Summary:Kitty's brushing up on old skills when Illyana comes visit and updates her on some of the Nightfall items. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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The Danger Room is currently set up to look like a section of Tokyo. Someone is training in it. Kitty Pryde, should someone check the computers in the control room. At the moment she's dressed up pretty much in ninja garb, which might come as a surprise to some. She's hanging from a building, and shoots a pair of arrows to either side of someone down on the ground, sending clouds of smoke erupting.
The slender girl drops down, slowing in a staccato fashion like someone tapping brakes against gravity, before reaching the ground behind her target. But the Danger Room simulated person must hear her, as he turns and lashes out with a sword. Kitty's own sweeps out of a sheath to block the swing with a loud ring of metal on metal. Several swings take place from each before Kitty manages to disarm her target, though she had an opening to stab or slice. They engage in hand to hand combat before eventually Kitty takes the man down and then binds his wrists behind his back.
"Pause combat part of simulation," she commands. Her opponent goes still, though there are still birds chirping and clouds passing through in the sky overhead. Kitty gets herself a bottle of water and plops down on a small retaining wall around some landscaping to take a sip.
Sometimes, Illyana thinks she should have made her codename 'Visa'. Because she's everywhere you want to be. Which today is apparently Tokyo, curtousy of Kitty. The blonde steps out of a stepping disk, looking around rather confused. She looks back at the disk and then over to Kitty. "Huh. I didn't think I'd gone this far. Or that you'd left the country." Then she looks down at the too-still guy and 'ahhhhs'. Illyana gives a nod to Kitty's attire as she heads over to join her. "Should we call you NinjaNeko now?
Betweent he pair of them, Kitty in Ninjawear and Illyana in Heavy Metal Reject, they look a little odd. Good thing there's no one to actually see them.
Kitty Pryde's face lights up. She pulls her hood off completely, her brown hair done in a braid beneath it to help keep it manageable. "Hey Yana," she says warmly. "Oh, yeah, just doing a little training. I haven't done this kind of workout in forever. Didn't have a Danger Room in the UK to practice with," she says. Many of her teammates probably have no idea of her ninja training. Though Illyana and Colossus would know the story.
"I ran into Logan recently. The guy who saved me from Ogun after I tried to kill him," she says. And the one who trained her then. He had no affiliation with the X-men or the school when this took place when Kitty was about 15. "Guess it got me thinking I should probably dust off those skills," she says.
Illyana Rasputina sets her hands on her hips and looks around at the life-like simulation. "It's been a long time since I trained in here." She muses. Long for her, at any rate. It was just last year for most people when she would do sessions with her fellow students. "I forgot how much it felt like the real thing." She looks down to Kitty again and shrugs. "Except when it simulates magic. Then it's totally obvious, for me at least."
"Just been too busy to keep up with the regimen? I suppose since you can just go all ghosty there's a lot less need for you to be able to fight, huh?" Illyana holds out her hand towards Kitty's sword in a silent request. As usual, no actual *asking*.
Kitty Pryde shakes her head. "Just we didn't really have the same training opportunities with Excalibur. Mostly sparring with each other, things like that. And I don't really use swords in the field since I'd be too likely to hurt someone. Not unless I knew we were fighting N'Garai or some kind of monsters or something," Kitty says. She blanches a bit at a memory. "Ok, I wouldn't take swords to fight a N'Garai either, but you know what I mean," she says.
Kitty gives a second shake of her head at something else. "I can't pack a heavy punch like Pete or so many others. But I can accomplish a lot more than most people think. It's taken me some time to work out how to fight effectively. But as long as a normal punch or kick can hurt someone, I can still be effective. Even if not, there are often ways I can get a lot done. Disarming enemies. Removing their armor. Taking out their technology." She grins over to Illyana. "Though having a nice magic staff would be nice too."
Illyana Rasputina didn't have any training sessions in the seven years (for her) she's been gone, but she has had more than her fair share of actual combat to hold her own against demons. Some of the other students would claim Illyana's gaze was cold and empty because she had no soul. But she's also lived through terrible things and had to fight for her life. That can change you as much as anything else.
"It is nice. Takes a lot less effort to put down a demon than when I had to use a sword, or an axe." Illyana agrees. She's only had the staff since she came back this year. And even for her, it's a new thing. "Might want to consider carrying a short version. Something you can depend on, cold hard steel." The words are said with an odd tone. Almost introspective, her thoughts lost in the past as she recalls Cat teaching her weapons when she was still a child. Other kindergardeners learned to share their toys. Cat taught Illyana how to kill.
Kitty Pryde slides a sheathed dagger from where it's concealed in the outfit she's wearing. She look at the knife with a stare as if considering it deeply. "I… I don't know, Illyana. To be honest, I'm not sure if I want the temptation of it," she says.
Though she's looking at the knife, a really astute observer might notice her fingers on her other hand are moving slightly, the tips rubbing against each other, and Kitty's gaze goes to them as well. Not as if she's tempted by the knife. More like she's viewing her fingers the same as she views the knife. If it is even noticed.
"Still… while we're dealing with Plokta, it might not be a bad idea to have more things on hand to combat those demon minions with," she says thoughtfully.
Illyana Rasputina watches Kitty quietly, seeing the similarities to the woman she knew as a child, and the very different woman she knows now. "It's your choice." She agrees. "You have to decide where you draw that line." And the X-Men have always leaned hard on the 'no killing' line. Illyana doesn't agree with their reasoning. She holds to it for other reasons.
"I think Plokta is periphially involved here. He supports Nightfall, Nightfall supports him. So you get less demons and more cultists with their bound spirits and some mindless minions." Illyana rubs at the back of her neck and then flops down next to Kitty on the short wall, looking off into the distance but clearly not seeing it.
Kitty Pryde gives Illyana an expression that suggests she is clearly behind on events. "Ok, I have some idea about Plokta mainly from having seen him, and the similarities, and your comments about his involvement with, you know," Kitty says, rather than mentioning names that would pain Illyana. "I'm not sure I know about this Nightfall. Who, or what, is it? He?" Kitty asks, obviously not even knowing the right pronoun to use.
She says aloud to the room, "Go ahead and remove the target." The bound ninja she was fighting that has been lying there motionless disappears fully. Kitty rises and steps into the a sand garden that is nearby, pick up the rake and beginning to smooth the sand out of the illusory construct while they talk.
"It's a they." Illyana says, her gaze shifting to the sand to watch Kitty get her zen on. "From what I've picked up, Nightfall is a cult. They take children and raise them to be mages or warriors, using tattoo magic to bind spirits to serve them. One of the sources of their power is the splinter lord, Plokta who they worship as a god. In return for his favor, they some of the cultists give him their souls in exhange for this dreamworld where they get their fondest desire. Of course, they decided to do this in New York, home of the capes and cowls, and got more attention than they wanted, I'm sure."
Kitty Pryde picks up a smooth rock, carrying it over to place it somewhere that feels right to her. She picks up the bamboo rake then. Smoothing out the sand first, Kitty then turns the rake over and begins making circles and lines with the tongs from the other side. "Hmm. And so Plotka got the knowledge of the tattoos, and passed it on to them to use in service to him? So are the cult located in this dreamworld? Or are they living here where they can be got at?" Kitty inquires curiously, pausing for a moment and leaning on the rake as she regards Illyana.
Illyana Rasputina's head tilts over to the side a bit as she watches Kitty. The demon queen certainly has no idea what Kitty's working towards there. "At least one of their bases is in South America, but I don't know that it helps us *here*. And while some of their bigwigs might have access to Plokta's realm, I'm pretty sure they're terrestrial."
Pale blue eyes shift back up to Kitty. "Have you talked to Remy recently?" The apparent topic change is pretty sharp.
Kitty Pryde doesn't seem to mind the change of direction. She doesn't know if the Plotka stuff has been a focus for the X-men so far anyway. Most of her time had been focused on helping Carin with her implant of late. "Remy? No actually I haven't seen him at all since I've been back," Kitty says, though her face lighting up at the mention of the Cajun. "What has he been up to?" she asks. Kitty goes back to raking. She definitely has something in mind, letting the shaping of the sand garden focus her thoughts as she was once taught to do by the same one who taught her the ninjutsu techniques she was using.
"Moved into the boathouse, actually." Illyana notes. She starts to nod towards the lake.. and then realizes she can't tell which direction that is with the simulation running.
"With Nightfall's apparent uptick in activity around here, some of their artifacts have gotten out and one of them has managed to put a curse on Remy. I'm trying to figure out a way short of ripping the thing out of him to break it but it might involve some underwater investigation." Like, deep, deep underwater. "Nightfall has a lot of folks looking into it. Remy, not so much." And if Kitty hasn't heard anything, most of the X'ers might not even be aware of it.
Kitty Pryde gives a small frown as she hears this. "I hadn't any idea he was having a problem," she says. "If there is anything I can do, let me know. I don't really have any particular advantages underwater. The whole having to breath, thing," she says. "So is he safe for now? Is he safe to have around the other students here? What form is this curse taking?"
"Yeah, not sure yet how that's gonna go. If we have anyone that's got water powers, I don't remember 'em." Illyana says, frowning slightly. "He's safe, I think. It's mostly a danger to him, trying to push him towards a certain dark Virtue. But it's not wrath or anything, it's Gluttony. Indulgence. If he were someone that killed for fun, it might be an issue. But I think we'll just have to worry about the burbon." She shakes her head. "Keiko, this renegade Nightfall, said they'd use these things to like reprogram people that weren't buying the company line? Or maybe I got that wrong. I was… distracted at the time."
Kitty Pryde winces a bit about Remy. "Possibly gambling too. And… ah… women?" Kitty adds, whistling inconspicuously at the last part as if the silver-tongued Cajun wasn't known for such things. "Hmm. And how was it that Remy ended up like this? I mean, how did he get singled out for it, if it is normally only used in certain circumstances?" Kitty inquires.
She looks thoughtful. "I am not thinking of anyone with particularly useful underwater powers either," she says, hrmming softly at the end. "Not that is part of the team at least. I suppose Cessily might not need to breathe, now that I think about it. And probably can handle pressure. THough I have no idea if she can float or would just sink?"
Illyana Rasputina shakes her head about Cessily. "No idea. I'll need to get more details. Maybe it'll be an in-and-out thing and we won't need a team, or they can just be on standby and I can teleport them in." Less people at risk, that way.
"Remy and I both picked up on a disturbance over in Salem. While trying to contain it the artifact had some energy make a bee-line for those of us that were standing around. I managed to disrupt it with my staff, but I was too late to save Remy." Or Keiko, but Remy is more important to Illyana than the former-Nightfall.
Kitty finishes the sand garden, setting the rake down and padding over on her tabi and stepping out back onto the path. "Well just let me know if you need help. I'll have to go pay Remy a visit. Maybe take him some… iced tea," she suggests. Something to help him avoid the bourbon.
"End simulation," she announces to the room. The alien hardware that runs the room responds, the hard light technology coming to an end, leaving the pair in a large, bare room. "I think I'm going to go clean up. See if I can't corral your brother into getting dinner with me," she says.
Illyana Rasputina chuckles, standing up before the wall disappears beneath her backside. "Yeah, I don't figure that'll be too hard. It's a Friday night, drag him out dancing or something." She advises.
"And don't worry, if I need help I'll make sure to grab you." Which might involve Kitty getting teleported without warning, but hey. Friends forgive, right?
As Kitty heads for the door, Illyana summons a stepping disk taking her… well, who knows?