controlledvariable | (no subject)

[A slightly awkward pause. Then,]

Do you want to talk about it?

There's not much to say. She just hopped on a plane and never came back.

[With another shrug she stands up to head to the sink and wash up her bowl. She needs to do something with her hands.]

[He follows her into the kitchen, though he doesn't try to help or hover. Just leans against the counertop a short distance away and folds his arms.]

No idea why?

She had to find herself or something like that.

[Steph never understood it. Cass was never loyal to Bruce, she was loyal to the symbol.]

[Weird, how he gets that. He tips his head off to one side. He's never been good at this kind of small talk, it feels enough like gossip that it's making him uncomfortable, and he's not entirely sure why Steph is telling him all this, or what she wants or needs in return.]

It sounds like she's been through a lot. You both have. Sometimes it's-- hard to be a good friend to someone else if you don't know who you are first.

It doesn't matter.

[If Steve feels awkward, Steph is twice as much, because it's occured to her that she doesn't have anyone to talk to, there's no one here she trusts enough just yet, and she needs that.

She puts the dishes away almost automatically, freeing her hands so she can press her fingers against her arm, where the tracker is hidden. Its an unconscious gesture, something she used to do back in Exsilium to comfort herself when she needed it.

When she looks back at Steve, she gives him a crooked grin.]

Pretty sure I was here for your tragic backstory, not mine.

[It sparks one in him, reflexive. His is somewhat wry.]

We can't do both?

I'm gonna need a drink if we get into that. It's kind of a long one.

I don't think there's any alcohol in Haven. I've got tea, though.

[Courtesy Peggy, because she's the best.]

I know.

[The struggle is so real. She doesn't even like to drink, but god could she use one.]

But where the hell did you get tea?

[Mischievously,]

I know a dame that knows a guy... you know.

What, a guy who can summon tea?

[She won't let this go. Because:]

Can this guy summon coffee too?

I wish. Sounds like they haven't had coffee here for months now.

[He misses army coffee like you would not believe. Even if caffeine doesn't work on him so well.]

I'm starting to think I need to just sew some coffee beans into the lining of my clothes so I don't keep getting stuck without it.

[help her]

[Eyebrows up.]

Go big or go home, I say. Why not one of those fancy single serve machines? Starts with a K?

[SHIELD HQ has one, but he always bought his coffee from a little old man that pushed a cart around downtown Washington.

Do I look rich to you?

[jeez, Steve]

I have no idea what they cost. I still grimace every time I hear a Coke's more than five cents a bottle.

[NO REALLY, HE DOES. IT'S AWFUL.]

You should try going to the hospital, that's what'll kill you.

[laughcries]

[He snorts.]

Yeah, I avoid those when I can.

[He hates hospitals for a variety of reasons. More than anything, it's the smell.]

Its one of the good things when you're living somewhere outta a dystopian novel: no hospitals.

[that-- that isn't a good thing]

[Steph, honey, you've got a lot of issues, and Steve is starting to realize just how deep the rabbit hole goes.]

Technically, Haven has a hospital.

[... so, you know...]

It doesn't count if its practically broken.

[also shush you]

Edited 2014-11-14 01:51 (UTC)

Doesn't mean it doesn't help.

[So he starts making tea, just because. What little he has is precious, but he hardly minds sharing.]

Gotham's a pretty rough place, huh.

[She just offers a wry smile and a shrug for his first comment. Hospitals are complicated things for her, and she hasn't even been to one for fourteen months.]

She'll chew you up and spit you out if you don't treat her right.

[Steph is weird about Gotham.]

New York was a little like that, growing up. I can't imagine it being worse.

[But hard cities grow hard people who can survive anything. Brooklyn made him what it was, and he wouldn't trade that for anything.]