InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Tweak is my name. "

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.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

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.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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..."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -