the white noise is deafening silence

[thespaceopera]

[In the very early hours of January 20th, as the Marsiva and her captives drift nonchalantly through the depths of the universe, there is a call. Every single personal communicator and console springs to life, spitting out a stream of indecipherable static and showing only gray snow on screen. It continues like this for a few seconds longer, going black and then going staticky, and then the signal switches to the encrypted channel generally used for speaking to the Interceptors when something big goes down.

This is a little more successful. The voice may be familiar to some, at least through the static.]

Zhade here! I trust I ███ your attention? I'm having some ██▓▓ble ██tting through. Some of the ░▓██▓█ are missing. I can't ░▓▓▓ read on their loc█████ns. [A particularly long burst of static.] ███stening. I'll s█▓▓█ more inf██▓▓▓▓▓█ I get it.

Stay sharp! [There's the sound of someone actually doing the fingerguns wink noise, and then static.

Any messages sent back won't get through, and Zhade isn't there to answer.]

[ A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. The style of decor resembles that of the Marsiva's Hospitality Deck, if any passengers should remember what that's like. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well, all clean and chrome.

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers. It's time for round three of calibrations. ]

[ This mingle will cover all non-calibration room interactions. Please continue to come back to it for the duration of the plot! You are, of course, free to post any other mingles/posts/etc. that you'd like. ]

Comments

Natasha Romanoff | MCU | OTA

[outstandingbalance]

[Oh, Natasha recognizes this. She recognizes it and she hates it.

For the most part, Natasha keeps to herself during calibrations; she stays in her room as much as she can stand, and when she does venture out into the common areas, she spends the better part of her time finding private corners. Reading stirs up bittersweet memories of her last round, mostly spent with James while he read her books that she refused to read for herself.

Despite her general antisocial behavior, though, she does keep an eye open for her friends, her teammates, to check in if they seem to be having a rough time with it. Just a glance, a few words to make sure they're hanging in, that it's not too bad.

But oh, oh, does she hate it.]

[sinistral]

[Only a few days in and Bucky hates this. He hates the dreams — are they dreams? — he hates the captivity, he hates the lack of privacy. About the only thing Bucky doesn't hate is the sterility of everything, and that's only because it's familiar. He doesn't like it, but he acknowledges it.

Still, the idea that the setting is designed to force social interactions does not sit well with someone who believes — strongly so! — that he is ill-suited for it. With the forcing of sleep cycles he cannot even retreat into the solitude of a nighttime workout and the frustration has him on edge. At least there are books, ones he brings back to his room to read in solitude, returning them to the common area the next day. It's on such a foray to return a book that he runs into Natasha, tucked up in what passes for privacy in one of the reading nooks.]

Didn't mean to disturb you. [He'll just leave the book and retreat from her space; it's for the best.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha can't entirely suppress a flinch when he speaks up. It's both the first and last voice she wants to hear right now.

She's quick to tamp down on the reaction though. It's not Barnes's fault she's uncomfortable. This whole situation is just designed to make her feel uncomfortable—but that means he's probably feeling it too.]

It's all right. [She closes the book she was reading, tucking it away beside her hip.] I wasn't really doing anything.

[After a quick pause:] You doing okay?

[sinistral]

[That flinch doesn't go unnoticed. After the tension in their first meeting, he supposes he's not surprised. And with what's apparently been happening, Bucky is sure they're not the only two on edge.

But it doesn't mean they have to like it.]

I hate this place. [It's not really an answer and it's really giving anything away, given that most people probably share the sentiment.] The sooner we leave, the better.

[outstandingbalance]

[She laughs dryly at that, soft. It's not all that surprising he says that, or that they agree about this.]

It's high on my list of least favorite things that happens here.

[Very high on the list. Not on the level of seeing worlds destroyed, but honestly? She'd prefer cannibals.]

It shouldn't last long.

[sinistral]

So this is a regular occurrence?

[His expression says rather clearly exactly what he thinks of that.]

It's already been too long. But how long do you define "long"?

[outstandingbalance]

It's the second time since I've been here, third that I know of. Maybe not regular... but it happens.

[And they agree on that. Once was once too many.]

I can't say exactly how long it will last, but it won't last forever.

[sinistral]

Great.

[What else is there to say about it? Certainly complaining isn't going to shorten the time; if that was the case, Bucky doubts they'd be here at all.

Then again, he can't deny that it probably makes great entertainment.]

Small miracles, I suppose.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha makes a sound of muffled sympathy. At first, she's not sure what to say, really, but she tries.

Better than awkward silence.]

The Fleet really knows how to roll out the welcome wagon, hm? You seeing a lot?

[A lot of other people's dreams and memories. A lot of people in his own. Either way.]

[postocular]

[ It's an annoying thing, isn't it? Being all together like this once again. Carl still only has vague memories of the last time they were all cooped up, and not so much of anything that happened inside those memories at night. So far, Carl has been reading by himself or listening to music. He's venturing back to his book when he spots Natasha and plops himself next to her, instead, offering her his open bag of snacks from his room. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha leans a little closer, nudging him with her elbow as quiet acknowledgement of his presence.

Is there something salty and crunchy in there? She might take that.]

[postocular]

[ He offers her a smile, especially when she takes some of his snacks. It doesn't feel like they need to say a word if they don't want, just sitting, reading, and sharing some munchies. Carl nudges her back and cracks his book open again. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[For a while, Natasha does just that. She eats slowly, returning to her book and leafing through the chapter she's working on, letting Carl's presence grow more comfortable. Taking comfort in it.

But when she reaches a good stopping point, she'll set it aside and nudge him again.]

How are you doing?

[postocular]

[ Carl gets engrossed in the story, jerking his head upward when she nudges him. ] I'm.. okay? This place kind of sucks.

[outstandingbalance]

It really does. [She doesn't even try to argue that.] But here we are.

[postocular]

Yeah.. Here we are. At least we can do stuff like this during the day, right?

[outstandingbalance]

Might have been nicer to do it in my own room.

[theirondragon]

[Nat's visits had all but stopped after Bucky had departed, not that the Bull blamed her, but he hadn't seen her in a while. Finding her dark corner wasn't difficult in the slightest, and he didn't try to hide the fact that he was approaching her, either. He just took up a spot against the wall near her, crossed his massive arms and was quiet for a moment before he looked over to her.]

Hey, Red. Long time, no see.

[outstandingbalance]

[Since before she dyed her hair back to red. And Natasha can take the blame for it. She tried stopping by the Heron a couple of times after Bucky left, but it always felt like she was looking for someone who wasn't there.

She didn't mean to stop, but it got easy to find reasons to put it off.]

Hey. I see you haven't gotten any smaller. [She's aiming at banter. Not her best, though.]

You doing okay?

[theirondragon]

And you're still just as hot, so I'm not complaining.

[He grins, because he can tell she's trying, and he's not going to make that harder for her.]

Yeah. I was doing great before they shoved us all into this place together.

[outstandingbalance]

Can't exactly blame you if this ruined your good mood. Can't even get a decent drink around here.

[She returns the smile, her own crooked.]

Tell me something good?

[theirondragon]

Somebody made hot chocolate, so there's something going for us.

[it's not much, and it's probably making him more happy than most.]

Something good...did I tell you I got my ax from home?

[outstandingbalance]

Hot chocolate. I'll have to look into that. [It's better than nothing. Really, who doesn't like hot chocolate.]

No, you didn't? I take it this is a special ax.

[theirondragon]

I used that ax to take down dragons, so yeah. Pretty special. It's enchanted.

[He shrugs, like that should explain everything about it.]

Look for Lup. She's a good kid.

[outstandingbalance]

Sorry. I don't know much about dragon slaying. Some of my friends, maybe. But it does sound impressive.

[A little smile.]

Maybe you can show me sometime.