#˖ ⭑₊˚ bundle of sticks — mapone romanova.

[trckstaer]

˖ ⭑₊˚ Tag drop 2/8. Like this for memes from my original characters ! Specify muse or I roulette you ! ( This is a clever ploy to retag everything but make the spam bearable )

[trckstaer]

˖ ࣪⭑ She had frozen in the alley the exit had led to but only for a moment, feet kicking at trash before the sound let her find a ladder a ways above her head which she could jump up to tug down with only a little huffing. Her sister's heartbeat was loud and strong behind her, letting her enjoy the thrill over any worry. The fire escape still felt sturdy and she started climbing it before the people chasing them even rounded the corner in the hallway. Hustling made people angry as hell, but the cash they got to take home was more than worth it. Her face was stretched in a laugh and her near-empty backpack bumped against her back as she threw herself upwards, ' there's a first time for everything Mapone, maybe we could manage to keep it from her this time ? And get to keep a secret ! '

Mapone's following the sounds of Marion's footsteps, the echoes of them ricocheting off their surroundings and providing a picture of where they were and what kind of obstacles might be around them. She's also listening to the way her twin's heart's beating as they race away from danger, focusing on not tripping over her own feet.

They hit the open air and Mapone can hear the grin in her twin's words - it makes her relax a little, enjoy the thrill of adrenaline that comes with their escape. "Mom'll know," she disputes - but it's the only part of Marion's statement that she disputes - "Mom always knows." Quite how their mother always knows, she'll never be able to tell.

( @trckstaer )

[trckstaer]

˖ ⭑₊˚ @diaboluse : The people living on base didn't walk in time with each other, Mapone appreciated it : It hid the sound of her stick tapping the floor as she made her way across the place with determination. She liked classes, she was a good cadet, and she had the skills to challenge anyone who insinuated either of her parents had anything to do with her success. Still . . . ' zero compatible candidates ' rang through her head like bells and clouded her focus. Her shoulder knocked into someone else's as she turned and she tipped her head in apology before throwing herself onto a bench across from her dad.

' How did you find a drift partner ? ' she asked, brows fixed in a scowl.

[trckstaer]

' did you think I would be nicer ? '

' no, I thought he would be safer. '

[trckstaer]

˖ ࣪⭑ Her bones hurt, like deep in her chest, as if the very marrow of them was buzzing but Mapone crossed her arms and tried her best to act as if it wasn't true ; for all she knew, it could have just been her pride aching. Whatever hurt, it was still dramatic as hell for her to have ended up in the emergency room, but people loved calling an ambulance for a blind girl, made them feel big. Plus, she was scared. Her mom was on a work trip and she didn't really have anyone else so she found herself getting lost with the overwhelming amount of noise filling up the space around her.

Without listening to whatever the beeping to her left was, Mapone could feel her breathing picking up, ribs screaming at her with every intake or exhale of breath. Dumb, she was so fucking dumb, she had been distracted and tried to cross a silent street before the beeping started to let her know it was safe. When her mom picked her phone up, Mapone was never going to be allowed to go anywhere alone again. Frustrated tears slipped down her face and she grit her teeth. A rustle at the side of her bed made her head tilt and unseeing eyes turned stubborn, ' I'm sixteen. I can go, right ? Just guide me to where to sign, AMA or whatever yeah ? '

— @goldshadows liked for a starter from an original character !

[trckstaer]

˖ ⭑₊˚ ' I uh, probably just couldn't see the confidential signs, ' Mapone smiled and tipped her head forward, glasses slipping down her nose just a little. White eyes moved from where they had been flitting about – taking in as much information from her surroundings as she possibly could – to focus as best they were able on where it seemed the agents voice was coming from. The room, unfortunately, didn't tell her a lot, which made sense ; a place like this would find a way to supersense-proof itself. She was just grateful her mom had yet to appear. Mapone hadn't been supposed to tag along at all, but her mom had found her sneaking out to try and train again, so she had been grounded and forced to follow the spy around like she needed help. She definitely hadn't been supposed to leave the office. Her arms crossed over her chest and she leaned forwards, ' I don't understand why the information is that secret anyway. It doesn't seem world ending. '

@trckstaer sent ' that's highly confidential. um, anyway. ' / mapone romanova !

"you're gonna talk to me about confidential? that's cute." alice scoffed. she had access to secrets the likes of which the kid couldn't possibly imagine, but she was going to talk to her about what was or wasn't highly confidential. she shifted her stance and her tactics. "you don't want to talk and that's fine, so i will. let me see if what i think happened here is what you think happened here. if i get it wrong you can correct me." she hadn't called natasha in yet, not because she was worried about getting flack from the assassin for interrogating her kid, but because alice knew she was busy. "you just happened to find a file only high level SHIELD operatives had access to, actually only one besides myself, and you used the information you found in that file to just wander into a highly secured area. that's how it right?"

[trckstaer]

Tag drop 2/? — original character tags !

[trckstaer]

˖ ⭑₊˚ When she relistened to the somwhat short story of her life so far, Mapone Romanova found herself – aside from impressed with the amount of times she'd gotten her butt handed to her – getting sick of things she didn't know : her mom's job, her fight instructor's link to her family, her dad . . . all of them had been kept quiet from her for so long that sometimes she felt like she was always going to be eight steps behind and unable to catch ahold of a guide.

Karen Page was not part of the phenomenon.

Once she had learned that her dad was who he was, it had taken everything in Mapone not to vibrate out of her skin. Instead, she had settled for researching everything she possibly could. At night, she lurked on the rooftop of an apartment building where some lawyer stayed that her dad partnered with, and she had listened to hours of content by and about Karen. The dancer had kind of just assumed there had been a fight or something, and she would never get a chance to meet her. Her fingers wiggled at her side as she listened for some tell, some proof that the other was telling the truth, taking it at face value when there was no evidence it was a lie.

' He's in Los Angeles for a few nights, ' Mapone started slowly, rolling her cane in her palm. She hadn't been expecting to be genuinely surprised by guests at the door. Her face morphed into a wry grin, moving deeper into the apartment to let the other in behind her, ' I offered to take care of his place while he's gone – water the plastic plants and all. '

It was not often that Karen Page stepped foot back in New York City. She was content in her home, content with the quiet life she had led with her children, with the animals and the woods that stretched out around her. Foggy would usually meet her halfway if they had a visit planned to see each other, enjoying the quaintness of the small towns they met up in. Matt was the same, but usually he was dealing with healing up or swamped with other responsibilities.

They talked, of course they did, but that was the extent of things. It'd been so long since she'd been around that while it felt like nothing had changed, Karen knew things had. It was an inevitability, after all.

One of those changes was Mapone. Karen wondered briefly just how much of Matt was in her, how much of that Murdock devil lurked beneath. When he spoke about the girl, it was always praise, the adoration of a father. Her head cocked to the side and she looked in her direction, causing the familiar pang of Matt to hit Karen hard and her question was answered.

She was most definitely his child. "Oh, hello, Mapone."

❛  do  we  know  each  other ?  ❜ There was a lingering curiosity in @trckstaer's voice, the girl's head shifting as if she were listening for something.

A smile, one the blonde could not control. "We do not. Not formally. It's Karen, Karen Page. I was just coming to see if Matt was home since I was in town."

[trckstaer]

Growing up in a shatterdome was loud and chaotic and Mapone had loved it. She could, at all times, hear metal shrieking with jaeger repairs and feel the salt of the ocean not quite cleaned from the floors when she took her shoes off by the port. If she wandered deep enough in the tunnels, she could even smell the brine of the kaijus the scientists had on the tables in the labs. It was messy, and too much sometimes, but she understood it. No one in her class could handle the way her mind processed memories : They couldn't fall into her brain and ignore the sensory information that absorbed them. Her dad's hand was heavy and she sighed, shoulders sloping in defeat before squaring up again. She smiled with her teeth and tapped her stick against his foot, ' fight me ! '

HE UNDERSTANDS. though, he does realize it's different for her. matt already had his moments of fame. he was hand picked off the street and was practically brought up piloting a jaeger. perhaps, intentionally or not, he and mapone’s mother set some unrealistic expectations for her. he hears the snap of the band around her wrist and covers one of her hands with his own, giving it an affectionate squeeze. “i’m sorry, bud.” and he truly is. his chest swells with pride with every accomplishment and accolade she achieves, every time another pilot in the shatterdome tells him, "that's some kid you've got, murdock."

he bumps her shoulder with his own. "don't let the bastards get you down. what do you need right now?"

[trckstaer]

Pulling at the elastic around her wrist, she worked hard to untense her jaw. It was fine, she could test again, everything would be good and she would find a drift partner that worked and they would beat the world record for kaiju defeats. She listened and snorted a laugh, her wet lashline brushing over her cheeks, foolhardy was one word for it. Mapone thought her dad's teammates had probably been just as stubborn as him ; it was comforting to remember that the Murdock brand of crazy was compatible to drift at all. Her fists clenched hard around the cane and she shrugged, cheeks heating up at the embarrassment of admitting she had failed.

' No one aligned with me, I am officially not a battle match with anyone in my class, ' she said, listening to the footsteps of the class retreating down the hall behind.

THE TAPTAPTAP OF MAPONE'S CANE RINGS DOWN THE HALLWAYS and whether she's aware of it or not, there's the slightest changes in the rhythms of her cane indicating her frustration. the point of the cane hitting the cement ground is sharper, her movements just a little faster, like angry staccato notes on a piano. matt firmly dismisses the cadets still milling around the dojo as his daughter stalks into the room.

"had to find someone foolhardy enough to deal with my bullshit." he drops down onto the bench beside mapone. "bad news?"