Illyana and Piotr | Pre-Masquerade

[om_magik]

Piotr finds Illyana hanging out on a branch and offers his help, and plans are made.



This was, bar none, the stupidest idea she'd ever had.

Illyana was sitting on a branch, alternately grabbing onto it and attempting to tie on the hanging light she'd brought up with her. Teleporting into the tree had worked, yes. Teleporting down would work too, she knew that. It was the part in the middle that was causing the problem, especially considering that she was trying to do it with her eyes closed.

Fancy dress wasn't usually Piotr's thing. But he really needed to go to more of the school events. And since this one was being organised by his little sister, that made it doubly important that he actually show his face for once. Beyond that, he decided it'd be a good idea to see if he could help with the setup. And it very much seemed he could, given that Yana seemed to be stuck halfway up a tree! "Illyana?" He called out as he approached. "Do you need help?" As he spoke, Piotr happened to step around the side of Yana's perch. So he got a worrying glimpse of the fact that for some reason, her eyes were closed. Which didn't do anything for the concerned frown on his broad features.

"No, I think I got it." Unfortunately, the unseen knot wasn't so much a knot as she'd hoped, and as soon as she let go, it started to fall. "Catch that!" she called out hopefully, gripping at the branch as she opened her eyes.

The light landed safely in a pair of large hands, though Piotr fumbled at it for just a moment, more out of nerves than because the catch was poor. "Illyana?" he asked again, peering up at her as if uncertain if he was going to need to catch her as well.

Illyana let out a sigh of relief, reclosed her eyes, and teleported back down to the ground. "Thanks." She grinned crookedly. "I've broken two already. What's up?"

"I wanted to offer my help. This is going to be a big party." Piotr's smile was also crooked, though more reserved than hers. And a touch concerned. "I think maybe I should hang up the high lights. Why were your eyes closed?"

"I don't like heights," she confessed, her smile tilting. "I mean, getting up there is no big deal if I teleport, but there's no way to tie the things on without looking down" She pushed her hand back through her hair self-consciously and shrugged. "If you want to help, I'm not going to turn it down."

"I would like that." There was nothing bashful about the cheerful, boyish grin Piotr shot her, possibly the first time he was acting something other than awkward around his sister. The big man got straight to work and turned to hang up the light he'd caught. "You must tell me where you want them."

"About...oh, two feet in, on the branch I was sitting on?" Illyana pointed to the branch in question, then went over to pick up the next light. "Try and make it high enough so people don't hit their heads on it?"

"Of course." Piotr reached up to hang the light where it'd been instructed. And then after a moment's consideration hung it about a branch higher, so that the hanging lantern was a little further up and thus clearer of his own towering head. "Is that good?"

Illyana eyed the branch critically, and nodded. "Perfect." Grinning, she handed Piotr the next light and let the way to a tree several yards away. "So, staying here for the summer? I'd've thought you'd have gone home."

"I am staying here. It is too much money to go home." Piotr took the next lamp and reached up to the branch. he was a talk while you work sort of person. "I think I will mayb e explore more of America. But I do not know. Maybe I will stay here. I must learn more English to graduate."

"Watch a lot of TV, it helps," Illyana suggested. And paused. She'd been thinking of trying to talk Cal into a trip to Russia anyway. Maybe...

Hoping she wasn't going to have reason to regret it, Illyana blurted, "I could probably give you a lift to Russia. If you wanted."

"Yopu are going to Russia?" piotr sounded genuinely surprised about that. He turned to her, lanterns momentarily forgotten (good thing that the knot was already tied!). "That....would be good. Very good." As he said it surprise turned into another big-lug grin. In this case Piotr wasn't too bashful to show that made him happy.

"Well, I was thinking about it. I mean," she grimaced, "I was going to go with Vance when his probation ended, but we broke up, so I figure that's out. So I was maybe going to see if Cal wanted to go, which is cool anyway, since I only have to drive halfway." She smiled self-consciously. "We could probably give you a lift as far as Moscow, at least."

"Going with Cal is good." Piotr agreed, perhaps a bit more firmly than one would expect for such a relatively innocuous piece of information. Which really had more to do with Vance than Cal. And not even the fact that he was Yana's now ex-boyfriend. Piotr had known about Vance. Not happy, but he'd known. And known it wasn't his place to comment (begrudgingly). The probabtion bit? That was news. And made Piotr swing definitely more towards the Cal plan. He liked Cal, Cal was a good guy. And that was as close as Piotr felt he could afford to commenting on his estranged sister's love life without another stomping off. "If I can come to Moscow then I can go from there. Home is not far then."

"I thought it was kind of across the country?" Illyana observed, her forehead furrowing. Granted, her knowledge of geography wasn't great, but she'd looked that up when she was trying to calculate distances.

"Yes." Piotr admitted, with a small touch of relief that his slip of annoyance had been subtle enough to not be called on. "But travelling from Moscow is easier than from New York, no?" Piotr hesitated for a second and then continued on more cautiously. "If you want, you could come with me. Cal too of course."

Illyana chewed at her lip awkwardly. "I really don't know if that'd be a good idea. I mean, what've you told them?"

"Nothing." Piotr admitted with a huffed sigh. "It is not easy. Our parents will wish to see you. But I think it is best if you are ready for that. Until then, I will say nothing." Which Piotr obviously wasn't super comfortable with. But it was the right thing to do, or at least the least wrong.

Surprised, Illyana blinked. "You didn't tell them? Really? I figured..." Honestly, she wasn't altogether sure what she'd figured. Maybe that they didn't care, seeing as they now knew and hadn't reached out to her. Maybe that a pair of middle aged Russians she barely remembered outside of nightmares would one day appear on the doorstep, insisting she come home with them. Mostly, she'd tried not to think about it at all. "I figured you probably had," she finished lamely.

"Would you be happy if I had?" Somehow Piotr doubted that. "If they knew they would want you to come back to them. Mikhail too." okay, maybe that last bit was stretching it. Mikhail was pretty much consumed by his own life. But still, Piotr wanted to believe that his older brother would also want to see his sister.

"I won't do that." The thought of it generated a wave of panic, and she dug her nails into her palms, trying to hold it in without being obvious. "I have friends here. Family." Family she'd chosen, family that wasn't going to leave. "I don't remember them."

"I know." Piotr nodded jerkily. "This is why I have said nothing. It would make problems for you and problems for them. I will wait until you are ready to speak to them,"

Illyana nodded distractedly and chewed at her lip. It seemed...mean, sort of, to leave her parents wondering whether or not she was alright. On the other hand, she definitely wasn't prepared to move back to Russia, just to make a couple of people she didn't even remember happy, especially since she was still inclined to think they han't looked all that hard when she'd disappeared to begin with. "They know you're here at school," she pointed out finally. "They're okay with that?"

"Yes. I must know how to use my powers. I cannot learn this in a small town school. Also, they hope I will get better work in America." Everything about him coming here was odd, except for that one part, which was so normal Piotr had to smile.

"So...if they knew I was a mutant, and that I needed training, they wouldn't fuss over me coming back?" She offered a wry half smile. "Plus, I already have a job. Two of them, if you count working for Harry, and working for the future head of Oscorp's gotta be a good selling point, right?"

That was an angle Piotr hadn't fully considered. "I think?" he didn't sound entirely confident, mostly because he wasn't sure he could properly predict how their parents would react. "But you must learn. It is true." If he thought about it, Yana's powers were even more bizarre than his. She probably needed the school more than he did. The job thing had always been a secondary consideration for him.

What wasn't particularly reassuring, but Illyana nodded anyway, then sighed. "I guess...it doesn't seem right to not tell them I'm alive. I mean, I'm guessing they'd want to know." There was a hint of doubt in her voice, because honestly, she wasn't altogether sure if they would or not. "But technically, I'm not sure I could just move back to Russia even if I wanted to. I mean, the Belascos don't want me, but the adoption was legal. And anyway, I don't want to."

"If we tell them then i will help them understand." Much as Piotr didn't like their complicated family situation, he'd had a few months to get used to the idea. "This is your home. They will be happy to know you are alive." THose weren't terribly well connected thouights, piotr had dropped a 'but' there. "It will be all right." he added with a smile he hoped was as reassuring as he intended it to be.

"Don't say that," Illyana advised absently. "Things hardly ever turn out all right when I say that; it might run in the family." She took a deep breath. "I'll talk to Cal. I can't reach Russia on my own, anyway, not without taking a few days at it." She gave Piotr a pointed look, as if expecting him to argue. "You did say he could come along."

"I did." That hardly evewn counted as a compromise, piotr wasn't going to argue that one bit. "It is Russian to expect bad things. But this will be fine." Apparently Piotr's optimism and sudden good mood were not going to be dented about dire warnings about potentially inherited jinxes.

"Mmmm." It was noncommittal, maybe, but an acknowledgement nonetheless, and Illyana offered a crooked grin. "If you're so sure of that, maybe I'll bring Nico along too. It'd practically be the first time we didn't run into trouble."

"If you want." That was more of a compromise, Piotr's first meeting with nico had not gone great and he was more iffy on him than on Cal. Still, that wasn't much of a price to pay either for having Yana agree to go to Russia with him. Though her remark did bring something else up. "You know that if you have trouble, I will help if you want it. Always."

Ignoring the last comments, which made her feel distinctly uncomfortable, Illyana just paused to consider the rest, then shook her head. "Nah. It'll be hard enough to get to Russia with three let alone four, and Nico'd probably just complain he couldn't understand what anyone was saying anyway. I'll take him with me to England sometime when I drop off Betsy. We can go see Stonehedge or something, he'd probably like that."

"That sounds good." Piotr nodded his approval and took another light to go and hang it up. "When did you plan to go?"

"To England? Once a month or so, Betsy said." She picked up another couple of lights and followed along. "I doubt she'll care if I bring Nico along once, though. She already invited me and Kitty to London for a day; so long as Nico and I take off as soon as I wake up, I don't think she'll mind."

"You go on trips often, yes?" That was an interesting idea, one that Piotr was both curious about and maybe just a touch envious of. Seeing the world like that seemed amazing. He let his curiosity out a bit more, to follow up with further questions. "Do you visit the people who adopted you too?" He couldn't bring himself to call them her family, not when he really didn't want them to be.

"No." Her answer was curt, and she temporized it only a little by adding, "That wouldn't be a good idea." She jumped on his other question as a change of subject instead. "And I wouldn't say often? I mean, Nico and I take off for the day sometimes, and Cal and I have gone to Italy and Spain, but otherwise...hmm. I've been to England a couple of times now, and to Illinois a few with Kitty. Oh, and Kitty and I went to Mexico for Spring Break, which was really cool - the hotel was awesome, and we just kind of lived on the beach." She grinned a little. "Actually, that sounds like pretty often, huh?"

The brick wall shutdown of his inquiry about her family jarred Piotr pretty hard. Clearly that was something she wasn't willing to let him find out about. Well, Piotr could understand that. He thoroughly assumed that the shutdown had more to do with the fact that it was him asking than anything to do with yana's adopted family. Still, at least she hadn't shut down the conversation completely. "I have never gone anywhere except Moscow and New York. I think you have seen more than any person in my village." There, awkwardness avoided, right? Piotr had evebn managed to not say "our village".

Illyana grinned, mostly out of relief that Piotr'd accepted the subject change. "Well, it's not quite the everywhere that Cal and I figure on, but it's a really good start, I think. It's only been a year; before that, I'd never really left Minnesota. I should really get one of those big world maps and start sticking pins in it so I can keep track, huh?"

That idea appealed to Piotr and he smiled his approval widely. "If you come with me then I must show you where my village is on the map. It is small, you will not find it otherwise."

"Actually, I'll need real pictures," she admitted. "I have to be able to visualize where I'm going, and...well, I can't." Even if she tried, which she generally tried not to, it had been way too long, and her memory of what their home had looked like, even refreshed by Piotr's sketches, was fuzzy at best.

"I see." Well, it had been a long time, Piotr wasn't terribly surprised. Privately he had to admit that the image of Yana from before she vanished, a memory he'd cherished a long time, was fuzzier than he'd ever wanted to consider before meeting her again. So he very much understood the issue. "I have pictures from home. When we go I can show you. Any place is okay if you have a picture?"

"Well, I'd rather not show up in the middle of town or anything, but so far, that's pretty much how it works." She gave him an apologetic look. "We're going to have to do it in stages, though. I really doubt I can hit Russia in one shot without passing out."

"That is fine. You must not push yourself too hard. I have a picture in Moscow too if that will help. If we go in stages then I will also have new places that I can put pins." Judging by his crooked smile, Piotr didn't mind that idea at all. "It will be like the road trips from the movies."

"Just without the car." Illyana grinned. "I've got some pics of Moscow - like I said, Vance and I were talking about going, so I started picking up travel magazines. Let's get the rest of the lights up, and I'll go talk to Cal. It probably won't be until August, though. I'm covering Jay's shifts at work until he gets back from England."

Piotr nodded and went back to hanging up lights. A much easier task for him than it was for her. "We should not wait longer than August. I think that you do not want to have winter on your first visit. It is colder than here."

"Well, September's school again anyway," Illyana said practically. "Actually, mid-August, so...first week, maybe? I think Jay'll be back for good by then - he can take his turn and cover my hours at work." She eyed Piotr doubtfully. "It can't be winter there in September really, can it? I mean, it doesn't even get cold that early in Minnesota."

"No, not winter yet. But it is cold. In September you can see the first ice in the water if it is a cold year. But August is good. I have time. First week? I will tell mother top expect guests. She will be angry if I do not warn her." While he was talking Piotr hung the last of the lights. Stepping back with an air of satisfaction he looked the room over before turning to Yana. "Do you need more help?" Doing something practical always felt good. Doing it for Yana was just icing on the cake.

"Oh, I'm sure I can find something else for you to do." She smiled and waved him along as she headed towards the table where she'd left her list, fighting a pang of nerves as she tried not to think about what she was getting herself into. At least Cal would be with her, if he agreed to go. There was no way she was going without him. This might not be the kind of crazy stunt he normally complained about, but she figured it should definitely qualify anyway.
"Anything." Piotr said earnestly as he trotted obediently over to the table with her. "I am better at building a room for a party than I am at having a party." He certainly seemed perfectly happy providing grunt labor for the rest of the preparations. And also perfectly willing to not bring up any more big interpersonal stuff. Working together and focussing on the task at hand was pretty much a win for him anyway.