driftfleet | 'cause it's better than nothing

[ Calibration Rooms ]
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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

N - P

Otono-Tachibana Makie

Q - S

Sandalio "Biffy" de Rabiffano

T - V

W - Z

(last updated: 1/25/19)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Isn't everything here?

[She's still facing the table, tracing a finger over one of the spikes on the mangled cube.]

You already found the most physically painful one.

I don't know - you would know the answer to that better than me, I think.

[He watches Wanda's fingers running along the edge of the cube and - chuckles.]

Oh, did I? Lucky me. What would be a better one to look at? If you don't mind my asking.

Most of them would be better than that. But...

[She leads the way to the center of the tower, away from the various instruments of death to where couches curve around a circular table. There's hot chocolate and pastries (magically still warm) and a setting of two cake-like desserts that look like a vague approximation of cheesecake. And tea, but she already knows Thor's opinion on that. Good thing it wasn't originally meant for him.]

Try whatever you like.

[He'll even get to taste whatever he chooses before the memories start to play.]

[Thor's glad enough to leave the sceptre behind. He doesn't regret having touched it, though. Sometimes it's better to know. Following behind Wanda he gives the sweets a critical glance, humming with thought.]

Did you make these?

[Kind of ridiculous to ask in this space, but he does anyway. He reaches for the hot chocolate, more inclined towards a drink than the cakes.]

No. I never make them this good.

[It's a rich, indulgent hot chocolate, lightly spiced, and one sip leads to another vision:

It's night and cold outside, but Wanda barely feels it. The festive atmosphere of Novi Grad's Christmas markets has her in a great mood and it makes her happy just to see Pietro enjoying himself. His hair is brown - this must be the days before the experiments.

"I think these get better every year," she says with a laugh, and Pietro says something muffled by the pastry in his mouth. She laughs again and nudges him playfully. "Swallow first! You're going to get it everywhere."

He does and grins at her. "You're looking cold, Wanda. We should get you some hot chocolate before you freeze."

"Mmmm, what about the spiced cider?" A moment passes while they both grin. "Or I think we might be able to spare enough for both."

They walk through the market, taking in the sights and sounds, and occasionally Wanda will reach out to wistfully touch some soft-looking winter wear. They can afford to splurge on some of the food here, but that's about it.

Still, when they get their drinks and find a bench to sit and share their treats, Wanda doesn't feel lacking at all. She leans into Pietro's side and closes her eyes in contentment. If only she could bottle this moment and hold onto it forever.

Wanda's expression is distant when reality, or what passes for it here, returns.]

You would have liked him.

[It takes a moment for Thor to lower the mug from his lips when the memory ends. The setting and the people might be entirely different, but he knows the warm feeling that sparks from it all the same. The warmth of family. He has plenty enough memories of Loki that inspire the same kind of thing in him... more than that, he knows how those memories turn sharp after that person is gone.]

I regret that I didn't get the chance.

[Thor had been in that final fight in Sokovia of course, along with Pietro. But there had been no time to talk to the boy or know anything about him, other than their brief fight earlier and the bedlam of Ultron's assault. By the time Thor made his way back to the airship afterwards, Pietro had been gone.]

That was where you both came from? Your home?

[She smiles sadly.]

It wasn't always the way you saw it. We still had some good times.

[These memories, once comforting, have now become extremely painful. Still, Wanda treasures them. Beyond the picture they'd recovered from Pietro's body, it's all she has left.]

This happened every winter.

I am glad to have seen one of them.

[He means that, genuinely. It's a side of Wanda he wouldn't have known otherwise.]

'cause it's better than nothing

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