aterat | Return of the Queen

Who;Illyana + You
What; Network + Log of her return
Where;
When;Night on May 2nd
Warnings; Talk of death

I. Network

I found Athony. Turns out he has his own pocket dimension. Aspect of death and all that. Looks like they've at least mastered using the portals to go from here to there. Good for them.

Anyone visited the Academy while I've been gone. Been told recently that we could all do with a few lessons.

II. Wandering the streets

After what had happened before Illyana probably should have learned her lesson. Too bad she'd never been that great of a student. Sure, she picked up on things unusually fast, but she'd always been too headstrong to make a perfect student. Besides, she'd just gotten back and she wasn't really sure if she actually wanted to see anyone. Her head was a jumbled mess of memories of death from her home.

Memories of a small child slowly wasting away from a virus her own brother gave her. The memory felt more like watching a movie, as though it weren't actually her own memory. I hope to act like it does, if nothing else.

Was that all she was doing here? Acting like a real girl? For the first time she felt the full pang of missing her brother. She wished he was here. Big simple Piotr who only ever saw his little sister as the Snowflake she once was. She missed him, just like she missed Kitty and every one of the New Mutants. Tears welled up in her eyes, tears that she'd insist mainly came from frustration.

A portal appeared around her feet and engulfed her body only for her to remain exactly where she was.

"How dare you," she muttered as she wiped the tears away from her face. A series of curses in Russian escaped her lips and she pulled the hood of her jacket up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I wonder if anyone could make sure of that." Could she even do that? Probably if she figured out how it worked precisely, but unfortunately she hadn't. It'd just gone to Kitty after her death for some reason or another. She didn't even think Kitty ever used it, though they'd never really talked too much about it. "I'm offended you think I'll let it happen again." Her own ego and stubbornness insisted that she had to say that.

"The dock... that sounds decent. Most people avoid places like that," or at least she thought they did. She started to follow him. "Though it seems people would still look." The fact that so many people had looked was very odd to her.

"Well," Jacob shrugs. "plan for the worst. Then it hopefully won't happen. Other than that..." His voice trailed off. "We both have to keep trying." He wasn't confident but he was stubborn, which often made up for any inconsistencies in his personality.

"I'd like it if you didn't die again." It sounded more awkward than he meant it. He wasn't really great at expressing how he felt without teasing someone in the process and this wasn't really a topic that should be teased about.

Jacob quickly moved on and focused on a solution to her problem. "Possibly but if you keep switching it up then they won't find you. You can also tell people when you'll be MIA and for how long. They'll be less likely to go look for you if they can expect you back." He glanced over at her and offered an awkward smile. "It's worked pretty well for me and I have very nosy friends." It was annoying but he also didn't want to lose those who cared about him. It made him feel more human when he was surrounded by that kind of love.

"I thought it was plan for the best but expect the worst?" She shook her head and offered him a wry smile. "What would you know, I'd prefer that as well." The smile on her face took on a slightly more genuine (if not still weak) look to it. In fact, it was almost a smirk. On a better day she'd have definitely have sounded a lot more sarcasm in her tone, but today wasn't that better day. At least she managed some semblance of teasing back. Better than none, right?

"Hm, are there even enough places here to switch it up with?" Places that nobody really knew about seemed like they'd be harder to find, but she'd never really tried to hide from people here. The choice she made had always been to go to Limbo. "If you tell them, won't they just come to look for you?"

Jake grinned. "I like mine better." He was a pessimist by nature but he was always prepared for whatever clusterfuck fate had in store for him. It was the only reason that he was still alive.

"If we get creative enough, sure." Jake shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants as they made their way toward the coast. The area changed rather dramatically once they fully entered the wharf. It was mostly empty with a handful of abandoned and broken down warehouses and boat yards. Some of the structures were open to the air or the water but Jacob figured that there were likely some rooms intact if they took a look around.

"Nah. If I let them know that I am okay and will come back, more importantly, tell them when they will at least give me until that date to return." He glanced over at Illyana. "That's just the people I know. They get that sometimes I need to be on my own and respect it."

"You would," she was certainly unsurprised he liked his better. "Yours is more accurate." She liked it better too. Piotr was the optimist, the one that always seemed to find light in the dark. Illyana on the other hand...well, in her view she was the dark.

"It's no castle," though she was reminded why she rarely came out here. "But I suppose that makes it a good place to escape to." If she rarely came out here then chances were high that others had the same opinion.

"Lucky that you know when you want to go and how long." When she ran it was because she didn't know how to feel and she never knew when she'd come back. It was never something she thought about or thought through, which was probably part of the problem. "The people you know here or back home?"

"Back home." He answered quickly and then decided that he should probably elaborate. "Running away here is much easier." It wasn't that people didn't look for him should he disappear but none of those in the city had the ridiculous ability to sniff him out. "It's what happens when your adopted family is supper human... I guess."

Jake shrugged and then stopped when they reached the dock. There were plenty of places for Illyana to hide here and she'd even have time to clean up the areas if she liked it enough.

"I'll try not to look for you." He looked back at Illyana with a grin. "If you want to be alone." He used the word try because more often than not Jacob didn't really care about another person's feelings or desires. He tried to be mindful but when he got a thought stuck in his head he often had a one track mind. "I bet you want to look around without me so I don't know where you'll be hiding."

"Sounds like you need a Limbo in your world," she said with a smirk. For the most part only she could enter there, which had it's advantages and disadvantages. She looked around and then looked back to him and offered him a more genuine smile than she usually gave.

"Thank you. Try not to get mugged on your way out of the place." It sounded like something that could happen to him.

Jake scoffed. "I really do."

He returned her smile and bowed his head slightly as if he was being ironically respectful. "It's happened once. I'm sure it'll happen again." Jake lifted his head with a confident smirk. "At least this time I can beat the crap out of them in return." He turned on his heel with his left arm lifted in something that resembled a wave. "Later."

With that, Jake jogged back towards the city center.

Return of the Queen

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

/end <3