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“You took 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 from me.”
“I don’t even know who you are.”
“You will.”
— Wanda confronting Thanos
“You break the rules and you become a hero. I do it and I become the enemy. That doesn’t seem fair.” — Wanda Maximoff, Multiverse of Madness
“I have what I want and no one will ever take it from me again.” — Wanda Maximoff
✦ ✦ ✦
The way a strange, chaotic energy seemed to follow this queen wherever she went was utterly unbelievable. From the moment she approached Natasha Romanoff, the previous Queen of Ares’ Watch, and challenged her to a fight to the death — to the way she seems to ultimately charm the lionesses within the community like some have failed to do before her.
Much like Natasha, much like Frank, much like many who have come to rule over Ares’ Watch, blood and darkness fills the history of Wanda’s past. Long before she came to oversee this home, the one she was raised in was vibrant, loving, and peaceful. She had no plans to take over, and was content to live out her life within the lower ranks and let her father do the work.
It was not to be. In what seemed like mere hours, flames had overtaken the entirety of the lands Wanda had been born in. Relentless and unmerciful, it burned everything in its path and left no survivors that could not escape quick enough. Many of those that perished — the ones that Wanda had grown up with, had loved, were among them.
When it was all said and done, and the flames seemed to be satisfied with their victims and flickered into nothingness, all that was left was ash and smoke. Charred bodies that crumbled and burned skin when touched, still too hot from the flames that had engulfed them hours previous.
Wanda was lucky to have been hunting at the time. Near the border of their pridelands when it started, but unlucky to be one of only a few to have lived. She returned to the fallen of her loved ones, resting where they had been sleeping or trying to escape. Cubs and elders, young and spry, experienced and not. Flames allow no mercy to those it comes across.
Instead of attempting to pick up the fallen pieces of their lands and her shattered heart like the remaining pride members, Wanda parted ways. Her soul was weary and filled with anger. It was difficult to be angry at something that could not be changed — something that couldn’t have hardly been prevented by her or fixed in any sort of way.
She became a traveler, going from pride to pride in search of belonging. Her body permanently ached and her lungs were heavier from the fire, and proper training, rest, and recovery required her to spend long periods of time in welcoming prides to get stronger. Despite these long stays as a nomad amongst friendly lions, her exhausted heart forced her to continue on like a tracker taking her to the unknown.
It was many months later that she happened upon Ares’ Watch. She was found by a Scout, and Wanda may have never seen her hidden amongst the thick underbrush with scent disguised by the muddy swamps nearby. She was taken to Delos, where she was introduced to Natasha Romanoff — their long-reigning Queen who brought peace for what seemed like the most period of time any leader has been able to in Ares’ Watch.
It was here that Wanda’s broken, fragile being started to heal. She found herself unable to move her wandering paws away from this piece of heaven, the longing to find a place to grow old no longer tugging at her body, but rather settling when she got to know these lions and their ways. Over time, her happiness turned to concern turned to obsession. The need to ensure the safety of this haven she has found became a forefront in her mind, and to her it became clearly apparent that Natasha could no longer promise a powerful, strong leadership or safety of their home. Less gentle than Natasha, less willing to back away from insults and threats, Wanda’s decision was solidified one night. Natasha was old, and her age was showing through her raspy breaths and the way she shied from conflict.
It took mere minutes for Wanda to win the battle for leadership of Ares’ Watch. Wanda made the kill quick and clean, but did not hesitate to begin her Queenship. Patrols were increased, agitators were greeted with less forgiveness than Natasha provided, most visitors became suspect to suspicion, and Wanda became involved in the Watch’s everyday routine to understand and develop relationships with her new lionesses. It was not a hard task — especially with a younger generation beginning to become the heart of the Watch. Wanda soon started joining these lionesses on their duties to get to know their work and how they fought. But it eventually became apparent that allowing one warning to those who sought to bring danger was no longer an option, but a choice.
Wanda encouraged her lionesses to attack threats on sight without offering a chance to leave without injury. That in itself was a warning to anyone who would hear about their lands and think about crossing through with terrible intentions, and it started to work. Wanda herself was usually a good source of these “warnings”, mostly to rogue lions who felt the need to prove a point, or those who believed Ares’ Watch was falling apart under new leadership. To peaceful travelers, they offered suspicion — but a welcome greeting anyways. Wanda decided cutting Ares’ Watch off to those with good intentions would poison the pride in the long run, but she trusted nobody who stepped foot in that she did not hand pick herself.
When not committing to the chaos, Wanda moved to understand the way the pride worked as a whole. Learning of their history, important names, and culture that surrounded their entire lives. She was similar to Natasha in this regard — open to learning about the Watch without changing its ways, while also working toward to increasing the defense and offense of its borders.
Wanda’s obsessive nature often leaves her visiting the cubs and checking their health many times a week, patrolling the borders herself despite getting reports from the Scouts daily, and usually chasing off intruders before their Trackers would find them deep within the territory. Because of this nature that surrounds her, loneliness looms over her like an angry shadow beneath everything else she uses to mask it. She seeks out affection and comfort often from her lovers and friends both in and outside of Ares’ Watch — when she deigns to leave, that is. It’s a rather rare sight to catch this usually hardened Queen in.
Among this need for affection and emotions, there seems to be a constant air of darkened amusement and an impossible sense of charm that just follows Wanda wherever she goes. Asking what she’s amused over, however, could get many different responses. Or none at all. The charm? It either infuriates others or it manipulates them to her side without her intending to. She’s stubborn about her ways and will not often be swayed into changing her mind about many things, which is why the Council plays much importance in her rule. She follows their law even if it drives her mad, for structure is one of her obsessions and keeping structure means keeping Council.
Overall, the curse brought Wanda to end the reign of Natasha. Her own reign has begun and differs from Natasha in a multitude of ways that Ares’ Watch could not have expected. From keeping the same allies Natasha had worked hard to make and keep, to the show of aggression and obsession that Natasha never had in her gentle heart. Her rule will be one of strength, power, and continued peace alongside chaos. Her heart can be gentle, it can be good, but it cannot be expected to be used for good when something threatens to bring harm to those she cares too deeply for ever again.
✦ ✦ ✦
It’s enthralling how she seemed to be so carefree, her pierced ears flickering toward you in acknowledgement as you approached with two hefty Guards shadowing you. She didn’t have any of the Queens around her, nor any of the Council members you had come to hear about. It was just her.
She stretched as she stood, the gold of her shawl and jewelry glinting in the small splashes of sun that managed to get through the looming cliffsides and thick jungle openings of Delos. Her head tilted toward you in greeting, though her eyes were guarded.
“Thank you for bringing our guests to me,” she finally said to the two Guards behind you, dismissing them with that simple sentence. They left you alone with her, and she regarded you like a curiosity, an interesting creature that’s never been seen before by something much greater than yourself. “My Scouts got word of your entrance into my lands this morning. Tell me, what is your reasoning for coming? It cannot be to challenge me — I would have killed you before you got this far into the heart. Do you wish to trade? Perhaps broker an alliance.”
Your fur prickled along your spine and at the back of your neck. She spoke smoothly, unburdened by the intruder she found herself in the presence of. You were the one in danger here, if she found your welcome to be running out too quickly. You explain your reasoning for being in Ares’ Watch, getting the point and trying not to explain too much in fear of irritating her.
She seemed . . . amused? Her dawn eyes glittered, and she got to her paws and circled you for a moment as you spoke. You couldn’t help but feel like you were being inspected for something you would never come to know the reason for. All the while, she was ever-amused — like you were telling her a joke. “I see,” she drawls after a few beats of silence between the two of you.
You could have sworn you saw her eyes flicker with red as she settled herself back down in front of you. “Very well. Let us make a deal, shall we?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Lol you were so expensive.
Buff Dawn NSR NHR CS BO Skin/Mane Color
15 GB
TO DO:
• Get Demiurge [ 11GB ] DONE
• Get Arctic Markings [ 16 GB ] DONE
• Get Halitois Markings [ Created ] [ DONE ]!
• Get Flamingo Marking [ 30 GB ] DONE
• Get Blazing Marking [ 16GB ] DONE
• Get Water Hycanth Marking [ 40GB are you FUCKING joking ]
• GB for replacing Nat [ IF i retire early (10GB) ] DONE
•GB for mut. replacing [ 25 GB ] DONE
• Neutral Pose [ 1GB ] DONE
• Lab Test Frog [ 5GB ] DONE
• 3 Custom Decor [ ] DONE
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