The Perk | Late Thursday Morning

[scarlet_chaos]

Wanda decided to take a more traditional method of learning the island's layout today, without bowling balls and wearing normal shoes. It wasn't as exciting or as physically active as yesterday, but she was able to focus more on what the island had to offer.

She eventually made her way into the coffee shop and let the barista go nuts with her order, which was how she ended up with a mountain of whipped cream on her mocha. She very carefully carried the drink over to a table by the window because walking and drinking with this thing at the same time was not an option. She might need a spoon just to reach the caffeine.

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[heroic_jawline]

Steve was there to pick up something for Tony (because Tony was half caffeine) and grinned when he spotted Wanda.

"Hi!"

[scarlet_chaos]

"Hey," Wanda said, giving him a smile. "How's it going?"

[heroic_jawline]

"Good," Steve said, grinning. "I'm back for a class today, then Tony and I teach tomorrow."

[scarlet_chaos]

"I got randomly chosen for a class yesterday," Wanda said. "I had to carry a bowling ball through town. Wearing bowling shoes."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve laughed. "The shenanigans? I got roped in a few times last summer, too."

[scarlet_chaos]

"Shenanigans was a word for it," Wanda said, sighing. "Not how I expected to spend my day. I did get to meet people, at least."

See, she was socializing. Under duress, but still.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve looked so earnestly proud of her for it, too.

"It's a fun way to do it," Steve said, "even if it's in a mutual experience of 'why are we doing this?'"

It wasn't entirely unlike what he did with Avengers training, even if those were a little less full of slime and falling water buckets.

[scarlet_chaos]

"What are the odds I get wrangled into it again?" Wanda asked.

Probably pretty good, since she seemed to hate it so much.

[heroic_jawline]

"Pretty good unless you avoid the park on Wednesdays," Steve said.

[scarlet_chaos]

"Noted." Unfortunately, she could run but she couldn't hide from the Shenanigans. "What class are you taking?"

[heroic_jawline]

"It's called Gladiators," Steve said, smiling. "It's basically an intense physical ed class with silly costumes."

[scarlet_chaos]

"That is the least surprising thing I've ever heard," she said, laughing. "Silly costumes and all."

Big talk coming from someone who had her own silly costume now.

[heroic_jawline]

"Last year we got to be human cannonballs," Steve said. "It's fun."

[scarlet_chaos]

"You know what? I think I'm okay with just being in the witchcraft class." Less chance of becoming a human cannonball that way.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve laughed. "Well, that is very much your area and not mine."

[scarlet_chaos]

"It is now, I guess," she said. "I guess I kind of owe you an explanation."

[heroic_jawline]

"Should I sit down?" Steve asked.

[scarlet_chaos]

"Please," she said, gesturing to the chair in front of her. "And for the record, I did not order this much whipped cream on my coffee."

She could barely see over the thing.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve laughed. "I wasn't going to judge if you did," he said. "Some folks don't like the taste of coffee that much."

[scarlet_chaos]

"This is excessive, even for coffee haters." Wanda tapped her fingers against the table for a moment, trying to figure out how to start this. "Have you ever heard of the Scarlet Witch? It's a myth or, well, it's supposed to be."

She figured he hadn't but, hey, might as well ask. Besides, it was easier to find the words to explain this first rather than Westview.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve shook his head. "Not at all," he said, sipping from his own, boring, black coffee.

[scarlet_chaos]

"It's someone who uses chaos magic. They're capable of spontaneous creation. Like, creating your own furniture for example," she said. "They're not supposed to exist, apparently. Except that I do."

She shrugged. "Turned out the Mind Stone didn't give me all my powers."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve was focused entirely on what she was saying, nodding along. "Just amplified what you already were," he said with a tiny smile. "Kind of like what happened with me. How are you feeling about it?"

[scarlet_chaos]

"Like I need to reevaluate everything in my life before this," Wanda admitted. "I really have no idea what I'm doing and...it's a lot of power I didn't know I had. I don't really understand it yet."

[heroic_jawline]

"Well, you might just be in the right place to find out," Steve said. "There are a lot of people with a lot of powers and they are all pretty swell about offering to help."

That's right, Wanda. They're all swell.

[scarlet_chaos]

"I noticed," she said with a wry smile. "The first plan was to go off into the woods and try to learn this stuff on my own."

You know, with that book from the hell dimension she stole.

"I'm still kind of afraid to do this around people," Wanda admitted. "The first time I used this power I ended up hurting a lot of people. I messed up really bad."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve nodded, looking sympathetic. "Did you apologize?"

He, personally, was kind of terrible at them.

[scarlet_chaos]

"Yes." Probably a little too late, but she had apologized eventually. "They were still pretty mad."

Understatement.

[heroic_jawline]

"That part you can't fix," Steve said quietly. "But learning more, trying to control it, means you won't make the same mistake twice."

You can make a new mistake instead!

[scarlet_chaos]

Wanda smiled slightly and shook her head. "There's no way I could make this mistake twice. But I appreciate you trying to make me feel better about it."

It was working too, sort of.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve smiled back. "You're welcome," he said. "Back home, we're in the middle of the Sokovia fallout, so I know a thing or two about cleaning up a big mess."

[scarlet_chaos]

"I guess you would, yeah," she said. God, she was really far ahead of everybody else. "Yeah that pretty much defined what counted as a big mess."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve made a little face. "I'm guessing it doesn't end in group hugs and the United Nations leaving us alone?"

[scarlet_chaos]

"Not exactly." Which was also kind of her fault, whoops. "You didn't really think it'd end like that, did you?"

[heroic_jawline]

"No," Steve admitted, running his finger around his coffee mug. "There's too many egos at play. I'm just looking for an emergency brake or something to pull before this goes entirely off the rails."

Spoiler: he would not find one.

[scarlet_chaos]

"I get that," she said. "I'm afraid any help I could offer would just make things worse."

That seemed to be a theme with her.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve gave her a tiny smile. "I'm sure that's not true, but I don't want to cheat off of your knowledge of the future."

Because then everyone's dead and/or living in the 1950s.

[scarlet_chaos]

"Probably for the best," she said. "Isn't that how things get screwed up all the time in movies?"

[heroic_jawline]

Steve nodded. "Those always get Tony yelling about time-space continuums or something." He grinned. "I'm still waiting for my flying car, then I'll mess with going back to the past."

[scarlet_chaos]

Wanda let out a surprised little laugh, because wow, was that wrong. "I will spoil for you that flying cars still aren't a thing in 2023."

[heroic_jawline]

"That is very disappointing," Steve said, "especially when there are a bunch of space ships parked in the junkyard here. I'll tell Tony to get moving on that but he keeps trying to distract me with jetpacks and roller skates."