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[outstandingbalance]

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[dickbats]

People do things that aren't always great when they don't think they have a choice. However old you were when it happened, you chose to get out.

Maybe it didn't happen on its own. Maybe someone saw something in you and helped you out. And whatever you did then, whoever you were at home, you've been a hero here. You've done nothing but try to help people.

What counts is what you're doing now. That you're helping people now. That you were willing to sacrifice everything just a few days ago to make sure we could help people through a bad spot.

It's in you, Nat. Even if you can't recognize it yet.

[outstandingbalance]

You have more faith in me than I do.

[She says it softly, because she doesn't intend to draw out an argument about what a terrible person she is. She put it out there. If he still wants to trust her, or pursue... whatever it is he's looking for, then that's his choice.]

What would make you feel normal then?

[Not that she doesn't have a pretty good idea what he means. For all their playing, it just doesn't seem all that likely. Most of their bonding experiences have been decidedly not normal.]

[dickbats]

That's fine. I'll hold on to all the faith until you're ready to believe in yourself.

[His hand raises to her face, gingerly cupping the edge of her jaw. Instead of responding to the other part, he leans in to kiss her again with as much tenderness as he can manage with consideration to how many fangs are there between them.]

[outstandingbalance]

[That's its own kind of answer, really. And confirms what she thought, but wasn't willing to assume when she was a spider from the waist down. And when there really is a lot of fangs between the two of them.

She freezes at first, half afraid she'll accidentally envenomate him. But if he has a little patience, she'll start to soften, rising a little higher and moving in a little closer, long legs circling around him.

Kind of hard to figure out where to put her hands, though.]

[dickbats]

[They'll make it work. They'll take the time and figure it all out. They just have to lean on one another.

He leans into her in kind, resting spikes against her underside, where he knows her to be the most armored. She can take him. She can handle him properly. She can...

The kiss tapers off slowly, but not because he's voluntarily abandoned it. A shudder runs through him, and for just a moment he sinks against her, going through her.]

... Nat?

[outstandingbalance]

[At first, she doesn't understand why the kiss ends. It was going well, once she started to relax. When she opens her eyes, she's in for a shock, shuddering and drawing back to look at him—because goblins don't do that, not as far as she knows. They don't fade or become insubstantial.]

What's going on?

[dickbats]

I don't know. ... I..

[He looks down at a hand, which is substantially less solid than it was last time he'd seen it. His voice is softer when he speaks next, the murmur of someone whispering in another room.]

We'll figure it out. We just need to

[And then there's nothing at all. Empty space.]

[outstandingbalance]

[It would have been nice to say that she protested, or that she tried to grab him before he vanished entirely. That would have been dramatic and touching, maybe? Natasha's not without a sense of performance.

She didn't have a chance though, and even if she had, she wouldn't have taken it. Instead, she tenses, scanning the cavern for a threat or a clue, some kind of sign that Ryslig is playing host to some new threat.

And then he's gone.

And there are no breathing holes in the stone, or attacking mutants, or fog.

She's just alone.]