Owner	Pose
Phobos	On the screen of the OLED television in the entertainment center in the erstwhile safehouse, a man in black robes was facing off against a man in white robes, smack dab in the middle of a cockfight arena. They had blades drawn and were clearly menacinig each other, also not seeming very friendly.     Yet the look on their masked faces, such as it was, was no match for the grumpiness evident in the young Olympian's features. He was settled _deep_ into the couch, sitting upright and unupside down which would be the first warning sign. The second would be his tightly enclosed body language with him holding his arms tight around his chest, arms folded, expression grim as those pale hazel eyes were distanced and watching this apparent face off between two very displeased ninja somewhere in the Phillipines.     At times the tendons in his jaw clenched, at others his nose crinkled as if he smelled something bad. The movie he watched still had his attention, but it had clearly displeased him to such a degree...     That someone was to blame.     "Hey, you were alive during the 80s, right?" He very well knew he was, but he was clearly trying to trap her into admitting this crime.
Natasha Romanoff	Natasha froze two steps outside the bathroom. Her hair was wrapped in a white towel 'turban' style as women often did, though she generally had it off pretty quickly once she got into the bedroom and fully dressed. It was one of the benefits of having such short hair. She just didn't want it dripping down onto her shoulders before she had a layer of clothing on to deal with that. Another towel was wrapped around her body, though why was anyone's guess. Probably habit. "Well yes. Why?" And Natasha disappeared into the bedroom where she could be heard opening drawers then silence as she quickly got herself dressed. She then quickly worked on towel drying her hair as she reappeared at the bedroom door, taking in his position and body language.
Phobos	"I blame you for this then, you could have done something." He gestures at the screen even though she was nowhere near to even see. After making that gesture he refolds his arms over his chest and grumbles audibly with a 'harumph' that she could hear from across the way.     "Seriously, this sparked off an entire genre of films back then? And why is this Italian actor playing a ninja? And he's dubbed. All of his lines are dubbed!"     A further slouch drops him deeper into the couch, his socks covered feets propped up on the coffee table. "I mean he's underhanding shuriken at people and it's like the people are shuriken magnets, they just slice through the air and insta kill people even though it's like, in the dude's shoulder."
Natasha Romanoff	"What the hell are you watching?" It was the first thing that came into her head and Nat didn't bother trying to censor herself this time. Instead she walked into the living room, stopping at the back of the couch and leaning over it slightly as she drew the towel off her head and let it rest around her shoulders. She was now fully dressed in a pair of cotton shorts that were a little too short and a tank top, leaving much of her muscular form visible. Eyeing the tv, it took a long moment for her to even figure out what she was looking at. Bad editing. Bad choreography. The fights were just sad because they were so chopped up to hide the people that didn't know how to fight. "How is this my fault? I had nothing to do with movie making anywhere on the planet." She frowned as she watched one of the shuriken do yet another magic insta kill. "SHIELD should get some of those. Wonder if they are made of the same magic bullet material from the JFK assassination." It was a bad joke and a morbid one but it fit the person Natasha was behind the mask she wore. Figuratively speaking.
Phobos	"This!" He gestures at it emphatically. "I've seen the 70s Shaw brothers stuff, I watched Sonny Chiba. Bruce Lee things. I've even seen one Steven Seagal movie, and that was enough. But this is like..." He reaches over to the seat on the couch cushion beside him and scoops up his cellphone, holding up the IMDB entry he was perusing which was a search of simply the word 'ninja' with the parameters limited to the 1980s, and he held it up, "Forty-seven different movies. Most of them by Golan-Globus."     He drops the cellphone back on the couch. "I mean, you let this happen. Aren't you technically a ninja?" He says sidelong, glancing up at her, then his tirade pauses and he quirks an eyebrow. "Or are you actually one? I've never asked you this."
Natasha Romanoff	"Don't be silly." And with that, Natasha turned to return to the bathroom long enough to deposit the now wet towel over the shower rod so it would dry a bit. Later it would be put in the hamper but no one wanted a soaking towel in the hamper with other clothes either. Then she returned to the living room, a comb in hand, combing her hair back from her face. "You can't blame me for people choosing to jump on the ninja craze and make money for it. Especially when I didn't do that in any way, shape, or form. I was too busy doing my actual job to care about movies or tv shows." She shook her head as she got her hair tamed and tossed the comb back into the bathroom where it landed with a clatter on the sink. Then she returned to the couch, dropping into a seat beside him. She looked down at his head. "Why would you blame me?"
Phobos	Affecting a rather cultured and professorial tone of voice, his words chase after her even as she wanders off toward the bathroom, and he continues to lecture her while she returns.     "I cannot but notice that you technically did not answer the question. For you see, I am what is known of as an expert now on NatashaSpeak, it is an advanced form of All-Speech that I have honed from my years of exposure to Evil Russian girls." Though when he got to that point she was dropping back into the seat next to him.     He nods to the television, "In any case, this is a channel called Flicks of Fury, and I'm going to watch all of these. For some reason they just play them and you can't pause them. Wonder why they do that."
Natasha Romanoff	"Maybe to make you feel like you are in the actual 80s since you couldn't pause something when it was being broadcast? Though if that were true, you'd have a commercial every 10 to 15 minutes during the movie," she added since that was the Dark Times truly. No way to pause or fast forward. No stopping the movie and starting something else if you didn't like the one on. It was either watched or it had to be turned off until later when there would be something else airing after that program ended. "I realize you never lived in a world with such a lack of the necessities of modern life," she added with a hint of amusement in her tone. "Though now I have to ask just how many Evil Russian girls do you know? I'm guessing one, which is Yelena. Because I most definitely am not in the evil category." That almost sounded like a warning.
Phobos	"You come at this from a false premise not realizing that all girls by their nature are evil." Alexander says with that same formal tone, giving a single nod.     He then nods to her sidelong, "Though yes, this does have commercials, though they're modern commercials so it's not a period thing they're doing." He grabs the remote from next to his phone and clicks it to life, bringing up the guide as he scrolled up and down a few times, "Yah, right there, Flicks of Fury." He closed the menu and tossed the control to the side.     "I mean, I knew that was how television and such was, and sorta is still when we had to make do for those couple of weeks when we didn't have connectivity. But..." He shakes his head, "Just... this is crazy."     He motions with a hand to the screen as the credits for the movie roll, as apparently one of the ninjas got their head chopped off, since it was lying center screen during the credit scroll. He looks sidelong at Natasha, "It's sorta like... we've known Ninjas right? Real ones. They're mostly not like these guys. Except on some level, the Hand maybe? But those guys are actual mystics, these are..." He motions to the screen, "Bad special effects."
Natasha Romanoff	"It's pretty typical for movie making though," Natasha argued. "They just have an idea of something that someone saw or read in a book once and go completely off the rails turning it into something else. I never watched these. Unlike Bruce Lee. Him I did watch. I also watched more modern people like Jackie Chan, Donnie Yeh, Jet Li. But this?" She waved her hand at the offensive material on the screen. Even the head looked fake. It was kind of sad. "I suppose that some of them developed a cult following eventually but you have to remember that martial arts weren't a commonly known thing in the 70s. So when they did become more known from the movies then, it sort of exploded into absurdity." She did nod at his observation though. "The Hand are real ninja, and dangerous. But the lower ranking are just like anyone in martial arts. They still have a lot to learn even if they are good enought to hide their presence from a normal populace."
Phobos	Alexander crinkles his nose and chews the inside of his cheek, then glances sidelong at her. "Have you had much experience with them. Ninja I mean. I've fought a few several times, I mean I know Shiva, would she be considered a ninja?" He takes a deep breath then exhales slowly.     "I've even met someone who is supposedly the Shinto god of ninja, though he wouldn't admit it. Which is... you know, sort of fitting." He shakes his head.     "Not sure why but it just... ugh." He motions a the screen. "Maybe it's the dishonesty of it or the ignorance? Since you are totally a ninja I figured you'd take offense as well."
Natasha Romanoff	"Shiva probalby would be considered one. Along with a lot of members of the League of Assassins. Not all but a lot. Though, for real ninjas, there is a sense of honor and most of those don't show that. Shiva?" Nat weighed it a moment. "Sort of has a code of honor even if it is one we don't understand personally. "I honestly think it's a combination of both. There is a lot of ignorance and that's because the actual ninja in the world purposefully make sure to share misinformation in their whisper networks. As such, they keep people making assumptions that don't fit reality, allowing them to hide more easily. There is some dishonesty as well as they will take a thought and turn it into..." Natasha paused as she considered it a moment, trying to fit the right word. "Magic one shot shuriken that just have to hit your shoulder without presenting the fact it would've been coated in some sort of poison potentially." What a very specific example. Then she looked over at him more closely, arching a brow. "And don't think I missed that whole all women are evil. I would love to hear your precedence for that stance."
Phobos	As the opening montage comes onto the screen, which consists of a guy in black leaping around and swinging his sword, Alexander says, "Ok that guy isn't bad, still." He shakes his head and bites his lower lip. "Is it like a law that ninja have to wear eye-liner? That's so randomly weird."     Of course when she arches that eyebrow, he can feel the palpable pall of ice fall over the conversation, and for most people hearing that tone of voice from the Black Widow, they would rightfully so be worried about their continued existence. But for Alexander it causes that wry smile that only she gets to see, that teasing twist of lips and the flicker of warmth in his eyes that gives the faint hint that the God of Fear is indeed close kin to the Trickster Gods of old.     His nose crinkles again then as he murmurs, "One does not have to cite source when espousing a universal truth." Which is when he _quickly_ rolls to the side and out of his seat.
Natasha Romanoff	"Only the greatest of masters are allowed to wear the eyeliner. You see that, you should run away quickly. They will be totally beyond your skill levels." Which is utter nonsense. As can probably be seen once the movie gets going further, though currently there was nothing to counter her argument on the screen. At the universal truth line, she waited. He rolled to the side and was on his feet. And as he came to his feet, her own foot had been brought up under her and she /launched/ herself his direction. Full Body Tackle Style. "This is for calling me evil."
Phobos	Oof! Thud! Whack! Wham! Bam! POW! Thud! Splat! ZAP! Ow!
Natasha Romanoff	And as the room was now filled with the sounds of their continued 'discussion', one thing was clear. Natasha had still avoided answering his question asking if she was a Ninja.