001 ✪ video/audio

[redactions]

Who: Jim Barnes
Broadcast: Fleetwide video + audio
Action: Iskaulit.
When: August 20th.


[ The video flicks on to a spacious room, spans it from left to right, then top to bottom. There's a door off to the right side, and the camera follows it to the adjoining room, similarly large. Again, left to right, top to bottom. Both rooms are spic and span, empty, with wooden floors. And then it switches to audio. The voice is brusque, but amiable, with a moderate Brooklyn drawl. ]

Nice place for a gym. There could be a dojo next door, so it's all in one place. I've got a few sandbags to hang up, and some mats we could use. There's a notice outside for schedules — I know a lot of you folks have been offering training. The room's big enough, and there's plenty more like it on this ship.

Anybody else interested?



[ Anyone wandering the Iskaulit or looking for Bucky after the broadcast will find him humming as he puts up the sandbags. He's dressed very simply in the ship's jumpsuit, with no left sleeve. The left arm whirs in tune as he works. ]

Comments

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Okay, this time Wanda really wasn't ready. When Jim throws her off balance, she trips over her legs, and her arms flail a little as she falls. However, she catches Jim out-stretched hand, letting him steady her back on her feet. She blushes a little, embarrassed at that little display, but she also looks a little angry, peeved at herself for letting her guard down like that. Her response is a little curt, sounding almost like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar.]

I don't know what you mean.

[redactions]

[ Gently, with fraternal admonishment, ]

S'far as I know you're no Black Widow. How're you figuring out where I move?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Black Widow? Her? The compliment actually makes her blush again. She can't think of a clever way to weasel out of answering Jim's question though, so she begrudgingly admits the truth.]

I was reading your mind. Well, more like scanning it real quick between each step. Like receiving little snap shots of a few seconds into the future.

[redactions]

[ At this, he frowns, and then — it makes sense. Why she'd willingly extended the hand of friendship back when the Iskaulit's crew first attacked them. And what she was doing now. He's — not angry. All the secrets he needs to protect don't belong to him, and Wanda honestly doesn't strike him as the kind of person who'd root carelessly through someone's mind. Unless she thought it'd protect her to do so. He can't ask her not to, either, that's like asking him to remove a limb. Everything they are is woven into them. ]

Can you try without it? You never know.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Admittedly, Wanda did not know what to expect Jim's reaction to be. However, she had certainly been expecting more... well, something. In fact, his relatively minor scolding, if you can call it that, catches her more off guard then it probably should. She doesn't respond to his suggestion right away, instead she sort of scans his face looking for some nonverbal hint as to where he's at right now. When she speaks up, she sounds a little hesitant, unsure of whether or not he's going to explode or something.]

Okay... sure...

[She assumes a ready stance once more, waiting for his next advance.]