2019-04-06 - A Very Special Snowflake

Summary:

The Rasputin siblings meet up at a park in Mutant Town amidst friends new and old.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Sat Apr 6 23:35:09 2019
Location: Mutant Town

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

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koa-turnerkeikodouglas-ramseypiotr-rasputinillyana-rasputina

Mutant Town has suffered since the attack on the United Nations, but there are pockets the area that are trying not to let the desire for safety override the sense of community. One of these areas is the largest park in the neighborhood (though that's still not saying a lot) that's sort of 'claimed' by a number of the local plant-based power mutants. There's some community gardens and unlike a lot of parks in areas of disrepair, the grass and trees and other flora don't look like it's barely hanging on.

It's afternoon on a weekend, and if a nicer portion of the city the park would probably be packed. This one's not, but it's still a good turnout for Mutant Town. There are a few park vendors with ice cream or hot dogs and the like and children run around in the background.

Illyana doesn't really stand out too much, even with her heavy-metal-reject attire. She's at the ice cream cart, looking over the selection with a very serious expression.

The emergent Mutant culture is interesting to behold. The social divisions between mutants become marked, as 'pinkskins' or 'smoothskins' are viewed as having social privilege over those mutants who can't hide their mutations. Doug stopped hiding his a long time ago - he's got an (X) patch on his jacket, a social mark of his mutation. Right now, it's slung over his shoulder and he's got a t-shirt on that says 'I CHEATED ON THE VOIGHT-KAMPFF TEST'.

"So yeah, I'll just be gone for a couple of days," He murmurs to Illyana, as he stands next to her at the ice cream truck. He already knows what he's going to get — a red white and blue rocket pop.

There is a recent arrival in Mutant Town. And even among the mutants, the 6 and a half foot tall mutant stands out in a crowd - without going into his full armored mode. The close cropped hair, the masively built frame, that from a lifetime of hard work. Dressed in a pair of overalls with a flannel shirt and a good pair of sturdy leather work boots. Very late 90s Russian peasant - and terribly out of date for New York; even in the run down parts of Mutant Town.

In his hand the phone he has is dwarfed within his grip, and he's frowning at it. "I see the park." he says, glancing towards it, "…but I do not see.." And that's when he finds the blonde at the ice cream cart. She's grown. Again. Maybe not as much as the /first/ time. But every time that Piotr gets a visit from his sister, she seems older. She looks older. He always promised to be the older brother; but the way she's outpacing him, it's getting harder and harder to prove that. There's a brief pang of regret that washes over Piotr's features, before he pushes it down. No. This is not Illyana's fault. She cannot help what has happened to her. And he will always be there. Because it's what he does. But he has to make sure.

That is why the Russian, heavily accented with the western Siberian lands speaks up. "«Snowflake?»"

Sam Guthrie catches up with Illyana and Doug, having taken a quick stop to give some spare change to a frog-faced mutant playing the guitar on the side of the road, "Gotta admit, never thought I'd hear a reggae version of 'Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys", but, I'll be damned, it's pretty darn good."

He peers over her shoulder at the menu, considering his own options when Piotr approaches.

Not everything in Koa Turner's life is hunting down dangerous things, speaking to spirits and hobnobbing with museum officials and archeologists. Most of the things in his life are that, but not all of them.

Which means he is for once not down this way on official business. Koa rather likes M-Town. It's a bit dodgy in places but that's true of a lot of interesting spots in New York. At the moment the casually dressed Agent is in jeans and short sleeves and a cap to keep the sun oof. This DOES expose the rather ornate golden snake themed bracer on his arm but in a place like M-Town that's almost mundane. It's hard to get entirely away from work though. As he's getting himself a hot dog his phone beeps with a message which makes him sigh.

"Another casefile from the NYPD. I wonder if oh hullo. Look who it is…"

It's hard to miss Illyana with Koa's senses. And he recognizes Doug as well. After a moment's consideration he decides to invite himself on over to what looks like a social gathering.

"Miss Rasputina. Mister Ramsey. Fancy seeing you here." He says as he approaches… and pauses. Sam is breifly (but only briefly) glossed over as Piotr shows up. Holy hell that man is big. Not 'giant' mind, just big.

Mutant Town isn't somewhere where Keiko is usually found, but even here, people have things that need fixing. That's a good cover, at any rate. The real truth to her presence here, is the mutant child that went missing two nights ago - there's flyers pasted to poles around the place and it's caused a slight stir.

Right now though, the small, dark skinned woman is buying an icecream when she hears familiar voices, causing her to look in their direction. "Agent Turner. Still following me, I see." she says dryly. And … she *still* doesn't know Illyana's name.

Illyana Rasputina looks over at Doug finally. "Chipwitch." She says, putting in her order. With Doug, not the ice cream vendor. He's not going to be able to argue with her either, because then Piotr shows up behind her and the blonde is turning around with a smile.

Sam and Doug know how rare real smiles are from Illyana and she steps over to him and practically bounces up to throw her arms around his neck in a hug. "Piotr!" Really, she kind of needs to hop to manage that, given he's got nearly a foot on her even if she does have thick-soled boots.

Hearing her name, which is really unexpected since Illyana doesn't know too many people, she looks over at Koa in time to see him sort of goggling at her brother and snickers. "Agent. Are you stalking me?" Because it seems to be a running joke Keiko has with him. Also, Piotr's reaction should be amusing.

Doug gives a little sidelong grin, aand opens his wallet to take out a few bills. "Chipwich," He says, "And a rocket pop," He glances to Sam and then flicks his gaze over the menu and then back at Sam, and then he says, "And a nutty buddy for my buddy over here." He pushes the bills across the counter, and gets an armful of frozen treats.

"What's up?" He asks. Then he murmurs, "There's a club a few blocks from my building where one of the regulars has two heads, and one of his specialties is singing a duet of 'Angel from Montgomery' all by himself. Last time I heard someone do *that*, it was your little brother, Sam. Though that was even more impressive since Josh only has the one head. Koa." He glances to Keiko, "Ma'am."

Warm laughter bubbles from the large Russian as Illyana bounces at him, and Piotr reaches up to pick up the blonde - more than comfortable with invading family space. Apparently noone sent Piotr the memo that Illyana doesn't like that stuff. Giving her an affectionate squeeze, he starts speaking to her in rapid fire Russian to try to figure out how she's doing. "«I was told you were missing again! I came as fast as I could. But you are back. What happened?»"

Then he realizes that he's in America, and has to change gears, calming down as he gives Illyana another warm squeeze, and it takes a few extra moments to settle her down, because she has been missed. And besides their brother, they are the only family that the other has.

Then she's mentioning that she's being stalked. And this brings a rise of his brow, and the man's form shifts. There's a reason he was wearing the baggy clothing of a Russian peasant farmer. Because suddenly he's over seven and a half feet tall, and covered in metal. "You are stalking her?" he asks, his eyes narrowing in a threat assessment of Koa.

"Not yet." Koa gives Illyana a slight smirk. He's not really equipped to stalk people, he'd have to get SHIELD to do that for him. Or, well, perhaps figure out how to do it himself. Which is possible but seems ill advised when it comes to th blonde. Doubly sowhen the big guy speaks up.

"No, I'm not." He clarifies, and holds out a hand. "Koa Turner. Hope I'm not interrupting anything?" That's offered to Sam as well. Well, the hand is. And the introduction. The bit about interrupting is for everyone.

"You I don't need to stalk, Keiko. I have this." He says waggling his phone in Keiko's direction. "You do seem to get around though. What are you fixing up this time?"

As long as he has his phone out, he swipes a few buttons to send the file he just got to hers. She can review it later.

Keiko nods to the group, holding the icecream she just purchased. Vanilla it seems. She has to look up Piotr to be able to see his face, which might explain why she hangs back a bit. "You're making an assumption, Agent, that I can *answer* my phone."

Of course, Koa's message arrives causing her phone to buzz and she nearly drops her icecream in surprise.

"Someone's kitchen cabinet has seen better days and needed repairing." It's said lightly. It's true - that's what she was doing. It's just not all she was doing. "Uh, my name is Keiko. Not Ma'am."

Illyana Rasputina almost pouts when Koa doesn't fluster when Piotr goes all literal knight in Shining Armor. "Piotr, this is Agent Koa Turner with WAND. We've run into each other a few times. And that's his sidekick, Keiko." She adds helpfully.

The blonde sorceress reaches over to snag her ice cream from Doug before looping an arm through Piotr's much larger one. Where Piotr's English is heavily accented, Illyana's isn't. But she still speaks perfectly serviceable Russian, replying to her brother with a light sigh. « It's complicated, and a long, mess explanation. But I'm safe from Belasco now. » No third try for him at kidnapping her, damnit.

"«I was not here. I should have been.»" There's that self-admonishment from Piotr as he returns to that more normal, if no less formidable human form. And when she makes the introduction, the Russian offers a bow of his head. "I am Piotr Rasputin. Illyana is my sister." As if that was not already figured out by this point.

The dark-skinned woman with the group gets a smile, and his attention turns to the artwork on her arms. The large man actually leans over to study it further. "That is. Very intricate. It must have taken many hours." he says in observation of the woman's ink. "It is impressive."

With that, he is turning his attention the ice cream that Illyana has, and he smiles warmly. "I have not had ice cream sandwich since last time I was in America."

Doug tosses Sam his ice cream cone as he heads off, and he enjoys his red white and blue popsicle, and then, being a sport, he turns back to the cart. "Odin shokoladnyy tako dlya etogo bol'shogo cheloveka." He gestures to Piotr with his thumb, and the guy running the truck gives him… a choco taco. "Hey, Piotr." Having spoken to get his attention, he tosses it to the giant underhand. "Hup."

It's not that Koa wasn't scared. Threatening Piotr is threatening. It's that he didn't quite fluster. He's got expereince not looking terrified at least. The pout though gets another small smirk.

"Sidekick, did you hear that Keiko? If you can't answer your phone I can still find you." That might not be ominous at all… "You get into M-Town often doing that kind of work?"

"Nice to meet you Mister Rasputin. Call me Koa, if you like. And yes I've run into your sister a couple of times and Doug at least once." There's a short pause.

"Well, he landed on top of me actually. So literally run into, I suppose." That had kind of hurt, now that he thinks on it.

"You all just out enjoying the sun, for once, and the atmosphere?" The steady progress of spring toward summer has brought more heat to the city. Which is nice. And more humidity. Which is… less nice.

The word 'Belasco' stands out amid the Russian and makes Koa frown slightly. That's a name, he can tell. Why does it tickle something in the back of his brain.

Probably nothing. Maybe. Possibly.

"Not his sidekick." Keiko mutters to Illyana at least now she knows the blondes name. "Nice to meet you, Piotr. You're … very tall." Her accent, is a mix - a heinz variety. The type of accent that happens when you move about a lot or mix with different cultures when you're growing up.

Sam gets a look as he heads off and Doug a small, tight, smile. This is a woman who is used to keeping herself. Everything about her says she prefers to avoid attention. And yet, here she is. "You are Doug, yes?"

Piotrs attention to her tattoos has her rubbing her arms. He can see the animals depicted there. On her right arm, a wolf, a tarantula and a harpy eagle. All very colourful and incredibly lifelike.

"They took a long time, yes. Years." she answers simply but it's her reaction to the name 'Belasco' that might be a bit off. Did she recognise it?

Years for the tattoos? She has so many, she couldn't have been very old when she started.

"Not often, Agent, no. And I'm not your sidekick." that's repeated just in case Koa is hard of hearing. "There's a lot to look at here, though."

Illyana Rasputina gives a small huff of breath as Piotr admonishes himself. « Even if you were here, how would you have gotten to me in Limbo? » She hugs his arm that she's still got hold of. « You are here for me now, and that is what is important. »

If Illyana feels rude speaking in another language in front of people, it certainly doesn't show. She does switch back to English again. If it's to be nice or because the topic isn't as sensitive isn't clear. "Do you have somewhere to stay?" There's an innocence to the question that should have Doug groaning in 3… 2…

"Years." echoes Piotr. Maybe it means something different in English, because he's sure that she's only as old as he is. At most. His attention turns away, a blush on his cheeks for a moment from making her uncomfortable with the staring as he catches the frozen confection. "Blagodaryu vas." he offers to Douglas as it is accepted.

"I am new to city. To America, really. Been a while since I have visited." Piotr offers to the others as he feels the squeeze of Illyana's hand on his arm, and he shakes his head.

"I have taken a job at the school. I will be an art teacher. I am not sure of lodging." he admits, reaching to unwrap his ice cream to munch on it.

"Was tall before mutant. Was big before mutant. Mutant only make me bigger." he offers with shrug. "And shiny. I have no place to stay. What is WAND?" he asks, looking between the others, but the talk turns to Belasco.

"Reminds me of story I told you I was young. Of the Ruka nochnoy vor. He was armless soldier, had arm replaced with metal. Would find bad boys and girls and steal them in night. Steal their arms for himself. Because they were naughty." Little does he know that the armless Russian /does/ exist. Except that he's American. It's complicated. "I used to tell you those stories to scare you. Never expected them. Baba yaga were to be true. I am here now. I will help protect you, yes."

Doug shrugs once and then says, "That's me, yeah. Doug Ramsey. Autograph queue starts at the back of the park."

When Illyana casually tosses that offer out Doug opens his mouth to say something, but Piotr's 'Will help protect you' makes him close it with a snap.

The look he gives Illyana is absolute puzzlement. Protect her? From WHOM? Illyana used to beat up townie boys who tried to bully DOUG.

…Big brothers, man. They'll only ever see their kid siblings a certain way. "…We'll talk about that." Doug says to Illyana. Which means he'll cave. He sighs.

"Certainly didn't do you any harm…" Koa mutters, vis-a-vis Piotr's mutation. "What's WAND?"

Well there's a kettle of fish and no mistake. There are a number of answers to that question most of them long and fairly involved. To avoid launching into the beginnings of an orientation seminar he condenses the answer to: "Magical police, sort of. We're newish."

This of course may bring up other questions with people who have had magical problems such as 'where the hell were you when…'

"And yeah. Years. I'm given to understand my sidekick's tattoos are rather… unusual." They are. Very unusual. But yes he'll needle that sidekick button again.

"Protect?" That's asked to Illyana, Doug and Piotr simultaneously. Doug seems to be as in the dark on that as Koa is. But then Koa's curiousity is just that. For the three mutants it's probably a bit more personal.

"Not your sidekick." Keiko says more firmly, the stubborn look on her face indicating she might want to kick Koa. "WAND is an item that witches use. Wave it about to cast spells. For me, they conjure agents that stalk you." That is actually said with a straight face as she glares at Koa.

She'll feel sorry for Piotr in a moment. That wasn't fair.

"But yes, years." And she can't be much older than any of them really. Mid twenties at best.

The talk of stories as children seems to be over Keiko's head. "Those were lessons, yes? How you learned to use your powers?" beat "I don't think your sister needs anyone to protect her but it must be nice to have someone who does."

Illyana Rasputina purses her lips, looking thoughtful. Her head tilts over to the side a bit. "I think the school usually housed all of our teachers…" She looks over at Doug, who might have paid more attention to such things. All the teachers she remembers lived at the school. Doug might be in luck. The commute might also be a pain, unless Illyana helps.

The reminder of not-really-bedtime-stories has her wrinkling her nose in mock-annoyance. Being around Pitor, her expression is more relaxed and when she wrinkles her nose it looks almost… cute. "Those were horrible stories!" She grouses at him. "Bedtime stories are supposed to be full of princesses and happy endings." Considering that Illyana and Piotr look close in age, it might be curious why he was reading her stories. She shakes her head at Keiko. "No, my powers came in much, much later."

The blonde sorceress can't help but snicker a bit as everyone else gives Piotr a Look at Illyana needing protection.

He doesn't know why everyone is giving him looks. Piotr knows his sister needs protecting. That is his place as the older brother. "My powers came in coal mine. It collapsed. I helped others out. Snowflake was driving force." he says, before he shakes his head at Illyana. "Bedtime stories are supposed to teach lesson!" he protests to her between bites of his ice cream. Clearly, this is a distraction, because he's never had a choco taco before.

His attention drifts between Kao and Keiko, and he asides to Illyana quietly in thought. "«Sidekick? They are not couple?»"

"I will make sure you are right on the housing…" though he pauses at Illyana's comment.

"You are not living at school? You graduated. Where do you live now?"

…Doug recedes into the background. You get to handle this one, Illyana! It's amazing, how he can just… pick the instant where *nobody's looking at him* to be somewhere other than where he was previously standing. Mutant master of sneaking off.

"Snowflake?" Koa tries to pase that. "The mine collapsed because of snow?" That it might be a nickname has clearly not occurred to him and he both wasn't present and wouldn't have understood that when he addressed her as such in Russian.

Doug is so sneaky that even Koa misses him sneaking off and he's standing right there. He might flatter himself - well, his place of work - that it's good old SHIELD training but honestly it might just be innate talent. Smooooth.

"Fairy tales are important not because they teach us that dragons are real, but because they teach us that dragons can be beaten." Koa quotes from… someone. Keiko's sour faced look has the Agent wiggling his fingers in her direction as if miming casting a spell.

Of course this is not how you cast spells. Koa knows that all too well.

The housing question has him smirking slightly to see how it's answered. This is a very different look than he's seen before, with the blonde toying with people… well mostly toying with him actually, fishing for a name.

"You sure you don't want to be a sidekick, Keiko? Dental's good."

Keiko's grasp on the english language isn't that great, she parses Piotr's statement quite literally "You're mutant powers came in because you wanted to save a snowflake? That must have been a very, very special snowflake you wanted to save."

If she knew what the larger mutant in the group had just mindthought, Keiko might kick Kao for real.

"Dragons are real and can be beaten. But they are sometimes friends with the Princess as well. We were taught using stories …" She peters off, flushing slightly. Keiko doesn't speak of her childhood.

As Doug sneaks off, she gives Koa another dark look "You can contract me while we work on the abductions. I understand there was something written where the mutant child was taken? Something that no one has been able to translate yet?"

That might just get Dougs attention.

"I was like five, they were supposed to put me to *sleep*." Illyana argues with her brother, sticking her lower lip out a bit at him in stubbornness.

The question in their native Russian has her expression pulling into a smirk as she eyes Keiko and Koa. « Maybe they're hiding it for some reason. Or they're partial to angry sex. There's often some arguing involved. »

"Well I'm not a student, and I'm not teaching, so I can't live at the school. But that's OK, Doug has lots of room at his place!" She says oh-so-brightly. Guess now we'll see how good Doug's ability is to hide from big Russian brothers.

Koa and Keiko's confused questions have Illyana helping them out. "My brother used to work in a coal mine in Siberia. There's a lot of snow there." There is no comment on the Very Special Snowflake.

It wasn't mindspeak, it was Russian! Illyana's response in Russian caues Piotr's cheeks to darken. Dating? Not so much. Keiko's statement starts to catch Piotr's attention…

…right up until she mentions she's living with Doug.

"You are living with him." Piotr restates it as if to confirm the blonde's words. And then he straightens up. There's a crunching noise as what's left of the choco taco dies a terrible death in Piotr's hand, and the vanilla dairy blood flows between his fingers in a sticky, chocolately, waffle-coney mess. His blue eyes narrow at the translator..

….who was just /right/ there.

There's a low rumble from deep within the large Russian's throat. A sound of disapproval as he clicks his tongue. "Is there something else I should know, Illyana?"

Sigh. Call Doug Ramsey many things, but never, EVER call him a coward.

He returns, and absently puts his hand on Illyana's shoulder, and looks up - and up - and up - at Piotr, because Doug is only 5'9" and Piotr is so much more than that.

But he still lets Illyana do all the talking here. Keiko did get a brief and curious look - put a pin in that, his expression says, right now I have to deal with someone whose scowling face appears in the dictionary next to the definition of 'Overprotective'.

"Yeah. That makes twenty or so of them now. Last one was yesterday." Koa says quietly. It's the quietly of someone who might have a bucket of popcorn in a movie theater. He really wants to see what happens here. Partly because it tells him a lot about the people he's dealing with.

Koa is REALLY tempted to throw gasoline on this fire but he doesn't. Not quite yet. Partly because it would be cruel but also partly because if one plays with fire, one might get burned. He might object to some of the things that are being said about he and Keiko really only the Russians (and Doug) understand what's being said there.

And Doug looks like he's going to be busy in the next couple of minutes so he's not likely to translate.

"And one from here…" a mutant child. Keiko nods, eyes widening as things get interesting. "Uh, what's happening?" that's said quietly. "Do I need my wolf?"

She hasn't understood the Russian, but if she did, Koa would be to blame for that.

There's a bit of the wicked glint Illyana gets in her eyes when she's toying with someone as Piotr blushes, but she doesn't try to twist that knife any.

That gets reconsidered when he crushes the chocotaco. Maybe she tugged a bit too hard on that dragon's tail…

"I have my own room!" Illyana says, as though protesting… something? To her brother that looks right about her own age. Maybe he's younger. She doesn't mention she's also appropriated Doug's room along with Doug at least once. "And a turtle. I'm also living with his turtle." A pause. "And his turtle's girlfriend." Which is a ball. "See? It's like living at the school again." Totally.

"It's not like that." Doug says, agreeing with Illyana. And not mentioning the cuddling. "She just needed a place to live, and I was glad to have the company. I like your sister, Piotr… she's my friend." His cheeks pinken a bit as he studies his stance which kind of sort of gives the lie to his thinking on that but these are treacherous waters, so he keeps the safe course.

Then he glances over to the other two, "If you need something translated, forward it to me and I'll have it back to you inside of an hour, unless I'm transcribing a whole set of scrolls or something.

The hand flexes, dropping the remains of chocolate ice cream taco to the ground. "He is your roommate." That seems to clarify something in Piotr's mine. The snowflake is still a snowflake. "I will see your place." he offers no broker or offer for his sister to protest this. His arm leaves Illyana's hand, and he folds both of his arms over that barrel of a chest.

"And make sure that it is acceptable."

Douglas standing up to the large Russian gets the large man to look down at him. And there's a grumble at the back of his throat. Even in his fleshy form, it's still a loud noise. Then he looks to his sister. And he grunts. "We will discuss later." he gives a bow of his head towards Keiko and Kao, before he turns his attention to finding a place to wash his hands. "I should get to the Institute."

When Piotr turns away, Doug gives Illyana a *look*. He can say a lot with a look, he's the Mutant Master of Language.

Koa reaches into his back pocket and offers Piotr an alcohol wipe. It's almost comically undersized for his hands but hey, it's something right? What else he might find in a public park to wash his hands, the agent isn't sure.

"I don't think we'll need the wolf." Not sure how the wolf would help anyway. That seemed tense for a moment but family drama can be like that… he hears. His family is typically less…

They're from Hawaii, okay?

"It was nice to meet your Mister Rasputin. And yes, Mister Ramsey I'll be happy to send the image on over. It's just this…"

He holds out his phone. There's a picture of something scrawled on a wall in a dark red or brown substance, possibly blood. What language it is, is not clear to Koa, nor would it be to Keiko, nor Piotr. Doug will of course recognize it. It's what he does. And Illyana might, depending on what reading she's done.

"…And thirteen shall open the way." Doug says, looking at the symbol. "It looks like the demonic script scrawled all over Limbo, and it has a common root, but it's only a cousin language to Cthonian Demonic, which is what the demons in Limbo speak-"

Piotr glances at Koa and glowers. "Are you in my head?" He does not like people in his head. Because he knows he did not say Snowflake outloud. There was no need to. Mainly because he's a little pit out with his sister at the moment and her 'I'm living with a boy' bit.

But then Limbo's mentioned, and the mutant giant turns his attention back to the discussion. Hands clutch to his side in a flex.

Illyana Rasputina could teleport Piotr to the Institute, but she doesn't *need* to, and there's always that worry in the back of her mind that Limbo will corrupt someone. And the last person she wants touched by Limbo's corruption is Piotr. "Well make sure to let me know if you need anything." Like if they don't give him somewhere to stay

When Doug gives Koa the translation, she leans over that way to look at it over the translator's shoulder. "Definitely sounds like it's related to our guest."

Ohhh. She should tell Doug about their houseguest that she's got hidden away. The talkative demon she's hoping likes gardening…

"It does doesn't it. Thank you Mister Ramsey. Limbo you say, mmm?" Koa does not know where Illyana is keeping her guest. He nods his thanks to Doug though, though he looks like he just bit into something sour. Guess who is going to be putting in some weekend time now. Even if it's only distantly related to Cthonic Demoinic that gives him a place to start.

"Thirteen is not a great number and that sounds like it's part of a passage. I'll have to see if we have any matches in our library or database…" He's betting no but these things do sometimes come up.

"I'd appreciate knowing if your guest says anything useful about that. Beyond, you know, wanting to kill Keiko. Some more."

He smirks briefly at the woman. "Though I get the impulse, sometimes." Okay, that's just teasing.

"I don't know this Limbo…" The tattooed woman says as Piotr starts to depart. There's clearly something she does know though, she's not saying.

"No more than I want to kill you, Agent …" It's dry and maybe slightly angry. "But I would very much like to know what your guest has to say. Where are you keeping it?"

Doug looks at Illyana and says, "It's all right if he lives with us, by the way, if that's what you want. I don't dislike Piotr— it's just that he's gigantic and… bizzarely unable to see how capable you are of fighting your own battles." He shrugs his shoulders, and then says, "Though I gotta tell you, Witch Hazel, his grumpy stares might cut into cuddle-time…"

Illyana Rasputina glances over to Doug as Koa says he gets the impulse to kill Keiko and says in Russian to him with a faint smirk: « Angry Sex. »

As both Keiko and Koa muse on Limbo, Illyana gives them a faint sigh. "Limbo is another Hell Splinter Realm." She pauses. "It's my home." Another pause, given that she's just been talking about living with Doug. "My *other* home."

Speaking of home… The blonde woman shrugs almost guiltily about Piotr's blindness. "I'm his baby sister who, pardon the expression, grew up way too fast. He also hasn't had a lot of time around me since… stuff." A smirk curves her lips again at the mention of 'cuddle-time'. "You've always got Hercules."

"You think I don't?" Doug says to Illyana, "I learned how to knit just to make him a Spiny cozy and a Zaratan cozy… that's the one that looks like a tropical island, with the palm trees on it." He *dotes* on that tortoise.

"Ah." That explains a lot. Koa is aware of other realms but they haven't been his focus. With what's been going on lately he might have to start doing some extra reading. "That also explains why the languages of The Lifeless Realms and Limbo might be related." If only distantly. There's probably been a lot of time for divergence to happen.

If only he knew.

"Please tell me the Hercules is…" Yes. That. Okay. That's better than the alternative. Probably.

"I'll explain that to you later, Keiko. Unless either one of these two are inclined to." The splinter hell realm thing about does his head in, but he's got the basics.

Wait a minute. There's a quick glance to Keiko and then to the two mutants.

"Your home?" Which would mean Doug is currently living with… ah well, it WAS made clear that they went way back so maybe that's not surprising.

Risky. But not surprising.

Wait again…

"You knit, Mister Ramsey?"

Keiko narrows her eyes at the blonde sorceress, the smirk with the words make her wonder. The tattooed woman might be bilingual but that's the limit of it.

"Splinter realm … that … sounds familiar. Wait, you live in Limbo? But don't you live with … Doug?" The comments about cuddle-time seem to go right over her head. She's a little strange really.

"And Hercules. It must be very crowded in your apartment or a very large apartment. One or the other." Nope, no connection between the tortoise and the name. "What are … cozy's?"

Illyana Rasputina has run into Koa and Keiko enough times that she doesn't bother trying to hedge the question. "I was kidnapped when I was seven and grew up in Limbo for most of my life. Except for High School, when I was back on Earth and where I know Doug from. I'm the ruler of Limbo these days, so it's my home but when I'm on Earth Doug lets me stay with him." A pause as Doug shows off Herc in his cozy. "And the lizard."

Doug takes out his phone, and shows the two of them a picture of his tortoise. "This is him in his formal cozy:" He flashes them a picture of a tortoise in a knitted shell cozy that looks like a tuxedo jacket. He swipes the image to one of him in a knitted Gamera tortoise cozy, then Stegosaurus, Spiny, Winged Koopa Troopa, and Ice Cream Sundae.

That would make her a Splinter Lord and that's when Koa snaps his fingers. The name he'd recognized earlier. Belasco. He was also a Splinter Lord. The WAND agent doesn't know much about him beyond that, but he's sure he's seen the name on a list before.

He doesn't miss the part where she says 'when she's on Earth'. Yes, maintaining control over a dimension would be a lot of work he imagines.

"Got it. That's why you knew Sifror's name too. And that explains…" He waves his hand vaguely in Illyana's direction. It at least partly explains why she's so easy to spot. Though it doesn't REALLY explain the exact character of what he sees. Nor that white-eyed look he saw earlier. But he's not going to press that here.

And then there is HERCULES. "Oh wow. That, Keiko, that is a cozy. On a tortoise." He knits. He knits quite well, actually, from the looks of things.

"Is that a volcano on that one?" He knits QUITE well.

"Well done, Mister Ramsey." It's hard to say anything else. "You've been doing this for a while I can tell."

There's something in Keiko's eyes as Illyana speaks. It's sympathy but it's muted - it's like the tattooed woman knows better than to show it. "You split your home between the two places. That's a challenge, in itself." That the blonde is leader doesn't surprise Keiko.

It answers so many questions.

She's distracted though by the tortoise that's been dressed up. Clearly, she's not sure what to make of it. "I … see. And that is Hercules? And you … cuddle him?" Oh yeah, of all the things she did pick up. She picked up that.

Illyana Rasputina hitches one shoulder in a half-shrug. "I inherited the previous ruler's stuff so… instant library and whatnot." She doesn't say what happened to the previous ruler. It might be best not to ask.

The blonde sorceress snickers a bit as Doug gets to show off pictures of his tortoise like most parents do their children.

"About two months." Doug says, his voice as dry as the desert. "Yeah, I did that one so I could send the photo to another student Illyana and I went to school with. Volcanoes were her 'thing'." He swipes another one. New York Yankees cozy. He quirks his mouth and then says "Illyana professes not to like him. I think he's winning her over." He swipes to a photo where he is, yes, holding up the tortoise and giving it a hug. "I wanted something with more personality than a cat." Then he looks to Illyana with a look that says 'And then I got a cat.'

"Well it certainly has a lot of personality, I'll give you that. Well dressed too." The agent finally steps back. "Well, thanks for letting me intrude on your day out. Nice to see both of you again. I'd say the same to your brother but…"

But well he's certainly not going to track the man down with the mood he was in.

"I should be putting in some work, sadly." It's Saturday damn it. "Enjoy your afternoon though. Miss Rasputina, I'll be in touch if you don't mind, about your… guest. Keiko, we'll talk soon about the missing too."

Right now he's got some things to go over. With a wave, light sparkling off that serpent on his arm, he turns to head off.

"I … see…" Keiko's not certain what to make of the tortoise and the dress ups. She has an interesting take on life. "You appear to be very talented, Doug." That's the right thing to say, isn't it?

The look at Illyana doesn't register for her.

Her phone beeps again, causing her to jump as she fumbles with it, trying to unlock it. It's almost painful to watch for the tech literate. "Uh. Someone's managed to get their head caught in a window and they need help to fix the frame when they're removed. I must go too."

"I won't say I'm looking forward to speaking again, Agent Turner." She nods to Illy "And you know how to find me." She wonders how that's going to play out.

"Nice to meet you, Doug." She turns to and wanders off towards a bike not far away.

Illyana Rasputina seems oblivious to Doug's look as well. As everyone gets set to head out, Illyana sets up to Doug and puts an arm around his shoulders. A stepping disk appears at his feet. "So… I might have forgotten to tell you. You only said no demons in the *bathroom*, right…?"

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