August catch-all

[unmakeme]

WHO: Natasha, Natalia, and anyone interested
WHAT: working, walking, working out, regressing, business as usual
WHEN: month of August
WHERE: communal housing, perimeter, gym, around the city in general

NOTES: On the evening of the 14th, Natasha will come in contact with the memory loss pollen. It will take away a few very specific memories, and the ripple effect of that will make most of the last decade of so a fuzzy mess. The upshot of it all is that she’s forgotten being a part of SHIELD and will be under the impression that she somehow pulled off the biggest con in the history of cons to get herself made a part of the Avengers. Slightly more detail on the whole thing can be found here. If you want to plan something out, you can also feel free to do it in the comments there.

Also, it’s not as easy to write a specific prompt for it, but she walks everywhere she goes. So running into on her way to or from any of these options is also a very valid option.

GYM

Natasha’s at the gym at least once a day. Usually first thing in the morning, but occasionally later at night. The place empties out quite a bit after the sun sets, and it’s nice to have the quiet and all the equipment to herself. Most of the time. A few days a week, the main room where classes are held is dedicated instead to sparring, small rings set up around the perimeter. She hits those as often as she can.

PERIMETER GUARD-ING

Hurry up and wait. That is, more or less, an absolutely perfect description of being on call for Search and Rescue. Just because she’s good at it doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly boring. There are only so many playing cards you can flick into a coffee mug, only so many laps a person can run around the perimeter of the city, and only so many improvements that can be made to her gear in any given day.

If someone wants to go exploring beyond the wall, she’s quick to volunteer to accompany them, part of her hoping that something dangerous comes to investigate. So far, the creatures that stay close enough to the wall to be drawn in are more of a workout than a problem.

GROCERY STORE

Natasha’s never been much of a cook. Laura made a serious effort to help her learn back when their friendship was still a very strange and uncertain thing. Natasha didn’t know quite how to tell her that she had no desire to learn, and the older woman probably assumed it was some sort of universal bonding experience. They got over it quickly, so Natasha has very few successful recipes under her belt. Which is fine. She goes to the store a few times a week for things that are easy to eat on their own. Bars and shakes, fruit, nuts, anything that takes no thought or effort. It’s what she prefers when she’s bone tired after work.

Once Clark is gone and Jon is alone, the shopping takes a little longer. Dropping by to see him with food is mostly an excuse to check in on him every other day or so. Still, it’s an excuse that works, and if she’s going to bring food, she’d rather it be something he’d like. Which is how she ends up doing things like spending several minutes staring at two different boxes of cookies, one in each hand, attempting to get into the mind of a pre-teen boy and decide if double chocolate is better than chocolate fudge, or if a person can ever have too much chocolate.

On days she has more energy, well, she still doesn’t want to spend it cooking. There are a few nice breakfast places between the housing building and

RESTAURANT/COFFEE SHOP

The logical flip-side of not liking to cook, Nat eats out a lot. On days when breakfast isn’t a protein bar eaten on her walk to work, she takes her time at one of the places nearby with outdoor seating. It’s a habit she’s not likely to break any time soon, watching people from behind her sunglasses as she drinks her tea and eats her eggs. She’s not always subtle about it, but she’s also not exactly trying to be. There’s almost no reason to hide here. If someone notices her staring, she may even raise her cup in salute, acknowledging that yes, she was just intently watching you do whatever you were doing.

SPECIAL: AMNESIA EVENT

Natasha doesn’t have allergies, but something hits her hard after lunch on Monday - sneezing, headache, stuffed nose, the whole nine yards. It’s absolute hell, and she blows off the rest of her day to go back to the high rise and just take a fucking nap. Kicking her jeans off inside the door and flopping face first into her pillow, she’s out like a light almost immediately.

The first thing that Natalia does upon waking up in the late afternoon, her head fuzzy and her memory full of holes, is go pawing through her things looking for an explanation. What she finds doesn’t provide her with any answers, only questions. The jeans on the floor fit her, the phone in the pocket opening to her fingerprint. The conversations in the phone, they don’t sound like her. None of them. As she reads, though, memories come back. Still fuzzy, not quite fitting together. It’s not until she gets to—- she wouldn’t call it a journal. More like a bunch of disjointed thoughts that would probably make no sense to anyone else. There’s an upshot that has a whole lot coming back to her in a rush, though. The Avengers. Holy shit. How did she pull that one off?

Now that she can’t remember. Nothing. Just one giant hole in her past. She puts two and two together from a handful of panicked open messages on the network and the responses to them, including an exchange she was part of earlier in the day. The most amazing infiltration job she thinks she’s ever heard of, and she has no idea how she pulled it off.

Which is fine. This is all going to be fine. She just needs to ride it out until people figure out how to fix this. In the mean time, she’s got a job to do and a life to reacquaint herself with. Dinner sounds like a good idea, too.

[[OOC: So, not sure exactly what date this is all getting fixed on, but in the mean time, Natalia will go through Natasha’s routines as best she can. She’ll show up to work, go to the gym, go out to eat, and just generally go through the rest of the week like nothing is wrong. Pretty much any of the options available could be used during this event. If you have any questions at all, just let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them.]]

WILDCARD!
You know the drill. Make up something else, and we'll rock the unexpected!

Comments

amnesia+coffee shop

[inebriety]

Tony had woken up feeling better than he had ever felt before. There was no dark mood swarming him the moment he regained consciousness and while the hangover had sucked his mind was clear. But with a clear mind came the disgust at his previous actions. It was pathetic how he trailed after others for a scrap of attention.

It was a bid to distance himself from his miserable actions that he goes to a coffee shop instead of a bar. He didn't consider it a vice of his any more so while he would have appreciated the drink he was going to prove that he wasn't dependent.

However the red head staring at him from across the room has him forgoing an empty table to join hers.

"Like what you see?"

Red heads hadn't been his type since Natasha, but as she was no longer a painful memory there was no need to limit his options.

[unmakeme]

The face is familiar, and she watches that familiar face intently as the man wearing it walks through the room. Not the Tony from the bulk of her memories, she can tell that right away even though those memories are still fuzzy as hell. He's close, though, and she does know this face. Brief flashes. Casual acquaintance? Or is this just recognition from seeing him on the network, running into one another at parties? These holes in her memories can fuck off any time they like, thanks so much.

He notices her, which is not all that surprising, and she smiles as though the whole thing is intentional. What's the alternative? Admitting she's floundering, that she's in over her head and every conversation, no matter how casual, has the potential to give her away? Not likely. So she relaxes her posture as he approaches, because this is fine. She hooks her fingernail on the thin strip of metal over the bridge of her nose, tugging her sunglasses down, smiling as she tilts her head so her hair catches the bright sunlight streaming through the window. "Usually, yes."

[inebriety]

Tony hasn't considered the possibility that Natasha of all people was here. Surely someone would have mentioned it to him by now since no one knows the landmine she is to him. As far as he knows she's just another pretty face.

And she is good, knowing how to present herself just so. Tony can tell it's calculated and finds himself charmed anyway. Besides, knowing it's fake doesn't mean he knows the reasoning behind it. And hey, they're both good at this. He ducks his head down slightly and looks up at her coyly.

"Usually? Don't tell me I'm the exception."

[unmakeme]

"Not yet." She seems to make a decision about him, and removes her sunglasses entirely, folding them and hanging them from the neck of her shirt, making it hang a little lower. "It's still early, though. You could miss the chair entirely, flail for something to grab on to, and end up pulling the table down on yourself. I don't think you'd look good covered in my coffee."

She'd laugh, of course, but there's nothing sexy about wearing breakfast.

[inebriety]

In any other situation he would have flinched at how much he reminds him of her, but with his own impaired memory he only shoots her a wounded look. There's no trace of his surprise at the similarities as he's better able to distance himself, but he is distracted enough by her face to focus on her cleavage.

"I'd hardly consider myself the main character in a romantic comedy."

Even if they are currently living a cliche.

[unmakeme]

"Is that really a thing? Guy pulls an entire table down on himself in a spectacular display of complete ineptitude and lack of coordination and still ends up with the girl?" She purses her lips, clearly not impressed. "I knew there was a reason I hated the movies."

She picks up her cup, takes a sip of her drink. "So, are you going to sit down or what? I mean, you're welcome to just keep on standing there if you'd rather..."

[inebriety]

Only after her words does he sit down. "I've been told I shouldn't presume so much, it's something I'm working on when I care to try." Aka if he can't rely on his name in this universe he has to try be a decent human being to get laid.

[unmakeme]

"When you care to try," she repeats, setting her cup down carefully and ripping a piece off of her croissant. "So I should feel flattered?" There's a whole lot of confidence here, which is hardly surprising. Some things never change, in any universe, and Tony Stark will always be Tony Stark.

A waiter swings by, asking Tony if he'd like to order and very quickly rattling off two breakfast specials. Natasha doesn't say a word, just waits to see how much time Tony plans on spending here. Actual food time, just coffee time, or not even that much.

amnesia + gym

[worldsaway]

It's been a day since Thor awoke here (at least, that's how long he thinks it's been) and he's forcing himself to adapt as best he can. He's tantrumed, he's protested and he's lashed out as best he can to no avail, he's licked his wounds in a bar and now he's trying to put himself to some sort of useful occupation.

He's decided that this occupation is hitting things.

Thor is at the gym, punching a punching bag with restrained might, since he'd rather not destroy it with one blow. He seems to derive very little pleasure from this and eventually pulls away, wiping his brow and moving to lean against a wall to watch Natasha in her own work-out.

[unmakeme]

Natasha's workout is named Carl. He's big, he's solid, and he relies far too much on the strength behind his fists. Which doesn't mean too much if he can't hit his opponent. Natasha ducks underneath a right hook, and easily avoids the knee he tries to bring up into her chest. She hits the mat, shoulders bracing herself so she can bring her legs up, calves locking around his neck. Then she twists her entire body to bring him crashing down to the mats. Using the same momentum, she swings herself on top of him, a quick rabbit punch to his throat, and then she's up and off, bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready for anything he might try to retaliate with.

Nothing comes, though. It seems that this time, he's taking the hint and staying down. He slams his open palm against the mat a few times, signaling his acceptance of defeat, and struggles to get a breath past his coughing. Natasha relaxes somewhat, going to the edge of the mat and picking up her water bottle and towel. She'd pulled on all dark clothing before hitting the gym in the hope it would hide the sweat, but that's proving entirely unnecessary. No one has been able to work her that hard yet.

She takes a long drink of water, dabbing at what can be called at most a glisten on her forehead. Which is when she notices Thor watching, and she cocks her head and smiles at him. "Want to go a round?" She knows that face. Thor. Vague memories of fighting on the same side to stop his brother from breaking the world, fuzzier memories of casual party type settings, friends catching up. He's part of it, this thing she can't remember, but ignoring him would only draw more attention.

[worldsaway]

It's a good show for several reasons. Namely because Thor is extremely impressed, intrigued and just a little bit attracted to what he's seeing here. Maybe a few hundred years ago, he didn't take women in battle seriously, then Sif came along and knocked his head around and he learned to respect and admire female warriors as much as male warriors.

He's practically waiting for the chance when Carl doesn't give her any sort of challenge. He cringes at his mistakes and scoffs when he comes crashing down easily.

He acts surprised at the invitation, and yet he's already sauntering toward her as if he was anticipating it. "Gladly." He says, stopping short of her. She isn't remotely familiar to him, but that doesn't dull his interest. "It would be rude of me to deny you some entertainment."

[unmakeme]

"Terribly rude," she agrees, setting the water bottle down again and tossing the towel near it before she moves to the center of the temporary ring. "Your manners are far better than that, I'm sure. Wouldn't leave a lady hanging." Is he pretending not to know her? Some sort of game, or a show for the spectators? Is it possible he's truly forgotten her? Natalia feels like she would be a very odd thing to forget, as her missing memory is such a huge and integral part of her life. Still, some people seem to have forgotten things as simple as the taste of certain foods or, in one hilarious interaction this morning, the word for sugar.

She decides to focus on the fight first, and any changes Thor might be going through later. This whole mess has the added benefit of her being able to claim additional memory loss later. She doesn't have to be perfect in mimicking her cover personality, she just needs to get close.

[worldsaway]

"Indeed so." He starts to circle her, slowly. He's had the benefit of seeing her fight and so he's had a glimpse of her technique. Tactically, it may not make much difference, but it helps Thor evaluate the situation.

She's fairly small, but obviously strong. She will try to use his weight against him, he's sure. He needs to guard his legs and keep a strong stance. Yet, he's not averse to intimidation tactics that border on flirting. He circles her slowly, watching her carefully as he does, eyes drifting up and down her body as if evaluating her in more ways than one.

"Shall you have the first move or is it more gentlemanly to strike first?"

[unmakeme]

"Well, if we keep on circling, I might get bored. How comfortable are you with it being known that you let a woman lose interest?" Natasha isn't going to be baited into rushing him first. She's aware that he knows how she fights, but she's not sure if he is feigning ignorance or if he's truly forgotten her, if he's truly unaware that she also knows how he fights. His first attack will tell her. Then she'll know how she wants to play this. So she can wait it out, like she's got all the time in the world.

[worldsaway]

"It's not a feeling I've experienced before, nor is it one I intend to experience."

He accepts that she won't make the first move and accepts that she'll know he's coming, regardless of how he comes at her. Thor decides to charge, with reckless abandon. He's not about to strike at her face or her body, he's aiming to knock her off her feet first and foremost.

[unmakeme]

Like a bull in a China shop. The smile on his face, though. He's not taking this seriously. Not yet. Which is odd, actually, because he is taking her seriously. Of that, she is certain. So she switches tracks, too. She doesn't move to hit him, she doesn't move to block him, she just dances out of his way. And that is what it must be called. Dancing. If he wants to tease her, then she can turn right around to do the same thing to him. She's happy to. It's like foreplay.

"Really? Never? How can you be so certain?" She's circling behind him. Lovely view from this angle. Truly spectacular.

Perimeter guardingening

[500gallontank]

There's a car out there; he can just tell. Somewhere. And even if there wasn't, there was something out there they, in the city, didn't want them to see or find. Which was reason enough for him to decide he needed to get a look or two himself.

It's easy enough: he's on the Guard himself, so he just waits till his shift is over, and then, caaaaasually, heads on toward the treeline. Not like anyone's waiting for him back at the housing block, anyway.

[unmakeme]

Natasha was a little surprised to see the figure disappearing into the tree-line. Odd. No one was scheduled to be heading out right now. Natasha checked, just to make sure, asked the other two members on the wall with her, but neither of them knew what was going on, either. Well, she had a few hours left in her shift, and this was her job. Sort of. In a roundabout way. So she logged her sighting and headed into the jungle, hot on the heels of whoever had gone just before her.

It took her a while to catch up with him. He wasn't exactly hiding his progress, but he was moving quickly. "Hey," she called out, giving an uneasy look to the dense tree growth around them, Plenty that could be hiding in a place like this. "What are you doing out here?"

[[OOC: Not sure if anything here goes against what you had planned, but I didn't hear back so I just went with it. Let me know if you'd like me to change anything.]]

Thursday - for Illya

[unmakeme]

Natasha makes plans with Illya, then promptly inhales pollen, forgets a huge part of who she is, and also forgets about Illya. More or less. Until he video chats her Thursday morning to ask her if she has any food allergies. In response to her questioning look, he reminds her of their plans. She insists that she knows. She thought she had to sneeze. Give a girl a break. No, she's not allergic to anything, and yes, she still wants to go. It would be suspicious to cancel. He would want to know why, and she has no good answer. If she admits that she forgot, he will wonder what else is missing. She doesn't want to go down that road. He's probably not buying that she had to sneeze. No, she's not pushing that. Besides, now that she remembers, she does sort of want to go.

So she hangs up the phone, mentally breaks down her next four hours, and is pretty sure she can pull this off. Getting ready takes almost no time. Her hair is fine, full loose curls looking intentionally disheveled and not like she just rolled out of bed and hasn't done a thing with it yet. Clothes and makeup come together quickly, and it's relatively short work to get a truck from the Perimeter Guard motor pool. The boat is slightly more problematic. She doesn't own a boat. She doesn't know anyone who owns a boat. In the end, she just drives around properties near the river until she sees one.

She does not steal the boat. Not technically. She requisitions it. She requisitions a shabby green rowboat for ‘official’ Perimeter Guard use, and has the owner help her hoist it into the back of the truck and secure it with some tie down straps. Perfect. With a bit of time to spare, too, so she picks up a bottle of vodka before driving back to the housing building and parking illegally right in front of the entrance just a few minutes before noon.

Re: Thursday - for Illya

[nikolaievich]

Illya isn’t stupid. He knows as soon as soon as she gives him the look that something’s off. But… well, something has been off for a couple of days now. Illya’s spent those days talking to confused people whose memories didn’t seem to quite fit with what other people were telling him, and being confused himself so even though he can tell Natalia isn’t telling him everything he figures he’ll either figure out what’s wrong when they talk, or she will recover whatever memory she’s lost eventually.

So he packs up the food, like he had promised her he would, and heads to the entrance. He hadn’t had a chance to get on a boat yet- just like he postpones everything that feels like a selfish hobby in his mind. But luckily for him he had the perfect set of clothes- he can’t go dressed up to the nines like he usually does, but that doesn’t mean his casual pants and shirt can’t be fashionable and color-coded. This is probably the most dressed down Natalia has seen him unless she’s spotted him at the gym.

He gets there on time, but still just a little after Natalia.

“Did I make you wait?” And then he blinks up at the back of truck, where the boat can be seen. "Is that yours?"

[unmakeme]

Natalia reaches across the seat to open the door for him. "Only for a few minutes, and it's mine for today." Now that she can see more than just his head and shoulders through the truck window, she takes the time to give him a once over. Very casual. It looks good on him, though. "You look good. Come on, we're burning daylight."

As long as he doesn't bring up the confusion from earlier, they'll have a lovely afternoon. Nat has been having an incredibly weird couple of days. It's not that going in blind is uncommon for her. Ever since she decided it was time to start making her own decisions and bolted, she's had no support team to speak of. The tricky thing here is that she's already been through it all once, she just doesn't remember it. It's not coming up with something reasonable and fitting, but coming up with the exact same lie she's already been living.

[nikolaievich]

Bringing things up directly work sometimes, if only to see how people react to it. Sometimes what they choose to react to and what they choose to lie about tells is enough to get an idea of someone’s personality. But that approach wouldn’t really work with Natalia, he’s pretty sure. So while he’s definitely curious, he’s definitely not bringing it up. He’ll just figure it out some other way.

“You look good as well.” Because it’s true, but she always look good so he’s aware he’s not telling her anything she doesn’t already know. Still, everyone likes a compliment, right?

He gets on the passenger’s seat after he’s taken a look at the boat. It’s been awhile since he’s been in a rowboat and he didn’t realize how much he’d missed it until now.

“Thank you, for this. I don’t do it often, you’ve given me an excuse.”

[unmakeme]

Illya is correct in guessing that Nat doesn't need the compliment to validate the way she feels about her looks, but she still smiles. Knowing the truth doesn't make hearing it any less pleasant.

She turns over the ignition, the truck rumbling to life underneath her feet. "That's what I'm best at, helping people to... indulge." She shifts gear, and they're off. "So, for this particular indulgence, I figure we have three options. One, we can go upriver, drift down, and then you can row us back up to the truck. Two, we can go downriver, you can row us up, and then we can drift back down to the truck. Three, we can go into the abandoned part of the city and find something a little closer to a lake." The abandoned part of the city also carries with it a higher possibility of danger, and also more privacy, but he'll already know that.

She taps her fingernails against the steering wheel, waiting to hear which direction she should turn. "So, what will it be?"

[nikolaievich]

If Illya were feeling like himself he’d obviously go for the third option, if only because ‘the most dangerous’ also sounds like ‘the most interesting’. Plus this is Natalia, they can both handle themselves in front of monsters so it’s not like he would have to worry about her. But this is an Illya who’s never been a spy, this is an Illya who, in his mind, never had all the training the other Illya had. So while he’s proud enough that he would end up going there if Nat teased him about it, for now he’s going to play it a little safer.

“Let’s go up the river. It’ll be nice to drift down first.”

[unmakeme]

"Nice, safe river - coming right up." She smirks at him, and turns onto the road that will take them to the North end of the city center. Nat doesn't really care where they go. She can't quite remember the motivation for planning this outing. She's not sure what purpose having him as a friend serves her cover. What she does know, though, is that she teases him. At the festival, turning up on his communal floor, even once following him into the large locker room style bathroom and sitting there while he attempted to shower, chatting at him until he got so frustrated he left. She nudges relentlessly to push him out of his comfort zone, never letting him just rest in his safe little bubble.

So she teases him, because apparently it's just what she does, and that's good enough for her. "Thought you had a little more adventure in your soul." It's easy, at least, to fall into this pattern. Easier than it should be, perhaps. Which gives her some hope. Whatever she's done, it's still in her mind. She just can't get to it yet.