Jarida Drabbles

Avengers Au

"So, how good are you with that bow?" he asked to the mess of red hair.

Before he could blink, she had spun around, tendrils of fire dancing across her cheek, knocked, drew and loosed an arrow that pinned the arm of his new blue sweater to the wall with a solid thwack.

"I don't know. How good am I?" she asked. The question rolled of her tongue after it had been twisted and knotted by her thick Scottish accent.

"Pretty damn good," he admitted as he wrapped his long fingers around the shaft of the arrow and made to yank it out.

"What are you doing?!" she cried out as she batted his hand away.

"Trying to free myself from the wall."

"You'll break the tip if you do it like that." Her nimble fingers wrapped around the shaft closer to the tip than he had been and pulled it out in a quick, decisive, yet gentle motion. Twirling the arrow in her fingers, she screwed her eyebrows curled her upper lip over her teeth. Her bright eyes roved his form briefly before she asked, "And what are you good at? Don't even look like you could lift a wee baby."

"Ha," he chuckled mirthlessly as he straightened his sweater. "I'm good at having fun."

"No offense, but I don't think fun will help anyone. Besides, I think Tony has enough fun to satiate the whole initiative."

"Ha, yet again. That's not all."

"Oh?"

"Watch this." He reached to his belt and pulled out a wooden stick with a curved end about a foot long. Tossing it up in the air, he watched as it grew to seven times in size before catching it effortlessly. Tapping the flat end of his crook against the tiled floor, a sheen layer of ice sprouted out from the wood until the entire hallway was covered. He rested the staff against his shoulder and cupped his hands together. Gently blowing onto them, he widened their reach and molded the misty breath that had escaped from his lips. Once he had shaped a bear he hardened it with a flick of the wrist and with another it was off, lumbering around the air and leaving a trail of snow flecks behind it.

"What are you? Some kind of god, like Thor?" she asked, her mouth agape and eyes wide as she watched until the bear disappeared in a puff of white.

"Haha, no. God? No way. Not that cool." He laughed, twirling his staff until it shrunk again and returning it to his belt.

"You've got that right."

"Ouch. That hurt."

The redhead only shrugged.

"So, what's your name?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but he stopped her.

"Your real name," he clarified.

"Dunbroch. Merida Dunbroch."

"Nice to meet you Dunbroch Merida. I'm Jack," he said, a smirk twitching at the corner of his lips.

She glared at him, but her own lips betrayed her feelings, too.

"Is your hair naturally like that?" Merida questioned, her hand darting to a white strand and twisting it around her finger.

"Yeah."

A loud thud resonated through the hall followed by a harsh grunt. "Frost!" shouted Fury form the end of the hall.

"Oops."