@simulamortem (planned starter.)

     To say Natalie was nervous about all of this was an understatement. It was a high risk versus high reward kind of situation. It could all blow up in her face, or maybe they would be closer because of it. She hoped and prayed that the outcome would be the latter; what had been done had been done purely out of love and affection for him.

     Idle conversation and setting up for the festivities allowed her some time to work up the courage. Once they had finished decorating the tree with bulbs and trinkets, a gentle hand reached across to take Revenant's. Fingers immediately attempted to intertwine, a thumb started to stroke his palm.

     "I have one last thing to share with you, mon cher." Natalie spoke warmly, then switched to a slightly more playful tone. "And it requires no more labour on your part."

     The little engineer giggled and grinned, but it fell off, uncertain and hesitant. But she was quick to swallow it down; no matter her nerves, she wanted to do this. It could be good for him, maybe even help him.

@simulamorem​ (cont.)

      The bit of simulated panting was music to her ears. Hearing him get worked up because of her, hearing him speak his desire of her-- it was enough to make any woman mad with lust and love, but especially Natalie. She so desperately wanted his adoration; receiving it was a high all on its own.

      Natalie's kisses grew a bit hungrier with the other's wandering touch and slurred, heated words. They repeated their assault on his lips endlessly, almost feverishly. Her hands pulled back from over his shoulders and were placed on the front of them, slowly dragging her palms over and then down his chest, feeling him up as if he were not made of awkward angles.

      "Je veux--" Natalie murmured in response, pulling back from her unrestrained kissing to get only part of her sentence out before she pressed against his mouth again. "--que tu--" She pulled back and kissed again, like she just couldn't resist being without his lips for longer than a second. "--me dévores."

@simulamortem (planned starter.)

     Why did the infection of the alternate Revenant's universe have to always spread in the lead up to Natalies favourite holiday? It was horrible; like poisoning a bountiful feast. Cruel and unnecessary. Yet, here they stood, yet again, in a world all too familiar to their own, but covered in darkness and shadow.

     It put both her and her squadmate at unease, especially given what had happened last time. Natalie felt like there was constant eyes on her, like she needed to checking over her shoulder all the time. But each time she gave into the obsession, it proved nothing. The anxiety was driving her mad-- or whatever was watching them was being incredibly crafty.

     The little engineer tried to calm herself by focusing on looting through the buildings at the Geyser, for the moment. Organizing her stuff, and feeling prepared for if things took a sudden turn, helped her feel more in control and grounded. It was unfortunate that there, where Natalie had found a moment of solace, was where the looming figure struck.

     A hand clamped down onto her mouth while an arm wrapped around her midsection. Natalie instinctually went to yell, but the hand, and the geysers beyond the walls, did a good enough job to muffle her noise. The next step was thrashing, a desperate attempt to get out of the mysterious assailant's grasp, but all it resulted in was making the pair lose balance and tumble to the floor.

     It was there, in the mess of limbs, that Natalie saw her attacker hovering over her. Wide sapphires met haunting rubies that only seemed to twinkle with mischievous delight. Natalie tried to fight again, squirming and attempting to bite the hand at her mouth, but her duplicate was strong. Unsettlingly so.

     "Tsk, tsk, where's your manners?" Her own voice asked her quietly, though the sound didn't originate from her throat. Just when Wattson thought things couldn't get anymore worrying, inky mist began to gather around them, latching itself onto her and changing the appearance of the duplicate to imitate-- her colours. Ebony hair turned blond, scarlet orbs turned to cerulean. Natalie had an idea of where this was leading and gave one more twist to try and get the other off, but all it seemed to do was help the shadows secure their hold and suddenly pull her through the floor and into darkness.

     "Bye bye!" The assailant teasingly waved goodbye to herself, as if they had parted on extremely friendly terms. She then began to gather the abandoned items on the floor; Natalie's weapons and bag.

@simulamortem ( planned starter. )

     Similarly to Christmas, Natalie's home was fully decorated for the spooky holiday. Her front yard was littered with fake gravestones, with the occasional skeletal limb poking out of the ground as if it were rising from the dead. Near her entrance, there were pumpkins, already emptied and carved, sporting cat portraits that were most likely to be Nikola, despite the lack of artistic finesse.

     Inside was not much better. Little orange and purple string lights had been attached to the walls in the living room and kitchen, giving the spaces a more appropriate lighting effect. There were glass stickers on the windows, displaying cheesy caricatures of ghosts and ghouls. Fake cobwebs were placed upon the television and table surfaces.

     It was clear that while Natalie loved Christmas, Halloween was the holiday that she really went all out for.

     And she wasn't yet done, apparently, as she told the simulacrum in her home. There was still more to put up, more to organize for herself. As the engineer was going through her checklist, she suddenly sat up straight as she recalled something.

     "Oh, that reminds me, I have something to show you!" Natalie declared excitedly before standing up from the couch. "You stay right there and I'll be back in a minute."

     Natalie bent at the waist, leaning in to place a brief kiss on Revenant's forehead before she turned away. Rather swiftly, she made her way down the hall, though stopping to pick up the cat, for whatever reason...

@simulamortem​ (planned starter)

      Natalie was an active member of the scientific community. When she wasn't working on her own projects, she was helping the engineer's for the Apex Games. When she wasn't doing that, she was helping Dr. Somers with her work, or repairing and fixing simulacrums. And when she wasn't doing that, she was at schools, putting on small presentations for kids to get them excited about science.

      Today was a little different though. She had been invited to Hammond Labs, a place she wasn't super involved in. She was hesitant to accept; she couldn't ignore the part they had played in her boyfriends suffering. But, whatever they were doing, they were already doing it. Natalie now had the chance to help direct them towards safer, more humane, experiments and projects.

      So, after a bit of humming and hawing, the little engineer accepted the invitation. A week later, she was taken into the city and to Hammond Lab's impressive building. After making her way through security, a few of the employees greeted her, and Natalie replied in a similar, friendly manner. They soon began to walk, wanting to give the Legend a little tour of their facility before heading to the demo.

@simulamortem (planned starter)

     It had been a long day. Not because of the match Wattson had participated in, but the events that followed after it. When herself and her teammate boarded the ship, they were bloodied and tired, wanting nothing more than to retire to the safety and security of Natalie's room on the ship. But she wouldn't let dirty people make her messy space even messier.

     And he wouldn't bathe.

     It had been a little bit of a wrestle, taken a little bit of scolding, but Natalie eventually got Revenant scrubbed clean enough. Perhaps not every single groove was as clean as it could be, but she didn't want to make him suffer. This was enough.

     With their shared cleanliness, the pair made it back to Natalie's room. The smaller of the two stripped out of her uniform and changed into spare clothing; pants and a loose shirt. She then crawled into the bed and sat next to the sim as the television turned on, angling herself into him to cuddle at his side.

     It was quiet and peaceful for a while. The two of them content with each other's presence. But halfway through the true crime show Natalie had put on, she angled her head up to look at Revenant. "You know," She started playfully, "I heard a new rumor about you."

@simulamortem (planned starter)

     When Natalie had pitched the idea of visiting her parents to Revenant, she had an anticipated him saying no. She wasn't going to fault him for it either; it was a sensitive topic that he probably felt unequipped to navigate. Natalie would go alone, just like she had done every other time.       But imagine her surprise when he agreed to coming with her.

     So, there the pair were, in a private car, on their way to the solemn cemetery that sat within Eelhead Bay, Natalie's childhood home. While they waited to arrive, Natalie fidgeted with the flowers in her arms. She always brought things to her parents headstones; no one else was going to after all. She even had a little bag beside her, containing a few more things meant to be placed near the tombstones.     

     "Thank you," Natalie started softly as she looked to her partner with a warm smile, "For coming with me."

@simulamortem (planned starter)

     It had been a while since Natalie had last seen Revenant, which wasn't entirely unusual. He could disappear for days on end, only sometimes leaving a trail to signal that things were fine and that he needed some space. But this time? It just went cold. No contact, no notices, no hints, just silence and loneliness.

     So, after a while, Natalie took it upon herself to make her way into King's Canyon tunnels. He always came to her, so she figured it was about time she visited him for once. She had gone through all that effort of creating a cozy space for him anyways; might as well utilize it.

     The little engineer brought a small bag of supplies with her for her trip. Inside was a container with some food in case she was down there for a while, as well as some books to read if he wasn't there and she had to wait for his arrival, and a tiny assortment of tools because-- well, you never knew with him. There was always a good chance that something needed repairs.

     When she eventually made it down and into the tunnels, she turned on the dainty lights she had set up and glanced about the space. She didn't see him, but the messy bed signaled he had been here at some point, it was just a question of when. Nevertheless, Natalie made herself comfortable as she figured she may be waiting a while-- or wasting an entire day if he didn't show up at all. She made her way over to the bed, dropped her bag, kicked off her shoes, and crawled onto the mattress. She then curled the blanket around her and reached for her bag over the side of the bed, blindly grabbing a book and settling in for a quiet read.

@simulamortem (planned starter)

     The idea had formed in Natalie's head due to a separate night in which she had spent time with the Legends. There had been some music, some drinks, some games-- the latter of which Natalie had a blast with. She figured it might be something she could take back to play with herself and Revenant.

     And so, there they were, seated comfortably on the couch with a thick blanket drawn over their laps. Above the covers, there was another source of warmth as well; the fluffy feline Natalie often referred to as her baby. Indifferent as always; content to be by his owners side.

     "So, we connect through our phones with the code on the screen," Natalie explained as she reached to fetch her device from her pocket under the blanket, "and the game will send prompts right to your phone. Then they get compared once the prompts are completed."

WINTER PROMPTS

@simulamortem​ asked:  🎄 ​

      It was one of the most wonderful times of the year. Hot cocoa, sparkling lights, festive carols, and so much more were covering the planets in the Outlands. Natalie adored every holiday as she was a rather sentimental person, so it was no surprise that her little home in Kings Canyon was decorated from head to toe.       Wreaths hung on the doors, poinsettias and holly laid upon the tables and desks, stockings for both herself and Nikola hung near the entrance to her home, and so much more. Even Natalie herself was festive, dressed in an ugly Christmas sweater and an elf hat. But the most important piece was the tree and she had saved that task until Revenant came for another visit. It would be fun to decorate it together, she had thought.       The tree stood in her living room, slightly to the wall as to not block the view from the couch to the television. It was bare, with nothing but the green of its pines. Next to it was a large box Natalie had pulled out of her storage and opened. It contained multicolored bulbs, garland, ribbons, and other trinkets to be placed upon the tree.       "We can start with the lights and tinsel." Natalie instructed as she reached to pull out a few colorful strands. "Do you want to do a silver and gold tree? Rainbow? What do you think?"

@simulamortem (planned starter)

     It had been a normal match on Storm Point. Nothing to arouse any kind of worry or suspicion from the engineer. She had been put into a team without any other Legends, which meant she might be doing more of the heavy lifting today, but that was okay with her. She still confident they could win and get on with the rest of their day.

     The normalcy didn't last very long though; after a few fights Natalie was left outside of the command center, surrounded by blood and boxes, and left to collect her team's banners. She could revive them and they could continue their way to the end of this match, but as her device registered their banners, a different message appeared. One from Loba, requesting assistance. It was an odd message to receive during a match, but unexpected things had been known to happen during matches. Natalie could still recall when Olympus was sent tumbling through portals; it had been awful.

     So, for the moment, Natalie held onto the banners and messaged back her friend, asking what was going on and where they were. Loba's response was vague, just saying she could use Wattson's electric expertise and giving her a location. Natalie didn't press; she figured she would find out soon enough.

     The little engineer began to travel across Storm Point, careful of other squads who were oblivious to her fellow Legends antics. But the sound of dropships arriving eventually made her pause. It wasn't like the usual occasional drop ship. There seemed to be more ships and more people dropping from them than typical. Natalie squinted up into the air, trying to understand what she was seeing, what was happening.

@simulamortem​ (planned starter)

      Most Legends were out for the day, off to fight in another round of the Apex Games, but not Wattson. She had been very deliberate about getting the day off as she had a plan that required a certain someone to be gone for a while. It was easy enough; Natalie was one of the golden children of the Apex Games, so she typically got what she wanted.

      She spent the initial portion of the day navigating through the underground tunnels, trying to find a specific location. Soon enough she came across the space she was looking for. There wasn't much but there was an old mattress, one that she had seen the simulacrum lay upon when feeling under the weather. This would be where she got to work.

      The next several hours were spent going back and forth between the tunnels and her home on the trident, moving pieces of furniture down into the underground. It was a little difficult at times, especially with the new mattress she got, but it remained rolled and wrapped so that made it a bit easier.

      Eventually, the little engineer had completely redecorated the space. The old mattress was shoved down one of the many tunnels and was replaced by an actual frame with the new mattress on top. Comfy pillows were placed upon that and a blanket from Natalie's house was there as well. There was a small dining table with two chairs set up with a few things placed on top of the surface. A vase with a bouquet in it, a letter, and a signature Nessie.

      The area was lit up by string lights that hung from the walls, connected to a small generator that had familiar Paquette colours to it. The lights also illuminated the few pictures she had framed and attached to the wall near the bed; a copy of the photos from the carnival and a copy of one of the photos from Christmas. She didn't know if they would stay-- if he would like something like that just up and out in the open-- but she thought it made the space look more like a home. He could take it down if he didn't like it.

      The final piece to all of this was going back out into the tunnels and hanging up some signs. The Games were over and the Legends were on their way back to their respective homes; it probably wouldn't be long ‘til Revenant showed up. So Natalie placed signs all about the multiple entrances that would direct the sim when he appeared, leading him to the space she had decorated with nothing but a 'This way, please' and a heart scribbled on them.

@simulamortem ( cont. )

     Perhaps she was a little bit of a bad girlfriend. Instead of suffering through a night on the floor, or trying to uncomfortably fit on top of the sim and couch, Natalie had abandoned Revenant in the living room to retire in her bedroom, where her cozy bed remained. There, she had blissful, uninterrupted, comfortable, sleep. When she awoke in the morning, it was peaceful, and when she stretched, she didn't fall from a makeshift bed nor bump any of her limbs into metal parts.

     When Natalie managed to crawl out of bed, sporting a loose shirt and pajama pants, she made sure to stop in the living room to check on the simulacrum. He seemed unbothered on the couch. Asleep beneath the blanket she had left for him. She hoped that the relapse from last night was over, but she would only know when he was awake. So, after a moment of quiet observation, Natalie turned away and began her morning routine.

     First, a quick trip to the washroom, then she had to feed Nikola. Then, finally, herself. Natalie soon fetched bacon and eggs from her fridge and began prepping to make herself something to eat.

SHADOW ROYALE STARTER CALL

@simulamortem​ liked

      Wattson wasn't entirely enthused to be back in this-- weird, nightmare-like realm. Last time they had visited the shadows had overtaken her. She could still recall that suffocating feeling in her chest like she was breathing through ash, smoke, and rage. And that voice that had been in her head, she had detested it during all of that, but now there was a worry that if the shadows were to reclaim her, would she be aware enough to still detest it? Natalie wasn't sure. Not with these new feelings. She wanted to avoid the darkness as much as she could; she didn't want to know the answer.       Reassuringly, Natalie was certain that her squad mate had somewhat similar feelings of apprehension and animosity about their current location. Because of that, she stuck to Revenant's side as they traversed through the floating city of Olympus. She felt quite confident in their ability to get through this swiftly with him on her team, rather than last time when she had no other Legends to assist her.       Wattson only lagged a little bit behind the simulacrum when they came up to the Fight Night stadium. Banners, boards, and more were replaced with distorted images of this shadow king. It made Natalie falter; she felt so weird about all of this. "Err..." The little engineer murmured to herself as her eyes took in the large banner at the front doors of the stadium. Her gaze then awkwardly flicked to her teammate, trying to gauge his reaction before she opened her mouth any further.

PLANNED STARTER

@simulamortem​

It wasn't too surprising to see some of the Legends at public events. Contracts, sponsorships, or just a general need for attention and praise, meant that they would appear. For Natalie, appearances were often and were rarely a problem. She felt she owed society-- the public-- the Syndicate-- quite a bit for the life she had. The Games, her home, her status as one of the finest engineer's in the Outlands; that all came from them. Despite all of that, Natalie wasn't at this event because the Syndicate or some company asked her to be. No, rather she wanted to be here of her own volition. It was a carnival, full of exciting performances, food stands, rides, and games-- why wouldn't she want to attend? Maybe the noise, but she had her ear plugs for that. Though, what made it even better was that she had asked-- and gotten-- the simulacrum to come with her. But that presented a new challenge, didn't it? This wasn't like the strip, there were people here. Eyes and cameras. Natalie assumed she had to be on her best behavior and not get too outwardly affectionate. The pair had been walking along the edges of the crowd when Natalie suddenly stopped and grabbed onto the sim’s wrist. She beamed up at the him, her soft features enhanced by her appearance-- a baby blue dress, bleached stockings, and white Mary Jane shoes. Her free hand then raised and pointed over at a booth further off; a few large, stuffed animals were hanging from the beams. "Look at those! Aren’t they adorable! We should go get a closer look."

PLANNED STARTER

@simulamortem​​

      The cat might as well already be properly dead with the way Natalie was acting. She sat in the back seats of a private car, the front with the MRVN driver separated by a darkened glass panel. She clutched a cat carrier to her lap and bent herself over it to hold and latch onto. Her eyes were glossy, her cheeks were red, her voice-- when used-- sounded strained. She was trying to keep it together, but it was easy to see her emotional dam was close to breaking. She was on the cusp of tears.       The only thing that had kept her from fully breaking down into uncontrollable sobs was the company she had with her. Rather than dropping her cat off and being left alone in the city for the day with nothing but her fretful thoughts, the simulacrum had tagged along. Maybe he genuinely wanted to be there and support her, or maybe when she had asked him to tag along through heavy, hiccupping, tears, he had become so alarmed he felt he had no choice. Either way, he was here, knowingly or unknowingly becoming her port in a storm.       They weren't all that far from the veterinarian's now; Natalie recognized some store fronts the car passed by. It made her heart sink and bottom lip quiver. Her grip tightened around the cat carrier-- it was probably a good thing the feline was in there and not in her grasp. "I can't do this..." Natalie whimpered out as she shook her head to herself.