( CLOSED ) I JUST WANT YOU FOR MY OWN.

[manipulative]

Who: Stefan Salvatore + Katherine Pierce | Amos Burton + Wanda Maximoff.
What: December things! Katherine bullies Stefan. Wanda bullies Amos.
When: December.
Where: Places.

Content Warnings: Mentions of mind control, suicide. NSFW.

Comments

[rocinantes]

So, you're the captain of a bunch of other witches?

( he's trying to understand, wanda, he really is. )

It's a cool crown. Looks sharp.

( definitely a cool crown. )

[explosion]

I don't have anyone in my coven.

[ which, she suspects, will only make him more confused. she thinks for a moment as herself pulls all of agatha's magic from her body, leaving her fingers blackened and her skin cold. ]

It's like... if you were the captain of the Rocinate. You're the leader, yes? But you don't have a crew, even though you can man every corner of the ship.

[rocinantes]

That's...fucking confusing. Because yeah, I could man every part of the Rocinante but I couldn't fly it on my own. It's too big.

( he gets what she's going for though. )

You want more witches in your coven?

[explosion]

[ mulling over his question, she knows her answer. her coven is two people, and that person had died a long time ago. she much prefers being on her own, of relying only on herself.

she shakes her head. ] No.

[ she looks at him, furrowing her brows. ]

Do you think that makes me selfish?

[rocinantes]

Nah.

( hey, he likes being alone too. he looks back up at where she was floating and flitting around in the sky. )

Why don't you want anyone else?

[explosion]

Because I hurt people.

[ by accident, never intentionally. wanda knows that's an important distinction, but she knows it's not one the people who have been left behind by the deaths she's accidentally caused share. ]

And when I hurt people, the people who are with me get blamed, too. I couldn't want my coven to be blamed for my mistakes.

[rocinantes]

But you'd have backup. In the analogy you made, yeah, I could probably run the Rocinante but I'd get killed easily. My crew have my back.

( and yeah she was powerful and all but who had her back? )

You don't want something like that?

[explosion]

[ she shakes her head. ]

No.

[ she had the avengers, but wanda doesn't consider herself one. she's merely wanda. ]

What I am — [ she gestures towards the wanda in the sky, dressed in her full scarlet witch garb. ] — I'm not meant to be with a team. And I think that it's right. I have to be alone. I know it doesn't make sense, but it's for the best.

[rocinantes]

If that's true, why am I here?

( she wasn't alone right now, was she? he kept showing up around her and with her in things like this. he doesn't know why. )

Or do I not count because I'm not a witch?

[explosion]

You're not a witch.

[ hence, he wouldn't count. but she knows what he's implying. very gently, she drops her hands and the two of them descend as the dark red walls surrounding them break into a clear blue sky. wanda and agatha descend, too. ]

But you can count in a different way.

[rocinantes]

How do I count?

( he's not going to push for being some coven member. he doesn't care that much. )

[explosion]

As a friend.

[ for anyone else, that may seem like a very lame compensation. a witch in a coven is something profound and coveted by a lot of people. it represents power. but wanda's been alone for most of her life, it made worse by the absence of her family. the avengers had been a great band of people, but she'd been so lonely in those crowded rooms. ]

I didn't have a lot of them before I came here.

[rocinantes]

Don't got too many friends.

( and before you ask, wanda, that doesn't mean he doesn't want them. it's just an observation. )

Think you could stomach being my friend?

[explosion]

[ she'd been expecting him to refute her completely. this is a nice change of pace. clearly, her talking about holden's pants has worn him down.

wanda smiles and shrugs. ]

I've been through worse. It's not desirable, but... [ her smile widens. ]

[rocinantes]

It's not desirable?

( he laughs at that one because of course. he appreciates that she's going to play along with him a bit. )

What would be more desirable than being friends with me?

[explosion]

[ she thinks to give him a list of things—an ice cream cone, jewellery, a nice, juicy burger, meeting holden. but none of those may see him smile. it's a nice look on him. it's good to know he can do that. ]

Driving the Rocinante.

[ steering? captaining? is this the proper word? ]

[rocinantes]

No.

( yes, he thinks she could probably do it but he's not going to be responsible for her flying them into a planet or something. he shakes his head. )

No way. I see you up there, you don't need to pilot the Roci. You can fly.

[explosion]

[ he's too nice. ]

But the Roci — [ it sounds strange to her to not say the full name. ] — is in space, and I've never captained a spaceship before.

[ she's learned how to drive. now, it's time she learns how to drive a ship. seems fair, no? ]

I think it could be fun bossing you around.

[rocinantes]

You wish.

( amos rolls his eyes. holden might be his captain but even holden doesn't get to boss him around. he's his own man and he does what he wants.

she might be pretty but she's not going to boss him around either. )

You're good but you're not that good.

[explosion]

[ she smiles. ]

We'll see.

[ peering above his head, she sees the blue skies of westview. she doesn't particularly want to see the hex come down. it's too much to see it when she relives it every time she goes to sleep. ]

I think this is ending. [ she's making it end before she can see the boys and vision. she won't be able to leave if she turns around and spies them approaching. ]

[rocinantes]

So, what happened to the other one?

( he points up at the sky, towards the area where the other witch had been. )

Did you just let her go? Be friends or something?

[explosion]

[ wanda makes everyone in the memory disappear so that it's just her and amos standing in an empty, quiet, and strangely eery westview. it's better this way. even if she may find herself taxed from the magic later, she doesn't want to see her family. it hurts too much to be near them.

while wanda wants to look away, she doesn't. she has to own what she did to agatha. it's a punishment that fits the crime. ]

When she came here, she pretended to be the nosy neighbour. Before I left here, I made her believe she was the nosy neighbour. She lives here still, playing a role from a television series. [ in simpler terms: ] I manipulated her mind.

[rocinantes]

Oh.

( right, that's something she can do. he looks at her for a long moment before nodding. )

Why not just kill her? Leaving her alive means she could do something like this again.

[explosion]

I don't want to kill people.

[ she's killed enough of them by accident. it's not her way, even if it would make things simpler. ]

I think a part of me knew I'd need her later. She's a very old witch and I'm very new to it. And she's the only witch I know.

[ it has to come in handy sometime in the future, surely. ]

Maybe it's silly to keep her alive.

[rocinantes]

Just seems like asking for trouble unless you think you can keep her in line.

( she's powerful, sure, but she's still human. she has weaknesses. amos crosses his arms and shrugs. )

Your life, though. Your choice.