Just Gals Being Palentines

February 14, 2021 -- Beatrice’s House

Brenna had gone back and forth on whether or not she was supposed to bring a gift. Or dress up. She’d used the internet to search for a while before Calder finally took pity on her and told her that she should wear something she was comfortable in, and bring a gift if she wanted to. So she was in her favorite blue wool apron dress from Asgard and had bought a little box of chocolates from the 7-Beleven. The tag in front of the box on the shelf said they were flower-shaped, but the image on top of the box showed hearts. She wasn’t sure which was right, but she had a sinking feeling that the box was probably the correct one.

But it was far too late to correct her mistake now. After triple-checking the address that Beatrice had DMed her on her phone, she walked up to the house and knocked.

Beatrice had shaved the sides of her hair recently leaving the top hanging long over the right side. She rubbed the tight-cut part of hair for the sensation. She had done her best to tidy the place up in the absence of her aunts. The two of them had decided that they wanted a romantic getaway having been shunted into the role of parental figures for Beatrice. Bea understood that this was also them giving her growing responsibility over her life. She picked up the pyrex dish from the fridge and set it into the oven that she had been preheating. Then finally heard a knock at the door.

It was then that Beatrice realized she was in black skinny jeans and a yellow button-up flannel. Bea jumped hearing the knock. She had almost forgotten that she had invited Brenna over and it made her flush that she had at all. She walked slowly to the front door from the kitchen rolling her sleeves up as she went. She opened the door a nervous smile on her face.

Panic and insecurity welled in Brenna’s mind as she waited for the door to open, and jumped when Beatrice opened the door. Part of her was relieved that this was, in fact, Beatrice’s house and she hadn’t knocked on the door of some stranger. Aware that she’d stood there for longer than she should have, Brenna wordlessly held out the cheap box of chocolates toward Beatrice.

After another few seconds of awkward silence, she cleared her throat. “Um. I brought these. Since it’s traditional to bring gifts. Um. Hello. It’s Brenna. I’m here.”

*She’s going to laugh me out of here*, Brenna thought. *What am I doing? Of course she knows it’s you and you’re here.*

Beatrice looked up at the taller girl taking the box of chocolates from her hand. Beatrice gave a small smile. “Thanks, I am Beatrice or Bea, uh, most of my family calls me that. You didn’t need to bring me a gift if you didn’t want to.” The thought popped into Bea’s head that he had told her that gifts were for romantic interests. That idea wouldn’t leave so he stood there dumbstruck for a moment.

“Uh yeah, so you can come in if you’d like…” Beatrice eventually continued. “Though we are a shoes-off house as a heads up. Aunt Jo has been on my case about it since I wasn’t very used to it.”

Brenna nodded. What was that pause about? Was the invitation to come over a joke? But Beatrice had invited her inside and said she could call them a nickname…She was in this far, might as well keep going.

“Thank you for the invitation. And I know I didn’t have to bring a gift, but the internet was unclear and my sibling also said I didn’t have to bring one, but I guess, uh, I guess I wanted to? It felt right.” Shrugging, Brenna stepped past Beatrice and pulled off her boots, setting them neatly next to the other shoes there.

Bea rubbed at her arm and looked about the house as if expecting someone to come from one of the doorways. However as could easily be seen due to the openness of the house. There was no one else home except for a calico cat that was bathing in the sun near a window in the living room. It draped itself between the L-shaped gray couch and the sill.

“Well, thanks, I appreciate it. I made some food that we could maybe have later but it is cooking at the minute.” Bea gestured towards a doorway. “I was thinking we could hang out in the living room.”

Brenna nods. “That sounds nice. You said something about watching something? I assume you mean a movie of some kind?” Brenna hesitates, like she’s about to ask an embarrassing question, and quietly says, “Can I pet your cat? What’s their name?”

“Yes, you can! His name is Oscar and he loves any affection.” Beatrice sat down on the corner of the couch and tucked her legs under. “Yeah, I was thinking a bad romcom movie is just the Midgard thing to watch on Valentines with a partner or friend. I might get chirped that I don’t think action movies are better for that but I think those have even less substance. So I thought you’d want familiarity with the genre.”

Brenna happily went up to Oscar and let him sniff her hand before scratching his chin. “I looked up what a romcom was. It sounds like fun, but I can see how the premise could be very cheesy. And I’m very interested to engage with Midgard traditions! I haven’t watched any movies yet, so I’m excited to see what they’re like.” Brenna beamed at Beatrice, excited for the new experience. Plus, there was a cat. Always a bonus.

“Awesome, any requests in particular? I was thinking *The Princess’ Bride?* Also like any drinks or snacks you’d like? We’ve got pop, juice, tea, pretty much most things.” Bea turned on the TV and set the remote down. Beatrice smiled back at Brenna as she leaned forward to give Oscar some extra scritches.

Brenna grinned as Oscar leaned into both of their hands. “Oh that sounds like fun! I...keep saying that, don’t I? I do mean it. Is pop the “popcorn” I’ve heard about, or is that something different?”

“Oh, uh, I guess you might have heard it called something else. It, like, is any carbonated beverage? Have you heard of soda?” Bea looked over to the kitchen. She hoped that she had set a timer because she had definitely forgot to check the time. “Though we do have an air-popper for popcorn somewhere I think if you’d like that.”

Brenna nodded in understanding. “Oh yes, the fizzy drinks! Sure! And if it’s not too much trouble I’d very much like to try popcorn. It seems like a Midgard movie tradition? Or is that not correct?”

“No, you’re right!” They beamed at the prospect of introducing Brenna to quite a few things. They stood up heading towards the kitchen causing Oscar to push his head further into Brenna’s hand to receive more attention. “Do you have a particular favourite fruit we might have a pop of that flavour?”

Brenna gladly gave Oscar the attention he demanded. “Strawberry! If you have it, of course. I also like grapes quite a bit, though the icees at the 7-Beleven that say they are grape flavored don’t taste like grape to me.”

This was all turning out much better than Brenna had worried it would. The invitation hadn’t been a joke, Beatrice was very nice, and she was getting to try a number of new things. And Oscar. It still was a new place that she wasn’t used to, but the majority of her nervousness about the visit was fading fast.

Beatrice laughed and looked in the fridge. “If we have grape it’ll taste like the fake grape in the slurbees at 7-beleven.” Beatrice paused as she looked in the fridge noticing that there was only grape soda in the fridge. “So, uh, I have bad news? There is only grape pop. Do you still want that or maybe some strawberry lemonade instead?”

Brenna thought it over for a moment, then shrugged. “I am here to try new things. It can’t be worse than the icees, can it? Would you like help with anything?”

Beatrice grimaced knowing that it *could* in-fact be worse than icees despite that she didn’t know how to say no to a pretty girl so she grabbed a can of the pop. “Um, I am cooking a shepherds’ pie in the oven. Would you mind coming and checking it? I need to rummage through all the cupboards to find the popper-thingy.”

“Sure!” Brenna called, then gave Oscar a final pat. “My deepest apologies, sir, but I will return.”

Brenna made her way to the kitchen and looked around, a bit lost. “What would you like me to do? Check it how?”

Bea handed the can to Brenna and gave a small sympathetic smile. “Just see if it is kinda golden to a little brown on the top.” Bea then started as she put it “rummaging” through the cabinets which meant quite a few dishes and were getting scattered around the kitchen. “Don’t worry, if you aren’t great with that kinda stuff. My ex, Amani, once tried to melt marshmallows in a pan and was surprised that they just burnt on to the bottom when she left them there.”

Brenna tucked the can into a pocket for the moment as she focused on the task at hand. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond to knowing that Beatrice had an ex. Condolences? But maybe it was a long time ago, or it was a good thing that they weren’t dating anymore? She decided to go with the old “just be awkwardly silent about it” standard. Hot air whooshed into Brenna’s face as she opened the oven. She wasn’t entirely certain what “golden to a little brown” meant in regards to food, but the tops of the potatoes weren’t completely white anymore.

“I don’t think they’re quite golden yet,” Brenna said, stepping back and closing the oven door.

Beatrice was on the counter resting her knees and leaned back to nod at Brenna. “I didn’t think they’d be. Thanks for checking.” She went back into the upper cabinet that she had been looking into.

“Ah here it is.” Beatrice slid off the counter and didn’t notice the upturned pot she was gonna land on with her leading foot. So as soon as she landed the pot moved from under her and she was falling.

Without really thinking about it, Brenna rushed forward and Beatrice fell into her arms. Brenna looked down at the other teen for a moment, registering what happened and what she was doing, and then blushed. "Um, are you okay?"

Beatrice blushed as well and turned her face away from Brenna. She made glances back at the other girl. *Say something this time.* “Uh, yeah, thanks. You’re pretty strong aren’t you…”

Bea screamed internally.

“Um. Yes. Asgardians are strong compared to Midgardians. Plus I used to work in a forge. Which has improved my arm muscles. So um. Yeah. I’ve broken several doors since coming to Halcyon…” Brenna trailed off, distracted by holding Beatrice and knowing what she was saying was going to devolve into rambling if she didn’t.

“I can see that….” Bea let her hand trail along Brenna’s arm. “I am not just a Midgardian though. I don’t know if Asgardians have a name for what I am but I am a werewolf and Tuatha Dé Danann.”

The flush on Brenna's face spread. "I uh, um. If we have a word for it -- um, for either, uh, I don't think I know it. I'm not sure right now." She sputtered for a moment, then, "Uh, should I put you down now? We have...make popcorn?"

Beatrice nodded and took her hand away from Brenna’s arm. Her face was still flushed but she had regained some confidence noticing that she wasn’t the only one dealing with tension. “Yeah that sounds like a good idea. We’ll have time to dig into each other later”

Brenna gently set Beatrice down. “Um, yes. I’d like to learn more about you. I’m not all that interesting, my older siblings used all that up.” That didn’t make any sense. “Um. Yeah. How does popcorn work?”

Beatrice scoffed and grinned as she got on to her feet. “Nah, Brenna you aren’t a duster. You’re clearly a pantene pro if I’ve ever seen one.” Then shook her head, setting the air-popper down and putting some kernels into the holding-piece. “Anyways popcorn basically, we’ll put some kernels into here and they get heated up by the machine causing them to poof up and become these nice fluffy pieces of corn that we can season with whatever we want. The guard on top directs them into this bowl”

Beatrice picked up the bot she slipped on and slid it in front of the air-popper to act as a receptacle.

Brenna nodded slowly like she understood any of that, though her face made it pretty clear that she didn’t. Maybe she’d try to ask Tony later. In lieu of saying anything, she stood next to Beatrice to watch the popcorn machine do its magic.

There was an audible gasp from Brenna as the first kernel popped, and she jumped back in surprise. Just as quickly, she leaned back in, wide eyed and mouth open, as she watched the rest of the kernels pop.

When the machine stopped, she looked at Beatrice, beaming. "I've never seen magic like this before!"

Beatrice looks over at Brenna trying to figure out what to say. It was wonderful to see someone so excited over something so mundane to her. This was perplexing for Bea to explain as a scientific tradition existed in Tír na nÓg. “Uh, it’s actually not magic. Um, it is kind of like artifice, I guess? There is no magic involved at all.”

Bea grabbed some different seasonings and set them down on the counter. “Also would you want a chessier flavour? Salty and sweet? Or buttery?”

Brenna nodded at Beatrice’s explanation. She didn’t quite understand, but she was sure this was something she could do research on later. Especially since it didn’t seem like the kind of thing that Calder would enjoy watching her flounder with, and would likely help. “Fascinating. What kind of flavor do you suggest? Which is your favorite?”

“I really like salty and sweet though that does mean I will be dumping salt and sugar into this. If you’d be fine with that? We could go to the movie theatre sometime to get their overpriced popcorn and movie tickets if you’d want?” Bea leaned back onto the counter. They realized that that kind of sounded like a date and they bit their lip.

Brenna’s face lit up at the idea of going to a movie theater. “Salt and sugar sounds good! And would you really go to a movie theater with me? I’ve heard about them but I haven’t been to one yet and they sound very cool!”

“Well, yeah, I mean I know you wanted to try out Midgardian things.” Beatrice rubbed the back of their head with her hand and did their best to not completely flush, it didn’t help. They began pouring the seasoning over the popcorn. In a low mumble, they add on. “It’s cool if you don’t want to go with me though I’d get it.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to go with you?” Brenna tilted her head to the side as she looked at Beatrice, trying to figure out this sudden change. “I’m enjoying hanging out with you right now, and when we met at PowerUp there was that thing with Mjolnir, but it didn’t seem like that scared you away then...Do you want to stop hanging out with me?”

Bea leaned down pressing her face into the counter then stood up drawing in a long breath. They started to rub at their Immortals tattoo trailing a finger along each letter. “Nah, it’s just like, I don’t know it’s hard to just like trying to be a teenager?”

She turned to completely face Brenna. Her voice was level but kind of shaky. “This has nothing to do with Mjolnir. That wouldn’t scare me off and to be honest despite what you think I think you were chosen by fate as cruel as that might be.” They shook their head and stared at the ground. “Sorry I am getting side-tracked. It’s just been so long since I didn’t have to worry about someone dragging me into helping them with a blood ritual or some other stupid scrap. I just get worried that people only hang out with me to be nice to the bad kid who could turn back to villainy at any time”

Brenna nodded slowly, taking that in. She gathers her thoughts for a moment before replying. “I know that I seem really naïve and such because I’m new here and because I don’t really know what I’m doing when it comes to being Thor, but I’m not new to having friends. I don’t know what you’ve been through, and maybe it’ll be hard for you to believe, especially since we don’t know each other super well yet, but I don’t want anything from you, Bea. You know, aside from being friends. And letting me pet your cat. Which probably can be nested under ‘being friends.’ And I’m doing it because I enjoy it. I mean, sure I don’t have a lot of other options, since I’m new in Halcyon, but even if I had dozens of friends, I’d still want you to be one of them.”

It felt weird to be so open, but Brenna didn’t regret what she said. She meant it. Still, she bit her lip and shrugged awkwardly. “So uh, yeah.”

“I don’t see you as naïve. I see you as adjusting to somewhere new.” Bea was quiet trying to think of how to reply. She finally came to an answer. “Sorry, I know that was a lot for someone you don’t know too well. It’s hard adjusting and I am happy that you say that you want us to be friends. It might take some time for me to really like internalize it but I definitely wanna try.”

She let out a sigh of tension and finally made eye contact with the other girl. “Brenna, I also want you to know that I don’t think anyone, anywhere, and anywhen has known how to be Thor or a hero of any sort. You’ll make a lot of mistakes but you’ll learn from them. That’s the only way to learn who you are trying to be.”

“If there’s anything I can do to help with that, let me know. Because I want to, if I can.” Brenna set her hand on Bea’s arm for a moment, then withdrew it and gestured at the popcorn. “For now though, want to eat popcorn and watch a Midgard movie and give your cat all the attention he could ever want?”

Brenna gestured over to the living room, where Oscar was washing his face and pretending not to watch them. After a moment of indecision, she quietly added, “And thank you.”

“That sounds like a good plan for now. Also Oscars a spoiled little bastard man but he does deserve more attention.” Beatrice bit her lip hard when Brenna touched her arm. She got goosebumps, the good kind. She picked up the bowl of popcorn and walked back to the couch to sit beside the cat.

Brenna followed them over and sat on the other side of Oscar. One hand started to pet him, as was his right, and with the other she reached over and tentatively picked up a few pieces of popcorn. She looked them over for a moment before taking the leap.

“Oh wow,” Brenna gasped. “That’s such a strange texture! But it’s very good. And the sweet and salty is just...wow.” She reached for another handful.

Bea chuckled, taking her own handful and eating it slowly as she stopped petting Oscar momentarily to start the movie off. She pulled it up on her phone and started casting it to the tv. “Yeah when I was little, I called them pup-corns. A little funny to think back on but I am glad you enjoy it! The texture is very fun to mess around with. I’ll have to get you to try Chicago mix sometime”

Brenna remembered the grape pop that was in her pocket, and committed the unspeakable crime of stopping petting Oscar for a moment to open it. After taking a sip, she made a face. “Oh, that is just as bad as the icees, maybe worse. Are there two different things called grapes on Midgard?”

“Nah, well, sort of. It’s just that there is artificial grape flavouring and stuff actually made with grapes.” Bea’s smile grew wider seeing Brenna’s face. They set their phone down and started petting Oscar again.

“Hmm.” Brenna makes a skeptical face, not questioning Beatrice but the logic behind calling something grape that tastes nothing like grapes.

Her attention is quickly captured by the movie, however. Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, queer true love, miracles...it was a very good movie. A great first movie to watch, and excellent company to watch it with.