open + overflow post

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OPEN POST

AZIRAPHALE

BUCK

ERIK

HUA CHENG

STEVE

WANGJI

Comments

[redchaos]

You go first. Tell me something I don't know.

[She's curious as to what he'll pick. And it gives her a moment to decide what to share, too.]

[incogneto]

I had a daughter. She was killed.

[ Heavy way to start. He's taking a sip for that. ]

[redchaos]

[Oh.

Well, that certainly explains a few things. She's suddenly glad she hasn't aggressively tried to push him away, decline his kindness.

Wanda frowns.]

I'm so sorry.

[She knows what it is to lose children.]

Can I ask what happened?

[incogneto]

I did a lot of things in my past I'm not proud of. Got convicted for a murder I didn't commit. All I did was try to stop the humans from hunting people like us down.

I escaped prison, started over, found love. You're a mother? You know what it's like. Everything that's good about this life, it's there in your child.

They came for me, and I tried to go willingly. That's when her powers awoke.

[ And, well, she couldn't control them. Wanda can fill in some blanks. ]

I think it was an accident, when they killed her. But it didn't matter, she was gone.

[redchaos]

[There goes any remaining effort to keep up a careful wall. It's clear on her face that the story breaks her heart--and more so, angers her, thinking of anything happening to Billy or Tommy because of who they are.]

What's her name?

[incogneto]

[ He doesn't know what happened to Billy and Tommy, but given this reaction, he sure as hell hopes they're perfectly fine. As far as he's concerned, Wanda's family. And so are her kids. ]

Anya. She was perfect.

[ He gives himself a moment, and his eyes shine for a second, but he pushes it off. ]

How about yours?

[redchaos]

Anya. [She repeats the name softly. She'll remember it. A sad tale of what could become of any child born with powers.]

Mine... [It's a little complicated, but at the end of the day, they're gone.] I had two boys. Twins. Billy and Tommy. They're beyond my reach, but--loved. I know they're in good hands.

[Her own, somewhere far away, but she can't have them.]

Everyone is where they belong.

[incogneto]

[ That's... a weird thing to say. ]

What do you mean?

[ But he does hang on to the thought of Billy and Tommy. He loves them already, just because they're hers. ]

[redchaos]

I made them with magic. [She hates that she feels the need to expand.] I carried them, gave birth to them, but the spell was flawed. They could only exist within the boundaries of the town we lived in.

[More or less. Wanda looks down at her hands, glad to see her fingertips are no longer stained black.]

I had to end it. But there are other universes where they exist. Born to different versions of me. I thought that I could... get to them, somehow, but it wasn't meant to be.

[She tries for some sort of silver lining.]

The multiverse is vast. My boys are living a thousand happy lives. It means that your Anya is, too.

[Just not with them, in this one.]

[incogneto]

Yeah, well. Good for all the other Erik Lehnsherrs out there, who have a child. I hope they take better care of her than I got the opportunity to.

[ And that's that, but hey, he isn't being influenced by the darkhold, so his reasonable is a lot more... reasonable, at the moment. ]

I'm sorry, about the twins. But you're right. Maybe somewhere out there, your boys are calling their aunt to say hello.

[redchaos]

[It's difficult not to be bitter, but after seeing the terror in Billy and Tommy's faces, she has to give up the ghost. She's quiet for a moment before speaking up again.]

I was a twin, too. I had a brother named Pietro.

[The past tense doesn't bode well, does it?]

He would have loved another sister to terrorize. So, it's another... good thought, I think. Anya looked after by a big brother.

[incogneto]

[ Yes, it seems like Wanda's entire life is as marked by death as his is. That brings a sadness to his heart, because he'd wanted better for her, the same way he'd wanted better for Anya. ]

Somewhere in the multiverse, you said?

[ There's a watery smile here. He hopes she's right, and they're all a happy family somewhere else. Three kids, at least two grandkids. The entire line blessed with twins. ]

[redchaos]

Somewhere in the multiverse.

[It's just unfortunate the universes they belong to aren't as bright.]

Do you dream of her?

[incogneto]

All the time. In my dreams, she's just as she was.

[ He doesn't know this about multiverses, so he'll be happy to find out. ]

[redchaos]

That's your reassurance that in another universe, she's alive and well. Sometimes dreams aren't just dreams.

[They're glimpses through windows.]

[incogneto]

Oh?

How do I know when it's a dream and when it's real?

[redchaos]

I think the more mundane, the more of a chance it's real.

[She had so many dreams of the boys. Baking cookies, playing tag, watching a movie together. Boring, to anyone else. But everything to her.]

[incogneto]

Oh.

[ He smiles into his glass, taking another sip. ]

I hope I get to visit you and the twins in them.

[redchaos]

Just like that, you accept them?

[It's not a complaint. She would have loved for the boys to have a big, happy family. Just like the ones on TV.]

[incogneto]

The dreams? Yes, I believe you.

[redchaos]

The boys. [The tips her head to the side.] ... and me.

[incogneto]

If I choose to believe that other universes exist, then reasonably, there is one where you are my daughter.

And I choose to believe.

[ It's as simple as that. ]

You may not want to accept me as family.

[ You know, considering. But they're in the same boat now, huh? ]

[redchaos]

I had a father.

[And she loved him dearly. Still does.]

... and you had a daughter. As long as we know such things can't be replaced, I'm...

[She frowns, not wanting to offend, but still hesitant all the same.]

I'm not going to push you away.

[incogneto]

[ He nods. ]

What was his name? Your father.

[ He doesn't want to replace him, any more than he wants to pretend that Wanda is Anya all grown-up. But he does want to know about him. ]

[redchaos]

Oleg.

[Time for another dose of depressing. Wanda is sure he's not surprised at this point.]

He and my mother were killed when Pietro and I were young.