"Mmmm, quite. At least there are those of us who can," Adam said, a vague amusement in the echoing of her reply. There really wasn't much to be said on that beyond her understanding exactly what he had been talking about. It was hard to tell whether she had picked up exactly what he had meant by saying it, but only time could tell with that one. Either she was smart enough to know, or he'd have to clarify and realize that she wasn't worth the effort in the first place.
Peering silently at her as she explained her situation, Adam quirked an eyebrow, taking a sip of his drink as he examined her outfit. Oh, yes. Well, he could certainly see how things wouldn't have gone according to plan, even ending up here aside. He knew what sort of plans women had when they wore stuff like that. "You've still got the dress on," Adam said, a knowing smile crossing his face. "I think that makes it rather obvious things didn't go according to plan."
Could he even say stuff like that anymore? Ugh. He really hated this current century. Everyone was so damned touchy.
Okay. Clearly, he hadn't just been referring just to her ability with his crack about piecing themselves back together. That, she decided, was good to know. Granted that didn't mean he was necessarily referring to himself either, but something told Tracy that he quite likely was doing a mixture of both. Most people tended to use references to themselves when relating to others. It was just the nature of mankind, she supposed.
As this was not the right time nor place for deep thoughts regarding the human race, or to start analyzing whether the man she was looking at was capable of anything 'extraordinary' or not, she simply let the thoughts slide away for the time being. There would be plenty of time for contemplation later. Right now, she was speaking to someone who was definitely unique. Especially as his last comment resounded across the video feed.
Other women, she knew, would likely take offense. Either from the truth of the situation or, if that hadn't been their plans, the insinuation that it was. Tracy, however, wasn't like most other women. She made no excuses for the things that she did - usually - and she certainly felt no shame at using her... more appealing aspects to get what she wanted. The world was an oyster for those with enough motivation to take it, and sometimes that motivation didn't entail grabbing the bull by the horns but rather letting the bull think it was calling the shots while you whispered in its ear on the sidelines.
So rather than snap at him, or end the conversation, or start screeching about sexual harassment and all that crap, Tracy simply... laughed. A low chuckle, born of amusement, that even made her eyes sparkle with honest enjoyment of the comment. It had been a while since someone had actually called her out on just how she 'aided' the Governor most times. It felt good, almost, to hear it happen again.
"Not for his lack of trying, I can assure you," she stated after a second. "Unfortunately for him, I decided he just didn't have quite what I was looking for anymore." Yes, more vague references, but she was hardly going to air her dirty laundry for a relative stranger.
"I'm Tracy, by the way. Tracy Strauss." And introducing herself, she decided after the fact, was at least one way to possibly change this whole stranger status.
"Bigger fish in the sea, hm?" Adam asked, a quirk of a grin on his face. Oh, he liked this one. She didn't shy away or blush like some kind of feigning virgin, and she didn't take his comment to be more than it was, that being simply a comment as to the appearance of the situation. She was clearly a woman who knew what she wanted and had the strength to stand up for it, and if there was anyone in this place that knew what women like that could be like, it was Adam. He had his type, after all. Taking another sip of his drink, Adam chuckled at Tracy before nodding to her.
"Adam Monroe," He said, saluting her with his drink. "Pleasure's all mine, I'm sure. So. What unfortunately reality are you getting plucked from?"
"Something like that, yeah," Tracy replied easily enough. That wasn't too telling. Then again, it wasn't exactly accurate either. She shrugged again. "He wanted to stomp all over the masses. I've had about enough stomping to last me a lifetime." There. That was better. It felt less like a lie, which was her new goal in life. Lie less, trust more, a couple of other touchy-feely platitudes that still made her want to roll her eyes and scoff but also helped her sleep better at night.
Adam Monroe. She committed the name to memory. Something told her that it would be a good one to know. He certainly seemed like someone she could get along with, at least. Of course time was always the true test for these things, but he definitely wasn't like anyone else that she'd chatted with thus far. And he didn't seem like one of those men who were irritated by her being self-assertive and female at the same time. That was rare, and always a plus.
She blinked at his next question, however, for a moment not quite sure how to answer. "I didn't know every reality had its own name now," she half-joked as she tried to figure out the best way to explain where home was, for her. Finally she went for what she'd figured out about this place so far. "But, Earth, for starters."
That was still going to take some getting used to. Another planet. An underground city. Part of Tracy thought she was going to wake up any second now. Another part of her knew that she wouldn't, though.
"So far, I've talked to one person from 'back home', and was told two others are here." She shrugged ever so slightly. "So if you know who Peter or Nathan Petrelli are, then you know where I'm from." And if he didn't? Tracy wasn't sure what else she could say to explain herself. So here was hoping he at least knew who they were from their time here.
Petrelli. Adam laughed. He couldn't help it. It really was a horribly small world, one that the Petrellis seemed to be the immovable center of. Managing to choke down his laughter, Adam just grinned at Tracy, "I certainly hope you were spared the pains of association with their old man. Not that Nathan is any better," Adam mumbled, snorting as he took another drink. "Peter at least has some semblance of the conscience that his mother used to."
That also explained the dripping that he stopped when she first arrived. Apparently she had yet to get a grip on the emotional aspect of her ability yet which pointed to it being rather fresh.
"I'm going to guess you're new to this whole thing, then," Adam asked. "If you're still doing the spontaneous meltdown bit."
Clearly he knew who they were, Tracy realized. She was a little surprised at his reaction, at least until he spoke again. Ah. He knew them. That explained it, then.
"Oh, I had the misfortune of knowing Arthur," she replied with a humorless sort of smile. She didn't elaborate much beyond that. Let him draw his own conclusions. She wasn't necessarily proud of the things she'd done, the deal she'd made, when it came to the patriarch of the Petrelli line. However, she wasn't going to make any apologies for any of it either. It had happened and there wasn't any changing it. She likely wouldn't, even if she could.
"I was hired to get Nathan elected Senator," she finally elaborated a bit. "That's what introduced me to that particular family. A job that I thought, at the time, would be fairly simplistic. He was all but a sure-thing." She snorted and shook her head. "He got the position but, well, things got... complicated, after that."
Again she failed to elaborate, instead merely quirking an eyebrow at his last comment. The fingers on her right hand tightened into a fist briefly before she relaxed them. Discussing her ability might have gotten easier with time, but she'd certainly suffered enough solely for possessing it. Having someone she barely knew comment on the bits that she didn't yet have under control wasn't something she was quite sure how to handle. Finally she opted for the truth. Apparently, this was going to be a new theme of hers. At least where Adam was concerned, for the time being.
"I had it under control well enough, more or less," she said slowly, contemplative. "Then it changed. Evolved. Something. Now," she sighed softly. "Spontaneous meltdown is probably a nice way of putting it." She re-focused solely on him, deciding she'd done enough sharing for the time being.
"What about you?" There was no pointed question asked. Let him take it how he wanted. Information was information. What he chose to share was his decision.
Well, that was certainly an explanation, and Adam was sure that complicated was only the half of it. But he wasn't about to push for answers that he could always find out later. Instead, Adam just finished off his drink, chugging the last liquid that was in the glass before smashing it against the bar, leaving a jagged shard of glass clenched in his hand that he sliced against his forearm and held it up to the tablet as the injury stitched itself back together almost instantly.
"These things tend to evolve in ways that we don't expect," Adam said, tossing the shards of glass into the bin behind the bar. "Sometimes in ways that make them so much less manageable than they once were. The first step is getting control of the emotions. When we control ourselves, we can control the ability a lot better."
Adam just smiled after a moment, chuckling himself, "Granted, I'm saying this mostly from observation. There's only been one evolution to my ability so far, and...while unexpected and uncontrollable, it has nothing to do with my emotions."
Whatever she had been expecting Adam to say or do, having him cut his own arm was certainly not it. She went still at the movement, watching as the wound healed. Her eyebrows rose a bit. "I bet that comes in handy," she commented almost idly before smiling.
"Less manageable works. I went from freezing things to, well, water manipulation in general I guess. It's more than that, though. I-" She hesitated, finally admitting something out loud that she had yet to do. "Hell, I'm not sure what it is. I just know that it's not what it used to be." She wasn't what she used to be, if she was being completely honest. The minute Danko had put a bullet in her, the moment she'd shattered, something inside of her had snapped and she wasn't sure if she'd ever get back to how she'd been before that happened.
She was fairly sure, though, that she almost didn't want to go back to who she'd once been.
"And now I have to ask," she tacked on almost as an afterthought, always the deft one at returning conversations back on someone else. "What could yours have possibly evolve into?"
"When cells regenerate so often, it gets to the point where they just stop decaying," Adam said as he looked up at the image, a bitter smile on his face. "That is, my physical age became arrested at the age I was when my ability first manifested. I'm eternally twenty-six. Proceed with your jealousy," Adam said, snorting as he leaned over the bar, plucking a bottle from the mini fridge underneath it.
Eternally twenty-six. Essentially, he was immortal. Tracy waited until he'd grabbed the bottle he'd been reaching for before responding. When she did, as per typical for her in most situations, it was a far cry from the norm that others might respond with.
"Wow," she said, almost flatly although there was a hint of sympathy in her tone, "that has to suck. Who in the hell wants to actually live forever?"
Granted, she knew that he wasn't the only person from their reality who was saddled with such a burden. However she wasn't in the habit of spilling the secrets of others without a good reason, and a friendly conversation was hardly a justifiable cause. So she kept what little she did know to herself. For now, at least.
Well. That was surprising. Most people were envious because they didn't have a sheer understanding of just what living forever would really entail. While this one likely didn't have a true understanding of it, she at least was smart enough to realize that it wasn't all wondrous like most people assumed.
"Someone very stupid with no true grasp on what it would mean," Adam said, taking a long swig out of the beer before glaring at it. "I can't even get drunk to make it all a little more bearable."
Not like that meant he was going to stop trying. Maybe one day he'd get lucky.
The sympathy that had been only vaguely present in her tone a moment ago flashed across her face. "That really sucks," she intoned. "And here I thought becoming liquefied when things got hectic was bad."
It really wasn't even close to the same, in comparison. Of course, she didn't compare her issues to those of others. She was suffering. Whether she was suffering as much at someone else might be was irrelevant. She was suffering, and she wanted to figure out a way to control it so it would stop.
"So," she spoke up after a second, brushing some hair absently away from her shoulder. "You're eternally twenty-six. How long ago did you turn twenty-six, then?" She flashed him a grin. "If you don't mind me asking, of course."
"Three hundred and...thirty-five years ago, I think," Adam said, squinting his eyes as he tried to do the math that was required. He'd had so many different birthdays over the years, Adam wasn't sure anymore exactly which one was his original one. Too many years, too much information, some things got jumbled after awhile. "It was the 17th century. I do remember that much," He said, taking another swig out of his beer. "I was born just before the end of the Thirty Years War."
Three hundred and thirty-five? Even Tracy, who was good at hiding her reactions, was unable to keep the slight flicker of surprise from appearing on her face at his answer. The expression was gone as quickly as it had appeared, of course, but it had definitely been there.
"Well," she finally mused after a second. Whatever shock she'd felt had either been squashed or was well-hidden. Her tone was once again calm and collected, a hint of dark humor lacing her words, "it could be worse, I guess. At least your ability kicked in when you were twenty-six and not eighty."
Never let it be said that Tracy wasn't capable of finding the silver lining of most any cloud. Provided that cloud was over the head of someone else and not hers.
"Shame that I had to get shot in the chest with half a dozen arrows in order for it to kick in," Adam said with a vague laugh. Shot for something that Hiro had done. Corrupted by something that Hiro had done. Caged by Hiro in a prison that had killed him over and over again until he'd been broken free with the intention of being used.
Then again, part of him almost wished he'd just stayed with Hiro. Whatever Angie had had in mind for him couldn't have been even half as bad as what Arthur had.
"But it could always get worse. That's always a possibility until we die," Adam said with a bitter chuckle. "There's always farther down that we can fall. Rock bottom? Just a myth."
Tracy knew that he was right, but also didn't see the point in agreeing with him in so many words. Obviously he'd been around more than long enough to learn that tough lesson, probably a few times over. He hardly needed confirmation from her to know that what he said was the truth.
So instead she smirked a bit, allowing a touch more of her inherently sarcastic, somewhat macabre nature to shine through. "Careful," she said, tone ringing of warning that was clearly faked the moment she continued. "Keep talking like that and someone might think that you're not optimistic by nature. God knows we can't have an actual realist running around. Whatever would others do if they couldn't live in their perfectly constructed little bubbles of positive thinking?"
Brushing a few strands of hair away from her shoulder, she continued to grin a bit as she added in a more natural sounding tone, "Although personally speaking, I do hope the government considering me a terrorist is about as low as I'm going to fall for a while. Yes, I know, I'm not being overly realistic but a girl can dream, at least."
Peering silently at her as she explained her situation, Adam quirked an eyebrow, taking a sip of his drink as he examined her outfit. Oh, yes. Well, he could certainly see how things wouldn't have gone according to plan, even ending up here aside. He knew what sort of plans women had when they wore stuff like that. "You've still got the dress on," Adam said, a knowing smile crossing his face. "I think that makes it rather obvious things didn't go according to plan."
Could he even say stuff like that anymore? Ugh. He really hated this current century. Everyone was so damned touchy.
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As this was not the right time nor place for deep thoughts regarding the human race, or to start analyzing whether the man she was looking at was capable of anything 'extraordinary' or not, she simply let the thoughts slide away for the time being. There would be plenty of time for contemplation later. Right now, she was speaking to someone who was definitely unique. Especially as his last comment resounded across the video feed.
Other women, she knew, would likely take offense. Either from the truth of the situation or, if that hadn't been their plans, the insinuation that it was. Tracy, however, wasn't like most other women. She made no excuses for the things that she did - usually - and she certainly felt no shame at using her... more appealing aspects to get what she wanted. The world was an oyster for those with enough motivation to take it, and sometimes that motivation didn't entail grabbing the bull by the horns but rather letting the bull think it was calling the shots while you whispered in its ear on the sidelines.
So rather than snap at him, or end the conversation, or start screeching about sexual harassment and all that crap, Tracy simply... laughed. A low chuckle, born of amusement, that even made her eyes sparkle with honest enjoyment of the comment. It had been a while since someone had actually called her out on just how she 'aided' the Governor most times. It felt good, almost, to hear it happen again.
"Not for his lack of trying, I can assure you," she stated after a second. "Unfortunately for him, I decided he just didn't have quite what I was looking for anymore." Yes, more vague references, but she was hardly going to air her dirty laundry for a relative stranger.
"I'm Tracy, by the way. Tracy Strauss." And introducing herself, she decided after the fact, was at least one way to possibly change this whole stranger status.
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"Adam Monroe," He said, saluting her with his drink. "Pleasure's all mine, I'm sure. So. What unfortunately reality are you getting plucked from?"
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Adam Monroe. She committed the name to memory. Something told her that it would be a good one to know. He certainly seemed like someone she could get along with, at least. Of course time was always the true test for these things, but he definitely wasn't like anyone else that she'd chatted with thus far. And he didn't seem like one of those men who were irritated by her being self-assertive and female at the same time. That was rare, and always a plus.
She blinked at his next question, however, for a moment not quite sure how to answer. "I didn't know every reality had its own name now," she half-joked as she tried to figure out the best way to explain where home was, for her. Finally she went for what she'd figured out about this place so far. "But, Earth, for starters."
That was still going to take some getting used to. Another planet. An underground city. Part of Tracy thought she was going to wake up any second now. Another part of her knew that she wouldn't, though.
"So far, I've talked to one person from 'back home', and was told two others are here." She shrugged ever so slightly. "So if you know who Peter or Nathan Petrelli are, then you know where I'm from." And if he didn't? Tracy wasn't sure what else she could say to explain herself. So here was hoping he at least knew who they were from their time here.
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That also explained the dripping that he stopped when she first arrived. Apparently she had yet to get a grip on the emotional aspect of her ability yet which pointed to it being rather fresh.
"I'm going to guess you're new to this whole thing, then," Adam asked. "If you're still doing the spontaneous meltdown bit."
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"Oh, I had the misfortune of knowing Arthur," she replied with a humorless sort of smile. She didn't elaborate much beyond that. Let him draw his own conclusions. She wasn't necessarily proud of the things she'd done, the deal she'd made, when it came to the patriarch of the Petrelli line. However, she wasn't going to make any apologies for any of it either. It had happened and there wasn't any changing it. She likely wouldn't, even if she could.
"I was hired to get Nathan elected Senator," she finally elaborated a bit. "That's what introduced me to that particular family. A job that I thought, at the time, would be fairly simplistic. He was all but a sure-thing." She snorted and shook her head. "He got the position but, well, things got... complicated, after that."
Again she failed to elaborate, instead merely quirking an eyebrow at his last comment. The fingers on her right hand tightened into a fist briefly before she relaxed them. Discussing her ability might have gotten easier with time, but she'd certainly suffered enough solely for possessing it. Having someone she barely knew comment on the bits that she didn't yet have under control wasn't something she was quite sure how to handle. Finally she opted for the truth. Apparently, this was going to be a new theme of hers. At least where Adam was concerned, for the time being.
"I had it under control well enough, more or less," she said slowly, contemplative. "Then it changed. Evolved. Something. Now," she sighed softly. "Spontaneous meltdown is probably a nice way of putting it." She re-focused solely on him, deciding she'd done enough sharing for the time being.
"What about you?" There was no pointed question asked. Let him take it how he wanted. Information was information. What he chose to share was his decision.
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"These things tend to evolve in ways that we don't expect," Adam said, tossing the shards of glass into the bin behind the bar. "Sometimes in ways that make them so much less manageable than they once were. The first step is getting control of the emotions. When we control ourselves, we can control the ability a lot better."
Adam just smiled after a moment, chuckling himself, "Granted, I'm saying this mostly from observation. There's only been one evolution to my ability so far, and...while unexpected and uncontrollable, it has nothing to do with my emotions."
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"Less manageable works. I went from freezing things to, well, water manipulation in general I guess. It's more than that, though. I-" She hesitated, finally admitting something out loud that she had yet to do. "Hell, I'm not sure what it is. I just know that it's not what it used to be." She wasn't what she used to be, if she was being completely honest. The minute Danko had put a bullet in her, the moment she'd shattered, something inside of her had snapped and she wasn't sure if she'd ever get back to how she'd been before that happened.
She was fairly sure, though, that she almost didn't want to go back to who she'd once been.
"And now I have to ask," she tacked on almost as an afterthought, always the deft one at returning conversations back on someone else. "What could yours have possibly evolve into?"
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"Wow," she said, almost flatly although there was a hint of sympathy in her tone, "that has to suck. Who in the hell wants to actually live forever?"
Granted, she knew that he wasn't the only person from their reality who was saddled with such a burden. However she wasn't in the habit of spilling the secrets of others without a good reason, and a friendly conversation was hardly a justifiable cause. So she kept what little she did know to herself. For now, at least.
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"Someone very stupid with no true grasp on what it would mean," Adam said, taking a long swig out of the beer before glaring at it. "I can't even get drunk to make it all a little more bearable."
Not like that meant he was going to stop trying. Maybe one day he'd get lucky.
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It really wasn't even close to the same, in comparison. Of course, she didn't compare her issues to those of others. She was suffering. Whether she was suffering as much at someone else might be was irrelevant. She was suffering, and she wanted to figure out a way to control it so it would stop.
"So," she spoke up after a second, brushing some hair absently away from her shoulder. "You're eternally twenty-six. How long ago did you turn twenty-six, then?" She flashed him a grin. "If you don't mind me asking, of course."
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"Well," she finally mused after a second. Whatever shock she'd felt had either been squashed or was well-hidden. Her tone was once again calm and collected, a hint of dark humor lacing her words, "it could be worse, I guess. At least your ability kicked in when you were twenty-six and not eighty."
Never let it be said that Tracy wasn't capable of finding the silver lining of most any cloud. Provided that cloud was over the head of someone else and not hers.
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Then again, part of him almost wished he'd just stayed with Hiro. Whatever Angie had had in mind for him couldn't have been even half as bad as what Arthur had.
"But it could always get worse. That's always a possibility until we die," Adam said with a bitter chuckle. "There's always farther down that we can fall. Rock bottom? Just a myth."
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So instead she smirked a bit, allowing a touch more of her inherently sarcastic, somewhat macabre nature to shine through. "Careful," she said, tone ringing of warning that was clearly faked the moment she continued. "Keep talking like that and someone might think that you're not optimistic by nature. God knows we can't have an actual realist running around. Whatever would others do if they couldn't live in their perfectly constructed little bubbles of positive thinking?"
Brushing a few strands of hair away from her shoulder, she continued to grin a bit as she added in a more natural sounding tone, "Although personally speaking, I do hope the government considering me a terrorist is about as low as I'm going to fall for a while. Yes, I know, I'm not being overly realistic but a girl can dream, at least."
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