Felix and Illyana | Backdated to Halloween

[ax_magik]

Felix and Illyana put on a show for the crowds at the Genoshan Street Party. It's Magic!



The streets of Genosha weren't packed. Illyana wasn't surprised by that - there'd been enough on the news about humans leaving the country, and she didn't suppose that the mutants flooding in were enough to make up the difference. On the other hand, the streets also definitely weren't empty, everyone seemed to be having a good time, and she'd seen more mutants since they'd arrived than she ever had in her life, even allowing for the possibility that some of what she'd assumed were mutants were actually humans in clever costumes.

What she hadn't seen, or at least, had seen only at a distance, were any members of the Brotherhood. Which was maybe for the best, since she wasn't sure how most of them felt about her, but she was kind of bummed about it all the same.

That aside, she was having a good time. The music was good,and the fireworks display someone had started (she suspected mutant powers, as she couldn't remember anything mentioning fireworks, but she might have missed it) wasn't half bad. She took a sip of her beer (it was definitely cool that Genosha didn't seem to have a drinking age) and grinned up at Felix as a firework burst over their heads. "Having fun?" she asked.

Felix was drinking something out of a bottle that tasted like fruit, but only because the place they'd stopped didn't have anything with bourbon in it. He had asked, and then had flirted with the seller a little bit until she recommended something he might like. That had covered nicely for the fact that Felix didn't recognize a single thing on offer. It was quite good, after all, and Felix was feeling pleasantly warm.

Flaring his artfully tattered white frock coat a little as they went, Felix flashed a grin back at Illyana. "This is marvelous. People like us, all outside, in the open, and we don't have to be nervous about a thing. And we're in another country? It's like magic," he chuckled, almost but not quite winking.

Illyana laughed. "Oh, but there isn't any such thing as magic," she pointed out in a mock-scholarly tone. "Everyone knows that." Except that there was, of course, so she followed that up with a mischievous grin. "Ever see the Lord of the Rings? There's this scene where the wizard's fireworks turn into a dragon..." Which she, admittedly, couldn't do - illusions weren't her strongest skill, even in Limbo. But she was willing to bet that Felix could.

Interested, Felix tilted his head. She must be referencing a film, and Felix hadn't seen all the films that others had. He did think he'd seen that title on a book recently, though. "Why, I wonder what two wizards might accomplish. Have you any idea where we might find those?"

"Mmm, no clue," she teased back, then pretended to consider the question seriously. "And it always seems like when they put two wizards together, they end up having a huge magic fight to the death. Really doesn't go with the street party."

"Magic is not to be used on the mind or body of another person," Felix answered, with the half-aware automatic precision of someone reciting a lesson. "And I wouldn't fight you, anyway, you're perfectly lovely. We already know we're better if we work together."

Illyana preened at the compliment even as the back of her mind registered Felix's first statement. In theory, she agreed - nothing good had ever come of using magic on anyone. She'd witnessed it herself. On the other hand, she had to wonder just what Felix would say if he ever found out just how much magic had been used on her...

But that was a question for another time. Illyana tucked it away and instead grinned up at Felix mischievously. "Y'know, fireworks are really pretty. But they burn up, and all that falls is ashes. Wouldn't they be better if they rained something else down instead?"

Something about the way Illyana phrased that almost made Felix shiver. All that falls is ashes. He wanted to flee from those words, so he latched on to whatever she was suggestion. "Like what, for instance? Flowers? Very good whiskey?"

Illyana laughed. "That'd be a huge waste of good whiskey," she pointed out. "But no. It's Halloween. How 'bout candy?"

"Candy from the sky!" Felix exclaimed, with a grandiose gesture, like an invisible rainbow spread out above their heads. "Light and fire are two of my specialties, I'm certain I can control them with a moment's study. Can you, ah... manifest sugar?" he inquired, a light of near glee sparking in his eyes.

"With a little help?" Illyana admitted, grinning a challenge. "Can you give me a boost?" Otherwise, she could do it from Limbo, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

"Of course. Teamwork," Felix agreed, with barely a second thought. They really did work better together. He tipped up his bottle, draining much of it as quickly as he could. "I'm going to need both my hands," he explained, and hiccupped.

"Just set it down?" Illyana suggested, though she went ahead and drained the last of her beer. "Or I can hold it until it's my turn, if you want."

Felix simply laughed, and finished off the rest of his drink, too. It had been awhile since he'd had much alcohol, but he was confident he could still perform stellar magic. "If we're going to have fun, we're going to have fun. Now, shall we find somewhere out of sight, but where we can still watch people be pelted with candy?"

"We could. Or we could stand right here in the middle of the street and do it," Illyana pointed out, grinning. "After all, mutant powers are the Thing in Genosha, right?"

That hadn't occurred to Felix, who had hidden nearly everything about himself for as long as he could imagine. He blinked blankly at Illyana for a second, and then slowly smiled. It was like the sun coming out at midnight, almost, the way that smile lit up his eyes. "We could, at that. Oh, let's. Let's make sure everyone knows it's us," Felix declared, spreading his hands to encompass the whole street. Maybe the whole world.

Illyana smiled brightly and nodded. It was Genosha, things were supposedly safe for mutants now, and even if she wasn't with the Brotherhood anymore, she still wasn't interested in hiding. "You're up, then," she pointed out, gesturing grandiosely towards the fireworks display.

Felix took a few steps forward, tipping back his head to watch the explosions of light and fire in the sky. The sparks were quite far away, and the source of them wasn't much nearer, but he stretched out his fingers and let his gaze unfocus. The mental exercise to control fire was one he had learned very early on, and required very little of his concentration. Then fortune decreed that the very next shell that careened into the night sky was green, and Felix caught it with his magic as it danced overhead.

When the shell burst, the bright green sparks did not explode into a chrysanthemum shape as they were meant to do. Instead, they swirled into a spiral, glowing brighter and bolder instead of fading, and swirling out into arms and whorls and curls like a fractal, almost like a sigil. Felix grinned as he directed the green-burning light, his head thrown back and hands turned up to the sky, leaving no doubt in the mind of any observer that this was his work.

He caught the next one, too, bright orange this time, and worked it into the pattern he had already made, painting the sky with light.

Illyana watched the sky with excitement, her eyes wide at the display Felix was creating. It was amazing, it was beautiful, and above all, it was magic. She could feel it, sparking her skin like static, the air around them practically alive and vibrating with mystical energy, and Felix in the middle of it all, grinning.

Loki, she decided, had been right. Felix was gorgeous, here in his element.

She drew the energy in as she stepped forward to join him, let it coalesce around her, inside her. And grinned at him as she raised her arms in conscious mimicry, transforming the original green lines into something far more tangible. And laughed with delight as tiny pieces of silvery skull-shaped candy rained down on the crowd.

Felix knew he couldn't do that -- make something out of nothing, create matter out of light and fire and (he learned once he took hold of them) tiny bits of burning debris. Somehow, Illyana could, and he wanted very much to know how. It was too much to follow the morphing quickness of her magic, though, while still holding his own metaphor in his mind and controlling its shape. If he lost his concentration, then she lost her material, and then neither of them would be having any fun.

He laughed, raising his hands up above his face, and only accidentally catching a couple of the candies in his palms. The people around them didn't seem to know what to make of this rain of silver sugar, but the littlest of the children zipped by with their plastic buckets lifted, shrieking in delight. "How does it taste?" Felix asked, clearly distracted but not so lost that he couldn't love the moment.

"Kinda like burnt Smarties!" one of the kids yelled back, grinning broadly as he popped a handful into his mouth.

Oops. Still, Illyana was flying too high on both the magical rush and the adrenaline to care too much. The candy were, at least, candy. She'd take it. Lowering her hands, she grinned over at Felix, then launched herself at him and gave him a hug instead. "We did it!"

Not expecting that, Felix froze when Illyana leapt at him. One might think he'd never been hugged before, because in an instant he shifted from strong, confident wizard to incredibly awkward statue. He didn't know what to say or do, but it never occurred to him that he could say No thank you. Besides, her enthusiasm and delight was very difficult to reject completely.

"We did," Felix half-laughed, patting her shoulder uncertainly as he tried not to be too awkward about extricating himself. Still, he was smiling in spite of himself. "We did! I don't know how you did it, but we did. And everyone knows it was us."

Aaaand he was another Nico, wasn't he? Though he was smiling, which was more than she usually got from her newbie (and damn, where was he now, anyway?) on those occasions she made him deal with being hugged. Still, she was too excited to be awkward as she took a step back and let her arms fall to her sides.. "They do! And I have no idea how you did the thing with the lights. But I'd really appreciate it if you could show me sometime.""

"Of course. The exercise is simple to learn, and from there, it's a matter of scale," Felix assured her, fluffing the white-chalked red curls that tumbled down one side of his face. "It's the very first thing I learned... I've put my own polish on it, though." If there was anything Felix was not, it was modest, and he momentarily forgot to obfuscate all mention of his own past.

Felix's expression turned thoughtful, and he mused, "We could do this sort of thing whenever we wanted, here, couldn't we?"

"So they say. Why, thinking of staying?" Illyana asked, genuinely curious. The Brotherhood had definitely changed Genosha; she was almost willing to consider it herself. Or would, if she thought she'd be welcome.

"I hadn't thought about it before now," Felix said lightly, shrugging one shoulder. His gaze drifted, scanning the partiers in costumes wandering past. Wherever Dorian was, Felix couldn't see him right now -- it was dark, there were so many people, and his vision wasn't wonderful to begin with. "Though... I do like school very much. What do you think? Would you want to live here?"

"I don't know," Illyana admitted, her excitement dimming as she considered the question. "I'm not sure they'd want me here. I was Brotherhood, and...I left." For what had seemed good reasons, at the time. Some of them still were. But looking around, now, she wasn't altogether sure she'd done the right thing, after all.

Felix sniffed -- and caught the aroma of something that smelled good, so he started wandering and a leisurely pace, assuming Yana would come along. "It's a whole country, isn't it? I thought that Brotherhood was all about freedom and independence, anyway. They'd ostracize you for making your own choices?" His nose wrinkled, pointedly displaying what he thought of that.

"Probably not," Illyana admitted after a moment's consideration, following along as Felix expected. "I guess I'm more just afraid they will?" She smiled crookedly and added, "Besides, my ex-boyfriend is here. And I'm guessing he, at least, wouldn't really want me around." Not that he'd called. Not that, to the best of her knowledge, he'd made any effort to contact her at all. So maybe she was wrong, and he wouldn't care, period.

This time, Felix's scrunched, distasteful expression wore a hint of sympathy. "Exes," he sighed, heavily -- as if he knew anything about it. He did not, but he had read a smattering of what was considered popular fiction for his age group, and observed some television, so he thought he could perform the required response appropriately. "Well, his presence doesn't get to control yours forever, is what I say. And if they bother you, we'll just toss up an ice wall or a force ward, or put a silence spell around their heads."

"Or some kind of fireproofing," Illyana tossed back with a smirk. "He'd hate that."

"I think I could do that," Felix said thoughtfully, following his nose to what turned out to be a mobile cart selling roasted nuts in many varieties. "We should work on something together. An anti-fire spell. Oh! Cinnamon pecans sound incredible."

"They really do," Illyana acknowledged distractedly, heading towards the cart as she pulled money from her pocket. "And I've got a fire containment spell that I use to keep the mage fire contained in the moat. If we took a look at that, we might be able to adapt it..." It was worth considering, anyway; Felix's magic generally worked enough like hers to make collaboration a definite possibility. Illyana glanced up at the sky once more, despite a lack of remaining fireworks, and smiled. They really did do some awesome work together.