( 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]

Stop.

[ wanda tries to hold her hand over his to prompt him to stop punching the ice. it feels strange when he does it. the resistance grows thicker and the efforts they had made seem to undo themselves. ]

Punching it will only set it back. You have to push.

[rocinantes]

How do you know?

( but he does stop punching, at least. he shivers hard, rubbing his hands over his arms. they need to figure this out soon. )

Fine, then push!

[explosion]

If you listen, you can feel it.

[ it won't make sense, not to someone who hasn't been inside of people's heads and used those undercurrents of energy to determine her next steps in controlling them or infiltrating their minds. but to wanda, it's perfectly logical. the ice won't respond to a fierce punch, but it will to a firm push.

she pushes against the ice, feeling some of it give. it doesn't break as one would hope, but she can feel the cold water move around them. it's almost as if the ice itself is starting to give way and become rubbery. ]

[rocinantes]

We're under water, I can't hear anything!

( but he does push when she does and he thinks he can feel the ice giving a bit. or maybe he's just imagining it.

he just knows he wants out of this water. )

[explosion]

[ wanda shakes her head, which might have been a mistake given how she feels colder from the act. she wants to tell him to listen—to really listen—but it's hard to do so when body parts are growing numb and the water is really fucking cold.

so, instead, she opts to forgo that little lesson for now and pushes with all of her might against the ice. it moves as though it's made out of rubber, but the hard, thick ice no longer feels dense beneath her palms. ]

Push. It's moving.

[ it feels as though she's trying to break out of a thick bubble of magic. if she continues to push, it'll give. it always gives. ]

[rocinantes]

I am pushing.

( just in case she has doubts about that, he's pushing as hard as he can. he wants that goddamn ice to start cracking. but he can feel some give so he hopes that they're almost there.

his lungs feel like they're starting to give up on him and he knows that's not good. )

[explosion]

[ all she can think of is: ]

Push, push, push, pushpushpushpush.

[ but it's not an order to him; it's to herself, encouraging her to not give up. it's the chant she'd uttered under her breath when the rubble's dust had been thick and the bed had groaned and nothing had moved. everything concludes with a happily ever after at the end of an episode—and wanda felt they were coming toward one very, very soon.

the ice splits to create a fissure. ]

[rocinantes]

( amos keeps his thoughts to himself but he listens, pushing as hard as he can. when he hears the ice crack, he feels relief flood through him and he keeps going.

the crack seems to grow bigger and bigger and he gives it one last shove with every single bit of strength to get out from underneath this ice. )