Illyana and Piotr 28/11/2014
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om_main It was cold, now that the sun was setting - or at least, cold enough that Illyana had thrown on a jacket to hike out to the woods. She wasn't even entirely sure why she was going back out to check on the snowman, let alone walking there, except it was cold, and clear, and she'd always loved nights like this.
Or maybe, she considered more practically, it was just because there was nothing good on tv and she didn't feel like doing her homework.
One way or another, it was a good night for a walk, and she smiled at the sight of the snowman once she reached the clearing. Still standing. Hopefully it would stay cold enough for it to last a while longer.
Piotr had gotten his assignments and his daily workout done pretty much immediately after class finished. It wasn't that he was incredibly studious, it just always bugged him when he had an unfinished task left sitting around for ages. Which meant that he was at a bit of a loose end as evening fell. He'd caught up on the TV shows he was following (and really, America had such a shockingly large amount of TV, you'd think he could find more good stuff to watch), so he decided to head out into the woods to find something to draw. The cold didn't bother Piotr much, not when he'd brought winter clothes from back home. So he felt comfortable just wandering around with his sketch pad till he found something good.
Coming across a snowman in a clearing had gotten a nostalgic smile out of the big man. He hadn't built one of those in years, but it still gave Piotr a little chill of nostalgia for back home. Which was as good a reason as any to stop and break out the pencil. He'd found a rock to sit on that was really snow-free, and had started drawing the scene around the snowman.
He'd been looking down at his pad when Yana entered the clearing. `There was a dense pine tree obscuring Piotr's perch from where she'd been approaching, meaning that they were just a few yards apart when she finally stepped into view. Piotr was caught out when he looked up for more detail to find his awkwardly estranged little sister standing right in front of him.
"Illyana!" And of course the surprise meant that the thought went straight from brain to mouth without Piotr having the chance to reflect on whether he wanted to call attention to himself. Because suddenly he felt very much like he'd been caught somewhere he shouldn't be. Things had been getting a little better, at least now they could say hi in the hall without Yana teleporting out or totally cold shouldering him. But that didn't stop Piotr getting that hand in the cookie jar sensation.
Not expecting anyone to be the clearing, let alone anyone calling out her name, Illyana startled, eyes widening as she looked around to find the voice's source. Her eyes fell on Piotr, sitting on a rock and apparently as little bothered by the cold as herself. With the memory of Cal's most recent lecture on the subject still relatively fresh in her mind, Illyana took a deep breath and forced a faint smile. She could do this. All she had to do was be relatively polite and make small talk. If she could do that with strangers at Harry's parties, she should be able to manage it with Piotr.
"Hi. Sorry, I didn't realize you were here. What do you think of our snowman?"
One time, back when he'd been 15, Piotr had run into an enormous black bear while out in woods back home. That thing had towered over even his metallic form and had had teeth the size of his index finger. And apart from a nervous flutter it hadn't really scared Piotr. So if that wasn't scary, why was he so worried about a girl half his size, whose most aggressive move towards him so far had been to vanish in a flash of light?
The fact that he'd been sketching Yana's snowman didn't make the feeling any easier. Or any less illogical for that matter. It wasn't like he was breaking it. So Piotr tried to ignore the buitterflies and return the smile. Which probably didn't come out any stiffer or more awkward than usual at the end of all that.
"I like it." He replied with a simple nod. Now it DEFINITELY reminded him of home, and of the times they'd built those together as kids. But yeah, not bringing that up either. Instead Piotr held up his pad briefly. "I was just drawing the scene. Do you mind?"
Did she mind? Honestly, it hadn't occurred to her to object to him being there, which she supposed Cal would say was a step in the right direction. In any case, something about Piotr and snowmen tugged at her memories - flashes, long forgotten, incomplete and tattered, but with nothing inherently negative attached to them. She shook her head and took a few steps closer. "Not like we own the woods," she pointed out, then sighed. She might as well get it overwith. Not only did she feel sort of bad about it herself, but she was never going to hear the end of it until she'd apologized, at the very least. And Piotr probably deserved that much.
"Look, Cal pointed out that I was kind of a bitch. When you got here, I mean. I'm sorry. I just...I don't do family." Which, as Cal had also pointed out, wasn't precisely true. But at the very least, she wasn't having anything to do with any family she hadn't chosen herself.
"You do not have to be sorry. We were both shocked." Piotr could hold a grudge or nurse an emotional scar with the best of them. But in this case forgiveness came easily. Still, he was too fundamentally honest to hide the fact that that wasn't what he'd wanted to hear. Which was a lot more about her not doing family. This was not the way he'd ever envisioned their reunion.
Still, he had to be patient, much as that was harder than usual. Cal's advice helped on his end too. Piotr tried to shake off the touch of disappointment and forced himself to smile wider. "There is no pressure. This is not easy." For both of them. Because apart from having wanted to find her, what bond did Piotr really still have with his sister? Apart from family features what really connected them?
That was when his eyes flicked to the snowman. There was something at least. A way to try and keep the conversation away from difficult problems if nothing else. "You are better at snowmen." He remarked and pointed at the snowman with the back of his pencil.
No pressure. Right. Illyana managed, barely, to keep from directing a skeptical look at Piotr. The smile wasn't fooling her - he wasn't accepting this as readily as he appeared. Still, there didn't seem to be any reason to point that out, considering that he wasn't pushing the issue. And, to be fair, this probably wasn't any easier for him than it was for her, even if it was difficult to remember that.
Her forehead furrowed, though, as she followed his gaze towards the snowman. "Better than what?" she asked, genuinely curious. "I didn't make it by myself; Nico and River helped."
After his encounters with Cal and Nico it had occurred to Piotr that things were pretty much the opposite of how he'd pictured they'd be. When thinking about his sister before he'd always imagined that she was alone and isolated. But in this place it was Piotr who was the outsider. The mention of Nico and River just reinforced that impression. Not necessarily the best thought to have. Though if he was going to be determined to view things positively (and he was!) then it made things better.
"Better at building them. When we did that as children they were much smaller. We could not reach that high without Mikhail " Piotr was focused on the moment and the reminiscence of what was clearly a happy memory. Which meant he didn't stop to consider that he'd decided to leave the rest of their family out of the picture for now.
"He always put on the head and made the face, but he always made them frown until I'd yell at him and tell him to do it right," Illyana surprised herself by saying, smiling just a little at the memory. Realizing what she was doing, she erased the smile and shrugged, as if she hadn't said anything at all. "Anyway, Nico had Bob help, too. He's buried somewhere in the woods." With any luck, mentioning undead zombie minions would divert Piotr's attention from the slip, even though his mention of Mikhail had summoned up other vague memories of a still older brother.
Not that she cared. Because she didn't. She just sort.of wondered how old Mikhail was, that was all.
"Bob? That is something Nico summoned, yes?" The distraction worked, though maybe not with the intended emotional overtones. Piotr had already heard about Nico's powers after all. And hadn't seen a zombie yet, which meant that he wasn't as creeped out as one might expect. It was a weird sounding power, but it didn't quite seem real yet. Which was why Piotr thought of Bob as an it rather than a him.
That was a side issue though. Piotr wasn't going to be completely sent off course. "I am glad you remember. " He said with an open smile. If her not running from him was a good start, then this was an excellent step in tje right direction. Because he'd wondered if she would. Piotr suspected his own kemories had a big tint of nostalgia to them.
Illyana nodded a response to Piotr's question, not bothering to correct him as to Bob's gender. It might matter to Nico, but she really wasn't overly concerned as to whether Bob was referred to as he, she, or it, so long as people remembered to call Kosti "she". In any case, she was relieved that he'd apparently not jumped on her other comment...
And then he did. Yana tensed a little, then sighed. It was her own fault - she couldn't blame Piotr for picking up on it. "I remember bits and pieces. Mostly when I'm not trying to." Or when she was asleep, but she wasn't about to mention that. "Can I see your picture?" she asked, grasping on the most immediately available change of subject.
When someone sighed like that and tried to change the topic twice in as many minutes, even Piotr was perceptive enough to realise he needed to reign in the desire to probe. Though it was more than obvious that he'd noticed and wanted to ask.
Still, he obediently turned the pad for her to see. The sketch was half finished, and the clearing was still mostly just silhouettes of pencil lines. What was there was good though, the lines were clear and strong.
"It is not finished. I am not sure about this one. Maybe I will throw it away." If Yana wanted a topic change then Piotr would oblige. What he considered a mediocre sketch would just have to do. At least they were talking.
"It's good," Illyana disputed, clearly surprised and ignoring, for now, the knowledge that Piotr was obviously only going along with the request to humor her. She'd take it, if it meant staying away from more sensitive topics. In any case, even incomplete, the picture was way better than anything she could have done, though considering that she had no artistic talent whatsoever she supposed that wasn't surprising. "Do you draw a lot?"
"I do. I started when I was 10." Piotr confirmed with a brief nod. The snowman sketch was about half way through the sketch book, which looked pretty new. Piotr burned through them quickly. "I you want I can show you some time." Normally Piotr didn't really show off his work. The drawings were more for his own enjoyment than for display. Plus there was the whole awkward self consciousness thing. But Yana would be a definite exception.
"You -" she was about to say he didn't have to, but paused. She was going to have to talk to him, that much was obvious. His artwork was a safe subject, so...why not? "Sure. I'd like that." She smiled crookedly. "I can't draw anything. Or at least, not and make it look anything like what it's supposed to."
It seemed like they'd found a safe topic, for the moment at least. "That is just practice. " Piotr shrugged, but his offhanded reaction couldn't hide his pleasure at Yana's crooked smile. "I only have one other book with me. It has pictures from home." Which he mostly mentioned to be sure she'd be okay with him showing her that. Right now Piotr wasn't taking anything for granted.
Illyana looked at him speculatively, wondering if this was some kind of trick, and decided he couldn't very well have come prepared to show her pictures of his home (not hers, she reminded herself) considering that he'd had no idea she'd even be here. "Okay," she said, feigning indifference.
"The book in my room has more pictures from Russia." piotr explained as he leafed backwards. It was true, most of the pages Illyana could see in passing were seens that would be familiar from Westchester. The skill was such that even when Piotr didn't linger it was pretty easy to tell where he'd been when he'd sketched a particular scene. Then things started to become less familiar as the sketches journeyed back in time. There were a few pictures of planes that looked like they'd been done from an airport terminal lobby. Then there were a few Moscow landmarks, the Kremlin the Bolschoi theatre. And finally, things started to become pastoral. Scenes of fields and forests, and a few shots of a small rustic looking one story house. Piotr didn't linger on any of them, he was just carefully leafing to the front. The very first picture was of a man and a woman standing together in a fashion that was obviously posed for the drawing. They were older, with carefully pencilled in crows lines around their eyes and shaded streaks of what was probably meant to be grey in their hair. But the resemblance between the man and Piotr was fairly obvious when you had the sketch and the boy to compare. Piotr didn't say anything, but the searching look he gave Yana made it fairly clear who this was.
Illyana watched with interest as Piot flipped through the sketch book, smiling a little at the images of Moscow. She'd never seen much of the city, but some things were unmistakable, and she felt a faint sense of homesickness. Maybe she and Cal should go there, too? At least they'd be able to speak the language...
Musings as to the itinerary of their trip to Europe faded, though, as the images became both more and less familiar. The polite smile she'd been wearing faded at the sight of a simple one story house, and she tensed, eyes widening almost imperceptibly. It looked familiar, even after all these years - not so much so that she'd have recognized it in another context, but given that Piotr had drawn it...
Her eyes settled on the final picture, and she bit at her lip, her hand unconsciously drifting forward as if to touch the picture, until she realized what she was doing and pulled it back. "They're very good," she said, her voice shaky as she ripped her eyes away from the image and turned to look up at Piotr. "I like the one of the Kremlin. Did you see it on your way here?"
That reaction had definitely not gone unnoticed. But noticing it and knowing how to respond to it were two very different things. Piotr wasn't biting his lip, but he definitely looked out of sorts. It took him a second to properly respond. "Ah, yes." He said with a jerky nod. "I was in Moscow for one day before I flew to America. I made some pictures of Russia to have memories here." Had he known he'd be showing them to Yana, he'd probably have done a lot more. Still, he was glad he'd done any! And talking about the Kremlin was easier than the other ones at least.
"I was there for three years, but I didn't see much of it," Illyana admitted. "I remember the domes, though. There's nothing quite like them here. Are you going back for the holidays?"
"Not this year." Piotr said with a shake of his big head. It has only been a few weeks. Flying back is too much money. I will go next year. " it felt odd, not being around his family for Christmas. Though he suspected that was another thing they didn't share. "What are you doing for your break?" The question was simple, though keen, curiosity.
Illyana grinned, relieved that the subject had changed and, for the first time in the conversation, excited about being able to answer. "Going to Europe with Cal - well, for part of it, anyway. I've got an interview next week with Empire Records," she explained, "so when kind of depends on whether or not I get the job. But we're going couchsurfing for a few days of it, at least. Other than that...I don't know. Hanging around here, I guess. Vance and Nico will be around, even if everyone else goes home."
Piotr nodded earnestly to her news. But something seemed odd to him. "You are going to Europe but you are also working? And you have no plans? How do you book flights?" Clearly he hadn't considered her powers, right now he seemed earnestly confused.
Illyana frowned, trying to figure out what Piotr was talking about. "We don't? Why would we book flights?" Hadn't Cal told him...well, maybe not, though she'd have thought it would've been obvious, considering their last meeting. "I teleport," she pointed out. "So Cal does too, when he's with me. We tested it out when Pietro went to Rome; we can hit Spain, no problem." Or, well, they'd probably end up crashing for a while once they got there, but still. Not a real problem. "So, we'll go for a couple of days, whenever I don't have to work. If I get the job."
Of course, hew'd totally forgottoen that. Which was dumb, given that it had literally been one of the first things she'd done in his presence. Piotr felt just a little bit like an idiot. And wasn't quite so good at hiding it in that first 'doh' moment.Still, as mistakes he'd made went, that one was minor, so Piotr wasn't TOO mortified, this time. "A good power to have." He commented with a nod. "Where will you go in Europe?" At that point he remembered something from earlier, going back in that methodical way of his. "And what is couch surfing?" Judging by his bemused tone of voice, Piotr was clearly trying to picture how to catch a wave with a couch.
Illyana laughed, mostly at the puzzled look on Piotr's face. It wasn't hard to follow what he was probably picturing, considering the mental image that had popped into her head when she'd first heard the term. "Near as I can tell, it means you sleep on someone's couch for free?" she explained. "I hadn't heard of it, but Cal had. It pretty much fits our budget, and he'll pick up the language once we're there, so it's all good." She grinned. "And we're going to Spain, I think - well, if we can find a decent photo of somewhere to 'port to. I'd've rather gone to Venice," she admitted with a shrug, "but Cal's got a thing for Spain, and it's not like we can't go again at Spring Break or next summer or whenever now that we know we can get to Europe." Or she could drag Nico along sometime when they didn't feel like going to class. She'd have to mention it to him sometime and see if he wanted to go.
"Ah, so you will be a house guest?" That made sense, even if the term was still odd. "Cal learned Russian from me. he was very good." Piotr was glad that Cal was going with Yana, and not just for the language. The other young man had made a reliable impression on Piotr, which saved him from having to worry. And from wondering whether or not he was allowed to worry. Instead he decided to focus on the trip. "I have never been outside of Russia. I have always wanted to see some of Europe. Will you show me pictures? Then I will know where to go." Piotr smiled, the easiest one he'd given her yet. There was still plenty of minefield to tiptoe around, but at least this bit of conversation didn't make Piotr feel awkward.
Illyana tilted her head a little, wondering if Piotr was up to something, then shrugged. Honestly, if he wanted to go lose himself in Spain, she didn't have a problem with that. "Sure, why not? I'll take a ton anyway; I always do. I need to visualize to get anywhere, and I might want to go back sometime." She chewed at her lip a little, then pulled out her phone and offered, "I've got some of Rome, from when we did the test run. If you want to see those."
"I would." Piotr confirmed with a nod. He didn't have an ulterior motive (well, apart from wanting to have a conversation with her), and didn't seem to be aware of her suspicion either. He just looked openly curious as she pulled out her phone. Though he did file away the fact that she needed visualisation for her powers. Just another little detail he now knew about his little sister, the virtual stranger.
Illyana made no real attempt to cover the screen as she flipped through a few pictures from Vance's party, pausing for a moment to smile at one of him giving her a "why are you taking my picture again?" look before moving on. "Ah, got it," she said finally as she found a picture of Pietro's hotel room. "Okay, probably not that one," she admitted, flipping forward a few more and holding out the phone to him to flip through himself. "They're mostly not famous places," she admitted. "I was looking for teleport sites. But there's a few."
Piotr watched the pictures flip by quietly, but with concentration, making quiet mental notes to himself. The picture of Vance made him smile a bit too. It didn't take a genius to see that they were even better friends than Piotr had assumed, and that pleased him. When Yana handed him the phone he was tempted to flip backwards rather than forwards, to see more of her life rather than her tourist adventures. But no, that would be crossing a big line even if they knew each other better. he quashed the urge and started slowly scrolling through Rome and her travels there. There wasn't an obvious pattern to what pictures he lingered on for how long, though of course he did look at the big sights when they came up. After a few pictures, he smiled crookedly. "It is like Moscow. The big buildings are beautiful. The normal houses are all old." It did remind him of the way things were in Russia, which made him feel oddly nostalgic for home.
Illyana laughed and nodded. "Very like. But without the onion shaped domes. I miss those," she admitted, making a face. "I kept looking around for buildings with them, but there weren't any."
Piotr chuckled at that. He had to agree though, the spires of the Roman Catholic churches just weren't the same without the onion shapes he was used to. "But it was not cold, yes?" He said cheerfully. Sweeping his arm around, he indicated the snow around them. "This is not bad, but warm is also good."
"I don't know - it seems weird when it's warm in what's supposed to be winter," she complained, wrinkling her nose. "I was starting to think it was never going to snow here, and it's still not cold, though it was colder at the parade, at least. There's pictures in there of that too, if you want to see New York City - just flip back through."
"It is not so bad. At home I often cannot sit out and draw." Piotr pointed out and lifted his pad. You would not have a parade in a real Russian winter, yes?" Piotr flipped back through the photos now, with just a hint of bemusement stemming from the temptation he'd felt before. "I must go to the next parade. This is fun. " He said as he flicked through the images.
"I don't know, we still had them in Minnesota," she said doubtfully. Granted, nothing like the one here, but still. She grinned, though, and nodded agreement to his description of the parade. "It was fun. I mean, I've been watching it on tv for years, but actually being there was awesome. We saw the cast of Annie perform, and the Rockettes, and - oh, there." She pointed at the picture on the screen and grinned. "Idina Menzel. Who actually looked at me and smiled - or, well, she looked in my direction and smiled," she admitted. "But it was still awesome."
"I do not know what those are." Piotr admitted with a crooked smile. "Except Idina Menzel. She is the singer, yes?" That was not something your average macho Russian lad would be expected to know. But damnit, Piotr liked musicals. And he had a feeling that unlike back home, Illyana was not about to laugh at him for it. Especially not since she'd already seen the drawing pad.
If Illyana showed any surprise, it was because Piotr hadn't heard of the Rockettes, not because he recognized Idina Menzel's name. It didn't seem worth pointing out, though, so she just nodded. "Wicked, Rent...she's in If/Then, now." She made a face. "I was hoping she'd sing something from that, but she just did Christmas songs." She reached over to forward the pictures, trying to remember if she had any more of her performance, but the next was a selfie she'd taken of her and Vance with the parade behind them. "Mmm, sorry - took that one to prove to Becky we were actually there." She smiled a little awkwardly. "That's Vance, by the way. I don't know if you've met him or not."
Piotr nodded along to the list of musicals. It wasn't that he was a big enough fan to know all of that, but the names were familiar at least. It was the selfie though that got his attention. "No, I have not met him. Is he your friend?" There was something a little bit different about Yana's smile when she mentioned Vance. But no, Piotr had to be imagining that. he was terrible at reading people, and he knew it. Still, he'd make a point to try and meet Vance, to see what he was like.
"My boyfriend," Illyana corrected, her face warming a little, but she clicked past the picture rather than elaborate. The next one was a too dark picture taken outside the theatre at Rocky Horror, and she shrugged and made a face. "Looks like that's it. We went to Rocky Horror that night with everyone else, but I screwed something up with the flash - gotta remember to delete those."
The word boyfriend raised about a million questions, starting with 'What?!'. But Yana had moved on before her brother could actually phrase them. And after that there was the whole not actually being part of her life thing stopping him. So he clammed up the questions and refocussed on the next pictures. Not what he wanted, but again he had to force himself to be patient.
The dark pictures fron Rocky Horror actually helped, since Piotr had to squint to try and see what was going on. "Who did you go with?"
"Oh, a bunch of people," Illyana replied with a shrug. "It was fun. I dressed up as Columbia." She pointed out what she was pretty sure was herself in a top hat in one of the pictures. "Gotta go again sometime when more of my friends are around; most of them went home for Thanksgiving." She made a face. "Come to think, I should probably head back inside. I want to check on Nico - he looked pretty crappy when I saw him earlier." Or really hungover, which wouldn't surprise her, considering how drunk he'd looked at the show.
This was probably the longest conversation Piotr had had with Illyana in living memory (and probably longer than his last few talks to Mikhail as well). Still, when Illyana said that she had to go it seemed far too short. But what was he going to say? Especially if her friend wasn't feeling well. His meeting with Nico had been odd, but not actually bad, so that Piotr certainly didn't wish the other boy ill. "Of course." he said with a nod and a warm smile. "I hope he feels better soon. And we will talk again soon, yes?" Not that piotr was really angling for a firm commitment. It was just hard to let go without something at least.
"Umm...sure, yeah," Illyana replied, suddenly uncomfortable once again as she realized just how casually she'd been talking with Piotr, and for how long. "Soon. Or, y'know, kind of soon," she hedged, "because I might get that job, and finals are coming up and I have to plan for Europe and stuff, so I'm probably going to be pretty busy." She forced a smile. "Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving." And with that, she summoned up a stepping disk and disappeared. .
Or maybe, she considered more practically, it was just because there was nothing good on tv and she didn't feel like doing her homework.
One way or another, it was a good night for a walk, and she smiled at the sight of the snowman once she reached the clearing. Still standing. Hopefully it would stay cold enough for it to last a while longer.
Piotr had gotten his assignments and his daily workout done pretty much immediately after class finished. It wasn't that he was incredibly studious, it just always bugged him when he had an unfinished task left sitting around for ages. Which meant that he was at a bit of a loose end as evening fell. He'd caught up on the TV shows he was following (and really, America had such a shockingly large amount of TV, you'd think he could find more good stuff to watch), so he decided to head out into the woods to find something to draw. The cold didn't bother Piotr much, not when he'd brought winter clothes from back home. So he felt comfortable just wandering around with his sketch pad till he found something good.
Coming across a snowman in a clearing had gotten a nostalgic smile out of the big man. He hadn't built one of those in years, but it still gave Piotr a little chill of nostalgia for back home. Which was as good a reason as any to stop and break out the pencil. He'd found a rock to sit on that was really snow-free, and had started drawing the scene around the snowman.
He'd been looking down at his pad when Yana entered the clearing. `There was a dense pine tree obscuring Piotr's perch from where she'd been approaching, meaning that they were just a few yards apart when she finally stepped into view. Piotr was caught out when he looked up for more detail to find his awkwardly estranged little sister standing right in front of him.
"Illyana!" And of course the surprise meant that the thought went straight from brain to mouth without Piotr having the chance to reflect on whether he wanted to call attention to himself. Because suddenly he felt very much like he'd been caught somewhere he shouldn't be. Things had been getting a little better, at least now they could say hi in the hall without Yana teleporting out or totally cold shouldering him. But that didn't stop Piotr getting that hand in the cookie jar sensation.
Not expecting anyone to be the clearing, let alone anyone calling out her name, Illyana startled, eyes widening as she looked around to find the voice's source. Her eyes fell on Piotr, sitting on a rock and apparently as little bothered by the cold as herself. With the memory of Cal's most recent lecture on the subject still relatively fresh in her mind, Illyana took a deep breath and forced a faint smile. She could do this. All she had to do was be relatively polite and make small talk. If she could do that with strangers at Harry's parties, she should be able to manage it with Piotr.
"Hi. Sorry, I didn't realize you were here. What do you think of our snowman?"
One time, back when he'd been 15, Piotr had run into an enormous black bear while out in woods back home. That thing had towered over even his metallic form and had had teeth the size of his index finger. And apart from a nervous flutter it hadn't really scared Piotr. So if that wasn't scary, why was he so worried about a girl half his size, whose most aggressive move towards him so far had been to vanish in a flash of light?
The fact that he'd been sketching Yana's snowman didn't make the feeling any easier. Or any less illogical for that matter. It wasn't like he was breaking it. So Piotr tried to ignore the buitterflies and return the smile. Which probably didn't come out any stiffer or more awkward than usual at the end of all that.
"I like it." He replied with a simple nod. Now it DEFINITELY reminded him of home, and of the times they'd built those together as kids. But yeah, not bringing that up either. Instead Piotr held up his pad briefly. "I was just drawing the scene. Do you mind?"
Did she mind? Honestly, it hadn't occurred to her to object to him being there, which she supposed Cal would say was a step in the right direction. In any case, something about Piotr and snowmen tugged at her memories - flashes, long forgotten, incomplete and tattered, but with nothing inherently negative attached to them. She shook her head and took a few steps closer. "Not like we own the woods," she pointed out, then sighed. She might as well get it overwith. Not only did she feel sort of bad about it herself, but she was never going to hear the end of it until she'd apologized, at the very least. And Piotr probably deserved that much.
"Look, Cal pointed out that I was kind of a bitch. When you got here, I mean. I'm sorry. I just...I don't do family." Which, as Cal had also pointed out, wasn't precisely true. But at the very least, she wasn't having anything to do with any family she hadn't chosen herself.
"You do not have to be sorry. We were both shocked." Piotr could hold a grudge or nurse an emotional scar with the best of them. But in this case forgiveness came easily. Still, he was too fundamentally honest to hide the fact that that wasn't what he'd wanted to hear. Which was a lot more about her not doing family. This was not the way he'd ever envisioned their reunion.
Still, he had to be patient, much as that was harder than usual. Cal's advice helped on his end too. Piotr tried to shake off the touch of disappointment and forced himself to smile wider. "There is no pressure. This is not easy." For both of them. Because apart from having wanted to find her, what bond did Piotr really still have with his sister? Apart from family features what really connected them?
That was when his eyes flicked to the snowman. There was something at least. A way to try and keep the conversation away from difficult problems if nothing else. "You are better at snowmen." He remarked and pointed at the snowman with the back of his pencil.
No pressure. Right. Illyana managed, barely, to keep from directing a skeptical look at Piotr. The smile wasn't fooling her - he wasn't accepting this as readily as he appeared. Still, there didn't seem to be any reason to point that out, considering that he wasn't pushing the issue. And, to be fair, this probably wasn't any easier for him than it was for her, even if it was difficult to remember that.
Her forehead furrowed, though, as she followed his gaze towards the snowman. "Better than what?" she asked, genuinely curious. "I didn't make it by myself; Nico and River helped."
After his encounters with Cal and Nico it had occurred to Piotr that things were pretty much the opposite of how he'd pictured they'd be. When thinking about his sister before he'd always imagined that she was alone and isolated. But in this place it was Piotr who was the outsider. The mention of Nico and River just reinforced that impression. Not necessarily the best thought to have. Though if he was going to be determined to view things positively (and he was!) then it made things better.
"Better at building them. When we did that as children they were much smaller. We could not reach that high without Mikhail " Piotr was focused on the moment and the reminiscence of what was clearly a happy memory. Which meant he didn't stop to consider that he'd decided to leave the rest of their family out of the picture for now.
"He always put on the head and made the face, but he always made them frown until I'd yell at him and tell him to do it right," Illyana surprised herself by saying, smiling just a little at the memory. Realizing what she was doing, she erased the smile and shrugged, as if she hadn't said anything at all. "Anyway, Nico had Bob help, too. He's buried somewhere in the woods." With any luck, mentioning undead zombie minions would divert Piotr's attention from the slip, even though his mention of Mikhail had summoned up other vague memories of a still older brother.
Not that she cared. Because she didn't. She just sort.of wondered how old Mikhail was, that was all.
"Bob? That is something Nico summoned, yes?" The distraction worked, though maybe not with the intended emotional overtones. Piotr had already heard about Nico's powers after all. And hadn't seen a zombie yet, which meant that he wasn't as creeped out as one might expect. It was a weird sounding power, but it didn't quite seem real yet. Which was why Piotr thought of Bob as an it rather than a him.
That was a side issue though. Piotr wasn't going to be completely sent off course. "I am glad you remember. " He said with an open smile. If her not running from him was a good start, then this was an excellent step in tje right direction. Because he'd wondered if she would. Piotr suspected his own kemories had a big tint of nostalgia to them.
Illyana nodded a response to Piotr's question, not bothering to correct him as to Bob's gender. It might matter to Nico, but she really wasn't overly concerned as to whether Bob was referred to as he, she, or it, so long as people remembered to call Kosti "she". In any case, she was relieved that he'd apparently not jumped on her other comment...
And then he did. Yana tensed a little, then sighed. It was her own fault - she couldn't blame Piotr for picking up on it. "I remember bits and pieces. Mostly when I'm not trying to." Or when she was asleep, but she wasn't about to mention that. "Can I see your picture?" she asked, grasping on the most immediately available change of subject.
When someone sighed like that and tried to change the topic twice in as many minutes, even Piotr was perceptive enough to realise he needed to reign in the desire to probe. Though it was more than obvious that he'd noticed and wanted to ask.
Still, he obediently turned the pad for her to see. The sketch was half finished, and the clearing was still mostly just silhouettes of pencil lines. What was there was good though, the lines were clear and strong.
"It is not finished. I am not sure about this one. Maybe I will throw it away." If Yana wanted a topic change then Piotr would oblige. What he considered a mediocre sketch would just have to do. At least they were talking.
"It's good," Illyana disputed, clearly surprised and ignoring, for now, the knowledge that Piotr was obviously only going along with the request to humor her. She'd take it, if it meant staying away from more sensitive topics. In any case, even incomplete, the picture was way better than anything she could have done, though considering that she had no artistic talent whatsoever she supposed that wasn't surprising. "Do you draw a lot?"
"I do. I started when I was 10." Piotr confirmed with a brief nod. The snowman sketch was about half way through the sketch book, which looked pretty new. Piotr burned through them quickly. "I you want I can show you some time." Normally Piotr didn't really show off his work. The drawings were more for his own enjoyment than for display. Plus there was the whole awkward self consciousness thing. But Yana would be a definite exception.
"You -" she was about to say he didn't have to, but paused. She was going to have to talk to him, that much was obvious. His artwork was a safe subject, so...why not? "Sure. I'd like that." She smiled crookedly. "I can't draw anything. Or at least, not and make it look anything like what it's supposed to."
It seemed like they'd found a safe topic, for the moment at least. "That is just practice. " Piotr shrugged, but his offhanded reaction couldn't hide his pleasure at Yana's crooked smile. "I only have one other book with me. It has pictures from home." Which he mostly mentioned to be sure she'd be okay with him showing her that. Right now Piotr wasn't taking anything for granted.
Illyana looked at him speculatively, wondering if this was some kind of trick, and decided he couldn't very well have come prepared to show her pictures of his home (not hers, she reminded herself) considering that he'd had no idea she'd even be here. "Okay," she said, feigning indifference.
"The book in my room has more pictures from Russia." piotr explained as he leafed backwards. It was true, most of the pages Illyana could see in passing were seens that would be familiar from Westchester. The skill was such that even when Piotr didn't linger it was pretty easy to tell where he'd been when he'd sketched a particular scene. Then things started to become less familiar as the sketches journeyed back in time. There were a few pictures of planes that looked like they'd been done from an airport terminal lobby. Then there were a few Moscow landmarks, the Kremlin the Bolschoi theatre. And finally, things started to become pastoral. Scenes of fields and forests, and a few shots of a small rustic looking one story house. Piotr didn't linger on any of them, he was just carefully leafing to the front. The very first picture was of a man and a woman standing together in a fashion that was obviously posed for the drawing. They were older, with carefully pencilled in crows lines around their eyes and shaded streaks of what was probably meant to be grey in their hair. But the resemblance between the man and Piotr was fairly obvious when you had the sketch and the boy to compare. Piotr didn't say anything, but the searching look he gave Yana made it fairly clear who this was.
Illyana watched with interest as Piot flipped through the sketch book, smiling a little at the images of Moscow. She'd never seen much of the city, but some things were unmistakable, and she felt a faint sense of homesickness. Maybe she and Cal should go there, too? At least they'd be able to speak the language...
Musings as to the itinerary of their trip to Europe faded, though, as the images became both more and less familiar. The polite smile she'd been wearing faded at the sight of a simple one story house, and she tensed, eyes widening almost imperceptibly. It looked familiar, even after all these years - not so much so that she'd have recognized it in another context, but given that Piotr had drawn it...
Her eyes settled on the final picture, and she bit at her lip, her hand unconsciously drifting forward as if to touch the picture, until she realized what she was doing and pulled it back. "They're very good," she said, her voice shaky as she ripped her eyes away from the image and turned to look up at Piotr. "I like the one of the Kremlin. Did you see it on your way here?"
That reaction had definitely not gone unnoticed. But noticing it and knowing how to respond to it were two very different things. Piotr wasn't biting his lip, but he definitely looked out of sorts. It took him a second to properly respond. "Ah, yes." He said with a jerky nod. "I was in Moscow for one day before I flew to America. I made some pictures of Russia to have memories here." Had he known he'd be showing them to Yana, he'd probably have done a lot more. Still, he was glad he'd done any! And talking about the Kremlin was easier than the other ones at least.
"I was there for three years, but I didn't see much of it," Illyana admitted. "I remember the domes, though. There's nothing quite like them here. Are you going back for the holidays?"
"Not this year." Piotr said with a shake of his big head. It has only been a few weeks. Flying back is too much money. I will go next year. " it felt odd, not being around his family for Christmas. Though he suspected that was another thing they didn't share. "What are you doing for your break?" The question was simple, though keen, curiosity.
Illyana grinned, relieved that the subject had changed and, for the first time in the conversation, excited about being able to answer. "Going to Europe with Cal - well, for part of it, anyway. I've got an interview next week with Empire Records," she explained, "so when kind of depends on whether or not I get the job. But we're going couchsurfing for a few days of it, at least. Other than that...I don't know. Hanging around here, I guess. Vance and Nico will be around, even if everyone else goes home."
Piotr nodded earnestly to her news. But something seemed odd to him. "You are going to Europe but you are also working? And you have no plans? How do you book flights?" Clearly he hadn't considered her powers, right now he seemed earnestly confused.
Illyana frowned, trying to figure out what Piotr was talking about. "We don't? Why would we book flights?" Hadn't Cal told him...well, maybe not, though she'd have thought it would've been obvious, considering their last meeting. "I teleport," she pointed out. "So Cal does too, when he's with me. We tested it out when Pietro went to Rome; we can hit Spain, no problem." Or, well, they'd probably end up crashing for a while once they got there, but still. Not a real problem. "So, we'll go for a couple of days, whenever I don't have to work. If I get the job."
Of course, hew'd totally forgottoen that. Which was dumb, given that it had literally been one of the first things she'd done in his presence. Piotr felt just a little bit like an idiot. And wasn't quite so good at hiding it in that first 'doh' moment.Still, as mistakes he'd made went, that one was minor, so Piotr wasn't TOO mortified, this time. "A good power to have." He commented with a nod. "Where will you go in Europe?" At that point he remembered something from earlier, going back in that methodical way of his. "And what is couch surfing?" Judging by his bemused tone of voice, Piotr was clearly trying to picture how to catch a wave with a couch.
Illyana laughed, mostly at the puzzled look on Piotr's face. It wasn't hard to follow what he was probably picturing, considering the mental image that had popped into her head when she'd first heard the term. "Near as I can tell, it means you sleep on someone's couch for free?" she explained. "I hadn't heard of it, but Cal had. It pretty much fits our budget, and he'll pick up the language once we're there, so it's all good." She grinned. "And we're going to Spain, I think - well, if we can find a decent photo of somewhere to 'port to. I'd've rather gone to Venice," she admitted with a shrug, "but Cal's got a thing for Spain, and it's not like we can't go again at Spring Break or next summer or whenever now that we know we can get to Europe." Or she could drag Nico along sometime when they didn't feel like going to class. She'd have to mention it to him sometime and see if he wanted to go.
"Ah, so you will be a house guest?" That made sense, even if the term was still odd. "Cal learned Russian from me. he was very good." Piotr was glad that Cal was going with Yana, and not just for the language. The other young man had made a reliable impression on Piotr, which saved him from having to worry. And from wondering whether or not he was allowed to worry. Instead he decided to focus on the trip. "I have never been outside of Russia. I have always wanted to see some of Europe. Will you show me pictures? Then I will know where to go." Piotr smiled, the easiest one he'd given her yet. There was still plenty of minefield to tiptoe around, but at least this bit of conversation didn't make Piotr feel awkward.
Illyana tilted her head a little, wondering if Piotr was up to something, then shrugged. Honestly, if he wanted to go lose himself in Spain, she didn't have a problem with that. "Sure, why not? I'll take a ton anyway; I always do. I need to visualize to get anywhere, and I might want to go back sometime." She chewed at her lip a little, then pulled out her phone and offered, "I've got some of Rome, from when we did the test run. If you want to see those."
"I would." Piotr confirmed with a nod. He didn't have an ulterior motive (well, apart from wanting to have a conversation with her), and didn't seem to be aware of her suspicion either. He just looked openly curious as she pulled out her phone. Though he did file away the fact that she needed visualisation for her powers. Just another little detail he now knew about his little sister, the virtual stranger.
Illyana made no real attempt to cover the screen as she flipped through a few pictures from Vance's party, pausing for a moment to smile at one of him giving her a "why are you taking my picture again?" look before moving on. "Ah, got it," she said finally as she found a picture of Pietro's hotel room. "Okay, probably not that one," she admitted, flipping forward a few more and holding out the phone to him to flip through himself. "They're mostly not famous places," she admitted. "I was looking for teleport sites. But there's a few."
Piotr watched the pictures flip by quietly, but with concentration, making quiet mental notes to himself. The picture of Vance made him smile a bit too. It didn't take a genius to see that they were even better friends than Piotr had assumed, and that pleased him. When Yana handed him the phone he was tempted to flip backwards rather than forwards, to see more of her life rather than her tourist adventures. But no, that would be crossing a big line even if they knew each other better. he quashed the urge and started slowly scrolling through Rome and her travels there. There wasn't an obvious pattern to what pictures he lingered on for how long, though of course he did look at the big sights when they came up. After a few pictures, he smiled crookedly. "It is like Moscow. The big buildings are beautiful. The normal houses are all old." It did remind him of the way things were in Russia, which made him feel oddly nostalgic for home.
Illyana laughed and nodded. "Very like. But without the onion shaped domes. I miss those," she admitted, making a face. "I kept looking around for buildings with them, but there weren't any."
Piotr chuckled at that. He had to agree though, the spires of the Roman Catholic churches just weren't the same without the onion shapes he was used to. "But it was not cold, yes?" He said cheerfully. Sweeping his arm around, he indicated the snow around them. "This is not bad, but warm is also good."
"I don't know - it seems weird when it's warm in what's supposed to be winter," she complained, wrinkling her nose. "I was starting to think it was never going to snow here, and it's still not cold, though it was colder at the parade, at least. There's pictures in there of that too, if you want to see New York City - just flip back through."
"It is not so bad. At home I often cannot sit out and draw." Piotr pointed out and lifted his pad. You would not have a parade in a real Russian winter, yes?" Piotr flipped back through the photos now, with just a hint of bemusement stemming from the temptation he'd felt before. "I must go to the next parade. This is fun. " He said as he flicked through the images.
"I don't know, we still had them in Minnesota," she said doubtfully. Granted, nothing like the one here, but still. She grinned, though, and nodded agreement to his description of the parade. "It was fun. I mean, I've been watching it on tv for years, but actually being there was awesome. We saw the cast of Annie perform, and the Rockettes, and - oh, there." She pointed at the picture on the screen and grinned. "Idina Menzel. Who actually looked at me and smiled - or, well, she looked in my direction and smiled," she admitted. "But it was still awesome."
"I do not know what those are." Piotr admitted with a crooked smile. "Except Idina Menzel. She is the singer, yes?" That was not something your average macho Russian lad would be expected to know. But damnit, Piotr liked musicals. And he had a feeling that unlike back home, Illyana was not about to laugh at him for it. Especially not since she'd already seen the drawing pad.
If Illyana showed any surprise, it was because Piotr hadn't heard of the Rockettes, not because he recognized Idina Menzel's name. It didn't seem worth pointing out, though, so she just nodded. "Wicked, Rent...she's in If/Then, now." She made a face. "I was hoping she'd sing something from that, but she just did Christmas songs." She reached over to forward the pictures, trying to remember if she had any more of her performance, but the next was a selfie she'd taken of her and Vance with the parade behind them. "Mmm, sorry - took that one to prove to Becky we were actually there." She smiled a little awkwardly. "That's Vance, by the way. I don't know if you've met him or not."
Piotr nodded along to the list of musicals. It wasn't that he was a big enough fan to know all of that, but the names were familiar at least. It was the selfie though that got his attention. "No, I have not met him. Is he your friend?" There was something a little bit different about Yana's smile when she mentioned Vance. But no, Piotr had to be imagining that. he was terrible at reading people, and he knew it. Still, he'd make a point to try and meet Vance, to see what he was like.
"My boyfriend," Illyana corrected, her face warming a little, but she clicked past the picture rather than elaborate. The next one was a too dark picture taken outside the theatre at Rocky Horror, and she shrugged and made a face. "Looks like that's it. We went to Rocky Horror that night with everyone else, but I screwed something up with the flash - gotta remember to delete those."
The word boyfriend raised about a million questions, starting with 'What?!'. But Yana had moved on before her brother could actually phrase them. And after that there was the whole not actually being part of her life thing stopping him. So he clammed up the questions and refocussed on the next pictures. Not what he wanted, but again he had to force himself to be patient.
The dark pictures fron Rocky Horror actually helped, since Piotr had to squint to try and see what was going on. "Who did you go with?"
"Oh, a bunch of people," Illyana replied with a shrug. "It was fun. I dressed up as Columbia." She pointed out what she was pretty sure was herself in a top hat in one of the pictures. "Gotta go again sometime when more of my friends are around; most of them went home for Thanksgiving." She made a face. "Come to think, I should probably head back inside. I want to check on Nico - he looked pretty crappy when I saw him earlier." Or really hungover, which wouldn't surprise her, considering how drunk he'd looked at the show.
This was probably the longest conversation Piotr had had with Illyana in living memory (and probably longer than his last few talks to Mikhail as well). Still, when Illyana said that she had to go it seemed far too short. But what was he going to say? Especially if her friend wasn't feeling well. His meeting with Nico had been odd, but not actually bad, so that Piotr certainly didn't wish the other boy ill. "Of course." he said with a nod and a warm smile. "I hope he feels better soon. And we will talk again soon, yes?" Not that piotr was really angling for a firm commitment. It was just hard to let go without something at least.
"Umm...sure, yeah," Illyana replied, suddenly uncomfortable once again as she realized just how casually she'd been talking with Piotr, and for how long. "Soon. Or, y'know, kind of soon," she hedged, "because I might get that job, and finals are coming up and I have to plan for Europe and stuff, so I'm probably going to be pretty busy." She forced a smile. "Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving." And with that, she summoned up a stepping disk and disappeared. .
