[Open] The Sky Is Falling. Again.

[widows_kiss]

Who: Natasha Romanoff & Steve Rogers, then Open to All
Where: the Training Room, then all over the Mansion
When: Evening of 2/29 into the morning of 3/1
Rating: PG-13ish?
Summary: The Black Widow returns to Wonderland. Well. One of them.
The Story:


Closed to Steve

She opens her eyes to the darkened ceiling of the Training Room and wonders why she's here, when the last thing she remembers was marching in to asses the new team with Steve, early morning sun streaming in the massive windows. For a moment, she doesn't move, laying there, pretending to still be asleep (or unconscious - gaps in her memory never indicated anything positive in her experience) while she takes stock of herself and what she can observe about her surroundings with senses other than sight. She's uninjured and the room is quiet, still. Empty, as far as she can tell. That more than anything has her carefully and quietly pushing herself up into a sitting position in the dark.

Which is when something starts to roar and rumble in the distance, drawing her gaze up to the windows. Had the noise not been growing louder, she would have paid more attention to the unfamiliar layout of stars in the background, but as it is, she's a little distracted by the sight of something huge and bright and burning plummeting straight for the building. It splinters apart and she shades her eyes as she stares up at it in awe for a moment before hissing a quiet curse and diving out of the way as one flaming star crashes through the massive glass windows to impact in the spot she'd been standing a moment later.

She rolls to a stop a few short feet away, but there's no explosion, there's not even a crater. Instead there's a familiar laugh that has her head jerking up in surprise and confusion to see an image of herself flicker into view.

"Again!" the other her instructs to someone who is out of sight, but she's obviously dressed for a sparring match, and reacts to a punch that comes from somewhere - and someone - not caught in the image. Hologram? Has Tony been messing with his tech in here without telling them?

"Is that it?" The image of her taunts her opponent in good-natured humor, long hair drawn back off her face in a ponytail, making Natasha wonder when on earth this could be from. It matches nothing she can remember at the moment, no moment in time she can pinpoint.

She pushes herself up into a crouch as the image flickers out, the moment in time gone as quickly as it had appeared, leaving her wary and confused in the dark and abandoned Training Center. Which is, of course, when the lights come on and she reaches instinctively for weapons she's alarmed to find she doesn't have, even as she spins to face whoever entered behind her.

Open To Anyone

Steve had told her most of what she needed to know. It all sounded completely impossible to her, of course, but that was becoming the norm these days, wasn't it? It was still a little too much to take in on just his word however, no matter how deeply she trusted him. Which is why, after he helps her get settled, she slips back out to do a little investigating of her own. There'll be time for sleep later. As it is, she spends hours late into the night investigating as much of the mansion as she can manage, taking in the various public rooms and testing the magic to sate her skeptical curiosity. The kitchens, the bar, the library - she avoids the private rooms, but that doesn't mean doesn't spend some time prowling through long hallways that never seem to end.

When the sun rises again, she still hasn't slept, but she's found her way to the little coffee shop she'd spotted near the Training Center to figure out a new game plan. And to decide where to go from there. She has people to touch base with, but that's something to be tackled one at a time, and she wants to get her bearings before she sets out for that.

[ Feel free to encounter her anywhere during her evening explorations, if you like. Or if you'd prefer something more specific the next day, for those she'd know from home or that Steve might have mentioned to her as present, assume she's searched you out on purpose. I'll match either prose or action spam, whatever you prefer! ]