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

[theirondragon]

Red, you've got no idea. They're massive, all unbridled power and hunger. When they roar you feel it, you know, and when they fly overhead, their shadows blot out the sun. Their wings are like...like thunder, and the wind they kick up is enough to push you backward. [He grunts, and it sounds something like deep satisfaction.] Taarsidath-an halsaam.

[outstandingbalance]

Should I give you a moment? [She warms up to the teasing a little more. It's not so hard when he responds like that, and flirting comes easy to Natasha.] What does that mean?

[theirondragon]

Nah. I get plenty of those. [He shrugs, though a grin spreads across his lips at her question.]

There's no real direct translation, but the closest would be, "I will give myself sexual pleasure later while thinking about this with great respect".

[outstandingbalance]

Oh, so it's exactly what it sounds like. [Is she surprised? She's sure she shouldn't be.] As long as it's with great respect, I guess.

[Respect for the dragon? She's not sure.]

As long as your partner is okay with that.

[theirondragon]

Always, Red. [He chuckles, leaning backward and flexing his shoulders. He might be bragging a little, at least with his posturing.] He's never complained.

[outstandingbalance]

[Having occasionally spent nights on the Heron, Natasha doesn't doubt that, though she doesn't give him the satisfaction of saying that aloud.]

I'm sure he knew what he was getting into when he signed up.

[theirondragon]

[He shrugs.]

I don't keep secrets, at least not about what I want.

[outstandingbalance]

No, you are very upfront. [Her smile is more fond as she says that. She's kind of missed this, even if she hasn't ever owned up to the emotion.] One of your best qualities.

[theirondragon]

[He chuckles at that, nudging her with an elbow.]

You're just saying that because you haven't seen the other ones, Red.

[outstandingbalance]

[Glancing over at him, Natasha gives a Look. You know what kind of Look, because you know what you said.]

Not sure how many of your other good qualities I could take. Might be too much for me.

[theirondragon]

Ha! I've seen you move. [He grins.] I think you know what you want, and I think you know just how to get it. Besides, I've taken a hit from Bucky's arm. You could take it.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha softens slightly as he mentions Bucky—that gets to her more than than the compliment.]

The trick is not to get hit. [Easier said than done, though, right?] That way it's easier to shake.

[A pause then, and a shake of her head.]

You see he's back? Not the same Barnes, or if he is he doesn't remember any of it. However that works.

[theirondragon]

Where's the fun in that?

[Of course, she's a wisp of a thing, all willowy grace and cunning.]

Argh, all this head crap. they turn us into things, they take us away and then put us back together wrong. [He exhales hard through his nostrils, sounding for a moment all of the angry bull whose name he's taken for his own.] I'm sorry, Red. That's shit.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha, for one, finds not breaking bones more fun than the altnerative normally, but his answer doesn't surprise her.

His reaction to the news about Barnes makes her wince, though. He's right, and it's worse because it's not the first time that's happened to him. It's not fair.]

It is, but... I'll handle it. Not the first time he's forgotten me.

[She just hates that apparently that's a thing.]

It's hard to see him go back so far after he made so much progress though. Being here was good for him, until it wasn't.

The people here were good for him.

[theirondragon]

Then they can be again, Red.

[He smiles slightly, then nudges her again.]

How are you holding up?

[outstandingbalance]

Me? Oh...

[She shrugs, glancing away. She doesn't have a good answer for this, not immediately.]

I always hold up. It's what I do.

[theirondragon]

Right.

[He smiles.]

That's why you haven't called or stopped by since the boss went home, right? Doing fine? Better things?

[outstandingbalance]

I didn't say I was fine. [That's different.] I said I was holding up.

But I've survived alien invasions, robot uprisings, Nazi coups and Soviet orphanages. I'll survive this too.

[theirondragon]

Maybe, but sometimes it all gets to be too much and you wake up one day, and you realize you don't know why you keep doing that.

[And he smiles slightly.]

What I'm saying is if you wake up one day, and you don't know why anymore, you just call up the Iron Bull. We'll figure it out.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha bites her lower lip at that offer. For a moment, it's almost too much. It's only a matter of seconds before her emotions are back under control.

Proof he's on target, probably.]

Thanks. I'll remember that. [Then, after a brief pause.] And I'll come by more either way. You're right—I'm behind on that.

[theirondragon]

[He nods.]

And I'll only hit you with a stick if you ask nice.

[outstandingbalance]

Tempting as that is, I think I'll contain myself somehow. Hate to make your boyfriend jealous.

[theirondragon]

[He laughs.]

That's only if I tie you up first.

[outstandingbalance]

Now it just sounds like work.

[theirondragon]

The best pay-offs come with effort, Red.