( don't call it a cheat sheet just because you can't do it—
wanda moves past the subject because david says that he doesn't want to talk about them, not any of them. that he'll hear should amy or lenny arrive, but that farouk will be much more difficult to intercept. her cheat sheet does help in picking up that short-lived twist of bitterness, which is why she lets it be.
david glances out the window, and it makes wanda — think. )
I hitchhike. I get to meet a bunch of people that way. ( that can't really just be it. she thinks about it for a bit longer, finally letting go of his hand, and bringing up her legs on the couch, too; feet up on the cushion, knees bent, she hugs her legs close as she presses her side against the couch. ) Sometimes, I run into raiders—
( she pauses. hm. she owes henry a car window... well, if he hasn't asked since... )
I keep busy with work, and I try solving crossword puzzles with the magazines at work. I never get them right. ( for a moment, she releases her arms from around her legs, and fidgets with her fingers, with her sleeves, rings. ) There's someone I work with. We're — scouting out how easy it'd be to... (you know) —in the Sanctum.
( anyway! that's not super important, unless david wants to focus on it. )
I want to get a television. I have a stash of video tapes at work that I want to see. Sitcoms, mostly. Some movies. So, ( she motions with her hands, thumbs and pointer fingers stretched out, depicting a semblance of a rectangle ) it needs to have the VHS part.
( she's mentioned the hitchhiking before and david hadn't thought much of it. in and of itself, it's something that's not safe, but it's different for someone who can do what wanda can do, even if there's no assurance that whoever she gets into a car with can't do the same or more. but, but, her addition of 'I get to meet—' gives him pause, and david, silently, looks to her, his head tilted to one side as he interrupts her answer to request, )What?
( it overlaps with the rest of what she says, the thing about sometimes meeting raiders, and the way she doesn't linger on that all but confirms to david that he'd been correct in his assertion the night previous that they're nothing to worry about. assholes with guns, maybe, who get off on scaring people. she can handle them, he can handle them.
—but he does linger on that unfinished remark, precisely because it is unfinished. ordinarily, it'd be different. he wouldn't need to. the thought would be there, it'd accompany the utterance, and david would be able to decide if he wanted to pursue it or if he wanted to leave it. as it stands, it just comes across as if it's something wanda's not fully committed to, or like she thinks david will judge her. ) —How easy it'll be to what?
( it's more interesting than the idea of watching vhs. he's been there, done that. movie afternoons at clockworks, inoffensive things that wouldn't upset any of them. musicals. animations. dancing in the rain, bedknobs and broomsticks. rated universal, rated parental guidance. he doesn't think that's what wanda will like necessarily, it's just what it puts him in mind of. he almost tells her that they don't need a tv.
(lenny had agreed.)
he taps his fingers against his knees, a short one-two. ) What sitcoms?
( his what? is not going to get an answer, because having to explain what this whole hitchhiking situation is for her, ever since her arrival here, is going to be a too-long story that she doesn't think is very interesting. wanda can't drive her motorcycle well enough, out into the fringes, (isn't comfortable with it) so she gets to meet people who may potentially be the ones to give her a ride should she ever need it, want to. that's how she's met a lot of the people she considers acquaintances, friends—
but they have a car now, so maybe those days are behind her.
wanda presses her feet, annoyingly, onto the side of one of his thighs. wanda is fully committed to the ventures that she has going on with a certain vampire friend of hers, so it's more likely that she'll think david will judge her. still very much in those early stages of friendship, wanting to appear cool but not too cool that you're untouchable, that kind of thing.
her expression pinches. )
How easy it'll be to break into places. ( said quickly, )Anyway, I have found Malcolm in the Middle. Also a few episodes of The Honeymooners, ( she's listing these off while counting on her fingers, almost as if she were to continue, he'll overlook her statement, (that is one of the reasons how she can afford this place) ) season 2 and season 5 of The Dick Van Dyke Show— ( she points at him, excitedly ) which is my favorite one.
(breaking into places isn't an answer. sure, on the surface, it's something, but it's not a why. some people break into places for the thrill of it, but more often there's a reason. sometimes it's to squat, but wanda has a place; sometimes, it's to intimidate; more often, it's to steal. it's to take something. sometimes that's money, sometimes that's things, sometimes it's something else entirely, but no-one breaks into somewhere to leave empty-handed.
he's not judging, not really — he'd gone along with her plan to sneak into silvia's store too quickly to really be able to comment — but he knows the consequences that can come from breaking into the wrong place at the wrong time. the reasons for it don't even matter, aren't important.
there's a lot in the way her expression tightens when he asks about it, the way she moves on, the press of her feet against his leg.
his attention drifts, away from her and towards the stereo. the cassette whirs each and every time the volume drops, when the recording-of-a-recording dips in and out. it reminds him of before.
a sharp glance back to her, expression bright. )
For what? Fun? The adrenaline rush? 'Cause you want to steal from people who have it better than you? ( he adjusts his weight to lean towards her without inadvertently pressing her feet deeper into his thigh. ) I know what you can do. It's not about how easy it is to break into anywhere. Everywhere's easy.
( so! )
—They used to show movies in the day room at Clockworks. TV shows were less frequent.
( of course david picks on it, because he likes to pull at threads of things that he happens to find fascinating. wanda isn't all too fussed, but still is; maybe it's the idea that she should probably, definitely?, keep it secret, lest her and astarion's ventures become a whole lot more difficult than they need to be. not to mention there's that judgement and disappointment she can see coming her way from others, like steve or erik...
in any case, almost dismissing his tangent about wanting to figure out the why, she says— )
That's why I need to find a TV with a VHS player. You'll like them. ( said with the confidence of someone who loves sitcoms and is about to show their friend something she considers precious, and will not take anything but this is awesome! as an answer— (it makes her feel nostalgic; pietro loved to tease her about her favorite sitcoms, pretending to be annoyed at her episode choices.)
then, a pause, her expression speaking volumes of someone who most definitely is debating saying something else.
(decidedly, david isn't like steve or erik.) )
It's an easy way to get money. I used to do it, with someone else, at the gambling dens. But, then that become tricky, and we were nearly found out one time. ( wanda's fledgling criminal days... ) Breaking in's easier. I use my powers, we steal a couple things, we get out with no one remembering we were there. ( she places her hands on her knees. ) The guy I work with—he figures out pawning the items off, so I don't worry about that. I get my share afterwards.
( then, she raises her right hand, pinky raised. )
( it's, well, considering panorama, oddly mundane. it's a means to make money, and she's self-conscious of it. how many people are there in the city who've made their existence completely honestly? too many people come and go for that. she swears him to secrecy regardless, and he eyes her for a moment before acquiescing. who'd he tell? it doesn't bother him what she does.
it does, though, explain a few things about the apartment, regardless of any impact he might have had. it makes him rethink, too, the way he'd assumed she was judging him back when they met for the first time at the motel and david had pretended like he was going to get a job and pay his way for the room legitimately. it doesn't, of course, make him reconsider things enough to correct her, to set the record straight. )
Okay.
( it's easy agreement, accompanied by a loose lift of a shoulder before he leans forward, resting one hand on her knee for balance and hooking the pinky of his other hand around hers. )
I won't tell anyone how you make your money. But just because it's easier doesn't mean it's easy. Don't get cocky.
( it's not so much that wanda was judging him, so much as she still (then, now) has these thoughts in her head that using her powers is bad; that she shouldn't use it to mess with other people's minds, their memories, even if brief. so it drags over her like the dirtiest of secrets, does it make me a bad person?, constantly racking through her mind. when she had asked david, in their first meeting, if he had ever been told if that using his powers on others was a bad thing (somewhat loosely related to him getting a job), it hadn't been to judge or to force some kind of expectation of him.
genuinely, she had been wondering if this guilt she drags with her is fair for her to drag at all. (this is how bad habits start to get excused.)
even now, there's a little bit of that. of that guilt, of actually really enjoying the validation that david has brought into her life these past few days: we're powerful. why shouldn't they? why shouldn't she?
their pinkies hook together, an easy enough promise. his words aren't meant to chastise, but it still feels — somewhat like that. pietro used to steal before, use his speed to get medicine for the sick in novi grad, toys for the kids. she would tell him something similar, in an angry tone (you'll get shot—and then he was shot), but it's not the same as messing with people's heads. she glances away, momentarily, his hand warm on her knee. )
...I'm not. ( getting cocky. still, she gets her pinky, her hand, back to herself, presses it to her cheek. ) Maybe if — we worked together sometimes, on a few jobs, maybe— ( she's just plainly suggesting a team-up for crime. he seems understanding enough, and, maybe, through that, wanda could benefit in learning from him? their powers? ) It'd be less risky.
( he doesn't seem to be against crime, either way, so. )
I know others have strong feelings about stealing, ( but that's not what what makes her feel bad about the whole thing. she elaborates, quickly enough, ) but more than that — I don't want to screw up and hurt others.
( the idea of it, what she's suggesting, is — fine, mostly. it's not who he thinks of himself as, not these days. someone that steals. it's not that david has lines, as such — he's very good at justifying to himself what he does in terms of it needing to be done, and so wherever he might pretend there are boundaries, they're malleable and moveable.
not paying for a room in a motel? fine, because he needs (needed) somewhere to live, and rooms were going spare. it wasn't hurting anyone. convincing someone here, someone there to give him a discount? he doesn't have a job, and they're still getting something for it. beggars might not be choosers, but—. )
I care. (others have strong feelings. it's not like he doesn't have a history of it, but that was different, that wasn't him.
—but even so, it's hard to call his feelings on it strong. (it's complicated.) )
I— Before, I stole a lot. Lied. Cheated. It didn't matter who from, didn't matter what it was, just as long as I got what I wanted, needed at the end of it. People got hurt. You mentioned gambling dens? Fine. ( haves over have nots. people who've got what they've got by using other people. ) Gangs. Runners, whatever. But I don't hurt people.
( unless they deserve it, but he and wanda will cross that bridge when they get to it. )
( david does have a roundabout way of talking about things. i care, for a moment, makes her think that though he doesn't mind what she's admitted to doing, that he does, in fact, have some lines that he'll draw. but then he continues, admitting, before; wanda figures, it's when he used drugs, when he wasn't clean. it sounds almost like he's putting her down easy, this one thing he won't do, even if he won't tell and won't judge.
then: the gambling dens, fine. )
The Pavillion has a lot of them. (gambling dens. she lets her hands settle down to hold onto her ankles, the in-between of her socks and trousers. wanda gets what he means: it's not about hurting others, but gambling dens are pretty corrupt themselves. her jobs with astarion were mostly in stealing from cults, shady people. but david is right to assume that just because it's easier, it doesn't mean it's easy. there could always be consequences, and attempting the same game plan in the sanctum might lead to negative results. ) It's about stealing, ( "sharing the wealth", as astarion has put it before. ) not about hurting others.
( so, that's something they can agree with.
wanda fidgets, though, fingers curling into the denim of her trousers— )
—it's not that I thought you would tell. ( this is about the pinky promise; a clarification. ) There are people here I don't want to disappoint. It's still lying, but I don't want to risk it.
( conflicted feelings, between wanting to be good and keeping to promises she made before, and not wanting to lose face with others that she's grown close to. )
( he could ask if whoever's she's talking about would ask, point out that it's not quite lying if the question isn't there and she doesn't actively deny it, but that'd open david up to questions — what is he willing to obfuscate, talk in circles around, not quite elaborate on. syd'd had her issues with that, the rest of D3'd had their issues with that, even if david had done it in an attempt to prevent farouk gaining the upper-hand; even if it'd been because the other syd, the one that'd lied to him, had said not to tell. so—.
he doesn't. it's not quite about asking for forgiveness over asking for permission, but there's certainly an element of it; more than that, though, is that once david's decided on something, he tends to be reluctant to change his mind, outside permission or agreement or no.
david doesn't know anyone else wanda knows, so it's all irrelevant to him, who she wants to impress, who she doesn't; as far as he's concerned with regards to her, it's about them. his world, often, is small like that.
he's still while she fidgets, the movements of her fingers in her denim drawing his attention, and he watches that rather than her as she speaks. it's a lack of certainty, but whether that's about him or about what she's been doing or what would happen if it became common knowledge, all he can do is guess.
she finishes and he looks back up to meet her eyes, expression neutral. )
I don't break promises and I don't like secrets, but as long as we're honest with each other, it's none of my business what you tell anyone else.
( david has mentioned something similar before, about not liking secrets. that honesty is important to him; it is to her, too, of course. she has no real option but to take whatever david tells her at face value, trusting that he'll be fair in return to her. there's a swell of something—the fact that he has to trust that she isn't keeping secrets from him, but in such a new whatever-this-is, there's nothing really that wanda could keep from him.
she smiles softly, the tension in her hands releasing, a teasing lilt to her voice, )
And a pinky promise is the most binding one.
( weirdly enough, it's one of these things that fall under the category of 'roommate house rules', learning and presenting limits and aspects that are expected to be respected.
speaking of not breaking promises and being honest with each other— )
I know you mentioned being careful about other mutants, but— You know about the meetings Charles puts together once in a while, right? Will you go to those?
Maybe. The next one, probably — I told him I'd go, and I think it'd be good to meet new people. I mean, I've met some of them, the other mutants, and they all... Seem to have this idea about what being a mutant means. That— Charles's school. Community's important, I get that, but... They've been lucky. Whatever else has happened on their world's, they've been fortunate to have who and what they've got.
( he hadn't missed the way that logan's demeanour had changed as soon as he'd mentioned charles. he hadn't missed, either, the note of expectancy around it, the way that he'd seemed to expect david holding a certain opinion of charles. he — charles — had seemed nice enough, well-meaning enough, but ultimately idealistic in a way that didn't and doesn't align with david's experiences — recruiting children to a school, holding conversations with their parents, explaining whatever.
david shifts his weight and unfolds his legs, standing and making his way first back to the coffee table to grab a strawberry, and then back to the cassettes. he picks one at random, unlabelled, and he rotates it in his hands as if trying to guess as to what's on either side. ultimately, he has no clue, and he hits stop and eject on the stereo, not bothering to rewind the cassette that's currently playing, before popping this one in. a click-thunk of plastic, and the cassette starts playing more loudly than david expects, and he winces, the expression involuntary before he adjusts the volume.
he looks back towards her. )
—A lot of mutants I've met like to put each other in boxes, and I don't care for that.
(they've been lucky, another statement that she agrees with. it's nice, really, scott's concept of 'community' that they had talked about initially, even before he ever knew she had powers. then there was charles, his very idealistic take, and erik—
well, wanda considers erik different. a little more cynical, closer to how she feels about life at large. their compatibility feels like it goes beyond the whole concept of 'mutants', considering especially that wanda isn't. wanda's mouth thins, wondering who else he has met, really, and turns to sit properly as he stands anew to change the cassette (pleased, too, that he's eating more fruits). )
Who else did you meet? Erik?
( then, a new cassette, and a song plays, some live recording—raw and muffled, sounds of cheers along with the music. it's loud for her, too, and she glances up at the ceiling, wonders about whether they'll get complaints?, when david adjusts the volume.
she can't really make out the words of the song. )
If it helps, not everyone who goes to the meetings are mutants. ( she shrugs against the couch. ) We could scope it out. ( said, almost like a question, but it's not like she thinks that david needs someone to go with. ) You've never heard of Charles's school before, back home?
(who's erik? the question's there in his expression, quizzical and puzzled, though he doesn't ask it, only offers— ) Logan.
( all else being equal, david wouldn't say he likes logan, but given the choice between logan and scott, he'd pick logan. it's not that he's nicer or more pleasant, but he's easier to read. straight-forward in a way that makes things simple. he's not condescending. there'd been no bullshit about gifted schools, no circling around what he meant versus what he was saying, no evasiveness. no hamfisted attempts to force david down a route he was uninterested in built on a guise of 'help and support', all whilst not bothering to ask what david might want.
david isn't sure if it helps or not that not everyone who attends is a mutant; he thinks there's a chance that mutant is just the term that handful of earths use for what amounts to the same thing in other worlds, that the differences are semantic and not-functional, that what it means in the long run, for people like him and people like wanda, with powers that scare others, is negligible.
what they are doesn't matter; it's what they can do.
he tilts his head and eyes her, lips pressing into a line that's a non-verbal shrug of sorts. ) Sure. ( quick, agreement that's mostly non-committal; there's no date for the next meeting, so—. there's time for the both of them to change their minds. )
It's not that I haven't heard of it, it doesn't exist. We had — Summerland for a while, but that's gone, and it wasn't a school. They weren't finding kids and recruiting them. They weren't teaching them. They—. It's not the same. Where I'm from, people who are different just get to live with that label.
( uttered with a thread of agitation, one that sits just below the surface of his words. it's not necessarily the sort of thing that's evident outwardly, except for the lack of being settled, the animation of his expression, but wanda being wanda will likely pick up on the rest of it, the irritation, the hurt.
( not erik, but logan. ) Oh, I've met him before. ( but so long ago, maybe even briefly caught a glimpse of him at the last meeting. she doesn't really have anything to say about the guy that would otherwise add anything meaningful, so— ) Erik's the mutant I've talked with the most. ( a pause. ) Other than you, now, I guess. He's also... ( okay, this ends kind of lamely, ) European.
( ? shut up.
summerland, though, again, bring in the idea that charles's school doesn't exist in david's world. it doesn't exist in wanda's, either, even if a lot of elements about their world (from what erik has told her) are so strangely parallel to the history of her own. the same scars and tragedies in europe that she's familiar with, same language for these traditions that they got to celebrate briefly during the winter—
it's not a question; she does get it. a spike of irritation, hurt; smashing cymbals loud and unfettered. wanda's quiet, resists the urge to tell him it's okay, feeling what he does, that summerland isn't here, those people. it paints some more of the picture that is david and his experiences.
instead, ) I do. ( get it. he wouldn't even need to read her mind to know that she means it.
still, that eruption of agitation sits under her skin, crawling uncomfortably. she can't just sit, which is why she stands on the couch, takes a few steps on and around it (it's a much better couch to what it was before david 'changed' it), pushing some distance between them as if that much is going to help lessen what she feels him feeling. arms crossed, one hand up on her chin, thoughtful, she pauses, feet sinking on the cushions, then turns to face him. )
...what do you think of Charles? I think he means well.
(he's also european is such a non-sequitur of an explanation that it cuts through some of david's thoughts, the busy-ness of his feelings, the lingering bitterness over all them — syd, cary, melanie, how easily they'd fallen under farouk's spell. he blinks, then, a little startled, unsure of what to do with european, other than give wanda a slow, questioning cant of his head.
he doesn't know why she moves so abruptly from the couch, not until he takes a minute to think about it and realise: him. his mouth twists and, though wanda turns towards him, david looks away. he's going to have to work on that. emotions. he can't have, doesn't want her picking up on—. it's not that it's embarrassing, david barely knows what embarrassment is, it's that he's worked hard, tried deliberately to pull together a version of himself that, at least on the outside, is everything that they think he's not: calm. together.
(you can't reconcile— —well, they're wrong. the david they see, their perceive, isn't who he is.) )
—Lots of people mean well. ( blunter than he means it to be, followed almost immediately by an inhale of breath and a quick glance up, short-lived, reluctant, searching. he tempers the remark, himself, with— ) He seems like a good guy. Nice. Knows what he wants and has had the good fortune to be able to do it.
( when david looks away, wanda can't help wonder— they've never been shy about eye contact, intense as he is about it with his very blue eyes, so this must stem from something else entirely. there's a twist in her gut, not her own, like he's trying to reconcile something within himself.
(she knew it would bother him.)
he looks up, seems somewhat frustrated, annoyed, under the surface. all this about having the fortune of doesn't help, and surely there is something to be said about people in more privileged positions getting to comfortably dictate what to do and how to do it, without considering the plight of others who were never lucky enough to have respite in their otherwise overwhelming lives.
what david gives her is both an answer and a non-answer, and she doesn't reckon he'll elaborate. charles just is, and his (their) opinion of him will continue to develop the more they get to interact with the man, just like with anyone else.
with a quiet sigh, wanda walks back the length of the couch and stands by the end of it, closest to him. standing as she is on the couch, she's a good head taller than david. )
It does bother you. That I can read your emotions.
( mister i don't break promises and i don't like secrets, and yet. wanda raises her hands, palms up, towards him. )
( he doesn't have much of a choice in looking at her when she moves from one of the couch to the other, although his gaze does drop to watch the way the cushions press in and flatten with each footstep. it's a better couch than it had been, but that still doesn't mean it's a good one, and though she's taller than she'd be otherwise, taller than him, she'd be taller still of the cushions didn't sink quite so much.
it does bother you, she says, and he studies her as she raises her hands, then looks from one to the other. carefully— ) I didn't say it didn't bother me. (his recollection of the conversation is that he'd told her he wasn't going to tell her not to, wasn't going to force her to be someone she's not, but he didn't — quite delibarely — mention how he felt about it.
(he skips past the part of the conversation where they'd discussed him telling her if she upsets him with it.) )
You moved away from me because I was what, annoyed? How am I supposed to take that?
( for now, he doesn't reach out to take her hands, if that's what she's intimating; instead, he waits to see where she's going with it, her I want to try something. instead, too, he continues their conversation, the one she'd started. )
—He showed me it. His school. His students. ( in a stunning display of tone-deaf this is what other mutants get to experience. wanda's assertion that charles means well is correct, david can't and won't and doesn't disagree, but meaning well doesn't always mean doing well. it'd taken their, his and charles's conversation, from something tolerable to something david had wanted to be done with almost immediately.
his mouth flattens, then curves into a small, tight smile. ) Logan was surprised I hadn't heard of it, like it's some kind of universal constant for mutants.
( wanda studies his face for a moment longer, how he swerves past her wanting to try something, all while presenting his conclusion as to why she had moved away from him. yes, fair, but— it's not entirely true. as he bulldozes onward, about charles and the school and the students, in a way that makes her think that he is venting a little, wanda clasps her hands together. still, she doesn't entirely pull away from the possibility of returning to this specific point.
the small, tight smile doesn't go unnoticed. how bitter it feels, the surprise, the constant of something that he should be part of but which alienates him at the same time.
wanda isn't a mutant, but wanda's lived experiences match to an extent. her life in sokovia was not unique, but a lot of it was. she was not the only orphan during the war, and she wasn't the only one scared of the night sky for several years growing up, afraid of invisible bombs. but: it certainly didn't make her feel any less rotten to see orphaned children with older family members to look after them while she and pietro fended for themselves. it didn't make her any less jealous that others would walk calmly in the streets at night while she'd cower inside, early to bed. the american government, years later, didn't make her feel any better either, acting like she owed them for the favor of bringing her in, of giving her a chance at something better, when it had been them who struck sokovia first, leading her to losing absolutely everything. )
Well, his school doesn't exist in my world either. ( no matter that there aren't(?) any mutants in her world. she says this much petulantly. ) It isn't a universal constant. When everyone I meet here tells me Sokovia doesn't exist for them, it makes me think that maybe we were always meant to be removed from the map after all.
( she shrugs, sharply, dryly. then, takes one page from his book— you and i. )
You and I aren't as lucky as the X-Men or those students or the people and mutants who get to be normal and get to have what we never did. I know that. You know that. So— It is very easy for them to say how wonderful and great it is, when they don't know what it has been like for us.
( once more, wanda raises her hands, offers them to him. this time, insistent. then, a huff, because now she gets to get this off her chest, )
I'm sick of having to be polite because it might hurt the feelings of those who think they are doing so much by helping in their way. If I want to be angry and say that the help isn't enough, I am allowed. ( in a roundabout way, wanda is trying to say that she understands what he's saying; how much it sucks to supposedly belong but still always be in the periphery, never truly allowed in. ) So, let me try something, or you can tell me that you don't want me to. I won't insist.
( he hears her you and I and it's not that he doesn't get what she's saying, it's not that he doesn't get why she says it. he'd say it, a deliberate choice to present them as the same despite their other differences, but it's precisely because of that it doesn't entirely land; it's because she adds don't get hung up on it that it still manages to chafe. a quiet, sulky, unvoiced don't tell me how to feel.
—even if, were the roles reversed, he'd tell her exactly the same.
he considers it, her response, still and silent. sokovia, not existing, feeling like that means it was never meant to. (that's awful.) there's not a lot he can say to that, and while he has no desire to downplay it, he wonders if that's the point. a david, don't in slightly different words.
perhaps if he were more honest, more open, he'd tell her about the trial, about how it'd been presented as helping him, when the reality was about turning him into something and someone else, palatable and easy. about how clockworks had been the same, how he'd resented amy for the shape of it, help he hadn't wanted, help that'd made him feel like he was being flattened, constantly, an every-four-hours dose of sanding down the unwanted edges of david haller.
he'd tell her that anger's something he's well-acquainted with.
he does none of those things.
she holds out her hands again, and david looks at them again. a pause, then, as he looks up at her. he takes her hands in his, and states— )
There's more of a choice involved if I know what I'm turning down or agreeing to.
( david, unsurprisingly, just watches, offers brief glances of a response, but nothing actually said. not that she needs him to; wanda knows what she feels and where she stands, gets some idea of his own feelings, too. and though david seems more keen on reflecting things back at her (don't tell me how to feel) or assume (since he can't, really, read her mind) what she means, she is unwilling to allow herself to feel daunted by it all. (she didn't react like that, when he told her don't be silly, about making their 'nice, happy dinner' a 'sad' occasion.)
but he does, though, take her hands. wanda does nothing but hold onto them, lightly, gently. her shoulders ease. )
I'd hope you trusted me a little by now.
( it's meant to tease him, but she will— keep it mind, for next time. next time she wants to try something, let him know about it. never mind that he tossed them into the astral plane a few times without asking her if she was alright with it, or changed the apartment to force the idea of him getting to have a place here, too, to not be alone.
scarlet glows from her hands, and she's bringing their hands together, pressed together like in prayer. the glow envelopes them, a warm, cozy cocoon. there's nothing to it: no spell, no illusion, no effect that wanda is injecting onto it. it's neither warm nor cold, but there's a soft, almost velvety feeling that's barely there, just about pushing. she draws their hands apart, taking a step back to adjust her balance (the cushions do sink too much), and continues to weave with light movements of her fingers a spherical-shaped connection between david's hands. the garage rock music still plays on the stereo, the cassette a few songs deep, and these plumes of red start to grab onto the sound—the vibrations of the percussion, the deep rhythm of the bass, the sleek guitar riffs, the peaks of the singer's voice. it all harmoniously. )
I will borrow this example: the way people feel are like songs. Some are messy, some are loud, some are quieter, but the melody always fits well.
( then a spike, out of rhythm, like a clashing cymbal. it reverberates, through the web-like strings of red, throwing it all askew. she doesn't explain because she doesn't want to talk down to him—david's smart enough. the rhythm caught within the red is no longer matching that of the song on the cassette: it's his own 'music', his breathing, the way he fidgets now and then, his blinking, his heartbeats, and, of course, the spikes in his emotions. clash—crash—a steady drumming. it is nonstop because people are nonstop.
the sphere-like connection settles somewhere between david's hands, hovering, and some of it starts gaining something of a blue tinge. recently, she has learned that her powers will do as she wills it to, so if she wants him to be able to manipulate it for a moment or two— quietly, )
Just hold it up yourself for a moment.
( it's not exactly the demonstration she had in mind, but this is the first time she's made such casual use of her powers, for something so fantastical and, by all means, useless as per what defines 'powers'. )
Can you make it very small? ( she lifts up her right hand, an 'ok' sign formed, exemplifying the size of 'very small'. )
( he wouldn't have taken her hands if he didn't, he means. wouldn't be here at all. there is a 'but', though, there's always a but. a wariness. he hadn't meant it like that, but he is, in many ways — the first time in a while — at a disadvantage. he doesn't mean to reflect things at wanda, doesn't choose how his emotions catch and spike and take shape, but those things happen. those are her powers, not his. how she'd interpret him would likely be different if they weren't. he doesn't need to tell her that. it's not about secrets, about keeping things from her, it's about being him.
he watches her work, the threads that are thin and fine spinning together and coalescing to form something whole. it's different from what he can do, different even to the blue — the vapour, the liquid, whatever form he has it take. the way she describes people, compares them to music, makes sense; he doesn't experience them in that way, only gets their thoughts, their mind, but it's not incomparable.
then the red starts to change shape, and david glances from it to her and back again. she's right: he doesn't need her to explain, he knows what this is. who this is. his brows knit momentarily and then smooth. what's the point? what is she getting at?
can you make it very small? (it or him?)
the words echo in his mind and he looks at her, eyes wide and unblinking, and as she holds up her hand to show him what she means by small, he smiles. his gaze remains on hers as he answers, a soft— )
No. ( polite and light but decisive. in truth, it's not about can, it's about will — her question sparks a memory which sparks a question from him-to-him: do you remember what she said? amy, not wanda, of course. I'm just saying, maybe you keep things small, flat, is the right idea. he'd hated it then, the insinuation, the implication. wanda has no way of knowing that, no way of guessing that her question, even in the abstract, even in this loose this is you but not you, is an echo of what he's heard countless times before.
whether she means him or she means the red-blue ball that represents him doesn't matter, it's all the same, and so he doesn't even try to do as she's asked. what happens instead is more blue, a bright, cool, icy shade that travels from one side to the other. the spikes, the cymbal crashes slow and then cease entirely, the ball itself becoming more liquid, formless, calmer.
( wanda says, a breath of a laugh in her words after he, very politely but decisively, tells her no. her hand forming the 'ok' moves to her face, her mouth, as she stifles her laugh. while, no, wanda could never know, unless david told her himself, that her question would echo a sentiment he had been told time and time again when his life was all sorts of out-of-sorts, she can still very much put his declining to the thought of 'david shall not be contained'.
he can be easy to read without needing to be read through. she had meant the red-blue ball, though, in a solemn gesture of sharing her powers with him. instead, he goes beyond that and shapes what she had (painstakingly!) created into an icy blue formless ball, remaining the same size. suppose the metaphor remains? )
I've never met someone who could do that to my powers. ( granted, not that she has allowed anyone before. she remembers what he had called himself the night before. ) I should start calling you the magic man.
( she won't. not on any super serious pretense.
instead, wanda raises her hand anew and picks at the liquid, formless shape he's created, and from the pinch of her thumb and forefinger, a thread of red unspools. it is, still, inherently, her own, and she can find still traces of it if she just thinks that she can, as she imagines she should. wanda continues to twirl her hand, a delicate dance of her fingers, until she has red dancing and covering her hand. this she will use to shape and form whatever remains of the non-liquid liquid between david's hands, until the red absorbs it entirely and it disappears at wanda's leisure.
she remains looking at her hand, wondering to herself if that should have felt different at all, but ultimately lowers it; hands in her pockets, arms straightened, she shrugs. )
When I feel the emotions of others, it gets under my skin. The louder it is, the longer it stays there. Some are really uncomfortable. Some feel like a warm hug. Back at the motel, I always had to make the conscious effort of switching it off. ( for it's not something one can just turn on-or-off; it gets tiring, like remembering to breathe or blink because your body won't just do it on automatic. ) I guess— I could shut it off around you, and you'd never know, and it'd be fine. Maybe some of your stronger emotions feel the way they do to me because it gets at something that I know too well.
( his bitterness at others, his angry spikes, agitation. they're not the same, their lived experiences, but they're close enough. wanda had long ago surrendered her anger, dismissed it for forced contentment, all while idealizing her sorrow and grief, leading to settling with inaction. to be fueled by anger again— well, she's got some bite back, and it's not just because of how being around david has changed her, for her time in the diadem has been rife with opportunity to do so, but he is, perhaps, the only one she doesn't feel ashamed of feeling right in her uglier, rightful emotions. ) But, even if that's the case, I want to get used to how you feel, even in the uncomfortable moments, because I do feel good around you the majority of the time.
( a quiet lift of her face, looking up, at the ceiling that's a lot closer to her now. she stretches up one hand, but doesn't manage to reach it— the illusion of height...
after this attempt, she steps off the couch, tugging now at her sleeves (she fidgets, too), turning to david. )
You changed my powers, but I was able to find my red back inside all that blue. ( a beat, her next words hesitant, as if trying to find the right phrasing for this. ) If we— Look, I trust you. You are special, and I just think that if we learn how to make our powers work better together, then— (we could be pretty scary) we could be amazing. Better than special. I'd understand you and you'd understand me, and would we really need a school to feel wanted? ( a light pinch of her brow, glancing away. ) I never got to finish school, so.
( all she is really trying to get to, is (with a quiet huff, turning to face him again): ) I'm sorry. You're the last person I want to upset.
( he doesn't need a school, not now. it would've been nice when he was a kid, when he hadn't known where he ended and anyone else began; when he and everyone else had thought that the voices he heard were a problem, but these days — no. it's why he'd declined charles's offer to practice their abilities together. he's not interested in that, he doesn't need that. he knows what he can do, how to control it. the only spanner in the works is diadem itself, the city and the fringes. )
—My attendance was... ( a wave of a hand; he doesn't bother finishing the remark. ) And then I got expelled. ( he doesn't clarify that it was college — at a certain point, the when matters less than the behaviours. for as much as david's reluctant to linger on that specific period of time, he's willing to concede expulsion had been inevitable. one thing had led into another, and it's difficult — outside of farouk — quite to point a finger at which came first.
still.
he presses his lips together and takes a step to the side; then, he takes a seat on the sofa, glancing up at her as her words register. amy had described him as so upset, all the time, and he — he knows it'd been true, for as much as upset as a term matters. it's one of those difficult, all-encompassing ones: challenging, volatile, erratic, angry, used when any of the above might elicit a less than pleasant response. )
I don't need a school. I don't want a teacher. ( he leans towards her, hand extended. his fingers press into the cushion, and he says, ) It's not you. You understand that. There's... It's the same as thoughts. Some matter, some don't. You said you were going to stop reading into them.
( and then he sits back, drawing his feet back onto the couch. his unfinished teacup of wine still sat on the coffee table earns a glance, and then his attention's back to wanda. one corner of his mouth quirks, curving up momentarily. ) I am the magic man, ( he retorts, without a shred of self-consciousness. he knows wanda doesn't mean it seriously, and he doesn't frankly, in all honesty, expect anyone else to call him that, but that doesn't diminish what he can do.
the scarlet witch is an absurd name, too, but— names mean something. they're magic, the both of them. )
( she follows, turning on her feet as he steps to the side and takes a seat. wanda, for now, doesn't. instead, considers david as he says that he doesn't need a school nor want a teacher (she thinks he's kind of old for that). who wouldn't feel jaded after getting expelled, anyway? in any case, while she had said that she was going to stop reading into them, it's not so much that as it was her intent to explain to him why his emotions (regardless of whether she reads into them or not) feel very abrupt to her.
maybe it's best to not linger on it and keep trying to make a point—
at his glance at the teacup, wanda picks it up, then offers it to him in the same movement as she sits next to him, in the same breath as his i am the magic man. it's still such a dumb name, but if he likes it—
(they're magic, the both of them. david had said that the previous night.)
arms crossed, legs stretched out, wanda just very casually leans against his side, a quiet mm of thought at his question. she may have moved away from him before, to the point that it made him feel some way about it, but right now she doesn't mind pressing into him like this, casual and light. )
I want a do-over. But with all the warnings of what went wrong, so that I don't... ( she goes silent. so that i don't end up alone. selfish as the thought may be, her parents deserved to live (how is she less than 10 years away from being as old as they ever were?), and she should be going through life with pietro, loud and annoying, by her side. she tightens her crossed arms onto herself, tries to make it less sad by saying, ) If I was a kid again, I would want to go to an American high school. Have lockers and cheer squad and after school clubs.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2026-04-26 08:19 pm (UTC)wanda moves past the subject because david says that he doesn't want to talk about them, not any of them. that he'll hear should amy or lenny arrive, but that farouk will be much more difficult to intercept. her cheat sheet does help in picking up that short-lived twist of bitterness, which is why she lets it be.
david glances out the window, and it makes wanda — think. )
I hitchhike. I get to meet a bunch of people that way. ( that can't really just be it. she thinks about it for a bit longer, finally letting go of his hand, and bringing up her legs on the couch, too; feet up on the cushion, knees bent, she hugs her legs close as she presses her side against the couch. ) Sometimes, I run into raiders—
( she pauses. hm. she owes henry a car window... well, if he hasn't asked since... )
I keep busy with work, and I try solving crossword puzzles with the magazines at work. I never get them right. ( for a moment, she releases her arms from around her legs, and fidgets with her fingers, with her sleeves, rings. ) There's someone I work with. We're — scouting out how easy it'd be to... ( you know ) —in the Sanctum.
( anyway! that's not super important, unless david wants to focus on it. )
I want to get a television. I have a stash of video tapes at work that I want to see. Sitcoms, mostly. Some movies. So, ( she motions with her hands, thumbs and pointer fingers stretched out, depicting a semblance of a rectangle ) it needs to have the VHS part.
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Date: 2026-04-26 08:39 pm (UTC)( it overlaps with the rest of what she says, the thing about sometimes meeting raiders, and the way she doesn't linger on that all but confirms to david that he'd been correct in his assertion the night previous that they're nothing to worry about. assholes with guns, maybe, who get off on scaring people. she can handle them, he can handle them.
—but he does linger on that unfinished remark, precisely because it is unfinished. ordinarily, it'd be different. he wouldn't need to. the thought would be there, it'd accompany the utterance, and david would be able to decide if he wanted to pursue it or if he wanted to leave it. as it stands, it just comes across as if it's something wanda's not fully committed to, or like she thinks david will judge her. ) —How easy it'll be to what?
( it's more interesting than the idea of watching vhs. he's been there, done that. movie afternoons at clockworks, inoffensive things that wouldn't upset any of them. musicals. animations. dancing in the rain, bedknobs and broomsticks. rated universal, rated parental guidance. he doesn't think that's what wanda will like necessarily, it's just what it puts him in mind of. he almost tells her that they don't need a tv.
(lenny had agreed.)
he taps his fingers against his knees, a short one-two. ) What sitcoms?
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Date: 2026-04-26 08:51 pm (UTC)but they have a car now, so maybe those days are behind her.
wanda presses her feet, annoyingly, onto the side of one of his thighs. wanda is fully committed to the ventures that she has going on with a certain vampire friend of hers, so it's more likely that she'll think david will judge her. still very much in those early stages of friendship, wanting to appear cool but not too cool that you're untouchable, that kind of thing.
her expression pinches. )
How easy it'll be to break into places. ( said quickly, ) Anyway, I have found Malcolm in the Middle. Also a few episodes of The Honeymooners, ( she's listing these off while counting on her fingers, almost as if she were to continue, he'll overlook her statement, (that is one of the reasons how she can afford this place) ) season 2 and season 5 of The Dick Van Dyke Show— ( she points at him, excitedly ) which is my favorite one.
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Date: 2026-04-26 09:14 pm (UTC)he's not judging, not really — he'd gone along with her plan to sneak into silvia's store too quickly to really be able to comment — but he knows the consequences that can come from breaking into the wrong place at the wrong time. the reasons for it don't even matter, aren't important.
there's a lot in the way her expression tightens when he asks about it, the way she moves on, the press of her feet against his leg.
his attention drifts, away from her and towards the stereo. the cassette whirs each and every time the volume drops, when the recording-of-a-recording dips in and out. it reminds him of before.
a sharp glance back to her, expression bright. )
For what? Fun? The adrenaline rush? 'Cause you want to steal from people who have it better than you? ( he adjusts his weight to lean towards her without inadvertently pressing her feet deeper into his thigh. ) I know what you can do. It's not about how easy it is to break into anywhere. Everywhere's easy.
( so! )
—They used to show movies in the day room at Clockworks. TV shows were less frequent.
( or: his familiarity is thin. )
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Date: 2026-04-26 09:33 pm (UTC)in any case, almost dismissing his tangent about wanting to figure out the why, she says— )
That's why I need to find a TV with a VHS player. You'll like them. ( said with the confidence of someone who loves sitcoms and is about to show their friend something she considers precious, and will not take anything but this is awesome! as an answer— (it makes her feel nostalgic; pietro loved to tease her about her favorite sitcoms, pretending to be annoyed at her episode choices.)
then, a pause, her expression speaking volumes of someone who most definitely is debating saying something else.
(decidedly, david isn't like steve or erik.) )
It's an easy way to get money. I used to do it, with someone else, at the gambling dens. But, then that become tricky, and we were nearly found out one time. ( wanda's fledgling criminal days... ) Breaking in's easier. I use my powers, we steal a couple things, we get out with no one remembering we were there. ( she places her hands on her knees. ) The guy I work with—he figures out pawning the items off, so I don't worry about that. I get my share afterwards.
( then, she raises her right hand, pinky raised. )
I'm swearing you to secrecy.
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Date: 2026-04-26 10:02 pm (UTC)it does, though, explain a few things about the apartment, regardless of any impact he might have had. it makes him rethink, too, the way he'd assumed she was judging him back when they met for the first time at the motel and david had pretended like he was going to get a job and pay his way for the room legitimately. it doesn't, of course, make him reconsider things enough to correct her, to set the record straight. )
Okay.
( it's easy agreement, accompanied by a loose lift of a shoulder before he leans forward, resting one hand on her knee for balance and hooking the pinky of his other hand around hers. )
I won't tell anyone how you make your money. But just because it's easier doesn't mean it's easy. Don't get cocky.
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Date: 2026-04-26 10:19 pm (UTC)genuinely, she had been wondering if this guilt she drags with her is fair for her to drag at all. (this is how bad habits start to get excused.)
even now, there's a little bit of that. of that guilt, of actually really enjoying the validation that david has brought into her life these past few days: we're powerful. why shouldn't they? why shouldn't she?
their pinkies hook together, an easy enough promise. his words aren't meant to chastise, but it still feels — somewhat like that. pietro used to steal before, use his speed to get medicine for the sick in novi grad, toys for the kids. she would tell him something similar, in an angry tone (you'll get shot—and then he was shot), but it's not the same as messing with people's heads. she glances away, momentarily, his hand warm on her knee. )
...I'm not. ( getting cocky. still, she gets her pinky, her hand, back to herself, presses it to her cheek. ) Maybe if — we worked together sometimes, on a few jobs, maybe— ( she's just plainly suggesting a team-up for crime. he seems understanding enough, and, maybe, through that, wanda could benefit in learning from him? their powers? ) It'd be less risky.
( he doesn't seem to be against crime, either way, so. )
I know others have strong feelings about stealing, ( but that's not what what makes her feel bad about the whole thing. she elaborates, quickly enough, ) but more than that — I don't want to screw up and hurt others.
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Date: 2026-04-27 11:07 am (UTC)not paying for a room in a motel? fine, because he needs (needed) somewhere to live, and rooms were going spare. it wasn't hurting anyone. convincing someone here, someone there to give him a discount? he doesn't have a job, and they're still getting something for it. beggars might not be choosers, but—. )
I care. ( others have strong feelings. it's not like he doesn't have a history of it, but that was different, that wasn't him.
—but even so, it's hard to call his feelings on it strong. (it's complicated.) )
I— Before, I stole a lot. Lied. Cheated. It didn't matter who from, didn't matter what it was, just as long as I got what I wanted, needed at the end of it. People got hurt. You mentioned gambling dens? Fine. ( haves over have nots. people who've got what they've got by using other people. ) Gangs. Runners, whatever. But I don't hurt people.
( unless they deserve it, but he and wanda will cross that bridge when they get to it. )
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Date: 2026-04-27 12:59 pm (UTC)then: the gambling dens, fine. )
The Pavillion has a lot of them. ( gambling dens. she lets her hands settle down to hold onto her ankles, the in-between of her socks and trousers. wanda gets what he means: it's not about hurting others, but gambling dens are pretty corrupt themselves. her jobs with astarion were mostly in stealing from cults, shady people. but david is right to assume that just because it's easier, it doesn't mean it's easy. there could always be consequences, and attempting the same game plan in the sanctum might lead to negative results. ) It's about stealing, ( "sharing the wealth", as astarion has put it before. ) not about hurting others.
( so, that's something they can agree with.
wanda fidgets, though, fingers curling into the denim of her trousers— )
—it's not that I thought you would tell. ( this is about the pinky promise; a clarification. ) There are people here I don't want to disappoint. It's still lying, but I don't want to risk it.
( conflicted feelings, between wanting to be good and keeping to promises she made before, and not wanting to lose face with others that she's grown close to. )
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Date: 2026-04-27 03:16 pm (UTC)he doesn't. it's not quite about asking for forgiveness over asking for permission, but there's certainly an element of it; more than that, though, is that once david's decided on something, he tends to be reluctant to change his mind, outside permission or agreement or no.
david doesn't know anyone else wanda knows, so it's all irrelevant to him, who she wants to impress, who she doesn't; as far as he's concerned with regards to her, it's about them. his world, often, is small like that.
he's still while she fidgets, the movements of her fingers in her denim drawing his attention, and he watches that rather than her as she speaks. it's a lack of certainty, but whether that's about him or about what she's been doing or what would happen if it became common knowledge, all he can do is guess.
she finishes and he looks back up to meet her eyes, expression neutral. )
I don't break promises and I don't like secrets, but as long as we're honest with each other, it's none of my business what you tell anyone else.
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Date: 2026-04-27 03:56 pm (UTC)she smiles softly, the tension in her hands releasing, a teasing lilt to her voice, )
And a pinky promise is the most binding one.
( weirdly enough, it's one of these things that fall under the category of 'roommate house rules', learning and presenting limits and aspects that are expected to be respected.
speaking of not breaking promises and being honest with each other— )
I know you mentioned being careful about other mutants, but— You know about the meetings Charles puts together once in a while, right? Will you go to those?
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Date: 2026-04-27 04:40 pm (UTC)( he hadn't missed the way that logan's demeanour had changed as soon as he'd mentioned charles. he hadn't missed, either, the note of expectancy around it, the way that he'd seemed to expect david holding a certain opinion of charles. he — charles — had seemed nice enough, well-meaning enough, but ultimately idealistic in a way that didn't and doesn't align with david's experiences — recruiting children to a school, holding conversations with their parents, explaining whatever.
david shifts his weight and unfolds his legs, standing and making his way first back to the coffee table to grab a strawberry, and then back to the cassettes. he picks one at random, unlabelled, and he rotates it in his hands as if trying to guess as to what's on either side. ultimately, he has no clue, and he hits stop and eject on the stereo, not bothering to rewind the cassette that's currently playing, before popping this one in. a click-thunk of plastic, and the cassette starts playing more loudly than david expects, and he winces, the expression involuntary before he adjusts the volume.
he looks back towards her. )
—A lot of mutants I've met like to put each other in boxes, and I don't care for that.
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Date: 2026-04-27 05:30 pm (UTC)well, wanda considers erik different. a little more cynical, closer to how she feels about life at large. their compatibility feels like it goes beyond the whole concept of 'mutants', considering especially that wanda isn't. wanda's mouth thins, wondering who else he has met, really, and turns to sit properly as he stands anew to change the cassette (pleased, too, that he's eating more fruits). )
Who else did you meet? Erik?
( then, a new cassette, and a song plays, some live recording—raw and muffled, sounds of cheers along with the music. it's loud for her, too, and she glances up at the ceiling, wonders about whether they'll get complaints?, when david adjusts the volume.
she can't really make out the words of the song. )
If it helps, not everyone who goes to the meetings are mutants. ( she shrugs against the couch. ) We could scope it out. ( said, almost like a question, but it's not like she thinks that david needs someone to go with. ) You've never heard of Charles's school before, back home?
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Date: 2026-04-27 05:50 pm (UTC)( all else being equal, david wouldn't say he likes logan, but given the choice between logan and scott, he'd pick logan. it's not that he's nicer or more pleasant, but he's easier to read. straight-forward in a way that makes things simple. he's not condescending. there'd been no bullshit about gifted schools, no circling around what he meant versus what he was saying, no evasiveness. no hamfisted attempts to force david down a route he was uninterested in built on a guise of 'help and support', all whilst not bothering to ask what david might want.
david isn't sure if it helps or not that not everyone who attends is a mutant; he thinks there's a chance that mutant is just the term that handful of earths use for what amounts to the same thing in other worlds, that the differences are semantic and not-functional, that what it means in the long run, for people like him and people like wanda, with powers that scare others, is negligible.
what they are doesn't matter; it's what they can do.
he tilts his head and eyes her, lips pressing into a line that's a non-verbal shrug of sorts. ) Sure. ( quick, agreement that's mostly non-committal; there's no date for the next meeting, so—. there's time for the both of them to change their minds. )
It's not that I haven't heard of it, it doesn't exist. We had — Summerland for a while, but that's gone, and it wasn't a school. They weren't finding kids and recruiting them. They weren't teaching them. They—. It's not the same. Where I'm from, people who are different just get to live with that label.
( uttered with a thread of agitation, one that sits just below the surface of his words. it's not necessarily the sort of thing that's evident outwardly, except for the lack of being settled, the animation of his expression, but wanda being wanda will likely pick up on the rest of it, the irritation, the hurt.
abruptly— ) You get it.
( it's not a question. )
no subject
Date: 2026-04-27 06:09 pm (UTC)( ? shut up.
summerland, though, again, bring in the idea that charles's school doesn't exist in david's world. it doesn't exist in wanda's, either, even if a lot of elements about their world (from what erik has told her) are so strangely parallel to the history of her own. the same scars and tragedies in europe that she's familiar with, same language for these traditions that they got to celebrate briefly during the winter—
it's not a question; she does get it. a spike of irritation, hurt; smashing cymbals loud and unfettered. wanda's quiet, resists the urge to tell him it's okay, feeling what he does, that summerland isn't here, those people. it paints some more of the picture that is david and his experiences.
instead, ) I do. ( get it. he wouldn't even need to read her mind to know that she means it.
still, that eruption of agitation sits under her skin, crawling uncomfortably. she can't just sit, which is why she stands on the couch, takes a few steps on and around it (it's a much better couch to what it was before david 'changed' it), pushing some distance between them as if that much is going to help lessen what she feels him feeling. arms crossed, one hand up on her chin, thoughtful, she pauses, feet sinking on the cushions, then turns to face him. )
...what do you think of Charles? I think he means well.
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Date: 2026-04-27 07:12 pm (UTC)he doesn't know why she moves so abruptly from the couch, not until he takes a minute to think about it and realise: him. his mouth twists and, though wanda turns towards him, david looks away. he's going to have to work on that. emotions. he can't have, doesn't want her picking up on—. it's not that it's embarrassing, david barely knows what embarrassment is, it's that he's worked hard, tried deliberately to pull together a version of himself that, at least on the outside, is everything that they think he's not: calm. together.
(you can't reconcile—
—well, they're wrong. the david they see, their perceive, isn't who he is.) )
—Lots of people mean well. ( blunter than he means it to be, followed almost immediately by an inhale of breath and a quick glance up, short-lived, reluctant, searching. he tempers the remark, himself, with— ) He seems like a good guy. Nice. Knows what he wants and has had the good fortune to be able to do it.
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Date: 2026-04-27 07:58 pm (UTC)(she knew it would bother him.)
he looks up, seems somewhat frustrated, annoyed, under the surface. all this about having the fortune of doesn't help, and surely there is something to be said about people in more privileged positions getting to comfortably dictate what to do and how to do it, without considering the plight of others who were never lucky enough to have respite in their otherwise overwhelming lives.
what david gives her is both an answer and a non-answer, and she doesn't reckon he'll elaborate. charles just is, and his (their) opinion of him will continue to develop the more they get to interact with the man, just like with anyone else.
with a quiet sigh, wanda walks back the length of the couch and stands by the end of it, closest to him. standing as she is on the couch, she's a good head taller than david. )
It does bother you. That I can read your emotions.
( mister i don't break promises and i don't like secrets, and yet. wanda raises her hands, palms up, towards him. )
I want to try something.
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Date: 2026-04-27 08:20 pm (UTC)it does bother you, she says, and he studies her as she raises her hands, then looks from one to the other. carefully— ) I didn't say it didn't bother me. ( his recollection of the conversation is that he'd told her he wasn't going to tell her not to, wasn't going to force her to be someone she's not, but he didn't — quite delibarely — mention how he felt about it.
(he skips past the part of the conversation where they'd discussed him telling her if she upsets him with it.) )
You moved away from me because I was what, annoyed? How am I supposed to take that?
( for now, he doesn't reach out to take her hands, if that's what she's intimating; instead, he waits to see where she's going with it, her I want to try something. instead, too, he continues their conversation, the one she'd started. )
—He showed me it. His school. His students. ( in a stunning display of tone-deaf this is what other mutants get to experience. wanda's assertion that charles means well is correct, david can't and won't and doesn't disagree, but meaning well doesn't always mean doing well. it'd taken their, his and charles's conversation, from something tolerable to something david had wanted to be done with almost immediately.
his mouth flattens, then curves into a small, tight smile. ) Logan was surprised I hadn't heard of it, like it's some kind of universal constant for mutants.
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Date: 2026-04-27 08:49 pm (UTC)the small, tight smile doesn't go unnoticed. how bitter it feels, the surprise, the constant of something that he should be part of but which alienates him at the same time.
wanda isn't a mutant, but wanda's lived experiences match to an extent. her life in sokovia was not unique, but a lot of it was. she was not the only orphan during the war, and she wasn't the only one scared of the night sky for several years growing up, afraid of invisible bombs. but: it certainly didn't make her feel any less rotten to see orphaned children with older family members to look after them while she and pietro fended for themselves. it didn't make her any less jealous that others would walk calmly in the streets at night while she'd cower inside, early to bed. the american government, years later, didn't make her feel any better either, acting like she owed them for the favor of bringing her in, of giving her a chance at something better, when it had been them who struck sokovia first, leading her to losing absolutely everything. )
Well, his school doesn't exist in my world either. ( no matter that there aren't(?) any mutants in her world. she says this much petulantly. ) It isn't a universal constant. When everyone I meet here tells me Sokovia doesn't exist for them, it makes me think that maybe we were always meant to be removed from the map after all.
( she shrugs, sharply, dryly. then, takes one page from his book— you and i. )
You and I aren't as lucky as the X-Men or those students or the people and mutants who get to be normal and get to have what we never did. I know that. You know that. So— It is very easy for them to say how wonderful and great it is, when they don't know what it has been like for us.
( once more, wanda raises her hands, offers them to him. this time, insistent. then, a huff, because now she gets to get this off her chest, )
I'm sick of having to be polite because it might hurt the feelings of those who think they are doing so much by helping in their way. If I want to be angry and say that the help isn't enough, I am allowed. ( in a roundabout way, wanda is trying to say that she understands what he's saying; how much it sucks to supposedly belong but still always be in the periphery, never truly allowed in. ) So, let me try something, or you can tell me that you don't want me to. I won't insist.
Either way, I won't be upset.
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Date: 2026-04-27 09:45 pm (UTC)—even if, were the roles reversed, he'd tell her exactly the same.
he considers it, her response, still and silent. sokovia, not existing, feeling like that means it was never meant to. (that's awful.) there's not a lot he can say to that, and while he has no desire to downplay it, he wonders if that's the point. a david, don't in slightly different words.
perhaps if he were more honest, more open, he'd tell her about the trial, about how it'd been presented as helping him, when the reality was about turning him into something and someone else, palatable and easy. about how clockworks had been the same, how he'd resented amy for the shape of it, help he hadn't wanted, help that'd made him feel like he was being flattened, constantly, an every-four-hours dose of sanding down the unwanted edges of david haller.
he'd tell her that anger's something he's well-acquainted with.
he does none of those things.
she holds out her hands again, and david looks at them again. a pause, then, as he looks up at her. he takes her hands in his, and states— )
There's more of a choice involved if I know what I'm turning down or agreeing to.
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Date: 2026-04-28 03:05 am (UTC)but he does, though, take her hands. wanda does nothing but hold onto them, lightly, gently. her shoulders ease. )
I'd hope you trusted me a little by now.
( it's meant to tease him, but she will— keep it mind, for next time. next time she wants to try something, let him know about it. never mind that he tossed them into the astral plane a few times without asking her if she was alright with it, or changed the apartment to force the idea of him getting to have a place here, too, to not be alone.
scarlet glows from her hands, and she's bringing their hands together, pressed together like in prayer. the glow envelopes them, a warm, cozy cocoon. there's nothing to it: no spell, no illusion, no effect that wanda is injecting onto it. it's neither warm nor cold, but there's a soft, almost velvety feeling that's barely there, just about pushing. she draws their hands apart, taking a step back to adjust her balance (the cushions do sink too much), and continues to weave with light movements of her fingers a spherical-shaped connection between david's hands. the garage rock music still plays on the stereo, the cassette a few songs deep, and these plumes of red start to grab onto the sound—the vibrations of the percussion, the deep rhythm of the bass, the sleek guitar riffs, the peaks of the singer's voice. it all harmoniously. )
I will borrow this example: the way people feel are like songs. Some are messy, some are loud, some are quieter, but the melody always fits well.
( then a spike, out of rhythm, like a clashing cymbal. it reverberates, through the web-like strings of red, throwing it all askew. she doesn't explain because she doesn't want to talk down to him—david's smart enough. the rhythm caught within the red is no longer matching that of the song on the cassette: it's his own 'music', his breathing, the way he fidgets now and then, his blinking, his heartbeats, and, of course, the spikes in his emotions. clash—crash—a steady drumming. it is nonstop because people are nonstop.
the sphere-like connection settles somewhere between david's hands, hovering, and some of it starts gaining something of a blue tinge. recently, she has learned that her powers will do as she wills it to, so if she wants him to be able to manipulate it for a moment or two— quietly, )
Just hold it up yourself for a moment.
( it's not exactly the demonstration she had in mind, but this is the first time she's made such casual use of her powers, for something so fantastical and, by all means, useless as per what defines 'powers'. )
Can you make it very small? ( she lifts up her right hand, an 'ok' sign formed, exemplifying the size of 'very small'. )
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Date: 2026-04-28 09:31 am (UTC)( he wouldn't have taken her hands if he didn't, he means. wouldn't be here at all. there is a 'but', though, there's always a but. a wariness. he hadn't meant it like that, but he is, in many ways — the first time in a while — at a disadvantage. he doesn't mean to reflect things at wanda, doesn't choose how his emotions catch and spike and take shape, but those things happen. those are her powers, not his. how she'd interpret him would likely be different if they weren't. he doesn't need to tell her that. it's not about secrets, about keeping things from her, it's about being him.
he watches her work, the threads that are thin and fine spinning together and coalescing to form something whole. it's different from what he can do, different even to the blue — the vapour, the liquid, whatever form he has it take. the way she describes people, compares them to music, makes sense; he doesn't experience them in that way, only gets their thoughts, their mind, but it's not incomparable.
then the red starts to change shape, and david glances from it to her and back again. she's right: he doesn't need her to explain, he knows what this is. who this is. his brows knit momentarily and then smooth. what's the point? what is she getting at?
can you make it very small?
(it or him?)
the words echo in his mind and he looks at her, eyes wide and unblinking, and as she holds up her hand to show him what she means by small, he smiles. his gaze remains on hers as he answers, a soft— )
No. ( polite and light but decisive. in truth, it's not about can, it's about will — her question sparks a memory which sparks a question from him-to-him: do you remember what she said? amy, not wanda, of course. I'm just saying, maybe you keep things small, flat, is the right idea. he'd hated it then, the insinuation, the implication. wanda has no way of knowing that, no way of guessing that her question, even in the abstract, even in this loose this is you but not you, is an echo of what he's heard countless times before.
whether she means him or she means the red-blue ball that represents him doesn't matter, it's all the same, and so he doesn't even try to do as she's asked. what happens instead is more blue, a bright, cool, icy shade that travels from one side to the other. the spikes, the cymbal crashes slow and then cease entirely, the ball itself becoming more liquid, formless, calmer.
the size, though, remains the same. )
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Date: 2026-04-28 01:17 pm (UTC)( wanda says, a breath of a laugh in her words after he, very politely but decisively, tells her no. her hand forming the 'ok' moves to her face, her mouth, as she stifles her laugh. while, no, wanda could never know, unless david told her himself, that her question would echo a sentiment he had been told time and time again when his life was all sorts of out-of-sorts, she can still very much put his declining to the thought of 'david shall not be contained'.
he can be easy to read without needing to be read through. she had meant the red-blue ball, though, in a solemn gesture of sharing her powers with him. instead, he goes beyond that and shapes what she had (painstakingly!) created into an icy blue formless ball, remaining the same size. suppose the metaphor remains? )
I've never met someone who could do that to my powers. ( granted, not that she has allowed anyone before. she remembers what he had called himself the night before. ) I should start calling you the magic man.
( she won't. not on any super serious pretense.
instead, wanda raises her hand anew and picks at the liquid, formless shape he's created, and from the pinch of her thumb and forefinger, a thread of red unspools. it is, still, inherently, her own, and she can find still traces of it if she just thinks that she can, as she imagines she should. wanda continues to twirl her hand, a delicate dance of her fingers, until she has red dancing and covering her hand. this she will use to shape and form whatever remains of the non-liquid liquid between david's hands, until the red absorbs it entirely and it disappears at wanda's leisure.
she remains looking at her hand, wondering to herself if that should have felt different at all, but ultimately lowers it; hands in her pockets, arms straightened, she shrugs. )
When I feel the emotions of others, it gets under my skin. The louder it is, the longer it stays there. Some are really uncomfortable. Some feel like a warm hug. Back at the motel, I always had to make the conscious effort of switching it off. ( for it's not something one can just turn on-or-off; it gets tiring, like remembering to breathe or blink because your body won't just do it on automatic. ) I guess— I could shut it off around you, and you'd never know, and it'd be fine. Maybe some of your stronger emotions feel the way they do to me because it gets at something that I know too well.
( his bitterness at others, his angry spikes, agitation. they're not the same, their lived experiences, but they're close enough. wanda had long ago surrendered her anger, dismissed it for forced contentment, all while idealizing her sorrow and grief, leading to settling with inaction. to be fueled by anger again— well, she's got some bite back, and it's not just because of how being around david has changed her, for her time in the diadem has been rife with opportunity to do so, but he is, perhaps, the only one she doesn't feel ashamed of feeling right in her uglier, rightful emotions. ) But, even if that's the case, I want to get used to how you feel, even in the uncomfortable moments, because I do feel good around you the majority of the time.
( a quiet lift of her face, looking up, at the ceiling that's a lot closer to her now. she stretches up one hand, but doesn't manage to reach it— the illusion of height...
after this attempt, she steps off the couch, tugging now at her sleeves (she fidgets, too), turning to david. )
You changed my powers, but I was able to find my red back inside all that blue. ( a beat, her next words hesitant, as if trying to find the right phrasing for this. ) If we— Look, I trust you. You are special, and I just think that if we learn how to make our powers work better together, then— ( we could be pretty scary ) we could be amazing. Better than special. I'd understand you and you'd understand me, and would we really need a school to feel wanted? ( a light pinch of her brow, glancing away. ) I never got to finish school, so.
( all she is really trying to get to, is (with a quiet huff, turning to face him again): ) I'm sorry. You're the last person I want to upset.
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Date: 2026-04-28 08:21 pm (UTC)—My attendance was... ( a wave of a hand; he doesn't bother finishing the remark. ) And then I got expelled. ( he doesn't clarify that it was college — at a certain point, the when matters less than the behaviours. for as much as david's reluctant to linger on that specific period of time, he's willing to concede expulsion had been inevitable. one thing had led into another, and it's difficult — outside of farouk — quite to point a finger at which came first.
still.
he presses his lips together and takes a step to the side; then, he takes a seat on the sofa, glancing up at her as her words register. amy had described him as so upset, all the time, and he — he knows it'd been true, for as much as upset as a term matters. it's one of those difficult, all-encompassing ones: challenging, volatile, erratic, angry, used when any of the above might elicit a less than pleasant response. )
I don't need a school. I don't want a teacher. ( he leans towards her, hand extended. his fingers press into the cushion, and he says, ) It's not you. You understand that. There's... It's the same as thoughts. Some matter, some don't. You said you were going to stop reading into them.
( and then he sits back, drawing his feet back onto the couch. his unfinished teacup of wine still sat on the coffee table earns a glance, and then his attention's back to wanda. one corner of his mouth quirks, curving up momentarily. ) I am the magic man, ( he retorts, without a shred of self-consciousness. he knows wanda doesn't mean it seriously, and he doesn't frankly, in all honesty, expect anyone else to call him that, but that doesn't diminish what he can do.
the scarlet witch is an absurd name, too, but— names mean something. they're magic, the both of them. )
If you could do anything, what would you do?
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Date: 2026-04-28 08:43 pm (UTC)maybe it's best to not linger on it and keep trying to make a point—
at his glance at the teacup, wanda picks it up, then offers it to him in the same movement as she sits next to him, in the same breath as his i am the magic man. it's still such a dumb name, but if he likes it—
(they're magic, the both of them. david had said that the previous night.)
arms crossed, legs stretched out, wanda just very casually leans against his side, a quiet mm of thought at his question. she may have moved away from him before, to the point that it made him feel some way about it, but right now she doesn't mind pressing into him like this, casual and light. )
I want a do-over. But with all the warnings of what went wrong, so that I don't... ( she goes silent. so that i don't end up alone. selfish as the thought may be, her parents deserved to live (how is she less than 10 years away from being as old as they ever were?), and she should be going through life with pietro, loud and annoying, by her side. she tightens her crossed arms onto herself, tries to make it less sad by saying, ) If I was a kid again, I would want to go to an American high school. Have lockers and cheer squad and after school clubs.
( she's not very serious about the latter )
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