IC Contact Post

[outstandingbalance]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, 10000SPIDERS. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 018.07.154.55 *** 10000SPIDERS has joined 008.01.989.15 <10000SPIDERS> This is a placeholder.

Comments

<latrodectus>

[outstandingbalance]

Yeah? What did you have in mind? Pushing around a chair? Doesn't sound like much of a date.

<circusbrat>

[dickbats]

Sounds like you don't have a very high opinion of the differently abled.

There's plenty of ways to have a date like that.

<latrodectus>

[outstandingbalance]

I'm not exactly differently abled, Dick.

<circusbrat>

[dickbats]

You're not exactly normal either.

<latrodectus>

[outstandingbalance]

I never have been. And it's only going to get worse.

<circusbrat>

[dickbats]

So give yourself a day. Let someone take care of you for a change.

<latrodectus>

[outstandingbalance]

[Funny enough, he isn't the first one to give her this type of argument since her network post.]

What if I think you're just trying to get my address?

<circusbrat>

[dickbats]

Then I'd call you silly for thinking I don't already know it.

<latrodectus>

[outstandingbalance]

Six then. Don't be late.

<circusbrat>

[dickbats]

Wouldn't dream of it

[outstandingbalance]

[There's no more messages after that.

Natasha has a small garret apartment in Bavan, cramped and nondescript. It was also very cheap. It wasn't the kind of place most people would think to look for her, if they knew her.

It also takes four flights of stairs to get to it. That's a choice she might have come to regret a few times now, with her legs trying to rip themselves apart at every wrong move.]

[dickbats]

[Promptly at six, there's no sign of anyone outside her door. There is, however, a tapping at her window. A certain someone might have taken advantage of the early sunset and built a pulley system to her window. A leather band hangs just outside her seat, appropriated from a children's swing set.

He's certainly not planning to make her take the long way down.]

[outstandingbalance]

[It's a bigger surprise that he managed to do this without making any noise than that he shows up at the window. When he taps at the window, she hobbles over to the the window at opens it, leaning out to see what he'd done.]

Well, you are right on time.

[dickbats]

[He's back on the ground when she opens the window, grinning up at her.]

I set a time I knew I could reach. Hop on over. I'll lower you down.

[outstandingbalance]

[She gives the seat and pulley a speculative look, frowning. She isn't used to being taken care of, and doesn't like being perceived as weak. But she already agreed to this.

She's not sure it's worth backing out or trying to argue further.]

You really take this seriously. [She swings her legs out the window as she speaks, careful to keep her legs hidden under her long skirt as she does.]

[dickbats]

What, you're in our line of work and you've never had to work with something like this before? I'm surprised.

[outstandingbalance]

That depends what you mean by something like this.

I can't say I've ever had to deal with accommodating involuntary transformations personally.

[dickbats]

Well, this particular method is usually useful when transporting someone who's had some sudden spinal trauma. But yeah, I've had a decent share of the other kind too.

[He lowers her easily, until she's deposited into the comfortable caress of a wheelchair. It isn't one with handles on the back; he'd never demean her by trying to push her around.]

One of the guys I work with turns into animals. Every time he gets a cold, suddenly we're one sneeze away from having to haul a whale out of the kitchen.

[outstandingbalance]

[In that moment, Natasha is grateful Bruce isn't here. The last thing he needs is to go from turning into the Hulk to turning into a bear or a troll. Something like that. She doesn't comment on that though.]

I'm not usually the one who need transporting.

[She smoothes her dress again once she's settled. It advertises the fact she's uncomfortable with her legs, and she knows it, but better that than risk flashing them at passersby.]

[dickbats]

Happens to the best of us. Or what, you're going to tell me you're so good you've never taken a bullet to the thigh?

[outstandingbalance]

Not that kept me off my feet. High pain tolerance, I guess.

[dickbats]

Well then, welcome to being one of the mundane pain-feeling folk.

[He adjusts a stray piece of hair, careful to keep from scratching her with his claws. It's a small gesture, performed before he thinks about barriers and personal space.]

[outstandingbalance]

[She doesn't protest his touch; it's more comfortable for her than having him fuss over her condition. It's still strange how familiar he is with her, but at least he doesn't feel like a stranger anymore.]

I'd expect a little more sympathy for people who're used to being self-sufficient.

[dickbats]

[It's like starting over, but in a way where he's sure she'll come around again. Even if he can't make her remember, it's a second chance. There aren't always second chances for people like them.]

If I threw sympathy at you, you'd think I was being fake. You deserve better than that.

[outstandingbalance]

Maybe. That doesn't mean I like being treated like I'm broken.

[Even though the consensus seems to be that she is. And that she's been walking anyway, despite the fact it damages her legs more.]

So where are we going. Dinner and a movie, right?