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[outstandingbalance]

[The woman who appears on the feed might be familiar to a few people. She's sitting at a table or a desk and facing the camera, composed, but a little worse for wear. She looks tired.]

You sure know how to make a girl feel at home. [Not that she's faced frost giants or dark elves before, but dropped into the middle of a fight she wasn't expecting and wasn't prepared for? One that probably should be left to gods and super soldiers? That is familiar. The last two days haven't been boring] Is that normal?

[Natasha taps the table in front of her twice, drawing a slow breath as she considers how she's going to play this. If putting her face on the network is a mistake, then she's already made it.]

I think I'm ready for the welcoming committee now.

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

[Funny story there... Natasha's not entirely sure how to navigate this one, since the answer is unequivocally yes, but also complicated.]

I have. Only one I knew myself though, and there wasn't a lot of time to catch up.

[mucked]

Presumably due to the giants.

[ a soft huff. as unprepared as she is to accept the fact, the concept of giants and realms is here to stay. ]

As I understand it, events such as that one are torn from our memories. That's the general crux, here: memories. They are currency and weapon alike, it seems.

[outstandingbalance]

Strong guess. [Wryly. As distractions go, that one's hard to miss.

She sighs through her nose, lips pursing.] Now that's some meat I didn't get before. And we know whose memory this one came from?

[mucked]

We do. [ ... ] An announcement was made. Depending on exactly how freshly arrived you might be, it's possible you missed it.

[ peggy doesn't volunteer much else. she's not prepared, it seems, to own up from being from the same world as where that memory came from.

oh she thinks she's so secretive. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I'll look back through the archive for it. [Accepting the push back neutrally.

It's not that her attempt at being secretive is unsuccessful. Natasha will respect it, the same why she might respect a locked door. It's not that she can't force it open one way or another, but she can still tell that it means someone would rather she not go inside.

Unless she has more of a reason to pry, she'll leave it for now.]

As things turned out, I seem to have shown up at the same time as the giants did.

[mucked]

A few days in, then. [ peggy nods. ] This was one of the longer 'events' I've witnessed. For what it's worth, they're often over quickly.

[ small blessing and silver linings. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Very optimistic.]

How long do they usually last? Less than a couple of days?

[That is the sort of thing that seems like good info to have.]

If you don't mind me asking, what other kinds of events have you witnessed?

[mucked]

-- The one before had zombies. Bloody politics and zombies.

[ and alternate personalities to boot, something that has her feeling well sour. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I didn't realize zombies were politically minded.

[At least zombies seem like they would be easier to handle than giants. More their own size?

Natasha snorts.]

Sounds exciting.

[mucked]

Thrilling.

[ she sounds thoroughly disappointed in the whole ordeal. ]

Before that, it was zombies as well. Zombies, I fear, are something of a theme of late.

[outstandingbalance]

I will take that under advisement. [And work on her head shot. Can't be too careful.]

Natasha Romanoff, by the way. Nice to meet you.

[mucked]

Peggy. [ and there's no hesitation when she offers it. by now, if someone's recognized her, they've usually gone into the song and dance and oh ma'am i'm such a fan and so she believes she's well in the clear. ] Peggy Carter.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha considers leaving it at that, but it's safe to assume that the truth will come out eventually. Better to control how that happens.]

I know who you are. [She says it professionally, no song and dance, no ma'ams, and no reverence in her tone. Respect, but no reverence. A pause.] Should I have mentioned that earlier?

[mucked]

[ oh bollocks. ]

No, no -- [ but it's clear she's buying herself a scrap of time to puzzle out this fresh reaction. it's different than the others. no less jarring, perhaps, but certainly less chafing. ] By my clock, this is still early hours. Let's call it under the wire.

[ but she does sigh. ] It seems that once again someone has me at a disadvantage. 21st century, I take it?

[outstandingbalance]

[There would have been smoother ways to reveal that, probably, but Natasha opted to play her hand close to her chest too.

She nods slightly at Peggy's reaction.]

Most recently. [Which, Natasha realizes, could be taken as an allusion to time travel rather than light sarcasm, but she lets it ride.] I worked with SHIELD up until a couple years ago, if that helps put us on more even footing?

[Doubtful.]

[mucked]

I've heard of SHIELD. [ which is her way of suggesting she'd heard of it here. ] So I suspect that puts us somewhere even enough. As even as can be found under these circumstances.

[ or far from it -- but she's being polite. she doesn't know who this woman is, who she knows, or which pathways might find them familiar. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha can follow the hint, and it gives her more of a sense of just women Peggy is coming from.]

I ran into one of the agents here, out getting readings on the frost giants. R&D type. Sounded like he wasn't the only one.

[So not a friend of Natasha's, but confirming that Peggy would have heard of it. Guessing at the source.]

[mucked]

There are a few running about. Yes.

[ and all of them unsettle her to varying degrees. but at least agent fitz has managed to mitigate some of that behaviour -- or so she hopes. their most recent conversation had been a good one, if a bit rough-going in the middle. ]

And few others with far less to do with SHIELD. I take it it's not much in favour these days.

[ so! she understands why natasha might be speaking of a past-tense association. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha hums, vaguely affirmative.]

Things got complicated there. [A shrug then; if Natasha is philosophical about it's in a particular, pragmatic Russian way. It also seems like risky topic, talking too much about the future with someone from the past.] Like they tend to, eventually.

[mucked]

'Complicated' seems to be a watchword of late. [ and it leaves a bilious taste in the back of her throat -- perhaps because of how often it's been knit into her experiences with steve since she's arrived. even so, she irons out her frown. ]

I won't be asking, incidentally. [ about the whys and hows and whatfors. ] I can't help but suspect I've learned far too much already.

[outstandingbalance]

Professional hazard. [Knowing too much one way or another. And usually a way to complicate things further, even if having more information meant more leverage and better perspective. But Natasha caught that frown, quick as it was.] How's that going for you?

[mucked]

[ your profession or mine she wants to ask -- before reminding herself that if the woman has worked with shield it may very well be that their professions are one and the same. something like it. quite possibly.

well, then. ]

It's not been ideal. [ and that's the honest truth. ] But I do believe you're the first who's actually allowed me to properly introduce myself, first. So that's lovely.

[ dry dry dry. and a good indication of how the others have reacted to her -- barring the two she'd known. but steve and barnes are their own conundrum. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[The implication, not unintentional, might be that there's significant overlap at least.]

I can imagine. [Only tangentially. Natasha's never been out of her time. Uncomfortable greetings, though, those she doesn't have any trouble picturing.] There must be at least three or four different ways those conversations get awkward.

[hypoxic]

[He blinks once, and then sighs. Oh, that.]

Events here -- like the one that was occurring when you arrived? They're designed based on out memories. There's speculation that the events might be symptomatic of whatever sort of digestion process Wonderland endures as it takes from us.

[mucked]

At least.

[ she echoes the sentiment. heaven above, ms. romanoff has no idea -- and peggy will never be the sort to start describing the gut-wrenching epiphanies she's had to endure nigh-weekly since her arrival, and most of them nothing to do with the events on hand. ]

And yet I take it you likely already know as much as they do.