Meet the new boss

[cutting_edgex23]

X, Security badge pinned to her belt, is settled comfortably at a corner table, contentedly munching her way through a sandwich.

She may be on her second root beer float.

And, of course, she is keeping an ear -- and a nose -- out for anyone who might be approaching her.

It is only polite.

Comments

[cutting_edgex23]

"I use my body," X says. "Hands and feet."

A pause.

"Sometimes claws are faster. Or swords. You are both acceptable at hand-to-hand?"

[harryhotspur]

"Acceptable," Harry agrees. That's an accurate assessment, he thinks.

[cutting_edgex23]

X absorbs that for a moment, then shifts her attention to Brienne.

Silently.

[maid_of_tarth]

"Yes." Hand to hand is something she's long considered the province of commoners unable to use or afford a sword. But she can do it, more or less.

"But--claws?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes."

X holds up her left hand.

snikt

Two adamantium claws emerge from the space between her knuckles, accompanied by a thin trickle of blood that is hidden by her black fingerless gloves.

(Ah, multipurpose gloves. So handy.)

"Claws."

[harryhotspur]

Harry starts back. Aaaalright, then.

"--well, you would never lack a weapon."

[cutting_edgex23]

X shrugs, one-shouldered and quick, and resheathes her claws.

"I am a weapon. It is why I was made."

Obviously.

[maid_of_tarth]

"Made? Why, by whom?"

Brienne has met people here who are not like the people she's used to, but never one that was made, rather than born.

[cutting_edgex23]

"The Facility. It was useful for them. To have a weapon that looked like a little girl."

Beat.

"To make money."

Another, longer pause.

"I am a person, too. Now."

In case they worried.

[harryhotspur]

Harry doesn't understand what she's saying well enough to worry, but he nods anyway. There are some Milliways oddities he has decided it's easier to just let drift by.

"And how came you to this position?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X shrugs, one-shouldered and quick.

"I am very good at what I do."

Even Apocalypse acknowledges her determination.

"And it does not hurt me to do it."

[maid_of_tarth]

"You can't be hurt?" But that would make her an even more useful ally in seeking out the Stark girls. "Not even by a sword?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"I heal. Fast."

X considers how to explain this.

"Re-attaching severed limbs is not difficult, either. Explosions are also not problematic."

[harryhotspur]

"O, wondrous!" Harry cries. "A goodly magic, that!"

[maid_of_tarth]

"Can you share this magic with other people, or teach it?"

Brienne's asking for reasons.

[cutting_edgex23]

"It is not magic," X says, after a momentary pause.

"It is what I am."

Beat.

"I cannot teach people to be pale, either. Or to have black hair. Or green eyes."

[harryhotspur]

"A just reply," says Harry, though the ability to heal any wound still sounds a hell of a lot like magic to him. "But what more, madam, is to be done?"

[cutting_edgex23]

She is silent for a minute, watching both Harry and Brienne unblinkingly.

Then --

"I will think about how best to test you. In the field. In a way that will be useful."

Beat.

"Then I will tell you. When I know."

This pause is shorter.

"It will be soon."

[maid_of_tarth]

"Very well." Brienne does well at tests, if they're just; still, she is not looking forward to this one. She doesn't know what to expect from it. "Will this test require preparation?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"No."

X's response is swift.

"You will not have preparation for what Security business will require of you, either."

Beat.

"Sometimes that is annoying."

[harryhotspur]

"I mind it not-- a battle is often so," Harry says. "We shall await your word."

[maid_of_tarth]

Brienne nods. "You can leave a message for us with Bar, I suppose."

[cutting_edgex23]

"I can find you."

It's the truth.

"Sometimes notes are slow."

Beat.

"And we can talk now, too. About help. If you want it."

Later is also acceptable.

[maid_of_tarth]

"Yes," Brienne says immediately. "I thank you for offering. I only have one trustworthy ally in my world, and he's just a lad of twelve or thirteen. Any help would be most useful."

She hesitates. "My world is very different from Milliways. And probably from yours."

[harryhotspur]

"If there is aught that I may do, I will gladly do it," Harry adds. He knows Brienne is a fighter, but a woman, with only a child as a companion? No gentleman could let that stand.

(It's probably for the best that he leaves this thought unvoiced in the present company.)