OPEN · PILOT EPISODE.

[explosion]

WHO: Wanda and you.
WHAT: Catch-all.
WHEN: Haring.
WHERE: Around the Gallows, and any other place if somewhere different suits.
NOTES: Feel free to wildcard anything at me! You can DM me if you'd like to do something specific. (There will be open stuff in here…)

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GWEN · THE TRAINING MONTAGE.

[explosion]

The delay in accepting Captain Baudin's kind invitation is all Wanda's fault. How many times has she had the opportunity to use the Newbie Card in her life? The Avengers hardly accepted it, although she had the Dead Brother Card to use and abuse until Natasha had gently discouraged her from continuing to hide behind Pietro.

She wishes she could hide behind him now. He'd be a fantastic shield, and a meaty one at that. Perhaps he'd distract Gwen long enough for Wanda to figure out how she wished to use her powers without accidentally (or intentionally) obliterating her.

The Gallows has become somewhat of a familiar place to Wanda. Despite suspecting she'd be booted from Riftwatch for reasons that would make little sense yet be readily accepted by her, and Thedas would throw her up somewhere else in the Multiverse, she's still here… lying low. Being invisible is a talent she's long since forgotten she was capable of. All she needs is a cap, and she can put Natasha's old lessons to good work.

"Do we have any rules?" she asks, voice American. Tipping her shoulder upward, she offers the obvious: "Other than not going for the literal kill. Do we need a safe word?"

It's partly a joke. Partly.

Informing Captain Baudin she can move things with her mind is putting it all too simply. Wanda wishes to be that girl—the simple character who lives a simple life and is capable of a very simple skill set. (Look at her comfortable shoes and her worn pants—how simpler can she be?)

[elegiaque]

It isn’t entirely Wanda’s fault.

Or, well: in one respect it absolutely is, but they were unlikely to have managed it any sooner than they have done, circumstances recently being what they were. Between the travel that Gwenaëlle’s been doing and the better part of a month she spent working her way back up to keeping solid food in her stomach, it’s perhaps only now that the prospect of sparring with an unfamiliar partner isn’t going to be scribbled out of her schedule by an aghast Dr Strange. (Who, like Wanda or indeed most of the rifters from various ‘Earths’, always sounds strangely dwarven to her. It’s a striking accent in a human if you haven’t spent as long around rifters as Gwenaëlle has, but it’s been nearly a decade and she’s seen the type do much odder shit than talk funny.)

“That’s the main one,” she says, dryly. “Do you need more practise at direct combat or working with other people?”

Not everybody is accustomed to working alongside their colleagues so directly as Riftwatch tends to mean doing, and she’d spoken of it in the past tense; maybe a muscle that hasn’t had as much exercise. Or not; she’s open to the answer being the former, don’t worry about it, but it feels worth checking. Strategizing for.

“I usually use that,” tilting her head towards what’s essentially a mixture of equipment and obstacle course, “to drill myself.” Her approach is all about agility and speed; she’s slight and wearing leather, she needs to be able to strike strategically and move before something can hit her back harder than she can handle.

[explosion]

What a question.

What is it that she needs? Does she need to learn direct combat, despite knowing how to throw a decent punch that won't see her thumb broken, thanks to Natasha and Steve? Or does she need to learn to work with people, even though she already has a decent amount of experience in that department, even though it was akin to a crash course?

Does Wanda even remember how to work alongside anyone?

While she glances at the mixture of equipment that's similar to what she once deemed beneath her (what does a telekinetic even do with a spear or shield?), Wanda decides it's best to start fresh. Isn't this world new? Isn't her magic not quite at the level it once was, feeling much like a weapon in itself?

"I need more practice in working with other people." Trusting them, but that's not something she should reveal in the pilot episode. "Especially…" Looking down at her hands, she wiggles her fingers and sighs softly. "I've been relying on myself too long. I don't know what I'm good at other than being the one who does the wiggly woos."

Yes, she demonstrates the wiggly woos, fingers deliberately plain with no hint of a red glow in sight.

TRIAL BY TELEPATHY.

[aberratic]

Stephen had told her he would send someone to vet her story. Someone trustworthy, someone skilled; he had not said who, or what they were skilled in. Ness has been waiting in the dockside apartments, trying valiantly not to panic, not to worry about having revealed herself to him a second time—

(without stephen to assist her, how will she escape if she needs to? how will she get rid of the anchor? where will she go?)

she's only been moderately successful.

When the door opens, Ness stands immediately, respect and preparing to flee all at once. She smoothes her hands over her skirt, then clasps them in her lap—see, she has no weapons, nothing to hide. Not even her surprise, because she's not expecting—

"Messere Wanda? The Doctor sent you?"

i am so sorry for how delayed this is — life really ate me up.

[explosion]

"Yes," she says, clasping her hands in front of her and doing everything within her power not to twist them, "the Doctor sent me."

To her credit, Wanda doesn't stumble over or pause strangely over the doctor. Strange has never been a doctor to her. He is merely Strange, a wizard (depending on who you ask), a sorcerer, a know-it-all, and a question mark. But to this woman, he's something.

A doctor, obviously—but Wanda doubts she means it in the sense of his previous career. (His hands shake. His bedside manner is poor. Strange doesn't strike her as the type to want to take care of anyone anymore, despite his bravado.) It's easier to focus on what she knows than what she doesn't. Wanda has never been good with strangers. Pietro was better.

"He wanted me to check on you." Wanda smiles and teases, "He does not have the best bedside manner."

How best to disarm someone? Be utterly charming—or try to. She's out of practice.

no problem dude, i'm slow as molasses myself!

[aberratic]

Something about this feels... strange, no pun intended, to Ness, something in Wanda's manner seeming put on in a way she can't place. It makes her hesitate, but then.... Stephen trusts Wanda, and Ness trusts Stephen. He wouldn't throw her to the wolves at this point, not without confirmation that she's untrustworthy—and if he was concerned about that, he wouldn't put anyone else in a position to have to do something about it themselves. She approached him; neutralizing her, if it comes to that, is his responsibility.

So: she can trust Wanda, he said, and she trusts Stephen.

"He said you could gather more information. Presumably to exonerate me of lying? And the rest of my group, as well."

Ness hasn't moved any closer to Wanda, but she hasn't backed away, either. Her nerves are more than apparent, anxious wringing of her hands and picking at her cuticles a dead giveaway, but she's just as clearly trying to be brave. She hasn't looked away from Wanda. She wants to appear as trustworthy as she knows herself to be.

She trusts Stephen, so she trusts Wanda—even though the latter feels like one of the hardest things he's ever asked her to do.