capeandcowl | ☼ the first

How astute. [It's an offhand comment, not even mocking, slipping into the opposite chair.]

[ Peter just shrugs, staring at his coffee as it might provide the answers to how to deal with this situation. ] I've thought a lot about it.

Clearly. [He takes a sip of his still too-hot coffee, rocking back in his chair as though at ease. Truly he's anything but. Shaking his head, he regards Peter for long seconds without saying anything.]

The world has gone and made a cynic out of Peter Petrelli. I never thought I'd see the day.

[ And with that he lifts his face, expression easily on the end of furiously bitter before it backs off again and he's just left trying to not look miserable all over again, fidgeting absently with his cup. ]

Seeing as you helped with the process? I don't even know why you'd be surprised.

As much as I'd like to take responsibility, I highly doubt this was all my doing. [he takes another scalding sip, looking away just a moment, perhaps just enough to give himself away]

[ just staring at Adam now, trying to keep his expression blank while being all too aware that it's pointless to even try when Adam's around. ] Yeah, well- You'd be right.

You aren't going to tell me? [he asks, eyebrows climbing as he leans forward just an inch. He knows that Peter owes him nothing, especially if he knows everything, and yet he can't help but be curious. He wants to know what it was that so fractured Peter, and he wants to hear it from the man himself. But Adam wants a lot of things he's sure he'll never have.]

I haven't seen you for a year. What, do you want the entire list? They'll kick us out before I can finish. [ Rooted to his chair, he folds his arms across his chest almost protectively, as if it might actually keep Adam out of his head this time. He doesn't want to tell Adam, and yet he knows for some reason he will. He just has to figure out where to start. ]

And I saw you less than a day ago. [Adam counters, blinking innocently]

Where do you want me to start? The last time I saw you?

[He smiles softly, gently, leaning across the table now on his arms.]

That seems as logical a place as any.

[ Peter's not falling for it. He's not, and for the moment, he's holding onto his anger harder than anything. ] I destroyed the virus, and Hiro got you out of Primatech, I don't know where. I didn't wait for him to come back so I could find out.

Next day Nathan was gonna give a press conference to tell everyone about people like us, and my future self showed up, screwed things up. Nathan got shot, I ended up in Primatech stuck in someone else's body. That one took awhile to get out of, but- [ he needs a second to rub his face, he hasn't talked about this for awhile. ] I went to the future again. Saw something else that needed to be stopped.

[He nods, popping the lid off his coffee and blowing on it gently.]

What did you see?

[ Peter's staring out the nearest window, too agitated to look straight at Adam. ]

Primatech's- My dad's great idea to offer up synthetic abilities to everyone. People were being experimented on, put in camps.

Arthur. [that's real concern] I thought he died.

Yeah, so did I.

So you went back and tried to stop it, I assume.

Would've been easier if Nathan hadn't taken dad's side, but yeah. Lost my ability in the process, too. [ a beat ] I was going to kill him, but Sylar wouldn't let me. Threw me out a window. Instead I just got to help destroy Primatech.

[bliiiiiink and this time there's nothing manufactured about it]

You no longer have your abilities? [that would certainly make his life easier]

[ reason one Peter might cry: this. Not that he will, he just blatantly not alright with this conversation anymore. ]

I've got a new one. Got a synthetic ability before I dumped the batch. I can only hold one at a time, now.

So, you're like the rest of us. [He holds back a biting remark, taking a sip instead. It's hard to stay in a bad mood now that he knows Peter's no longer a threat.]

[ Peter's taken the stance of not saying anything at all, watching absently as someone walks by outside the window. ]

[oh wait aaghshdja; he forgot the most important thing B|]

...And me?

[ Looking at the window is still really interesting, but fine, he'll talk again. ]

From what I heard, you got to meet my dad.

I was afraid you'd say that. [It seemed such an unpleasant way to die, and Adam was hardly eager to repeat it.]

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