Loki's Little Witch [en]

chapter 1. old familiar threats

Time.

Space.

Reality.

It's more than a linear path.

It's a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the ones you know.

Or sometimes, a single event, a single being written differently, or perhaps many at the same time.

The only thing certain in this vast multiverse it's that all branches leave room for infinite stories to be told, like this one, where in Uptown, New York, the sun was just setting, painting one dining room orange where a man and a young woman sat across each other in complete silence, just like they had been since they moment they sat down and where the only thing that could be heard was the grinding of the cutlery on the plates.

Tony Stark cleared his throat before taking another bite in a failed attempt to gain attention from his brunette daughter, but she simply kept on playing with the food on her plate, something that caused him to snort before taking another bite.

"Isn't this steak exquisite?" he prompted, finally breaking the silence in the room, "Forbes says that there are four tricks to cook the perfect steak. First you start with the right cut, the thicker, the better," he continued, still chewing on his last bite, "then you make sure you over season it to get the perfect seared crust, who would've thought it, right?"

He chuckled, causing Wanda to finally raise her eyes as he took another bite, falling for an endless staring contest under another deep silence before slightly nodding at her.

"Alright then," he threw his fork into his plate, standing up and walking to the counter to grab the folder that was sitting on this one, "you wanna talk about this then?"

"What is it to talk about?" she finally spoke, "you already said the last word."

"Oh, now you're talking," Tony exclaimed with an ironic surprise, "let's see," he opened up the folder making Wanda be the one to throw her fork this time, "combat, top grades. Espionage, top grades as well. People skills, wanna guess?"

"What else do you need to hear then?" Wanda raised her voice this time, "I'm more than qualified and you know it."

"I don't care how qualified you are, I thought I made myself very clear last time: you are not joining S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

"Why? Why can't you understand that this is what I want to do?!" Wanda shouted as well.

"Why can't you understand that all I want is to protect you?"

"I'm not a little girl anymore, dad, I can protect myself."

"You're always going to be my little girl."

Tony responded in a softer tone this time, making Wanda sigh. She simply couldn't understand her father's reasons to not let her become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he had been putting his life at risk for decades now from the moment he created his first suit. He better than anyone else should understand her desire to help others, to be someone in the world.

"Well I'm not," she said, harsher than she wished she did, "and it doesn't matter how many times you make them reject me, I'm gonna keep on trying and trying until I get in. I'm as stubborn as you, remember?"

She crossed her arms, leaning back to her seat as Tony opened his mouth when the sound of the door shutting made itself sound, giving Wanda the perfect opportunity to grab her plate as she stood up and walked towards the kitchen's sink the moment a redhead entered the room, just as Wanda threw her plate on this one, allowing the woman to sense the tension in the room before she could even blink once.