( closed prompts )

[carmesi]

Who: Wanda and others
What: Eclipse, magical madness, quest
Where: Solvunn and Horizon
When: A bit after the eclipse, mid-March.
Warnings: Will include in top levels if necessary.

Comments

[carmesi]

[it cannot be comforting, to feel the guilt of someone's death on your actions—because of mistakes. wanda listens, keeps her hands wrapped as a steady anchor for peter's tense hand.

universes. the multiverse. people getting pulled in.

it's pretty dangerous, vision had told her once, as their conversations of more trivial matters eventually led to his unbound exploration of the universe and the cosmos and whatever the stone on his forehead wouldn't keep quiet about. wanda can only imagine what must have happened, the inklings of those thoughts locked too far back in the recesses of peter's mind, regardless of their thought becoming intertwined.

it's always the better people that they know who end up dying. vision, wanting to save the world; peter's aunt may, wanting to believe in the good in others.

a fight brings back memories of that moment when she started losing hold of her magic; she felt like she was being strangled, a crazed man's eyes staring down at her, pupils blown out. she felt the spit after his words on her cheeks, the desperation in her thoughts, how weak she had felt. all that: peter's memories.

gently, wanda tries to sway the tension from peter's hand, rubbing lightly over his knuckles, reminding him that he isn't alone.]

I never got to kill those who took my loved ones from me. [not stark, not ultron, not thanos.] I still think about it, but... that's not something you can come back from. [similarly to how she had done to the illusion of tommy, wanda picks a hand up to fix peter's hair behind his ear, an easy enough distraction.] But I've killed others, innocents, because of my own mistakes. It feels horrible, and I think of it every day. [she drops her hand back down onto his, holding his hand tighter.] It will go away.

[it's—the opposite of what she told him, before, but peter had asked if that self-hatred would ever go away. this time, he asks it in the context of the guilt that comes from not taking action. it will go away. she thinks she forgave tony stark, despite everything, so there's that, right?]

Just focus on her words.

[he had made the right choice; he had a responsibility. i love you, before a flash, the mind stone breaking. shakily, she exhales, and lets go to pull him close, her words a murmur against his hair.]

You hang on to that, Peter.

[piqure]

[ for a moment, peter closes his eyes and tries to ground himself, between how tired he feels and how — hollow, maybe. wrung out of everything he had.

but her hands on his serve as anchor, and the cadence of her voice and not for the first time, she offers understanding. parallels. it goes away, she promises. he isn’t so sure, but he wants to trust her in that, so much.

but there’s a news anchor’s voice in his head, loud amidst the rush of a downpour and stretched across a billboard; everything spiderman touches turns to ruin and we, the innocents, are left to pick up the pieces —

eyes flick open, with an inhale in. hair tucked behind his ear. ] Yeah. Yeah, I guess you can’t.

[ he doesn’t know what else to say, just leans forward when she draws him in. you hang on to that. it’s all he can do, as he pulls away, and runs a hand across his face. ] Sorry — [ croaked again, a sniff. ] Sorry you got drawn into this. I didn’t mean it to be so — loud? [ she said her powers reacted to these things, hadn’t she? that they’ve been acting out for the last few days?

sentiment called to sentiment, but he hand’t wanted to make it worse, isn’t sure if he could have ever helped it anyway.

ruin and ruination. ] — and, thank you. For listening. No one else knows all of that, either. Not fully, anyway.

[carmesi]

It was my fault.

[there's no point in cutting corners. it was her magic that spiraled out of control, latched onto something incredibly private, all because her intent was that she wanted to uncover something dark, something deliciously upsetting, just so she could feed her own pain.

but she offers a small smile nonetheless, because it means so much to her, that peter would not blame her for what she's done. wanda knows he is smart enough to know where fault lies.

this really speaks to how beautiful and generous his heart is.]

It's not easy. [parsing through these feelings—keeping them in, allowing others to know about them. neither option is easier.] Vision would constantly walk into my room to see how I was doing, after Pietro's funeral. I found it so irritating, but... it helps.

[she rubs her hand gently along his back, and then allows for distance between each other. their knees knock together, but nothing more.]

You can talk to me any time you want, Peter.

[looking around at the work-in-progress that is peter's horizon, she settles back on the couch.]

I only saw these kinds of apartments on American sitcoms. Do you know Friends? [PLZ] Their apartments were much bigger.

[piqure]

[ it wasn't, actually, he wants to say.

but sometimes, good intentions still lead to messes. he knows that too and it doesn't feel like a point that they need to keep dwelling on, he thinks and it's easier to react with just the slightest shake to his head against her shoulder before righting himself away.

he looks down at his hands again, before rolling his shoulders, and looking back out at the incomplete horizon. edges of memories of everything it wants to be, too much all at once. ] Thanks, Wanda. [ not alone. ] You too. [ for now. ]

[ the question catches him off-guard though, and his eyes are quickly snapping up to look around the room again, then back at her. his mouth tilts in tired amusement. ] Oh, yeah! Yeah, I know Friends — [ hey are you trying to say this place is small!! ] — their places were definitely bigger than what you can get now. I guess it depends where you look.

[ he hums, as if realizing he never really knew, or asked: ] Where were you, before getting brought here? [ country, planet. universe? ]

[carmesi]

[wanda is glad that her comment offers some levity to their situation, despite all that they've witnessed so far from each other. it brings a smile to her face that he's quick to recognize the sitcom she would watch a lot of, in a faraway country, unawares of the reality of a place such as new york city.]

I never actually got to go to New York City.

[so she has no scale of it, only ones from a very particular viewpoint.

she is curious about his question, though, frowning for a moment as she thinks about it, until she lands on what she's talking about.]

I was... in some part of Sokovia, but [a light shake of her head] it's obviously not Sokovia anymore. Thanos was defeated, and it's been, maybe a few months? I didn't keep a calendar or phone with me.

[with a slight sigh and a bit of a shrug, she straightens her back before she speaks.]

I don't have anywhere else to go.