Summary:Illyana grabs Doug to help her figure out what Koa’s writings say. Turns it it's a story about a ring… Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
   |
There will undoubtedly need to be some amendments made to Doug and Illyana's roommate agreement on the grounds of 'unforeseen circumstances'. Like a certain blonde who has no real sense of what other people consider a reasonable hour to be drug out of bed to go do… something. Illyana hasn't bothered to tell Doug what that is yet and he should know at least enough about magic to not want to interrupt her right at the moment.
Because right now? They're standing in Limbo with a large muti-faceted crystal hanging in the air before them and slowly turning. The room is large. Cavernous, even. And it looks like something out of a ruined castle from one of Doug's MMO's with slime on the walls and questionable detritus in the shadowy corners. Illyana stands before the crystal, hands facing each other and fingers crooked in arcane manner and energy crackles around them. Floating between her hands is… a pen. Whispered words roll through the room making the air seem thick and one by one, the facets of the crystal start to light up with images.
But none of them are clear. The images flicker and swim, causing Illyana to frown. "Downsides to a crappy sympathetic link. I can't really check out where we're going, but at least I have a lock. Which is better than earlier. He was probably behind some Wards. Hold on." Which is to say: Illyana can't really see where she's going. Or what the situation is there. But the link between Koa and his pen is fading quickly, so it's kind of a now or never thing. A stepping disk opens, jumping Doug and Illyana back to Earth and dumping them in on Koa. Surprise!
Cue one very *surprised* Doug, in just his Calvins, who got woken up with an 'OOoooof!' when Illyana *landed on him*.
He grabbed clothes before they wound up in Limbo though, which is why he's in his rumpled jeans, sneakers, and a T-Shirt that says 'Body By Danger Room Gym' with a stylized motto, 'O deus, quaeso, ne me in faciem ledo' and a pair of green Chucks, which he jammed his feet into and hasn't laced up.
Doug glances over to Illyana and then says "So why exactly are we doing this—" He lands on Koa. Illyana lands on him.
The tables at Central Park where Koa is sitting are usually used for chess and the like. It's daylight, of course. He's got a stack of papers slightly larger than the last one Illyana saw him with. The brown haired, broad built man is in a button down shirt and peering at one of those papers when the stepping disk opens.
"Huh?" He might be forgiven, he's never seen anything like the glowing, opaque, flat disks before and almost jumps when two people come out of them.
It would have been better if he had. Then he wouldn't have been piled onto.
"Ow…" There's a chair under him. It's metal. It's kind of hurty. "The hell…"
Somehow, Illyana manages to land in a manner that's not completely undignified. Instead, she's on top of the Pile o' People looking like the cat that ate the canary. She looks down at them, balancing on her perch with a vicious sort of grin. "I win." Was… there a game being played?
The blonde sorceress hops down, managing to miss squishing any delicate parts, such as a finger or nose as she does so and picks up Koa's paperwork so she both has a place to sit and so she can see if this is the same stuff he was looking at before.
Introductions? Looks like they'll have to handle that themselves.
Doug on the other hand is upside down and on top of Koa. After a moment he extricates himself. "I'm *really* sorry." He says. "She's a *lot* like having a cat. She gets annoyed if you're on the computer and not paying attention to her, she's attracted to sudden movements… and don't even TRY to take a shower and lock her out of the bathroom—"
He gives Illyana a *look* as he rolls his shoulders till they pop.
"I'm Doug. She's Illyana. She wants… something. Why she brought me along? …I like to think it's cause I'm cute." He bats his eyelashes at the Sorceress. Then he looks around and says, "Oh hey, it's daytime now. I'm gonna go get a hot dog. Does anybody else want a hot dog?"
"Illyana, eh?" The look goes from Doug to Illyana and back again like Doug just gave away something *significant*. Which she has though he probably didn't know it.
Illyana Rasputin. Wait no. She's a woman. Rasputina. Interesting.
"Well…" Koa starts to push people off him or at least indicate that he wants people to get off him. "I'd love to hear what that is. Did it involve driving a metal chair into my back? Or is this perhaps something to do with our last topic of conversation?"
Beat. "I'm Koa by the way. Agent Turner, if you like."
Illyana Rasputina looks up from her… or rather Koa's papers, to glare at Doug when the other mutant gives away her name. There's an annoyed huff by nothing more. Revenge is best served cold and all that.
The eyelash batting does push her expression into an amused smirk, though it doesn't last as Doug starts to look around for a hot dog vendor. "You are cute, but it's your brain I want. Eat later, I need you to translate these for me. I can pick up some general stuff, but going with generalizations in spellcasting isn't smart."
"I'm also pretty sure hot dogs aren't on your dietician-approved list."
Glancing over to Koa, Illyana notes: "The chair was an unexpected bonus."
Doug gives a light shrug, and then he finds a place to sit nearby, on one chair with his feet up on the other, crossed at the ankles. He looks over at Koa and *grins*, before he says "All right, I'll sit here and be decorative until you need me." He gives Koa a grin, and says "Wait, I've seen you before, you're with the Spooky Squad, right? Doug Ramsey, SHIELD Analyst. Probably called 'Language Lad' or 'Turbo Nerd' or something when I'm not around to hear it."
Koa picks himself up and rights the chair, then he cracks his back. "Yeah. WAND. Spook Squad. MIB. Wait no, that's SWORD. You're with SHIELD though?"
He glances from Illyana to Doug and back again.
"How did you end up meeting a SHIELD analyst?" He'd ask the question in reverse but he has another question for Doug.
"I've got some… weird stuff here. Hieroglyphics. Cuneiform. Some… stuff I can't read." Linear A. Doug will recognize it.
There's a lot of it there. The phrasing differs but these incantations, for that seems to be what they are all make repeated references to the 'Utter Dark' and they DO all seem to be for opening a portal there. Or at least… providing a door for something or someone to come in. They all also contain exhortations to 'consume the light.' Good times.
He can look at them when Illyana lets him.
Doug doesn't need to wait long as Illyana shoves them over at Mr. Pretty. Herself, she sits down on the table and add her feet to the chair that Doug's are on. It's a casual invasion of space that isn't common between people that aren't very close in some manner, but Illyana seems prone to invading people's personal everything. "'Turbo Nerd'? That's awful. So is Language Lad but at least you have some alliteration there. People need to stop letting SHIELD name things. They suck at it."
Illyana looks back at Koa when he asks how she met a SHIELD analyst. "I could say the same way I met a WAND agent but that'd be a lie. I've known Dougie-baby since before he was part of SHIELD."
Doug murmurs "We used to hang out together. When guys would get on my case for chasing their girls around, she'd beat them up." Is he joking? He's not joking. Then he looks at Koa's notes, and says, "Oh hey, that's Linear A, I can read that." …Isn't the whole point of Linear A that *nobody* can read it?
He looks it over, and then says "Oh, this is some Lovecraftian stuff." Doug says, "Horrors from beyond the realms of light, creeping darkness, doom to the world, eternal darkness…" He looks over at Illyana and says "Why would anybody think that invoking this stuff is a good idea?" He grabs that pen, and begins jotting down notes, translating in the margins.
"They call me Kahuna…" Koa shrugs by way of SHIELD naming things. It's a bit better though it's slightly… on the nose.
"You can read Linear A?" Koa of course knows about magic and knows a little bit about Mutants but he has never before thought of mutations as things that can affect knowledge. Mutants that can do physically impossible things? That he gets. Mutants that can do mentally impossible things? That's a whole different ball game. How can someone just KNOW a language that no one has translated because DNA?
Not that he has any room to talk in that respect, really.
"Have you now…" Koa's gaze goes from Illyana to Doug and back again. Illyana is CLEARLY the elder of the two. But they don't interact like people with their apparent age difference.
Odd. Who are these two? Other than the obvious that is.
"Darkness maybe doesn't seem quite as scary when you're worshipping it. When you're convinced it's going to consume your enemies and not you. A lot of those are inscribed in tombs buried deep. Hidden, one might say. A damn sight harder to find than the Pyramids, that's for sure."
He waits to see what the verdict is, though, from the black magic expert and the linguist.
"Ego, a lot of times. Both thinking that they'll somehow get out of unscathed or that if they've gotta go, then the whole world can burn with them. The first is the usual pitch made by dark beings. It's an easy sell. Everyone *wants* to be special." Illyana puts her palms behind her on the table, leaning back onto her arms as her feet rock side to side on her heels, knocking into Doug's lightly as he works. Her manner is pretty casual considering she sounds like she knows what she's talking about. "Good thing you're so pretty, Douggie. Can't let you burn." She winks at the other blonde with her usual smirk.
Illyana looks over to Koa. "Do you have a map of the locations? I should have some leyline maps through time and see if their locations tell me anything."
Doug continues scribbling in the margins, and he sticks his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. "Oh hey, here's a fun one. 'The Black Ring shall reappear and seek its master with the names of Wisdom and Light upon his brow and a serpent's tongue once more, and this shall signal the convergence of the Heinous Ones. Doom shall walk the earth whole once more…'"
Doug raises his eyebrows at Illyana. "Well of all the dark sorcerers in the world, you're by *far* the prettiest."
"Everyone wants to be special yes. And some just want the power that's on offer. That's frequently part of it as well. Revenge. Prestige. Classic faustian bargain stuff."
Koa snorts. Well the two certainly interact like old friends. Not that he thought they were lying but hey. Agent. Deals with people. Used to be in acquisitions. He's fairly good at reading folks and it's often quite important.
He does NOT comment on Illyana's looks. She is quite pretty but he's not sure she'd appreciate the affirmation of that.
"That all sounds pleasant. Black ring. I think that one was ALSO mentioned in one of the egyption inscriptions. Interesting. Those are separated by several hundred miles and also by several hundred years…"
Koa does pull out a map at Illyana's request and starts to mark on it. It is often necessary to show people where things are in his line of work and until they invent a holo-globe this is what he's got.
"Here they are. Desert places as you can see. This one was under water." Pretty deep it seems. How did anyone get in there to take pictures.
"What are you thinking?" He asks the blonde.
Illyana Rasputina snorts softly at Doug's compliment. "If that's your 'thank you' for letting you get dressed, then you're welcome." Honestly, she could have conjured him something to wear!
Her gaze narrows as she looks into some middle distance and mulls Doug's words. "Wisdom and Light… Are those the literal words?" Because sometimes to make a sentence make sense in another language there's some fudging to be done.
She leans over as Koa starts to pull out the map as he starts to plot things out. She shakes her head at the question, "I'm not sure yet. But you get all the information you can and let it rattle around in your head and see if anything rises to the top y'know?" The last one does have her biting her lower lip and she taps it. "What language was this one in?"
"No," Doug says, "Literally translated it means that he'll bear the *names* of wisdom and light. So say, if I translated it into ancient Egyptian, his name might be…" Doug tilts his head, "…Thoth-Amon. But that's just one piece of prophecy in a whole *mess* of black magick." He beams at Illyana.
"Well there's a lot of languages in here. Linear A, Cretan hieroglyphs, Archaic Egyptianand I mean *Archaic* archaic Egyptian, this is back when it started to evolve out of Old Stygian"
"Bear the names of Wisdom and Light…" Koa grabs a pen, not quite as nice as the one that Illyana had taken from him the other day. He leans over and scrawls something in the margins of the map that REALLY isn't in any of the usual languages. Doug can read it of course, but it reads like a mathematical formula. Like he's deriving wisdom and light. Illyana might recognize it as a proto-kabbalistic system with some really weird signs and symbols thrown in.
"Mmmmmm. Light. Bear the name of Light. A name like… Baldur, I wonder?" That's partly to himself.
Illyana's question has him looking again and he spreads the papers out until he finds it. "Proto Elamite. Five thousand years old. By far the oldest inscription of the lot and a long ways from it's usual stomping grounds." Also an untranslated language.
This one though reads less like an incantation - though there is an incantation in there - and more like a record of a conflict in which the incantation was use. It mentions something about a 'Daevite' civilization, supposedly from the far north. Users of some kind of blood magic. Powerful enough that the locals resorted to calling upon the Utter Dark…
Of course, the record is incomplete.
"Thousands of years don't mean as much to beings like it looks these incantations were trying to dial up." Illyana muses. "If we can cross-reference enough to figure out which dark being or beings it's about in particular then I could see what my library has on it or them. I don't think they're mine, the turns of phrase are wrong."
"Was this area above water back when it was written?" She looks between the two of them to see if either of them know, totally dismissing the implications that she might also serve dark gods.
"Well there are whole cities that are underwater these days, a lot of them along the mediterranean coast." Doug grabs the Proto-Elamite and then says "The Daevas were… jog my memory, Illyana? A horde of demons that were banished into the darkness by the prophet-wizard Zoroaster? My ancient religions is kind of *rusty* but I read a lot."
Doug taps the pen against his mouth before he goes back to furious translation.
"In this particular case it is possibly referencing the Daevite civilization of Siberia and Mongolia. A civilization that apparently flourished in the early and mid bronze age until they were crushed by the Xia Dynasty in China. They may have also utilized some kind of blood magic and demon summoning or so the legends say."
Koa makes a small face. "And if that does not sound familiar…" And it might not. "… it's because while that civilization is several thousand years old it is possible that thanks to rather dangerous magical artifacts that they also didn't exist until about forty years ago."
That might do someone's head in.
Illyana's implications do definitely NOT go unnoticed but then he'd seen and felt the wrongness from her. That might warrant a follow up but not here and now. She and Doug are being helpful. "As Doug says, but the site was submerged around the same time the inscription was written so… kind of hard to say. The inscription was substantially LESS weathered when I recovered it than its surroundings so… that doesn't really help."
When HE recovered it. From beneath the ocean.
"The phrases are all dressed up in the religious iconography of the civilizations in question but the term Utter Dark tends to repeat. The phrase the black ring… I have heard it before and much more recently but I can't say I know exactly whom it belongs to. If you can find anything the cross references 'Utter Dark' and 'Black Ring' though…"
That might be something to go on in her libraries.
It seems Illyana was thinking the same because she's looking at Doug long and hard as she considers. "You want to help me go through my library and see if we can find anything like that?" There's the fact that Doug might not really want to spend however long neck-deep in musty old tomes but the sticking point for Illyana is really if exposure to Limbo is likely to mess with him.
The blonde sorceress looks over to Koa, "Now, clearly folks have been trying to let this Utter Dark loose for thousands of years, so it might not be anything to worry about in our lifetime, but I tend to figure better safe than sorry."
Doug glances to Illyana, and his eyebrows perk. "Are you asking me on a *date*, Endora? A reference search through blasphemous tomes date?" He swings his head back toward Kai, and says, "A Black Ring comes up in the Nemedian Chronicles. It was a cabal of black magicians based out of what is now Northern Africa… ish. Robert E. Howard committed suicide before he auto-wrote even close to half of them, so only a few of them are published but Stephen Strange has the full set. I flipped through them when we were at his sanctum."
Then he murmurs, "Man, eldritch horrors, this takes me back. It's like we're back in school again." He seems… almost happy about it.
Koa leans back in his chair and watches the two interact with a veil of mild amusement on his face. It is certainly helpful that Miss Rasputina has a library of dark tomes and is willing with her friend to search through them. This only deepens the mystery about her though. Him… well that's actually also quite mysterious but he has a SHIELD file he can look up. He wonders if that file says anything about the fact that Doug knows the sorcerer supreme.
"And it presumably hasn't been released in all that time. But why someone should be trying to release it now specifically and trying to release it in the specific manner that has occurred is… somewhat of a troublesome question. Either way I would also quite also like for that to not happen. Better safe than sorry, yes."
"I'm sorry the what now?" That's to Doug. Nemedian Chronicles?
At least Doug should have been thoroughly vetted by SHIELD and so is one of the good guys, right? And good guys would never pal around with the baddies. Never.
Said maybe-baddie gives s snort. "If it's a date, do I need to provide dinner? Because the food at my place sometimes requires being re-killed." One thing Illyana doesn't have a lot of is money. The kind that stores and restaurants take, at any rate.
When Doug brings up Doctor Strange, Illyana worries her bottom lip a bit again. "Think we should bring this up to him? I'm not sure if he'd be annoyed with Yet Another Doomsday Prophecy type deal if I tell him, or annoyed that I'm trying to hide it if I *don't* bring it up." While Illyana will certainly never admit to any sort of fear of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, trying to live in New York when the top mage is pissy with you would get tiring really damned fast.
"You know." Doug murmurs, "Between the age when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas…" He glances to Illyana and then says, "Ew, no, I'll spring for thai food. I don't want to eat anything that might tell me to *chew harder* while I eat it."
"Well I mean…" Doug says, "…He seemed like kinda a weirdo, so—maybe as a last resort."
Koa steeples both hands and lays them on the table so that the triangle they form is pointing between Doug and Illyana. "You both know the Sorcerer Supreme?"
Koa does not, naturally, know him. He does know of him and the fact that both Miss Scary Eyes and Mister Reads All The Things do gives him a professional interest in this beyond the help they were providing him. And the help he hopes they might continue to provide him.
"Is that something I need to be concerned about?" He asks both. Not about the food chewing. About Stephen Strange. He's a bit teasing about that and it's evident from his voice, definitely.
Illyana Rasputina perks up at the mention of Thai food. "I like Thai." As if Doug didn't already know that. Of course, Illyana likes a lot of food that's not from Limbo.
The description of Strange as 'kinda a weirdo' gets a snicker from Illyana. "Ungrateful brat, he let you borrow some of his books!"
That chilly gaze slides over to Koa as he reiterates his question about knowing the Sorcerer Supreme. "Well, he'd probably be kinda put-out if he found out from someone *else* that I'd moved into town. I mean, 'know' might imply a bit more of a relationship than we actually have. I brought Doug along in case I needed to hammer out a contract. Legaleese isn't really English anymore." So *that's* why she dragged him with her! Illyana's head tilts over to the side in a curious sort of manner. "Why would that be a cause for concern?"
"Yeah I know." Doug says. "And we both like it so spicy it's almost inedible." He gives Illyana big cheeky grin when she calls him an ungrateful brat, and then he glances back to Illyana and then says, "Really? I just thought you thought it was funny. I mean I was just… brought along?" He says, before he shrugs and says, "She needs backup, I back her up. It's what we *do*."
"Are her backup needs often linguistic?" Koa chuckles wryly. He knows that Doug is a SHIELD agent and that means he's good for a certain minimum level of 'Backup.' And if this Illyana has know him for all that long he thinks it likely that he's probably good for better than that minimum level. Especially if he can get books loaned from Doctor Strange.
The question from the blonde sorceress gets a half smile. "When Doctor Strange gets involved in things it tends to mean a great deal of extra paperwork for me. Also when he sees fit to be involved in things it typically means that they are very serious."
Not that this wasn't sounding serious already but from Koa's understanding one does not call the SorcSupreme to deal with random hauntings. One calls Koa for that. So you know. His involvement sort of raises the stakes. If they needed any raising.%r
"Or should I be more worried that the two of you are involved?" That's also asked with that same faint half smile. "Miss Knows All The Dark Magic Rasputina."
Yes Rasputina. Not Rasputin as she had told him.
"I'm only really good at English, Russian and a few demonic tongues. Of *course* I need linguistic backup. Do you know how many magical tomes *aren't* in my wheelhouse?" And most of the magic she'd like to learn? Definitely aren't. "Even if it *is* in English, it's several hundred years old and reads like spaghetti." Illyana gives an annoyed huff of breath. Demons can keep a cohesive written language for thousands of years but humans? Not even close.
The blonde woman looks back to Doug. "Funny was a perk, but it wasn't the primary reason. Or even the secondary. I have layers, damnit. Like an onion."
Turning back to Koa, Illyana taps some of the documents. "Well, the goal of this is definitely of the 'very serious' variety. How probable it is? Not sure yet. They might be trying to dial up some minor demon thinking he's an actual Power. Hard to know for sure, but if these are all talking about the same thing? It does tend to lend it some weight y'know?"
Koa's final question gets one of Illyana's smirks. "You should *always* worry."
"It also helps that I have *negative* magical talent." Doug says, "So I'm extremely unlikely to accidentally cast a spell. Just the way things work out. I mean I could prrrrrobably learn to do it? Polymath. But! But. I *don't*, because that's *her* job."
He then reaches out, and puts his finger on the tip of Illyana's nose. "…Right? Boop!"
"It's not the spells that people with no magical spark have to be worried about…" Koa says with a small knowing smile. He unbuttons his cuff and rolls back his sleeve to reveal a bracer - that's the only word that quite fits - on his left arm. It's shaped like a coiled snake, an asp for those who might know - and has a head just above his wrist and one down just above the crook of his arm. There's a couple of cicular spots on that arm that suggest that the rear head has bitten him before.
"Some artifacts need real knowledge and power to use. But some will work for whomever touches them. Or worse, will eat you for fuel." Artifacts are indeed what Koa does a lot of the time.
The lesson is really while it's a good idea to be careful what you say, you should be REALLY careful what you touch. Or allow to touch you.
"The fact that something of this variety was used to assault the Asgardian most closely associated with Light is also concerning given what Doug said about Light and Wisdom. Wisdom for the Asgardians would be… Odin possibly. Or maybe Frigg. Not quite clear and I'm not much inclined to go knock on the door and ask them. But that does suggest I should be alert for another attempt."
Of course the incantation was not quite specific. Someone might go after Ra. Or Thoth. Or Athena. And it would probably be less obvious if someone did… since they tend to be themselves somewhat less obvious if indeed they are even present on this earth.
"The similarities are too many for me to think that it's not related at this point. And yeah as you point out it could be a minor Power or one that has weakened over time but that seems like a bad assumption to make."
Wow. Bold man nose booping her.
Illyana Rasputina narrows her eyes at Doug as he boops her nose. You know what Doug missed in his roommate negotiations? No demons in Doug's bed. Or his closet. And his shoes. Yep. Demons everywhere. "I am *so* telling everyone your name is Language Lad."
The cuff on Koa's arm gets an arched brow, and Illyana looks from it to him. "That's not stuck on you, is it?" Because if it is she can probably get it off. Strong magical artifacts don't get destroyed by contact with her staff, but they can usually get disrupted long enough to get it off if needed.
"Doug's mine. Nothing gets to eat him without my permission." Illyana says, perhaps as a warning to Koa's bracer.
"They already call me that!" Doug says. Then he glances over to Koa, and he gives an easy shrug. "We're old friends." He says. "I wouldn't recommend trying it right out of the box; she knows she means a lot to me, and I… I dunno. I guess I belong to her?" He puts his hand behind his head.
If there's going to be demons, they'd better learn how to dust.
"I do not typically boop the noses of powerful sorcerers who exude auras like hers. In fact I do not typically boop the nose of sorcerers in general." Not fellow sorcerers. Just sorcerers. So no he was not thinking of doing anything like that to Illyana. Or touching Illyana. Because he still wants his hand.
"The Asp won't be eating Doug, I assure you. And no it's not stuck on me." By way of demonstration he pulls it off, which takes a little working during which time if one looks closely the coils seem to loosen. It also reveals that yes, he has been bit multiple times by this thing."
That she belongs to him is… well could just be a turn of phrase so Koa isn't going to do a deep psychological dive on it but it does mirror the language of some of the more inhuman type creatures he's run into so it does get a raised brow to Doug. "That's probably the safest thing for you, Doug, truth be told."
That's a joke, yes? Well actually it IS a joke. But it is possibly also true.
"Agent Language Lad doesn't roll off the tongue. What about Agent Rosetta Stone?" This is possibly not any better and probably quite a bit worse. Also that's probably trademarked.
"Oh by the way, Doug, if you're ever bored or otherwise unoccupied and want something to spice things up, there's typically always something that WAND needs translated or spoken to and frequently it's in a hard to get to, and sort of dangerous location. Or is sort of dangerous itself."
Illyana Rasputina leans in towards Doug, "If you're mine and he wants to borrow you, do I get paid?" Because again, somewhat lacking in the human money here.
The blonde woman nods to the papers that Doug's been reading and taking notes on. "You done with that, or do we need to take it with us." She's really just assumed that he's memorized the whole thing already. "I'm hungry and hot dogs aren't my first choice." Which is Illyana-speak for 'Feed me Seymour'.
Doug gives Illyana a little smirk. He holds up the sheaf of papers between them, and then he holds it out to Koa. "I'll tell you what." He says, "We'll go to one of the really GOOD Russian places, someplace where the menu's not in English."
He flicks his gaze back to Koa, and then says, "If you want to bring me in as an analyst on something, just requisition me and go through my superiors at SHIELD. Though I'm taking a little step back, less office work, more on-call. I wanted to reconnect with the people who matter in my life."
There's a quick glance to Illyana at 'people who matter in life' but hey, he has no idea and it is not at the moment super relevant. He supposes it might GET relevant if something he's dealing with tries to eat Doug so he'll keep that firmly in mind.
Either way Koa takes the papers. "I'll keep that in mind, Doug. Thank you for the help. And Miss Rasputina… drop by any time. Preferably not on top of me."
He might regret saying that later but fortune favors the bold. Again he does not say 'thank you' to her.
Just a hunch.
"By the way what happened to my TWISBI?"
Illyana Rasputina just *grins* at Koa, all predatory teeth. Maybe it's the only answer he's getting to his question. Maybe it's because he just gave her a blanket invitation. Either way, that's all he gets by way of goodbye as stepping disks open beneath her and Doug, rising upwards and leaving Koa suddenly as alone as he started.
Doug glances to Illyana. "So hey, did you ever think about-" Then they're gone. Zoop!