[ mind like a rocket, she doesn't even hesitate on the edge of propriety when she asks: ] You're worried he might find himself especially vulnerable to someone you so illustratively named a lie-smith, aren't you?
[ she knows that's the first thing she'd be worried about, were she wearing jim's boots. ]
[ she wets her lips. now she sits back and lets decorum prance briefly about her thoughts. the winter soldier is him, all the same -- perhaps even the him that's nearer what she's known from her own home and time. it isn't apparent on the surface, but should she just scratch a little deeper... ]
How did he take to your warning? [ she wonders if he obeys 'himself'. ]
Hmm. Exerting one manner of influence in order to circumvent another.
[ she pinpoints the paradox precisely -- but not so viciously as to imply hypocrisy. in the end, she understands the weight behind that decision. she can hear it in his voice. ]
Ah, well. You know the saying: the lesser of two what-have-yous and all that.
[ she won't say evils. none of what she's seen of either barnes is evil, though her words betray a lurking worry in the depth of her mind. like she's spotted a darkness she can't yet qualify. ]
[Evils; and a necessary one. It seems Jim's not done having to justify the course of action to himself. But Natasha said no, and that left only him to make the tough call. He'd do it again, and again until there was a better solution. ]
The point is we won't have to worry about him, at least for a while.
[ with a silent pang, she wonders whether she sounds like this when she's pushing people away -- when she does as jarvis bids her not do, and tries to take the world's weight alone. vulnerable or not, she has to ask herself whether the winter soldier might appreciate the opportunity to prove himself outside of jim's orders.
she wonders what he feels like -- being relegated to the sidelines. it's a heady sort of similarity she never expected to feel with james barnes of all men. ]
Full disclosure: I'll want to have a conversation with this Loki chap. [ read: i'll see for myself what he's like, and my warning now is a courtesy. don't think that i can be so easily stood down.
[ Like he was ever able to stop her or Steve even when he wanted desperately to. But there's no exasperated sigh, no annoyed exclamation along the lines of what the hell she thinks she's doing. Just a quiet, even, ]
At your discretion, Agent Carter.
[ a beat, and he drops perhaps an inch of the formality. ]
[ -- it isn't precisely a lie. she is, after all, first and foremost an agent. not a soldier, and perhaps not even a hero in the strictest of definitions. she spies, she tradecrafts, and she follows her heart. her heart is full on screaming for her to make more of this situation than traditional caution would allow.
but she can (at least) appreciate jim's concern. she doesn't resent him his feelings; like as not, she'd feel them too. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
private audio;
[ that is, who else can she approach knowing full well they're involved? ]
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[ He's taken this leaf from Fury's book. The fewer people know the secrets, the fewer can tell it. ]
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[ she knows that's the first thing she'd be worried about, were she wearing jim's boots. ]
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Don't you think he's suffered enough?
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[ she wets her lips. now she sits back and lets decorum prance briefly about her thoughts. the winter soldier is him, all the same -- perhaps even the him that's nearer what she's known from her own home and time. it isn't apparent on the surface, but should she just scratch a little deeper... ]
How did he take to your warning? [ she wonders if he obeys 'himself'. ]
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He'll do anything I ask.
[ He doesn't justify: it was the only way. It's an unpleasant thing, and he regrets its necessity. But he'd do it again to help the man. ]
private audio;
[ she pinpoints the paradox precisely -- but not so viciously as to imply hypocrisy. in the end, she understands the weight behind that decision. she can hear it in his voice. ]
Ah, well. You know the saying: the lesser of two what-have-yous and all that.
[ she won't say evils. none of what she's seen of either barnes is evil, though her words betray a lurking worry in the depth of her mind. like she's spotted a darkness she can't yet qualify. ]
private audio;
The point is we won't have to worry about him, at least for a while.
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she wonders what he feels like -- being relegated to the sidelines. it's a heady sort of similarity she never expected to feel with james barnes of all men. ]
Full disclosure: I'll want to have a conversation with this Loki chap. [ read: i'll see for myself what he's like, and my warning now is a courtesy. don't think that i can be so easily stood down.
private audio;
At your discretion, Agent Carter.
[ a beat, and he drops perhaps an inch of the formality. ]
Be careful.
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[ -- it isn't precisely a lie. she is, after all, first and foremost an agent. not a soldier, and perhaps not even a hero in the strictest of definitions. she spies, she tradecrafts, and she follows her heart. her heart is full on screaming for her to make more of this situation than traditional caution would allow.
but she can (at least) appreciate jim's concern. she doesn't resent him his feelings; like as not, she'd feel them too. ]
I'll be in touch.