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The large green bubble over the natural history museum and the whole issue of a missing Hulk from the Triskelion is enough to make anyone nervous. Shield hasn't got the best track record of late, even when aided by those metahumans and mystics such as they have on call. Albeit that budget slanted rather heavily lately, and the young woman stalking down Amsterdam Street with a purpose does not exude any manner of friendly vibes. A chance to get out of work on the very rare moments she appears in person satisfies her greatly, and the rest of the city revs with activity on a typical New York afternoon. Lunch crowds are dwindling, the ad execs on Madison Avenue won't be getting out of their cups and back to work any time in the next hour, and anyone with an actual job is likely at it. For the most part.
Hands buried deep in the pockets of her beautifully cut leather jacket give Wanda a slimmer profile to slip through the crowds, and for all that Carol is likely taller, she might be pressed to keep up with the brunette. And how easily someone with her golden complexion can simply melt into a crowd, that's one for social psychologists to figure out. For now, there's a reason, a need for fresh air and catching a certain food cart while it is still open. Said cart apparently sells pierogi worth chasing after, especially given she's walking in zigzags to get around slower moving traffic. "It is something better than all that coffee."
*
Carol hrmphs, "Especially when Coulson is the one making it. I swear that man thinks it's one can per filter the way he brews it." She does manage to keep up, marveling a bit at Wanda's ability to just slip through the crowd, then she shakes her head as she gets to the pierogi stand. "I still can't believe Peggy set me up like that!" By which she means the blind date, not in the field.
*
"Coffee made here is not the same. One day I will make a proper pot, the good kind," murmurs Wanda, the lilt of her accent roaming freely around her English. She doesn't see the need to have it so suppressed. Fewer people give her odd looks for sounding 'over thereish.' "A setup. You are not the first that would say this. Though for different reasons. She has her eyes on many things. Are you feeling well about it?"
*
A bit of a grimace at that, "I'm not sure /how/ I feel about it. I mean, it's one thing to be sent on a diversionary mission or something… but having your friend set you up on a blind date with her friend's son…" She shakes her head, "I know she means well, but I really don't like being manipulated like that. Besides, it's not like I'm exactly in a career that lends itself to steady relationships."
*
Dark brows lift a fraction, the glinting amber of Wanda's eyes flicked back to Carol. She gives a solemn nod of understanding, though it might be questionable what a woman of her relative age and very unusual upbringing knows about relationships of any kind, let alone healthy ones. The answers could be surprising. Slowing as she approaches the busy cross streets, she checks the end of the line headed for the man frying up those little doughy pockets of happiness for an eager crowd. Sold on paper boats by the three, the pierogi flavours of the day are chalked on a green board in slanted, jagged writing. Someone has erased one of them, apparently a pizza flavour.
"And your independence," she adds. "Not all men like this." Pity, but that's what the situation is, in her eyes. "One date is not so important. But with ties to a friend, it becomes more important, and then you have another influential person as the… person between you." Oh English, why don't you use standard translations? Matchmaking warrants a little wrinkle of her nose. "Does she appreciate the difficult position you are in, if it does not turn out?"
*
Carol looks a little rueful at that, "I /think/ so, but honestly with Peggy, it's hard to tell sometimes. I mean, I know she's thinking a dozen moves ahead because she has to, but I can't help but think of one of my aunts going, 'Well, he's such a nice boy, and you're such a nice girl, why don't you two get together…'" And she even nails the old Boston woman accent to a T, then she laughs ruefully, "But, well, worst case scenario he's a jerk and then I have an excuse to keep Peggy from trying it again?"
*
Tucking her bangs back is hardly necessary given the lacy headband stretching over her crown, but a few loose curls need to be shepherded back behind Wanda's ear. A thin strand snagged against her garnet capped bobbypin gives her something of a more refined appearance. "Ah! Aunts, they are always thinking of interests ahead of us, and will not hear no. I hear enough about this from the ladies in the office. They say their families worry they are too old at twenty-two." For not being wedded, bedded, and that. Her tone echoes with disbelief. Then she drags back her lustrous, dark hair over her shoulder and gestures. "All these choices are good. The orange cheese is probably my favourite." Trust a girl from Central or Eastern Europe to know her pierogi.
*
Carol smirks, "And I'm thirty-three. You'd think I was practically living in a small house with a dozen cats by now, instead of an apartment with, well, one." She hmms, "Think I'll try that one, then. On pierogis, I know you're the expert." She grins a bit, "Though there was a nice place in Vienna where you could get them…"
*
Wanda tips her head slightly. "Would it not be the top part of the house, not allowed to come down for fear of upsetting the family?" Vigorous and terribly focused, the dangerous tip of a smirk touches her lips very lightly. She waits for the line to shuffle up, and then orders her six pierogi; cheese, and potato with chives. Lots of chives, evidently, given the owner heaps them on and adds a slight drizzle of oil atop the grill. "Vienna is the best place for coffee. I know the city a bit. Do you go to Europe often?"
*
Carol shakes her head, "Not for a few years. When I was working with the CIA, before getting transferred, I did quite a bit of work over there." She orders the same as Wanda, actually, and gives her a wry expression, "But I don't think I told you who it was she set me up with." A pause.
"Tony Stark." Um, yeah, THAT Tony Stark.
*
"Does he even like people? I have only seen him doing his science things. He does not seem the sort of man who likes to talk to people, not very much." A shrug of her shoulder under the leather jacket leaves Wanda responding graciously enough. It's not exactly a wrong impression for someone who tends to make headlines for scientific initiatives, if at all. "Then you no doubt will go somewhere with the best of food. I cannot imagine that you would have a date at a place like this. Him, rather. You would, maybe." A few bills go over to pay for the food, and then she shuffles to the side to wait for the fragrant dish to be completed. "I miss Europe. Many things here are good, yes, but things there sometimes feel simple. Familiar. Not so much in America, nothing is as it appears."
*
Carol shakes her head, "Well, apparently he loves three things. Science, women, and alcohol. Not sure what order he ranks them in, but I guess I'll be finding out." She smiles wryly at Wanda, "Simpler would be nicer sometimes, but I don't know if it would be as entertaining. And he did seem… well, somewhat nice. Charming, even." And she's trying really hard to stay angry at Peggy, too.
*
"Quite an equation," murmurs the Transian, eyeing up the street beyond the vendor as the tides of pedestrians and vehicular traffic ebb and flow. She tends to measure those rhythms instinctively and gives them quiet thought, allowing Carol to speak as the blonde finds best. Lengthy bits of speech from her are rare, rarer still when the conversation topic is particularly light. "Charm. Mm. He will have his match in you. You do not look easy to push over. I would probably have to cheat to make that happen."
*
Carol blinks, "Oh no you don't… if he thinks he can get some sort of love potion from you…" She grins, teasing a bit, then tilts her head, "Wait, you would have to cheat? You were thinking of cheating?" Her eyebrows raise a bit as she looks at Wanda, her eyes reflecting a bit of amusement.
*
"I do not give such things. They turn someone's own wishes against them, and that is a deep injury to cause someone. An evil I would not perform, not if I had control of myself." Wanda shakes her head, and evidently that tease just washes right over her head. The brunette picks up her pierogis; the cheese scent mingles with the black roses forever stamped on her skin with the darker impressions of sandalwood and rare spices, exotic bazaars of the Orient and the Near East drenched in twilight evoked by that signature scent. "I would use another way to knock you to your knees. I think you would be a very hard opponent. But not impossible. All have their weaknesses, and I am good at some things. Would you…" She pauses.
Might as well lick the sour cream off her finger. "Teach me to be better at fighting? I fight only very roughly. But when you face trouble, I want you always to feel safe with me at your back. You are the only person in Shield I trust to fight with, anyways. When it is dangerous… Better to have you with me. The rest, I do not know very well."
*
Carol smiles, "Okay, first off, I was teasing, Wanda. I know you'd never do anything remotely like that. Though I guess if you did charm me, it would get me out of this date situation." She winks at that, then considers.
"Far as teaching you to fight goes… I wouldn't mind giving you some lessons. Definitely would be good if you ever get into a situation where your witchcraft isn't working quite right." She keeps her voice down a bit as she gets her own perogis, staying next to Wanda, "So sure, I can give you some real training."
*
"It is better training than throwing people into alleys and grenades at those alleys," agrees the brunette, offering a plastic fork wrapped in a serviette to Carol. "What I do usually works. When it does not, I have no problem picking up something else. A gun, a stick, a person." Right, because let's just imagine someone as lithe and corseted, no less, as Wanda tossing the likes of a confounded Tony Stark at an alien. It bodes well, right? He'd probably get time to be partially armoured and then complain she throws like a girl.
"Do you have any thoughts on the museum? I am thinking I might be able to get you inside. No one has tried to go through the barrier my way, I don't think."
*
Carol hmms, "Well, getting in might not be the problem. Getting out could be the trick. But if we can try to get inside, then I think it's definitely worth the risk just to see what's going on in there."
*
"Getting out could be. Though there is always another way." That may or may not prove a very concerning matter, but the Witch has resources others don't. Same as Carol can rely on things that the average strange combatants or villains don't. Her shoulders rolling back, she graciously tips her fingers into the air. "We want to be happy, I should think, and find a better solution? I do not think anyone has found a way in."
*
Carol hmms, "Well, if we can try to get in your way… at least that would prove that we can get inside, figure out what exactly is going on in there." She frowns, "It just seems really odd to me. Why the museum of all places?"
*
"Something in the museum they want. An object, maybe. It is clear they need to use the building or something in the building. But this could be only a guess. I have no good intelligence." Which explains that rather dry take on things, given an absence of useful information. Wanda jabs the fork into the pierogi, and fearlessly bites off the nearer end, uncaring about the steamy, fried filling of goodness. Cheese has a particular magic.
*
Carol hmms, "Is there any way to look past the bubble or whatever? I mean, you know, magically?" She pauses, "Or different kinds of magic, or something? I don't know how that all works." She clearly would like to get some intel before going in boots-on-the-ground, as it were.
*
The Witch considers the question for a time. "I have not tried, to be sure. It is possible for many ways to be done. I do not like the idea of jumping in blind. Looking from afar is not so difficult, really. If we were to use a bit of effort, we could find out a few things. Does Shield have any records we might read, to know details? Your rights might be high enough. Mine, I am not so sure. "
*
Carol nods, "Well, let's head back to HQ and do a bit of digging. I'm pretty sure I have enough pull to get some idea of what might be in there." She grins, "Give me something to do aside from worry about what's going to happen with that whole 'date' thing." Making a face, she walks back with Wanda to HQ, now having an afternoon of records combing to look forward to…