[closed]

[outstandingbalance]

Who: Natasha Romanoff + some weird garden gnome
Where: garden
When: April 6
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Natasha trying to solve her event puzzle.
The Story:

[No network post for Natasha. She gathers her intel on the situation in less overt ways. She listens. She keeps her eyes open, keeps her ear to the ground. It's marginally useful. The whole situation is ridiculous so teasing some kind of sense out of it is, at best, only relative to some kind of internal logic.

It's bearing that in mind that Natasha brings the odd little statue outside and sets her down in a flower bed. A little wiggle pushes the base down into the dirt.

It feels silly. But here they are.]

Comments

[emojis]

[Drizella is SO PEEVED.

This isn't the first time she's been turned into a statue, for the record. The last time it happened she lost eight years of her life, so at this point, it's just adding insult to injury. She still happens to be riding that anger when Natasha places her down in the dirt, and as result, the dirt bursts into peonies.

So many pink peonies.]

[outstandingbalance]

Well.... That's energetic.

[Natasha sits back on her heels, taking in the sudden abundance of flowers and not sure what to make of it.

The language of flowers wasn't one Natasha was taught in Red Room.]

All right. I guess that's a start.

[emojis]

[In the Victorian ages, peonies mostly meant anger. After a minute though, the peonies give way to something a little more direct in the form of camellias - my fate is in your hands.]

[outstandingbalance]

Interesting. [Okay, that... actually might be getting somewhere.] Can you understand me? If you can, grow something in another color—make it blue.

[emojis]

[Blue? Blue, blue, blue ... okay. How about some morning glory, creeping around the stalks of the other flowers.]

[outstandingbalance]

[All right. Now they're getting somewhere. Natasha tries not to think too much about what it must be like trapped as a statue.

Work the problem now, deal with any emotional responses probably never.]

Good to know. I don't suppose you know what's going on here?

[emojis]

[Drizella has no idea. She can't really get a lot of information about the world at large based on where she is. But she'll try to be encouraging - goldenrod sprout up from the flower bed almost as though to say "I believe in you."]

[outstandingbalance]

Well. That's... cheerful. [It does leave them with a dilemma though. Natasha sighs. Looks like this is going to be on her.]

I'm going to pick you up again and have a look. If you have a problem with that... give me something red.

[emojis]

[She doesn't really have much of a say in that, but she also doesn't really care if it gets her out of here. So she'll just send up a bunch of daisies because there aren't really a lot of green flowers and daisies are white so they might as well mean "I surrender."]

[outstandingbalance]

[Look, this whole situation is strange enough. Natasha might at least try to show what consideration she can.

And be silently thankful that she's not the one who's stuck as an inanimate object.

She picks the gnome up again, examining it for any clues how she might be able to undo this. Or... do anything, really.]

[emojis]

[There aren't a lot of moving pieces. It mostly looks and feels like a solid ceramic gnome, but!! there is one piece that comes loose and wiggles as she tips things over, and it looks like it could come out if she tugged it just enough.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Seems worth a shot. Natasha goes ahead and gives it a go.]

[emojis]

[As the two pieces come apart, billowing puffs of dark red smoke fill the air because this may not be an OUAT event, but this OUAT character is still going to be dramatic af. And as the smoke clears, there's Drizella, reaching up to adjust her jacket as she does.]

Hi.

[outstandingbalance]

Hi. [Flat and reflexive. Natasha's expression doesn't betray recognition, but she can't entirely hide her surprise. It's not every day you're holding a garden gnome one minute only to have it make a dramatic reveal.]

Looks like that worked.

[emojis]

Yeah. Thanks for the help.

[It sounds a little awkward, like she's not used to saying thank you for things, but she's trying to get better at it.]

Sorry about the flowers. They're not really an easy communication method.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha nods, the corner of her lip twisting in distaste—not directed at her. Not in this case.]

No apologies necessary. We were both doing our best. Sorry I didn't figure it out quicker.

[emojis]

[And there's a small look at that.]

What were you going to do? Develop telepathy to read my mind?

[Because that's pretty much what it would have taken.]

[outstandingbalance]

Mind reading isn't part of my skill set, unfortunately.

[Unfazed.]

But figuring out to remove the only removable piece...

[That said, Natasha doesn't especially sound sorry.]

[emojis]

[She waves a hand.]

When it comes to magical items, the obvious answer could have just been a misdirect. You never know.

[outstandingbalance]

The same could be said of Wonderland. [Possibly because it's magic, or possibly because it's sadistic. Either way, really.] You have to wonder about what inspired this kind of event.

[emojis]

I guess that depends on who's memories it came from.

[Because the weirder the world, the weirder the event, usually.]

[outstandingbalance]

Stands to reason. Could be this is normal for some people.

Didn't see anyone stepping up to own it, but it could be they're an ashtray or a lawn flamingo right now.

[emojis]

I would be surprised if anyone did, honestly.

[She shakes her head.]

If it was my event, I'm not sure I'd want to.

[outstandingbalance]

Doesn't seem so bad, all things considered. Inconvenient and weird, but compared to people being stuck in their own personal hell it's mostly harmless Someone owned up to that.