Jessica groaned as a car drove by and reflected the glaring sunlight directly into her eyes. It was bare minutes to noon and under her hungover-addled mind, she couldn't help but sympathize with vampires.
The poor suckers had to deal with a sun that was specifically out to get them. If that was the case, then them being shadowbanned emos and bloodsuckers was understandable.
She has seen worse crimes being validated for less.
She adjusted the baseball hat on her head a little lower as she trudged on pitifully. She grabbed two cups of coffee along the way, feeling that she would need at least both cups to get her mind to function above the bare minimum of consciousness.
Experience had taught her that drinking it slowly was the best way to not feel even worse or throw up.
Unfortunately, Estus did not work on hangovers.
She nursed the piercing disturbance in her head and made her way towards the only place that would warrant her dragging herself out of bed in this condition.
She winced at the tiny tinkle of the bell as she stepped in and sighed in faint relief as her head seemed to clear up a bit. It was either from the fresh air or one of the numerous shop policies; either way, she was happy to breathe a bit easier.
She was still going to finish her coffee though.
"Oh…"
"I can't possibly look as bad as I feel right now." She groaned tiredly as she wobbled to anchor herself on the counter.
"I mean, you don't," Isaac started, instantly losing the confident reassurance, "but I can't say you look well put together either."
She nursed the bridge of her nose after setting her coffee down on the counter.
"Rough night?" Isaac asked.
"Rough weeks," she corrected, "but yeah, rough night."
"I can see that." She groaned at that. "Please, not now, Isaac."
She took a deliberate slow sip of her cup and sighed in earned relief. She held the cup with both of her hands and took an even slower sip to savor it, and exhaled a full breath as it hit just as the first one did.
"Looks like you're already doing better."
"I think your weird shop is responsible for that. Thanks."
Isaac said nothing to that but he did accept the second cup of coffee she offered. "I don't think I'll be needing that."
Isaac nodded and took a sip. For a brief moment, the both of them relaxed at the counter and slowly drank the mid-morning coffee.
"So, where have you been off to?" Isaac asked when he saw that she'd finished her drink. Plain curiosity was seen on half his face as he brought the cup back to his lips.
She gave him a mean look and he gave her a head tilt of ignorance, making her roll her eyes, only to wince as the action spiked her head.
"Laying low, mostly." She revealed with a huff as if the word offended her somewhat. "And also hiding from the alphabet police. Those fuckers are growing tiresome with their continuous recruitment efforts."
"You're getting recruited?" Isaac asked, surprised.
"No, because I keep closing the door in their faces."
"Why? Is the pay not good?" He questioned before bringing the cup once again to his lips. She deadpanned at him but then remembered that for all his Isaac-ness, he wasn't really from around here.
"While I think I'll do good being a spy, I have absolutely no interest in joining any spy organization. Now, the Avengers? Maybe. I mean, I'll get to hang out with Thor as well as that Stark paycheck, but even that is iffy."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And besides, the reason they are hounding me is because they think we're close friends. They're probably some customers of yours."
"We are friends, I think." Isaac remarked thoughtfully which made Jessica snort. "There's no 'I think'. We are, but they probably think that's another thing they can exploit."
"Well…"
"Exactly." She suspiciously watched him bring the cup to his lips, again, and grabbed it out of his hands the moment he brought it down. The cup was heavy enough to tell that it was still full.
She wanted to ask him why he was pretending to drink it all along but remembered that this was Isaac, and instead simply took a drink from it.
Her eyes widened and she instantly turned to glare at him spitefully as she cradled the cup in her hands.
"You bootlegging gremlin." She spat out acerbically.
This was way better than that back tap water slew she had been drinking. Instead of giving him back his cup, she pushed the empty one towards him with a blatant order in her actions. 'Fill 'em up'.
It was Isaac's time to roll his eyes as he picked up the empty cup and simply took a sip from it.
"God, you're such bullshit that I can't even hate on it." She chuckled and sighed more deeply than she'd done since crawling out of bed.
"Is this constantly refilling?" Jessica couldn't help but ask as she could easily picture herself getting addicted to this as her morning pickup, only for Isaac to dash her hopes with a shake of the head.
"It'll stop if you take it outside."
"Figures." Well it sounded too good to be true anyways, she thought (coped).
"Well, better get to it then." She took off her hat and let her hair fall free. The hat disappeared and in its place were a few stacks of cash appearing in her hands. "Balance for the escape plan tab."
"Need a few things with it?" Isaac asked upon seeing that the amount there was more than was owed. For someone who hassled on every purchase she made, Isaac did not for once think that she was tipping out from her generous pockets.
"Three batches of Estus for one." She drank a placating mouthful of the majestic coffee. "And I'll be needing some things for Trish. To keep her safe, not to get her slinging for muggers at midnight."
"How is she by the way?" Isaac remembered the panicking woman from a little while back and asked out of honest curiosity.
Jessica's grunt was one of pure irritation that could only come from caring about someone you love. "Don't even get me started on that. Somehow, instead of trying to talk me out of it all, y'know, like she used to do, she's brilliantly come to the decision that the best option is if she got a power boost and gears of her own so that she can help me out in crime fighting."
Her retort had the same cadence and tiredness of something borne from several unsuccessful arguments.
"Is it?" Isaac asked needlessly.
"Fuck it isn't." She snapped harshly and then cradled her head in her hands for a second as she exhaled a calming breath.
"I just need a few things for her. Some subtle protection and an emergency insurance or two."
"Sure."
"You don't mind if I crash in your lounge, do you?"
"Nah, knock yourself out."
"I plan to," she mouthed as she made a retreat to the corner of the shop, suddenly feeling the need to take a fresh nap. She'd deal with Trish's purchase later when she woke up, with her refilling coffee still waiting for her warmly.
.
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[An undisclosed location]
Loki was usually not an advocate for blind actions, or winging it as the unenlightened would say. Sure, he had been in situations where winging it was his card to play, but times like that were so few and rare in-between that anyone that could get him to that stage would have rendered all his contingencies pointless. Someone like that was…. well no need for him to mentally flagellate their ego.
That said, he had made a decision based on an out-of-character flightful fancy, no rhyme or reason behind his motives, and yet he was pleased with himself in a way that he had not been in a long time.
Perhaps it was because of the casual deceit and mischief he could craft along the way that made him this… relaxed. It was different from his usual method of structured chaos and planned lies.
Simply put, he was pretty much having fun with his daily annoyance of one particular Wanda Maximoff. Unfortunately for her brother, Pietro Maximoff, he was a bore that Loki simply found redundant.
The quick-footed idiot had tried pushing Loki into an hierarchy not of his making, and while he did get the first hit in – and earning Loki's eternal spite in the process – Loki quickly showed him the difference between them.
Nothing puts a speedster in their place more than making them say goodbye to their precious ground. The fool, in a flash of Loki's genius, found himself falling and spinning through an unending purple fog for an hour, and it wasn't until after Loki got Wanda to move on from her pointless threats to intensely pleading before he freed her featherbrained twin. Two birds with one stone; who didn't like a classic play?
The other thing he found himself rather enjoying was being a partial observer of Magneto and his Brotherhood. The man knew he was full of shit, but for some reason he decided to keep the factor of unknown chaos in his backyard. Daring, foolish, or a hopeless gambler – Loki genuinely had no idea which one Magneto was subscribed to.
So yeah, he was a probationary spectator of the Brotherhood.
He almost felt insulted when Magneto thought to keep an eye on him by sending a seductress shapeshifter his way, but once again he found himself enjoying the act being played around him.
Raven Darkhölme was no Amora. That much was obvious.
Oh, and it was sweetly delightful to watch the way her expression and façade fell apart when he called her by name.
Anyway, the mutants were an interesting bunch but not exciting enough not to bore Loki after a few days, with the exception of a strict few.
He simply concerned himself with Wanda and that tantalizing tremble he felt every time he saw her using her magic.
Whatever it was, by Odin it was powerful.
While the lass did nothing but sling around tantric spells, Loki, not sharing in her ignorance, could feel just how powerful the expression of her magic was. The very nature of it was so powerful and ancient that despite the girl being ridiculously weak, it exerted itself so viciously that it even ate away at Loki's magic.
Now, here was where Loki confused both himself and the watching Magneto.
Normally, as even Thor would testify, finding someone like Wanda meant Loki planning a way to either get what he wanted from her or use her to his ends until her bones ground to dust. Normally.
Now what did he do?
He was teaching her magic. He was feeding that insidious magic of hers without a clear plan of what he wanted from her, or the nature of how he benefited from it.
He was indulging her and teaching her because he could tell that the outcome of it would be chaotic to a more ridiculous degree. He was as certain of it as he was certain of Thor calling down lightning on his foes.
Would he take her magic if a chance appeared for him to do so? Obviously. Would he turn her into an ignorant puppet of his desires to manipulate for his ambitions? Well, his name wasn't Loki, the Virtuous and Kindhearted.
But until then he wanted to see how much shit he could stir into the pot before it exploded. And to his negligible defense – not that anyone would stand for it – the ignorantly sheltered young girl was making it too easy.
Really, Erik? The metal-headed man had secluded and sidelined Wanda, his daughter, for most of her life just because of how dangerous and out of control her magic was, only giving her some rein after he somehow managed to fix the uncontrollable aspect of her magic.
Loki was speechless when he learned that particular piece of info.
The former crown-wearing old head had successfully managed to pull an Odin… and still had the gall to introduce a Loki into the mix.
It was almost too easy to push her down that established path. Way too easy. Except that Loki found himself not enjoying that brand of preplanned chaos as of late. He wanted something more original.
It was almost like he could feel a string being pulled with his actions and decisions; a string that was almost promising to lead him to the best benefits with how much he could pull on it.
Sometimes he could feel like he was on the verge of touching on something only for it to escape through his fingers like smoke.
He still did not know how much, and to what extent he'd changed after absorbing the heart and gaining his Sacred Gear.
'Eh, I probably should get to that soon.'
"Enigma, get out of my room. I'm trying to meditate."
"Shhh, me too." He shushed her from where he sat with his back against the wall. Wanda, sitting cross-legged on her bed, glared at him in return for a placid smile. "Less talking, more meditating."
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