VIDEO; UN:ODINSON

[deemed]

So we are to fight. [Odinson is freshly bathed, his hair tied back in a knot. There's a new light in his eyes at the promise of this. Killing robots is a task well-suited to him. This he can do.]

Being newly-come to this group, I know few of you, and few of you know me. I would know the skills and knowledge of those I will fight alongside. Or die alongside, if this enemy is truly so formidable. [The half-smile that follows indicates he doesn't quite believe that's a possibility.]

Myself, I am Odinson, of Asgardia, God of Thunder. [There's the slightest hesitation there, for anyone who'll notice such a thing. Something unsaid.] I have fought across the nine realms of my universe, and will fight here with hammer or blade or my fists until the enemy is routed or I am slain. If any wish to spar or learn to fight in the days before we are summoned to Oska, you have only to call on me.

Likewise, any tacticians or those with knowledge of Oska or the enemy, share your knowledge. We ought have some plan before we are shipped back. [Is that sarcasm???]

Comments

[scarletcast]

I will be there as soon as I can.

[ True to her word, she is, walking briskly towards where he's standing towards the place he described. Wanda expects something tiring, so she is wearing something that can breathe, with her usual red jacket and magitek necklace over it. She shucks it off and folds it, keeping it at the side. ]

So.

[ She looks around for Mjolnir, curious to see it up close when not on the opposing team. ]

[deemed]

[There's no hammer here. Odinson didn't even have a weapon on him when he was brought here. It's just him, a red cape, his pants, and a battered baseball bat he's kept from the last mission.

He'll get a real weapon as soon as he can. He promises.

The sky overhead has turned grey. Today, it seems, the storm is listening to him.] Well met, Wanda.

[scarletcast]

[ Wanda Maximoff and the benefit of the doubt don't live on the same planet. She frowns, wanting to ask, but turns to him when he speaks, nods. ]

Well met, Odinson. Should I go first?

[deemed]

[He nods, crossing his arms across his chest.] By all means.

[scarletcast]

[ She looks around for something to move. Telekinesis, when it comes down to it, is a simple ability to demonstrate. Wanda would prefer not to mention she can do more than that, but she'd also rather not start a relationship with another Avenger, former or not, on the basis of a half-truth. She wouldn't want him doing it to her. ]

[ Wanda spies a few rocks near them. With a quick movement red haze weaves around both. She pulls, and both rocks rocket past them, burying themselves in a nearby tree one below the other. ]

It's new to me, [ she says, quietly. ] but that is what I do.

[deemed]

Useful. [Odinson nods approvingly. He'd never pinned down exactly what powers Scarlet Witch had, but they had worked and that was all he needed to know.]

Not all, I suspect. [He adds knowingly, but doesn't stop there. She will share her skills or not.] Now, for my part- [He looks to the sky, praying that today will not be one of the days when the storm takes no heed of him-

Lightning flashes from the sky, a blinding ribbon that punches the ground where the rocks had been and pulses for a second, and two- then snaps away with the deafening roar of thunder. It's over in a moment, leaving the smell of ozone and burnt earth.]

With luck, these robotic foes of ours will have poor circuitry.

[scarletcast]

Not all.

[ She concedes, and she'll add more once he's finished his demonstration. Wanda glances between the sky and his hand, seems like he doesn't need a hammer to do that anymore. ]

[ She smiles, nodding to him appreciatively. ]

Perhaps I will line them up for you.

[ If he asks nicely. ]

[deemed]

[It was easier with Mjolnir-

but everything was easier with her. He'd known who and what he was, then. He'd had a purpose and conviction-

He nods approvingly.] A fine game that would make.

[scarletcast]

[ He's different from what she knows. She's not peering in, but Wanda's seen people when they're tired, how it hangs about their shoulders and creases their faces. It comes off him in stifled waves, quiet and present. ]

[ She smiles, wry, though her mouth turns down immediately at what she's about to admit, ]

I also read minds. The first time I met Thor, I was able to trap him in a nightmare of his own making.

[deemed]

There are some who would be surprised to hear that we gods have nightmares.

[He doesn't smile. He knows his nightmares, and their echoes haunt him even while he is awake.

(He wonders what that other Thor would fear).]

You were not allies, then, when you met the Avengers?

[scarletcast]

Everybody is afraid of something.

[ Her words have a new, bitter tang. Wanda exhales audibly. ]

No, and it took too long to realise my brother and I were being used. We allied with the Avengers, then. Now, [ she shrugs, one-shouldered, ] they say I am one of them.

[ She knows better; she's not yet redeemed. Might never be. ]

[deemed]

[Odinson's smile is small and bitter. He hears in her voice her acknowledgement of her imperfections, failures. (He has his own that have led him away from the Avengers.)

He looks up into the sky, where the clouds are already clearing.] There are no Avengers here, only the Audentes. Yet we are glad to have you.

[scarletcast]

You are the first to say so.

[ And somehow that doesn't surprise her. He knows some other Wanda Maximoff and expects nothing from her except loyalty that she might freely give and the certainty that she will be watching his back in the battle to come. ]

Have you been here long?

[deemed]

Two weeks or so.

[He folds his arms.] I arrived at the end of our last mission. We were in the town of Woodhurst, dealing with an infectious disease which turned ordinary men and women into monsters. It was a hard time for many.

[Not him, though. Goldy immunity is pretty helpful sometimes.]

[scarletcast]

I heard about it.

[ She cants her head, looks up at him. ]

Were you asked to do anything you would not have done of your own free will?

[deemed]

Nay. I was asked only not to kill the infected, as they hoped a cure could be developed. And it was.

[He shrugs, that's reasonable enough.]

Does that concern you? That you may be asked to do such?

[scarletcast]

[ She shrugs. ]

Won't we be asked to, sooner or later? I will choose as much as I can.

[deemed]

I do not know. We have been brought here without our consent, and cannot be returned when we choose. While I trust ALASTAIR's motives to be true, their methods are still questionable.

[He has no answer.] I will do what I feel I must.

[scarletcast]

We agree on that.

[ She exhales slowly. With a small smile, ]

We should not get in each other's way.

[deemed]

You feel capable of defending yourself?

[He's confirming, not questioning. The Wanda Maximoff he knew would have had only slight trouble with an army of robots.]

[scarletcast]

I am.

[ She may not be well practiced, but even untrained she's a force to be reckoned with. ]

[deemed]

That is well.

[He sits his hands on his hips, challenging her.] Now, shall we test ourselves? Try those rocks again, but at me.

[scarletcast]

[ In reply, she sends a few hurtling towards him, spaced so he can't dodge them all. ]

shall we call it here?

[deemed]

[He doesn't try to dodge them all, instead meeting them with his fists.

It hurts, but the pain is good.


It has been a while since Odinson trained with someone who had powers like Wanda, but he catches up to speed quickly enough. It's a good training session.]