Xaviers!

Wanda sits in the glass dome atop the lighthouse, leaning against the banister of the staircase. She looks like she'd rather be outside, but it's too cold for that, especially up here. She looks as if she hasn't been sleeping well as her gaze zones out across the water in the general direction of 'home'.

((Open))

After brushing off Tereza Miriam had gone for a long shower, if only to sort out her thoughts. She felt like she'd somehow missed the last couple days entirely and she'd snapped at Tereza mainly because she was afraid she might be right. Still, it's not like she'd planned on this and she still doesn't really know what's happening to her. She should take some time to figure out what this means, but now she feels guilty about not being there for Wanda, even if she'd never admit that out loud. Staring into the fogged up mirror, her hair wet and slicked back she feels gaunt as she stares at the empty reflection of the room behind her. Haley was right, she'd turned into fucking Dracula. Which meant Sam had been right about the people stalking Wanda. She really should have accepted that when Alessia bit her, but it hadn't really sunk in until now. Her open palm hits the bare tile next to the mirror with a loud slap before her hand balls up and she hits the wall again and again with the bottom of her fist...


When she finally sets out to look for Wanda she's wearing a simple black dress and no make-up along with the a stoic expression. It's not so much that she calmed down from her outburst, but rather that she tired herself out until she felt numb. Enough to hide gaping hole behind the mental discipline drilled into her by the necessity of her telepathy. It's her fallback. Calm, aloof, detached, because it's the only way to make sure her power won't spiral out of control. Or her emotions. And she needs the control to reach out and search for the familiarity of Wanda's mind as she wanders barefoot through the dark grounds, hair still kind of damp. She should be uncomfortable out here, but it doesn't feel any colder than inside the mansion. Finally she finds Wanda and slowly climbs up the stairs all the way to the top of the Lighthouse.

As she gets closer, she senses Wanda's presence in a way that's a bit beyond her mental state. Wanda feels super-alive, which is directly at odds with her depressed mental state. She doesn't register Miriam's presence right away, eventually mustering a quiet "Hello."

"Wanda?" she asks, climbing the final couple steps as she enters the room. Without shoes on she's almost eerily quiet, rising from the shadows of the stairwell. "What are you doing up here?"

"Watching the ocean." It's really too dark to see the ocean properly anymore. "And the weather over the ocean."

"Tereza told me you had a nightmare..." she says, staying back by the stairwell. Wanda's presence is already hard to ignore and she's worried if she gets too close to her the allure will be much worse than the idea of kissing her and sinking her teeth into her lips already is. She suddenly regrets seeking her out, wondering if this is why she was really looking for her...

Wanda sighs, "Yes. I thought the damage to the common room would start rumors. It was... pretty bad." She glances at Miriam, obviously taking in the distance between them and resigning herself to accepting it before turning back to the ocean, "It was like a... past life thing? I knew it, but it wasn't me exactly? And they killed someone I cared about."

Even if she couldn't see it in her eyes, it's impossible for Miriam not to take note of Wanda's reaction. She runs her hand through her hair nervously and takes a couple steps towards her to at least try. "I'm sorry... I know how rough that can be, real or not." she pauses for a moment, regretting her own choice of words. "I mean... It feels real no matter what when it plays out in your head."

"This was different. Darker somehow. The... Earth was talking to me. It was my friend." She shuts her eyes tightly, "I know it sounds insane."

"Only a little bit... What did it say?"

"It doesn't... say much. It's... more impressions, feelings. There was some weird chanting in the dream, but I'm having a hard time focusing on the words. Something about some things buried in a mountain coming to the surface?" Her head falls froward onto her knees. "I think my mind is breaking honestly."

"Your mind's not breaking, I'm sure..." she says, trying to sound as reassuring as possible instead of dismissive. "I won't let it."

"I appreciate the reassurance, but I'm not sure there's anything you can do at this point." She opens her eyes and goes back to looking out over the ocean. "I'm just lucky no one was in the common room during that nightmare."

"If someone like me wasn't beyond help then you most certainly aren't either. At the very least I can make sure you don't have any nightmares as long as I'm around."

"I don't know that you can stop them. I can feel them coming for me you know. It's like they're right here... hunting me."

Miriam frowns. "Well they're not. You're... probably just feeling paranoid. Which is completely understandable! But you're safe here..." she says, for some reason sounding vaguely guilty.

Wanda looks at her, her eyes unfocused. "It isn't paranoia if they are really out to get you and we both know that they are."

"But they're not here!" she says, harsher than she intended, taking a couple slow steps towards Wanda as if to soften her outburst. "You're safe here..." she adds more softly while staring at Wanda's neck and imagining the fearful pulse of her heartbeat just under her skin.

"No! No!" Wanda objects, shaking her head at the ground. "They're here. I can... feel... them." Her eyes snap up to Miriam, immediately hardening into insane fury. "You!"

Miriam takes half a step back at the anger burning in Wanda's eyes. "Wanda, I'm on your side!" she says, raising her hands slightly. She doesn't know how she can tell, but she recognizes rage when she sees it and she's suddenly very aware of how high up and lightning-prone they are right here.

Overhead, the sky does indeed rumble in response to Wanda's anger and it begins snowing hard outside. Wanda lunges at her, attempting to knock her back down the stairs. Several things are in Miriam's favor at the moment: Wanda's not fighting smart, she's fighting scared despite the apparent anger. On top of that, Miriam can sense her thoughts and Wanda's first instinct seems to be to try to get away.

Miriam isn't much of a fighter, so even when she can kind of tell what Wanda is thinking she's not really fast enough to react in time. Instead she's knocked back and instinctively tries to hold on to the closest thing, which happens to be Wanda. So the two of them go tumbling down the stairs until they hit a landing one story below. Miriam, hands still clutching fistfuls of Wanda's clothes, tries muster enough concentration to reach out to Wanda's mind, but it's frantic and chaotic so her attempts to calm her thoughts don't really take hold. So she tries to roll on top of Wanda and pin her to the ground.

Miriam's stronger than she looks and despite the size difference, she manages to end up on top, holding Wanda to ground. The effort seems to make Miriam a little hungrier though and she can sense Wanda's rapid pulse, even see the throbbing in her neck, as the woman tries to toss Miriam off. The clouds over the lighthouse begin to roil, lightning flashing between as the snow intensifies.

"Wanda, calm down! God.... damn it! Every... everything's going to be fine!" she says, shutting her eyes for a moment, although it does little to distract her from the woman pinned under her.

"They're taking it all from me! Everything! Even you! It's no good now!" Wanda screams, slamming her hands up into Miriam's chest as a blast of storm-force winds follows the motion of Wanda's hands, blowing Miriam off of her as Wanda struggles to get up.

Miriam is knocked back, hitting the railing and just about managing to hold on before she goes tumbling down the rest of the stairs. For a moment she grits her teeth, clearly showing the elongated, sharp incisors, her muscles tensing as she prepares to jump at Wanda. "If that's who you think I am then why bother fighting it, right?" she snarls.

There's that look that Miriam's likely used to: Fear. It cracks through the furious haze in Wanda's eyes like the lightning bolts in the storm clouds over the lighthouse. The winds gather around Wanda, pushing her up off the ground as she attempts to fly back up the stairs, but she's being foiled by the enclosed space up here.

"Stop!" Miriam's voice echoes in the stairwell as well as Wanda's mind.

The command takes hold relatively easily and though her mind is still a whirl of chaos, she floats above the stairs, her mind unable to form the commands to have the wind push her forward. She turns to glare at Miriam, "Leave me alone!"

"I can't lose you. You're the only good thing that's ever happened to me. Don't make me do this..."

"Make you what? Steal me away so you can give me to whatever it is?" Wanda's mind is torn, the fight or flight response battling with her desire to trust Miriam, even if she's not entirely sure it is Miriam. At the moment, it's coming close to breaking her.

"I'm not going to give you to anybody. You're mine. But I don't want to force you to trust me..."

"I don't belong to you!" She yells and the storm booms in sympathy. It's clear to Miriam now that Wanda doesn't believe that she's actually Miriam. The wind starts whipping up and the chill says that one of the glass doors at the top of the lighthouse is open. The wind starts whipping around tightly in the spiral staircase, tearing at Miriam with the snow and ice it brings with it.

Miriam's grip on the railing tightens at the gust tearing at her. She only distantly notices the cold, but she raises her arm against the snow hitting her face like tiny needles.

"It's me, Wanda!" she shouts over the howling wind and tries to pack as much of their shared memories as she can into the forefront of her mind. It's all jumbled, lacking the proper concentration to sort through it and a lot of it is feelings Miriam isn't particularly familiar with. The smell of cookies in a restaurant, crying and acceptance swirl among more intimate moments. "Maybe I'm not any better than them, maybe I'm just as rotten, but it's me!"

The feelings assault Wanda, battering at her defenses before they finally break through and she blinks, the winds starting to die almost immediately. "Miriam?" She says, almost too quietly to be heard.

"Yes, bloody hell!" Miriam says as she staggers up the stairs towards Wanda.

Wanda sinks to her knees, shivering as the cold starts to get to her. "I'm... sorry..." She starts sniffling.

Miriam hurries up the last couple steps and wraps her arms around Wanda, desperately trying to ignore how warm the other woman feels even still. "Never apologize... Everything's alright." she lies softly.

"It's not, but thank you for the attempt." She leans against Miriam, "You're cold."

"No, it's not, you're right." she says with a heavy heart. "We could run away... Find a place where none of this can find us."