∞ 007

[cpt_ressentiment]

Who: The Crew of the SS Starstruck + Any Visitors!
Broadcast: Nah prob not
Action: On board the SS Starstruck, or on the spacestation if you like!
When: NOW! and until the next mingle.

[ Y'all know what this is? This is a mingle. So get in here and mingle it out, everyone. o7

We have plenty of new people, but we don't have plenty of room anymore! Never really figured out a more permanent solution to all that yet, did we...? How's everyone coping, hmm?

Welcome newcomers! And welcome visitors! To the oldbie crew - stay awesome. ♥ ]

Comments

Her Bunkroom; OTA

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda has been mostly staying in her room whenever she's been aboard the Starstruck. Since Souji's left, she has largely kept to herself. The initial sadness has generally passed, leaving only a bitter resentment. Not wishing to take it out on her crewmates, Wanda has thus been limiting her time around them and in places on the ship where they are likely to be. Still, simply sitting in her room all day would make her stir crazy, so she has been keeping up with some courier jobs on the space station. In truth, she has actually been taking more of them, trying to get her mind on to something else. Thus, it is by no means a mystery that Wanda has been rather distant. If you are concerned, perhaps come talk to her?]

[lord_wizard]

[While Felix has been peripherally aware that Wanda has been withdrawn, the why of it escapes him. He'd done his own dance of avoidance following the calibrations. It seemed natural, after having had someone see into your mind like that, to let time do what it did and blurred the edges of those memories. But after some time of being docked at the FS Starlight, Felix does in fact become a touch concerned, and just a tiny bit touched by guilt that he'd yet again ignored someone for his own reasons.

He knocks gingerly on the door of her room, rings tapping against the steel.]

Wanda? Are you here?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[No response comes from inside the room. But after a moment, the door slides open on its own. Wanda is seated at her bed, one leg curled to her chest, her gaze fixed at the wall in front of her as she contemplates something. When Felix enters, she turns her head and gives a weak smile of greeting.]

[lord_wizard]

[Privately, he upgrades his level of alarm as he shuts the door behind him on his own before pausing at the foot of her bed, a tiny frown on his lips]

Are you having nightmares again?

[It's the only thing that jumps to mind]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[She shakes her head no. Waves her hand in the air back and forth, the door flies open and shut again with the turn of her hand. Her signal that it's all her at the moment.]

[lord_wizard]

[He's not entirely assuaged by that, but he doesn't want to call her a liar. Instead he sits very lightly on the edge of the bed.]

I'm not very good...at this sort of thing. And I think we are both aware that attempts to be of any help have been lackluster at best. [The fact that the warding didn't help still sticks in his craw, and his mouth twists into a slightly deeper frown] But...I can't try unless you tell me what's wrong.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[She lets out a soft noise, sounding something like a giggle when Felix mentions the ward. While, at the time, it certainly was not anything she'd find funny, in retrospect, well it had become a little bit humorous.]

[There's another pause as Wanda seems to be considering his words. She then turns her gaze towards him, her expression and tone are completely flat.]

Souji is gone. Sent home.

[lord_wizard]

[There's nothing in her face to tell him why this is a thing that matters, except the very absence of anything at all, which is at least a clue. Either she truly feels nothing or she is stubbornly attempting to do so rather than the alternative. He doesn't want to discount that it's something Atroma has done. That a friend has gone and she's numb to it but doesn't know why. But he doesn't think it likely. Instead, there's the possibility that she really is devastated by the loss while it was a mere bump in the road for him, one that he ultimately dismissed.

Cautiously--] I'm sorry. I'm afraid we weren't much acquainted but I imagine that wasn't true for you?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[There's a long pause before Wanda speaks again. Her mellow tone of voice cracks somewhat on the last word.]

We were... dating.

[lord_wizard]

[It's worse that he imagined, and instantly he's cursing himself on the inside for missing something like that. All the more because it was partly because he was wrapped up in his own relationship. The irony is a sharp stab alongside the sympathy]

I see. I didn't...I didn't realize. [He glances at his hands] How long?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

About two months.

[She says it flatly, realizing it probably doesn't seem like a long time for anything special or anything meaningful. She doesn't say anything about it being her first real relationship with a boy, nor does she say anything about what their time together, Souji and Wanda, truly meant to her. The connection that came from finding someone who has lost loved ones, too, and yet still struggles onward, believing that life is still worth living.]

[lord_wizard]

[The truth doesn't matter. It's all in what it meant to her, which seems to be quite a bit deal, and privately Felix wonders when he got so jaded that this kind of heartbreak is a common tale. One he's seen play out and been a part of both.

Sighing, he lifts a hand to his chest, absently feeling for the pendant tucked under his shirt as he considers what to say]

You that as if you expect me to criticize you, but I wouldn't. I know what it feels like.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda softens at Felix's words.]

I- I am sorry. I did not mean to snap at you.

[mucked]

[ -- and peggy is concerned.

so she too stops by to give the door a spirited knocking. ]

Wanda? It's Peggy.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[There's no response from inside her room at first. However, after a moment, the door slides open on its own, revealing Wanda seated on her bed, staring at the opposite wall in contemplation.]

[When Peggy enters, she does turn and give her a polite but weak smile in greeting.]

Hello.

[mucked]

[ she takes as many steps as needed to get just within the doorway. ]

Your presence has been missed 'round the galley. [ a bit of rollicking good vocab, there. her own smile is sedate in order to match wanda's. ] So I thought I'd pop round. Ask how you were doing.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda smiles weakly again in response.]

Sorry.

[A pause as she thinks about how much she's willing or even wants to divulge right now.]

I am all right. Been keeping busy with jobs on the station.

[She offers, as if it is enough to fully explain her absence.]

[mucked]

Is that all?

[ peggy makes it her business to be nosy. involved. good leads and opportunities don't come from sitting back and waiting for them to fall in her lap. ]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda looks Peggy over for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell her everything that's been going on. Not because she doesn't feel like she can rely on her, but more so whether or not she should burden Peggy with her own issues. Eventually, she does break a little, her smile disappears, and a more sad expression takes its place.]

Souji left.

[mucked]

Oh, darling.

[ peggy isn't a stranger to certain accusations -- of being frigid, mercenary, and (at times) dispassionate. but there are some tragedies that require one's full feeling, and even without knowing this souji fellow all that well...peggy can find a wellspring of sympathy in her heart. not least of all because of the plain sadness evident on wanda's delicate features.

she wastes little time in sitting next to wanda upon her bed, but doesn't dare reach for her hand. that is a liberty she won't take. ]

I'm dreadfully sorry. [ she exhales. ] The two of you were close?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda scooches over a little to give Peggy room, clearly fine with having her company. She nods her head in response to Peggy's question.]

Yes. We... we were dating.

[It felt somehow embarrassing to admit this. It wasn't something that they particularly had kept secret, but neither was it something they necessarily openly telegraphed either (at least... as far as Wanda could tell).]

[mucked]

[ -- now, this is a pain she understands. the fingers along her right hand twitch, as though she must actively suppress the desire to raise her arm and lay a comforting touch upon wanda's shoulder. ]

There is no heartbreak quite like losing a lover to the unknown. [ peggy exhales. ] Is there anything I can do?

[ she knows how fruitless the question is. no one had been able to help, exactly, in the wake of steve's disappearance. ]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda gives a slight shake of her head in response, though she does also give Peggy a weak smile of gratitude for the offer.]

No, it is all right.

[A period of silence follows, long enough for Peggy to question if Wanda is even going to say anything further. But, she does, eventually, speak up again. Almost sounding like she's talking aloud to herself.]

I would have thought I had grown numb to this kind of pain by now...

[mucked]

I don't believe it quite works like that. [ a brief exhalation. ] Some wounds never scar over. They only get deeper.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda visibly seems to curl up a bit at that. She knows Peggy's words to be true, and they are of little comfort. Her next words sounding more like a statement than a question.]

I am always to carry this pain then.