16075/Littlest Widow: Natasha Is Back

Littlest Widow: Natasha Is Back
Date of Scene:	21 February 2024
Location:	Converted Safehouse, Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Natasha is back and she talks with Alexander about his adventures with the young version of her. The word Brat is used.
Cast of Characters:	Phobos, Black Widow (Romanoff)

---

Phobos has posed:
    "You were a brat."
    Those words hung there, passed in judgment and sternly given. Even though the two of them were settled and at home after yet another ruckus and tale of life had taken them apart albeit for only a handful of days. This time the television showed not the usual fare when it was Alexander's choice, but instead Natasha had been given the remote and allowed to seek whatever struck her fancy. Which, to Alexander's chagrin, often meant channel-surfing for hours at a time.
    But the reason for those words spoken were obvious when Natasha had seen the footage. The flash of light as the spell took hold, the de-aging spell cast by Mordred had been an almost off-handed thing, sent hurtling her way. A normal spell he uses when he simply wishes to erase an enemy, take them back to before they were born with a minimal amount of eldritch energy.
    Only it hadn't removed the Black Widow from the fight. Instead... it just replaced her.
    Which according to Alexander, it replaced her with a brat.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
*CLICK*
*CLICK*
*CLICK*

With each push of that button, the television changed channels. For indeed, cable companies still existed and there still was nothing on all 200 channels. She'd know. She'd been flipping through them long enough to be sure of it at least once. Maybe twice.

If one didn't know better, they might think she was doing it on purpose to see how long she could get away with it before he demanded the remote back. Truly, it was one of her favorite games. Natasha couldn't give a damn about what was on tv usually.

*CLICK*

"Was I now? I don't remember ever being a brat in my entire life." She pursed her lips as she considered, looking at him appraisingly. "Maybe when I first left the Red Room but I still feel I was too old to be a brat at that point."

*CLICK*

"What precisely did I do that got me labeled brat?"

Phobos has posed:
    "So many things that it would be impossible to list them all." Was the answer given, though she could tell his displeasure was manufactured for even as they flipped channels his arms were still tight around her, and he kept her nice and comfortable in the safety of his embrace. His head rested on her shoulder as she took the comfort of the Olympian's warmth even as he watched her flipping from channel to channel.
    "You know you keep going past HGTV, we could stop there a little." Since this restoration of an old house had caughtt Alexander's eye enough that even though he'd watched approximately 30 seconds of the show, he had already built up an internal narrative of it.
    But then as she continued her clicking crusade he elaborated. "As an example for brattiness, I got you some really good hot dogs and you had the audacity to try and escape while we were eating and not after." Which might not be entirely true. Perhaps it was more she used that time to plan her escape.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
She most definitely had eaten her hotdog first. Now the Coke, that was another story. It had helped in her distraction to escape. Not that /this/ Natasha knew those details, of course.

"Sounds to me like you let your guard down and allowed an inexperienced child spy get the better of you," came her flippant response.

*CLICK*
*CLICK*

She snuggled in happily in his embrace as she continued her ever forward path of clicking though she did pause for a moment. "Which one was HGTV? Was that about eight back? Just 192 and we'll be there again."

*CLICK*
Then she held up the remote as a peace offering of sorts. "Unless you changed your mind about letting me drive?" And then he could hear that amusement in her tone. If he didn't know she was messing with him before, it was glaringly obvious now.

Phobos has posed:
    A grumbling harumph was heard as she could see the way he crinkled his nose at her in his reflection that showed on the screen in one of those brief moments the monitor was blank and dark. But then it leapt back into life with the next click of the remote.
    "I could have countered her, just to do so would have been an escalation. Didn't want her to get all the more wild." Since it was true, SHIELD had treated her with kid's gloves and was careful as they could be. Though he might just be covering for a bruised ego. Maybe.
    "Besides we had contingencies in place." And, of course, he does't mention those contingencies. Just in case!
    "And no no, you wanted the duty of finding something to watch. I suggest you discharge that duty with the due diligence required." As he said that he half-smirked.
    "Though it was interesting seeing you, and yet not you in another variation. Feels like... something is at play that is having us... I don't know. See each other through different lenses maybe? Could be the Fates."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"You will pardon my English but perhaps you should tell them to fuck off and leave us alone?" Natasha suggested, glancing over her shoulder at him. Though she did take mercy on her love and the screen started to change channels again. But going backwards this time. Until she reached HGTV where she stopped to see what had caught his attention. The remote was placed atop her leg for now.

"But it does seem a little strange that first you get poofed off to other worlds and now it's my turn. Though, mine wasn't really an alternate reality, just a shifting of who I was in this one."

She considered a bit as she wrapped her arm atop his which was embracing her. "I don't even know if I remember being that young anymore. I mean I remember all of the Red Room and training and all the details. But the experience, the feelings. It's more scenes but no emotions truly attached to them after so long, if that makes sense?"

Phobos has posed:
    "I think I know what you mean," Alexander says with a quirked eyebrow as he tucks in to watch the show but still speaking to her quietly. "For me my life is divided up before and after..." Though he doesn't say what is before and what is after. Though she knows him well enough to realize he likely means... before he crossed that threshold when he realized who he was.
    "My memories of my childhood they feel like they happened to someone else in some ways. Like even though they're my memories, feels like I was an observer even then." He gives a small shrug, tilting his head slightly. The blanket over them both rasps slightly as he shifts his hips a little.
    "I thought perhaps that's just how people view their childhoods. But I don't know."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"It might be," Natasha said as she remained cuddled in. And she found herself being drawn into the show. It was interesting seeing the renovations though it wasn't something she'd ever tried to do herself, over her many lifetimes.

"Or maybe it's just us since our childhoods were quite different from that of most people? Easier to have that separation in our minds, to keep those emotions at bay. Though you were a happy child, when I first met you."

And that made her chuckle as she shook her head. "That sounds so very wrong considering our current relationship."

Phobos has posed:
    "Doesn't help that you're ancient." Alexander says, comfortable in the faith she won't turn to violence as he gives her such grief. Or at the least too much violence.
    He smiles and rests his chin back on her shoulder, watching the steady progression of the house, listening to her breathing. He then murmurs, "Though it could also be the... difficulties we both had. That create that mental border between then and now for us."
    He looks thoughtful, "Though, ultimately, I think we ended up getting along. We talked about a lot of things, though it must have been very frustrating for her since I avoided talking too much about... the future, or her future."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Of course. You had no idea if it would change the future," Natasha said as though that would be obvious to anyone on the planet. Which truly? Most people wouldn't really get that danger or care.

"Which, I will let you know, I don't remember a thing. So you don't have to wonder if I was lying during our relationship at any point. Probably something they tampered with." She tilted her head. "If I even retained it upon the return at that point to where I belonged in the Red Room. As often as they tampered with our minds at that point in life, I wouldn't be surprised."

Phobos has posed:
    A small grunt was heard from the young Olympian as he murmured, "I'm beginning to dislike magic more and more." Which might be a curious thing to hear from a being who is at his core a magical being.
    But then the topic changes as he motions with a nod, "That rug is super ugly. I wonder if there's a hard wood floor underneath it..."