@witch — voice

[hext]

My name is Wanda Maximoff. I have met several of you.
I have seen some of you die. Some of you have seen me die, as well.

We are, I think, intimate — if not consensually.

[ she attaches her dimly lit picture, taken near the church. a slow, measured breath, then she continues in her low, but confident voice, angled just so by her Eastern European accent: ]

We are here to survive, and we all know there is strength in numbers.

Trust is not given freely, it is earned, yes — but neither should we make sweeping generalizations about each other's competencies, young or old, when we each come from such unique... and uniquely horrifying... worlds.

[ the softest tapping sound accumulates in the background; her fingers, rarely ever idle, are dancing along the edges of her tablet as she runs through the paces of her message. ]

Winters spoke strongly of resets. I think about it each night. What drives them, if there is any reason or logic behind them. If they are not merely whims of the lighthouse keeper, then let it not be this:

Let it not be us, dividing into factions and turning on each other out of spite and fear, vengeance and guilt, carried past our deaths into this purgatory. Young, or old, or without classification. [ here's lookin' at you, five. ] We will only die again faster this way, festering in mistrust.

[ in this moment, she wishes perhaps more ardently than ever before that steve were here — he knows the power of a call to arms, how to be the tree that does not move, the liberating thrill of speech — despite how glad she is that he is not a victim with her. her captain, her beating heart, her family. ]

Each project will always have its own team.
But we shall try to be one town, yes?

I think we can.

Comments

@riku; voice

[equinoctials]

[ Strength in numbers. It's a message he can finally get behind. Refreshing, even, when it doesn't matter the world he's in, the same blockades and obstacles try to get between people with the drive to do something good with the time they have.

Riku's heartened to see he isn't the only one who took the message of the resets so seriously, that they may be here on the most borrowed of scant resources, time, that if they're found wanting they might be discarded into oblivion.

She's enviously eloquent. He both admires and covets the way she just puts into words the things he feels, persuades with them instead of brutely bludgeons. ]

Yeah. With attitudes like that, it can happen.

[ Being unified under one purpose. In a fairly rare twist, he offers his name without being prompted: ]

I'm Riku. Not that there won't be challenges-

[ Considering what other conversations have taken place... she points out the possible points of contention, so it's not like she says this with blissful ignorance of the realities of a diverse group. ]

-but considering the alternative, I think we've got all the incentive we need to make it work.

@subzero; voice

[saibot]

Foolish words of hope.

@daylit; voice

[sunborne]

[ knowing better than trying to start a fight on someone's explicit plea for peace, daylight, somehow, holds back his first dozen replies and settles with this: ]

What do you suggest then?

voice

[saibot]

You to go away before you find yourself in a situation you will certainly not enjoy.

[sunborne]

[ ... ]

Sooooo- Has that threat ever worked on anyone when you used it? Because it's never worked in my friend's experience and, believe me, she tries her hardest to sound scary as you, mister.

[saibot]

It is not a threat.

[sunborne]

I hope you don't mind me having a hard time believing that, mister, because I'm really having a hard time believing that.

You don't exactly strike me as the friendly type. [ at all. ]

[saibot]

[...]

I was not being friendly.

[hext]

[ his seriousness warms her; wanda can still hear the thin veil billowing between boyhood and manhood in his pitch, she thinks. and there's an echo of... she recalls speaking with dawn only the day before. pieces begin to fall into her lap. she examines them by touch, as she traces through her memories of texts read on a previous post. ]

Well concluded, Riku. I have noticed, on the network, you put your thoughts carefully together before you speak.

[ a soft smile in her voice for him, then: ]

I would be grateful to work with you.

cries marzi i'm so sorry i was so migrainey up and down

[hext]

not enough; only that there had been a number of them, he and will and rastus were the survivors, and clearly we need to avoid one. the worst possible outcome.

do you not find it odd that they should survive?
do you not think, perhaps, surviving may have affected them somehow?

drags self back here out of sick land i'm sorry bb ;o;

[hext]

more than anything. :')

[ STRATEGIC EMOJI USE GET. ]

i've seen you and your home crew together from a distance. i cannot help thinking sparring with you would be immensely rewarding. those do not look like typical swords.

[ what a creep. ]

mea culpa for such a delayyyyy ilu i'm trying to get my feet back under me

[hext]

[ she laughs, a bubbling thing that creeps up from her throat unbidden, and god — it's a relief to do so. ]

I could add you are the most handsome warlock I've ever met, as well, and it would be no hyperbole.

[ she leans her chin into her hand as she speaks further into the device, and her tone turns conspiratorial, excited. ]

Did you know that something about this place lets you teach others — people who have none of your magical affinity — spells? Think of that, Ambrose. You could mentor someone in defensive charms. [ a beat, and she inhales— ] You could teach me how to astral project, instead of me only creating an illusion. I could possibly teach you fear manipulation, without need for an incantation...

[equinoctials]

[ There's an inarticulate, non-verbal kind of tic at that, more like a brief hitch in his breath. Subtly taken aback, maybe. ]

Thanks.

[ That one word has enough weighty awkwardness to sink him through the floor. That's the thing about Riku, he's cultivated this appearance that seems cool, like he's got it together, when he's actually pulling off one heck of a balancing act underneath it all. ]

I wonder if the people who came before us ran into the same problems. If they had the same disagreements. How they handled them?

That's something we lose with these resets. Continuity. Being able to learn from past mistakes.

crawls back to you my apologies, pounds my chronic pain into submission

[hext]

[ she's beaming now, and it can probably be heard in her voice as she replies. ]

That is wonderful, Grandmaster! You have my respects. I would like to organize an area not far from the bonfire, thus well lit but far enough from damaging town buildings, where those who are interested my train and trade skills together. Teach, and learn. Perhaps within the next month. [ she pauses, hopeful. ] ...Would you like to help build some of the targets for practice?

[hext]

[ she finds herself nodding along, despite how there is no one to see it. ]

You make a very strong point. Without structure, laws, ways to enforce them... things could indeed go very badly. [ wanda sighs so quietly it is nearly inaudible, rubbing the spot between her eyes. ] Somehow, I think, trying to establish leaders this early while so much of our surroundings is still unknown... may go even worse.

Tell me, Cao Pi, have you ventured toward the lighthouse during your stay here?

SO SORRY for this lateness, i was real sick off and on, HERE I AM TRYIN

[hext]

[ he's going to hate this— ]

You could be right. But may I say... I find your voice very soothing. I would welcome more audio critique if you have it.

[hext]

[ clearing her throat gently, gently. ]

Daylight. You are a darling, and my hero, of course. Can I persuade you to leave this topic and speak with me about group training?

[hext]

[ she hears it; doesn't comment, accommodate, or rush to comfort. her intuition does many things for her — not only the veil and what may be behind it, but builds in her bones the knowledge of the sensitive approach. you don't reach out and catch a hummingbird, with its heart thundering too fast to comprehend, wings a blur and eternally active, eternally doing, and quite possibly floundering but never revealing. you offer a feeder, and if it feels comfortable, it will come to your perch of its own accord one day and receive sustenance. if it feels just right, perhaps it will come back the next day. and the day after that.

wanda extends her perch to riku, just so. ]

I wonder about the very same things. It frustrates me not to know. To have no compass. [ a self-deprecating huff of a laugh. ] When we first arrived, I went to the town hall, hoping to find records of past lives. When I saw it was empty, I had a terrible moment. Broke a statue. [ a beat. ] That is how I met Vanitas, from your world.

[equinoctials]

No records. Guess that was gonna be too convenient.

[ Wanda's intuition is sharp, but then... she's had to deal with a wide range of personalities.

Riku snorts softly at the mention of Vanitas. Even if it's his reflex to say he isn't from his world, he realizes how wrong that is. I'm the darkness kept in the prison of Sora's heart, he had said.

It's not that he dislikes Vanitas.

It's... complicated in ways he can't articulate. The scent of his darkness and the face he wears-- ]

Yeah? How did that go?

[pure_havoc]

I don't disagree, but it bears keeping in mind that so that, down the line when anarchy erupts, no one is left wondering how we could have fixed this earlier.

[ah yes the lighthouse]

I have not. My explorations along the river were more about getting across; I have been mindful of the warnings that we should not attempt the lighthouse. [strategic pause] Yet.

take your time bby

[paletteswap]

[No one has been quite that happy when he introduced himself so that's a welcome change.]

A wise choice. We have no way of knowing what dangers we may face in this place and those who can fight will need to keep up their skills. Those who have never learned can be taught. At least to defend themselves at first, and perhaps more as time passes.

[Which he doesn't want to think about - planning for the future in terms of months rather than days makes this all feel a lot more permanent. Acknowledging the reality of the situation doesn't make it any easier to accept.]

Certainly. For weaponry and hand to hand?

shhhh shhhhhhhh

[replicates]

[ a creep, but listen, it takes one to know one. ]

yeah they're not

[ getting his own keyblade now doesn't mean he knows any more about them than he did before, but. you know. ]

what do you do?

it's okay, i've been without power for over twelve hours now so shit happens!! i still love u

[necromantiae]

How many warlocks have you met?

( was he the only one? )

Is that right? And how did you come to find out this information? That seems quite the revelation. If you'd like to learn how to astral project, I'm sure I can become the professor I was born to be.

[chivalrouswench]

I never learned his age.

[sunborne]

Oh! Right-

[ daylight sounds pretty flustered, realising he was doing the very thing wanda was asking them not to do. whoops. bad, day...! ]

Sure. Okay. Sorry about that. [ he pauses for a second, letting her words really sink in. ] ... Can I train with you guys? I mean- I'm not... You know.

[ -the average size of everyone else. he sounds kind of nervous now, actually. ]