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In Russian folklore we have a tale of a being known as Koschei the Deathless. [ Such a strong name requires a dramatic pause before she continues on. ]

One particular tale, Tsarevich Petr and the Wizard, goes as such: once upon a time the beloved wife of Tsar Bel-Belianin was abducted by the vile Koschei. This wizard was known as a terribly frightening foe as he had cast a spell upon himself that prevented himself from being killed. You see, he had the brilliant idea to separate his soul from his body and hide in nested objects. In this particular tale his soul was in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, nested in a hollowed log.

Seems like a needlessly complicated path to immortality if you ask me. One with some very obvious flaws. [ She thinks this story is stupid. ]

Well, the sons of Tsar Bel-Belianin went to rescue their beloved mother. Only one was able to trick him into tell him of this nested soul and he ventured out find the egg. Once in his possession he found the wizard and then smashed the egg in front of him, kill him instantly.

[ And thus ended his reign of terror. ]

There are many variations of the story, he's something of an archetypal villain where I'm from. Generic if you ask me. He's always on the search for an eternal bride.

[ But there it is, her story that she was forced to tell. ]

Strange...well, if I disappear you'll know what happened. [ She sighs. She better not though. ] Should we all play truth or dare next?

[ ooc: Not too long after posting this she'll be kidnapped and talking from there. ]

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[ Between spending most of the week in the woods and his workshop being invaded by a roomba’s annoying, more zappy cousin… He’s really not a fan of these story-times on the network. Illyana’s was more than a little worrying for a variety of reasons, among them being the fact that she very well could have just invited this particular folkloric-asshole to ruin her day. ]

Considering the month we’ve been having, do you really think you ought to be tempting the universe with that joke? [ Don’t practically ask Koschei to kidnap you Illyana!! Because he’s a sucker for punishment, and because it’s a logical tactic to avoid this coming to pass… He supposes he should make sure she’s not prime for kidnapping. ] Where are you now?

Edited 2023-08-12 11:46 (UTC)

Which joke was tempting the universe? [ Is she playing innocent? Yup, she definitely is. But it might also be partially because she knows it'll annoy him and that sounds even more fun. ]

Why? Worried about me?

[ Can you sense the wrinkle between his brows deepening, Illyana? He is trying very hard to not react but alas… Huffing, he finally responds. ]

Pretending to be stupid doesn’t become you. You know exactly what I mean…!

[ Awkward grumbling follows. Worried? Nooooo. Of course not... ]

It would be inconvenient if you up and disappeared because of some asshole that’s got an obsession with nesting dolls while we’re still trying to get the academy in order.

[ They both know that’s an utter bullshit excuse after last month. ]

Edited 2023-08-13 00:06 (UTC)

Hmm...nope, can't say I'm picking up on what you mean. Maybe it's a language difference. [ She tries to sound as innocent as possible. Gotta keep up appearances.]

Inconvenient...well, I'd hate to inconvenience you. But....it looks like you'll be working on the academy alone for now

We both know that excuse is nonsense. [ Even though he was practically inviting her to deny that again herself, and he should have thought of that. ]

Exactly, I know you wouldn’t. [ Actually, he knows she would… at least to a minor extent, to annoy him for fun. Because it’s really not the inconvenience, but more that he doesn’t want one of the few friends he has here disappearing. So he’s choosing to take that as a small victory in getting her to stop fooling around when this might be serious! ] What? Just stop with the jokes and either tell me where you are or teleport in so we can work out how to deal with this stupid story when it inevitably comes to life.

I don't make excuses. [ That definitely wasn't true, but she said it with the confidence of someone who meant it. ]

I can't teleport right now. Other things to do. [ Definitely not that she's been kidnapped and is trapped. ]

What? [ Since when did Illyana pass up a chance to teleport in and startle him? ] I don’t think now is the time to focus on ‘other things to do.’ these stories aren’t something to ignore!

[ Waver began to get a sinking feeling as he considered the conversation carefully. Illyana can probably well imagine the deepening of the wrinkle between his brows as he does. The mage is doing his best to not jump to conclusions, even if certain behavior and the conversation are pointing to him being right. ] Teleporting aside, you haven’t told me where you are?

I think they're fine to ignore. [ Says the person just ignoring them right now. ]

I'd tell you if I knew. [ Well, probably not, but that doesn't change the fact that she doesn't actually know. ]

I can tell you after spending nearly a week in the woods and defending my workshop against robots that they really aren’t, Illyana. [ He sighed, how could she be so infuriatingly-!

… Ah… Yeah, he couldn’t write it off as jumping to conclusions now. He doubted Illyana got lost easily, considering she could just teleport to where she needed to go. So if she couldn’t do that now, and she didn’t know where she was… His voice was firm, hoping for no further nonsense as he continued. ] He’s already got you, hasn’t he?

I spent half my life fighting giant humanoid robots. [ Small tiny ones don't seem to bad compared to that.

Damn, he finally guessed it. She cursed under her breath, something in her native language and then sighed. ]

Took you long enough to guess.

Great, I’ll remember there’s an expert on speed-dial next time it happens. [ He responded dryly, because it had been awful!

Then she confirmed his suspicion, and he got very quiet. It was both a bit worrying to know she was already taken, and frustrating to be right… Letting out a sigh, he grabbed his jacket and slipped it on to head for the door. ] I suspected it before, but I’m not in the habit of jumping to conclusions immediately without feeling more certain about a theory.

[ And he’d really hoped he was wrong… ]

What can you tell me about where you are? What do you see?

[ This is going to be such a long day. This month was officially the worst. ]

Only if they're humanoid. [ Not that she'd ignore him if he called for tiny robots. She'd just make a big production out of it. But what would be different about that really? ]

It's dark and there's a lot of brick walls around me.

Fine, only if they’re humanoid… [ He responded with a roll of his eyes. It wasn’t like anyone could rule out humanoid robots making an appearance in this world with everything else that happened.

The mage listened to what she could see around her and considered the options. ]

So just brick walls, no windows? Even boarded up to keep light out? [ He patted down his coat pockets, looking for a lighter while he tried to think of other things. ] Is there anything else that strikes you as off? Like the smell, or if the air is very stale, that kind of thing.

There's no light either. I made some of my own. [ So at least she's being allowed to use magic. That's something at least. ] The bricks look old. [ What doesn't look old in this place though? ] It's damp and smells musty. Maybe that's just him though. [ It's not. ]

So you can use some of your magic, that’s something. [ Better than nothing, and he considered the description thoughtfully. ] Maybe a cellar in one of the old buildings? Hm… Based on your story, it probably can’t be too far from where he hid his soul, at least for his own peace of mind, I’d imagine. So somewhere closer to a forest…

[ Easier to defend if you thought it was in danger, right? Doesn’t narrow it down much, unfortunately. ] Where were you specifically when he grabbed you? If he left any residual mana traces, I can try to follow that, since it would be fresh.

[ He still had some of the powder he kept for just that, at least.

Regardless, Illyana probably would get the impression by now that he intends to do something about all this. ]

Nothing useful. [ Aka nothing that will get her out. ] Oh I'm sure it's close to wherever his soul is. He's arrogant. He'll think that nobody will be able find it. [ And maybe....she was a bit worried he was right. ] It has to be a cellar with how damp and gross it smells.

I was on my way to the Gullwings, not too far from it.

Arrogance is usually the downfall of the powerful. [ And Waver would like to count on that being true here and now. He wasn’t keen on getting lost in the middle of nowhere again this week.

A cellar then, probably old and leaky… Maybe one of the unrenovated, abandoned buildings near the edge of the city, closer to the gullwings office side? He hummed, turning in the direction of the market where the office was located. He hadn’t been in to it before, but he knew where it was. ] Gullwings, hm? I know where that is. I’ll see if I can pick up a trail and work my way to where he went. Then it shouldn’t be too hard to do a search of the area for his soul and be done with it.

[ In theory!! At least this seemed like something in his wheelhouse, minimal chance of combat if he just had to find and destroy the egg, right? As long as the enemy didn’t realize he was at risk… ]

Usually. [ There was a pause for a long moment where she made a strange clicking sound with her tongue. A sound that indicated she was thinking about something. Her first thought was he'd gone to the cemetery, but that had seemed so cliché. The more she thought about it the more she was convinced that had to be where she was. In some crypt deep in the cemetery, maybe it was something that had previously been used for storage. Or maybe a cell? She'd have to look around more in the tiny room to figure it out. It'd explain the smell, damp feeling, and lack of windows though.

But it was so damn cliché...]

You shouldn't come. He's dangerous.

Probably. [ Said in a tone that conveys that he’s obviously still going to try, though. Because he’s not just going to leave Illyana to deal with this on her own. It was pretty clear that it was already beyond her control if she couldn’t teleport out of the creep’s secret dungeon. ] But if I play my cards right, I can probably resolve this without it coming down to a confrontation beyond destroying the egg in front of him.

[ Not that he hadn’t considered that this could get out of hand, but he was prepared to deal with it if it came to it. It wasn’t like he was just going to forget this happened and go on with his day. ]

How often do you really play your cards right? [ Because from where she stood that didn't seem too likely. ] It'd be stupid to put yourself in danger for me. We talked about that. [ Her voice took on a slight edge there as she remembered that fateful conversation where she'd let herself say way more than she should have. ]

Well, I’m still alive, aren’t I? [ He responded, though with a tone that was a bit… lacking. So he was pushing forward and banking on her, not noticing. Because he thinks he just lied to his friend. ] Good thing I’m not doing it ‘for you.’ So just shut up and let me figure this out.

[ He ended in a huff, falling silent as he came up to the gullwings office and glanced at it. Tugging out a vial from his pocket, and ignored the weird looks he was getting from people as he crouched and spread some dust on the ground. Humming to himself as he watched for any kind of reaction… When tracks lit up, he sighed in relief. It was like the beast. ]

I’ve got a trail, I’m on the way.

This is stupid and you know it. Even if I wasn't used to dying, people don't stay dead here. [ Not that it's a really fun experience. But she'd died back home and she'd died here, it wouldn't really be that big of a deal. She'd rather it be her than him. Did that make her a hypocrite? Kinda. Probably. Not that she really cared. ]

If he kills you don't get mad at me.

Yes, I’m acutely aware of the nature of this world and how it handles the dead. [ He frowned deeply as he started following the path of the feet. It was funny how they both had the same thoughts about who they’d rather deal with dying right now… They were both hypocrites at the end of the day, but Waver didn’t care either. He wasn’t just going to stand by and watch another friend die if he could do something about it. ] Noted. No doubt you’ll give me another reason to be mad at you, anyway.

[ What, he knows she likes to push his buttons and keeping up their usual schtick made it easier to not think about the whole one of them possibly dying thing. ]

But you've never had the first hand experience. Why push that luck? [ Unless he'd died and not told her. In which case she might be a tiny bit irritated. Not that she felt entitled to know every detail of his life but...

okay, no just that. She felt entitled to know. At least with a topic like that! ]

You need to find his soul before coming here. If you free me and we don't have it he'll just keep coming back. I've found enough zombies. [ Why was her life so weird? ]

[ That was the problem with Waver, though. As much as he liked to talk sometimes… He kept the important details, the ones specifically about his life, under wraps until he was cornered and confronted by someone directly about the truth. So, he brushed off the question in favour of going over the plan.

Sorry, Illyana. As smart as he is, he’s an idiot sometimes. ]

Yes, I figured that much based on your story. We know he probably hid it nearby enough to protect it if he suspected someone meddling. So, I’ll avoid getting too close to where you are, and focus on searching the general area for something fitting the description of his stupid hiding place within a hiding place. Then we’ll destroy it within his line of sight, right?

[ Which was why, upon coming across the most recent residual traces of magic, he looked for signs of a similar trace that might indicate a clue to the hiding place. ]

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