( CLOSED | FEBRUARY CATCH-ALL ) I GOT FIRE IN MY SOUL.

[manipulative]

Who: Stefan + Katherine | Amos + Wanda.
What: February things.
When: The month of love.
Where: Around.

Content warnings: Violence.

Comments

[rocinantes]

Flowers are flowers. They're relaxing.

( he hasn't done exactly what she's done and look at them but he's sat near them in the ship, just sitting. )

They don't talk back.

[explosion]

Isn't that a shame, though?

[ she looks at the flowers with a pitiful expression. they're pretty and colourful, and all they do every day is simply exist and sway in the breeze. ]

I bet they'd have a lot of stories to tell. They'd see a lot of things... meet a lot of different people.

[rocinantes]

Don't tempt fate, Wanda.

( he glances at the flowers. )

I can deal with singing flowers but not full on talking ones.

[explosion]

[ wanda smiles and rests her hands behind her, twisting to face him. she tilts her head back slightly, liking the sun on her face. ]

You're not curious about what they've seen?

[rocinantes]

No.

( amos makes a face at the thought. )

You are?

[explosion]

[ she shrugs, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. ]

Sometimes. Sometimes I wonder what they see. People aren't as guarded around things that they don't regard as being important or capable of judging them.

[ and wanda is curious by how people work. it's fueled by the fact that she can tap into anyone's mind so easily and observe them from afar. ]

[rocinantes]

But you don't think it would get boring? Flowers don't really do a lot of moving. They stay in one place. They'd see shit, sure but —

( he shrugs. )

I don't know if it'd be exciting.

[explosion]

[ that's the point, although she's not entirely sure if amos will understand it. after growing up in sokovia where everything was never the same as it was only moments ago, she likes the fact that these flowers simply stay as they are. perhaps nothing truly happens around them, but that doesn't seem true at all.

she tilts her head to the side as she regards him with a curious look. ]

Why do you like them?

[rocinantes]

Flowers?

( ugh, the real reason is way too damn sentimental. )

Because I met one of my first friends around them.

( don't make a joke, wanda. )

[explosion]

Really?

[ there's no doubt in her voice, only wonder, much like that of a child who's been told that dragons are real. amos sharing is akin to being told something she hadn't thought she'd ever hear. her smile and eyes widen as she peers at him. that's quite lovely, really. ]

Is this a friend from space?

[rocinantes]

Yeah. His name's Prax.

( and he was a very good man. a good person. )

He's a botanist and he was on our ship while we helped him look for his daughter.

[explosion]

[ ah, then that means that amos would know a lot more than he lets on about flowers, especially if he loves them so much because of his friend. ]

Did you find his daughter?

[rocinantes]

We did.

( and then he'd killed the man that had taken her. )

She and Prax are safe now. They're okay, living a good life.

[explosion]

So, is that what you think of when you look at flowers?

[ wanda looks at the flowers now, regarding them a little differently. maybe to amos they mean hope or happy endings. it's not something she ever would've expected of him, but she likes that he's a surprise. ]

[rocinantes]

Sometimes.

( he shrugs. he doesn't always like to think about prax because it makes him sad, makes him want things he can't have. )

Sometimes, I think about other things.

[explosion]

Like what?

[ wanda realises that she's possibly prying a little too much. she's so used to slipping inside people's heads unintentionally that she hadn't meant to push. she shakes her head and lifts her hands. ]

I don't mean to pry. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.

[rocinantes]

( at her question, amos shrugs. )

Here, I think about space, about my crew, about the ship.

( not all that original. )

Just things that calm me down.

[explosion]

[ she hums, nodding as she looks at the flowers. she can understand that, even if she doesn't completely get the correlation between space and flowers aside from his friend. ]

I like looking at the colours. There wasn't a lot of colour in Sokovia.

[ what with stark's bombs constantly destroying those sources. she inhales deeply to sigh. ]

I like sunflowers. My mother used to like them.

[rocinantes]

We don't get a lot of flowers on a ship so, you know, seeing them was...different. Nice.

( and when things were constantly shitty, it was nice having somewhere calm to go. )

I don't know if I've ever really seen a sunflower.

[explosion]

Really?

[ wanda sounds surprised, but she smiles at that, her face brightening. perhaps that's something she can give him then. ]

Do you want to see one?

[rocinantes]

How would you show me?

( the answer is yes, though. )

Something with your magic?

[explosion]

[ she tilts her chin up and looks around the garden, even going as far as twisting on the spot and peering behind her. there's no telltale signs of a sunflower around them. ]

Yes. I can't see a sunflower here.

[ but that's okay because wanda can create anything. she turns herself so she's sitting cross-legged facing him. ]

Hold out your hand.

[rocinantes]

( she asks him to hold a hand out and he does, palm facing up. )

Like that?

[explosion]

Mhm.

[ nodding gently, she brushes the fingers of one hand beneath his hand. she cups the back of his hand gently as she walks her index and middle fingers along his open palm.

she scrunches her nose and stops teasing, although she does brush her fingers against the centre of his palm. a scarlet seed glows against his lifelines before it starts to grow, slowly twisting up until it expands into the shape of a sunflower. once the stalk, leaves and petals fill out and take to their bright colours, wanda keeps her hand beneath his but withdraws her other. the sunflower's emerged as though from a painting. perhaps wanda wanted to show off a little. ]

That's a sunflower.

[rocinantes]

( he watches her magic slowly take the shape of a flower, watches it unspool and unfurl into something that wasn't there before and then he smiles once it's complete. )

It's...nice. Bright.

( he can see why she'd like it. )