driftfleet | "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

It wasn't her fault! She- she was not the one who killed me! She was only trying to help!

[Wanda stops herself. The outburst had been so sudden, and so loud and angry that she had even surprised herself. She had not given away the identity of who it was that resurrected her, or why she did so... but she had given away that whoever it was, she was "she."]

I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I... The person who brought me back... She did so because she was asked.

[She looks guilty, shaking her head.]

I... I promised not to tell who it was. She... she doesn't want people to know she has this power to bring back the dead.

She's... she went through many horrible experiences, because of how people have reacted to her power. She's... she's scared.

[ a flat wave of her hand. ] Snap all you want, my darling. I can survive a good snapping -- so long as that is all it is.

[ but wanda has, indeed, revealed a great deal with her rushed words. not only a gender, but also a line of vulnerability in this unknown person. peggy doesn't want to use such weaknesses against good folk -- but old habits die hardest, and she stores this information away in the back of her mind. ]

It would be an awfully big power. [ ... ] An awful lot of responsibility.

[Peggy's gesture and words seem to relieve her somewhat. The last thing she wants, truly, is to pass on her pain and poor mood to others. Hence, her isolation in her room. Peggy's been around long enough to undoubtedly notice the patterned behavior.]

[She nods solemnly at Peggy's comment about power and responsibility.]

It is not something she freely advertises as being capable of. I didn't even know she possessed such an ability until... well, until I experienced it for myself.

Were I her, I would be equally discreet. I may not boast any preternatural powers of my own -- but I can empathize with those who might want to hide them from the world. [ she recalls the 'home video' recorded by hydra. experiments. horrible, grotesque actions. all to unlock powers they had no right to exploit. ]

[Wanda nods her head. Not sure what needs be said at this point. She knows Peggy is not likely to let this die. No matter what Wanda has said at this point. Instead, she looks down at the scar once more, and begins buttoning back up her top.]

So now you know...

I- I had wanted to keep it a secret. Didn't want everyone concerned over something that has already past.

I thought, I could move past it. All of it. Dying and coming back. Like nothing had even happened, but... but I can't stop thinking about... death. What I experienced. What it felt like. It's...

[Tears start to well back up.]

It's haunting me.

And so the something that has already passed -- well, it hasn't really passed at all. It lingers in the present.

[ she produces a handkerchief from her pocket. she offers it, folded between two fingers. ] Who have you told?

Only a few that have reached out over the communicator. No one else in the crew knows.

[Yet. Her meeting with Steve and a few others in the cargo bay would come later, followed by her conversation with Max in the Starstruck's kitchen.]

[She does accept the handkerchief, but, at first, she just kind of holds it. Not even really looking at it. Though she does use it to wipe a few errant tears that start to descend.]

Can I... How do I keep going on after something like this happens? I can't pretend it did not happen. So how... how do I address something like this and move forward?

[She speaks the question out loud, though not even sure Peggy can provide her an answer.]

First, you stop even considering pretending it never happened -- my dear, you lost your live in the service of...[ they have no official word for what this? this community. this spectacle. ] You sacrificed. You needn't trumpet it from the mountaintops, but it isn't your duty to hide it.

Hide it, and you'll never move forward.

[Wanda thinks on this for a moment.]

So, should I-- this scar, it's not exactly pleasant to look at. Is it really okay for it to be visible?

[It's less a question about appearances and the opinions of other's thereof, and more about... well, Wanda did not want to draw a lot of unwanted attention to herself. People would want to know how she acquired it, and the thought of tell its story over and over again was not appealing to her.]

[She knows Peggy has just said not to hide it, but... still, having to recount the events behind it over and over made Wanda feel ill.]

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

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