First Entrance: Maria Hill

[holds_her_own]

Great, more paperwork.


A woman of average height and medium build, wearing a blue uniform and sidearm, walks in. Her eyes shift around the room, hand darting for her weapon.


"Anyone mind explaining what the fuck is going on? I'm armed, and extremely annoyed."


It's worse than dangerous.


Welcome to Milliways, Agent Hill.


[OoC: Eventually, Hill will make her way to the Bar and receive the note Clint left for her, so if you'd prefer to skip past the Welcome To Milliways chat, I'm cool with that! If you have any questions about Hill, see here, and I'm also on AIM and in crackchat as LordoLorien. Thanks! ETA: As of 3am EST, I'm heading to bed. Consider this post open to new tags indefinitely. Thank you, everyone! ♥]

Comments

[holds_her_own]

Her lips twitch.

"Interesting."

She looks across the room at the bar itself, long enough to catch a few orders materializing out of what looks like thin air.

"What kind of things?"

[redintheledger]

"A few days ago it was creepy, magic-infected sentient toys. They apparently came in from another world that had magic because the boy wasn't paying attention. That was resolved," she adds, then she pauses.

She cants her head a little.

"Sapient. There was an intelligence there. Sentience is an imprecise term."








On the plus side of linguistic/geeky tangents, Romanoff obviously feels comfortable enough doing so.

[holds_her_own]

Hill side-eyes her.

"My mistake."

For those trained in dealing with Hill, they'll notice the minute signs of smiling without her lips actually moving.

Nataliya Romanova, the Scholar.

"How long have you been coming here?"

[redintheledger]

She smiles back, a tiny amount, but the question prompts a hesitation.

She's not, usually, a person who hesitates.

"Roughly three months," she says.




"That I remember."

[holds_her_own]

"And ... the boss knows?"

She's careful not to call him by name, taking another sweep of the room.

[redintheledger]

"He does. So does Coulson, and Barton." She regards Hill evenly, letting the other agent do the visual sweep. "Barton left a note with the Bar."

[holds_her_own]

She arches an eyebrow.

"How thoughtful."

Good. Something about knowing key members of SHIELD are here puts her at ease.

To be fair, it's mostly Coulson and Romanoff. She always knows where they stand.

"Did he file a report?"

[redintheledger]

"Of course." It's Barton, of course there is a report. The man might hate paperwork, but he's a professional. "Ask the boss about it."

Pause.

"Barton and I have a cover here. We're married."

They are, technically, married anyway, but it's mostly a note of next of kin, and office gossip.

"As a bar, Milliways is not without its creeps."

[holds_her_own]

That eyebrow? Arches even higher.

"Congratulations."

Beat.

"I didn't get you anything."

[redintheledger]

Romanoff? Could try and justify herself further, with creeps and being married is an excellent barrier when one is being a mild-mannered civilian, and it all sounds too much like justification, so she just smiles.

"I wouldn't say no to a new wok or gun-safe."

[holds_her_own]

She smirks.

"I'll make a note."

Finally, she spreads her feet a little and lets herself relax, keeping most of her focus on Romanoff.

"So, Nadine, I would think you get your fill of the weird out there," she nods over her shoulder toward the door. "This place sounds like work."

[redintheledger]

"Maybe if I worked in a speculative fiction novel," she says, and her expression is complicated. Partly wary, partly...delighted.

"Be careful of costume changes. I think I was Cinderella for a day. Someone blonde in an enormous light blue gown."

[holds_her_own]

It's a really good thing nobody's been by to serve them yet, because that's the kind of admission that could make even the scariest SHIELD agent choke on her drink.

"Come again?"

She heard you.

She just wants to hear you say it again.

[redintheledger]

Serene (and she does serene well, it's that deep voice of hers),

"Costume changes. Maybe one April Fools you could be Snow White."

[holds_her_own]

She narrows a Look at Romanoff.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Mostly because she has no clue how the hell else to take it.

"Fairest in all the land. That's me."

Dry. So dry.

[redintheledger]

"And you can sing the blue-birds and deer from the forest," she continues.

"With your dulcet tones."

Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

[holds_her_own]

Her eyes slant into threatening slits.

Romanoff will probably see straight through the illusion.

"Only after you show me how you get those field mice to sew such ... attractive clothing."

You bet your ass she's going to ask Barton if there are pictures.

[redintheledger]

"But Maria, darling, that'd ruin the illusion!"

Years of academy training and improv-acting classes mean that her face is completely straight, and brimming with sincerity.

[holds_her_own]

She snorts.

It quickly deteriorates into hapless, half-mad laughter.

"I need a drink."

[redintheledger]

"Fortunately for everyone, the first drink is free," she says, in a more normal tone of voice.

"There's a tab system, occasionally people bartend, but usually it's just the...sapient bar."

Sigh, Milliways, sigh.

"And there are rats as waiters. Before you ask, I don't know why."

[holds_her_own]

"Right."

OK.

"Does the sapient bar have a beer list?"

[redintheledger]

"Ask, and it'll bring up anything you ask for, apparently.

I haven't tested it that rigorously."

[holds_her_own]

She arches an eyebrow.

"Define 'anything'."

Her curiosity is stretching beyond a beer list now.

[redintheledger]

"Nothing alive, nor weapons."

Beat.

"Traditionally defined weapons, I'm guessing."

[holds_her_own]

She nods.

"At least there are standards. Do you need anything?"

Her eyes sharpen fractionally.