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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So anyone could just learn magic? That was kind of appealing, if the kid was being honest. Though, that aside, Mono had a hard time not getting hung up on part of that. “You can just name yourself something big and important sounding and people kinda go with it?” Dr Strange sounded kind of weird to the boy. He was pretty sure you earned titles and promotions and stuff. At least that’s how it sounded when he was listening to other adults around the city.

“Isn’t that gonna make you all dizzy and stuff?” Mono continued as she began to sit upside down, eyes wide. He was still impressed, but he’d ended up upside-down before and it always made his head kind of woozy after a while! “So the real ones would be like copies instead of those illusion things? And no one could even tell it wasn’t us?” That would be really useful, couldn’t it? If monsters thought they were chasing you but they were only chasing a trick, then you could get away a lot easier!

"Evidently," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. It was definitely more complicated than that but he didn't know that and he didn't need to know that. "I had to wage war in an entire dimension to become sorceress supreme. Seems unfair." She leaned in closer to him to whisper something. "His name is actually Dr. Strange too. It's not even a codename." Let the Strange slander continue.

She straightened herself up but continued to float. "Nah, I don't get dizzy." That might have been a tiny lie. "You got it. They'd be solid and functional. Takes a lot more work to get something like that though."

“Really? That does seem really unfair. How come you had to work so hard but he could just call himself that ‘cause he knows magic?” Mono responded with an entirely surprised tone, that didn’t sound right to the kid at all! And then… Because it sounded like the guy was prone to doing this, Mono continued. “Did he only just call himself a doctor too??” Not that Mono had the best experience with doctors in general. The one he’d met was… not quite what a most people would imagine…

Mono would never have known she was feeding him a small lie. He simply looked impressed and guessed it might be more magic on her part to avoid being dizzy! That made a lot of sense, right? “I bet it would be a lot harder! But really neat, and you could use them to be really sneaky and distract people you didn’t wanna see yourself or lead stuff away from ya!”

"Because he's a man and an Avenger. They all have egos," she said in the most matter of fact tone that one could possibly use. "Nah, I think he went to school for that before he learned magic. Evidently his tragic backstory is that he had some sort of accident that made it where he couldn't be a surgeon anymore. Then he tried to learn magic to fix it or something and eventually ended up an Avenger." That was...probably the worst description of Strange's life ever, but Illyana really didn't care. It was hard enough keeping up with the X-Men let alone all the Avengers and their constant roster changes.

"Ohh, I could use them for that! Maybe I should..." If she made one it could do all the boring things she didn't want to do for her. "You need a few items from the person you're making one of for the spell. Beyond that it's not too complicated."

“That sounds kinda stupid.” He responded with a confused little shake of his head. Why should he get a big title all easy because he was a man? He was pretty sure he was never going to understand how adults decided things in these other worlds. Her description of Dr. Strange’s life was definitely not something he could follow particularly well, either. So he was one thing, and got hurt, and decided to try to do something else to fix it… and just kinda ended up being ‘sorcerer supreme’ or something because he couldn’t be a doctor anymore? At least, that was how Mono was summing it up in his head.

Admittedly, her response to his idea made him feel very clever. Should one encourage the shirking of social obligations through trickery and doubles? Probably not, but it wasn’t like Mono had the social skills or maturity to know that himself. “Yeah! Then you could focus on the stuff you wanna, and the people you don’t like will be too busy and not realize they got a fake!” And if you needed items from the person to make one, it would be easy for Illyana since she had all the stuff she needed already, right?

"Did you have much hope for someone who continues to just call themselves Dr. Strange? At least I picked Magik," which was 100% a better secret identity name. First of all it was actually something secret and second of all it wasn't just her actual last name. "Who tells their enemies their actual last name?" Only a loser, that's who. Had she still had family to be concerned for, she'd probably worry for their safety if she walked around using her actual last name. Then again her family had been well known by the Russian military, so it probably wouldn't have done anything.

"Exactly! You always impress with your cleverness," she said with a smile. He should be proud and feel clever, more often than not he seemed to be more clever than most of the adults here. Though, there was always a sense of sadness that lingered over that little fact. How horrible his life must have been for him to have thoughts like this at such a young age. It was...sadly relatable to her.

“I don’t even have a last name and I think it’s kinda dumb to use it as your secret identity thing! ‘Cause then it’s not a secret, then everyone would know exactly who you are. Magik sounds cooler, too.” He responded with a little nod of agreement. He’d been learning more about stuff like that and it seemed like it defeated the purpose to use your actual name.

It was hard for the boy to not feel a rather large boost of confidence at that, he impressed her with being clever? Really? That was kind of a big deal, considering Mono was pretty sure she was one of the most powerful and clever people he’d met here so far. Especially compared to some other adults, she always seemed to just… Get the things he said or mentioned dealing with better than other adults did. Probably because of her childhood, which was sad… “Yeah? I just thought it was a neat idea, but thanks! Do you think you’ll try it while you’re here?”

"You have no last name?" Come to think of it, she never had actually asked that had she? Last names had no meaning here, so there seemed like no reason to ask. "I thought it was pretty cool when I picked it. We all have codenames. Some better than others." Hers being the absolute best.

Illyana would have very little idea of what to do with the high esteem Mono put her in. The fact that he wasn't afraid of her and also seemed to respect her was strange enough on it's own. That wasn't something that had happened before. Most who had respect for her also had a healthy amount of fear.

"Why not? It could be entertaining."

“Nope! At least I don’t think I got one. At the orphanage the other kids just called me Mono, I think… That was a really long time ago.” At least it seemed like a long time, so long that much of that was rather hazy… Which was probably odd since he was pretty sure he was only ten… or eleven now, he supposed. He also wasn’t sure when his birthday was, since no one made a big deal about those anymore where he was from.

Mono nodded though, “It is really cool! It’s the kinda name that gets your attention.” So he was pretty sure she would be right in saying it was the best, although he also didn’t really know what the other people’s codenames were to compare beyond a couple. But Illyana’s just sounded all magical and cool, so he was at least somewhat confident in the assumption.

But he tilted his head with an almost excited curiosity. She would try it?? “Yeah?? I wanna see if you do. You gotta tell me how it goes.” Because he bet it would be kinda funny too, if everyone all thought they were bugging Illyana, but she wasn’t even there.

"I see," a frown touched her lips at his admission. There was something rather sad about that, though she could not quite place what about it made her sad. Perhaps it was just the simple fact that it reminded her of his lack of family. Despite the...complications involved in her own life, she held her family in extremely high regards There were few people as important to her as Piotr. Even if there were confusing feelings of guilt and shame mixed in there due to the things she'd done without her soul.

"You're not missing much." They were trouble than they were worth. Probably. "I had a different name in Limbo." Maybe she was bragging. Just a tiny bit. Maybe.

"Then I will show you. You can come to the casting if you want." She wouldn't mind showing him how she did things like that.

Mono did, of course, get curious sometimes if he had ever had family. He knew most kids did, even if they lost them at some point to have ended up in the orphanage… But his own history was so strangely clouded. He couldn’t remember anything from before the orphanage, and even his time there seemed a bit cloudy at times beyond the night of the fire when he’d left it behind. Really… Trying to think too hard about his past gave him a weird sinking feeling, so he tried to not dwell on it for too long. There were too many interesting things here, anyway!

“Really?? You had a whole other name too?” That was honestly a lot of names, and Mono couldn’t help but wonder how someone could have so many names, while other people didn’t have many names at all. “What was your name in Limbo?” Because of course the boy would have to ask, curiosity was like that. It was hard to put to rest unless you asked the questions.

Mono’s dark eyes widened a bit. He could come along and see her do it? That would be so cool! “I could? That would be really neat! I wanna see for sure!” He agreed, nodding quickly at the idea. It was always so cool to see how people did stuff around here, and he bet a copy would be even more interesting to see than an illusion thing.

"They called me Darkchilde there. Most still use it as a name for my demonic side." Most included herself. Sometimes it was easier to consider that part of herself a completely separate being. After all, it did make it less difficult to reconcile with the things she'd done without a soul. A moment passed where she just sort of hesitated, as if she were on the precipice of saying something more. After enough mental debate with herself (she couldn't decide how embarrassing she wanted to allow herself to be) she decided to just say it. "My brother also calls me Little Snowflake." She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "It seems he does so more than my name." A hint of a smile was in her voice at the admission.

The smile only widened at his reaction to her invitation. He truly did remind her of herself at times. Whenever Ororo had offered to teach her things or let her watch in her garden in Limbo she'd gotten wide eyes quite like that. "You could. I would always be happy to have you along if you have an interest in seeing how I work."

“So you even got a name based on the different parts of yourself…” He commented with a thoughtful tilt of his head. At least if she wanted to go without anyone really knowing her real name, it would be pretty easy, right? She could just give one of the other names! He felt himself more than a little curious about her brother’s name for her. “Why does he call you Little Snowflake?” She didn’t look like snow, or was it because she liked snow? She did seem to have fun when they were hanging out in the winter time around his slightly monstrous snowmen after her prank.

“Thanks Illyana! I definitely wanna see. I bet it’ll be really neat.” He added with a brighter smile, definitely looking forward to the chance to see a little more of what she could do. After all, he felt pretty safe around her already, so he didn’t find going to Limbo as scary as going back to his world might be. Especially after seeing the garden she had been trying to work on… And she could do such cool stuff! The kid couldn’t help but want to learn more about his friend, it kind of helped sometimes to see how much someone who grew up in a similar situation had learned to do and achieved… Especially considering how he felt about the uncertainties around his own abilities.

His question got a little shrug from her. "He was considerably older and even though he's not anymore he still refuses to let it go." Not anymore made sense to her, but probably not most people. Then again, most people didn't grow up in a pocket dimension where time didn't work the same way. Years in Limbo barely equaled anytime on Earth and when she'd finally seen her brother again she hadn't been the six year old he'd known. She looked a bit distant for a second and then, despite herself, she smiled awkwardly. "We played in the snow a lot when I was a child. Russia is a very cold place." Sometimes she missed that. It was certainly much more simple back then.

"Perhaps. If it works out. New spells can be tricky." Though...she sounded a tiny bit exciting. There was something interesting about trying them, especially as she was learning more of a variety here. So much of her magic had been based around Limbo that she'd missed out on fundamentals that came to Earth magic.

“Isn’t that kinda nice, though? That he’s got a special name just for you?” Even if she wasn’t as young compared to her brother as he treated her, it sounded like the nickname was a something special that was just for her. Maybe that was normal for family?? Mono wasn’t really sure himself, but it sounded kind of like that might be how it was. Especially when he spotted a small, awkward smile on his friend’s face. “Oh! Like how the winter is here, but more. I bet that was fun. It was cold, but I liked getting to make stuff in the snow.” Even after she’d tricked him with that snowman, it was still a good memory and a nice experience in ‘fun’ that he seemed to always be so far behind his peers in this world in figuring out. Even the beach had been kind of confusing for the boy.

“Yeah, but you’re really smart. I bet you’ll figure it out easy!” Mono responded with a rather confident tone. He really did have a lot of faith in Illyana and her abilities…

"It...was strange to be called such even when I was not really me." By strange she meant terribly confusing, especially given how adamant he had been about it. She had felt like an imposter and the worst part was she was technically correct in that. Before she had reclaimed her soul she hadn't truly been Illyana. "Much colder than it was here. But I did not mind. It was what I was used to." And people were always more comfortable with what they knew. "Though I did enjoy the snow here." She smirked at the memory of the trick with the snowmen. That had been a pretty good one on her part and she was still mildly proud of it (whether she should or not).

"If I did not know you better your flattery would be suspect." But she did.

“Ohhh… I guess that kinda makes sense. If you weren’t who you were when he used to call you that.” Mono responded with a small nod. He would be pretty confused if that happened to him, he guessed. But it was interesting to think about where Illyana was from, if it was always colder than here… Maybe it was normal for some places to have the same kind of weather all the time, like how the pale city was always rainy and foggy?

But he grinned one of his clumsy tilted little grins. “Yeah, it was a lot of fun, more fun than I thought it was when I first got here.” Honestly, Mono had found the winter one of the more fun seasons, even if it was pretty cold. It had been easier once he got clothes for that kind of weather at least, and he really did get into the winter activities people had shown him.

Mono blinked, “Really? How come, is flattery a thing people don’t say when they mean it?” He asked with a little tilted of his head. A few other people got a bit weird when he said something positive about them. It always confused him since he really did think that these people, Illyana included, were pretty great and amazing.

"When I first came back to life I had the memories of Illyana, but not her soul." She knew it probably made little sense to him, but she knew no other way to really describe it. How did you really explain the impact a soul could have on someone's moral compass? It seemed like an impossible task without someone having knowledge o their own.

"It was more enjoyable than this heat." She wasn't really a fan of how hot it'd been lately. Though most of that was probably just because she distinctly preferred the cold weather she was used to as a kid. "Piotr would build entire snow forts for me" She kind of hoped it would be like that again this year.

"Flattery is often something people use to manipulate. Demons are well versed with it. Or they try to be. S'ym was terrible at it. N'astirh was better."

It really didn’t make much sense, given he really didn’t know much about souls, either. The kid did his best, though, at least making guesses based on how she spoke of it. Souls, it seemed, were part of what made you who you were. Like your personality, maybe. People kind of described those similarly. “So you knew stuff, but you still weren’t you without it. So like… You kinda didn’t know how to feel about stuff like that?” Then again, there was a lot of stuff he didn’t know how to feel about things, but he was pretty sure he had a soul, right? So maybe not…

“Yeah, the heat is kinda icky sometimes. It’s like it just gets too hot and doesn’t know it. I still kinda like it better than all the rain and fog where I’m from, but I decided I like the not-hot weather better now that I know what to do with it. The in-between stuffs nice too, though.” Clearly the child had thought long and hard about the different kinds of weather… He did have a lot of time on his hands aside from when he was working, after all.

“Oh… I don’t think anyone knows that or uses it where I’m from. So I guess I didn’t know that… But that just means I’m telling the truth when I say stuff!” He responded, coming to the conclusion after a few careful moments of thought.

"Exactly. A soul gives you moral guidance. Without one you feel nothing at all, least of all guilt for your actions." Which didn't mean you didn't feel that guilt somewhat once your soul returned to you. That had been a....frustrating side effect. Though, she was still fairly certain she sucked at figuring out how and what to feel most of the time. "The more soul you're missing the more darkness takes over." That much was simple enough at least.

"Rain and fog all the time is just depressing. And inconvenient." Things could hide in the fog and surprises like that were never fun. She gave him a little sympathetic smile. "Cold weather does take planning. When I was small I never understood why I had to take so long to dress in so many layers. Going out without it taught me better though." Lessons learned. "In-between is easier." You could just step outside with in-between weather. Illyana approved of his assessment of the best time.

"It's a good thing to not know that, honesty is usually the best policy." ...not that she could talk. After all she'd lied to everyone for a long time. But, hey, he didn't need to know that. "Or so my brother would say."

Ohhh… So a soul did all that too? He did feel a lot of guilt about some things, so he guessed he definitely had a soul. That was good to know, or at least know, the difference. “I guess I kinda understand? I never know a lot of that stuff before. Souls sound pretty important, more than I thought.” So the boy noted that down in his head to consider later, another little bit of new knowledge to keep in mind that he hadn’t had before.

“Yeah, it was super inconvenient! I don’t think I ever saw the sky without a bunch of dark clouds before I got here, at least not that I can remember.” So he was glad that he wasn’t the only one who thought so, or that in-between weather was way easier than other kinds. Mono nodded, though, as she explained how she hadn’t understood dressing in layers before going out in the winter. “I didn’t get it either till I tried walking in it! It’s way colder than it all looks, so I didn’t like it much till I got shoes and jackets and stuff too.”

Honesty is the best policy, huh? Mono was pretty sure he’d heard people say that too… “Yeah, I think I hear people say that sometimes. I just don’t always think of lying, well… I guess I kinda do sometimes. If people ask about stuff, I don’t think they’ll like the answer to in my world. At least some of the time.” Not all the time. Usually he’d say something then realize that it might be better to not tell a person everything.

"Souls are very important. Few understand how much power one can get from one. Particularly in spellcasting." A slow smirk curled on her lips. "Which is a good thing." The knowledge of how to use a soul was certainly not a good thing. After all it had cost her nearly everything in her life and it had caused a lot of pain for another. It was certainly not something she would actually ever teach people about now.

"What a depressing sounding world." It seemed even more depressing that, from what she could recall he'd previously said, he wasn't even sure what caused it all. How could they fix it then? If there even was anything to fix. "That must have been very unpleasant at first." Poor kid. Sometime she forgot how little he knew about the world outside the desolate place he came from.

"If you have to lie to survive, there is no harm in it." At least in her opinion. "And you cannot help what you do not know." It definitely sounded like a situation he'd be in dangerous in his world.

So it wasn’t something many people knew about? Aside from the obvious, souls sounded important regardless… But for magic, Illyana made them sound extra important. “Is that because people would try to use souls for stuff they shouldn’t?” That was the only reason he could think of as being why it would be good that not many people knew. There were probably lots of people who would use it for stuff they shouldn’t, if they knew.

Scuffing his foot lightly on the rock, he nodded. “I guess so, but that’s kinda just how it is. I dunno if I can even imagine it being not like that, even if it must’ve been before.” He responded with a little shrug. The Pale City was a weird, cursed place. Depressing for a lot of reasons beyond the weather itself, but that definitely cemented the atmosphere. “Yeah, it kinda was since I arrived in the winter. But it got better after that. People were weird but a good weird.” People were still weird, of course, but he had gotten used to it a lot since then.

“You think so?” That was good, at least. It made him feel a little better about the fibs he’d told and facts or details he’d left out since getting here.

"You are very smart." Especially for someone so young. "Souls can be used to forge some of the most powerful spells any sorcerer could cast. Belasco wanted mine to use as a key to open the prison of the Elder Gods. Nothing would work for that beyond an innocent soul. Those are the most powerful." Why was that? Suddenly she found herself curious about that particular aspect. What was it about innocent souls that always made them the most valuable? It was a universal thing, appearing in stories and almost all cultures. How odd.

"There must have been a time where it wasn't like that. I never encountered a world that was just born like that in my jumping." Did that mean it was impossible that there was one? Certainly not. She wasn't arrogant enough to think that. Logically though it stood to reason that something caused worlds to fall like that.

"I know so," she sounded confident in that and nodded her head. "I know few things as well as I know survival."

He was? Again, Mono wasn’t sure what really gave anyone the impression he was smart. A few people had said it to him before, and someone even explained that there were different kinds of smart from what he knew… But he still wasn’t sure what made him smart beyond just saying things as they made sense to him. But… Well, it still felt kinda good when people told him he was smart. Especially people as smart and cool as Illyana. “So the more innocent you are, the more your soul is worth? Wow…” It really was good that not a lot of people knew about using souls like that. There’d probably be a lot more kids without their souls roaming around. Still, Mono frowned. From past discussions about Belasco, the kid didn’t like the sounds of the guy. He was glad that Illyana had gotten her soul back.

“I guess it’s just hard to imagine it different? But…” He frowned slightly, “I hope you’re right. Because if it was better once, then maybe it can be better again someday.” Maybe if he made it to the signal tower. Maybe he could fix things. It felt like he was supposed to go there, anyway. Why else would that be, if not to help get Six back and stop the tower from broadcasting its signal??

Mono could take Illyana’s word on that. She definitely knew a lot about surviving herself. She was older and had more experience and dealings with people who probably would be dangerous to tell the truth to. “Then I guess I don’t gotta feel bad when I do, then.” He responded, committing that lesson to memory.

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