Summary:A fleeing child and two evil magii. Could the day get any better? Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Salem, New York.
Salem is a town long accustomed to weirdness in everyday life. Or, maybe every week life if not every day. Being the nearest town to a school full of very special students tends to do that.
It's mid afternoon and just outside the ice cream parlor people are enjoying frozen treats as the weather heats up. There's some shopping going on but at the moment a lot of the action is on the other side of town as school is getting out so things are a bit on the quiet side here at the moment. Indeed there's only a couple of people relaxing and enjoying sundaes and milkshakes. In forty five minutes tops the street will be much busier, the parlor packed, the shops full of people shopping and the park full of people meeting up, relaxing and kids boisterously playing.
But at the moment, thankfully, there's room enough on the sidwwalk for a broadshouldered man to not get bumped constantly.
Ice cream is one of those things that gets a special place of honor in Illyana's life. While just about any food on Earth is better than what she's grown up eating (or trying to eat *her*) in Limbo, Ice cream tops the charts, and it's a rare day that the blonde will turn it down. And while her time at Xavier's taught Illyana how to live around other people and not get arrested, she still doesn't like to mill among strangers so this period of lull is right up her alley.
Walking down the street with her ice cream in a bowl so she can take her time savoring it without worrying about it melting all over her hands, Illyana has finally had enough of the brooding silence on her left. "OK. Out with it. It's like walking with a raincloud." Pause. "Or maybe Eeyore."
No, he's not going to talk about how his running into Kitty at the school. Or the conversation they had. That turned into an argument. And you know, her tears. And yeah, that did not go well. As in at all. "There is nothing to talk about."
It's a valiant attempt to lie by the older brother, as Piotr has a more sensible cone in his hand - he's not one to not indulge his sister's wants for ice cream when she wants it. "It is a process, and I am still adjusting to being back in America." And while that is true, it's not the root of the issue that has him slightly slumped.
And when you're six foot five and built like a brick house, a slump, even a slight one is noticable.
There's a high pitched shriek as the two walk together. It might cause the both of them to wince. One thing they know, it's young and probably female.
Indeed it is. There she is, a little blonde moppet pelting helter skelter for them, dressed in only a nightdress, hair askew. Seeing the two of them, she turns her bare feet in their direction. "The bad lady is chasing me…"
On her back, a pack bounces almost jauntily. So out of character from what they are seeing.
"Mmmmm." Illyana says around ice cream, so Very Not Buying It. But she doesn't press. But she's likely to drop in on Kitty to get the story out of *one* of them.
The blonde woman has her spoon in her mouth when the shriek fills the air, and said spoon stays there as she comes to a stop and slowly looks around to see what's going on. Then the little girl comes into view and aims right for them, which is not something Illyana's used to. People avoid her, even unconsciously. Sometimes they'll cross to the other side of the street without realizing it, the touch of dark things whispering to their subconscious that something dangerous walks among them.
Illyana leans over towards Piotr, "*I'm* usually the 'bad lady'." She jokes softly, though her tone is anything but, gaze moving past the girl to see who might be chasing her.
Piotr internalizes. It's what he does best. He bottles things, sets them on the shelf, and leaves them there. He starts to pop the remains of the cone in his mouth in thought. And his conversation with his sister is still in it's native Russian. "Besides. It is not worth issue." he starts to say, when the child's scream yanks the man out of his own dark reprieve.
"You are no baba yaga." he responds to Illyana's barb. However, he also can tell by the tone of her voice, as well as the approach of the child that something is amiss.
It only takes a moment, and the large man shifts into his heavily armored and metallic form. The light reflects off of his steel skin as the golem looks down at the child that is approaching. "Do not fear. My sister and I will help you, solnyshko." Taking a firm stand, he turns his attention from the girl to down the street to see if the change in height may give him a better view of what is coming.
The girl throws herself at Piotr, chest heaving as she nearly sobs. "Please, stop her … " Piotr can't help but see the small drops of blood on the inside of her upper arm. "She's coming. I know she is …"
As Illyana moves past the young blonde, she can see a tall, dark skinned woman hurrying after "Bethany! Come back here …" she calls. Ignoring Illyana and focussing on Piotr. "She had a bad dream, Sir. I'm sorry to bother you."
Sure. Illyana can't miss the power about this woman. There's something vaguely familiar about the feel of the power. It's dark and it's cold and … the womans accent is very similar to another she's heard recently.
Bethany, that has to be the moppets name, scurries around Piotr and hides behind one massive leg.
There's a sudden chill in the air behind them. Something hisses in a dry leaves against the grass kind of manner. Should either of the mutants look a spindly creature with too long legs and too long arms about is perched on the awning of the shop behind them. It seems… ethereal, is if it's not quite there. At full eight it'd probably be taller than Piotr but it's hunched over so that it's only about half Illyana's height.
It's face is near featureless. Lank black hair hangs around it and it has no mouth. It stretches out a taloned hand.
"Sssssshhheeeee is not yours." It's not clear if that's addressed to the woman approaching or to Piotr and Illyana.
It drops to the ground, twenty feet away - behind Piotr and Illyana.
"Come chilllllllld."
Yeah that seems unlikely.
While the dark-skinned woman ignores Illyana to focus on Piotr, the blonde physically interposes herself before the other woman can close with the tall metal man. Illyana's gaze narrows as she senses magic on that woman. "How about we just slow things down a bit…"
She breaks off as there's that *other* breath of magic, followed by hissing speech. She turns her body a bit, so she doesn't turn her back on the woman, to watch the spindly thing drop to the sidewalk. Illyana glances to her brother, giving the girl a slight nod. Unspoken, the directive for him to guard the girl. Illyana can take the offensive if needed.
"Rebyonok, stay close." Not that the little girl is getting much of a choice. As Illyana seems to be set off by the 'mother', Piotr is noticing the girl ducking behind him and he tries to turn to offer his arms. He can protect her better if he's holding her, after all.
That's when the shadows coalesce, and there's a new entrant. The mutant golem's legs straighten, and he pulls himself into a more defensive posture, intent on keeping the girl tucked in close as the creature arrives.
Though the idea of Illyana being on the offensive does not sit well with him. "We should move this from population." he warns his sister gently in Russian. "Just in case."
Bethany shudders when the woman speaks, readily clambering into the metal mans arms. She's trembling. "Nnnnooo, you were sticking me with something and it hurt. I want my mommy…." she sobs again.
The tall woman finally notices Illyana, eyes widening. She's probably wondering how on earth she missed that power about the blonde - except she'd really been focussed on the girl. "Well, well, what do we have he——" she curses under her breath as the creature appears.
"Vile servant of another Lord, begone. You will not collect those you are seeking…" Illyana can feel the power swell about the tall woman as she starts to mutter a spell.
Aimed … at who? That's a very good question.
This is where things get tricky. The long gangly creature just LUNGES at Piotr and tries to rip the child bodily from his arms. That chill around him becomes supernatural, an almost biting cold that threatens to focus in on both the Rasputins and perhaps literally sap the life from them or freeze their blood in their viens.
There's no art to the attack but this thing is fast and it's strong, even by mutant standards. Keeping the child away from it AND defending himself will be tough for Piotr and if it manages to get a back shot in on Illyana.
Who has her own problems as a spell starts to materialize around the sorceress opposite the blonde hell queen.
Well, looks like this is *not* going to be solved with a nice conversation and the offering of tea. Illyana's about to summon her staff when Piotr says to relocate them. She shoots him a frown but doesn't have time for much more as things start all happening at once. Raising her arms she summons a fairly large stepping disk behind the dark-skinned woman and then 'pulls' it along the sidewalk so that it swallows the woman, followed by Illyana, then Piotr with Bethany and then the spindly creature to dump them all into the wasteland that is Limbo.
The portal winks out, trapping everyone in the pocket dimension and Illyana gestures over the creature that's thrown itself at her brother. Another disk opens, about a dozen feet off the ground and a certain blue-haired slice of evil comes falling through it.
All of this leaves Illyana momentarily vulnerable to the casting woman.
"Nyet!" Piotr roars as the creature lunges at him. The child is shifted to his left arm so that it may wrap around the child and keep her safe. But that right arm? As the creature comes rushing in to try to rip at the young one, Piotr swings his fist out, intent on slamming into into the 'face' of the creature as it rushes at him. The feels the chill, colder than a Siberian winter night, around the metal of his arm, and beneath.
A hiss of breath from the Russian comes out with the puff of white air of steam from the sudden cold. "Boishe moi!" Ripping his arm back, it comes in to further protect the child.
The creature manages to rip at the cloth over the metal frame of the mutant powerhouse, but the idea of him standing still is not of the mutant's mind. Instead, much like a bull that has been engranged - or as a running back would protect the ball, Piotr curls the child closer to him. It's unspoken, but as siblings tend to bond, even after time apart, Piotr's action is an unspoken prompt to his sister as he lowers his shoulder to barrel at the more human of the two creatures.
It helps that Illyana's disk transports the group, because it gives the metal giant a chance to gain a full head of steam.
See, Illyana has taught him some things about magic. One of those is that casters tend to have to /stop/ for more powerful spells. The question is - will the woman stay still when it comes to the 500 pound giant made of organic steel barreling down on her.
"No!" Bethany squeaks, burrowing into Piotrs arms and making herself as small as possible. She squeaks again and goes very, very silent as they're transported. She doesn't say a thing at the moment - the sky is blood red and the landscape … she doesn't want to think about it.
The dark haired sorceress doesn't quite get her spell off as the stepping engulfs her, the result finishing as they all appear in the hellscape. It's a bolt of lightning - supposedly aimed at Illyana but quickly redirected to that spindly thing. It might hit. It might go wide. It might hit Eve as she arrives.
Her eyes widen as Piotr starts lumbering towards her. Uh no, she's not going to stay still, she tumbles, trying to avoid the man mountain.
It had been a wondeful day for Eve up until this moment.
It had started with a simple work day in which she did not get shot, accosted, or otherwise mutilated or mangled. From there, it slid into an early afternoon of returning home to her Very Gothy Apartment where she made some popcorn, settled into her seat, and prepared to binge Outlander. Sure, she's seen every episode before, but what can you do when you have countless hours to fill and literally no actual needs? Netflix and all other forms of str3eaming are a godsend for sleepless immortals.
So there she was , a bowl of popcorn inm hands, when SOMEONE dragged her to limbo where she goes tumbling end over end before laying on the ground there feor a moment with a bowl of popcorn on her head.
"What the actual fuck?" she asks aloud before sitting up and removing said bowl.
Things are going to get real uncomfortable for Eve really quickly unfortuntely. Something big, with spindly arms and taloned hands and a sunken face with NO MOUTH grabs her and just starts… draining something from her. Warmth. Life. Power. It takes everything it can get a hold of from Eve in her moment of shock and aims it's free hand at Illyana. A bolt of black forms and it launches that power and malice right at the Darkchilde.
And then he's struck by lightning. Which means Eve is ALSO struck by lightning.
"'Welcome to the party, pal.'" Illyana calls over to Eve as the goth is unceremoniously dropped into the blonde's little slice of hell. Blame Doug's idea of Christmas movies while living at Xavier's.
"The metal guy's with me, the other two are the baddies!" Illyana yells, as if the creature jumping Eve wasn't enough of a clue. Piotr running down the woman and Eve taking the creature's attention, Illyana has a free moment to summon her Soul Staff to her.
On Earth, Illyana's magical signature is hard not to notice for those with magical senses. In her own realm? It practically screams.
——
As that black bolt comes crackling towards Illyana she raises both hands, one spread wide and the other grasping the staff. The color bleeds out of her eyes and they burn pure white with light as she blocks the attack with the body of the staff.
Power crackles and arcs as it impacts, slithering up and down the length of the staff before fizzling out. Illyana grins at the creature, a predatory thing full of teeth, including upper and lower fangs. "My turn." It's a warning. And a promise.
"Close your eyes." Piotr instructs Bethany as he keeps her concooned within his arms. "And do not listen. I shall protect you. And when this is done, I will tell you the story of Snegurochka, the snow maiden." If they live through this. And the story of the snow maiden may not be the best for a missing child, but he'll alter it if he needs to.
As the woman tumbles out of the way, Piotr gives a snort as he comes to a sliding halt. Dirt and brimstone buckle beneath him as he charges the woman again, intent on keeping her from being able to keep her balance, footing, or even give her time to speak a spell. Yes, both of his arms are currently occupied, Piotr is still capable of using his legs, though he can feel the prickles of cold, electricity, everything that is getting thrown around. And while his armor is magic resistant, it's not magic ''proof''.
"Malen'kaya snezhinka!" calls towards Illyana when she is under attack. Yes. They are in /her/ domain. Yes. She holds court here. Yes, she's the queen of Limbo.
But she's still his little snowflake, and the concern in the older brother's voice is obvious as he tries to keep the more human of the two creatures busy.
The Nightfall Magi swears. The accent is wrong but that sounds like Spanish - but a specific dialect. She tumbles again and Piotrs not wrong that she can't get a powerful spell off but she can still cast, it seems.
Green light swirls about her as she mutters in an unintelligble language.
As he charges, the earth beneath his feet buckles and creases. She's not attacking him directly, but using the terrain to her advantage. And she's good at it. That should be obvious to those watching. Good and practiced.
As the metal man is slowed, the womans voice rises "Ayuadame, Plokta…" Illyana will feel that, something … dark responds.
Around Piotr a mist starts to form, he's finding it hard to focus on the hear and now. He can see a young Illyana and he, in their childhood home. She's slightly older than she was when she was taken. What is going on here?
"This is not your fight, Darkchild." The creature hisses somehow. Without a mouth. Right next to Eve's ear. It focuses that cold in again specifically on Illyana. It's going to try to freeze her out right here in the heart of her own realm. Foolish perhaps, or arrogant.
But the Lifeless are often like that. And this one seems to be a midling potent one.
Another black bolt forms and he flings it at Illyana and then he turns his gaze down to Eve. He's got her locked down tight, right?
Arrogant fool that he is.
It's true. Eve's an unfathomable font of life. A generative force, even, some might say.
And right now, she's charrened and blacked by lightning and more than a little annoyed that her binge was ruined. She is now grabbed and lightning bolted. Her skin is charred and blackened, sure, but that doesn't seem to slow her down any. She's strong for such a small thing, though, and immediately begins PUSHING BACK. If it's going to eat her, well, to be fair, she squeezes down and makes sure it knows that two can play at that game.
There's no visible effect, but the creature no doubt knows that something deeply and endlessly hungry is behind her eyes, now.
"Sssssssstop. Ssssstruggling.." The creature hisses as Eve starts to push back. "You're one of usssssss." Is she though? Is she really?
As the magi reaches out with her magic to shape the land, Illyana gives a snarl. She raises her staff with both hands and drives the butt of it into the ground, sending a ripple through the land around her to shake it free of the magi's control. "Mine. No touchy." She snarls around those fangs.
"Ya v poryadke!" Illyana calls back to Piotr as he shouts out to her in alarm. She doesn't have time to deal with the magi more because the Lifeless is still focusing on her.
"You made this my fight by not walking away." She brings her staff up again and starts to slowly spin in before her as the next bolt is cast her way, the dark energy bouncing off and away. "Eve! Deal with that thing, damnit!" As though the goth were one of her critters to command.
Feeling himself slowed and bogged down, Piotr tries to keep the child close to him. Even still, he continues to try to struggle and fight. His sister needs his help. One arm comes free of protecting Bethany as he grabs a chunk of rock and /flings/ it with all his worth at the Nightfall mage. It's a last ditch effort as the spells are going off around him, and that otherworldly vision enraptures him.
"Illyana.." he calls out, his mind confused in that moment of being somewhere else. "Do not travel too far in the snow." His voice is that of the native Russian as he speaks, "Mama says that dinner will be done soon."
The metal giant remains with the girl that both creatures want, but it's clear this is not becoming his fight. Magic is his sister's dominion, especially in the realm they are in at the moment.
The vision is so real and it swirls again. He can see Illyana growing up, them living in their childhood house and everything *just as it should be*. You can have this something whispers in his mind.
In his arms, Bethany squeezes her eyes shut and mutters a mantra "Go away mist, go away mist…."
And the mist starts to thin.
The Nightfall magi grunts as the rock hits her and she glares at the other creature "You will not get the others, servant of Sifror." and spits out an arcane phrase which calls a swirl of green mist.
When it clears - she's gone.
Leaving Piotr possibly a little confused, with Bethany still in his arms.
"Issat right? How about 'you've got no earthly clue wdhat you're even talking about'," is what comes from the scorched and burnt blue-haired goth. Her body can change. Adapt. Grow stronger. More duragble. Faster. All those things are coming into play here as she focuses on them. She doesn't really want to eat the damn thing, you know, but you know, she might not get a choice. Vines sprout from hthe back of her wrists, flowing over the larger creature, barbed thorns seeking purchase as she wills them to bind it as best she can.
BLood oozes down the blistered skin of her arms.
"Ugh. ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS WATCH TV BUT NOOO."
The backpack works open and a blue glowing, semi transparent fox pokes his head out.
"You take me to all the nicest places, love." He says in a voice rather like Michael Caine's. He looks up at the dazed Piotr and rolls his vulpine eyes.
"Big muscle bound… hey! Wake up!" The fox runs up Piotr's shoulder and starts jumping on his head. "Come on, big guy. Snap out of it!"
Bouncy bouncy bouncy.
Illyana will recognize that troublemaking fox. The other two not so much, in all likelihood.
The throns begins to twist and bite into the creature and it ALSO starts to bleed some kind of weird pale fluid that evaporates the moment it hits the air, surrounding the Lifeless in a cloud of white smoke.
"Ssssssssss." It hisses. It knows it's losing. Possibly already lost. But it's not giving in. It'll make Eve choke the life out of it.
Unless someone else hurries the process along.
"By the Dark Lord, you are the *whiniest* minion, I swear." Illyana growls in frustration at Eve as she stalks towards the pair of them as the goth has the Lifeless all wrapped up. Lifting her staff up, the butt end of it sharpens to a wicked point and the sorceress drives it into the creature's back, dispersing its magical essence in an explosion of some powdery substance that rains down on Eve.
Finally, Illyana is able to turn her attention over to the Nightfall magi, only in time to see her teleport out. "Spit and Hades." The blonde curses as she heads over to her dazed brother and frowns at the fox. "Insult my brother at your own risk, fox." She warns. "Where's your master?"
Piotr has a fox jumping up and down on his head.
He has the worst luck with animals, and animal named people. Really.
Snapping out of his thoughts, theres a confused noise from the metal giant, before he raises back to his feet, "Chto za chert?"
No, but close. Finally realizing that she is safe, Piotr sets Bethany down and rises to his full height.
Bethany squeals when the glowing fox emerges "Kilkenny!" She seems to know the fox, at least. Her face falls though when she looks around. "Where are we and …"
Her bottom lip trembles a little as she surveys the carnage. "That lady was trying to hurt me. And that other one … wanted to take me?" This possibly isn't the best place for a child. But Illyana knows that better than most. "And who are you?"
——
…and then it explodes all over her. The vines wilt and snap off almost immediately. Eve turns and just *glares* at Illyana. Covered in… st uff.
She fcontinues to glare at her.
GLARE.
The Fox looks at Illana and gingerly climbs down to Bethany. "Limbo, love. We're in Limbo. It's the answer to the question 'how low can you go.'"
"They were after her though. And that witch will be back for her if one of the Lifeless don't come for her again. And her mother…" The fox makes a face.
"Got committed after what happened when she was taken." That last bit is whispered. And none of this is good news.
"But hey, heroes are all good with the babysitting yeah? Your brother there looks like a teddy bear." A big teddy bear made of steel.
Eve is given a sidelong look. "Maybe don't let that one babysit though." He says at length to the other two.
"You're gonna be okay love. I know the Fesic and Elsa there LOOK scary but they're really not." That's a lie. Illyana is terrifying but the fox isn't going to frighten the girl any more than she needs to be.
"Illyana, can you get us home?" Piotr asks.
"I believe Bethany has earned an ice cream cone."
And he may want another after this as well, even if his shirt is tattered ruins.
Illyana Rasputina gives Kilkenny a Look at his joke, but that's followed by a frown at the news and she gives the fox a nod. "I think we can kill a few birds with one stone." Get Bethany to someone that can take care of her and maybe help deal with the mother, get the fox out of her hair…
Piotr gets a nod from Illyana. "Yeah. Both sound like good ideas." She raises her staff overhead and a stepping disk yawns wide beneath all of them to move them back to Earth. As the disk rises, Illyana looks over towards Eve and motions at her own face. "You've got… on your face…"
Eve makes a rude gesture at Ilyana, though her eyes cast worriedly over towards teh child being held by Piotr. She moves in closer to the blond.
"…about that thing you mentioned?": she asks, cautiously. She shakes herself off a bit.
On Ilyana.
Deliberately.