Wanda Maximoff’s loneliness, Stephen reminds himself, is not his problem to fix. Even if there’s another unexpected little ache, a sliver of glass in his chest, thinking of what could have been. She’d been his first thought, back in New York. He had wanted to go to her for help. A teammate, a friend. He had vanishingly few of those.
The multiverse is massive and sprawling, and somewhere, maybe they—
He cuts himself off from that line of thought. Wanda’s good at controlling her presentation, and he notes it with his usual wariness: potential manipulation. He’s still standing next to the table, and already tall at six-feet; she’s still sitting on the floor with her back against the stacks, having to tilt her chin to look up at him. Seeming smaller. Diminished. Purposeful, he’s sure. Look: I have no claws. You want to help me.
He thinks of Ennaris and her telepathic abilities, but he’s not about to give away someone else’s secret, and surely the Scarlet Witch would rankle at the prospect of training with him. She’d never needed it before.
He does wonder, though: “You say it’s turned off. Can you still read minds at all? If you try? I’m not asking out of threat assessment, I’m asking out of curiosity.”
no subject
Wanda Maximoff’s loneliness, Stephen reminds himself, is not his problem to fix. Even if there’s another unexpected little ache, a sliver of glass in his chest, thinking of what could have been. She’d been his first thought, back in New York. He had wanted to go to her for help. A teammate, a friend. He had vanishingly few of those.
The multiverse is massive and sprawling, and somewhere, maybe they—
He cuts himself off from that line of thought. Wanda’s good at controlling her presentation, and he notes it with his usual wariness: potential manipulation. He’s still standing next to the table, and already tall at six-feet; she’s still sitting on the floor with her back against the stacks, having to tilt her chin to look up at him. Seeming smaller. Diminished. Purposeful, he’s sure. Look: I have no claws. You want to help me.
He thinks of Ennaris and her telepathic abilities, but he’s not about to give away someone else’s secret, and surely the Scarlet Witch would rankle at the prospect of training with him. She’d never needed it before.
He does wonder, though: “You say it’s turned off. Can you still read minds at all? If you try? I’m not asking out of threat assessment, I’m asking out of curiosity.”