Marguerite Blakeney is clearly beyond scruples (blazeinhereyes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-07-01 19:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, marguerite blakeney, natasha romanoff (black widow) |
Who: Marguerite and Natasha
When: Catching up
When: Today, lunch time
Where: Random restaurant
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
Natasha had asked Marguerite to lunch. Of course, with Nat, half the time it was more than lunch, though today it was supposed to be just lunch.
At least that had been Nat’s intention. Whether intent and reality actually intersected was another thing entirely.
She took a seat, leaning back after ordering a water, waiting for Marguerite.
As with any show, now that Newsies was over, life had mellowed out for Marguerite. There were of course auditions to look into and her work at Pimpernel Outreach and voice lessons and keeping up on dance lessons, but that she was now better able to meet up with people for lunch.
Though with Natasha inviting her to lunch, the actress well knew that there was always the chance that she’d be asked to get information on something. Especially now that she had the time to do so. It was a toss up really.
Having finished up with some things at Pimpernel Outreach, Marguerite made her way to the chosen restaurant and made her way to the table Natasha was at.
“Sorry, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”
“I’m in no hurry today,” Natasha assured her. “In fact I’m taking a bit of time off. Assuming the county behaves, anyway.”
While she wasn’t at all done with the Red Room, that was going to be a few months off at the soonest. Until then, well, she did promise Stahma she’d take care of herself.
Natasha taking time off, would wonders never cease? Though she did know it was usually a good thing. Like Freya, the other woman definitely was in need of some time off but currently seemed to be going full steam ahead and no one had been able to convince her to take time off yet.
“Well that’s always good to hear.”
And it was. Though there was always the concern that the county would act up and any planned time off would then be cut short as was the way of life here.
“The county behaving or the time off?” Nat asked, smiling at her. “Order whatever you want. It’s my treat.”
Nat was starving, so she planned to order a big lunch.
“Both really.” The fact she’d gotten through two shows without incident once they were in production was a miracle really. Okay so she had died right before Newsies opened. But that was completely besides the point as nothing happened during the actual run and she’d also been saved.
“Well thank you.”
Smiling, Marguerite looked over the menu that was in front of her.
Dying wasn’t exactly a big deal to someone from realities where death was a literal revolving door. Getting better was a common occurrence. Though Nat would tease Marguerite about it if she felt like it. “What show do you think you’ll be in next?”
The dying thing wasn’t exactly something that had been broadcasted, not even Armand had been told that particular detail. And if Marguerite had any say, it would stay that way. It was something that had happened and it had worked out and now she and Percy were married and that was that.
“I’m not quite sure. It depends on what comes up in auditions.” She had noticed auditions for Bonnie & Clyde, but as it was a show she had already performed, she wasn’t so sure about going back to it, though she did love it.
“There has been some talk of getting the cast of Bandstand back together to perform at Fleet Week, but that’s mostly just talk at the moment.”
“Is there anything I could do to help?” Natasha asked. She owed Marguerite a lot, and was willing to find ways to repay her, besides monetarily.
“With what? The Bandstand reunion mostly just depends on if those of us who were principle roles are all available though I have a good feeling about it happening. As for other auditions, it’s really just seeing what’s out there.”
There was the issue of the underground network that she, Percy, and Freya were putting together but that was less to do with anything she needed help with at the moment.
“I don’t know, anything.” Even when she was supposed to be taking time off, Natasha needed to do things. Lots and lots of things. Anything.
She just needed to act.
Marguerite would laugh at the fact that Natasha needed to do things even when she should be taking time off, but she was like that herself and she knew Percy was as well. It seemed to be a shared trait among many, really.
“Well there’s always work with Pimpernel Outreach.”
“Tell me about that,” Natasha said. She was aware of it and a lot of the work that it did, but it was always best to hear about it directly. The way someone spoke about it could be educational. “And how I could help.”
There were always so many things that needed to be considered. However Marguerite did think that Natasha being a bit more aware of what they were doing could be helpful. Just in case. It was important for security purposes that not too many people knew, but Natasha was well aware of that sort of concern, and she had resources that could be helpful.
“We have a lot of different things we do. Our focus is on helping women and children who have escaped abusive situations. Law help, immigration help, education help and job training. So there’s always volunteering.”
As the waitress showed up, Marguerite put in her order and waited for Natasha to put hers in and then waited until they were alone before dropping her voice given the more sensitive nature.
“We’re also working on a small network, similar to our dreams, to help those who need it but are unable to get out of their situations, where the law has failed them.”
Natasha nodded, listening as Marguerite spoke. Those were all things that would be in her wheelhouse, things that she’d be wholly behind. She leaned forward as well, “Something underground.”
There were reasons she had ended up deciding that she could tell Natasha. It was her wheelhouse and there were just skills and resources she had available that might be necessary. Both Percy and Freya had international contacts, they were figuring out the safe houses. But there were always things that needed to be considered and taken into account.
“Precisely.”
She leaned back, a thoughtful expression on her face. Money was a concern. Supplies. Relocation. New identities in some cases. Eliminating the cause, in others.
All things that Natasha excelled at, “Sounds like we need to bend the law.”
Percy had told Marguerite how the plan had first started, Freya’s work with asylum seekers and what happened when someone was denied. The bending of the law was precisely why they were keeping the circle fairly small and only with those they could really trust. And why she had yet to broach the topic with her brother given he was in school for being a lawyer.
“When the law fails them, sometimes it’s necessary. We’re in the process of getting safe houses, and contacts on the ground and abroad. All of this going on beneath the surface while we continue doing the work that we’ve discussed openly.” After all, there were many different parts of the nonprofit and most of it was perfectly law abiding.
“I’ve got a lot of experience with safe houses,” Natasha murmured, without a trace of irony. “Mostly what you need to do to keep them active and keep them ignored. I can help with documentation, too.”
Marguerite wasn’t shocked in the slightest that Natasha had experience with safe houses. And it would be more current than the experience she and Percy had from the Reign of Terror. And documentation was one thing they had yet to really go over. It had been taking one step at a time to get things set up.
“All of which would be helpful.”
“Okay. I’ll run some preliminary data for you, check with a few contacts. On the down low, of course. They never need to know what its for.” Secrecy was important and it was hard to trust people these days. Nat never trusted anyone so that wasn’t a problem.
Marguerite was more trusting but she knew better than to trust just anyone. There were a lot of things to take into consideration after all. However she knew that this sort of work was what Natasha did and given what she did for Natasha when asked? Well she knew she could trust her with this.
“That would be appreciated.”
“Anytime.” Their food arrived, and someone sat at the table nearby, so that subject of conversation was over. Time to talk about musicals!