ofthesword | ABRAXAS

[wanda forces herself out of the horizon without giving any thought as to the where or how. it's probably why she lands in an explosion of red inside nero's loft—close enough to her actual target: somewhere outside in the farm's fields—and drags along with her magic the mattress and wooden beams that hold it up. it's a mess in here, the racket likely to startle the animals in the barn, but there is also the pained yelling of one wanda maximoff in the mix.

something happened there in the horizon, with goro. clearly she's fine, her physical body uninjured, but the chaos magic inside her is, well, in chaos. it pulses out of her into her skin, escapes her and touches her surroundings, warping them into something otherworldly, destroying them once it pulls back and away.

a red crown is etched from this energy onto her head. she's holding onto her middle, lying amidst the rubble, squirming. the world around her feels like a kaleidoscope of colors and mirrors, of a prophecy forged with ash and smoke into the bindings of the darkhold. she sees images of her sons when she opens her eyes, of vision's lifeless body with a hole in his head, of pietro's vacant eyes and blood seeping out of bullet holes in his chest—]

No!

[—she closes them quickly, trying to remove the hallucinations her magic is conjuring, trying to put down the pain and the grief. she doesn't need another westview situation to take place.

she doesn't want power. she just wants— just—

a vision in gold, of a woman descending from its core. on her head a crown, the scarlet witch, your fate, agatha's words sound as loud as if she were here, is to destroy the world.

another pulse of magic, the beams of the barn's walls, now, dragging a little as their foundation breaks.]

Stop it!

Edited 2022-05-26 14:13 (UTC)

[after taking stock of her inventory—what she has and hasn't sent, or hasn't otherwise given away to family in solvunn—she is left with a fair amount of items that she could very well... give away. she has no desire to keep them anywhere, nor to have a stock of them.

not when magic comes so easily to her.

and so, nero will find in his loft a couple of things. the first are candles, then soaps, and several bottles with scents and lotions and shampoo for the guy. one may even smell faintly of axe body spray. hey, he acts like a jock.

there is no sender nor letter to explain the package, but it's probably not necessary. if nero had been paying attention the past few weeks, he would have known that wanda had been working on this little side project on her own anyway.]

Nero. Do you know anything about Solvunn sending a caravan of supplies to meet the Free Cities' envoy at the border?

There's a boy on your side of the continent.
Steve.
He's training under me, but the Horizon offers only so much.

Interested in a sparring partner?

Edited 2022-11-15 18:59 (UTC)

[ Absolutely not a present—he would never give Nero such sentimental considerations—but around late December, Nero will step into the Horizon to find a raptor-like feathered reptile waiting politely for him in front of the monster-fighting arena Nero built.

In its claws is a small hourglass that measures precisely thirty seconds. No note accompanies this delivery, but the challenge is clear. ]

[it's not that they had forgotten: there was just so much going on, and nero had been back to his usual shenanigans in no time. wanda lets himeka do the honors of carrying the card early one morning, before the three of them head off into their farm chores for the day.

as for wanda, she knocks on the barn's door that leads into nero's little room.]

Nero. We have something important to tell you.

hey Nero

buddy

are you getting this?

Nero?
We used one of your socks.

[ With how much shit's happened, Geralt hadn't the time to contact those left behind. Hadn't let himself think about it. He'd spent the first day to sunset finding shelter, building a fire. Spent the next locating the ones lost on the other side, hunting down some rabbits so no one starves in the snow, cleaning his wounds in the icy waters before rebinding them.

It's another day before he finally has a moment to consider what lies beyond the next hour. He shouldn't be worried about Nero. It is rare that he is. Like him, Nero is hard to kill.

But he knows death is not all that can fuck with you. ]

Still in one piece?

Edited 2023-03-21 23:20 (UTC)

[ steve isn't....great at whatever this is. these mental messages. it feels both way too easy and also way too difficult to keep up with. but at the same time, steve can't really just pop over to where nero and wanda live anymore, not with how it takes over a day to get to it. so, instead, this is his option.

and the thing is, he's had this on his mind for a couple of days now - whether to ask, whether it's weird, what he's even worried about. it's been eating away at him for long enough that he's finally accepted he just needs to ask someone for help, anyone, and nero happens to be one of the first people that comes to mind. ]

hey
kinda uh- weird question
now a good time?

Haven't set yourself on fire again, have you?

Have you made physical contact
with one of the rifts?

[ Whether he sees the woven baskets himself or Wanda shows him, there is one left for him at the treehouse with the name NEERO written in familiar, crude handwriting.

Inside are various little animal bones, shells, rocks and a very poorly made clay sculpture that perhaps Nero can assume is meant to be him - in one of its little arms is a long stick like a sword. ]

[the package is placed in nero's room, one morning, when he's already left the treehouse. there's no need to make this a secret, but wanda thinks it's more exciting if it's unexpected. hopefully he'll come around soon to see it. it's definitely big enough to pique the curiosity of the recipient as to open it as soon as possible, in any case. inside, an amount of homemade goods have been stacked atop each other: candles, soaps, and moisturizing lotions. these should be very familiar, as they are often seen around the treehouse.

something else lies wrapped, though, and once opened, it'll reveal itself to be a trenchcoat, like the one cool guys wear. it'll be useful for nero in whatever weather, rain or wind or sun or snow. hopefully he'll think it's cool enough for him.

a small note sits under the box.]

Happy Winter Solstice.
𝓦anda 𝓜aximoff

Edited (WHEN U EDIT BY ACCIDENT) 2023-12-29 20:17 (UTC)

[ Geralt still has the claw and flower from the previous winter. There is no shortage of monsters to select from, but one that poses an actual challenge for Nero is a different question.

The beast that eventually shows up at Nero's palace is a manticore. The tip of its tail swells with a deadly venom. Another hourglass accompanies it. ]

post-goro fight

parcel, early june

end of sept.

pre-oct event.

yule-ish.

many weeks too late after the ship

event: invocation; mid-week 1

towards the end of week 2

early week 3.

gestures vaguely beginning of august.

some nebulous time after the masquerade.