[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]

[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.