ic Old Fiends

[Gizmo]

"Daddy, he stole the choc'late!" Eden protested from Erik's shoulder, holding onto her father's shirt with one hand and balling the other little hand into a fist at the indignity of it all.

 

"I know, chiquita; I get the feeling the Comrade just does that sort of thing," Erik drawled with a flat but not entirely unamused look in Dimitri's direction before turning his head to given the girl a light kiss on the forehead. "Head back to bed, alright? I left a glass of water in your room so no more wandering around." Eden grumbled as she was set back down but relented, heading back into the apartment from the direction she'd come and leaving the man with the dusty brown stubble to give the Russian vampire his full attention. "Alright, Old Silk Hat, you're doing the immortal thing where you act like we're having a normal conversation but it's really a test to see if you can write me off or not." He'd met far more than his share of functionally ageless beings over the years and he'd noticed they were even more inclined toward categorizing those they met than the average person, probably because after a while it was hard to give everyone you met the same level of attention. Gesturing toward the door to the hallway he moved to follow Frost downstairs. "Whatever you want to ask me, just go for it but I want to hear more about that 'old friend' and whatever they said to Talya." His tone of voice suggested that veteran status alone wouldn't be enough to stop his from picking a fight if he thought it was necessary.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Fetch cups if you would, then! Ladies must not drink from bottles, is gauche." The bottles clinking in his arms, Dimitri carefully padded his way downstairs, followed by Erik. "Hello!" he said with a wave of his free hand as he headed over to join Talya and Min. "I have secured the liquor and your husband as well!" he declared cheerfully to Min. "He is sharp fellow, do you know he knows about my old silk hat? And corncob pipe?" He looked around for a place to put the bottles and settled for resting them in a windowsill. Fumbling around in his pockets, he came up with sure enough, a corncob pipe, which he gave a disconsolate look to before sliding back in reluctantly. "Yes, I saw no smoking sign," he muttered. "Anyway! Cups, fellow, cups." He opened a bottle and began pouring. "I suggest that you young people who can drink enjoy yourselves with liquor on house." 

 

 

[alderwitch]

The ladies were still talking, arms twined around each others waists' and their voices too soft to carry easily up the stairs. Talya's jacket and shoes had been abandoned as for all of her cavalier punching of holes in the ceiling, she was careful of the dojo's floors. She turned her head slightly from where her brow had almost rested against Min's and offered Erik a small smile as he joined them. 

 

"Ah, I hope Dimitri didn't disturb you?" Talya offered, for once making no move to untangle herself from Min, nor put herself to rights. Dimitri was in the small circle of companions who were allowed past Talya's preferred veneer of poise. "I should have perhaps given some warning that I had company in tow but I have been trying to keep up with Russians and their drinking all evening. Which is most unfair when mine is the least supernaturally equipped liver involved. Well, and I suppose also one semi-retired MI:6 agent and her pocket flask."

 

Talya tipped her head to the side, lips quirking as she tried to tally up her evening. 

[April]

"Careful, my lovely songbird," Min murmured into Talya's ear, "He has that look on his face."  Talya knew that look, The Espadas Look, it's one she'd seen often enough around her new family when there has been even a hint of wrongdoing done to one of their own.

 

Min made no move to relinquish Talya from her embrace, content to enjoy every second of close contact with the other woman.  She just smiled into the Englishwoman's neck, relaxed and listened.  A few moments later the dryad's ear was twitching in time to the former-somewhat-thief's heartbeat.

 

"Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked after a moment lifting her head up look at Dimitri.

[Gizmo]

Erik didn't need to be able to hear what Min was saying to recognize what she was amused about and tried to school his expression into something less immediately readable, with limited success. He was still fairly obviously looking to see if Talya was favouring one leg or leaning on Min for support, as though spotting an physical injuries would somehow give him insight into what had upset her emotionally.

 

"He's pretty disturbing, alright. I appreciate the commitment to prop comedy, anyway," he grumbled as he followed after Dimitri with a stack of cups in his hands, letting the bit about the drinks being 'on the house' pass, esily prioritizing Talya's situation over his minor annoyance with the Russian. "Sounds like a busy night...?" he prompted.

[Avenger Assembled]

"See! Young fellow has Frost's number already." When they all had cups filled, Dimitri raised his. "A toast. To new romance!" The wink he gave the threesome before him was downright friendly - it was an almost physical effort not to turn it into the leer he'd have given anyone else under a similar circumstance. He drank the vodka with the casual ease he'd have once drunk water, the later annoyance of having to get it out of himself well worth the expedience of socializing with Talya and her adopted family. "Yes, ah, do not know if you follow news, Erik, but Warrior Woman, old colleague of mine and Talya's is in town with wife and children. There was bad blood. But Talya was friend enough to be weengman." 

[alderwitch]

"I don't know, dear heart. I rather find the look endearing," was Talya's response was husky but loud enough to be heard. Still, she gave Min's brow a placating kiss to show she'd do her best not to provoke anyone to violence and one more squeeze before she finally unwound herself from Min's arms enough to accept the drink that Dimitri had so generously offered. As she stepped away from Min on light feet, there was certainly no injury to her walk but Talya was inebriated enough that obfuscating her training was one layer too many to manage. So, the few steps she took away from Min were lethal and silent rather than the exaggerated sway of her hips that usually masked decades of training.

 

"And to old friends," She accepted her cup from Dimitri and the smile she fixed on him was faintly indulgent as she was coaxed into another round. It was a brief flicker of expression, but more than sober Talya might have let slide across her features and certainly telling to those who knew her well. Her touch was light as she reached out to press her fingertips to Erik's forearm, her apology genuine as she added, well aware of how serious Erik took the safety of his family, "Dimitri is more than another old war buddy, dearest. He's, ah...." 

 

She frowned and finished her vodka instead, letting the pleasant burn chase away. Talya turned briefly towards Dimitri as if she might find help from that quarter. She sighed, and switched to the marginally easier topic, "Well, I was promised yelling in Russian and maybe some tussling." Talya said instead and then tipped her head up towards her lovers, for once shorter than them both in her bare feet, "Klara is a nigh-immortal Amazon sort and her bride is a bit younger than I am, worked at MI:6. Klara is pressuring her wife to join her in living forever and the wife had some questions, and wanted some advice. It was not a pleasant conversation but I've had worse. Dimitri's conversation, what I heard, was arguably a less pleasant one. There are few feuds like Russian feuds."

 

[April]

Min watched Talya walk away with an openly appreciative smile then accepted a cup from the Frost.  She couldn't get drunk, not unless the beverage where spiked with something other than alcohol--magic for instance--but the dryad had spent enough time among humanity over the countless millennia to understand the social aspects of drinking.

 

She tossed back her drink grimaced.  She was definitely more the beer drinking immortal.

 

"I can understand this Klara's motivation," Min said being very careful to not immediately glance at Erik.  "But Russian feuds?  They are the thing of children, you should have seen Atlantis and Lemuria."

 

"Before we wiped them out, of course," she added, taking the bottle from Dimitri and pouring herself another drink.

[Gizmo]

Erik suppressed a wince when Talya explained the topic of conversation she'd shared with the wife in question, hiding it more or less behind a sip. He was acutely aware that he was the only one there who actually looked his age and could count on continuing to do so; he wasn't sure how much that made him the child at the adult table or the terminal invalid who's condition everyone was politely refraining from commenting upon directly. Maybe it was more that he was the emotional equivalent of undetonated ordnance, set to go off at any moment and wreak havoc on those around him. He was starting to see how things had gotten to 'bad night'.

 

"Pfft, you want to talk feuds, one time I accidentally deflated Pete Carrera's soccer ball and he didn't invite me to his birthday party that year," he interjected blithely, all hint of grim thoughts absent from his voice if not his posture. "True story. So is the 'more than friends' thing like Band of Brothers or like the other kind of HBO show? 'Cause with the not-so-subtle sizing up thing, I could see it going either way." Everyone there knew exactly what he was doing as he shifted the topic and why he was doing it. Didn't make it any less effective.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Going either way, eh? Hahahah!" Frost applauded. "Very good, young fellow, you have saucy mouth on you." He took a small sip of the vodka, which in his hand was already developing internal ice crystals. "Destroyers of continents, destroyers of footballs, I am pleased to be in such exalted company." He grinned insolently at the three of them, trying to remember what HBO was. Oh yes! American television network with show about gangsters. "Talya and I go back to war days. Spring of 1942 around Leningrad, Eeenglish spy meets with Russian ice monster, beautiful friendship is formed. So tell me how you met my friend of so many years!" he said jovially to Erik and Min. "I know there was some little adventure together before Talya took excursion to dimension of gigantic Scythian women with Comrade Danger some years ago?" he asked, circling his vodka-less hand for emphasis. 

[alderwitch]

That Talya did not give an involuntary shudder was a testament to her rigorous self control. Even of her war years memories, the operations during the siege of Leningrad were especially grim. Instead, she gave Erik's question a mute look of dismay, "Mercy, no. Nothing like that t'all." Talya was quick to correct. She swirled the vodka left in her cup briefly before mutely holding it out to Min for a refill, "We were both freshly immortal in 1942. Technically, I was under the direction of the German-Austrian branch but I was diverted to run supplies into Leningrad during the thaw as it was... well. Dire."

 

Retrieving her cup she took a sip of the drink, letting it burn her throat. "I almost threw up on his boots and he's felt some odd obligation to keep an eye on me ever since." Talya explained as if that summed up their relationship and then offered with equal clarity, "Erik came to fetch me out of jail when there was a small miss-understanding."

[April]

Min's lips twisted into a half smile as she filled up Talya's cup while she gave Dimitri's question some thought.  "I knew a little about Talya before I met her," she began. "My husband would speak about her on occasion, but it was only until recently that I had the pleasure of meeting her for myself."

 

Min paused for a moment to take a drink.  "The children and I just returned from the park and as I was putting them down for a small nap my little spies," she inclined her head toward some of the plants, "informed me of our guest.  So as a proper host would, I went to meet her and make sure she was properly welcomed."

[Gizmo]

Coughing slightly as he swallowed badly, Erik interjected, "I, uh, don't think he needs any more than the broad strokes of that story, florecita." He had a strong suspicion that at least some of Dimitri's bawdy old man persona was a bit - if nothing else he'd never met any other immortals who'd managed to hold onto an accent that thick - but he also knew that Min wasn't one to spare details just because of silly little societal conventions. If he was playing at being a little more scandalized than he might have normally it at least bought him a chance to study Talya's expression for a moment. Inwardly he wished he'd payed more attention in either history or geography classes in school; he had to rely largely on context to understand her reference. Silently he promised himself to crack open a book in the near future.

 

"Our circles sort of overlapped back when we were still living in the brownstone," he spoke up instead, referring to Talya's context-free anecdote. "Danger needed somebody who could fight a guy made of energy to help Phantom and the Broodmeister to--" He cut off for a moment with a small frown. "...how many immortal people do I even know? Definitely Lynn, Stesha can come back from the dead, I'm pretty sure Steve's actually super old, Gecks regenerates so that's probably like a 50/50 shot..." He started counting off on his fingers and quickly had to move to the second hand.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Ah yes, Faretti has told me that story. He praises your arm." This was not a false statement. Inwardly, Dimitri was thinking. These people seemed cordial enough (and certainly were attractive enough for Talya) - by all accounts they could handle themselves in a fight, and seemed comfortable with the sort of social play that was necessary when dealing with immortals. If Talya was simply staying with them fr a while, he'd have had no worries. But he'd seen the look in Talya's eyes; this was not a monthly or yearly dalliance, but full of the sort of dangerous emotions that could break even an immortal's heart. Or else turn it so cold. 

 

"We greatly aged are all novel characters, yes." He topped off Erik's vodka, and Talya's too while he was at it. "And yet neither of us," he said with a little wave, including Talya, "are yet as aged as the late Madame Calment, or even some others that yet live. We are but striplings before one such as, ah, Thrude." He'd been about to say Min, but he wasn't actually drunk. "A certain change in character settles in around the middle of one's second century. For the better, I am sure!" he said with a wink Min's way. "But enough of tedious past! What are your lovely people's plans for future?"

[alderwitch]

Talya's expressions generally gave little away but she had been indulging Frost's offer of libations for a good portion of the evening and while it didn't erode years of training entirely, her control was lest iron clad than it might otherwise have been. As talk turned to Leningrad, there were shadows in her blue eyes, turning them dark. Just as subtle was the way her expression warmed when she turned to Dimitri with affection but no passion. The touch of her fingertips on Frost's parka covered arm was downright filial. 

 

"Ace is younger than us, though. He was a boy when the war started. I can't believe anyone believed his lie when he enlisted," Talya added to Frost's commentary with easy interjection. The smile she turned back to Min, though, was not likely to give Dimitri any more reassurance. As the alcohol took the edge off her inhibitions, the light in her eyes was brighter and she wound her free arm around the other woman's waist once more, "I think I have heard the theory that Erik attracts the un-aging to him. It is possible he's like immortal catnip. What do you think, dearest?"

 

Her gaze slanted over to Erik then, clearly submerging any unpleasant memories of the past in favor of the very pleasant now. There was a teasing amusement there as he started to count up the immortals, "Immortals generally enjoy excitement, you see."

[April]

Min paused, the drink halfway to her mouth before she burst out laughing.  "It certainly is possible," she said agreeing with Talya.  "Based on my own observations, first hand and third party, he is extremely pleasant to play with."  The dryad bumped her hip against Talya's and leaned in to stage-whisper into the Englishwoman's ear, "And so are you, dear heart."

 

"Some excitement I could do without," she added, making a slightly sour face.  "My experience with the Olympians was... less than pleasant."

[Gizmo]

Erik gave Dimitri a slightly skeptical look; it was hard to imagine Faretti saying anything nice. About anyone. Ever. The swordsman fairly artfully glided past the question about plans for the future but couldn't completely hide a frown when Min mentioned the Olympians. It was a particularly sore topic for his wife and if she was bringing it up it was a sure sign her mood was about to turn melancholy. He moved smoothly around the circle of conversation to flank the dryad on the other side from Talya, letting his upper arm rest against her shoulder. "Yes, yes, I'm a delectable treat," he snorted with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "That's the thing with you immortals: you think everything you do is because you're immortal. 'After a huuuuundred years of eating pizza I can finally say that I like it.' Everybody likes pizza! Everybody thinks the pizza in their hometown when they were a kid was the best!" He used his free hand to gesture even more emphatically than he might have otherwise, a ready distraction from more somber topics. "You just need to accept that I'm everybody-catnip, immortal or not."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Look at you three," said Dimitri sociably, spreading his arms and smiling warmly. "Would melt heart of man whose heart was not made of ice." He patted his chest, where Talya at least knew a truly impressive scar lay where his heart had once been. "I tell you this, such a delectable fellow deserves some chocolate." He reached into his pocket and produced the very giant-size chocolate bar he had just stolen from their upstairs and handed it off to Jack, the chocolate having frozen solid in his pocket. "Must be season for romance among American superheroes. Three of you, young associate of mine courts dark wizardess, heir to Renard Rouge has that wendigo from Canada, young godling courts young man of dreams, what a country!" He hmmed, and suddenly realized he couldn't think of a single 'regular' (as he still thought of them) couple among them - then dismissed that as simply modern life for you. "But the life has always been so. Children of people Talya and I knew in old days are grandparents themselves. Such is time, eh?" 

[alderwitch]

Talya, however, gave the chocolate a side long look as she recognized well Dimitri's 'I am harmless kindly Russian grandfather' routine. "Mitya," she said, drawing his the diminutive version of his name out in gentle chiding. The 'Be Nice'  was silent but clear in the side long look she gave him. 

 

Giving Min's waist one more squeeze in mute reassurance, she stepped forward to intercept the frozen bar of chocolate with deft fingertips. She'd rather not let whatever that particular game play out as she had no way of knowing just how solid the chocolate had gone in his pocket. "The godling he's talking about is an Egyptian, my love," she added to Min over one shoulder, "A lot of Egyptian activity of late, it seems."

[April]

"I see," Min murmured in response to Talya, but her attention was on Erik.  She knew what her husband was trying to do and she appreciated his effort, so she made an attempt to keep her mood light.

 

"I never ate pizza for a hundred years," Min offered, shifting her mind away from a painful subject.  "I don't have to eat, as you know, and until recently the idea of eating for pleasure or sharing in a communal meal was a foreign one to me."  She quirked her lips into a smile, "And no, you're not everybody catnip, you're mine and Talya's."

[Gizmo]

"I'm pretty sure you're the reason mothers tell their kids not to take candy from strange men," Erik drawled, holding up a hand to refuse the proffered chocolate even as Talya beat him to it anyway. He returned Min's small smile with a broad, lopsided grin. "I stand corrected." He tried to turn his attention back to their guest, aware that they were putting on a bit of a show; the swordsman enjoyed an audience more often than not but not for everything. Mentally rewinding a few moments to what the Russian vampire had been talking about he reviewed. Dark wizards and gods sounded about right for the sort of circles he expected Dimitri ran in but... "Wait, is there a new Renarde Rouge? Since when?" He'd played it down quite a bit with Talya for obvious reasons but Min had seen the box of dogeared paperbacks, comics and other memorabilia of the French heroine, Spitfire Jones and their contemporaries in storage at his childhood home. He was struck with the sudden hope that she wouldn't remember that some of those had featured an obviously fictionalized version of Comrade Frost himself.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes. Though she wears blue." The lost members of the Allies of Freedom were not something Dimitri joked about, and for a moment he fell silent, looking down at his fuzzy reflection in his drink. "She has had the name for some time. You must be careful, young fellow. World can change around you quick, like child becomes woman." He swirled the liquid, watching the tiny few flakes of frozen condensation floating in the alcohol. "You know, I met fellow who was goddamned clone of Human Tank last year?" he suddenly asked Talya. "Little ublyudok in Washington says it was 'previous administration', huh. And British say 'previous government' authorized it, so goddamned clone of hero walks around like no one gives damn. But you probably hear about that from Ace, hnh?"

 

He turned to Erik. "You fan of old days?" He smiled. "Go ahead! Ask anything, I tell you tales."  

[alderwitch]

"Such tales," Talya agreed dryly, shaking the chocolate bar slightly like that would thaw it faster. She folded it instead between her warm hands to help the process along, only then responding to Frost's statement on the clone. Her words were more clipped than usual as she added, "Hadn't. Ace is terrible with sharing information if it doesn't suit his current needs, damn his eyes. I know we all agreed to die for our countries but I never really fathomed just how far that would get bent out of all recognition. D'you want me to do some digging?"

 

Talya turned towards Min then to elaborate, as she was well aware - even if it wasn't discussed - that Erik was familiar with the Allies of Freedom and she wasn't as confident that the dryad knew her old teammates, "Hank - the Human Tank - was on Allies of Freedom with us. Died during the war, I'm afraid. But that was ages ago."