Vacation Day (for Myra)

[evillurks]

The appointment has been set for very early in the morning, a reminder that he keeps all hours, not just the late ones. The coordinates he's sent Myra land her somewhere that the very first and overwhelming impression is one of fog. In her day and age, only a daring pilot would dream of taking off in it, but this is a modern airport with a very small, if often unmanned control tower, from which it's already clear this is simply a low-lying and temporary blanket of mist that will burn off quickly once the sun is truly up. Already a watery light is filtering through.
The building at her back is a shabby hangar, and is no different from any she's seen in her own time, if just a little more weathered. On a private airfield, not much changes but the planes.

The Shadow, dressed in a button-down shirt, light jacket, and jeans, is holding two thermoses. It should be easy to guess the contents, but he looks fairly alert already. "Morning." He has either slept a little better, or is simply covering for it well. Possibly there is some combination of the two.

Comments

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

He laughs softly, a slightly hollow sound, but it still rings against the rocks. It's that damned radio show, spreading around the mantra. "I've channeled my darker impulses to a good purpose, but knowing as much as you do about what I do, you can't possibly think I'm of a normal bent of mind."

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"No, I wouldn't call you normal, but it's not something I think of negatively. It's what makes you so good at what you do. To beat the worst crime has to offer, we have to know them intimately to get that one step ahead." Myra shifts, letting one leg stretch while keeping the other tucked close. "Some people are just far more effective at it. With all the demons in human form this worlds has to offer, someone who can give it right back at them has to face them. The people here don't know how lucky they are to have you."

Myra closed her eyes, turning her chin up towards the sun and letting out a sigh. She made a mental note to find an appropriate way to express her appreciation to her own Shadow somehow when she returned home.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow sits quietly through this flattery, impassive but gradually relaxing. While he cannot afford an inflated ego, it's nice to have it fed every now and again.
"My psychological abnormalities do make me perfectly suited to what I do. I suppose I've shaped the role around myself, but it's..." He hesitates, finding a number of ways to word his frustration, but few he wants to say aloud. "It has its drawbacks. There are moments I wish I didn't walk such a fine line."

After a moment of watching her enjoy the sun, he carefully eases himself back, lying at full length on the warm rock and letting the heat seep up through his bones. Relaxing seems to take so much conscious effort.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"I think anyone in this line of work experiences that at some point." Myra speaks through a breath, her eyes still closed. "That sort of moment is a good sign, though." She opened one eye and gave a gentle smile at The Shadow. "It means you recognize the line you're walking. It's when you can't see it, that you're in trouble."

She can only speak from her limited experience, but her recent adventure in the alternate universe caused her to severely question herself. Now she's more certain of her choices than before.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

He arches an eyebrow at her, then lets his eyes drift closed. "I see it almost all the time. What does that mean?" It's hard to gauge, from his tone, whether or not this is intended as a merely rhetorical question. It's possible he's unsure, himself.
"Your point is noted, although if I ever do fall off the tightrope it's unlikely I'll be aware of it until it's too late." He's fairly certain anyone in the vicinity at the time will have no doubts, but that will be more their problem than his.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Myra raises her eyebrows at The Shadow, more from the lack of a reply on her part than anything else. She moved her backpack out from behind her and laid flat on the rock, staring at the blue sky through slitted eyes.

"I think," she began in her native Chinese, "that a tiger does not change his stripes so easily, even though he becomes more fierce with age. But that's just me."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

It is unconscious habit to slip into the same tongue when he hears another. "The proverbs are all very nice, but in reality, it is usually an old tiger that may turn to a man-eater." This is usually because they are lame, which he clearly is not, but he worries about the possible injury to his mind. The attack from his alternate has rattled him in ways he doesn't know how to speak openly about.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Myra drops her head onto the rock gently and completely closes her eyes. The Shadow seems to be rebutting everything she tries to offer, and she realizes, she's pushed further with him than she would normally dare. So far he's remained good natured about it all, if a bit pessimistic, and she recognizes that whatever is eating at him, she'll have little effect. She doesn't want to continue this 'game' of sorts to the point that she becomes annoying.

Even though her eyes are closed, she concentrates on the sounds around her, and finds The Shadow almost unnervingly difficult to hear, even as he sits nearby.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

Still forcing himself to calm, The Shadow is breathing so slowly and evenly that it is nearly silent, and certainly drowned out by birdsong and rustling leaves. For long minutes he says nothing further, until it seems he may have fallen asleep, then his voice comes so quietly it is like a whisper by her ear. He has not moved, nor opened his eyes, should she turn to look.
"The world I live in now, this world, has changed in ways I can't bear to explain to you. I've adapted my methods, tried to move with the times, but more and more I find myself involved in crimes I have no way to fight. He fixed that, by changing the world. He was successful, in that respect, and I find myself..." He pauses, then hisses the world softly with venom, "Jealous."

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

At the sound of his voice, Myra opens her eyes, but simply watches a wayward cloud passing overhead as his whisper reaches her. She feels a small pit open in her stomach as she hinges on his words and is finally enlightened, in part, to the issue. Carefully she sits up, the shuffling of her cloths almost too loud as she looks over at his form that appears almost calm and meditative. Now though, she can see that behind the repose and the reflection, there is far more.

Myra has no form of reference to this world besides the one she's visited, and she can hardly fathom a place where even the Shadow struggles to fight against crime.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

Stretched out and hands resting limply on his stomach, only the mildest of frowns betrays his mental state. The sounds of her movement are enough for him to form an accurate picture of it. "Society has changed in ways that push people... children, to criminal activity. I didn't see it coming, and I don't know how to turn the tide." What he calls children are more properly teenagers and young adults, and one can only hope she'll realize that's what he means.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"Children?" She's not incredulous, but there's still some disbelif in her voice. Then she recalls him having called the younger super heroes in the Nexus 'children'. She's also reminded of the young man that tried to kill her back in the alternate world. That's not to mention all of the young men that worked for her under 'Khan's' employ. "Like back in Ming's world?"

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

Lost in his own thoughts, it takes him a moment to comprehend the clarification she's asking for. "Teenagers, then. Yes. Very much like that, only they're dealing drugs. And oh, the drugs they make these days..." Suddenly unable to maintain his calm repose, The Shadow opens his eyes and sits up again, wincing when he uses his left arm.
"Nevermind, it's not your fight..."

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"At least, not yet." She frowns as he winces, chastising herself for rushing into this trip. Even though they've both needed it, he was shot, and a couple days is hardly enough to time to start healing. Myra thinks about his words though as she sits across the rock from him, legs crossed and back straight.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

It is not the wounds of the body he worries about, but it's a rare thing indeed for him to have his mind invaded on such a level. What she has experienced under Khan's power before, he has not.
Her comment makes him wince, as it brings to mind that his own Myra did not live to see things as they are today. "No... not yet. Perhaps not ever. If... I can find a way to prevent-" He cuts himself off. "But that's not the right answer, is it. I know better than to try to change history in your world, but the temptation is there."

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps not directly, but I recall a certain someone saying that they prefer to take every advantage that the Nexus can provide them..." Myra takes a breath and rolls her shoulders. "It won't be a matter of prevention, but...your mentoring and insight would be invaluable. Where one Shadow attained his goals through crime, perhaps we can help another succeed through justice."

She's uncertain how she'd help The Shadow in his own world, and considers the fact that she is completely unprepared for whatever he faces.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"He wouldn't thank me for it, but I wish I could trade places with The Shadow of your world..." He takes a slow breath that narrowly escapes being a sigh. Things seemed so much easier, in that time. Or at least they do in retrospect. "There's no guarantee your world is that close a parallel of mine, but... there's so much I see ahead for you, and it's ugly business..." It is almost painful for him to restrain himself from the thousandfold warnings in his heart. It's against his instincts not to do all he can to protect and fight the crimes against humanity he knows are yet to come.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"We'll have a guardian Shadow to help us along though. We'll do what we can. I don't expect a utopia, but we can make the best of the situation we've had handed to us." Myra stretched her hands over her head. "I don't know how he'll react to the idea, but I'm willing to do this to help improve things. If I need to leave the Bureau to become a full-time agent for either, or both of you, I'll do it." She means it too, even though there is hesitation in her mind about taking such a radical action. The Bureau provides her with an inside ear to the government, and she'd loose her value to her own Shadow on that front if she left. If she can stay and work for all three, that would be her preferred avenue.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

His hands make the slightest of twitches, a quickly aborted movement of agitation. "You'd... best to talk to him, first, but if I have to meet him face to face, so be it. If I can't fix my own world, I'd still like to do good for yours." He watches her face, his expression impassive but his eyes desperately hopeful. He does not intend to pull her away from her work there, but to aid her. The greatest danger in such a project may be the risk of neglecting his own work, and at the very best he'll be stretching himself thin. On the other hand it may ease his mind enough to be worth those dangers. She does not know how privately desperate he is.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't go ahead with this without his assent. I just wish there were a way I could reciprocate your help, if he agrees to the arrangement. Heaven knows, you've put in the time and blood tenfold." And then some, if his arms were any vague indication.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"So will he, over the years." The Shadow settles back, flowing into a more relaxed and meditative position. "It would ease my mind just to see your world start down a brighter path. That's the kind of legacy I'd rather leave, not this... mess that I can't keep up with." She seems to have helped him more by agreeing to let him tamper in her world than she could with all her words of comfort.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"I'll have the chance to talk to him when I get back. I notified Burbank that I needed an audience with him, so hopefully it won't be much longer until he returns to New York and has the time".

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

For the briefest of moments his gaze goes distant, as he contemplates his own Burbank and the multitude of messages and work waiting to be addressed while he takes a day to hike in the mountains. "I'm sure he keeps busy, we'll both have to be patient." Certainly he can find enough to occupy his own attentions in the meantime. "But this... means telling you the things we've already agreed you don't want to hear about."

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"I realize that. When I first made that decision, I had also intended to leave the Nexus permanently once our battle was finished." She takes a pause and nods to no one in particular. "Whatever it takes to get the edge, and to improve the situation. I won't be asking for a world history, but nothing can be done without the proper information."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

Moving more slowly this time, The Shadow allows himself to twirl the girasol ring on his left hand. The gesture lacks his previous anxiety, which is why he allows the mild fidgeting. "I know it makes comlications for you, on a scale it's probably impossible to anticipate, but... I'm glad you're sticking around." The smile is a mild one, but very genuine.