arrival and exploring

[unmakeme]

WHO: Natasha Romanoff, one person or group for her arrival, and anyone who wants to find her wandering around
WHERE: starting at the fountain, then most likely up and down every road in the place taking an inventory of her surroundings
WHEN: Sunday afternoon for her arrival, exploring the town can cover the next couple of days
OPEN TO: all
STATUS: open

NOTES: Please let me know where and when you'd like to run into her in your subject line. if you have an idea for a starter that you're not sure of, hit me up on plurk or discord and we can talk about it.

arrival - still open

It's possibly not as surprising as it should be, coming into awareness far enough underwater that the pressure in her ears almost hurts and she can't see what's around her. One moment, she's lying down with a headache, a mild anti-inflamatory and a glass of water. The next, her head is clear and the water is murky and everywhere. There's weight on her back, straps, she shucks them quickly. The boots, waterlogged and heavy, won't come off as easily. She skips that and begins kicking for the surface. Her hands find a wall quickly, and she pushes off, hoping to use the momentum to get her to the surface, only to be brought up short by something else. So it's not wide, only deep. She points herself straight up, struggles toward what she can now see is a small patch of weak light.

By the time she breaks the surface, the headache is back. She knows it will pass, though. It's not much work to heave herself out of the fountain and onto the stone path, lying on her back, arms above her head, sucking in deep breaths to clear her head. She takes a brief inventory. She has no injuries, sturdy boots, black hospital scrubs. Or perhaps another dark colour and they only look black because she's soaked. The weather is mild, wherever she is. Not dark enough yet to see any stars for help in determining her exact location.

exploring

The way out is not back through the fountain. That would have been too easy. So all that leaves is every other conceivable options, and quite a lot of ground to cover. She starts with the buildings closest to the fountain - the blacksmith, the police station, the inn, then over to the the butcher and baker, and further along that road to the hospital, schoolhouse, and town hall. She doesn't go looking for people specifically, not right away - just for the lay of the land. She works her way out further, traveling down winding roads, counting out houses and making mental note of which seem to be occupied and which appear deserted. Every path out of town brings her up short, and adds to her frustration. There is a way out, she just can't find it. That doesn't sit well with her. None of this does.

SUNDAY
afternoon - arrival - n/a
afternoon - schoolhouse - Kira
afternoon - town hall - Peggy
evening - mill - Clint

MONDAY
morning - police station - Wanda

Comments

[womanofvalue]

"Natasha, wait," Peggy says firmly, because she means to help, but she also wants to make sure that she's not going around in circles explaining the same things to a woman who's already lived through them. She gives her a hopefully encouraging look and gestures for her to follow. "Are you thirsty? Hungry? I've a few biscuits left at my place and the dregs of some sherry."

"I find alcohol is a great help in these situations," she admits. "You've been here before," is what she says. "That's how I know you. I wanted to know if you remember that time."

[unmakeme]

If she knows Peggy, then she should be comfortable, and if Peggy knows her, she knows how suspect Natasha is of the unknown. So the ease with which she follows Peggy, the ready acceptance that it's perfectly safe, is something she's counting on to help her along. Mostly because it's not easy. No part of her wants to follow someone she doesn't know to an unknown location without a deep understanding of what she's getting herself into. Pretending to know everything always starts with knowing a hell of a lot more than everyone else - after that, faking the rest is almost easy.

"Well, you know I won't turn down a drink." And Natasha hopes that she does. She's taking a very strange kind of leap here. She's trusting some version of herself to have given the answers that she's about to, to hold back what she always holds back, and to freely share the things she's decided help present the image that gives her a place in the world while also keeping her safe.

It's particularly rough, considering that the last couple of weeks have ruined both her image of herself and her place in the world, and nothing feels safe any more.

[womanofvalue]

"That, I do," she agrees, though she believes that might be a more universal thing. After all, Peggy finds it's a rare case to have someone not appreciate and enjoy a good drink. In stressful situations, those drinks become even more necessary. "My house is just this way," she says, careful not to call it 'home' because it's not.

It's simply a temporary place to reside and while she's grateful to have found it, it's also not some place she wants to stay the rest of her life. "You don't remember being her before, do you?" she deduces, more of a guess than actual knowledge, but Natasha doesn't seem to regard the place with familiarity.

[unmakeme]

Anyone calling this place home would be more suspect than anything in Natasha's mind. Nothing about the situation sits right.

Peggy presses on, poking at Natasha's, what? Viability? She can't seem to let it go. So maybe vague isn't the answer - an outright lie, a request for help. "Not clearly. It's strange. The fountain surprised me, until I was out of it, and looking back at it, and then it seemed right. I knew the pack would come floating up. I knew what I'd find in it as soon as I opened it. I didn't know where I was going when I started walking until I got there, but once I did, it all felt..." She trails off, shakes her head. "I'm not used to being this cut adrift. I don't like the way it comes back in pieces. It's the worst kind of surprise."

[womanofvalue]

"You're the first to come back and remember," Peggy says, still rather wary of what that means, but there's something of hope in that. "When you're settled in, I'd like to ask more questions," she says, pressing her lips together as she wonders whether she can start asking now, but she's just arrived and even if she does remember, it's likely a great shock. "Do you want me to point you in the direction of your house?" Peggy suggests, given that she remembers that Natasha had lived at the inn before, but she wonders what sort of reaction she'll get.

Perhaps there's a memory loss problem affecting her? It happened to that one man, but he hadn't come back through the fountain. "After," she says firmly. "Let's get you something to drink and eat."

[unmakeme]

"When I'm settled," Natasha agrees. She knows she won't be able to put Peggy off for forever, but hopefully she can manage until she has some idea of what's going on.

When she mentions a house, it's only Natasha's suspicious nature that saves her. She thinks of what she would do to test someone, if she weren't certain. Peggy is clearly on the fence. Clearly doesn't quite believe. Toss out something you know as false and see if it gets a bite. It's classic. Not to mention, she still has the murky memories as an excuse. Unless it's real and they're in sight of the house now. Then she's screwed. So Natasha takes the gamble. "That would be... nice..." She lets herself trail off uncertainly, brow furrowed. "A house? You're sure?"

[womanofvalue]

Peggy studies Natasha and wonders whether she ought to keep prodding and poking. Dottie Underwood fooled her handily and Natasha is born of that same training, she knows, but at the same time, this woman has just come back. Should it matter whether she remembers or not? "In a manner of sorts," she admits, gesturing towards the inn. "It just so happened to belong to several people, though I didn't spend much time in your room," she admits.

"It's probably been a very long day for you," Peggy says, and no matter the story, she knows that's the truth. "I should allow you to unwind."

[unmakeme]

A house that's not a house, with many people in it. So the Inn, then. Right. Good to know. Probably correct, too. She'll have to test that one a little later. Maybe after they're at Peggy's and she's eaten something, because now that the other woman has mentioned it, she's incredibly hungry.

It's not all that difficult to keep a tenuous smile on her face, to follow Peggy with her body language easy and open. How many times has she thought about what it would be like to meet her, to know her, the woman who founded her second chance? This is a fucking weird way to turn that idle curiosity into reality, but still...