InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "PFFFTTTT"

j. нarĸer, eѕqυιre (businesslike) wrote in valarlogs,
@ 2015-09-19 07:24:00

Entry tags:

!complete, jonathan harker, wanda maximoff (scarlet witch)

Who: Wanda & Jonathan
What: Running into each other and catching up, while J is in the throes of studying and quitting smoking twitches
When: Beginning of September
Where: Baxter's
Warnings/Ratings: It's low!
Status: Complete

Wanda was fetching some drinks for Haymitch and herself. Smiling happily at the waitress, Izzy if she remembered rightly, she took the drinks and turned to leave. Not before she spotted a familiar face at a booth, scribbling away as he looked over the books spread before him on the table. Smiling, she made her way over to him, plopping herself down in the seat across from him. "Well hello Mr Harker," she grinned. "Studying hard or hardly studying?" She teased.

Jonathan, by his calculations, was about 98.2% certain that both he and his loved ones would be thanking any deity possible that he was blissfully almost finished with all the rigamarole that came with officially becoming a licensed attorney. Once he passed the bar exam, he would have to pay his dues (literally, it cost way too much to be a card-carrying member of the bar) and go through a swearing-in ceremony - but that part wasn’t awful, it’d be fun, and a chance for him to celebrate. Maybe even relax a little before he dove headfirst into the legal proceedings for Zelda’s big case.

At Baxter’s over endless cups of decaf coffee, he was getting in some crunch-time studying, and when he lifted jade eyes from the book of practice questions he saw a familiar face. Chuckling tiredly, he ran a hand through the manic mess of dark hair and began to clear the table a little, closing his books and such. “Wanda, hi,” he greeted her. “Studying hard, though at this point there’s probably not much more I can cram into my head. Please, make yourself comfortable.”

"I can see that," Wanda grinned, eyes running over everything on the table in front of him as he packed away. "Are you feeling confident?" She asked. She liked Jonathan a lot, he was nice, scarily intelligent and very hard working, all qualities she thought she should be admired. "Do you have a date for your exam?"

“It spreads out over the course of three days - “ and California’s bar exam was notoriously the most difficult in the whole country, “...but it begins next week,” he explained, hands scrubbing over his face to clear some of the tiredness and fatigue. God, he didn’t even want to imagine what he looked like - probably like he’d been studying too damn hard, and needed a cigarette, which was pretty much how he felt.

Instead, he slurped down more decaf coffee - it was tainted with cream and sugar so it didn’t taste too much like scalding hot acid. “Plus, I’ve quit smoking,” he admitted, with a sheepish smile “It was something that needed to happen, but no one has exaggerated how difficult it is to do.”

Wanda winced at the idea of a three day long exam. “Sounds difficult, but why did you choose to stop smoking now?” she asked, puzzled. “Surely during this most stressful time you do not need the extra challenge,” she crossed her arms on the table and leant forward. “What made you decide to do it?”

Because he was a masochist? Honestly, it really was the worst time to quit smoking (not to mention with so much OC weirdness added on top of that, he needed to puff on the vice more often than usual to gain some semblance of sanity, but alas). He sipped his coffee, having lost of track of how many cups he had consumed already, and made a mental note to stop to get real food on the way home - else it was highly possible that his stomach would eat itself, or at least it felt that way.

“Mostly for the sake of my partner,” he confessed, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. Explaining that you were with someone who would live forever, so the years were precious on the mortal’s side of things, was difficult but Jonathan would manage to put it eloquently, he hoped. “It’s healthier for the both of us, not to mention a ton less expensive on my end - cigarettes are pricey. And I’m sure he’d like me around for awhile, not a lung cancer statistic.” Jonathan had started the habit in college, during his Stanford days, and it just kind of escalated into something addictive, as these things tended to do.

“That is really sweet,” Wanda smiled at him. “I’m sure he would understand if you needed to smoke something during this stressful time,” she reasoned. “Not that I am supporting you smoking, but it might help during your exams instead of fighting withdrawal,” she shrugged. “And Pietro and I can always help you afterwards. It worries me to see you so anxious,” she explained.

Jonathan couldn’t help it, he had to laugh a little - mostly at picturing the look on Vlad’s face if he said he needed to smoke one or two, just one or two cigarettes; if it was anything, the look would be the human equivalent of the emoticon :| for sure. “I’ll be okay,” he promised Wanda. “I’m...I tend to always run on the anxious side of things anyway. It’s just coded in my DNA. The dreams don’t help either.”

Books stacked, he nudged them off to the side a little to make this all about her - he was glad to see her, and was glad she’d sat down. He didn’t need to be thinking about the dreaded bar exam right now (he’d heard stories about how lawyers would rather fall into the abyss and become squid-fishers or something, rather than take the exam again - sounded accurate). “But how are you, things are fine?” he asked.

Wanda listened to him talk and made a mental note to ask him about his Dreams. They were a fascinating concept for her and she enjoyed hearing about other people’s. “I am doing fine, we have just started at Irvine university and I’ve had to reduce my hours a little working with Mr Abernathey, but I’m sure I will be able to figure things out,” she explained.

Oh, the fun of having a job and going to school at the same time. He’d had various work study things and tutoring jobs during his Stanford days, and the days of living abroad for university. During law school options were limited - you weren’t supposed to rack up more than 20 hours of work per week, but many lawyers-to-be ignored this. Jonathan was one of them. He just liked to work - he had a hard time sitting still.

“I’m sure you will,” he agreed fondly. “It’s a matter of balance. And your dreams, have you been...experiencing more?” Hopefully they weren’t too terrible, but that was often a lot to hope for here.

“My Dreams are...getting stranger,” Wanda told him, hesitating slightly as she did. Her eyes dropped to the table in front of her. “It sounds odd, but I’ve been uh, Dreaming that I have some very powerful abilities,” she frowned as he told him. “It sounds quite, uh...высокомерный,” she finished after searching and failing to find the word in English.

“Oh, I don’t think it does,” Jonathan smiled encouragingly. “If you have useful abilities, maybe they’ll cross over as they tend to do?” She could always decide to use them to help people. Some people chose to do it like that, he knew Zelda did at the very least (and apparently there was a whole community of magic users too) whereas others didn’t - but then again he didn’t exactly have a catalogue of who possessed what ability around here.

Though he couldn’t picture Wanda using any extra skills in a way that meant she’d hurt people. She was much too sweet for that. “Perhaps you’ll dream of...spaseniye mira,” he added, throwing in a bit of Russian of his own, chuckling. Saving the world.

“I don’t know what I would do if I suddenly gained magic powers,” Wanda looked slightly horrified at the thought. Would it change her as a person? Would she use her powers for good? Bad? Would she be dangerous? She shook her head to stop her train of thought. “I’m not sure I could cope with work, university and saving the world,” she quirked a smile and looked down at the cups in her hands. Given the crazy stuff that happened around the OC, there was every possibility that it could happen.

The idea of having extra abilities thrust upon you was a bit daunting, yes - because everyone knew that with great power came great responsibility, or something along those lines. But Jonathan was certain that Wanda would ease into it, maybe after a few hiccups - if indeed her dream powers showed up in this corner of a whole other reality.

“Well, whatever happens, I’m here for you either way,” he promised. “Anything you need. It’s what friends are for.”

Wanda smiled up at him, glad she had made a fast friend such as Jonathan so soon after moving into the area. “Thank you,” she told him genuinely, reaching out and squeezing his hand. “Sorry, I have to get these to Mr Abernathy, you will let me know if you need anything during your exams?” she asked.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Jonathan nodded. He patted Wanda’s hand in another show of reassurance before pulling back to let her gather her things - he wouldn’t want the drinks meant for her supervisor to get cold or anything. Then he stood, of course, because he was polite (some of those old-world Victorian era traits didn’t dissipate completely, even in the modern age). “I’ll let you know, Wanda. And when I’m all finished, we’ll get together for something else too.” He smiled, in a self-depreciating way. “Something less...caffeinated on my end, probably.” Less stress too. It’d be about damn time, anyway.

“Definitely, Pietro too,” Wanda agreed. “After all, we’re going to have to celebrate,” she told him with a bright smile before giving him a little wave and heading off. He’d be fine with his exams, she thought to herself confidently.