy to see she's impressed. ]
Remarkable still. [ gently (gingerly) she lifts the spoon from her cup, the one that had so recently been stirring, and examines it with a kind of quiet wonder. like having watched a marksman fire off a good round at the range. ] And you mean to say you keep it a secret?
[ shame, that. although she can certainly understand... ]
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I kept it a secret, only known to people like me, up until last year.
They fear us, it's as simple as that.
[ And then he pushes that thought aside, which takes visible effort on his part, and changes his tone. ]
I doubt our captors don't already know. But if they don't, I'd prefer if only we did. We're already at a major disadvantage in that we have no idea who they are. So we should remain a mystery.
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he speaks of fear, and given what pieces she knows of other worlds and other times, she can easily imagine such a prejudice existing. but beyond that he speaks of strategy -- and that's something she can certainly understand. keeping an air of the unknown about their persons (or merely pretending to be anything but interesting) is certainly a tactic she's fond of using. the advertisements make it difficult, however. erik's interest alone is proof enough that hers had been a bit too...fascinating.
peggy hooks her fingers around her teacup once more. ]
People like you. [ she echoes. ] Enhanced individuals?
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[ So yeah, that was fun. He's going to stop saying Shaw's name now, every time he does he bets Peggy can taste the bile from where she's sitting. ]
But people fear what they don't know. And they didn't care to differentiate the ones who were trying to cause war and those of us trying to prevent it from reaching their shores.
[ Anyway. ]
But if you ever get stuck in an elevator... you know who to call.
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[ she says the word like it's heavy. like it means something. and if she's honest, the word probably has all kinds of meanings for all kinds of people. but the extent of the man's abilities and the way he discusses it -- well, how can she not be reminded of billy? billy, and his story about how he came from a world with avengers. just not her world with avengers.
her fingertips tap restlessly on the teacup. nails creating a little clinking sound as she digests the information. ]
...Or a bullet extracted. [ because that's where her mind goes first -- a soft roll of her shoulder as she thinks about the painful procedure she'd endured just to take fragments out of her tissue. ] Or -- just about anything, frankly.
[ she finds him just that impressive. ]
I'm terribly sorry, Mister Lehnsherr, but I have a strange question I feel I must ask you.
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He's about to tell her wish granted, call him anytime for that, but then-- ]
--Sure. What did you want to ask?
[ At this point, he's an open book. At least, as far as anyone else is concerned. Nobody else has gotten all these secrets from out of him, not so much at once anyway. He trusts her implicitly more than the others, perhaps because of her service, her timeline, or the fact that she's willing to talk to him like this. ]
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so she sets aside her fresh tea without so much as taking a sip. ]
Do the Avengers mean anything to you?
WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS HAS RELEVANCE
omg. i love it.
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