#etherealstarr

@etherealstarr

It had been months since Ava had gone off SHIELD's radar. Sterling's radar. The first time Erikson had met her he offered her a chance at a life, one SHIELD had stolen from her. To his surprise, she had taken it. They got her an apartment, some spending money, a job, and they were working with Bill Foster to try and find a cure. Everything seemed to be going well, heading in the right direction, but he could see in her eyes something he'd seen in the mirror before.

This life, this normalcy, no longer fit her.

She no longer fit.

She had been molded and shaped only for a life of assassinations and pain, and this quiet peace she was suddenly dropped into felt wrong. Sterling felt it when SHIELD had fallen in 2014. He'd gotten a job that would have been a dream to himself before he joined SHIELD. An office, a high paying job, steady hours, no danger. He had everything he needed yet he couldn't get rid of the fight in his veins. The trauma and danger he'd become accustomed to in SHIELD never left him and the world he had fought to protect no longer suited him. It no longer accepted him. Everything felt... wrong.

When he saw the look in her eyes, the very last time he saw her before she went off grid, he knew she felt the same way he had before.

He never expected to see her again months later, especially not on the news. Especially not being named an Avenger. The man had seen and experienced a lot of crazy things, but his jaw had dropped when he read the caption on the report.

Ava Starr. An Avenger? Guess she found where she fit after all.

****

Sterling sat in the lobby of the New Avengers tower. It was strange seeing it like this. He'd seen it a handful of times when Stark owned it. He'd even attended a party there once. When Valentina had taken over it hadn't retained that welcoming warmth. Professional, still, but welcoming. Now it was gaining some of that back, but still wasn't quite comfortable as it had been. Still, he waited until he saw her figure stalk through the entrance with the familiar intense purpose she always held.

"Miss Starr?" He called out to her, his voice echoing in the vast lobby. It had been a while. Too long. He wasn't sure she was the same woman he'd come to call his friend but he was more than willing to see for himself. "Ava..."

@etherealstarr asked: [ DARE ] for my muse to dare yours to do something at the party (for Alexei/AJ)

༘⋆｡ college party scenarios. | accepting

* console .   comfort  my  muse  as  they  cry .

“So…”

She’s exercising. Again. Still? She was doing it earlier and she’s doing it now, circling a punching bag and working it over with the leading knuckles of her fingers. Going for precision over power, tap tap tap tap tap in a brisk semicircle that brings her back around to within Ava’s view.

“I’ve been wondering something. You don’t have to answer if you don’t wanna.” Low kick, high kick. One to the calf, then up to the shoulder, the bag bouncing back and forth as Xue goes through the motions.

“Are you actually a ghost? Or is that more of a stage name. Because if you are then I have way more questions. And if you aren’t-“

Tap tap tap tap. She shakes her hands out.

"Do you ever feel hostile towards someone you know you shouldn't but you feel like they get the life that you are desperate for?" He questioned, steepling his fingers together as he watched Ava in the limelight.

"You ever feel like the relationship someone has with that person you want to be close to offends you?"