[ again, the simplest touch, the squeeze of his fingers, and yet it works to keep her grounded. it reminds her of the smallest gestures that had kept her at bay for so long. pietro's protective hold around her shoulders. vision's lips light against her knuckles. billy and tommy's arms clutching around her for a hug. without any of them, it had become so easy to drift, drift, drift until she became so lost to the darkness. and here she is now, feeling threatened by it again.

so such a simple act and it reels her in, her own fingers clutching tighter that she's almost ashamed for just how much she needs it. ]

I think ... it knows. [ she says it almost absentmindedly that she soon realizes the vagueness of her own words in turn. ] That I'm here, and what I have. [ chaos magic. ] You're right. It's hungry.

[ she wonders if she should feel worried for it, or if she should just let it have her. no — she shouldn't let it. if this is a similar threat as the darkhold, then it's all the more reason for her to be careful. she'd been meant to die to stop that corruption, after all.

again, something so simple reels her away from those somber thoughts — a small, an introduction. her own expression softens, her voice calmer when she replies. ]

Wanda. [ she says her name, and for some reason, she feels calmer. ] I don't think I'm ready either, Matt. [ she shakes her head, a lingering wetness still in the corner of her eyes, but she tries to return his smile despite it. ] I thought I was — once — but I'm not. Would you help me stay away from it this time?

[ though she speaks it without detail, with the awareness that he doesn't know her, he's said enough for her to feel as if he knows enough, understands enough, to at least know what she might mean by the request, even if just by the essence of magic. it's selfish to ask such dependency of someone, of a stranger even, but there's something — is it the magic of the flower — that eases her into a trust here somehow. ]