Lillies
Chapter Three: Lillies
Eris Stark was now almost a year old and she still had no idea why she’d been given another chance at life in the Marvel Universe. So far, everything appeared to be perfectly normal for Eris, other than the fact she’d been reincarnated but hey. She had a loving mother in Maria Stark, a devoted nanny – who was only around when Maria was busy with charity work since it seemed like Maria didn’t want Eris raised by a nanny like Tony had been – a devoted butler in Jarvis and an absent father in Howard. There was Tony as well, of course, but he’d been forced by Howard to return to MIT after around two months.
She was surprised by how much she ended up missing her big brother – the fact she called him her big brother was again a surprise – in fact her baby brain had caused her to cry for several hours after he’d left. Well, she had assumed it was her baby brain because that was the only explanation that wouldn’t make Eris incredibly embarrassed.
Thankfully, Eris was mostly left alone now that Tony was gone allowing her to practice standing and speaking on her own. She had been practicing for a majority of the evenings in hopes of being able to show that she was a genius to everyone around her. So far, and despite Eris’ best efforts, she had only managed to speak a few words and her pronunciation was horrible … but it was progress.
Standing, astoundingly, proved to be much easier for Eris than speaking did. So far, she had managed to pull herself up using the bars on her crib and she found herself able to stand for at least a minute – the clock above her door was very useful for timing herself. She hadn’t attempted to walk yet but the fact she could stand was amazing on its own.
She had no idea that Loki had gifted her the ability to grow quicker, thus making her body stronger than a normal human.
Fuck, I’m bored. I can’t even mess with the mobile! What do babies do all day? No wonder they cry a lot.
Groaning, she let her head gently hit her pillow as she fell back from her daily standing practice. It was only dawn so there was no one around to visit her or check on her, even the night nurse wasn’t around since everyone assumed Eris was asleep. She couldn’t even grab the book Jarvis had left on her side table by the crib because the railings were too high and Eris didn’t want to try and climb it yet – no matter how confident she was in her abilities.
As if hearing her thoughts, the sound of shuffling feet on carpet echoed through the empty house. Turning her head as best she could, Eris just about made out a silhouette standing in the doorway of the nursery. The silhouette was slightly shorter than Jarvis and taller than Tony but had Tony’s general features so Eris assumed that this was Howard. Admittedly, she hadn’t seen Howard since coming home from the hospital since that man tended to avoid her like the plague – not that Eris really minded since he was always portrayed as a horrible dad.
Howard stepped into the nursery hesitantly and silently – as if he’d done it before – and came to stand by the crib. There was dirt and oil on his cheeks and near his nose and Eris’ nose crinkled at the pungent scent of motor oil in the air. Howard was surprised to see Eris awake and the two simply stared at each other for a moment, neither moving an inch, just staring at each other directly in the eye.
“Hi, um, baby,” said Howard, awkwardly, “What’re you doing up?”
Eris continued to stare at him, watching as his cheeks turned slightly pink and he began to grind the back of his teeth. She didn’t know why he seemed so nervous but she assumed it was something to do with the strangeness of this situation.
“Right, talking to a baby. What am I doing?”
Howard was about to turn around and Eris saw an opportunity to highlight her possible genius – she figured that would be something that appealed to Howard. It took a lot of effort – a lot less than when she started but a lot more than it should – but Eris managed to form a word that she knew would get his attention.
“Dada!”
It took a lot more effort than she calculated but the effect was all she wanted: Howard stopped on the spot and threw himself around to face the crib. Soon he was hovering over Eris, a face full of bewilderment as he stared down at his daughter like she was an alien.
“What did you say?” gaped Howard.
Seriously man, you want me do say it again? Do you know how much effort it took? I’m only doing this because I want you to see that I’m smarter than the average kid. Fine!
“Dada!”
In an instant, Howard was holding Eris in his arms – awkwardly she might add – examining Eris as if she was a new invention he wanted to find a flaw with. Looking at him properly, Eris was surprised to see a man who looked like the Captain America actor Dominic Cooper instead of John Slattery. He was older, of course, than his first appearance with several grey hairs and bags under his eyes that were hastily hidden with bad concealer – well, she assumed it was concealer – did they have concealer at this point in time?
“You little genius! Oh, you’re defiantly a Stark!” he beamed.
Noticing Eris’ discomfort with how he was holding her, Howard quickly sat down on the floor, setting Eris down in front of him on the plush carpet. Spotting the book on the table, Howard picked it up and looked it over, seeing Pride and Prejudice on the cover, he flicked through the book until he came to the page Jarvis had book marked.
“Jarvis is reading you this?” he asked. “Damn, you’re gonna grow up to be a fire cracker, just like your mother.”
Well, the more I talk the less strain it will take so, might as well. I do want to show him that I’m not a one hit wonder.
“Mama?”
“Yeah, mama,” he paused. “So, other than talking, anything else you can do?”
Dude, you have NO idea what I can do… actually I don’t know what I can do. I’m already tired but fuck it might as well show some more cards from my deck.
Attempting a grin, Eris grabbed onto Howard’s leg and pushed herself up so that she was standing directly in front of him. She only managed to remain standing for a minute before falling back onto her butt but that was all she needed because Howard was now staring at her with complete shock.
“Steve would have loved you,” said Howard, softly.
“Steve?” echoed Eris.
“Oh, you wanna hear about Steve?” grinned Howard.
“Steve!”
“Alright, I’ll tell you a few stories about Steven Rodgers – Captain America – Bucky Barnes and the Howling Commandos, Junior Juniper, Pinky Pinkerton, and Happy Sam Sawyer.”
Howard was so animated when telling the stories that Eris couldn’t help but be enthralled by his stories. They were both so occupied that neither of them noticed Maria standing at the door, her head resting against the wood, watching them with a beaming maternal smile on her plain lips. Anyone who came near was immediately shushed as Maria refused to break this moment.
~Stark~
Loki sat by the scrying bowl, staring into it with a soft smile on his face: he was proud, proud that his little priestess had managed to speak and stand on her own, despite her current age. He was incredibly thankful that he’d gifted her with the ability to grow quicker and he couldn’t wait for Eris’ next birthday when he could gift her another ability.
He, too, found himself intrigued by Howard’s stories of the Howling Commandos. Sitting alone in his chambers, Loki listened with half an ear to Howard’s enthralling tales while he read more books about being a Patron God. He was going through and noting all of the abilities that he could gift Eris as she grew.
He almost wanted to cry out when Howard stopped speaking and put Eris back in her crib. Loki smiled as Howard gently kissed Eris’ forehead – realising that Eris’ had fallen asleep – before tucking her in and disappearing from the nursery.
Loki was thankful that Eris had such a good family around her but it only served to show the disparity between his home and hers. Sighing, Loki shook the thoughts away and grabbed another book just as someone banged on his door.