001 Arrival Post

[scepterschild]

WHO: Wanda Maximoff
WHERE: Fountain & Around
WHEN: February 12th
OPEN TO: EVERYONE!
WARNINGS: Threatening people in the first post.
STATUS: CLOSED

---

Fountain; Very Early Morning

Wanda pushed her way from the fountain, a noticeable frown tugging at her lips as she moved. She was soaked, it was freezing and she had no idea how she got here. Moving quickly, Wanda pulled the backpack from her shoulders and rummaged through its contents. She didn't know what she was expecting to find but she was grateful to see a set of dry clothes stashed inside. After making sure that there wasn't anyone watching, Wanda began to strip off the wet layers and pull on what she had found.

Her movements were quick as she pulled the pale gray scrubs over her head. Any sound or inclination of another person would cause her focus to shift. She'd quickly turn towards her new company, red mist snapping an icicle from nearby shooting it towards the stranger.

Wanda would stop her attack just before striking. She wanted answers.

Around; Mid-Day

Wanda took the time to explore the village; learning the few threads of information that were available as well as who else was around. Her powers felt different, distant, and her tests to use them confirmed that a large fraction of her strength had been taken from her. It was frustrating and it pulled at the strands of tension that gathered beneath her breastbone.

She didn't like feeling like a rat in a cage.

She meandered through the village and around it's outskirts, her eyes inspecting for details that might offer a clue that others have missed. Wanda was familiar with cold weather and snow; neither deterred her from having a look around however she didn't wander very far.

Near the Inn; Night Sky

As the afternoon drifted away from Wanda she began to noticed the intensity of the lights stretching across the sky. She's seen auroras in the past. They were streaks of light that curled like brilliant ocean waves against the dark contrast of night. She had hoped to see the stars but the auroras were shining like a second sun, efficiently hiding anything else from sight.

"Hmm?" Her tone was soft, her chin tilted up to stare at the sky. "How is it that people sleep."

Wanda knew she should sleep but her thoughts were heavy and distracting. The auroras gave her something to focus on and for the moment she wanted that distraction.

Comments

[pretendtoneedme]

She was still a kid. Mostly. Okay she was older than he was when he was fully on his own, she was definitely a legal adult, but she'd missed a good portion of her childhood thanks to the missile that'd destroyed her apartment building and killed her parents. She and Pietro had fought to survive after that; while he'd also been orphaned and left alone, without even a sibling to share that experience with, he'd had a better care system that had given him a a roof to sleep under, clothes on his body, and two or three square meals a day. He'd had to fight for anything beyond that, but at least the basics had been covered, and he hadn't just been left to rot.

The fact that Sam had been here longer than him despite coming from more or less the same time and Peggy being around means he's able to deal with Wanda's time discrepancy with only a slight annoyance. He mutters something that's probably a curse and definitely Russian under his breath, shaking his head a little, before going on. "Yeah - you'll figure it out quickly, but this place sometimes pulls people in from different time periods. But that explosion was definitely me." Of course it was him, Clint rivaled Tony in one of his first reactions to a problem being "blow something up." He might even be worse than Tony. "I broke you out, we picked up a guy called Scott Lang who Sam knows, we went to Germany, and things went kinda shitty."

He won't ever forgive Ross for what he did to her. Ever.

But Clint stopped walking before they got to the inn, because he didn't know if Pietro would be in there - it was unlikely, since even a Pietro from another world (universe?) didn't seem to like to not be moving, but he was living there as well and could be having a late breakfast. Best just to warn her now. "It's gonna sound like I've gone insane, but I promise I'm not lying. But... it's Pietro. He's here. But it's not your Pietro," he said before her hopes could get too far. "He's a Pietro from... it sounds stupidly sci-fi, but a parallel world as far as we can tell. He doesn't quite look the same, his accent's a little different from yours, I think he's a little younger. But he's a speedster, and he has a twin sister named Wanda, and he knows me. The 'me' from where he's from, I mean. It's... it's been weird." Understatement.

[scepterschild]

Wanda had no reason not to believe Clint. She nodded her head slightly to showed that she understood. It sounded reasonable and while she wanted to ask more about it, there were more important things that demanded her attention.

Her steps paused with him though she looked over at him quizzically, unsure why it was that they had stopped. Wanda began to study him, wandering what could be wrong or so important that they'd stop in the cold to discuss it. She stood perfectly still as he spoke and with each new word she felt the cold press a little harder against her skin, seeping into her core. Wanda had no idea what she should think. There wasn't a day that passed that she didn't think about her brother.

Her tongue dragged over her bottom lip and her head turned towards the larger building in the distance that was most likely the inn. "Will he recognize me?" She tried to keep the hope from her voice. It wouldn't be the same but she wanted to see her brother again, to listen to him complain about the world and how they'd fight it; together. They weren't together anymore and while Wanda had come to terms with that over a year ago, she still felt the pain and loss from time to time. She'd never forget how it felt to lose him. She never wanted to forget it. Pietro was to important to forget, even the sad memories, she wanted to treasure them.

[pretendtoneedme]

Well, she wasn't calling him a liar or proclaiming what what he said was impossible. Good first step right there. Clint silently let go of a breath he'd been holding as he waited for her reaction, shrugging a little in an act of complete uncertainty. "Who knows - he might. I didn't recognize him and he didn't recognize me, but you two are twins. You know each other a lot better than I knew him. If he's gonna know who anyone is, it'll be you."

Losing a relative was never easy, no matter how you felt about them; losing one who was as close to you as the twins had been was devastating. Clint was certain Wanda wouldn't have latched onto him like she had if Pietro had survived, speeches under fire or not. Trusted him, looked to him for some kind of guidance, sure, she'd already been displaying those traits in Sokovia, but after losing the last of her family she'd needed stability and he'd needed to repay the massive debt he owed both of them. It was just luck that they got along as well as they did and that a relationship that had started as what could kindly be called "rocky" had evolved into what they had. He didn't want her to be broken again - she didn't deserve it.

"He might be in there. I didn't want you to walk through the door and be blindsided by it if he is."

[scepterschild]

Wanda didn't see a reason why Clint would lie and feeling the restrictions on her powers made each oddity a little easier to believe. He knew things that had yet to happen and they had both somehow arrived in this world, at that fountain, at different times. There was to much going on to start believing that there were impossibilities in this place. Judging from what little Wanda knew, it was trying to fuck with her and it was doing a very good job at doing that.

She was struggling with how she felt, trying not to let her hope rise to far. Wanda told herself that it wasn't him. They might not share the same memories and he was younger which probably meant that he was rash. She was trying not to think of him as Pietro, she'd meet him first. "Maybe." Her voice sounded thicker and she cleared her throat to cover her uncertainty.

This wasn't the sort of thing she was expecting and as cool as Wanda looked she was trying to wrap her head around all of it.

Wanda nodded her head and then stepped forward, pausing when she was standing next to Clint. "Thank you." She looked towards the inn allowing her determination to solidify. "We should get inside." She wasn't sure if she was ready to run into Pietro or not but she wouldn't find out standing outside in the cold.

[pretendtoneedme]

Of course Pietro was rash. But to be fair, "her" Pietro had still been rash. That seemed to be an issue with speedsters in general, but maybe it was just a "Pietro" trait. It definitely crossed the... universes? multiverse? whatever you wanted to call it.

Years and years of reading pulp sci-fi novels hadn't really helped him deal with this in person.

Clint squeezed her hand once more in silent reassurance, but it wasn't good for her to be soaking wet and standing out in the tail end of winter weather, so there was no more delay. He followed her, naturally doing his normal bit of looking around and taking all of their surroundings in, though by this time he knew the inn well enough to be mostly trying to spot any differences that had cropped up, new information added to the wall and things like that. Whatever mental powers Wanda still possessed with the damper effect, she would probably be able to feel a slight aura of "protection" directed at her. He had already put himself between her and danger quite a few times, but with her powers at a nadir in this village, he was poised to do that even more.

[scepterschild]

Similarly to Clint, Wanda was on guard. She was thankful for his presence and reassurance but she couldn't bring herself to relax. It was a new place and it had it's own challenges to face. One of those challenges was an alternate version of her brother.

Once she was sure that the room was safe Wanda moved towards the fire, finding a table that was close to put down her things.

Her eyes looked over at Clint as she put her back to the fire. She hadn't seen anyone that might be Pietro but she looked to Clint to make sure that it was true. For all she knew he might look different. Wanda wasn't sure what she wanted or what she was expecting.