( CLOSED ) BITE MY TONGUE.

[manipulative]

Who: Katherine + Stefan + Wanda + Amos
What: June stuff.
When: June.
Where: All around the twist.

Content Warnings: Parental abuse; mind control/reality warping; dark magic; PTSD.

Comments

[MEMORY BOX] HAPPY 549TH BIRTHDAY.

[manipulative]

[ while katherine is a very big fan of surprise gifts, she more or less appreciates them coming from, well… people she trusts (like stefan). when she finds a small, rectangular box made out of dark stained wood on their front porch (once again, stefan's forbidden her to enter the kitchen; what else is a girl supposed to do if not go out the front and see if she can start throwing rocks at the windows?), she's a touch hesitant to even pick it up. but considering that it's rare for anything to be delivered in this god forsaken town, well…

it could be from stefan, after all. he has become very cheeky and aggravating in his old age.

placing it on the kitchen table, she stands with her arms crossed and her hip slightly jutted out. she's wearing stefan's shirt (one of her many favourites) and has left her hair unruly for the morning. it may be her birthday, but that doesn't mean that she can't be a little cautious.

she looks at stefan. ]

Did you leave this outside?

[prescind]

What?

( halfway distracted, stefan turns and looks at the box. he's got flour on his hands and an apron over his neck but he pauses for a second to step closer to what she's brought in. )

Where did you get that?

( he did not leave that outside, no. )

[manipulative]

By the front door.

[ even if she's a little concerned about who dropped this box off, she does take a moment to continue to appreciate stefan in his apron. he does look quite a sight, especially with some flour greying his hairline and faintly colouring the tip of his nose.

she furrows her brows. ] It wasn't you. [ she doesn't ask it as a question this time. ]

[prescind]

It wasn't me. I got you a gift but it wasn't that.

( which concerns him especially considering this place. )

Was there a card or a note or anything?

[manipulative]

[ she shakes her head. if there was a card, her questions would be entirely different. if there was a card, she'd be teasing him about how he's got competition. ]

No. It was just on the porch.

[ looking down at the box, she runs her fingers over its edges. ]

Feels like a box.

[ so perhaps it's just a box. ]

[GHOSTS] DADS ARE UNCOOL.

[manipulative]

[ as katherine walks up the stairs to their second floor, she pauses at the top of the staircase to glance back down. no one is there, not even aleksander or vanilla. the house is empty downstairs save for its natural creaking and moaning.

it's stupid to think someone is in a house with two very violent vampires.

shaking her head, katherine slowly continues her walk to the bedroom where she finds stefan. she shrugs off the inkling that she's being watched. it's time to tuck him into bed and steal his pillow (and shirt—she takes this very, very seriously). she comes to stand beside him in the ensuite and runs her hand along his spine. ]

You should probably get to bed before Aleksander takes your spot again.

[prescind]

( he's just finishing brushing his teeth when she steps in behind him. he smiles at her through the mirror and then washes his mouth out as she touches him. )

You know, he wouldn't do that if you didn't encourage him.

( he continues smiling at her but something...niggles at the back of his mind and he glances at the mirror again like he's going to see something there.

but it's just katherine and stefan. just the two of them. )

[manipulative]

Is it really encouraging when I simply welcome him to take what he wants to take?

[ she purses her lips and furrows her brows as she regards him in the mirror. to her, that's hardly enabling! that's simply her encouraging aleksander to take what's his. that's healthy, isn't it? ]

I'm just trying to be a good dog mom.

[prescind]

And he takes my spot in bed so while you might be a good dog mom, that means you're not being a good girlfriend!

( because he wants that spot in bed too. )

He gets what he wants and I don't?

[manipulative]

Yes.

[ katherine doesn't understand the question. aleksander gets what he wants and stefan has to suffer. that's what he signed up for being her boyfriend.

she regards him with a feigned look of seriousness in the mirror. ]

Don't you want him to have the things he wants?

[NIGHTMARES] TURN AWAY (CW: PROSTITUTION, CHILD PROSTITUTION, VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE)

[rocinantes]

( amos knows how they'd gotten here. he knows and yet, as soon as he realizes where they are, he wants to go back. it doesn't matter that it's the past, it doesn't matter that he doesn't think it'll shake wanda too badly, it's still...a portion of his life that he doesn't want to look again.

wanda had found him feeling sick and refusing help. she'd been the one to figure out there was something else there, not just amos, and when trying to kill it had risked his life, this is what they'd done.

he knows this place. his voice gets stuck in his throat and his eyes water while he tries not to blink. )

We shouldn't be here.

( if they stay here, he's going to see his mother. worse yet, he's going to see himself and he knows what's going to happen from there. )

[explosion]

[ wanda glances around curiously, unclear of where this happens to be in the trench. given the strange assortment of locations that tend to crop up around the city, she thinks… well, she doesn't think.

she's the mistress of nightmares. wanda hasn't given anyone a decent dream ever since she acquired her powers. she doesn't know what those feel like.

when she looks at amos, she notices how strange he looks. he's always so surly, always so sharp and rough and distant. she doesn't need to be a telepath to know that he has his secrets.

she furrows her brows. gently, she asks, ] Where is here?

[rocinantes]

It's Baltimore.

( more specifically, it's a brothel in baltimore. he knows this place and he knows some of these people. he knows the walls and rooms and the darkness.

his shoulders hunch and he looks around, trying to find an exit. )

It's where I grew up.

[explosion]

Hm.

[ it's a very quick hum. it doesn't seem like a nice place to grow up in with it being very dark and almost confining, but wanda has the good sense not to say as much. she doesn't wish to offend amos... even if she thinks he would agree.

she looks at him and keeps her hands clasped loosely in front of her. ]

You don't want to be here.

[ there's no judgement. it's merely a gentle statement. ]

[rocinantes]

It's a fucking brothel.

( she's gentle but he's sharp, tense. he doesn't want to be here and if he sees himself, he doesn't know what he's going to do. )

No, I don't want to be here.

[NIGHTMARES] PREVIOUSLY ON... WANDAVISION.

[explosion]

[ despite being the puppet master who has brought countless nightmares to life (both inadvertently and intentionally), wanda doesn't recognise this for what it is. she never does.

all her nightmares begin the same: there is pietro or vision, or tommy and billy, and then there is her. and there is light and colour, and there is a happiness to her entire being that sweeps her up in a more majestic and careful way than her magic ever has. and when she begins to move towards the person who is in her dream, the distance seemingly grows smaller… until it expands. until vision's head holds a crater. until vision is a sickly purple. until pietro is covered in blood and shelled with bullets. until tommy and billy are falling apart brick by brick.

this time when wanda dreams, she's standing in the middle of a dilapidated and small apartment. it's dark and a little chilly, but she has done her best to cover the windows with thick and heavy blankets that act like curtains. it keeps most of the noise out; the sirens sound like distant screams now. the furniture is mismatched; the chairs at the kitchen table look like they've seen better days. the small television crackles as dick van dyke plays with white noise fluctuating through it.

when the trench opens her dream to amos, the floor begins to shake. wanda ignores it. it's what papa had always told her to do; it's what pietro had always encouraged her to do. ignore it and it will go away. there is nothing to fear but missing out on her stories.

flicking her wrist up, wanda strikes the wall with red and the room quietens.

forcing a smile, she exhales, pleased. ] That's better.

[ this nightmare won't unfold like the rest. she's learned how to control things. this isn't a nightmare but a dream. she's home now; it's better than her house in the trench or her home in westview.

the apartment is eerily quiet except for dick van dyke. ]

[rocinantes]

Is it?

( the ground shakes and he doesn't move, used to being shot at or shelled during his time in space. but it still turns his stomach a bit and he glances around. )

Where are we?

( she seems to know this place so he doesn't go looking for a door to kick in so they can get out. )

[explosion]

[ wanda doesn't pay him any attention as she scrutinises her childhood home and reorganises its furniture. the couch isn't as it should be, so with a flick of her wrist, it transforms into a ratty old and discoloured thing. ]

Sokovia.

[ when another bomb drops in the far distance, she tugs those curtains tighter across the windows. out of sight, out of mind. ]

My home. Although, this is not right.

[ she's talking about the kitchen table. it colours red as it transforms into something smaller and a touch lopsided. ]

[rocinantes]

( the fact that they're in her home and not in trench doesn't seme to be bothering her. she's redecorating and he's just standing there like some end table.

he eyes her, watching her move this way and that, watching her magic easily shift things to her liking. )

Wanda.

( he doesn't say it loudly but she needs to realize that this isn't right. )

[explosion]

[ the apartment doesn't look as it should. the walls are a deeper green when they should be a deep moss. the skirting boards are a stark white when they should be a mottled black. the slight burn marks on the floor from pietro are gone.

everything needs to be fixed. it's a good thing that's exactly what she intends to do. ]

Hm?

[TUNNELS] INDIANA JONES AND THE TUNNEL OF DOOM.

[manipulative]

[ when katherine had decided to investigate the large hole outside of the apothecary, she hadn't intended to be going through a series of tunnels to god knows where. despite her suspicions of it being a big loop going nowhere, her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

every girl likes adventure. despite the shoes she's wearing, katherine does fit that bill. after all, when she'd been locked away in the tomb on the lockwood estate, all she had in her arsenal of entertainment was exploring. it's best to get the lay of the land, and underneath the trench remains undiscovered by her.

she doesn't use a light as she navigates her way through the tunnels. with her eye sight already sharp enough, she enters a branch and sees… ]

Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?

[ someone she knows, at least. amos looks good in the dark. ]

[rocinantes]

No flirting allowed.

( but he is relieved to see her. if he's going to be lost or at least a little turned on, he's glad that there's going to be someone here with him to be all twisted up with him.

he smiles in her direction and moves in closer, looking around. )

How'd you end up in here?

[manipulative]

[ katherine rolls her eyes, quietly relieved that amos hasn't lost that very unfunny sense of humour. if he had, she'd know that something was weird an d wrong down in these tunnels.

seems like the air's just fine down here. ]

I willingly came down here.

[ she shrugs in preparation for his judgement. ]

There was a hole outside of my apothecary. I got curious.

[rocinantes]

You got curious so you went down a hole.

( not that amos was any better considering he was here too. still, he arches an eyebrow. )

Didn't think that just going into a hole would be bad news? Maybe get your nice clothes all dirty?

[manipulative]

Nice of you to be considerate of my clothes, but I'm not that shallow.

[ besides, if her clothes got dirty, she'd just wash them. duh! ]

Why are you down here? For the views?