driftfleet | Belated Christmas presents are better than no presents, right?

Entry tags:

Belated Christmas presents are better than no presents, right?

Who: Wanda Maximoff, friends, shipmates, and YOU!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Yes; Starstruck
When: Early this morning (last night) through the rest of today

A) Closed to Wanda's Christmas List

[The past two months have been kind of crazy for everyone, and that certainly included Wanda. Spending the month of December with no memories of her previous time in the Fleet, regaining them (well, almost all of them) so suddenly and somewhat painfully, followed by all the chaos that came with the surprise attack on the Fleet, and then, of course, there was the necessary repair process after that, it's all been a whirlwind of distractions and activity for Wanda. Finally now, things were starting to settle back down, and that meant Wanda could turn her attention back to a project she's been discreetly working on since her memories returned.]

[She'd felt guilty that her "condition" had kept her from celebrating the Christmas holidays with her friends and shipmates. Now, it was over a full month passed, but she still really wanted to try and do something special. She'd been gathering some presents over the past year during the Fleet's travels, but she had not quiet finished her list. Thankfully, with time now available to her, she's seen to finishing her list -- which she may have added some people to post-December. But, in her eyes, they still deserved presents.]

[Anyways, last night, Wanda set about delivering her gifts to everyone. Each person will find the gift waiting outside their doors or in an easily spotted place in a communal area. The gifts have tags specifying who each present is for, and some may also have "special instructions," but none have any note as to WHO the gifts are from. Perhaps Wanda's feeling a little too embarrassed and guilty about only just now finally delivering her Christmas gifts to attach her name to them. However, each present will feature wrapping or packaging that belies a certain affinity for the color red. Naturally, some (or all) gift recipients might be able to put two and two together. If they'd then like, they may contact Wanda via communicator or in person. Just expect a very pink-face, blushing Wanda to greet you.]

B) Fleetwide Broadcast

[When Wanda turns on the broadcast, she looks noticeably... well, tired. It seems she did not get a lot of sleep last night for some reason. Hmmm. Odd. She tries to smile, friendly and cheerfully, though her eyes flutter a few times while she speaks. Girl's likely gonna take a long nap after this.]

I was, um, baking... a lot recently... and I, um... I made extra! So, if anyone would like some cookies or brownies, they are... They are on the Starstruck! ... in the kitchen... room... area...

[She covers her mouth with her hand, attempting (poorly) to cover a soft yawn.]

Help yourselves! I... um, everyone is welcome! First come, first serve though... sorry... I can make some more... later...

[The video feed cuts there, as Wanda falls back onto her bed for some much needed rest. Anybody who received a mysterious, belated Christmas gift this morning just got a big clue as to who it was that delivered them.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What - why what about?

[ he sees nothing embarrassing about any of this, but then again, he's a walking talking embarrassment machine so maybe his opinion doesn't count. ]

Well, I... I meant for them to be a secret. A surprise.

I had missed Christmas, because of... well, a glitch that kept from being able to celebrate with those I should have. It's been so long since Christmas now though, that I... I was embarrassed about giving them to anyone face-to-face.

So, I thought they would just be a nice little mystery for everyone to find on their own, but... well, I apparently saw to unraveling that myself.

[A sigh, another flash of red in her cheeks.]

This is very embarrassing.

Hey, late gifts are great, they stretch the holidays out and besides, you didn't know me on Christmas. [ he smiles ] And now I owe you one back that'll be ever later, it'll be great, we can make a tradition out of it.

[She smiles appreciatively at Winn.]

That is true. We did not know each other before the holidays. And as fun as that tradition sounds, it is important to me that... I do not want anyone to feel as if they have been forgotten on Christmas.

That thought? That's all that really matters. [ he smiles right back. before the fleet, his christmases were pretty dismal, but this year? it's been amazing. ] All people really need.

[Her smiles grows warmer at his words. She's quiet for a moment, apparently considering something, before she decides to let Winn in a little more as to her history. She's somewhat certain Kitty may have mentioned some parts of it to him, but she decides that it would mean more to hear some of this from Wanda herself.]

Growing up, I did not get to celebrate Christmas like this. Pietro and I would do what we could for one another, but... well, I certainly wasn't staying up nearly the whole night baking for twenty or thirty some people.

[ he nods, he's been grown for a while but getting a real christmas with friends and found family this year hit him really hard in the feels. ]

I know what you mean, not a lot of Christmas cheer in foster care. [ hell yeah team overcompensation! ]

[Wanda blinks at Winn, surprised by the revelation of this possible common thread between them.]

Winn... you do not have to answer if this is too personal a question. What happened to your parents? Why were you placed in foster care?

[ he shrugs, putting on a fairly convincing air of no big deal ]

My dad went crazy, and my mom just went.

[Wanda's jaw drops for a moment. There really was no "good" answer to the question she'd asked, but she still not expected Winn's response. Her heart goes out to him in that moment. She takes a moment to process his answer before offering one to her own question.]

Our parents were killed when Pietro and I were ten years old.

[ there is no good answer to losing your world as a child. but he didn't lose it, no outer force came and took it away - his world spat him out, decided it didn't want him anymore. it probably won't ever stop hurting, but he's in a good place now, and that's what he tries to hold onto. ]

I'm sorry, Wanda. [ sincerely, he hurts for her; she was even younger than he is, by one year, but still. at least she had a brother to hang onto. he hopes they were never separated. ] Did you have any other family to take you in? [ he hates that they're doing this on the network, but he doesn't know if offering to come over will be taken well yet, or like an intrusion. ]

[At this point, she didn't care so much if this was on the network. It wasn't like her past was any secret back home, and she no longer felt like it needed to be treated as one here. Any reticence she's had about sharing details about herself came purely from a place of not wanting to get too close to anyone too quickly. While she knows she can still be that way with people she meets for the first time, she has come a long way from where she was when she first arrived in the Fleet almost two years ago.]

[She shakes her head no to Winn's question.]

It was just Pietro and I. But we made do somehow. We were resourceful kids. We had to be.

[No foster care or orphanages, at least not good ones, in a failed state like Sokovia.]

[ not any good ones for him, either. orphans don't tend to like the children of murderers. nor do the people charged with their care.

sometimes, it feels like a whole family is a myth, that no one has one of those. when he talks to person after person who has lost everything at a time they were still meant to be warm and safe in the care of loving parents, he has to remind himself that he does know some people who had that.

they feel like such a minority, though. ]

I'm glad you have each other. [ back then and now. he didn't know what it feels like to have siblings until he made it to the fleet, and now it's almost like he has an addiction, he keeps adopting them left and right. and it's not that he takes it lightly - he's entirely devoted to every person who earns that title from him, and they are to him. ] I don't think I ever met him. [ he knows he never did. pietro was going to take kara out on a date - he never heard anything more on the subject, though. he never heard of pietro, since. ]

[Wanda gives Winn a small, appreciative smile. It never quite ceased to surprise her every time she met someone in the Fleet who seemed to come from similar circumstances to her own. There always seemed to be more than she could have guessed, and there was a certain tragedy to that. Wanda's heart always went out to them.]

Maybe I will be able to drag him along to our next movie viewing. Though it may prove difficult to get him to sit still through the entire film.

[ he smiles back, a little wider. losing his family has made him appreciate the concept all the more. ]

Maybe we can have dinner before or after, from experience people who tend to move around really fast can usually be bribed into sticking around with food.

[She snorts, starts to giggle. That was rather deviously clever, and she's surprised she had not considered that before.]

Well said. That might get him to stay still long enough, yes.

[ as he said - he has experience. it's good to hear her laugh, he always worries when he gets into the serious topics, that he would be inappropriate in navigating his way through them and back out. it's always a relief when it goes well. ]

Food's basically the key to anyone's heart.

So I've noticed. Though, if I'm going to have to supply chocolate popcorn every movie night, I'm going to have to stock up on a lot of chocolate. It was not exactly easy to make that first batch with what we had on the ship.

I feel like stocking up on chocolate is just generally a good idea, but we can change it up.

The problem is that chocolate is not always called "chocolate" on the planets we visit. It takes a little guesswork. And luck.

Learning how to say "chocolate" in every stop feels like a pretty great take away from a space roadtrip.

[Wanda snorts at that, a soft giggle echoing after.]

That is several times too many for me to learn them all.

Hey, don't underestimate yourself. I believe in you!

[She gives him a wry look.]

Sounds to me like someone just wants to make sure he has a steady supply of chocolate popcorn coming his way.

If anyone doesn't, there is something very wrong with them.

Belated Christmas presents are better than no presents, right?

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