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Who: kate bishop + you!!
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: blameless
When: today
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[ every joint pops when kate bishop wakes up. for the first half hour, all she does is stay in her bunk and stare at the ceiling. what the futz just happened? she wrestles with the ringing ache in her head -- trying to pinpoint the last thing she remembers. was it winn's birthday party? was it venice beach? was it both? with a groan, she at long last sits up. gropes for her communications device.

and realizes just how long she's been out. futz and futz and futz again. ]

Hey, fleet. [ she sounds groggy. and (to those who know her) more than a little under the weather. her dark hair is piled up in a messy bun. she looks...tired. ] Ever have a week-long hangover before? Because what a shitty ability that would be. I've been out since New Year's. What'd I miss?

[ kate doesn't even change out of her pjs. she rolls into the blameless's kitchen and begins to rattle around the cupboards. she wants water -- actually, she wants coffee. but she doesn't have the patience even for the stove-top espresso maker. the feed catches all of it: her expression of dismay as she adjusts back to what a space-kitchen has to offer; her disgruntled yawn; the moment when she collects herself before sitting down and addressing the feed once again. ]

One more thing, actually. What do you do when you feel like you know too much?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Still not ringing any bells. Used to the idea that there are fewer of us where we come from than where you do, though.

[It's come up before, at least to degrees. It's a little strange to think why she's in some worlds when other people aren't. Or vice versa.]

I'm sure her hair style takes the edge off PR disaster.

[The ethical one, maybe less so.]

She's not the one with the PR disaster. Not with the actual public, at least.

[ as expected, there's a widening gulf between what the everyday citizen believes and what the superheroing community itself stands for. partially. ]

You're telling me world governments are comfortable with the Avengers acting pre-emptively to prevent crimes on the word of an Inhuman?

[Because THAT is hard to believe.]

From the outside looking in, it looks a helluva lot like Captain Marvel and Maria Hill were working in tandem on this one. [ not that maria hill isn't damaged goods in her own right...

but kate's pretty certain carol danvers answers directly to the president. only she'd not prepared to make that assumption aloud. ]

I know Maria Hill, and I have a hard time believing she'd do something like that.

[A different Maria Hill, though. And Natasha's not sure just how well she knows that one.

But she can't imagine Fury signing on with that, either.]

I know Maria Hill too. [ ... ] But mostly I wish I didn't.

[ kate's history with hill is unpleasant. it didn't matter that the director came through for them in the end -- her behaviour before that point had been top shelf asshole. ]

But then again? Your Captain America's a pussycat compared to ours. Maybe it's the same with Hill.

Well. I can't argue Steve's a pussy cat. Most of the time.

[A slight smile.]

I don't know about you, but cats sometimes feel awful judgmental.

Probably Maria's different too, though. Just like I'm sure I am.

Would it be an insult to suggest that you're, uh, considerably less scary? [ ... ] I mean I'm sure you're just as scary in all the ways it counts. But. Conversationally, the other you is terrifying.

[One of Natasha's brows ratchets up a notch at that assessment.]

So you're saying most of us are kinder and gentler? That's what I'm hearing.

More like you've all got fewer sticks up your butts. [ CHARMING. ] Except for Bucky Barnes. He might have more.

He has an excuse. And he's getting better about it.

[Defending Barnes? That might be a strong word. But if anyone has an excuse for being a little tense, it's him.]

[ kate laughs -- surprised. somehow, she didn't expect black widow to come out to bat (so to speak) for anyone's defense. however gently. ]

Don't get me wrong. I like the guy -- he's just the exception to the compare-and-contrast rule.

[Natasha wouldn't say she's going to bat for him. Just... has a little sympathy for what he's been through, even if circumstances have put her on the other side in the past.]

I follow. I'm just saying, if there was anyone who would be, not surprising its him.

I'm guessing he needs more time to loosen up. Get used to himself. [ ... ] Like when he carried the shield, back home.

Carried the shield, huh? I keep hearing about things like that.

[Not that Natasha ever met the other version of Barnes here, but she's heard about him enough to have made an impression.]

Someone had to step up. There's always gotta be a Captain America. [ ... ] Actually, back home? There's two right now.

[ barnes is neither, though. ]

We've only had the one. Not really sure I could picture someone else filling his shoes.

Steve Rogers is one of them, of course. [ reinstated. ] But that's a recent return to the shield. Sam Wilson carried it before that -- but now they share the responsibility.

[ she waits for recognition. ]

[On Natasha's face, recognition is more a matter of not reacting. She does nod, though.]

I can see Steve trusting him with the shield. Him taking it...

[Maybe.]

Someone had to. Cap went all..geriatric.

I take it you don't just mean wearing his pants too high and complaining about dubstep.

-- Bad things happen to a body when decades of aging decide to catch up with it. Bad, saggy things.

I bet they do. I didn't know that could happen, though.

I don't really know the how of it. Just that one day, he showed up to an Avengers' get-together looking his age and leaning on a cane. Strength and all else gone, too.

So not only did the serum wear off, he deteriorated immediately?

[Important question:] Did he get short?

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