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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[He was busy getting lunch cleaned up when he heard Illyana's voice come over his phone. And then he turned with a dishtowel in his hand. What was that about teaching? So Yuki sat down at the kitchen table and listened in.

Not about to question the position she's in, he has to admit he's curious.]

Do you know what sort of things they teach there?

[Or taught there?]

Mono was out, of course, doing his usual wandering around and figuring stuff out. Whatever stuff was, really. The boy tended to have a lot to learn about a lot of things, and he did so by experiencing things in this world around him. He’d actually started to kind of have fun at the beach after its arrival, which was definitely a win… But he didn’t quite make it off the shoreline that evening after a long day of fun before he saw someone familiar who was definitely doing something he’d never seen before.

… What was she doing???

Scrambling up a rock on the shore, he tilted his head one way and then another. Was that one of those new shark things??? He raised his arms to wave frantically at his friend. “Oii! Hey! Illyana!” He called out (as loudly as he ever did, which wasn’t loud at all) to get her attention so he could ask so many questions.

Nothing. There's nobody else here but me. [ She tilted her head and grinned. ] I was offering to teach people myself.

[Admittedly, Harry had opted to sit out on the whole 'save the magic academy' bit, if for no other reason than he wasn't sure how he felt about the whole 'magic academy' bit. Many people could learn a few spells, but it wasn't for everyone, and not just anyone should be trusted with wielding the fundamental powers of life, the universe, and everything.]

You're...going to reopen the place? Shouldn't we check it out first? Make sure there aren't dangerous and forbidden tomes of arcane knowledge just laying around for any amateur to get their hands on and summon up the next Big Nasty?

There was something supremely mundane about his realization as news of the newly discovered stretch of sand south of the city began to circulate around their usual clientele and the other business owners in the area: he'd never been to a beach. Well, he had, once or twice, been invited to a party down lake for a high school party, and Lake Michigan might have been large enough to actually produce some pretty impressive waves, but he'd never even actually swam in salt water, let alone enjoyed a beach party the likes of which frequented many a B-movie screen. Thus, they had remained staunchly locked in his memory has a place where MTV hosted spring break blowout shows and not the sort of place one would actually visit.

That meant, of course, that he was going to head down and see what all the fuss was about, for the sake of science and curiosity and not at all because he'd always wanted to visit a proper beach and his father had never taken him. He prepared for the journey, buying a pair of black and dark gray board shorts and a black tank top stating, in plain white letters, "Surely not EVERYBODY was kung-fu fighting", and a pair of sandals, as he was fairly sure they were necessary for beach-walking without falling. As he made his way out to the sands in his new outfit which did very little to hide the fact that he was scrawny and never ventured into the sun of he could avoid it, he found walking in sand was complicated no matter what footwear on was wearing, but taking off the sandals made all the shells uncomfortable on the bottoms of his feet, looking every bit the wandering tourist he'd decidedly attempted to avoid appearing.

He stopped to admire what was, in fact, a stunning sunset, his dark hair blowing in the breeze, when the sounds of laughter caught his attention. The way it echoed across the sands and in the hollows formed by coastal rocks made the source of mirth, and once he did, he simply stared. Illyana was always beautiful; there was even a feral sort of beauty in her demonic form, but seeing her astride a...moving rock clad in nothing but a white string bikini, her yellow hair streaming behind her, and laughing? All he could do is stare.

The time chosen was meant to be a good time to avoid too much attention. Of course things never went as one planned, especially not in a place like this. Though, at first she didn't notice any of the unwanted attention. How could she? Riding a shark took a lot of concentration. Right. That was it. It was about the concentration, not that she was actually having fun on top of it and hadn't noticed anyone because of that. Definitely. Who had that much fun riding a shark? Not Illyana that's for sure.

Just as the sun went down completely she finally decided she'd had enough of her fun. She stepped off the shark and onto the beach, muttering something in a language that somehow managed to be both disturbing and beautiful at the same time. With a wave of her hand a small ball of light appeared to float around her giving her an additional source of light as she made her way to the area where she'd spotted a particular someone watching. She wasn't sure why he'd been staring or what he wanted, but she was curious. How strange to be curious and also...pleased? Yes, she was definitely a bit pleased to see him.

She walked up with a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face. "Do you ever go outside? Maybe I don't need this light after all."

Had Illyana taken into consideration that she might startle people with her shark display? No. Had it crossed her mind at all? No. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She'd thought about avoiding people as far as 'come as the sun was setting, maybe they'll be less people.' That was as far as she'd planned anything. All things considered it was a pretty awful plan because plenty of people stayed at the beach from the evening on. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you saw it) once she'd made her shark discovery little else mattered.

It took her a moment to hear someone calling out to her. And then another moment to actually decide she wanted to react. If it hadn't been Mono she might have just ignored them in favor of continuing with her shark surfing. But, it had been him, so she reacted by reigning the shark in and moving it over to the rock that Mono was on. She flipped off the shark with dramatic flair and then muttered a few words in a language that definitely was not from Earth.

"You should be careful on the rocks."

Only if there's interest. [ She shrugs. ] I planned on looking before inviting people down and I wouldn't leave them unsupervised.

Mono offered a small, awed ‘wow’ as she flipped off the back of the shark and landed on the rock next to him. People were so good at doing cool stuff in this world!! He really hoped he could do cool stuff like that someday… Though, at her warning, he offered a childishly confident response. “I’m always careful, I won’t fall, I promise!” And… Well, it was half true. Mono could be cautious; though being a child, he was prone to some more foolish and dangerous moments.

The kid had seemingly a one track mind, though, and he was less interested in discussing being careful on the rocks and more about the shark riding. “How’d you do that, though? I thought sharks were supposed to be kinda dangerous too! But that one was letting you ride on its back and it was really neat looking!” He responded with a curious, slightly excited (as much as Mono ever seemed) tone.

"Always, hmm? Good, I wouldn't want one of them to eat you. That might be unpleasant." Might be? Probably more than might be. Honestly, she doubted the validity of this always careful claim, but she let it go with only the single comment about him being shark food. It occured to her that her desire to warn him off potential danger indicated just how much she'd grown to care for him. How strange.

"I'm more dangerous," she said with a proud smirk. "Monsters are predators, they always respect the top of the food chain." Was that true? Yes. Was that how she managed to ride a shark? No. Not at all. "It recognized that."

So people are sort of making up things to teach?

[That might have possibilities.]

What are you looking to teach?

Mono definitely didn’t want to be eaten. He’d been in danger of that once or twice. “Nah, I try really hard to avoid being eaten.” He responded with a serious nod, though it could be said that he had started to feel a lot more confident of late concerning the idea that he wasn’t likely to get attacked or eaten here. Even if he was worried it might change one day, at the moment it just… felt safer. Partly thanks to Illyana, of course.

“So they think you’re scary enough to not try to eat??” The kid responded, eyes wide. “Even though you’re not scary? How do you make yourself seem scary enough to not be bugged by monsters??” Yes, Mono absolutely didn’t find his friend scary. Which was probably because she’d never given him a reason to be scared of her before, since she’d always been nice to him and shared an understanding of unrealistically scary worlds and growing up in dangerous situations. If anything, the kid wondered how you learned to be that scary. Maybe the viewers and other residents of the Pale City wouldn’t be so bad if they were scared of him?

"A good thing to avoid," she said through the smallest of smiles one could ever see. Somehow, perhaps through some sort of strange witchcraft, she managed to keep the smile small even after his next statement. It really was a miracle she was able to keep a straight face.

"Of course they think I'm scary enough to not eat." Wait. Why did he not find her scary at all? Okay, well, now she was a tiny bit disappointed. "...I'm plenty scary and threatening." Thank you very little. How dare he not even find her a tiny bit threatening, she worked hard for the image she thought she had. "Jagger get frightened of me." Was that more because of the unpredictable nature of how she used her magic around him? Maybe. Might have something to do with summoning the full illusion of an eldritch looking entity from Limbo. But he'd been freaked out and she was taking the credit.

"I could show you."

"Wha-? Do I ever go outside? Really?" He looked down at himself after her question. Yes, it was true he spent more time doing paperwork and practicing things she'd taught him or reading than he did outside, but it was also true that he typically wore long sleeves and pants when he did go out and it wasn't like he was working on his tan.

He crossed his arms. "So I'm pale. How's that a problem, exactly?" He was mildly aware of sounding like a petulant child, but there was a time and a place for such behavior, and one of them had to be when the girl you're talking to makes fun of your appearance.

It wasn't as though Illyana wasn't pretty pale herself, but that was directly connected to her Russian roots rather than her lack of sunlight. How she'd managed to not burn in Limbo with it's heat and bright sun clearly must have had something to do with magic. Magic or maybe something to do with being partially demonic. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't normal.

"Are you pouting?" She said through a slight snicker. He was definitely pouting and it was amusing. "Isn't that cute." Surprisingly, her tone didn't sound patronizing, in fact it seemed so though she actually meant it was cute. Which was quite a confusing concept for her. "I didn't say it was a problem. Just unexpected."

Wasn't that obvious? Magic.

Somehow, even with her occasional trolling, Illyana had become one of his ‘safe people.’ The kind of adult he trusted and just liked to hang around, which meant she wasn’t scary at all. At least not scary by the standards of adults he knew. Really, Mono might be pretty confused, though, if he realized she thought he should be scared of her. “I wonder why he’s scared. Maybe he’s just kinda confused… Wait, do you want him to be scared?” He added belatedly, putting a few pieces together based on her comments. Maybe that was it. If Illyana wanted someone to be scared of her, then she was scary?

The offer gets a small start from him. “Really??” She really was willing to show him how she made herself scary enough to not be bothered by monsters? The boy looked up with an eager curiosity. “That would be great! Maybe I can learn how, and then I won’t get chased around anymore in my world.” Or even here, if he ever found himself in a place where things that were bigger and scarier than he was existed!

So, no after-hours studying allowed on campus, huh? Or are you going to find all the really bad tomes and lock them in the forbidden wing?

That can be your job since you're so concerned.

"Of course I do." That wasn't exactly the truth. She didn't want to be seen as a monster, especially by the few friends she had, but it in her mind that was what she was: a monster. Nothing more, nothing les. "People should always be afraid of monsters." Back home there was no end to the reminders that many people thought of her as an untrustworthy monster. They believed her to be a demon that had stolen a piece of their dear friends soul. That was all they saw, turning a blind eye to the fact that Illyana hadn't had a soul at the time. No soul meant no conscience. There had been only a blind hatred that fueled an endless sea of emptiness inside of her. Sometimes she missed the emptiness. At the very least it was less confusing.

She tilted her head and then raised a hand. "A small demonstration then. Lashinga Bahrahta Finguku!" With the words came the smell of sulfur as the air around them began to get hotter and hotter. Behind her a fiery snake like head began to materialize. Only a single one at first and then another head of the hydra began to solidify into the world. The heat continued to rise as a claw solidified on the ground and another head swiveled around to look directly at the two of them. Somehow the creature was both there and not there at the same time, like an illusion threatening to become reality if just a bit more energy was pushed into it. After a dramatic few seconds she brought her hand down and all at once the hydra disappeared, leaving behind only black smoke and the strong scent of sulfur.

“I think we got a different idea about monsters. You’re not like the ones in my world at all.” The boy responded in a serious and slightly confused tone. Illyana was the farthest thing from his description of a monster, after all. She had never been too mean to him, and at least had never let her jokes get too far. She also didn’t seem to mind him being around, and never tried to attack or hurt him like the warped adults of his world.

Well… Maybe one could say the boy had a very skewed perspective compared to other people. Because of that, his experiences weren’t exactly normal for a boy his age.

But he waited excitedly, wondering what she was going to show him and how it might work to scare people… Only to find his jaw dropping and eyes widening as she summoned what looked like a giant, fire covered snake thing. Then… Then it had more heads??? A startled gasp escaped him as he watched more heads appear and then swivel to look at him, and if Illyana hadn’t been the one to make it appear? The kid would have probably taken off quickly, his instincts always strong to hide from things that were that much larger than him. “Wow…! How’d you do that?? That thing was so big!! I bet that scares lots of people if they don’t know it’s gonna appear!”

"Magic." It was a simple answer and yet a true one. "The illusion is a spell, the simplest kind of magic. Though adding in the flairs takes a bit more skill." Of course she had to add that part so he knew there was some skill involved. The real difficulty was the finer details like the smell and the heat, but she'd long since mastered that much.

"What really summons them is the hydra itself. This was just an illusion, but I can summon the real thing. Should I have need." She wasn't that much of a show off to summon the real thing here. Besides, she wasn't sure how that'd go and she didn't really want the hassle of having to deal with it if it got loose somehow. "It's a subject of Limbo, so it answers to me." Whether it wanted to or not.

[That had him become quiet for several long moments as he carefully considered his reply. But finally, he spoke.]

So you'd be taking payments for that, right?

Mono finally sat on the rock and listened curiously, “So that one wasn’t even real? It looked like it was really there!” He added with an impressed sounding tone. Even if she hadn’t informed him of how much skill that took, it was pretty clear the boy was impressed by the display. He bet even the more dangerous people in his world would be really scared of something like the hydra thing she had just shown him!

And because the boy was just curious now, as she explained, he settled in to continue asking more about this neat ‘illusion’ thing. “So, does it gotta be a subject of limbo in order for you to make an illusion?” Or could she make an illusion of anything??

"Nope, not real at all. If I needed it to be real then I could have finished summoning it. I might be able to teach you." Rather than sitting down next to him she started to float in the air and folded her legs one over the other and rested her chin upon her hands. Maybe she was showing off a bit. Maybe.

She shook her head. "No. Illusions are limited only to the imagination," she smiled, "and I have a good imagination."

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Video

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SHARKS SHARKS SHARKS

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Night of the Shark

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