driftfleet | [muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

If I had to guess, I'd say she has four of them.

[ Years of having Natasha as a friend had taught him some things, it would seem. He does take a step back, however and throws the shield in the direction of the closest tree, enough to create a visible line in the bark without breaking it. ]

Right. That should do it.

[ there is a certain selfishness to requesting that steve be the one to mark the trees. she hasn't seen him legitimately wield his shield since the war -- things are either too peaceful in the fleet, or else she hasn't been present when conflict has broken out around him. ]

I'm put in mind of Hansel and Gretel, [ she comments -- wary. ]

Four you'd find.

[She says it as a joke, not serious enough to confirm or deny his statement.]

Sure beats leaving bread crumbs though.

Four I'd dare to look for.

[ he counters even as he ducks beneath a lower branch as they go. if there is a truth universally acknowledged, it's that there is some thing about Natasha one is simply better off not knowing and Steve made peace with that. ]

I hope the difference would me that there wouldn't be a wicked witch in there -

My, my, all this talk of secret knives -- [ peggy smiles to herself, although her tone is quite dry. ] Shall I turn my back so you can frisk her, Captain?

[ -- once upon a time, peggy had been something of a jealous creature. but that's not the case today. if anything, she only finds immense amusement in the banter. and her commentary on it is nothing more than a twisting knife of her own. ]

[Natasha might flirt with Steve, but there's a very definite lack of intention behind it—it's clear she doesn't mean for it to go anyway. Just part of the game.

And anyway...]

If you want me frisked, you might have to do it yourself, Agent Carter. Steve might be too much of a gentleman to actually touch all four.

[It's hard to say which of them she's teasing in this case.]

I am enough of a gentleman not to comment to any of that. I'm not hearing you. You know, there are birds the size of pigs just above our heads.

[ there are, in fact, brightly colored and quite big, too. harmless, but they make for a wonderful change of subject after the frisking and the - four. ]

[ her laughter is barkish -- but bright, and very genuinely meant. if she's being teased, then she doesn't much mind. after all, she wants to think it comes from a place of some respect. and if not respect, then at least good regard. ]

If I did, you wouldn't be the first Russian trained operative I've frisked. [ and turnabout is fair play.

to steve: ] She is, however, correct. If she's anything like the agents I've crossed paths with, you may be a bit too decent a person. Sorry.

Oh, so I won't have to be gentle.

[Not even sorry, Steve. Not even sorry. This is clearly the most important conversation.]

The birds aren't bothering us.

Wait, what?

[ he actually turns his head at that, what do you mean frisked? ]

Have you two planned this before we left?

[ because this has to be a scheme of some sort. ]

Honestly, Steve. [ what do you think she does for a living? she'd frisk you, too, if she thought you might be an enemy agent. ]

[ mock-discretely, and to natasha: ] It's as if he would fault us for our professions. Planned it? How ridiculous.

You'd think he'd be used to it by now. I guess I can't blame him, though.

[She raises her voice archly.]

We are pretty suspicious, though.

He is standing right here.

[ just as loudly ]

Just - change the subject. Anything would do.

[ stop talking about frisking people and just. nope. ]

[ he is standing right there -- and he's so impolitely asking for a change of subject that peggy decides she might as well oblige him: ]

Oh. I was once kissed by a Soviet spy. That was... [ unfortunate. ] Something. It was all very rude, actually. [ ... ] I realized she'd stolen my lipstick.

[ this is all addressed directly to natasha, of course. steve is free to plug his ears if he likes. ]

Can't say I'm surprised. We are known to be assertive kissers.

[Natasha pointedly does not shoot Steve a look when she says that, blithely pushing the conversation forward, while she's keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings.]

And good taste in lipstick.

[ oh and we're back to kissing, instant mode: utter despair. things he would rather do right now than discuss ladies kissing with a good friend and girlfriend may include watching the bodyguard, eating that horrible cheese paste and hunting tallbirds. ]

she?

[ it's muttered for a moment before he decides he absolutely doesn't want to know, there might be a snort there though, assertive kissers is right, you could definitely say that again. ]

She. [ peggy glances at the soldier. a little too pointedly, she supposes, before she puts them all out of their awkward misery and explains: ] Clever move, really, on her part. The lipstick was laced with a sleeping agent. As brands go, it's quite a knockout.

[ to natasha: ] She'd been living next door to me for weeks. Until that moment, I'd never suspected her. Damn fine training.

[ a warped kind of compliment, despite the hard system that had made dottie underwood into what she was. ]

She wouldn't have been there if you would have.

[She tries to keep it light, but a little seriousness slips into he tone. Natasha has a pretty good idea who would have been sent on that kind of job—not by name, not specifically.

But it would have been a Black Widow.]

Well, it's easier to overlook a neighbor.

[ he should know, shouldn't he? his turned out to be an agent as well. SHIELD, at the very least and yet. ]

What happened to her?

She and her handler, so to speak, tried to take out Times Square on VE Day. She was on the run for a while, but she ended up in a spartan cell in the end. And all her secrets still locked away with her. I was only beginning to interrogate her when -- [ a wave of her fingers. some of this stuff she hasn't bothered to explain to steve, and it becomes painfully obvious as she tries to shirk the responsibility now. ] I was reassigned to LA. Briefly. It seems the rest of the New York bureau couldn't handle her.

[ eventually, there might be more to that story. but not yet. ]

[Natasha is quiet in response to that, paying attention to the story, but she doesn't have as much to add now. The information is interesting, most of it new to her. Almost all of it, really.]

But you could.

[ so much is clear. but then, he may not know a lot about the time he was supposed to be alive it but he did determine Peggy's colleagues don't really appreciate her as much as they should. ]

Just as long as they can actually keep her there.

[ if she's even a little bit like Natasha, it may not be the simplest of operations. there are about six hundred different moments a day in which steve is glad she's on their side. ]

[ as it happens, peggy is quite pleased with this arrangement. perhaps it's easier to speak to natasha indirectly -- to signal things, and crumbs of knowledge, without having to confront her directly with such experiences. filtering them through steve, it will allow the other spy time and space to broach the topic under her own steam. a less aggressive strategy, she'd decided.

so: ] The facility is quite secure. Barring, perhaps, an inside job. [ but that's a different sort of notion. ] Dottie Underwood won't be going anywhere soon. Not that that is anywhere near her real name. [ ... ] I suspect the organization who raised her took her real name away when they started handcuffing her to her bedpost at night.

[ not even a glance at natasha, this time. but beneath the casual tone she takes with steve, there's certainly a lot of subtext left behind for her. ]

Edited 2016-10-26 23:25 (UTC)

[It's hard to say if Steve knows enough about Natasha's own training to put together the details, figure that She and this Dottie Underwood had more in common than a general Soviet background. Natasha didn't even need the additional details to guess, but this confirms a great deal.

Her first instinct is to read Peggy's allusions as a threat. Knowledge in powerful in their line of work, and signalling you knew someone's origin could be taken as implication you had power over them. That thought is almost immediately discarded though. Natasha's confident Peggy isn't trying to pick a fight

Which means the other woman is playing a more delicate game.]

It takes a lot of guts to pit yourself against a woman like that. It's not easy to get an answer out of them.

[She sniffs softly, watching what appears to be a flock of mammoth finches pass through the branches overhead.]

[ some things steve rogers will never understand, no matter how hard he tries; some modern sitcom jokes, funny cat video and the spy-logic of not simply asking or saying things outright. it's a pattern of behavior that seems to repeat itself, having a conversation within a conversation and it's not something he was ever very talented at. he stops walking, looks from one woman to the other before shaking his head. ]

Are you two really going to talk in circles like this all the way there and back?

[ he gives them both a dry sort of look. it seems that that captain America has reached his first level of disapproval. what is it with spies and games. ]

You know, I've found that having honest conversations is usually the easiest way to get things done.

[ when he turns to Natasha again it's to say: ]

Similar training is about the one thing you do share, I think we can all agree on that. Wherever it is Miss Underwood came from, it's the one thing you have in common and now it's on the table.

[ and then he just turns and starts walking again. ]

Don't know how you two don't find this tiring.

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