—you should visit the Horizon properly once everyone fixes what was ruined earlier. I know a few people have created some parts of New York as they remember it. Have you talked with Steve Rogers?
( she pauses, watching as river brings over all the packets of seeds. )
He always replicates a hot dog cart. I like visiting for that.
( what wanda understands is that river's world is significantly removed from the timeline of earth that wanda comes from. for new york to be rubble and noxious gas? it feels strange to imagine, despite everything.
wanda helps by grabbing at a couple of the packets, to lessen river's load. )
Really? Sticking fingers in the dirt is the best part. ( she starts guiding the way towards the empty garden bed ) Do you know how to do it? You can pick which seeds you want to plant.
[ oh, the way her eyes sparkle at the prospect of eating more food from earth-that-was. ]
I haven't met him. Is it "the best hot dog in New York City?"
[ she's pretty sure they used to say things like that on old-world television. it's been 500 years and they're in an entirely new solar system; this is all virtually ancient history. river sets her smorgasbord of seeds on the ground near the garden bed so she can study her options. ]
I understand on theoretical level, but I'd like to hear you explain it. The pages of a book can't teach you as much as you can learn by listening to the trees.
[ vague nonsense, maybe, but she'd rather learn by sticking her fingers in the dirt, as it were. she finally selects a packet of seeds and shoots wanda an earnest smile. ]
I could think of better things to eat in New York City, but—
( wanda hears it in river's tone, the out-of-tune voiceover, 'the best hot dog in new york city', and imagines the obnoxious font over the image, grainy in every sense of the word. )
It is pretty great.
( stepping closer to river's dashboard of options, crouching down to be at level to see what the options all are. she raises her hand to take the packet of seeds (tomatoes) and shakes it to hear the seeds rolling over themselves. )
We're going to have to turn the soil over. We'll use spades.
( which are, magically, stuck on the earth where they will 'stick their fingers in'. one has a red handle, which wanda takes, and the other one has a yellow handle; river reminds her of the color yellow.
wanda starts at a corner, pushing the spade in and digging out the dirt to turn it over. it's moist and damper underneath, small rocks and leftover roots from a 'previous' batch found amidst it, as well as some wiggling worms. )
Just like this. Try it on your corner, and we'll meet in the center.
[ brb this is river making a mental note to go bother steve about this someday as she picks up the yellow spade. there's a sort of floatiness about her behavior, as there always tends to be - she observes the spade closely ( she likes the color; it reminds her of sunshine and kaylee ), even testing the weight of it before gripping the handle and finally going to her side of the garden box.
she watches wanda work for a moment after that, tracking the movement of her hands so that she can start mimicking them with her own. the soil is cool, damp, and full of critters, and something seems to soften in river. ]
Feels like real dirt but it can only grow fake vegetables. It's a paradox within a paradox - it's paradoxical.
[ the horizon doesn't make logical sense; it doesn't really have to. river thought it sounded like fun when she couldn't reach it, but ever since they woke up from the dream... she lifts an earthworm with one careful finger, watching the way it squirms aimlessly after being removed from its natural environment with an almost detached expression. ]
You're supposed to accept that Abraxas is real, that the Horizon both is and isn't, and magic makes it all possible. But a lifetime can be a lie and you won't be hungry when you wake up, anyway.
[ if she sounds a little somber, it's because she's been struggling with this for a while. how can they claim that anything is truly "real?" istredd said they simply must to continue living, but it's not exactly a satisfactory conclusion. ]
( wanda agrees, and has found that one of the better ways to work with the whimsical way that river tends to interact with the world, and voice her perception of it, is to work with it. soon enough, as is the case now, river ends up explaining herself anyway when allowed the room to do so.
the worm struggles between her fingers. wanda looks up at that, raising her hand, palm up, and waiting for the girl to deposit it there.
there seems to be something more, under the surface, bothering her, and the words she speaks are but a surface-level scope of what she is thinking. wanda knows as much. carefully, she sets the earthworm back down on the soil.
wanda returns to turning pockets of the earth over. )
Would you like it better if this was a dream of yours—all this?
[ she easily complies and carefully places the worm in wanda's hand, watching as she returns it to the imaginary soil that is bursting with life. just like before, a few seconds pass before she returns to working her side of the garden bed, head lowered when she shakes an emphatic no to wanda's question. ]
Her head is full of monsters.
[ dreams were made to hurt, used to twist her mind and control her. the last thing she would ever want is for the world around them to be one of her dreams.
then again...
river pauses abruptly as a thought comes to her, a realization brought on by the wording of wanda's question. not one of her dreams, but a dream of her own. she cocks her head, brows furrowed as she thinks. ]
But... after we woke up, when everything was boiling over, I did something. A new... power, or spell, or...
[ whatever they want to call it. it feels like a trace of serenity's magic and river doesn't know what to make of that, so she looks somewhere between confused and sheepish when she finally lifts her gaze back to wanda. ]
I can make dreams. Not sure if it's better, or good. It should be impossible.
[ magic doesn't exist like this in her universe. all of this challenges her fundamental understanding of reality, something that was already in tatters before she arrived. she's still trying to make sense of it all. ]
wanda hears her own words in river, when she started to become more familiar with her powers as that of a witch's own. the look river sports, between confused and sheepish, speaks of how ultimately new this is to her, and how she isn't entirely sure what at all to make of it.
whether it is good, or bad, or something in between...
wanda raises her hands, dirty with soil, and grabs at river's own. a smile on her features, she thinks of a time when she learned a new song on the piano without making any mistakes, how proud her mother was. she thinks of the swell of pride she felt when she could control her powers enough at first, how excited her brother was for them. she thinks of her beautiful boys, of tommy and billy, when they came into their powers within the hex, during halloween; how her love for them just felt like it would spill over.
it brings tears to her eyes, but not enough for them to spill over the brim. river is but a fledgling little witch, finding her way, amidst the magic of this world. if wanda could be as selfish as to want to call her as one of her own.
her hands squeeze river's own tightly. )
It should be, but it isn't. You are learning magic, and you can create so much with it. ( her voice is a little quieter as she adds, throat a little tight— ) Don't be scared of it.
Let me help you control it.
( people have sought her out in the past before so that she can be a mentor to them. wanda is always unwilling, uncertain of her own abilities. right now, she offers it, so easily—easier than ever before.
to be an anchor for river, when she herself had hoped someone would teach her. agatha's intervention had come too late, but maybe wanda won't be so late, now. )
[ when wanda takes her hands, river can't help returning a small smile even before she starts speaking. there was a time she would've shied away from the physical contact, even before the dream reality gave her the ability to go to such extremes as to dissipate her physical form to avoid it. but after centuries spent without even the most casual of touches, she's grown to appreciate it in a new way, accepting the importance of connection to the people around her.
there's a connection here. river can't read wanda's mind, even outside the blissful silence of the horizon, but she doesn't need to to feel the emotion in her eyes and the squeeze of her hands. she understands.
in her 'verse, something river increasingly struggles to think of as 'home,' no one has a gorram clue what to do with her. they don't understand her powers and they fear the threat she poses, so unlike the people here in abraxas that get it and want to help her. really help her, not the way the academy claimed to 'help' her reach her full potential so they could use her like a toy soldier.
it's a connection she aches for so desperately and it does make her cry, although she smiles and holds fast to wanda's hands. ]
I would like that, very much.
[ because she is afraid, of her own powers and these new ones that come to her unbidden. studying beneath istredd and yennefer has changed her life for the better and she would eagerly soak up anything she might learn from wanda too. ]
Istredd and Yennefer have been teaching me, to try to understand the chaos and learn to control it. But I... I don't want to get lost. I don't want to be her.
[ she's still stuck on the dream and her fear of becoming the mad maiden one day. ]
no subject
( she pauses, watching as river brings over all the packets of seeds. )
He always replicates a hot dog cart. I like visiting for that.
( what wanda understands is that river's world is significantly removed from the timeline of earth that wanda comes from. for new york to be rubble and noxious gas? it feels strange to imagine, despite everything.
wanda helps by grabbing at a couple of the packets, to lessen river's load. )
Really? Sticking fingers in the dirt is the best part. ( she starts guiding the way towards the empty garden bed ) Do you know how to do it? You can pick which seeds you want to plant.
no subject
I haven't met him. Is it "the best hot dog in New York City?"
[ she's pretty sure they used to say things like that on old-world television. it's been 500 years and they're in an entirely new solar system; this is all virtually ancient history. river sets her smorgasbord of seeds on the ground near the garden bed so she can study her options. ]
I understand on theoretical level, but I'd like to hear you explain it. The pages of a book can't teach you as much as you can learn by listening to the trees.
[ vague nonsense, maybe, but she'd rather learn by sticking her fingers in the dirt, as it were. she finally selects a packet of seeds and shoots wanda an earnest smile. ]
no subject
( wanda hears it in river's tone, the out-of-tune voiceover, 'the best hot dog in new york city', and imagines the obnoxious font over the image, grainy in every sense of the word. )
It is pretty great.
( stepping closer to river's dashboard of options, crouching down to be at level to see what the options all are. she raises her hand to take the packet of seeds (tomatoes) and shakes it to hear the seeds rolling over themselves. )
We're going to have to turn the soil over. We'll use spades.
( which are, magically, stuck on the earth where they will 'stick their fingers in'. one has a red handle, which wanda takes, and the other one has a yellow handle; river reminds her of the color yellow.
wanda starts at a corner, pushing the spade in and digging out the dirt to turn it over. it's moist and damper underneath, small rocks and leftover roots from a 'previous' batch found amidst it, as well as some wiggling worms. )
Just like this. Try it on your corner, and we'll meet in the center.
no subject
she watches wanda work for a moment after that, tracking the movement of her hands so that she can start mimicking them with her own. the soil is cool, damp, and full of critters, and something seems to soften in river. ]
Feels like real dirt but it can only grow fake vegetables. It's a paradox within a paradox - it's paradoxical.
[ the horizon doesn't make logical sense; it doesn't really have to. river thought it sounded like fun when she couldn't reach it, but ever since they woke up from the dream... she lifts an earthworm with one careful finger, watching the way it squirms aimlessly after being removed from its natural environment with an almost detached expression. ]
You're supposed to accept that Abraxas is real, that the Horizon both is and isn't, and magic makes it all possible. But a lifetime can be a lie and you won't be hungry when you wake up, anyway.
[ if she sounds a little somber, it's because she's been struggling with this for a while. how can they claim that anything is truly "real?" istredd said they simply must to continue living, but it's not exactly a satisfactory conclusion. ]
ALSDKJF the steve thread :')
( wanda agrees, and has found that one of the better ways to work with the whimsical way that river tends to interact with the world, and voice her perception of it, is to work with it. soon enough, as is the case now, river ends up explaining herself anyway when allowed the room to do so.
the worm struggles between her fingers. wanda looks up at that, raising her hand, palm up, and waiting for the girl to deposit it there.
there seems to be something more, under the surface, bothering her, and the words she speaks are but a surface-level scope of what she is thinking. wanda knows as much. carefully, she sets the earthworm back down on the soil.
wanda returns to turning pockets of the earth over. )
Would you like it better if this was a dream of yours—all this?
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Her head is full of monsters.
[ dreams were made to hurt, used to twist her mind and control her. the last thing she would ever want is for the world around them to be one of her dreams.
then again...
river pauses abruptly as a thought comes to her, a realization brought on by the wording of wanda's question. not one of her dreams, but a dream of her own. she cocks her head, brows furrowed as she thinks. ]
But... after we woke up, when everything was boiling over, I did something. A new... power, or spell, or...
[ whatever they want to call it. it feels like a trace of serenity's magic and river doesn't know what to make of that, so she looks somewhere between confused and sheepish when she finally lifts her gaze back to wanda. ]
I can make dreams. Not sure if it's better, or good. It should be impossible.
[ magic doesn't exist like this in her universe. all of this challenges her fundamental understanding of reality, something that was already in tatters before she arrived. she's still trying to make sense of it all. ]
no subject
wanda hears her own words in river, when she started to become more familiar with her powers as that of a witch's own. the look river sports, between confused and sheepish, speaks of how ultimately new this is to her, and how she isn't entirely sure what at all to make of it.
whether it is good, or bad, or something in between...
wanda raises her hands, dirty with soil, and grabs at river's own. a smile on her features, she thinks of a time when she learned a new song on the piano without making any mistakes, how proud her mother was. she thinks of the swell of pride she felt when she could control her powers enough at first, how excited her brother was for them. she thinks of her beautiful boys, of tommy and billy, when they came into their powers within the hex, during halloween; how her love for them just felt like it would spill over.
it brings tears to her eyes, but not enough for them to spill over the brim. river is but a fledgling little witch, finding her way, amidst the magic of this world. if wanda could be as selfish as to want to call her as one of her own.
her hands squeeze river's own tightly. )
It should be, but it isn't. You are learning magic, and you can create so much with it. ( her voice is a little quieter as she adds, throat a little tight— ) Don't be scared of it.
Let me help you control it.
( people have sought her out in the past before so that she can be a mentor to them. wanda is always unwilling, uncertain of her own abilities. right now, she offers it, so easily—easier than ever before.
to be an anchor for river, when she herself had hoped someone would teach her. agatha's intervention had come too late, but maybe wanda won't be so late, now. )
no subject
there's a connection here. river can't read wanda's mind, even outside the blissful silence of the horizon, but she doesn't need to to feel the emotion in her eyes and the squeeze of her hands. she understands.
in her 'verse, something river increasingly struggles to think of as 'home,' no one has a gorram clue what to do with her. they don't understand her powers and they fear the threat she poses, so unlike the people here in abraxas that get it and want to help her. really help her, not the way the academy claimed to 'help' her reach her full potential so they could use her like a toy soldier.
it's a connection she aches for so desperately and it does make her cry, although she smiles and holds fast to wanda's hands. ]
I would like that, very much.
[ because she is afraid, of her own powers and these new ones that come to her unbidden. studying beneath istredd and yennefer has changed her life for the better and she would eagerly soak up anything she might learn from wanda too. ]
Istredd and Yennefer have been teaching me, to try to understand the chaos and learn to control it. But I... I don't want to get lost. I don't want to be her.
[ she's still stuck on the dream and her fear of becoming the mad maiden one day. ]