12147/Still no Proper Tea

Still no Proper Tea
Date of Scene:	09 September 2020
Location:	Food Court, The Triskelion
Synopsis:	Peggy and Skye meet for the first time. They exchange some secrets and some uncomfortable truths.
Cast of Characters:	Peggy Carter, Quake

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Peggy Carter has posed:
Maybe it was the lack adjusting the kettle to her exact temperature. Maybe Peggy simply didn't like the tea company from which SHIELD ordered. Or, more likely, Peg was just not accustomed to *truly good tea*. State of the art stuff. She was used to her shipped in tins from the UK and her old office's kettle and so many other things. So, after giving up on another mug of food court tea, Peg now stands slightly bleary eyed in the coffee area, pouring herself a cardboard cup of the stuff with a less than thrilled look on her face.

Quake has posed:
One coffee, with cream. Two candy bars. One laptop. Two cellphones. Dead to the world. At least she was out and about (so to speak). Yep, Skye is lost to her own little world, complete with a frowny face.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"...I don't know how you lot drink this stuff every day." Peggy mutters to Skye as she slips over, coffee in hand, looking for a touch of company and, maybe, a little bit of commiseration. She then tilts her head, the old spy a little too curious about just what is getting a frown out of the woman like that. "...Agent Johnson, is all...Well?"

Quake has posed:
"Fuck.. something isn't right." The coffee (cold) is almost brought to her lips before she recognizes someone sitting across from her. "Oh..uhm, yes. Skye. And you're Peggy. Peggy Carter. How much longer are you a 'guest'. Must be difficult getting used to it." She grins a lopsided grins

Peggy Carter has posed:
The older woman, neatly crosses her legs beneath the pencil skirt she's chosen to wear today. At least Peggy isn't dressing like it's 1976 any more (that initial suit had been HORRIFIC), but she's definitely not caught up to the 'jeans and button down' trend that seems to dominate a lot of business casual. She's a woman who still manages to look like she stepped out of the more fashionable section of ModCloth. "Yes, but just...Peggy is fine." She admits in her clipped, British tone. "...And I got your name correct, yes? Skye Johnson? I do suppose neither of us are *actively* on duty right now, though you are making a face as such."

A slight shrug comes to the guest comment, "I've been allowed...base access, like a rookie agent. I suppose that counts as back on duty, if still not quite trusted."

Quake has posed:
"Nobody talks to me with my last name. Skye will do, unless we're at a serious meeting." Skye grins. "Unless you want to be called Ms. Carter."

"Ah, don't worry about it. My access isn't limited to my badge. But then again I'm special." She makes a quote around her head. "When you are ready, Fury will see to you. But you're ok?"

Peggy Carter has posed:
In truth, Peggy had heard a bit more about Skye from the agent rumor mill than what meager files she's been given access to. The woman's commentary only seems to confirm as such. A curious, quiet smile crosses the Brit's matte red lips though she tries to hide it slightly behind a sip of that awful coffee. "Mm... that is what they say about you. Though no one's put it in writing that I get to see. If you want something in a computer...*You* are the person. Period, dot. And no, Peggy is... quite alright, Skye."

Quake has posed:
Skye nods. "Before I was in SHIELD, I was a different person. When I was online I was Darksky. Still am occasionally, but my name is out there as one of those to watch out for. When I decided to stay here, I chose my name Skye. Actually my parents named me Daisy. I haven't been Daisy for a long time now."

Holding her cup of coffee, "Would you like to ask me more? It is hard fitting in here. I remember. I was given the choice between SHIELD , or prison. For a long time I was angry. Believe me, I remember."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Ever so quietly, Peggy's head tilts. The interest in her dark eyes for the rather frank woman across from her as certainly deepened. She finally gives up on her coffee, setting it down carefully away from the computer -- delicate machinery, all of it, she knows that much. A slightly awkward smile comes towards the computer. "I'll admit I am still...growing accustomed to the things. They are beyond more powerful than even Howard or I dreamt back ...the last time I was active."

But it's Skye that is far more interesting than the computer. Even if Peggy's smile slightly sours at the SHIELD or prison decision. "...That's a...choice you have most rights to be angry at. I cannot say I know what was going through Fury's head when he made it, but...I never considered SHIELD service something that should be indentured servitude. You... aren't still angry?"

Quake has posed:
"May was gonna let me go. No handcuffs. No SHIELD in my mirror. Just, gone." Skye remembered that day. Up on the rooftop, she was crying, and then May told her she was free. Only then did she realize she didn't want to go. "I stayed. It wasn't SHIELD I was against, it was the whole thing, when I had no choice. Fury smiled when I came done. We never talked about it, but we had an understanding."

Skye was very fond of Fury, that is certain. And he in return for Skye.

"But yeah, I'm the resident guru on the computers." She laughs. "My first year here nobody thought I was more than the person they would get their passwords off of."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Well, it sounds as if May has her head screwed on properly, at least. I know SHIELD... seems... sometimes *is*, everyone's uncomfortable big brother. But I hope that we've instilled morals in our agents as much as... capabilities. Fury was always reliable to be unreliably doing the right thing and there when you utterly needed him. It does not seem much has changed." Peggy gives a bittersweet, quiet smile, dark eyes caught in nostalgia for a moment she generally doesn't let herself feel. Subconsciously, her thumb toys against the wedding ring set she's yet to remove.

"I'm glad you're here to...Guru. I suppose you will be the one I bother when I don't quite feel like figuring the damn things out."

Quake has posed:
"Not you too!" Skye laughs. "I'll help you as a friend, but really, SHIELD has plenty of people to walk you through your mistakes. Really, my specialty is breaking in." She pauses, head cocked to one side. "You haven't heard, have you? No, I guess not. I've changed. Very few know about it. Fury has put me on special classification for the time being."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Peg slightly rolls her eyes to the ceiling, "No, no... I shan't bother you about the small things. I know I need to learn all this mess anyway, and the internet is a valuable tool, but I am also certain that's what SHIELD has analysists for." Peg didn't do data analysis back when she was director, she didn't expect to start it now!

However, the fact that there is something else, something more personal, that draws the older agent's curiosity. A slender brow arches, head cocked to one side. "...No. They are keeping sensitive matters rather off my desk for the moment..."

Quake has posed:
Skye did use analysis *sometimes*, but really that was job specific. When she wasn't on a job, she played around this and that, depending what was up in the air that day.

"You know what? I'm gonna trust you. Put your coffee down in the middle of the table. And watch."

Which Peggy has put a coffee down, Skye begins to work on it. At first you might miss it, but as she goes on the liquid begins to ripple, and then begins to splash out of the cup.

Then stops.

Skye waits patiently.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Well, it felt nice to be trusted, at least. Peggy studied the woman a bit deeper but gave a single dip of her head, a motion of both respect and gratitude, as Skye mentioned she'd trust Peggy. She then sets the overdone coffee down onto the table. "I...appreciate the honesty."

Then she's studying the coffee instead of woman. A slow arch comes to her brow, barely seeing the ripples at first, but then it's quite obvious as the black stuff sloughs over the side. She blinks. "...Telekinesis?" She asks, softer than before. Words meant for just their ears.

Quake has posed:
Skye shakes her head. "No, I have powers over anything that vibrates. It's taken me quite a long time to perfect. Larger vibrations are easier. Who knew."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"...Anything that vibrates. Don't... cellular structures slightly vibrate, even? Fascinating. I imagine they would be... far harder, considering they cannot be scene. But...Fascinating." Peggy's mind is clearly alight with far too many calculations. Once a director, always a director. It's hard to not think of how people would be useful in the field.

Quake has posed:
"I've never tried it. Who knows." Skye frowns. Interesting. "But I've had enough practice with just about everything else. If it vibrates, probably. Air, for example, vibrates." She shows Peggy that once may have been the avant garde of Skye, was actually a bit of protection. "To hold it in until I release it. Jemma was responsible for this."

Peggy Carter has posed:
The older agent takes it all in, dark eyes lost in thought, a thousand more things on her mind than she's actually voicing. Peggy stares across the woman's hands and wrists, considering the focus of it all. "Good on Jemma. I... don't imagine it was easy to figure how to focus. How did you...come into it all? If you do not mind my asking. I know we were aware of mutants and finding several of those, the last I was involved in matters..." She's still being very careful to keep her voice just for them.

Quake has posed:
"I'm not a mutant." Even in that she was 'unusual'. "I'm an inhuman. It's sorta different. We were born without half the gene pool which completes us. I was kidnapped and forced to undergo this. I'm ok now, but when it was new.." She shakes her head. Not a pretty time.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Inhuman." Peggy tastes the name on her lips, making a mental note to do far more study on it. So much she's missed. She grimances slightly at the thought of it all, "I can't say I'm pleased at how you... were recruited by SHIELD. But, if there is a good place to be when something...abnormal like this happens? SHIELD Is probably it. I hope they took care of you."

Quake has posed:
"Well, actually they saved me. All my life they kept me free of Hydra. When I was brought to SHIELD, they couldn't tell me everything. I found out later. Unfortunately I was captured by Hydra. We didn't have all the ingredients to bring on the change. Kyle did."

Peggy Carter has posed:
The moment the name HYDRA is mentioned, Peggy's jaw tightens slightly. Skye has probably seen hate before. The flicker of it now, through her eyes, is very present. Even if it's just a moment and then snuffed by her proper British stiffness, it's there. "...Then SHIELD did it's job, even if it failed, in the end... HYDRA. After all this...bloody time, still here. Still..." She picks up that coffee again. Better to drink bitterness than to speak it.

Quake has posed:
"Trust me, you are not the only one who hates them. They.. well, I've made my peace. I am who I am. But if they had gotten me when I was younger, I would be part of them. Or dead." Skye shakes her head. "At least SHIELD would have had the decision be mine."

Sigh.

"What is your beef with them?"

Peggy Carter has posed:
The question gets a slightly longer look from her and, probably for the first time really in this conversation, Peggy looks her age. It's a weight behind her eyes, nearly 100 years of exhaustion and war, even if she only wears 30 some of them on her face. Her jaw tightens just a bit more, but she doesn't push Skye off. She just has to swallow back emotions to answer more professionally than the initial temptation.

"Guess...SHIELD hasn't told either of us much anything about the other. I spent nearly all my life fighting HYDRA, including most of my service during the second world war. I lost... a few key battles with the higher ups in the 60s... and it meant, apparently, they are still around. HYDRA took almost...everything from me. Bucky. Steve. Half the Howling Commandos... many of my best Agents when SHIELD started..."

Quake has posed:
"No. Usually we are invited to learn about the other when they are ready to be heard." Skye shrugs. "If you're not ready, you're not. No biggie." She doesn't add corollary: then you're not ready to work with SHIELD. To a degree. After all, secrets are secrets

Peggy Carter has posed:
A bittersweet, earnest smile crosses her features as she takes in words, spoken and unspoken. Peggy is still pretty damn good at reading between the lines. "Skye... I helped found this entire strange, wonderful... dangerous monolinth. I'm not going anywhere." And with that, she stands up, finishing up her coffee. "It was...lovely meeting you. We'll have to do it again soon..." But she needs more coffee, or preferably tea, and to clear her head.