(Untitled)

[widowskiss]

Dressed in comfortable clothing, Natalia reaches for the morning sun, stretching idly as her students begin filing into the clearing outside the school. It’s early yet, but she’s been up for hours, her casual movements now solely to instill an sense of normality and calm in what will surely be a few nervous bodies

Comments

[widowskiss]

Natalia keeps to the edge of the class as it begins to disperse. While she'd only been harsh with Hank and Nathan, her expression is markedly more open now, friendly to welcome any comments or questions her students might have. All in all she's pleased with the progress they've made already, and even if only one student returns come Saturday, she'll at last feel she's done something better here than await the next disaster.

[everyone_takes]

It was gross to admit it, even to herself, but the jukebox playing 'Dream Police' one day was the reason Kate had signed up for this class. She'd never exactly been the type of girl to take shit from anyone, but Gene Stuart had proven once that it didn't take an especially smart guy to make Kate feel really fucking creeped out. And sometimes, not taking shit didn't even work, again, as Gene 'Creepy as Hell' Stuart had demonstrated.

Plus, Natalia was pretty much the most badass woman on the island, as far as Kate was concerned.

She wasn't the type of girl to hang around after class and talk to the teachers, but Kate found herself wandering toward Natalia anyway. "Hey," she said, grinning a little, feeling faintly self-conscious. "So, pretty awesome class. I'm excited."

[widowskiss]

"I'm glad," says Natalia. She's not a woman to need reassurances, but she'd be a fool not to feel pleasure at receiving them all the same, and her smile warms. Her satisfaction is not all with herself - Kate's done well today, her movements perhaps not as coordinated as some of the others, but that will come with time.

"I hope the theatrics didn't bother you," she adds, looking towards Nathan, still sitting sullen with his icepack. "I expect the next class will be calmer."

[everyone_takes]

"What, the dudes?" Kate asked, looking for them. "No, that was awesome. It was..." She trailed off, unsure of the word she was looking for. Tara had always taught her to be strong, but it wasn't until Lynda that she'd felt she could do something on her own, something that could be bigger than her.

"Empowering," she said finally, realizing that was what it was. "Like, I could do that one day. That's pretty cool to think about." Ballet was hard in its own way, but it was completely different than this and Kate had never done anything else in the way of being physical.

[widowskiss]

"Nerve pinches are advanced," says Natalia, "but we'll get there." As for the power..."It can be addictive, learning what your body can do." She looks down at her hands, fingertips rubbing smoothly together. "What it can do to others. We'll be learning that, too. Ultimately, the skills taught in this class are meant for protection, not revenge."

Sensing that she's getting ahead of herself, Natalia tempers the conversation with a smile. "Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it," she says, gaze sliding towards Hank who's only now begun to stir.

[everyone_takes]

"Yeah, I don't mean..." Kate paused, trying to figure out what she wanted to say, how to explain why the class was appealing to her. It wasn't that she wanted to go find Gene and pinch him until he fell over -- although, if the opportunity presented itself, she might, but Gene wasn't here and she hoped he never would be -- but she didn't ever want to have to run away again.

"There was this guy I dated back home. I mean, I guess dated is like, a super loose term," she said. "But when I tried to end it, he got super creepy and started sending me these videos of himself reciting poetry he'd written for me and he stole a picture and kept it in his desk and like, broke into my house and waited for me. So..." She shrugged. "I don't want to feel that way again. If that makes sense."

[widowskiss]

"Perfect sense." Natalia had expected something similar, and though she's long since accepted that this is the kind of world most women must occupy, she's not so jaded that it does not still move her to anger.

"You don't have to tell me," she says, "but I'm curious as to what happened after you discovered him there."

[everyone_takes]

Briefly, Kate's mouth quirked up into a smile as she thought about it. At the time, it hadn't been all that funny, but looking back, she knew it was good that nothing bad had happened. "He, um... he said he got fired from his job because of me and that we needed to run away together," she said, remembering the look on his face, the hopeful expression he'd worn that had bordered on a little crazy. "So I told him to wait in the living room because I needed time to think about it and then I grabbed my mom's car keys and snuck out the back door."

And when they'd come back, he'd been gone.

[widowskiss]

Natalia's mouth quirks again in a smile. Clever girl. "That was smart," she says. "There's no harm in running if it means you survive. He might simply have been overzealous, but to balance your own safety against a presumption..." Natalia lifts her shoulder in a pretty shrug. The old spy in her wants to keep a professional distance, but the woman she remains doesn't wish to appear so hard that she can speak of nothing but violence and danger. If she must make a life on the island, it might as well be a real one.

"You did well in ballet the other day," she says. "Have you had training before the island?"

[everyone_takes]

"Yeah," Kate said, brightening. It was actually sort of weird how much she wanted to impressed Natalia, but between her mother being sort of crazy and her aunt being... well, her aunt, she'd always sort of been looking for some strong female figure and she never would have said that out loud. That sort of thing would have killed Tara.

"I've been dancing for years," she admitted. "I mean, I'm not professional or anything, but I love it. You're, um... in my law class, too, right?"

[widowskiss]

Natalia nods. "Yes," she says, something younger in her smile now. "I have no real interest in the law, but it's taught by a friend of mine. An ex, actually. I expect he'll be very good, he's something of a perfectionist." Her eyebrow quirks. "In all things."

[everyone_takes]

Kate laughed, her nose wrinkling a little, but she didn't have to act the same way she did around Danny. It was almost a joke now, giving him a hard time when he said things like that.

"Well, I'm just worried about him being a good teacher," she said, laughing again. "But it's kinda nice knowing you're friendly with an ex. I mean, knowing they're not all creepers."

[widowskiss]

"No," says Natalia. "They are not, though I've found most people will behave poorly when emotions run high. But that does not excuse it." She sighs, resisting the urge to fold her arms. "Just be sure to do all your homework with Matt, and turn it in in time." The man could be frighteningly creative when it came to punishments. "It will make your life easier."

[psychoenough]

It takes Annie longer than she lets on to muster the courage to approach their instructor. The way that she took out those two men, anyone would be frightened, intimidated, but Annie finds that her greatest worry is letting Natalia Romanova down. The woman has in but little over an hour cemented herself as a personal hero and role model to Annie.

"Hi," she says on an exhale, biting her lip in a nervous smile. "I'm Annie Edison. I was just wondering, should we call you Professor Romanova, or Ms. Romanova, or...?"

[widowskiss]

Natalia waits the girl out, content to watch the other students while Annie plans her approach. She's done well today, throwing herself into every form with such enthusiasm that Natalia could almost pity anyone who ever dared attack her.

"Oh," she replies, surprised to find something for which she's not meticulously prepared. Agents trained by her in S.H.I.E.L.D. simply called her the Black Widow, but that won't do here, and she doesn't at all care for Professor. "Natasha, I think," she says after a moment. "It is what my friends call me, and I hope we will all be friends. You did very well today, did you enjoy yourself?"

[psychoenough]

Annie can barely contain herself, and resorting to biting on her bottom lip is the only way that she manages to refrain from squealing in delight. It takes but a moment's glance to discern that Natasha is not only knowledgeable on the subject, but supremely experienced as well. For someone that good to approve of Annie's efforts means a lot, especially given how nervous she was that her previous martial arts training might not hold up, or worse, turn out to be a hindrance. "I really did! Not too much, of course, I'm here to learn and I wouldn't dream of wasting your time. But yes."