InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Saving people, hunting things"

Illyana Nicolievna Rasputina (ex_darkchyld899) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2009-02-17 20:49:00

Entry tags:

andy gallagher, complete, day 32, illyana rasputin

Day 32: Tree House Time!
WHO: Illyana and Andy
WHAT: It is time to build a tree house
WHEN: Day 32, early/mid-afternoon
WHERE: the edge of the trees out back behind the residence buildings
RATING: um...PG-13 to be safe
STATUS: Incomplete

Hangover miraculously cured by a long draught of clear liquid, Illyana felt at last ready to greet the day. It was about time she and Andy got started on their tree house. They'd been talking about it for a couple of days, but thanks to those forced group-things, neither had been able to get started. Today, that was going to change. Best way to deal with problems was to keep going, keep living. At least, that's how the New Mutants dealt with things. After Doug had died, Magneto hadn't let them sit and mope for long. After the news about Piotr in Dallas, he'd given her time to rant and rail, yes, but in the end she'd had to keep going, keep up her studies. When things sucked, you gave fate the finger and kept going.

After lunch, Illyana headed out to the trees and scanned them carefully. Most looked like suitable tree house trees, at least at first glance. Branches large enough to hold platforms and wide enough to support the weight grew partway up the tall trunks. She found one she liked just inside the first line of trees, which left a bit of a natural buffer between the tree house and the open field leading back to the resort. This spot wasn't too far off from where the snowman army had been days before, which also suited her. It would stand a memorial to the melted army.

"Tools," she said out loud. "Hammers and nails, saws, and some timber, if you don't want us cutting too many of your trees down, Planet." She knew killing wasn't allowed, and was pretty sure, after her rather explosive arrival, that felling trees wasn't considered killing, but it was possible the Planet had simply chosen to overlook her destruction of its life that one time, as a favor or something. "Oh, and some rope, so we can haul stuff up and down," she added, watching the required items appear in front of her.

The Planet could teleport things around. Others could teleport here. It really wasn't fair. She scowled at the materials for a moment, and her hand drifted to the amulet around her neck. Always safer to wear it, especially if there was a chance of getting upset in public. Last thing she needed was to spoil her growing friendship by going demon on Andy. She sighed and surveyed the materials again, trying to figure out the best way to start the project.

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brain_ninja
2009-02-18 03:35 pm UTC (link)

It was a little chillier, Andy noted both on his way to and from coffee with George that morning and on his way out of the building toward the woods to meet Illyana, than the previous afternoon, but not at all unpleasant. He jogged along toward the woods, too excited to walk, but too run down really, still, to run.

Today, he and Illyana were finally going to put together that tree house and Andy was friggen stoked. Not only was that kick ass all on its own, but no matter what season the Planet decided it was, a tree house would survive. Snow wouldn't ruin it, rain would barely touch it, sunshine would obviously not melt it like it had the snow fort... Andy couldn't see a losing situation anywhere in the equation. Unless, of course, the Planet decided to be especially vindictive and throw a tornado or a hurricane or something at the residents. No way it was gonna do that, though, he decided. Not if it was supposed to be so perfect.

Even when he drew closer to the woods, though, Andy couldn't quite see Illyana. "Yo! Yana! Where are ya?!" he shouted as he crossed the open field, drawing near to the tree line.

He made a mental note to bring up his discussion with George to Illyana once they'd gotten past the frustration of trying to figure out how exactly to get started and had settled into a comfortable rhythm of sorts.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-02-20 07:35 pm UTC (link)

Illyana looked up as she heard her nickname, and grinned. "Over here!" she called, peering through the trees and trying to spot Andy. She stepped out to the edge of the "forest" and saw him coming up from the field. She waved at him.

"Feeling better?" she asked as he approached. She chucked a thumb over her shoulder. "You should see everything the Planet's given us to play with. We'll be able to build a tree palace with the lumber it's supplied."

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brain_ninja
2009-02-20 07:54 pm UTC (link)

At first Andy only heard Illyana's voice and he craned his neck to look as he walked. Then, she came out to the edge and waved to him. "Oh hey," he called back, grinning widely as he closed the gap between them and looked through the woods where she was pointing over her shoulder with her thumb.

"Yeah, way better. You too, huh?" He looked back at her. "Sweet! Lemme see!" he said excitedly. "This is gonna seriously be so bad ass when we finish and you know what I was thinking on the way over here? Nothing is gonna ruin a tree house," he added, grinning from ear to ear, a childlike glee in his eyes. "It won't melt like my fort and even if it gets windy or covered in snow, it'll stay put. So awesome!"

He paused and took a breath. "So okay, lead on, pretty girl!"

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-02-20 08:35 pm UTC (link)

Illyana nodded. "Much better," she said. "Whatever's in that cup did the trick." His grin was infectious, and Illyana beamed as he talked about the tree house. He was right; nothing would hurt a tree house. They'd build it so well that even another hurricane wouldn't damage it. She could weave a few protection spells into it when Andy wasn't looking to ensure that.

"This way," she said as she turned back to the trees. "It isn't that far inside the tree line." She walked in about a dozen or so paces and stopped, stepping aside and bringing her arms up with a flourish to gesture at the piles of materials. "See? Enough for a palace." She looked up at Andy. "The only thing I'm not sure of is where to start. We didn't talk out any plans or anything, in our enthusiasm."

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brain_ninja
2009-02-21 12:34 am UTC (link)

"Yeah, I dunno what that shit is, but it's amazing," Andy agreed wholeheartedly, nodding. He'd probably never admit to anyone that didn't already know that Rose had been the first to bring his attention to the concoction. He sure as hell wasn't going to tell Yana. He wondered absently whether she was still in the mood to maim Rose or if that had just been the initial indignation from her on his behalf.

He was pulled out of his mindless wondering when she spoke again and started toward the tree line, showing him to the chosen spot and gesturing toward the piles of stuff Mirage had given them to work with. "Shit, kiddo, this is awesome!" he breathed. "Oh man, we could make a fuckin' tree mansion with this. Nice work!" he praised happily.

Although, she pointed out a flaw in their plan. In that...other than "fuck yeah, let's do it!" there literally was no plan and both of them had admitted to having no idea what to do to build a tree house. Scratching the back of his head, Andy looked over the pile of materials and then up at the tree as he mulled it over. "Well...I mean, how hard can it be?" he asked, shrugging. "First things first, we gotta figure a way for us to get up there and back down again with at least a little bit of ease so...I'm thinking, before we do anything, we build a ladder - or ask for one - with a platform to put shit on, you know?" he suggested.

After another pause and another moment's thought, he looked back up at the tree. "You picked a bangin' spot...nice shading, not entirely visible to anyone just passing by," he observed. "We'll need to build a base. I think after we do that, you know, like build the floor? We'll be good to go, just building to work our way up. It doesn't have to be gigantic, even if we could make it that big," he pointed out. "Could just be big enough for...four," he said giving her an innocent but sheepish smile. "I found us another freak...so you don't have to be the only girl. She's really cool, I swear." Well, it was just as good a time as any to bring George's name into the mix. "You met her; remember George, from playing the Wii a few days ago? She doesn't have mind-stuff like we do and she wasn't given any real powers from demons or anything but...she's dead...ish...." he offered awkwardly.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-02-21 08:53 pm UTC (link)

Illyana beamed at Andy's praise for the supplies, and for the tree she'd chosen. It really was in a good spot. She agreed about the ladder being their first priority, and turned to the rope coiled next to the slats of wood. A large knife lay next to the rope, sheathed in a thick leather casing. She smirked at it. She had no idea if Andy knew how to handle a blade, but she at least could handle this part.

"How long a length of rope do you think we need to start a ladder? Twelve feet? Fifteen? We need to cut enough so we can tied the boards to it and still have enough hang to get up and down." She knelt down by the rope and began pulling out a length, measuring by her height rather than by any formal tools. She pulled about three times her own height out, then looked up and tried to eyeball the distance to the most likely tree branch. It looked like enough rope to her eyes. She pulled the knife free of its sheath and brought it down across the rope at her feet, slicing it free. "One piece down," she said. She looked over at Andy. "How are you with a saw?"

She looked up as she started pulling rope for the second side of the ladder. "Another freak?" she echoed, raising an eyebrow. Her eyes widened as Andy mentioned George. She nodded when asked if she remembered the other girl. George had been really nice, fun to hang out with. "She's dead?" Illyana asked, blinking. She certainly didn't seem dead the other day. "She's doing remarkably well for being dead. You'd never guess."

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brain_ninja
2009-02-21 09:18 pm UTC (link)

Andy smiled back at Illyana. Girl was like a little ray of sunshine, or something, when she smiled. It was like her whole face lit up when she did it. Kinda cute and definitely endearing. Andy was glad to be around someone so cheerful today. It wasn't like he was still sensitive about the whole Rose thing, except, well...he kind of was. Hopefully Illyana's cheer would rub off on him. So far, it seemed to be working.

"Uh..." Andy stalled, rubbing his chin and looking back up at the tree. "Well, let's go with fifteen, huh? I mean, if we run out, we can always ask for more and it's better to be prepared than have that 'oh shit' moment after the fact, right?" he laughed.

She seemed to know what she was doing with the knife. A natural, he thought with a slight pang of nostalgia; like Yvaine had been at the winery. "Your guess is as good as mine," he admitted. "I never bothered messing around with one, but I imagine I could cut some wood without lopping off a hand or anything if that's what you mean," he laughed.

"Dead as a doornail, so they say," he replied with a shrug. "But, she's like undead. New body. Well...sort of? I guess she said, like, she had a new body or whatever and she didn't look the same to living people as she did when she was alive, but she said now that she's here she looks like herself. I didn't really get it all 'cause it sounded a little complicated, but...yeah. She's dead. That's kinda freakish enough to join Freaks United, right?" he asked, smirking slightly.

Andy sat down on the ground and shifted himself onto his knees, leaning back on his heels as he picked up the saw. "How big do you want the pieces? I'll get to work on the planks," he offered.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-02-22 09:19 am UTC (link)

"If you lop off a hand, we'll have to find a doctor fast, because I don't know if I can heal that," Illyana remarked, bringing her knife down again and cutting the second length of rope. Her white magic wasn't as strong as it should be, and healing something like a hand would be iffy for her.

She picked up both lengths of rope and pulled them over to the base of the tree, leaving them there in a neat pile. Once the boards were cut, she could use the weird boring tool the Planet had left them to cut holes on the edges and start threading the rope through. She shook her head at George's condition. "Weird. Definitely qualifies her for the FU." She snickered at her own joke. "How big for the planks? Um...maybe a foot, foot and a half long? How long are the planks on rope ladders supposed to be?" Illyana couldn't think of a time she'd ever had to climb one.

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brain_ninja
2009-02-22 05:31 pm UTC (link)

"Duly noted," Andy laughed as he went to work on the planks. "I'm gonna go with a foot and a half. I've never used a rope ladder, so I have no idea," he added.

Then, he paused and looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. "Time out, you can heal stuff?" he asked, impressed by the inference that perhaps she could heal if the injury wasn't too serious.

It took Andy a moment to register the joke and then he laughed heartily out loud. "FU...oh, man, chick, you're a fuckin' riot. I love you," he laughed, shaking his head with amusement as he gently tossed aside one plank as he made it. "I just figure...you know, us freaks all gotta stick together, right?" he asked, looking back up at her when his laughter settled.

He cut a few more planks and gently tossed them toward her into the pile he'd started. "How big d'you think we should make the baseboards?" he wondered aloud. "Cuz Sam's a fuckin' giant and if we're gonna hang out in there, it'd be kinda shit if we didn't share with the FU once in a while," he added, taking quickly to picking up the new, shortened version of their unofficial club's name.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-02-24 07:55 pm UTC (link)

Illyana nodded at his estimation of plank size. "Sounds okay to me," she said. She looked up at Andy to answer his next question. "Not exactly," she said. "I should be able to, and I've been able to do a little bit, if I'm lucky and I'm concentrating correctly on my spells, but it doesn't usually work. Little cuts and bruises I can manage okay. Anything bigger, not really. Too much of a tainted soul to do it right." She sighed and her hand drifted to her pendant to a moment. She lowered it quickly, hoping Andy wouldn't notice.

She laughed when he did, and grinned wickedly. Rahne would have been scandalized at her joke. Good thing Rahne wasn't here. "Love you too," she said, picking up the plank and her little boring tool. She stuck it in the wood about two inches from the short edge on one side, at about the middle of the board, and started twisting into it. It was harder than it should have been, in her opinion, and she had a pile of wood beside her before she'd finished even the first hole.

"Big as we need to," Illyana replied, grunting with effort as she twisted. Finally, the little tool poked through to the other side. A few more twists, and the hole was more or less the same width all the way down. She flipped the board over and started on the other side. "We can always lay out some supports across the branches and nail them in first, and then do the floor on top of those, right? You're gonna have to give me a hand with these when you're done." There had to be an easier way to do this. She just couldn't figure out what it was.

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brain_ninja
2009-02-24 08:26 pm UTC (link)

Andy looked back at Illyana, impressed. "Hey, that's better than nothin'," he said. He found himself, for the first time, a little jealous of her, when he thought about it. If he had the power to heal, he'd be far more likely to take advantage of it when needed, whereas even if he needed to use the mind control, he would think twice after having used it on Tracy and seeing how she reacted to it. He noticed a movement in the corner of his eye, but by the time he'd registered it, she'd dropped her hand back down and gone back to work, so he shrugged it off. "Hey, don't feel bad," he said in reference to her mentioning a tainted soul. "You're not alone in that, you know."

He smiled when she returned the sentiment and wondered to himself when the last time he'd heard those three words had been. He thought it had been from Tracy and probably years ago, but even that was different than this. Andy didn't think of Illyana the way he thought of Trace, not by a long shot. It was nice to hear.

Illyana's answer to his question was a little more vague than he'd have liked, but he let it go because it wasn't like she'd ever done this before, either. They were going to have to do a lot of guesswork, he thought. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking," he replied in reference to the supports she suggested. "We'll need the reinforcement, I'd think."

She looked to be struggling with drilling the holes in the planks and Andy frowned. That was going to take ages, now that he thought about it. "Hey, Mirage," he called out to no one in particular. "Put holes in the planks as I finish 'em, will ya? Make sure they look just like the ones she just did."

As he sawed off the last of the planks and started to drop it into the pile, he grinned, noticing that the Planet had already done just that. "Well, hey, it's kinda nice not to have to do all the grunt work, huh?" he asked Illyana, grinning.

Andy got to his feet and stretched before sitting back down beside her. "How can I help thread it without getting in your way?" he asked, not wanting to hinder her work, but also not keen on standing by supervising instead of lending a hand.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-02-26 09:02 pm UTC (link)

Illyana smiled her thanks for Andy's attempt to make her feel better about her soul. He really didn't have any idea how far gone hers was, because she had no intention of letting him find out that particular secret, among others. At least, not yet. But he was sympathizing with her, and accepting of her, which he did a lot faster than some of her teammates at home, for which she was grateful.

"I wonder how many people here are freaks like us?" she said, finishing up her second hole and reaching for another plank. This one had been affected already by Andy's time-saving request. "Why didn't I think of that?" she asked. "You're just too brilliant, you know that?" She reached for one length of rope and pushed the end through the hole. She pulled the rope almost all the way through, but left enough at the end so that she could tie it into a knot, to keep the plank in place. She looked up at Andy when he asked how he could help. "How about I do one rope and you do the other? If we do 'em more or less at the same time, we'll be able to make sure the boards stay level."

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brain_ninja
2009-02-26 09:42 pm UTC (link)

Andy returned her smile and set down the saw. How many freaks like them, she'd asked. Shaking his head, Andy looked down again, the smile leaving his eyes even if it lingered on his lips. "Like us? Who knows. Hopefully no more, for their sake." He paused and looked back up at her, giving her a small grin. "Though, I'm pretty sure everybody here is a freak. In some way, anyhow. I mean, it's the only way I can figure the Planet picked us. It had to have had a pool to pull from, right? Maybe it just wanted to throw together the biggest lump of freaks from all different times and places just to see what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real," he laughed. "Like a fucked up Real World season or something."

Pausing, he shook his head. "Never mind, that's after your time, I think," he apologized. "Still. Point stands. The Planet had to pick from somewhere. It can't be entirely random."

When she called him brilliant, Andy laughed out loud. "I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever heard that, Yana, thanks," he replied appreciatively. "Maybe we should just make the Planet finish the whole damn ladder. Except, well, it'll end up being part of the tree house, right? That'd be our way to get up there...so I feel like we'd be robbing ourselves if we didn't keep working on it."

Nodding in agreement with Illyana's suggestion that he do one rope while she did the other, Andy took the other rope and followed her lead. It seemed like forever had gone by by the time they'd gotten toward the end of the plank pile. Pausing in the process of another knot, Andy looked up at the tree again. "What if we lay down two rows of support? Cross the top one over the bottom one, just to be sure? It'd fucking suck if we were hangin' out up there and the damn thing collapsed on us, y'know? I figure better safe than sorry..." he suggested, looking back at her as if to ask whether she was ready to tie the last knots before he went at it on his rope.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-03-01 07:37 pm UTC (link)

Illyana considered his words as she continued threading planks and knotting the rope. She thought back to the people she'd met here. An ordinary boy, a wizard, an elf, an ordinary girl, an undead girl. She'd "met" others over the journals as well, more who could do magic. Were the "ordinary" people she'd met really ordinary, or were they just secretive, as she was, about their abilities? Given the atmosphere in her world, and the attitudes toward those who were "different", Illyana wouldn't be surprised if people were still hiding here. Old habits were hard to break, after all. She didn't trust everyone here to reveal her secrets fully, after all. "You've got a point," she said, nodding in agreement at last. "Who knows what talents people have here that they're not sharing."

She agreed with Andy about wanting to finish the ladder themselves. It was their tree house, and she wanted to actually do it herself. Well, she wanted them to do it together. She hadn't really had something like this she could do with friends at home, not like Doug and Kitty had with their computers. She paused in her work and waited for Andy to catch up to where she was in the knotting, then took up her task again.

"That's twice now you're being brilliant, so clearly people where you come from are blind to your genius," she said, grinning at him. "Criss-crossed supports would give us the best floor possible. Only thing better would be a basket-weave, but we can't do that with wood." Although, they could do that with the floor they put over top of the wood, as an extra support. Provided, of course, Andy knew how to weave. She could, but not as well as a girl her age from Ust-Ordusky should be able to. Mama had only begun teaching her when she'd been taken to the US, when she was six. A few years ago. Best to wait until they'd gotten the support beams up before worrying about that.

She caught Andy's gaze and read the question there. She nodded, then finished off her knots. Once he'd done his, she hauled herself to her feet, pulling the ladder with her. She held it up so she could see how they'd done. One or two of the beams were slightly crooked, but not so badly that it would keep them from climbing properly. "Now, how do we get it onto the tree?" she asked.

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brain_ninja
2009-03-01 09:20 pm UTC (link)

"Precisely," Andy replied, pointing at her for emphasis at her observation that people might have hidden bits of themselves that they weren't necessarily intent to share.

When Illyana called him a genius for the second time, he laughed harder. "You better cut it out before I start believing you and get a big head about it," he joked. She suggested basket weave and he perked up a bit, thinking maybe that was an even better idea, but she pointed out that they couldn't do it with wood. "Well...what do you think we could do it with? I mean it's not like we're at a loss for material, ya know? How hard can it be? If we really wanted to be meticulous, we could always do both..." he suggested with a shrug.

Andy stood when Illyana did and brushed his hands over his backside reflexively. He looked over the ladder, too, as she held it up. "Hey, man, not too shabby!" he said, impressed with both Illyana and himself. He grinned. "Ahh...getting up the tree...shit, I haven't climbed a tree in like fifteen years or something..." he murmured. "I can give it a try though. Or, I can give you a boost and you can try? You're smaller, so if you fall, I can definitely catch you...not so sure how it'd work the other way around, though..."

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-03-03 01:24 pm UTC (link)

"I get it!" Illyana laughed when Andy pointed at her. She held up her hands for a moment in surrender.

"If you can call me pretty, I can call you a genius," Illyana replied, grinning. "Calling it like I see it." She listened to his idea of doing both. "I was thinking of that exact idea," she said. "Are you sure you can't read minds as well as give suggestions with them?" She could tease, she felt, because she knew Andy wouldn't do anything of the sort, and because even if he would, it couldn't affect her. The Professor couldn't crack her brain, and neither could that bitch in the Hellfire Club, and they were the strongest telepaths in the world.

She walked over to the tree, dragging the ladder with her. There was a branch that would be perfect for the ladder, extending temptingly above both of their heads. Andy was right; someone would have to climb. And it made more sense for that person to be her. "Give me a hand up," she said. She slung the ladder over her shoulders, draping it sort of like a scarf, and waited. She hoped she hadn't gone too soft in her balancing skills since ending up on this crazy Planet. But if she could stand on his shoulders, she was pretty sure she could reach the branch and haul herself up, where she could tie the ladder on more securely.

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brain_ninja
2009-03-04 03:56 am UTC (link)

Andy joined in on Illyana's laughter when she held her hands up as if to surrender and shook his head at the next comment.

"Well, then...you need to get out more," he joked. He wasn't a stupid man, by any means, but genius was a hell of a stretch as far as he was concerned. "Pretty sure," he added in response to her question on whether he could also read minds. He smirked then. "Although, I've come to find if you think something at me, I can usually tell what it is. That's kind of a new thing, so it's not always clear," he went on.

When she headed toward the tree with the ladder dragging behind her, Andy followed and looked up again, trying to judge just how she'd manage it; getting up there, even if he did give her a boost. She'd probably have to stand on his shoulders. His eyes moved back to her and he sized her up. He was kind of a small guy and he knew it; not exactly a Strongest Man contender, that was for sure. But, Illyana didn't look like she'd weigh too much.

It was for the greater good, he decided. He could take one for the team. Plus, he didn't really like the idea of her thinking he was a total wimp.

So, he crouched down in front of the tree and put both hands on it to brace himself. "Hop on up," he said, moving one of his hands to pat his shoulder before replacing it against the bark. Hopefully, she'd follow the suggestion rather than standing on his back. That'd...kinda fuckin' hurt, he thought, and wouldn't be anywhere near as productive.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-03-05 05:51 pm UTC (link)

Illyana regarded him carefully for a moment. "Can you read my mind?" she asked, in all seriousness. "Not have you, but are you capable? At home, my Professor is a telepath, the strongest in the world. And he can't read my mind. Neither can one of our enemies, who's probably the second strongest telepath in the world. But I don't know how the power works on different worlds, or in different times." She shrugged. "Maybe when we're not about to scale a tree, you can try and see if you can? Just so I know."

When Andy crouched down against the tree, she got the idea pretty quickly. She reached up, using the tree as support as much as she could, and stepped as carefully as she could onto his shoulders. "If you stand up very slowly, I think I can reach the branch," she said. "I'm not hurting you, am I?" This was one time she definitely wished Piotr was around. He could just lift her up to the branch with one hand, were he here.

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brain_ninja
2009-03-05 06:17 pm UTC (link)

Andy looked back up at her, confused. "No..." he said slowly. But then she didn't seem to be accusing, so he shrugged. "I can't do it on my own, no. If you purposefully send me a thought, I've found that I'm starting to be able to read that, but I can't just, like, dig in there and see what you're thinking, if that's what you mean," he replied. "I mean, if you want me to try, I could, but I'd kinda feel weird about that. Like I was violating some, like, unspoken rule, you know?" he asked awkwardly.

Well, that was true. But, he also sort of wasn't sure if he wanted to be able to read her mind. He really liked Illyana and while he got the idea that she liked him, too, and enjoyed spending time with him as much as he enjoyed being around her, he'd hate to find out the opposite if that was the case. Andy wanted friends; not a surprise pity party held in his honor. It was better if he just went by what they showed him, he thought. Especially because if he taught himself to read her mind, who was to say that would stop him from moving on to do it to Sam? George? Anybody? Nah, that whole line of thought just made Andy uncomfortable, so he pushed it away.

He winced a little when Illyana's full weight was on his shoulders, but he nodded. "I'm good. You're fine, pretty girl, no worries," he assured her and started to stand very slowly, legs shaking beneath him from the awkwardness of the slow ascent. When he was completely upright, Andy held tightly to the tree so that when she moved, he wouldn't get knocked off balance and fall out from under her. Or worse, so that he wouldn't fall and leave himself open for her to fall on him. That'd definitely suck for them both.

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