duplicity — inbox

[vestments]

Comments

[redhourglass]

do you have something better to talk about?

( being locked in sex dystopia leads for interesting conversations once you run out of the usual )

[vestments]

( fuck's sake.
(give him a moment.) )

The living, maybe.

[redhourglass]

anyone in mind?

[vestments]

( naturally, the answer's 'no', if only because talking about people — gossiping — isn't really something that marc does.

—essentially meaning that in every single capacity, this conversation is painful. )

As a general rule, I don't gossip, so...
Not especially.

[redhourglass]

so you don’t want to talk about yourself
and you don’t want to talk about anyone else
i think that kills this conversation, don’t you?

[vestments]

You could talk about you, Natasha.

[redhourglass]

me?
now that’s not a very interesting story

[vestments]

I don't believe that for a second.
Or if it is, it can't be less interesting than me.

[redhourglass]

what do you want to know?

( an echo of a conversation a lifetime ago: who do you want me to be? )

[vestments]

( what is there to ask? he thinks he's at an advantage where though he doesn't know her well, and though they're not the same, there are similarities between her and the other black widow. thinks that he knows enough of her background — in a broad, sweeping sense — to have questions he won't ask.

instead, then— )

You said you've thought about leaving this life.

What would you do instead?

[redhourglass]

( whatever she thought he’d ask — this isn’t it. it isn’t what people normally ask. give people an inch, they’ll take a mile; they go for her past, the bad things she’s done, the people she’s hurt.

yelena had been the last person to ask her what she’d do. maybe that means marc has earned some honesty. )

i don’t know
i didn’t really get that far

try and do some good, probably

[vestments]

You don't feel like you do that now?

[redhourglass]

figure i’m not the best judge of that

[vestments]

I didn't ask if you succeed at it, I asked how you feel about it.

Which tells me 'no'. You don't think you do.

[redhourglass]

never took you for a shrink

i think there is always more that can be done

[vestments]

Hardly. But I've spent a lot of time around them.

Pragmatic. ( avoidance. )

me squinting and declaring this massive thread pre- canon update

[redhourglass]

if the time heist ( wince — that had NOT been her name idea ) works then maybe i can call it even

if we bring everyone back

agreed fam wheezes

[vestments]

"Time Heist"?

( like he can say anything about names. )

[redhourglass]

( yeah, she should have known he wasn’t going to let that one slide. )

that was the ant guy’s idea

( h e a v y sigh )

we … built a time machine (yes, really)
to go back and gather the infinity stones

[vestments]

Oh.

I time travelled with the WCA once.

[redhourglass]

( who are the — oh. ‘west coast avengers’. so weird. )

clint and i are taking on the soul stone
then the idea is to ‘un-snap’ people

half of life in the universe, poofed back into existence

( a good enough deed by anyone’s accounting )

[vestments]

He time travels a lot for a guy with no powers.

Gamora tried to use that once to ( wait, he wasn't actually paying any attention to what was going on, he'd only turned up because spider-man had asked—. ) change the universe.

( anyway. )

Where I'm from, the Avengers don't often lose.
I can't imagine it's too different anywhere else.

[redhourglass]

how’d it work out for her?

not sure there are enough of us around where i’m from to really be called the avengers anymore
and we did lose
badly

[vestments]

The Guardians of the Galaxy stopped her, with the help of the Avengers.

( hmm— )

Did I tell you I defeated the Avengers once?

[redhourglass]

i must have missed that story
what happened?