Causeway and Into Town | Monday Morning

[scarlet_chaos]

Wanda would have been more than happy with holding up in the woods for the next decade or so after what had happened in Westview. In fact, that had been the plan, until a flier about a little town on a little island came her way. She had sort of liked the small town thing until it went to hell, and there was a job opening at the magic shop. Seemed weirdly perfect.

She was making her way into town with just a duffel bag in her hand. She really didn't have all that much to her name before the blip and after she had even less. At least she had enough money set aside that she could afford a room at the hotel until she found a proper place to live.

[Annnd Wanda is in town. Post is open!]

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[imafuturist]

It was the perfect honeytrap for people used to weird things, yes.

But hey! It wasn't being stuck in a whirlpool of magic and your own emotions at least?

"Morning," Tony said, still mostly asleep and on his way to the Perk because all the insanity over last week meant no groceries.

[scarlet_chaos]

"Morning--whoa!" Totally appropriate reaction to seeing a dead guy walking around the streets.

Did she bring back someone from the dead again? No, that'd be silly, the last person she'd bring back would be Tony Stark.

No offense, Tony.

[imafuturist]

Would he have been re-cast if she had anyway?

But that was a reaction and a half for him. "Wanda?"

Now was it the one who blamed him for things or the one whose father was a freedom fighter/mutant terrorist?

[scarlet_chaos]

First one!

"Tony?" Obviously it was Tony and not some guy that looked like him since he said her name. "How--?"

Were you alive? Taller? On an island in Maryland of all places?

[imafuturist]

He was always going to enjoy being taller than other him, not even gonna lie about it.

"Um." Tony opened and closed his mouth as he considered his options. "You're not looking for Steve, right?"

In case this was just a thing with Steve's team.

[scarlet_chaos]

"No?" She honestly didn't know what she'd do if she had to face Steve after what she did. He was pretty understanding after Lagos but Westview was a whole different kind of screw up.

"I live here. As of today, I guess," she explained, holding up her bag. "I got a job at the magic shop."

[imafuturist]

"Oh!" He smiled at her for that. "Welcome. I take it you be met me. Or, uh, a version of me."

[scarlet_chaos]

The relief Wanda felt was probably palpable. "So I'm not going insane?"

She had a trying couple of weeks, it was a legitimate worry.

[imafuturist]

"Welcome to a universal and sometimes temporal nexus," he replied with another quick smile, offering a hand to shake. "You sort of get used to it."

Or just complained a lot instead.

[superjoanjett]

Jessica had stepped out of the coffee shop, her flask already adding whiskey to her coffee when she spotted the new woman in town.

Not that she would recognize Wanda from anything. After all, Jessica is from Netflix not the movies or Disney +. Plus Ultron hadn't shown up in her world yet.

"Let me guess. New in town?" Jessica asked noting the duffel bag.

[scarlet_chaos]

That would have been a relief for Wanda. There were a lot of unsavory things she could be remembered for.

"What gave it away?" she asked lightly.

[superjoanjett]

Jessica nodded as she put her lid back on the coffee and her flask back in her coat pocket.

"It's a small island," Jessica said with a shrug. "Newcomers get immediately identified by everyone and it's usually a big occasion. People wander in here and it becomes a thing. Anybody try to scare you off with the weird shit yet? Or for that matter seen the weird shit yet?"

[scarlet_chaos]

"Uh, well, the first person I met is someone I know but not the same version of someone I know," Wanda said. "Does that count?"

[superjoanjett]

"Yeeeeeaaah, that's pretty normal for here," Jessica said taking a quick sip from her coffee. "Everything is weird here. The whole island is an interdimensional something of dimensions and time bullshit. We got aliens, occult detectives, the literal devil, vampires. It's a thing. Don't let it freak you out. Everyone is kinda cool here."

[scarlet_chaos]

"They neglected to mention that in the flier I got." But seeing as she found out she was a witch a week ago and had a book from an actual hell dimension in her bag at the moment she was getting pretty good and rolling with things. "I'm Wanda."

[superjoanjett]

"Jessica Jones," she replied raising up her coffee cup and then down in greeting. "Yeah, a lot of people get that shock value coming here. Some people even get stuck here. Just don't let the weird shit freak you out and you'll be fine. Plus the bars here are pretty decent. So you got a flier about this place?"

That was a little different than most people.

"What did it say to make you want to come here? Come for the doppelgangers? Stay for bizarre amenities?"

[scarlet_chaos]

"Just advertising a nice small town." Which still appealed to Wanda despite the disaster the last small town had been. "And when I did a little research they had a job opening at the magic shop. It was practically catered to me."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve got Tony's text just before he was about to step through his portal, so he booked a later one and doubled back around.

"Hello, Wanda."

[scarlet_chaos]

You know, she should have known the 'I'll see him around' thing wasn't going to work. She thought maybe she would just play it cool, since she didn't know where or when this Steve was from, but that all kind of flew out the window when she actually saw him.

She basically ended up dropping her bag and launching herself at him for a hug.

Look, she had lost a lot recently, so getting something back (in a legitimate, non-magical life ruining way) was really overwhelming.

[heroic_jawline]

It was just a fact that Steve also gave great hugs, so he took this in stride, holding on tightly and eventually doing a comforting little back pat.

"Hi there."

[scarlet_chaos]

"Hi," Wanda said, pulling away and looking slightly ashamed of the outburst. "Sorry, I just haven't really seen anybody in...awhile."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve gave her a sincere smile. "There's no need to apologize. I'm glad to see you, too!"

[scarlet_chaos]

That got a smile out of Wanda. "I just can't believe you're here. I didn't expect to see, well, anybody, really. The idea was to be the mysterious lady who worked at the magic shop who didn't bother anybody."

[heroic_jawline]

"Well, you can still do that, but with dinner at mine and Tony's every now and then," Steve said.

[scarlet_chaos]

"You and Tony live together?" she asked.