ever marching as to war

Natalia's smile is almost sad. "It is a long time to be in one place. Unusual for our kind." In the weeks following their reunion, she'd been quick to learn what soothed him, though it'd taken her a month to trust the effect was real. Such were their lives at home, and at times, it feels no better here, the dangers fewer, but the reasons a man might posture just as great.

Natalia returns her fingers to his hair, stroking it, as much to comfort herself as the man beneath her. "We will take them in turns. I can...dissuade the children, if you like." That much is easy. "And Tony..." The expression she wears then is decidedly sad, and takes longer than Natalia would like to remove. "I do not believe that man can be forced to see reason in any universe. I only hope that it will come to him in his own time. And Steve..." Natalia is not ashamed to admit, at times that man is her last hope, James' loyalty to him immovable. If there is tension there, she could almost despair for how to mend it. "Tell me, what does he do?"