( marc lifts a shoulder in a shrug. europe and its troubles. he knows of them in a loose, broad sense, the kind that'd been filled in by history classes at school, by the history of etc in the marines, with the cia, but it's never been somewhere he's spent much time. ) I'm more familiar with Africa and the Middle East. ( iraq, afghanistan; family friends in israel, more dead than not by now.

—doesn't mean he doesn't remember symkaria, too, remembers being there, remembers steven being there. remembers steven's remark, the one to agnes that'd been pointed, even if marc hadn't quite settled on who it was directed at.

"I've seen the worst things in the world. I've done the worst things in the world."

and there's south america, too, but who's keeping track?
(marc.)

speaking of how much elias had appreciated the opportunities that the US had provided him with would simply open the door to how marc's first instinct had been to run away from all of that, and so he doesn't. )

—I don't drink tea unless I have to. ( and there's a hint of wryness there when he adds, ) Never had the opportunity to be fussy, and I've always found coffee goes a longer way when you're only running on a couple hours sleep.

( if that. )

You get used to bad coffee if you drink it enough.