(no subject)

[outstandingbalance]

Who: Natasha Romanoff
Broadcast: Fleedwide
Action: Iskaulit to start with
When: 16 Nov

Video

[The broadcast is brief and obviously accidental. A young girl's face appears on screen, confused and tense, then almost at once her brows draw down and together in an intense frown. Her expression is dark and thoughtful as the feed shakes, then cuts out entirely.

For those paying attention, the corridors off the Islaulit can be identified behind her before the transmission ends.]

Action

[When she wakes up, a young Natasha finds herself in what appears to be a small dance studio. Unfamiliar, but not too shocking. The mirror, the barre, the wood flooring, are all things she's accustomed to. It isn't where she expects to be, but it is somewhere she would expect to wake up in a general sense, in a general way.

Waking up somewhere strange isn't completely shocking either.

It's not until she ventures out into the rest of the Iskaulit that she starts feeling out of her depth. She can't place where she is, even where she might be. There's no outside. The structures are nothing like she's scene before. The computers are completely alien to her. The people are worse. She avoids them, of course. At least at first. Sneaking through shadows and hidden corners, in ducts if she's lucky enough to find access. She observes what she can, trying to work together the situation as she can, applying what training she can. But how much she can do is limited.

Tiny spy is out of her depth.

Which is what forces her to come out of hiding. (Maybe that was the point?)

When she finally lets herself be approached, she's already determined to put on a lost, scared face. It's for the best. That way people will underestimate her. Trust her more. It's a good plan.

The expression might not be entirely fake, though, and she can't entirely hide her suspicious skittishness. The end effect isn't entirely unlike a stray cat begging for food.]

((OOC: Augment glitch? Come play with smol murder ballerina.))

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

[The look Natasha gives Peggy is bordering on feral, but not afraid. Looks like at least one of them had a lot of anger as a child.]

They do. You are not my commander.

[mucked]

Not yours, no. But of something and of some people. And I don't take kindly to anyone going for my gun. [ a none-too-gentle reminder that she is the little and dynamic catalyst of these close quarters. ] Anyone.

[ peggy exhales -- more annoyed, perhaps, than angered. her grip is pragmatic. ] What will happen when I let you loose again?

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha stills, not trying to fight her way out again, though there's still a tension in her, waiting to break free if the opportunity presents itself.]

Let me go and find out.

[mucked]

[ -- she stands at a crossroads. the girl is volatile, clearly, and there is a twisting guilty part of her that fears letting 'natalia' loose on the iskaulit. but hauling her, bodily, back to the starstruck comes with its own dangers. ]

Even if you run, [ peggy assures her, ] you'll be welcome on the Starstruck. We look out for each other, here. This isn't like home.

[ when peggy lets her go, it's paired with a wide retreating step. she intends to be just out of reach. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[She doesn't run. She does scramble back, reassessing her tactics. She's not convinced that she can't beat Peggy in a fight, but she does think twice about trying again.]

I'm not going to be tempted so easily.

[Still sort of offended by the idea she'd be lured in by food and a dog. Even if there were things to be said for food. And a dog.]

[mucked]

[ -- so. this is a negotiation. she expects no less, really, from a girl who possibly comes from the same training philosophy as dottie underwood. it's always about the give and the take.

exhaling, she concedes: ] What would tempt you?

[ it's time to bargain. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Peggy's not wrong. This is something Natasha's more willing to engage with—in a strange way, she trusts it more.]

I want answers.

[mucked]

I'll answer what I can.

[ -- implying, of course, that there are answers she can't give. but peggy doesn't clarify whether those answers are unknown to her, or merely secrets. ]

>How many questions do you think a trip back to the Starstruck is worth? Three, I think.

[outstandingbalance]

Five. And you will answer two of them before you go. So I can be sure of your intentions.

[mucked]

Five. [ she agrees, because the honest truth is she would answer as many questions as the girl had for her. ] But I'll answer one now and the second once we're on the shuttle.

[ but she can't bargain it all away. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha considers the offer seriously for a moment. She's very aware of the fact she might be walking into a trap. On the other hand, she doesn't see how she could be more at a disadvantage than she already is.]

Agreed.

[mucked]

[ anyone else, she'd offer to shake on it. but not with this little wild creature. best not to tempt her into another fit of violence. peggy nods, and invites her to ask her first question with a sharp: ] Well?

[outstandingbalance]

I accept your terms.

[Her answer comes with a small, ironic gesture; lead the way.]

WHOOPS.

[mucked]

So ask your first question, Natalia.

[ -- she's determined to play this as fairly as the circumstances allow. not least of all because, eventually, natalia will grow back into natasha. and there's a budding friendship, there, which peggy doesn't much care to jeopardize. ]

And then we can get to walking.

lol

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha already knows where she wants to start. Depending on what Peggy answers, her next questions might be different. Or she might back out.]

Who do you work for?

[mucked]

I work for my crew, on the Starstruck. [ peggy considers this truth, and adds: ] And I work for myself.

[ -- honest enough, though she wouldn't show otherwise if it weren't. as far as this place is concerned, the ssr is an anachronism. fit for a museum. ]

I don't work for the people who brought us here, if that's what you're asking.

[ it isn't, she suspects. but she's not about to start parading her association with either the british or the american governments. not until she has to. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha gives Peggy a long, flat look, before she starts to turn away.]

The deal is off. I will not go with you if you have no intention of telling me what I want to know.

[mucked]

[ peggy will let her go -- no desire to strong-arm her any more than she already has. but, before they part ways, she simply shoots back: ] Look around you. There are no flags in space. At least, none that you or I would recognize.

[ they are beyond loyalties. beyond nations. old thinking fails them in a new world. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Then no reason not to tell me who trained you, whose interests you serve.

[Natasha makes a little room between the two of them, then sits down with her back against the wall.]

[mucked]

[ a huff of almost laughter. the most honest answer to her question -- to who trained her to wrestle like that -- would be her brother, michael. but somehow she suspects that, too, will be met with contempt from this little creature.

peggy crosses her arms over her chest. ] I've lived here, amid the stars, for the last year. Serving my own interests and the interests of my crew. That wasn't a lie. But -- [ she relents, just a little. ] I'm from England. I was trained in England. Carry the passport, and so on.

[outstandingbalance]

MI6? [Natasha pushes more, probing for more information.] Or do you work for the American?

[mucked]

[ -- hm. technically, that's a second question. and technically, she said she wouldn't answer the second one until they hit the shuttles. peggy glances down the hallway, sucks on her teeth, and gives a little more ground.

'natalia' isn't the enemy, after all. ]

Back home, I worked for an agency that -- for most people who arrive here -- is little more than an anachronism. The SSR.

[ almost imperceptibly, she tenses. waiting to see if the shoe drops. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha considers that answer for a long moment, her lips compressing as she sorts through what she's learned. With Peggy, everything seems to be a back and forth, but the exchange exposes more information as she picks out the information.

SSR. If it means anything to Natasha, she doesn't give a sign. She also doesn't show any signs of confusion.

She stands again, brushing off her thighs easily.]

We will go to your ship now. I have four more questions.

[mucked]

[ it's funny, really. how readily this information might be shared between the older natasha and herself. not least of all because natasha seems to already know so much of it. in a sense, she almost relishes the chance to tell her anew.

she offers a curt nod, and begins to walk once again in the direction of the shuttle bay. ]

And I'll have four more answers. You've got the shuttle-ride back to the Starstruck to decide what you want to ask. I suspect you'll choose wisely.

[outstandingbalance]

[She intends to. For the time being, she simply considers what she's already learned.]

The second question will be on the shuttle ride. That was the agreement.