aterat | Video

Entry tags:

Video

Who; Illyana + OTA
What; Video post at Academy + Beach Shark
Where; Network, new beach, and Academy
When; Throughout the month of July, this is a catch all
Warnings;None.

A. [ V I D E O ]

[ The video feed opens to what some may recognize as the Academy that randomly appeared a while ago. It's not in the greatest condition as shown by the camera moving around. Whose moving the camera? Good question, because it eventually focuses to reveal Illyana floating in the air upside down with her legs folded one across the other.

It's a very normal way to address people. Don't question it. ]

So, I guess we've just got this place now, huh? Clean up crew that came in really could have done a slightly better job. [ No judgement though. Well, maybe some judgement, but that's Illyana: snarky and judgmental. A brief glimpse of her imps working to clean up some rubble can be seen in the background here and there. Followed by a very loud CRASH sound and Illyana snapping: ]

Hey! Be careful back there. [ Is she concerned they'll get hurt? No. ~~Maybe~~ She sighs and then returns to addressing the camera. ]

I was thinking maybe I could teach here. That's what it was used for before right? Not sure how many of you would have the talent, but it'd be something to do. [ And boy is she bored. ]

B. Night of the Shark

Illyana arrived at the beach in the afternoon wearing an actual bikini and giant sunglasses that looked like they belonged in the 80s. Try not to judge her too much, they were in style back when she went to beach parties with her friends. Imagine that, she thought to herself as she walked up to the shore. It felt like it was a different life that she was at a beach with all the other New Mutants. In a way it was, but that was more complicated than she wanted to spend time thinking about. Same could be said for the majority of her life both there and here now. Everything somehow got complicated when you thought about how you felt. Really had a way of killing the mood. Or at the very least for making the mood more sticky and twisty. Yup, that's exactly how she'd describe her weird feelings.

At least this place changed every now and then. That served as a way to at least attempt to find a distraction from weird things like remoistening about the past (she missed her friends) or thinking about the future (why did she want to see him right now?). The fact that the arrival of a beach just seemed to be making her sad was not lost on her as she wandered up and down the shore. She kept away from people as the sun began to set and barely paid any attention to anyone else around. This wasn't what people meant when they suggested she try to be more social. To add to the antisocial look she kept her sunglasses on even as the sun completely set.

That was when she noticed something out of the corner of her eyes that looked suspiciously like a fin.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" A new project. That's what she'd found here. And so began her nighttime adventures with a landshark. Illyana can be found out at the beach at night sitting on a rock casting some sort of spell. Occasionally she can also be found...riding something. That's right, she's learned how to ride a landshark. Only a bit of it's body can be seen sticking out of the sand, mostly it ends up looking like she's just gliding on some sort of large rock. Gliding on it and having a stupid amount of fun. Not that she's going to admit to that part.

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"I'm not pouting, don't be ridiculous." He knew how much of a lie that was even as he crossed his arms indignantly and looked back to the water, chin raised slightly in futile defiance of the obvious. He'd never be accused of being confident in his physical appearance, but he'd also never really thought about it, nor had it ever been an issue. Now, here he was, wanting Illyana to be interested in him and hating his own shortcomings. Awesome.

"I don't really do the sun, most of the time, love." He cleared his throat, though, because she wasn't judging him for it. He'd know if she was, and she was being earnest? He didn't know what to do with that. "Nice ride."

"Now you're pouting about being told you're pouting," she replied with a burst of laughter. With that fit of laughter she started floating in the air, folding one leg over the other and tilting to the side looking at him with pure amusement. The idea that his indignant demeanor was because he wanted her to like him hadn't even crossed her mind. If it had, she'd probably just wonder why her particular opinion meant so much. Sometimes he strangely reminded her of Doug, which just brought on a lot of strange conflicting feelings for her. Doug had been her first big experience outside of Limbo with loss. Sometimes, especially lately, she could still remember thinking how unfair the entire thing had been. Things like that weren't meant to happen outside of hell.

Unfair. What a childish notion.

She looked distant for a moment, caught up in her own thoughts, and then she shook her head, returning her focus to him. "Wouldn't have guessed. You seemed so much like the sun type." Now she certainly wasn't being earnest. "His name is N'astirh." Oh the satisfaction she took in that.

Edited 2022-07-26 03:51 (UTC)

"I am not." He most certainly was, and he didn't know what was more pathetic, doing it in the first place or doing it so obviously as to be called out on it. He forced his hands to his sides and stretched his neck, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to relax. She was teasing, and it wasn't as though she was leaving, either.

"Looks can be deceiving, I guess." He did look over to her curiously, though. "Why N'astirh?"

"You definitely are," she teased with a little poke to his shoulder. "I can tell when boys pout. Doug did it all the time. His power wasn't very useful on the field so he got told to sit back a lot." And he often pouted about that too. She could see him doing that too. It wasn't as though his particular abilities were good for combat. "You know, you two are similar." They'd probably even get along. They were both nerdy in a similar way too.

His question got a strange chuckle from her that had a sinister edge to it. "Why not?" a dark smirk stayed on her face with her own question. "N'astirh is a disgusting little treacherous demon from Limbo that never can learn his place. He'd betray an alternate version of himself if he could." He'd probably had the chance at some point in his travels too. "His place is beneath me." Get it? And she named a shark she was riding after him.

Jagger realized in that very moment he would most likely also be told to sit back most of the time if they were actually going into battle, and it would be the right place for him. He couldn't shoot, couldn't fight, and his abilities were good for finding people, but also led to his being lost in memories at times.

"Yeah? How so?"

Since she wanted to talk about Doug, he could play along. He would be lying if he suggested he wasn't at least a bit curious.

He couldn't help but relax a little, smiling at the reference she'd made. "Yeah, alright, love. N'astirh it is."

"Doug's omnilingual. He can understand almost any language within minutes. Useful outside of combat, not so much in combat. Not that it ever stopped him from adventuring out there." Kinda like when he'd gone out looking for her despite knowing there were dangerous creatures around. "He's also more booky than the rest of us. Less...combat prepared." Translation: he was more nerdy. At least she tried to be polite with it? "He was also a good friend." There, that's a compliment. Right? Sort of. They were friends. Just friends? That was a confusing question.

"The shark's better looking than him though." Maybe it was an insult to name the shark after him. Poor shark deserved better. "Would you like a ride?"

"Well, sure. A bloke can learn, right? Even if he doesn't have an advantage." Sure, he hadn't really done any sort of learning of combat, but he could cast a decent shield and get the hell out if he needed to. "He sounds like a decent guy." And like someone Illyana needed in her life.

He looked from her to the shark and back again for a moment, eyebrows raised. "I can't rightly say I've ever had a beautiful woman offer me a ride on her shark, before. How could I refuse?" Not that he knew what he was supposed to do. At all.

"Did you want to learn?" She'd thought he wasn't interest in learning how to actually fight. Her expression dropped at what he said about Doug and she closed her eyes. "He was." There were differences between him then and him now, but coming back from the dead seemed to do that to people.

She gave him a tiny smirk. "Then you've had an ugly woman offer you a ride on her shark?"

"I can't promise I'll be any good at it, but have you given a look around, love? This place isn't exactly the safest you can find yourself." The city in general, of course, not the beach, though the existence of the sand sharks did lend credibility to the whole 'everywhere was dangerous' claim. "...was?" He assumed that meant he was dead, not returned, because you know, that's not common for him just yet.

"Oh, yeah, just last Thursday. Great, gnarled old lady sallied up beside me on her great white and asked if I wanted to hop on, growled at me through her singular tooth when I declined."

"I could teach you. I am well versed in the use of all weaponry. Except guns. I have no interest in those." For clearly personal reasons. That was how Doug had died and she still had confusing feelings about that. Though the worst part was that she hadn't realized she had these feelings until just now. "The Ani-Mator meant to shoot Rahne. Doug, being the idiot he was, jumped in front of her. Rahne could have healed," she rolled her eyes. "Doug could not. Since his return he's been...different," that little twisted smirk appeared on her face. "I guess that's just what happens when you come back."

After all, she'd been pretty different when she'd returned. They'd both been brought back with missing pieces thanks to unholy means.

She tilted her head and then gave him a shrug as she continued to smirk. "Ah. Perhaps I should let you wait for her return then. You can apologize and take her for the ride of her life."

"They're not exactly readily available here, love." He had a few theories about why one might come back from the dead twisted and none of them were good. He also had no intention of voicing them to a woman he'd done just that. She already perceived herself as something less and because of that unworthy. He wasn't going to add salt to the wounds by saying what he was thinking. He also didn't think it applied to her, not completely, but he wasn't exactly an authority on souls.

He chuckled, though, following her lead. "If it's all the same to you, pet, I'd like to ride your shark."

"Maybe I could make one for you. For a price." She gave him a smirk before adding in: "And if you could lift it." Now that she thought about it, could he? Most of the weapons she'd fought with in Limbo had been heavy and she couldn't exactly imagine him wielding one. That might be more danger than it was worth.

"You should count yourself lucky. I would leave most men in the circle of transgression for calling me pet." There was no circle of transgression, but he didn't know that and she found threats...amusing. Reactions distracted her from why it was that she didn't precisely mind when he called her nicknames. She called the shark back over in a language that definitely wasn't human and then waiting until it popped it's back out of the sand. She gestured for him to go forward onto it.

"Are you saying I have weak, spaghetti arms?" Because he definitely did have weak, spaghetti arms. He was a dedicated paperwork man, a guy who hid when he needed to and never entered into a conflict if he could avoid it. Now, that could, possibly, change, but it would take a lot of training, and more patience than he thought she had for him.

He was, however, beginning to get the idea that while Illyana had a lot of bite to back up her considerable bark, she tended to bark just a bit louder. He nodded quickly, though. "I could myself lucky every day, love." He watched the shark's dubious approach, though, and looked back over to her when she gestured to him to get on. "So, how does one go about mounting a shark?"

"You said it, not me," she said with a smug smirk. "Have you ever lifted a weapon before?" Based on the look of said spaghetti arms she guessed the answer was a definite no. She also had a hard time imagining that he'd even be interested in trying. He was full of surprises though.

She looked at him and laughed as she jumped on, standing up on top of him. "Here," she reached out a hand for him to take. "Then you can sit down. Unless you think you can keep your balance." She'd love for him to try.

"No, I asked if that's what you were implying." But the offense had blown out of his reaction as they talked. Ultimately, Illyana could leave whenever she damn well wanted to, and if she wasn't, then there must be something worth sticking around for. Maybe it was simply to tease him, but he could fantasize about it being something more that that. "What sort of weapon?" Knives? A few times. Guns? Once or twice.

Without feeling emasculated in the least, he took her hand to mount the shark, and he did sit down, even if she kept standing. "I know better than to say otherwise, love."

"I was." Well, she'd just acknowledge that was her implication then. If he was going to keep asking then she'd just be honest. There was no way he'd be able to pick up the kind of weapons she used. "Battle axe. Two handed greatswords. Things like that." Those were the type of weaponry they used in Limbo. Welcome to the dark ages.

The shark jerked once they were on and then took off through the sand, gliding over the sand like a jeep over harsh terrain. If he'd expected a smooth ride that was not what he got. Illyana seemed to be having fun though, keeping on hand on his while the other was in the air as they moved.

"Uh, no. They aren't exactly common in Detroit and I'm not a lumberjack." He smiled, because honestly what else was he supposed to do when faced with those sorts of things? He could lie, of course, pretend he was some sort of world-renowned warrior, but what purpose would that serve? Besides, there was something about him she liked, weaknesses and all.

Any other retort he might have had was lost as the ride commenced. It wasn't anything like he was expecting and he found himself glad he hadn't just eaten before taking up a seat on the shark's back. He swallowed, trying not to bite his tongue.

"H-" his question was cut off as they hit a bump. Shit. "How do you control this thing?"

"What lumberjacks do you know that use a battleaxe?" That got quite the laugh from her as she had the mental image of a man in a lumberjack outfit trying to lift a giant battleaxe. The shark jerked again and she let out a whoop of enjoyment. There was no hiding that she definitely was enjoying this a bit too much.

"I'm not."

"Sorry, love, I'm not overly familiar with the tools of the lumberjack trade, you know? We don't do a lot of logging in Detroit."

At that, his life, uneventful and mostly lonely as it was, flashed before his eyes. "Fuck. We're trusting a shark. We're going to die."

"You have a very small world view," she said with a smirk. What a terribly uneventful life he was must have lived. Though, a tiny part of her, wondered if that wouldn't have been nice instead of the hectic one she'd existed in for so long.

"You're trusting me, not the shark," she said with a laugh with a wicked edge. "Dying isn't so bad."

"Yeah, maybe so." She wasn't wrong, that was for sure. He hadn't exactly 'been around' as they say. Maybe he could stand to read a few more books.

"I'll pass all the same, love, 'not so bad' or not."

"I should be offended you'd think I'd just let you die." Super rude of him. She muttered something under her breath and then the shark sped up much faster than it'd been going before. "Hold on then."

"To wha-" the rest of the question was lost to the wind as the shark gained momentum. He ended up grabbing for the only thing around to grip onto, which happened to be Illyana's waist.

"I thought you said you weren't controlling it!"

"Me," which he had done. So at least he had gotten the hint! If he hadn't, he might've just fallen off and gotten himself hurt.

"I'm not. I asked him if he'd go a bit faster for me. He decided he would. He's more generous than I thought!"

"None of that is nearly as comforting as you seem to think it is, love." They were trusting the will of a predator, and she might not be prey, but he certainly was.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

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