T.E.A. with Carol and Meiling

Hello once again, literate dolls and fellow humans. It's She, and I've returned to write my second post on Elsa's blog. If you didn't already know, I've started writing a series here called T.E.A., which stands for Travel, Exploration, and Adventure. The premise is that I take two of my dolls out of the house (for once) and we have T.E.A., then come back home for some literal tea. This "episode" will be about Carol and her adopted daughter, Meiling, and how I was able to take them on my annual trip up north.
(Also, if you haven't seen my first T.E.A. post, I'll link it here. It was also the 100th blog post!)

***

"No. No fireworks."

"Even if it's homemade?"

"Especially if it's homemade, Bell. Sorry to crimp your wings, but I can't risk any of you guys getting hurt. Because unlike dolls, humans typically don't melt and get disfigured for life if they catch fire. Typically." I winced. That last comment was pretty grim, although true. 

"Aw, okay," Bell handed over a secret basket full of hand-crafted sparkler sticks. They weren't poorly assembled, but I doubted any doll I owned had the bravery to actually ignite it. "Can we have a fireworks show when you get home?"

"Yeah, sure. I think we have some left over from the 4th in the garage." I pointed a parental finger at Bell as she flew away. "But don't get any ideas!"
"Don't worry. Hey, where you do keep your matches?"
I rolled my eyes and turned to face Elsa and Steve, who were in a sense guarding the door to my bedroom. I waved my hand to let them know I wanted in. I didn't have a lot of time until my family needed to be on the road, and I still didn't have my travel bag fully packed.
"We're just here to let you know that everything's fine." Steve told me.
"What? What did you do in there? Why wouldn't everything be fine?" I asked.
"Nothing, nothing," Elsa giggled. "Don't look too hard at your bag."
I sighed and opened the door, seeing a black tin box inside my bag that hadn't been there before.

There was no mistaking the giggles coming from inside that box.
"Come on, guys. Out." I said, lifting the lid.
Carol and Meiling were inside, holding hands and laughing giddily like they had somehow gotten away with it.
"Aw, please? We really wanna go with you!" Meiling whined.
"Why? I'm just visiting my grandparents."
"Meiling loves travel," Carol replied proudly. "Or so she told me. So we won't care where you are going, we just want to see."
"You're going to see the interior of a car, that's what you're going to see," I folded my arms in a definite "no", but I was secretly considering their plea. If they wanted to see the world so badly, what was wrong with the little town of Nowhere, Up North? They were small enough to be hidden from the rest of my family. And I certainly wasn't up for hearing them bug me if I were to return home from not taking them. I got down real close to the tin. "Listen. You two can go-"
Meiling squealed. Carol shushed her.
"-Only if you keep this on the down low. The other dolls will get jealous and soon I'll have a mess on my hands. There's only so many of you a person can fit into one suitcase."
"We understand," said Carol, trying to contain her excitement. "We'll keep it a secret, won't we, Mei-Mei?"
"Sure," Meiling smiled. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow at eight."
"In the morning?"
"Yeah...?"
"We can do it, Mei-Mei."
"If you can remember to wake up." Said Meiling, tugging at Carol's jacket.
"If I can remember to wake up, too," I joked. "But then there's the problem of explaining your disappearance to the other dolls..."

"We can take care of it," Steve piped up. Elsa nodded beside him. "Carol and Meiling are going to be playing the world's longest game of Hide-And-Seek."
"Brilliant." Said Carol.
"Ridiculous." I said.
"So ridiculous that it might work?"
"We'll see. Tomorrow at eight."
The next morning, the truck was loaded and the rest of my family was ready to go. I just had one more thing to slide into my bag.
My sister, who is a morning person, and me, who is the opposite, clash frequently on these long car rides, and today was no different.
"Come on, we just want to go already. Why do you need to bring more things?" She said, pointing at the black tin box I was carrying.
"Earrings," I said plainly. "I forgot to pack my earrings."
"You don't need a box that big for earrings."
"You're right, I don't," I said, and lifted the lid so that only my sister could see. Her eyes widened at the sight of Carol and Meiling, frozen in her presence, but it was no use. My sister already knew about the Code. "Please don't tell mom and dad."
She shivered and pulled her sweatshirt closer around her skin, despite the early morning humidity. "I don't know why you insist on taking them everywhere with you."
I shut the lid. "Wouldn't you?"
"No. Dolls give me the creeps."
"They can probably still hear you."
"And that's why."
I groaned and slid the tin into the pocket of my hoodie. Eight hours couldn't pass soon enough.

Lucky for me, I mostly slept, only waking every so often for rest stops and pictures of the world outside. For once, it was a lovely day- without rain or extreme, baking heat- the main weather patterns of the north. I knew that Carol and Meiling would love to see this view, even if it was only clouds, trees, and asphalt. If my sister wasn't afraid of dolls, and my parents knew about the Code, things would be a lot easier for them. But my family is the religious type, not that I wasn't, but they were the kind of people that believed in ghosts and evil spirits. I wasn't sure if I did. None of the dolls I owned had ever reached a "Chucky" or "Annabelle" tier of evilness, so the ghost-fearing gene in my family skipped me. They called me the black sheep, the odd one out, my sister even going so far as to say I must be adopted, but their comments hardly bothered me. For I had the largest secret out of all of them, and it was a good one to keep. Still, sometimes I felt like my dolls kept secrets from me. How they did get here? Why were they alive? What did it mean to be living? Did they know about that themselves? Would we ever even know?
"Look around, ladies," my dad called from the driver's seat. "Does that building look familiar?"
My sister and I snapped from our dazes and watched as a tiny cottage with a green roof passed us by. That was the Irish-owned coffee cafe, the place we would walk to every morning with my grandpap whenever we had these times to visit him. I smiled. We were almost there.
The house that belonged to my grandpap was nestled into the side of a hill, amongst other houses whose residents were scarcely seen. It was a simple place to live, but the history it held was far from that. The glider on the back porch was assembled by his father, and the shudders aside either window were painted by his mother. The old milk jug that became a planter by his driveway was an heirloom, at least three generations old. And, lastly, the hand-woven rug that marked all visitors as welcome on his front doorstep had been placed there when I was a child, yet still old enough to remember who wove it. My grandmother.
My grandpap embraced each of us in a hug, firm because of his arms, and abrasive because of his beard. He had started growing it about three years ago.

(The above picture is of a toad found in my grandparent's yard, which is unrelated to the content, but he is cute, so he will stay.)
"How was the trip?" He asked, patting the spot next to him on the glider for my mother to sit. "Glad it was finally a nice day for you. I don't think we're supposed to get any rain the rest of the week. And you know what that means." He wiggled his eyebrows at my sister and I.
I'd almost forgotten. We were going to have to drive to visit my dad's parents, too.
"Are you trying to kick us out already?" My mother joked.
"Not if you brought me my favorite, love." My grandpap replied.
"The pie. It's still in the cooler. Dear, could you get that? We can have some now."
My sister exchanged weird glances, but neither of us complained. That was a good way to lose our slice of mom's famous peach-blueberry pie, which she only ever made if we were visiting grandpap.
We ate amongst friendly conversation, and, as usual for an old person, health updates. Bill is sick again. Ellen and Grace both have pneumonia. Carol's sister fell down the stairs and broke her hip.
At the sound of her name, I heard Carol clatter around in the tin, which was still in my hoodie pocket. My family all looked at me, expecting an excuse, as if I had set off the loudest sound in the world.
"Excuse me for a minute." I got up, went calmly inside, then ran into the bedroom I would share with my sister and took out the tin.
"I heard my name. Does that mean we're safe to come out?" Carol said.
"No, no, Carol was my grandmother's name." I told them, lifting Meiling and Carol out and setting them on the nightstand.
"Was?"
"Yeah... she's dead now. She died in 2016."
Meiling frowned, unable to understand the concept of death. Carol, for once, paid her no attention.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ask."
"It's okay. You had the right to know. Just... from now on, when you're in this house, don't answer to Carol." I tossed my hoodie onto the mattress and started to leave the room.
"Wait. Are you just going to leave us here?"
I have to. My family wouldn't understand," I began to shut the door. "You and Meiling can explore around here for a while. But don't leave the bedroom, okay? I'll take you out somewhere fun before the end of this trip. I promise."
"Okay..." Meiling whispered, sounding disappointed.
"Hey, chin up, chicken. It won't be long." I said, smiling, before shutting the door. I wondered how dolls viewed the passage of time. Was it slower or faster than humans? I shook my head and brought my pie plate to the kitchen. I had a lot of questions, indeed.

We would stay for five days, two for travelling, and three for adventuring. We visited a national park, a legendary railroad, and a historic mansion. We took a picnic lunch everywhere we could, and I did the same with Carol and Meiling. They rode in my backpack, poking their little heads out to see the sights, and I would walk a little behind the rest of my family whenever we went out, if only to protect them, and me, from getting caught.

I was able to take a couple of pictures of them in front of a locomotive at the train station, but there was only so long that my sister was willing to distract the rest of my family for me to do so.

On the final day, we drove to visit my father's parents, who lived in a house that was nestled in another hill, as is with the geography of the north. This house had a chimney which was always smoking, an air conditioning unit that never worked, and a terrier dog that believed itself to be ferocious. I knew that this was Carol and Meiling's last chance to explore the world from outside the backpack, but I didn't trust that dog. There had to be a way to escape prying eyes and gnawing teeth to give my dolls the T.E.A. I had promised.
"What's up, kiddo?" My other grandpap said, rustling my hair with his knuckles like he always did. "Did you see that new pond they're building yet?"
"What?" I asked, setting down my book, which I had been comfortably reading for an hour now. I wasn't in the mood for interruptions, but a pond was something else.
"Yeah, the neighbors that just moved in to that old farmhouse next door got this huge plot of earth and they're putting a pond there. You should go check it out."
I got up from the easy chair. "Am I allowed?"
"I say that you are." Said my pappy with a wink. "Better hurry before they get home to find you, though."
I nodded. "Gotcha. I'll go now." I knew that my grandparents had a good relationship with their neighbors. They had to, after all, with only their two houses for miles and miles along this one road. Still, their neighbors didn't know me personally, and they might consider it trespassing if I wasn't careful to leave before they returned. Adrenaline filled my veins. This was my chance to show Carol and Meiling the world up north.

Sunset was approaching, and the hill was painted with slices of sunlight and shadow. A simple country backyard suddenly looked like a fantasy playground which I had never before experienced. My dolls were going to love it here.
"Coast is clear," I hummed, unzipping my backpack and letting Carol and Meiling crawl hastily into in my hand. "I promised you a vacation, and here it is."
"Woah..." Meiling gasped. "Can we move here?"
"What do you want to do first? I know this place like the back of my hand. I can take you anywhere."
Meiling pointed at a continuation of my grandparent's gravel driveway, the part that snaked back into the woods like a forbidden trail. "What's over there?"

"A surprise," I told her, as if crafting some excellent story. "It's a path that leads to the secret hideout of the fairies."
Meiling clapped her hands. "I want to see the fairies!"
I walked slowly, carrying them in my hand and allowing enough space between them and me to get a proper look at the landscape. A flower caught my eye along the side, and suddenly, my story was made up for me.
"You can't see the fairies. They're invisible. But they plant the flowers and help them grow, and they love to share what they make," I bent down and allowed Meiling and Carol to walk by themselves. "Go ahead and take one of the flowers. The fairies' gift to you."

"I want that big one right there! That big white one!"
"That's a daisy." Carol said proudly, glad to say that she knew at least one type of flower in nature.
Carol tried her best to stand Meiling on her shoulders to grab at the daisy, but they still needed a little assistance from a humans' hand.

Meiling happily plucked the head of the daisy and slid it into her hair, but it didn't take long for it to get itchy and she passed it off for me to carry as we went on exploring.

Aside from the odd clearing or clover patch, there wasn't much else to see on that path in the woods. We left for the open yard, where there was much more trouble for the dolls to get into. Namely, a set of limestone blocks that were cleverly arranged into a miniature playground.

I set Meiling down on the closest one, making beeping noises and announcing which "floor" she was on to make the ride more entertaining. Carol, however, seemed determined to climb the rocks herself. But there weren't nearly enough placeholders for one's feet or hands, and she kept sliding down.

"This rock is a lot taller than it looks." Carol sighed.

"Have you tried flying?" I asked.

Carol lowered her voice, along with her eyes. "Um... I can't fly. I don't have any powers."

"Are you sure?" I whispered back.

"If I did, they would have come to me by now. Meiling was supposed to change that. The Avengers thought if I had someone to mentor, things would change for me. But they haven't. I'm a sorry excuse for a hero."

"No, you're not. Even heroes need a little help."

"Just use the Ella Vader!" Meiling called down.

"What's that, Mei-Mei?"

"She means elevator," I replied, allowing Carol to step onto my hand like the "platform" Meiling had previously used it as. "Do you want to me make the sounds like I did with Meiling?"

Carol laughed and rolled her eyes. "Sure. It'll be fun for her to see that."

I did, glad to know I wasn't the only one feeling a little stupid. It made Meiling happy, though, and that was all that mattered to us. I let Carol step off of the "Ella Vader" and onto the rock, but she barely had time to adjust to the uneven surface before Meiling called for play time.

"Chase me! Chase me!" Meiling squealed, and took off running as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"Be careful, Mei-Mei! Don't fall!"

"Warriors don't fall."

"You're a warrior now, huh?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna go defeat the Huns," Meiling stopped at the end of the rock, stuck out her tongue, and hopped over the next one. "I just crossed the biggest river in China!"

"You sure did!" Carol called.

"Watch me do this jump! I'm gonna be a great warrior, just like you!"

Carol beamed, and for a second, she was unable to find her words. "Want to see what a warrior can do, Mei-Mei?" Carol, who was now tired of running, pointed at rusted piece of farm equipment off to the side of the yard. "Bet you I can't climb that to the top."

"Bet you ten hugs." Meiling said, hopping down from the rock all by herself.

"Ten hugs? That's a lot," said Carol. "You're on."

It was no issue for Carol to find a way to get onto the equipment, but Meiling was a different story.

"I wanna go up, too!"

"No, Mei-Mei. This is dangerous for small ones like you. I have been climbing for a very long time."

"Then if I climb for a very long time, can I do that?"

"Sure." Carol replied, having her doubts.

"Okay! I wanna start now. Watch this!" Meiling ran over to the rock and began pawing at it. Since her hands and feet were smaller, they caught in the placeholders a lot easier than Carol, and in no time at all, Meiling was up on top of the rock again. 

"You are raising a little warrior." I remarked.

"Don't I know it," Carol tapped the top of the metal rod and swung down from it like it was a set of monkey bars. "Come here, Mei-Mei! You owe me ten hugs."

Amidst the crickets and birds and other sounds of nature was the soft rumbling of rubber on rock. A vehicle was coming down the neighbor's driveway. 

"Later. Get in the tin. Hurry!" I scooped Carol from the ground and Meiling from the rock and made sure they were safely inside before I took off running at a warrior's speed towards my grandparent's house. Sure, I hadn't gotten to see the new pond, but I had done something way more important.

The next day, we left the north. Bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds saw us come, and now they were seeing us go. The rest of my family was ready to get back to routine, or at least get back to their regular bedrooms to take a nap, but I still had one more activity planned for Carol and Meiling. After all, what is T.E.A. without teatime?

Once we settled back in the house and mostly unpacked, I brewed some Chinese white tea, (per Meiling's request), and she, Carol, and I shared it on the shelf in my bedroom they called home.

"So, you're telling me we couldn't find you because you were playing hide-and-seek." My Arthur Dent doll said skeptically.

"Yeah, I was in the basement cab-bin-net! It was really dark and scary in there." Meiling laughed not-so-secretly and winked at Carol with both eyes.

"It was a really good hiding place," Carol admitted. "Problem is, I thought Meiling was supposed to be finding me. So I was hiding, too."

"For five days?" Arthur asked incredulously. 

"It was the longest game of hide-and-seek in the world," I nodded knowingly. "Cheers, girls."

When all the chaos had died down of being welcomed back, most of the dolls had settled down for a nap. Only Carol and a few members of the PSA remained awake. Of course, they had known something was afoot the entire time, and it was no surprise to them to learn that Carol had gone with me up north.

"Did the trip help with the uh... you know..." Clint signed something in ASL to soften the blow, but it only lead to more confusion.

"Your powers," Natasha stated. "Did it help you find your powers?"

Carol rubbed the back of her neck. "Um... well, I've got good news and bad news."

"Okay."

"Good news is, Meiling sees me as a hero no matter what. Bad news is... I still haven't got any powers."

Natasha crossed her arms and hastily turned away to keep herself from getting angrier. "That's fine. Just keep working on it. We're depending on you, Carol."

"But I am trying, I really am." Carol begged, but it was too late. Clint and Natasha were already heading off for bed.

Carol flashed me a look of devastation. I put down my pen and closed my journal. That poem could be finished some other night. "Want to talk about it?" I asked.

"No... I want that to be the last thing on my mind," Carol sat down and began swinging her legs over the side of the shelf. "Tell me about your grandmother. The one with my name."

"Oh, well..." I got up from my desk and paced over to the bookshelf. So many journals were already there, lined up neatly in a row, but their contents weren't so neat. Inside were poems about heartbreak and tragedy, memories, love, and grief. It was my grandmother that had gotten me into writing poems, more so than usual, at least, but she herself was far from a poet. "I guess I could."

I took Carol from the shelf and placed her on my pillow, then I laid down next to her.

"In November 2016, my grandmother Carol passed away. It was, to date, the worst two weeks of my life, guaranteed." I began.

"Two weeks? I thought it didn't take that long for humans to die."

"It doesn't," I sighed and began picking at my comforter. "It doesn't usually. She was at the hospital with a stroke. She had gone through a stroke before, so we didn't think the second one would be the end of her. We kept her on life support all through that time, unwilling to say goodbye."

Things were quiet for a minute. If I closed my eyes and tried to listen, I could almost, almost, hear her voice through the dead air. Her last words were to my mother, not to me. Which was okay. She deserved them more than I did.

"I never once visited her that hospital. My parents didn't want me to see such suffering. But I'm not sure that made me feel any better," I swallowed. "I wish I could have been there. One last time."

Carol touched my face. Her hand was chilly, but it was real.

"A lot of what I have now reminds me of her. It's bittersweet, in a way. I want to cherish her memory, but it hurts sometimes. Can you keep a secret?"

"On top of what I already have? Of course." Carol replied.

"A lot of my dolls I collect were to honor my grandmother. Moana, for example, was a big one for me. During the time my grandmother was in the hospital, her movie had just come out. My father took and sister and me to go see it, as a sort of distraction from everything else, I guess. I loved that movie, and when I saw that Moana, too, was grieving the loss of her grandmother, I knew I had to have a doll of her character. And, what do you know, Christmas Day, 2016, there she is, under the tree. Like a little shimmer of hope in the darkest of times."

"That's nice. Does Moana know?"

I looked to the shelf where she lay, keeping Magneto and Pocahontas by her side and Pua and HeiHei even closer. Moana had a big family, a family she chose as hers, just as my grandmother did. 

"No. It figured it would be too much."

"I think she would be honored if you told her." Carol said.

"Not overwhelmed?"

She shook her head. "No. I wouldn't be."

"Maybe tomorrow," I said, shuffling in my sheets. "My grandmother Carol was a lot like you, in a way."

"Was she?"

"Yeah. Headstrong, definitely. Independent. Didn't take no for an answer. Asked questions constantly," I laughed shortly and nudged Carol's arm. "She always felt like she had to prove herself, though, as if her own family wasn't impressed with her. We totally were. We all were. We would be like, 'grandma, you don't have to cook dinner all by yourself. We came over for a reason. Let us help you', and she would be like, 'get out of my kitchen, I'm making dinner the way I want it to be'." 

"That's pleasant."

"Okay, maybe not, but everything she did was out of love for her family. She took a big risk marrying my grandpap. She was eighteen years old, and she had to move to Japan, only speaking English, because my grandpap was still in the military. He was in the Navy, the Marines, and the Army. Nearly all four branches, and my grandma had to just go along with it, all the while raising my mom. She was the strongest woman I ever knew," I paused. "Until I met you."

"But I'm a doll."

"And because you are, that doesn't make you a strong woman?"

Carol settled back onto the pillow. "I guess not."

"People and dolls alike have different strengths. I believe a am a strong writer. That doesn't mean I'm a strong weightlifter. My grandmother had a strong resolve. That didn't mean she had strong arteries. Just because you don't have powers doesn't mean you're not a strong caretaker. Meiling loves you."

Carol put her head in her heads. "I know, but is it enough?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"What?"

"What you just described. 'Is love enough?' It's all there is."

"I just want to make the Avengers proud. They're counting on me for something big."

"Are you worried on not making the Avengers proud, or yourself proud?" I asked her.

"Both, I guess." Carol muttered.

"What if you look at this way. You don't need to make the PSA happy to make yourself happy. Be happy first as yourself, and eventually, in time, they will come to appreciate you as you are. With or without powers."

"Yeah... hey! I thought we agreed not to talk about this."

I shrugged. "Oopsy daisy," I turned over in my bed. "Thanks for listening to me, Carol. I feel like I can't talk to anyone about my grandmother. I'm afraid of making them unhappy."

"So we're both afraid of the same thing." 

"Yeah."

"So what should we do?"

I let out a short breath of air. "We start small."

"We start tomorrow," Carol sighed, holding out her pinkie. "Promise me you'll tell Moana about your grandmother. I promise I'll learn to love myself as I am."

"One of those seems a little more daunting than the other." I laughed, touching Carol's pinkie to mine.

Carol looked at me straight in the eye. I saw her light brown eyes, the same color as my mother's, and her mother's before her. "We can do it. We're strong women."

See you when it's time for T.E.A.,

She

Pocket-Sized Avengers: Assembling the Heroes P.1 (Chris and Tony)

Once upon a time, I pulled an "Elsa" and decided to interview each of teammates to discover their backstories, and all about the times they had before they were found by She. I figure now is as good a time as any to publish it, considering we're trying to reach a goal of two blog posts a month. (A fair warning to you that this is going to be a hefty read without any pictures, as none of the dolls interviewed had access to a camera in their previous homes.)
Without further ado, let's assemble the heroes.

***

Chapter one: A Heart of Iron
Tony, aka Iron Man, aka Iron Man Avengers All Stars figure number forty-nine, was cruising high above the stocks of the warehouse, whistling to himself along the way. He wasn't all that good at carrying a tune, but no matter. Music made the days seem shorter, and that was exactly what the doctor had prescribed.
Tony was his own doctor.
He felt it was his job to fly around to monitor the activity around the warehouse after it closed, and to help out whenever a doll needed saving. But there was never anything to monitor, and no doll ever needed saving. And even if there was, Tony knew that he would never feel ready enough to step in and make that change.
What he really wanted was a mission.
Yeah, like a real job. A challenge to tackle. Or an opponent, if need be. Tony wasn't against necessary violence, and the energy blasts from his hands assisted with that. Problem was, no other doll seemed to hate him enough to fight him, and no other doll seemed to like him enough to be his partner.
Oh, and he wanted a partner. Tony couldn't forget about that. The other action figures of his kind had gone to find their magnet match through a local psychic doll named Magenta, and he had heard the stories. Many of them found love, true love. But many of them also found heartbreak when they found that their magnet mate lived in a different warehouse across the world, or worse, that their match had already expired, and their soul was no longer in the doll that held the magnet.
Tony couldn't risk going to Magenta alone. He would need someone there, beside him, for emotional support. And so far, there weren't any takers.
A small voice spoke to him. You're gonna have to start meeting people, Tony. 
"What? Who is this?" He asked. "Jarvis?"
No, this is your conscience. Just you. It's always been just you.
"I get it, I get it." Tony replied to himself. "I'll find people, me. Or we'll find people. Whatever it takes."
Wait, what's going on over there? Said Tony's conscience.
"What is- oh. I see," Tony zoomed in on some activity going on not far from where he was flying. It looked to be a pair of dolls locked in combat on a tall shelf. And combat was dangerous, especially when you were so high up and falling down would be your expiration. "I'll take care of it. Thanks, me."
Tony began his descent on the scene, running over all the ways he could confront them. So far, he had eight different plans, but the one thing he hadn't planned for was... him. One of the combatants was a Captain America action figure, the same brand and year he was, and when he looked over his shoulder at Tony, they both froze.
Earth to Tony. You still have to control the suit.
"Right, yeah. I do. I know I do."
Then why are we falling?
"We're fal-" Tony didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. The energy repulsors on his hands and feet gave out with an ear-deafening silence. He tumbled forward, arms flailing and eyes flashing with colors and lights, knocking right into the second combatant, a Red Skull figure. Boxes tumbled from the shelf and fell upon both of them, but Tony was more ashamed than in pain.
"Hey!" Said a voice from outside of the mess. "Are you okay?"
Tony pulled his head around to meet eyes with the man which had stopped him in his tracks. He got out just in time to see the Captain America doll running towards him trip and fall over in his tracks.
Tony held back a laugh. "Yeah, yeah, I am. Sorry, Cap. Usually I'm not this clumsy."
"Me neither," Cap stood and offered Tony a hand up. "I'm Chris. Thanks for helping me out back there."
"Back there? We're still here. And you should probably do something about cherry-flavored Voldemort over there."
Chris took a glance over his shoulder. Red Skull was pinned under a box, his legs struggling to kick it off. "Oh yeah. Maybe."
"Need help finding him a containment unit?" Tony asked.
"No, that won't be necessary," Chris walked over and lifted the box off of Red Skull without much effort. "Sorry, Johann. I win this round. That'll be twenty CostCoins."
(Loki here. CostCoins were apparently the currency of the realm in the warehouse. It is only dropped change, but it was worth a lot to these dolls, who had nothing. They came up with the name CostCoins after humans would ask, "how much does it cost?" before buying anything.)
Red Skull kicked himself upwards. "Twenty? I thought we agreed on ten before!"
"It was ten. But then I had some extra help," Chris pointed a thumb over at Tony, who was standing cluelessly in plain sight of the villain. "So it'll be ten for each of us."
Red Skull's face contorted into an ugly scowl. "That's cheating."
"What if I gave you thirty next time you win? To make up for the twenty for my partner and I?"
"Yeah... I'm his... partner." Tony whispered to the inside of his helmet. No one had ever called him that before, except in his dreams.
Red Skull considered this. "Fine. Here," Red Skull found his packaging and took out 2 small and thin silver coins. "But nothing more! Now help me clean this up from your 'partner' falling on me."
Chris, Tony, and Johann rearranged the boxes in silence while Tony's mind buzzed with at least ten more plans- a plan to keep Chris in his life- if only for a second longer.
"Listen, Cap. I don't mean to be too forward, but... would you be interested in taking a walk with me after this?"
Chris, broad-shouldered and blue-eyed, smirked slightly. "Yes. I'll like that. Thank you, Tony," then he paused. "It is Tony, isn't it?"
"Oh, God. Yeah, yeah it is. I never told you my name?"
"No. I guess we must have been distracted with... other things."
Tony nodded fervently. "Yeah. You know something? I don't really get out much. So this..." Tony gestured to the frowning Johann and the toppled boxes. "... this is everything."
Chris nodded. "No, I understand. My fights with Johann is just about all I get to do around here. Things will be better once a human finds us."
"And how do you think a human will find us?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...," Tony fiddled around with his hands a bit. "All they have to do is order us online, we get packed away, and show up at their doorstep a couple of weeks later. We're all chosen at random. Don't you think there is an 'easier' way to determine our fate?"
"Can I repeat my first question?" Chris asked, laughing awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Tony. I don't know what you're trying to say."
"Yeah. You know what? Maybe it isn't important right now. Let's just get these boxes done."
You've only known him for five minutes are you're already talking about the future? Said Tony's conscience.
"I can't help it, look at him. He's exactly the kind of doll you can talk to like that."
"Who are you speaking to?" Chris said.
"Nobody," Tony replied quickly. "Will Johann be okay if we leave him for a walk?"
"Oh yeah, he's fine. He probably wants to blow off some steam after losing," Chris lifted the last box above his head, one nearly four times his own weight, and slipped into into place on the shelf. "Let's go now. We have a couple of hours before the warehouse opens again."
Tony walked to the edge of the shelf and peered over. He wasn't afraid of heights, and Chris didn't seem to be, either, but he wasn't too keen on climbing down.
"We're going to have to fly down if we don't plan on expiring today."
"That's the goal," Chris said, joining Tony by his side. "How do we fly?"
Tony wasn't sure if he should reply. If he gave an answer that Chris didn't like, he had just lost his first and only friend. But if Chris did like it... well, what was there to lose?
"Hold onto me. I can fly the both of us."
Chris took a step back. "Promise you won't make a crash landing this time?"
"Promise." Tony held out an armored hand, and Chris grabbed and shook it without hesitation. His touch was firm, as to be expected from a super-soldier, but it was also warm, which was not to be expected from a doll made of plastic. When Tony let go, the warmth remained for longer than he thought possible before dissolving into tingles on his palm.
"Is something the matter, Tony?" Chris asked, who began to massage his own hand. Could it be he had felt the same tingles?
It's static electricity. That's all.
Tony nodded and came a little closer. He held out one arm, almost like he was getting ready for a hug, while he activated the other one's repulsion. "Ready?"
Chris said nothing, but he took Tony's arm and wrapped it around himself. Tony was glad that he had a permanent mask to cover his face, otherwise Chris might have seen his small smile.
Don't lose focus. Don't think about who you're carrying. He's someone you've just met.
"Don't drop me." Chris said.
"If I do, I'll give you ten CostCoins." Tony replied.
Chris chuckled. "Oh, great," He pressed a hand to Tony's chest. The usually-blue arc reactor shone orange between his fingers. "I might expire, but at least I'll have ten CostCoins to cover a proper funeral."
"I won't let you expire," Tony mumbled, too quiet for even another doll to hear. He fired up his boots and kicked away from the shelf. The two of them drifted slowly to the ground.
"So I'm your partner, huh? I thought our characters weren't supposed to get along."
"Tell that to Johann," Chris chuckled and seemed to shake his head. "He's a real villain, but I can't seem to make any real enemies."
"You say that like it's a bad thing. I make enemies everywhere I go."
Chris shook his head, and what he said next made Tony feel like his arc reactor had suddenly shut down. "Not me, Tony. Not me."


Chapter two: Heroes Collide
Tony and Chris went on their walk, and hours passed. Tony and Chris met up again many hours later, and days passed. Tony and Chris began moving their boxes closer and closer together, and weeks passed. Tony had given up hope that he would ever find someone to fight, but he had found something better: someone to trust. They play-fought Johann together, they stayed up all night together, and they even did aerial tours together. The two had become basically inseparable.
Which was slightly worrying to Chris.
He had been in the warehouse for a while now. He had gained sentience as soon as his paint job was finished in the factory, and from that point on, it had been two and a half years without a human. Chris had always hoped that once he was found by a human, so too, would he find his magnet mate. Dolls rarely met and married in the warehouse; mostly they just kept to themselves. Tony once tried to set him up on a blind date with a Black Widow figure, but there were no sparks between them. The entire time, all Chris wanted to do was return to his box and talk with Tony.
Tony himself didn't care much about finding love. Chris knew that he wasn't completely content in the warehouse, but judging by his character, Chris doubted Tony wouldn't be completely content anywhere. The only times he didn't hear Tony complain was when they were together.
Yet on a particular night, the warehouse was buzzing with an energy that propelled Tony from his box at roughly 2:00am to wake Chris and ask him if he wanted to see Magenta, the man that could change their lives.
"Who's Magenta?" Chris had asked through the sleepy gruffness of his voice, blinking in the blinding blue light of Tony's arc reactor.
"Haven't you heard the stories? He's the last of his kind? The one who will tell you your magnet match? You really need to get out more, old man."
"I do get out," Chris protested. "I had a date once."
"That was months ago. Please don't tell me that was the last date you had." Tony begged.
"And the first," Chris sighed, escaping his box and now fully awake. "Isn't Magenta just a myth?"
"I thought so too, but this place is big. He could be out there. And look what I got to prove it," Tony presented Chris with a couple of indecipherable doodles written on a gum wrapper. "I was able to purchase a map to his lair from another doll for eighty CostCoins."
"You bought a map? At two in the morning? For eighty CostCoins?"
"Yeah, that's what I just said," Tony tapped Chris's arm. "Glad you were paying attention."
"Are you sure the map is real?"
"No. But that's what makes it interesting."
Chris regarded Tony, shining blue eyes against shining eyelights. It would be good to get out, even if it was so early. And it would be even better to get out with Tony. There were only so many times he could fight Johann before getting bored. What else was there to do besides fly around and take walks? This was the chance of a lifetime, a chance to find his true love.
"Okay. Where is this Magenta?"
The pair set off, into the "bad" part of the warehouse, where boxes had been carelessly knocked from the shelves, CostCoins littered the floor, and the "stable" dolls were few and far between. They got many offers for psychic readings along the way, from certain masters of the mystic arts or the like, but they weren't going in for just any old reading. This was Magenta.
"Ever been here before?" Chris asked casually on their way.
"Come on, Cap, does this look like the face of a man who has met the love of his life?"
"I- I can't see your face, Tony."
Tony slapped a hand on his walking partner's back. "Exactly. Once I do, I will have a face."
Chris chuckled to himself and nearly tripped over Tony's feet in distraction. "Sure, you will. And then I'll be attending your wedding."
"What made you think you were invited, old man?" Tony asked, his voice oozing playfulness.
"I'll invite myself. I'll crash your wedding, in fact. You'll never see it coming."
"In a bright blue suit? I think not," Tony said. "But seriously. I've never seen this man- this psychic- really, ever in my life. I've only heard the stories. And honestly, I'm a little scared of him."
"Oh, don't take it so seriously. All he does is read your mind, tell you your soul mate, and you determine if your life if ruined or made better from there." Chris grinned.
"Of course. Silly me, I had nothing to worry about this whole time. I'm glad you're coming with me, though, Chris."
"I wouldn't miss my chance for the world," Chris replied. "It's a strange world, Tony, and one that I'm lucky to participate in."
"Mm-hm." Tony sighed.
The pair continued their walk in a silence rarely felt between two people. It wasn't the kind of silence you felt you had to fill, but one you wanted to savor, just to listen to each-other's footsteps in sync as you walked side by side. It was Chris who finally spoke again when the psychic's lair was in view.
"So who do you think will be your magnet match? I saw you making eyes at Natalia the other day. Does she interest you?"
(Natalia, as they told me, was the eighteenth Black Widow figure there.)
Tony rolled his shoulders back. "Yeah, but you know the Black Widows. They're stone cold. And you know me. I'm a natural flirt. What about you? Any women you like?"
"Not yet." Chris replied, feeling suddenly anxious.
"I wouldn't worry about it, Cap. Magenta will tell you your match. I know any woman would be lucky to be with you."
"Yeah, thanks," Chris whispered, but he still couldn't get something out of his head. The whole way to Magenta, he was restlessly thinking, speculating, and worrying about it. Well, maybe it wouldn't hurt if he told Tony. And if their relationship was broken forever after he'd said it, then so be it. An unfortunate truth was more important than an uncomfortable silence. Yes. He was going to say it.
"Tony, what if I don't like wom-"
"And I thought people were starting to doubt me," said a strong, yet soft voice. A body emerged from the shadows, the body of a Magneto Marvel Legends figure. He had a large splotch of hot pink paint over to the side of his lips, the factory flaw that gave Magenta both his mystic "birthmark" and his name. "Are you two here to have your fortunes read, or have I mistaken you for passers-by, like the rest?"
"Not this time," Tony said, completely obvious to what Chris was about to say. "Are your services still offered?"
"As long as I am here, they are. Please, come in." Magenta bowed away, revealing his lair on the inside of a cardboard box. No other doll in the warehouse has a private space of their own except him, and for good reason. He was the last of the Magneto figures, unable to be sold for his birthmark, but Magenta was a pioneer. He used his talents of detecting magnets to start a matchmaking business of his own. Because of this, Magenta was respected among every doll, but also feared. Not only could he detect magnets, but he could manipulate them, too, and respect is a far different feeling from trust.
The interior of the box was smoky and fragrant, for reasons unknown. Bubble wrap was the substitute for cushioned furniture, and a piece of cardboard was bent into a little end table were Magenta would do his reading.
"First, I must request you pay me twenty CostCoins." Said Magenta once they had all settled in.
Tony and Chris both slid two familiar silver coins across the table. Magenta gave no reaction to the money, but placed it safely in a drawstring bag before proceeding to talk.
"Are you adverse to flashing or colored lights?"
"No." They said.
"Perfect. That is my favorite part."
"When comes the reading?" Tony asked. "I wasn't expecting a carnival ride."
Magenta glared from behind his hooded helmet. "Patience. The experience is part of the reading. It will help you to visualize your magnet mate and you, together."
Magenta pulled out another drawstring bag, reached inside, and spread a shiny gray powder all across the table. "These are fine iron filings. Using this dust, I will paint you a picture of your love lives," He spread the powder across the surface of the table. "This represents the world of dolls. Each particle is one individual, existing as they are," Chris leaned forward, studying the powder. Tony did, too. "But when they come together, they become something different."
Magenta passed his hand over the table and the dust began to tremble. Each particle vibrated and began to bounce, some higher than others. Magenta shut his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were glowing white, absent of an iris or a pupil. He raised his hands, and two particles raised with him. The voice in which Magenta next spoke seemed to come from inside of Chris and Tony's own heads.
"These iron grains represent each of you. One for the man out of time, the other for the man with the iron heart."
Tony and Chris exchanged glances. Their faces looked almost human in the dark.
Magenta passed his hand over the particles again, and they all lifted from the table, hovering a little under the other two in the air. "First we shall begin with-"
Magenta paused, as if his dialogue had been cut off from external force.
"Start with who?" Said Tony. "What is it?"
"Something unusual has occurred."
"Something bad?"
"No. Just... interesting," Magenta grinned somewhat mischievously, the white of his teeth glowing the same color as his teeth. "Let me show you." He commanded the other grains higher, until they were mixed in with the original two. Magenta swirled his hand, and the grains did, too, becoming a whirlwind of iron that moved faster and faster, like a hurricane in front of them. Colors appeared: red, blue, gold, and white, and began spiraling and pulsating through the tornado. Chris tore his eyes away. He had lost sight of the particle that was meant to represent himself.
Suddenly the whirlwind stopped, and Magenta reached inside and parted the mess in two. Each half formed itself into a heart shape, one red and one blue.
"Now, if you'll allow me, I will use your magnet to call for your magnet match. When yours stirs within you, so will theirs. This is how you will know your soul mate."
"Wait, which one of us?" Tony asked.
Magenta didn't answer. Instead, he raised his hands, palms outwards towards his guests.
"Magenta! Which one of us?"
Chris gasped as if he was being strangled. There was electricity in the room, and it had struck him to his very core. The heart in front of him, the red one, was beating at the same rate as something that was in his chest. His magnet? Chris grabbed around in the dark for Tony's hand, willing for him feel it, too, to feel the pulse he had himself never felt before.
"Tony, do you...?" Chris didn't know what to say. Overcome with emotion, he choked on his own words. He looked to his left. Tony was sitting, slumped over in his chair, the dizzying spin of the blue heart reflecting off his metallic armor. The blue heart was beating in sync with the red heart, too.
"Have you seen enough?" Magenta asked, his voice cutting through the haze of their minds.
Tony nodded, still hypnotized by the heart in front of his face.
Magenta's hand swept through both of the hearts, dispersing the particles and ending the unfamiliar heartbeat in Chris's chest. The iron filings lowered back onto the table. Magenta blinked again and his eyes returned to normal. The reading was over.
"Wait, is that all?" Chris asked. He stood, but his legs felt like jelly, and dark spots appeared before his eyes from the light show.
Magenta folded his hands. "Yes, you both have your answer. You paid twenty CostCoins and I showed you your magnet mates. You can leave now."
"Wait, 'you both'? Then who is my magnet mate?"
"Look behind you."
Chris turned, running right into Tony. His forehead smacked against the helmet Tony wore, but the realization was more startling.
"But that can't be." Chris said, refusing to look Tony in the eye. He leaned over Magenta's table. "We can't be magnet mates. We're best friends."
"That's the best kind of magnet mate," Magenta replied. "The two hearts beat in sync with the magnet I assign them. Yours I made blue, and his was red. The fact that they were beating at the same time, without a discrepancy between them means that you two are much closer than best friends," Magenta sighed, got up, and began packing away his bag of iron filings. "I do not make the rules. I only make them easier to read."
Chris almost begged him for another reading. A different one. One where he was assigned to someone he had never met, someone he could fall in love with in the classic, romantic, way, not trip and fall on his face immediately. Tony put his hand on Chris's shoulder and spun him around, and Chris could no longer avoid his gaze... or his fate.
"Chris. We should go." Tony said, his voice soft and emotional.
Chris nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Magenta."
Magenta did not reply. His smirk was enough to leave on, and it had burned its way into Chris's mind.
The two of them left Magenta's lair and walked in silence back across the warehouse, but not the same silence as before. This silence had words that hung between them, words dying to be said, but not words that dared to be spoken. Chris cursed himself. If only that date with the Black Widow doll had gone well, but now he couldn't even remember her name. All he could think about was Tony, and the day he would eventually have to leave him.
"Tony?" Chris said, his voice squeaking.
"Yeah, Cap?"
"You do realize what this means, right?"
Tony nodded in defeat, yet determination. "Yeah," he hadn't looked Chris in the eye until then, and it was almost like his true brown irises- Chris was sure they were brown, it was such a true color- were desperate to escape his mask and see his one and only face-to-face as most other dolls could. "We're going to have to end up together, wherever we go, whatever we do, whatever it takes. I'm not losing you."
Chris was flattered. "But... how do we do that?"
Tony stepped back and raised his hands. It was clear he already had a plan. "We assemble a team of other dolls just like us. The greatest team ever built. They'll have to package us all in one set. And no one will be the wiser."
Chris wanted to believe his magnet match. He really did. But it would be nigh impossible for dolls to accomplish such a task in a world ruled by humans and their wills. "I hope you're right, Tony." He mumbled.
For what felt like weeks they wandered the facility, gathering other All Star Avengers figures, never once letting them know the real reason they were doing this. But the real reason didn't matter much to them. The other dolls had their own purpose for being part of what was soon to be called...
The Pocket-Sized Avengers.
(To be continued in part two, coming in August.)

-Loki