[ COMPLETED ]
German Translations Provided By @vanessanats
BOOK 1 of the ORPHIC series
ZEITGEIST
/ˈtsītˌɡīst,ˈzītˌɡīst/
the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.
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"I think, that possibly- it may be possible- that I might, in one life, perhaps, know you."
California, America May, 2010
VERFALL CONCLUDED THE MISSION consisted of boredom, more specifically, long intervals of boredom, which she failed to escape as she made routine perimeter checks around the Malibu home. The only thing to accompany her were the soft calculated vibrations against the side of her leg. They were simple check-ins, like report, or status. She responded with pending, several times, then responded with pend for the next ten hours. The HYDRA operatives were impressively incessant with their check ins. She was ninety-nine percent sure Sasha wasn't the one sending out the messages- it was probably Agent Rumlow and she didn't have the time to discreetly tap onto her phone for a word as long as pending.
It'd been four days since they'd touched down in California. She'd witnessed Stark working day and night on one of his many projects, asking for her input whenever he felt stumped and needed an extra mind to push him past the barrier. She'd passed his lab a few times, had seen him pull out a device from his chest, and replace a card inside with another one. She'd almost stopped and stared, but gave him the courtesy of privacy and wandered off to re-check another area of the perimeter.
She'd told Stark she'd find a room at a hotel nearby, but he insisted she stay at his home- supposedly she was his home security too. She had been skeptical at first. Maybe he had wanted something more. So she was pleasantly surprised to see he only needed her to exercise her brain ever so often.
It was good for her mind, stimulating, and helped her remember things in more detail than she ever could- like dancing with James, for instance.
It dawned on her that HYDRA might've been drugging her with memory suppressors, but she waved the thought away.
Not much she could do about that anyway.
Her eyes flitted across the horizon.
The sun was slowly dipping beneath the soft ripples of water travelling back and forth across the vast sky. The airy clouds seemed to blossom a blurred red and gold, like a brush gently fanning over it's canvas, blending the two hues with no genuine direction, no motive. She could see the soft flame reaching out, stretching across the streaming waters, before fading away.
It wasn't perfect, and somehow, that's what made it perfect.
The sight was incredible, one she usually didn't have the time to stand and watch. She supposed it made up for the boring hours of the day.
