The Nora Project - Darcy
Nov. 15th, 2021 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_changeling posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsDarcy handles Kevin's new appearance significantly less artfully than the others.
"Lewis, if you invent one more excuse to walk past my door in the last twenty minutes, I'm going to re-assign you to a desk in the stairwell." Kevin looked up from his desk, although it was eerie to see the same look she knew from his face coming from a red-headed woman. "Come in and ask whatever you need to."
Kevin as a woman lit Darcy's buttons up like a particularly flashy light show. That much competence in a hot package? Darcy was having trouble forming thoughts in a way she was unaccustomed to. She scrubbed a hand over her eyes and stepped into the office. "Sorry Boss, I'm so in awe of the packaging that my filter's more shot than normal." She gave him a sheepish grin. "How are you doing after getting shocked, other than being a lady?"
"I'm not a fan. Weather matters. I have to eat properly. Getting drunk means sleeping it off as opposed to being immediately sober if I need to." She leaned back and shrugged. "I didn't realize just how much I'd gotten used to the side benefits of my powers."
"Do you have all-weather clothes to fit this form? I can probably loan you some cooler weather sweaters and accessories. And feed you." Darcy waved her hands in front of her face with a self-deprecating laugh. "I mean. I know you can feed yourself, Boss. But since you have to do it properly, I can.. help, if you'd like?"
"I have plenty of clothes. And I don't think we're the same size." Kevin's female body had at least four inches on her. "Sit. You're being squirrely. If it's easier, you can call me Nora."
Darcy took a seat, gesturing broadly at the red-head. "Sorry, sorry. I just need to adjust to.. all this. It's fine, it's cool, I have enough discipline to not ask my boss to sit on my fac--fuck, I just said that out loud, pleasedontkillme." She covered her face with her hands, letting out an embarrassed moan. "I swear I have better self-control than this. Is this what men feel like when they get dazzled by my boobs? Not that you aren't hot all the time, just. Hot lady."
"Alright, come with me." Nora stood up and pulled on her jacket, sweeping Darcy along with her. Within minutes, they were at the cocktail bar down the street; a place X-Force didn't go to often, but at 2 in the afternoon, it was pretty quiet. Nora ordered a pair of dirty martinis as they sat.
"Now, get it all out. No judgement, no workplace issues. We're at a bar. You have ten minutes of utter free space to say whatever."
"You're really hot and I am a complete disaster around a hot, competent woman who is also my attractive older man boss-mentor type that I have studiously not been thinking about having sex with because I'm trying not to make it weird, and wow have I completely ruined the shit out of that. Also I'm worried about you and want to.. provide? help? because that's what I do with people I care about when I don't have my head completely lodged up my own ass." She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before giving Nora a small smile. "Once my brain gets used to you in this form I'll be able to mostly lock it down during work."
"Good. Because I need you to do your job." Nora said, leaning back as their drinks hit the table. "This is the main female alt form I use. Mostly in Europe. It's based off of a woman who helped train me in this field back when women weren't given the jobs they deserved. Her name was Nora Brinson, and before you ask, I never got anywhere intimate with her. It wasn't until my powers emerged and I started to use her form that I learned she was bisexual, for instance."
"Do.. preferences carry over, when you're in other forms? The transfer when you change is that thorough?" Darcy asked, leaning forward as the part of her brain that'd spent too much time with scientists took over her mouth. She had the urge to pelt Nora with a dozen questions, the same way she sometimes asked Kevin during training but much more invasive. A deep breath and she had it better under control. "Also she sounds like a total badass, I would've loved to have met her."
"Function follows form. It's a bit of a mercurial situation. But you're right, Nora was a badass. Taught me a ton of things." Nora said.
"Did she ever get the recognition she deserved?" Talking was helping her brain adjust in a way that just sitting and staring and pacing hadn't. Learning about the original Nora was a bonus, and Darcy was thrilled to find out more about Kevin's past in the process.
"Not even close. She had a good career, but she should have run a Field Office at the very least. Personally, I think she could have been the Agency's first female Deputy Director of Operations." Kevin said. "She was amazing and put my career on track when she didn't have to. I'm hoping I can do the same for you."
"Will you tell me stories about her sometime? If she didn't get what she deserved, maybe she can be remembered and appreciated instead." Darcy took a sip of her drink, throat tight as she tried to articulate some of what she was thinking. "I think you are already doing that. I'm not sure why you decided I was worth the effort, but you keep encouraging me to learn and point me at who I need to talk to for what I need to know. You're a very good mentor, Boss."
"She didn't get what she deserved, but she's still a legend in the CIA. Believe me, she hasn't been forgotten." Nora said. "If you want stories, just ask. Just not during work hours. Which gets us back to the current issue. I'm going to be stuck like this for a few days. Maybe even a week, according to Doc Grey. And with all the intel we just pulled out of the facility, I need you back on your game now, not after an uncomfortable week. How do we make that happen?"
"This has helped, actually? I'm a little mortified that I couldn't keep my chill, but it will pass. Just.. be a little patient with me if I see you do something unexpectedly impressive in those heels and end up walking into a door or tripping over air. Won't be the first or last time I've looked dumb or lightly injured myself, and it won't affect my ability to get back on task."
"Good." Nora nodded. "I'll do you the favour of pretending not to notice when you do."
"You don't have to. It's funny when I do something dumb in a safe environment. I mean hell, I do it on purpose sometimes so people will laugh at me instead of someone who is actually having a terrible moment. It's fine, I'd know you were laughing because I did something dumb, not because you think I am actually dumb." She flashed Nora a smile before finishing the last of her martini. "I did mean it though. I know you're a perfectly capable adult, but if you want or need anything I'm happy to help out."
"I appreciate that. I actually have some clothes shopping to do after work if you're bored. And toiletries. My cover travel pack hasn't been updated in so long I think the toothpaste went off."
"Funny, I don't feel like clothes shopping with you will be boring. I'd love to come along."
"I think Colbert is leading it. I'll let you know." She took a long sip from her drink. "It's weird. I could have had this exact situation 40 years ago."
"Sounds good." Darcy raised an eyebrow. "This exact situation? Tell me."
"Teaching agents how to dress and act to be disappeared. Actually, closer to 60, now that I think of it." Kevin said. "Nora taught me how effective female agents could be. I took that lesson through the rest of my career."
"The more you talk about her, the more I wish we could've met. It's amazing what you can do when people aren't looking at you like you're trouble."
"She was a force. If she was here, in one day she'd know everyone's name. In a weekend, she'd knew everything about them; birthdays, schooling, issues. In a month, this shop would be as efficient as possible under her, and everyone in charge would think they were the geniuses that put it together."
Darcy whistled lowly. "Damn, can I be half that efficient when I grow up? Maybe without leading, I'm cool with being part of the power behind the throne."
"I've tried to be that for years. Never achieved it."
Darcy shrugged. "I imagine men weren't generally raised to pay attention to those details in your youth. But the women would've had some pretty vast neighborhood gossip and news circles. Garden and book clubs, the PTA. They also would've been taught to keep records of the fussy details and fill their husbands in on what they needed to know to not cause embarrassment. Expanding that to fieldwork just seems like a matter of scope."
"Yeah, but I missed that training from girlhood." She smirked. "Stuck making up for lost time now, alas. What's a woman to do?"
Darcy could think of a few things, but that smirk meant the first few that came to mind were not appropriate for a work conversation, even if they were at a bar. "Find another woman that is and emulate it until it's second nature, or fly by the seat of your pants and fake it until it's second nature?"
"I'm mostly kidding. I've had almost twenty years of experience as a woman at various points. It's not perfect, but I think I do well enough."
"No complaints from this corner." She tapped her fingers on the table in thought. "I can probably focus now, if you want us to head back."
Nora tossed down the rest of her drink. "Sounds good. Nothing like spending an afternoon on intel that is going to make the Pentagon squeal like a stuck pig."
"Lewis, if you invent one more excuse to walk past my door in the last twenty minutes, I'm going to re-assign you to a desk in the stairwell." Kevin looked up from his desk, although it was eerie to see the same look she knew from his face coming from a red-headed woman. "Come in and ask whatever you need to."
Kevin as a woman lit Darcy's buttons up like a particularly flashy light show. That much competence in a hot package? Darcy was having trouble forming thoughts in a way she was unaccustomed to. She scrubbed a hand over her eyes and stepped into the office. "Sorry Boss, I'm so in awe of the packaging that my filter's more shot than normal." She gave him a sheepish grin. "How are you doing after getting shocked, other than being a lady?"
"I'm not a fan. Weather matters. I have to eat properly. Getting drunk means sleeping it off as opposed to being immediately sober if I need to." She leaned back and shrugged. "I didn't realize just how much I'd gotten used to the side benefits of my powers."
"Do you have all-weather clothes to fit this form? I can probably loan you some cooler weather sweaters and accessories. And feed you." Darcy waved her hands in front of her face with a self-deprecating laugh. "I mean. I know you can feed yourself, Boss. But since you have to do it properly, I can.. help, if you'd like?"
"I have plenty of clothes. And I don't think we're the same size." Kevin's female body had at least four inches on her. "Sit. You're being squirrely. If it's easier, you can call me Nora."
Darcy took a seat, gesturing broadly at the red-head. "Sorry, sorry. I just need to adjust to.. all this. It's fine, it's cool, I have enough discipline to not ask my boss to sit on my fac--fuck, I just said that out loud, pleasedontkillme." She covered her face with her hands, letting out an embarrassed moan. "I swear I have better self-control than this. Is this what men feel like when they get dazzled by my boobs? Not that you aren't hot all the time, just. Hot lady."
"Alright, come with me." Nora stood up and pulled on her jacket, sweeping Darcy along with her. Within minutes, they were at the cocktail bar down the street; a place X-Force didn't go to often, but at 2 in the afternoon, it was pretty quiet. Nora ordered a pair of dirty martinis as they sat.
"Now, get it all out. No judgement, no workplace issues. We're at a bar. You have ten minutes of utter free space to say whatever."
"You're really hot and I am a complete disaster around a hot, competent woman who is also my attractive older man boss-mentor type that I have studiously not been thinking about having sex with because I'm trying not to make it weird, and wow have I completely ruined the shit out of that. Also I'm worried about you and want to.. provide? help? because that's what I do with people I care about when I don't have my head completely lodged up my own ass." She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before giving Nora a small smile. "Once my brain gets used to you in this form I'll be able to mostly lock it down during work."
"Good. Because I need you to do your job." Nora said, leaning back as their drinks hit the table. "This is the main female alt form I use. Mostly in Europe. It's based off of a woman who helped train me in this field back when women weren't given the jobs they deserved. Her name was Nora Brinson, and before you ask, I never got anywhere intimate with her. It wasn't until my powers emerged and I started to use her form that I learned she was bisexual, for instance."
"Do.. preferences carry over, when you're in other forms? The transfer when you change is that thorough?" Darcy asked, leaning forward as the part of her brain that'd spent too much time with scientists took over her mouth. She had the urge to pelt Nora with a dozen questions, the same way she sometimes asked Kevin during training but much more invasive. A deep breath and she had it better under control. "Also she sounds like a total badass, I would've loved to have met her."
"Function follows form. It's a bit of a mercurial situation. But you're right, Nora was a badass. Taught me a ton of things." Nora said.
"Did she ever get the recognition she deserved?" Talking was helping her brain adjust in a way that just sitting and staring and pacing hadn't. Learning about the original Nora was a bonus, and Darcy was thrilled to find out more about Kevin's past in the process.
"Not even close. She had a good career, but she should have run a Field Office at the very least. Personally, I think she could have been the Agency's first female Deputy Director of Operations." Kevin said. "She was amazing and put my career on track when she didn't have to. I'm hoping I can do the same for you."
"Will you tell me stories about her sometime? If she didn't get what she deserved, maybe she can be remembered and appreciated instead." Darcy took a sip of her drink, throat tight as she tried to articulate some of what she was thinking. "I think you are already doing that. I'm not sure why you decided I was worth the effort, but you keep encouraging me to learn and point me at who I need to talk to for what I need to know. You're a very good mentor, Boss."
"She didn't get what she deserved, but she's still a legend in the CIA. Believe me, she hasn't been forgotten." Nora said. "If you want stories, just ask. Just not during work hours. Which gets us back to the current issue. I'm going to be stuck like this for a few days. Maybe even a week, according to Doc Grey. And with all the intel we just pulled out of the facility, I need you back on your game now, not after an uncomfortable week. How do we make that happen?"
"This has helped, actually? I'm a little mortified that I couldn't keep my chill, but it will pass. Just.. be a little patient with me if I see you do something unexpectedly impressive in those heels and end up walking into a door or tripping over air. Won't be the first or last time I've looked dumb or lightly injured myself, and it won't affect my ability to get back on task."
"Good." Nora nodded. "I'll do you the favour of pretending not to notice when you do."
"You don't have to. It's funny when I do something dumb in a safe environment. I mean hell, I do it on purpose sometimes so people will laugh at me instead of someone who is actually having a terrible moment. It's fine, I'd know you were laughing because I did something dumb, not because you think I am actually dumb." She flashed Nora a smile before finishing the last of her martini. "I did mean it though. I know you're a perfectly capable adult, but if you want or need anything I'm happy to help out."
"I appreciate that. I actually have some clothes shopping to do after work if you're bored. And toiletries. My cover travel pack hasn't been updated in so long I think the toothpaste went off."
"Funny, I don't feel like clothes shopping with you will be boring. I'd love to come along."
"I think Colbert is leading it. I'll let you know." She took a long sip from her drink. "It's weird. I could have had this exact situation 40 years ago."
"Sounds good." Darcy raised an eyebrow. "This exact situation? Tell me."
"Teaching agents how to dress and act to be disappeared. Actually, closer to 60, now that I think of it." Kevin said. "Nora taught me how effective female agents could be. I took that lesson through the rest of my career."
"The more you talk about her, the more I wish we could've met. It's amazing what you can do when people aren't looking at you like you're trouble."
"She was a force. If she was here, in one day she'd know everyone's name. In a weekend, she'd knew everything about them; birthdays, schooling, issues. In a month, this shop would be as efficient as possible under her, and everyone in charge would think they were the geniuses that put it together."
Darcy whistled lowly. "Damn, can I be half that efficient when I grow up? Maybe without leading, I'm cool with being part of the power behind the throne."
"I've tried to be that for years. Never achieved it."
Darcy shrugged. "I imagine men weren't generally raised to pay attention to those details in your youth. But the women would've had some pretty vast neighborhood gossip and news circles. Garden and book clubs, the PTA. They also would've been taught to keep records of the fussy details and fill their husbands in on what they needed to know to not cause embarrassment. Expanding that to fieldwork just seems like a matter of scope."
"Yeah, but I missed that training from girlhood." She smirked. "Stuck making up for lost time now, alas. What's a woman to do?"
Darcy could think of a few things, but that smirk meant the first few that came to mind were not appropriate for a work conversation, even if they were at a bar. "Find another woman that is and emulate it until it's second nature, or fly by the seat of your pants and fake it until it's second nature?"
"I'm mostly kidding. I've had almost twenty years of experience as a woman at various points. It's not perfect, but I think I do well enough."
"No complaints from this corner." She tapped her fingers on the table in thought. "I can probably focus now, if you want us to head back."
Nora tossed down the rest of her drink. "Sounds good. Nothing like spending an afternoon on intel that is going to make the Pentagon squeal like a stuck pig."
