3235/Old Blood Part 2

Old Blood Part 2
Date of Scene:	04 September 2020
Location:	New York Public Library
Synopsis:	Captain America meets an almost literal ghost from his past. Steve and Ariah catch up on things, and talk about the present--and future.
Cast of Characters:	Steve Rogers, Ariah Olivie

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Steve Rogers has posed:
Even in this age of digitized information and wireless tunes, the library remains a point of quiet study and information resourcing. Steve, long habituated to the solidity of a book in his hands or even a casette or CD to listen to when the evenings are less consumed with responsibility, finds himself at the New York Public Library.

He'd wandered in and needed to step off to one side to come to terms with the changes he sees every time he enters it. When he was younger, 'back when', the interior was majestic and sprawling in comparison to the architecture of the times. Nowadays, he can see the ghosts of the original influence in its design, but modern times has given it all a sleeker appearance. There's a sigh, a wistful little smile, and then he walks deeper into the place. After all, he's not here to return a book.

He's here because someone left a message and a very deliberate word within in. As the Captain walks deeper into the stacks, dressed civilian in his jeans and combat boots, cotton shirt with sleeves rolled to his elbows and Dodgers baseball hat, he gives the impression of nonchalance. All the while, he scans as only a suspicious old soldier would, and even looks up a few times.

Rarely do humans look up these days.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    The older, deeper sections aren't as populated at this hour. The lighting is still decent, but aside from a few students getting some last-minute cramming done for late night classes, it's quiet among the tall shelves. The ghost that wanders among the stacks is quiet, too, footsteps near silent as she treads lightly, having been pacing between reading, between waiting for someone. Waiting for the one she had called.

    Then she'll be there, like the ghost of a child almost, Ariah's short stature and current attire making it easy to mistake her for a lost twelve year old, clad in a white summer dress, no sleeves, flat shoes. A four-foot-ten spirit with pale skin and white hair. But she's there. Her visage is unmistakable, even clean as it is, lips painted in black.

    The last time she might have been seen by the old American soldier was during the liberation of France, wearing a uniform of the French First army, face marked with blood and mud, wielding a staff over a gun and raising arcane heaven or hell depending on who she was directing the forces at. Then she speaks, dead grey eyes starting to shine as she looks up at the familiar face under the bill of that cap.

    "Bonsoir, Captain Rogers," she says quietly, voice just above a whisper, cold but thickly accented, "...it has been a long time."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Around the end of a stack and Steve comes to a halt at the sudden, very silent appearance of the young woman -- not so young, he realizes, as memory catches up to him in its usual damning crystalline-clarity. Only knowing Barnes and the mention of that particular word keeps the Captain from reacting in more than a subtle flinch of surprise.

He tries for a smile, gets there after another second or two of calculations and review of memory. "Bonsoir, Miss Olivie." Steve still has the Brooklyn twang and just the hint of his cradle-tongue's accent in Gaelic. "I wondered who else'd managed to jump all the hurdles 'nd make it into the twenty-first century. You look well." This he says in good manners; the subtle tone of question asks after the 'why' and 'how' of her standing before him now, looking rather unchanged since their encounters in the War.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    She's patient, she doesn't make any sudden moves. She lets Steve's memory do the work for her, wanting to be sure they know it's each other. And then she smiles. An expression not oft seen, but for the old soldiers, she's glad to see him. "Barnes, Howlette, Carter..." she rattles off a few names quietly, and steps closer slowly. "...we all made it, in our own way, here. If I am to understand, most of you were... asleep...?" she asks, not knowing the full circumstances of anyone's frozen encounters aside from Peggy's. And Logan is just Logan.

    But that subtle query is answered by her expression, a pair of sharp fangs sliding into place, the telltale sign of a vampire. The fact she shows Steve is also an unspoken 'I trust you' to the man standing before her. "...I made a deal with a devil..." she says quietly, her voice thick with her home accent. English was always a second language to her. Her fangs seem to slip away after a few moments, hiding, not wishing anyone else here to see them.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Hazarding she's going to answer his undertone of query, Steve doesn't immediately answer her own in turn. Instead, he takes up a more nonchalant stance without losing any of the underlying lines of readiness as is his habit. His thumbs hook on the inner line of his jean's front pockets and he squints as he notes something different about her smile abruptly.

Oh. The fangs.

Slowly, he nods, acknowledging the gesture of their appearance for what it is as well as the explanation accompanying it. "...sometimes, feels like we all did," he finally murmurs after a cursory glance around to make sure no one's staring boggled over the top of their book.

"'nd spent some time napping in a glacier, 's'what I've been told. Sleep's a good way to put it," he adds, trying for a sardonic cant to his words and half-smirk to take the edge of horror from the idea. "Can't imagine you made that deal unless it was really necessary...?"

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah processes the information give, after she's had her turn to share. She stands so casually, her arms just hanging loose at her sides. No fidgeting, no motion, she's not even breathing. Anyone who might be watching would probably find the scene to be... unnerving, given her attire and the way she just sort of stares up at Steve. He practically towers over her, too. "Cold sleep is still sleep..." she comments softly, then nods at his own query of her.

    "She was Resistance. Beautiful. Brought many a Wermacht soldier to an untimely end..." she says quietly, a bit dreamy in her tone, smile creeping in on her face. "Took me in when the homeland was free." As she trails off, she looks Steve over again, nodding slowly, "...we have the same... handlers... too many eyes, too much paperwork... we are on retainer." It might not be too hard to discern that by handlers she means SHIELD.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve's brows lift. "SHIELD's still got an interest in you? Didn't want to...disappear into the woodwork? Wouldn't've been too difficult to do, with the connections 'nd experience you've got at this point," he muses, still watching her with the same alert composure seen nearly a century ago.

Around them, the library breathes in its own manner. Sounds, muted, still echo about: books being shelved, carts being pushed, conversations just loud enough to carry do despite the walls of stacks nearly hemming a book-searcher in.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah finally moves her arm, reaching up to idly rub the side of her head. It's a nervous gesture more than anything, and then offers a small shrug. "...they take care of our identification paperwork and we take care of their... problems... at times... it is a mutual relationship. With every decade there are more forms to take out, new ways of tracking people... I am one hundred years old, capitaine..." And with her size and shape she probably gets carded for -everything-.

    "...and I have been informed recently that grim work still remains to be done, the shadow of fascism yet remains, as strong as ever, non?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Welcome to the club. Turned one-hundred 'nd two this year," Steve says with a wry little smile of understanding at just how //weird// the age is to consider as a whole. He knows Barnes is older yet and Logan even moreso.

Someone nearby drops a book and appears out of the stacks holding it with a wince. Both the Captain and Ariah are given a quick glance and the thin young man scuttles off, probably embarrassed that he was heard to let the book hit the floor. Watching the kid disappear, Steve then looks back to Ariah again.

"No rest for the weary or the wicked. There're some loose ends to tie up still. You've spoken with Carter then?"

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    At the sound of the book, Ariah's head jerks up, eyes narrowing in the direction of the man, thuogh the gaze she fixes him with is a passive, curious one. She waits to see if any words come from him, but when he skiters off, she focuses her gaze on the good Captain Rogers again.

    "Non, no rest. And oui, I have spoken with Mademoiselle Carter. I foiund Monsier Barnes in this very library, and had an... encounter with Mademoiselle Carter elsewhere in the city. We paid Monsier Logan a visit not long after..." she explains quietly, keeping stock still, arms hanging at her sides now. "...you, howver, are not hard to find. I had been... reluctant to seek you out, but now that the Howling Commandos yet live, to the last person..." she trails off, letting Steve fill in what he will.

Steve Rogers has posed:
There's another subtle tilt of Steve's head as she lists off the familiar names and faces. A part of him wonders why no one's mentioned it to him, but then again, it's far easier to believe once the sighting of someone thought long-lost is personal and not by word of mouth.

"Reluctant? Why reluctant?" the Captain asks, curious despite himself. "Never thought of myself as unapproachable." There's a faint smile of self-remonstration despite the comment, as if Steve were remembering just how involved he's been lately with his work-life.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah does prefer to do things in person. She's not fond of phones. Her Twitter account is a recent thing. And even then it's dustier than some of the wine bottles in her sire's estate. Then she listens, watching Steve, tilting her head to one side as he asks and then comments on himself.

    "You are very approachable," she states quietly. "That is not the problem. You are very busy, non? I wished not to take time away from your work with the Avengers. I admit that only recently have I known that certain rogue elements yet remain even now..." she refers to HYDRA, but not by name.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"They're slippery elements." Steve has no love for the errant group responsible for so many horrid memories which live on into the present. His words are low, shockingly cold despite his well-known tendency of good-natured patience. "Barnes, Carter, Logan, all of 'em'll surely want to see about tying up some loose ends left hanging about. Has Carter told you what she's getting up to?"

They're in a public enough place that the Captain thinks to see about word of mouth before explaining precisely what he knows of Agent Carter's plans. Besides, with an awkward, stilted, almost bird-like walk, the young man who'd dropped the book returns to slip the very title back onto the shelf and grab the one next to it. He realizes Steve's looking at him and smiles uncomfortably.

"Sorry, wrong title," he mutters before power-walking off again, very aware that there's a private conversation happening and wanting to be nowhere near it, not after the extremely patient glance given to him by one Steve Rogers.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah nods in agreement, regarding the slippery. The end of the war wasn't perfect, elements of any sort, of any number, could have easily gotten around the allied push in a variety of ways, to carry on their dark work and legacy.

    Another nod from the small vampiress, "She has, yes. She and Logan and I met at..." she tries to form the word, her accent making it a little odd, "McSorely's. And spoke of her goals..." she pauses, trailing off, hearing those footsteps nearby again. Her ears are sharp, the huntress of the night hardly on par with her sire, but she can hear the young man nearby again, sense his heartbeat.

    "...good luck with your studies..." she says quietly, voice cold, fixing him with a blank gaze and a straight face before turning her focus on Steve again.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Between Steve's silent glance and the young vampire's missive, that graduate student definitely marches double-time away from the conversation. Watched by the super-soldier until he can't hear any more of the sneakered footsteps either, the man decides this was an unrelated incident -- no way was that any form of HYDRA agent, not even a go-fer.

"You're in the loop then. Good," murmurs Steve as he looks back towards the pale-haired young woman. "Peggy's leading the push right now, so details're gonna come from her. Keep your ears open for communication. Nothing new's cropped up on my radar, but they'd be trying hard not to let //any// Avenger catch wind of their doings."

And wise to do this. A Hulk is stopped by very, very few things.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah herself is pretty far off the radar, but she has her own problems to deal with. "We have already had an incident..." she says quietly, recalling a night not too long ago. "There are eyes and ears everywhere, it would seem," she states with a frown. "We were unhurt, and did some good, but our intel was not entirely forthcoming, and there were hostile elements prepared for us..." she explains quietly.

    "Whether it is related to our greater cause or not, I cannot say. But, oui, I will keep my ears open. I am back in the loop, and not even death can stop me..." she says, a touch playful, the icy little creature not always so cold, after all.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"I can imagine very little stops you these days." Steve gives the young woman a thoughtful look for a moment, and then another, before he seems to decide that standing and having this conversation is a bit impractical. He lifts a hand, gesturing for her to follow him out of the stacks and over towards one of the isolated reading areas tucked away against the wall. Two cushy chairs sit back to the corners of the alcove and a small table devoid of material at the moment is present just in case.

Steve seats himself and does his usual nonchalant, cursory visual sweep -- he's glad for the wall behind him. Anyone approaching will be easily enough seen. "What was the incident?" he then asks quietly, true-blues resting on Ariah.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "You would be surprised. I have been stopped. It was unfortunate. It was even on the news," she alludes to the weird reports of shadow beasts and slaughter in a construction site parking structure not too long ago. She explains this, as they walk, talking softly, pausing momentarily to take a book from a shelf in passing. She carefully, daintily adjusts her sundress, taking her seat and crossing her legs. As she opens the book and lays it across her lap, she nods to Steve.

    "It was to be a strike on a sleeper cell. Not a human trafficking ring. We were able to secure civilians but they had reinforcements lying in wait. It was not a clean operation," Ariah says quietly, pursing her lips. It was a mess. "We were fed useful, but false, information, and it was an ambush."

Steve Rogers has posed:
The Captain listens. His brows draw together and he winces by thinning his lips. "Wondered about that operation," he admits quietly. "Have to vet the information a little closer next time. Glad that you 'nd everybody else got out without maximal injury -- that there were some civilians led to safety, better that then losing 'em to collateral damage."

His chest rises and falls in a musing sigh. "'m thinking maybe next time, we pull the rug out from under their feet. Carter's already working at seeing who's got fingers where they're not supposed to. She'll come up with an answer or something close to it 'nd we'll go from there."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "I was the only one hurt. I make an effective bullet sponge..." Ariah says quietly, expression still blank. "...it does not mean I have to enjoy it, however. But it was only Carter and I. Our expectations were lacking, but we accomplished something..." she says, then exhales a soft sigh.

    "Yes, she said as much, in different words. She knows what to look for, and who to bait. This was just an opportunity, and a test. It gives evidence to our concerns," she states, slowly turning the pages in her book. It's an art book, history and pieces from her the Renaissance.

    "You have my contact informaiton through SHIELD, or Carter, do not hesitate to reach out if you require me," she says, looking back up to Steve, "I look forward to working with you again. My talents are much the same as you may remember them. We will do good things together. All of us."