*Update 04/08/2012: The community title was taken, I stupidly assumed it would be available. It's now "Second Chances for the Fallen." I've added "Inside Out" to it for now as a sort of foundation for the community and I can't wait to see how it builds up. Cheers!*

**The Teaser Prologue follows this long ass note, I swear. It's a sneak peek at the sequel to Inside Out**

An Idea: The Multiverse Prompt

Oh my goodness, guys, guys! My friend just made the most excellent suggestion. Okay, okay, I need to take my time explaining this. Calm down LP, calm down... Right, so here's the proposition, I would be willing- hell I'd be damn delighted- to hand over the reins, the metaphorical reins being the continuation of Inside Out, to a number of other writers which each could create their own storyline, thus continuing Natasha and Loki's journey. Apparently it's a pretty popular creative writing exercise... I don't know, it just sounded amazing to me.

So, the way I see this working is a few of you could, using Inside Out as a prequel and the 'Epilogue' as a sort of prompt, write out each your own Loki/Natasha AU adventure, sexcapade, angst trip, romance, whatever you guys wanted and we could combine them into a community thereby adding to the Loki/Natasha fics (always a good thing) and maybe even encouraging some shy/aspiring writers and all the while giving me time to quietly write my sequel in the corner over here ahem... anyways. I say encouraging aspiring writers because my part would be to moderate the fics- wow, I'm really starting to sound like a self-absorbed, arrogant ass, thanks Liz- by editing the chapters and monitoring the community. I've created a separate email address for this, which if you decide to participate I'll give you in our PM communications.

So yeah, to sum up: it'll be your fic, I'll just be pre-reading for suggestions to which you may or may not pay heed, if you so please, I only ask to pre-read because it'll be in my little AU and I want to pretend like I have some degree of control over it, although let's be honest, I never really did. Okay, continuing... So, I'll sort of edit the fics, you'll post them as your own and I'll add them to the community which will be called "Second Chances" (incidentally the same name as the sequel). To participate send me a PM with anything ranging from a one sentence theme for your contribution to a story outline to a finished chapter and I'll put you on the list and start our email chain.

Okay, so that's it, I can't wait to hear from you and boy, do I hope that I do... once again, I think I'm getting too big for my britches, I guess we'll see. Cheers!

A Teaser Prologue

The dreams weren't so much a problem as a kind of pleasant surprise. She's not sure if it's the hours of research but she feels like they are more enlightening than the short conversation she had with him or even the reading that followed could ever be. In her dreams, Natasha feels as though she knows Loki Odinson better than she's known anyone. In her dreams, Natasha feels connected to someone, fulfilled by someone, this Loki. But then she wakes up and all that remains is that feeling, no hard facts, no actual memories, just that fleeting sensation of knowing something and then it immediately disappearing, no- dissolving, unmaking itself like it never existed in the first place.

Unfortunately, every subsequent bout of research to learn more about Loki Odinson does nothing to fill that emptiness. Because, though the knowledge feels like it never was hers, it still leaves a hole that itches in her mind. She's read every SHIELD report, every scholarly analysis of the myth, every child's folktale book to learn more about the god of mischief and magic, but none of it fills that niggling void. Besides, none of it feels right, he didn't seem overly sly or even evil, as some accounts assert, when she met him. He gave off an aura of grandeur like a god would, the confidence of a powerful individual and sure that smile was a little impish, but he did not feel like his myths made him out to be. The folklore certainly never properly accounted for his sex appeal or that sadness she caught sight of in his grin and always felt in her dreams, because, no matter what, every time she woke up with two emotions: longing and sadness. The yearning is her own, sexual and otherwise, maybe for him, maybe for the reality of the dream, but the sadness she shares. That is, it feels like it's hers but also his. She can't really explain it, but it's a bit like the feeling of loss, mourning after something that still exists but you can't ever reach again. All this around a man she hardly knows. Ridiculous.

But while she's dreaming, before she's wrenched away from this world, she's happy. Really, truly happy and it feels so real, she swears she lives a different life at night, her life with Loki Odinson in it. It's weird, because before she met him, she hadn't been dreaming, at all. Now, ever since that night in the industrial park, he's jump started her dreams and taken the wheel. She just wishes she could remember the damned things. One morning, she didn't have anything to rush off to, so she hurried to her pen and pad of paper and managed to scribble down "handcuffs, tongue, three piece suit and so blue" in a rushed, unintelligible stream of consciousness before the rest of her dream flitted away. This almost makes it worse, like a mystery, so her curiosity is seriously peaked.

The dreams make her more inclined to tell Fury about the encounter, four days later (three days after when she should have- for at least a day she wondered if she had hallucinated him- because she disliked the way he made her feel out of control) and make her almost anticipate the day he might reappear and be at her- at SHIELD's service.

Boom. That'll be a few months in the making, but I thought a taste might be nice. Let's hope we get some prompt fills to hold everyone over. Cheers!