Naviadna Mingle

[thespaceopera]

Who: Everyone
Broadcast: If you want!
Action: Anywhere on the fleet or in the system
When: The month of June



Welcome to Naviadna! Enjoy the beautiful sights, amazing technology, and all the other wonderful things this system has to offer! Where will you go? What sort of shenanigans will you get up to? How are you dealing with the planet's insistent singing at you?

Have fun!

(( System Info here ))

Comments

[rebuildyourruins]

[And there she is, voice on the other end of the line. A voice he hasn't heard in months. Thor's shoulders sag with relief even though he realises now that maybe video would have been a better idea. --or maybe not, depending on what she remembers.

He still can't keep the relief out of his voice.]

Natasha - thank the gods! I couldn't find you on your ship.

[outstandingbalance]

No. I—[She wasn't ready to face Barnes with what happened, and didn't want to face herself. She needed to find someone else who remembered.

Seems like she might have had more luck with that last part if she'd stayed behind maybe. Thor sounds as rattled as she feels.] I needed to get some air.

You okay?

[rebuildyourruins]

I'm-- [Is he? On the balance of things, yes. But he'll feel better if he can see her in person.] --yeah, yeah I'm fine. I've just had some... some memories.

[One thing he absolutely won't do is blurt out the truth if she doesn't yet know. Easier on the phone, at least. He might fold under pressure in person. Surely though, if she's remembered anything too, she'll say so.]

Where are you now? On the planet?

[outstandingbalance]

[That's a relief. It also doesn't seem fair; this isn't the first time it seemed like she and Thor were the only two to remember what's happened at home.

It'll be the last time.]

Yeah, me too.

[She rubs her face. They need to talk.]

I'm on the planet. I can send you my coordinates.

[rebuildyourruins]

[It twists his heart, hearing that. He won't know until he sees her exactly how much she remembers, but... if it's anything like last time...]

Thank you. I'll be there as soon as I can.

[For both their sakes.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha waits for him in a public park, seated on a bench. Her nerves are barely contained, her posture tense in a way it wouldn't have been before her memories came flooding in.

She holds her hand by her mouth, thumb to her lips, like she might have wanted to chew on her nail but didn't give into the urge.

When she spots Thor, she perks up—taking in the changes.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[There are changes all right - both expected and not. It's obvious enough that it's Thor from somewhere close to the last time she had seen him, heftier and scruffier. And yet ... at the same time, he's somewhat less of those things than he had been on the quantum realm platform too. Almost as though some more time has passed since then, time spent getting back on track.

His reaction to seeing Natasha there however? Is nothing less than unbridled relief. He halts briefly, staring at the other Avenger sitting tense and solitary on that bench, with that hair -- and immediately feels himself start to tear up.

No point hiding it. Thor rushes forward and just goes straight for the hug, without restraint.]

Natasha!

[outstandingbalance]

[God, seeing him like this, she hugs him back without reservation. Just now she can't think of anything she'd rather see than him looking scruffy—but better. The fact he looks better isn't lost on her at all.]

Thor—I'm all right. It's all right.

[It's all she can think to say. What else can she do in a situation like this? She is all right. She's here. And he's here.

For a second she tries to think of something else to say, something useful, but after struggling with the words there's only one thing she can say:]

Did it work?

[rebuildyourruins]

I'm sorry.

[It's a helpless statement, useless in a way, because there was nothing he could have done about it. None of them knew what the cost of the Soul Stone was. Thor breathes in sharply when she asks the question - of course. Of course that's what she would want to know.

He pulls back a little, enough to look her in the eye. His response is a nod with a watery smile.]

[outstandingbalance]

[That's what she needed to know. It's like a tremendous weight is lifted off of her. She pulls him back down into a tight hug.]

Don't apologize. It's good. It's—you did it. [It'll be a moment before she lets go of him, though. She needs something to hold onto while she processes.] It's worth it.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Fine with him. He lets out a shaky breath, because even while he knows it's not his fault, what else could he say? Natasha's loss had been devastating for them, in the wake of their achievement. Hers, and...]

It should still never have happened to you. If we had known what that Stone would do--

[Who knows. What could they possibly have done differently? Thor hasn't got an answer. It didn't seem there was any way around the Soul Stone's requirements. Even all six of the Stones hadn't allowed Bruce to bring Natasha back. That seemed as final as anything.]

[outstandingbalance]

Then what? Someone else would have done it instead?

[She rubs his shoulder a little, then pats his back. Knowing the rest of the team, they would have tried.

Just like Clint and she tried.]

I like it better this way.

[rebuildyourruins]

Oh, don't say that.

[It's just... sad. The whole thing is unbearably sad, even in the midst of their victory. He sighs, squeezing Natasha again before pulling back a little.]

But ... it is as you say. It worked. We got the Stones back. Unfortunately we ... did not account for Thanos following us back out of the past.

[He shakes his head quickly, before she can jump to a worse conclusion.]

We still succeeded, it was just a bigger battle to do so than we anticipated.

[outstandingbalance]

[That gets her attention. Not that she wasn't paying attention before, but her eyes weren't a sharp. How did Thanos follow them back in the first place?]

Casualties?

[That's the first question. Just how much did they pay in the end?]

[rebuildyourruins]

[A reasonable question. At least there's only one name to tell ... but that doesn't soften the blow. Not for him, and not for Natasha.]

Stark. He's the one who used the Stones to stop Thanos. ... he didn't survive it.

[None of them other than Bruce could have, he knows that now. Tony had known it too. He still made the decision to do it anyway.]

[outstandingbalance]

We knew that would happen. We saw what using the stones did to Thanos.

[Natasha's not sure what to say other than that. It makes sense. She can see how it happened. Not the details, but... the broad strokes. Thanos attacked—after they brought everyone back? Or maybe it was before..]

I'm sorry.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor sighs quietly in agreement. They all knew.]

Yeah... and we had seen it ourselves only a few minutes before, when we brought everyone back. Stark knew it as well as anyone.

[Moreso, perhaps, since it had been Tony who had stopped Thor from using them himself. Tony had known exactly why Thor was in no state to control that much power, regardless of his lineage or strength.]

It was his choice. I can't fault him for it. I only wish it hadn't been necessary.

[outstandingbalance]

All of us wish that. But wishing only gets you so far, doesn't it? It's okay like that. It really is. We all... we did what we needed to do.

And we'll keep doing what we need to do.

[rebuildyourruins]

Natasha ... thank you. Truly.

[None of this would have worked out had Natasha not made the sacrifice she did. Thor won't ever be able to thank Tony for it, but here in this place, he can thank Natasha. And just maybe it won't be the end for her either.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha's not sure what she can say to that. It's not something she can brush off with a you're welcome or no problem. It's not the kind of thing she was supposed to have to accept thanks for.

But it's a relief to know it worked. And to hear Thor say that. She finds herself blinking away the beginnings of tears.]

I just—I want you to be happy. If you can be.

[rebuildyourruins]

Oh, you -- you don't need to worry about me. I'll be all right.

[For certain definitions of it. He shakes his head helplessly, since there's no denying he's been a mess for a while. And in the face of Natasha's death, he can't complain about his own circumstances.]

I'm still working out what to do now, but I'll figure it out.

[outstandingbalance]

You will. I'm sure of it. [He might be in a rough patch now, but he's going to get through it. Him and Steve, and Clint. All of them.]

Does that mean you're considering not going home?

[rebuildyourruins]

Ahh. Maybe. It will depend on what Loki wants to do, really.

[Whatever happens, Thor will go wherever his brother still lives. He has little reason to do otherwise.]

I left Earth a few months ago, back home. I went with the Guardians. I don't think there is much more I can do there ... and I need to find out what it is I want to be, instead of what I've been told I should be.

[outstandingbalance]

That's not a bad road to take. Either way.

[Neither's ideal, all things considered. There's a lot of questions she doubts they'll have the answer to before they make their final decisions.]

Either way, you have a whole galaxy open for you.

[rebuildyourruins]

What about you, though? Will you stay in this universe?

[It's impossible to know if she would be able to return to their own. He's not sure why Natasha shouldn't be able to, if the Guardians' Gamora had come into the future when the existing one had died.

But the Fleet was a different game entirely. He doesn't know the rules here, unlike the rules of time that governed the Stones.]