[ She hums softly at that. She knew they engaged in magic but not the extent. Her only brush with the Volkkran shamans had been when she engaged in that Pact with Steve Rogers — back then, it had seemed harmless, something that could only help rather than hinder (if it worked at all). And it's proven itself now; she's recovered from injuries in a few short weeks when it would have taken months, thanks to her link to Steve and his supersoldier healing. But the more she learns about the people behind that bond, the less she's inclined to mention it.
Especially here in Olympia. ]
Similar to the people working at the Institute up here, then. They have a potions division right alongside robotics, I wouldn't be surprised if they're dabbling in the — mystic arts, for lack of a better word. [ She pauses. ] I saw you not long after the rescue operations. Your injuries were from the shamans?
Yeah. [ A beat. ] Well-- my arm was the worst of it, and that happened getting another refugee on the rescue team out down the side of a tower after she'd been effectively crippled.
[ Even a tiny Final Fantasy elfgirl is not great on ye olde rotator cuff. ]
They're inventive as hell. Even with the technology deficit, they're able to pull out some deeply weird shit, like the chimeras. Effective combatants and very smart. I'd be interested to know what their training is like.
Yes, well, scaling a building can be tricky, even with both arms.
[ What, like she has experience in that? Certainly not. (unsure) ]
That makes two of us. The more I hear about Wyver, the more I feel I should simply travel south to see it all for myself. One visit in the mess of an evacuation isn't exactly ideal for soaking in the local colour. And if we're going to engage in any sort of diplomacy as members of this council, I'd rather be better prepared.
Don't dress like an Olympian, change your makeup, and wear a hat? [ It's not like they've got FaceSpacebook facial recognition software scanning everyone on the street, and there's a distinct lack of celebrity culture. ] Too bad you don't have a doppelganger. Everyone just thinks I'm Steve Trevor when I fence-hop.
I don't think I fancy the idea of having a lookalike.
[ What a nightmare. Helpful, but still. She knows how to disappear when she has to, that won't be too difficult. Not that anyone in her life is aware of how comfortable she is with that sort of thing. ]
We'll see when I can manage to get away. If anything, it may be slightly easier now that the hostilities have died down a little. [ A pause. ] Although I may have spoken too soon. But thank you for the offer, and for answering my questions. The shamans have always been something of a mystery to me and I knew asking any native Olympian would yield unsurprisingly biased results.
That's not ominous or anything. [ P e g g y. ] If I ask you what's with the very specific questions, which I have graciously answered and would regardless, will you tell me or is it topic change time?
[ His casual tone is sincere; this isn't an interrogation, and he's not annoyed. ]
I'm trying to get a better grasp of who's running things in either city, officials aside.
[ Not... a lie. Really. But changing the topic outright would be too telling. ]
It's no secret that the Institute is engaging in some unsavoury activities behind closed doors and I figured the shamans in Wyver would be their closest equivalent. And you're just as curious as I am about these things — I don't think anyone else I could have asked would have answered with the same level of detail.
[ It's not the first time she's done that - say something indicative of having information about future events. Though the last time she told him deliberately, and a little more obviously shifted away when he pressed. So Jim decides to roll with the appearance of letting it go, because he'd rather she continue to speak to him. Mysterious information is better than no information. He's a flexible guy. ]
The Institute employs a bunch of refugees over there, though, doesn't it? I've heard that a couple refugees do work up at the Altar, but I've never caught anyone in a robe passing out mutant juice.
[ She's reading the room, Jim. "The room" being... this entire damn mess. If something goes south, she'd rather her friends were ahead of it, and she's working to ensure that — even if it means dipping her toes into some murky, murky waters. ]
Let me know if you do. They're bound to know more about that place than any of us on the outside. [ Then - ] The Institute was one of the first places to offer positions to the new arrivals, along with the Sanctuary and the Guard. And all three places were guilty of holding people captive — whether the people working there were aware of it or not, I can't say. But it doesn't bode well for the bastions of Olympian and Wyvern society to be tangled up in that sort of thing.
Huh. In Wyver, they were all taken to remote locations. None in any kind of institution.
[ An interesting cultural note to reflect on, perhaps, that the terrorists felt they could successfully hide among everyone in Olympia, but not Wyver. ]
If that happens again, one of the kids with the giant robots is going to flatten half a city, probably.
[ There are two things she'd like to unpack in what he's just said, but the first takes priority over the mention of giant robots. For now. ]
Yes, in my time here, most incidents seem to happen within Olympia's walls. My patrol route takes me to the outskirts and that's often where I am when something happens inside.
[ You can imagine her frustration in being helpless to stop most things. ]
Not precisely the picture-perfect society touted in the Natha's brochures, is it? If it wasn't for the weather, I'd say I'd almost prefer Wyver for how cut and dried it seems to be in most proceedings.
Then again, a government unwilling to engage in total transparency with its citizens is nothing new. I knew Olympia felt familiar but that's a little too close to home.
[ Though he thinks of Dutch, from a world with tech like his, who lives in space like he does, living in Wyver and saying it's because Olympia isn't free. Maybe all revolutions start with peasants. ]
That's always the way, with government. Even the Federation's had ups and downs.
In my time, countries have their hands full and many can't quite manage. With more than one planet under its jurisdiction, I can only imagine how your Federation must operate.
Most planets out there aren't anywhere near as population-dense as Earth was in the twenty-first century.
[ ... Earth included. ]
And most humans are split up between Earth, Luna, deep space, a few other colonies. Living as offworlders on other planets. It helps that everyone's deeply committed to making it work. War with other planets, with self-styled empires, is beyond nightmarish. Nobody wants it.
[ EXCEPT KLINGONS, like, calm down, m8. Anyway. ]
I have to hope most of the people of these cities don't want war. They have families, futures.
[ Twentieth, she thinks idly, but doesn't bother correcting. What are centuries, really? But she sounds about as old as one when she says, ]
War is rarely a unanimous decision, nor one made lightly.
[ She thinks of America's reluctance to enter the war in Europe until they were forced by Pearl Harbour. She thinks of how they never meant for it to happen again, how the Great War was meant to be the war to end all wars, but then Germany took to marching on her neighbours and they ignored it until they couldn't.
No. Not everyone wants war. But war has so many factors beyond their control, no matter how hard they try. ]
[ He meant 21st, because it's going to peak, then expand and peak again, and play a huge role in the Eugenics Wars and the following nuclear holocaust of the planet. But uh. That's a story for another day; offhand habit, referring to that century. ]
And sometimes it's an inevitability. [ Agreement. Jim is not ignorant of war. ] But we can't treat it like that.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Especially here in Olympia. ]
Similar to the people working at the Institute up here, then. They have a potions division right alongside robotics, I wouldn't be surprised if they're dabbling in the — mystic arts, for lack of a better word. [ She pauses. ] I saw you not long after the rescue operations. Your injuries were from the shamans?
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[ Even a tiny Final Fantasy elfgirl is not great on ye olde rotator cuff. ]
They're inventive as hell. Even with the technology deficit, they're able to pull out some deeply weird shit, like the chimeras. Effective combatants and very smart. I'd be interested to know what their training is like.
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[ What, like she has experience in that? Certainly not. (unsure) ]
That makes two of us. The more I hear about Wyver, the more I feel I should simply travel south to see it all for myself. One visit in the mess of an evacuation isn't exactly ideal for soaking in the local colour. And if we're going to engage in any sort of diplomacy as members of this council, I'd rather be better prepared.
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[ Were you a ninja, Peggy? Maybe she was a ninja. Maybe that's it. ]
My door's always open if you want to make a field trip.
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I may take you up on that. But it would have to be discreet. For better or worse, I am still part of the Royal Guard.
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FaceSpacebook facial recognition software scanning everyone on the street, and there's a distinct lack of celebrity culture. ] Too bad you don't have a doppelganger. Everyone just thinks I'm Steve Trevor when I fence-hop.no subject
[ What a nightmare. Helpful, but still. She knows how to disappear when she has to, that won't be too difficult. Not that anyone in her life is aware of how comfortable she is with that sort of thing. ]
We'll see when I can manage to get away. If anything, it may be slightly easier now that the hostilities have died down a little. [ A pause. ] Although I may have spoken too soon. But thank you for the offer, and for answering my questions. The shamans have always been something of a mystery to me and I knew asking any native Olympian would yield unsurprisingly biased results.
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[ His casual tone is sincere; this isn't an interrogation, and he's not annoyed. ]
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[ Not... a lie. Really. But changing the topic outright would be too telling. ]
It's no secret that the Institute is engaging in some unsavoury activities behind closed doors and I figured the shamans in Wyver would be their closest equivalent. And you're just as curious as I am about these things — I don't think anyone else I could have asked would have answered with the same level of detail.
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The Institute employs a bunch of refugees over there, though, doesn't it? I've heard that a couple refugees do work up at the Altar, but I've never caught anyone in a robe passing out mutant juice.
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Let me know if you do. They're bound to know more about that place than any of us on the outside. [ Then - ] The Institute was one of the first places to offer positions to the new arrivals, along with the Sanctuary and the Guard. And all three places were guilty of holding people captive — whether the people working there were aware of it or not, I can't say. But it doesn't bode well for the bastions of Olympian and Wyvern society to be tangled up in that sort of thing.
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[ Hm. ]
Holding people captive - like, in the recent kidnappings, or something else?
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[ She'd get bored of a holiday but sometimes she sure would like one. ]
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[ An interesting cultural note to reflect on, perhaps, that the terrorists felt they could successfully hide among everyone in Olympia, but not Wyver. ]
If that happens again, one of the kids with the giant robots is going to flatten half a city, probably.
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Yes, in my time here, most incidents seem to happen within Olympia's walls. My patrol route takes me to the outskirts and that's often where I am when something happens inside.
[ You can imagine her frustration in being helpless to stop most things. ]
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[ Said in a wry tone of voice that clearly illustrates he knows she knows that. ]
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The call is coming from inside the house.]Not precisely the picture-perfect society touted in the Natha's brochures, is it? If it wasn't for the weather, I'd say I'd almost prefer Wyver for how cut and dried it seems to be in most proceedings.
Then again, a government unwilling to engage in total transparency with its citizens is nothing new. I knew Olympia felt familiar but that's a little too close to home.
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[ Though he thinks of Dutch, from a world with tech like his, who lives in space like he does, living in Wyver and saying it's because Olympia isn't free. Maybe all revolutions start with peasants. ]
That's always the way, with government. Even the Federation's had ups and downs.
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[ ... Earth included. ]
And most humans are split up between Earth, Luna, deep space, a few other colonies. Living as offworlders on other planets. It helps that everyone's deeply committed to making it work. War with other planets, with self-styled empires, is beyond nightmarish. Nobody wants it.
[ EXCEPT KLINGONS, like, calm down, m8. Anyway. ]
I have to hope most of the people of these cities don't want war. They have families, futures.
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War is rarely a unanimous decision, nor one made lightly.
[ She thinks of America's reluctance to enter the war in Europe until they were forced by Pearl Harbour. She thinks of how they never meant for it to happen again, how the Great War was meant to be the war to end all wars, but then Germany took to marching on her neighbours and they ignored it until they couldn't.
No. Not everyone wants war. But war has so many factors beyond their control, no matter how hard they try. ]
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And sometimes it's an inevitability. [ Agreement. Jim is not ignorant of war. ] But we can't treat it like that.
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Mm. [ Almost amused, if it weren't so serious. ] We would be in the wrong business if we did.
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[ Something like humor. Everyone else is opening shops and moving on with their lives. ]
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Someone has to. [ Something like humour in return. ] Although I don't think either of us thought this is what it would lead to when we started.
[ At home, she means. She joined the war effort to end the war, uphold democracy. She never once imagined it would mean doing so on another planet. ]
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