ᶦ ʳᵉᵃᵖ ʷʰᵃᵗ ᶦ SOW.

   not her best choice of a quiet haunt, but it was uninviting enough to frighten off the morning flock. she just needed somewhere to collect her thoughts, and it did more than provide that opportunity. maybe she should be worried about how cold this place felt, how there were so few people– only her and a couple of others, nursing their drinks. wanda set down her empty cup then, mumbling a soft ‘thank you’ to the waitress as her coffee was renewed.

   raising it to her lips, a presence seated itself beside her, unwanted. she hadn’t anticipated any small talk, least of all this early in the morning, but then she wasn’t planning on being awake. venturing a glance aside, she felt the caution ebb from her posture, and a smile, although rigid, tugged at her lips. the familiarity was a comfort, as much as it could be right now.

        ❝ not exactly where i thought we’d meet, but i suppose it’s inconspicuous– very low profile, not too dramatic. ❞ her brows rose briefly upon the emphasis, eyes trained upon her cup, ❝ at least the coffee’s decent. ❞

     Here her name and face hadn’t been blasted across television screens, her red ledger bare for all to see. Here she could remain in the comforting cold of the shadows, away from the harsh spotlights of Avenging. After all, it was her and Clint here. Or so she’d thought.

      The familiar silhouette tugged at the corner of Natasha’s lips. Old habits hadn’t changed, and she made her way to sit beside the girl, rather than letting herself be known beforehand. But as expected, Wanda didn’t startle. 

     “I’ve taught you well, then,” she said, light and joking. The last of Wanda’s words had her swallowing down a scoff, all good-natured. “Don’t start drinking that much coffee despite what Clint says. It’s not good for you.”

Everyone Jess knew had vanished. Her girlfriend. Her sister. Her “friends” and her friendly neighborhood bartender. And she was never good at coping. 

Flicking the cap off the bottle she downed the drink in one motion before tossing it behind her for it to join its shattered brethren. Closing her eyes, she leaned back and let the fog once again roll into her brain. Dulling her mind to prevent any thoughts towards the fallen was the only way she could continue on.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned back in bed and reached out for the last bottle in her collection. All so she could fall asleep with no nightmares. Fingers grasped onto the neck of the bottle, and she pulled it towards her. 

And it resisted. So she pulled harder and instead of the bottle, she found a hand roughly pushing against her knee. Eyes snapped open as she prepared to swing at the stranger.

“You.” Instead, her swing paused as her breath caught in her throat and her eyes roamed erratically over the woman who looked less reality and more hallucination. Yet with the pressure of her hand on her leg…

She let the bottle go and reached out to grasp her wrist gripping it tightly as if her hand was enough to anchor this phantom to her world.

    She had watched her friends disappear, and she knew that so, so many others were gone as well. She didn’t want to use the word dead, but they were gone. There was one that Natasha wasn’t sure about though, and she needed to see for herself.

    The quiet of New York was eerie. There were no usual honking taxis or upbeat chatter to hide the sounds of her footsteps as she made her way up the fire escape. Natasha had always liked the silence --- but now, not so much.

    The knot that she hadn’t realised was there untied itself from the base of her throat as she saw the familiar black hair, now so much more different to the lightness of her blonde. (It was still hard to look at herself like this sometimes, but necessity called.) If there was ever a time to drink yourself senseless, Natasha figured that it would be now. But still, she found herself reaching out to stop Jessica.

    Her hand on Jessica’s thigh was more or less an anchor, a physical reminder to herself that the woman hadn’t been one chosen for dust. “You’re still here,” she murmured quietly, more to herself than anyone.

Golden eyes peered down at the subnautical level, wine clasped in his hands. While he would be fine if he remained indoors - and the establishment was well-sealed, there was still something…Perhaps a tad too thrilling to the concept for his current mental status.

The constant feeling of being surrounded, his own advanced senses being heightened by the lack of outside noise. Perhaps he would bring Richter here - certainly would make him feel more safe than the prospects of injury by water were not too enticing.

Security was certainly taking note of his gaze and lack of descent, as such he turned to her.

     Her world was one of aliens and gods, monsters and mutants. Vampires didn’t exactly surprise her, but her interaction with them had been practically non-existent. His blase admittance of what he was didn’t startle her --- it only fanned the flames of her curiosity. 

    She made a small sound of acknowledgement, before swallowing a crimson sip of her wine. “I’ve never met a dhampir personally,” she said easily. “You don’t have to hide it, where you’re from?”

this ask meme is based on the blog gravesuggestion.  i’ve divided it up into two categories  ( light  &  dark )  based on the themes.  some of these can be somewhat triggering seeing that the darker ones deal with a lot of death mentions.  please be cautious before continuing on!!

L I G H T

‘  at night i dream of you.  ’ ‘  don’t give up yet.  you still have time to fix things.  ’ ‘  falling in love with someone else is not a personal attack.  ’ ‘  i am still so weak when it comes to you.  ’ ‘  i can’t believe i let myself let you down.  ’ ‘  i don’t care where we go when we die,  as long as i’m with you.  ’ ‘  i dream of saying to you all the words i held inside until it was too late.  ’ ‘  i feel so warm  &  safe when you talk to me.  maybe i could love you if you’d let me.  ’ ‘  i finally let the right people in  &  i have never felt so loved.  ’ ‘  i like the way your nails paint red stripes along my spine days after you’re gone.  ’ ‘  i lived in your permafrost for twenty years  &  then you looked at me  &  i felt the warmth of spring.  ’ ‘  i once wished you’d leave me alone,  but i take it back.  ’ ‘  i want to be able to love someone else,  but you stretch your arms  &  spread your legs inside my heart so that there is no room for anyone or anything else.  ’ ‘  i want to believe that we got it right this time.  ’ ‘  i wonder how much longer i can cling to your light before it expires completely.  ’ ‘  i would travel across the world to be by your side,  because as long as you are with me,  anywhere is a perfect place to me.  ’ ‘  it took me awhile to realize it myself,  but you are not what other people say you are.  ’ ‘  it’s not that i really need you,  but life would be pretty boring without you around.  there’s no one i would rather be with.  ’ ‘  i’d like to stay like this for awhile.  ’ ‘  life  &  death don’t have to be so boring,  let’s make both an adventure.  ’ ‘  life imitates art,  they say.  i didn’t believe it until i started to notice the way your eyelashes look so much like tiny ink stroke.  ’ ‘  live your life so that when you die,  souls will come for miles just to hear your historic tales.  ’ ‘  make your exes jealous  &  your past self proud.  ’ ‘  maybe you’re what i needed to find in order to move on.  ’ ‘  never get caught falling harder.  they’ll never let you back up.  ’ ‘  please don’t go.  ’ ‘  some days it’s easier to just stop fighting it  &  succumb.  ’ ‘  sometimes,  you’ll find it hard to keep going,  but you always will.  ’ ‘  the desire i feel for you is that same itching,  insidious hunger that an addict has for their addiction.  ’ ‘  the worst thing about you is that you weren’t all bad.  ’ ‘  there is absolutely nothing  &  no one who can stop me.  ’ ‘  there is no route of losing you that is without pain.  ’ ‘  there’s still room for adventure  &  there is no one i’d rather have by my side.  ’ ‘  things didn’t turn out the way i planned,  but i’m alright with that.  ’ ‘  we could be really incredible together,  you know?  ’ ‘  you are beautiful  &  vibrant  &  confident.  you are light  &  laughter incarnate  &  every fiber of your being screams freedom  &  joy.  when i am with you,  i am truly happy.  ’ ‘  you are starlight incarnate,  from the grand way you sway your hips to the wide mysterious way you think.  blessed are any to be loved by you.  ’ ‘  you are too afraid of the future to let go of a past that was never kind to you.  ’ ‘  you call me yours  &  i have no idea what that even means to you.  ’ ‘  you remind me of bubblegum  &  sweets;  soft  &  pink  &  warm.  you are strong in the gentlest way.  you are so stubbornly kind.  i wish i could be like that.  ’ ‘  you still visit me while i sleep sometimes.  your fingers trace my spine  &  i listen to you breathe.  please stop haunting me.  ’ ‘  ‘morbid curiosity’ is a wonderful way to describe how i feel about you.  ’

D A R K

@ubiytsar​

Jessica Jones had never been the sociable type. She didn’t know her bartender’s name, nor had she ever thought to ask the name of the only cashier at her bodega. Not that many words were ever exchanged at 3am, simply a mute nod of the head when she walked out with a bottle of vodka.

A bottle that was almost half empty by the time she pushed open the slightly broken door to her apartment. And she stopped.

Jess knew just how much alcohol she could handle and the drink had never caused hallucinations. Quite the opposite. 

So that was clearly the real Black Widow standing in her living room.

Right.

Steeling herself she stepped into her room. Her cool exterior belied the vortex of emotions that was battling in her stomach. An insistent part of her wanted her to run, while the more rational part of her mind told her that would be futile.

Taking another step, she let herself breathe in deep the cold winter air and continued ahead. For having drank half a bottle of vodka, she had never felt more sober.

Just act normal. It’s fine. Shield’s resident super spy in my office. Just a normal Thursday. Yeah.

As she traversed through her living room to cautiously place her bottle on her desk, she tried to come up with something to say.

Something.

Anything.

It didn’t even have to be clever. “Don’t know if you’ve read the sign, hours are from noon to midnight.” 

     She had unfinished business in New York, but with her face and red ledger blasted across television screens by her own doing, there was only so much wigs and hats could do. (She didn’t want to dye her hair, not yet. The red was one of the few things she had left from her parents, their faces she could barely recall.) Eyes that lingered too long, a turn of a head in her periphery. And even worse, there was someone around who could recognise her from the beat of her heart.

     There was another, though, who she had heard of through the SHIELD grapevine.

      Per usual Black Widow fashion, breaking in and waiting was always more fun than knocking on someone’s door. Especially when it looked like knocking would break the thing down anyway. 

      Natasha’s eyes followed the other woman’s movements, a curious tilt of her head as the vodka was placed aside. She pondered briefly on coincidence. A Russian drink to greet a Russian woman.

      "Sorry,” she said, not sounding apologetic at all. “I’d appreciate it, though, if you could do me a favour and ignore the hours for today.” She glanced pointedly at the vodka. “If you’re up to it, of course.”

Everything’s been such a drag lately, even beating up the local trouble makers was a little boring. So when the prospect of this seemingly stupid game came forward Clint met it with enthusiasm. So what if he might get turned into some inhuman thing for getting a low score - low score. Like that was even gonna happen.

Clint pulled his phone out and went to texting someone else who might enjoy this little exercise.

[contact: Nat :) ]

[1/ 2 ] idk if u know whats going on in golden but if you feel like stretching ur legs a bit

[2/ 2 ] bet u cant pop more of these ridiculous balloons than me ;)

    Her phone buzzed, and a smirk pulled at Natasha’s lips. Her pride took second place to her inability to pass up a challenge---- and especially one from Clint.

[TO]: clint barton [FROM]: n. romanova

[1/2] you’re gonna regret making that bet, barton [2/2] you’re on

Clutching the woman in their grasp, Venom was surprisingly careful. They even made sure to block her body from glass as they jumped through the window, unaffected by the impact themselves. For the moment her protest was ignored as they landed on the opposite building and scaled up the wall, their only goal was to put distance between the cops, the woman, and Eddie. Eddie being their main priority.

They scaled up the building with little effort, only partially hindered by the woman they held but the moment they reached a balcony, they dropped her. A glance was exchanged before Venom was jumping back off to scale further up the building. [Whoa wait where are we going?!] “We don’t want her to see us do we?” [No we don’t but why are we still going up?] “It’s not that high up Eddie.” They almost sounded like they were teasing. Venom reached the roof of the building, hissing as their time was up and they had to toss Eddie safely onto the roof before they could no longer maintain their form.

Unhappy with his new location and also with the fact that Venom couldn’t get him out of it- Eddie stayed on the floor of the roof and groaned. “You can’t just force this you know… I know you’re trying to force it..” Rolling over onto his back, Eddie looked up at the sky… and groaned again. “…I fuckin’ hate heights… goddammit Vee.”

It took Eddie a good five minutes before he brought himself to stand, which turned into more of a crawl with the irrational fear of the slightest breeze knocking him off the top of the building. The it took another five minutes for him to crawl over to the door that lead to the inside of the building- only to find out it was locked with the shake of the handle. Eddie slumped and pouted.

“I’m gonna freeze if I have to spend the night on this roof.” [We won’t freeze.]

     As soon as the grip on her was loosened, Natasha picked herself to her feet. Unlike Eddie, she had no qualms about heights and quickly moved to lean over the railing of the balcony she had been placed on, far over enough to look up and see the creature continue to scale up the building’s side.  

     The dark of night eventually made it so that she could no longer make them out, but there was only one place to go if their trajectory had been up. It was too high for Natasha to use her grappling line to pull herself up, so this was going to have to be done the old-fashioned way. She silently picked the lock to the balcony’s door and made her way out to the main hallway where the fire stairs would be. 

    Figuring that she’d be able to hear it if the creature decided to move elsewhere, the spy wasn’t in too much of a rush as she jogged the stairs upwards, floor after floor, thanking the morning running she’d recently started up. The door to the roof required picking as well, easily done.

     When Natasha stepped out into the chilly night’s breeze, what she hadn’t been expecting to see was a rather ordinary looking man sitting on the roof, ragged and a touch pale. Interesting. She closed the door behind her, pointedly standing in front of it. 

Katniss nearly jumps out of her skin when her phone starts ringing, its tone alien to her since she’s hardly been here long enough to have set one more similar to the one she kept in the past.  Relief washes over her in waves when she sees it’s from Natasha, and she picks up without another moment’s hesitation.  Her old friend still sounds the same as she did when she saw her last, and she’s comforted by how calm Natasha sounds.

“You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice.”  The relief in Katniss’s voice is palpable.  “I’m… um,” Katniss falters, unsure of where she is.  All these new names are so confusing.  What did the machine tell her the condo is located?  “The Archimedes Ward,” she remembers after a few seconds.  “I’m in the Archimedes Ward, where are you?”  She realizes as soon as she asks how completely useless the answer will be and winces.

“I mean, are you close to where I am?  I don’t actually know where anything is, I just got here a few days ago and I’m not sure what’s going on, or how I got here, and I’m kind of freaking out.”  Panic is starting to creep into her voice, despite her attempts to stay calm.

    She gives pause for a moment as the first sound of Katniss’ voice reaches her, so familiar even through the phone’s slight crackle. She continued to ready her gear as the girl spoke, more of her non-lethal weaponry and equipment. 

    Natasha felt a twinge of sympathy, a rather rare thing, at the way Katniss’ voice became unsteady. “It’s okay,” she began to soothe automatically, spoken more gently than anyone would have perhaps expected from the infamous Black Widow, the ruthless Red Death. “It’ll be okay. Don’t worry, I’m here, I’ll help you.” 

     “My house is nearby actually. I’ll come find you.” Archimedes was hard enough to navigate as it was, which was one of the reasons Natasha had chosen it as the location for her house in the first place. Narrow winding alleyways where she could move and hide in the shadows. Natasha continued with a description of a nearby landmark, something that Katniss would easily be able to spot and find.