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

[She nods her head solemnly, pure sympathy radiating from behind her eyes.]

Al, I won't tell anyone. I will keep it a secret. You... thank you for sharing with me even though you didn't have to with something so personal and so painful...

[It feels sort of one-sided. So, with a bit of a heavy sigh and an uncertain look, one of Wanda's hands slowly works it's way up to her jacket, and tugs the zipper down partially.]

You trusted me. I will trust you.

[She's not sure how Al will take this. Especially after what he's just shared with her, but... it didn't seem right to have strung him along, gotten him to confess something so painful and personal without confiding in him why she had done this to him in the first place.]

[As the zipper drops a little, she then pulls the jacket's collar to the side. It gives Alphonse a good look at the start of what appears to be a rather grisly, long scar which begins just below where her left collarbone meets her neck. The scar almost looks fresh. The ghostly white of it clashing with her natural complexion. Actually, given the placement and likely length of the scar, the wound that created it would have been lethal... yet, she was here on the communicator talking to him.]

[She studies his reaction. Her face showing more fear than ever before in their conversation.]

I appreciate it. It's been hard to keep it in, believe me- even the people who knew me when I was still armor don't know the full story behind it. Zuko did, because he met another version of me in a place called Adstringendum, but, well... it's not exactly a good topic for casual conversation either.

[He's then silent, a little confused at first as she unzips her jacket, but then he understands. That was definitely a nasty-looking wound, and though he's no doctor, he's quite sure that would have been fatal, and he nods in understanding, his face sad.]

So you were given another chance at life here, but at home... you're going back to death, aren't you? Or don't you know for sure?

[Wanda cannot help but look panicked at that question. The idea had never occurred to her that her death here, her resurrection, that any of it would affect her back home.]

Is that possible? Did my dying here mean... did I die back home, too?

[She looks about ready to crumble all over again. This new shock and terror mounting on top of what already existed... it's about to become simply too much.]

That I don't know. [Al looks sad and a little frustrated at his inability to give her some sort of reassurance.] I'd say no... things that happen here don't affect us back home. After all, time freezes, doesn't it? So it wouldn't make sense.

[Wanda hesitantly nods her head. Though, the troubled look on her face tells Alphonse that this new possibility still alarms her.]

You said... creating life is a taboo... what then... what does that make me then?

You're still alive. [On that, at least, he can be firm in his beliefs.] Even if you were created, your life still has value. I knew people who were made into fusions of humans and animals against their will, but they found each other, cared about each other and found meaning in their lives anyway.

[Wanda thinks on Al's words for a moment. As enticing to her curiosity as these people Al knows are, she doesn't pursue the topic. Instead, a small, sad smile finds its way to her face. The gist of his message having come across.]

Even if life is given... [She struggles to find a word she wants to use.] unnaturally, it does not mean that life cannot have purpose. And it does not mean it is somehow... less than the life of another.

Exactly. I've always firmly believed that. Hey, I was a living suit of armor for a while, but people still treated me like I was another human being. It meant a lot, and I'll never forget how that helped keep me sane during those years.

[A small, yet grateful smile finds its way to Wanda's lips. Al had been willing to share a lot with her -- a secret to his past that he hadn't told many others. In doing so, he'd helped her realize a valuable truth that had been lost in the haze of dark thoughts Wanda'd allowed to permeate her mind.]

Thank you, Alphonse.

For trusting me.

You're welcome. I hope I was able to be of some help.

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

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