InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "may the force be with you"

Monica Rambeau (lightbased) wrote in valloic,
@ 2024-08-31 11:58:00

Entry tags:

!: action/thread/log, marvel: kamala khan, marvel: monica rambeau

Monica & Kamala

WHAT: The two catch up as Monica's preparing for a job interview
WHERE: The covert
WHEN: Early morning, early August
WARNINGS: N/A
STATUS: Complete

"I still think calling you Professor Marvel would be cool!"

Monica was up early, unsurprisingly. The covert was beautiful, and the land it was on provided plenty of space to walk around and clear her mind, a routine she was forming early in her time here. The structure grounded her in this, her second new universe in a matter of weeks. Or at least, she assumed weeks. She had no real idea how long she was out in the world on the other side of the rift. Things with Carol were still in process, but she smiled as she spotted Kamala in the kitchen with breakfast. As strained as things were with her aunt, the opposite was true with Kamala, the younger woman friendly and energetic and just accepting. "Morning," she said cheerfully, moving to pour herself a cup of coffee. "I'm surprised you're up this early." “Oh, I usually am,” Kamala said, sheets of paper right there next to her bowl of cereal along with her art pen, drawing something up, anything that she thought of. Though after living here for basically two years, it was less about the Avengers and more just doodles of friends she knew around here, or – recently – doodles of the dragons that seemed to have cropped up. “You sleep okay?” "Yeah," Monica agreed, sounding almost surprised. "I did. It's quiet here." She looked over Kamala's artwork, appreciating her talent. Really she just appreciated Kamala herself, and being here instead of universes away. As reluctant as she was to admit it, the three of them had formed a team during their time together thwarting Dar-Benn's plans. "You could draw actual comic books if you wanted. You're that good," she said. Sitting down at the table she added, "I know things are still weird between me and Carol, and you get caught in the middle sometimes, but don't worry. We'll figure things out. Probably." Kamala gave her a half-shrugged, even if the praise just warmed up her heart. She loved praise, it was one of her love languages. But she still tried to play it off like it was nothing. “I don’t know… I could have written whole superhero storylines back home but that was before I even met my heroes and all, you know? Then it becomes weird, like you’re writing a book about your mom.” She paused and then added, “Actually, that’s not entirely too weird. Maybe I should do it anyway.” She put her utensils down though and turned in her chair to face Monica a little better. “I know she missed you a lot. I did too! Families are complicated, I get it. You don’t have to worry about things getting weird for me around you two.” "I seem to remember you being really eager to add Prince Yan into your Captain Marvel fan fiction," Monica said, quirking an eyebrow in Kamala's direction. "And that's after you started to get to know her." A thought occurred to her and she asked, "Am I in any fan fiction? No, wait. I don't know that I want to know. Am I?" Wrapping her hands around the coffee mug, she hesitated before agreeing with Kamala. "Families are complicated, that's for damn sure." Her relationship with her mother never had been. They had always been close. Really, she was only referring to Carol. Kamala grinned, grabbing her artwork and hiding the grin behind it. “Well, now, I can’t tell you because you gave me the idea of writing graphic novels about badass women of my life!” Damn, now there were ideas buzzing around in her head that she was fully intending to work on. “And no... I never got to write any of Prince Yan into my fanfics. I popped up here two years ago, before any of the entanglement happened. I only remember all of it because a few months ago, I got my memories of it! That sometimes happens here. Vallo decides to gift you with memories of your homeworld, what’s happening to the You that’s still over in that world, essentially also happening to… actual you. If that makes sense.” "So you have memories of me without actually knowing me?" Monica asked. "That's better than not knowing who I am at all…" She frowned. She hadn't told Kamala about that yet. When she'd told Carol, her aunt's reaction had been so matter-of-fact Monica had started to retreat, and the moment had felt tense. So she hadn't brought it up yet. "Trust me, that would have been worse," she added. “Personally… having those memories and being able to think over them and go ‘oh yeah I totally would have done all those things I did’ actually makes me feel like we are the same person back in that world too! If I think too much about it, though, it makes my head hurt.” Kamala placed her papers back on the table but adjusted everything to place them neatly in a stack further away from where they sat, out of the way so she can talk without distractions. “For example, I still think calling you Professor Marvel would be cool!” Monica sighed and shook her head. "No chance you'd table that, is there? Because I actually have a job interview at the university today…" She grimaced, though her expression wasn't completely serious. "To teach, of course." “What?!” It was probably a far more enthusiastic response than the situation actually warranted for but Kamala didn’t care. “Now, I’m definitely not going to table that, oh my god, that is great news!” Kamala's enthusiastic response made Monica beam, and she even added generously, "Maybe you could call me that but only like, once a day? How's that sound?" She knew damn well that if Kamala wanted to use that every time she referred to her, she would, but she could hope. Monica Rambeau knew how to hold onto hope almost indefinitely. Kamala held out one pinky for Monica to talk. “Pinky promise. Once a day. I can limit myself! I might not seem like I can and I often don’t bother but, look, you saw Mom. One look from her, one specific look, and I’m stopping everything I’m doing.” That got a laugh out of Monica, but she hooked her pinky around Kamala's and then gave her what she meant to be her best impression of Kamala's mom, but was probably actually closer to her own mother's watch it look. "You mean like this?" she asked, channeling Maria Rambeau. Kamala shook her head. The great intimidating Muneeba Khan had a way with stern looks that she was pretty sure nobody could match. Except maybe Monica’s own mother. It was just a universal mother trait, she was convinced of it. Maybe if she ever decided to become one herself, she’ll pick up the trait herself. “You’re too cute to be giving me a strict look. But don’t worry, I haven’t caused Carol too much trouble while we’ve been here.” Probably a lie, considering how often Kamala was ready to throw herself into danger to defend this world. "You know Carol's old nickname for me? Lieutenant Trouble? I'm going to guess if it wasn't taken, that would be your nickname," Monica replied, but she was smiling. She picked up her phone and noted that she had plenty of time, but she was anxious to interview and get it over with. "Sometimes I wish I could just fast-forward time to things like interviews. It's the waiting that's the worst part. You know what I mean?" She almost rolled her eyes at herself. She didn't need to stress Kamala out just because she was nervous. "I'm being ridiculous," she said. "It's not even the biggest interview I've ever gone for. Let's not talk about this…" “Hey,” Kamala reached out and squeezed Monica’s hand in hers. “Look, I may only just have started college recently and probably would never be mistaken for having much life experience because the world seems to think teenage girls don’t know anything… but I know you’re going to kick ass. And even then, it’s still totally normal to feel nervous. “But, I can definitely talk about something else if you want.” She grinned. “We can make plans on how to chill and unwind after the interview!” "Okay first, who do we need to fight on that because that's clearly wrong? And second, I appreciate you," Monica replied, squeezing Kamala's hand gratefully. "Third, I don't know. Watch anything good lately that we can put on and not have to think too hard about?" Kamala raised her eyebrows and mentally perused through any of the more recent popular shows that she knew about that existed here. “Did you want something that we would know about from our world or do you want to watch some obscure Vallo brand soap opera between fae characters?” "Uh, somehow that soap opera sounds completely mindless, so let's go with that. Seeing as how I'm hoping to be teaching here and adjusting to life here. Might as well see some of the pop culture until my brain can't take it anymore. But that's only if it's really bad," Monica replied. She looked down at her coffee mug and then took a long drink. "I need to finish this and go get ready. Wish me luck?" Kamala hopped off her seat to give the woman a proper hug. “Good luck, kick some ass out there!”