driftfleet | A bittersweet return; Video + Action

Who: Wanda Maximoff
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Starstruck
When: Right now

[At first, the scene appears to be a relatively familiar one. That is, the typical network broadcast of a new arrival to the fleet. A communicator's video feed broadcasting a slumbering figure curled up on a ship's cot. However, a second glance and one can easily tell that this not typical at all. Instead of the Marsiva's recognizably distinct interior, this feed seems to be coming from the bunkroom aboard one of the Fleet's smaller ships. In fact, crew members of the Starstruck may find the setting quite familiar looking indeed, along with anyone else that may have paid Wanda a visit in the past.]

[The sleeping figure stirs, waking from a deep slumber with a slow sit up and stretch. The communicator's camera focuses on the individual, as she quickly recognizes that something is amiss. Wanda Maximoff looks around, startled and confused to not find herself waking up in the room she'd been given in Wakanda. However, she soon begins to recognize the room. It's her room, her bunkroom aboard the SS Starstuck. And that could only mean...]

I'm back...

[The thought vocalized out loud, her tone sounding somewhat somber, yet also a tiny bit relieved. She swings her legs out of her cot, and pads her way over to her storage locker. Checking inside, she finds all of her trinkets, clothing, and other souvenirs that she'd picked up on previous planet visits. All of them in the exact place she had left them. A new outfit also noticeably present among the garments. Her fingers gently glide over each item, as the respective memories associated with each one float back to her.]

[A moment later, she closes the locker and turns her attention back to her room. She studies the interior, looking everything over.]

All exactly as I remember it.

[She then spies the communicator perched upon a shelf, optimally poised to capture her return. She walks over to it, picking it up and holding it out in front of herself. She looks ready to address the camera yet falters for a moment. A small frown on her face, and her eyebrows furrowed as she ponders what to even say, if she should even say anything at all. But only a moment later, her expression relaxes, and a small grin replaces the frown. Looking now more bemused and her tone more playfully sarcastic, she addresses the camera.]

It's been a while. What did I miss?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's what Charles says, and I believe him. You must have run into him after I saw him, then. [The less said about that encounter, the better. It still burns that he was blocked from being able to control Winter's arm. Worse, that he made the critical mistake of instinctively thinking he could.]

You... ran into him? You fought with him? Are you... okay?

[Nevermind the fact that it had apparently been a month. At the moment, to Wanda at least, it was feeling like just yesterday.]

I'm fine. He hit me a few times, then I dropped him through the floor.

[It had been a lot more extreme than how he describes it, but ultimately it's done with. He got out of it with only a fractured arm and a gash on his head. Others were worse.]

[That definitely gets a look of shock from Wanda. Though, it would explain why Bucky looked to be in such bad shape when Steve and her finally found him.]

I- I am sorry.

[It's the only thing she can think to say at first.]

He- what happened was... an accident.

[To Erik's eyes, Winter got off lightly. Had that fight gone on for longer, he would have stopped trying to avoid a fatality and done something far worse. It was only a stupid miscalculation on Erik's part that had stopped him going as hard as he might have.

He does soften somewhat though, and he nods.]

I'm aware. I've already spoken to him about it.

[A look of relief crosses Wanda's face. She is silent for a moment, considering whether or not she should really divulge more about Bucky's condition without asking him. However, she figures that he may have already filled in Erik somewhat, and that some kind of explanation may still be necessary. She decides to keep things a little vague.]

What was done to him... back home... it is not something that simply goes away. And here, clearly he is just as vulnerable to it as he is back home.

[Erik knows. Charles had told him, a tale of the second world war, conditioning. It's something that strikes an uneasy, familiar chord in him, reminding him of his own destroyed childhood. He shakes his head slightly, to dislodge his own thoughts more than dismiss Wanda's words.]

It's a repugnant thing to do, to use these augments in such a way. [He'd suffered a mild version of it himself, when the augment made him see nothing but prison walls, regardless of where he was.]

[Wanda gives a solemn nod in agreement. She herself had experienced a glitch akin to Winter's. While she was still in control of her personality, it had made her powers go haywire, endangering those around her. Wanda's expression slowly turns to anger as it begins to burn inside her.]

I have had my fill of being treated like a plaything. Something to be exploited to hurt innocents for the enjoyment of others. And I will not stand for it happening to my friends.

[Wanda's fist clenches, and her eyes seem to flare scarlet for a moment.]

[Now, that was interesting. The red flare catches his attention, and he stares at the image for a long moment. This young woman must have some form of power... hard to say what, based on image alone. He gives a curt nod.]

It is unfortunately par for the course in these places. That does not mean we need to lie down and accept it.

[Wanda notices his stare, and the red fades from her eyes. Her fists unclench. She takes a breath to close her eyes and try to relax. While she is fairly open to displays of her abilities, she does not like them to be when they are activating in response to her emotion, making them less controlled.]

No, it doesn't. However, when I was last here, there was little progress made in understanding their control and how to stop it. Or even how to weaken it if only a little.

[When she was last...? Ah, yes. Her original message.]

To my knowledge, much is still the same in that regard.

I figured.

[The anger still there, simmering inside her. This was the "bitter" part of returning to the Fleet.]

And I'm willing to bet little to nothing more has been learned about our jailers.

Not that I know of.

[She nods. Not surprised, but also looking a little frustrated and disappointed. She mutters something barely audible in her native language.]

дерьмо.

[The tongue isn't familiar to him, but the sentiment is. He inclines his head in understanding.]

Others may have more information than me. I've been otherwise occupied lately.

[Wanda sighs, content to change the topic of conversation.]

Oh? Been keeping busy then?

On the planet, yes. It's much better than the moon was.

Well, it wasn't very hard to beat.

That's true. I'm reluctant to be too thankful for it, but... [He shrugs slightly. It is what it is. And it is basically a holiday, compared to the planet and the drifting week before. He distantly dreads the moment they'll be taken up into space again, and he's confined to those metal cans.]

Just one of the many bittersweet blessings of this place. We visit so many different types of places. Not all of them are going to be vacation spots.

A bittersweet return; Video + Action

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