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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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.