out into the unknown (march catch-all)

[funbreaker]

Who: Thancred Waters & others
When: Throughout March
Where: Thorne & the Horizon
What: Eclipse stuff, quest stuff, Horizon stuff, anything and everything.
Warnings: Will add if something comes up.


[ Starters will be placed in comments below! If you'd like to do anything with Thancred this month, please reach out at demonology, demonology#1725 on Discord, or by PM. ]

Comments

[carmesi]

[there's that moment in cooking, in preparing food for others, where there is a satisfactory nod of pleasant surprise and a noise of satisfaction at the overall experience. it can be with the same every day meal, and also with new foods—which can be a daunting experience, truth be told.

wanda smiles when thancred reacts exactly like that, and uses her magic within the horizon to create herself a s'more, setting the tray down beside her.]

See? I told you.

[she, too, takes a bite, if only for the sake of nostalgia.]

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred nods, acknowledging how right Wanda had been as he works through the crunchy, sticky, delicious bite of food. Some of the marshmallow gets stuck to his lips and his tongue darts out to lick it off before he takes another bite.

So yes, it's good. It strikes him more as an indulgence you might have from time to time, but that might be why it's meant to be enjoyed over campfires. ]

My thanks, for educating me. I have a friend who'll wish to know all about this. [ It will take a few more bites before he's finished, but he pauses, not wanting to eat the rich dessert all at once. Instead he sends Wanda a slightly sheepish smile. ] And I should apologize as well. This is my domain, yet it's as if you're the one hosting me.

[ Yet it's been a nice reprieve. If she'd had something on her mind, mayhap this had helped her set it aside for a short while. ]

[carmesi]

I was the one who intruded.

[there's an ache inside her that never seems to go away, but one that has been forced to the forefront anew. steve rogers is gone. that's why she had come here in the first place, feeling the loss all over again but feeling she had no right to feel this way. it was foolish—childish, even—to expect good things to last.

she misses pietro, every day, and steve became something like an older brother to her; filled the absence to an extent. she misses pietro even more, especially with agatha's trick, and it just felt like a cycle after she had arrived here and got to spend a little time with steve again.

taking a small bite from her s'more, she chews quietly and stares into the fire. she holds her hands close, unnecessarily, holding onto the dessert with both of them, elbows on her knees as she tries to make herself small.]

The friend who introduced me to these... he was here for a brief moment, and he's gone again. [again. it's pained—it hurts. she heaves a soft sigh.] I couldn't breathe in my domain, so I— [ran. tried to find a place to be that reminded her of nothing about her home and her losses. getting lost in the maze that guards thancred's maze was actually comforting.] It's strange that you remind me of him.

[she returns his sheepish smile, taking another bite of her s'more, a single tear on her cheek. it is reprieve enough to be here, even if it doesn't seem that way.]

[funbreaker]

[ Ah, so that's it.

Thancred appreciates Wanda opening up to him. He'd been content to simply enjoy this moment with her and not pry, but as she explains, he understands why she chose to bring it up. If he reminds her of this friend who had come and left in a flash...

It makes him wonder if any of this is truly helping, especially when he notes the tear tracking down her cheek. He doesn't know her well enough to wipe it away, or to even acknowledge it. He doesn't want to make her uncomfortable.

With Ryne, it had first felt like he was constantly being faced with a ghost. He knows how it both hurts and helps, all at once. ]

If that's the case, take all the time you need. [ He sends her a soft, knowing smile before lifting the s'more to take another bite. ] It is never easy to lose. [ He has no way to know if this friend of hers is alive back home or not, but he suspects he might not be, based on how Wanda's behaving. In which case this must hurt so much more. ]

And, if you can, be glad for the short time you had.

[carmesi]

[he says the right things, which makes it almost worse—how much it sounds like something steve would say, but maybe she's projecting? the s'more collapses in her hands, turn to magic dust, as she brings her hands down to rest atop her knees. feeling like this, anew, how could she feel hungry even in this imaginary world?

it's not fair, to allow herself to be this vulnerable in front of a stranger who likely didn't expect this kind of intrusion, only to have to deal with someone who isn't all too well, emotionally.

wanda stares at the fire. takes a deep breath.]

I just wish I could have known, and told him, [her voice grows quieter, a more trembling quality the more she speaks] 'thank you'. While I still could.

[even if steve may have known without her needing to tell him, it's another situation where she couldn't say goodbye. she had that, with tommy and billy—told them she loved them, thanked them for choosing her. she wishes she could have done the same—with pietro, with vision (after thanos brought him back), with natasha, with steve.

she takes another deep breath, her arms now hugging her legs as she presses her forehead to her knees, curling onto herself. there are minute shakes of her shoulder, quiet sniffles, shakes of her head, and the muffled:]

I'm sorry.

[funbreaker]

[ There doesn't ever seem to be enough time to voice the words that have remained unsaid. Thancred will never feel as if he got to express everything to Minfilia that he wished to, and he'd almost fallen into that same trap with Ryne. Thankfully he had made clear to her that he was proud of her, that he wanted nothing but happiness for her, before it was too late. ]

I'm sure he knew. [ He sets his own half-eaten s'more aside. He'd tasted enough to understand the joy of eating the treat around a campfire with friends, and now he'd rather focus on Wanda. It's difficult to know what to say, how to acknowledge what she's going through without overstepping.

It's never easy, watching someone cry without a clear sense of what to do.

He draws in a breath and closes his eyes for a moment. The scenery around him changes. Now, instead of sitting on a downed log in a forested clearing, they're at a table indoors, with warm lighting and a well-stocked bar not far away. ]

Don't be sorry. [ It's better to get it out, and if he can offer her a place where she can break down after holding this in, he'll gladly do so. He stands from his chair and goes to the bar, pouring her a glass of warmwine. He walks back over and sets it next to her, along with a handkerchief — so she can wipe her face, if she wishes to.

She's been through a great deal, that much is clear. Haven't they all? This must not only be about her friend who's left; sometimes it all comes crashing down at once.

After a pause, he reaches out to grip her shoulder, just to remind her she isn't alone. ] If you need to remain here for a while longer, feel free.

[carmesi]

[thancred doesn't have to say anything; he could go, leave her alone. he could even ask her to leave, but it's his reaction that speaks much about the type of person he is, willing to welcome a stranger into his domain and allow them the room to cry, even when it should be none of his business.

wanda feels the surroundings shift around her, the crackling of the campfire gone, and she raises her head in time to see his offers. allowing her to stay.

sympathy in a drink and a handkerchief.

she reaches for the latter, to cover her face with it, momentarily. swallows hard when he puts his hand on her shoulder. fingers curl on the kerchief that's covering the lower side of her face, eyes red, giving him small nods in response to his words.

in abraxas, she's simply wanda, another one of the summoned. not the scarlet witch, doomed to bring destruction upon the universe, not a sokovian refugee, not an avenger turned fugitive. there is solidarity where it was difficult to find before, unable as she was to hide her background and her mistakes. she reaches for the glass, if just to keep her hands occupied.]

His name... was Steve. He was like a brother to me, especially when Pietro... [a shaky breath, drowned by putting her lips to the glass, taking a small sip. she swallows, bringing the glass down to her lap.] I hope they both — knew, how I felt.

[funbreaker]

[ As she offers up not only one name, but two, Thancred retreats to sink into the seat across from her. He doesn't want to hover and overwhelm her. He understands that she's sharing more than she might have if she hadn't reached that terrible breaking point when you couldn't hold back your emotions any longer.

Pietro must be her brother, and while she doesn't outright say it, there's a heavy implication that he's gone. Taken from her much too early. ]

I've lost someone as well. [ His voice is quiet, yet calm. He reaches out to run his fingers over the grain on the table, more as a means to give his hands something to do than anything else. ] She was something like a sister to me. Not by blood, but... [ In many ways, it hadn't mattered. They hadn't been raised together, and even after meeting he'd still had to exist apart from her in many ways, yet he'd wanted to look after her like a younger sibling.

He'd done his best to do so, even if he'd ultimately failed her.

He glances up, meets Wanda's red-rimmed eyes, and lets out a breath. ] I did get closure of a sort, with her. [ It had not been quite what he'd wanted, not when Minfilia hadn't been completely herself anymore, but it was arguably more than he'd deserved. And he would hold her words close until the end of his days. ] I may not know you well, Wanda, but you've shown me kindness in this short time. I have no doubt that they both knew how much they meant to you.

[carmesi]

[she hopes those words he says are true. it's one thing to assume that they did, but it's another to have that closure, that i know. similarly to when she lost vision, painful as it was, hearing his last words being that he loved her brings her solace now—after thanos, after westview.

wanda knows of the impossibility of getting such a thing in this world, even if she clings to the idea that one day—perhaps—steve might return, or even pietro could, if dead men like tony stark can be brought back. she dreams and wishes for the impossibility of her perfect life, thanks to the summoning, bringing the real vision, and even her sons, no binding to the hex involved.

she brings the glass close to her lips and takes a sip from it, then lets the cup rest on the table.]

Do you ever wonder about the past of those Summoned? I may have shown you kindness, but perhaps I am not someone you should entirely consider as just that.

[steve knew about her past and her mistakes, and he never judged her. but it was steve rogers, perhaps the kindest man on earth.]

[funbreaker]

[ It's a sudden question with a clear warning in it, that Wanda is perhaps not all that she's made herself out to be in this first meeting. Not that Thancred would ever assume he could obtain a true sense of someone from one conversation, but he does consider himself a decent judge of character.

More than that, he knows all too well the mistakes people can make as they continue down their path, and he isn't here to render judgment for such things. He's failed himself, far too many times, to expect anyone else to be without their flaws. ]

Of course I wonder. That's natural, isn't it? Yet I've been through enough to know that you can't expect someone to always be their best self. I've certainly gone through my ups and downs.

[ He's not giving exact details, and he doubts that Wanda will either. They've shared plenty with each other already, but how deep do they want to dig when she's already navigating through a rough patch?

After a pause, he cants his head until he can meet her downcast eyes and then lifts his drink up toward her, from across the table. ]

We've come out on the other side. Might we drink to that, at least?

[carmesi]

[thancred may never truly understand just how much his words mean to her, nor how much they certainly sound like something steve would say. it brings comfort where perhaps she didn't expect to find any, and there is solace in the fact that, somehow, tendrils of fate dragged her here in this moment, in this place, to meet a man that reminds her so much of the one she considered her brother at a time.

she picks up her glass and nods, taking a sip.

it's more about the gesture in the horizon.]

Thank you. You didn't need to — spend time with me or be nice to me, after I basically intruded into your space. I won't forget your kindness.