thisavrou_log | [closed] there's nothing that I'd take back

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[closed] there's nothing that I'd take back

Who: Wanda Maximoff and YOU!
When: June 12th and on
Where: Shipside and around the Collective
What: Wanda defrosts and a bad time is had.
Warnings: Civil War spoilers, feels, light descriptions of injuries. Will update as needed.

defrosting;
Wanda opens her eyes and panics, struggling out of the tube before the door's fully open, not caring when her knees give out and send her sprawling to the ground. She's frantic and wide-eyed, barely able to pull the dress she'd been wearing earlier on before she bolts barefoot into the hallway.

She's not going a particular direction, just wherever her brain tells her is "away" despite having no reason here to run. Her thoughts are muddled and going in circles and her body feels like she's moving through syrup. Her neck hurts, but that's been a constant for a month (she guesses; there are no calendars in the Raft). That, she can deal with. She just needs to find somewhere safe and quiet and why is just getting down this hallway taking almost everything she has?

Maybe she's wandered into the kitchen or rounded a corner and almost crashed into someone. Either way, Wanda's a sight: hair soaked from the cryotube, dark circles under her eyes, and angry red burns on her neck. She's okay if she keeps moving, but if forced to stand still it's evident that she really ought to be sitting down.

And even if she knows you, even if she trusts you, there's a moment of real fear when she meets your eyes. She's not convinced this isn't all a dream or some sort of hallucination, so she just stares and waits, ready to make another attempt at bolting if this isn't as it seems.

retail therapy, part 2;
As soon as she is physically able to leave, Wanda returns to her hotel room on the Collective. The Moira is too easy to mistake for the Raft in the dark; she needs the press of many happy minds and something more than metal walls. Physically she is on the mend, and though she tires easily it's a relief to have her thoughts moving at a normal pace.

Her pride will not let her go around with her neck so obviously bandaged, so she stops back at one of the many clothing stores to find something to do about that. A scarf? Maybe that filligree collar if she can stand the reminder. Either way, she's jumpy and very, very desperate not to talk about the elephant in the room.

"Excuse me," she murmurs, head down and trying not to make an obvious break for the other side of the clothing rack.

spa day;
Every time she wakes up here is another small victory and slowly Wanda starts coming back to herself. Her smile is still a little forced today but she's not trying to run from company this time. Remaining Not Okay is not an option. There are still people she wants to protect here, and it's been quite obvious that this isn't a pleasure cruise.

Today Wanda's strategy is to try to pretend that she didn't dream a year in three days. What would she be doing otherwise? They have unlimited credit and almost anything one can imagine at their disposal, and the spa is about as far from her former circumstances as she can get. She's going over the treatment list yet again, but this time she's not scoffing at how ridiculous some of the options are.

"Have you tried the massages here?" Her shoulders are still stiff and a little sore, but there's no reason for that when she has an entire spa at her disposal, right?

magic;
It's several days before Wanda is comfortable enough to even consider reaching for the more visible aspects of her powers. The collar hadn't reacted to her telepathic abilities, but the barest hint of anything tangible would set it off. They couldn't be gentle with it; if she'd been able to get free the others wouldn't have been far behind.

She is not sure it's even worth it anymore. The captains are still kicking around ideas for the new justice system. How long will it be before they create some sort of preemptive punishment system? Or some sort of awful failsafe? Or order her to use her powers on someone when she doesn't want to?

Wanda trusts them even less now, but if she's learned anything from this entire incident, it's that protecting herself and everyone else is her job. She is (was) the strongest of the Avengers. If she was just a little better, she could have contained the explosion without having to move Rumlow at all. If she were a little stronger, she could have shaken off the dizziness just enough to help Tony or Sam catch Rhodey, if not stop Vision from shooting him in the first place.

It's still her fault, and all of Clint and Steve's pretty words can't change the reality of the situation.

But the next time Wanda reaches for the scarlet, something's clearly off. It's little more than tiny flickering balls of energy hovering close to her palms, as weak and frightened as Wanda felt before the Moira pulled her back. She should not be struggling to lift six beach stones no larger than her fist and yet she feels like she's back in Strucker's base again.

This seemed like a more secluded area of the beach, but what Wanda doesn't know is that it's both a great spot to collect shells from the tidal pools and one of the more obvious areas one might go to get away from the larger crowds. Oops.

wildcard;
[These are general catchall prompts meant to encompass a wide variety of plotting, but please feel free to create your own scenario!]

Note: will match prose or brackets

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"Our world." She can't call it 'home' anymore and even 'our world' implies some sense of belonging Wanda no longer feels. It's too early to have formed a plan yet, especially in this state, but she's sure of one thing: she will never be going back of her own free will. Not to that. The others would not have been treated so harshly if not for her.

She does look at him, but as soon as Bruce says 'medbay' her eyes widen and she takes a shaky step away. "No more drugs." She has no right to ask him for reassurances but even before all of this Wanda didn't trust the medbay staff enough to forward her report from Del Pascia. She has known too many twisted doctors not to have an innate suspicion, especially now.

No surprise at that answer, honestly. Bruce doesn't even say anything to it, trying really hard to ignore the knot in his chest and the panic that flares up even if whatever's happened to her hasn't happened to him yet. He's almost afraid to ask for more details, but what little she's said so far, coupled with the way she looks right now, are enough for him to figure out that somehow the General got his hands on the Avengers, and likely locked them up somewhere. He's amazed that there's even a place where Wanda of all people can be locked up, but then he has to imagine that's why she looks the way she does. She must've been tortured to Hell and back several times over.

What she says next only makes him surer of that. Jesus. He might not be the closest person to Wanda, far from it even, but he can't help the severe discomfort he feels when he can almost imagine what they did to her. He shakes his head promptly, daring half a step closer, his voice solemn. "Over my dead body." Which, let's be real, isn't going to happen anytime soon, and definitely not here.

It's not for her sake. It can't be. He must be looking at her and seeing Natasha or Tony (the irony) or someone else he actually likes. Wanda would have thought that Bruce of all people would think that she deserved every second of this.

And maybe she does. There's only so long almost everyone else can call you a monster before you start to believe them.

But finally Wanda nods. "Okay." She doesn't have it in her to argue anymore - which is exactly the point.

She can believe it or not, he really doesn't care, but it is for her sake. He might not like her or trust her right now, but he still doesn't want her getting hurt or tortured, and he wouldn't let anyone on this ship continue what damage has already been done to her.

Her answer's short but it's enough, and with that he starts walking down the hallway, headed towards the medbay. He doesn't expect any danger to lurk from a corner, but she probably does, so he keeps checking every nook and shadow just to give her some peace of mind.

Their walk is quiet and short, and soon they reach the medbay, which is, for the moment, blissfully quiet and practically empty. Bruce gestures to one of the examination tables.

"Have a seat. I'll take a look at you myself."

Wanda does not speak at all on the way back unless spoken to first, which is uncharacteristically quiet even for her. Fortunately (?) she didn't really manage to get far in her current state.

It takes a few tries before she manages to heft herself onto one of the tables with a wince. She can hardly argue with Bruce anymore, though there's a certain wary set to her shoulders that hasn't quite gone away.

And before he asks, because he probably will: "I don't know what they gave me." Because of course they kept anyone who actually knew things far away from her.

Edited 2016-07-03 14:42 (UTC)

Silence isn't something Bruce is at all uncomfortable with, and besides it's not like he and Wanda have much they can talk about without it being awkward or just too serious. So in this case, silence really is the best option.

He notices her struggling to get onto the table, but she doesn't ask for help, so he doesn't offer, gathering a few simple tools for a quicker examination, nothing at all invasive, and definitely no drugs at all. He nods at the answer to the unspoken question, as he sets the tools down on a small cart and brings it over to where she is.

"I didn't think you would." He picks up the medical pen light first, then lifts it up before turning it on. "Open your mouth?"

It's a simple thing, really, just a light. Nothing on the cart is particularly worrying aside from the inherent scariness of medical supplies. Logically, Wanda knows this.

Her fear does not care.

Tension is evident in how stiffly she sits but she does as Bruce asks. In a way, it's fortunate he's the one doing this because her guilt is leaving her no choice but to behave. Anyone else and she'd be bolting out the door.

He tries not to put too much weight to the way she's visibly tense and scared, though there is carefulness in the way he handles the situation, each of his motions slow as if he wants to give her enough time to adapt and not freak out. He would much rather if she didn't right now, honestly.

Putting on his glasses, he leans in enough to shine the light down her throat, though the pen doesn't even get anywhere into her mouth, and a few seconds later he's pulling back again. His other hand lifts and he hopes beyond hope she won't lash out when he carefully rests his fingers on the side of her face, so his thumb can settle on her cheek and tug down just enough that he can get a good look into her eyes.

"I'll check on your light reflex now. It's really quick, it won't hurt," he tells her just so she won't get frightened when he flickers the light briefly over her eyes, watching how her pupils react to it.

It's been a long time since she's lashed out at someone for something so innocuous. There's a fundamental lack of understanding in the general populace at home about how her powers work - she's not a danger just by existing and having emotions. If that was the case, she would have leveled the church and Ultron's device in Sokovia in one fell swoop and it would have all been over.

Bruce will find as he checks her reflexes that they're sluggish - the drugs have begun to wear off to the point where she can walk around, but they're still very much in her system. She's not sick, but she's not exactly 'healthy' either. It's going to take some time for Wanda to get back to herself.

He's quick to ascribe any sluggishness to whatever drugs they put in her system— ideally, he'd test her blood to figure out just what they gave her, but considering her mental state and how she might react to having blood drawn, and since she's not showing any symptoms of dangerous side effects, he'll let it be and just wait until they wear off.

The hard part, he realizes, might be convincing her to stay still until they do. But he'll try anyway, ultimately leaving the decision to her.

"Generally speaking, you're alright," he speaks as he picks up the small handheld scanner. "You're a little weak but I think you just need some rest and food. I'll scan you for any broken bones or internal damage, just in case, otherwise I advise you to lie down until the drugs wear off, at the very least."

He pauses, his eyes falling to her throat. "I can also give you something for the... bruises. If you want."

It's a good thing he doesn't bring it up, because Wanda would be less than receptive to the idea. Who knows what could happen to it later or how it could eventually be used against her? Everyone is suspect now until they prove otherwise. Maybe she can trust Bruce, but she barely knows the medbay staff.

So while staying still in her room or somewhere not here would be something she's willing to do, she won't stay here alone.

"Burns." Call them what they are. She doesn't need a mirror to know the truth of it. "How bad are they?"

Bruce nods when she calls them by the name, more worried than anything else. He can't even imagine the kind of restraints they must've used on her to inflict a wound like that, but on the other hand— he can. Knowing what he does of her abilities, he can take a guess at what kind of cage they'd need to hold her, what kind of devices they'd have to have in place to prevent her from using her powers to escape or attack anyone close enough.

He's never been the biggest fan of Wanda's powers, but still. This isn't the way to deal with it, either. It's not the way to deal with her. But of course that he would expect no less from a monster like Ross.

"They look pretty ugly," he offers just as truthfully, making sure not to touch the marked skin as to not hurt her. "We're out of medigel right now, but once we have some more, this should be fairly easy to heal completely. Until then, I can only advise to use some ointment to help with the discomfort."

If they're still on the Collective - and that's a big if - she can wait until she gets enough strength back to haul herself planetside. The spa facilities could probably erase all traces of it in short order if she can manage to let complete strangers touch her.

But for now a not insignificant part of her is inclined to tell Bruce to just leave it alone, though whether it's because she's not convinced she didn't deserve it or just doesn't want them touched more than necessary is beyond her at the moment.

"Why?"

Why is he helping her? Bruce has more reason to hate her than anyone and maybe, if it hadn't been Ross's doing, he simply wouldn't care. And who could blame him?

Bruce drops his hands from her throat, seemingly pleased enough with what he's seen. He was mostly worried about her reflexes and the injuries she was sporting, and while her state is far from ideal, it's nothing critical. She'll live, and she'll feel a lot better once she gets some food and rest too.

Her question has him looking over as he steps closer to a medicine cupboard nearby. No drugs or pills or anything of the sort, he just gets a small tube with burn cream, then hands it over to her.

"Why what?"

Wanda takes it, but makes no move to actually do anything with the cream. She just stares at it. Could be lack of energy...or lack of will. It's been a rough month, or however long she was in that place.

"Why are you helping me?" It doesn't make sense. He hates her, doesn't he? He would have been well within his rights to just keep walking or leave her here for someone else to examine. It had clearly taken a lot for him to accept her help with the sky-whales even though it was kind of necessary, so Bruce not rushing to wrap things up and get away from her is all kinds of odd.

"What else should I have done? Let you pass out in the middle of the hallway?" His answer is evasive at best, but it's still a nicer option than what initially jumped into his head: not everyone's going to treat you the same way you treat them. Unnecessarily harsh, and harrowingly hostile, he knows that.

He sighs quietly, eyes closing as he turns his face away from her for a moment, busying himself with putting his medical tools away. "I know what you think of me, Wanda. It doesn't take being a telepath. But I don't hate you. And I don't think you should be treated as some kind of monster, either."

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[closed] there's nothing that I'd take back

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