[ when the orb dissipates, wanda smiles like a child at christmas. she moves her fingers gently, wiggling them as if she's able to still feel its signature. she thinks she can, even though it grows faint. ]
Was that what that was?
[ she looks at him, her lips still curved in a gentle smile. ]
The Void? [ she shakes her head softly. ] It didn't feel Dark at all.
[ it's strange to think something that beautiful could be considered so negatively. but wanda knows that many people are fearful of what they don't understand. many had been afraid of her. wanda had been terrified of what she had become.
but that? that had been something she thinks has been mistakenly criticised. ]
[ it's how everyone else responded to her powers. they were frightening. they were cruel. sometimes wanda thought they were right in believing that their cruelty came from the wielder.
but she was also learning that sometimes her powers didn't warrant fear. it wasn't fair. ]
But I'm glad that you're not. [ when she smiles, it's small. ] I'm tired of being feared.
[Felwinter tilts his head as Wanda speaks, like a curious bird. Were he anyone else he might insist that he couldn't imagine fearing Wanda, but that would be patently untrue, and patronising in a way he does not think she deserves. Fearing a power is foolishness, like fearing a weapon rather than one who wields it. Fearing a person, and what that person is capable of, is another thing entirely.
He doesn't fear her, but he can imagine others doing so. It only takes a single misstep.]
Many years ago, I challenged a notorious Warlord to duel. He was a brute of a man, built like a mountain, and every bit as immovable. My terms were that, should I defeat him, he would join us. The other Warlords respected and feared him; he would make an invaluable ally.
He took my head off with a single blow. [And oddly enough, from the way he says it, such a brutal death was neither concerning nor even particularly unusual.] Even so, I decided to keep trying. I stayed with him for several weeks, and challenged him daily. Every time was the same. He was very efficient.
[Folding his hands neatly behind his back, Felwinter falls silent for a moment, as though thinking on how best to make his point. The lives of Risen were so very different from those of mortals like Wanda, and he was so very terrible at expressing himself.]
He could have granted me my Final Death at any moment. He was not bound by the Iron Decree, and had been very clear that he did not want me there. I had every reason to fear him. But I... saw something in him that the others did not. Does that make sense?
[ can felwinter blame wanda for furrowing her brows thoughtfully as she regards his head? for that to be loped off, surely, well… she takes for granted the fact the removal of a head is instant death. (it's what would've stopped the mad titan once and for all.)
but she nods. she clasps her hands in front of her. while she wishes things were black and white—they're simpler when they are; when someone is bad, it's easy to vilify them—she knows that they all exist in a gradient of grey and other colours. ]
It does. He sounds scary, but… looks can be very deceiving. It's all about action and intent.
[ and if someone doesn't mean to hurt others… then she would hope that would mean that doesn't make her awful.
she cocks her head to the side. ] How did you keep your head?
[ wanda knows she means this both literally and figuratively. how did he not give up after repeated failures? ]
Exactly. [He nods his approval at her conclusion.] The Iron Lords planned to make a full assault, to take his territory and liberate his people by force. They didn't need to be liberated.
[It doesn't immediately occur to him that the question might be concern for the literal loss of his head, rather than Wanda making a joke of it.]
Don't misunderstand; his reputation was very well-earned. But his people stayed with him willingly. He protected them, and he believed the weight of that responsibility rested entirely on his own shoulders.
What I saw in him was... potential. A heart just as big as the rest of him. And he was an incredibly stubborn man, but so am I. So I knew I could convince him. Eventually. I just needed time.
[ severely, too. hadn't thanks muttered to thor he should've aimed for his head? if being beheaded would kill the great mad titan, than wanda thinks it's safe to assume that's the way to kill anybody.
but she thinks she knows her answer. while that act may have mattered to felwinter, it wasn't enough to stop him from seeing the forest for the trees, even if some of those trees were a little bloodied.
she curves the corners of her mouth upward as she chuckles softly. ] I would think that someone beheading me would be a very big deal.
I was challenging him, so you could say that every time he did so it was an act of self-defence. Though he would not. That would require that I was a threat to him, and not just a nuisance he was trying to get rid of.
[There's an unusual lightness to his tone, somehow stiff and unnatural, as though he's trying to sound humourous but doesn't quite know how. He pauses a moment, and quickly abandons the attempt with a shake of his head.]
It was simply a case of trusting that he would not... make it permanent, despite being aware of his kill count. And despite him being aware of my own.
[And while he says simply, the fact is that it was anything but. Trust was never something that came easily to him.]
[ it feels like putting it lightly, honestly. to trust someone not to kill you, to not take advantage of however far invulnerability or what have you felwinter has. looking back, wanda understands that vision had trusted her with something similar. he wanted to die to save the world and he wanted to do so with dignity. she hadn't allowed him that, and so the world paid for it. ]
I don't know if I could ever trust someone not to take that final blow. That speaks highly of you. [ whether he wants to admit it or not.
with a small smile, she teases, ] I'm glad that your beheading wasn't permanent. It'd be a pity.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
my apologies! i thought i had replied to this.
Was that what that was?
[ she looks at him, her lips still curved in a gentle smile. ]
The Void? [ she shakes her head softly. ] It didn't feel Dark at all.
[ it's strange to think something that beautiful could be considered so negatively. but wanda knows that many people are fearful of what they don't understand. many had been afraid of her. wanda had been terrified of what she had become.
but that? that had been something she thinks has been mistakenly criticised. ]
No worries!
[Now is really not the time for long-winded Warlock theories.]
But I wanted you to know that I... understand, on some level. And I don't fear your power, Wanda.
❤️!!
[ it's how everyone else responded to her powers. they were frightening. they were cruel. sometimes wanda thought they were right in believing that their cruelty came from the wielder.
but she was also learning that sometimes her powers didn't warrant fear. it wasn't fair. ]
But I'm glad that you're not. [ when she smiles, it's small. ] I'm tired of being feared.
Please excuse how long this got.
He doesn't fear her, but he can imagine others doing so. It only takes a single misstep.]
Many years ago, I challenged a notorious Warlord to duel. He was a brute of a man, built like a mountain, and every bit as immovable. My terms were that, should I defeat him, he would join us. The other Warlords respected and feared him; he would make an invaluable ally.
He took my head off with a single blow. [And oddly enough, from the way he says it, such a brutal death was neither concerning nor even particularly unusual.] Even so, I decided to keep trying. I stayed with him for several weeks, and challenged him daily. Every time was the same. He was very efficient.
[Folding his hands neatly behind his back, Felwinter falls silent for a moment, as though thinking on how best to make his point. The lives of Risen were so very different from those of mortals like Wanda, and he was so very terrible at expressing himself.]
He could have granted me my Final Death at any moment. He was not bound by the Iron Decree, and had been very clear that he did not want me there. I had every reason to fear him. But I... saw something in him that the others did not. Does that make sense?
i love this!
but she nods. she clasps her hands in front of her. while she wishes things were black and white—they're simpler when they are; when someone is bad, it's easy to vilify them—she knows that they all exist in a gradient of grey and other colours. ]
It does. He sounds scary, but… looks can be very deceiving. It's all about action and intent.
[ and if someone doesn't mean to hurt others… then she would hope that would mean that doesn't make her awful.
she cocks her head to the side. ] How did you keep your head?
[ wanda knows she means this both literally and figuratively. how did he not give up after repeated failures? ]
no subject
[It doesn't immediately occur to him that the question might be concern for the literal loss of his head, rather than Wanda making a joke of it.]
Don't misunderstand; his reputation was very well-earned. But his people stayed with him willingly. He protected them, and he believed the weight of that responsibility rested entirely on his own shoulders.
What I saw in him was... potential. A heart just as big as the rest of him. And he was an incredibly stubborn man, but so am I. So I knew I could convince him. Eventually. I just needed time.
no subject
[ severely, too. hadn't thanks muttered to thor he should've aimed for his head? if being beheaded would kill the great mad titan, than wanda thinks it's safe to assume that's the way to kill anybody.
but she thinks she knows her answer. while that act may have mattered to felwinter, it wasn't enough to stop him from seeing the forest for the trees, even if some of those trees were a little bloodied.
she curves the corners of her mouth upward as she chuckles softly. ] I would think that someone beheading me would be a very big deal.
[ now there's the joke. ]
no subject
[There's an unusual lightness to his tone, somehow stiff and unnatural, as though he's trying to sound humourous but doesn't quite know how. He pauses a moment, and quickly abandons the attempt with a shake of his head.]
It was simply a case of trusting that he would not... make it permanent, despite being aware of his kill count. And despite him being aware of my own.
[And while he says simply, the fact is that it was anything but. Trust was never something that came easily to him.]
no subject
[ it feels like putting it lightly, honestly. to trust someone not to kill you, to not take advantage of however far invulnerability or what have you felwinter has. looking back, wanda understands that vision had trusted her with something similar. he wanted to die to save the world and he wanted to do so with dignity. she hadn't allowed him that, and so the world paid for it. ]
I don't know if I could ever trust someone not to take that final blow. That speaks highly of you. [ whether he wants to admit it or not.
with a small smile, she teases, ] I'm glad that your beheading wasn't permanent. It'd be a pity.