video

[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]

[Huh. Here Natasha thought she was giving something up, but it looks like she's getting something instead. A breadcrumb, really. Not information. But an indication of more behind the surface.

She files the hint away for later.]

TBD. [That's complicated too.] I'd like to think so.

[mucked]

[ goodness gracious that's vague, isn't it? ]

But you can't say for certain?

[ can't or won't, she wonders. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I could make an educated guess, but last I remember before ending up here... there was a lot in the air.

[To put it mildly.]

So I gave you the short answer.

[mucked]

And if you'd like, I can refrain from asking for the long one.

[ oh but it's clear she wants to. ]

[outstandingbalance]

The long answer would take some context that might contain spoilers.

[Natasha knows her word choice is skewing modern, but she figures the meaning will be clear from context. Or maybe someone has already filled Peggy in on that one.]

Could split the difference and say I think so, if both of can avoid getting arrested.

[Or killed.]

[mucked]

[ arrested? now, that does garner her full attention. whatever else she might have learned, she's certainly not learned this. four months here and she's not had reason to talk to steve rogers long enough to learn so much. ]

Sounds like risky work. [ but she knows what it means to work on the fringes of what's legal and risk a bevy of charges in the process.

regardless, if steve trusts her then peggy feels inclined to do the same -- no matter what their personal strife. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Well, that part isn't new. [That was Natasha's play—that namedropping Steve in the right way might extend a little trust her way by extension, though she knows better than to strain that trust too far or expect more than a foot in the door. That's good enough.] And it doesn't change.

[mucked]

Even as everything else seems to.

[ change. but oh that's a damn shot too melancholy, isn't it? so she redirects the conversation back to the here and the now. ]

I don't suppose you've run into those giant-types before, have you? [ after all, they're supposed to be from 'home,' in effect. ] As they're straight out of the memory of one of ours.

[ it leaves a funny taste in her mouth to lump herself into that group. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Strictly speaking, she has, but she didn't know it at the time. She's only ever seen Loki as an Asgardian.]

No. As far as I know, those are strictly Thor's problem. I've heard some stories from him, but that's as close as I've come.

[mucked]

Thor. [ a huff. ] That's the 'God,' yes? [ an academic question; it's not like she hasn't witnessed bits and bobs of norse mythology before. but maybe she wants to hear this woman's take on it.

gods, that is. ]

[outstandingbalance]

For all practical intents and purposes.

[Which says a lot. It's not that Natasha believes they're gods or in magic, per se; it's that the semantic distinction between gods and people who live for centuries, are nearly indestructible and wield powers indistinguishable from magic.]

Asgardian, technically.

[mucked]

Asgardian. [ she echoes. ] Technically.

[ peggy presses her lips together. ]

Many of those running around come the 21st century? Or merely the one?