WANDA MAXIMOFF + BELLAMY BLAKE
LOW/TBD | IN PROGRESS
She’d only been back from their mission for a couple of days, and Wanda still felt uneasy. It wasn’t something she’d mentioned to anyone aloud, though, she guessed that Alicia sensed she wasn’t quite herself. Plus, while they hadn’t spoken about it with one another, she knew Bucky was likely feeling some of the same.
Even though this wasn’t the first time she’d been sent back to her world, there had been two sets of memory updates and several lost years since then. And people. Too many people had been lost during the span of those years. While she’d never truly be over losing Vision, Wanda did believe she’d accepted what happened and had started moving forward. Being in her home world brought back some of those feelings and emotions. She wondered what it would be like to find him in this time based on where she knew he was, where they were, during the years they agreed to meet up while she was in hiding. But she stayed focused on the mission and working towards getting back home - her new home in Atlantis.
Being back in Atlantis did help even if she still did have a few nagging thoughts of ‘what if’ in the back of her mind. She took a day off once they returned, but she knew it would be better for her if she got back to her normal routine.
Around mid-morning, Wanda decided to get out of the house for a while and headed out, ending up at Clove Books. A historical fiction book found her, and she sat down in one of the plush chairs by a window and began to read. Her mind wasn’t completely focused, but it was at least somewhat of a distraction and took her mind out of reality for a little while. Several minutes into the first couple of chapters, she was into the book enough that she didn’t hear or see someone approaching.
Bellamy had felt uneasy his whole time here - but the incident of returning to Mount Weather had definitely peaked as worst so far. Even above the arena. The arena had been terrifying, but it had been something he could get past - something he woke up from and moved on from. Mount Weather pulled at strings he didn’t know he still had. As it was, that meant the worse things got and the more things repeated themselves, the more concerned he got that he might have gotten dragged back there with O and Clarke. O and Clarke both deserved better. Shit, even he deserved better than to have to go back there again.
He had actually always had a love of reading - after all, his love of mythology had been how Octavia got her name. Bellamy had long known he needed a few better habits, so he’d wandered into the bookshop. Bellamy wasn’t so good at people, unless it was in a leadership capacity, unless it involved a fight. That meant he did good leading his team - it just sort of meant he didn’t exactly do good in a bar or on the network and that sort of left him in need of more in his life. Needing more was easier to assign to a book.
It hadn’t taken him long to select a book on the Roman Empire - it was some sort of psuedo-history book, but he thought it might be more interesting. Even be a little more enjoyable than reading something like a textbook. He’d figured to take a little time off before afternoon training and was wandering over to sit in a seat near Wanda when he knocked his own leg into her’s as he tried to move past her, stopping for a moment as he looked down at her, “Sorry, too fucking narrow in here.” He said with a light huff.
Wanda gave Bellamy a small smile and readjusted herself a bit so that one leg was tucked underneath her. "It's alright. I've had to navigate through the shelves and small spaces here several times myself." That was part of its charm for Wanda. The small spaces felt cozy and more intimate than bright lights or stark colors of some of the bigger stores. Plus, the bookstore always seemed to know what she needed to pick up and read every time she visited.
She started back reading for a moment, but her concentration was flimsy at best even before Bellamy sat down in one of the seats nearby. She finished the page that she was on and then took a look around before settling on her new neighbor. She'd gotten to know him a little through Clarke, but she didn't know him very well.
"Do you stop by here often?" She asked him. "I like to come in occasionally. To sit and read for a little while or just enjoy the quiet." It wasn't always quiet, but generally people kept their voices down for the sake of others reading or browsing. It was calm, and wanda's mind didn't have a lot of calm most days.
“I’ve never been in a library or book store like this.” It seemed strange that he so openly and randomly admitted that - he didn’t really need to, but something had pushed his hand a little. For the moment? Bellamy brushed it off. Maybe he was just getting more comfortable with the people here. He was trying not to constantly jump to the conclusion that every shadow, every hoot in the night, was some weird Atlantis thing - but it was kinda damn hard to tell sometimes. Right now? Nothing suspicious yet.
Settling into his seat, he was still sort of idly thumbing through to figure out what was actually in the books when Wanda spoke up again. Like Wanda knew of him, he knew of Wanda. Beyond that was his own damn fault for isolating himself so much to his sister, Clarke, and Madi. Old habits died hard, trust issues were immortal.
Wetting his lips, he let his own book rest in his lap, “I’ve wanted to.” Another statement that was honest, it didn’t raise any red flags. “I always liked to read, there just wasn’t a lot of room for it at some point - especially after they decided to chuck us haphazardly at the ground.” There was no reason to hold that back, she was close with Clarke after all. He sort of half held up the book and gave it a little motion to draw attention to it, “I usually prefer mythology - but I enjoy the history ones too.” Nodding towards her, Bellamy arched an eyebrow. “Flavour of choice today?” He asked.
"Really? I like coming here. Not on a regular basis, but every so often. I don't know what it is, but something about sitting and reading can be kind of comforting." In a way, it also reminded her of home. Her home that had been at the Avengers compound, anyway. Tony hadn't spared much expense getting the place set up, and with that came a fairly impressive library. Though, it had been a while since she'd been back there even before coming to Atlantis.
Wanda looked down at her book when Bellamy asked about hers. She held up the book and nodded. "Historical fiction. This one is about two sisters during World War II." She hadn't gotten very far in it yet, but so far it seemed interesting. "When I don't know what I want to read, I usually gravitate towards ones based in history. It helps serve as a reminder not to repeat past mistakes. Mine and those of others."
She frowned a little, unsure why she'd brought that up, but she brushed it off regardless. "Mythology," she smiled and nodded to his book. "At home, reality and certain mythologies started to collide." At least when it came to Norse mythos and parts of the cosmos. Those with magic considered to be gods once upon a time.
Bellamy absolutely understood why someone liked the bookstore, he did too. He would have, at least, if he’d given it more than a passing chance. Today had been a fluke in many ways and he didn’t know why he’d selected today. Bellamy’s life at its earlier stages revolved around every book he could get his hands on - but one had always stood out. “I haven’t taken enough advantage of it.” That comment finally red flagged for Bellamy, he wasn’t that honest of a person. He wasn’t a liar - at least not as much as plenty of people thought he was, but that wasn’t his brand of honesty. He could be an asshole, he was sarcastic, but he didn’t often offer up nuggets that could actually help someone to figure out who he was. That was a comment that flagged in his mind as… you know, one of those things that could lead to a conversation that said too much. He didn’t like that. But he also wasn’t exactly in a mind to just piss off Wanda. She was nice, at least what he’d seen about her, maybe kind was a better word for how much he knew her. She was also, you know… being pretty straight forward as well so he pushed it aside again.
“Thor and Loki.” He answered, less of a red flag. They’d both been here (even if from different realities). Easy enough to know she dealt with ‘the divine’ when he’d met both of them and he had someone like Hope Mikaelson on his team. Most days Hope may as well have been straight out of mythology compared to his own world. “I enjoy history.” He continued, “There’s always something to learn from it, whether you can apply it or not.” Shit, why was he being so honest? Maybe it should have been an equal concern that he was concerned that he was being this honest. You know, honestly wasn’t a bad thing and here it was flagging all of his instincts. It shouldn’t have been, but he knew himself, and he knew this was - whatever he was maybe this honest with O, Clarke, and Echo and while he respect and knew of Wanda - it wasn’t like anyone that was still here hit the levels O or Clarke did when it came to his trust.
Huffing softly, “I would have said that was bullshit several months back, but you know - first hand experience and all that.” Bellamy settled into his seat more, “Two sisters during World War II?” He posed, not truly a question but more of a curious statement, “French Resistance? English spies? Don’t worry, won’t judge you too much if its a romance. Everyone has a favourite.” The later statement caused him to clear his throat. Okay, maybe something was up after all…