driftfleet | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Natasha Romanoff + various
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Starstruck, Heron, Vanquish, Iskaulit & Siourew
When: Throughout February

Visits - Starstruck & Heron

[Don't let it be said that Natasha Romanoff isn't good to her word. She's said she would pay visits to a couple of ships, and in early February, she proves good to her word.

First on the agenda, she stops in on the Heron. It gets priority because it's not just a social call. She said she'd help Barnes out with his hair—it's obviously been a while since anyone gave it a trim, and he's agreed to trust her enough to help him out. Hopefully Barnes is in. She didn't call ahead to check.

Later, she'll show up on the Starstruck. She's actually been here a couple of times recently, eating Wanda's cookies and stopping by to see Peggy, but she's trying to make more of a habit out of it. Steve clearly wanted her to. And she hasn't seen him on those visits, so here she is again.

In Starstruck's kitchen.

Making herself some coffee.]

Exploring - Siourew

[Natasha takes the opportunity to get down on the planet. Or around it, as the case proves to be. Either way, she's taking advantage of the opportunity to get outside, to see a real sky, breathe fresh air and stretch her legs.

If anyone wants to join her for a hike, she wouldn't turn down the company.]

Hallucinations - Vanquish, Islaulit & Siourew

[As the month wears on, the tone of things changes for the worse. Natasha hadn't assumed she'd escaped the glitches affecting various members of the fleet, but she had seemed no worse for them so far. That changes as the month wears on.

It starts with flashes out of the corner of her eye. Little girls who watch her with eyes too old for their faces. They stand in ones and twos, tucked around corners and in shadows, glimpsed in the reflection in a window, there for only an instant, then gone. It doesn't end there, though. After the flashes, aural hallucinations. Voices come straight from her memory, clear and distinct, speaking in any of half a dozen different languages. They bark orders. Praise her dedication. Quiz her on training. A few words, a phrase, and then they're gone.

Then the visions escalate. The girls stay are no longer just girls. They're ghosts, sporting evidence of the injuries that killed them—they're students she killed along the way, bruised or bearing bullet wounds. Sometimes they're missing eyes, missing mouths. They float in windows.

They don't speak, because the dead don't. They just follow her. Isn't that fitting?

Natasha tries to go about her days normally. She visits the shooting range, or bars. She makes her meals in Vanquishes kitchen and she stops into bars on Iskaulit. She even goes back planetside hoping getting away from the fleet will ease the glitch, but there's no such luck. By the end of the month, she might walk into a room and for five full seconds, it's as though she's stepped into the past, back in Russia, back in the Red Room, watching girls be winnowed away until only the weapons remain, or she might turn a corner and find herself standing face to face with the distorted face of one of her marks from her early days as an assassin. She tries to hide it, but as time goes on, even she can't entirely hide the signs of stress.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I understand. I feel the same. As much as I want to be around them, I can't all the time.

[ As much as he loves them, they wear him out. Natasha is probably the best one to understand that.

..Ah. Another crux in the situation. ]

It will. If he remembers.

[Natasha's smile this time is just a little sad, because she's not surprised he understands. She mentioned it to him in the first place because she thought he would understand.]

They're always on. [She thinks he'll understand when she says that too.] Plus... there's something to be said for privacy.

And perspective.

Exactly. [ How they can possibly be on all the time is beyond his understanding. ]

The distance is nice. [ Just far enough away that they're not breathing down his neck every ten minutes. Steve won't give him those worried looks, and Peggy-- well. He won't dig himself any deeper out of favor with her. ]

[Natasha can almost see his train of thought, reading into his expression and the quiet between the words as much as the words themselves. In that, they're different. They didn't have a reason to worry about her like they did Bucky; they hadn't known her before she was a weapon. They met her after she'd found her way out.]

They ever invite you over, then get surprised when you hesitate? [She attempts to nudge the conversation in a slightly lighter direction.] Just promising that you won't end up a third wheel.

I try not to refuse when it does happen. Though I'm sure they won't forget the last time it was just the three of us over dinner.

[ Back when his arm was still busted and things between him and Peggy were still shaky at best. Mostly, he sat there in silence while Steve and Peggy talked unless he was addressed. ]

It's usually better with more than three or with two.

One on one usually isn't so bad. [She does agree with that.]

I believe Peggy when she says she's looking for another communications officer. It's not some kind of an attempt to keep everyone close.

But that still feels like a result.

One person is much easier to pay attention to. [ Not that paying attention to a crowd is hard, but she gets it. ]

Understandable. I'm sure she'll leave the offer open if you change your mind. There would be a good number of her favorites over there. It's hard not to see that.

Like she's handpicking her team. Which considering her...

[She is.]

I'll keep thinking about it. Definitely not a decision for today.

Even if you didn't, it may be a good idea to keep everyone spread out. Extend the reach.

[ Not that limiting to one less ship would shorten the reach, but they all talk to different people and have different approaches. There's a better chance for wider results. ]

[She makes a sound of agreement.]

And if something happens like before, another attack, it makes it easier to coordinate between ships.

Can't catch everyone off guard if they're not all in one location.

[ Definitely something he's been thinking more and more about lately. ]

Exactly. Comms is a good place to be when that happens, too. I don't know if it's what I'd have picked for myself, but as it is...

I like it a lot more than I like not knowing what people are doing.

Well, at least your augment helps serve a purpose. I'm pretty certain the Atroma have been fucking with me from the start.

[ Who the fuck gives lab support to the brainwashed assassin? Then again, he hasn't exactly changed it yet, either. By now, he's just keeping it out of spite. ]

Didn't exactly get in your way, did it? You make a good captain.

Took a while to feel comfortable in that particular skin.

[ Jim had been the captain before him, and his counterpart had always been so good at it. He doesn't feel up to snuff in comparison. ]

It's better now. I'm not as great at leading like some of our friends.

[ coughStevecough. ]

One of your crew did say she was just waiting to stab you in the back as I was coming on, it's true.

[That was an interesting encounter.]

But I'd still say you're doing all right with it.

Summer.

[ He still can't get a good read on her, though he doubts she'd be able to catch him that off guard. She is more than welcome to try. ]

Well, no one's killed me yet, so I'd count that for something.

I doubt anyone's going to try. Not seriously, anyway.

[A pause before she adds:]

Does everyone who comes on board get questioned like that?

I would say no, but we've been a bit paranoid, lately.

[ He won't go into the why for now. ]

Everything okay?

[She won't ask for details, but that doesn't mean she won't ask at all.]

We have it under control at the moment.

[ He's quiet for a moment, regarding Natasha before he speaks up again. ]

Charles was attacked. Questioned about others in the fleet. Someone went looking for information and didn't get it.

[Natasha's expression becomes serious when he tells her that, her posture becoming a little straighter, a little more professional.]

He's okay, right? [She barely knows him personally, but she know of him well enough to believe it.]

He's fine. It will take more than that to get him to crack.

[ The attack served to light a fire under their asses to get their security measures in place. ]

No, I didn't figure.

[But there's more to being fine than not breaking when you're questioned.

Natasha will accept his answer, though. He'll tell her know if he wants.]

I can see why you're upping your security, then. I'll make sure to keep that in mind next time I come by.

I'll let you know when it goes into effect.

[ Maybe she'll get her own pass code, who knows. ]

If it keeps the ship safer, it's stupid not to.