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[abbacchiohno]

A QUESTION FOR A QUESTION


YOU MAY KNOW EACH OTHER ALREADY - OR YOU MAY NOT. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU'RE NOW PASSING THE TIME ASKING EACH OTHER QUESTIONS. IT'S A GAME! A QUESTION FOR A QUESTION. YOU START OFF ASKING YOUR OPPONENT A QUESTION OF CHOICE AND IF THEY ANSWER IT, THEY'RE ALLOWED TO ASK YOU A QUESTION IN TURN. THE RULES ARE SIMPLE, ONLY AS LONG AS YOU ANSWER THE OTHER PERSON'S QUESTIONS ARE YOU ALLOWED TO ASK QUESTIONS YOURSELF, BUT THERE IS NO EXPECTATION OF TRUTHFULNESS HERE, LIE IF YOU MUST OR WANT, JUST KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING.

How to play -
1. Comment with your character's name, fandom and preference.
2. If you want, leave a question in the comment field that your character is asking their opponent. Or don't. I'm not the cops.
3. Pick other characters to question and have fun!

Comments

[ciadirector]

Sometimes it pushes you forward.

Is there a point to living in the past?

[so_many_pockets]

No. It will only haunt you worse if you try to.

Why does it only push you forward sometimes?

[ciadirector]

Sometimes hiding behind them for a while is easier than moving on.

What haunts you most?

[so_many_pockets]

In terms of regret? The other Widows. The ones we failed to get out before the Blip. I spent all that time so heavily focused on that, thinking there would be time for me and Natasha afterward, and in the end I failed and she was gone.

Is hiding behind them really easier, or is it just less scary?

[ciadirector]

I doubt the Widows you did save would think you failed. [ She even can say that from among the one she hired. ] Or your sister, but I understanding wanting time.

Depends on how you view the two. What are you most afraid of?

[so_many_pockets]

But the ones I did not save cannot even answer.

In one sense, being alone again. In another, I have a recurring nightmare that the antidote to the mind control turns out not to be permanent. Or that one day my brain melts out of my ears while I sleep from all the chemicals.
How do YOU view the two?

[ciadirector]

I had two friends in my training class at SHIELD. We were tasked with dismantling an old base, and we realized too late that someone had been there to rig the building with explosives. Sometimes people just get lost.

[ If there's a hint of pain in her expression, she tries to hide it still. ]

Regret reminds me what I've done, and how I'd do it differently the next time. Guilt is how I know it's not too late.

You've got a whole bunch of people now. Don't you think they'll have your back?

[so_many_pockets]

[...

The pain is noted, and for that, Yelena is gentler than she would have been otherwise when she replies.] No. I can't and won't accept that.

I believe they will try or want to have my back. Since the Blip... there is additional depth to the fear. I would never have chosen to leave. It did not matter.

What do you do with your guilt, then?

[ciadirector]

Okay, don't accept it. Wallow in it for a while. Where do you feel the pain?

[ She's not very good with this kind of thing, clearly, but she knows she needs to shift her approach here. Yelena probably needed a pat on the shoulder or some validation of the kind that wasn't 'tough shit', unsympathetic reality, or complete pity. The best Val can do is drop the act and hand her a couple tissues if she starts crying. ]

Yeah, the Blip sucked. Five years gone in the blink of an eye, and lasting forever for the people here.

[ For all the power she'd gained, she's not sure it countered the loss of people she cared about in that time... ]

I ignore it. Sometimes it bubbles up, and I cry, and I try ten bad habits and hope one sticks. Nothing sticks.