ώάήȡά (scarlets) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-04-04 12:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, marvel: billy kaplan, marvel: wanda maximoff, ₴ inactive: tommy shepherd |
WHO: Wanda with her sweet soul baby bois Tommy & Billy
WHAT: Gathering for a Parks & Rec viewing, Wanda finds out a bit more about the twins
WHERE: The Sanctum
WHEN: Backdated to Friday
WARNINGS: None!
STATUS: Complete
Billy Kaplan had been a high school superhero. He fought in a civil war between fellow superheroes, he had defended Asgard, he battled Doctor Doom, he went on a multiverse hopping space trip culminating in defeating an interdimensional parasite thanks to the power of love that gave Billy the final push he needed to access the Demiurge powers that allowed him to rewrite the laws of time, space, reality, and magic. All of that was to say that Billy knew what chill was, okay? Except...Billy still had moments of nerding out. Even when it was with Wanda, who Billy actually had a pretty good relationship with all things considered. All things considered was ‘hi, I’m the gay, nerdy, Jewish, reincarnated version of the son you created,’ but they were navigating it well. So what if this was a different version of Wanda, who didn’t have kids? The core of her: kind in spite of all of the crap that had been thrown at her, fierce, strong, and loyal although the world wanted to keep shoving her down, funny when you least expected it, remained the same. So when Wanda asked if Billy and Tommy wanted to watch tv with her, in the Sanctum Billy had the absolute most chill ever experienced by anyone, at any point in time. “I’m totally chill,” Billy said through gritted teeth to Tommy, while they waited for Wanda to open the door. As teleporting into the Sanctum was probably frowned upon, even though Billy really wanted to try just to see if he could. “Shut up, shut up, shut up.” That was true brotherly love. Brotherly love also meant that Billy had a forcefield around the plate of pizza-themed snack foods so as to prevent Tommy from shoving them all of them down his gullet. “What if she hates pizza? We should have asked.” "Oh my god, you are totally not chill. You need to knock it off with that shit or she's gonna know something is up and thenwecanneverdothisagain," Tommy hissed out in rapid succession, his words slurring all together, as if saying them faster would make them more threatening. But he also knew Billy was one of the few people that didn't take his shit. And okay, Tommy was also not chill about this, so being a hypocrite was the lazy way out of feelings conversations. He didn't have a hero worship complex like Billy, or care about The Sanctum because he wasn't a wizard. And Tommy was skeptical of ninety-nine percent of all adults—because they sucked, including his other parents from New Jersey—but he was nervous. This Wanda didn't have to like them, didn't even have to hang out with, didn't even have to like accept them as family. It wouldn't be the first time he was dismissed from family, but it was starting to sting. Ugh, whatever. He knocked again for good measure. "Also, of course she likes pizza, dork. She literally suggested it. And who doesn't like pizza? Except maybe pod people. Or weirdo Skrulls, your boyfriend notwithstanding and—" Oh that was the door opening, and that was Tommy giving Billy a noogie in a split second and messing up his hair, and smiling at Wanda with the biggest shiteating grin, like he didn't just mess with Billy. "Sup? We come bearing gifts of tiny pizzas and sitcoms." Wanda wasn’t the least bit surprised at the squabbling sight that greeted her. There had been a bit of a tickle to her senses that spurred her from the couch, that feeling of knowing that the boys arrived before there was any commotion at the door. Sometimes it happened like that, as if she was attuned to specific people; there would be a hyper awareness to their auras, the frequencies they gave off. She felt it with Peter, chalking that up to him being this piece of Pietro that existed across the multiverse - a living echo of the brother she lost. That at least made a lick of sense to her. With these two? Not so much. Now, she had her theories (perhaps they’re a set of long lost siblings from another time???) - a set of twins that had mirror abilities to her and her brother was a bit on the nose. And of course, there had been that nagging suspicion that they were withholding information but it also wasn’t her place to pry. She sensed no malice in their intentions; only a curious eagerness to connect with her, and Wanda found herself wanting to oblige. “Come in,” she gestured widely, struggling to keep that highly amused smile from splintering her face. The Sanctum wasn’t exactly the most hospitable location to watch a political mockumentary sitcom (so out of field for a place that bled archaic energy), but Stephen had rigged up a common area quite nicely for the residents. The couch, at the very least, did not suck you into an alternate dimension via cushion crevices. “I have canned drinks and extra snacks? In case Tommy requires more food.” Wanda was too familiar with insanely fast metabolisms. She was prepared. Billy knew his twin better than just about anyone. Tommy had gone with Billy to find Wanda not only to support Billy, but because Tommy was also searching for family. He wanted to tell Tommy that no matter what, it would always be the two of them, they were brothers bonded and nothing would ever change that. “Get your idiot hands off me, idiot!” Billy grunted instead, throwing elbows. Which was of course when Wanda decided to open the door, great! He straightened and blew an exasperated breath up at his floppy and now entirely disheveled hair. “Wanda, I apologize for Tommy, he doesn’t get out in polite society very often.” Should he hug her? No, that was weird, right? Probably weird. Even though Wanda knew they were close ‘likethis’ (thank you, Tommy) to their version of Wanda, it was still important to treat her as her own person and not assume anything. So, right, no hugs. Regardless of whether or not this was the Sanctum Sanctorum that Billy was aware of, it was still a place of arcane energies. He thought, for a minute, that he could have pointed out where every magical item was, he thought he could have called them to him, there was so much Billy didn’t technically know but he could feel the magic. But the seating area Wanda directed them to was almost downright homey in contrast, Billy set their offering down on a coffee table and released the forcefield around it. “Tommy always requires extra food,” he said, laughing. “He goes faster than anyone though, so it makes sense.” Yep, even faster than any version of Uncle Pete, Billy stood by that. "My socially awkward nerd-brained brother doesn't speak for me, but I will be requiring literally all the food," Tommy said, right after Wanda said come in. So he did, zipped right past her and Billy in a blur but didn't get far. He paused right smack dab in the middle of the Sanctum. This was not a place Tommy was allowed—because he wasn't magic enough or he would just probably break things running too fast, hard to tell—but for all of its intensity, it was actually pretty cool in a creepy Illuminati way. He turned to Wanda, finding it nice to not have to be mid-battle with her. Nothing was swooping around to kill them or distract them. Tommy realized it was starting to make him twitchy, actual in person conversation. "So wait, you live here? With Sorcerer Jazz Hands? Doing magic stuff?" Tommy replicated something that Doctor Strange absolutely would not do with his hands, likely embarrassing himself and Billy. "You should ask Billy what he thinks of our universe's Sorcerer Crunch Wrap Supreme. He's supposed to be the next one or something." He was trying to talk his brother up, make them seem impressive. Because impressing their mom was an unconscious decision. Ah, chaos. That’s what this was. A chaotic whirlwind of bantering and youth references she didn’t quite always get but she was almost sure a crunch wrap supreme was like, a Taco Bell meal? Anyway, Wanda was somehow able to keep up regardless - she got the twin thing, and also had plenty experience with the speedy ones. The familiarity was nice. “I do live here with Stephen,” she replied to Tommy with a soft chuckle, the doors shut with a flick of her wrist before joining them. Situated on the coffee table were twinkies as well, all the interesting flavors Dr. McCoy somehow created in his office - plus some chips of varying kinds, she wanted to make sure they had options. “And with two other witches - Peter has already made a joke about him collecting ‘magical girls.’” As prickly as Stephen came off he had a very gooey center when offering newcomers some shelter if they preferred not to stay at Morningside. She tried not to tell him that too much, though. His poor ego couldn’t handle it. Back to the tasks at hand. What was missing now? Oh, drinks. Wanda made a motion of her hands and poof, a cloud of red magic smoke later there were chilled canned beverages (there was even some Mountain Dew, she hoped they liked that?). The cherry coke was plucked for her consumption. “And - is that what you want?” she asked, the question directed towards Billy once she settled onto the couch. She and Stephen recently had a conversation about what that role was like, the responsibilities it came with and all the hard choices he ever had to make. Not that she doubted Billy’s capabilities - she had seen his power up close now - but there was a small spark of worry. “I’m sure you probably don’t have a choice, but.” “Tommy! You can’t just!!” Billy hissed. This was typical Tommy, Billy expected nothing less or different (even as he resisted every urge to show off the ‘right’ hand gestures) but it didn’t stop Billy from frantically looking around for Doctor Strange to appear at any minute with a disappointed look and a dry comment. He was, however, pleased to hear that Wanda had people around her, people who watched out for her. Not that Wanda needed to be protected, really, the Scarlet Witch was insanely powerful--but people had used her and manipulated her when she was struggling, and Billy knew well that mental and emotional demons were the hardest to slay. He flashed a smile of thanks for Wanda’s hospitality and grabbed a can of Mountain Dew. Billy propped himself on the arm of the couch, head tilting back and forth in time while playing with the tab of the can as he considered the question. It was one of the many, many futures Billy had seen as the Demiurge, so in a way his ascension to the title of Sorcerer Supreme was preordained. But thinking like that, thinking of realities and timelines and what would be and what was and what had to be and what he could control and alter was...overwhelming. So instead, he shrugged. “There’s a trial I’d have to undertake, and the Vishanti could always say no even after that. But I think having the name would probably make things a lot easier, more official than just, hey guys, it’s me, Billy. There are other things I’d want to do first, but eventually, yeah, if I pass, if I’m accepted. I think I could do it.” Billy was of two minds, on the one hand he wanted to brag on Tommy too, but on the other hand Tommy tended to avoid talking about anything bordering on personal. He looked over at his twin, trying to gauge what the right thing to do was. “Hey, Toms, tell Wanda some of your greatest hits. I’d do it, but you’re only going to correct me every other word so you might as well do it yourself.” Tommy gave Wanda a thumbs up (which meant cool, thanks in Tommy speak) at the appearance of Mountain Dew, before he grabbed it right out of her hand in nothing but a gust of wind. In a blink, Tommy was sitting on the other end of the couch, halfway done with the can. "I only correct you because you make me look like an asshole, when in reality I definitely saved your ass one, two, a hundred times," Tommy said, which was partially true. Billy had saved him an equal amount. His brother was even the reason Tommy wasn't trapped inside that superpowered prison all those years ago. Tommy owed Billy a lot—his greatest hits were just ways to make it up to everyone who wasted their time long enough to be his friend and family. Including, but not limited to, Wanda. "I've fought robots, aliens, aliens again, the other Avengers—" Tommy paused, long enough to look at Wanda, his whole face scrunching up like he ate something sourly. "Not your Avengers. And not you. We never fought you. This isn't some long con for infiltration or anything like the Skrulls." Nope, it was just a way to get to know her better without the pressures of knowing them. Ugh, this was the first time Tommy felt extra shitty about lying, even if it was by omission. Oh. Well, Wanda appreciated the clarification, she supposed - she had just opened her soda, the can letting out a fizzy hiiiisssss as Tommy looked over. “I barely even know what skrulls are,” she admitted with a light shrug, tucking her feet beneath her onto the couch. Aliens, that much she gathered from what she’s gleaned with SHIELD - sometimes she eavesdropped in people’s minds, trying to assess whether or not they were threats back when she was distrustful of literally everyone. The need had died down as she spent more time with her version of the Avengers; she had been given somewhat of an ethical lecture about that aspect of her powers anyway. If this truly was some kind of long con well, shame on her. They were excellent actors. But she didn’t need to dig into their brains to know that they didn’t have suspicious motives. “Honestly, I’m -” Hmm. How to word what she was thinking without sounding condescending? Wanda’s face did a little scrunch too as she looked between the two. “I can’t stop thinking about how young the two of you are. Pietro and I endured a lot at an early age - but we were so angry. We wanted revenge, allowed ourselves to be guinea pigs for one of the stones. How did you two even - ?” Wanda gestured grandly at that part. The members of her Avengers team all had grim origins, something that shaped them into who they were and qualified them for a job literally none of them asked for. “Get involved? With everything? I wanted to ask when we first talked. I did not want to seem too pushy.” Billy also resisted the urge to explain to Wanda who the Skrulls were, along with a detailed timeline of the Kree-Skrull war (most likely with illustrations of Teddy, literal heart eyes and all). He wanted to ask about her reference to the stones, assuming it was about the Infinity Stones, but didn’t want to push. Being a guinea pig, Billy could only guess what that meant, just another way for the Maximoffs to be used by someone else. “I’ve always wanted to be a superhero,” Billy started, rolling his eyes at himself because yes, he was well aware of how nerdy he was. “And one day, our Wanda and I talked, and I don’t know. Something just clicked for me. I had powers.” Which was a glossed over version of the full story, Billy had been bullied relentlessly, found temporary refuge on the steps of the Avengers Mansion, and talked with Wanda who gave him some words of encouragement. The next day, lightning erupted from Billy, nearly killing John Kesler. Resident douchebag, overall shed of tools, but still, it hadn’t made that right. “Nate Richards--Iron Lad, came from the future to try to stop his future-future self.” It had been awhile since Billy had thought of Nate, Nate who wanted to be better but had no idea how to do that. He missed him. “He tried to find the Avengers to help him, but they had disbanded. While he was looking for them, he came across the Avengers Fail Safe program, which was software that Vision had created, to locate the next generation of Avengers.” It came out so quickly and easily that by the time Billy realized what he was saying, he’d already mentioned Vision without thinking about it. A+ job, Kaplan. “So that program identified a few of us, and that’s how we got started.” He chanced a glance over at Tommy, again studying his twin’s face for how to navigate the next part of the story--Tommy’s story, which wasn’t Billy’s to tell. And telling it would bring up even more complicated matters about how Billy and Tommy were brothers, but didn’t grow up together. Weren’t even twins separated at birth, because they weren’t biologically related. Not that it mattered, of course, Tommy was Billy’s brother. This was not Tommy's wheelhouse. He was a gloss over the important details guy. No time to get into the nitty gritty of the how and why. Mostly because how they got started was an accident, with a few lucky breaks, and people from the future doing all the heavy lifting. He finished off the soda, and crushed the can as Billy spoke—he was the chattier twin, anyway. But that didn't stop Tommy from giving Billy a look when he mentioned Vision. That was all kinds of off-limited, for various reasons. And his expression only got more obviously annoyed by leaving it open to explain his situation. Tommy was not about to tell Wanda, his mom-not-mom, that he was a juvenile delinquent, who had been experimented on until Billy broke him out. Mood killer. "What Billy is trying to say is that we were chosen for a very important mission should we choose to accept," Tommy said, letting his voice go all television-announcer deep. "And we kicked so much ass. Then they tried to have us disbanded because we're so kids, which I call bullshit, but once you get a taste of saving the world, you kind of have to keep doing it. The Avengers can't be everywhere at once." He nodded toward Wanda. "I'm sure you can understand that." Wanda could sense the apprehension. It wasn’t just about Vision’s name being dropped, though that added to her own plenty - she had paused in taking a sip from her coke, not expecting him to pop up in conversation at all - but there was something else, too. Like they were trying to carefully choose the right words, figuring out what details to gloss over to keep some things vague. And really, that was their right. It was a very personal topic. At least she had some insight in how she was involved with them. Or Billy, anyway. Tommy seemed more reserved with specifics. It led to a rabbit hole of questions she wanted to ask but she thought it best to take it slow. Maybe as time went on they’d be more willing to share bits and pieces - she was just so curious. “Definitely can,” she smiled at Tommy, just a slight twist of her lips; she could picture them with their, ah, enthusiasm and moxy saving the world. Obviously she had opinions about ‘the next generation’ being tapped into so young (and due to Vision, there was a lot to unpack there) but they technically weren’t children, it was their decision to make. A red energy began to crackle around the plate of food they’d brought, and she levitated it from the coffee table and into her lap. “Maybe we should pause the serious talk for another day? I don’t want to spoil the mood - and from what I hear Leslie Knope is a very inspiring public servant. Is she going to make me cringe like Michael Scott in the beginning?” Say what you will about Tommy (and Billy had said a lot, but only because Tommy was his brother and he had the right to) but Tommy was not only quick on his feet but quick with his words. Billy tended to say things without thinking about them, driven by emotion. Alone, there was a good chance he would have blurted everything out...or rambled for hours about the minute differences between Sanderson’s interpretation of Wheel of Time versus Jordan’s original intent. “We saved the multiverse,” Billy corrected. And subsequently disbanded again, but...he would have been lying if he said he’d forever hung up his cape. Billy had lingering concerns, of course, but Billy would probably always have concerns about his magic. Maybe that was for the best too, preventing him from manipulating reality to suit his needs whenever something happened that he didn’t like. “Didn’t get a t-shirt or souvenir keychain though. Lame.” He waved his hand over their various pizza offerings, white-blue magic briefly lighting up the plate and re-heating the snacks. Pizza rolls were the best when their interiors were somewhere between ‘scorch your tongue off’ and straight up magma. “There’s a lot of cringe in the beginning,” Billy said, with a wince. “Actually, the first season is rough and the second season isn’t much better until Ben and Chris show up. But after that, it’s gold. Which means there’s a lot of good watching with us in your future, so long as we’re still invited.” Tommy elbowed Billy at the correction; they saved a bunch of people, did it really matter the wording of it? Tommy had to stop himself from pushing up his invisible glasses, and giving a nasally rendition of Billy saying well, actually... "If Billy hasn't made you cringe yet, Leslie Knope is going to be a literal walk in the park," Tommy said, knowing he was just going to keep roasting Billy in order to break up the heaviness that started to creep in. Wanda was right, they should skip the serious talk for now. They already had one mess up, and there was only so much ducking and dodging they could do without being back into a corner. This was why Tommy just ran really fast, and punched really hard. That was much easier to understand than feelings. He went for the "unwrapped" pizza rolls, shoving a lava-hot one into his mouth, then proceeded to make noises of someone who had regrets. With his mouth open with an attempt to cool it off, Tommy said, "Yeah, as long as we're still invited," which sounded a lot like yeh, ab ongh ab worb bill bibbide in He swallowed and it burned all the way down. "We won't ruin the punchline of all the jokes before they happen, either," Tommy said, crossing over his heart. |