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Post by Laura Kinney on Jan 21, 2008 16:11:27 GMT -5
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Post by Wanda Maximoff on Jan 21, 2008 16:47:24 GMT -5
Wanda breathed a sigh of relief when the door to the Danger Room slid open. Her distrust of technology extended to the mechanical doors that were commonplace in the Xavier Institute's subbasement and though one had never failed to open for her she was always extremely grateful when they worked. She had a secret fear that she would end up trapped down there one day, unable to escape because the doors had decided that they did not like her. For the most part she tried to only be in the subbasement with someone else, to prevent that from happening.
Laura Kinney was already in the Danger Room, and thankfully she had launched a program similar to what Wanda had requested. Operating the Danger Room herself was still beyond Wanda, and thankfully she generally had Katherine Pryde to help her out when she needed to run training sessions with the Excelsiors. Had Laura not already started the Danger Room, Wanda might have had to have the girl's help in launching one of the programs.
"Laura," Wanda said sitting down beside the young girl on the grass, "My name is Wanda Maximoff, thank you for meeting me. I teach philosophy and ethics at the school. Mr Summers suggested that maybe the two of us should get to know each other a bit better."
Wanda did not immediately launch into the reason why they were meeting, knowing full well that the girl already knew what had brought the two of them to the Danger Room. For her part Wanda did not want the girl to think meeting with her was some kind of punishment, though she was aware that it was probably how it seemed to Laura who did not look at all pleased to be there. Leaning back Wanda enjoyed the natural scene for a moment, not saying anything and instead focusing on the sound of the fabricated world around her. As always in the Danger Room she tried to look carefully for some sign that this was not real, but as always she failed. It bothered her that the beauty of nature seemed to be so easy to reproduce. Still this did not feel like nature, and her powers seemed to have some idea that this was all an illusion, though she could not explain how she knew they knew.
"Can you tell that all of this is fake?" she asked, eventually breaking the silence, "I can not, not with my eyes or my ears. All of my senses believe that this is real, but if I close my eyes and really listen to my body it somehow knows that it's not. My powers have a connection with nature, and as much as everything tells me that we're in nature, I know somehow that we're not."
"Apart of course from the fact that I know it is not because I went to the Danger Room and not outside," she said smiling slightly as she turned her attention to studying the girl. At first she wanted to build a rapport with her, and then move into the subject matter at hand.
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Post by Laura Kinney on Jan 21, 2008 18:31:09 GMT -5
[/b][/color] she stated bluntly, " other than already knowing this is not reality, I can vaguely hear machinery. However, it is only if there are no other loud sounds. Like talking."She should have learned by now not to be so sarcastic, but the word did not exist in her vocabulary. It was difficult for her to easily distinguish what she should and should not say to authority. That was kind of why she sat here with the woman. Laura opened her eyes, the pupils the color of the sea. She watched Wanda almost as much as the woman was watching her. What was so funny that the woman needed to smile? Maybe she had been trying to lighten the situation. In Laura's mind, she was failing at doing so. [/ul]
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Post by Wanda Maximoff on Jan 21, 2008 21:21:02 GMT -5
The rebuke about talking did not phase Wanda, as cranky as Laura might be at the moment Wanda had gotten used to dealing with people with tempers after nearly a lifetime living with her twin brother Pietro. The smile did not leave her face, she simply nodded, taking the comment at face value and ignoring the implied subtext that it was Wanda herself that was disturbing the peace, before continuing.
Slowly easing into the conversation that both women knew they were in the Danger Room to have, she started by talking about the program that was currently running,"I like this setting. I am glad you chose it, it seems to suit my mood perfectly. I do not quite understand how this room works, but I do know that you could have picked anywhere in the world."
Pausing a second she continued before Laura had a chance to interupt, "I would have picked the mountains of Transia where I grew up. Meeting someone new, I'm a bit nervous and my old homeland would have helped relax me a bit. It would feel familiar in an unfamiliar place."
"Why did you pick this place?"
Continuing to smile she studied Laura's reaction. Her hope was that by revealing that she herself was nervous about the meeting, and at times felt uncomfortable and out of place at the Xavier Institute she might be able to make a connection with the girl who was most likely feeling the same thing. Wanda wanted to be Laura's friend as much as she wanted to be the girl's teacher.
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Post by Laura Kinney on Jan 21, 2008 21:47:26 GMT -5
[/i] have picked anywhere in the world. But all the places she knew were, well, not exactly the best. They were either bothersome to her own past events or just the scene alone would be disturbing to others. So, she would have rather picked something that she didn't know existed - there was a chance it really did. She had given the computer a general idea and it had molded on its own. She had to remember it for future reference. "Why did you pick this place?""It's different," she answered. It was different because it wasn't reality. She figured there was little chance anything like this existed. If it did, she would leave wherever she was and go there. Who knows, maybe there was a desolate area that was just a calming, just as quiet as the simulation she was in now. Well, as long as there were no private sessions that made a goal to change her behavior. "What are the Transia mountains like?" the feral asked. The question wasn't out of true curiosity; it was for the purpose of wasting time. She wondered how long the diversion might last, or if it would work. [/ul]
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Post by Wanda Maximoff on Jan 21, 2008 22:13:38 GMT -5
"What are the Transia mountains like?"
"Well," Wanda began, "I think they are quite nice, but maybe my memories are clouded by the way my life there was so much happier than it is here. There I felt I had everything that I ever needed for happiness, and here though I am where I believe I belong, I would not say that I am completely happy."
The smile faded slightly, as she remembered the life she had had with the Maximoffs back in Transia. As a young gypsy woman she had been ignorant of the prejudice that her people had faced, and even more ignorant of the fact that she was a mutant and that people feared and hated mutants. Her father, her mother and Pietro was all that she thought she would ever need for happiness and now she had only the odd visit from Pietro. As content as she was at the Xavier Institute she missed her old life.
"Laura, we both know why we're here," Wanda said, "but whether or not you're here every week with me for the rest of your time here is up to me. I personally would love to have you here every week, because I get lonely talking to myself."
Wanda smiled slightly to show that it was a slight joke, "However I think maybe I am not the coolest person in the school, and not who you would want to hang out with. So I will make you a deal, after today you can decide if you want to continue to do this. The trade is that for today you listen to me, and be honest with me."
"Deal?"
It was a gambit. Overtime, weeks and months, she could probably break down the girl's resistance and reach her even if Laura wanted to fight her every step of the way. However ultimately if Laura wanted to be here, then she would be more likely to listen to the Scarlet Witch and more likely to take something away from their sessions. If Wanda failed to reach the girl today, then it might fall to Emma Frost, or possibly Maria to get Laura to adapt to the school.
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Post by Laura Kinney on Jan 21, 2008 23:01:46 GMT -5
[/i][/color] This was why she hated authority. The ego, to her, seemed incredible. Laura considered herself to be the only person who had the right to change anything about her. Everyone else’s' 'orders' were just suggestions. Though in her mind everything she did in the school was pretty much up to her, because she could leave at any time. Trouble was, she had to figure something to do if she did, and she preferred to not go back to something she had already done. "Deal?"Laura blinked, the only sign that she was thinking about it. She was never around anyone to begin with. Her type of person to 'hang out' with was invisible, intangible, and mute. She had nothing better to do with her time, as classes were too easy to need extra work time. "And the alternative being someone who openly insults the way I think?" she responded rhetorically, meaning another staff member who probably would be the least pleased to take time out of their busy day to speak to a murder. "Start talking," she then said, giving away that she was accepting the deal. All she had to do was, listen, correct? [/ul]
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Post by Wanda Maximoff on Jan 21, 2008 23:35:21 GMT -5
"And the alternative being someone who openly insults the way I think?"
Wanda laughed, the girl was smart and obviously she had probably already spent time talking with Emma Frost. Thinking of a diplomatic way to answer she finally nodded, "You do present a riddle to the staff. We want to help you, but we are not sure how. I know that some of the staff are perhaps not as, able to hear what students say, but they surely all respect you."
"If anyone were to insult you in that way, please tell me," she added.
"Start talking."
Wanda nodded, the girl obviously wanted to get this done as fast as she could. That was fine, though Wanda had no intention of throwing in the towel yet, nor in rushing through the session because she had hit a brick wall. She was quiet again for a moment and then decided to return to questions shortly, which had been part of the deal. Laura had to be honest with her, and that meant answering questions.
"Everyone has a different idea what is wrong, or what is right. Professor Wagner and I once got into an argument about whether a student should be allowed to drink beer," Wanda explained, "I felt that a rule not allowing someone to drink beer was foolish, since a student should be allowed to make their own choices, as long as their choices do not hurt others."
"Kurt... Mr. Wagner, believed that since it was a law we should obey it. I admit I have little time for rules or laws. The Bible tells us to respect our fathers, and yet obeying the authority of my father lead me to help him kidnap a student from this school, and had he succeeded in what he wanted to do she would have died," she said. Her voice was sad, though she had felt that she had moved past that period in her life, and her and Rogue had made amends, she still regretted her actions deeply, "I learned then that I had to follow my own heart, my own belief in what is right and wrong. There are trade-offs, living in a society we can not always do what we want to, but if I were told to do something like that again I would not. No matter who told me."
"Rules without reason are useless. I could tell you not to eat chocolate, but if you wanted to do that, then you would just wait until I was not around to eat some," Wanda said, "Laura I do not want to tell you what the rules are. I want to help you discover what you believe is right and wrong."
"So, what is something that you would never do and why?"
Leaning back Wanda watched the girl, her smile had left her face during the story about her time with the Brotherhood acting as Rogue's jailor.
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Post by Laura Kinney on Jan 22, 2008 0:28:38 GMT -5
[/I][/color] She couldn't answer that right away. Everything she once thought she could and would never do she ended up doing. Killing was the first moral that had been kicked out of the window. Imposing harm was the only defensive method Laura considered to be effective. So far, to the dismay of the Institute staff, it was working. "I can't say I wouldn't do anything. I've broken that sort of vow multiple times. I eventually gave up on trying to reinstate the promise," she said after a few moments of silence. The woman had asked for honesty, right? That was it in the bluntest of forms. [/ul]
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Post by Wanda Maximoff on Jan 25, 2008 12:29:20 GMT -5
"I can't say I wouldn't do anything. I've broken that sort of vow multiple times. I eventually gave up on trying to reinstate the promise."
Wanda was silent again for a few moments, before continuing, "I've spent the past year trying to make up for what I have done. I spend my whole life trying to to be a better person than I was, and than I am now. Have you ever had a similar goal? It is alright if you do not, perhaps it is healthier to like how one is at the moment, and not be restless with wanting to change their entire lives."
Wanda had not expected this to be easy. By all accounts the girl had been through things that nobody else at the Xavier Institute could understand, save perhaps Logan. As it was she had been chosen because she had the patience to deal with the girl, and understood darkness in a way that some of the staff did not. The other possible approaches was to throw her at Maria and let a feral try to get in touch with the girl's own feral side, or to have Emma Frost batter away at here telepathic defenses. Though both the other ideas had their merits, Wanda had wanted to try.
"I suppose I've spent so much of the last few years believing I was broken, that I just assumed everyone felt that way," she said softly. Though she knew her own actions were far less bloody than the girl's Wanda hoped to build some sort of understanding based on a shared past. If she could act as a role model for the girl, then Wanda had the feeling that maybe Laura would be okay. If Emma Frost ended up her role model, well then Wanda was going to spend time worrying about her just as she did Julian.
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Post by Laura Kinney on Jan 25, 2008 13:39:59 GMT -5
[/b] she answered, but didn't say anything more. She didn't know how to be a better person - she didn't think she could even if she knew. She imagined that if she knew she would never be satisfied of how she ended up because it would never be close enough. The decisions that weren't even her own were the ones that held her back. "I suppose.."Broken? Compared to society's view of what she should be she didn't feel broken. She felt fucked up beyond recognition. She had no understanding of anything different than the glittering crimson past she had. She had also come to accept there was little to no chance that anyone could grasp the idea of it all and still function correctly afterward. "What were you?" she questioned, implying the woman's past. [/ul]
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Post by Wanda Maximoff on Jan 25, 2008 14:35:01 GMT -5
"What were you?"
Wanda pondered the question. She had been herself of course, just a less complete version of herself. Though she did not understand software at all, the way that she thought of herself was similiar to how software is revised and upgraded, that as time went by she improved and drew closer to how she wanted to be. There was still distance to close between where she was and where she wanted to be, but slowly she was getting there.
"I was human," she said, "in the way we all are now matter what our genes might say. We are all human, and all capable of failing, of hurting others with or without intention."
Glancing at the girl again she frowned slightly, it was best to be honest with her, "I had always allowed other people to define who I was. I always clung to labels. A gypsy. A witch. A terrorist. A teacher. An X-Man. For so long I've defined myself through my brother Pietro, then it was through my father whom you might know as Magneto. I was one of her Brotherhood, and did everything I was told even when I knew it was wrong. I did it because I was scared, because I wanted him to love me and because maybe a little I felt that it was who I was meant to be."
Wanda sighed, "It was difficult to leave the Brotherhood but I felt I needed to. I left behind both my father and Pietro, and if felt like I was leaving behind what defined me. I spent the next year alone in a cabin in the woods, trying to figure out who I was. Then I came here, and it is still hard."
"People look at me still like I am going to betray them, like I am only here to aid my father defeat them. Some blamed me for the deaths of Charles Xavier, Jean Grey and others of their friends that they had lost," she explained. It had not been rational, or logical, but with emotions so close to the surface she had understood how it was easy to see the daughter and former follower of Magneto was at least partially responsible for the terrible things that they were still trying to deal with when she had arrived.
"Nothing worth doing in life is easy," she said, "but I know that I belong here and I will fight for this place and to stay here. I would like to think that you can find the peace and purpose here that I have. Maybe this isn't your place though, that decision is yours. But if you'll let yourself really try maybe you can find out."
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Post by Laura Kinney on Jan 25, 2008 23:36:09 GMT -5
[/i]human, though independent in her mind, was far from the acceptance of those around her, even in the mutant environment. The mention of the Brotherhood sparked a though in her head, but not one of knowledge. It was more of a memory. For a few seconds she allowed herself to dwell on that little tick in wonder of why it nagged at her so. It was like a memory of her mother, but different. More recent, but still too distant. She blinked her green gems and washed away the mystery, storing it in her mind with the rest of the unsolved cases. Her chest rose and fell with each breath she took, her gaze still fixed on Wanda. Would there ever be something to gain out of this other than facts of the woman's life or personal views. Laura couldn't think of that now, but the ideas would not retreat to where they came from. So for a moment she took her focus away from it all. The smell of the sweet redwood pine filled her nostrils. In the brief silence that was shared before her new 'mentor' continued to speak. The fresh green leaves brushed against each other, the millions of small foliage creating a soft rustling noise. "Nothing worth doing in life is easy..."There was no question asked, and so Laura did not make an attempt to speak about anything was once the woman finished talking. Her expression was that of patience, waiting to see what would come next. She felt the wind blow against her frame, kissing the pale flesh of her face. [/ul]
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Post by Wanda Maximoff on Jan 26, 2008 0:22:36 GMT -5
Wanda was silent and said nothing. After a bit she laid back and closed her eyes, letting the sun bath her. Or fake sun. Once her eyes were shut the sense of the natural world that her senses reported back to her was lost, and her powers felt only a cold void of technology. She silently wished she could head back upstairs where when she shut her eyes she could hear the echoes of the warm wood around her, the vitality that once belonged to trees thousands of years olds. Instead she stayed still, and tried to allow herself to believe the illusion cast around her by the electronic magician known as the Danger Room. Time past and neither woman seemed willing to break the silence.
Finally though Wanda did, it had been almost half an hour since she had finished speaking, and she had come to the conclusion that this was an uphill battle and one that she could not possibly win today. Standing she brushed off the fake grass from her jeans, wondering to herself what would happen to the blades of illusionary grass if she left the Danger Room with them still clinging to her. Nodding to Laura she said, "A deal is a deal. If you never want to talk to me again that's your choice. However I will be here tomorrow at the same time. Either I enjoy the sun alone, or I get to enjoy your company."
With a final nod she headed towards where she hoped was a door. Pausing it finally revealed itself and then slide open, briefly breaking the illusion by revealing the corridor of the Institute's sub-basement. Wanda departed, the door sliding closed behind her.
------
The Next Day.
Wanda sat in the centre of the cold steel room. Her futile attempt to launch a program had completely failed, and so now she was simply sitting there waiting for Laura. If the girl did not show up she'd wait an hour and then depart. If she did then she could begin working with her in earnest. Though she hoped the girl would show, Wanda had no idea whether she would. Laura had proven to be a most difficult person to judge, and she almost felt she knew less about the young girl than she had before their first meeting.
OOC: If you want Laura to show up then skip to the next day in your post. If not just put an OOC note that she wouldn't have come and I'll close out the thread.
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Post by Laura Kinney on Jan 26, 2008 1:20:38 GMT -5
[/i][/color] Her gaze left Wanda before the instructor moved away, falling to the green illusion she sat on. When the dark-haired mutant walked past her, Laura turned her head to watch the woman leave from the corner of her eye. Only when she heard the automatic door close and resume its forest-like appearance did she face forward once more and sigh deeply. Over the next few solitary moments she sat there, not completely thinking of what to do now. Eventually she stood and spoke aloud, "End session." The serenity of darkness and glitter vanished before her eyes and the feral stood. She walked over to the door with no hesitation and exited the Danger Room. -------------- The Next DayHer boots clunked below her walking form as she made her way to the Danger Room. Again. It was slightly surprising that she made the choice to return. Somehow she felt almost as if she had an obligation to go. It was like even though the promise didn't entitle even showing up after yesterday, it was almost as if it did. Part of it was the fact that she knew someone had been waiting for her; even a sliver of that person hopefully thinking the feral girl would show up. Stopping before the doors, the computer prompted her the usual request of information. "Talon. Access code..." she hesitated for a few seconds at the end, but regained herself before the computer would make her start the short order over, "Debbie and Megan."The computer accepted her delayed reply, opening the doors in obedience. Stepping over the threshold, Laura saw Wanda standing in the middle of the blank room. She stopped a few feet short of standing right next to Wanda, silent like she had been when they last departed.[/ul]
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