Who: Jest and Sharon What: Random Encounter When: Late April Where: Outside of Sally’s in New Asgard Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Completed via Gdoc
Sharon was pretty much addicted to the orange-almond croissants at Sally’s. During the time she’d been quarantined, she’d been jonesing for a dark chocolate mocha and an orange-almond croissant… though she wasn’t sure if the bakery was even open for the two weeks that people had disappeared to other worlds. Thankfully, they were all back, and the bakery was open, and Sharon was out of quarantine.
She headed to the bakery to purchase her items, and then settled into one of the little tables outside. It’d been a really long few weeks, and this was exactly the type of pick-me-up that she was desperate for. That and about a gallon of really good wine. (But that was due for later.)
--
Jest still had a long way to go before he was fully acclimated to this new world, but he'd been making steady progress. He'd learned how to use his Datapad, and now- in a true sign of modernity- had a favorite pair of jeans. A job wasn't yet in the proverbial (or perhaps literal) cards, but… maybe soon.
He'd spent time with Cath at the bakery, though Jest was mindful not to get in the way- of her, or of the paying customers. Still, it was astounding to see her at work- truly in her element in every way.
Cath had said she'd be finishing up soon- via a message on the Datapad- and Jest had walked to Sally's to meet her there when she was done. Rather than bother her inside, he'd taken up a seat at one of the outdoor tables. Seeing someone settled in, presumably alone, at a nearby table, Jest gave a friendly little wave. "Hello there. Mind some company? I'm waiting for someone."
--
Sharon looked up from the croissant and broke into a smirk at the newcomer. “You’re new, aren’t you.” (It wasn’t really a question.) “Sure, take a seat. I’m Sharon. I think we spoke on the net?”
She motioned for the man to occupy one of the free chairs at her table. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and there weren’t many people around. Sharon leaned back in her seat as she lifted the to-go coffee cup and sipped from it. It warmed her from the inside.
“Who are you waiting for?”
--
"Is it really so obvious?" Jest's cheeks pinked slightly. He had played the role of court jester so well, and that had meant talking with anyone and everyone in the king's court. Eyes were on him, always. He put on a show. Now, here, Cath was the star- and deservedly so.
"Sharon, yes," Jest nodded as he moved to take the seat closer to her. "I'm Jest." He didn't have a drink or sweet there with him, but perhaps this was explained simply in, "The, ah, woman of the hour, so to speak. Not Sally, of course. Cath."
--
“You do look a little out of place,” Sharon admitted, almost apologetically. She set the coffee cup down on the table, then reached for the snack. It was already cut into smaller pieces, so she could grab parts and pop them into her mouth.
“Cath, hmm? Did she make an impression on you?” Sharon had wondered about Cath. The young woman didn’t strike Sharon as being the kind to have many suitors. She was solitary, and, honestly, a little cold. But if he liked her, Sharon wasn’t one to talk. (After all, she had fallen in love with one of the most prickly characters she’d ever met.)
--
"You… could say that," Jest agreed, not quite managing to hide his smile. Yes, Cath had made an impression- from the very first moment he'd seen her, in that rose quartz ballroom. "Truthfully, this-" he gestured around them, generally, New Asgard, "-is a chance for me to court her as I might have wished to do in… another life. It's an astounding bit of magic, don't you think?"
--
Sharon chewed while he spoke, unable to stop the grin from her own lips. Then her eyebrows raised and she realized, “--oh, you two are from the same world, then? I didn’t realize.” She lifted her coffee cup to take another quick sip. “Yes.” She set the cup down again. “Yes, this place is absolutely an astounding bit of magic. The Asgardian people are wonderful. So kind and generous to each other. They’re starting to become more accepting of people from the outside, too.” They’d been quite closed off at first, but Sharon had worked hand-in-hand with them to create this village. Soon people from the outside were being accepted amongst the Asgardians who lived here.
“So, you and Cath, then? You’re an item?”
--
"Hearts, yes," Jest nodded, then amended, "Well, I'm from Chess. But I was in Hearts when I came through the portal."
He'd been introduced to a few Asgardians- neighbors and patrons of Sally's, mostly- but they had nearly all been in passing. Conversations on the Datapad were perhaps more open, since they weren't quite so limited by geography. "With as many people coming through the portals, it'd be quite a shame if they weren't open to new arrivals. Everyone was new at some point." Pragmatic, perhaps, but it rang true enough for him.
"An… item of what?"
--
“Chess and Hearts, hmm?” Sharon considered it for a moment. “That sounds familiar. I think I read something about that from her. At least, the Hearts part.” She reached for another little chunk of the croissant, then offered him the plate so he could have a piece, too.
“Good point.” She responded, then smirked. “An item means that the two of you are dating. Romantically involved? Exclusively seeing one another?”
--
"They were… not neighbors, but perhaps distant cousins. Still connected kingdoms, but with… limited travel between." Jest was fairly certain that he and Raven had been the first from Chess to venture to Hearts in a generation or more.
Jest gave a small shake of his head. Not that he wouldn't have loved whatever it was, but he didn't want to deprive Sharon her treat.
Dating was another unfamiliar term, but Jest caught on with the next. "Ah! I am courting her, yes."
--
Sharon nodded. Of course, she knew of countries that had… interesting relationships with other countries, but this was something new. She was interested, but would hold off on all the questions she had. Perhaps she’d ask Cath about it later.
When he shook his head, Sharon gave a gentle shrug and took another bite herself. She figured that anyone who was romantically involved with a baker, didn’t need pastries from a stranger on the street. Not to mention that this was Cath. She made the best pastries.
“Well, congratulations. I had no idea that she was… well, anyway. She hasn’t become too much of an Earth-ian woman for you, has she? What was courting like in Hearts or Chess? Must be different from how it is here.”
--
"She… has changed, since last I saw her, but the changes seem to be treating her well." Jest, of course, had never really seen Cath at her lowest and darkest, as the heartless Queen of Hearts. "I care much more for her happiness than for molding her into the shape of some supposed ideal. I…" he paused, considering something, then continued, "I was not able to court her, in Hearts. But I've heard tell that it involved dancing, poetry, and just a dash of impossibility."
--
Sharon wondered for a moment if they were good changes in his eyes. Sure, he was happy that she was well, but from what she remembered? Cath had changed a lot. She’d come through in a giant gown with a crown on her head. It’d taken quite a bit to get her into more modern clothes--Sharon remembered that Madison took her out shopping a few times. Perhaps it was Cath’s friendship with Madison that really dragged her into the twenty-first century. And then her friendship with Sally that started the bakery. She wasn’t about to ask about Cath’s changes, though. The boy seemed lovesick, and she didn’t want to do anything that might disrupt that.
“This place is full of second chances,” she responded, smiling warmly as she watched him. “I think courting in this world involves all of those things. Definitely the poetry, if you have it in you.”
--
"I would daresay that I can declaim the words of others quite well," Jest found the boast easily enough, "being something of a performer, that is. My hand is less practiced at creating the words on their own."
Curious, and admittedly not knowing quite how to tell, as easily as she'd done, he asked, "Have you been here long?"
--
“I’m sure you can find words to recite, then,” Sharon offered kindly. “Let me know if you need any help researching. Start with Shakespeare. He wrote really beautiful sonnets about love.”
Then she lifted her cup for another sip. “I have. This is my world. I grew up in it. Well, except for a five year stint--I was sent through the portal to an alternate reality and lived five years, then came back through.” She’d experienced everything from being abandoned by Steve Rogers, to the Snap, to Madripoor, and back to New York. And when she returned, she had a bullet in her gut.
--
Shakespeare. Jest repeated the name aloud, committing it to memory… and seeing, of course, another use for the Datapad.
"Did you… choose to leave, and then return?" He was curious. "I thought the portals were more… random, I suppose."
--
Sharon nodded. Hopefully Cath would enjoy the poetry. If not, she was sure she could help him in other ways--should he want the help, anyway.
She shook her head, setting the cup down again. It was really hard to let it go each time, as the mochas at Sally’s were almost as good as the pastries. “No, I did not choose to leave. Just as you didn’t choose to arrive. I was… kidnapped? Perhaps is the closest word. And then I was brought back here just as suddenly.”
--
Jest frowned. The portals seemed to behave with their own minds and methods, unknown by those in charge of this world. Given that his staying here seemed to be… the only way he got a future at all, much less one with Cath, he… didn't much like leaving that fate up to chance.
"Are we really at the portals' whim and whimsy?" he asked, a touch of nerves in his voice.
--
Sharon felt quite fortunate that she hadn’t lost anyone she loved through the portal, though she knew that there were many who had. The look on his face and the tone in his voice made her feel awful that she had to be the one to break this to him. Why hadn’t Cath told him the truth? Or whoever met him when he first came through?
“...would you like comforting words, or the truth?”
--
It wasn't a question, really. Sharon couldn't have known it, of course, but Jest had seen his fate drawn out in front of his own eyes in ink darker than blood or treacle. Murderer. Monarch. Monarch. Mad.
"The truth."
--
“We are at the portal’s whim.” She didn’t try to hide it, didn’t try to sugar-coat anything for him. He deserved to know the truth.
“Any attempts that we’ve had to try to control our situation haven’t produced any results.” She lifted the to-go coffee cup and paused for a moment before sipping from it. “That’s not to say there’s no hope, it’s just… we have no control.”
--
Jest could feel the color, the warmth, draining from his cheeks. Cath had told him, in stark truths, that she would not survive losing him again. Now, it seemed, she might be forced to- if the portal's whims wished it so.
"At the whims of fate, then." he offered, after a moment more. "That… is troublesomely familiar to the life I left behind."
--
Sharon shrugged one shoulder very gently. It wasn’t that she didn’t care--she cared very deeply for all of the people who came through the Portal--it was that she was exhausted. She’d been at this thing’s whims for more than a year now, and the fact that they were helpless against it was… tiresome.
“I’m very sorry, Jest. That’s the way it’s been for everyone here. Some people are here for a short time, and others for much longer. It’s possible that this is our new forever, but it’s possible that it’s not, too.”
--
He took it all in, letting the words circle and swirl through his mind. Jest wanted, desperately, beyond measure, for this to be the forever that had been stolen from them once before. If they had no way of ensuring that… They could sink to fear, or hold tighter still to each new day.
"No apologies needed at all," he insisted, finally. "The truth is… seldom wholly pleasant, I suppose, and better to know it than not."
--
"Better to be prepared, I think," Sharon said, watching him carefully over the top of her disposable coffee cup. She was trying to read whether he was truly in shock and hiding it fairly well, or if he was rolling with the punches so to speak. She hoped it was the latter. She hoped, because this man and Cath deserved to be happy together. Cath deserved it more than most--she was selfless in this place.
"Many of us here have considered this a new chance at something... different." She herself was enjoying something completely different than she would have had if that portal hadn't shown up. "If I have any advice for you, Jest, it's to take full advantage."
--
Jest nodded quickly, having already reached a similar conclusion, even if not voiced aloud. "I intend to try," he agreed, looking back over to Sharon with a slight smile. "Let us hope that I can convince Cath to do similarly." That was… a different conversation in itself, of course, and he knew that Cath wanted to move… much more slowly than he was eager to do. But they would get there. Even with the portal's unknown machinations, he had to believe that, if nothing else.