no telepathy at the table
"You know what I look forward to the most?"
"Chocolate fountain tuesdays?"
"Us. Being queens" said the girl glancing at the other's tilted head , like a confused puppy
"Us? Pfft, I have no desire for the crown, i'm perfectly happy where I stand now... besides, in my case, Sigrún is the rightful heir" she said with a shy smile, "but you, you'll make a formidable queen, Asgard is lucky to have you, min gammel" praised the grey haired girl
"Oh no, I didn't mean Asgard, i'm gonna be Helheim's queen" said the older girl, chin up in pride
"What? How?" She didn't need know how it'd be possible for the asgardian princess to be Helheim's queen
"I'm the goddess of death, silly, it's sort of a given, I am supposed to reign over Hel's fire, I could reign Valhalla as well, but I wouldn't take that away from you, and on top of that, we shall stick together until both of us get the thrones we deserve" explained the young goddess with a cheeky grin
"That would be so cool, could you imagine? We would practically rule the afterlife!" Beamed the girl giggling, getting excited by the idea
A black little wolf came prancing towards where the two kids were sitting against the big tree in the middle of the royal garden, and licked the cheeks of both of them before settling beside the older one.
"Oh, hi future Sir Fenrir" greeted the dark haired girl quickly, before turning back to her friend "Okay, let's make a pact" the goddess said to which the other girl nodded, with eagerness written all over her face, "no matter what, we'll always come back to each other, queens have to stick together, and we should do so even if we don't have a crown yet, to ensure we'll get there, with the other by our side"
The grey eyes of the girl shone with excitement as she brought her hand to her mouth, spat on it and extended it to her friend
"No matter what"
The older girl looked at her friend's hand with amusement, and a bit of disgust, but then followed the girl's actions, spat on her hand and shook it
"No matter what" she settled
- - -
"...Yeah well tell Alejo to stop crying and that i'll swing by next time" Said a snickering Cora to her phone. The few avengers who were currently in the training room furrowed their brows in confusion, looking at each other for confirmation that they weren't hallucinating and Cora was in fact talking with someone over the phone
"He says he made a new drink especially for you, you have to come back, i'm not tasting any of his weird brews after last time... It tasted like feet" complained Lenora with a groan from the other side of the line
"Whatever, I gotta go, I think it's the first time the heroes have heard me ringing up someone that isn't them, their eyes are about to pop out" the woman laughed as she looked at her teammates "Bye, love you"
"Love you too, but seriously, I don't know how much longer i'll be able to avoid him" Cora didn't grace that last comment with an answer and just chuckled and hung up on the girl
Nat, Steve, Bucky and Clint were the only ones in the training room, the two soldiers had stopped their routine on the punching bag to listen in on Cora's conversation, same as the agents who had been sparring before the woman came in
"Who's Alejo, doll?" Asked Bucky singing the name and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively
"Doesn't concern you, soldier" said the woman with a playful smile, walking towards the closest treadmill
"Oooh, is it your boyfriend?" Asked the manchild that was Clint Barton
"Nope, shut up and go back to your workout, you need it" she said, rolling her eyes, still with her sparkling nature.
"Did you just imply i'm out of shape?" Gasped the hurt archer, Cora paid him no mind and just shrugged at him before turning around and starting her own routine
"Well... you did miss the bullseye earlier today" joked Steve to Clint who shot him a glare
"BY A LITERAL MILLIMETER" exclaimed the agent exasperated, trying to defend himself
"Stop crying, slacker" said Nat and motioned for him to get in fighting stance to restart their sparring, the other two soldiers laughed at their colleague being crushed by the badass redhead and then, they too went back to their workouts
"Oh, and Cory? I don't care about what you say, we're teasing the heck out of you with that Alejo guy" yelled the captain to the woman, the other three backing him up with a choir of 'yes'.
"I would be disappointed if you didn't" she said with a smirk and they all went on with their own stuff, from time to time making small talk if their routines caused them to bump into each other, an usual and productive training day.
- - -
"Mmm, whatcha cookin' good lookin'?" Asked Cora being lured into the kitchen where Wanda was preparing dinner for the team, she tried to scoop a bit of the stew with a spoon but her hand was smacked by a red wisp
"Keep your hands away from the food and use them to set the table" said the witch with her deep accent coming through as she gave away orders
"Buzzkill" said Cora but complied nonetheless, setting the tablecloth and the plates with a wisp of purple
"Hey, I wanted to ask you something," spoke Wanda when Cora came back to the kitchen to find the necessary cutlery. "Wait, why don't you just set everything up with your magic?" Asked the witch, interrupting her own question
Cora shrugged and continued with what she was doing "I like not depending on my magic, and after so many centuries, I find comfort in doing even the most domestic things, like setting the table" at that the younger Maximoff nodded quietly and kept on stirring the pot on the front hob "What did you want to ask me, witchling?"
The confidence with which Wanda had just bossed Cora around a minute ago was gone, the witch set the spoon down and instead turned to fiddling with her fingers
"Hey, you can ask me anything" Cora said encouragingly, with a sweet and gentle smile "Well, as long as it isn't about personal stuff about me, but you know the drill" she added waving her hand as if to dismiss that idea, she knew Wanda was nosey but, luckily, knew boundaries
"Okay, so, you know how I can't get in your head or anything? Well, the other day I was reading a very, very old book on sorcery and mind manipulators. I found a section where it spoke about different levels of power, and there's a part where it mentions that the most powerful possessors of telepathic abilities can start a connection with other mind readers, while still protecting the barrier that protects them from outsiders entering their mind" explained the young sorceress
"Okay... yeah I know, I read the book, very accurate, the 'house' analogy makes it clearer. Basically, your mind is the house, the mind barrier acts like a door, the more powerful you are, the more difficult it is for other mind manipulators to trespass, in my case, it's practically impossible. Therefore, if the barrier acts as a locked door, the telepathic connection would be the same as me opening the door but closing it behind me to greet you outside, like we're speaking on my mind's porch, if that makes any sense" elaborated the older sorceress, who felt like she was back at the sanctum teaching the students weird magical concepts
Wanda nodded in deep thought, taking in every word Cora had spoken, then after a few more seconds she blurted out nervously and fidgeting, "Can we do that? We could use it when we want to keep secrets or something, please, it gets boring not sharing all the thoughts I hear from all these weirdos"
Cora started laughing at the redhead, the reasoning she gave was so morally incorrect and amusing, better yet was how sheepishly she had voiced her question, or request.
But how can anyone blame the little witch? Sometimes you can forget how young the girl was and how abruptly she'd had to grow up to fit in this world, a normal childhood ruined, forming a girl fueled by revenge, power and loss, then being guided to become a hero putting her life on the line, constantly. Not to mention working alongside the man who killed her parents, no hard feelings though
So, really, how could Cora deprive the, now, young adult from having a bit of fun? A bit of fun that she most certainly wasn't allowed during her stay at Hydra, nor the first years she was under probation with the Avengers? And, really, it was just some mild invasion of privacy, nothing too serious
"Fuck yeah, okay give me a second, i'll do it" she said eagerly and Wanda slightly jumped up and down, Cora closed her eyes to concentrate herself on finding Wanda's mind and forming a link with it
Banana!
AGH you scared me
"It was kind of the point, witchling" she answered out loud to her friend, who was at the moment clutching her chest trying to stop herself from going into cardiac arrest, apparently people get shitless scared when out of nowhere a voice in their head screams 'banana', or anything for that matter
"I hate you" said Wanda with a pout when she got her breath back, she turned her back towards the stew waiting to be served and spoke "Friday, notify everyone that dinner is ready and if they don't arrive in two minutes Cora and I will put spells on their suits so they all look like fairy costumes"
"Right away, miss Maximoff"
"Oooh, let's do that even if they do come here in time please!" Said Cora with mischief in her eyes, helping the younger Maximoff on plating dinner
- - -
Everyone was sitting on their spots in the table, though there was an extra one for the newcomer, who had to be dragged from the library by a hungry Thor
The team was eating and chatting, friendly banter going around the group as it always did, but there were two magical beings who were particularly silent
Did you read Tony's mind just now?
No, but I'm guessing it has to be something along the lines of wanting to be riled by Strange
When Wanda said that, Cora choked on air as she was trying to keep her laughter in. Thor, who was at her right, patted her back in concern, but after a few more coughs Cora just waved him off and let him go back to his interesting talk about pigs and cows with Banner and Clint. Though, from the seat next to the blonde god, a very curious god of mischief kept his eyes narrowed on her
Why is Loki looking at you like that?
How the hell am i supposed to know, do I look like an oracle? Wait scratch that, 'cause I definitely do
Oookay... anyways, I read Nat's mind and you won't believe what I heard happened this morning
Ooh, tell me tell me tell me
Someone was apparently talking with some mystery person over the phone
Cora rolled her eyes at that, of course, she thought she would get a little more time before the teasing began
Please shut up
So... who's Alejo?
"Yeah, Cora, who is Alejo?" Both her and Wanda whipped their heads towards the voice, everyone else's conversation immediately came to an end at the sound of the previously silent god's question
"Hey, it's not cool to get into other people's conversations, didn't they teach you manners down there in golden Asgard?" Questioned the woman pointing an accusatory finger at the raven haired prince
"Wait, what? Who's Alejo? Sabrina's got a boyfriend?" Asked very loudly a shocked Tony
"Yeah, but how does Loki know about it?" Pondered the russian assassin
"You have a boyfriend and told my brother before telling me?!?" Boomed the voice of a very confused yet hurt Thor
"No no no, Thor, don't worry, goldilocks, I don't have a boyfriend, Alejo is a friend from back home, your stupid brother was just being intrusive and eavesdropped on a conversation between Wands and I" explained Cora, rubbing the back of her friend (who was probably at the verge of tears), not forgetting to cast a murderous glance towards the handsome god of mischief while she did so, who in return gave her a mock hurt expression
"Okay, I don't believe you at all. But how did horns over there listen to you? God you were not even talking!" Exclaimed Barton and both Francis and Maximoff shrank into their seats and focused on their almost finished plates
"They were communicating telepathically" revealed a smug looking Loki
Silence fell upon the group as the new information dawned on them, until realization hit one of them like a truck
"They were reading our minds and gushing about it!" Yelled an enraged Natasha, and then, pandora's box was opened, all hell broke loose, pure chaos
I'm gonna kill the goth prince
Don't bother, he's still very much listening to our conversation
"That would be true, yes, very clever, darling" voiced the god with mock praise, over the erupting whines and complaints of the enraged heroes
Go suck a toe, dear
Wait how can he listen to us?
Remember how I said this is like my mind's porch? Well, Loki is the neighbourhood's Karen, hiding behind a bush to fish out dirt
You wound me so
Get out before i kick you out
You wouldn't dare
Watch me
"OUCH!" Cried the god of mischief with his hands over his ears and temples
"Told ya, sweetheart" said Cora with a shit-eating grin before addressing the still chaotic table of heroes, who were now probably conspiring against the two sorceresses "Stop grousing, it's not our fault your thoughts are so loud, we promise we'll stop though and if it means anything, this was the first time we've done such a thing, cross my heart" Assured the woman calmly, eventually everyone carried on with their meal, not without sending more threats toward the two women.
Wanda was chatting with Vision and Pietro, and Cora engaged in a heated debate between Bucky and Tony about strongest metals
Are we really going to stop?
Of course not, but it puts the simpletons at ease if we say we will
Wait, can Loki still hear us? Will he rat us out?
No, don't worry
Yes
Get out
Don't feel like it
Please don't tell anyone, pretty please
The physical appearance of the please makes no difference, little witch
You can be part of the gossipping if you keep your mouth shut
...
yes?
Deal
Yay!
So, Cora...
What?
Who is Alejo?
Why you wanna know? Jealous? You in looove with Cora?
The second that was said, the god, flustered and red as a tomato, set his fork down abruptly and walked out of the room without another word
"Well, I guess he's not gonna do the dishes" joked Cora, trying to dismiss both the prince who had left the dinner table so suddenly, and the furious red that made its way up to the tip of her ears
"Interesting" said the redhead witch, after witnessing both reactions, her mind flying through schemes and plans to get them together, or at least mess with them