Coffeehouse: style of play characterized by quick, risky moves.
Wanda sat at a secluded booth in a café in Auckland, New Zealand. She'd already eaten the ginger slice she'd bought. She sipped her flat white while staring out the rain-streaked window at an evergreen tree with strangely symmetrical branches that gave it a star-shaped cross-section. The needles were upturned and level, and bright green at the tips. After a few minutes of staring at them she began to imagine they were bright green fingertips holding up the gray sky.
Vision was late. She knew she shouldn't be feeling slightly ill with worry, but he was never late.
Over half an hour after the expected time, he slipped into the seat across the table, startling her.
"I'm sorry," he said. "The flight was delayed. I tried to get here as quickly as I could. I took a cab from the airport..."
"Vizh, it's alright. It happens." She grabbed his hand, and he instantly grew subdued.
"Thank you for understanding."
He was still agitated, she felt. "What's wrong?"
He dropped his eyes to the table. Her worry returned. Why wouldn't he just tell her? This wasn't like him.
"Tony knows."
Wanda jolted. "What?"
"He investigated my activities and discovered our meetings. He claims he has destroyed the evidence of my movements, and I trust him. However, if you feel the risk is too great for us to continue like this...I would understand."
She could feel apprehension and contrition from him. He meant it: he would give up their relationship to protect her if she asked him.
The risk was real; she knew that. She didn't want to go back to the Raft. She couldn't bear the thought of it. But she also couldn't bear the thought of not seeing Vision again.
"I want to keep seeing you. It's worth the risk."
"Are you sure?"
She placed her other hand on his cheek and held his gaze. "This is worth it."
He covered her hand with his, clinging to her in an almost desperate way he never had before.
"There's something else," she said. "You feel...different. I can't really describe it. It's like you're...nervous?"
"I've learned the Stark Industries satellite uplink connected to my mind had been logging my GPS data. I have temporarily deactivated my transponder. I feel as if I've lost an entire sense. I don't know my coordinates, I can't query the internet about anything I see or hear or wonder. I look at that tree, for example, and I have no idea what species it is. I want information and it is simply not there, which I find both frustrating and terrifying. I feel...disoriented. Untethered."
"You sound like an American who lost their cell phone," Wanda said, and immediately regretted joking about something that was clearly causing Vision so much distress. "I'm sorry. That's an incredible sacrifice."
He turned his head just enough to kiss the palm of her hand. "This is worth it."