The Valkyrie stalked the streets with no real goal or aim. The years, the millennia, had not been kind to her, though to be fair, she hadn't been kind to her either. She had put up so many walls, and so much armor, around her heart it was easy to retreat there. It was safe, there. She loved laying everything down for her people, she loved being queen. Not because she ruled, or anything as regal, but because she had purpose again. She was helping save her people. Making up for giving up and running.
It was not easy. It was a lot of work. But she thrived under it.
But here, there was none of that. It was easier - though - when she didn't feel.
She barely could figure out what she wanted to do with her life - now that the usual constraints were not part of things - and she really missed the simple life. Fishing, minding the village, running it. Those were simple days. She found herself missing even her life on Sakaar, with her endless hunt for people, and endless nights at the bar.
Turns out Valkyries were very hard to kill. There had not been enough alcohol there to make it worth it, and here, there was nothing that really came close to tackling her liver. She was, overall, okay with that fact. Being an alcoholic wasn’t worth it in the long run. But she was still missing the parts of her that were okay with it.
She kicked a bottle down the road, the comical ‘thunk’ did nothing to help her mood. She was grumpy, tired, miserable and vaguely feeling punchy. She’d only turn back because Bruce had said Lyra would be disappointed if she didn’t show up for ice cream, and well, Valk couldn’t have that.
She could handle Bruce, Tony, Steve being mad at her but that child? Nope, not so much. She’d grown used to, in a very short period of time, doing Lyra’s hair for her and being there for a good night hug. She wondered when she’d gone soft.
She had no idea.
That only made her kick a wall as she walked by, the brick cracking under her foot, the cracks spidering up the wall, then vanishing as the Entity took care of the city behind her. Valk was feeling that maybe knocking a whole building over would be worth it, but she didn’t want to piss off the Entity, either. She wasn’t sure how far she could go before it got mad.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.
With Thor gone, she was content to retreat back inside her walls, rebuild them and not let anyone back in. Even Loki, or Bruce, the two she considered her closest friends, were likely to be edged out a bit, though, it wouldn’t last. It couldn’t, not here where there was no planet to escape to and hide from them on.
It just would have to be enough, for now, that she was taking it out on objects and she’d only broken one person’s nose today. She counted it as a win.
Ish.
She’d get back to the apartment and wash the blood off her knuckles, the scratches long gone, pull her hair back and just try to put on a better face for Lyra. No one needed to know she was building her walls back up.