open | persons & machinery (august).

[debts]

▶ WHO: natasha romanoff & you.
▶ DATE: august catch-all.
▶ WARNINGS: violence! spies! ~ledgers~
▶ SUMMARY: i'm fucking kidding there won't be anything about ledgers unless your character is an accountant.

(A): sunrise.

[ It's morning. The sun creeps up, throwing over slats of light at the compound's walls. Natasha's not around often — or if she is, she's deliberately someone who isn't easy to track down — but right now she is. She's leaning over the haphazard railing of the wall, elbows braced as she looks out. There's something new on her belt (it looks like keys, maybe) and one of her holsters are empty. She's still in her catsuit though, and she's eating something out of a tin can like she hasn't just spent the last few hours here in the night, listening to the screams of zombies. Propped up against her, on the left, is a sniper rifle.

She looks, in all honesty, more bored than thoughtful. ]

(B): transmit.

[ The radio tower. Natasha comes here every third day when she can spare it, right when she sun is highest. Sometimes it comes with the roar of her bike, and sometimes it doesn't.

For the most part, though, you can find her there, looking over the guidebook to the radio tower's equipment, taking a nap, looking over the channel directory or fresh from a shower. This is probably where Natasha's been getting her R&R. ]

(C): converse. (please respond at the link)

[ A blip, a crackle, then Natasha's voice over the radio: ]

Knock knock.

Comments

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[debts]

(B)

[lostsoldier]

[ The bike is easy to follow, although maybe he should have guessed, too, that he'd find her here. It's a good location. High. Isolated. Valuable. Invaluable, once it's ready to mass-broadcast. There's something to be said for being the only thing on the radio, after all.

He doesn't knock, but he makes enough noise climbing up the ladder, steel fingertips pushing open the oil-deprived hatch, that by the time he swings his boots up out of zombie reach, he may as well have. Here's hoping he doesn't catch her in her towel. ]

You notice any jammers on the airwaves? [ he says in leiu of hello when he finds her. ]

( A )

[metaspeed]

Hey.

[ Guess who else is up? Barry's been awake for hours now. Maybe, and more realistically, he couldn't get to sleep in the first place. He'd been keeping a watchful eye on his friends, on Iris and Oliver and Ronnie and Caitlin. He's paced up and down halls, trying to get the creepy sound of zombie screams out of his head, but that doesn't seem to be going away any time soon, at least for as long as they're all here.

He's still in his Flash uniform having nothing else to change into. (Plus there's the whole secret identity thing, which he's starting to get a little annoyed at. Keeping his mask is kind of a drag.) And as soon as the sun starts to rise, Barry feels like it's safe enough to venture outside again, get some fresh air, and maybe work on that gameplan.

He finds Natasha instead. ]

b.

[enchangement]

[ she "knows" there are enough people checking on the radio tower as to not make it a real risk that it might fall to disuse, the radios ceasing to function...

still. it gives her something to do, to watch the comings and goings of those who are interested in keeping it up and running. also the machines feel more like home, archaic though they are - the hum of power is a different sort of background noise than the people who keep it functional.

besides, learning how it works is a usable skill. river thrives on gathering up usable skills.

natasha is further ahead than river is, in the physical reading part of it all, so when she sees the redheaded woman river smiles and holds the book out to her. ]

"Was it a present?" [ she means the bike. there are keys, after all. ]

[debts]

[ He doesn't catch her in her towel. But it's, you know, relatively close; she's wearing gear she found in the place. Nothing looks weaponized— though maybe that's the point. The grey hoodie is zipped up to just below her collarbones, and her hair is still wet.

Lazily, Natasha sets down her fork into her empty can of ravioli. ]

Not a thing. The equipment is a little old, the functionality is sparser than we'd all like.

[ She swivels around in her seat and pointedly arches her brow. ]

Hi.

[debts]

[ She throws him a glance. It's a little amused, still edging on bored, and she doesn't hide the way her eyes etch him up and down. It's not appreciative. Her gaze sticks on his mask for a microsecond before she puts her fork back into her tin can. Metal on metal rattles around. ]

Hi.

[ Wordlessly, she offers him her can. Natasha still looks mildly amused about his get up, which is maybe a little hypocritical. ]

"The Flash."

[debts]

[ Natasha smiles. The expression doesn't reach her eyes. It's not personal, because these things aren't, but more that there's no point in making the ruse stick. River comes to the radio tower and sometime their paths cross, and she's young, but that doesn't mean anything. Natasha takes the book. In return, she hooks the keys through her finger and drops them into River's palm. ]

Mmhm.

[ They look like normal keys. There's a weird button on the side, though, big and red instead of whatever symbol is supposed to denote 'open doors' on regular car ones. ]

But don't press that. I don't think I want to know what it does yet.