fandomtownies | Magic Box

You know what? Annie was pretty sure she'd never actually been in Wanda's store, which right from the jump made her feel like she was kind of a bad friend, whoops. To be fair, she didn't know how to do magic and didn't have much use for most of the things she expected they sold here, but...she also didn't arrest people, personally, and that didn't stop her from visiting the trooper station pretty much every Saturday, did it? And she lived with Diego. So. Bad friend it was.

Not to mention that the whole reason she'd decided to swing by and visit was because she hadn't actually seen Wanda since the whole Kleinfeld thing. Bad friend alert number two, right there.

"So like," she greeted Wanda as she wandered in, looking around, "is this the place to go if I want to burn some sage in our apartment?"

A pause, and, "I don't even know why people do that, actually."

It took Wanda a couple seconds to realize someone was speaking to her, but her brain caught up with her ears quickly enough. She blinked up at Annie, and it occurred to her that it had been awhile since she had seen her.

Well, Annie was planning a wedding and Wanda was planning to get her kids back. They had been busy.

"To be honest, I don't know what the majority of this stuff does."

"Your magic doesn't really use stuff, does it?" Annie ventured curiously, giving Wanda a bright smile. And she wasn't going to say anything, but Wanda looked...tired? (Like, seriously, there was no backhandier comment in the world than, 'Are you okay? You look tired.') Maybe she was hungover or something. She didn't seem sick, at least. "Like, what's a cauldron even for, other than making intense soup?"

"My magic is just me. And, well, a stone from space, but that's a whole thing," Wanda said waving her hand. "But I'm sure somewhere out there in the multiverse there's a witch that uses cauldrons and broomsticks."

"I mean, that's cooler than if you did need herbs or whatever," Annie decided. "My powers are totally dependent on my environment."

Annie really needed to worry more about ending up somewhere without any wiring to speak of, honestly.

"Probably easier to not end up in a situation where you're like, 'Damn, if only I had my pointy hat and some eye of newt.'"

"That is nice. So long as no one pins me down, I'm good," Wanda said with a tired smile. "How have you been? I'm sorry I haven't checked in."

"Don't be sorry," Annie responded quickly, her mind immediately going to Crimson Countess at the idea of Wanda being pinned down. God. "It's been a wild month or so for me, so I also haven't been checking in. No more Seven for me."

It was getting easier to say that every time she shared with someone.

"Is that good or bad?" Wanda asked. "Just so I react accordingly."

We've reached that level of exhaustion. You tell her how she should feel, please.

"It's a good thing," Annie assured her lightly, though she was definitely taking a note here that insulting though it might be to observe, tired seemed to be the case, with Wanda. "Means I'm actually on the island on a Tuesday to come visit."

And also the whole thing where she wasn't a corporate pawn anymore, yadda yadda.

"Well in that case, congratulations," Wanda said, with a more genuine smile this time. "Welcome to the world of superhero retirement. It's...very boring sometimes."

"I'll take boring," Annie assured her easily. "Just like I imagine you were probably pretty okay with boring. Fandom's version of boring is not other places' version, anyway."

Annie had taken a fly-swatter to some kind of creepy disembodied finger thing that kept trying to touch her on Sunday, which she didn't think would have happened on the mainland.

"That is very true," Wanda said. "I ran into Thor's ex here the other week. Who apparently also now has Thor's powers. I didn't even know that was possible, but Mjolnir chooses who it wants to hang around, so, Jane must be cool."

"What's a...mole near?" Annie asked, trying her best with that word.

And also with the concept of what she was assuming were sexually-transmitted powers.

"Oh, it's Thor's big hammer?" Wanda said, lifting her arm like she was holding an invisible hammer. "You can only pick it up if you're worthy, so if you see someone carrying it you can pretty much be assured they're a good person."

"Oh, that's kind of awesome," Annie noted, eyes wide at the gesture. "Like a halo or something. Probably pretty fun to watch people who aren't worthy pick it up."

It was entirely possible Maeve had tried while drunk last September and Annie hadn't seen, just saying.

"I was always too afraid to try," Wanda admitted. "Kind of crappy knowing you're not worthy. Makes you wonder what's wrong with yourself."

"Maybe it's kind of an arbitrary test," Annie suggested, leaning her hip on the counter as she thought. "Like maybe you have to have proven yourself worthy, and not all of us get that kind of opportunity, you know?"

That seemed better than being definitively unworthy, right?

"That is a better way of looking at it," Wanda agreed. "It shouldn't surprise you that Steve can lift it."

"Of course he can," Annie sighed. "I mean, where I'm from? This would be something to look out for -- Vought would definitely figure out a way to circumvent that or like...get a fake one so that Homelander could pick it up and look super, super trustworthy to the public."

"Oh. You know it never occurred to me for someone to do that." That was because villains in the MCU are usually a little more obvious, Wanda. "It's really good you left that place."

"You don't even know the half of it," Annie admitted, smiling a little. "It's made me think like that, instead of -- like, I wonder if I could pick up the hammer."

Probably not, but if anyone from her universe could....

"Between the two of us, you definitely have a better chance of pulling it off," Wanda said. "Or up, rather."

Well, if it helped, Jane still hadn't figured out how to do the costume change thing like Thor could. Which was probably going to be a work in progress for a while.

As such... wearing a cape to stop in.

"I like your giant skeleton," she remarked, glancing back at it as she stepped into the shop to shamelessly latch onto a person who was a friend of a friend and not Captain America. Way to be the less intimidating one, Wanda.

That was her, Wanda Maximoff, the least intimidating person in the world.

"Oh, yeah, that's Jeff," Wanda said, feeling slightly guilty she had been ignoring him lately. At least it seemed like Scott took care of him? "He's sort of our mascot."

That's definitely what everyone said about her back home. For sure.

"I can see it," Jane said, clearly thinking it over. "Skeletons fit the magic theme."

That a weirdly colored tendrils of power in the air.

"He came to life once," Wanda said, like that wasn't weird at all. "Had a British accent and everything. Which I did not call, I thought he'd be from, like, New Jersey."

It could be that really rough House style American accent from Strange instead...

"I don't know how I'd feel about a New Jersey accent on a skeleton," Jane had to admit. "Maybe because most of the 'magic people' I've met had mostly had British accents."

"...I was going to say you've met me, but my accent is fake," Wanda admitted. "But the real one isn't British! It's more Slavic."

Think high school production of Fiddler on the Roof.

"It is?" Jane asked, cocking her head to the side. "It's a really good fake then."

"All thanks to Natasha--Black Widow," Wanda said. "I was on the run from the government for a bit. The whole Sokovia Accords, big airport fight thing. The accent gave me away pretty quickly."

"Not the hair?" Because it was a very nice shade of red if you asked Jane. "I would have thought the hair, personally."

"Hair used to be brunette," Wanda said. "The red was the cover up. It was all very sneaky."

"I feel like everything has been a lie," Jane joked. "This is what happens when I get my information from the news, you know. By the time Thor and I... well, it's not really important."

"I get it. It's always kind of awkward," Wanda said. "I invited him here, last year. Thor. Really enjoyed bowling."

That made Jane smile at least. "Take him out for karaoke next time. He loves that."

It was good to hear he was doing well even with, well, everything.

"What does he even sing?" Wanda asked. "Asgardian drinking songs?"

No, that was Loki.

"80's hair metal ballads," Jane replied. "But yes, also the drinking songs."

Because Loki clearly got that bad habit from his brother.

"Oh, that totally makes sense," Wanda realized. "Yeah, I'll definitely take him to karaoke. I don't think he's coming this year, we've all been super busy."

AKA Wanda barely knew what day it was half the time and forgot to ask.

"Last I heard he was in space now," Jane replied. "But apparently we could be from different points in time. Which isn't confusing at all."

"Oh, it's so confusing," Wanda said. "Half the Avengers in town would give you blank looks if you mention Thanos, which I don't, because I'm afraid of messing up the timeline and, like, Thanos becomes an Avenger somehow or something because of what I did."

"Right?" Jane agreed, making such a face at the idea of Thanos still being alive. "You're the only other person around here who understands when I mention five years being gone too."

"Yeah, that's what really makes you feel like you're from a whole other planet," Wanda said. "The Blip was such a thing and there's all these people who haven't experienced it yet."

Though...of the people she knew of on the island none of them would actually disappear, if things went the same. She didn't know if that was better or worse.

"Yeah," Jane said with such a relieved sigh. "I'm glad you're here at least. I'd have ended up sending constant panic texts to Darcy if I hadn't found someone who could confirm I wasn't just crazy."

"I've always wondered what I'm going to say if that does end up happening to them," Wanda said. "I've got the whole paradox excuse, but I also feel like I should apologize for not giving out a warning?"

"Would it just make things worse?" Jane agreed. "Would it change things so that we don't come back? It's too much to think about, you know? And all the politics leading up to everything..."

"It's all a lot," Wanda said. "I think the safest thing to do is not say anything and be ready with comfort alcohol for when the time comes?"

"Agreed. And I can see if Valkyrie has anything she can send from New Asgard since it takes a lot more to even hit me these days," Jane remarked.

Magic Box | Tuesday

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