milliways_bar | (no subject)

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That was a faff that Helena would have rather not had to clean up after. However, everyone is back to as much normal as the Warehouse ever is, and she herself is ready to have a drink.

Thus, there's a Victorian sitting at the bar, straight-backed, and swirling a wooden drink-stirrer in a gin and tonic while writing something on a pile of papers.

She will help if anyone has spotted a ball, but she's trying not to be on the clock.

Still botherable.

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"Long day at the office, too?" Howard orders a scotch and soda.

"Quite, darling. We had a bit of a faff where Artifacts got loose, and a couple Agents were affected by them." She wrinkles her nose. "Be careful around the Bar, actually, a couple juggling balls got loose in here. They make you drunk if you touch them."

A long pause. "What about you? A lot going on for you as well?"

Howard gives the sort of puzzled look you give when you here that juggling bars can make you drunk. "I think I will stick with getting drunk the old fashioned way.

"And yes, a lot is going on. Between you, me and the Bar, I am holding down two jobs again."

"Oh, I would totally agree, darling. If you do wish to get drunk, it is much better to do it the typical way." She laughs, a bit lightly. "However, I do hear that you do not get a hangover with the balls. Trade off, I suppose."

She winces at his next words. "Oh, darling. That is not good at all. What all are you doing?"

"The agency I worked with during the war is being re-formed. Now a civilian agency reporting to the president. And since I was part of the old version, and since I am fairly well connected, I was tapped to be on the advisory council." Hard to say no to the president.

"Oh, well done, darling. Well, it's a shame that there's more work to be done, but it must be an honour to do something like that." But then again, there is quite a lot more work to be done. "What does something like that entail?"

"So far, it involves making sure the first field office is being organized right and then figuring who else is on the council. I was General Philips's pick and the president and Ike each got one. So now the three of us sit down and pick two more. And then meet about...something?" He still has no idea how much power the council should, or will, have.

"Ah, logistics." Helena nods. "Always important. Well, perhaps when you all get together, you will find a direction for your council. What sort of things are you supposed to be doing? I mean, do you have some sort of vague mission or vision?"

"Well, during the war, the SSR - Strategic Science Reserve - had the dual missions of developing new technologies for use in the war efforts and combating such technologies as were being developed by a branch of the Nazi war machine." As always, he glosses over both the super-soldier formula and the very existence of HYDRA. "I suspect the new agency will have at least the latter mandate, while also trying to keep the FBI or whatever other intelligence agencies are created from doing the same job."

"Sounds absolutely fascinating." She's not flippant about it. Her eyes are sparkling, and she's leaning forward a bit on her chair. "I've never wanted to get into military science..." other than a flash of horrific brilliance with those bombs that she rather wishes she had not written down. "however, that sounds very interesting. It is always good to be able to defend one's country against others who wish to take over." Especially if those people were as bad as the Nazis. She's been doing some reading.

"I'm certain that you and your colleagues will do quite well with that. Do you find it easier to make up your own technologies, or be reactionary against others?" She has a theory, but she's curious about others' ideas.

He's glad she buys into everything he's going to be selling. The Cold War that's coming is serious business. As is the likelihood that splinter cells of HYDRA agents are still active. Or waiting. But at some level, he can't help but feel that more bureaucracy means more headaches for Howard Stark, industrialist.

"I much prefer to be on the cutting edge myself instead of playing catch-up and trying to adapt something someone else invented. Not that I always get to choose. And not that both approaches aren't sometimes frustrating."

"Oh, I understand that, darling. Claudia and I have been working on some things together, and something similiar has come up for us, actually. I tend to make things up whole-cloth, as she would say, and she tends to take things and adapt them to what she needs. We're both working on things, but doing it in very different ways." A pause. "It does sound like you're keeping yourself good and busy, though. How is everything going after your war? Are people rebuilding well?"

"It's a long process, and from what I hear, it's not going entirely well in some parts of Europe. And there has been a lot of political upheaval. Your compatriots in the UK actually kicked the man who won the war for you out of office at the first chance. Winston deserved better." Yes, Howard is on a first name basis with Churchill.

"Of course they did." Helena rolls her eyes. "I have never truly understood my countrymen. They say they are the best in the world, and then they treat people like absolute rubbish." She sighs. "Of course they kicked out the person who won the war. I'm sure he did something wrong."

"I tried to make heads or tails of it - I was still there during the elections - but none of it made a lot of sense to me. Aside from, he was getting old and it was time for a change.

"He's still plugging away, though. He even gave a fairly important speech in the US earlier in the year." Howard saw the Movietone News footage.

"Elections are terrible things, darling. Public opinion gets swayed this way and that, due to the capriciousness of men." And yes, to her it is men. Women were a good decade from the vote when she was taken out of commission.

"Well, that is something at least. Perhaps opinion will swing back in his favour as time goes on. It has happened before."

"It might. For all I know, it will. But frankly, I prefer to steer clear of politics.

"Which is wishful thinking when you have to deal with the government all the time in two different jobs.

"Sometimes I wish I could just hide in the lab or my plane, and let someone else be Howard Stark." Which he knows is not to be.

"Oh, dear." Helena wrinkles her nose. "Even if I had been able to enter into politics, I was quite glad to ignore it as much as I could."

A pause. "Is there any way you can take time to yourself? Once things are set up, can you take a vacation of some sort?" A pause. "I wish I could take you back to my world, but it might be a bit difficult, as you would see quite a lot of the future, even if it is a different future."

"I think my Halloween party visit is about as much as I can do." He's accepted the folly of glimpsing a possible future. Either there is unfair advantage, or the foreknowledge would lead him to change things so much that the future he saw couldn't be the future he lives.

"As for a vacation...I am due one. In some sense, I haven't really had one since 1941. But the boss is hard pressed all the time."

"Alas. It was good to have you there, however." She smiles hugely. "I wish I could take you around more, but I do understand."

A pause. "I do understand that as well, darling. There have been times that I have not had a true break in too long. Hopefully you will be able to take some time soon. I dare say you need and have earned one."

"Would you consider taking a long weekend trip with me somewhere? A getaway for both of us to Palm Springs or Catalina or anywhere in flying distance?" He asks casually. No pressure. Just an idea worth sharing.

"Oh, that would be lovely, darling!" She grins. "I dare say I could use the time away myself. It gets a bit stagnant sometimes in South Dakota, no matter how interesting things get at the Warehouse."

"Then I will have to look into a good weekend. Maybe around Thanksgiving? Have you learned about that holiday yet?" As a goodwill gesture to the workers and the unions, Stark Industries closes for the whole four days. It's the only time of the year that everything shuts down for four days.

"I have, yes." Helena nods. "It was not such a thing in my time, but I have been in the modern time enough to pick up on it." Frankly, she finds it amusing and a bit quaint, however, it means quite a lot to a lot of people. "It is in a few weeks in my time, I believe." A smile. "That sounds like a fantastic time to get away."

"I will have to look at some options." And he still owes her a night at a gala, but this might be better. More private. "You like the beach, or the desert? Or neither?"