Vance and Illyana | Backdated to 6/13
Jun. 13th, 2018 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainA lesson in shoplifting turns into an unexpected journey through time and space - one which doesn't escape notice.
"It's all about not looking like you're up to anything," Illyana explained quietly (but not in a whisper, which would draw more attention) as she picked up a candy bar, pretended to read the ingredients list, then wrinkled her nose and set it down. She still wasn't anywhere near as good at pick pocketing as Pyro or Mort, but even Pietro had to admit she could shoplift with the best of them. She rested her hand on the candy display as she turned towards him and smiled. "People mostly see what they expect to see, and right now, they're seeing a couple of nice, clean-cut teenagers flirting by the candy. No reason to expect we're up to anything, right?" Grinning impishly, she reached up to tap his nose - and at the same time, palmed a candy bar and pushed it up the sleeve of her hoodie.
Piece of cake.
"Your turn."
"Why, uh.....why're we doing this, again?" Vance asked nervously. He knew there'd been a reason, but faced with actually committing the act, he wasn't sure he could go through with it.
"Because we were hungry and Freddie cleaned out the cabinets?" Illyana reminded him. "I thought you wanted to learn. If you don't, I can just transport the whole thing to Limbo." Except it was kind of close to the base to be doing that. Mostly, she did her shopping runs out of state.
Vance almost asked what had happened to the money he and Wanda had taken out of the ATM, but that both seemed like a bad kind of thing to discuss in public and like splitting hairs since it was basically stolen too. It just felt less like stealing, somehow? Or something. He couldn't have quite explained why. So instead he just nodded, albeit uncomfortably. "Right, uh...right." He picked up a Reese's Cups package and pretended to examine it.
"Does it have tree nuts?" Yana asked for the benefit of a store employee who seemed to be paying at least a little attention to what they were doing. "Because I left my epi-pen at home." The guy wandered off, having apparently lost interest.
"I think so," He murmured. Vance pretended to sneeze and inartfully shoved the candy into his sweatshirt sleeve. Okay, maybe not the most impressive thing anyone had ever done, but he wasn't being put in handcuffs yet.
"Damn." Illyana pouted, then glanced past Vance to where the employee who'd been watching them was now talking with someone in a white dress shirt. Damn. "Just forget it, then," she told him, jerking her eyes past him so he'd get the idea (but hopefully not look). "We should get going anyway."
"Yeah," Vance said, his voice more defeated than he felt; he had practice making that voice, so it wasn't hard to all up. In reality, though, he was on high alert, his nerves sparking, he felt like he might get jumped and arrested at an minute. And he was stealing, so he couldn't really complain about it, considering. "We're gonna be late."
"And then we'll never hear the end of it." Illyana wrapped her arm around his waist and started towards the doors, but they hadn't taken more than a half dozen steps before she heard someone call out, "Excuse me. Would you please step over to the desk?"
"Run," she instructed. Dropping her arm, she grabbed for his hand and took her own advice, heading for door. If they could just get out of sight, she could call up a disk and they were home free.
With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Vance did as she instructed and booked it. This was definitely not working out in any way, shape, or form.
Illyana was vaguelly aware that both the manager and the other guy had decided to chase them (honestly, over two candy bars? What was their problem, anyway?) but slammed through the exit door and into the parking lot. "Around the side," she instructed Vance as she turned left and headed that way. If worse came to worse, she could summon a stepping disk right in front of whoever - but Pietro'd cautioned her against using her powers blatantly, at least in the immediate vicinity of the base, and they were only a mile or so away.
Vance did, dashing left and hoping beyond hope that this wasn't going to result in their pictures on a wall somewhere as thieves or an arrest warrant or anything. This was why you didn't steal. Well, this and the fact it was illegal and wrong and stuff. "They're fast," he huffed out as they ran.
Rounding the corner, Illyana was already summoning a stepping disk, tugging Vance in closer so he wouldn't get splinced. "We're faster," she promised, and they disappeared just as the pair turned the corner, witnessing only the flash of light as they disappeared.
They reappeared in Limbo near where the acid lake had been, though it was now empty of acid and best resembled a giant quarry. "That was fun! Illyana exclaimed as she swung his hand once, then dropped it and grinned up at him. "Did you see the look on that guy's face when we took off? I thought the vein in his head was going to burst."
"I don't know if I'd go with fun," Vance admitted as he caught his breath and looked around. He was more likely to go with, 'terrifying' or 'upsetting', personally. But he was glad Illyana had had fun? "I didn't see it, though. He was mad, huh?"
"Ooooh yeah. But whatever. I mean, it's a couple of candy bars - he's acting way out of proportion. I wonder if Mort goes in there a lot?" She watched Vance look around, then offered a crooked grin. "I forgot - first time here, huh?" The landscape, barring the huge former-acid lake, was barren, with only the occasional scraggly plantlife adding a hint of green to the gray and brown. Not too far away, she could see one of the Douglas-like lizards scuttling along, heading for cover; further off, one of the larger demons lurked along side a bush, largely blending in against it, chameleon-like.
Vance nodded, standing to take in his surroundings. It was large, cavernous kind of, and he could hear scuttling echoing off something. "First time," he said. "So this is Limbo?"
"Part of it." Yana looked around and shrugged. "Not much to see here, unfortunately. It's still kind of reorganizing itself."
"It's....reorganizing itself?" That was like something out of science-fiction! Vance peered around with even more curiosity than he had a moment ago. "So it can, like...reshape itself? Like a shape-shifter?"
"No?" Illyana's face screwed up as she considered what he'd asked. "I mean, it reshapes itself, but....not that fast?" She gestured towards the quarry. "A couple of months ago, that was a lake full of acid, because Belasco - he ruled here until I killed him - wanted a lake full of acid. Or maybe he didn't, and Limbo just thought it was something he'd like - which it was." She shrugged. "I wasn't a fan - I nearly fell in it once as a kid, and I saw a couple of animals that did, and...yeah. Ewww. So, after I took over? The lake started changing. And now it's empty. A couple of months from now, maybe it'll be full of water. Or poison. Or something else."
"Okay," Vance said thoughtfully. So it attached itself to a person? An emotion? And it responded. "That's...kinda crazy. What do you think will end up there?"
"Not a clue," Illyana admitted. "I'm not sure how to reshape things intentionally. I'm just kinda waiting to see what it does to itself."
"Hoping for anything in particular?" Vance asked. He kicked at a pebble on the ground, just to see what would happen. Would it act like regular pebbles? Was it secretly a tiny demon bug? Would it fly? He legitimately had no idea, here in Limbo.
"Something a little less demonic?" Illyana shrugged and offered a crooked smile. "Realistically, its not going to turn into paradise, but I'll settle for something a little less harsh than what I grew up with." The pebble he'd kicked just barely bumped one of the low, grayish-green plants - the leaves of which immediately snapped open, revealing sharp, jagged teeth that swooped in and scooped up the invading stone.
Of all the possibilities he'd tossed around in his brain, that had not been one of them. Vance jumped a bit. "Whoa." He watched the plant-animal-thing with curiosity. "Grew up with?" He asked.
"Pretty much." Illyana shrugged and grinned a little. "There are worse places." She pulled her candy bar out of her sleeve, ripped the wrapper open, and tossed a bit of it to the plant, which swooped in and gobbled it down. "Yay for recycling?"
"See, now that's awesome," Vance decided, grinning back at her.
"Limbo's got its upsides. Not many people realize that." She shrugged, her smile tilting. "Granted, it's still dangerous, and if I weren't here the demons would probably be trying to have you for lunch? But there are still good points. It was awesome when I had classes - I could come here, do all my homework, take a nap, and be back before I left."
Vance looked around again, the expression on his face oddly impressed. "So wait, the demons....what, respect your authority? Like you?"
Illyana blinked. "I...killed the previous ruler of Limbo. It's mine, now. So are the demons."
"I...did not know it worked like that. Or honestly anything, really, about how any of it works," Vance admitted, shrugging a little.
"Oh. Sorry." Illyana smiled faintly. "I forget who knows what at this point. Anyway, yeah. Limbo's mine. Such as it is. And most of the demons acknowledge it."
Vance looked both intrigued and mildly alarmed at this prospect. "So you're, like, queen?" He interpreted
"Oh yeah, I'm going to go out and get myself a tiara." Illyana rolled her eyes and grinned at the mental image. "Anyway, there's nothing to really rule over except demons. It's not that exciting."
He looked thoughtful. "What kind of tiara would you wear to rule Limbo anyway?" Honestly, Vance thought it had more of a 'spiky helmet vibe. He kept that to himself, though; he wasn't sure if it would upset her.
"Not a clue. Something that wouldn't get bumped out of place by the horns?" Illyana waved it aside. "Maybe better off just skipping it. I'm not sure I'm the tiara type, anyway."
Vance chuckled. "Don't blame you. I don't think I am, either," he said, grinning.
"I don't know," Illyana said. She walked around Vance as if analyzing the possibilities. "Could be a good look for you." She smirked. "If you want to try it, I'm sure I can come up with something."
"I appreciate the offer, but I think I'm good," Vance assured her. She was pretty, and funny, made sense she'd caught Pyro's eye. He was glad, for Pyro's sake and probably Illyana's (he didn't know her super well, admittedly) that she'd joined the Brotherhood. "Think we'll ever be allowed in that store again, or are they gonna put our pictures up or something?"
"If they got our pictures, they're going up on a wall." Illyana shrugged, accepting the inevitable. "I mean, that's assuming they can figure out how to print them, which I'm thinking is a big if? But whatever, I do most of the shopping out of state anyway. It's easier to not get spotted that way."
Dang, that sucked. But they couldn't go back in time and change things now, and if they'd been banned Vance had to admit they deserved it. He understood why they were trying to steal, but he still knew it was wrong and couldn't really be upset or angry that the store had been mad at them. "Ah well. Guess I should've figured, and it's not like we can go back and change it now."
Illyana was on the brink of agreeing when she paused. "I've never actually tried it," she admitted, more to herself than to Vance. "I mean, I tried it here in Limbo? But time in Limbo isn't exactly linear to begin with." She grinned. "Want to experiment?"
Vance's eyebrows shot up. "By...going back in time?"
"Why not? We go back, we stop ourselves from getting the candy - or better yet, from going in the store at all - and wham! No more pictures on the wall." Yana shrugged. "Either it'll work or it won't, right? No downside."
Vance looked a little unsure, but also intrigued. "You sure?"
"Sure!" Illyana lied. She gestured for Vance to move in closer. "We just go back and tell ourselves it's a bad idea. Just like in Bill and Ted." Because yes, she'd been watching dumb old movies that involved time travel. Most of them were mock-worthy, but a few hadn't sucked.
Besides, Keanu Reeves might've had stupid hair, but he was still pretty hot.
He stepped in towards her. "I've never seen the movie, but I will take your word on it," he said gamely.
"You've never seen Bill andTed?" Illyana gaped. Normally, she was the one who had to admit not having seen the movies in the Brotherhood bootleg collection. "We seriously need to fix that." She called up a stepping disk, and focused in on the store they'd been chased out of, just...somewhat earlier.
The place they materiaized was definitely not the store's back parking lot. "Umm yeah. Possibly a wrong turn somewhere," Illyana observed as she looked around at the forest they'd materialized in. It looked old - really old. Like a National Park, maybe, not one of the neighborhood ones. "Do you see any buildings?" she asked, feeling unaccountably drained.
He shook his head 'no,' even as he spun around, taking in there not-remotely-the-convenience-store surroundings. "Just lots of trees," Vance said. "Tall ones."
"Great. Wonderful." Illyana sighed as she looked around. Trees. Couldn't they at least have ended up somewhere interesting? "Give me a few minutes and we'll give it another try?"
"Sure. Is it tiring?" He asked. Heck knew his could be, when he pushed himself.
"Sometimes? As far as I can tell, it depends on how hard it is to locate a stepping disk going where I want it to." She made a face and gestured around them. "And as you can see? That doesn't always happen. I wonder how far we're thrown off?" With a slight pang at the thought of her old roommate, Illyana pulled out her phone and checked the app that Kitty'd set up to poll satellite systems for the current time and date of wherever she was, and frowned. "Damn. We definitely went back further than I've been. There's no signal."
"How far back?" Vance asked, a prickle of fear arising for the first time. "Like, dinosaurs?"
"Pretty sure I'd be unconscious if we went that far back," Illyana assured him. "Besides, I maybe sucked at history, but I'm pretty sure there were at least a few years between dinosaurs and the invention of the World Clock."
"Probably," Vance admitted, though he honestly couldn't be sure. He wasn't exactly a historian. "That's good. I'd really hate to be lunch or something."
Illyana swatted a mosquito that had landed on her arm and made a face. "If we stay here, we might be. Wanta try this again?"
Vance gave her two thumbs up. "I'm ready," he said, either truly confident or faking it admirably.
Illyana called up another stepping disk to return them to Limbo, then tried again.
She stumbled, a little, as the stepping disk opened, and wrapped her arms around herself instinctively. Cold. It was definitely colder than it had been, and the sky was a cold, leaden shade of gray. Tall, blocky buildings loomed around them, a startling contrast to the huge trees that had been there before, and people hurried about their business.
Or...most did, anyway.
Halt! a voice shouted in Russian, and she spun dizzily to see a soldier aiming a rifle at them. Unfortunately, when she tried to call a stepping disk, nothing responded.
Vance threw up a telekinetic barrier instinctively at the sight of the gun. Which was probably all for the best, since it seemed like Yana might be tapped out. "You alright?" He asked.
"Really not," Illyana admitted. She looked at the soldier and raised her hands over her head. We're halted, she assured him. Just leave us alone, and we'll be out of here in a minute. Or five. Ten, tops. She hoped.
You will accompany me to the Comdiv, he insisted.
"How's it going?" Vance murmured. The guy's tone of voice and posture really weren't promising, but maybe he was just misreading Russian social cues? Probably not, but a guy could hope, right?
"He wants to take us to see his boss or something," Illyana translated. I don't think the Comdiv wants to see us, she replied. She focused, and made her eyes glow red.
Demons! the soldier exclaimed. He aimed the gun directly at her and pulled the trigger.
Vance pushed outward on his field, strengthening it so that the bullet wouldn't find it's way through. "What the heck? Why's he trying to kill us if he wants to bring us in?" He asked.
"He changed his mind. Apparently, demons don't get taken to see the boss." She made a face. "I was hoping he'd run." The soldier shouted something - she didn't catch what - and a half dozen more soldiers appeared, running towards them. "Okay. Time for a quick exit. Warning, though - I'm probably going to pass out on the other end," she cautioned. "Just put up a shield and hang out."
He looked at her, concerned. "Pass out? And hang out where?"
"Back in Limbo." She bit at her lip and called up a stepping disk. Hopefully they'd end up back at the castle, in the present, and after that? She was giving up on trying to change what had happened at the store. Apparently, it wasn't any more possible than she'd thought.
**** Meanwhile ****
In the castle library, a cavernous, dim room filled with the looming shadows of rank upon rank of black bookshelves, N'astirh, demon sorcerer and custodian of that place of mystic knowledge, was deeply invested in his study of the skin-bound tome before him. His vaguely-equine muzzle curled back to reveal a multitude of curved fangs as the still air of the deathly castle was disturbed by the stepping disks of the new Mistress of Limbo, the Darkchylde. The unholy green fire which lit the archfiend's eyes rose from the runes he had previously been contemplating to the figure of his Mistress, drained far beyond what she ought to have allowed, and another of her endless passengers.
The old Master would never have permitted this, for Limbo to become a playground for children. The castle stank of them, lately, for all the Darkchylde's visits were intermittent, at best. She gave no thought to her responsibilities as Mistress, instead using the Nexus of Realities as a convenience, and all but ignoring entirely the demonic legions she'd inherited from Belasco. It was deeply displeasing, this disruption of the usual order. Yet her lack of interest also afforded possibilities that would have been unthinkable under the old Master's rule.
Huffing a tendril of smoke from his scaled nostrils, N'astirh returned to his research.
"It's all about not looking like you're up to anything," Illyana explained quietly (but not in a whisper, which would draw more attention) as she picked up a candy bar, pretended to read the ingredients list, then wrinkled her nose and set it down. She still wasn't anywhere near as good at pick pocketing as Pyro or Mort, but even Pietro had to admit she could shoplift with the best of them. She rested her hand on the candy display as she turned towards him and smiled. "People mostly see what they expect to see, and right now, they're seeing a couple of nice, clean-cut teenagers flirting by the candy. No reason to expect we're up to anything, right?" Grinning impishly, she reached up to tap his nose - and at the same time, palmed a candy bar and pushed it up the sleeve of her hoodie.
Piece of cake.
"Your turn."
"Why, uh.....why're we doing this, again?" Vance asked nervously. He knew there'd been a reason, but faced with actually committing the act, he wasn't sure he could go through with it.
"Because we were hungry and Freddie cleaned out the cabinets?" Illyana reminded him. "I thought you wanted to learn. If you don't, I can just transport the whole thing to Limbo." Except it was kind of close to the base to be doing that. Mostly, she did her shopping runs out of state.
Vance almost asked what had happened to the money he and Wanda had taken out of the ATM, but that both seemed like a bad kind of thing to discuss in public and like splitting hairs since it was basically stolen too. It just felt less like stealing, somehow? Or something. He couldn't have quite explained why. So instead he just nodded, albeit uncomfortably. "Right, uh...right." He picked up a Reese's Cups package and pretended to examine it.
"Does it have tree nuts?" Yana asked for the benefit of a store employee who seemed to be paying at least a little attention to what they were doing. "Because I left my epi-pen at home." The guy wandered off, having apparently lost interest.
"I think so," He murmured. Vance pretended to sneeze and inartfully shoved the candy into his sweatshirt sleeve. Okay, maybe not the most impressive thing anyone had ever done, but he wasn't being put in handcuffs yet.
"Damn." Illyana pouted, then glanced past Vance to where the employee who'd been watching them was now talking with someone in a white dress shirt. Damn. "Just forget it, then," she told him, jerking her eyes past him so he'd get the idea (but hopefully not look). "We should get going anyway."
"Yeah," Vance said, his voice more defeated than he felt; he had practice making that voice, so it wasn't hard to all up. In reality, though, he was on high alert, his nerves sparking, he felt like he might get jumped and arrested at an minute. And he was stealing, so he couldn't really complain about it, considering. "We're gonna be late."
"And then we'll never hear the end of it." Illyana wrapped her arm around his waist and started towards the doors, but they hadn't taken more than a half dozen steps before she heard someone call out, "Excuse me. Would you please step over to the desk?"
"Run," she instructed. Dropping her arm, she grabbed for his hand and took her own advice, heading for door. If they could just get out of sight, she could call up a disk and they were home free.
With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Vance did as she instructed and booked it. This was definitely not working out in any way, shape, or form.
Illyana was vaguelly aware that both the manager and the other guy had decided to chase them (honestly, over two candy bars? What was their problem, anyway?) but slammed through the exit door and into the parking lot. "Around the side," she instructed Vance as she turned left and headed that way. If worse came to worse, she could summon a stepping disk right in front of whoever - but Pietro'd cautioned her against using her powers blatantly, at least in the immediate vicinity of the base, and they were only a mile or so away.
Vance did, dashing left and hoping beyond hope that this wasn't going to result in their pictures on a wall somewhere as thieves or an arrest warrant or anything. This was why you didn't steal. Well, this and the fact it was illegal and wrong and stuff. "They're fast," he huffed out as they ran.
Rounding the corner, Illyana was already summoning a stepping disk, tugging Vance in closer so he wouldn't get splinced. "We're faster," she promised, and they disappeared just as the pair turned the corner, witnessing only the flash of light as they disappeared.
They reappeared in Limbo near where the acid lake had been, though it was now empty of acid and best resembled a giant quarry. "That was fun! Illyana exclaimed as she swung his hand once, then dropped it and grinned up at him. "Did you see the look on that guy's face when we took off? I thought the vein in his head was going to burst."
"I don't know if I'd go with fun," Vance admitted as he caught his breath and looked around. He was more likely to go with, 'terrifying' or 'upsetting', personally. But he was glad Illyana had had fun? "I didn't see it, though. He was mad, huh?"
"Ooooh yeah. But whatever. I mean, it's a couple of candy bars - he's acting way out of proportion. I wonder if Mort goes in there a lot?" She watched Vance look around, then offered a crooked grin. "I forgot - first time here, huh?" The landscape, barring the huge former-acid lake, was barren, with only the occasional scraggly plantlife adding a hint of green to the gray and brown. Not too far away, she could see one of the Douglas-like lizards scuttling along, heading for cover; further off, one of the larger demons lurked along side a bush, largely blending in against it, chameleon-like.
Vance nodded, standing to take in his surroundings. It was large, cavernous kind of, and he could hear scuttling echoing off something. "First time," he said. "So this is Limbo?"
"Part of it." Yana looked around and shrugged. "Not much to see here, unfortunately. It's still kind of reorganizing itself."
"It's....reorganizing itself?" That was like something out of science-fiction! Vance peered around with even more curiosity than he had a moment ago. "So it can, like...reshape itself? Like a shape-shifter?"
"No?" Illyana's face screwed up as she considered what he'd asked. "I mean, it reshapes itself, but....not that fast?" She gestured towards the quarry. "A couple of months ago, that was a lake full of acid, because Belasco - he ruled here until I killed him - wanted a lake full of acid. Or maybe he didn't, and Limbo just thought it was something he'd like - which it was." She shrugged. "I wasn't a fan - I nearly fell in it once as a kid, and I saw a couple of animals that did, and...yeah. Ewww. So, after I took over? The lake started changing. And now it's empty. A couple of months from now, maybe it'll be full of water. Or poison. Or something else."
"Okay," Vance said thoughtfully. So it attached itself to a person? An emotion? And it responded. "That's...kinda crazy. What do you think will end up there?"
"Not a clue," Illyana admitted. "I'm not sure how to reshape things intentionally. I'm just kinda waiting to see what it does to itself."
"Hoping for anything in particular?" Vance asked. He kicked at a pebble on the ground, just to see what would happen. Would it act like regular pebbles? Was it secretly a tiny demon bug? Would it fly? He legitimately had no idea, here in Limbo.
"Something a little less demonic?" Illyana shrugged and offered a crooked smile. "Realistically, its not going to turn into paradise, but I'll settle for something a little less harsh than what I grew up with." The pebble he'd kicked just barely bumped one of the low, grayish-green plants - the leaves of which immediately snapped open, revealing sharp, jagged teeth that swooped in and scooped up the invading stone.
Of all the possibilities he'd tossed around in his brain, that had not been one of them. Vance jumped a bit. "Whoa." He watched the plant-animal-thing with curiosity. "Grew up with?" He asked.
"Pretty much." Illyana shrugged and grinned a little. "There are worse places." She pulled her candy bar out of her sleeve, ripped the wrapper open, and tossed a bit of it to the plant, which swooped in and gobbled it down. "Yay for recycling?"
"See, now that's awesome," Vance decided, grinning back at her.
"Limbo's got its upsides. Not many people realize that." She shrugged, her smile tilting. "Granted, it's still dangerous, and if I weren't here the demons would probably be trying to have you for lunch? But there are still good points. It was awesome when I had classes - I could come here, do all my homework, take a nap, and be back before I left."
Vance looked around again, the expression on his face oddly impressed. "So wait, the demons....what, respect your authority? Like you?"
Illyana blinked. "I...killed the previous ruler of Limbo. It's mine, now. So are the demons."
"I...did not know it worked like that. Or honestly anything, really, about how any of it works," Vance admitted, shrugging a little.
"Oh. Sorry." Illyana smiled faintly. "I forget who knows what at this point. Anyway, yeah. Limbo's mine. Such as it is. And most of the demons acknowledge it."
Vance looked both intrigued and mildly alarmed at this prospect. "So you're, like, queen?" He interpreted
"Oh yeah, I'm going to go out and get myself a tiara." Illyana rolled her eyes and grinned at the mental image. "Anyway, there's nothing to really rule over except demons. It's not that exciting."
He looked thoughtful. "What kind of tiara would you wear to rule Limbo anyway?" Honestly, Vance thought it had more of a 'spiky helmet vibe. He kept that to himself, though; he wasn't sure if it would upset her.
"Not a clue. Something that wouldn't get bumped out of place by the horns?" Illyana waved it aside. "Maybe better off just skipping it. I'm not sure I'm the tiara type, anyway."
Vance chuckled. "Don't blame you. I don't think I am, either," he said, grinning.
"I don't know," Illyana said. She walked around Vance as if analyzing the possibilities. "Could be a good look for you." She smirked. "If you want to try it, I'm sure I can come up with something."
"I appreciate the offer, but I think I'm good," Vance assured her. She was pretty, and funny, made sense she'd caught Pyro's eye. He was glad, for Pyro's sake and probably Illyana's (he didn't know her super well, admittedly) that she'd joined the Brotherhood. "Think we'll ever be allowed in that store again, or are they gonna put our pictures up or something?"
"If they got our pictures, they're going up on a wall." Illyana shrugged, accepting the inevitable. "I mean, that's assuming they can figure out how to print them, which I'm thinking is a big if? But whatever, I do most of the shopping out of state anyway. It's easier to not get spotted that way."
Dang, that sucked. But they couldn't go back in time and change things now, and if they'd been banned Vance had to admit they deserved it. He understood why they were trying to steal, but he still knew it was wrong and couldn't really be upset or angry that the store had been mad at them. "Ah well. Guess I should've figured, and it's not like we can go back and change it now."
Illyana was on the brink of agreeing when she paused. "I've never actually tried it," she admitted, more to herself than to Vance. "I mean, I tried it here in Limbo? But time in Limbo isn't exactly linear to begin with." She grinned. "Want to experiment?"
Vance's eyebrows shot up. "By...going back in time?"
"Why not? We go back, we stop ourselves from getting the candy - or better yet, from going in the store at all - and wham! No more pictures on the wall." Yana shrugged. "Either it'll work or it won't, right? No downside."
Vance looked a little unsure, but also intrigued. "You sure?"
"Sure!" Illyana lied. She gestured for Vance to move in closer. "We just go back and tell ourselves it's a bad idea. Just like in Bill and Ted." Because yes, she'd been watching dumb old movies that involved time travel. Most of them were mock-worthy, but a few hadn't sucked.
Besides, Keanu Reeves might've had stupid hair, but he was still pretty hot.
He stepped in towards her. "I've never seen the movie, but I will take your word on it," he said gamely.
"You've never seen Bill andTed?" Illyana gaped. Normally, she was the one who had to admit not having seen the movies in the Brotherhood bootleg collection. "We seriously need to fix that." She called up a stepping disk, and focused in on the store they'd been chased out of, just...somewhat earlier.
The place they materiaized was definitely not the store's back parking lot. "Umm yeah. Possibly a wrong turn somewhere," Illyana observed as she looked around at the forest they'd materialized in. It looked old - really old. Like a National Park, maybe, not one of the neighborhood ones. "Do you see any buildings?" she asked, feeling unaccountably drained.
He shook his head 'no,' even as he spun around, taking in there not-remotely-the-convenience-store surroundings. "Just lots of trees," Vance said. "Tall ones."
"Great. Wonderful." Illyana sighed as she looked around. Trees. Couldn't they at least have ended up somewhere interesting? "Give me a few minutes and we'll give it another try?"
"Sure. Is it tiring?" He asked. Heck knew his could be, when he pushed himself.
"Sometimes? As far as I can tell, it depends on how hard it is to locate a stepping disk going where I want it to." She made a face and gestured around them. "And as you can see? That doesn't always happen. I wonder how far we're thrown off?" With a slight pang at the thought of her old roommate, Illyana pulled out her phone and checked the app that Kitty'd set up to poll satellite systems for the current time and date of wherever she was, and frowned. "Damn. We definitely went back further than I've been. There's no signal."
"How far back?" Vance asked, a prickle of fear arising for the first time. "Like, dinosaurs?"
"Pretty sure I'd be unconscious if we went that far back," Illyana assured him. "Besides, I maybe sucked at history, but I'm pretty sure there were at least a few years between dinosaurs and the invention of the World Clock."
"Probably," Vance admitted, though he honestly couldn't be sure. He wasn't exactly a historian. "That's good. I'd really hate to be lunch or something."
Illyana swatted a mosquito that had landed on her arm and made a face. "If we stay here, we might be. Wanta try this again?"
Vance gave her two thumbs up. "I'm ready," he said, either truly confident or faking it admirably.
Illyana called up another stepping disk to return them to Limbo, then tried again.
She stumbled, a little, as the stepping disk opened, and wrapped her arms around herself instinctively. Cold. It was definitely colder than it had been, and the sky was a cold, leaden shade of gray. Tall, blocky buildings loomed around them, a startling contrast to the huge trees that had been there before, and people hurried about their business.
Or...most did, anyway.
Halt! a voice shouted in Russian, and she spun dizzily to see a soldier aiming a rifle at them. Unfortunately, when she tried to call a stepping disk, nothing responded.
Vance threw up a telekinetic barrier instinctively at the sight of the gun. Which was probably all for the best, since it seemed like Yana might be tapped out. "You alright?" He asked.
"Really not," Illyana admitted. She looked at the soldier and raised her hands over her head. We're halted, she assured him. Just leave us alone, and we'll be out of here in a minute. Or five. Ten, tops. She hoped.
You will accompany me to the Comdiv, he insisted.
"How's it going?" Vance murmured. The guy's tone of voice and posture really weren't promising, but maybe he was just misreading Russian social cues? Probably not, but a guy could hope, right?
"He wants to take us to see his boss or something," Illyana translated. I don't think the Comdiv wants to see us, she replied. She focused, and made her eyes glow red.
Demons! the soldier exclaimed. He aimed the gun directly at her and pulled the trigger.
Vance pushed outward on his field, strengthening it so that the bullet wouldn't find it's way through. "What the heck? Why's he trying to kill us if he wants to bring us in?" He asked.
"He changed his mind. Apparently, demons don't get taken to see the boss." She made a face. "I was hoping he'd run." The soldier shouted something - she didn't catch what - and a half dozen more soldiers appeared, running towards them. "Okay. Time for a quick exit. Warning, though - I'm probably going to pass out on the other end," she cautioned. "Just put up a shield and hang out."
He looked at her, concerned. "Pass out? And hang out where?"
"Back in Limbo." She bit at her lip and called up a stepping disk. Hopefully they'd end up back at the castle, in the present, and after that? She was giving up on trying to change what had happened at the store. Apparently, it wasn't any more possible than she'd thought.
**** Meanwhile ****
In the castle library, a cavernous, dim room filled with the looming shadows of rank upon rank of black bookshelves, N'astirh, demon sorcerer and custodian of that place of mystic knowledge, was deeply invested in his study of the skin-bound tome before him. His vaguely-equine muzzle curled back to reveal a multitude of curved fangs as the still air of the deathly castle was disturbed by the stepping disks of the new Mistress of Limbo, the Darkchylde. The unholy green fire which lit the archfiend's eyes rose from the runes he had previously been contemplating to the figure of his Mistress, drained far beyond what she ought to have allowed, and another of her endless passengers.
The old Master would never have permitted this, for Limbo to become a playground for children. The castle stank of them, lately, for all the Darkchylde's visits were intermittent, at best. She gave no thought to her responsibilities as Mistress, instead using the Nexus of Realities as a convenience, and all but ignoring entirely the demonic legions she'd inherited from Belasco. It was deeply displeasing, this disruption of the usual order. Yet her lack of interest also afforded possibilities that would have been unthinkable under the old Master's rule.
Huffing a tendril of smoke from his scaled nostrils, N'astirh returned to his research.
