(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

[mucked]

Possibly. Possibly not. Would you like to ask that as one of your questions? We're nearly at the Starstruck; I'll allow it.

[outstandingbalance]

No. I know what my next question will be.

You may have time for another, though.

[mucked]

I may, may I?

[ a thin success, but a success all the same. ]

How old are you?

[outstandingbalance]

[...Good question.]

Eleven? Twelve?

[She shrugs, as though she doesn't know herself. Whether or not that's true... who knows.]

[mucked]

Eleven or twelve. Hm.

[ peggy watches as the starstruck comes into sight. the hatch opens -- and the auto-pilot directs the shuttle smoothly into the bay. ]

Which would you rather be?

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha also watches all of this, hiding her discomfort with it behind a mask of indifference.]

Does it matter?

[mucked]

Not at all. Not one bit.

[ -- it doesn't matter which the girl prefers, but it does matter if she prefers. peggy probes the edges of her free will. wondering what's left of it, or what's been burned out and leaving only survivalism behind.

she'd done much the same with max when he first came to the starstruck. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[It's hard to tell with Natasha. If she does have a preference, she's learned very thoroughly to bury it.

But there's the sense that she's guarded, that there are things she doesn't share.]

It is my turn to ask you a question now.

[mucked]

[ she flicks the switches that kill the shuttle's engine. unbuckling herself, she also lets the hatch open. peggy gestures at 'natalia', in case she wants to disembark first. ]

What would you like to know?

[outstandingbalance]

[She taps the skin behind her own ear lightly, tentative about actually touching the augment.]

About this.

[mucked]

Ostensibly, the augments were put in place by the same body that keeps us here: the Atroma. You'll hear that name a lot, and they're to blame. Truth is, all we really have is guesswork.

[ the shuttle opens up on a wide bay. a few other shuttles are present, including one that appears to spend more time stationary than not. one corner boasts a gym-area, including a punching bag. oddly, perhaps, there's a record player present as well. peggy passes by them all. ]

Mine allows me to manage the communications equipment on this ship. Not all augments are the same, although they do all similarly handcuff us to the fleet. Effectively.

[outstandingbalance]

You do not think we are being told the truth?

[They have that in common, then. It's foolish to trust what they're told. Either of them.]

[mucked]

Is that your next question?

[outstandingbalance]

I asked it.

[mucked]

Only I rather suspect you already guess the answer. I don't trust what we're being told, no. I'm sure there are some pieces of truth to it but -- we're missing the larger picture.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha doesn't respond to that, waiting to see if there's more. She's used four questions now. The last one won't be used for clarification.

But she does want to know more.]

[mucked]

[ -- she obliges. but a careful look suggests she's not being taken for a ride. she knows natalia is trying to manipulate her for more information, and she's offering it willingly. at no extra cost. ]

They tell us we're being watched -- for entertainment. These ships are our stages, and we're the players passing to and fro upon them.

[outstandingbalance]

Oh, I believe that we are being watched.

[A pause, then she adds:]

I saw the video feed, earlier.

[mucked]

[ silence, for a moment, while she decides how to interpret natalia's words. ]

Watched for more than what we put on those devices. Like on television.

[ peggy might not know television all that well herself, but she knows it's the point of reference so many other people give. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Like surveillance. A panopticon.

[mucked]

But one where not only the guards keep watch, but the masses do as well. We're like a good book, to them. Supposedly.

she's still not convinced she believes the length of that claim. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha doubts that herself, though whether or not she fully appreciates the scenario Peggy is presenting remains to be seen.]

The audience is half the guard, isn't it? If we all know we're being watched, we behave differently. It's a stress.

[mucked]

A stress, indeed, until some people grow too accustomed to it -- and mistaking complacency for defiance, they begin to act as though no one was ever watching.

[ does she enjoy herself, here? certainly. but she knows there are pitfalls to proceeding as though this wasn't one large attempt to gather intel. ]

[outstandingbalance]

What is it they say? [She switches then to English.] Familiarity breeds contempt?

[mucked]

[ a smile. and, in russian: ] Something like that.

[ peggy strides towards a hallway. ]