Widow's Insight [Open, Cut for Spoilers]

[dance_with_death]

The first thing that Natasha Romanoff - as she had allowed herself to be called in recent years - had done after she had popped out of a gooey pod (and subsequently gotten clothed, briefed on the situation at hand, and retrieved her weapons) was familiarize herself with the spaceship that she had found herself on. It had taken a long while - the size of the ship made the SHIELD Helicarrier seem akin to a SmartCar - but she’d scoured as much of the place as she could, because it was always useful to know one’s bearings.

Especially in a situation like this, where it seemed as though literally anything could happen. And a situation that I’ve never really been trained for. I mean, the Chitauri attacking New York - that was one thing. But this. This is something even I never expected. Because, really, who actually expects to be plucked out of your home by a multiverse hopping spaceship made out of living...something. I was just getting used to the idea of Norse gods being real, and alien invasions becoming a semi-regular thing. She was, she knew, a long way from the simple world of spying, espionage, and assassinations that she was used to. But, then again, this could just be much of the same. Only in space.

That was, though, still somewhat of a new concept to her. Sure, she'd had colleagues who had gone into space - Iron Man with his penchant for pushing the limits of his iron armour specifically came to mind, as did some fellow SHIELD agents - but Natasha had always had two feet on the ground.

You know, except for those moments where she was piloting an alien aircraft to save the world or something.

Still, true to her training, Natasha had taken it all in stride. She wouldn’t allow herself to be fazed by the situation at hand - to do so would be potentially life-threatening, and while Natasha was always prepared for death (because it could happen so easily in her line of work), she wasn’t at the moment ready to die. Only if it means saving all of reality, she mused as she walked up towards the Observation Deck. If anything can clear off all of the red in my ledger..it's this.

Comments

Spider of Honor!

[herhonorness]

Also wandering about the Obs Deck, trying to figure things out, is a young-looking woman wearing a white beret and a navy blue double-breasted military jacket, with rank bars, starburst epaulets, and red-gold trim, a pistol and sword at her waist.

She has a military bearing in her stride, a bit like you'd see in S.H.I.E.L.D. officers, focused eyes that miss few details, and certain calluses visible to the keen observer on her hand. Weaponry calluses.

Cleary someone not to be...

...what the heck is sitting on her shoulder?

Re: Spider of Honor!

[dance_with_death]

Natasha kept a watch on the woman from the corner of her eye. One wouldn't be able to tell, because of how casual Natasha was about it, unless one had the training to be able to detect such things.

She noted the weaponry calluses too. Clearly, this woman had some experience behind her.

The thing on the woman's shoulder, on the other hand...

That's...different.

Heyo: how's your ledger doing?

[herhonorness]

Honor Harrington finally notices you, and nods in greeting.

"Hello. Are you one of the current roster of crew, or...?"

Upon closer examination, the thing on her shoulder looks a lot like a cat...if you gave it the arboreal forelimbs of a lemur or monkey.

Six of them in fact. And green, self-aware eyes. It jumps off of the military officer's shoulder and perches itself upon one of the meat cushions, peering at you curiously. Mainly at your hair.

Re: Heyo: how's your ledger doing?

[dance_with_death]

Natasha nods back at honor. It's a very subtle nod, but one which Honor would no doubt have noticed.

She nods at the weird cat-thing, too, if only to be polite. Besides, for all Natasha knows, the cat is an intelligent being in its own right.

"New arrival," she said. "As in only having arrived today. Natasha Romanoff. Hello." She holds out a hand for Honor to shake, if she's so inclined to do.

Re: Heyo: how's your ledger doing?

[herhonorness]

The cat-thing 'bleaks' softly at you in reply. He's still starring with frank curiosity at you red hair. He hasn't seen natural hair that color very often in the circles he runs in.

Honor takes Romanoff's hand, pausing slightly as she feels your own calluses: closer up, you note that her frame and muscle mass is more developed than the human average. On contact, the skin of the hand she offers to you feels...strange.

"Commodore Honor Harrington, Royal Manticorian Navy. Also a new arrival."

She nods to the arboreal cat creature.

"And this is Nimitz."

'Nimitz' stands up and gestures with his forelimbs twice.

As a spy, it's likely that you'd be able to read the A.S.L. for 'Hello." after a moment of confusion: the gestures shifted slightly over hundreds of years

Honor's focus returns to you. "It's pleasure to meet you, Ms. Romanoff. It seems there have been a number of people...decanted from the pod rooms on a scattered individual basis recently: I may be able to introduce you to some of them in the near future. But regardless..."

She frowns for a moment, before deciding not to beat around the bush.

"Snatched from our worlds and drafted into a grand multiversal war with unparalleled stakes: thoughts, reactions, concerns?"

[governorkang]

It was a rare day that Kang's walking had led him to the Observation Deck. He hadn't really been paying attention to where he was going, lost in his own thoughts. Normally, he could keep himself busy at the tavern, but the focus of said thoughts was Kaylee, who had been repodded recently; he had to remind himself constantly that she wasn't there anymore, and possibly wouldn't be back for a long time. He really didn't have many people left around that he was close to.

He stood by one of the windows, staring out into the Bleed with his arms crossed over his chest.

[dance_with_death]

The Observation Deck had seemed to be the perfect sort of place for Natasha to come and, well, observe.

And there was a lot to observe, she noted as she studied Kang.

There seemed to be something troubling Kang. Natasha could see that much.

She hesitated a moment. On the one hand, Natasha wasn't generally in the habit of going up to strangers and speaking with them. Unless she was undercover, but then she'd been briefed on the situation she was walking into.

On the other hand...these were her colleagues now. The people who she had to save the world with.

And for better or worse, Natasha was going to need to make some connections, because there seemed to be no one here who she knew.

Which, from what I gather, means that they may be in the pods. And there was nothing she could do to get them out of there.

After another moment's hesitation, she approached Kang, sure that he didn't pose a threat. No one so far had seemed to, from her observations.

Then again, sometimes, people were very good at hiding things. Natasha knew this from first-hand experience.

"I've never seen anything like it," she said, coming to stand by him. "The Bleed. Perhaps not the most comforting name."

[governorkang]

Kang turned at the voice, and noticed the hair immediately; it was almost exactly the same shade of red as Huzzad's had been. He smiled wryly, facing the window again, "No, it isn't. You're new, aren't you, ma'am?" His accent sounded a bit like Romanian, but not quite as heavy, and some of the pronunciation was off.

[dance_with_death]

For a short while, Natasha had worn her hair black, but being a natural redhead, well, the colour never really took.

Unless she was wearing a wig on a mission.

She did make note of his accent. As for Natasha, she hadn't used her native Russian accent for a very long while.

"Freshly podpopped," Natasha replied. "At least, I believe that's the term." She held her hand out to Kang. "Natasha Romanoff." No need to tell him that she was also known as the Black Widow. Much like the Bleed, it wasn't exactly a comforting moniker.

[shroudedintent]

The travels of the Sangheili Commander had brought him past the observation deck, even a commander needed to pause between duties at times. The eight foot tall armour clad alien stood before one of the large observation windows, staring out at the evershifting colours of the bleed as he took a moment to contemplate on recent events.

Even in observation he held himself proudly with a military bearing, his armour's silver sheen well kept though it showed sign of wear and recent damage at points, he was not one to lead from afar.

It would be clear that he was also quite observant, half turning as the human woman entered the Observation deck, a gaze that took in every detail was passed over the crew member in question, one he did not recognize.

"Greetings,"

[dance_with_death]

"Salutations," Natasha replied. She, too, had taken the chance to observe him. The fact that he was eight feet tall was, well, something.

Then again, this is no weirder than Iron Man or Thor. Or a perfectly preserved Captain America.

There seemed to be many military types aboard this ship, though. Natasha couldn't say she was surprised. If they were indeed meant to save the multiverse, then they needed all of the well-trained individuals on board that they could get their hands on.

Which made her wonder about some of the teenagers and tattooed ponies she had seen aboard.

Especially the tattooed ponies.

"Natasha Romanoff," she said immediately, introducing herself.

[shroudedintent]

'Vadum dipped his helmeted head the slightest of degrees at her greeting, turning fully to face the crew member in question. There was no question that the individual before him was experienced in combat, though just what manner he could not tell at that moment.

"Rtas 'Vadum, acting Commander of the Transmigration 9 and head of both the Special Operations Task force and Starfighter command, an honor I am sure," He introduced himself in turn, titles he held with no small pride or confidence.

"I do not recall seeing you previously, you have been recently released from the pods I assume,"

I like Starships and Honor: Do you like those things

[herhonorness]

[Hope this isn't intruding]

"That she has: around the same time as myself." A voice replies across the room.

A young looking human woman walks over from across the room, dressed in a double-breasted military uniform with a white beret, a sword and pistol at her side, and ceremonial treecat on her shoulder...okay, that last part's not quite standard naval tradition.

Honor herself is not quite as tall as Rtas 'Vadum, but she takes up more space than most humans. If she had ever gawked at the impressive looking Sanghelli (which she had, quite frankly) , she'd gotten that out of her system earlier at a distance.

"Apologies: I couldn't help but overhear the words 'Starfighter Command'..."

Honor brings up her arm in salute, her other hand at her side and deliberately not resting on any weapons.

"Commodore Harrington, Royal Manticorian Navy!"

[elementofloyalty]

"Hi there!" commented the pastel-blue, rainbow-maned pony as she trotted past on the way to the observation window.

Then she paused, turned, and trotted back over. "Are you... new? I haven't seen you around before."

Take as long as you need to adjust to and accept this sequence of events, Ms. Romanoff.

[dance_with_death]

This.

This was one of the tattooed ponies that Natasha had seen earlier.

Given that, she wasn't as fazed by the pony as she might have been. Nor, thanks to Nimitz, the fact that it could speak.

Still, Natasha allowed herself to smile a little bit at the pony. "I just arrived today, yes. I'm Natasha."

She was talking to a pony.

She'd seen everything now, she was sure of it.

[elementofloyalty]

"Welcome out of the pods! ...I guess. It's not all that great out here, but better to be out and doing stuff than sitting around waiting for others to solve the problems, right?" she said, with the confident grin of one who couldn't imagine anyone disagree with her. "Um, they used to give big announcements that people were coming out and everyone ran and got prepared for them, but I guess that's changed lately. Anyone told you what's going on here yet?"

[dance_with_death]

"I heard from Stacy that the Daligig attempted to sabotage her pod release programming. Because of that, the way future crewmembers are released will work differently than before," Natasha nodded. "I've heard a little bit here and there, but everyone's experience here is different." That probably rung especially true of a pastel-coloured talking pony. "I'd love to hear what you have to say, though."

[17thangel]

Sitting there staring out into space is a young girl who is heavily bandaged up looking out the windows letting out a breath and fiddling with a rather fancy looking watch. She peers over at Natasha and tilts her head.

"You new here?"

[dance_with_death]

Natasha studied the girl. She understood the reason as to why the girl was probably bandaged up - Natasha had heard some about what had happened before she'd arrived. She sized the girl up, including the watch that the girl seemed to be toying with. Certainly not someone from her part of the multiverse, Natasha was sure.

If she was surprised at the fact that there was a young girl on board Stacy, Natasha didn't show it. After all, Stacy purportedly only chose from the finest of any given universe.

"I am, yes," Natasha said. "Freshly arrived. I'm Natasha. Hello."

[17thangel]

She nods a bit and closes her watch and adjusts her goggles a bit nodding.

"Pleasure to meet you Miss Natasha. Picked a rather odd time to wake up here, has anyone offered a tour?"

[dance_with_death]

"Oh, please, the Miss isn't necessary," Natasha told the girl. "Just Natasha is fine. I'm sorry, I don't believe I got your name."

[whining_unicorn]

Rarity was levitating a pile of fabric with her horn and her vision was slightly obscured but she remained as polite as ever as she made her way down the corridor. "I'm terribly sorry but I need some space please."

((OOC: I had a Wasp character but I dropped her. Would have been awesome if they both interacted. =P))

[dance_with_death]

"Oh, I'm sorry," Natasha replied. She had already been moving out of the way when she'd seen the pile of fabric moving towards her, but it was always nice to vocalize a polite apology.

And then she noted what was behind the fabric.

Another one of the tattooed ponies - this time, a unicorn.

"Hello."

[whining_unicorn]

"Oh there's no need apologize, I don't usually have to carry that much fabric around but I have a massive order to fill up." Rarity replied before realizing that the lady greeted her.

Horn still glowing to keep the pile of fabric steady, Rarity gave a little bow. "Hello there, I'm Rarity. One of the seamstresses on this ship."

[dance_with_death]

"Natasha nodded to her. "I'm Natasha. It's nice to meet you, Rarity." The pony had a tattoo of diamonds. Clearly, she was some rare and unique pony.

She seemed very sweet and polite, though.

"Seamstresses? So we can wear something other than...this?" She pulled at the plantsuit, very much missing her SHIELD jumpsuit.