Rahne and Illyana, Morning of 7/19

[om_wolfsbane]

Rahne crashes into Illyana's room the next morning to whine about meeting Prince Charming.

Rahne pounded with the flat of her hand on her neighbor's door at 9 the next morning. "Illyana? Illyana!" she called. She was in the hallway, practically in her skivvies (a short nightgown), no shoes, wearing most of the makeup someone-or-another had convinced her to put on the night before. "Illyana!"

"I didn't do it!" Illyana called back from inside her cocoon of blankets. Sighing, she got to her feet and went over to open the door. To reveal Rahne. In a nightgown. Illyana blinked blearily. "Is the building on fire?" If so, that would justify waking her the morning after a party. Maybe. She wasn't entirely sure anything else would. She would have thought there would have been an alarm, though.

Wide eyed, sleep deprived Rahne just vaguely shook her head. "I danced with Phil Coulson."

Illyana blinked again, trying to make sense of not only Rahne's comment but why the other girl thought that was something to wake her up over, then took a step back and gestured for Rahne to come in. "He dances? I would've never pictured him dancing." Granted, it wasn't exactly a newsflash, but it seemed the most noteworthy part.

"He dances. Beautifully." Rahne let her feet carry her into the room.

"Huh. Wouldn't have expected that." Illyana raked her hand back through her hair, wincing a little as her finger caught in a tangle. She eyed Rahne as a suspicion started to form. "Sounds like it was quite a dance."

"You have to help me." Rahne invited herself to sit down on Megan's rumpled but vacant bed--the girl had had to leave early and catch the plane back to the UK. "It was beautiful."

"I have to help you because it was beautiful?" Illyana shook her head, then headed over for the fridge and pulled out a Coke. First off, she was almost positive that didn't make sense. Second, the idea that Rahne needed her help just wasn't computing, period, unless the other girl had somehow killed the TA dancing and needed help hiding the body. "Want one? I think I'm going to need caffeine for this conversation."

"Yes," Rahne said, agitated and clearly answering the first question. "Don't you get it? I'm in love with Phil Coulson. " Such was the product of a Disney upbringing; love at first sight.

"There must be something about masquerades," Illyana mumbled as she grabbed Rahne a soda as well. Taking a deep breath, she debated how to deal with this. On the one hand, it'd be a lot of fun to egg Rahne on. On the other, she'd probably end up feeling vaguely guilty about it later, because...seriously, Phil Coulson? Also, from rumors she'd heard, Rahne had already crashed and burned once in the relationship game at the school.

Grumbling internally that Kitty was a horrible influence on her rather than the other way around, she turned and walked back over to where Rahne had plopped on Megan's bed. "Are you sure? Because Phil's - well, he's not a bad guy, but he's a TA and everything. And kind of has a stick up his butt."

"What? I don't think we've met the same Phil." Rahne sighed happily. This probably meant that he was just showing his true side to Rahne alone. "He's kind and caring, and he says sweet things and he dances."

"I'm pretty sure there's only one Phil." Illyana's forehead furrowed. "TA, blond hair, has an apartment at Tony's?"

"Mmhmm." She didn't like the part about living in the city, but she would brave it.

"So yeah. Same guy. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's hot and everything." Or at least, Yana supposed he was; she really hadn't ever paid much attention. "And he was pretty awesome when River's brother got beat up. But..." Illyana shrugged, mouth quirking to one side. "I don't know. What'd he say that was sweet?"

"He wanted to make sure I was doing alright, like he's been thinking about me." She examined her unopened coke like it was some foreign object. "He called me princess," she added, blushing.

Well, that sounded...not unpromising, Illyana had to admit. Still... "Are you sure he wasn't just talking about your costume? Because you had the whole princess thing going."

"But...he didn't have to say it like that. He made me feel like the only girl in the world."

Oh, screw the voice of reason thing, that was cute. Illyana smiled and sat down next to Rahne on the bed, popping the top of her Coke. "Yeah? I love that."

"Me, too." Rahne, surprisingly, found herself close to tearing up.

"Oh come on, don't cry. I mean, what do I know? Maybe he is totally into you." Damn, now she kind of felt like an ass. After all, what did she really know about Phil, other than that he'd chewed her out for yelling at Clint?

"Do you think he could be?" She had, of course, missed all of his social debacles lately.

"Maybe? I dunno." She frowned, considering. "I really don't know much about Phil, other than that he and Clint hang out. I thought Alex mentioned a while back that he was dating Noriko, but I swear, I never see them together. And Nori's kind of a bitch anyway."

Rahne sat up. "But he could be dating someone already?" That burned to think about.

"He could? But I mean, that was months ago, and I didn't see them dance at the masquerade or anything." Illyana offered an apologetic look. "Sorry, I really don't know. I can text Vance and ask him. He and Nori are friends, he might know."

Rahne wiped at her eyes, which were betraying her in front of her closest frenemy. She pressed the cold coke against them, trying to stop the red and the puffy. "You'd text Vance for me?" It was one of the small handfuls of social goings-on that Rahne was privy to--Illyana and Vance had definitely broken up.

Illyana sighed and pulled out her phone. "It's not like we're not on speaking terms, so yeah. Not a big deal." She eyed her screen and made a face. "Except the part where I forgot to charge my phone."

"He wouldn't have danced with me if he was with someone else. I know he wouldn't." He was clearly far too much of a gentleman for that.

"Hey, you know him better than I do," Illyana allowed. She wasn't sure of the logic there - she'd danced with a half dozen people who weren't Nico - but why burst Rahne's bubble? She took another sip of her Coke and shrugged. "So, what are you gonna do?"

Rahne rolled onto her side. "Languish in misery," she grumped.

"Okay, hold it - you've got this huge crush on this guy, and you're going to languish in misery?" Illyana pulled up her feet to sit cross legged and stare at Rahne incredulously. "Are you hungover? Because if not, that makes no sense."

"Look at me. I'm a bloody mess. Just thinkin' about it!" She squirmed. "How am I ever t' be expected t' tell him?"

"I don't know!" Illyana gestured her lack of knowledge with a wave of one arm. "I just told Vance to stop making excuses and kiss me! It's not like I'm an expert!"

"I thought you were ," Rahne pouted, in a way that made it seem like she expected Yana to transform into one.

"I wish." Illyana wrinkled her nose. "Sorry. Just a huge flirt who got lucky once. Err, twice if you count Nico," she corrected quickly.

"How..." Rahne sat up timidly. "How do you flirt?"

"You just..." Illyana paused to think about it. "I don't know? I just do it."

"Lot of help that is." Rahne was determined to remain lovesick and sulky.''

"Hey, you woke me up. I don't do helpful before noon." She took a sip of her Coke and thought it over. "Right. Easiest way to learn to flirt is to get someone to flirt with. We'll recruit Irvine later to help. He'll flirt with anyone."

"W-w- what ?"

Illyana grinned. "Irvine. Dark hair, cowboy hat? You have to have seen him."

"But... But..." Rahne couldn't even say how scandalized she was by the mere suggestion.

"But what? Irvine won't mind." Okay, maybe she was finding Rahne's discomfiture a little too amusing, but the other girl had asked her to help, right? She was helping!
"But Irvine's not who I like!" Rahne buried her head in her hands and shook it vigorously. "Isn't there just a pamphlet I can read?"

"Ummm...probably not?" Illyana rubbed at her forehead. "I mean, you could maybe pick up a magazine and get advice. But I'm guessing that's what Becky did, and she's scary when she tries to flirt. You're better off practicing with someone who doesn't matter."

"I want to have a chance," Rahne sniffled. "I really do. I want to have a chance for Phil to like me."

"Well, then, we'll talk to Irvine. Later." Illyana gave the younger girl a pointed look. "I'm not waking him up the morning after a party. He'd never forgive me." She sighed. "I'm pretty sure Kitty'd tell me to tell you to just be yourself, though. And she's the one with the cute relationship, so there might be something to it."

"The only person who liked myself was John Howlett." She growled the name with the ire of a starving wolf. It wasn't difficult to believe that she'd bite the boy clean in half if she ever saw him again.

Illyana made a face. Ouch. "So that didn't work out, huh? I heard...bits."

"Didn't work out?" Rahne laughed bitterly. It was laugh or cry.

"Okay, maybe an understatement?" Damn, no wonder Rahne was surprised she and Vance were on speaking terms. She was suddenly relieved that her own breakup had resulted in tears, but no growling. "What'd he do?"

Rahne crossed her arms protectively over herself. There was no comfortable way to say used me . Or worse, maybe, if she thought about it for too long. "Had another girl," was Rahne's terse answer

"Ouch." She made a face. Yeah. Things could've definitely been worse. "What an asshole."

"I hope he dies," she said, with matter of fact simplicity. She couldn't explain everything to Illyana, how John had manipulated her and wrung her out so empty. So the statement was sure to sound more than a bit overboard.

"I get that." Or at least, she assumed she did. From the way Rahne was reacting, there had to be more to it than John just cheating on her. She offered a crooked smile. "If you kill him, let me know. I can get rid of the body."

"Drop it in the Marianas trench."

"I'd need a picture." After all, it wasn't like she knew John outside squad practice, and annoying or no, she did know Rahne. It was fair. She paused for a moment though, her forehead furrowing as she remembered Cal's caution to think things through. "Just remember the headmaster's a telepath. And someone's likely to notice disappearing students, so it's maybe not worth it?"

"Not yet, anyway. Maybe someday." Rahne could envision circumstances where the consequences for murder weren't worse than the life she already had. "But I don't want to think about John. I want to think about Phil."

Illyana laughed, part relief, part genuine nostalgia. "Yeah, I get that. I felt that way after last year's masquerade."

"Is that when you..." She paused, not wanting to mention Vance any more than necessary.

Illyana smiled and waved off Rahne's dilemma. "Yeah. First dance, head over heels. Didn't know what hit me. I was so confused - Jeanne-Marie was probably laughing her head off." Her smile tilted and she shrugged. "Shit happens."

"Jeanne-Marie wouldn't laugh at someone like that," Rahne defended. Jeanne-Marie was the nicest girl in the whole wide world.

"Nah, it was okay. I was drunk by then," Illyana explained. She smiled reassuringly and shrugged. "She was awesome, she kept me from teleporting back to juvie. I would've gotten caught for sure."

All Rahne could do was shake her head. "Scandalous."

"Oh please, it wasn't scandalous." She shot Rahne an annoyed look that the other girl obviously deserved, just for pulling her out of her memories. "I hardly ever do anything scandalous, and it was Vance. I'm not sure he's even capable of scandalous. Besides, you really don't get to talk, all things considered."

The redhead snorted. "Everything you do is scandalous."

Illyana shot her an evil look. "So you pounded on my door and woke me up, why?"

"Because I guess..." Rahne futzed with her Coke can. "I need help from someone scandalous. Or he might never notice me."

"Pretty sure if he was dancing with you he knows you exist," Illyana pointed out, not entirely mollified.

"You know what I mean," Rahne sulked.

"Yeah, but coming in and telling me I'm scandalous isn't exactly the way to get me to help." Especially when referring to the previous year's masquerade party, though Illyana left that unsaid. She relented enough to observe, "I still think Irvine's your best shot for flirting lessons. He's good. And he won't take it seriously, he never does."

Rahne frowned, uncomfortable but willing. Which said a lot about the intensity of this crush. "Could you introduce me, at least?"

"Yeah, fine." Illyana took a sip of he soda, then got up and set it down on her desk. "After I get some more sleep. It's Irvine, he won't be awake yet anyway."

Rahne recognized the polite suggestion. She got up. "I'll be around, then. Thank you."
"Yeah, no problem." Illyana walked over to the door and opened it, then turned to look at Rahne, her expression softening just a little. "And Rahne? I hope it works out for you."

"Thank you," Rahne said again, with a much smaller smile on her face. And she slipped out into the hallway and was gone.

Illyana smiled after her, then closed the door. She let the smile slip just a little, and turned and went back to her bed. At least this year's early morning "day after" encounter hadn't been as bad as the last one. She guessed that was something.