On Agents of SHIELD ep 4.

[sonofcoul]

All right, I know you get increasingly curious the longer you are unaware of some details. But patience is never a bad thing to cultivate. And it's not doing you any active harm, because what you're most eager for, I have no idea about, so it's not likely to affect anything on that front until you do know.

Besides, you know how these things work by this point. Odds are that even if you try speculating, you'll still end up surprised.

So just be patient and work with what you do know. The rest will come in time.

Comments

[busdriver]

Right there with you.

It's becoming a pattern.

[A pattern of being right there with him, that is, not their mutual circumstantial ignorance of the matters that should concern them most of all.]

[sonofcoul]

It's certainly not a pattern I dislike.

[busdriver]

Corny.

[The accusation's not unkind.]

This one's a regular Ward —

[She realises he might not follow that mild complaint, since he might not have chanced to overhear Agent Ward prying.]

— has some curiosity, some theories about Bahrain.

[She thinks (on that front at least) they'd both be happier not to know the truth. The mundane feels more urgency with May's mystery, more fascination with Coulson's.

This is somehow meant to make him feel better, sympathized with.]

[sonofcoul]

I could be worse.

[Ignorance was bliss, so they say, but sometimes what makes you happiest isn't necessarily what was best for you.

The mundane in this case has been finding it paradoxically more difficult not to beg for more information now that it's pretty much definitely going to arrive anyway.]

The curiosity's pretty much impossible to get rid of entirely. It's just managing to temper it that's the trick.

[busdriver]

How?

[Can't be taciturn around the clock, so here's some playfulness.

The other topic is sobering, reigns her back in for better or worse.]

We're not allowed to "pull a Shepherd Book", whatever that means. That's what she's insisting. Twenty-two episodes, no excuses.

[sonofcoul]

Could be making puns.

They've said they'll draw out the mysteries, but not too long. She's clinging to that quote like a lifeline.

... Although I really wouldn't mind tie-in comics.

[busdriver]

[Please don't ought to be conveyed by her quirked brow on an otherwise flat expression. No one needs puns. Legitimate form of torture in some countries.]

If I ever get done resolving my own damage, I'm going to see right through you.

[She can't guarantee that at all. Up until now, it's been too easy to assume that he's different in the same way she is, reshaped by experience. When it does nothing else to hinder her, it narrows her perceptions. She's not promised that a reveal will mean a resolution, but let's not start in with that. It's their duty to pretend that abrupt, unfair twists aren't coming, even though experience dictates—]

To fill in gaps, show the other side of the story. Not for something pivotal.

[She's close to asking about his feelings.]

[sonofcoul]

Not entirely sure you can't see right through me anyway.

[Reveal and resolution are certainly very different things. And there is absolutely no way they won't be separated. Alas.]

But I agree. Pivotal points are for the main story. ... I just like the idea of tie-in comics.

[busdriver]

Mhm.

[There are just so many ways to watch a person's back, and so very many potentially-layered reasons to do it.

Of course. It would be a disservice to his character in particular, and this build-up, if things were any simpler.]

You like the idea of comics. [She can't resist,] Trading cards.

[sonofcoul]

What can I say? I'm an enthusiast.

[busdriver]

You are.

[They might get the works: comics, merchandise, collectibles of their very own. She pictures it with unbidden clarity. A part of her wonders whether Steve Rogers will be out there somewhere, carrying a deck of Phil Coulson trading cards around. A remembrance. It's a thought to regret as soon as it forms.

She averts her gaze.

Not a second later, she's looking impatient with him again.]

[sonofcoul]

[If he considers that particular possibility too long, it will probably make his brain turn inside out, so he tends to avoid it.

He looks vaguely amused.]

Now what?

[busdriver]

We're having a casual chat.

[She makes it sound like she didn't choose it, like it was a baited trap he set out that she fell into.]

[sonofcoul]

Those do have a tendency to pop up here and there.

[busdriver]

More often than some people would like.

[sonofcoul]

How about if I promise to keep them to a minimum in the future?

[busdriver]

I'll believe it when I don't hear it.

[sonofcoul]

I'm sure I'll be fine relying on Ward's impeccable conversational skills.

[busdriver]

You're not that reliant on anyone.

[Oops, suddenly sounds more encompassing than who'll talk to him.]

[sonofcoul]

I'm not sure I'd go that far. But then, I've also never seen relying on others as a weakness.

[busdriver]

I know.

[What she means — the absolute least of what she means — is that it would've been hard not to notice, during their last mission in particular.]

[sonofcoul]

Probably pretty hard to miss that one.

[busdriver]

No. It took all my years of experience, taxed my intelligence.

... I might be unfit for this job.

[sonofcoul]

Oh, clearly.

[busdriver]

Guess I'm out.

I'll be in Tahiti, so I know you won't visit.

[Nothing harsher couched in this remark than her impression that he's done with the place.]

[sonofcoul]

It's a magical place.

[The reply comes easily.]

[busdriver]

How do you pack for that?

[She only has one swimsuit.]

[sonofcoul]

Warm weather clothes and some good books.

[busdriver]

[Malta provided some evidence that his warm weather clothes are the same cut of suit in a more breathable fabric.

She'll just nod confirmation.]

[sonofcoul]

Of course, I didn't really do my own packing for that particular vacation. But that's what I ended up with, and it worked out all right.

[busdriver]

It's still working out. We'll see about "all right."

I wouldn't recommend another vacation.

[sonofcoul]

Fair enough.

And vacations and I aren't really the best of friends.

[busdriver]

I get that. You saw my idea of retirement.

[On a more contemporary note:]

How do you not speak Canto?

[sonofcoul]

Just not one of the languages I managed to pick up. I can get by in Mandarin if I need to, but unfortunately I'm not quite a complete world language lexicon.

[busdriver]

This explains why you're so patient with my tones.

I'm still counting on you to do most of the talking.

[sonofcoul]

That's fine. I'm a talkative guy.

[busdriver]

Hadn't noticed.

[sonofcoul]

Of course you haven't.

[busdriver]

[She's patiently waiting for a "good talk", or the equivalent exit line, but it's companionable silence this time.]

[sonofcoul]

And I have a feeling that's my cue.

[busdriver]

[He's a very smart man.]

[chickfury]

Perhaps not asking questions you're not ready for the answers for is the best possible strategy.

[sonofcoul]

I think when someone comes up with a question, it's hard for them to judge whether or not they're ready for the answer. So it makes following that advice a bit difficult.