InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "story of my life!"

Valkyrie was sitting on the fence in the backyard of her and Loki's place. She was livid. Sif might not have meant to offend her but the Valkyrie's pride was still bruised. She was stressed out and the whole thing hadn't helped any.

She had a small flask with the jet fuel of a booze in it and she took a little sip. If she didn't she'd have problems tonight. She had her hair braided back tightly, and she was looking in thought.

She was mostly talking to Aragorn before she looked up to see Sif, her lips curled into a smirk. "I warn you, my mood is foul and my control will not be nearly as good." She usually held back, even against Sif and Thor.

---

"Since you're angry because of me, in part, it's only fair that it's my lookout." Sif pulled her shield off the back of her shoulders and examined it to be sure it was ready for what she expected to be a bruising workout. "I'm not--it's not you that I doubt, or am upset with. Thor's right to trust you. I'm disappointed that he's right not to trust himself. I'm sorry that I said anything and made your burden harder."

---

She jumped off the fence, braid bouncing off her back, landing lighter than she should have with her mood. "As it is that I'm not just angry at you." She wasn't, though Sif's comments, and the need to take Jane to Oslo, had just been one more thing she had to worry about.

"I have faced down worse foes than Midgardians that think they can keep my husband locked up. I do not know what else I can do to prove that I can keep us all safe, and at some point, prosperous." She lifted one hand, palm up, fingers curling.

"Come on then."

---

"We'll get Loki out. By hook or crook or main force if we need to." Sif finished setting her shield aside and drew one of her blades to move in for an attack: a few testing blows to see how far Val meant to unleash her power. Not that Sif was concerned; Thor's opinions on magic and science notwithstanding, Sif knew what she was. And she rarely got a chance to cut loose without fear of injuring someone either, and frankly could use the opportunity to trade blows with the one person in New Asgard she was certain was her superior in battle experience.

"And you will have your husband back, and Thor will remember he has to be an adult all the time now, and we'll arrange it so Jane will feel safe travelling to Oslo or wherever she needs to go to meet her religious needs. It will take time, and we have that."

Sif probed the Valkryie's defenses with a series of thrusts and hard blows as she spoke.

---

Valkyrie moved easily, watching Sif through dark eyes. She parried the few testing blows, and it felt like she was hitting back hard. But Sif could tell she still wasn't going all out. "Don't hold back on me now."

She had millennia of fighting under her belt - between Odin's wars and then surviving Sakaar, she was a wealth of experience. But she never bragged about it. She stepped in, one of her knives appearing in her hand from somewhere. She was fast. "We will get him back. They cannot keep him from us." She said even as she swiped at her friend.

"I do not care if Thor wishes this back or not, I've taken care of us for plenty of time - I only care he stops sulking in bed and being useless."

She didn't have anything but her Sakaarian leather on - and a single knife that Sif could see. She absorbed the first hit or two, drawing her in just so she could drive a knee into her friends ribs.

---

Sif hadn't expected Val to come at her with a knife, but she understood the value of blade length instinctively. Better to let Val extend herself than come in too close early on. Sif would save that for the moment when she lost a weapon.

"Who said anything about Thor getting the crown back? He's right that he's behaved disgracefully. He's got to stop that first, though, before he can ask the rest of New Asgard to trust him again the way they do you."

She did strike harder, having tested Val with those first few blows, and that did inevitably bring her a little closer to Val. That and the fact that Val was fast--especially with the smaller weapon--and Sif was going to have to do a lot of dancing away to keep her at full extension.

---

Valkyrie preferred her smaller weapons, she was on the smaller side herself, and liked to get in close. She didn't worry too much, she was confident.

"He does. He cannot lose his temper so violently. I cannot keep cleaning up after them, he needs to grow up like the rest of us. We will be run off this planet if we keep making mistakes!" Her words were punctuated by wild looking swipes and blows.

Though everything she did was with reason and she was closing the distance between them with each blow. She took many of the strikes from Sif, her focus razor sharp.

---

Regardless of what you thought of the metaphysics, Sif hadn't become a warleader in Odin's court by missing the strengths of another talented and highly experienced warrior. It became apparent to her that Val was pushing her where she wanted to go, and in the evening darkness she was starting to have to watch her step on ground more familiar to her foe's feet than her own. It was only a matter of time until Val got inside her guard or backed her up against a fence.

Sif might have to lose, but she intended to give Val a fight before she took her touch. She redoubled her defense, keeping her footwork and the terrain in mind, so that Val could work some of her energy out.

And she was still struggling with what to say about Thor, at whom she was still angry. "I don't know what to do with him. I know he's hurting and grieving but aren't we all? Aren't Loki and I, and you moreso, who left Asgard twice?"

---

Val was pushing her towards the fence, it was a great barrier to work against. But she also was adaptable enough to go with whatever Sif ended up letting her do. She moved easily, she knew the ground and was comfortable.

Her steps faltered.

Her expression darkened, "I would suggest dropping that line of commentary." She redoubled her efforts, "I do not talk about that." Her hands moved faster, the check on her strength lessened a bit, even Loki didn't get to talk to her about her departure from Asgard.

---

>

Sif met Val's angry blow with her blade, and it rattled all the way up her arm. "I do not, except to say Thor's grief is hardly larger. And as tantrums go, this is mild. I did ask for it. New York did not. And if you needed to stop, you would. I wouldn't need to call Loki to get you to do it."

---

Under the surface Val's cage was rattled, she only had one or two issues that made her lose her cool. Sif was correct, though, she did ask for it. At least she had warning into the Valkyrie's mood first. That was a lot more than the city got.

"No, I am quite capable of controlling my temper." Not that she was doing a stellar job at the moment but she also didn't have the raw power to do damage to the landscape. She pushed off Sif's arm, trying to fix that control problem with a moment to breathe and refocus before pressing again. "Pain is pain. I am not prone to emotional outbursts. This isn't one. This is planned. If you said stop, I would."

---

"Are you getting it out of your system or am I just making it worse?" Sif asked.

---

"A little of both?" She said honestly, shooting for honesty anyway. "You can't know how I react to some things - even if you know the topic stings. Just let's avoid that and I should be fine."

---

"Okay, let's do it, then. I can hold on for a while, assuming I don't put my heel in a rut. And I am sorry--I don't mean to prod at the sore spots." Sif had lowered her weapon slightly, but raised it again to signal her readiness to continue. "I've been told we're different every time, and it's true. I'm having to learn how to talk to you all over again."

---

She checked herself and made herself slow down, think, and not just react. "From what I can tell the two biggest differences? I'm not nearly as drunk and a lot more closed off." She darted in to attack. She didn't apologize for being hard to talk to again, it wasn't Val's fault. "Just say stop when you've had enough."

"I am frustrated, Sif, I can't do anything and I'm on edge all the time. My temper is barely in check and only held that way because I refuse to let this town suffer if I lose it. Our people have suffered enough."

---

"And--if it's not too much of a sore spot--you're better off for less drinking. I used to worry about that. But that wasn't you as you are. As you are, you've stepped up and done a better job than any of the rest of us could." Sif was prepared for another barrage and had cleared her angle so Val couldn't drive her directly to the fence.

---

She didn't disappoint with the barrage, Val was small, and agile and used that to her advantage. The fence was out but she'd get her there eventually. That was Val's goal, well that and making Sif ache a bit from the workout. "No. That's fair. I can function easily, but that's not me anymore. I have far too much to focus on. Loki needs me clear headed. This town needs me clear headed."

---

It was, indeed, rare for Sif to get a workout with someone who could keep her on her own toes. It was good for her. She had--not relaxed, exactly--but felt more in tune with the play of blades and less concerned about Val losing her temper. "And this is a time of waiting. Waiting to find out what the Midgardians do. What the sorcerer--the Midgardian sorcerer--is doing. What T'Challa can do. What Jane will do." Thor and Loki were conspicuously left out of the list: Loki because he was probably in a position where he couldn't do much and Thor because he'd been sulking. "I bet you don't like waiting any more than I do."

---

She threw one of her small blades as a distraction so she could get in closer. She was relishing this, fighting she knew well. It felt like home.

"Keeping tabs on them is hard , but necessary. I can wait. Even if I feel like a caged bird. It feels like I am stuck in a cage, batting against the bars like it'll do anything. I want our people safe, I want Loki home."

---

Sif batted the blade aside by reflex, which she realized was going to leave her open to Val's knife even as she did it. "Even when he's a brat, I do too."

---

She slipped in the opening, flipping her other knife up to let Sif feel it, knowing she'd made the mistake that left her open. "He needs to be let free. Soon or I well lose my ability to be patient."

---

"Then when we find out where he is, we'll free him."

Sif trusted Val's control for all that they were both still upset, even knowing some of Val's anger was for her.

"And I yield. Well-fought. Another round?"

---

"Hopefully without causing any international mayhem."

Val tucked the blade away, she wouldn't hurt her friend, not unless she really pissed her off. So she was safe.

"Sure. Why not?"