Piotr and Cal Backdated to 10/19/2014
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om_mainBasketball and male bonding
No matter how much you loved basketball, playing alone could get boring real fast. Cal hadn't mimicked Jamie's mutation enough that it would stick around when the other guy wasn't around, and the same went for Lu's - not that he would have gone there anyway. Probably.
Ah, who knew.
He moved back behind the three-point line and took the shot, sinking it. Go him? The doors opened as he jogged over to retrieve the ball, and he turned around hopefully.
Hey, new guy. New mountain of a guy. New mountain of a guy who had to like ball if the world made any kind of sense. (Okay, or football. He'd get football - and then some.)
"Hey," he called out, grabbing the ball and heading over to meet the dude. "You're definitely new. I'm Cal."
Now that he'd had his stuff settled, Piotr was ready to have a look around his new environment. And one priority for a workout junkie like him was finding places to exercise. His impromptu tour of the grounds had shown some sporting grounds out the back, which looked like as good a place to start as any. Given that Piotr was dressed in shorts and a muscle shirt, he was pretty obviously out there to do some exercising. What he hadn't expected was to be intercepted straight out of the door. Still, meeting new people was definitely a goal too, and the fact that Cal had approached him got around most of Piotr's awkwardness. The rest of that could be expressed in his slightly crooked smile. "hello, yes I am new. My name is Piotr, pleased to meet you." The big man extended his hand to shake. There was something a bit stiff and rote learned about the whole thing. But then introductions are pretty much what gets hammered into you in language classes, and Piotr was definitely not a native English speaker.
Oh, foreign accent, sounded - Russian? Cal thought about it for half a second and figured that yeah, right now, he could speak Russian. "Right back atcha," he told the guy with a grin, in perfect, native-sounding Russian. "And before you think I'm also from the motherland - I'm just a mimic. You know it, I know it."
The sudden reply in Russian got a surprised blink from Piotr. he hadn't even had time to form the question about whether or not Cal was also Russian before he got the explanation for it though. "Amazing. You have no accent at all!" Piotr certainly sounded impressed by that. Then he stopped to think about the implications of that, and he frowned thoughtfully. "A mimic? So you're copying me right now?"That was a little weird. Not threatening or upsetting, just....weird. At least Piotr was able to express himself more easily in Russian.
"Yep," Cal confirmed with a nod. "Just knowledge and abilities, though - not your mutation. What is it?" He'd learned the hard way not to go around mimicking mutations without knowing what they were. "And also, do you wanna play ball," he added with an inviting half-smile, holding the ball up in one hand. No reason they couldn't chat while they played after all.
"Let's play." Piotr grinned and stepped onto the court. Basketball wasn't his game, but he'd played in school often enough. And a friendly game of anything seemed pretty good. Certainly better than his reception from some of the other students. Which he wasn't going to think about now.
This was the second time he'd been asked about his powers already. Clearly that must be the thing to do at this school. At least Piotr could explain them in Russian. While he answered the question he set himself up to defend the basket "I can turn my body into steel. It makes me very strong and very tough."
"I bet," Cal agreed easily, and threw the ball to Piotr, moving into position. It'd probably look a lot like Angie's mutation, although - different on the inside. "So all of you turns into steel? Down to your organs?"
Piotr threw the ball back, the classic one two to start off a one on one game. "I'm not sure. But I think so. I don't need to breathe and I stop being hungry when I change." It was refreshing to actually discuss his powers, so Piotr answered openly and didn't hold anything back. He was a lot more wary of a break for the basket than he was of revealing secrets. "So if you know what I know, can you read minds?" The idea didn't seem to worry Piotr too much. He sounded more curious than concerned.
"Oh, no," Cal assured him, shaking his head as he started to dribble towards the basket - walking pace for now, unless Piotr went for the ball. "It's really just knowledge that I get, like - stuff related to skills and abilities, really? I have no idea what you think about anything, I just know what you know about school subjects or cooking or, like, fishing or whatever." Really random examples, yeah, so what?
"So now two people can make proper pierogi?" Witty quips weren't usually Piotr's way, so the joke was really more of a test balloon. Still, it was a mark of the good first impression Cal had made. Giving Piotr the chance to do something active was a great way to cut the ice. Speaking of which, the big man made an experimental bat at the ball. Just like the joke it was a case of testing the waters.
Cal saw the attempt coming and easily evaded, sidestepping and breaking into a jog. "When I'm around you, anyway," Cal confirmed. The jog got upgraded to a run - he had more he wanted to say, but first, he wanted to try and score.
That was an interesting revelation, one that Piotr filed away to ask about later. For now he focused on keeping himself between Cal and the basket. The other boy was faster than him, so Piotr tried to use his size and superior bulk to try and zone him away from the basket.
God, the guy was huge. Cal only saw one way to pull this off - surprising him, by darting away from the basket and taking the shot as soon as he'd passed the three-point line again.
Piotr had clearly not expected the distance shot, and he was slow in following up when Cal backed away. When he realised what was going on, he tried to charge down the shot and block it before Cal could release. He was a moment too slow though, and out of practice with basketball. His huge hand swept the air next to the ball as it soared past and slotted itself neatly into the basket. Piotr came to a stop and turned to watch the ball drop through the net. "Good shot!" The big man didn't seem at all put out, he was clearly impressed.
"Thanks, bro," Cal stated with a grin. Basketball was one of these few things where being around other people rarely made him better at it, and he was damn proud of it. "Good defense," he added, walking towards the ball to pick it up. "So, anyway - anything dangerous about your mutation I should know about? I'm kind've aching to copy it, here." He picked up the ball and threw it to Piotr.
Anything dangerous about Piotr's mutation? The big man thoughtfully stamped on the ground. Finding it solid, he smiled and shook his head. "No. It is fine here." The smile came with a hint of hesitation, since he was far from sure what this was going to involve. As much as Piotr never used it and wasn't out as a mutant at home, he was comfortable with what he was and what he could do. It was part of him. And having someone copy that was weird. Not bad, just really odd.
"Awesome," Cal stated with a grin, even as he reached for Piotr's mutation. He'd turned into steel the next second, growing a little taller than he just usually was, and whoa, this felt so different from Angie's mutation. This really wasn't just an on-the-surface thing like hers. "Okay, this is so cool," Cal grinned again, watching his hands. He had to be heavier, right, but he didn't feel it - he'd probably gotten way stronger, too.
Piotr had no conception how this was going to work. Despite the announcement that Cal was going to do it, he looked surprised when the other boy grew and shifted into steel form. Piotr had expected to feel SOMETHING when his powers got copied, so the fact that it just happened caught him out.
Still, after the moment of surprise, he had to admit that this was pretty cool. "Yes." He agreed with a grin of his own. He'd never seen his powers from the outside before.
"Don't jump." He suggested with a pointed look at the ground. "You will break the ground." This astroturf was tough, but Piotr doubted that it was tough enough to handle metalled jumping.
"That's gonna make mutant ball pretty impossible to play," Cal thought out loud. Well, okay, maybe not for him, he could always combine this with flight (although he might as well just go with flight and not bother with this), but totally for Piotr. "Not that you, you know," he gestured at Piotr with a half smile, "need the extra genetic help." He reached up to prod his hair, and grinned to find it just as steely as the rest of him. This was so cool.
"Unless someone can fix the court. Is there a power to do that?" The question was totally matter of fact. "A strong piece of cement can take the weight if you jump. But you are heavy now." Piotr actually felt a bit bad, a bit like a killjoy now.
"Yeah, I bet," Cal agreed. Steel, way heavier than flesh. Solid steel, at that; he had to wonder if he was solid all the way through, or if everything inside had kept the shape of his organs. "And uh, yeah, no, we don't have a - matter transmutation mutation, so far."
He looked down at his hands again, smiling a little, then reverted back to flesh and prepared to defend. "But anyway! Basketball."
"That's a shame. " Piotr said with a 'what can you do?' shrug. It jad been worth asking. Speaking of which, he cocked his head and gave Cal a curious look. "How do you say shame in English?" Piotr still had some gaps in his vocabulary, so the question was real. Finding out wasn't the point though. Because just after asking the question, Piotr made a break to the right, trying to drive for the basket. Seems he wasn't entirely without guile. Though he was not exactly great at it. If Cal was paying attention there was a fair chance he'd caught the signs of the attempted deception.
Cal hadn't been expecting the deception, but he'd been far enough away from Piotr that he still had time to come and stand between the Russian teen and the basket, moving on instinct honed over many, many games of ball, before and after joining up here. Of course, the second of reaction time not having been ready for it cost him, and he got a full body check from Piotr and almost fell back on his ass, stumbling back a few steps instead and completely failing to stop Piotr from taking a shot.
Piotr wasn't much of a basketballer, and wasn't a violent persin. But he was definitely used to a bit of rough and a tumble when it comes to games. So he continued his run and took a pretty textboom layup shot. Only once he'd landed did he turn back to Cal. "Are you allright?"" The concern was sincere, though a little tinged with a flush of success. Behind Piotr the ball slotted itself into the net for a point.
"Oh, dude, I'm fine," Cal assured him with a grin. "Bit of a bruised ego, but that'll teach me to pay attention. Did you even want to know or were you just using that question for distraction?"
Piotr jogged over to the basket and grabbed the ball. "I want to know." He tossed Cal the ball and took a defensive stance. Amd was definitely watching for the same trick to be played on him.
Cal smirked, but instead of using the same trick, immediately went on the offensive, trying to dribble round Piotr. With how tall and bulky the guy was, Cal figured he had to have some speed on him and was definitely planning on using it to his advantage.
Cal was faster than Piotr, and they both knew it. Piotr also reckoned Cal was probably better at this game. So he didn't try to engage or steal the ball. He just fell back a bit and tried to keep a wall of toned Russian abs between Cal and the basket, with his hands up to block a shot. If Cal was going to shoot he'd neednsome fancy dribbling or a distance shot.
Cal had already gone for the three-pointer once; this time, he opted for some fancy dribbling to get around Piotr. He was almost successful, too, but he missed his shot and the ball bounced off the board. He immediately jumped to try and get it back before his opponent
Though he was slower than Cal, Piotr was taller and in a better position for the rebound. Cal jumped for the ball to find it swatted aside by one of Piotr's meaty hands. Unfortunately that was all the big Russian could do, he wasn't able to catch the ball. It went bouncing across the court with Piotr charging after it in hot pursuit.
Cal immediately sprinted in the same direction, only to slow down to a simple jog when it became clear neither of them would catch the ball before it went out of bounds. Which, since Piotr had been the last one to touch it, made it Cal's. "That's a shame," he finally gave the other guy his answer, with a smirk at the relevance of the words. "That's how you say it's a shame."
Piotr trotted over and retrieved the ball. "Thank you." He said earnestly as he tossed Cal the ball. "How long will you be able to speak Russian?"
"Right now I'm at, like, an hour or so?" Cal offered, dribbling lazily back towards the basket to give Piotr a chance to get back into a good defensive position. "I've been mimicking it off of another student here, Illyana Rasputin? You should totally look her up." That said, he finally really moved, speeding up all of a sudden to try and catch Piotr by surprise, and be able to get to the basket and dunk that ball.
Piotr had gotten himself into a good position. Which did him absolutely no good. The momentary lurch he felt at tje mention of his sister was more than enough for Cal to dart past. Sure, Piotr chased him, but all that was left for him to do was grab the ball as it fell out of the basket. Piotr just took the ball and dribbled to the top of the key. Apparently he wasn't going to comment.
Cal wasn't a big student of human nature, body language and all that stuff, but even he would have had trouble not picking up on that reaction. Especially since it allowed him to score. He figured they'd already met, and things hadn't gone well? "What, was she an asshole? She can be a bit of an asshole sometimes." He was saying so with a lot of affection, but it was totally true. Vic could testify to that (not that Cal was assigning blame in that whole clusterfuck. It was their mess, thanks.)
Piotr sighed inwardly. He hadn't wanted Cal to catch on. Not that he was surprised, he knew about his terrible poker face. "No, Illyana is fine. But things are complicated. " Even in his mother tongue this was hard to explain. So Piotr settled for blunt honesty. "She's my sister. But we haven't seen each other in years. She wasn't happy to see me."
"Dude." The exclamation was a hundred percent surprise, with an added twenty percent sympathy. Illyana had mentioned having a brother - a biological brother - one she didn't know. "Um. Shit. Wow." Cal ran a hand back through his hair. "Probably give her some time to get used to the idea?"
"That's what I'm doing." Piotr confirmed. He looked down at the basketball that he was tossing awkwardly from one hand to the other. "She is angry with me I don't know what happened, but it must have been hard." This was an entirely depressing topic, one he'd been looking to avoid especially after his conversation with Nico. But Piotr forced a tight smile. "I've looked for her this long, I can wait."
So he had looked for her. Of course; Piotr seemed like a decent guy. That made Cal smile a little, although he was still worried about Illyana, and how that first meeting had gone. He hesitated a few seconds, then went for it. "Yeah, she - wouldn't like me saying anything, but some stuff's been pretty rough. She isn't likely to trust a brother figure right now." He smiled again, encouragingly. "But hey, now you got me on your side. We'll get her there eventually."
The idea that things had been tough for Illyana drew a frown from piotr. As unlikely as he thought it was at this point, he did like to try and believe that wherever she'd been, things had been okay. Well, so much for that. Yet another problem he would have to tell himself to be patient on, if he wanted to help his little sister.
The frown didn't last, not when Piotr had the prospect of an ally in meeting up with his sister. "Thank you." Piotr was a stoic, he didn't really do big flashy emotions very often. But it was pretty clear that the simple offer of help had just scored Cal major points with the big Russian.
"Not gonna lie, it might take a while," Cal added with a small shrug. "You've got a pretty stubborn sister, man. But we'll outstubborn her, eventually."
"Some things never change. She's always been stubborn." Piotr replied with a fond chuckle. "Thank you again. We will have to see." That was enough about his sister to Piotr's mind though. Better to focus on the optimistic offer of help than the challenge of actually fixing years of issues. The big man pointed down at the ball. "Do you want to keep playing?"
"If you're up for it," Cal confirmed with a nod, and a small smirk, before he threw the ball back to Piotr.
No matter how much you loved basketball, playing alone could get boring real fast. Cal hadn't mimicked Jamie's mutation enough that it would stick around when the other guy wasn't around, and the same went for Lu's - not that he would have gone there anyway. Probably.
Ah, who knew.
He moved back behind the three-point line and took the shot, sinking it. Go him? The doors opened as he jogged over to retrieve the ball, and he turned around hopefully.
Hey, new guy. New mountain of a guy. New mountain of a guy who had to like ball if the world made any kind of sense. (Okay, or football. He'd get football - and then some.)
"Hey," he called out, grabbing the ball and heading over to meet the dude. "You're definitely new. I'm Cal."
Now that he'd had his stuff settled, Piotr was ready to have a look around his new environment. And one priority for a workout junkie like him was finding places to exercise. His impromptu tour of the grounds had shown some sporting grounds out the back, which looked like as good a place to start as any. Given that Piotr was dressed in shorts and a muscle shirt, he was pretty obviously out there to do some exercising. What he hadn't expected was to be intercepted straight out of the door. Still, meeting new people was definitely a goal too, and the fact that Cal had approached him got around most of Piotr's awkwardness. The rest of that could be expressed in his slightly crooked smile. "hello, yes I am new. My name is Piotr, pleased to meet you." The big man extended his hand to shake. There was something a bit stiff and rote learned about the whole thing. But then introductions are pretty much what gets hammered into you in language classes, and Piotr was definitely not a native English speaker.
Oh, foreign accent, sounded - Russian? Cal thought about it for half a second and figured that yeah, right now, he could speak Russian. "Right back atcha," he told the guy with a grin, in perfect, native-sounding Russian. "And before you think I'm also from the motherland - I'm just a mimic. You know it, I know it."
The sudden reply in Russian got a surprised blink from Piotr. he hadn't even had time to form the question about whether or not Cal was also Russian before he got the explanation for it though. "Amazing. You have no accent at all!" Piotr certainly sounded impressed by that. Then he stopped to think about the implications of that, and he frowned thoughtfully. "A mimic? So you're copying me right now?"That was a little weird. Not threatening or upsetting, just....weird. At least Piotr was able to express himself more easily in Russian.
"Yep," Cal confirmed with a nod. "Just knowledge and abilities, though - not your mutation. What is it?" He'd learned the hard way not to go around mimicking mutations without knowing what they were. "And also, do you wanna play ball," he added with an inviting half-smile, holding the ball up in one hand. No reason they couldn't chat while they played after all.
"Let's play." Piotr grinned and stepped onto the court. Basketball wasn't his game, but he'd played in school often enough. And a friendly game of anything seemed pretty good. Certainly better than his reception from some of the other students. Which he wasn't going to think about now.
This was the second time he'd been asked about his powers already. Clearly that must be the thing to do at this school. At least Piotr could explain them in Russian. While he answered the question he set himself up to defend the basket "I can turn my body into steel. It makes me very strong and very tough."
"I bet," Cal agreed easily, and threw the ball to Piotr, moving into position. It'd probably look a lot like Angie's mutation, although - different on the inside. "So all of you turns into steel? Down to your organs?"
Piotr threw the ball back, the classic one two to start off a one on one game. "I'm not sure. But I think so. I don't need to breathe and I stop being hungry when I change." It was refreshing to actually discuss his powers, so Piotr answered openly and didn't hold anything back. He was a lot more wary of a break for the basket than he was of revealing secrets. "So if you know what I know, can you read minds?" The idea didn't seem to worry Piotr too much. He sounded more curious than concerned.
"Oh, no," Cal assured him, shaking his head as he started to dribble towards the basket - walking pace for now, unless Piotr went for the ball. "It's really just knowledge that I get, like - stuff related to skills and abilities, really? I have no idea what you think about anything, I just know what you know about school subjects or cooking or, like, fishing or whatever." Really random examples, yeah, so what?
"So now two people can make proper pierogi?" Witty quips weren't usually Piotr's way, so the joke was really more of a test balloon. Still, it was a mark of the good first impression Cal had made. Giving Piotr the chance to do something active was a great way to cut the ice. Speaking of which, the big man made an experimental bat at the ball. Just like the joke it was a case of testing the waters.
Cal saw the attempt coming and easily evaded, sidestepping and breaking into a jog. "When I'm around you, anyway," Cal confirmed. The jog got upgraded to a run - he had more he wanted to say, but first, he wanted to try and score.
That was an interesting revelation, one that Piotr filed away to ask about later. For now he focused on keeping himself between Cal and the basket. The other boy was faster than him, so Piotr tried to use his size and superior bulk to try and zone him away from the basket.
God, the guy was huge. Cal only saw one way to pull this off - surprising him, by darting away from the basket and taking the shot as soon as he'd passed the three-point line again.
Piotr had clearly not expected the distance shot, and he was slow in following up when Cal backed away. When he realised what was going on, he tried to charge down the shot and block it before Cal could release. He was a moment too slow though, and out of practice with basketball. His huge hand swept the air next to the ball as it soared past and slotted itself neatly into the basket. Piotr came to a stop and turned to watch the ball drop through the net. "Good shot!" The big man didn't seem at all put out, he was clearly impressed.
"Thanks, bro," Cal stated with a grin. Basketball was one of these few things where being around other people rarely made him better at it, and he was damn proud of it. "Good defense," he added, walking towards the ball to pick it up. "So, anyway - anything dangerous about your mutation I should know about? I'm kind've aching to copy it, here." He picked up the ball and threw it to Piotr.
Anything dangerous about Piotr's mutation? The big man thoughtfully stamped on the ground. Finding it solid, he smiled and shook his head. "No. It is fine here." The smile came with a hint of hesitation, since he was far from sure what this was going to involve. As much as Piotr never used it and wasn't out as a mutant at home, he was comfortable with what he was and what he could do. It was part of him. And having someone copy that was weird. Not bad, just really odd.
"Awesome," Cal stated with a grin, even as he reached for Piotr's mutation. He'd turned into steel the next second, growing a little taller than he just usually was, and whoa, this felt so different from Angie's mutation. This really wasn't just an on-the-surface thing like hers. "Okay, this is so cool," Cal grinned again, watching his hands. He had to be heavier, right, but he didn't feel it - he'd probably gotten way stronger, too.
Piotr had no conception how this was going to work. Despite the announcement that Cal was going to do it, he looked surprised when the other boy grew and shifted into steel form. Piotr had expected to feel SOMETHING when his powers got copied, so the fact that it just happened caught him out.
Still, after the moment of surprise, he had to admit that this was pretty cool. "Yes." He agreed with a grin of his own. He'd never seen his powers from the outside before.
"Don't jump." He suggested with a pointed look at the ground. "You will break the ground." This astroturf was tough, but Piotr doubted that it was tough enough to handle metalled jumping.
"That's gonna make mutant ball pretty impossible to play," Cal thought out loud. Well, okay, maybe not for him, he could always combine this with flight (although he might as well just go with flight and not bother with this), but totally for Piotr. "Not that you, you know," he gestured at Piotr with a half smile, "need the extra genetic help." He reached up to prod his hair, and grinned to find it just as steely as the rest of him. This was so cool.
"Unless someone can fix the court. Is there a power to do that?" The question was totally matter of fact. "A strong piece of cement can take the weight if you jump. But you are heavy now." Piotr actually felt a bit bad, a bit like a killjoy now.
"Yeah, I bet," Cal agreed. Steel, way heavier than flesh. Solid steel, at that; he had to wonder if he was solid all the way through, or if everything inside had kept the shape of his organs. "And uh, yeah, no, we don't have a - matter transmutation mutation, so far."
He looked down at his hands again, smiling a little, then reverted back to flesh and prepared to defend. "But anyway! Basketball."
"That's a shame. " Piotr said with a 'what can you do?' shrug. It jad been worth asking. Speaking of which, he cocked his head and gave Cal a curious look. "How do you say shame in English?" Piotr still had some gaps in his vocabulary, so the question was real. Finding out wasn't the point though. Because just after asking the question, Piotr made a break to the right, trying to drive for the basket. Seems he wasn't entirely without guile. Though he was not exactly great at it. If Cal was paying attention there was a fair chance he'd caught the signs of the attempted deception.
Cal hadn't been expecting the deception, but he'd been far enough away from Piotr that he still had time to come and stand between the Russian teen and the basket, moving on instinct honed over many, many games of ball, before and after joining up here. Of course, the second of reaction time not having been ready for it cost him, and he got a full body check from Piotr and almost fell back on his ass, stumbling back a few steps instead and completely failing to stop Piotr from taking a shot.
Piotr wasn't much of a basketballer, and wasn't a violent persin. But he was definitely used to a bit of rough and a tumble when it comes to games. So he continued his run and took a pretty textboom layup shot. Only once he'd landed did he turn back to Cal. "Are you allright?"" The concern was sincere, though a little tinged with a flush of success. Behind Piotr the ball slotted itself into the net for a point.
"Oh, dude, I'm fine," Cal assured him with a grin. "Bit of a bruised ego, but that'll teach me to pay attention. Did you even want to know or were you just using that question for distraction?"
Piotr jogged over to the basket and grabbed the ball. "I want to know." He tossed Cal the ball and took a defensive stance. Amd was definitely watching for the same trick to be played on him.
Cal smirked, but instead of using the same trick, immediately went on the offensive, trying to dribble round Piotr. With how tall and bulky the guy was, Cal figured he had to have some speed on him and was definitely planning on using it to his advantage.
Cal was faster than Piotr, and they both knew it. Piotr also reckoned Cal was probably better at this game. So he didn't try to engage or steal the ball. He just fell back a bit and tried to keep a wall of toned Russian abs between Cal and the basket, with his hands up to block a shot. If Cal was going to shoot he'd neednsome fancy dribbling or a distance shot.
Cal had already gone for the three-pointer once; this time, he opted for some fancy dribbling to get around Piotr. He was almost successful, too, but he missed his shot and the ball bounced off the board. He immediately jumped to try and get it back before his opponent
Though he was slower than Cal, Piotr was taller and in a better position for the rebound. Cal jumped for the ball to find it swatted aside by one of Piotr's meaty hands. Unfortunately that was all the big Russian could do, he wasn't able to catch the ball. It went bouncing across the court with Piotr charging after it in hot pursuit.
Cal immediately sprinted in the same direction, only to slow down to a simple jog when it became clear neither of them would catch the ball before it went out of bounds. Which, since Piotr had been the last one to touch it, made it Cal's. "That's a shame," he finally gave the other guy his answer, with a smirk at the relevance of the words. "That's how you say it's a shame."
Piotr trotted over and retrieved the ball. "Thank you." He said earnestly as he tossed Cal the ball. "How long will you be able to speak Russian?"
"Right now I'm at, like, an hour or so?" Cal offered, dribbling lazily back towards the basket to give Piotr a chance to get back into a good defensive position. "I've been mimicking it off of another student here, Illyana Rasputin? You should totally look her up." That said, he finally really moved, speeding up all of a sudden to try and catch Piotr by surprise, and be able to get to the basket and dunk that ball.
Piotr had gotten himself into a good position. Which did him absolutely no good. The momentary lurch he felt at tje mention of his sister was more than enough for Cal to dart past. Sure, Piotr chased him, but all that was left for him to do was grab the ball as it fell out of the basket. Piotr just took the ball and dribbled to the top of the key. Apparently he wasn't going to comment.
Cal wasn't a big student of human nature, body language and all that stuff, but even he would have had trouble not picking up on that reaction. Especially since it allowed him to score. He figured they'd already met, and things hadn't gone well? "What, was she an asshole? She can be a bit of an asshole sometimes." He was saying so with a lot of affection, but it was totally true. Vic could testify to that (not that Cal was assigning blame in that whole clusterfuck. It was their mess, thanks.)
Piotr sighed inwardly. He hadn't wanted Cal to catch on. Not that he was surprised, he knew about his terrible poker face. "No, Illyana is fine. But things are complicated. " Even in his mother tongue this was hard to explain. So Piotr settled for blunt honesty. "She's my sister. But we haven't seen each other in years. She wasn't happy to see me."
"Dude." The exclamation was a hundred percent surprise, with an added twenty percent sympathy. Illyana had mentioned having a brother - a biological brother - one she didn't know. "Um. Shit. Wow." Cal ran a hand back through his hair. "Probably give her some time to get used to the idea?"
"That's what I'm doing." Piotr confirmed. He looked down at the basketball that he was tossing awkwardly from one hand to the other. "She is angry with me I don't know what happened, but it must have been hard." This was an entirely depressing topic, one he'd been looking to avoid especially after his conversation with Nico. But Piotr forced a tight smile. "I've looked for her this long, I can wait."
So he had looked for her. Of course; Piotr seemed like a decent guy. That made Cal smile a little, although he was still worried about Illyana, and how that first meeting had gone. He hesitated a few seconds, then went for it. "Yeah, she - wouldn't like me saying anything, but some stuff's been pretty rough. She isn't likely to trust a brother figure right now." He smiled again, encouragingly. "But hey, now you got me on your side. We'll get her there eventually."
The idea that things had been tough for Illyana drew a frown from piotr. As unlikely as he thought it was at this point, he did like to try and believe that wherever she'd been, things had been okay. Well, so much for that. Yet another problem he would have to tell himself to be patient on, if he wanted to help his little sister.
The frown didn't last, not when Piotr had the prospect of an ally in meeting up with his sister. "Thank you." Piotr was a stoic, he didn't really do big flashy emotions very often. But it was pretty clear that the simple offer of help had just scored Cal major points with the big Russian.
"Not gonna lie, it might take a while," Cal added with a small shrug. "You've got a pretty stubborn sister, man. But we'll outstubborn her, eventually."
"Some things never change. She's always been stubborn." Piotr replied with a fond chuckle. "Thank you again. We will have to see." That was enough about his sister to Piotr's mind though. Better to focus on the optimistic offer of help than the challenge of actually fixing years of issues. The big man pointed down at the ball. "Do you want to keep playing?"
"If you're up for it," Cal confirmed with a nod, and a small smirk, before he threw the ball back to Piotr.
