2019-05-22 - What Would Piotr Do?

Summary:

Contemplating something dangerous, Illyana calls on her brother for advice.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Wed May 22 18:29:32 2019
Location: Harry's Hideaway

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

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piotr-rasputinillyana-rasputinakitty-pryde

There may have been a big raid on the Nightfall cult, but that only sets them back. It doesn't deal with the root of the problem. Which is something that Illyana's been mulling over and she's pondering some very serious steps. So what does one do when they're dealing with Heavy Thoughts? Well, when asking yourself WWPD (What Would Piotr Do), you might as well get the big guy himself.

Instead of just dropping in on him and interrupting his classes, Illyana asked him to drop by Harry's when he was free. The blonde is in some toned-down jeans and concert T-shirt with a smattering of silver jewelry and her shit-kicker boots. She's dangling a crystal at the end of a chain in front of her that glows faintly purple with a serious expression.

Illyana isn't often serious. She's mocking and snarky, like everything's a game. Because when it's a game, no one has to die.


There was only a slightest of frowns when Illyana /invited/ him. To be honest, he's grown accustomed to Illyana just plucking him from wherever. Maybe she's actually becoming somewhat polite?

That's what he's pondering over when he arrives at the bar. There's no worried about his younger sister being here - she's Russian, after all. She could probably drink most men under the table.

The fact that she's dangling a trinket in some magic and looking serious? That's a different story. As he approaches, he moves to settle across from her, the large Russian settling down on the other side of the booth. "Privet, snezhinka."


Indeed, there's what's obviously vodka at the table with her, and when she sees Piotr walk in (he's bloody hard to miss), she signals the bartender to bring some over for her brother.

The greeting gets one of Illyana's small smiles. It's so *good* to hear his voice. Just as she remembers it. She doesn't even let that get to her. That he hasn't changed while the better part of a decade has rolled by for her. She swaps over to Russian easily, even if she has something of an accent that comes from not having other native speakers about since she was a child. "You look as worried as I fee, brother." She teases him.


"It is only a reflection of what I see." Piotr responds, switching to his native and more easy for him tongue without missing a beat. As he settles in, he turns his attention to the object. "What is this?" he asks her, as the bartender comes over.

He glances at the bottle of vodka as it's set down, and he gives a small frown. "American water." he grunts, "Does noone carry Moskovskaya Osobaya?" he asks.


Illyana Rasputina huffs in amusement. "Put in a request. I'm sure they'll stock it if they know someone will but it. I can always jump you over to Russia so you can stock up." Russians don't know what alcoholism is. They need a certain percentage of vodka in their bloodstream to fight off the cold.

The mild amusement doesn't last long as she turns the conversation to Piotr's question. "WAND went up against the cult that had kidnapped the little boy, Nightfall. One of their big guns that goes by Darque was there. Agent Turner has the ability to consume magic. Even from other mages. He used it on Darque, but then all that dark magic was in him. I drew it out and put it here for… safekeeping."


"I take it the magic.. was ill on him?" Piotr asks curiously as he looks at the magic trapped in the trinket. Not that Piotr can see it. To him, it's just a glowing pendant. Finally, there's a smirk. "I do not trust them to know what a good vodka was if it was dropped on them." he points out. But that look of concern returns as he turns his attention away from the bar and back to the girl.

"And what are your plans to do with it?" he asks her finally. "If it was released, I assume it would be returned to it's owner at some point?"


Illyana Rasputina lowers her hand, letting the pendant rest on the table top, the chain curling up about it. She waves off his concern about releasing it. "Magic like this is kind of like your blood. Loosing it can harm you, but given time you make more of it. There are many things I *could* do with it." She reaches for her glass, knocking back the clear liquid before continuing. Like she needed the fortification.

"Like your blood, magic is a very… personal thing. Every mage has their own 'signature'. So. What I am *considering* using it for is to pass myself off as Darque and try to throw a wrench in the relationship between Nightfall and Plokta, the splinter lord they worship as their god."


"You would have to change your appearance. And to be discovered would risk starting a war between yourself and his on the domain level." Piotr responds. And he's not sure if he's more worried about Illyana losing the war - or Illyana taking over a /second/ domain and increasing her power. Taking his own glass, he downs the shot quickly to work on making a second round.

"Though if you could convince this Plokta that his gifts are being used irresonsibly… perhaps it would.." he shrugs his shoulders. He's not exactly sure what he can do to help. It feels so out of his range.


Illyana Rasputina joins Piotr in Round 2 before exhaling through her nose in a long sigh. "Easy enough to use the magic in there for an illusion, and Plokta is old enough and… alien enough that one human likely looks like any other to him."

As Piotr points out it could start a war, she nods, pointing at him like he's hit the proverbial nail on the head. "It could, yes. And I'm the 'new kid on the block', so to speak. I don't have the experience and power he has by being a creature created of magic. I'm human that's been merged with something… else." She grimaces a bit at that and waves for him to pour Round 3.

"Perhaps it would stop his support of Nightfall, and in doing so keep them from stealing thousands of children, brainwashing them into fanatics and feeding some of their souls to Plokta." Illyana says grimly.


Pouring the fresh rounds, Piotr frowns. "What if the assault came from outside of your realm? Someone summoned Nightfall once, no?" he asks, "Can it be summoned again?"

"Bring it here, use the magic to attack it." he shrugs his shoulders. "This is not my realm of understanding, Illyana. I do not.. try to. Because.." and he stops himself. The because is simple. He's worried about what he'll discover - what he'll find out he couldn't protect his sister from.


Illyana Rasputina shakes her head. "I don't think Plokta ever came here. Just his minions. It's rare for a splinter lord to leave their realm." Which makes Illyana unusual. But then she hasn't exactly told many people about her new… uh, station.

When Piotr hedges, Illyana nods. "Yeah, I'm sorry. Concepts you don't have the background to talk about. But the crux of it… Do I do it? Take the risk, get the reward."

The Rasputin siblings are in a corner of Harry's with some vodka speaking in Russian. Even if someone were to overhear them, it's unlikely they'd know what was being said.


Kitty Pryde comes into underground bar. Underground for being in a basement, not so much one that is hidden from polite society. Though whether the people in here are polite is another question.

She double-checks her phone and Piotr's text message, making sure she has the right place. It doesn't take long looking about before she spots the immense Russian. And the blonde hair of the woman accompanying her also helps make Kitty doubly sure she has the right place.

Kitty walks over to their table, glancing at the glasses and the bottle. "Hey guys. Special occasion?" she asks. She pulls a chair over, turning it backwards and sitting on it that way, leaning forward and resting her arms on the chair back. A hand goes over to Piotr, running her fingers down his arm lightly in a greeting. Illyana gets a warm smile.


Picking up the small glass he pours himself, as Piotr considers. He sent a text to Kitty when she asked where he was - he didn't really think about how'd they react to a young woman in the bar as he swirls the clear liquid around in the glass.

"This sounds more like risk than reward. You said that.. Plokta was working with Belasco before?" he asks her. "Or that Belasco has approached him."

"Would showing him this power perhaps make Belasco assist him more?" comes the question, before there's a new arrival. "Katya." he greets her, trying to remember to switch to English. "We do not need a special occassion to drink?" he asks her with amusement. "Americans need an excuse. Russians need a day ending in Y."


Judging by the bottle, the Rasputins are planning on celebrating the heck out of this particular day that ends in Y. Kitty gets a lopsided smile from Illyana in return. Like her brother, she easily switches to English to include the brunette."Hey there."

"Belasco's hiding somewhere in the bowels of Limbo, hoping I don't change my mind and kill him. Or maybe he's hoping it will." Illyana waves off that bit of confusing trivia, not wanting to get into the Dark Virtues and her dance along that particular spiral. "Doesn't matter. Belasco doesn't have a power base, which should make him mostly a non-issue with Plokta. The idea is to impersonate Darque and not even bring Limbo or Belasco into things." The blonde muses. "Though I suppose if he manages to figure things out, he might be inclined to help Belasco stage a rebellion…" Ugh. That calls for more alcohol.


The bartender is indeed keeping an eye on Kitty, though as she doesn't reach for their bottle he doesn't make any move yet to hinder her being there. Kitty gives a soft laugh and says in decent, but not perfect Russian, "You, Piotr, do not even need the day end in Y. Time stop and you could drink." Good enough to get her point across, if a small grammar error here or there.

When she hears the topic, Kitty falls silent and gives them a little nod. She gets a slight frown but just rests her head down on her arms where they are crossed on the back of the chair, resting her chin upon them.


Moving aside to stand so that Kitty can sit, and the large Russian can obscure his girlfriend, Piotr takes his seat. "You did not need the fake ID in England." he says in some amusement, before his attention returns to Illyana. The frown that touches his features is a heavy one as he draws in his breath.

"We do not want to give Belasco any kind of leverage to get Plokta's support. So how would we do this as to not link it back to you?"


Illyana Rasputina watches Piotr's relocation with some amusement, but her overall mood is a bit more somber than usual. She frowns as Piotr asks what they can do. "I'm not trying to drag you down into the weeds with me, Piotr. I know you… don't want to hear the details." She pushes a hand back through her hair, part fidget and part frustration. "And the reward is stopping kids from being kidnapped, so it's not just risk."

As to how to pull off the deception? Illyana meets Piotr's gaze. "I've gotta make it believable. Be the evil guy."


Kitty Pryde look up at Piotr and flashes him a smile. "No, I did not. Though honestly I found the pubs there to be a little more enjoyable than the ones here," she tells him, glancing about Harry's. "Though, to be fair that was more the area than the country. Pubs in London are not all that much different than here. But the ones around the University? It was like… being in a separate world. Where people were interested in science and philosophy and literature. They were as common of points of discussion as the football score. More, sometimes," she says, looking a little wistful.

Kitty leans against Piotr, falling quiet then to not interrupt their planning too much. "Anything we can do to help you with it?" she asks Illyana.


Illyana found that spot. That one little chink in Piotr's armor. There's nothing that he wouldn't do for her.

And he's a self-sacrifical twit at times.

"Then I could be the 'bad guy'." Since he doesn't consider the evil part of it. Or the word doesn't parse probably. "What would you need me to do?" he asks, as he takes back the drink and slogs it back.

He feels Kitty's touch, and his free hand settles on hers.


And that has Illyana's expression hardening, pale eyes chilly. She isn't usually that cold around Kitty, and especially not so with Piotr. But Piotr sacrificing himself for her makes her go cold inside. Never again.

"We're not going to have you try to bluff Plotka. You said it yourself, you don't know any of the inner workings of this."

And Illyana doesn't want Piotr to lower himself to that level. To allow even the chance of him to become tainted. Like she already is. She doesn't even want to give him the details of what it might take to pull off the charade.


Kitty Pryde glances between brother and sister. "I don't know what it is you're intending," Kitty says, eyes on Piotr at first but then the brown eyes swinging over to focus on Illyana full. "But if needed, you know a girl you can stab without hurting her. A little blood pack to make it look good?"

Kitty hesitates. "Or, if you need someone you can really go to town on to a level they'd be sure he's dead, but he'd survive… I know a guy. He's even in New York as it turns out." She glances between the siblings again.


"She intends to fool a Splinter Lord into thinking his worshippers have turned on him." Piotr frowns. This is where they both get stubborn. "I cannot allow you to do this alone. I could not stop what happened to you. But I can.. help with this, though." he offers quietly, resolutely.

His jaw sets in a thin line, as he looks between the two. "It will take more than blood packs and sleight of hand to pull this off."


Illyana Rasputina gives Kitty a wan smile and shakes her head. "This isn't the realm of strength and steel. Plotka doesn't need to be able to touch you to twist your mind, soul and body. And while I worry where you might have found some masochistic friends," Illyana tries for some levity, teasing her former roommate, "The physical doesn't mean a lot to the Lord of Mere Wishes."

The blonde is scowling over at her brother again soon enough. "I won't go alone." She promises. "Keiko used to be part of the Cult, and she still tastes of their magic. She can play minion and help me sell the con and if need be she can be the sacrificial lamb. She already worships the asshole as her god." While Illyana shies away from doing real harm to most people because she's quite aware of the precarious status of her soul, she'll sacrifice both it and Keiko to stop the Nightfall.


An expression crosses Kitty's face. It's hard to put a single word to, but it came on her as Illyana mentions Plokta twisting one's mind. It eventually ends up something that could be called a worried frown. "Ah. Yes. I kind of remember," she says, shaking her head, thoughts on a pier in the City.

She glances between the two again. "Sounds like you have figure out what you need to do," she says, Kitty looking towards Piotr then. "Need to trust her. She's a very capable woman now," Kitty tells her boyfriend, her hand tightening on his just a little bit.


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