driftfleet | "My mind's like a deadly disease..."

Entry tags:

"My mind's like a deadly disease..."

Who: Wanda Maximoff
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Starstruck
When: Now

Broadcast - Text

[Wanda's presence, both in the Fleet's comms and aboard its vessels, has dwindled, slowly but surely, over the course of the past month. There was period of time, around the beginning of the month, when she couldn't be found or reached at all--save for by Misty, Vision and Pietro. More perceptive fleet members might recall that her disappearance occurred around the time that rumors of a dragon and its rider terrorizing Solrius were circulating about. However, she did pop back up a little while later, seemingly as though nothing was wrong. However, those that know her well may have picked up the subtle tells that there was something she was not saying. Something that she was trying to bury. And so, she became more and more scarce around the Fleet. At least, until now...]

What do you think happens after death?

[The message is short and simple. Anyone familiar with the festivities of the month of October, perhaps this is simply her way of trying to get into the spirit of things?]

Starstruck - Action

[Friends and shipmates of Wanda's, if they want to go looking for her, will find her either holed up in her bunkroom aboard the Starstruck, or in a corner of the ship's kitchen or shuttle bay at times she thinks no one would typically wander in. By the look on her face, it is clear something is troubling her.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, I think the term "warrior" has a lot of definitions, not always just in a battle sense. But those who betray Rao's wishes... they are left in the dark.

Edited 2016-10-02 20:53 (UTC)

The dark...

That means they did something wrong, does it? If they are met with a pitch blackness when they die?

Well... if they were dishonorable in their life, or the proper steps aren't taken, then that would be the result...

To be honest, the Raoist scholars are long dead. I know what I remember, but obviously the people of Earth have different impulses?

Why do you ask?

What are the proper steps?

[The rest of Kara's message seemingly ignored.]

There's a ritual. Funeral rites, I think they're called on Earth. We had to do it for my aunt, recently.

So they're not steps someone can take. It's something that has to be done for them after they die?

Well, it's important. Like a Catholic priest delivering Last Rites. But how someone conducts themselves before death is also important.

[A pause before the next response.]

What do you imagine the darkness feels like?

[ it takes her some time to respond. she starts and stops a bunch ]

I don't know. Nothing? But not nothing like the negative of something. An active absence. Loneliness.

[ she's probably thought about it before but the setting; the conversation; not needing, in that moment, to perform okay-ness for anyone else... her parents, Kal-El's parents... an entire planet weren't sent into the Light of Rao with the traditional process. she's being thrown, uncomfortably, into confronting all of what that might mean ]

[Kara likely does not realize it, but her words hit on a particularly poignant note for Wanda at the moment. Though, it seems Wanda has accidentally done the same to her.]

Absence. Loneliness. Darkness.

[A pause.]

Sounds like the opposite of the light you described.

I guess all that's left is trying to decide if a religion is true if almost everyone who believed it is gone.

...Are you hanging out somewhere? Do you want to meet up?

[And that's when Wanda realizes the unintended consequences of her question. She had supposed the subject would be difficult for some to discuss, but still... in Kara's case... she hadn't meant for this.]

I'm sorry, Kara. I didn't mean--

[The message cuts itself there, as Wanda has apparently cut her public feed. There's a pause, long enough to maybe suggest that she's dropped the conversation entirely. But then, a private feed opens.]

Private: I'm on the Starstruck. In the shuttle bay.

I won't blame you if you don't want to come.

?

Of course I'll come. I asked. Be there in a few?

[ and she's good on her word, showing up a few minutes later. she's not her normal bouncy self, but most of that is concern for Wanda. What prompted this whole line of conversation anyway? ]

[When Kara arrives, she'll spot Wanda sitting on a crate in a far corner of the shuttle bay. Basically, just keeping to herself. However, when kara arrives, Wanda does look up to give her a weak smile and wave in greeting.]

Can I give you a hug? I want to give you a hug.

[Wanda's eyes pop slightly at the request, but there's a flash of genuine in her eyes and for a second in her smile that suggests she would appreciate it very much. She gives Kara a small nod of her head.]

[ she comes over and gives Wanda a warm hug, then she sits next to her ]

So, what's going on.

[Wanda is content to sit in Kara's hug for a little while. She gives back, weakly, one of her own.]

[As they pull apart, Wanda looks down and slightly away. Her eyes searching and as her eyebrows arch upwards in a look of sadness. She's silent until she can find the words she wants to begin with.]

Do you believe it's possible for the dead to be brought back to life?

Well, here, I think anything is possible. At home? I guess I wouldn't be surprised at this point. Are we talking zombies or time travel or something else?

Something else.

[Wanda's response is flat. She still looks troubled. She then turns to meet Kara's gaze, and there is a deep sense of pain and fear behind Wanda's eyes.]

Do you think the dead should be brought back to life?

[ Kara will take Wanda's hands, if she's allowed ]

I think it depends on the context. Some things should be left as-is, but... sometimes we have more to do.

[Wanda doesn't stop her from taking her hand. She looks down at it though, being clasped by kara's. Apparently no longer willing or able to meet her gaze.]

What if it wasn't your decision? Does that change things?

[ a small squeeze, and her voice is soft and empathetic ]

To die or to come back?

Sometimes we don't get to make those choices. Usually, actually. I didn't get a choice in coming to Earth, but it's so important for me to move forward and make the best out of bad situations. I was given a chance to live and help others, and I try every day to do that.

"A chance to live and help others..."

[Wanda repeats the question thoughtfully. For her, it feels like a third or fourth try. So many tries that she's been given. Has she been able to make anything of them?]

[Her expression changes from one more somber to one more troubled and contemplative. Wanda is more hesitant to ask her next question, as she does not wanting to make her pain Kara's pain. Yet, there is a question she wants answered, or at least... if she can perhaps say it out loud, it will not persist in her head as much.]

To be given such a chance, isn't it hard to not wonder... why you? Why not someone else?

I wonder that all of the time. Why did my mother choose to save me, and not herself or my father, or any of the other children, besides Kal-El? Why were we the two who were sent to Earth? I've thought about it constantly for over 12 years... But I don't find it useful. I'm someone who has to keep moving, and maybe that's why. Maybe if I move enough and look ahead enough and help enough people, I'll make up for escaping Krypton that day. But I can't, can I?

What I can do is make sure no one else has that bad of a day again... I want to make sure no one else feels the way I feel about what happened. But I guess I can't get everyone.

What is this really about, Wanda?

"My mind's like a deadly disease..."

text

text

text

text

text

text

text

text

text

text

text

text

text > action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

Action

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)