open ♔ valentine's day

[romanticidal]

♬ Careless Whisper - George Michael

WHO || Anyone and their special someone [Closed]
WHAT || Various Valentine's Day activities
WHERE ||Anywhere
WHEN || Feb 14th, 2016
HOW || Actionspam or Prose

[ It's Valentine's Day! ( aka Singles Awareness Day )  Assume that all missions that are posted already are going out after this. ♥ ]

Comments

[certainproclivity]

That SD-6 and its related cells operated as a terrorist branch using unwitting agents to do its bidding, including you, until you defected to the CIA. For the most part, Sloane used his to collect artifacts.

[he looks positively coolly annoyed by that. or maybe it's the fact that he actually remembers less about all this than he says. it's not his fault the world revolves around Sydney Bristow.]

[superswank]

And you. Were you an unwitting agent, or was this a St. Andrew situation too?

[certainproclivity]

I thwarted an assassination attempt on Sloane's life strictly to gain access to SD-6's resources and his cooperation.

[so basically.] I'm never unwitting. Perhaps cautiously optimistic that my employers aren't world-dominating sociopaths, rather than warlords and leaders of criminal syndicates, but never unwitting.

[superswank]

You should have let it succeed.

His cooperation for what?

[certainproclivity]

That wouldn't have been provident.

[he focuses on the road, going quiet, and just when it seems like he's just gonna leave her in suspense, he asks:] I don't suppose you remember much about Rambaldi, do you?

[superswank]

Am I supposed to?

[certainproclivity]

I can't imagine why you'd choose to, if you had a choice. I'm certain not remembering makes your life inherently less complicated.

[he halfway grimaces.]

He was a 15th century philosopher, though some believed him to be more of a prophet. Sloane and my former employer were two such people, and due to Sloane amassing such a collection of Rambaldi artifacts as to rival anyone else's, it was practical that we combined our resources.

[superswank]

What about you? Did you believe it?

[certainproclivity]

I believe that a man who can create a neutron bomb centuries ahead of its time is certainly far more than a simple genius, and there are more than a few coincidences that have occurred between what Rambaldi has written and what has transpired or so Sloane believes, anyway. I don't remember much about it.

[he's quiet for a moment.] But Sloane is obsessive to the point of it being religious fervor and religion can make any man see truth in alleged prophecies. I prefer to believe in something that's a bit less open to interpretation.

[superswank]

I would have pegged Sloane as a lot of things, but 'religious zealot' was never one of them.

[certainproclivity]

Well, it's a very different sort of religion, I suppose. Sloane was- and presumably still is- devoted to Rambaldi's endgame to the point of little else mattering. [he grimaces.] Occasionally, it bordered on inefficient.

[one time he wasted a fucking bomb to randomly kill tons of innocent people just for the sake of murdering ONE WOMAN so the guy who hired him would give him a fucking piece of pottery.

like jesus, talk about tacky.] ...You know, it actually feels rather pleasant to get that off my chest after all these years.

[because you know talking shit to Sloane usually ended badly for him.]

[superswank]

[ completely flat: ] That must be nice for you.

[certainproclivity]

I'm not stopping you from airing your personal grievances with Sloane.

[smooth as fuck. tell him how you feel about what you remember sydney. or just tell him what you remember.]

[superswank]

I'm not here to discuss my personal feelings about anything.

[certainproclivity]

Then why, exactly, did you agree to come? Just for curiosity's sake?

[superswank]

Because whether I like it or not, you know things about my past that I don't.

[certainproclivity]

Which, judging from what you've said so far, doesn't seem to be much.

[just because she doesn't remember you, sark...

or rambaldi.

him too.]

[superswank]

I remember plenty. [ it's all but snapped, the need to contradict him all but instinctual ] Until you showed up, I thought I might not have forgotten anything at all.

[certainproclivity]

You remember Mr. Vaughn, then? [ahem.]

[superswank]

[ with a nat 20 will save, she manages to keep any trace of annoyance off her features at him finding something else that she's apparently missing and tries to keep any real interest out of her voice. but her shitty wisdom check means she assumes he was someone else who worked with sloane or something. ] Should I?

[certainproclivity]

He's utterly unremarkable, but he was responsible for pulling you into the real CIA.

[none of which is really a bluff, because like hell if he's getting caught in a lie, but does sydney really have to know about how much she lurves vaughn. nah.]

[superswank]

If he's so unremarkable, then why ask?

[certainproclivity]

It was the first name that popped into my head. [(bluff 27....) except now it looks like he has a thing for vaughn.]

[superswank]

[ sense motive 21 ] ... Uh huh. I remember joining the CIA, exactly what I had to do, my partners, co-workers, missions.

Like I said. Plenty.

[certainproclivity]

[MOVING ON FROM VAUGHN.] It's just the more detailed, unfortunate bits that elude you.

[a wry grin.]

Or perhaps the Veil understood something I've always believed about the two of us. Most of what I remember directly involves you in one way or another. I always believed we were destined to work together.

[thanks sehanine-bama.]