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( I MADE MYSELF AT HOME )
Wanda doesn't really blame anyone for initially believing she's the reason why funny and magical things happen in pockets of New York City. Given her history, it only makes sense.
But she's not the reason why some people have been seeing things that aren't there. While her power is vast, much of it is controlled now. Strange has advised her not to try and break the spells these people are under. She doesn't understand the magic that's causing them. She risks too much if she tries to pierce it with her fingers. While Wanda doesn't agree, she heeds his advice. Strange has been studying the Mystical Arts a lot longer than she has (even if she's now a little more advanced than he is in her tutelage) and she shouldn't interfere if he doesn't think it's the right call.
It becomes harder to resist the temptation when Sam Winchester rolls into the city.
It's been a week since he arrived asking questions for a "research paper" that have only earned a quirked eyebrow from Strange. Strange poses as a university professor teaching the occult and Wanda, well… Wanda doesn't need to pretend to be a student. She is one. Unlike Sam. She doesn't try and hint that she knows he's telling a fib. He's here for reasons that she can only glean from his questions about strange mythical creatures that she presumes aren't mythical at all.
Djinns. Genies. She can understand the allure of them all too well.
At least it's not aliens this time.
Wanda had thought it'd only be natural for Sam and Strange to gravitate towards one another, but it's her and Sam that seem to be paired and working together. She thinks Strange prefers it. He's not necessarily the most social person, and given his quips and short, biting answers, he might not be the best person suited for taking Sam around town and allowing him to ask his questions.
Despite being somewhat of a sounding board for Sam, Wanda still doesn't quite know what he's looking for. She's been able to pinpoint that people have become truly lost in their own minds to something far powerful (but not as powerful as her) and that there doesn't seem to be a Mystical way to break them out of it.
Sam sits at a table that's almost as long as him with books sprawled everywhere. Each time the lamp light flickers, she subtly makes it burn a little brighter. She doesn't quite know how he can sit for long periods of time. She's up for the fifth time since sitting down to help him with his research and disappears into the book aisles to stretch her limbs and magically search for the book she's looking for.
Using her telekinesis to tug a book from a high shelf she can't reach, Wanda returns to their table and passes him the book. He'd been thinking about it a bit too loudly, and although she's doing her best not to listen to the voices, it'd been hard to ignore him in the quiet of the building. Especially now, when all of her attention is on him.
Something about him doesn't feel quite mundane as humans often feel.
He's been bent over books and scribbling notes for hours now. She's surprised that his head hasn't fallen straight off just yet.
Standing off to his side, she glances at his nose and sees nothing but lines on the paper. "You don't think you have enough research yet?"
But she's not the reason why some people have been seeing things that aren't there. While her power is vast, much of it is controlled now. Strange has advised her not to try and break the spells these people are under. She doesn't understand the magic that's causing them. She risks too much if she tries to pierce it with her fingers. While Wanda doesn't agree, she heeds his advice. Strange has been studying the Mystical Arts a lot longer than she has (even if she's now a little more advanced than he is in her tutelage) and she shouldn't interfere if he doesn't think it's the right call.
It becomes harder to resist the temptation when Sam Winchester rolls into the city.
It's been a week since he arrived asking questions for a "research paper" that have only earned a quirked eyebrow from Strange. Strange poses as a university professor teaching the occult and Wanda, well… Wanda doesn't need to pretend to be a student. She is one. Unlike Sam. She doesn't try and hint that she knows he's telling a fib. He's here for reasons that she can only glean from his questions about strange mythical creatures that she presumes aren't mythical at all.
Djinns. Genies. She can understand the allure of them all too well.
At least it's not aliens this time.
Wanda had thought it'd only be natural for Sam and Strange to gravitate towards one another, but it's her and Sam that seem to be paired and working together. She thinks Strange prefers it. He's not necessarily the most social person, and given his quips and short, biting answers, he might not be the best person suited for taking Sam around town and allowing him to ask his questions.
Despite being somewhat of a sounding board for Sam, Wanda still doesn't quite know what he's looking for. She's been able to pinpoint that people have become truly lost in their own minds to something far powerful (but not as powerful as her) and that there doesn't seem to be a Mystical way to break them out of it.
Sam sits at a table that's almost as long as him with books sprawled everywhere. Each time the lamp light flickers, she subtly makes it burn a little brighter. She doesn't quite know how he can sit for long periods of time. She's up for the fifth time since sitting down to help him with his research and disappears into the book aisles to stretch her limbs and magically search for the book she's looking for.
Using her telekinesis to tug a book from a high shelf she can't reach, Wanda returns to their table and passes him the book. He'd been thinking about it a bit too loudly, and although she's doing her best not to listen to the voices, it'd been hard to ignore him in the quiet of the building. Especially now, when all of her attention is on him.
Something about him doesn't feel quite mundane as humans often feel.
He's been bent over books and scribbling notes for hours now. She's surprised that his head hasn't fallen straight off just yet.
Standing off to his side, she glances at his nose and sees nothing but lines on the paper. "You don't think you have enough research yet?"
no subject
"I mean, I just don't get it. Every time I think I'm closing in on something another door opens, it's like I'm playing cryptid Guess Who."
Frustrated and in sore need of caffeine, Sam sighs and leans back in his chair, closing his eyes and letting his head hang, neck long and exposed as if in sacrifice. Maybe it is. This is making him crazy, just kill him and get it over with.
From the outside this hunt seemed easy. Dean is busy with something for Bobby and they need a little breathing space right now so it made sense to head East on his own. Aliens haven't been good for the industry in a lot of ways but people are speaking up more about Weird Stuff Happening and that's his calling card, so it's made finding jobs a little easier. Double edged sword, he guesses.
Professor Strange has been helpful he grates against Sam's nerve like a rasp and it seems mutual, so Wanda's assistance has been very welcome. He doesn't have to sit her down for The Talk, she already studies this stuff. Incredible. It makes him wonder why there isn't a class for hunters, too. The world would be a better place with more men and women on the line. Dean would say no. He would say that people shouldn't have to go through the shit they eat for breakfast and that hunters are born of blood and tragedy.
Sam thinks that many hands make light work and maybe a team would mean less of those tragedies to begin with.
Whatever. Dean isn't here.
"Maybe all these books are cursed so I can't figure out what I'm really looking for."
no subject
It's not something Wanda usually notices about people, even though she does often stay quiet in corners and watch to see if anyone has as many physical weaknesses as they do mental and emotional, she knows it's a very normal thought that many others have had about other people. There's nothing to noting something about someone else. It's merely a fact: he has a nice neck.
"I don't think they're cursed." She knows; none of them hums with any type of magic. They're regular books filled with regular things and some with a lot of dust. "I think you are being too hard on yourself."
Wanda sighs and tugs out a chair, sitting her knees on it. Looking at the books he has splayed out, she doesn't think he's going to find what he needs in them. The Avengers never really researched the big bad that they were facing… not that she thinks there was any ever time. She's tried to find texts on Thanos, to see if there was ever a hint that they missed that the Great Titan was always destined to destroy half the planet. The Avengers aren't practised like Strange is. They run into danger and tumble out of it, mostly bruised.
She leans her arm against the back of the chair and rests her cheek in the palm of her hand. Looking at his neck again, she sighs.
"Do you know what's best for research? Taking a break. Your eyes may be grateful for it. I hear the books may enjoy it, too."
no subject
"I don't know, Wanda, if I don't find out what this thing is then I won't know how to kill it and someone else will end up dead."
no subject
It's on her, too. It's on Strange as well. Everything that happens is the shared responsibility of those who know a little more about the things that go bump in the night. All of them could've been paying a lot more attention.
"We'll find out what it is," she says, knowing that they will. She's defeated a Titans. She's come back from the Blip. Anything is possible, but only on one condition. "But do you really think you can do that when you're exhausted? Even superheroes take a little five-minute coffee break."
She'd know.
no subject
He took a breath, forgetting for a moment where he was and the greatness that surrounded him. To be working with an Avenger.. with two of them.. to have one right here by his side at beck and call and assistance... it was nuts.
Dean would be creaming himself, throat locked with a thousand questions.
Sam burned with them too, but he was attempting to stay professional and focused. Working with an Avenger would be for nothing if all he did was embarrass himself.
"Yeah.." finally. "Okay. Do you know a place?"
no subject
Wanda pushes her seat out, standing up. She doesn't extend her hand. Instead, she cocks her head to the side in invitation.
"It's a short walk away. Maybe five minutes. Very nice sights to see, too. Much better than tiny, tiny text on a piece of paper."
no subject
"Not a fan of research, huh?"
But he can guess Wanda is a woman of action. That's fine. He gets it. Barreling into things head first isn't new to him, but that just isn't the way he works.
Sam pauses for a moment, looking back at his work like he isn't sure it will be okay if he leaves them but.. no. No, they'll be fine. Right? Yeah..
Okay then, coffee.
Maybe stretching his legs won't hurt.
"So let's sum up what we've got," he says out they're out in the thick of it.
"Four women all between the ages of nineteen and twenty five missing from their homes which are all within the capital's boundary. All of them are brunette and all of them work or are working in hospitality. Sounds like a serial killer, right? Except get this, each girl mentioned seeing something strange in the days leading up to their disappearance. One mentioned a black dog, another said crows stalking her. One was complaining about rats in the walls.. and on top of it, all of them had plans to go to the theater. I don't know if it's related.. now crows and dogs and rats, that's all bad omens but it's different omens each time and none of that has anything to do with musicals or hospitality. The city is too dense for your run of the mill creature so we could be looking at a skin walker or a spirit.. somehow targeting these people.. but the one place they all had in common was a place none of them managed to get to."
no subject
In the Avengers' line of business, it was hard to make time for research. She does think that hindsight is twenty-twenty. If they had taken more of an active approach at learning about what and who was out there, their goals, their ambitions, their own personal traumas, maybe half the planet wouldn't have ended up continuously destroyed over and over. There could've been a smaller loss in life. Less time would have been wasted.
It's strange to be researching and it's strange for her to be even involved in the thick of the conversation. She's used to being on the sidelines—of her own accord and of someone else's—so Wanda does get a thrill of being able to walk beside Sam and be a sounding board.
"Maybe all of the omens are meant to throw you off the scent," she says. "Or maybe each omen is meant to reveal something about them. People like to know what kind of animal they are—maybe… this is similar."
It sounds silly, but then so is the idea of fighting a purple alien.
no subject
He supposes technically Wanda's answer is right as well.
"And yeah.. I dunno, maybe. It could also be some kind of sacrifice thing? There's no bodies so whatever has taken them either hasn't left a trace or is keeping them for something."
A beat.
"I mean, it could be vampires.. Dracula could have a type and he's keeping a stocked fridge. But then why the omens? Maybe someone was sending them to warn the girls of the vampires? Or the vampires were dicking with their victims?"
And round and round and round the theories go.
no subject
She feels a burst of admiration for how he doesn't stop thinking. Even when he needs a break, even when she thinks he's on the cusp of becoming so frazzled words may no longer hold their meaning, he keeps going. That tenacity reminds her a lot of Pietro and Steve.
"It isn't easy, is it?" She looks up at him before turning her gaze downward. "Knowing everything you know. You'd think it would make it easier to understand what happens to people and what the world is made of, knowing all the things that happen in the dark. I think it makes it harder."