I'm only a nightmare

[soulsword]

Who; Illyana + Anyone!
What; Nightmares and magik
Where; Red Building and near the edge of the forest
When; Early October at night
Warnings; None so far!

Nightmares. It seemed like it had been an eternity since she had experienced nightmares like this. Memories bubbled to the surface of her childhood in Limbo. Every waking moment there had been a nightmare and night never held any reprieve. The older she got though the more accustomed she had become to living a nightmare. Perhaps it was something to do with the loss of bits of her soul. Or perhaps it was simple conditioning. You grow used to horrors when they are all you see. Eventually, nightmares had faded from her life completely.

Until now. Now they returned with brutal vengeance. Reminding her of things she wanted nothing more than to forget. At first she just woke with tears and fear. Both were things she wanted nothing to do with. Others feared her, not the other way around. Not anymore. Yet as the nightmares grew more frequent and more memorable the fear grew within her. Then the bear imagery began to appear.

With that she screamed. Those in the red building may find themselves hearing the young woman's scream occasionally. She's always quick to leave her room and the building itself, teleporting out in an attempt to avoid sleep itself. Her teleportation leads her to the edge of the southern forest.

"It cannot be you again," she said loudly to the forest itself. "But if it is, I will find you." Her tone seems weary but firm. Defiant and filled with bitterness. "You do not scare me." But the nightmares did. That would not be something she would admit readily.

Any who stumble upon the scene will be met with a scene straight out of an occult book. Candles line the way making a path to a fiery circle with a pentagram in it's center. Above is Illyana can be found floating with her eyes closed. Any who have encountered her before will notice the change in her appearance: a prehensile demonic tail can be seen flicking in irritation and large curved red horns now protrude from her forehead. She's muttering something in a strange language that cannot be linked back to most familiar languages, even the most ancient ones.

It is not something she would wish many to see, but something about the imagery in the nightmares has made her more reckless than she might usually be.

Comments

[somewhereintime]

Steve had been out trying to get more of a feel for the strange place he'd found himself in ever since being taken away from his fight with Thanos. Walks around were common and he didn't really fear much. However that night he decided to venture near the forest and see what's out there. And that's when he found that his feet led him to an interesting scene. He'd seen the candle light and approached it slowly.

Blue eyes kept a wary outlook and he turned to the side, not wanting to miss anything just in case of trouble. The pentagram on fire had him slow even his slow cautious pace, wishing he had his vibranium shield with him but Tony had it. Eventually the nomad stopped and looked up in the light afforded by the candles.

There was a woman floating there, with a demonic sort of appearance. Nothing was supporting her, so maybe she could float like Wanda. And out of respect for understanding there were things that he didn't understand, Steve stood there now unmoving. He hoped there wouldn't be any trouble and didn't want to start it by disturbing her.

[soulsword]

The thing with magic was that it connected you to things around you. At least hers did. Which meant if someone approached she could generally feel it. This lead to her sensing the approach of someone who then just stood there. At least he was polite enough to not say anything, she could give him credit for that. Perhaps she should have been more prepared of what to say if someone appeared. Well, it was too late to think of that now. She slowly put her feet down on the ground and turned to face the man. There was some bit of familiarity to be found in how he looked but she couldn't quite place it at the moment.

"Do you enjoy watching?" There was a hint of hesitation in her tone and her tail curled upwards in an attempt to hide it's existence. This was not the way she wanted people to see her.

[somewhereintime]

He continued to wait, trying to see what was going on. This was something like out of a Halloween scene with the old movies that Nat and Sam had him watch to try and 'catch him up' with modern times. So when she lowered herself down, he felt himself tense up. Rogers wasn't there to start a fight or cause trouble, he tried to save that for the sewer monsters or the upcoming fight against the Lich that he'd heard of in the cemetery.

The question however grabbed his attention and Steve shifted his weight a little nervously. "Ma'am?" What did she mean by that question? Well he..was standing there...

"Sorry to interrupt. Just wanted to make sure everything was okay with.." he gestured to the candles. "Whatever's going on here."

[soulsword]

Ma'im. Now that was... something. Very few people tried to be polite to her, especially lately. "I believe you are the first person to ever call me ma'am," she shook her head and then looked down. There was a certain degree of awkwardness in someone seeing her like this. At least it was someone she did not know, a small positive. It was quite strange trying to find a positive outlook. Strange and very unlike her.

"A summoning. I was attempting to contact subordinates in hell," she replied with a completely serious face. "It was going well. Until an interruption occurred." It was not the truth but sometimes she liked reactions.

[somewhereintime]

That ma'am comment had Steve cock his head to the side. No one he could think of himself might call her that, but this was Steve Rogers and he's a really old school type of person. "Really? I'm sorry to hear that." There was sincerity in his voice because he believed in treating people fairly and with respect..until they showed him they didn't deserve it.

But he looked around again and wasn't sure if he believed in summoning things, especially the types of things in the place she mentioned. This part he was going to try and play off even though he'd dealt with his own version of hell which had been Thanos.

"Well, they can't be as bad as some of the people I met back home."

[soulsword]

"Is that something to apologize for?" Curious. That was all she could think of to consider it. Curious.

There was some disappointment in his reaction. Evidently he was someone who had seen his own demons, which meant spooking him would not be that easy. Oh well. Worth a try at least.

"For demons, most are not so bad. At least not anymore. I have taken care of those who were causing problems." Thankfully. Though she was a bit unsure if ruler of a hell dimension was really the title she wanted to carry. "What sort of people have you met back in your home?"

[somewhereintime]

"I'm a firm believer that manners don't ever go out of style, no matter the time frame." Steve said this with conviction but he didn't even know what year it was now. "I also believe that kindness, courtesy and respect go a long way."

So says the guy who promised to 'always be a good man'.

Demons..for half a minute Steve wasn't sure if she was serious but the more she went on, the more it seemed she was. "As long as they're not causing problems here, we won't have problems." But at the last question he shook his head. "The best and the worst kind. The last guy was one who was trying to wipe out half of the world's population."

[soulsword]

"How...wholesome," she said with a mildly disinterested tone. A large part of her wondered how sincere he was with that statement. Genuinely good people were difficult to find, but not impossible.

"Hmm, we certainly would not want to have any problems." Though, perhaps she did. It might be interesting at the very least. "Only half the world's population? How dull."

[somewhereintime]

He took the compliment even though he was pretty sure that she didn't mean it by her tone. But then again he was a different person and from another time and another set of principles. While he didn't try and convert anyone over to seeing things from his point of view, he maintained his own personal standards and was happy with doing so.

But at her question he cocked his head. "You got a better plan?" Steve asked this wondering exactly what a person like this would have for stakes in a world. And he was trying to find out more of who he was dealing with.

[asthecroweflies]

Jagger didn't make his way toward the forest often. He didn't even leave the boundaries of the walls often, but the lack of sleep and the need for answers was slowing beginning to wear on him as well. Whatever happened had happened beyond the walls, that much he knew, and he had the sneaking feeling finding out what exactly it had been would mean putting himself directly in danger. It ended up that way far too often.

The light ahead made him slow, though. It was dim, and there was a strange voice with it, familiar but speaking gibberish. He approached with caution, the wise voice in the back of his mind a gibbering but quiet annoyance...until he found her.

His breath caught as he cast his eyes about the alien and macabre scene. He'd heard of magic, of course, but he'd never seen it performed, and she was...changed? Demonic but in a far more literal sense than he'd ever encountered? The name was past his lips before he could think better to stop it.

"Illyana?"

He winced as soon as he spoke. She was clearly here for privacy.

[soulsword]

The voice snapped her out of her chanting and she turned her head to face Jagger. He was perhaps the last person she wanted to see her like this. Not that she particularly wanted anyone to see her like this. There was a reason she had come out here so far away from everyone else. Her hope had been that she would not run into anyone and potentially figure something out about these nightmares. Neither of those seemed to have worked out.

After a few awkward seconds she put her feet onto the ground and immediately looked away from him.

"Why are you here?" There was a hint of annoyance in her tone and she still refused to look at him. Why did she seem to care so much if he saw her? She had cared when it had been Piotr and her team. That she had understood as well. She had felt shame when they saw her so visibly corrupted. But why him? It was stupid and strangely frustrating.

[asthecroweflies]

"I could ask you the same thing." It was stunning, really, how often he was asked what he was up to and reacted with the same damned statement. It was dodgy to say the least, an avoidance of the question, but too often he was somewhere he shouldn't be, sometimes after using lockpicks to let himself in. It occurred to him this must be the corruption she'd been talking about, her current appearance. He hadn't expected it to be quite so physical.

"Looking for answers, which I assume you are as well?"

[soulsword]

"Yes," she replied more sharply than she might have otherwise intended. "There was something...familiar. I thought I could isolate it if I went somewhere without interference." It was clear by the inflection on the word interference that she actually meant without people.

"Nobody was supposed to see." Nobody was supposed to come out here to see her like this.

[asthecroweflies]

"Familar?" That caught his attention and he dared move a little closer. There was a small part of his mind, the part that had come too close to demons and other malicious spirits in the past, that was screaming at him to leave, that he hadn't understood until now precisely what she'd meant by Limbo and corruption, but he ignored it. Nothing that had happened to her had been her choosing, of that he was certain, and she was ashamed of it. Why else would she want him to leave, and want no one else to see?

"...Illyana. I'm not scared of you." At least not all of him was.

[soulsword]

"The bear," her tail flicked briefly betraying her irritation at being seen like this. At least she had not tapped into enough dark magic yet for her feet to change into hooves. Still, the most frustrating part of this entire situation was how strange she felt to have him see her. There was no denying she wouldn't particular want anyone she had spoken with to see her like this. For some reason though there was an added layer of...uneasiness stirring inside of her while he stood there looking at her. But he was not her brother. He was not Kitty or Sam or Dani. Why did he matter?

She furrowed her eyebrows and finally looked over at him. "You should be. Perhaps when the hooves and armor appear you will know to be afraid of demons." She could only imagine how annoyed some of the others back home would be at such theatrics.

[asthecroweflies]

"I don't see myself growing a fear of goats anytime soon." He might not be a fighter, but he was damned good at reading people, and what he could tell about her right now was this: she was trying to make him scared, but he'd seen her uncertainty and that didn't go away with the growth of a tail.

He crossed his arms but stepped closer, his resolve steeled somewhat. "Have you found anything?"

[soulsword]

"Is that what I look like to you? A goat?" There was a hint of something strange in her voice, something that bridged the gap between surprise and annoyance. Something about him comparing her to a goat stirred confusing feelings inside of her. The tip of her tail flicked with agitation. "I wonder what your soul would taste like." Despite her words her tone was flat, devoid of any real threat and betraying only her confusion towards him.

"Yes and no." When she finally answered his question she still refused to look up at him. "It is the Demon Bear but not quite the Demon Bear."

[brotherofagod]

Jacob was trying not to sleep when he came across the scene that Illyana had created. It was familiar to him in a way but also new. He felt a shiver run down his spine and it bother him that the shiver wasn't at all unpleasant.

He cleared his throat, pushing his fist into the pockets of his pants. He was wearing the few pieces of attire that he'd purchased in the city itself. So instead of his jeans, he was wearing a heavy cotton pair of loose pants and a loose shirt with ties down the front. Since he preferred to wear his jeans while working, this was his ever day or sleep attire. It almost looked like pajama's, except that it was a bit heavier.

"Illyana?" Jacob was just staring, uncertain if he should interrupt her. This looked personal but too alarming for him to walk by and not make sure that she was okay.

[soulsword]

One would think in a city like this that they might be fine setting up a magical ritual on their own. That maybe they would be left alone, just as they wished. Yet somehow that seemed just as impossible here as it was back home. People always found her back home in the most inopportune moments filled with questions she never wanted to answer.

She recognized the voice that called her name and somehow that made it a bit worse. Her expression twisted into a mix of frustration and a hint of shame. This was not the way she wanted anyone to see her. Back home she would often quickly teleport away to avoid the questions that came with confrontation. That was not as easy of an option here.

"Jacob," she said with a quiet voice as she looked anywhere but at him. "Nobody was meant to be here."

[brotherofagod]

Jacob lowered his gaze to the ground and bowed his head. "Sorry. I shouldn't have barged in on something private. I can go. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright. It isn't safe being out here alone."

He really shouldn't be talking about safe and not-safe because Jacob really had no way to defend himself.

"I'm just worried about you." That was all it was and he hoped that it was okay. He didn't know Illyana well and her appearance had changed some since he'd last seen her but he still liked her.

[soulsword]

She tilted her head curiously and her tail flicked. "Do I look like I cannot take care of myself?" The tone she used was light enough to make it seem as though it were just meant as an attempt at a joke. Or at the very least an attempt at deflection. There was no denying that there was discomfort involved when it came to people seeing her like this.

She seemed a bit surprised by his confession of concern though. "Why were you worried about me?"

[brotherofagod]

Jacob's mouth quirked into a light smile. "I've learned that looks are deceiving and being different from those around you mean that you probably need more help. I know I did." He often made jokes when he was uncomfortable, it was impossible for her to hide how she might be feeling.

"I like to think we're friends. I don't know you well yet but I like you. You're fun to talk to and you don't judge me for what I think. I don't feel like I have a lot of people like that. So you're important to me."

[soulsword]

"What if looks show the truth sometimes?" This was how she had initially appeared after all. The Darkchylde, created with the body, mind, and memories of Illyana but without her soul. Maybe this was the truth and attempting to be anything else was the deceit.

She shook her head and looked down at her own feet. At least those had not changed, that was a positive. "Friends are we?" It had been a long time since she had made any new friends. Even when it came to her older friends and teammates there was still a distinct awkwardness in the air. Distrust and shame mixed between the group of them. Now it was even more complicated with her recent decisions.

"Many people would tell you to be cautious when trusting me."

[brotherofagod]

"The truth is relative." Everyone had different ideas about what the truth was and honestly, Jacob never knew what to believe. It was hard to find out what the truth really was. All he could do was trust in himself... as much as he could manage.

"I don't really care about what many people say. I trust you." He paused and thought of a better way to say it. "I trust you to be yourself and I'm still learning who that is. I trust that you are in charge of a world known as purgatory and that you're resilient enough to handle that. I trust that you are honest with the things you don't want to talk about and with your opinion. I trust that you'll tell me to go away when I bother you too much."

He shrugged. "I don't see anything wrong with any of that."

[soulsword]

"Perhaps. The truth is rarely black and white," she could at least agree with that. It was something her brother did not seem to realize in the slightest and it lead to a disturbing amount of frustration on her end.

She hesitated for a second and then looked over at him with the smallest hint of an awkward smile. "Thank you." The awkwardness in her voice was hard to ignore and she looked down. An overwhelming amount of what if's flooded through her mind as she thought about someone putting that much trust in her. It reminded her of her brother and she suddenly wanted to teleport away from this situation. "I hope you do not come to regret that trust."