eachdraidh | oo1 ⌛ video ⌛ open to both courts

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oo1 ⌛ video ⌛ open to both courts

[ The locket opens and the view from the message's intended audience shows the condition of the Station, after Ariadne-Lawkamercyme's rampage through the place not days earlier — claw marks on the walls, furniture and interior structure shredded and destroyed, carpets ruined, basically the entire place in shambles.

Then, Natasha appears. ]

I don't need to ask what happened, here — it's pretty evident that those things got inside somehow and tore the entire place up. I'm a little surprised they'd cause this much damage, though; they hadn't seemed that large when I'd encountered them on the road from Caer Scima.

I assume the threat is gone, for now? If anyone from either court is interested in assisting with the clean-up and repair, I'd imagine they could use someone here with a little more construction know-how than I have. [ She's an expert in demolitions, not rebuilding, and she gives the locket a small smirk. ]

I'm sure the fairies and imps will appreciate it.

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Natasha?

[This better not be fairy dust in his eyes. Not that he'd be thrilled about her being stuck here too.]

How long have you been here?

[ His name is right there on the tip of her tongue, but she manages to rein herself in before she ends up speaking it - instead, a myriad mix of emotions flickers over her face like a wave, before it settles into a relieved smile covered by a smirk. ]

Long enough to know that of course you'd be one to have been placed into the court of truth and virtue.

[That smirk can't be duplicated. He's sure of it.]

And I'm guessing they recruited you for the Unseelie side. You mentioned Caer Scima.

[ She nods, shrugs slightly, even if she's secretly less than pleased to know her red ledger has followed her here. ]

It's not that bad, you know. It's quite the party over there at the Revels.

I know about the Revels. And it is that bad.

[Could he sound more disapproving, no I don't think so.]

Are you staying at the Station now?

[ Natasha's interest is suddenly piqued. This could be a bad thing. ]

— Just temporarily. The propaganda over there gets old really quick.

So you know about the Revels, firsthand? This sounds like it'd make for some good storytelling, Steve.

They would want us to fight each other, and that's not happening.

And it wasn't like that. I was only there to rescue a friend.

[Yes, yes he was there to rescue Bucky from the beautiful women with their hands down his pants. And Bucky was forever grateful. The end.]

[ ...Something about that story sounds highly improbable, and not just the Bucky being forever grateful part. ]

...Sure you were. [ That smirk to end all smirks is back, full-force. She's not done teasing him about this - not by a long shot. ]

But you have nothing to worry about, with regard to your first point. No one could pay me enough to lay a hand on you, in that respect [ ~~does that sound bad, is more clarification needed~~ ] — not after what we've been through.

[No, it's - it's mostly the truth. They did need to get out of there, so it was sort of a rescue. From something Bucky never asked to be saved from. STEVE KNOWS BEST.]

Yeah.

[He sighs heavily, offering her a little smile.]

New York was something. Never thought I'd end up in a war with alien soldiers, that's for sure.

[ Something about the way he says it — and sounds so certain of it, like that's the worst they've experienced — puts Natasha on guard, and as if by force of habit she finagles the connection into a private filter. (Never underestimate her tech savvy, even when the tech in question is an antique locket.)

She fixes him with a look somewhere between curious and skeptical. ]

...I was actually thinking more along the lines of when SHIELD chased us down as fugitives, and the whole HYDRA reveal through Zola. Not that the Chitauri were a walk in the park, but it's not every day you find out you're inadvertently working for the bad guys.

[There's a valley forming between his eyebrows, because she's tossing around names and organizations that he knows, but put together in a way that doesn't make any sense. HYDRA and Zola are both dead as far as he's concerned, and the part about working for the bad guys makes even less sense.

He knows enough about Natasha to know that she can wear a lot of different faces. Maybe something's wearing hers, just a little more literally.]

Who are you?

[His voice is a little sharper than before. He's not talking to a teammate, not talking to a friend.]

You know who I am. It's me. [ Her voice is calm and smooth, a stark contrast to the way her heart is pounding in her chest when he demands to know who she is. ] It's Natasha.

Steve, you don't remember any of this, do you. [ It's not a question; she's realizing that he has an entire chunk of time missing — literally the last week before she'd ended up here, unless his memories cut off after New York. ]

I don't remember it because it hasn't happened.

[For him. But Steve of all people should know that time plays by loose rules here. Hadn't he been on the other side of this conversation with one of Thor's allies?]

Not for me. At least not yet.

Edited 2014-08-23 01:12 (UTC)

[ She's just figuring that out, that the placement of one person may not necessarily dictate the placement of others. It's obvious Steve is from an earlier time — one at least where he knows she's an ally, but nothing more than that.

He doesn't know about Zola embodied in a living computer. He doesn't know about HYDRA's stealth takeover. He doesn't know about Insight.

...He doesn't know about Barnes.

Natasha shutters her features, concealing her expression to keep a neutral mask. ]

...How soon can you get to the Station?

[ Because she's sure as hell not going to tell him everything over a magical locket, and especially not sensitive information such as the fate of his friend. ]

It might take me a few days, I'm sort of on a mission. But I'll be there as soon as I can. Can you wait?

[Oh, here's an idea.]

I can see what Bucky's doing. Maybe he'll be able to keep you company.

[ She's about to say yes, she can wait, it's not as though she has anything pressuring to get back to at Caer Scima, but then he says Bucky and her heart freezes in her throat — ]

— No — [ is her first and instinctive reaction, because the wound in her shoulder still aches, the one that matches the slug wound on her stomach.

But then she takes a breath and calms herself slightly, regaining her composure. ]

— I mean, I just...don't know him. Is he a good guy? Friend of yours?

Natasha?

[Because the force of her reaction seems unusual for her. It definitely came from somewhere, and Steve's not about to just let her gloss over it.]

What is it?

[ She's determined not to open this can of worms until she knows he can handle it — or he genuinely believes her and doesn't think she's lying to him about it — so she shakes her head, speaks quickly. ]

Tell me about your friend, Bucky. What's he like? Friendly? Honest, like you?

[ ...any metal appendages she should know about... ]

[Huh. The sudden interest in Bucky still strikes him as a little strange. Maybe she's just being cautious, or maybe this is a step towards friendship. They didn't exactly have much time to bond before - not counting shawarma.]

Bucky was - is my best friend. When I was a kid, I used to get in a lot of trouble, and Bucky was always the one who pulled me out of it. He was my family when I didn't have anyone else, and he fought right beside me when we took down Hydra during the war.

['And he died doing it.' Steve can't bring himself to save that part, but there's a sadness that passes over his face.]

So if you're worried about whether you can trust him or not, you can. There's not a better man here.

[And ladies, he's a great dancer.]

[ His unadulterated praise cinches it for her in her head: Bucky is not the Winter Soldier here, not in this place. (And she thinks what a strange sight he must be, prior to his abduction by Zola and the twisted thing that HYDRA turned him into with decades of brainwashing and indoctrination.)

She presses her lips together, nods succinctly. ]

...Took down HYDRA, right. [ She doesn't have the heart yet to tell him about that particular lie, either. ] He was one of the Commandos, then.

If you want, send him over. Maybe I should have a talk with him. [ At the very least, she'll be able to assess him to ensure that he's genuinely who Steve says he is, and not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes. ]

Edited 2014-08-27 21:25 (UTC)

If everything works out, I could meet the both of you there.

[If.]

The furniture looked a bit tacky anyway.

[But hell, this is his first look at the Station. It looks familiar at least! He is incredibly indifferent to the damage done, though.]

Well, I can't argue with that, really. [ She shrugs. ] Little bit too IKEA, for me.

Still, the familiarity was nice. Especially compared to Medieval Times. [ aka, the rest of the Drabwurld. ]

Seems a bit more early Renaissance, really. But the important bit is, are the smokes safe?

...History buff? [ She shrugs a bit, through the locket - she's not really one herself (more interested in Russian and American history more than anything), but this guy seems like he knows his stuff. ]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'smokes'. Pretty much everything was in shambles when I got here, including the mini-mart, which might've stocked what you were looking for.

Not really. Just knew an artsy dame once, that's all. [Rest in peace, Joyce Summers.] But you know? Smokes? Cigs? Fags? Tabs? Bogeys? Stokes? Jacks? Joes? Cancer Sticks? Bloody cigarettes, bird. A man can only smoke a bloody pipe for so long.

— I know what 'smokes' are, [ she clarifies, just the slightest bit mildly annoyed, ] I'm just saying there's not much left here, after that rampage. Regardless of whether you meant cigars or cigarettes, good luck finding anything intact.

[ And then her eyes narrow a bit. ] ...And did you just call me a bird?

Bloody hell. Here I go off to do some bloody heroics and the Station gets trashed. And what do I have to show for it? A sodding pouch of tobacco courtesy of Her Most Evilness.

[He's not going to address the other part. He calls people things. It's what he does.]

[Lumina is peering in curiously at the place Natasha is showing off. It looks so...modern...compared to everywhere else. The kid honestly hadn't expected to see anywhere like that again.]

Where are you?

It's a place called The Station. I'm not sure what it's doing here, given that the rest of this world is pretty drastically different, but I'm not about to complain.

[ She looks over the disarray in the background. ] Before it got torn up like this, it was actually a reminder of home.

It looks like the train station back home.

[Well, only in general, but the name made sense, at least.]

How do I get there?

I think it's meant to look familiar for a lot of us, from where we're from.

[ She tilts her head as she regards the girl. ]

I'm not sure where you are now, but it's closer to the northlands, the Unseelie court. Which one are you of?

That one. Castle dark and gloomy.

[ben hadn't ever been to the station, he only knows of people who've traveled back and forth. he squints at the damage made, a lopsided frown showing on his features.]

Yeah, that thing's gone. You new here, or somethin'?

[he can get to the construction part later.]

[ Natasha squints back; the young man in the locket seems a little blunt, but that might be a boon, in this place. ]

Something like that, [ she replies evasively. ] Whatever it was that did this, did you see it? Were you here for it?

I saw it.

[and he ran like hell to get away from it, too.]

Been here since the beginnin'. Things like this happen every month or so.

Anything in particular you can tell me, about it? Was it typical of one of those creatures, or was it different somehow?

[ Every month? This place is starting to sound less like a Medieval Times-themed vacation, and more like a headache. ]

Since the beginning, you said. How long has that been?

Nah. It was different- a lot bigger. Nothin's ever done so much damage before. [his brows furrow a moment as he recalls past attacks.] Don't really got a good idea of what to expect.

[he gives a stiff shrug of his shoulder.]

Five months? Been losin' track.

[ The voice at this end sounds quiet and weary - perhaps Natasha heard it, calling out during the attack, or perhaps not ]

The creature is gone, aye. If the reports on the lockets are any judge it went from here to the castles proper - but it itself is now vanished. As to the repair work, the little ones seem surprisingly good at construction, you will find. But I would ask if any of the Dwarf Lords are feeling charitable - there are few who can build so well as they.

[ She heard lots of things during the attack — a cacophony of voices over the locket, both audio and video — but his voice does stand out somewhat and piques her interest. ]

— Both castles? [ she asks, because she'd had no idea the attack had reached that far. ]

And you're going to have to explain who the 'Dwarf Lords' are, to me — that's a little over my head.

I believe so, aye. Based on reports over the network however, I believe Caer Glaem suffered the worse.

[ And he is not terribly sad about that at all, which is mildly worrying to him, but he is far too tired to care. A small part hopes viciously that it will inconvenience the Queen. ]

Ah, your pardon. You have not met them then - but there are, I believe, three of the dwarf folk who are shardholders currently dwelling in the Station, all three of the Royal Line of Durin. There is also a kingdom of those who are native to this world I believe, but I do not know enough of them at this point. I have only spoken to Master Fili, but the two here with him are his kin.

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oo1 ⌛ video ⌛ open to both courts

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Video - private | Steve finally arrives, Nat and Bucky are tango-ing it across the Station

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