[ -- she considers the subject a moment longer. although she's not quite convinced it's anywhere near the same, peggy knows wanda's code name is the scarlet witch. even so, she's hesitant with her answer. she's seen things in hydra research tapes she's never told anyone. she doesn't plan to start explaining them now. ]
I wouldn't say he's my only frame of reference. After all, I've been here in the fleet for well over a year. Plenty of time to adjust. And even back home -- [ peggy frowns ] -- he might have been one of the few examples I'd known, before hand, but that was before I got hit with a cascade of memories from home. A little while back.
[ a rueful smile. ] Nothing like witches and werewolves and vampires, however.
That's probably for the best. We had more than our fair share of them back home, and well -
[Vampires had earned their cruel legends for a reason. They needed blood to survive, and they weren't shy about feeding off "easy prey." Stefan had never liked such methods, let alone the blood derived from those methods.
But he promised Peggy the truth, so he swallows his fear. Now or never, Salvatore. She deserves the truth from him, not her best friend (sidekick?).]
It was rough getting lumped in with the rest of them.
[ there's a tone in her voice. it's not doubt -- but certainly she hesitates. her lips thin into a line and she feels the temptation to reach for the whiskey. it would have gone over worse, admittedly, had she not had her skeptic's bubble long-since burst by sam winchester.
poor mister jarvis. it must have been a truly harrowing sort of reveal. for her part, peggy tries to pretend as though the revelation doesn't bother her. ]
Don't apologize; we all of us keep secrets. Although, admittedly, mine are not so steeped in lore.
[He shakes his head. While he hasn't revealed his entire true face - he's learned his lesson with Jarvis - he doesn't feel Right without a full apology.]
No, I befriended you on a false assumption. I don't care what secrets you might hide from me, but I've hid enough from you, so. [He takes a breath, entirely out of habit, as he holds up two fingers.] I'm a vampire. I've been one for over a century and a half. I don't eat humans, I don't plan on changing that, and "ordinary" is far from the first word I'd use to describe myself.
Stefan. [ if her tone is stern, it's only because she needs must buy herself some time to stomach these suggestions. it's not easy -- what is easy, however, is hiding the rawness of her reaction. ] I hardly believe you're ordinary. I'm not sure I ever believed it. But Mister Jarvis asked and I didn't feel it would be appropriate to share those suspicions with him. I think I quite hurt his feelings, actually.
[ -- the man had known she'd been lying. it had appeared tragically evident. ] No doubt that only made him all the more eager to get to the bottom of things.
[He shirks back, shrinking a little before her. If there's anyone who could make him feel like the young man he appears to be, it's Peggy - and honestly, he feels pretty terrible right now.
His secret wasn't worth hurt feelings, let alone a friendship being thrown into potentially awkward waters.]
I see. In that case, thank you for keeping my secret. [He presses his lips together.] I know it certainly couldn't have been easy.
[ au contraire -- it had been remarkably easy. but peggy had always had a steady stomach for keeping secrets, even from those she trusted best. but admitting so is a whole other kettle of kippers; best to keep his sympathy while she has it. ]
And I'll continue to keep it. Hard or not, it'll always be yours to tell. Never mine.
You'll forgive me, I hope, if my questions appear crass. [ she's stiff, still. bordering on poised and professional. ] My frame of references for such matters is just as narrow as you might expect it to be.
[ she's acutely aware her question might offend him. and yet, she'd already begged forgiveness on that front. in a sense, it can't be half-as-bad as that time she asked whether he fought for the axis powers.
Were this an uncommon question, he would've been outraged. He isn't Sascha. He doesn't lick human blood off the floor of the Iskaulit, but he also understands (all too well) why someone would believe it.]
Not since I transitioned. I feed off animals, or I'll take blood pills if we're between star systems.
Blood pills! [ crumbs, now she's heard everything.
peggy rubs the edge of one finger against her forehead -- another all-too-obvious sign that she's fighting to cope with this knowledge. ] And I take it you 'transitioned' a rather long time ago. I suppose it goes a little bit further towards explaining the Methuselah-like length of your life.
[One more reason he tries to feed on animal blood wherever he goes. Nothing tastes like human blood, but animals are far more palatable than the slop that passes for blood pills.]
Technically, it was a century and a half ago. I was born in 1846, and I "transitioned" when I was seventeen.
[He doesn't quite look seventeen, though - if anything, he's more 22 than 17. Not that he'll say so at the moment. His reincarnation is a harder pillow to swallow than his immortality.]
Good God, [ and if she chuckles now it's only because she can't imagine there's a single reaction left to her that passes muster as polite. ] You are old.
[ -- well, maybe she doesn't come close to polite. actually. ]
I'm considering a Lugosi joke, but I'm also a little worried Mister Jarvis might have already made one.
I imagine that must have stung a little. [ but she's got the measure of stefan, she thinks. he's unlikely to hold something like that against jarvis. or so she hopes. ] Mister Jarvis hasn't been here as long as I have, I suppose -- less opportunity to adjust to the otherworldly. Even back home, he's relatively buffered from the weirdest of what happens.
I figured as much. [Stefan shakes his head fondly.] It's more - I was trying to tell him the truth, and he just tells me that I can't possibly be a vampire because those don't exist.
[He can laugh now, because it's actually Pretty Funny, but he sure didn't appreciate it at the time.]
[ a soft hum. with internal force, she chooses to change the way she approaches her digestion of his 'secret' such as it was. ]
I know a little bit about the sting of others' incredulity. [ and there's a comfort in not needing to explain to him why that is -- not if he's lived through those same decades when she'd tried to carve out a career for herself. ] However markedly different the circumstances.
I'm sorry that you had to in the first place. [He certainly remembers - pieces of it, anyway, in the hazy reaches of Salvatore's memory. Alesci was far more acquainted with a different sort of discrimination.] And I can't exactly blame them, either.
Most vampires aren't super friendly. Feed first, talk later, maybe kill if they're bored - the legends exist for a reason.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
action
I wouldn't say he's my only frame of reference. After all, I've been here in the fleet for well over a year. Plenty of time to adjust. And even back home -- [ peggy frowns ] -- he might have been one of the few examples I'd known, before hand, but that was before I got hit with a cascade of memories from home. A little while back.
[ a rueful smile. ] Nothing like witches and werewolves and vampires, however.
action (1/2)
[Vampires had earned their cruel legends for a reason. They needed blood to survive, and they weren't shy about feeding off "easy prey." Stefan had never liked such methods, let alone the blood derived from those methods.
But he promised Peggy the truth, so he swallows his fear. Now or never, Salvatore. She deserves the truth from him, not her best friend (sidekick?).]
It was rough getting lumped in with the rest of them.
action
I'm sorry, I - I should've told you sooner.
action
[ there's a tone in her voice. it's not doubt -- but certainly she hesitates. her lips thin into a line and she feels the temptation to reach for the whiskey. it would have gone over worse, admittedly, had she not had her skeptic's bubble long-since burst by sam winchester.
poor mister jarvis. it must have been a truly harrowing sort of reveal. for her part, peggy tries to pretend as though the revelation doesn't bother her. ]
Don't apologize; we all of us keep secrets. Although, admittedly, mine are not so steeped in lore.
action
No, I befriended you on a false assumption. I don't care what secrets you might hide from me, but I've hid enough from you, so. [He takes a breath, entirely out of habit, as he holds up two fingers.] I'm a vampire. I've been one for over a century and a half. I don't eat humans, I don't plan on changing that, and "ordinary" is far from the first word I'd use to describe myself.
action
[ -- the man had known she'd been lying. it had appeared tragically evident. ] No doubt that only made him all the more eager to get to the bottom of things.
action
His secret wasn't worth hurt feelings, let alone a friendship being thrown into potentially awkward waters.]
I see. In that case, thank you for keeping my secret. [He presses his lips together.] I know it certainly couldn't have been easy.
action
And I'll continue to keep it. Hard or not, it'll always be yours to tell. Never mine.
action
[He's of the same belief, when others' secrets and knowledge are concerned - it's not his story to tell. He doesn't think it ever will be his story.]
But still, I'll be more honest with you. If you have questions or anything, I can try and answer them.
Re: action
action
If it's something I can't answer, I'll say so.
action
[ she's acutely aware her question might offend him. and yet, she'd already begged forgiveness on that front. in a sense, it can't be half-as-bad as that time she asked whether he fought for the axis powers.
either way, her kid gloves are off. ]
action
Were this an uncommon question, he would've been outraged. He isn't Sascha. He doesn't lick human blood off the floor of the Iskaulit, but he also understands (all too well) why someone would believe it.]
Not since I transitioned. I feed off animals, or I'll take blood pills if we're between star systems.
action
peggy rubs the edge of one finger against her forehead -- another all-too-obvious sign that she's fighting to cope with this knowledge. ] And I take it you 'transitioned' a rather long time ago. I suppose it goes a little bit further towards explaining the Methuselah-like length of your life.
action
[One more reason he tries to feed on animal blood wherever he goes. Nothing tastes like human blood, but animals are far more palatable than the slop that passes for blood pills.]
Technically, it was a century and a half ago. I was born in 1846, and I "transitioned" when I was seventeen.
[He doesn't quite look seventeen, though - if anything, he's more 22 than 17. Not that he'll say so at the moment. His reincarnation is a harder pillow to swallow than his immortality.]
action
[ -- well, maybe she doesn't come close to polite. actually. ]
I'm considering a Lugosi joke, but I'm also a little worried Mister Jarvis might have already made one.
action
[At least he's aware! He'll lean back a little, comfortable in that knowledge.]
More like he called me a piece of fiction, but same idea.
action
[ she tries. ]
action
[He can laugh now, because it's actually Pretty Funny, but he sure didn't appreciate it at the time.]
I've gotta say, that was pretty anticlimactic.
action
I take it the reactions you receive are usually more...heated?
action
They're rejections, Peggy. Every last one of 'em. [ . . . ] Or they used to be, anyway.
action
I know a little bit about the sting of others' incredulity. [ and there's a comfort in not needing to explain to him why that is -- not if he's lived through those same decades when she'd tried to carve out a career for herself. ] However markedly different the circumstances.
action
Most vampires aren't super friendly. Feed first, talk later, maybe kill if they're bored - the legends exist for a reason.
action
action
action
action
action
action
action
action
action
action