( CLOSED ) I DON'T WANT A LOT FOR CHRISTMAS.

[manipulative]

Who: Katherine + Stefan | Wanda + Amos.
What: December things.
When: December.
Where: Around.

Content warnings: Monsters, PTSD, mind control and drowning.

Comments

[explosion]

I'm not panicking.

[ thinks the very woman who is panicking. she's never been in this before. darkness, yes. nothingness, yes. but under water? wanda barely knows how to swim as it is. it's not as though vision ever really learned how to properly teach swimming and they never had a chance to properly build on those skills. ]

Where are you?

[rocinantes]

You're panicking.

( he can recognize panic, wanda, and you are panicking. )

I don't know, all I see is water!

[explosion]

I am not!

[ even though she's panicking, telling him that she's not panicking is distracting her from panicking. in a way, the panicking is significantly less. ]

The water is red around me.

[ of course, it is. ]

And I am not panicking.

[ just for good measure. ]

[rocinantes]

You're a terrible liar.

( but the mention of red water does help and he spins in a circle to locate it before swimming towards it. )

I'm almost there.

[explosion]

[ he's right; she's a terrible liar when there's no script to follow, especially one without any direction on what's to come next. but wanda doesn't like being the one at the mercy of someone else's control. she hadn't realised how much she preferred to be the one in control until now.

she needs a distraction—and a distraction to keep her magic glowing. ]

When did you learn to swim?

[ does floating in space require the same muscles as swimming does? ]

[rocinantes]

I didn't always live in space.

( if she needs a distraction, he can give her a distraction. )

What else do you think I can't do?

[explosion]

A handstand. Bake a cake. Mind read, although you are doing an okay job at that right now.

[ all silly things, she knows. but she doesn't take amos to be a silly guy. he's serious and broody and he's as jaded as she is, but he's lost all of his hope while she clings childishly to hers. ]

Tell a funny joke.

[rocinantes]

When did I ever give you the impression that I was funny?

( amos grunts and finds his way over to her finally, pulling himself in front of her so she can see him. )

Knock knock.

[explosion]

[ the centre of wanda's face is barely distinguishable from the bubble of red glowing in front of her nose and mouth. it'd be easy to give herself gills and to change her dna right to a fish scale, but she wants a physical reminder that she's not going to drown.

it's what takes all of her power. beneath the ice, everything, including her power, feels murky. she could warm herself, but then she'd be unable to breathe—and she'd like to think that she's the reason why amos can hold his breath for so long (unless space gave him an incredible lung capacity). ]

You are already ruining the joke.

[ she's relieved to see him.

maybe he hadn't been wrong about being poor at telling jokes. ]

[rocinantes]

Do you want a joke or not?

( beggars can't be choosers, wanda. he makes a face and then turns to put his hands flat on the glass. )

Push!

[explosion]

[ is that the joke? (wanda knows it's not.)

she presses her hands against the ice and ignores the chill that runs through her. despite knowing it's useless, she wants to do it. maybe if she does it and shows him… she'd hope the ice would budge. ]

It's too thick.

[rocinantes]

There has to be a way. We aren't going to die here.

( fuck that. he is not going to let this place kill him after so long avoiding that. )

[explosion]

[ bubbles appear before wanda as she exhales. luckily, she isn't in any sort of distress. while she's freezing all over, she looks up at the ice and squints against its brightness.

the glow on the ice is from the red in front of her mouth. slowly, she extends that along her arms, wrapping tendrils of scarlet over her fingers. ]

It's not going to work.

[ if she couldn't blast herself out of here earlier, there's no way she can now. ]

[rocinantes]

Then, what?

( what the hell are they supposed to do? he wants out of here. it's freezing. )

I am not dying here!

[explosion]

[ she's let them both down, hasn't she? she can make a titan sweat until he's risking the lives of his troops on the off-chance a missile hits his tormenter. she's taken over a town and written it into a perfectly scripted sitcom. she's recreated the mind stone from scratch and destroyed it by sheer will. she should be able to obliterate the ice wall, but she's so cold.

her hands continue to glow, though. this is just the rubble all over again, but cooler. ]

We need to find a crack.

[ wanda moves away from him, keeping her hands on the ice. she expects him to follow. ]

[rocinantes]

( amos starts punching at the ice over and over again. throwing punches in the water isn't really smart but he's got nothing else. )

And what if we can't find one?

[explosion]

[ wanda doesn't take to the ice in the fashion amos does. she presses her hands against it, ignoring the way the chilly surface makes her fingers feel numb. there has to be something within the ice that will give. she can feel the slight tremors of it beneath amos' attempts to crack it.

there'd never been any other alternative than to continue digging until she and pietro made their way out of the ruins of their own home. ]

Then you make one.

[rocinantes]

You don't think I haven't been trying?

( and he honestly doesn't know why he hasn't lost consciousness already. he can hold his breath for a pretty long time but this —

he knows it's been too long. he should have passed out. )

[explosion]

[ ✨ the magic of wanda ✨

she ignores him for a moment as she presses the heel of her hand firmly against the ice. wanda wants to blast it, but she knows that sometimes brute force isn't the answer. steve taught her that once. ]

Put your hand here.

[ she doesn't move her hand away from the ice, a little too frozen to do so. ]

[rocinantes]

Fine.

( he moves slowly, limbs sluggish because of the cold but he does put his hand where she's indicated and he pushes up. )

What are you going to do?

[explosion]

Push, too. I'm not enough.

[ for once, she's not enough of a presence to make the enemy shake in fear. if anything, she's the one who's shaking now, but the cold water prevents that from being entirely too obvious.

wanda pushes the heels of her palms into the ice and looks at him. ]

[rocinantes]

( amos grits his teeth and pushes as hard as he can. his fingers are numb, eyes starting to sting from being underneath the water so long.

he wants to think that he feels the ice starting to crack but he can't really see anymore, eyes growing tired and gritty. )

[explosion]

[ wanda would kick him, but kicking him would require moving and moving would mean her hands lift off from the ice. she can feel it give, even if it stubbornly refuses to heed them. so instead of kicking him and giving up on placing pressure on the ice, she sends a very small jolt throughout him. ]

Now is not the time to take a nap.

[ honestly, amos. timing! ]

[rocinantes]

My eyes hurt!

( he is not asleep! he's not that much of a lazy ass. he just wants to be out of this goddamn water. )

Push harder!

[explosion]

[ lazy, lazy, lazy ass. a complete and total one! ]

I am!

[ wanda huffs in the water, a parade of bubbles leaving her nose. she's trying! her strength has always been in her powers. while wanda had trained with sam and steve and natasha, she was never formidable in combat without her powers as her weapons. this is her out of her element...

and her arms are tiny. leave her alone! ]

All that muscle and you need me to help!

[ wanda has a feeling goading him will help see the ice crack. the red around her hands grows. ]