Summary:Illyana Rasputina finds Koa Turner to offload an abducted child on him. Log Info:Storyteller: Koa Turner |
Related Logshttp://empirestateheroes.wikidot.com/log:2019-04-10-battle-for-a-child Theme SongNone |
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Queens is not the best place to live in New York but when one is on a government salary, it's also far from the worst. And Koa is most DEFINITELY on a government salary. It's nice government salary to be sure, but still.
It's still morning, early ish. The sun has come up but it hasn't had time to get warm yet. Koa is currently slightly bent over, hands on knees, sweaty and panting. He'd been running of course. When one spends half his time literally in old tombs and ruins, running is a very important thing be good at and mostly mortal being that he is, he won't GET good at it without putting in the time.
So here he is, in front of his brownstone in a sweatshirt and running pants. After a moment he turns to grab his keys and go inside. A bagel and some juice sound good about now. Just the thing before work.
He glances down as he opens the door at the faded symbol scratched at the base of his door. Meh. That thing is probably well past useless now. Ah well, it was only really keeping out restless ghosts and it's not like he can't just eat them if they really make trouble.
Is that the smell of… a bagel in the toaster? It's certainly that smell of heat that comes along with a toaster being on, or a pan left on the stovetop. Koa might decide to stop by the kitchen before getting a shower, just to make sure nothing is on.
More things prick at his awareness. That maybe-heat, the faint sounds like there's someone *in* his house, and then the prickle against his magical senses that says Something is here. Given Koa's fading precautions, it very well could be a ghost.
If it is, that ghost is doing a damned good impersonation of a very much alive little blonde girl, sitting on the counter and munching a bagel and sharing bits of it with a certain glowing blue fox. The refrigerator door closes, revealing a much older blonde who holds up a jug to the smaller one. "OJ?"
Illyana is dressed down a bit, not quite so much agression and black leather. She's got on blue jeans and an Iron Maiden T-shirt with a too-large flannel shirt tied around her waist. Most of the jewelry and makup is gone, but the knee-high boots remain.
This is the kind of thing that makes Koa paranoid. And him without most of his artifacts too. The moment he realizes something might be off he fishes the pendulum out of his pocket and wraps it around his hand. Exorcisms can be a little tricky but he can probably…
Wait.
"Kilkenny?" Koa says, looking at the fox spirit with some exasperation. "Who is this and how did you get in h-"
Oh. "Miss Rasputina." She found the OJ. Which the girl seems eager to take. Why is the Lady of Limbo raiding his refrigerator.
"Is this take your daughter to work day?" What? The little girl is blonde. She doesn't look MUCH like Illyana but there's enough of a maybe there that he takes a stab at it as he grabs a horn off the wall and picks up a mug left on his table from last night.
"Coffee. Black." He says and starts pouring. And damned if coffee doesn't come out of the horn piping hot.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
That pendulum is still on his hand. No sense in being incautious.
Illyana Rasputina starts to go through Koa's cupboards to find a glass for Bethany. Just like she's apparently gone through his 'fridge. She slides that over to the little girl before turning her attention to Koa, giving him a withering Look. "No, it's 'take the kidnapped girl to your local WAND agent' day. I could have given her to Doug, but he's off on some assignment and besides, the ones that want her were magically inclined." Admittedly, Doug's like two weeks into his three day assignment, but Illyana's not so good with time. Also, since she tends to up and disappear for unspecified periods of time without warning, she just expects the same of others.
Koa's command to the horn gets a brief smirk. "That's a funny looking replicator. At least it makes more than Earl Grey, hot."
Withering look is withering and Koa does not even attempt to follow that up with humor. Naturally a Queen of demons would be very, very good at withering looks.
"Found it in a cave in Norway." Koa says moving on from the 'child' comment as smoothly as he can while he puts it back on it's display hook. It is technically a magical artifact but since the only thing it could possibly do is get you very, very drunk he has it here.
The news that she's a kidnapped girl though has his eyes sliding over to the fox spirit and then the girl herself. She's eating. And drinking. She'll be okay for a few minutes at least. Kilkenny seems to know her which is something he'll have to poke the fox-spirit for later, if he can pin him down.
After a long moment the Agent kicks out a chair and invites Illyana to make herself comfortable with a gesture - not that she wasn't doing so already. "Did you get something to eat for yourself? Tell me what happened and how I can help, beyond taking her off your hands. Was anyone hurt in the fight?" Illyana herself seems to be fine but Koa knows only too well how magical duels can get.
"I figured I'd wait until you offered me bread and salt, so I knew I was safe." Illyana's default manner seems to be mildly mocking. Irreverant. Like everything is a joke that only she seems to get. She can be quite serious, but her quick response is usually some sort of humor.
Sliding into the offered chair, Illyana gives the girl a glance to make sure she's entertained before turning her attention back to Koa. Her tone drops lower, to keep the conversation between the pair of them. "I'm fine. The girl was bleeding a bit but I think that was from something they were doing to her, more than an injury she picked up. Found her in Salem, running from some kind of witch." She gives a brief accounting of the fight, focused on the players involved and the results more than the fight itself. Leaning to the side, she pulls out a small vial filled with some white powdery substance and slides it over to Koa. "That's what's left of the critter."
The reference to hospitality traditions gets a bit of snort but that's at least in part what it was. Koa deals with a lot of creatures with old world values. Really, really, really old world. Hospitality is one of them and it is definitely something he was extending. Of course that also usually includes an invitation into the home - a step that was rather skipped in this case - but he's not going to quibble about such things.
It's also something of a roundabout statement of intent. Sure it is literally his job to handle things like this but he's in a way saying that he intends to treat her as a guest with all of the usual properties, protections and privileges despite the panic inducing break in AND the fact that to be be perfectly honest, she's kind of scary.
"A witch AND a magical critter, hrm?" The agent grabs his phone to send a quick text - one that says 'I need someone to handle an abudctee' to work - and sets it aside again.
The powdery substance has his eyes narrowing though. He uncaps the vial and gives it a sniff. "I've seen something like this before. It was at the site of one of the other abductions. Hang on…"
Koa gets up to go get a stone slab from his coffee table. Far from being decorative it looks like it's got a circle etched into it. He pours some of that salty powder in the center and pricks his finger with a small needle to get just enough blood to dab on the stone.
Then he picks up a small lighter - also on the slab - and lights the powder. It bursts into flame. Blue and cold.
"Well… that's not good." Koa says, sitting back down. Both of the magi can feel the smallest of pulls in their inner being. Something tugging on their very life force. The tug is not strong enough to be threatening, and the girl is probably far enough away that she won't feel it, thankfully. But the fox does glance up and then grabs the bagel and moves Bethany further back into the kitchen.
Illyana Rasputina doesn't seem especially hung up on the formalities and ritual of hospitality, and the break-in *is* a bit rude. It doesn't help that when he comes back from fetching his stone slab, she's pulled his mug of coffee over and is pulling a bit of a face at the bitterness of the brew. She seems to make a habit of breaking a lot of the usual social contracts. Both common with magi and well, regular people. It makes her seem very young, in some ways. Either that or just purposefully rude.
The blonde woman takes another sip of Koa's coffee, despite not seeming to care for it much as she grimaces again and watches him do his experiment. "It put out a lot of cold, I remember. Like, threaten-to-freeze-your-blood kind of cold. And I think it was pulling energy from the Horror I dropped on it and redirecting that into eldritch bolts."
Koa might puzzle later why she does that. Breaks social contracts. He might suspect it has something to do with living in Limbo though it might take him a while to work out the actual reason on his own. Of course if he keeps running into her like this, he might understand sooner rather than later.
What he does know about her, really, is this: His inner predator keeps cautioning him to treat her LIKE a predator.
"You dropped a horror on it? One of yours, I take it?" Koa gets up and grabs the horn again, this time putting it over that burning pile, using it to put out the flame. No reason to let that keep going. By the time it is put out, though, the pile has accumulated a small coating of frost and one of Koa's nearby plants is looking a bit… droopy.
After a moment's consideration he looks at his appropriated coffee cup and sighs. "Cream." He tells the horn and pours it into the coffee. There.
The Agent is quiet for a moment, pulling thoughts together. "She's a mutant, isn't she? NYPD has found a substance like this at two other abduction sites. Both of them mutant children."
"Kinda like Keiko for you, I think she'd object to being called 'mine'. She's… I dunno. Weird. Like me a bit, but lacking the human part. She tastes of dark things beyond the veil but likes to pretend she's Jane Normal and why-oh-why must you malaign me." Illyana says in an offhand, almost distracted manner.
As Koa adds cream to her coffee, he gets a brief, very small smile in thanks. She's not a Marine, she likes cream in her coffee, damnit.
That the girl is, or might be a mutant has her pausing mid-sip. Illyana glances back towards the girl with Kilkenny briefly before looking to Koa. "I don't know." She admits. "She didn't do anything flashy and she's a bit young for it." It takes specialized equipment or powers to tell if someone has the X-gene before it manifests. If it manifests. If Illyana had thought she were a mutant, she might have taken the girl back to Xavier's. That some of the other abductees were mutants gets a frown and narrowed eyes. "Were they." She says rather flatly.
"Keiko would definitely object to being called mine." Koa murmurs as he leans back. Answering that small smile with a quick flash of his own. That description sounds a bit familiar.
"Oooooh, I might know who that is. Blue hair. Bad taste around her. Gardens for the wealthy." That last Illyana might not have known but Koa has access to WAND files and while they're oh so incomplete in so many ways there's a bunch of useful tidbits in there. Plus she'd told him that.
"Yeah. We have six missing mutant kids out of the group so far and I expect that number will go up. Only found this stuff at two of the abduction sites though. I'm guessing that's indicative of a fight. A fight that these things lost." Illyana had said that this is 'what was left' of the critter.
To be fair he should say that six of the kids are 'known mutants'. Others could be and just be undetected. They're all quite young and if their powers haven't manifested or they haven't been tested by one of a very specific group of people then it's hard to know.
Kilkenny glances up at Illyana when she looks back but doesn't say anything. Most of the spirit's attention is focused on the girl.
"Salem again though. That's the second time we know of that something has come out there and happened. I'm starting to think that place might need more attention." God only knows how the X-Men or Illyana herself will feel about that.
Illyana Rasputina will have to pass on word to Xavier's that WAND is looking at taking a closer look at the area. The school might already have communication with the SHIELD agencies, but that wasn't something that she'd have known, just being a High School student.
"I haven't talked much to the girl, Bethany. Not sure if she's from Salem or got dragged there. Taking her directly to her parents wasn't something I was planning to do." Not when she knows a convenient Magical Cop. "But yeah, we're one incident away from 'conspiracy'."
Illyana leans back in the chair, hooking one arm over the back as she sips at Koa's coffee, watching him over the brim. "I might be willing to answer questions." She finally says, her tone very dry.
Koa leans forward a little bit and stares at that stone slab and the powder in the center. Finally he pushes it off to the side, out of the way and lets out a long, long sigh. This is getting all kinds of bad.
"I'll see what I can dig up on her parents. If she's listed as missing they won't be hard to find." That's not the difficult part. The difficult part is knowing she's a target and they haven't caught the people responsible, so she's continually at risk until this is resolved.
"What did that demon mean when he called you the Darkchild? That's not a name I've heard before. And it's not anything that's in our files on Limbo." Which means the WAND files are somewhat out of date but then that's not surprising. There's been a lot of stuff going on in Limbo.
"The files we do have list an Illyana Rasputina as Belasco's apprentice… but she's quite young. Definitely a lot younger than you are."
"Yeah, and my minions aren't the best to stick on guard duty." Illyana admits. The ruler of Limbo doesn't plan on just walking away from the mess that keeps throwing her and Koa in each other's way, so not having him making assumptions or worrying about.. whatever it is magical cops worry about is in her best interest.
The questions leave Illyana quiet for a few moments, fidlding with the handle of the mug before she answers. "I was born in 2007, but time runs differently in Limbo. I've spent more than half my life there, but barely a year passed here on Earth. So yeah, that's me. Belasco's former apprentice. I've… deposed him, so Limbo's mine now. As to Darkchild…" That gets a one-shouldered shrug. "It's what the demons call me. Some sects seem to think there's a prophecy around me but for all I know one demon got stuck on the idea and blew it up into a bit of a cult. I'm sure part of it is because I *was* a child. When Belasco took me, I was seven."
The notion that time runs THAT differently in Limbo gets a brow raise from Koa. Time magics are really, really rare on Earth and his experience is mostly limited to beings that might be found on Earth. Differential time flows are pretty well outside his experience. And indeed the experience of most at WAND.
"That explains a lot since our files also list Belasco as Limbo's ruler." So he took an apprentice, and now she's in charge. "A prophecy? By demons?" He wonders what the prophecy is. "I notice you said deposed and not 'killed'."
That's dangerous potentially. Belasco was by anyone's estimation dangerous. The only thing that kept him from being much of a threat was the fact that he was stuck there. In Limbo. Illyana is not.
But from his interactions she's at least reasonable. She still very much pricks his predator sense. He gets a little bit why though.
"Can't have been easy, growing up in Limbo, under a by all reports mad sorcerer and surrounded by demons." Koa is careful to keep the 'sympathy' out of his voice. He's not sure it is wanted and not sure that it would be well received. But he does make the observation with a tone of almost… respect.
"So what keeps bringing a Splinter Lord back to Earth, if I may? Most of them seem quite content to stay in their realms. And for most, that's where all their power is anyway."
"I spent my High School years here on Earth where some attempt was made to… civilize me." Illyana says with a smirk when he comments on Belasco. "And part of that was trying to have some respect for life. So no, I didn't." Her fingernails taptaptap against the tabletop before she blows out a breath. "And I think if I had… Well, he'd have won after all." She doesn't add that some days, she thinks he has anyhow.
Koa's observation about the habits of splinter lords gets a slow nod. "Most of them can't leave their realm as easily, for one. And they don't like being at anything less than full power, for two." A brief frown at her own phrasing, which bothers her just because it sounds dumb, but she shakes it off. "Anyhow. I have friends here. Family. Ties that either they never had or that died a long, long time ago."
"Ties like your brother and the friends I saw you with when I ran into you at the park." Ties strong enough to keep her anchored to this world, and to a more or less human way of life and thinking. That's good in a way. This is probably why she's thus far the most reasonable Splinter Lord he knows of. She doesn't sit stewing in her realm all the time. Though clearly she's done it enough. Enough that even talking to her like this in a relatively normal fashion keeps pricking the part of his own mind that's been warped by the way he uses magic.
There's a pause as Koa eyes the kitchen. He can't see the little one anymore, she's gotten down from the counter and is now somewhere between it and the refrigerator, but he can hear her and Kilkenny both.
"Do your friends know about this?" At the 'this' he gestures to his eyes. He means hers though. That white eyed look she gave him and the rather disconcerting feeling it sort of pushed out. "Do you think it's possible that the focus on Salem has anything to do with you?"
It's a long shot, Koa thinks but if one Hell Lord has an interest in the area he wouldn't put it past another to horn in on it for that exact reason.
The questions are still asked relatively thoughtfully. He's not just going to pepper the blonde sorceress, nor is he going to make this seem like an interrogation. She's here. Answering questions voluntarily. That truth must at all times be apparent, even if no one else is watching.
"Heroes disposition, mmm? I'm guessing we're talking about more than just a big brother's protectiveness." That's more a comment than a question. He's not going to ask her about the details of her friends and family's lives. Who wouldn't want to save someone they thought was getting into something bad? And the Splinter Realms are, he is aware, rough territory. Living there would HAVE to do things to a person. And growing up there…
Well. He can't imagine. His own life was pretty normal until he hit about 20. And that's a lot of grounding. It takes time to eat away at that.
At this point he possibly gets to one of the more important questions. "What do you intend to do about this, then?"
The magical world isn't like the regular world. In the regular world the police have more power than most of the people they are policing. That is DECIDEDLY not true of WAND which is why the phrase 'magical police' only works to an extent. WAND is there to look out for the interests of humanity at large, but they're just not capable of preventing the Powers from making their own moves. And in some cases that wouldn't be wise anyway.
Illyana is clearly a Power. He's gotten that. She seems to be a sympathetic one and for that Koa is extremely grateful. But that's far from the same thing as having aligned goals.
"You seemed to have an especial interest when I mentioned some of the missing kids were mutants."
Illyana Rasputina didn't have that kind of grounding. Certainly, one doesn't want to look into Illyana's eyes too long. There's that saying about looking too long into the abyss. But it sounds like she did have some help along the way. Hence the cordial chat in the kitchen
"I've an interest in helping mutants, just as someone helped me with my mutant abilities. My brother and my friends are mutants. It's a community thing." Illyana admits. A short pause and then she adds, "I'm also not real keen on children being abducted or abused. Another personal interest." She doesn't try to play it off as any kind of altruism, really. Just something that she's invested in.
"Well I suppose that makes two of us." Koa's no fan of kids being used for things either and he doesn't personally have any issues with the mutant angle. Unfortunately children, for a variety of reasons, do sometimes get caught in the crosshairs of the supernatural. Not one of the better parts of it, if one asks Agent Turner.
It helps for this chat that Koa has not been maintaining eye contact. He's been letting it slip to the kitchen or down the that pile of essence on the testing slab. Because no. One gets the feeling that if the eyes are windows to the soul then what is behind Illyana's is some manner of wasteland.
"That still leaves the question of what you're going to do about it. I know a lot of Powers prefer to do things their own way, and hey I'm not going to try to tie you down in paperwork or ask that you assist WAND's investigation. We both know that isn't how the game works. But I think maybe we both want the same thing in the end and if it's a case of you helping me or me helping you I'm good either way."
Koa takes a breath and lets it out, leaning back. "So… what do you mean to do?"
Illyana Rasputina chuckles as Koa asks his very careful question. "Well, investigation isn't really my forte." She admits. "I'm going to alert a few interested parties and if I hear anything and I can intervene I'll try to do so. Coloring inside the lines isn't anathema to me even if I have a strong connection to Chaos. You have systems in place and clout with the 'authorities having jurisdiction' if you will. That's part of why I brought the girl to you. So you could not only get her home, I could do that, but get what ever other additional information might help you put an actual end to this and to make sure she's guarded against repeated attempts to make off with her."
"That's gonna be the tricky part with this. The guarding." It's not that they couldn't post security for the girl. WAND can and probably will do that. It's that the number of ways they have to get to the girl are rather high, and the number of ways to guard against it rather low. Some of them involve weapons which are sure to be rather disturbing.
"I'll keep you in the loop on how things are going if that's something you'd prefer…" Koa would need a way to contact her, which at present he simply doesn't have. It's not phrased as a question of course. That way she doesn't have to ask to be kept in the loop on how things are going or whether anything relevant comes up.
There's another pause and… hey he can still hear Kilkenny talking to Bethany so things are apparently going okay over there.
"Do you ever regret it? Being involved with all this?" Lots of people who get involved with 'all this' don't have a choice. It comes for them, sticks its hooks in and won't let go. Koa's story was kind of like that. Sounds like Illyana's was much more like that than his. And hey, so long as she's still answering questions…
"Keep a copy of a good sympathetic link and if she does go missing then at least you have a good chance of scrying for her." Illyana says, musing out loud more than telling him what to do. She snaps her fingers then and points at him. "Tracker of some kind. Those that deal in magic tend to forget humanity's most prominent magic, technology, and don't guard against it." Just as most people don't think about magic, and don't guard against it. "I got the impression that both sides in this little tug-of-war want the kids alive." Which gives them time to work with.
The blonde nods at his offer to keep her informed. "Send Doug updates, or spelled messages. I have a phone, but it gets left at home a lot. It doesn't like spending time in Limbo. Eventually I end up having to stab the damn things because they're trying to eat my ear or they're faking crank calls."
The last question gets an almost haunted look from her. "Every day. But, in the end, I'm alive and free. And it could be so very much worse."
"We'll get some of her hair on the sly. Won't be hard, kids shed like crazy." Koa notes. The tracker is a good idea and not one that had immediately occurred to him. He'll make sure something is slipped to her during her inevitable medical examination. They'll have to get the parents' okay for that but given that she's already been taken once that shouldn't be too difficult.
"I'll do that then." Agent Ramsey was on a leave of absence but his contact information SHOULD still be in the system unless something catastrophic has happened.
Koa almost snickers a bit at the phones needing to be stabbed. It's funny, a bit but it's also indicative of the kind of magic in the place she lives. Not some place he'd like to be very much, he suspects. He'd not want to use any of that magic. And she's been stewing in it. For years.
Which does somewhat change the look he gives her. It had been respectful. Now it's that and also a bit speculative.
The clinical agent in him wonders how long she can really hold out. He doesn't say that though. The haunted look in her eyes tells him everything he needs to know. It'd be human to offer sympathy here. To say he's sorry. Koa does not do that.
Something tells him that he shouldn't.
"Things can usually be worse." He notes. "It's funny - or would be if it were a laughing matter - how often these things… just find people and latch onto them. It was sort of like that when I started. Less… intense than for you, though."
After a moment Koa leans forward to put a bit more coffee in that cup.
"That staff you've got. It's an Artifact, isn't it?" The capitalization is almost audible. "The way it just took apart that portal…" He whistles low.
Illyana Rasputina does have good ideas, on occasion. Most people just see a pretty face or the aggressive leather and stop there. But Illyana memorized Belasco's spellbooks by the time she was 14. She took down the centuries-old sorcerer in her twenties. She rules the endless hordes of Limbo. She has skillz.
She probably wouldn't have thought to ask anyone's permission though.
"My mutant power is controlling the stepping disks that naturally occur in Limbo that lets me teleport. So, it certainly seems like I was destined, or doomed, depending on your take on things, to be where I am." Illyana notes, swirling the coffee around in the cup.
There's a low chuckle as Koa asks after the Soulstaff. She's noticed his interest in it. "Magic workers of… exceptional power and skill can create a… masterwork, I suppose you could call it. The purest expression of our power. A tangible extension of our soul. The Soulstaff is mine."
"The buddhists had a word for that. Tulpa. A manifestation of will and wisdom. A… demonstration of mastery of the inner self." Koa notably does not ask to see it. He got the first time Illyana broke it out that it probably wouldn't be good for him to touch. And definitely not good for him to get hit with.
"I can only imagine that a masterwork of a soul as potent as yours would be potent indeed. Interesting that it seems to eat magic though." Koa's sure that's only one of its effects but it's still an odd one. Why would someone who is steeped in magic create something that can negate it?
The news though that her ability to control Limbo's natural wormholes is not magical gets a look of realization and clarity, on the other hand. "That's why Belasco made you his apprentice…" Again there were probably other reasons but a mutant power to master one of the most powerful features of Limbo… that's a HELL of a coincidence.
"Everything I've ever read about masterworks suggests that they're typically created by people with more… people who are older than you are." He says finally. Of course Koa has only READ about Masterworks. Which may make some sense. If Illyana has paid attention to him she might be aware that his magic lacks the oomph of hers and she's never seen him cast without a prop either.
To be honest, most people can't cast magic at Illyana's level. Illyana's level on Earth, even. Very, very few could challenge her in Limbo. "It doesn't actually *eat* magic. It disrupts it, which lets it shatter spells and kill magical creatures." She looks thoughtful before continuing. "One of my mentors, someone else Belasco had forced into apprenticeship that escaped him long before I was born, was a nurturer at heart. Her Masterwork was this great oak. Its power protected her little piece of Limbo from Belasco's notice and power and she had her own little Garden of Eden there. That's what was most important to her. Life, nature. But me? I refuse to be controlled. No one is my master, and I'll fight my way free if I must."
"'Experience'?" Illyana's tone is dry, guessing the word he decided against using. Her manner becomes serious again. "Belasco basically plugged me directly into the Elder Gods, which is why I have access to more power than most. But I was also a more skilled sorcerer than most people you'll find by the time I went to High School. That's what happens when that's your whole life, and not performing to your Master's exacting standards comes with pain and punishment." She gives him a smirk. "Delores Umbridge has nothing on Belasco."
"That would do it, I suppose." Koa notes dryly. "I'll take your word for it that she doesn't. But yes, fair enough. You've been doing this since you were young." And in a very harsh environment. Sink or swim. The mention of the elder gods gets a very slow nod.
That squares. It explains a little bit beyond her general sense of being soaked in Limbo why she presents to his senses as so wrong. It doesn't explain why she presents as a predator, but that's not a button he's going to push right now.
"I'm… actually a little surprised that anything green and good could survive under Belasco's Limbo. He had a reputation. Not one I am personally experienced with but a reputation all the same." Given that this apprentice is not here now he's going to guess that story doesn't end well.
Many stories don't, really.
It's the fire in Illyana that Koa thinks must have given rise to the Shattered Lord before him today. She won't be controlled. Not by Belasco. Not by the Elder Gods. Not by Fate. That too is a story that frequently ends poorly…
"It's good of you to help that girl. Maybe you don't do it to be good… but it's good of you all the same." The Agent acknowledges that very carefully. "I suppose that I owe you a few answers myself, should you ever want them."
The way he's been very careful with his language before might indicate that the use of the word 'owe' was deliberate. Much like when he invited her to 'drop in any time.'
Okay, well. That was slightly less deliberate. He figured out what he'd done after though and hasn't rescinded it.
"Normally, it wouldn't. I mean, you get some plants but there's a good chance they'll try to eat you too." Illyana notes in a wry manner. "But like my staff, that was her great Work. Things like that, they tend to bend the rules." The blonde lifts the cup of coffee, finishing off what's left there and then sliding the mug back over to him as she stands.
"I haven't forgotten your whole out-of-body experience." Illyana agrees. "And I look forward to digging in and seeing what makes you tick." She glances back over her shoulder, towards where Kilkenny and the child are before looking back to him. "But not right now. I like to take my time with these things." The smile she gives him isn't comforting. At all.
Koa reclaims his coffee and takes a sip. He doesn't like it this creamy or sweet, but he'll suffer.
"Joy." Koa lifts the glass with a sort of smirk that takes any edge off of his sarcasm.
"I'll get the girl taken care of and hunt down her family first thing. Promise." Promises are important for magical beings. Not as much as oaths but still important. This one, though, will be easy to keep. Still, she did the right thing bringing her here.
That it was the convenient thing is probably incidental.
"Well I'm not going anywhere. That I'm aware of." So it looks like she has time to take…
This is her departing, he suspects.
"I appreciate that." Illyana says, which is likely as close to a 'thank you' as he's likely to get.
His assurance gets a chuckle. "Good. And take care of yourself. I really don't want to have to raise you from the dead just to get my questions answered."
On that ominous note, a stepping disk appears at her feet and rises upwards towards the ceiling and then winking out, leaving Koa's home Darkchild-free.
"Oh say what ever happened to my…" Woosh. She's gone and Koa's left with the child and the fox spirit. "… pen." Beat. "Damn." He'll go onto Goulet Pens and order a new one soon as he's done seeing to Bethany.
Speaking of. Koa knocks back the rest of the coffee and sets the mug down with a thump as he rises.
"Kilkenny, I need to have words with you…"