Who: Riddick riddickr & Natasha Romanoff russianspy What: Learning the job together. When: Wednesday, April 8, early morning Where: Loveless Park Rating: Audience Discretion is Advised Warnings: Foul language, discussion of rude topics, crudeness, Riddick, an assassin who takes no shit from anyone, and generally speaking all around dangerzone materials are contained herein. Status: Closed/Completed GDoc
~*~
Loveless Park was more inviting than the desert had been for Riddick and Deirdre. The wild woman fit better in the lush surroundings of the green grass and vibrant trees; her feet were softer, fleeter as she raced down paths covered in fallen leaves, cushioned by mosses and the richness of soil hidden from the harsh light of day by a protective canopy. Riddick felt more free in the recesses of the park as well. He was a creature devoted to darkness. One would have to be insane to think he'd rather spend his time scorching in the desert than being cool in the shadows.
Riddick had not applied for a job. He would not have applied for a job. His night had been spent finding a nice place to sleep with the wild woman, somewhere outside, not in one of those cells they were calling apartments while his morning had been spent puzzling out his congratulations on accepting the position of groundskeeper at Loveless Park. There was a description of things he'd be doing as if he weren't doing them anyway: clearing rubble from walking trails, ensuring trash was disposed of properly, littering inside the park was frowned upon, people were meant to keep all violence or violent activity outside of the sanctity of the park's grounds, no one was allowed to perform any illegal activities within the park, and on and on and on.
He had shaken his head in disgust at the list, but it seemed reasonable enough. They were going to put money into his account for doing what he'd planned to do all the while. Deirdre was going to be given the same treatment. This was to be their park. It felt nice to realize whoever was running the show respected them enough to give them their privacy. A place where they could be free to roam wild as the animals they were at heart...that was nice.
"No man is an island, huh?"
Riddick called the question out to the redhead he saw in front of him. She had been after his mutt something fierce back in the old place. The mongrel bounded over to her to rub against her leg, circling her as if she were his favorite person to see. It hadn't forgotten the treats the woman had slipped it back in that other world. Riddick wasn't about to tell the mongrel to come to him. There was every likelihood she'd take a liking to the creature again, give him an opening with her which he'd need since he wasn't precisely the best with people.
"Here I was figuring me and my wild woman were going to be all alone taking care of this little slice of wildlife. You don't remember me, but we've met. The mutt remembers you, too. You snuck him treats. Liked him. He won't hurt you. What brings you to the park grounds? Trying to avoid civilization or you get a job here with the likes of me, my mutt, and a wild woman?"
~*~
Natasha was not a normal person, not by any stretch of the imagination. She didn’t do set hours, sitting behind a desk, or doing the same things over and over again. That just wasn’t how she operated, and that was never going to change. This place wasn’t going to change that, though she saw the benefit of what structure could do for her friends. It would definitely be good for Stark, Pepper and Steve. It would be hit or miss for Barnes, depending on how bad his PTSD was and how much space Steve gave him. Clint would no doubt have fun at the cafe, seeing as it was right up his alley. Being a groundskeeper was really the only plausible thing for her. It would allow her to observe her surroundings and the people who’d been brought to Test City. The job would certainly provide latitude in terms of hours and responsibilities, which was just fine with her. And hey, money coming in was never a bad thing.
Waking early in the morning happened sometimes. Natasha had learned long ago to just roll with it. There was no better time than the present for her to get started in her new role, meeting the other groundskeepers. Or just one other, seeing as there was only one other person around the park this early in the morning. She inclined her head in greeting to the man who was plenty intimidating in his own right. There was a Mutt at her feet, rubbing against her legs and circling her like it knew her. Natasha stayed very still, eyeing the dog warily. Her gaze shifted to the man across from her and the information he held.
“Sounds like me,” Natasha replied after a long moment, considering what he had to say and the evidence of the Mutt’s behavior. She gave in and knelt down, rubbing the animal behind the ears. If she were honest with herself, she did always have a soft spot for dogs, particularly ones that looked like they could hold their own. “Job’s sort of a loose term for me, but yes,” she added, standing up to walk closer to the man. “Figured being a groundskeeper was a good enough way for me to keep an eye on things.” Her head tilted to the side slightly, looking at him curiously. “You and your mutt got a name?”
~*~
People not knowing his name would never get old to Riddick. He grinned, a real one, as he realized she was entirely serious in her question. One of these days he'd have to name the damn mutt. It was nice to feel ordinary enough to need an introduction for himself. He'd have been fine letting people call him anything at all, but it might upset the wild woman. She came from people who cared about respect, manners, all that shit.
"Riddick. The mutt doesn't have a name. Typically just call him 'mutt.' He answers to it. Figure it's as good as a name. You still want me calling you Natasha or you prefer something new now?"
Names were only names to him. It wouldn't matter if she wanted him to call her Mistress or Slut, she was still the same person he'd met before. Jack's transformation into Kyra had been the only time a name had meant anything to Riddick and she was dead.
The dead didn't matter. They couldn't. A man couldn't survive life if he worried about all the dead he'd left behind.
Riddick thought on what it would be like to work with her. She was fast enough. Capable. It struck him as fitting to see her out in the wilds with him and Deirdre. None of them were the type to want to let anyone cage them; jobs set in places, indoors, behind walls, they were only ways of making people into slaves who settled willingly into their chains, closed their own cell doors behind them. It wasn't any kind of life in his mind. Not for anyone.
"Wild woman is called Deirdre. Comes from Amber. She's a princess there. Don't call her 'Your Highness' or she might slit your throat. Don't upset her or I might slit your throat. This place basically wants us to babysit the wildlife to keep it wild enough to give all the rats in this maze a taste of freedom. I figure none of us will have a problem with that. You ever want company while you're patrolling, the mutt's yours to wander off with as long as you leave me a note. Contrary to popular belief? I read just fine. We made us a home back against the wall to the far west. Deirdre will likely be sticking to patrolling around the perimeter and near to our base camp. We got no reason to live in their cookie cutter apartments. Here's fine enough for us. I can take any route you want. You're welcome to tell me where you prefer. I'm taking nights. You want to set a schedule? I got a feeling we'll be running out the clandestine fuckers come nightfall. Romantic needs and shit."
~*~
She’d said something to amuse him, from the wide, unguarded grin on his face, and that made her grin. Riddick was an interesting name, and that paired well with the image he was presenting of himself. “Riddick and Mutt,” Natasha repeated, testing the names on her tongue. “Natasha’s fine, but I won’t kill you if you call me Nat,” she offered with a wink, scratching Mutt behind the ears one more time before standing to her full height. Even in jeans, a tee, and combat boots, Natasha was well armed and could certainly hold her own. Whatever might present as an issue, she was confident she’d be able to handle it without back up.
Information, particularly personal information, was always difficult to parse out for people like her. Yet he was giving her important pieces as if he trusted her. Natasha wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, honestly a touch uncomfortable with the whole thing, but she kept a professional look on her face - slightly guarded, but appreciative for the information. “I’ll leave your section alone,” she promised, before gesturing to the path that would lead them around the border as their route. Mutt fell into step between them, Natasha was pleased to see.
“I have a feeling Mutt might be the one taking me out on patrol,” she commented lightly, testing the bounds of their previous friendship. It was easy to see why he appealed to her, but Natasha would need time before she could trust him the same way he seemed to be trusting her. “It’ll take me a few days to get accustomed to the park, get the lay of the land. I’ll spend the night out here, more than likely, but I’ll keep clear of your place. After that, doesn’t matter to me.” Any clandestine fuckers - as he put it - would likely need only a stern warning from the pair of them to see the error of their ways. “I think we’ll be able to handle things, though I did see there’s supposed to be four of us. I’ll take the days you’re patrolling nights, unless Deirdre wants them.” Natasha knew she worked better either alone or with someone she knew. She didn’t technically know Riddick, but he knew her and that made her want to know him.
~*~
Shaking his head to the negative, Riddick prowled along the pathway through the park at Natasha's side with all the concern of a predator who knew himself to be the top of the food chain. He had no worries about what the wild woman would want with her schedule. She'd set it to please herself. They had their understanding of one another's boundaries. Neither was the other's keeper.
"Wild woman sets her own pace. I don't try to guess her choices or tell her what she wants to do. She's more a day creature in some ways. I wouldn't be surprised if she preferred to take the days while I take nights. We could see one another in passing. Keep everything," Riddick considered, "Easy."
Easy was a good way to describe their relationship. It wasn't about possession or ownership yet it was at the same time. He wanted to be able to call her his wild woman. Riddick had a primal part of him which howled at the thought of claiming her for himself forever, but he beat it back because he'd be a fucking human before he'd cage a free spirit when he himself fought constantly for his own freedom from the chains of the world.
Natasha set an easy pace as they moved along. The mongrel would bound ahead as if scouting the terrain only to come back to her, rub against her leg to remark her with his scent, then head out in front once more. It was amusing enough to have him nearly smiling. It'd been a long time since Riddick had met someone with Natasha's tendencies. She was self-contained. A rare trait among humans which Riddick happened to prize greatly.
"Mutt there does like to take the lead. Got a good sense for trouble. He'll keep you out of trouble if you do take him on patrol. Let him have his head. He'll come back every time. You can see that now. He's from a place where everything moving wants a piece of him, me, you, everyone. A world of predators. He was built to survive in the worst case scenarios. You'll do fine with him. I won't mind if you feel like taking him out every now and again."
Riddick had been hesitant in the other place. In this place? He didn't feel the same need to be careful. It was as if he'd gotten to be as much a veteran at being kidnapped thanks to the other world as he was a veteran at being a convict.
"You got someone you need to check with before you make your times up? I know I ain't met the other one on our team. She's something else. I figure she wants to negotiate her times? She'll show up eventually. Otherwise I'll do me and trust her to do her."
~*~
Riddick and Deirdre seemed to have a good system going for them, in terms of their relationship. It reminded her a lot of the way she and Clint had been for a long time, the way they still were for the archer. The past two years had changed her, but Clint was always good at rolling with things. She was just a little concerned because it seemed like he was surprised by the fact that she’d gone after him to make sure he got out of wherever he was unscathed by her actions in DC. Maybe not surprised exactly, but as if it wasn’t a given that she’d do that. Natasha didn’t know how she felt about that, but she did know that Mutt, Riddick, and the park would be a good place to think and find a balance.
She wanted something more permanent with Clint, more in the way of what Pepper and Stark shared, with rings and legalities. Being spies, that was never an option for them. Their pasts and what they’d already signed up to do as part of the Avengers probably made it equally impossible, but she was her own person now. She was part of a team, yes, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were all not HYDRA. They would do good. Natasha sighed softly, pushing the thoughts from her mind. She didn’t want to deal with it now.
“We’ll see how it shakes out, then,” she replied agreeably. It would be what it would be, and she’d deal with whatever it was. That was how her life went, and she actually didn’t mind that particular aspect of it. Working at SHIELD, things had often been last minute or unpredictable. That was just part of the job, and if this position required flexibility, Natasha could live with that. It could be worse. Mutt was good company, running ahead for a bit before coming back. Maybe she’d take a look at the Adoption Center and see about a dog of her own. Wouldn’t be fair to take Mutt all the time, after all.
“He’s a good...Mutt,” Natasha replied, grinning slightly at the fact that she really wasn’t sure what the animal was. “I don’t have to check in with anyone, about my hours. It’ll fluctuate, but that’s a perk of this job, I’m guessing. My friends’ve all got jobs around town, but the park’s a good fit for me. Even if I was the last on the list after I eliminated all the other options.” Her smile was a little rueful then, because wandering a park had been the most suitable option. “You know anything about the fourth? Aside from her being something else?” Which, if she were being honest, that description covered a whole hell of a lot in her opinion.
~*~
Riddick shrugged. He didn't know anything about the other woman beyond she was female, inhuman, and smelled nice. She hadn't approached him; he had no reason to approach her. It was currently a situation which wouldn't be resolved without someone making a move. Given that someone would not be Riddick unless he had a really good reason for it? He wouldn't be able to shed any light on the topic for Natasha.
"Smells nice. Female. Keeps to herself. Quiet. That's all I know. She wants to change that? I'll let you know."
He wouldn't keep Natasha in the dark on their coworker. If she needed to know something? He'd tell her. She had proven loyal which was all Riddick asked of anyone in the world to make them worthwhile to him. A person willing to overlook he'd been a convict, happened to be the last of an alien race of killers and warlords, and had conquered a death-worshipping civilization to claim their armada as his own?
Yeah.
She was good people.
Mutt liked her too which helped. Riddick wasn't sure how he felt about the mongrel's affections for the redhead. It was nice in a way. Showed she was really a person of decent worth. Animals could sense things about people. Even the little animals knew when someone wasn't right---it was how they stayed alive, avoided prey, kept from becoming something's dinner. His mongrel liked a handful of people to date. Other than Deirdre, the wild woman of Amber, Natasha was his favorite.
She also smelled nice. Gun oil, steel, leather. She was a conundrum in her scent versus her appearance. Natasha looked as if she should be delicate, breakable. She smelled as if she were a warrior someone should think three to four times about before approaching for a fight. Riddick knew he wouldn't swing on her unless she gave him no other choice and that had zero to do with her being female.
Men who claimed they wouldn't hit a woman because she was a woman were fucking stupid. They deserved the deaths coming to them. Women could be ten times more vicious than men. It was the way of things.
"You smell nice, too. In case you wanted to know my opinion on the matter."
Opinions were like assholes. Everyone had one and mostly it was nothing more than shit what came out of them. Riddick offered his up when asked. Most people didn't ask. They didn't want to hear the truth as he saw it. His truth was never very nice, but it was always very honest. Honesty was all what mattered to him. Depending on the circumstances.
~*~
“I’ll do the same.” Loyalty was something Natasha valued, along with holding true to her word. Her reputation was important to her and she’d worked hard to maintain the skills that backed her claims. Sharing information was easily done with Riddick. He’d proven himself to be interesting, thoughtful, and respectful. She had no doubt, just from looking at him, that he would be good to have in a fight. If half of what Pepper had shared with her about the other place held true for Test City, they would need allies. Riddick and Mutt were good additions.
His observation of her smell made her smile. “I imagine you’re smelling more than just my brown sugar and vanilla body scrub,” Natasha replied dryly, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. She cocked her head in consideration for a moment before continuing, “Can you tell how many weapons I have on me?” It was a challenge of sorts, to see if he could correctly identify the gun at her back, garrotte line on her wrist, and knives tucked in her boot, at her hip, and up her sleeves.
“Call it professional curiosity. You’re more observant than most, and you knew a version of me that appeared in your Fake Vegas from roughly the same point in time I was brought here from. I think that puts you at the advantage, not counting that nose of yours.” Clint would know all of her weapons in a heartbeat. So would Coulson, Fury, Hill, and probably the Winter Soldier as well. Stark and Steve would be able to pick out the obvious, and should know by now how well armed she liked to be. She wanted to know what his baseline was, and as long as it was more observant than Stark and the Captain? Natasha would be pleased.
~*~
Challenges were the fodder of life for Riddick. He only lived to face another challenge on another day. It kept things interesting and without being interesting? What was the fucking point? He'd never know. No one had ever been anything other than 'interesting' or 'boring' to him in his entire life with the exception of the kid, Jack, and the wild woman, Deirdre. One was dead because he'd fallen short of the challenge presented before him to save her; the other was alive because no one threatened her life without her own challenge being issued.
He prowled closer to the redhead, silent, stealthy, unnaturally so for a man of his bulk. Riddick waited until he was barely brushing her back with his body before he trailed his fingers over her wrist lightly. He leaned down to let his mouth hover near the delicate shell of her ear. Weapons were sacred things to Furyans. They were their own kind of secret intimacies the same as getting a glimpse of a male's dick or sneaking a peak at a female's snatch. Weapons were made for whispers, not screams.
"Garrotte line there on your wrist, gun at your back, fully loaded with one in the trigger, well-maintained, smells new yet obviously isn't, knives on your hip are out of balance by a few milligrams on the back ends, probably learned to compensate for it, but I would have replaced them myself. Got a set in you boot, too. They're better. Beautifully balanced. Probably shine like falling stars as they move through the air to sink into a target. The tinkertoys up your sleeves? I wouldn't call those blades. They're hardly better class than shivs. I made better throwers in lockdown. A woman like you? Deserves better. I'll see what I can do. Don't make me dodge any of your toys, hhm? See you around, Natasha."
Riddick whistled for the mutt as he ghosted himself away from the woman. He heard the mongrel's paws bounding behind him, surpassing him, grinned as he threw himself into the trees to swing faster, pushing the creature to keep up its pace. They were survivors, he and Mutt. They'd make it through this world same as the last. He'd tell Deirdre not to do anything rash where the redhead was concerned. She had been good to have around back in the other place. It was likely she'd be good to have around here. At least she wasn't boring.