driftfleet | Temper Tempo

Entry tags:

Temper Tempo

Who: Nami and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Bloodsport/Iskaulit for you drinkers out there.
When: Now-ish

[Nami's been in a bad mood of late. Mostly it's to do with Sascha and trying to shove her own feelings down and trying to deal with it in a responsible way because some jackass luck of the draw happened to make her Captain. Hooray! The bite has healed enough it just looks ugly instead of actually hurting (it itches, thanks so much for that), so she still keeps a loose bandage over the top. No big deal. She'll get over it. There's not much choice.

She works off her grouchiness at the bar in bits and pieces. She was doing pretty well until a box turned up in her bedroom addressed to Captain Nami.]

One piece--

[No, that's not a pun I swear. The feed clicks on to Nami's furious face, tapping the screen with one section of blue metal piping that a handful of people might find familiar.]

Problems with shipping? Delays in processing? IT'S A MATCHED SET! Why would you even break this up!? If you've lost the other parts I'm going to--

[RANT USELESSLY AT EVERYONE APPARENTLY. She shuts her mouth with a snap, fingers wrapped around the climatact piece in a crushing grip, before she suddenly smiles sweetly.]

Thank you so much for finally processing my claim, Diamond. Or whoever. At this rate I'll only have to submit those forms another eight times!

Don't think I don't know you're doing this on purpose. [And finally she pulls back, tapping the piece in hand before pointing it in the vague direction of her closed door with a dark mutter.] I bet it doesn't even work r--

[FWOOM.

...that'd be the sudden howl of wind punching through the air much like this, only more powerful and far less gracefully, given Nami went flying in the other direction with a yelp. There's a long moment of silence, punctuated by the sound of several maps falling off the walls, and the broadcast picks up nothing but the visuals of a room that looks like a small tornado just went through it.

......
......]

...needs calibration.

[Ow.]

-------

[You can also catch her at the Iskaulit. Not on shift tonight, kthx. She's just nursing a drink in the corner and glaring holes through the table.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sounds like a plan. Maybe with drinks. [She smiles crookedly; she's not mad at you, Wanda. Sascha's, uh... issues are gonna affect a lot of people adversely. She just needs to know what's going on.]

I'll be there in thirty.

[Signing off.]

[Wanda only gives Nami a weak smile in response. Drinks did seem fairly appropriate, but even they will not make it completely easy to have this conversation.]

[Wanda had known that her actions were likely to have consequences. To think what she'd done would not come back to haunt her in some way was naive. Yet, that didn't mean she was looking forward to what exactly the ramifications were going to be.]

[As the communicator feed cuts, Wanda sits silently for a moment, deep in thought. She curses under her breath in Sokovian, and then gets up to wait in the Starstruck's shuttle bay.]

[She'll even bring the drinks herself, though she'll raid your kitchen for glasses. Her shuttle touches down around the thirty minute mark, once she's straightened a few things (and her hair) and made her way off the Bloodsport, the blue piece of staff now shoved into a holster at her hip.]

Hey.

[Wanda gives her a weak but polite smile and a small wave in greeting.]

[She then guides Nami back through the Starstruck to her bunk room. Really, it was the one place on the ship she could guarantee that no one would be able to intrude upon them. At least, not without them knocking first.]

[Wanda offers Nami a seat on her bed. She takes a seat on the floor, cross-legged, opposite Nami.]

So... where would you like to start?

The beginning. What happened between you two?

[It's as simple and straightforward as that. Something obviously went down, she's concerned on behalf of both parties, even if she is still kinda mad at Sascha.]

[Wanda studies her for a moment. Her brow furrows and she almost looks as though she's going to become angry; however, it doesn't seem directed at Nami... She looks down and away. Clearing her throat and swallowing before she begins speaking.]

I had heard what happened with Sascha. That it turns out he was a vampire or sheoul or whatever he calls himself. That he had bitten two or three people. I did not know who they were at the time. Only that they were fellow crew members on his ship.

[She turns back to look at Nami. Her brow still furrowed in anger, but now there's a look of pain in her eyes that wasn't there before.]

Pietro was on your ship at the time. I had spoken with Sascha before all this mess, and I knew that he was becoming close to Pietro, and so I thought--

[She cuts herself off there. The look of pain behind her eyes now become more apparent in her expression.]

I thought he might have been one of the victims.

He only bit one person on the ship, and that was me. Then he apologised and took off. [She doesn't say it judgmentally; man, she can understand very well where Wanda's coming from. If it had been Robin that got bitten she'd have been just as angry.]

Pietro was okay. But yeah, that's... not a nice place to be, to be worried about that kind of thing. So you two had words?

[Nami's confession surprises her. She had only investigated far enough to confirm that Pietro was unharmed. Beyond that, she had not thought to ask specifically who had been bitten. Just another thing to feel guilty about.]

[At Nami's question, Wanda's brow furrows further. She takes a moment, clears her throat, then answers.]

It was a bit more than that.

[The understatement causes her eyes to narrow, a bit of disgust at herself for sugar-coating something that she knows she needs to take responsibility for.]

When he was being detained, I visited him. [She sighs. Time to stop dancing around this and just be blunt. She'll accept the consequences that come with the fallout.] Interrogated him. Threatened him.

Hurt him.

[She looks back up at Nami. The guilt and anger etched all over her face.]

[...oh dear. Nobody had mentioned serious harm to Sascha while he was supposedly in protective custody (supposedly) but--]

How badly?

[Guilt and anger and being glad he was still in his room-- yeah, that's a rolled up mess, isn't it.]

[Wanda's expression doesn't change as she answers Nami's question with one of her own. Her tone remaining icy calm.]

He hasn't come out of his room, has he?

[As if his marked absence around their ship represented the extent of Wanda's aggression against him.]

[It might not be just Wanda, though-- she tells herself that. Guilt could also be a huge factor.]

That doesn't really answer my question, Wanda. [It's a deflection.] What exactly did you threaten him with?

[She hates reliving this. She's not proud of what she did. It had been more like the weapon Hydra had turned her into, and less the person that she truly desired to be. The anger now looking more obviously like guilt.]

I threw him across the room. Kept him pinned against a wall. I threatened him with his worst nightmare being made his reality.

[She answers plainly, flatly. No more sugarcoating or dodging. Let Nami's reaction be what it is. If it causes her to hate Wanda, then perhaps that's what Wanda deserves.]

[...look, honestly the presence of guilt is more than enough. Nami studies Wanda for a moment, then gives a small shrug, one corner of her mouth turning up.]

We do have a lot in common. Wanda-- that version of Sascha was an ass. He hurt people.

The one we have now, though, he's a different story.

[Wanda was... not expecting that kind of response at all. The surprise completely apparent on her face. She looks at Nami completely confused, trying to understand why she wasn't tearing into Wanda for what she did, or why she wasn't looking at Wanda like she was some kind of monster.]

I... I know that now. But...

What I did to Sascha was cruel. Why- Why are you not angry?

Why should I be? It's not like you did anything permanent. The guy scared a lot of people. I mean-- look, there were probably better ways to go about it, but you were just trying to protect family. And Sascha had bitten three people. You perceived him as a threat, and he was.

[She lets that sink in, before she adds:]

But Sascha was also glitched. What he was then isn't who he is now. Just so long as you can make that distinction.

It's true that I- I did see him as a threat. That I was concerned for my brother's safety. But... at the time when I confronted Sascha, he was being detained. He... he wasn't a threat anymore, and yet I still hurt him.

[Wanda shakes her head. She wasn't proud of what she did, and Nami's reaction to her confession just was making this whole incident all the more difficult for her to process everything.]

Kate came by earlier, and we spoke about what happened. At the time, I... I could tell he was different, but I ignored it in my anger. I should have recognized that what was happening to him was the same as what had happened to Barnes.

[She then adds a little more solemnly:]

To me.

[...she feels like this is picking up a thread from long ago. They did talk about augments and how they mess people up way back when-- Nami sighs, running a hand through her hair.]

I don't know who Kate or Barnes are. And maybe you could've had a better reaction, sure. Most people can in hindsight. Believe me, it's taken a while for me not to hit first and ask questions later, half the time. [It took being stuck in places like this where it would cause more problems than it solved, but her temper is still there in spades. Hence the tantrum earlier.]

I'm not gonna judge you for it. If you feel bad about it, now or later, then you can find a way to deal with it. I'd say talk to Sascha, but you're obviously still mad at him.

But, you know. I think it's understandable. Winter didn't have any control over what happened to him, but I'd still have hurt him if it came to protecting my own. You can't deal in "but they're normally okay" when it comes to that. More people could get hurt. You've gotta deal with them as they are then.

I'm not mad at him. Not really.

[She sighs, clearly dissatisfied with the cliche about to come out of her mouth.]

I'm mad at myself. I don't regret my concern for my brother's safety, but... my actions were still unjustified. He wasn't a threat to anyone at that point. I should have recognized it. Instead of lashing out in anger.

[Hearing Nami mention though, how it's taken her a while to learn how to not first react with violence-- her impulse to deal with a situation in that moment, driven by her gut and desire to protect others. It brings a sliver of a grin back to Wanda's face. The two of them... they really were uncannily similar.]

I will apologize to Sascha. I don't know if he'll ever let me close to him again though.

He's a forgiving sort. I don't think he knows how to hold a grudge.

[She gives a crooked grin.] It's human, though. Look, if it helps, I'm not too keen on him either. It doesn't matter if I know that he's not who he was back then. I just remember him biting me in the middle of the night.

Stuff like that takes time to get over.

[Wanda looks at Nami with new concern. A worry for her friend's safety.]

He- he bit you? But I had heard that those he bites...

[She stops herself, not sure if she should really pry into this further.]

He paralyses people, yeah. But he only bit me on the arm, and it wasn't too bad.

[She shakes both arms out to prove it. Look, everything's fine.]

But I thought-- I had heard someone had died because of his bite?

[She startles, giving Wanda an alarmed look.]

Who told you that?

I think it had been something I saw or overheard over the network while all the craziness was going on? When everyone was panicked, trying to figure out what had happened.

[A pained expression returns to Wanda's face. The fact that she now couldn't clearly remember the source of the information that had been her motivation to go after Sascha... It deeply bothered her.]

I knew Pietro shared the ship with you both at the time, and maybe I... I was so scared for his safety that I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have...

[The admission causes her to tear up again.]

Nami, I-- Oh God, did I-- I attacked him for no reason...

[Hooboy. She holds a hand up, just as ready to be the voice of reason on this score as well. Such as reason really holds in this case.]

You didn't do any lasting damage, right? You were upset, and worried, and you had a right to be whether Pietro was hurt or not. I wouldn't have begrudged anyone in that situation at the time. What Sascha did scared a lot of people.

But it wasn't him. It's like when Winter went nuts. You don't hold him responsible for the Atroma messing with his head, but you're still human. If you get hurt because of someone's glitch, even if it's just emotionally, you've got a right, Wanda.

[Is she making sense? She chews on her lip for a moment, then shakes her head a little.] Just... don't hold that grudge. Not at the end. But that doesn't mean that getting upset about it to begin with is somehow wrong. It's a messy situation all round.

Temper Tempo

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switch to action or handwave?

action!

Let's do it! :D

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Welcome back!

THANK YOU! Happy to be back. :D

<3

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fin?

fin!