InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Jelly baby?"

Illyana Nicolievna Rasputina (ex_darkchyld899) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-08-18 18:27:00

Entry tags:

arrival, clark kent, complete, day 11, illyana rasputin

Day 11: Illyana's arrival
Who: Illyana Rasputin and Clark Kent
When: noontime
Where: Limbo, then the forest and pool areas
Rating: Let's say PG-13 to be safe.
Status: Complete

It had taken far more out of her than she'd anticipated to reverse the damage done by S'ym and the other demons from Limbo. She'd nearly exhausted her magical abilities, but Illyana still wasn't quite done. Just a little more, one more spell, and she'd effectively cease to exist, at least as she was now. This last spell would make it so that Belasco had never taken her; it would erase her existence from this time, and in turn, seal off Limbo for good. She could go back to being a little girl again, an innocent with an intact soul, and grow up like a normal child. Piotr would appreciate that, at the very least.

But as she began to recite the incantation which would seal Limbo away and return her to normal, Illyana felt an odd presence invading her Otherplace, and felt the tug of a teleportation seize her body. She didn't even have time to register what was happening before she found herself in some kind of forest, in the middle of one hell of a storm. She screamed in rage and shock as the winds and rain assaulted her. She stumbled forward a few paces before her brain kicked into gear. Her mutant powers must have interacted badly with her spell, and sent her somewhere inadvertently. Since her stepping disks carried her across time as well as space, it was highly likely. She braced herself against a tree, and concentrated on summoning another stepping disk. Whatever had happened, she couldn't just leave the spell unfinished. She'd teleport back, finish the spell, and be done with it.

Except her stepping disk refused to appear. She concentrated as hard as she could, focusing all her energy on summoning one just large enough to take her out of the storm, but couldn't call one to her. The harder she tried, the more useless the exercise felt. And feeling useless only served to make her more angry. She screamed again and lashed out with her darker magic, blasting the tree she'd been using to keep herself upright. It exploded where it stood, sending splinters of wood and leaves everywhere, including at Illyana. She turned away, letting loose another scream, and held her hands up to her face to protect it. She felt the fangs in her mouth through the skin on her cheeks, which only served to make her more upset.

Once the remnants of the tree had been carried off into the wind, Illyana lifted her head and peered through the raging storm, trying to figure out her next move. She had no clue where she was. Probably somewhere in Florida, or the Bahamas, with a storm like this raging. Cyclops had contacts in Florida, so if she could find civilization and calm down, she could call them, and in turn, contact the others and find out what had happened. She started forward, not really sure of where she was going. She used some of her more benign power to conjure a shield to keep out the elements. Concentrating on the spells was difficult, but not impossible as using her mutant powers had been. That made her more certain she'd ended up on Earth when she'd teleported. Her powers were always so limited outside of Limbo. That she could still access them, and still display some of her more charming physical traits meant that the spell to seal the dimension away hadn't finished. So much for having a more innocent childhood again.

She broke from the relative shelter of the trees and found herself facing some sort of resort compound. She made for the first building she found, but it turned out to be a stable of some sort. There weren't likely to be people in a stable during weather like this. What was this, some sort of Gulf Coast vacation resort? The next buildings she found looked very foreboding, so she opted to walk on a little further, until she spied a more friendly-looking building. She slipped inside, and found herself staring at an enormous indoor pool. Definitely a resort of some kind. She dropped the magical shield, just in case whomever she ran into didn't know about such things, and glanced down. Shields would be the least of her problems, since she could still see her tail in shadow behind her.

"Calm down, 'Yana," she growled. "Can't give in, right? What would Kitty or Dani think?" She shook her head, trying to calm herself, even though she wasn't sure it was possible at the moment. She was too upset at herself for losing control of her powers, and then for flying off the handle. She reached up and twisted her long blonde hair, wringing out the water that had soaked it before she'd thought to shield, and tried to remember what Dani had taught her about finding focus and calming down. A noise nearby startled her from her concentration, and she whirled around to find someone staring at her.

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poeticmisery
2008-08-18 11:21 pm UTC (link)

In the wake of the hurricanes buffets, something seemed to dash along the horizon. While most people couldn't percieve of what it was, those who had enhanced senses might be able to make out the streak of movement as whatever it was moved faster than even the winds could carry it. In it's wake water sprayed like it was breaking upon the rocks of a cliff, leaving a light trail behind whatever it was that moved so quickly. It didn't seem to rest in one place for long, but rather kept on moving, despite the ill weather, it didn't seem to tire from zipping back and forth.

The last part, however, was an illusion. Even as tireless as he was, Clark Kent was starting to get broken in spirit if not in body. He'd been at this most of the morning, dashing around, not finding anything important. Every odd shaped rock was just and odd shaped rock, every alcove just an alcove. There wasn't a hidden nook or cranney on this island that held one ounce more of secrets than his very room did. In fact, none of them were as interesting as his room was, nor did they respond to them him in the same way. He'd tried concentrating on his room, trying to make it a portal to another world, however the room just became an ordinary hotel room then, as if telling him that it was pointless to try to resist.

And yet, resist he did.

Clark paused then, standing out in the rain to survey the land, the hard water pouring over his brow, almost making it hard to see. His blue t-shirt was soaked now, down to his skin, and it hugged the firm pecs and washboard abs that would have turned the head of most girls where he came from. He didn't usually dress in just a t-shirt, but there was no point in getting more than was necessary wet, a few minutes of running at super speed was like being in front of the business end of a firehose with the storm going on, and often times more like a sandblaster. He should be thankful he had clothes at all, Clark reflected.

As if to challenge that sentiment, however, a sudden buffet of wind slammed into him, and while Clark could stand his ground without budging with a linebacker coming to sack him, the wind scooped him off of the ground before he could hunch down to center his gravity. As he sailed through the air Clark managed to catch a distorted view of some trees coming at him, or rather him coming at some trees. He pulled his hands over his face as he flew through them, angry wooden branches snapping against the steely muscles of his arms and back, causing him to grunt. It stung a little, but didn't really hurt, even though it would have left a normal human being with scratches and deep gashes.

Clark was hardly normal. Or a human being, for that matter.

When he finally landed in the ground his hand slammed deep into the earth for a handhold, but it seemed like their was little reason to. The clouds were lightening, and in one direction it almost seemed as if the storm was disappating. Either that or they were just in the eye of it. Clark hoped it was the former, because so far since he'd gotten here it'd pretty much been monsoon season, and he was getting a little sick of it. It did make things easier to search though, not many people were willing to venture out too far into the storm, as Lois had pointed out to him.

Sighing, Clark decided it was time to take a break. His stomach was growling noisily at him in protest of him not feeding it, and now he looked like a mess, really. So he booked it to the nearest building he could, coming out of super speed a good enough distance that people probably wouldn't notice that a moment before he'd just been a blur. As he stepped inside of the place, he realized that he'd actually come into the wrong room. This was the pool area, and he'd been aiming for a diner of some sort. Now that he thought about it, he probably should have studied a map, but it was easy to lose track of buildings when you were getting tossed around by a storm.

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poeticmisery
2008-08-18 11:21 pm UTC (link)

He'd not taken more than a step or two into the doorway when he saw a girl with a tail arguing with herself. Clark paused, and went over those facts again. There was a girl... who was arguing with herself... and had a tail. Like... a demon tail. One of Clark's eyebrows rose skyward, and he slowly started to back up towards the doorway when the girl whirled and faced him.

To her he would probably look like something out of a teen heart throb magazine, or the cover of a romance novel. His shirt had been nearly torn open to expose his chest, which was unmarred, and glistened lightly with beads of water from the storm. What wasn't on display of his pecs and abs for Ilyana to see could easily be inferred from the way the rest of it clung to him, almost hungrily. His long dark hair hung slightly in front of his face, but did nothing to hide the steely blue eyes that stared at her, nearly shining with command.

But his demeanor shattered all of that, as he ran a hand up through his hair to push it back, looking away, almost shyly as she stared at him accusingly, and he looked behind him. "Uh, hi, sorry to disturb you, I just thought... it might be fun... to go... for a swim..." he said, almost as if he didn't believe the words himself. It was a lame excuse, but why else would someone be here when there was a hurricane going on outside?

"I'm Clark... by the way..." he said, introducing himself. He'd figured that she probably had shown up before him, as he'd yet to meet a new arrival.

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-19 08:48 am UTC (link)

Illyana stared at the young man, blinking in disbelief. He'd said nothing about her appearance, nothing whatsoever. And she could feel her tail flicking back and forth still. He'd been polite, sort of, and rambled a bit, sort of how her brother Piotr did when he stumbled across her and Kitty doing something exceptionally girly, like trying on dresses or discussing the cute young men on television. She took a deep breath and offered a hesitant smile of her own.

"Illyana," she said. There. She'd managed to get control of herself again. If she hadn't, she'd have called herself the Darkchylde. It was probably the boy's greeting that had done it. She could never hold her demon form around Piotr for long, thank goodness. She offered him a hand, and then realized exactly what sort of a state he was in, clothing ripped to shreds, revealing a body that made her teenaged body react quite strongly. She felt a very uncharacteristic blush rise to her cheeks, which only served to embarrass her more. She took another deep breath, knowing that embarrassment could lead to frustration, and that wouldn't help her at all.

"You're probably going to think I'm crazy," she said, forcing herself to think of the situation at hand, "but can you tell me where I am?" Maybe it wouldn't be such a crazy question. If Clark was relatively unphased at seeing demon girls, maybe teleportation was equally normal for him. Was he a mutant too? It might help her situation. "It's just, the last thing I remember, I was somewhere else, and then I ended up out in that storm. My brother is probably really worried about me." Not to mention the rest of the New Mutants and the X-Men.

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poeticmisery
2008-08-19 09:28 am UTC (link)

Clark did in fact think that Illyana was crazy. She had a tail, after all, and though he didn't say anything, that didn't exactly seem, well, normal. But then again, neither did talking to yourself... But who was Clark to comment on normalcy when his eyes could shoot out beams of heat? She didn't seem exactly 'bad', as Clark might have initially assumed from her devil tail, and given the fact that he himself would have been hunted down like a wild animal had anyone known exactly who or what he was, he tried his best to see past it. Strange, yes, but not like the tail itself made her a bad person.

No, in a way she was kind of cute. Younger than he was by at least a few years, but she had looks he imagined that would cause her to have a horde of admirers when she got older. "Nice to meet you, Illyana..." he said, taking her hand and giving it a gentle shake. His hands were surprisingly soft, for how much it looked like he worked out. Clark himself wasn't thinking about how he looked until after he shook her hand, and saw the color rise to her cheeks. Right, his shirt...

"I fell." Clark said, realizing exactly how stupid he sounded saying that, especially when he didn't have any scratches on him beneath the torn shirt. "And the shirt was kinda torn anyway..." He said, realizing he was digging himself a bigger hole with each word. His blue eyes desperately looked around for something to take the conversation away from the mystery that was Clark Kent, when Illyana did it for him.

"Oh." Clark said, and it was immediately clear that what she'd said was not a good thing. He grimaced slowly and looked down. "You must be new here then..." He turned and looked outside, the storm was still raging pretty hard. Sort of made things hard to explain, but he'd give it a go anyway. They had to cross this place to get to where the plaque was anyhow.

"You're not crazy." Clark started, trying to comfort her. He could only imagine how freaky this all sounded. "Near as I can tell, everyone here is a prisoner in this place. Something called 'The Planet', brought us all here from different planets or dimensions, I don't know which." He bit his lower lip as the next part came, knowing that it would be hard for the young girl to swallow. "So far, I don't think anyone's been able to escape, or if they have I've never heard of it. I've only been here a few days though..." Clark admitted.

As they got to the other side of the pool, near the door there was a raincoat there which would help Illyana go out in the storm without getting wet. Clark, obviously, didn't care so much about it. "Come on, there's a kind of vague explanation on a plaque outside..." he offered. "Not that it says much, but... at least it's from the source..."

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-19 10:04 am UTC (link)

"You fell," Illyana said, looking at the shirt more critically. It was the sort of response her brother might give, and she never let him get away with it either. It looked more like what happened to Piotr's clothing when he had to become Colossus and he'd forgotten to wear his uniform. Unstable molecules worked with his transformation; cotton, not so much. Comparing Clark to Piotr made it a lot easier to keep her hormones in check as well. She crossed her arms in front of her and shook her head like she did when she chastised her older brother.

But then, Clark started talking about being a prisoner on a strange world, and she bristled. Her expression darkened as she listened, and she felt her anger rising again. "You mean some 'Planet' is repsonsible for pulling me away from Limbo?!" she growled. He'd mentioned people being from other dimensions, so she assumed it was safe to talk about her own. "It might have condemned all my friends to death by doing that! I didn't get to finish my seal spell." She paced to the wall and back, shaking her head furiously. She froze in her tracks when Clark continued, her eyes flying wide open. "What do you mean no one's been able to escape? We're stuck here?"

Without thinking, she tried again to summon one of her stepping disks. As before, no matter how much power she put into her summons, she couldn't create a teleportation disk. She screamed in frustration, forgetting Clark was there for a moment, and lashed out again with power she could access, her darker magic, striking a potted plant across the pool. It burst into flames.

She rounded on Clark when he offered to show her the plaque, feeling her cheeks grow red. She shut her eyes and took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down and act like a New Mutant, rather than a spoiled demon-brat. She'd been in seemingly impossible-to-escape-from situations before and come out okay. She'd had her mutant powers inhibited before and come out okay. There was some sort of dark presence here, though. It was too vague an impression for Illyana to pinpoint right now, especially since she hadn't yet gotten used to the feel of the planet, but it sang to her, to the demon part of her. She had to deal with it later, though. For now, she had to figure out exactly what was going on, and come up with a plan of action.

"Sorry," she said, focusing her attention on Clark again. "Didn't mean to go all demon just now. Sometimes my temper gets the better of me." She offered another smile, hoping she hadn't just scared away the only person she knew at all on this new planet. "Show me this plaque. I promise not to rip your head off." She turned back to the burning plant for a moment and spoke an incantation that would douse the flames. She didn't want the place catching fire, after all. Then, she recreated her protective shield, extending it to cover Clark as well. "Now we don't have to worry about the storm," she explained. "Just don't go more than five or so steps ahead of me, or you'll be out of range. My powers aren't as strong outside of my Otherplace." It probably didn't make much sense to him, but there'd be time for explanations after she saw this weird plaque thing.

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poeticmisery
2008-08-19 07:13 pm UTC (link)

"... Right." Clark said, realizing from Illyana's sceptical look that she wasn't exactly buying the fact that he had fallen down and it had left him in this state. At least he didn't have twigs in his hair. He gave her an innocent little smile, that almost looked like a kid who had been caught with his hands in a cookie jar trying to ask his parents not to punish him. "It's kind of slippery outside... and... well, I'm a little bit of a klutz...." he said, his eyebrows raising again as he secretly prayed that she would buy his story. She looked like she wasn't though, her arms were crossing over her chest in the way that his mother usually did before she was about to bust him for using his powers unnecessarily. To have managed to keep his secret from Chloe and then get busted by a sophmore just because he was a bad liar seemed almost ironic in a way.

But it appeared that his comments on the world were more than enough of a distraction to keep her from catching onto his secret, and even though she wasn't taking it nearly as well as he could have hoped for, Clark found himself more than a little relieved that they were off the topic of how his shirt had gotten shredded and onto other things, as depressing as they might be. Though looking at her face, Clark almost felt as if he was better off revealing her secret. Illyana didn't have what he would call a 'sweet' expression on her face. In fact, for some reason he was reminded of seeing the exorcist when he was younger...

Then again, if she'd been in the process of saving her friends... Clark couldn't imagine how much he'd have panicked if he'd been in the midst of saving Lana when he'd been taken. It was all he could do to hope that she was alright, what with all of the mutant freaks that were running around his town. He saw her doing something, though it almost looked as if she were trying not to scream, or really concentrating on something. He took a step towards her, to try to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, when suddenly she screamed in frustration and a plant across the pool burst into flames.

Clark snatched his hand back and took a step back. "Woah." He said, holding his hands up in front of himself. At this point she'd probably remember that there was still a chance that Clark had never seen magic before, even if he did remind her of her brother in a way. "Take it easy..." he said gently. "I'm just as much of a prisoner here as you are, as far as I can tell everyone is... and they've all been looking for ways to escape, and not found anything..."

The girl paused then, and he could see her struggling with her temper, only to calm down, and start to blush again. His blue eyes stared at her as he tilted his head lightly to the side, those steely blues focusing on her in a way that made it seem as if he was looking through her, but in actuality Clark was trying to determine what she was. Maybe she was a meteor freak from a world like his own?

They widened though, when she mentioned 'going demon' on him, especially when she followed it with tearing off his head. "...thanks..." Clark said, slowly leading her out towards the plaque. Normal people probably came here all the time and found themselves lost.... why was it HE had the luck to run into a demon girl the first time he tried to greet someone?

He blinked as he saw the field erect around both of them, and reached a finger out to touch it lightly, as if he thought it would shock him. This was certainly only getting stranger by the minute. He opened his mouth to tell Illyana that he might actually be safer with the storm than within her blast radius when she read the plaque, but thought better of it. He was faster than a speeding bullet, but, if this little girl wasn't a meteor freak and was using something like magic... well, he wasn't sure exactly how well his kryptonian hide would stand up to that one.

"You should probably... brace yourself..." he offered as they finally walked up to the plaque, and he took a step back, to the very edge of her bubble as he left her to read the words, wondering if something else was going to be exploding in the next few seconds...

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-19 08:25 pm UTC (link)

Illyana let him lead the way to this plaque in silence. She was still upset at herself for losing control so easily. The Professor would flip if he ever found out. The New Mutants would flip if they found out. Piotr...she didn't want to think about disappointing her brother. That was the one thing that bothered her the most about her demonic powers, that Piotr might think less of her because she was weak enough to use them.

She looked at Clark as he spoke his warning, and nodded. "I promise I won't lash out at you," she said, trying to make it sound flippant. She hoped she could keep the promise. She stepped closer to the plaque and read the entire thing three times over, drinking in the words and their meaning. "That explains why I can't 'port," she muttered to herself, "if I could 'port, I'd be in Limbo and be out of here." She frowned. "But I can still access Limbo, at least a little, since I can use my other powers." So perhaps there was a chance she'd be able to get away from this 'Mirage' at some point.

The point about not killing disturbed her, though. It was a good rule in theory, and one that all of the Professor's students followed when they could, but Illyana wasn't always in her right mind. What if the Darkchylde took over and killed someone. She'd be punished for the actions of a demon, because she was the demon, except not truly, since her soul wasn't fully corrupted.... It made her head hurt to think about it.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning to Clark. She was angry still, yes, but thinking of the Professor and Dani and the others was helping her keep control of her temper, for the moment. So was the shield, since it divided her concentration and didn't let her indulge in her emotions. She didn't want to be caught in the storm again. "So we get everything we could ever want, except the ability to go home?" She snorted. "Not exactly bright, this planet. The one thing everyone wants it won't give. How happy are its residents ever going to truly be?" She shook her head. "So, I've got an apartment or something in this place?" she asked. The plaque had said she'd have a place to live.

So far, so good. She hadn't blown anything up in at least three minutes. If she could keep it up, she'd be doing great. A glance behind her confirmed that her tail had disappeared, finally, which was another good sign that she was keeping control, for the moment.

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poeticmisery
2008-08-19 10:05 pm UTC (link)

Clark wasn't about to break the silence with Illyana, especially when it meant the possibility of getting lit on fire. Not that he'd not been in some hot spots before, but again, he wasn't sure what the nature of Illyana's powers were, exactly, and for all he knew she might be the one person here who could actually really mess him up. The demon thing still wore heavily on his mind. She said it almost like a joke, but Clark didn't know alot of people who joked about being a demon. Maybe it was slang where she came from... but that didn't really explain the tail, either.

He blinked a little as she tried to make it sound flippant that she wasn't going to lash out at him, clearly not comforted by the thought. Still, Clark wasn't completely oblivious to signs of evil and doom, and she didn't seem like she was that evil or particularly out to get him. If she was, why hadn't she just fried him when she'd first spotted him? It wasn't like she could tell that he was Kryptonian. At least he didn't think so. Then again, she could be like a baby dragon, somewhat cute at first, but nasty and dragony later on in life.

Still, she seemed to take the news of their captivity rather well. Which was good, because there wasn't a thing that Clark could do to get her free, or else he would have left himself before she'd shown up. Hopefully she would follow Clark's logic and realize that it wasn't actually him who was keeping her here. He imagined if the 'Planet' was indeed a person, Illyana wouldn't be treating them very kindly. He nodded his head slowly in agreement with her sentiment, looking out beyond the force field at the raging storm around them.

"Somehow I don't think it's necessarily out to make us happy, as long as we... survive." He said, somewhat darkly, and looked down for a moment. "Maybe who or whatever it is, is just lonely... or maybe it's hoping that keeping us occupied with other things will keep us from looking for an exit from here..." He gave a gentle shrug and turned towards her. "Yeah... we all do." Clark said in answer to her question about an apartment. He tilted his head in the direction of one of the bigger places. "The keys are this way..." he said, waiting until Illyana followed him before he started leading her on.

"It's more like a hotel room than an apartment, but I guess the room itself changes into whatever you want it to be..." Clark paused for a moment, then shook his head. "Except for a way home, I've actually tried that one a few times..." he admitted with a sigh. He blinked as he followed her glance behind herself and noticed she didn't have a tail, his eyes widening slightly, then snapping up as it suddenly occured to him Illyana might think he was staring at her ass.

As they arrived at the main lobby, Clark glanced around and finally found Illyana's key, which was glowing. Clark glanced at it for a moment and then handed it to her. "D, huh? I think that's this way..." he said as he started to lead her down a hallway. As they walked Clark realized he wasn't being very social...

"So, what's it like where you come from?" he asked, turning towards her.

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-20 04:52 pm UTC (link)

Illyana nodded at Clark's interpretation of the Planet's intentions. It seemed to make sense to her. Little lonely godling planet who just wanted some company, and had no way of knowing that this wasn't how you played with others. She vaguely remembered Dani telling her about some weird holdout Roman colony that added citizens in a similar fashion, or at least had tried to do to the group. That was where they'd met Amara. She didn't remember the particulars, but it was possibly applicable here. Of course, its motives could be more sinister than that. She'd be a fool to think otherwise, given her childhood in Limbo.

She smirked as they began walking. "Lead on MacDuff," she said. She listened carefully to his description of the rooms here, trying to puzzle out exactly what and how it happened. "There's gotta be some sort of magic involved if it can change like that," she said. "Maybe if I can tap into it, I can 'port us out of here." Tall order, she knew, but she wouldn't be an X-Man (well, New Mutant, but they were basically the same thing) if she wasn't up for tackling the impossible.

She was about to explain her mutant powers to Clark, since he already had seen displays of her more arcane talents, when she caught him looking behind her. She smirked again. "I only get the tail when the demon takes over," she explained. "Which hopefully won't be too often here. You don't have any crazy evil sorcerers who want to steal souls, do you?" She tried to make it sound light-hearted, but she couldn't help the trace of bitterness seeping into her voice. If it weren't for Belasco, she might not be here right now. Or if she was, she might still be able to teleport, because she never would have bonded with Limbo so completely. She'd still have an intact soul, rather than a tainted one and three bloodstones holding some of her purity sealed away.

Illyana dropped the shield once they were back inside. She couldn't sense any immediate threats, and it would be better to conserve her energy when she could. She took her key from Clark and held it up to get a better look at it. Just a regular room key, nothing special. "D 209," she read. "So, second floor?" She fell into step beside Clark, glad that she'd at least met someone who seemed to know his way around, and who gave off a very "safe" vibe to her.

She frowned when he asked what it was like where she was from. "Well..." she began, trying to figure out how best to explain everything, "I lived at a boarding school in New York. Very private, very exclusive. Catered to people like me." She left it at that, deciding to see how Clark took the statement. "My brother was also a student there, sort of. But I've got another 'home' as well." She couldn't keep the sneer out of her voice on that word. "I got into a lot of trouble a couple of years back, when I was six, and ended up older, wiser, and ruler of a demonic Limbo I didn't want, but couldn't give up. It's not exactly a happy place for me." No, not for Illyana. The Darkchylde, on the other hand, reveled in it. "The Professor and his friend Magneto were helping me learn to control the darker parts of my soul while I was at school."

It appeared that they'd have to go outside again. Illyana reestablished her shield, making it glow so that Clark could see it covered him as well. "School's nice, when we're not being attacked by crazies," she continued as they stepped outside. "We sort of attract trouble. Goes with the territory, the Professor says." She tilted her head and looked at Clark. "What about you? What's it like where you're from?"

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poeticmisery
2008-08-21 01:40 am UTC (link)

Clark started to relax a bit around Illyana as they walked, especially at her repeated assurances that she meant him no harm. Deep down, he liked to think the best of people, and so even his most hated enemies, he wanted to believe that somewhere inside, they were actually worth trying to save, if he could. A few of them were somewhat beyond saving, he realized, but he supposed that it was his friendship with Lex that made him feel as if those who seemed evil should be given a second chance. Lex had a bad reputation around town, and often let his feelings guide him in ways that he shouldn't, but Clark still wanted to believe that at his core, Lex Luthor was a good person.

"MacDuff?" he said, not catching the reference. He wasn't exactly the most well versed in literature. Though Clark attributed it initially to the fact that she was from a different world. She probably had quite a few different sayings that he wouldn't recognize, not having grown up on her planet. Her speculation about magic made him nod. "Or alteration on the molecular level..." Clark said as they continued walking. He was something of sort of a science geek, and it made more sense to him that the planet was really altering things at the atomic level. It was in theory possible, but the amount of energy it would take to do it was staggering, if one thought about it. He almost added something about Magic just being Science that people didn't understand, but thought better of it, as it would probably offend her.

"Uhhhh, does the demon take over... often?" Clark asked, not sure how to take this idea of her randomly being possessed by a demon. Though he'd never say it to her, it almost seemed like she had some form of PMS from hell. Maybe that's what being possessed by a demon was like, though. What an odd thought. "I don't think we have crazy sorcerors who like to steal souls here... " Clark replied, raising his eyebrows at Illyana, almost in disbelief. She had to come from one crazy place where that sort of thing were common place. "But if there were, they'd probably have just stolen my soul and been done with it, don't you think?" He asked, being logical once again. It felt way more comforting then theorizing about dark wizards.

"I think it's the second floor. I actually don't live in the D building myself..." he said, pausing now and again at a hallway to get his bearings. It was all still pretty new to him here, and while he thought he was going in the right direction, he didn't want to see if Illyana was going to lose her temper if she realized he was leading her in circles.

Once Illyana got talking about her past, Clark was somewhat sorry he'd asked. Whatever she'd been through sounded horrible, and once again Clark felt that deep down she had to be a good person. A bad person would likely have given into her wicked nature long ago, having gone through what Illyana must have. "I'm sorry..." Clark said, reaching up and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "If I'd known I wouldn't have asked..."

He paused though as she mentioned Magneto, and snickered lightly, turning towards her. She didn't seemed as amused as he was. "Seriously? His name is Magneto? That sounds like a cheesy villian from a bad spy movie..." Of course, Clark had no idea about the horrors that the Master of Magnetism was capable of, to him it was just perhaps the most amusing thing he'd heard in a while. Yeah, he fought mutants constantly, but they never called themselves the 'lord of fire' or something silly like that. Usually Chloe gave them the silly names.

"Your school gets attacked?" Clark said, scraching his head lightly. His hair was still soaking wet. "Man, and I thought High School bullies were annoying..."

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poeticmisery
2008-08-21 01:40 am UTC (link)

Clark gave her a light smile, but as she asked about his life he turned away slightly. She had powers, like he did, but it seemed everyone did here. And with Lois at this place he couldn't risk going around and blabbing his secret to everyone. "Oh, y'know, I lead a pretty ordinary life where I come from. I was raised by my foster parents on a farm in Kansas... school's a drag, but next year I'm hoping to go to Metropolis for college... it's kinda boring..." he offered with a light smile. Then again, his real life seemed kinda boring when compared with being raised in hell and going to a school that gets attacked constantly...

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-21 05:39 am UTC (link)

"Did I get the quote wrong? It's from MacBeth," Illyana said when Clark didn't seem to get her reference. Maybe Shakespeare didn't exist in his dimension? "We had to read it for class." She nodded along when he offered a more scientific explanation for the planet's power. Science wasn't really her realm of expertise. Doug and Kitty had always been so much better at it than she had. She shook her head a little, trying to force away the wave of sadness that hit her when she thought of them. There'd be time to deal with all of that later. At least neither of them were here to see her flip out like she had. Especially poor Doug, God rest his soul. At least he hadn't seen what she'd become during the Inferno. She thought Kitty might have been there; she doubted, thinking back, that Excalibur would have stayed in England with everyone in New York in such trouble, especially Phoenix's "brother" Nathan.

Clark asked about the demon, stirring Illyana from her thoughts. She laughed, but it was hollow-sounding. "I'm not exactly what you would call a pure soul," she explained. "I don't know if there are demonic dimensions where you come from, but there are where I'm from. The ruler of Limbo before me, Belasco, was a very powerful dark sorcerer and demon. He corrupted part of my soul to further increase his power." There was no point in mentioning the Elder Gods to Clark. She had a feeling it wouldn't go over well. "The pieces of my soul he stole away from me he replaced with demonic energies, which react to my more negative traits. Hence, I go demon sometimes." She sighed. She didn't know how Clark would react to her story, but he seemed to be pretty accepting so far, and for that, she was grateful.

She laughed more genuinely when he expressed disbelief at Magneto's name. "Yes, he really is called Magneto. I think the Professor knows his real name, but he prefers to go by Magneto. The "Master of Magnetism." She tried her best to impersonate his most pompous declaration of his name, tried to infuse some of the swagger. 'Berto could do a much better impression than she could. When Clark expressed sympathy for her school situation, Illyana just shrugged. "Goes with the territory," she said. "Usually we can take the fight to the enemy before they get near the school, but we're not always that lucky."

Illyana found herself smiling as Clark described his life at home. It was exactly the sort of thing she wanted for herself, when she was willing to admit life beyond the X-Men, a nice quiet life away from all the crazy and hectic. It might have been boring, but boring meant no demons, no corruption, and to Illyana, that sounded wonderful. "It sounds a lot like how Piotr and I grew up," she said. "We were raised on a farm in Siberia, until we came to America for school." Illyana probably had better memories of the farm than Piotr, since she'd been there only a few short years ago, when she was six, before Arcade and the madness began. "There's nothing wrong with ordinary, you know. Be glad you don't have to deal with super-powered crazies beating down your door."

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poeticmisery
2008-08-21 07:17 pm UTC (link)

"Oh!" Clark said as Illyana mentioned the quote was from MacBeth. Yeah, he was pretty sure that someone would have recognized that in his world too. Kind of weird to think that his world and hers shared the same literature. He wondered if there were actually many planets here that shared similar texts. Maybe he should swing by the library and see exactly what was the same and what was different between the worlds. Not that it would get him much closer to finding a way out of here, but it was an interesting idea, at least. "Yeah, English isn't exactly my strongest subject..." Clark offered with a sheepish grin, knowing that it would likely excuse his lack of knowledge on the subject. Unless of course Illyana was a hard core bookworm, but she didn't look like it.

"That's... awful." Clark said, commenting on the fact that she'd had her soul tainted. How someone, regardless of their power, could do that to someone else still baffled him, even to this day. He didn't understand why he seemed to be the only one with super powers who didn't want to abuse them to dominate people who didn't have them. There were a few exceptions, of course, but so many who fit the mold of wanting to conquer the world, kill people who had upset them, or just find some way to make people they deemed less than them submit. "Is there any way to undo what he'd done?" Clark wasn't sure how he felt about God, but if there was one, he couldn't imagine someone's soul could just be stolen from them without a way to get it back...

"Wait, he's the master of Magnetism? Does he pick up a ton of girls in bars then, or... like actual magnetic force?" Clark blinked at that idea. Now that he thought about it, if someone could control magnetic force, depending on how well, they might be able to do atomic manipulation themselves. What a frightening idea... he wondered if Illyana had considered this in her world, but her mood seemed light enough that he didn't want to bog her down with any more droll talk of doom and despair.

"You take the fight to them?" Clark said, frowning slightly. He'd thought that the group might be like him, for a moment, but he never went out looking for a fight, only to defend those that he cared about. "So does that mean that your school is more like a military academy then?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, it's boring, but... boring is good..." Clark said, not realizing that to Illyana that might hint that there was something that he was hiding from her. After all, most people who were in boring situations grew up wanting to be free, wanting a life outside of what they had. That Clark was happy with the life he claimed to have either meant he was very unique, or that he was one of the rare people who was happy where he was at. Whichever it was though, they came to the end of one building, and Clark lead her across the way through the wind and rain to the next building, somewhat confident she'd put up a shield to protect herself.

"Alright... second floor." He said as he ascended a staircase and came out at the second floor, not seeing anyone in particular in the halls. He stopped with her outside of her room. "Sorry I couldn't be more help... I know this situation kind of sucks..." he offered. "But, you probably want some time to get acquainted with your room, I'd guess..." Clark said, politely offering to make himself scarce so she could be alone with her thoughts, and not have to stare at him nearly half naked in a ripped t-shirt.

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-21 09:02 pm UTC (link)

"It's not really mine either," Illyana said, grinning. "Especially since I only really learned the language a few years ago. The Professor loves literature and philosophy, though, so we get a lot of that, in addition to our other training. She actually liked MacBeth, though. It was one of the less boring books or plays that she'd had to read for him.

When Clark asked about a way to undo the damage to her soul, Illyana bit her lip. No one could ever give her an answer to that question. "As far as I know, there isn't. But that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. We didn't have a lot of time to consult with the masters of the arcane, sadly." She shrugged. "I just have to be careful not to let my more negative emotions take over, at least for now." She looked over at Clark as an idea came to her. "Hey, you don't think there are mages here, do you? Maybe someone with different magical knowledge can help me."

She laughed at the thought of Magneto in a bar trying to pick up girls, especially in his cape and helmet. "No, no, actual magnetism. Anything metal, he can handle really well. He can also adjust the magnetic fields that everything has, and make himself fly, sort of, by pushing off of them. "I don't think Magneto would ever go to a bar. He's too...old." She laughed again.

"There are people where I come from that want to harm others, especially people like me, who are...different." Even on this new planet, it felt strange to mention she was a mutant, despite the fact that she'd almost told him not a few minutes earlier. "Not everyone with powers uses them responsibly. So, the Professor trains us in the responsible use of our own, so that we can protect people from those who choose not to use them responsibly." It probably did sound like a military academy, but Illyana found that idea odd. The actual student body at Xavier's school was so small that it was more like a private tutoring academy. "Sometimes I wish our lives were a bit more boring," she said, looking off into the distance as they walked. Boring would have meant Doug was still alive, she was normal, and her brother and Kitty might have had a chance for a proper relationship.

She regarded the door to her room carefully as they approached, dropping her shield at last. It looked pretty boring. She looked up at Clark as he began to apologize for not helping. She made a face. "What do you mean, 'sorry'? You were a lot of help, you know." She smirked. "You didn't freak out at me or attack me or anything. That right there is a big help, since I was so pissed off earlier. Your attitude helped me get control of myself. And you've given me the basics of this place." She frowned. "It really sucks," she agreed. "But my brother's been in worse situations than this and come out okay, so I'm sure we will too." Oh yes, Piotr had been in worse danger, definitely, but had he been in as tight a trap? She thought of Dallas a year or so earlier, and decided that indeed he had, and had come out all right in the end. "You kinda remind me of him. Piotr's not so smooth around girls either, and he's got the handsome farmboy act down." She smiled slyly at Clark and leaned against the wall beside her room.

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poeticmisery
2008-08-22 07:24 pm UTC (link)

"Right, Illyana's a name from around Russia, right?" Clark said, not completely clueless. Given the fact that she called her brother Piotr, it was somewhat clear that she was foreign. "Kind of strange, so you get in fights often, but you study literature at school at the same time..." Clark scratched his head at the idea of it. Really it seemed like the worst of both worlds, having to fight AND read boring literature all day long. Clark had to idly wonder what the finals must have been like... were there finals? Again, speaking with people from other worlds brought up the most odd thoughts.

"I think there are..." Clark said. "I know I've heard them being mentioned anyway, but I've never actually met them. I've only been here a few days myself, I wouldn't even really know where to begin looking. If I see one though, I'll make send him your way." Clark paused, and then offered a smile to Illyana. "Either way I'd try not to let it... control you. I've known some people who have done some pretty awful stuff, and then turned around and used their talents for good things. I can't imagine that if we have a soul, that it's able to be tainted without us being able to redeem it somehow..." Of course, that was the conservative farm boy talking...

The fact that Magneto was the master of ACTUAL magnetism worried Clark a bit. Though there wasn't a lot to worry about here, given that there was no Magneto on this world, as far as Clark knew. But the ability to control the attraction between particles... that would be an astounding ability. The scientist in Clark was tempted to ask Illyana exactly how much control the man had over magnetism, but he imagined the young girl wouldn't know, so he curbed those questions for the time being.

Clark sort of nodded. "I can see how that would be... sometimes people who have real power want to use it to control others..." Clark said. Alas, he knew far too well what happened when the average person was given far too much power than they should have. He wondered if it wasn't something to do with growing up with those abilities, but realistically he figured it had something to do with being raised well. "I would think that super powers just magnify the kind of person you are inside, it'd make someone who's normally good really good... and someone who isn't..." Clark trailed off and shook his head slowly. It was kind of a depressing topic, especially for him, though Illyana couldn't possibly know that.

"Uh, yeah, it's probably a good thing I didn't attack you, that plant didn't look so healthy after you went uh... 'demon' on it." Clark said, raising his eyebrows, still playing at the fact that he was just an average farm boy. Hell, he wished he were an average farm boy. No having to hide who he was, no having to hold back what he could do... just to be normal like every other person on the planet. But he'd come to accept the fact that it was something of a pipe dream. Besides, though he wished for it, there were too many people that he wanted to help, and if his powers were taken away, then something might happen to them that he wasn't able to stop...

"Uh... thanks?" Clark said, raising his eyebrows as Illyana mentioned he was cute and awful with girls in the same sentence. Wait, was she comparing him to her brother... then hitting on him? Clark wasn't sure where to go with that one. It was, to be honest... just the slightest bit strange.

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-23 10:04 am UTC (link)

"Siberia," Illyana said when Clark mentioned Russia. Technically yes, the USSR, but we do still have some national pride." She laughed. "It can be really hard at school because of all that, all the fighting and studying. But my friends are great for keeping the stress levels down." The New Mutants definitely knew how to party if there was time for it. Even Rahne could be coaxed into a little dancing and frivolity from time to time.

The idea of finding a mage who might be able to help her was an exciting one for Illyana. "Please do," she said. Clark continued to talk about the possibility of her soul being redeemed, which made her smile. He really was sweet and optimistic. He probably never had to deal with the types of things Illyana had to deal with as a New Mutant, so had never had that country innocence shattered. "You know," she said, "I can almost believe it when you say that."

Illyana nodded at his understanding of how mutant powers work. Either he'd read a lot of sci-fi, which, given that he'd said he didn't like literature she sort of doubted, or he was incredibly astute. It didn't occur to her that he might have firsthand experience at the moment. Perhaps it would stick out at her later, when she thought back on the day's events, but for now, she just found him perceptive. "Exactly. Powers or abilities aren't inherently good or evil. It's how the person chooses to use them that makes them seem that way. So if a good person developed special abilities, he'd use them for good, and they'd be seen as good. Works the same the other way." The Professor and Magneto both had discussed the ethics of mutant abilities with them in class, and with her privately, especially since her darker nature had been resurfacing as of late. She knew it was all down to her how her magic took form, but it was so difficult to ignore the seductive call of the darker powers sometimes, especially when she was swept up in more negative emotions.

She laughed as Clark mentioned the plant. It sounded so funny when he mentioned her going demon on things. She shook her head and smiled at his reaction to her last few words. She could tell she was discombobulating him just a little bit. She remembered Sam Guthrie having similar reactions if she compared him to her brother as well. Come to think of it, Clark reminded her a bit of Cannonball as well. "You're welcome," she said, even though it probably wasn't the best response she could give him. "You don't exactly look like Piotr, if it helps. He's a lot taller than you. Everyone at school calls him Colossus." Because really, even if Piotr couldn't cover himself in indestructible metal, he'd still tower over everyone and be able to best almost all of the X-Men in strength. Probably only Wolverine would be able to go head to head with him and survive.

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poeticmisery
2008-08-23 11:03 am UTC (link)

"Woo... that's probably pretty cold, huh?" Clark offered as she mentioned Siberia. Really that was about all he knew of the place was that it was supposed to be one of the more desolate places on Earth. In fact, he'd not even known it was it's own country. Hearing Illyana mention the USSR brought back memories of a while ago, as usually in the news nowadays on Clark's world they just mentioned it as Russia. Clark was sure that Chloe would have something assanine to say about him not being able to remember any of this, but he didn't try to think too much about his ignorance.

"Good..." He said with a rather honest smile that seemed natural on him. Clark certainly wasn't lying about that, even if he did fib about who he was from time to time. He truly hoped that Illyana would find a way to become whole once again, as he knew from Red K, exactly what it was like to not really be in control of the things that you were doing. It was a horrible feeling to to wake up in the aftermath and find that you'd done something awful, and not be able to explain it to anyone.

"Yeah... it actually happened a lot in the Warrior Angel comic books I used to read..." Clark said, trying to narrowly sidestep the fact that he still would read those comic books if he had the chance. Saving the world though, wasn't too easy to keep up on your reading as a general rule. He would totally have digged a good sci fi novel, especially if it was that or Shakespeare. Old plays by dead poets were as close to literary 'sleep aids' as things could get, save history books. Just thinking about it made Clark want to take a nap.

"Well... I don't know that all power comes without ties. I mean, if you were powered by kittens or something, even if you went around helping people I think you'd still be evil for using the powers." Clark paused, realizing he was probably acting like he had some sort of idea how her world worked, which he didn't.... in a sense. In another sense he knew what it was like to have powers, but definately didn't want to go into it at this point. Though he sometimes told people about his powers, that was usually only when it couldn't be avoided.

His brows knitted a little as she just said 'thanks' still clearly confused by the signals that she was sending him. On one hand she looked at him as if she were interested in something, on the other hand she told him that he reminded her of her brother... on a third hand, which he didn't have, she said her brother looked cute.... and given that he didn't think that dating a half demon girl would work, and she was a sophmore, why was he overanalyzing this? "Collossus? Wait... do they actually give you code names?" Clark couldn't hide his amusment at that one. "What's yours? She devil?"

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-23 12:16 pm UTC (link)

"It's not that cold," Illyana said, crossing her arms. At least, it never felt that cold to her. It was what she was used to. She, like her brother, found too much heat unbearable, whereas they could both wear far lighter clothing than their friends in the winters of New York. It was all a matter of perspective.

She'd never heard of these "Warrior Angel" comics, but that made sense. There were comic books on her world that dealt with people with powers as well, and, while they never did reach the levels of understanding that the mutant population would have liked, every little bit helped.

"Kittens?" She couldn't help but giggle at the idea of a mutant whose power came from kittens. What would he do, look up with big eyes and get whatever he wanted? "You're right, that would definitely be evil." She shook her head. "No kittens controlling my powers, so not to worry there."

Illyana raised an eyebrow at the idea of 'she devil' as a codename. For one thing, the She-Hulk might sue her, and since she was a lawyer, from what some of the X-Men said about her, she'd probably win. "Magik," she said, offering her hand again. "And yes, they do. Well, the Professor does. Not everyone knows our school trains people with powers. Most of the world thinks Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is a super-elite private academy. So when we have to go out to fight, we have uniforms and code names to keep our identities a secret." She spoke as if it were the most obvious, logical thing in the world. Of course, Clark wouldn't know of such things, since he lived in the country on a farm. She supposed she could forgive him for the teasing.

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poeticmisery
2008-08-23 03:33 pm UTC (link)

"Really?" Clark asked, somewhat confused. Maybe he didn't actually know as much about Siberia as he thought. Hell, he thought it was supposed to be one of the coldest liveable places on earth. Then again, Clark had rather thick skin, so even him being buried in snow, or traveling to the north pole, or being in a furnace didn't phase him. Again, not the sort of thing that one really talked about unless they wanted to get into the whole 'I'm really an alien' business. And that in itself would just be a little awkward.

"Magik..." he said. It seemed a little unoriginal, given that it was what she did. Sort of like if he called himself 'smash guy'. Or maybe he could call himself... Captain Hammer. Yeah, that would be a pretty cool name. Except he didn't have a hammer...so maybe not. It would be kind of odd to think about what he would have called himself in her world, because he didn't really have a thing that defined himself as... 'that guy'. His 'powers' seemed to be almost anything, which didn't really leave him to have a specific name. Not like Warrior Angel, who had wings and whatnot. "Interesting code name..."

As she mentioned uniforms, Clark's eyes widened slightly. Why was it the first thing that popped into his head was Illyana fighting in a Catholic school girl's outfit? Well, she did say they were from a private school. Though if they were trying to hide their identity, they probably wore masks and things like some of the heroes in Warrior Angel.

Clark paused then, lightly, as the conversation had dwindled slightly... It was interesting to hear about her strange new world, but he got the feeling that no matter how much he heard, he'd never really understand until he was there. Hell, from the sounds of it, it was almost like a whole school of him verus meteor freaks, or maybe just a bunch of meteor freaks fighting each other, some good, some bad. That was the sort of thing that was hard to think about... especially considering, if they all had powers, how many people who DIDN'T have powers get caught in the cross fire?

"Anyway... " Clark said, taking Illyana's hand as she offered it again. "I should probably find a change of clothes..." he said, looking down to where he was still bare chested, and where there was still an alluring light mist of water against his firm muscles. "Someone might think the wrong thing if they caught us here in the hallway together... It was nice meeting you, Illyana... or do you prefer Magik instead?"

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-25 08:13 pm UTC (link)

She could tell Clark was less than impressed with her codename. But, what did he know? And at least she'd been happy enough to keep hers, unlike Dani or Kitty, who'd each changed theirs a few times. Although, to be fair, Kitty had tried out some really lame names before settling on Shadowcat. "I thought about Sorceress Supreme, since that's my title in Limbo, but I thought it was a bit pretentious," Illyana said, shrugging.

She shook Clark's hand firmly, impressed by his grip. Again, he reminded her of Piotr. Her brother's grip could crush bones if he wasn't careful, even outside of his super-powered form. She smirked when he mentioned finding a change of clothes and followed his gaze. "I think it's a lost cause, that shirt," she said. She reached out and took hold of one of the ragged pieces, fingering it absently. "There's not enough left for even the best tailor to salvage." She shook her head, still smirking.

Might think the wrong thing? Where on earth had his mind gone, Illyana wondered. "Well, we wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea," she said, not entirely able to keep the teasing tone from her voice. "It was nice meeting you, too." She took a step backward toward her door. "Illyana's fine." She grinned at him. "Thanks a lot, Clark. I really do appreciate your help today."

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poeticmisery
2008-08-25 11:00 pm UTC (link)

Clark's eyes widened a little when Illyana whipped out Sorceress Supreme. Yeah, he guessed if the other options were things like that he could sort of see why she'd decided on just plain 'Magik'. Not that he should be one to criticize, given the fact that he didn't even have a code name. But then he didn't wander about in uniforms very often either. "Yeah... maybe just a little..." Clark agreed with his trademark bright boyish smile, which still looked good despite the fact that his hair was still soaked and plastered to the sides of his face in some places.

He'd actually tried to be light when he gripped her hand, and would have been embarassed to know that she thought it was overly firm. Truth be told he could have crushed an iron girder with that hand, and so it was hard sometimes to control his strenght. Never enough that he'd hurt someone, of course, but it was something that troubled him, that he'd get sick or something like that again and wind up inadvertantly hurting those that he cared about. He couldn't even imagine what he'd do if his powers hurt the ones that he loved even more than they already did.

He shivered a little as she toyed with one of the pieces of his shirt. He wasn't exactly used to romances. Yeah, Alicia had wanted him, but in terms of the usual teenage libido, Clark tried to stay away from it, because with his powers, well, god only knew what that sort of thing would be like. He didn't want to try it and find out the hard way... no pun intended. "There's hope!" he joked quietly as she told him the shirt was a lost cause.

As she gave him a look to his comment about someone thinking the wrong thing, he realized he'd probably seemed like a bit of a loser there. But Clark took it in stride, and instead flashed Illyana a quiet smile as he turned to take a few steps away, then looked over his shoulder. "I just don't want someone to think you went all demon on me and tore it off..." he said, flirting with her a little. It wouldn't go anywhere, so what was the harm?

"Nice meeting you too..." he said with a chuckle and a wave. "I'll see you around..."

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ex_darkchyld899
2008-08-26 04:41 pm UTC (link)

And now he was insinuating that she might be a little more...forward...in flirting than was the norm? This boy was very amusing, Illyana decided. She shook her head and smiled at him. "I'm flattered that you think of my reputation," she said before he turned around again.

"Yeah, see you later!" She decided that she'd have to make a point to bump into Clark again. He was definitely cute. Even Kitty would approve of his appearance. And he felt safe, like Piotr did. The fact that he reminded her so strongly of Piotr might have killed any less-than-familial feelings toward Clark, were it not for the fact that Illyana constantly compared people to her brother, whom she regarded as an ideal male. Most girls secretly wanted to marry someone like their fathers, according to the psychology books; Illyana wanted someone like her older brother. She lingered in the hallway until Clark had disappeared into the stairwell, then looked down at her key. Time to find out what her room really looked like.

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