folkmeme | leap night tfln

[ Natasha has been sitting down, looking at him intently, but at this, somehow, she grows even more still. There is a coiled readiness and a hidden sharpness to the stillness, a quiet cold breath being held.

The moment passes, and most, even those who know her best, would miss it entirely. Steve is one of the few who could catch it, if he was looking.

She tilts her head slightly to the side and clarifies, ]

Death... isn't permanent here?

[ Well, it helps that he knows what happens to her. He'd had that conversation with the last one, over fries and between hugs. He reaches out his hand, to cover hers, a small but confident smile on his face. ]

No, it's not. Not as far as we've experienced.

[ Which is yet, another reason why he wants to stay. Here, even if he keeps having to have the same conversation with Natasha who comes and goes, he never has to say goodbye to her. Not really. ]

People will come in and out and forget their time here. Anyone can acquire new powers, or just... start over.

[ ...his hand on her hand is unexpected data. Comfort. Huh. Interesting that he'd think she'd need that.

(He knows Thanos is coming in two weeks from his time. What else does he know?) ]

So Tony's fine. [ That's good. Hopefully she can see him later. She flips her hand in his to squeeze it and then pulls away from his grasp. ] Who else is here?

Another Steve. Two Buckies. Peggy Carter.

Wanda just left. I was kinda hoping she'd stay for awhile.

[ He leans back a bit. ]

Tony threw himself a funeral party.

[ Bit morbid, but, hey. Of course he'd deflect with humor. ]

You could, too.

[ Tony threw himself a funeral party. Of course he did.

She snorts and leans back in her chair. ]

Of course he did. [ Two of the Winter Soldier? She backs away from the "brooding tolerance" joke because it's too easy, and it'd be wasted if Barnes wasn't there to hear it anyway. ] But I don't see any reason why I should throw him another one.

[ Deliberately misinterpreting him? You'd better believe it. ]

Ha-ha. No, not for him.

[ But he knows that she probably doesn't want to talk about her own death, so. ]

I think you'll like it.

[ He says, as their orders come. Miso, as always, curiously sniffs both of their orders before realizing that there's no meat, and therefore, he's no longer interested.

Sesame just butts his head against the treats basket. ]

You'll get some later.

[ Natasha has a cortado, and is prepared to order straight espresso shots if need be for the sake of having enough caffeine to get her through this new genre of nonsense.

She cradles the cup in one hand as she regards Steve. Then she tilts her head slightly. ]

Are you trying to tell me something, Steve?

[ She won't proceed on assumptions. She hadn't planned to tell anyone that she'd won on Vormir. What kind of a messy conversation would that be? She'd much rather they all not know.

But if Steve is taking the effort to be subtle, then hell, does everyone know?

(She thought the upside of dying was supposed to be not having to deal with people looking at you weirdly after. She'd like to speak to the management!) ]

[ It was obvious, wasn't it? ]

Well. Tony might cry when he sees you, I'll warn you about that.

[ Steve tries not to alert people in case they don't know their fate. And maybe now that it wasn't going to be a surprise, Tony might not cry. ]

It hadn't happened for me yet.

[ Clearly. ]

But Clint was here for a spell. And uh, he had a lot of guilt. I would've too, if I'd been the one to come back.

Anyway. I know this is a lot. But you're welcome to stay here. We can ask the fox to keep you.

[ Her heart seizes painfully at the thought of her best friend and partner, one of the few people in the world she trusts and who sees her, having to deal with the guilt... of his years being so lost, and then - it wasn't the first time they'd fought each other with all their teeth bared, but... she'd been very, very determined.

Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel wouldn't grow up without their dad. Laura wouldn't lose her husband. Clint would have his family back.

So she just shrugs. ]

He'll live with it.

[ And takes a sip of her coffee, well-content with that outcome. Half the universe and the happiness of the Bartons' vs. her life? It wasn't even a contest.

Steve would have done the same thing, now that she thinks about it. Heh. Look at her. Acting like Captain America.

She tilts the cup away from her and examines it. ]

Not bad. [ She looks back at Steve. The word "keep" has her hackles raising, as memories more horrible than any dream gnaw at the corner of her mind. She's never told Steve about the Red Room, not in any sort of detail. But he knows her, he knows enough. She gives him a hint of a smile. ] What do you mean, 'keep'?

Edited 2024-03-09 02:40 (UTC)

She's the one that decides when everyone comes and goes. She brought us all here, and she's the one who sends us back. She won't tell us when or how, just that we're here to find our potential.

[ And honestly, he thinks that the last time Nat was here, she accepted her death and finally that she got to be a hero, that it wasn't that none of the other stuff she did mattered, but that her conscience could rest. They'd had a few heart to hearts, and then, she was gone. ]

I think it's a lot of nonsense, but as long as I get to stay, I don't mind.

--If time starts moving again at home, or if I have to choose between going back with my memories of here or staying, then, I'll choose to go.

[ Because he knows that it's necessary for him to go back and fight Thanos. He really does believe, however, that this is a pocket dimension and that there's more stake in leaving than not. ]

Uh-huh. [ That's a lot to absorb. She does not like it when things are so far out of her control; she's had to learn to live with that. She still doesn't like it.

(Again, things that she wasn't supposed to have to worry about anymore!!)

She looks at her cortado and takes a long sip before setting it down with a sigh. ] It's weird to hear you talking about 'if time is moving' at home when you're from five years in my past and I just saw you. It sounds like it might not be as simple as freezing time -- or that you've already gone back, somehow, because time is actually made of Swiss cheese. But you've also confirmed the multiple universe theory like 15 minutes ago, so who the hell knows.

[ She visibly shakes off trying to figure this out as a problem for future!Natasha by shaking her head. Then she looks at Steve and smiles a little, allows the bizarrely wonderful circumstance of seeing him again to hit her, just a little. ]

Either way, it's good to see you again.

[ It's a lot to take in, and he's sympathetic towards Nat not wanting to deal with another situation in which she can't decide to stay or leave, and gets forced into doing things she may not want to participate in, but he knows that Nat will be fine, too. ]

It's confusing, but, strangely enough, I think Loki might be the best person to ask about it.

[ Weird, right? Not that Steve ever talks to Loki unless he has to, but, Folkmore's not too big of a place. ]

It's good to see you too. I'll help you find a place to stay. Trust me - I was uneasy when I first got here, but, eventually when that subsides, it's really not bad.

[ Natasha blinks.

Loki. ]

Way to bury the lead, Steve. [ A little smirk. She’s not that worried; fooling someone as she fooled Loki once often makes it only easier to do it again, because they want to see her broken so badly. The problem, of course, is that breaking is painful, even when she allows it for a purpose, and she doesn’t have a purpose in mind to endure that sort of breaking at the moment. ] Anyone else here who’s tried to kill us and/or take over the world that I should know about?

[ Uneasiness subsiding… could be good, could be bad, she’ll have to wait and see. ]

...Well, there's two Lokis. So there's that.

Other than that, no.

[ But on the other hand, Loki's been calm and hasn't tried to kill them. And - even if he did, they'd just come back immediately. ]

Not that I know of.

He mostly keeps to himself.

Er, one of them. The other one's Tony's neighbor.

[ Two Lokis. Two.

Why?

Well, at least Clint wasn't there. ]

...and Tony's living next to Loki on purpose? And they haven't blown up the block?

[ Amazing. ]

Tony's been living there for a year now. Loki just moved in.

[ It had been a surprise to Steve, too, who'd gone to answer the door while Tony was busy doing some sort of work. ]

They might just blow up the block. It hasn't been very long.

[ And though typically he doesn't trust Lokis further than he could've thrown them when he was skinny, the new one also hates Thanos. So, there's that. As long as they have a common enemy, they can be allies. ]

[ She raises an eyebrow. ]

Remind me not to move in to that block.

[ Not that... she won't be keeping an eye on it because... oh boy. ]

Well, it's definitely eventful.

[ If she does keep an eye on it, she might discover some things pretty quickly. ]

And if you don't know where to stay, you can always stay at the Compound for a bit.

Peggy's there. I think you'll like her.

[ He knows that they were good friends on her world, so, he can't imagine that this version of Nat wouldn't get along with her. ]

She'll be happy for someone else to spar with.

[ If those things have to do with Steve Getting a Life, she's only been rooting for that for years. There may even be confetti in his future. ]

A compound sounds very military, [ she observes before taking a sip of her coffee.

She remembers Steve at Peggy Carter's funeral. He doesn't say her name with weight now. Affection, certainly, but not... pain. And she remembers that he said she was from the same world as the other version of himself, the one where he never took the serum.

And she thinks it must kind of suck to see a glimpse into your own life and how things could have been so clearly, for every version involved. And she wonders if it hurts him to see the evidence of his sickness, the stalking shadow of death in each cough, all over again. And she wants to bring it up, to give him a chance to leech out some of what has to be the pain of wanting to make things better... but it doesn't feel... mmm. The right time. ]

Is there a military here?

[ If she'd asked, she'd quickly determine that he had gotten a life here, a good one, and he and the other Steve are close like brothers. He harbors no jealousy to the other Steve, or to the other Steve and Peggy, because there'd been another one - another Peggy, one from his world. And he'd gotten his dance, he'd gotten some closure.

Which is why he doesn't expect Nat's question. ]

No, not really. Just Avengers. Maybe some other groups - there's a group of Jedi, but I don't think they call themselves military.

[ Kind of like how the Avengers don't consider themselves military either. ]

[ She blinks slowly. ]

Huh.

[ She's not sure she buys that, but then again... they were brought here by a cosmic fox, apparently, so... ]

So it's all flowers and coffee with the occasional Loki?

[ Seems sus. ]

Well, there are trials. Sometimes you get kidnapped by sharks, sometimes the faeries come to attack and kill you.

[ But then you come back to life, as he'd said. ]

I know it's a lot to take in.

[ He says, petting the cats. ]

But it's - it'll make sense.

[ She takes another sip of her coffee, eyeing him, the flowers in his beard, the cats... ]

Our lives were already pretty weird before this, [ she observes, a simple statement. ] But I hope you realize you just said 'get kidnapped by sharks' and 'sometimes faeries come to attack and kill you' in the same sentence.

I know. Is that any more weird than got invaded by aliens or robots?

[ Or even dug a hundred-year-old guy out of some ice? ]

I do have to tell you, though. Thirteen's got a way of making us relive our worse memories.

[ And he knows Nat won't like that. ]

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