needsacatchphrase | New Asgard, Iceland

This was Wanda's first Asgardian Christmas as well, and for some reason she hadn't expected so much fire. Or fighting for fun.

It was...different. But not unpleasant.

Despite all the people around it still wasn't hard to spot Jane. She was still taller than most women. There was a split second of panic where Wanda debated ducking behind a keg of ale to avoid her, but that just seemed silly. So she tried the super casual approach instead.

"Hey, Jane." Super. Casual.

Yeah, even in Asgard, the gun show stood out a little. But everyone else did share the magically perfect hair thing.

"Wanda!" Jane said, definitely nearly choking on the horn of ale that had been shoved at her almost immediately. "What are you doing here?"

Other than clearly celebrating the whole darkest night of the year thing.

Jane's surprise did immediately let Wanda know that Valkyrie could indeed keep a secret. Though she also probably knew this meeting would happen when she invited Jane to spend the holiday here.

"Uh, well." Wanda shrugged, still being super casual in her mind. "I've been living here the last couple weeks."

The possibility of just wanting to see drama out of boredom? High for Valkyrie.

"Oh," Jane said, thinking about it. "Is everything okay?"

The last text had been definitely less than forthcoming, but Jane was also used to weird bullshit back home.

Possibly to am unhealthy degree.

The long silence as Wanda tried to think of a reply to that question probably was a good answer.

"Things are okay now?" she tried. "Ish? But lets just say I'm off the Avengers Christmas card list this year."

Oh yeah, that was an answer and a half without actually being one at all.

Jane nodded slowly and took a big gulp of ale before gesturing a little for if Wanda wanted to walk with her get another horn of it. Also because walking would give some time to think about a response to that.

Wanda was happy to walk with Jane, since she did figure that owed an explanation. She would not, however, be drinking any of that strongass ale. She still hadn't gotten used to it.

"I do owe you an apology," she said. "This entire time you've known me--well it hasn't been me. Not really."

Yeah, it was probably not the safest for human consumption. Or alien either if one very drunk Miek was anything to go by.

But Jane still offered her a horn. Mostly because it was just cool looking.

"What do you mean?" Man, they were so lucky to not widely know about Skrulls yet. That'd be a whole other wrench in the works.

Wanda did take the horn and gave it a sniff, thinking maybe this was, like, less potent holiday ale.

Nope. Nope it still smelled like it would knock her on her ass.

"Um, well, after Westview I came into possession of this book." A book that she had grabbed from a clearly evil witch and Wanda now knew that had been really dumb. "And said book turned out to be super evil and capable of possessing people and giving them really, truly bad ideas."

It was just some juniper berry flavored rocket fuel! Don't worry about it!

"And something bad happened," Jane said, filling in the blanks quietly.

"Real bad," Wanda confirmed with a nod. "Like, 'I don't think I can show my face on the island ever again' bad."

Jane took a deep breath and considered that. She didn't have Thor's soft spot for morally grey/dark magic users. But she did share his empathy for people who were wounded.

"I think maybe you need to forgive yourself before you can move onto that," she said. "Everything in the world seems to just be happening so fast and changing so much from before."

The Blip really did mess up a whole lot, huh?

"I think Valkyrie is trying to nudge me towards the same conclusion," Wanda admitted. "Just hard to forgive myself when I can't atone for some of the things I've done."

There was no way she'd be allowed back in Earth-838.

"I'm doing what I can to help the people here. Without magic." Absolutely no magic just yet.

Jane looked impressed by that. Because here Wanda was surrounded by aliens and the various peoples of the nine realms. Or, you know, close to it.

"It feels like everything is a journey toward the future, you know?" Jane said, waving her ale horn a little bit toward where people were smacking each other with blunted weapons. Then winced at a bad hit happening there. "I hope being here helps you figure out your path there. Please don't join in with that, though."

Oh god, there was definitely a tooth on the ground as the crowd cheered.

"Oh, no, absolutely not," Wanda said with a short laugh. "I'm really, really content spending my holiday just watching burning effigies."

"And there's a lot of roasted meat," Jane added helpfully. "Not many vegetables, though."

The only reason no one got scurvy was because they were gods.

"Tell me about it," Wanda said. "I'm actually craving just a small side salad some days since being here."

Seriously, guys, not everything had to be a feast all the time.

"Right?" Jane replied, ducking her head a little like it'd prevent them from drawing attention or something. "You might have to sneak onto one of the cruise ships for that."

Or explain Sokovian food to them. They'd totally be on board with more meat and maybe some cabbage.

But would they be on board with borscht is the real question.

"That probably wouldn't be too difficult," she said. "I still feel like a tourist most of the time."

The anonymity was pretty nice, though. Sometimes she did make eye contact with the occasional kid who recognized her but thus far had been able to duck away before being called out on it.

Just put on a baseball hat, Wanda!

"Did you end up watching the theater productions?" Glitter. So much glitter.

The following wince indicated, yes, she had seen them. "They're doing their best?"

"At least they haven't done any Avengers plays?" That was just in New York.

Also, she just jinxed it. Wanda being there meant they needed to now.

Nobody needed to see Battle of Wakanda: The Musical.

"I feel like I should maybe help?" she admitted. "Like, maybe take aside the guy who plays Thor and maybe give him some tips?"

Jane's expression was one that said she'd definitely tried that. And had only gotten deeply uncomfortable questions about their romance to 'inhabit the character'.

"The Loki one is much worse."

Also, didn't you want to be played by Zooey Deschanel?

"Well I'm no Loki authority, I feel like that'd be overstepping a little," she admitted. "I could maybe help with production design."

Less glitter. That'd be her only note.

"That could be what you do here," Jane said with an encouraging nod. "Help fix the community theater."

Or just get embroiled in the drama there.

"Really? I don't have any experience," she said. "...but neither do these people, admittedly. At least I hope they don't because woof."

"I think it might be more of a Greek pantheon thing?" Jane whispered. "Just... based off what we knew from stories. But then again, they weren't totally accurate for the Asgardians, right?"

"Not totally accurate is putting it lightly," Wanda joked. "I never really thought about the other pantheons being real, though. That might keep me up at night now."

Oh, Wanda, like you wouldn't swoon at Brett Goldstein Hercules.

Everyone would and should, really.

"It opens up a lot of questions," Jane agreed. Much like the giant hand in the ocean thing.

We don't talk about the giant hand, Jane. We all agreed as a planet to not talk about it.

"Maybe too many questions for me to handle right now," Wanda said. "I'm only just now getting used to the Asgardian life--and I still can't handle the beer."

They had to talk about it some day! Probably when Harry Styles shows up.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I can only drink this because if the hammer," Jane agreed. "But, if you need anything, just ask. Even if it's just a bottle of Two Buck Chuck."

You had never been more of a middle aged white woman in your life, Jane.

"If you could sneak in some vegetables that haven't been roasted in bacon fat I would appreciate it." Her pants were getting tight, Jane. The rich food was becoming a problem.

Asgard liked 'em thicc, okay?

"Consider it done," Jane replied. "As long as I get to hide out behind you from the more violent drinking games."

Which, of course, was when another loud cheer went up from the crowd as someone definitely lost an ear.

Wanda winced and hoped no one would come up to her holding a unattached ear wondering if she could fix it magically. "Oh--oh, absolutely. I've got a little place here and everything. Hide whenever you want."

"So much makes sense about Thor right now," Jane said, making a face.

"The glass breaking," Wanda said, nodding. "Taking the competitive spirit a bit too far."

Yes, just a bit too far. If someone had lost an arm instead of an ear then it would have been way too far.

That really was the line here, yes.

"So many broken coffee cups," Jane told her. A sneak peak into the love-life of Thor, there. "So many. Was he that bad with you guys too?"

"Let's just say I had to patch up a lot of Fast Eddie's after I took him bowling." Of course, there had been two Thors there at the time.

So Thor energy × 2.

"Ohhh nooo." She was well aware how much damage that could be.

Wanda laughed. "He had fun, that's what was important. Luckily I can patch holes pretty easily."

Or at least she used to be able to. Now she'd be doing it the old fashioned way.

Well, she'd have plenty of opportunity after this party!

"Yeah," Jane said with a quick smile as she looked around them. How different would it be if he was still on planet? "I'm glad he has you as a friend. And you have him."

"I am pretty lucky," she agreed with a nod. "I can't imagine Thor being mad at me. Ever, no matter what I've done."

He would probably try to ask who hadn't accidentally murdered some people for family.

But thinking about Thor was why Jane had to ask. "Would you like a hug?"

Wanda laughed again, holding out her arms a little. "Yeah, actually, that would be nice."

And she had hugged armored Thor before so she was ready for the awkward armor of it all.

At least there wasn't a severed ear involved!

Jane gave her a hug that was hopefully at least on par with the Thor one. Because that was clearly a godly power there.

"Thanks, Jane," Wanda said, giving her a squeeze though not sure if she could feel it under the armor. "I really appreciate you being cool about all this."

"Hey, you're a friend of mine too. Not just Thor's."

Also, she never met Reed Richards to feel bad about it.

To be honest, if you had met this Reed Richards you still wouldn't have felt bad.

"You are," Wanda said, pulling away. "I'm glad I got to see you here. I wasn't sure...I hurt someone in town, and I don't know if it got out."

Hence her hesitation to ever go back to the island again.

But what about Sue?

"Do you think you can make amends for it?" Jane asked.

Wanda shrugged. "I don't know. Not really up to me, is it?"

Jane took a deep breath and nodded. "You can try, at least. If they accept, that's up to them. But if you don't try, you'll never know."

"I will. Eventually." Probably. Right now it just seemed best to give Annie some space. "Just need some time to sort myself out."

"Yes," Jane agreed. "You can show me what you've helped build and I can... well, not understand any of it. But I should! I've broken a few cabinets back in Fandom already."

"I hope you like your cabinets slightly crooked." Because Wanda was still kind of bad at it.

"Better than broken?" Jane ventured.

"That's what I like to hear," Wanda joked. "Low expectations are key."

"Well, let's take into consideration that I've managed to eat pancakes as made by Thor." Which. "He called them panflaps. Constantly."

"That's actually extremely adorable." Of course he'd call them that.

"They were actually pretty good by--" The end. Which was a depressing thing to say, so she didn't!

Wanda gave Jane a sympathetic smile. She knew better than anyone about the depressing awkwardness of delving back into those kind of memories. "I get it."

Jane shot her a grateful look for that. "Let's get you some mystery roast meat."

It could be magical or alien or just a really big pig! Who really knew?

New Asgard, Iceland - Wednesday

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