MAGIC & MADNESS.

(✉ → armed and dangerous): Wait, did you seriously click that again? (✉ → armed and dangerous): I know the joke because my girlfriend told me. I’m getting a notebook full of them. (✉ → armed and dangerous): Hey, I’m max thirty five. Maybe. Or seventy. It’s kind of complicated.

NOT HERE SENTENCE MEME || ALWAYS ACCEPTING || @chaosspark

Sofia and Wanda were stocking the magic shop when Wanda mentioned a strange book on one of the shelves and Sofia shrugged it off and asked for the title – there were a lot of strange books in the shop after all! But then Wanda hit her with that line. I’m afraid if I say it out loud I will cast a curse. And for a brief moment, Sofia thought of the Darkhold. Had the book dug its way back into her life? Could it move on its own like that? 

(Could Wanda hear the call of it too? Or was that only for those who had opened the book?)

Staying on the other side of the counter, Sofia tapped her fingers against her book and looked at Wanda, trying to release her nervous energy but there was no relief. “What... what does the cover look like? Is it a large ornate border with a single word written across the cover?” 

(✉️ ➡️boss ass witch): kinda sounds like you’ve already started without me, sof (✉️ ➡️boss ass witch): i’m a little hurt tbh.  (✉️ ➡️boss ass witch): you and me, drinking? (✉️ ➡️boss ass witch): i’m up for whatever you want (✉️ ➡️boss ass witch): you’re the /boss/😉

Knocks on the door this week were… a little terrifying. His father was here, and that was good even if it was becoming clear that this wasn’t the same man Danny had longed for in the cold nights he’d spent shuddering and silencing his sobs in the floor of Lei Kung’s home. He was still here, still alive, and Danny was going to cling to that for as long as he could. Some of the other visitors he’d received had been… a little less exciting. Bakuto, no matter what universe he was from, put Danny on edge, and seeing a version of Colleen who hadn’t gotten a chance at life outside the Hand broke his heart. So, when he heard a knock at the door, there was a part of him that considered not answering it. It was a brief internal debate, stretching in the heartbeat of silence that occurred between the fist knock and the voice that called out after it. A smile ghosted across his face at the familiarity of it, and Danny got to his feet and walked over to the door as quickly as he could manage. 

“Sofia,” he greeted with a grin, opening the door wide enough for her to enter. He blinked at her question, having momentarily forgotten about the sign. His mind caught up with him, and he nodded. “Oh! Right, yeah. This used to be a dojo, but we converted it. We never got around to taking the sign down, I guess. But this is not what a dojo looks like! I have a dojo. I’ll show you sometime.” He was rambling and he knew it, but he was excited. It had been a long time since he’d seen Sofia, and he’d missed her.

Danny immediately started rambling and Sofia grinned at him. It might have only been a few months but it had felt like years since she had last spoken to Danny, and seeing just as energetic as she left him felt good. Even if there was a cast on his leg. Should she ask about that? A good friend would ask... right? A momentary blip of doubt in her heart stopped her though, she didn’t want to interrupt the smiling or the rambling with talk of whatever might have caused that. (Sofia always found herself several shades of awkward around friends -- even Danny who had put no expectations at all on her.) 

(✉ → armed and dangerous): I don’t know. I was trying to send you this link? (✉ → armed and dangerous): [Link inserted]

Sitting up in a hospital bed, Phil looked at the young girl who was in front of him, recognizing her even with the haze of sleep and having just been brought in from being tortured a few days ago. Sofia had made an impression on him - she’d reminded him a bit of Daisy when she’d gone as Skye. A little bit less brash, sure, but still the kind of intelligence and note of mystery that Skye had worn like a suit of armor. “Yeah, I remember you. Come sit.” He said, nodding to the chair beside his bed. Phil had had visitors over the past few days, but right now they’d all gone home so he was happy for the company. With heavily bandaged fingers and some pretty rough injuries, he wasn’t entirely sure how soon he was even getting home. 

Laughing as she rambled, Phil said, “Hospital food isn’t great, but I’ve had worse. SHIELD has these odorless and flavorless protein bars for stakeouts, and somehow even though there’s no flavor, it’s still a taste I can never get out of my mouth.” He said with a shake of his head, gingerly taking the tray of food from her and setting it on the lap table in front of him and digging in. It wasn’t bad - but the company was definitely better. “I haven’t seen you in a while.” He ventured with a small smile. “I felt like for a minute there I was hearing about you nonstop from Jessica, but I’m guessing you left the city for a bit? I know that there were some… Not so great things going on. I hope you’re doing better now at least?”

Sofia didn’t hesitate to make her way across the room and sit in the chair next to him. A lot of time had passed since that first time they had met -- and in that time a lot had happened. And by the looks of it, a lot had happened to him as well. “Wasn’t sure,” Sofia offered with a slight smile. “So much was happening that night, wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t.” After all, Sofia remembered distinctly the way that Daisy had blown up at her for inadvertently sending Jessica into a trap. They had all expected Kilgrave and instead... they got Fish Mooney. 

Wanda had never had a real job before. In Sokovia, she lived on the streets before Hydra got their hands on her, and her life after that had been consumed with either working with the Avengers or running from them. There had never been time for nine to five shifts or lunch breaks, but this was a different world, a different life. In this life, she had a nice job at a hex shop. She had a coworker she enjoyed working with. And she had lunch breaks. She wasn’t entirely sure what to do with that.

That was probably why she was back at the shop twenty minutes before her break was meant to be over, a plastic bag in each hand. Offering Sofia a smile as she closed the door behind her, she held up one of the bags. “There’s a food truck outside, and I panicked,” she explained, closing the distance between herself and the counter and holding one of the bags out to Sofia. “Do you like tacos? I bought twenty tacos. I really hope you like tacos.” 

It had been so long since Sofia had actually been inside her own hex shop -- but coming back felt like coming home. This place had been through everything with her. Hell, she had lived in that back office for a few weeks before she had connected with Dinah. Now it was home in a different way, a place of comfort, but not a place where she actually slept. And now, she had a decent staff to help her out so she wasn’t spending all her waking hours here. The business was growing -- like she had over the last few months. And Wanda, while new, was a big part of that. 

But when Wanda came back in early, Sofia immediately checked her watch -- and she was right, Wanda was just early -- she hadn’t actually blinked thirty minutes away. “Wait, how many tacos? Twenty? I -- can we eat that many?” Sofia asked, grabbing the bag that Wanda had offered and set it on the counter. And as if on cue, Padme, Sofia’s cat, jumped onto the counter and stuffed her head into the bag. “Padme, no,” Sofia scolded, nudging the cat away from their food. “How was the food truck worker? Did they panic?” Sofia asked with a smile. 

Donna laughed softly as the girl grew flustered, but she noticed the tension as soon as she touched the other girl. She let her hand drop but didn’t let her smile fade. The girl definitely wasn’t an expert on the train system if she was hoping to get anywhere but Jersey at this point on the ride. “Hey, Jersey isn’t all bad,” Donna said, faking offense at the thought. “Believe it or not, the world doesn’t revolve around the Big Apple. Even if the Avengers live there.” Donna wasn’t always a huge fan of the Avengers, but she knew the group of heroes just wanted to help people and she wouldn’t begrudge them for that.

The woman didn’t seem offended at Sofia’s reaction -- and she was grateful for that. What happened to her and her aversion to touch that was... it wasn’t this woman’s fault. But any time Sofia flinched away from a touch she had that word hanging on the edge of her tongue. (Sorry.) But at least she didn’t say it. Not this time. Sofia cracked a smile and shook her head. “It’s not Jersey that’s the issue it’s... the missing my stop that is.” Glancing out the window, she let out a small sigh. It wasn’t the worst thing -- just an inconvenience. “Hey now -- the view of the Tower is pretty nice. They don’t have one like that in Jersey, do they?” 

Being the director meant that Daisy had a lot of responsibility. Whereas before her work was just a part of her life, now it seemed to take full center. There was very little that she could do without S.H.I.E.L.D. somehow being related to it. She couldn’t let it take over everything though. She got her job done, and whatever time she had left, she used for herself, however she needed it. Right now, she needed to make sure she was getting things set up for her and Jessica’s wedding. Life still had to go on whether she was a director or not.

She was supposed to be meeting up with the florist and the caterer and set up schedules for her and Jessica to actually taste what was probably a hundred different kinds of cakes. It wasn’t something great for her to look forward to simply because it made her worried that by the time they tried them all, it might’ve made her not like cake anymore. Nah. That was impossible. Of course, they could’ve had different kinds of sweet treats too, but cake was kinda the standard, wan’t- She was pulled out of her thoughts when a voice shouted after her. “I know that voice,” she muttered to herself before turning around, seeing Sofia running up to her. Her smile widened. “And I think I found this,” she said brightly before moving forward to hug Sofia. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”

Sofia had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t realized that the person she had run into was Daisy. Not until Daisy was turning around and looking at her with a smile on her face. “I can’t believe I walked right past you,” Sofia said, returning the smile. Sofia wrapped her arms around Daisy and gave her a quick hug -- touching was... still complicated for Sofia, and while she trusted Daisy, she still couldn’t do extended contact. “Yeah, I just got back into the city. With everything that’s going on school’s closed for a minute and I... missed everyone.” 

New York was going nuts but, honestly… when wasn’t it? This city seemed to be a constant mess of chaos. It was one of the only reasons Peter had felt comfortable sticking around for as long as he had now, one of the only reasons he wasn’t antsy and uncomfortable and bored. He understood chaos a lot better than he understood normal Terran traditions. As a Guardian of the Galaxy, it seemed to make sense to operate on Earth. The planet was a mess of alien invasions and weird bullshit.

It was also full of a bunch of really dumb people. Like the girl running after him to offer him the cash someone else had dropped. Peter was definitely not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he was pretty sure he’d never said no to free money. He definitely wasn’t going to start now. Plastering on a grin, Peter nodded profusely and reached out to take the money. “Wow, you’re a lifesaver,” he said, really laying it on thick. “I’m so broke. Really can’t afford to lose this!”

The man she had stopped seemed nice enough, but the way he reacted to her offering him the dropped cash was... too much. Even for Sofia. Just before the man could touch the money, Sofia wrapped her hands around the money and pulled it away from him, looking him in the eyes suspiciously. This wasn’t his money, was it? She folded up the bill in her hands so that he couldn't see the amount that it was, and tipped her head to the side. She didn’t think he was a bad person -- a lot of people lied when it came to misplaced things, and money was always a temptation. But that didn’t mean she was going to hand it over without a little more effort. 

What a lot of people didn’t realize about the Darkhold, aside from her being sentient, was that she could feel the things she caused. She heard the wails of those she drove insane, the ones who had to be locked up because of how others feared their knowledge. Her poor children. Humans were so fragile, so easy to bend and break, so easy to follow what they left behind. Like Theseus following a magical thread out of the labyrinth, the Darkhold followed an invisible string to one of her nearest disciples. Sofia tried to sever their connection, tried not to rely on her power, but she craved it, needed it like a child needed to suckle on the bosom of its mother. The Darkhold wouldn’t just ignore the thirst of her children, even if they were trying to quench it with the wrong things, like alcohol. She pulled the drink out of Sofia’s hand, drinking the whole glass before setting it on the table. “Thank you. I haven’t had a drink in … well, they didn’t have these things back then, but look at you. What’s the point of drinking that swill when it gives you nothing?”

Sofia could feel it like poison in the air -- and the alcohol wasn’t doing a thing to numb that craving. Usually, all it took was a glass, something to take the edge off, and while Sofia rarely stopped at a glass, she usually didn’t have to spend so much time trying to chase away the urge to look for the book. But as the bartender set down another glass, Sofia felt that poison in the air get thicker -- and her heart started pounding in her chest.