Xaviers!

Sean Hall wrote:
The shield disappeared and Sean looked to make sure the rift was still closes.

"Just a bit deaf is all," Sean said looking at Diego. He obviously was hearing decently from one ear at least. Probably the one he wasn't bleeding from.

Vivienne made a small movement with her hand, a small stream of water began to move towards Sean, up his arm to his shoulder and then to his ear. There was a warming sensation as the blood was cleaned away and his natural healing jump started.

"And the consequences, Wanda? Think about it, remember, the charts and maps you made for me, the patterns in the wind I knew only you could see. What of them? You pull a storm here and what happens in Wales?"

Miriam Bell wrote:"Who did this to her!?" she finally bursts out, the question, no the demand ringing out through the room and everyone's minds.

"You did..." A triplicate voice echoes in her head. Considering it looks like everyone else who was in the house has scarpered or been killed or at the very least rendered non-functional, it seems to be the only answer she's likely to get. But, in the undercurrent of thoughts, she catches a child's 'voice', I'm not the one obsessed with the dark side of others.

Vivienne Chinnoir wrote:"And the consequences, Wanda? Think about it, remember, the charts and maps you made for me, the patterns in the wind I knew only you could see. What of them? You pull a storm here and what happens in Wales?"

"Wrong question. The question is who cares? Because it certainly isn't me," she says, gesturing at Vivienne. The winds tighten around her, lifting her and spinning her around, turning the water and wine at her feet into a stinging waterspout. "I've lived too long in the shadow of my own fear. It's time for me to make my own light."

"Let's see how free you really are," Sam says, seeing an opening and taking it as she lashes out with the flock and strikes at the man with Wanda.

The man had been on his way out, barely visible around the corner of the upstairs hallway when the flock hits him. He staggers a bit, but keeps moving, obviously having some sort of mental fortitude himself. Wanda doesn't seem to be the least bit phased by the attack on him.

Sean Hall wrote:The shield disappeared and Sean looked to make sure the rift was still closed.

"Just a bit deaf is all," Sean said looking at Diego. He obviously was hearing decently from one ear at least. Probably the one he wasn't bleeding from.

He watched with interest as Vivienne cleaned the blood away.

"Weird... What happened to Wanda? Who's that vampire? I... uhh... seem to have lost a few minutes here."

Wanda Johansson wrote:"You did..." A triplicate voice echoes in her head. Considering it looks like everyone else who was in the house has scarpered or been killed or at the very least rendered non-functional, it seems to be the only answer she's likely to get. But, in the undercurrent of thoughts, she catches a child's 'voice', I'm not the one obsessed with the dark side of others.

Miriam's not exactly happy to hear that and for a moment she looks like Wanda just slapped her across the face. "This is what I wanted to spare you from!" she shouts as she walks towards the bottom of the stairs. "This is all I have to offer, but you're better than that!"

Wanda steps forward and physically slaps Miriam across the face. "You're still trying to decide what's best for me! I was happy with you, but decided that I couldn't possibly be and you *left*! You don't get a say anymore!" That brief moment of contact and Miriam can tell that something is off more than just Wanda being angry. She gets the briefest glimpse of Mother Nature, but not the sweet maternal figure that most painters imagine. No, it's the angry, vengeful Mother Nature that conjures hurricanes and tornadoes.

Sam curses for a moment, then gets a notion.

She starts the flock circling around both Wanda and Miriam, trying to shut out all other influences to them.

As Sam completes her circle, she notices that there's no external influence. At the very least there's no ongoing telepathic influence from outside the circle.

"Weird... What happened to Wanda? Who's that vampire? I... uhh... seem to have lost a few minutes here."

Sean was glad for the help with healing. Some other unconscious magic was helping as well, but it'd still be a whole before he had half his hearing back.

"Not sure, and probably the elder Vampire," Sean said to Diego as Sam, Vivienne, and Miriam tried to talk Wanda down. "I'm starting to think this isn't going to end peacefully."

"Wrong question. The question is who cares? Because it certainly isn't me," she says, gesturing at Vivienne. The winds tighten around her, lifting her and spinning her around, turning the water and wine at her feet into a stinging waterspout. "I've lived too long in the shadow of my own fear. It's time for me to make my own light."

Not much Vivienne could do about wind, but she used what liquid was present to counter-spin, lowering her again. Miriam and Sam acting to redirect Wanda from her fey target helped too.

Sean Hall wrote:
Sean was glad for the help with healing. Some other unconscious magic was helping as well, but it'd still be a whole before he had half his hearing back.

"Not sure, and probably the elder Vampire," Sean said to Diego as Sam, Vivienne, and Miriam tried to talk Wanda down. "I'm starting to think this isn't going to end peacefully."

"If you are all still strong, he and a few others are making for the exits, not to mention the fire below." She said as she moved quickly to Gemma, Diego and Sean.

"Have enough in me for one more vampire," Sean said with a slight smile, "You three can handle all this then?"

Sean included Miriam because it at least seemed like she didn't want Wanda to do whatever it is she was going to do.

Gemma pipes up from where she is holding the back hallway. "There's smoke coming from the kitchen and I think..." There's a low rumble deeper in the building. "That doesn't sound good."

"No it certainly doesn't," Diego agreed. "Got any anti-fire magic Mister Wizard?"

“A few spells might work. Depends on how bad the fire is,” Sean said after a moment of contemplation. “The question is the house and the fire or the escaping vampire lord more important?”

"If he is a Master, some lore states, end him, end his entire line." She smiled and stood.

"I can put out a fire. If you wish to go hunting, go now Magus."

"Right. Master vampire would be the thing," he nodded.

"Now where'd I drop my stake..." added the guy who just wasted several bloodsuckers with a claw made of translucent blue fire.

Vivienne Chinnoir wrote:"If he is a Master, some lore states, end him, end his entire line." She smiled and stood.

"I can put out a fire. If you wish to go hunting, go now Magus."

"Good luck, Fey," Sean smiled before heading in the direction the vampire had gone generally expecting Diego to follow.

Wanda Johansson wrote:Wanda steps forward and physically slaps Miriam across the face. "You're still trying to decide what's best for me! I was happy with you, but decided that I couldn't possibly be and you *left*! You don't get a say anymore!" That brief moment of contact and Miriam can tell that something is off more than just Wanda being angry. She gets the briefest glimpse of Mother Nature, but not the sweet maternal figure that most painters imagine. No, it's the angry, vengeful Mother Nature that conjures hurricanes and tornadoes.

Miriam's head snaps to the side at the blow, but all she does is slowly turn her head back to Wanda and look at her with a pained expression. "If this is what being with me leads you to, then I made the right choice." she says quietly. "But I can fix this. I should have made you forget about me in the first place." She reaches out with her mind, searching for that small voice she'd felt among the angry storm to latch on to and find her way into Wanda's mind.

Getting into Wanda's head isn't particularly hard at the moment. There's a lot of blackness swirling around there, but it isn't hard to find the Seat, as Wanda's mind referred to it. What had once been a bright sunny place is now cracked and broken. The sandbox little Wanda had been playing in was waterlogged and the benches around the park were cracked and broken. Hovering over the whole thing is what looks like Wanda in her Mother Nature attire. Energy swirls and shifts around her hands in constant motion with the occasional crackling sound of electricity arcing. Little Wanda is sitting in a bent and twisted piece of playground equipment, trapped in a cage of sorts. She rocks back and forth hugging her knees. Chained to a jungle gym is the motherly Wanda as she watches the figure hovering over the playground with sad eyes.

One by one a portion of the flock slips into Wanda's mind, perching here and there. They haven't done anything yet, regarding Miriam warily.

It was easier to get into Wanda's head than Sam expected as well. The swirling darkness posed some hazard, but that all seemed to be anchored to the angry avatar hovering over the playground.

Miriam either doesn't notice Sam's appearance or she pays it no mind as she walks towards the three Wandas. In the real world her face has turned into a stony mask, but in here the pained expression is still obvious. She seems careful about not getting too close to the angry avatar hovering in the air and walks over to the young girl in the make-shift cage. "Don't worry. I'll make everything okay again." she says, kneeling down next to her, the cloak her avatar wears spread around her and settling over the ground like a shadow of it's own. And as it settles it seeps into the ground and reaches deep into Wanda's mind, small tendrils searching out all those little moments, feelings and memories...

Fighting with a drunken Miriam in her dorm. Baking in the communal kitchen to leave a bag of cookies at her doorstep. Their first kiss. Bodies moving in a crowd. Doubt as Miriam boards a plane. The sweeping sadness of Miriam collapsing in front of her sister's grave. Walking past the quaint streets of Wanda's home. Fancy dinners and parties. And finally a night of curling up together in front of a fire, heartbreak and anger from finding the note the following day. Stomping up the stairs to Alessia's place in search for Miriam. Little by little all of these moments are dragged to the surface, wrapped in tendrils of shadows. An empty martini bottle, a bag of cookies, a couple of wilting flowers...

"...Miriam," she says as she coalesces her avatar.

"Don't you think she's lost enough?"

Little Wanda mutters, ”You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be here.” It’s difficult to tell who she’s talking to.

"Yes and I'll be damned if I'll let her hurt for it. This is the only thing I can do for her now." Miriam responds to Sam without turning around, sounding bitter.

"You're right." she goes on to talk to Little Wanda, at least managing to keep the bitterness out of her voice, if not quite the sadness. "I shouldn't. And I'll fix it. That's why I'm taking everything of mine, okay? And then I'll calm her down. Is that alright?" she says, glancing down at the memories she's pulling up from the ground and gathering in her arms.

Miriam finally spins around to glare at Sam, her eyes filled with swirling shadows. "You still don't get it? That wasn't them. That was me!"

Miriam has gathered pretty much all of the memories of her at this point. It doesn’t seem to have done anything to calm the anger or changed Little Wanda’s muttering in any way. Motherly Wanda tears her attention away from the angry avatar and turns towards Sam, ”She doesn’t understand.” Again with the nebulous pronouns.

"Not the context, the root." As she gathers all the memories in her arms they melt together into a mask that she places next to the two already hanging on her hip. "This is all my fault. I brought this side of her to the surface and this is the price of putting it back."

Turning to Little Wanda she reaches for the smallest of the three masks and hands it to her through the bars. "Here, luv, put this on and it'll help make things right and bring you three together again as it should be."

It takes a moment to get Little Wanda’s attention. She looks at the mask suspiciously. “Why should I trust you?”

“You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t trust anyone,” the angry avatar says in a slightly dissonant tone, turning her attention to Little Wanda. This starts Little Wanda rocking and muttering again.

"Then will you let me work instead of criticizing my knitting technique?" Miriam mutters. She reaches one arm through the cage, holding the mask. She would have liked Little Wanda's cooperation, but she doesn't need it. And it doesn't really matter what she thinks about her now, does it? She forces the mask that in her own mindscape represents Norma onto the aspect of Wanda and stands up to walk towards Adult Wanda, grabbing the mask representing herself from her belt to place it on Adult Wanda.

Adult Wanda can't really stop her, chained up as she is, though she does struggle a bit. Still, once the mask is on, it's on. None of this has affected the angry avatar and Miriam now has her full attention. "What do you think you're doing?" The voice reverberates around the playground.

"Putting you back where you belong with the rest of them. Where she can control you like she used to, before I set you free." Miriam says, taking the final mask, the one formed from all of Wanda's memories of Miriam and taking a couple careful steps towards Angry Wanda. This last one was going to be much trickier and she dreads the possibility of having to convince Sam to help her.

The angry avatar floats away from Miriam, hands crackling dangerously. "Your interference is neither needed nor wanted, Shadowstealer." The hands come up threateningly, "Back... away."

"I know! But they only could because I took away her Shadow. Her Id. Her Badb. Whatever you want to bloody call it. And as long as whatever filled that void thought I didn't know that it let me work. Now either help or go away!"

Miriam takes a couple steps towards Wanda floating away, her arms and legs growing longer and spindly as she does. It's no wonder Wanda had seemed so... perfect. So pure and right. She'd taken away the darkness inside of her. Not only had she left her vulnerable, she'd selfishly made her into someone she could look at without seeing the worst behind her eyes. She'd let her down when Trinity called and instead of facing that anger and disappointment she'd taken it away. Too desperate for someone she could stand to love maybe. She'd been right, she didn't deserve Wanda. Not the perfect one she'd built up in her mind and inadvertently created and not the flawed one she was about to try and restore. All of this is coming off of her in waves and is hard to miss as she uses it to infuse and strengthen her avatar.

She leaps forward, trying to tackle Wanda in mid-air, mask in hand to try and force it on her.

DarkWanda tries to duck out of the way, but Miriam's too fast here. She charges with electricity filled with anger and resentment, but that just makes it more obvious that this isn't actually Wanda.