(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

[revengeofthemordsith]

No more trouble than usual.

You can't remove the weaponized part of yourself. But you can at least decide where it serves you best.

[outstandingbalance]

[This is a line of thinking Natasha doesn't have much argument against, but she's also unfortunately not ready to hear. She doubts herself too much to trust this line of reasoning.]

[revengeofthemordsith]

[ Unsurprising, considering how long it took Cara to come around. But she's not here to convince Natasha. She simply speaks her point of view and leaves it at that. Cara never expects to be heard or even understood - it's enough that she can exist freely and have her purpose. ]

It's up to you.

[outstandingbalance]

I will remember what you've said.

[revengeofthemordsith]

That is enough.

[outstandingbalance]

[There's a pause, then she asks:]

Who do you choose to serve?

[revengeofthemordsith]

A man named Richard. He is not here. He is one of those good-hearted types, but he is less reckless than he appears. Not all the work we do is unsavory but he knows when to bend.

[outstandingbalance]

Good-hearted types don't get far in the world.

[She knows. She's been trained to take advantage of them.]

[revengeofthemordsith]

All the more reason to get them further.

[outstandingbalance]

You think you can do that for him? What, just by doing the unsavory parts for him?

[revengeofthemordsith]

Richard is more than capable of doing things that go against his moral ground. But it is important that we don't work for people who can dispose of us easily. Skill can only get you so far with a dictator.

[outstandingbalance]

It's not our job to get far with our leaders.

[revengeofthemordsith]

No. Our job is to be used and abandoned.

So improvise.

[outstandingbalance]

That is what happens to weapons.

[revengeofthemordsith]

Is that what you want?

[outstandingbalance]

What I want doesn't factor into it.

[revengeofthemordsith]

That is your decision.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha stares at her, snorting softly. She doesn't know how to say that she thought the point was that it wasn't her decision. None of it had been. That wasn't her place.

Her expression probably makes it clear enough, though.]

[revengeofthemordsith]

Or you can let them decide for you.

[outstandingbalance]

A gun doesn't choose when it's fired.

[And it's been made clear throughout Natasha's training that's t be aspired to.]

[revengeofthemordsith]

If they wanted a gun, they could use a gun.

The bullets run out, I believe. Much like you and the rest of the others.

[ Because there are others. There always are. ]

If you are a gun, then be a gun. Be discarded. Be wasted until the next better thing comes along.

Are you a gun?

[outstandingbalance]

[Of course there are others. Natasha's just the best.]

I have more in common with a gun than with most school girls.

[Hedging the real answer.]

[revengeofthemordsith]

You're avoiding.

What are you?

[outstandingbalance]

I am a Black Widow.

[Or one in training.]

[revengeofthemordsith]

[ She nods. ]

Then be that. Don't add guns and other metaphors into it.