01 | OPEN

[seeingscarlet]

Who: Wanda Maximoff & you!
What: Exploration time
When: The first week
Where: Greenhouse, hospital, and the forest outskirts
Warnings: N/A, will edit if needed

I. The Greenhouse
[Close to dinnertime you might come across Wanda standing in the greenhouse staring thoughtfully out over the vegetation.]

We could make a soup, I think. If we had a fire and something to cook it in...it would be better than just eating raw vegetables.

II. The Hospital
[The canisters are already ruptured by the time she gets there. Hospitals have always made her uncomfortable, but it's better to take stock of what they have and what they might need now, before anyone needs it. And it would be good to have some idea of how necessary certain aspects of her powers might be and where she might try to explore and push them.

Except while she's exploring the halls, she starts feeling warm and light-headed, and a little bit claustrophobic. She knows whoever worked here is long gone, but the hallways feel cramped and sinister and finally Wanda decides that she can't take it anymore. She turns to start making her way out (going out a window would be quickest but she feels off) and the world lurches sideways. Wanda stumbles into the wall to brace herself and leans her forehead against it. It's nice and cool. She'd stay here for a while if it didn't feel so threatening...

...but it does, and so Wanda's stumbling down the hallways with a hand braced on the wall to steady herself. Just a little farther...]

III. closed to Vision
[They walk hand in hand, Thistle chirping happily at the chance to explore a more familiar environment. Wanda's hair is braided now, looped through itself to hold, and while she misses the feel of the wind (or her lover's fingers) in it, it's not worth how much trouble it would be to detangle it later.

She leans up to kiss Vision's cheek and squeezes his hand.]

Over there? [There's a small clearing around a large tree, and it looks like a nice place to have a talk. Wanda trots ahead to beat him to it and settles back against it between the roots.] Come here, love.

[He's been keeping her as comfortable as he possibly could, and it's time to return the favor.]

IV. wild card
[You know what to do.]

Comments

[doubled_speed]

[The look on Tommy's face? The same look that comes from a teen having that moment of realization that their parents still have sex. Because that is EXACTLY what this moment is. Because he never THOUGHT ABOUT his parents having sex. But there he is, all pale and shocked. Oh.]

I. Uh. Right. That makes. Sense. Okay.

[Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. His mom is having sex with the Synthezoid. He is scarred for life.]

[seeingscarlet]

[Wanda has the decency to look confused for a minute, because her mind doesn't live in the gutter that reaction doesn't make sense-- oh.

And the Scarlet Witch is now scarlet.]

I didn't-- if I am going to have nightmares here, I want them to be only mine. [She can't expect Vision to be with her 60/7 after all, and everyone's so stressed that even if he was, she wouldn't be surprised if something snuck through.] It's nice to have somewhere quiet to go without so many other minds.

[And it's not like she doesn't know how to be quiet and not get caught in shared living situations. Moving to the hotel wouldn't stop anything...]

[doubled_speed]

[Dude, this is just something he doesn't like thinking about. He didn't need to know his family was like this. Even though yeah, his mom deserved it. But geez.]

So you really are a telepath then? Like, you read minds? Stay out of mine, okay? I'm told it's bad to try and pry into a speedster's mind.

[seeingscarlet]

[Wanda just raises an eyebrow at him. Who exactly does he think grounded her and helped her stay sane in those early months? But a heartbeat later, she deflates.

It's not unusual for people to react this way when they find out what she can do, and it's not that Wanda doesn't understand why someone might be anxious about her. That doesn't make it sting any less, especially from someone who claims to be family.]

I don't want your secrets. [It's not usually about that these days anyway unless there's a specific reason - if she gets a chance, she's going to try to read the Agrii, whether or not she can get someone to come with her.] But I don't have any defenses while I'm asleep.

[doubled_speed]

[It's not that he's anxious around her for his sake. He's scared of what happens if she learns who she really is to him. The lying to her first and foremost might really get him in trouble. Which raises the question of whether she has the authority to ground him. He's going to go with no, because he's eighteen. Because that saves the headache of figuring it out less.]

I mean, I'm told speedsters give huge headaches to telepaths if our minds are as fast as our bodies. And mine is. It's like, informational overload causing migraines or something? Plus alternate world, so you might get worried about things I think that might come up in your future, but you know, not because you're from another world. So I'd rather not cause you confusion too.

[But no defenses when she sleeps? Ouch. Tommy frowns at that.]

I'm really sorry about that. I wish I had Magneto's helmet. We could take it apart, figure out how it worked, and make you like a little thing to wear when you slept so your brain could rest too.

[seeingscarlet]

[She's barely five years older than him and besides, she'd have no idea how to be someone's mom. Her parents didn't survive long enough to model anything in the way of parenting teenagers or young adults. Grounding isn't a thing that's going to happen, even if everyone collectively decided she did have that authority.]

Magneto's helmet? [This means nothing at all to her.] Is he another telepath in your world?

[That makes sense - if it's not so uncommon, there must be better ways to help people deal with their powers.]

[doubled_speed]

[Vision is younger than him, but Billy still looks at the guy as his not-quite-father.]

No, he's definitely not a telepath. He uses it to keep telepaths out of his head. He's magnetokineitc. He controls magnetic fields, and metal some.

[No mutants on her world, he remembers. SO he doesn't have to fuss over her not knowing her own dad.]

[seeingscarlet]

[It does sound a little fantastic, doesn't it? Dampen might be one thing, although Wanda's not sure that's possible without magic. But completely block?

Maybe that works on a 'regular' telepath. But who knows how she differs from them.]

There are only two things that have ever been able to stop me. Electricity and tranquilizers.

[Her expression softens.] It is not so bad when Vision's mind is close. He doesn't dream, so...no more nightmares.

[doubled_speed]

[Yeah, he's not going to try and explain how he doesn't think she compares to Charles Xavier. Even if she is the best telepath or whatever of her world, there are strong people that can do only that back home, who even Tommy would fear.]

It might help. But it doesn't matter because we don't have it.