๐ Iron Star and the Scarlet Witch ๐ฎ
Location: West Coast Avengers Headquarters, California
To say Guin had no idea what to expect from this evening would be an understatement. She didn't have any siblings, so she had no frame of reference for what sort of relationship she was supposed to have with her sister-in-law. Most of the time she had spent with Wanda had been in combat anyways - and usually, it was
against her. Guin was fairly certain that Wanda hated her, or at least strongly disliked her, but she wanted to try and change that. One, it would be nice for Pietro if the two of them could get along and two, Guin figured it would be way too awkward if she couldn't learn to get along with Wanda by the time they were, say, sixty years old.
She had taken a plane out to San Fransisco, where the West Coast Avengers were established. Guin got out of the limo she had taken from the airport and stared a bit at the iron gates, before walking up to them. She pressed the intercom buzzer.
"Uh, Wanda? I'm here." "Hold on a moment," came the response to Guin, and after another minute the gates opened allowing her to enter the area and into the building.
"... So ominous," Guin muttered under her breath, as she walked through the gates. The gardens were rather pretty, although the statues of famous Avengers seemed like a bit munch. Guin much preferred the New York Avengers Mansion upstate to this one. She knocked on the door, feeling a little weird since she knew that her father had been the one to fund this entire place anyways.
"Hello? Wanda?" Wanda opened the door and looked at her,
"Hello Guinevere," she responded to Guin, stepping aside to let her into the building.
"It's Guin, actually - Guinevere's kinda a mouthful. Usually only use it if I have to pretend to be a rich snob, instead of just a rich asshole," she corrected her, walking inside. She put her hands in her pockets and glanced around. The decor wasn't really her style in this place, it felt very much like the 1950's or so, something her grandparents would have enjoyed. The family villa in Switzerland was decorated like this. Her grandmother had been the one to design it and her dad had forbidden anyone changing it.
"If you say so," she said, before walking along after closing the door, before heading towards the living room area, and she went and sat down on a couch, not really sure what to expect herself. She wasn't typically one to do this sort of conversations thing, so Wanda wasn't sure what would be a conversation to have with Guin, guess she was going to find out.
Guin internally screamed slightly. Somehow, this was much, much worse than fighting Wanda. She didn't know if Wanda was being passive aggressive or if she just had the social skills of Pietro's turtle. Add in the fact that her sister-in-law was pregnant and that meant she couldn't even suggest day drinking as a way to break the ice. She followed Wanda into the living room and sat down on an armchair, staring at her.
"So... You're getting big...." "No really?" she responded to her with a bit of an eye roll.
"That sort of thing happens when you are pregnant." Guin was sort of bugging her at this point with her one comment, then again, her brother's wife was supposedly smart, at the moment she wasn't seeing that at all.
"And here I thought when you were pregnant, you turned into a dolphin - thanks for clearing that up," Guin couldn't help but quip. She knew it was probably stupid to be sarcastic with Wanda - that Wanda would probably see it as her being antagonizing, or maybe Guin was just overthinking this, she was feeling seriously on edge and regretting a little bit coming here - at least coming here alone. She should have made Pietro come. Or better yet, Pietro could have gone and she could have stayed home and read up on polymers.
"Got any ideas for baby names?" Wanda sort of glared at Guin, there was a slight reddish glow to her hands, as if she might send Guin flying backwards or something, but after a moment the glow dimmed and she shrugged slightly at Guin in response to her question,
"A few..." I think your sister definitely hates me, Guin commented to Pietro. She shifted in the armchair, sitting with her legs crossed even though it was a bit of an awkward position.
"Is there anything you need? Like, I dunno, I could build you a special baby monitor that has different outputs, like UV, infrared, the works?" she then asked, figuring maybe she could at least trick Wanda into not hating her by being nice.
What makes you say that? "I don't really need anything," Wanda responded, clearly calming down a little bit,
"Though something like that might be nice," she admitted with a slight smile.
Guin's eyes lit up slightly as she got an idea.
"Have you ever seen the Incredibles? The first one, not the second one. Never mind, you probably haven't, anyways so the baby has powers - like, every power - and the suit designer makes him a cute little baby suit that can withstand anything. I've been doing a lot of reading on polymers lately, trying to make a suit without metal for obvious reasons, but I bet I could make bullet proof baby clothes for you. And flame proof and whatever else proof." "That actually sounds like it would be surprisingly helpful. If you don't mind that sort of thing..." she commented with a slight smile. This wasn't too bad of a conversation, at least at the moment, perhaps this wasn't going to be as horrible with regards to everything as she thought it would be.
"Nah, it won't be any trouble at all. Gives me something to do when Pietro is having zoomies like he's a puppy, you know?" Guin said, giggling a little bit. She let out an internal sigh of relief that Wanda probably wasn't going to kill her - but she also was genuinely excited about the challenge of making protective clothing for baby Avengers.
"You think that's bad you should have seen how fast he moved when he first discovered his powers, he wouldn't sit still for even a moment. Always moving, until he passed out from not keeping up with how much he needed to eat..." she responded with a bit of a laugh.
"Him and those fucking twinkies," Guin said, shaking her head slightly.
"Once, he took me to a fancy restaurant for a date, and he had run out of twinkies, so he ended up eating all of his food, mine, and the food on the seven nearest tables to us. You'd think food just runs straight through him." "Don't get me started on the twinkies thing, I don't know why he's so obsessed with them honestly, that's just my opinion on the subject, but he's always been stealing the things for years." "The entire twinkies don't expire thing is a myth anyways," Guin pointed out.
"They do go bad. Just waiting for the day he saved one too long and it ends up making him barf his brains out." She took off her shoes and set them down on the ground next to her chair, so that way she could get more comfortable.
Okay update - I think she doesn't hate me as much. That's good! "Oh I've been waiting for that to happen at some point, but so far he has been insanely lucky, then again he stashes them around everywhere and eats them so quickly I doubt that will happen anytime soon." Guin hesitated for a moment.
"Not to ruin this lovely bonding moment we're having, but I gotta ask. Do you hate me? It's totally cool if you do." She raised an eyebrow more or less at her,
"In all honesty? I just find you somewhat annoying at times, not sure what my brother sees in you, but no, I don't actually hate you." Guin paused for a minute, before nodding. She knew that she could be a lot. She had a very loud, attention-seeking personality and not everyone found that endearing.
"I respect that," she told Wanda.
"I'm just glad you're not actively trying to murder me - you can be scary as shit. But also, I do enjoy having someone else who likes to tease Pietro and making super baby clothing will be a fun challenge... And you did let me meet my grandparents, which I never got to tell you thank you for." "If you hurt my brother though that sort of thing likely will change," she commented, just letting the sort of threat hang in the air.
Huh, now I know how you feel whenever Dad threatens you, Guin chimed in. The thought of her being capable of hurting Pietro was a little bit amusing, although she knew that Wanda more likely meant emotionally rather than physically.
"The only way I'd ever hurt Pietro was if I was being mind controlled - and even then, you have my permission to bitch slap me so hard I wake up in a Mario Party game." "If you say so, though something tells me hitting you across the face will be enjoyable to me if that ever comes up." "Wow, rude," Guin commented, putting her shoes back on.
She wants to hit me - in the face. "And here I thought we were starting to get along, just a tiny bit." Really? "Being able to coexist is one thing, not entirely sure if we will ever get along." Yes really! Guin crossed her arms. She could have sworn that they were making progress when she was bribing Wanda with baby clothes. Maybe that was just what she'd have to do with her sister-in-law - distract her with shiny new toys in an effort to keep from being punched. In a matter of minutes, Wanda had gone from finding her annoying to now threatening violence and making it seem like coexistence was in the question. A small part of her was pretty angry. She'd never done anything to Wanda, but Wanda had attacked her repeatedly - she had trapped her in a mental prison and put her body and mind through enough stress that her X-gene popped.
"Hmm, what color for the baby clothes? Oh, who am I kidding, you're the Scarlet Witch and you married a synthezoid with red skin, I'll have the clothing be red," Guin said, getting up from the chair.
"I'll have Pietro bring the clothes when they're ready." "Of course, red is my favorite color... And alright, I will see you later then, probably at some point..." "I'll show myself out," Guin said, leaving the living room. When she left the mansion entirely, she pulled out her phone and checked the time - she had been inside with Wanda for a total of ten minutes. It felt like it had been eighteen years. Or maybe just one really brutal month, say, March for example.
Can you come pick me up? I don't feel like taking the jet home. Something wrong Guina? "Wait," came Wanda's voice, and Guin would see Wanda coming up behind,
"I am... sorry, I don't typically talk to many people aside from those I am constantly around or my brother... I am not used to conversing with most people..." Guin turned around, looking back at the Scarlet Witch with some confusion. Wanda had ended their interaction, clearly setting up a
you should go now sort of moment with her talk about seeing Guin later.
"You don't have anything to apologize for, fam," Guin told her. It was ironic - Wanda really was her
fam.
"We're cool, really. I was going to head out since you more or less signaled you wanted me to leave, and I'm not arguing with a pregnant lady." "....Alright, good bye then Guin..." she said, before walking back inside.
Nothing's wrong, just ready to go home, babe, Guin then replied to Pietro. She was slightly happy that Wanda had said her name, even pronouncing it correctly - which, according to Pietro, wasn't very easy with a Sokovian accent. And of course, an interaction with her sister-in-law that didn't involve being beaten up was always a plus.
There was suddenly a flash of silver and Pietro was standing next to her,
"So, how'd it go?" "Well, she finds me annoying, she wants to hit me, and I agreed to make her baby clothes," Guin summarized.
"So... better than expected?" she admitted.
"...Well at least no one got hurt or anything, so definitely a step in the right direction." "Hey, she's usually the one who attacks me!" Guin protested. She couldn't think of a time when she had been the one initiating an attack against Wanda, mostly because she wasn't stupid enough to go toe to toe with someone who could control the fabric of reality.
"I know Guina..." "Look, I'm trying okay? I really am," she promised him.
"So let's go home?" "Alright let's go," he responded to her, picking her up and racing off.
๐ Marygold Isley & Guin Stark ๐
Location: Grounds of the Xavier Institute
It had been a little while since the entire incident with Loki, and currently Mary was outside underneath a tree, reading a book and was leaning against the trunk. Her head was hurting a little bit at the moment, but she seemed to be having no problems at the moment. Instead he seemed rather calm, which was a bit surprising given how bad things tended to be going in her head.
Guin had been debating back and forth for a few minutes in her head as to what to do. She had been trying to convince Mary to get counseling for a while now, and in typical Mary fashion, she had refused. She couldn't force her to get help. However, Mary's mental health was rapidly deteriorating as far as she could tell and she didn't want to watch her friend suffer. She sighed slightly, before waving at Mary as she walked on over.
"Sup?" "Oh, hey there Guin," she said, giving her a slight smile and looking up from her book.
"How are you doing lately?" "Kinda tired," Guin said with a shrug.
"Who would've thought it'd be so hard to make baby clothes, right? What about you?" "I feel like you are enjoying yourself doing it though," she commented with a bit of a laugh.
"Okay, just reading a little bit, being outside is always nice..." Guin made a face.
"The baby stuff, not so much. I have the maternal instincts of a cheese grater. But the high end polymer research? That's pretty cool. I read a fascinating review earlier on wearable electronics, only issue is everyone is using metal and I'd like to avoid that if I can for obvious reasons." "I mean yeah, we are kind of known for going against someone who is the self-proclaimed master of magnetism, so anything metal based might not be the best things in the world," she responded with a slight laugh.
"Speaking of things that might not be the best things in the world... Could I convince you to try therapy?" Guin asked bluntly, doing perhaps one of the worst segways in the history of everything.
"Here me out - if you go to therapy, I'll go to therapy too. And we'll both self actualize and have tons of growth and get mature and all that shit. It'll be fun!" "...Guin I feel like we've had this conversation before," she commented, not even looking at her friend as she waved her hands slightly at the ground and flowers started popping up next to her.
"I don't need therapy..." She sighed. Guin knew Mary was going to react like this, she really shouldn't have been that surprised. But still, she cared about Mary a lot and she wanted to try her very best. She couldn't force her to go to therapy or get help - she could just ask and be supportive.
"You don't need therapy - but we'd all benefit from therapy," Guin argued.
"It's like how we go for check-ins at the doctor once a year, even if you're not sick." "Would it be sad if I pointed out that in reality I don't really tend to have annual checkups or whatever either? Typically not required or whatever so I don't get one unless someone actually forces me to... Got them every year until I was an adult, after that honestly didn't really pay attention to how long it had been since my last one and just... Stopped all together..." she admitted.
"...Okay, well annual checkups are important and you should get those too. That way things can get caught in time before they become a huge issue," Guin pointed out.
"You don't want to end up like Jane Foster and find out too late, Mare." "If you say so, though I am still not going to therapy, I don't need to. I'm fine." "...Mare, you have two distinct personalities and identities... That isn't healthy." "...I have it under control." "Like I had my drug habit under control?" Guin asked Mary, arching an eyebrow.
"Guin, I'm fine, really. Don't worry." "Fine, then if you won't get therapy, I think you should step down as leader of the X-Men. It's added stress that isn't good for you," Guin countered.
"Besides, with the episodes you've been having, you're not able to be reliable in the field anymore as a leader. The team needs someone who's 100% there." "I am still reliable!" she instantly protested, clearly getting annoyed with what Guin was saying at this point. She had no idea what it was that Guin was going on about with that one. Sure, she's had a few episodes, but they typically were only when she was seriously injured and the adrenaline kicked in. Or if something truly freaked her out or scared her. Cause that happened too, every so often.
"You've lost your shit on members of our team during missions, Mare - that's not okay," Guin argued.
"Whenever someone annoys you, they run the risk of you losing it and trying to kill them - that's not a healthy leadership dynamic." "I haven't actually actively tried to kill anyone!" "Mare, have you or have you not tried to hurt members of your own team?" Guin asked her point blank.
"Excluding cases of being mind controlled by Mesmero." "Would Loki when he made it so we couldn't tell who was who and I attacked someone only after your husband did count or no?" she asked her,
"Cause if it doesn't then not really." "What about when we were at Stark Tower and you called Sara a bitch and threatened to hurt her?" Guin prompted. She remembered the scene vividly. Sara had disagreed with something Mary said, and Mary had lost it. Neil had tried to step in and ended up attacking Mary, and Mary had barely been able to stop herself from responding in turn.
"I've snapped at people before that isn't exactly a crime you know," she pointed out, everyone has lashed out at people before, hell she remembered more then a few times she lashed out at people
before her mental break. When everyone was arguing in Stark Tower for instance during the whole OMEN incident stuck out to her, since people had more then annoyed her a little bit during that point and she had been stressed out.
"Yeah, but this wasn't normal snapping, which by the way is still grossly inappropriate for a leader, especially calling Sara a bitch. That wasn't okay. But you remember what you told me afterwards? That it was because of the little voice in your head. That it was because of mental illness. You shouldn't be the team leader, Mare. If you don't get therapy, I'm going to go to Xavier and I'm going to ask him to pick a new leader. It's that or... or I quit." "Really Guin? Why won't you listen to me when I tell you that I'm fine..." "I'm serious, Mary. Deadly serious. So what'll it be? Are you going to get therapy? Are you going to step down as leader? Or should I go tell the West Coast Avengers to get a room ready for me?" she asked, staring Mary dead in the eye.
"I'll be honest, not sure if therapy actually would work for me Guin... There isn't a whole lot of cases of my problem, and when it has popped up there isn't exactly a set way to fix it..." "One session. That's all I'm asking for, Mare. Even if it does fuck all for helping you, that's my condition," Guin said clearly.
"Alright fine... Not sure what therapist would even want to talk to me, but fine. Happy now?" Guin beamed.
"Extremely." "Cool, but once again not sure what therapist would be crazy enough to talk to me with regards to my issues." "What rehab clinic would be insane enough to see me?" Guin argued.
"Tons of superheroes see a therapist. I'll ask my dad for the list they keep of recommendations for the Avengers and we'll find one you like together, okay?" Guin promised.
"Alright whatever you say Guin. Still think it's a bad idea but whatever."
Achronum
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