[ It's not that he can read minds, it's more that he's beginning to see some things in Yelena he things he can figure out. That certain... hunger of a person who has not been able to just be. He sees it in Bucky, too, sometimes, though Bucky tends to be more surprised when he realizes he's being allowed to be a person. Yelena seems to have a hunger for experience. So... ]
I'll take you sometime, get you that drink. 'cause it is gross. Bet you'd love it.
[ All joking aside though, Sam settles in to listen here. Hands loosely clasped around the mug, attention fully on her. ]
No, you're not.
[ Gentle, that one. He doesn't mean it as an insult - it's not a compliment by default either. Just a fact - she's not like Natasha just because they come from the same place. Natasha was out for a long time in which Yelena was not.
Sam keeps his posture relaxed, not expectant. He knows how to set the tone of his body language to invite conversation without demanding it. Tries to signal to her that he's here and listening, but leaves the choice up to her. ]
[She makes a mental note of the offer, because she will absolutely take him up on it if she gets the chance.
For now she stirs her coffee, watching the glitter twinkle before she continues.]
She was always kind of heroic, you know. When they came to take us back to the Red Room, she tried to protect me. I wasn’t like that. My experience was different.
[Natasha had known about the Red Room and had some time to learn independence in Ohio, and then later after she got out. Yelena had thought she was a normal little girl until suddenly she just wasn’t any more.]
I’ve been killing people since I was a little girl, and after Natasha got out, they tightened our leashes. They used chemicals to control us, both our actions and our emotions. I’m still not sure how I really feel about the things I’ve done. I’m not a hero. I’m not sure I want to be one.
I’m not sure of anything, except that I like dogs and pockets and bright colors.
[ Sam doesn't know as much about the Red Room as he does about the Winter Soldier program, on account of his work tailing Bucky, and Natasha carrying her wounds different than Bucky does. Some people think Bucky's hard to read, but that's not quite true. His emotions are right there, if you can bear to witness them. It's... not nice to hear this, because life has been impossibly unkind to this young woman, heaped unimaginable suffering onto her. And yet here she is - and she likes dogs and pockets and bright colors. Sam thinks he wants to love her a little for that alone, and wishes she knew how to let him. ]
You got room to figure it out. All of it, I mean - how to feel about what was done to you, what they made you do, what you wanna do now. Don't gotta have all the answers now.
[ She gets all the choices, now, like Bucky does. It's their damn prerogative, far as Sam's concerned. He shifts a little. ]
From what I hear, what you chose to do is bust the whole operation, right? Got the other girls out?
[About The Red Room and what they did to her, and the others. She knows that much. She doesn’t have to take any time to figure that out, at least. And she’s too blunt not to say it.
The corner of her mouth turns up when he brings up what happened to the Red Room, though.]
Yes, we destroyed it. Blew it right out of the sky.
[ No questions about it. There are some people on the station who have fooled themselves into thinking Sam is some sort of bleeding heart person who will have a long conversation with any opposition and try to take the non-violent approach all day, every day.
There's things you can't solve by talking. The Red Room is one such thing, no ifs and buts about it. ]
I'm glad you got to. Sorry you guys had to do it on your own, though. It's the kind of thing we should have helped with.
[ He contemplates their coffees for a moment. ]
After this. After the orbs, after we get back home. I'd like to stay in touch, assuming we remember our time here. Don't have to be work. Can just be coffee.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
I'll take you sometime, get you that drink. 'cause it is gross. Bet you'd love it.
[ All joking aside though, Sam settles in to listen here. Hands loosely clasped around the mug, attention fully on her. ]
No, you're not.
[ Gentle, that one. He doesn't mean it as an insult - it's not a compliment by default either. Just a fact - she's not like Natasha just because they come from the same place. Natasha was out for a long time in which Yelena was not.
Sam keeps his posture relaxed, not expectant. He knows how to set the tone of his body language to invite conversation without demanding it. Tries to signal to her that he's here and listening, but leaves the choice up to her. ]
no subject
For now she stirs her coffee, watching the glitter twinkle before she continues.]
She was always kind of heroic, you know. When they came to take us back to the Red Room, she tried to protect me. I wasn’t like that. My experience was different.
[Natasha had known about the Red Room and had some time to learn independence in Ohio, and then later after she got out. Yelena had thought she was a normal little girl until suddenly she just wasn’t any more.]
I’ve been killing people since I was a little girl, and after Natasha got out, they tightened our leashes. They used chemicals to control us, both our actions and our emotions. I’m still not sure how I really feel about the things I’ve done. I’m not a hero. I’m not sure I want to be one.
I’m not sure of anything, except that I like dogs and pockets and bright colors.
no subject
You got room to figure it out. All of it, I mean - how to feel about what was done to you, what they made you do, what you wanna do now. Don't gotta have all the answers now.
[ She gets all the choices, now, like Bucky does. It's their damn prerogative, far as Sam's concerned. He shifts a little. ]
From what I hear, what you chose to do is bust the whole operation, right? Got the other girls out?
no subject
[About The Red Room and what they did to her, and the others. She knows that much. She doesn’t have to take any time to figure that out, at least. And she’s too blunt not to say it.
The corner of her mouth turns up when he brings up what happened to the Red Room, though.]
Yes, we destroyed it. Blew it right out of the sky.
[It was very satisfying.]
no subject
[ No questions about it. There are some people on the station who have fooled themselves into thinking Sam is some sort of bleeding heart person who will have a long conversation with any opposition and try to take the non-violent approach all day, every day.
There's things you can't solve by talking. The Red Room is one such thing, no ifs and buts about it. ]
I'm glad you got to. Sorry you guys had to do it on your own, though. It's the kind of thing we should have helped with.
[ He contemplates their coffees for a moment. ]
After this. After the orbs, after we get back home. I'd like to stay in touch, assuming we remember our time here. Don't have to be work. Can just be coffee.