2019-05-27 - Kneecapping The Night Away

Summary:

Illyana drags Sam out to a club where they run into a feral little beast.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Mon May 27 05:17:51 2019
Location: RP Room 4

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

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illyana-rasputinasam-guthrielaura-kinney

Since Daken asked what they did for fun, it reminded Illyana that she hadn't yet drug Sam out to take her dancing yet. It didn't matter that Brooklyn was a good hour or more away from the school, or any excuse he tried to give that he didn't have anything to wear to a rock/metal bar. Illyana could fix those problems.

Which is how the pair find themselves at a dive bar out in the City. There's a live band up on stage, and it's loud. The place is obviously geared towards the hard rock/metal set. Illyana herself didn't have to change, her usual black-on-black leather attire trimmed in silver studs, skulls, pentagrams and the like fitting in just fine. She skips the cover at the door by just teleporting into one of the back hallways, dragging Sam towards the main floor by one hand. It's busy enough tonight she needs to apply some elbows at times to make some room.


Sam Guthrie might seem like an odd fit in a rock club, but he does okay for himself. He wears a pair of black leather pants, boots and a sleeveless Motley Crue t-shirt open enough to show his abs and ribcage along the side. His muscles and height combined actually make him a bit of an intimidating specimen, although his hair's cut far too short for the usual type at this sort of club.

He lets Illyana lead the way, if only because trying to drag her anywhere is a pointless exercise, and because he figures she knows how to have fun maybe a little bit better than he does. He's getting better at it, but he's not entirely in practice.


This is actually Laura's first concert. Here's how she got in: first, she breezed through the front door when the doorman was distracted by two drunks getting into it outside. Then, she went back and stole one of the wristbands poking out of the doorman's pocket, because she saw everyone else had a wristband on and wanted to fit in. Doing this undetected in a crowded bar took some concentration but generally was easy.

Now, Laura has her wristband, and is standing around. She's wearing jeans that fit her fairly well, a gray v-neck t-shirt that looks like it came in a multi-pack, and unexceptional sneakers. No jewelry, no makeup. No emotion on her face. She's not in black but she does at least KIND of look like she fits in, based on sullen demeanor alone. She's currently standing, stone-still, arms by her sides, in Illyana and Sam's path towards the pit. She might be elbowed.


People tend to move out of Illyana's way without ever really realizing they're doing it. Some part of their brain picks up on the touch of the Elder Gods about her and they just decide… maybe they want to stand over here. So the elbowing Illyana generally has to do is pretty minimal. But every so often, you run across someone who's not sensitive, or too drunk or too… well. Laura.

Illyana herself isn't terribly tall, and at first glance there's not much intimidating about her. I good look at her eyes is usually enough to change someone's opinion on that. But Illyana isn't trying to look at anyone, she's trying to get down to the Piet, with Sam in tow. She tries to elbow Laura aside, dragging the tall, dirty-blond hayseed along with her.


Sam feels the hard beat of the song and the base sort of thrum his bones. He genuinely likes this kind of music, although this scene might be a little chaotic for his usual taste. When Illyana elbows against Laura, he takes her arm, "Hey, hey, no need to be givin' anybody black eyes, Yana," he says. "Sorry about that," he says on her behalf to the dark-haired girl, "She's just ready to rock and roll," he says, shouting a bit to m ake sure he can be heard.


When Illyana elbows Laura, it should be an easy job: Laura is 5'1" and weighs, what, like, one ice cream sundae. Her feet are firmly rooted to the floor, though. When Illyana nudges her in the side, Laura gets nudged a bit, but her feet don't leave the spot.

Laura's head turns towards Illyana, and her expression is inscrutable. Her green eyes stare at the Russian blonde with a total poker face, and then track over to Sam when he tries to apologize. Laura turns her head back towards the pit up front, to watch it for a moment: metalheads thrashing around, bouncing off of each other, slamming this way and that. She observes for about two or three seconds, then looks back at Illyana, and elbows her back, right in the stomach.


If it were someone else grabbing her, Illyana wouldn't take having her arm grabbed very well. But it's Sam, and he gets touching privileges. She does glance back at him to roll her eyes with mild amusement as he apologizes for her. He certainly knows she wouldn't do it herself.

When Laura elbows Illyana back, the blonde's attention moves back over to her and a brow quirks upwards. Followed by a slow smirk and a shake of her head. Then Illyana reaches up to grab Laura's shoulder, the movement slow and touch light, to start to steer her towards the mass of bodies. "Inside the Pit." She calls out, voice raised to be heard over the music and the din of the crowd.

Illyana is still dragging Sam along with, and once they're in the 'dancing' area she'll let go of both of them, though she sticks close to Sam.


Sam Guthrie bounces up and down and does that dumb headbanging thing that boys in metal clubs have been doing since the first time Ozzy and Geezer decided to make something a little heavier back in the day. He, too, sticks close to Illyana, in part just because he's generally a protective dude, regardless of how formidable she is, and also because he knows that she might still get up to trouble and he doesn't entirely trust that smile or the easygoing way he's accepted Laura 'striking back'. He's wary, but still trying to have fun.


Laura is taken by the shoulder. She doesn't say anything, but her look is clearly one of indignant confusion — 'what are you doing?!' with both the ? and the ! firmly in place. She gives in and lets herself be pushed toward the pit, which is probably a massive overreaction on Illyana's part, considering the peril of being a five-one, petite teenage girl in a heavy metal mosh pit. The only way it could be worse is if she was crowd surfing.

While Illyana and Sam have their fun, Laura disappears into the dervish of people. She's small enough that it's easy to do. Even trying to keep track of her through conscious effort gets a bit tricky.


Illyana Rasputina watches Laura slip off deeper into the press of bodies, glancing back to Sam with a shrug. She'll probably note what a strange girl Laura was to Sam when they can talk without half-yelling. Which'll be a funny conversation, coming from Illyana.

The blonde woman's pale eyes glint with amusement at Sam's headbanging. She can also tell that he's still being watchful and tense, which she can't really fault him for. Illyana isn't here to push up the violence level on the floor, just for the loud, driving beat that helps to push everything else out of her head. While she bumps into other bodies on the floor, she stays with the beanpole.


Sam Guthrie keeps up against Illyana's back, in part to keep people from bumping into her and causing any more trouble and in part just because, hey, that's what you do when you're dancing in a rock club. He does try futilely to keep track of Laura, a little concerned about what the girl might be up to, but he's not exactly a trained observer and she can slip him pretty easily. One guy does bump a bit roughly against Sam, trying to edge in against Illyana, and Sam actually does give him a little bit of shoulder. Luckily Sam's tall enough and buff enough that the guy thinks better of taking it personal.


Things go on as they do. One song finishes, another, louder, faster song starts, the pit starts getting wild. Wait, was that snap part of the track? No, seriously, wait, that guy just fell over — and the guy next to him, too. The band keeps playing as the pit clears out to give the two people space, but even the guitarist is missing a note here and there until finally, the music stops entirely.

Two guys are on the floor in the pit, the other moshers having cleared away to reveal them laying there, groaning and crying out in pain, both of them with shinbones that are now able to bend in extremely not-good new ways. People are saying 'get a doctor!' or 'holy shit!' or whatever, but in that ring of people surrounding the scene, Laura is staring daggers right at them, unmoved by their plight.


Illyana Rasputina notices the shift in the crowd's mood fairly early, but she's too short to really see what's going on. She does stop dancing and look about so when the crow finally starts to pull away, Illyana gets a good look at the tiny dancer and her circle of pain.

There's no look of shock or outrage on Illyana's face, just the slow cant of her head to one side and a thoughtful frown on her lips. As everyone else scrambles back and away, Illyana strides towards Laura, the heavy tread of her boots loud in the shocked silence. A glance is given down at the injured men, and then she looks to the girl. "What happened?" She asks, tone calm and pale gaze on Laura.


Sam Guthrie does actually attend to the fallen men, letting Illyana take point with the little legbreaker while he helps to pull the guys out of harm's way and props them up against the edge of the stage. He looks to a security guy, "Call an ambulance for these guys. Get me a couple of bottles of water for 'em, we'll try and keep 'em comfy." he says. He seems quite calm, too, as if he's used to crisis situations in some way. The only sign of nerves his his continual glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Laura and Illyana haven't started beating each other senseless.


The situation is quickly being handled: the band is on the mic to keep the crowd calm, saying they're gonna take five and come back and rock even harder and this and that. Security guys are already on it when Sam comes up to them, but at least they take his helpfulness well. And only Sam and Illyana seem to have connected these guys suffering the kinds of injuries that get horses shot in the brain with the tiny little black-haired lady.

Laura herself is starting to pull away and disappear into the crowd again when Illyana stops her. Her green eyes fix on Illyana for a long moment, like a poker player examining another one for tells. "They surrounded me. One of them held my shoulders. The other one slid his hand down the back of my pants and fondled my buttocks." Laura pauses, then adds: "You pushed me in there."


Illyana Rasputina gives Sam a glance as he starts to take care of the injured men, but most of her attention is on Laura, Especially when it looks like the small woman might decide to leave. Illyana steps up a bit closer to her, her arms still at her side and not held out in the classic 'I'm safe' sort of gesture. The coldness in Illyana's eyes would make a lie of any sort of gesture like that.

The answer gets a narrow-eyed look from Illyana, but otherwise her expression stays calm. "Well. I tend to agree that something like that deserves a severe response but most people don't agree." A pause. "Or have the skill to put down two big guys like that."

As for Illyana pushing her in there? That gets a half-shrug. "It was the place for a little rough-housing. But not for assault." The blonde offers a hand out. "My name is Illyana. The big guy is my friend, Sam."


Sam Guthrie comes up behind Illyana, his hands in his pockets, sure enough that the security guys have it handled. He overheard the last bit and winces, "Well, I'm not gonna say I blame you much. Sounds like they deserved what they got. Still, pretty impressive takin' 'em down so easy. Kind of thing that takes special skills…or advantages," he says.


Laura's eyes move from Illyana to Sam when Sam comes up. She only focuses on him for a moment before looking at Illyana again. And… her nose is kind of twitching. Like she smells something.

You know how dogs and cats hate supernatural phenomena, and will bark at poltergeists and Draculas and so on?

It's kind of like that.

The longer Illyana is in front of Laura, the more Laura's nose is going, and the more unsettled she seems to become. "What do you want?" she finally asks, her voice tinged with suspicion.


The set of Illyana's shoulders eases a fraction as Sam joins them, covering her back. It's not a conscious thing, but something Laura is likely to pick up on. That she trusts the tall guy.

"We want to know why you reacted so strongly. And so… competently." Illyana says, her manner still calm, though Laura's twitchyness definitely has her attention. "Breaking bones isn't someone's usual go-to, on account of the threats of being sued." It is rather familiar though. Illyana was known to do similar in her first days at Xavier's.


Sam Guthrie shakes his head, "I get the feelin' she ain't much worried about that. What she should worry 'bout is that them security dudes are bound to call the cops to try and cover the liability of the club, and that prob'ly ain't good fer anybody."


"Am I not supposed to react strongly to being groped?" Laura replies, sounding more agitated. She notices the body language between Illyana and Sam — and her own body language is like a billboard. She's starting to feel cornered. It's just like out of the textbook at the school for how to approach new mutants. Or training film, or whatever.

"You smell wrong," Laura finally accuses Illyana. "You smell like…" Her nose twitches, powerfully. But she doesn't have words to finish her thought. "It's WRONG."

Just then, the EMTs are here. The ambulance lights are flashing. "ALL RIGHT, MAKE WAY, COMING THROUGH!" Backboards, gurneys, all that are being rolled in, and the EMTs choose a path going right between Laura's position, and Sam and Illyana's position. It's only like, a second, maybe two seconds — but when the EMTs have gone past, Laura's gone, like a little ninja or a Batman.


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