PSL for Renart

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Comments

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Yeah, of course.

[But he's learnt to live with the gaps in his memory, and knowing he might never truly get everything back.]

They were my family.

[aigue]

Then what if we tried jogging your memory?

[She isn't sure how ridiculous of an idea this is, but maybe it's worth suggesting.]

We could ask Zephyr for family photos, that sort of thing. Home movies if they ever ended up making any....

[advanced]

[He's sometimes thought about things like that himself, so it's not so insane a suggestion, but something about it feels uncomfortable. Like he'd be spying on someone's life that he doesn't even know, without their consent.]

Photographs, maybe. From when I was still at home, but nothing from after. I was never a part of their lives then, it seems wrong to spy on it after the fact.

[aigue]

[They probably wouldn't mind, is what she wants to say, but she only nods.]

Let's do that when we get back, then.

[It'll be a good distraction from Monty.]

[advanced]

Sure.

[He agrees easily enough because she might have forgotten by then, if he doesn't bring it up again.]

How far into the mountains are we going?

[aigue]

All the way to the top.

[She gestures towards the peak.]

The cabin is up there. And snow, if you don't mind that.

[advanced]

[He gives a half shrug.]

I brought a warm coat.

[It's not really a proper answer, but it's good enough.]

Who built the cabin up there, or was it there already?

[aigue]

[Glancing over she raises an eyebrow, but okay. If the snow isn't going to freak him out like it does other people from Norfinbury, that's fine.]

I'm not sure. It might be something someone requested from Zephyr, it seems too nice to be something anyone around here could build on their own.

[advanced]

If it was a wish then you'd think they'd stay up there more often, whoever it was. Seems like a big thing for an incidental kind of wish.

[Not that he agrees with wishing generally anyway, only in very specific important circumstances.]

[aigue]

Maybe they really liked winter cabins, and didn't realize how much of a trek it would be to reach it until they wished for it. Humans can be very shortsighted, sometimes.

[She can picture that, and it's kind of funny.]

[advanced]

[He snorts, but it's not out of the realms of possibility and continuing to speculate is relatively pointless. They've left the main village behind them now, and he's already feeling a bit freer. He hopes she does too, and this works in helping her process her grief with Monty.]

You do a lot of mountaineering back home?

[aigue]

[It's a little nostalgic. She and Monty never really did camping trips, but she has plenty of memories of them before she met him with Beowulf. This reminds her of those times, rather than anything in the Meadous or Between.]

Beowulf and I traveled a lot back home. I've been to every continent. What about you?

[advanced]

I think so.

[Some memories are less clear than others, more snapshots of the victims rather than the surroundings, but he’s fairly sure he’s been most places.]

HYDRA were pretty international.

[aigue]

[She doubts asking about his travels when he was under HYDRA's control is a good idea....]

Do you remember traveling before HYDRA?

[advanced]

Only with the army when I was shipped to the Italian front. Before that, I’d never even left New York, let alone America.

[He was such a homebody before that, just a kid from the small world of Brooklyn, no idea of the rest of the world.]

[aigue]

[She frowns.]

If we were on Earth I'd take you traveling, so you could see the entire world.

[advanced]

I’ve seen it since.

[Maybe not in the best circumstances, but he’s seen it.]

And I’ve been a bunch of places since- since I ran. I had to keep ahead of the people looking for me.

[aigue]

Yeah?

[That's better than nothing, right?]

Where have you been?

[advanced]

Canada, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, and Paris. I was in Romania last, before I woke up in Norfinbury.

[He thought he’d be safe there, it had a small HYDRA presence and didn’t seem to be on the Avenger’s radar. Apparently not that safe.]

I think I’d like to go to Australia one day, it’s one of the only places I don’t remember ever going. Not even on a mission.

[aigue]

I don't recommend going during their summer. It gets too hot.

[But then she's the one with a furry tail and ears.]

Uluru is worth seeing.

[advanced]

I like the heat, the hotter the better.

[Better than the cold, anyway.]

Tell me about it, when did you go there? What’s Uluru?

[aigue]

It's also called Ayer's Rock. It's an enormous piece of sandstone, big as a mountain. [She gestures with her hands.] There are lots of little springs and caves in it, even paintings from prehistoric times. The view from the top of it is beautiful.

[advanced]

Wow, that does sound amazing. It’s so weird to think of people living so long ago and leaving things that we can still see today. I love that kind of stuff, used to get all those weird old encyclopaedias from the library when I was a kid to read about it.

[His steps falter abruptly as his brain catches up with his mouth, a surprised smile spreading across his face.]

I didn’t remember that before now. The public library, all sticky seats and old men dozing over the papers. Loads of people used to go there during the winter for warmth, when we couldn’t afford it back home.

[aigue]

[She slows her step to glance back at him.]

Really?

[Oh, it's selfish, but she's kind of thrilled she helped him remember something.]

You must have gone with Steve, right? Or your sisters?

[Why not try to jog more of his memories?]

[advanced]

[His smile is properly open for once, no hint of wariness or concern, in the thrill of discovering another memory that had been lost to him for so long.]

Pretty sure I went with Steve most of the time. He had asthma and he got sick easy, so he didn't do too good in the cold, and so the library was a good place to go.