a "thanks for taking one for the team" would have worked too, doctor dad
[ teasing. she did what had to be done, and she knows from the sheer fact that he's not chastising her that he's not mad about it. after all, somebody had to tell him. ]
someone else recognized the shield spiel, though you meet anyone named carol on your field trip?
[ oh. back to normality. the disparity between the normality of one life and that of the other is dizzying, but even that can't do anything to infringe on the fondness when it comes.
no reply to the remark. he just absorbs it, greedy. today's will be a playful give and take that's easy on the give. ]
if you're asking if she's spoiler bait, not so much we didn't really talk about back home beyond lowkey gossiping about nick fury and coulson's bad hair days
Not mine to tell. But suffice to say if she'd been on-planet for any one of the many disasters that's hit Earth in recent history, we'd have fared a lot better than we have.
[ #the avengers ain't shit #it's not their fault they're just not captain marvel ]
[ when do the avengers ever just call shield? and when does anyone with a little power think they might need to ask for help? (he's not an avenger, but he'll include himself in that batch all the same). ]
[ nobody calls shield because, outside of coulson's team, nobody even knows if shield is Still A Thing ]
i don't know, because apparently the world ended and then didn't end in between you leaving and coming back? am i ever going to get the spoilers on that, btw?
[ there's a reasonable delay here while he's talking with carol, waiting to find out how much she knows, how much is likely to make it out into the public sphere.
[ Stephen drops a pin to the as yet unopened sports bar. he wouldn't want to be eating, and it's not the sort of news to share over anything as normal as a drink either.
but it means they can talk in private. and he can fix her something strong afterwards. ]
[ she comes as called. easy enough to do when the world isn't Currently Exploding, anyway, and with her hoverbike it's even simpler. point a to point b, quick as can be.
there's a smudge of dirt and dust across her cheek when she enters, but it mostly just makes her look more at home amidst the work-in-progress of the bar. of the few feasible seats, daisy claims one that offers the most comfortable option for sprawling. manspreading, even. ]
Doctor.
[ she's not calling him dad. it's a signal, she guesses. a way to signal that she recognizes the seriousness of the spoiler game. ]
[ doctor. it's been a long while since he's had that out of her, if ever. Stephen emerges from behind the bar, hands empty of alcohol or food, looking somber. there's no use in beating around the bush here so he dispenses with any small talk, but there's something to clarify before he goes into detail. ]
I'll tell you as much as I can, but I know more than I'll tell you. I need to know you can accept that.
[ to know some of what approaches but not everything might be painful. but he's only going to give her what he judges to be safe. if she can settle for that, good. if she can't, they'll need to re-evaluate this conversation. ]
[ she doesn't like it. how could she? daisy's the kind of person who wants to know everything, who wants to make up her own mind and decide for herself what she thinks and believes, and having someone intentionally withhold information from her really gets in that way of that. but she trusts stephen strange, and that has to be enough. for now, anyway. ]
I don't want to. [ he already knows that. ] But I will if I have to.
[ no two ways around it: she'd rather have what information he's willing to give her than none at all. ]
[ good enough, anyway. this situation isn't going to be satisfying for either of them, whether or not he could give her everything she could hope to know. ultimately, it wouldn't make any difference— or, if it did, a negative one. any single difference could change the entire outcome, and the outcome they had was the only one in which more survived than died.
he doesn't cross to sit down. it seems too informal to do things that way. stays stood where he is - and begins. ]
The universe came under threat from a man who believed it was time to perform a cull.
A "cull". [ jesus christ. what is it with megalomaniac assholes and wiping people off the planet? ] Is this like, space Nazi situation?
[ she could shut up and let him speak, but they both know that's unlikely. it's nice of him to build in pauses to his own ted talk so that she can ask her questions and/or pose commentary. ]
Wait: did you say "the universe"? Like this is more than just an Earth thing?
[ it's better that he gives her the opportunity to guide the conversation. what he has to say isn't anything easily digested - to take it in her own time is the only way to do this gently.
usually he wouldn't worry about gentleness where she's concerned. but this is too big to deliver as a speech. too heavy to hand to her without breathing room. ]
[ it's a good question. has she? the name doesn't ring a bell — but whether that's due to daisy's own memory getting the new amsterdam scramble or the fact that nobody tells anyone in shield a fucking thing is really up for debate here. ]
I don't think so. [ and if she does know about them, she doesn't know enough to really contribute anything to the conversation, so it's as good as knowing nothing anyway. ] I'm guessing they don't have anything to do with an infinity scarf.
[ the slightest uptick at the corner of his mouth, but he's not to lose his train of conversation here. he acknowledges, but doesn't play. ]
No. Six stones: Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time. Individually they can be used to control their corresponding universal aspect. Together...
[ a slight hesitation, not big enough to be called a pause. just a small space for memory to creep and be swallowed. ]
And in hands capable of wielding them, they can be used to do anything.
[ it sounds like he's trying to rewrite sailor moon or the power rangers or some ridiculous japanese-inspired tv show. the mind stone? the reality stone? who came up with these names? ]
Right. [ but he is serious, and so she can't just completely dismiss it. ] Anything, like... space Nazi the universe.
[ like space Nazi the universe. unfortunate that it's apt, but Stephen doesn't chase that along yet. she's asked a question. ]
It depends on the stone and the wielder. Typically they've been contained and channeled through artifacts of one kind or another. I wielded the Time stone using the Eye of Agamotto, a magical artifact that enables the user to blend the power of the Time stone with the Mystic Arts.
Thanos collected the stones in a gauntlet that connected them all, allowing them to channel their power according to his will.
The Eye of... [ she doesn't say it. she doesn't say anything. she just trails off and sighs and purses her lips together, the slight shake of her head saying all the what the fuck is wrong with the naming committee she would need to say. it's a stupid name, stephen strange, but you probably already know that. ] Okay.
[ sure. why not. she'll go with that. ]
Wait, hang on. Did you say a gauntlet? What, somebody just let this fuckhead show up with a fancy glove for all his shit and z snap all over the universe? I feel like I'm missing something here.
[ this is WILD. who approved this??? why didn't they just take the stupid glove??? ]
[ a small sigh. she's within her rights to question the situation, but boy if he doesn't wish she wouldn't. still. patience is a learned skill just like any other: by now, when he needs it, he's got it in spades.
his answer is calm. but there's no humor in it. ]
Each stone made him more capable than the last. Attempts were made to remove the gauntlet, but those attempts were unsuccessful.
[ she knows, deep down, that what he is telling her is true. it has to be. there's no reason for him to make this up, or for him to deliberately deceive her. strange has never been anything other than honest with her, even when he knows she doesn't want to hear it. she can't expect that to change now. ]
Nobody... I mean, nobody told us anything. People just — we could have helped. [ could help, in future tense, if daisy was paying attention to the timeline. but it's in the past for strange, so she follows suit. ] We could have tried something.
[ what, she doesn't know. but shield had some of the greatest minds on the planet, and god only knows what they were doing when this was going down. ]
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[ teasing. she did what had to be done, and she knows from the sheer fact that he's not chastising her that he's not mad about it. after all, somebody had to tell him. ]
someone else recognized the shield spiel, though
you meet anyone named carol on your field trip?
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no reply to the remark. he just absorbs it, greedy. today's will be a playful give and take that's easy on the give. ]
Carol Danvers, yes. Did she have much to say?
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we didn't really talk about back home beyond lowkey gossiping about nick fury and coulson's bad hair days
[ fond memories of the 90s apparently... ]
what's her story?
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[ #the avengers ain't shit
#it's not their fault they're just not captain marvel ]
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[ that's cool......... ]
maybe the avengers should get in the habit of using the phone a friend feature during disasters.
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[ mostly because is she? je ne sais pas ]
In their defense, they didn't know she existed. Fury kept her under his hat.
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i was talking about me, dad
let me quake the bad guys
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Why break the habit of a lifetime?
[ when do the avengers ever just call shield? and when does anyone with a little power think they might need to ask for help? (he's not an avenger, but he'll include himself in that batch all the same). ]
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i don't know, because apparently the world ended and then didn't end in between you leaving and coming back?
am i ever going to get the spoilers on that, btw?
[ nobody tells her anything ]
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eventually: ]
You can have them, but you won't like them.
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you want to do this over drinks or over dinner?
[ will it be easier for her to handle if she's buzzed? or should she be sober enough to deal with it? ]
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but it means they can talk in private. and he can fix her something strong afterwards. ]
I'll be here.
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there's a smudge of dirt and dust across her cheek when she enters, but it mostly just makes her look more at home amidst the work-in-progress of the bar. of the few feasible seats, daisy claims one that offers the most comfortable option for sprawling. manspreading, even. ]
Doctor.
[ she's not calling him dad. it's a signal, she guesses. a way to signal that she recognizes the seriousness of the spoiler game. ]
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I'll tell you as much as I can, but I know more than I'll tell you. I need to know you can accept that.
[ to know some of what approaches but not everything might be painful. but he's only going to give her what he judges to be safe. if she can settle for that, good. if she can't, they'll need to re-evaluate this conversation. ]
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I don't want to. [ he already knows that. ] But I will if I have to.
[ no two ways around it: she'd rather have what information he's willing to give her than none at all. ]
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[ good enough, anyway. this situation isn't going to be satisfying for either of them, whether or not he could give her everything she could hope to know. ultimately, it wouldn't make any difference— or, if it did, a negative one. any single difference could change the entire outcome, and the outcome they had was the only one in which more survived than died.
he doesn't cross to sit down. it seems too informal to do things that way. stays stood where he is - and begins. ]
The universe came under threat from a man who believed it was time to perform a cull.
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[ she could shut up and let him speak, but they both know that's unlikely. it's nice of him to build in pauses to his own ted talk so that she can ask her questions and/or pose commentary. ]
Wait: did you say "the universe"? Like this is more than just an Earth thing?
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usually he wouldn't worry about gentleness where she's concerned. but this is too big to deliver as a speech. too heavy to hand to her without breathing room. ]
Yes. More than just an Earth thing.
Have you heard of the infinity stones?
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I don't think so. [ and if she does know about them, she doesn't know enough to really contribute anything to the conversation, so it's as good as knowing nothing anyway. ] I'm guessing they don't have anything to do with an infinity scarf.
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No. Six stones: Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time. Individually they can be used to control their corresponding universal aspect. Together...
[ a slight hesitation, not big enough to be called a pause. just a small space for memory to creep and be swallowed. ]
And in hands capable of wielding them, they can be used to do anything.
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Right. [ but he is serious, and so she can't just completely dismiss it. ] Anything, like... space Nazi the universe.
[ she pauses for a second, considering. ]
How exactly do you wield an infinity stone?
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It depends on the stone and the wielder. Typically they've been contained and channeled through artifacts of one kind or another. I wielded the Time stone using the Eye of Agamotto, a magical artifact that enables the user to blend the power of the Time stone with the Mystic Arts.
Thanos collected the stones in a gauntlet that connected them all, allowing them to channel their power according to his will.
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[ sure. why not. she'll go with that. ]
Wait, hang on. Did you say a gauntlet? What, somebody just let this fuckhead show up with a fancy glove for all his shit and z snap all over the universe? I feel like I'm missing something here.
[ this is WILD. who approved this??? why didn't they just take the stupid glove??? ]
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his answer is calm. but there's no humor in it. ]
Each stone made him more capable than the last. Attempts were made to remove the gauntlet, but those attempts were unsuccessful.
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[ she knows, deep down, that what he is telling her is true. it has to be. there's no reason for him to make this up, or for him to deliberately deceive her. strange has never been anything other than honest with her, even when he knows she doesn't want to hear it. she can't expect that to change now. ]
Nobody... I mean, nobody told us anything. People just — we could have helped. [ could help, in future tense, if daisy was paying attention to the timeline. but it's in the past for strange, so she follows suit. ] We could have tried something.
[ what, she doesn't know. but shield had some of the greatest minds on the planet, and god only knows what they were doing when this was going down. ]
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