14948/Thump

Thump
Date of Scene:	18 May 2023
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Study
Synopsis:	Et tu?
Cast of Characters:	Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff

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Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff is currently in the study where she's got a large book over on her lap. It's an old copy of 'War and Peace' that looks to be an original run. The book's hardcover battered and bruised, looking like it had gone through the furance at least once. She's otherwise separately skimming over the reports of the strange anomally reported.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Thump!

Hard to miss the sound of a box hitting the ground. Possibly a badger falling out of the ceiling or a piece of armour. What follows comes as a clear cascade of sounds that finally end in a book running away from one Wanda Maximoff.

If that's what the end-over-end fleeing could be called. She carries a heap of books, in fact, most of them in English. Two are German. One is obtuse enough to probably be an unmentionable language. "Oh, come back here!" The command doesn't work well. "Sorry to interrupt, Natasha!"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would glance over at Wanda over while glancing over at the books, "I wasn't aware that Fantasia was up for movie night. So should I be worried if I see a mop and bucket running along?" She would go to close her book that looked like an old war veteran and push the reports to the side.

"Or should I be worried that there's going to be some kind of breakout in the immediate future from the library?"

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
"Fantasia? I'd never," protests the red sorceress, currently kitted up in a comfortable crop top and leggings that would indicate a devotion to yoga for the evening more than reading. The one stray book manages to slide almost to the edge of a rug, forestalled unless it grows legs and scampers off.

Alas, no legs grow.

She laughs, low and deep in her throat, vibrant and awash in amusement of a gentler sort. "You might worry about Bucky coming through and raiding the bottom two shelves. Give him a few hours and he demolishes any book he can get his hands on. Have you found something appealing?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would look over at Wanda, "Oh? What should I worry in Mister Stark's library that I don't want to be aware that will go missing?" If she had to guess with Stark's reputation and proclivities, that's where teh things he wanted easiest access to would be.

"So, what exactly is the circumstance that lead to things trying to book it?" Apparently Natasha did have a sense of humor at times

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda stoops to capture the rogue book, putting it back onto the pile. "He was avoiding Vonnegut. Usually he prefers fairly deep, cerebral topics. Or wizards." Her careful balancing only goes so far, and another volume sneaks out, displaced by her shifting gravity. The heavier paperback flops onto the ground with a noisy thump, bouncing once and going facedown.

She carefully works over to scoop it up without dropping the rest. "Mr. Stark's library hasn't lost any first editions or second folios. He must keep those under glass to impress the ladies, I assume."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would laugh, "Do you mean Bucky, Tony, or your book?" Seeming to not be phased if it's the third one. "And I'm sure that MIster Stark has more first editions than he knows what to do with. Or knows that he has." Lifestyles of the rich and famous. "And do you need assistance there?"

Natasha seeing if Wanda wanted her to get up and come oer to help.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
The witch winks, and replies dryly, "Yes." That may not actually explain a great deal, but at least narrows matters down considerably from every possibility Natasha mentioned to three. Possibly two. The /book/ avoiding Vonnegut would be quite the sight, after all.

"I have to wonder why he would want a first edition. Status symbol? Denying others the right to have it?" An idle question, and then she tips her head slightly, smiling. "I don't want to pull you away from what you're reading though if you want to, perhaps just the top two. They're a bit frisky."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would mm, "Or simply he randomly bought somehting and forgot what it was. I'm sure there's more to it than that.. But, mostly status symbol." Or he could be actually messing wiht the lot of them and have a fondness for old philosophers and novels.

"Well, I'm told this one is good for a sleeping aid." She would hold up the book.. Which the shine on the inside is the metal reinforced hardcover that can act as a bludgeon or shield.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
"Amazing what the rich can purchase and forget about while the rest of us try to get by on wings and a prayer. Or failing that, fumes." The dry arc of a smile doesn't entirely reach her eyes, the weight of adulthood casting darker shadows than truly deserve to lie there. Wanda carefully maneuvers her way around with the books to return them properly to the shelves, searching for the gaps that make the most sense to plug with another dog-eared paperback, a hardcover, a pile of reading materials likely not to be thumbed through by another living soul in the next year.

She checks over her shoulder for the volume held up by the redhead, and laughs aloud. "That frequently used to test the consistency of someone's skull?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And Natasha knows that smile, that look very well. It's familiar. She might not have the same kind of scars.. Being mind controlled, mentally conditioned, and reprogrammed over your childhood and teenage years helped with those sorts of things in all irony. But she can recognize them well enough. And they're not mentioned. Everyone has their own demons and failings.

Well, other than Thor.

"Yes, it comes in handy in a classroom environment."

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
One book shoved into a gap, another follows two shelves below. Wanda stands on tiptoe to decide where to add the one paperback in the highest chasms of slanted books or volumes squeezed too tightly together, ready to burst out and pile up on an unsuspecting visitor to the library. Demons that might exist for the child of a revolution reflect slant in Wanda's company, not the least due to her peculiar position at the centre of it all.

"Classroom?" A blink. "Are you teaching?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would chuckle, "No. Just merely noting the advantage for having such tomes for required reading. Chlidren can be quite difficult and yet also lend themselves to inspiration." She would quip over while glancing at the series of stacks. "So is there any particular theme for tonight's seance or is it your turn to have to dust parts of the Manor and you're trying to do it the easy way?"

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Another pair of books, and then the small stack happens to be no longer a stack at all. Just memories indented on her arms where her sleeves no longer cover the sweep of olive skin. Marks that will fade fairly quickly, they remain embossed lightly all the same.

"Children would most certainly find a use for a metal book, not the ones we necessarily want them to have. Never doubt their ingenuity for something like that." She shakes her head slightly, hair dusting her shoulder. "No particular theme, merely returning what was read to its mostly proper place. I could curse the whole of this, but I have no reason to. Unless there truly are sentient ghost-rats living in the walls?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would smile, "Well, yes. They can be creative." And quite sadistic. She would take a momenta t the mention of ghost rats. "Well, I'ms ure that you would be the first to know. Unless you were teh one that put them there. I presume that Clea isn't the sort." She would note dryly.

"So, why does it's proper place involve it scurrying along without broomhandle being wedged into it?"

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
The weary sparkle of a laugh rises anew. "I don't know that one well enough to be sure, but I doubt she would try. We both need space without interruptions from the others." Truly -- magic is dangerous in groups, though admitedly she /lives/ outside of 'here,' wherever here is, much of the time. All the same, Wanda stifles a yawn with the back of her hand. "I should be heading up and drawing a shower before I fall asleep on the spot. It's been a long day."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would mm, "Yes, her file is quite.. Interesting. I don't quite think she has that streak of mischievousness in her." Admittedly most of her psychological profile is centered around the 'turned into children' incident from the previous year. "Of course, I wish you a productive rest of the day."