#{ witches in space } ᵍᵒᵗᵍ ᵛᵉʳˢᵉ

[thiscrimsonsoul]

On the one hand, Wanda was glad to have someone who understood what she was going through, at least in part. On the other hand, she was sorry that Mantis understood, for her sake. she wouldn't wish having incredibly overpowered abilities like theirs on anyone.

"I honestly wish I didn't have any powers at all," she said without thinking. It was the truth, and quite a naked and vulnerable truth at that, but she hoped it wouldn't end up insulting Mantis or anyone else with abilities. "They're really only brought me trouble and pain, and I-" She stopped herself. "No, I guess that's not entirely true. I wouldn't have had my boys without them..."

Wanda was quiet as the energy in the room seemed to be taken down a level. These people looked just as weary as she felt, and she guessed they'd been through their own share of troubles. She simply listened to them until she ventured to reply to Groot and-

"Oh... Um... Not really. I mean, how would I? I've never met him before, or anyone else who speaks like he does. It's more just that... when he speaks, I get a sense of what he means. It's almost like... the words, or the sound of them, carries the real meaning of them. The emotional meaning. And I can... I can read that from him. and then I'm able to send back meaning in the same way I received it, so he can understand me. I'm not explaining this well at all."

How did one explain something that was entirely mental and second nature to her? She heard I am Groot, but that wasn't what her mind registered as the meaning of what he was saying. It was almost as if the very sound of Groot's voice carried the meaning, not the words themselves. "Sorry. I must sound crazy. It's just one of the facets of my powers, that's all."

Wanda smiled as Quill tried to speak Spanish. She didn't know a lot of French herself, but she knew that was most definitely French, not Spanish. She wasn't about to correct him, though. It didn't matter in the long run, and it would only embarrass him. Her smile grew as Thor started to call him out on it. "It was a very good try, though," Wanda said, trying to be encouraging.

What Have I Become? || closed reply

@thiscrimsonsoul continued from here

Mantis knew things would never be the same, not after everything Thanos had done to the galaxy. To the family Mantis had found when she wasn't even looking for one. She had always known the galaxy was cruel, so much so that Mantis only sought to make it softer with her gentle disposition. But, as she witnessed the aftermath of Thanos' plan, Mantis realized she would hardly be able to make a difference. She pushed the thought aside; after all, a small difference was still a difference.

Even though the galaxy had been permanently changed, Mantis enjoyed little moments like these, letting her mind wander while she would tend to her plants. She hummed a melody, her hands arranging the leaves calmly. Focused as she was, she didn't notice there was someone new aboard the Benatar. She was startled by a loud knock on her bedroom door, and she frowned slightly before reaching out to open it.

"Wanda?" Mantis asked. What was Wanda Maximoff doing in space? And how did she get into their ship?

Mantis wasn't too familiar with Wanda, but as the young woman threw her arms around her, begging for help, Mantis hugged her back almost instinctively. A victim of the Snap holding another in a moment of need, now that they were something other than mere dust.

"Wanda," she repeated, keeping her voice soft. "What...?"

Wanda's energy revealed she was unwell, so Mantis knew her healthy, youthful appearance was an illusion. Wanda was in so much pain... She was grieving, and she felt tremendous loss, guilt and overwhelming loneliness. Mantis rubbed Wanda's back in an attempt to soothe her, though she refused to use her powers for now. Sometimes people just needed a hug and a sympathetic ear.

"It's okay, you are safe. Thor is here, if you are looking for him, and... I am here, too. You are not alone," she said, hoping Wanda would understand that whatever had happened, she didn't have to go through it alone.

[thiscrimsonsoul]

🌸 Put a flower in my muse’s hair

Wanda hadn't realized that she'd been dissociating until she felt something gently brush her hair. It was happening more and more often lately, that she felt things overwhelm her, or that her mind became clogged with too many thoughts at once, and often ones that were upsetting enough to derail whatever it was she had been doing. It had happened a short time ago, and as she stared out at space through one of the windows of the Benatar, her mind seemed to be both racing and blank at once. Her hand lifted and she nibbled on her fingernails a bit, her gaze losing its focus.

Until someone touched her hair.

Slowly, her gaze began to focus again. Wanda blinked a few times, lifting her hand to brush away what she thought was... well, she had no idea what it was... but she hadn't bee expecting a flower. Her fingers touched the soft petals and it was enough to distract her mind and focus it at the same time. As the flower in her hair registered more and more, she turned to see Mantis standing there. Wanda smiled. I should have known, she thought.

"Thank you, Mantis," she said. "I guess I spaced out for a minute." She realized, however, where she was, and why that phrase might be either absurd or offensive. "Can I say that here? That I spaced out? What does one say in space when they space out?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound too silly.

[thiscrimsonsoul]

It was difficult to remain drowned in her sorrows when Mantis was around. Something happened when she entered the room, something akin to an energy shift, or at least it seemed that way to Wanda. It was like there was suddenly a static charge in the room, but in a good way. It woke her up and distracted her from the endless loop of negative thoughts in her mind.

"I-... You want to... brush my hair?" Wanda asked, surprised that Mantis would want to spend time doing that. Did she not have anything else better or more important to do at the moment? Whether she did or not, Wanda wasn't about to say no. Her mother used to brush her hair when she was little, and Wanda had always thought it was very comforting. "Alright..." she agreed as she took the seat in front of Mantis.

"I'm adjusting well enough, I guess..." Wanda said. "I just still feel like all my nerves are raw, like my mind's been cracked into a hundred pieces. But the longer I stay away from that book, the better I feel," she admitted. "It isn't helping me to find my boys, though, and I don't know how to go about doing that."

@thiscrimsonsoul continued from here

Mantis had noticed that Wanda's hair was two different colors; it was orangish, but the roots were a dark brown. She was a beautiful woman, but she looked exhausted, and Mantis tried not to let her wallow in her sadness for too long.

She had approached Wanda with a hairbrush and a handful of flowers, and Mantis couldn't help but giggle at her question.

"Of course you can say that," she replied with a beam of relief. Such a simple gesture had been enough to bring Wanda back to herself. "Come, let me brush your hair. I'd like to hear how you're adjusting to life in space..." Mantis ushered the woman to two comfortable seats near that same window. She sat and held the hairbrush on one hand and the flowers on the other as she waited for Wanda to sit in front of her.

[thiscrimsonsoul]

Wanda was grateful to the Guardians for their apparent willingness to help her sever her ties with the Darkhold and cease her addictive obsession with studying it, but when she mentioned astral projection and everyone looked to Mantis, she blinked. Did... Mantis have some experience in dealing with astral projection? Or... could she stop it? Interfere with it? Wanda knew she was powerful empath, but to what extent or what the nature of Mantis' abilities really were, she was unclear.

She listened as Mantis began to explain, though she wasn't sure why everyone seemed to emotionally deflate at the mention of the Soul Stone. Wanda could assume, though. Like her painful emotional connection to the Mind Stone that had once resided in Vision's forehead, she assumed that the Guardians had their own painful tale of loss surrounding the Soul Stone. She could just feel it, and the looks on their faces... she knew that look well.

"I noticed the same thing..." Wanda said as Mantis admitted her powers began to evolve after dying in the Snap. "Mine became more powerful, more versatile. Something about... that connection with death... and coming back from it... changed me," she explained. As to how it changed her, she didn't know, but she'd felt different ever since she'd been restored to the world of the living.

She was silent again as Quill and Thor recounted their experiences of encountering Mantis in a state of astral projection. So... she is capable of it as well, Wanda thought. That was a little comforting, actually. Drawing in a slow, deep breath, she folded her arms. "I learned to do it by studying, it didn't come naturally to me," she shared. "It sounds as though you might be naturally capable of it, Mantis." A slight smile that didn't quite reach her eyes followed. "Maybe you could disrupt me when I'm doing it. Or at least... get me to stop studying the book while I am projecting," she suggested.

Groot's outburst had Wanda's smiling a bit more. He was such a sweet little creature, she thought. "That's... actually how it it happens when it's a natural ability, I've heard. That someone will do it without realizing it until they learn to control it," she replied to Groot, not even realizing that she'd understood him without the use of a translation device. It was not as thought she didn't hear the repetitive, "I am Groot," of his verbal language, but the inflections of his words, his tone, and his facial expressions and body language... they were all part of that language, at least in Wanda's mind. It was like everything else gave context to the words, translating them in her mind.

What Have I Become? || closed reply

@thiscrimsonsoul continued from here

Mantis knew things would never be the same, not after everything Thanos had done to the galaxy. To the family Mantis had found when she wasn't even looking for one. She had always known the galaxy was cruel, so much so that Mantis only sought to make it softer with her gentle disposition. But, as she witnessed the aftermath of Thanos' plan, Mantis realized she would hardly be able to make a difference. She pushed the thought aside; after all, a small difference was still a difference.

Even though the galaxy had been permanently changed, Mantis enjoyed little moments like these, letting her mind wander while she would tend to her plants. She hummed a melody, her hands arranging the leaves calmly. Focused as she was, she didn't notice there was someone new aboard the Benatar. She was startled by a loud knock on her bedroom door, and she frowned slightly before reaching out to open it.

"Wanda?" Mantis asked. What was Wanda Maximoff doing in space? And how did she get into their ship?

Mantis wasn't too familiar with Wanda, but as the young woman threw her arms around her, begging for help, Mantis hugged her back almost instinctively. A victim of the Snap holding another in a moment of need, now that they were something other than mere dust.

"Wanda," she repeated, keeping her voice soft. "What...?"

Wanda's energy revealed she was unwell, so Mantis knew her healthy, youthful appearance was an illusion. Wanda was in so much pain... She was grieving, and she felt tremendous loss, guilt and overwhelming loneliness. Mantis rubbed Wanda's back in an attempt to soothe her, though she refused to use her powers for now. Sometimes people just needed a hug and a sympathetic ear.

"It's okay, you are safe. Thor is here, if you are looking for him, and... I am here, too. You are not alone," she said, hoping Wanda would understand that whatever had happened, she didn't have to go through it alone.