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]

[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.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha sighs. It's a hard question, and not one she has an answer for yet. She's not even sure if there's really a choice to make anymore.]

I still have to talk to Barnes about it.

[rebuildyourruins]

Yeah ... there are a lot of things we may need to discuss with them, one way or another.

[The broader them, depending how things go. There's no real hiding that both of them have gone through another bout of memories.]

[outstandingbalance]

Thor...? [Natasha pauses, not entirely sure how to say what she wants. Words don't normally escape her, but feelings are more difficult.] I'm sorry. For everything you went through, and that you had to remember.

But I'm grateful to have you here with me on this.

[rebuildyourruins]

[For a moment he doesn't know what to say to that. He hardly thinks he deserves an apology, not after everything that happened. He hadn't even gotten his act together before Natasha died. Finally, he sighs.]

It would have happened eventually. There is no hiding from time.

[A half-smile.]

I'm glad to be of some help. I know you suffered alone last time, for months.

[And in some ways this would have been far worse to go through without anyone else knowing.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha bows her head at that. In some ways, the memory seems so far away. They've remembered so much since then.]

No, there's not. And we still have time apparently.

[rebuildyourruins]

Some way or another we always seem to make more of it for ourselves.

[Between the Quantum Realm and the Fleet's own machinations, Thor's no longer sure just where in the timestream they even fit anymore. Maybe they're out of it entirely.]

[outstandingbalance]

[It makes as much sense as anything at this point.]

Or steal it. Does seem that way, doesn't it?

[rebuildyourruins]

Only because we make it so.

[Regardless of whether their time in the Fleet is their doing or not, Thor still believes in their own control. Had they not proved that, in defeating Thanos?]

[outstandingbalance]

Maybe that's it. [Seems a little less like the case from Natasha's end. So much of her life has been out of her control, a series of choices what were never really choices, up until the end.] It can't all be luck.