the picture prompt

[aanonburr]

the picture prompt meme

I — Comment with your character.
II — Others will leave a picture (or two, or three...)
III — Reply to them with a setting based on the picture.

IV — Link to any pictures that are NSFW, please.
V — Be aware that this meme will likely be image-heavy. That's kind of the point.

Link to an image: <a href=IMAGEURL>TEXT</a>

Embed an image in your reply: <img src=IMAGEURL>

You can control width and height of your pictures: <img src=IMAGEURL width=500> OR <img src=IMAGEURL height=INSERT>

Comments

[disperse]

( it's been ten years, give or take, since wanda has gotten a full night of sleep. when she was young (10, 11, 12) she would wake screaming from her nightmares; from images of her parents disappearing into the gaping hole in the floor stark's missile had opened up beneath them. visions of black, groping hands searching the shadows underneath the bed for the two that darkness hadn't yet claimed. stark scrawled on it's arm in glowing yellow before viselike fingers circled her wrist. hauling her from the relative safety she and pietro had found. down, down into the darkness with her parents.

as she grew older, the nightmares began to dissipate. little by little growing more manageable.

and then there was sokovia. a nightmarish hellscape that existed outside of her own pain fueled memories. the darkness coming to finish what it hadn't when she and pietro were children.

despite wanda's abilities, her mind is an emptier place without him and, while she's slowly adjusted to the relative quiet, sleep has become a precious commoditiy once more. she functions well, all things considered, but there are unmistakable signs for those paying the slightest bit of attention.

scott is more perceptive than the others give him credit for.

she is, of course, awake when he knocks on the door. plucking idly at the strings of a guitar she's still learning to play. freezing up at the sound of his voice, she briefly considers ignoring the sound, simply waiting for him to go away.

but scott is nothing if not persistent.

a casual flick of her fingers is enough to unlock the door, and she lays the guitar flat in her lap, tugging once, self-consciously, on the old worn t-shirt she's wearing to bed. rhodey's maybe. or cap's. a whole new wardrobe paid for entirely by tony stark, and she still someone ends up largely in hand me downs. )

What are you doing up so late?

( clearly she's one to talk. )

[tictacs]

( the door unlocks and scott waits a total of three seconds (an allowance for wanda to lock it again, in case she changes her mind) before opening it. he knows that people need space in general, knows that by doing this he's invading wanda's space without much of a care. he doesn't mean to be rude, but scott has been and will always be worried about something deep down. the only things he has to keep that worry from taking over are his poor humour and some shot of stupid bravery.

regardless, he shuts the door, leans his back against it, and then slowly sinks so he can sit on the floor with his knees to his chest. somehow the idea of wanda playing the guitar makes him smile. )

I couldn't sleep. ( it's a half-truth; scott could sleep if he wanted to, but his mind chose to think about wanda's well-being instead. he could charge headfirst and ask right off the bat if she dreams about sokovia or lagos, but he decides simplicity is the best way to go. )

When I was a kid and I couldn't sleep, I'd go to my mother to be with her a while. Being alone late at night staring at nothing was scary for me, you know? ( a sigh. ) Sometimes it still kind of is.

So I hope you don't mind me staying here. I won't even say a word--I think it's really neat you're giving the guitar a shot 'cause the only thing I can play is the kazoo.

[disperse]

( it seems odd that two people could spend as much time together as they have in the past few months, and still know so little about each other. scott lang, otherwise known as antman. she knows he has an ex-wife and a child that he barely sees (a girl, she thinks, thought that might be wrong), and that's it. the full extent of her knowledge of him.

there had been plenty of time to talk on the raft. countless hours left abandoned in their cramped cells. but she hadn't had the inclination --to say anything, really-- and he seemed more prone to random outbursts, bits of songs, and turning every flat surface into a drum when it suited. )

What you can't see is always far scarier than what's right in front of you. ( gaze cast low, her fingers pluck idly at one string. a discordant note sounding. ) When I was young, and I had a nightmare, my brother would sit up all night. ( it's the most she's revealed to anyone in quite some time. pietro usually an off-limits topic. ) He always said that he'd protect me from any monsters lurking in the dark.

( they didn't yet know how easily monsters could disguise themselves.

it's why she follows his change of topic so easily. )

The kazoo is vastly underrated. Maybe you can play it for me sometime.

[tictacs]

Oh, I'll definitely play it for you. I never could say no to a pretty girl. ( scott's smiling as he says it, but that's only because the words she'd given him--wanda had a brother, and the past tense of that gives him a sick feeling in his stomach--are things he's not yet sure how to process. he does file the knowledge away, though, and the name: pietro.

pietro and wanda maximoff. wanda and pietro maximoff. here scott thought wanda'd never quite had a family, hence her involvement with the avengers at such a young age, but this puts maybe one or two things into new perspective. maybe he's part of the reason she's here in the first place. )

But you'll have to play guitar for me for sure. ( scott grins up at her, arms still lazily folded over his knees as he looks at the instrument on wanda's lap and then back up at her face. ) Have you ever tried playing before? You know you hold 'em against your chest, right?

I know a couple of chords if you want to learn one of the easiest songs in the world. I'm no good at guitar generally, though.

[disperse]

( it's such a simple, offhand thing, the compliment. said more as a statement of fact than anything else. she's not one to get shy over something so unimportant. no blushes or giggles here. she knows that she's pretty, if only because of the way men look at her sometimes when they think that she can't see. but something about the way he says it makes her feel, if only for a second, almost normal.

a girl instead of a weapon of mass destruction. )

I was just taking a break. ( she admits, plucking idly one a string, then the one next to it. ) I haven't played very much, but I think I'm improving. Thought I wouldn't say no to a lesson.

( it's not as if she'll be sleeping anytime soon anyway. most nights she's lucky to get two hours in before the nightmares take hold and she wakes up in a cold sweat. ) What's the song?

[tictacs]

It's called Leaving on a Jet Plane. Real American classic.

( and, yeah, maybe that speaks volumes of the generation scott grew up in, but ask him if he cares. from his place on the floor he fumbles a little with the fabric of his pyjamas just above his knee, and then finally he gets up to his bare feet and comes over to stand closer to where wanda's seated.

he knows when to push and he knows when to be softer, the current moment calling for him to be the latter than the former. scott doesn't want to push any boundaries, and not just because the girl with the guitar can kick his ass seven ways to sunday. )

Mind if I sit with you? ( he makes a little gesture to the empty space of bed beside her. ) I mean, I'm cool with sitting back there with the whole wall-floor combination, don't get me wrong, but I'm thinking you'll see the chords a lot easier if I'm close.