You can't hide from your problems | Calibrations

[wearingthestars]

WHO: Billy Kaplan, OPEN
WHERE: Billy's Calibration Room
WHAT: Calibrations
WHEN: 3 June - 10 June
WARNINGS: Potential Warnings for Violence, Depression, Death and Suicide, but also some happy things



The room you step into isn't all that different from Billy's actually room back home, for those that know it. It looks like the room of a typical nerdy teenager, walls adorned with posters of his favourite heroes, and a desk cluttered with unfinished homework. There's shelves with books, and assorted action figures, as well as a few old games- like operation, which don't seem to have gotten much attention lately, covered in a layer of dust.

Billy lays on his bed with an assortment of comics, reading through them, though when he glances up you might note that his eyes are wrong. All black with fields of stars, like you can see the depths of universe in them.

He curls a finger, and a box beneath the bed scoots further back into the darkness.

Comments

[seeingscarlet]

Well, Wanda's eyes change colors all the time (and there are places that turn them permanently red), so whatever's happened to Billy's eyes doesn't seem that strange to her. Great power often has physical side effects, right? Especially for people like them who have far more power than most.

Wanda pauses, torn between going for the chair or taking a seat on an unoccupied corner of the bed. "Is that a good one?"

[wearingthestars]

Billy offers her a smile, but hesitates, glancing down at the comic and back at her, looking uncertain. "...I'm not sure if you'd like it?" he admits, though in casting his gaze around the room he's sure there are a few things that might make her...uncomfortable.

He plucks up one of the others from the bed to show her the cover. "...That's her," he explains. It's not the only appearance her alternate self makes in his room, she was one of his favourite Avengers after all. There's poster, and toys...he figures it's better to be upfront about it.

[seeingscarlet]

Wanda feels torn finally getting a glimpse at her other self. She's still jealous of her, how her other self gets to have or keep all of the things she can't, how her powers were natural and not born from HYDRA's experiments. But there's one thing she has.

"Well...I think I must have gotten all of the fashion sense." Because she'd never be caught dead running around in a leotard and tights like that. And pink and red? No thank you. She'd take her corset any day over that outfit.

But she does run a finger fondly over the other Vision on the cover. "You must miss them. I'm sorry."

[wearingthestars]

A memory seems to start to play, but Billy actively seems to suppress it, muting it out. They've promised to keep as much as this from her as possible. The comic may be Scarlet Witch & Vision, but the memory only provides Wanda in this instance. Her and her sons, crying, hugging, really meeting for the first time, and as Tommy starts to share his fears the memory blinks away abruptly, forced to sub out for a different Wanda memory. One that posed no risk.

Billy's younger than he is now, a black eye and a bloody nose, sitting with Wanda outside of Avengers Mansion.

The Billy that isn't part of these memories tries to look as though he has nothing to do with this switch. "...I didn't know them very well," he offers belatedly.

[seeingscarlet]

The mind is a strange thing. She's not particularly surprised about the memories shifting so quickly when that wouldn't be so uncommon in reality, if she'd asked him about the other Wanda.

Still, she can't hide the sadness in her expression as she looks on. "I can't understand it. Maybe because I have no family, or because Vision and I will never have a choice. But I don't understand how they can walk away now that they know. Especially..." She gestures at the scene in front of them: apparently Wanda had met Billy before. "You two deserve better."

[wearingthestars]

"She didn't know then," Billy explains, watching as Wanda talks him through how to face his bullies, tapping him kindly on the nose and healing his injuries. "I didn't know either...it was before I got my powers."

He shrugs a shoulder, unsure how to explain, "It's weird for them...they had a pair of toddlers, have the memory of their loss taken from them, and then suddenly there's us...nearly fully grown, with our own families and histories..." He gets it. "...It's harder on Tommy."

[seeingscarlet]

"It still feels wrong that they don't try," she says quietly. "Maybe I will never understand." Their lives are just too different. And she's sure the other Wanda would probably be appalled at her mistakes (though the world must be so much easier when you don't suddenly acquire powers in a HYDRA cell).

Wanda fiddles with the ends of her sleeves. They're not really her responsibility, but it's hard not to feel secondhand guilt over what's happened to Tommy. "And you? Are you...all right at home?"

[wearingthestars]

He's smiles faintly and nods, though clearly there's some guilt that comes along with that.

"...Yeah. Yeah, my um...my mom and dad are great. Mom's a psychologist. Dad's a cardiologist. Two little brothers. It's...nice. Not sure why I lucked out and Tommy didn't..."

[seeingscarlet]

Wanda shakes her head. "I don't know about the other me in your world, but if none of us could be together...it's what I would have wanted for you." Of course they both deserved a happy childhood, but at least Billy didn't suffer like Wanda and Tommy had.

"You shouldn't feel bad. We can't change the past. All we can do is be there for him now."

[wearingthestars]

He smiles a bit shyly and nods. "Yeah...I know. It's just...hard sometimes. Not to feel guilty, you know? But changing the past doesn't tend to go well for me," he agrees.

He looks around the room, magicking over a figure a little hesitantly. "This is um...Quicksilver," he offers, unsure if that's something she'll be ready to handle.

[seeingscarlet]

Wanda takes the figure reverently, almost as if she's afraid it might vanish in her hands. "Is that what they call him in your world?" It's unmistakably Pietro, even if his hair and clothing choices are similarly questionable to what her other self was wearing. It's hard to imagine green spandex being any version of Pietro's thing.

"He never had the chance in mine. Ultron made sure of that." She should never have sent him away, or maybe if they'd gone together and let someone else protect the key...even years later, this is a common way for her mind to torture her. She just can't let it go, especially knowing that there are other worlds where Pietro is alive and well.