• OPEN •

[carmesi]

Who: wanda maximoff + others
When: november
Where: solvunn, horizon, nocwich
What: catch-all for the month! including general top-levels for solvunn. horizon threads based on request! additionally, she'll be in nocwich gathering some supplies.
Warnings: tba!

Comments

—SOLVUNN • OTA • NOVEMBER

[carmesi]

[returning from the nether, the summoned seem to be in a bit of a better mood. getting to meet and care for dragon hatchlings probably does that to someone, but it's generally considered a really good thing if there isn't any fighting to be done. the elders of the commune seem, too, happy with the newly accessible shrine. it isn't for anyone else to see, but that ought to keep the commune busy for now, especially with the general populace working to gather and package the promised grains and water to the nether.]

( A ) TEACHING RUNES.

[and while that is happening a lot of the adult population finds itself scattered to complete the additional tasks, leaving children with half days of school, running about and needing to entertain themselves. the demand for people to tend to the children is high, and after a day or two, wanda's made it to the primary settlement with a basketful of round wood chips.

she calls the children to the school's yard, sitting them down in the benches she's organized for them. today is an arts and crafts day, wherein the children have their paints, the provided wooden chips, and pieces of twine. wanda sits with the small groups, one at a time, to see how they're doing. they can paint their names onto the chips, or draw something onto them; make necklaces out of them or chains with the twine.

for those who ask, wanda takes a moment to draw runes for them to copy.]

They have different meanings. [she says aloud, leaning back from where she's crouching, to get the attention of whatever child is willing to listen.] Some are for protection, others for good luck. You can make your chains and offer them to the shrines, too.

[standing up, she asks.]

Who can show me the one for courage?

[a series of hands shoot up, along with an enthused chorus of kids wanting her attention.]

Me! Miss! Come look!

No—me first! Eljas always goes!

Alright, one at a time.

[she could benefit from the help, as a group of children follow her towards the bench that she's going to first, to peek over her shoulder to see if their friend has gotten the answer right, hands holding onto their own depictions, ready to show them off just in case.]

( B ) DIVINATION PRACTICE.

[most days, when wanda isn't in the primary settlement helping with the kids or helping with chores, she tends to the treehouse. there is a lot of cleaning to do, considering how big the place is, and laundry is always a bigger task to accomplish when there isn't a washing machine at hand. sunny days this time of the year are few and far in between, so whenever the sun peeks out from the usual accumulation of clouds for a rare day of blue skies, she takes advantage of that moment to put the wet clothes to dry up on clotheslines in the garden.

anyone who comes to visit, however, will find that wanda is sitting by the smaller of the black eye lakes, grey betty. close to the shore, she doesn't seem to mind to be getting her clothes wet—poised forward, her hands skimming over the water. the placid lake glitters brightly under the early afternoon sun. wanda seems to be enthralled by the lights, and not a moment too soon before she lets her hands to sink in the water, touching the floor of the shoreline, the water reaching her elbows. the rustle of the breeze plays a tune between the branches as it picks up, the ripples caused by the disruption of her hands in the water growing around her. the sunlight reflected shines into her eyes, and prisms of light dance on her face.

her shoulders relax and her head lulls to the side, as she sees images reflected back at her, until the ripples come to a halt and the lake stills again.

wanda draws a breath and sits back, pushing wet hands onto her face and closing her eyes as she tilts her head up towards the skies. even through her eyelids she can see the scoring of the light dotting her sight, so she waits for it to dissipate a little. it doesn't stop her from speaking as she hears the scuffle of the ground behind her.]

It's scrying, Nero. With an 's'. [clearly this is something she's had a discussion about before. she pushes some water onto her face again, rubbing at her eyes.] I'm not crying.

( C ) PRAYING TO OLD GODS.

[soris immaneus' shrine is deep in the woods where many dead are said to have been lost and swallowed by the earth, both animal and human. she doesn't question how long they've been there for, but she knows that they are primarily animal. though her visits are daily, she travels by horse on her trusted clover, who keeps her company as she gathers the skeletal remains that predators leave behind after their hunts. at this point, she thinks she's picked up most of the human remains along the roadways, but at times she'll find something new as the seasons change—as the rain shifts the ground and the vegetation recedes.

clover snorts as wanda ties the leather bag with the remains onto the saddle.]

I know you don't like it. [she coos, patting lightly her horse's muzzle. it's a tall horse, and that makes it a little funnier that clover is easily scared because of bones in a familiar path.] We're almost there.

[the rest of the way, wanda simply holds onto the bridle and walks in front of clover as she makes her way further into the woods. before reaching the clearing with the shrine, wanda leaves clover to graze nearby, taking hold of the bag and putting it over her shoulder to carry the rest of the way. she stops at a tree that already boasts a collection of tied ribbons and adds another.]

A token from Endrborrin. [she states, starting her communication with soris. walking up the couple of mossy steps to the shrine, she sets the bag down on the ground by a rock.] I'm sure you know she sends her regards.

[not that wanda is too open to that communication with endrborrin, only feeling a faint sense of warmth and comfort whenever she travels to the shrine in the secondary settlement. whenever she practices her divination and scrying, calling upon the apparent friendship between both goddesses.

from a pocket, she pulls out a small knife.]

I think I finally understand what's been happening with my magic.

[why she felt so weak after conjuring strong spells and using it for a long time. another gift from the singularity, and one that through weeks of meditating she's finally gotten the answer for.

kneeling before the rock the protrudes from the shrine, she starts by carving a circle within the moss.]

I want to try this first.

b.

[heavymetals]

[ Erik never intended to take advantage of Wanda's open invitation, certainly not so soon, and even less so without warning. But circumstances have changed, in the past few days.

He heard of people gaining powers beyond those they already had before arriving here, but still he wasn't quite prepared for it when it happened to him. It's taken him a while to even understand what that power was. He wasn't hearing people's thoughts at least, but just walking down a crowded street was enough to overwhelm him, emotions spilling from every person he crossed paths with, until he was close to an anxiety attack and ready to lock himself up in the first empty room he found.

But there were always people everywhere, and that overwhelming feeling didn't ease up. He goes to the treehouse in a moment of impulsiveness, hoping to find there some silence and isolation, a corner to just be by himself.

There is that much, at least. Silence, a sense of stillness. For the most part. Erik won't come into the rooms uninvited, but he roams the surrounding area, until he spots Wanda by the lakes. (Senses her by the lakes? He doesn't know which comes first, at this point.) ]

If you say so.

[ His words are quiet, and he stays behind, just barely avoiding the edge of the water. Unlike her, he'd prefer to avoid getting wet. ]

[carmesi]

[the reply is quiet and not at all like nero's expected outburst. wanda turns a touch, feeling the grittiness of the sand under her knees, looking back at erik—yeah, that's him, alright. her sight gets a little blurry and caught on the dark blotches after staring at the bright lights for too long while practicing divination.

but, even if it is him, there is something amiss.

wanda's expression pinches.]

What's wrong?

[heavymetals]

[ It seems almost funny that she should ask, when she's the one on her knees, crying. Oh, sorry, not crying. Erik can't quite pin down the emotions welling in her, but to be fair, he's not trying either. He's just hoping that the distance will be enough to keep them at bay. ]

Does there have to be something wrong?

[ Can't he just show up completely unannounced? That's perfectly normal. ]

[carmesi]

You just seem—

[not well, is what she doesn't say. like he's trying to actively avoid her, but not in any way that gives her reason to believe that this is about her. she's still got spots in her vision from staring at the reflected lights, so she can't trust her eyes very well.

it's just a feeling, and she has a lot of those.

with some effort (pins and needles on her legs), she helps herself up to her feet and lets the water drain from her clothes and back to the lake.]

No, but something feels off, Erik.

[heavymetals]

[ She is perceptive. It's either that or her magic, but either way, there seems to be no point in lying to her. She can already tell that there's something wrong, and that he is here for a reason.

Granted, the reason was to hide away from other people, not necessarily talk to anyone about it. But if he were to, Wanda would have been his choice.

Whether or not she'll be able to help at all, he's not entirely sure. But it can't hurt. ]

I've met a lot of mutants, each with incredible and unique abilities, [ he starts, while watching the water drain away. ] But I don't think I've ever met an empath. It would have helped, now.

[carmesi]

[once he is done talking, wanda finally makes her way out of the lake. a brush of her hands over her arms has her drying up instantly, a ripple of magic coursing through her and removing every droplet from her body and clothes. her bare feet are still a little stuck in the soil of the shore, but that's not a worry for her at the moment.]

Is it very loud right now?

[she says, standing before him. she isn't speaking about the volume of her voice, nor of the nature the sways with the wind about them. raising her hands, palms up, ready to take hold of his hands, she asks,]

May I?

[heavymetals]

[ Yes, he thinks tiredly, but doesn't say out loud. And he knows this is only the beginning, that this is the weakest form of whatever ability he has been granted by the Singularity. He can't even imagine how anyone can live with more than their own emotions, or thoughts for that matter.

He looks between her face and the offered hands. With a nod, he lifts his hands, resting them over hers. There is trust in the gesture, in the way that he doesn't hesitate, or even ask her what she's about to do. ]

[carmesi]

[she doesn't do anything—not initially, anyway. wanda just tries to get a baseline of his emotions and what, if anything, is taking place. it's simple; it's something she's done often with the likes of istredd and henry, feeling the ebb and flow of emotions and thoughts being shared with the ease that others never quite attain when it's a one-sided communication.

it is clear that erik's suspicions about his newfound empath abilities are, without a doubt, real.

for now, wanda puts a blanket of silence over what he can receive, so he can no longer suffer from having to feel her emotions alongside his own.]

When we were old enough, my brother and I would constantly get in trouble for fighting back against what was happening in our country. It was him who convinced me to be part of an experiment that would grant us powers. Of course I trusted my big brother. [pietro had been her world back then, when she had nothing left.] Everything had been so loud when I got mine—all the thoughts of all those scientists, of the soldiers. I could hear them all. [she turns erik's hands over. it isn't her intent, but she steals a glance at the tattoo on his forearm, how the numbers that once marked him for a purpose remain all the same.] My brother would pull my head close to his and think loudly of some silly song, so all I could hear was his thoughts and no one else's. Not even my own.

[it was respite amidst the madness.]

All that until I learned to control it.

[here, she glances up, letting go of his hands. the blanket of silence should remain for now. and as comfortable as it may feel, erik should be able to notice that intrusion in his mind, so clearly this isn't a long-term solution, either.]

I cannot promise you that I can help you turn it off entirely.

c.

[dogmeats]

( It's not that he's following her, because he isn't. As it so happens, he was already nearly a mile deep in the woods first, thank you very much. It's just that he's only been here for a month, and already he's seen too many people wandering around in these terrible woods unguarded, unprotected, like fucking morons. She may be a witch, but even a witch can be taken by surprise. He's seen things here now. Boars are one thing, but fucking dragons? Gods only know what else lurks, hungry.

The horse looks strong. Seems a shame to risk it. Not like it had a choice. That's all it is.

And so he trails her at a distance, not sneaking exactly, but also doing absolutely nothing to draw attention to himself. Certainly not interrupting her very important conversation with a fucking tree, nor her monologue about her magic — which is something he takes note of, files away for his own internal reference.

He fully intends to just stand there some thirty paces behind her, hand absently on the hilt of his sword, observing — and possibly on stand-by, in case something fucking stupid happens. That's his specialty, after all. A couple decades of habit are hard to break. )

drive-by with permission from em

[nomnoms]

HI FRIEND!

[ A rumbling voice shouts from another thirty paces behind Sandor. He's holding a very large hind leg of something in his hand that he is currently chomping down on.

He waves but does not stop walking, his steps eerily silent. ]

best shark friend

[carmesi]

[as wanda carved a spiral onto the moss with her knife, she was well aware that, some thirty paces away, someone stood. she made no acknowledgement of the fact because the waves exuding from the man were very much fuck off i'm not here—which already told her who it was, mind. wanda is more than happy to let the both of them live in blissful ignorance (because surely this would be embarrassing for the both of them), except something perhaps a little worse happens.

nanaue—bless his heart—makes it impossible to ignore that the both of them now know that they know about each other.

her scraping with the knife stops, but she's looking forward still.]

Do you want me to pretend I don't know you're there?

[dogmeats]

( He startles and half-turns, hand on the hilt of his sword, the metal of the blade beginning to shine free of the hilt — until he realizes who it is, and what they just said. His eyes roll so high in his skull there's a very real danger of them just falling out.

Under his breath, a disdainful murmur of, fucking fish cunt.

He hates that fucking shark. So bloody much.

The sword is tucked away again, and he turns back to the Lady Witch with a scowl on his face. )

Don't give two shits what you do.

( He answers flatly — which is... probably an assertion that completely contradicts the fact that he's standing here at all, but he's going to maintain it regardless. )

tw: blood

[carmesi]

[that much is fine by her. at this point, she takes no offense of sandor's more colorful vocabulary, for she can tell that despite the sharp edges to his words, there is a general softness buried deep within. she is better off not poking that bear, though, nor alluding to it.

so, without giving him a response other than her silence, wanda continues carving out a spiral shape on the moss. once that's done, she uses the very same knife—after swiping off the mossy remains from the blade—to cut a straight line from the tip of her left hand's forefinger down to the palm, just over the line of her wrist. blood emerges from the incision immediately, and wanda presses her hand down onto the carved out spiral.

the words she speaks next are quiet, not for sandor's ears, but they remain just as secretive as she speaks them in her native tongue of sokovian. an offering to dispel what ties her chaos magic and soris's necromancy with whatever this gift of blood the singularity has given her, so that she may control it with neither interference nor bane. that her magic may remain her own, despite her offering it to the old god she's made a pact with.

pulling back, she glances over her shoulder, already wrapping a bandage around her hand. he still stands there.]

Did you see my horse on the path?

[dogmeats]

( He watches. His silence is not reverence, but rather a keen curiosity that he does not often allow others to see that he has. Most times, he adopts an air of disinterest and does his best to seem deliberately obtuse — but the fact of the matter is, he's observant. Thoughtful, in ways he wouldn't admit to being.

There's something wrong with her magic. She's trying to fix it. This is particularly interesting given he's seen her do plenty of fucking magic since he arrived here, which can only mean that these things she can do... this is what she can manage injured, or otherwise inhibited. What, then, is the full extent of her power? Exactly how much is she capable of?

Perhaps that should make him more wary than it does. )

Aye. ( He agrees after a beat, his voice perfectly neutral. ) Grazing.

[carmesi]

His name is Clover.

[which she has been told is a girl's name for a horse, but she doesn't care about that. standing up, she puts the knife away in her bag and moves over to the side, to take the burlap sack and carry it off by some mangled roots of a nearby tree.

digging into the bag as she crouches down, she pushes the different bones between the roots; some buried a few inches into the ground, but for the most part protruding. she will come again tomorrow to dig them properly. some of the bones, grimy and deformed as they are, are left with an imprint of her blood as she moves them about with her hand.

finally, she stands, turning to him, empty bag in her hands.]

Do you want to offer a prayer?

[she has a feeling he won't.]

[dogmeats]

( He's inclined to agree, Clover is very much a girl's name for a horse. Then again, maybe his opinion ought not be taken into account — every horse he's ever owned has been named Stranger, after the god of death. Not exactly overflowing with creativity, nor a beacon of health masculinity.

He ambles a little closer, just a few yards, to get a better look at what she's doing there with the bones and the roots. The blood of her hands clings to them, and a frown pulls at his lips. It's not his business if she wants her hand to fester, though, so he keeps his fucking mouth shut.

He snorts at the question. )

The gods have nothing to offer me. Why waste the breath.

C.

[divinityfrompain]

[ Julia doesn't intend at first to follow her. It's the opposite, she's out wandering by herself already. She keeps feeling like the wood is calling to her, but she doesn't know if it is, or if she's simply making it up. She has gone on walks at night and hovered nearby shrines but didn't do anything just yet. She's skittish around them, uncertain. She sat at one for Endrborrin for the first time the other day and it wasn't that scary.

She's been testing out her portaling. It's a brand new skill, among many others, and she's never had to think about it before. She just thinks and appears places, but that isn't working here, so it's an adjustment. Julia jumps short distances and long ones, although not too long, and it's not a portal opening up. It's more like a blip, she's there and then gone. She's at the drawing board for a lot of new abilities.

So she's doing that when she spots Wanda from the distance moving toward a shrine and makes her way there slowly. Blip by blip. Julia's a little out of breath when she shows up behind her on the shrine, sweating too as she undoes the scarf around her neck. ]

Hi Wanda. Sorry to just ... appear but.

[ Her dark hair is pulled up and she is sweating slightly. ]

Whose shrine is this?

[carmesi]

[wanda is still scraping at the moss, making a spiral shape on it with the help of the knife's blunt edge. at this point in her life, wanda should just expect people to show up unannounced—to appear out of nowhere, too.

it's only when she is done with carving the end of the spiral that she sits back a touch.]

Soris Immaneus. Patron of Dark Blessings.

[the name, at times, feels like a bit of a mouthful, and wanda wonders if it'd be considered uncouth by the old god to just call her 'soris' in more formal aspects.]

She brings balance, even through tragedies and losses.

[at last, wanda glances back at julia; she should approach, if she wants to.]

Trying out portaling?

[she can guess as much.]

[divinityfrompain]

Soris Immaneus.

[ She repeats so she can memorize it. Julia's been trying to get a sense of each god so she knows who they are, what they do, who they represent. She knows some of the ones back home, and a guess at many of the others because of their history in the world (Persephone, Iris, Bacchus, Hades, not unknowns). It's all new here.

She does approach once Wanda looks back at her and she sits on her knees a few feet away, to the side, as she isn't there to pray to the goddess. At least not at the moment. This is Wanda's thing so she will stay out of the direct way, but also she is delighted to see her. ]

Yes, it's new. I'm not even sure what I'm doing, it's not like I'm making a portal and stepping through it, I just sort of ... blink there.

[ She did it at the party by accident a few times, looking somewhere she wanted to go and sort of appearing there a second later. It's bizarre and one of many new things she's getting used to. She did know that gods simply appear or disappear as much as they want, but it's a process without training. ]

I'm glad to see you. [ She glances at Soris' altar. ] Dealing with gods can be dangerous, at least where I come from. They're kind of assholes in my world.

[carmesi]

Teleportation.

[wanda nods, understanding exactly what it is. it can be disorienting, but it works a treat once one understands it. her hands are set down on her lap, one holding fast to the knife that she’d been using to carve out the spirals.]

I only know of one god in my world. [a quiet smile, as she remembers.] Thor. He’s quite alright.

[quite human, in many ways, and maybe that’s a particularly reassuring thought to have as far as gods in her world are concerned.]

You’re better off making your own opinion about the ones here. The commune is biased towards them, and many of the Summoned either hate them or feel indifferent about them. [with a light shrug and a breath, wanda turns her head back towards the shrine.] Soris gave me strength when we needed it, a few months back, when things took a dangerous turn.

I don’t know that things would have gone so smoothly without her aid.

[divinityfrompain]

Thor, like the Norse god? That's cool. The ones I met are all from Greek myths, but I assume the others might turn out to be real too.

[ If it was just the Greek gods and somehow none of the others, that would be weird. Julia doesn't even know how many other gods exist at this point, but the way they act it's definitely more than one pantheon. Hidden in plain sight, most of them having peaced out of dealing with humanity a while ago. She just hopes that doesn't bode poorly for her own future.

Wanda seems like one of those people who would understand. Julia knows she has power, she can feel it. She seems very in tune with this place too, knowledgeable but also empathic. ]

I only hate one god and he's no longer a god, so that worked itself out. [ She currently holds his power, which is horrible and gratifying at the same time. ] It seems hard to be indifferent considering like you said, the commune is all about it.

[ Julia considers what she said about Soris helping Wanda in her time of need, and that would make sense, to still want to work with someone after that. She plays with her hair, thoughtfully. ]

I want to meet one. I ... I have to meet one. [ She bites her lip. ] It's complicated, but I do.

[carmesi]

[wanda never really cared much for gods prior to coming here. she had relinquished her faith when she lost her family, so the only god she did believe in became hardly an afterthought amidst everything going on in sokovia. the rest of the gods are just myths, legends; she'd put more stock on devilish creatures like baba yaga and the rusalka than them.

she glances over at julia, just briefly.

meet one? well, she can if she wants to. it's not like wanda dictates how gods and mortals get to interact.

dipping her head downwards, wanda takes hold of the knife and—with a short, spoken warning that she's going to cut into her skin—slices a diagonal line from the upper corner of her palm down to her wrist. she lets the blood pool over the shallow indents of the spiral she had carved.]

Pray at the shrine of one of the gods and make offerings to them. That's how I forged a pact with Soris—if a pact is what you're looking for.

[setting the knife down, it's with a quiet wince that she closes her bleeding hand into a fist, blood dripping still.]

I can't say that I've ever met Soris, but I can feel her around me.

[divinityfrompain]

[ Julia didn't believe in magic let alone gods a few years ago. She would never have expected to become one of them, that was an insane impossible thing, and it was, technically, an insane and impossible thing. Once magic was real, everything started to be real. Time travel, alternate universes, unicorns, dragons, vampires. The only thing she hasn't heard of is aliens, but they're probably real too. And now here she is in this world surrounded by aliens, technically. Since they're from another universe and all.

Julia isn't afraid of blood but she has learned that blood magic can be very dangerous for people. Still, Wanda is a powerful witch, she likely already knows that. Only people with skill can actually pull it off. Julia's used it a few times. At least it's better than the way you get god power in her world. By another type of liquid. ]

How long has your pact gone?

[ Julia needs to meet one, so a pact only, that's not an option, but it also sounds like it would be a good start. She understands that mods gods wouldn't just appear to mortals. She literally tried to chase one down before now, and the results of that were very bad. They usually decide when they want to deal with people. ]

I think I'm mostly worried ... the gods I've met are bad people. I don't know if a god is capable of anything else. [ An active concern for herself. ] Are you sure Soris is worth having a pact with?

[carmesi]

It’s been… [she thinks about it, bringing her clean hand to smooth over the one that’s been cut into, the wound healed immediately after she pulls her hand away. ] At least nine moon cycles since.

[the one way she can keep track of time with some sense of accuracy as it relates to her own world. after cleaning up the blood from her hand with a piece of cloth, wanda glances over at julia.]

I don’t know if I’m thinking of it as being ‘worth’ it, but I have no reason to think otherwise.

[though her own magic remains untouched by the powers granted to her by the old god, it isn’t wrong to say that it is through soris’s intervention that wanda has been able to acquire more in-depth familiarity with high magic, with divination, with sorting through the challenges they find in this world.]

Might be wrong to consider these gods as people, though. They feel more like a force of nature.