agentlelog | 002 A Dream of Spring

They could be trapped in a very unpleasant memory. I have quite a few to pull upon and I think that's why I find the traps easier than the cleansing. I wouldn't want anyone to have to experience my memories for very long.

( The trap she'd just woven had been watching an execution. For Sansa, it's her lord father, but she has no idea what form it might take for the target who unwittingly stepped into it. )

I suppose it's a necessary evil, though. I am glad to see you've healed clean, Wanda. It seems I didn't do a terrible job of it.

I don't want to make it worse. It sounds like everyone has been through so much already.

[Wanda frowns and sets her completed trap web beside Sansa's. Hers is a little different - Wanda has no shortage of nightmares, hers and otherwise, to draw upon, but this web preys upon its victim's worst fear. In practice, it's not terribly different from Wanda being there herself to inflict it upon them.

And she has no idea what it might show...or what might happen afterwards. If they're lucky, it will never be triggered at all, but Wanda would still rather weave cleansing webs. There's little chance of those backfiring and causing more trouble, at least.]

You helped a lot. I was sure it was going to scar.

Scars are nothing to be ashamed of but it would have been a pity if it had. I'm glad it did not. It means I'm getting better at my craft.

( Sansa weaves another web, this one alongside Wanda's. It's another trap, a subsequent one to follow Wanda's, and she doesn't think a person could get through both of them with their sanity intact. )

I hope this catches anyone else who means to bring harm to the city. I don't...sometimes dark deeds must be done for right causes but I don't necessarily like being a weapon to be wielded.

I didn't want to give them that.

[She might be a monster. Wanda's not sure, and she's not sure if it even matters how she sees herself if the rest of the world has made up their minds. But even if she is, she isn't Ross's monster to be kept locked away until he decides he needs her.]

I can make more trap webs if you want to work on cleansing webs. I don't like them as much, but...if we need to make more I don't mind.

[She is good at them, like it or not. And saving Sansa the discomfort of making them would count as a win. Wanda's certainly done worse than this.

(But she does wonder what Steve would think of this. Would he be making that face at her? Would Vision?)]

I need the practice with the cleansing webs so perhaps we can switch off for a while and then switch again. I have...plenty of fodder for the traps, it's not like I'll run out.

( Sansa starts working on weaving a cleansing web. She's gotten better at multitasking while doing these webs and Wanda is someone she likes; she'd like to know her better. )

Are you finding Draega well, then? Is there anything you need?

[This is still a new way of working to her, so while most of the time Wanda's eyes remain their usual green, Sansa might catch them flickering red sometimes. Her traps tend towards the same kinds of deception that her waking nightmares do: something harmless or alluring enough to draw the victim in and then snapping shut upon them once it's too late to easily pull away. Queen Fayura and Lady Abigail are both excellent teachers, but so was Strucker.]

It is...different. I'm not used to being around people like me.

But I can feel that everyone is afraid, maybe more than they want to admit.

I'm not afraid of you. Perhaps I should be - you have great power - but I am not afraid of you. You have a kind manner and you seem to want to help Queen Fayura. Why would I be afraid of anyone who wants that?

( Sansa has faced up against powerful women before and come out alive from it; Wanda seems more inclined to work with her, not against her, and she doesn't know why someone would be afraid of her other than not understanding her. That, in and of itself, causes plenty of war. )

[Wanda stiffens - that's not what she'd meant, but Sansa might as well have read her deeper worries. And the worst part is that she can't in good conscience tell Sansa not to be afraid. Not that Wanda would ever mean to hurt her, of course, but people do tend to get hurt around her, don't they? Clint and Sam and Scott surely wouldn't have found themselves in a place like the Raft if not for her. ~~And Pietro...~~

So she does what she's become very good at over the past few months: duck her head and deflect.]

I think it is more than any one person. [The landens are wary, but they seem wary of anyone with Jewels.] Maybe more than what happened last month. It is...part of them now.

That reminds me of home, in the bad days.

Things have gotten worse since I've been here. Things are more tense between Blood and landen, incidents keep happening. I'm not certain that it isn't outside forces, quite honestly, because it seems like a deeper conspiracy.

( There's things that Sansa cannot put her finger on that make the world seem wrong and she wonders how to correct that, how Strangers are meant to tip that balance. )

Of course, these trap webs probably aren't helping matters. I feel, even though they serve their purpose, that they lower morale.

Maybe that's why they are having us make them. If the Blood made them the landens would be more afraid. But we are neither.

[Maybe that's the point. They can do things on the Queen's behalf that wouldn't be received as well if her court did them.

...and then if something goes wrong, it's not the court's fault.]

I just hope this doesn't catch an innocent person.

I wonder if there's a way for the webs to determine innocence or guilt? I confess, I don't know enough about the art, but I bet a true Black Widow like Lady Abigail might. There has to be a way for innocents not to be caught in these or they wouldn't ask us to make them, would they?

( Sansa is far from naive in politics but she's over her head in Draega. She has only just begun to understand the dynamics of the Blood and landen and in Westeros, it'd taken her whole life to learn how the game was played. Now, she's having to learn very quickly with little information. )

I try to think of the kind of person I would want this to catch. Maybe it is like passing my power through things? But if one of the other Strangers who doesn't know any better looks too closely...I am not sure we can stop it.

[She doesn't like taking that risk. She doesn't like being asked to do this at all, really, but Wanda has no illusions about why she's here. They have different concepts of morality; a talent that people at home find horrifying is just...part of life in Draega. It's weird.

She can't help but wonder what they'd think if it ever got out that she doesn't need a web to do the exact same thing to someone, but Wanda's still resolved to keep that to herself as long as she can. If it isn't any different...well, that's not a path she needs to walk again.]

I wish there was a way to put in some sort of safety, some sort of way to make it tell between good and bad. Then again, sometimes the line between those is so blurred you cannot tell the difference.

( Sansa frowns for a moment, deep in thought. There must be some way to do it. Wanda has said she thinks about the kind of person she wants to trap and Sansa thinks that might be the path to pursue. )

When dealing with people, everything is in shades of grey.

And my 'bad' may not be someone else's.

[Her eyes flicker red again. This web is really starting to take shape, for better or worse.]

Do you think it is worth the risk?

[She can see both arguments, but she's hardly a moral authority in matters like this. Wanda just hopes that her trust isn't misplaced this time.]

I think that sometimes there are casualties in battle. One has to weigh the risk of the greater good over the immediate harm, really, and sometimes those things can be hard to discern. I am no warrior, myself. I have planned for battle but I've never commanded in the field. What is acceptable loss? To a commander, losing four men in a battle might mean a true victory. To the families of those men? The cost was too high.

( Sansa watches as the web takes shape, watches to see how Wanda forms it. She has an inherent grace with it that Sansa hasn't yet mastered. )

We just have to decide if we are the commanders determining acceptable loss or if we're the families mourning what we've lost.

[The one thing Wanda has going for her is that shaping intent into power isn't new to her. This is just manifesting in a different way than she's used to, that's all.]

I have never been able to do that. Steve says that we can't save everyone...but I have to try.

[Wanda doesn't want to become the kind of person who's comfortable making that sort of cold calculation. She owes that to everyone who didn't survive the experiments - she just can't become like Strucker or the people in power who let them down in the first place.]

If our intent shapes it, I hope that will be enough.

I hope so as well. If it comforts you, at all, I try to save everyone as well. I do not think there is a such thing as acceptable loss. All loss is unacceptable.

( Sansa rather likes Wanda, even in the few times she's met her. She's a kind woman and seems to have the desire to help both Draega as well as those from her home. They seem to be of an accord on things that matter and Sansa knows that she needs allies in this place. )

I hope that our desire not to hurt anyone innocent is wrapped into these webs, that they know to leave them alone.

That is...usually how my powers work. I hope that this will listen too.

[Wanda manages a smile, finally seeming a little more at ease. Despite her caution, she really does want to make friends here and Sansa's been nothing but kind to her. It's a start.]

How is your web?

( Sansa pokes at it for a moment, testing the threads, and turns back to give Wanda a bit of a smile when she realizes she's actually gotten good enough at webs that this one doesn't need correction. )

For once, I've done it correctly the first time.

002 A Dream of Spring

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