entrancelogs | Event Catch-all Post

Who: Natasha ~~Romanoff~~ Liddell and [OPEN] to whoever wants her in human form or leopard.
Where: Around the mansion and the grounds
When: the duration of the event
Rating: Anywhere from PG to ??? (depending on if she reverts to human on any of you)
Summary: Natasha's cursed with the Spirit of Leopard.
The Story:

[Option 1: Natasha]
Natasha falls somewhere in the middle generation of Liddell cousins and siblings that inhabit the mansion. She's not one of the most social of them either, preferring to be more solitary like the animal spirit she was cursed with. That doesn't mean she doesn't still keep tabs on family members and keep an eye on the happenings around the mansion, just that she's usually fairly subtle about it. For a few years when she was younger, she traveled the world to see what she could see, but in recent years, she's been more than content to stay home, around her family, for whatever she might be needed for. Family's important to her, despite the fact that there's so many of them and she might not be the best at showing it sometimes.

Most days (or nights, as she's known to have a nocturnal streak) she can usually be found wandering, or possibly curled up somewhere comfortable with a book or a companion. If you spot her alone, feel free to come join her or lure her out into into some fun. Despite her occasional aloof manner or cool stare, she does have a mischievous playful side that shows up at unexpected moments.

[Option 2: Leopard]
In a house with so many people inside its walls, its inevitable that sooner or later collisions occur. Natasha's not usually overly worried about this - she understands the need to keep their curse a secret and faithfully endeavors to do so but accidents happen and unlike some of her relatives, she's just as comfortable in her cursed form as she is in her human one.

It's why she doesn't sweat it too much if she does accidentally bump into someone nearby - she's good at vanishing out of sight quickly if need be, and there are plenty of shadowy heights to perch in out of sight. Sometimes this plays out to her advantage, especially if she's feeling particularly bored or playful. Not everyone in the mansion is very good at staying aware of their surroundings when there are predators looking to pounce.

((OOC: This is Natasha's catch-all post for the event. Feel free to pick either option, if you want to interact with her as human or in her leopard form, or even both, if your character's inclined to trigger her transformation in some way. I'm up for anything!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Her tail twitches in amusement a moment before she gets up and pads towards him again, closing the distance until she can rub up against his legs in feline teasing.

"More surprised. Probably shouldn't be. Although I am disappointed there was no girly shriek. Really, Rogers."

Steve isn't exactly prepared for Natasha to behave like an actual cat, so when she rubs up against him he almost falls over as he tries to readjust where he's standing. After some flailing, though, he lets her do as she pleases, reaching down to set a hand on the top of her head.

This has to be the strangest thing that's happened to him in the last few weeks, at least. Strange how his bar is getting lower and lower for this.

"To be fair, I was sort of warned. Besides, since when have I ever shrieked? C'mon, Natasha."

He's got a little more dignity than that. A little.

"Careful, Rogers," she warns, her tone still playful and teasing as she butts her head against his hand. "I might take that as a challenge. I don't think you want that."

She flicks her tail at him, then strolls past, continuing on towards the front door before glancing over her shoulder at him. "Also I was serious about that steak. Might as well make yourself useful while I'm stuck like this. Makes getting in the fridge a pain, let me tell you."

It's true, Steve would rather not test what methods Natasha could use to get him to go up a few decibels with a scream. Better to not push too hard on that subject, and so Steve follows after her instead.

"Yeah, I can imagine. I don't mind." It's kind of odd, really, how similar Natasha seems even though her whole life has been re-ordered in her head. She's a leopard right now, and yet she still feels like the Natasha he knows.

"How do you normally get your food? There's not that much to hunt around here, is there? Or do you just wait until you change back, usually?" He's curious enough to ask, even though he realizes this is all fabricated.

"As tempting as it is to pounce on the occasional unsuspecting passerby for a quick snack, I have remarkable restraint until I transition back," she drawls wryly as she pads silently into the house, tail twitching behind her. "Besides, thumbs are astonishingly helpful."

"Thumbs are what distinguish us from apes, so yeah, I'd say so," Steve replies with an easy shrug. He thinks Natasha is probably joking about the whole pouncing thing. It's always a little tough to tell with her, since she can say that kind of thing with a straight face.

Not that Steve could read a leopard's expression in the first place.

They make it into the kitchen and Steve holds the door open for her. "So... one steak medium rare, right?" He could stop and reflect on how strange this is, but really, what's the point?

And most of her other cousins, she silently adds, amused at his semi-serious answer in response to her teasing. She follows him into the kitchen and doesn't hesitate in hopping up on top the counter, pacing down the long kitchen with an easy grace. Having a leopard on top the counters would probably annoy at least one of her cousins, but she preferred a higher vantage point whenever possible.

She sank down to perch at the edge of the counter in front of the fridge instead, flashing him an amused look, which faintly translated on feline features. "You don't have to go to any trouble. Really. Do you even know how to cook?"

Steve's a little surprised when Natasha actually jumps up onto the counter. She's a pretty big cat right now, it seems likely that she's going to knock something over or lose her balance, but then again, Natasha has always been graceful. That's translated over to her animal form too.

"Well, I'm hoping that it'll just give me the meal already cooked," Steve remarks, but when he opens the fridge all he finds is a raw steak on a plate. He sighs and pulls it out. Maybe they would have been better off going to the dining hall. "And I can cook. Just some basic things." Granted, most of his learning on that subject had taken place in the 30's and 40's, so a lot of the recipes he knows are questionable.

He definitely doesn't have any idea how to prepare a steak with any kind of finesse. It'd probably come out overdone and rubbery if he tried.

The look on his face is easy to interpret and she's laughing to herself as he stares down at the raw steak, her swishing tail the only thing to give away her amusement.

"Why don't we save ourselves a lot of aggravation and just head for the dining room instead?" she suggests diplomatically.

Diplomatic it may be, but Steve can tell that Natasha's trying to save both of them from a disaster. "Yeah, guess I'll just... put this back," he says awkwardly as he opens up the fridge and shoves the packet back inside.

He turns toward Natasha then and nods back to the door they entered through. "Just up one floor, right? How do leopards handle stairs?"

They're probably perfectly agile, but he may as well get a tease in when he can.

"Surprisingly well despite the lack of hands," she drawls as she turns and paces back down the length of the counter to hop down off the other side and head out of the kitchen, expecting him to follow. "The same as anyone else, I suppose. I'm hardly helpless like this, Steve."

"It seems like it would definitely offer a few advantages," Steve agrees as he follows after Natasha. He doesn't know that she'll mind if he talks to her when they're out in the open, but he at least checks to make sure that the coast is clear in the stairwell before he speaks up again. "So how long before you change back, anyway? What triggers it?" He's still trying to get all the logistics down.

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