Windrose, where the wind blows

[tothefly]

Who: Windrose crew and you, distinguished visitors!
Broadcast: Naaah.
Action: Windrose, various points in the near vicinity
When: Until we get off this frozen rock

[On New Year's Day, the crew on board the Windrose and those nearby may notice the chill as the doors to the cargo bay are left open, and their captain making quite a bit of noise as she inspects their newly expanded home away from home. This is likely to go on for a while. Feel free to come investigate, chat among yourselves, complain about the cold, etc!]

Comments

Natasha, OTA

[tothefly]

[This planet has mostly been a contemplative stop for Natasha, but then this time of year always is. Most of the time she's spent in the assorted cafés and lodges of the local establishments, usually curled up near a fire with a book or a ball of bright red yarn and some knitting needles. A couple people may or may not have found a knitted scarf with their things in Christmas morning, others may have found small bottles of vodka, or the planet equivalent. But this morning, there are no needles in sight; just an open cargo bay door, inviting in visitors, and the occasional loud bang coming from inside as a panel is pried off or slammed back in place. Feel free to find Nat in a variety of places; on the bridge, in the corridor, fussing with a wall in the cargo bay proper.]

[touchofrogue]

[Sporting a newly knit green scarf, because everything seems to be cold lately, Rogue comes bearing gifts. Salted gifts, but hey. That's what we've got right now, eh?

Natasha's not hard to find, so Rogue leans on the door frame where she's making all the noise.]

Knock, knock.

[tothefly]

[Natasha looks up at the noise, a large square of metal in her hand. Her eyes linger for just a moment on the scarf, before she jerks her head to the side, inviting Rogue in.]

Hey. Sorry it's not much warmer in here, doing some spring cleaning, so to speak.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue enters, but raises an eyebrow.]

Spring cleanin'? [Did a season skip her or something? But more importantly - large square of metal.] Doesn't look like you're just dustin'.

[What are you doing?]

[tothefly]

Midwinter cleaning. Whichever.

[What is she doing? Good question. Hoisting the panel, she shrugs just a little.]

We got a size upgrade this morning. Ship was a little closer to what it used to be. So I figured, why not take advantage of being parked here, see what all they've changed.

[Hence the prying off portions of paneling.]

[touchofrogue]

Congratulations. [On the ship upgrade, that is. Moving to peer over her shoulder from a respectable distance.] Ya figure anythin' out?

[tothefly]

The electronics still make zero sense, but I've pretty much assumed they keep all the really important things unreachable. We've got some nice hiding spaces, though, we ever decide to take up smuggling. Or just a fleet-wide game of hide and seek.

[She fits the panel back in place over a tangle of wires and gives it a solid kick back into the wall, before turning to Rogue.]

Thanks for the party invite, by the way. Sorry I cut out early. Anything catch fire after I left?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue's eyebrows raise at that kick and then she nods a little. Well, that's one way to get it done.]

No, actually. I'm as surprised as you. [After all, she'd explicitly worded her interpretation based on past experiences with drunk superpowers.] I didn't even have ta throw anyone out.

[And the casual way she seems to think that would be possible, considering her guest list, might say a thing or two.]

cargo bay

[reconstitution]

[ He's hesitant to even come onto the Windrose in the first place, but he feels like he should thank Natasha for her Christmas gift. Which he currently has wound around his neck to fend off the chill. Not that he can't ignore its bite, because shut up, he can. He just doesn't feel like ignoring it when his neck can be warm since he has the option..

Winter is relieved, though, to find that he doesn't have to do much more but step inside the ship to find her mucking about with a wall panel. He stops a far enough distance away so she won't be startled (as if she could ever allow someone to startle her) and clears his throat. ]

Permission to come aboard?

[tothefly]

[His is the only scarf that had any sort of note with it. Just a single word in Russian, no signature. согреться. Stay warm. Wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, and he isn't dumb. Evidenced, she thinks, by the way he asks permission before entering, instead of just sneaking up close, the way she might have. Or still might. So she studies him for a moment, before jerking her head in a nod.]

Granted. Come make yourself useful, hold this for me.

[She hoists the large metal square.]

[reconstitution]

[ Oh, he'd figured it out pretty quickly, though the question of 'why' still remains. History or not, she doesn't need to reach out to him or even be kind- yet she is. In her own way. He doesn't move until he's gotten her approval, then strides over to her side to hold the metal square in place easily. ]

What are you doing?

[ There are at least a dozen questions going through his mind, and that one pushed its way to the forefront. ]

[tothefly]

[Why? Plenty of reasons. Because she was bored, and she needed people to give the results of her boredom to. Because she wanted to see what he'd say. Because she'd wanted to see what Steve would say, or Barnes. Maybe because she'd made him a matching one, too. Who needed a reason?]

Inspecting my ship.

[She passes over the square, ducking down to rummage around in the crawlspace it reveals.]

What about you?

[reconstitution]

[ He's reluctant to say it outright, but he doesn't think she'll take it the wrong way. ]

To say thank you.

[ Because that's what you do when someone has shown you any amount of kindness. Winter's unsure whether he had an additional motive or not. They've talked three times, now, and there's still so much neither of them are saying.

Maybe this is how it's going to be. ]

[tothefly]

[There is a lot that isn't being said. It's how she functions, more or less, and how she communicates; between the lines, in body language and subtle turns of phrase. A hard habit to break. He isn't like that, not really. Covert ops isn't the same as espionage, and the Soldier was always a hammer, albeit a silent one. She opts for the same approach. It's part of why she's spent so much time thinking, this past month.]

You're welcome, Winter. Is that still what you want to be called?

[It's the first time she's used anything resembling a name, with him.]

[unbearablynaive]

[While he's been spending most of his time on the planet, the Vision does return once a day to drop off any souvenirs he's purchased, check up on the engines (it is his job after all), and do an overall walkthrough of the ship to ensure he doesn't miss anything that's going on.

Messing with the walls definitely counts as something going on, so as soon as he's done feeding his fish he heads over.]

Investigating?

[tothefly]

Figured now that we're on a planet I should take advantage of the quiet, get to know the Windrose inside and out, yeah. Notice anything new after our recent expansion?

[unbearablynaive]

Aside from the height of certain central door frames? [He was just as glad, really, since that was the whole point of the upgrade.]

Robert's room appears to be missing.

[tothefly]

[She'd figured the tall people would be pleased. There was something faintly funny about the distribution of height between crew members.]

I noticed. Don't think we lost anything of value there.

[In fact, they'd probably dodged a bullet.]

[unbearablynaive]

[As for his part, he'd noticed his account jumped up when he'd hit his head. The audience seems to be easily amused.]

He wasn't accustomed to space, perhaps, but individuals can have the most unexpected skills. It will be nice not to be called a "tart", however.

lost this notif, my apologies

[tothefly]

[Well, at least the bumps go to a reasonably good cause. Making this palce less of a dump.]

Among other things. He didn't seem keen on the idea of a female captain.

Speaking of ranking, I've been meaning to ask you if you're considering an augment swap to botany.

[Setting aside the panel, she jerks her head towards the near-quarter of the cargo bay now taken up with a large algae tank lit by several fish and the beginnings of several long, low earth beds. She doesn't seem upset by the annexing, at least?]

years later....

[kotatsu]

[ nanako's never been on the windrose before, but she came along when he stopped by to drop off the new year goodies. while he talks to the crew, nanako decides to do some exploring of her own and is obviously distracted by the loud noise coming from the cargo bay.

cautiously, she peeks her head in. hope nat doesn't mind a small visitor! ]

never too late to come to my arms

[tothefly]

[Children aren't a common sight on the Windrose. The fleet has a few of them, not that many, but they're usually plenty cared for and shepherded elsewhere. That isn't to say that Natasha is averse to having them on board, especially if they're part of other company she enjoys having around.

Movement out of the corner of her eye catches her attention, as she kneels in front of an open panel of circuitry. Looking over, she smiles just slightly, calling out in lightly-accented Japanese.]

You must be Nanako-chan. Right? Souji's told me about you.

bless

[kotatsu]

[ the japanese surprises her, mostly because she just didn't expect anyone in space to know her first language. at least, anyone not from japan, anyway. but she responds in kind, natasha's smile (and especially the mention of souji) coaxing one of her own as she comes over. ]

Yeah, I'm Nanako! Are you one of big bro's friends? What's your name?

[tothefly]

[She isn't perfectly fluent, but she knows enough to get by. There have been enough jobs in Japan that required at least basic conversational skills, and she's always been a quick study. Anyway, she figures the familiar language will ease some of the girl's hesitation. When she speaks, her voice is a little warmer than most people get, but she doesn't speak down to Nanako like some people might.]

I am. He's a very good friend. My name's Natasha. Did you help him make all that food he brought over?

[kotatsu]

It's nice to meet you, Natasha!

[ souji's been making friends with all these pretty girls lately, nanako idly wonders if he's trying to find a date. which, she doesn't blame him, he's really great and everyone should date him, to be honest. but that's neither here nor there.

nanako nods in response, smiling with pride. ]

Uh-huh! Big bro did most of the cooking, but he let me help him put it all together. Was it good?