InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "positive, life-affirming way."

Andy Gallagher is not the droid you're looking for (brain_ninja) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-07-18 01:33:00

Entry tags:

!complete, andy gallagher, day 16, illyana rasputin, location: carnival

Day Sixteen - Morning
Who: Andy Gallagher and OTA
What: Andy finds his van
Where: In the carnival
When: Day 16; 10am or so
Rating: PG-13 (language maybe)
Status: Complete

After the day he'd had yesterday, Andy slept like a log. His body was tired, his mind was tired, and he was completely and totally drained. He'd awoken that morning with Elliot in his arms and a mouthful of her hair - well, not really, but it was the principal of it; a stiff neck, an aching back, and something jabbing into his side as he rolled away from Elliot to stretch. With an angry, half-awake mutterance, he'd reached underneath himself and extracted the culprit before sitting up. It had felt like a set of keys...because it had been. His keys. Andy's face had fallen into that of a kicked puppy expression; they were messing with him again. Sighing, he'd tucked Elliot's hair behind her ear to get it out of her face and woke her just enough to let her know he was going to head up to the gas station to grab them breakfast and he'd be right back.

The hoodie he'd been wearing was slung over his shoulder as Andy headed up the road toward the carnival that he'd cut through to go the shorter way to the gas station. It was hot as hell, not that he was complaining. It just hadn't registered until he'd gotten out under the cloudless sky where the sun was shining brightly. So brightly, even, that he extracted from the pocket the aviators Sam had given him the morning they'd found the body hanging from the clock tower. Slipping them on, he made his way into the carnival, almost enjoying the feel of his car keys jabbing into his leg from inside his jeans pocket. Almost...because they were still only the keys and that was just mean, he thought.

Just as Andy came around from behind the tea cups ride to cross the street and nab some munchies, he stopped dead in his tracks. No fucking way! "Ohhh! Oh, baby!" he cooed loudly, making a break for it and all but slamming himself up against the warrior princess painted on the side of his van. "Oh shit, Maggie, I missed the hell out of you!"

For a few moments, Andy just stood there, leaned against the van, only barely refraining from actually kissing Maggie, Queen of the Polar Bears (as he'd dubbed her) painted on the side. Finally, realizing all over again that he had the keys, Andy pulled them out of his pocket and moved over, jamming them into the keyhole. Taking a deep breath and thinking to himself, Please God..., he turned the key. The lock popped up with a low thunk and Andy's eyes widened. "Are you serious?! Oh fuck yeah! YES!" he shouted, extracting the keys and pulling the door open, hopping in to settle into the driver's seat and putting the keys into the ignition to try his luck again.

The engine roared to life and Andy's lips parted as he let out a sigh of relief. "...I think I just came," he laughed to himself, running his hands lovingly over the steering wheel and dashboard. The radio was silent and Andy looked over at the display, confused. The current track was over and the two-second silence at the beginning of the next song was counting back. -0:02, -0:01, 0:00---

"Before you slip into unconsciousness,
I'd like to have another kiss.
Another flashing chance at bliss,
Another kiss, another kiss..."

"Shit, I missed you, Jim," Andy said quietly, leaning over the passenger seat and feeling around for his stash. Hell yeah, right where he left it. Suddenly, Andy's eyes grew wide and he threw the door open again, jumping back out and heading around to the back of the van to open that door. The disco ball still hung, the books and blankets and pillows were strewn haphazardly around on the mattress...and then his eyes fell on Moby Dick, still filled appropriately with water. "Nope. Now I just came," he said to himself, snatching up the massive bong and slamming the door shut behind himself again as he made his way back to the driver's seat.

The Doors blared from his speakers as Andy turned back the key to keep from wasting the half tank of gas he still had left in the tank. And Andy?

Smoke filled the van, pouring out the driver's side window he'd rolled down as the telltale sound of bubbles and suction in the base of the bong filled his ears. Shit, he had missed that more than he'd really realized until he heard it again. Between the first couple of hits, he'd scribbled a note in his journal. Fuck the church and fuck those pews. Andy was sleepin' right where he wanted to be. In his own bed, in his own home; in the back of the motherfucking van. Because, the way Andy figured it, he deserved to after yesterday. Hell yeah he did.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-08-05 02:06 am UTC (link)

Illyana laughed at Andy's outburst. "Not everyone was as lucky as me," she said, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder. "Kitty's mentor, Logan, he had to figure it all out himself. And he did okay with it. And the Professor didn't have a mentor when he was younger, from what I understand. He had to do it all on his own." She smiled. "That's part of why he made the school, so other mutants wouldn't have to go through what he did. And since the Professor's powers sound a lot like yours, I'm sure you'll be fine. He turned out okay, after all." She tried to imagine what it would be like to have to deal with her mutation all on her own. It probably wouldn't be pretty. She'd get frustrated, and end up in Limbo too often, and end up back in Belasco's thrall. Definitely not good.

"I could be your baby-sitter," Illyana laughed. It was messed up indeed. So much for looking him up when she got home, then. Although, then she could bring little Andy to the school and get him help with his powers, so maybe that'd be okay. "You'd make me watch all those cartoons with the fighting turtles or the skateboarding dinosaur, or something." She couldn't even imagine what Andy had looked like at age six. Probably a bit chubbier, with the same wide grin. And way shorter.

It bothered her, though, that he hadn't heard of either Xavier's or Frost's schools. What did that mean about the future, that both schools were missing? Closed? What happened to the mutants? Had everyone had to go deep underground, so that new mutants weren't being helped much at all? "There aren't giant robots hanging around in the future, are there? Red and purple robots that hunt people like us?" The thought that the Sentinels could have taken them all out was disturbing, and she shivered as she entertained it.

She smirked in reply at the compliment. "I'd like to think I can handle myself," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "And that I've got a pretty good eye for character. You didn't seem like one of the types of boys my brother was so concerned about." And just like that, her face fell. Thinking of Piotr, who probably would have said something about Andy - at least about his "little snowflake" climbing so readily into the back of Andy's van - brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes. "Crap," she muttered, wiping at them. "There goes my bad ass-ness, right?"

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brain_ninja
2009-08-10 12:30 am UTC (link)

Frowning slightly, Andy listened as Illyana went on to explain why the school existed and how there were some mutants, as she called them, who'd had to learn on their own like Andy had. "Okay, but..." he said slowly, brow furrowed, "if you're from the '80s, then how come the schools aren't still around?" he asked. That was weird, he thought. It really would've been nice to attend one, even if really, he'd have been way too old to be in school by the time he'd attained the mind thing.

Illyana's joke about being able to have been his babysitter made Andy laugh in spite of it. "That's...so not right," he replied with a smirk. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, fuck yeah; they were awesome back in the day!" Andy wasn't sure what she was talking about with skateboarding dinosaurs, but then he hadn't been allowed to watch an awful lot of TV in those days, so he'd gotten to pick a show or two that were his favorites and those were the only ones he'd been allowed to watch. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Thundercats had been it.

The question Illyana posed wiped the nostalgic smile right back off Andy's face. He shook his head. "Robots? Nah, babe, just in the movies," he replied. He thought, though, that it was interesting that she said the robots were after "people like them." Andy looked back at her pensively. "What do robots want with a bunch of freaks created by demons? That doesn't really make any sense, you know?" His brow furrowed as he looked back at her, studying her face. The more she talked, the more he wondered if there actually wasn't a "people like us" so much as he and Illyana had similar levels of fucked up going on inside them, but they weren't from the same ilk after all. Too many things didn't quite add up. He didn't remember that stuff from back when he was a kid, but then again would he have noticed? He'd have noticed purple and red robots, right?

His smile ghosted back over his lips for a moment when she said that she could handle herself. Andy had no doubt at all that she could. Then, a moment later, right after complimenting his character in a roundabout way, she was in tears again, complaining that her badassery had been compromised by them. Andy gave her a sympethetic look and put a casual arm around her shoulders. "Hey, it's okay. I won't tell," he teased gently, nudging her shoulder with his own and giving her a small smile. "D'you mind me asking what...?" his voice trailed off. God that was rude; asking her what was making her cry. He shook his head, then. She'd say if she wanted him to know; otherwise it was none of his damn business and he knew it.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-08-10 06:27 pm UTC (link)

Even without using his powers, Andy was a mind-reader, echoing her thoughts aloud. "I wish I knew," Illyana said. "Maybe they went underground, or something. Or they were attacked by people who hate mutants." Again, an image of Reverend Stryker flitted through her mind. She hadn't even developed her mutant powers when he'd attacked, and his people had very nearly killed her because of her friendship with Kitty and because she was Piotr's sister.

When Andy laughed about her being his baby-sitter, Illyana couldn't help but laugh too. It was ridiculous. It'd be sort of like what she'd gone through, only in reverse. Kitty had been baby-sitting her one day, and rooming with her, younger than her, the next. When she finally made it home and managed to look up her new friend, he'd have no idea who she was or what she was talking about. Completely messed up.

As he talked about the lack of Sentinels, Illyana frowned. How could he have never at least seen them in the news? Was the program junked in favor of something less intrusive into the lives of "normal" people? And then he said "freaks created by demons". So...did that mean he wasn't actually a mutant? Had Belasco started up again in her absence and gone after other innocents, giving them arcane powers in exchange for pieces of their souls? Or was it a different demon entirely? Whether mutant or "demon-created freak," Illyana certainly could sympathize with him. Thanks to Belasco, she was both, and her mutation had gotten messed up, bonded to Limbo in some twisted way which forced her to make a pit stop every time she wanted to teleport.

And now, Andy was acting like Piotr, which only made it worse. He was being all sympathetic and sweet, just like her brother would whenever she was upset. And he was sort-of asking what was wrong. She leaned into him, still wiping at her eyes. "I was thinking of my brother," she said, really hoping she didn't sound quite as teary as she thought she did. "My big brother Piotr. Right before I woke up here, something happened in Dallas. He and his team were trying to help; it was on the news and all. They ran inside this big building, and...." She trailed off, taking a deep breath and blinking hard to clear the tears. "It just blew. The whole building. Live TV, national coverage. I saw it at school when we got back...." She couldn't quite talk about the Ani-Mator and Doug on top of all that. "I tried to go to Dallas to see if I could help, but I couldn't. There was a barrier, like the one here. It's part of why I freaked out earlier. Just reminded me of what happened a few days ago."

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brain_ninja
2009-08-10 10:42 pm UTC (link)

Illyana's given reason for the possibility as to why the schools weren't still around in his time were less than satisfying to him. "Dude, why are you even announcing that you've got the powers? I keep that shit seriously on the down-low," he replied, brow furrowed in confusion. He couldn't understand why she - or anyone else, for that matter - would make it known who or what they were, when they were a freak. Of course there would be people who hated them; Sam and Dean had hated Andy until they'd found out it had been Webber causing all the destruction that whole time. It wasn't like he could blame them, really.

His frown only deeped and brow knit further when she said nothing of the fact that he hadn't seen any robots of any kind. Whatever that was about, he'd have to ask later, because the smaller blonde seemed upset and while girls and tears were one of the few combinations that could and did make Andy infinitely uncomfortable, he was good at covering that up in favor of trying to make them smile again. Laughter had always been Andy's line of defense and it was only reflexive for him to try and use it on others to help them feel better. Anything that would get a girl to stop crying, after all, was a very, very good thing in Andy's opinion.

So, when she leaned against him, he hugged her a little tighter and kept his mouth shut, letting her speak. His frown became sympathetic as she answered his only half-asked question. "Shit..." he breathed. He didn't know what else to say. What was he supposed to say to a girl who's big brother just died; who she'd watched die and hadn't been able to help? Andy had his own demons when it came to dead siblings, but Illyana didn't seem to be at fault. At least, she didn't paint the picture that way. She was clearly grieving still and the wound was still fresh and open. Andy was officially out of his league on this one, so, he rubbed her arm absently with one hand in hopes of offering some sort of silent comfort. "I'm sorry," he finally managed after a long pause. And then, after another short one, added, "my brother died, too. A few months ago." He chose not to explain how or why.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-08-11 07:01 pm UTC (link)

"We don't exactly go broadcasting it," Illyana said. "Most people just think we're a super-exclusive prep school. But people know about mutants, and lots of people are really uptight about it. There are all sorts of anti-mutant groups, some of them even sanctioned by the government." Which was funny, given that the government also had openly serving mutants on the payrolls. "If we've gotta go out and use our powers, we have code names and wear costumes so people can't ID us." It was stupid. The Fantastic Four could walk around using powers all day long, and everyone loved them. The New Mutants tried the same thing, and the pitchforks came out. Just because they were born with it, whereas the Fantastic Four had "an accident." Thanks, hypocritical society. Just, thanks. She knew exactly why Andy would kept knowledge of his powers to himself.

Illyana offered him a smile at his sympathy. "Thanks," she said, actually meaning it. She'd managed to pull herself more or less together during the long pause in conversation. When he mentioned his own brother, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a friendly hug in return. "I'm sorry," she said, echoing his statement. "That's a crappy thing to have in common, isn't it?" she said. Lame joke.

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brain_ninja
2009-08-12 09:35 pm UTC (link)

As Illyana explained that it wasn't that the freaks from her time had outed themselves, Andy listened, looking up at her and shifting himself into a more comfortable position. "Okay, but...how do the anti-mutant groups know you exist if you don't broadcast it? Why do they even know you're anything other than a regular, run of the mill girl?" he pressed, because it didn't make sense to him if people like her kept their powers to themselves--oh. They went out and used their powers.

"Well, scratch that, then. Why don't you just, you know...not?" he asked. After all, he had powers, sort of, and he only used them when he really wanted something he couldn't otherwise have. And...Sam had powers, but nobody would've known it if Sam hadn't told them. The same went, Andy supposed, for Ava and Lily, at least; their powers had been fairly easy to hide as long as they didn't tell - and, in Lily's case, so long as she didn't touch anyone.

"You're welcome," he replied offering her a small smile back. When she wrapped her arms around him to return his hug, Andy nodded slightly against her. "Yeah...crappy," he agreed quietly and awkwardly. In all honesty, he was glad that Webber was dead. Andy just didn't like the fact that Webber was dead because Andy had killed him. That was still a jagged pill to swallow.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-08-14 10:45 pm UTC (link)

"We're trying to help people," Illyana said in answer to Andy's question. He had a point, she supposed. If they didn't use their powers in public, they wouldn't get attacked. But, how many people would have suffered instead. "There are mutants who have no problem using their powers for horrible things, who try to hurt people with their powers." She shrugged. "We try to stop them. And not just mutants, but anyone who tries to hurt humanity." She paused a moment. "Well, we're not supposed to do all that stuff. We're still in school. Piotr and his friends, they were the ones doing most of that stuff. Called themselves the X-Men." She smiled, thinking of how proud she'd been of her big brother for helping so many people. Of course, it had gotten him killed in the end, but that didn't make what he'd done any less important.

"We were gonna take over, whether Magneto liked it or not," she continued. "In their memory. Someone's gotta try to protect the world, right? I mean, we know there are people out there who want to use their powers badly." She frowned as she thought of the White Queen and the Hellfire Club. "So, we've just got to. Even if it means...we might end up dead ourselves." Doug's face floated in front of her mind's eye, and she shook her head. She'd cried too much today. She was not going to do it again.

"Super crappy," she said, squeezing Andy. She read his awkwardness as sadness, maybe a bit of detachment. It's how she'd felt for the last few days, when she wasn't railing at the injustices of the world or plotting revenge on whoever had made the barrier around Dallas. "But, we keep going, right?" she said, as much for her own benefit as Andy's. "The world doesn't stop because of something bad happening. And moping won't get us out of this crazy place." Not that she was any good at problem-solving - that was usually Dani's forte - but dwelling would do neither of them any good, and she didn't like to be a bummer to a potential friend.

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brain_ninja
2009-08-18 02:10 am UTC (link)

Andy paused for a moment, pulling a face and then nodded his approval. Fair enough, if she was trying to help people, even if it did seem to get her into situations it sounded like she'd prefer to avoid. Andy had only used his power to help someone once before here - Andy figured here didn't count - and it had backfired on him, as well. Well, twice, but for all he knew, Dean had never gotten the pictures of Sam and the bell to try to find them. He hadn't shown up by the time Andy had passed out with his head on the table and then he'd awoken here to meet a Dean that didn't even know who he was. "You're a better woman than I am man, I s'pose, then," he finally said after a moment of silence. "All of you. I only ever tried to help somebody once and then she wouldn't even look at me ever again..." The fact that he'd been able to get into Tracy's head like that after whatever the hell Webber had made her do ahd scared her too much to trust him. If not for the fact that it had saved her life, Andy wouldn't have done it at all, but that didn't seem to matter to her. He'd have wished to take it back except he'd rather Tracy alive and afraid of him than dead for not having known he could do it.

"X-Men...I kinda like the sound of that, honestly. Beats 'mutants' or 'freaks,' I think. Kinda has a nice ring to it, too, honestly," Andy said thoughtfully, giving her a small smile. He listened to her speak and took it all in. Illyana sounded like one bad ass chick, not to mention the fact that, whether she realized it or not, she was making herself and her friends sound like some sort of super hero group. That was pretty damn cool in Andy's book.

A small, wan smile crossed Andy's face and he gave Illyana a gentle squeeze back. "We keep going," he agreed. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't easy, but it was the truth. It was, honestly, all they could do. Moping might not get them out, but Andy kept trying to tell himself that if he just kept on truckin', eventually they'd let him go. It seemed like too much to hope for, but it was something, and that kept him waking up every morning, so he was clinging to it.

Letting out a sigh, Andy gave Illyana another quick squeeze. "I just realized that you were probably on your way somewhere and I got you steered off course," he thought aloud, looking over at her. "Shit, I'm sorry. Where were you headed? I could give you a ride if you want," he offered. If she was headed to the gas station, he'd just walk her there, but if she wanted to go further across town, maybe he could shave some time off her commute, if she wanted.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-08-18 02:42 am UTC (link)

"There's lots of people that don't like the fact that we help them," Illyana said, trying to explain further. "My brother's friend Kurt's been attacked by mobs for helping people before. Granted, he's blue and fuzzy and has a tail, but still. And we get it too. Doesn't matter to us." She looked at Andy. "But that doesn't make us better. That's like saying you're better because you've got your driver's license and can give people rides and I can't yet." She shrugged, not sure she was explaining it properly. Not everyone should feel they had to be like the X-Men, even if they did have powers. There was nothing wrong with living your life like everyone else. She was jealous, in a way, of the fact that he seemed to do just that. It wasn't something she could do.

"It's a bit narcissistic," she said when he commented on the team name. "The X is for Professor Xavier, since he's the one that brought us all together." She smirked, then adopted a deep voice with an aristocratic air about it, pressing the fingers of her left hand to her temple, and stretching her right hand out, as if reaching for something. "To me, my X-Men," she intoned. But she couldn't hold a straight face and the impression was ruined by a burst of giggles.

When she was able to get hold of herself again, she shifted in her seat a little. "I was sort of exploring," she said. "I haven't seen much of the town yet, so I was trying to get a feel for how it's laid out."

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brain_ninja
2009-08-23 06:01 pm UTC (link)

It didn't really make sense to Andy why people wouldn't want Illyana and her friends to help, but then again, it didn't make sense to Andy why Tracy couldn't just see past the fact that he'd controlled her mind and consider the fact that he'd done it to save her life. A lot of things, really, didn't make sense to Andy, but he didn't really see any point in trying to make her explain even more when there was probably nothing more to explain. "Blue and fuzzy with a tail? That's kinda conspicuous, yeah," Andy replied with a small smirk he couldn't hide, even when he tried to. Her analogy, though, Andy felt was off. "Nah, that's two different things. You don't have a license, so it's not an even playing field. More accurately it'd be like saying I was better because I have the mind thing and I do something with my power that you don't with yours," he pointed out. "In either case, you're still the better person. You use your power to help people...I use mine to get out of paying bills and to force assholes to watch gay porn all hours of the day," he said with a shrug.

Andy's smile widened and he laughed along with her as she went on in a deeper voice, as if to mock herself along with her friends. He leaned back against the side of the van as she shifted. Illyana said she was exploring to get a feel for the layout of the land. He nodded his understanding. "If it's any help, this chick Cheryl made a map a few days into the first chunk of us waking up here. It's in the beginning of the journal if you flip way back. It's actually pretty damn accurate, so it might be of use while you explore, I'd think," he offered. Andy wasn't really in the mood to go with her so it took a little will power to bite back the reflexive urge to ask if she wanted company. If he was honest, he was ready to get back to Moby Dick and Jim Morrison, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-08-25 10:15 pm UTC (link)

"That's justice," Illyana said, referring to the comments about making assholes watch porn all day. "Society won't punish them for being jerks, so you get to do it. It's just a more local scale than what I do." She smirked. "And even if I could do that, I'd never get away with it. Magneto would have my hide." She could just see his face, red and trembling with barely controlled anger. It was enough to set her giggling again.

"A map? Awesome," she said, flipping through the new book. It was only a few pages in, and it looked pretty accurate to what she'd seen so far. "Thanks," she said, grinning at Andy. She stretched as best she could in a van, and leaned forward. "I'm gonna continue my explorations, if that's okay," she said, offering up her hand for him to shake. "I want to see what this prison has to offer. I'll see you later?" She wondered if he'd offer to walk with her. Part of her, if she was honest, sort of wanted to be by herself, so she could make sure she had herself under control again before she ran into anyone else. The last thing she needed was to freak out at something and have her fellow inmates find out about her horns and tail and lack of soul.

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brain_ninja
2009-08-25 10:59 pm UTC (link)

"Justice," he repeated more than asked with a snort of amusement. "Yeah, okay, maybe..." he agreed reluctantly. Maybe watching gay porn was a fair punishment for being a dick. He could've done worse, but he hadn't. Getting to laugh at the look on the guy's face had been plenty good enough for Andy. He didn't want to think about what he'd have done had he been more like Webber, so he simply didn't think about it. "Guess that's one advantage of learning my shit by myself; nobody to tell me no," he added. Though, again, if they'd had someone to teach them, maybe Webber wouldn't have been so fucked up and focused on killing people just because they'd separated he and Andy at birth or because he'd seen them as a threat to his awkward, barely-there relationship with Andy.

With a nod, Andy smiled. "Yeah, she asked around for help and stuff, and I think that Shannon girl who writes on practically every other page helped her put it together; corrected what was wrong and what not - you can kinda see the changes if you look hard enough. So yeah it's pretty accurate, definitely," he replied. "And no problem. Just spread the word and pay it forward," he added with a small smile.

He gave a bit of a bitter laugh when she said she wanted to see what the prison had to offer and he reached out to take her hand, giving it a firm shake. "Not much, I can assure you, but have a blast. I'll definitely see you 'round. This is where I'll be. If the van moves, I'm movin' with it, is all," he explained. "Plus," he said, tapping one finger on her book. "You know where to find me otherwise if you need anything or just wanna hang out with a fellow freak of nature," he offered.

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

Illyana squinted at the page with the map and sure enough, she could see faint marks where lines had been previously. She nodded, satisfied that the map was at least as accurate as she was likely to get in this place. She tucked her book into her pocket as she shook Andy's hand, grinning at him.

"It's good to meet you, really," she said. "If I've gotta be stuck here, at least there's someone here who understands certain things as well." She slid out of the van, then turned back to Andy. "And I'll definitely come and hang out again. Thank you." Not just for the offer of friendship, but for not freaking out at the panic attack of half an hour earlier. With a wave and a smirk, Illyana turned back toward the town. There were some buildings on the map that she hadn't seen at the other end of the town....

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brain_ninja
2009-09-02 09:25 pm UTC (link)

Taking Illyana's hand and shaking it firmly, Andy nodded and smiled. "Good to meet you too, peaches," he replied. "Really. I'm totally with you on that," he said, immediately thinking of Sam and the way it felt knowing that there was another someone just like him here who understood what it was like to be a freak. Now, it seemed, there would be two people who understood. One was good, but two would be better.

He watched as she slid out of the van and turned back to him, telling him that she'd come back and hang out. He smiled again and nodded. "Awesome. You know where to find me," he replied. He waved back at her in return and then she turned to walk away and Andy waited until she was out of sight before climbing out of the back of the van himself, moving back to the front seat, and lighting up the bong again. Finally, something better than a joint. This day was going to be awesome.

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