Who: Valkyrie and Bruce What: even valkyries need their friends! When: backdated. @ genosha, pre wedding Notes/Warnings: none.
Valkyrie did not enjoy just sitting around. But that's all she could do for the moment. She had to wait until the right time to go break Loki free. So she was sitting at the beach, in a dark blue bikini, but she looked anything but relaxed.
She looked a little tired, actually, but she was busy. No one but her saw the ghost she had with her, flitting about, looking up information for her. It was tiring keeping him functional. But she wouldn't do anything but.
Her head came up, then she smiled. "Bruce. I'm glad you came with."
“Of course,” Bruce said, his hand resting gently on Valkyrie’s shoulder as he came up next to her. He knew how important this mission was and knew that Loki’s imprisonment had taken quite the toll on her over the past couple of months. He was willing to do whatever was necessary to help bring the mischief god back to New York, even if it meant unleashing his angry alter ego. With any luck, they would not need that level of distraction.
He handed her a glass of champagne that he was carrying in his other hand. “Thought you could use this.”
She hoped it wouldn't come to that - she was sure she had it under control but there was so much that was unknown. Val was exhausted, the fact she'd stayed super busy for the last few months was wearing on her. She knew things hadn't gone well with Loki, here, and she was anxious to get out of here.
Her smile was genuine though as she took the glass from him. "I'm not sure that's strong enough." She winked before shaking her head. "I shouldn't be here." She didn't say why, she didn't know who was listening. She hoped Bruce got the idea, she wanted to be on the move, but it was easily meant as: the queen shouldn't be away too long.
Ugh she hated this.
Bruce definitely understood. Probably better than anyone else, since he knew her so well thanks to their time on Sakaar. “You need to be here,” he reminded her. With Loki locked up, she hadn’t been able to give her full attention to ruling New Asgaard. She was fully capable of ruling without him, but she shouldn’t have to.
“And it’s the best I can do,” he added. “I should build a still in my lab when we get back home. See if I can’t brew up some good stuff for you guys and Steve.”
She smiled at him, she trusted Bruce, and she’d known him for long enough that it was something of a long term friendship nothing could break. She’d been a frantic mess - and so much had been done in the time he’d been gone - she’d stuffed their warehouses, stocked every larder with food, and tried to make sure New Asgard could stand on its own if the label of terrorists had stuck. It was an outlet but it hadn’t been good. To be fair, she’d have been frantic, but maybe not nearly as such, with anyone else taken from them.
But Loki had worked his way under her skin, though she’d only had a few months to try to suss out how their relationship really worked, and she couldn’t think to leave him in a place like this. She didn’t tell anyone just how much she worried, how much she felt, how much she already felt a loss without him around. She would never publicly admit it to anyone.
“That would be great - Stark has some …. He calls it jet fuel - but it’s lacking flavor. Flavor me something good, Bruce, I really would be thankful. I do like to taste my alcohol.” she teased, because no, no she didn’t. She just drank but oh, to have options would be heavenly.
It might surprise some people to know that Bruce was fairly intuitive. Valkyrie didn’t have to tell him how worried she’d been since Loki went missing. He also knew well enough not to call her out on it. They were both the quiet types who preferred to work through their issues on their own.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised. “Have you eaten yet?” It wouldn’t surprise him if she hadn’t. He understood all too well what it was like to get so involved in what you were doing that you forgot to take care of your basic needs.
She wouldn't have been surprised. But she also was closer to his other side, she was still learning Bruce. He was still on her very short list of close friends, either side. She would deny it to the sun and back if he had tried to called her out.
"You're the best." She meant it, then she blinked and sat up a bit more, looking mildly sheepish. "I… uh. No, no I haven't." She had been running scenarios over and over in her head, she'd had to force herself outside to play happy guest.
“Let’s go grab some lunch,” Bruce suggested. He knew that Asgardian physiology was much hardier than that of humans, but they still needed to eat and he wanted her to be clear headed for her upcoming mission. “We can eat over there,” he said, pointing to a casual beachside option that didn’t have a dress code and would still allow them to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.
It wasn’t really a question so much as a statement and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Valkyrie knew when someone wasn’t asking so much as telling and she sighed rolling to her feet. She grabbed the robe she’d had brought and threw it on lazily. The light material made her look less intimidating to the general public.
“That would be fine.” she said as she followed him, though she was still grumping about needing to eat. But he was right, she’d need to be clear headed. And no one knew how tired she really was lately.
Bruce was pleased by her acceptance of his declaration and smiled as they headed the short distance to the restaurant and waited to be seated.
“Have you explored much of the island yet?” he asked, his tone conversational though he was really asking if she’d cased the area where she and Wanda would need to go to rescue Loki from captivity.
She knew when to argue and when not to. She needed to eat, so she chose to just accept it this time. She waited with him and smiled a little. “I have - not the vacation I ever expected.” she grinned a bit.
She pushed a lock of black back tucking it behind her ear, she didn’t have a way to tell him she had help - that she’d pulled up a ghost to keep tabs on Loki. But she smiled, “It is a rather lovely place, though I can’t see how it was so hard to get into.” translation: this was going to be a little less painful than she expected.
It was unexpected, but welcome, to hear that she thought it would be easier than they anticipated to liberate Loki. Bruce had been concerned that they would arrive and discover more roadblocks than they had planned for and would have to either abandon the plan completely or greatly improvise. And they did not have a great track record with improvising.
“I suppose money really does open a lot of doors,” he remarked, grateful that Tony had the ability to push and get them here. “It’s really beautiful.” And also really creepy, though he didn’t say that out loud in case anyone was listening. “The staff is very attentive.”
Valkyrie had confidence. Wanda was helping and there wasn’t much the pair of them couldn’t get through. She was sure they’d run into problems, but she also had a ghost that only Wanda and Loki knew about to help. That? That was a huge bonus. The child told her much in the way of where to go and what to expect.
“I see this.” she laughed softly, “Money, we are not immune to it ourselves but we also never had to worry about it.” a slight shrug, “It really is a lovely place - I like the weather over the stormy skies of home, though I do love that too.” she had grown very fond of the sea, “They are the most attentive I have ever seen.”
“Likewise,” Bruce said. Honestly, it was creepy how attentive they were, though he supposed if he was unaware of what was lurking beneath the surface of this apparent paradise, he would not think that. Or at least he could understand why the high rollers that routinely patronized this place wouldn’t think there was anything odd about it.
Speaking of, their server came by to take their order just then, and he was careful not to say anything while there was a staff member so close by. “It should be an interesting weekend.”
Valkyrie shook her head, “I look forward to it.” she said carefully, before she placed her order and got comfortable. She wasn’t sure what the weekend would bring challenge wise, but she was sure it was going to be exhausting but she hoped, worth it.
She had no choice - she had to succeed. She needed him home so she could actually get work done and not pace the house or fill the storerooms. New Asgard needed both of them to function, without it, they limped along. She smiled, again, before tucking into dinner. Food was good.