there's nothing here to run from...

[seeingscarlet]

Bones sinking like stones
All that we've fought for
Homes, places we've grown
All of us are done for
We live in a beautiful world...

Clairity – Don't Panic 

For the first time in a while, Wanda can breathe. Not because everything's all right, or because she's finally safe, but out of resignation. What more can she possibly do? The former Avengers had set up a safe house in London, and on her way there she'd felt something strange coming from the building with the intricate window, something very much like her own power but not. It was foolishness, perhaps, to hope that some similarity between them might outweigh the handsome reward for her capture, but...Wanda had to try. What if she wasn't the only one in the world with strange powers? She's desperate for some kind of kinship now, some kind of help. Clearly teaching herself hasn't been good enough, and she misses the days when she and Pietro could at least bounce ideas off each other.

In theory, all she has to do is knock on a door.

It had probably helped her case that it had been raining, and her time in the Raft had taken an obvious toll on her physically. What were the sorcerers to do, turn her away when she was soaked to the bone and clearly not well? They recognized her - how could they not - and Wanda had caught some snippets of conversation that more than one of the adepts had thought they should have been prepared for her to find them one day.

They've left her in some sort of sitting room while they go to fetch a 'Master Strange' (really? is that seriously his name?) and Wanda's finally removed her soaked hat and scarf, curling into herself while she waits. She only bothers with the latter to hide the burns on her neck; if she went outside with those exposed she'd be caught in seconds.

Either Master Strange will take pity on her and she'll finally be able to get some help, or he won't and she'll slink back to the safe house and follow through with the rest of Nat's plan to create her cover. It can't possibly be worse. But still, she can't help but almost jump out of her skin when the door finally opens.

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[nomadeupname]

The look of wonder on her face is one Stephen knows, not only because he wore it himself when he first started to train with the Ancient One, but because it's something he often still sees on the faces of the students, new and old, when they watch him train with Wong or Hamir. It brings a small smile of his lips as he watches Wanda reach for one of the golden flecks before it disappears. The mandala is made of pure multiverse energy, but not design to hurt.

"Nothing is certain, but there's no harm in trying to understand your powers and focus them in a manner that makes you more confident to use them, Wanda."

He can't promise that this is the solution to all of her problem, but Stephen believes that more discipline and more guidance isn't going to hurt, for sure. He's willing to try and help her if she's willing to work at it, that's certain.

Strange watches, intrigued and interested, as Wanda uses her powers to levitate the tea cup in her hand. It's a nice trick, something simple compared to what he's heard she can do, but it's a start. He reaches to take the cup away from the wisps of red energy with one hand, the other reaching for the wisps, watching intently as the scarlet curls around his trembling fingers. There's no trace of fear in his eyes, only wonder: the energy does feel like a living thing, warm too, as if an extension of herself. Enough that he can sense through the energy her fears and doubts, her deeply rooted need to find someone that she can finally trust after being betrayed so many times in her life. For a moment, Stephen wonders of her abilities extend to a psychic level, which would be something completely new for him to work with.

He closes his hand around the scarlet energy and watches it dissipates into thin air:

"That's a neat trick," he says with a bit of mirth, though he's clearly impressed. Channeling such a powerful energy into something as delicate as lifting a cup of tea without crushing it is a feat in his opinion. It shows that she has some control over it, which is all he needs to know in order to help her out.

"There is only one thing I ask of you, if you truly want to do this. I expect you to be honest with me when it comes to your powers. I can not help you if I work with something I barely knows of, or if you withhold information on how we train affects you. Do you understand?"

He doesn't aim at knowing everything about her life and Stephen will certainly respect any boundaries Wanda has, but he can't take that same chance when it comes to her power.

[seeingscarlet]

Wanda watches him intently, unconsciously forgetting to breathe when Stephen actually reaches out and touches a wisp of her power. His hands are shaking, but not from fear. She doesn't need to be a psychic to see the wonder and gentle curiosity in his eyes.

Finally, finally, something in her calms in the face of Stephen's acceptance. Wanda lets out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding, settling back into the couch in a more relaxed position. 'A neat trick.' That's a new one, and Wanda manages a real, warm smile.

Maybe this really wasn't such a terrible mistake after all. It's not so hard to meet his gaze anymore.

"No...I understand." It makes sense - how else could he help her? And it's easier to talk about it with someone else with powers, the same way it had always been easier to open up to Vision. Still, there's one final aspect of Wanda's powers that she couldn't blame him for shying away from. Most people do.

"Most of what you've heard is probably true. Nothing is going to explode if I sneeze, but..." She hesitates again, but is spurred on by the memory of how he'd looked at the hex energy earlier. She might make the Adepts nervous, but Stephen's made it clear he's not afraid of her. "I can read minds, if I want to."

[nomadeupname]

He almost smiles the moment he feels Wanda relax in her seat. He doesn't need any kind of psychic powers to sense the change in her and to know he's at the root of it. But there's a wonder of how else she expected him to react to her powers, though it's telling of how people usually reacts to her. A shame, no doubt, for the smile on her face truly warms up her demeanor.

Her admission of her reading minds capacities only manages to raise an eyebrow from Stephen:

"Well, I guess that bars you forever from our weekly Tuesday night poker game," he jokes as he leans back in his own chair. Still, his gaze turns a touch serious for a moment:

"I will admit that this is not something I have encountered before, but it will be good training for the both of us. And I think it goes without saying that my thoughts are to stay my own, unless we train that aspect of your powers. I will do my best to answer any questions you might have, but there will be things concerning our dealings as masters of the mystic arts that I will not share with you, not until I decide you are ready to receive them. I ask that you respect that boundary, for your own safety."

Stephen has to admit to himself that having to train a psychic might be more than what he can bargain for, but turning her around because she can read minds is not a viable option in his mind. Not when Wanda clearly needs the help, and the support. He'll have to trust her first, something he doesn't do often, although there's something about her that makes him feel like he can do so.

"One last thing: your...friends, where we are going, they can't come. Not for the moment. Taking one Avenger in isn't a problem, but we can't become a safe house for the rest of them. We can't afford the attention, I'm sorry to say."

He stands, letting the Cloak clip itself on his shoulders before continuing on: "Before you feel like you're entering a cult or something, you're more than welcome to keep in touch with them if you want, I'm not cutting you off from the world. But training requires focus and dedication at the same time."

Stephen moves to politely offering his hand to help Wanda up from her seat: "London is not where we'll be staying, I'm assigned to watch over the New York Sanctum. If the terms I offer you are within your capacity, then we can leave in two hours."

That's enough time for her to say goodbye and pack up what she might want to take with her, right?

[seeingscarlet]

He jokes about it now, but he might as well have been talking to Wong for how little Wanda reacts. Normally she's much more receptive to humor, but she's so consumed by her anxieties over what might very well be the last straw that it's completely lost on her. "You thoughts, yes." If she's asking him to trust her, she'll have to try to trust him in return. That's only fair. "But your emotions...I can't help that."

And maybe that will be the nail in the coffin...or the boundaries Wanda has to set for herself. Maybe Stephen would expect her to be overjoyed, but instead she just looks terribly conflicted. She hadn't expected him to offer to take her in, especially not in a place she could never set foot outside for fear of being recognized. Slipping away for lessons is one thing, but completely abandoning her responsibilities to the rest of the former Avengers is quite another.

Wanda bites her lip and looks away. "I...I can't stay. They still need me." A beat. "And I am not sure you would be safe."

She's also not entirely sure they'll work well together, or that he can help her at all, and experience has taught her how foolish it is to put all her trust in one person. If even Vision could-- no, no, she has to stop thinking like that. This isn't the same thing at all. But it's still a lot of commitment to ask of either of them right away.