comesfrompain | [ to-do list ]

You got it, gorgeous. Except it's a little more all encompassing than just fairies. There's pixies, sirens, kelpies, wisps, werewolves, vampires, mesmers, there's just... a lot of shit. You gotta take my word for it or study up on your mythology. Chase is way more all about this.

[Easier to talk about stuff when you don't have to break everything down every five seconds. Chase may have the supernatural shit background, but Rumlow is smart as all hell and obviously catches on quick. He got the chi part 80% right on the first try.]

She doesn't always have to fuck them. Sometimes it's touch, sometimes she just kind of sucks the life out of them with a kiss. Sometimes there isn't even a kiss! But they all die with a smile on their face if she wants them dead...

It's weird to talk about her in the present tense, but I mean. I'm the one that's dead so-- I guess I'd be past tense. But. Nevermind.

[She's just gonna sip at her drink, savoring the flavour of REAL alcohol made with something other than gasoline.]

But that's how she saved my life. Kissed a guy dead in an elevator.

[She waves a few fingers in his direction as she catches sight of him, watching as he makes his way through the crowd and takes a seat at the table that she managed to secure for them. She's never been the drinking her problems away type, but having company is a pleasant balm to the events of the evening, at least.]

I haven't been here long, and the traffic always sucks.

[Her head tilts as he gestures at the marks on her arms and she grins with a shake of her head.]

It's from one of those bullshit dares. Had to find three other people and more or less impersonate the whole Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Except wearing nothing but bodypaint. You missed a show.

[Her lips twitch and there's a lift of an eyebrow as she teases him. It's also the truth, because this place is strange, and Initiation Day was a trainwreck. But things had been better for a while. And then she'd talked to Steve and things had crashed in a pile of ruin. But, here they were now.]

[Sounds like it had been, Rumlow thinks, vivid imagination going to work. He wishes he'd been there. But, he's still got a dare of his own he needs to accomplish and seeing Romanova in very little clothing is part of it. Funny how it works out.

Rumlow grins at her and catches the attention of one of the staff, so they can order drinks, maybe risk something to eat.]

Red like that, I'm guessing you were War.

[He pauses in the conversation to order his drink, gesturing for Romanova to do the same. Once the man leaves, Rumlow's tail curls and pats softly against the bench. He watches for a moment before his attention turns back to her.]

Bet it was a Hell of a sight.

[Hunh. Well, he supposes that might be why Kenzi has been relatively relaxed about the whole tail, horns combo thing. If it's something she's seen before, he guesses it wouldn't be that surprising. He's starting to think there might be something to the idea of the people he's met here being from other worlds, as well. Aliens are one thing, Asgardian God-beings, powered people -- vampires? A little different. He's pretty damn sure if there were vampires, HYDRA would have found them and figured out a way to exploit them.]

So, a literal femme fatale. Sounds like someone you wouldn't want to cross. Must've been nice, having a friend with that power in her pocket.

[Kenzi misses her, he notes. Easy to to tell in the way she speaks, goes quiet. Rumlow nudges his knee against her in a gesture of solidarity. As if he's lost friends too. He supposes he has, but few worth bemoaning.]

Were fae just a normal part of life then?

[She smiles, a glint in her green eyes as he grins at her. She's not the most modest person in existence, to put it mildly. She's accustomed to using her body, being looked at as an object of desire. Sometimes it's a good feeling, and sometimes it's part of her job.]

There were two other girls as Famine and Pestilence, and an ex-mafia swordsman that happens to be a co-worker of mine as Death.

[She orders a Vodka tonic, figuring there's less to screw up than a martini. It makes a good drink to test the waters, so to speak.]

Chaos and dramatics. It was quite the spectacle. Though everything seems like a spectacle today.

Mama always said find the toughest kid on the playground and make friends. Makes it easier to have a big mouth.

[Dammit, Rumlow. There he goes being sweet again! With the knee and saying nice things and just... being there. Listening. It's got her smiling despite herself and she shrugs, barely noticing that her tail just kind of wraps around his loosely.

Okay, she totally noticed, but that thing does what it wants! She can't be blamed for it! Give her a sec to put her glass back down before she tugs at it and tries to unwind the damn thing so people don't start staring or something. There we go.]

Yeah. I kinda got roped into it. It's like some secret society... humans are food to them. Or servants. Or ... pets. [The disdain she has for that last part is beyond obvious.]

Bo had to claim me to keep me safe. Before I died, I made her take it back. Stuff was getting pretty dark near the end. Really outta control. It was... it was shitty, you know? Like catastrophically shitty.

did they just... grow in?
B

[Ex-mafia swordsman sounds familiar. Rumlow wonders if he's the same one he's thinking of. He's met a few people since arriving, mostly keeps tabs via the hellnet. He keeps his personal relationships to a relative minimum.]

Yeah, you're telling me. Guess it's just all a part of business as usual down here. Chaos, public humiliation, mass round ups. [A snort.] All for the amusement of the heads of state -- or Brimstone. Which seems as much the government as anything else.

[Their drinks come, and Rumlow nods his thanks to the server. His hand wraps around the glass, blessedly cool. He lifts it to his lips, takes a sip. Ah, that familiar burn.]

[Kenzi might not notice, but Rumlow certainly does. Her tail twines with his and he lets it, maybe even twisting around hers a little more. He smiles, easy, like he's content to be with her. Maybe he is, in a way. She's fun to be around, at least.

And then she tugs her tail loose and his own sort of droops, as if disappointed. Whatever. She's probably just embarrassed.]

Hunh. Kinda sounds like something out of like, a vampire novel. Y'know with thralls or whatever. [Rumlow shrugs. He only really has peripheral knowledge.] Sorry to hear though. I can only imagine things involving supernatural beings would blow up pretty magnificently. Would've sucked to be stuck in the middle.

[He frowns somewhat and -- yeah, his tail reaches for hers again. Let people talk. He doesn't care. If someone makes a fuss, he'll just. Y'know. Kneecap them with his sidearm.]

Must've. I had them when I showed up.

And just what, exactly, would you know about vampire novels, hmmmm?

[Kenzi's pretty obviously content to be with him. He gets her jokes, he makes jokes of his own. Really, that's more than most people are capable of down here. Everything else he's got going on is just gravy.]

It did suck. But I died for her in the end. There was some stupid prophecy bullshit that didn't make sense, but it said... her heart could close the portal to the underworld or something. Bo's heart. And that was me. So I just kinda... walked into the weird, energy portal that was spewing out zombie warriors and got fried. I think I saved the world? Temporarily.

[She shrugs. No biggie. Just, you know, the end of her entire life. At 24. And she fucking CHOSE to do it like a MORON! Rumlow's tail winding around hers again helps shake her out of her downward spiral of negative self talk and gets a smile back on her face. If he doesn't care, she doesn't care. Their tails can just be a braid while they drink.]

Apparently Heaven's not cool with suicide. Who knew?

[Everyone. Everyone knew.]

[It's sort of the exact same approach that she's been taking. Not that she posts much -- watching and reading tells you a lot more, after all. But other than work she keeps her head down, more or less.]

Yeah. Brimstone isn't really all that different from SHIELD, I guess, if you think about it. Sure, no World Security Council, fewer nukes, so on. But, a shadowy quasi-government organization trying to impose some sort of order onto a world of chaos? We've both been here before. I'm glad this wasn't SHIELD's idea of hazing, though. They'd probably have locked me up and thrown away the key.

[Nat thanks the server with a smile, grabbing her own drink as she takes a sip. It's not too difficult to get her buzzed, it's beyond there when everything that's been done to her body starts to kick in. But buzzed is still enough to pull down some of her safeguards. And maybe in this context at least that pleasant fuzziness should be welcome, but some habits die hard. She still doesn't quite trust him. But she's here anyway, with a drink in her hand, and maybe that says something.]

Hate SHIELD that much, hunh?

[Rumlow asks, tone amused, but intention serious. Sure, Romanova had been loyal to Fury, the way he knew her, and he understood the man to have questionable morals (recruiting a former Soviet agent, agreeing to INSIGHT), but it surprises him to hear her speak ill of the organization. Did she not believe in the mission? Or is it something she's hiding from him that he's yet unaware of?]

I would've thought you liked getting out of Russia. You seemed happy, at least, back when we were all a team.

[He sips passively at his drink, as if the question is totally innocent curiosity rather than trying to suss out her loyalties. His tail flicks, then he shrugs and leans back.]

But I guess none of that shit really makes a difference now. Brimstone's the new Big Brother, even have an expeditionary force with the reapers, though I guess their missions are pretty singular in purpose.

[Rumlow shrugs in answer. He gets pop culture references, Twilight and all that garbage, but he's not a 13 year old girl or a middle aged woman, so he hasn't read them. He'll let the topic lie though, Kenzi having brought up something far more important. He looks at her, attentive, even as his tail swings slightly, making hers move with.]

That's... Christ, I don't even know how to address that. [He doesn't want to try and bring up the fact that at least this underworld is still actively sending people between here and there.] I would've thought that'd make you a martyr. Y'know, direct trip to Heaven, but I guess some asshole up there is fickle. I mean, I'm sorry you're dead, but hey. At least you've gotten to me some interesting characters down here. Present company included.

[Rumlow won't play like he's not glad to have met her. She's fun.]

It's not hate. There have been people I hated. With SHIELD-- [She sighs, takes a sip from her glass. Maybe it's a little bit of 20/20 hindsight, her inability to ignore the fact that the signs had been there if she'd bothered looking.] We were always about morally questionable things done to bring peace to the world.

[He does get a curl of her lips into a smile as he mentions when they were all a team, her being happy. And, the truth is, that he's not wrong. She had enjoyed it. The missions, working with people that she'd trusted. There had been times she'd missed it, even knowing it had been lies.]

Yeah, it was good. We worked well together and there were some fun times.

[She's never said that outloud, at least not since the Triskellion, not since realizing just what STRIKE had been. Having to wonder what it said about her that it had been so comfortable for her, that people like Rumlow and Rollins had been people she'd found it easy to get along with. Questions she was probably better off without the answers to.]

Pretty much everything that happened before is as good as ashes here. Rogers and Stark will hold onto it because they've never been good with change. But as far as I'm concerned, the only thing that matters is what we can make this world into.

[When she smiles this time, it's knife-sharp before she tempers it into something a little less devious. It's as close as he's going to get from her in regard to cards-on-the-table.]

Thanks.

[She's definitely not a martyr. Just stupidly loyal to the point of self sacrifice. When she finds friends, she sticks by them. No matter what. If Rumlow ever needed anything from her, she'd drop all the other shit and be there in a heartbeat. Same with Chase or Boss or Lloyd. The people she cares about are the most important things to her. More important than her self preservation instincts 100% of the time.]

Probably woulda been bored up there anyway. And you know, I'm really glad I met you, too. You're... a really good guy, Rumlow. Seriously, I mean it. [Wait a second. ] When you're not trying to get in my pants. You can be pretty bad then.

[That charming smile goes off again and Rumlow leans in, placing his hand on Kenzi's shoulder. She's so slight, it's easy for him to slide it up her neck, cup her cheek. His thumb brushes over the soft skin, eyes on hers.]

Thanks. Just like to leave a good impression. [His brow quirks up. Yeah, he means both ways.] Besides, you ain't no one to shrug off neither.

[He chucks her under the chin and sits back, hand returning to its place around his drink. He draws it up, sips, eyes looking her over, if only because he can. It's tough not to, she fits his type -- at least, where women are concerned. If he briefly imagines tossing her up onto the bar, she'll probably just think he's admiring her.]

[Her breath hitches when he slides his hand up her neck, but hopefully he didn't catch that. She can't help but lean into his touch, melting a little as she stares back into those brown eyes. Ugh. She's hooked. Sold. This crush is damn near painful.

It practically hurts when he goes back to his drink, and she can feel her cheeks heating up. She does love to be admired. How the hell would he know she's thinking about the same damn thing.]

Jesus, Brock. You're dangerous. One of these days we're gonna have a friendly drink where I don't wanna immediately go home with you, I swear. Stop that! Seriously, knock it off, I'm wholesome as fuck.

saw this and thought of you
rumlowcheckit.jpg

get it?
cuz i wanna sit on it
BOOM SEXTED!
TTYL

Edited 2016-09-16 23:28 (UTC)

[As it often does, her response just makes him laugh, leaning back to keep his head (and his horns) from bumping her as he ducks it down in mirth. He peeks up after, still smiling. Sure, everything is going exactly as he plans it too, but it doesn't change the fact that Kenzi's delivery is perfect. He just likes how her sense of humor aligns with his.]

Somehow I doubt that.

[He says, voice pitched low. What he doubts, he'll leave up to her. Either way, he licks his lips, brows lifting in an entirely suggestive manner. Even tilts his body in just the right way, arm shifting so the muscles flex. He knows what she's about.]

[It's okay. She doubts it, too.

His calculated, little tweaks to his posture has her staring at his arm for way too long before she snaps out of it. Sighing heavily, she tosses her head back and the rest of her drink goes along with it. She sets the empty glass back down on the counter, hard, before she swipes Rumlow's drink and finishes that off, as well.]

Okay, we're done here. Let's go. Come on.

[Her tail untangles from his and she grabs him by the belt, throwing dracos on the bar before tugging him the hell out of there. They might not even make it back to the house. Fuck you, Rumlow. You son of a bitch!]

[Morally questionable is one way of putting it. Rumlow knows HYDRA's beliefs, as well as his own, were hardly conventional when it came to what they did to push their agenda. It was entirely utilitarian, and he'd held firm to it. Once. Now? He knows it's everyone for themselves.

He shrugs to the comment though. There's nothing to disagree with. Even within SHIELD, whether it had been driven by HYDRA or not, he knows she's not just saying it. Nothing surprising, really, for an intelligence agency. Ethics are striven for, but compromises have to be made. It doesn't really keep him up at night.]

Yeah. No reason some of those can't continue though, right? [At the mention of Stark, Rumlow makes note.] If they ain't gonna play, then I guess we oughta step to the plate.

[He doesn't mind sharing this part of his agenda. After all, it isn't as if Romanova has any attachment to Hell or Brimstone. They're on a level playing field, so inviting her to share in this endeavor is harmless. Even if she tells Rogers or Stark, it won't matter. Hell, it might even entice Rogers -- not that Rumlow's got any interest in teaming up with him until after he's satisfied he's had his revenge. And maybe not even then.]

[The thing that got to her about it, was not knowing where SHIELD ended and Hydra began. For the years that she'd worked for SHIELD, she had no idea how much of it had just been working for Hydra. Still working for Hydra, if they're being completely honest about what Leviathan was.

It doesn't keep her up at night as often as it should. Because the worst things she's done weren't in service to SHIELD. And she'd known, known Hydra was a ghost in the dark, even if she hadn't know they were inside SHIELD, she'd known they were out there. And in the end it's too perfect and it makes too much sense. The fact that James had tried to kill her had almost been a comfort, a reassurance that they hadn't kept her under their thumb.]

Mm, I suppose. If you ever need someone for a mission... [She trails off, but the smile that curls her lips is offer enough. She assumed he knew about Stark already; Tony was an Avenger and he isn't subtle. But she's hoping they don't talk much, that Rumlow's on Tony's punch in the face list too. Because given what he knows about her and his likely desire to throw her under a bus, he could unravel what she told Rumlow.]

The two of us? Sounds interesting. You have a plan or just grand intentions?

[It sharpens her smile, puts a glint in her eyes. She is sure that this is what the Road to Hell looks like. But thankfully, she's already in Hell. She bothered lying to him in the first place because he's capable, competent, and this is exactly the sort of thing that could make it worth it, depending on the precise sort of groundwork this works out to. She takes a slow sip of her drink, more cursory than anything, putting on the show of it. He's sharp enough she's not inclined to risk even the little bit alcohol affects her without a reason.]

I've picked up a few jobs, but I'm still working on getting pieces in play, so to speak.

psssssssssst
hey b-rock
rumlow
hey.
guess what

Chicken butt.

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