7866/Shifting Perspectives

Shifting Perspectives
Date of Scene:	17 September 2021
Location:	GIRL Labs, Pym Technologies Campus
Synopsis:	Nadia and Natasha have a late night chat in the GIRL labs. Health and progress are discussed, the world definitely looks a bit brighter without 'Mother'.
Cast of Characters:	Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Natasha Romanoff

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Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
It is late evening at the GIRL HQ labs. 'Dinner Time' has come and gone. It's long past the time most sane researchers would have gone home. That's not how GIRL often operates though, not when there is SCIENCE! to do.

Nadia is hard at work in the communal lab space. Sparks fly as she solders the circuitry of some bizarre device into place, long and cylindrical with a tripod base and various antenna like protrusions along its silvery length. Meanwhile in the background the building's super computer mainframe is running a staggering variety of calculations for her while she works.

Not everything is as usual though. Perhaps the most conspicuous change being the absence of the previously ever present coffee mugs when Nadia was working. Something about her almost seems lighter, freer too like some weight has been lifted from her soldiers. At the same time though, she is attacking whatever this new project is with a fierce intensity.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Generally speaking, Natasha Romanoff doesn't make a habit of letting security systems know of her arrival when she can help it. It is, perhaps, a gesture of courtesy to someone else who was raised in an environment of paranoia, that the system gives an alert of her arrival.

"It's not healthy to be up this late, Malyshka." Is how Natasha announces herself, gently, but sternly; arms crossed, wearing a long black coat over a red shirt and black trouses. She affects a little smile and her voice is slightly more at ease. "But you seem well."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia looks up from her soldering and puts the torch down. She's wearing a white labcoat hanging open to reveal her usual streetwear underneath, it's an odd dichotomy one might call punk science if they had to name the aesthetic. "Oh! Hi Nat! I didn't realize you were still here."

She looks back to her project for a moment. "I know, and I'm trying to better about my health but NOWHERE isn't just going to wait around. I've been tracking them with the Outsiders. We found a base that seems to somehow disappear and reappear shifting through space, so I'm trying to create a sort of dimensional stabilizer to help pin it down when we find one again." Ever since the attack when NOWHERE tried to give her an offer she could refuse, it seems they've not been far from Nadia's mind.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha's expression is fairly neutral; which is to say, she's choosing not to frown when the attack is brought up. Being in charge of security and all, it wasn't her proudest moment. In fairness, being one of the most mistrusting people in the world who HAVEN'T also lost their minds, she's mostly limited by the technology on offer.

    That and the rights and freedoms of the people who dwell here, but Nadia seemed to have her heart set on people having those.

    Story of Natasha's life.

    "That would explain a thing or two." She says, getting the gist of it, even if the actual mechanics are almost entirely beyond her field of expertise. "Sounds like the tricky part would be finding a place to put it once you have it." She notes, as if Nadia's success on the scientific aspect wasn't in doubt.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"It was by monitoring past sites that we found the base we did. It seems like they may cycle through using certain areas. There was also something in there called Colony 2 but we weren't able to get in there and see what it was. I can't help but feel it is somehow related to the metahuman teens they are kidnapping though." She walks over and glances at the calculations scrolling across one of the computer monitors.

She turns back towards Natasha and stretches for a moment. "You're right though, it can probably wait until tomorrow. I'm still processing some of the things I saw in Erebos, too. Things just seem to get stranger and stranger the more I see of the world."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha nods once, satisfied with the conclusion reached by the young woman who'd somehow found her way from 'we should shoot her' to 'now she has a nickname' in Natasha's estimation. Though Nadia would have to have come from another world to think part of Natasha isn't always keeping an eye out for the knife. "You'll process better when you're not being held up by stimulants." She agrees gently.

    Natasha affects a little smile and says "Strange is normal. You'll get the hang of it. I've danced and turned down three marriage proposals in the halls of Asgard. You start to take it in stride after a little while."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"I just, I mean," Nadia looks around at what she was just doing. "I guess still push myself sometimes but it's different now. I'm not sure what happened down there, there were these stairs that make you see things to try and make you not climb them. But the things they showed me, kind of made me realize almost everything I'd been doing I'd been doing for other people. It seemed natural to sacrifice myself for them because they were real people and I was just a girl from a bunker. I never really thought about what I wanted, not really. So, now I'm trying to figure that out and realizing I do have to try and do everything myself and that sometimes the best way to help other people is to make sure I'm in good shape to be able to do it."

She does look surprised when Natasha talks about dancing and marriage proposals in Asgard, though not quite as much as she might have if Thor weren't a friend of hers. Still she's never been there herself and magical paradises and hells are still a new and different thing. "I want to go to Asgard!" Is apparently the conclusion drawn from that revelation.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha listens to Nadia very quietly, her eyes growing distant for a short time. In some ways, Natasha herself hasn't even really started living for herself either. Her life isn't being ruled, per se, but she HAS essentially just moved from a place whose orders she didn't believe in, to a place whose orders she...

    Well.

    She's willing to take them.

    But she's fought and worked for her own reasons. Most often with the Avengers. Most notably in her efforts to protect the Red Room candidates... and Nadia.

    <A girl from a bunker can do all kinds of things.> She says softly in her native language, and steps close to Nadia. <You've become very important to many strange and powerful people who've not been forced to care> She puts her hand on Nadia's shoulder, smiling softly, and speaks kindly even if her words don't quite match it, <I will become angry with you if you do not believe you're worth it, small girl.> Natasha tilts her head a little and smiles, <Okay?>

    Natasha steps away, then, when she's able, and rolls her shoulders a bit, as if she has to shake off an uncomfortable bit of emotion, then grins a little regarding Asgard. "You should tell him. He'll probably think of you next time he goes there as long as the world isn't ending over it." Natasha looks concerned for a moment, then, and adds, "... But if anybody asks you to marry them, just tell them you're awaiting the return of your true love. Asgard boys can be... impulsive."

    Three marriage proposals, she said.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
There is a hug, because of course there's a hug. It is nearly impossible to get that close to Nadia and not get hugged. <I know.> Nadia slips into Russian as well, it is her mother tongue after all. <It has taken some time to really realize, but I really am surrounded by the most wonderful people.> She gives Natasha one last squeeze before letting her escape.

When Natasha mentions telling Thor, Nadia just sort of stops for a moment like she'd never really considered that. She may be a super genius but sometimes the simplest things manage to elude her, overwhelmed as they can be by all the wildly complex ideas running through her head. "Yeah! I should ask him!" She nods slowly at the warning about marriage proposals. "I think I am in a committed relatship with SCIENCE! Bobbi tried to explain dating once when we were on a roadtrip sneaking into Russia. It was weird. Apparently I'm supposed to marry my best friend, so I guess Ying?" She seems skeptical.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha has come to expect the hug, so she has her guard up sufficiently that she neither cringes, hover-hands, or violently disables Nadia when it happens; returning it briefly. There, that wasn't so bad, now, was it?

    Natasha smirks a little when Nadia proclaims her one true love, but she turns it into a bit of a concerned frown as learns the terrible truth of Nadia's education. <... Ah, well.> She mutters in Russian, returning to English. "... it's a little more complicated than that. It's more like a... partnership? With someone you get along with. Someone who can offer you something you need, and won't make you insane if you have to live with them every day."

    Natasha looks concerned for a moment. She's never actually had any real healthy relationships before, but she's faked a few. She knows the basics! "... Maybe I'm not the best source. Maybe ask Jaaa-aaaaa-" Natasha briefly looks haunted, before thinking better of it, "-aaaaIIII mean... well. You don't ever *have* to get married, is all. If you don't need to."

    Natasha clears her throat very softly.

    "Anyway. Do you need anything before we clear out of here?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia peers at Natasha for a moment, expression more bemused than anything but she just gives a little shrug and wanders back over to the area she was working giving everything a quick once over, making sure anything dangerous is turned off. "No, I think everything is okay to keep until tomorrow. The computer can keep working overnight, transdimensional physics calculations tend to take awhile even with a super computer."

She grabs a few things and wanders over towards the door where Natasha is waiting. "Okay, let's go."