Is there right way to defrost a psychic?

[highlyintuitive]

Who: River and the Maximoff Clan
When: June 3rd
Where: Medbay & Mero #020
What: River has been defrosted and has 8 months worth of new memories
Warnings: none



[Medbay: for Peter]

[ Waking up from cryo is never smooth, the disorientation and the new memories rolling around with the ones she has from the moira. They all slot together once she's warmed up and given a fresh uniform to wear. The hurts from home followed her and when she looks in the mirror it all looks the way she remembers. More importantly, she feels right for the first time in a while. The power is still there but there is control. Knowledge that she has her family safe again. The fog that always made things feel fractured and disjointed is driven back. It might return at some point but not for a good long while.

And she isn't afraid of herself.

So once she's dry and less cold she sits down in the hall outside the medbay and sends Peter a message. ]

I'm awake. Can we talk?


[Mero #020; Maximoffs]


[ It's later after her talk with Peter that she finally returns to the room she shares with Wanda. The cuts and bruises look worse than they feel. The Moira still isn't home in the way Serenity is, but when she touches the door to Mero 020 she can't help smiling a little. It might have been three days for them but she was gone 8 months. Being back feels right in its own way. She'd rather be able to remember Wanda. Might be nice to ask if there's a way to keep the other memories if she gets sent back again.

River pushes open the door, careful to make sure the first thing Wanda sees is the side of her face that's not got a black eye, and smiles. ]

I'm back.

Comments

[takeitslow]

[He'd half expected this would turn into another J situation, where he'd be waiting on edge for weeks before any news about River would roll in. The text comes as a surprise, but a welcome one.]

I'll find you.

[He grabs the shopping bag from under his bed and takes off. IT doesn't take him long to find her, stopping just shy of running into her. The smile that had been plastered on his face since he got the text vanishes as he takes in the injuries. He sets the bag down, crouching and reaching for her chin.]

What happened? Did one of the doctors do this?

[It's not the warm greeting he had planned, but it shouldn't come as a surprise that he lets worry take priority.]

[highlyintuitive]

[ She shakes her head, but lets him inspect the damage all the same. ]

The past caught up with me. I fell asleep and it was eight months for me.

I got hurt saving a girl like me. They cut her open and pulled out all the good things so she'd hurt people for them. We saved her.

[ Iris. Who discovered she liked Inara's dresses and chose a blonde wig to cover up the shaved head and scars from all their surgeries. River smiles and even with the scratches and bruises she looks happy. ]

I'm okay, don't worry. [ She pokes his nose. ] I'm stronger than you think.

[takeitslow]

[He thumbs over the injuries, trying to be gentle. It makes his stomach twist to see her like this. Eight months was such a long time, lifetimes in his eyes. But her smile and assurance pull him from being miserable over it.]

You saved someone? [His tone is laced with amazement.] Someone who was being hurt, like that, uh, video? River. That's great.

[He pulls her into a hug, something hot swelling in his chest. It seems all his siblings were made for heroics. But where tales of what Wanda had done, what Pietro had done made him feel lacking in comparison, River's put him on steady ground. It made him proud.]

I'm allowed to worry. Doesn't mean I think you're weak. It's just what we do.

[highlyintuitive]

Someone who didn't get saved. She was... complete. I wasn't finished when Simon got me out.

[ In a good world there wouldn't be labs carving up the minds of girls to make killing dolls but no world is really all that good. This was a victory for her and it shows in how she nearly glows with it.

The hug is returned tightly. There's that conflict in her because while Serenity is home for her, Wanda and Pietro are also becoming her home. Eight months without them feels impossible now. ]

Because we're family. I'm used to looking after brothers. [ She can't hide her grin. ] They're always so troublesome.

[takeitslow]

That's great. [He says it again because it bears repeating. She's done something far more worthwhile than he'd ever had.] Look at you turning out to be a hero. I'm kind of proud of you right now River.

[He reaches up to tuck hair behind her ears, glad for how happy she looks.]

Yeah. Because we're family. [He laughs.] You've got another one of those troublesome brothers running around here too. Did you talk to Wanda yet? Pietro showed up.

[highlyintuitive]

Not yet. I only just woke up and then they had to poke me to make sure the ice didn't addle my brain.

[ She still half expects to hear Jayne say something like "how would they tell?", though the reality that the crew is gone settles in her again right quick. But she's not alone. ]

Her Pietro? [ Wanda's brother. By blood and by universe. The thought of it has her reaching for Peter's hand before she even thinks about it. ] Are you okay?

[takeitslow]

[He snorts, barely resists the urge to rub his knuckles through her hair.] Even if it had you'd still be smarter than me on a good day.

Yeah. [He wonders if he's being obvious, if that's why she's reaching for him in comfort. He shifts his weight back to peer at her owlishly, trying to decide what's best to keep in and what he feels comfortable saying.] I'm happy for her. He seems like a nice guy, really protective of her. I think I'd like him.

[How couldn't he? Peter always has a soft spot for people who love Wanda.]

I don't have a right to be anything but okay. It's just kind of weird, you know?

[twelveminutesolder]

[ He knows, vaguely, the situation. It's not a surprise and yet still manages to be one, at least in a jarring sense, as he sees someone else. Someone else Wanda loves and cares for--and that's fine--but he doesn't know her. That's not jarring so much as it is just a tad bit painful. He also knows it's completely unfair to resent people for something they had no control over, so he's trying his best to hide all of that.

It's not Wanda's fault. It's not anyone's fault. He still wishes he could blame something, though. Someone.

So he waits and observes and is, for the most part, his quiet self. It's almost refreshing to be as quiet as he is, to observe everyone, because he'd been doing far too much talking and what have you on the beach. He waits, at least, until everyone else is done fussing over River before sitting next to her. ]

Hello.

[ He lapses into silence. He has everything to say, but isn't quite sure how to say it. Instead, he forces himself to make eye contact. ]

I'm Pietro.

[ It's a start. ]

[highlyintuitive]

[ River scoots over to make space for Pietro on her bed. It's easier to let him have the first move. She's been lucky to have Wanda the last few months when she was still pulling the pieces of herself together. It's only fair that she got her Pietro back. And she wants to try and know him like she knows Peter.

So she sits with one of the plastic dinosaurs the Ingress gave her, fingers tracing over it while she waits. And when he does finally wish she smiles. ]

I'm River. It's nice to meet you.

[twelveminutesolder]

[ Pietro's smile isn't exactly a smile. He tries to make it, but it only moves halfway to his eyes before it falls flat. ]

Is this as awkward for you as it is me?

[ But he'll try. He really will--just give him a few moments. ]

Are you okay?

[highlyintuitive]

A little, but not as awkward as some things.

[ After all, she's not a Maximoff by blood. There aren't any other girls named River running around to make things confusing. But she likes that he's honest about it. ]

That's a vague question, needs better parameters for a good answer. I'd like to think I am. Not hurt too bad, it'll all heal quick enough.

...Are you okay? [ With zero parameters added on. ]

[twelveminutesolder]

[ 'Better parameters,' she says, and Pietro doesn't bother to hide the face he makes at that. She's bookish, then. Or at least has an extensive vocabulary.

But she's safe, and Wanda cares about her, so he won't say anything. Especially since she turns the question to him, and he makes the same face he had a split second ago. ]

Why would I not be?

[highlyintuitive]

You got kidnapped onto a spaceship. Most folk don't handle it well.

[ Unless they happen to have been on a spaceship to begin with. She places the dinosaur she was holding back up on the shelf sitting over her bed with the others already there. There are advanced physics textbooks sitting on the floor next to the bed as well. Bookish isn't inaccurate. ]

I wouldn't be okay if I wasn't used to it. Wanda helped, too. She understood me.

[seeingscarlet]

[Wanda starts - ironic that this is the one place on the ship someone can actually sneak up on her. She lets what was starting to be a braid fall loose and shifts so she's sitting more attentively on the edge of the bed.]

Welcome back.

[There are, of course, stray thoughts that flit through her mind: sleeping beauty, keeping watch over her friends and family with Bucky, relief that they mostly seem to be awake now. No decades on ice for anyone this time.]

[highlyintuitive]

Didn't mean to worry you. I'm okay.

[ Of course that statement is undercut by the reveal of the bruise around her eye as she walks over and sits on the floor. But inside if Wanda probes into her there is a peace that wasn't there before. She was healing before she went into cryo but now while she's still open to everything there's a feeling of wholeness.

She's won't fall apart so easily. ]

I went home, dreamt eight months in three days. I helped a girl like me, but worse off. No one saved her like me.

[seeingscarlet]

[And there's an answering flicker of protectiveness and concern at that injury. Maybe it looks worse than it is but someone still hurt a person Wanda considers to be like family. River's still doing better than Steve's track record, at least.

But she can feel smoothness where there were once rough edges in River's mind so maybe it is not so bad, all things considered.]

And then you saved her. [That makes you a Big Damn Hero, River. Accept it.] Does it feel better?

[Wanda knows this, taking something designed to be monstrous and protecting people instead. Nothing is ever going to entirely make it better, but...that comes close.]

[highlyintuitive]

[ She nods, because it does. The broken girls were another shard of glass scratching at her mind but the ache is gone. She's slowly digging away all the secrets hidden inside her. ]

It feels like hope.

[ There were other girls to save, ones like Iris that were broken open to make them jagged and dangerous. But saving even one of them is a good first step. Her family was whole again. But there are other things that are different since she fell asleep. ]

Are you okay? Things are different now. [ She knows about the newest Maximoff, Wanda. ]