Hi, everyone, Rose here. Den is around somewhere; she's just laughing so hard at this chapter. Also she was pulled into house duty by her mother. Apparently, the code "I have that moving feeling" translates to "I want to change the furniture layout, including the two heavy bookcases filled with DVD's, cooking appliances and painting two walls." In addition, her middle oldest sister decided to adopt a cat, and the other one is not really happy about it.
So, Den does apologize for the long wait, but she hopes that this chapter will in some way help make it up to everyone.
Widow's Sting, Rose's Revenge
The one thing I've become quite fond of in my blossoming relationship with T'Challa (aside from all the love) was that we didn't have any nasty secrets hidden from each other. Occasionally T'Challa will get a bit secretive, but that's usually down to him about the spring a romantic surprise on me. Of course, there was a pretty big secret that T'Challa did have, in regards to his past. Namely the one involving whatever N'Jadaka did to him, but I don't count that one; since I had already been down that road and lived through it, I knew that with time, and patience and love on my part, he'd eventually reveal all.
So aside from that one thing, we had no secrets of the very scary and dangerous sort.
Mind you, if someone were to ask Tony if I had any big and bad secrets, he'd go really pale and start quivering in fear. You see, what Tony knows (and fears with every fibre of his being) is that—when prompted or irked fantastically to high heavens—I can be rather…oh, what's the word? Evil, I think is a perfect word, at least when it comes to dishing out punishment.
As a certain boyfriend will soon come to understand, and fear.
Oh, yes. He will fear.
######
Now that New York (and pretty much the whole world) was back to its usual state of existence, I decided to play tour guide for Merlin and Kilgharrah. While it may be identical to the New York of their world, I soon found out there was one major difference between their Earth and mine.
"Seriously?! You have them—of all superheroes—in your world?!" I quizzed her, not feeling a bit ashamed of my way-too-apparent giddiness. Merlin, however, was enjoying my enthusiasm, and answered as many questions as I threw at her (the ones she could answer, at least) and in return, she asked the same amount of questions about my Earth. Even Kilgharrah asked his own questions, and answered both of ours (turns out that Merlin is still learning about her heritage).
In addition to the bird's eye guided tour and serious Q and A sessions, my new magical friends also taught me about magic, specifically the sort that resided in my staff, and how to properly wield it. A fun fact about my magic staff: not only can I channel the sun and moon into usable energies, I could also by extension control/manipulate water and fire. The water/moon magic is pretty easy once you get the basics down. The fire/sun side of things…uh, even Merlin and Kilgharrah suggested I avoid using whenever possible; it had the really good chance of going 'boom' into a person's face—something that even happens to the way more experienced Fire-type Fantasians.
As I said before, manipulating water into whatever shape I thought of was fun, and a total rush. The only major drawback was that I needed to be mindful about the type of magic I focus on and where. For example: don't use water magic when there is no water to use, otherwise the nearest source would be the human body, and that's a very bad idea in the history of bad ideas.
Speaking of bad ideas, I can imagine a (sane) person would be wondering why I am out and about, especially after incurring the mother-load of all bruises. Well, thanks to both Merlin and T'Challa, my bruises (and pride) were nicely healed. True, there is still a bit of yellowing here and there, but those spots were tiny enough to be counted as healed. Even T'Challa would reluctantly admit the same thing, though he would prefer to act otherwise—a ruse, I'm sure, just to give me backrubs whenever I looked like I needed them, and lavish love and attention on me. Silly man; he never needed an excuse, but it's no wonder I love him so much.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end: Iron Man somehow managed to talk my boyfriend into doing monitor duty alongside Captain America. Honestly, I am slightly peeved at my brother stealing my boyfriend for camera duty, but I couldn't be rude to our guests, hence why I'm out and he's in.
Or he would be, if it weren't for a mutual—and sometimes annoying to high heavens—purple friend.
######
"Hawkeye really can't keep himself out of trouble, can he?" Merlin asked sarcastically, watching as I finished my phone call with Tony.
"Not when it comes to somebody doing wrong by him," I answered her with a heavy sigh, "Black Widow really bent his nose out of shape, if he's doing this." The 'this' I am referring to is the recent incident where Hawkeye crashed a meeting between HYDRA and AIM, and did manage to hold himself against both sides quite well until S.H.I.E.L.D arrived and brought him in to see Fury and Iron Man.
That's one argument I'm really glad I don't have to be there to be involved with: angry Fury is scary Fury. True, I may see an angry Fury going nuts at some brainless wonder, but he's never been angry at me, and I plan to keep it like that for the rest of my life.
"Briar? Briar!" I felt a hand gently shake my shoulder, effectively pulling me out of my wandering thoughts. When I finally paid attention to the real world around me, I looked at merlin…only to see that she was upside down. Or was I the one upside down?
"First rule of magic: pay attention." She simply said and gestured in a general direction.
: Don't look don't look don't look! : I looked.
"CRAP!" I screeched. As it turns out Merlin wasn't the one upside down, I was and pretty higher up than I thought I should be to boot. Like more than 50 feet above Central Park higher! And of course, my second lapse in concentration resulted in a rapid reverse elevation. In other words: falling like a rock.
: Use magic use magic use magic! : My inner self screamed at me. My instincts sprang into action, and with not a whole lot of effort from my brain, my body was already getting to work.
With a quick flick of my wrists, the water a convenient lake below shot up towards me, spiralling as it went. My body twisted itself in mid-air till the soles of my shoes came into contact with the water, and gravity did the rest of the work and take me down the water slide, and at a rather rapid speed.
I can't recall if I called out for Merlin or Kilgharrah for help (apparently I did) before I went splat, but it turned out I didn't need it. As I went down, the water slide descended with me, and when I reached the bottom, I didn't go splat into the water but rather I zipped along the surface till reaching the banks where I—somewhat clumsily—stepped off onto terra firma.
When I felt like I wasn't at risk of falling over, I leaned on my knees and exhaled harshly. That wasn't a party trick I ever plan on repeating all too often, if at all.
"Are you alright, Briar?" Merlin called as she and Kilgharrah landed elegantly near to me, the young girl looping her arm under my shoulders in support, and to catch me if my legs decided they didn't want to work anymore. I assured them that I was fine, just needed to catch my breath again. When he was satisfied that I was indeed ok, Kilgharrah let out an almost proud sounding whinny.
"That was rather brilliant thinking, Lady Briar." He complimented in an honest tone, "What you just displayed was a rather advanced water magic technique. There aren't many non-Fantasians capable of accomplishing such a feat, and with so little training."
"Well, I've been known to be a fast learned." I wheezed between almost hacking coughs, wincing at the tightness in my own lungs. Yep, this is definitely something I don't want to repeat again, not if I feel this sore afterwards.
"We'd better call it a day, anyways." Merlin addressed, probably (and correctly) assuming that I was more wiped out than I looked. And it was at this point I felt grateful that there wasn't anyone around to see what just happened. It was also when I realized, not only how late it was getting, but that I remembered something important.
"Oh, no I'm late!" I cried out in alarm, "I'm supposed to be going out with T'Challa tonight!" To be more accurate, T'Challa managed to arrange a super romantic dinner, just for the two of us, in a local restaurant. It would also be the first time we'll be eating out in public since we've started dating, too.
So, really, this wasn't a great way to begin a date night.
Thankfully, my friends understood, and before I could catch up to what they were doing, I was lifted onto Kilgharrah's saddle and flown back to the Mansion in order to get ready. I just hope T'Challa isn't too upset about my lateness.
######
There are times when I absolutely hate being proven right about certain things, particularly if it involves the people I love. Then there are times when I know that said event is usually the result of a particularly irresponsible, irritating, spoilt brat of a man-child!
"I'm going to kill Hawkeye." I grumbled darkly, barely noticing the bowl of soup in front of me, or what flavour it is. I wasn't really hungry anyway, especially after hearing what my boyfriend was off doing with Captain America, the idiot I mentioned earlier, and—the cherry on top—my little beloved fur baby Voltaire at this moment.
If Clint was so damn desperate to get his revenge on Black Widow, fine: he can chase her till the cows came home and killed him. The least he could do for everyone else was not involve my boyfriend or Captain America in his madcap quest, and he can definitely keep my dog out of things, too!
: Just what in the hell is that idiot thinking of? : I snarled to myself, absentmindedly guiding my hand to feed me. As I ate, I could just spy from the corner of my eye Merlin and Mr. Foxworthy sharing worried looks, making me feel a little guilty.
I know it wasn't nice of me to be lashing out at innocent friends like this, but I was pretty damn miffed at Hawkeye for both endangering my boyfriend and dog, and ruining date night with T'Challa…even if a small part of me was glad to not be going out.
One would think that after being wooed by T'Challa for a few months, my confidence would be sky high, but no it was quite the opposite. I've become more self-conscious about looking good in public, especially when I remind myself that T'Challa isn't an ordinary man: he's the king of an African nation, that also happens to be really powerful in terms of resources and military might. And believe me; it doesn't make the problem any better when my confidence was shaky enough to begin with.
To his credit, T'Challa did his best to help me, even if I don't always agree with his ideas on how to approach the problem. For example; he felt like a dinner date in public was a good way to boost my confidence, which I protested long and (somewhat) loud about for a while. In the end, he somehow got the better of me, and planned tonight at some super fancy, high-class restaurant.
Only now, thanks to a certain person I will not name, that wasn't going to happen. The shaky part of myself was extremely relieved while the other half of me was annoyed to high heavens—if T'Challa went to all that trouble to get things ready, then the least I could have done in return was go along with it (reluctantly).
"I'm really sorry, Briar," Merlin apologized, though she had nothing to be sorry about, "I know you were looking forward to tonight." She was partially right about that, but I didn't have the heart to correct her completely.
"At least you know that the Black Panther and Voltaire are safe," Mr. Foxworthy offered hopefully, "They are with Captain America, and a SHIELD agent. Plus, all of them are more than capable of looking after themselves." …Well, I can't really deny that now, can I?
Though admittedly, I may be overreacting and being really overprotective of Voltaire—to the point of claiming he was my cherished fur baby—but I would love to see anyone else act differently after seeing their evil ex-boyfriend stab said furry baby, or finding out that your dog is really the son of an extremely powerful mutant (plus the fact is that said mutant is the brother of my best friend, Alenka, who is extremely protective of her family). Yeah, you'd tend to be just a little bit protective, too.
:I just hope Alenka and Diego don't kill me for letting something happen.: I mentally gulped, trying to ignore the sudden uneasiness in the pit of my stomach. No such luck, as the feeling seemed to double on itself when I remembered that Voltaire, a SHIELD agent and the three human males I cared for were following Black Widow to God-knows-where, with the possibility of all four of them being hopelessly outnumbered by whoever or whatever evil group they've run afoul of in the meantime.
The queasy feeling in my stomach turned into a very nasty sounding grumble, which Merlin took as a cue to quickly shove a bucket in front of me, as my stomach decided it needed to say something.
After my stomach quietened down, and Merlin pulled the bucket away to be cleaned, while I was whisked away to my room by my loving butler, and put to bed, though I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. In the end, I just settled for reading a random book, whilst not trying to look at the clock every few seconds in a worried way.
:T'Challa and Voltaire will be fine.: I tried reassuring myself, :They'll be completely fine.: Totally and utterly and completely fine….right?
…right?
"Oh, who am I kidding?" I finally spat out loud, pushing my book aside and turned on the TV, "They've probably gotten broken bones or bruises, or—"
…
Ever see something on the TV that jumps out and appeals to you, no matter what it is? Well, I just had one of the experiences, and it appealed to the evil, vindictive devil inside of me with great gusto as a perfect punishment for certain persons when they return (and healed from whatever injuries they have, of course).
"Oh, that's just naughty." I breathed in twisted delight as an evil little plan began formulating inside of my brain. The best part of this plan was that no matter how much Hawkeye will protest (and he will protest as loudly as he can) about what I'm going to do to him, he'll endure it because he knows that he's upset the one person he never should have upset. And even T'Challa will learn why upsetting me will result in him fearing a particular side of me for the rest of his life.
And even Tony and Fury will agree, that they'd rather go through a highly sensitive mine field than upset me in the slightest, for fear of what I can do in retaliation.
"Briar Rose, you are a bad little girl." I snickered devilishly to myself as I got onto my laptop and got to work.
######
It took a few days to get it all ready, but as I tell the people I'm involving in my little scheme, it'll be so totally worth it, and there will be puh-lenty of blackmail material to sweeten the deal.
When I came up with my brilliant plan, I told my brother and Fury as a courtesy warning, and I will always cherish the look of worry-and a little bit of doubt-they had. But when I explained the plan in full to them…I think it was safe to say they felt privately relieved that they were on my good side. Even Merlin agreed to that…once she stopped laughing at what I had planned for my unsuspecting prey.
"I think I may be tempted to use your idea when I go home." She snickered between gasps of air, before something went ping in her sides.
As for my unsuspecting prey, well…I believe I deserve an Oscar Award for "Best Fake Upset Girlfriend", because I tell ya, it was hard work to make sure neither Hawkeye and T'Challa didn't catch wind of what would soon befall them.
To begin with, when the four of them returned from the Hellicarrier after having Fury tear into them, followed by Tony doing the same in the Assembly Hall, I rushed into the room and threw myself onto T'Challa and wept at how he could've been killed, and that I was so worried about him (making it really thick to make him feel really bad) and then I changed tactics and got angry at him for putting himself, and Voltaire, and Cap in such danger like that. Tony would later joke that a few people in New Jersey missed on my tirade; I was that loud about my displeasure.
To finish my act, I pretended that the wind fell from my sails and subtly bemoaned about our date being ruined—and pretending not to smirk at the look of utmost anger that T'Challa sent to a suddenly very sheepish and repentive Clint.
Then the real fun started the following morning. As whenever I feel down about something, T'Challa would treat me to a wonderful breakfast while being romantic and making me forget about my troubles. Usually it would work, but this time I wasn't going to be swayed by his puppy-dog eyes as he tried to get back into my good book. As he tried his hardest, I acted that I was still incredibly miffed about last night, even though a few times I felt my will power threatening to give at any point in time.
Eventually, I "gave in" to his charm and forgave him, and then I really pushed his guilty-feeling buttons by being depressed at how it was probably for the best our night was ruined, and that I felt so insecure about myself dating a king. The look on his face—whilst a little funny—was so heartbreakingly sad, coupled with his puppy-dog eyes and pouty lip; it nearly made me lose everything, though I did manage to stick to the plan. I did have to hug him though, to try and make him feel a little better.
So believe me, it took a hell of a lot work and self-control to not crack, especially when T'Challa pulled the 'heart gooey body-turning-into-a-puddle' look. But it was all worth it in the end, when the day of my revenge came. Oh, yes, the big day off…
######
"A My Little Pony convention?!" Hawkeye exclaimed in horror, with a matching look to boot. Merlin was snickering into her hands like mad, which didn't help me in keeping a straight face, though it was a losing battle when I looked at T'Challa to see his reaction. His face looked passive, through his brown was a little furrowed in either annoyance or disbelief. And he was quiet…really quiet.
"Rose, when I said I would make things up to you, this is not what I had in mind." He finally spoke up, in a straight tone. He didn't even bat an eye when Merlin nearly fell to the ground in a fit of hysterical laughter.
"I know," I replied whilst trying not to laugh, "I just wanted to make sure that the both of you understood why what you did—while understandable—was a bad thing." He didn't say anything else; he only looked up at the giant sign that represented his punishment. Clint wanted to protest about this 'cruel and unusual' punishment, and quite loudly too, but I stopped him when I put my foot down.
"Make no mistake, gentlemen, this is going to happen." I warned them both, "And no-one is going to spare your butts, either." Finally, Clint gave in and resigned himself to his fate…until Merlin produced the costumes they had to wear, which made him protest even louder than before.
Admittedly, there was a moment of compassion on my part to preserve some of my boyfriend's and annoying archer friend's dignity and male pride, and worked with Merlin to create something for them to wear, and not have everyone laugh at them…with a bit of twisted evilness on my part.
For T'Challa, it was a zebra fur-suit, with dark grey stripes extending all over his body and into his Mohawk-styled mane. I personally loved the little touches, like the tribal panther head imprinted on both flanks, and the fake eyes were the same shade of golden brown as T'Challa's. Merlin did raise the question of why a zebra, and my answer was simply so that I could spend the day giggling as T'Challa spoke in rhyme, as part of his character.
When he saw what he was going to be wearing, T'Challa gave me a flat look, before sighing heavily and accepted his costume and headed to a secluded area to get changed. I followed after him with his 'head', and a cheery smile on my face.
"Now, just try to relax, ok?" I asked him, watching as he slipped the fur-suit on and zipped it up the front, "It's only for a few hours, and Merlin did enchant the get-up so you won't get overly warm." All I got in return was a grunt, and a grumpy look on a grumpy king who seemed more interested in his costume than his girlfriend. An attitude that made me raise an eyebrow at him.
"I beg your pardon, sweetie?" I asked in a sharp tone. He raised his head to me in surprise, and noticing the dark look—a real one too—before it melted into a sheepishly guilty pout.
"I am sorry, Rose." He sighed heavily, "I know you were looking forward to our date the other night…if somewhat reluctantly." Despite my slightly annoyance about earlier, I couldn't help but smile at him about that.
"And I am more than happy to make it up to you, whatever it takes, but this…" He trailed off as he gave the costume head in my hands a glare. My anger—however little—melted away, and I stepped forward to press a kiss to his chin.
"Look at it this way," I told him gently, "Instead of being a punishment, today could our date. It's not a usual thing for couples to do, but then again, we're not exactly a normal couple to begin with. So it'll just be another costume we're getting into." T'Challa rolled his eyes and started to speak when something went *PING* in his brain as he gave me a suspicious look, though there was a bit of curiosity mixed in as well.
"We, as in you and I?" He inquired in a hopeful tone that made me smile.
"Hey, if I was willing to face my insecurities about being seen in public, then there's no reason why I shouldn't keep trying, right?" I responded, "Only I won't be wearing a fur-suit, since I'm trying to conquer my fears and all." Admittedly, I realise that what I just said didn't make a whole lot of sense, but it was a refreshing aspect to have T'Challa know me well enough to know what I meant.
"So, what or who are you going as?" he asked, his eyebrow raising slightly as he slowly began to smile. I gave him a slightly saucy look before putting the zebra head down, shrugging off my jacket and taking off my long skirt to reveal my costume.
Once my disguise was gone, I looked at T'Challa and burst out giggling at his dumbstruck reaction, even as a naughty glint started to enter his eyes.
To compliment my own devilish side, I decided to go as the proprietor of mischief, chaos, disharmony and barrels of laughter; the one and only Discord, or rather; a gender-swapped version of Discord.
My outfit consisted of a reddish-brown dress with elbow length sleeves—a rather tight and slimming dress, that showed off my curves rather beautifully. Around the sweetheart neckline was a grey furry ruff that plunged a bit further down the front than I was used to. Coming from the small of my back was a braided amaranth-coloured tail that ended in three large white feathers. The hands and feet were tricky to match, but in the end I found mismatched pairs of gloves and shoes. And of course, the image wasn't complete without the horns and eyes, which were easily done with horns attached to a white wig, and yellow-red contact lenses.
And as I thought it would, my costume made T'Challa stiffen up a bit, gulp loudly and try his hardest to keep his eyes on my face and not wander over my body.
"So then, what does the panther say?" I teased the speechless king, putting my hands on his hips to pull myself just that little closer, enough for him to peek at my cleavage a little. The answer he gave me? The only thing T'Challa could manage was an almost squeaky sort of noise, and a fish imitation.
"Aw, how sweet of you, T'Challa!" I teased him, stepping away from him. As I did, I let my fingers trail over his stomach before lightly flicking him there. Before I could move too far away, I was shown the result of all my teasing via being pulled against my boyfriend's very tense body, and had every molecule of my being rocked over by a single hot, passionate kiss that just about melted me into the ground. The kiss began as such, but it began to soften as I responded to him, my arms wrapping around his waist and sink further into his warm, solid chest.
Eventually the need to breathe became harder to ignore, and we pulled away only just enough to feel each other's breathing on our lips. And pressed as I was against his body, I could feel a thundering heartbeat against my ribcage, though whose heart it was I couldn't tell you with certainty.
"I believe I am going to enjoy our date," He finally rumbled in a deep husky tone, "Even if a punishment was to have been my fate." A bubbly giggle erupted from my throat as T'Challa got into his character; something that made my heart swell with love for him.
"Wanna know something funny?" I whispered to him, "Your costume is the least noticeable compared to Clint's." T'Challa pulled his head away as he looked at me in utter confusion, but before I could explain, an almost hysterical laugh interrupted us. We turned to see Merlin staggering towards us, holding her sides as she broke down in laughter. The reason revealed itself as Clint stormed towards us, a look of absolute rage on his face.
Mind you, it was hard to take him seriously when he was covered from the neck down in a pink fur suit, holding the head of a grinning Pinkie Pie.
I couldn't look at T'Challa to see his reaction due to laughing so very hard, but I definitely heard him as he too lost it. But at least he now knew what I meant when I said that he got the easier end of today, compared to Clint, at least.
######
Despite Clint's protests, the rest of the day turned out to be the best day ever, especially when T'Challa decided to go along with whatever 'chaos' I could come up with at the drop of a hat; whether it was skipping along, arm in arm, and singing 'Jolly Holiday' from Mary Poppins, or little skits that we adlibbed perfectly to the crowds amusement.
In fact, we had so much fun that even at the end of it all; T'Challa agreed that this was the best date we've had so far. Though he did admit to promising one important thing for the future.
He will never, ever upset me again, or I will become Little Miss Discord.
And that is the end of this chapter. Den is...*roaring laughter is heard off screen*...she's still laughing at what's happened to Clint. Well, what can I say? When prompted, I can be really mean sometimes.
Well, that's all from us for now. Please leave nice reviews-flamers will be introduced to a world of hurt, courtesy of the Hulk-and we shall see you whenever Den has calmed down long enough to write up the next chapter.
Bye-bye!