[Semi-Closed] Event Aftermaths

[widows_kiss]

Who: Natasha Romanoff and various friends/teammates
Where: Around the Manor
When: The days following the Mirror Event and Hunt for the Sword
Rating: PG-13ish?
Summary: Catch-all post for Natasha touching base with the newly-returned people who got sucked to the Other Side
The Story:

With the sword handed over to the Queen of Hearts and the Mirrors now returning to their own side, Natasha's both a little relieved and more than a little worried about what this will mean for the returningReals who were trapped over there. The fact that she's one of the only few on her team that didn't end up transitioning over at some point is not lost on her, has her wondering why and for what purpose, but she suspect she knows all the same. Which is why she spends the immediate first few days once more combing the Manor, this time searching out her teammates and friends she knows were drawn to the Other Side and making sure they'd returned mostly unharmed.

And if she had to start composing apologies for what her Mirror might have done over there. At the very least, she wanted to know more, if they were willing to tell her.

[[OOC: This is a Semi-Closed log for some pre-arranged threads to deal with the fallout of encounters with her Mirror Side, or the visit to the Mirror Side in general. Interested in threading out something with her, feel free to ping me!]]

Comments

[hyperkinesia]

Bruce never does process a whole lot of what's happened after the mirrors return to their side, and he finds himself back where he was before. He's tired by then, exhausted, having kept up his transformation for so long on the other end to make sure his teammates and friends were safe, so that when he's back, he more or less goes straight up to his room, waving off any concerned looks or words to lock himself in there and collapse on the bed.

A while passes, he's not sure how long. These days, even with controlled transformations, he's used to sleeping for several hours afterwards, through whole days and nights and only waking up to eat - there's a lot of eating too. But this time he never actually gets around to that when he's first woken up by a knock on his door, and in the dark quiet of his room, he nearly jerks himself awake at that sound.

Though not quite sure that wasn't just a dream, Bruce crawls out of his bed, still far from completely awake just yet as he stumbles over to the door in nothing but his boxers, his curls in an upturned mess. He unlocks the door and opens it, squinting and lifting a hand up to his eyes to shield himself from the light in the hallway, until finally he can focus his eyes on who is standing right outside the door.

"Natasha," he mutters, voice a little spent. Clearing his throat, he steps aside thoughtlessly and gestures inside. "Come in."

[widows_kiss]

Her expression's concerned as she lets her gaze drift over the man in the doorway, taking in everything of note. When he invites her in, she goes, glancing around the dark room before looking back to him as her eyes adjust.

She gives him a tiny crooked smile. "You look like shit."

[hyperkinesia]

He saunters back into the room too, turning to look at her at the remark, an amused lopsided grin on his face as well. He has to look like shit right now, he has no doubt, and though he knows it won't do much, he rubs his eyes, then tries to fix his hair a little.

"Thanks. I feel like it too," he looks around and picks up a t-shirt lying at the feet of his bed so he can put it on. "How are you?"

[widows_kiss]

"In one piece, which I suppose is an accomplishment, considering the week we've all had," she answered with seeming nonchalance, despite the truth in her words. her gaze skims over him assessingly a moment before she sinks down on the edge of the bed beside him while he tugs on a shirt. "How are you?"

[hyperkinesia]

"Accomplishment or miracle in some cases," he mumbles as he sits on the edge of the bed too while putting on the shirt. He then rests his elbows on his knees, leaning some of his weight forward and cupping his face in his hands with a sigh. "Tired. Hungry. In one piece too, though in my case that's more or less a given."

He lifts his head a little, but only briefly glances at her. "What happened on this end?"

[widows_kiss]

"I'll get you some food," she offers, reaching out to slide her hand against his back for a moment when he buries his face in his hands. She understands that kind of exhaustion all too well. "What would you like?"

Getting up, she crosses over towards his closet - its closer than running downstairs or upstairs and it'll do in a pinch, for now. Maybe when he's more awake she'll drag him up to the diner for breakfast. It'd probably be good for him.

She glances over her shoulder at his question. "About everything you'd expect with a bunch of psychotic mirrors running amok," she answers after a moment, her tone wry.

[hyperkinesia]

He hums in thought at her question for a while, a list of foods going through his mind, all of them high on carbohydrates and calories in some way or another. But in the end, a strange kind of fondness and light nostalgia kicks in, and lifting his head up to glance at her with a smile, he answers.

"Schawarma."

But then she mentions the mirrors, and he's looking away again, his attention seemingly taken by some fascinating spot on the wall. After a few seconds of silence he finally speaks up, equal parts curious and scared of the answer. "I'm guessing mine was one of them."

[widows_kiss]

His request gets a startled look from her for a moment, but then she just laughs, finding that fitting, her green gaze warming as she turns back to the closet. A moment late, she's got two plates of dinner for them - comfort food in their own manner of thinking, she supposed. "I suppose we'll see how magical closets compare to little hole-in-the-wall diners in New York," she comments as she sits down next to him once more and hands one over, settling comfortably against his side.

His hesitation and trepidation isn't missed and she just gives him a fond look, inclining her head in the affirmative. "Yes it was a very... enlightening encounter," she answers after a moment, which reminds her of the conversation and what had come after and how much, precisely, she should tell him.

[hyperkinesia]

He grins and lets out a soft chuckle when she laughs, dropping his head for a moment until she comes back with that much needed comfort food. Different taste or not, the smell already has his stomach grumbling softly in complaint. "At least my room doesn't look like a post-war scenario, so we have that working for us."

While he waits for her to answer, he picks at a few pieces of the meat, but not yet digging into the meal properly. Enlightening, she says, and the word she chooses doesn't sit all that well with him, but then again... he has a feeling none of it would, no matter what. But he does have one guess, at the very least, and he has to ask - has to know. "He threw the Hulk at you, didn't he?"

[widows_kiss]

"Much less broken glass and dust. Better ambiance too. I'll take it," she teases him playfully, glancing over at him before taking a bite, not missing that he's still picking at his for the moment. She doesn't mind - he can take all the time he needs.

Of course, he starts with the question she expects from him, the one she knew he'd be worrying about. She doesn't lie about it, just gives him a simple nod in agreement. "He did. 'Threw' is a very apt way of describing it."

[hyperkinesia]

"A little less light, though," he jokes in return, though not without truth to it. Even with the blinds open a little the room is still dipped in a comfortable darkness, just enough light that they can see each other and everything around them, but not much more than that.

After she answers he falls quiet for a few seconds, eyes lowered to the ground before he lifts the food up to his mouth and takes a bite. Mostly to buy himself some time, to figure out what to say her. Should he apologize? He feels guilty, at least, even if it's not rational - he knows it's not his fault, but at the same time... his mirror is his opposite in some way. So isn't it his fault too, really?

[widows_kiss]

"We can still make do," she answers with a smile, falling into a similar silence for a moment or two, taking another bite as she let him do the same.

As it stretched out, however, she finally broke it, glancing over at him with a rueful expression. "I can practically hear you trying to figure out how to apologize for that, you know. Stop that. You don't owe me any apologies. And, in case you didn't notice, I'm fine. Besides, from what I've been hearing from everyone else, my mirror made quite the nuisance of herself as well, so we'll just call it even. Alright?"

[hyperkinesia]

Her words have him rolling his eyes a little, and though with a smile still, it's a little more strained this time around.

"Right," he focuses on looking down at his meal, picking a few bits of the meat and eating them, so he's still able to answer. "I'm still sorry-- for that. Even if technically it wasn't me."

Then he glances up at her, nodding softly. "Are you... fine, really?"

[widows_kiss]

"I know you are," she answers, meeting his gaze as she bumps her shoulder lightly against his. "Which is why you don't need to apologize to me at all. You are not your Mirror, Bruce. And that was abundantly clear. And yes, I'm alright. I had some assistance from... an unexpected source," she answers with a wry smile. "But he didn't hurt me, if that's what your worried about. Although I'm sure he was annoyed his little experimental fun got interrupted when it did."

She searches his face a moment, her expression thoughtful. "What about you?"

[hyperkinesia]

"Too bad for him," but really, he shouldn't have to smile or even add that sarcastic tone to his voice for her to know he's not serious at all. It's not hard to guess what his mirror considers to be fun, and he's all too glad to learn that it got cut short. Though at the same time, he's got to wonder - just how many people on this side saw the big green guy running around?

"I'm fine too," not like he could get hurt so easily, after all. And everyone else with him on the other side had managed to come back mostly unscathed (physically anyway), that's got to count for something. "Yours and Bucky's mirrors were also in the mood for some fun - or a mission, as they'd call it. Too bad the whole thing didn't pan out as they expected."

[widows_kiss]

"They need to work on their definitions of fun over there," she counters lightly before taking another bite of her sandwich, giving herself a moment to figure out how to proceed. Once she's swallowed, she continues.

"Will you tell me what happened?"

[hyperkinesia]

"You're telling me," he huffs out. From what little he'd seen, it just seemed like a whole mansion full of psychopaths in one form or another, some of them with violent tendencies that really didn't help much. And he can imagine that description fits his own mirror perfectly.

Pausing in-between bites, he nods at her. He has no reason not to tell her after all - most likely the contrary, even. "Sure. Anything specific you want to ask or do you want me to just give you a rundown of the whole thing?"

[widows_kiss]

She takes another bite to give herself a moment to consider that before answering.

"Why don't you start with the rundown and if I think of specific things I need to know, I'll ask?"

[hyperkinesia]

"Alright," he takes one other big bite, last one before he sets the food aside for the moment to tell her all he remembers.

"Well, first... Steve and I found each other. And we figured, since we were there, we might as well try to find the Core room, see what we could find out. But-- we didn't get too far before we got intercepted. By yours and Bucky's mirrors."

The next might not come too much as a surprise to her, but he says it nonetheless. "They were... on some kind of mission, something like it. My guess is they were under orders of Steve's mirror, but I couldn't tell you for sure. It was obvious, at least, they were patrolling the mirror side and trying to get to as many of the real versions that were dropped on their end. And of course, Steve and I were prime targets.

"Their plan, obviously, was to sneak up on us without us even realizing it," that was their only chance to reach Bruce successfully anyway - before he got a chance to trigger a transformation, knock him out cold. "But I heard... or felt something, I don't know. I saw her before she got too close, but while she was keeping us distracted, Bucky's mirror approached Steve and stabbed him in the leg. So I... didn't wait. I turned."

He pauses for a second or another, just in case she has any questions before he continues.

[widows_kiss]

She's not surprised at the role they'd been left with, because she's harboring some of her own suspicions about what all had been going on and no matter how different Steve's mirror might be from the real deal, apparently he was still a brilliant tactician.

She nods as he explains, taking it all in, making her own conclusions as she read between the lines. His mention of turning has her arching an eyebrow and giving him a curious look. Apparently Hulk had got his exercise on both side of the mirror this time around.

"No wonder you've been so exhausted since getting back. I hope you gave them hell for hunting us."

[hyperkinesia]

He spares her a tired smile, a faint chuckle that's barely there. "Well, they didn't give me much of a choice. And I couldn't risk any of us dying on the other side."

A silent pause before he goes on. "Though at first I wasn't of much use, to be honest. Or the Hulk, anyway. Your mirror, she... lured him away, got him to chase after her. We got lost for a while, inside a room turned into this large warehouse of sorts. It was close at times, I'm pretty sure he'd have caught her eventually, but she managed to trick the guy into running at a window and he fell out of the mansion.

"That delayed him for a while," he says with some flat humor. "But soon enough he climbed back up the wall. I managed to get to him, remind him we still had to get Steve away from them. Came up to find him locked away in some room, so he grabbed him and broke out to find a place to hide."

[widows_kiss]

"Fell out a window," she echoed, and she was trying not to let her lips twitch into a smile at that, because she's certain that had only pissed the Other Guy off more. "Damn. Wish I'd have thought of that."

Still, the scene he set gave her a pretty good idea of what happened after that, especially knowing him and Steve. "Why do I get the feeling that wasn't the last you saw of them? I'm sure if they were patrolling and looking for those who'd crossed over, Steve would have wanted to do the same.Did you find the others?" She knew a little from everyone what had happened, but she was still wanting to piece together all the information from each of them to give her a better picture.

[hyperkinesia]

She's more than free to smile, honestly. He'd laugh at the whole situation too if it weren't so recent for me, and he weren't so tired. Not like he got hurt anyway. "I'm disappointed, Natasha, really. I'd have guessed you would."

Though in truth, teasing aside, he's just glad she managed to get out of that particular mess unscathed as she has. He knows well what the Hulk can do to a person when they're not fast enough to get out of his way.

At her question, he nods. "Darcy, first. Good thing she has a decent pair of lungs, so we heard her screaming for help." From who, she can probably figure out easily enough.

[widows_kiss]

"My apologies, Doctor, I'll try that next time," she teases him gently, nudging her shoulder lightly against his as she glances over at him, curls tumbling down around her face. "As it was, he had to settle for me taking him out for a game of tag in the woods. it seemed to accomplish the same end, either way."

The mention of Darcy has her turning a hint more serious again. "I think she may have had one of the worst times out of everyone, this event," she murmured a moment later. I met her mirror on this side. The girl's as timid and frightened as a mouse. I feel bad for her, being stuck over there."

[hyperkinesia]

"I imagine he didn't like that too much," though he looks all too pleased about that, smiling at her as he is, eyebrow arched. "Serves him right, if you ask me."

As she mentions both Darcy and her mirror he nods, reaching for his food again to take just one small bite, distract his stomach for a while again. "I know, I could tell. I didn't get to talk to her then," since he spent most of the time big and green, he's not usually very talkative during those times. "But I could see something had happened. Not just on that side of the mirror. Just... I'm glad that's over - for all our sakes."

The description of her mirror isn't something that surprises him too much, and yet - it's different from most, at least from the mirrors he himself had encountered. It does give him some pause. "I wish there was something we could do for her." He might actually think about that later, who knows - he could really come up with an idea.