ax_main | Illyana, Vex, and Vax (backdated 9/29)

Illyana brings Vax to England to surprise his sister.

It was late. Late by UK standards, anyway. Just before dinner in the States meant that it was near midnight where Vex was, but Vax didn't care. He met Illyana outside after woofing down his food, his eyes alight with eagerness. "You're certain this will work?"

"It'll work." It had taken some time (she'd had to double up, a lot) but she'd managed to scry Vax's sister for long enough that she felt confident she could find her. "We just need to make sure we're back right after we leave," she reminded him (and herself). She pulled out her phone, checked the time, then repocketed it and nodded. "Ready to go when you are."

Vax eyed her. "Why the fucking with time?"

"Still grounded," she reminded him. "And I can't exactly call this part of the tour." She waved that aside. "Anyway, whatever. Let's go see your sister."

"Right. Let's do it," he nodded, stepping up beside her. "Continent hopping without the jet lag. I could get used to this."

"Just where to stay close in Limbo," she said, then called up a stepping disk. A quick stop in Limbo, and then they were there.

From Salem Center to Limbo to London, in a couple blinks of the eye. The next thing Vax knew, they were standing outside of a familiar mansion, staring up at its imposing frame from the side yard. Fortunately, they were well inside the gates, and also standing in the shadow of an old tree. Vax didn't wait. he took Illyana's hand and pulled her further into shadow, the world turning gray around them, almost like they had slipped past the veil into some unseen world.

He put a finger to his lips, then they were moving, a whirr of motion through darkness, only bits of the outside world seen as they ghosted to the porch, then somehow under the door and up the stairs. A few times, they seemed to blink out and in like Illyana was able to do, but then they were in a monstrously large bedroom, moonlight spilling onto the floor in places. Only then did the world's color seem to seep back into everything as Vax pulled them from the shadows.

While bedroom’s furniture was opulent, there weren't many personal touches to spell out that someone lived here. There was a backpack on the desk, sitting open with a computer next to it. The few scattered items on the desk surface could be easily collected and shoved in the bag. A pair of boots were sprawled in the center of the room, and papers were crumbled and scattered suspiciously near the door, windows, and foot of the bed.

Vex was sprawled on the four-poster bed at the center wall of the room, pale legs tangled around the sheets, and her hair spilling messily across her pillow. One hand was tucked beneath the pillow, cushioned beneath her head.

And that was, quite possibly, the coolest thing Illyana had ever experienced. She turned towards Vax first, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Okay, that was - can we do that again sometime?" she whispered hopefully before turning to look at the girl on the bed. And grinned, just a little. "Guess she didn't wait up."

Vax glanced over at the bed, the discreetly shielded his gaze from his sister's body. "I...didn't exactly warn her we were coming." Then in a low whisper, he called over, "Psst. Oy, Stubby."

Vex responded appropriately to the noise in her locked bedroom. She jerked upright, turning toward the sound. She was at least wearing a tank top, but little else to sleep in. The hand under her pillow drew back, revealing the hilt of a knife before she registered exactly who was in the room. Vex pushed the knife back under the pillow and swung her legs off the bed. “Vax. What the hell? Since when can you travel this far?” She glanced at Illyana and raised a brow at his accomplice. “Are you collecting new blondes now?”

"I didn't know he was collecting old ones," Illyana replied with a smirk. She'd seen the knife hilt, and while she wasn't about to say anything about it (none of her business, after all) Vex had already gone up a few notches in her esteem. "Don't mind me, I'm just the transportation service. You must be Vex?"

Still keeping a hand up near his eyes to shield him from any girl-underwear mishaps, Vax waved sheepishly. "Sweet sister, this is Illyana, a teleporter..."

“Sweet brother,” Vex said, tone dripping with irony. "What an unexpected visit.” She got off the bed, with no care for flashing her undergarments to her brother and a complete stranger. She plucked her robe off the bedpost and slipped it on casually. “Hello, Illyana. Pleasure to meet you.”

"Nice to meet you, too," Illyana replied, totally unphased by Vex's state of undress before she put on the robe, but amused by Vax's reaction. "Nice room. Do you get a lot of unwelcome visitors?" After all, she'd noticed the crumbled paper. She knew that trick, too.

Vax glanced toward the door when Yana asked the question, spotting the paper for the first time. It wasn't really surprising, really. The kids had pulled a lot of those kinds of tricks when they lived at Castle Greyskull. And Vex had all the reason to keep it up.

“Not as of yet, but you can never be too careful.” Vex crossed the room and punched her brother in the arm. Almost immediately after she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug.

"Ow," he complained without much heart in it, then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, squeezing her into his arms enough that he might have been trying to meld them into one person.

Breathing was overrated. Vex pressed her face into his hair and hugged back just as tightly.

Feeling awkward, Illyana wandered over to the window to look outside and let the twins have some privacy. Somehow, she really doubted she'd be missed.

At the movement, Vax finally opened his eyes and glanced toward Illyana, then squeezed his sister one more time. "Hey. Just checking in, you know. And finding out if that teleport thing would work."

Vex pressed a kiss to her brother's cheek. "Well, next time you bring beautiful women to my room in the middle of the night, at least warn me? It would have served you right if you'd gotten even more of an eyeful." She leaned against Vax and looked over at Illyana. "Are you okay, darling? If teleporting is anything like my brother does, should we be getting you a chair or some smelling salts after coming all this distance?"

"Hmm?" Illyana turned away from the window, smiled a little, and shook her head. "I'm okay, thanks," she assured Vex. "I mean, I'm not in a big hurry to turn around and do it again? But standing's not a problem. And I can take off if you guys want some alone time."

Vax wrinkled his nose at the connotation. "Don't even kid."

Vex squeezed her brother's arm and then went to grab real clothes. "How long can you stay? I think there's a way out over the roof, if we're careful."

"I am in no hurry to get back," Illyana replied, grinning as she leaned back against the windowsill. "Neither is he. We just have to be back when we left, but that's my problem."

"Basically, we can be here as long as you want. It's a time-travel thing. Don't question it," Vax told his sister, though he was once again looking pointedly away from her as she got dressed. "I don't."

Vex zipped her jeans up and then tugged on a hoodie that looked extremely familiar. No doubt Vax had stolen it from somewhere, and then she'd stolen it from Vax. "You're into the strangest shit now," Vex observed. "Can you help me check the path out? Second set of eyes would be great. As much security as this building has, there must be a way for me to sneak out or I'm going to be very cranky."

"If you don't mind a stopover, I can help with that," Illyana pointed out, straightening up. "Though I don't suppose that'd help you much, long term."

"Between me and Illyana, we can probably scout out a regular footpath, so to speak. You're using the one over the roof? Into the gardens?" Vax asked.

"That's what I was thinking. I've given it a glance, but you're good at the tricky bits." She finished tugging on her boots. "Shall we?"

"What do you want me to do?" Illyana asked.

"Can you meet us on the roof?" Vax asked. "Or do you need to be able to see it first?"

Illyana thought about it for a moment. She'd seen the roof from Limbo, and she'd spent time with Vax...tentatively, she reached out, trying to determine whether or not she'd gotten enough of a feeling for him to locate him, then wrinkled her nose. "I can give it a shot, if you need me to?" She shrugged. "I don't know you well enough to be sure I can find you. But I should be able to scry you from Limbo, if worse comes to worse."

“Either that dear, or how stealthily can you climb?” Vex asked. “And maybe we should stick a hat on you in case we do catch a camera. Vax can melt away, but you'll shine like gold.”

"I can climb," Illyana assured her. "But yeah. Can I borrow a hat?"

Vax peered more closely at his sister at the mention of a hat. "Is that my hoodie?"

Vex met her brother’s eyes. “I have no idea what you mean.” She then went and pulled a black hat from her backpack for Yana, this also an item that once belonged to her brother.

"Nice one." Illyana nodded her approval of the hat, then twisted her hair up and pulled the hat on over it. "Thanks."

"Oy!" Vax pointed at the hat. "Get your own wardrobe!"

Vex arched a brow. "Paid for this one did you? And would you deny me the memory of my loving brother, torn away across the sea? I'll have you know I sleep in that hat on occasion and shed a slow tear each time I do."

"She does," Illyana contributed, trying not to grin. "I can smell the salt. It's faint, but it's definitely there."

"You're both bullshit, you know that?" Vax sighed, then moved to the window.

"Love you too," Vex said genuinely.

"I wouldn't go quite that far," Illyana contributed, grinning. "But you're definitely on the list for potential."

Vax flashed her a playful grin, then carefully and quietly opened the window and slid it up the track, checking the street for the patrolling guards. "There's a sort of terrace out here, that runs along the roof. Since they stuck Vex and I up on the fourth floor, it makes for an easy exit to the roof."

"I'm guessing your fancy school doesn't offer the finer points of traps 101." Vex sidled close to Vax, not obstructing his view or mobility but trying to take in what he was looking at. He was always so good at this and she had room to learn.

"No, but it offers an awesome elective on Breaking and Entering. Because that's considered a valuable life skill." Illyana smirked, but hung back and waited to see what the others were going to do. After all, they'd done this before. Or it sounded like it, anyway.

Vax rolled his eyes. "If only they had shit like that." Slowly tipping his head out the window, he looked along the terrace, checking for any newly installed security cameras or lasers. No lasers, but there was a camera, aimed slightly in their direction. "Stay here. I'll be right back."

"Got it," Vex said, staying put. She knew when she actually needed to listen to her brother.

Illyana nodded, and turned towards Vex with an apologetic look. "So really, sorry we didn't call ahead. I honestly didn't know he hadn't."

In the meantime, Vax melded into the shadow near the drapes and disappeared.

“Before you head home let's trade numbers. I'm not changing my sleeping habits on the chance the two of you might appear.” Vex gave Yana a quick smile. “Thank you for bringing him. It means the world.”

"Hey, not a problem." Illyana smiled awkwardly and shrugged. "He really wanted to see you, and I've only been in and out of England. But yeah, trading numbers sounds good." Even without a pre-arrival phone call reason. She really did like Vex.

“Maybe someday I can give you a better tour by light. I may just come down with terrible cramps in the middle of a school day.” Vex winked.

Illyana laughed. "Oh man, I'm definitely up for that. It's just too bad we can't both use the same excuse, given the time difference."

Vax melted back out of the shadows, appearing crouched in the window. "Hey. Strong, capable, women. I fixed the security camera - we're good to go."

"My hero," Vex said. "Show me what you did on the way over? In case they catch it." She went to hoist herself out the window.

Illyana made sure her hair was tucked up inside her hat, then followed.

Leading the way, Vax followed along the narrow terrace that spanned the length of the fourth floor. When he came to the middle, where the roof sloped up and over, he pointed to a camera down at the opposite end. "I adjusted it about ten degrees so it doesn't catch our shadows up here."

“Brilliant.” Vex made a mental note of the current angle. It was unlikely they'd even notice that change.

"So, where to now?" Illyana asked, eyeing the roof. "Up and over?"

Vax nodded, using one of the gabled windows as a good incline to scramble up the roof (and it also kept them in the shadows.) "You guys want a hand?" Yeah, he'd learned not to assume that they might need one.

“Good so far,” Vex said. “Remind me--gloves next time.”

"Gloves would be good," Illyana agreed, though she scrambled up without too much difficulty.

Vax rolled his eyes at his sister. "You want a pair of mine for that too?" he taunted, then led the way over the top of the easier slope of the roof, toward the back garden.

"As if you've never borrowed my boots," Vex chimed back with a grin. She carefully followed behind him.

"Hold it, your boots fit him?" Illyana took a doubtful look at Vex's feet as she followed her. "Really?"

"They're big on her," he complained over his shoulder.

"I'm not ashamed of my shoe size," Vex said primly. "I live in hope that Vax will stop getting taller than me." She did have a larger than average shoe size, so it was easy to meet in the middle with Vax. One thick pair of socks, and they were about the same size. Her heels might be a smidge tight on him.

"I live in hope that I'll actually grow another inch," Illyana contributed, wrinkling her nose. "It doesn't seem to be happening, though."

Easing down the roof on the other side, Vax checked again for security cameras, and finding one, inched over to nudge its view away from the large tree on the opposite corner. Then he motioned the others toward the tree and its extended branches. "If it helps, I haven't grown an inch in six months."

"Good. Stay that way." Vex shifted forward. "And Illyana, you are darling just as you are."

"Not really feeling darling, just short." Illyana grinned and headed over to the tree. "Fortunately, heels fix that pretty well." She was glad, though, that she wasn't wearing them now, because climbing down a tree in heels would have been pretty disastrous, even if there were a lot of branches to use to work her way down gradually.

Vax swung out onto one of the branches with the ease of one who was used to that sort of thing, then looked back. "Do you want to go all the way down? I could give her a show of the Palace after dark."

Vex hopped down after him, swinging happily from the last branch. "Let's. You've come all this way, we can at least show you a good time."

It took Illyana bit longer than the other two to reach the bottom, but she dropped down beside them only shortly after they reached the ground. "Works for me. I'm in no hurry to get back."