RUBILYKSKOYE INBOX.

[explosion]

TELEPATHY • HOLOGRAM • LETTERS • DELIVERIES • ACTION

✿ Rubi-telepathy (easy mode) feels different to ✦ Wanda-telepathy (hard mode).

Comments

cw: ref to death/violence

[princess_of_ida]

[Okay, that's more than Ianthe was expecting... and it made her feel comfortable. It was weird. She was right to not condemn Wanda during the October situation. It let her know it was going to be okay. Wanda was a lot of things but Ianthe didn't think she was a hypocrite. They both were villains, after all.]

Not really. I hurt someone I love, I sacrificed him, to gain access to the knowledge I need to save my sister.

Yesterday I had a bullet put in my brain and my face beaten to mush for it. And I deserved it.

[explosion]

Did you?

[ Is that the thing to say? Wanda doesn't care. It's a genuine question, one that she's uncertain anyone else would bother to ask. Yes, it sucks that someone had to be hurt, but Wanda isn't naive enough to believe Ianthe's sharing this with her because she expects her to offer the expected answer: You did wrong. You deserved it. Are you sorry?

It doesn't matter if Ianthe feels the same. No one deserves any of that, regardless of what they've done. ]

You were hurting, weren't you? Why does one person's hurt mean more than yours?

[princess_of_ida]

I think I did. I'm a horrible person. Yes, I did it for a reason and the cost is always worth the goal, but... It was Iggy. He's probably the closest we have to an innocent person here besides the unmarked.

[And he had been her best friend. But she had to pick one of hers. That meant Alina, Gilia, Iggy, or Junpei. Her girls were never on the table, so that left the boys.]

I think if it'd just been a quick death, then maybe, but it wasn't. You were at the dinner with Zlatka. You heard me ask to learn Resurrection and the task she set for me. [Wanda had been sitting right next to the Duchess.] It was torturous.

[explosion]

He'll come back. Death barely means anything here. It's the resurrection that seems to matter most.

[ Ironic!!! Coming from Wanda!!! But perhaps that's why she's been so blasé about the entire thing. She doesn't think any deeper about it. ]

If Iggy is as innocent as you believe him to be, wouldn't he understand why you did it? An innocent person would have that kind of empathy. I feel that's what makes them… very much unlike us.

[ Wanda knows Iggy, but her perception of him isn't important here. ]

[princess_of_ida]

He's already back. I don't regret doing it; Zlatka will teach me Resurrection. I'll be able to save my sister and never be without her. Even if Coronabeth is upset with me and doing questionable treasonous things, I can't live without her.

[It's one of the more admirable things about Wanda, that she somehow managed to find a way to go on without Pietro.]

He does understand why. I left him a letter explaining it all. But he and you might be the only ones that will. I'm very much afraid I'm going to end up alone here, that I made the wrong choice to not stay in the castle and come back.

[Ianthe could weather being alone. She's practically always been that way (except Coronabeth was always there). She thought she could function alone. She absolutely can't. It'll just make her go deeper into the darkness with less reasons to tell herself no.]

[explosion]

[ Could Pietro come back? No. After what Zlatka did to her, Wanda refuses to entertain the idea that this woman can answer the one thing her magic can't bring her (or that Wanda refuses to gift herself). Wanda makes a mental note in the back of her mind to keep an eye on Ianthe. She doesn't trust the Duchess in any way, shape or form, but that's not something to share.

She doesn't answer immediately, suspecting an instantaneous response would come across as being less impactful. Some things require thought. ]

How can you be alone if you have me and Iggy?

And if he doesn't understand it, you'll have me. Who cares what others think? You can't control their fear, only your own—and most of the Void-touched are afraid of their own shadows.

[princess_of_ida]

I don't have Iggy. He understands but I still traumatized him. Put him in terrible pain before dying. I broke him.

...you know, I kept his heart. So I could resurrect him once I learned. I thought Zlatka was going to keep him. He doesn't know I have his heart.

[explosion]

Are you going to give it back?

[princess_of_ida]

No. He was regrown a new one. I'll keep it preserved in case something happens and I need to bring him back.

[explosion]

[ This is all… so… wild and yet so fascinating. ]

I'm sure he would appreciate that when he's able to… move past everything.

Whenever you need it, I can always help you. [ It's a display of vulnerability. Before, Wanda was capable of speaking with such confidence, but now… She knows she's not the best helper. Less messy when she's involved.

But. She adds a touch awkwardly - ] If it… helps.

[princess_of_ida]

I don't know what's going to happen, who all is going to find out. I'm not going to hide or lie about it, and my girls don't even know yet. Gilia is still in a coma. Alina is being held captive.

I came back for them. I could be in the castle right now, learning, but I chose to put the lessons off for a little while so I didn't just disappear on them. And it might not even matter.

Just... still be my friend? Please.

[explosion]

[ Her voice is warm - ]

You think something like this would lose you my friendship? [ She can't help her light laugh, ensuring it transfers through warmly. ] Ianthe… It will take a lot more than that for me to turn my back on you.

[ A lot more. Thanos levels of more. While Ianthe is capable of so much, Wanda significantly doubts her in that department. ]

[princess_of_ida]

[Probably because Wanda want a good person, like Ianthe wasn't one. Everyone that had condemned her were either good people or intimately connected to Iggy. She knew Iggy was Wanda's friend, and it had made her way, but Wanda understood in a way no one else could. And that was comforting.]

Thank you.