'cause it's better than nothing

[thespaceopera]

[ Calibration Rooms ]
( for N-Z characters )

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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

N - P Otono-Tachibana Makie Pavel Chekov Peter Parker Pidge Gunderson Prompto Argentum Psycho Mantis

Q - S Randolph Lyall Remy LeBeau Sandalio "Biffy" de Rabiffano Sanza Stark Shin-Ah Sorey Steve Rogers

T - V Taako Thor Tim Drake Tyrion Lannister Ulaz Vash the Stampede Victor Frankenstein The Vision

W - Z Wanda Maximoff Zaveid

(last updated: 1/25/19)

Comments

[rebuildyourruins]

It's just getting that chance that proves difficult, isn't it?

[outstandingbalance]

You'd have to tell me. [He doesn't have to. She knows what he's been through lately, at least to a degree. It's definitely difficult.] What are you taking a break from?

[rebuildyourruins]

Ah... reorganising.

[Sure, he'll call it that. He raises a hand and points behind Natasha, where the dark half of the room is.]

Down there.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha glances down as well. Feels like she's being nudged a certain direction.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[He's a little more serious when he speaks again.]

Unless you have a reason to go down there, I don't recommend it.

[outstandingbalance]

Do you know what's down there? [Her gaze stays down, considering. From here, there's still nothing to see.]

[rebuildyourruins]

I do. Things that are hard to remember, but all the more important that I don't forget.

[Painful, desperate things. Thor steps around the throne to stand next to Natasha, looking down into the shadows with her.]

It wasn't always dark down there.

[outstandingbalance]

What changed? [She has her guesses.]

[rebuildyourruins]

A lot of things. Death, mostly.

[Death itself hasn't changed. It's just sunken its teeth into everything down there, crumbling the walls and robbing it of light. He shakes his head, turning away from it.]

I don't know what to do about it yet. If anything can be done.

[outstandingbalance]

Death will do that. [And what can be done about it? That's hard to say, isn't it. Natasha doesn't have all that many words of comfort; she doesn't want to lie to him.]

If I go down to have a look, I'm going to need a light.

[rebuildyourruins]

Yes, you will.

[Thor turns and picks up the lantern, which is unlit. He holds it out to her with a considering expression.]

Is that what you want to do?

[outstandingbalance]

I don't really want to do any of this. But if there's something here I should look at, I'm not going to hide from it either.

[She reaches for the lantern, slow but confident.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[Natasha takes up the lantern in her hand. There’s no obvious way to light it, no knobs or wicks where flame could be set. Before she can puzzle it out any further, fog rolls in around her, blanketing the area before lightening again. She stands upon a high balcony overlooking a grand city in flames, a long rainbow bridge extending out over the ocean beyond. Right next to her, Thor is slammed into the balcony by a spider-helmed woman. ((End at 2:00))

"Valiant effort but you never stood a chance."

Only the scene doesn’t stay there, pinned to the balcony. It flares brightly before leaving them in a vast field, with only two souls present...

As Thor returns to reality and the lightning slams into both him and Hela on the balcony, just for a moment, Natasha feels it. It surges within her, a writhing force of nature that doesn’t burn her up so much as flood every inch of her being with power. This is nothing to fear. This is hers; this is right.

Just as quickly the feeling vanishes like it was never there. The echo of thunder still rumbles around the chamber as the fog peels away. In Natasha's hand the lantern is lit - not by flames, but by arcs of bright lightning, flickering erratically within the glass walls.]

Well... [Thor's still watching her, something unreadable in his expression.] There is nothing down there that should surprise you, at least.

[outstandingbalance]

I don't surprise easily. [It's true, though while his memory doesn't surprise her, it does leave her a bit uneasy. It's intense. And that feeling, the feeling of power, isn't like anything she's experienced before.

She studies the lamp.] Looks like we solved one problem, though. One step at a time, right?

[rebuildyourruins]

[He smiles at last, a small but present thing.]

It's the best way forward.

[As Natasha descends the stairs the darkness grows. With the lantern in hand though it parts around her enough to see where she's going. This part of the chamber - roughly half of it, may have once been a mirror of the upper half if not for the ruins that lie there now. The shape of a small, low-slung boat is positioned in the middle of the floor a few paces in front of Natasha. The glimmer she saw from the higher levels is now more clearly set in the wall, amidst another painting. The broken column that lies on the stairs is in more pieces further in, a jumbled pile of rubble surround the snapped-off base on the left.

The column on the right has fared a little better, though it has seen better days. It still stands but a huge blow has taken a chunk out of the side of it. It’s a wonder it remains upright. More discarded pieces of marble litter the base of it. Further back a huge axe can be seen embedded in the wall behind the column.

The ceiling isn’t visible down here. Occasional flickers of lightning flare above, but they don’t illuminate the floor at all.]

[outstandingbalance]

[It's definitely seen better days, hasn't it? Natasha takes in the extent of the damage as she approaches the boat on quiet feet.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[The wooden boat sits incongruously in the middle of the floor, though in looking at it, it doesn’t feel out of place. This is where it should be. The vessel isn’t large, only three metres long in total, with the prow sweeping up higher into a curved tip. There are no oars to be seen or sails. The wood feels old to the touch.

The interior is heaped with faded, almost transparent weaponry. Most of the swords, shields and spears amongst the seats are hard to distinguish from each other, and attempting to pull them out only results in your hand passing right through them. If you do, a chill lingers on your skin, in your bones.

There are a handful of weapons resting on the front seat of the boat that are more corporeal. A golden spear oddly similar to the one on Thor’s throne back up the stairs, a silvery sword, a gold dagger, and out of place among them a dimly glowing purple gem.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha has the creeping suspicion she knows what the symbolism here is alluding to, and she's not sure she likes it. It's consistent, though.

Carefully, she circles the boat before focusing her attention on the weapons in the front of the boat, in particular the silver sword.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[As Natasha keeps her focus on the sword, it seems to brighten. A gleam flickers along its blade, bright and darting before it blinds her suddenly--

--and she's running. Natasha finds herself running down a hallways as fast as she can, desperate. She knows she has to reach the room at the end before they do anything more, before they go after two of the people she cares most about in this world. Even above the slamming sound of boots she can hear voices up ahead - a man's, repugnant, and a woman's. Familiar. She rounds the last corner and the chamber itself comes into view.

But she's too late to stop the blade stabbing straight through her(?) mother. Natasha, the real Natasha, comes to a dead halt but Thor keeps running - seemingly out from where she stands and further, taking his howling emotions with him, as he blasts the Dark Elf with lightning. It isn't enough. The pair of assailants hurl themselves off the railing before he hurls Mjolnir after them, again and again. Never quite fast enough.

Frigga never moves again once her body hits the floor. She's still lying there when Odin arrives and gathers her in his arms, when Jane emerges from behind the pillar with dismay on her face. Sound, if it ever existed here, seems to fade away... then colour, then light.

The sword is dark, the boat in front of Natasha once more.]