Illyana and Eileen | Brotherhood Party
Oct. 14th, 2017 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainEileen and Illyana meet up and talk. There are cookies.
Illyana was smiling as she headed towards the table with the food. This, she'd decided, was definitely a good party. So far, no fights had broken out, no one had been electrocuted (or at least, not that she'd seen), and the fountain of drinks hadn't run out of alcohol. Life was good.
Except that she was hungry.
She got to the table, and started looking over the selection, wondering who'd made all the food or where they'd gotten it from. Somehow, she doubted it had been catered.
Keeping watch over the party, Eileen hadn't failed to notice the familiar blond heading toward the food table. "Magik, my girl," she said by way of salutation. "Glad you made it. If you've got any questions about the food, I'm the one to ask. I mean, I baked most of it. And was around when we bought the rest."
"That was my big question - where you'd gotten it all. You made it, really?" Illyana smiled, very obviously impressed. "Also, hi. Phantazia, right?"
"Or Eileen," she nodded, sitting cross-legged in the air. "I didn't totally renounce my flatscan name, unlike Pyro. I still respond to either." Though she was beginning to have a marked preference for her codename. Either way. She gestured toward the table where the snacks had been laid out. "I made most of the stuff that was made, and not just store-bought. And I've had to listen to a whole lot of crap in the aftermath--apparently, being a bad-ass flying mistress of EM doesn't jibe with the occasional impulse to actually make something people can eat from scratch." She rolled her eyes, though the expression was probably completely lost behind the brilliant violet glow.
"Maybe they're just massively impressed that you can actually make something from scratch? I know I can't." Illyana picked up something and took a bite, looking amused at the sight of the Brotherhood girl sitting in mid air. "And Illyana's fine. I'm not real big on the codenames, myself."
"Does seem kinda silly," Eileen admitted. "But I guess we can't be too careful, with all the crazies out there with too much free time on their hands." She shrugged. "And my team doesn't really do impressed. 'Sarcastic asshole' is more their jam. But they're still pretty cool. Mostly." Her expression screwed up ruefully. "Just ... take anything Mort says with a grain of salt. He's harmless, and I don't think he means to be creepy. He's just not great with people. Especially girl-people."
Illyana laughed and nodded. "You're talking about Toad, right? I've heard - well, bits anyway. Is his name actually Mort?" If it was, she'd think he'd be the first standing in line for a codename, though Toad wasn't much better, really. "I met Pietro, though. He seemed pretty cool, even if he did steal Pyro's phone to text me."
"Mortimer," Eileen smiled. "We call him Mort. Please don't pick on him too much," she added, her expression sobering slightly. "He got enough of that out there." She waved a hand to indicate the world beyond the converted warehouse.
"And Pietro's got his moments. When he's not bein' a glam-sulk diva, anyway. And stealing people's cookies."
"Hey, if all the cookies taste like this, I can see why he'd steal them." She was tempted to, herself. She frowned a little, though, at the rest of what Eileen had said. "I'm not really big at 'picking on' people," she pointed out. "Either I ignore them or I rip them a new one, but picking on someone just seems pointless."
"Don't encourage him," Eileen smirked. "And, hey, I didn't mean to say you were, or anything. It's just ... Mort makes it kinda easy, sometimes. But if it's not a thing you're big on, no problem." Luminous violet eyes surveyed the interior of the warehouse, and the other teens dancing or playing party games inside. "What do you think of the party so far?"
"I think it beats the last one I was at, hand down." She shrugged and grinned a little. "Of course, everyone was glaring at me at that one, so the bar's low. But it's pretty amazing, either way."
One glowing eye widened as the other narrowed quizzically. "Who was glaring at you? I thought the last one was at your mansion-school-thing." Eileen seemed to be having legitimate difficulty processing that concept.
Illyana frowned. "Pyro didn't tell you guys? People...weren't exactly thrilled that I brought him." She shrugged. "No big deal. I'm not exactly Miss Popular, anyway."
"Pyro was honestly kind of a pain in the ass after that party, and it was hard to get a straight anything out of him," Eileen said. "But that's bullshit, if you ask me. It's your team. They're supposed to have your back, even when you fuck up royally. I mean ... look at us! We're the textbook definition of dysfunctional. But when it matters, we've got each other's backs."
"We're not a team so much, mostly. Just a school." Illyana shrugged again, awkwardly. "Anyway, some of the people have apologized, since." She grinned a little. "And I threatened one of them with a one way trip to Limbo, so there's that."
"Some of the people," the other blond snorted. "Great." She didn't understand the appeal, personally; the members of the Brotherhood butted heads sometimes, but they were ultimately a close-knit group. A school where people would turn on you just like a flatscan institution was kind of beyond her. She looked inquiringly at the other blond. "What's a Limbo?"
Illyana blinked, surprised. Honestly, she'd figured that Pyro would have told his teammates...more. Or at least, everything he knew before they'd made their deal on what was shareable and what wasn't. She smiled, just a little smugly, at the proof that she'd been right to trust him all along, then remembered Eileen had actually asked a question.
"Limbo's...well, the best description is probably that Limbo's a demon dimension," she explained. "It's the stopover place for my teleports." She met the other girl's glowing eyes. "It's also mostly where I grew up. Magik's not just my codename."
"Demon. Dimension." Eileen reached out a hand, and another beer floated from the cooler to her hand. She snapped off the cap and took a long pull, and then, "I like you, so I want to believe that's not crazy schizo-speak. But it's a lot to take in, even buzzed."
"Well, I could show you," Illyana offered. She quirked a smile. "But it's a real buzzkill. You can check with Pyro though, if you want. He's been there a few times."
"Ugh. Pass and pass," she said, waving her beer around for emphasis. "Tonight's not the night for killing buzzes, and Pyro likes to dramatize shit. So I'll just take your word for it, for now."
"Wow. I appreciate that." Illyana picked up another cookie. "Let me know when you decide to change your mind, okay?"
"Hey, I'm not tryin' to be a dick," Eileen said. "I'm just sayin' it's a lot to take in. Let me process it a bit." She managed to look curious, despite her glowing eyes. "You like the cookies?"
Illyana nodded, though she wasn't quite mollified by Eileen's answer. "They're good. What are they?"
"Kolaczki," Eileen said, a touch proudly. "My grandma taught me the recipe. It's a Polish thing. And yeah, I like 'em, too."
"They're a Russian thing too, I think." Illyana smiled a little. "Pretty sure I remember my mother making them. I didn't remember what they were called, though."
"An eastern European thing," Eileen amended. The complicated relationship between Poland and Russia was really not something she wanted to delve into, just then. Those were flatscan issues. Tonight, she and Illyana were just enjoying some tasty cookies. "Let me know if you'd like s'more. They're pretty easy to make, and I'm pretty sure a teleporter can find a way to pick 'em up."
"Pretty sure I'm not supposed to just show up at your base," Illyana pointed out. "Pyro seemed to think it might not be a great idea. But I appreciate the offer."
"I can probably leave a tray in that park where you and Pyro get together," Eileen suggested archly. "But, yeah, the others are kind of sensitive to that kinda thing right now. We can work something out."
"I'll keep it in mind. Thanks." Illyana smiled a little, then took a breath. "Also? I just wanted to say - I'm sorry about...well, the whole tracker thing. I figured people'd be pissed about him being there, but it never occurred to me that anyone would do...that."
The floating blond's eyes flashed brighter as she grimaced, but she waved a hand as if shooing the topic away. "That whole situation was fucked up from top to bottom," Eileen said sourly. "I mean, you can't sneak electronics past me, so there was no reason for it to turn into a whole ... thing. But our boss, sometimes his ideas are a little complicated." And passive-aggressive, though she'd never say as much. Certainly not to somebody who wasn't part of the Brotherhood.
"Anyway. Yeah, I was pissed before. But I'm over it now. Let's never talk about it again and maybe grab another beer."
"I'm up for another beer," Illyana agreed, relieved.
"So let it be written," Eileen nodded, turning toward the massive cooler system the twins had set up. "I'm a bit surprised how many of your guys turned up," she added, more than ready to leave that other topic behind. Seriously, she'd already spent way too much of her life worrying about that shit. "Especially after one of 'em kinda sideways asked if I was a terrorist. Not in an insulting way," the blond was quick to throw in, since she didn't want Illyana to think she'd been offended by it. She hadn't. "Just in a 'what the hell is your deal, anyway', right-to-the-point kinda thing."
"Tommy?" Illyana guessed. "He's pretty much always like that." Though somehow, that didn't sound quite right, either. Tommy didn't beat around the bush, but he wasn't normally that direct, either."
"Shen," Eileen corrected, dipping a hand into the ice and feeling around for a bottle. The first one she came upon she handed off to Illyana. The second she kept for herself, snapping off the cap with a practiced twist. "She seemed pretty cool. I'm a big fan of the lack of bullshit. But you know these kids better than I do."
"Ummm...not really," Illyana admitted. "I mean, I know a few of them? But Pietro said you wanted a lot of people, and I don't really know a lot of people, so I told the people I asked to bring along people who wouldn't be assholes." She shrugged awkwardly. "I've never actually talked to Shen. I think she came with either Clarice or Jeanne-Marie."
"Mission accomplished," Eileen told her, with a grin and a thumbs up. "I haven't met a single asshole yet. And that's with my idiot teammates being their idiot selves. Call that a win." She shrugged. "But yeah, you should talk to her sometime, maybe. If you're okay with direct, I mean. The fact you keep talking to me makes me think you might be." Her face screwed up quizzically. "Which ones are Clarice and Jeanne-Marie? I haven't actually gotten to meet that many people." But only because there were so many of them. Which was awesome.
"Clarice is over there," Illyana said, pointing out the girl in question across the room from where they were standing. "The one with the lavender skin? She's another teleporter. She's pretty cool, and I figured she could use time away from her roommate. I know if I had to live with Tamara I'd shoot myself. Jeanne-Marie..." she frowned. "I don't see her right now. She's from that place in Canada where they speak French. Her twin brother was at the Right's facility with us, but I don't think you got to meet him." She smiled a little. "And I like direct. I don't have to try and figure out what the other person actually means when they just spell it out."
"Well, fuck me," Eileen breathed. Because that was a girl with lavender skin, bopping along to the music just a little shyly, but with obvious enthusiasm. And that, really, was the kind of mutant they were fighting for: the kind that couldn't just blend in and pretend to be less than they were to appease the flatscans. The kind the Right could yank off the street, and nobody would ask questions, since it was so easy for freaks to just get lost in the system. She shook those thoughts away--party!--and focused on the latter part of what Illyana had said.
"Direct is always better than bullshit," said Eileen decisively. "Who wants to have to go through seven layers of interpretation for a simple conversation in English?" She slugged Illyana lightly in the arm with the hand holding her beer. "Anyhow, you can always count on me to just spell it out. No matter how much I prob'ly shouldn't. Speaking of," her look grew a bit sly. "You and Pyro, huh?"
Illyana grinned, her face warming. "I guess? He's not exactly spelling it out."
"Oh, please," the other blond grinned. "He's all but writing it out in flaming letters visible from an altitude of thirty-thousand feet. Which he might actually do," Eileen cautioned, "so please keep an eye on him. We really don't need the extra publicity."
"Y'know, I'd have a really hard time convincing myself to not let him do that," Illyana pointed out, her smile widening. "I mean, it'd be pretty cool. Would getting him to do it somewhere else be okay?"
"Jesus Christ," said Eileen, covering her face with a hand and giggling in spite of herself. "No wonder he likes you. Just ... try to make it someplace remote without continuous satellite surveillance. That's all I ask." She shook her head. "That, and," her voice grew a bit sober for a moment, "be as good to the idiot as you can be. He's a complete pain in the ass, but I still love him like a brother. And," she trailed off, and took a pull from her bottle. "Dammit. I am not good at people-ing. Just make sure you only kick his dick in when he deserves it, okay?"
"I...yeah." Illyana's grin faded and she nodded, feeling unaccountably nervous all of a sudden. "I'm...not exactly good at this myself," she admitted. "But yeah. I mean, I'll try. I like him. A lot." Which hopefully would make up for the fact she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, something Eileen's words had managed to bring home, even though she didn't think the other girl had had that in mind.
"Hey, he's not so great at it, either," Eileen pointed out. "Trust me; I've had to listen to enough sappy tirades to know that for a fact." She wrapped an arm around Illyana's shoulder, still floating cross-legged in the air. "Hey. Don't sweat it, okay? You like him, he likes you. It'll work out. And I'll kick his scrawny pyromaniac ass into lower orbit if he manages to fuck it up. Chin up, girl. We're way too amazing for pensive."
"Yeah, okay." Illyana forced a smile, then glanced around the room until she caught sight of Billy. And waved, as if she'd just seen him trying to catch her attention. "Gotta go, the apprentice needs something. Talk to you later?"
Because honestly? She wasn't sure she could do anything other than pensive, right now.
"Sure thing," said Eileen, saluting with her beer bottle and drifting backwards lazily. "Later."
Illyana was smiling as she headed towards the table with the food. This, she'd decided, was definitely a good party. So far, no fights had broken out, no one had been electrocuted (or at least, not that she'd seen), and the fountain of drinks hadn't run out of alcohol. Life was good.
Except that she was hungry.
She got to the table, and started looking over the selection, wondering who'd made all the food or where they'd gotten it from. Somehow, she doubted it had been catered.
Keeping watch over the party, Eileen hadn't failed to notice the familiar blond heading toward the food table. "Magik, my girl," she said by way of salutation. "Glad you made it. If you've got any questions about the food, I'm the one to ask. I mean, I baked most of it. And was around when we bought the rest."
"That was my big question - where you'd gotten it all. You made it, really?" Illyana smiled, very obviously impressed. "Also, hi. Phantazia, right?"
"Or Eileen," she nodded, sitting cross-legged in the air. "I didn't totally renounce my flatscan name, unlike Pyro. I still respond to either." Though she was beginning to have a marked preference for her codename. Either way. She gestured toward the table where the snacks had been laid out. "I made most of the stuff that was made, and not just store-bought. And I've had to listen to a whole lot of crap in the aftermath--apparently, being a bad-ass flying mistress of EM doesn't jibe with the occasional impulse to actually make something people can eat from scratch." She rolled her eyes, though the expression was probably completely lost behind the brilliant violet glow.
"Maybe they're just massively impressed that you can actually make something from scratch? I know I can't." Illyana picked up something and took a bite, looking amused at the sight of the Brotherhood girl sitting in mid air. "And Illyana's fine. I'm not real big on the codenames, myself."
"Does seem kinda silly," Eileen admitted. "But I guess we can't be too careful, with all the crazies out there with too much free time on their hands." She shrugged. "And my team doesn't really do impressed. 'Sarcastic asshole' is more their jam. But they're still pretty cool. Mostly." Her expression screwed up ruefully. "Just ... take anything Mort says with a grain of salt. He's harmless, and I don't think he means to be creepy. He's just not great with people. Especially girl-people."
Illyana laughed and nodded. "You're talking about Toad, right? I've heard - well, bits anyway. Is his name actually Mort?" If it was, she'd think he'd be the first standing in line for a codename, though Toad wasn't much better, really. "I met Pietro, though. He seemed pretty cool, even if he did steal Pyro's phone to text me."
"Mortimer," Eileen smiled. "We call him Mort. Please don't pick on him too much," she added, her expression sobering slightly. "He got enough of that out there." She waved a hand to indicate the world beyond the converted warehouse.
"And Pietro's got his moments. When he's not bein' a glam-sulk diva, anyway. And stealing people's cookies."
"Hey, if all the cookies taste like this, I can see why he'd steal them." She was tempted to, herself. She frowned a little, though, at the rest of what Eileen had said. "I'm not really big at 'picking on' people," she pointed out. "Either I ignore them or I rip them a new one, but picking on someone just seems pointless."
"Don't encourage him," Eileen smirked. "And, hey, I didn't mean to say you were, or anything. It's just ... Mort makes it kinda easy, sometimes. But if it's not a thing you're big on, no problem." Luminous violet eyes surveyed the interior of the warehouse, and the other teens dancing or playing party games inside. "What do you think of the party so far?"
"I think it beats the last one I was at, hand down." She shrugged and grinned a little. "Of course, everyone was glaring at me at that one, so the bar's low. But it's pretty amazing, either way."
One glowing eye widened as the other narrowed quizzically. "Who was glaring at you? I thought the last one was at your mansion-school-thing." Eileen seemed to be having legitimate difficulty processing that concept.
Illyana frowned. "Pyro didn't tell you guys? People...weren't exactly thrilled that I brought him." She shrugged. "No big deal. I'm not exactly Miss Popular, anyway."
"Pyro was honestly kind of a pain in the ass after that party, and it was hard to get a straight anything out of him," Eileen said. "But that's bullshit, if you ask me. It's your team. They're supposed to have your back, even when you fuck up royally. I mean ... look at us! We're the textbook definition of dysfunctional. But when it matters, we've got each other's backs."
"We're not a team so much, mostly. Just a school." Illyana shrugged again, awkwardly. "Anyway, some of the people have apologized, since." She grinned a little. "And I threatened one of them with a one way trip to Limbo, so there's that."
"Some of the people," the other blond snorted. "Great." She didn't understand the appeal, personally; the members of the Brotherhood butted heads sometimes, but they were ultimately a close-knit group. A school where people would turn on you just like a flatscan institution was kind of beyond her. She looked inquiringly at the other blond. "What's a Limbo?"
Illyana blinked, surprised. Honestly, she'd figured that Pyro would have told his teammates...more. Or at least, everything he knew before they'd made their deal on what was shareable and what wasn't. She smiled, just a little smugly, at the proof that she'd been right to trust him all along, then remembered Eileen had actually asked a question.
"Limbo's...well, the best description is probably that Limbo's a demon dimension," she explained. "It's the stopover place for my teleports." She met the other girl's glowing eyes. "It's also mostly where I grew up. Magik's not just my codename."
"Demon. Dimension." Eileen reached out a hand, and another beer floated from the cooler to her hand. She snapped off the cap and took a long pull, and then, "I like you, so I want to believe that's not crazy schizo-speak. But it's a lot to take in, even buzzed."
"Well, I could show you," Illyana offered. She quirked a smile. "But it's a real buzzkill. You can check with Pyro though, if you want. He's been there a few times."
"Ugh. Pass and pass," she said, waving her beer around for emphasis. "Tonight's not the night for killing buzzes, and Pyro likes to dramatize shit. So I'll just take your word for it, for now."
"Wow. I appreciate that." Illyana picked up another cookie. "Let me know when you decide to change your mind, okay?"
"Hey, I'm not tryin' to be a dick," Eileen said. "I'm just sayin' it's a lot to take in. Let me process it a bit." She managed to look curious, despite her glowing eyes. "You like the cookies?"
Illyana nodded, though she wasn't quite mollified by Eileen's answer. "They're good. What are they?"
"Kolaczki," Eileen said, a touch proudly. "My grandma taught me the recipe. It's a Polish thing. And yeah, I like 'em, too."
"They're a Russian thing too, I think." Illyana smiled a little. "Pretty sure I remember my mother making them. I didn't remember what they were called, though."
"An eastern European thing," Eileen amended. The complicated relationship between Poland and Russia was really not something she wanted to delve into, just then. Those were flatscan issues. Tonight, she and Illyana were just enjoying some tasty cookies. "Let me know if you'd like s'more. They're pretty easy to make, and I'm pretty sure a teleporter can find a way to pick 'em up."
"Pretty sure I'm not supposed to just show up at your base," Illyana pointed out. "Pyro seemed to think it might not be a great idea. But I appreciate the offer."
"I can probably leave a tray in that park where you and Pyro get together," Eileen suggested archly. "But, yeah, the others are kind of sensitive to that kinda thing right now. We can work something out."
"I'll keep it in mind. Thanks." Illyana smiled a little, then took a breath. "Also? I just wanted to say - I'm sorry about...well, the whole tracker thing. I figured people'd be pissed about him being there, but it never occurred to me that anyone would do...that."
The floating blond's eyes flashed brighter as she grimaced, but she waved a hand as if shooing the topic away. "That whole situation was fucked up from top to bottom," Eileen said sourly. "I mean, you can't sneak electronics past me, so there was no reason for it to turn into a whole ... thing. But our boss, sometimes his ideas are a little complicated." And passive-aggressive, though she'd never say as much. Certainly not to somebody who wasn't part of the Brotherhood.
"Anyway. Yeah, I was pissed before. But I'm over it now. Let's never talk about it again and maybe grab another beer."
"I'm up for another beer," Illyana agreed, relieved.
"So let it be written," Eileen nodded, turning toward the massive cooler system the twins had set up. "I'm a bit surprised how many of your guys turned up," she added, more than ready to leave that other topic behind. Seriously, she'd already spent way too much of her life worrying about that shit. "Especially after one of 'em kinda sideways asked if I was a terrorist. Not in an insulting way," the blond was quick to throw in, since she didn't want Illyana to think she'd been offended by it. She hadn't. "Just in a 'what the hell is your deal, anyway', right-to-the-point kinda thing."
"Tommy?" Illyana guessed. "He's pretty much always like that." Though somehow, that didn't sound quite right, either. Tommy didn't beat around the bush, but he wasn't normally that direct, either."
"Shen," Eileen corrected, dipping a hand into the ice and feeling around for a bottle. The first one she came upon she handed off to Illyana. The second she kept for herself, snapping off the cap with a practiced twist. "She seemed pretty cool. I'm a big fan of the lack of bullshit. But you know these kids better than I do."
"Ummm...not really," Illyana admitted. "I mean, I know a few of them? But Pietro said you wanted a lot of people, and I don't really know a lot of people, so I told the people I asked to bring along people who wouldn't be assholes." She shrugged awkwardly. "I've never actually talked to Shen. I think she came with either Clarice or Jeanne-Marie."
"Mission accomplished," Eileen told her, with a grin and a thumbs up. "I haven't met a single asshole yet. And that's with my idiot teammates being their idiot selves. Call that a win." She shrugged. "But yeah, you should talk to her sometime, maybe. If you're okay with direct, I mean. The fact you keep talking to me makes me think you might be." Her face screwed up quizzically. "Which ones are Clarice and Jeanne-Marie? I haven't actually gotten to meet that many people." But only because there were so many of them. Which was awesome.
"Clarice is over there," Illyana said, pointing out the girl in question across the room from where they were standing. "The one with the lavender skin? She's another teleporter. She's pretty cool, and I figured she could use time away from her roommate. I know if I had to live with Tamara I'd shoot myself. Jeanne-Marie..." she frowned. "I don't see her right now. She's from that place in Canada where they speak French. Her twin brother was at the Right's facility with us, but I don't think you got to meet him." She smiled a little. "And I like direct. I don't have to try and figure out what the other person actually means when they just spell it out."
"Well, fuck me," Eileen breathed. Because that was a girl with lavender skin, bopping along to the music just a little shyly, but with obvious enthusiasm. And that, really, was the kind of mutant they were fighting for: the kind that couldn't just blend in and pretend to be less than they were to appease the flatscans. The kind the Right could yank off the street, and nobody would ask questions, since it was so easy for freaks to just get lost in the system. She shook those thoughts away--party!--and focused on the latter part of what Illyana had said.
"Direct is always better than bullshit," said Eileen decisively. "Who wants to have to go through seven layers of interpretation for a simple conversation in English?" She slugged Illyana lightly in the arm with the hand holding her beer. "Anyhow, you can always count on me to just spell it out. No matter how much I prob'ly shouldn't. Speaking of," her look grew a bit sly. "You and Pyro, huh?"
Illyana grinned, her face warming. "I guess? He's not exactly spelling it out."
"Oh, please," the other blond grinned. "He's all but writing it out in flaming letters visible from an altitude of thirty-thousand feet. Which he might actually do," Eileen cautioned, "so please keep an eye on him. We really don't need the extra publicity."
"Y'know, I'd have a really hard time convincing myself to not let him do that," Illyana pointed out, her smile widening. "I mean, it'd be pretty cool. Would getting him to do it somewhere else be okay?"
"Jesus Christ," said Eileen, covering her face with a hand and giggling in spite of herself. "No wonder he likes you. Just ... try to make it someplace remote without continuous satellite surveillance. That's all I ask." She shook her head. "That, and," her voice grew a bit sober for a moment, "be as good to the idiot as you can be. He's a complete pain in the ass, but I still love him like a brother. And," she trailed off, and took a pull from her bottle. "Dammit. I am not good at people-ing. Just make sure you only kick his dick in when he deserves it, okay?"
"I...yeah." Illyana's grin faded and she nodded, feeling unaccountably nervous all of a sudden. "I'm...not exactly good at this myself," she admitted. "But yeah. I mean, I'll try. I like him. A lot." Which hopefully would make up for the fact she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, something Eileen's words had managed to bring home, even though she didn't think the other girl had had that in mind.
"Hey, he's not so great at it, either," Eileen pointed out. "Trust me; I've had to listen to enough sappy tirades to know that for a fact." She wrapped an arm around Illyana's shoulder, still floating cross-legged in the air. "Hey. Don't sweat it, okay? You like him, he likes you. It'll work out. And I'll kick his scrawny pyromaniac ass into lower orbit if he manages to fuck it up. Chin up, girl. We're way too amazing for pensive."
"Yeah, okay." Illyana forced a smile, then glanced around the room until she caught sight of Billy. And waved, as if she'd just seen him trying to catch her attention. "Gotta go, the apprentice needs something. Talk to you later?"
Because honestly? She wasn't sure she could do anything other than pensive, right now.
"Sure thing," said Eileen, saluting with her beer bottle and drifting backwards lazily. "Later."
