Library Conversations (rp for cyke_out)

[a_sloane]

The library was quickly becoming a favorite place, which disconcerted Arvin Sloane to some degree. He hated being predictable. Still. It reminded him of Zurich, not of Los Angeles, which he found preferable, and yet had an atmosphere of its own. The mysterious Charles Xavier, who had come and gone before Sloane moved into the mansion, must have created it, and it was entertaining and challenging to identify hidden doors, books that didn't belong, which one one but an avid reader would notice, and sometimes just to enjoy the quiet.

Sloane had forgotten how teenagers could be. He had missed both Sydney's and Nadia's teenage years, and there had been no reason to involve himself with others. Sometimes he thought teaching them was being locked up with ten to fifteen versions of Marshall Flinkman and Julian Sark; they were either over eager, or sullen and unsubtly sarkastic. Irina, he remembered, had taught when playing Laura Bristow, and she had raised Sark. Clearly, she was even stronger than Sloane had always thought her to be.

So here he was, retreating in the library, looking forward to working on his idea for infiltrating and invading first the Sentinel outside and then SHIELD which was supposed to be a surprise gift for his, well, hosts, when realizing this time, he wasn't alone. There was already someone in the library. Scott Summers. Looking somewhat harrassed himself.

Comments

[a-sloane.livejournal.com]

It's still a bit jarring to be addressed as "Arvin" by a relatively new aquaintance and a young man - even Sark after three years hadn't gone there, and Weiss had, well, tried and withdrawn after one look - but it fits with the new life he tries to create here. This Arvin Sloane is not a leader. For his part, Sloane would have called Scott "Summers" if their positions had been reversed - much like Marcus Dixon had always been "Dixon" during ten years of working together, and had only become Marcus when telling Arvin, on Arvin's way to being executed, he had prayed for him, for that one exchange -, Vaughn was Vaughn and Weiss was Weiss, but Scott was the head of the school and had offered first names during their initial interview.

Though right now, his whole demeanour screamed "troubled young man in need of a mission".

"Challenging," he replied, coming in. "Which is what I hoped for."

There had been that incident with Logan, but it actually rated as less challenging than the being locked up with ten to fifteen adolescent Marshalls and Sarks, because that kind of powerplay was ever so familiar, save for the self healing.

[cyke-out.livejournal.com]

Scott thought he detected a slight annoyance cross Sloane's face at the use of his first name.

Not that he had to yield to the man's wishes; no need to forget who was in charge here. On the other hand, Scott didn't want to be a jerk, needlessly -- he hadn't heard anything either way, but he suspected Logan might have that covered. Logan. One topic Scott really didn't want to think about right now.

He focused on Sloane instead, giving what he hoped was a friendly smile. "I'm sorry for the informality. The faculty here have all pretty much known each other since the beginning of time, if you hadn't noticed. It's all first names or else --" His mouth twitched. "I don't suppose, in your line of work, you ever had a battle name."

[a-sloane.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I've been called names," Sloane replies wryly, returning the smile, and walks towards the window. "I'm sure your friend Mr. Logan could come up with some new ones."

He sounds more amused than anything else.

"I find it rejuvinating, in a way, being around students and faculty that are so much younger."

Well, except for Logan, but then again, they avoided each other after that first encounter, and besides, classified files or not, Sloane had no idea how old the man truly was, just guess work.

"But I admit it sometimes reminds me of, well, the past, in lack of a better term. That other country, to which we can't return."

Jack, he thinks, and experiences a moment of fierce loss he hadn't expected. This was supposed to be an attempt at socializing and putting Scott Summers at ease by admitting to little weaknesses. Not an access of genuine emotions.

It probably was just that Scott Summers with his quiet aura was a good listener, and had reminded him of Jack a little during the auditioning interview. One more reason to be wary and to stick to harmless school teacher personas. Well, not harmless. They wouldn't have hired him if he was, not in this kind of school.

"If I come across as too hierarchical," he adds, back to socializing, "feel free to remind me dust starts settling on me. That usually works."

[cyke-out.livejournal.com]

"Oh, believe me, I've been called my share, as well. Anybody whose job description involves telling people things they don't want to hear comes in for a little of that." Scott has a feeling this isn't the only reason Arvin Sloane has been called unpleasant names. But whatever might be lurking in the dark corners of the man's history, there's evidence that he has been an effective leader -- and nobody does that without bruising a few egos.

"That's not actually what I meant, though. It's a trait of the whole hero culture, I guess. Love it or mock it. We X-men tend to do both. But, well for instance, when I came here, the Professor gave me the name 'Cyclops.' I didn't like it. It called attention to the one thing about me I had always tried to hide. And besides, you know -- in the story, he's a villain. The Professor told me I'd understand, one day."

He shook his head. "I'm still not sure I do, but that doesn't matter. These kids you've met -- some of them aren't more than fourteen, fifteen. I'm not like the Professor, though. I let them name themselves. What someone wants to call himself, that tells a hell of a lot about them. So, Mr. Sloane. For the sake of argument, you're being re-christened?" Scott raised an eyebrow.

[a-sloane.livejournal.com]

In the far away days of being a field agent in the CIA, Sloane had, in fact, had a code name. Which he has no intention to use right now, both because the past is the past, and because it had been singularly uninventive. Now, when Sloane had been the one to hand out code names, they usually fit, such as Raptor for Jack, Phoenix for Sydney and - but he's not going to think about Nadia now.

Evergreen. Evergreen.

"Ah, now that is a challenge," he said briskly. "I'm afraid I'll have to come up with something ordinary and easy to remember. Like an ordinary day of the week. I'd pick Wednesday. For that is certainly my day. Considering it was the day I arrived here."

There are other reasons, of course. They are in a library, after all, Sloane is an avid reader, and definitely not above making literary jokes.

"I'm curious. What would your choice have been, if you had had one back in the day?"

[cyke-out.livejournal.com]

Scott was first puzzled, then a little uneasy at Sloane's choice.

"Switching pantheons on me?" he said cautiously. He had, after all, met an incarnation of a powerful Norse god, who occasionally doubled as an unassuming physician. Maybe there really was more to Sloane than met the eye. But nah, that was silly.

"Just for the record. I had nothing to do with cloning Thor. The guys you want for that are. . ." He grinned. "Ahh, never mind." Then, with an assessing look at Sloane, he said, "Odin's not such a bad identity. I'm not a big fan of his . . .ahh, brother, is it?"

Scott was tempted to mention his own experiences with Asgard, but he decided to leave it for another day; possibly some time when he was really really drunk. Which didn't happen often, and possibly never would in front of Sloane. Once you knew a man well enough to drink and let your guard down, maybe then you could talk about the time you and your teammates fought Loki to a draw.

Sloane's question took him a little by surprise. Scott didn't recall ever being asked what he would have named himself. "It's probably just as well I didn't get to pick my name. I probably would have gone with something hideously uncreative like 'Laser Boy'. And then --" In a self-mocking tone, he said, "Then Marvel Girl would never have taken me seriously." He shook his head. "We really were such kids."

Thinking about Jean, and the old days, sent him back through a complex series of emotions, some of them in places he doesn't really want to go. He reminded himself that this was a professional conversation -- what was it about Sloane that made Scott feel constantly on the verge of confessing to him? -- and sorted back through Sloane's remarks for something neutral he could grab hold of. "The day you got here. You said you met Logan?"

Oh, good one, Summers subconscious. Way to go for the neutral subject.

[a-sloane.livejournal.com]

Sloane is experienced enough not to ask "Cloning Thor?!?" , but he does think of Allison Doren and wonders whether Thor is a code name for someone superhero who has been doubled the way Sloane had created a double for Sydney's friend Francie.

Mostly, though, he's impressed Scott picked up the reference. The occasional frustrating thing about CIA and terrorist organizations alike was that they tended to be hideously undereducated these days.

"Odin traded one of his eyes for wisdom, which I suppose makes us both blind in some regards and seeing in others," he says, referring to the equally one eyed Cyclops of Greek myth. "But I'm glad you approve."

He doesn't mention that Odin did choose to make Loki his blood brother and chose trickery and deceit with it, on quite a lot of occasions; Scott does know his myths, after all, and besides, what he says next is amusing and touching at the same time. No prices for guessing Marvel Girl was a lost love.

"I might have been an adult when I met my late wife," Sloane says, and remembers Emily, and that day in Washington, "but there was running into a pole involved nonetheless. Laughter is one of the better beginnings of a relationship, in my experience."

Then he gets asked about Logan. His expression loses its wistfulness, conjured up by the memory of Emily and young love - for someone who used to be on the Most Wanted List, Sloane can be surprisingly sentimental at times - but retains the amusement. It isn't even feigned, though there is something edgy in it.

"Ah, yes. Quite an interesting encounter. He offered" - one can here the quotes in the phrase coming up now - "'best buddy' terms, but I think we came to an agreement that it was a bit too early for that and a leisurely pace was far more suitable."

[cyke-out.livejournal.com]

"I'm just glad you didn't pick Odysseus. It's hard to yell in a combat situation, for one thing. And between the two of us it would be bad precedent."

That was the kind of thing that passed for a joke when Scott said it. He suspected, though, that the comparison wasn't inapt. What were the words used to describe that traveller -- silver-tongued? Circumspect? He could almost hear the Professor's words in his head -- In today's idiom, one might read 'circumspect' as 'devious'. Yeah, Scott thought back at his mentor. You're one to talk.

It wasn't an actual conversation, Scott was fairly sure. With Xavier back on the planet, he couldn't always tell.

Considering Sloane's response to Logan, Scott knew he wasn't getting the full story of that meeting, but he was curious. "What impression did he make on you? Be honest. Wolverine is such a fixture in our little world, it's a little hard to imagine how he comes across -- meeting him for the first time."

[a-sloane.livejournal.com]

"There is that," Sloane agreed regarding the Odysseus matter, and skipped the "Nemo" joke (as Odysseus called himself "Nobody" when with Cyclops) as too obvious.

"I thought he came across as very protective and completely devoted to the people here," Sloane said when asked about Wolverine, and he's quite serious and completely truthful for a change, "and as someone who should never be sent on an investigation or any kind of mission requiring subtlety without a partner to balance him. As opposed to a direct combat situation, where he'd excel on his own."

He leaned back against the window, watching Scott. There is the danger of appearing presumptious, but then again, Scott did ask, and while a lifetime of deception is so ingrained that it sometimes comes without any necessity, Sloane is trying to make a new start here. Besides, if he had asked a new agent for his opinion on a valued member of the team, he wouldn't have cared for some respectful stammering of praise.

[cyke-out.livejournal.com]

Scott listened, nodded, was silent for a moment, then repeated, "Should never be sent. I'm kind of flattered, actually, that you think, just because I'm supposed to be in charge, I can stop him from doing whatever he wants to do."

This was partly a joke, but only partly, and it occurred to him that Sloane might not think much of self- deprecation, coming from a leader. In any case, he suspected Sloane of underestimating Logan -- and he also figured, if that were the case, it would be because Logan wanted him to.

"You're right about field work, though. For all his lone-wolf schtick, Logan's had a lot of success working with partners. You've met one of his favorites already. Miss Pryde," he added, glancing at Sloane to see what kind of reaction that got. A guy who could underestimate Wolverine probably hadn't thought twice about Kitty. "Logan and I have worked together a time or two, of course --"

Scott turned his back and walked to the window, not wanting to betray any unease. Still, Sloane might suspect the subject was making him nervous. Scott weighed the pros and cons, and decided to tell him what he would eventually hear repeated as gossip, if he hadn't all ready.

"Logan and I have always had a complicated relationship --" Looking back now, Scott continued. "He was in love with my wife."

[a-sloane.livejournal.com]

Sloane had actually been impressed by Kitty during their brief encounter; he would have hired her in a heartbeat. But then, Sloane is slightly biased towards female agents, especially if they are brunettes with anger inside; not that he would admit this. On a more conscious basis, he thinks that Kitty Pryde's ability could be extremely useful for dealing with the Sentinel outside, but that's something to bring up at a later point.

"I can see why they'd make an amazing team," is all he says out loud, regarding the Kitty and Logan matter, and then learns more about the emotional complications chez Xavier's. Which induces another memory he pushes away. Jack reviving him after putting him through that execution; punishment for a 25 years old affair. And the irony was that it hadn't been Irina he had been in love with.

Present, now: focus. Scott tells him this rather personal information why? It probably isn't the world's best kept secret, but still. Well. It certainly makes Logan look more complicated, not just the relationship, which is worth considering. Hm.

He doesn't ask "and did your wife love him?" or "how did that make you feel?". These kind of questions strike him as too intrusive and reminiscent of Judy Barnett, and despite having been fond of Judy beyond playing a game, Sloane has no intention to ever give in to anything that sounds like therapy, no matter whether as the patient or the therapist. What he does say is, sounding completely matter-of-fact:

"There are worse complications."

Which says something about the complications in Sloane's own emotional life, but he wouldn't care for that comment, either, and point out he was merely being factual. Presumably Logan did not kill the late Mrs. Grey-Summers, either because of a directive of the organization he works for or because he thinks she is planning on killing her daughter.