#podlesok

[gunbash-archived]

from  @podlesok​:  i wonder about you sometimes.

AS  SOMEONE  WITH  PLENTY  TO  HIDE  ,  sebastian  doesn’t  like  that  prompting  .  his  eyebrows  go  up  before  he  speaks  ,  adding  weight  to  the  delay  in  his  response  .  he’s  not  trying  to  act  like  a  man  with  many  secrets  ,  but  maybe  it’s  obvious  .  maybe  he’s  obvious  .  ❝  i  do  pride  myself  in  remaining  somewhat  of  an  enigma  .  ❞  it’s  the  best  response  he  can  conjure  .  he’s  playing  dumb  .  ❝  sometimes  i  take  my  coffee  black  ,  and  other  times  i’m  ordering  the  most  expensive  concoction  on  the  starbucks  menu  .  ❞  more  deflection  .  maybe  sebastian  is  trying  to  keep  their  mind  on  normal  things  ,  AVERAGE  THINGS  ,  rather  than  drag  up  the  possibility  of  his  own  covert  life  .  the  hits  ,  the  killings  .  things  she  doesn’t  need  to  know  .  maybe  he’s  reading  too  much  into  this  .  maybe  she  really  DOES  mean  the  simple  things  with  her  remark  .  maybe  she’s  baffled  by  his  collection  of  wine  corks  .  ❝  when  you  say  YOU  WONDER  ABOUT  ME  ,  what  do  you  mean  ?  if  i’m  living  up  to  my  enigmatic  persona  ,  let  me  know  .  i  like  compliments  .  i’d  take  a  few  .  ❞

[vlyuvdova]

When they’re overwhelmed / upset, what do they do to calm themselves? what could someone else do to calm them?

CHARACTER QUESTIONS

in quieter moments, one of the tell-tale signs of an upset and overwhelmed natasha is her holding / hugging herself. she will bend slightly at the waist, slouch, and if it's something she needs to get past quickly, she'll take a moment to bend forward and lean with her arms and hands outstretched against a wall. it's very much a way to both emotionally and physically contain herself and her emotions lest they become too much to handle.

otherwise, she prefers to get up on rooftops and let the noise of the wind and the city calm her down, or to jump and swing with her widow's line. she hates being stagnant, hates sitting and wallowing in her feelings, so if something is overwhelming her, she's going to want to do what she can to get it all out. being active is the best way to calm herself down in a sustainable way. it's both a psychological mechanism, as well as a physical method to get her heart pumping and trick her body into relaxing.

if she's with someone, other than giving her a moment of quiet or holding her hand / letting her hold their arm ... sometimes the best thing they can do is to give her a long and tight hug, to keep her from feeling like she's breaking apart into pieces.

[vlyuvdova]

like a family. a fucked family.

it doesn't phase her anymore, how easily the past comes back to her no matter where she is, no matter how long it's been. she does not imagine what her younger self might have thought of seeing the same people again, and again, and again, for the rest of her unforeseen life because her younger self had little sense of a future not rooted in dreaming for something apart from all that she knew. it's a small, small world, and with every passing decade it just seems to get smaller.

"is that what we were?" she asks, her voice hinting at humor as she nurses her scotch. it's not the best and it's not the worst, but it's good enough for company. if they'd taken other paths, they might have been old friends instead of two wolves having lost their pack, coming back around to orbit one another just as alone as when they started. once, she called her sestra. once, with all the anger of a child that needed to be the best, looking at someone she thought she could be, she wanted to kill her. natasha downs the rest of her glass.

"what does that make us now?"

@podlesok

[belayadeath-goner]

HEROES X VILLAINS  ,  @podlesok​ said  :  ❛ how many times are we going to keep meeting like this? 

     YOU’RE BOTH RELICS FROM A DIFFERENT TIME  ,  AN OLDER TIME  .  broken and bent  ,  used for their gifts in service of PROUD COUNTRY  .  there was a time when bianca had believed in all of that  ;  that her servitude was for the greater good  .  BUT IT WAS ALL A LIE  .  a truth that she’d only discovered after it was too late  . . .   ❛❛   old habits die hard  ,  i guess  .   ❜❜   WE’RE BOTH WEAPONS  ,  AND VIOLENCE IS ALL WE KNOW  .  it follows us  ,  and we’re drawn to it  ––  a relationship of push and pull  .   [  RUSSIAN  ]  :  <   𝘪 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦  .   >   icy blues look the other woman over as fingers unscrew the silencer from her pistol  .   <   𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺  ,  𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦  .   >

[gunbash-archived]

from  @podlesok​:  “you are remarkably well-behaved tonight, what have you been up to?”

HE’S  MID-SIP  OF  WINE  WHEN  SHE  MAKES  HER  OBSERVATION  ,  and  immediately  sebastian’s  eyebrows  shoot  up  ,  darting  high  across  his  forehead  as  he  scrambles  through  his  brain  for  answers  .  that  was  far  too  stratetic  a  question  ,  and  dottie  is  far  too  smart  to  simply  ask  things  offhand  without  purpose  ,  without  a  goal  or  expected  answer  in  mind  .  after  finishing  his  sip  ,  sebastian  sets  his  glass  down  and  allows  the  familiar  red  liquid  to  soothe  the  sting  in  his  throat  .  ❝  me  ?  well-behaved  ?  MAYBE  I’M  COMING  DOWN  WITH  SOMETHING  .  ❞  it’s  sebastian’s  first  attempt  at  lighthearted  deflection  ,  gauging  the  glow  of  her  eyes  and  the  way  her  face  changes  in  response  .  when  he  comes  up  empty  ,  he  presses  on  .  ❝  oh  ,  you  know  .  THIS  AND  THAT  .  been  quite  busy  lately  .  school  is  starting  back  up  again  ,  you  know  ,  so  i’ll  be  back  to  teaching  my  usual  courses  within  a  few  weeks  .  i’m  looking  forward  to  a  new  round  of  students  .  ❞  a  pause  .  the  waiter  finally  delivers  dinner  to  their  table  ,  and  in  the  bustle  of  setting  out  plates  ,  sebastian  manages  to  divert  her  line  of  questioning  away  from  the  REAL  answers  .  ❝  what  about  you  ?  i  could  say  the  same  about  you  ,  you  know  .  REMARKABLY  WELL-BEHAVED  .  i’m  used  to  more  insults  than  this  ,  to  be  honest  .  you’re  usually  armed  with  plenty  of  little  jabs  to  get  under  my  skin  .  today  ,  not  so  much  .  don’t  tell  me  you’re  starting  to  like  me  .  ❞

[velvetippedarch]

starter call,   @podlesok​​

“ life is  full  of cat and mouse chases and for once in my life,  i want to be the  cat. “ 

[bel-ova]

@podlesok​   :   “ you might call me curiosity personified. “

𝚃𝙷𝙴  𝚁𝙸𝙳𝙳𝙻𝙴  𝙾𝙵  𝙰  𝚆𝙾𝙼𝙰𝙽  𝚄𝙽𝙳𝙾𝙽𝙴,     𝙲𝙾𝙽𝙾𝙽𝙳𝚁𝚄𝙼  𝙿𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙾𝙽𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙳.        stories of motherland  &  upbringing mesh together into forming a well-kept present   (  bow included  !  ).          when someone presents it to you,        how does your brain chemistry react  ?         𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟,       or a tenebrous figure mascarading as your mirror image  ?      .  .  .      she is caught in this contradiction:       on the one hand,     yelena believes she knows the other,       &  triumphantly asserts her knowledge in the ghost of a microexpression.        𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅,         a fact arises   ;    the other is imprenetable.      she is intractable,       not to be known or found,        that is her natural state  &  her habitat in the eyes of everyone.        

no matter how hard she tries,       yelena cannot trace her beginnings or trace back her origins,       𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭.        she proceeds,       all with due diligence  &  caution.

«     i know your ways,     i don’t subscribe to them anymore.     »        quite a convincing choice of words for a pawn who hasn’t found herself yet,      while the lineaments in her face speak to at least a certain degree of honesty,       𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈.         yelena proceeds to assess the situation at hand,       his fingertips nonchalantly brushing against the fabric of her jeans,        while a handgun reveals itself before the stranger’s eyes.          «     are you here to kill me  ?       дерьмо,      you have guts,      i’ll give it to you.     »

[herlevel]

@podlesok​ said ; ‘ i couldn’t sleep. ’ ( accepting )

irene is a soft thing in this dull, night-time light, but her eyes remain clear despite the odd hour. slipper-clad feet have drawn to a halt upon the landing and she blinks only once before continuing her path down the stairs, only now with a hand motioning for her to follow. “i was just heading to the kitchen,” there’s no need to waste breath on ME NEITHER when that much is obvious in her dressing gown and the fact she is up and about at such a dreadful hour. besides, down that road lies questions that are bound to arise at some point, but irene thinks they would be better asked in a handful more minutes, “for some tea and whiskey, if you’d like to join me.”