Xaviers!

Posted: **Sat May 20, 2017 6:34 pm**

"Alright. Just relax and try to focus on what you do remember from that night." she says, reaching out to brush some hair out of Wanda's face and gently place her hands on the side of her face, index and middle fingers touching her temple as she makes mental contact.

Posted: **Sat May 20, 2017 6:58 pm**

Wanda takes a deep breath and reaches for the memory. She'd made some plans with some friends from Maldon to meet up at the club and have some drinks and hang out. They'd all bailed on her, so she'd sat at the bar, people-watching and drinking. She was drinking slowly even for her normal habits. A couple of guys offered to buy her drinks, but she turned them down and just talked with them for a bit. At a break, she texted Miriam to see if she was free, but she was getting lousy reception in here. The club was really busy that night, she remembers thinking.

Posted: **Sat May 20, 2017 7:30 pm**

As Miriam's avatar manifests in the memories the mental construct of her sister seems to flicker and disappear into one of the two masks hanging on Miriam's hip. Whether intentional or subconscious, she doesn't seem to consider a bar a proper place for even just the shadow of a memory so her astral presence shifts to protect her. Not wanting to actually interfere or change the memory at this point Miriam settles in behind the bar. Not that it gives her a different angle, the blurry world of memories only following Wanda's point of view, which turns everything that's out of sight for her into increasingly vague shapes of sound and occasionally smells. It's that blurriness that Miriam hides herself in as she watches things unfold.

Posted: **Sat May 20, 2017 8:49 pm**

Most of the conversation is inane 'trying to pick up the woman' bullshit. After a bit, a man probably in his late 20s walks up and the guy currently talking to Wanda excuses himself. The man exudes that 'start-up business man' mystique and whatever his start-up is, it's doing particularly well based on how nice his suit is. As he starts to talk, the sound of the memory becomes distorted, like what you get when your ears are underwater. Only snatches of the conversation make it through and it's generally unimportant words like 'the' and 'a'.

Posted: **Sat May 20, 2017 9:22 pm**

Miriam frowns. Wanda must have heard the words, but the question is, how well did the man talking to her erase her memory of them. She tries to feel out the distorted sound for any connections with the rest of her mind. Even if the words themselves are gone, he might not have erased thoughts, feelings and actions they triggered, which might let her take an educated guess at what was said.

Posted: **Sun May 21, 2017 12:25 am**

It took her a moment to find the feelings that were connected to this conversation, but there was a feeling of self-importance, as if Wanda were meant for great things. There was also a sense of anticipation, but nothing specifically tied to it.

Posted: **Sun May 21, 2017 12:48 am**

Miriam takes note of it and let's the memory continue to play out, trying to hold on to as many connections it made as possible to stave off the point where it might cut out entirely. The more she can pull up from Wanda's subconsciousness the bigger the odds she might remember more of it. She fairly certain that it'd be almost impossible to erase memories without any trace at all. Not without causing significant mental harm. But that isn't really necessary if you're good enough at hiding them, she'd just have to hope that her trick would lift them up enough to stand out despite whatever this guy did.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 2:08 pm**

The feelings stay fairly consistent throughout the conversation and finally the man turns and says something to the bartender who nods and steps back to pick up a phone. Around the edges of the memory, an inky blackness starts to creep in, obscuring the memory further. Somewhere in the blackness, she can hear what sounds like a much younger Wanda's voice, singing something that sounds like Swedish, but she understands the words fine.

The fiddler pulled his fiddle out of its case and
Raised his bow to the rising Sunday sun
Then the people of Harga got excited
They forgot God and the whole world.

The dance took place in the meadows and slopes
High up on the peak of the Harga Mountain
They wore out both shoes and heels
Never getting the dance to stop.

Where do you come from fiddler?
Tell us who has taught you this wild and crazy melody?
If you don't stop now our hearts will burst
Oh God forbid, he has a hoof.

The bells rang in the valley and there went
Father and mother and brother to the parish church
Where can the youth of Harga be now?
Oh my God, they're still dancing!

They were dancing to the Harga song
High up on the Harga mountain peak
Tears aren't far off
While dancing, they wore through both body and soul.

Stop your bow fiddler, before we
Dance life and soul and all the bones out of our bodies
No, he won't stop the dance before
Everyone falls down dead.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 3:29 pm**

"Wanda, I need you to try and focus on this... The conversation with this guy... Try to remember. He did something to your head. I can't tell what exactly, but I think on some level you did." she says and starts humming the melody of the children's song. She could try to dredge things up, but for that she needed a thread to follow in Wanda's head.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 3:44 pm**

Wanda's mind shivers as she tries to focus on the memory, but it proves to be like wet soap as she loses her grasp on it. The song grows louder, the blackness pulling back like a theater curtain to reveal more blackness, but it seems to be the direction the song is coming from.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 3:53 pm**

Fine... It's not like I've never faced the darkness before. I can do this. she tells herself. From her cloak dark cloth billows out and envelops her until she's little more than a black shape wearing two silver masks that seem to float and shift a little in the spot where her face would be. The black cloth billows and she dives into the darkness, still humming the song in the real world as she tries to follow it to it's source in Wanda's mind.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 4:05 pm**

As she dives through the darkness, it comes as a distinct surprise when she bursts into a sunlit park. She can see the blackness, lingering between the trees. She appears to be next to a playground of some sort. There's a very young Wanda playing in a sandbox dressed in leather sandals, blue shorts and a bright green tank top. Despite the complete lack of other children on the playground, a version of Wanda, age closer to her actual age, sits on a bench and watches the youngster with an air of maternal pride. The Wanda on the bench is dressed more akin to what Miriam has seen before, blue and green floor length gown, bare feet, and flowers woven through her hair. Neither seems to have noticed Miriam yet and little Wanda continues to sing.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 4:08 pm**

Miriam emerges from the darkness and as she gets closer to the ground her robes withdraw from her and her regular self emerges from the protective cocoon. She's still wearing the silver mask though, the second one hanging on her belt. She carefully approaches the older Wanda and reaches out to touch her shoulder. "Wanda?"

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 4:21 pm**

She startles and the sky above the playground rumbles. Little Wanda looks up at the sky and then over at the two of them, "Mama?"

"It's okay, Älskling," Wanda reassures, looking back at Miriam. "Just a friend come for a visit."

That seems to satisfy the little girl and she goes back to building mountains out of sand and singing. Wanda seems to relax then, taking a moment before looking at Miriam again, "Miriam."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 4:26 pm**

"Where are we? Is this a safe place? Somewhere you withdraw to?" she asks, curiously as she sits down next to Wanda.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 4:33 pm**

"This is the Seat," she says, "Safe for now, but its fate is somewhat uncertain."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 4:42 pm**

"Why is that? Because of the darkness I had to pass through to get here?"

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 4:53 pm**

She nods, "It's starting to get everywhere and there's only so much I can do. I'm missing my best instincts for this sort of thing."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 4:56 pm**

"I can make it stop. I just need to find the source. I've seen him, but he got away..."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 5:06 pm**

"Oh, we heard that music. It was interesting, but my instincts have been missing longer than that."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 5:10 pm**

"What do you mean your instincts? Your mind is clouded, isn't that what that creep did?"

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 5:13 pm**

"Maybe," she sounds uncertain, "but you know that voice in the back of your head that tells you when someone's up to no good? It's... really quiet."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 5:51 pm**

"Damnit..." she mutters as she looks around. "You're being manipulated, they're tearing down your defenses. I can try to undo some of it but I can't even really tell how it was done... How'd they erase their tracks without undoing what they did?"

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 5:54 pm**

"Who said they were the ones who did it?" How Little Wanda had gotten this close without Miriam noticing the movement was anybody's guess, but this was also Wanda's head, so maybe no explanation was necessary. She was staring at Miriam's mask intently with the gravity that only the very young can bring to a situation.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 5:58 pm**

"What?" Miriam spins around in a whirl of black cloth, taken aback by how close the young girl had gotten. "Who else would... Did you do this yourself?"

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 6:09 pm**

"I'm not the one obsessed with the dark side of others," Little Wanda says, grabbing Miriam's hand. A very short barrage of images hits Miriam, blunted because Wanda's obviously not a telepath and so the method is crude at best.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 6:19 pm**

Miriam's avatar shifts as cloth briefly whips around her before settling down again. "No... no, I didn't do this to you... We were in my head..." she says as if that somehow made a difference.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 6:22 pm**

Little Wanda clears her throat and says in perfect copy of Miriam's voice, "I was in your head as much as you were in mine..."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 6:29 pm**

"No!" In the real world Miriam jerks back and jumps to her feet, the telepathic connection tearing off as she stares at Wanda as if she was a hot stove she just burned herself on. "No, that's impossible..."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 6:31 pm**

Wanda looks confused, "What? Miriam, what's wrong?"

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 6:37 pm**

"N-nothing... it's nothing. Sorry, I just... got startled."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 6:39 pm**

"Did you find anything we can use?"

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 6:52 pm**

"Not really. He did a pretty good job covering his tracks. It... I'm sorry, Wanda." she says with a sad look in her eyes. Why'd she have to ruin everything and everyone she comes into contact with?

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 7:00 pm**

"What for? You did your best. We'll just have to keep looking for him, right?" She trusts Miriam, that much was obvious, even with their disagreements.

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 7:04 pm**

"Yeah... we'll find him." Who knows, maybe he's even just some guy... No. No, she's not that pliable. We had a fight. She stood up to those shapeshifters. She's... she's alright. Just a little susceptible to telepathy. Like Will. It's fine...

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 7:07 pm**

"We should do something. Something fun. Stop worrying about things for an hour or two, don't you think?"

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 7:15 pm**

"Yes! Absolutely, we should." Miriam says, letting go of the breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Everything was okay. Relatively speaking. "What do you feel like doing? My treat."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 7:22 pm**

"It's always your treat," Wanda says with a laugh. "Ummm... we should do something you like to do."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 7:41 pm**

"What, are you saying you're taking it for granted already." she teases. "We should go dancing. Somewhere that isn't the Raven's Crest. London."

Posted: **Mon May 22, 2017 7:50 pm**

"I could do London. Most of my work for the end of the year is done," she agrees.

Xaviers!

Room 115 - Is This What It's Like To Go Crazy?

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