A Place Of My Own

[Wanda Johansson]

After bumping elbows with Sean a few times, Wanda had commandeered a small workshop of her own to do some studying and work. The room itself smells pretty earthy, probably from the wealth of plants that Wanda's moved into the room. There's an old, second-hand wooden table taking up most of the center of the small room with a stool behind it so that Wanda faces the door. She's presently engaged in the process of writing something down in some sort of journal, drawing the occasional sketch of something nebulous before going back to her writing.

((Open))

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh strolled down the hall, whistling a happy tune as he passed the small room. The song stopped with an inquisitive note and he took a backward step into the doorway.

"I always thought this was a storage room."

[Wanda Johansson]

"No one was using it for that, so I sort of turned it into a workshop. How're you doing, Tosh?"

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Pretty good," he answered as he walked in, smiling. "Well, okay, I did get dumped, but I... umm... kinda already have a new girlfriend... assuming our first date goes well and I think it will."

[Wanda Johansson]

"That's a shame, but at least something good's coming out of it," Wanda says, closing her notebook. "You seem more yourself than the last time I saw you."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Yeah. My brain is back in order and I'm not a big ferret this time. I think you're the only person who's seen that me yet."

[Wanda Johansson]

"I'm sure there's time for you to explore that now that the world seems to have quieted down again."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Yeah. So, how are you? And what are you workshopping anyway?" he asked, unaware of her mystical leanings.

[Wanda Johansson]

"I'm doing okay. And you'll think I'm crazy if I tell you what I'm working on."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I'm not entirely close-minded you know. Can't be an X-Man for long without a flexible mind."

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda ponders that for a moment, "I'm working on what I presume to be magic."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"As a science major, I should think that's nonsense. But I've seen just enough to at least believe magic is science we don't understand yet. Go on."

[Wanda Johansson]

"It's... tied to life in some way, but, as I'm sure Sean would tell you, anything approaching detail is maddeningly vague. Still trying to find sources that have clues. Mostly just ending up with questions."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Someone once told me 'Every answer starts with a question', so it could be worse," he said before making a disturbed face.

[Wanda Johansson]

She raises an eyebrow, "Something wrong?"

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I just realized it was my grandpa that told me that... before he went full on crazy," he explained with a complicated mixture of nostalgia and withheld anger.

[Wanda Johansson]

“I’m... sorry. Sometimes wisdom still comes out of places we don’t expect it.”

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Our relationship was always a bit... complicated. I'll just leave it at that."

[Wanda Johansson]

"Family sometimes likes to be complicated," she says, "And they sometimes come up with some things you don't expect."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"But enough about my baggage... what is this 'it' you were referring to?"

[Wanda Johansson]

"You mean the magic? I'm still not sure. It's tied to some old symbols that I saw in a dream."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"In a dream?" he asked, trying valiantly to fight back old skeptical habits and mostly succeeding.

[Wanda Johansson]

"Well, more like a vision I guess. I've had a couple of those now. And I know it sounds... outlandish."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"No more than Sam's more-ness, I suppose. Or my best friend dating a Fey. Not sure why my brain tried to draw a line at dream messages."

"So, let me see if I've got this right... you believe your powers are connecting you to the planet in some way and that connection is trying to... tell you something?"

[Wanda Johansson]

"I think it's a possibility I can't ignore. And I know of several people who agree with me, even if I trust the motives of one of them about as far as I can throw her."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I assume one is our resident wizard. Who's the sketchy one?"

[Wanda Johansson]

"The owner of the Raven's Crest. She's... a unique individual."

[Toshiro Narumi]

He raised an eyebrow.

"I think she gave me and Haley drinks on the house that time we went clubbing. Something about her gave Haley the willies."

[Wanda Johansson]

"She's... more than she appears and I wouldn't want to cross her without several of the X-Men or at the very least Isolde with me."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Good thing I wasn't planning on having another date there. I don't see Steph as any more of a clubber than I am."

[Wanda Johansson]

"I like clubs myself. It's sort of a shame since it was a good mutant-friendly club."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I mean, I had a good time and all, it's just too far from my comfort zone to seek out."

"So... uhh... what exactly is this woman's... 'more'? Like, is she a witch or something?"

[Wanda Johansson]

"Something like that. And she's supposedly very old, according to Isolde."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Inexplicably old people I can definitely believe, since one pretty much vowed to kill me if I interfere with him again."

[Wanda Johansson]

"I've managed to avoid having her do that, so I'll count that as all good."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"God... how do I already have two mortal enemies? I haven't been at the hero thing that long."

[Wanda Johansson]

“I apparently had a group of vampires that wanted to use me to turn off the sun or something to that effect, so I’d wager it just comes with the territory.”

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Apparently?" he asked curiously.

[Wanda Johansson]

"There's some fuzzy spots in my memory around that time. I remember Sam and the others rescuing me from some house in Chelsea, but I don't remember how I got there."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"They must have done quite a number on you," he said sympathetically.