driftfleet | An Incomplete Homecoming

Who: Wanda Maximoff
Broadcast: Yes; Network-wide
Action: Starstruck
When: Now

[The scene that appears as the communicator's video feed clicks on is that of a dimly lit bunkroom aboard one of the fleet ships. The crew of the Starstruck, and any of Wanda's friends who have visited her room, will recognize the space rather quickly as the young Maximoff girl's own. What may be surprising, however, is that, what had been an empty room for over a month, now contained someone sleeping on the cot. Wherever Wanda had gone, it had been clear that the Atroma had not exactly sent her home and out of the fleet. All of her belongings had remained in her room, and her name never left the Starstruck's or Fleet's registry. Still, she'd been absent for some time, seemingly having vanished into thin air. But now, the communicator's feed was showing her asleep in her room as if nothing had changed at all.]

[However, it soon becomes clear that something has indeed changed about Wanda. As she begins to stir, the young woman sits slowly up in bed, stretching her arms overhead as she starts to awaken fully. Her eyes spread wide in a look of first confusion that begins to seem more panicked. She looks about her own bunk room as if she's never seen it before. The note of fear in her eyes makes her seem not like someone who has spent over a year in the fleet. Instead, she seems more like --]

This... this is not where I-- What- what is this place? Did the Avengers... did they move me here in my sleep? But how could they have...

[Her voice is quiet, believing she is only speaking to herself. She seems unaware of the communicator recording all of this. Though, it is now rather clear that Wanda does not recognize where she is at all.]

[She swings her legs out over the edge of the cot, slowly getting up, and measuring the size of the room. As she studies the small interior, her eyes stop on the occasional picture or keepsake hanging on the walls. Various trinkets she's collected from the planets visited during her time in the fleet. There's a look to her eyes as if each item kindles a flicker of recognition that is then almost immediately snuffed out. Each time leaving her looking more and more bewildered and frustrated.]

[She shakes her head. Whatever was happening clearly was proving to be a lot to process. She then spies the communicator out of the corner of her eye. She takes a step over and picks the device up. Holding it out in front of her now, she stares at the screen for a moment. She looks as if this is her very first time ever handling the device. But then, in an instant, she seems to suddenly recognize what exactly it is that she's holding. She then addresses the screen with a calm, yet slightly edged tone.]

Whoever is watching this, I do not appreciate being toyed with. I did not think the Avengers were ones for such games. If this is some kind of test, I expect an explanation. Now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Here, it's the Atroma. I don't think they've ever messed with my head yet, but it seems to happen. I don't know. I'm more used to memories getting erased in shit... somewhere else. [Try not to overload this poor woman with too much, Wrath.] But that might be what's happening? It's possible.

[Getting fed up with her own waterworks, Wanda begins to aggressively wipe away her tears, and attempts to focus on this new subject -- the Atroma.]

My memories... you are saying these Atroma have changed them somehow? Is that-- how are they able to do such a thing?

[Considering Wanda's abilities, it seemed unlikely to her that such a thing could have been done to her, and she somehow missed it or was unable to notice.]

Maybe? I don't know if that's a thing they do. But that shit happened all the time where I'm from, so I know it's possible?

[Wanda's head was hurting. This was all too much in far too many ways. As if her life wasn't already far from normal... The concept of playing with memories Wanda was already personally familiar with that type of ability. Seemed almost deserving that she should find herself on the other end of it one day.]

[Wanda's quiet for a moment or two before she asks Wrath another question. Her first response to all of this -- what had made Wanda spontaneously start crying against her will. Wanda wanted answers about that.]

Why did you say you had sad news for me? When you said Vision left, why did you apologize?

[Sure, Vision had been an ally in the fight against Ultron. He had even swooped in to save Wanda from the crumbling, falling ruins of the city. In truth, Wanda owed him her life for that. Yet, despite that, she couldn't say she knew Vision for long enough to have justified the kind of reaction she got from Wrath's words.]

[Oh god. She realizes that dropping the "you and Vision totally had a thing for each other" on Wanda as of right now is probably not a good thing. But she's also the worst liar who ever lived. Shit shit shit.]

Because you were friends?

[Wanda's studying Wrath's face carefully. She can tell there's something more to it than that, but she's not certain she wants to press the issue.]

Friends...

[Considering Wanda, Pietro and Steve had more or less tried to stop him from being born, she finds that a little hard to imagine. Although, at the time, they had expected him to be another child of Ultron, and not the ally he turned out to be.]

So these "Atroma" bring people here, but they can also send them home? Why? To what purpose?

[Good move, Wanda. Wrath is relieved.]

Yeah, they can. I don't know how. But I don't know how they bring us here either. Sorry, I wish I did.

Tch-

[Wanda wasn't exactly a stranger to unknown, alien tech -- Loki's scepter being the very artifact HYDRA had used in their experiments on her, Pietro and the other Sokovian volunteers. Thus, she's not a fan of apparently once again being made a subject to it.]

But why? Why bring us all here? What's the purpose?

Oh! That's pretty simple. We're on a reality vid show. Kind of cool, huh? Even if it's uncool we didn't want to be.

[Wanda is giving Wrath the biggest "Are you fucking kidding me?" look right now.]

"A reality vid show?"

Um yeah so like when they film people and show that on the network but it's all edited so that everyone looks like sex-crazed assholes and people watch it?

[Yeah, that's not dispelling the look on Wanda's face or the frustration in her tone.]

I know what it is. Are you playing some kind of game with me? A reality show? In space? That's what this all is? You expect me to honestly believe that?!

[Dryly:] I'm dumb as hell, so I don't think I could make it up if I tried. If you've got a better explanation for all this shit, go ahead.

[Wanda opens her mouth to retort, but she's not quite sure to say. It's kind of hard to follow up a woman who just kind of insulted herself. So instead, Wanda just sits there for a moment looking altogether rather perturbed.]

A reality TV show... in space...

[It still sounds completely ridiculous to her. Even if she cannot offer a better explanation herself at the moment. She mutters in frustration, speaking in her mother tongue.]

tas ir smieklīgi...

[Shrug.]

I don't know what that means.

You weren't supposed to...

[It's muttered, but likely still loud enough for Wrath to hear. Wanda's such a brat...]

So what happens now then? Interviews? Trivia?

Oh, okay.

We just like... keep going. They haven't done anything like that. The most that happens is like sometimes the Host talks to us and we can talk back? But that's really it. We just go from place to place.

[Wanda shakes her head. All of this was simply too much right now.]

It sounds like this "reality show" is less television and more a flimsy alternative to saying "prison."

An Incomplete Homecoming

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