December Shenanigans :: Open

[laviny]

CHARACTERS: Yelena Belova & you!
LOCATION: All around the station (particularly the lab, the common room and the sunlight room)
DATE: Throughout December
CONTENT: December catch-all
WARNINGS: None at the moment, but will update as needed



Upgrades and Caroling

[For the first week or so of the month Yelena spends a lot time hanging out in and around the lab while she makes sure Redwing gets repaired and upgraded after its run in with the orb on the last mission. Since Sam is asleep and she was there when Redwing took damage, taking care of the drone seems like a good use of her time.

Plus there are some ideas for upgrades to discuss. Excellent, festive ideas that no one could possibly object to.

She definitely ropes Tony Stark into helping, but if other tech-savvy types take an interest, she'll talk to them, though she'll be particular about who gets to actually work on Redwing. She's basically just babysitting and trying to do what Sam would want for his drone.

Once the work is done, eventually, there will come a day when Yelena can be found sitting in the common room testing out the aforementioned upgrades. Sam has given her limited access to Redwing’s features and she has his goggles and wrist controls which she is currently using to fly Redwing around the common room.

Once she gets the hang of it…well, that’s when the drone starts chirping Christmas carols.

Soon Redwing can be found havoring in various parts of the station chirping such classics as: "Carol of the Bells," "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," "O Christmas Tree," "Filiz Navidad," "Jingle Bells," and "Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer," among others.

And in the sunlight room specifically Yelena will make sure to always have Redwing sing snow related songs. Anyone building snowmen or making snow angels can enjoy a drone serenading them with "Winter Wonderland," "White Christmas" and "Let it Snow."

The only place spared Redwing’s holiday cheer is the training room. Yelena will let people train in peace.]

Hard Mode Mistletoe

[In general Yelena is enthusiastic about holiday traditions. Her opportunities to really celebrate the holidays have been pretty limited for most of her life, so she’s ready to embrace a lot of different kinds of festivities.

Except the mistletoe. That one is a little weird. She has nothing against it being used as a decoration, but she has little interest in entertaining the tradition surrounding it. Kissing random people because of a plant seems silly and awkward.

So if anyone happens to catch her under some mistletoe she will look at them and then at the mistletoe and sigh, exasperated.]

You know, it can be translated to "poop on a stick."

[That’s not very festive or sexy, is it?]

Snow Days

[The population of Ximilia doesn’t have to worry too much. Yelena doesn’t spend all her time terrorizing the station with Redwing’s Christmas caroling. She actually spend a good portion of her spare time in the Sunlight Room, enjoying the snow and the chill. Although if you were to ask her she would say it could be a little colder. The room’s climate control might work a little too well for her taste.

Anyway, her favorite activity is probably ice skating. It’s a fun way to exercise on days that she takes a break from training. But she can also be found attempting to make snow angels and snowmen. She might be better at snow angels than snowmen, honestly. The snowmen end up a little lopsided.

She’s also open to snowball fights, but, be warned, she’s willing to use all her skills as a Russian assassin to win, so challenge her at your own risk.]

Wildcard, notes, etc

[All these prompts are open to anyone and everyone, but if you want something specific, feel free to hit me up at etceteras or PM me to plot and I can give you closed prompt in the comments. Or you can just toss a wildcard at me, that's cool too.

For the mistletoe prompt, kissing is not guaranteed, as she is more likely to sass than kiss, but I am open to people trying to convince her. I think it's a fun springboard for meetings and conversation, though, so if you want to, feel free to hit it up whether you (or your character) are interested in smooches or not!

I am also willing to match style if you prefer prose.]

Comments

[construing]

Hmm?

[ gwen tips her head to the side to better see who's talking: an unfamiliar woman regarding her with a very familiar baffled look. ]

Sorry, was I humming again?

[ when the bag swings toward her, she stops it with a finger. ]

[laviny]

No, not that.

[She points to the punching bag that Gwen just stopped with her finger.]

That.

[construing]

[ gwen looks at the bag, and back to yelena.

painfully honestly, ] Nothing.

[ she rises smoothly like a dancer, and steps away from the bag. ]

Just bored and killing time. You can use it if you want.

[laviny]

Oh. Well it looked like something to me.

[She'll take her place at the punching bag, though, since Gwen surrendered it.]

You're new, right? And already bored?

[construing]

Not my first time universe hopping. Or my second. I think I lost count, actually. [ eh. it's not like the universes' existence depends on gwen remembering. ] I've been recruited, volunteered, shoved into a portal against my will…

[ gwen gives a little shrug as she looks for a new place to sit. she picks the weight bench, hopping on top with a swish of her gray skirt. she stretches out her tights-encased legs, bending forward until she's resting with her forehead on her legs. ]

After about universe number 6, it all starts getting very repetitive.

[laviny]

[Yelena studies her a moment before turning her attention fully to the punching bag.]

So you have been on a space station that collects magic space orbs and claims to be able to rewrite reality before? That's interesting.

[She starts hitting the punching bag, warming up a little. Judging by her stance and the way she strikes it she has a lot of fighting experience.]

You should let more people know, your experience will probably be valuable.

[There is a hint of sarcasm here. She actually believes Gwen when she says she’s been universe hopping before. She’s not sure she believes the Ximilia is exactly like all the rest of them, though.

Although if it is true, and the girl has done this exact thing before, Yelena’s point stands. Her experience could be helpful.]

[construing]

Trade space station for the Web of Life and Destiny, orbs for totems, and rewriting reality for preventing all realities being erased. Also trying really hard not to get eaten while you do.

[ gwen can hear the note of disbelief. she also does not care if she is believed or not. she achieved a level of zen or something. betty would be so proud.

sitting up, gwen sits cross-legged. as she slides her earbuds on, she offers, ] Advice from a vet, young’un. [ never mind that yelena is older than her. ] Shit gets weird before it ever gets better.

[laviny]

[Yelena lets out a sharp, humorless laugh.]

Amazing. All that life experience has turned you into a sullen fifteen year old. I am impressed.

[But not in a good way, really. Because her attitude doesn't feel zen to Yelena. It feels kind of bratty, honestly.

She looks at Gwen, still in the training area, with her earbuds on.]

If you're not going to train, leave. You're taking up space.

[construing]

[ gwen looks around the half-empty training room.

drily, ] Looks like.

[ she looks back down at her phone. ]

If someone needs the bench, I’ll get up.

[laviny]

[She tilts her head, watching her.]

Okay, but seriously. There are other places on the station to look at your phone. You say you are bored, but you've chosen the most boring place to be if you aren't interested in training. You could go to the sunlight room or the simulation room if you actually want to do something besides sulk. Or you could just stay in your own room or go to the common room if you just want to loaf around.

You couldn't possibly be trying to learn something from watching people since you already know everything. So. Why are you here?

[construing]

Because I’m avoiding all the places that look like Christmas threw up. [ she waves a hand around the room. ] This is as good as it gets.

[ she sighs. leaving her phone on her lap, gwen scrubs her face. ]

I’m genuinely not trying to be a dick, [ she continues after she drops her hands. ] But this isn’t the “Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” for everyone, and it gets to be exhausting. I need regular breaks before I end up turning into the Grinch and stealing the last can of Who-Hash.

[laviny]

Did someone decorate your room without your permission?

[It's an honest question. That wouldn't be cool. Though she supposes the girl might have an enthusiastic roommate.]

You can make the simulation room look like something other than Christmas, too. But you know, sitting there staring at your phone isn't really what makes you seem like a dick.

[construing]

[ oh, good god. em jay is now blonde and russian. despite the utter absurdity, gwen smiles. ]

So I've been told. [ several times in several ways. one day, it'll stick.

a beat. ]

Uh, let's try this again. Sorry. I'm Gwen. Do people still shake hands?

[laviny]

Yelena.

[And actually she is probably the wrong person to pose that question to.]

I guess so. But isn't that something people do in like...business meetings?

[She doesn't have a ton of experience with this. She grew up killing people which kind of bypasses niceties. Handshakes seem very corporate, though. Something for CEOs and lawyers and car salesmen.

Also her hands are wrapped and better outfitted for punching than handshaking at the moment, anyway.]

[construing]

[ meanwhile, gwen just completed a year-long sentence in a s.h.i.e.l.d. max prison with many of the inmates being ones she personally put there, so on top of the seasonal blues, her social skills have basically rusted over. ]

I'm not gonna argue it. Sure.

[ she nods to the punching bag. ]

So, what are you? Soldier, spy, part of the spandex crew…?

[laviny]

If I tell you, will you tell me what kind of super powers you have?

[Because she was doing something weird with the punching bag before. And if she's telling the truth about her experiences then something must have kept her alive and Yelena hasn't seen anything to suggest it was her fighting ability.]

[construing]

Sure.

[ her hand crosses her chest. from her wrist, a white web tendril shoots to an abandoned barbell nearby. a tug, and the loaded barbell shoots toward her. gwen catches it in one hand without looking.

from start to finish, only about a second passed. ]

I'm Spider-Woman.

[ the name rolls off the tongue easily—benefit of no longer have a secret identity to protect. and despite the often complex emotions she has toward the whole concept that it was she who was bitten by that spider, she who developed those initial powers… to say it without a mask feels warm. ]

[laviny]

[She snorts.]

And a show off.

[Why are superheroes like this.]

I'm a Black Widow. [Not the Black Widow. Just one of many.] But I've never heard of you. We only have Spider-Man.

[She considers for a moment.]

It makes more sense for a spider to be a woman, though.

[Since female spiders tend to eat the male ones.]

[construing]

[ show, don't tell, yelena. never mind that that's for the act of writing.

she twirls the barbell once before setting it on the floor beside her. yes, she is a superhero; no, she is not a fan of excessive collateral damage; okay, yes, she might be an irredeemable show-off. sue her, except don't, she has no money.

with a little moue (she doesn't disagree, but her brain starts screeching kill bill sirens if she tries to agree), gwen neatly sidesteps the ongoing existential crisis of who should be a spider. her lack of surprise at the mention of a spider-man is telling enough as it is. ]

Fair enough. I haven't heard of you in my neck of the woods, but I'm also not S.H.I.E.L.D.'s favorite person so that info might just be above my pay grade.

[laviny]

[Yelena doesn’t react to Gwen's further showing off. She's already commented on it and she's seen displays of super strength before. Her dad was a super soldier.]

I didn't expect you to know who I am.

[Yelena isn't Natasha and hasn't gained any sort of notoriety to speak of. And she honestly prefers it that way.]

And SHIELD doesn't exist any more in my..."neck of the woods." It was taken down years ago.

[construing]

Huh. Well, I'm happy for you. Or sorry that happened. Depends what was going on.

[ no matter how often it happens, it's always a trip learning the ways the many earths differ. like hearing a discordant note in a melody. it's worse whenever gwen has to make the jump between them—looking around at a world that is intimately familiar, yet subtly wrong. she is always half overwhelmed, fully on the alert, and nursing a low grade migraine as a result. ]

[laviny]

[She snorts.]

Save it. I was never really affiliated with them.

[Not officially anyway. The Red Room's connection to SHIELD is a little fuzzy, but Yelena knows her fake parents stole from them and she was technically part of that mission, even if she didn't realize it at the time.]

And SHIELD was just a front for HYDRA, anyway.

[construing]

[ gwen whistles. ] That's rough.

[ gwen briefly entertains the thought of that happening in her earth. aside from it being near impossible to imagine the very impressive (and frankly a lot frightening) director carter not immediately sniffing out and quashing a hydra plot, the punching spree her captain america would have gone on as as soon as she returned to her universe from her 75 year hiatus would have been epic. ]

So, what's the deal with Black Widows? Is the moniker literal or more aspirational like "float like a butterfly, bite like a widow." [ she jabs a couple of times at the air. ]

[laviny]

Black Widows are women who have been trained all their lives to kill people.

[So probably closer to aspirational, if you want to look at professional murder as aspirational. It's not like Yelena was given much choice in the matter.]

[construing]

[ there is a beat as gwen briefly turns into the blinking white guy. ]

Traumatizing aspiration, got it.

[ a longer beat. ]

That's not…still happening, right? Like, little girls? Please say no.