In a city of this stature, that speaks more to a failure of taking care of people than it does to the cleverness of the birds. If that is the case here, I have not yet observed it.
[Which is a roundabout way of saying he agrees.]
The society verges on post-scarcity, except for this "Manna" they seem eager for us to produce. Even then, it is a resource we also seem to be dependent on for our continued survival.
[Osiris tilts his head inquisitively, increasing his own birdlike appearance.]
What manner of place do you come from? Your accent isn't quite Russian or Greek.
[Wanda glances down at the ruby embedded in the back of her right hand.]
At least we know one of the things [yeah sure that works as a technical term] keeping us alive also powers these. We know that there is a price.
[Meanwhile Wanda is still not entirely certain that her powers aren't killing her - sure, it's been two years and she's still alive and seemingly healthy, but a decade from now? Two decades? She cannot say there is no bill to come due eventually.]
Sokovia.
[She is doling out the birdseed carefully, dividing her attention between Osiris and trying to make sure that all of the pigeons who have gathered at their feet get a chance to be fed. But she doesn't look at him when she mentions her home.]
You are from Earth? [She doesn't know anyone else who dresses like that, but how else would he know of Greece and Russia?]
There is always a price for power. It is dangerous to assume that price is solely what they have told us up front.
[He has no doubt it will do more to them than simply grant them elemental abilities, but for all that the GemSci researchers up on the mobile station had been accommodating, there are too many blank spots and places they'd shied away from for Osiris's tastes.
But he hums in acquiescence at her naming her origin.]
I am, though I cannot say I am familiar with Sokovia. Much of our history has been lost to time and war, and we have spent so much trying to ensure Humanity has a future that knowing our own past has often been a victim of limited resources.
[Especially if that past was before the Golden Age, as he suspects it might have been. Of the others from Earth he's spoken with so far, none of them had an experience with the Traveler yet.]
We have something they need us to use, [she says quietly. This is a consideration she is used to making; how compliant she must appear in order to prevent Strucker from resorting to more...invasive methods of control.
She's sure she doesn't need to fully complete that thought for him to understand what she's getting at. She doesn't sense any active desire to harm them but she's also not sure how deep she can get into a gem's mind without them noticing and trying to find out in an enclosed space didn't seem smart. She would rather them not know the extent of her powers just yet, thanks.
But Osiris mentioning where he's from gets a real, unfiltered reaction of shock.]
Mercury? The planet?
[...GemSci said something about different worlds and different times but that's physically impossible, right? You'd be burned to a crisp that close to the Sun.
She should introduce herself too, but she's gonna need a minute. How? He's not Asgardian: he speaks as if Earth is home but--]
How convenient for them that what is necessary to our own survival is also essential to their society.
[He says it drily; he knows there must be more to it, but as of yet his efforts to determine what have yielded little in the way of useful results.
He sounds genuinely amused at her surprise, though he doesn't laugh.]
Late in the City Age, which would mean nothing to you if other planets are not habitable in your time. A paracausal entity - what someone from a place like this would call a god - came to Earth and helped us terraform planets and moons throughout the system. It was well over a thousand years ago, from my place in our timeline.
[Wanda gapes at him like he's suddenly grown another head. She understands the words themselves but it's impossible to comprehend the scale of it. Mercury is still Mercury. How could anyone ever live there? His clothing doesn't look like it's from around here but it also hardly seems protective enough for that kind of hostile environment.
...then again, something like the Infinity Stones could probably do something like that. But who would--?
She sprinkles a little more seed for the birds to cover trying to parse all of that. 'Impossible' really ought to be more relative to someone like her.]
No. We are still trying to protect ourselves. But the Asgardians are mostly all right... [Drily:] I guess everyone can't be trying to kill us.
[Of course, there's nothing like half-understood phrases to pique Osiris's curiosity.]
With the exception of the Traveler, everything we've encountered from outside our system has been trying to kill us - at least in the beginning. You could say this planet is a pleasant change in comparison.
[You could also say that, compared to the others they've encountered, the gems and their world are almost certainly descended from Humans that have undergone a transformation not dissimilar to the Awoken. No surprise, if forces can bring in people from other timelines.]
Wanda. I hope this will be something of a respite for you, if you are accustomed to protecting your people as I am.
[There's no flicker of recognition in Wanda's expression - clearly "the Traveler" isn't an entity she recognizes. She's not sure if she should or not and honestly, this entire situation is so disorienting that a certain amount of just going with it is necessary to maintain sanity.
She shrugs.]
As long as they don't put us back in that crater. [A half-answer, because it's complicated and the short time between her arrival and now has not made it any easier or hurt any less. Especially not when the only conclusion she's come to is that it's better for everyone this way.] There are always people who need help.
[Although this is...not the usual way she'd go about that. And not that the kind of turmoil this world has experienced is the kind of thing she can wiggle her fingers at and make go away either.]
[Osiris makes a huffing noise at the mention of a possible return to the crater. He's been in worse situations, but they were ones he could revive from. This had been singularly unpleasant.]
It is unlikely they would return us to such a place, after having taken the pains to rescue us and expend the resources as they have to ensure our survival.
[Reassuring? Maybe, maybe not. He can be a pessimist at times.
His voice softens when she mentions helping people, though. That's a noble goal.]
You aren't wrong. There may be some who feel content to go about their normal lives as best they can in such a strange situation, and yet I doubt I will be among them. I will take time to feel the pigeons and argue over tea when I can, but that will surely not be the primary activity of my stay here.
[She doesn't really believe that they will - unless that is something done to people who don't "behave" - but she really doesn't want to talk about home in specifics right now. It's too painful.]
We do what we know. It is not easy to start over.
[She'd certainly never fault someone for just surviving...and Wanda herself doesn't really know what a "normal" life would look like.]
And what do they do a thousand years in the future?
Where do you think I learned to feed the pigeons and argue over tea?
[He actually does sound amused, though.]
In between long bouts of fighting relentlessly against the Darkness which threatens to consume of, that is. Saint-14 insists rest is as essential as work, but it is difficult to convince me of that.
[There are a lot of strange things in the future. Odd names, for one. And pigeons on Mercury??? She can't even picture it.]
Your friend is right. You aren't any good to anyone if you are falling asleep on your feet.
[She tries very hard not to think about the others now that she's not going to be there to help anymore...or that Vision isn't here to help her. But it isn't like she doesn't try to sleep, at least. It's just not her friend.]
And yet every moment asleep is a moment I could be solving problems. [He sounds wry; even with his Light he had needed to sleep more than he would have liked, but on the other hand....] A well-rested mind is more flexible, however, and dreams have been known to have a kernel of truth in them. The mind performs interesting gymnastics when unbound from conscious thought.
[Osiris closes his eyes for a moment, expression hidden by his scarf.]
I had often complained about not having a choice about the battles we fought. Though the choice has been taken away in the other direction here, as of yet, it is possible we will indeed have that chance to rest here.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[Which is a roundabout way of saying he agrees.]
The society verges on post-scarcity, except for this "Manna" they seem eager for us to produce. Even then, it is a resource we also seem to be dependent on for our continued survival.
[Osiris tilts his head inquisitively, increasing his own birdlike appearance.]
What manner of place do you come from? Your accent isn't quite Russian or Greek.
no subject
At least we know one of the things [yeah sure that works as a technical term] keeping us alive also powers these. We know that there is a price.
[Meanwhile Wanda is still not entirely certain that her powers aren't killing her - sure, it's been two years and she's still alive and seemingly healthy, but a decade from now? Two decades? She cannot say there is no bill to come due eventually.]
Sokovia.
[She is doling out the birdseed carefully, dividing her attention between Osiris and trying to make sure that all of the pigeons who have gathered at their feet get a chance to be fed. But she doesn't look at him when she mentions her home.]
You are from Earth? [She doesn't know anyone else who dresses like that, but how else would he know of Greece and Russia?]
no subject
There is always a price for power. It is dangerous to assume that price is solely what they have told us up front.
[He has no doubt it will do more to them than simply grant them elemental abilities, but for all that the GemSci researchers up on the mobile station had been accommodating, there are too many blank spots and places they'd shied away from for Osiris's tastes.
But he hums in acquiescence at her naming her origin.]
I am, though I cannot say I am familiar with Sokovia. Much of our history has been lost to time and war, and we have spent so much trying to ensure Humanity has a future that knowing our own past has often been a victim of limited resources.
[Especially if that past was before the Golden Age, as he suspects it might have been. Of the others from Earth he's spoken with so far, none of them had an experience with the Traveler yet.]
I am Osiris, lately of Mercury.
no subject
She's sure she doesn't need to fully complete that thought for him to understand what she's getting at. She doesn't sense any active desire to harm them but she's also not sure how deep she can get into a gem's mind without them noticing and trying to find out in an enclosed space didn't seem smart. She would rather them not know the extent of her powers just yet, thanks.
But Osiris mentioning where he's from gets a real, unfiltered reaction of shock.]
Mercury? The planet?
[...GemSci said something about different worlds and different times but that's physically impossible, right? You'd be burned to a crisp that close to the Sun.
She should introduce herself too, but she's gonna need a minute. How? He's not Asgardian: he speaks as if Earth is home but--]
When are you from?
no subject
[He says it drily; he knows there must be more to it, but as of yet his efforts to determine what have yielded little in the way of useful results.
He sounds genuinely amused at her surprise, though he doesn't laugh.]
Late in the City Age, which would mean nothing to you if other planets are not habitable in your time. A paracausal entity - what someone from a place like this would call a god - came to Earth and helped us terraform planets and moons throughout the system. It was well over a thousand years ago, from my place in our timeline.
no subject
...then again, something like the Infinity Stones could probably do something like that. But who would--?
She sprinkles a little more seed for the birds to cover trying to parse all of that. 'Impossible' really ought to be more relative to someone like her.]
No. We are still trying to protect ourselves. But the Asgardians are mostly all right... [Drily:] I guess everyone can't be trying to kill us.
[Right. Manners.] I'm Wanda.
no subject
With the exception of the Traveler, everything we've encountered from outside our system has been trying to kill us - at least in the beginning. You could say this planet is a pleasant change in comparison.
[You could also say that, compared to the others they've encountered, the gems and their world are almost certainly descended from Humans that have undergone a transformation not dissimilar to the Awoken. No surprise, if forces can bring in people from other timelines.]
Wanda. I hope this will be something of a respite for you, if you are accustomed to protecting your people as I am.
no subject
She shrugs.]
As long as they don't put us back in that crater. [A half-answer, because it's complicated and the short time between her arrival and now has not made it any easier or hurt any less. Especially not when the only conclusion she's come to is that it's better for everyone this way.] There are always people who need help.
[Although this is...not the usual way she'd go about that. And not that the kind of turmoil this world has experienced is the kind of thing she can wiggle her fingers at and make go away either.]
no subject
It is unlikely they would return us to such a place, after having taken the pains to rescue us and expend the resources as they have to ensure our survival.
[Reassuring? Maybe, maybe not. He can be a pessimist at times.
His voice softens when she mentions helping people, though. That's a noble goal.]
You aren't wrong. There may be some who feel content to go about their normal lives as best they can in such a strange situation, and yet I doubt I will be among them. I will take time to feel the pigeons and argue over tea when I can, but that will surely not be the primary activity of my stay here.
no subject
We do what we know. It is not easy to start over.
[She'd certainly never fault someone for just surviving...and Wanda herself doesn't really know what a "normal" life would look like.]
And what do they do a thousand years in the future?
no subject
[He actually does sound amused, though.]
In between long bouts of fighting relentlessly against the Darkness which threatens to consume of, that is. Saint-14 insists rest is as essential as work, but it is difficult to convince me of that.
no subject
Your friend is right. You aren't any good to anyone if you are falling asleep on your feet.
[She tries very hard not to think about the others now that she's not going to be there to help anymore...or that Vision isn't here to help her. But it isn't like she doesn't try to sleep, at least. It's just not her friend.]
And constant fighting is not good for anyone.
no subject
[Osiris closes his eyes for a moment, expression hidden by his scarf.]
I had often complained about not having a choice about the battles we fought. Though the choice has been taken away in the other direction here, as of yet, it is possible we will indeed have that chance to rest here.