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Kicking up snow; [Open... if you're brave]
Topic Started: Mar 17 2008, 09:32 AM (270 Views)
Wanda
Reality Warping
Time of Day: Mid- Afternoon
Place in Timeline: Same day as Commence to Wooing


Outside, Wanda’s boots sank into the slushy snow, throwing up dirty water as she drudged… well, more like stomped along. Winter probably had another snowfall or two in it before it finally gave way to Spring but the warm temperature and melting snow turned the mansion’s grounds into a swamp. The landscape was the yellowish brown of dead grass with a few islands of white where the drifts mounded up.

Wanda walked… somewhere… no where… any where; her milky eyes were facing ahead but that was only a minor concession to keep herself from running into trees; she had no plan about where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do even if she found the place.

“He wore perfume,” she fumed under her breath. Pietro had indeed been wearing a fragrance, men tended to call it aftershave, and although her fracture mind made her insane, she wasn’t stupid. “Grrahh,” she slowed and screamed through her teeth.

In their room, Pietro had kissed her, told her that he would be gone for the day but that Lorna would there. Even mentioning to her that Lorna needed her; their sister was still broken hearted. But she’d been pushed aside, it was bound to happen.

She looked around wildly as her hands clenched and unclenched, then pointed her hand and gestured at a mound of dirty snow. “Pietro!” she commanded the spirits and before her raging eyes the snow of reformed into the likeness of her brother.

“Oh, I see,” she yelled at the Pietro snowman, “I will … cramp your style!” A phrase she’d picked up somewhere, probably from Ari. Wanda ran to a mound of slushy snow and scooped up a handful. The ball that flew through the air was mostly hard-packed ice, striking Pietro-snowman in the shoulder and making his arm fall off.

It wasn’t Pietro, not the real one, nevertheless, her heart pounded as she hit it… hit him. But … it felt a little good too; she scooped up another handful of snow.

“Am I a puppy… that you must find me a watcher so I do not chew your slippers while you are gone?!” Wanda upset made no more sense than she normally did and again, the snowball flew, this time taking out a good portion of Pietro’s side.

“I am not good enough for you now,” she screamed, not bothering with snowballs this time, she marched up to the Pietro snowball and kicked his legs out from under him. The snowman toppled over but the perfect face of Pietro stared up to the sky.

“You want to go! Fine! I don’t need you!” she screamed the lie at the fallen Pietro-snowman. Her face twisted, it was hard thing say, even though it wasn’t true… especially when you knew it wasn’t true but you only had two paths in front of you: stay in your room and cry, descending into a black pit of depression, or get angry, scream and kick, and try to pretend that you have control over your life.

Wanda looked down at the Pietro and turned away, lifting her sleeve to wipe away the sweat on her face… well, it could have been sweat and that’s what she’d tell herself.
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Lorna Dane
Unregistered

Lying on her bed, long green hair pooling around her head and shoulders, Lorna watched the clouds roll past her window and let her thoughts wander, allowing them free rein for the first time that day. Well free rein to a point, a line that she didn't want to let herself cross, the one that led to Alex, and everything the entailed. However she found the more she tried not to think about it, the more likely it was that she actually began to consider the events of the last month or so. It left a bad taste in her mouth, a rise of anger and bitterness in her chest that spread through the rest of her body; it became almost uncontrollable, churning around inside her and expanding until she had to find a way to let it out.

That was why, a few nights before, she had taken a razor blade to the inside of her upper arm, an old cutting spot, slicing in deep enough to draw a steady flow of deep red blood. It had felt good, like coming back to something she'd been denying herself, a feeling of deep release and calm had settled over her which had lasted the rest of the night. To most people Lorna knew she appeared fairly level headed and responsible, she was not the sort of person people expected to self harm, and part of her wasn't that person. But right now, the part that cut herself and had previously starved herself was stronger, more dominant.

She had been good for a few years, settling into her place in the world, but her father's death, Alex's betryal, and the discovery that people she considered friends and family had known, but chosen to stay loyal to Alex over her, and the subsequent 'auction' had brought back the old feelings and the desire to find a way to control what was happening to her.

Rolling on to her stomach, and pushing herself up into a sitting position, Lorna paused to let the light head rush pass before she stood up. Sometimes she felt like she was two different people, the one the bitter, angry self harming woman and the one who wanted to be stronger than that, who didn't want what other people did to her to send her backwards. At the moment, the first one was winning out, much to the shame of the latter. She knew she should talk to someone, get help again, but she didn't want to, almost childishly she wanted to keep everyone away, to punish them.

Glancing at her watch, Lorna decided it was time to get out of her room, and out of her head. Pietro had come to ask her if she would keep an eye on Wanda during the day and Lorna had checked in on her sister a few times, but she didn't want her to feel smothered, so she had left her to her own devices for most of the morning. Now though, it was Lorna who wanted the company of her sister, who, even though she had known her less than a year, she still loved dearly.

Quickly pulling on a pair of boots, Lorna headed out of her room, pulling a hair band from her jean pocket and pulling it back into a low ponytail as she walked. Heading down the stairs to the rooms the twins shared, she knocked briefly on the door before entering. "Wanda?" she called out, searching through the apartment with no avail. The door that lead into the garden was open and that was enough of a lead for Lorna. Walking quickly, she could barely make out a trail of footsteps leading through the slushy snow, enough to give her and indication as to which direction Wanda had gone in.

Walking further and further away from the Mansion, Lorna began to wonder whether she was walking in the right direction, whether this was really the way her sister had gone, but she couldn't think of anything else to do right now so she kept moving. After a short while her search was rewarded when she came upon her quarry, screaming at what appeared to be a snowman. Relieved to see her sister okay, if rather distressed, Lorna broke into a run, almost skidding to a stop as she reached Wanda and the snowman. "Wanda! What's going on? Are you okay?" she asked, cheeks flushed from the cool air, green eyes playing urgently over the other woman's face as she lifted a hand to brushed brunette curls back from Wanda's face.
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Wanda
Reality Warping
"Wanda! What's going on? Are you okay?" Lorna asked as she skidded to a stop next to her sister.

Wanda lowered her arm, the sleeve wet from the sweat and tears. So wrapped up what she was doing, she didn’t see Lorna until her sister nearly in front of her. “Yes, I’m well… and I don’t need him,” she said bitterly as she brought back her foot and kicked the last bit of snow that looked like Pietro. The snowhead with Pietro’s face went airborne, bursting into a shower of snow when it hit a tree trunk.

“I don’t need him to be happy!” She shouted desperately at Lorna; although, it was more accurate to say that she was shouting and Lorna just happened to be in front of her. “I’ll show him! He can stay away all day… I don’t care!” But her shouting and anger belied her words. She did care, she cared was much it hurt. Her angry face turned to the school, hoping to see him rush out of the doors to comfort her. He would say that he was glad he was back with her. She would forget that she was angry and it would be as though he had never been away. She waited. The doors didn’t open. Pietro didn’t come.

“Go! Have your fun!” she screamed at the school, her body ridged and fists clenched in anger. Then turning on her heel, she retreated deeper into the woods.

He thinks he’s the only person who can run off … be happy… have fun,” she grumbled under her breath, the last words sounding more like a curse than something enjoyable. Her feet picked up speed and seemed to stomp through the marshy ground with purpose.

Wanda’s milky eyes glared ahead of her until she heard the distant piping of calliope music. Her mouth dropped open in an O of surprise and she picked up speed. Following the manically cheerful hoots of the steam pipe organ that wound through a path in the wood, Wanda stopped in front of an old wooden sign stretched over her path. In flowing red and gold paint the sign declared – The Carnival of Dreams. Beyond the sign, the path opened up to a clearing filled with garishly colored tents and haunting calliope tones.

“Yes,” Wanda said wearily as Lorna caught up to her side, “I would like some good dreams now,” and entered the clearing.
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Lorna Dane
Unregistered

It didn’t take a genius to work out what Wanda was talking about, who ‘he’ was and why she was upset. Avery and Pietro’s date was supposed to be taking all day and it was clear Wanda was feeling neglected. Really Lorna couldn’t imagine what she was feeling, but he could understand the reason. She had grown up without an siblings, and it was only in the last year that she had become close to the brother and sister she hadn’t known about before. Even then she couldn’t even touch on the bond that Pietro and Wanda had, not only were they twins but they had relied solely on each other since their mother died. With things changing as they were, Pietro’s relationship with Avery included, it was hard on the twin left behind. She felt a surge of guilt that she had left her sister alone, that she had been wrapped up in her own issues far too much

As Wanda screamed and yelled, at the person who wasn’t there to hear it, Lorna didn’t intervene, but simply stood there. She had a feeling that Wanda needed to get some of her anger and hurt out, she didn’t want to listen to rational explanations, and Lorna more than understood that need. All the green haired woman could do was keep up with her sister and hope she didn’t start using her powers in a dangerous way, because then only Pietro could pull her back, and considering how Wanda was annoyed with him at the moment, there was a little bit of doubt that he might actually be able to do that.

“Go! Have your fun!” she screamed at the school, her body ridged and fists clenched in anger. Then turning on her heel, she retreated deeper into the woods.

Feeling like a unwanted observer, but knowing that wasn’t truly the case, Lorna followed after the other woman, keeping pace as best she could. “Wanda-” she began and then paused as her sister picked up her pace, moving now with a sudden purpose. With a sigh, she broke into a fast jog, not wanting to lose sight of Wanda. Further into the woods, Lorna too came to a stop, looking up at the cheerfully painted sign. Though this was clearly one of Wanda’s creations, Lorna still found herself drawn into it, the music floating through the quiet, winter air and enticing her forwards.

Wanda spoke, and Lorna turned her head towards her sister, looking at her for a moment, before smiling. “Then let’s go and find some.” she said, reaching out to lightly clasp Wanda’s hand as they walked into the carnival clearing. Suspending disbelief, any questions that came to mind, and slight unease, Lorna looked around her curiously. Everywhere the carnival folk were beginning to emerge from tents, peeping out from behind heavily embroidered and patchwork fabrics. Some of them wore intricately caved masks, painted in vibrant rainbow shades and accented with gold while others had painted their faces in contrasting colours.

The music was coming from a large, horse drawn calliope, though the animals weren’t harnessed at that particular moment. They stood to one side, both with gleaming golden coats, tethered to a tree and snuffling against the lingering snow to reach the sparse grass underneath. An old woman with weathered nut brown skin and thick white hair pulled back from her face sat on a stool in front of the instrument, a blanket spread out in front of her with a strange assortment of pendents attached to leather thongs so they could be worn as necklaces lying on the material.

Lorna watched as the woman beckoned them closer, no longer sure if they were in an entirely created world or if this was some memory of Wanda’s warped by her need for good dreams. Stepping closer, it seemed to Lorna as though the embroidered creatures on the older woman’s dress seemed to move and blur as though coming to life as the light caught the threads. She looked to her sister, her green eyed gaze sweeping over Wanda’s face and up to her milky white eyes. “What do we do?” she asked softly, looking to other woman for guidance. Lorna was a woman of science, her world was polar opposite to her sister’s world of spirits and imagined creations, and yet for now she put herself and her trust in her the hands of the Scarlet Witch, sure they she would bring them out the other side.
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Wanda
Reality Warping
Wanda slid her hand into her sister’s and looked down at the charms on the blanket. Had Pietro been there, he would’ve recognized the carnival as a crazy quilt of fragments of traveling shows they’d seen sewn together, with perhaps a pinch of the fanciful thrown in the mix as well.

Wanda bent down, perching on the balls of her feet in front of the blanket of trinkets. “Old woman,” she began, the anger that sent her running here banked up and smoldering but pain still tinged her words. “We’re looking for good dreams… dreams to sooth broken hearts.”

She looked to her sister, her green eyed gaze sweeping over Wanda’s face and up to her milky white eyes. “What do we do?” she asked softly, looking to other woman for guidance.

Wanda watched the old woman continue playing the yellowed organ keys; her face and fingers as wrinkled as an old, desiccated apple but offering no sage words of wisdom or advice to the sisters.

“Do?” Wanda mused as she rose to her feet with a look of determination in her milky eyes. “We go and look for ourselves.”

Holding her sister’s hand, Wanda wove her way through the massive rides and rickety game booths. The sisters walked seemingly unnoticed as masked carnival workers wordlessly put their make-shift tents and unrolled awnings from their wagons.

Wanda’s home had not been a backward country but in a place where horses were cheaper than a car, cost less to keep working, and could reproduce; the incentive to mechanize just wasn’t there if you lived outside a big city. Machines weren’t unheard of but they were a novelty and a popular attraction.

Wanda stopped in front huge and elaborate display of four life-sized mechanical marionettes, a couple standing together and a man standing alone on one side of the couple and a woman standing alone on the other side. Wanda’s eyes widened and her breath caught as she stared at the marvels. Somewhere beneath the stage, music started and the figures started to dance.

To those accustomed to the incredible engineering feats of Scott Summers and Hank McCoy, the dancers would undoubtedly have seemed only one step above the spinning dancers in a little girl’s jewelry box but Wanda smiled as she watched them go along their predetermined route, twirling and stiffly moving their arms into poses.

After a few moments, the music wound down, but less than a moment later, it started up again and the same dance started over. “Aren’t they wonderful,” Wanda said, hopping over up onto the stage and joined the lone man on the end. All the dancers were painted in garish colors; the lone mechanical man had a blank red face, a yellow shirt and green pants that were painted on him but he did have one piece of real clothing, a long green coat with tails that billowed out as he spun. In his bold color scheme, he was quite the vision.

Wanda took the mechanical man’s hand and pretended to be his partner, matching his routine of movements but even still, she couldn’t stop herself from adding gracefully flourishes that the other dancers couldn’t, which set her apart from them even as she mimicked their steps.

“See? Aren’t they perfect?” she spoke as she danced, “He would never go out and do what he shouldn’t. HeHe would never drink too much… He would never sneak around,” the music stopped and the mannequins went back to their at rest state. “And ... He would never go off and leave me behind,” she said added as she stepped off the stage.
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Lorna Dane
Unregistered

Lorna titled her head to the side as she inspected the items on the woman's blanket, lifting her green eyes to watch the organ player as she continued to push down the keys without giving any indication that she had heard Wanda. She turned in a circle, looking at the other carnival worker's, going about their business as though the visitor's didn't even exist. Lorna wondered if they even did any more. It was a strange sensation but not a scary one somehow. Maybe she could stay here and not exist.

Holding tightly to her sister's hand, Lorna followed her through the carnival, watching the beautiful stalls and rides that were being set up all over the place. If this was all from Wanda's mind, her sister was far more amazing than Lorna had ever realised before. "Do you think they know we're here?" she murmured softly, not sure why she felt the need to speak quietly. It was almost as though she didn't want to interrupt the carnival workers, as though they were sleepers, dreaming peacefully. It seemed unfair to let them know that other people existed.

She was so enthralled in staring around her that she didn't even notice that Wanda had stopped, and she had to check herself sharply to stop from walking straight into her sister. She turned to look up at the stage, the simple mannequins staring sightlessly at each other, waiting for the other to move so they could begin. Lorna watched the lone woman at the corner of the stage, her red and gold costume clashing garishly as she jerked into a dancing motion, long cape flowing fluidly behind her, juxtaposing her own wooden movements.

“Aren’t they wonderful,” Wanda said.

"They're beautiful." Lorna replied, a delighted smile curving her lips as she watched Wanda dance. She was truly an amazing dancer, completely with out the awkward self conciousness that makes many people's dancing almost painful to watch. As Wanda spoke, and her dance finally came to an end, Lorna linked her arm through hers as the other woman re-joined her. "But he also can't bring you cherry blossom seeds from Japan" she said with a wry smile and looked up at the mannequins one again. "Maybe he has more brains than most men though."

Before they could move on, a tall handsome looking man approached, dressed in a red waistcoat with a purple shirt underneath and red trousers. She couldn't help but like the bright colours of the carnival workers, they way they wore them without any kind of stigma, free from all the stupidity of modern culture. He held out his hands, palms upward as to show they were empty. It was the first time one of the carnival workers had approached them and Lorna was almost disappointed that they were seen by someone. The man lifted his hand and waved it by the side of the head, and then reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, making a small gesture at the same time and out of nowhere a perfect, soft green flower appeared in his hands. He repeated the gesture, his fingers running through her hair and produced three more blossoms. Gently he took her chin between his fingers and placed the flowers behind her ear. Then he turned to Wanda and repeated the gesture with her, his fingers moving through her curls, red blossoms seeming to fall from her hair. He took her chin as he had done with Lorna and gently placed the flowers in her hair. The carnival worked took a step back, placing a hand on each other their shoulders, giving a small nod and then turning away from them, walking away and disappearing behind a stall.

Lifting a hand to her head, Lorna gently extracted one of the flowers and looked at it. "They're beautiful." she said, touching one of the petals with the tip of her finger before placing it back in her hair. She didn't comment on the strangeness of the moment because somehow it didn't seem as strange as it should. "Let's go and find our good dreams now."
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