goldsteins | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Tina Goldstein is so very used to being alone these days. The Oceanview Apartment is near as empty as it was on the day she arrived of personal effects, and she stays there rarely. It's too big for her by herself after years in a small brownstone with her sister, but worse it's lonely. A constant reminder that Queenie was nowhere to be found and for the first time in her twenty-five years the older Goldstein was utterly alone.

She spent hours in the library studying topics she didn't dream of for want of something to do. And if she wasn't doing that she picked up whatever private investigation work she could, but it wasn't the same. She managed, but she couldn't say she she flourished at all in Darrow-- Though there was one special part of it the woman held close to her heart.

A new, blossoming courtship with one Newt Scamander. Officially.

Despite any logical thought it was a bad idea to get into, Tina held onto the fluttering fledgling of hope that perched on her shoulder. One or both of them might disappear and then what-- would their experiences here matter? It's not a thought she allows to captivate her, instead forcing herself to live in the moment. She wasn't the type of woman to get caught up in self-pity and, at the very least, she wasn't utterly alone-- It was a fact she wrestled with quite often.

Newt wasn't the only one within Darrow she cared for, though he was the one to take up most of her attention (and perhaps rightfully so). She might keep most often to herself, but she tries to be amicable when she meets others. Only one so far seemed to manage to brush passed prickly defenses and, despite her nosiness on some affairs, Tina finds herself grateful for the other woman. She still kept much of herself private, but then she kept her life in Darrow separate from the one at home on purpose. Her laws might not exist here, but she feels more stable if she keeps to herself all the same.

Briefly though it was Peggy Carter was the only person in Darrow who knew anything of her magic-- Well. anyone she chose to know about it anyway. Even that little bit was a symbol of trust she's still hesitant to shine anymore light on, but she finds it doesn't matter either-- She's grown used to the other woman's company and their apparent unspoken decision to meet for coffee once a week.

Though this particular excursion she was all but dreading. February had ended it and with it came the early days of March, but it was neither of those things that made her wary but the event that took place during the time that the pair hadn't met. Tina's all too aware that Peggy wanted to hear the details of her date with Newt, but she's far from one to speak about any such personal affairs and can only hope that the other woman coincidentally forgot.

Of course, she was rarely ever that lucky so she was prepared to change subjects (or she hoped she was).

Shaking her head to herself, she drew a breath as she found her way into the increasingly familiar cafe. A glance around tells her she's the first to arrive, but then she expected that, too. She had a tendency to leave early and enjoyed the time it meant to read to herself and enjoy a warm cup of drink. She does just that, ordering two cups of coffee before settling in, book in hand, to wait for the other woman to appear.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Peggy's been out and about to collect her prize from the party from Magnus, though with that handy little vial of potion tucked away in her purse, she heads to meet up with Tina at their agreed upon location, grateful for the opportunity to be out for something that isn't with Daniel and isn't a work related endeavour. While she's glad to have Dutch and John, as well as several of the others, she does find herself often feeling like she's simply falling into old habits and not putting herself out there as much as she should.

It's why she's quite grateful when Tina wants to meet. Arriving at the cafe, Peggy heads towards Tina's table, sitting down after she settles her coat on the chair behind her. "Now," she says, eyes glimmering with the determination of a woman who intends to get answers. "Should we even begin to bother with small talk? I really only want to get straight to the important question of how things went with your man."

Tina only half glances up when the other woman arrives, turning her attention to the sentence before her while the other settles in. Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, she shut the book having expected nothing less than what Peggy said. Pushing it to the side, she moved instead for her coffee one brow arched high in objection.

"And if I were to say nothing happened so you'll have to settle for small talk?" She questioned before bringing the cup to her lips careful to mask her expression.

"I hope you don't think I would fall for anything so mild of an attempt," Peggy chastises as she sits down, seeing as there would be far more disappointment evident on Tina's face, were nothing to have happened at all. Seeing as she looks ready to talk (and did invite her here, after all), then Peggy would simply slip into an interrogation mode, if necessary.

"I dislike small talk," she says simply, "most of the time, it's simply avoiding the point."

Tina shrugged her shoulders, tasting the coffee before she returned it to the table. "If you knew Newt you'd know that nothing advancing is quite likely," She countered, with frankness, "it's usually me having to nudge us forward and I'm not the best at it either."

She doesn't lie when she speaks, but in some ways, it felt as if she was testing the waters. Tina's never been one to talk about herself and that hasn't changed. "We're courting," She added, after a moment, "if that satisfies your curiosity."

"It does, to a degree," Peggy admits, because it's good to hear that, but on the other hand, it does sound like Tina isn't entirely happy with the fact that the courting is only happening because one person is driving it forward (and it happens to be her).

"I don't know Newt all that much," she admits bluntly. "If you feel like telling me about him, perhaps I might better understand why he's not the one to move it forward."

"It's not just him," She emphasized almost immediately, "it's sort of both of us, in a way."

The woman pressed her lips together and ran a thumb over the top of her mug. She wasn't upset with it, disappointed sometimes and more than a little self-conscious perhaps. "Neither of us are very good with people, for our own reasons. Newt especially so, but it's not my business to share nor's it something I ask him much about," She continued lips curving downwards, "it has been me nudging us forward bit-by-bit, but it encourages Newt too and I'm fine with that."

It wasn't a lie.

"I'm not entirely certain we'd be where we are now without... unfortunate outside influences," She admitted into her cup before she continued by way of explanation, "when I first arrived here there was a mishap with something that made us speak the truth. He actually avoided me a while after that, up 'til the Kaguya incident with that stupid mistletoe."

She huffed out a breath and picked up the drink once more. "I am happy with it, though, don't get me wrong," She added idly, "Newt was the first person to see me in a very long time." Far more than she usually said, but she didn't want Peggy to get the wrong idea either-- Mixed up, in short bursts, and entirely awkward it may have been but Tina was happy with any progression with Newt.

Peggy listens as she keeps quiet, not leading Tina on with answers. She's learned that the easiest and best way to get information from someone is to lead them in the right direction and then allow them to do the rest of the talking. That way, she's not informing what she wants Tina to tell her, which is the best way to do this.

"I can very much understand being in a difficult circumstance, romantically," she admits cautiously. "I was in one myself," she says, not wanting to give away too much of her own life, but it does bear some comparison. "I suppose it comes down to how much you're willing to lose out on unless you push."

"That said, I think you already know all this, given that you pushed," she says with a warm smile, given that they've been on a date. "Did it go well, though? Regardless of who was pushing for what?"

She shook her head, letting out a puff of breath. "In this case I don't think we've lost anything," She responded, furrowing her brows, "it hasn't been all that long for us to be too worried yet."

Tina looked partly amused at the question. Turning her eyes to the book she'd been reading for a brief moment she raised and lowered her shoulders. "I think it went well," She answered, "and that should count for something. We went for dinner at one of the restaurants near the beach."

"That sounds lovely," Peggy admits, wondering if she's been missing out on restaurants. She doesn't often go out to eat, still feeling a pang of guilt when she does that absolutely has to do with the rationing from the war, even though they're quite removed from it at this point. "Whose idea was it, to go to that restaurant?"

She thinks it's likely Tina's, but you never know when a man might be secretly romantic, like that. "Did he bring flowers?"

"Mercy Lewis, no," Tina answered with a breath of a laugh, shaking her head, "I don't like spending that kind of money. I wouldn't have suggested it." She doesn't like spending any kind of money on herself, especially for a fancy restaurant and especially someone else for her.

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she nodded coloring only slightly. "Though they'll probably die soon, knowing me."

That makes the date even sweeter, as far as Peggy is concerned. Perhaps she has a low bar for men when it comes to expectations (with Howard on the outside like an outlier given his tendency to throw money around), but the prospect of Newt choosing something lovely, that means he's making an effort.

"So there were flowers," she says, latching onto that. "There are a few florists around, if you want to keep them alive. I'm sure they could help with a few tips. Or he could simply make it a habit to keep bringing new ones," she jokes.

"I'd rather he didn't," She mentioned, mostly to herself. Wrapping her hands around her cup, Tina breathed out before adding, "it's not that I don't appreciate it, but it seems like such a waste. And I don't want him thinking I want anything from him. Not like that."

She also hated people putting a lot of attention on her, but that wasn't something she was about to say. She twisted a strand of hair away. "Honestly," Tina laughed, half at herself, "I'm starting to think the more romantic of the pair of us is him. I'm not one to make a fuss about much."

"I wasn't either, not before I started to date Daniel," Peggy admits, thinking that this all sounds terribly familiar to her. "I began to appreciate the gestures and the act of dating, though, because it was something new to me."

"That, and I finally let myself believe that I could be with a man and enjoy a relationship, romantically, while not being judged to be nothing more than a silly woman," Peggy says, still finding it hard, at times, to be able to shake off that wariness and expectation of her time.

Tina listened as Peggy spoke, careful to give her the same attention she had afforded her. She thought she had been silly about everything, but to hear someone else had felt something similar was a bit of a relief.

"I suppose I'm lucky there," She reported idly after a moment, "I didn't care much what anyone else thought about me, so long as I did my job right. And I did." She said firmly, because regardless of all else she may not be proud she'd been demoted but she knew she had been right.

The woman frowned to herself. "I've just seen no need for it," She added with a shrug, "but then I've always had my priorities elsewhere." And here in Darrow, for the first time in a very long time, she was able to focus on herself-- Not Queenie, or work, or Credence. Just Tina. It was odd.

"I didn't want to give them any reason to think me silly and foolish, but, then, there were other circumstances," she says, given that no matter who she had in her corner, she could hardly ever escape the stigma that she had only gotten as far as she had because of being in a something with Steve.

"Are you working here?" Peggy asks, sipping at her cup of tea as she dabs at her lipstick, careful not to smudge it. "Something like what you did at home?"

What Peggy spoke of wasn't something she really had difficulties with. Sure, it was odd and difficult to be a woman as an Auror, but no one harassed her about it. It wasn't the first time she was grateful to be born in the society she was, with its woman president. The same sort of gender bias didn't exist for them that it did for the No-Majs.

"No," She answered the permanent frown remaining fixed on her features, "I don't think I'll ever have anything like it here."

The woman shrugged her shoulders, drawing her attention to the drink before her. She considered an explanation of why with a breath. Newt kept talking about magic to others, so it's not like it's a secret. Even others used it so carelessly. But she came from a society that lived in fear of what the no-majs might do should the find out.

Yet, then, Peggy didn't have a too bad reaction before. "I work for MACUSA, Major Investigations Department," She tried, pausing briefly, "Magical Congress of the United States of America."

"There's no good no-maj--non-wizard equivalent of what we do to explain it. Police officers is a decent start, but given what I've seen of what those lots do it's... not the best description, either."

There's a glimmer on Peggy's face that might be disbelief, but that's unfortunately the product of having only come around to alien artifacts and magic at a recent point in her life, but she's been witness to too many things to admit that it's anything but possible. Imagining it on such a large scale, of course, is a surprise to her, something that she hadn't considered before, even though it seems silly not to.

"There are supernatural creatures here," she confirms, seeing as she's seen more than her fair share of them. "I'm not entirely sure that anyone has taken it upon themselves to organize and police, though I also don't know if they're the same as what you're used to dealing with."

Tina kept her eyes on her drink rather than the woman before her. It'd be better to watch for a reaction she knew all too well, but some part of her didn't want to find out the trust she'd given was ill-put. When Peggy said nothing on the matter she let out a breath before she shook her head.

"That's a terrible idea," She answered automatically before she winced and tried to explain.

"There's a few of us here from my home, but they have been here longer than myself. They've used magic freely and ignored our laws. It's not just them, there are others just as comfortable using their powers however they see fit," She frowned to herself-- the concept still as foreign to her from the day she arrived. "They wouldn't take kindly to someone trying to police them in a realm not their own, especially if they never were before. The only thing I can do is try and prevent somethin' from happening."

"And what could happen?" That's where Peggy's concerns kick in. After all, she doesn't want to imagine what might happen if there was to be some sort of abuse of power and that seems always possible. Perhaps she should be relieved to think that there are those who would stop it, but she's not sure that it does enough to quiet her worries.

"I suppose the other question is whether there are any laws at all," she says, thinking that they might have advanced since Tina's time. "I don't like thinking that everyone else is following rules meant to instill a sense of discipline, but whole swaths of people might simply be getting away with using powers."

Tina's frown remained ever present. Peggy's questions were ones that she'd been grappling with since she arrived in Darrow. So far as she had seen magic wasn't used against people too often. But she also knew at those holiday parties there happened to be magic used on things to affect people-- Something that unsettled her to a number of degrees.

"Depends on the magic," She answered grimly with a shake of her head, "but to hear others tell it there is no laws here on magic. Which is why some of 'em use it a bit carelessly."

Tina tapped the side of her cup in thought before adding. "In America using magic in front of your kind, non-wizards could be punishable by death. We're not supposed to talk to you, either," She grimaced-- part of the reason she was so hesitant to speak to people here was that, "but we're under those laws cause of our history, to protect ourselves. There's still all sorts of laws based on how to use magic. There's the unforgivable curses, for example-- use of that will get use just the same."

"Here in Darrow, though," Tina added, "everyone seems to think it's some sort of safe haven for those with magic to do what they want." And from her tone she simply can't agree.

Everything that Tina is saying isn't doing much to assuage Peggy's worry about the use of magic in a place like this. If she's honest, she'd like to believe that they can self-control themselves, but honestly? Well, honestly, she's of the opinion that it's not likely to go over well because something will happen when someone believes themselves to be above all laws and doesn't have a conscience to speak of.

"Shouldn't someone be doing something to prevent the inevitable disaster that results from that sort of chaos?" she demands, a wild-eyed look on her face, because it seems like common sense to adhere to.

Tina breathed out with a shrug of her shoulders once more. Laws and peace weren't things she was nonchalant about. They served a very real, needed purpose rather people liked it or not. "There are a number of things to consider, such as backlash and the ones who are for it," She answered unhappily.

"If only one person is intent on establishing laws or keeping them then it's unlikely others will listen."

"That's where persuasion kicks in," she says, but the glimmer in her eye is the look of a woman who knows all too well what happens if you apply elbow grease to the highest degree. Unfortunately, that doesn't make things easier, it just means that sometimes you get to feel better for having yelled at someone.

"I'm sorry," she admits, "I know it's not my place, but it does set me a touch at unease to know that there are no laws that govern a whole subset of this place that we live in."

"You're fine," Tina answered quickly with half a wave of her hand.

She wasn't unlike Peggy in that way. Things were a little more difficult here, however, and without anyone doing anything that warranted it there was no argument for such laws. No, there were acts of magic used on people are parties but everyone did seem to think it was in good fun

"Unfortunately," She added, "something like laws has to come by a consensus and those with magic here don't agree it's needed. It really is until something happens not much more can be done, not unless we want to create tension that will only escalate."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only