on mun's renewed inspiration

[verybritish]

Must I be subject to your nostalgic whims? We had our time together. We agreed we were done. I was happily retired from your roster.

You can't expect anyone else to indulge you in this. You said yourself, you've traded up to the latest model of "Whedon ice queen". Why bother calling in a General when you have the Cavalry?

[To be absolutely fair, it's the direction Agents of SHIELD is taking that's brought this on: the damaged genius and the memories rewritten.]

I'm the patron saint of loneliness. I make you uncomfortable. You don't miss me.

Comments

[wolfintheherd]

[As long as you don't mind if it's not the truth.]

...Go on. I'm intrigued.

[verybritish]

[She minds terribly. But the truth can be changed.]

Are you taking good care of yourself?

[In a certain light, that sounds motherly. It's just touch too remote, too impersonal for a personal question.]

[wolfintheherd]

The best.

[Look at that shiny awesome hydra suit he's wearing. Even if he looks considerably thin he exudesconfidence.]

[verybritish]

[Her mouth's still quirked in a hollow pretense of friendliness. If he exudes confidence, she exudes security. Her typist and all her little friends share their exploits around. She knows he's been speaking to one of her Actives.]

Often, we lack the ability to see ourselves clearly, and to perceive what we truly need. If you're certain you know what's best for yourself, then let me assure you, there are many people who would envy your certainty.

[There's a calm and careful rhythm to her voice, the words themselves less important than the unspoken promise of some secret knowledge. She holds the keys to a magical place.]

anybody else get chills when someone says "a magical place"

[wolfintheherd]

[That's a punch to the chest. A magical place indeed. Ward smiles. It would take a master manipulator to see that he's not feeling it. He wants Skye badly. It's one thing he will never get.

He can keep hoping. Her words hit home.]

I've wrestled with my demons.

[verybritish]

Haven't we all.

[Cut off one head and two more shall take its place. So it is with HYDRA. So it is with the Rossum Corporation. How can a person fight an evil that changes bodies as readily as other people change clothes?

She is a master manipulator, and a very good saleswoman besides. If only he knew how many times she'd given someone precisely what they never thought they'd be able to have. If only he knew how many people she'd taken in and cared for, when they could no longer care for themselves. Or, for that matter, how many damaged minds she's put back together. She didn't do it personally, no, but she ensured that it was done.]

I'm in the business of fulfilling needs. It's easier to do that when my clients are honest... If not with me, then with themselves.

Ward as a Doll AU. Oh man the thing I did not know I needed.

[wolfintheherd]

I don't need anything.

[That's not true. He wraps a hand around his wrist, folding his hands in front of him.]

Thank you.

it can be arranged. doll coulson and handler may is a thing.

[verybritish]

[Her head cants, gaze dropping only briefly to the level of his hands. She isn't smiling anymore.]

I thought you'd be a better liar.

[wolfintheherd]

[That's cold.]

...I haven't told a single lie in our conversation.

[verybritish]

[Don't mistake her for the other middle-aged woman in the typist's thrall. She is not a protective, self-sacrificing force of nature, and she wouldn't look half as appealing in leather. Adelle is colder than Melinda. The ice in her veins has been there longer, and the world will literally end before it thaws.

She thinks he's in desperate need of a tried and true DeWitticism.]

Sometimes the people who most need to reach out are the people least capable of it.

[wolfintheherd]

...So what do you suggest.

[His voice is thin. Strained, but he'll smile as wide as he can.]

[verybritish]

Tea.

[Without missing a beat:]

And a mutually beneficial proposition.

[wolfintheherd]

[He settles in, folding his hands. There's silence.]

I like tea.

[verybritish]

[There's a certain degree of ceremony to it, when she rings for tea. The tranquility of the room, the jade tea set. Her style of pouring. His cup first, unhurried. It's an elegantly refined ritual and it's objectively horrifying to consider how many times she's done it before.]

Tell me something about yourself. Anything you like.

[It doesn't sound like a lead-in to the offer she's going to present, but she also doesn't seem like the type to make idle conversation.]

[wolfintheherd]

I have very little patience for people who lie to me anymore.

[Or for comfort, or for trust. He watches those movements. Calm and poised. assured.]

I like board games.

[verybritish]

Thank you.

[He's got a prodigious capacity for violence. The typist opines that he's a killer and a pyromaniac, and she's learned the hard way that certain tendencies don't scrub out. He might be an unconscionable risk. On the other hand, look at those cheekbones.]

I am not here to lie to you. No one in my house lies. In fact, they're utterly incapable of it.

I want to make things simple for you, Agent Ward. I want you to have a less complicated life. I want to lift any burden of responsibility you might feel, and remove any conflict or uncertainty. I want you to help me to help others; to fulfill needs, as I said.

If you accept my offer, you and I will agree upon a time in the future. On that day, everything I took from you, I would give back. As a parting gift, you could tell me what it is about yourself that you want to keep, and what you want to change. That would be one way I could compensate you for the time you spent with us.

You know that all of this is scientifically possible.

[She's showing no signs of dishonesty. She believes her own spiel, thoroughly and without reservation. Her very sincerity is part of what makes her so manipulative.]

Have I lied?

[wolfintheherd]

[There's only so far that someone can take this kind of thing. Not what she's saying, but what he is, what he's offered. It sounds too good to be true.

It sounds like, truthfully - what they did to Bucky Barnes.

but didn't he envy him? People will lie to you and betray you And his mind whispered to himself John Garrett.

That's just it. The heart of all of his betrayals go back to John and his mother. The hurt and heartache of it all. He trusted, but they lied.

She's not lying.]

No.

[It's not forever.] You're talking about a rest. A vacation.

[verybritish]

[She tucks one ankle behind the other, primly sipping her tea. A sophisticated woman in a silk blouse and camisole and a pencil skirt. On her, it looks like tactical gear. She makes it seem bulletproof. She's no less a natural leader than the superior officers he'd had before. She did call herself a general.]

Yes. [This would be an inconvenient time for him to remember that Tahiti masqueraded in Coulson's mind as a vacation.]

Just like going to sleep and waking up. You would not be aware of the passage of time. You wouldn't dream. You'll rest completely.

[wolfintheherd]

[Resting.

The thought makes his shoulders hunch. There's a degree of anxiety leaving his body. She can probably see it.]

...It sounds too good to be true. But you believe in it.

[verybritish]

I do believe in it.

[And there's a high price to that delusion. But where she's headed, where this ends for her, isn't ever a consideration while the mundane is playing at recruitment scenarios and helping to substantiate other people's Dollhouse AUs.

This time, when she smiles, it's more believably benign.

She'll refill his tea if it gets low. A small gesture, easy to read. Take your time. She's not busy.]

[wolfintheherd]

[There's another sip. Thoughtful. Just a vacation right? That's what she said.]

And after a period of time I'd get my memories back?

[He could deserve that. come back stronger. Better able to keep Skye safe.]

[verybritish]

Of course. It would be criminal otherwise. [It's criminal regardless. In the interests of being as truthful as she assured him she would be, she amends the remark:] Morally reprehensible.

We function with some integrity.

[Her charges, her word. It isn't in the script, and yet she winds up promising them all.]

You'd be no worse off. I promise.

[wolfintheherd]

[he studies the table before nodding slowly] what do I have to do?

[verybritish]

[Someone makes provisions for such eventualities.

She slides a contract across the table, with a pen on top, right to the spot he's been staring at.]

You sign. And then, very little else.

How long would you like to stay?

[He's welcome to ask what's typical. The pertinent section of his contract is blank for now.]

[wolfintheherd]

How long do most people stay?

[Just a vacation. He can handle that. Besides she believes in it and maybe...

Does he want to get shut down?

It's hard to think for yourself At his current canon point.]