ic Supermarket

[alderwitch]

"Mhm, largely fictional in a way. Cleaned up for the masses. All of our stories really were cleaned up one way or another," Talya replied as she turned her head slightly to glance up at him. She smiled a little at the question, "We are the sum of our experiences, dearest. It was a very long time ago but it certainly affected who I am now. It's certainly not a taboo topic, at least, not for you nor Min, and I don't mean to give the impression that it is. Silence on my war-time exploits is more habit than intent. It was a very long time ago, and I was a very different person during a very different time. I imagine that you'll have questions at any given point. I understand its normal to want to actually know more about your lover than what a basic google search might reveal."

Talya's lips curved up in a slightly self deprecating smile about her closed mouth habits. She hesitated then. Talya was glib and socially gifted at keeping the topics superficial. This whole 'honest communication' meant an entirely different sort of filtering and cycling through what she should say, "My eldest brother was a soldier," she said, "My younger sister became a nurse part way through the war. It touched most people of my generation in one way or another."

[Gizmo]

Erik's back straightened to attention at the mention of Talya's siblings. He didn't need to be particularly good at math to know that the Englishwoman was almost certainly discussing them in the past tense. He was familiar enough with an immortal's tragedy of the world passing by around them but the idea of having to actually watch family grow old and die while remaining forever young struck a chord with him. He was uncharacteristically silent for a few steps before remarking, "Ellie would probably like to hear about your sister, then, if you felt up for it. I know she's been a little frosty but she was like that with Min for a while, too; just overprotective." He seemed oblivious to how much that was the pot calling the kettle black. "What were their names?"

[alderwitch]

Talya didn't glance up as muscles tensed under her fingertips. She knew that she had opened the door for a more personal conversation than she generally allowed. The fact that it took Erik a few seconds before framing a question was helpful as it allowed her to marshal her thoughts into order. Her expression remained serene in profile, her blue-eyed gaze straight ahead at the path in front of their feet. 

"I don't mind that your sister is frosty, Erik. I enjoy your family's protective streak. It's endearing and it doesn't distress me when its aimed at me. Well," Talya paused as the lie slipped from her tongue too quickly and smoothly to catch it, "It doesn't overly distress me. I'm not in the habit of sharing stories but perhaps someday," Talya conceded. She might happily take a bullet for the other Interceptor but this sort of open book on her past hadn't yet extended beyond Erik and Min. Even with them it wasn't the easiest of roads, "I was second born of five. Bigger families were more common between one thing and another. William was three years older than I was. Evelyn was born two years after. Daniel and Agnes were born when I was seven."

Her voice was even and calm, the inflection dispassionate enough that she might as well have been talking about strangers. She added, as it was the next logical step in the conversation, "Agnes and Will died during the war years. Then Daniel in the eighties and Evelyn passed about seven years ago."

Finally the mask cracked and her smile was sad but genuine, "They did much more sensible things with their lives, by and large."

[Gizmo]

Erik's expression reminded Talya of the one that crossed his face while they were sparring, in the moments where he was legitimately pushing himself to the extent of his prowess and the teasing grins and looks of mock outrage fell away. For a moment she almost wondered if he was looking for some opening or advantage before realizing that his rapt attention was focused on committed the names she'd rattled off to memory. After another pause he commented, "Bigger family can be nice," because that seemed safe enough. With a hesitation that seemed out of place in his usually glib voice he added, "I would have liked to have met them."

[alderwitch]

Talya fell quiet for a moment, watching his profile. When he finally spoke again, a small smile flickered across her features, "You'd have gotten on with my sister more than Daniel. He got unbearably stuffy later on. He was generally scandalized by my antics. I have a box full of letters in my garage full of consternated outrage spanning decades. Taking up with a married couple would have been utterly beyond the pall," Talya said with some bemusement. She leaned against Erik's side, squeezing his hand lightly, "It's alright, you know. Being the last one left is a little melancholy sometimes, but Agnes and Will died a long time ago and the other two had very long, full lives and left behind children, grandchildren. Great-grandchildren. That my immortal life is juxtaposed with their mortal ones doesn't lessen either. It's additive. Especially if you subscribe to the notion that no one truly dies while their memory lives on."

Her shoulder bumped into his then, the gesture affectionate, "I have photographs, if you'd like to see them. I keep those sorts of things at my safe house in Hanover. Its where I keep the possessions that I don't want to have to discard if one of my residences is compromised."

[Gizmo]

Erik didn't really do 'embarrassment' as such but he did look a little sheepish at the idea of Talya's brother disapproving of their unconventional relationship. A few weeks in, things felt comfortable; really, things had felt remarkably comfortable from the moment Min had suggested it but he hadn't quite gotten over his surprise at how comfortable it felt. He'd been left with the nagging feeling that there was something he should have reservations over without having a good answer as to what. Mostly he was just chagrined to find himself acting like the old fashioned one between the two immortals.

"I'd like that, yeah," he agreed after a light cough. Talya had mentioned the existence of her safe house in passing, just to illustrate how perfunctory her more expensive apartment was. It had also illustrated the layers of secrecy and suspicion in her life and he appreciated how much trust talking about even its general location and contents must have taken. "I'd like to know as much about where you came from as you want to talk about. I mean, no rush or pressure or anything, I just mean-- You know what I mean, right?"

[alderwitch]

"I know what you mean," Talya agreed with one of those rare, sweet smiles she reserved for more intimate moments. "It isn't so much that I mind talking. I've yet again leapt into something without overly much forethought. Well, that's not entirely true, I had nothing but time to think while getting drug hither and yon by a Danger. I'm all in, Erik Espadas, but I am woefully out of practice at 'genuine'. I know it's nothing more than an eyeblink to the lovely Min, but I have decades of practice weaving complex deceptions upon deceptions. Every time I volunteer a tidbit, it's punching right through any number of cover stories that are the primary protection I can give your family."

She shrugged, shifting the pot a little higher on her hip with the gesture, "It's counter intuitive to the way my mind works to strip it away, even though I can intellectually recognize that it's somewhat necessary for any actual intimacy. I am rather lousy at it in practice and generally need prompting for what is reasonable to want to know. I don't mind the prompting. You're not going to hit a topic that turns me stone faced and full of brooding angst if that's what you're concerned about it. I save my maudlin for nights that involve drinking to excess."

Talya added the last with a small grin.

[Gizmo]

With a short, clipped laugh, Erik raised a pair of fingers. "Alright, fair enough, but two things," he insisted, giving Talya a look that mixed a amble dollop of amusement into the seriousness he was striving to covey with a squeeze of their linked hands. "First off, you are our family now. That's how we roll: one wrong move and bam, adopted. All in, remember?" His lopsided grin suggested he knew exactly how annoying parroting the phrase back was and wasn't even a little bit sorry. "Second, is it weird that I find layers of secrecy for the purpose of keeping the people important to you safe super attractive? That seems like it's probably weird." His voice slipped done a few tones with a rolling growl behind it even as his grin widened.

[alderwitch]

"So I've seen, yes," Talya agreed with another one of her sidelong smiles. She wrinkled her nose at his use of her phrase, a gesture that Erik didn't often see in her usual aristocratic expressions, for good reason. Usually, she tried for an air of elegant aplomb and nose-scrunching didn't really fit that persona. "Why do I suddenly have a feeling that I am going to hear that slip of the tongue echoed back at me every time you feel I'm being recalcitrant?"

The question was clearly rhetorical and she tipped her head against his shoulder. "It would be weird, except I'm fairly certain that your 'language of love' is blunt force trauma to potential threats. It's alright, clearly we are compatible in that arena," Talya's response was husky, laughter in her tone. "Misdirection has always been my first and best line of defense. So 'Natalya Browning' lives at her high-end apartment. 'Rebecca Danvers' owns a house in Hanover. I'd have crafted a full on additional persona to work at your dojo and share your bed but instead I have only the very thin veneer of 'Talya' who comes from Nebraska and enjoys knitting. It's a very paltry persona. It's not quite 'but she doesn't wear glasses. How would she see?' but its not all that much better. She doesn't even have an address, technically. It's very thin, you see? But, if you find it sexy, I'm sure I could enhance it into something passable..."

She trailed off, her voice a mixture of suggestion and laughter.

[Gizmo]

"Ooh, talk falsified records to me," Erik growled throatily before the affect was ruined by a poorly contained snort of laughter. "I'm hurt that you think I'm limited to blunt trauma, though. I'm a modern sort of guy, I'm in touch with my piercing and slashing sides, too. I'm the complete package." He didn't need to explain the real reason he appreciated Talya's instinct to protect him, Min and their children from exposure and danger without ever needing to be asked; that she understood the importance of a certain type of secrecy in their line of work was the entire point. He'd worked with people in the past who'd needed convincing, reluctant to adopt measures that might inconvenience them over what they considered paranoia or overcompensating. "And if I echo anything it's only because it was a very sweet slip of the tongue," he promised. "Or because it's funny. One of those."

[alderwitch]

"Blunt force trauma rolls off the tongue the easiest though. It's the most fun to say. It's also the sort of damage that both Min and I do in general. Coincidence?" Talya parried back as she pointed out with a grin of her own. This time, Talya's grin was downright wicked as she delivered her double entendres, "But yes, I didn't mean to exclude the others. I am utterly aware of how fond you are of your sword, and personally, I am very fond of the way you wield it. Still, you have to admit that both the women in your life are prone to bludgeoning their opponents even when given the wide variety of methods at their respective disposal. You might be in touch with all the various sides of mayhem, but I think you might just have a 'type'."

 

She laughed and turned her attention towards the path once more, her smile still mischievous, "It can always be both sweet and funny. I'm generally in favor of 'both' in almost all scenarios. Greedy, I suppose. I have certainly been accused of it in the past."

[Gizmo]

"The case against settling for moderation had been made pretty convincingly to me recently, so I can't really judge," Erik allowed with roll of his eyes for Talya's not-so-subtle double meanings. He liked wordplay more than the average person, sure, but jokes about any connection between his implement of choice and his... implement of choice were low hanging fruit. Magnanimously he further agreed, "And if gorgeous, capable women who kick wholesale amounts of butt qualifies as a type then sure, sure." He matched her mischievous smile with one of his own. "I still say you should ditch the batons and let me show you how to use a real weapon, though. Those little sticks just won't treat you right."

[alderwitch]

Talya's lifted one shoulder in a lopsided shrug, unrepentant in her teasing, "My batons are a real weapon, thank you very much. I suspect that you might just want to show off. I might be in your arena for hand to hand but with an actual blade, you're in a league of your own. It is far more appealing to watch you trounce other people than to be on the receiving end. I'll land right on my ego," she added, the words dry. "Besides, I can't compress a sword down into its handle and strap it to my thigh under a ballgown. The weapon has its limitations and unlike some people, I have only what limited tools I manage to hide about my person to draw on. The question is, really, what do I get out of letting you school me with a blade?"

[Gizmo]

"I absolutely want to show off," Erik confirmed without hesitation. "It's one of my defining 'things'. And it's such a shapely, well proportioned ego to land on!". He hitched the reusable bag holding their meager acquisitions from the market over his shoulder as the they rounded the corner of the block and the school came into view. "Seriously, though. I know it's probably not super practical for your style, it's just..." He took a moment to weigh his words and decide how saccharine he was actually willing to get. "Alright, so, y'know how you're all pumped to teach the Sanderson girl lockpicking and it's definitely maybe useful but it's also definitely not why Summers sent her to the school. Probably. It's kind of hard to tell with her or her old man. The point is you're really good at it and you like her so it's something you want to share with her so you know you're giving her that edge, right?" He shrugged himself, looking skyward and avoiding Talya's gaze. "And many excellent qualities aside I've really got just the one thing that I'm world class at, maybe the best. Min's so strong that most of what I know barely works for her at all and it's not like you actually need the help either, just... yeah." He coughed having run out of steam and lost the thread of his argument at some point.

[alderwitch]

"Flatterer," Talya stopped, tugging on his hand to pull him to a standstill as well. A small smile curved her lips upward and she leaned in to press a soft kiss against his mouth once he'd ground to a halt. "I am a world class thief, a competent spy and an experienced fighter. You are better with a weapon than I am and banter about my ego and its many fine qualities aside, I can admit that. If that's something that you'd like to share with me, I have little doubt I would benefit from the tutelage. I certainly will enjoy the experience regardless." Talya gave his hand another light squeeze, stepping back from him on silent feet as she slanted him a faint smile, "I understand what you mean. It's not unlike my desire to use deception to protect you lot with my lies. A lesson shared might spare me an ounce of pain down the line even if you can't be there."

 

Her eyes twinkled then, her lips quirking upwards as she added, deflecting with a touch of humor from her own emotions, "These are going to be shirt-optional lessons, aren't they?" 

[Gizmo]

Erik returned the kiss lightly, looking mollified and a little abashed about his own public display of emotional honesty. It wasn't the deep demonstration he'd felt was necessary after his brief hesitation in the marketplace or the adrenaline-fueled need from after the fight but rather a comfortable expression of companionship. The turn to the more humourous was still welcome and be made a brief show of flexing one arm at the suggestion he remove his shirt. "You know, I can actually do the Zorro thing," he noted casually, amused flirtation replacing abashed self-consciousness on his face within the span of a few words. "Where he cuts of her clothes? Just throwing that out there for consideration."

[alderwitch]

"See, you should have opened with that. Always open with that," Talya suggested, appreciative laughter in her tone. She gave a little shake of her head to move her hair out of her way so she could look at him with both blue eyes. It had to get aggravating having her hair constantly obscuring half her vision but Talya had clearly learned to work with it over the years. Her eyes twinkled merrily as she pointed out, "If you'd opened with that five years ago, history might have charted a very different sort of course. I may be very fond of some of my ensembles but I have always been willing to sacrifice material possessions when the incentive is high enough." Still chuckling, she stepped back to continue their way home, and its promise of warm showers and dinner. "You may consider me fully sold on continuing my education in the violent arts."

Edited October 31, 2015 by alderwitch